risians. They carried on in a second-rate way in a civilization
which to the general European traveller seemed inferior both to London
and Berlin.

Something has intervened, and that something is not merely war but
victory. Victory has intervened and has fed the French soul with the
thing which it required. We know now more of what France was like
before 1870. Evidently for fifty years she has lived in a state of
depression and spiritual thraldom, and now she has escaped and is more
herself. France has recovered her national pride and
self-consciousness. She has expanded. Increase of territory and of
national interests has given to French self-consciousness more room,
and you behold the opposite type of development to that which is in
process in Germany, where national self-consciousness has been turned
in on itself. That is why it is good to be alive in Paris and not so
good in London or Berlin.

It is possible to be winning and still remain down-hearted, but this is
not the case at Paris. The supposed fear of Germany is only political
bluff. France fears no Germans. She fears nobody. Perhaps she ought
to fear--for the far future. But she has always had a belief in
herself and her way of doing things and an inbred contempt for other
races as for barbarians, and it has only needed this colossal victory
in a world-war to set her on her pedestal of fame once more.

It was in doubt for a while before the war, but now it is sure--all the
world must learn French; if it cannot speak French it must at least
think French. French is the universal medium of civilization and good
manners. The emissaries of France in every country of Europe carry
France's civilizing mission and tell the foreign statesmen of the young
States what to do and how to do it. As England sends missionaries to
spread the gospel of Christ so France sends hers to spread the gospel
of France.

The sense of this glorious activity comes back to the heart and the
brain at Paris, and it is small wonder that steps are lighter and eyes
brighter.

If only the Government could fill its exchequer! France lives by
loans, and even an interest of six per cent free of income-tax will not
tempt the citizens to invest sufficient money to pay the Government's
way. The Government cannot raise its revenue by taxes. An Englishman
slavishly pays half his income in taxes, but not a Frenchman. It is
difficult to get five per cent. And there one comes sudd