The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-07

| AiiiiiSCil NaS tllG lullitl oL thS SNN'~A
 eau, but General Mercier makes quite
 an argument to show that EsterhazA
 could not have been the author Of It
 and could not possibly have had, or giV-
 en the information at the time. Hardly
 anybody has any confidence in Ester
 hazy's statements. It seems to be gen
 erally believed that he made the con- l fession in order to get money from the
 English newspapers, who bought his
 confession as matter of news.
 The suicide of Colonel Henry is not sc easily explained. One theory that pre-
 vails in France is that Colonel Henry is
 the man who betrayed the information
 to the Germans, and certainly his sui
 eide is a long way in support of that
 theory.
 It is the general opinion in France
 that Dreyfus will be convicted. The off,
 ficers who make up the military trl-
 bunal at Rennes are all subalterns. Their superior officers are the witnesses
 who testified against Dreyfus, and whc have given their opinions of his guilt.
 It is hardly to be expected that these inferior officers will overrule the judg- ment of their superiors The man of lllG lclih III ltlC llipuiisti 10 SAiiJ | a colonel.
 The idea that Dreyfus is made a scapegoat because he is Jew is with | out the slightest foundation. The Jews possess enormous political and commercial influence in France. They
 are in ownership or control of most of the leading journals of Paris, and, in- stead of being frendless, Dreyfus has arrayed on his side vast amount of wealth and influence. Indeed, it is al | legged by the anti-Dreyfusards that af- ter Dreyfus was convicted campaign was started in his favor through the influence Of the Jews. Certainly nine tenths of the French people believe that Dreyfus is guilty
 About the time that the Dreyfus trial commenced the government issued warrants for the arrest of about forty of the leaders of the Nationalists, Le- gitimists and Anti-Semetic parties, charging them with being in conspiracy to overthrow the government Derou- lede, the leader of the Nationaists, treated his arrest as a joke, saying it was utterly impossible that he could have anything in common with the Legitimists. l found it was generally believed in Paris that this charge of conspiracy was nothing but farce. The Nationalists believe that the pres ident of France should be elected by the people, that there should be no life senatorships and that the senators should be elected by the people for fixed term. In short. their politics are the American principles of government, The Legitimists want to restore the Or leans family to the throne. The Anti Semetic party is simply mob of peo
 pie who aid the Jews. Guerin, the butcher and leader of the Anti-Se- metic party, refuses to surrender him self, and, as you have read in the pa pers, barricaded himself in his house on the Ruechabrol. I passed by his house about eight o'clock one morning. There was a great crowd even then standing on the other side of the street, and the house was surrounded by sol diers. Of course the police would not have waited an hour, either in England America or Germany, before breaking into that house. But the government of France is really afraid to do it. Guer- in and his thirty or forty associates in the house have threatened to sell their lives as dearly as possible The govern ment fears that Guerin's death might be regarded as martyrdom. It is certainly true that large majority of the people Of France are discontented with the government. I do not mean the present administration, but with the form of government. Although France is a re- public, it's constitution has certainly very marked aristocratic features The trouble is that the different political el- ements cannot agree upon q form of government.
 have spoken of the peculiar proceed ure of the trial at Rennes The meth ods pursued at any French trial seem with the English and American pro- cedure.
 l attended while in France a session of the Cour q Assise while murder trial was going on. There were three judges. They sat at the end of very long chamber behind a desk upon a raised platform Back of them hung a life size picture of the crucifxion. I do not know what painting this was copied from, but copy of the same fixture hangs back of the bench of all the judges in all the courts ill Paris, even In that of the Police Correctionelle, or in other words, the police court. The judges were robed in scarlet, and also the procureur, or, as we should say the states attorney. who sat to the right of the judges, also upon bench back of a desk on a level with the others. To their left sat the gretiier or clerk of the court. Next to him was the dock in which the prisoner sat, guarded by four or five gendarmes. The jury sat in two rows to the right of the procur- eur behind desks, upon which were ink and paper.
 The prisoners counsel sat in black robe on the other side of the chamber, facing the jury, at desk on a level with the floor and below the docket so that he could not see the prisoner, The prisoner took the stand in the first place, as lie always does and was questioned, not by the procureur, but by the pre- siding judge of the tribunal. This ex- animation, though conducted in a very suave manner, was nevertheless a se we're cross-examination The president tried upon the prisoner all sorts of traps and surprises. I was at a dis tance, so I could not hear all of it. Fi- | ually towards the end the president |