French Comments on the Naval Review.

Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 58, 6 September 1897, Page 2

French Comments on the Naval Review.

The Paris • Temps ' congratulated Great Britain on the great display witnessed at Spithead, and *aid : We need feel no petty jealousy. We believe that every nation has a right to develop its forces according to its historical bent, and is entitled to make iUelf safe within its own borders. France can take part batter than any other nation io a spirit of generous sympathy with this naval fete. She well knows shat notwithstanding ihe natural rivalry of two great nations, neighbours in every part of the globe, there is no probability of this immense British fleet ever being turned against her. The review is the crowning event of a pacific Jubilee. We do not see any threat in this incomparable display of force, nor anything that can awaken sore recollections. England is feeling the exhileratini; sensation of her naval power. It is glorious for a continential nation like France, with enemies on land, to hive faced the Queen of the Ocean with 3ailors worthy to meet Collingwood, St. Vincent, and Nelnon. Between great historic nations just as between men of gontle breeding, there is a sort of freemasonry which ennobles past struggles arid enables one to admiro with serene uniielfiahness tbo patriotic grandeur of a night like the Spithead review. M. E. M. Loir, the naval expert of the ' Figaro,' in his description of the review, had the following remarkii; — No wonder the English are proud in the consciousness of their strength. They manifest their jay somewhat noisily perhaps, but I for one do not blame them. I ad noire them, and to tell the truth, my admiration is not udtingai with envy ; for if they have attained the degree of power which they unquestionably possess, it is to them* selves, to their energy, to their tenacity, to their indomitable will that they owe it. Their supremacy at sea has long since been established on the rnin of nations who once had a tea power that balanced thtirs. But never has their sea power been greater than at the present moment. The impulse which has led to the achievement of this effort is of recent growth. Up to 1887 the British Admiralty rested content to abide by the principle of keeping up a navy able to cope with tlie coalition of any two foreign cations. But since theu it has taUeu a widev conception of it* duties, and net to work to realise tho well known verse : "Lc trident de Neptune (st lc sceptre dv monde ;" and nothing has been left undone to win that sceptre and to keep it. The nation has seconded the movement with a unanimity which denotes that t was iv continuity of thought with its ralers. The nation has shrunk from no pecuniary sacrifice to procure a formidable navy. Rear admiral Dupont, it the Gaulois, remarked that the enthusiasm of the English at this magnificent array of naval force was fully justified. They aro quite right to feel proud, since no otlser people are capable of such a manifestation of sea power, and none have bo thoroughly realised the fact that the command of the sea confers that preponderating influence that makes and unmakes empires. Since the great Elizabeth, the mother of the British Navy, as our neighbours call her, the traditions of uaval reviews have continued uninterrupted ; and there are but tow instances iv which tl^e visit t^ England of a foreign Sovpjeign has not been the occasion of such displays, often impressive by their yrandtur, always a manifestation of national pride.