New-York tribune., 1899-11-16
FRENCH PARTY POLITICS
WHAT WILL BE DONE AT THE COMING
SESSION OF PARLIAMENT?
REASONS FOR THINKING THAT WALDECh-
ROUSSEAU WILL BE sUsTAINED-lhE
PRESENT PARTY DIVISIONS.

ROUSSEAU WILL BE SUSTAINED-IHE
PRESENT PARTY DIVISIONS.
To the Editor Of The Tribune
Ct. The circumstances under which the French
c,or,hor of IDENTITIES meets this week give 10
.ha coming session an Importance ana an III
,orest such as few other Parliamentary sessions
have nresented during the last decade IL wouiu
ha vai, n surmise what is going to happeh'
s,rce ANYTHING might happen in the country III
which TeIleyrand used to say Tout arrive
Rut at the end Of period which has wrought
more changes in French politics thah any o'"e'
since the "Seize Mai" 1t is perhaps not hapPio-
nriate to enumerate the new questions ""'o"
have grown out of the last crisis and TO describe
the actual situation of the body which VIII nave
IN confront them, namely. the Chamber Oh
Deputies
There is one result of the Dreyfus affair that
has impressed itself upon the minds OF all peo-
pie in France and outside OF France namely
the existence of two great parties between
which the country is divided ana the resPe''''e
strength OF which has been revealed III the
battle between Dreyfusards and anu-Dreyius-
ards on one side are all those who staho lor
modern principles as they were set lorth py
the Declaration CT the Rights of Man IN LOB
and who look forward TO a political and social
state where all these principles VIII De EN-
bodied and realized. on the other side are all
the conservative forces of the past, all the sur
vivors of the Ancien Regime. In the minds Oh
whom still turks the old monarchicai spirit anu
who stand in all national controversies Tor out
grown forms of government. abolished instltu-
tons and reactionary ideas
MANY who were actuated in the violent battle
that has been going on by their instincts more
than bv their reason have not realized that the
Dreyfus affair had thus divided them into thelr
natural camps. associatng them with people theS
did not care for. and with parties they thouehl
70 be aliens to them. But their instincts had
chosen well. and II they refuse to follow them
any longer the time has come FOR them 10 oe-
eide now that the question at stake is about
settled and the results of that long controversy
are about to be established The Waldeck-
Rousseau Ministry has brought these results
before the Parliament the natural conse-
quence of the platform on which 1t was formed
namely the defence of the Republic
WHAT THE MINISTRY HAS DONE.
The Ministry has already we'll defended the
Republic by putting into jail and prosecuting
before the High Court of Justice the set Of con-
spirators who have attempted to make a
COUP d'etat under the cover of the Dreyfus agi-
]
defeat of Justice. They pretend now to sneer al
the charge of conspiracy. but overwhelming EVIL
dence has already been brought against them
1t is proved that while these glorious supporters
of Esterhazy were fomenting patriotic dis
orders in Paris they had list of projects READY
in case Of change Of government. TelegramS
| and letters have been discovered in which they
| urged their pretender ITO stay near the from
| tier and told him the result of the Manifesto
tions they had subsidized. Instructions were
/ given 10 their provincial accomplices Ito stran-
gle one dirty little Jew" State officer OF Caen
whose name was given. and ito kill cautiously
| as many Republicans possible After study
ing the case, NJ. Berenger the greatest Frencr
turisconsult chairman Of the Investigation Com
| mittee and man whose liberality, judicial com
petence and fairness have never been doubted
has deemed the proofs strong enough 10 war
rant a trial. and his opinion may prevail agains
that OF some French papers, and even OF the
foreign correspondents. who print the worc
"complot" with quotation marks.
But Waldeck- Rousseau has not thought II
| enough to prevent the united foes OF the Repub
lie from carrying on their schemes OF cour
d'etat The last crisis has shown that there
were at work in the midst OF the Republic
some institutions which must needs be reformed
or restrained He has proposed to the Para
ment to take up these reforms.
In the first place the military courts MARTA
have proved an absurd anachronism In time
peace in modern republic and the exploits
of such military magistrates as Carriere Bavar!
and Besson dOrmescheville, not to speak of th'
verdicts acquitting Esterhazy and condemnint
Dreyfus, have given a deadly blow to tina
ridiculous and dangerous relic OF the past
Without going as far as many would Ike to q
in suppressing them absolutely. the Governmen
will propose to restrain them. Even such mod
crate Republicans as the great lawyer Bar
bOuX have come to the conclusion expressed D!
Anatole France when he wrote two years ago
with his cunning irony, that there is no NOR
ground to-day for military justice than for
university justice or an agricultural Justice
THE CATHOLIC PARTY
Next TO that reform there is another on
which was forced upon the Government, an
that reform will touch the Catholic Church as
political party. If there is one thing that can
not be denied, no matter what opinion one ma
profess in religious matters, it is the fact tha
in all difficulties which the Republic had t
confront 1t has always found against IT, If no
the Catholic Church as a body at least some o
the great associations which belong TO her
During the monarchical conspiracy of the Seiz
Mai in the course Of the Boulangist movement
the Catholic party through it's papers and 1t
social influence struggled against the Republi
can Government. The Dreyfus case has EN-
phasiZed again that same attitude, and If pee
pie may differ as to the conclusions TO be draw
from what a well known English Catholic calle
the amazing and appalling silence of the Pope
and other dignitaries OF the Church' there re
; mains one thing which cannot be denied name
ly the amazing and appalling attitude OF som
of the spokesmen of French Catholicism.
That attitude has been one OF vile abuses an
of slanderous attacks against the State and II
representatives The Republican Governmen
and the republican principles have seen unite
against them all the Catholic papers ana wei
nigh all the citizens who having been brough
up in the Roman schools, are inspired with III
feelings and the ideas which are taught there
Z Therefore, the extremsts< OF the Repubhca
4 party have not been long In raising again IN
: old war cry, The clericalism is the foe an