The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 10, March 10, 1898 | Page 8

their statements with regard to the Dreyfus case, they will be obliged to leave the country.
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It is hard to believe that such a state of affairs can exist in a civilized country. The position of the French Government has been so clearly defined, however, by the French Premier, Monsieur Méline, that it is plain the French republic has for a time become almost a despotism, ruled by a tyrant known as the French army, which is, of course, the cause of all the trouble. In the Chamber of Deputies the other day Monsieur Méline remarked:
"After military justice civil justice has declared itself. It has proclaimed that the members of the court-martial were honest men, who obeyed their consciences. The Zola trial has ended the confusion made by those who presumed to put themselves above the laws of the country. Those who appeared in court were not there as subordinates of the Minister of War, but as individual witnesses under nobody's orders.
"Certain generals may have been led on too far, but they were led on by the defence. One general no doubt spoke a word too much, but remember the accusations that were flung in his face. They ascribed to officers hidden intentions to undermine our institutions, but the French army cannot be an army of one man. There is not a single officer capable of an attempt against the country, for our officers have other dreams."
From this speech it is plain that the French Government is exerting its power to crush the present movement in favor of Dreyfus. But those who have followed the Zola trial carefully and impartially are convinced that the Government will fail. What the result will be, no one can tell. But there are many who believe that one result will be a revolution ending in the overthrow of the republic.
This, however, is an extreme view.
No one really believes that Zola will be kept in prison for a year, even if he does go there. He himself has borne his sentence like a hero, and is willing to accept it without an appeal. His lawyer, however, and his friends will do their utmost to save him from suffering so gross an injustice.
Even if Zola were guilty of libelling the army, his intentions were so honorable and unselfish that any fair court of justice could not have failed to have acquitted him, or at most to have given him merely a nominal punishment.
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It is plain that behind the Zola case there lurks a very deep feeling against the Jews. It is thought by students of French life at the present time, that this is the real cause of the terrible bitterness of the French people against ex-Captain Dreyfus and his defenders. They believe that the Dreyfus party represents the Jews of France, for whom they have an intense hatred.
It should be explained here that the Jews have acquired an immense power in France, as they have, indeed, all over Europe. They are the great financiers of the world, and their power is so extensive that it has created the alarm and jealousy and malice now finding expression in Paris.
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The Government of France is now in so dangerous a situation that there is a good deal of discussion as to what will happen in case the republic is overthrown.
The President of the republic, Félix Faure, is popular throughout France, but he has hardly strength enough with the people to become a great leader. A few months ago he won enthusiastic approval by the skill with which he arranged his visit to the Emperor of Russia, and by the dignity and simplicity which he displayed during that visit.
President Faure is essentially a man of the people. For many years he has been prominent in the commercial and the political life of France, and he has always been a champion of the people's rights. But he is not the kind of leader that would appeal strongly to the army, and, as we have seen, the army practically controls France at the present moment.
Consequently, if a revolution were to take place in Paris as a result of the Dreyfus affair, it would probably bring forward a popular military man as a candidate for leadership. Such a man is to be found in General Boisdeffre, who figured in the Zola trial and made a bombastic speech glorifying the army.
A revolution would also, of course, bring up the rival claims in France of the Royalist and the Napoleonic parties.
The Royalist party is at present headed by the young Duke of Orleans, who thus far has done very little to distinguish himself. In the event of a crisis, however, France might recall the fact that a few years ago the Duke, though