The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-11

| Inc DnDuy ministry 1ell unlamenJeu on
June -, and for ten days of anxious
and critical uncertainty France was with
out n Government. NJ. LoUBET keeping
well within constitutional limits did all he
could to unearth man strong enough to
| found a stable Administration out OF the
| weller OF groups and confusion OF opinions
into which the country was thrown. NJ.
| POINCARE, a rising young Republican whose
chance will come later on, was approached
but he failed to form Cabinet. The Presi-
| dent turned to NJ. WALDECK-RoUs q
| Moderate Of proved loyaltyand ability, and,
| with the help OF NJ. BOURGEOIS, hastily
summoned from The Hague for the pur-
| pose, the portfolios were distributed under
his leadership.
The Cabinet with which NJ. WALDEcK-
ROUSSEAU faced the Chamber on June o.
there to be greeted with whirlwind Of
violent personalities, was in its way po-
| litical curiosity. Nothing like it would be
| possible outside of France or Italy, and
even In France, which has seen forty min
| istries rise and fall within the last twenty
| nine years, it was felt to be something
unique. NJ. WALDECK ROUSSEAU had gath
cred around him men of the most varied
| and conflicting opinions, who had spent
| most Of their lives fighting one another,
| who had hardly single point in common,
| and among whom in ordinary times agree
| ment would have been impossible. There
| We're Royalsts and Republicans, Moderates
| and Radicals Progressives and Socialists,
| the extremes of every group and every
| creed. What brought them into the same
| Cabinet and made it possible for them to
| act together was the honorable resolve to
| subordinate party issues to the single ne
| cessity Of saving the Republic. In this
| they were successful. After tempestuous
| debate they carried the Chamber by
| twenty-sx votes and held office till July
| !, when the session was prorogued.
In this strange gathering OF opposites
| quite the most interesting figure was Gen
| eral DE GALLIFET, the new Minister of War.
| For twenty-five years he had lived in COM
| parative obscurity, attending only to his
| military duties and not mixing in public
affairs. But his name was remembered and
| hated by all the socialists and agtators in
| France as the officer who repressed the,
| Commune with such stern and effectual
| severity. His entrance into the Chamber
| was hailed with give Ia Commune" "A
| bas l'assassin!" "a has les fusilleurs" and
a furious debate ragged around his actions
| during the bloody week" NJ. MILLERAND
| who represents the extreme OF French So
| cialism, was hard put to it to explain how
| be came to be n member of the same Minis
| try with the man who had shot down his
friends and sympathizcrs by hundreds in
| the black days that followed Sedan.
| (,nnaral q H.,
| showing that the War Minister OF 800 was
the strict disciplinarian he had proved him
| self in 1870. He met the abuse OF the
| Rochefort gang in silence and set firmly
| and without bravado about his task of curb
| ing the refractory officers who threatened
| the existing regime. For this work no man
| in France was so we'll fitted AS a distin-
| guished soldier and perhaps the greatest
authority in Europe on cavalry manpuvres,
| he had the full confidence OF the army. AS
a ROyalist by instinct and sympathy, who
had long ago bowed to the wishes OF the
| people and submitted loyalty to the Repub-
| lie, he was thought we'll Of by both Repub-
| Leans and reactionists. With the Dreyfus
| affair he had not medded in such a way as
to antagonize the General Staff, but it was
| known that he was on the side OF Justice
| and revision. 1t was also known that he had
| expressed himself strongly on the persecu-
| ton Of Colonel PIcQUART, for whom he had
a warm friendship and admiration both as
| a soldier and man.
The new Minister'S first official act was
| tho issuing OF a circular to the military
| Governors Of Paris and Lyons and all the
army corps commanders. Referring To his
| appointment he said Il am very much
honored and in no wise frightened" and
| then followed holder words than any War
Minister has dared to use in France for a
| long while: 81 beg you not to forget that
| II / am responsible for the chiefs of the
army, they arc personally responsible to
me for all that happens in the corps over
which they hold command" The implied
threat was llade good the following day
when General HARDsCHMIDT was trans
ferred to Rheims, General ROVER to Belfort
| and Colonel SAXCE to Poitcrs. All these
officers had been preaching yelled sedtion
with view OF terrorZng the Rcnnes court
martial into condemning Dreyfus again.
NJ. CAvAIGSAC or NJ KRANTz would have
| allowed them to talk the people into an up
rising. General DE GALLIFET sent them
about their business at once
But the veteran martinez did conflne him
self to the minor offenders. On July 7 the
whole world heard with the keenest delight
that General ZURLINDEN had been removed
from tho Military Governorship OF Paris.
The prosecutor OF PICQUART had at last met
q man who who rated his apngs of BoUL-
ANGER at their Just value. He had defled
four successive Ministers to turn him out
and not one had dared to raise finger
against him. Since then Generals PEI
LIEUx and DE NEGRIER, two OF the most I'M
scrupuous tools Yf the General stafI, have
been quietly redH ed to harmlassnAsa and