The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-16
CLEMENCEAU, THE KING MAKER
CtREER or THE PRESENT PRIME
MINISTER or FRANCE.
Has Made and Overthrow Ministries for
80 Iears-Makes Ills own bow At ga
Taught at stanford. Conn Married
>n,rrlcan G~lrl-Fousht Many Duets.

~nirrlcaD Glrl Many Duets.
In France they are saying. The king
maker has become king" now that M.
Clemenceau makes his first how to the pub
lie IA Minister in his sixty-hfth year.
There is good reason, says Hdrper's
W,chiy, for speaking OF Clemenceau as king
maker. 1t was he who put Carnot into h
Presidency, on the fall Of Nj. Jules Grevy,
whom he himself had pulled down. IL
was he who brought about the election OF NJ.
Ioulet He once confessed TO a friend that
he himself could not remember how many
Ministries he had driven out of Office, how
many individual Ministers he had deprived
of their portfolios.
For instance, il was he who upset Jules
Grevy, the man OF Tonkin'; IL was he who
drove Gen. B%oulanger out OF Office, when
il was found that the man IN horseback
was trying TO bring back the B~ourbons, as
Gen. Monk had brought back Charles ii. Of
England. And NJ. Freycinet he overthrow
al least three times, TO say nothing OF lesser
antagonists disposed Of.
Hardly less picturesque is the figure he
makes as a duellist. He is one Of the finest
.vordsmen in France and has been princi-
nal in a dozen notable duels and second in
rs many more. 1t was he who supported
NJ. Floauet in his duel with Gen.. Boulanger,
when the first warrior Of France came within
an ace Of being killed by the elderly lawyer.
A dozen years earlier he had stood second
10 Gambetta in the famous duel which
grew out of Marshal MacMahon's attempt
70 bring back the Bourbons.
Yet IL would he an error to treat NJ. Gle
mcnceau as a sensational figure. A far
trler characterization is -the sanest radi-
cal in Europe" And we might go even
further and say that since his twentieth
wear. for we'll nigh half a century, Georges
Clemenceau has stood az the manifest and
most vigorous embodiment of the republican
ideal. More than that. we can see in Gle
menceau's mind a steady growth from the
extreme revolutionary and almost socialistic
view to a sound and wise individualism,
founded on Justice and genuine liberty.
Georges Clemenceau is a true son OF the
French Revolution. His father was Inn
prisoned by Napoleon III. at the time OF
the coup d'eta, which destroyed the Sec
ond Republic. Georges Clemenceau him
self was arrested and imprisoned. ten
wears later, for crying Wire Ia R~epubiquei'
at a demonstration on the anniversary Of
the revolution.
This was in 1851. On his release he took
10 the STUDY Oh HtUlCHS. TOT JhcN OCpOEdVC
examination he wrote q noteworthy thesis.
sOn the Generation OF the Anatomical
Elements
Instead OF taking up practice, young
C~lemenceau elected to spend some years
in travel in the lands Of liberty and after
our civil war came TO this country, remain
ing until the Prussian invasion and Sedan
tumbled Napoleon III. from his throne.
= W~N1t
Is a copy Of the above mentioned thesis.
with this inscription on the title page
presented 10 the Astor Library by the
author, G. Clemenceau, New York, October
u, 1897
He spent some time travelling about the
States and recording his impressions for
Partisan readers in lie Temps, for he was
already a skilful writer. We next find him
teaching literary history in English, which
he knew peri ectly, at an academy for Young
aides at Stamford, Conn.
One of his biographers says that it was
his pleasant duty 10 accompany his pupils
in their daily p~romenades. IL 50, this was
the hand of fate, for we presently find him
engaged 20 one Of his fair students. whom
be married in 1889.
Very dramatic il the next change or scene.
from lnt LnluNt Vi HE pdSbOiAl AlO ny bho
shore Of the Sound, we find him suddenly
transported within the walls Of Paris,
hemmed in by the Prussian armies.
His old friend Arago, very influential
IN the Government that deposed Napoleon
Ill, who was organizing armed resistance
70 Bismarck and Moltke, had him appointed
mayor Of the Eighteenth Electoral district
reimbursement Of Paris, the quarter OF
MI I.A.sA
twenty in the city, and Clemenceau had
about 1000 70 care for during the siege,
for WHOSE dailv rations he was immediately
responsible. He made a strong and effec-
tive official. and even In those early days
waged a campaign for the separation Of
Church and State in France.
Spring saw the siege over, the Prlssian
armies gone and the Government of M.
Theirs installed at Versailles. There was an
initial conclusion between the Government
and the popular feeling Of Paris over the
RATIONAL cannon on the hill OF Montmartre,
and two French Generals. Thomas and Lee
comte, were shot by the populace.
Clemenceau did everything in MS power
TO save their lives and for nearly two hours
ran the gantlet OF the mob in a heroic
effort TO stop the execution OF the Generals:
he was too late, however. and only by a
miracle escaped a like fate himself. That
long struggle through the bowling and
frenzied mob he has called his way of
Calvary
Next we see him standing for home rule
for Paris against the national Government
at Versailles and appealing to President
Theirs. but appealing in vain, for the rights
o. his beloved city. The refusal OF the
Versailles Government was a prime cause
Of the uprising Of the Commune and the
Wild disorders that filed the spring months
Of 1871,
Again, by q sudden transformation, we
Inc Clemenceau denounced by the Com
nune and In danger OF arrest and violent
death. And later, in 1879, we find him in
yet a new role pleading for amnesty for the
C~ommunards, sc, 900 Of whom had been
Imprisoned, while twice that number were
in exile.
After the invasion and the Commune
amt the long Parliamentary struggle, when
for eighteen years no Ministry lasted more
than a few months. Clemenceau's integrity
and force brought about many a sudden
transformation in this time Of change.
III. .lE-R -. - Art. $4,000. ;,..o ksigfu