FRANCE: Delcassé

A statesman, whose diplomacy saved his country from ultimate destruction, has been laid in his last resting place. M. Delcassé died of heart disease at Nice on Feb. 21 at the age of 71.

Some pay tribute to the late statesman as the originator of the Entente Cordiale, which he was not. The creation of an entente depends, first, on necessity—the ex-Kaiser and German Kultur supplied that; second, on the invitation of one power to another—King Edward VII took the lead there. But Edward the Peacemaker remained king of a "perfide Albion," enemy of France, until Delcassé performed the incredibly great feat of making France accept the entente which was to be her salvation.

Delcassé was Foreign Minister 1898-1905. His way was beset with the thorns of imperial rivalries. Due to a military incident war with England was threatened over Fashoda, a mud village in the heart of Africa. Later, when diplomatic relations had been strengthened by the Entente Cordiale, came the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Tangiers with the ulterior object of testing the young Franco-British friendship. The visit caused the downfall of Delcassé, but his diplomatic triumph became evident in later years when Germany found that her filibustering attempts in Morocco had succeeded in alienating the whole world except obsequious Austria.

Théophile Delcassé started life as writer on foreign politics for Gambetta's "La Republique Française." He became a Deputy in 1889 Following his ejection from the Foreign office by the Kaiser, he was Minister of Marine until 1913; from 1913-1914 he was Ambassador to Russia; then, returned to the conduct of the Foreign Office for one brief year. He received the Legion of Honor in 1887 and Order of St. Andrew, Russia, in 1914.

Delcassé built for France a new foreign policy. His architectonic genius determined the conditions under which France would fight when the Kaiser was ready to announce Der Tag. Without Delcassé France might now be a German province and Foch a refugee.

Late in the afternoon of his death, Delcassé went alone to the gardens of the Bishop's palace to hear the band. Heart attack came on. He retired to a secluded corner of the garden. Caretakers found his body soon after twilight.

Two days later the Paris Matin published Delcassé's last letter to Stéphane Lausanne, the violently patriotic editor. Delcassé said: "The Rhine is our security."