The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-12-27
SCENE OF BEDLAM
JN TIE FRENCH CHAMBER OF DEP
UTIES LAST WEDNESDAY,
Kouvfer Kissed and Jeered at-The Lie Pass
ed and Several Bloodless French Dueis
VIII, No Doubt, be Fought.

lOunCeu TO the mouse To-Day tliiI nc A'tu "
ceived an application for authority to prose-
cute NJ ltouvier. ex-min;ster OF finance;
NJ. Jules Roche, ex-Ininister or commerce;
Emanuel Ereue, member for Corsica; An
tonin Proust, member for Zeux Sevres;
Baron Jean DeSoubeyran, member for
London, and Joseph Teuguede Ia Taucon-
neri, member for Orne. This letter, tloquee
said, was from the procureur general.
1t stated that the application was made ON
the ground that the examining magistrate
of the Panama canal case had received many
check stubs in which appeared the Initials
Of the deputies, and that compromising evil
dence against the individuals in question
had been laid before the parliamentary in
vestigating commission, especially as to
the part they took in the lottery ISSUE
The application could not be granted with
out the consent of the house. Deputies,
under the law, were exempt from certain
legal proceedings.
The chamber of deputies decided that
the standing committees should meet and
consider the application.
The sitting was then adjourned. In the
senate NJ Leroyer stated he had received
a demand for the prosecution of Senators
Benault, Albert Gravy Beral, Thevenet
in the affairs Of the canal company. The
matter was referred, as in the lower cham
Der, to the standing committees.
In the senate and lower chamber special
committees were elected to consider the
applications Of the procurer general and
both were understood to favor the prosecu-
ton of ex-NIinister Rouvier, who appeared
before the standing committee of which he
80, ;.,b fofapSa IIo said
there was nothing in the documents seized
to prove that he had ever received check
from anybody in the interest of the Jana
ma canal. He had served the state in his
high office for several years and he had
always deemed it his duty TO preserve silence
as regards certain facts. The accusations
made against his honor and integrity mad
relieved him of such an obligation, and he
would now speak out in the chamber with
out reserve.
There Was Great Excitement
Before the chamber had resumed bust
ness this statement had gone abroad and
caused intense excitement in the Hobbies.
touvier was expected to rcfute in detail
ClGmenceau's charges as to the call
at Baron de Reinach's house on the even
ing before the atter's death and the state
inent of The La Libre Parole that his.
initials were on the stub of one OF the
three checks. The galleries were packed.
Deputies who had intended to absent them
selves from the sitting hurried back to
the chamber. The report Of the special
committee, read by Chairman Alexander
LiIieranan, favored the granting of the
application for authority to prosecute, but
in the intense anxiety of the moment, 1t
was hardly noticed.
All waited mpatently for the expIana-
tons. Deputy Arene, charged by An
,lrieux, late project of police, with cor
ruption in connection with the loan of 1888,
was the first one to protest his innocence.
lie made merely a general denial. As
Rouvier assembled the speakers tribune,
every deputy leaned forward in an atti-
tude of close attention and the first words
Of his defense were delivered anal oppres-
sve stiffness. After reminding the cham
Der of his long public services, his hitherto
tnexceptiona record and Obligations to
official secrecy which had previously closed
his mouth, he made an emphatic general
denial that he had accepted checks from
The Panama Canal Company or their
agents, or had had any discreditable ctg!-
nection of any sort with the company's en-
terprise. The present circumstances had
relieved his tongue of the gag imposed upon
it by ministerial duty and he was ready to
tell the whole truth. When he came into
power he found that the secret service fund
was entirely inadequate for the defense OF
the republic. AS, III order to govern WELL he
and his colleagues must have the money
which the secret service fund lacked, he
had recourse to his personal friends for
sufficient money to tide over the temporary
difficulty.
Rouyicr Booted.
The confusion grew steadily in the cham
Der as the deputies became convinced that
NJ. Rouvier was cvading the issue.
Murmu.S o3 protest greeted Lis first
statement as to the secret service fund,
and when he suggested that the suspicious
checks were contributions of his personal
friends to the support OF the government,
there was an outbreak OF howls and Ceris-
i've laughter.
Raising his voice so as to be heard above
the uproar, Rouyier shouted what l did
all public men have done. Had l not
adopted that course, the men now interrupt
ing me would not be seated on these
benches
Bedlam broke loose the moment those
words were uttered. Deputies rose and
shouted back to the speaker, and others
shouted for the names OF their friends.
Rouyier made three attempts to be heard,
but his voice was inaudble. After the
demonstration had spent itself, he continued,
- am perfectly ready to so before any
tribunal. j have nothing to fear. / never
derived the slightest benefit from the Pana-
ma Canal Company. / never defended its
interests. | challenge Investigation"
This peroration provoked another hostile
demonstration. When order was restored
the report of the special committee i'll
favor of prosecution was adopted.
NJ. Paul Deroulode then asked what ac-
ton the diciplinary council of the Legion
OF honor had decided to take against Or.
Cornelius Herse.
This man." Deroulede said, sis not to be
left with the insignia Of the legion in his
possession, although, grant he is % most i'm
portant man to the state, for he truly
holds the reins of the government.
Deroulede paused for several minutes
while the right cheercd this taunt and left
them to drown the cheers with shouted pro-
tests. Then he preceded, with perfect
GOODNESS, to make q most viruent personal
attack upon the Cle.nenceau whose relations
TO Herse, he said, ARE too well known to
need q detailed description.
Amid renewed cheers from the right, and
jeers from the left, he declared that Herse
tried to buy the Boulangists with Panama
canal money, but they had refused to touch
it. Despite F'louquet's repeated protests
cries of 'dissolution" and general t,mult
which extended TO the topmost galleries,
Deroulede again addressed himself to Glenn
enceau. 'Why did this Herse give 2OO, 600
francs to La JusticeT' he shOuted