The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-28
DEMAGOGUE DEROULEDE
HIS APPEALS TO THE PASSIONS
AND PREJUDICES or FRANCE.
Declares Dreyfus Must be Thousand
Times Proved Innocent.

/ am leaving to-day for Rennes to
witness what, it is to be hoped, Will
prove the last act in the meodrama
which has been the greatest disgrace to
present-day civilization. The cable
will have carried the story well on
toward a conclusion, in all probability,
before this letter is printed, and it
would be foolish to venture any fore
cast of the developments of what will
doubtless be the most famous trial OF
the century. But it is interesting and
important to know some of the strange
influences which are still potent with
French public opinion, and which help
to explain any extraordinary happen
ing which may still arise to surprise
and puzzle the outside world.
1t must be borne in mind throughout
the Dreyfus trial and it's possible Sc
quels that the atmosphere" of France
is still far from normal. 1t has been
much purified in the last three or four
months. Slowly, unwillingly, perhaps,
public opinion is changing, and chang
ing for the better. year ago be-
levers in Dreyfus's innocence were "out
casts" to-day, either confessedly or
SSNlCtiy, tiiSy plODdDly
denouncers. But the greatest improve
ment in the situation is the fact that
most people are now amenable to rea-
son, even if full of prejudice against
the tortured victim of injustice.
1t is no SANDER to say that, aside
from the Dreyfus case, the sense of
justice among the French people as
whole is not strong The sense of
y1itt i, ao1r n, A,,
individual liberty which would arouse
boundless Indignation and sincerest
sympathy in America or England will
often cause no more than shrug of the
shoulders. 1t it hardly fair, therefore,
to apply strictly the Anglo Saxon
standards Of justice to France in all
the features Of the Dreyfus case. If
she cancels the terrible crime commit
ted in her name in 1894 it is about all
that can be expected of her at the pres
ent moment
1t is this weakness in French char
acter which is being taken advantage
of to-day with an ingenuity that is posi-
lively devilish in last desperate
attempt to thwart Justice in the
justice in the Dreyfus case and ulti-
mately to overthrow the republic 1t is
an attempt so despicable, so criminal,
and withal so palpable, that the pos
sibility of success seems absurd in
American or English eyes. Its promo
tiers are, of course, INSCRIPTIONS scoun-
drels. but they are finding upmerous
supporters, some of whom are so desti-
tute of moral acumen that they may be
described as honest dupes.
1t is difficult to discuss with patience
an agitation based upon declarations
that Dreyfus must not be acquitted be-
cause it will involve the punishment of
great generals and several ex-ministers;
that the question of the legality of Drey
fuss condemnation is secondary and
in consequentional; that the absence Of
all evidence Of guilt will not suffice for
his just acquittal; that he must be
assumed guilty unless his innocence
is made as clear as the SUN by positive
proof. Such, in fact, are the principles
which Paul Deroulede Is proclaiming
day and night in France, and, incredi-
BILE as it may seem, he is finding fol-
lowers who listen and applaud.
1t would be. easiest to leave this man
to the contempt and loathing which his
infamy merits. 1t is hardly possible I
to class him charitably with the type Of
lunatic which ex-Judge Beaurepaire rep
resents. Deroulede's innrdinate ambit- |
ion has touch of insanity in it, perhaps |
but his appeals to passion, prejudice |
and vice are too cleverly Objected to the
moral weaknesses of his countrymen |
for them to be the products of an ire
sponsible brain. His real ambition, it !
is perfectly clear is no less than to be- |
come dictator of France, and to gain
his object he will scruple at nothing.
OF course he will fail. The touch of !
insanity which his inflated vanity rep
resents is sufficient guaranty of his ear
ly collapse as a popular dema gogue
But there are serious possibilities of |
mischief in this mans agitation. No
appeal to race prejudice and false prin-
ciple in all the dark history of the Drey-
fus affair has equalled in perfidy and
audacious insincerity the harangue
which he delivered to a great throng
of applauding sympathzers one day
this week. I doubt, indeed, If the his
tory of political agitations in the pres
ent generation can produce a public ut
terance so infamous is this. I quote
the principal passages
"JTnder strong government and in
a well-ordered state the Dreyfus affair
would not have arisen, or, if it had
arisen, would have been nipped in the
bud * Where the state is strong, the
Jew is weak, but, unfortunate for us,
the Jew is strong under the weak par
lament republic. Moreover twenty
nine years of political brokerage have
thrown on the Paris pavements and
scattered through France millions of
mercenary souls.
II have said and I repeat that If
Dreyfus's innocence in which I do not
believe, were demonstrated, our six
ministers of war and our premiers who
have declared Dreyfus guilty would be
the worst Of wretches. ] have said, and
repeat, that no punishment would be
terrible enough for them. But I have
said, and 7 repeat, that the innocence
must be unquestionably demonstrated
The nation, tormented for three years,
has never attached Importance except
to two terms employed bl General Bill
lot, quoted by M. Meline, and repeated
to me by NJ Observation-Disclosures has
been Justly and legally condemned
Justly condemned-all lies in that.
It is not now question of putting le- I