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
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.
- Date
- January 13, 1898
- Period
- Pre-1914
- Made by
- L'Aurore (Paris daily; director Ernest Vaughan); letter by Emile Zola
- Country
- France
- Medium
- Newspaper pages
- Issuer type
- Media
- Regime
- Meline Government
- Leader
- Jules Meline
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Event
- Dreyfus Affair
- Techniques
- Testimonial
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (reproduction of a Gallica / Bibliotheque nationale de France scan), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (per Wikimedia Commons: published 1898; Zola d. 1902)
L'Aurore, no. 87, 13 January 1898, p. 1; scan from Gallica (Bibliotheque nationale de France) as reproduced on Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
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]
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.
