General de Pellieux, recalled, declared that he could answer concerning two points only.
“I said yesterday,” he testified, “that the writer of the bordereau was an officer, an officer in the war department, and a licentiate. I said that he was a licentiate, because in the war offices the officers are somewhat confined by their services, and an officer in one bureau would find difficulty in furnishing information from another bureau, whereas a licentiate goes from one bureau to another, and consequently is in a position to furnish information from many. It is true that Major Esterhazy was at the manœuvres and at the firing schools, but the note on Madagascar, since it was not until August that the matter was elaborated in the war department, could not have been furnished by Esterhazy, because at that time he had been to the firing schools and the manœuvres, and did not go again after August 16, while all the licentiates were at the manœuvres until the end of August. I care nothing for the importance of the documents enumerated; what I wish to prove is that they were not furnished by Esterhazy. One word more. Colonel Picquart says that Mulot’s deposition was made behind closed doors. True, but the investigation was not behind closed doors, and in the investigation he made the declaration that I spoke of yesterday. He made it in presence of Major Ravary, and Major Ravary’s report was not read behind closed doors. Send for Mulot; he will corroborate me.”
M. Labori.—“We shall be glad to send for any witnesses that are desired. We wish to do nothing to increase the darkness. I ask that each of the documents be examined individually. Let Colonel Picquart give his explanations, and let such of them as may be contested be discussed, one by one.”
General Gonse then came to the stand.
“The documents enumerated in the bordereau are, first, the note on cannon 120, and the way in which its hydraulic check works. Well, the piece 120 is a piece which at the time of which we speak was still new. Its check was new. Knowledge of it was confidential and extremely technical. I am not acquainted with the check, and I never saw the piece fired. It is fired only under special conditions. It may be that infantry officers have seen it fired, but only from a distance, and certainly they are not in a position to furnish any serious information regarding it, which indicates that this note is a technical note that could have come only from an artillery officer.”
The Judge.—“What is the second point in the bordereau?”
General Gonse.—“The troupes de couverture. There is nothing confidential here. These are troops that go to the frontier when war is declared, to cover the mobilization of a certain region and to prevent incursions of the enemy. They come from points not far from the frontier, either on foot or by rail. Well, in the month of April, or early in 1894, the staff reconstituted the plans for the transportation of the troupes de couverture. These new plans could not have been known outside of the staff. At this time was made also a plan for the general concentration of the army. But that plan it took a long time to finish, and the plan regarding the troupes de couverture went into force in the spring, while the plan of concentration was not completed and put in force until the end of 1894, or the beginning of 1895. Meantime there were some modifications, some changes of garrison among the troupes de couverture, some modifications in the organization of artillery; consequently the bordereau states the truth when it adds to the note concerning the troupes de couverture that there have been some modifications in the plan. Only an officer of the general staff could have known these modifications and furnished the note regarding them. No officer of troops, not even an officer of a division staff, could have given this information.
“It is certain that anybody may make notes about Madagascar, but in 1894 a note on Madagascar was made, destined for the minister of war,—a secret note indicating measures to be taken, measures that concerned the expedition, a whole series of secret and confidential matters. When the bordereau announced this note, we were extremely surprised. It did not occur to anyone that the reference might be to a note taken from a newspaper or magazine. As to the firing manual, we never give the manual of artillery practice to infantry regiments; so it seems, too, that only an artillery officer could have furnished that.
“Colonel Picquart said just now that I prescribed the course that he should follow in his investigations, telling him to question artillery officers, which he did. But he fails to say that the result was negative. He went to an artillery regiment in garrison at Versailles, and questioned the officers. But the information given him was negative. Colonel Picquart told me so himself.”
Colonel Picquart.—“I questioned an artillery officer of a regiment in garrison at Versailles, having previously obtained the authorization of the colonel; but I did not go farther for the same reasons that kept me from further questioning the secretary, as I have already stated. Now I come to the question of the bordereau. Dates must not be confused. There were manœuvres in the autumn of 1894, but the bordereau was written in April. What struck me were the words: ‘I am about to start for the manœuvres.’ It was not the autumn manœuvres that were then approaching.”