Jan. 8.
[Mp one point of consolation! in the melancholy story of the London-Paris conference is that on both sides of the Channel there remains such evident desire that the difference of opinion shall mean no impairment of mutual friendship. It is a commonplace that we usually dislike most those who resemble ourselves, and the peculiar vindictiveness of the French press towards Mr. Lloyd George is not impossibly due the fact that the agile mentality of the Celt is first cousin to the elusive dexterity of the Gaul. In Mr. Bonar Law's duller, more matter-of-fact wit our. French friends merely recognize the traditional phlegma britannique, which is notoriously past praying for: and the French press are quite sufficiently alive to the seriousness of the situation not to make matters worse with angry words over. what cannot be cured.
Heaven forbid that the press of any other Gountry should do otherwise. The Anglo-French En-"toute has lasted for the best part of twenty years; it saved the world from Prussian domination and the history of mankind will ever have cause to be grateful for it. If now a vital difference. of opinion has arisen, there need be no loss of friendship while each side recognizes the absolute sincerity of the other's point of view. The cordiality of the parting between M. Poincaré and Mr. Bonar Law sets a standard for the two peoples which will yet enable
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.