The New York herald., 1922-04-30

the Northcliffe press have been more
French than the French. I, my
self, am French by descent. / have
lived considerable periods in France.
/ can safely claim to more inti-
mate knowledge of the French peo-
pie and the French character than
is possessed by most Englishmen,
and during the last three years the
Northcliffe papers have over and
over again suggested the inquiry to
me, "What do they know of France
who only Clemenceau, Poincare, and
the Echo de Parts know?'
1t would seem that the old motto
MY country, right or wrong" has
been changed to THE other fellows s
country. right or wrong" and not
even that but to "the particular
rump that is governing the other
fellows country right or wrong"
IS all the world knows. in his Wash
.ngton letters, II. G. Wells severely
criticised the postwar policy of the
French Government and the conse-
quent attitude of the French dele
gates at the Washington conference.
These criticisms led to his articles
being abruptly banned by the Daily
Mail and to their subsequent ap-
pearance in the Daily Express, a
newspaper owned by Canadian and
edited by talented journalist whose
home town is Watertown, Wiscon-
sin.
Despite the fact that it was to
Americans that III. G. Wells owed
his English audience, America may
be assured that the England that
works, somehow contrives to pay
its 33 per cent. income tax. and
sent it's sons to win the war would
plump for Wells as against Lord
Northcliffe. Again call the British
Prime Minister as witness. He has
been impelled to constant disagree
ment with French international pol
icy by the force of public opinion. I
am writing as a Francophil, though
Francophil with knowledge, and
can affirm that there is not Franco
phobia in my country. The expert
ences of the war gave to the English
people a genuine admiration for the
French and anything like hostility
between the two peoples is unthink-
able. But the average Englishman
is far too critical of his own Gov
ernment to believe that any other
Government can be right all the
time or even most of the time. The
average Englishman, too, has learned
to hate militarism. The price of
peace may be heavy but England
knows that it is far less than the
price Of war. When H. G. Wells
hits, he hits hard. That is the habit
of the man. But, though he may
have hit unnecessarily hard. he was
speaking for England in all he wrote
at Washington.
That is II. G. Wells's immense
Importance. He is completely repre-
sentative of his country, of his age,
of his class. He was representative
yesterday, he is representative to-
day, and he will be representative
tomorrow. No man was ever more
successful in moving with the times.
For a quarter of century he has
been ready with a series of acute
diagnoses of his country's troubles,
and with a series of acute remedies.
When the trouble became so men,
acing that, for all his native auda-
city. he failed to find a promising
cure he invented a god in his own
image to help him to write the pre-
scriptions. Here again he was typi-
cal of England and particularly of
middle class England. 1t is charac-
teristic of the Englishman to call on
God when all else fails and never to
call on him before. And this is really
due to English courtesy and consid-
GRAFTON. not to trouble the Almighty
except when it is evident that none
but He can be of any avail.
III.
Foolish persons have often accused
Wells Of inconsistency and frequent
changes of opinion, Of swallowing