The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-12-11
FRANCE WOULD
CEMENT BONDS.
OF Alliance and Friendship
Made on Battlefield-Will
Welcome Wilson
WITH MIXED MOTIVES
See in President Leader Of
Great People Who Gave
Relief in Nick of Time.

(Iondou Times Phil. Ledger Cop. Cable)
Paris, Dec. 10.-Those In France
who have not followed closely the
course of American policies for the
last few weeks are generally un-
acquainted with the persistent oppo-
sition to Wilson's departure. They
see in him a leader of great people
which came to the allied relief Just
in the nick of time; man who at
any rate has been an active instru-
ment of the war. He will receive q
splendid welcome, but one inspired
of mixed motives. II Is n curious
and unhappy fact that the extrem-
lists in French politics. such as Jean
Longuet, are the loudest in singing
praises of Mr.. Wilson. Day after day
Longuet, who denounces the "impe-
rialist" England of Lloyd George and
Lord Northcliffe, proclaims his ad-
miration OF the England or William
Morris and Ramsay Macdonald, and
believes he and Mr.. Wilson see eye
to eye matters affecting the settle
mcnt of the world.
Other Reasons for Welcome.
More responsible people have other
reasons for welcoming Mr.. Wilson.
American effort, becoming effective
as 1t did when the fate of France
seemed to hang in the balance. deeply
touched the heart and Imagination
of the French. They are all anxious
to express their feelings. Some. how
ever. view Mr.. Wilson's arrival with
pleasure in that 1t gives him an op-
portunity to come more closely In
contact with the hard facts OF peace
and war to which principles must be
adapted II the settlement is' to be
durable.
Govern Whole Attitude.
These facts govern the whole atti-
tude of France. shaping her peace
policy. There Is perhaps not another
country in the world to which peace
Is more essential for the generations
to come than France. She cannot
stand another drain on her blood.
Before the war her birthrate had
fallen to an alarming depth. During
the war she lost over half a million
in dead alone. The men who have
gone were her best and would have
been fathers of the next generation.
With diminished population France
has set about the tremendous task
Of national reconstruction. Even were
Germany to pay to the last farthing
her awful debt, the whole energy of
France for years to come must be
COuCtutTdlcu vi tIihJ Icbuiiuille.
The French have no need to read
nent peace in the world Is vital n
France is to continue to play n splea-
did part in history. Neither do they
think 1t necessary to plunge the
whole world in the chaos of revolu-
tion as a preliminary to peace. The
overwhelming majority of French
men. on the contrary, prefer the
peaceful path of international UNDER
standing towards permanent peace.
Maintain Alliance.
Therein they are in complete
agreement with Mr.. Wilson and see
in existing accords the first motive
of force along that road. Mainte-
nance of the alliance and friendships
France has so consolidated on the
field of battle is the one great aim
French peace negotiators have ever
before their eyes. In particular they
will have at heart the strength of
the Franco British intimacy. The
friendship of France and Italy is
important for the good of the world;
that between France and Britain is
vital to the security of Europe
against the peacebreaker. Fortunate
ly. in whatever part of the world
with which the interests of our two
peoples are in contact or even in ap-
parent opposition the solution lies
Immediately and obviously at hand.
Attack Would Be Folly.
In Europe it Is clearly to our in
terest to approve the French making
their eastern bulwarks so strong
that an attack would be folly even
greater than in 1914. In the world
elsewhere certain corners are not
rounded off by the Franco British
agreement which formed the politi-
cal Inauguration of the entente cor
dale. Lingering remnants of inter-
national obstruction to the great
work of France in Morocco and of
Great Britain in Egypt can easily be
swept out of the way. Syria has
also to be considered in the light OF
old French interests. also the ques-
ton of Palestine in it's strategic re-
lation to Egypt in it's international
significance to the whole religious
world.
Any hopes of dissension between
France and Great Britain the enemy
may have are happily doomed to
Franco I | II
friendship is the strongest founda-
tion on which to build the new Eu-
rope. The French mean to see that
no spirit of bargaining shall prevent
the concrete of that foundation from
being well mixed. Franco British
unity Is already so firm 1t cannot
but have decisive influence on the
whole European settlement. France
has a desire to maintain as the ba-
sis of the larger international action
the whole police force OF liberty
who fought alongside her allies. She
will throw the whole weight OF her
persuasion into the scales of modera-
tion In any difference of opinion
which may exist or arise between the
new and the old states of Europe.
It would be folly 10 pretend that
the diplomats Of France more than
those Of any other country are re-
solved to run their foreign policy
along the lines of the Sermon on the
Mount. but the French mean to as
sist In the task to make peace a hui
name and honest instrument Of law
and order in liberty throughout the
world for the next hundred years.