Resolution of The Dreyfus Affair - The Court Martial at Rennes

The Court Martial At Rennes

The presumptions admitted by the Court of Cassation in favour of the innocence of Dreyfus were so powerful that, according to general opinion, the judgment of the court martial at Rennes could be nothing but a mere formality, destined to procure for Dreyfus the supreme satisfaction of being rehabilitated by his peers. But after the lies, the hatred, and the insults which had accumulated during the last two years, after the work of demoralization accomplished by the press of both parties, the overexcited army had now reached the point of pinning its own honor on the shame of Dreyfus. Its suspicions having been successfully roused against civil justice, it refused to bow down before the work of the latter, straightforward as it was. As Renault Morlière had foretold, the only effect that the "loi de dessaisissement" had was to direct upon the whole Court of Cassation the suspicions and the invective reserved up to this time for the Criminal Chamber alone.

The first victim of this fresh outburst of passion was the Dupuy ministry. This "ministère de bascule" (flip-flop ministry), after having done everything in its power to retard the work of justice, now seemed to ready to accept it without any reserve and to draw the necessary conclusion. The cruiser Sfax, stationed at Martinique, was ordered to bring Dreyfus back to France. Du Paty de Clam was arrested on the charge of having taken part in the Henry forgery, an accusation rashly made by Major Cuignet, bound to be rejected for lack of evidence.

General Pellieux was brought before a board of inquiry for collusion with Esterhazy; Esterhazy himself was prosecuted for the affair of the "liberating document". The Cabinet felt itself threatened by the indignation of all sections of the Republican party, and made fresh advances to the "Dreyfusards". On June 5 the Chamber of Deputies voted the public placarding of the Court's decision — a necessary step in view of similar action taken following Cavaignac's speech of July 7th. Moreover, the cabinet proposed to the Chamber to bring before the Senate an action against General Mercier, on the grounds of the secret communication made to the judges of 1894.

But the Chamber, which had acclaimed Cavaignac and overthrown Brisson, hesitated to start upon the course of retaliation into which Dupuy was urging it. It found a deputy (Ribot) to declare that the ministry was encroaching upon its prerogatives, and another (Pourquery de Boisserin) to propose the postponement of any decision until the court-martial of Rennes had rendered its decree. This last proposition rallied the majority; nobody realized that, in thus connecting Mercier's indemnity with a fresh condemnation of Dreyfus, the nature of the trial at Rennes was transformed from a legal debate to a duel between a captain and a general.