There is no end to the French scandals in the
matter of corruption. It is believed that if Arton is in the end brought to trial, scores of Deputies and Senators will be shown to have received gratifications out of the funds of the Panama Company ; and now, in searching into the affairs of the late Max Lebaudy, the wretched little millionaire who recently died of too much military discipline, papers have been dis- covered which imply that distinguished journalists made him a regular subject for blackmail. Two have been already arrested ; one of whom is no less a person than M. Rosenthal, calling himself M. Saint-Core, the foreign editor of the Figaro. He is accused of making M. Lebaudy pay heavily—£1,000 at a time—under pretence of protecting him from attacks which Lebaudy, a fool as well as an invalid, thought would induce his military superiors to redouble their persecutions. The- strangest fact in the matter is that M. Rosenthal's confreres in the Press at once accept the charge as probable or true; and that he is immediately accused, having been born a German, of being a German spy. Decent men in France are growing sick of the scene.
Previous page
