The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-31
CONSPIRACY TALK In FRANCE
FEA IL THAT MERCIER HAS SOME
THING UP HIS SLEEVE.
Tide in Favor of Dreyfus Causes Bit
terness BOtsdeffre May be Made a
Seapegoat-Roget May Cut Away From
the Clique.

Rennes, Aug. 3O,-The air of Rennes
this evening is filed with rumors OF
conspiracies and predictions of coups dc
| theater, but nothing precise can be as
certained. General Mercier's attitude
during the last few days has myetified
his followers in the case. He is eX-
tremely clever, and the general feeling
is that he is preparing something; the
existence Of which will be revealed in
a few days. 1t is now accepted as be-
yond question that there is a serious
division of opinion ON the part of the
generals. While the case was running
smoothly against Captain Dreyfus, they
all pulled together, but since the tide
of evidence began to turn in his favor,
as was notably the case during the tes-
timony Of Captain Freystaetter and
more damaging to the general staff
than the latter anticipated certain di-
fluiiiS lllleS nave UeCOlile IlidIHeSt Ue-
tween the various cliques. General Ro-
get, Major Lauth, Captain Cuignet and
M. Gribelin the principal keeper of the
archives of the war office, form one
coterie, Generals Mercier andGonse form
another, and General Billot and General
de Boisdeffre a third. According to
one report the first two coteries intend
to throw over General de Boisdeffre,
whom they feel to be falterng,. and de-
clare that he is responsible for all the
errors and illegalities Of the court mar
tial Of 1894, thus making him the scape-
goat. According to another report
General Roget, who was implicated in
1894 and who having fought against
Dreyfus because he inherited from his
predecessors the responsibility for so
doing and placed over-confidence in the
accounts of the matters furnished him
by the general staff, will cut himself
loose from General Mercier, Gonse and
de Boisdeffre.
This is a plausible hypothesis, since
Roget assumed throughout the role
of defender Of the army, thus making
himself popular with the army and
with a large section of the nation, and
he probably would not lose by separat-
ing himself from the wrongdoers of 1894
and declaring this his opinion had been
by the evidence given during
the present trial.
Yet another story is that the generals
are going to give way on the authorship
of the bordereau In view of the strong
expert evidence, and will admit that Es-
terhazy wrote it, alleging, however, that
Dreyfus furnished the information, not
direct to Esterhazy, but to a third per-
son, who acted as Intermediary without
Dreyfus knowing Esterhazy. In this
it was asserted this after
noon that Madame Rastian, who was
eper for Colonel Schwarzkoppen, |
the German military attache in 1894, |
and who is understood to have acted as |
4 French spy has been seen in Rennes |
and will be summoned as a witness con-
,ernlng SchWarZkoppen S espionage |
system. All these rumors may be with
out foundation, but in any event they |
Are symptomatic Of the feeling in
Rennes that something is going on un
Ter the surface and that the complexion
If the trial may be altered by some coup |
1t any moment.
In the matter of evidence, to-day was
lute a Dreyfus day, only the deposit
ion of the last witness, General Deloye,
being unfavorable. The testimony of
VI. Picot, member of the institute, is
title likely, however, to serve the cause
# the accused materially if at ALL be-
,ause his Introduction by Col. Schnei-
Ter, the Austrian military attache, as a
hampton of Dreyfus was rather calcu-
ated to arouse resentment and adverse
y to influence the judges especially as
was followed by General Rogets tact
ul protest against Colonel Schneider's
mplimentary illusions to French
Ulcers.
Dreyfus trial testimony in full on page 81