PRESIDENT LOUBET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 60

PRESIDENT LOUBET.

Ejiilt Crawford, in Good Words. i What manner of man is Loufoeu? To i I the eye he is short, thickset, manly ; a ! ; patient man one can see, with the 'tenacity that so often is associated f.vitli patience. He is a citizen rather than a gentleman. The countenance shows him to be a man of strong sense. Hi? eye is extremely shrewd and an eye to read a human being as one reads a book, but there is sometimes a dreamy and poetic eye that reveals deep intuition The President has shown good judgment in small things and great since lie went to the Elysee. He is sagacious, and has in a ' rare degree the kind of truthfulness that 1 shows itself in an unborrowed demeanour. ! I do riot say thai in a close game of law , or politics — for he is advocate and politi-' cian by 35 years' practice — he would not, turn or strain an inconvenient truth. If his manners are plain, and his accent that; of his native province, his mental culture ■ is high. He has in conversation the direct, though not in any wise rude, speech ! of one who has led a busy life in tlie thick ' of human struggles. Self-assurance and ease have helped him on. But the former, is not marred by excess or by any taint of egoti&m. Complexion and a " good deal ' eke in appearance are Southern. The climate of M. Loubet's parl of the .Drome is the same as that of Burgos in Spain. . . •M. Loubet is 110 L a. great man, bub lie is well poised and has niuny qualities, each excellent or adniirsble. which foim a raru combination. Few public men have icept more free from exaggeration of every tevt. Ho has true and gentle humanity •;uide r i by a shrewd and lucid judgment, and in obeying the impulse of his unprei-cudiiic; goodness he io not to bo deterred by fear of obloquy. His unJiesitating kindness to the child and wife ot the so-called Anarchist llonod, in face of a possible attack by the Pelit Jourr.il, will be long rcmcin-

M. Loubet was born to luck and the Ely sec in 1838, and the late Comcc dc Paris seemingly to a throne. The jjtp nelson of Loui,i Philippe and the son of A.yusle Loubsi/, urmer and Mayor of Marianne, had rival destinies. The riralry has only come out since the 33uc d'O.lean? h'«s sbspped inio his father's shoes. >io 3\oyaiiM, has ever been struck with the fact that the Prince apparently destined to a throne and the actual President were iborn in the s^.iiie year. But tho Royalist* and society that goos with them detest M. Loubec as they detested no former President. L r c crossed their path in coming in when their high hopes in M. Felix Faure had been suddenly blighted by his death. As the present head of the State cares not for all they most value, they can- have no chance of bringing him round. He is the most; republican President France had, had, because the plainest liver and the most indifferent to artificial distinctions. Being used to great situations, he knows exactly what to do in public or in private, and xinder all unforeseen circumstances trusts to his own good sense, which is generally Ibackcd by good feeling. He is sure to say the apposite thing, and in neat, plain terms, that have a sort of beauty because so well fitted to express his meaning.