XD2/4185
LETTER: Marie Vernet, [2 rue des Ecuries d’Artois], Paris, to Viscountess [Hill, Shrewsbury]. She thanks her for her letter and says she is happy to have received the approbation of Messieurs Newborough [Lord N. & F.G. Wynn]. She tells her that the chambers have reassembled on Tuesday only; the first meeting was stormy, the ministry being beaten on three points; also the ministers were disorganised, so she is going to wait for a few more days before she goes to see M. Bouvier. She says that in a few days it will be possible to see whether this particular ministry is overthrown or if it is going to stay. She says if it is overthrown then it will be replaced by the Clémenceau ministry with General Boulanger at the War Ministry. She says that this Ministry would be best for her and hopes that it will come [into power] soon. She informs her that the Budget Commission is going to vote for the suppression of censorship, which, she says, only exists to protect the d’Orléans because all the censors are Orléanist. She says she is writing to the Editor of the journal l’Intransigeant, M. Fleuri Rochefort, to obtain the names of the members of the Budget Commission and she is going to see all of them. She is going to prove to them that, by the refusal in April to allow her play to be staged, the Censor is biased in favour of the d’Orléans. She discusses the results of her previous interviews with various officials. She says that M. de St. Michel has written to her several times about documents, and she believes them to be important but she says that she does not wish to press the point at the moment as they are in good hands and she would like to be able to buy them at a low price if possible. She says that General Boulanger will return to Paris in December and she hopes that the people will not let him go away again. She mentions General Ferron setting a [?political] trap for him [G.B.] and that the Caffarel affair was mounted against him. She mentions various plays to discredit General B. which have only served to advance General B. in the public’s esteem. She mentions, in a postscript, that she will talk to M. Spuller only about the play because he is Minister of Arts, but to M. Bouvier she will talk about the play, the confiscation [of the d’Orléans property] and the claim [of the Newborough family], to find out what he suggests be done. French. [N.L.W. Bodfean 76/20.]
Cyngor Gwynedd