FUTURE OF FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 139, 8 March 1920, Page 7

FUTURE OF FRANCE

NATION STRONG ENOUGH TO FACE COMING TASKS CONTEMPLATION OF PAST GIVES HOPE

"France has not" conquered alone," declared. M. Ernest Denis, professor at the Sorbonne, president'of tho Ligue Civique, in a special contribution to the "Christian Science Monitor" 011 the vit/il subject, the future of France, "and she admits unreservedly that definite success was only obtained thanks to the combined effort of civilised nntions assembled in a common will against Prussian tyranny. She 1 ' preserves an infinite gratitude for the nations which, loss directly threatened than herself, claimed their share in the battle and helped lior to repel invasion and break Teutonic militarism.

"Without wishine to diminish in anv way tho part which belongs to her allies, AFrance, is nevertheless, distinctly conscious of having broken the • first shock of the enemy and of having supported the, heaviest part of the burden during the first part of tho war. Without the prodigious heroism of French ■soldiers, England would not have had time to form her armies, and the United States would have awakened from tho nonchalant quietude in which their optimism took pleasure, only when they would have assisted at the forced blossoming of German hegemony. "I am, however, persuaded that, in soite of all, the dream of William II and of the Pan-Germanists would never have been completely realised, because it is impossible to admit; that humanity could ever deny those ideas of liberty which it has so painfully elaborated and for which it has fought during centuries. It is, nevertheless, probable that, in order to defeat Germany, a long period of war would have been necessary, and that humanity might have been condemned to several centuries of fiuhting. In this 6ense, then, one can 6,tv that France has saved civilisation. ''The Germans, however, declare this is .to.bo a victory of Pyrrhus. France, they say, has suffered such heavy losses that she is -incapable of recovering from them. Sho was already weak before the war. Faced by peril, she recovered in . a sunreme effort a last spasm of virility, and one did not, in truth, believe her capable of so magnificent an attitude. •But at what a price has she bought her triumph! This prodigious tension has at length exhausted her. . She is still canable—and she. had proven_ it—of a monetary effort. But she is in no condition to support that regular' and methodical effort which is the very condition of life.

"Now. we Frenchmen would not be otherwise afflicted or astonished- (concernine these severe ■ prognostications, wei;e our enemies alone to pronounce But it occasionally seems to us as if our friends themselves were expressing a certain anxiety about our future, and a 9 if, at the very moment when they praise ue most highly, their gaze becomes veiled with sadness.* Their panegyrics sometimes resemble dirges! "Now we wish to reassure them fully on our account. We do not ■ know, what fate' the future reserves for us, but we do 'know-that many difficulties await us. Yet this does not alarm lis, hnd Wo feel Ourselves quite strong enough to faco any tasks which await us. '■'We are frequently reproached with being an old country; this is true, but we do not see in this fact any reason for despairing. It is. a, great strength to bo backed' by a glorious past, has been devoid neither of errors nor disasters, but it proves that we know how to recognise our ' imprudences in time, and that we recuperate' quickly from our _ misfortunes. This faculty of rejuvenation has oft disconcerted our adversaries, and astonished our best friends.

"Without looking as far back as tho Hundred Years' War or the religious wars, it is undeniable that in 1871 out victors believed our fate to be sealed, and that they would never again meet us ill their path. And, indeed, our situation was truly, lamentable. The.-Pras. sians occupied', more' than half of our territory; and a formidable insurrection had swept over Paris. In the south of France disagreements, which were supposed to be long since ended, suddenly awoke to life and threatened national unity. ,

"Yet three years later, we had completely paid off the formidable contribution under which Bismarck linci thought to crush us for many a long year j our army was reorganised; our credit was re-established, and our renaissance was 60 rapid as to alarm tho Iron Chancellor, who saw no other means of checking our new prosperity than by a brusque attack. "Since then our y>litical life has been troubled by fearful crises, and wo have known the most serious perplexities; we crossed a period of acute antimilitarism, and the most dangerous sophism found numerous and ardont advocates amongst us. Yet in spite of all, in spiteof party agitation, wo founded b, \ magnificent colonial empire, we acquired precious alliances, we succeeded in developing our military forces, wo extended popular education and elevated the masses. of, the nation to a remarkable moral height. "Does all this signify that everything is nerfect in Franco? We nre far from believine this, and we aro far less disnoscd to vaunt our virtues than to doprcciato ourselves. We aro even renroached with revealing an excessive willinsness in avowing onr .weaknesses. This is because we are attracted by progress and idealism. Nowhere is hypocrisy. rarer than in France. The recent elections have proved that Franco has lost, nothing of, tho clearness of her spirit'and of the resolution of her courage.. Their significance is quito apparent; War, which exacted a prodigious effort of courage, had necessarily obsonred ideas and shaken all hearts. Weakened bv too hard trials, and strain-, ed bv an excessive tension, men were naturally prone to welcome the most fantastic illusions and were accessible to tfie most childish sophisms. The extremists counted upon the failure and weakness of the majority. It was sufficient to reveal to France into whJit an abyss she risked being dragged for her to immediately resume her self-possession.

"Good sense, declared our philosopher Descartes, is the faculty which is most universally distributed. The examplo of Germany and Russia, might make us doubt of the exactitude of this affirmation. To those charlatans and swindlers who pretended to convert her to Bolshevism. France answered that she was resolved to remain a nation, nnd that she would renounce none of the liberties which sho has so dearly acquired. She rcDiilscs Internationalism, which, by confounding peoples in an amorphous amalgamation, would annihilate the specific qualities o£ different races, suppress their fruitful emulation nnd the variety and charm of civilisation. She reiocts the Marxist dogma of class struggle which is' devoid of sense' in a country where, for long, classes have cenpeel to exist."

. Siio docs not accept tho dictatorship of the proletariat nor any other dictatorship. She hold,s herself to the formula of. the Declaration of the Rights of Man: 'Tho principles of all sovereignty Toside essentially in the nation. No' body, no individual can exert any authority which dpes not emanate directly from the nation. . .. .. Law is tho expression -of national will.'

"In order to maintain those primordial articles of the political faith of France, sceptics and indifferent persons alike shook off their nonchalance. Ono of tho characteristic, traits of the recent Sections is, indeed, the considerable number of votors, tl"3 willingness with which all citizens affirmed their will, the precision with which they formulated their resolution.

"Does this mean that tho new Chamber will not know the wlest discussions and tumultuo'is debates of its predecessor? Nobody suppose" this. But. why should one fear those agitations which are the ransom or rather the ornament of liberty? In political life, parties me nccessary and their rivalries are fruitful on 1 condition of being limited by a common preoccupation 'of national interest. From this point of view, the recent elections reveal a considerable progress of opinion. "They mark, first ef nil. the definitive recognition of the ilep'.ihlican regime. Tho Conservative Party, inasmuch as it remained attached to ccrtain monarchical traditions, no longer exists. Even the group of the Action, FrnncaiM was

obliged to accept Republicans on its lists, and this concession lias not succeeded in saving it from a complete disnster. Tho election of Icon Daudet, tho only ono of its candidates named in Paris, can be explained solely by personal reasons, by tho attraction exerted by his remarkable literary talent, and also by the incoherence of an elccto"al law voted far too rapidly and favr.-uiing tho most curious combinations.

"For it is indispensable that no doubt ebouid linger in any minds. It would be a grave error to suppose that because they have condemned Bolshevism, French electors aro disposed to support a policy of reaction or e~en of stagnation. Franca is and remains a democratic people. Workmen are losing their way if they think to obtain the satisfaction of their claims by violence, and they aro mistaken when they rei'uso to see that their interests are conformable with thoso of the ensemble of tho country. The German Socialists, whatever errors they may have committed in prac. tice, possessed a more cxact comprehension of truth, when they affirmed that tho proletariat derives a direct advantage from the prosperity of the country. All interists are soiidary, and it is assured to believe that the best way of improving the fate of workmen is to be gin by d'sorganising industry and commerce. It is because they did not understood this truth .that the Unified Socialists have experienced so bitter a defeat.

"However, amongst the claims of tho workers, many .'ire extremely legitiinato and should receive satisfaction. Ono of the primordial duties of the new Chamber will be to study seriously their demands in a spirit of large and human sympathy. It must combat with energy all social scourges, beginning with the drink traffic, improve conditions of living, transform tho system of education and strive la further by all means in the disinterested classes thoso ideas morality and of intellectual needs whicn are tho conditions and tho dignity of life.

"France owes to all her children, with tho secur/ty of the morrow, a larger sharo in. tha superior joys of (civilisation."