A W eek ly N ew sp ap er a n d R ev iew .
DUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS ÜT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.
F rom th e B r i e f o f H i s H o l in e s s P iu s I X . to The Tablet, J u n e 4, 1870.
V ol. 80. No. 2746. L ondon, D ecember 24, 1892.
Price 5d., bypost sKd.
[R e g is t e r ed a t t h e G en e r a l P o st O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.
C hronicle of th e W e e k :
Page
Senators and Deputies to be Prosecuted —The Arrest of the Panama Directors— The Monetary Corifer-ence—Mr. Acland on Free Education— The Memorial to the Late Duke o f Clarence— Bulgaria and its Official Religion— Echoes of the Farmers’ Conference — The Dispute in the Cotton Trade—Sir Peter Edlin’s Salary— The Programme of the County Council— Poisoning o f Convicts in Nova Scotia — Mr. Blaine’s Illness — Lord Tennyson’s Will — North Meath Election Petition— London School Board and the Unemployediooi L e a d e r s :
The Omen of Panama . . . . 1005
CONTENTS.
L eaders (continued) :
Page
Oxford Fifty Years Ago . . •• xooo Assyria, Rome, and Canterbury. .1006 N o t e s ......................................................1009 R e v iew s :
The Tragedy of the Cæsars ..1012 The Servant of the Lord . . . . 1013 Alcuin._. . . . . .. ..10x3 A Family Likeness.............. ..10x4 For Christmas \..........................1014 Stonyhurst v. Rossall . . ..10x4 C orrespondence :
Rome :— (From Our Own Corre
spondent).. . . . . ..1017 Dublin :—(From Our Own Corre
spondent) ..................................... 1018
L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it or :
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Happiness in Hell .. . . .. 10x9 The Church at Llandudno . . 1021 Convent Education.........................1022 The Policy of Leo X I I I . and “ The
Contemporary Review ” . . . . 1022 An Irish Priest in London . . . . 1026 The Late Ulster King-at-Arms . . 1027 O b it u a r y ........................... Social a n d P o l it ic a l
. 1027 1027
SU PPLEM EN T . D ecisions of R om an C ongrega
t i o n s ......................... . . . ..1033
N ew s from t h e S chools :
Page
Liverpool Training College . .1033 Pupil Teachers’ Indentures and the Queen’s Scholarship Examination Denbigh School Board N ew s from t h e D iocese Westminster
Southwark .. Birmingham . Newport and Menevia Nottingham Plymouth Shrewsbury .. Glasgow
..1034
..1034 . . 1 0 3 4 . . 1 0 3 4 . • 1 0 3 5 • • 10 3 5 ••1035 • • 10 3 5 ..1036
Manchester and the Cardinal-Electio30 Funeral of Mrs. Bodenham.. ••1037 A p pe a l t o t h e C h a r it a b l e ..1037
Rejected M S . cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.
PROSECUTED. T
SENATORS AND DEPUTIES TO 1ÏE
HE sensations which have crowded upon one another in Paris so fast during the last ten days were thrown into the shade by the news of Wednesday that five Senators and five Deputies were to be put upon their trial. In the Chamber of Deputies the President solemnly read a letter from M. Jasson, the new Procureur-Général, stating that in the course of the investigations of the Panama Committee, certain check counterfoils had been -seized bearing the initials of names, some of which appeared to be those of Deputies. He had to ask the Chamber, therefore, to suspend the Parliamentary privilege as regards MM. Emmanuel Arène, Dugué de la Fauconnerie, Antonin Proust, Jules Roche, and Rouvier. The same letter mutatis mutandis, was read in the Senate— the impugned Senators being MM. Béral, Albert Grévy, Léon Renault, Devès, and Thevenet. Of the defendants, five are ex-Ministers, and nine belong to the Republican group, while one is a Bonapartist. A wild scene ensued •when the letter had been read in the Chamber, and an immediate discussion was demanded from every part of the house. M. Rouvier, ascending the tribune, then made the following extraordinary admission. •He had been the head of the Government and found that the financial resources necessary for its defence were •wanting. The secret service money was not enough— he had therefore called upon the purses of his friends. When murmurs and interruptions followed this statement the ex-Minister replied : “ And if I had not been able to act as I did many Deputies who interrupt me now would not be •on those benches.” It was an extraordinary confession, and is an admission of political corruption of which the last will not soon be heard. M. Déroulède then made a passionate speech, directly accusing M. Clémenceau. The latter replied in what is described as a fine speech— whether it was convincing or not— he told M. Déroulède that he was a liar. He was immediately challenged, and the Chamber broke up in confusion.
This narrrow escape from a defeat
— the arrest of which might have meant the resignation of M. Carnot and even the overthrow of the Republic, seems to have THE PANAMA DIRECTORS.
satisfied M. Ribot that something energetic must be done at once to remove the suspicion that the Ministers were leagued to shelter guilty Deputies from justice. M. Bourgeois had an effective rejoinder for all such reproaches. It was feared that the defeat of M. Brisson’s motion might involve the resignation of the Committee of Inquiry. The Ministers therefore decided upon taking the extreme step of arresting the Panama directors, MM. Charles le Lesseps, Fontanes, and Sans Leroy. Happily, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps is spared all knowledge of the disgrace and trouble which have fallen upon his house. For some time past he has been in a state of senility, and is not even aware of what has befallen his son. It is needless to say that, as the news of the arrests ran through Paris, it caused a profound and almost stupefying sensation. The instant thought which was in the minds of all men was that the Government must have in their hands most damning proofs of guilt before they could inflict upon such men the indignity of arrest and then solitary confinement. The responsibility of the Government is undoubtedly tremendous, for the acquittal of a single one of the men they have thrown into prison before trial, would win for them the execration of France. The law inflicts from one to five years’ imprisonment on persons convicted of giving or receiving bribes in order to obtain contracts, distinctions, or other favours from the public authorities. If the offer of the bribe results in nothing, the punishment is reduced to between three and six months’ imprisonment. M. Charles de Lesseps was arrested at his house, and many Panama documents were taken possession of by the police. M. Fontanes was apprehended at his rooms at the office of the Suez Canal Company, of which he is Secretary. M. Sans Leroy was arrested at his rooms, and M. Cottu was the only one the police failed to find ; his wife explained that he was in Vienna. It will be remembered that M. Sans Leroy is the member of the Committee on the Panama Lottery Loan Bill of 1888 whose sudden conversion and casting vote has been the subject of so much comment, he being accused of taking a bribe of 200,000 francs. He is no longer a member of the Chamber, having retired some three years ago. Simultaneously .with these arrests, domiciliary visits were made by the police in several parts of Paris, notably at the office of Dr. Cornelius Hertz. The prisoners, who are in separate cells, are not allowed to see their friends. They are permitted to have their meals sent from outside, but not to spend more than two-and-a-half francs upon one meal.
N ew Series, Vor.. XLV1II., No. 2,055.
