end, M. Delcassé thus expressed his views to a French
deputy who brought up the question:

". . . You say that after finishing with the Trans-
vaal the English will turn against us. Very frankly,
I do not think so . . . the English know very well that
we have no reason to make war upon them, since there
is nothing we should care to take from them. My
policy is neither one of menace, nor of excitement --
blustering is repugnant to me. It is not worthy of a
great nation which wishes to play a great rôle in the
world. On the contrary I wish to put the whole world
in good humor. . . ." ⁴⁹.

Speaking in the Senate on April 3, 1900, in reply to
a question of the Count d'Aunay, M. Delcassé summed
up in a clear and statesmanlike manner his policy dur-
ing this trying period:

"If the points of contact between France and Eng-
land are numerous, and numerous consequently the
subjects of litigation, much more numerous and much
stronger are the reasons for forestalling or regulating
them in accordance with the mutual respect of the
rights, interests and dignity of each, and among these
reasons the most decisive in my eyes is that if by mis-
chance a conflict should break out between these two
powers, it is not to the conqueror, whichever it might
be, that would go to the principal benefits of the vic-
tory." ⁵⁰.

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