FOR A VOICE!

An invitation to travel

On February 26, a major conference was to take place in Rabat between the governor general of Algeria and the residents general of Morocco and Tunisia. All of French North Africa therefore had its eyes fixed on the city of Rabat, where major decisions had to be made.

However, on Saturday 23, while already Mr. Saint, resident general in Tunis, was sailing towards the place of the conference, Mr. Steeg, governor general of Algeria, received from the government the order to abandon without losing a moment his general government, the Rabat conference, Mr. Saint and Marshal Lyautey to rush to Paris.

Mr. Steeg therefore embarked full of anguish, imagining that the very fate of Algeria was in question, and, as usual, he felt seasick. Arriving in Paris, on Monday evening, he rushed at Mr. Maunoury, who, most seriously, explained this to him:

- You are undoubtedly governor general of Algeria, but you are also senator. We do you this justice that, although you are absent, your vote has never been lacking in the government. However, we fear that, repeating a maneuver that has already occurred in the House, a sufficient number of senators will demand, in some important discussion where the question of confidence would be raised, a personal vote from the podium. That's why we brought you here.

- It's to have one more voice! cried Mr. Steeg, strangled with fury.
- Yes, replied Mr. Maunoury with a good smile.

Things stood there and the Governor General of Algeria was not very satisfied when, suddenly, the Senate raised the problem of parliamentary incompatibilities the following day, Tuesday. In truth, no one expected this debate: neither Mr Steeg, nor Mr Maunoury, nor the President of the Council.

We know what it led to and that the senators decided to no longer authorize parliamentarians to abandon their seats for more than six months to fulfill a public function.

As this decision, which in truth the deputies have not yet confirmed, applied precisely to the case of Mr. Steeg, no one doubted, especially in Algeria, that he had come to France to try to prevent this vote of the Senate, which thus took on the appearance of a demonstration directed especially against himself.

Mr. Steeg, who was already not happy about having gotten seasick and having missed the Rabat conference, only to get one more vote for Mr. Poincaré, is even a little more furious to being given the appearance of having wanted to defend his general government and of having failed,
So that, if there really was, one of these next days, a personal vote in the Senate gallery, we should not be too surprised to see the Governor General of Algeria place a ballot in the ballot box. hostile to the government.

Dangeau.