Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-05-26
President Grevy.

There are some men who win the great
prizes not because of their greatness, but
because of their fitness. M. Jules Gervy,
the President of the French Republic,
owes much of his success in life to the
fact that circumstances have served him
admirably for the exercise of his peculiar
talents. When, after McMahon's blum
derS and treacherieS, it was found neces-
sary to nominate president the sound
ness Of whose Republican principles was
placed beyond the shadow of 4 doubt, and
yet whose radicalism was of that mode
rate tone which should be guarantee
against any extreme policy, no other
man In France was found uniting these
needed qualities in so marked a degree
rs NJ. Jules Grevy. In this role, how
ever, the role of moderation, M. Grevv
had made his appearance before. To fill
difficult situations. and to be the man
called upon to act in critical issues, is to
sum up the history of his political life
M. Jules Grevy's most conspicuous
virtue-we prefer to give preference to
his virtues rather than his talents. as he
presents the rare instance of Il public man
who has made his talents serve his vir-
ties rather than the other more common
place rule-M. Grevy's most prominent
virtue, then, has been his purity of mo-
tive. He is one of those men who have
found character an excellent substitute
for genius.
AS a politician. NJ. Grevy has been
conspicuous in all the great events which
have agitated France since 1880 During
that revolution he left his books to
storm barricadeS an act of patriotism
that eighteen years later, in 1913, brought
its reward. Ledra Rollin. one of Grevy's s
most intimate personal friends, sent him
into the Jura as Commissioner, from
which section of country Grevy was aft
er returned to the National Assembly by
an immense majority. 1t was in this
Assembly that Grevy proposed his fa-
nous amendment, which won for him
an enduring celebrity. That amendment
attempted to do away with the office of
nominal head of the republic. NJ. Grevy
even then foresaw the danger to be
dreaded in the person of Louis Napoleon,
and the game he could play were the
power vested in the hands of the peo-
pie. The amendment provided guar
antee against both these dangers by sug
gesting that the President should be
elected by the Chambers, and that his
title should be simply that of president
of the Council of Ministers" to be re-
moved at the will of the Deputies. Had
the bill been passed it would have saved
France twenty years Of despotism. Nat
urally. under the Empire. M. Grevy's
political career was under an eclipse.
But he was elected by large majority
as Republican candidate to the Corps
Legislatif in 1868, where he distin-
guished himself by his courage and en-
ergy in heading the war waged against
Napoleon's misrule.
With the establishment of the Repub-
lie. M. Grevy's position became an i'm
por;ant one. He was elected President
of the Assembly at Versailles. filling that
arduou5 role with marked iirmness and
impartiality.
In person NJ. Grevy is formed to be a
marvel of vigOr and strength for man
in his seventy fifth year. To look upon
his fresh complexion, and to note his
firm step. his erect carriage and his ro-
bust physique, one would believe him to
be in the mature vigor of the fifties. His
physiognomy is striking from its digni-
ty and the repose of its expression. In
dress he is scrupulously neat. and his
ideal of official dignity is revealed in the
fact that at seven in the morning he will
be found arrayed in his frock-coat. The
sobriety of NJ. Grevy's character may be
gagged by his having been model il
lustration of the French proverb, "Un
Franchc- Compte ne rit jandis." He has
never been heard to laugh in public. He
allows himself. however, the luxury of
one indulgence. He has passion for
the hunt To follow the hounds, and to
hear ringing in his ear the music Of the
huntsman's horn. is his one permitted
relaxation. In his dispensing Of the So
cial gayetics of the Elysee, NJ. Grevy is
aided by his gracious wife and his
charming daughter, the latter of whom
has been educated upon much more lib
eral principles than the usual cloistral
French custom pcrmits.-A. b. Blake,
tn Harper'S Magazine.