TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12379, 19 December 1905, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The amnesty passed by A Modern ihe French Parliament Quixote. lias brought into the political limelight once more a very picturesque personage, M.< Paul Deroulede—" the Quixote of modern .Europe" a London writer mils him. M. Derouledo is the founder of the notorious League of Patriots, a body which has caused a good deal of apprehension at home and laughter abroad. Yet M. Deroulede is moro than a man of words. Ho fought in the Franco-German war, escaped from captivity, rejoined the fighting ranks, and covered liimself with glory. "When he founded the League of Patriots, ho became a sort of unofficial ambassador of tho French war party, and directed all his zeal against Germany. He was the heart and soul of the Boulangist movement, and when the collapso of BouLanger. left him a little discredited, ho. had to content himself with making himself notorious in tho Chamber of Deputies. Once ho was filled with joy at being fined; 100 francs for his misbehaviour, and at another time ho was liugeiy pleased at being expelled frmn the Chamber. At length came his laughable attempt at a coup d'etat, when, on returning from the funeral of President Faure, he caught at General Roget's bridle, and cried, " To the Elysee, General!" Nothing happened, except that the nonplussed General rode to tho nearest barracks with M. Derouledo etill clinging to his bridle. M. D&roulede suffered exile for his folly, and has spent the last few years in Spain. His return to his native land last month was marked by many theatrical incidents. From the frontier town of Belfort his journey was a triumphal procession, and ho was nxdbbed, kissed and harangued to his heart's content. Hβ ran to the first gendarme ho met on French soil, clasped tho astonished man in his arms, and smothered Mm with rapturous kisses. " This," he exclaimed, " is the first French soldier I have seen for years," and th« gendarme heartily returned the saluted of his t emotional , countryman. Twenty

thousand people met him at Paris, and immense crowds lined tho three-mile route along which the hero drovo to his sister's house. His excited admirers stopped the ,carriage every few yards to kiss him, tihe being so frequent and fervent that it took four hours to cover the distance, Happy M. Derouledcl A halt was made at the statue of Joan of Arc, to -which the exilis recited some verses he had composed for the occasion. It is said that tho present friction between France and Germany will give M. Deroulode an opportunity to play a flamboyant #»rt again, , and that " tho same commanding figure, with fho Quixotic countenance, the gestures as of leading a, host on tho battlefield, tho alarming words, and the gentle heart, will occupy the boards of French affairs, and givo us a new phase of an ardent and charming character. It will be a dull Houso of "Labby." Commons without "Labby," or to bo more respectful, Mr Henry Labotichere, member - for Northampton. Mr Labouchere, whoso determination to retire on account of old ago is announced in our cables, might almost bo described as an institution. Ono of tho accepted jesters of the House of Common*, his lively wit provokes roars in that assemblage, and he is always Mire of a considerable audience. Hcfwas born m 1831, and in 185-1 entered tho diplomatic service, serving at Washington, Munich, Stockholm, Frankfort, St. Petersburg, and Dresden. Many stories are told of his independent spirit while in the ser- \ vice. On. being appointed to Constantinople it is said that he failed to put in jan appearance at the proper time, and informed tho Foreign Office that as no provision had been niado for his travel- I ling expenses, and as his private means wero limited, ho was making tho journey on foot. It is said that when he was at Washington an irate countryman called to see tho Minister! "Not hero! Then I shall wait till he comes." "Very well," said the attache, "pray* take a chair." Tho visitor waited and waited. "Is tho Minister likely to be in in another hour?" "I think not," replied Mr Labouchere, blandly.' "Tho fact is, lie sailed for Europe on Wednesday, and can hardly yet have reached Queenstown." Ho has sat for Northampton continuously since 1880, and has been one of the strongest attacking forces of the Radicals- He has several personal peculiarities. He is a remarkably small eater, and dresses bo badly that Sir Charles Russell once accused him of doing so in order to reduce the damages in an action for libel. His one extravagance is his cigarettes, which are always of the choicest brands. As a journalist he first made his mark by his work as correspondent of tho "Daily News" at the siege of Paris, but it is as the proprietor of "Truth" thai he will best be remembered. A special feature of this fearless and original weekly is ite unearthing and exposure of scandals and frauds. This, of course, ! has led Mr Labouchere in many actions for libel, but they have been few indeed ! compared with the cases he has dealt with. It has been said that he devotes all the profits of the paper to a fighting fund, which his large private wealth enables him to do. That Mr Winston A Youthful Churchill strikes' the Minister, 'average person as '•:"-":''' ' "bumptious* can v 'hardly ' be denied, but- a good deal of the re- ' eantment which he arouses probably comes from the fact that ho is guilty. of "the atrocious crime of being a young man.*' Those who are-inclined to think little of him ehould look at his record. At the age of twenty-five ho had gone through four arduous campaigns—in Cuba, with the Malakand Field Force; in tho Soudan, "and in South Africa. Ho had been mentioned in despatches j from Malakand, ho held the Spanish Order of military merit, ho had ridden in tho charge of tho 21st Lanccra at Omdurman, had been captured by the Boers after an exploit of great bravery, and had. escaped from Pretoria, had been under fire at Spion-kop, had ridden | with tho relieving force into Ladyemith, ' ami had marched with lan Hamilton to Pretoria. In the midst of .this'strenuous life he had found time to write five successful books. Hie ono failure eeems to have been politics, but he returned to the charge 6n returning Home, and Oldham, which had rejected him the year before, elected him. It is said that Ino sooner was ihe elected, than half the ■ candfdates in England were clamouring ! for hie assistance, as though ho were a ' party leader. ."Hane you any sparo evenings?" wired the chief agent of the Conservative party. But ho was not to remain, long in'the Conservative ranks. Mr Brodrick's Army proposals he strongly opposed, end Mr Chamberlain's propaganda drove him to the Liberal Bide, end now, at thirty years, he is Undersecretary for the Colonies. Aβ a speaker. he hits uncommonly hard, and is a talented maker of phrases. Speaking on the subject of retrenchment, in the House, read out the remarkable letter in which his father pleaded for & more rational ecale of expenditure. "I raise the tattered flag again," caid the son "on a stricken field." Some tinies, perhaps, ho is more forcible than polite, as. when he said that Mr Brodrick was suffering from "German measles." On Mr Brodrick's futile Army Corps scheme he launched the full measure of his attack. "I feel convinced," ho-said, "that the great French fraud at which we have been amused (the Humbert fraud), is merely a poor, wretched, private concern, compared to the great English fraud which the War Office is perpetrating every day." "Confound that boy!" says Mr Balfour in one of Mr F. O. Gould's cartoons. "He's always doing something weird!" an annoyance wu»ch culminated in the Premier ostentatiously walking cut whenever Mr Churchill rose to speak. Mr Balfour will probably have a chance to retaliate before long from the shades of Opposition.