Paris, Oct, 17.
An interesting letter on the temporary state of irritation sting between France and England appears in the "Temps? from the pen of a French political personage who was closely concerned in the peace negotiations. He says he has been struck by the number of articles. in the French Press against English policy and Mr. Lloyd George personally. These attacks cause great surprise to the English public, which had become mote and more attached to France during the war, and are calculated to wound Mr. Lloyd George, who must consider them unjust. If attacks of this kind continue, the result will be to bring about a state of cold misunderstanding instead of the warm friendship which ought to be the sequel of the war.
The French, continues this French writer, do not seem to understand their ally's point of view. Tt has always been England's policy to abstain from in-has been Belgium would have made England draw the sword in 1914. The war having ended in victory, the English people's one idea is' to resume business and take advantage of the removal of German competition. They are strongly opposed to anything that might again in-wolve them in Continental complications. This is the reason for their attitude towards the Germans, whom they consider as no longer dangerous and whom they are almost inclined to pity, and towards France, whose uneasiness and indignation they fail to understand.
The English forget that France, the tenth of whose population has been killed or mutilated, who has lost' 50 per cent. of her men between 20 and 30 years of age, whose richest and most productive districts have been methodically destroyed, whose forests have been removed to Germany in the form of timber, who has seen her fruit trees deliberately cut down, will have to put in at least ten years of hard work before she can pay her debts, rebuild her industries and take her proper economic position in the world, even supposing that Germany carries out the conditions of the peace treaty as r gards the payment of war in. demnities. By paying taxes equal to those of the Englishman and more than those of the German, France can balance her Budget but
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.