Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-29
BY WILLIAM L. MCPHERSON.


OF the many appropriations of Georges
Clemenceau appearing in the Paris
press just after his death none was
more interesting than the article writ
ten for LIE Journal by Capt Paul j.
Mantoux, the brilliant chief interpreter
at the Allied Supreme War Council and
at the Paris Peace Conference. Capt.
Mantoux aStonished all who came in
contact with him in his official capacity
by hi wonderful command of lam
guages and his uncanny ability to re-
produce in various tongues, without the
least hesitation, long and complicated
statements made by statesmen and gen.
erals. Before the war he had been a
teacher OF modern history in France
and had served a year a: a lecturer on
French history at the University of
London.
He was intimately associated with
Clemenceau on the War Council and
during the peace negotiations received
his personal condolences and was in a
highly favorable position to Judge his
character as a man and as a war
leader. His article contained sayings
Of Clemenceau hitherto unpublished
and emphasized the paradox that the
man who ruthlessly stamped out de-
featisn and peSsimism in France in
1917 was himself temperamentally and
fundamentally q peSSimist.
Demanded Miracle. and Got 1t.
Capt. Mantoux wrote:
Il saw his will triumph over obstacles
which appeared to be insurmountable.
At the moment when the arrival of the
American troops in masses had become
Q vital necessity for the allies, tonnage
was lacking to transport them. Fifty
thousand came In January, 1000 IN
February. Foch demanded 14O. 900 a
month. And in the meantime the Ger
man armies, freed from pressure on
the side Of Russia, broke the British
lines at Saint Quentin.
In an interallied council held DUR
ing these somber days they counted I'D
the ships available, weighed the inn
mense needs to be satisfied and ar
rived at figures which caused despair
NJ. Clemenceau then said:
We need 100000 Americans a
month. You tell me that we have ton
mage enough for only 100000. answer
that We must not calculate the num-
Der Of men to be transported by the
the tonnage by the number OF men to
be carried-and we shall find it,
He demanded miracle. and the
miracle was accomplished. Thanks ia
the efforts of our British slIies. to
economies and sacrifices, 1000. 600
Americans were landed in France with
in few months
He was always inaccessible to fear
and his moral courage was equal TO
his physical courage. Danger only
strengthened his resolution, and his
energy had no need of the stimulant of
hope; for this man who treated pessi-
m1sm in time Of war as a crime was
himself a peSsimist, though in a spe-
cial sense of the word. He was pessi-
mist in the philosophic sense.
Apart from few faithful friends, he
despised men: or, rather, he despised
human nature. He was far from be-
heving in an imminent justice which
cannot fail to triumph; but he was
ready to fight for it as II he were
certain OF success. In the carriage
which was taking us to Versailles, where
they were to discuss the terms of the
armistice, at the moment that victory
was bringing his career to a prodigious
climax he said to me:
When the war broke out-and ]
had seen 1t coming for several years
said to myself that it meant, perhaps
the end Of our country After so many
was TO die well, and first, TO fight a,
II we were sure of conquering'
Criticized for Unsatisfactory Peace.
Iney nave reproached MIN Tor max
ing an unsatisfactory peace, after hav.
ing made a victorious war. He did moi
make peace single-handed. The errol
of the French people is in forgetting
how many opinions and interests haC
to be conciliated before reaching q con.
clusion. 1 saw NJ. Clemenceau every
day, arguing and struggling, with a.
much courtesy as firmneSs-even day!
when, scarcely out of the hall, his i'm
patience flashed up in picturesqu,
ebullitions. His foreign interlocutorI
after some shocks of astonishment-
had learned to respect and like him
Lloyd George, hearing of the result o
the preliminary vote which denied u
NJ Clemenceau the presidency of tn
republic, exclaimed:
They will no longer reproach tn
English for burning Jeanne d'ArcH
Certain people blame him for no
having very much confidence in tn
future, which he could envisage onl.
in the image Of the past. That wa
the natural consequence not only o
= his age. but Of his fundamental pessi
:nism.