The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-31

nasffc leefslation they would make the
country bankrupt and wreck the republic
Roland-GoSseiin was the leader Of this
anti-patriotic campaign of the last two
years TO bear French government funds
Senorita Maria de u Luz never met IN
her life N. Roland Gosselin.
This has been admitted by two witnesses
who ought 20 know; by the mother superior
Of the convent and by NJ. Roland-GOsselln
himself She had earthly reason to-
leave her millions. 1 use the word 'earth-
ly'' designedly. for it is pretty clear That
her reason was a heavenly one M
Roland-Gosseli1, interviewed, could suggest
no satisfactory reason for the generosity
toward him.
PLACE MAY BE N PERIL.
IL may get him into trouble. French
stockholders are appointed by government,
and the President has the right TO dis
miss them without giving reasons NJ. Ro-
Iand-GOsselin, convicted, or even reason
ably suspected, OF illegal practices. would
lose his position. What is more, the mo-
nopOly OF stockbrokers-an anti-democratic
institution dating from Napoleon the First
would be swept away by public indigna-
ton.
He seems to have been frightened by the
consequences Of his action. After stating
that he accepted the millions of the Chile
an heiresS. VI. ROland-GOsselin, changing
his mind, went 10 a notary pubic ana
signed a deed renouncing the legacy.
Republican paper, however, has just made
the discovery that the stockholders re-
nOuncement. not having been made before
the proper authorities, is null and void,
II Is stated; IL IN no wise prevents NJ ho-
land-Gosselin from claiming the mllllons'
unless the Chilean courts decide other
wise.
All France is following the developments
OF this strange story (fOr everything IS
strange, Including the circumstances of the
DEATH with keen interest =,
We begin 10 think the illness OF M
Bompard, French ambassador at ot-
Petersburg must be diplomatic. He may
be suffering from a relapse into influenza,
but its timeiiness excltes suspicion Inc
French government is less pro-RuSslan In
the present crisis than Minister Delcasse
had led Russia TO expect. He has had TO
yield to the majority Of his colleagues, who
are i'll inclined 10 let France be mixed up
In the RussO-Japanese quarrel. Those re-
markable words on the peace policy or the
government. in which Prime Minister
Combes expressed the general opinion or
the Cabinet and, indeed, its determination,
must have an effect at Toxic and 81
Petersburg.
Combes Is a man of strong sense, strong
courage. knows how TO speak to the mill
lions OF French electors, is the most Popu-
lar statesman We have had since Gam
betta's death. and has his parliamentary
majority well in hand The illness of Nj.
Waldeck-hOusseau delivers him from the
fear of being weakened by the incipient
rivalry OF that statesman
A summary of the Combes speech has no
doubt been already cabled to the United
States L shall therefore confine myself. TO
the explanation of that passage which
deals with the NatiOnalists, their objects,
hopes. intrigues and the crushing defeat
they met with at the last elections and IN
the Chamber and Senate, where there Is
still remnant.
ALL OF 1T HELD OBVIOUS.
All the prime minister said on this sub
ject was obvious to those around him before
he spoke, and indeed to the whole country.
The wave OF reaction which enabled NJ.
Meline to carry his tariff bill for the benefit
Of big landlords and manufacturing trusts
drove the Chamber and Senate toward ma
tionalist militarism, and. as a step in that
direction, into an alliance with Russia, so
unavoidable In spirit that the treaty be-
tween the two powers has never been pub
lished 1t is still dark as in 1892.
Its first consequence was (again to give
satisfaction to the NatiOnalists) that raid
on Siam which Lord ROsebery since said
brought Great Britain TO the verge of war
with France; its second the Dreyfus trial.
TO meet the hope expressed by the head of
the Russian War Office, DragOmiroff, that
Jews should be cleared out of the bureaus
OF the French general stan; tae third,
cats paw consequence for the French, was
to unite with Russia and Germany to tear
from Japan the fruits of her victory over
the Chinese, and To place them within the
grasp OF Russia
The fourth was the tacit acquiescence of
ex-Foreign Minister Hanoteaux i'm the
vaccinations of the Russian Foreign Office
having for their object the massacre
Through the SULTAN Of the Armenians; the
fifth. the seizure of Manchuria, and. of
course. Port Arthur, which the fortune of
war had gwen in 1895 to Japan; the sixth
the flow of French gold into Industrial Rus
sian enterprises. nearly all rotten. and to
the amount OF upward OF 100000 francs,
not TO speak Of great Russian state loan
issued at a high figure
The present dangerous state of affairs in
the far East is entirely due to the cats
paw (for Francel nature of the dual alli-
ance- France lent "A Russian squadron the
port Of Bizerta for a squadron intended to
operate In japanese waters This naval
Japanese ironclads that have Just started
from French ports where they We're made
on the voyage TO the island empire Of the
East
What NJ Combes wanted to say to the
Car was this: so far as the Franco
Russian alliance conduces to the preserva-
ton of peace. this Cabinet is for It, but IL
II tend to entangle us in quarrels with pow
ers with which we wish to live in amlty We
must look cOldly on it,"
DEATH OF GEROME AT EIGHTY
Gerome's death at the age of eighty will
not be felt beyond his family circle ard a
few friends. He belonged TO the generation
which in student days read the first edi-
tons OF old Dumas novels and were bit
ten with their spirit OF dash and adventure
1t was surface spirit that found satisfac-
tion in risky tours. duels, wrangies for ex-
element sake and the fashy heroism that
leads to the bursting in OF open doors
Nothing pleased Gerome more than to
be mistaken for cavalry officer in plain
clothes, or TO find himself entangled in an
affair or honor with some big parsonage
He awaited. in forget what year, a chal-
lenge from the Duke of Elcingen, grandson
OF Marshal Ney. who was furious with the
painter for representing the latter in
'rExecution du Marechal Ney" as wearing
q top hat and black coat resembling a
priests cassock
The marshal in the picture has fallen
forward on his face and the top hat is at
some distance from the body. Gerome
before he sketched this work, found
witness CT Ney's execution, NJ. Etienne
Arago, who died in the closing decade
OF the last century at the age OF ninety
six. He saw II all looking over the wall of
the observatory gardens toward La Clio
garden. The duke called on Gerome To re-
move his painting from the salon on the
ground that II belittled a great soldier
who died like a hero and could not have
gone TO face a firing party habited like a
clerical schoolmaster.
The painter refused plump and declared
himself ready TO meet Ney's grandson in
a duel Elcingen, frOthy, brutal fellow
sent no seconds to GerOme, TO his terrible
disappointment. The row called public at
tention to the painting-of easel size and
remarkable for crisp manipulation and the
gray early morning effects of the atmos-
phere. The dead marshal was the image
or a lusty, pushing, bOaStful red-haired,