If we look at President Carnot apart from his ser-



PKESIDENT CAENOT 259

vices to France and his official position he will appear
rather a respectable than an interesting figure. He was
not picturesque, not impressive, not even sympathetic,
in presence of any great company of people. I have
seen him in various circumstances : at the opening of
the French Exhibition of 1S89, at a military review in
Versailles, at the Elysee on a great reception night, and
elsewhere. You have to imagine to j^ourself a man
rather below medium height, rather well-made, rather
good-looking, with a face and head of which the lines
were regular enough, the eyes and hair and full beard
dark, and the prevailing expression or effect of the whole
one of immobility. There seemed to be nothing spon-
taneous about him. Everything was considered and
correct. He was correctly dressed, his hair and beard
were correctly cut, so were his clothes ; and he moved,
though there was nothing military about him, with the
precision and something of the stiffness of a soldier on
parade. There was always a suggestion that he had
been taught, or had taught himself, to do the particular
thing he was doing. Evidently, he set great store by
deportment. He had a high idea of what became the
Chief Magistrate of France, and he lived laboriously up
to his ideal.
