Marshal MacMahon certainly occupies a very peculiar place as the
Constitutional head of a Republic which is intended to give free play to parliamentary discussion and parliamentary responsi- bility. His friends never lose an opportunity of identifying not merely his private views, but his public endeavours, with the wishes of one party in the State, and of representing them as hostile to the efforts of every other party. And not only does the Marshal himself accept this description of his public aims, but he evidently regards it as a highly meritorious element in his conduct that he should justify this description. Thus, at Rouen, the other day, M. Angel, president of the General Council, after a dig at the Radicals, said, "The country will ratify the policy of pacification and of true liberty,—the Conservative policy which has always been the Assembly's, and which is also yours. It knows that this policy alone can give tranquillity to the future." Whereupon the Marshal replied, "You are right to have confidence in me. As long as I have the government, I will maintain order,"—which was equivalent to saying that only the Conservative policy could maintain order. Yet if that be the Marshal's belief, he cannot even affect impartiality towards the various parliamentary parties from whom he may have to choose a ministry ; and he might, in com- mon self-respect, have to retire with his present Ministry, if it were beaten, just at the very moment when he would be most needed as the fixed political centre round which parties revolve. If the fulcrum of your crowbar gives way just when you are heaving up the weight, it does not take much sagacity to predict a smash.
