M. Gambetta has made a mistake. The Chamber of Deputies
is still slowly getting through the invalidations of elections, and on Monday the election of M. de Fourtou, the reactionary Minister of the Interior, came up. It was clear, from the evidence before the Committee, that he had won the seat for Riberac by corruption and intimidation, and he scarcely, indeed, defended his conduct. He preferred to defend the Government of May 16th, in a speech, described elsewhere, in which he declared that he had been too scrupulous in his pressure on electors, and that if "he had done his whole duty, you, the Left, would not have been sitting there." "Is it the coup deka you mean ?" exclaimed M. Boissy d'Anglas ; and on M. de Fourtou's reply, " Was there ever a question of a coup d'etat ?" the whole Left shouted " Yes," and turned simultaneously towards the gallery where the Due de Broglie sat. M. de Fourtou continued saying that May 16th was enacted to stop France on the down- ward course on which she bad entered, and which was shown in the recent speech by M. Gambetta, a speech which declared war on every Frenchman not of the Old Republic. " That is a lie !" shouted M. Gambetta, moved, it would seem, altogether out of him- self ; and though the words were formally retracted, M. de Fourtou challenged him, and he has fought, both combatants escaping un- wounded. In other words, rather than make an apology for a momentary explosion of temper, he has risked a grand misfortune for France, and bound every Radical to "go out" whenever any swashbuckler pleases.
Previous page
