The morning news., 1899-03-13
THE "DELIRIUM OF FRANCE"
w T. STEAD SAYS FRANCE Is THE
"DRUNkEN HELOT" OF
MILITARISM

nument for Peace-How the French
Feel Toward Germany-The Hand
of the Russian Gar in Affairs at
Parfs-France Possessed by the
Dreyfus Case-Poser of the French
Army and How IL Has saDDed the
Nations Life-The Provinces and
Paris Do Not Agree on War Ques-
tions.
f4rom advance sheets of W. T. Stead's,
The United States of Europe Just re-
ceived by the Doubleday & Mcclure Co.
Copyright 1899 by the Doubleday Nc
Clure Coz.
The shrinkage of the world has suddenly
brought the nations face to face in the old
colonies and on the high seas the old world
is beginning 10 realize that perhaps there
may no longer be enough 10 go round, that
somebody is going 10 get left, and that
somebody is not going to be the new world
The conviction is coming home more slow
ly to the Frenchmen than to the BeIgians,
but they are learning it all the same.
The result is an immediate increase Of
the Difference paid to the United States by
the French. Nothing succeeds like success;
and the difference in the attitude of the
French to the Americans since Manila and
Santiago is more marvellous than edifying.
Frenchmen of all classes who twelve
months ago sneered at the "dollar-hunting
Yankee" as their forefathers scoffed at
''the nation of shopkeepers" across the
channel, are running over each other in
helter-skelter race. vieing with each other
as TO which can first fail on Uncle Sans
neck and embrace him. The way the Fourth
of July was celebrated in Paris last year,
as compared with its predecessors, was an
object lesson in the worship of the rising
sun. If by any possibility any space could
be discovered any way in the exposition
of 1900, ii was, of course, to be made over
10 the sister republic, rather than to the
German or to the Briton. Was not the COM
missioner general ready to erect a statue
of Lafayette in the grounds-if only he
could get the space on which to set it up?
The minister of commerce and the minister
of foreign affairs wed with each other in
paying exceptional compliments TO the
commissioners of the United States. Nay,
it was even hlnted that in 1899 American
goods would be admitted to France under
the minimum tariff. reciprocal concession
being of course anticipated on the other
side.
Dewey's Work Revelation to
France.
The war was revelation to the average
Frenchman. When Dewey destroyed the
Spanish feet at Manila the scales began
to fall from their eyes, and they saw
men as trees walking" When Cervera's
feet shared the same fate off Santiago
they realized that a new naval power had
been born into the world inheritng from
the Destinies, as one of them put il, the
good fortune that has always attended
the English on the seas. Early In the war
a report that the American fleet had been
destroyed and Admiral Sampson killed
threw the Partisan populace into parox-
ysm of delight. In those days no one dis
guished their sympathies with Spain But
nowadays they all agree to forget all that,
and they are already convinced that there
were never such friends of the Americans
as the French, and never had been since
the world began.
Exposition Peace Conference.
The proposed Cars peace conference
may postpone the immediate outbreak of
a war of revenge for the revindication
of the lost provinces of Alsace and Lor-
raine, but it certainly does not do so more
decisively than the French had done al
ready by their great exhibition of 1900
That exhibition is itself a kind of peace
conference. When France invited Germa-
ny to exhibit her goods in the great show
of the new country, she acquiesced in the
status quo. or course she did not guaran-
tee Germany the uninterrupted possession
forever of her lost provinces. Neither
will she do so by accepting the Cars in
vitation. But she did give Germany the
very best and most substantial security
against sudden French attack that any
one could desire. These and other consid-
erations have had their weight, and the
momentary irritation against their Rus
sian ally has already abated.
The question as to whether the French
people are longing for revenge and the
revindication of their lost provinces IS one
on which the most widely diverse opin-
ions are expressed. There is, however,
substantial agreement among men of all
shades of opinion that while France vigi-
lanty maintains all her reserves and is
resolved to take advantage of all the op-
portunities which fortune may send her
20 regain her old provinces, she will never
of her own motion or on her own initia-
tive make war on Germany A leading
French statesman with whom I was dis
cussing this question expressed in the
very strongest terms his conviction that
no French ministry will ever take the
initiative IN attacking Germany THE
Ilsk would be too great, the sacrifices
too immense. II Germany were involved
in war elsewhere-ah, then, that would be
another matter. But as long as Germany
Is at peace we shall not lift a finger to
dispossess her" This helps to enable us
70 understand what a powerful security
Tor peace the ineradicable yearning for
the lost provinces has become in Europe
to-day.
Popular War Feeling Very Strong.
shrewd and experienced observer In
Paris, on the other hand, told me that
the popular feeling in favor Of war was
stronger now than il had ever been
since 1870. The lessons of that terrible
year have been forgotten. Paris Is
now In the hands of young men TO whom
the bombardment Of Paris is only a mat
ter of history and of tradition. Bismarck
Is gone. All the great generals who con-
quered France are dead. The French
army was never stronger or better eouip-
ped than now. If the French saw their
chance, they would not hesitate for a mo-
ment. If, for instance. the Russian En-
peror but held up his little finger,
But the Russian Emperor is holding his
lille finger 80