The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-28
presence Of the prusslans. who sp.n,

PitVruto VI tuS EEusslhHSt WIN bpSut
freely and paid ready money. There
were really no premonitory symptoms Of
the fall before the outbreak Of the war
with Prussia which wrought such
changes In the political and still more
In the Psychological map OF Europe.
There vas one straw" which might
have set people thinking. Though the
last pleblscite taken under the en-
pire showed an enormous majority for
the Government the vote Of Paris was
adverse to II, q curious and eppar-
emily anomalous exception. And in spite
Of her charm on social occasions the
reminiscent does not ind that the En-
press was really an asset" He quotes q
bitter saying Of F'leury. made at The
time when II had become evident 1t
the Spanish beauty was to be the lei-
press of the French. II do not like the
notion. l am afraid she will wear her
crown In bed and her nightcap In pub
llc," a remark which. II It was really re-
peated to It's subject, one can readily
understand that she never forgave"
Also the reminiscent finds much fault
with her hasty desertion Of her post as
regent, a desertion so hasty that she
left Intimate private letters scattered
about In the Tuleries. He insists that
IL instead OF flight she had determined
to make a bold stand for husband and
son, with the forces that were still loyal
and available, the empire and the sue
cession Of the poor little Prince who. in
his fathers grandiloauent words had
just received his baptism Of fire. might
even then have been secured
II.
One OF the most striking Of these
revelations. made from contemporary
notes, Is that which shows how, after
the eighteen years OF what CARLYLE
called the copper captaincy' OF the
empire, the thoughts OF the serious and
Substantial elements in France reverted
from the republic OF Theirs. which had
ensued upon the awful anarchy Of the
Commune to some form OF monarchy.
that having the most plausible heredi-
tary claim preferred. Lesitimlsts. Or
lean!sts, Bonapartists had each a can
didate. The hopes OF the Bonapartists
were not extinguished until the fall OF
the poor little Prince in Zululand. The
best hereditary claim was, OF course,
that OF the Count of Chambord. There
seems to have been a widespread feel
Ing, when Mcmahon succeeded Theirs
rs President OF the republic. that he was
there for the purpose OF restoring one
OF the three "pretenders" tho Count OF
Chambord, the Count OF Paris, known
TO his supporters as philippe VII" and
the prince Imperial" Seeing that the
old Marshal, who, as Lowell said OF
Zach Taylor. was mo more'n a tough
old bullet head. and no greet of a saint"
had received all his honors and promo
lions. excepting that to the Presidency
OF the republic. from the Second Empire,
he might have been expected to connive
at the establishment OF the .hird. But
that he showed no disposition to favor
any of the pretenders seems to have
been imputed to him almost as an sct
OF bad faith. In fact, the austere and
majestic Count OF Chambord. known to
his supporters as Henry the Fifth, ac-
tually offered. II the present authority
Is to be believed. to meet the President
OF the republic privately and talk politics
with him and was dismayed and cha
grined TO receive n refusal. setting forth
tina, while the Marshal was ready to
sacrifice his life for the Pretender he
could not do the dlshonorable thing that
W 10 dShSu VI s'uSl q
rally shocked tho Pretender. who would
not admit that he was a pretender--"I
am q principal for those who see IN me
their k!ng"-and who also regarded
himself rs not only the soul but the
source Of honor. At any rate, the old
Marshal. being IN this OF the opinion Of
the Duke Of Aumale. who said: II am
quite willing to be a transaction. brit
4. a.. a
that he was President because the
French people wished him 10 be Presl-
dent, and entirely declined to act as "a
warming pan for anybody whomsoever.
Beginning with a cabinet OF Orleanlsts
he at last threw the administration into
the hands of radical republicans. It
was the personal policy Of the Prcsi-
dent, and not Ministerial policy. which
was so emphatlcally rejected at the polls
as to excite general wonderment that
the discredlted President did not resign,
The reminiscent accepts the explanation
OF Gambetta: "He stayed imply be-
cause he did not understand that he
ought to CO.
At any rate, none among McMahon's
successors ever presumed 10 have a
policy" though doubtless there was
not one among them who was not more
competent than he TO formulate one,
not even that President Faure whose
vanity made him almost as much of a
butt as the old Marshal had been made
by his political ignorance. Apparently
Count Nasili had known all the Presi-
dents personally, from. Theirs to Fall
Heres, and has something interesting
and characterizing to say about each
Of them. IN fact, the personality of the
President does not signify very much,
So long as he takes the view of his Office
which has been imposed upon so many
successive incumbents of II. This is the
View that he Is in fact limited, an
extremely limited monarch, whose func-
ton is not to have a policy to urge
nor to be partisan leader. but to be
a ,presentable figurehead for the ship
OF state. and to head the course die
tated by public opinion. consttutlonally
expressed, regardless OF whether his
private opinion comedies with II. The
position Of the present President OF
France is much more like that of
George V. than like that OF President
Wilson. The murder OF Sadl-Carnot was
| even more wanton and stupid than It
was criminal. The Presidency itself has
hardly been smirciIed by scandal. The
action OF President Greyys son-in law
in pedding honors is the pearest APP
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