17 DECEMBER 1898, Page 2

The Army and the civil power in France have this

week been beating time. The ten Generals at the War Office, with General Jamont at their head, have waited upon President Faure to complain of the outrages upon the Army ; but he only replied that be had no constitutional power to inter. vene. Colonel Picquart remains in prison, and the story that Captain Dreyfus is on his way to France is said to be fictitious. The Government, however, is still restless and uneasy, and on Monday made most serious military prepara- tions to meet a menacing demonstration organised by M. Deroulede, and intended to prevent the expected liberation of the Colonel. The demonstration, however, ended in feeble applause for General Zurlinden, and the appearance of a new spokesman for the Army, a Colonel Monteil. He appears from his language to desire that the Army should use force. M. de Freycinet stands rather ostentatiously aloof from both sides, and everybody professes to await some final order from the Court of Caseation, which, however, does not come. There are symptoms that the War Office is rather bewildered by want of a chief, and is inclined to give way ; but the symptoms are not decisive, and the tension continues, Deputies striking each other in the Chamber.