The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-08-26
GENESIS OF "EAFFAIREn
How the Prosecution Of Drsyfa. Grew
Up.


the Poiytechnio School. and hal left be
hind him friendships which have sur
vived all that has since occurred. nut
when, after hard struggle, he entered
the War School, he had lost, so to speak.
that bloom of soul given by youth, and
with 1t had gonesthe simplicity Of enthusi-
asm, the single-syed fincsrity OF youthful
ambition, the wish to conquer simply for
the pleas ure Of winning. and which re-
quires not as an incentive the spectacle
of others envy to make him who is suc-
cessfui happy, he exrerisnoed.a great pride
for the victory, displayed a great disdain
for those who had failed, and great am.
billion to overcome the obstacles which
might still bar his route. He cherished
magnIfioent dreams. Now aud then he
let some of them escape him. He en-
deavored to put himself en- vedette, to
dazzle his chiefs. to rally about him all
sorts of backers-to be, as the French fay.
quelqus CHOSE before being queiqu' un.
He created about him an atmosphere of
tll-will and Of irony. as q result Of which,
on leaving the school, he was given what
Is known'as la cote d 'amour-that is to
say.a note solely dictated by the personal
sympathy which the man to he judged
INSPIRE S, note merely summary and
rstner arbitrary, lowering, in the case of
Dreyfrs. his rank as a graduate; be came
forth ninth on the list. General Miribel,
then head of the General Staff, informed
Colonel SaDdherr that Ureyfus who had
quilted the school ninth on the list ought
TO he given place on the General Stat.
Colonel Saauherr objected to the idea
affected neither By the cote glamour nor
by the atmosphere of ill-will which sur
rounded him, insisted, the colonel ex-
claimed; "But he is a Jew You are
not going to make us bring jew in
herei' Yet the jew entered. He passed.
like all the ftagiaires, through the vari-
Gus bureaus, and he was keen to learn
and to understand, cberishing always
some ultimate, vast dream, paying no
heed, moreover, absorbed as he was in
the pursuit, to the generally hostile etti-
tude Of his comrades.
He was "the dew" Rarely, in fact
was he described by any other term. and
In the general staff offices IL had become
sort OF mania to fling everything on his
shoulders. Day by daY grew up in regard
to him, slowly but surely, in the general
staff officers, spirit OF disdainful or
hateful suspicion This feeling was most
rife in the statistical office or intelligence
department, at the espionage bureau. In
fact. /. +. IL was in this mysterious
bureau of statistics that Dreyfus met
with the keenest hatred and suspicion.
he was independent. He was in no need
of money. He was Of ar inquisitive turn
OF mind. And there in this bureau "the
jew" was put, as 1t were, on the index
expurgatorius, and looked upon as an
enemy, who had surreptitiousiy wormed
his way into the place forte of the second
bureau Of the general staff.
f1ax~ IT, 81 -
bureau stole out of the concierge's lodge
at the German embassy paper package
which had been put into Colonel Swarz-
koppen's pigeon-hole. This message was
not handed over directly to Colonel Hem
~. The latter found it torn up In the
paper oornet which habitually contained
the small bits Of paper brought from the
waste-parer basket of the German en-
bassy. When this paper fell into the
hands OF Colonel Henry it was too late TO
destroy it and to make way with it. But
great ignorance was feigned as to the
handwriting. Every body would seem to
have bent over this paper to try to recog-
nize the handwriting, Any number of
persons, subalterns or not, could have
recognized 1T; no one dill 10. Thers
were grave reasons for not revealing the
existence of Estsrhazy, for he might have
told tales In his turn, as now for some
months he has been threatening TO do.
1t was necessary at all costs that Ester
hazy'a name should not be pronounced;
and, In fact, 1t was not breathed, and the
atfaire was about to be "olassedn--that
Is to say. the document was to be dock.
eted and put aside as an insoIuble prob
lem-and thus there would have been no
Dreyfus case--When Colonel d'Abovilie
unexpectedly returned from his leave of
absence. ksterhazy, knowing the bor-
dereau had been discovered, although GER
tain the matter would he suppressed. was
an farN fNar Of .l..l a
asked Schwarzkoppen to come TO his res
cue. Colonel d'Aboville saved him.
On reholding the hordereau bill, he ex-
claimed; why. it's Dreyfus's hand
writingi"
And the exclamation rssounded across
out the war office corridors "It's the
jew! It's the Jewi' And they who
knew better than anyone else that 1t was
net he. cried the loudest, ''It's the
jew r.
And thereupon, among all the sworn
enemies of Dreyfus, there grew up an ar
dent silent conspiracy. each with sponta-
menus zeal contributing to thicken the
nhscurity of the error, to prevent the
daylight from dispelling the shadows.
And then 1t was that Du Patty de Clam.
great photographer as he fancied, aspired
TO the position Of examining police mag
istrate, inventing the hideous and gro- |
tesque measures of getting at the truth. |
Then 1t was that the paid forgers began |
their work, and that General Mercier, |
whose mediocre intelligence aud ex ces. |
sive ambition seconded these efforts, was
convinced OF the necessity of accusing |
Drsfyus. This once obtained, the rest |
went of without any trouble. The whole |
general staff lent its hand to the task, |
undertaking to protsct Itself by condemn.
ing Dreyfus
Ministers rose and fell. hut the men Of |
the general staff went ON forever. and
each successive government underwent
their pertinacious action. It was felt
that the jewish race everywhere would
rise up with pain, with wrath, with
shame. With slightest exception the
Jews recall that 1t was France which was
the scene of the dawn of their deliver
ance. The Jews of Alsaoe were doubly
downcast. and In France, in certain
cases, the shame and the sorrow, being
changed into anger, was such that later
on some Of them took the side of the
enemies of Drey fus, and became all the
bitterer as thsy betrayed their origin in
betraying his cause.
The first pamphlet Of NJ. Bernard La
care, "Une Erreur JudicIaire," awakened
hardly any echoes, when the stiffness was
Ntror. 81. n - Y