CAILLAUX THE FALLEN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14041, 26 April 1920, Page 8

CAILLAUX THE FALLEN.

(Bv F. G, FalU.) i ....

The pistol shot with which Madaitie Caillaux, wife of Joseph ' Prome Minister ot .France, ■ killed^ al r mette. Editor of the Hgaro, t lul ■ •fqre the war, changed oi-tn . World. But for that shot Caillaux;'.* ould certainly have been J the head ot th| rrench Government when war hrok I out. Whatever may be the reaid* mi trial by the French Senate, this at least is sure: The relations between the Allies and the cohrse of the war wouldHave been : q uite different trom what, they Were with men like B """ d an f v h»itieiiceau -at tlie head of ainuis. Until that shot.was fired the one dominating _ figure in 1 lencii nblitics. ' (Cleinencefffi, it is amusing to , recall, was considered a, \fs cauo). Caillaux was master of + tht Uu_ group in the, Chamber and the man who pulled the strings'. . " | 0 f bis wife's-trial-left him still < great, if somewhat storm-beaten, fig" l , 6 m the- world. And. it certainly, abated none of his own enornious behet in him, self which;is the key to his whole character and'the explanation of everythingthat has happened since. • ■' War came, and Caillaux. though u - dor a cloud, was still, mi of nianv Frenchmen, the man tor t c crisis Caillaux himselt was en tilth or their' wav of thinking. The public not know it,then, but glimpses oi <•« - • tain memories have, shown >\rthin last few- weeks how, strongly he felt th» . h e Us Man of Be.tiny on account of his great fl " al '^ l an annv pavrtiaster with the rank.9l , colonel, he "disappeared-^.from .p«blic view' but behind the scenes he was■ active as ever. Within a tew; . was back in Paris mtiigumg foi office m the reconstituted Wai CabineU puUm(! his strings, .snatching.it-the pushing the interests ot Ins friends and Himself! But the men in pouei obdurate. There were U\o. stacles to His 'twith her record of clearing..; .her.;hi - band's enemies out of his path with a revolver, and his own record of frieudlv deals with Germany, the hertditarv enemy. Caillaux found himself - verv sternly left out In the cold and -educod to acting through lu'S -puppet, M'lvev,' Minister of the Interior, who nas since been banished for malfeasance in office, by the very jCoart. appointed off to Soutß imewea .... vague Government mission, d_Sned probablv with the double purrose of getting him out ot the p-iviiin liiiti' the illusion xhat he \ ® 1 dug himself useful. He was humiliated and angry; his uppermost thought was how" to countermine . ! men in power in France who from ho point of view w.ere blind leaders o the blind, rushing their t-'ounti J l o wi.m into disaster. France ■« as allowing herself to be used as Ennlnnd, according to CaiUaux s \> of thinking, and the onlv way out ot the mess was to cut the lo_s a acree quickly with Germany. Caijlaux was convinced -that he «•!- th« man to negotiate the '.dcii|.. + Hi« doings in South America n lUx\y. where he went to seed, proved that he was ooaessed by ttu. Idea that the- sort ot speedy which he thought heconld arrange not too expensively was the only w„y out of France's ' His P in ' .papers show, too, that m ta carrv out his plan, lie had h">SL teriouslv considered the necessity ot declaring himslf dictator. and "growing into all those who were hkelj c-npose him. * . • While all these intrigues were going, on, the public saw and heard little or nothing of Caillaux. Owing to the war and the censorship he was out- ot tin limelight. But he was in people s minds. During the first- three years of war the man in the street was con vincer that Caillaux, the- strong, silent- man, wonld sooner or later bo called in. He was not personally popular. but it became an article of taitn. that he was the one medicure man and miracle worker whom the nation possessed. Even to those who knew how carefully 0 this mvth was fostered by Cailla'ux's friends, its • spread among the public was amazing. . Then came the arrest ot that miserable traitor and mountebank. 8010, iui.fi. the revelation fhsit. Caillaux was his friend and social sponsor. ; This gave public opinion its first shock, Caillaux's own indictment by the military authorities followed', and the 'disclosure that he was on equally familiar terms with Almerevda and other, scoundrels of the anarchist and pro-German, Bonnet Rouge. Then the idol crumbled: into. d'ufjt. It- was these things arid liot. tile accusations coijecniins clumsy-'pacifist- iiltrigue, revealed 'in ' -diplomatic papers produced at his trial which dethroned CailJaux in the public- imagination. He suddenly became the beer-hated man iu France. If he had been tried an*;] shot while-the war lasted there would have been small protest. .But now that the danger is past, public opinion, as in the case of Ma Ivy, probably would be satisfied, with a sentence',-of Iranishmont. . ' , - .

The. Caillaux case no longer excites political passions. Whatever the result of'.his trial, it is -practically cer r tain that Caillaux will'never play again his old part iii public life. T}ie spirit of domination and invincible belief in himself -which were his mastering riualities may r&uain, but even When he made his amazing speech of defence in the. Chamber. December, 1917. <ind wheii he was on the witness stand in the Bplo and Bonnet. Rouge, trials, the note of defeat and failure were hi his high, thin, unpleasant voice. -His old party which; he ruled with a sort of.'haughty, contempt-.-js" scattered. -His old letters to tragi-eoniic wretches like 8010 exploded *forevertb;r ; myth'of the great, strong figure stand.: itig high and aloof among "petty, politicians which was the attitude which he loved to cultivate. ' :■