The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-10-30
The Complete Isolation Of National Wrong
Doing Is No Longer Possible.
FRENCH ARMY THE NATIONAL lOOl'
To Hold That Drofus Was Innocent Was lns's,
fore 10 Skater IL psopls PsIchcOgCalJ IN
hbRsd lrom Believing Him GuIiIsss'

New York. oct. S0--Dr. Felix AuiS'
addressed the Society for Ethicai
ture at Carnegie Music nan yeSte' 80 >,
an .The Lessons of the Dreyfus Na-e'
He began his discourse with reo''''
of the circumstances attending 'he
Qua conviction of Dreyfus. "The purSt
of indignant protest Which
round the world was a very real th''ie'
10 saed "The threat OF boycotting the
exnosjtion touched France in a Vuiiler-
able point. and IL would unquesuo"
ably have been carried out Il
had not been pardoned.
nrrhis universal interest in the ma
,ar .ho,vs that the world Is TAXING
new view of such things. The com p'It1
isolarion OF national wrong -dolnb - ~
longer possible as il was or old. Nhen
aa grant wrong is being commltted-so
fagrant as 10 be an offence 10 tne
moral sense OF the world-people ous
SIDE OF the country most Directly a.
fected do not hesitate TO take SUES
and even make II their business
ynice their protest in such way as 10
insure it's being heard. This universal
Interest and frank. unhesitating pro,
test is something new in the world ana
II Is the first. most obvious lesson 10
be drawn from the Dreyfus case.
THE FRENCH VIEW.
DIR. Adler next took up the French
view of the case as affecting the army
and tried 10 look at the matter from
the viewpoint OF the average French :
man. To do this. he said, At was NOT
sufficient 10 look at the army merely as
a part of the forces chat are used 10
maintain order. He continued:
"It is impossible for us here to look
unon our army as almost eAeEX- French
man looks upon the French army. TO
the ordinary American the army IL
sort Of indefinite force which Is on the
frontier looking after the Indians OF
in the far East fighting the t1nplnos-
that is, II is something far away, some
thing that we read OF sometimes In the
newspapers. The army is not IN our
thoughts all the time. IL Is not the
avenue through which ambitious young
men are most likely 10 seek advance
ment. But in France the army is ev-
erything. The French have not yet
got over thinking OF their 'revanche
and the army is I'm their minds all the
time. 1t is the one thing in their gov.
ernment which has enlisted their
hearty admiration. IL is upon theil
army that they build up their nationa
self-respect.
NATIONAL IDOL.
'To hold that Drevfus were innocen
was therefore. from the circumstanc
of the case. to shatter the national lido
The French people were in fact pyscho
logically inhibited from believin
Dreyfus innocent. But the facts ker
pillng up which absolutely proved HI
innocence-facts 80 clear they cOul
not be denied so patent they coul
not be escaped. Then a stage wa
reached I'm which defenders of the arm
said that. no matter whether Dreyfu
was guilty or innocent. he must renal
on Devils island. That is the secon
striking feature dn the case which con
pels attention. The interest of or
man. IL was urged. must give way bt
fore the interest OF the nation. I'm tn
way the continued imprisonment-
Dreyfus was justified.
But still the whole world outside
France kept insisting that justice mu,
be done. And " is a fact that the sures
sign Of national decay is the downfa
of the pure administration OF justc,