Lord Derby, speaking to the Manchester Chamber of Com- merce
on Thursday, December 2nd, advocated a Franco-British Alliance as the best safeguard for the peace of the world. "I am going to advocate it through thick and thin," he said, "be- cause in my humble opinion if we had had an affiance with France instead of an understanding the war would not have taken place." Lord Derby went on to explain that France was by no means, as was often supposed, a militarist nation. Lord Derby then went on to analyze the special and unceasing anxieties of France. These are familiar to us all. Naturally, we who live in an island are not in the same position as Con- tinental Powers which have long land frontiers. But when all allowances have been made we cannot feel that Lord Derby disposed of the problem by simply declaring that it was natural for France to "take no risks." We thoroughly believe that France, as Lord Derby said, is in no aggressive temper. She wants safety, not expansion—at all events in Europe.
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