Evening star., 1898-12-03

| suppositions, unexsmined assertions. inqui-
! ries pun sued by fatigued and careless mes
| sengers, all the litter Of dozen perquisi-
| tons. irrelevant and relevant. mix togeth-
| er In this dossier to form a mass, imposing
| to the view-painful to read. Is all that
| against the prisoner? What All that:
This is the tendency: and yet the object
OF the law is not TO overwhelm the inno-
cent. The judge Construction is not the
public pr osecutor. Far from it. his duty is
| to check of the public prosecutor He has
even to step outside the law. and to inform
his conscience of many things in favor of
| the prisoner or against him that would not
| be looked upon as evidence in caurt. These
favorable communications. statements OF
opinion. suppositions moral proofs" and
all the train of inferences. coroiaries and
deductions In the prisoners favor also 20
| to swell the dossier: so that, should any
| body have the time and patience to read
through IL carefully, he would be bound to
say, Why. this accused man has been
| treated with great fairness And who can
say? Perhaps the Judge. in court. will real
ly read 1t through acknowledgements the
case be an important one,
| At It's Best.
| 1t is when the prisoner is white as snow
that the conscience of the juge d'instruction
shows at its best. He is capable. after
| few examinations, of exclaimlng, Here.
drop these proceedings" and to the prison.
er. You have been badly treated. 1t is
shameful. Go in peacer' With a stroke OF
his pen he recommends the public prose-
cutor to exercise his genius along worthier
lines He Is capable. in such a moment of
righteous Indignation. OF suggesting to the
prisoner a counter prosecution of his enc
mics. He will write to the minister of jus
tice in denunciation of the police commits
sary. of the detectives, of the witnesses,
and call down wrath and trouble on them.
In minor matters, too when there Is even
guilt he is susceptible OF pity. He may be
| Influenced in favor of the prisoner by peo-
|
| his conscience also. "Tf the prisoner has
such good friends he hears his conscience
say, there must be something good about
the prisoner" Or has the guilty man con-
fessed? The juge d'instruction will say to
him, You have had the good sense to save
me trouble. l will make things easy for
YOU" 1t is against the obstiaate that he is
terrible. The obstinate lie in Jail for months
before they come to trial They may be
kept all day empty stomach. to be
questioned in the evening when they are
tired out and broken. The obstinate have
a bad time before French Justice.
Finally Before Judge and Jury.
OF course there comes a time when even
the most obstinate get out of the hands of
the fnquisitor Accused men must some day
get before judge and jury. even in France.
When this moment comes, the first act of
the prisoners lawyer is to run and study
up the dOssier Then he obtains permission
to speak with his client. 1t is an affecting
meeting. Like spiders with their web al
torn and damaged, or, like little birds that
find their nest almost demolished. they
must hustle with feverish energy. That
refuge for the guilty called the anbi, so
justly famed in Anglo Saxon justice. is ex
tremely likely to have been laid waste be
forehand. The powers and methods of the
| inquisition are unfavorable to 1t. The juge
d'instruction has been the first upon the
ground. No the lawyer sadly shakes his
head, you cannot claim that you were
somewhere else At one of your eXamina-
tons you admitted so and so. And at an
other you said so and So. The influencing
Of the prosecutions witnesses is also made
delicate affair The juge dinstruction has
already turned them inside out. Witnesses
who would have asked better than tc
help the prisoner excuse themselves with
mournful resignation. How could we know
what to testify?' How could they? They
were ignorant OF what the prisoner was
saying. The tuge dnstruction deceived
them even. THE prisoner has said and
So, he told them, when the prisoner had
not. The witnesses have said and So
he told the prisoner, when the witnesses
had not. The spiriting away of witnesses is
also less encouraging in France than In
land OF fair play for the guilty. In the alb.
seRce of the witness they will read his de-
position. 1t is in the dossier. And It is un-
checked by any cross-examinatiou.
Ugly scenes in Court.
All this leads to an extraordinary amount
Of downright lying. The defense must build
its structure up the testimony of new
witnesses. The new witnesses are there in
crowds. That is Her the prisoner will
cry in open court And then his witnesses
will prove It, Rival witnesses are made tc
stand up face to face and fight a duel of
"'-~-1S. ~ whi"h the i'does al ~ low
yers cannot hope to follow them. In these
scolding matches all the rules of evidence
Don't yod know that you told me such
and such thing ar such and such time?"
No; that Is dirty story fabricated by
yourself. and your face shows IT. On the
contrary, l refused to speak to you. had
been warned against you by my friends"
warned against me by your friendsi Do
You want to know what one OF those friends
of yours said to me about you?"
Better than they say about your faith
er--"
Stop the presiding judge will thunder.
Ihe Zola trial was full of these recrimi-
nations, one OF which has now become his
torical. 1t was when Picquart and Henry
were confronted with each other For ff-
teen minutes Picquart answered Henry's
insulting questions with the most admirable
self-control. Then he turned on hi. accuser
with flood of questions of his own For
nfteen minutes more thers was a quarrel
such as you might see In a cafe Then
You lie!'
The Real Arbiter.
You ue"'
This is the phrase OF last resort before
French justice. When the row is over.
when the smoke has cleared away, when
everything that every one has said is tum-
bled up in everybody's mind, when nudge |
and jury both begin to wonder what the |
trial is all about then the hour OF the tuge |
Constructions triumph is at hand. The |
dossier In which he had already tried the |
case lies there before the court. 1t is clear. |
calm and consistent. Gratefully the Judges
read 1t through while rival lawyers work |
the jury up with oratory. AS the Judges |
read 1t they begin to understand the case |
again. 1t is from the dossier that they |
take their last bias. 1t is from the dossier |
that the presiding judge makes up the |
formal questions for the jury to decide. |
There is no summing up" The presiding |
Judge says to the Jury, 'Messieurs. YOU |
have heard the evidence On il YOU must |
decide the following questions. Is such-aud- |
such the case? Is such and such the case? |
Is such and such the case?' But these |
questions have been made UP from the
dossier. 1t Is the bias of the dossier that |
steers the case to It's conclusion I,ha h,,r,,