APPENDICES 342 Appendices
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APPENDICES 342 Appendices Appendix 1: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen) Approved by the National Assembly of France, 26 August 1789 The representatives of the French people, organized as a National Assembly, believing that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the rights of man are the sole cause of public calamities and of the corruption of governments, have determined to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, being constantly before all the members of the Social body, shall remind them continually of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the legislative power, as well as those of the executive power, may be compared at any moment with the objects and purposes of all political institutions and may thus be more respected, and, lastly, in order that the grievances of the citizens, based hereafter upon simple and incontestable principles, shall tend to the maintenance of the constitution and redound to the happiness of all. Therefore, the National Assembly recognizes and proclaims, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen: Articles 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good. 2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. 3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation. 4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law. 5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law. 6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except that of their virtues and talents. 7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense. 8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated before the commission of the offense. 9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner’s person shall be severely repressed by law. Appendices 343 10. No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.* 11. The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law. 12. The security of the rights of man and of the citizen requires public military forces. These forces are, therefore, established for the good of all and not for the personal advantage of those to whom they shall be entrusted. 13. A common contribution is essential for the maintenance of the public forces and for the cost of administration. This should be equitably distributed among all the citizens in proportion to their means. 14. All the citizens have a right to decide, either personally or by their representatives, as to the necessity of the public contribution; to grant this freely; to know to what uses it is put; and to fix the proportion, the mode of assessment and of collection and the duration of the taxes. 15. Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration. 16. A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all. 17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified. Source: The Avalon Project at Yale Law School www.yale.edu/lawweb/ avalon/rightsof.htm. * Author’s emphasis. Appendix 2: Statutes of the Ligue nationale antisémitique de France, 1899: founded by Edouard Drumont, the marquis de Morès and Jacques de Biez The national league of anti-Semites in France has the purpose of defending the spiritual, economic, industrial, and commercial interests of our country with all appropriate means. The league is an instrument of national revival, of protection of the conscience of each individual, of mutual and fraternal assistance. Our intentions are patriotic without reserve, and social. Members of the league are entitled to any political and religious freedom. Propagating the truth in broad daylight and employing social means, the league will fight the pernicious influence of the financial sway of the Jews whose clandestine and merciless conspiracy jeopardizes the welfare, honour, and daily security of France. Membership Excluded from membership are: 1 Jews 2 Jewish renegades 3 He who has lost his rights as citizen because of a dishonourable penalty. 344 Appendices However, article 33 of the constitution said: Excepted are all those members of the league who were sentenced to a dishonourable penalty by courts whose presidents had been Jews or whose judges had had relations with Jews. Excepted also are the active members of the league, particularly if the sentences aimed at their punishment were for actions or offences committed in speeches or writings against the Jews and for the welfare of the league. Source: W. Herzog, From Dreyfus to Pétain ‘The Struggle of a Republic’, trans. W. Sorell (New York: Creative Press, 1947), pp. 30–1. Appendix 3: Extracts from La Libre Parole’s campaign against Jewish officers in the army, May 1892 The army has been protected from Jewish influence for longer than the rest of contemporary society… Why would it have wanted yids in its ranks? … If the Jews cared little for enlisting, the army was even less keen to receive them. Apart from all religious considerations, amongst the huge majority of soldiers there is an instinctive feeling of repulsion towards the sons of Israel. They see in them the usurer who causes the ruin of the debt-laden officer, the supplier who speculates on a soldier’s stomach, the spy who traffics shamelessly in the secrets of national defence. Everywhere and always, in peace and in war, the army saw the Jew rebel against it, against its duties, against its well-being, against its honour … No sooner had the Jews gained a foothold in the army than they sought by all possible means to acquire influence in it … Already masters of finance and of administration, dictating rulings in the tribunals, they will finally become the masters of France on the day they command the army. Rothschild will have the mobilisation plans sent to him, one can well imagine with what aim … Appendix 4: Du Paty’s and Cochefert’s reports on the arrest of Dreyfus; first interrogation of Dreyfus by Du Paty, 15 October 1894 War Ministry Articles 85 and 86 of the Military Code Army General Staff REPORT OF ARREST In the year 1894, 15 October, at nine o’clock in the morning. In the presence of us, Monsieur Du Paty de Clam, qualified head of battalion employed by the Army General Staff, acting in accordance with articles 85, 86 and 87 of the Military Code of Justice and delegated by the War Minister, as a police detective officer, assisted by M. Gribelin, principal archivist, second- class, of the Army General Staff, acting as clerk, to whom as a preliminary we have sworn an oath to carry out the duties well and faithfully, and in the presence of Mr Cochefert, police superintendent of the City of Paris, head of the Detective Force, in the office of the Chief of the Army General Staff. We had brought before us M. Alfred Dreyfus, qualified captain of the 14th artillery, probationary officer with the Army General Staff, for the purpose of proceeding to his arrest. Captain Dreyfus having been brought in, we invited him to complete a sheet of notes and to write at our dictation a letter beginning with these words: ‘Having the most serious interest, Sir…’ and ending: ‘… a note on Madagascar’. Appendices 345 These two documents are attached to the dossier. When the writing of this letter was found to be incorrect after the fourth line, we called upon Captain Dreyfus to ask him the reasons for this.