The Echo de Paris of Friday week published a remarkable
article on the relations of France, England, and Germany from the pen of M. Delafosse, a well-known and highly respected member of the Conservative Opposition. M. Delafosse, adhering to the view he expressed in the Chamber two months ago, regards Morocco as a pretext, the real aim of German policy being the destruction of the rapprochement between France and England. Differing, therefore, from the German publicists, who allow France no alternative but an alliance with Germany, he bolds that a defensive alliance with England would be of value to her both in war and in peace. In the event of war, England could not only destroy the German Fleet, but paralyse Germany's industrial and commercial activity by blockade and compel surrender by the menace of famine. "Germany would be compelled in a few weeks to ask for mercy, and it would be France, even if her- self defeated, who on joint account with victorious England would dictate peace." It was precisely because the chances were such in the event of war, continued M. Delafosse, that Germany would not run the risk, and this was why an alliance with Great Britain was for France the best safeguard of peace. In conclusion, he repudiates the insinuation that England has been trying to " use " France, contending that what enables France to count on England is England's own interest,—viz., to prevent the annihilation of France, the necessary counterpoise to the power of Germany, and the "obligatory antagonist" of the monstrous expansion of the Germany of Pan-Germanism.
It is very hard to say what is the exact state of the negotiations between France and Germany, but there seems a general belief that they have entered on a more tranquil phase, and that though the dangers which once threatened to
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