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THE NEW FRENCH TORPEDO BOAT "LA DRAGONNE."

1899] The Real Friends of Dreyfus

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As Major Esterhazy has been acquitted of writing the bordereau, he cannot again be accused, and so the real criminal will probably never be brought to justice, but Dreyfus will at last have a chance to prove his innocence, and be restored to his place among men.

M. Emile Zola has returned to Paris. Immediately on his arrival he sent word to the Public Prosecutor and asked that the sentence of the

Zola returns Home. Court be served on him. He escaped from Paris, if you remember, as soon as it became evident that the verdict would be against him.

In the letter written on his return he informed the Prosecutor that he had not fled to escape from justice, but in order that justice might not escape from him. He said those who believed in the innocence of Dreyfus, and who were willing to work for him, were too few to allow of their being put out of the way in prison. He declared that he removed from France that he might be able to continue his endeavors to obtain justice for Dreyfus.

He then wrote an impassioned appeal for the release of Colonel Picquart, and declared that in the midst of all this infamy and wrong he was the one man who had upheld his own honor and that of his country.

M. Zola has not been the only friend the unfortunate Dreyfus had during his lonely exile. Among those who aroused the national conscience of France should be mentioned Georges Clémenceau, the editor of

The Real Friends of Dreyfus.

L'Aurore; M. Scheurer-Kestner, the Protestant Senator, and ex-Premier Brisson. To the ex-Premier's efforts a revision of the Court Martial's sentence was largely due.

We should not forget these men who risked much rather than have the army upheld at the cost of the liberty and honor of one man. Nor should Colonel Picquart be forgotten. He cheerfully faced persecution and imprisonment in order that truth might prevail.

It is said that the Ministers have decided to reinstate the novelist as a member of the Legion of Honor, and that Colonel Picquart will also be released and reinstated. Copies of the decision of the Court of Cassation are to be printed and posted throughout France.

On May 31, the day made memorable by the speeches in the Court of Cassation in favor of a revision of the Dreyfus case, the two deputies who were arrested for trying to incite the troops to rebellion on the occasion of President Faure's funeral were put on trial.

The Trial of Two
Deputies.

During the course of the trial one of the accused deputies, M. Paul Déroulède, was permitted to make a long speech in which he tried to work on the feelings of the anti-Dreyfusites by attacking the President, and declared that the latter was so greatly in favor of the unfortunate prisoner of Devil's Island as to be willing to have the country sacrificed, and the honor of the army torn to shreds, rather than relax his attempts in Dreyfus' favor,

1899] Trial of the Two Deputies

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The deputies were however acquitted. The only evidence against them was given by themselves. They solemnly declared that they exhorted the officers in the barracks to mutiny. The officers under oath denied. this, and thereupon the jury agreed that the two deputies M. Paul Déroulède and M. Marcel Halbert were harmless persons, and decided to let them go free.

This was a severe blow to the vanity of M. Paul Déroulède, who was very anxious for an opportunity to pose as a martyr.

The fact that the judge had allowed him to attack the President was regarded as a great triumph by his friends, who decided that they had thereby won a great victory over the government.

The Ministers, however, at the Cabinet meeting directed the Minister of Justice to take proceedings against the Magistrate, M. Tardif, who had presided at the trial, and permitted Déroulède to speak.

This caused a great sensation throughout Paris, and in the Chamber of Deputies excited members demanded that the President and the Ministers should be indicted for persecuting all who were opposed to them.

Esterhazy Confesses Again.

From London the news was cabled that Esterhazy had repeated his confession in regard to writing the bordereau, and declared that he can prove the truth of his assertions by well-authenticated documents. Esterhazy has however told such a number of falsehoods in connection with the Dreyfus case that, although Paris is much excited over the alleged con

fession, there are many who doubt whether he is really telling the truth.

On May 30 Major Marchand arrived at Toulon, France, on board the French cruiser D'Arsis.

The Return of
Marchand.

The French are always on the lookout for a new hero to worship, and when Marchand arrived on the scene they turned immediately to him and made him the idol of the hour.

Now the government could not permit Marchand to become the people's hero, and for this reason. The situation in France is critical in the extreme. It seems hard to realize that the people have been foolish enough to make the Dreyfus case a tremendous national issue, but it is so. Many of them are blind to the fact that a great wrong has been done which justice demands should be righted, but, on the contrary, think that the effort to clear Dreyfus is merely a political trick of the civil authorities to cast discredit on the great French idol-the army.

The government, while it deplores the necessity for discrediting the army, feels that the nation is not safe when its defenders are officered by men who may make mistakes, then lie, forge, and cheat to cover their own errors, as has been proved. The government feels the weight of its duty to France keenly enough to be willing to incur the anger of the people rather than spare its efforts to stamp out the evil and purify the army until it becomes in truth the glory of France.

Major Marchand, returning from his long African

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