France, England and European Democracy, 1215-1915; A Historical Survey of the Principles Underlying the Entente Cordiale (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV From the "Splendid Isolation" to the "Entente Cordiale." (1870-1904) EIGHTEEN hundred and seventy is a painful date in our history; but it is also a memorable one for it closes an era of agitation, of thoughtlessness, and of insufficiently justified confidence in ourselves. From this time on, a new period discloses itself, a period of stability, of patient effort towards reconstruction, social, intellectual, and moral progress, and of repair in our military forces--not with any aggressive purpose, but with the object of guarding against all danger from without and of some day being able, in a Europe finally won over to the idea of justice, to rely, for the maintenance of right, on our own strength. Since 1870 we have been a pacific people. Our colonial enterprises, in which the energy of the race and its talent for administration have been so brilliantly revealed, have not been directed against any Power whatsoever. In Europe all fair-minded nations have recognized the dignity and honesty of our foreign policy which has not only challenged no one, but has, more than once, been frankly conciliatory. We have been one of the first great European nations to set an example of moderation, of respect for the rights of others, and of attachment to peace; in other words, one of the first to exhibit that new sense of international morality, upon which the laws of tomorrow will depend for their observance. England, who ranges her forces with ours today on the same ground of national and international law, has joined us in this cause also. By temperament she is less accessible to idealism than we are. For many years she has shown very little enthusiasm for general plans which take a vast and rationalized view of the future; she has been building history st...