ends. The Republic has grown in strength, and factious
opposition has decreased during his administration. His republicanism
is not advanced or rabid. He is rigidly honest. He has a charming
wife, who, though slightly deaf, enjoys society and gives brilliant
receptions.

[Footnote 1: See Robespierre's in the "Editor's Drawer," Harper's
Magazine, 1889.]

Poor M. Grevy passed away into sorrow and obscurity. He took up
his residence on his estate in the Department of the Jura, where,
in September, 1891, he died. M. Wilson appears first to have made
all his own relations rich, and then by speculations to have ruined
them.

In contemplating the disastrous end of M. Grevy we must remember that
the scandal which caused his fall, after so many years of honorable
service for his country, amounts, so far as he was concerned, to
very little. The only fault of which he can be accused was that
of too great toleration of the speculative propensities of his
son-in-law. It was proved, indeed, that there were agencies in the
hands of disreputable persons in Paris for the purchase and sale
of influence and honors, but there was little or no evidence that
these agencies had had any influence with the public departments. The
existence of such agencies under the Empire would have excited little
comment. That the trials of Madame Limouzin, General Caffarel, and
M. Wilson so excited the public and produced such consequences,
may be proof, perhaps, of a keener sense of morality in the Parisian
people.

Some one said of M. Grevy that he was a Radical in speech and a
Moderate in action, so that he pleased both parties. The strongest
accusation against him was his personal love of economy, and his entire
indifference to show, literature, or art. It was also considered a
fault in him as a French president that he showed little inclination
to travel. Socially, the polite world accused him of wearing old
hats and no gloves. On cold days he put his hands in his pockets,
which in the eyes of some was worse than putting them for his own
purposes into the pockets of other people.

[Illustration: _GENERAL BOULANGER._]

CHAPTER XX.

GENERAL BOULANGER.

Up to 1886 the name of General Boulanger commands no place upon
the page of history. After that year it was scattered broadcast.
For four years it was as familiar in the civilized world as that
of Bismarck.

A new word was coined in 1886 to meet a want which the general's
importance had