The San Francisco call., 1899-08-14
BATTLE OF HOSTILE
FORCES OF FRANCE
Copyrighted, 1899, by the Associated Press,


Copyrighted, 1899, by the Associated Press,
RENNES, Aug. 13.-The battle has
begun in earnest Its political bearings
are shown in the arrest of Paul Derou-
lede, the Deputy and poet. and twenty
three of the numerous Royalists and
Bonapartist allies, who have pooled
with him against the republic. As in
the Boulangist conspiracy, the pool
would be Of little consequence but fer
the military caste. which has found
representative men in General de Ne
grier and some other generals having
great commands
1t is strange thing how the fight
thickened around the shadOwy and
emaciated red haired Jew, whose uni
form Of an artillery captain so i'll fits
and BELTS his figure and physiognomy.
Last Mondays sitting of the court
martial and the subsequent nOn-public
sittings were the first skiTmishing
operations but yesterday was a field
day in which the hostile forces, into
which France is divided and has been
since the revolution. set themselves in
array of battle and drew the first blood.
Each side stands committed to GER
tain course and has burned its ships.
The actual Dreyfus trial is trial of
strength I cannot see a possibility of
its ending in a drawn game. 1t is now
a neck or nothing" combat, desper-
ate fight in which neither side will give
in unless utterly routed.
The moral situation of the forces en-
gagged reminds one Of that of the armies
of the French revolution and those they
had to fight. The Dreyfusites view the
brains, the forward impulse the dash
and the fexibility. At the same time
they are raw recruits gathered sponta-
neously from the four points Of the
compass Hatred of the military caste
and may be the secret hope of re
wards have made them homogeneous.
The Nationalists have social and
other prestige, numbers and organiza
ton. Their center is composed of the
majority of Frenchmen and French
women; their left wing is formed of 22,-
600 officers and their right wing con-
sists of the church. All profess re
spect for legality, but only from the lips
out One side is just as unscrupulous
as the other, but the most active and
less numerous side does really fight for
truth The Dreyfusites have, at any
rate, won beIligerent rights and they
are sure of the friendly neutrality of
the Government.
Their adversaries can no longer make
use of the rope that hung Pickard, or
the razor that cut Henry's throat. The
Minister of War could not, if he wanted
to, read a forged document in parlia-
!. I -
dossier with fables fit for Mother Goose
tales. But organization, numbers, pres
tige and wealth mean staying powers.
Doubtless the Dreyfusites are sup
piled with Jewish funds. without ac-
.cepting NJ. de Freycinet's estimate of
80. 100000 francs. The sums subscribed
by English and German Jews must be
enormous, but like wealthy Gentiies,
the Jews are fond Of the pomps and
yanities of life, the titles of aristOcratic
society Many of them are frightened
already at the onward pace of the
Dreyfusites. General Mercier's deposi-
ton was inaudible, unless to the
Judges and shorthand reporters. 1t fell
fat, his voice and delivery being bad.
But we have it now in print. 1t has
qualities for which we did not give it
credit during delivery. They are easy,
flowing statements, showing plausibil-
ity and the art of lulling suspicion. AS
the deposition appears in full reports
it will everywhere be read with delight
by those already persuaded that Drey-
fus is a traitor. They viii not see what
was Pecksniffian, what was feline per-
fidy, figuratively speaking. The depo-
sition, which was really an argument
for the prosecution, shows MERCER to
be a flautist of the highest order. He
never loses his way in the most intri-
cate variations and keeps in view that
Dreyfus is a COOL calculating, welI<in-
formed traitor
The Immediate issue of the fight is
the freedom of Dreyfus, but yesterdays
incidents and episodes are the begin
ming of a struggle of a far-reaching
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