Evening star., 1898-11-03
Time IS RIPE FOR GREAT THINGS
Faure Rather Expects the Light
ming to Strike Him.
TIRED OFTHE REPUBLIC
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

even sleeping France remembers that
when Zola attempted to probe the Dreyfus
ease in the courts the generals proclaimed
10 the country that the army hell Itself
shove the law. Now the courts seem ready
TO attempt revision in earnest and the
Parisians expect that their generals will
abolish those tribunals. with the govern
ment whereof they a part. to raise ON
the foundations Il new structure under mil
ftary chaperonage. The army would have
Set mp its throne ere now-or it is wrong
fully judsed-but for the lack of one ap-
rurtenance essential to a crOwn-.he man
TO wear it, To carry off its coup d,etat il
mus. nave the man on horseback, the lead
er no appeals 10 the French passion for
the melodramatic one who in American
politics would be called magnetic man
Had there been any general to ride tha
black horse of Boulanger he might nave
riddt N into palace before TODAY thouI
much opposition
II the newspapers are 10 be credited even
as things are, France approached nearer to
one Drink OF revolution last week than she
ever mas before without making the plunge
IN heT acrobatic career On the pretense
OF kee!lng within bounds a strike which
hta developed not the faintest symptoms
Vi G'SoTdtr all OF the thirty thousand troops
Nithlh the city were distributed to com
Hlsid strategic points. and not content with
thiS array OF forSe to quel some ten thou
Sahd docile woTkmen the generals must i'm
port several regiments from suburban posts
Mhlle every garrison within an hours lour-
ney lay under arms A week ago tonight
faFlS mad keyed herself to a Inc frenzy
cNrr the imminent storm, 3nI Parisisns
were prepared to speed the parting ard
welcome the coming regime. The roIIp v1s
merely a matter of hours, or at most DAYS
All me gossip of the cafes deal. IN parri-
cades and blood. striDging les Juifs" to
IamppoStS and loC;ing the banks of tba
~ dtotnseIllds' 'l where is perfect mobilization
oL Sthdarmes during these breezy times
hen the Duke of Orleans crossa5 the
tHahhei 10 Brussels Ih" Parisians pictured
themselves already in the clutches Of an
orieahlS, army, and when the Two el.iin:-
ants oi Bonapartist descent cl,1e together
~ Rom" there arose the pic-uf., Of. n fourth
,'poie"n on throne Even the Duke of
Nance tSter, who is harmless :, yl,,,th
as ddorns the B-i.!sa reerara AMI nc,.er
conceived a more ldEauturous plot than ono
ioI tHS h%nd of'an Ameri Fan he.ress. could
not C"nc to town without being =, ia tn
the dignity Of cohspirttor.
Like Banquo's Ghost.
Then the government took hand Semi
official communications to the inspiref
press declared that there was no n,o+. tbo.
The suspicious kilograms passing be:wae,
generals were forger!ss: that those general.
whose loyalty was not above suspicion wera
100 III to act; the whole sensation was =
MYTH But the myth would not down.
Even Fashoda was imnOtent TO stir NOR
5hah d ripple on the face of the troubled
don. site waters. Who is this Fashoda >;
the trenchman inquired And what has
ne done. anyhow Across the channel
Lord Salisbury. the cabinet and The new.
papers had put up q straw man which
HlckS-Beach and the others were thumDinr
win stuffed clubs of j:nso orascry and hay.
iAs II" thd OF excitement over. But in the
press "f more interesting business at home
me french found Fdshoda too abstract and
academic to bother about. They were then
GlIt" willing 10 withdraw Marchand; that-
asked only that the withdrawal should be sn
drIGIaed lnat It would not appear 10 the
Norii mat he was being kicked out. Like
thelr Spanish cousins they would take their
medicine SuS&rcd with negotiations
Drcyiu~ skill holds the center of the stage
despite Fashodds riVdlry. and has held il
throughout. The knowing Parisians sneer ar
oIlciai dcnials of d military conspiracy and
write down the authors accessories 10
the scheme The outward and visible evi-
deEceS OF conspirlngS are rampant on every
hand. they say. The soldiers are still de-
PIoyed To repress nebulous disorders Whole
companies Of them are lowering about every
building where a hod is being carried To-
day the bouievards even credit the army
with having settled upon It's man.
E-.Iot fIefe comes our next emperor said a
TO The Star correspondent.
"FeIix First"
He pointed to a carriage that came bowl
ing along the avenue. The man who lean
ed sti1fiy against the cushions as though
saying to himself, The yes of the world
ItcuS upon me, was not particularly i'm
preSSlya parsonage TO look upon. In a
crowd ne might have been picked out for a
prosperous small merchant or a country
gentleman. His face was plump and COM
monp!ace lacking furrows of character
wflie 1t wore a set smile that approached a
simper- Behind his carriage clattered an
escort OF cavalry. uniformed with all the
blazing SoTSeousness of an emperors body
guard
Felix First" the Frenchman explained
SarcastiCally.
This was r-ba
abroad among his subjects in such state
but the president of the republic and
Felix First is the title which many say
their chief magistrate begins to hold I'D
be for mis- minds eye None OF that Cae-
s%rlsm which puts aside crown is credited
TO President Faure's makeup. On the con-
trary France has never had a monarch
Wto set greater stOre upon the mare scenic
embellishments of position than her pres
ent elected chief and unless his constft-
Cents judge him unjustly, he would gladly
gasp a scepter, not for the princple which
the = epter symboliZes, but for the gauds
and ceremonials which appertsia to it.
There IL nothing of republican simplicity
about Faure's administration He appears
10 have been hypnotized by the empty the
atrical clements OF miIitarism gold LACE
helmets. brass buttons, cuirassiers behind
his carriage. The tossing of feathered
plumes. the clank of swords the ready sa-
lutte the stereotyped forms of difference
feed his vanity.
All the style of Royalty.
II one has an appointment to be received
by the French president, ne is first waited
LrOn by a hunkey, who hands him writ
ten cod, stipulating the clothes he must
wear. the words OF salutation he must en-
ploy, even the number and manner of bows
and scrapings to he performed. The court
Of Austria could go no further in fiunkey-
ism And then, when the visitor penetrates
the numerous strata of eXtraneous officials
who hedge about the president. he finds tn.
ThsaFa
uniforms. aids, adjutants and soldier secre-
taries- Some amusing descriptions are given
by the American peace commissioners, but
not for print. All Of which is the harvest
France reaps for electing a negative uuan-
tity 10 the presidency, choosing a bourgeois
because he could catch the bourgeois vote
ard a weak man because he had the doubt
full virtue of most weak men, that he had
iTCurrel few enmities.
No questions that Faure has been the
Catspaw Of the army throughout the Drey-
fus a eifatinr Twenty times hN firm,