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Show FRANCE S WAR PREMIER Tl e net p e er of France Rene V an who gave France s answer to the Ceruan, ult matum s the greatest o a or n France student and patron of the arts an nfal ble udge of poets an 1 pa nters and a n aster of words Lately he has attracted perhaps more attent on than any statesman in France because of h s r ch mental gifts and the extraord nary progress which he has made in recent years as an orator The unfr endly Par s Galou s declares that somehow his gen us as an orator shone with unwonted brill ance all at once when he had turned forty five Although a man of note m public life tfor many years his powers were scattered and wasted unt 1 a few years ago he obta ob-ta ned a control over them wh ch per m tted h m to co ord nate them n a sort of masterly concord H s is the gen us that arr ves late He is of fine presence with flash ng eyes and a vo ce wh ch has been descr bed as a kaleido scope of sound changing ts effects n every new comb nat on a vo ce that at one moment s soft w th pathos at an other moment poet c and mus cal and often r ng ng with mart al energy and appeal Although reared p ously as a Cathobc he io ned the soc al revolut on and to se the words of the French newspapers became the most defi n to enemy that rel gion has n Trance Early assoc ated with Jean Jaures the Soc al st leader who was as sass nated a few days ago because he was a peace advocate he dr fted away from the Soc al st o movement although st 11 cla m ng to be a Soc al st In th s country men of poht cs are seldom devoted to art Viviani s es sent ally an art st He knows the 1 ne and the worl s of every 1 v ng French painter of prom nenco It s said that no poet has ga ned renown in F ance n the last generat on without a grac ous word from him uttered at a t me when the poet was st 11 str vmg for recogn t on The prem er s essent ally a man, of taste a d scern ng crit c and a mag c an n the use of words His judgment of a p ctu e s accepted w th out qu bble and the wr ter who re ce es h s pra se mmed ately atta ns fame As soon as the war cr s s became acute V v an a Med st ong men to h s cab net He d d not form a coal t on cab net as d d Asqu th n England because cler cal sm and ant cler cal sm seem never to m x n Trance but he chose the able and exper enced states men Delcasse and Clemenceaux Del casse was the fore gn m n ster n the French cab net du ng the Agad r cr s s when the German emperor threatened France w th war n 1909 At that t me the ka ser although f o led in Ji s central purpose took h s re venfe by fore ng the French govern ment to expel Delcasse from office H s reca 1 to a cab net pos t on was n the natu e of an ns It to the 1 a ser at a moment when there was st 11 hope of peace although Germany had already nsulted France with an ult matum de mand ng that the T ench cr0vernment announce w th n twelve hours whether t would rema n neutral f Germany went to war w th Russ a |