The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-03-18

lNHA N-AAAAn AhHNAA AAENaAAN Wv NAN vs.
of the nineteenth century.
Nothing could be more natural than
each days proceedings should have in
creased the number Of those who be-
Here Dreyfus innocent and Esterhazy
guilty. But worse was the conviction.
forced by the methods employed in the
Zola trial upon every impartial mind,
that the heads .of the army, having
something Of a grayely compromising
nature to conceal, would shrink from
no means ever so desperate to accom-
plish their purpose, When the trial of
lola proceeded upon the assumption
that the accused party was guilty and
had TO prove his innocence, instead Of
assuming, according to our principles
Of justice, that he must be regarded as
innocent, unless hrs guilt We're proved,
it acted only according to the establish
ed French rule, strangely antiquated as
that rule may be. But when General
de Pellieux, a witness, successfully
clamored for the exclusion of testimony
required for the establishment Of Zolas
innocence, ON the ground that its adj
mission would be derogatory to the dig
nifty Of the army, and when General
Boisdeffre, also a witness, addressing
the jury exclaimed, You, gentlemen
Of the jury you are the nation here, for
You represent it, and. if the nation has
not confidence in the chiefs Of the army
let it say so, and we are ready to leave
to others the burden Of our responsible
ityl" they demanded nothing more nor
less than that the cause Of Justice to
the citizen should be subordinate to the
interests Of the army and that demand,
as it was obeyed by the court and the
jury, may properly be called a blow
struck at the most fundamental princi-
pies Of free government.
But the heads of the army went even
farther than this. Taking advantage
Of the circumstance that Dreyfus is a
Jew-a circumstance which, in the first
instance, may have induced them to
select him as a scapegoat-they called
to their aid the autf.semitic feeling, the
meanest and most hideous remnant of
medieval b]arbarism, which never an
pears on the surface without an exhibi-
ton Of the basest impulses Of humanI
nature, casting a dark shadow of dis
grace on our boosted Christian civiliza- 3
ton. And forthwith the shril cry oil
Down with Jewsl was mingled with
cheers for the army on the streets of
Paris, while in the provinces that CIV
actually excited the populaoe to piIlaee
and murder, No less significant was
the alliance on this occasion between ;
the army seeking to maintain its power !
and prestige, and the most unruly and :
dangerous elements of the population, I
represented by 80 inveterate an enemy !
OF all orderly government as Henri
Rochefort the professional defenders
of law and authority and the profession.
al revolutionary d~isturbers, 80 to sneak.
locking arms and uniting in one cry
against those who sought only truth |
aad j%usticel In all her internal com. 9
motions France has hardly ever bebeld !
2 spectacle more grotesque and alarm. {
ing than this. Thus, through moral .
terrorism and the excitement of the
bad passions Of the multitude. the a
chiefs Of the army overawed Judge and b
jury and carried their point. But thew i
have not put the trouble to rest It is
the Prime Minister, who, there is I
good reason for believing had watched c
proceedings with extreme diseom Y
Tort, obtained in Parliament, after an I
appeal for peace and quiet a vote sinh.
5tantially ratifying what had happene8
sat the Dreyfus case will rise M again
Ike B%oalp0's ghost, to torment tba n
government and the nation in a variety !,
Il torms-not only in the appeal to tbe
curt Of last resort entered by lola bntIb
.tter that in the protests Of conscience
when are sure to come from tba
thoughtful and self~-respecting citizens il
I The republic and then perhaps in
more daring demonstrations Of the q
raetorian spirit in the army. what
{ last may be the upshot Of the he. N
.lidering confusion and Generalization
public sentiment in France Dobodv
toratell The army has fatsnv
aFt ls moral prestige by the methods AZ
foI maintaining it, The gap. 60
ais viii inevitably discover this + ba
oy no means improbable that thew bo
Jay think Of restoring that prestige iii
the desperate ezpedient Of some 81
ailEe enterprise on a great seale an
q scheme may indeed be foila5 az
only by the peaceful disposition ~ ms
e French people generally but bv fbe Wa
osslan friend, who has bis own policy ssI
who win no doubt make them Il
ldsrstand that the Russian anianoslb I'd.
HI surely be forfeited by any foolish pR
ntare % their part BIT the atua- TAI
7n is full Of dark possibilities. and tie BoI
-eneh people, WHEN they come 90
elF senses viii have learned once tie
ore what y means 70 have 4 large
lnaing army in q republic Carl
hurz tn Harpers Weally. Pr
tHr
+ : better e lose ten warships III 4 aei
apaal way than = have one var
SPIRIT q peace should hover over Pr