New Britain herald., 1919-04-19
The Slayer of JaurcS.

1 (Letter in New York Sunday, Times.)
 TO the Editor of The New York 1 Times: 1 I noticed in The Times of 8 few
 days ago an expression of surprise lthat Raoul Villain, who shot and kill : cd the French socialist leader, Jaures, had been acquitted. This mornings i papers speak of a socialist demonstra- 1 tion in Paris as g, result of Villains
 acquittal.~~ M. Longuct, the present so- cialist leader who marched at the 1 head of the parade, is quoted as con | demning the verdict. Incidentally M
 Longuet is a grandson of Karl Marx
 the German socialist whose treatise 1 on socialism is the Bible, of socialism. 1 To anyone who knows anything about inside political conditions in
 France just prior to and during the i first IS months of the war. Villains acquittal is no surprise. Just what Jaures' official connection with the lgoNernment was 1 have forgotten, put lit had to do with the m obiliZation of tho French troops. FIc was assassl- mated by Villain on the eve of the mo-
 bilization. Villain was undoubtedly ,obsessed with tho idea that Jaures Ewould prove rccreant to his public
 trust and that the call for the
 mobilization would be postponed in iorder to give the, Germans time to ,rcach Paris. Only three nights before ,JaureS had made a public speech in Brussels in fact the day Austria de- clarcd war, advising the Belgians
 a against taking up arms. Jaurcs and
 his party had opposed every attempt of tho patriotic French to protect France against the threatened German menace, voting solidly, among other fI i1,o.c h
 military service law, and when it was Ivoted, refusing to vote tho funds to lcarry it into effect.
 During the war the Jaurcs social- ists voted solidly and consistently la against every m mCtsure taken by Clcn-
 cnceau for the security Of France. 1 At the very hour when Jaures was making his pro-German speech ]"
 Brussels, Madame CaillauN was ac- quilted of tho murder of Gaston Cal Imette, editor Of the Figaro, whose pa
 triotic exposure of German intrigue in
 France was causing Jaurcs and Gail
 lauN and Malvy, the secretary for Ehonc affairs Of Franco, much uncasi-
 ncas. Madame Caillaux was acquitted through socialist control of the ma chinery of justice. When the war broke out tDc 8amc week and the French government subsequently, re- moved to Bordeaux. CaillauX awaited ! in Paris, with others of his socialist
 confreres, for the coming of the Ger
 mans who were to set up a German Iprotcctorate in Trance, with CaillauN ! as proconsul. The Germans were de-
 1ayed by the heroic Bclgians, but it
 was not tho fault of Jaures. of Gail 1aux and his clique of German agents. ithat they. did not arrive as per sched iulc. All these things and more are iproved by the docum cntary contents of CaillauXs strong box. afterWard found in a safety deposit box in Flor
 cnce, Italy. And it would not be sur Iprising if the little parade of the Reds lin Paris was not an attempt to pre- Ivent justice from reaching .CailauX, Inow awaiting trial in the old Santc lprison.
 Do@sseu wonder that d French court martial, or~any other French court should acauit Villain? I do not Had IJaures li'Fed and CaillauX and Malvy 4 remained at liberty to furnish the iGerman army secret information of battle plans and other things they needed to know regarding the policy
 of the Allies, Germany might be cele- brating' victory over. the world to- iday And this is the crowd that is lighting everything that is decent in Trance today. including that faith in God and country which possessed the
 French youth who so generously gave their lives that France might be for fever freed from the threatened thrall-
 dom of the Hun.
 C. P. CONNOLLY.
 East Orange, N. J.. April [, 1919.