Strong son of France, whose words were ever lit By lightning flashes of ironic wit; More fond of power than of pelf or place, Eternal foeman of the mean and base, And always ready in a righteous cause To suffer odium and contemn applause-- Men call you still the "tiger," but the name Has long outworn the faintest hint of blame, Since in your country's direst hour of need You have revealed your true heroic breed; A tiger--yes, to enemies and Huns, But trusted, idolised, by France's sons. So when of late a traitor's felon blow Was like to lay you, old and ailing, low, And France was sorely stricken in her Chief, The wide world shared her anguish--and relief; For the assassin, resolute to kill, Was foiled by your indomitable will. Immortal France! she cannot spare you yet, Till you have paid in full your filial debt, And by the great Redemption and Release Stamped Victory with the final seal of Peace.
(No representative of the General Public seems to have been invited to sit on the Coal Industry Commission.)]
_Monday, February 24th._--The mantle of the lamented Mr. JOSEPH KING, whose taste in _protégés_ was so remarkable, seems to have descended upon Colonel WEDGWOOD. His request for the return to this country of LAJPAT RAI, "the Indian patriot," aroused a storm of objection from other hon. Members, who considered the description inapplicable to a person deported for sedition. But it was quickly quelled by the SPEAKER with the unanswerable assertion that "everybody calls himself a patriot in these days."
Mr. RAPER sought an assurance that no "wrack"--which appears to be a term of art in the timber trade--should be used in the houses to be erected under the Government's new housing scheme. If these were not to be "the unsubstantial fabric of a vision," he implied, the official builders had better leave the wrack behind.
Something is at last to be done to reduce the growing plague of Questions. Hitherto each Member has been entitled to put down eight Questions for oral reply on any one day. But in future no one is to be permitted to "star" more than four Questions _per diem_. Even that is regarded by some Members as an extravagant allowance. Major HENNESSY, I understand, thinks "three stars" enough for any man.