New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-12-20
FREEDOM or SPEECH ~ GERMlNY.

There is evidently good deal to be dOnc
in Germany before the pcaceablc fruits OF
freedom can be enjoyed. Not only is the faint
of feudalism to be eradicaed from public
opinion, and the proper limitations of execu-
tive influence in legislation to DO clearly
established, but the judicial system requires
close and prompt attention. The law DO less
than the judges are sadly in need OF little
daylight and fresh mir. Two trials have re-
Gently taken place in Hanover which SAVIOR Of
a century ago. Last Summer the Church of
Rome fttch on the ed of August the compile
ton by Plus TX of the years of Peter, and
Mr.. Bauer, Hanovcrian journalist, writing
with German deliberatcness on this theme
week after, spoke of tho residence of
St. Peter in ROmc ns an ecclesiastical
fable, which he denounced as "thc first gross
"falschood on which the Papal. pyramid of
Giles has been created" This language may
be open to criticism in point OF taste, though
the sentiment it embodied WAS very freely
expressed over both hemisphcrcs during the
Same week. But of all the protesting scribes
who questioned the record of the Saint, Herr
Blucr was probably The only one WHO has re-
cciycd tho hOnOrs Of mGrtyrlOm. Some
jealous prosecutor brought into play against
him the 1C6th Article of the Criminal Code,
which provides that "any one who may pub
licly insult Christian Church or its Icgu-
CATIONS or ceremonies, shall be punished with
Imprisonment for period not exceeding
"thrco years" On being arraigncd, Mr..
Bauer displayed very little of the stuff of your
true reformer, who GlOres in his punishment.
On the contrary he made an ingenious cxpla-
nation of his language, asserting that lie meant
no disrcspcct to the Roman Catholic Church
that lis structures were devoted entirely to
the temporal power Of the Pope as a political
institution. Ono would think that this was
sufficient plea even in Catholic country, still
more in Protestant Hanover. BIT the ccurt
was not convinced and sentenced the lucklcss
Bauer to eight days of Jail. 1t is dilicult to
see why this decision if carried out in its full
analOgies would not shut up every pulpit in
the Kingdom, and cause ever controversial
work to bc burned by the common hang
man. Unfortunately, o large number of
cstinablc people cannot enjoy their own
religion without the added zcst of abusing
that of their ncighbors and if these demon
STATIONS of zeal are unattended with attacks
upnn The rights and the property Of others,
there seems no justification for prohibiting
good can result from an attempt to suppress
the expression of individual opinion in rclg-
ious matters. The thoughts and reveries which
will be corked up in the brains of students
and thinkers will be infinitely moro trouble
some than tho mere privilege Of announcing
occasionally that the beliefs of others are q
LG0enpw0midc.
Not religious questions alone, but social ones
as well, have been taken in hand by tins vigil
liant Court Of Hanover. More than q year has
passed since the famous "Brunswick mani
fcstO" of the Socialists was issued, and its
authors imprisoned Brake, Won BOnhOrst,
Spier and Kuhn have been lying in prison
ever since. waiting their trial. The authori-
ties were long time ransacking Germany for
evidence against them, and at last accumu-
lated O mass of papers, letters, editorials, and
prOclaluatiOns from which an Indictment was
framed which would fill with horror the soul
of any well-cOnducted sbOp-keeper. According
to this, tho nefarious plan of these miscreants
was "to introduce Republican institutions
into Germany" and the Red Specter
OF course figures prominently in the foreground
of the picture drawn by the prosecutor. The
accused, whilo avOwing their Socialist belief
and purposes, denied any revolutionary plan
or intention; they had kept and meant to keep
strictly within the law. They were not even
working for Republic. The goal of their
endeavOrs was Democratic social and politi-
cal system, or, as they call it, Social Demokrat-
ische Toikstaai, which did not involve any in
jury to a hair of the head of the Kaiser, or a
morsel Of gold leaf on his throne But all this
q W
got sixteen months Of prison. Kuhn. aud