ed the
opportunity to withdraw.

The Meline Cabinet which followed was a return to the Moderates
supported by the Conservatives. Its opponents accused it of following
what in American political parlance is called a "stand-pat" policy, but
it remained in office longer than any ministry up to its time, a little
over two years. It afforded, at any rate, an opportunity for the
adversaries of the Republic to strengthen their positions and encouraged
the transformation of the Dreyfus case into a political instead of a
purely judicial matter.

In foreign affairs the most spectacular events were the visit of the
Czar and Czarina to France in 1896 and the return visit of the French
President to Russia in 1897. At the banquet of leave-taking on the
French warship _Pothuau_, in their prepared speeches, the Czar and the
President made use of the same expression "friendly and _allied_
nations," thus publicly proclaiming to Europe the alliance suspected
since 1891.

In spite of the unanimous feeling of Dreyfus's guilt, his family did not
lose faith in him, and his brother Mathieu set about the apparently
impossible task of rehabilitation. But it chanced that one other person
began to have doubts of the justice of Dreyfus's condemnation. This was
Lieutenant-Colonel Picquart, who had been present at the court-martial
as representative of the War Department, and who had since become chief
of the espionage service, and Henry's superior. Another document stolen
from a waste-paper basket at the German Embassy, an unforwarded
pneumatic despatch (_petit bleu_), was brought to him, and directed his
suspicions to Esterhazy, to whom it was addressed. At first he did not
connect Esterhazy and Dreyfus, but on obtaining specimens of
Esterhazy's handwriting he was struck by the likeness with that of the
_bordereau_. Then, examining the secret _dossier_, to which he now had
access, he was stupefied to see its insignificance.

[Illustration: MARIE-GEORGES PICQUART]

From this time on, Picquart worked, with extraordinary tenacity of
purpose and against all obstacles, for the rehabilitation of a stranger.
Everybody was against him. His chief subordinate Henry dreaded
revelations above all things, and set his colleagues against him. His
superiors disliked any suggestion that an army court could have made a
mistake, the remedying of which would help a Jew.

Gradually, however, the agitation started by Mathieu Dreyfus was
becoming stronger. He had