The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-17
THE PASSING
OF FELIX FAURE


/
(Republique Francaise) must create
throughout the diplomatic world a profound
sensation sensation even more profound
| than that caused by the assassination of
poor Carnot six years ago. carnot was
the direct descendant of that Garnet who
was the only honest man of the revolution,
save only Mrabaue and the "sea-green"
| Robesplerre. The pock-marked Mirabeau,
most masterful man in all that turbulent
period, the giant looming above all other
men except that young lieutenant of artil-
| lery known in all the after-time as Napo-
| leon the Great, was the eo-worker of that
| Carnot whose grandson was ruler of France
and was stabbed by an Italian anarchist
In Lyons some half dozen years ago. The
message conveying Carrots death reached
me in my bed room when I was the Amer
lean official representative in the largest
| consular district of Europe. Immediately the
stars and stripes were lowered to half-mast.
| and the French consul called to officially
thank the United States.
| This much has not got to do with the
| death of Felix Faure, except incidentally.
Carnot was a 1ife-senator of France, and
| SO was Faure. Carnot was not known out
side of France, except to close students of
foreign politics. That fact also applied to
Faure Personally had met Carnot and
liked him. He was one of the most engage
| ing of men-one of the most fascinating
men I ever met, to speak plain truth. 1
| did not regard him as measuring up to the
full standard of greatness; did not consider
| him worthy of his exalted station, any
more than 1 honored Hayes, Garfield or
NH to
| BILE enough; but they were not great.
Felix Faure was man of the Garfield
| type, yet UNNECESSARILY superior to Gar
| field Like Garfield, he was selfmade. Car
| field was canal boy. Faure was tanner.
| You remember that Jesus abode with one
| Simon. tanner. In the system of Jewish
| civilization the tanner occupied the lowest
I social plane The tanner was in a social
sense an outcast and so the Nazarene, low
| Hest and meekest of the lowly and meek,
| and at the same time, the Son of God, to
all Christians, abided with one Simon,
| tanner, the lowliest of the artisans or the
| tradesmen.
Felix Faure, the dead ruler of France,
was tanner by training and furrier
by trade. In his trade he, who began life
without sou, became rich. He builded for
himself home in Havre, the handsomest
in that great city of commerce. He was
elected to the assembly, the congress of
France, became cabinet minister, senator
and Monsieur lie President.
When | first met M. Faure he was
merely president of the Chamber of Com
merce of Havre and a member of the as
sembly. The second time of my seeing him
was in the Palais Bourbon the Capitol of
France, on the banks of the winding Seine.
| He sent me card of admission to the as
sembly, and 1 listened for two hours to
| the impassioned debate. 1 waited for Felix
| Faure to speak, and like the whole cham
Der, 1 was thrilled by the mastery elo-
quence of him who had been mere tan
ner. He was emotional, impassioned; all
Frenchmen are emotional, impassioned.
| Felix Faure impressed me profoundly
He was superbly handsome man, gifted
| with wonderful eloquence. His hair was as
white as the snow upon the summit of the
| Alps; so were his mustachios. His face
| was as ruddy as that of Scotch boy skat-
! ing upon a Highland loch. He was tall,
Hist Upon his right cheek there was
] Hla5 wart, distinctly observable two hun
| tred ct away.
5s asst time 1 saw NJ. Felix Faure was
/ il Il ssia when his embrace of the young
Tsll convinced the diplomatic world that
| thsr. existed an understanding" between
| France and Russia, and that conviction
| chan ged the whole course of international
/ pod cs 1t was a memorable event to be
/ the memorable in all the worlds history
+ 10 me.
tx Faure has gone to join the mighty
| tn,ong that sleep with st. Louis in the
| shadow land. With him rest Henri, Louis
| XII Louis XIV. Louis XVI who, under the
| blessed benediction of the faithful able
| "son of St. Louis ascend to heaven" per-
| ished in q stones throw of that great pile
| on the Seine, in which today there will be
| spoken only words of praise for the dead.
| In the Pantheon of France Felix Faure
| will be laid to sleep the last long sleep;
| and in sight of his resting place there shall
loom up through the years the golden dome
of the Invalides, under which awaits the
last call of God the most illustrious man
whose genius has illuminated this planet
| since mankind came to inhabit it.
| 1t is not for me to seek to pay any worthy
| tribute to Felix Faure. But the career of
no other man foremost in history, save that
|
Amongst the former presidents of France
Lamartine, Louis Napoleon Theirs, McMa-
hon, Casmir-Perier, Carnot-none has so
fully called for respect as this last of them,
| this dead tanner, Felix Faure.
1t is not possible at this late hour to guess
| the probable successor of M. Faure. He
may be Jules Cambon, M. Hanotaux; he
| may be Brisson the handsomest man in
| Europe; one can never foretell anything
about French politics. The power of choos-
| ing president of France rests solely with
| the congress of France. That body con-
| sists of the members of the assembly and
| the senate. They number $50 and must
meet at Versailles within five days of the
| death of the president, or five days prior to
the expiration of his term of office.
1t is not impossible that Victor Napoelon
may be elected prince-president
= In any event, the situation concerns very
III frt-