"VOULEZ-VOUS ?"

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1043, 4 February 1911, Page 7

"VOULEZ-VOUS ?"

FRICATE KERSAINT IN PORT,

'L'ENTENTE I CORDIALE. Out in the harbour,., a stone's throw separating them, lie liis Imperial Brittiinic Majesty's ship Cambrian and the French cruiser Kersaint, grey dogs of 1 war, which, a hundred years, ago, would have, been- at each other's ihioats.'. Not now, messieurs. These are the days of piping peace, of I'entente cordialp. John Bull and Johnny Crapand walk arm-in-arm, so. to speak. "Voulcz-vous.?" says.. Monsieur Crapand/ "Why not.-'" replies John Bull. \\ hereupon the grey cruisers exchange greetings; the Union Jack and the Tricolour curtsey .to each other across the water. ; I • The French cruiser poked her forefoot round Point Halswell a few minutes after noon yesterday,. and, , as she . .steamed slowly to her anchorage, her .guns saluted the capital city of New Zealand with appropriate pomp and circumstance. Pipitea Point responded, and in tile' midst of the polite_ thunder, the. Kersaint dropped anchor just ahead of: tlio Cambrian. During the aftcrJ'.con, Colonel 'E. W. C. Chaytor, Officer Commanding the'.-Wellington military district, went out ill tho Janie .Soddon to pay his respects to ■ Commander -Tiercelin, and a little later, Mr. James Mackintosh,' Consul for France, also paid an official call. Further courtesies, civic,. Ministerial, and military, will bo exchanged to-day. Tlio Ker-saint—j-ou must, if you would bo proper, say "Kersang"—is - classed by Jane,'in his notes .on.the French Navy, among the "ships of 110"fighting value ' a .phraso which conveys. rather, more than its author intended.. Ho, of course, used i t-he phrase in its strictly naval senso. _Sho was built in 1897, about : fourteen' years ago, and tho warships,*.: of tho nations since that time have "developed some," 'as the-Americans say. The Cambrian, just'astern of. her, is older still —she ■was built in 1803.' Till the stbrni centre of. international politics is transferred -to.'the Pacifis any ships are apparently good enough for tho representation of French and British interests on this side of tho world.

Taken by! and large,- tho difference* , Between the British Jack Tar and the French. niau-o'-warsmait is not very, great. The casual eye of the man' in' the. street' notices'' perhaps that' the gentlemen of France wear white tam-©-shaiiters, witli red bobs. Scotland and France are hereditary friends,--wliich may ...or : may ..not explain the presence of.a-tam-o'-shanter on-the head of a French bluejacket. But studied observation'discloses many points of difference.';- In' demeanour," tho Frenchman is less exuberant than his friend from Dover, and apparently takes life,' when on duty, at all events, more seriously than Jack Tar.- Frenchmen are understood to be. excitable, volatile. Those whom one saw at the inan-o'-war steps yesterday afternoon appeared to be quito self-possessed, and quietly indifferent to staring "eyes. However, they are our very; good: friends, for is tliero libt the famous cordiale? By the way, I'entente, cordiale, broadly "speaking, means "between you and me and the post, old man,. lets stick together and watch .out for the other fellow.-" Of course, it means more than that, a Jot more, but that is "the effect of it, any.-, rate. I/eht-ente : cordiale between -Franco and " Great . Britain is of comparatively recent date, and is extremely popular-on, botlr sides of the Channel. .It is not merely a good understanding between the respective Governments; it. represents high, good fellowship . between- the peoples of-each nation,-4nd this latlfei-i aSpecV- 6f-'"tho makes for an enduring .alliance.