. Their majesties as I knew them; personal reminiscences of the kings and queens of Europe . ngvery terrifying and even presented a certaincharm. I think, besides, that an erroneous opinion Hasbeen generally formed of the Tsars character. Hehas been said and is still said to be a weak ^ow I should be inclined, on this point, to thinkwith M. Loubet that Nicholas IIs weakness ismore apparent than real and that in him, as for-merly in our Napoleon III, there is a gentle ob-stinate who has very strong ideas of his own, abeing conscious of his power and proud of the glory;of his name. Nicholas
. Their majesties as I knew them; personal reminiscences of the kings and queens of Europe . ngvery terrifying and even presented a certaincharm. I think, besides, that an erroneous opinion Hasbeen generally formed of the Tsars character. Hehas been said and is still said to be a weak ^ow I should be inclined, on this point, to thinkwith M. Loubet that Nicholas IIs weakness ismore apparent than real and that in him, as for-merly in our Napoleon III, there is a gentle ob-stinate who has very strong ideas of his own, abeing conscious of his power and proud of the glory;of his name. Nicholas II, at the time of his second visit toFrance, had met M. Loubet before. When theEmperor first came to France, in 1896, the futurePresident of the Repubhc was president of theSenate and, in this capacity, had not only been pre-sented to the sovereign, but received a visit fromhim. In this connexion, the late M. Felix Faureused to tell an amusing story, which he said that hehad from the Tsar in person. X 4^ 4 i_\ . te«i ^B ;:u 1 ^J^ •/ t4 E^* \ L ^H; «*Tva ;^ ^wj^^ ^HT ^ ^^Bp Hl^ ^Hl^. < (/}u X o DQ QZ < OWH Q Z <: D o COCO tu Su u I THE TSAR NICHOLAS H 143 It was after a luncheon at the Elysee. NicholasII had told President Faure that he would like tocall on the president of the Senate and expresseda wish to go to the Palais du Luxembourg, if possi-ble, incognito. A landau was at once provided,without an escort; and the Emperor stepped in,accompanied by General de Boisdeffre. At thathour, the peaceful Luxembourg quarter was almostdeserted. The people in the streets, expecting theiTsar to drive back from the Russian Embassy, haddrifted in that direction to cheer him. Wishing first to find out if M. Loubet was there,General de Boisdeffre had ordered the coachmanto stop a few yards from the palace, opposite thegate of the Luxembourg gardens. He thenalighted to go and enquire and to tell the presidentof the Senate that an august visitor was waiting athis door. The Tsar
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