French Premier Man Of The Hour.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 3, 1912:
All France, Clerical, Royalists, and Republican, Praising Him for Balkan Policy.
STAYED A EUROPEAN WAR
Universally Credited with Re-establishing Voice of the Republic in Concert of the Powers.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    PARIS, Nov. 2.— Symptomatic of the new spirit in France, the man of the hour is Raymond Poincaré, President of the Council. By his great effort to localize the Balkan conflict and safeguard the peace of Europe the French premier won unstinted praise not only from all Frenchmen, but from the peoples of all European countries. His great speech at Nantes at the beginning of this week, wherein he outlined the results of France's pacific initiative, evoked universal approbation. Royalists and clerical organs joining hands with Republican newspapers to pay tribute to M. Poincare's resourcefulness and untiring energy.
    Such a remarkable demonstration of unanimity finds its only parallel in recent years in the bearing of the country at the time of the Agadir incident. Now, as then, darkening war clouds find new France ready, political differences once more sunk, so that a united front is again shown at this critical juncture. This state of things is the magnificent political achievement of one man.
    Not only has Poincaré, by his magnetic enthusiasm and his appeal beyond party interests to those of the nation, enormously strengthened the power of numbers of the Republican Party in Parliament, but in a few weeks he has regained for France a great rôle in the concert of Europe, which in recent years seemed to have been relinquished.
    "It was not to France," says The Figaro, proudly voicing the general opinion, "that the Premier addressed his speech, but to Europe. He has thus given the Republic a prestige which it has not known for a long time past. We are justly proud of such a Prime Minister."
    Rarely has a statesman been faced with a more delicate or difficult task of preserving harmony than M. Poincaré encountered on this occasion. That he has succeeded as well as any living man could have done is universally admitted. The great personal esteem wherein he is held in Russia enabled him to bring the Czar and his Ministers into line, and in the handling of susceptible Austria he displayed skill, resource, and tenacity whereto few living politicians can lay claim. In fact, the name wittily bestowed on him of Chief d'Orchestre in the concert of the powers is considered to be no more than truth.
    It is a remarkable fact that in a great national crisis of late years the French Nation always found the right man at the helm. The Casablanca incident made Georges Clemenceau, fierce, half-menacing, show his teeth. The National Railway strike brought into action the iron-handed Aristide Briand, quondam Socialist, ready to crush the Frankenstein head. The Agadir incident was encountered by Joseph Cailllaux, who possessed all finesse in bartering, backed by a quiet firmness, which that critical episode called for.
    It has fallen to the lot of Raymond Poincaré, however, to shed greater lustre on the French Republic than his brilliant predecessors at the heart of affairs. Unlike theirs, his action has not been primarily defensive. At a moment when European powers were moving imperceptibly toward the brink of war he stepped in on his own initiative to unite the nations in peaceful concert and turn them from the path to Armageddon. Coming on top of his great achievement of carrying the far-reaching electoral reform measure through the Chamber of Deputies, it makes him easily the first man of France to-day. The man whose political career the Balkan crisis has crowned with this great triumph is 53 years old. He has gained equal distinction in statecraft, literature, and law, for, as a writer of great elegance, he is one of the Forty Immortals, and he also is one of the most successful members of the French bar. Cabinet Minister at 33, his experience in politics has been widely varied. Through a long stretch of French Parliamentary life he has steered through a labyrinth of intrigue, and therein lies the secret of much of his personal prestige.
    Grace of person contributed nothing to his success, for his appearance is somewhat ungainly. He has a remarkable expression of intelligence. Amiability brightens his plain, homely face. His rich, appealing voice, with lucidity of exposition, flashes of wit, and brilliancy, makes him a great orator in a land of orators. Thoroughness is his motto and patient perseverance his strongest characteristic. Never has he had a finer opportunity of displaying this quality than in the difficult task of keeping the peace of Europe, which he has voluntarily taken up at this juncture.