M. Carnot is making a progress through Southern France, and
intends even to visit Corsica, where the Napoleonic legend still lingers, constituting, in fact, the great popular epic. He is well received everywhere, and we note, as a symptom, that the religious chiefs—the heads of the Catholic Church, the leading Protestant clergy, and the Rabbis—take especial pains to praise and to conciliate him. He is evidently regarded as the moderating force in the Government. His replies are always civil ; but except that he promises to "defend the Republic," they are quite exceptionally colourless, as much so as the answers to addresses made by constitutional monarchs. If the French President has an individuality, he shows it less than any prominent person in Europe, effacing himself more than even M. Grevy. That may be a wise course in a land where the political lava still smokes ; but it is in notable con- trast with the desire for individual prominence manifested by the Sovereigns. Time will show whether President or King has best understood the temper of the age; but we suspect the loyalty of the democracy goes out to men rather than to figure-heads.
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