Falloux is _grandiose_ and emphatic, as we all are now.'
'Falloux,' said Z., 'made an excellent speech the first time that he
addressed the Chamber of Deputies. The next time he was not so
successful, and after that he ceased to be listened to.
'But in the Constituent Assembly, and indeed in the Legislative, he
acquired an ascendency. In those Assemblies, great moral qualities and a
high social position were rarer than they were among the Deputies, and in
the dangers of the country they were more wanted. Falloux possesses them
all. He is honest and brave, and in his province employs liberally and
usefully a large fortune.'
'Were those the merits,' I asked, 'which opened to him the doors of the
Academy?'
'Certainly,' answered Z. 'As a man of letters he is nothing, as a
statesman not much. We elected him in honour of his courage and his
honesty, and perhaps with some regard to his fortune. We are the only
independent body left, and we value in a candidate no quality more than
independence.'
'I am told,' I said, 'that Falloux is now an ultra-Legitimist.'
'That is not true,' said Z. 'He is a Legitimist, but a liberal one.
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