The record-union., 1899-08-19
Schneider Dispatch a Severe Blow
to Military Set,
While II Was a Source of Great JuhIiatOn
on the Other Side.
Dreyfusites Greatly Fear for the
Life of Picquart and Stalwarts
Among Them Guard Him
Closely.

| copyrighted 1899, by Associated Press.)
hENNES, Aug. IS.-A severe ploW
| to the military set it was when the
| Schneider dispatch was made known
| at D O'Clock rnis morning in the re-
tectories and the hotels. 1t was n
source of Jupilation TO the other side.
General Mercer had greatly empha-
sized it's Importance when giving his
| testimony. His manner was victorious
as he handed the alleged letter of Col
| onel Schneider to the President of the
court martial, to be added to and filed
| with the other papers connected with
| the trial. These Generals at Rennes
have no standing counsel to advise
| them. They show forensic ability in
! making speeches when they ought TO
| be giving evidence, but they lack law
| yer-like prudence and legal practice.
Many an advocate would have felt how
| risky it was to dwell on such a docu-
ment as an intercepted letter from
military attache, especially in view of
! the forgeries with which the secret
! dossiers teemed.5
| After all that has transpired about
| the letters of military attaches to each
! other in 1894, the attaches in self-de-
| fense were bound to discredit every
/ thing in the secret dossiers. These let
| ters were supported by police reports.
| Were they published, the world would
read them aghast. AS at least 121 per-
sons in all must have seen them, the
authors, real or alleged, would find
| themselves on the defensive. But these
| considerations never presented them
| selves to General Mercier's mind. That
| he believed in the authenticity of his
document and pinned faith to it is now
laughed at everywhere. His best
| friends call him a donkey, and his enc
| mics rejoice.
Colonel Panizzardi trumps Colonel
Schneider's denial of his alleged letter
by writing and branding as forgery
| the report that General Roget said he
| PanizzardD wrote to the late Signor
| Rossmann, the Italian ambassador, re-
| garding the relations of Colonel
SchWarzkopp with Dreyfus. Colonel
| Schneider sends his contradiction to
the Figaro from Ems, and Colonel
Panizzardi makes use of that paper IN
| telegraphing from Rome to give the lie
| to the whole of Roget's statement, so
| far as it dealt with the alleged report
to Rossmann. The Figaro" at once
| telegraphed both communications to
| Rennes, where they were posted in the
/ hotels for the edification of the patrons.
| The Austrian and Italian Embassies
attest the genuineness of the Schneider
and Panizzardi dispatches. Mercier
feels that he has thrown the fat into
| the fire, and he looked depressed and
| out of countenance to-day. So did
! Roget, who is a stronger man, notwith-
1 standing the tears he shed at the close
of his deposition yesterday. They both
| were tired and pale throughout the
tiresome humiliation.
Colonel Picquart was again wit
ness He was allowed to sit in an arm
/ chair, with which the Generals had
/ been successfully accommodated. Pic
quarts figure is younger than his face
His voice is pleasant, his diction is
good, the emphasis never too emphatic
and the gesticulation seldom overdone
He gives the impression of one who
goes in for the sober and unadorned.
His face is strange, but not unpleasing.
The aquiline nose is far too long. The
eyes are blue and of poetic expression
but the heavy dropping lids give them
a triangular shape. The prevailing ex-
preston of his countenance is sad
Still, it shows mental serenity. His de-
fects are diffuseness, too great facility
! and a drawn-out style. He does not
force conviction in swift, strong flashes.
He is not graphic, and never goes di-
rect to the root of a matter. But he is
not tedious The beautiful voice saves
him from that 1t makes the listener
patiently follow him through the mazes
of argument, deduction and demonstra-
ton. His arrangement of arguments is
cumulative.
often against the grain, and often beg
ged him not to be diffuse, not to speak
so much about his own concerns but
to keep to the Dreyfus affair. Picquart
respectfully accepted these reproofs,
| saving he only spoke of his own con-
serns in order to vindicate his charac-
! ter, and to prove himself a credible
witness He spent two hours yester-
day and four to-day in giving evidence
and remaining guardian angel of Drey-
| fus, standing between him and the inl-
/ placable enemies who sit on the front
seat of the witnesses. In this row are
| Generals MERCER and Roget and many
/ field officers VINO are SIllI unneeiIu
How bitterly and hatingIy they eyed
| Picquart to-day.
General Billot, however apparently
did not share in their ferocious feeling.
| He seemed unruffied by Picquart's
| statements Billot was on the staff of
Bazaine in Mexico. and escaped from
| Metz He is a born politician and is
always guided by the instinct of self
| preservation But he is not bad man.
He took from Metz to lures in 1870 a
commission as Colonel which Marshal
Bazaine had signed, showed it to CAM
/ BETA, and then tore it up. Gambetta at
once confirmed it, and then promoted
| him higher. He is a type of the old
| Sergeant one might see playing cards
| in a provincial cafe with pipe and a
| glass of absinthe. Those who do not
/ know his history are amazed to think
i he was thrice a Minister of War, and
| is a life Senator
The Dreyfusites greatly fear for Pic