THE "BONNET ROUGE"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 48, 20 November 1917, Page 5

THE "BONNET ROUGE"

STORY OF A PAIUS SENSATION. The case of M. Ahucreyda, editor of the "Bonnet Rogue," a Socialistic Paris newspaper, is one of tho. strangest aifairs Paris has had before it for some time, 'l'hu "Bonnet Aogue," and those connected with it, had lonpr been suspected, und when M. Duval, ono of its agents, was discovered on the Swiss frontier with a* cheque for ,£SOOO in his possession, for which he could not satisfactorily account, suspicion developed into a warrant for the arrest of M. Almercyda. 110 was clapped into prison, where, a few days later, he was found dead on the floor of his cell. Death was due to strangulation, and the circumstances suggested that the prisoner had ended his own life. Kb friends, howevor, took the view that he had been murdered, and strenuous efforts were made by them with a view to discovery of the preciso means by which ho had-been killed, and the exact origin of the deed. Great excitement was aroused in Paris, but in the end the Government officors engaged in the inquiry adhered to their original finding of suicide, and 11. Almereyda's wdow withdrew her demand for a new investigation of the affair from the beginning. But that by no means disposed of the matter. M. Almereyda was in prison because he was suspected of dealings with the enemy, and it has been proved not only that the "Bonnet Rogue" was engaged in a vigorous pence propaganda campaign, but also that its agents were mixed up with widoly-spread agencies for the distribution of pacifist and other German literature. M. Clemeneeau, the well-known politician journalist, has long been engaged in an attack both upon this specifio example'of German influence at work in France and upon the presence in that country of large numbers of persons who ought not to bo at large, and who were at large only because the Government would not act firmly in respect of them. For that reason M. Clemenceau's campaign has always been one against the Government, and it was specifically based upon the Government's refusal to arrest a large number of persons known to bo Anarchists, revolutionary Socialists, and other suspects presumably in the pay of Germany, all of whose names were on a list' in the Police Department. That list 1s now famous as "Carnet B," and "Carnet B" and the Almereyda affair and M. Clemonceau's continuous demands between them have now affected the position of the Government. M. Malyy, Minister of the Interior, has already resigned. and It. Malvy is a strong man, who has held his office through three, or four reconstructions of ttie French Government. It is an offico which, in Franoe, has a good deal to do with the relations between the Government and the workin? classes, and M. Malvy's defence o. himself and hi? refusal to arrest the persons listed on "Carnet B" rest npon the assertion that any such wholesale action would have led, at the outbreak of tho war, to an agitation among the extremists which mkht have been disastrous. The "Bonnet Rouge" affair has proved, however, to be too much for even such a stnlwnrt as M. Malvy, and it is expected that his resignation will be followed by those of other 'Ministers. M. f'lrmenccnu, indeed, is now continuing his attack against IF. T?i.hot himself, the head of the Government, .;nd nrenont indications suggest that anything may happen in tho political world of France.