The Decadence of the French Republic.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2091, 2 April 1898, Page 2

The Decadence of the French Republic.

The Wiener Allgemeine- Zeitung; t (Vienna) speaks of the Dreyfus affairms an unparalleled and most melancholy spectacle. France, which at hundred years ago shone forth as a, beacon to all the nations of the earth,, to-day shows horrifying symptoms of; decay and a decline of public spirit. The Republic, which had alreadystooped to a profound self-basement before the autocratic Czar, is dailymanifesting a greater lack of selfrespect. All that now seems left to it: is the theatrical pose, in which the* French have always displayed exceptional talent. The prosecution of? Major Esterhazy was a mere farce, which was only rendered more absurd when the public greeted the verdict with shouts of •* Vive la France !” ‘ l’Armee 1’ and when his brotherofficers took their hats off to comrade as-though he were a martyr. The manner in which Major Esterhazybecame involved in the Dreyfus affairs, has not in the opinion of the Zeitung, been-cleared up. by the mock trial that, has just takbu place. Those proceedings only showed that the chiefs of? the French army had reason to protect him. Until light has been thrown.. upon that point, however, the suspicions against the Minister of Warwill be continued. The conclusion of the Zeitung is that everything connected with the'trial and the mannerin which it was conducted wis without precedent and well night incredible.. Another account of recent doings, says that when Zolaf published his. letter to President Faure in referenceto the Dreyfus case. *Do Jour 1 cameout with headlines running across the. whole six columns of its front page, announcing— ‘ Zola struck by mentalaberration! Medical The same paper declared, with to Joseph Reinaeh, one of. the Dreyf champions, that his ancestor made his, fortune by buying from German. officers, on their return from the warstocks and shares which they had stolen from, French houses. A®otherjournal denounced Zola in big headlines as ‘ Zola the shameful !. °Flower of Pus 1’ and a writer- described him as a ‘A German spy, a traitor, a coward, a monster,’ the article endino* with the cry, ‘ Zola to the Gallows?” After this (remarks a contemporary} S. , 18 only natural that M. foia, with his passion for truth and justice, should be sent to prison, whilethe Panama and Southern Railway I“atr^ th9his,lplMeßi,l