Across the Channel

France and England were historically arch-rivals for influence, and arch-enemies in several wars.  From the 1200s for 250 years, much of today’s France was controlled by the English king.  The Hundred Years War they fought was all about who was the rightful king of France – the guy who ruled a third of today’s French territory from Paris or the English king in London with a claim via marriage or heredity.  Joan of Arc made her fame, and died during the 100 Years War.

Through the religious wars of the 1600s, and the great world conflict of which our French & Indian War was but one theatre, and the essential help France gave the colonists in our American Revolution, England and France were on opposite sides.  Then, with the 1789 French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, England lined up alongside Russia, Austria, and Prussia to challenge Napoleon’s dominating French armies, which they finally defeated in 1815.  (They tried to put revolutionary ideas back in the bottle, but it only worked for a while.)

This may seem strange today, but the background noise of that long-standing animosity is still there in certain attitudes, benign by historical comparison.  It was World War I and the rise of Germany that changed the allegiances.  When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914 (their target was Paris) England declared war and joined France as an ally.  Their eventual victory brought 20 years of peace, until they joined forces again to defeat Nazi Germany.

Today, England and France – once the world’s great powers – play a different role in world politics.  Still important but no longer dominant, they are faithful allies and together with the “new” Germany (of the post Cold War era) are leaders among the nations of Europe.  This region of 450 million people constitutes the largest economic bloc in the world, and these three friends have put old troubles behind to work for continental prosperity and security.

Remember the great Presidents?

Only two U.S. presidents are remembered with a national holiday – George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Both were born in February – the 22^nd and 12^th – so Americans have chosen a Monday between the two days for our remembrance.

Washington was, of course, our first president under the Constitution.  He had presided over the Constitutional Convention and lent his considerable authority to the resulting document.  He was elected after the Constitution was ratified by the states, after a long public debate.  His election was practically a foregone conclusion since he led the colonies to success in the Revolutionary War. 

Everything he did established a precedent for future presidents.  Washington created a cabinet of luminaries including Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton – political rivals.  He kept the new United States neutral and warned against alliances with European countries.  Even the manner of addressing the president (Mr. President) was selected by Washington, although John Adams wanted a more exalted “his highness, etc “. 

One of the most important was his decision to resign as commander of the Continental Army.  By doing so, he established the priority of civilian control over the military, one of our enduring legacies.   Finally, at the end of his second term, Washington chose not to run for a third term, even though at that time there was no two-term limit. 

Lincoln led the nation through our Civil War during his entire presidency.  The southern states seceded within months of his election and created the Confederate States of America.  War broke out in April 1861.  The Confederacy was defeated, albeit at the cost of 600,000 lives.  Lincoln abolished slavery – first by the Emancipation Proclamation, then by lobbying Congress to pass the 13^th amendment to the Constitution. 

He may have been our most eloquent president, in spite of little formal schooling.  One only needs to read the famous Gettysburg Address, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural (“with malice toward none, with charity for all…”) and his statement about the fall of Vicksburg ("The father of waters once again flows unvexed to the sea")  to hear how he inspired his nation during that dark time.  Political rivals who at first held Lincoln in low regard became his most ardent supporters.

On April 9, 1865 the Confederate commander Robert E. Lee surrendered and the Civil War was effectively over.  Lincoln had already set out his plans to “bind up the nation’s wounds” and bring the South back into the United States, peacefully.  But only 5 days after Lee’s surrender Lincoln was assassinated, and the post-war period took a much different turn.

Historians consistently rank Washington and Lincoln among our top 3 presidents (FDR is the other).  Certainly they and their leadership deserve to be remembered always.