Evening star., 1924-06-15
The Story the Week Has Told

ment with a message from the presi-
dent inviting debate on the propriety
of compulsion of the president to
resign through the refusal of the
majority Of parliament to form
government on the presidents invita-
designated by him.
NJ FrancoisMarsal and his COL
leagues duly presented themselves
with the message 1t charged that
the effort to force the presidents
political motives and declared that
success thereof would seriously
prejudice the stability Of the con-
stitution- by stipulating" $50 reads
the the that the p5ssdent ,sd Of
parliament only in the case of high
treason, the constitution willed that
for the national interest of stability
and continuity the presidential power
tions. If it were henceforth to be
understood that the arbitrary action
of the majority could oblige the
president of the republic to retire
for political motives, the president
p.s be sanas mo moTs shan toy in tas
in partisan interest are trying to see
that the new legislature begin with
a revolutionary act"
In asking the chamber for a vote
on the message, M. Francois Marsal
pointed out that approval thereof
would imply the decision that it was
the constitutional duty of the ma
jority G. E., the Left) to accept the
presidents invitation to form a gov
ernment. The Left G. E., the Left
proper, not including the Commun-
ists) refused to discuss the message,
but a fiery exchange ensued between
~1 ch Cnn1-
munist leaders One of the former
charged that the attack on Millerand
originated at Moscow, in revenge for
Mfllerand's saving of Poland from the
Museovites in 1920. M Cachin. the
Communist chief, retorted with the
cal and personal character of Miller
and. This language is intolerable,"
gaSped M Painleve, president of the
chamber, whereupon the Communists
sang 'The 1nternationale-" One after
another Millerand spokesmen chal-
lenged M. Herriot, the Left chief, to
debate the constitutional issue, taunt-
ing him with coWardice, but he main
tained silence. In the end, Miller
and,s plea was turned down by the
chamber, and the Left attit1de-reaily
proved by q vote Of 379 to z14. Al
ready tho Senate had taken similar
action, though with strictly decorous
procedure, by vote Of 154 to IA.
There was nothing left for the presi,
dent to do but resign unless he should
propose to act the dictator.
The gentlemen of the Left, as every
one knows, claim to be saviors of the
constitution in that Mulerand vio-
lated the spirit thereof when. In the
course Of the recent election cam
paign. he expressed hope that the
Right would win, presiden tial i'm
partiality as between parties being
prescresptive. Disinterested crit
les, however, seem fairly agreed that
the constitution has been harder hit
by these "saviors" than by M Miller
and's indiscretion. They declare that
M. Millerand was sufiicientiy dis
ciplined by the election returns. In a
statement to the public M Millerand
says: "This is dangerous precedent
which makes the presidency Of the
republic the plaything Of electoral
fights and tears from the constitution
the only element of stability and con-
tinuity il contains"
Against the above it might be
pointed out that of eleven French
presidents. four, including Mllerand.
have resigned because Of conflicts