The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-26
Short Life Prophesied for
 New Cabinet
BERLIN WONT FORGET
As Shown by Agitation Over Recruit ing of French Foreign Legion. Hotel Keeper Has Aston
 ishing Claim


 a long lease of, life, while 1t is generally expected that Briand will again be back in loffice before very long.
 M. Briand is the one strong and broad
 minded man left in the French political arena since the giant departed in Wal deck-Rousseau, and L. Clemenceau, as your. readers know to their advantage finds time to undertake pleasant journeys in the other hemisphere. Obviously, the sociaIIstic past or "Aristitde le Juste" IS somewhat embarrassing If he would gam a reputation as a conservative statesman, but his immediate past-his triumphant struggle with the "cheminots" and his handling of measures of peace. retrench- ment and reform"-is all to his credit in such a capacity and will constitute his best certificate of character.
 FThe preesnt cabinet is suffering from
 lack of uniformity, the qualities of its
 members being terribly unequal. Del
 casse, Caillaux and Bertaux are all bril- liant and talented statesmen, but the others, including the premier, M MonlS are men without distinction. possessing none of the qualities, necessary to pilot the Fernch ship of state through the dan gerous course ahead M. Monis himself very smart and resourceful lawyer, is politically an exact copy of Emile Combes, whose government was the most disastrous ever foisted upon the French since the establishment of the third re- public Under his administration the in effable Andre and the amazing Pelletan ruled over the army and navy With such effect that every decent-minded officer was disgusted at the espionage that four lished like an evil growth. and did inesti- mable damage to the fleets of France. M Combes principal achievement, Of course was the driving out of the orders It is hardly likely that the country would stand a repetition of the scenes Wh1cn then occurred in monasteries and nun neries, but it is certain that the new brooms must show a certain anti-clerical activity in order to justify their exist ence They have ridden into office on the sorry jade of religious persecution, and the poor beast must be pricked into some thing like gallop, or the passengers will complain of the pace. All the churcn schools will be closed and Catholic par ents submit to having their offsprings ,taught moral instruction in the uncol- Eored manner of the socialits dominic
 In his recently published book, M. |Charlemagne Bracq very vallanliy unuer- takes the defense of this same instruc- tion Far be it from me to say that the whole of the state scholastic body IS affected by free thought; that would not be true-there are even Catholic profess ors teaching at the Sorbonne. At the same time the atmosphere of the com- mon school is hostile rather than neusral, as Jules Ferry insisted. in religious mat ters, and the text books preach not only tolerance, which is absolutely needed in the present day, but also the philo-
 sophie basis of agnosticism, which most
 fair-minded persons will consider inn proper nourishment for babes.
 Yet this anti-clericalism, if 1t exceeds
 certain well-defined limits, will undoubt- edly hasten a reaction--and the return of M Briand. Meanwhile, two dangers menace the political infant. The one is growing boldness of socialism and It's constant desire to try It's strength; the other is the international difficulties which may be raised up, incidentally, by the presence of M. Delcasse at the Rue Royale. This great little man, who founded the Franco British entente as far as French sentiment Is concerned. with M Cambon, the French ambassa- dor in London, Is a demon for work; calm, cold, persistent, welded to ef- ficiency, absolutely incorruptible. and, like a great many small men, brimful Of courage. Happily, Admiral Boue de Lapeyrere has now brought the navy into a fair state of organization, and it will lose nothing In that direction from the headship of M. Delcasse, who Is de- termined to scrap-heap the useless and develop the useful. But this inde-
 fatigable little man is not persona Grata at the Wihelmstrasse. When four years
 ago his word was law at the Quai d Orsay, the Kaiser sent an emissary to | M n f1 Int al a
 of retaining M. Delcasse. Like the pru- dent financier that he is, M. Delcasse was "ungrummed," in the expressive fdiom. Since that moment, neither side has for gotten nor forgiven.
 The agitation in Germany over the re-
 cruiting of the French foreign legion may be taken as a sign that Berlin never
 forgets. The incident in Morocco IS
 months ago in connection with German
 deserters from the foreign legion was
 thought to have been inferred satisfac-
 torily. It is now revived implicitly. The
 Germans complain of the way France
 gets hold of her German recruits. The
 French in reply deny the charges made
 against them, and declare that the great
 est prudence Is observed in accepting
 subjects, who are warned that the ser
 vice is a hard one. About 400 German
 subjects join the French Foreign legion
 every year. The fact Is not an agree
 able one for the Berlin government.
 France does not go out of her way to tout for them, but she does not feel called upon to refuse them if the con-
 ditions are accepted.
 Among the many claims against the Princess Louise of Belgium, whose law suit to obtain her fathers wealth from the Belgian government comes on early in May, perhaps the most astonishing Is tone from an Austrian ihotelkeeper, who. knowing the superstitions of the prin- cess, offered her a stone from the River Jordan, which was guaranteed to bring the owner good luck. Princess Louise accepted the talsman and shortly after ward King Leopold died.
 The hotelkeeper, instead of waiting to
 see if the princess secures the fortune,
 is now suing her for an indemnity for
 the good luck his lucky stone has al-
 ready brought her. The princess law
 yer has refused, saying that the death
 of father Is not legally recognized as
 stroke of good fortune.
 An ex-minister of the deposed Sultan
 of Turkey, who has a house in the
 Champs -Elyseess has had three com
 plaints lodged against him; one by
 wealthy American lady. another by a
 jeweler, and the third by a commission sagent. The lady says that, as there are
 divorce proceedings between herself and
 her husband, she conflded her fortune,
 consisting of scrip now quoted at about
 $160, 900 and $80,O00 worth of jewelry, to
 the pasha, as she wanted to have it in
 safe Keeping; but that she cannot get all