On Wednesday, February 23d, M. Zola was found guilty of publishing a letter criticising the Government for its conduct in the Esterhazy court-martial and declaring the innocence of Albert Dreyfus. This letter was published in the Paris Aurore, whose editor is M. Perreux. M. Zola was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, and was also fined 3,000 francs, or about $600. As we told you in our last number, M. Perreux was condemned to serve four months in prison and pay 4,000 francs. In summing up—that is, in making his final address to the court—M. Labori, counsel of M. Zola, made touching references to the unhappiness of the Dreyfus family, the courage of the wife of the prisoner, and the letter from the disgraced man in September, 1897, protesting his innocence. The remarks made a great sensation in the court-room, many people weeping.
The jury was out but a very short time, and returned with the sentence as stated above, which is the maximum penalty for the crime for which Zola was arrested. Civilized nations feel very sorry for France, for she has lowered herself in the eyes of the world. It is almost universally believed that Zola proved his charges, and outside of France Dreyfus is believed to be innocent.
It would seem that the French Government is bound to uphold the decision of the court-martial at any cost, so as not to be compelled to recall Dreyfus and have a new trial. It is deemed necessary to suppress the Dreyfus agitation.
Four newspapers in Paris, including the Aurore, have been notified that unless they cease their attacks they will be prosecuted by the Government. Many correspondents have been warned to write in different vein about the case. Colonel Picquart, as we told you last week, has been obliged to leave the army, and the Government has dismissed M. Le Blois, Perreux's counsel, and one of Zola's witnesses, who was a deputy mayor in Paris.
We think you would like to hear something about Devil's Island, the place where Albert Dreyfus is confined. This island is one of a group, twenty-seven miles northwest of Cayenne in French Guiana. Get your map of South America, and you will be able to put your finger on the spot. In 1852 the French Government established a penal colony on these islands. A penal colony is one formed of convicts sent out from the mother country. Many of these colonies have proved successful, particularly the ones where the prisoners are allowed to work and build up their own homes for themselves. Australia was settled in this way, and it has developed wonderfully.
From reports, Dreyfus is having a very hard time on Devil's Island. He is not allowed to speak to any one, and lives in absolute solitude. It is said that his hair has turned grey, and his confinement in other ways is aging him rapidly. He is allowed to write, but his letters simply declare his innocence over and over again. It was rumored some time ago that Dreyfus had escaped, and since then the French Government has ordered the officials of the convict settlement to telegraph every day to Paris the fact that the prisoner is safely under guard.
Political prisoners are usually allowed to have their wives with them, but, although Mme. Dreyfus has made strong efforts, France will not allow her to be with her husband.
There is a man living in Rome who is said to have been imprisoned on Devil's Island for several years. His name is Gen. Paolo Tibaldi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on the island for conspiring against Napoleon III. He says that when he was there the island was a bare rock without a tree or a blade of grass, and the heat of the sun was terrible. The provisions supplied daily by the Government were a pound and a half of the worst kind of bread, for each convict, a piece of old meat or salt fat, beans or rice, a little oil, and also a kind of spirits called tafla. The general claims that the treatment to which the captives were subjected was most severe. They were chained by the keepers, fed on bread and water for months, and beaten with ropes. Five thousand dollars was raised in France to rescue General Tibaldi, but that only made matters worse, and he suffered added torments. Finally, public opinion in France combined with the press in his behalf, and the General was freed.