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Chapters THE CAILLATIX AFFAIR Justice as a Political Statement Justitia fiat, mat coelum. William Murray,Earl of Mansfield,Judgment, Rex v. Wiltes I The woman sat alone in the waiting room of Le Figaro on the Rue Drouot. Slender, attractive,and well-dressed, she had arrived at 5 P.M. and asked to speak to Gaston Calmette, the editor in chief. After she was told that he was away from the office but expected back at least briefly within an hour, she sat down to wait, her face composed and resolute, her hands resting in a muff on her lap. No one on the staff recognized her, and with the next morning's edition toprepare, there was no time to speculate. At nearly 6 P.M., Calmette finally stepped into the office with his friend Paul Bourget, the novelist. Theywere in a hurry, and Calmette had stopped only to retrieve some papers. Just as he was preparing to leaveagain, one ofhis secretaries handed him a sealed envelope from the woman. Idly ripping it open as he moved toward the door, Calmette suddenly stopped as he read the nameon the calling card:MadameJosephCaHlaux. Theleader ofthe left-of-center Radical party, champion of an income tax for France, opponent of the defense spending that nationalists claimed was necessary to face up to the armed might of Germany, once premier, now minister offinance ,Joseph Caillauxwas the object ofan extraordinary campaignof vilification by LeFigaro. Calmette showed the card to Bourget,who exclaimed , "You're not going to see her?" Calmette answered that he would take onlya few minutes and that he could not refuse a woman. With that, Calmette returned to his office and called for Mme Caillaux to be shown in. As soon as the door was dosed, she said, "You 152 The Hypocrisy of Justice in the Belle Epoque must know why I am here." "But I do not," Calmette replied, rising fromhis seat behind his desk and indicating a chair. "Please sit down." He had hardly completed the sentence when she pulled a .32-caliber Browningautomaticpistol from her muff and began firing at him.There were six shots in quick succession, four of the bullets striking Calmette , who fell in front of the desk. Figaro staffers raced into the office of their editor and found him lying in a pool of blood. While some of them attempted to loosen his garments or called for the police and medical assistance, a few turned to Mme Caillaux, who stood emotionless , the pistol smoking in her hand. When they approached, she warned, "Do not touch me!I am a lady. I have my car outside to ride in to the police station." As they looked dumbfounded, she added, "Sincethereisnojustice inFrance..."andthen left hersentenceunfinished . Ten feet away from her on the floor, a dying Calmette tried to feel for important papers in his coat pocket, called in confusion for "My friends... myfirm ..." and then morecoherently, "What I did, tell them, I did without hatred." While his friends and a physician worked onhiswounds, he lostconsciousnessand died six hourslater. Mme Caillaux, a murderess, rode to the police station in her own car. It was March 16,1914, and the Caillaux affair had begun.' JosephMarieAugusteCaillaux, in whose name many in France saw his wife acting, was born on March30,1863, and bred for politics. The family was from the Sarthe andhad money, some through inheritance and advantageous marriages, the rest through speculation in confiscated church lands during the 1789 Revolution. Eugene Caillaux, Joseph 's father, wasa state engineer who turned topoliticsin 1870, first i. Forthe detailsof the assassination, see LeFigaro, March 17,1914, andPeterShankland , Death of an Editor (London, 1981). With the exception of Jean-Claude Allain's excellent new biography,Joseph Caillaux: Ledtp victorieux, 1863-1914 (Paris, 1978),nothing written by or aboutJoseph Caillaux is entirelyreliable.His Mes Memoires (3vols.; Paris, 1942-47) are self-adulatory and fatuous but generallyaccurate as to event. Prior to Allain , biographical treatmentof Caillaux had been either to deify him or to damnhim. Alfred Fabre-Luce, Caillaux (Paris, 1933), Gaston Martin, Joseph Caillaux (Paris, 1931), and RudolphBinion, Defeated Leaders: ThePolitical Fate of Caillaux, Jouvenel, and Tardieu (New York, 1960)excuse Caillaux's everyfault but usually make up for thislapse in interpretation by factual accuracy. Rogerde Fleurieu, Joseph Caillaux au cours d'un demi-siicle de notre histoirt (Paris, 1951),Paul Vergnet,Joseph Caillaux (Paris, 1918),SeveranceJohnson, The Enemy Within (NewYork, 1919), and above all, Berthe-Eva Gueydan(Caillaux's first wife), LesRots...

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