New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-13

oral MERCER did, or INTO d poH"S"' eP''
tCasimir- Perier did.
A significant point noticed by all was 'id'
Colonel Jouaust and he members Of the court
martial seemed more paternal ana eNi"Oeu
much less harshness toward captain D'e'i
Khan was the case last Monday.
Incomprehensibe as It may seem TO Afneri-
,>ana General Mercier ex-Minister OF war "ho'
upon his own showing. is guilty OF the H'lH'aiS
offence OF securing Dreyfus's condemnation III
1894 by communicating evidence 70 the cou''
which neither the accused officer nor MS couii-
sci had cognizance Of. and who so misHla''aseu
the Madagascar campaign as to waste 'he
lives Of eight thousand French SOLDIERS sun ell
lows the confidence of at least half OF the frehcn
nation The Nationasts rally ABOUT MIN WIN
almost as much enthusiasm as they once rdl'ieo
around Boulanger Two-thrds OF the news
papers of Paris and the provinces, and nine out
OF ten peasants here in Brittany apsolu"F
swear by MERCER
Legal observers attach great importance 10
tba testimony Of Nine Henry. II will be re-
membered that Henry's last letter TO MS "ne
contained these words: "Tu sails dams Tlnteret
de oui tai ayr C'You know in whose interest
I.have been actingO Before the Court Of Cas-
sat,on investigation Du Patty de Clam testified
that Henry in that letter, evidently alluded
IN General Mercier" When General Zurlinden
was asked the same question by the Court OF
Cessation he said that he thought Henry re
ferred to Esterhazy
This question will be put by the court martial
IN Nine Henry who. If she confirms Du Patty
de CLAIMS testimony, will thus implfcate Mer-
cier by making him an accomplice. or perhaps
even the principal in the Henry Esterhazy
1nanipulations Of the secret service fund OF the
War Department. This seems 10 be the most
plausible explanation Of the diabolica attempts
OF these men TO fix upon Dreyfus Esterhazy
guilt.
THE DECISIVE QUESTION
The sole issue 10 be decided by the court mar
tial remains just as II was last Monday-namey'
Esterhazy being the author OF the bordereau
. did Dreyfus deliver to a foreign Power the notes
and documents enumerated in 1t? But the court
martial much to the satisfaction or NATURES
Demange and Labor. intends 10 adduce evidence
covering several other issues which have al
ready been decided by the Court Of Cassatioh'
The minute examination Of upward of six
hundred documents. composing the Famous
secret dossier which Nationalist have all along
regarded as the Pandora's box from which
would emerge overwhelming proof Of Dreyfus's
guilt. and the disclosures Of which would In
the overwrought imagnatons OF professional
patriots precipitate European war, guarantees
the scrupulous conscientiousness with which the
Dreyfus court martial Is determined 10 fulfil
its mission But 1t leaves the legal aspects OF
the case and the respective positions occupied
by the prosecution and the defence absolutely
unchanged.
b Men who know personally several members
,pf the present court martial do not hesitate 10
say that individually these members would
listen to evidence discriminating Dreyfus more
willingly than they would 10 anything tending
10 establish his innocence. But II must be borne
in mind that all the documents Of the secret
dossier were examined weighed and sifted by
,the Court Of Cessation, which was unable to
sdiscover in II anything TO destroy the presump-
ton Of Dreyfus's innocence. The words Of Bal
lot Beaupre. in his report adopted by the Court
,of Cessation. follows:
1.-THE secret dossier does not contain single
direct precise proof of Dreyfus's culpability,
but merely questionable differences, ingeniously
drawn from written papers, often incomplete.
upon the meaning of which II is permissible 10
disagree"
GROWTH OF THE DOSSIER.
This secret dossier still occupies such an ex-
traordnary and mysterious Importance in the
public mind that it is necessary TO point out
that at the time Of the first Dreyfus court mar
tial In 1894 it consisted Of only four documents.
Two years later, in November. 1896, when
Colonel PicQuart was sent his mission 10
Tunis, the secret dosser much 70 General de
Boisdeffres disappointment. had not increased
in bulk. But when Colonel Picquart
placed by Henry. the Intelligence Bureau Of the
General Staff was transformed into a manu-
factory Of false evidence until the number Of
documents Of the secret dosser became 373 Its
secrecy is now no more closely guarded than
stage secrets usually are, for besides four Presi-
dents and forty-thr counsellors Of the Court
OF Cessation who have full knowledge Of its
contents there over hundred other per
sons including Ministers ex-Mnisters generals,
lawyers etc, who have examined it. The
Figaro" the "Aurore." the steele and other
newspapers favorable to Dreyfus now demand
that the dossers contents be published. for as
II. Cornely declares it is ridiculous to suppose
that any sovereign in Europe would make war
upon France because Of documents, disclosures
OF the secret dossier. most of which have been
Burreptitiously purchased, pfered or forged.
Meanwhile the whole nti-Dreyfus press. from
the Petit Journal % the "Gaulos.' is making
frantic appeal to popular passions TO induce
the court martial to ignore the legal issue be-
fore IT, and TO sacrifice Dreyfus. whether limo
cent or guilty 10 a sort of Moloch Of the
called welfare Of the nation. The clerical organs
are passionately seconding the Petit Journal"
and II is impossible to close ones eyes 20 the
fact that were a plebiscte taken to-day
throughout Brittany nne-tenths Of the popula
ton would express their conviction that Dreyfus
should be shot No reasoning nor demonstra-
ton can shake this conviction, which owing TO
bigotry and the hynOtism exercised by papers
like the Petit Journal" is as ineradcable as
the tenets Of the Mahdists Of the SOudan II is
this which, in the opinion Of fair minded French
men, makes the outlook disquieting.
G. !. Il.
TKXXXJTD The life of the business