Ups and Downs of M, Malvy:
Cleared by General of Espionage Charge Frost uk Owx ConnesronDENt Paris, April 23.
The Malvy problem still obsesses} the French political world, although M, Malvy is no longer in office, M, Malvy is the advanced Radical who was suspected of excessive Teniency towards the band of scoundrels who ran the notorious newspaper called the "Bonnet Rovge." Not only was M. Malvy very speedily "executed" when M. Clemenceau came" into power but} he was indicted, like M. Caillaux, tried by the Senate sitting a3 High Court of Just'ce, and banished fiom the country for five years. He returned in consequence of a political amnesty, was again clected to the Chamber, gradually rescmpossession of his influence the councils of his party, beam? chairman of the Finance Committee of the Chamber, finally, was again made for of the Interior Briand's present Cabinet, but] resigned recently in consequence of illness, To foreign observers 't} must seem extraordinary that a man who has been solemnly arraigned for treasonable_practices and convicted after a public trial should be able to re-enter] Parliament, let alone regain possession of his former Cabinet post.
The explanation is that an affair of this kind is looked upon in France as part of the political game, that the High Court, made up entirely of politicians, does not decide judicially but condemns or acquits according to the necessities or passions of the hour, that directly M, Clemenceau was strong enough to have M, Malvy, Indicted x conviction was certain. Condemnation under such—circumstances docs not carry much] weight and does not really brand the accused as unworthy of the respect of his fellow-countrymen.
It might, of course, be asked why; under these circumstances, the Senate should try anybody at all Wf its decisions are inevitably to be regarded as mere political votes) but that is another question, involving a change in the Constitu. tion, and Parliament has _quito enough on its hands without] tackling such arduous problems.
The Under Dog's Champion In view of the prevailing vague-nese as to whether M. Malsy really] was a traitor and a defeatist, of whether he was the victim of machinations—by unscrupulous! adversaries, it is perhaps only] natural that a campaign should be started in his favour, Tt har enlisted the services of Mme.
Séverine, a well-known woman Journalist, who has been known in France for many years for her frequent advocacy of the "under dog." She ix, therefore, one of! the best champions M. Maivy could] have, and she has already brought} about a curious _development—almost as curious in its way as] the Pickwickian sense in which the pronouncements of august} tribunals, speaking in the name] of the Sovere'gn People, are treated. Some of MIN. Malvy's adversaries accused him of writing} U certain letters to Mara Hari, the dancer, who was arrested' for espionage and was shot at Vincennes, and Mme. Séverine recently appealed to M. Messimy, who was War Minister during a brief period of the big struggle, to admit that it wae he and not M, Moly who wrote these letters.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.