The Disappearance of Émile Zola Page 24
So they rendered an iniquitous verdict that will forever weigh upon our courts martial and will henceforth cast a shadow of suspicion on all their decrees. The first court martial was perhaps unintelligent; the second one is inescapably criminal. Their excuse, I repeat, is that the supreme chief had spoken, declaring the previous judgment incontrovertible, holy and above mere mortals. How, then, could subordinates contradict it? We are told of the honour of the army; we are supposed to love and respect it. Ah, yes, of course, an army that would rise to the first threat, that would defend French soil, that army is the nation itself, and for that army we have nothing but devotion and respect. But this is not about that army, whose dignity we are seeking, in our cry for justice. What is at stake is the sword, the master that will one day, perhaps, be forced upon us. Bow and scrape before that sword, that god? No!
As I have shown, the Dreyfus case was a matter internal to the War Office: an officer of the General Staff, denounced by his co-officers of the General Staff, sentenced under pressure by the Chiefs of Staff. Once again, he could not be found innocent without the entire General Staff being guilty. And so, by all means imaginable, by press campaigns, by official communications, by influence, the War Office covered up for Esterhazy only to condemn Dreyfus once again. Ah, what a good sweeping out the government of this Republic should give to that Jesuit-lair, as General Billot himself calls it. Where is that truly strong, judiciously patriotic administration that will dare to clean house and start afresh? How many people I know who, faced with the possibility of war, tremble in anguish knowing to what hands we are entrusting our nation’s defence! And what a nest of vile intrigues, gossip, and destruction that sacred sanctuary that decides the nation’s fate has become! We are horrified by the terrible light the Dreyfus affair has cast upon it all, this human sacrifice of an unfortunate man, a ‘dirty Jew’. Ah, what a cesspool of folly and foolishness, what preposterous fantasies, what corrupt police tactics, what inquisitorial, tyrannical practices! What petty whims of a few higher-ups trampling the nation under their boots, ramming back down their throats the people’s cries for truth and justice, with the travesty of state security as a pretext.
Indeed, it is a crime to have relied on the most squalid elements of the press, and to have entrusted Esterhazy’s defence to the vermin of Paris, who are now gloating over the defeat of justice and plain truth. It is a crime that those people who wish to see a generous France take her place as leader of all the free and just nations are being accused of fomenting turmoil in the country, denounced by the very plotters who are conniving so shamelessly to foist this miscarriage of justice on the entire world. It is a crime to lie to the public, to twist public opinion to insane lengths in the service of the vilest death-dealing machinations. It is a crime to poison the minds of the meek and the humble, to stoke the passions of reactionism and intolerance, by appealing to that odious anti-semitism that, unchecked, will destroy the freedom-loving France of the Rights of Man. It is a crime to exploit patriotism in the service of hatred, and it is, finally, a crime to ensconce the sword as the modern god, whereas all science is toiling to achieve the coming era of truth and justice.
Truth and justice, so ardently longed for! How terrible it is to see them trampled, unrecognised and ignored! I can feel M. Scheurer-Kestner’s soul withering and I believe that one day he will even feel sorry for having failed, when questioned by the Senate, to spill all and lay out the whole mess. A man of honour, as he had been all his life, he believed that the truth would speak for itself, especially since it appeared to him plain as day. Why stir up trouble, especially since the sun would soon shine? It is for this serene trust that he is now being so cruelly punished. The same goes for Lieutenant Colonel Picquart, who, guided by the highest sentiment of dignity, did not wish to publish General Gonse’s correspondence. These scruples are all the more honourable since he remained mindful of discipline, while his superiors were dragging his name through the mud and casting suspicion on him, in the most astounding and outrageous ways. There are two victims, two decent men, two simple hearts, who left their fates to God, while the devil was taking charge. Regarding Lieutenant Colonel Picquart, even this despicable deed was perpetrated: a French tribunal allowed the statement of the case to become a public indictment of one of the witnesses [Picquart], accusing him of all sorts of wrongdoing. It then chose to prosecute the case behind closed doors as soon as that witness was brought in to defend himself. I say this is yet another crime, and this crime will stir consciences everywhere. These military tribunals have, decidedly, a most singular idea of justice.
This is the plain truth, M. Président, and it is terrifying. It will leave an indelible stain on your presidency. I realise that you have no power over this case, that you are limited by the Constitution and your entourage. You have, nonetheless, your duty as a man, which you will recognise and fulfil. As for myself, I have not despaired in the least, of the triumph of right. I repeat with the most vehement conviction: truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it. Today is only the beginning, for it is only today that the positions have become clear: on one side, those who are guilty, who do not want the light to shine forth, on the other, those who seek justice and who will give their lives to attain it. I said it before and I repeat it now: when truth is buried underground, it grows and it builds up so much force that the day it explodes it blasts everything with it. We shall see whether we have been setting ourselves up for the most resounding of disasters, yet to come.
But this letter is long, Sir, and it is time to conclude it.
I accuse Lieutenant Colonel du Paty de Clam of being the diabolical creator of this miscarriage of justice – unwittingly, I would like to believe – and of defending this sorry deed, over the last three years, by all manner of ludicrous and evil machinations.
I accuse General Mercier of complicity, at least by mental weakness, in one of the greatest iniquities of the century.
I accuse General Billot of having held in his hands absolute proof of Dreyfus’s innocence and covering it up, and making himself guilty of this crime against mankind and justice, as a political expedient and a way for the compromised General Staff to save face.
I accuse General de Boisdeffre and General Gonse of complicity in the same crime, the former, no doubt, out of religious prejudice, the latter perhaps out of that esprit de corps that has transformed the War Office into an unassailable holy ark.
I accuse General de Pellieux and Major Ravary of conducting a villainous inquiry, by which I mean a monstrously biased one, as attested by the latter in a report that is an imperishable monument to naïve impudence.
I accuse the three handwriting experts, Messrs Belhomme, Varinard and Couard, of submitting reports that were deceitful and fraudulent, unless a medical examination finds them to be suffering from a condition that impairs their eyesight and judgement.
I accuse the War Office of using the press, particularly L’Eclair and L’Echo de Paris, to conduct an abominable campaign to mislead the general public and cover up their own wrongdoing.
Finally, I accuse the first court martial of violating the law by convicting the accused on the basis of a document that was kept secret, and I accuse the second court martial of covering up this illegality, on orders, thus committing the judicial crime of knowingly acquitting a guilty man.
In making these accusations I am aware that I am making myself liable to articles 30 and 31 of the law of 29 July 1881 regarding the press, which make libel a punishable offence. I expose myself to that risk voluntarily.
As for the people I am accusing, I do not know them, I have never seen them, and I bear them neither ill will nor hatred. To me they are mere entities, agents of harm to society. The action I am taking is no more than a radical measure to hasten the explosion of truth and justice.
I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of m
y very soul. Let them dare, then, to bring me before a court of law and let the inquiry take place in broad daylight! I am waiting.
With my deepest respect, Sir.
Émile Zola,
13 January 1898
* By Émile Zola (probably in collaboration with others, especially Georges Clemenceau, editor of L’Aurore).
Note on Sources
The main narrative of the book has been written using the following sources:
Evelyne Bloch-Dano, Madame Zola
Denise Le Blond-Zola, Émile Zola, raconté par sa fille
Frederick Brown, Zola: A Life
Ruth Harris, The Man on Devil’s Island: Alfred Dreyfus and the Affair that Divided France
Ernest Vizetelly, With Zola in England: A Story of Exile
———, Émile Zola, Novelist and Reformer
Émile Zola, The Dreyfus Affair, ‘J’accuse’ and Other Writings
———, Notes from Exile
———, Correspondance Volume IX Octobre 1897-Septembre 1899 (L’affaire Dreyfus)
———, Lettres à Jeanne Rozerot
———, Oeuvres Complètes, Volume 18, De l’affaire aux Quatre Évangiles (1897–1901); Volume 19, L’Utopie sociale: Les Quatre Évangiles [2] 1901
The Bibliography gives full publication details for each title.
In addition to the above, sources more specifically related to the various chapters include the following:
Chapter 1
‘J’accuse’; Daily News; Pall Mall Gazette; The Times; Morning Post
Chapter 2
The Times
Chapter 3
Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Zola photographe (exhibition catalogue)
Brigitte Émile-Zola, Mes étés à Brienne
François Émile-Zola and [Robert] Massin, Zola: Photographer
Oatlands Park Hotel, Our History
Émile Zola, Doctor Pascal
Chapter 4
Jonathan Beecher & Richard Bienvenu, The Utopian Vision of Charles Fourier
Maurice Le Blond, ‘Les Projets Littéraires d’Émile Zola au moment de sa mort, d’après des documents et manuscrits inédits’
Brian Nelson, The Cambridge Companion to Émile Zola
Émile Zola, Fécondité (Fruitfulness)
———, Travail (Work)
———, Vérité (Truth)
Chapter 5
Beecher & Bienvenu (as above)
Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People in London, 1889–1903
David Shonfield, ‘Battle of Omdurman’
Émile Zola, Angeline ou la maison hantée (translated by Ernest Vizetelly as Angeline)
London Standard; Sunday Observer
Chapter 6
François Émile-Zola and [Robert] Massin, Zola: Photographer
Chapter 7
Colin Burns, ‘Le retentissement de l’Affaire Dreyfus dans la presse britannique en 1898–99: esquisse d’un projet de recherches futures’
———, ‘Le Voyage de Zola à Londres en 1893’
Daily Graphic; The Times
Chapter 9
Beecher & Bienvenu (as above)
Joseph Conrad, Letters to R. B. Cunninghame Graham
Michel Dreyfus, L’Antisémitisme à gauche
Harvey Goldberg, The Life of Jean Jaurès
Jean Jaurès, Ressources de Jaurès
Fabian News; Jewish Socialist; La Petite République; The Social-Democrat; Der Yidisher Expres
Chapter 10
David Baguley, Critical Essays on Émile Zola
George J. Becker, Documents of Modern Literary Realism
David Bradshaw & Rachel Potter, Prudes on the Prowl
Peter Brooks, Henry James Goes to Paris
Alma W. Byrd, The First Generation Reception of the Novels of Émile Zola
W. E. Colburn, ‘Zola in England’
R. G. Cox, Thomas Hardy: The Critical Heritage
Adrian Frazier, George Moore, 1852–1933
Donald Mason, ‘The Doll of English Fiction, Hardy, Zola and the Politics of Convention’
James G. Nelson, Publisher to the Decadents
Eileen R. Pryme, ‘Zola’s Plays in England’
Nicolas Henricus Gerardus Schoonderwoerd, J. T. Grein, Ambassador of the Theatre, 1862–1935
Martin Seymour-Smith, Hardy
Robert Sherard, Émile Zola: A Biographical and Critical Study
Dorothy Speirs & Yannick Portebois, Mon cher Maître: Lettres d’Ernest Vizetelly à Émile Zola
John Addington Symonds, ‘“La Bête Humaine”: A Study of Zola’s Idealism’
Émile Zola, Fécondité (Fruitfulness)
Contemporary Review; Glasgow Herald; Morning Post; Pall Mall Gazette
Chapter 12
George Barlow, A History of the Dreyfus Case
Fred. C. Conybeare, The Dreyfus Case
Martyn Cornick, ‘The Impact of the Dreyfus Affair in Late-Victorian Britain’
Carmen Mayer-Robin, ‘“Justice”, Zola’s Global Utopian Gospel’
David Christie Murray, ‘Some Notes on the Zola Case’
Robert Sherard, ‘Emile Zola on Anti-Semitism in France’
G. W. Steevens, The Tragedy of Dreyfus
Émile Zola, Verité (Truth)
Daily Chronicle; Daily Telegraph; Jewish Chronicle; Manchester Guardian; Punch; The Times; Westminster Gazette
Postscript
‘Zola in Norwood’, radio programme
[Denise Le Blond-Zola], Les Années Heureuses, histoires d’enfants
Interviews by the author and Emma-Louise Williams with Madame Martine Le Blond-Zola
Bibliography
Writings by Émile Zola
Angeline, translated by Ernest Vizetelly; London, London Star, 1899
Correspondance d’Émile Zola, general editor B. H. Bakker, Volume IX, Octobre 1897–Septembre 1899 (L’affaire Dreyfus), volume editors Owen Morgan and Alain Pagès; Montréal & Paris, Les Presses Universitaires de l’Université de Montréal & CNRS Editions, 1993
Doctor Pascal, translated by Vladimir Kean; London, Elek Books, 1957
The Dreyfus Affair, ‘J’accuse’ and Other Writings, edited by Alain Pagès, translated by Eleanor Levieux; New Haven & London, Yale University Press, 1996
Fécondité, first published in Paris in 1899; first published in English as Fruitfulness (1900), translated and much abridged by Ernest Vizetelly
‘Lettre à M. Félix Faure, Président de la République’ (‘J’Accuse’). L’Aurore, 13 January 1898 (see Appendix ii)
Lettres à Jeanne Rozerot, 1892–1902, edited by Brigitte Émile-Zola and Alain Pagès, Paris, NRF, Gallimard, 2004
Notes from Exile, edited and translated by Dorothy E. Speirs and edited by Yannick Portebois, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2003
Oeuvres complètes, Volume 18, De l’affaire aux Quatre Évangiles (1897–1901), edited by Alain Pagès; Volume 19, L’Utopie sociale: Les Quatre Évangiles [2] 1901, edited by Béatrice Laville; Paris, Nouveau Monde Editions, 2008, 2009
Truth (translated with Preface by Ernest Vizetelly), London, Chatto & Windus, 1903
Work (translated with Preface by Ernest Vizetelly), London, Chatto & Windus, 1901
First-hand accounts
Alfred Dreyfus (intro. by Nicholas Halasz), Five Years of My Life: The Diary of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, New York, London, Peebles Press, 1977
Brigitte Émile-Zola, Mes étés à Brienne, Agneaux, France, Éditions du Frisson Esthétique, 2008
Denise Le Blond-Zola, Émile Zola, raconté par sa fille, Paris, Fasquelle Editeurs, 1931
——— [writing as Denise Aubert], Les Années Heureuses, histoires d’enfants, Paris, Librairie Hachette, 1923
Ernest Vizetelly, With Zola in England: A Story of Exile, London, Chatto & Windus, 1899
———, Émile Zola, Novelist and Reformer: An account of his life and work, London, John Lane, Bodley Head, 1904
Contemporary newspapers, magazines and journals
Contemporary Review; Daily Chronicle; Daily Graphic; Daily News; Daily Telegraph; Fabian News; Glasgow Herald; Jewish Chronicle; Jewish Socialist; London Standard; Manchester Guardian; Morning Post; Pall Mall Gazette; La Petite République; Punch; The Social-Democrat; Sunday Observer; The Times; Westminster Gazette; Der Yidisher Expres (or The Yiddisher Express)
Photographic works
Musée-Galerie de la Seita, Zola photographe (exhibition catalogue), Paris, 1987
François Émile-Zola & [Robert] Massin, Zola: Photographer, London, Collins, 1988
Norwood Society, Emile Zola: photographer in Norwood, South London 1898–1899, The Norwood Society/London Borough of Croydon, 1997
Critical works and commentaries
David Baguley, ‘Fécondité’ d’Émile Zola, roman à thèse, évangile, mythe, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1973
——— (ed.), Critical Essays on Émile Zola, Boston, MA, G. K. Hall & Co., 1986
George Barlow, A History of the Dreyfus Case, from the arrest of Captain Dreyfus in October 1894 up to the Flight of Esterhazy in September 1898, London, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1899
George J. Becker (ed.), Documents of Modern Literary Realism, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1963
Karl Beckson, London in the 1890s: A Cultural History, New York & London, W. W. Norton, 1992
Jonathan Beecher & Richard Bienvenu (trans., ed. & intro.), The Utopian Vision of Charles Fourier: Selected texts on work, love and passionate attraction, London, Jonathan Cape, 1972