The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-24
SAFEGUARDS ron RULERS.
secret Police and Their Methods of
Protection-Queen Victoria struck
in the Face.
From The New York Tribune.


From the New York Tribune
There are few countries. either monar-
ehical or republican in which the sud
den death of the chief of the state at
the hand of an assassin is not calculated
to produce a crisis of such Importance
as TO shake the political, the administra-
tive the economic, and social fabric Of
the nation to its very foundations This
being the case it is only natural that the
most elaborate systems of protection
should be organized for the safety Of the
rulers and that the Staying of the lat
ter should be regarded as more than an
ordinary murder, even in republican coun-
tries, The assassin of President Carnot
was treated as a parricide and conducted
10 the ScaffOld at Lyons barefooted and
with a Grape veil covering his head and
race Yet, that all these meas
ures are never entirely adequate is shown
by the number Of soVereigns and presi-
dents who have succumbed to the hand
OF the assassin in the last thirty or forty
years, while still more of them bear upon
their persons the scars of wounds inhict-
ed by assailants. Among these thus mark
ed are queen Isabella of Spain, Emperor
Francis Joseph of Austria, and Emperor
Nicholas of Russia. while the Shah Of
Persia, who was murdered last week. has
but shared the fate of Presidents Lincoln,
Garfield and CarnOt, of Sultan Abdul-Aziz,
of Michael of Servia, of Alexander of Rus
STA, Of Charles II of Parma. of Danilo of
Montenegro, and of several more
Contrary TO popular belief. it IS no longer
the gorgeously apparelled bodyguards
who constitute the principal safeguard OF
rulers. If they still exist, it is more for
the purposes Of pomp and show than for
protection. The duty of providing protec-
ton rs vested in the hands of the police
who are for the most part arraYed in pla n
citizens clothes so as not to attract any
attention that might impair their useful
ness. Indeed, the general public knows
very little about them and has but faint
idea Of the extent to which they surround
their illustrious charges with precautions
all the more difficult to devise by reason
or the necessity OF keeping them from the
knowledge not alone Of the outside world
but lso of the very people for whose ben
eilt they are organized. Thus the picked
men OF the n division of the London police
TO w9oa Is assigned the responsible duty
81 guarding the queen and the Prince Of
W aleSc not alone. from danger but also
from annoyance, are under orders to hide
as far as possible from them the fact that
they have any risk to run, either small or
great. They are expected to keep out of
slght as much as possible, and yet to be
ever on mana IN moments of trouble and
danger. and at all costs to avoid everything
IN the shape Of publicity and fuss.
Each year they arrest many individuals.
mostly cranks, for offences connected with
the royal family. no intima ton of which
ever reaches the ear of the public Mad
men ana mad women without number on
deavor 10 obtain interviews with the queen
as well as with the Prince of Wales either
pS Gaining at the royal residences. or else
ny trying to waylay them when they are
waking or driving out. The male cranks
are mostly in love with the queen or pro-
TESS to he her son or husband while the
women either allege that they are tbe
/ daughters or sisters of her majesty. or else
thdt they have been secretly married to
the Prince of Wales. Then, too. there are
any number OF crazy inventors, authors
and poets who are determined to draw
royal attention to their unapDreciafe d
genius. With the object Of projecting the
! queen from encounters with peODle suCb az
/ these, the police are informed an hOur he
/ forehand of the itinerary of her daily
/ drive. and thereupon at certain Doints
/ along the route constables in plain clot hes
/ take up their station in an unObtrusi,-e
magner. and do not hesitate to arrest a +
/ once and to remove any stranger whose
4 actions or appearance are in the LEAST sus-
! picious. The people thus taken into chs
/ tody are either warned out of the district
in which her majesty may happen 10 he
residing at the time, or else are CONSIGNED
i to the insanity board of the county work
house.
/ Until last summer these elaborate pre-
cautions were relaxed when the court
/ was a BalmOral the country for miles
/ around the castle being the private prom
] erty of the queen, and as such supposed
/ 10 be inaccessible TO the general public.
/ Last spring, however, a man who sub
/ seQuenuy turned out to be insane was
! captured just outside the lodge gates
! Of Balmoral on the Ballater road. which
/ the queen daily passes along on her af-
I ternoon's drive. II was just before the
/ royal carriage was due that a policeman