The trial of M. Zola and of M. Perreux, of
the Aurore news- paper, began and ended at Versailles on Monday. Both defendants were sentenced to undergo a year's imprisonment and pay a fine of £120 each for having said that the Dreyfus Court-Martial came to its conclusion by "order." They will,
of course, both appeal to the Court of Caseation, and on several issues. One of these is curious. Can a concourse of officers like a Court-Martial, which has no corporate existence, be libelled ? At the trial on Monday the facts or merits were not gone into, for the Court refused to admit evidence respecting the Dreyfus case, and thereupon M. Labori, M. Zola's counsel, withdrew from the case and allowed judgment to go by default. The trial closed with a dis- graceful scene. The "gallery," led by M. Deroulede, hooted and gesticulated, and an ex-Deputy, AL Hubbard, who pro- tested, was met with the cry, "You are sold to the Jews." The end was, of course, a challenge and a duel. The chief features of the trial were the tendency to regard the cry " Vive la Republique" as unpatriotic, and one to be met with the counter-cry of " Vive l'Armee," and a still further develop- ment of the Anti.Semitic feeling. This, indeed, is the worst aspect of the whole odious business. Dreyfus is guilty because he is a Jew, and every one is a Jew or a Jew's hireling who asks whether he was fairly condemned. God help a nation that considers a judicial matter in such a spirit as this. We like and admire France and the French ; but what is a friend of France to say about the conduct of the Dreyfus affair ?
