The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-07-14
A SPECTACLE.
intelligenc,

The case of Dreyfus. at this date,
gives TO literature the most. startling
dramatic event of the last year Of the
century. In every aspect the case gilt
tiers with incidents which the inven-
ton Of the imagination cannot sur
pass.
There is firstly the barbaric militia
ry Jurisprudence Of France. which
condemns on concealed evidence, q
proceeding revolving to the common
sense OF justice. Then follows the act
OF disgracing the convicted man before
the battalions of France, by breaking
his sword before the eyes OF his. COM
rades, and stripping on the insignia
Of his rank the most conspicuous act
Of infamous punishment known to the
army. The condemned man is hurried
over the seas to a desolate island and
consigned to solitary Imprisonment.
There he remains for four years, soli-
tary, heart broken, indignant, without
even "a budding hope at midnight"
He knew no more of the world than
II he lived on Jupiter.
But the mills of God are grinding
slowly Id France, though he does not
hear them The grist is justice. THE
great soul Of the world is just. There
a., ;,,,, t.,.y n, o,~a bolnw. NJ bottom, thara
Is nothing else but justice. '-(Car-
lyle.)
France fixes her eye upon his case.
Then the nations of Europe follow.
Then the civilized world follows, and
three hundred millions of people in
many lands look at France and watch
her struggling with great wrong.
The wires running out to every coun-
try declare that political convulsion.
which means deluge of blood, is at
hand. He upon whom more eyes are
turned than there were ever turned
upon Napoleon In his supreme days,
sits in his cell in ignorance, and is
consoled by the insects which infest
It, The world was in an uproar about
him, but the. angry sounds never
reached DEVILS Island. and he believ-
ed that he was forgotten by all-only
his wife was steadfast and resolute.
Gods mills grind slow, but sure
The acts Of the conspirators were car
ried by divine law between the upper
and the neither millstones. and justice
caught the stuff as 1t fell and blew of
the chaffh
Esterhazy c6nfesses the crime Of
forging the bordereau. Col. Henry
killed himself. lola startled France
with a cry for justice that could not
be suppressed, and then goes into ex-
lie. Picqprt was placed in a dungeon
and then released The anti-Dreyfus
nobs put their hhnds on the Minis Of
God, and tried to arrest their motions,
but their fingers, were crushed. The
French Chamber went into frenzy
over the case. aud the Cabinet was
defeated. The great Court OF CASA
ton was then organized to review the
sentence and confirm the conviction.
1t deliberated and not only refused to
approve, but spoke for review, and de-
clared that the evidence on which the
conviction was made was incompetent
and suspicious. .oubet, a plain man.
was the President of the Republic, and
he was not afraid of the army, or the
mob, and he revived the civil power OF
the State.
Following the miserable traditions
of French administration of justice,
which holds that an arrested man is
guilty until he proves himself to be
innocent. the door of the cell is open
ed on DEVILS Island, and the victim OF
four years of torture is taken back
over the seas, bu. is kept in ignorance
OF the angry events which have shak-
en- France. and is unconscious that
the men of all civilizations living on
this terrestrial ball. are waiting for
his landing in France, and watchins
the effect Of 1t upon the most brillian'
and disturbed nation of Europe. Only
when he was once more in cell on
French soil, was the wadding taken
from his ears, and dazed, Respondent
helpless. he heard for the first time
the low thunder Of the mills Of Got
which have been grinding ont justicl
for him during four years. The dra
matte situation is intense, because
France rs well as Dreyfus il nov or
trial.
CAPTURING A TOWN.