Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-07-20
SOME FOREIGN NOTES
A FRENCH ''DREYFUS AFFAIR OF
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
THE CASE OF BELLECARDE
Falsely Charged With High Treason
and Imprisoned, He Is Finally
Freed Through the Efforts of His
Wife-Bandits at Gibraltar-Other
Interesting Gossip.

ing that history repeats ltSe1, the
famous Dreyfus affair, which is again,
and more than ever before, stirring up
the French nation, affords another eX-
ample. A writer in lie MaIin, OF Paris,
records a strange historical parallel 20
it in the account OF case that in the
last century created similar sensa-
ton in France and in many respects is
very much like that of the prisoner of
DEVILS Island"
1t was in the year I'LL, under the
inglorious re gn of Louis XIV. Through
the Vaccinations of the Vicomtesse
Dubarry, the kings new mistress, who
succeeded the Marquise de Pompadour,
the Duke de Choiseul, minister OF for
eign affairs and secretary Of the war
department, was supplanted by
favorite of that scheming woman, the
Duke d'Aiguillon. With him most
corrupt administration followed upon
the partly economical and just policy
of ChOiseul. At Troyes on the Seine,
an important fortress and military
depot, Count Bellegarde, appointed
under the last cabinet, was in COM
mand of a regiment of artillery. Him
self a most capable and patriotic
soldier, he soon discovered that the
officers in charge Of the arsenals and
military stores located at Troyes We're
recklessly spending the public funds
and in every way defrauding the gov
eminent. Although the Marshal Mar
uuis de Saint Aubin, his superior, one
of the peers of the kingdom and near
relative of the minister Of war, was
at the head Of this corrupt clique,
Count Bellegarde, in his evaporation,
reported the state Of affairs to the
Duke d'Aiguillon, forwarding at the
same time documentary proof OF his
assertions to the war department. This
created a big sensation even at the
corrupt court of the profiigate king.
All Paris was in an uproar. The mar
| shal's protest against Bellegarde's &C
cusation was accompanied by his re-
| questing an investigation. This was
| ordered by a royal edict, and before
| long it became apparent that the
| counts charges, were only too we'll
| founded Neither the kings mistress
nor the embarrassing committee of
| the war department seemed to be any
longer able to protect their favorites
| at Troyes, when, all of sudden, a
conspiracy of the officials accused by
| Count Bellegarde stepped forth with a
counter accusation of high treason
! against the latter.
Upon the ground Of forged docu-
ments, they charged the count with
having for three years been furnishing
military secrets to the court of Austria,
thus betraying his king and country.
! A cOurt-martial was Immediately Or
dered against the unfortunate moralisl
who was condemned to- Infamous deg
radiation and twenty years prison
Several Of his judges, it must be adj
mitted, dissented from the sentence i'm
| posed upon the count, but the latter
was hurried to the gaol, despite his
protestations and a petition to the
! king. Only his wife, convinced of her
| husbands innocence, did never cease
! to ask for audience with the king and
his mistress. But all her efforts were
| in vain against the intrfgues of the
Dubarry and the counts powerful enc
mics, who succeeded in having the in
vestigation into their own conduct
! suppressed. In the year before the
death of Louis XIV. cousin of Belle
! garde published a document in which
| he plainly charged the Marshal Saint
Aubfu with having himself ordered the
| forgerfes upon which the count was
/ convicted, and paid for them. Saint
Aubfn did not respond to this, but pub
! lie opinion demanded a new investiga-
| ton, and Malesherbs, the later min
| lister Of Louis XVI, publicly declared
| that revision of the case Of Belle
garde was necessary. Still, the war de-
partment opposed such a procedure and
| protested that the judgment of the
| court was sacred and inviola-
| bic. After the kings death Nine Bel
1egarde published additional appeals TO
the nation, and finally prevailed upon
Queen Marie Antoinette to interest
herself in the case of her imprisoned
husband. The queen interviewed per-
sonally with Count Morny, the new
minister Of war, but the latter declared
that, upon his own examination of the
court-mart1aPs proceedings he could
only assert that the former colonel
was a hundred times guilty and de-
served to be shot" This the countess
answered by a number of additional
public writings, by which she eventu-
ally won the public opinion for herself
and her unfortunate husband, and
caused the successor of County Morny
to order revision, under the condition
that all public polemics pro and contra
should cease. The kings prfvy council
thereupon referred the case to a COM
m1ttee of the parliament Of Paris This
body annulled the sentence Of the first
eourt-martfal and appointed another
one. This second court-martial, on
February 10, 1778, solemnly acquitted
Count Bellegarde and adjudged him
worthy not only Of being reinstated 70
the command of his regiment, but also
Of being decorated with the cross of
Louis the Saint. Thus, after seven
years imprisonment, the count was set
free.
A few months later the noble woman
died, happy in the thought of having
at last succeeded in restoring her hus-
band to honor and liberty. The anxiety