Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-02-17
PRESIDENT OF
FRANCE DEAD
Was Stricken With ApOpleXy
in His Study.
MEANS MUCH FOR FRANCE
There is No Telling What May Happen
in the Near Future--H Has
Been Steadily Failing
MEANS MUCH FOR FRANCE

Paris, Feb. 1e.-(Copyrighted, 1899, by
the Associated Press.)-"President Faure
died suddenly tonight Of a~poplexy," says
the bulletin, but it was really worry, APP
prehension and their effect on his health;
of the ~intoxication of the exalted situa-
ton, of imperial and royal friends. His
doctors had long noted symptoms of gem
eral paralysis. He meant well, but he
did great harm to the republic, because of
a commonplace mentality and that sort
of vanity which Moliere ridiculed in "le
Bourgeois Gentil Homme." Louis XIV.
himself, though standing on a right divine
pedestal. did not attach nearly SO much
Importance to courtly etiquette. NJ. Faure
had SO insight into the great problems of
human life. and saw only externals. He
revived so far as possible, the cere-
monials of Napoleon's court. Not ever a
deputy or a senator could speak to him
without being first spoken to. Whenever
a French diplomat who had freshly ar
rived in Paris came to pay his re-
spects, Nj. Faure's first question was:
What are they doing at other courts?'
1t was noticed last week that the
whites Of his eyes We're yellow; his
speech was thick, his sleep uncertain,
his neck bent Forward and his under
lip inclined to droop. He was So last
January. l mentioned on Tuesday to
M. Clemenceau, who is a doctor, these
signs of premature old age, and he said:
Il also have noticed them. If M. Faure
is not soon turned out of the presidency
he will die from general paralysis, the
effect of 'follie des grandeurs.'"
M ~, o10-, r-~a I-L- L.
must resign, but no one save Clemenceau
and a few others foresaw the fatal issue.
The situation brought on through his
fault is most dangerous. Never has there
been a better opportunity for a coup
d'etat in France since 1852. The republic
for the next 4S hours will be lying at the
mercy of the first man who will seize it,
but the suddenness of M. Faure's demise
prevents the enemies of the republic con-
certing to strange her. Besides, there is
no man of sufficient prestige to make a
coup d'etat. The generals are disaffect-
ed, but the soldiers, though hostile to the
Jews, would not obey if ordered to fire on
the republicans. M. Faure apparently
died at the nick of time. The reactionist
forces under his encouraging eye were
being gathered to battle. Goodness knows
what he fondly imagined. Perhaps it
was that a military coalition would hail
him as a savior.
M. Faure went privately and uneX-
pectedly last week to the opera. Not
withstanding the surprise caused by his
visit, the directors rushed out to re-
ceive him. M. Faure's aide-de-camp, as
| the president advanced toward the stairs,
made O sign that the attendants We're to
fall back a considerable distance to mark
their respect. He had received a few
days. before a letter from the car and
had not yet descended from the high
sphere. At st. Petersburg he was almost
shocked to find himself and the emperor
returning from the review without mill
tary escort. After the ear had conduct
ed him to Peterhoff palace, M. Faure re-
marked: How lacking the Russian
court is in dignity His best point was
genuine charity for the poor and suffer
ing. There was doubtless parade in his
visits to hospitals, but there was also
much kindness. He gave handsomely tc
the poor, though ~close-handed in othe1
respects. His Thursdays We're devoted
to visiting hospitals and it was on Thurs
day that he was called away.
The Elysee was no bed of roses to M
Faure. He loved it's grandeur, but he
dreaded blackmailers. Urbain Gohier
one of the most respected Journalists
in France, had threatened to expose the
Jobs of the Madagascar expedition
which, as minister of marine, M. Faure
had organized. Corruption and lmDe-
cility marked the enterprise to such an
extent that the French government was
| compelled to send the artillery on Brit
ish He was more clvilly
treated by the crowned heads than any
other president of France; he was a
member of the most illustrious orders
of knighthood, save the Order of the
Garter and Order of the Prussian Red
Eagle. The last grand function at the
Elysee was his admission into the Order
of the Golden Fleece. He was almost a
business partner of King Leopold in
Congo affairs.
It delighted him to kiss the hands OF
sovereign ladies. He had kissed those
of the dowager c%Zarina, of the reigning
Russian empress, of Empress Eliza
| beth of Austria, Queen Victoria, Queen
Dowager Emma of the Netherlands and
OF Queen Wilhelmina. He had been the
host of the kings of Belgium, Greece,
Portugal and Siam, of the car and
| czarina, of Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria,
and of the Duke of ~Connaught. Cervantes
never imagined anything more incon-
gruous than M. Faure in his palatial
randeur and accepted as a king and
| younger brother by European royalties.
EMILY CRAWFORD.