DREYFUS AFFAIR, THE

In the autumn of 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, an officer of the Fr. army, of Jewish parentage, studying at Staff Coll., was arrested on a charge of offering to sell military secrets to Germany; tried by court-martial, Dec. 19-22; prosecution relied upon one document, unsigned and undated—the bordereau, a schedule of the papers offered for sale. Experts were not unanimous that this was in the accused’s handwriting, but his personal unpopularity, combined with strong Anti-Semitic feeling, led to his condemnation to military degradation and imprisonment for life on the [le du Diable off coast of Fr. Guiana. Agitation for revision of sentence at once began. In July 1895 Colonel Piequart became head of Intelligence Dep.; leakage of mnilitary secrets continued, and he came to conclusion that Major Esterhazy was real culprit and author of bordereau. Esterhazy was acquitted, Jan. 11, 1898. By this time the affaire had a umed tremendous importance in the eyes of the people, and all France had become divided into two camps, Zola now entered the field with his open letter, ‘J’accuse,’ protesting the innocence of Dreyfus. After a second trial for libel Zola was sentenced to a fine and one year’s imprisonment, which he evaded by leaving France. On Aug. 30 Colonel Henry, Picquart’s succe or, committed suicide after confe ing that he had forged documents unfavorable to Dreyfus; and Cavaignac, who had read the forged documents in the Chamber of Deputies as proof of the guilt of Dreyfus, resigned the ministry of war. Finally, on Sept. 27, 1898, the Dreyfus verdict was referred to the Cour de Ca ation, which quashed the sentence, and ordered a fresh trial, which took place at Rennes, Aug. 7-Sept. 9, 1899. ‘hough the trial was marked by evasions and damaging admi ions on the part of the military witne es, Dreyfus was found guilty and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. On Sept. 19, 1899, the president of the republic pardoned him, and he was liberated. M. Jaurés, the Socialist leader, continued the agitation, fresh documents were said to have been discovered, and again the case was referred to the Cour de Ca ation, which in July 1906 quashed the Rennes verdict, and declared Dreyfus absolutely and entirely innocent of all charges. He was reinstated in the army with the rank of major, and received the Legion | of Honor.