THE TABLET.

A Weekly Newspaper and Review.

DÜM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMOS OX IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT.S.

From the B r ie f of H is Holiness P iu s IX , to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, l i f e .

Vol. 94. No. 3094.

London, A ugust 26, 1899. P r ice 51I., b y P o st sKd

[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 Dreyfus Trial : M. Bertulus and Madame Henry — Colonel Picquart's Evidence— Major Cuignet’s Reasons—Return of M litre Labori-Esterhazy and the General Staff— The President of the First Court-Martial — H i s Inflexible Will—Lord Brassey and Australian Federation— French Officers Murdered by Comrades — The Malaria Moscjuito—The Question of the Suzerainty— President Kruger’s Reply—Sir T. Esmonds and the General Council of Irish County Councillors — N a t a l and th e Queen’s E n em ie s ......................... 317 L e a d e r s :

Deadlock in the Prussian Diet . . 321 Curates and Matrimony . . . . 322 The Earl of Mexborough » . . 322 Canon Akers ......................... 323 N otes — 324

C O N T E N T S .

Page

R eview s !

A Literary History of Ireland . . 327 The Inner Life of Lady Georgiana

Fullerton . . . • •• . •• 328 Foreign Classics for E n g l i s h

Readers . . .. •• •• 329 Cromwell’s Army Chaplain _.. 329 A Reported Change in Religion 330 Catholicism and Democracy . . 33° Close to the Altar Rails . . . . 33° Omar the Tent-Maker . . . •33° Our Lady of Antwerp . . •• 33° A Change in the Indian Secondary

Examinations ......................... 331 C orrespondence :

Rome :—(From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . . — — —333 News from Ireland — — 334 News from France.. .* . . 335 L f.t t e p s to t h e E d it o r :

The Eastward Position . . . . 33s

L e t t e r s to t h e E d it or (Con­

Trge tinued) : The Rivington Memorial.. . . 335 Music in Small Churches ^ . . 335 A Plea for Habeas Corpus in the

C h u r c h .................................... 3 35 American Bishops and the Holy

Father ......................... . . 336 The Pope . . . . . . . . 336 Catholic Progress in England . . 338 An August Saint * . . . . 339 The Propaganda College . . — 341 The Ritual Controversy . . . . 342 The Youngest Bishop in the World 343 Opinions o f the Dreyfus Trial . . 343 O b it u a r y . . — . . . . 343 The Cathedral of St. Patrick's See 344 A Begging Case ......................... 345 F rom E veryw h ere So c ia l an d P o l it ic a l . . 346 - 346

SU PPLEM ENT. Pagi

N ew s from t h e S chools :

Oxford Local Examinations . . 349 Oxford University Extension .- 3 5 c Benedictine Convent of the Per­

petual Adoration, Dumfries .. 351 The London School Board and

Voluntary Schools . . . . 3 5 1 The Science and Art Department 351 Dearth of Evening Schools . .3 5 2 Some Results of School Boardism 352 N ews from t h e D io ceses :

Westminster

. . « 3 5 2

Southwark . . . . •• . . 353 Northampton ........................... 353 Salford . . . . . . . 353 Menevia . . . . . . . . 353 The Future of Education in Aus­

tralia .................................................. 354 The Papacy and the Peace Con­

ference .......................................355

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

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

M. BERTULUS AND MADAME HENRY, T

THE DREYFUS TRIAL :

H E trial entered on a new phase when the last o f the batch of Generals who had been summoned to give evidence, General Roget,

had finished his deposition. So far the proceedings had been distinguished b y argument and declamation from those who had been called upon to speak to facts. W ith the advent o f M. Bertulus a change came over the scene. M . Bertulus, the experienced examining magistrate who had so large a share in unmasking the treasons o f Henry and Esterhazy, proved the collusion that there had been between the General Staff officers and the latter, whose accom plice HeBry was. H e then declared his belief in the innocence o f Dreyfus in these words : “ Gentlem en, you have heard Generals before whom I bow down, you have heard witnesses whose convictions are strong............... But I , too, feel it my duty to say what I think. Y o u have been told that Dreyfus is guilty ; this has been shown you by a network of hypotheses. But >1 now say to you ou my soul and my conscience, because I have followed the case now for many months, that I do not believe him guilty. I , for my part, believe that Dreyfus is innocent, and I am profoundly and absolutely convinced o f it .” For this statem ent o f his belief he gave the following conclusive reason s : first, the bordereau was written by E s terh azy; secondly, the bordereau itself says that the information therein catalogued could have been handed over solely by its author; thirdly, the machinations o f every sort concocted against those who have sought to arrive at the truth ; and, finally, the crime, on the hypothesis that Dreyfus was the author o f it, was without motive. M . Bertulus was then confronted with Madame Henry, who made a sensational scene by declaring that she a asked her husband whether he was sure o f the magistrate whom he found so charming, and who she suggested was Possibly a Judas. Whatever the poor widow might have hoped to gain from such a method was completely shatterea by M . Bertulus, who, taking a paper from his pocket, handed it to the judges, explaining that the scene jus enacted was a put-up job, o f which he had been forewarned

¡n the letter he now presented. T h is was altogether too disconcerting, and left him complete master o f the situation.

New Series. Vol LXII., No. Zi4°3*

-COLONEL PICQUART’S

EVIDENCE.

T h e new witness was Colonel Picquart and his long tale, which lasted for nearly five hours, was a lucid statement o f what he had known about Dreyfus from the period when he was professor at the War school down to the present time. Afterwards at the Third Bureau he had placed Dreyfus in the manoeuvres section, where there were no secret documents, because he knew that he would thus be spared much annoyance from the Anti-Sem itic spirit which was already rife among the General Staff. Then turning to the discovery o f the bordereau,, Colonel Picquart explained the measures taken in the War Office to compare its hand-writing with that o f the various clerks. D ieyfu s was at last pitched upon as the author. Colonel Picquart, however, saw only a family resemblance in the Captain’s hand-writing to that o f the bordereau. M ajor Du Paty de C lam afterwards informed him that Dreyfus had trembled in the dictation scene. On subsequently seeing the document, witness could perceive no trace o f trembling. Moreover, had Dreyfus trembled, he would have done so on entering the room and finding General de Boisedeffre, Gribelin, and Du Paty de C lam waiting for him. T h e search at Dreyfus’s house having proved fruitless, there was again much uneasiness at the War Office, as the resemblance o f handwritiDg was thus the only evidence, but Du Paty de Clam announced that he had other things, especially the “ canaille de D . ” Other serious documents were, however, spoken of, and he was deputed to report the progress o f the court-martial to Generals Mercier and de Boisdeffre, and if necessary to M . Casimir Perier. H is impression at the tim e certainly was that th evidence was insufficient to obtain an condemnation unless the secret documents were shown. H e afterwards took several enclosures to the court-martial, but as he did not know their contents he could not say whether or not he took the secret dossier. “ I was not surprised,” said Colonel Picquart, “ to learn that the dossier was communicated, tor, not having seen it, I was then convinced, like everybody else, that it contained overwhelming proofs. Only when sawit d id I perceive how weak it was and how dangerous it had been not to submit everything to public discussion. H e next described how he became the head of the inteUlgence Department in 1895 at the reques o f General Millet, and how a year afterwards be came to open the secret dossier when the petit bleu of p te rh a z y was discovered. Resuming his evidence on the following J , , 1C" quart spoke for nearly . five hours. After giving a further description o f the contents o f the secret dossier, he again