The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-08-09
VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE.
Mrs. Emily Crawford on the Situa'
tiOn mt Rcnnes.

tion MT Rcnnes.
Copyright, 1899, by the Associated Press)
Renpes, August S.--Maitre DeMange, the
principal counsel tor Captain Dreyfus.
expresses himself as well satisfied with
Yesterdays proceedings. Colonel Jouaust
had to play the part OF severe Judge;
but II his voice was rude and his manner
rough toward the prisoner his eye was
kind and there we're attempts to press
home the points raised by the Indictment.
NJ. Chanoine, the custodian of the IA
nous secret dossier, said 1t would take
four days to examine it, as the examina-
ton would be behind closed doors and
most of the witnesses have gone to the
seaside General de Boisdeffre to Dinard
and General Dionne TO Paran. General
Mercier remains here the guest of General
Saint German, who tells his friends TO be
prepared for sensational evidence that
must crush Dreyfus and many others with
him.
NJ Cayaignac talked at Lemans on his
way here. He said he expected two coups
in the theater. we now hear that one
will be the avowal by General Billet that
he said on his soul and conscience Dreyfus
was a traitor because he was misled. The
other will be Mercier driven to bay. The
latter will issue from this trial ruined If
Dreyfus is acquitted. | hear he intends
TO throw searchlight on the secret coun-
ellis OF the Dupuy government OF which
he was a member In 1894, and to show
what diplomatic wires were pulled between
the arrest of Dreyfus and his embarkation
for Cayenne. MERCER refuses TO be inter
viewed. He looks bowed down from care
NJ Billot. on the other hand, seems to
also is extremely reticent, as indeed are
all the witnesses of note.
NJ. Jaures arrived last night. He claims
to know much that is in the secret dos
sier An intercepted correspondence be-
tween two military attaches, who were
mixed up in the AFFAIR Is said by Jaures to
be shame to human nature, These two
officers wrote under feminine names and
in strain that might not have shocked
the young courtiers of Niece. or the ribald
crowd thar gathered around Lots house in
the doomed city. Possibly, nay, probably,
the officers in question never wrote those
scented anacronetic billets for such they
are. LIE MERCER Picard was equal to the
task OF forging them ana he possibly did
forge them for u pecuniary consideration.
Hence, the mystery in which his suicide
Is shrouded.
The counsel for Dreyfus met today at his
wife's residence the heads of the Drey-
fusite party, and consulted on the aspect
OF affairs, They went there after they
had examined the documents of the secret
dossier in the judges room They do not
see any possibility of repeating the Judg-
ment of 1894.
preyfus was greatly fatigued after yea-
terday's ordeal. He asked anxiously toda,
what the press and public thought and
q n L., /,
favorable. This is true The representa-
tlves OF nationalist journals here. who
Judge harshly in print. express admira-
ton for the untlinching consistency he has
displayed.
Leading perscnages here for the trial
have much 10 say about the late General
Annenkoff aud Baron Frederick in con-
nection with Dreyfus, but General Mercier
and NJ. HanotauN, former minister OF for
eign affairs, refuse TO speak on the sub
ject.
NJ. Hanotaux looks detected. 1t will be
curious TO see whether he and Mercier con
tradict each other
There seems danger that all the eyi.
dence relating TO foreign dIplomatists will
be given with closed doors. The public
trial viii be resumed on Saturday. Drey-
fus. a member OF his family tells me, hi
has not yet got over his Rip Van Wrinkle
feeling He is lost as he put il. He re-
marked to his wife that he was astonishec
to find himself yesterday watched by the
whole world or its proxies, though he
showed no Sign of establishment He wa.
thrown in heap by the searching ant
as he thought untriendly examination by
the president OF the court martial He hat
expected mere formal proceedings.
NM. De Mango and Labori did not pre-
pare him for hostile tribunal and q
scrutinizing public. He felt as IL * rays
were being cast ON him all the time he wa,
under public gaze II was as If the limos
thoughts OF his heart were being peeret
into He imagined the proceedings wcult
be only formal and that perhaps he might
leave the court house to walk TO HE Wife
temporary home.
His counsel were quite light lot to dis
courage him beforehand. as his strength
Is low and he Is condemned to a diet o
milk and eggs, which does not enaoie him
rapidly to recover his lost strength. Asus
has caused tension OF the renal organs ant
q, full diet just now could not fall to brinp
on Bright's disease.
He was at first greatly depressed to learn