Under circumstances described elsewhere, M. La,serre on Monday asked the
French Government why it had been so slow to prosecute M. Turpin and Captain Tripoli& accused and sentenced for selling the secret of making melinite, the new explosive, to foreigners. M. de Freycinet stated in reply, that he wanted absolute proof of their guilt, which he at last obtained ; and, moreover, that he thought M. Turpin desired a trial because it must produce an admission that his discovery, picric acid, was identical with melinite. It was necessary to baffle that little plot. The speech is said to have been feeble, and though the Chamber gave the War Minister a vote of confidence by 338 to 137, there is a deep impression in Paris that persons much bigger than Captain Tripon6 are concerned in the affair, and that M. de Freyeinet, who, though head of the War Office, is only a civil engineer, is afraid to bring the important officers concerned to justice. No evidence is offered of this mon- strous suggestion, but it is believed that the suspicion will either shake M. de Freycinet's authority, or so irritate him that he will resign.
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