permit neither
public nor defensive procedure, nor do they permit the accused to
receive any communication regarding his case, nor is any right of
defense assured him._

"This is arbitrary injustice; the Judge left to himself, that is,
to his impressions, his prejudices, and his surroundings. This is
abandoning the accused in his distress, to grapple alone with his
all-powerful adversary.

"This justice uncontrolled, and consequently without guarantee,
constitutes for us the most dangerous and oppressive of
illegalities. _We cannot conceive justice as a judicial or moral
possibility without free defense._

"Free defense, that is, light thrown on all the elements of the
suit; public sentiment being heard in the bosom of the judgment
hall, the right to say everything in the most respectful manner,
and also the courage to dare everything, these must be put at the
service of the unfortunate one, of justice and law.

"It is one of the greatest conquests of our history. It is the
keystone of our individual liberty.

"_What are your sources of information?_

"Besides the judges, the men of the Secret Service and the
denouncers (in French: 'delateurs').

"The Secret Service men in civilian clothes, not bearing any
insignia, mixing with the crowds in the street, in the cafes, on
the platforms of street cars, listen to the conversations carried
on around them, ready to grasp any secret, on the watch not only
for acts but for intentions.

"These denouncers of our nation are ever multiplying. _What
confidence can be placed in their declarations, inspired by hate,
spite, or low cupidity?_ Such assistants can bring to the cause of
justice no useful collaboration.

"If we add to this total absence of control and of defense, these
preventive arrests, the long detentions, the searches in the
private domiciles, _we shall have an almost complete idea of the
moral tortures to which our aspirations, our convictions, and our
liberties are subjected at the present time_. * * *

"Will it be said that we are living under martial law: that we are
submitting to the hard necessities of war: that all should give way
before the superior interests of your armies?

"_I can understand martial law for armies in the field. It is the
immediate