The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-19


 the mailed fist.
 But in addition this surrender would have involved 8 breach of faith which the country would have refused 10 accept; a breach of faith which would have been the negation of 40 years of effort and the betrayal of that policy of peace and balance which will remain the imperishable glory of the third republic; breach of faith in prociaiming by an abr2pt reversal of our alliances the insta- bility of our democracy; q breach of faith in substituting for friends who had treated us as equals an ally who, unconsciously perhaps and by sheer historic tradition, would sooner or later have become a master.
 But if no one spoke of an alliance, many yielded to the temptation of ex- tending special agreements such as those which the desire for peace had prompted the French government to enter into in 1905, 1906, 1929, and 1911. As early as '1S90 the aged Jules Si- mon, under the spell of the young Emperor, had returned from the labor conference of Berlin with the hope of such a thing, and in the following years those of our fellow countl ymen who at the Kiel regatta5 and eise- where had fallen beneath the sway of imperial seduction were over ready to recommend this form of nor ganatic Franco German alliance. Had it not been for the continual provoca- ton of Germany In Morocco and the near east from 19o5 on, there Is little doubt that before long the idea of q reapproachment would have made headway.
 Besides the political evolution of our republic held us aioof from all Idea of war. Not that the republic despite the difficulties of its Sirth In the throes of defeat, despite the hand icap of a constitution drafted by its enemies-would have been incapable of having foreign or military pol icy: the waRAf 1914 furnished @ tri- umphant answer to the doubts of re- action on these scores by showing that France could count both on the support of free peoples and upon the services of an army which at the Marne single-hAnded checked the Ger man onslaught.
 It is none the less true that the spirit of democracy--the soul of all our laws since 1877 and the practical expression of the individ14.Ist phil losophy of the eighteenth centuy--is in it's very essence a spirit of peace. Peace in its highest expression which proclaims the right both of individ- Ials and of nations to live and be re- sepcted; lasting peace because politi- cal power entrusted to the majority lnsures the welfare of the sIeatest number and because legislation in spired thereby is repugnant to prepa- ration for war and the increase of ar- maments.
 Lost Military Habit
 France, the most warlilse of nations on the field of battle, had in peace lost her military habit of mind. At the top, painful controversies, like the Dreyfus case. had brought about cleavage between the political lead CTS and the military chiefs; at the bottom the easy leisure of national existence provoked frequent protests against the obligations imposed by the military training of the nation.
 In 1905, atsthe very moment when Germany was beginning to rattle her sabre, the term of compulsory service had been reduced by C third. Three years later, in 1903, an oven worse imprudence had reduced the period of instruction of the reserves. meas ure in fragrant contradiction with the former, as the shorter the time spent in tha initial training of recruits the more thorough and complete should be the instruction given to the TO- serves.
 In word, no one believed war pos- sible. No one believed it possible because its atrocities were repugnant to mems ordinary vision. No one be- lieved 1t possible because no one wanted war, and that being the case, nobody believed that others wanted it. Not Frenchman would have sup ported hin government in war of aggression.
 Too many Frenchmen made the mis- take of judging Gcrmany by what France was, and of supposing Ger many incapable os that which they knew France herself to be incapable of Anyone who recalled the past in order to throw light upon tho future and to dispel a dangerous sense of se- curity met with disapproval. I have right to say this and to recall that for 10 years it was my own experi- ence. It took 10 years of German threats and biackmail to make the French government, in isis. take pre- cautionary measures which, being hurriediy improvised, were naturally imperfect and incomplete. France.