LIFE OF LABOUCHERE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1912, 21 November 1913, Page 3

LIFE OF LABOUCHERE.

—^— - I A PICTURESQUE CAREER. ! CIRCUS REMINISCENCED .. "The Life of Menfy Labouchere," by - his nephew, Mr. Algar Labouchere ■ Thorokl, published by Messrs. Con* 1 stable, promises to ho the book of the autumn, wrote our Loudon correspondent on October 10. It contains much, that is new, though nothing to ctago previous impressions of "Labby'' as wit, .journalist, mail of tire wortA, and . Radical. On tlio serious side special ini terest is naturally felt just now in the mass of correspondence between . Mr. ■ .Labouchere and Mr. Chamberlain. : p'Labby," who detested the Mugs, • shows himself 'continually anxious to ; see Gladstone shelved as soon as pos- ■ sible, and Chamberlain at the bead ofa "real Eadical Government," whieh i might abolish the House of Lords and disestablish the Church. "There is much fascination in your suggestion of Radical policy," wrote Chamberlain ju December, 1885, "especially in the chance of dishing this Whigs, whom I I hate more than the Tories. ,r Then, un- ■ happily, for Labouchere's visions, came ', Home Rule. The correspondence shows . clearly that Chamberlain tried «very ■' possible way of accommodating his I views to Gladstone. On December 28, 1886, he wrote to Labouchere that tlio only possible bona-fids Home IBnlo wan \ on tho lines of the American Coii3trtu- '. t-ion, separate legislation for England, ; Wales, Scotland, "possibly Ulster," and . tho three other Irish provinces together, '. with Imperial legislation (including Post Office and Customs) at Westminster. '. In a later letter he does not provide i separately for Ulster. It was these , versatile efforts of Chamberlain's which [ led to Gladstone's- taunt that- ho had | trimmed his that in whichever i direction the winds of heaven might blow they must fill-his.sails. '. But it is the Puckish "Labby" who • will absorb most readers. Que of the | first stories in tho book is based on ' tho frequent error of mistaking him for , the son of his uncle, the Henry LaboU- . chore who became Lord Taunton. "I i have ■ just heard your father mate an . admirable'speech in the House of Lords," said somobody. "The House of Lords," said "Labby," "well, I ' always have wondejed where my fathc! went to when he died." The jest seems ' ' rather cruel when. one recalls that ] "Labby's" father, John Peter, was an extremely religious and philanthropic man, one of the Ctnphafrt Evangelicals. and, by tho way, the nephew-biographer is Bishop Thorold's son. But it was characteristically irreverent. On. the ■ afternoon of the day before ''Labby 1 ' 1 died Mr. Thorold, 'sitting by the bed- ■ side, accidentally overturned a spirit " lamp. Labouchere, who was dossing, 5 ooened his eyes, remarked "Flames? f . Not yet, I think;" laughed, .and went " to sleep again. '<■ Tho story of Labouchere's earner 1 years simply abound in. the picturesque, i Having lost several thousands as a Ba- < hemian gambler ih England and IStirripo. f ho went with a bear-leader to Mexico. ■ lost more, and then .retired to a little • inn in a Mexican town, in the hope 1 that his Mentor wohM contrive to get "• his debts paid. Either- now or later. ' when he was an attache at Washington, s he attended a circus nightly, bavint* • fallen in love with a lady of the "haute , ecole." Afterwards ho obtained leave > from his Washington chief to go to a • place called Kitawher to investigate a ' wine there. Really he had learn that 1 the circus was at Kitawber. He offer*I ed himself to the proprietor to perform' ' without .salary, announcing that his line • was standing jumps; and he did peri form there, figuring in a playbill, which , ho preserved, as tho "Bounding Buck'el Babylon." "Fwore pink tights, with a fillet round my head. My adorable ono said I looked a dear," Then he spentsix months with the CMppwvay Indians, hunting buffalo and playing cards for i wampum necklaces. Years afterwards, t when Buifalo Bill visited London, La- ' bouchero recognised in one of tho troupe ■ a son of an old Chippeway friend. Dur- • ing a penniless period at Boston he • entered a restaurant and ordered din- • ncr, trusting to luck for the sequel. The i Irish waiters gazed at him, and at last one asked if he Was the patriot Mca- " gher, one of Smith O'Brien's as- " sociates who had escaped from 1 Australia to the States. "1 put my k finger to my lips and said, 'Hush,' 1 /while I cast up my eyes to the ceiling, as though I saw visions of Erin beckonf ing mo." Choice food and wino were ; laid before him, and the proprietor ret fused to take any money from a. sufferer i in the good cause, begging, as a brother l patriot, to be allowed to shake him by 0 the hand. "I allowed him. 1 fur--1 thor allowed all the waiters to shako t hands with me, and stalked forth with the stern, resolved, hut somewhat eon- - descendingly dismal air, which I have seen assumed by patriots in- exile." t Labouchere's diplomatic -career was • full of incident. At St. Petersburg' li he made fricrtds "on other than prod fessional grounds" with a handsome a laundress. Her husband was a Govi eminent compositor, and eon Id not t read tire Trench minutes of the Cabinet e Council. Weekly the laundress y brought the proofs to "Labby" among i- his shirts and collars. Lord John Russell stopped this when he discovered il the source of "Labby's" interesting news. "For. what reason,'' Labouchere g would wonder, "did Russell imagine if diplomacy was invented? : His depari- turo from the service was eha.racteris- ;. tic. Appointod to Buenos Ayres, he r wrote that "if residing at Baden-Baden, e 1 could fulfil those duties I shall be pleased to accept the appointment." e That ended his .diplomatic employ--i- ment. Of Labouchere's theatrical venture g ' at the Queen's, where he met his g future wife, Henrietta Hodsois, of his > strange conduct of "Truth," and of " his political career,, the world already e knows. Tho book adds many intereftir ing details. I will conclude with the origin of the "Grand Old Man." [ Going down to Northampton to snp- ■', port' Bradlaugh's re-election, be told tho crowd how Gladstone had parted from him in London,- "And, men of Northampton, that grand old man said to me, as he patted nw; on the shoulder, .• 'Henry, my boy, bring him back, bring , him back.'" Gladstone patting La- ;* bouchero and calling him "Henry" is , r certainly one of "Labby's" best! But ■o "Grand Old' Man" caught on.