France is fearfully unfortunate in the absence of great names
among her civilians. There is not a man, either in Chamber or Senate, to whom men look up. Count Darn perhaps stands highest in character, but he has given no proof of ability to manage a revolution ; Thiers talks downright nonsense about his forts and his foresight ; and M. Buffet is rather an able than a powerful man ; G-ambetta, the most prominent Red, displays little statesmanship ; M. Picard retires somewhat ; Rochefort is at best a Camille Desmoulins ; M. de Keratry, who seems in earnest, is little known, and almost everybody else in the Chamber is a "respect- able." The Imperialists are as weak as their rivals, for M. Chevreau clearly fails, M. Rouher only "advises the Emperor," and there is literally no new man in front except General Trochu, who seems undecided. Outside there is the same dearth of visible capacity, no journalist even being trusted, while the provinces seem to be empty of eminences of all kinds. The Duke d'Aumale, if in Paris, would be the intellectual superior of any statesman there.
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