The Paris correspondent of the Times records a rumour as
to the forthcoming judgment of the Court of Cessation in the Dreyfus case to which he evidently attaches grave importance. It is that the Court without making any fresh inquiry will decide that if it accepts the view that there was an illegality in the conduct of the original trial, it must quash that trial, and this without ordering a fresh one. This, how- ever, is beyond its powers, because its mission on the face of,
the appeal is only to decide whether or not there should be a revision. It must, therefore, reject the petition of Madame Dreyfus, and decline to decide on any other point, as being outside its province. This would be equivalent to no decision at all, and would be the signal for another and much more virulent agitation. We can hardly believe in such a mis- carriage of justice, but it must not be forgotten that this Ministry has all along intended to prevent a re-trial, and passed a Bill almost avowedly with that object. The connec- tion between Government and the Courts is in France, especially during times of excitement and in political trials, a terribly close one. The sense of the eyes of all Europe being fixed upon it may, however, impel the Court to vindi- cate its independence by some wholly unexpected decision.
