TOPICS OF THE DAY.
M. LOTTBET. THE majority in the French Assembly have cliosen a President as a weak English Premier chooses a Bishop. They have looked about for a " safe " man, and, as they think they have found him, are not much troubled about any other disqualification. M. Loubet was chosen, like M. Faure, first of all, because he would divide men least,—that is, in fact, because he was undis- tinguished. M. Moline was too self-willed to be manage- able, M. Dupuy too crafty to be trusted ; and so M. Loubet, who uttered his nolo epiecopari very prettily, " Those who love me will vote against me," was preferred to both. He is a little better choice than his predecessor, • because he is better educated, has the foibles of a profes- sional man instead of those of a small trader, and is not committed up to his lips—as it is now known that M. Faure was — to defend the proceedings against Dreyfus per fas aut nefas ; but the improvement is not great. M. Loubet's origin is most respectable, for he is the son of a, well-to-do peasant, and man has never yet rid himself of the instinctive feeling of respect for the soil which feeds him, or the prejudice that it is better to be born under the roof of a freeholder, however small his possession, than under that of a shopkeeper or artisan. M. Louhet will never be taunted with his birth as Thiers. the locksmith of Marseilles. Gambetta, the grocer of Cahors, and Faure, the tanner of Havre—all our Kings, by the way, spring from a tanner of Falaise—so con- stantly were. The fact will relieve him of that uneasiness about his dignity which so worried his predecessor, and he may, if France is fortunate, inherit some of the peasants' virtues, — their tenacity, their immovable patience, and their dislike for wastefulness of every kind. On the other hand, he is pretty obviously one of those men who rise by evading rather than overcoming obstacles, who make no enemies and only a, few friends, who avoid forming strong opinions as well as expressing them, and who believe that under almost any circumstances more can be gained by conciliation than by struggle, a doctrine only true when principles are not in question. Though not specially de- sirous of gain for himself, and personally unstnirched by the Panama mud, there seems no doubt that M. Loubet, like many otherwise upright men in Paris, exerted himself to hush up that scandal, and to prevent the expulsion of Deputies who had sold their votes for cheques and promises of shares. He probably thought this the safest course for the Republic, and, as the Panama shareholders numbered scores of thousands, he may have been right ; but that is not the thought of a strong man, or of a man with an instinctive horror of political corruption. M. Loubet, perhaps, believes that crime can be best repressed by tenderness, and certainly that is the belief on which he appears to have acted. His admirers and his enemies find a great deal of different meanings in his first Mes- sage to the Assembly delivered on Tuesday, but for our own part we can, except upon three points, see nothing in it beyond it rather feeble desire to conciliate everybody all round. He scatters flatteries as comfits are scattered on the day of Mardi Gras. He praises the Chambers which " freely discuss the laws "—when Deputies are not afraid —" the Magistracy which applies them "—to Picquart but not to Esterhazy—the Government " which ensures their execution "—by Bills to prevent it—and the Army, "that Army which the country loves "—and insults —" and which it is right in loving, because the entire nation fulfils in it the same duty of abnegation and discipline, and knows that it will find in it the faithful guardian of its honour and its laws." " You will always be good now, won't you ?" says the nurse to the child who has been outrageously naughty, and visibly intends to be naughtier still, but as mamma is listening, has to be conciliated. M. Loubet went a step further in his task of soothing the refractory, and, knowing his audience, had the audacity to tell the Chambers that "in the course of the transitory difficulties through which we have been passing, France, by the coolness, dignity, and patriotism of Parliament, has grown in the esteem of the world "! After that, M. Loubet's ecstatic praise of the Republic which has given France peace, has redressed her wounds, has re-established. her Army and Navy, has founded a, great Colonial Empire, and has gained alliances and precious friendships, may be taken as comparatively true. M. Loubet, however, did not say it for that reason, but in order that his Message might leave on both Houses a pleasant impression. That he has succeeded in doing. The mob insulted him as he was driven on Saturday from the station to the Elysie, and the Anti-Semite journals are exhausting language in their efforts to destroy his repute before he has fully entered on his duties, but the Senators and Deputies find his speech charming, and the more respectable journals are struck with its felicity and freedom from all spites. None venture to say that all this praise of a democracy by its chief shows both a little fear of it, and an inner conviction that it requires to be petted and praised and flattered into good humour as much as did ever the vainest of French Kings. No flattery, biographers say, was too gross for Louis XIV. ; but his appetite for that diet was not more voracious than that of the people of France or of their chosen representatives.
We said there were three points on which the Message was not visibly weak. It contains no sentence which can be twisted into a decision against Dreyfus, and, indeed, the Anti-Dreyfusards allege that it shows symptoms, in. visible, however, to less prejudiced eyes, of a bias towards the other side. It is possible, therefore, that the new President is impartial, and determined to uphold the decision of the Court of Cessation, whatever it may be ; in which case that Court may take heart to deliver its real opinion with something of the force with which it would have delivered it had Paris not been interested. M. Loubet, moreover, slips into his Message a little sentence about "the rights which I possess under the Constitution, and which I shall not allow to be enfeebled in my hands," which may have a good deal of meaning. He can give the State a backbone if he pleases, and if he regards himself as its real chief, and not, as M. Faure did, as a lay figure to be carefully draped lest it should be despised, he may change the whole future of the Republic. It is true he has allowed M. Dupuy to go on with his monstrous Bill, but he could hardly dismiss him at once, and as the Senate will be set free by his election, he may be resolved to await M. Dupuy's resignation. And 'lastly, he is evidently a convinced Republican. His whole record proves that his language about the Republic in his Mes- sage is thoroughly cordial, and he has not been to Russia to cement an alliance with a despotic Empire. If he is heartily resolved to defend the Republic, it will be much harder to overthrow, for the enemies of the present regime will dread an appeal to the soldiery, and possible war within the barracks. All depends, however, upon his firmness. France is craving to be governed and led, and if he will lead and govern will more readily go on with that which exists than plunge into the unknown. It is not the Republic of which she is sick, but of her own headlessness. If Francois E. Loubet is the man of whom she is in quest, which is possible though most improbable, she cares little by what title he is called, and can make his tenure as permanent as that of any other ruler, even an I. mp,!ror not being able to reign after his coffin is sealed down. If, however, as we fear may prove to be the case, he is not the man required, then matters, in spite of the quiet devolution of the Presidency, are rather worse than they were, for the cleavage between the Army and the civil power is just a trifle deeper. M. Faure might have pardoned a breach of the laws in the interest of the Army, but M. Loubet says he will uphold them, and as the Army intends all laws to be broken sooner than Dreyfus shall be acquitted, the fissure between the Army and the Republic may prove to be past filling up.
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