Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-07-07
MARSHAL DE MacMAHON AT THE
ELYSEE.

plete contrast could not be presented
than that of these two political an
tagOnists in the political arena
jules Simon the man of intellect,
Marshal MacMahon the man of will.
Next week we propose to conduct
our readers on a similar visit to M.
AdOlphe Theirs, the Ltterdte1r of
three generations, the statesman of
two, late President of the French
republic and possible future incum-
bent of the same Office at no future
period, spite of his fOur-score years.
But then it is never prudent to pre-
dict anything of the French nation,
of which it has been said that "noth-
ing is certain but the unexpected"
TIT should be stated that this sketch
was first published about six months
ago. Ed. Chronicle.
A grand gendarme! He is no
reasOner. He is guided by habit,
Ey instinct. His far-reaching eXpe-
rience has given him sagacity in
dealing with men that is based ON
no principle. Cast into the midst of
astute politicians who have been
plotting against one another all their
lives, of deXterous takers of the
Theirs and 0dillon Barrot school,
he has quietly held his own. The
lawyer turned pOlitician-a human
animal of the most formidable and
ferOcious instincts, with the eye of
the lynx and the tooth of the weasel
-sidles about the soldier, seeking
his vulnerable point in vain. Tor
rentsOf fervid OratOTy makeno mark
upon him. VOluminOus reports, in
tended to bear down his decision
and to force him into a new path,
move him not. The De BrOglieS,
Bullets, Dufaures, Periers, D'Audif-
-Pasquiers, Says, and Simons
have played a series of party antics
about him, Invented troubles and
difficulties, made and unmade COM
binatiOns, and shown him his cOun-
try ON the edge of a precipice, and
he has COMPOUNDED them one and all.
The new President of the Council
viii not circumvent him. He is al
ways ready to act boldly, but never
to give q reason for his move. A
staunch Conservative, encOmpassed
by Legitimist traditions, and with
deeply-rOOted antipathies covering
every shade of Republicanism, he
cOntriVes to be, on the whole, a very
satisfactory President of a Republic.
The gentlemen of the DrOitS de
PHOmne call him "Old papa and
by many names much more often
sive; and the political advocates of
all shades are prOdigal of clever
things at the old silent soldiers eX-
pense, because his store of sOnOrOus
phrases and rounded periods is
small but he continues his pro-
gresses, and says here and there his
few straightforward words, Just leaV-
ing it to be thoroughly understood
everywhere that he knows the con-
siglle France has given him, and in
tends to be faithful to it.
"Dg sltiS et jig reSte," is the re-
markable specimen of Marshal de
MacMahOn's elOquence which will
be remembered when all the fine
speeches it has been his fate to hear
under his presidency shall have van
ished into thin air, and the names
of the speakers shall have been for
gotten. 1t is the speech of a gen
darme. at is not for me to discuss
or think. l was placed here, and
here i shall remain. For seven
wears / am on guard, and let no far
ceilr venture to play tricks about my
sentry-bOX." These are the terms
on which the hero of Magenta Occu-
pies the Elysee; and smokes his
pipe and takes a quiet hand with
the Marechale in the evening, while
the five hundred kings of France
storm and call one another bad
names at Versailles, or daily with
the destinies of their country in Left
and Left Centre and Highland Right
Centre groups, gathered in hOle-and-
corner assembly rooms. Poor M.
Thiers gave himself infinite trouble,
talking, writing, and receiving from
daybreak till bedtime, when he was
President of the Republic. His
painting secretary tOiled after him in
vain. The Marshal, on the contra
nv, is quite content with the business
which comes to him in the course of
the day. He never goes out to seek
it. When the Marshal goes abroad
it is for a gallOp, a military inspec-
ton, or a days shooting.
The sporting prOpensities of the
Marshal eNaSperate the eX-PreSi-
dent, who observes, with a sheer,
that when he governed France he
found no time for the sports of the
field. The difference between the
.s1nVeRnVnfnl IN
is a man of military tastes and in
stincts, and he is born country gen
tIeman. When he is not reviewing
troops, inspecting forts, watching
artillery practice at Nincennes, eX-
amining some new engine of war,
or discussing an improved cartridge,
ne likes to take days shooting
over his own property, that of his
wife. or that of a friend, and this in
his own thoroughly spOrtsmanlike
WAY. He will set out in the early
morning, with his son or some other
companion, or often alone, dressed
not after the fashion of the STACEY
gentlemen who are to be seen on au-
tumn mornings at the NOrd Station,
with superb and most fantastic bags
and gun-cases but in the rough
yeoman dress that means business.
He will depend for his breakfast on
the hospitality of a farm or waySide
cottage, and take his share of the
Cabbage-sOup, the cheese, the pain
bis, and the conversation of the
country i'm Il way that puts his hum
BILE entertainers at their ease. a
light for his pipe from the 6rdiS3 on
the hearth win send him forth re-
freshed for another spell over the
rough land. On these occasions the
Marshal looks like an English rather
than a French sportsman. His face,
indeed, is not French, but Irish, and
distinctly recalls the origin of his
family. The Mac MahOns were Irish
Catholics of good descent, who fol-
lowed the fortunes of the StuartS,
and settled and became landed pro-
prietOrs, where the Marshal was
born, viz. ut Sully (SaOne ct Loire,
some siXty-eight years ago. The
MacMahOns took kindly to the
Bourbons, and the Marshal's father
became a peer of France under
Charles ", and his majeSty'S per-
sOnal friend. The Marshal, more
over, married into a noble family of
LegitimistS. His youth was passed
under lily-leaves. He was a Saint
Cyrien while the elder BOurbCns
were at the Tuileries, and when he
entered the army he went away for
wears of rough campaigning to that