Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-07-10
HARD LOT.

A writer specializing on the present
condition of the German government
aud people, says it almost seems as if
the victors in the late Franco German
war had taken home with them the evils
Of the political system which they de-
stroyed. While France is enjoying a
measure of prosperity and political
liberty such as she has never known,
Germany is in q state of industrial and
commercial decay, political corruption
has been developed at a marvellous rate,
and an absolute rule forced on the peo.
pie that is only paralleled in the middle
ages. The latter results from the repres-
sive measures adopted to crush out So
cialism, and are, of course, directly at
tribntable to the late attempts on the
emperor's life. While they are aimed at
the Socialists, their harshness aud petty
tyranny fall on all citizens, and are more
likely to breed a revolutionary spirit
than eradicate obnoxious political and
social ideas. A dispatch from Berlin, Of
the 4th inst calls attention to the eHd
less prosecutions for reasonable utter
ances and seditious crimes in oil parts OF
Germany. Though hundreds Of persons
have been punished for publicly regret
ting the failure Of the attempts against
the emperor's life, there is still no cessa.
ton Of similar prosecutions. A letter
of an earlier date gives a distressing sc-
count Of the condition Of affairs, and
narrates government prosecutions that
would make one laugh were it not for
the petty tyranny they illustrate. Spies
and voluntary informers flourish, and
any citizen is liable to be arrested, tried
and convicted without any clear notice
Of what it is for. He has offended his
majesty" is the vague charge hat causes
prompt arrest and speedy punishment,
often as a means OF wreskiug personal
vengeance. A few cases will illustrate
10 Berlin, the other day, a wealthy
business man who WAS speaking to a
friend Of his about No5ling, the would
be assassin, remarked that be had once
been personally acquainted with the iel
low. The next day he was arrested.
His friend" who probably owed him
some money, had denounced him as
NOblings %accomplice. In Berlin alone
upwards Of fifty persons Of both sexts
we're arrested in ten days on the charge
Of "offenses against his majesty" One
man was sentenced to siz months i'm.
prisonment for thoughtlessly remarking
that Nobling was a bad shot. Another
was arrested and kept in close confae
ment for many days because, according
to the report Of some Of his friends, OF
the day before Nobling's crime he ha.
invited them to a feast on the morrow
without stating the nature OF the feast
A man at Msgdeburg, who was heard t
remark that be would have been a bette
shot than Nobling, was actually ser
fenced to Eve years penal servitudel 1
soldier of the Landwehr who bad spokel
disrespectfully Of the emperor wa
condemned to ten years confinement il
a fortressl Similar facts are reporte.
from all parts Of Germany. By summin
up the reports Of a single week in regar
to this modern inquisitiou the startlin
total is reached Of nearly $50 person
condemned to nearly 300 years impriI
onment. There are amusing and farcica
episodes, too, in this sad page Of Germa
history. We quote:
About a fortnight ago an honest an
%unofending burgher Of Berlin was sen
teaced to two months for singing in
beer saloon the popular air, Wilhelm /
dead, Wilhelm lives no morel' In vail
he protested that be had not the slightes
idea of alludiDe to the kaiser; that il
the i~ullness of his beer owing heart h
had simply sung a f%ayorite old song. Th
judges we're deaf to bis %eutreaties, an'
gave kim full time to mediate over hi
musical repository aud make a new sc
ifc ion OF airs.
At Bingen on the Rhine, the scene O
Mrs. Norion's charming ballad, thl