M. Clemenceau.—“By a lawyer?”
M. Bertillon.—“I repeat, attempts have been made” ...
M. Clemenceau.—“Yes or no, has he demonstrated the principle of his system to a lawyer of the appellate court of Paris?”
M. Bertillon.—“Certainly not. I have often defended myself against the imputations of Bernard Lazare and company. But the most absurd statements have been attributed to me.”
M. Clemenceau.—“M. Bernard Lazare is not a lawyer of the appellate court of Paris. Has the witness had a twenty minutes’ talk concerning the principle of his system with a certain lawyer of the appellate court of Paris?”
M. Bertillon.—“When you shall make your questions more precise, I will try to remember more precisely. I repeat that it is impossible to speak intelligibly of the Dreyfus case without the documents before us. If you only knew how for the last three years I have been pestered in all ways! They ask me insidious questions. They accuse me of this and of that. How many friends have become cool toward me because of the rôle attributed to me in this matter! I assure you that it is not funny. My conscience is at ease, but I have suffered much during the last three years. Now they make me one of the accused. That has nothing to do with the Zola case.”
M. Clemenceau.—“Has the witness had a twenty minutes’ talk with our confrère Decori, a lawyer of the appellate court of Paris, concerning the principle of his system?”
M. Bertillon.—“Oh! it is possible that I have spoken to M. Decori, as to many others, of the Dreyfus case, and of the insults that have been heaped upon me in connection therewith.”
M. Clemenceau.—“Now we will go on to something else. If tomorrow a new traitor were to be discovered in France, and if M. Bertillon were to be asked to demonstrate the guilt of this new traitor by an expert examination similar to that of which we have been speaking, is it probable that M. Bertillon’s system would be applicable to this new traitor and his handwriting?”
M. Bertillon.—“All these questions relate to the Dreyfus case.”