M. Briand opened at St. Etienne on Sunday his campaign
against the opponents of his policy of conciliation. The Times correspondent says that, in the opinion of many observers, politics are tending to unite the different groups into two large parties, much on the lines of the British party system. M. Briand is said to have kept him audience fasci- nated by his eloquence, and they were much moved by his appeal to them to work for the realization of the Republic in which the Government would be at the service of all the sons of France. He attributed the need for three years' service to the policy of the Moths and Caillaux Cabinets, which had destroyed the work of their predecessors and had made possible the episode of Agadir and necessary the military con- quest of Morocco. It was an abomination that the men responsible for these things should now reproach those who had introduced three years' service. He advocated afresh his ideal of conciliation. "The Republic cannot live by Anti- Clericalism alone. . . . I believe that true progress is not that which the country brings forth in pangs, but that which it obtains in peace." Immediately after the speech there was a rush of the audience, who knocked over chairs and tables in their eagerness to congratulate M. Briand. The Times cor- respondent says that M. Briand will probably succeed in creating a new political party standing for the ideal of the New France.
