The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-12
FRANCES MORAL SEDAN
PULPIT AND PRESS CONDEMN
THE JUDGES.
FRANCE HERSELF is NOW ON TRIAL
The Rennes Court Martial Has Reversed the
Decis on of the Court of Cessation
Which Virtually Declared
nrevfus innocent,

DreTus Innocent.
The verdict of the Rennes court mar
tial everywhere outside of France mas
been received with amazement ana llldts-
nation. Even in the domllloIs OF Tile
Car the newspapers do NOT hesitate 70
condemn it in the strongest terms. W ilh
the exception of a few Jesuit and amt
Semitic Journals the whole world Is rln:s-
ing with denunciations of this anfamous
verdict. The London Daily Mail de-
cIares Rennes Frances moral Sedan.
The Daily News says it rs no longer
Dreyfus that is on trial, but France ner-
self. The Daily Telegraph says there
seems nothing left for France but reyo-
tuition and a war that viii reduce her
to the level of Spain.
The pulpit is equally severe. The
Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen. de-
clared in a sermon at Windsor, thar
the civilized world stands agLhast at tne
crime of the FIVE abiect judges. Another
prUTnanent divine declared that unless
France shakes off this infamy she will
he left without ally of friend Still an.
other declares these men who condemned
Dreyfus have taken their places besides
Judas. PLATE and Judge Jeffries.
The German press are a unit in de-
scrihing the verdict as cowarClly and nm
politic not to say criminal 1t had been
hoped that the recent statement OF the
ReichSanzeiger. emanating directly from
the Emperor, world render impossible
the repetition of lone of the greatest
judicial and political crimes of any age.
1T is agreed there that the. second verdict
is a grave political blimder a violation
of the laws of civilization and an act Of
moral cowargIice which the world will
find it hard to pardon.
THE court stated i'm its verdict that
there were extenuating circumstances.
OF this the Neue Frefe Press, of Vienna,
says:
''Are there under any conditions eXtea-
uating circumstances for an officer sefy-
~ing with the colors who betrays his coun-
try TO the enemy? Either he is tral-
tor. in which case there is no point of
view under which his Shame can be
diminished and no punishment is too
hard for him, or he is not a traitor, and
needs no extenuating circumstances. The
two ideas are in direct contradiction.
In France too, Indignant mulanFlr-
ings are heard ON all sides. The reyi-
sionist press comments upon the verdict
with the deepest indignatfons declaring
that the battle between the civil and
military courts will continue until the
victory rests with the Court of Cassa-
tion.
The Steele has opened Subscription
to erect an expiatoTy monument in front
of the Palace OF Justice at Rennes ito
remind future generations of this outrage
ON justice"
The Temps. referring to runlOr that
the court martial signed a recommenda-
tion to mercy, but only as regards deg
radiation from military rank, says the
mere mention of eXtenunting circunl-
stances nroves that the judges had
doubts. of which the accused should have
received the benefit. 1t urges the revis-
ionists 20 remember that, dn order to de-
mana justice from the country, it IS
necessary first of all to act with calm
ness.
The Gaulois says: "a great move
ment of renaissance viii spring from the
Dreyfus case.
America also is stirred to its depths.
At the churches Of Baltimore, Washing
TON and other large cities tho minister 5
in their sermons Sunday denounced the
verdict in the strongest terms. 1T is
declared to he the iniqnity Of the age,
the outcome of race prejudice and rea-
r~as of State being allowed to outweigh
the rights Of the individual. Everywhere
the verdict is looked upon as AN outrage
that will. if steps are not taken to undo
it. cover France with lasting infamy.
THE dispatches state that Dreyfus ex-
meets release on October the 10Th, which
win be FIVE years from his former con-
demnation. Meanwhile he has signed ar
amlication for revision. This will go to
Paris. where it will he examfned by a
court reporter and then submitted to the
Court of Revision probably the Court
of Cessation. which will maintain or an.
nTl the sentence.
1t does not seem to be clear that the
five years Imprisonment on Devil :
Island may be construed to cover the
sentence of the Rennes court martial
If. however. Dreyfus is again sent TO
prison. it seems generally understood that
he Will go to Corte. in Corsica, where
he will at least be well treated.
Tie Baltimore Sun says that in view
of the Rennes court ppartial's verdict,
the recent decision of the Court Of Cas-
sation is interesting:
The Court Of Cessation is the supreme
tribunal Of the Republic. 1t was com
posed Of forty-seyen eminent jurists--
the most eminent in France-when it eX-
amined the evidence OF the Dreyfus case
and decided not only that the accused
was innOcemt but to quote its own em-
phatic words-that: