POINCARE’S VICTORY

Southland Times, Issue 20014, 30 October 1926, Page 11

POINCARE’S VICTORY

HISTORIC FANDEMONIUM. AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION. MEMBER REMOVED BY TROOPS. London, August \2. Members of the French Senate and the Chamber met this week at Versailles for the third time in the history of the Republic to amend the French Constitution. The special correspondent of the Daily Express describes the scene. Pandemonium reigned and the National Assembly was like a “bear garden.” The amendment, as proposed by M. Poincare, will authorise the creation of a sinking fund to reduce the National Debt. Pandemonium broke loose on more than one occasion during the proceedings, which opened at 9.30 in the morning. Senators and deputies were taken from Paris in special trains. Troops lined the railways and the roads as a precaution against disturbances. Senators and deputies were seated in a semi-circle inside the hall where Louis XV. had listened to light opera, with spectators in the galleries behind. M. de Selves, the President of the Senate, opened the proceedings, and it became clear that the entire Left were for violent and persistent obstruction. A GAGGING PROPOSAL. The first outbreak occurred when the Assembly, on a show of hands, adopted the rule of 1871, which rules out of order anything except the Government’s proposals. Communists proposed an ironical amendment regretting the decision, which, in 1924, dismissed M. Millerand, then President of the Republic, and inviting him to preside over the Assembly with M. Poincare, who formerly shared his misfortune. Another diversion was caused when M. Ernest Laffont, leader of a party of three, interjected a stream of flippant remarks, but the first real fight occurred when M. Morinand, the leader of the new group, nicknamed the “Salvation Army,” introduced a gagging proposal that only one speaker should be allowed for each amendment, and should be restricted to fifteen minutes. The entire Left rose in an uproar, and shouts of “Assassin” were heard. The gagging proposal, however, was carried by 515 to 347, after which M. Poincare mounted the tribune and read out the terms of his motion, placing the sinking fund under constitutional guarantees, and reserving for the fund lhe receipts of the tobacco monopoly, inheritant taxes, and voluntary contributions. M. Poincare was received with stony silence by friends and foes alike. He had hardly returned to his seat when pandemonium again broke loose. There were a few more attempts at speech-making, but the words were hardly audible owing to the howls from the Left and the banging of desks, and the /Assembly adjourned without having accomplished anything. A WEARISOME FARCE. When M. de Selves again took his seat at 3 o’clock the Communists and Socialists, on a concerted signal, resumed their obstructionist tactics, and began shouting in chorus “Comedy,” “Farce,” accompanied with the usual banging of desks. The clamour continued, and the President, in despair, rose and ordered another suspension of an hour. The hour’s suspension grew into two, then into three. The Commission was drafting a report. Cries of “Farce!” “Punch and Judy show!” “Where are the clowns?” began to be- heard. France’s National Assembly was in danger of degenerating into an exceedingly wearisome farce, but at 6 o’clock the scene changed suddenly. M. Blum and M. Poincare, before a house thronged to its capacity, engaged in a firstclass Parliamentary duel. M. Blum contended that the Government’s proposal was an empty shell. He declared that M. Poincare’s plans would lead to inflation, famine, and unemployment. Later, while M. Doriot, a Communist deputy was speaking, an exchange of insults took place between him and members of the Right. M. Doriot accused them of wishing to bring about “a blood bath,” and wound up an impassioned tirade with the remark, “the President of this Assembly himself has the murder of many workers on his conscience.” CONDUCTED OUT BY SOLDIERS. M. de Selves, the President, immediately called him to order, but M. Doriot refused to withdraw his remarks. He was then ordered to leave the tribune, but he stood with folded arms, and declined to move. The entire Communist group rose, and supported his action by singing the Internationale, and the rest of the House burst into the "Marseillaise.” There was a pause, and the President ordered the public galleries to be cleared by the ushers. A detachment of soldiers entered the Chamber, headed by a general in full uniform. It was a thrilling scene. The party of soldiers surrounded the obstreperous deputy. The general saluted him, and firmly requested him to leave, and amid indescribable excitement, M. Doriot turned on his heel, and descended from the tribunal. He left the Chamber surrounded by the soldiers. GOVERNMENT’S VICTORY. The Communists kept up such a continuous uproar while the voting on several amendments was taking place by a show of hands that no one could have had the slightest idea for what they were voting. The Government supporters simply followed the example of M. Poincare. The main vote on the amendment to the Constitution was then taken by ballot during a scene which is among the stormiest in the history of French Parliaments. The Communists did not cease singing the “Carmagnole” and other revolutionary songs while excited altercations verging on fisticuffs took place in every part of the House. The sitting was adjourned for threequarters of an hour for the result of the voting to be announced. Then at two minutes past ten it was announced that the Government had attained its ends by 671 to 144 votes —seventy-seven above the requisite two-thirds majority. The Assembly was then dissolved.