The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-28

territOry within NnS ulstinctiVe FrenCh
sphere OF influence" as the Suez Canal
was expected to be, though 1t disap-
pointed the expectation. was not so at
tractive to French investors as had
been hoped. The establishment OF a
lottery and the issue OF lottery bonds
appeared az the only alternative to a
confession that the whole project was
a failure and that the money already In
vested In IL was hopelessly lost. NJ.
Charles de Lesseps may be forgiven
for shrinking from this course.
Then began the legislative blackmail.
First II was necessary to buy up the
legislators whose tender consciences
could not otherwise be reconciled to the
issue OF the bonds. Afterward q series
OF legislative strikes such as have
never disgraced the national Congress
at Washington. but as have been and
are common enough in the Legislatures
OF some States. was begun In the Cham
Der of Deputies. When these raids had
reached a scandalous point, the Journal
list Arthur Meyer reports that he APP
pealed to Charles de Lesseps to make a
clean breast OF the political corruption
which fed upon Panama The protector
refused to betray the men who had at
republican and the telling OF the
whole story could not fail to discredit
the republic. Royalism. under which
ever pretender, was still strong enough
In France to make the discredltlng of
the republic political object. There
was ultimately a reaction. for while the
Monarchists were endeavoring to dis
credit the Ministry in power and both
hOffQgQ Of thu IaUialaa,,rA
also necessarily engaged In an attempt
10 discredit their country. When this
became clear the country was inclined
10 come to the rescue OF the incrimi-
mated persons to tho extent of helping
to hush up their operations But mean
while the strikers in the Legislature
had bled Panama white and 1000, 900
had been distributed among them. Here,
as so often. the great blunder was after
ward seen TO have been the payment Of
the first blackmail to avert exposure.
Charles de Lesseps had a more respect
able motive than ordinary payers Of
blackmail in the desire TO shield his
aged father not only from exposure and
prosecution, but even from knowledge
or what was going on. For q long time
he succeeded. though finally the old
TO a term OF imprisonment. Such treat
ment OF one of "thc glories OF France"
for actions for which his own respon-
s!bility was merely nominal, shocked the
French people and had the effect Of
passing what was virtually an act OF
oblivion in respect of the whole sordld
business.
1t was high time. The author does no.
70 tha& tt \
TO find name then prominent in
French politics which was not smirched.
The trail OF the scandal was over them
all. "A President and a foreign AM
bassador." he mentions as implicated,
and Identifies the latter by the following
story. which It appears il printed here
for the first time. NJ. Rouvier, one of
the leading men in French politics, had
been implicated in the Panama scandal
and had also had the misfortune to in
cur the enmlty of VI. F7ourens. Minister
for Foreign Affairs. who had not been
implicated. VI. F1ourens declared his in
tenuon of prosecuting his rival IL ev.-
dence could be found to sustain the
charge. but few days later avowed
that he had changed his mind and would
do nothing. Pressed for an explanation
edged having received a letter from
Rouvier 1T is a letter which has dis
armed me and which would have dis
armed others than me-" Not long after
ward the chief of the secret police Of
st. Petersburg received the original OF
this letter. but was unable to ascertain
who had sent 1t 10 him. II was simply
a notification to the French Minister for
Foreign Affairs that II he did not de-
slst from the prosecution Of the writer
VI. Rouyier would make a public ex-
posture of the dealings OF "a certain Am
bassador In Paris" with the Panama
company. As the author has reason to
believe" that the letter was shown to
Alexander III, IL Is plain enough which
| Ambassador II was. Clearly NJ. Flourens
was "dsarmed" by a thrust to put in
jeopardy the Russian alliance. But the
story shows how extensive the corrup-
/ ton was, and how the Panama money,
| what there was OF Il, was at the mercy
Of anybody who chose TO ask for II. As
an American Senator once remarked
when he was offering his colleagues an
opportunity to write any schedule OF
the tariff in which they felt a personal
| interest, IL was "a free lunch"
The case Of Dreyfus has been so thor
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