has been further complicated by an incident which shows how completely the prevailing excitement has upset the mental equilibrium even of those Frenchmen who ought to be the least affected by it. On Sunday M. Quesnay de Beaurepaire, the judge who reported the so-called Bard-Piequart cident, suddenly cesigued his post as Pre sident of the Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation. Tt was at first thought that a man of M. de Beaurepaire's age and experience—he is sixty-four and has passed the whole of his career in the magistrature—could not have taken such a step without very strong reasons, There was a marked full in prices on the Bourse on Monday, in anticipation of a serious judicial scandal which might endanger the Dreyfus revision and defer the settlement for which every reasonable man in France is longing. When de Beaurepaire's "revelations," however were made known, there was an' immediate revulsion. It was a case of the mountain bringing forth the ridiculous mus, To put it briefly MI. de Beaurepaire's " revelation as set out by himself with much patriot clap-trap in the Eeko we Paris, amounted to this: that M. Bard opened the door of M. de Beaurepaire's private-room (which had been used on the previous day as a waiting-room for Colonel Picquart and his custodians), appeared to be greatly surprised at seeing the President, and retired with the burried remark: "I thought there was a witness here." This is absolutely the whole incident as far as M. de Beaurepaire's testimony goes. He adds several hearsay statements, the effect that the attendants at the Court showed surprise at the deference with which the judges treated Col, Picquart, that on tivo occasions hot brandy and water was supplied to Col. Piequart (who lid a bad cold), that messages were sent to him expressing regret that the Court was unable to hear him, and so on. M. de Beaurepaire, on the strength of these incidents, did not hesitate to charge his colleagues of the Criminal Chamber with partiality and improper discharge of their functions. His motive for fouling his own nest in this way remains a mystery. Perhaps he was piqued because the Minister of Justice did not pay much attention to his "revelations;" per-Laps he was overcome by the desire to play a prominent part in the afler. M, de Beaarepaire's own reputation is fur from spotless, He was public prosecutor at the time of the Panama scandal, and he was openly charged with delaying proceedings against certain influential persons until the prosecution was barred by limitation of time. A vote of censure on him in con nection with this affair was passed by the Chamber of Deputies eight months ago.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.