THE FRENCH .PRESIDENT.

Southland Times, Issue 4156, 25 October 1881, Page 2

THE FRENCH .PRESIDENT.

The Paris correspondent of the Times writing of M. Grevy, the President of France, says: — His rule is never to inout anything, whether agreeable or disagree able, hiilf-way. He is content to wait for what may happen. He is naturally cautious, and would bo afraid of plucking the fruit before it was rip*, or accelerating a catastrophe by .^ivinu 1 way to impatience. In days when In- hail leisure for chess, and he was fond of it and played well, he always stood on the defensive, counting for success, not on his own stratagems or boldness, luit on his adversary's blunders. As a politician ;ind statesman he is equally adverse totalling the initiative. He is vis inertia; personified. He never attempts great strokes, but by this means he avoids the possibility of great fiascos. Ho does not bid for popularity, and consequently is the object of no enthusiasm, but he steer ■ clear of unpopula -ity Mentally, as well as physically, he studies the minimum of execution, not from indolence, but be<•■iu.se ho believes, like Lord Melbourne, in Iviting things alon.:. lie is in excellent p-eservation at OS — ;o.m >, indcod, say lie is six years above his ostensible age — whereas M. Gambetta, with his excitability and lavishness of effort, is vciy oldfoi 43. M. Grevy does not believe in tho propriety or necessity of hero worship. He himself advocated a Republic without a President in 1848, and he does his best to render the post he then opposed as unostentatious as possible. It is too easily assumed that he misconceives or disregards the French temperament.