naino and misfortune of Major Andre
on the spot whore the latter was made
the victim of military justice. This
was in spite of Andre's association with
a treason which Americans detest so
bitterly as one of the darkest blots on
their history. It makes no difference
that some vandal in the dead of night
defaced and overthrew the monument.
Mr. Field's act was approved by Ameri
cans aa a piece of generous and kindly
appreciation , pity for the fate of a uo-
ble spirit involved in the toils of a col
league who committed a colossal crime.
There could be no finer test of the
rapprochement between Great Britain
and the United States if , under the
recommendation of Lord Herschell and
his associates , the Quebec municipality
authorizes this erection of a Montgom
ery memorial.
The Dreyfus Scandal.
No disgrace more ignoble in her his
tory has ever attached to the French
uame than that involved in the Dreyfus
scandal. It was sufficiently palpable at
the time of the trial to those who fol
lowed the case that the unfortunate vic
tim of anti-Semitic prejudice and of
the spirit of militarism was condemned
on evidence which in England or Amer
ica would have been hooted out of
court. But it was felt that there were
mysteries in the case which made the I
guilt of Dreyfus possible. In view of
the methods of French courts , both civil |
and military , which give the prisoner ,
the least possible chance to prove his ,
innocence , a certain condonation was I
allowed to a verdict that chained the
poor'wretch , like Prometheus , to a bar
ren rock. Further light filtered grad
ually on the facts , making his guilt
!
still more questionable. Later followed
the Zola and the Ficquart episodes , i
proving that the French government I
was so far at the mercy of military dic
tation that it preferred to do flagrant
wrong with its eyes open to the risk of
offending its uniformed oligarchy. The
spirit which dominated the treatment
of these two men was more odious even
than the tyranny which had organized
the conviction of Dreyfus. It was the
malignant bitterness which turned what
might have been an honest mistake in
to a fixed determination to subvert all
the principles of civil liberty and jus
tice. So blinded , too , was public opin
ion in its rage that none but a few reso
lute spirits dared to Hit a voice of pro
test. It raised the query , "Is the mod
ern Gallic mind so blind in its perver
sity once its national animosity is
aroused as to bo impenetrable to every
ray of justice ? " Certainly the whole
history of the monstrous affair in its
various phases up to that time would
indicate this.
The French government has been
given another opportunity to show that
it is not beyond repentance and rec
lamation. Now evidence practically
nullifies not only the conviction of
Emilo Zola and justifies Colonel Pic-
quart , but knocks away the most sub
stantial prop of the incriminatory evi
dence against Dreyfus. Colonel Henry ,
a French military official of the war
bureau , has been led to confess that a
letter which was the very cornerstone
of the professed belief of the justice of
the Dreyfus conviction , was his own
forgery , deliberate and oold blooded.
He was arrested and at the earliest
practicable date committed suicide. No
amount of punishment of those prima
rily responsible for the Dreyfus wrong
will expiate that unless the Faure ad
ministration makes the most profuse
amends. A seat on the otool of repent
ance and the cry of "Peccavi 1" will
alone satisfy the world that there is
still latent in Franco any sense of
righteousness.
The coronation of Queen Wilhelmina ,
the charming young queen of Holland ,
at the Nieuwe kork of Amsterdam , the
Westminster of the Dutch kingdom ( one
had almost written the Dutch republic ,
remembering the splendid career of the
Dutch under that form of government ) ,
on Sept. 6 , was an auspicious occasion.
The placid and sluggish Hollander
might well find excuse for an unwonted
enthusiasm in the accession of a beau-
tifnl and high minded girl. Wilhelmi
na comes of that heroic Orange blood
which has furnished a shining muster
roll of great statesmen , warriors and
patriots to the Netherlands. Since the
age of William the Silent no European
family has been starred with such an
array of celebrities as this princely
house. The young queen will probably
have no occasion to display the more
striking qualities of her ancestors , but
it is a fact endearing to the Dutchman's
heart that she inherits her dignity from
such forbears.
An Imperial Peacemaker.
Mingled with the iron in the blood
ol the Romanoffs there runs a current
of idealism and sentiment which every
other generation has shown itself in
extraordinary fashion. Alexander I , in
flamed by his sympathy with the new
spirit of the age , was when a young man
full of the most ardent plans for the re
generation of his people and a passion
ate admirer of his contemporary , Na-
pnleon. He afterward became inteuselj
Russian in his policy , domestic and for
eign , while his enthusiasms exhaled in
philosophical dreams , fed by his egiria ,
Mine. Von Krudener. His grandson ,
Alexander II , who was slain by a nihil
ist bomb , moved by humanitarian polit
ical ideals , freed the serfs of Russia
about the same time that Abraham Lin
coln freed our slaves. Bat the second
Alexander finally became intensely re
actionary and an incarnation , by force
of the iron traditions which reasserted
their sway , of the spirit to which his
earlier years had given the lie. Now
Nicholas II , his grandson , displays a
noble idealism and invites a peace con
gress of the loading nations to consider
the best means of securing universal
peace. Among the preliminary steps he
suggests a cessation from further arma
ment by the powers.
The manifesto is a document of great
strength of statement. Its spirit is not
only lofty in the recognition of moral
truth , but its grasp of the practical con
ditions as a question of international
economics such as to increase greatly
one's respect for the young czar's intel
lectual powers. Ho cites the fact that
in the professed desire to guarantee
peace the great states have developed
their military forces in an unprecedent
ed degree , and still continue in the
same path. But all these efforts have
failed to bring about the desired result.
He says :
"Economic crises , due in great part
to the system of armaments a outrance ,
and the continual danger which lies in
this massing of war material , are trans
forming the armed peace of our days in
to a crushing burden which the peoples
have more and more difficulty in bear
ing. It appears evident , then , that if
this state of things is prolonged it will
inevitably lead to the very cataclysm
which it is desired to avert , and the
horrors of which make every thinking
being shudder in advance. To put an
eud to these incessant armaments and
to seek a means of warding off the ca
lamities that are threatening the whole
world is a supreme duty which today
is imposed on all states. "
This promulgation of opinion , so of
ten preached by irresponsible political
thinkers and moralists , comes with the
most vivid power at such a time and
from such a source. If the current no
tion as to the political ambition of Rus
sia is true , the czar's stand indicates
that he has snapped all leading strings
and takes plain issue with the policies
which have hitherto guided Russian
statesmen. But the other day the world
read of a plan for an extraordinary in
crease of the imperial navy. The same
papers which recorded his invitation tea
a peace congress also bristled with com
ments on the resolute and skillful strat
egy of his servants in the march toward
the dismemberment of China and the
imminent chances of a struggle with
Great Britain on the one side facts
threatening to let loose all the dogs of
war ; on the other , an inspiring human
ity , worthy of the finest souls who have
adorned human history.
The whole episode strikes the mind
with wonder and sets it to speculating
how such a thing could have come
about. That Nicholas is sincere in this
enthusiasm for peace , advocated with
such practical directness , is beyond
doubt. We cannot suspect him of any
arriero pensee. That the nations will
respond to the invitation may be con
sidered certain. That there will be any. v.
