Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-09
THE DREYFUS CASE
Prominent Partisan Partisans Present
Phases of the Controversy.
CLEMENCEAU AND R0CHEFORF
The Former For and Latter Against
the Famous Prisoner.
THEIR VIEWS PRESENTED

THEIR VIEWS PRESENTED
| The New York Journal has secured the
views of two of the most interested par
| tisans among the journalists of Paris re-
| garding the case of Captain Dreyfus, now
| on rehearing before court-martial at
! Rennes, France.
| One of these is NJ. Georges Clemenceau.
! OF all the men in France, who, from the
| time of the conviction of Captain Dreyfus,
| have believed in his innocence and have
| stood their ground against the bitter at
| tacks of the anti-Dreyfusards, NJ. Clemen-
| ceau, the radical leader in the French
| chamber. has shown himself the most loyal
| and courageous.
! In LAurore, of which he is the editor,
and in other Paris dailes, as well as on
| the rostrum and in the chamber he has
! advocated revision of the Dreyfus case
| and has defended the martyr of Devil
| Isle.
| The other is M. Henri Rochefort. the
famous fiery editor of L'1ntransigeant who
| is regarded as the most virulent writer and
public speaker in France. In the Dreyfus
| case he has taken the opposite view of NJ.
Clemenceau, and has publicly branded all
who have upheld the innocence of Captain
Dreyfus as traitors and enemies of the
truth.
NJ. Rochefort and Max Regis ex-mayor
of Algiers, have for decades been among
the foremost anti-Sentic leaders in the
Latin countries.
NJ. Clemenceau writes, in part:
For eighteen months we have not al
lowed one day to fall into the abyss of the
past without claiming loud as our voice
| could reach: "A new trial for Dreyfus!''
That the law had been violently and cyni-
lrf1a n in fhn tri-1 of
proved over and over again-first at Zolas
trial and then with so much pertinent evil
dences that comparatively small number
of those who seemed to care about law re-
| fused to surrender.
Alas, the fact is, in this country and in
others, too, a great many people feel
intensified love of law when the law is
their side-I mean the side of their in
terests, beliefs and prejudfces. 1t is true
enough also that when the Jaw appears to
be on the other side those who pride them
selves in being wise and good citizens are
very apt to wish the law had gone down
into the lower world. This is the very
thing that has happened in France.
Claimed Dreyfus Was Innocent.
We claimed that Dreyfus' innocence hav-
ing been baffied by one court-martial had
to be brought into full light by another.
Dreyfus must be judged openly by his
peers. Such was our motto, for we wanted
all the people to see there would be fair
play this time. il there had not been before.
This Dreyfus trial at Rennes is work in
every sense of the word against those who,
though the law had been clearly set aside
in 1894, want to stick to an Illegal YER
dict Now the question arises: What will
occur in Rennes?
The great novelty is that. for the first
time DreyfuS is bound to be examined and
judged according to requirements of law
for the first time he will know what ac-
cusations are brought against him.
If the supreme court made clear Ester
Hays guilt and Dreyfus' innocence, in the
absence of Dreyfus, what can the martial
court do when Dreyfus is there ready to
answer?
The first sitting has been occupied by
calling witnesses and putting all prelimi-
nary questions to Dreyfus. No inference is
yet to be drawn in any way from what has
been said
Secret Papers to Be Investigated.
Dreyfus has been vaguely examined upon
questions relating to the bordereau, which
Esterhazy acknowledges as being in his
own writing. For the next three or four
days there will be an investigation of Sc
cret papers. These were carefully held
back from Dreyfus in 1894. During four
years their number has been increasing
wonderfully, Henri and others had set
their minds upon finding proofs against
Dreyfus, after they had had him sentenced.
The documents will not be examined in
secrets, but there is personal information
relating to some high individuals, who have
been guests of France, which it is deemed
undesirable to give up to the public.
The point is that every piece of paper
will be read to Dreyfus and his answer
duly registered. Most of these documents
are fragmentary reports to foreign powers
from some Of their agents.
The only ones that were decisive against
Dreyfus have been proved to have been
forgeries The others are trash.
The First Dawn of Justice.
1 personally know that it was the exam
| ination of these secret papers that led from
the first moment some of the chief men of
the supreme court, previously hostile to
Dreyfus, to change their minds and believe
there had been terrible mistake in 1894
The dossier secret being disposed of, then
will come before the public the full investi-
cation on the bordereau and then the resi-
due of secondary questions.
AS 1 have just said, the bordereau, or
nnissive letter, accompanying documents
sent to Colonel SchwarZkoppen by a traitor
has been acknowledged as his own work by
Esterhazy himself. The fact is that so
many proofs had been gathered against him
that he could no longer deny them
He only alleges that he received an order
to write it from Colonel Sandher who is
now dead, in order to make false evidence
against Dreyfus.
The reason for not showing the alleged
true the danger of war.
All French staff officers agree that this is
the lie of traitor who is not ready to con-
fess his treason.
This being the case, the question put be-
fore the court-martial is to know whether
Dreyfus (who was sentenced because he
was supposed to have written the Dor
dereau) has really sent to some foreign
agents the documents mentioned in the
bordereau which was written by Esterhazy
whom he did not know, but with whom
Colonel Schwarzkoppen had relations that
!,
Foreign Witnesses Will He Produced.
General Gallifet, secretary of war, will,
without doubt, help him bring before the
judges any foreign witnesses he thinks
necessary to hear.
No more delay Fifty months torture is
quite enough for Dreyfus.
During that time General MERCER has had
leisure enough to prepare his evidence. Let
all his witnesses be called and the ultimate