M. CLEMENCEAU.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1920, Page 5

M. CLEMENCEAU.

RETIREMENT FROM POLITICS. NJW; FRENCH PRESIDENT, gy Telegraph.-T-Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Jan. 21, 1.30 a.m. London, Jan. 17. M. Clemenceau anndunces hia definite retirement from political life. He intends to write his war memoirs. The Paris Matin states M. Clemenceau is now taking up the attitude that he is no longer in a position to negotiate as France's representative in the Supreme Council. The Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph states that M. Clemenceau's defeat was due to the unpopular foreign and financial policy pursued since the armistice. M. Clemenceau had against him the whole influence exerted by M. Poincare, Marshal Foch, General Petain, the High Command, the Catholic leaders, the Socialists, and the advanced Kadicals. Moreover, his entourage alienated many sympathisers.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

SURPRISE AT M. CLEMENCEAU'S DEFEAT. CAREER OF M. DESCHANEL. Received Jan, 20, 7.55 p.m. Paris, Jan. 17. The preliminary voting in the Presidency election caused' a sensation in France, as M. Clemenceau's return had been considered a foregone conclusion. M. Clemenceau and M. Deschanel constitute a remarkable persona! contrast. M. Deschanel is suave, debonair, and is incontestably the best-dressed man in Paris. The election will possibly furnish a further surprise. It is rumored M. Clemenceau is withdrawing in favour of M. Poincare.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

[M. Deschanel was elected President of France in succession to M. Poincare. The new President of France has had a long and distinguished public career. He was president of the Chamber of Deputies from 1898 to 1802, and held the office for the fifth time in 1912. He has also held important appointments in the French, Foreign, and Colonial Offices. A character sketch published at tlio time of his fifth term as President of the Chambe/ stated: —Paul Deschanel interests the Republicans. He was born in exile, his father having been one of the many victims of Napoleon the Little's tyranny. The day of his birth, his father, who wa9 eating in Brussels the bitter bread of the exile, ran across the street to inform two other illustrious exiles of the happy event. They were Victor Hugo and Edgar Quinet. "He is the first-born of the proscription. Let us be his godparents, Quinet," said Victor Hugo. So these two prophets of democracy were his sponsors. Sedan finished, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, Edgar Quinet, Emilc Deschanel, and others returned to their beloved Paris. Emile Deschanel resumed his chair of French literature in the College de France. In time the young Paul became a secretary in the Ministry of the Interior. His public career began in 1885, when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the district of F.ure-et-Loire. There he has sat ever since. In the Chamber Gambetta was his idol. He looked upon the great tribune as the inheritor of the principles of Victor Hugo and Edgar Quinet. .During these years of a fine Parliamentary career, he" has been noted for fidelity to principle and finished speaking. His sentences are clear and his sentences are cadenced. Though the smell of the midnight oil and the stamp of the Academician is over them all, he has the art of concealing art. He is not as eloquent as either Jean Jaures, the leader of the Socialists, or as the Count dc Mun, the spokesman of the Catholics. Nor has he the biting sarcasm of the former Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau. But he is classical to his finger-tips. He speaks with full knowledge of the subject he discusses. His reviews of foreign politics are always listened to with close attention. M. -Deschanel has been a prolific writer for a number of years, the subjects he dealt with including French interests in the Pacific].