Colonol Piequart.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 20, 13 July 1899, Page 3

Colonol Piequart.

Piobabb- of all those concerned in the isvfus Lise Colonel Picquait is the most \oithr of such sin honoui as that winch, veaietold this morning, tie has dtiishned t Uvula. Pesth. When the cabta a«ent .itf ga\e us news of him, he was conhned n a (i\il puson awaiting tual on a chaige f toißery, and it is, only fiom the mesage \huh we publish to-day thai we leain of :iis lelcase The stoiy of his connection nub tie whole aff.ia certainly leais out lib ronbnlion that he has but; "fulfilled ft simple duty." In JB9i, when M. Casiinu Puici was Piesident ot Jhanue, aud Gtneuil de Boisdelihe and Goose weie the c\\\di of the Headquaiteis Staff, Pic(\n,v: tin Paty le Clam and Diejfos weis st<i;t oftieeis. In September of that yeai a spy biopght to the Intelligence Depart lntnta-document in fragments, now known a? the " bouieieau "' It pm ported to have hw\ stolen fiom the German einoassy, mvl obviously lelated to the selling oi Bii3v seciets It was assumed that the \m itei was a stuh" otticei, aud Dieyiu^, a J'W, wa, a aiiested on suspicion, nipiely on ti n c mm ot his haud wilting. He \^as liknl, ji.ntly in secibt, by Comt- Martial, Mil uiianiinously convicted, the sentence liPing th.it he should be publicly degiaded fiom the ainiy aad tianspoiled for life. Th« de^iedation took place on Januaiy 5, IS']"), and he was impiisoned on the lie <l.i Dial^t, in Pjf nch Guiana. Theie the nialtei seemed Jikely to lest. In Maich, IS'Ji), ho\\p\ci, Picquait, v/ho was now iie.id of (he intelligence Depaitment, ie cened horn Captain Hemy, a subordmatp, soii-e pieces of paper taken fiom a papei basket ot the German Em-l'.i-s\ On thnni weie woids in the hindwutms ot Commnndant Esterhazy, •i ie»iincrtal officer. Picquait had never lienid nf Este.liazy, and on making m<i m it-, tound hnii to be a man ot disLeput•lii'p chdi.irtei. Obtaining a sample of '•"> ha r id,\mmg Picquait compaied it with that ol ihe o'Ler aocument stolen fiom i'io s"ne p'aoe. and saw that the two weie idcntk\l It, W as Esteihazy, then, that wi>vi> t*ie famous bordeiean, and Diejius whs. innocent, luom the day of that disco\cij Pmqua'-t never turned aside fiom wl.it he conceived to be his duty, and w!w hu had ieco\eied from the stupefaction that iollowod on the revelation, he at oar e and secured the papers relating to the tual and condemnation of Die\fu<3. He uiged the heads of the staff !<> piosejute Esteihazy, and when they •■i.ivised him to be silent, he replied: " I f'innot cb.iv the s>eciet with me into my Slave" When he continued to protest afumst the imprisonment of an innocent "pl, he was bent away from. Pans on a tuvui mission, and promoted to be a colonel. When bribes failed to turn him iioiu his duty, conspiracy was tried, and surges of levelling State secrets to his

lawyer, and of foigeiy, v,eie invented an" woikc^ I up against him finally, lit Janmuy, 1838, ho wa- aliened and bioughtbefoie a Military Coiut 01 Euquu>, which tned him in secict, and senteru-ed him to Le dismissed liom the limy Bui ! lcquait a& a fiee nun w is raoie (lanj>cuous> th,in evei, and in Jalv h-2 ua^ a<,'<xin ivu i si n d and ca&t into pn&on, \vheic he lei'i.unpd, .inpaientlj, until a day oi two a>;o. No moie honouiablu iccoid bclonuts to «, Fienchiiau than that. bneUy set out lieie, and I'icqnait'b lO'ease, we behf\e, is p\idence tnut tlie now tamous Dtevfns aiiaiv is diawm» to a conclusion m which justice will pievail.— Ljttlotou Tunes.