Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-12
STEAD'S DELIRIUNOF FRANCE
Britain's Yellow Writer Pounces Upon the
Neighboring Republic,
SEVERAL WARN tpI1HtTS TURNED LOOSE
Attitude of France Toward America,
germany nnd Hussia-power of
the Army and How ~ Has
snppcd the Nations Lie.

From advance sheets Of w. T. stcad's
,oiim,.gg umt,d states OF Europe" just re-
,SiN,u pE lhe j doubleday Il Mcclure 90
Copyright 1899. by the D5ubleday ana Me-.
Clurc Coz '' ''~-
The shrinkaEo Of the world has suddenly
brought the nations face to face in the old
colonies and on the high seas the Ola
World is beginning to realize tba, nor.
haps there may no longer be enough "a 70
round, that somebody is going TO get left
and that somebody is not going to be The
New World. The convietion is coming
nome more slowly to the Frenchmen than to
the Belgans, but they are learning !, all
the same.
Tho 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 edifyng. French
men OF all classes who twelve months ago
sneered at the "dolar-hunting Yankees" as
their forefathers scoffed at "the nation of
shopkeepers' across the channel are run
ming over each other in a helter-skelter
race, vieing with each other as to which
can first fall on Uncle Sans neck and en-
brace 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, it was,
of course, to be made over to the sister
republic, rather than to the German or to
the Briton. Was not the commissioner gen
eral ready to erect 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
We'd with each other in paying exceptional
compliments to the commissioners of the
United States Nay, it was even hnted 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 II Revelation.
The war was a revelation to the average
Frenchman. When Dewey destroyed the
Spanish fleet at Manila the scales began to
fall from their eyes, and they saw men as
trees walking" When Cervera's fleet
shared the same fate off Santiago they
realized that new naval power had been
born into the world, inheriting from the
Destinies, as one of them put it, the good
fortune that has always attended the Eng
lsh 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 proXysm OF delight.
In those days no one disguised their SYM
pathies with Spain. But nowadays they all
agree to forget all that, and they are al
ready convinced that there were never such
friends of the Americans as the French and
never had been since the world began.
The proposed c2ar's peace conference may
postpone the immediate outbreak OF a war
OF revenge for the revindication of the los,
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. but It
certainly does not do so more decisively
than the French had done already by their
great exhibition of 1900. That exhibition is
itself kind of peace conference. When
France invited Germany to exhibit her goods
in the great show of the new country she
acquiesced in the status quo OF course she
did not guarantee Germany the uninter-
Tupted possession forever of her lost prov
inces. Neither will she do so by accepting
the cars invitation. But she did give Ger
many the very best and most substantial
security against a sudden French attack
that any one could desire. These and other
considerations have had their weight and
the momentary irritation against their Rus
sian ally has already abated.
The question to whether the French
people are longing for revenge and the re-
vndication of their lost provinces is one
on which the most widely diverse opinions
are expressed There is, however, substan-
tial agreement among men of all shades of
opinion that while France viglantly main
tains all her reserves and is resolved to take
advantage of all the opportunities which
fortune may send her to regain her old
provinces. she will never of her own motion
or on her own initiative make war on Ger
many leading French Statesman with
whom l was discussing this question ex>
pressed in tue very strongest terms his
conviction that no French ministry will ever
take the initiative in attacking Germany
THE risk would be too great, the sacri-
fees too immense. II Germany were In
volved in war elsewhere-ah then, that
would be another matter But as long as
Germany is at peace we shall not lift I'm
ger to dspossess her" This helps to en-
able us to understand what "A powerfm
security for peace the ineradicabe yearn-
ing for the lost provinces has become in
Europe today.
Popular Wnr Feeling.
A shrewd and experienced observer in
Paris, on the other hand, told me that the
popular feeling in favor Of war was stronger