CLEMENCEAU.

NZ Truth, Issue 78, 15 December 1906, Page 7

CLEMENCEAU.

Premier of France. ANTI-SOCIALIST AND InTI=CLERICAL. ♦ Eloquent Orator; Brilliant Leader-Writer. HIS CAREER AND PROSPECTS. ♦ — " The First Journalist m France."

H. M. Hyndman, 8.A., who was— many years ago, now— a leader-writer for. the Melbourne "Argus," which is doing much Antiocialist howling just at present, thuß rites m London "Justice" of the Premier the French Republic, and his colleagues:— , iso thing is certain but the unexpected; .■id never was the truth of this old eaying ore thoroughly borne out than m the case iM, Clemenceau. Scarcely two years ago even those who liked and admired him most thought his political career was at an end; that, dying as Senator, and the most brilliant debater and journalist m France, he would be remembered only as a remarkable man of unaccomplished possibilities. For M. Clemenceau, "with all his. marvellous vitality .anf! energy, was at that time nearer seventy than sixty, and had no party behind upon which .he could rely. Yet here he is, without having given, .way on. one point to his implacable enemies, Prime Minister of the Republic of which he has been a leading figure for just five-and-thirty years. This, too, after having won, a most critical series of elections as Minister of the Interior. The transformation scene has been wonderful, anil if accompanied by A LITTLE INTRIGUE that is none of our business. "His Cabinet is by far the most advanced French Administration, m every, respect, that has yet been formed. It needed political .courage of the very highest order, for example, to appoint General Picquart, the man of all the Dr-eyfusards who may be considered the hero of the struggle, War Minister. Such an appointment ' made at this time is nothing short of a fierce defiance to the routed and discredited Nationalists and Clericals, which, however, they will not dare to take up. But it should not be forgotten that General Boulanger was M. Clemenceau's cousin, and that he pushed that by no means incapable but weak man into the same post n.aily 20 years ago, m order that democratic reforms might be introduced into the French army. The work.that Boulanger began, and turned aside from, can now be carried on by his successor under far more favorable circumstances. His MOST BITTER ASSAILANTS never denied that General Picquart is a thoroughly scientific soldier : it remains to be seen whether he is a capable democratic administrator. ' . "Then the appointments of MM. Briand and Viviani, though m one respect by no means pleasing to Socialists, as obviously their rewards for leaving their party, are none the less evidence of the growing power of Socialism m France. When the ablest opponent of Socialism on the other side of the Channel, a man who is not only an individualist m thought but m his whole nature, finds it impossible to make any step forward whatever without calling to his aid "independent" collectivists, we can see quite clearly which way events- are marching among the French people. For M. Clemenceau is not a mere Parisian: be understands the French peasantry thoroughly, recognises I that 'they, under the conditions^? our time,' j are foe 'real masters 'ox^ancepLd^Vlwe^may ' be quite sure, asapolit^cSh ainrmah of the world, Would take no step which he thought would alienate their neoessdry support. IT SEEMS STRANGE, nevertheless, that M. Clemenceau should thus be compelled by the inexorable tendency of the period to surrender as an administrator the views which he has so stoutly maintained, often to his own detriment, as a critic. "But M. Clemenoeau's position as Prime Minister is even more significant than anything slse. He is a free-thinker of freethinkers; one who has never bowed the knee to any form of religionism whatever. If M. Combes was , an anti-Papist, M. Clemenceau is an out-and-out anti-religionist. iSupernaturalism m all its forms is abhorrent to his mind. The Catholics may well gasp as they see such a man m control of -the French . Republic. And yet, on account of his faculty of detachment and indifferenceto mere. forms, it is quite possible that those . who are devoted totthe prevailing creed will get more fair play from M. Clemenceau than they would have got from men who feel persistently bitter against tho domination from which they have emancipated themselves. "There is ANOTHER STRONG . FEATURE about Clemenceau's personal position. For a very long time the fact that he was a close friend of England, and an unwearying champion of an entente cordiale, told strongly against him. "Le Petit Journal;" m its furious and successful campaign against him m the. Yar, never lost an opportunity of writing about him and cartooning' him as an Anglicised Frenchman subsidised by perfidious Albion. Not then only, but at many other periods m his career,- his advocacy of a close understanding between the two most civilised countries of Europe ■ stood m his way. And now hereheisat the head of a French administration when England was never a tenth part so popular as she is to-day m France, and the only danger of misunderstanding is that the anxiety of all sorts and conditions of Englishmen to be feted m Paris may overdo this asseveration of an eternal friendship. "There is much therefore, that is good, and which tells for rapid progress, m M. Clemenceau's acceptance of the Premiership. But it is impossible for Socialists to forget his wholly uncalled-for attacks upon the party which oven lie himself is now practically compelled to admit affords the onV" possible programme for the people. Neith *. ' can we forgive him, who has so often denounced centralisation and the use of the National Army against the Nation, for having ' . ORDERED OUT THE TROOPS against the strikers at Courrieres and Grenoble. His contention, that the first duty of a Minister is to maintain order, is plausible enough ; but surely he should have dealt with the murdering capitalists, and called them to order first. Had he done so, it would have been quite unnecessary po turn the military upon the workers, who would have welcomed the inauguration of a new era of justice. "There are those, however, on both sides o£ the Channel who imagine that the new Ministry will have' a very brief tenure of office. .It is early to make' predictions, and the prophecies of the English newspaper correspondents, and of tho Bodleys who speak with "authority," hare been so completely and so continuously falsified that the mere fact that forecasts of misfortune come from these quarters is of good omen for M. ; • Clemeuceau. One thing seems to be certain. ' j If the new Ministry honestly and vigorously I sets lo work to carry out the greut refornis : which arc imperatively needed m every de- i liartinent it is wliollv iinr-obablo that tb<« \

; French Socialist Party will bring alwut it* downfall. THE MEAN PERSONS who think, for example, that Jaures will allow any personal rancour to influence his political judgment, or that Guesde or Vail- > lant will be affected m the same way, mis-i understand the whole situation. The ob* ject of French Socialists is to utrengthen Socialism. Should the measures brought forward by M. Clemenceau and his Ministry help the great and growing movement ofl Social Democracy, national and international, no • small considerations will prevenb Socialists from giving them their support* If, on the other hand, the policy of repies* eion is still pursued, we may be quite sura our comrades will shrink from no sacrifice* and spare n© effort to sweep aside politicians* who use the name of progress merely t<* further the purposes of reaction. "I have known M. Clemenceau myself fotf many years, and under very different ciw cumstances. I have always regarded him as_ the most brilliant and charming person.-* ality I have ever encountered. Whether at the, height of his fame and his influence* as at the time when HE HAD THE SCALPS : of 18 administrations, fallen by his hand, Hanging at his girdle; or m the nineties, when his hope' of attaining power had appar-» ently faded away, he has invariably been the same bright, cheerful companion and capable man of the world. With numerous, opportunities for enriching himself by vari« ous means, he has remained, and js to-day, a poor man. He has never abandoned a cause on account of its unpopularity, uor has he ever failed to take up a case because, it might damage his own position. Sallied m every physical as well as m every intellectual exercise, His only drawbacks ara that he is an individualist and an anli-So-cialist. One thing he has done which I believe to be unprecedented. As editor of "La Justice," he never contributed to> his own journal; but when at the age of 53 he began to :. . . WHITE LEADING ARTICLES, he suddenly showed himself to be the Ursb journalist m Prance. In that capacity he. proved once more the well-known truth that the influence of the publicist does not much depend upon the circulation of the paper for wlrch he writes. ■•■Who cares, even m England, what is said by "Lloyd's Newspaper" or the "Daily Mail" ? It is too much to hope that M. Clemenceau, with his groat ability and genuine patriotism., will have the strength of mind to throw aside finally his barren individualism, and lead Prance peaceably onwards to that complete revolution which can only be beneficially brought about on Social-Democratic lines P"