Esterhazy's manifest relationships with the German Embassy, compared his handwriting with that of the famous bordereau attributed to Dreyfus, and became convinced that they were the same.
But when he intimated to his superiors of the General Staff, who had at first encouraged him, that he was ready to proceed against Esterhazy, he was told to be cautious, and in the autumn of 1896 he was sent on a dangerous mission in Tunisia, and Esterhazy was not tried for another year. While away, Colonel Picquart received letters and telegrams of a compromising nature, which were obviously sent to discredit him.
Meanwhile, a facsimile of the bordereau had been published in the Matin to reassure the Anti-Dreyfusards, who were becoming somewhat uneasy. It was a mistaken step, however, for almost at once it was seen not to have been written by Dreyfus, so that it was not reassuring at all. Meanwhile, the Anti-Dreyfusard paper, L'Eclair, actually had the folly to state that Dreyfus had not been condemned because of the bordereau, but upon a letter which had never been shown either to him or to his lawyer. This fact, so damning to his judges, came out in other ways.
Esterhazy, in fact, knew that the net was drawing closer round him. On the 14th November, 1897, it was stated in the Figaro that a
