The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-01
The Suicide of Henry.

Is the pest tnlng mat COuiu nap
pen TO france. 1t is a blow TO
the French army as terrible and meT-
CHESS as 1t was long deserved. That
vast standing army Of two million men
in the control Of corrupt and conscience
less officers has been an octopus crush
ing the vitality Of the nation. The army
was absolutely supreme. Not by Doodle
but by an elaborate system Of lntlmi-
dalton 1t controlled courts. juries. news
papers. politicians. the legislative assem-
bly,. the clergy itself. The Zola trial
was a revelation TO the world of the
depths of Frances Generalization The
army threatened to demolish the very
fabric OF state IL simple Justice were
done 10 a man whose sole offense was
an attempt 10 secure Justice to another
innocent man. who, on indubitable
proof. was the victim Of a fendish plot.
Civilization does not record a more
brutal infraction Of justice and equity
than was perpetrated at the trial OF M.
Zola. Some officers sc%ornfully refused
10 testify and were applauded for their
impudence. Others resorted 10 perjury.
forgery, every satanic trick their imag-
nations could devise to cover up the
monstrous and repulsive rottenness OF
a scheme that condemned an honorable
man to wear his life away in a distant
prison under a charge OF appalling
odium, that Of treason to his country.
All the officers of the French army
stood by and saw this thing done. Some
were honestly deceived. But there were
men among them who could have Of
fered evidence the sum total Of which
would rave established Dreyfus' limo
cence, and who could have testified
without in the least discriminating them
selves. But "the honor Of the army"
was at stake-they must justify the re-
suits of the court martial rather than
compromise the judgment Of the ON
GERS who conducted it, and expose the
villainy of the officers who brought
the original charge. Such was their
conception Of honor-law, justice. inno-
cent human beings. everything TO be
sacrificed TO maintain the ]apotheosis Of
the army and uphold the infallibility Of
it's chiefs. Civilization. we repeat. does
not record a more brutal lnfractlon Of
Justice.
M pauses and wonders how such
a mockery could be tolerated by the
civilians. The truth is. such is the mill
tary spirit of France that the army is
sovereign in the affections Of her people.
The peasants and the humber citizens,
educated by the press and clergy TO re-
spect the supremacy OF the army. 10 be-
lieve that the nation is invlncible on
land and on sea, execrated Dreyfus as a
German spy and were outraged at the
thought that the army had been in
suited by lola.
Truth IL mighty and will prevail The
dramatic suicide Of Lieutenant Colonel
Henry. arrested for completely in the
plot against lola, is a confession Of
guilt 80 unmlstakable that any further
attempt 10 bolster up the rubbishy evil
dence against Dreyfus will convict the
man who makes II. General Boisdefrere.
an active prosecutor, has resigned, &C
lS~nowledginG hat he was lamentably
uE'EANth' i'ubNlfSN NHtTf VIII ne more
sensational results produced by the ex-
plosion.
II is 10 be hoped that this denoue-
ment Of the Dreyfus case will be as
wholesome as it is theatrical: that the
atmosphere will be cleared; that France
Will be able TO see her militarism in the
right light; that she will recognize the
truth Of De Tocqueville's remark that
"the army is the greatest obstacle to the
foundation and stability Of the republic
Of France and that she viii accept
the cars opportune, but, we fear.
Utopian. invitation to the powers to
come together, shake hands and dis
arm.