BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 247, 12 July 1919, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

"Clemenceau.": '';■;: ; •';' A compact Jiiitl '• eminently readable biography of V'.'innii ■tliaii whom none other has of Into been mare prominently in the world's eye is- provided in a handy-sized,,.volume- ontitlotl - ''Clemencoau,' Writer, Citizen, Statesman" (Ilodder and Stoughtoii). 'The book is a truuslation by Mr. E. Allen of a work by Cumille DiißKiy, .ivJiieh hiis\lmd,.H; large, sale in the r fn.successive clmptei'.s l 'Jl.^'Diicra i j''' ; traces the ' : 'great Frenchman's student, doctor, politician, journalist,.author,-and finally' as statesman.: Born in; 18-tl; at a liltl'o village in I.u Vendee—it is curious the future.', .agnpsliii and 'Socialist' should hiivo been liorn in a province traditionally "plus royalisle quo roi"—young Cleliienceaii was the son of an old Jacobin. nj country- doctor, -ill whose' veins 'ran; tho l>lootl./of;pno of-'the, nicmher,s of.theV Convention who, at. the 'liine,,ol' l.hfl 'trial of T.oais 'XVI, voted, fijr. .death ~anil, against reprieve. On. December ,2,', that', frUefnl day.'for the "Second SOmpireV. and/ latter-day .(''ranee, tho; fnljirej'ounil,' liini-.. 6elf in priHon as-.'.nn qpjibnent of the. l'Hnco President who aspired to the Imperial eagle. Small wonder the sou grew ■up to bo an advanced republican. Educated at tho .Lycee at Nantes, young dlemehccan'arrived in Paris.in 1860 iaiitl sonn .lieeame famous in' the' ' Quarlier Latin as a detennined enemy of tlio.Tnileries regime," eventually finding himself in tho Mazas prison, "liis offence being "conduct calculated to disturb the publi'o peace." After this the young medical student eschewed political "manifestations," studied hard, and in May, -lSfinV passed .his doctorate .witliysuccoss; He was twenty-four, years of age.. Anxious to see thd'world lie emigrated- to -Amoiy ica. ami-when,; n v?ar,:ar;;i)Voilater, Cle.meuceau.pfH'fi, thinking' tho ,young man ishould settle down to hard work, stopped--siipplies, took up a position as French master in a ladies' school at Stamford, near Noiv York, There he fell in lovo with -a 'young American lady naimvj Mary Plummer. Her parents objected to tho attachment, and there was an I elopement and a hurried marriage. A year or two''afterw"afds"Clemencea\i returned to Prance, the -marriage tie being legally dissolved'some years later. .Iho;young doctor-miw' opened a dispensary, | in Moittmn'rlre 'then purely ah'indusv trial quarter, but as his biographer tells iis took more interest in polities .than in' medicine-"a' prescription 'in '. his: handwriting is « rarity, a real hnd InyautoTaph collectors." Clemenceau iirst eamo to the political front in 1870, when his oW 'friend Etienne Arago ; was. uQinin, atcd -Ma'y'ol ! 'of-Paris,-iiiider the Gaycrn-ment-:;of;-National. Defence/" Appointed (Jlqinenceau threw iinSsfist^ which %'W^n: contagious.that Ins,district. becaine^fanions; for.; In '1871; Mbptmartre- elected- him.by,«o,ooo voips':rp";the:-Nation'ai::Asse'inblyV'Wcn thoJ'&mmiffio movement jwiis started ho saw;V;tjhftt t ; if;-pcrsisted; ; in -itmust-result in 'civilftwrir.. Hb pluckily censured,.tho neis' ! 3Mfi&...- like.: v Pyat, -:G ; rousset, fl nd;l: ■•tdWnofel, were encouragingthe-' 'Tevbliitiona.ry-,moveinon.t: J mi; -not■■;! stam:;.; ™- 'tido'.'■ Dofoatod for his hitherto-faith-, ful-i-J'tontmartro-in the.Pans mu.iiioipi.il. election*, ho resigned: liis seat -as.■«;,<!«;: mitv- mid-: retired to. his . native,. J.a &. After the fall of the Communo a Major Poussargries, who had escaped assassln'atlonvitVtlio general Lecomte,,:iinder whom ,ho had .se.iv fd,.. was assassinated, insulted Clemenceau 1 charßing him. with treachery to both SMm .pi?tols : (Clemeij?"an was a^dead shot) being tho weapons. "I could kill, you," 'but seeing v'ou aro a French ,'oliuw h 1 . content myself with wounding you." And Kd wound his 'antagonist with a billet in his thigh. It was tho first of a long succession of duels in Uh. political hflfrHhe Commune Clomonccnii. wa= ilcted,byMontmartretotl,eM,,i.o.P Council'of Pans of which, in 18.., he I:,1S£'«'«?? £ final chapter, M Due ray gives " effective ' c-tiarncler-slcetch. of - Uonen ceaX the Great Citizen ", : «™ J™ I ''»' \" ■ .in 1918 he arrived.at the,WaY °. K ™ *Kccptionally earlyi'6ent i'bt a doctor, and said: ... Please examine me:l am a Hltie troubled, about my health. Tell mo frankly if lam toTn state to carry out tho sacred work I fovo in hand six months, longer. Six moutba, you understand. ~,.,-. ' -\y; ]lv The doctor examined him care fully. ••Well " 'said Clemenceau;" 'impatient- for replied, the doctor, "You have many years to live yet: - "Six months is all I want," answered tie President of the ) Council.; lhank vou, doctor."

And in less than six months the confidence of 'tho' great statesman' was- jnsti-. find" As to-the part-"the grand young man-of France," as Mr. Lloyd Georsc called hiin, wjien,'on ■ January V>, 19 J. Clenieuceau was elected,President,oltJic ■ Peace- Conference, 'played in thefateful proceedings' which ended with the handing of the" peace ternis to Germany it is needless ■ to say.'anything hcro.'_ In this book of M. Ducray's we can trace tho gradual development of that rugged honesty, that staunch and true patriotism, that hatred of insincerity, which events have shown to. be such salient traits in the- great Frenchman whoso nanio is now world famous. Several portraits, facsimiles of handwriting, etc.; add to tho' interest of- the book. (Price 6s. Gd.).. The" War Debt. ■ ■ .-■■ ■ ■-■-•■■..■.-.■ In 1915 tho British Association set up a special committee of .-its.Economic. Section 'to report on ."The Effects of tho War on Credit; Currency, and Finance.' Of this committee and a-supplementary: committee, dealing specially with the question of "Income-"Tax llefornf,"-Mr. J. E. Allen, tho author of "Tho A\ ar Debt and How to Meet It'' (London, Mothuen and Co.), was vtho secretary.'. The book'now published,,' therefore," represents tho.views of -.que who may be accepted .as an expert authority oil tho financial problems arising but of the war, The author subjects tho war loan policy of the Government to a detailed examination, and many of his analyses nno certain., of his comments upon the iinanfliftl methods'adopted will'lie regarded by' many New Zealand readers of his book lis having.no small .degree of application to financial, conditions; existing ' in '".I he Dominion as well as in' Great Britain. Sir. Allen admits t)iali the'after-;war biii'den of taxation .injist.-bm.: heavyv-exu'itly how heavy, ho" sets forth "in n..chapter beaded "The Peace Burden,"'''but', it should not he, lib coiitciictsj- intolerable if. only tils ''revenue' required )io raised,: undei; what ho considers a sound.and truly equitable system, of taxation, that is, "by a''reformed income tax and not by devices which hamper trado or production." One of Mr. .Allen's chapters,-(lint in'.which he examines the .proposal. that the money .specially. ~reiquired to meet (lie "ponce burden" .should be raised by a "levy on capital," or to use a phrase nut unichoivlr in'this country, the so-called "conscripliou ofcapital," should, be read with spi'.cial.altculiou and interest, in New Zealand, ■where (lie "levy' on capital" prop'osiiion lias, in certain quarters,' been "(strongly advocated as Hie best way out of I lie ■ special linancial dillicultics rivaled by the war. ■ Jlr. Allen comes to the conclusion Hint "Ihere is no evidence Mini the propertied classes with over .MUM) a year have made money out of the war." All tho evidence, on the contrary; points, ' lie alleges,' )10. .the fact that "their incomes have I 'been seriously' reduced by the war." The statistics ho quotes in .support ■ of.'.this assertion are- very .inters estiug, bat cannot here be followed in detail. Tho author's own scheme (as op-poscd-_.to:llvnt..of:a :!'levy: ott.<;apital")::iß-:

a "reformed .income tax," carefully adjusted to the actual'ability of the individual to; pay,.'and based- upon the ruling" principle:of the division of income lax payers' into two great classes, those".with less and those -with' more llum iCSOO• a year. Under; the authors scheme "of. taxation,, "people who are feajly ; puur';"will,', ho says,, . '. .. . l>ay'nothin'g,.\yj)rth inentioiiing.Just a few . ])cu6o.'mi Uieiv pound of t<ia to'remind Iheiie. that .citizhiiship-'lias -its duties as ; well,as..its. rights, and-spmetliiiig on- their ■beer and tobacco if'tliey can' ull'or'il those ; humble luxuries. Utit • everyone above the poverty, line shpiild pay a..--direct taxi nothing.,hut a direct tax assessed according to ;t.ho individual's income,, after- 1 allowiancesJor. .the. claims, anon, it, can harmonise.the precepts or equity with Die 'demands- of the Chancellor of the Kxchequer. Air. Allen's bonk well deserves a much' •longer, no.tice than space- will allow this week'.' 'It.is worthy of special'a'-l lent ion by ; piir'''.ptililicians and business, men; (Price, Cs:';|id.) ' ,'" ■ .."' Parallels .from' the Past. Professor" Gilbert Miir&y, of Oxford, sWould, probably ■o'tijecK'tii : being 'called a pacifist, as that term has been generally construed during the war period, but he is a determined nnli-niilitarist, niul ■more than once-during Ihe past four jVears .was.-' a. somewhat severe critic of the' actions' of the 'U'rilisli Government when he .deemed.them lo be suspiciously akin lb I'russianisiu.' Selected to deliver, the Creighloh lecture at Oxford last year, he chose as his subject ihe attitude of Aristophanes towards Cireek militarism, and mqre particularly the policy of, Cleon. 'The lecture'lias now been'printed miller' the title qf 'fArisluphanes;, and .tho War' Party; A study : in ' I he"Coin temporally. .Criticism "of the Peloponnesiaii War'' (London, George Allen and Unwin).,", The; chair was occupied by 'Lonbliryce.'who, if iiny be remembered, left tho Asquith Jtinisiry upon the declaration of war. , Professor Alurray decries as being "no commoner cause of historical inisjudginenf. the tendency to read tho events of (lie past too excln-. sively in the light of the present,- and. so twist .tho cold and unconscious record, 'into, the/ burning service of controversial .politics/,' '~ j\]l, tho sai.ne, he himself, more, tlian.jOiice in the course of his lec-i til re, goes- perilously near to drawing "the War' Party: A 'Sludy on tho Con-; topical ami misleading parallels. The ingenuity and subtlety of his comparison. ;.l'ictweeii "the tremendous conflict between' Athens aii'd' Sparta, which is called the Peloponnosian War," and the colossal struggle which shook Europe to its very core;.; ;'(froui .U ! Uil"W£ ; l'Jfff' : V lr .<ji', liiiw-' ;<?v'ei;j■ -:.lin-tlpriiablci-'v '; ;As .to v ,iho. le.uidigreaterl;:. \viu\' '.of:', the., /pvesejit age and'\'!Ws;;i'pr6lwlJlp;.A- i offitoV;Vipoii.'iMnrope ■tflid'.U!fi;''firofe^soi''s"own'country;' we find the lecturer, saying,,,-in the .final passages of his scholarly niul dceply-intercst-, : .ing-.discotir.se.f ;, ' ~'•, ",.■■•, , ;

■Our -war has. at least' ended .right,- and,' ■ oiio may hpne; not 100. Jato. for the recovery of civilisation: In spite-! ol'the: vast, material destruction,.in sdHo cf the'blot-ting-o.iit frbni Uho ,boolc..of. life, of.practically quo.whole feneration of men,;jn spite of thb'.unnieii.sured'inis.cry' which has reinrii;<Sd:and. still, reigns over the, greater, part, .of -Europe-in"spile of the Rignutio. difficulties ;of the insk before usr'n'.apito of, thq great.war-harvest of .evjlVand,;the exhaustion of braiit. in.mpst of. tho victorious .liatlqjiß.' as .well' as. iu the' vanquished our war hasi ended-right; and I we have such an opportunity as no generation of mankind. Yat. ever had of building out. of.'.tUcso.-r.uips .a, better, international life and concomitantly a better life within .each nation. ... It lies upon tis, who have to, see to it. that, the prjee is not , pnid.i.n:vain, >'-By- *ompispirit cf co-opera-tion instead of strife, by sobriety instead of madness, by resolute sincerity in 'public, and private things, 'and surely by some self-consecration to tho great hope for which those who loved us gave their lives. ' "A Oily where rich and poor, man and woman.. Athenian and Spartan, nro all 'equal and all free; where there are no false acensers, and whore nien"—'or at least the souls of men—"have wings." Thatwan the old dream that failed. Is it to fail always and tor ever? '"' Professor Murray's lecturo is well worth reading and preserving. (Price,' .1?, Gd.) . . "Many,, fronts,!' ~•••,■ "Mr. Lewis']?. Froomaji, the author of "Many Fronts" ('John Murray, per Whitcombe and Tombs), has had a'wide and a very varied experience of war as he witnessed it in Prance, iii, Macedonia; in Italy, with the Elc'el, .ami elsewhere. He has a fluentj vigorous peii, and a gift for realistic'description.. The eleven separate storied .'.and sketches of which .his book is composed have already seen print in various,' leading, English and American magaMiies' and. newspapers. Whether Mr. Frceinnn be writing of the Mesopotamia campaign—"The Fight for the Garden of Eden "-or describing the gallant fight put up by the Serbs in the mountainous district on the Albanian border; whether his subject be Zeppelin raids or the marvellous exploits of tho Italian engineers in the Trentino and other, .sectors, of. .the ~ Italian front, his narrative is' always convincing as being'an unvarnished record.of "things seen" and accurately set before us. He ft exceptionally successful in his Italian sketches, and a- special word of praise is due to the vigorously-written sketch in which justice is done to'the splendid services of the "British merchant captains:" • Mr.' Freeman's, volume is ono of tho most readable collections of war sketches wo havo had for some time past. ( Stray Leaves. - ;Mrs. Mary Gaunt, the clever Australian writer, who has several excellent books of travel to her credit,'and whoso first novel, "The Uncounted Cost, may be remembered by some of" my readers, lias-written: ■a- new novel, Iho l™<liug scenes of which arc laid on the libetaii boi-der ~of .'China. .'. . In tho course of a recently published ■book,'■inv-wliiclr M. Joseph Biirtclcmy, ,vFrencli-writer, deals, with .1 ho Problem' of" Efficiency in' Democracy the Author' tells us that "among the 1800 members of' thai: Petrogrnd Soviet which consummated..the most ignominious treasoirtbat history, has. known against the Allies arid against" humanity, ■ against Uussia,-itself,.-there were .1000 .wjio could neither read nor write."" ' : "Apropos to ''the !itty-fifth' anniversarj of Nathaniel Hawthorne's death the Ijiet has been recalled that the name of tho author of "The' House of the Seven Gables" and "The Scarlet Letter was ongiiiaily spelt withmft" the-"w'-HaUiorno. Other novelists.-.have, discarded certain of their Christian "names, : I bus Chares Dickons novei-'signoithimsolf as Charles John 11uffau..'Kckei]^'.[Arnold Bennett has dropped' "VU"'"!^ I !'^^J''T \ r !' ling wnf vlii'istened'J.osepli Rud.vordlupling, aiii(;irall.Caiile as Thomas Hono Hflll ■,( ; ;aine.'.Then, t00,,W; bani Qe Mortnn*s'''i»UHo' appeared>i.th. ? title ™!f Of his books/'minus; "Frond 'niter'the William i ..ivlliistjiri-o\:nl!!Oivy,."nope lnwdens's caso. 'Ihc-.-novclist 'ha*'- dropped his surname. TV t,. 'S.' was christened huberf Lewis Balfour 'Slovenson. In his case (he Balfour was reliii<im?hed and "f,owis" changed ill to "Louis. Mr. Bernard Holland Ins written on interesting memoir of' that .-occenlric person, b>nslm Wsb.v. by whoso curious Iwok. "Tho Broad Stone of Honour limlcin once admitted he, had 1 been greatly inllu'enced.