THE LATEST INCIDENT IN FRANCE.
IT is difficult to conceive anything more characteristic of France, of her genius, and of her weakness, than the incident which occurred in the Chamber on Wednesday. Everybody had been saying that the resource which France now lacked was a civilian who inspired confidence, and who, without upsetting the Republic, might replace M. Carnot if it should be necessary to dispense with the President as too weak to deal with the corruption which has tainted the political class. This was not the comment, be it remembered, of foreigners, who might secretly rejoice in the misfortunes of France, but of Frenchmen, un- doubtedly patriotic, who had swept the political field with minute observation, and turned away in despair of finding it candidate fit for power. As suddenly and unexpectedly as if France were an operatic stage, a man has disclosed himself, and has been hailed by the whole Chamber, and, for all we know, before this time by the whole people, as competent to occupy the Presidential Chair. The Chamber had met on Wednesday in a hot, angry, yet apprehensive mood. The investigating Magistrate, M. Franqueville, had declared M. Rouvier not liable to prosecution, and Paris, which does not believe in the independence of Magistrates, was full of uproar, fury, and slander. The exception was, on the face of it, a strange - one, as M. Rouvier admitted taking 50,000 fr. from the funds of the Panama Canal, though he alleged that it was used to supplement secret-service funds ; and opinion, gangrened by the long controversy, held that he had been declared guiltless at the instigation of the Government because they feared that, if pushed to the wall, he would reveal too many secrets of the national Treasury and its financial methods. M. Goussot, therefore, a Boulangist and a bitter enemy of the Opportunists, rose -go ask whether the Government intended to prosecute M. Rouvier, "who had acknowledged the receipt of money from Baron de Reinach." He does not appear to have been impressive ; and M. Bourgeois, the Minister of Justice, made a rather conventional reply, declaring that the question was only a political manceuvre, and that the matter was in the hands of justice and must remain there, as the Government could do nothing further without • assailing the independence of the Magistracy. This meant, of course, that no further proceedings would be taken -against M. Rouvier. The Deputies, though angry and • dissatisfied—for they thought justice had not been done, and were afraid their constituents would think so too, and were all, we fancy, influenced by the stories flying about ,Paris—were about to resign themselves to the situation, • when M. Cavaignac stepped into the Tribune. He was received with interest, for he has many claims to respect, and possesses, as the event showed, the advantage of 'personal dignity. The son of the General who shot down the Socialists so remorselessly in June, 1848, and sub- sequently contested the Presidency with Louis Napoleon, he is a decided, though moderate, Republican, and has been a Minister of Marine in one of M. Carnot's recent Governments. In that capacity be gave a proof of .what the French call "loyalty," which greatly raised him in public estimation. There had been a great quarrel between the Navy and Army outside Whydah for the right to the general command of the expeditions against Dahomey; the Government had decided—wisely, as it turned out—in favour of the Army ; and M. Cavaignac at once resigned his portfolio. That is, in French estimation, he gave up excellent political prospects, and arrested his career, rather than allow a slight to be put upon the pro- fession of which he was the official representative. The Chamber, therefore, was willing to listen ; and M. Cavaignac delivered a short and dignified speech, which was, as M. Dtfroulede exclaimed, in the tone that would have befitted a President of the Republic. He blamed and even mentioned no one. There was, he fully admitted, a political attack directed against the Republic ; but there was also a whole series of facts belonging to a different category. A Minister (M. Ba,ihaut) had been convicted of having taken a bribe to bring a Bill into the House. International financial agents had played an important, though a nearly unintelligible, part in the internal politics of France, and that was a fact which must never occur again,—a remark received in the Chamber with unanimous applause. Enormous sums had been spent on bribery of the Press, "which should be a guarantee of our liberties." Social notabilities, who take rather than give financial aid, had been largely subsidised. The document from which it appeared that 104 Deputies had been bribed, had not been in any degree cleared up. The Government of France ought not to have appealed to financiers for help to the Secret Service (as M. Rouvier affirmed it had done), or to have watched, in the interest of official newspapers, over the distribution of sums spent by a Company in cor- rupting journalists (as M. Floquet admitted to have been the case). The Republic was strong, because the masses believed in it as an embodiment of justice and duty ; and, therefore, he should move that the "Chamber, determined to support the Government in the repression of all acts of corruption, is resolved to prevent the recurrence of Govern- ment practices which it repudiates and reproves, and passes to the Order of the Day." The speech was short, but deadly, for it accepted the official defence, and on that defence based the demand for further action in repressing corruption. It was, in itself, unanswerable ; and we have no doubt it derived further weight from the temper of the Chamber which wanted just that said, and from some points in the character of the speaker familiar to the audience, which gave seriousness to M. Dexoul&le's acclaim of him as the fitting President of the Republic. The Government, stunned by a motion so respectful, yet so full of censure, after an effort to induce M. Cavaignac to alter its terms, accepted it as it stood, and it was passed by the amazing majority of 446 to 3. The Chamber, however, was still unsatisfied ; it desired to express its high esti- mate of the speaker as apart from the Government, and, departing from all precedents, it ordered, by 325 to 47, that the speech of M. Cavaignac, a private Deputy, should be placarded in every commune in France. The Deputies went home convinced that a new man had arisen, and that M. Carnot had found at last a dangerous rival for his Chair.
It is much too soon to decide yet whether this anticipa- tion will be realised, but it is by no means an impossible one. That M. Carnot's reputation has been slipping down an inclined plane, has for some time past been evident to every observer. No one accuses him either of peculation or corruption, though the acquittal does not everywhere extend to every member of his household; but a bitter feeling is abroad that he must have known more or less what tainted instruments he was using, and that he hag been inexplicably wanting in the resolution to probe the affair to the bottom, and prosecute the guilty. As often happens, even the tainted are in favour of severity, and before M. Cavaignac's speech, men were talking of Dissolution in order to secure a full inquiry from .a new House, and asking whether M. Brisson, the Chairman of the Panama Parliamentary Committee, would not make an excellent President. The austerity of M. Brisson, however, rather daunts his friends, and he is as yet .unknown to the general population, his Commission having been, so to speak, smothered by the the legal inquiries, and nearly baffled by its want of power to .put interrogations and compel witnesses to attend. M. Cavaignoe's name, like M. Carnot's name, is, however, known to every man in France, and since Sedan, his father's candidature against Louis Napoleon has been counted to him for credit. If, therefore, M. Cavaignac possesses the requisite qualities, his chance should be an excellent one,—more especially as the Republicans dread the appearance of a General; but of this only French politicians can accurately judge. All that outsiders can be sure of is, that M. Cavaignac is a man who, without being an orator, can in most difficult circumstances make a profound impression upon a most difficult audience, and produce in a French Chamber in one evening a belief that he, a private Deputy, who has accomplished nothing of moment, is perhaps the fittest candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. He is henceforward a figure to be reckoned with in French politics.
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