THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1899.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11202, 24 October 1899, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1899.

Neither a nation nor an individual should encourage the pharisaical habit of thanking God that they are not as other people. Individually and as a people we have shortcomings to amend and faults to correct quite sufficient to engage our attention. But really when one looks at the position of France'and its army, aud contrasts it with the situation in our own Empire, he cannot avoid a feeling of thankfulness. Captain Dreyfus is now a free man. He has his liberty, and is with his wife and family. He can never escape from the impression of his long and cruel imprisonment, but it may reasonably be expected that the remainder of his life may be a fairly happy one. He has no doubt experienced the malice and hatred of those from whom he ought to have received rather sympathy and aid in any trial, but he has to put against that the love and devotion that have been manifested to him, and the sympathy that has been shown for his suffering by the mass of civilised humanity outside of France. It is true that he still remains under the stigma that the Court-martial at Rennes pronounced him guilty of the most heinous of crimes "under extenuating circumstances." But that ought not to matter much, because the world recognises that untence was for a purpose, although a base and cowardly one. Captain Dreyfus has stated that he only accepted his pardon on the condition that he should be at liberty to pursue the vindication of his honour. What he may be able to do in this matter we do not inow. Notwithstanding all the investigations that have been made, the months of trial, there is something beneath which has never yet been revealed. The plain unvarnished truth of the story of how Dreyfus came to be accused very likely could be put in a short and simple tale. For that the world is j v aiting quite patiently now. And as it sometimes happens that the most mysterious murders come to light in the course of*time by some simple accident, so this Dreyfus iniquity may one day all be revealed.

Perhaps the world would have been inclined to close up the whole record, and endeavour to forget that there had ever been such a shameful page in human annals, had it not been for another letter from M. Zola. Verily, great is the power of the pen, expressing thought to thought. And Zola can express himself forcibly. He boldly attacks the Court-martial, and what is of far more consequence, and what is a larger proof of his courage, the army. This last letter, as has been said, rises to greater heights of tragic passion, and to a greater intensity of feeling, than his evermemorable letter, "J'accuse." It contains passages of the bitterest invective. It describes the army chiefs as " usurping with their lies the place of the Public Prosecutor, terrorising and insulting those who contradicted them, .forcing themselves upon the Court in the insolence of their gold lace and plumes." Major Carriere is characterised as " a grotesque public prosecutor, exceeding the limits of imbecility." Zola declares that "when the complete report of the Rennes trial has been published, there will exist no more execrable monument of human infamy, Never will a more rascally document have been furnished to history, Ignorance, folly, madness, cruelty, lies, crimes, are strewn there with such effrontery that future generations will shudder Willi shame. The verdict was, he adds, a "moral Sedan."

The feeling of thankfulness we have spoken of is with us beciuse of the contrast between the Fren 'h and the British army. Look at the position of the great military chiefs of France now. France is at the mercy of any country possessing documentary proofs of the innocence of Dreyfus and of the guilt of some of his accusers. It is said that the archives of Germany are stuffed with papers supplied by French traitors. In the event of a war, the arm of every French soldier would be paralysed by the knowledge that his chiefs were false enough to sell his life's blood for money. And contrast this with our own army. It was quite well known that the feeling in the army, amongst officers and men, against the Boers was very strong. The Boers had perpetrated what was really a surprise and massacre at Bronkhurst Spruit, and they had inflicted a severe defeat at Majuba Hill, one of the bitterest memories of the 'British army. Yet in all the prolonged negotiations with the Boer oligarchy at' Pretoria, itwas never even whispered that the desire of the army for war had any effect on the decision, or on the course of the correspondence. The army in France is the greatest of political powers. Every Briton is proud of the fact that when war is declared the soldier does his duty. And our pride in the honour of our army leaders, who are not to be mentioned in the same breath with the Merciers and Esterhazys of France, is increased by their latest example of heroism in the field at the battle of Glencoe. We see these men advancing to attack a strong force of Boers in position, taking cover from

(i severe fire as opportunity offered. The officers, desiring to show an example to the men, stand exposed? and are shot down an large proportion Ten officers were killed and thirty-five men, while thirty officers were wounded as against 150 rank and file. The fact is that the British army was never in better fettle than it is at this moment, never more efficient in organisation, never more completely imbued with a loyal and patriotic spirit. The army of France, according to Zola, and as has been manifested in the Dreyfus affair, is rotten at the most important part-.. It dominates the country, but is apparently unfit to do anything to advance its interests or its glory. _