WRONGS OF DREYFUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

WRONGS OF DREYFUS.

STORY TOLD BY NEPHEW. TREASON OF ESTERHAZY. THE MYSTERIOUS, BORDEREAU. The mystery of the famous "Bordereau " —or " covering , letter " —on , the strength of which Colonel Dreyfus was falsely convicted of treason in France in 1894, is at last cleared up from family papers anil other documents in the fitartiing book, " The Dreyfus Affair;"- which Dreyfus' nephew, M. Jacques Kayseiy has published. The " Bordereau," was actually written by Major Esterhazy, who was the real traitor. It was posted by him to Colonel Schwa rtzkopper;, tbo German military attache at that date in Paris. But Schwartkoppen's recently published papers show that it never reached him.

What happened to it was this, according to M. Kayser " Brucker, an agent who had been dismissed from the French Intelligence Branch, arid who had sought to reinstate himself, while prowling round the German Embassy succeeded in getting hold of a letter which had just been placed in the military attache's letter-box. It was a sheet of thin paper. After a hasty perusal, Brucker realised its importance arid proceeded to offer it to the Ministry of War "

And thus all the trouble began. The handwriting had a certain resemblance to that of Dreyfus, then a captain serving on the French General Staff. " Alice In Wonderland " Trial. But the contents of the " Bordereau " proved that it could not have come from him; the author of it stated that he was about to leave for manoeuvres, and Dreyfus was hot ordered on manoeuvres. Dreyfus, moreover, was wealthy and patriotic. He had no conceivable motive for treason.

■ The' courts-martial which followed resembled the judicial proceedings in " Alice, in Wonderland " —" sentenced first, trial afterward." Because Dreyfus a Jew, and because most of the general staff officers were anti-Semite, they de-' cidod that ho must be guilty. No one troubled about the value of the evidence.

A huge conspiracy to convict the inno- i cent man, Dreyfus, and to screen tlia guilty, Esterhazy, was arranged. Docu- ! ments were forged on such a scale that the contents of the official " Dossier" expanded from one to 374; and most of the 374 were " fakes."

It is an extraordinary tale that is set forth by M. Kayser—of " veiled women," microphones fixed - in Cerman officers' rooms in Paris, with wires carried up the chimneys, by which French agents could listen to the conversation, and a very network of espionage and counter-espion-age. Most amazing of all is the fact that the two courts-martial which condemned Dreyfus so unjustly were composed of honourable officers.

Forty-four Nights in Irops. A heartrending account is given of the abominable fashion in which Dreyfus was treated. He was placed every night in double irons at Cayenne. Two irons in the form of a U joined to a metal stem which was fastened to the bed. The feet were placed in the loop, which was fastened, so that the smallest' movement was impossible. . It- was an image of crucifixion. For the space of 44 nights —and- they were tropical nights—the wrongly convicted man suffered this agony. Not till 11 years after his first conviction was Dreyfus publicly cleared of the false charges brought against him, and reinstated in the. French Army. Even to-day, after all that has been written about it, the Dreyfus drama teems with mysteries. . As M. Kayser says in his book, there are a number of obscure points which still require elucidation. And why the French staff should have screened Esterhazy as they did is one of these. They were not all 4 traitors. Dreyfus himself declared: " My affair is very complicated; 50 years will have to elapse before people can understand it."