My Memoirs Part 11

An event far more serious, far more fraught with consequences than the most vehement attack of Clemenceau, takes place at the end of the month--the arrest of Colonel Henry, who confesses that he forged the fresh proofs of Dreyfus's guilt, which, in July, Cavaignac submitted to the Chamber.

The news of Colonel Henry's arrest and incarceration in the fortress on Mount Valerien, outside Paris, reached the President on August 30th, in the evening. The next day we hear that Colonel has committed suicide.

Cavaignac, the Minister of War, resigns. The President, at his "_villa de la cote_," has a long conversation on the telephone with the Premier....

The blow is terrible... and in spite of his fort.i.tude and of his optimism--Felix Faure was the luckiest and most fortunate of men--the President feels its full force. It unsettles, it crushes him. He keeps repeating, "Everything is changed!" He is disgusted and indignant. "How can I get at the truth, the real truth. I have had under my very eyes, and more than once, absolute proofs of Dreyfus's guilt. And now it appears that some of those proofs, at any rate, were forged. I can trust no one. Everywhere I stumble against contradictions, reticences, suspicious schemes, double-dealing, deceit. It is impossible to reach the truth in this maze, which is daily becoming vaster and more complicated. I feel desperate and ashamed. There is but one thing for me to do; I must resign the Presidency."

The next day he invites me, with my sister and his great friend Prince P. to a sea-trip. When far from sh.o.r.e he takes me aside: "It is all over, my dear friend. Even after this suicide of Henry, contradictory reports are made to me. It seems impossible to get at the entire truth.

I am standing on a quagmire. Every one seems to s.h.i.+eld some one else, or himself!

"There are supplies and coal on this vessel for many days. We are going to cruise for a week or so. Let those who are responsible for the present state of affairs extricate themselves as best they can from the disgraceful position in which they have placed themselves--and me....

When I return, I shall resign.... Honest men will understand me!"

The President is blind with anger, and will listen to no advice. Prince P. and I, greatly alarmed, spent two hours in pacifying him, in showing him what an unspeakable scandal such a move would mean. A President cannot _disappear_ for a week.... I show him the terrible consequences to the Government, to Order and Authority, and to himself, it would entail; the cowardice of such an action.... Finally, the President yields and gives the order to return to harbour. I breathe once more, but my alarm has been great.

On September 3rd, the President has another long conversation with the Prime Minister, on the telephone, and early on the 4th he leaves for Paris, where, at the station, Delca.s.se, who ever keeps a cool head, and General Zurlinden, Governor of Paris, are waiting for him. At the Elysee he is joined by Brisson; President and Premier discuss together the difficult situation created by the confession and suicide of Colonel Henry.

September 5th, 6th, 7th. Momentous news from the Sudan. The victory of Omdurman! Kitchener's army (25,000 men--one-third of whom are English) has won a decisive victory over the Khalifa; the British flag flies at Khartum... and Khartum is only a few hundred miles from Fashoda, where, no doubt, Marchand is entrenched! How rapidly events have succeeded one another. In April, near the Atbara, the Sirdar had put the Dervishes to flight.... Then the railways which kept bringing up reinforcements from Cairo, was pushed on across the Atbara.... On September 1st Omdurman had been bombarded; on the 2nd the Khalifa's army cut to pieces, most of his enemies killed.... On the 4th, the Sirdar had reached Khartum.... And now the crisis is nearing. What are Kitchener's orders? If Captain Marchand is at Fashoda, and Kitchener hears of it, what will he do?...

September 7th, Felix Faure tells me he has asked General Zurlinden to be War Minister. The post is undoubtedly the most difficult in the Cabinet, but the General bravely accepts. He is convinced of Dreyfus's guilt, and as he says: "The confession of Colonel Henry and all the suspicions and equivocal manuvres of a number of Anti-Dreyfusards do not prove that the Court Martial, in 1895, condemned an innocent man."

Felix Faure nevertheless realises that the Government will have soon to decide for or against the "Revision," and I express the hope, much to his amazement, that they will decide in favour of it. It seems the only legal way to settle the question.

September the 10th, the Empress of Austria has been murdered! After sending a message of condolence to the Emperor Francis-Joseph, the President and I talk for a long time about the Fashoda problem. The other day we wondered: Would Kitchener go further South than Khartum?

Now we know.

He has left Khartum and gone up the White Nile, with four gun-boats, some artillery, Sudanese troops, and Highlanders.

September 12th, doubt is no longer possible; Marchand is at Fashoda! It appears that shortly before the battle of Omdurman, the Khalifa heard of the presence of "white men" at Fashoda. The boat he sent there was riddled with bullets and returned northward. The President is highly elated. The occupation of Fashoda gives France a basis whereon to deal with the Egyptian question. Still, the Sirdar is strong and Marchand is not get-at-able....

There has been six hours of Cabinet-Council to-day. Internal affairs are growing worse every day, and there are bitter disagreements among the various Ministers.

Brisson and Sarrien are in favour of the "Revision"; but the mere mention of the word "revision" sends General Zurlinden mad with fury.

Meanwhile, the war between the various parties to whom the defence of Dreyfus or the fight against him and his supporters is a mere political pretext, a means and not an end, is daily increasing in fierceness. What a nightmare!

September 14th and 15th. A brief respite. I have followed the President to Moulins. My mother is with me. She has never witnessed military manuvres before. I make the acquaintance of several foreign officers. General de Negrier is Director of the Manuvres. The Duke of Connaught is present.

September 16th. The Press in France and England is already devoting long columns to Fashoda. The President has had several consultations with Delca.s.se and is very confident.

"And why not?" he asks. "In the Anglo-Italian agreement of '91, the Upper-Nile Valley is not even mentioned, the Khedive had nothing to do with the Anglo-Belgian arrangement of '94; Nubar Pasha abandoned the Sudan; England declared she had nothing to do there; besides, did not England promise to evacuate Egypt after the Khedive had been restored to power!... If we have taken Fashoda, we have taken it not from England or Egypt but from the Dervishes. The British Government is reasonable and not impulsive.... Lord Salisbury who is at the same time Premier and Foreign Secretary is a statesman who would not act arbitrarily, I believe.... Sir Herbert Kitchener served in the French Army during the war with Germany; he is known for his great self-control and will do nothing rash.... And then, the Duke of Connaught, at the Manuvres, has been extremely courteous and pleasant, and the crowd enthusiastically cheered the son of Queen Victoria.... All will be well."

September 17th. General Zurlinden has sent his resignation to Brisson this morning. He is already replaced. General Chanoine becomes War Minister.

At the afternoon sitting of the Cabinet Council, the appointment of a "Commission de Revision" has been decided upon. Whilst Felix Faure explains all this to me, we hear shouting outside the Elysee.... I have a number of guests to dinner at home and must rush away. I do not leave the Elysee as usual through the garden and "my" little door, but by the main entrance to see what is happening. Merely a crowd shouting "Vive Brisson" or "A bas Brisson."

On the nineteenth, at an early hour, the telephone bell rings. It is the President.

"Did you read the _Temps_ last night?" he asks.

"No. I had a holiday.... I played hide and seek with Marthe who would not go to bed, much to the amus.e.m.e.nt of my mother who has just come from Beaucourt to spend a few days with my sister and me. What was there in the _Temps_?"

"Listen. It said exactly what I think about Fashoda. We will consider any act threatening Marchand--that is, the flag which he guards--as carrying with it all the consequences usual in such incidents."

"Splendid!"

"No, have you read the manifesto of the Pretender?"

"Which one?"

"The Duke of Orleans."

"No, but I suppose he tells all Frenchmen that their most sacred rights are being trampled on, that the army is being ruined, and that France can rely on him. Is that it?"

"Yes.... You don't take him seriously?..."

"Do you?"

September 21st. The "Commission de Revision" meets. Colonel Picquart accused of forgery--he, of all men!--appears before his judges.

September 25th. At last! News from the Sudan. The Sirdar is back in Khartum from Fashoda, where he met Marchand. There has evidently been no conflict. Diplomacy will now take the matter in hand. "We have no Talleyrand," says the President, "but we have Delca.s.se, and he possesses both subtlety and audacity, besides a good amount of useful cynicism and sound judgment. And he is as cool-headed as he is cautious."

September 27th. After the Cabinet Council, the President tells me that yesterday Sir Edmund Monson, the British Amba.s.sador, read to Delca.s.se a message from the Sirdar. It appears that the latter reached Fashoda eight days ago. Marchand has been there since July 10th with a few companions and some 120 Senegalese. From other sources come further details. Kitchener congratulated Captain Marchand on his great journey, then requested him to haul down the French flag. Marchand refused, of course, to comply with such a demand without instructions from his Government. The Sirdar quietly left him and hoisted the British flag and the Egyptian flag, side by side, south of Marchand's fortified camp.

Then he returned to Khartum, leaving a strong garrison at Fashoda, in charge of a colonel.

"All we can do now," says the President, "is to await Marchand's report.... The trouble is if it comes through the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Congo, months will elapse before it reaches us. Meanwhile Delca.s.se is communicating with Sir Edmund Monson. We stand firm. We will not evacuate Fashoda, come what may!"

October 1st-7th. A number of English newspapers have already sent France an ultimatum, but the English Government is calmer, so far. A most amazing event is the publication in England of a blue-book on the Fashoda question, at a time when the negotiations have already begun, but the President informs me that "Delca.s.se has found a very simple counter-move; we will publish a yellow-book in reply," and he adds: "The letters which Delca.s.se and the British Amba.s.sador exchange already show that war is brewing.... But whatever England's hostility--and it is clear that England does not wish to negotiate until Marchand has evacuated Fashoda--we will not yield."

"And what about Marchand?"

"Delca.s.se has suggested that Marchand's report be sent _via_ Khartum and Cairo. It will soon reach Paris that way.... By the way, I dine with Count Witte to-morrow, the 8th, at Rambouillet...."

October 10th. "Well, any result?" I ask the President.

"No. Witte spoke little about Russia. But he said France should avoid all wars, just now, and above all, a war with England; and I knew what he meant. However, we shall see whether Russia will a.s.sist us or not...."

Baratier, Marchand's companion, is on his way to Cairo with the famous report.

Fashoda does not monopolise public attention. The Dreyfus dispute waxes hotter than ever. Most of the newspapers contain nothing but scurrility and abuse. Some deliberately confuse the Fashoda affair and the Dreyfus affair.... Rochefort writes in the _Intransigeant_: "I should not be surprised if the English took advantage of the cowardice of our Government in order to seize Devil's Isle and free the traitor Dreyfus, whom they love so much!"

The air of Paris is thick with ominous symptoms. The various "parties"

which battle together employ the same despicable methods, use the same vocabulary, a vocabulary wherein the word "traitor" is almost mild and courteous compared with some of the expressions used. There is a general orgy of vile abuse, in which Dreyfusards and Anti-Dreyfusards alike join hysterically. Alas! That worthy men--the so-called "intellectuals" and those just and clear-headed persons who advocate Revision because the law has been transgressed--are so few and far between.

October 16th. Felix Faure, during the last week, has been unusually mysterious in his ways. I know what he calls his "great scheme," but I have hardly thought him to be quite in earnest about it. Judging by his character I thought he would reconnoitre before attempting to achieve his aim. He has completely failed at the outset and he now admits it.

Convinced that the French nation as a whole is thoroughly tired of the Dreyfus agitation, and that the hopelessly perturbed state of the country is a national calamity, he thought the only remedy to be a kind of _coup d'etat_. His plan is, or rather was, this: With the a.s.sistance of the army--for he would obtain, or rely upon, the support of many prominent generals--Felix Faure wanted to make the Presidency independent of the Parliament, and establish a military Government.... A bold scheme, but one which was doomed to failure, for Felix Faure has not the necessary qualities, and there is no Augereau amongst his military friends, the present Parliament is quite unlike the Corps Legislatif of 1797, and the army cannot be compared in any way with the omnipotent soldiery of Bonaparte's days.

Indiscretions have been committed, and certain journals here and abroad are mentioning the _coup_, but they dismiss it as a further tale to be added to the abnormal ma.s.s of political legends, exaggerations, and gossip, which for a year past has been growing up in the overheated atmosphere that is stifling France.

And this is perhaps the best thing that could possibly happen. A _coup d'etat_ is only excusable when it succeeds.