THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1913. THE "NEW FRANCE."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 16 April 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1913. THE "NEW FRANCE."

The awakening of France, and the expressed determination of that nation to occupy a prominent place among the Great Powers of the world, lias excited considerable interest in England, and not a little anxiety in Germany. The London Times sees in the election of M. Poincaire to the Presidency a distinct awakening. His popularity in Paa-is and throughout the country is, in the opinion of the Times, unapproached by any President for a generation . Of its extent and of its ardour nobody who has seen its manifestations can doubt. Its cause is clear . France knowia that she has great tasks before her a,t home as well as abroadfl She believes that M. Poincaire can, and will, help her to achieve them. That confidence is the source of his strength and.of his weakness: of his strength, because it lends him power to act; of his weakness, because it may give rise to expectations which lie cannot gratify. Dissatisfaction with the feebleness of the Executive and the littlenesses of the party system at home has undoubtedly been an important factor in his elevation". Fiance hopes that he will liberate her from domestie abuses which he has denounced, but which have many crafty and interested champions in the Legislature. (But, important though that factor be, it i® not the main reason of liis favour with the nation. It is on the position of France among the Powers that their eyes are fixed. Itis in the field of international affairs that they look for labour and for results. It is there that M. Poincaire must earn their gratitude, or undergo their reproach. There is much in this feeling with which the friends of France must sympathise. They know well with what impolitic harshness her most legitimate and her tenderest susceptibilities have been trampled upon in the not very distant past. Tk«y fully endorse her claim to be treated upon absolutely equal terms by every Power in Europe. President Poincaire, we are sure, does not contew-

plate any policy "which would not com- ! nxaftd the full approval of all the part- j •Hera in the Triple Entente, and of the j silent busy masses throughout the ! land, whose steady practical sens© is the true mind of France. He knows the conditions on which alone that approval can be given, and he knows that moderation and sobriety in language and in action are amongst tliem. That, indeed, is common knowledge amongst responsible French statesmen and the intelligent 'French public, than which there is none more peace-loving in Europe. We believe, too, that the new President is not the sort of weak' ling who is lured or dragged into unwisdom against his own judgment. For thesa reasons, we are not inclined i to attach over-much importanec to tho ; more extravagant exhibitions of Chauvinism which are reported from Paris. We rejoice at the self-reliant spirit of the "new Fraftoe." We. rejoice at the unmistakable dash and "go" of the French troops, and we , honour the alacrity with which the I French nation responded to the demand for fresh sacrifices in the cauSe jof national defence. But it is with regret that we see these tokens of true patriotism accompanied by pro- , vocative speaking and writing. It is perhaps inevitable that froth of this ' kind should rise on the wave of national feeling. We remember tne "Mafficking" in London. We do not forget the hysterics of the Paris mob in 1870. Wise Frenchmen, who know the state of, Europe, cannot but feel disquiet at the prominence which the Chauvinists—and perhaps not the Chauvinists alone—are giving to the I subject of Alsace-iiorraine. If French people cannot help thinking of it, th?y should bear Gambetta's counsel in mind, and keep their thoughts to themselves. For on this side of the Channel, where the French revival is watched with the deepest interest and sympathy, such talk cannot but suggest a war of revenge, and against wars of revenge -and aggression the mind and conscience of England are immovably set. Wars of that kind a>re oppossd to the fundamental principles of the Triple Entente, whose "raison d'etre" is the preservation of peace upon the basis of the present balance of power and of the "status quo." All this, we do not doubt, is a.s familiar to thoughtful Frenchmen a.s it is to the rest of the world. It is not from the effervescence pf emotion in the streets and the playhouses of Paris that we can learn- the will and determination of France. She is now unquestionably resolved +o defend law nienn'ty vrith the same freedom from alien interference which she readily allows to be the right of all. In the clearness find thS firmness of this-re-V'.t think - fl: .ocei ; n the tl-ue spiritoofi f the ""new France." It is not provocative. It is not s?lfassertive. .It is self-reliant—self-reliant- with the assurance that comes of conscious rectitude and of con- ; scwus- strength.