New-York tribune., 1912-03-06
FALL|ERES'S LAST YEAR
Frances President Nearing the
End of His Term.

,tgs will receive in Paris the state
pi."s rri,e George and Queen Mary and
-, - their visit in London. both OF these
,+s taking place, according to present
~argements. during the course OF the
r,er IT will be the second state visit
~ PRESIDENT Fallieres to London the first
Va,irg taken place during the reign CT
r'sarord VII. and next summer as on the
.ooasion he will be lodged In st.
Iamess Palace.
n.onle are already beginning, OF course.
s,sores the most likely successor OF Nj.
v r,Ares but il is not a question which
50 eaid 70 disturb the country at large
Presidential campaign does here in
. 17pited States. For there are no con-
.,ons - for the nomination Of candidates,
ona the election of Il French President Is
accomplished merely by a JOINT meeuhs
- tho Senate and of the Chamber of Depu-
N.s which assemble for the purpose IN the
palace of Versailles and after various pal-
lots which merely consume a few hours'
generally end before nightfall in the choice
of a compromise candidate.
The latter is mostly an easy-going' KIND
l., man who is regarded as amenaole 10
the wishes of those who pull the pohtlcal
u,iras in France. while remaining more or
less behind the scenes. Negative rather
than nositiyc virtues are sought in the
chief magistrate and the mastertul STATES
man has but little chance of securing the
presidency.
one thing, however, is Certan-that the
man selected will be of irreproachaole pr1-
vate life. Ever since President Grevy gave
a. much offence by establishing at the
rlvs4a his wholly uneducated wife, who
nod been his cook. and whom he married
oolv when the daughter she had borne him
Was attaining womanhoOd il has been rec
oeoizsd that domestic antecedents free
from scandal were a sine qua non TO the
of,ce Of chief magistrate and mat only
man whose wife had an irreproachaole past
and who. as far as Tespectability was con
cerned was fitted TO meet and TO receive
any Of the queens and expresses visiting
Paris in state during her husbands term
of office. could be elected 10 the presidency
Nine Leonie Leon. the devoted companion
Of Gambetta's life who played SO important
a role in his career. realized this when she
absolutely rejected his entreaties to legalize
their relations by marriage. taking the
ground that If he became the husband or
one who. no matter how otherwise respect
able. had lived with him before marriage,
il would destroy forever all possibility Of
his election to the presidency.
In this country the untravelled are ac-
custcmed 10 look on the French as easy
going in matters of morality. and TO judge
all France bv Boulevard life and cosmo-
rolitan riffraff in Paris. The people Of the
remainder of France. the aristocracy. the
great and the small bourseoisie and the
working classes. however have a very
keen sense of the value of what they are
fond Of describing as ia correction that
is 10 say. responsibility in private life, and
while they have abandoned as hopeless the
attempt to restrict ministerial office to poll
ticians whose domestic affairs are free from
reproach. they at any rate now insist, FOR
the sake of the national honor, that the
President of the republic. who Is called on
10 represent the nation in its relations with
foreign rulers and royal personages. should
be thoroughly correct Is to say, ao-
solutely respectable-in his domestic affairs
Not a Cousin Of the King.
In view of the engagement, reported in
the newspapers. of Miss Mary Duke, daugh-
Ter of BENJAMIN y. Duke. TO Prince Pigna-
tell d'Aragona, it may be just as well TO
state here that there is no SHADOW oI
for the statements diligently cir
culated that the prince is in any way re-
lated 10 the King Of Spain, and the story
10 the effect that he is that monarch's s
cousin is ridiculous in fact, he is not
even the Kings chamberlain, since he does
not possess the necessary status of
erandee These stories have received
similiude OF truth by the dropping Of the
final vowel Of his second name, and by the
of "Aragona" into Ara
gon." The former, Aragona, from which
he takes his title. is an insignificant town
let in Sicily: whereas the latter. Aragon' Is
the name Of the former Spanish kingdom
OF Aragon. and the titles of Alfonso XIII
include those Of King Of Aragon With the
Spanish Aragon Prince Pignatell mas no
connection whatever.
Prince Pignateli, whose former engage
ment 10 Miss Helen Hilton of New YORK.
was broken off by the latter, is MEMBER
OF a family that IS Neapolitan instead OF
Spanish. and though his immediate fore
bears have divided their time between bar
ritz and Madrid they form part or the
Italian nobility and not of the Spanish
arIstocracy. He has an English mother ana
grandmother. His mother was Miss Emily
Frances Cavendlsh. who married Prince
Luis Pignatell in 1877, she being daugh-
ssr Of Captain George Henry Cavendish'
OF the lst Life Guards. and Of Emily only
sister Of Sir Horace Rumbold. captain
Csvendish was a grandson Of the head OF
the Cavendish family. the fourth Duke OF
Deyonsbire. Mrs George Cavendish ol-
yorced the captain after the birth OF her'
daughter and then married Count CASTOR
Ia Rocbefoucauld. from whose villa at
R,arritz familiar 10 many Americans who
have visited that popular French seaside
resort, her daughter married Prlnce LUIS