Omaha daily bee., 1906-07-15
KLNp1oArIoN oF pREYFus.

The closing day of the session Of
the national legislature of France will
be historic for the act of justice, long
delayed, by which the stain of dis
honor so UNANIMOUSLY put upon the
name of Captain Alfred Dreyfus is
formally wiped out, and such repara-
ton as at this late date is possible is
officially made to an innocent and
terribly wronged man. 1t is eminently
At that the same law by which the
French republic acknowledges the i'm
measurable crime against Captain
Dreyfus, restoring him to the rank in
the army from which he was eleven
years ago degraded on false charge
of treason, with the promotion to which
in regular course he would have been
entitled and with enrolment on the
list for early nomination to the Legion
of Honor, should also include the like
honorable restoration of Colonel Pic
quart, who was a victim to the same
despicable conspiracy, because he as
in duty bound strove manfully to make
the truth appear and to expose the
forgeries and periuries by which the
outrage was perpetrated. Not less ap-
propriate is it that at the same time the
French government by law to transfer
Emil Zola's body to the Pantheon, the
municipality of Paris by resolution to
name a principal street for him and
various other representative bodies by
similar acts, should render homage to
the great French author who. after
Dreyfus had suffered the deepest indig-
nifty that could be imposed on a soldier
and had been consigned to a living
death at DEVILS island. and after
Picquart, attempting to undo the
wrong, had himself been expelled from
the army in disgrace, made the n
orable appeal to the conscience of
France for justice, that ultimately tri-
umphed, though its immediate answer
was persecution, bankruptcy and exile,
The story of the Dreyfus case is one
of the most extraordinary in modern
annals, and is pregnant with admoni-
tion far beyond the limits of France.
For the suffering wrongfully inflicted
on these innocent men. France has
itself in the last ten years suffered
grievously and been brought to the
verge of revolution and foreign war.
| to say nothing of the odium incurred
| in the eyes of right-thinking man
kind. The original sin against Drey-
| fus, which the powerful perpetrators
| hoped to hide. became a stimulus to
the worst prejudices and passions that
are still widespread in a great popula-
tion. In spite of the boasted progress
and liberality of the age.
Least of all can n republic tolerate
either an irresponsible military estab-
| lishment on the one hand or a mad
brutal mob spirit on the other. A
union Of the worst of both, determined
! by mere circumstance in the Dreyfus
case. eliminated in the deep disgrace
| and danger of France. To its credit
it is to be said that the intelligent and
Just sentiment Of the people at length
asserted itself. and the desperate and
debauched military spirit was curbed
and brought into subordination tc
law and reason. 1t remained formally
to acknowledge the wrong to the limo
cent victim. as the government has
now done unreservedly and in the most
conspicuous manner. The unutterable
injustice to Dreyfus cannot indeed be
undone, but his suffering and the hu
initiation of his country may stand
everywhere as a warning for the
| future