MONSIEUR THIERS By John M. S. Allison
Orator, journalist, historian and statesman, Monsieur Thiers is wittily portrayed in a compact biography by Pro- fessor J. M. S. Allison of Yale (Allen and Unwin : 10s. 6d.). Thiers died at the age of eighty in 1877, and he had been more or less active in politics since 1821, so that a far longer book would be needed to do justice to his career under the Restora- tion, Louis Philippe, the Revolution of 1848, the Second Empire and the Third Republic. But Professor Allison brings out clearly the main episodes, emphasizing his devotion to the Orleanists, his dislike of mob rule and of despots, and his essentially moderate middle-class temper. There is nothing finer in his long record of public service than his handling of the peace negotiation with Bismarck, when a fruitless tour of the European Courts had shown him that France must make peace on any terms. Thiers may have been timorous in face of rioters, as his biographer suggests, but he showed immense political courage in agreeing to cede Metz and Strasbourg and pay five milliards at a moment when Gambetta was advocating a futile resistance to the invader. Professor Allison shows himself well informed. He notes, for instance, that when Prince Louis Napoleon made the coup d'etat of December 2nd, 1851, he simply anticipated a hostile coup d'etat which Thiers and his Orleanist friends were preparing. They were not such innocent victims as they are often represented to be.
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