Bolshevism recorded a first and important success yesterday,

Parliament has taken an impressive step in the direction of Moscow.

Under the eye of the Communist Party, the majority of the Chamber remained deaf and mute to the appeals addressed to its wisdom and patriotism, in a language of very high and sober eloquence, by the President of the Republic, speaking in the name of common sense, the authority of constitutional laws and the higher interests of France.

Only one member of the Soviet party responded with a torrent of invectives and insults to the courageous, noble, skillful and opportune interventions of the President of the Council, Mr. François-Marsal, of the Minister of the Colonies, Mr. Fabry, of the Minister of War, Mr. Maginot, and of Mr. Reibel, formerly a minister in the Poincaré cabinet, all veterans, who, in this parliamentary crisis where they defended the rights of the Constitution and the prerogatives of the supreme power, brought the qualities of composure, loyalty and courage of which they had administered the glorious demonstration elsewhere.

Honor to these men of conscience and heart! Honor to the members of the François-Marsal cabinet who in the vicissitudes of the storm remained closely grouped around their respected leader!

And what can be said of the majority dominated by the dictatorship of the communists? It includes, however, men who, as leaders or as members of previous governments, have weighed the heavy responsibilities that the exercise of power entails, have appreciated the serious consequences that any attack on the fundamental laws of the country entails and have measured the formidable dangers created by the destruction or even the simple undermining of the necessary authority.

They also know, these men, that in the eyes of foreigners, the head of state represents, especially in the aftermath of a world upheaval, the unchanged figure of France in all the majesty of its glorious past and in all the rise of its uninterrupted march towards an ideal of justice, liberty and universal peace.

They are not unaware that on the fundamental principles which have always served as the basis for the action of our domestic and foreign policy, there exists between governments a close solidarity of which the President of the Republic is, for seven years, the indispensable, respected and immutable guardian that the country is threatened with the most lamentable adventures if a revolutionary breach is created in this cohesion which opens the door to all the external and internal enterprises of the enemies of the homeland.

And yet, none of these men has stood up to remind the majority to respect the principles which condition the regular and fruitful government of our country; none of them has stood up to safeguard, especially abroad, in the higher interest of the homeland, the prestige of the first magistracy, now delivered to all the moving fancies of political factions, clubs and committees.

Moreover, they bowed to the Moscow rule, these strange statesmen struck dumb, and if they did not sing with the supporters of Sovietism the verses of the International, they at least mixed their ballot with those of the Communist Party, dragging in their wake certain ambitious Pharisees, recently converted, whose relatives and friends yesterday criticized and will still tomorrow denounce their scandalous cowardice.

The Senate, for its part, has wrapped itself in the neutralist toga of Pontius Pilate. Sheltering in the very serious crisis that France is going through behind the quibbles of a regulation that has nothing sacred about it, it has not even wanted to hear the voice of justice, reason and patriotism protesting against the criminal attack on the irremovability conferred for seven years on the first magistrate of the Republic. It has shied away!

Mr. Millerand, after having exhausted all the legal means at his disposal to ensure respect for the Constitution, descends from power simply, nobly, surrounded by the esteem and sympathy of all good French people. His retirement, which we hope will be very temporary, will be surrounded by the memory of the eminent services that the former Minister of War rendered to France in the most tragic days of its contemporary history.

In the midst of the cowardice that Parliament has just given the odious spectacle of, those who have seen the former President of the Republic at work will say of him: "He is a character!" And counting on his political action tomorrow, they will not cease to have confidence in a better future for the destiny of the fatherland.

General de CASTELNAU.