M. Labori.—“Very well; so be it.”
M. Scheurer-Kestner.—“I greatly regret that I cannot read these letters. I regret it from the standpoint of the manifestation of truth. I considered this reading indispensable, but I see that it is forbidden. Since, however, I am authorized to say what they contain, I will do so in a manner necessarily incomplete, but sufficient perhaps to enlighten the jurors.”
M. Scheurer-Kestner then repeated the substance of the letters, but, as the full text of the letters was printed in “L’Aurore” of the following day, February 9, they are given here in place of the description of them made to the jury by M. Scheurer-Kestner, although legally the full text of the letters forms no part of the evidence placed before the jury.
Cormeilles-en-Parisis (Seine-et-Oise),
September 7, 1896.
My dear Picquart:
I have received your letter of the 5th, and, after reflecting upon all that you say. I hasten to tell you that it seems to me useful to proceed in this matter with great prudence, distrusting first impressions. The thing necessary now is to determine the nature of the documents.[1] How could they have been copied? What requests for information have been preferred by third parties? You may say that in this order of ideas it is rather difficult to reach a result without making some stir. I admit it. But in my opinion it is the best way of making sure progress. To the continuation of the inquiry from the standpoint of the handwritings[2] there is the grave objection that it compels us to take new people into our confidence under bad conditions, and it seems to me better to wait until we are more firmly settled in our opinions before going further in this rather delicate path. I return September 15, and we can better discuss an affair of this nature in conversation. But my feeling is that it is necessary to proceed with extreme prudence. I shake your hand most affectionately, my dear Picquart. Devotedly yours,
A. Gonse.
[1] The reference here is to the documents that accompanied the bordereau attributed to Dreyfus.
[2] The reference here is to the comparison of Major Esterhazy’s handwriting with that of the bordereau.
Paris, September 8, 1896.