SITUATION IN FRANCE.

Waikato Argus, Volume VII, Issue 475, 17 August 1899, Page 2

SITUATION IN FRANCE.

CIVIL WAR FEARED. MASSACRE THREATENED. [united press association], (by electric telegraph—copyright). Paris, August 15, M. Casimir-Perier, confronted with General Mercier, stated that his conversation with the Minister for War in 1894 created the impression that the iucident with regard to Germany was completely closed. General Mercier interjected, " General de Boisdeffre can corroborate the mobilisation order." M. Casimir-Perier replied, "I re« fuse to reply to General Mercier's insinuations." Labori was walking to the Court when a ragged miscreant leaped from behind a wall aud fired at him. The bullet lodgtd in the posterior region of the thorax. The assailant ran off shouting, " I hare killed Dreyfus." The sentry and gendarmes stationed about the Court pursued him. Twenty-five members of the Patriots' League have been arrested so far. M. Guerin, President of the AntiSemite party, and M. Max Algis, exMayor of Algiers, who is aho a notorious anti-Semite agitator, are still barricaded in their houses. They threaten to have recourse to revolvers and boiling oil if attempts are made to dislodge them. M. Labori is weak and feverish. It is believed a plot was designed with the object of stealing documents in the possession of the defenoe. His assailant stole from M. Labori's pocket a letter containing threats against him. The police, prior to the attempt on M. Labori, were warned that General Mercier's life was threatened, and were thus put on the wrong scent, enabling M. Labori's assailant to escape. The Cabinet was hastily summoned after the attempt, and devised special measures for safety. All the newspapers reprobate the crime; and urge recrimination. The Nationalists express apprehension of civil war. The Temps says perhaps the outrage was the one thing needed to restore Frenchmen to their senses. The Dreyfusites consider the use of the. revolver synonymous with a lost cisse. M. Dcmange, the colleague of M. Labori, in the defence of Dreyfus, announced that Labori's wound was not serious. London, August 15. The Daily News says the Patriotic League intended to seize the editors of the Republican and Socialist newspapers, clear the Elysee of Ministers, ousting General de Gallifet in favour of an Orleauist nominee. The leaguers relied on a prearranged understanding wit!} a portion of the troops. The Paris correspondent of the Times regards the disabling of M. Labori as a national calamity, and says M. Demanga's cross-examina-tion of military witnesses is pitifully weak. The correspondent censures M. Dupuy for not punishing Deroulede in February at the time of the late President Faure's funeral, when he attempted to provoke a rising. He says Deroulede then had fifty thousand francs in his pocket, intended to provide troops, under General Roget, with drink, while he himself intended to seize power.

Prior to the attempt on M. Labori, an official at Rennes declared the Patriotic League was preparing a Dreyfusard massacre of Saint Bartholomew.

(Received August 16,10 a.m.). Paris, August 15.

Generals Billot, Zurlinden and Chanoine testified that they were still convinced of Dreyfus' guilt, but adduced no proof, When M. Lubori fell, two accomplices of his assailant stole his bag containing papers. It is believed the object of the crime was to prevent his cross-examination of the generals. M. Labori is sleepless and suffering intense pain. It is feared his side is paralysed.