The Judge.--“M. Demange, do not answer.”
M. Clemenceau.--“I ask you, _Monsieur le Président_, to put the
question.”
The Judge.--“No, no, I will not put the question.”
M. Labori.--“I have another question to ask M. Demange. There appeared
in ‘Le Matin’ a few days ago a three-column interview, containing
most interesting things, most of which, to my personal knowledge, are
perfectly true. Without asking M. Demange if the interview took place
at his house, I ask him to say if the statements of the interview are
true.”
M. Demange.--“In the first place, there was no interview. I had
received a letter from a professor of the university, and a letter from
two young licentiates who spoke in the name of the students more than a
month ago. These two letters, which were signed, were very polite, and
they accused me of failing in my duty, saying: ‘You know, M. Demange,
that an illegality has been committed; why do you not apply to the
minister of justice?’ These letters said that I was the cause of the
appearance of M. Zola’s article. They said that, if I had applied to
the minister of justice, none of this hubbub would have occurred. It is
not a question, then, of an interview. I answered the professor and the
young people, inviting them to come to see me. They came, and I had a
confidential talk with them. The professor has respected my confidence,
but the young people have not followed his example.”
M. Labori.--“Does M. Demange know the reasons why M. Leblois never
entered into relations with the Dreyfus family or with M. Demange?”
M. Demange.--“He never told me the reasons. I have even reproached him
for it. I told him that then we should have been able to apply to the
minister of justice.”
M. Labori.--“Did M. Demange see the _bordereau_ that was produced in
the Esterhazy case?”