The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-05

man. They would call for a radical
change in the entire system, and pos
sibly for more. This guilt may be
brought home to another or 10 others
without necessarily establishing the
innocence of Dreyfus, who is lost be-
yond help and hope"
COURT MARTIAL ORDERED.
The military governor of Paris, Gen.
Saussier, has ordered the formation of
a court martial to examine into the
charges brought against Count Fondl-
nand ESterhazy the retired mayor OF
the French army who is accused or
writing the letter which brought about
the sentencing of Dreyfus to imp1ison-
ment for Hfe) who is alleged to have
admitted the authorship of letters
published in the Figaro recently re-
fecting upon the French and the
French army The Journal says that
the decision of Gen. Saussier is based
on the report of Gen. PellieuX, who
was appointed by the minister OF war
to examine into the charges brought
against Count EsterhaZy, and which IS
as follows
80 far as Dreyfus is concerned the
case has been tried, no new fact has
been brought to light, and no new
document has been submitted during
the course of the inquiry to justify d
revision of the trial. In consequence,
there is no ground for proceeding
against Count EsterhaZy so far as re-
CARDS the crime of high treason, Tor
which Alfred Dreyfus was condemned. .
The Journals version Of the report,
however. was looked upon as being
simply conjecture, although it agreed
with the general conviction that Drey-
FMS in anv case will not be released
or granted a fresh trial.
This evening, however, a brief official
announcement was given out, as fol-
lows: Gen. Saussier has ordered
court martial to be Instituted for an
investigation into the affairs OF MAJ.
Esterhazy
Both sides profess to be pleased with
the announcement. The anti-Dreyfus
contend that the order of Gen. Saussier
cannot be construed as implying doubt
as to the vitality of the sentence i'm
posed upon Dreyfus, and that the Es-
terhazy inquiry is not concerned with
| the Dreyfus case, but is merely Sc
quel to the inquiry Of Gen. Pellieux.
MAY HELP DREYFUS.
On the other hand, the Dreyfusians
assert the inquiry will necessitate the
introduction of ex post facto evidence
! concerning the handwriting of the
memorandum which convicted Drey-
| fus proving it to be in EsterhaZy S
! handwriting, and they also propose TO
| introduce evidence that documents,
which were not submitted for the in
! spection of Dreyfus or his counsel at
| the time of his trial by court martial
were communicated to the officers COM
posing the court. There seems to be
no doubt that this was done, and law
yers who have been questioned on this
! question say it inValidates the court
! martial.
The preliminary inquiry into the Es-
| terhaZy affair will be made by the
military prosecutor attached to the
court martial, according to the French
| custom, with the view Of determining
whether the charges warrant a court
| martial. 1t is expected the case will
consume three weeks, and the people
are now eagerly discussing whether the
court martial if ordered, will be secret
| or public. The preliminaries are al
ways private but there is great public
! opposition to the court martial taking
| place in private, and the French Of
ficials are also believed to be In fear Of
a repetition of the unpopular phases of
| the Dreyfus trial.
The case of DreyfuS was discussed in
the chamber of deputies today, and
occasionally gave rise to heated utter
ances. A good majority of the depu-
ties, however. sustained the stand in
the matter taken by the government.
M. Anire Gasoline, representing the
! second district of Laon, editor of the
! Cocarde, and formerly one of the warm
| supporters of the late Gen. Boulangef,
brought the matter up by asking the
I premier M. Meline, to reassure, the
public, especially the army, on the sub
| ject to which the premier replied,
There is no Dreyfus affair." and can be
none. " Continuing the premier ex-
| planned that the investigation into the
Estelhazy affair had resulted in plac-
ing him in the hands of military
court, 6. step, he added. which In no
way prejudiced the .ffnality of the We, :
| dict in the Dreyfus case, which was
! neither for the government nor for the
chamber to deal with In the mean
time M Meline further remarked.
Good citizens should respect the au-
thority of judgment given He de-
plored the desire to make the incident
a political question: and expressed the
| hope that his statement would end an
affair which had already lasted too
long. st
ARMY DEFENDED.
The Comte de Nun, the clerical lead
er, expressed regret at the fact that
the minister for war. Gen. Billot was
not present to defend the army, whose
chief of staff was attacked. This re-
mark brought forth loud cheering, and