The Press. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1913, HENRY LABOUCHERE.

Press, Issue 14828, 20 November 1913, Page 6

The Press. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1913, HENRY LABOUCHERE.

The public will bo quite prepared to find that the "Life of Henry Labouchere." written by his nephew, .Mr Algar Labouchere Thorold, is one

of the most amusing, entertaining, and interesting works of biography'published in the lifetime of tho present generation. It is difficult indeed to imagine a career more closely packed with incident and interest. Labouchere as «i young man in search of adventure, as diplomatist,, politician, journalist, ■wit. r.nd man of the world, saw lifo under the most varied aspects. He was not only a wit himself, but the cause of wit in ethers, and the biography of such a man could not fail to be cni-er-tiiining in tho highest degree. Believers in heredity who remember Labouchere's cynical cleverness will find support for their theories in the story of his grandfather, Pierre-Cesar Labouchere, burn at The Hague,, of pure French blood; in 1772, who laid the foundation of the fortune of the 1-to proprietor of "Truth." PierreCesar; when a young clerk in the great house of Hone in Amsterdam, was sent over to England to settle 6omo business with the allied house of Baring. He promptly fell in love with Sir Francis Baring's daughter. Dorothy, and asked her father for her hand in marriage. Sir Francis was outraged, and at onco declined, at which the young man asked whether it would make any difference if he were partner in the house of Hope. Tho Baronet admitted that it would, on which PierreCesar, wo are told, having successfully managed the city affair, returned to Amsterdam and at once demanded to bo taken into partnership. He was, of course, refused, and met tho refusal by asking whether it would make any differenco if he were a son-in-law of Sir Francis Baring. "Yes," replied his employer, and to this he answered that he was engaged to Miss Baring, and so the matter was settled. Pierre-Cesar won both his partnership and his bride. Ho had two 6ons, Henry, afterwards Lord Taunton, and John, the father of "Labby." Both were very rich. The latter, a partner in Baring's, was one of the Evangelical .Society of that day. W T hen Lord Taunton died in 1869 tho bulk of j his large fortune descended to his nephew Henry. Somebody meeting the latter on one occasion, mistook him for the son of his uncle, Lord Taunton, and being unaware that Labouchere's father was dead, remarked, "I have just heard your father make an admirable speech in tho House of Lords." "The House of Lords!'» replied Mr Labouchere, assuming an air of intense interest. "Well, I always have wondered where my father went to when ho died."

It is generally known that Mr Labouchere was sent down from Cambridge, but many features of the extremely variegated life he lived during the next few years aro now published for the first time. His family sent him. to South America, where they had important commercial interests, and it was about this time that he "got the "job of door-keeper at a travelling "circus," because ho had fallen in lovo with one of the lady performers! Later, while he was an attache at Washington, he obtained permission to report upon a new wine that was attracting a.i/ention. He is said to havo given explanation of the manner in which he performed his mission:—"The truth "was my circus had removed to " Kitawbor, and with it my fair lady "of the 'hauto--ecole,' so thither I proceeded. I presented myself to tho "proprietor, and told him I wished for " au engagement with his troupe with- " out salary. He asked mc what my "line was, and I told him standing. " jumps. So obstacles were placed in "the ring, over which 1 jumped wi.ii " great success, and my name figures ! ' on the play-bill you are hanging thero "as the -Bounding Buck of Babylon.' *' I wore pink tights with a fillet round "my head. My adoraoie one said i " looked a dear." Even tlie circus did

not satiate Mr Labouchere r s Bohemian lovo of adventure. For six months ho lived with a party of Chippeway Indians, hunting buffalo, joining in their work and sports, playing cards for wampum necklaces. oomo of the stories of his diplomatic life are already known. He must hove been a great trial to the pundits of the Foreign Office, and finally, liKe the authorities at Cambridge, they came to the conclusion that the responsibility of controlling this spirited and extremely tinconventional young man was more than they could safely undertake, tie was by no means devoid of enterprise, as is shown by the following story of how be became possessed of secrets of the Russian Government. His laundress, a handsome woman with whom he mado friends, had as her husband a compositor in a Government printing office. The minutes of the Oabtnet Council were printed in French, of which the printers understood nothing. Labouchcro persuaded her for a consideration, to obtain from her husband the loose sheets from which the minutes had been printed, and theso were brought to him every week, concealed among starched, shirts and collars.

Unfortunately, Lord John Russell, in his old-fashioned way, failed to appreciate enterprise of this sort, and put a stop to it as soon as he found it out. Labouchere. in telling the story, always reproachfully added. "For what reason, " I wonder, did Russell imagine diplo- " macy was invented?"

Want of space prevents us from dealing either with the adventures of Labouchere as the 'Besieged Resident" in Paris during the siege, or with his political career. He was a great intriguer and a powerful influence behind the scenes in all the attempts to settle the Irish question between 1880 and the defeat of the second Home Rule Bill in 1892. His object was to get Home Rule carried in such a form as to satisfy Mr Chamberlain, and to ensure the succession of the latter in Mr Gladstone's place. As everybody knows, this plan was spoilt by Mr Chamberlain voting against the second reading of tho Home Rule Bill, and heading the great revolt in conjunction with Lord Hartington. One of Mr Labouchere's wittiest remarks had reference to Mr Gladstone. "I " don't object," be said, "to our

"revered leader always having an ace "up his sleeve, but I do object t-o his " persuading himself and us that Provi- " dence nut it there." Politically, Labouchere was a disappointed man, as anyone could gather from the cynical comments on politics which appeared in "Truth during the timo that he took an active interest in the paper. We learn that he had two other disappoints inents besides the failure of tbe plans to which we have referred. In Lord Rosebery's Administration he wished to bo appointed Ambassador at Washington- and when Mr Gladstone's last Government was formed, he expected to enter the Cabinet. It is said that on the last occasion it was the stronglyexpressed disapproval of Queen Victoria which prevented his wish from being realised. A colleague of Bradlaugh, and at one time an Radical, with strong republican tendencies, he mellowed considerably in his declining years, but it was not till King Edward came to the throne that he was sworn of His Majesty's Privy Council.