The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-04-03
THE DREYFUS CASE.

n the Dreyfus case now pending on the question Of
revision before the Court of Cessation which is the
highest tribunal OF France, the French Republic,
and especially the General Staff OF the French army
is practically trial 1t has evoked much discussion
and has excited much interest in the United States,
merely because OF its revelations of personal dis
honor and its disclosures OF deepseated injustice in
French Jurisprudence when the Government is inter
ested but also for the reason that its actual merits
have been obscured through race and religious preu
dices.
Dreyfus, lieutenant in the French army, was con-
vcted and sent to the lie du Diable, where he has
endured great torture, for having written what is
termed bordereau, or unsigned letter, containing
list of secret documents in the French War Office, for
the benefit OF the German empire On his trial FIVE
perts were examined as to the handwriting OF this
letter three OF whom testified against him and two for
him The inherent weakness OF this kind OF evidence
has been repeatedly declared in the United States and
in Great Britain, but his conviction rested on that
quality OF proof which has since lost most OF its
assumed value 1t was claimed last year that another
letter to foreign attache had been discovered which
constituted ia preuve absolute" or demonstrative tes-
timony, but this letter speedily admitted be
forgery committed by Colonel Henry while the head
OF the Intelligence Department of the War Office and
he died violent death in prison, either by his own
hand or in some mysterious way that has not been
divuged 1t has also been asserted that Dreyfus,
whose innocence so far as the press is informed has
always been proclaimed by himself by his devoted wife
and by host OF discriminating and just people, once
confessed his reasonable act to Captain Lebrun Re
naut an officer the French service; but this after
thought OF questionable policy at best has not been
pausibly established. Perhaps the remark
able feature in this travesty of justice is that Colonel
Won Schwarzkoppen, the German military attache to
whom the reasonable communication is alleged to
have been made, has always been available as wit
ness, but the French authorities have studously omit
ted to call upon him for the direct information that
might concusvely settle the controversy.
The conviction OF Dreyfus occurred in 1894 1t was
manestly so insuficienty sustained by the reported
testimony that has commanded public respect,
much less public Endorsement Outside of France,
and with greater intensity among millions of the
French people embracing statesmen, writers and
soldiers OF the highest standing belief in his
became so general and the resentment against his
prosecutors so vocferous that after every method of
avoiding further inquiry had been exhausted the Gov
eminent unwillingy yielded to the pressure and the
pending investigation instituted The Court OF
Cessation to determine whether or not the con-
viction shall stand
Four Ministers OF War, among them Cassagnac,
resisted the efforts for revision and he placed his op
position, not the ground that the original proof
against Dreyfus justified his punishment but upon ia
preuve absolute" which almost Immediately after he
had announced his conclusion turned out to be forg
cry Perhaps to his wife the strongest advocate
for Dreyfus has been Colonel Picquart who has been
honored in the London Times as 'the noblest and
most touching figure which has reconciled phil
osophy with humanity" This brave and fearless gen
tleman claims that the trial of Dreyus document
airy evidence, false in itself and which he had OPP
portunty to controvert, secretly communicated
to the court and he has been imprisoned and is to be
tried apparently because OF his manhood and of his
fidelity The existence OF some diplomatic papers in
the Foreign Office of the French Government tending
to show guilt, but which Dreyfus saw is also