The Book of the Month. 



539 



warning the President against dangerous mistakes, 

 preventing him from appointing to responsible 

 positions men whom she judged dangerous or unsuitable 

 —rendering valuable aid, because : — 



No man is inscrutable lo a woman, especially when that 

 woman is devoted to one whom she has decided lo help, and 

 she is supposed to care for nothing more essential than music, 

 flowers, dress or success. 



SIDELIGHTS ON f£lI.K FAURE. 



The memoirs give some interesting sidelights upon 

 Faure as President, and generally upon the thankless 

 rdle of elected head of the French Republic :— 



The President had a very high notion of his office, liut 

 frequently complained of his limited powers. 



"And yet," 1 once told him, "you appoint your Ministers, 

 the nomination of all officials rests with you, and you control 

 the Army and Navy. . . ." 



" Yes, but to what extent ! . . You say I control the Navy ! 

 But I know for a fact that nearly all the powder in the maga- 

 zines of our battleships is defective, that the armour-plating of 

 those battleships has not the thickness that was ordered — which, 

 of course, means thousands of pounds to the swindlers !— and 

 that the boilers arc almost worthless ! . . . I have lost my 

 temper and more than once come down on them all like a ton 

 of bricks, but things have not been altered. A President is 

 but a figure-liead ! " 



He loved to talk of naval matters. "I share Delcassc's 

 views," he said once. " England is the 'great enemy, because 

 England is the great naval power and is so close to our shores 

 and our harbours. Unless we make friends with I'^ngland, we 

 must find the best way to harass her, in case of war. And I 

 can see nothing belter than reviving the old right of privateering 

 and building small but extremely fa.st craft, large enough to 

 carry a great deal of fuel, so as to be able to remain a long 

 lime at sea wilhont replenishing their bunkers. We must be 

 able lo destroy the commerce of Kngland, to starve her. To 

 avoid important naval engagements and vanquish the enemy in 

 numberless skirmishei!, that should \x our aim. We have 

 neither the means nor the ability England possesses of building 

 extensively and rapidly." 

 > " (Juile 5<j." said Felix Faure; "but as my friend .\dniiral 



Konriiier s.iys, the only w.iy to make France powerful from a 



ival standpoint is to supply her with a unique fleet, as regards 

 • lliciency and number, of torpedo-boats, destroyers, .and sub- 

 marines." 



Felix Faure was less a statesman th.->n a bu'^incss man. lie 

 greatly admired the way in which the Eiigli'.h manage<l llnir 

 f Colonies: "Theirs pay; ours don't. We laugh, alas! at the 

 ideas and customs of the natives. Why don't we imitate the 

 English or the Duldi ? Hut there, we never had any respect 

 for oilier people's notions or convictions." 



" Ii is no fun lo be a President," he sighed. " I am deprived 

 i'( music. ... Of course, the band of the kepublican Guard 

 plays .it dinner-p.irties at the Elysce, and there is the Opera, 

 . ml .... the MarseilLaisc, wherever I go, but I seldom, if 

 . ver, hear the music I love, chamber music, or a simple song, 



ing at the piano ! " 

 " Do you know," he asked me, "that they .ire singing a 



iDg on the boulevards about the while tJrfl I wore at the 

 Alpine mana-uvres!" 



"I supjiose ihcy are comparing it lo Ilmri IV. 's famous 

 white plume, .M. le I'cevidcnl," a )oimg officer suggested. 



" No ... 1 wish ihcy did. . . . There's nothing hislo- 

 lical about the song. Still, it is an advcrliscmenl, and even 

 presidents need ri'tlomt. ... It is a very caustic bui sliU very 

 jolly song." 



MEMOIRS OF THE THIRD REPi:UI.IC. 



The President and Madame .Sleinhci! wrote the 

 " Memoirs of the Third Kepulilie " 'secretly, " on 



foolscap which 1 bought myself, for the President 

 knew that his stationery was counted '" : - 



Evcrylhing went into these " Memoirs," which were already 

 assuming bulky proportions : llic evolution of the internal and 

 the foreign policy of France, ihe Franco-Russian .■Mliance, the 

 secret story of the Ureyfus aiVair, the schemes of the various 

 Pretenders to the throne of France. There were details on 

 financial problems, colonial expansion, armaments, electoral 

 systems. Administration, the Aimy ai d ihe Navy. . . 



To have been co-author of these Memoirs must 

 have been to make oneself so dangerous a person 

 that, while it was probable that an early death might 

 occur, it was equally difTu ult to be sentenced to death 

 in public. No ! not even if one had been accused of 

 the death of a husband and a mother ! 



FASllODA. 



Of politics there is little save in so far as they directly 

 and intimately touched Felix Faure. Fashoda and 

 the Dreyfus case both contributed to the ending of 

 Felix Faure's life. Russia refused her aid :— 



" Witle said France should avoid all wars just now, and 

 above all a war with Englai d : and I knew what he meant. 

 However, we shall see whcilier Russia will assist or not. . ." 



Count Muravieff soon answered that question in the 

 negative; and we then ha\c an interesting account of 

 a scene in the Elysee :— 



.\ large map of the world is unfolded on the President's . 

 table. He irritably wipes out the pencil mark he ni.ade a few 

 days ago at the spot on the Indian border where he thought 

 Russia might perhaps attack India. There are other blue 

 marks on either side of the Channel, in the Mediterranean, in 

 Africa. . . . For a long time we bend over the map and talk. 



A few days later — 



\ mountcil municipal guardsman brings me a large envelope 

 from the President. It is a copy of Piim/i, the fiimous London 

 satirical journal. On the cover, Felix Faure has written : 

 '' AJa c/il-ie niiiie, please look at this shameful insult to France 

 on Ihe Fashoda question.'' I open ihe paper and see a 

 cartoon by Sir John Tenniel. Ves, it makes one's blood boil. 

 I reply to the President—" You are right. It is vulgar and 

 despicable. The French are refined and witty ; the English 

 are blunt and have merely wliat lliey call a ' sense of humour.' 

 Count Muraviefl' told you thai an African swamp is not worth a 

 war ; I wish to add, ' still less a cartoon.' '' 



I,' AFFAIRE DREVFl'S. 



With regard to Dreyfus, Ftl-lix Faure had no doubt 

 that he was guilty. He said to Madame Steiiiheil : — 



" If the affair is re-opened, we shall never see the end of it ; 

 a revision would bring chaos and perhaps even civil war in its 

 wake. Dreyfus was guilty. If we are firm all this agitation in 

 his favour will subside, Older will be restored anl I'l ui..' will 

 brialhe again." 



Felix Faure meant well, but l.tekcd foresight . 



As the tide in favour of revision rose steadily Felix 

 Faure became more and more disgusted and 

 indignant. " It un.settles him, it cru.-shes him," he 

 keep:, repeating ; " everything is changed." Madame 

 Steinheil relates how the President meditated a <-<>(//' 

 (/'<^^Y<j/, and how she dissuaded him (ronv disappearing 

 (111 :i yacht lor a week, while 



those who are responsible for the present state of affairs 

 exiricnic th<iii«elve» ns best ihcy can fniiii the disgracelul 

 position in «liiili ihey have placed themselves. 



