THE BIG FOUR.

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 192, 9 May 1919, Page 8

THE BIG FOUR.

The Peace Conference originally was an imposing assembly, but the exigencies of the work, the necessity of securing the utmost secrecy, rendered if necessary to reduce tlie personnel of the executivo centre first to a Council of Ten, then to a Council of Five, and, finally, to the Big Four-Great Britain, the United States, France, and Italy. The full Conference was convened for the plenary sessions only, but its members were all represented in the work of preparing the draft by their membership on the various Commissions,

part in the fateful proceedings of the National Assembly at Bordeaux, and is the only signatory still living of the protest of the Deputies of Alsace-Lorraine against the wrong done to France in the conditions of the Frankfurt Treaty. M. Clemenceau was first returned to the Chamber of Deputies in 1876, and eat there without a break until 1893. He has much of the Jacobins' austerity and the Jacobin hatred of compromise. When he first entered the normal poli-

tical life of the country he found that many of the men with whom he had fought for the establishment of a real Republic had grown stale and sedate, and ho refused to havo any dealings with the opportunism which turned the French Republic from a really frank social Radicalism into a great machine for contenting the bourgeoise. This was

what made him a critic and a destroying force for the greater part of his life, 'lihe ferocity of his attacks upon Ministers, the ruthlessness with which ho fought on one 6ide or the other during Presidential elections, the splendid vigour of his journalistic campaigns, led to his being called the "Warwick ot France," or "the Tiger." The skill and success with which M. Clemenceau fougnt Boulangism just , before the Panama scandal earned him the enmity of the whole Nationalist movement connected with the name of Deroulede. This enmity, combined with the opposition created among Radicals by his onslaught upon their timid opportunism, drove him for some ten years from the Chamber, and he had To seek in increased activity as a journalist full expression for his views. In many ways SI, Clemenceau i» the greatest journalist Franco has produced in the last hundred years. Jlis long period of exile from Parliament only served to increase his real power in influencing the policies ot France. He fought the cause of Dreyfus in the Press with astounding clearness and precision. His action in this, as well as in other upheavals and scandals of those days, made it almost impossible for him to maintain his purely critical and negative attitude. Eβ was again returned to the Chamber in 1902, and became Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior in 1906. His Government lasted until 1909. During the war M. Clemenceau has been an unsparing critic of administrative delay and a firm advocate of getting on with the war to the exclusion of everything else. The failure of successive Governments to deal firmly and radically with the material problems of supply, and to break away from the old peace-time traditions of the "Eepublique des Camaradee," was bound eventually to result in a national demand for the presence of a, really strong man at x the hoad of affairs. In the summer of 1017 M. Clemenceau burst the 8010 bubble in the Senate, and from that day on, in spite of all the efforts of lobby politicians, .his advent to power could not be prevented. He succeeded M. Painlevo as Prime Minister in November, 1917, when the .situation, in spite of the promise of American support, was extremely black. . .

The new Prinio Minister set to work with characteristic' energy, and before

he had been in power four or live months the flagging war spirit of Prance had l)een revived. It will be left to the historian to show how great his share in the creation of an Allied Generalissimo. M. Clemeijceau's opponents, who are mostly to be found ou the extreme Left, among the more or less Bolshevised element of tho French political world, accuso; him of being reactionary and unable to comprehend Ihe new aspirations of humanity. Ho fought for these same aspirations fifty years ago, and it is safe to say that no one in the wEole world is more desirous than SI. Clemenceau to see the birth of a League of , Nations which shall put into practice the ideas that have dominated air his policy. But nothing can induce him to accept any settlement of Europe which does not give to France fullsecurityagainst aggression. M. Pichon. • ■ Stephen Pichon, who was born in 1857, lias been a friend of M. Clemenceau since 1878, and has been-associated with mm in most of his journalistic enterprises. As Foreign Minister—a portfolio. which ho has held in many different Ministries —ho has accompanied'the Chief of the State to Petrograd and London, where he has made several official visits. He is not now very definitely associated with , any political' party, but he was one of those who always supported the Radical element in the days before, and during, the "Bloc."

M. Klotz. Louis I/ucien Klotz, Minister of ' Finance, born at Paris in 1858, left a rapidly growing practice at the Bar to J enter politics. ,He ■ specialised in. Cus- j toms matters, and in big contractual re- t lations between the State and the rail- 1 ways of France, and gradually ho quail- 3 fied as'an authority on larger questions \ of finance. He has been Minister, of ] Finance in. seven Governments. J M. Tardieu. . , • 1 Andre Tardieu is the Benjamin of the , Peace Conference. Hβ was a student .] of the Ecole Normale, from -which he passed out ■ first in his year. Ho has j all the efficiency which ■can- be derived ( from French logic. At the outset of , his career he entered diplomacy, but, to i so young a man, it did not provide sufficient scope, and he found his opportunity ] in journalism, when he became foreign editor of the "Temps," whose "Bulletins du Jour," dealing with foreign affairs, ] are read throughout the world. M. . Tardieu entered politics in the general ; election which preceded the outbreak of '■ war, and has yet to show tho extent of liis Parliamentary-ability. In August, ( J914, ho became the Chief Censor, a- post which he 60011 left fo. , active service in the field. A* severe attack of pneumonia, due to exposure in the trenches, rr.ade his further service at the front impossible, and he,was appointed to represent Franco in the United States, and empowered to deal there with the many Francc-Ainencan questions connected with the war. Ho returned to France shortly after the formation of the Clenienceau' Ministry, and, but for. a brief but important visit to America, has since remained in P,aris as High Commissioner for all matters concerning 1 ranee and tho United States. M. Cambon. Jules Cambon ! has, with his brother Paul, the French Ambassador in London, for many years. formed the keystone of French diplomacy. His early experience was gained in, South America, and his last post'was at the head of the Embassy in Berlin. There, for many years, he watched growing up around 'him the hugo machine of war which Germany eet in motion in August, 1914. He not only watched—lie reported;, and seldom in the world's history have the published dispatches of • an. Ambassador more clearly shown tho purpose of the Court and people to which he was. accredited. It was' not until the reconstruction of M. Brinnd's first Wcr Cabinet that M. Cambon's services were again officially called upon. Ho was then appointed General Secretary to the Foreign Office. Since then, he has been ■ charged with many important tasks. M. Bourgeois. Leon Bourgeois, 0110 of the Elder Stalesmen of France, was born in Paris in 185-1. Ho is a barrister by profession and a Radical by conviction. His conciliatory disposition, no less than the bent of his mind, has led Mm to become a specialist in all questions of international or inter-party arbitration or compromise. He entered political life in 18S8, defeating Boulanger by an enormous majority, and since that timo until a few years ago lie has always been one of the men to whom Presidents in search of a Cabinet turned in moments of crisis. In the grave situation which aroee after the attempt on President Loubet's life he used his political prestige and his powers of managing men, alid succeeded in forming a Ministry when all others had failed. Ilis greatest claim to represent France on tho committee appointed to deal with the problem of the League of Nations is to be found in his long ;servico in connection with the buildinjr up of the now rusty machinery of Tho ITiigue. M. Bourgeois was placed by tho French Government mr.ny months ago at the head of a Foreign Office Committee to deal with tho Leaguo of Nations. His experience at The Haguu should etand him in good etead, but perihaps an even more important qualification which he possesses is ..his intimate knowledge of social conditions both in Franca and abroad.