The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-11-26

paper had again and again aroused The
nation. his long history 81 political
struggle had made enemies and hts
destructive Ccurse oVer half a century
had left him With few political ulcnds
and a host ~ enemies, 'RrieNu WI.
fail and 20 there mNN he another aud
then will come ClemsnCeAu. who VIII try
and faii-and then-thep | will come VI
This was what CaillauX said in Rome
m 1917 The whole game was set up
FOR CaillauN 10 come and to make peace
with Germany. when ClsmenCeRu came
but he did not all ,
He has not fallen, taillauN Is behind
bars. Malvy In exile, the lesser de
featists have faced firing squads M
Fed-Rnd French armies are In StrAss
burg and Nets The first. the tnpoS
stble task Of Clemenceau when he
shaken by defeat in the field and ny
dpfeatist propaganda behind the limos
France, after all the terrible sacrifices
Of past years. with Russian revolution
destroying her great eastern ally, with
a new invasion in stght, faced y crisis
or discovery Of a leader. France, the
true France, was as sound and deter
mined as ever, WI without leadership
Nothing more was possible,
But how shall n describe the mir.
acle Of Clemenceau's leadership Al
most III al nun NNN $AAAANfN'NNHN
cleared Backed by Clemenceau, Petain
reorgsntzed the army, Single handed,
Clsmenceau wrestled with the traitors
and the weaklinEs. To every protest,
TO every feeble whine he responded;
"Je fats la guerre." Ask him questions,
make motions In the chamber, seek to
tran and ~entangle him, the answer was
ever clearer and clearer; Il make \
I make war" THE victory Is to the
side which lasts TO the last quarter Of
an hour" The defeats OF the spring
left him mistaken. He faced hostile
critics in the chamber. and with the
dust and mud OF the battlefieids on
appear In the front line, He was as
s~cornful of personal danger as he was
impatient of petty intrigue, The armies
knew him better than the politicians.
His spirit was the spirit Of his country
men; but seeing 1t revealed in him, his
countrymen acquired new confidence.
When the line broke in Picardy he
was almost the first oil the scene and
brought back to Paris the fret au-
thentio news that the flood had been
checked. II was the same In Flanders
when Haig's army stood with Its back
to the wall, The skies are already
Frightening" he told Paris as he re-
turned from Bethune. There was a
time" Clemenceau nee said to me,
WHICH, 4 NNNkol w vi 'ht - a'aNA'
I believed France vas finished-but
row, now look about for yourself-I
have not one word to say" That was
In the Verdun time. That was In the
hour when he was daily laundering,
THE Germans are at Noyon." Then
n thereafter his confidence in his
countrymen was Unreasonable; his
Impotence at the mistakes, the lack
OF courage, the blindness beyond re-
straint for three years. Ever growing
shrlller. his voice Numbered forth the
warnings and the denunciations pro-
voked by the little men and the weak
men.
And at last. with ruin In full sight,
France turned to Clemenceau as the
allies, spurred by his urgings. turned
to Foch in the presence OF military
disaster. And when Clemenceau came
France was again the cornerstone Of
the alliance. the foundation on which
victory was built. He became, almost
in an hour. the embodiment OF France,
posed him shrank from challenging the
man whose voice was the voice OF the
nation. In defeat he made the nation
believe victory possible, and when vic
tory came 1t seemed but the logical
conclusion of his leadership.
This war has provided more great
generals than brilliant statesmen. and
the achievement of one general, the
victory OF Foch. lisa Tar shining atrl-
umph which will endure through AL
history, yet without Clemenceau Foch
would have failed, and l believe that
when France comes to decide to whom
she owes her "lost provinces" she will
unhesItatingly recognize the gift as
that of the man Of n who forbade
the cession in 1871 and returned the
loss IN 1918.
Copyright, 1918, by the New York
Tribune, Inc.)