The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-19
Our Paris Friends.

Those who are accustomed to see the
Paris newspapers must be struck by the
tone OF friendliness toward the United
! States by which almost all OF them are now
! pervaded. Especially gratifying is this re-
| vval Of traditional sentiment to those
, who remember its temporary eclipse during
the months Of April May and June OF last
| year. Now that the relations of Americans
and Frenchmen are once more, as they
always ought to be- extremely cordial, 1t
| can do no harm to examine the causes OF
the brief suspension OF good will which was
occasoned by our war with Spain.
About the reality Of the temporary inter-
! ruption of amity there can be no doubt.
Those especially who were living in Paris
at the time will recall the fact that,
with two or three exceptions, the Paris
| newspapers were arrayed against us dur
| ing the twenty days preceding our declara-
! ton Of war against Spain and during the
| succeeding seventy days, or, in other
| words, up to the hour when the annihila-
ton of CERvERA's squadron proved our
overwhelming superiority at sea, and
brought the Madrid Government to it's
knees. When we have named HENRI
have named the only conspicuous editors
or editorial writer's in Paris, who, at the Pc
Rod mentioned, boldly avowed themselves
well-wishers Of the United States. We are
here speaking Of the Paris journals printed
In the French language or the two news
papers published In English, one, the Paris
Herald, strove, with more or less dexterity,
to carry water on both shoulders, repro
ducinR most of the spiteful comments made
by Its French confreres on persons and
things American, while at the same time
admitting to it's columns now and then
letter espousing the other side.
The American soiourner in the French
capital at that epoch II he were constrained
to contlne himself to papers printed in his
native tongue, turned with relief to the
long-established GGlignani's Messenger,
whose unwavering exhibition Of friendship
for the United States was the more well
come because that widely-read and influ-
entail journal had not then passed, as
it has since passed, into American hands.
When we say that, with the eXcep-
tions noted, the entire Paris press was
hostile to our country, we do not mean,
Of course, that malignity, or even bitter
ness, was everywhere displayed. The
Temps and the Debdts were never guilty OF
the Justification and vituperation in which
the minor papers of the boulevards in
dulged; on the contrary, they affected
sober and dspassionate tone; neverthe-
less, the conclusions at which their writer's
professed to arrive were uniformly unfav-
orabe to the idea Of American success, and
thus We're adapted to please the majority
of their subscribers.
The fact of French unfriendiness being
| then beyond dispute, how shall we account
| for it? 1t is a mistake to attribute the
| hostile attitude Of the Paris press to an i'm
| puted sense OF solidarity aroused among
| all Latin peoples, when one of their num-
Der is assailed by a representative of the
| Teutonc race. II such ethnic sympathies
really existed they would be displayed by
| Teutons also, but 1t Is notorious that the
German newspapers evinced quite as much
| III will toward the United States as did the
French. Then, again, in the spring Of
1893, the Paris newspapers were no less
inimical to the Italian monarchy than they
were to the American Republic.
| As for the alleged influence Of relation
ship by blood and language, the history Of
| France and Spain Is a dismal record Of an
tagonism, broken only in the eighteenth
century, during the greater part Of which
| the house OF Bourbon happened to reign
both at Paris and at Madrid.
| We need not go 40 far to explain the de-
sire evnced by Paris newspapers to wit
ness our discontinue Mt the hands Of
! Spain. The phenomenon had a general
and also specific cause. Since tho
| al - niy-i1 ha
proportions OF which we're appreciated by
transatlantic observers our amazing
growth in wealth and population had en-
cited among all the people Of Continental
Europe emotions In which jealousy and
envy were preponderant and which were
not unmixed with trepidation. Danger
from US on land they had. Of course no
ground to apprehend, but who could tell
when we might awake TO our tremen-
! dOus capabilities and essay to seize the
sceptre of finance, of commerce and OF
maritime aScendancy Disquietude Of this
sort was felt as keenly al Berlin as in Paris,
| for Germany had recently evolved an ex-
| pansiOn programme of her own, and saw
| with uneasncSs the appearance of new
| and vigorous competitor for tho prizes OF
! transmarinc dominion still undstributed.
From this point of view Germans "a we'll as
Frenchmen could scarcely help regarding
our contest with Spain az an erperimentum
in corpOre riH, which, If successful might
lead to more extensive and ambitious oper-
atoms on our part.
In the case of France there was also
particular basis for the irritation aroused
by the spectacle OF war wherein Spain
rsked the loss of her most valuable pos
sessions beyond sea. The French people
were creditors of the Madrid Government
to an extent far exceeding the amount OF
money which they had wasted on the Pan
anna Canal Almost all of the foreign loans
effected by Spain since 1920 have been pro-