The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-08-19
Light Upon the Dreyfua Case.

| seem 10 be IN q lar way OF PONG
dlspcllrd, even before the end Of th,
present Judicial proceedings is reach
ed. To most persons the greatest of
these mysteries has probably been
the absence Of ahy apparent assign
able motive for the long prosecution
TO which Captain Dreyfus has been
subjected. Why should this mao,
not conspicuous by birth or rank, a
stranger to all political intrigue or
party entanglements, devoted, sp-
parently, to the pursuits Of his pro
tessiOn and the performance Of his
duties as q captain OF artillery. with
ont known enemies, so far as the
world is aware why should be have
been singled out to be the victim OF
the most remarkable conspiracy
which the world has late ly Witnessed ?
Especially, why should all the power
of successive French Cabinets ard
Ministries of Asr, and of the whole
general staff OF the French Army,
have been exerted to crush this com.
paratively obscure individual and
apparently, to hound him to suicide
or death.
The London Times furnishes an
answer to this seemingly inscrutable
question, the intrinsic probability Of
which will strike everyone, and for
the absolute correctness Of which, as
resting upon an undoubted fouuda-
ton OF fact, the Times vouches.
According to the Times there was
a traitor before and al the time of
Dreyfus' conviction. an officer con.
nected with the French general staff,
who was guilty of selling to one or
more foreign governments important
military secrets. Ia this there Is
aothiug lntrinsically improbable or
strange. IL is not too much 10 say
hat II is tor the very purpose Of spy
ing upon the military plaus and e3-
adjustments Ot each other that mill
tary officers are attached tO the le'
cations of nearly all civilized govern
ments. Il Is the business OF these
u lltary attaches to find out and re-
port whatever may interest the mill
tary authorities of their own govern
ment to know. 1t is only a few
years since the French government
requested the recall of the then mil
ltary attache Of our own legation at
Paris, sn accomplished ordnance
officer we'll known in Baltimore. be-
cause he was supposed to have dis
covered the secret Of the model and
construction of the Lebel rifle, Sc.
cret which the French Government
was carefully guarding.
Ia addition to acquiring a know
ledge Of the mechanical and scien-
tfc secrets of their neighbor, the
construction of arms, the compost
ton of explosives, etc, another mat
ter of great interest to at least two
European governments would be the
knowledge of the plans IN contem-
platiOn for the mobilization of the
French Army in the event Of a sud
den outbreak of hostlitles. The doc
umeEts which Captain Dreyfus was
accused of furnishing to the German
military attache, Colonel Schwarz-
koppeu, relate to some of these
identical subjects. and are referred
to specifically in the memorandum,
or bordereau," now known to have
been forged by Colonel Esterhazy.
The statement in the Times is that
the real traitors were Esterhazy and
Lieutenant Colonel Henry, and that
they sold at various times to the mill
tary attaches of foreign governments
more than lG0 documents of eonsid-
cradle value, including the plans for
the mobilization of the French
Army. The proceeds of this infam-
GUS traffic. the Times further states,
were divided between Esterhszy and
Henry.
The fact of the treason becoming
known or suspected, it became nee
essary to discover the traitor. To
divert suspicion from themselves
Esterhazy and Henry conspired to
tx the guilt upon Dreyfus. This it
was all the more easy to do because
of his comparative obscurity, his
lack Of powerful friends, and, above,
all, the fact that he wasa Jew. lie
was the only Jewish officer connect
ed with the general staff, and Col.
Sandherr, the head of the Bureau of
Military Information, whose duty it
was to ferret the traitor, was a no.
torious Jew-bater.
When told that suspicion, based
upon a comparison of handwriting
pointed to Dreyfus, Colonel Sand
herr,is said to have exclaimed: "Ye es
| know; have him." This boasted d
evidence of handwriting which seems
to have been sufficient to have de
ceiyed. Temporarily, the famous ex-
pert Bertillou, is now known by the
confession of the two real criminals
to have rested upon forgeries. Es-
terhszy confesses to have forged the
'bordereau,r which euumerStes
documents which he had himself
sold to Colonel Schwarkoppen, and
Henry confessed to M. Cavaignac,
the Minister of War, that he forg-
ed the letter which was supposed to
supply the necessary link connect
ing Dreyfus with the authorship Of
the bordereau. Self.eonfessed for
ger. Colonel Henry dies by his OVID
hand within a few hours after his
com initial, by order of the Minister,
to the military prison of ViDcennes.
Esterhszy writes from his retreat in
London to Commandant Carriere,
who is conducting the present trial
OF Dreyfus, and, among other things,
says: II entered into relations with
Schwarzkoppeu. the German military
attsche, in 1894. Schwarzkoppen
told me be had in his service at the
French Ministry of War a captain OF
artillery. | told this to Ssndherr,
and he said, Il know the man, and
I have got him. | wrote the bor'