Journalism is about to lose a commanding personality in M.
de Blowitz, the Times correspondent in Paris, whose ap- proaching retirement was foreshadowed by the testimonial recently presented to him by his colleagues. M. de Blowitz was not infallible. His prescience failed him for something more than a moment when General Boulanger essayed the role of Caesar. The tropical luxuriance of his style, his Olympian complacency, and his pontifical solemnity occasionally bordered on the grotesque. But he had one sovereign quality in a journalist. He was never dull. His picturesque- ness atoned for his prolixity, and he had the invaluable gift of sandwiching solid information with illuminative comment. Age did not impair his powers ; indeed he has been at his best for the last five years, showing notable courage right through the Affaire, never sparing his attacks on the Nationalist Opposi- tion, and deserving well of the Republic by his strenuous support of the policy of M. Waldeck-Rousseau.
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