The funeral of M. Zola, which was expected to be
an occasion for rioting, passed off on Sunday last without disturb- ance, a fact the more remarkable because Captain Dreyfus was present, and because the great speech of the day by M. Anatole France was devoted to praise of his friend's action in that matter. The speech, too, was pitched in that "high- falutin" " tone which in France is considered necessary in order to make appreciation audible, and which sometimes leads the speaker into absurdities. M. Anatole Frazee, for example, after a scourging sketch of the injustice practised against the victim of the trial, and a blood-curdling account of the insults, threats, and losses which M. Zola's courage in defending the right brought upon himself, drew from the sensa- tion which his intervention caused this remarkable deduction : "How admirable is the genius of our country. How grand is that soul of France which in past centuries taught right to Europe and the world. France is the country of reason and benevolent thoughts, the country of equitable Judges and humane philosophers, the country. of Turgot, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Malesherbes." All that may be quite true of France, but to quote the Dreyfus affair as proof of it is like quoting the Inquisition as proof of the humanity of Spaniards. The order which prevailed at the funeral is attributed to the admirable arrangements of the police, but perhaps it was in part due to the fact that the Socialists assembled in thousands, and would have strongly resented on the spot any violence offered by the Anti-Semites.
