The sun., 1908-05-17
Statesmen I'm q Wrangie.

We must not assume In the fllness Of
our national pride that American states
men are the only ones who squabble or
lift threatening fists in the halls Of legis-
lature. The French know a pretty trick
or two at that game, and not 30 long ago
there were passages at arms In the
French Chamber Of Deputies that could
put to the blush some Of our overheated
representatives at Washington. A re-
cent casus belli In Paris was the placing
of EsruLE ZoLA's ashes in the Pantheon.
The question of the translation had been
settled, but when the ways and means
were discussed Deputy MAURICE BARREs
exclaimed at the cost Of the ceremony,
some $1,000 francs. Too much, cried
BARREs; more rigid economy should be
practised. A howl arose thereat from the
Left and Extreme Left.
The change that time works in q man is
brilliantly exemplifed in the case Of
MAURICE BARRbs. To be sure, he was
never a realist, though he began as a
revolutionist. The red waistcoat which
THEoPHILE GAUTIHR faunted as q flag
during the romantic upheaval (he al
ways asserted that 1t was q pink doublet)
was a bit OF harmless symbolism when
compared to the extravagances Of the
youthful BABRhs. A philosophic egoist
OF particularly outrageous type, this
young writer went to great lengths in his
effort to secure notoriety. He would have
walked down the boulevards in his naked
pelt If needs be, he declared. He barred
what he called his soul to the public, and
in prose singularly supple, gracious and
winning he told the world the unimportant
history of his intellectual adventures.
Nothing was too minute, nothing too
startling to be recorded. He enjoyed his
sensation. He had his hour. And when
BoULANoER came along on horseback
BARREs went to his aid with pen and
person. That ep.-ode soon passed into
the limbo Of the futile. But BARREs
did not pass. He wrote more books.
He was an exponent of TAME. Like
STRNDHAL he would write history of
national energy. The cloistered egoist
was become man Of action, a politician.
His native Lorraine he apotheosized.
He wrote a strong novel, rather a politi-
cal tract, "The Uprooted," in which he
fervently appealed against the dangers
OF Capitalization. France listened to
him. He formed school, He suffered
the vicissitudes of elections and defeats.
Once he was rolled in the mud and his
carriage upturned. BARREs was ad-
mired for the pluck with which he lighted
q cigarette and went on talking to the
angry crowd. Paris was thrilled at the
bravery. Superb Magnificent A herol
Then MAURICE BARRks was elected to
the Academy, and, a. becomes one OF
the Forty, he shed his radical notions,
just as his friend and master, PAUL
BoURaET, vanished from the Bohemia Of
his youth when success overlook him.
Hence the derisive language from the
colleagues Of RARBks.
The official Journal of March 20 gives
us an idea Of the ferocity Of the discus
sion. After BARRks had spoken of econ
omy various Deputies reproaohed him
for his lack Of generosity, He should
have been your colleague at the Acad-
emyl' cried one. at 10 thus a French
writer speaks OF anotherl' cried sec
,ond. Evidently, as REMY DE GouRMoNT
commented, these gentlemen imagined
literature close corporation like that of
a mason or carpenter Qhe might have
added plumbers), who never speak Iii OF
each other. Unmoved, as 10 his wont,
BAaahs accused ZoLA Of degrading his
talents by shameful obscenities. He
was interrupted. There were other au-
thors Of whom the same might be said.
"Let me make some quotations charao-
teristio OF ZotA,e responded BARRts.
A chiyalric Vicornte promptly demanded
that all ladies present be asked to retire.
Another Dsp'ihv asked: Why not quota