Read Ebook: The Caillaux Drama by Raphael John N John Nathan

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Ebook has 221 lines and 67989 words, and 5 pages

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OFFICES OF "LE FIGARO" ON THE EVENING OF THE MURDER 20

GASTON CALMETTE IN HIS OFFICE AT THE "FIGARO" 20

M. BOUCARD AND THE DOCTORS LEAVING THE PRIVATE HOSPITAL WHERE M. CALMETTE DIED 26

M. VICTOR FABRE, THE PROCUREUR G?N?RAL 57

THE FUNERAL OF M. CALMETTE 63

THE BROTHERS, SONS AND RELATIVES OF M. CALMETTE AT THE FUNERAL 67

MME. CAILLAUX ON HER WAY TO THE LAW COURTS TO BE EXAMINED 71

SOEUR LEONIDE 77

THE CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE PISTOLES 81

"JEANNE," THE "SOUBRETTE" OF PISTOLE NO. 12 85

THE LORRY WHICH PARIS JOURNALISTS THOUGHT WAS FULL OF MME. CAILLAUX'S FURNITURE 90

LA COUR DES FILLES IN SAINT LAZARE 90

MADAME CAILLAUX'S CELL EXACTLY AS IT IS 102

MONSIEUR CAILLAUX IN HIS OFFICE AT THE MINIST?RE DES FINANCES 108

PRESIDENT POINCAR? GIVES EVIDENCE ON OATH IN THE CAILLAUX DRAMA BEFORE THE PRESIDENT OF THE APPEAL COURT, WHO WAITED ON HIM FOR THIS PURPOSE AT THE ELYS?E 122

MONSIEUR CAILLAUX LEAVING THE LAW COURTS 131

M. PRIVAT-DESCHANEL WHO WITNESSED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LETTERS BY MME. GUEYDAN-CAILLAUX 140

M. BARTHOU MOUNTING THE STAIRS OF THE LAW COURTS ON HIS WAY TO GIVE EVIDENCE IN THE CAILLAUX CASE 149

MONSIEUR CAILLAUX'S FRIEND, M. CECCALDI 179

THE "TON JO" LETTER FROM THE "FIGARO" 197

ROCHETTE IN COURT 241

MONSIEUR BARTHOU 300

MME. CAILLAUX IN THE DRESS SHE WAS TO WEAR AT THE ITALIAN EMBASSY ON THE EVENING OF THE MURDER 339

M. JOSEPH CAILLAUX 350

THE STORY OF THE DRAMA

Monsieur Caillaux had spent the greater part of the afternoon in the Chamber of Deputies, and his first news of the crime, which his wife had committed, reached him at the Ministry of Finance. He had returned to his office there to sign some necessary papers before returning home to dress for the dinner at the Italian Embassy, and he did not therefore receive his wife's note until much later in the evening, after the commission of the crime. Monsieur Caillaux, whatever his faults may be, is a strong man and a plucky one. He turned ashy pale when he heard what had happened, but said nothing further than to ask for a cab, and without a moment's loss of time he went as fast as the cab could take him to the police-station in the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre. There he was at once allowed to see his wife. Before leaving the police-station Monsieur Caillaux telephoned to his chief, Monsieur Doumergue, the Prime Minister, resigning his position in the Cabinet as Minister of Finance. He told the Prime Minister then, that nothing would induce him to reconsider his resignation, and that he would devote himself exclusively to his wife's defence, and take no further part in the political life of the country. The news of the murder was not definitely known at the Italian Embassy until fairly late in the evening, although all the guests were surprised at the absence of Monsieur Caillaux and his wife. Monsieur Poincar? was the first to be told the news, and left the Embassy immediately, followed by all the other guests. A little later in the evening, at about ten o'clock, Monsieur Doumergue summoned his colleagues to a Cabinet Council which was held at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Council lasted from ten o'clock till after midnight. Just before the Ministers separated the news of Monsieur Gaston Calmette's death reached them over the telephone wire. The Ministers' first thought was to save the political situation. They realized the grave dangers of a Cabinet crisis at this moment, and dispatched Monsieur Malvy, the Minister of Commerce, to Monsieur Caillaux to endeavour to induce him to reconsider his decision to resign. Monsieur Caillaux refused to reconsider it, and Monsieur Doumergue himself failed, though he tried hard, to get him to withdraw his resignation and to remain in office. Even then the colleagues in the Cabinet of Monsieur Caillaux refused to accept his resignation definitely, and the Council adjourned until the Tuesday without coming to any definite decision. On Tuesday, realizing the political impossibility of his retaining his portfolio, even if he could have been persuaded to retain it, the Government decided that the Minister for Home Affairs, Monsieur Ren? Renoult, should become Minister of Finance in Monsieur Caillaux's stead, that the Minister of Commerce, Monsieur Malvy, should succeed him at the Home Office, and that the Under Secretary of State for Home Affairs, Monsieur Raoul P?ret, should take the portfolio of Commerce. These decisions were made known on the morning following the murder, the morning of Tuesday March 17, and the necessary decrees were signed before luncheon by President Poincar?, enabling a full Cabinet to meet the Chamber of Deputies that same afternoon. But that same afternoon a storm burst in the Chamber with a violence which shook France as she has not been shaken by a political upheaval for many years.

Le mercredi 2 mars 1911, j'ai ?t? mand? par M. Monis, Pr?sident du Conseil.

Il voulait me parler de l'affaire Rochette.

Il me dit que le gouvernement tenait ? ce qu'elle ne v?nt pas devant la Cour le 27 avril, date fix?e depuis longtemps; qu'elle pouvait cr?er des embarras au ministre des finances, au moment o? celui-ci avait d?j? les affaires des liquidations des congr?gations religieuses, celles du Cr?dit Foncier et autres du m?me genre.

Le pr?sident du Conseil me donna l'ordre d'obtenir du pr?sident de la Chambre correctionnelle la remise de cette affaire apr?s les vacances judiciaires d'ao?t-septembre.

J'ai protest? avec ?nergie. J'ai indiqu? combien il m'?tait p?nible de remplir une pareille mission.

J'ai suppli? qu'on laiss?t l'affaire Rochette suivre son cours normal. Le pr?sident du Conseil maintint ses ordres et m'invita ? aller le revoir pour lui rendre compte.

J'?tais indign?. Je sentais bien que c'?tait les amis de Rochette qui avaient mont? ce coup invraisemblable.

Le vendredi 24 mars Monsieur M.B. ... vint au Parquet. Il me d?clara que, c?dant aux sollicitations de son ami le ministre des finances, il allait se porter malade et demander la remise apr?s les grandes vacances de son ami Rochette.

Je lui r?pondis qu'il avait l'air fort bien portant, mais qu'il ne m'appartenait pas de discuter les raisons de sant? personnelle invoqu?es par un avocat, et que je ne pouvais, le cas ?ch?ant, que m'en rapporter ? la sagesse du Pr?sident.

Il ?crivit au magistrat.

Celui-ci, que je n'avais pas vu et que je ne voulais pas voir, lui r?pondit par un refus.

M^e Maurice Bernard s'en montra fort irrit?. Il vint r?criminer aupr?s de moi et me fit comprendre, par des allusions ? peine voil?es, qu'il ?tait au courant de tout.

Que devais-je faire?

Apr?s un violent combat int?rieur, apr?s une v?ritable crise dont fut t?moin, seul t?moin d'ailleurs, mon ami et substitut Bloch-Laroque, je me suis d?cid?, contraint par la violence morale exerc?e sur moi, ? ob?ir.

J'ai fait venir Monsieur le pr?sident Bidault de L'Isle.

Je lui ai expos? avec ?motion la situation o? je me trouvais. Finalement, M. Bidault de L'Isle consentit, par affection pour moi, ? la remise demand?e.

Le soir m?me, c'est-?-dire le jeudi 30 mars, je suis all? chez M. le pr?sident du Conseil et lui ai dit ce que j'avais fait.

Il a paru fort content.

Je l'?tais beaucoup moins.

Jamais je n'ai subi une telle humiliation.

Le jour m?me de la r?union, pendant la suspension d'audience, des conseillers qui si?geaient ? c?t? de M. Bidault de L'Isle se sont ?lev?s en termes v?h?ments contre la forfaiture qu'on venait de lui imposer.

Pourquoi ne les a-t-on pas entendus ? la commission d'enqu?te?

On aurait pu, par exemple, interroger M. Francois-Poncet qui n'a dissimul? ? personne, ni son indignation ni son d?go?t pour les manoeuvres inqualifiables impos?es par le pr?sident du Conseil au Procureur G?n?ral.

For English readers to realize the full importance of this document I must explain that the Public Prosecutor or Procureur G?n?ral ranks as a Government official, and holds almost the same position as a judge holds in England, with the difference that he does not judge but prosecutes. For influence to be brought to bear on such an official by members of the Government is much the same thing as though Cabinet Ministers in England had ordered the Director of Public Prosecutions and the judge who was to try Mr. Jabez Balfour to adjourn the trial for six or seven months for political reasons. Supposing such a thing to have been possible, and Jabez Balfour to have disappeared from England so that he never came up for trial at all, one can imagine the outcry which would have been raised. Here in plain English, as plain and as simple English as I can summon to my help, is the translation of Monsieur Fabre's accusing document:

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