The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-30
What Was the Motive for the Persecu-
tion Of Dreyfus?

martial be an acquittal OF DREYFUs. 1t now
seems probable that the leaders In the con-
spiracy, Of which he has been made the
victim, will be tried in their turn. Indeed,
DERoULEDE, warned the General STAFF to
expect such result, with the sinister pur-
pose apparently, OF suggesting the most
desperate measures to secure q second
conviction. His advice Was followed, and
thus far, the Generals, who have been con-
nected with the affair at one or another OF
it's stages have combined to protect one
another and to cast suspicion on tho
accused. Should the time ever come, how
ever, when these men are placed on the
defensive, they are likely to fall out, and
then some light may be thrown on what is
at present mystery. namely, the origin OF
the conspiracy which has had such wide
ramfications and such a disastrous effect
on the reputation OF the French Army.
We know, OF course that DREYFUs was
selected for scapegoat because he was q
Jew, and, therefore, certain to be con-
demned in advance by Anti-Semitic senti-
ment. But why was any scapegoat needed?
That is the fundamental question, and,
should DREYFUs be set free an answer to it
may be looked for.
The only attempt to solve the problem,
which is commended by any show Of plaus-
Utility, is made by the editor OF the Lon
don National Reuiep in the latest number
Of his periodical. He asserts that conspic-
uous members of the French Headquarters
Staff, all Of whom were miserably under
paid, from Gen. de BoIsDEFFRE with five
thousand dollars year down to Com
mandant HENRY with one thousand dollars
were engaged in 1894 as they had been for
years past, In increasing their incomes by
selling confidential information to the for
eign military attaches In Paris, OF whom Mai
Won ScHwARrzKoPPEN, representing Ger
many, was the most important. What part
did EsrERHAzY play' According to the Ma
tional Rerie,p, he acted as the outside broker,
receiving in addition to regular retaining
fee from the dttach6, special pay for any
particularly valuable documents he might
BIO able to deliver. he was an ordinary
regimental officer, he necessarily had to
share the piunder with the traitors inside
the War Office, from whom alone he could
procure marketable information. We are
told that, when EsTERHAZY originally
offered his services to Maj. Won SCHWARTZ
KoPPEN, the latter at once said: SHOW me
your credentials" and only consented to
employ him on bciEI convinced that "the
firm R.. as EsTEEHAzY termed the part
nership to which he belonged, commanded
all the secrets Of tho War Department
That the gang found business lucrative
may be inferred from the report OF French
Ambassador at a foreign capital who, in
in cd ha
that EsTERHAzY was said to have received
no less than forty thousand dollars from
his traffic.
But, it may be said, the existence OF such
state OF things in the Headquarters STAFF
does not show the necessity for a scape-
goat, for it would, manifestly, be the inter-
est Of EsTERHAzYs accomplices to avoid the
sensation and scandal OF q court-martial
1t happened, however, that someone not in
the combination got sight OF the bordereau
which EsTERHAzY had left for Maj. Won
SCHwARTzKoPPEN in the ordinary course OF
business, together with the packet OF docu-
ments enumerated therein. VoN SCHWARTZ
KoPPEN duly received the enumerated
documents, which either the German or the
Italian War Office possesses to this day,
but he never received the bordereau and
never knew Of its existence until 1t was
published In French newspaper; for it was
stolen by French spy from the German
Embassy, and brought to the French War
| Ohlce, and there seen by the outsider be-
fore the guilty parties had a chance OF de-
stroying it. To save EsTERHAzY, whose
detection would have involved their
| own exposure, his accomplices in the
| Headquarters staff recognized it as impera-
| tive to fasten the compromising document
| on some one who would act as lightning
| conductor" DREYFUs was selected because,
| being Jew. he would arouse the frenzy Of
the Anti-Semites, who, just then, were
| somewhat short OF material Having
| denounced DREYFUs as guilty Of their own
crimes, the Headquarters gang began to
forge and lie in order to procure his con-
viction, and, having secured it, recognized
tho necessity OF maintaining 1t by similar
methods. One Of the most cogent reasons
| given by the National Rcrir'c for accepting
this explanation OF the affair" is the fact
that the "leakagcs" from tho French War
| Office were greater after DREYFUs was sent
! to the DEVILS Island than before.
| The National RsriclU does not insult the
| intelligence OF such men as Gen. Bols-
DEEFRE and Gen. GoNsE, or as Col. HENRY
and Col. DU Patty DE CLAM, by suggesting
that they ever thought DREYFUs guilty 1t
| believes that Gen. MERCER, also, always
knew DREYFUs to be innocent, but allowed
himself to be tcrrorized by tho gang, after
which he became ono OF the worst criminals
OF all, and secretly submitted documents to
tho court martial of 1894 which he knew ia
be irrelevant or false, as is shown by his
subsequent suppression Of them. 1t is this
act which will place MERCER, above all
others, in jeopardy, should DREYFus be
acquitted. Tho Rerier goes ON to point out
that the reason the first trial was held in
camera was that. II the proceedings had
been open, it would have been impossible
for the German military attache to stand
by and allow an innocent man to be con,
demned for delivering documents which tho
attache had received from another person.