M. Leon Bourgeois, whose death we regret to record, appealed
in some way more to Englishmen than to his own countrymen. After a distinguished career in the French Civil Service he entered politics in order to help various causes. Such a disinterested figure, using his personal wealth to serve ends which did not provide the material of success for any political party, is not common in France. He was Prime Minister in 1895, and sat as President of both the Chamber and the Senate. His great self-appointed task was to be a servant of peace. He continually preached the doctrine of international tolerance and co-operation and published an outline of a League of Nations in his book Pour la Societe des Nations. He was the first French plenipotentiary at The Hague Conference of 1899 and later became a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He represented France in the League of Nations till this year. No one was more at home in the atmosphere of Geneva and no one was more respected. He was a versatile man, a linguist and a sculptor, and he had a genuine knowledge of music.
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