Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-08-28
French Methods OF Justice.

French Methods Of Justice.
In English and American courts it is
held to be necessary to prove guilt.
The French method, if We may judge
from the grim farce now being enacted
in the name of justice at Rennes. is to
make the accused party prove his in
nocence. For months the attention of
the civilized world has been riveted on
the Dreyfus case. No trial in the men,
DRY of man has attracted such wide at
tention and aroused such intense inter-
est as the one now in progress. Nobody
in this country believes the artillery
captain guilty of the treason charged
against him. There is scarcely enough
in the evidence of the trial or the re-
trial to arouse a suspicion of guilt. 1t
is the republic of France with its rot
ten military system which is on trial
before the world, and unless Dreyfus
is acquitted and reparation made, as
far as reparation is possible, for the in
dignities and tortures he has suffered
the storm clouds will burst over that
unhappy nation.
To American readers who follow the
accounts of the Dreyfus trial,-an al
most every American who can read is
following them,-there is something in
comprehensive in the French concep-
ton of evidence as shown at this trial.
The differences in procedure are not
due to the fact that it is military
court which is trying Dreyfus for in
this country every court martial must
observe the common law rules of evil
dence as enforced in the civil and
is radically and fundamentally differ
ent. 1t reflects a difference in the ele-
mentary conception of justice, which
in this country aims to find out the
truth and in France aims to convict
the accused. AS to the evidence intro
duced, the following comparison drawn
by an eminent American lawyer who
knows France will be of general inter-
est 1t is from letter to the New
York World
With us a witness is permitted to
testify only to those things that he per-
sonally knows, In the 'Dreyfus trial
witnesses have testified freely as to
what they believe-even though they
offer no reasons for their belief-and
as to what they have heard somebody
named or unnamed-say.
With us the witness must confine
himself rigidly to a statement of facts.
He is forbidden to argue or to draw
inferences,, In the Dreyfus case wit
nesseS who admitted that they knew
no facts have been permitted to deliv-
err impassiOned diatribeS against the
accused and ingenious arguments to
show that he must be guilty because
the witnesses could not otherwise eX-
plain circumstances.
In this country no witness is per-
mitted to testify as to the contents of
a document until it has been conclu-
sively shown that neither the dOcu-
ment itself nor any verified copy of it
can be produced in court. In the
Dreyfus trial yesterday a witness, not
present for cross examination, was
permitted to testify in writing that
members of the Dreyfus family had
offered him by letter a bride of $50. 900
francs to clear Dreyfus. Yet when
the letter in question was produced by
Labori it was found that no bride had
been offered or suggested, and that the
lc he hn1 1yv
written: We are convinced of the in
nocence of our brother and will spend
our entire fortune to discover the
TRUTH
81. In this country a witness is protected
in giving his testimony. In the Drey-
fus case, when a witness had testified
to facts within his own knowledge, an
excited and perhaps hysterical woman
was allowed to take the stand merely
for the purpose of denouncing him as a
Judas"
In this country the accused man must
be confronted by his accusers, that he
may question them. In the Dreyfus
case absent witnesses have been freely
heard through written statements and
without any opportunity for cross
examination.
In this country every witness mus
answer all proper questions or go t(
Jail In the Dreyfus trial every wit
ness refuses to answer when 1T pleases
him to keep silent. The trial as con-
Quoted is like a desultory conversation
in club. A witness pops up when
ever he pleases and says: 'Je desire Ia
parole'-'I desire to speak.