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Show : CLEMENSEAU THE VICTOR! ! KBy Frank H. SlmondYln tho Now York Tribune.) The ontrince ot Fetaln Into Motz, ot Castelnau Into Colmer, and ot Oouraud Into Strasbourg, and the hardly leas moving return of Hlrsch-I Hlrsch-I auer.to this native city of Mnlhouae , at the head ot a French army, these a ceremonies marking the coming of Hr France to her "lost provinces" hare beaa necetsarlly military la chancier. chanc-ier. It was the right ot the soldiers .who mado the great trlu-npa possl-ble possl-ble to ride at the head ot their Tic "torlous armies Into reconquered cities cit-ies of Alsace and lost Lorraine. Tet '. area the soldiers, great as has been ! their achievement, must yield to the f claims of a civilian when history . semes to bestow the flnnal palm for the restoration of France. ! ' Not even Foch would deny the fact that bit military victories Would hare been Impossible but for 'the aid, the support, the unfailing assists aee ot Georges Cleaeaceaa. Ilt m te this wonderful old man, thts repabllcaa of republicans, that Fraaee, la the last analysis, must return re-turn thanks for present possession ef Alsaoe Lorraine. Forty-seven rears ago, wheet Thiers and Favre sorrowfully yielded to Bismarck and put their names to the document u .which Liade the sacrifice formal, i Georges Clemenceau was one ot the JL French deputies who protested apalnst the act, proclaimed that tho representatives of tho nation had no right to surrender any portion of Its territories or ot its citizens, and now after almost half a century, as tho civil chlyf ot his nation he has made good his protest I I Looking back over the little more than a year that Clemenceau has been the civil executive of France, the Prime Minister, It is possible to measuro this achievement. He came to office when the army had failed 'at the Alsne and for the tlrst and' only time was shaken In Its morale. He came to power when a monstrous defeatist campatgn had tegi'n to march over France. He came to control 'hea the reins of government govern-ment nad slipped from Impotent hands and tlrst a break on the home front and then oa the firing fir-ing line was forecast on all sides. Nqt willingly, moreover, did Franee turn to Clemenceau. Hts strength all men recognised, but his strength and his weakness alike terrified bis contemporaries. If his eloquence In his newspaper had again and again roused the nation, his long history of polftclal struggle had made enemies, and his destructive destruc-tive coutse over half a century had left him with tew political friends and a host of enemies. "Driand will fall and go, thero may bo nnothor, and thon will conio Clomcnrcuu, who will try and tall, and thn then I will coine." This was what Cnlllnux paid lu Itome In 1917. Tho whole gamo was set up for Caillcaux to come and tit mnko peace with Germany, wheM Clemen-oeau Clemen-oeau came but he did not fall, ho, has not fallen. Calllaux la behind bars, Ma Ivy in exile, thj lesser defeatists de-featists rave faced flrlm; squads or fled and French armies are in Strasbourg and Meti. The first, tho ltupnrclb'i task of Clemenceau whon ho cann was to restore the home front, shaken' by defeat In tho field and by defeatist propaganda behind the lines, France after all the terrible sacrifices 01 past years, with the Russian revolu-tion revolu-tion dejtroylng her great Eastern ally, al-ly, with a new invasion in tight, faced a ciisis which had but to solutionscollapse so-lutionscollapse or the discovery of a leader. France, the true France was as sound and determlneJ as over but without leadership a Jlhlug more was possible. But how shall one describe the miracle of Clemenceau's loilershlpt Almost in an hour the atmosphere cleared. Backed by Clemen' $ a P tatn reorganised the army; single-handed single-handed Clemenceau wreitlcO with the traitors and the weaklings. To every protest, to every feeble wl Iep ho responded "Je fals la guerte. ' Ask him questions, make motions In the Chambre, seek to trap and in- tanglo him, tho answor was eer clearer i.nd clearor "I mako war, 1 mako wnr." "Tlio victory Is to tlui ido which losts to tho Inst quarter of an hour." Tho cefeats ot tho sprl'jg left hm unshakeo. Ho faced hostile critics (ln tho CUmbro with tho du:t and mud of tho battloflekls on lilt clothes Ho left tho tribune to i appear in tho fi'ont line. Ho was na s u nful of persDnal danger as h'j was lmpa tlont of petty Intrigue. Tho armlbs knew him better than t"i polltlclanu. 'His spirit was the spirit ot his coun-tryjnen, coun-tryjnen, but seeing It refealon in him, his countrymen acquired new confidence. When tho lino broko In Plcardy he was almost the first on tho scene, and brought back to Paris tho flTst 'authentic news that tho fliod had 'been checked. It was tho samo In" Flanders when Halg's ar-uv stood 'with Its back to the wall. 'The skies' skies are already brighUnlcg. ' he told Paris, as he returaeJ from De-thune. De-thune. "There was a time," Clemenceau once said to me, "when I despaired ot my countrymen. I believed France was finished but now now' look about tor yourself. I have not 'one word to say." That was in ths i Verdun line. That was In the hour when he was dally thundering "The Germans are at Noyon." Then and thereafter his confidence In his coun-' trymen was Immeasurable; his Impatience Im-patience at tho mistakes, tho lack ot .courage, tho blindness beyond restraint re-straint for threo years, ever growing shriller, his voice thundered forth the warnings and the denunciations ! provoked by tho little men and tho weak men. Aid nt last, with ruin It. full night France turned to Clomcncenu, as tho Allies, ppruned by his urglngs, .turned to Koch In tho presence ot military disaster. And when Clemenceau Clem-enceau came Franco was again the comorstono of tho alliance the foundation foun-dation uuA which, victory was built. He became aljnost'ln an hour, the embodiment ot France; and before the end those who had opposed him shrank from challenging the man whose voice was the volco of the nation. na-tion. In defeat he mado tho nation believe victory possible, and when victory came It seemed but the logical logi-cal conclusion of his leadership. This war nas produced more great generals than brilliant statesmen, and the achlevment of ono general, the victory of Foch, is a far shining triumph which will endurc through all history; yet without Clemenceau, Foch would have failed, and I believe that whim Franee comes lr decide to (whom she owes her "lost provinces"! 'she will unhesitatingly recognise the I gift as that of the man of seventy-seven seventy-seven who forbade tho cession in 1871 and redeemed the loss In 1918. |