The Judge.--“Then you do not know what state it was in?” General de Pellieux.--“No.” The Judge.--“But yesterday you gave us details.” General de Pellieux.--“Major Esterhazy says that a piece of furniture was forced, and that traces of this still remain.” M. Clemenceau.--“Then what General de Pellieux told us he got from Major Esterhazy.” Colonel Picquart admitted that one of his agents had entered Esterhazy’s premises, which were to let. The Judge.--“This agent had no legal warrant.” Colonel Picquart.--“No, but he entered the apartment by lawful means.” M. Clemenceau.--“He did not enter as a robber.” M. Labori.--“No equivocations. I ask General de Pellieux whether he thinks it possible to ask the chief of the bureau of information belonging to the French war department to keep a watch on spies in the interest of the national defence without giving him the right, if he is an honorable officer above suspicion, to make an investigation?” General de Pellieux.--“I think he has the right.” M. Labori.--“The reply is satisfactory.” General de Pellieux.--“But I add that I do not admit his right to do so without a legal warrant.” M. Clemenceau.--“I ask General de Pellieux, who knows the law, and who can explain whether a search is legal, if the search of Colonel Picquart’s premises was illegal.” General de Pellieux.--“Show me that it is illegal.” The Judge.--“Were you not a judicial officer of police?” General de Pellieux.--“Yes, and had the right to make a search. The military code will show it.” M. Clemenceau.--“The military code declares that the search, to be valid, must be made in the presence of the interested party. If you had found a document of any value, Colonel Picquart could have claimed that it had been brought to his apartment in his absence.” M. Labori.--“Besides, M. Picquart was not accused. There was only one accused,--Major Esterhazy. He was accused by the chief of the bureau of information to whom this service had been entrusted because he was the most worthy of it, and it was his premises that they searched.” General de Pellieux.--“I am evidently ignorant regarding procedure. At every step I took the advice of a magistrate, M. Bertulus.” M. Labori.--“Was it M. Bertulus who suggested to General de Pellieux to search the house for smuggled matches?” General de Pellieux.--“I gave a police commissioner a search-warrant. If the police commissioner offered this pretext in order to carry out his orders, he is responsible.” M. Labori.--“Did General de Pellieux, when entrusted with the duty of investigation, order Major Esterhazy to observe absolute discretion, and stay at home instead of exercising his liberty,--a liberty which he used in going daily to the offices of ‘Le Jour,’ ‘La Libre Parole,’ and other newspapers?” General de Pellieux.--“I did, and in writing.” M. Labori.--“How well, in the opinion of General de Pellieux, were his orders obeyed by Major Esterhazy?”