The papers, which are all a little short of material,
have filled their columns with accounts of a visit by the Lord Mayor of London to Bordeaux, where he has been splendidly entertained. On his way Sir Joseph Renals was received by the President of the French Republic, and appears directly, or indirectly, to have asked him to visit London. At all events, in the official note of the interview it is stated that M. Faure, after some kind expressions, said, " The question of a visit to England was not at present opened, and could not be opened between the President of the Republic and the Lord Mayor." Sir J. Renals seems to have taken this dignified rebuke in good part, for at the breakfast given him by the Metric Congress, he declared, " I have been more charmed than I can express by the President's affability, the admirable distinction of his manner, and by all that he was kind enough to say to me. I brought away the impression, or rather was confirmed in the conviction, shared by my countrymen, that a really great man presides over the destinies of your great country." The sentences are most gracious, not to say condescending, in their urbanity, especially in their testimony to the President's manners; and their meaning was repeated in a speech at Bordeaux, where, moreover, Sir Joseph expressed his hope that his visit would contribute to good feeling between the nations. It is often said that Englishmen are not equal to ceremonial occasions because they never can take themselves seriously enough ; but here clearly is an Englishman who is exempt from that reproach. The Lord Mayor's serenity is
perfect, and the more admirable because he does not, it is said, understand what his French interlocutors say to him.
