The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-30
Life of the Present Prime Min
iSter of France
HAS FOUGHT MANY DUELS
Has Made and Overthrow Ministries
for 80 Years-Makes His Own
Bow at 64-Marred Amer
can Girl.


Weekly, for speaking of Clemenceau as
king-naker 1t was he who put Garnet
Into the presidency, on the fall of N
Jules Grevy. whom he himself had pulled
down. 1t was he who brought about The
election of NJ. Loubet. lie once con
fessed 10 friend that he himself could
not remember how many ministries he
had driven out OF office, how many indl'
vidual ministers he had deprived of theii
portfolios.
For instance, it was he who upset Jues
Grevy, the man of Tonkin;' it was he
who drove General Boulanger out of Of
fee, when it was found that the man
on horseback was trying TO bring back
the Bourbons, as General Monk had
brought back Charles IL. of England. And
M Freycinet he overthrow at least threc
times, to say nothing of lesser antagc-
nists disposed of.
Hardly less picturesque is the figure he
makes as a dueist. He is one of tho
finest swordsmen In France, and has been
principal in a dozen notable duels dhd
second in many more. 1t was he who
supported M. Floquet in his duel with
General Boulanger, when the first wal-
rior of France came within an ace of be-
en- years earlier he had stood second to
Gambetta in the famous duel which grew
out of Marshal MacMahon's attempt TO
bring back the Bourbons.
Yet it would be an error to treat NJ.
Cemenceau as "a sensational figure. A
far truer characterization is 1.-The sanest
radical in Europe" And we might go
even further and say that since his twtn-
tieth year, for well-nigh half century,
Georges Clemenceau has stood as the
manifest and most vigorous embodiment
of the republican ideal More than that,
we can see in Clemenceau's mind STEADY
growth from the extreme revolutiona. Y
and almost socialistic view TO sound
and wise individuallsm, founded on JUS
tice and genuine liberty
Georges Clemenceau is true son Of
the French Revolt ion. His father was
imprisoned by Napoleon Ill. at the tune
of the coup detat which destroyed tie
Second Republic. Georges Clemencedu
himself was arrested and imprisoned, ten
years later for crying "Vive la Repub-
1iquei" at a demonstration on the ami
Versary of the revolution.
Studied Medicine.
This was in 1861. On his release he
took up the study of medicine. For the
doctorate examina ton he wrote a nOtS-
worthy thesis "On the Generation of the
Anatomical Elements
Instead of taking up practice, young
Clemenceau elected to spend some years
In travel in the lands of liberty, and aft.
our civil war came to this country, re-
naming until the Prussan invasion and
Sedan tumbled Napoleon Ill. from ais
throne. Among mementos of his AmeTi.
visit is a copy of the above men,
toned thesis with this inscription on toe
title page: Presented to the Aston LII
brary by the author, G. Clemenceau, New
York, October u, 1867"
He M tra a h,
States and recording his impressions for
Partisan readers in lie Temps for no
was already a skillful writer. We next
find him teaching literary history in Eng
1sh. which he knew perfectly, at an acdd-
envy for young ladies at Stamford. Conn.
One of his biographers says that it was
his pleasant duty to accompany his pu-
pills in their daily promcnades. If so, this
was the hand of fate, for We presently
find him engaged to one of his fair stu
dents, whom he married in 1869.
Very dramatic is the next change of
scene From the midst of his pastoral
life by the shore of the Sound, we hn1
him suddenly transported within the walls
of Paris hemmed in by the Prusslnn
armies.
His old friend Arago. very influential
in the government that deposed Napoleon
Ill, who was organizing armed resistance
to Bismarck and Moltke. had him APP
pointed mayor of the Eighteenth electoral
district of Paris, the quarter of Montnlar-
tire. This district was one of twenty in
the city, and Clemenceau had about $780,
600 to care for during the siege, for whose
daily ratons he was Immediately respon-
sble. He made strong and effective Of
fetal. and even in those early days waged
a campaign for the separation of The
church and state in France.
Spring saw the siege over the Pru5-
sian armies gone and the government OF
M al II 70
was an initial conclusion between the
government and the popular feeling of
Paris over the national cannon on the
hill of Montmartre, and two French gen
erals, Thomas and Lecomte, were shot by
the popuace.
Braved the Mob.
Clemenceau did everything in his pow
er to save their lives, and for nearly two
hours ran the gauntlet of the mob in u
heroic effort TO stop the execution of the
generals; he was too late however, aad
only by a miracle escaped a like fate
himself. That long struggle through The
bowling and frenzied mob he has called
his Way of Cavalry"
Next we see him standing for home
rule for Paris against the national gov
eminent al Versailles and appealing TO
President Theirs, but appealing in vain,
for the rights of his beloved city The
refusal of the Versailles government was
q prime cause of the uprising of the
Commune and the wild disorders that
lSled the spring months of 1871.
Again, by a sudden transformation, we
find Clemenceau denounced by the COM
mune and in danger of arrest and violent
death. And later, in 1875. we find him in
yet a new role pleading for amnesty fer
the Communards. $1,000 Of whom had been
imprisoned, while twice that number were
3n exile
After the invasion and the Commune
came the long parliamentary struggle,
when for eighteen years ministry last
ed more than a few months. Clemen-
ceau's integrity and force brought about
many a sudden transformation in this
time of change. The chief cause of this
extreme instability was the fact that the
French chamber contained no less than
seven parties, and by a sudden alliance
between two or three of them large
majority might melt away in an hour
Clemenceau was the ablest leader of the
radical republicans, and his policy was
entirely clear and practical First he
stood for a realization of the hopes of the
great French Revolution. most of which
had been thwarted by Napoleon l. or the
restored Bourbons.
He pointed out. in debate and in the
press, that France was still living In the
frame made by Napoleon l. and had
hardly advanced at all in three-quartess
of a century. Then he stood for the de-
Velopment of French resources as against
FcrrX's wild schemes OF colonial adver-
tlro in TonlIn, Madagascar. Tunis AID
Egypt.
Oppoeed Russian Alliance