THE SYMPATHY OF FRANCE
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—While due and appreciative notice has been taken in our Press of the official demonstrations of French sympathy, in regard to King George's death, it is doubtful whether the British public generally are aware of the very remarkable manner in which the mass of the French people have shown, during the past week, the depth of their respect and esteem for our late King.
The accounts of his illness and demise and the attendant circumstances have filled almost as much space in the French papers as in our own. Every detail has been followed with anxiety and emotion. Every section of the nation has testified, with a sincerity that . was certainly heartfelt, its admiration for the personality of the late Sovereign. He appears to have represented, for the French, the beau ideal of what the head of a great nation should be, and they have envied us the reign of such a model monarch.
Here, on the Riviera, the authorities, naval, military and civil, have done all in their power to associate themselves with the sorrow of the British communities on this lovely coast, while the sympathy shown by all classes of the people could not have been deeper if they had been mourning one of their own great dead.
The association which the French are showing in our nation's loss and the tone in which it has been conveyed cannot but strengthen the ties that bind the two countries. It has served to renew the glorious associations of the Great War and has fortified the assurance that, upon the cordiality of feeling be- tween our two nations, the peace of the world largely depends.
—I am, Sir, your obedient servant, HESKETII BELL. Cannes.
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