The Judge.--“What question do you wish to ask?”
M. Labori.--“I appeal to Article 319 of the code of criminal
examination, which says that ‘after every deposition the court shall
ask the accused if he wishes to answer what has been said against him,
and that the accused and his counsel shall have a right to question the
witness through the court, and to say against him and his testimony
anything that may be useful for the defence of the accused.’ I ask the
floor.”
The Judge.--“What questions?”
M. Labori.--“I ask the floor to say against the witness and his
testimony anything that may be useful for the defence of the accused.”
The Judge.--“You have the floor only to ask questions.”
M. Labori.--“I have the honor, by virtue of Article 319 of the code of
criminal examination, to ask that the floor be accorded me, and I offer
the following motion.”
General de Pellieux.--“Can I retire, _Monsieur le Président_?”
The Judge.--“You may sit down.”
M. Labori.--“I have the honor to ask the court to be good enough to
wait until my motion is ready.”
The Judge.--“You have the floor.”
M. Labori offered a formal motion that the court accord the floor to
the counsel for the accused, in conformity with Article 319 of the
code, and asked for the floor in order to speak in support of his
motion.
The Judge.--“You have the floor.”
M. Labori.--“Gentlemen, you have just heard, not a deposition, but
an argument. It is the argument of the staff, which sends General de
Pellieux here, not to give explanations, but to throw into the debate,
speculating on the generosity of a great people” ...
At this moment there was an uproar in the court-room, which led M.
Labori to say, interrupting himself: “I pay no attention, but I judge
of the reach of my blows by the protests that they call from my
enemies.”
The Judge.--“M. Labori, pay no attention to what takes place in the
audience. You talk to everybody except the court.”
M. Labori.--“I answer the protests which the court does not suppress,
and I add that I have here a letter that one of my _confrères_ has
just passed to me, which says: ‘M. Labori, lawyers are prevented here
from making any manifestation. Why, then, are infantry and artillery
officers allowed to openly applaud?’ I resume. I was saying that they
speculate on the generosity of a great people which confounds persons
with principles, which identifies chiefs, who are only fallible men,
with the flag that we all respect and that no one has a right to
monopolize, no more General de Pellieux than I. As a soldier, I owe
respect to General de Pellieux, because he is my chief. I am a soldier,
as he is, and on the day of battle my blood will be as good as his, and
I declare that, though I may have fewer stripes, I shall not show less
resolution or less courage. Every time that the advocate of the war
department shall ask the floor at the beginning of the day’s hearing,
in order to make an impression on the men of good faith whose names
the newspapers of the Rue Saint Dominique print every evening as a
sort of intimidation,--I say that every time that the advocate of the
staff shall come to this bar to throw himself into the balance, not as
a witness, but as a sort of pillar of support, the attorney-general’s
silence proving inadequate,--I say that, immediately afterward, the
defender of M. Zola, whatever his fatigue, whatever his emotion,
whatever his sadness, will rise, and, though this trial should last
six months, he will struggle until the light, which is becoming more
brilliant every day, which at first was only a gleam” ...
The Judge.--“This has no relation to your motion. I am going to deprive
you of the floor.”
M. Labori.--“If you deprive me of the floor, _Monsieur le Président_,
it will be said that General de Pellieux was allowed to speak here for
half an hour, and that I was not permitted to answer him. I await your
decision.”
The Judge.--“You have the floor, but in support of your motion. Let us
have done with it.”
M. Labori.--“If this expression, ‘Let us have done with it,’ indicates
that I am disagreeable to the court, I am very much grieved; but I have
no desire to have done with it. I want the light. Entrusted with the
defence of Emile Zola, I will go to the last extremity to get it. I
assure you that you do not excite me at all. I ask only for a moment’s
rest, and will then speak to the end with tranquillity.”
The Judge.--“You speak of all sorts of things. That is why we shall
come to no end, and you have not said a word regarding your motion.”
M. Labori.--“I am saying something now of greater consequence than my
motion.”
The Judge.--“But we are not here to hear all these things. This is the
first time that I witness such a struggle.”
M. Labori.--“Because it is the first time that there has been
maintained, in the name of the law, a judicial error which must come to
light,--which will come to light in a few days, if it does not today.
General de Pellieux has said: ‘Innocent or guilty.’”
The Judge.--“According to Article 311 of the code of examination, I
tell you that you must explain yourself with moderation.”
M. Labori.--“Will you tell me, _Monsieur le Président_, what expression
has fallen from my lips that was lacking in moderation?”
The Judge.--“Everything that you say.”
M. Labori.--“Pardon me, I do not accept your warning, unless it is made
more precise.”
The Judge.--“I repeat that this incident has now taken up ten minutes.
Develop your motion simply.”
M. Labori.--“If you ask me to be moderate, and ask me in terms that
resemble a warning or a censure, and if you do not tell me why you
inflict this censure upon me” ...
The Judge.--“Will you speak in support of your motion?”
M. Labori.--“But, _Monsieur le Président_, do you hold to what you just
said?”
The Judge.--“I have no account to render to you.”
M. Labori.--“Very well. This observation made, it is agreed that not
one of my words can be reprimanded or blamed, and I continue. Article
319 declares that the witness, no matter how many stripes he may wear,
cannot have the upper hand of the defence. M. de Pellieux is not the
accused party here. If he were, he would have the same right that we
have, and, if he were the complainant against the accused on behalf
of the public, he could take the floor. But he is not. The staff has
said to itself that it has in General de Pellieux a distinguished
orator, and so it sends him here every day to begin the hearing with an
argument against such portions of the demonstrations and evidence of
the day before as seem overwhelming. Well, I say that, if ever Article
319 is to be applied, this is the time for it.”
The court retired for five minutes, and then rendered a decree
refusing the floor to the counsel for the defence for the purpose for
which he asked it, on the ground that it was the duty of the court,
according to Article 270 of the code of criminal examination, to
exclude everything that would needlessly prolong the trial.