New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-07-16
THE NEW PRESIDENT
WHY NJ. CASIMIR-PERIER Is HATED -.
THE REDS-wHAT HIS LIFE Has
BEEN AND WHAT THE MAN a.
TWO ANECDOTES. ~,

London, June "A
II you believe IN Judging by contraries P,.,..
politics offer as good a field for that pastin. !.
any other. There are half a dozen men-ssv.,-,
scores. In truth, but pre-emnently half do,s,
who will give you lead which 1t is safe ns,.
| 10 follow. NJ. Rochefort is one Of them a AR, :.
French Labouchere. as Mr.. Labouchere is .o.
Of English Rochefort; with a pen almost a. n,
mannerly, though with less real bltterness :.
| spirit. Before the election some English ourn.,
| ist thought 1t worth while to interview NJ Roeh.
| fort, and that eminent rreconcilabe expresses
| his conviction that the choice Of NJ Cas,m,,
| Perier to be President Of the French Repuh,,.
would mean NV regime autorltaire" Tow
Rocheforts mind the constable is a tyrant to \.
resisted, and 10 keep order in the streets OF Par.
| is an act OF oppression which nobody but de-.
| pot would be guilty Of He is essentially a revo.
| lutionist. A government TO him is something !.
be attacked and upset. He would have no Pres.
dent at all: least Of all President who could 4.
relied on to make the principle Of authority m.
spectei, and to preserve public order. NJ Cast.
mir-Perier will do that and therefore It Is tina,
the exiled editor OF "YIntransgeant" singles him
! out as type Of the arbitrary ruler. Under
Casmr- Perier the business Of making revolu.
lions could not be carried on by rosewater That
! France needs a man Of this stamp is plain To
everybody but Socialists and their first cousIna
the Anarchists. The election OF the late Pres.
dent Of the Chamber to be President Of thu
French Republic Is guarantee to France and "a
all Europe that order and liberty will march "a
gether: a guarantee Of the permanence Of exist.
ing institutions; and to extent guaran,e.
Of peace abroad
NJ Casimir- Perier Is a young man 10 haw
won this confidence He Is forty-sx. Just ono
year less than Lord Rosebery. He has had Z
career which is the more remarkable because be
seems to have accepted distinction as he faced
danger. from a sens Of duty. Very likely he has
ambition, yet he has shown none. or none ether
than the most honorable Of all. 10 be ~ service
TO the state. His is case in which the value
~ character comes out clearly. There have been
two or three crises in his life. He met them all
with firm dignity which is remarkable In
I'renchman. who IL more apt t. show courage
than dignity. and often more eager 70 do bril-.
,ant than a useful thing. Yet II you put all HE
services and achievements together they make
up. as yet, no very extraordinary lifes work. h
is not necessary they should BE they more
fewer. the sum total Of them expresses Itself IN
character. The French say: 'Cest IN h)mme"
There not many higher eulogies.
There is still. II II b. permissible to say so II
a dwelling age something in having a past. Il
IS NJ matter OF rank or title or artificial dIstnc.
ton Of any kind. What VI. Casimir Perier In
herited was name: high traditions of honorable
usefulness in public life. Of honorable private
i!fe Of great abilities: and also. which makes him
the more odious 10 the Socialist. wealth. II Is
the more odious still because 1t is industrial
wealth. the fruit OF capacity for Industrial enter.
prise: in one word capital and the capitalist az
We all know. Is the enemy OF mankind. His
grandfather was the great Casimir" OF Louis
Philippes time. His father was Minister under
Theirs. He himself began life In the dark days q
1870 and quilted the profession Of law 70 join ths
Mobile Guard OF the Aube. He distinguished him
self by his courage. and won the Legion Of
Honor by carrying his wounded commander OF
the field under fire. Still looks the soldier they
say and has that afr Of alert decision which we
call military.
The war over he went into politics; quite Mw
he had been a good American. He was first Che
de Cabinet to his father. then Minister OF the
Interior the best possible school for learning
what administrative France is like: the organizes
ton Of the French Home Office being one o. the
most complicated pieces Of machinery anywhers
at work in this world with its eye and hand on
every citizen. We should not stand IL in America
for four and twenty hours We prefer 10 stand
Tammany; 10 be robbed rather than ruled. Each
nation has It's own preferences. year or twd
later he made his entrance into Parliamentary
life as Republican deputy for Nogent-sur-seina
It was something 10 be a Republican in those
days especially for man connected by all sorts
Of ties with an aristocracy violently and bitterly
anti-Republican. To be a Republican was to be.
socially speaking. almost a pariah. an outcasts
thing 10 be Stunned. He stood up against the
royalist rowdyism OF the Due de Broglie and NJ
de Fourton in 1877. I don't think he was ever .
Gambettst, but he was one of the 1863 deputies
who under Gambettps lead tumbled the royalst
Dukes and their Wallets into the political ditch
where they have waowed ever since. Yet rs
recorded of him that he regarded even Princes
as human. and he would be no party to the o.
tracism OF the House OF Orleans. Sooner than
vote for their Punishment in 1881 an act which 10
regarded as both impolitic and unjust. he re-
signed his seat to which his constituency re-
spectng his independence. forthwith restored him
For many years he was content with life fpo'
litical obscurity He was young. and in no hurry
It was almost surprise when he was elec'es
President OF the Chamber Of Deputies. the thru
post In the Republic. but he made his marx In
stantly SO did he when after long resisting ths
entreaties Of President Carnot. he accepted mo
Presidency OF the Council. 1t was felt al onS
that France had new ruler and Society d ne"
champion. He was as firm as he was moders'@
He had a policy-that IS no novelty In Fran"
where policies spring up like mushrooms o'"
highland he was ready TO stand or fall by az
policy. That was where the novelty came H. Nv
would not be- as Lord Rosebery said OF himself
more doubtfully at that time. Minister y.
sufferance. He would not intrigue His IDEA
governing was to form stable majority
Moderate-that Is. OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
In the Chamber; men who agreed In principe d"
in aim. and who held certain convictions IN CT"
mon; men TO whom politics were not gams
but a lay religion.
He was a good debater and a good Pan's
mentarv tactician, but his strength lay IN ."