Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-09-16
SKETCH OF OEMANGE.
Accent OF Truth In His Plea More
Impressive Than El0Quence.

EhetSft vi U" Ahto HhSA y
Impressive Than E|loquence!
New York, Sept. 9.-Marcel Provost,
New York Herald correspondent at
Rennes, gives the following pen picture
Of Demange:
Maitre Demange, whose splendid
speech for the defence will, / hope, be
read by all the world over, has the face
and outward appearance generally of a
wealthy French farmer. Take off his
lawyers gown, put in its place one OF
those fine, shining blue blouses
adorned. with embroidery that are
worn by the well-to-do peasants Of the
Beauce and Berri, and you will have
before you the classical type of the ru
raj land owner as he was described, for
instance, in the rustic romances OF
George Sand.
He has the robust form of the French
farmer. His expansive, high colored
countenance is framed in grayish
whiskers. His eyes are placid and Mt
the same time harbor n spice of cum.
ming. The lips are sensual. A perma'
nent but slightly marked smile con
tracts the corners of the carefully
shaved chin. His gestures are ample
and modulated. His intonation is very
clear, but none the less Il little coun.
triiied. His phrasing admits the al
br~eviations, all the familiarities oi
pronunciation Of the spoken language;
there is no atfectation, no apparent re-
search after eloquence.
In the first words he uttered he in
formed the judges it would be so. What
is marvellous in his speech and what Is
worth more than all the tricks of rhct'
oric is the accent Of truth which in
foyms it. A speech Of such manifest
sincerity would almost suffice of itself
without there being any need of back
ing it by minute arguments.
But Maitre Demange is a dialecticiar
of the highest order. He spoke to the
Judges as If he were addressing intel
leCts accustomed to mathematical de
auctions. His discourse was n vcritablt
succession of theorems, advanced Will
a solid demonstration.
/. He himself had perceived and was
able to tell the court in no conciliatorN
tones hat the military witnesses anc
the famous ministers of war were
p~reiudiced witnesses, blinded by the
. desire of preventing a revision which
/ they believed to be injurious to the
army. .
2. He made the court feel that al
the dispositions of a strongly marked
tendency which might have had {
"raison dire" in the court of cassa
ton inquiry, where a proof of limo
cence was being sought for, could have
no value here before a court-martia
which is seeking a proof of guilt. IL
what respect, indeed, did those deposi
tons prove hat Dreyfus was n traitor
3. With marvellous skill he demon
strated that, despite the Legitimate
suspicion attaching to the denials, n
well as to the declarations that ha'
come from diplomatic quarters, it wa
still not possible to suppose that th'
military attaches had lied to their su
periors, and thereby exposed them
selves to frightful misadventure
Now, to summarize, the in
ouiry by the Italian govern
ment had elected this reply from
the attache: you can deny all rela
tons with Dreyfus, but don't mention
Esterhazy." Was that not an acknowl
ment of EsterhaZy's guilt?
4. He made admirable capital o
the Schneider document. That docu
ment proves that the German and ltal
ian attaches began to deny the guilt o
Dreyfus Immediately after the publica
ton of the bordereau in a Paris news
paper. Consequently they acknowl
edged that the document did not com
from Dreyfus.
Such are the most salient features o
the illustrious advocates speech. Hi
main idea is, briefly, this: You ore TOT
honest people to condemn a man with
out proof. Now l defy you to discove.
a proof.