New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-07-08
PRESIDENT CARNOT.
his PERSONAL CHARACTER AND EXAM
PIES OF HIS SERVICES TO FRANCE
AS PRESIDENT

With the halo OF martyrdom about MS heau inc
murdered President Of the French Republic at
tains an immortality 10 which mere criticism
has little to say 1t Is difficult even 70 attempt
a cool judgment OF his real Characterization OF
the President or of the man We have only to
remember the emotion which the death OF Presi-
dent Garfield caused: emotion honorable 10
him and TO his country. Some Of the more
cynical journalists say that little deep feeling is
discernible in Paris. II Is incredible. one : re-
spect and liking for the French nation make II
impossible TO believe such an assertion lney
owe tribute TO their dead chief. The cVlhzeu
world owes one. and pas IT, Europe hno"'
very well that VI. Carnot was good Presiueh''
honest. honorable often wise; lover "a
France but also a lover of peace an" u
European concord. and doing in me per
picking circumstances Of many diiilcut hou'S
,orcb 70 secure both. and to put or to keep
International relations on a safe foouhg y just
homage TO his memory comes from every quarter
20 ,,a o,obo ND name stands and will always
stand ca high that he can we'll afford TO endure
q moro critical estimate than anybody would
yet undertake.
If We look at President CarnOt apart from MS
services to France and his official position ne
will appear rather respectable than an III
teresting figure He was not picturesque "o'
impressive not even sympathetic In presence
of any great company of people nave SUCH
him In various circumstances; at the opening Oh
the French Exhibition of 1889. at a military re-
view at Versailles. at the Elysee on great re-
ception night and elsewhere You nave u III
ogina n Yourself n man rather below medium
height rather we'll made, rather good-iooKlne'
with a face and head of which the lines were
regular enough. the eyes and hair anu Iull
heard dark. and the prevailing expression or
Of V.
seemed to be nothing spontaneous about him.
Everything was considered and correct He was
CORRECTLY dressed his hair and beard were cor
rsc,lv cut 90 were his clothes and he moved,
though ther, was nothing military about nlm'
with the precision and something Of the STIFFNESS
Of n soldier on parade. There was always
suggestion that he had been taught. or hau
taught himself. 10 do the particular thing ne
was doing Evidently, he set great store by de-
portment He had high idea of what became
the Chief Magistrate of France, and he lived
laborously up to his ideal
Nobody who ever met him or talked with him,
or who came in contact with him in any way.
would doubt that he had a perfectly honest
character. Rectitude was stamped on his race
every line of 1t. and his look and bearing test-
fed beyond mistake 10 his entire uprightness OF
purpose and Of act He was an honest man in
would have been perfectly incapable of saying as
Dlsraen said when newcomer in the House
of Commons was described 10 him as, among
other things honest:-"Oh. damn his honesty
We've very little use for that sort OF thing here.
He valued this trait Of character in himself and
In others II had however one effect on him. ana
on his "tenue" which is not 50 uncommon a.
might be supposed. II led him to think certain
things OF less consequence than they really were
The Executive OF a great nation does not i've by
honesty alone. He needs other great quantities.
force OF character, authority. commanding quail
tiles. and the power Of impressinS h'mseI on
others and bending them 10 his Will II can
hardly be said of CarnOt that he Tossessed ulese.
He had however. Nrmness and was extremely
dia,cult 70 persuade or convince. HIS mind was
not an open one; not flexible, not rea lily aI'-
nrehens,ve Of new conditions under which NJ
was sometimes called on rather suddenly 70 take
grave decisions
He has had. for example. some eight or nine
parliamentary crises to deal with. 1t was not
sbouqht II, France or here that he always took
Aha constitutional view Of his duties Statesmen
familiar with the theory Of Parliamentary Gov
eminent as practised in most European coun-
tries hold IL 10 be the duty OF the Head OF the
State when a Ministry is overthrown to send for
the leader of the party by whom IT Is overthrown
and ask him 10 form a new Ministry. NJ. Garnet
did this sometimes, and sometimes did not lie
would never send for VI. Clemenceau. 1t is hard
10 blame him. Perhaps 1t is not necessary 10
blame him. He felt and think rightly felt. that
NJ C,lenenceau was a danger 10 the State and
ne preferred 10 disregard strict theories OF con-
s.,tutjonal and Parliamentary law rather than
make Socalistic Radical President Of the Coun-
Gil II was quite useless 70 tell him that the
z
him TO form a Ministry; 10 explain that 1t was
doubtful whether he would succeed and TO assure
him that If he succeeded Il was certain his Min
tstrv would be shOrt-lived. That was not NJ.
Carnot's way OF looking at things II seemed 70
him safer to keep the Extremist outside He did
not care TO recognize the Reds as party IN the
country or their leader as within the pale of
Ministerial politics. And So 1hile NJ Clemen-
ceau was the greatest figure in the Chamber, the
unmaker If not the maker of Ministry after Min
,strv the portfolio OF President Of the Council
remained beyond his grasp.
The result was 70 alter the balance OF powers
in the Constitution Parliamentary Government,
as understood elsewhere in Europe. super
seeded at times by Presidential Government; or,
81 not superseded modified. The Chamber Of
Deputies became less power and the President
a greater power than Intended 1t was a
slight. though only a slight. approach to the
American system. But the American system is
,one thing and the Parliamentary system another,
and the two cannot be worked together. NJ.
Carnot never made an attempt to carry on with
a Ministry which had lost the confidence OF the
Chamber He regarded a hostile vote Of the
Chamber as a sentence Of death upon the Min
istry at which IL had been aimed. He could not
do otherwise. But he shrunk from the logical
consequence when the logical consequence was
NJ Ciemenceau. After time Panama and NJ
Cornelius Herr saved him all further trouble with
the rather too enterprising leader OF the Left
Equally narrow was N. Carnots view in an