A debate on "the incident" was held in the French
Chamber on Thursday, and revealed conspicuously the weakness of the French Government. Instead of con- temptuously brushing aside the charges, the Minister of Justice, M. Lebret, declared that he had investigated them carefully, that the Judges were as courteous to the Generals as to Colonel Picquart, and that all witnesses alike were pro- vided with rum and water. M. Dupuy uttered an academic speech, professing the reverence of his Ministry for "Law and Liberty," the watchwords and the foundations of the Republic, and promised a "third inquiry" to allow M. de Beanrepaire to justify his charges. An astounding fact came out in the debate,—viz., that General Zurlinden, commanding in Paris, had ordered Captain Erque, the officer in command of the gendarmes who protect the Court of Caseation, to send him a daily report on the conduct of the Judges, and that these reports, which were read, were fall of charges against the Judges as to their bias in favour of Picquart ! In spite of all this, one hundred and twenty-four Deputies supported an interpellation which, in fact, if accepted, would have compelled the Govern- ment to take the Dreyfus and Picquart affairs out of the hands of the Criminal Division of the Court of Caseation, and entrust it to the entire Court, which is a little Parliament with forty-five members. The total vote was 423 to 124.
