ON MONDAY the office of the Figaro in Paris was the scene of a shocking tragedy, when the Editor of that journal was murdered by the wife of the Minister of Finance, M. Caillaux. The motive of the crime was Madame Caillaux' anger against M. Calmette for his long and persistent opposition to her husband, and the series of damaging articles which he had published in the Figaro. M. Calmette's charges were repeatedly denied by the accused Minister, and even his opponents appear to have doubted whether the truth of them could be sustained. Further revelations may put a different complexion on the matter. M. Caillaux, immediately on hearing of the crime his wife had committed, tendered his resignation to M. Doumergue, the Premier, saying that his political career was ended. That career included a six months' tenure of the Premiership, from June 28, 1911, to the following January, but the Morocco affair and the charge that he had conducted private negotiations during that crisis led to his resignation of the post. In the Waldeck-Rousseau administration, as in that of M. Doumergue, he held the portfolio of Finance Minister.

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