New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-04

nents are wont to grudge him. AS man who
may be called some day to still higher honors,
and who, moreover has had some acquaintance
with the United States, the French President
would be entitled to a special Introduction to
the readers of The Tribune. even IL he were not.
what he actually is. fair representative of the
best type of French parliamentarian
FIRST APPEARANCE IN PARLIAMENT.
1t was in 1856 that NJ. Deschanel first ap-
peered on the parliamentary stage being ex-
actly thirty and having just been elected. the
year before, in the Department Of Eure-et-
Loire. His maiden speech a revelation.
and recalled in many respects the famous ad-
dress of the single speech Hamilton" whose
memorable hit in the British Parliament in the
eighteenth century aroused such a widespread
enthusiasm that the dfffident orator never dared
to take the floor again lest he should fall below
the high standard which at his first bound he
had Unexpectedly reached
1t was during a debate the tariff June %,
1856 M Deschanel. who represented protec-
zionist district, rose to support the new tax of
SIX francs that was proposed in the interest of
the farmers. The Radicals began at once TO
oisparage the brilliant debut of NJ. Deschanel
by pointing out that it a piece of academic
oratory. carefully committed TO memory and re-
cited by skilled actor. He was lkened to De-
Gals. They said that the new Speaker had
neither the spontaneous readiness nor the gift
OF extemporization of a Waldeck- Rousseau, a
Millerand, a Jaures. He would not be able to
make another success of that sort. They
represented him political dandy brought
up in the salons OF the bourgeoisie, lacking both
seriousness and principle merely posing before
the galleries; and they pointed to the we'll
gowned ladies who filled the house every time
he was TO speak and came regularly to admire
their handsome Deschanel.
After his great success he did not like many
others. spoil the good impression he had made
by taking the floor in season and out of season.
He remained silent during a year or So He
studied all the questions which he had to dis
cuss He never took the floor unless he had
something to say, and this he prepared with the
utmost care, In February 1888 he came out
with a new speech the French protectorat e
or the Christian peoples of the Orient and again
few months later, of the most technical
topics OF the French budget, the appropriations
Tor The navy Every time he renewed his frs
NIT; applause and congratulations were show
cred upon him
But these were merely the first attempts of {
young orator, who was training himself for tn
more important role he expected to play. I
was during the second and third terms from
1889 TO 1898, that Deschanel became not merel,
a charming speaker but one of the leading de
baters OF the House. Meanwhile his talent ha
matured; his knowledge of political and soca
science had been increased by his constan
study and his wideawake curiosity He trav
eled, too, in the United States in order t
study American institutions, and brought bacl
many new and interesting observations which
he knew how to utilize and which made easil
of him one Of the best equipped members in tn
Chamber " 40
His role was 20 be twofold On the one side tn
former leaders of the moderate party wer
either dead without authority In 1850 .Jule
Ferry was defeated at the polls. Casimir-Perie
was soon TO make his ever to be regretted blum
needed xa he Loo,
or the opportuntst Republicans and to defen
me doctrine of slow and progressive evolutio,
laid down by Cambetta and Jules Ferry agains
the unscientifc and dangerous methods of Radi
caIism which was growing stronger every day
On The other side a new party and a new
doctrine had suddenly gained prominence which
IN 1883. and still more in 1893, sent to the Cham
Der not few able and eloquent spokesman
namely, Socialism
1t light task to meet on the foo
such learned and scholarly students of Marx
ism were Paul Lafargue and Jules Gnesde
or such powerful and crafty paramentarian M
as the new Socialists Jaures and Millerand.
SPEECHES AGAINST RADICALIsM.
Three tin1es-in November, 1895; April 1896
and again in November of the same year. unde
the Ministries Of Bourgeois and Of Meline-ht
delivered against Radicalsm speeches in which
the academic eloquence in which he had for.
merly INDUCED gave place to an incisive sharI
ana aggressive oratory, which quite as
much revelation as his first style had been
AS 10 Deschanels attitude toward Socialism n
PROFESSOR
Graham Brooks in a recent article in THE Po-
liticai Quarterly" Nothing, indeed has EN-.
phasized in a more striking fashion the ad
nsrable openness OF mind of that opportunist
statesman than the way in which he has NOT
merely grasped the most abstruse details of
Karl MARKS "Kapital.' well as the whole
modern Socialistic literature, but also boldly
accepted some of their legitimate claims while
fighting against their doctrine with a spirit of
fairness and sometimes of sympathy that thew
readily acknowledged.
Some years ago NJ Poincare, writing a news
paper article on NJ. Deschane remarked that
he was a Of whom was TENTED IN saw
not that he would some day be a Minister but
that some day he would belong 10 the Academy
III. Poincare's prophecy is now realized IN the
letter N. Deschanel curiously enoueb hos
not been, as yet, Minister: but he he;onps to
the French Academy Although an American
correspondent contended some time since tbat
M Deschanel was not able to write French
the Forty Immortals have thought that he
speaks IL well enough TO become an Acadenoi-
clan, and that his oratory has a sufficient Gle
Eical flavor TO warrant his election M q body
which, although founded in order m nnaLa
grammar and a dictionary has always heen
fond of electing eloquent and successful noIitt
clans pohr-
H;s election to the presidency Of the Chamber
an June 1890, was result Of the strange turn
Things have taken during the last two Years In
A1ench politics. associating men as different az