The Government of France is now in so dangerous a situation that there is a good deal of discussion as to what will happen in case the republic is overthrown.
The President of the republic, Félix Faure, is popular throughout France, but he has hardly strength enough with the people to become a great leader. A few months ago he won enthusiastic approval by the skill with which he arranged his visit to the Emperor of Russia, and by the dignity and simplicity which he displayed during that visit.
President Faure is essentially a man of the people. For many years he has been prominent in the commercial and the political life of France, and he has always been a champion of the people's rights. But he is not the kind of leader that would appeal strongly to the army, and, as we have seen, the army practically controls France at the present moment.
Consequently, if a revolution were to take place in Paris as a result of the Dreyfus affair, it would probably bring forward a popular military man as a candidate for leadership. Such a man is to be found in General Boisdeffre, who figured in the Zola trial and made a bombastic speech glorifying the army.
A revolution would also, of course, bring up the rival claims in France of the Royalist and the Napoleonic parties.
The Royalist party is at present headed by the young Duke of Orleans, who thus far has done very little to distinguish himself. In the event of a crisis, however, France might recall the fact that a few years ago the Duke, though exiled from his country, as all the pretenders to the French throne have been in recent years, forced his way into Paris and demanded that he be given the right to join the army. This was a very youthful and theatrical attempt to excite the enthusiasm of the French people. It failed, however, for the republican Government succeeded in placing the Duke in a rather ridiculous position. He was kept in prison for a few months, and then quietly released.
The Bonapartist party has for leader Prince Napoleon Victor Jerome Bonaparte, grandson of Prince Jerome, youngest brother of Napoleon the First.
Prince Victor has had almost no chance of making himself known to the world, and at the present time his chances of succeeding to the throne of France seem very slight.