THE TABLET.

A W eekly Newspaper an d Review .

BUM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS ÜT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT*S.

From the B r ie f of H is Holiness P iu s IX . to The Tablet, June 4, ib jo .

V ol. 94. No. 3093.

L ondon, A ugust 19, 1899.

P r ic e 5cl., b y P o st s % d .

[R eg i st e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l P ost O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper.

'C hronicle of t h e W e e k :

Page

The Dreyfns Trial : A Startling Announcement— The Taking of die Evidence—General Mercier’s Last partridge—Attempted Assassination of Me. Labori—Suspension of the Sittings Refused— An Anti-Republican Plot — Another JLurricane in the West Indies— Mr. Gerald Balfour on the -CoOperative Movement—The Movement in Ireland — More of the Kaiser’s Unbending Will — The Viceroy and#Indian R a i lw a y Policy— Ta-Lien-Wan a Free Port — The Russian Government and Refractory Students— The Transvaal C r i s i s .......................................277 L e a d e r s :

Imperial Solidarity.. . . . . 281 The Home-Coming of Sir William

Butler .......................................282 Appeals to the Pope in Pre-Refor­

mation England........................... 282

CONTENTS.

L eaders (Continued) :

Page

Shakespeare’s Philosophy of Life 284 N otes 286 R eview s :

Authority and Archajolog}’, Sacred and Profane . . . . . . 288 Life and Remains of the Rev. R.

H. Quick . . .... . . 289 The Sacraments Explained . . 290 “ God Save England ! ” . . . . 291 Life of Mother Mary Teresa . . 291 Memories of Father Healy . . 291 The Dreyfus Trial 291 Correspondence :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . ... —

293

News from Ireland — _ 293 L e t t e r s to th e E d itor :

The Place of Calvary . . . . 295

L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it o r (Con­

tinued): A Memorial to the Late Father

Page

Bridgett, C .S S .R . . . . . 295 Pilgrimage to Rome . . 295 Extremes Meeting........................... 295 Archbishop Ireland Interviewed .. 295 The Pope and Peace........................... 296 The Ritual Controversy .. . . 298 An American’s Bequests for Catholic

Charities .......................................299 Ampleforth A b b e y ........................... 300 The New Coptic Patriarch of A lex­

andria . . . . . .. 300 American Bishops and the Holy

Father

301

The State of France . . . . 302 The Religion of Workhouse Chil­

d r e n .................................................. 302 Future Irish Policy .. ., . . 303 The Ex-Premier of Belgium . . 303 Books of the W e e k ............................303 O b it u a r y . . 304 So c ia l a n d P o l it ic a l . . ... 505

SU PPLEM ENT. N ews from t h e Sc h o o l s :

Page

Aid Grants to Associated Schools 309 Irish Industrial Schools and th?

New C i r c u l a r .........................310 The Aid Grant . . M . . Setting the L im its ......................... Protestant Children in Catholic

S c h o o l s .................................... Pantasaph Convent School . . Mount St. Mary’s College, Ches­

3** 3” 3IT 3*i terfield .................................... 3I2 Mount Pleasant Training College 312 Eager for Work . . . .

N ews from t h e D ioceses : Westminster .. ..

Southwark .. .. Leeds .. •* .. .. Portsmouth .. ,. .. Menevia ....................

- 3*a . . 312 •• 3*3 •• 3*3 •• 3*4

Exploration in Abyssinia . . . . 3 1 4 The New Bishop o f Rockhampton 315

Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accoinpanied with address and postage.

C H R O N I C L E O F T H E W E E K .

THE DREYFUS TRIAL: A STARTLING

ANNOUNCEMENT. W1 H I L S T the court-martial at Rennes was holding secret session for the examination o f the secret dossier and the friends and foes o f the accused Captain Dreyfus were looking anxiously forward to the opening o f the evidence and the firing o f the last shot from the locker o f accusatory revelations promised by General Mercier, The Times published an announcement which once more showed that only a guilty motive could be at the bottom of the persistent attempts to stifle the real truth o f the whole matter. “ We are in a position to state,” said The Times, “ that, in addition to the communications o f slight value enumerated in the bordereau, more than 160 documents o f considerable importance were furnished to the German military attaché, Colonel Schwarzkoppen, at various times by Esterhazy, acting as intermediary for and accomplice of H enry. One o f these documents contained detailed information relative to the general plan o f mobilization for the French army. T h e proceeds o f this traffic were divided between Esterhazy and Henry, In Parisian diplomatic circles the latter was known to be the real traitor several months before his arrest and suicide ; and, besides the Power most directly concerned— namely, Germany— more than one European Government received information to this effect early in 1898.” This announcement, though not essentially new, created a good deal o f sensation in France.

— THE TAKING

OF THE EVIDENCE.

T h e examination o f the secret dossier, the military dossier, and the one from the Foreign Office, the importance o f which last is due to the fact that it contains proofs o f Esterhazy’s treason attested by foreign agents, was concluded on Friday. On Saturday the Court opened at halfpast six. T h e proceeding throughout Were colourless and uninteresting, but for two dramatic episodes : the duel of words between M . Casimir-Perier and General Mercier, and the scene between the General and Captain Dreyfus. T h e first evidence taken was that o f M . Delaroche-Vernett, French Secretary o f Embassy at Berlin, but it proved unimportant. Interest was aroused when M . CasimirPerier, ex-President of the Republic, came forward. After

N e w S e r i e s . V o l , LXII., No. 2,402.

a detailed history o f how, as President, he was first apprised of the suspicions that weighed on Dreyfus, he once more accused General Mercier o f the crime o f illegality by the communication o f secret documents. H e then proceeded to give in detail the circum stances o f the diplom atic incident o f the intervention of the German Government to obtain a withdrawal o f the imputations against its Paris Embassy in connection with the affair. T h is diplom atic incident, he assured the Court, had had nothing to do with his resignation, but he concluded this part o f his evidence with a statement which shows the way he was ignored by the Ministers. I t appears that the M in ister for Foreign Affairs had held conversations with the German Ambassador, of which he had given no report to the President, who was thus left in a serious difficulty in discussing the matter with the representative o f the Kaiser. “ T h is ,” declared M. Casimir-Perier, “ is neither the occasion nor the place to explain to what extent I consider that the Presidency o f the Republic was thereby deprived o f its means o f action. I was consequently obliged one day, and in graver circum stances, to hear from a foreign representative that my statements were not in conformity with those o f the M inister for Foreign Affairs.” T h e ex-President with equal emphasis contradicted a story that he had given an undertaking to M . Joseph Reinach and M . Waldeck-Rousseau, that the trial o f Dreyfus should be an open one. '

Next came General Mercier, who had boasted that he would produce such evidence cartridge. as would leave no shadow o f doubt as to the guilt o f the accused. But though he spoke for three hours he gave no fresh facts and shed no new light on old ones. H e explained that on becom ing M inister o f War, in the beginning o f December, 1893, he was informed o f the activity o f foreign officers in France, and o f the increase o f espionage operations in various centres. H e thereupon ordered increased vigilance at the cost o f the secret service fund, which resulted in the appearance o f the bordereau, which he still persisted in declaring had come in pieces through “ our ordinary agent at the German Embassy,” and had been pasted together by Henry. H e next attempted to justify his refusal to answer the Court o f Cassation concerning the communication o f the secret dossiers. Revision, he considered, was a dangerous ordeal for the country, for which he would furnish no plea. T h e diplomatic situation at the time was delicate— nay, perilous. “ T h e President o f the Republic, M . Dupuy, the Premier, and I, M in ister o f War, remained from 8 p.m. to 12.30 in his study at the