The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-14
LETTERS OF CAPT. DREYFUS.
STORY or HIS SUFFERING As WRIT
TEN TO HIS WIFE.


Cannot lie the Letters of IA Guilty
Nan-says They Have Attained the
Sublime in Sorrow-He Was sdn
san%uine the Day Before His
TrfnI.
New York, July 11.-Emile Zoa
may be somewhat prejudiced when
1T comes to critic.sing the let
tors Of Alfred Dreyfus. but it is certain
that the letters in many respects bear
witness 70 the truth of his statement
This IS how lola described them: '"They
are admirable. | do not know of any
pages Of a higher conception or more elo-
quent They have attained the sublime in
sorrow, and afterwards will endure like
an imperishable monument when our own
writings, perhaps, shall have passed into
oblivion. For they are the sob itself of
an human suffering. The man who wrote
these letters cannot be guilty Read them,
read them some evening, with your fam
lily gathered around your hearthstone. You
viii be dissolved in tears"
The Dreyfus affair hitherto has been
Ike novel without hero-that is, the
hero disappeared in the opening chapter
ana il has taken ever since to develop
the plot ana work up a climax which
is almost without parallel for its dramatic
quality. Enter the hero. mete, out justice
10 the villain and the world is satisfied
These little plays with Destiny, the great
est and most artistic stage manager the
world has ever seem never fail of their
effect, and there is more joy in the world
over the happy ending to this great his
torlc play the Dreyfus affair, than could
be derived from the best novel or short
story in the world, because the degrade
ton Of this innocent man was a thing
which came home with startling power
to all peoples. The hero of the tragic
story was lost sight of after in the first
chapter. II was known where he was and
that was almost all. The scene of the
story as told hitherto by the newspapers
was laid almost altogether in France. OF
the scenes laid in Tile du Dable, and of
the feelings which ruled in the heart of
a man, torn from his family and his hon
or, the newspapers have not been in a po-
sition to speak 1t had been left entirely
to our imagination to piece out that part
of the story until the publication of Capt
Dreyfus' letters to his wife closed the
gap and completed the sad history of Taf-
faire Dreyfus.
In Dreyfus' own Words.
The translation of these letters, which
Harper x Bros. are about to publish under
the title of The Letters of Dreyfus TO
l-ls Wife gives us for the first time the
story In the prisoners own words; and il
IS a story that for pathos, tragedy de-
spair and true Spartan herosm is unsur-
passed in The annals of either history or
Hction. The arrest, which took place on
the 10Th of October 1894, came upon Drey-
tus like bolt out of a clear sky For
almost two months the liberty of writing
even to his wife was forbidden, but on
Dec the longed-for permission was OBJ
tanned, and thereafter letters passed be
tween husband and wife daily, and some
times almost hourly, until he was removed
to Devils Island. The letters published
in this volume cover the period from Dec
s. 1894 to March 3, 1898.
It goes without saying that the entire
correspondence should be read 10 appreci-
ate their pathos and the hopeless tragedy
of the writer's lot. The extracts which
this article contains VIII give some con-
ception of their general character. They
also give for the first time an intimate
insight into the heroic soul of their au-
thor 1t viii be, perhaps, best to begin
with the second letter of the series, dated
Dec. 5, 1894, when Dreyfus as yet had
HIM.
The Prisoners Feelings.
81 am waiting with Impotence for a let
ter from you. You are my hope; you are
my consolati ton were ii not for you life
would be a burden. Al the bare thought
that they couM accuse me of a crime so
fr.ghtful SO INDUSTRIOUS my whole being
trembles; my body revolts against it, To
have worked all my life for one thing
alone, TO aVenge my country, to struggle
for her against the infamous ravisher who
has snatchcd from us our dear Alsace,
and then TO be accused of treason against
that country-no, my loved one, my mind
refuses TO comprehend it, Do you remem-
Der my telling you how, when l was in
Mulhouse, ten years ago, in September, 1
heard a German band under our windows
celebrating the anniversary of Sedan2 My
grief was such that / went; l bit the
sheets Of my bed with rage, and | swore
an oath to consecrate All my strength, all
my intelligence, to the service of my
country against those who thus offered
insult TO the grief of Alsace
NO, no. | wiA not speak of it, for l
shall go mad, and l must preserve al my
reason. Moreover my life has henceforth
but one aim: TO find the wretch who has
betrayed his country; to find the traitor
for whom no punishment could be too Sc
we're. oh, dear France, thou that l love
with all my SOUL with an my heart! thou
to whom l have consecrated all my
strength, all my intelligence, how could
one accuse me of a crime so horrible! L
viii not write upon this subject, my darl-
ing; for sDasms take me by the throat.
No man has ever borne the martyrdom
that l endure. No physical suffering can
be compared to the mental agony that
feel when my thoughts turn 10 this accu-
sation. If l had not my honor 10 defend,
l assure you that | should prefer death;
at deast, death would be forgetfulness.
Write TO me soon. My love TO ALI
Alfred"
Was Still Sauguine.
From the letter written on the day pre-
ceding his trial 1t is seen that he was still,
after two months Imprisonment, sanguine
and hopeful, with never a doubt about
his ultimate acquittal II is in striking
contrast 10 the letter written after the
triai, when the worst had happened and
The nightmare had come true. We sub
join both letters;
al last l am coming TO the end of my
sufferjngs. to the end of my agony To-