THE DREYFUS AFFAIR--FASHODA
It was during the Presidency of Félix Faure that the chief phase of the
Dreyfus affair, and that the Fashoda "incident" took place.
Captain Alfred Dreyfus, accused of having sold military secrets to
Germany, was sentenced and degraded in January 1895. Shortly afterwards
the officer was conveyed to Devil's Island, north of the Guiana coast.
It was in 1896 that the head of the Intelligence Department of the War
Office, Colonel Picquart--whom I had often met at the Elysée--declared
that the _bordereau_ (the famous covering letter containing a list of
documents which Dreyfus had been accused of communicating to Germany)
had been written by Major Esterhazy. Colonel Picquart was replaced in
his delicate post by Colonel Henry. In 1897, Senator Scheurer-Kestner
attempted to have the Dreyfus case reopened, but President Faure
objected strongly, and Méline, then Prime Minister, declared that the
Dreyfus affair was _classée_ (ended for good and all).
From that time a bitter war between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards was
raged, and the most scurrilous slanders, the worst insults, became
weapons of almost universal use. My salon was neutral ground, but I was
soon unable to prevent these impassioned duels of words, in which there
showed hardly a sign of tolerance or of human sympathy. And these
constant duels took place between men who had been the closest friends
all their lives, between brothers, between husband and wife, between
father and son.... I gently pushed the worst disputants away into the
conservatory, but the noise of their quarrels--the word discussion would
be totally inadequate--reached the drawing-room where a few friends and
I tried to play, as an antidote to the raging storm, a page of calm and
pure music, by Haydn or Mozart!
To give an example of the strange happenings during that troubled
period, I may mention the case of Mme. Z., the wife of an eminent judge,
and the high priestess of a famous salon where one met everybody and
anybody, the aristocratic "Faubourg Saint-Germain," and also ladies fair
and frail such as a certain Mlle. Chichette, whose claim to immortality
was based on the fact that she had been the first Parisienne to display
on her corsage a tiny tortoise, set with precious stones and--alive.
Mme. Z., who was a rabid Dreyfusard--her husband, of course, being a
rabid Anti-Dreyfusard--wore deep mourning during all the time Dreyfus
was a prisoner, and appeared in a gaudy blue gown on the day of his
liberation. Her mourning had at last come to an end.... It is only fair
to add that mourning weeds suited her fair hair. There are limits to the
noblest heroism.
Major Esterhazy, who had been arrested, was acquitted by the
court-martial. Zola, whose famous letter "I accuse..." had appeared
January 13th, 1898, in the _Aurore_--a journal founded by
Clémenceau--was condemned the next month, but the sentence was quashed
by the Cour de Cassation (court of supreme appeal), which ordered a new
trial. Colonel Picquart was arrested for having made himself an earnest
defender of a condemned officer.
Zola went to England, and only returned to France to witness the
relative cause he had so ardently supported. Zola died in 1902.
* * * * *
I will now briefly state what I know of the event that took place in
France from June 1898 (after the general elections), to February 16th,
1899, the date of Félix Faure's death. It was during that stormy period
that I assisted President Faure in gathering documents and writing his
memoirs. As I have stated, all his papers were, week after week,
carefully put away in my house, and the reader will perhaps agree, when
I come to deal with the mysterious murder in the Impasse Ronsin, that
those papers had some connection with the murder.
In June, Félix Faure began to wonder whether Captain Marchand had
reached Fashoda. When Minister for the Colonies, Delcassé had decided
and organised the mission of M. Liotard to the Upper Ubanghi. M. Liotard
and M. Cureau had successfully fulfilled their mission and had reached
the western end of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. Early in 1897 Captain Marchand
had left Brazzaville in the French Congo to join the Liotard Mission,
but his orders were to reach the Bahr-el-Ghazal and to go up the White
Nile as far as Fashoda, which he was to occupy. The scheme was a vast
and well-conceived one. If it were successfully carried out France would
possess a transcontinental African Empire reaching from Senegal to the
Gulf of Aden, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea. President Faure went
further; he already "saw" a trans-Saharan railroad crossing that immense
Empire, and France so powerful in the region of the Upper Nile that she
could regain some, perhaps even the greater part, of the influence she
had lost in 1882 when Egypt was occupied by the English; France having
declined to co-operate in suppressing the anti-Turkish and anti-European
rebellion.
The time was opportune. The Egyptian frontier had been set back as far
north as Wadi-Halfa. The Bahr-el-Ghazal was in the hands of the Khalifa
and the Dervishes. Belgium coveted that rich province as much as France.
It would belong to whoever settled there first.... And Marchand had
almost reached Fashoda. Perhaps he was there already with his few white
companions and his Senegalese soldiers. At any rate, his family had
received from him _viâ_ the Congo.
The Captain had completed half of his mission, and had started down the
Sueh, a tributary of the White Nile, on the boat which the "mission" had
carried in sections right in the heart of Africa.
"But what if Marchand has lost most of his men during his long and
difficult journey?" I ask the President. The reply comes readily: "At
Fashoda, a French expedition, which includes a number of Abyssinian
soldiers lent by the Emperor Menelik, will join Marchand with ammunition
and provisions."
On June 15th, the Méline Cabinet resigns. The President asks Méline to
form a new Cabinet.... Méline tried, but failed. Next Ribot, the able
and learned statesman, who has been Premier twice before, is requested
to form a Ministry. He refuses. Sarrien, in his turn, declines to
attempt the difficult task.... The President now turns to Peytral, who
sets to work.... The days go by. Méline and his colleagues resigned on
the 15th. It is now the 25th... and still no Cabinet. The horizon is
dark with threatening clouds. There is chaos everywhere.... What is
needed, say some, is a Ministry of Concentration; others prefer a
Cabinet of Conciliation.... Labels have a great importance in France.
On the 26th, Peytral informs the President of--his failure. Brisson, the
gloomy and aged President of the Chamber of Deputies (he was born 1835)
is now called by Faure.... At last, on the 28th, France possesses a
Cabinet once more. Brisson is Premier and Minister of the Interior;
Cavaignac, who is as strongly against a revision of the Dreyfus case as
the President himself, is Minister of War, and the wily, secretive and
bold Delcassé succeeds Hanotaux at the Foreign Office.
Meanwhile the Marquis de Beauchamp has arrived in Paris. He is back from
Abyssinia, where, alas, he has been unable to join Captain Marchand. His
men were exhausted and had run short of supplies. Where exactly is
Marchand? When shall we hear from him?
On July 7th, I attended the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies.
Cavaignac--whom I often met at the Elysée, and at the house of M. Bw.,
an intimate friend of my husband's, asserts vehemently that there is no
doubt whatever about Dreyfus's guilt.
On the 12th, Hamard, Chief of the Sûreté (Criminal Investigation
Department) arrests Major Esterhazy and his friend, Mme. Pays.
On the 17th, a letter from Zola to Brisson is published. The letter may
be summed up in these words: France is in a hopeless way, and no
Ministry will last so long as the Dreyfus affair is not legally dealt
with. The President tells me: "If the affair is reopened, we shall never
see the end of it; a revision would bring chaos and perhaps even civil
war in its wake. Dreyfus was found guilty. If we are firm all this
agitation in his favour will subside; order will be restored, and France
will breathe again."
Félix Faure meant well, but lacked foresight.
July 27th, my friend Laferrière is appointed Governor-General of Algeria
and replaces Lépine.... The epidemic of duels is raging through
Paris.... M. de Pressensé, of the _Temps_, the poet Bouchor and others
return their Legion of Honour to the Council of the Order because Zola
has been struck off the list of Members of the Order.... The Duke of
Orleans proclaims everywhere the guilt of Dreyfus and his love for the
army.... Esterhazy and his lady friend are released!...
On August 14th, the President goes to Havre, where he intends to spend a
few weeks. I have a villa there, where I stay with my mother and my
younger sister. A naval review is held... in my honour, I am told. The
President is with his suite and Lockroy, the very active Minister of the
Marine, on board the _Cassini_. I am with Mlle. Lucie Faure on a
steamer. We all spend very happy days at Havre. We make charming
excursions; there are parties, concerts, a ball at the town hall....
There is one cloud, however.... Clémenceau publishes a letter sent some
time ago to him by General Billot, Minister of War in the Méline
Cabinet, in which the General declares Dreyfus is guilty, but that
General Mercier--president of the court-martial which tried Dreyfus,
bungled matters....
"Clémenceau," says the President, "is the most dangerous man in the
land, and, what is worse, he knows it. I thought we should have some
peace when he ceased to be a deputy, five years ago... but ever since
then he has made himself a champion of Dreyfus and founded _l'Aurore_,
and I see I am mistaken.... His pen is as sharp as his tongue."
An event far more serious, far more fraught with consequences than the
most vehement attack of Clémenceau, takes place at the end of the
month--the arrest of Colonel Henry, who confesses that he forged the
fresh proofs of Dreyfus's guilt, which, in July, Cavaignac submitted to
the Chamber.
The news of Colonel Henry's arrest and incarceration in the fortress on
Mount Valerien, outside Paris, reached the President on August 30th, in
the evening. The next day we hear that Colonel has committed suicide.
Cavaignac, the Minister of War, resigns. The President, at his "_villa
de la côte_," has a long conversation on the telephone with the
Premier....
The blow is terrible... and in spite of his fortitude and of his
optimism--Félix Faure was the luckiest and most fortunate of men--the
President feels its full force. It unsettles, it crushes him. He keeps
repeating, "Everything is changed!" He is disgusted and indignant. "How
can I get at the truth, the real truth. I have had under my very eyes,
and more than once, absolute proofs of Dreyfus's guilt. And now it
appears that some of those proofs, at any rate, were forged. I can trust
no one. Everywhere I stumble against contradictions, reticences,
suspicious schemes, double-dealing, deceit. It is impossible to reach
the truth in this maze, which is daily becoming vaster and more
complicated. I feel desperate and ashamed. There is but one thing for me
to do; I must resign the Presidency."
The next day he invites me, with my sister and his great friend Prince
P. to a sea-trip. When far from shore he takes me aside: "It is all
over, my dear friend. Even after this suicide of Henry, contradictory
reports are made to me. It seems impossible to get at the entire truth.
I am standing on a quagmire. Every one seems to shield some one else, or
himself!
"There are supplies and coal on this vessel for many days. We are going
to cruise for a week or so. Let those who are responsible for the
present state of affairs extricate themselves as best they can from the
disgraceful position in which they have placed themselves--and me....
When I return, I shall resign.... Honest men will understand me!"
The President is blind with anger, and will listen to no advice. Prince
P. and I, greatly alarmed, spent two hours in pacifying him, in showing
him what an unspeakable scandal such a move would mean. A President
cannot _disappear_ for a week.... I show him the terrible consequences
to the Government, to Order and Authority, and to himself, it would
entail; the cowardice of such an action.... Finally, the President
yields and gives the order to return to harbour. I breathe once more,
but my alarm has been great.
On September 3rd, the President has another long conversation with the
Prime Minister, on the telephone, and early on the 4th he leaves for
Paris, where, at the station, Delcassé, who ever keeps a cool head, and
General Zurlinden, Governor of Paris, are waiting for him. At the Elysée
he is joined by Brisson; President and Premier discuss together the
difficult situation created by the confession and suicide of Colonel
Henry.
September 5th, 6th, 7th. Momentous news from the Sudan. The victory of
Omdurman! Kitchener's army (25,000 men--one-third of whom are English)
has won a decisive victory over the Khalifa; the British flag flies at
Khartum... and Khartum is only a few hundred miles from Fashoda, where,
no doubt, Marchand is entrenched! How rapidly events have succeeded one
another. In April, near the Atbara, the Sirdar had put the Dervishes to
flight.... Then the railways which kept bringing up reinforcements from
Cairo, was pushed on across the Atbara.... On September 1st Omdurman had
been bombarded; on the 2nd the Khalifa's army cut to pieces, most of his
enemies killed.... On the 4th, the Sirdar had reached Khartum.... And
now the crisis is nearing. What are Kitchener's orders? If Captain
Marchand is at Fashoda, and Kitchener hears of it, what will he do?...
September 7th, Félix Faure tells me he has asked General Zurlinden to be
War Minister. The post is undoubtedly the most difficult in the
Cabinet, but the General bravely accepts. He is convinced of Dreyfus's
guilt, and as he says: "The confession of Colonel Henry and all the
suspicions and equivocal manoeuvres of a number of Anti-Dreyfusards do
not prove that the Court Martial, in 1895, condemned an innocent man."
Félix Faure nevertheless realises that the Government will have soon to
decide for or against the "Revision," and I express the hope, much to
his amazement, that they will decide in favour of it. It seems the only
legal way to settle the question.
September the 10th, the Empress of Austria has been murdered! After
sending a message of condolence to the Emperor Francis-Joseph, the
President and I talk for a long time about the Fashoda problem. The
other day we wondered: Would Kitchener go further South than Khartum?
Now we know.
He has left Khartum and gone up the White Nile, with four gun-boats,
some artillery, Sudanese troops, and Highlanders.
September 12th, doubt is no longer possible; Marchand is at Fashoda! It
appears that shortly before the battle of Omdurman, the Khalifa heard of
the presence of "white men" at Fashoda. The boat he sent there was
riddled with bullets and returned northward. The President is highly
elated. The occupation of Fashoda gives France a basis whereon to deal
with the Egyptian question. Still, the Sirdar is strong and Marchand is
not get-at-able....
There has been six hours of Cabinet-Council to-day. Internal affairs are
growing worse every day, and there are bitter disagreements among the
various Ministers.
Brisson and Sarrien are in favour of the "Revision"; but the mere
mention of the word "revision" sends General Zurlinden mad with fury.
Meanwhile, the war between the various parties to whom the defence of
Dreyfus or the fight against him and his supporters is a mere political
pretext, a means and not an end, is daily increasing in fierceness. What
a nightmare!
September 14th and 15th. A brief respite. I have followed the President
to Moulins. My mother is with me. She has never witnessed military
manoeuvres before. I make the acquaintance of several foreign
officers. General de Négrier is Director of the Manoeuvres. The Duke
of Connaught is present.
September 16th. The Press in France and England is already devoting long
columns to Fashoda. The President has had several consultations with
Delcassé and is very confident.
"And why not?" he asks. "In the Anglo-Italian agreement of '91, the
Upper-Nile Valley is not even mentioned, the Khedive had nothing to do
with the Anglo-Belgian arrangement of '94; Nubar Pasha abandoned the
Sudan; England declared she had nothing to do there; besides, did not
England promise to evacuate Egypt after the Khedive had been restored to
power!... If we have taken Fashoda, we have taken it not from England or
Egypt but from the Dervishes. The British Government is reasonable and
not impulsive.... Lord Salisbury who is at the same time Premier and
Foreign Secretary is a statesman who would not act arbitrarily, I
believe.... Sir Herbert Kitchener served in the French Army during the
war with Germany; he is known for his great self-control and will do
nothing rash.... And then, the Duke of Connaught, at the Manoeuvres,
has been extremely courteous and pleasant, and the crowd
enthusiastically cheered the son of Queen Victoria.... All will be
well."
September 17th. General Zurlinden has sent his resignation to Brisson
this morning. He is already replaced. General Chanoine becomes War
Minister.
At the afternoon sitting of the Cabinet Council, the appointment of a
"Commission de Révision" has been decided upon. Whilst Félix Faure
explains all this to me, we hear shouting outside the Elysée.... I have
a number of guests to dinner at home and must rush away. I do not leave
the Elysée as usual through the garden and "my" little door, but by the
main entrance to see what is happening. Merely a crowd shouting "Vive
Brisson" or "A bas Brisson."
On the nineteenth, at an early hour, the telephone bell rings. It is the
President.
"Did you read the _Temps_ last night?" he asks.
"No. I had a holiday.... I played hide and seek with Marthe who would
not go to bed, much to the amusement of my mother who has just come from
Beaucourt to spend a few days with my sister and me. What was there in
the _Temps_?"
"Listen. It said exactly what I think about Fashoda. We will consider
any act threatening Marchand--that is, the flag which he guards--as
carrying with it all the consequences usual in such incidents."
"Splendid!"
"No, have you read the manifesto of the Pretender?"
"Which one?"
"The Duke of Orleans."
"No, but I suppose he tells all Frenchmen that their most sacred rights
are being trampled on, that the army is being ruined, and that France
can rely on him. Is that it?"
"Yes.... You don't take him seriously?..."
"Do you?"
September 21st. The "Commission de Révision" meets. Colonel Picquart
accused of forgery--he, of all men!--appears before his judges.
September 25th. At last! News from the Sudan. The Sirdar is back in
Khartum from Fashoda, where he met Marchand. There has evidently been no
conflict. Diplomacy will now take the matter in hand. "We have no
Talleyrand," says the President, "but we have Delcassé, and he possesses
both subtlety and audacity, besides a good amount of useful cynicism and
sound judgment. And he is as cool-headed as he is cautious."
September 27th. After the Cabinet Council, the President tells me that
yesterday Sir Edmund Monson, the British Ambassador, read to Delcassé a
message from the Sirdar. It appears that the latter reached Fashoda
eight days ago. Marchand has been there since July 10th with a few
companions and some 120 Senegalese. From other sources come further
details. Kitchener congratulated Captain Marchand on his great journey,
then requested him to haul down the French flag. Marchand refused, of
course, to comply with such a demand without instructions from his
Government. The Sirdar quietly left him and hoisted the British flag and
the Egyptian flag, side by side, south of Marchand's fortified camp.
Then he returned to Khartum, leaving a strong garrison at Fashoda, in
charge of a colonel.
"All we can do now," says the President, "is to await Marchand's
report.... The trouble is if it comes through the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the
Congo, months will elapse before it reaches us. Meanwhile Delcassé is
communicating with Sir Edmund Monson. We stand firm. We will not
evacuate Fashoda, come what may!"
October 1st-7th. A number of English newspapers have already sent France
an ultimatum, but the English Government is calmer, so far. A most
amazing event is the publication in England of a blue-book on the
Fashoda question, at a time when the negotiations have already begun,
but the President informs me that "Delcassé has found a very simple
counter-move; we will publish a yellow-book in reply," and he adds: "The
letters which Delcassé and the British Ambassador exchange already show
that war is brewing.... But whatever England's hostility--and it is
clear that England does not wish to negotiate until Marchand has
evacuated Fashoda--we will not yield."
"And what about Marchand?"
"Delcassé has suggested that Marchand's report be sent _viâ_ Khartum and
Cairo. It will soon reach Paris that way.... By the way, I dine with
Count Witte to-morrow, the 8th, at Rambouillet...."
October 10th. "Well, any result?" I ask the President.
"No. Witte spoke little about Russia. But he said France should avoid
all wars, just now, and above all, a war with England; and I knew what
he meant. However, we shall see whether Russia will assist us or
not...."
Baratier, Marchand's companion, is on his way to Cairo with the famous
report.
Fashoda does not monopolise public attention. The Dreyfus dispute waxes
hotter than ever. Most of the newspapers contain nothing but scurrility
and abuse. Some deliberately confuse the Fashoda affair and the Dreyfus
affair.... Rochefort writes in the _Intransigeant_: "I should not be
surprised if the English took advantage of the cowardice of our
Government in order to seize Devil's Isle and free the traitor Dreyfus,
whom they love so much!"
The air of Paris is thick with ominous symptoms. The various "parties"
which battle together employ the same despicable methods, use the same
vocabulary, a vocabulary wherein the word "traitor" is almost mild and
courteous compared with some of the expressions used. There is a general
orgy of vile abuse, in which Dreyfusards and Anti-Dreyfusards alike join
hysterically. Alas! That worthy men--the so-called "intellectuals" and
those just and clear-headed persons who advocate Revision because the
law has been transgressed--are so few and far between.
October 16th. Félix Faure, during the last week, has been unusually
mysterious in his ways. I know what he calls his "great scheme," but I
have hardly thought him to be quite in earnest about it. Judging by his
character I thought he would reconnoitre before attempting to achieve
his aim. He has completely failed at the outset and he now admits it.
Convinced that the French nation as a whole is thoroughly tired of the
Dreyfus agitation, and that the hopelessly perturbed state of the
country is a national calamity, he thought the only remedy to be a kind
of _coup d'état_. His plan is, or rather was, this: With the assistance
of the army--for he would obtain, or rely upon, the support of many
prominent generals--Félix Faure wanted to make the Presidency
independent of the Parliament, and establish a military Government.... A
bold scheme, but one which was doomed to failure, for Félix Faure has
not the necessary qualities, and there is no Augereau amongst his
military friends, the present Parliament is quite unlike the Corps
Legislatif of 1797, and the army cannot be compared in any way with the
omnipotent soldiery of Bonaparte's days.
Indiscretions have been committed, and certain journals here and abroad
are mentioning the _coup_, but they dismiss it as a further tale to be
added to the abnormal mass of political legends, exaggerations, and
gossip, which for a year past has been growing up in the overheated
atmosphere that is stifling France.
And this is perhaps the best thing that could possibly happen. A _coup
d'état_ is only excusable when it succeeds.
An aged and intimate friend comes to the President and comforts him:
"You are a foolhardy patriot; you mean and you meant well, and your
scheme was not selfish like the plots which the 'Pretenders' are daily
hatching. There is one consolation for you at least: there is no man
capable of a _coup d'état_ just now. The Duke of Orleans has the poorest
of advisers, and Prince Victor has no confidence in himself!"
October 20th. Count Muravieff has been in Paris during the past few
days. The Count had a long conversation with Delcassé three days ago,
and dined with the President last night. Russia, it appears, thinks that
war would be against the interests of France. "If there is to be a war
between France and England, we cannot rely on Russia. The Government in
St. Petersburg thinks that we should be ill-advised in allowing
ourselves to be dragged into an absurd war with England, especially over
that Sudanese swamp, Fashoda...." Moreover, Count Muravieff tactfully
hinted at the lukewarmness of France towards Russia. "To-day," he
remarked cheerfully, and at the same time pointedly, "Russia has only
two zealous friends in France: yourself and M. Delcassé."
And it was Muravieff, the Russian Foreign Secretary, and Hanotaux,
French Minister of Foreign Affairs, who before Félix Faure signed the
Franco-Russian Alliance in St. Petersburg on August 24th last year!
"And how are the negotiations with England proceeding?" I ask.
"They are practically at a standstill. England will discuss nothing more
until Marchand has left Fashoda.... Meanwhile, feverish activity
prevails in our dockyards; our fleet is coaling and being supplied with
everything necessary. Our admirals have secret instructions. We are
preparing to face all contingencies. Lockroy, the Minister for the Navy,
is wonderfully busy...."
A large map of the world is unfolded on the President's table. He
irritably wipes out the pencil mark he made a few days ago at the spot
on the Indian border where he thought Russia might perhaps attack India.
There are other blue marks on either side of the Channel, in the
Mediterranean, in Africa.... For a long time we bend over the map and
talk. But as the probabilities become clearer, more tangible, as it
were, I realise that we are almost forgetting Fashoda, and Marchand on
whom our attention should be riveted. What can be done for him? How can
France go to his assistance? And would a war be worth while for the sake
of that spot in Africa? Is a war ever worth while? What benefits would
France derive from a war with England? And would France win? Where?
How?...
I beg the President to see things in their right proportions, and I
advise him to avoid war. War or no war does not depend upon him, of
course, but there are so many ways of precipitating events, of rousing
public feeling... and so many ways of smoothing matters out and of
calming a nation....
October 21st. Delcassé has received an abridged report from Marchand
cabled by Captain Baratier, his brave companion across Africa, who has
reached Cairo from Khartum....
October 23rd. A mounted municipal guardsman brings me a large envelope
from the President. It is a copy of _Punch_, the famous London satirical
journal. On the cover, Félix Faure has written: "_Ma chère amie_, please
look at this shameful insult to France on the Fashoda question." I open
the paper and see a cartoon by Sir John Tenniel. Yes, it makes one's
blood boil. I reply to the President: "You are right. It is vulgar and
despicable. The French are refined and witty; the English are blunt and
have merely what they call a 'sense of humour.' Count Muravieff told you
that an African swamp is not worth a war; I wish to add: 'Still less a
cartoon.'"
The cartoon was indeed unbearably insolent and unworthy of an
enlightened nation.... But a year later, when England was at war with
the Boers, to whom the French spontaneously--and emphatically--gave
their sympathy, our artists produced cartoons in which Queen Victoria
was treated in an equally improper manner. This only proves that the
most civilised and refined nation in the world sometimes forgets the
most elementary notions of breeding, and fails to see that one degrades
himself when he tries to degrade his enemies.
October 25th. Delcassé's Yellow Book has appeared. It contains most of
the documents relating to the Fashoda, or rather the "White Nile"
problem, from December 1897, to October 1898. It reveals beyond argument
the truly remarkable powers of Delcassé as a shrewd yet "direct"
diplomatist.
The tension between England and France is at breaking-point. Sir Edmund
has sent, in the name of the British Government, what amounts to an
ultimatum. The President says: "We may give up Fashoda, but we must have
an outlet on the Nile. If there can be no longer any question of
conquest, we must at least be enabled to facilitate our '_pénétration
commerciale_.'... Surely, some kind of compromise is possible."
In the afternoon I go to the _Chambre des Députés_. A storm is brewing.
As I reach the Palais Bourbon by the Boulevard Saint Germain I can see,
and hear, on the Place de la Concorde, an immense, and howling, crowd.
The sitting cannot be considered as an historic one, but it certainly is
noisy and sensational. Déroulède opens fire. Déroulède, who has more
than once been called a modern Don Quixote, is an eminently sympathetic
figure. One likes him because, first of all... he is typically French--a
brave soldier, a poet, an ardent patriot, and a delightful madman to
boot. He is by nature unable to do anything quietly. He would be a
leader of men if he were not anxious to write a patriotic and popular
epic, and he would be a great poet if he were not so keen on saving the
country. He has been one of the very first advocates of an alliance with
Russia, he has assisted the cause of Boulanger; he was elected a deputy
at the elections last May. It seems hardly necessary to add that he is a
Nationalist and a staunch Anti-Dreyfusard.
Déroulède speaks, and what he says may be reduced to these words: The
Government is... rotten.
And now comes the turn of Chanoine, the Minister of War. He may be a
first-class general, but he certainly is a third-rate orator and
politician. In a stern manner, with a knitted brow and a sweeping
gesture, he asserts that he has the same opinion as his predecessor in
the Dreyfus case. The House applauds.... Then, he adds, with a wonderful
instinct for doing the wrong thing: "I resign!"
The Prime Minister, the unfortunate and exhausted Brisson, declares that
the "Government wishes to deliberate...." He returns with his
colleagues--less Chanoine, of course--and tells the Chambre that a
provisional War Minister will be appointed. A general discussion
ensues.... Two-thirds of the House are obviously hostile to the
Government. Brisson asks for the usual but often dangerous vote of
confidence. The majority is against it and... the Cabinet falls.
I rush to the Elysée and give Félix Faure my impressions of an eventful
sitting.... He tells me that General Chanoine, after announcing his
resignation in the Chambre, came to hand it to him.
"Of course, I refused to receive him. He might at least have known that
he should have sent in his resignation to the Prime Minister.... Between
ourselves, I am rather pleased to be rid of Brisson. He makes an
excellent President of the Chambre, for he is impartial, impressive and
venerable, but as a Premier, or even as a Minister, he is quite
hopeless, in spite of his integrity and his general knowledge of
politics.... So here I am, looking once more for a man able to form a
Cabinet. Four months ago I was doing the identical thing. To-morrow I
shall summon the President and Vice-Presidents of the Chambre and the
Senate. In any case I shall retain Delcassé for the portfolio of Foreign
Affairs. We must at least have _one_ man who knows his business in the
Cabinet."
The mention of Delcassé inevitably leads back to Fashoda.
"The _Sénégal_ has reached Marseilles, the President tells me. Sir
Herbert Kitchener and Captain Baratier are on board!"
October 27th. "What about Baratier... and Marchand?" I ask Félix Faure.
"Baratier is closeted with Delcassé. Marchand will leave Fashoda for
Cairo, where he will await the instructions of the Government. England
is more impatient than ever."
October 28th-30th. The game is up.... Monson's attitude and words leave
no room for hope of a conciliatory settlement.... Unless, of course, we
evacuate Fashoda....
I have never seen Félix Faure so bitterly dejected. That vast African
Empire was one of his most cherished dreams....
France will lose none of her prestige, but it is clear that she will
give way.... Silently, we put together various documents, and work at
the "Memoirs."
Dupuy, once a professor of philosophy, who has twice before been Prime
Minister, has consented to form a Cabinet. De Freycinet, a civilian,
becomes Minister of War. Dupuy is strongly in favour of the
"Revision."... And Dupuy was Prime Minister when Dreyfus was condemned!
Fate has strange whims.
November 1st-4th. Marchand has reached Cairo from Fashoda, Baratier has
reached Cairo from Paris. France has "officially" given up Fashoda. The
long-drawn-out crisis, during which war with England has been so near,
is at an end.... The humiliation brings tears to Félix Faure's eyes....
"And yet, it was inevitable that we should yield. Our fleet is too
inefficient, the White Nile is too far, our position at Fashoda was
untenable, alas.... Delcassé has acted wisely. War is averted... are you
satisfied?"
"You know I am; but I cannot help thinking of Marchand and his brave
companions. What must be their feelings!"
November 12th. Marchand and Baratier leave Cairo for Fashoda. From
there, they will go south to Sobat, and then travel eastward, through
Abyssinia, to Jibuti, whence they will sail for France. At least, the
humiliation of retreating through Egypt will be spared them. The
relations between England and France are gradually becoming more
normal. Monson and Delcassé met three days ago... after a separation
which had lasted nearly two weeks!
November 15-30. The attention of France is entirely focussed on the
Dreyfus affair and the Picquart trial. How General Zurlinden can
seriously accuse the Colonel of being a forger and a traitor passes my
understanding.
December 7th. Last night Sir Edmund Monson spoke at the Annual Banquet
of the British Chamber of Commerce, held at the Hotel Continental.
Just as I am reading a report of the speech, the insolence of which is
phenomenal, the President telephones:
"Have you ever heard of anything more arrogant, more improper, than
Monson's speech? The Fashoda incident is closed, but because the
Government intend organising some schools in the Sudan, Monson gives it
an impudent lesson, and tells our Ministers what they must do.... And
that... on French soil, in Paris! And he is an Ambassador!..."
"Yes, the Marquis of Dufferin was a different man."
We then talked about the political situation. Félix Faure still
repudiates the thought of "Revision," though far less strongly than
before the Henry tragedy.
In the evening we meet at the Opéra Comique. 'A _spectacle de gala_ is
given, as this was the opening night of the new building (the former
Opéra Comique had been burned down several years before). The programme
entirely devoted to French music, includes one act of Gounod's
"Mireille," one of "Carmen," and one of Massenet's "Manon."
December 15th-31st. The news has come that Marchand left Fashoda on the
eleventh. So the last scene of that poignant drama has been played....
The "Revision" is being discussed in the Chamber. The Cour de Cassation
has telegraphed to a magistrate at Cayenne a list of questions which he
is to put to Dreyfus.
January 1st, 1899-February 10th. The President puts in order a number of
documents and notes relating to the Dreyfus and Fashoda affairs and
sends them to me. I am laid up with peritonitis. My mother is staying
with me. The Beaucourt estate was sold nearly two years ago, and she
came to live in Paris, but I have had a villa built for my mother, close
to the old home, and when I am better she will go back there and live
once more in her dear Beaucourt. The President telephones to me two or
three times a day.
Delcassé, on January 23rd, makes a remarkable speech in the Chamber on
the Fashoda affair, in which he accepted full responsibility for all
that took place, explaining that the Marchand "Mission" was the direct
outcome of the Liotard expedition which he had himself organised when
Minister of the colonies. The chief points of the speech are: Marchand
started on his mission long before the Anglo-Egyptian army entered upon
the conquest of the Sudan--France years before had made it clear that
she did not recognise the "White Nile" valley as being in the sphere of
British influence--France could not expose her fleet, army and prestige,
in what would appear to the majority of nations as an "inexplicable
adventure."
At the beginning of February, my younger sister marries. I am still very
weak, but manage to attend the wedding. A day or two afterwards, I drive
to the Elysée, where I remain a few minutes with Félix Faure. He shows
me a letter from the Czar which Prince Urusoff handed to him an hour
ago, and two paintings representing the arrival of the President at
Kronstadt, also sent by the Russian Emperor.
The Dreyfus affair is proceeding in the same more or less illegal
manner. The great struggle, however, is no longer between Dreyfusards
and Anti-Dreyfusards, but between the Republic and the enemies of the
Republic, between Radicals and Socialists on the one hand, and the
"reactionaries, Royalists" and "Anti-Semites" on the other. All kinds of
leagues are springing up. Early in January, François Coppée with
Brunetière, the editor of _La Revue des Deux Mondes_, and others, found
the _Patrie Française_ league, which staunchly upholds the Army against
all Dreyfusards.... There are constant rumours of military plots....
* * * * *
Here may be briefly stated the end of the Dreyfus affair. Brisson had
remitted the case to the Cour de Cassation--which comprises three
divisions (criminal court, civil court, and court of petitions). But
when it became known that the criminal division which had charge of the
appeal had found that there had been a gross miscarriage of justice, and
would decide in favour of Revision, Dupuy proposed and made the Chamber
accept a law by which the momentous decision was to be left to the three
divisions. This was, of course, in the hope that in the whole court a
majority would be found against Dreyfus.
February 10th, 1899. (President Faure died February 16th). The Cour de
Cassation decided for a fresh trial by court-martial. Dupuy resigned
(June). Dreyfus was brought back from Devil's Isle, was tried at Rennes,
found guilty but with "extenuating circumstances," sentenced to ten
years' imprisonment and recommended to mercy. A fantastic verdict.
Captain Dreyfus was pardoned, set free and at last fully rehabilitated
after having suffered so long for crimes evidently committed by others.
The _Affaire Dreyfus_ was used by all parties to achieve their
particular aims. Some used it to wage war against Semitism, some war
against the Republic, others against Socialism, others against the Army,
and yet others against Clericalism.... Hundreds of men found in it a way
of achieving notoriety, or of satisfying their private ambitions.
Thousands fished in troubled waters. The Duke of Orleans, heir to King
Louis-Philippe, inundated the country with manifestoes, and Prince
Victor Napoleon, with the faithful Marquis de Girardin, tried to work up
some Bonapartist enthusiasm. Perhaps the strangest phenomenon of all in
that strange time was the Anti-Dreyfusard attitude of the Jewish
_élite_.... As for President Faure, it can only be said that he was
absolutely sincere in his conviction of Dreyfus's guilt, in his belief
that the court-martial which condemned the Captain had passed judgment
according to their conscience, and had not exceeded their rights, and
finally that France would be much worse for a "Revision" of the case.
Events proved that he was wrong and that France is able to recover from
blows and agitation which would cripple other nations less endowed with
vitality, elasticity, and idealism.
The Dreyfus affair was President Faure's "nightmare," the Fashoda
incident his "shattered dream." Before closing this chapter, the only
one in the book dealing with politics, I must mention the treaty with
Lord Salisbury wherein were defined the English and the French "sphere
of influence" in the Niger region, and in which France gave up the Nile
(March 1899).
And now, as I have reviewed the chief episodes of the Fashoda affair, a
few words may be deemed necessary about the man who piloted the vessel
of French Foreign Policy during that dangerous crisis, and who since
then has revealed himself, on many other occasions, as a very able
diplomatist and organiser.
Delcassé was Minister for Foreign Affairs for seven years, from 1898
till 1905--a momentous period in the history of modern France. In the
most difficult and dangerous circumstances, Delcassé was always cool and
collected, and no one could ever "read" this little dark, round-eyed
man, with a moustache bristling out on either side like a cat's
whiskers, who makes few gestures, never loses his temper, forces his
interrogators to ask their question twice, and speaks only when he
chooses... which is seldom. Félix Faure, who fully appreciated his great
merits, used to say: "He is too trenchant and too secretive for my
taste. His coolness is highly provoking. I cordially dislike him, and I
am aware that he is not very fond of me; but I have the utmost
confidence in his judgment, although this man of mystery is too much of
an autocratic ruler. When he speaks in the Chamber, the deputies listen
to him in religious silence, and he is the Minister who is questioned
least. He has succeeded in making it generally understood that he does
the right thing, in his own way, and that he must be left alone. He
guides the destiny of the country, and he is--almost--the only one to
know when France is on the brink of war.... But I cannot deny that he is
a born diplomatist. Had Talleyrand or Metternich brought him up he would
no doubt be rather more refined in manner and method, and have learned a
little more subtlety, but I do not think he would have acquired much
more authority or ability."
When, in 1905, he fell, because the German Emperor, who had just been
dazzling Tangiers with Imperial pomp, and making France uneasy about the
Moroccan problem, demanded the resignation of the one man whom he feared
in France--the one man who did not fear him--no insult was spared
Delcassé, who had rendered so many services to the country, had worked
for the development of our colonies and the improvement of our navy, and
had restored France to her rightful place in European diplomacy.
Delcassé was now considered as a bellicose maniac who had twice
humiliated the nation, at Fashoda, and in Morocco.
When, however, Delcassé became Minister of the Navy, his return to power
was hailed with as much satisfaction as his fall. His pleasure at being
back in office must have been heightened by his sense of humour, which
is great.