The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-11
DRBYEUs AND FRAyoE
No Longer . Mas but . Nation on ,

No Longer . Man but . Nation On Trial
To THE EDrToR OF TEE suN-Str, The entire
civilized world outside OF France. 10 standinf
aghast at the outrage just perpetrated o.
hennes. In condemning q man az guilty o.
treason against whom no evidence worthy o.
the name has been produced. Such q result
after such trial Is sure to react upon France
with terrible force. II 10 q revival OF the spri'
OF the Inquisition and the DARK Ages and
must retard the march OF progress and libsrty
In that country and lower the standard OIL
| Justice and right
| Apropos OF the Droyfus court. martial you re-
| Gently published a very interesting resume OF
the French methods OF practice and procedure.
AS stated by Mr.. Gown. who ia recognized as
an authority on the subject. My own observa-
tion OF trials In France fully confirms the
statement OF Mr.. Gown that there are no
French rules OF evidence" and that almost
anything 10 put In as evidence. hearsay. ram
bling tales. quotations from letters. and any
thing that In the judgment OF the wit
ness bears on the case In question" All this
stun would be ruled out by any OF our
courts as wholly incompetent. irrelevant
or immatsrial. But the ideas OF law and
justice. as understood by Anglo-Saxon ma
lions. are very different from those prevail
Ing In France. Under the old English COM
Jurisprudence. every man 10 presumed to be
Innocent until he is proved guilty. But in
France the accused 10 presumed to be guilty
until he has succeeded In proving his inno-
cence. This Is equivalent to tho task Of
proving negative. which shows the I'M ustlce
and cruelty OF IL ALL
My attention was particularly CALLED to this
peculiar phase OF French law when In Paris
some years ago was privileged to be present
on several occasions when person accused OF
crime was examined before the ''jugo din
struction" and also at trials in the various
courts. The LUCE Construction" may be
compared to our com hitting magistrate"
But instead OF a courtroom open to the pu bile,
everything 10 done ia secret or zen camera"
1t Is a regular star chamber proceeding. Each
Judge has his private room into which 10 brought
the prisoner and the witnesses. one ny one. No
lawyers are allowed to be present on either
side. The Judge conducts the examination
himself. and the testimony Is written out by
mis- sectetary. In longhand. There 10 no steno-
grapher to take down questions and answers,
but the secretary or clerk Is permitted to sum-
mnrize as he sees At and to put his own con-
struction on the language used. The con-
sequence Is that the accused or witness is
OFTEN made to appear to testify directly oppo-
site to that which he intended to say.
remember one instance where a suspected
accomplish had fatty denied any connection
with the affair. but the old man who did the
writing made him utter several damaging ad-
missions. When the testimony was read over
TO MIN. he asked to have the proper correction
made. which request was denied. He accord
ingly refused to sign It. when the Judge with
out further parley. touched bell on his dssk.
Two gendarmes appeared forthwith at an In
ner door OF the little room. In terrifying
voice and with menacing gesture the Judge in
formed the trembling wretch that II he did not
sign the testimony as read. he would be
dragged OF to prison at once. or course. there
was only one thing to do. and the testimony
was signed. This is a fair sample OF how they
conduct judicial inquiries in France and Drey-
ius Is not the only sufferer.
d was also impressed with the fact that the
entire procedure presuppesed the guilt Of the
accused. The questions started out with a
long statement OF facts assumed to be so.
sometimes without the slightest foundation.
1t was vertablo fishing excursion: or
rather series OF traps and pitfalls were laid
Tor the person under examln ation with the hope
that he might fall into one OF them and convict
himself out OF his own mouth Mono Of the
safeguards and means OF protection which We
Afford to persons accused OF crime are to be
ound IN the French legal procedure,
he trials are public. Every sort Of hearsay
evidence is admitted. and II sufficient wit
lesses can be produced who will swear "on
heir honor" that they believe the prisoner Is
guilty or that they heard some one else say
nat he ought to be found guilty. this will be
NJ that Is required to condemn him. provided
he slightest circumstant'al evidence can be
produced which might possibly connect him |
WITH the crime. The burden OF proof is not on |
he prosecution but on the defence over tbere
mi they do not know the meaning of the |
words REASONABLE doubt" |
with such institutions and with such illegal |
md unjust methods. Dreyfus had little hope
o escape when tried before judges anxious
sustain the prestige OF the army and only
90 anxious to listen to the insensate voloe OF |
he people. who shouted as o. old Cruelty
lin Cruelty himl" But the blood Of Dreyfus
viii be upon them and their children for many
generations to come in poor. unfortunate and
Misguided France. GILBERT RAY HAwEs
New YORK. Sept. 8.