The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-03-09
BIOGRAPHICAL CALENDAR.
March 9, 1909.

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Patriotic Frenchmen are today
celebrating the 160th anniversary Of
the birth of one of the most celebrated
characters of the great revolution,
statesman as Napoleon was warrior,
Count de Honore Gabriel Riqueti Mir
abeau. Mirabeau was as great
and his premature death, before he had
accomplished the work which only he
could have done, changed the fate of
the French nation.
He was born in Bignon, Provence,
on March 2, 1749. His early life was
unhappy, his father was a philosopher
and a reformer; he joined the ranks
of the Physiocrats and wrote a book,
"L'Ami des Mommes," but he was not
a pleasant man to live with. Long be-
fore his wife instituted the lawsuit
which scandalized all Europe, she and
her husband had been on bad terms;
she had become insufferable to him
long before her affections failed. Be-
sides he had another object of devo-
ton in Nine. de Pailly, who took the
place of the marquise in the household
when she left it; and between her and
the son there was enmity. If she took
no step to widen the breach between
father and son, she at least did moth
the period of good relations covered
the time of the sons stay in Limousin
and Provence. Yet too much stress
may be placed upon the domestic cir
cumstances Of the Mirabeaus. Another
cause of division was the failure of
the marquis to provide for his son
properly on the occasion Of his mar
riage. The younger Mirabeau won his
wife as he won everything-by auda-
city Mile. Marignane was all but mar
ried to another; the day was set
signing the articles. She fell victim,
fascination Her father opposed the
match; the tradition is that Mirabeau
forced him to consent by a trick that
made it impossible for her to marry
anyone else. She was, as Mirabeau
himself said essentially" compro-
missed. 81 loved her. I believed that
was loved, and 1 resolved to finish
the matter" Perhaps this was not
very good basis for happiness in we'd
lock. At all events the happiness in
this case did not last very long. 1t
may be thaa the fault was in part that
travagant, the father was mean. Mi
rabeaus debts provoked passionate
scenes with his wife. And presently
there was a far more serious cause of
quarrel Mirabeau discovered his wife's
infidelity with young Gassaud. 1t has
been generally supposed that this was
one of the consequences of the resi-
dence at Manosque where the two were
thrown into each others company, but
DR.. Fling shows that it was probably
at the chateau that the young man vi
plated the laws of hospitality. The eff
feet on Mirabeau was overwhelming
It must be said to his credit, how
ever, that he was magnanimous
enough to forgive his wife and put the
blame upon her lover Indirectly the
episode led to his exile and imprison-
ment. He violated the orders of the
king that confined him to Manosque
in order to prevent the breaking off of
Gassaud's marriage, fearful that his
wife's reputation might be endangered,
suit that had been offered to his sis
ter Nine. de Cabris. Louis de Rilueti's
reputation was such by this time that
the defence might be regarded as SUI
perfluous Yet it was a natural impulse
which led Maribeau to offer it. How
ever, the result was fatal to him. For
| the fourth time he was the victim of
| a lettre de cachet, for the second time
| he was the occupant of a prison. Thus
stormily ended his youth.
He visited London, and afterwards
Berlin in 1884. The revolution offered
Mirabeau an ample field for the exer-
else of his genius as statesman. The
story of his life during those last few
troubled years would be a history of
| the assembly. At first leader in the
revolution, he later tried to quiet the
terrible storm he had helped to evoke,