"WORK!"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 80, 30 December 1919, Page 5

"WORK!"

M. CLEMENCEAU ON THE

FUTURE

SPEECH AT STRASBMG

M. Clemenceau delivered his eagerly awaited speech at Strasburg last montb. (statcs a Router message to the "Westminster Gazetto"). "Everywhere all over France, from tho Pyrenees to the Rhine," ho began, "the French peoplo are going to speak in a few days through their'elections, which will decide French politics on tho entry of tho civilised world into peace. Some peoplo seem to havo thought that this election, coining after an' interval of six years' war, might havo for us some danger of a surprise, but these tragic years seem to' be a sufficiently long preparation of spirit nnd character for tho new decisions which must fix tho future for us. Gentlemen, it is not an electoral , candidate who presents himself before # you. It is the Chief of the Government whose task it was to pursue tho war to a victorious close and to concludo peace. \ It is tho last survivor of Uie signatories ( of tho Bordeaux protest, it is tho son • or tho great revolution of deliverance, whoso iirst resounding note Rouget do Lisle launched across the Rhino at Stras- j burg." In eloquent words 51. Clcmencoau spoke of tho spirit in which the French began tho war. "Without reckoning the strength of the' enemy, without knowing what fortune luck would bring them, with or without the help of our. futuro -Allies, our men marched in the proud serenity of supremo sacrifice. What they accomplished all tho world knows." i

Only One Way: Work. "Tho factors of peace," M. Clemonceau ivont on, "are put into our hands. What are we going to do with them? What in tho word of command? What examples shall bo given to' our sons, and, above all, what duties? To.this enigma of the Sphinx there is only ono answer! Work!" Sneaking of the Peace Treaty, the Premier said tho heads of the Allied. Governinouts had met in Paris to remake. the map of Europo in the namo of tho right of peoples to dispose of themselves. "With the restitution of their territories," lie continued, "we wished to make divisions in such a way as to give them a favourable chance of- reconstructing their national life, and nothing was spared in the regulation of frontiers to avoid all apparent chances of future troubles. We. wished to establish a peaco of permanent justice under the auspices, of (ho League, of Nations, which is charged with the mnintenaneennd development of nil tho claims of a now order of things." ~. . , ~ M. Cleincnceau also mentioned how the rwico Conference had pushed its work further in its effort to protect racial and religious minorities, who had too long been tho victims of murderous intolerance, and how it had also organised an international conference for settling la; 1-our troubles. "Tho least wo,can say, h> observed, "is that wo have tried to do this and that without receiving much encouragement."

Final Reparations Not Yet Awarded. Speaking of the- temblo devastation which had been spread in ton of the richest departments of France, JU. (,'lcmenceau said tho reparations so tar accorded to Franco wero rather parsimoniously dealt out, but a final settlemeat had not yet been arrived at, and it would be unjust to the Allies to doubt their, final success. "I have said nothing of Germany," added the Premier. 'Whan our guarantees have once been obtained wo shall wait in tho firm exercise of our right until she is converted to sentiments of civilisation." ■ - Speaking of tho Freurh constitution, M. Clenicncoau remarked that he Jooksd forward, not without apprehension, to Ion" discussions, leading to nothing, regarding this in tho next Parliament It might spend months, he said, in talking, without discovering tho ideal form of Government, which had been attained solely bv Great Britain, whose iiuo history had been built tip without a constitution. Ho would liko to sco, in faca of what he called "invading revolutionary minorities," a constitution of an irreduciblo majority under a chief capable of saying what ho wanted and doing vhat lie said. Ho saw only ruin in a die. tutorship of anarchy, of which fhey had an example in Moscow. M. Clemenceau then spoke of individual liberty, and said the citizen had no other sovereign but himself. There was uo law but his law, and society, menaced in its conditions of existence, ought to count less on armed forco than ou itself; ho quoted tho recent strike in Great Britain, vhich had proved what free organisation of its citizens could accomplish. Tim Rampart Against Bolshevism. Bolshevism for M. Clemcnccau was one of tho grave dangers of tho future. "Because they demand liberty'for themselves," ho cried, "they pretend to im]wsc on us a. dictatorship of absolutism by a system of abominable crimes as scon in tho delirious ferocity of tho hardly emancipated serfs of Russia. A union of loyal Frenchmen should bo sufficient to build an iiisuriinunlablo rampart against such savagery.'' The last part of the speech dealt with the financial and industrial problems with which Franco is confronted. JI. (Jlcmonceau laid stress on tho urgent need of putting an end to tho crisis in the transport service. His final words woi;o an appeal to Frenchmen to work for tho greatmws and beauty of Franca, "all united for the good of humanity."