Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-30
FRENCH DIPLOMATS
DECLINE KIND GIFT
Capital Farce Being Enacted on Bel
qian Frontier and Family of
Gypsies Profit from Cir
cumstances

| BRUSSELS, March ga capital
farce, worthy of a better setting and a
wider publicity, is now being enacted
on the French frontier of this country.
On the first day of October last COM
pany of Belgian gendarmes conducted
| a gypsy van containing a family oil
eight to the border and, pointing to the
south, bade them proceed and never re-
turn. But, while anxious enough to
obey, circumstances over which they
had no control prevented the gypsies
from doing so. For it seems the
French authorities had had warnings
| of the event and a force of police
| barred the way of the van. Thus beset
behind and before by the rival authors
ties the gypsy "undesirables" noncha-
lantly pitched camp. There they have
been ever since, watched over by both
the Belgians and the Frenchmen.
A humorous, but from the viewpoint
of the policemen delegated to this duty
also a serious feature of the farce, is
the fact that the minions of the law
were compelled to watch day and night
without shelter while the eight "un-
desirables" are comfortably housed and
watch complacently the march of
l-eyents. AS days run into weeks and
weeks into months, the police grew
tired. weary and disgusted. But the
gypsies, to whom "all out of doors" Is
home, pursued the existence of the
nomad.
When the matter first came to the
attention of the authorities at Brussels
there was an attempt made to come to
an understanding with the French
authorities. But weightier matters in
terposed and the frontier incident has
been eclipsed and forgotten At the
present writing nobody seems to care
verv much about the future movements
of the gypsy van-that is, NOBODY with
the exception of the rival forces OF
gendarmes on the frontier, with their
pompous officers and their exalted
sense of duty and Importance. only
over dead bodies could the van and It's
"undesirables" have advanced or re-
treated.
Within the last few days the gem
darmes on guard over the van, realiz
ing that the matter now being in the
hands of the diplomatists, is doomed TO
everlasting delays, have erected per-
manent abodes on either side OF the
frontier. In inclement weather the
alert forces can keep a close watch on
the movements of the gypsies and at
the same time preserve their health
and their tempers.
When 1 said that nobody except the
gendarmes cared about the van and its
occupants I made mistake. l forgot
the French municipality of Mont Saint
Martin, which has supplied the gen.
darmes and pays them their wages. 1t
has already cost the people of that dis
trict more than 1000 francs. In addition
to this, the local police force, depleted
by the withdrawal of the force to cope
with the threatened invasion of 'unde-
sirables,"' has been compelled to call for
the help of the neighboring brigade to
perform it's ordinary duties.
Perhaps in years to come when the
children of the gypsies have grown to
manhood and have families of their
| own; when the gendarmes have long,
Rip Van Wrinkle boards or have reached
the old age limit and have relegated
their duties to their children. some high
official from Brussels may come across
the arrested van and ask questions of
| th5 patient guards. The diplomatic
wheels may once more be set in motion
and the van eventually be ordered to
"move on" But then the wheels, which
have sunk hub-deep in the soft earth,
may refuse to discharge their proper
| function to the bidding of horse which
has lost his energy in years of in
activity. And diplomacy or gendarme
Intelligence will have to cope with the
question whether 1t rightfully may,
under the law, compel a thing which
cannot be.