THE SOCIALIST AGITATION IN FRANCE.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3041, 27 December 1882, Page 2

THE SOCIALIST AGITATION IN FRANCE.

Several persons were arrested in various parts of France on Oct. 21 in consequence of information gathered by the auihorities from documents found in the houses of Bordat and Bourdon, of the “ Etendard Revolutionnaire? a Socialist journal, published in Lyons. The documents are sai 1 to give particulars concerning the organisation of the Anarchist party, the revolutionary movements they are projecting, and the names of the ringleaders of the recent outbreaks at Montceau-les-Mines. In Paris four men were arrested—namely, Crie, a journalist; Yaillat, a printer; Grave, a bootmaker; and Dufourg, a cabinetmaker. M. Emile Gautier, a man of much influence among the Anarchists, was also arrested at the Vaisa railway station, oh his way to Villefranche, Where he was announced to lecture. Among the persons arrested at St. Entienne' is Regis Krapokine, the well-known Nihilist. The arrests at Lyons include Dijoud, editor of the “ Droit Social.” At Montceau-les-Mines, twenty-five arrests were made during the'night of Got. 20, soldiers surrounding the houses while the policemen entered and secured the prisoners. The papers seized on Socialists prove the existence, of an International Dynamite Association'at Genova, headed by Russian Nihilists, with branches and secret signs in France. Hence the Montceau outrages. Several more arrests have been made in connection with the Lyons outrage. Among the men captured by the police is a certain Desgrartges, one of the must notorious Anarchist orators. He is reported to-havo said that he hated tho bourgeoisie, and would be tracked even to the Assommoir, and as that is the name by which the cq/b , under the BeJlecour Theatre is commonly known, it is supposed .he was aware, the dastardly crime was to be committed there. 1 The presumed author of the outrage Las also been arrested. He is a young man, who, h viog recently left Switzerland, was recognised at tho Assommoir. He evidently hoped to avoid notice, as he was disguised. A man -named; Matbieu de Senon, also supposed to have participated in the placing of the. bomb in tho Cafe de BeUeceur, was apprehended at Chalon, A considerable number of women have also been arrested. and tales are told of dynamite being found in passengers’ luggage. Dynamite is not a substance difficult to procure, even at Lyons, which is not far trom a mining district, and it is, moreover, easily manufactured, and need not, therefore, he imported. The fact, however, which stares the Government and society in the face is this—that the dangerous classes who in former times used to resort to insurrection and barricades, have now resorted to the Irish system ’of terrorism by dynamite and nitro-glycerine. Open insurrection and barricades can be dealt with, ” but the introduction of explosive agents as a factor in political agitation .causes dismay in all official circles, as the authorities do not know how to cope with it. The condition of all the victims of the explosion at the Assommoir is rapidly improving. The Government have issued the following notice; “Recent events at Montceau-les-Mines and Lyon have excited public opinion. However, they are so far but isolated acts, but it is beyond doubt that they aro tho outcome of an existing association, having its chief organization and its leaders abroad, and which, unfortunately, has been enabled to clevelope itself in France within the last few years. .At the present day the Government is watching the affairs of that organisation. Public opinion, therefore, should not feel uneasy, since the authorities are firmly resolved to maintain order, and have the fullest means to do so.” But the misfortune is that the people distrust the power and ability of the Government to preserve order and to make their respective agents sure that tlffiy will not be punished for doing their duty. The police functionaries in France, paralysed by the conviction that the Government will not stand by them, and taught by experience, are afraid that the men they are ordered to capture to-day may be their musters to-morrow. That is the real root of the evil. The principle of authority has been deliberately ran down. The Communists have been amnestied ; the f»uh st murderers are reprieved by the President of tho Republic; Bills are laid before tho House to enable the Government todismiss tho judges; and military and civil mutineers are members of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.