The record-union., 1899-05-31
THE DREYFUs CASE.

DG granted a new trlal, a lIldl ny CUu =
martial it is true, but the hope is ex-
pressed that a perfectly fair and i'm
partial court can be convened, despite
the bitter prejudices and naughty atti-
tude OF French military officials. If he
is given the new trial his acquittal
must follow, for two of the chief wit
nesses against him are dead, both dead
in all probability because Of their
guilt in swearing the unhappy captive
into lifelong banishment and practi-
cally solitary confinement. One other
who was instrumental in putting him
away, using perjury and forgery to that
end, has been discredited completely.
There remain no charges against
Dreyfus upon which the prosecution
will dare to venture save the allegation
that he Is the author of the bordereau.
That he is accountable for that it is
not believed the prosecution can posi-
bly, make out. The case will, there
fore, not be proven, and Dreyfus will go
free. That he will be cleared is GER
tainly the fervid wish of the American
people. Probably no case in Europe in
modern times has excited so much in
terest in this country or developed such
volume Of sympathy for the accused.
From the very outset the American
spirit resented the unconcealed persecu-
ton of Dreyfus because he is a Jew.
1t despised the methods by which he
was, while unaware of the charges
against him, placed under secret inqui-
sition, in an endeavor to entrap him
into confession. 1t has believed from
the beginning that the case represented
the sharp issue in France between mill
tarism and justice under the law.
1t has been said that our sympathies
generally go out to the under dog. J"
Certainly Europeans say that of u.s.
and while untrue it is better to have
that charged up to our account than
the suggestion that we are always for
the upper dog" whether or not. It
may be, probably is true, that Ameri-
can sentiment in cases where our own
people are not Involved, takes on the
merciful attituder we wish more to give
the accused the benefit of the doubt
than to take chances of the wrong per-
son being condemned.
But the bottom truth about Ameri
can sympathy in these foreign cases is
that We are suspicious of the methods
employed in Europe to secure convic-
tion. We concede that their system is
swifter to an end than ours; that pun
ishment follows quick upon the heels of
the commission of crime there; but we
are also aware of the terrible power Of
the military influence In European ma
tions. We are alive to the fact that
where politics, class hatred, race preju
dice or military jealousy enter in, there
is probability of injustice coming out
However all this may be, and while
perfectly conscious of the defects of
our own system Of justice; clear seeing
as to the weakness of our method of
jury choosing and managing; perfectly
tice enable US to long draw out our
cases, and that the accused criminal
here as rule has too long lease be-
tween the day of accusation and of pun
ishment, yet Americans believe, and
they are justified in it, that their meth
DDS and systems of procedure in pursu-
ing the accused and ascertaining JUS
tice are more merciful, more regardful
of the human right than other known
to man.
Certainly We have none of the inquisi-
torial methods of the French under
which an accused person in the dock
without friend or counsel at his side is
put under the inquisitorial rack by the
examining magistrate and tortured by
questioning that is intended to. bring
out something upon which to base a
charge Of confession. It was this in the
Dreyfus> case that so excited indigna-
tion in this country-that unfortunate
prisoner Immediately after his arrest
and before he was informed in any par
ticular with what he was charged, was
taken into a room lined with mirrors
oAO t1iSie quSSllOIlSu, required TO write
and make figures, etc, to stand, to sit,
to bow, his head, to lift it, and so on,
while his inquisitors took note of every
movement, every change of counte-
narce. scrutinized every letter his pen
formed, and vainly tried to ascertain
the fiutter Of his nerves under the pro-
cess.
We are dilatory in pursuing crime to
punishment; we are slow in trial, and
we have an endless number of tricks
and devices for putting off the day of
judgment TO the last possible moment
But we think that such a system, open
as it is to abuse and to just criticism
is better than many another in Europe,
such for instance as that in the great
est of monarchies under which politl-
cal prisoner may be seized, imprisoned,
secretly examined and sent spinning on
his way to a hopeless Arctic penal col
ony within an hour.
While there are virtues in European
systems related to celerity and cer-
tainty of which we might well incorpor-
ate into our judicial order, neverthe-