The Comtease de Martel, who writes novels under the name
of " Gyp," and is interesting to historians because she is of full Mirabeau blood, has recently received an interviewer on the subject of the Royalist trial. She hardly cares to con- ceal that she is guilty at all events of disloyalty to the Republic, declaring that she would prefer Emperor, King, or Dictator. " I am, in fact," she says, " a Cwsarist," desiring above all things a man at the head of affairs who shall govern, and who, if things go wrong, can be held accountable with his head. The opinion is noteworthy because it expresses both the inner feeling of almost all Celts, and also the kind of weary despair of Parliaments which is spreading through France. The Frenchman thirsts for a head of the State who can do things suddenly and dramatically, and on whom he can visit failure in a way which, to hie own consciousness, will take all blame from himself. Under a Caesar, if France wins French- men take the credit and are happy, while if she loses they can depose or execute the Caesar and be happy still. The idea that the nation ought to do its own governing work and suffer for its own failures never enters their heads, or when it does enter is viewed with distaste. " The Prussian Army is admirable," said a great French General, "and I wish we could rival it, but Frenchmen will never take all that trouble."
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