Colonel Henry.--“I said that it was in October. At any rate, on my
return from leave. I have always said October, I think, and I cannot
say anything else.”
M. Leblois.--“Variations as to facts, variations as to dates. It is
very difficult for a witness, with the best will in the world, to
follow his adversaries over ground so shifting.”
Colonel Picquart.--“Did Colonel Henry enter my office by the door
opposite the desk, or by the little side door?”
Colonel Henry.--“By the main door.”
Colonel Picquart.--“About how far into the office did he come?”
Colonel Henry.--“I could not say whether it was four inches or a step.”
Colonel Picquart.--“But Colonel Henry was on the other side of my desk;
that is, on the side opposite to that where I was sitting.”
Colonel Henry.--“Opposite you, and I perfectly saw the document, for it
was the place in which I stood that enabled me to see the document and
the file.”
Colonel Picquart.--“I shall ask to be shown the document. General de
Pellieux showed it to me in his office, and at a distance. It is a very
obscure photograph. I had to put my nose into it in order to recognize
this document, which does not read _Cette canaille de D..._, but _Ce
canaille de D...._”
Colonel Henry.--“I would know it at a distance of ten steps. This is
not to be disputed, especially when one is in the habit of seeing a
document, and I have seen this more than once. I formally maintain my
assertion, and I say again: Colonel Picquart has lied.”
The Judge.--“You are in disaccord.”
M. Labori.--“Permit me. What, _Monsieur le Président_, do I rightly
understand? You say ‘in disaccord’! For the second time an offence has
been committed in this court. A witness has been insulted by another
witness, and the only thing that you have to say is: ‘These witnesses
are not in accord.’ I take note of it.”
The Judge.--“You will take note of what you like.”
M. Labori.--“Since Colonel Picquart, being addressed as he has just
been addressed by Colonel Henry, hears no comment but this: ‘You are in
disaccord,’ I ask that he explain himself unreservedly.”
Colonel Picquart.--“Gentlemen of the jury, you have seen here men like
Colonel Henry, Major Lauth, and the keeper of the archives, Gribelin,
make odious accusations against me. You have heard the colonel tell me
that I have lied. You have heard Major Lauth make without proofs an
allegation as serious as that which he made yesterday, saying that it
was I, though he had not the proof, but that it must have been I who
placed the dispatch in the cornucopia. Well, gentlemen of the jury,
do you know why all this is done? You will understand it when you
learn that the artisans of the previous affair, which is so intimately
connected with the Esterhazy affair,--those who acted conscientiously,
I think, believing that they had the truth on their side,--when you
learn that Colonel Henry and M. Gribelin, aided by Colonel du Paty de
Clam, under the direction of General Gonse, received from the regretted
Colonel Sandherr (who was already afflicted with the serious disease
of which he afterward died), as a sort of testament, at the time when
he left the service, the duty of defending against all attacks this
affair which involved the honor of the bureau, and which the bureau had
pursued conscientiously, believing that it was acting in accordance
with the truth. But I thought otherwise when I was at the head of this
service, and considered that there was a better way of defending a
cause than that of acting in blind faith. Consequently, for months,
insults have been heaped upon me by newspapers paid for the spreading
of slander and error.”