France is in an ecstasy of delight, the Czar having
agreed to pay a visit to President Loubet early in September and to be present at the manoeuvres, where Frenchmen think he will see a hundred and sixty thousand of the finest troops in the world. That, it is believed, must bind him to the Alliance, to which La Liberte says "the whole heart of the nation is devoted." The visit, as we have tried to explain elsewhere, is really an event, and, as a guarantee of peace, a Pleas-sit one, but it is quite curious to see the sense of dependence which the French express even in their exultation. That the events of 1870 should have given a shock to the national self-esteem is natural, but one would hardly have expected their doubt in their own self-sufficing power to have lasted over a generation. The truth is, we presume, that as has been the-case through- out French history, the absence of any great leader makes them nervous and unhappy. They cast looks even on Colonel Marchand, the explorer, who has just been appointed to the command of all French troops in China. Leaders, however, cannot be made from below. They take the -position, or
inherit it. • •
