various parts of France, notably in cities where the priestly cause
was strongly represented: Lyons, the city of Notre Dame de Fourvières;
Marseilles, the city of Notre Dame de la Garde; Nantes, which had
sent the anti-Semitic Pontbriand to represent it in parliament, and
Bordeaux, where clericalism likewise numbered many adherents. Still
more serious disturbances followed in Algeria, where Jews were beaten,
wounded, in a few cases actually killed, their houses and shops
sacked, and a quantity of their property burnt, or, in some instances
at Algiers, thrown into the sea. Meanwhile Paris was in a state of
turmoil, full of shouting crowds who, when they were not demonstrating
before some Dreyfusite newspaper office, acclaimed every uniform with
the cry of "Vive l'armée!" and pursued every suspicious nose with that
of "Down with the Jews!" Zola was hooted under his windows, a few of
which were broken, and the police had to protect his house. At the
same time, while there was no little ferocity and violence, a great
deal of _Chauvinisme_, as well as abundant hypocrisy and cowardice in
certain political and _bourgeois_ circles, the Esterhazy court-martial
had quite disgusted a number of sensible, educated, thinking people,
and ten members of the Institute of France, eight professors of the
Paris Faculty of Medicine, a dozen of the Sorbonne, the Collège de
France, and the École Normale, who were joined by numerous professors
of provincial faculties and a good many scientific and literary
men, now for the first time declared in favour of a revision of the
Dreyfus case, thus bringing a welcome support to the cause for which
Yves Guyot, Jean Jaurès, Francis de Pressensé, Georges Clemenceau,
Joseph Reinach, Raoul Allier, and others were fighting in the press.
This accession of strength to the Dreyfusite cause was greeted with
sneers by the professional Jew-baiters, the Clericalist leaders, and
the retrograde _littérateurs_ of the Brunetière _coterie_ who led
or influenced the majority of the Parisians. They nicknamed their
adversaries "the intellectuals," applying the word derisively; but it
was a welcome nickname, and one well deserved by the little party of
sensible men which counted in its ranks such notabilities as Bréal,
Berthelot, Duclaux, Giry, Grimaux, Réville, Havet, Trarieux, Monod,
Ranc, Passy, Paul Meyer, Anatole France, and Leroy-Beaulieu.
On January 20 Zola at last received a copy of the citation, which at
the suit of the War Minister, General Billot, summoned him and M.
Perrenx, the nominal manager of "L'Aurore," before the Assize Court of
the Seine to answer, not the long string of charges contained in the
letter to President Félix Faure, but only fifteen lines of it--those
which denounced the Esterhazy court-martial for having acquitted
the major "by order." All the rest was ignored. The desire of the
military authorities was evident, they still wished to prevent any
discussion of the Dreyfus case. Zola thereupon wrote to General Billot
reiterating all his charges, but the only effect of this letter, which
appeared in "L'Aurore," was to induce the three handwriting experts,
Belhomme, Varinard, and Couard, to bring an action against the novelist
claiming damages for libel. On January 22 the conduct of the military
authorities in shirking Zola's principal accusations was raised in
the Chamber of Deputies,[17] and wild uproar and fighting ensued
until order was restored by the military guard. Two days later Count
von Bulow, the German Foreign Secretary, declared in the Reichstag:
"Between Captain Dreyfus and any German organs or authorities, no
relations of whatever kind have ever existed." The Italian and Austrian
governments made similar declarations; but nothing could check the
folly of the French Militarists, or even of the Government, which well
knew through the diplomatic agents of France abroad that in every
court and chancellery of Europe Dreyfus was regarded as innocent and
Esterhazy believed to be guilty. The foreign press shared that view,
and expressions and testimonials of sympathy began to reach Zola from
all parts of the world.[18] He received them gratefully; but could
the sympathy of foreigners afford adequate solace when four out of
every six Parisians were covering him with mud? Besides, that very
sympathy led to yet more virulent attacks on him. It was fitting, said
his enemies, that he should be supported by foreigners, who for
the most part rejoiced to see the French army attacked and insulted!
Well, he was welcome to their support. France cared nothing what
foreigners might say. She would settle her own affairs in her own
manner, regardless of the opinions of this man Zola, who was himself a
foreigner, some kind of dirty Italian.
[Illustration: Penn, from the Garden É. Zola Miss & Mrs. Vizetelly.
Fac-simile card from Zola to Vizetelly]
He had entrusted his defence to an advocate still young in years,
esteemed by all who knew him, but not as yet of high public reputation.
Born at Rheims, of Alsatian parents, his father being one of the chief
inspectors of the East of France Railway Company, Maître Labori had
married a lady of Irish extraction, at one time well known in London
musical circles. He was possessed of a tall, commanding figure, a
bright, sunny face, a warm, penetrating voice. And he was not only
very talented and extremely courageous, but he had the best of
qualifications for the task he undertook: he believed absolutely in the
innocence of Dreyfus; and thus he threw himself into the struggle with
a whole-hearted devotion. The reader who knows something of the great
fight he made both for Zola and for the unhappy Jewish officer, may
be surprised to learn that if Maître Labori made himself a great name
during that struggle, he reaped little or no immediate pecuniary gain.
Zola's being a genuine political case, he would take no fee; he was
only willing to accept a comparatively modest sum for his expenses and
the services of the young advocates, his secretaries. In this he was
following one of the lofty traditions on which the French bar prides
itself. Berryer asked no fee when he defended either the ministers
of Charles X or Louis Napoléon before the peers of Louis Philippe's
time; Jules Favre asked none, whether he defended Orsini or other
conspirators, or one of the many journalists or politicians arraigned
during the Second Empire. The same may be said of Joly, who defended
Henri Rochefort; of Gambetta when he defended Delescluze, and of many
others. Occasionally a present in kind may be accepted by counsel; and
from a few words that Zola once let fall, the writer thinks that Maître
Labori may have been eventually persuaded to accept the title-deed of
a little property which several of those indebted for his services
thought of purchasing and presenting to him.
At the suit of Zola and his fellow-defendant nearly a hundred
witnesses--ministers, officers, deputies, senators, diplomatists,
authors, journalists, handwriting experts, and others--were summoned
to appear at the approaching trial; but great efforts were made to
prevent many from attending. Directly the jury-roll was issued, the
names and addresses of those who might have to pronounce on the case
were published by "Le Petit Journal" and other scurrilous prints;
and numerous threatening letters were sent to these men, intimating
that vengeance would follow if they should dare to acquit "the
Italian." Moreover the Nationalist and Clerical leaders prepared for
demonstrations on a large scale. A kind of employment office was
established on the boulevards, where hirelings were engaged at the rate
of five francs a day or two francs an evening to shout "Vive l'armée,"
"À bas les Juifs," and "Conspuez Zola!" These men met with little or
no interference from the authorities, who contented themselves with
massing police and municipal guards in and around the Palais de Justice.
The trial began on February 7. The Assize Court was crowded,
Nationalists and anti-Semites preponderating among the audience. There
were fifteen sittings altogether, the last being held on February 23.
The presiding judge, M. Delegorgue,[19] did his utmost to prevent the
witnesses from giving evidence respecting the Dreyfus case; and again
and again, when Maître Labori wished to ask a question, Delegorgue
snappishly exclaimed: "The question shall not be put!" Nevertheless the
judge could not prevent the witnesses and Labori from establishing a
number of facts--among others the illegality of Dreyfus's condemnation,
the insignificance of the evidence upon which he had been officially
condemned, the error committed by the military judges in respect of
the _bordereau_, and the certainty that it was Esterhazy's work. The
evidence was, indeed, of such immense significance that the General
Staff thought it necessary to strike a decisive blow. General de
Pellieux gave the jury a summary of a forged correspondence between
Colonels von Schwarzkoppen and Panizzardi, the former German and
Italian military _attachés_, this correspondence, in which Dreyfus was
mentioned, having been manufactured by a certain Lemercier-Picard with
the knowledge of the notorious Colonel Henry. General de Boisdeffre,
however, virtually certified its authenticity, and at the same time
threatened the jury with the resignation of the whole General Staff
if Zola were acquitted. Then Colonel Henry and Major Lauth accused
Picquart of having asserted Dreyfus's innocence without knowledge
of the papers in the case, and of having invented one of them in
order to ruin Esterhazy. Maître Labori was not allowed to question
the generals, or answer them. Great indignation was expressed when
Picquart had the courage to say that a Panizzardi-Schwarzkoppen letter
mentioned by General de Pellieux was a forgery. Yet not only was such
the case, but some weeks previously the forgery had been revealed to
the embassies of Italy and Germany, most probably by Lemercier-Picard,
the forger himself. Count Tornielli and Count Münster in their turn
had revealed it to M. Hanotaux, the French Foreign Minister, demanding
his word of honour that no use should be made of it. M. Hanotaux
communicated this revelation to his colleagues, and even sent a written
note about it to the Ministry of War. It has been said, too, that on
the day after General de Pellieux's deposition M. Hanotaux proposed
to suspend the proceedings in Zola's trial in order to look for and
prosecute the forgers, but that his fellow-ministers hesitated from
fear of a military movement. Anyhow, the episode ended disastrously
for Lemercier-Picard. On March 3 he was found hanging in his room,
his feet dangling on the floor. All his papers had disappeared before
the police came to take possession of the corpse. Yet, according to
the authorities, it was a case of suicide![20] The trial was full of
stirring episodes. The Nationalists who crowded the court vented their
passions freely, shouting, jeering, and groaning at almost everybody
who expressed any view favourable to Dreyfus or derogatory to the
swaggering, gold-laced officers, who when questioned either refused
to answer or perjured themselves with the audacity of men confident
of impunity. Zola, who was insulted day after day, put a brave face
on it all, and only on a few occasions did he give utterance to his
disgust, protesting against the manner in which he was mobbed in the
streets, and against the denial of justice which he encountered in
court, where he claimed the same liberty to defend himself as was
accorded to thieves and assassins. At one sitting, when General de
Pellieux made a slighting remark, the novelist turned on him haughtily:
"There are several ways of serving France," said he. "A man may do so
with the sword or with the pen. If you have won victories, so have
I. I bequeath the name of Émile Zola to posterity, which will choose
between us!" De Pellieux made no retort to those proud words. In that
hour of mendacious triumph he did not foresee the day when he would be
virtually disgraced, consigned to an obscure garrison in Brittany, to
die there, tortured, as we know, by the deepest remorse. Again, at one
moment towards the close of the trial, when the storm of execration
thundered more loudly than usual in Zola's ears, the novelist turned
towards the bellowers, and with one word branded them: "You cannibals!"
he cried, "you cannibals!"
Except on two or three occasions when the rain fell in torrents, great
precautions had to be taken for Zola's safety. Senator Ranc, an old
conspirator and no mean judge of danger, subsequently stated that to
his knowledge the novelist repeatedly had some very narrow escapes. The
carriage in which he drove to and from the Palais de Justice was often
pursued by a hostile mob, which the police had to charge and disperse.
On some occasions policemen mounted on bicycles escorted the carriage,
and Zola was always accompanied by a little body-guard of friends: M.
Fasquelle, his publisher, M. Bruneau, the composer, and particularly
M. Fernand Desmoulin, the accomplished engraver, to whom one owes a
fine portrait of Zola, produced at the time when the Rougon-Macquart
series was completed. Throughout the tumultuous period of the trial M.
Desmoulin was invariably by his friend's side with a six-shooter in
readiness. Madame Zola, who also attended the proceedings, was in like
way escorted by vigilant friends. The horror of it all had at first
seemed more than she could bear, but she strove to be brave and calm.
After all, as she repeated, her husband was doing his duty.
On the thirteenth day of the trial, after the speech for the
prosecution, Zola read an address to the jury, in which, after
referring to all the pressure employed to secure his conviction, he
sketched broadly and graphically the situation into which the Affair
had cast France. He denied that he had insulted the army: those who had
done so were the men who mingled with their acclamations the cry of
"Down with the Jews!" "And they have even shouted, 'Vive Esterhazy!'"
he added. "Great God! the nation of Saint Louis, of Bayard, of Condé,
and of Hoche; the nation that can boast a hundred gigantic victories;
the nation of the great wars of Republican and Imperial days; the
nation whose strength, grace, and generosity have dazzled the world,
has shouted 'Long live Esterhazy!' That is a stain of which only our
effort for truth and justice can wash us clean." Then after speaking
sarcastically of the alleged "Jewish Syndicate," said to have been
formed to bribe people and buy evidence, he appealed to the common
sense of the jury, warning them they would make a great mistake if
they imagined that the campaign would be stopped by any verdict of
guilty in his case. As for himself, he shrugged his shoulders at the
insinuations that he had sold himself to the Jews, that he was a liar
and a traitor. Then he continued:
"I have no political, no sectarian passions. I am a writer.
I have toiled all my life, and shall return to the ranks
to-morrow to resume my interrupted work. How stupid it is of
some to call me an Italian, I the son of a French mother,
brought up by Beauceron grandparents.... I lost my father
when I was seven years old and did not visit Italy till I was
fifty-four.... Still that does not prevent me from feeling
very proud that my father belonged to Venice, the resplendent
city whose ancient glory rings through every mind. But, even
if I were not French, would not the forty volumes in the
French language which I have scattered by millions of copies
throughout the world, would not they suffice to make me a
Frenchman, one useful to the glory of France?"
Having thus dealt with the personal question, Zola proceeded to plead
for Dreyfus, for equity and enlightenment which alone could restore
peace and order in France. And, asking the jurymen if they wished to
see France isolated in Europe, he showed them the foreign nations
already casting doubts on French humanity and equity. Next, amid
increasing interruptions, he continued as follows:
"Alas! gentlemen, like so many others, you await perhaps a
flash of lightning, the proof of the innocence of Dreyfus
descending from heaven like a thunderbolt. Truth does not
come upon us in that way; as a rule, some research and
intelligence are needed to find her. (Jeers.) The proof! Ah!
we well know where it might be found. But it is only in the
depths of our souls that we think of that, and our patriotic
anguish proceeds from a dread lest France should have exposed
herself to receiving that proof as a slap, after compromising
the honour of her army by a lie. (Loud protests.) But I wish
to declare plainly that if we notified to the prosecution the
names of certain members of foreign embassies as witnesses,
we had no intention of summoning those persons to this court.
Some people smiled at our audacity. But I do not think that
anybody smiled at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for there
they must have understood our object. (Protests.) We merely
wished to indicate to those who know the whole truth that
we knew it also. It is circulating in all the embassies, it
will soon be known to everybody.... The Government which is
ignorant of nothing, the Government which, like ourselves, is
convinced of the innocence of Dreyfus (Loud protests.) can,
without any risk, and whenever it pleases, find witnesses who
will at last throw light on everything.
"Dreyfus is innocent, I swear it. (The proof! The proof!) I
stake my life on it, I stake my honour on it. At this solemn
hour, in presence of this tribunal which represents human
justice, before you, gentlemen of the jury, who personify the
nation, before all France, before the whole world, I swear
that Dreyfus is innocent. (Uproar.) And by my forty years of
labour, by the authority which that labour may have given me,
I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. (Violent protests.) And by
all I have acquired, by the name I have made for myself, by
my works which have contributed to the expansion of French
literature, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent. (Protests
and hisses.) May all that crumble, may my works perish, if
Dreyfus is not innocent. He is innocent! (Prolonged uproar.)
"Everything seems to be against me, the two Chambers, the
civil authorities, the military authorities, the newspapers
which circulate the most widely, and public opinion which
they have poisoned. And on my side I have only an ideal of
truth and justice. And I am quite easy in mind, for I shall
conquer. I did not wish my country to remain amid mendacity
and injustice. You may strike me here. France will some day
thank me for having helped to save her honour." (General
tumult. Repeated shouts of "The proof! Give the proof!")
Zola, as we know, was not an orator. Emotion made his voice tremble
as he began to read his declaration, but composure gradually came to
him, followed towards the close by real strength of manner. And though,
as the foregoing extracts indicate, many sentences were followed by
violent protests and ridiculous shouts of "Proof! proof!"--ridiculous
by reason of the fact that the judge and the military witnesses had
done their utmost to prevent any proof from being supplied--the
audience listened with great attention. Once Zola's voice cracked as he
tried to give emphasis to a word, and his listeners then jeered him,
but, on the whole, he did far better than had been expected by those
who knew how difficult it was for him to speak in public.
He was followed by Maître Labori, who had fought most manfully and
skilfully throughout the whole proceedings, and who now speedily
subdued the hostile and noisy audience. Whenever, at the outset of his
great speech, the Nationalists laughed at a statement or an argument,
counsel repeated it in a yet more emphatic manner than before. Groans
arose when, referring to his client, he said: "A patriot like Zola";
and at once, turning like a lion, he repeated the words: "Yes, a
patriot like Zola--a patriot with a braver heart, a clearer vision, a
loftier love of his own land than is owned by any of the shallow-minded
swallowers of phrases who rage at him. One of these days you will
recognise your own folly and his greatness." Then the brave advocate
paused for a few seconds, as if challenging a new outburst. But there
was complete silence. "Ah, well, then," he said, with a touch of
fighting laughter in his voice, "I will continue." And having conquered
his audience he reverted to his argument. His address was continued
on the morrow, February 22, when, demonstrating the accuracy of Zola's
assertion that Dreyfus was innocent, he showed that the whole procedure
of the 1894 trial had been carried out by officers whose excitement of
mind had verged on positive derangement, and that it was consequently
valueless. Towards the end of his argument, which was very close
and pregnant, the anti-Semites once more became uproarious, but the
manifestations against the advocate brought on counter-manifestations
in his favour from the Dreyfusites, who had mustered in some force
that day. The account of Dreyfus's degradation, the unhappy man's
letters and protests, which Maître Labori read, produced a powerful
impression. When he referred to the extraordinary traps which Du Paty
de Clam had set in the hope of extracting from his prisoner something
which might be interpreted as a confession, everybody seemed suddenly
won over to the Dreyfusite cause, and acclamations again followed a
passage in which counsel reminded those in high places, who assumed
such a hypocritical "_non possumus_" attitude towards the case, that
the most pilloried and execrated name in all history was that of
Pontius Pilate. Again, on the morrow, Maître Labori took up the thread
of his discourse, which ended with a fine peroration. But this time,
the Dreyfusites being altogether outnumbered, vehement protests mingled
with the applause which saluted him. After M. Clemenceau had spoken
amid frequent tumultuous interruptions for Zola's fellow-defendant, M.
Perrenx of "L'Aurore," the jurors withdrew to consider their verdict
which, by a majority of _seven to five_,[21] was one of guilty. It
was seven o'clock in the evening, the court-room, the whole Palais de
Justice indeed, its precincts and the adjoining streets, were crowded
with people among whom the professional anti-Semites and many officers
were conspicuous. Yells of triumph greeted the news of the verdict, and
were renewed when it was known that in Zola's case the maximum penalty
of a year's imprisonment with a fine of three thousand francs had been
applied.[22] And there came loud and ominous shouts of "Death to the
Jews! death to the dirty Jews!" followed by scuffles and affrays which
the police, two thousand in number, could scarcely check.
Zola took his sentence quietly, his wife fell weeping on his neck
and his friends surrounded him, pressing his hands. At last he was
smuggled out of court and carried to a friend's house, where he spent
the evening, while half Paris was demonstrating in one and another
direction. The verdict and sentence were naturally approved by the
great majority of people who, having as yet no notion that several
officers of the General Staff had deliberately perjured themselves,
still put all their trust in those brave defenders of the country.
On the following day, however, the foreman of the jury stated,
significantly enough, that the verdict had been given on the sole
ground that Zola had gone beyond what was permissible by insulting
a court-martial. As for the revision of the Dreyfus case, he, the
foreman, was not opposed to it, indeed he hoped it would be brought
about by legal means. Thus the triumph of the Militarists was really
only surface deep.
Zola gave notice of appeal on various grounds, and then turned to his
novel "Paris," the last proofs of which he had quietly corrected during
the interval between his letter, "J'Accuse," and his trial. The work
was originally to have appeared in January, but was delayed by Zola's
participation in the Dreyfus case. Writing to Vizetelly on February 6,
the evening before he went into court, he said: "'Paris,' will only be
published on March 1. Please therefore warn Mr. Chatto at once and tell
him that this date is final.... I am not of your opinion.[23] I think
that the book will be more successful if we allow the public emotion to
calm down a little. Besides, we shall not be ready till March 1."