Review or lievieva, l/i/OO. 



Character Sketch 



4/1 



suicis de sensation in the newspapers. Ministers of 

 course declared that the law must be enforced. The 

 sensation created by the free fight around the sacred 

 vessels fired the fighting blood of the Clericals in 

 various parts of France. In some places the pea- 

 sants fel.ed trees, and, filling the church with their 

 branches, dfied the myrmidons of the law to enter 

 the log-choked edifice. In others there were scrim- 

 mages between the faithful and the authorities. At 

 one place, Boeschepe, near the Belgian frontier, the 

 scrimmage had fatal results. The gendarmes, losing 

 pat'.ence, are said to have fired on their assailants 

 with their revolvers, and one of the Clerical demon- 

 s'.rat rs was killed. Thereupon a hot debate in 

 ih.e Chamber. Ihe Conservatives declared that dis- 

 esablishment had become murder. The Radicals 

 complained that M. Rouvier had been grossly remiss 

 in not suppressing flat rebellion with a stern hand. 

 A resolution of confidence in M. Rouvier was re- 

 jected by a majority of thirty-three — the Right vot- 

 ing against him for killing one man, and the Left 

 because he had not killed many, or at least because 

 he had not been energetic enough in enforcing the 

 law, and as energy under such circumstances means 

 the use of force, it comes to the same thing. There- 

 upon he resigned, and M. Sarnen became Prime 

 INIini-ter of France. 



THE NEW CABrNET. 



It is probable that the Chamber had got tired of 

 M. Rouvier. He had served their turn. He had 

 kept the peace, and now this was a handy excu.se for 

 giving another set of Ministers an innings. M. Sar- 

 rien had no difficulty in constituting a Ministry of 

 all the Talents on a Radical foundation: — 



M. Sarrien— Premier and Minister of Justice. 



M. L^-)n Bourgeois— Minister for Foreign Affairs. 



M. Cl^menceau— .Minister of tile Interior. 



M. Poincare— Minister of Finance. 



M. Etienue — Minister of War. 



M. Tliomson — Minister of Marine. 



M. Brianil— Minister of Public Instruction and Worsliip 



M. Doumergue— Minister of Commerce. 



M. Georges Levgues — Mitii'iter for the Colonies. 



M. Bartliou— Minister of Public Works. 



M. Euau— Minister of Agriculture. 



ITS PEOGRAMMB. 



The new Cabinet has to face the electors on May 



20th. It co'.ild do little beyond tabling a programme 



aiiministrativi- rather than legislative. The Budget 



must be voted, and then the dissolution. In 



Foreign Affairs the Ministerial declaration runs as 



follows : — 



Fully conscious of the rights and vital interests which our 

 diplomacy lias to aifeguard, we are sure that the exercise 

 of these riglits and the normal development of those in- 

 terests can h& secured without any infringement of those 

 of any other Power. Like our predecessors, to whom we 

 would render public justice, we hope that the rectitude anil 

 disunity of th si attitude will permit the approaching and 

 definitive setfement of pending difBcultics. Faithful to an 

 alliance whose btneficent influence is equally felt by France 

 and R'-ssia and to our friendships, of which we have also 

 been able to gauge the stability and value. Prance lias in 

 the world a position which is confirmed bv the hope of 

 ja^'iro and peace with which she reg.nrds the different 

 problems laid by the force of things before the nations. 

 This spirit will continue to l)e ours, and this is why we 



shall pursue with confidence a policy which in our opinion 

 equally serves our country's catise and the peace of the 

 world. 



In home affairs the_\ pledged themselves to en- 

 force the law with all necessary circumspection but 

 with inflexible firmness. M. Clemenceau before tak- 

 ing office made the ver\ sensible suggestion that 

 instead of using force to compel the Clericals to 

 submit to an inventory taken for their benefit, the 

 Government should " order their agent to withdraw 

 and wait till — to prevent their propertv reverting 

 to the State, and to continue enjoyment gratuitously 

 the use of the churches — the Catholics apply to the 

 authorities for the accomplishment of the formality 

 which they have till now opposed." Whether so 

 reasonable a strategy could be employed within two 

 months of a General Election is doubtful. The 

 Ministry, which at its first division, had a majoritj' 

 of 305 to 197 votes in the Chamber, may be relied 

 upon to act with a keen eye to electoral chances. 



II.— M. BOURGEOIS, MINISTER FOR 



FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 



M. Sarrien is sixty-six years old, M. Bourgeois is 

 only fifty-five, M. Clemenceau is sixty-four. Ten 

 years ago M. Bourgeois was Prime Minister, with 

 M. Sarrien as his Home Secretary. To-day the 

 positions are reversed, and the younger man serves 

 the elder. But in Foreign .Affairs M. Bourgeois 

 will probably be as independent as Sir Edward Grey. 

 His position, indeed, is more like that which Lord 

 Rosebery would have held in the Lib. -Lab. Cabinet 

 if he had been willing to serve under C.-B. for M. 

 Bo-.rgeois is a man who has a great reputation — 

 ivon chiefly by his actio!i at the Hague Conference 

 and his abstention from pushing his chances in 

 France. He refused to stand for the Presidency 

 when M. de Fallieres was elected, and although he 

 he has been President of the Democratic Left in 

 the Senate he has not taken a leading part or, at 

 least, not a pushful part, in French party strife. He 

 chiefly differs from Lord Rosebery in being a fer- 

 vent advocate of peace and international solidarity. 

 His book on " Solidarity," which passed through 

 three editions, proclaims the solidarity of the 

 human race one of the laws of nature : - 



Solidarity is a great fact which comes home to us more 

 strongly as our knowledge and experience widen. We can 

 never hope to see justice on a satisfactory basis until the 

 world admits the debt which in virtue of the law of 

 solidarity weighs on ti-i. Tliis debt is the first charge on 

 human liberty. Nor can there be any real liberty until it 

 is paid. The attempts t" shirk payment in the past have 

 loaded nations with military and fiscal burdens, with 

 pnuperism and penitentiary systems, and rendered the 

 situation of the wealthy class precarious and often miser- 

 able. 



HIS PAST ESOORD. 



M. Bourgeois is bourgeois bv birth as well as by 

 name. Unlike M. Louhet and M. de Fallieres, he 

 did not come from the peasants. His father made 

 and sold watches in the Faubourg St. Antoine when 



