de Paris, of the pope, of Bismarck. He
was "Ferry the traitor! Ferry the Prussian! Ferry the clerical!
Ferry the Orleanist!" The Radicals, with the ex-Communist, General
Eudes, at their head, swore to take up arms if Ferry were elected
by the Chambers. The Moderate Republicans were not strong enough,
without help, to carry his election. It was a case when a "dark
horse" was wanted, an obscure man, against whom nothing was known.

The Radicals proposed two candidates,--M. De Freycinet, who, though
not a Radical, was thought weak enough to be ruled by them, and M.
Floquet. But the Moderates would not lend their aid to elect either
of these men. At last both parties united on M. Sadi-Carnot.

[Illustration: _PRESIDENT SADI-CARNOT._]

There were two reasons for his election: the first lay in his name;
he was the grandson of Lazare Carnot, elected deputy in 1792 to
the National Convention from Arras, at the same time as his friend
Robespierre. This man and Robespierre had belonged to the same
Literary Society in Arras,--a club into which no one could be admitted
without writing a love-song.[1] Lazare Carnot was the good man of
the Revolution. Not a stain rests upon his character. He organized
the glorious armies of the Republic, and was afterwards one of the
members of the Directory. His son, Hippolyte Camot, as the oldest
member in the Senate in 1887, had the duty of announcing to his own
son, Sadi-Carnot, his election to the highest office in the gift
of his countrymen. M. Hippolyte Carnot was a man of high character,
who during a long life had filled many public offices. He was also
a man of letters, and wrote a Life of Barere,--a book that will be
best remembered by having come under the lash of Macaulay. Every cut
inflicted upon Barere tells, and we delight in its severity.

The second reason for Sadi-Carnot's election was the popularity
he acquired from its being supposed that when he was at the head
of the Committee of Finance he had resisted some illegal demands
made on the Treasury by M. Wilson. The demands were resisted, it
is true, but not more by M. Carnot than by his colleagues. "He
was made president of the French Republic," some one said, "for
an act of integrity he had never committed, and for giving himself
the trouble to be born, like any heir of royalty."

He is a good man, who has made no enemies, either in public or
private life. It may also be added that he seems to have attracted
few personal fri