THE DREYFUS CASE,

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9390, 17 March 1898, Page 2

THE DREYFUS CASE,

TO THE EDITOR.

Sin,— l was very muoh pained in reading the absurdity of a statement made in a sub-leader of your paper on the Tt'jth February last, by -which, spoakin of Captain Dreyfua' imprisonment, you de- v nennced France as being guilty of " slowly torturing Dreyfus to death in a fiendish, manner m an iron cage on tha dreary shores of Cayenne, etc." Without Irishing to enter into a controversy as to ! whether Dreyfus did or did not merit his punishment, I would ask you, in fairness to modern history* to publish the translation lam sending yon herewith, of an article which appeared in DeDuinengahn, a Belgian newspaper, and whioh 111 1 also find corroboratedrby a French paper, La Peleriu. both just received from Home. I aocept both these papers as most reliable, because they do not condemn nor defend* the unfortunate Dreyfus, bnfc simply state facts as they are truly -known at Home. If Dreyfusis innocent, it must indeed be terrible for him to be treated like a malefactor. If he be guilty, as has been declared by the Couseel de Gnerra (the only tribunal dealing with military offences), then it is well for. the readers of the HEBAiiDto know that Captain Dreyfus is not treated worse thnnany other Frenohi" conviot. The horrible accusation sent out by your sub-leader, that France ia " looking up individuals "to slowly torinre them in a fiendish manner in an iron cage" is no credit to the imaginative brain of the writer of ■ your sub-leader. It would be far better for publio knowledge were the truth always given in its entirety, instead of -being denatqred until it only forms a hash of absurdities, difficult to swallow.— l am, etc., , x L. J. Boflou. The Imprisonment op Dbekfcs. — Tha ex-captain lives alone with his wardarß on Devil's Island j tho Government had built for him on one of the island's points, a small wooden hot, being 6 metres (about 20 feet) long and 3 metres (about 10 feet) wide. This small house divided into .two small rooms, ono reserved to the convict and the other to the warders, 'who watch him day and night through the open door. The hut is surrounded by a. boarded partition about lOieet (3 metres) high, so that Dreyfua'cannot see anything outside his room. He is never allowed to go outside that partition. High palms give shade to this dark prison, bat no plants whatever oan live on the barren soil of Devil's Island. Tha prisoner passes his time, away with smoking ; he is forbidden to talk to his warders. — Dk Duineugahb. 11th Dec, 1897. [Onr coirespondent professes to the pained at' what he chooses to call the absurdity of a statement made by us in oonneotion with the Dreyfus scandal. "In proof of that absurdity he asks our l eaders to accept the facts as given by ft Belgian and a Frenoh paper." Bn pastant we- may remark that such papers as the London Times, Standard, Pali Mall Gazette, Telegraph, Morning Post, Daily News, Globe, and Chronicle can scarcely fini • adjeotives strong enough* wherewith to condemn the treatment meted out to Dreyfus ' Even the French Figaro, in its issue of January 24th of this year, dobs the Chamber of Deputies an as3emolage of vwniaques malfaUants for countenancing such soandalous proceedings as have occurred over Dreyfus. Le Temps is equally outspoken, and has not the. German press denounced in no unmeasured terms the action of Francs? In view of all this, the Frenoh Government will! no doubt, feel deeply indebted to Mr Duflou for his defence of their policy. Our correspondent says Dreyfus is not treated worse than any other convicts. God help the convicis, then 1 If our vilest offenders against law and order wore treated as Dreyfus is, and that even after a full, fair, and impartial hearing, the British nation would rise in revolt at such inhuman conduct. Our correspondent infers that it is not slow or fiendish torture to condemn a man without his being permitted to call evidence on his own behalf, to tear him from the bosom of his wife and family, and imprison him on a lonely island, where even his soldier guards have to be changed at frequent intervals to prevent their being seized with madness. We may have been"~mistaken in calling Dreyfus' wretched tenement an iron cage, though it is as well (o remember that it is surrounded by a battery of Hotchkiss ' guns (iron) permanently dressed ready for action should the prisoner attempt to escape. Though, but a young man, his hair has turned white and his beard grey. From what cause, we ask our correspondent? We ' repeat, from a bitterness worse than death to whioh he has been subjeoted by a nation of which it was once said it was "quick to honor." .The man, , unjustly condemned, is slowly dying mentally and physically under a barbarous form of imprisonment, to whioh all Frenoh oonviots, according to our correspondent, are treated. Our brain is not imaginative enough to conceive of the torture that should be inflicted on those who have been guilty of one of the grossest acts of injustice perpetrated in the 19th century.— Ed. . W.H.]