Joseph Lacrisse had spoken the truth when he called himself a man of
action. Idleness was a burden to him. The Secretary of an extinct
Royalist Committee, he became a member of a Nationalist Committee which
was very much alive. It was violent in tone, full of a malevolent love
of France and a destructive patriotism. It was continually organizing
rather savage demonstrations in the theatres or the churches. Joseph
Lacrisse was the moving spirit of these demonstrations. When they took
place in a church, Madame de Bonmont, who was religiously inclined,
attended them, dressed in dark colours. _Domus mea domus orationis._
One day after joining the Nationalists in the Cathedral in order to
pray in select company, Madame de Bonmont and Lacrisse mingled with a
crowd of men in the square before the Cathedral who were expressing
their patriotism by frantic and concerted shouts. Lacrisse joined his
voice to that of the crowd, and Madame de Bonmont quickened their
courage by the smile of her blue eyes and her rosy lips, gleaming
behind her veil.
The noise was magnificent and formidable, and it was growing even
louder when, on an order from the prefecture, a squad of police marched
upon the demonstrators. Lacrisse watched them approaching without
surprise, and as soon as they were within hearing he shouted, “Hurrah
for the police!”
This enthusiasm was not lacking in prudence, and it was also
sincere. Bonds of friendship had been formed between the brigades
of the prefecture and the Nationalist demonstrators in the
ever-to-be-regretted times, if I may say so, of the ploughman Minister
who allowed cudgel-bearing roughs to club the silent Republicans in
the streets. That is what he called acting with moderation. O gentle
country customs! O primitive simplicity! O happy days! Who knew you
not never knew the meaning of life! O simplicity of the man of the
open fields, who vowed that the Republic had no enemies! Where were
the Royalist conspirators and seditious monks? There were none. He
had hidden them all under his long Sunday-go-to-meeting coat. Joseph
Lacrisse had not forgotten those happy days, and relying on the old
alliance of rioters and police he cheered the black brigades. Standing
in the front rank of the Leaguers he waved his hat on the end of his
stick in token of peace, shouting twenty times over, “Hurrah for the
police!” But times had changed. Indifferent to this friendly welcome,
deaf to these flattering shouts, the police charged. The shock was
violent. The Nationalist ranks wavered and fell back. Human affairs
are subject to time’s revenges. Lacrisse, who had stopped cheering the
attackers and had replaced his hat on his head, found it knocked over
his eyes by a vigorous blow. Indignant at the insult he broke his stick
over a policeman’s head, and had it not been for the efforts of friends
who came to his assistance he would have been marched off to the police
station and thrown into a cell like a Socialist.
The policeman whose head was cracked was taken to the hospital, where
he received a silver medal from the prefect of police.
Joseph Lacrisse was chosen by the Nationalist Committee for the ward of
the Grandes-Écuries as their candidate at the municipal elections of
the 6th of May.
This was the former Committee of Monsieur Collinard, a Conservative who
had been blackballed at the preceding elections, and was not standing
on this occasion. The president of the Committee, Monsieur Bonnaud,
a pork-butcher, undertook to assure Joseph Lacrisse of a triumphant
return.
Raimondin, a Radical Republican, the retiring councillor, wished to
be re-elected, but the electors had lost their faith in him. He had
disappointed every one, and had neglected the interests of his ward. He
had not even obtained the tramway which had been demanded for the last
twelve years, and was even accused of favouring the Dreyfusards.
It was an excellent ward. The householders were all Nationalists, and
the tradespeople severely condemned the Waldeck-Millerand Cabinet.
There were some Jews among them, but they were anti-Semites. The
religious communities, which were both rich and numerous, would do
their best, and the Fathers who had opened the Chapel of Saint-Antoine
were especially to be relied upon. Success was certain. It was merely
necessary that Monsieur Lacrisse should not expressly and in so many
words announce himself as a Royalist, in order to spare the feelings
of the small shopkeepers, who feared a change of regime, particularly
during the Exhibition.
Lacrisse objected to this. He was a Royalist and did not intend to put
his colours in his pocket. Monsieur Bonnaud stuck to his point. He knew
the elector. He knew what sort of animal he was, and how to manage him.
If Monsieur Lacrisse would come forward as a Nationalist he, Bonnaud,
would win the election for him. Otherwise the thing was impossible.
Joseph Lacrisse was puzzled, and wondered whether he should write to
the King about the matter. But time pressed, and, besides, how could
Philippe at such a distance be a competent judge of his own interests?
Lacrisse consulted his friends.
“Our strength lies in our principles,” replied Henri Léon. “A
Monarchist cannot call himself a Republican, even during the
Exhibition. But they are not asking you to call yourself a Republican.
They do not even ask you to call yourself a Republican Progressive, or
a Republican Liberal, which is quite another thing than a Republican.
They are asking you to call yourself a Nationalist. You can do that in
all honesty, for you are a Nationalist. Don’t hesitate. Success depends
upon it, and it is of importance to the good cause that you should be
elected.”
Joseph Lacrisse gave in out of patriotism, writing to the Prince to
explain the situation and to assure him of his devotion.
The terms of the programme were drawn up without difficulty.
The National Army was to be defended against a mob of maniacs.
Cosmopolitanism was to be combated. Paternal rights, jeopardized by
the Government’s proposal in respect of the Universities, were to be
upheld. The peril of Collectivism was to be averted. A tramway was to
connect the Grandes-Écuries with the Exhibition. The banner of France
was to be held high, and the water supply improved.
There was no question of a plebiscite; people did not know what it
was in the Grandes-Écuries ward. Joseph Lacrisse had not the trouble
of reconciling his doctrine, which was that of Divine Right, with the
doctrine of the Sovereignty of the People. Though he admired and loved
Déroulède, he did not blindly follow him.
“I will have tricolour posters,” he said to Monsieur Bonnaud. “It will
look well, and we must neglect nothing that will take the people’s
fancy.”
Bonnaud approved of this; but Raimondin, the retiring councillor,
having managed to secure, at the last moment, the establishment of a
steam-tramway from the Grandes-Écuries to the Trocadero, was publishing
broadcast the news of his success. He, too, praised the Army in his
circulars, and spoke of the wonders of the Exhibition as the triumph of
the industrial and commercial genius of France and the glory of Paris.
He was becoming a formidable rival.
Feeling that the struggle would be a hard one, the Nationalists did
everything in their power to stimulate the courage of their adherents.
They accused Raimondin, at innumerable meetings, of having allowed
his old mother to die of starvation, and of having voted that the
municipality should subscribe for Urbain Gohier’s book.
Every night they attacked Raimondin, the candidate of the Jews and
Panamists. A group of Republican Progressives was formed to support
Joseph Lacrisse, and published the following manifesto:
_To the Electors_
“GENTLEMEN,
“The critical circumstances through which we are now
passing make it our duty to ask of the candidates at the
forthcoming municipal elections a statement of their opinion
as to the general policy, on which the future of the country
depends. At an hour when some deluded persons entertain the
criminal hope of stirring up an unseemly agitation calculated
to weaken our beloved country, at an hour when Collectivism,
audaciously installed in power, threatens our property, the
sacred fruit of our thrift and labour; at an hour when a
Government established against public opinion is preparing
tyrannical laws, you will all vote for
“M. JOSEPH LACRISSE,
“Advocate in the Court of Appeal,
“Candidate for the Liberty of
Conscience of an honest Republic.”
The Nationalist Socialists of the ward had thought at first of choosing
their own candidate, whose votes, at the second scrutiny, would have
gone to Lacrisse, but the danger was so imminent as to necessitate
union. So the Nationalist Socialists of the Grandes-Écuries rallied
round Lacrisse, and made the following appeal to the electors:
“CITIZENS,
“We commend to you the definitely Republican, Socialist
and Nationalist candidate,
“CITIZEN LACRISSE.
“Down with the traitors! Down with the Dreyfusards! Down
with the Panamists! Down with the Jews! Long live the
National-Socialist Republic!”
The Fathers, who possessed a chapel and an enormous amount of
house-property in the ward, strictly refrained from meddling in
electoral affairs. They were too obedient to the Sovereign Pontiff to
infringe his orders, and absorption in the works of piety kept them far
removed from mundane affairs. But some of their lay friends composed a
circular which exactly expressed the thoughts of the worthy Fathers.
Here is the text of this circular, which was distributed throughout the
ward:
“The Charity of ST. ANTHONY, for the restoration
of lost property, jewels, valuables and objects of every
description, such as land, houses, furniture, money, feelings,
affections, etc., etc.
“GENTLEMEN,
“It is chiefly during elections that the devil attempts
to trouble our consciences. And to attain this object he has
recourse to innumerable devices. Alas, has he not in his service
the whole army of the Freemasons? But you will know how to
defeat the wiles of the enemy. You will reject with horror and
disgust the candidate of the incendiaries, the burners of
churches and other Dreyfusards.
“It is only by placing righteous men in power that you will
put an end to the abominable persecution which is so cruelly
being undertaken at the present moment, and will prevent an
iniquitous Government from laying its hands upon the money of
the poor. Vote for
“M. JOSEPH LACRISSE,
“Advocate in the Court of Appeal,
“St. Anthony’s Candidate.
“Gentlemen, do not grieve the good St. Anthony by inflicting
upon him the unmerited grief of seeing his candidate defeated.
“Signed: Ribagou, advocate; Wertheimer, publicist; Florimond,
architect; Bèche, retired captain; Molon, artisan.”
These documents will suffice to show to what intellectual and moral
heights Nationalism elevated the discussion of the candidates for the
Municipal Council of Paris.