Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-07-05
The French Republic.

It is an evidence of the sound
constructive influence OF the ad-
ministration of President Carnot
that his untimely taking off has
raised no question in France Of
the safety and endurance of the
Republic. A few years ago such
an event would have been a sig
nal to all manner Of ambitious
agitators to attempt to thrust
themselves into power amid the
tumult of popular excitement.
There is no lack Of fervent eX
citement to-day, in every part of
France, but it is the excitement
Of Indignation and sorrow, and
there appears no reason for a
doubt that the Constitution grad
ually perfected through these
troublesome twenty years will
prove entirely equal to the
strain put upon it, and that the
government Of the Republic will
be maintained without a break
The Importance of Carnot's
services to France lay in the
fact that while he everywhere
emphasized the existence of an
executive head, impersonating
the authority of the Republic, he
especially emphasized its official
impersonality. 1t was always
the President, not Sadi- -Carnot,
to whom he gave prominence and
distinction. The man was i'm
portant only by reason of the
Office that he held He never al
lowed it to be assumed that the
office was dependent on the man.
This is the true Republican con
ception, and while it seems OBJ
vious enough to US, the history
of France throughout this cen
tury has given SO much prOmi-
nence to men than to institu-
tions that the principle needed tC
| be StrenuOuSly enforced, and sc
| far as he has gained for it recog-
| milton Carnot has conferred g
greater service on his country
than q less unSeltish man with {
more emphatic personal charac
ter could have done.
The vacant Presidency will be
filed, in accordance with the
Constitution, by a joint session
of the two chambers constitut
ing the National Assembly, A
| this distance NJ. CaSimir Perier
| the President of the Chamber O
Deputies, appears the mos
likely candidate He is the MAJ
possessing the largest share O
public confidence, and the one
to WHOM the best sentiment o
the country has been most apt tt
| turn in time Of doubt. He ha:
many of CARROTS qualities will
some added intellectual activity
and even had Carnot survived
his present term, which wa:
nearly at an end, Casimir Peric
has seemed his most probable
successor. Dupuy, the pres
ent Primo Minister, is also al
avowed candidate for the place
while the various radicals and re
actionaries will have their can
didates The time has passed
however, for monarchical O
military President, and the iden
titication Of NJ. Carnot's ASSASSIN
with the Anarchist movement i
not likely to forward the preten
siOns of the Extreme Left
Everything, therefore, points t
the election of a conservative Re
publican President, who wi
maintain the generally caution
and dignitied policy that cl,al
acterized the administration c
Carnot.
Our own Republic has twic
passed through a somewhs
similar ordeal in a way ths
greatly strengthened the conf
dence of the world in free inst
tutions. If the French Republi
shall in like manner emerge frol
', this present shadow it will win
triumph that must great
strengthen the cause of cOnstitl
I tional government throughor
the world.