--- title: J'Accuse...! Lettre au Président de la République (J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic), L'Aurore, 13 January 1898 url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jaccuse-laurore-front-page-1898/ description: Front page of a Paris daily given over almost entirely to one open letter. section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) **Content note:** Newspaper page about a wrongful-conviction controversy; the letter text refers to a prisoner held in torture-like conditions on Devil's Island; no graphic imagery. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [![J'Accuse...! Lettre au Président de la République (J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic), L'Aurore, 13 January 1898](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/jaccuse-laurore-front-page-1898.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/jaccuse-laurore-front-page-1898.jpg) # J'Accuse...! Lettre au Président de la République (J'Accuse...! Letter to the President of the Republic), L'Aurore, 13 January 1898 Front page of a Paris daily given over almost entirely to one open letter. The headline 'J'Accuse...!' and the line 'Lettre au Président de la République' are set in the largest display type, with the byline 'Par Emile Zola' in a third, nearly equal size, so the page puts a famous novelist's name in headline position as the voucher for the claims in the five columns below, which accuse named army officers of a judicial error and a cover-up. ## Text on the object Original (French) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` Deuxième Année. — Numéro 87 Cinq Centimes JEUDI 13 JANVIER 1898 Directeur ERNEST VAUGHAN L'AURORE Littéraire, Artistique, Sociale LES ANNONCES SONT REÇUES : 142 — Rue Montmartre — 142 AUX BUREAUX DU JOURNAL J'Accuse...! LETTRE AU PRÉSIDENT DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE Par ÉMILE ZOLA LETTRE A M. FÉLIX FAURE Président de la République Monsieur le Président, Me permettez-vous, dans ma gratitude pour le bienveillant accueil que vous m'avez fait un jour, d'avoir le souci de votre juste gloire et de vous dire que votre étoile, si heureuse jusqu'ici, est menacée de la plus honteuse, de la plus ineffaçable des taches ? Vous êtes sorti sain et sauf des basses calomnies, vous avez conquis les cœurs. Vous apparaissez rayonnant dans l'apothéose de cette fête patriotique que l'alliance russe a été pour la France, et vous vous préparez à présider au solennel triomphe de notre Exposition universelle, qui couronnera notre grand siècle de travail, de vérité et de liberté. Mais quelle tache de boue sur votre nom — j'allais dire sur votre règne — que cette abominable affaire Dreyfus ! Un conseil de guerre vient, par ordre, d'oser acquitter un Esterhazy, soufflet suprême à toute vérité, à toute justice. Et c'est fini, la France a sur la joue cette souillure, l'histoire écrira que c'est sous votre présidence qu'un tel crime social a pu être commis. Puisqu'ils ont osé, j'oserai aussi, moi. La vérité, je la dirai, car j'ai promis de la dire, si la justice, régulièrement saisie, ne la faisait pas, pleine et entière. Mon devoir est de parler, je ne veux pas être complice. Mes nuits seraient hantées par le spectre de l'innocent qui expie là-bas, dans la plus affreuse des tortures, un crime qu'il n'a pas commis. [remaining columns of the letter not transcribed] ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` Second Year. — Number 87 Five Centimes THURSDAY 13 JANUARY 1898 Director ERNEST VAUGHAN THE DAWN Literary, Artistic, Social ADVERTISEMENTS ARE RECEIVED: 142 — Rue Montmartre — 142 AT THE OFFICES OF THE NEWSPAPER I Accuse...! LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC By ÉMILE ZOLA LETTER TO M. FÉLIX FAURE President of the Republic Mr President, Will you allow me, in my gratitude for the kind welcome you once gave me, to be concerned for your just glory and to tell you that your star, so fortunate until now, is threatened by the most shameful, the most indelible of stains? You have come out safe and sound from base slanders, you have won hearts. You appear radiant in the apotheosis of this patriotic festival that the Russian alliance has been for France, and you are preparing to preside over the solemn triumph of our Universal Exhibition, which will crown our great century of work, truth and liberty. But what a stain of mud on your name — I was about to say on your reign — this abominable Dreyfus affair is! A court-martial has just, on orders, dared to acquit an Esterhazy, a supreme slap in the face to all truth, to all justice. And it is over; France has this stain on her cheek, history will write that it was under your presidency that such a social crime could be committed. Since they have dared, I too shall dare. The truth, I shall tell it, for I promised to tell it if justice, regularly seized of the matter, did not do so, full and entire. My duty is to speak, I do not want to be an accomplice. My nights would be haunted by the spectre of the innocent man who is atoning down there, in the most frightful of tortures, for a crime he did not commit. [remaining columns of the letter not transcribed] ``` Masthead, headline block and the first three paragraphs read from the 1280 px reproduction (first column enlarged for reading); the remaining five columns of the letter are not transcribed here. English is a literal machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader. [← Homenagem da Revista Illustrada aos gloriosos vencedores de Canudos (Tribute of the Revista Illustrada to the Glorious Victors of Canudos)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/homenagem-vencedores-de-canudos-revista-illustrada-1897/) [New York Journal and Advertiser, front page, 17 February 1898 ($50,000 reward, Maine 'work of an enemy') →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ny-journal-maine-destroyed-enemy-1898/) ## Using the same techniques - [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial) - [The Speaker, front page 'The Week', 22 June 1901: Hobhouse report and 'methods of barbarism'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/speaker-hobhouse-camps-methods-of-barbarism-1901/) (United Kingdom · Jun 22, 1901 · Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Text on deaths of women and children in British camps in South Africa, with mortality rates. - ["The War with Japan" (Puck cover, 23 October 1907)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-the-war-with-japan-1907/) (United States · Oct 23, 1907 · Testimonial, Scapegoating) - [Bande Mataram (Paris), memorial page to Madan Lal Dhingra, 17 August 1909](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bande-mataram-paris-dhingra-memorial-1909/) (France · Aug 17, 1909 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Indian Opinion (Phoenix, Natal), page 266: 'Natal Mercury's Comments' and 'The Durban Conference' during the coal-mine strike, 29 October 1913](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-opinion-natal-mercury-durban-conference-1913/) (Union of South Africa · Oct 29, 1913 · Testimonial) - ['Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.' Lord Kitchener postcard (about 1914)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kitchener-duty-bravely-postcard/) (United Kingdom · 1914 · Testimonial, Transfer) - [Политика (Politika), Belgrade, 6 September 1914: "Србија је победила!" (Serbia Has Won!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/politika-6-september-1914/) (Kingdom of Serbia · Sep 6, 1914 · Card stacking, Testimonial). Content note: Wartime front page carrying an unverified atrocity allegation against Austro-Hungarian troops and triumphal claims about enemy morale and losses.