THE DOWNFALL OF BOULANGER. A SCENE IN THE FRENCH CHAMBERS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 292, 22 August 1888, Page 5

THE DOWNFALL OF BOULANGER. A SCENE IN THE FRENCH CHAMBERS.

GuisjiK vl Boulamjivß surpiised his friends and enemies on July 12th, by resigning hi& beul in the Chamber of Deputies, where hi a fehoib caieer has been confessedly a faihue. The scene was remarkable. Shortly after his entrance, tlie General took the tribune and moved the adoption oi a resolution for the dissolution of the House. Al. Floquet, Chief of the Council, refused to cnteitdin the motion, and bur&t into a furious diatiibe against Boulanger. He asked by what light ihe man who had been spending his time in the sacristies and ante-chambers of princes, ciiticised the Paihament of the Republicans ? He charged the Genoral with unpatriotic conduct in needlessly disturbing the country and endangering its peace tor pci bonal aim->. Boulanger was thoioughly aroused, and dining the Picmier's speech live times stigmatised him as "an impudent liar," each time raising a otorm ot impiecation amonsj tho member*-. Ho was lepoatedly called to order. The Deputies at length became highly indignant, and there were cries of rage from all parts of the Chamber, the most in&ulting epithets being hurled at Boulanger. A vote ot censuie was moved and seconded amid an uproar ot appioval. Botorc the vote was taken, tho General, piotesting that the liberty of the Tribune "was threatened, tendered his losignation to tho President, and left the Chamber amid derisive cheers and laughter, members following and hooting him to the steps of the palace. He seemed not to have a friend, and the pent-up fury of the Deputies broke forth without restraint. Never was it more merciless. Boulanger may be said to have been driven from che place in a tempest of rage. It wa* expulsion rather than a resignation. The excitement on the boulevards over the affair was intense. A duel between the Geneial and Floquet took place next day.

TUB DUEL— JiOULANUER WOUNDED. The meeting was 1 at Count Dillons country place at Neuilly. Boulangor wai accompanied by Messrs Le Horis&o and Laisant; Floquctby M.IVJ. Clemenceau and Larrin. Four minutes onded the aliair. Rapiers were the weapons. Boulanger excited arid nervous made several passes at his antagonist who did not seem expert, in fact, was extremely awkward. At the second encounter J3oulangerwa& slightly wounded in the leg, and Floquet received a cut on the right hand. The seconds wished to end the combat, but the principals insisted in continuing. On the third bout, Boulangcr,made a desperate lunge at Floquet, who thrust his swovd out straight before him, and held it in that position. As, he made the lunge, tho General received Floquet's rapier iv the

right side of his neck,, making a wound one inch and a half deep, six centimetres at a poirifc between the jugular vein and carotid arbery, severing the phrenic nerve, and narrowly missing ■ the jugular. He staggered, clapped his hands to the wound, and tell unconscious into the arms of his seconds, who carried -him away after his hurb had been bandaged. Boulanger fought desperately and displayed much feeling. He tried very hard to kill his antagonist, and threw himself on him again and again, making desperate plunges at each onset. M. Floqueb, throughout the combat, was cooJ i and collected, but his face was white as a j sheet. Boulanger received the throat wound by his desperation. Floquet, who is almost entirely ignorant of fencing, kept his swoid pointed straight at the General, who actually ran his neck directly on the weapon Thcduel caused in tcneeexcibemenbin Paris and it, is generally conceded that Boulanger by his conduct in the Chambers, and his misfortune in the field has practically ended his career. La France and La Luntcnw have changed front in regaid to him. "How wonderful," remarked Rochefoit, when he heard the result oJt the mooting, " that the youngest general ot the army leb& himself be pinked by a bairibfcernearly sixty years old." Floquet is the lion of the hour. On the atternoon of the day of the duel, he unveiled Uambetba a t«butuc in the Place dv Carrousel, and delivered a splendid oration. A icsolution was introduced into the French Chambers on July 16bh to abolish duelling. Boulanger convalesced rapidly ; but his popularity seems to have declined in the saino ratio. He has met with a crushing defeat in the Departments of Ardecho and Dordogne.