The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-15
THE FIFTH ACT.

I am In mortal fear. 1t is not anger,
avenging Indignation. the need to proclaim
the crime and demand its punishment In the
name of truth and justice that i feel now;
IL is terror. the sacred terror Of the mar
who sees the impossible being realized. the
rivers flowing back to their sources. the
earth turning without the sun, and in my
fear L cry the distress of our generous and
noble France. My dread is Of the abyss
into which she is falling. We had fondly
imagined that the Rennes was
the fifth act of the terrible tragedy which
we have been living for close upon two
years past. All the dangerous stages
seemed to us to have been passed We
thought we were approaching a "denoue-
ment' of pacifcation and concord. After.
the dreadful battle the victory of right be-
came inevitable; the play must end happily,
with the classic triumph of the innocent.
And we have been deceived, A new stage
opens before US, and that the most unex-
pected and the most terrifying of all. still
further darkening the drama, ~prolonging it
and urging it toward an unknown termina-
and grows weak. The Rennes trial was
only the fourth act, and. great God. what
will the fifth act he? What new tortures
LII III inSS VIII u otih6 AZ VIA "a
preme expiration will it force our people?
For is it not certain that the innocent cam
not be twice condemned, and that such an
ending would blot out the sun and arouse
the nations?
All. that fourth act! that trial at Rennes!
In what mortal agony did I not live through
it, in that solitude where 1 had taken refuge
in order to disappear from the scene like a
good citizen DESTROYS of giving no cause for
passion and disorder. With what a ti-hten-
ing of the heart did I not await kilograms,
letters, papers; and what revolt and what
pain did their perusal not cause me-. Inc
days of that splendid month OF August were
blackened. and never have / felt the gloom
and chill of mourning under skies SO giori-
Gus.
Assuredly, for two years past. I have mad
my share of suffering. 1 nave heard the
mob shouting death at my heels. l have
seen at my feet an ignoble mire of insult
the despair of exile; Then there We're my
two trials-lamentable spectacles OF VII
lainy and iniquity. But what are my trials
in comparison with the trial at Rennes?
Idyls, refreshing scenes where hope flowers.
INDUSTRIOUS THINGS.
We had been witness of monstrous things
the prosecution of Colonel Pfcquart. the
inquiry into the criminal chamber of the
Court of Cessation. the ''loi de dessaisisse-
ment'' which resulted from 1t. But all that
seems childish now. The inevitable progress
sion has followed it's course. The Rennes
trial stands out above all like the abomin-
able flower of all these heaped-up dunghills.
We have seen the most extraordinary col
lection of attempts against truth and justice
"a band of witnesses directing the course
of the trial. making their plans every night
for the cowardly ambush of the morrow.
pressing the charge. in place. of the public
prosecutor. with lies; terrorizing and insult
inc th0ca uhn rnntrodiofad fboU1 innacfnU
with the insolence of their stripes and their
plumes, upon a tribunal knuckling down to
this invasion of their chiefs, vfsibly annoyed
at seeing them In criminal posture. acting
in obedience to a peculiar mental process;
a grotesque public prosecutor, who enlarges
the bounds of imbecility and leaves to flu
ture historians a charge whose stupid and
murderous emptiness will be an eternal
cause of wonder; a man of such senile and
obstinate cruelty that il seems to be IRE
sponsible. born of a human animal not yet
classed; a defense which IL was at first en-
deavored to assassinate, which was after
troublesome. and which finally was refused
permission to produce the decisive proof
which it demanded. the only witnesses who
know.
.no this abomination lasted for a whole
month. in face of the in~nocent-that piteous
ity would make the very stones weep' And
his former comrades came and kicked him,
and his former chiefs came and crushed him
with their rank so as to save themselves
from the galleys. And there was never a
cry of pity. never a throb of generosity in
those shameful souls. And il is our sweet
France that has given this spectacle to the
world!
DOCUMENT OF wICKEDNESS.
When the complete report of the Rennes
trial is published there will exist no more
execrable monument of human infamy. This
is beyond all. Never will a document of
such wickedness have been furnished to his
tory. Ignorance, folly, cruelty, falsehood,
crime are displayed there with an impu-
dence that will make future generations
shudder. There are in that collection avow-
ais of our baseness at which human nature
will blush.
And it is this that makes me tremble, for
in order that such q trial should have. been
possible in a nation. that a nation should
lay itself open to the world for such a con-
sultation upon its social and intellectual
condition.. 1t must undergo a terrible crisis.
is 1t death that is approaching? And what
bath of truth. of purity. of equity will save
us from the poisonous mud I'm which we are
agoniZing?
AS 1 wrote in my letter to the president
tai o Of Esterhaz st'e it ' IS impossibIe for a
court-martial to undo what a court-martial
has done. This is contrary to discipline,
and the judgment of the Rennes court-mar-
tial-that judgment which in its Jesuitical
embarrassment has not the courage TO say
yes or no-is the plain proof that military
not free, since it defies evidence almost to
the point Of again condemning an innocent
man rather than cast doubt upon its own
infallibility. Military justice is seen to be
nothing more than a weapon OF execution
in the hands of the commanders. Hence
forward it can but be an expeditions form
in time Of peace. The moment Ii showed Il
self incapable of equity, of simple logic and
OF mere common sense Ii condemned itself.
Has thought been given to the atrocious
situation in which we are made to stand
among the civilized nations? A first court
martial, deceived in its ignorance Of the law
and its want of skill In sitting evidence, con-
martial. which likewise was deceived by a
most impudent conspiracy of lies and frauds,
acquits a guilty man. A third court
martial, when light has been thrown on the
matter. when the highest magistracy of the
country consents to leave to IL the glory Of
making reparation for an error, dares TO
deny the full daylight. and a second time
finds the innocent guilty.
WORSE FATE THAN JESUS.
This is irreparable. The last crime has
been committed. Jesus was condemned but
once. But let final ruin come. let France
fall a prey to faction, let the country be
afame and perish in the embers. let the
army itself lose ionor rather than confess
that some members of it made a mistake.
and that certain generals were liars and
forgers. The ideal shall be crucified: the
sabre must remain king.
And so we find ourselves in this glorious
condition before Europe. before the worldi
The whole world Is convinced OF the inno-
cence of Dreyfus. IL a doubt had remained