Tar Pall Mali Gazette of the 7th ult. has an article on one aspect of the Dreyfus case, based on the evidence that has been mysteriously acquired and published by the Paris Figure. There can be no question now that there is no proof existing that Dreyfus is guilty; even the witnesses who declare that they are convinced of his guilt have not produced any proof of it. The Pall Mull then asks: "Who is the Ruison a@Etat?" Te says And yet, in the face of these depositions, in the face of this utter absence even of plausible geonnd of suspicion against the pri-in the face of a breakdown of the proiously complete as any story of the administration of justice has recorded, it is still plain that influences are at work to prevent a penetration of the myster of equrse, the raison d'état. The publication of the whole truth would, we are told, entail the most disastrous sliplomatic consequent Franco would find herself in a serious ficulty with—Well, we must not whom. With Germany? Scarcel German Emperor has himself authorised the publication of anything and everything that may concern his Government in connection with the case. With Russia? There, again, the suggestion of international complica: tions will not hold water for a moment. Even if it could be shown that Russian agents had tapped the military secrets of ance, it is not conceivable that the publication of the fact would endanger the very platonic amours between the members of The Dual Alliance. We are far enough by this time from the beaux jours of Toulon or of Cronstadt; besides a military attache is exted to do that sort of thing, if only to ep his hand in. As to the possibility that Tia": the mysterious traitor's accomplice, Its 4 been almost as explicit as Germany in courting enquiry. In short, then, there is no rational answer to be given to the pertinent question, what is this famous raison d'éat? But there remains another.
may have its use. Is it not possible—nay, ho bogey, of international complications probable—that it is a scarecrow set, up to guard the reputation of somebody? But Whose? Who is it that is being so persistently screened? Esterhazy hasbeen fang to the wolves long ago; Clu Paty is hopelessly discredited; De Boisdeffre "has resigned; Mercier has retired; Henry is dead. Who is there in all broad France, in this age of mediocrities and meannesses, whose name stands so high that any one need care to raise an envious hand to pull it down? And yet the somebody is, or the somebodies are there—they must be. He, or they, must be the raison d'état, for which every influence is being brought to bear that, can be brought to hour the dead weight of an illegal judgment on the livin grave of the one man who could tel Something, at least, of the trath. France, for all her boasted liberty, is living now, as she has ever lived, under the influence of the lettre de cachet, under the shadow of the fle. In the old days man was sent to living death because he was inconvenient to somebody; that was the raison dat, And as it was theo, so it is how with Dreyfus, He must not come tack, because somebody will not let him. But who? What the whole world wants to know is this—IPho is the raison d'etat One of the leading topics ut the first week in April was the Stella disaster, as to which the Pall Mall of the Ist ult. says Apart from certain moralities about the imminence of death on all of us, which might be borne home quite as appropriately by a crowded street-crossing or the operations of house-wrecker, the foss of the Stella does suggest the thought that nature has one cruel The more we improve and complicate ma chinery, the more crushing is the responsibility upon the man that puts those engines in motion. Thus the very means
give those natural forces the victory. We taken for the conquest of natural forees may have said that the wreck was presumably caused by a mistake of the captain, but it is only just to add that ho would' have found many old mariners to bear him out. He had to do one thing or the other; to rush the danger or to risk feeling his way in the most befiling conditions along a course packed with possible enemies, is it fair, in the human sense, that such weight of decision should be laid' upon a single brain, with the additional tyranny that the resolution is a matter of moments, and not of the ely balancing of for and against, with consequent ripeness of resolve? Captain Reeks took the wrong step, even as Sir George 'Tryon erred before' him, and as countless commanders have blundered in the like cases, but it is not for Inndsmen to and sailors, who know, invariably take the charitable v What more, disasters such as that of the Stella will happen so long as men go down to the sca in ships; and all the contrivances of all the inventors will not avert them. Education does not help, since from learning comes the apprehension of difficulty; the instinctive caution of a savage would very likely have dictated the slowing down of the steamer, whereas Captain Reeks's seamanship induced him to precipitate hor on her doom. Still, the education that comes from drill, and that which imparts that even more valuable quali. ty, moral self-respect, can minimise destruc tion when the vessel has once min aground: or the express engine has gone wit the rails, as is notably instanced in the case of the Stella, That crew and captain should have behaved as they did might have been taken for granted; cool-headedness and duty "ro the irthrights of the British sailor. But the quiet ism of the passengers will send a thrill of pride through the nation and the Empire with a ferling that they have not perished in. Bravery is not a British monopoly 5 Lascara will look death in the face quite as steadily as Englishmen, But the calm courage of that holiday crowd hada higher motive than fatalism, and a race that can boast such heroes among a fortuitous collection of its ion, women, and children, need have no qualms as to its future place among the nations of the earth.
Of course, there is a great deal in the papers about the recklessness of the Captain, these arm-chair critics not realising that in a fog where the currents are strong and uncertain, the Captain who stops or goes slow is very likely to lose his reckoning. One correspondent of the Times tually proposes—and the Times prints his letter—that every passenger steamer should carry at the cost of the owners a represent ative of the Board of Trade, whose duty i would be, apparently, to sce that the captain reduced his speed ina fog. The discipline and coolness that prevailed on board after the Stella struck can never have been excelled; t" have 140 passengers provided with life-buoys and four boats safely away with the women and children in twelve minutes, is a wonderful fest. Writing on this, the Daily News of the Ist of April says The only consolation of which the case admits is that there was perfect discipline from first to last. The poor doomed people were true to theuselves—and, shall it not be said, to their country? The officers and crew stayed behind to di. The steady contemplation of death, like most other things, is mainly a mutter of habit, but here is a conjecture for which most of us are utterly unprepared. There is no lessening of the force of resistance, which is the result of an ordinary illness, no weakening of the will olive. On the contrary, the will is stimulate ed by every circumstance of association the summons to fortititule reaches us. in the midst of a pleasure cruise. We are usually in health abounding, ing, hope abounding, and is a tie that blads us to existence. the prospect ut a sudden stoppage of this method of taking revenge upon civilisation. rush of life that makes the peril so appalling.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.