The record-union., 1899-08-16
MILESTONES IN THE DREYFUS
CASE.

The Dreyfus case is easily the most
noted of the century. We have had
criminal cases that have excited ma.
tional interest in plenty, but none that
have had such international concern,
or any upon which the fate OF a nation
probably depended.
1t should be kept clearly in mind
that the present trial under the judg-,
ment of the Court Of Cessation can
not be conducted as a trial for treason
in the general sense. For that court
explicitly ordered that the inquiry
should be confined to the charge con-
cerning specific acts. These acts, say
the court, must relate to the following
question:
Is Dreyfus guilty of having in 1894
instigated plots or held communication
with a foreign power, or with one of
its agents, with a view to engage it to
commit hostilities and to wage war
against France, or in order to furnish
it with the means to do So by betray-
ing thereto the notes and documents
enumerated in the bordereau?
The Court of Cessation was under
stood to decide explicitly that the Sc
cret dossier should not be taken up,
the court finding it valueless as a basis
for any prosecution. However, the
present court martial has construed the
order as permitting it to examine this
bundle OF. papers" incidentally, as pos
sibly. exposing other avenues of re-
search after the truth Dreyfus'
friends. however. except to such pro-
ceeding and very properly under the
Judgment of the higher court
The original charge was that Drey
fus had communicated certain docu
mentary information to which he had
access as an attache of the general
staff to a foreign power, such informa-
ton relating to the French army and
its equipment, and that these docu-
ments were referred to in the bordereau
Ca memorandum); that this bordereau
was in the handwriting of the accused.
1t was shown to the Court of Cassa-
ton which reviewed the case that the
strips in a waste basket at the German
Embassy, was in handwriting identi
cal with that in letters conceded to
have been written by Esterhazy More
over, that the ink and the paper were
the same and that no such paper had
been owned or used by Dreyfus. This
testimony, said the court convinced it
that Dreyfus did not write the bor-
dereau, and tended to establish his in
nocence of the charges preferred
against him.
Subsequent to the conviction of Drey-
fus there was brought forth by his
prosecutors the story that he had made
a confession and this it was attempted
to set up before the reviewing court,
which declined to consider it on the
ground that it post dated the judgment
Of conviction. and could not, therefore,
be taken into account on review. More
over, said the court, the alleged con-
fession in it's very beginning protests
the innocence of the prisoner. and
therefore, it negatives itself.
Under these rulings the case was sent
back to the military authorities for re-
examination, and it was the general
understanding of those who read the
Judgment Of the Court of Cessation
that this examination would be linn
tied to the one question, did Dreyfus
write the bordereau and did he commu-
nicate to q foreign. power the docu-
ments referred to in the bordereau;
that the court having found, as a court
Of review, that Dreyfus did not write
the bordereau, all the new court-mar-
tial would have to do would be to make
formal military record Of that fact and
set the prisoner free. This view of the
case fdoes not seem to have been taken
by the new court-martial, and it is
again going into the whole case.
In 1896 Colonel Georges Picquart,
then being an attache of the gen
era1 staff, by no means a friend of
Dreyfus and believing him guilty and
properly convicted, discovered docu-
ments in his department which con-
vinced him Of the innocence of the ac-
cused. These suspicious and this con-
viction he communicated to his su-
perior officer, and was rebuked for
meddnng. But Picquart was not salts
fed His conscience smote him when
he attempted to dismiss the matter
from his mind Accordingly he a second
time communicated his discoveries to
chief officers, and suggested appeal to
the Minister Of War for revision when
he was detached and sent to the border
on a tour of inspection, and subequent-
ly to Algiers, and later still was ar
rested for reasserting the innocence
of Dreyfus, and spent year in a
military prison. When Esterhazy made
his revelations, confessing that he
wrote the bordereau, but still asserting
that Dreyfus was guilty of revealing
facts to foreign Powers, Picquart was
released, as his statement was justified
by EsteThazy's confession.
While sPicquart was still in prison for
urging a revision Of the Dreyfus case.
Colonel Henry, an attache of the staff.
committed forgery to furnish new
proofs of Dreyfus' guilt, and thus pre-
vent the Minister Of War from order
time the public knew nothing of Pic
quarts discovery Of the identity Of the