Editing Dreyfus affair (section)

=== Expertise in writing ===
[[File:Du Paty de Clam.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Armand du Paty de Clam|Major du Paty de Clam]], head of investigation, arrested Captain Dreyfus.]]

To condemn Dreyfus, the writing on the bordereau had to be compared to that of the Captain. There was nobody competent to analyse the writing on the General Staff.<ref>General Mercier to his subordinates: Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 69. {{in lang|fr}} Also reported elsewhere.</ref> Then [[Armand du Paty de Clam|Major du Paty de Clam]]<ref>On the personalities of Mercier and du Paty de Clam, see: Palaeologue, ''The Dreyfus Affair and the Quai d'Orsay'', pp. 111 et seq. {{in lang|fr}}</ref><ref>Guillemin, ''The enigma Esterházy'', Volume 1, p. 99. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> entered the scene: an eccentric man who prided himself on being an expert in [[graphology]]. On being shown some letters by Dreyfus and the bordereau on 5 October, du Paty concluded immediately who had written the two writings. After a day of additional work he provided a report that, despite some differences, the similarities were sufficient to warrant an investigation. Dreyfus was therefore "the probable author" of the bordereau in the eyes of the General Staff.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 0. {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

[[File:Alphonse Bertillon.jpg|thumb|upright|Alphonse Bertillon was not a handwriting expert, but he invented the theory of "autoforgery".]]
General Mercier believed he had the guilty party, but he exaggerated the value of the affair, which took on the status of an affair of state during the week preceding the arrest of Dreyfus. The Minister did consult and inform all the authorities of the State,<ref>The General met with the President of the Republic, [[Jean Casimir-Perier|Casimir-Perier]], to minimize the importance of the documents submitted, this Mercier later denied, which made the two men implacable enemies. See [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k24250f ''The Trial at Rennes'' Volume 1], pp. 60, 149 and 157 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> yet despite prudent counsel and courageous objections expressed by [[Gabriel Hanotaux]] in the Council of Ministers<ref>Thomas, ''The Affair Without Dreyfus'', p. 141. {{in lang|fr}} Hanotaux did obtain a promise from Mercier to drop the charges if other evidence was not found. This is most likely the origin of the secret file.</ref> he decided to pursue it.<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 72. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> Du Paty de Clam was appointed [[Law enforcement in France|Judicial Police Officer]] to lead an official investigation.

Meanwhile, several parallel sources of information were opening up, some on the personality of Dreyfus, others to ensure the truth of the identity of the author of the bordereau. The expert<ref group="Note">Expert in writing from the Bank of France: his honest caution was vilified in the indictment of Major Ormescheville.</ref> Gobert was not convinced and found many differences. He even wrote that "the nature of the writing on the bordereau excludes disguised handwriting".<ref>Reinach, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k75082s ''History of the Dreyfus Affair'', Volume 1], p. 92. {{in lang|fr}} Gobert said that the text was written quickly and excluded it from being copied.</ref> Disappointed, Mercier then called in [[Alphonse Bertillon]], the inventor of forensic [[anthropometry]] but no handwriting expert. He was initially no more positive than Gobert but he did not exclude the possibility of its being the writing of Dreyfus.<ref>[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k24251s ''Trial at Rennes'' Volume 2], p. 322. {{in lang|fr}} An idea supported by the transparency of the paper.</ref> Later, under pressure from the military,<ref>Bredin, ''The Affair'', p. 87. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> he argued that Dreyfus had autocopied it and developed his theory of "autoforgery".