New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-25
THE RETURN or CAPTAIN DREYFUS.

He was sent away as Dreyfus; he is brought
back as Captain Dreyfus That tells In ept-
ONE the whole story We shall search history
long before we find match for the two scenes,
of which the second is about to be completed.
Seldom has any man been sent TO prison or
to death amid such access of ignomny as that
which attended Dreyfus the convict when he
was sent to Devils Isle He had been treated
with inhuman barbarity before and during his
trial He was condemned to a living death.
Then he was put on exhibition before the army
and the students of the military school, to be
hooted at, insulted, spat upon, execrated-as
one might be put in a pillory, with Behold
MONSTER written over him. The stripes and
buttons were torn from his uniform with vio-
lence. His sword was snapped into pieces be-
fore his eyes A thousand voices shouted curses
in his ears. Not one voice in all France was
raised in his behalf. Only his own head was
appraised proudly, and his own voice unfater-
ingly shouted back against the brute clamor, ~
am innocent, Long live France" SO Dreyfus
| went TO Devils Isle
It Is now Captain Dreyfus who comes back.
The Government so calls him. His guards
salute him as becomes his rank. He is In Gus
tody and under charges, but unconvicted and
by all sense of justice regarded as innocent
He will land upon the soil of France to resume
his old uniform, with stripes and buttons all
in place and sword unbrOken. He will land
there to hear the friendly. sympathetic vel
come of the best voices in France, and to hear
only faint echo of the wild hatred. He will
land TO find his former judge dead in a mad
mans grave; OF his three accusers. one in a
suicides grave, one in felons cell, and one
a fugitive from justice, and the rest of his
prosecutors trembling before the threatened
exposure Of their evil deeds Bewildering
transformation, And the sole comment he
vouchsafes upon II is that it is only what he
has all along expected When he maintained
his steadfast front before his prosecutors and
at his degradation. they said in their malicious
folly, "He must be guilty. No innocent man
could be so calm What do they say Of
his sustaining and triumphant faith? DO you
believe in God?" asks one in Hngos Ninety
Three" Yes" is the reply sometimes .
at times like this
France waits his coming There Is no, wild
outburst. either of menace or of welcoming
One or two voices from the gutter have cried
that he must not tread French soil alive. They
are hushed and forgotten. The voice Of France
soldier and citizen alike, has taken on a seri-
GUS almost solemn. tone. II invOkes justice
nothing more and nothing less; and II will not
be denied There will be a great multitude al
| Rennes when Captain Dreyfus arrives but II
will not be a mob. The courtroom at his trial
| will be crowded, but II will be a respectful
| iusticcloving crowd. The frenzy of debaucl
! IL past the time Of sober reckoning has
come For the safety OF the prisoner there
| need be no fear The French Army Will sec
! to that It's honor is at stake. For the doing
Of justice to Captain Dreyfus and TO all con
cerned IN his accusation, trial and condemna
! ton there need be no fear. France will see &c
that Her honor Is at stake And the world
| has not yet come to the day when, in the las
analysis. the honor Of France is to be lightly
! treated The madness of a faction Of the M
| ton only yesterday was grievOns spectacle
to gods and men. The steadiness, the judg
ment and the wise. self-contanng sobrlety
and sanity OF the nation whole to-day pre-
sent a spectacle that may well command thu