The witness-stand was then taken by M. Duclaux, director of the Pasteur
Institute, who testified that he signed the protest because it seemed
to him that it would be a good thing for a group of men to declare to
the public that the Esterhazy trial had not dissipated the obscurity
of the Dreyfus trial. His testimony was followed by that of M. Anatole
France, member of the French Academy, who, after explaining why he had
signed the protest, was asked his opinion of M. Zola’s good faith.
M. France.--“Having spent some hours with M. Zola last December, and
having been, so to speak, the witness of his thought, I can testify
here to his admirable good faith and his absolute sincerity. But the
sincerity of M. Zola needs no guarantee; so I will simply say that
he is acting, under these circumstances, with courage, according to
his temperament, in behalf of justice and truth, inspired by the most
generous sentiments.”
General Billot, who had been appealed to to authorize the production of
the Uhlan letter, having written to the judge that he would leave the
matter to the decision of the court, the court now rendered a decree
that it should not be produced, since by a previous decree all matters
“relating to the Dreyfus and Esterhazy trials, judged, in whole or in
part, behind closed doors, had been excluded from the debate.”
This ended the testimony, and, the attorney-general not being ready to
begin his argument, an adjournment was taken until Monday, February 21.