Editing Dreyfus affair (section)

=== The search for the author of the bordereau ===
[[File:Auguste Mercier.jpg|thumbnail|left|upright|General Auguste Mercier, Minister of War in 1894]]

This catch seemed of sufficient importance for the head of the "Statistical Section",<ref>On the Statistics Section, see Bredin, pp. 49–50; Doise, pp. 42–43 and Thomas, ''The Affair Without Dreyfus'', pp. 60–70. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> the Mulhousian<ref>Thomas, ''The Affair Without Dreyfus'', p. 67. {{in lang|fr}} Alfred Dreyfus was also from Mulhouse.</ref> [[Jean Sandherr]], to inform the Minister of War, [[Général|General]] [[Auguste Mercier]]. In fact the SR suspected that there had been leaks since the beginning of 1894 and had been trying to find the perpetrator. The minister had been harshly attacked in the press for his actions, which were deemed incompetent,<ref>"This wimp Mercier" said [[Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay|Rochefort]] [Tr. Note: a much stronger obscenity was used graphically describing a wimp] in ''Intransigeant'', Boussel, ''The Dreyfus Affair and the Press'', pp. 43–44. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> and appears to have sought an opportunity to enhance his image.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 65. {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>Reinach, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k75082s ''History of the Dreyfus Affair'', Volume 1], p. 39. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> He immediately initiated two secret investigations, one administrative and one judicial. To find the culprit, using simple though crude reasoning,<ref name=Birnbaum40>Birnbaum, ''The Dreyfus Affair'', p. 40. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> the circle of the search was arbitrarily restricted to suspects posted to, or former employees of, the General Staff – necessarily a trainee artillery<ref group="Note">On the indication of Captain Matton, the only artillery officer in the Statistics Section. Three of the documents transmitted concerned short- and long-range artillery.</ref> officer.<ref group="Note">The documents could come from 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th offices – only a trainee appeared able to offer such a variety of documents as they passed from one office to another to complete their training. This was the reasoning of Lieutenant-Colonel d'Aboville, which proved fallacious.</ref>

The ideal culprit was identified: Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a graduate of the [[École polytechnique]] and an artillery officer, of the Jewish faith and of Alsatian origin, coming from the republican meritocracy.<ref>Birnbaum, ''The Dreyfus Affair'', p. 48. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> At the beginning of the case, the emphasis was rather on the Alsatian origins of Dreyfus than on his religion. These origins were not, however, exceptional because these officers were favoured by France for their knowledge of the German language and culture.<ref>Burns, ''a family....'', p. 139. {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>Thomas, ''The Affair Without Dreyfus'', p. 260. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> There was also antisemitism in the offices of the General Staff,<ref>Sandherr was a fanatical antisemite. [[Maurice Paléologue]], ''The Dreyfus Affair and the Quai d'Orsay'' {{in lang|fr}}</ref> and it fast became central to the affair by filling in the credibility gaps in the preliminary enquiry.<ref name=Birnbaum40 /> In particular, Dreyfus was at that time the only Jewish officer to be recently passed by the General Staff.

In fact, the reputation<ref>It has been argued in many books that Dreyfus was unemotional and indifferent to his fate: that was ultimately refuted by many testimonies. V. Duclert, ''Biography of Alfred Dreyfus'', p. 115 et seq. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> of Dreyfus as a cold and withdrawn or even haughty character, as well as his "curiosity", worked strongly against him. These traits of character, some false, others natural, made the charges plausible by turning the most ordinary acts of everyday life in the ministry into proof of espionage. From the beginning a biased and one-sided multiplication of errors led the State to a false position. This was present throughout the affair, where irrationality prevailed over the positivism in vogue in that period:<ref>Birnbaum, ''The Dreyfus Affair'', p. 38. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

{{blockquote|From this first hour the phenomenon occurred that will dominate the whole affair. It is no longer controlled by facts and circumstances carefully examined which will constitute a belief; it is the irresistible cavalier conviction which distorts the facts and beliefs.|[[Joseph Reinach]]}}