THE LAND OF THE "DARNED MOUNDSEER."

Otago Witness, Issue 1880, 2 December 1887, Page 32

THE LAND OF THE "DARNED MOUNDSEER."

By Max O'Rell. VI.-THE FRENCH IN ENGLAND. Why the French do not Emigrate -English Hospitality to Foreigners — The French Colony in England — Some Frenchmen- 1 have Met in England— The Typical " Mossoo" — His Qualities — His Knowledge of English and of England—Anglomaniacs— Anglophobists — A Communist in Trouble —The Teachers of the French Language. A Frenchman out of France is very much like a fish out of water. Of all the European people the French are those who emigrate the least. Their country is large and rich enough to feed them and give them employment, the family ties are very close, the ambition for great wealth seldom exists, and they prefer living on a snug litlle income in France to acquiring a large fortune abroad. Not one boy is brought up with a view to being sent abroad when he is grown up. Most Frenchmen whom you meet settled out of France are men whose career was blighted by the political events of tho last 30 or 40 years. Since England gave hospitable shelter to the crowd of poor Huguenots who, hounded out of their own country after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, came and settled in Spitalfields, and created the silkweaving industry of England, this country has seen many an inrush of French fugitives into her borders. The chief were those that took place after the Coup d'JUtat of 1851, and after the overthrow of the Commune in 1871. At' the present time there is no country where so many Frenchmen are to bo found as England. Indeed, you find now over 30,000 Frenchmen settled in this country, and the number is increasing every day. This colony is not only important by its number, but it is laborious and well-united, and the English need not begrudge them the hospitality they receive, for they are most useful members of the community. In 12 years, from 1871 to ISB6, only two Frenchmen were condemned for acts of dishonesty committed in England, and one of these two was only a passing visitor. A good many years ago the French residing in England did not know each other, and, for that matter, did not much care to make acquaintance. Alas ! it was but a poor recommendation for a Frenchman to say that he was residing in Englaud, and if he knocked at the door of the French" Embassy, and mentioned that he was French, that was enough ; the door was shut in his face. It must be admitted that, in those days, Enghad land no reason to be particularly proud of many of her French residents; but things have greatly altered since then. Victor Hugo, Louis Blanc, Alphonse Ksquiros came and settled on these hospitable shores in the early part of the year 1852, With them came A Host of Industrious and Learned Men, such as Charles Cassal, ex-member of the Representive Assembly of 18-18, who was soon appointed to the Professorship of French at the London University; Theodore Karcher, one of the leading journalists of France, who was for 30 years Professor of French at the Royal Military Academy; Valentin, the famous Prefect of Strasburg, whose prowess during the siege of that town by the Prussians is still engraven on the memory of the French; Nadaud, Tallandier, and many others. To these men, or, rather, to their memory— for most of them are gone now— we French residents in England owe a great debt of gratitude. They taught the English respect for France, and the French respect for England. They raised the teaching of the French language in this country from a makeshift to a profession, and helped, by their writings, to make the people of the two countries understand each other better. They were the real engineers of the Channel Tunnel. • Besides the French Benevolent Society and the French hospital, there are now in London and in the provinces many French clubs and associations, which proves that the French in England no longer shun one another's company, but, on the counrary, seek it. In these clubs and societies, where the French can be seen at home, as it were; their characteristics come out in full light ; gaiety and good fellowship reign, but tempered— if one may say so — by the little national failings, jealousy and yearning after elective titles. These societies, we see, are subdivided into sections, committees, commissions, &c, each having a president, a vice-president, a treasurer, a sccretairenqtyorteur, a secretaire-archiviste, and what not. For that matter, you will never see half a dozen Frenchmen meet round a table for the discussion of anything but a good diuner, without appointing one of their number, president, another vice - president,

&c, &c Each one must have a title, and if there ate six members arid only five titles so 1 be dispensed, the one who is left out sends in his resignation and goes about abusing the other five. It seems,- up to now, as 2 the Republic had failed to make the French people real Republicans. We are destitute of the first requisites of a Republicanrespect and obedience to elected governors and difference to the voice of the majority. Universal suffrage may be absurd (I think it is), but having chosen to establish it, we should abide by its decisions, whether they concern the government of a society or of the nation. lam afraid it is our misfortune to have made a Republic before we had made Republicans of ourselves. However this may be, the French societies in England are doing good work, especially the Society of French Teachers, whose aim is to improve the teaching of French in England, and ttf help honourable and intelligent compatriots; Now, something abouc Frenchmen you' may come across in England. You will meet A Type of Frenchman who, after residing 10, 15, and 20 years in England, cannot speak English. He is proud of it, arid sometimes wonders that, with so many Frenchmen in England, the English do not all speak French by this time. But he will tell ycu that the English have no aptitude for languages. Although he has lived five years in the same apartments, could you believe that his landlady still compels him to give his orders in English ? He receives his paper from France every day, and avoids reading an English one. Why should he try to perfect hia knowledge of the English language ? He knows he speaks it badly, but he assures you that you require vury few words to make yourself understood of the people. This worthy Frenchman carries his patriotism to the extent of buying all his clothing in France. He would not for the world invest in a cravat or a pair of' gloved of English manufacture. He declares it impossible to wear English garments, and almost impossible to wear out French onesi Besides, he does not see why he should not give his country the benefit of some of the guineas he has picked up over here. Like every child of France, he has the love of fine linen, and, in his opinion, the article is only to be found on the other side of the Channel. So he goes about in his narrowbrimmed hat and turned-down collar fastened low in the neck and finished off with a tiny black tie, a large expanse of shirt front, and boots with high heels and pointed toes. He holds his head high, is always smiling and happy-looking. As he goes along the street he hears people whisper, " There's a French j man !" But, far from objecting to that he rather likes it, and I admire him for it. He likes the English, and recognises their solid qualities; but as he possesses many of his own lie keeps to his native stock and never tries to imitate the English" man either in his habit or his dress' If his English vocabulary is of the most limited, his knowledge of England is still more so. Ho will tell you solemnly that the eldest sons of the peers of this realm are boroughs that their fathers represent in the House of Lords. One of this type, and a London correspondent of a Parisian paper, once wrote to his editor that " Lord Salisbury yesterday kissed the Queen's hands on his appointment as leader of her Majesty's Opposition." Another remarked that English dots are more respectful to their fathers than French ones, and to prove it, he added, " In the English upper classes the son invariably calls his father governor, a word which ia pronounced f/uv'ner.' 1 If the dear fellow speaks bad English, he will never admit that there are, in England, a good many French' men who write and speak very good English! " Now, look here," I once said to a worthy compatriot, who, in spite of 20 years' residence in England, still horribly murders the mother tongue of Shakespeare, " surely you will own that our friend and compatriot So-and-so speaks English very well." " Mon cher ami" he quietly replied, "he speaks it like the rest of us, of course." This man is to be admired for having succeeded in re* maning perfectly French after such a long residence in England. He shows his patriotism by sending his guinea to all the French benevolent societies in England, and by helping his struggling compatriots whenever he has a chance. V* r herever the tricolour floats he is ofjthe party. After his dinner you will see him sipping a cup of coffee at the Cafe Royal, and on fine Sunday's you will be sure to meet him as Hampton Court, Kew Gardens, or Richmond Park. Another Type Then there is the Frenchman whose great ambition is to be thought English. He frequents only English people, gives his fellow-countrymen a wide berth, and has not a good word to say for them. lam inclined to think that his slurs against his countrymen cannot be appreciated by his English friends, for my experience of the English tells me that their own admiration for England makes them respect a Frenchman for remaining French. Needless to say that this speciman is a snob, He would fain make you believe than all his spare time is spent in the country houses and the yachts of wealthy or titled English friends. His conversation is full of the "splendid shooting we have just had at Lord So-and-so's place," or the "delightful cruise we had in the North Sea in Sir John's yacht last; August." He never says "The English do this or that ;" but his language bristles with such expz-essions as, "We should never stand that in England," or "as we say in English." What would he not give to be able to go a, little further, and say, " We English " 1 He pushes his English get-up so far as to wear whiskers and shave his upper lip and chin, and not for the world would he be betrayed into a shrug of the shoulders. I am happy to say his name is not legion. A Frenchman not very uncommonly met with in England is The Anglophobia. He hates the very name of English. Needless to add that the man is a social failure, a rate, as we neatly call the specimen in^French. If, by intelligence, industry, and perseverance, he had tried to build up an honourable and lucrative position for himself in England, he would probably be able to ' sa^ a good word for the land of his adoption. Of course he will not lay his poverty at his own door ; he prefers spending his time in run ning down his more successful compatriots

trad throwing the bla/me ttpon England, and abusing her for toot having found out his hidden merits. It never occurs to him thatifc was his dtity to study this country and fee? people, and that England is not to be blamed tcor not having studied him and changed her ways to accommodate him* (Stood heavens ! you will hear him. say something ; he calls tho men all fools and knaves (perhaps he has read Carlyle), the women all guys. It is true that the cabs -are swifter in London than in Paris, " but who cares to drive so fast ?" He >j7ill never fail to let you know that, if he were in France, he would occupy a position worthy of his attainments. I never meet this man without thinking of the Irishman who, complaining of the price of eggs in England, remarked that in Oircland he could get two fresh eggs for a penny, but when asked why he had not stayed in such a land of plenty, was fain, to reply, " Sure, bill it's in Oireland J hadn't the penny," I have no doubt it would do this typo or. gentleman good to take a leaf cat of the book of a brave fellow wbottl 1 was once shown, in a fashionable French restaurant in tho West- end, washing glasses. This plucky Frenchman, had taken to glass-wash-jng, for which he earned a shilling a nighland his dinner <sfc attendant, something more suited to his acquirements and requirements* Like many others, he had fled his country because he had held a post under the Commune, and ■was " wanted "by M, Thiers. If he had the traditional half-crown in his pocket by the time he readied England, it was as much as he could boast in bard cash, and so he bravely accepted the work I saw him at. I was not surprised to learn some time agt> fchat he is now manager and partner of one ■of the large French houses of business established for the sale of Fiench manufactured goods in England.

If you go to the Cafe Koyal, in Regent street, between 12 and 1, you may almost every day see, seated at one of the tables, a tall, thin, gentlemanly Frenchman of about HO enjoying the excellent cookery of that establishment. This is no less a personage tbaji

:f: f lie First Cook in London. It is said that he makes an income of over £2000 a year. He is attached to no house. This is how he earns his living. In his own brougham he sets out towards evening for the house of some rich man who is going to give a dinner, at which every dish must be above criticism. Here he alights, and, making for the kitchen, goes through the process of tasting all the soups, sauces, and made dishes, advising, when his palate suggests, a little more salt here, a pinch of herbs there, a dash of sugar in this entree, a suspicion of onion in that salmis, &c. This done, he pockets his fee of two guineas and drives on to the next dinner-giving patron who has bidden him to his feast in this strange fashion. His nightly list comprises many houses through the London season.

The employment pursued by a very large number of French residents in England is of course that of teaching their own language. Here and there you may find among these workers a few ex-cooks who, taking advantage of the freetrade principles on which education is taught in England, have set to work at a profession for which they are unfitted. These earn for their confreres (as a class) a poor reputation. But, as a matter of fact, these unqualified teachers are very few, and their number diminishes every day. The main body are men of high education, as well as unflagging industry and patience ; many scholars who would be men of note at home. I have in my mind's eye one who charms his readers with the poetry that lias earned him the title of Laureate of the Provincial Academy of France ; another whose philological attainments made him a valued collaborates of Littre ; another, now dead, who was the first leader writer on the staff of the Republique Frangaise and a frequent contributor to the London Spectator. In fact, they are too numerous to mention, those hard workers who, out of school hours, get through an amount of brain work which would seem incredible to many who have not been eye-witnesses to their indomitable energy, ________