"And now, behold a Jew penetrates, the first of his race," he continues, "into the Staff, to the very heart of the stronghold.… Quick! this scandal must be cut short. First vague rumours, then general theories are propagated: by what imprudence has the French nation taken into the centre of her military system the accursed race, the treasonable people who, no longer being able to crucify God, hidden above the clouds, wishes to crucify the country? And immediately that the leakage of documents is announced to the General Staff, it is towards the Jew that eyes are secretly turned. Ah! what luck if it should be he!"
Drumont had founded the Anti-Semitic Libre Parole in 1892. This newspaper seems to have been in some way in the confidence of those who had the Dreyfus prosecution in hand, for it was through its means that the first hint of what was going on became public, and the Libre Parole began a regular campaign with the object of making it difficult for the Minister of War to support Dreyfus. When it first became known that Dreyfus had been charged with treason, it seemed indeed as if his enemies had all France at their backs, and though the whole trial was secret and no one had any idea of the evidence on which he had been condemned, the country decided against him. Amid a storm of furious denunciation he was degraded and condemned to be confined
