On Thursday, the French Chamber was the scene of an
extra- ordinary incident. M. Basly, a new Member for Paris, got up, and in the plainest possible language justified the murder of M. Watrin, manager of the Decazeville iron and coal-pits, who, on January 26th last, was thrown out of his own window and kicked to death by his own men. He censured the Government for prosecuting the murderers, and declared that their act was one of self-defence against an oppressor. The President of the Chamber called him to order, but he only said he was untrained in Parliamentary forms ; and although the Government defended itself successfully, 188 Radicals voted in the minority, thereby either sanctioning or condoning M. Basly's speech. He had literally no case except that M. Watrin had made dangerous economies in the supply of props for the mines, which was not the occasion of the murder. If a mob of landowners had murdered M. Watrin for stealing their rents, all France would have rung with execrations ; but under the new system of thought, Lazarus is not only better than Dives, but has a right to kill him. Paganism is better than the new creed.
Previous page
