A DREYFUS CASE OF 150 YEARS AGO

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10410, 29 July 1899, Page 2

A DREYFUS CASE OF 150 YEARS AGO

r The following historical fact is worth recalling at the present juncture, ' says the London "Globe," if only to prove how history repeats itself:—

i The reign of Louis XV. was nearing its ; end, and everything was in confusion. The de Bellegarde, who was the colonel !of an artillery regiment, noticed that seve- [ ral of his colleagues in charge of the arsenal ! profited by their position to commit robberies i with the connivance of the contractors and : Inspectors. The count, being a man of J honour, revealed these malversations to the i Minister of War, and the subsequent scandal I was enormous.

The General de Saint Auban, director of the arsenals, haughtily protested against the accusations, and affirmed the honesty of his subordinates and assistants. He went further, and avenged them by denouncing the colonel as a traitor to his country and to the King. The colonel, from accuser, became accused, and an inquiry was ordered, which was, however, confided to an intimate friend of General de Saint-Auban. Bellegarde, who entirely ignored the plot hatched against him, was made prisoner unawares, judged by a council of- war with "huit-clos," and finally sentenced to degradation and 20 years in a fortress. The sentence was carried out. The Colonel Comte de Bellegarde was transferred to Pierre-Encise and buried alive in a dungeon. The gang of titled and decorated robbers who were in power and who had wilfully hidden the truth were triumphant. \

But the wife of the colonel—confident in the innocence of her husband, and sure of the infamy of her accusers—began to work indefatigably to prove the injustice of the sentence, and to bring about the rehabilitation of the colonel, and the punishment of the wrong-doers. Another curious coincidence which we note en passant is that the Christian name of Madame de Bellegarde was Lucie. At the same time that this heroic wife was making her desperate efforts, a relative of the colonel, the Baron de Chargey, accused the General de SaintAuhan in public of having fabricated forgeries and of having made use of them in order to obtain, the condemnation of Bellegarde. Many friends interested themselves jn the cause of the ex-colonel, and a memorandum showing the baseness and iniquity of the intrigues of which the unfortunate man had been.the victim was published. But the Minister refused to order the revision of the process, and sheltered himself behind "the respect. to la chose jugee." Meanwhile, Louis XVI. had ascended the throne, and the supplications of Marie Antoinette, who had been much affected by the wife of the condemned officer, brought about the removal of the Minister of •War and an impartial inquiry into the affair. The struggle between the plotters and £he supporters of Bellegarde lasted for four years, and at length terminated in the triumph of justice and truth.