THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE. Edited by J. B. Scott.
(Oxford University Press. 12s. 6d. net.)— This is a compilation of documents on a matter that will always be of interest, though not of pride, to British readers. Mr. Scott gives us the text of the Treaties of 1778 againSt England between France and the American Commissioners in Paris, the contracts for the secret subsidies and their repayment and the Treaty of Paris Of 1783. The last, concluded in the Name of the most Holy and undivided Trinity has (if we may turn a blind eye upon 1812-14) mercifully " secured perpetual Peace and Harmony " for the English-speaking races. The rest of the book is a selection of some opinions on inter- national gratitude," mainly from the writings of Jared Sparks on American diplomacy published about 1840. His aim was to prove that France was a loyal and useful ally to the Colonies, though he could see through the sentimental nonsense which represented Louis XVI as an altruist devoted to de republicanism of the United States. No one now denies that George III had at least as warm a corner in his heart for his rebellious subjects as Louis had for them, or that the Fre Government cared for anything but the weakening of Brit' h power, though they treated their allies fairly in their dealings with them. There is a latent irony to-day in the references to the French loans and their repayment by the United States.
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