THE DREYFUS CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11162, 7 September 1899, Page 4

THE DREYFUS CASE.

The proceedings at the Rennes Court-martial, and the interminable length to which the inquiry is being spun out by the prosecution, make it all the more deplorable that the Court of Cassation did not settle once and for all the Dreyfus question instead of referring it to an inferior tribunal. The Court had full power tt> declare the accused innocent, and its decision would have been acquiesced in by the majority of the nation. But while it practically pronounced in his favour by declaring that he was not the author of the bordereau, it relegated to a Court-martial the duty of saying whether or not he communicated to the agent of a foreign Power the documents enumerated in the bordereau. The prosecution, as was to be expected, have utterly failed to establish a case against the accused, but they have availed themselves of tne opportunity of dragging up every falsehood and innuendo calculated to discredit the defence and keep alive the miserable agitation fomented by the enemies of Dreyfus. There is also reason to believe that the impartiality of the Court is not above suspicion. The President has shown a marked bias against the accused, and scandalous unfairness in the conduct of the inquiry. Notwithstanding the overwhelming proofs of the innocence of the prisoner, there is even now no absolute certainty that the Court will acquit Dreyfus. The Court is, of course, composed exclusively of military officers, and as the General Staff of the French army is hopelessly compromised in the case, we may take it for granted that enormous pressure is being exercised to secure a conviction regardless of every consideration of equity or justice. What renders the unfortunate mistake of the Court of Cassation in not definitively settling the whole matter alt the more deplorable is the fact that whichever way the verdict goes the agitation that has so long distracted France and lowered her prestige among the nations of the world, will not be finally allayed. A conviction would excite not only intense commotion in France, but rouse the vehement indignation of every civilised people, while an acquittal would be represented by the anti-Dreyfusards, as they have already hinted, as the result of secret pressure put upon the Court by the Government. The outlook, therefore, is by no means promising for France.