CLEMENCEAU WAS PUZZLED

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 28, 2 August 1933, Page 7

CLEMENCEAU WAS PUZZLED

During the war his unfailing courage iteadied, faltering counsels in hours of doubt and dread. There were times of weariness, many of depression, a few of genuine dismay during that terrible world conflict. When these occurred I have seen men who passed as being strong show signs of fainting, but m>ver Mr. Balfour; He was never daunted at the worst' moments. It was in council that he revealed his strength and his weakness. When his turn came to express an opinion he carefully and lucidly marshalled the arguments for taking a given course, and anyone not accustomed to his methods would have thought he was weighing in heavily on that side. Then came the inevitable, "but.on the other .hand," and tho Cabinet; listened to an equally logical and well- J informed presentation of tho case against. He then paused, threw up his head, looked vaguely at the window, and in hesitant'tones would say: "But^ if you/ask me what course I think we ought to take, then I must say I feel perplexed." He gave the impression of a man

■who thought it really did not matter so much which of two courses we took so long as we stuck to it afterwards. So, therefore, it Avas for us to choose, and he would abide by the decision. This kind of mentality puzzled and occasionally fretted Clemenceau, the man who never had doubts, not even about religion. " I recollect at the Versailles War Council in 1918 an important question being relegated to the Foreign Secretaries for decision. They met and placed Mr. Balfour in tho chair. When the time came 'for them to report to the Council M. Clemenceau called upon-Mr. Baifour. The latter, as was his wont, gave a string of reasons on both sides and then stopped. M. Clemenceau threw up his heavy eyelashes in astonishment, opened his eyes wide, and said, "C'est fini?" Mr. Balfour replied, '' Oui, monsieur.'' Then Clemenceau retorted snappishly in English: "But aro you for or against?" Mr. Balfour had evidently not decided and seemed unprepared for an answer. Ultimately he reported against.