Monguvn Thiime—By John M.S "Alison. allen & Unwin, London.
ive need and will: help the Tnglish-This biography _mests a "great
Speaking races toa belter under-Standing of modern France, in the! abullding. of "which Thiers) played uch a great part. The author, Professor of History at Yale Uniyhas_produeed. from many uthoritier, mostly French, 'a book which moves swiftly and easily: and eserves: a large public. "His" only anit is that he has summarized £00 Such; the life story of such a men Sulfers by being condensed to the length of a short novel, and, wars the end the man fades graually into. the background "which is France, "Louis "Adolphe 'Thiers was born in 170, out of wedlock, but was subsequently legitimized, A ner-Yous, unimposing: little man, with 1 shrill Volee and spectacles, "he Started his career in Paris in' 1821 with many" handicaps but with Rbounding energy, great ability, prodigious memory, unconquerable stubberness, "and a' eapaelty for friendship." The radical ideas ae-quired. at his birth place, Marselles, that nursery. of Republicanism, were. modified into liberal tendent ies. by his. law training. at Aix-fen-Provence, a" conservative town Of the old. aristocracy, surprising how many pa aliels there are between this. mao and Disraeli s0 closely his contemporary. Both were disappointing at shoo)" were' trained as lawyers sIped by. the publication of his History of the French Revolution"
just as" reaction was triumphing, Thiers came to the front as a leading opposition newspaper editor and an admirer of the English type of, constitutional monarchy. Such he took a prominent part in The oppos: tion to the reactionary decrees of July 1880 and in. the invitation to Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, to the throos tal Yacaled by his cousin, Charles Thiers thus arr.ved in polities protege of. Talleyrand, and was elected to the Assembly at the} game age, 92, that Disraeli entered Parliament. Like the latter the, young Frenchman tried to avoid came an independent Conservative, dhe normal party, grouping and be-obtaining a following from either: for both wings. While Disraeli was Handiepped: by the English, party Thiers was assisted by the iment of the French groups and rapidly rose to office, and be; tame Prime Minister in 1836 and again ju 1840; on both occasions however, he prompt! disagreed with the Kinj 80d, Tberal position he might have saved newspapers und by his moderate the monarchy in 1848 had not Louis, Philippe been too obstinate to give him free hand. until too a Thiers considered. the. soco public premature and carried by a minority. He therefore refused to Consider the Presidency and mained at heart a Monarel Consequently in spite of the assistance gave Louis Napoleon, the latter exiled him a week after the coup eral, The resultant holiday from politics made him wiser and. more popular, less impulsive and more detached. He spent the next twelve gears in completing, under the Bpiration of Macaulay and with the help of etternich, the ™ twenty Yolimes of his" "History. of "ths Consulate and the Empire," and in scientific pursuits, By 1863 he had necessity in polis be ies, but he was driven by the Eni-Bhd occupied. there an unassailable ror's. supporters into "opposition
Josition until. the, rebirth of Re.
blicanism and" the arrival jambelta after the' elections 1809," His "magnificent pacifist speech on" July 16th 187 was shouted down but it was _sosa. realised that he had been. right. After Sedan. the Government.
jim to London, Vienna. and "St petersburg to appeal to the Powers for intervention; he Foturned unsuccessful but with his own reputation enhanced. "After the Armistice was elected Chief of the Executive Power with a vast majority Dehind' him, and' the conclusion of peace and'the acceptance of the {Terms by France could probably not pave been achieved by any other man in that sad hour of defeat, Almost as a matter of course he Decame. the first President of the third Republic, but largely owing to his refusal to countenance party Bouts," his popularity sutored realizing that Monarehism was Jast= dead, he spent his last years working for a "Republique. conser: Yatrice," and feeling in' 1873. that this was ensured, he resigned, dy-4ng four years Iter at the age of eighty. Ili his last year he recer"- a tribute from all parties as it is impossible to. imagin Disraeli' receiving in England-— when Gambetta pointed to him and suid "There is the real Liberator of man is the creature of. his age, the child of circumstance, the creation of his times." He himself may have been the finer orator and possessed the greater vision of the two men, but he was an alien. France's need was so much greater and Thiers was essentially French; this may explain why he rose such an outstanding position among his countrymen—aLva.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.