The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-07-10
A OOMBATIVE JOURNALIST.

4 a OOMBATIVE JOURNALIST.
Whatever opinion people may have Of
Monsieur Paul de Cassagnac-and we must
confess that in our own estimation he does
not stand very high even as a Journalistic
must be admitted that he has taken great
pains to place himself before the world as the
palmy days of the empire, he never allowed
six months to pass without having his little
Injecting with swords, and pinking Re
publican editors not quite as cunning of fence
as himself on "the field of honor Roche
fort, Flourens, and dozen others tried con-
illusions with him, and after winning easy
victories over him with the pen, were quite as
easily vanquished by him whenever they met
with swords.
When German prince was spoken of as
candidate for the Spanish throne, Cassagnac
dashed himself into towering passion and
"went" at once for King William and see
scelerat de Bismarck" HIS semi-oficial
paper, lie Pays, first started the war cry, ga
Berlin !" and urged his patron, Napoleon III,
to squelch at once the offending Teutons.
Whatever doubts and misgivings Indifferent
soldiers like Changarnier and Chanzy, or
obscure statesmen like Theirs, might express
az to the possible result of such an under
taking, Cassagnac Indignantly secuted the
idea that war against Germany could be
anything else but "walk over"-a mere
military excursion from Paris to Berlin.
Well our pugnacious confrere's advice was
followed. With commendable alacrity, and,
it must be added, good deal of theatrical
display, the dashing Paris duelist enlisted as
private soldier, and, unlike many a noble
Frenchmen who fell upon the battlefield, he
actually got ga Berlin" a long away ahead of
his less enterprising or less fortunate COM
'rades. But for the fact that he, while there,
was placed under some ungentlemanly re-
straint by the Berlin Home Guard, he would
doubtless have challenged Bismarck. Won
Moltke, and even ''Unser Fritz" and old
King William, to fight him in accordance
with the rules of the code, but this satisfac-
ton was denied him, and he managed to es-
cape in disguise from the capital he had been
so anxious to enter in the capacity of victor,
and to swagger once more on the Paris boule-
Yards, as combative and defiant as if he had
really captured Berlin and "put Bismarck in
his place.
Circumstances not being propitious for the
renewal of his grand march ga Berlin" our
fighting friend then turned his attention to
his own countrymen Of anti Bona artist pro-
clivities, and managed to induce a few un-
skilled simpletons to try conclusions with |
him with his favorlte weapon, the small |
sword-the result of such unequal contests |
being, of course, always a triumph for Cas- |
sagnac. A year ago, however, Mr.. Clemen-
ceau, who is not only leading member of the
French Republican party, but also very
skillful swordsman, having challenged the IT.
'epressible sBonapartist champion to mortal
combat that eccentric individual fell back on
1is dignity, and declined to meet Clemenceau
or the very proper reason that he could not
% expected to fight every one who might
axe exception to his not very mild editorials.
And now we are informed by the cable dis
patches that our pugnacious friend, having
hallenged Gambetta to meet him upon the
ield, as an atonement for speaking disrespect-
ully of the party of which Cassagnac is a distin-
uished ornament, his offer was declined, on
be ground that Mr.. Gambetta does not hold
imself responsible "to the first conner" for
is political utterances; whereupon the war
Ike journalist wakes indignant, and even
areatens to "boot the great French orator
nd statesman for treating his impudent mes.
sge precisely as he himself dealt year
go with the challenge of Mr.. Clemenceau.
Now we don't mean to deny that Paul de
assagnac is quite terrible fellow in his own {
line, but We venture, nevertheless,
} predict that his "booting" performance
i'll never take place, except in the same
ghly 6gurative sense in which his remark
de "a Berlin" trip was accomplished. Like
any nobler and more useful animals, Cas-
gnac's bark is good deal worse than his
tie.