The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-07-02


the bane OF Lassalle's life. On the one hand.
1t helped him to undertake and carry through
things from which thousands. even though as
splendidly endowed. would have sbrunk: but,
on the other hand. II was the cause Of many
fatal mistakes, and. finally. ofhis unhappy end.
After leaving the university Lassalle went in
1S44to Paris. where at that time the tide Of the
Socialist movement was running very high
Whether or to what extent Lassalle became
acquainted with the German Socialists. then
living In Paris the author OF the book before
us cannot say. but the fact is recalled TINT he
associated intimately with Heinrich Heine to
whom he had an Introduction. and to whom no
rendered great services In the matter Of dis
puted inheritance. Tho letters. In which the
sick poet expressed his gratitude and ad-
miration for the twenty-year- old Lassalle, are
we'll known. Having returned to Germany
Lassnlle in 1916 made tho acquaintance
OF the Countess Hatzfedt For years tho
Countess had been trying to obtain .
judicial separation from her husband. Count
Hatzfedt, who had subjected her to the
grossest Ill usage and insults. Though not q
lawyer. Lassalle took 1t upon himself to con-
duct the Countess's case. 1t was an extra
ordinary undertaking. requiring all the skill.
acuteness. and acumen Of IN experienced
lawyer. The warfare between Lassalle and
Count Hatzfeldt lnsted for years. the most
famous Incident In 1t being the oft-told story
OF the casket robbery. For melting TO the
robbery OF n casket containing papers i'm
portant in the case. Lassalle was tried by jury
ia August. 1S4S but after a seven days trial.
at the end Of which Lassalle spoke for six
hours. the jury dismissed the charge 1t is in
teresting to note that the young Count
Paul Hatzfeldt, whose fortune was involved
In the stolen papers. is the present
Ambassador from the German empire
to the court OF st. James's. At last.
in 1854. the Hatzfeldt case came to an end.
The Countess received considerable fortune.
and to Lassalle was assured yearly income
OF 1000 thalers. which allowed him to or
der his life after his own heart. There has
been much speculation concerning the motives
which induced Lassalle to take the Countess's
case in hand and to devote to it eight years OF
his life. Some have explained them by love
affair with the no longer youthful but still
very beautiful woman. but Lassalle himself
at the "casket trial" passionately protested
that his sole incentive had been a feeling Of
pity for a prosecuted woman. deserted by her
friends. the victim Of her social position
and the object OF the brutal oppression
of an insolent aristocrat The author
OF this book can see no reason for
refusing to believe this statement OF
Lassa!os. Whether Lassalle In later years
did not for a time enter into closer relationship
than that Of friendship with the Countess. he
will not affirm. but oven on purely psychology
cal grounds 1t Is pronounced improbable that
such a relationship should have existed at the
beginning Of their acquaintance when Las
sale took UP the lawsuit 1t is represented as
moro probable that. In addition to his some.
what romantic and exaggerated. yet most
worthy. partisanship OF prosecuted woman
and hatred OF great aristocrat, Lassalle was
by the fact that hero was an affair
which only the use OF extraordinary measures
and the display Of extraordinary energy could
bring to successful issue He came out
OF the lawsuit victorious. but not scath-
less To win 1t. he had certainly been
obliged to resort to extraordinary m easures.
1t was not. or rather it was not merely. a mat
ter OF extraordinary grasp OF the legal issues
Of extraordinary readiness and dexterity in
parrying the enemy's thrusts. There were
also the extralegal measures OF under
ground warfare: spying. bribery and burrow-
ing in the nastiest scandal and filth. Count
q coarse sensualist. stuck at MOTH
Ing to attain his ends. and in order to thwart
his dirty manTuvres the other side resorted
TO means that were not much more clean. We
are assured that no one who has not read
the documents Of the case can have any cor
ception OF the filth raked up and again
and again dragged forward: OF the ma
ture OF the accusations on both sides
and the witnesses. Never did Lassale
luite shake off the after effects of his inverted
Augean labors in the Hatzfeldt trial. Mr.. Bern
stein does rot say this from the viewpoint of
morality. He refers rather to Las
sales readiness. henceforth repeatedly exhib-
ted to welcome and make use OF any means
hat seemed likely to further the ends he had
or the TINA being in view. He refers to the
oss Of good taste and OF moral judgment so
often shown thereafter and most strongly
marked during the tragic closing episode OF
ais life. 1t was as youthful enthusiast that
Lassalls had plunged into the Hatzfeldt case.
When he emerged from 1t he had been affected
,y the rottenness Of the society with which he
had had to deal. For long time his originally
liner instincts struggled against the effects of
he poison. often successfully beating them
back, but eventually he succumhed.