Character Sketch. 



465 



indicted for advocating the assassination of Victor 

 Ilmmanuel (which, incidentally, she denied), and sat 

 1 the prisoners' "cage" at Milan; but the case 

 lor the Crown broke down, and she was acquitted, 

 being, however, ultimately condemned to serve a 

 long term of imprisonment for her advocacy of anti- 

 militarism — a propaganda with which she has been 

 Ijrominently identified in France with M.'CiUstave 

 Hervd, the French anti-militarist. 



Once, at Florence, she delivered her revolutionary 

 speeches looking down the barrels of the levelled 

 rifles of the soldiers ; and she was the chief figure of 

 the famous " Exode de la Belfort," when a large 

 body of watchmakers and metal-workers out of work 

 declared their intention of either dying or getting 

 bread. The Government sent out two regiments of 

 cavalry to stop the strikers, and the story of how this 

 dauntless woman by her cool forcefulness controlled 

 some thousands of infuriated and desperate men, and 

 prevented bloodshed, reads like a page of fiction. 



It was with these and a dozen other tales of adven- 

 turous daring in my mind that I set out to interview 

 Madame Sorgue. Naturally, I expected to find some- 

 thing of an Amazon, with a physical envelope as 

 masculine as her exploits. To my astonishment I 

 was greeted by a tall, handsome, and still young 

 woman, of essentially feminine appearance, with the 

 exception that her broad shoulders and small mascu- 

 line hips conveyed something curiously suggestive of 

 the boy. The only touch of revolution was the thin 

 red line which embroidered her tight-fitting blue 

 serge costume. 



I told her frankly that, in view of her unique ex- 

 perience, and as one behind the scenes, I had come to 

 ask her to interpret the writing on the wall of the 

 persistent industrial unrest not only in Great Britain 

 but throughout Europe. 



She walked rapidly once or twice up and down the 

 room of the London hotel, wheeled sharply, and pro- 

 ceeded to give her views in short staccato sentences, 

 which crackled like the firing of a Maxim gun. 



I.— THE CAUSES OF LABOUR UNREST. 



" At the time of the Coronation 1 told one of my 

 Glasgow audiences that the ' big ' people of the earth 

 were rejoicing on the edge of a social volcano, which 

 would shortly be in eruption. Events have proved 

 me right ; but 1 go further and I say, em|)hatically, 

 that the recent outbreaks in Britain of the seamen, 

 the dockers, and the railwaymen, which have just 

 apparently been concluded, are but the thin line of 

 water which, uncoiling its shallow length upon the 

 beach, is the herald of the tidal wave to come." 



" But," I asked, " what in your opinion are the 

 reasons for the persistent unrest and for the catas- 

 trophe which you foreshadow, supposing it ever 

 arrives ? " 



" The causes are obvious. In the first place, 

 'arbitration' has proved itself a signal failure. Not 

 only is this true of the Conciliation Boards established 



in 1907 for the railwaymen and the railway companies, 

 it is true all round. The ' agreement ' arrived at in 

 the case of the recent railway strike will be another 

 case in point. Ultimately, coi'ife qui coAte " — and 

 here Madame tapped her foot sharply to emphasise 

 her point — " the men will strike again ; but next time 

 they will 'make good,' as you English have it. 



" The next reason is the utter failure of Parlia- 

 mentary action. I state with perfect knowledge of 

 what I am saying that the masses of the workers in 

 this country have utterly lost their faith in Parlia- 

 mentary action, and are, consciously and uncon- 

 sciously, tending more and more to employ the 

 weapon of ' direct action ' through the General Strike. 

 This I know from t'ne numerous audiences I have 

 addressed in all the great seaports of the United 

 Kingdom, and from my experiences amongst the 

 Trade Unions." 



I ventured to ask where the legal enactments had 

 failed. 



" You want proof ? " And Madame Sorgue looked 

 at me in amazement. " Why, the proof is staring 

 you in the face on every side ! Take the case of the 

 miners, for example. The tragic frequency of fatal 

 colliery accidents is unquestionably a proof that the 

 legal regulations for the miners' safety are not en- 

 forced — and they are not enforced for the simple 

 reason that the actual mining inspectors are gentle- 

 men who are more anxious to be on good terms with 

 the owners than anxious to do their duty in protect- 

 ing the lives of the men. 



" For the same reason your sanitary inspection is a 

 farce. The Chairman of the Medical Sanitary Con- 

 gress held last year at Cardiff, speaking of the homes 

 of the Welsh miners, said : ' These men live in hovels 

 of consumption, which ought to be burned down ! ' " 



" But are you quite sure of your facts ? " I inquired. 

 " These things are so frequently exaggerated for party 

 purposes." 



" Absolutely certain. I have had a thorough 

 grounding in colliery work, which I have acquired 

 through my association both as a journalist and strike 

 propagandist in various European colliery strikes, as 

 that of Montceau les Mines, Decuzeville and Lens 

 (Pas de Calais), and the strike of last year amongst 

 the Welsh miners. The miners know all the facts 1 

 am giving you, and there is quite patently growing to- 

 day a consensus of indignation which must find its 

 vent one way or the other. 



" But it is when you leave the miners and come to 

 the sailormen that you sense the reasons for the 

 recent seamen's strike, with its international aspects, 

 and for the greater outbreak which is already gather- 

 ing together its forces. I have mi.xed freely with the 

 sailors and firemen of the ditferent European countries, 

 but there is nothing worse in existence than the con- 

 ditions of the forecastles of the British mercantile 

 marine. These holes are simply forcing-beds for the 

 germs of tuberculosis. Last year, in Liverpool, I 

 inspected wiih .Mr. Jackson, nn offiii.il of the Seamen's 



