A Frank Enemy

At least, Mr. Vonoven has modest success. He suddenly remembers that the director of Le Figaro was once called Calmette, and that Mr. Doumergue was not "fair" to him. It is very discreet, like everything our colleague writes, but it is still enough to remind us that Senator Doumergue did not want Caillaux dead, or even condemned.

It is therefore quite embarrassing for the editor of Le Figaro, who was Calmette's friend, to present Mr. Doumergue today as his man; almost as embarrassing as pleading the cause of Millerand, vilified by his "boss", Mr. Coty, in the same newspaper. It takes all of Mr. Vonoven's talent to get away with it; but one sometimes wonders how the subscribers of Le Figaro recognize themselves in it.

They will know, however, from today, that they would be wrong to rejoice in the presidential election. "Let us not be mistaken," Mr. Vonoven wisely observes; "this very important victory" is, all things considered, of no importance. "Mr. Herriot's ministry will not change its program and his letter to Mr. Léon Blum remains, without doubt, the theme of his ministerial declaration." Yes, without a doubt, and that is the essential thing.

Mr. Doumergue's first word was to declare: "No one will be more respectful of the Constitution than I." That was all it took to make everyone understand, and everyone understood, that the new President of the Republic would apply himself to doing exactly the opposite of his predecessor. There was no need to add anything; Mr. Doumergue added, however, to leave no room for ambiguity: "No one will be more inspired by the wishes of Parliament, the expression of national sovereignty, than I." "This is to say clearly that the head of state will do his best to facilitate the task of the new rulers, instead of shooting them in the back or in the legs. We do not ask more of him. In short, we ask the guardian of the Constitution only to be constitutional himself." It seems like nothing, and that is the whole point.

Mr. Vonoven is too clear-sighted to be mistaken, and he feels a little melancholy about it. He barely has the resource left, to console himself, of still calling Mr. Doumergue "the elected representative of the right", with a hesitation betrayed by the quotation marks; but he immediately notes that "Mr. Herriot, as we know, is also a man of the right..." Huh? What does that mean? Wait: "of the right of the cartel". Like that, yes.

"These two men (Messrs. Doumergue and Herriot) will often agree," concludes Mr. Vonoven. He adds, for form's sake: "Too often." But this is to immediately agree that President Doumergue, represented as "the elected representative of the right," is in reality "a republican of the left." Perfect. May the right elect many like him!

So, as Mr. Painlevé says, "the Republic continues"?

Better: it begins.

Gustave Théry