Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1892-08-20
LEsE MAJESTE, A CRIME.
WHERE 1T DOES NOT DO TO
INSULT ROYALTY.
You WIN suner for 1t IL You Are II
Reach OF Royalty's Inauence-How
Queen Christina Punished
Pickle Lover.

OF age, We were spending the sum.
mer at some German baths where
young Prince William the present
emperor OF Germany, was then stay
ing, says writer in the New York
Tribune. | suppose 1t was due to the
associations OF my mothers family
with the royal house OF Prussia and
her own former connection with the
court Of Berlin. that my brother aid
myself were selected as playmates for
the eight-year-old prince. We used to
qua rel a good deal chiefly in conse-
auenee of the princes insistanee that
in playing at soldiers he should al
ways act as Officer and we merely as
the rank and file. During the course
Of one of these daily quagrels | was
unfortunate enough to apostrophiZe
the future emperor rs liar
This shocked my mother sentiment
OF loyalty and devotion to the HOhen-
zollern family in such measure that
she falt ii incumbent upon her to
take me home at once. and to lock me
up supperless in my room until the
next day at noontine. when | was
taken to the villa inhabited biz the
prince and made to ask his pardon
for my rudeness or as | should be
tempted to describe It now. for my
lese majestic.
Were or any one else to-day to re-
peat that epithet Of liar" in come,
ton with Emperor William, either in
his presence or in the hearing OF any
one Of his loyal subjects Il would tn.
volye an imprisonment not ot TWEEN.
ty-four hours in n comfortable bed
room but detention ranging from one
or two months to a maximum live
years in gloomy jail. This Is the
penalty prescribed by the code for the
crime Of lcse majestic The code.
however does not define what icse
majestic really is That is matter
which is left to the discretion OF often
over Jealous officials.
Lese majestic Is crime OF which.
fortunately but little is known ia
| America. On the other side OF the
Atlantic it however. plays very i'm
/ portant role--neyer moro so. perhaps,
than now in Germany and Austria.
where hundreds Of people have been
sentenced to various terms Of near.
ceration for having spoken disrespect-
fully OF the sovereign
A short time ago woman at Prague
was likewise condemned to three
months Imprisonment for having
spoken disrespectfuIly Of the Imperial
family. the disrespect consisting in ii
remark which she made during some
public ceremony TO the effect that
Archduke Frederick. who was present
was Il .'hubscher Kerr = which literal
ly translated means "A pretty fellow"
In this case. however tho family OF
the culprit had the means necessary
to defray the cost Of an appeal against
the sentence which was finally
qLashed by the Supreme Court OF the
Empire Of Vienna
An equally preposterous case was
that Of the editor OF the Postdamer
Zeitung who shortly after the acces.
sion OF Emperor William was charged
with lese majestic OF having said in
his newspaper that the young monarch
had been seen in an 'eiusDanner or
one-horse cab. In making the state.
ment the object Of the editor had been
TO give an illustration of Williams
democratic ways, or rather OF those
which the Germans would have wished
him to have inherited from his "a.
mented father. The authorities how
ever held that the paragraph was
calculated to bring ridicule upon the
sovereign. and. accordingly the
editor was sentenced by the tribunal
at Pot5dam to either imprisonment
or to fine. forget which.
II therefore follows that II anyone
should catch sight OF the German en-
peror In one horse concern he, would
ton 1t to, anyone. lest he should incur
dire penalties and loss OF liberty. He
can save himself however from all
these dangers by embroidering on the
true facts and adding an imaginary
horse to the equipage in which he has
seen the emperor. II would DO an
exaggeratton. but IL would preserve
the speaker from the peril OF Jail.
No less than nine persons are now
undergoing imprisonment for having
rematned seated at public banquets
L AAttV NAAI Ahldi EuApcEQf uGdlLn
was being drunk. the charge against
them in each case peing that Of Males.
tats BeleidiGung or lese majestic
All OF these sentences have o sort Oh
Medieval SAVIOR about them. and are
ulsuited and out Of keeping with a
fertilization SO enlightened as that OF
the closing decade OF the nineteenth
century. They serve to call to mind
the case OF Queen Christina OF Sweden
and Of her grand chamberlain. the
Marquis Monaldeschi which Brown
ing so eloquently describes in his
beautiful poem entitled christina and
Monaldeschi."
The queen. only daughter and
heiress OF King Gustavus Adolphus.
the heir Of the Thirty Years War had
centered all her confidence, all her af-
lection. upon the Marquis. who owed
everything to her. and whom she
trusted implicitly. In an evil hour
| for the MARQUIS she discovered that