Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-06-12
bring it's own cure, however, in te1-
dency to over-capitalize; SO that the
smaller firms can compete"
THE STATUS OF DREYFUS.

cause the Court of Cessation has or
dered him before a second court mar
tial holding his first trial to have been
a mistrial. There are very marked diff
ference between the practice OF
American and French courts, but il
may be said with safety that there is
an analogy between the status OF
Dreyfus and that of man who in this
country is granted a second trial by
reason of newly discovered evidence.
The Court of Cessation has declared
not that Dreyfus is absolutely inno-
cent, but that he was convicted in a
measure illegally, and that new evil
dence discovered since the court mar
tial adjourned raises reasonable de-
gree of presumption that much of the
evidence presented against him at his
trial was insufficient to justify ver-
dict of guilty. Other portions of the
evidence are at least tainted with
fraud and forgery. The court remands
the issue of Dreyfus's innocence to a
co court-martial which is to set at Rem
mes, city of about 20, 900 people, sit
uated 100 miles from Paris. This
change of venue is ordered to the end
that the members of the court mar
tial, officers stationed in and about
Rennes, shall be free from the influence
and influences of Partisan envir-
onment, and therefore more apt to be
guided solely by the law and evidence
in giving their verdict. The conclu-
sion is unavoidable that this court
martial is assembled to acquit. 1t is
called in as an agency of the French
military law to preserve the integrity
of the record and the system.
To-day Dreyfus is still prisoner.
He has been removed from his prison
pen to be transferred to the cruiser
which is to bear him to France to un-
dergo his second trial. 1t is mistake
to assume that Dreyfus has been a
military prisoner because he has been
an inmate of prison garrlsoned with
soldiers to prevent his escape. He was
dismissed from the army, degraded,
pronounced a disgrace to the pro-
fession of arms and turned over to the
civil prison department.. He had ceas-
ed to be an officer before he was made
a convict under sentence of life i'm
prisonment. IF he is now to regain
his rank it must be restored to him by
the proper authorities after the Sec
cond court t-martial shall have pro-
nounced him innocent. 1t is to be
presumed that such rehabilitation will
be prompt, and it is an equally fair
presumption that a favorite verdict
alone would not be sufficient of itself
to work a restoration of his military
rank. That probably would follow
the approval of the findings and ver
dict by the proper reviewing author
ity. Dreyfus's name having been
stricken from the rolls Of the French
army it would seem that only the ac-
ton of the executive can restore it to
them.
In our own country it look almost
quarter of century of agitation to
tiaPs verdict did Gen. Fitz John Por-
ter. That officer was by verdict of the
court dismissed the service and per-
petual disqualified for holding Office
of trnst or emolument under the
United States. Tt required the publica
ton of the Confederate dispatches
which confirmed General Porter's de-
fence that his disobedience of orders
was due to obedience being fraught
with the greatest peril, and the in
terposition of Gen. Grant as referee
to secure the cashierd officers restora-
ton to the army, which, moreover
could not become effectual after a
special act of Congress. From this
ent that the restoration to the statute
of an officer of a man whose name has
been struck from the rolls is by no
means easy of accomplishment even
in the United States, where military
has never had one tenth
of the authority that ordinarily at
taches to it in France. Moreover the
precedent is useful in reminding us
that a court martial made up of able
audi distinguished officers may, when
giving a verdict on the evidence be-
fore it. do great injustice in the full
and conscientious belief it is awarding
a righteous sentence. Gen. Porter's
Judges did not have and could not
have before them the evidence in his
favor which many years later was
obtained from the Confederate ar
chives and hence their verdict