The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-04-04
Protestant Ministers, Editors Bishop and Priests
Arrested and Imprisoned.
THIRTY DAYS IN ENLIGHrENnD GERMANY.
From the Pail Mall Gazette. ]

IFrom the Pail Mall Gazette.I
Since the commencement of the present
wear the Frankfort Gazette, German
Newspaper of strong democratic views has
heading calender of the German War of
Enlightenment" list of the proceedings
instituted under the various laws passed
since the formation of the new German
Empire for dealing with ecclesiastical press
and political questions. An ahalysls OF
this calender for the month of January
gives some. instructive results as to the
liberty of speech aud action which the new
Empire thought good to concede to its
subjects. AS might have been expected,
the ecclesiastical prosecutions are the most
numerous. The list comprises sixty eccles-
iastics, who have during the month been
either tiued, Imprisoned or banished for
offences against tho new laws; among
them are five bishops and several Protest
ant clergymen. The offence of which the
Catholic priests appear to have been chiefly
guilty is that of performing their spiritual
functions in contravention of the May laws.
Prosecutions against private persons rank
next 10 point of numbers. In this category
forty two persons were successfully prose
cuted by the governments few Roman
Catholics for displaying too much zeal for
their religion, but by far the larger num-
her (many of whom came under the desig-
nation Of social democrats) for being too
outspoken in their political opinions. Jour
nalists were the subjects of twenty seven
prosecutions, each of which resulted in
| fine or imprisonment. The newspaper
pDon which official displeasure seems to
have fallen most heavily is the Westphalian
Mercury whose editors in the course o
eighteen months, have been sentenced tt
two wears and seven months imprison
ment. In addition to these prosecutions
twelve public meetings were closed by the
police, in several instances the speaker
| being seized nine schOolmasters or pro
fessors were relieved of their functions ant
seven domiciliary visits were made to per
sons who were supposed to have fallen be
peath the cognizance of new laws. 1t /
worthy of remark that one head school
master Herr Ulenbrioch, of Oberhausen-
was dismissed for refusing to hang mp in hi
schoOrOom the portrait OF Prince Bismarck
, beneath that of the Emperor. Primo
Bismarck, according to the calender, is re
sponsible for no fewer than twelve prose
cutions, during January, of persons VIII
had presumed to criricise him too freely
, while the Emperor has but eight actions Z
the kind to his credit, one of them bein
brought against a ragpicker of Darmstad
five months and half for speaking dis
: respectfully of his sovereign. The forego
ing figures refer only to prosecutions wbic
have resulted in punishment; but tn
calender published Ivy the Frsnkfor
Gazette also gives the statistics of thos
which ended in acquittal. The punish
u ments inflicted by the courts are not as
9 rule very severe but n list of close upo
II $50 prosecutions, entaiiing in the aggregat
y fnes amounting to about f400. aud sen
Is fences of imprisonment equal altogether t
e period of nearly twelve ears, to say n"tt
I ing of other repressive measures, indicate
g a tolerably busy month for the pub ic pro-
1t ecutOr.