"Battered and Spent"

President Gaston Doumergue left Paris for Cherbourg, where he reviewed "what of our fleet is left to us." Speaking on board the cruiser Paris at a luncheon of honor, he stressed the imperious necessity of a well-equipped navy for the protection of France and her vast overseas empire.

Continuing, "the President said :

"Our navy came out of the War gloriously, though battered and spent, but its wounds and losses have made it all the more dear to us.

"It is, therefore, only natural that within the limit of our resources and within the limit laid down by the naval accords, we should wish to put it back in such a condition of repair and efficiency as will assure security in the defense of our coasts.

"That is a legitimate desire, which no one in the world would be so unjust as to deny us; for no country in the world has in the past half century given such proof as France of faithful attachment to the ideals of peace.

"If, during the War, she showed she had lost none of her military virtues and courage and endurance, ready for any sacrifice, no one has the right to suppose because her spirit is intact that she has any dangerous ambitions against the peace of the world."