“True, gentlemen, it would not have been easy to entirely close my mouth. I should have risen just the same after the shorter trial, and made my argument, simply telling you what others have told you. If I had not been contradicted, it would have been necessary to extend the scope of the debate.
“Now, gentlemen, I want to sum up for you chronologically the facts in this case, to sum them up in spite of all the obstacles that have been placed in my path. And it is the object of my argument to try to show, by reasoning and by induction, in all cases where the light has not been complete, the necessary answers to the questions that I have been forbidden to ask,—answers that result inevitably from the study, or, to be more exact, from the silence, of our adversaries.”
At this point the court interrupted M. Labori, declaring an adjournment until the following day.
Fourteenth Day—February 22.
Resuming his argument at the point at which he had dropped it the day before, M. Labori continued as follows:
“Let us go back to the autumn of 1894. Dreyfus, who was then Captain Dreyfus, was arrested on October 14, 1894, but neither the public or his family, Mme. Dreyfus excepted, knew of his arrest. On October 29 the news leaked out in a rather indefinite way, through ‘La Libre Parole,’ and on November 1 a more exact account was given in ‘L’Eclair.’ I beg you, gentlemen, to note that the two newspapers which alone were well informed at the beginning of this case are the two newspapers that have carried on the most violent and most unjust campaign in the years that have since elapsed. ‘L’Eclair’ having given a more precise account, ‘La Libre Parole’ of November 1 published a very short article, of which I shall read to you but an extract.
“Is it true that recently a very important arrest has been made by order of the military authority? Is the individual arrested accused of spying? If the news is true, why does the military authority maintain a silence so absolute? A reply is necessary.” Such was the question that we asked on Monday, and the minister of war has carefully refrained from replying. We had been notified of the arrest on Sunday, ...
“At once we may ask by whom ‘La Libre Parole’ had been notified. I questioned General Mercier to find out to whom this indiscretion should be attributed, and whether any inquiry was made. He answered that he knew nothing about it, hinting that he attributed it to the Dreyfus family That theory cannot be accepted. The Dreyfus family knew nothing about the matter. Major du Paty de Clam, employing threats toward Mme. Dreyfus, had forbidden her to speak; and, supposing that she had spoken, you can well imagine that she would not have carried her secrets to ‘La Libre Parole.’ Consequently, here at the beginning we find the hand of some one who is in relations both with the newspapers of which I speak and with the war offices. Who is he? Is he a superior officer or a subordinate? I do not know, but the relation is indisputable.
We had been notified of the arrest on Sunday, but, in view of the gravity of the charge, and the name and position of the guilty party, we desired to await the result of the examination. Today these reasons do not hold. Here, in fact, is what our confrère, “L’Eclair.” says concerning our questions: “Several newspapers have published a note of a few lines, asking if there had been an important arrest for a crime of high treason. The arrest has been kept secret. The facts, unhappily, are exact, and much more serious than the question led us to believe. An officer, not however, a superior officer, is at this moment in prison at Cherche-Midi; he has committed the most abominable crime that an officer can commit. He has betrayed his country, and for venal motives. The examination, which was conducted in secret, is finished, and the proof materially established.”
“This is an inaccuracy, perhaps a falsehood. Certainly it was the starting-point of all the stories, each more false than the other, which from that moment began to fill the columns of the newspapers, finding no contradiction and spreading error through the public opinion of the entire country. If I did not wish to save your time, gentlemen, I could read you extracts from a thousand newspapers of all parties, affirming most energetically that Dreyfus had relations with German and Italian spies which had been materially proved; that he had made suspicious journeys to Belgium or Alsace, in the course of which he was detected in the act of spying; that he broke open a vault in the war department, and took therefrom secrets of the most vital interest to the national defence; that he delivered important documents to the enemy; and that he had numerous civil accomplices.