BRIAND PASSES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 57, 8 March 1932, Page 7

BRIAND PASSES.

CHAMPION OF PEACE.

Death of Famous European

Statesman.

BRILLIANT CAREER.

(United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright)

(Received 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, March 7. A message from Paris announces the death of M. Aristide Briand, the famous European statesman and former Premier of France. M. Briand died at his Paris home this afternoon following a heart attack. M. Briand lias been a warm advocate for peace among the nations, sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with Herr Stresemann in 192 C. He played an important part in framing the Locarno Treaty, and was joint author with Mr. P. B. Kellogg of the Pact of Paris. His death will be profoundly regretted in London, where he has many friends. His Majesty the King, in a telegram to the French President, M. Doumer, says:—

"It is with profound regret that I learned of the sudden death of Monsieur Briand, and I hasten to express my sympathy at the loss of a distinguished statesman whose labours in the cause of peace and good will among the nations will ever be held in honoured and grateful remembrance." Architect of Peace. Lord Tyrrell, British Ambassador to Paris, has transmitted a letter of sympathy from the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, to M. Tardieu, the French Premier, and also conveyed to him his personal expressions of sympathy on behalf of Mr. Stanley Baldwin.

Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald, in the name of his colleagues and himself, assures the French Government of his deep sympathy in the great loss the French nation has suffered "in the passing of my old friend. We have been working together for well over a generation, and I feel his death with peculiar keenness.

■ "M. Briand dedicated the best years of his long life without respite to the high purpose of creating a good understanding between the peoples, for which his name will ever be a famous monument, more lasting than bronze. "He is indeed an architect of peace, and his loss will be deeply felt, not in France only, but among all men of good will throughout the world." When the news of M. Briand's death was read at Geneva at the Standing Orders Committee of the Disarmament Conference, the delegates stood in silence with bowed heads. Won Noble Place in History. During the delsate in the House of Commons on the Navy Estimates, which show a considerable decrease, Sir Austen Chamberlain referred to the passing of M. Briand, remarking that the cause of peace* needed new friends to take the place of those who had passed away. "No man was a better friend of that cause," he said, "and no man espoused that cause more loyally. We who mourn him may find encouragement and a stiipulus to continue his effort by following his example." In an interview at Geneva, Sir John Simon, British Foreign Secretary, said that few statesmen of our time had won so noble a place in the history of mankind as M.' Briand, alike by his love and devoted service to his own country and by his wholehearted work for the caiise of peace and international friendship. "At this difficult moment in the League's history, we can pay him no better tribute than by doing our utmost to cherish this great institution, to the building of which M. Briand devoted so much enthusiasm."

One of the most dynamic personalities that have moulded European history this century, Aristide Briand, son of an innkeeper, and virtual dictator of the League of Nations Council until a few months ago, was 11 times Premier of France, and held office in his comparatively short, ± arliamentary career of 30 years m 24 diiierent portfolios, and 20 different Cabinets. He was born in the Breton town of St. Nazaire 70 years ago, and when not living in his modest Paris fiat, he spent his time at his little estate at Cocherel, on the rugged Normandy coast. Educated for a legal career, lie had to resign Ilia practice when a young man through an "affair." and thereupon joined the staff of a Socialist paper. He championed Socialism through this medium, on the platforms of' the music halls, and, when his name was restored to tlie legal rolls, in the law courts. It was through his success in a Court case that his party first considered him as a Parliamentary candidate, and he immediately sat in the Chamber of Deputies for St. Etienne (1902). He was straightway noticeable in debate and argument, gaining international fame for his part in the 1905 dispute between Church and State in France, which he settled amicauly. After being only four years in the Chamber he'was given Cabinet rank, and in 1909 he formed his first Cabinet as Premier, being the first Socialist ever to hold such office in France.

By io2l he had been Premier seven times in eleven years, with several other Ministeriea in between. He later represented France at the Washington Disarmament Conference, the Cannes Conference, and was prominently identified with the famous Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact. He stood for the Presidency in May, but was defeated by a small margin on the first ballot, after which lie retired from the contest. Shortly afterwards, he resigned his post, but upon all-round pressure he withdrew the resignation. His health was failing, and the enormous amount of work being forced upon him in connection with the Far East dispute in the Councils of Geneva was too much for him. In August he left Geneva Tor France to have a rest.