Dfccmber _'u, 
UjlJ 
LAND & WATER 
\uuiit; and untic'iincd.nian, a# I was th-en, had not })ointed out 
^onic tvidont objections to his policv, he was quite ready to' 
throw himself, liead lirst, into the most impossi'ole adventiue. 
Had I not prevented his doing so, he would in all proba')ilit\- 
liave come to London secretly, where he would certainly ha\e 
met witli a polite rebuff from Mr. Asquith, and other well- 
deserved snubs which might have led to consequences, 
from which Ijoth our countries would have suffered. 
And to-day the wliolc of JI. Caillaiix's public and jirivate 
life demonstrates the same lack of real intelligence, the same 
lack of cctfiimon sense. 
A Creature of Impulse 
Periiaps one migiit best d>'scril)e him as a creature of 
impulse, with no notion of what ordinary men call riglit or 
wrong. By training he is an expert in all questions of finance, 
having belonged during the years of his youth to the Corps of 
Insprctors of Mnance. At the same time, he has alwa\s 
ini.xed himself up in financial affairs and in dealings on the 
Stock lixchange, with the result tliat he came to applv to 
higher politics the methods of an ordinary stockbroker. 
When shares go ujj he buys for all he is worth ; when they 
go down his only thought isto sell a bear as quickh- as possible, 
regardless of consequences to anylwd^- but himself. He has 
(lealt with the affairs of nations as he used to deal on the 
Stock Exchange. In that market the only idea is to make 
money. In politics M. Caillaux's moti\e was to reach the to|) 
of the ladder, and to get there by all and anv means. As 
long as England served his aims he was her friend^ i)ut if bv any 
.chance she did nnt fall in with his tortuous devices, he was 
prepared to turn against her immediately. He ga\e one the' 
impression of a gambler who thinks only of the present, and is 
unable to remember the past or to foresee the future. 
Thus wheji M. Caillaux requested me to snlimit to the 
liritish Government in a friendly and non-oificial cai)acity 
his scheme for the wholesale rearrangement of the Africaii 
map. he was betraying, I am sure unconsciously, but all the 
>anie betraying, the most sacred interest;* of liis country. He 
was willing to consent to any iilan, even if more favoural)le 
to England than to France,, in. order to ?ave his face and to 
enable him to mount the tribune of the ("Immber of Deputies 
and to state in appropriate language that the I'ranco-Germaii 
negotiations were not only being conducted in a most friendl\- 
spirit, but were also part and parcel of a vast project of re- 
organisation of the whole colonial- system in .\frica. • If 
England had not been, as always, jurfectlv lo\ai to her own 
traditions and to her friends, she might liave" been temi)ted 
to accept the good and easy bargain that M. Caillaux was 
willing to offer her. In this case; she would have profited by 
tlie moral treason of an ambitious French ]X>litician,. who,, to 
secure a personal triumph, was rearlv to sacrifice the ancient 
and lasting interests of his countr\-. ' But I am happv to say 
such a scheme was still-born witii an honest man like Mr. 
.\squith at the helm of the British (Jovernmint. 
On the other hand, ten minutes after declaring to me liis 
willingness to benefit lingland in the exchange of colonies, if 
she decided to back us against Spain, or even to remain strictly 
neutral, .M. Caillaux was uttering vicjlent menaces against lu'r 
for insisting that we should remain true to the hotter and to 
the spirit of our own treaties with Spain, a])proved and 
guaranteed In- her at the time. 
Such an attitude has only one explanation. M. Caillaux 
is, as I have said before, not quite .sane, and I know of no 
greater danger for any country than to have been or to In- 
again unck-r the direction of a lunatic. At the same time, 
his pathological condition is not of the kind which wouUi 
justify one in absolving him of resi)onsiiiilit\- for his actions 
whether jmblic or jjrixate. Nevertheless, for the last seven 
years M. Caillaux has been f<ir me a psychological enigma. 
.\s I followed the development of his career I realised more 
and more the abnormal character of his intelligence. In 
some respects his cleverness and adaptibilit\- seemed un- 
ef|ual!ei by anv other living jwlitician. He could grasp with 
extraordinary rapiditv the main points of a conii)licated j)ro- 
bleni, and once he had made up his mind, nothing would alter 
it. For example, during the iManco-German negotiations of 
1911, he gave M. .Jules Cambon, his Ambassador in Berlin, 
strong and unflinching support. In that sense M. Caillau.x 
was tenacioiislv patriotic. But, on the other hand, he was. 
incapable of distinguishing between an honest and a dis- 
honest means of attaining his end. To him all men were 
the same—bandits. ma>ked or immasked, wlio all had their 
I)rice, if they had an\- intelligence. 
•Of course, he admitted the existence of another class of 
human beings- tlw mere fools who were incorruptible. But 
the onlv sortion of humanitx which interested him was coin- 
Iw.M'd of his friends, and tliey wi:r.c very strange friends, 
for whom he had a genuine devotion. Tliev served him anil 
he wa* alwav s w illing lo pay them well in nienev, j;osition or 
- honours, whatever their past or their present. The rest of 
t,he woi^d was of no account, and he treated it wijU or not 
according to the circumstances of the moment. 
I only saw M. Caillaux tJiree times in mv life. .\t our 
second interview'- he told me tliat he had jjlainlv intimated to 
the British Ambassador in Paris that if England did not help 
France en(>rgeticall\- against Spain, he, CaiHaux, would llive 
no diflicalty in finding for his country other friends - meaning, 
of course, Germany ! He also said that when discu.ssing'this 
question with Sir Francis Bertie, one da\- when they Were 
shooting together, he had remarked : " What you tell mc is 
childish," to which tin- British Aml)assador, with his well- 
known caustic humour, had ansv»-ered : " Well. 1 am an old 
cliikl and 1 did not know it." M. Caillaux was delighted 
with what he considered a charming witticism, and he added 
as a passing comment, after relating the storv : " Bertie and 
myself are great friends." But he went on to declare that in 
1' ranee public opinion considered that England had left us in 
the hircli wlien she did not send a boat to Agadir. 
" l'"orgive me, M. le President," I interrupted, ' but \-ou 
know better than anyone else who wired to the l-'rench 
.\mbassador in England to beg him to ;)revent the British 
(ijrernment sending ;i boat along.sidi' the Pantlu-r." Need- 
less to say, it was .M. Caillaux himself who was responsible for 
that telegram when, in Julv uui, he was acting for M! de 
Selves, Minister for h'oreign Affairs, who had just then accom- 
l)anied President IvUlieres to Holland. ]-:vidently surprised 
at my accurate knowledge, M. Caillaux could not suppress a 
gesture of annoyance. He jumixnl out of his armcliair, and 
walking up and down in his nervous jerkv manner, he 
exclaimed : " I know, but we are not talking now- of the opinion 
()f tho.se who like yourself and mvself know the truth." 
" Pardon me, M. le President, Ijut is it not vour duty to 
tell the truth and to enlighten public opinion ? " 
Dropping the subject abruptly M. Caillaux remembered 
that he was in a great hurry as he had to dine before going to 
.see President l^'alUms that evening. 
Six days later, on November i2tii. iqir, I met him for tho 
last time, when I submitted to him a scheme of arbitration on 
certain (piestions. But he dismissed the idea rather im 
jxitiently and there the matter ended. 
An Astute Speaker 
Up to that time I had considered this man merely as an 
un.scrupulous opportunist who was almost certain to injure 
my .-ountry, all the more so that he had that gift, rare in 
l~rance of appearing a jiractical person, whereas he was simply 
an astute sp('aker w ho could make his audience believe he vvas 
a man of business, knowing what he was aliout, and fuH of 
common sense -the very (juality in which he is lamentably 
deficient. rnhaj>]nl.y, notjiing is easier in a democracy than 
to throw dust in the eyes of electors, most of whom oiily ask 
their dejnity to ilefend^their local interests in Parliament, and 
get for them individually as many favours and advantages 
as possiljle. This M. Caillaux did with great zeal. He 
vvas the captain of that gang of demagogues Who call them- 
selves Radical-Socialists, and who are always ready to iiromise 
to their electors more j)riv-ileges than their rivals offer. To 
|)oliticians who have adopted this vote-catching method of 
securing re-election, M. Caillaux, more daring than anv of his 
followers, was an ideal leader. Nothing in his antecedents, 
howevir, led anyone to foresee when he was a j'oung man 
what his jxilitical career vvas to be. 
His father, already a very rich man, belonged to the Con- 
servative Fnion during the presidencies of M. Thiers and of 
Marshal McMahon. In the Cabinet of the Due de Broglie 
(May rbth, 1877). he was one of the representatives of the 
Bona])artist party, and he filled the office of Minister of 
Finance in the very Ministry vvhicli was responsible for the 
dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, and for the (ieneral 
Election which defeated the reactionary parties. 
So M. Caillaux, who has always remained in maimer an 
autocrat, gave up his family traditions to become a Re- 
publican. That was the first move to get on, and an essential- 
one under the new regime. In i8qS he was elected by the 
Department of the Sarthe, which had been represented by his 
fatiier in the GUamber of Deputies,- where he had a sort of 
j)ocket borough. His first political label was extremely 
modcTate. He presented himself as a " Meliniste," that is a 
supporter of the great moderate Repuljlican, M. "Jules Meline. 
.V year later, the Dreyfus case having upset all Parliamentary 
traditions. .M. Caillaux, whose republicanism had already 
advanced a few steps in the direction of the Left, was given 
the Ministry of Finance by M. Waldeck-Roussean. Wiien 
M. Waldeck- Rousseau withdrew from oflice in i()i-'. on 
account of declining healfh, M. Caillaux followed iiim into 
retreat, and was oiTi of c)lfice till October i<)ob. 
'7y Ijc continueil.) 
