BOURASSA, HENRI (1868— ), French-Canadian politi cian and journalist, was born Sept. I, 1868. After a private edu cation he studied law and was called to the bar in 1899. He estab lished a name as a writer on political subjects, and was for a time editor and proprietor of L'Interprete. Later he became a leading contributor to Le Nationaliste and finally editor and joint pro prietor of Le Devoir. In 1896 he was elected to the Dominion House of Commons as a Liberal. In 1899 he disagreed with Laurier regarding Canadian participation in the South African War and resigned as a protest against Laurier's policy. On his resignation he became the accredited leader of the Nationalist party and in 190o and 1904 was elected to the Dominion Parliament in that interest. In 1907 he resigned in order to accept nomination for the Quebec Legislature. He was a member of the Quebec Legis lative Assembly from 1908 to 1912, when he resigned. During the World War Bourassa opposed both the enforcement of con scription in Canada and the naval policy of the Liberal party. In 1925 he returned to politics and was elected as an Independent to the Dominion House of Commons. He attended the Imperial Conferences in the autumn of 1926 as an unofficial observer, and took the opportunity of delivering speeches outside in which he declared that the maintenance of the British connection was desirable as an obstacle to the absorption of Canada by the United States. When, at the end of the year, action by Lord Byng raised the issue of the constitutional position of the Governor General, Bourassa became the active ally of Mr. Mackenzie King, but in accordance with the consistent policy of his political career (that of a friendly neutral in relation to the Liberal party) he declined to accept office in Mr. King's new government. BOURBAKI, CHARLES DENIS SAUTER , French general, was born at Pau on April 22, 1816, the son of a Greek colonel who died in the War of Independence in 1827. He entered St. Cyr, and in 1836 joined the Zouaves, becoming lieuten ant of the Foreign Legion in 1838, and aide-de-camp to King Louis Philippe. It was in the African expedition that he first came to the front. In 1842 he was captain in the Zouaves; 1847, colonel of the Turcos; in 185o, lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Zouaves; 1851, colonel; 1854, brigadier-general. In the Crimean War he commanded a portion of the Algerian troops; and at the Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol Bourbaki's name became famous. In 1857 he was made general of division, commanding in 1859 at Lyons. His success in the war with Italy was only second to that of MacMahon, and in 1862 he was proposed as a candidate for the vacant Greek throne, but declined the proffered honour. In 1870 the emperor entrusted him with the command of the Im perial Guard, and he played an important part in the fighting round Metz.
A curious incident of the siege of Metz is connected with Bour baki's name. A man who called himself Regnier,' about Sept. 21, appeared at Hastings, to seek an interview with the refugee em press Eugenie, and failing to obtain this he managed to get from the young prince imperial a signed photograph with a message to the emperor Napoleon. This he used, by means of a safe-conduct from Bismarck, as credentials to Marshal Bazaine, to whom he presented himself at Metz, telling him on the empress's alleged authority that peace was about to be signed and that either Marshal Canrobert or General Bourhaki was to go to Hastings for the purpose. Bourbaki at once went to England, with Prussian connivance, as though he had a recognized mission, only to discover from the empress at Hastings that a trick had been played on him. He returned to France, offered his services to Gambetta, and received the command of the Northern Army, but was recalled on Nov. 19 and transferred to the Army of the Loire. In command of the hastily trained and ill-equipped Army of the East, Bourbaki made the attempt to raise the siege of Belf ort, which, after the victory of Villersexel, ended in the repulse of the French in the three days' battle of the Lisaine. Other German forces under Manteuffel now closed upon Bourbaki and he was eventually driven over the Swiss frontier with the remnant of his forces (see FRANCO-GERMAN WAR). Bourbaki himself, rather than submit to the humiliation of a probable surrender, delegated his functions (Jan. 26, 1871) to General Clinchant, and in the night fired a pistol at his own head, but the bullet, owing to a deviation of the weapon, was flattened against his skull and his life was saved. In July 1871 he again took the command at Lyons, and subse quently became military governor. In 1881, owing to his political opinions, he was placed on the retired list. In 1885 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the senate. He died on Sept. 27, 1897.
'The whole Regnier affair remained a mystery ; the man himself —who on following Bourbaki to England made the impression on Lord Granville (see the Life of Lord Granville, by Lord Fitzmaurice, ii.
61) of being a "swindler" but honestly wishing to serve the empress —was afterwards mixed up in the Humbert frauds of 1902-03 ; he published his own version of the affair in 187o in a pamphlet, Duel est votre nom? It has been suspected that on the part either of Bazaine or of the Germans some undisclosed intrigue was on foot.