My Memoirs Part 12

An aged and intimate friend comes to the President and comforts him: "You are a foolhardy patriot; you mean and you meant well, and your scheme was not selfish like the plots which the 'Pretenders' are daily hatching. There is one consolation for you at least: there is no man capable of a _coup d'etat_ just now. The Duke of Orleans has the poorest of advisers, and Prince Victor has no confidence in himself!"

October 20th. Count Muravieff has been in Paris during the past few days. The Count had a long conversation with Delca.s.se three days ago, and dined with the President last night. Russia, it appears, thinks that war would be against the interests of France. "If there is to be a war between France and England, we cannot rely on Russia. The Government in St. Petersburg thinks that we should be ill-advised in allowing ourselves to be dragged into an absurd war with England, especially over that Sudanese swamp, Fashoda...." Moreover, Count Muravieff tactfully hinted at the lukewarmness of France towards Russia. "To-day," he remarked cheerfully, and at the same time pointedly, "Russia has only two zealous friends in France: yourself and M. Delca.s.se."

And it was Muravieff, the Russian Foreign Secretary, and Hanotaux, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, who before Felix Faure signed the Franco-Russian Alliance in St. Petersburg on August 24th last year!

"And how are the negotiations with England proceeding?" I ask.

"They are practically at a standstill. England will discuss nothing more until Marchand has left Fashoda.... Meanwhile, feverish activity prevails in our dockyards; our fleet is coaling and being supplied with everything necessary. Our admirals have secret instructions. We are preparing to face all contingencies. Lockroy, the Minister for the Navy, is wonderfully busy...."

A large map of the world is unfolded on the President's table. He irritably wipes out the pencil mark he made a few days ago at the spot on the Indian border where he thought Russia might perhaps attack India.

There are other blue marks on either side of the Channel, in the Mediterranean, in Africa.... For a long time we bend over the map and talk. But as the probabilities become clearer, more tangible, as it were, I realise that we are almost forgetting Fashoda, and Marchand on whom our attention should be riveted. What can be done for him? How can France go to his a.s.sistance? And would a war be worth while for the sake of that spot in Africa? Is a war ever worth while? What benefits would France derive from a war with England? And would France win? Where?

How?...

I beg the President to see things in their right proportions, and I advise him to avoid war. War or no war does not depend upon him, of course, but there are so many ways of precipitating events, of rousing public feeling... and so many ways of smoothing matters out and of calming a nation....

October 21st. Delca.s.se has received an abridged report from Marchand cabled by Captain Baratier, his brave companion across Africa, who has reached Cairo from Khartum....

October 23rd. A mounted munic.i.p.al guardsman brings me a large envelope from the President. It is a copy of _Punch_, the famous London satirical journal. On the cover, Felix Faure has written: "_Ma chere amie_, please look at this shameful insult to France on the Fashoda question." I open the paper and see a cartoon by Sir John Tenniel. Yes, it makes one's blood boil. I reply to the President: "You are right. It is vulgar and despicable. The French are refined and witty; the English are blunt and have merely what they call a 'sense of humour.' Count Muravieff told you that an African swamp is not worth a war; I wish to add: 'Still less a cartoon.'"

The cartoon was indeed unbearably insolent and unworthy of an enlightened nation.... But a year later, when England was at war with the Boers, to whom the French spontaneously--and emphatically--gave their sympathy, our artists produced cartoons in which Queen Victoria was treated in an equally improper manner. This only proves that the most civilised and refined nation in the world sometimes forgets the most elementary notions of breeding, and fails to see that one degrades himself when he tries to degrade his enemies.

October 25th. Delca.s.se's Yellow Book has appeared. It contains most of the doc.u.ments relating to the Fashoda, or rather the "White Nile"

problem, from December 1897, to October 1898. It reveals beyond argument the truly remarkable powers of Delca.s.se as a shrewd yet "direct"

diplomatist.

The tension between England and France is at breaking-point. Sir Edmund has sent, in the name of the British Government, what amounts to an ultimatum. The President says: "We may give up Fashoda, but we must have an outlet on the Nile. If there can be no longer any question of conquest, we must at least be enabled to facilitate our '_penetration commerciale_.'... Surely, some kind of compromise is possible."

In the afternoon I go to the _Chambre des Deputes_. A storm is brewing.

As I reach the Palais Bourbon by the Boulevard Saint Germain I can see, and hear, on the Place de la Concorde, an immense, and howling, crowd.

The sitting cannot be considered as an historic one, but it certainly is noisy and sensational. Deroulede opens fire. Deroulede, who has more than once been called a modern Don Quixote, is an eminently sympathetic figure. One likes him because, first of all... he is typically French--a brave soldier, a poet, an ardent patriot, and a delightful madman to boot. He is by nature unable to do anything quietly. He would be a leader of men if he were not anxious to write a patriotic and popular epic, and he would be a great poet if he were not so keen on saving the country. He has been one of the very first advocates of an alliance with Russia, he has a.s.sisted the cause of Boulanger; he was elected a deputy at the elections last May. It seems hardly necessary to add that he is a Nationalist and a staunch Anti-Dreyfusard.

Deroulede speaks, and what he says may be reduced to these words: The Government is... rotten.

And now comes the turn of Chanoine, the Minister of War. He may be a first-cla.s.s general, but he certainly is a third-rate orator and politician. In a stern manner, with a knitted brow and a sweeping gesture, he a.s.serts that he has the same opinion as his predecessor in the Dreyfus case. The House applauds.... Then, he adds, with a wonderful instinct for doing the wrong thing: "I resign!"

The Prime Minister, the unfortunate and exhausted Brisson, declares that the "Government wishes to deliberate...." He returns with his colleagues--less Chanoine, of course--and tells the Chambre that a provisional War Minister will be appointed. A general discussion ensues.... Two-thirds of the House are obviously hostile to the Government. Brisson asks for the usual but often dangerous vote of confidence. The majority is against it and... the Cabinet falls.

I rush to the Elysee and give Felix Faure my impressions of an eventful sitting.... He tells me that General Chanoine, after announcing his resignation in the Chambre, came to hand it to him.

"Of course, I refused to receive him. He might at least have known that he should have sent in his resignation to the Prime Minister.... Between ourselves, I am rather pleased to be rid of Brisson. He makes an excellent President of the Chambre, for he is impartial, impressive and venerable, but as a Premier, or even as a Minister, he is quite hopeless, in spite of his integrity and his general knowledge of politics.... So here I am, looking once more for a man able to form a Cabinet. Four months ago I was doing the identical thing. To-morrow I shall summon the President and Vice-Presidents of the Chambre and the Senate. In any case I shall retain Delca.s.se for the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. We must at least have _one_ man who knows his business in the Cabinet."

The mention of Delca.s.se inevitably leads back to Fashoda.

"The _Senegal_ has reached Ma.r.s.eilles, the President tells me. Sir Herbert Kitchener and Captain Baratier are on board!"

October 27th. "What about Baratier... and Marchand?" I ask Felix Faure.

"Baratier is closeted with Delca.s.se. Marchand will leave Fashoda for Cairo, where he will await the instructions of the Government. England is more impatient than ever."

October 28th-30th. The game is up.... Monson's att.i.tude and words leave no room for hope of a conciliatory settlement.... Unless, of course, we evacuate Fashoda....

I have never seen Felix Faure so bitterly dejected. That vast African Empire was one of his most cherished dreams....

France will lose none of her prestige, but it is clear that she will give way.... Silently, we put together various doc.u.ments, and work at the "Memoirs."

Dupuy, once a professor of philosophy, who has twice before been Prime Minister, has consented to form a Cabinet. De Freycinet, a civilian, becomes Minister of War. Dupuy is strongly in favour of the "Revision."... And Dupuy was Prime Minister when Dreyfus was condemned!

Fate has strange whims.

November 1st-4th. Marchand has reached Cairo from Fashoda, Baratier has reached Cairo from Paris. France has "officially" given up Fashoda. The long-drawn-out crisis, during which war with England has been so near, is at an end.... The humiliation brings tears to Felix Faure's eyes....

"And yet, it was inevitable that we should yield. Our fleet is too inefficient, the White Nile is too far, our position at Fashoda was untenable, alas.... Delca.s.se has acted wisely. War is averted... are you satisfied?"

"You know I am; but I cannot help thinking of Marchand and his brave companions. What must be their feelings!"

November 12th. Marchand and Baratier leave Cairo for Fashoda. From there, they will go south to Sobat, and then travel eastward, through Abyssinia, to Jibuti, whence they will sail for France. At least, the humiliation of retreating through Egypt will be spared them. The relations between England and France are gradually becoming more normal. Monson and Delca.s.se met three days ago... after a separation which had lasted nearly two weeks!

November 15-30. The attention of France is entirely focussed on the Dreyfus affair and the Picquart trial. How General Zurlinden can seriously accuse the Colonel of being a forger and a traitor pa.s.ses my understanding.

December 7th. Last night Sir Edmund Monson spoke at the Annual Banquet of the British Chamber of Commerce, held at the Hotel Continental.

Just as I am reading a report of the speech, the insolence of which is phenomenal, the President telephones:

"Have you ever heard of anything more arrogant, more improper, than Monson's speech? The Fashoda incident is closed, but because the Government intend organising some schools in the Sudan, Monson gives it an impudent lesson, and tells our Ministers what they must do.... And that... on French soil, in Paris! And he is an Amba.s.sador!..."

"Yes, the Marquis of Dufferin was a different man."

We then talked about the political situation. Felix Faure still repudiates the thought of "Revision," though far less strongly than before the Henry tragedy.

In the evening we meet at the Opera Comique. 'A _spectacle de gala_ is given, as this was the opening night of the new building (the former Opera Comique had been burned down several years before). The programme entirely devoted to French music, includes one act of Gounod's "Mireille," one of "Carmen," and one of Ma.s.senet's "Manon."

December 15th-31st. The news has come that Marchand left Fashoda on the eleventh. So the last scene of that poignant drama has been played....

The "Revision" is being discussed in the Chamber. The Cour de Ca.s.sation has telegraphed to a magistrate at Cayenne a list of questions which he is to put to Dreyfus.

January 1st, 1899-February 10th. The President puts in order a number of doc.u.ments and notes relating to the Dreyfus and Fashoda affairs and sends them to me. I am laid up with peritonitis. My mother is staying with me. The Beaucourt estate was sold nearly two years ago, and she came to live in Paris, but I have had a villa built for my mother, close to the old home, and when I am better she will go back there and live once more in her dear Beaucourt. The President telephones to me two or three times a day.

Delca.s.se, on January 23rd, makes a remarkable speech in the Chamber on the Fashoda affair, in which he accepted full responsibility for all that took place, explaining that the Marchand "Mission" was the direct outcome of the Liotard expedition which he had himself organised when Minister of the colonies. The chief points of the speech are: Marchand started on his mission long before the Anglo-Egyptian army entered upon the conquest of the Sudan--France years before had made it clear that she did not recognise the "White Nile" valley as being in the sphere of British influence--France could not expose her fleet, army and prestige, in what would appear to the majority of nations as an "inexplicable adventure."

At the beginning of February, my younger sister marries. I am still very weak, but manage to attend the wedding. A day or two afterwards, I drive to the Elysee, where I remain a few minutes with Felix Faure. He shows me a letter from the Czar which Prince Urusoff handed to him an hour ago, and two paintings representing the arrival of the President at Kronstadt, also sent by the Russian Emperor.

The Dreyfus affair is proceeding in the same more or less illegal manner. The great struggle, however, is no longer between Dreyfusards and Anti-Dreyfusards, but between the Republic and the enemies of the Republic, between Radicals and Socialists on the one hand, and the "reactionaries, Royalists" and "Anti-Semites" on the other. All kinds of leagues are springing up. Early in January, Francois Coppee with Brunetiere, the editor of _La Revue des Deux Mondes_, and others, found the _Patrie Francaise_ league, which staunchly upholds the Army against all Dreyfusards.... There are constant rumours of military plots....

Here may be briefly stated the end of the Dreyfus affair. Brisson had remitted the case to the Cour de Ca.s.sation--which comprises three divisions (criminal court, civil court, and court of pet.i.tions). But when it became known that the criminal division which had charge of the appeal had found that there had been a gross miscarriage of justice, and would decide in favour of Revision, Dupuy proposed and made the Chamber accept a law by which the momentous decision was to be left to the three divisions. This was, of course, in the hope that in the whole court a majority would be found against Dreyfus.

February 10th, 1899. (President Faure died February 16th). The Cour de Ca.s.sation decided for a fresh trial by court-martial. Dupuy resigned (June). Dreyfus was brought back from Devil's Isle, was tried at Rennes, found guilty but with "extenuating circ.u.mstances," sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and recommended to mercy. A fantastic verdict.

Captain Dreyfus was pardoned, set free and at last fully rehabilitated after having suffered so long for crimes evidently committed by others.