The morning call., 1893-02-26
M. Ribot, Prime Minister
France.
HIS SERVICES TO THE STATE.
of M. Bourgeois, the
Present Minister of
Justice.
Correspondence of THE MORNING CALL.

no shades. no exceptions-all Republicans
| are so many Wilson's. so many Baihauts. so
many communists. For these anti-Repub-
| Leans there is no middle path, and they be-
| lieye themselves profound politicians when
| they announce pomponsly that France viii
| Ego to destruction If she continues to be
| governed by such rulers"
The real friends Of France, those who
| judge events in an impartial spirit, are
| pleased to acknowledge that France is not
| to be ptied because of her Republican form
of government aud they realize also that
| there are Republicans and Republicans.
| In fact, there are as many shades of French
| Repu blcans as there are days IN the week.
and NJ. Ribot and NJ. Bourgeois were at
| political antipcdes before they found them
! selves thrown together In the same Cabinet.
| NJ. Ribot is a moderate Republican, and
! until the last month he was Minister OF
| Foreign Affairs. Since the Panama scandals
| he has though best to accept the portfolio
| of the Interior. and he is now Prime Min
| istar
Writer and orator. NJ Riboti is an indefati-
| gable worker. Although only 81 years cid
| his life has been we'll filed When only
| q years of age he received his degree as
| lawyer; the next year he vas LID. Then
| was admitted to the bar, and went on from
| step to step until 1873 when. SO years old.
| in the left center, and since then has had
share in all Of tie great divisions OF the
Chamber of Deputies. he opposed the
Gambetta ministry and has taken very
active part in the Egyptian question. When
Tigrane Pacna came to Paris to ask the
adhesion of The French Government in the
conversion of the Egyptian debt III. Ribot
was Minister of Foreign Affairs and his
solution OF the question was his first great
Diplomatic success.
NJ. Rlbot also has talent for finance and
has been chairman of the finance commit
tee Very tall, the French Prime Minister
has a most intelligent face, and his manner
is agreeable and sympathetic.
Mime. Ribot is American, the daughter OF
Mr.. Burch, once prominent Chicago
banker. Many years ago Miss Burch came
to Paris with her father and here married
NJ Demaugeof, lawyer and cassmate OF
NJ. RibOt When N. Demangeot died M.
Ribot was left guardian of the widow and
her children. Some time after Nine. De-
mangeot became Nine. Ribot and she has
the intelligence aud sayoir fare necessary
to make her an accomplished maltresse de
mason.
Nj. Leon Bourgeois, Minister of Justice.
Is a radical aud when We remember that
he succeeds Mole and Billanlt we marvel
and exclaim, What a change in French
thought
NJ. Bourgeois political career has been
short. but very brilliant. He is young, not
more than 40 years old, but he has advanced
from grade o grade with startling rapldity.
He has had no other protection than his
own talents, for his family Is neither power
full nor rich
in 1877 me was secretary of the Project OF
Marine, and then he was not % years old.
Ten years later he could look back on
career as sous-prefeet. project Director at
the Ministry of the Interior, Councillor of
State. Project of Police. Deputy and Under
Secretary of State.
Within the past four years NJ. Bourgeois
has been Minister CT the interior, Minister
OF Public Instruction and now Minister of
Justice.
As successor of NJ Ricard in the Depart
ment of Justice. we see Nj. Bourgeois with
much skill. vig0r and honesty direct the
| Investigation Of this amending affair Of
| Panama.
II can easily be imagined that NJ. Bour-
| geois labors under many disadvantages in
| the prosecution of this affair, and great is the
| d ffeulty in cOnciliatlDg all the interests in
| question. He must watch that political
! passion and party feeling do not carry out
| The wishes of the republics enemies, and at
| the same time he must see that justice rules.
NJ Leon Bourgeois Is Il Partisan. and
| Paris may we'll be proud IF such child.
Intelligent. and gifted with much discern
ment, warm-hearted and str0ng-minded,
possessing all the apparent GOODNESS of
tactician, Nj. Bourgeois has in the bright.
profound expression Of his eyes the magnetic
| flame of a leader
| On the platform he demands attention by
his concise, clear speech, his profound logic.
No one better than Nj. Bourgeois has
| ever directed the Department OF Public In
| struction. To him parents and guardians
| owe much gratitu lie, for through his efforts
| great attention is paid to the health OF
| upils in public schools and colleges. Now.
| the reform inaugurated by Nj. Bourgeois
| determines with precision, according 10
! age, temperament and talent, the number
] OF hours to be given TO study, to sleep, to re-
pasts and to recreation.
NJ. Bourgeois says "a boy who does not
| wish to play is i'll. or will be ILL.," so he en-
couruged every kind of game. as much for
| the moral as the physical welfare. But M.
| Bourgeois stipulated that the professors
! should not only direct the games. but take
| part in them, thus winning the confidence
of the pupils and preparing the way for a
| decided influence Oh their mental powers 10
| the hours of study.
81. Bourgeois is an agreeable after-dinner
speaker. and one day. in the midst OF a most
brilliant company. he explained his idea of
true citizen OF the French republic:
"He is agile and vigorous; he is aecus-
toned 10 the rules of simple, healthy
hygiene; he has followed the training that
gives suppenesS and force, he Is straight,
his forehead is high, his expression frank;
he enters upon life with modesty and con.
fdence. as young athlete prepared for all
combatS.
"Hs eyes look uion the spacs sur
rounding the point of earth where he is
placed by birth and on the times that have
preceded him. He knows the general
laws of numbers and figures; he knows
what are physical forces, weight, light.
sound. electricity. heat. and he knows that
they all obey similar laws, of which GER
tain number OF examples have suficed to
show him the eternal stability.
He knows all that his eye understands of
4 A.. IF
bodies, the numerous combinations of SIM
pie elements. of the innumerable compound
bodies whose con tinuous web forms all that
the eye embraces. For him has been
lifted a corner Of the veil of living
nature; he knows the general condi-
tions of the incesssnt exchange by which
living bodies. aud his own, even, are formed,
grow and dissolve. He knows how this
superior race TO which he belongs has been
developed and reigns by thought. He has
learned what has been done upon earth for
many thousand years by this human race OF
which he is a tardy represen tative. and he
knows what has been thought, what has
been revealed and what has been done by
the ancestors of bis mind-Greece. mother
of civil liberty, OF philosophy and of beauty
Rome, barbarian Europe. Christian Europe,
giving new blood to the BODY of this new
man. and to his heart the sentiment OF pity;
then the Reformation and the Renaissance
waking him from the long night of the past
and placing on MS forehead, ike an aurora,
the rays of liberty in thought; moderh
France. from Descartes to Voltaire-finsh-
ing the freedom of his mind by
strong and precise language and, by
the explosion of 1889 causing TO fall
around him the last barriers and
leaving him upright in the midst of the
world, strong IN bis rights and the light OF
all his liberty. He knows all that, and he
has a profound sentiment Of pride and
gratitude in thinking that this new man,
for whose perfection 1t has required so
many centuries, this new man is himself.
lie understands the grandeur OF the trust
confded to him. He vows TO lose nothing;
to deliver all intact to his children, and so
to live that they. in their turn, can say they
ara respectful, grateful sons Of modern