The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-01-26

Lieutenant-Colonel du Patty de Clam, who
has managed everything, directed every
thing. His hand is known from his pre-
posterous expedlents. Next it is General
de Boisdeffre, it is General Gonse, 1t is
General BilIot himself; they are indeed
Obliged to bring about the acquittal of
the major, since they cannot allow the
innocence of Dreyfus to be acknowledged
without the war offices crumbling beneath
public contempt And the beautiful re-
suit of this Drodigious situation is that
the honest man in the affair, Lieutenant
Colonel PicqUart who alone has done his
duty, is to be the victim, the one to be
beaten and punished. o, justice. what
fearful despair seizes hold upon our
hearts! They say even that il is he who
is the forger, that he has fabricated the
letter-telegram to destroy Esterhazy. But
great God, why? TO what end? Give a
single motive. Is il because he, too, has
been paid by the Jews? The fine part of
the story is precisely that he was an an
ti-Semite.
How was it possible to hope that
council of war would undo what coun-
Gil of war had done?
They have pronounced an Ubiquitous SEN
tence. which will forever weigh on our
councils of war, which will henceforth
throw suspicion on all their decisions.
The first council of war may have been
without understanding; the second IS
necessarily guilty. It's excuse, 1 repeat it,
is that the supreme chief had spoken,
declaring the sentence once given to be
beyond attack. holy and superior toCmen,
so that no interiors could speak to the
contrary. They talk to US Of the honor
of the army; they wish US to love it and
respect it. All! surely, the army which
would rise up at the first threat and
defend the land of France is the whole
people, and we have for it only tenderness
and respect. But there is no question Of
that. whose dignity we most wish in our
need of justice. There is question Of the
sword-of the master which they may
give us tomorrow. And, to kiss the sword
handle as our God-oh no!
I have elsewhere proved that the Drey-
fus affair was the affair Of the war of
ffces-a star officer, denounced by his
comrades of the staff and condemned I'M
der pressure from the chiefs of staff.
Once again, he cannot come forth inno-
cent without the whole staff being guilty.
Accordingly, the officers, by every mag
Unable means, by press campaigns, by
communications and influences, have COW
cred Esterhazy only to destroy once again
Dreyfus. How many men I know who,
at the thought of a possible war, tremble
with anguish, knowing in what hands our
l. ell hot
nest Of intrigues, of gossip, and job
berry, has become that holy asylum in
which must be decided the fate of our
country. They are frightened at the
terrible light thrown on all this by the
Dreyfus affair-this human sacrifice Of
poor wretch, a dirty Jew!
Truth, justice, which we despise so pas
sionately-what distress to see them thus
trampled on, misunderstood, obscured! I
imagine the revolution which must have
taken place in the soul Of NJ. Scheurer-
Kestner; and I believe that he will end
by feeling one remorse-that of not hav-
ing acted as a revolutionist on the day
of his question in the senate, by giving
forth all that he knew, to throw every
thing to the ground. He has been the
grand old man of honesty, of a loyal life;
he believed that truth was sufficient unto
itself, especially when it appeared to
him shining in full daylight 1t is the
same for Lieutenant Colonel Picquart,
who, from feeling of high dignity has
not wished to publish the letters of Cen
eral Gonse. These scruples honor him all
the more that, while he remained re-
spectful of discipline, his superiors were
covering him with mud, and themselves
were drawing up a prosecution against
him in the most surprising and insulting
manner These are the two victims, two
brave men, two simple hearts, who have
left all to God while the devil was act
ing.
This then is the simple truth, Mr.. Pres
ident, and it is fearful, it will remain
stain on your presidency. I fear, indeed,
that you have no power in the matter,
that YOU are the prisoner of the consti-
tuition and of those who surround you.
None the less you have the duty as
man. you will remember it, and will full
fill it.
But my letter is long, Mr.. President,
and it is time to bring it to an end.
I acuse Lieutenant Colonel du Patty de
Clam of having been the diabolical work.
man of the judicial errOr-unconsciously,
I wish to believe-and of having after
wards defended his nefarious work, dur
ing three years, by the most preposterous
and culpable Vaccinations
I accuse General Mercer Of having be-
come an accomplice. at least, by weak
ness of mind, of one Of the greatest in
EQUITIES of the century.
I accuse General Billot Of having had in
his hands the certain proofs of the limo
cence of Dreyfus and of having stifed
them. of having made himself guilty Of
the crime of treason against humanity
and Justice. for a political end, and to
save the compromised staff.
I accuse General de Boisdeffre and Cen
eraI Gonse of having made themselves
accomplices in the same crime, the one
doubtless through clerical passion. the
other perhaps through that esprit de
corps which makes the war Offices the
sacred ark. never to be attacked.
I accuse General de roellieux and Major
Ravary Of having carried on an Ubiquitous
Investigations mean an investigation of
the most monstrous Partially, of which
we have. in the report Of the second, an
imperishable monument Of naive audac-
ity.
accuse the three experts in handwrit-
ing. Messrs. BeIhomme, Varinard and
Coflard Of having made living and fraudu-