The Eclair is to be congratulated on the successful carrying
out of an exquisite hoax. M. Birault, of that paper,, who is evidently a past-master of the fine art of lassie feria, invented a fictitious Republican celebrity with the imposing name of liegeeippe Simon, and sent out appeals wholesale to Deputies, Senators, and Municipal Councillors to join the Committee formed to do him honour. A selection of the answers have been published by the Eclair, and supply rich food for mirth. Several of the victims were ready to make speeches about this French " General John Regan," and one confiding Senator of the Pyrenees sent a list of his electors whom he wished to be invited to hear his oration. A former Under-Secretary fell as deeply into the trap by referring to Hirgeeippe as " the glory of our democracy." Best of all was the letter from a member of the Paris Municipal Council who expressed his willingness to support the "work undertaken on behalf of the great `democrat," and in order to do justice to the occasion ingenuously begged M. Birault to send him " the documents necessary for the composition of his speech." Newspaper hoaxes are generally workedat the expense of the newspapers. M. Ninnies exploit turns the tables on the public with a delicate ingenuity characteristic of his race.
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