The times., 1899-09-10
TOM SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 10, lS99-EIGHTEEN PAGES

vious error in identifying the writing Of the
bordereau as that of Dreyfus, but it was
suggested that he had traced the letter
from specimens of Esterhazy's writing.
Picquart, instead of being witness against
Esterhazy, was practically on trial himself,
and on January II, 1898, Esterhazy was ac-
quilted. Later Picquart was dismissed
from the army and then arrested on
charge of forging the petit bleu. He is still
in prison.
Esterhaxy Is Dismissed.
Esterhazy, having apparently served the
full purpose of the staff Office, was soon
afterward dismissed from the army for
having written letters criticising the
French troops and praising the German
army. He has at various times since ad-
mitted and then denied that he wrote the
bordereau and did other crooked work un-
der orders of his superiors.
Meantime NJ. Zola wrote an open letter
denouncing the staff officers and dsfying
the Government to prosecute him for libel.
The Government accepted the chal-
lenge and he was twice tried and convict
ed. How farcical the trials were is we'll
remembered. Zola is now in exile. having
left France to escape Imprisonment.
In the new Chamber of Deputies OF 1898
the Dreyfus case was again made promi-
nent. NJ. Cavaignac was Minister of War.
To interpretations on the Dreyfus case he
responded with a long speech in confr-
nation of the prisoners guilt. To the
former evidence he added new letter of
the SchwartZkoppeD- PanniZardi series in
which the name of Dreyfus appeared in
full. He also read a statement OF an al
legged confession by Dreyfus which has
since been repudiated.
Denounced as Forgery.
Colonel Picquart at once denounced the
new Schwartzkoppen- Pannizardi letter as
a forgery. Shortly after came the confes-
sion of Lieutenant Colonel Henry, who
was then al the head of the secret intelli-
gence department, that he had forged the
letter His suicide soon followed Be-
cause of this exposure NJ. Cavaignac re-
signed, as did General de Boisdeffre, chief
of the general staff.
Madame Dreyfus at once demanded re-
vision of the case, and the Government re-
ferred it to the criminal branch of the
Court of Cessation. Later ii was trans
ferred to the whole court.
The decision 10 submit the Dreyfus case
to a new military tribunal was reached by
the Court of Cessation on Saturday, June 3.
The only point on which the court was di-
yided was whether the farce of new trial
was necessary W Satisfy lhS
of the situation. The judges were unani-
nous on the question of revision. and there
lacked only five of a majority for a decree
declaring Dreyfus absolutely innocent and
ordering his unconditional release. There
were strong technical objections to this
course otherwise it would certainly have
been adopted, for an analysis of the evil
dence made in the judgment rendered left
the prisoner on DEVILS Island free of even
suspicion of guilt. The court sat in
camera until 3:35 p. M, when the doors
were opened for the pronouncemeDt OF
judgment. There were no signs of popular
interest or excitement around the Palace
of Justice, and the spectators who speedily
filled the courtroom were exclusively friends
of Dreyfus and his cause. NJ. Mazeau, first
president of the court, began reading the
decision without preliminaries as follows:
The Order for Revision.
"The court having heard the president of
the civil chambers, the report of the pro-
cureur general, the requstion of Monard,
counsel for Madame Dreyfus, for an inter-
venor, considering article 443 of the code OF
criminal instruction, and article 445. modi-
fed by law on March l. 1899, and consider
ing the enquiry has declared receivable a
request for the revision of the trial of Al
fred Dreyfus, condemned on December %
1894, to deportation to fortified place and
to military degradation for the crime of
high treason; considering the report of said
enquiry and the annexed documents; con-
sdering that the secret document 'Canaille
de D. was communicated to the court
martial; considering that that communiea-
ton is proved by Casimir- Perier's deposit
tion and those of Mercier and Boisdeffre;
considering, furthermore, that Perier de-
clared that Mercier informed him that the
canaille document, then believed TO refer
to Dreyfus, had been communicated to the
court martial, and that, furthermore, Mer-
cier and Boisdeffre, when invited to say il
| they said the communication had been
made, refused TO reply, and that they iden-
| titled the document; considering that, sub
sequent TO the court martial and judgment
| it had been revealed that the document was
calculated to influence the opinion of the
| judges decisively, and which today we
| know TO be unapplicable to the accused
we find that this constitutes a new fact of
nature 10 establish the innocence of the
accused.
Discussing the Bordereau.
| "Secondly-Upon the subject of the bor-
dereau, considering that the crime alleged
against Dreyfus consisted in having deliv-
cred TO a foreign power or its agents, con-
| fdential or secret documents bearing upon
| the national defence, the forwarding where
| Of was accompanied by a letter called the
| bordereau, undated and unsigned, written
upon 'papier pelure' lined in squares; con-
| sidering that this letter, the basis of the
| accusation against the accused, was sue
| cessively submitted to experts charged to
| compare the handwriting with that Of
| Dreyfus, and that three of them Charavay,
| Peissonniere, and Bertillon, attributed the
| same to Dreyfus; that there was not dis
| covered in his possession nor proved that
! he had employed any paper of that nature,
| and that efforts made TO find similar paper
| among a certain number of dealers proved
unsuccessful, and that nevertheless, a sim
| liar specimen, though different in shape
| had been furnished by the wholesale firm
| of Marion, Cite & Bergere, who declared
| the style was no longer current in COM
! merce; considering that the enquiry of No.
| vember, 1898, revealed the existence and led
to the seizure of two letters on papier pc
lure. square-ruled, whose authenticity, was
undoubted, dated April II, 1892. and August
| IL, 1894, the latter contemporary with
sending the bordereau, both coming from