DREYFUS, drA•ftis'. .11.rat:n ( IA59 1. .1 French artillely officer. who was into prominence as the central tigure in one of the most celebrated of political history. Ile was born in Nhilltausen, Upper .Xlsace, of demis(t parentage. removed to Paris in 1.-4'1, studied at the Chaptal College and at Sainte entered the Kroh. Polytechnifine in and later attended the Eeole d'Applieation (School of Applied Gunnery). After serving as second lienomant in the Thirty-first Regiment of artillery at Le :Marts (1S82-83). and in the Fourth .11ounted Battery at Paris. he was ap pointed captain in the Twenty-first Regiment of September 12. I559. On .April 21, IS90, lie entered the Eeole de Guerre, where he ranked among the leading ten of his class. Within a year after leaving this institution, lie received an appointment on the general stall'. On I uctol)er 15, 1894, Dreyfus was arrested on a charge of having sold military secrets to a foreign Power. The utmost secrecy was observed by the War Office in regard to the whole affair. Dreyfus was isolated in prison, and treated with great harshness. When he was tried, although he was allowed counsel, the court was a secret one. and he was sentenced to military degrada tion and solitary confinement on the Ile du Diable, off the coast of French Guiana. On January 4, 1895, he was conducted by a military cs•ort to the court-yard of the Ecole in Paris. and, in the presence of a great assem bly of spectators, the stripes were torn from his uniform. and his sword was broken. on March 10th he was transported to the Ile du Diable, where lie was treated with severity, on one occa sion being chained to his pallet for two months. lIe persistently denied his guilt. and this fact, together with the seereey of the proceedings and the bitterness of the anti-Semitie agitation, led to a growing convietion in the minds of many that the real culprit had been shielded, and that it had been found convenient to pot Dreyfus for ward as a scapegoat.
The evidence used against Dreyfus was a emorandum. known as the Imrderertu, and the prosecution attempted to show that it wil ? 111 the Captain's handwriting. It began. "Without news indicating that you wish to see me. 1 send you nevertheless. monsieur. some in p, tria nt in format ion." Then followed a num bered lisI doeuments relating to the frontier forts, artillery instructions to the general staff. etc. Naturally it was newer made known how this (Invitni•it1 was obtained by the \Vat' Office, as it would have caused complications with a friendly Power: but it was supposed to have cone through an ..11satian porter in the service of Colonel von Schwarzkoppen. military atta•htl of the German Embassy. In Alay, 1696 another paper 1%as brought to the War Office, and fell into the hands of Commandant Piequart. It bore the signature of Major EsterhAzy, an °dicer of doubtful character, and the hand writing corresponded exactly with that of the Dreyfus bordcreou, while that of Dreyfus Ilia not. Then began a remarkable series of at tempts to bring to light and to suppress the truth. The most prominent defenders of Drey fus were his brother :\latthieu Dreyfus, the novel ist Emile Zola, and N. seheurer-Nestner. a
member of the french Senate. large part of the Liberal press also sided with the aroused captain. and, during the later phases ut the affair, his cause was adopted by the socialists as a party issue for the time. Arrayed against him were the auti-Semitie elements of France and the powerful Nationalist influence, mean ing by the latter all those who regarded the condemnation of Dreyfus as necessary for the vindication of the "'tutor of the army, dear to the hearts of Frenchmen. The War Office met, the attacks of the friends of Dreyfus simply by asserting that the proceedings against him had been regular in every respect. There was a fixed purpose to prevent any discussion of the nature of the evidence or the facts of the Commandant Pic-quart. who showed an honest de. sire to bring out the truth, was made a lieu tenant-colonel, and sent away on special ,ervi,a. Attempts were then made to compromise him by means of false dispatches, and he was finally removed from the active list of the army. On July 7, 1898, the agitation having risen high, a new declaration was made in the Chamber of Deputies by N. Cavaignae, .Minister of War. Ile positively asserted that Dreyfus hail been justly found guilty, and referred to certain documents not hitherto mentioned in the case. Colonel Pictioart challenged these proofs and declared that of the three documents upon which .11. Cavaignae based his belief in the guilt of Drey fus, two were irrelevant, and the third. the only one in which Dreyfus's name occurred, was a forgery. Six weeks later, Colonel Henry, who had been connected with the intelligence depart ment of the War (Mice, confessed to having com mitted this forgery, and committed suicide. This led to a general readjustment in the organization of the general staff. General de lloisdeffre, chief of staff, resigned; Major Esterldiz• and Colo nel Paty du Clam were removed from the active list, but still the War Office proclaimed its belief in the guilt of Captain Dreyfus. Colonel Piequart was imprisoned on a charge of communicating secret (imminent-A, late in No vember. On the 29th of the previous month, however. the Court of C'assation, the highest tribunal in France. had taken up the matter of revision. and, after several months' delibera tion. ordered (.line 3, 1899), a retrial by it court-martial. The proceedings against Piciplart were subsequently gnashed. The •ourt•neurtial sat at Rennes from August 7 to September 9. 1s99. 111111 rendered a decision that Dreyfus was guilty, with extenuating eircumstanees. 110 was sentenced to imprisonment for ten years, front wide). the period of his previous confinement was to be deducted. The evidence at the trill was of the flimsiest eharnet•r, as it had been from the beginning. but the determination to protect the officers of the army at the expense of Dreyfus was maintained. The members of the court-martial united in a recommendation of mercy, and on September 19th the prisoner was pardoned by Pre,ident. Lonbet.