Jean Jaurès applauded the blow dealt to the nationalists during the Dreyfus Affair

This letter from Jean Jaurès directly refers to the Dreyfus Affair and the infamous memorandum. He cites the August 18, 1898 issue of Le Siècle , in which an article written by a former artillery officer, based on a thorough technical analysis of the memorandum's contents, provided crucial evidence against the accusation leveled against Alfred Dreyfus: the incompetence of the author of the memorandum (he demonstrates that the terms and technical details used in drafting the memorandum betray a blatant ignorance of artillery equipment), the incompatibility with Dreyfus (Alfred Dreyfus, a brilliant, qualified artillery officer on the General Staff, could never have made such errors in vocabulary and technical logic when describing the recoil mechanism of a 120mm gun), and the identification of the true culprit (Esterhazy).

"Here are 1.25 francs worth of stamps to send Mr. Gabriel Monod (lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure) in Versailles the issues of August 10, 12, 13, 14 and following. Would you be so kind as to send me a copy of Le Siècle from August 18th, if I am not mistaken, which contains a long article signed by a former artillery officer on the memorandum. Please tell Dubreuilh [Louis Dubreuilh (1862-1924), Jaurès' collaborator at L'Humanité, editor of La Petite République and then first general secretary of the SFIO], how pleased I was with his rigorous and decisive article: Disarmament [published on August 28, 1898 in La Petite République]. Whatever the immediate practical consequences, it is the hardest blow for militarism and nationalists. Yours sincerely, Jaurès."

On the very day this letter was written, August 30, 1898, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry confessed to having fabricated false documents to incriminate Dreyfus, leading to his arrest, his suicide, and the inevitable review of the trial.