The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-04-10
Why FRANCE HATES ENelAsD.

never nowadays see an Englshman
who has Just arrived i'm Paris without
being asked. in the hope of finding an
explanation for the feeling of hatred
or anger that has been aroused here
against England. What have we done
10 them?' am incapable OF Offering
him the desired explanation. l know
well that there Is Fashoda. and in fact
1t would be ditiicult for me to forget il,
for the word is repeated hundred
times day. But the French said but
little at the moment OF tashoda, and
they SAID not much af.er IL. In Mar
chand they had a new hero. and the
possession OF a new hero was wei
worth the very natural bitterness with
which they drained this particular
cup. But the French Republicans are
a little ike the English army la the
TransvQal. After having been stGad-
ily deceived, and after having I.lnen
into various traps, they have begun To
realize that it was necessary 10 change
thcr tactics And in these circum-
stances. no "sauveur' appearing 10
provide them with the coveIed gold cf
the budget and the places which they
are longing for, those persons who
manufacture international hatreds
have said % themselves, after the FIRST
reverses OF England in tie Transvaal.
that n was all up with England; that
France had been duped in MthGrGN-
Ing before Great Britain. and that by
shaking their fist at the English nation
instead OF quitting FashoQa they would
have prepared a startling triumph.
This is the origin OF the present .r-
ritation, which IL mixed with b tier
regret, continues the Paris correspond
ent OF the London Times The nrita-
tion IL retrospect We. The regret il To
have yielded TO English pressure when
IL is seen today that England MAS not
In position 70 resist. In the last
number of the Revue des Deux
Mondes' NJ. la ROGUE declares-the
opinion, moreover, 4s widely held here
that the French navy is well abe TO
cope with the British navy, that three
French vessels are more than a match
for five British vessels, and that conse-
auently England both on sea anu land
Is incapable of fighting advantageously
with France. 1t IS then in this retro
spective regret at having yielded in
stead of having obtained triumph
IL Is in this sent ment OF retrospective
bitterness. coupled with the tone and
temper OF the press that lies the secret
of those feelings in regard TO England
Of which Engllshmen so bitterly COM
plan. For il Is utterly untrue to pre-
tend that IL Is from any affection for
the Beers, or interest i'm their cause.
that they are championed here. Yet
some writer's, In their zeal to account
for the passionate sympathies OF
Frenchmen for the Beers, imagine a
hundred causes which no one could
have suspected 10 exist. Thus. NJ.
Henri des Houx writes that French
sympathies for the Beers are due TO
the fact that the ancestors Of the Beers
were the Cevennes Hugenots prescribed
by Louis XIV and Dutchmen fleeing
from the revolution and he calls the
Beers mos freres du Transvaal."
must quote the end of his article:
Louis XIV, even although the con-
queror. had the prudence not TO go so
far aa utter exterm'natlon The
Orange Dynasty (sic) which reigns in
England will seize, we doubt not. the
first opportunity of concluding with the
indomitable peasants OF the Transvaal
Republics "A peace honorable for both
peoples"
The truth is no one here knows. or
cares to know. the real causes OF the
present war; and everybody affects To
believe that IL is England which has
fallen on a little independent people.
But IL cannot be sincerely argued that
England has forced an Independent ma
tion to declare war. The secret devices
employed by the Beers for euupping
themselves prove that their object all
along was To throw off what they knew
to- be a legal suzerainty. | say this
to show that the passion here for the
Boer is due TO reasons which Will not
and cannot be avowed, and that this
accounts for the amazing efforts TO in
still the idea that the Beers, the race
most foreign TO Frenchmen, can be
STYLED sour brethren"