LAGGING JUSTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 221, 17 September 1919, Page 6

LAGGING JUSTICE.

The end of the Caillaux case is thoroughly unsatisfactory. M. CaiHaux had been in custody for twenty months, and the charges against him had been discussed in all their bearings. The verdict of the world has long been that he was a traitor to France and to the Entente, and we do not think there is any doubt that he was at least morally guilty. 'Hβ had been for yeare the evil genius of France. But the fact remains that he protested his innocence, that he was prepared to defend himself, and that he had friends who at any rate professed to believe in him. The charges against him probably will never be legally substantiated, and there will always be an atmosphere of doubt and myetery about the details of his defeatist intrigues, all of which will be unfortunate for the cause of truth. But the reflection «ast on French methods of justice is still more unfortunate. Caillaux was arrested in January, 1918, yet by September, 1919, he had not been brought to trial. It is a natural inference that the delay and its resultant anxiety helped to unhinge his mind. This failure'of the machinery of justice follows on the scandal of VaiWant, the murderer of Jaures, the famous French Socialist. Jaures was killed in a public place in 'Paris on the eve of the war, and the murderer was arrested, but the trial was not held until thie year. There was not the slightest doubt about the accused's guilt; the Court x concerned itself chiefly with hie state of mind, and all sorts of evidence which would be irrelevant in an English Court was admitted. When the accused was acquitted the French Socialists very naturally protested. Xow comes the culmination of the Caillaux case to illustrate further the need for reform in French judicial methods.