The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-08-12
The preyfus Case.

OrC6 sailed 1OrtQ 10 dlu thO Oa1tA'HS
American colonies, and where later
the Republican army of emSsttled
France centred in it's operations
against the Royalists of La Vendee,
is now for third time witnessing a
world famous event-an event OF
vital concern to Republique Fran
caise. In its lycee, or national col
lege. the curtain rose yesterday upon
the lstest-and, the whole civilized
world must hope, the lsst-scene in
that remarkable melo-drama of the
closing Nineteenth Century. "L'Af-
faire Dreyfus-" Ends of centuries
are popularity supposed to be revolu
tionary, and M. Cornely, the well
known French journalist, is inclined
to sound an sffrighted tattoo in the
Paris Matin to alarm the Unlocking
nations. He predicts further agits
ton and unrest throughout France,
no matter what the event of the pend
ing Dreyfus Court-msrtial. He de-
declares {:
Suppose Dreyfus be condemned.
The intellectusls " who have rea-
soned out their conviction of the
prisoners innocence will not re-
nounoe that conviction on the
strength Of q trial with closed doors.
secret documents or grstuitous as
severations. If, on the other hand,
Oreyfus be acquitted, one must be
excessively naive to imagine that the
people who have played their last
card on his guilt will accept their
failure without word and betske
themselves quietly to their homes,
saying: ave shall have better luck
next time"
The political parties have raised
their heads and shifted which way the
wind is blowing. The Boulsngist
coalition has been renewed the
Anti-Semites and Nationalist are on
the warpsth the Caesarean army is
being reconstructed the Bonapar-
lists come out, followed by the
Royalists, cherishing fond hope of
making the movement serve their
purposes. These parties are well
aware that successful street risings
are no longer possible, apd that even
were they possible, they would not
be in favor OF reaction. Would it
not be an even more admirable plan
to gain control of the army without
any street disturbances : That is
why the " honor of the army" was
invented.
The early cable reports accuse Col
onel Jouaust of conducting his in
terrogation Of the prisoner more in
the manner of prosecuting attorney
than Of Judge. But this head of
the tribunal has already informed
Captain Dreyfus that he can offer
any testimony which he deems neces-
sary for his defense. So far the IN
happy victim of all this inquisitorisl
mystery, Imprisonment and torture
has been able Only to repeat again
and again, in agonized accents, his
old cry 81 am innocent !" One
recalls the day of that terrible de-
graduation in the courtyard of the
Ecole Militaire, in Paris, when Drey-
fus exclaimed 4" am innocent |
swear am Innocent Vive la
France " But his unrelenting
brother. officers were deaf to the as
ssverations Of the branded traitor.
his uniform, buttons and insignia of
rank were stripped from him, and his
sword was broken. The condemned
man cried again and again You
degrade an innocent man That
was all he could yell in their ears.
Will this Court.martisl allow him to
say moref Indeed, as for himself,
utterly falsely accused, he can do lit
tie more than deny.
In his recently published letters he
wrote constantly to his wife in this
vein "Cry aloud my innocence
Cry it with all the strength of your
lungs cry it upon the house-tops
till the very walls fall !" Again, he
added We are not living in a CEN
tury when the light can be hidden"
81 must leave my children name
pure and stainless" From the prison
of La Sante be moaned " Oh, why
could not my heart have been opened
by o surgeons knife, so that they
might have read the truth : All the
brave, good people along my way
could have read it: This a man of
honor - But how easy it is to under
stand them! In their place / could
not have contained my contempt for
an officer who had been told was a
traitor. But. alas there is the
tragedy. There is a traitor, but it is
not !
No one can read these Letters of
an Innocent without being touched
to the heart. The sufferings of the
exile were so intense that only mis-
wife's heroic appeals kept him from
suicide, always uppermost in his
mind. He began to curse the un-
known real traitor: When the day
comes, and his guilt is known, l hope
that public opinion may nail his name
to the pillory of history, that his pun.
ishment may be beyond all that we
can imagine. He wrote: Oh, my
fortune-all OF ito the one who is
adroit, able enough, to solve this sad
enigma For whom am |
suffering this odious martyrdom 2"
Cruel, indeed, has been his torture.
On Monday, December 81, 1894. Com
mandant du Patty de Clam called |
upon Dreyfvs in his prison cell to |
entrap him into some admission.
q" Enough" said Dreyfus 1" / have
only one word to say-namely, that
am innocent" If you are really
innocent" the Commandant replied,
you are undergoing the most mon
strous martyrdom Of all time" /"
am that martyr" Dreyfus declared,
and hope the future will prove it
to you"