French Hint Of Meditation.

New York Times 100 years ago today, October 28, 1912:

But M. Poincaré, Reaffirming the Entente, Ignores Status Quo.

    PARIS. Oct. 27.— The unswerving fidelity of the members of the Triple Entente was the keynote of M. Poincaré's speech at Nantes this afternoon, in which the Premier, as is customary on the eve of the reassembling of the Chamber, placed before the country the views of the Government with reference to external and internal affairs.
    M. Poincaré lost no time in shattering the idea that, in collaborating with Germany in the search for a means to re-establish peace in the Balkans, France was preparing to modify the lines of her external policy.
    "We have not thought of changing our friendships," he said, referring to remarks in the foreign newspapers. "The ties binding us to Russia and Great Britain are interwoven imperishably. They are dictated by sentiment, interest, and political probity. * * * Nothing can dissolve an entente the solidity of which continues to be indispensable to the maintenance of European equilibrium."
    M. Poincaré went on to say:
    "We find in this lasting intimacy one of the best reasons for the hope that the war will be confined to the Balkan States, and can be arrested by Europe at the earliest opportune moment."
    The Premier dwelt on the constant activities in the concord of powers and the necessity for sustaining the vitality of the concert in order to prevent "the inevitable diversity of interests from degenerating into dissension and conflict," so that joint mediation might be undertaken at the proper time. His nearest approach to information in this connection, however, was the statement that the day of mediation was "perhaps near."
    He made an eloquent appeal to the nation, at a moment when the tranquillity of the world was threatened by an explosion of incompressible forces, to rally around the national ideal and crush out all isms tending to weaken the republic, and show to the world a "united, people," who do not want war but at the same time do not fear it."
    A huge audience greeted this and the references to the entente with cheers that lasted many minutes. There was a rather noticeable absence in the Premier's speech of any mention of the status quo in the Balkans, which has heretofore been such a favorite theme of the diplomats.
    Since the victories of the allied States diplomacy admits that the formula shows signs of becoming decrepit. As one of the statesmen put it, "It is more sickly even than is the 'Sick Man of Europe' at the present moment."