25 AUGUST 1894, Page 2

The North German Gazette of Monday publishes an im. portant

article on the relations between France and Germany, an article of which the Berlin correspondent of the Times remarks that since 1870 "such a conciliatory tone has probably never been adopted by the leading semi-official organ with reference to France." Why, it asks, should not normal rela- tions be restored P The Emperor has been at great pains to show a friendly feeling, and in France there is a growing ten- dency to recognise the advantages which both countries can gain by occasionally joining hands as neighbours where they have common interests. That this means occasionally putting a spoke in England's wheel in Africa, and that in future such acts as the smashing of the Congo Treaty shall be done jointly as well as severally, is clear from the next sentence. "Not only in certain. African questions, as, for instance, that of the Cameroons and the Congo, but again now in the nego- tiations for the protection of the injured creditors of Greece, the event has shown that there is really nothing to prevent the Governments of both countries from coming to a friendly understanding, and from doing so with the consent and ap- proval of public opinion on both sides." Language of this kind from the organ of the Berlin Foreign Office caused no little sensation in Paris, and on Tuesday the Libert4 replied by declaring that the views expressed were true. The Emperor's demonstrations at the time of M. Carnot's death were in everybody's memory, and in. spite of painful memories there are daily interests which can be dismissed pacifically,