The Government has determined to prosecute General Boulanger in his
absence, and on Thursday applied to the Chamber for the regular permission. The President read to the Chamber an indictment drawn up by the Procureur- General, in which the General's whole public life is recounted, especially its discreditable incidents, and the deduction is drawn from it, and from certain telegrams to Count Dillon, and from evidence showing that a riotous attack on the Senate had received his sanction, that he is a conspirator plotting against the State. The reading caused almost a riot in the Chamber, the Reactionaries protesting that the indictment ought to be read by the Minister of Justice ; but it was promptly sent to a Select Committee. The Committee at once reported by ten to one that there was ground for a prosecu- tion, and the Chamber, by a vote of 353 to 192, granted its permission. The trial will take place before the Senate, and it is already calculated that this body will consider the evidence sufficient, and will sentence the accused to imprisonment in a fortress, loss of his military grade, and deprivation of civil rights, thus rendering him incapable of election. The justice of the verdict will, of course, depend upon the evidence ; but its importance will depend upon the electors.
