The Ribot Ministry has fallen,—not, we imagine, without its own
consent, as it dreaded the interpellations on Madagascar. The immediate occasion, however, was the refusal, on Monday, of the Minister of Justice to prosecute the Senators, Deputies, and others alleged to have been mixed up with M. Magnier, who was condemned last week to a year's imprisonment for taking a bribe of £3,400 to promote a job desired by the Southern Railway in the Depart• ment of Var. The Socialists and the Right believed, or professed to believe, that the Government was shielding these personages, and insisted, through M. Rouanet, on the following Order of the Day :—" The Chamber, re- solved on throwing full light on the affair of the Southern Railway, invites the Ministry of Justice to prosecute all responsible parties, and to lay on the table of the House all the documents of judicial proceedings." The Minister of Justice defended the Cabinet fiercely, arguing that the ques- tion was for the tribunals ; but M. Ribot sat silent, and the Chamber accepted M. Rouanet's motion by 311 to 210. The Ministry, therefore, after a few minutes' conversation among themselves, at once resigned.
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