3-085-817 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Trial of M. Zola in Paris: scenes at the Assize Court, 1898. The "J'accuse" case. 'Arrival of General Mercier; outside the court-house at eight A.M.; arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Picquart; arrival of General Pellieux...Nobody had any hope that M. Zola would establish his case to the satisfaction of the Paris jury, for it is notorious that they were not free to decide according to the evidence. The direct pressure of the Government and the violent attitude of the mob have made an acquittal impossible...The principal witnesses in favour of M. Zola were Colonel Picquart and Maître Demange. Between them they succeeded in showing that the conviction of Captain Dreyfus was illegal, and that Major Esterhazy was screened by his superiors...The moral effect of the trial is greatly to strengthen the demand for a revision of the Dreyfus judgment; but this has now become a political, even a revolutionary, issue in France'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.