The Petit Parisien has been conducting a plebiscite on the
question of the relative importance of the great French- men of the past century. Over fifteen million votes were recorded, and the result may be taken to represent average French opinion. It is a curious revelation of a change in the public mind, for two civilians head the list,—Pasteur and• Victor Hugo. Gambetta comes third, and the first Napoleon fourth. The Third Republic has done its work, for thirty years ago Napoleon would have been the almost unanimous choice of the nation. Curie, the discoverer of radium, comes seventh, then Dumas iiere, while Zola is thirteenth. Sarah Bernhardt is sixteenth, Maalabon is eighteenth, while Michelet is only twenty-third. La Gloire seems to have ceased to be an ideal of contemporary France, at least when it is in the reflective mood which answers newspaper questions. Equally significant with the absence of fighting men is the preference given to Scientists over artists and men of letters. If this be the teMperament of the Republic, the world must revite its conventional views as to the French character.
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