7 JANUARY 1899, Page 9

Many Eoglishmen believe us to be too pessimist in antici-

pating a revo'ution in France. We would ask them if they

ever knew even Frenchmen indulge in their present violence of language unless a revolution was at hand. It is useless to quote M. Rochefort and his allies, because all Englishmen believe all Continental extremists a little mad, but they will hardly call M. Francois Coppee, the poet and Academician, a madman. Yet the Paris correspondent of the Times publishes a letter from him saying that he rejects in advance the decision of the Court of Caseation because the Judges are "stirred by passion," or, as he hints, by bribes, and refuses to believe that France will, by accepting a verdict in favour of Dreyfus, commit suicide "by destroying the very principle of her military strength." He ends by anticipating that when Major Marchand returns he will find the soil of France "stained with blood."