CONQUERING FAILURE.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 40, 17 May 1907, Page 7

CONQUERING FAILURE.

Ordinary naan use their successes, extraordinary nwa thou- failures, as stepping-stones to higher things. M. Thiers began hi* oareer in a military school, founded by the first Napoleon. Ho tlioro stimulated himself with the idea that every French soldier carried a marshal's baton la his Knapsack, and that every road out of Paris led to a European capital. When the empire came down with a crash, it put an end to the military aspirations of the youthful Thiers. Disappointed, but not cast down, he entered the law school of Aix, where he soon disclosed his ambition and his consciousness of superiority. Parties ran high in the law school, and Thiers became a leader in the ultra-liberal side. Once when the piacticability of liberal politics was disputed, he exclaimed :

‘Well, well, wait till I am a minister !”

Though his personal qualities secured him admission to the most aristocratic salons of Aix, his democratic opinions provoked many royalists to say, “He writes well, but his thoughts are evil.”

Talleyrand once said to him, ‘‘lf you wish to rise, make enemies.” Thiers had acted on the advice, years before it was given, with such success that the royalists’of Aix tried to depriva him of the fairly won honours of his pen. He competed for tho annual prize given by the Academy of Aix, and his essay would have won the prize had its authorship been kept secret. But, being found out, the majority of the committee of award boing royalists, were unwilling to allow a democrat to triumph. Afraid to stultify themselves, they postponed the award for a year, during which the competition was to remain open. Thiers, instead of moping over the injustice, was only tho more determined to win the prize. One day an essay arrived from Paris, The committee approved of it, and the royalists loudly praised it, swing therein the defeat of the young liberal. The sealed paper containing the name of the essayist was opened. The Parisian was Thiers ; lie had sent his ossay to a friend who had simply copied it and forwarded it to tho state committee.

Children aro impatient to pluck fruit before it has ripened. A similiar impatience prompts young men, if ambitious and brilliant, to grasp political responsibilities which they aro not ready to bear.

Tho revolution of 1830, which Thiers, as a journalist, had stimulated, made him secretary-general of finance, under Baron Louis, an aged man, who subsequently resigned and recommended his subordinate for the position of tho minister of finance. King Louis Philip sent for him, and the young man of thirty-three came into tho royal presence. “Are you ambitions, Monsieur Thiers?” asked tho king. He was ambitious, but he was also cautious. Knowing that he had neither position nor experience enough for the post, he refused tho portfolio in terms which impressed the kingmore favourably than hia acceptance of it would have done.

His first speech in tho ehambor of deputies was a failure. “I have boon beaten,” he said, “hut not cast down. 1 am making my first essay in arms. In the tribune, as under fire, a defeat is as useful as a victory.”

He tried again and succeeded, In his first speech ha had, following the traditions of the tribune, attempted tho classical and formal style of oratory. His diminutive figure and weak voice, a piping treble, unfitted him for that style. He adopted a new method of addressing the chambers. Ho talked instead of declaiming ; spoke with the naturalness of one conversing ; told anecdotes, used colloquialisms, and addressed the deputies with frank familiarity. The speech made a sensation, and from that day M. Thiers was listened to whenever lie gave them one of his light, lively, brilliant talks, illustrated by scraps of history and bits of anecdote. Men admired the clearness of his expositions, and allowed themselves to lie floated wherever tho limpid stream might carry thorn.