New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-02-04
Anglo-American Memories
MR.. HENRY LABoUcHERE.
Copyright. 1912. George W. s,aalley)

@bOut tilG tIOuDicS III NDlILnEASInI0
Europe?"
Eyes"
Where is Epirus ?"
And then. who is the Sultan of Tur-
key" and other questions meant 70 sug-
gest that Mr.. Lawson did not know the
rudiments Of the grave political issues
he was dealing with All which Mr.
Lawson answered with quiet dignity till
the judge stopped his tormentor.
heard Mr.. Labouchere's performance
described a. Clever" Sir George Lewis
vas once asked whether he thought MI.
Bottomley. long frequent figure in the
English courts and now in the Of1cia'
Receivers Court, clever. Said Sir
George:
Clever? No, hes not clever. He's
too clever"
He would not have said it of Mr.. La =
bouchere, who was his friend. But 9th.
ers may say it.
Nevertheless. Mr.. Labouchere was a
man everybody wanted to meet, and the
world was grateful TO him because he
kept it laughing; at the expense of otn-
ers. They who applauded him forgot
that in other companies 1t would be g.
might be, at their expense in ,lrn. He
was an associate hesitate TO say
friend-of men in the front rank, like
Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr.. Cham
berlain. Lord Randolph delighted IN
him, as he delighted in anybody who
rebelled against conventionalitins and
could put his dislike of custom and COM
monplace into pungent phrases. The
late King, as Prince of Wales, liked him,
liked him most Of all during that period
when the lighter side Of life was that
TO which the Prince turned oftenest. A
man who could tell him a racy anecdote
and knew all the latest scandal and WIS
capable Of singing repartee was well
come to the Prince Of Wales Mr.. La
bouchere had this other advantage, that
he stood in no awe of Prince or King,
but was himself in that august company
as in others.
He spared nobody He did not spare
himself. but would tell story at his
own cost With. apparently, not less en-
joyment than If It hurt somebody else.
When he sold his villa-Pope's villa--at
Twickenham, he described it in an adj
vertisement as being in some respects
inconvenient, with stables too small for
the size of the house. He knew very
we'll that this would be copied and SO
his advertisement be multiplied al over
the land. / never heard him give any
body credit for good motives. Is 1t Won
derful that the same credit should be
withheld from him? Whether his low
estimate Of human nature was genuine
or not, ii may be cited against himself.
He enjoyed his own celebrity: in the
House of Commons. In the clubs, in the
world. But he wore out his welcome as
a jester. The last years of his Parlia-
mentary life were melancholy years.
Said one OF his friends;
'Labouchere has begun TO take himself
seriously. Does he not know that he is
here TO entertain us, not to instruct uc?'
And so it befell that the House ceased
to listen to him. He had never been
a good speaker. His speeches, like his
talk, cracked and sometimes sparkled,
but there was no steady flame. He
At the best of times ne was at his best
in the lobby and in the smoking room.
He had a genius for intrigue; and he
did not mind intriguing. on occasion,
against his own leaders. He plotted
steadily against Lord Rosebery when
Lord Rosebery was Liberal Prime Min
lister, and entitled as such TO Liberal
support. He alleged, and perhaps be-
lieved, and perhaps rightly believed,
that Lord Rosebery had opposed his
Cabinet ambitions. Though, indeed. it
mattered not whether Lord Rosebery
had opposed or supported. since at no
moment and in no circumstances could
those ambitions have been gratified.
He dies in his eighty-first year, an
exile at Florence, where he has lived for
some years, partly to be near his daugh
ter, the Marchesa di Rudini. Except in
his early diplomatic career, which to him
and to his chiefs was a farce ten years
long, and except for his final disappoint-
ment about Cabinet rank, ne has had
pretty much everything he cared for in
life; indeed, pretty much everything
most men care for. In his, death the great
London newspapers pay him such hon.
age as is to be found in regrets and in
two or three columns of biography; ap-
preciative but by no means Of unmixed
eulogy. With that, imagine. he would
be content, and with the reflection that
he had always lived as he liked best to
live. G.. w. S.