England is also the main argument of the French advocates
for a Colonial Army. M. Raiberti, who on Tuesday made in the Chamber of Deputies the most striking speech yet delivered on the subject, declared that while Great Britain had three hundred thousand Colonial troops, France had only thirty thousand, and that to equalise the weight of their diplomacy—a de- licious phrase—France must have a great Colonial Army. Once possessed of that, France could speak with effect, for her territories now touch those of England at many points. Russia always spoke with effect to Great Britain because she could always demonstrate in the Pamirs, but in Indo-China France had only fourteen thousand native troops. The idea, clearly, is to fill Indo-China and French Guiana, and possibly Madagascar, with troops, and then, in alliance with Russia, to ask Great Britain what she means by her arrogance. We have no objection to offer. France has a right to raise a Colonial Army, as Germany has a right to build a powerful Navy, and both may, if they think it advisable, indicate Great Britain as the enemy. Only we would just hint, as matter of consideration for foreign statesmen, that they are slowly dissolving the rooted British objection to conscription.
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