The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-28
Boulanger Set Down as a Vulgar.
clustering, Half-Educated
CatspaW.
Paucity of Able Men In Public Life
Strength With the Monarchists-
Jobs Innumerable.

of the Boulanger movement are called
Such a washing of dirty linen in public,
even in France where the process of ablu.
ton of soiled political linen is only too
common, has seldom been seen, and the re.
suit up to date has been a plentiful crop of
duels. When all is said and done there is
| not SO very much in M. Mermeix's revela.
tions. The common herd of politicians in
France is only just beginning to understand
the great art of political wire pulling, and
whereas formerly only the bosses pulled the
wires and were very careful that their more
humble followers never saw the strings BY
which the puppets were made to dance, ir
the present state of things political every
sect is split up into half dozen mino,
sects, and every one seems to do or try tc
do a little wire pulling on his own account
Still. they are new at the game, and it il
safe to say that a smart ward politician or
your side could give any of them here
pounds and beating at the game o1
''scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, .
which, after all, is what wire pulling
amounts to.
The chief thing that appears in the recent
expose of the inside track of the Boulangel
movement is that both parties, the republi.
can and monarchical, used le brav general
as catspaw; and that Boulanger himself
lowered on that dangerous Tom Tiddler's
ground, between being clever man and g
fool. He was not smart enough to take ad.
vantage of the points of the game, and YET
he was not fool enough to let things slide
and trust to luck. He seems to have been
all through an essentially mediocre man
and the wonder is that man of his calibre
ever got as far as he did. 1t shows one thing
and that is the awful paucity of clever poll.
ticians in France. and it will raise the hopes
and ambitions of every scheemer and ad-
venturer in this republic. If half edu-
Gated, vulgar blusterer like Boulanper came
SO near" getting there,'' they will say, .swhy
not l" For that the erstwhile idol of the
Partisan is all the above. no one who knows
anything about him will deny. Fol- the life
of me l could never see anything
IN the man. even at the time
when he was within an ace
of becoming dictator of France.
One thing is very certain and that is, if he
had ever reached that position he would not
have had the sense to keep it long. The
idea of comparing a man of this stamp to
Napoleon is monstrous. The last emperor
may not have been clever man. but he at
any rate had the sense to keep his mouth
shut and look wise. It is no wonder that
France is in an unsettled state. Outwardly,
OF course, all is peace, and the republic
looks to outsiders as If it were founded on
rock, but if ever house was built upon
sand the present republic of France is. The
republic per SO is all right and the majority
OF the people, at any rate the country peo-
pie, are at heart republicans, but you can
hardly say that there is an able man in
republican politics; and the men who make
history and who can always sway the minds
OF their fellow men, who are really rulers of
men. are all on the other side. True, one
does not hear very much of them, but
hand is not the less strong because it is
covered with velvet glove, and they are
time as they can strike, and strike firm.
Meantime, they keep their hands in by
making use for the time being of such men
as BOulanger, and now that he is done with
they are probably on the lookout for some
one else to put forward as peoples idol.
The French in public life are nation of
children and republic does not suit them.
They want someone to lean on and some
one to lead them, some one man who can
tickle their vanity in the right way and keep
them amused with fetss and fireworks,
brass bands. flags and shouting. The cleo
bkOu RIOC0S6lOu6 O1 AIucIlC6 WlG0 TIE COISQ.
light and the ''Rah. 'rah, 'rah." would suit
the average Frenchman down to the ground,
and he would 60 crazy with delight over
some of your big PROFESSIONS. The Napo-
Icons knew the men they had to deal with
to T, and the proclamations of the old
Napoleon and the last one were master.
pieces of bombastic tickling. To what
other nation on the face of the earth would
the proclamation or orders of the day of the
'.Solaiers, the sun of Austerlitz," ETC., etc.,
kind appeal to as they did to the French?
Other nations would have laughed at them
and their reading would have been received
stirred up the French and the vanity of
every man who read them or heard them
was touched. The republic as it now exists
is too staid for the French. The peasants
like it, for it gives them peace, or they
think 1t does. but the shopkeepers and the
society people and the big Politicians
do not. and the peasants would no. either
should war break ont, which is certain to
happen sooner or later. When the trouble
comes then the republic will be without
leaders. This is almost certain, for it ia
impossible to conceive that there is an able
man now in politics who has not shown him.
self. The opportunities for really able
man Just now are SO vast that If there was
one he would have come to the front long
ago.
The ablest man in politics just now is un-
0OuOOCNAy NAs SOAbtdu6s munster Oh the IN
terror, but he is only mediocre. He is about
the only one that will stand no nonsense.
NJ. de Freycinet is an old spectacle maker
and has joined the ranks of the has-beens.
Another thing that initiates against the
republic is that already the people are be-
ginning to get little weary of the jobs that
come to light almost daily. A man does
not mind being robbed SO much if he does
not know he is being robbed; but when the
robbery takes place in broad daylight and
he can see the thief's hand in his pocket,
then he thinks it about time to
kick. Under the old monarchy and
the more recent empire, Of course, |
the people were robbed numerically and
probably to far greater extent, but then it |
was done artistically and beautiful soft |
dust was thrown in their eyes during the |
operation, 30 that they rather liked il; and
such ia human nature that the majority OF
would far prefer to be robbed by |
> man in a coach and four than man in q |
donkey cart. The men that are srobbing |
the people just now are of their own class, |
and that rouses spirit of discontent. for il |
there in any robbinG to BE- done they do not |
~ Why some of Il should not come thsix