Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-02
ROCHEFORT IN EXILE.
A Dispatch Correspondent Penetrates
the Agitator's Quarters.
AGE BEAUTIFYING HIS PHYSIQUE,
But Not Changing the Views of This Odd
Aristocrat. Plebeian.
HE DECLINES TO DISCUSS BOULANGlSM

| VI EatneE pretty plOnue Dousemalo Will
blue eyes. Teutonic accent and an oblong
brooch bearing the inscription "Geneve''
worked in black hair on q white ground,
who scans unknown visitors who come ask
ing for M. Rochefort, at times politely in
forming them that monsieur is OUT when
it is patent to the meanest comprehension
that monsieur is in. Then you are In
dilemma; if you don't speak French this
| girl wont understand you; II you do, and
moreover speak it well, she seems inclined
to think you must be some spy from Paris;
some emissary to that personal foe to Messrs.
Rocheiort, Boulanger 8 Company, named
| Constans.
Altogether, am convinced that I should
never have gained access to the great rad
ical journalist now in exile in London,
were 1t not for the fact that am personally
known to him and several years back saw
not little of him in Paris. A letter re-
calling these particulars had the effect Of
enabling me to penetrate at length into the
heart Of M. Rocheiort's dwelling.
RocHEFoRT's ART TREASURES.
My welcome was as cordial as could
desire to ask him important questions on
politics and simply for desultory chat
with one of the most remarkable journalists
of the day, and so Boulanger, Constans,
President Carnot and the possibility of the
present Government lasting in France, or
the prospect OF NJ. Rochefort and his CO.
exiles returning to their native land were
not the subject of our conversation, as my
host showed me round his house and pressed
me to join him at his French II o'clock
breakfast. What we did speak of was art
and artists, English traits OF character, the
illness OF Madame Sarah Bernhardt and other
news of the day. 1 watched closely his
marked and mobile countenance while we
migrated from the blue room TO the brown
and examined the pictures Of which Roche.
tort is intensely proud and which afford him
such perennial delight. These canvasses
for the most part came over the channel
with, or after him, from that pretty little
hotel in the Cite Malesherbes in Paris which
he must still regret. Some of them, and by
no means the least valuable, have been
bought By him here in London at sales or
in the dusty back rooms o. little old curios.
ity shops in Wardour or Hanway streets.
Then there were the bric-a-brac and strange
weapons to be handled ard admired, the
hangings OF silk and satin to be delicately
csressed between finger and thumb and held
to the light Tor the better appreciation of
the subtle, faded shades.
GROWING HANDSOME WITH AGE.
Ardor, and q rather noble ardor, is the
keynote OF Rochefort's nature. He is not q
little changed since the days when 1 first
saw him, tall, cadaverous, lantern .jawed
man, with his hair intensely black and
triZzled to almost negro tigntness. Those
were the Lanterne days % years ago.
Rochefort since then has "flled OUT
square-hewn features, the firm chin, the
nose of commanding shape, the slightly
bulgihg brow expressing obstinacy, and
the mouth shaded by medium-sized white
mustache with curled points, with the
peculiar pallor of the whole, looks massive
enough for marble. Rocheiort is decidedly
a handsomer man at 60 than he was at 40.
The hair, in becoming white, has gained an
agreeable effect OF soltness. 1t stands erect,
as before, in two frizzied tufts on either side
of the parting, but il now makes one think
of Marquis of the old regime, instead of
an intellectual mulatto, as 1t did during its
dark ages ere the Commune and New Gale
donia had passed over the owners devoted
head. Black and bright as ever, though,
are the eyes; close-set eyes, a popularity
which Rochefort himself, as he has said in
one of his novels, considers to be q token of
strength of will. The strength of will exists
in his case, at all events; or rather, as 1
should prefer to call it, the energy OF tenn
permanent. For Rochelort has had
MANY THINGS AGAINST HIM
in his eager, combative, chequered ex-
istence, from the time of his teens, when he
had to scribble countless snippets OF
brilliant drollery and wit in little insignifi-
can't Paris papers in order to exc out the
most meager living, TO the troublous days
of the siege and the Government OF National
Defense, when he suffered not a little
through his country's wretched reyerses,
for Rochetort is at heart q true patriot and |
not by any means the mere epcurean
skeptic which many people have supposed
or pretended. Through the Commune, too,
with its fierce discussions, its deceptions. |
anxieties and final bloodshed, distasteful to |
none more than to this kindly fastidious |
man OF the world whom circumstances led |
ut that date in the annals OF France to play |
a sectarian part Then, the dread of a |
death sentence at the hands of the Yer |
sailles Court, which was daily sending |
victims to be shot down, that danger averted
the doom of transportation ior life, the
romantic escape at last, the return to dear
Paris and politics once more, and finally |
now in exile again. For all his good spirits,
and the liking he expresses Tor the finer and
more cheerful features OF his London life OF
to-day, consider that Rochefort is not at
present a very happy man. He feels this
renewal OF tie period of banishment that
state which the Frenchmen of all others
most fears and abhors. There was ring of
true pathos in his voice as he Quoted Victor
Hugo's line:
''Ohl n exilez personne! oh, 7 exil est impier'
and told me that he had never before felt
the force OF this sentiment SO keenly and
as now.
YOUNGSTERS INITIATING HIM
"Ah yes, Constans," 1 began fondly
fancying l might provoke the exiled Jour
naIist into some characteristic ebullition of I
resentment against the high-handed Prime
Minister who morally speaking, broke the
back of the Boulangist party through the
sentence which the High Court passed Jus.
about year ago. But "Constans? ii ma
fait que son metier," was Rocheiort's
rejoinder and then lie glided off
into eulogy OF his iayorite Hugo, informing
me that he knew fully 5000 OF Hugo's verses
BY heart 81 am not surprised to hear it,"
remarked, "seeing that IN nine out O;
avery ten of your articles for l. Intrausi-
geant Hugo makes his appearance.
'Yes, but you know don't always write
hem, he said, with smile; ''lnere are
iwo or three of my young men who initiate
my style we'll that ma fol, if ever l
haven't time to get up my article here and
nave it wired 1 sometimes let them do it Tor
ne over there. But being OF course more