The sun., 1893-02-10
Moro Trouble in France.

| IL lS cVldent tnat puDllC commence IN the
RIBoT Cabinet has received a severe SHOCK
from the unexpected course taken by the
Chamber OF Indictments. body notori
ously susceptible to political influence
| This Chamber has absolved several OF the
| accused persons. including conspicuously
| ex-Minister RoUvIER. against whom true
bills were found by NJ. FRASoUEvILLE, the
examining magistrate. This Is most un.
usual proceeding, for when q juge dns.
tructiOn has declared that a prma face
case has been made out against q prisoner
the latter has no chance. as rule. OF es.
Gaping a trial in the Assize Court. What
makes the dismissal OF tho indictment
against RoUvIER seem peculiarly arbitrary
and scandalous Is the fact that he admitted
receiving from REINACH money which. as
he said. he had applied to the secret service
OF the Government. No wonder that OBJ.
servers who recall this fact are forced. by
his surprising escape from punishment, to
remember also his defiant assertion that he
would not be made scapegoat by his for
mer colleagues. and that IL he fell others
should fall with him.
If it be true that RoUvIER's escape Is due
to political infuence-and to what else, in
view Of his confession. can we attribute
it?-the members OF the RIBor Cabinet
have exposed themselves to the gravest
suspicious. and have made it Indispensable
that an entirely new set of men shall as
sumo control OF the Government. Happily
for the republic. there Is no lack OF such.
even in the present deeply tainted Chamber
Of Deputies. as was made clear in Wednes-
days debate. when GoDEFRoY CAvAIGSAC
came forward and vehemently repelled the
notion that the sins OF individuals could
discredit the political framework OF the
country. but yesterday Frenchmcn OF all
parties. monnrchists. imperialists, and
republicans. regretted that France had
no personality adequate to the stu
alton. To-day she seems to have
found one. and he Is on the repuhli-
can side: indeed. his name is inseparably
associated with republican traditions Sell
dom have the greatest statesmen gained
such parliamentary triumph as was
achieved on Wednesday by man less than
forty, who had never held Cabinet Office.
and who was almost unknown. CAvA1GNAo
virtually slapped the face OF the Minister OF
Justice: he compelled the Premier to sane
tion the castigation administered to COL
league. and he then caused the Chamber to
adopt motion embodying his views by
nearly unanimous vote. One can UNDER
stand that in presence OF such victory
people inside the Chamber and outside OF it
felt that the man had arrived at last, and
that neither Bourbonists nor Bonapartists
would profit by his arrival.
To grasp the full significance OF the re-
markable scene on Wednesday in the Cham
Der Of Deputies 1t Is necessary to compare
certain words uttered by previous speakers
with a passage in CAvAIGNAC'S speech. A
Boulangist Deputy. NJ. GoUssOT had begun
the debate by declaring that. since RoUvIER
had acknowledged receiving money from
the Panama Company. it was the plain duty
of the Government to see that he suffered
the penalty Of his act. The article OF tho
Constitution concerning the responsibility
of Ministers should be, he said. applied
without delay. In other words. II one in
dictment against RoUvIER failed on tech
meal grounds. a new prosecution should be
begun. To this NJ BOURGEOIS. Minister of
Justice. replied in defiant spirit. attrbuta-
BILE, doubtless. to the recent votes OF con-
fidencc. The Government, he said, had
abide by the result. This. of course. Is just
what a Minister would say. who for his own
sake was determined to shield RoUvIER
from punishment. Then 1t was that CAvAI-
GNAo mounted the tribune and declared that,
while the faults Of individuals could not
fairly be made weapons against the estab-
lished institutions Of France. yet peculiar
things had happened in connection with
individual cases, and still awaited. after in
explicable delay. a much-desired explana-
ton" This was the first blow aimed
at BOURGEOIS; the second came at
the end Of the speech. after fiagella-
tion had been administered to DE FREY
CINET and CLEMENcEAU. why" asked
CAvAIGSAc. did the people OF France de-
clare themselves in favor OF republic?
Because they saw in the republic that form
OF government which was a guarantee OF
even-handed justice and unfiinching duty
Never let 1t be said that they made mis-
take" Thereupon he proposed motion to
the effect that the Chamber was deter
mined to prevent the recurrence Of such