The Independent. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1895-1905, 1898-06-22
THE DREYFUs AFFAIR.
An Address by Ferdinand Hede-
mann, a Graduate From Oahu
College, 1898.

III BOON sIouulhBS WhhOu'
blemsh upon his reputation is
suddenly arrested, tried by secret
tribunal, and sentuced to
life imprisonment upon de-
desert island. And this happened
in France, under a republican gov
eminent and in the closing years of
the nineteenth century.
In the fall of 1894 a French spy
found in the waste-basket of the
German Embassy at Paris an un-
signed paper describing portion of
the French Notifications. Had the
memorandum been genuine, it would
hardly have been discovered ia a
waste basket. 1t was without doubt
piece Of manufactured evidence by
means of which French detective
might earn a few hundred francs,
The statement was published, ex-
element followed and some victim
must be offered up as a sacrifice.
Taking advantage OF the strong
anti-Jewish feeling, the authorities
charged that the document was in
the handwriting of Captain Alfred
Dreyfus.
He was an able officer, a student,
and we learn that he was peculiar
ly happy in his family life, having a
devoted wife and loving children.
He had no object in betraying his
country's defenses to Germany, but
from the moment OF his arrest he
was a doomed man. The ministry
seemed determined to convict him.
OF the five experts examined, three
held that it was the handwriting Of
Dreyfus and the two others the con-
trary. Upon this slender thread he
was convicted, sentenced to life linz.
prisonment and branded as traitor
to his country. "Ne
He was not allowed a public trial,
nor confronted with the witnesses
against him, nor permitted to have
witnesses in his favor. Before his
counsel could finish a plea for de-
Tense, the trial was absolutely con-
cluded. He was found guilty, and
as the sentence was pronounced
upon him the young officer bowed
his head in his hands and sobbed
bitterly, knowing the idleness of any
protest.
The mind of an Anglo-Saxon re-
volts at such a scene. The constitu,
ton Of the United States repeats the
English common law that Gin all
criminal prosecutions, the accused
shall enjoy the right of speedy
and public trial by an impartial
jury, to be informed of the nature
and cause of the accusation, to be
confronted with the witnesses
against him, and to have compul-
sorry process for obtaining witnesses
in his favor"
After the sentence Captain Drey-
fus was marched in disgrace before
the French troops into the court
yard of the military school at Paris
Here, in the presence OF his regi-
ment, the ornaments, decorations
and buttons were torn from the coat
that covered his Inflated shoulders,
his sword was broken in two, and
his degradation having thus been
completed he was sent to the Island
of the Devil, off the coast of French
Guiana in South America, to be kept
like Gagged animal.
There, separated from his beloved
wife and the tender love of his
children, from his friends and from
civilization, Dreyfus is spending his
days in solitary confinement, sus-
tanned only by the knowledge of his
innocence. Such an outrage upon
the rights Of free citizenship can
happen in France, but could not
happen to the American or to the
Englishman,
Charles l. by his Star Chamber
Acts caused his own overthrow and
death. 1t was the lettres de cachet
that brought about the rebellion
known as the French Revolution in