The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-01-17
THE GEFFICKEN INDICTMENT.
The Document Made Public-The Case to BE

The Document Made Public-The Case to Be
Considered In the Bundesrath.
BERLIN, Jan. 16.-In accordance with
command of Emperor William, the Reich
anzeiger to-day published the Indictment
that was found against Prof. Gefficken, in
order that the people may be enabled to
form their own judgment regarding the ad-
ministratiOn of justice in Germany. The
Indictment states that Prof. Gefficken ex-
tracted from the diary, which contained
700 pages, and which was confided to him
by the late Emperor Frederick, in March,
1873, the portions published. He had no
authority to make the diary public, En-
perOr Frederick himself being of the opinion
that it should only be published after the
lapse of long period after his death.
The Indictment further states that Emperor
Frederick's proclamation, announcing his
accession to the throne. issued on March IL,
was prepared by Prof Gefficken as early as
June, 1885, when the late Emperor William
was seized with fainting fits during stay
at Ems. A number of letters written by
Baron Won Rottggenbach are also printed.
In letter written in Sept, 1883, after
expressing approval of a political memorial
which 1t was proposed to present. to the
Emperor, the writer says that in few days
2 meeting on the subject. would !, be
period pc from iisso to ''I 1887, are are marked
throughout by hostile crit iticism of Bismarck
anfi bis rolicy. Morier is frequently paen-
Toned in the course of the correspondence,
the references to him showing that he was
In the confidence of the writer.
Notice was given in the Bundsrath to-day
that motion would be made at to-mor-
rows session that the Geficken affair be
made the order of the day. Bismarck has
Sr mitfpd fO fba RupdSraf fh all the dOcu-
ments used during the judicial inquiry, in
Guiding the correspondence seized at the
residence of Baron Won Rottggenbach.
The Reichsanzieger, publishes Prince Bis
he points out the necessity for publishing
the Indictment in order to counteract the
perniciOus effect of the Misrepresentation
of home and foreign journals, which, he
says, aim at representing the public prose-
cutor and the imperial tribunal as being
partial and inspired with a desire for
persecution. The indictment says that
Geffiken admitted it was unlikely that
Empress Frederick would have given per-
mission to publish the diary, and quotes
from a letter written by Gefficken to his
wife, from HeligOland, as follows: .'The
matter worries me so that / cannot sleep.
Oh, if 1 had only followed your good advice;
my intentions were the purest. l had no
idea that should raise such, Storm" 1t
appears that his wife had warned him
against publishing the diary.
The Gefficken Indictment states that
Professor Gefficken confessed that he be-
lieved that Emperor Frederick would, not
have given him the diary had he thought 1T
made extracts from the diary for his own
use, never thinking that the Emperor
would die before himself. His object in
publishing the extracts was to show that
Emperor Frederick was noble idealogist
and the. moving power at the founda-
ing. the. abstracts published with
copies of diaries in the possession
of the government, it appears that the man
uscript from which Gefficken copied has
disappeared without leaving trace Three
widow; Minister Won Stosch, and the nov
elist Frey tag-tO prove that the late EN-
peror Frederick never contemplated pub.
fishing his diary.
The violation of secrecy, which is the
under six heads: First, the origin and
| constitution of the empire; sec
ond, relations with the Vatican; third, witt
| Russia; fourth. with England; fifth with
Luxembourg and the guaranteeing powers
sixth. with Belgium and France. Under thu
| first head the Indictment says that the ides
| which Emperor Frederick contemplated o.
| employing force against the southern
| states, would beget a fear of sucl
| force in future which might induce thos'
| StttcS, tS odlcty piCCduoiou, W Hldh
| agreements with other powers damaging t,
| their relations with the empire. The in
dictment quotes official reports from tn,
| Prussian legations in Bavaria, Saxony
Wurtemberg and Baden, and in thi
sense further diplomatic and semi -officia
press reports from various European capi
tails are quoted, in similar manner, L
show how statements in the diary tended
to injure Germany's interests abroad, an,
incite distrust of the German empire. Tn
indictment then proceeds to prove tha
Gefficken. being professor of public law
was perfectly aware of the consequences o
the publication. 1t quotes letters disprov
ing the statement that he was sufferin
from mental alteration; asserts tha
he burned Rodenburg's letters i
order to put the public on tn
wrong track as to the authorship of the al
ticle, and quotes expressions used by Ge1
fcken decade ago at Barmen, from whic
it is concluded that his ambition had bee
disappointed and that he desired the ovel
throw of Bismarck. Two letters froI
Rottggenback were found, dissuading Gel
ficken from his intention to submit men
orial to the present Emperor, and attackin
and secretly trying to discredit Bismarcl