Senate House and the constituents' meetings with a lighter hand than our neighbours.

All the French visitors are to be received in the houses of Edinburgh families, and there is no lack of public entertainments, among the many of which are a ball to be given by the City of Edinburgh, a lunch offered by the Corporation of Stirling, a visit to St. Andrews by invitation of the University, and a lunch at Lord Lothian's beautiful seat of Newbattle Abbey. It is hoped the guests will return homewards with the experience that l'hospitalité Ecossaise is not a vain word, as the French phrase it.

It is perhaps anticipating to distribute praise before the meeting has begun, but the programme certainly does great credit to the organisers in Edinburgh, to its able and indefatigable Secretary, Mr. A. A. Gordon, and its Chairman, Lord Reay, whose tact, forethought, and administrative ability have been the pivot of the Society since its foundation. I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

8th July.

5.

THOMAS BARCLAY.

A speech delivered at the British Federation of branches of the Alliance française, on May 12, 1913, brings the subject down to date. The Scotsman reported it as follows:

A PLEA FOR THE SCOTS COLLEGE.

"At a banquet held in the Grand Hotel in the evening, under the auspices of the British Federation of the Alliance, Sir Thomas Barclay presided. About 100 ladies and gentlemen were present. The Chairman submitted the toasts of The King' and 'The Elected Sovereign of the French. Republic,' followed by the singing of the Marseillaise.'

66

Sir Thomas Barclay gave the toast of the Alliance Française, and of the Federation of the Committees of that Alliance in this country. The Alliance Française, as its full title explained, was, he said, a body created for the purpose of propagating the French language abroad. It was based on the idea that peace, like war, had its victories. While other agencies were at work adding Dreadnoughts to their Navies and doubling their expenditure on armaments, the Alliance Française was quietly, but persistently, pushing forward its

battalions of peacemakers, who were spreading the knowledge of the French language into the remotest parts of the world, and extending the influence of French literature and of the French intellect wherever people thought. That there was a Federation of the Committees of the Alliance in this country showed how widespread its influence was. Recently, in Edinburgh, he had had an opportunity of testing the knowledge of French at several of the public secondary schools, and he wished to express publicly his admiration for the excellent teaching and good results achieved in the Scottish capital. Unquestionably there was in this country of Scotland a revival of the old interest in France, an interest which had for a time declined, but which was again becoming one of the factors of our modern Scottish intellectuality. That this meeting of the Federation should take place at St. Andrews, the oldest of our Scottish Universities, was a compliment to it which Sir Thomas felt sure was deeply appreciated. (Applause).

THE SCOTS COLLEGE AND ST. ANDREWS.

"The Scots College in Paris, he thought, might even be credited with being the medium through which the St. Andrews University came into existence. The Balliols, as they knew, were the minions of the King of England, and their policy was to promote the influence of England in Scotland. The elder Balliol founded Balliol College for that purpose. In those days Scotland was only able to maintain her independence against the vastly more powerful England by co-operation with France. Robert Bruce embodied that policy. He was not only a great general, but he was also a great statesman and diplomatist, and from his home in Dunfermline he worked. out his scheme of redeeming his native country from its then oppressor, and in working it out he was not thinking of the immediate future, but of generations to come. It was he who conceived the idea of creating a College in Paris which would react against the influence of Balliol College at Oxford. That was the origin of the Scots College at Paris, where most of Scotland's worthies seemed to have been inoculated with that French culture and independence of thought which were fundamental in our Scottish mentality. Our jurists, who made Scottish law what it is, learned its principles in Paris, and from the French language borrowed even its terminology. There Scottish architects learned to

build both our palaces and our castles, and it was the Scots College which always loomed out as the place where the Scottish student would find a home among other students of his country and where he could obtain the knowledge and skill the Paris University could give him. The old building still existed behind the Panthéon and within a stone's-throw of the Sorbonne. It was not originally where it is now, but in one of those picturesque narrow streets of old Paris which the modern City Fathers had demolished to make way for less picturesque, less interesting, but more hygienic roadways. It dated, however, back some 250 years, and its chapel contained the memorial tablets of many Scotsmen who had taken refuge at the College in the troublous times which followed. Portraits of the old and young Pretenders belonged to the building, and the furniture of the refectory was decorated with the thistle, but the Scottish student was no longer there, and the old building was let to a coaching establishment, which had a lease of the building for a few years still to come. It might be ours again some day, and Scottish students might, in some not distant future, be flocking again to the Scots College to prosecute post-graduate research in all that vast range of subjects for which Paris stood preeminent in the world as the headquarters of all that enriched and beautified it and made life so amply worth living. (Applause.)

COULD THE COLLEGE BE RECOVERED.

"The French Government, as the Principal of that University and those of the three other Scottish Universities knew, was ready to hand that College over to the Scottish people. The revenue from it was, at the present moment, paid over to the Roman Catholic Primate of Scotland for the education of students of Roman Catholic theology, and we did not propose to take advantage of the fact that that was due to an error made at the time of the French Restoration. The Scottish Roman Catholic students had had the benefit of that revenue for now nearly a century, and he and others were disposed to think that it was hardly worth while nowadays to submit the matter of whether the Scots College belonged to Scotland or to the Roman Catholics of Scotland to arbitration. The sum which was necessary to recover the Scots College for Scotland was about £16,000 to £20,000. The interest of this sum would go to the Scottish Roman Catholics, and it

might be a serious grievance if they were deprived of it. Sir Thomas said he visited Scotland in 1894 for the purpose of stirring up interest in the preservation of the Scots College, and the Franco-Scottish Society resulted. The idea was at that time, to raise the necessary money for the purchase of the College, but eighteen years had passed, and it had not yet been found. Nevertheless money had been found to create schools for post-graduate work in other countries and for remoter purposes than those which the revival of the old Scots College was capable of achieving. That France and Great Britain should have become the intimate and close friends they were at the present day rested not on any shortsighted idea of fighting a common enemy, but upon the greater and nobler idea that the two oldest champions of civilisation in Europe should see and understand the common work they could do for the promotion of their common patrimony of high ideals, intellectual, scientific, and social." (Applause.) The Alliance Française was doing magnificent work on its side. The Franco-Scottish Society was doing splendid work here in Scotland, the Entente Cordiale Society was doing splendid work in England, and there was only one thing still wanting, and that was a College in Paris for our postgraduate workers to enrich this country with all that France could give us in the perfection of our intellectual methods, in that great search for knowledge and truth which was the real test of any nation's value in history. He hoped the time would come when the Scottish Universities would be able to resume possession of their old College, and cited, as a sign of the times, that the University of Lille had just established in London an institute which was to serve a similar purpose to that University." (Applause.)

XII

PLEDGE AND RULES OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD ALLIANCE.

(Fraternitas Inter Gentes.)

Member's Pledge:

I hereby pledge myself to do what I can to promote goodwill and friendly feeling between men of my own country and those of other nations.

Rules.

1. Character. This Brotherhood is non-political and nonsectarian and is open to men of all nationalities and all shades of opinion.

2. Aim. Its object is to band together men of all nationalities in a common organisation, to promote friendly feeling between nations, and to discourage all tendencies to mutual jealousy and distrust.

3. Method. The Brotherhood will seek to promote the above object by encouraging personal intercourse and the interchange of visits between members of different nations, by holding public meetings and by employing all other legitimate means.

4. The affairs of the Brotherhood in each country shall be managed by a President, one or more Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, Honorary Secretaries, and a Committee, to be elected at quinquennial general meetings of members in each country. The Committee shall have power to add to their number. The term of office in each case shall be five years, and in the event of the death or resignation of any officer, the Committee are empowered to fill the vacancy.

5. Local branches of the Brotherhood may be formed, with power to elect their own officers and committees.

6. A General International Council of the Brotherhood shall be formed as soon as two or more National Committees shall have been organised. It shall be composed of a number of delegates to be appointed by the National Committees in proportion to the population of their respec

tive countries.

7. The local Secretaries shall enrol the names and addresses of members in a book to be specially kept for the purpose and periodical returns shall be made to the National Secretary, and by him to the General International Council.

8. The only qualification necessary for membership shall be the expression of sympathy with the aim as set forth

above.