"This absence of certainty is not only the negation of all the principles of law; it weighs on the mind and on the conscience; it bewilders one, it seems to be a permanent menace for all, and the danger is all the more real, because these courts permit neither public nor defensive procedure, nor do they permit the accused to receive any communication regarding his case, nor is any right of defense assured him.
"This is arbitrary injustice; the Judge left to himself, that is, to his impressions, his prejudices, and his surroundings. This is abandoning the accused in his distress, to grapple alone with his all-powerful adversary.
"This justice uncontrolled, and consequently without guarantee, constitutes for us the most dangerous and oppressive of illegalities. We cannot conceive justice as a judicial or moral possibility without free defense.
"Free defense, that is, light thrown on all the elements of the suit; public sentiment being heard in the bosom of the judgment hall, the right to say everything in the most respectful manner, and also the courage to dare everything, these must be put at the service of the unfortunate one, of justice and law.
"It is one of the greatest conquests of our history. It is the keystone of our individual liberty.
"What are your sources of information?
"Besides the judges, the men of the Secret Service and the denouncers (in French: 'délateurs').
"The Secret Service men in civilian clothes, not bearing any insignia, mixing with the crowds in the street, in the cafés, on the platforms of street cars, listen to the conversations carried on around them, ready to grasp any secret, on the watch not only for acts but for intentions.
"These denouncers of our nation are ever multiplying. What confidence can be placed in their declarations, inspired by hate, spite, or low cupidity? Such assistants can bring to the cause of justice no useful collaboration.
"If we add to this total absence of control and of defense, these preventive arrests, the long detentions, the searches in the private domiciles, we shall have an almost complete idea of the moral tortures to which our aspirations, our convictions, and our liberties are subjected at the present time. * * *