Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-25
LON DON GOSSIP
England as Interested as Ourselves
in Dreyfus.
A PLEASANT REUNION OF AMERICANS
Our Newest Possessions AmusingIy
Suggested.
THE BIG DAILIES' COMMENT
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
LONDON, September II, 1899.
The whole world is still thinking and talk
ing about Dreyfus England is no eXcep-
ton to the rule. More space has been g.v-
en- to the trial and the aftermath of it than
to the crucial Transvaal situation.
Amid the turmoil of comment which the
Rennes verdict has aroused in France, as
well abroad, one fact becomes conspicu-
Gus. The verdict is not understood 1t per-
plexes the blind Chauvinists who care moth
ing for Justice and the feeble souls who
desired an impossible compromise, just as it
does impartial observers. OF a dozen inter
pretations of it, which have been haZarded,
not one assumes the military judges to
have been logical, and those of the COM
promise party, to which they themselves
belonged, are mutually destructive The
question in all minds is: What is the degree
of guilt they imputed to the prisoner in
saying by majority of votes that there
were eXtenuating circumstances? Unless
the phrase was idly used. with STUPID in
tention to please both parties and make the
peace for which NJ. de Freycinet amb gu
ously pleaded-unless, in other words, TIE
verdict was consciously dishune 5t-we have
to suppose that it had d meaning. Is any
meaning conceivable? The uncertainty
among their own friends, if not the dyna-
mic Indignation of the civilized world may
move some member of the court-martial
presently to offer an explanation. l believe
that, however unotticlally and shametaced-
ly, the apology must be made. OF course, it
will not be admitted that they had a doubt
and yet withheld the benefit of it from the
prisoner; nor are they likely to confess
that, believing him guilty in the fullest
sense of the charge, they thought it pru-
dent to palliate an odious treason. Above
all. they will not say that they were con-
WINGED of his innocence, but agreed with
the president of the first court-martial that
there are interests at stake superior to
those or the defense. The day when that
cowaruly plea could be urged Subordinate
ing the ideal of justice to patriotism IN a
state of fright. is at all events gone by.
What can they say? What We're the ''ex-
tenuatlng circumstances o.
me suggestion Of pardon is made to
NJ loubet by no less reputable journals
than the Temps and the Debats: and these
Journals being of semi-ofiicial standing it
begins to look as If the Rennes tribunal
voluntarily or not, has possibly offered to
the ministry of NJ. Waldeck- Rousseau ia
nous as an advocate of compromise in
other matters. a solution which they or
some OF them are willing to approve. These
newspapers do not use the argument which
such an understanding of the verdict would
nave supplied; they are simply anxious for
a pacification of unrest. "Clemency," says
the Temps, 'is the necessary browning of
justice and though such a solution
might be Incomplete" France has great
Debats is feebly rhetorical. There is at
least one sentiment which comes to the sur
race II crates, "a sentiment to which we
must cling with all our might, and in which
all conflicting opinions may be reconciled
That sentiment is humanity 1t does not
plume itself on logic: it proceeds by a Sc
cret instinct, which is frequently in accord
with reason. and sometimes gently re-
dresses its vagaries." Something of the
best in accepted French ideas inspires the
appeal; but how meanly it sounds in lieu
OF the masculine cry for justice at any
price. which alone can redeem the honor
of France, and recover the intellectual
place she claims to have held in the van OF
nations!
+ Looked for TrOuble
Surprise has been expressed in many
quarters that the scandalous verdict had
not been followed by breaches of the peace
and revolutionary disturbances. Those who
are acquainted with French life and Gus
toms would have been more surprised had
the verdict given rise to any outbreak. 1t
was a fear that Dreyfus would be acquitted
which caused the authorities to take such
elaborate precautions. The lower and mid
die classes, who take in their Petit Jour
nal' as the people of this country take in
their milk. have for years been fed on anti
Dreyfusard patriotism. This enormously
circulated paper has from the start upheld
the decision of the general staff and they
have supported it through thick and thin
magnifyins everything which could posi-
bly, tell against the accused suppressing
anything in his favor. And the Petit
Jt Urnal has not stood alone-in fact it
may safely be stated that, with the excep-
ton of the Figaro no paper of any re-
pute has had the courage to support the
Jew. They have all taken the line that the
honor of the army embraced that of the ma
ton. and that verdict in favor of Dreyfus
and against the general staff would be one
against the nation itself. Fosterod in every
way was this opinion. The jesuits. in par
tcular, eXerted themselves to encourage it,
and with such good effect that, apart from
the upper classes. there are few in France
today who are not conScientfousiy convinc-
ed that Dreyfus really is traitor and de-
serving of any punishment. Not so the
generals themselves. Their evidence to the
contrary, there is good reason for belief
that they know that they committed a huge
blunder. and that Dreyfus is not a guilty
man. But in France. more than in any
other country, it is all-esSential that the
nation should regard the heads of the army
as infallible. and to maintain this impress
sion they had to adhere to their first story.
Dreyfus released, the honor of the army
would be besmrched for all time; convicted,
it's prestige would be enhanced. 1t is diff
cult for Anglo-SaXonS to regard the case in
this light, but to the ordinary Frenchman,
whose every hope centers round the army,
10 other aspect is possible. And this ac-
counts for the present pacific attitude of
the people. Disturbances will come, and
these of small magnitude, if NJ. Loubet
should liberate Dreyfus.
It's Diplomatic Bearing.
There is some anxiety in diplomatic quar-
ters with regard to possible developments
of the Dreyfus affair. What is specially
feared is that the emphatic condemnation
which the verdict of the court-martial has
elected throughout the civilized world may
provoke from the French populace some
savage outburst of feeling against foreign
ers which will produce international COM
plications. There is felt to be the more
danger the French people are not likely
to be allowed to know the true force and
extent of the sentiment which has been
aroused by the decision Of Saturday: The
venal organs of the ant-Dreyfusites, which
have throughout stopped at nothing in the
way of garbling and sunDressing, are sure
to represent this as merely another proof
of the Vaccinations of the Syndicate"
Only the influence of the exhibition, it is
thought can save the situation. Parisians
of all classes have much to lose by
failure or even a partial failure. of the
great show of next year that they may be
sobered by the ominous warnings which
come from all sides of the dangers which
threaten the enterprise