Paris, April 25.
The result of the Caillaux trial seems to dissatisfy everybody except M. Caillaux himself, if we may judge by the cheerfulness he displays end his abstention from comment on his conviction. The net result of the finding was that he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment under Article 78 of the Penal Code, which punishes the act of being in communication with enemy subjects when such communication leads to placing the enemy in possession of information as to the political or military position of France or her allies. The most curious part of the judgement was that this article of the Code was never mentioned throughout the trial. The Senate could not convict the accused under the other articles quoted in the indictment, and it fell back upon article 78 at the last moment.
No ordinary tribunal, of course, would permit itself such an irregularity, but the Senate, when sitting as the High Court of Justice is a law unto itself and there is no appeal against its decisions, Tex Day. Overvve, As M. Caillaux had been under detention since January, 1918, and as the law allows a discount, so to speak, of 25 per cent. to any person who has awaited his trial in prison, it was calculated that M. Caillaux had "done" about ten days more than the three years to which he was sentenced, and he was released on the following day.
His conviction deprives him of a vote for 10 years and also of eligibility to any public office for that period, and in accordance with the judgement the Government has forbidden him to enter the neighbourhood of Paris, Lyons or Marseilles and one or two other areas. With these exceptions he is free to go where he likes. When a man is convicted of a crime in France it is said that he has paid his debt to society, but in this case society was in debt to the prisoner, as the result of his long preliminary detention.
man of M. Caillaux's temperament is not likely to be deterred
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.