The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-04-24
LETTER
He Writes to the Minister of War
and Beseeches Him to Reopen His
Case-He Has Been Quietly Living
in Paris-His Dramatic Demand
for VindicatiOn-He Declares That
He Was Stabbed in the Back i'm
His Former Trials.

Paris, April 22.-Alfred Dreyfus has
submitted to Minister of War Andre
lengthy letter in which he earnestly
asks for a re-opening of his case by
means of investigation by the minis
Ter as the supreme head of military
Justice. The letter, which is dated
Paris, April 21st, confirms the reports
that Dreyfus has been living quietly
here for some time. 1t promises to
cause a tremendous agitation among
the various elements of the political
groups for and against Dreyfus. The
first part of the letter is an earnest
plea that the court which condemned
him at Rennes was improperly inf1u-
enced, first by the annotated document
ascribed to Emperor William and sec
ond, by the false testimony of one of
the witnesses, Czernuski
After arguing on the extent to which
these contributed to his condemnation
Dreyfus recalls in graphic terms the
long series of horrors to which he had
been subjected.
The letter throughout is couched in
highly dramatic style which is likely
to make it one of the notable papers
of the case.
1t refers to Esterhazey as zone who
stands before the entire world as the
culprit.''
One of the passages, showing the
rhetorical style, is as follows:
Il will not recall, Mr.. Minister, what
[ have endured since 1894. Picture to
yourself the horrors of q soldier whose
whole life was devoted to duty to
work, to loyalty, and to profound de-
io,o fN,-1 hi
instant is stripped of his good name
and despoiled of the honor of himself
and mis- children. For five years this
soldier is subjected to horrible suffer-
ings. They seek TO crush him phys
ically, to annihilate him mortally. He
is absolutely innocent of all crime and
struggles in vain to penetrate the myS-
terry, proclaiming his innocence and
struggling with all the forces of his
mind and body for that supreme pleas
ure of vindicating his good name and
character. Days. months, years pass
thus in most cruel agony, amid the
tOrtures of a murderous climate At
last he is brought back to France, the
guilty one is discovered and the SOL
dier hears himself proclaimed innc-
cent by those who before reviled him
as a traitor. 1t was thus, Mr.. Minis
ter, that I hoped to see my martyred
end. But alas, if I returned to find
| tied for the truth, it was to find also
that deadly hatred had been unloosei.
'''In the processes of 1894 I was stab
bed in the back; 1 cannot ina gine how
such conditions can prevail through
| falsehood and deception. But so it
was and my second condemnation was
but an aggravated reaffirmation of
what occurred in 1894 When the
guilty one was known and unmasked
and ESterhaZey was recognized as the
| author of the treason, the same men
| who had cheated justice in 1894 again
| sought in 1899 to. cheat justice for the
second time by the same criminal
manoeuvres. Conscious of these meth
| DDS. the government of the republic
| Will not permit itself to keep in prison
one who is known to be innocent
I'm constant thought of ultimate
| legal revision, 1 have re-asSembled lit
| tie by little all the divergent elements
| of tstimony contributing to my con-
viction. 1 have scorned calumnies and
| falsehOOd. 1 have remained silent with
| the firm conviction that justice would
| surely have it's day Of triumph. The
| victim of criminal tactics and viola
| ton of the law twice committed against
| me, I now address myself to the SUI
preme chief of military Justice and
| supporting myself by new facts which
| have been ELECTED and by the existence
| Of the pretended borderau annotated
| by Emperor William, 1 beg to ask that
| you institute an inquiry, first upon the
| use made of this false document at
| Rennes and the consequences it pro-
duced on those rendering judgment;
| second. upon the false and fraudulent
| testimony of CZernuSki at RenneS.
| After deferential salutation the
letter is signed alfred Dreyfus.'
|