Evening star., 1933-11-05
see what the RECOGNITION really amount.

W. "iiuV tilC ICIuBlllllUll IChlly hlllUulll
ed to. As already shown, the cabine
meeting was war gathering. And th'
| Whole conference was of war-wayS tt
keep little America out of the conf1ic
between France and England. The ques
tion of recognizing the French Republic
| was but an incident with Washington
| and his cabinet. Indeed, the character
| OF the French nation, up for recogni.
| ton, was never under consideration
The thing about recognition that con.
cerned Washington was its possible
bearing upon the war question.
Decide On Neutrality.
That cabinet meeting determined
upon neutrality in the war: and thai
really settled recognition also For. how.
| ever necessary neutrality was, it in.
VOWED offenSe to France by virtua
preach of treaty with her; and fool.
| hardy. indeed, would have been the
| further offenSe of rejecting her minister
Jefferson later said that the propose
| 20 do SO was ''the boldeSt that ever wa.
! hazarded. and which would have callec
for extremities had it prevailed"
| Now as to the remaining part-the
beneficial results the Senator finds from
that recognition. The Senator indicates
that the result of recognition was this
instead OF the propaganda going
forward in this country, which seems
to have been feared then from some
sources. and IS now feared with refer
ence to Soviet Russia, it ceased almost
entirely. The American Republic was a
no occasion to continue acts of enmity tc
our institutions, or disregard oul
wishes"
And such, Mr.. Borah argues. would
be the result of our now recognizing
Russia. But the very essence of the
French Revolution. as then in progress
vas ennity toward all existing govern
ments. FriendlineSs, 'recognition-such
things made do difference The French
leaders of 1898 were fanatically striv-
ing not only to reshape France but tc
reshape the world They then, like Rus
sian leaders now, stood for a cause. not
merely country. And that cause
made France menace to the world
Increased Propaganda.
Upon recognition by America. France
did not cease meddleSome propaganda
here. She increased it. With the op-
portunitics and the immunities of ar
established embassy. she plunged into
intrigue still more politically subversive
became the head of constant activities
against the American Government
Time after time President Washing
ton Indignantly denounced all this. He
declared it was primarily to SOW the
seeds of jealousy and diStrust among
the people. that iniquitous clubs had
their diabolical leader. Genet: and
that their subversive work threatened
to shake the Government to its fCun-
dations"
Washington had to ask the recall OF
Genet. OF course that request was in
language attributing all fault to the
man. none to the government. 1t had tC
be. But in fact those ministers sent out
by revolutionary France were part OF
the scheme Of intrigue and propaganda.
They were under instructions permitting
and requiring conduct not in good re-
pute in diplomatic circles. They were
really commissioned not from govern
ment to government. but from people
TO people. and were expected to over
reach the government to proselyte the
people Upon the whole. barring a sort
of insane enthusiasm, Genet did about
as he was told. This is further Shown
by the fact that his successors con-
tinued. SO far as they could his repre-
hensible activities.
Washington never recognized the sort
of French Republic that Senator
Borah says he did. His recognition,
even of the French government as he
knew it. established no worthwhile
precedent, for it was virtually COM
pulSOry. The recognition did not cause
a cessation of French subversive propa-
ganda. as the Senator claims, but in
creased 1t till it threatened. Wash
ington says, TO shake the Government
to It's foundationS'
Whatever President Roosevelt's de-
cision to Russia. it is to be hoped
viii not be built upon such trernbl ing
sand as Senator BorahS high prece-
dent"
Copyright. 1889