A DREYFUS CASE OF 150 YEARS AGO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11484, 25 July 1899, Page 3

A DREYFUS CASE OF 150 YEARS AGO.

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

The reign of Louis XV was nearing its end, and everything was in confusion. The Comte de Bellegarde, who.was the colonel of an artillery regiment, noticed that several of his colleagues in charge of the arsenal profited by their position to commit robberies with the connivance of the contractors and inspectors. The count, being a man of honour, revealed these malversations to the Minister for War, and the subsequent scandal was enormous.

The General Be Saint-Auban, director of the arsenals, haughtily protested against the accusations, and affirmed the hone3ty 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 ol titled and decorated robber.? 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 his 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 ec incidence which we note en passant is that tlie 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 Ohargey, accused the General de SaintAuban in public of having fabricated forgeries and of having made use of them in order to obtain the condemnation of Bellegarde.

Many fiiends interested themselves in 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 tho throne, and the supplications of Marie Antoinette, who had been much affected by tho wife of the condemned officer, brought about the removal of the Minister for War and an impartial inquiry into the affair. The struggle between the plotters and the supporters of Bellegarde lasted for four years, and at length terminated in the triumph of justice and truth.