PANAMA AND DRAGUIGNAN
The great Panama Canal Affair was only one of many financial scandals
which seriously damaged the good fame of the French Republic founded
upon the fall of the Empire, and consecrated by the collapse of the
Commune of Paris. But this Panama scandal was by far the most important
and most nefarious, alike in respect to the amount of money involved,
the position and character of the people mixed up in it, and the wide
ramifications of wholesale corruption throughout the political world
that were in the end revealed.
M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the originator and organiser of the Suez
Canal, was a man of quite exceptional ability, energy and force
of character. He carried through his great project in the face of
obstacles, political and financial, that would certainly have broken
the heart and frustrated the purpose of a weaker personality. At no
period did he show any disposition to keep the canal under harmful
restrictions, and the Khedive Ismail Pasha, though a Turk of no
scruples, who backed him throughout, also took a very wide view of the
services which the canal would render to the world at large. It was
to be neutral and open under the same conditions to the ships of all
nations. Unfortunately, England, whose commerce has chiefly benefited
by the canal, bitterly opposed its construction, going so far at one
time as actually to prohibit the Khedive from carrying on the canal
works in his own territory, thus occasioning considerable delay. As
it happened, however, this delay itself was turned by de Lesseps to
the advantage of the Canal Company, as he used the time to create new
engines for excavation which in the end expedited the completion of the
waterway.
The result of this ignorant British opposition was that the finance
of the great enterprise was chiefly provided in France, and, when the
canal was first opened in 1869, it was considered, as in fact it was,
a triumph of French sagacity and foresight over the obstructionist
jealousy of England. This view was accompanied also by natural
jubilation at the consequent increase of French influence in Egypt
itself. Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, therefore, became a great French
hero who, by his capacity, persistence and diplomacy, had not only
gained glory for France and extended her power, but had also furnished
his countrymen with an excellent investment for their savings, on
which British commerce was paying the interest. His popularity in
France was well earned and unbounded. The work of de Lesseps was, in
fact, regarded as the one great and indisputable success of the French
Empire. Anything which he took in hand thereafter was certain to prove
of great value to the country and an assured benefit to those who
followed his financial lead. He was also a lucky man. He and his set
had won against heavy odds.
It is true the cost of the Suez Canal had been more than double his
original estimate, even up to the time when it was first opened, and
many millions sterling had been expended since; it was likewise the
fact that his great idea had taken fully ten years to realise in the
shape of a completed enterprise. But this was the larger tribute to
his foresight and power of overcoming obstacles due either to natural
causes or to the malignity of enemies. Thus Ferdinand de Lesseps, ten
years after the Suez Canal had been made available for shipping between
the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, held an unequalled position in the
eyes of French engineers, French bankers and, what was more important,
French investors.
Early in the year 1879 M. de Lesseps, following the course adopted
by him in the case of the isthmus of Suez, called a Congress of the
nations to consider the entire project of a Panama Canal. There was
nothing new in the matter. The line of the canal had been surveyed
by a capable French engineer nearly forty years before. The Congress
estimated the actual cost of the construction of the canal at about
£25,000,000, or a little more than the highest sum thought sufficient
by the English engineer of the Panama Railroad. But the mere figures
are of little importance. That they were quite insufficient, as the
business was managed, has since been abundantly proved. But at first
there is no reason to believe that de Lesseps was other than quite
straightforward. He had bought the concession for the canal from
Mr. Buonaparte Wyse, who had acquired it from the United States of
Colombia, through whose territory the canal as surveyed ran. That
this concession itself had previously been found very difficult to
finance in any shape was a matter of common knowledge; that also the
canal, when constructed, might prove far less valuable in every way
than was calculated for world commerce was the opinion of many skilled
engineers. But then the same things had been said about Suez. So the
French public rushed in to subscribe the money required for the French
Company immediately formed by M. de Lesseps to exploit the concession.
The great name of de Lesseps covered the whole risk and rendered
criticism quite useless. But the management of the excavation was
wildly incapable and inconceivably extravagant. It was very soon
discovered that the original estimates were absurdly at variance
with the cost of the real work to be done. The entire enterprise, as
undertaken in 1884, was entered upon possibly in good faith, but in
a wholly irresponsible and ignorant manner. In spite of warnings as
to the certainty of encountering exceptional obstacles, no steps were
taken to provide against contingencies, to inform the shareholders
as to the position, or to revise the plans in accordance with the
facts. The canal was inspected by M. Rousseau at the end of 1885. This
engineer gave a most unfavourable report in regard to the excavations
and constructions already carried out at vast expense, and the
enormous additional sum needed to give any chance of completing the
works. Instead of honestly facing this most unpromising situation and
disclosing to the shareholders the real state of the case, or declaring
that at least three times the amount would be required to bring the
project to a satisfactory conclusion, and calling for this huge sum
at once, the directors resorted to all the worst tactics of the
unscrupulous promoter. This part of the matter went into the hands of
M. Jacques Reinach and M. Cornelius Herz, names and persons afterwards
covered with obloquy in connection with the whole affair. They set to
work systematically, and were restrained by no inconvenient scruples.
Strong political influence in both Chambers was needed in order to
obtain the passing of the Panama Lottery Bill. Strong political
influence was bought, though the Bill itself was not carried. From
1885-86 onwards this wholesale bribery was continued on an enormous
scale.
The company was as careless of men's lives as it was of shareholders'
money. Labourers from all parts of the world had been gathered
together in what was then a deadly climate, without proper sanitation
or reasonable medical attendance. Some time prior to the financial
troubles it was known that such anarchy and horror prevailed on
the Isthmus that intervention by the French Government, or even by
an international commission, was called for. Nothing but the great
reputation of de Lesseps could possibly have upheld such a state of
things, or have obtained more and still more money to perpetuate the
chaos. Even when the truth as to the frightful mortality of the men
employed and the incredible waste, due to incompetence and corruption,
must have been known to the President of the Company (M. de Lesseps
himself) and his fellow-directors, when, likewise, they must have been
convinced that the company was drifting into a hopeless position, they
still appealed to their countrymen for more and more and more money
to throw into the bottomless quagmire at Panama, and sink of French
savings in Paris, to which the whole company had been reduced.
By the year 1888 no less than 1,400,000,000 francs had been expended in
one way or another, while not one-third of the necessary work had been
done. Of that £55,000,000 nominal amount not a few millions sterling
found their way into the pockets of deputies, senators, and even
Academicians, to say nothing of commissions and brokerages of more or
less legitimate character.
Politicians in France are no worse than politicians in other countries.
But the proportion of well-to-do men among them is less than elsewhere.
There was consequently a margin of them always on the look-out for an
opportunity of adding to their income, and this margin was much larger
in the National Assembly before payment of members than it is to-day.
For such men the Panama finance was a glorious opportunity. Nobody
could suspect de Lesseps of being consciously a party to a fraud. To
make a French venture like the Panama a great success, in spite of
all difficulties, was a patriotic service. To receive good pay for
doing good work was a happy combination of circumstances none the less
gratifying that, the work being honestly done, remuneration followed or
preceded in hard cash. The extent to which this form of corruption was
carried and the high level in the political world to which streams from
the Panama Pactolus were forced up is only partially known even now.
But so wide was the flow and so deep the stream that, when the outcry
against the Company began in earnest, statesmen whose personal honour
had never been challenged were afflicted with such alarm, on the facts
being laid before them, that they did their very utmost to suppress
full investigation.
This, however, was not easy to accomplish. For there were no fewer
than 800,000 French investors in the Panama Company. All of these were
voters and all had friends. It became a question, therefore, whether it
was more dangerous to the Republic and its statesmen--for personal as
well as political considerations came in--to compel full publicity, or
to hush the whole thing up as far as possible. Meanwhile, the public,
and important journals not suspected of Panamism, took the whole thing
down from the Cabinet and the Bureaux into the street.
For the opponents of the Republic it was a fine opening. That enormous
sums out of the £55,000,000 subscribed had been paid away to senators,
deputies and Academicians, for services rendered, was certain. Who
had got the money, and under what conditions? Imputations of the most
sinister character were made all round. Paris rang with accusations
of fraud. That more than a hundred deputies were concerned in Panama
corruption is a matter of common knowledge. One who was in a position
to know all the facts declared that more than a hundred who were mixed
up in other nefarious transactions used Panama to divert attention from
their own malfeasances. However that may be, public opinion, excited by
the clamour and denunciations of eight hundred thousand shareholders
and electors, clove to Panama. It became an instrument of political
warfare as well as of personal delation. The obvious determination of
Presidents Carnot and Loubet to prevent a clear statement from being
issued and the Directors prosecuted only rendered the sufferers more
determined to get at the facts and wreak vengeance on somebody.
There were two views as to Count de Lesseps--to give him his title,
which had its value in the Affair--and his conduct in the Panama Canal
Company. There were those who held that de Lesseps, beginning as an
enthusiast, and believing himself perhaps to be inspired in everything
he undertook, no sooner found that his carelessness, in disregarding
real natural difficulties and in organising the excavations on the
spot, must result in failure, unless he could obtain unlimited
resources, and doubtful of ultimate success even then, began at once
to display the worst side of his character. The successful adventurer
became, by degrees, the desperate gambler with the savings of his
countrymen. Instead of regarding himself as the trustee of the people
who, on the strength of his reputation and character, had risked their
money, he deliberately shut his eyes to the real facts. He resorted to
all the tricks of an unscrupulous charlatan, misrepresented the truth
in every respect and had no thought for any other consideration than
to get in more funds. For this purpose he paraded the country, making
the utmost use of his personal and social advantages, and losing no
opportunity for unworthy advertisement. All this time he knew perfectly
well that his enterprise was doomed. Consequently, there was little
to choose between de Lesseps and Reinach, Herz and the rest of them,
except that he was perhaps the greatest criminal of all. Such was the
view of the promoter-in-chief taken by lawyers and men of business who
looked upon the whole matter as a venture standing by itself, to be
judged by the ordinary rules of financial probity.
On the other side a capable and influential minority regarded
de Lesseps as an enthusiast, a man of high character and noble
conceptions, quite devoid of the power of strict analysis of any matter
presented to him, and destitute of common sense. His financial methods
and commercial obliquities were due to his overweening confidence in
his own judgment and faith in his good fortune to pull him through
against all probabilities. The one great success he had achieved
rendered him a man not to be argued with or considered on the plane of
ordinary mortals. He saw the object he was aiming at, felt convinced
he would accomplish it, regarded all who differed from him as ignorant
or malignant, and went straight ahead to get money, not for his own
purposes but in order to carry out the second magnificent scheme to
which he had committed himself. Corruption and malversation by others
were no concern of his.
President Sadi-Carnot, a cold, silent, upright man, little given to
allow his feelings to inflame him at any time, warmly took this view of
de Lesseps' character. M. Carnot had been brought into close contact
with de Lesseps on another of his vast projects. The President, like
many others, refused to look at the Panama matter from the point of
view of fraud or imposture. Money was for de Lesseps always a means,
never an end. When the whole matter was brought before him, and one of
the legal personages whose duty it was to investigate the whole of the
facts came to a very harsh conclusion as to de Lesseps' responsibility
for the waste, corruption and malversation, M. Carnot said with some
vivacity: "No, no; M. de Lesseps is not a man of bad faith. I should
rather consider him punctilious. Only his natural vehemence carries
him away; he is a bad reasoner, and has no power of calculation. Hence
many regrettable acts on his part, done without any intention of
injuring anybody. I knew him well, having seen him very close, when his
imagination suggested to him the scheme for excavating an inland sea in
Africa. A commission of engineers, of whom I was one, was appointed to
hear him and study his proposal. We had no difficulty in showing that
the whole thing was a pure chimera. He seemed very much astonished, and
we saw that we had not convinced him. Take it from me as a certainty
that he would have spent millions upon millions to create his sea, and
that with the best of good faith in the world."
This was probably the truth, so far as de Lesseps himself was
personally concerned. Promoters, discoverers and inventors of genius
are men of mighty faith in their respective enterprises. As a great
anarchist once said of his own special nostrum for regenerating
humanity at a blow: "All is moral that helps it, all is immoral that
hinders it." So with de Lesseps. All was moral that got in money to
construct his canal: all was immoral that checked the flow of cash
to the Isthmus. But an enthusiast of this temper, "without power of
calculation," is a very dangerous man, not only to the subscribers
to his shares, but to the Republican politicians who confined their
enthusiasm to the acquisition of hard cash for use not in Panama but in
Paris.
In 1888 the Panama Canal Company collapsed, and the thing was put into
liquidation. But that was not the end of it. All sorts of schemes were
afoot for carrying on the works and completing the canal before the
concession expired in 1893. Although, however, from the date of the
breakdown onwards--when it was stated that fully £70,000,000 would be
needed in addition to the amount already expended or frittered away to
carry out the canal--most virulent attacks were continually made upon
prominent politicians and financiers, as well as upon the Directors of
the Company, neither the political nor the legal consequences of the
disaster were felt to the full extent until four years later. Judicial
investigations, it is true, were going on. But it was an open secret
that, in spite of the losses and complaints of the shareholders, and
the strong desire of the public that the whole vast transaction should
be exposed in every detail, the anxiety of men in high place was to
calm down natural feeling in the matter. What made this attitude more
suspicious was the fact that the Government had certainly not shown
itself unfavourable to the scheme, but on the contrary had helped it,
even when the gravest doubts had been thrown upon its practicability,
at a cost vastly exceeding anything contemplated by the Company. In
fact, an atmosphere of general distrust pervaded Paris and the whole
of France. Yet Panama still had its friends, and it was believed that
somehow or other the affair would be tided over.
But there was a good deal more to come. Things, in fact, now took
that dramatic turn which seems the rule in France with affairs which
directly or indirectly influence high politics and high finance. There
were people who believed that the entire enterprise could be set on
its legs, although parts of the recent excavations were deteriorating
and some of them had been covered already with luxuriant tropical
growths which one imaginative critic spoke of as "forests." Either the
Government, they thought, could be forced to take up the enterprise
itself, or at any rate would think it best, in view of what had
already been done, to support de Lesseps in a fresh scheme, should the
concession be renewed. This, no doubt, was the opinion of M. Gauthier,
who urged the Government in the Assembly to appoint a commission to
prepare plans for the completion of the Canal. This, he declared, was
the only means of safeguarding the interests of the shareholders and
the many hundreds of millions of francs sunk by poor French investors
in this great enterprise.
Such a daring proposal necessarily raised the whole question of the
responsibility for the serious engineering and financial fiasco. The
Government was at once charged from several quarters, not as being
answerable for past mistakes in supporting the Panama Company, but with
present obliquity in screening and protecting delinquents who should
long since have been brought to justice. One deputy vehemently declared
that the only reason why no adequate action was taken was that "men
possessed of great names and high positions" checked any attempt to
handle the scandal boldly. Other deputies declaimed with equal warmth
against throwing good money after bad. Meanwhile rumours floated round
the Chamber as to the number of deputies who had put their services at
the disposal of the Company for money received. Later, this accusation
took definite shape as a formal accusation that fifty deputies had
received among them the sum of £120,000. Senators and Academicians were
in the same galley. Exaggeration was imputed, but the figures were
proved afterwards to be less than the truth. Then everybody concerning
whose position there could be the slightest doubt was accused of having
"touched."
Even MM. Rouvier and Floquet were taunted with having accepted large
sums. The Chamber passed a resolution "calling for prompt and vigorous
action against all who have incurred responsibilities in the Panama
affair." This might mean anything or nothing. It was pointed out,
however, by a high authority that a judicial inquiry was proceeding all
the time. But the public became impatient because nothing was done to
stop the campaign of vilification on the one hand or to prosecute the
Directors on the other; though de Lesseps was being denounced daily in
the press as a fraudulent adventurer. Excitement ran very high. The
shareholders and some of the deputies cried aloud for justice.
Matters being thus exceptionally perturbed, Baron Jacques Reinach,
the chief agent in the manipulation of political corruption, committed
suicide by apoplexy. That was the gruesome explanation given in the
press of this financier's sudden death. His fellow Semite, Cornelius
Herz, survived the tragedy. Just at this moment, when everybody thought
that something must be done, the Panama Concession was extended for a
year. The Panamists took heart again and believed all would blow over.
So the ups and downs of public expectation went on.
Then, quite suddenly and without any general notification, all the
Directors of the Panama Canal Company, Count Ferdinand de Lesseps,
M. C. de Lesseps, M. Fontane, M. Eiffel and M. Cottu were formally
charged in court with having resorted to fraudulent methods in order to
engender confidence in chimerical schemes, and with obtaining credits
on imaginary facts, squandering the money of the shareholders and
lending themselves to most nefarious practices. A terrible indictment!
By this time all who cherished a political or personal grudge against
any public man of note had no better or surer means of discrediting
him than by imputing to him some connection with the Panama affair.
Mud of that sort was warranted to stick. Never was there a greater
scandal. Never were people more credulous. Never did political feeling
run higher, and never certainly was there a keener anxiety to connect
leading Republicans with the seamy side of the concern. The more
that could be done in this way the better for the Conservatives and
anti-Republicans who still constituted a very formidable combination
in Parliament and in the press. It was not likely, therefore, that
Clemenceau would be able to escape criticism and calumny if he had been
in any way connected with men some of whom were then rightly regarded
as malefactors.
In a time of so much excitement it was easy to mix up truth and fiction
to an extent which would render it extremely difficult for Clemenceau
to clear the public mind of allegations made against him, however false
they might be. All Clemenceau's enemies, and he had not a few, took
advantage of the situation to try and overwhelm him with obloquy. Now
was the opportunity to pay off many old scores; and they set to work
to do it with whole-souled zest and vitriolic acrimony. Circumstances
aided them. They did not stick at trifles in their efforts to crush
the Radical leader who had fought the good fight against reaction and
Imperialism with such vigour and success for so many long years. M.
Clemenceau was at this time editor of _La Justice_, a journal founded
by himself and written by men of ability, most of whom are still his
friends. The tone of the paper and the style of the contributions were
no more calculated to bring over recruits from his adversaries than
were his speeches and tactics in the Assembly. He was ever a fighter
with tongue and with pen. Though he wrote little, if anything, in _La
Justice_ himself, the inspiration came from its editor. One thing he
lacked, and always has lacked--money. If now they could only get hold
of evidence that Clemenceau was contaminated with Panama, the worst foe
of French obscurantism would be put out of action and his influence
permanently destroyed. So they calculated. And not without good reason,
as afterwards appeared.
Cornelius Herz, the co-corrupter of political impeccables, with
Jacques Reinach, his "apoplectic" fellow-Jew, had subscribed £1,000
to _La Justice_ in its early days. What could be better? A Semite of
Semites, a Panamist of Panamists, he it was who with sinister features
and corrupt record stood forth as the dexterous wire-puller of the
malignant marionette, Georges Clemenceau. If _La Justice_ had been
tainted with the accursed thing, Clemenceau had had his share, and
the lion's share, too, in this wretched swindle. Did anybody really
care what a journal of small circulation like _La Justice_ published
or stood for? Certainly not. But Clemenceau, the terrible leader of
the Left, the upsetter of Ministries, the creator of Presidents,
the overthrower of the Church and the enemy of all religion, here
was a man worth buying; and beyond all question Clemenceau had been
bought--bought by Reinach and Herz, whose tool, therefore, he was and
had been! The calumnies were credible; for if senators and Academicians
had succumbed to the wiles of the serpents of Old Jewry, why should
not the Aristides of Draguignan have fallen a victim to the astute
de Lesseps and his "_entourage du Ghetto_"? Nor did this wind up the
indictment. There was more to come. A group of rascals of the Titus
Oates type were set to work, to put incriminating facts on record in
writing, behind the scenes. They forged the endorsement as well as the
bill. Documents of this character proved to the complete satisfaction
of all who wished to believe it that Clemenceau was corrupt. The very
fact that he was known not to be well-off strengthened the case against
him. The empty sack could not stand upright! The _Petit Journal_, a
paper of great circulation, was foremost in all this business, and its
editor, M. Judet, distinguished himself by his exquisite malignity amid
the crowd of Clemenceau's detractors.
It was an ugly experience. Panama was dinned into Clemenceau's ears
daily. And there was enough to go upon to make the attacks most
galling. Herz had been a large subscriber to the funds of Clemenceau's
organ. Moreover, Reinach and Herz had called upon him, though not
he upon them. That was quite enough. The assailants did not stop to
inquire when Herz ceased to have anything to do with _La Justice_,
neither did they investigate who sent Reinach and Herz to the Radical
leader, nor what passed between Clemenceau and the two Jewish
financiers. They were only too glad to be able to take the whole thing
for granted and to strengthen any weak links in the chain of evidence
by the suborned perjuries of M. Norton and his colleagues.
So it went on. The fact that first the murdered President Carnot,
who could not believe that de Lesseps was worse than a misguided
enthusiast, and then President Loubet, who wished to deal with the
entire matter in a thoroughly judicial fashion, had owed their
positions to Clemenceau's nomination and support rendered the hunting
down of their political friend a delightful pastime for the whole
reactionary combination. Things had come to such a pass that the
common opinion grew that there was "something in it." People actually
believed that Clemenceau really had wrecked his entire career and ruled
himself out of public life by taking bribes like the hundred other
deputies, when he had refused to accept time after time positions which
would have given him control of the national treasury and of France.
Clemenceau was quite unmoved by the storm of detraction which raged
around him. He bided his time with a coolness that could scarcely
have been expected from a man of his character. At length his chance
came. The whole affair was brought up again before the National
Assembly. Clemenceau rose to defend himself against this long campaign
of successful misrepresentation. So great had been the effect of the
attacks upon him that rarely, if ever, has a favourite orator stood
up to address a more hostile audience. It seemed as if he had not a
single friend in the whole House. Not a sound of greeting was heard.
He was met with cold and obviously hostile silence. Clemenceau dealt
in his most telling manner with his own personal conduct throughout.
He completely immolated his accusers and dissipated their calumnies.
When he sat down, the whole Assembly, which had received him as if
persuaded of his guilt, cheered him enthusiastically as a much wronged
man. A greater triumph could hardly be. The condemnation in open court
of the forgers, whose nefarious malpractices had built up the edifice
of calumny and misrepresentation upon which Clemenceau's enemies relied
for the proof of their case, cleared the atmosphere so far as his
personal integrity was concerned.
But, unfortunately for Clemenceau, there were other charges against
him from which he could not hope to clear himself, and would not have
cleared himself if he could. Now all his political crimes were recited
against him at once. He had been the means of bringing to naught M.
Jules Ferry's great schemes of colonial expansion in the East. He had
opposed running the risk of war for the sake of Egypt. He had been
largely instrumental in causing the failure of General Boulanger, whom
not only reactionists but many vigorous Radicals admired and believed
in. He had never lost a chance of pointing to the danger of priestly
influence and the anti-Republican attitude of the heads of the Catholic
Church. By his action in favour of the strikers at Carmaux, whom he
went down himself specially to encourage and support, he had alienated
a large section of the bourgeoisie.
Not the least weighty of the charges brought against him, and one which
perhaps had as much effect as any in bringing about the crushing result
of the poll, was that Clemenceau had steadily opposed the alliance with
Russia. This was regarded as still further and more conclusive evidence
of downright treachery to France. Those were the days when France felt
the need for an ally who could give her powerful military support, and
her people were not disposed to inquire too closely into the character
of the Czar's Government. Clemenceau regarded the connection as
immoral, injurious, calculated to reduce France's democratic influence
and to lessen the probability of a close _Entente_ with England. But
Clemenceau's adversaries had no concern whatever with the Radical
leader's reasons for his action, which all democrats and Socialists,
at any rate, must have cordially approved. All they wanted was another
ugly weapon wherewith to discredit and defeat the man who, though he
had not gone so far as the extreme Socialists desired, had done enough
to hinder and rout reactionaries with their monarchist or Buonapartist
restorations. At the moment Clemenceau's anti-Czarist policy injured
him as a politician, but it certainly did him great credit as a man.
But, worse than all, he had steadily pursued his policy of a lifetime
as a close and constant friend of England and of the English _Entente_.
That was still more criminal than Panamism or anti-Imperialism. For
England at that time was, and to a large extent naturally, very
unpopular in France. Clemenceau, therefore, was overwhelmed with
charges of being in the pay of Great Britain and working for Great
Britain as well as for Panama. Broken English was used to hurl insults
at him, which lost none of their fervour by being uttered in a foreign
tongue. He had escaped from the obloquy of Panama, but it should go
hard if one or other of these counts did not ruin him. The political
warfare became more bitter than ever. His persecutors were relentless:
_la politique n'a pas d'entrailles_.
It was at this time that I begged Clemenceau to make some terms with
the Socialists, who were gaining ground rapidly and appeared to be
the coming party in France. His recent tactics had been decidedly
favourable to Socialist views. And again I express my surprise that
Clemenceau, while holding fast to his opinions as to the necessity for
maintaining "law and order" in every sense, should never have seen his
way to adopting the definite Socialist view as to the necessary and
indeed inevitable policy of collective social progress. But his strong
personal individualism has prevented him from embracing our principles.
The statesman may quite honestly accept the theories of economists
and sociologists, while compelled to adapt their application to the
circumstances of his time. No really capable Socialist who has taken
an active part in public life has ever attempted to do anything else.
In France the Guesdists, who are certainly the most thoroughgoing
Marxists in the country, have always proceeded on these lines in their
municipal, and not unfrequently in their State, policy. Jaurès was a
specially fine example of the opportunist in public affairs; so much
so that he was taunted by more extreme men with being a Ministerialist
before he was a Minister. Vaillant the Blanquist, in theory at least an
advocate of a physical force revolution where possible, was in favour
of an eight-hour law, compensation for injury to workmen, and so on.
One and all, that is to say, were ready to use the social and political
forms of to-day in order to prepare the way for the complete revolution
tomorrow. All Clemenceau's speeches and writings, before and after the
Panama crash and its consequences to him, contain many passages which
every convinced Socialist would accept. I always felt, nevertheless,
that I was arguing with a man deaf of both ears when I put forward my
well-meant suggestions. Socialism, Clemenceau then declared--this,
of course, was now nearly a generation ago--would never become an
effective political power in France. France, and above all rural
France, which is the real France, constituting the bulk of Frenchmen,
is and will always remain steadfastly individualist--"founded on
property, property, property." That was their guiding principle in
every relation in life, and, he added, "I have seen them close at
every stage of existence from birth to death. It is as useless to base
any practical policy upon Socialist principles as it is chimerical to
repose any confidence in Socialist votes." "But," I urged, "extremes
meet: the Catholics and Socialists, both of whom are your opponents,
may combine with the men whose minds have been poisoned by the Panamist
and Anglophobe imputations of the _Petit Journal_ and turn you out
of your constituency in the Var for which you now sit as deputy." He
laughed at the very idea of such a defeat.
But the persistence and malignity of monarchists and men of God of the
Catholic persuasion are hard to beat. Socialists with an anarchist
twist in their mental conceptions are not far behind them. So the
fight for the constituency of Draguignan, which Clemenceau had chosen
in preference to a Paris district at the previous election, developed
into a personal tussle unequalled in bitterness at that period. Every
incident of the candidate's life was turned to his discredit. The
Panama scandal and his relations with Semitic masters of corrupt
practices were only a portion of an atheist record unparalleled for
infamy. All the Ministries he had destroyed, all the true lovers of
France whom he had gibbeted, all the patriotic colonial policies he had
frustrated were brought up against him, embroidered with every flaming
design the modern votaries of the Inquisition could invent! He had been
guilty, in fact, of the unpardonable offence of making too many enemies
at once. What might have been counted to him for righteousness by one
faction was blazoned forth as the blackest iniquity by another. His
anti-Imperialism with his friendly attitude to the strikers incensed
the reactionaries. His refusal to make common cause with them in an
out-and-out programme against bourgeois Republicanism infuriated the
extremists. All his energy, all his oratory, all his genuine love for
and services to France in days gone by went for nothing. The friends of
Jules Ferry, too, were eager for their revenge. Clemenceau had thought
his loss of the seat was impossible. Nevertheless the impossible
occurred. He was thrown out of Draguignan at this General Election of
1893, and after more than seventeen years of arduous and extremely
useful service was compelled to retire from Parliamentary life. It was
a complete break in his career.
Clemenceau at this period was fifty-two, and still in the prime
of a vigorous life. He looked what he was, active, alert, capable
and highly intelligent. His face was an index to his character. It
gave an impression of almost barbarous energy, which induced his
Socialist detractors, long afterwards, to speak and write of him as
"The Kalmuck." But this was merely caricature. Refinement, mental
brilliancy, deep reflection and high cultivation shone out from his
animated features. A teetotaller, abstemious in his habits, and
always in training, Clemenceau, with his rapidity of perception,
quickness of retort and mastery of irony combined with trenchant wit,
was a formidable opponent indeed. Add to this that he was invariably
well-informed--_très bien documenté_--in the matters of which he
treated. It is quite inconceivable that he should refer to or deal
with any speech, or convention, or treaty which he had not thoroughly
studied. It was hopeless to catch Clemenceau tripping on any matter of
fact or political engagement. Moreover, as remarked before, his rule in
politics was based upon the soundest principle in all warfare: Never
fail to attack in order to defend.
As an orator he was and is destitute of those telling gestures,
modifications of tone and carefully turned phrases which we associate
with the highest class of French public speaking. His voice rarely
rises above the conversational level and, as a rule, he is quiet and
unemotional in his manner. But the directness of his assaults and the
dynamitical force of his short periods gain rather than lose on that
account; while his power of logical, connected argument, marshalling
with ease such facts and quotations as he needs, has never been
surpassed. His famous Parliamentary encounter with my friend and
comrade Jean Jaurès was a remarkable example of his controversial
ability. My sympathies were, of course, entirely with the eloquent
and able champion of Socialism, whose power of holding even a hostile
audience was extraordinary, as was shown in that same National
Assembly many a time. I was of opinion then, and I believe now, that
Jaurès had much the stronger case. He spoke then, as he always did,
with eloquence, fervour and sincerity. As an oratorical display it
was admirable. But I am bound to admit that, as a mere question of
immediate political dialectics, the Radical Premier got the better
of the fray. It is possible, of course, that had Jaurès followed
Clemenceau instead of having preceded him, that might have made a
difference. But Jaurès's style, with its poetic elevation and long and
imposing periods, was not so well suited as that of Clemenceau to a
personal debate on immediate practical issues before such an audience
as the French National Assembly.
In private conversation Clemenceau is the most delightful yet
unartificial talker I ever had the pleasure of listening to. Others
who possess great gifts in this direction are apt to work up their
effects so that you can hear, as it were, the clank of the machinery
as their pyrotechnic monologues appeal to your sense of cleverness
while they balk your desire for spontaneity. There is none of this
with Clemenceau. He takes his fair share in any discussion and leaves
nothing unsaid which, from his point of view, can elucidate or brighten
up the friendly discussion. Never was any man less of a brilliant bore.
Another quality he possesses, which proved exceedingly useful to him
at more than one stage of his adventurous career. Clemenceau was,
and possibly is even to-day, at the age of seventy-seven, the most
dangerous duellist in France. A left-handed swordsman and a perfect
pistol-shot, no one who valued the integrity of his carcase was
disposed to encounter with either rapier or pistol the leader of the
extreme Left. Even the reactionary fire-eater, Paul de Cassagnac, who
himself had killed three men, shrank from meeting his quietus from
Clemenceau. His power of work also is extraordinary. In this he was
only equalled by Jaurès. Even an English barrister of exceptional
physique, striving to make his mark or endeavouring to keep the place
already won, could scarcely surpass the inexhaustible energy and
endurance of either of these great Frenchmen. It is doubtful whether
the generation of younger men keep abreast with the pace set by their
elders in this respect. Both Jaurès and Vaillant complained to me more
than once that, to use an English expression, the younger deputies did
not "last over the course," and thus frequently lost in the Committees
what they had gained in the set debates. Certainly, few of the French
politicians of to-day, at half Clemenceau's age, would care to attempt
to do the work which he is doing now, day after day, with all the
anxiety and responsibility that now rest upon his shoulders.
What perhaps is still more noteworthy, especially from the English
point of view, Clemenceau has never at any period of his career been a
well-to-do man. His complete independence of monetary considerations,
at a time when place-hunting had been brought to a fine art in French
politics, gave him an influence all the greater by consequence of
its rarity. Politicians whom he could have easily eclipsed in the
race for well-paid positions, or the acquisition of wealth, became
Prime Ministers, and rich people, while Clemenceau remained what he
had always been, the leader of the most difficult party to control,
without the means which have usually been considered indispensable for
such a thankless post. Only once did he offer himself as the candidate
for a well-paid office--the Presidentship of the Chamber--to which
his experience and services fully entitled him. He was then beaten by
one vote. Honourable and dignified as is the chairmanship of such an
Assembly, it was well for France, in the long run, that the recorder of
that single vote should have allowed what he believed to be a personal
grievance to influence his natural inclination to support Clemenceau.