The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-11-08
ONCE FAMOUS EPISODE
porr.xxeER INCIDENT TREATED IN
HocHEFoRT's MEMOIRS.
Causes OF the Genersf's Popularity
with the Masses, Who Would Have
Made Him Dictator OF France.
New York Herald.

IN the fifth aud last volume or me Ad-
ventures OF My Life" just issued from the
press in Paris, Henri Rochefort recounts
the last eight years of his life, most of
which time was spent in exile in London.
The volume is taken up chiefly with the
history OF the now historical Boulanger ep-
isode. which. as we know, resulted in that
unhappy officers suicide and in the jour
nalist's b~anIshment. As Rocrefcrt was
Bouianger's chief lieutenant and privy
ccunrilor throughout that serio-comic az
fair. he probably knows better than any
other living mar what the real ambition
OF General B01langer was and what was
the true inside history of the Boulangsr
intrigues. Whether NJ. Rochefort has told
all he knows in these memoirs is best
known TO himself. 1t is certain that he
would have little interest in divuIging con-
corning the dead soldier facts that might
only incriminate himself.
Rochefort processes to have still the
highest regard for Boulanger's memory.
both as a soldier and u Republican. He
writes:
II, who have been the recipient of Bou-
hangers secrets and before whom he un-
bosomed himself all the more freely be-
cause he knew me to be incapable OF be-
traying him. feel it my duty to declare
~AAat Al lit JuA1AIcfitS Ill COnEGIillR
him, even the most favorable, are almost
completely erroneous. Politics were an in
disputabIe means to him, but entirely sec
ondary. His aim. the only one he pursued
obstinately. was revenge for our disasters
and the repossession of our two lost PROV
inccs. He waited only for the moment
when, having entirely ~reorganized the
army, he could find an opportunity TO put
himself at its head and march against the
enemy"
He says that the Generals immense pop
uiarity with the masses-a popularity that
nearly placed him in the palace of the
EIysee as President. or. military dictator,
was due 10 two cauSes-trSt, the unpopu-
larity and ~incapacity of the existing Ferry
Ministry, which was responsible for ali
France colonial trouble; second, Bou-
langers unequiVOcal attitude and language
many, and his vigorous and humanitarian
reforms while Minister of War. lie per-
mitted the soldiers to wear boards and TO
go To bed after 5 O'Clock. He moved to
other cities regiments that by favoritism
had been permitted TO be garrisoned in one
These measures says Rochefort.
aroused the Jury of the reactionaries and
made a popular idol of the General"
THEIR FIRST MEETING.
1t was some time after Boulanger had
paraded on his black charger and won this
popularity DcIOIc lie anu 1OcneIOrt met.
AT that time writes the journalist. 81
had seen Boulanger only once before he
was made Minister. The support 1 gave
him in LIntransigeant was therefore pure
ly a matter of policy. 1t was only on the
day following the Inauguration OF the
Cercle Militaire, at which he had presided,
that a Deputy of the extreme Left took
me to his Office. After L had referred in
cnmnfirnanfaVt ~ orr,g 90 4ho roo-DfG~z-4
ovation given him by the crowds in the
street the evening before, i gave him this
bitter pill to swallow:
Make up your mind that you are eat
ing the best dishes now. L know what pop
ular1ty is. You'll pay for all these accla-
nations one OF these days They'll cali you
traitor n robber; they'll insist that you
wanted TO poison your father in order to
inherit quicker i, myself, after being car
ried in triumph, have been accused of
burglary, and also Of stealing sacred yes
sells In the churches He began to laugh.
Yet i prophesied then far fewer troubles
than fell TO him."
affair, which threatened to plunge France
and Germany into another Homeric strug-
gle. German officials, acting, 1T was said,
S~chnabeli, a French subject, living on the
frontier. and held him prisoner with the
ALLEGED object of irritating France into de-
claring war. Rochefort writes:
Il was among the first TO hasten to the
General to gather particulars concerning
the outrage and learn the possible cOnSe-
ounces. l ound B0ulanger perfectly calm,
like a man who has taken a supreme reso-
luton and will not go beyond the limit
that he himself has attributed to reconcile
iation. When / entered he was standing at
the door of his office. He shut the door and
said: If they really mean wal they'll al
ways be able to provoke ", even during
negotiations. We must therefore mobilize
without the loss OF a. NOM antS time. And.
In fact. while 1 was with him he rang his
bell ten times to send out messengers with
orders. So L received from my visit the
disquieting impression that an absolute
rupture with Germany hung only by a
BoClanger appeared so full of ardor and Sc
disposed to go ahead that l could not pre-
vent myself from sharing his confidence
Germany. however, made concessions and
the incident was closed.
More alarmed than ever at the growing
popularity of the bray General" the new
Ministry banished him to Ciermont Fer
rand. where he was given command of the
Thirteenth corps. The General now posed
before the people as a martyr, and Napol-
con on his return from Elba could not have
desired a more enthusiastic ovation thar
that Boulanger received AT the Lyons sta
ton. where he took the train for Clermon'
Ferrand.
BIRTH OF BoULANGISM.
From that moment" says Rochefort,
..Boulangism was founded. France, which
had believed itself preserved for a Ions
time from military incapacity and dishonest
politics. objected to the shameful yoke that
the government tried to impose on it, and
Boulanger thus became the center and the
pivot of the opposition which arose or
every side" . . " The real cause of Tho
governments apprehension" continues the
Journalist. was its conviction that If 6
pretender ventured to undertake an at
tempt to strangle the republic. he would
perhaps, be received at the station wher'
h arrived by the same 10000 patriots wht
had made the ovation to the General"
RGchefort denies ~emphatically that Bou
LANCER had anything TO do with the famou:
scandal regarding the traffic IN the Cross o.
the LEGION OF Honor in which Wilson. son
NAV of President Grevy, was implicated.
cit was an and above all.
stupid calumnyi And who started thes'
revolving insinuations? Who spread th'
gossip? General Ferron himself. who, IL
his QUALITY as Minister of War should hav,
defended the officers whom he had appoint
ed TO the OF the Thirteenth
Corps"
Grevy was more than compromised b.
his on-in-law's troubles. The old ma
could not succeed in forming a ministr,
to replace the Rouvier Ministry, which ha'
tried to save Wilson. and resignation
seemed the only way out OF the difficulty
IT. was at that critical me ent that "koche
fort. B~oulanger * Co" essayed the first o
the intrig des which led. finally, to thei
prosecution for high treason Rochefor
writes:
s~The election of Ferry 70 the presidenc
$500 Tna WnarId hn lis