Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09

Poor Dreyfus, Poor France, Through
the miserable man standing at the bar of
so-cailed justice the republic has been dealt
q heavy blow. Twice the scene has been
enacted and at what cost, The wrong
is the greater now than In the first in
stance, for this verdict of guilty has been
rendered in the full light of day, with
every flssure in the texture of alleged
proof gaping wide before the eyes of all
civilization.
Had Dreyfus never been retired there
might have remained some question to
his innocence, strong as the sentiment in
his favor may have been both in France
and abroad But now that he has had
second trial. publicly conducted. his fnno-
cence is practically established in the
worlds mind as definitely though the
whole fabric of fraud. forgery, perjury and
conspiracy which has been raised to perse-
cute him had tunbed to the ground leav-
ing the real traitors exposed.
Thus by a paradox, possible only in
France it is to he hoped, the verdict of
conviction now rendered by the court at
Rennes has effectually cleared Dreyfus be-
fore the world and indicted the French
army as corrupt and incompetent and
menace to the stability of the republic.
The cheers for the army which We're raised
outside the Lycee today when the verdict
was announced will echo harshly in the
ears of posterity.
1t is futile to point out how utterly I'M
warranted is this verdict in defiance of
all the rules of proof, ali the requirements
of justice, all the dictates of reason. All
that stands established in the case of the
prosecution is that Captain Dreyfus was
officer duty with the general staff, with
certain degree of access to the secret
tl.,
facts intimately connected with his pro-
feSSion and his duties.
Out of this has come the solemn asser-
ton that the man is guilty. Why? Be
cauS. some else wrote reasonable
memorandum which found in the Of
flee of a foreign attache in Paris That is
the case 1t is difficult to believe that the
court OF cessation will permit this verdict
to stand. The court-martial has not fol-
lowed the principles of revision, and there
is the clearest ground for appeal At
every stage in the proceedings counsel for
the accused have encountered bitter OPP
position to the revelation of the truth.
Were the case in American or English
German hands it would be over-ruled at
first review.
But the misfortune is that this verdict
is a challenge by the army to that part of
crisis, to the Dreyfusards and to the ra-
tionai believers in republican institutions
1t is an insult to Germany, for it declares,
in almost set terms, that the five officers
who voted for conviction reject the formal
declarations of Dreyfus innocence which
have teen uttered by the German minister
for foreign affairs and the German am
bassador at Paris. Thus there is the men
ace OF both civil and outbreak with
Germany, and those results freely pre-
dicted
The sympathy which the world feels for
Dreyfus, thus twice condemned without
proof, cannot be adequately expressed. His
terrible sufferings on DEVILS Island have
weakened him physically and mentally. He
Is in danger of an utter collapse, perhaps
of depression leading to suicide. Yet it is
10 be hoped that he will have faith and
bear up. He is not yet lost. The outside
world can do nothing in his behalf, but
France can, and there is honor left in
France, and the truth may yet prevail
The triumph of justice, however, would be
complete only with the full truth told in
exoneration of Dreyfus during his lifetime.