["The one certain result of the elections will be to give
increased stability to the Republic."--_Daily Chronicle._]
_Madame La Republique loquitur_:--
Ouf! What a pull! Who said my muscularity
Was dwindling? It is truly Amazonian!
_Ma foi!_ _Phraseurs_ are not all blessed with clarity,
Even when their eloquence _is_ Ciceronian.
How now, MILLEVOYE? How now, mad DEROULEDE?
And what of the grim prophecies you made?
Both out of it--as prophets and as Strong-Men!
Discredited, disqualified, defeated!
The _Rallies_ too! Results prove them the wrong men.
How the _Gazette de France_ has blared and bleated!
What lots of foes have I left in the lurch!--
Thanks largely to "the attitude of the Church"!
"_Clericalisme, voila l'ennemi?_" _Non!_
That phrase, oft-quoted, comes not now so readily.
Perennially beautiful as NINON,
I've proved my claim to power of pulling steadily;
Just like my rowing lads upon the Seine,
Who've shown big BULL that strength _can_ go with brain.
From Revolution round to firm Stability!!
Upon my word, I think that pull is splendid.
_Les dames_, long pooh-poohed, now display ability
To do--most things as well as ever men did.
Because I'm _gai_ and witty, fools--of course--
Fancied me destitute of sinewy force.
Ah, DELAHAYE, DRUMONT, and ANDRIEUX, verily
You've found the game was hardly worth the--scandal!
My firebrand foes played up that game right merrily;
Against me _anything_ would serve as handle;
Yet, after WILSON, Panama, (_and_ Siam),
They find that if there is an athlete, _I_ am.
Babblers of "British Gold," canard-concocters,
Reactionaries, _Rallies_, Rowdies, Royalists--
All who would act as my exclusive doctors--
You find the Voters are the real loyalists,
And, spite of partial failures in the past,
I've pulled this State Machine right round--at last!
* * * * *
BRUTUS OF BRUMMAGEM. On a "False Foe" my venom I may spend,
But what of my "Right Honourable Friend"?
Ask "the ironic fiend." He'll give an answer,
Neatly combining Scorpio with Cancer,
As "Right" I'll prove him ever in the wrong;
As "Honourable," trickiest of the throng;
While as "my friend," well there, I would not swagger,
But CAESAR sharpest found the "friendly" dagger!
* * * * *