New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-19
France, Our Friend and Ally
From Speech BY Bishop Brent al Dinner C"e" nm" 0V TIC
CONT; France Ameriquc Pdris

7hal lot my first words follow their IN
stinctivc course end in behalf OF the greatest
republic Of America, offer through you 20
the greatest republic Of Europe tr'bc'e
OF grateful recognition for her loyalty TO hign
ideals nor lofty COURAGE. her accompanying
endurance in struggle for the cxactloh Of
the responsibilities, the sanclty Of the rights
I the preservation Of tho liberties OF the
nations of the world
It would be difficult TO catalogue the com
mon interests in the realm Of thought ana
activity which tend to bind France and Amer
lea together in n union of mutual under
standing. In national temperament and IN
political ideas we arc closely allied. So mucn
so that a Lafayette can actively serve America
in her struggle 10 be born not only without
disloyalty to the country OF has allegiance
hut also 90 the advantage Of his own iuture
usefulness in French public life century
and half later America makes response
in a Chapman and n Seeger, who in laying
down their lives for France enrich their own
ration's annals b. the act.
The Evolution Of Our Entente
You have a phrase expressive Of the m
innate relation of nations which like many
cognate French expressions, IS untranslataoIe
and has been Incorporated as 1t stands ln'o
other Languages entente cordlale. Ihough'
like the term alliance, it has political signih-
/ canoe. it emboIies much beside. An alliance
NAV stop short with formal contract An
entente reaches to the heart and soul OF the
nations concerned. The entente cordiale o.
France for America has been an evolution
but we find it already developed force when
your brilliant publcst and writer de Tocque-
I VILE nearly a century ago paid his VISIT 20
America to study a single phase Of our Ire
and came away with such a ripe knowledge
/ Of the genius Of our nation as to be equipped
TO interpret US to ourselves in his Demo
cratic en- Ameriaue." To another foreigner,
Lord Bryce, America is debtor for a similar
service of national Interpretation. of high
/ intrinsic value. as we'll as a strand in the
/ cord binding his country TO ours. once
heard him say that he did not write the
American commonwealth - it wrote itself.
! He was in America as a friendly observer
and gathered much information in CONVEX
: -ation during railroad travel and other infor-
nal intercourse In the end he awoke TO the
! fact that he had material for book
/ This ability of a man of foreign blood and
allegiance TO interpret the character OF an
other nation better even than one of its own
citizens is not perhaps as ineXplicaDle as at
/ first blush it seems. Because of the grave
limitations of introspection, autobiography
/ holds a lower place in letters than biogra-
ply. The photographer is under the dis
ability Of either vanity or modesty and says
either too much or too little; the biographer
is unhampercd by any considerations other
than the facts Of the case. The former is
too close 10 his material TO see 1t in due
perspective; the latter is free TO view il in
its actual setting. The former. provided he
is not a megalomaniac. is so familiar with
/ his subject that it is always stale; the lat
ter approaches ii with perennial freshness.
/ These same principles operate in national
studies. For this reason we Americans wei
come such bold portraits Of our life and in
stitutions as our distinguished chairman Of
/ this evening. Baron d'Estournelles de Con-
slant. has given Us in his LES Etats-Unis
dAmerque" Not only do they form links
in the chain o. friendship, but they help
US TO know ourselves.
Checks and Lapses
OF course. this process of International UNI
Outstanding comes slowly and has its checks
end lapses. During our Civil War 1T was
with you as it has been with US to-day -
the government and a large portion of the
people were not alwavs in accord. France
as a nation was quicker. perhaps. than Eng
land to perceive the moral question involved
/ and 10 take a stand against belligerent that
was fighting to make slavery permanent
principle upon which to establish and main
! tain national life. Napoleon H. influenced by
! Southern agents, presented propositions OF
! Intervention and mediation which did not
represent the mind of the French nation, and
which received short shrift In England *
was the industrial classes, inspired by such