December 13,, i<-)ij 
.LANU, & WATER 
origin of M. Mahy and liis fjast career. The son of an un- 
known boiir^(oi,s family belonging to Souillac, a snVall town 
in the Sontli of l-"rance, he had enough private means to come 
to Paris as a young man and to study for the Bar at the Paris 
I'niversitv. But as he had no real neecl to make money, he 
was able to spend the better part of his youth in the cafes 
of the l,atiu Quarter playing cards , having a merry time, 
and working as little as possible for his examinations. In 
those days none of his fellow students ever took him seriously. 
I'o)- us he nu-nly represented one of the most unsympathetic 
t)"pps of Southerner, a shallow sort of a good fellow, what we 
called nil pillicr dc hyasseric (a pillar of the ])ublic-house), who 
talked a great deal and accomplished notliing. 
One day, when he was still a young man well under tbiity. 
he was elected by his native town as it< Memi)er of Parlianiint. 
That dav he found his real profession. This rapid promotion 
he owed to his father, who was a well-known politician in his 
little pro\incial centre. Thereafter young Mahy did in 
the Chamber what he had clone in the Latii! Quarter. Being 
mediocre atjd easy going, he quickly made friends in that 
e.xtraordijiary agglomeration of log-rollers which is called tlie 
Chamber of Deputies. 
It is almost impossible to explain in a few lines that com- 
posite assembly which we owe to the democratic regime, 
(icnius. talent, and honesty are to be found there, but the\- 
are of little avail ajjainst the all-powerful intluence of the 
little coteries of comrades, old and voung, v.lio in tmn 
come into power for no definite teas in, and with no definite' 
purpose, atid who go as easily as thev come.. . This instabilit\- 
of all political combinations in France has been the gri'at 
curse of the republican regim(\ ^\'e lack large, jwwerful and 
well-discipliiied jiarties to insure a minimum of fixitv in the 
tenure of office. And after the war the Republic will have 
to reorganise its ver^• foundations, and to find a way of putting 
an end to this porpetaid making and" unmaking of (Govern- 
ments, if it is to survi\e and to reconstrucfthe country so that 
it may fulfil its new. and glorious destinies. 
M. Mahy, well-gifted for intrigue if not for serious work, 
lost no time in attaching himself to one of the coming men 
.of that periotl. He became the satellite of M. Caillanx.who 
started, and up to the vcr^• end maintained .M. Malv\^ in his 
career during the past seven yeai-s. M. Caillaux it was who 
obtained for him, before he was thirty-five, his first ministerial 
post as I'nder-Secretary of State to the Ministry of Justice 
in the Monis Cabinet. M. Caillaux it was who has backed 
his protege since the start of the war, who lias imposed him 
as his friend and representative u])on all the ministries which 
have lived and died during the last four^ years. 
Ultimately, M. Malvv came to be considered as one of the 
minor lights of the Radical Socialist part\- of which M. 
Caillaux is the brilliant luminary, and which for so manv 
vears has dominated the Chambei-. This is why all its most 
influential members arc,- making desptrate efforts to avert the 
catastrophe which will extinguish, let us hope for eVer, the 
stars, great and small, of that party which has assumed so 
large a share in the responsibility of making this Republic 
what it is to-day. 
However distressing it may be to reali.se that there exist 
in my country groups of politicians who, in spite of their 
loud declarations, put party interest before every- 
thing, whenever they dare, I cannot help being proud of 
belonging to a nation where hypocrisy is of so little account. 
I"or a time corrupt legislators may throw dust in the eyes 
of their electors. This happens exerywhere. But with tis 
the comedy does not last very long, for as soon as French 
public opinion becomes conscious of having been duped, 
every political and social barrier is o\*erthrown belore the 
violent pressure of the popular demand for fa'r play and 
justice. Of coursi-, this method of punishing the culprits 
openly may produce a bad impression abroad. Foreigners 
are too apt to remember the Panama scandal, the Dreyfus 
affair, and to flatter themselves that such things could not 
happen in their own land. The truth is that one of the 
greatest qualities of the French niUion is that when a cancer 
is discovered in the body politic, it 'is drastically treated. 
I need no other pro(jf that its health is not really imdermined, 
and I only wish all om- .Allies had the coiirage to treat their 
Bolos as bravely and as franklv as we do. 
Obviously the Malvy affair reflects no credit on the actual 
fMjlitical institutions of our regime. .\n unbroken i>eriod of 
democratic administration has come to this, that the whole 
fabric of its power now rests on the shouldeis, howe\'er 
strong, of a man of scventv-seven years. If he fails in his 
tremendous task, things n)ay happen which one hesitates 
to contemplate, aiul this situation is sufficient in itself to 
condenui our present political system. On the credit side 
there is the l'"rench people who have once more saved France, 
arid will always save her. If M. Clemenceau diA'S not represent 
Parlianient, and there is lui doubt about that, he >lands 
I'^dav for the majorit\- of iln nation, and \\'- i~ tin- Prime 
-Minister of Pul)lic Opinion. He and President Poincare 
are backed by the real France, the France of the trenches 
and the France of those honest citizens who are determined 
to fight the enemy to the end, as* well at' the front as behind 
the lines. . 
Mode of Procedure 
Meanwhile, M. Malvy has to appear before his judges. 
Had he been an ordinary citizen, he would most likely 
lia\e prosecuted M. Leon Daudet before a Court of Justice, 
and submitted his case to a jury. Being a Deputy 
and enjoxing thereby special immunity, he would in this 
ixent ha\e bad to renounce his privilege in order to meet 
his opponent on equal grounds. But M. Malvy, though a 
\iolent democrat, confesses that he has little faith in the 
democratic institution of the jury, and his friends agree \\\X\\ 
him. This is in itself a curious state of mind. Have they 
forgotten that ^I. Caillaux found before the war a democratic 
jury to acquit his wife who had nuirdered in cold blood M. 
Ciaston Calmette, Fditor of the h'ii'aro, and his' political 
inemy ? However that may be, M. Slalvy prefers to appeal 
to his peers, and as was his right, demands to appear before 
the Senate, which is the equivalent to the House of Lords 
sitting in judgment on a case of im])eachment. 
Here the trouble begins. The French legislators who 
drafted the Constitutional Laws of the Republic, though they 
admitted in principle that the Presi<lent and the Ministers 
could be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies an<l were 
then to be judged by the Senate, forgot to add the ]>roGedure 
to be followed for carrying out paragraph 12 of the Loi Cons- 
titionnelle (July ()th, 1(^73). By the law of August lotli, 
i88<), which -was in fact i)repared specially for the toO-fanious 
(ieneral Boulanger. everything was carefully settled in view 
of cases concerning individuals accused of plotting against the 
State, but nothing was said of Ministers- imj)eached fot crimes 
committed dviring their tenure of office. -» -- 
I will not take my readers through the labyrinth of the 
legal consultations, discussions, and observ'ations which have 
recently taken place on this subject, the variety of which 
puzzles even the clearest legal mind. The only thing that 
interests us is the decision arrived at by the Sovereign 
.\s.semblies. M. ^lalvy having asked the Chamber t)f Deputies 
to bring him before the Senate, the Chamber then elected a 
Commission of 3,5 members who, by 13 votes, against 4 — 2f) 
members only being j)resent, and nine including the President 
abstaining— agreed to submit to the Chamber the following 
resolution : ■ " Tlie ('hainhcr dtciths to impeach M. Malvy, 
iX-Miiiistir of I fie Iiilcrior." 
.\fter a long and \iolent di.scussion, the Chamber adopted 
this proposition bv 312 votes against two, on \\'ednesday, 
November Sth. .Meanwhile the Senate was preparing ways 
and means to cope with the decision of the Chamber, when it 
should be transmitted to the Higher .^sseinbly by;M. Paul 
Descbanel, as President of the Chamber of Deputies. The 
first step was taken by a Senator. M. Simonet, who, seconded 
by M. Monis, ex-Prime Minister, put on the table of the House 
a Bill establishing the procedure to be followed in cases of 
impeachment of Ministers before the Senate. 
.\ Commission of 18 Senators was then appointed to discuss 
this KM in Committee, and in an incredil)Iy short time it 
accomi^lished its work. In a few days the Senate will be 
able to discuss and adojrt the Bill, which will also have to 
l)e discussed and adopted by the Lower Chamber. Finally, 
it will take a few hours for the Gov'ernment and the President j 
of the Republic to fulfil the necessary- formalities for 
transforming the measure into law, which will be at once 
applicable to the case of M. Malvy. This done, the Senate 
will be at liberty to deliberate on, and certainly to accept, the 
patriotic task which the Chamber has entrusted to it. 
Thus before the end of January it is likely that the law of 
.\j)ril 10th, i88q, modified in some details, will be applied to 
the cx-Minister. If this is so, a decree of the President of the 
Republic will constitute the Senate intp a High Court of 
Justice, which will meet at a definite date. 
A magistrate, taken from among the permanent magis- 
trates of the Supreme Court (Ccii)' de Cassalion), assisted by 
twv avocats-geiuraiix (whose functions are similar to that of 
the Attorney General) will on this occasion fulfil the duties 
of the Solicitor-General {Procureiir-Gcneral). A Commission 
of nine senators— who are elected every year at the beginning 
of the regular session — will play the part of jthe " Jugc 
d'Inslrmiion " (examining "magistrate), and after a full 
enquiry into the crimes imputed to the ex-Minister, 
this Commission will decide whether there, is or there 
is not valid reason to impeach M. Malv^-. In the event 
of an aftirmati\e decision, the case will come befoie 
the full Senate, sitting as a High Court of Jn^tkr 
pr(>;i<led over bv tile President of the Senate. M. .\nton 
