22 SEPTEMBER 1917, Page 2

M. Painter& the new French Premier, who has formed his

Ministry without the assistance of the Socialists, made his first speech to the Chamber on Tuesday. His task was, he said, " to gather together all the material and moral forces of the nation for the supreme phase of the war." The nearer we drew to the end, the more would the moral resistance of the nation become the element essential to victory. National unity was more than over necessary, and those who sought to weaken it must be brought to account. M. Painleve defined the war aims of France as the return of Alamo 3- Lorraine, reparation for the damage and ruin wrought by the enemy, and "a just peace in which no people, whether strong or weak, shall be oppressed, a peace in which effective guarantors shall protect the society of nations against all aggression on the part of one among them." Until these aims had been attained, France would continue to fight. To prolong the war one day more than necessary would be the greatest crime in history, but to stop the war a day too soon would b3 fatal to France. The Chamber on Wednesday adopted a motion of confidence in the Painleve Ministry by 378 votes to 1, but the Socialists held aloof.