Show NATIONAL SCANDALS france should be pretty well purged of her great scandal by this time certainly she has not sought bought by devious methods methode or at all to modify the shame which she undoubtedly felt in the presence of the nations nor to screen the actors in the rascally bustness business the appeal taken by Cli charles de lesseps M barbut and aad M blondin did them no good whatever unless postponing the operation of their sentences for the time being can be so considered for or the judgment of the trial court was affirmed that of the six other participants being reversed there is still however as shown by an eastern much left undone in that connection that it thinks should have been looked after for instance the deputies to the number of who were bribed are untouched floquet and de freycinet accused of complicity with the panama directors in using panama money for political purposes and in other ways way 8 have resigned their respective portfolios but have not been brought to trial arton the agent employed in bribing the do deputies was suffered buttered to escape and has not been found the deputies who were corrupted still retain their seato and vote solidly for the government in the hope of retaining it in power until the next general election which takes taken place some months hence by which time with the close of the trials it to is thought that the excitement over panama will have subsided we can see no good reason why it should not subside the nation has gone about as far as practicable in the matter it would be an exceedingly difficult if not impossible task to follow up and prosecute every person connected with the panama job and after making full exposures of all and prosecutions of the ringleaders ring leaders to go further in that direction would seem to be vindictive ness as well as a wanton waste of the peoples people 99 money and public offic officers erst time our temporary oo however refuses to be comforted ait oit it has been demonstrated it say that over two millions of francs were distributed among the deputies and the paris and provincial newspapers for their concur renoe rence in and support of the lottery bill the journals so subsidized number some hundreds those supporting the government receiving three hundred thousand francs of panama money during the excite ment as secret service money besides the vast amount paid to opposition journals by the agents of the panama directors in the shap ahapa of costly advertising for the influence of their editorial columns these journals steeped themselves in corruption but alleging that hat their transactions with panama were simply matters of bu business ainess have never ceased to denounce the government for consenting to the panama trials which it certainly did most moist reluctantly and have sought in every way to minimize the result the attacks on it nevertheless have been incessant and in every way the panama directors have been defended for their acts acte 22 except for the innuendo contained in the foregoing lines there can be no successful denial of them the directors were defend edof course it would have been a very uncivilized performance it if they had not been there must be a defense as well as a prosecution in order to have a fair trial it to is admitted that their principal if not their only guilt was an ardent faith in the ultimate success of the work they had undertaken sod and too generous a weakness in submitting to the crowd of blackmailers that surrounded and strangled them very well the important element of interest to defraud is thus weakened if not destroyed and it to is a very indifferent sort of offense in which that element is not conspicuous when we chiok of our own national scan scandals daN or some of them the credit Mo bilier the pacific mail subsidy and the star route matter for instance and compare the prompt energetic and determined manner which characterized the procedure of our early ally with our puny and halfhearted half hearted efforts it does seem as though the less jew we said on the subject the better off we would be |