THE IRISH COLONY OF TO-DAY IN PARIS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 49, 11 September 1891, Page 15

THE IRISH COLONY OF TO-DAY IN PARIS.

(From the Pilot.)

Thb Irish colony of to-day in Paris is far less Bohemian than that of the closing years of the second empire. There are no traces now left of the wild bumour that prompted one Irishman to stand on his head for five micutes on tbe boulevards for the delectation of the flaneurt of Parts, and that prompted another to deliver a patriotic harangue in Connaught French from the top of the statue of Strasbourg in the Place de la Concorde. Like our brethren at home, we are becoming less impulsive than we used to be. It may be the continual friction with the Saxon that has iced our veins with the liquid of Saxon stolidity. I do not desire to discuss here whether the change has improved us or not ; but, in any case, the cap And the jerkin that used to make us laugh are now no longer sought after as an antidote to the ills of which Irish flesh is heir.

The Irish colony in Paris at the present day ia represented in politics, journalism, and the opera. Its leading representative in politics is General MacAdaras, who has achieved, for an Irishman the proud distinction of a seat in the French Chamber of Deputies MacAdaras was born some fifty years ago in Belfast, and proceeded early in life to Paris, where he went through the military curriculum of studies in the Ecole Poly technique, which he left with the epaulettes of pub-lieutenant. Shortly afterwards he took service as an officer in tbe East India Company ; bat when the troops at the disposal of that syndicate were transferred to the British Government, MacAdaras, wbo was then captain, refused to take the prescribed oath of allegiance, and returned to France. At the outbreak of Franco-German hostilities, MacAdaras proceeded to Dublin, where he organised an Irish company to do battle on tbe French side. Throughout the campaign, MacAdaiai became in succession colonel and brigadier-genaral, and received at the Battle of Orleans a leg-wound, from tae affects of which be still suffers. Coming to this country in 1876, he met, in St Louis, the widow ot the late Mr McDevitt, of the well-known firm of Doyle and McDevitt, architects, in that city, whom in a short time afterward, he married. Returning to Europe with his bride, MacAdaras spent most of his time in Gastein and other watering-places, for the benefit of his health ; and when tbe legislative elections took place in France in 1889, the General offered himself on tbe Republican ticket as a candidate for the Parliamentary representation of Sisteron, in the Maritime Alps. He beat his Royalist competitor by an overwhelming majority. He has been very active in his legislative work since bis election, and some of the projects which he prepared for the defence of France, on her eastern frontier, have been adopted by the Government. Tbe General is a tall, well-built, sympathetic gentleman. He has a rather full face, set off by a military moustache and imperial. His long residence in France has given him a slight French accent in speaking English. Mrs MacAdaras is a charming lady in every respect. They bath reside in a sumptuous mansion in tbe French capital during the Parliamentary sessioD.

One of the stormiest petrels in latter-day French politics is a Monsieur Morpby, whose parents come from the Kingdom of Kerry. This young man, who, thoogh born in Paris, was according to law regarded as a foreigner tiU he reached his majority, has already given successive French Governments no small amount of worry and annoyance. He made himself so remarkable at eighteen years of age, by his Ked Republican speeches at Belleville, that be was expelled from France. For the next few years he went through a veritable series of imprisonments and expulsions, till the day came when the authorities could no locger prevent him from becoming a French citizen. With the h&lo of martyrdom around bis brow, he became the petted darling of the populace. Two years ago he threw in hia lot with Boulanger, and still clings to the fortunes of that adventurer. Such other well-known Irishmen as the Count O'jSeill de Tyrone and Crunt Mahony are implicitly or avowedly suppoiters of the Roya Pretender, the Count of Paris.