DIPLOMATIC SECRETS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2117, 27 June 1907, Page 1

DIPLOMATIC SECRETS.

REVELATIONS OF THE PAPAL LEGATE.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily Alail, under date April 3rd, supplies the following further details of a sensation which figured prominently in the cablegrams of that time:— Extracts from the documents seized at tho "residence of the former. Papal Legate, Algr. Alontagnini, "who was expolled from France on the rupture of relations with the Vatican arising from the separation, of Church and State, have lately, been appearing in tho Paris papers. The most serious statement' was that AI. Clemenceau, the French Premier, could be bought and'a stop put to liis advocacy of the Separation Law- if only the Vatican would pay enough money. Al. Clemenceau has indignantly denied that" he ever gave cause for anyone to suspect him of such an attitude.

It now . appears that some of the later, evidence . contained in the published extracts from Algr. 'Alontaguini’s papers is likely to lead to diplomatic scandals. The representatives in Paris of Spain and Austria have already protested against the role they are 'made -to play by the gossiping Algr. Alontagnini,', anil today it was the tuni of the British Ambassador-, Sir jTpgijcig Bertie/ t'o object to the vfay in ivliich his name lias been mentioned in connection with the affair.

This arose from the publication by the Figaro of Algr; Alontagnini’s .account of a conversation with Sir Francis Bertie in August!, 1905, His Excellency, writes.-Algr. Alontagnini. to Cardinal Merry del Vdl, “recalled. with pleasure his sojourn as Ambassador in Rome, and spoke with some complacence of the. visit of King Edward ,to the Vatican. The King refused'the escort- with which, diiitil the last moment, the Italia.: Government wished;: to provide- him. His Alajesty . thought acceptance would hardly have been agreeable to the august Sovereign whom he was going to visit. “Sir Francis eulogised the English Passionist fathers, who have a chapelat .Rome. - Speaking of the Catholic diplomats in the service of" his equq-tr-y; - he sliqwed little sympathy for the; British Alinister 'at :Lisbon, who recently died, fie said that, his Government .liqd intended to send to Berlin l a Catholic Ambassador, but that the Kaiser.. left it to be understood that he would prefer a Protestant. His reflections. showed a certain ill-

humor against the Kaiser. On the other hand, he. eulogised France as a country which could live solely upon the: productions of its own soil and industry, but criticised Radical legislation. Republicans, he said, ought to ibe opposed to -the separation of Church and State.” Sir Francis Bertie called upon Al. Clemenceau, and it is understood that in the course of the interview with the Premier the British Ambassador formally denied that there was any foundation for the allegations contained in Algr. Alontaguini’s“lette'r, that he (the Ambassador) bad given utterance to the"criticisms of his policy'which that letter attributed to him.

oxplain.” But' ho could oxplain nothing, and telephoned to the Homo Office. AVo have (save the correspondent of tho Daily Telegraph) no authentic record of AI. * Clomencoau’s

answers, but can imagine them. He in liis turn tillg yp General . Ricquui , Minister of War," and-most-prohahly asked what' ill blazes-it was all about. Thq general, who - is imperturbable, merely replied that he would ring up General Dalstein, Alilitary Governor of Paris, and did so. It must be remembered , that* in' tho meantime u dozen, commissaries .of police were successively telephoning to tho prefect of police, who naturally rang up Al. Clemenceau each time to rejiort more arrivals of troops. They came from,-everywhere, from. Paris barracks I and from far Vincennes., The feelings of everyone particularly of Af. I Clemenceau, may bo imagined. Gen- I oral Dalstein, a wiry, thin, ,cut-and- t dried, martinet, never seen .without an I eyeglass rivotted in one eye, having I been rung up by the Alinister of War, I presumably added liis remarks to tho chorus, but at all events he could I throttle tho hoax. He had given no I orders of tho kind, and never heard of any necessity for any such orders, I and thirsted to discover tlie joker. Tho lattor has not been discovered I yet. The troops were called back, and reappeared in barracks, trying I not to look foolish.

The hoax was a marvellous one. A general order must have been give: out from somewhere, as it reached scores of officers. Our old friends the scaromongers, who have been telling "us for years that “Tho Revolution’s coming,” shake their heads, and say that it was no lioax. The Government was’ secretly trying its hand at quelling tho Revolution. But AI. Clemcnccau has issued an official note, saying, that it was a hoax, and there seems no reason to look-upon this as I a mere-diplomatic denial. It is not usual to boast that one was made an April fool of when one was not.

On the following day, however, it was discovered that no one had attempted a hoax, but that tho calling out of the troops was due to a mista'ke. Tlie cause of all tho trouble was Lieutenant-Colonel Bon, second in command of the 12tli Artillery at Vincennes, and the worst of it is that ho did it unintentionally. If lie had meant it as a joke, one would have admired liis. audacity. As it was, he only blundered grossly. ' Orders for calling out troops in the event of strike disturbances had lain for some time in the colonel’s office.. Tho lieu-tenant-colonel casually opened the despatch, saw the instructions, and never noticing that they were drawn up witli a view .to possible .eventuality, had them executed at once. In less than forty-five minutes the orders had been completely carried out. The lieutenant-colonel, in a hurry, might equally well have mobilised the entire French arniy, if he had been in a position to do so. He has been compulsorily retired by the Alinister of War.