ng the
Dreyfusards, proved to them, among other things, that the conviction had
been partially based on documents which had not been communicated to the
counsel for the defence, and hence that the judges had been tampered
with by the ministry of war behind the prisoner's back. So far, too, as
these documents related to correspondence with foreign military
attaches, it was soon ascertained that they were forgeries. In this way
a terrible indictment was gradually drawn up against the ministry of
war. The first step was taken towards the end of 1897 by a brother of
Captain Dreyfus, who, in a letter to the minister of war, denounced
Major Esterhazy as the real author of the _Bordereau_. The authorities,
supported by parliament, declined to reopen the Dreyfus Case, but they
ordered a court-martial on Esterhazy, which was held with closed doors
and resulted in his acquittal. It now became clear that nothing short of
an appeal to public opinion and a full exposure of all the iniquities
that had been perpetrated would secure justice at the hands of the
military chiefs. On behalf of Dreyfus, Emile Zola, the eminent novelist,
formulated the case against the general staff of the army in an open
letter to the president of the republic, which by its dramatic
accusations startled the whole world. The letter was denounced as wild
and fantastic even by those who were in favour of revision. Zola was
prosecuted for libel and convicted, and had to fly the country; but the
agitation he had started was taken in hand by others, notably M.
Clemenceau, M. Reinach and M. Yves Guyot. In August 1898 their efforts
found their first reward. A re-examination of the documents in the case
by M. Cavaignac, then minister of war, showed that one was undoubtedly
forged. Colonel Henry, of the intelligence department of the war office,
then confessed that he had fabricated the document, and, on being sent
to Mont Valerien under arrest, cut his throat.

In spite of this damaging discovery the war office still persisted in
believing Dreyfus guilty, and opposed a fresh inquiry. It was supported
by three successive ministers of war, and apparently an overwhelming
body of public opinion. By this time the question of the guilt or
innocence of Dreyfus had become an altogether subsidiary issue. As in
Germany and Austria, the anti-Semitic crusade had passed into the hands
of the political parties. On the one hand the Radicals and Socialists,
recognizing the anti-rep