The record-union., 1896-04-19
The Party Of the Center EndeaVoring to
Do Away With Such Practices.
Will Call on the Government to Take
Some Definite Action.

piOned by Leading Berlln ana
Provincial Newspapers-The En-
peror Appealed to to Intervene and
Vigorously Put Stop to 1t.
BERLIN, April 1S.-The party of the
Center in the Reichstag has decided to
put some questions to Chancellor Won
in regard to the recent Ger
man duels, and ask to be informed what
measures the Government proposes to
take to prevent similar encounters in
the future. The question will also be
raised in the Prussian Landtag.
This movement of the Centerists finds
support in the highest social quarters
and is also championed by all of the
leading Berlin and provincial news
papers, and it is significant that a
journal of the character of the Cologne
"GaZette' in a series of articles on the
subject deplores the injury to it's
prestige which the court continues to
suffer from it's supposed sympathy with
dueling, and appeals to the Emperor
to intervene and vigorously put stop
to the practice.
In the meantime the increasing public
agitation against dueling has prevented
a series of duels which were expected to
arise out of the KotZ-Schrader affair
The meeting which was arranged be-
tween BaronS Lancken and Hahn has
been stopped, and several other impend-
ing encounters are off. Lieberecht Won
Ot2 and his fo p1i1yy have 1aft Pnr1iy, ~
the south of Europe Their exact des-
is kept secret
A majority of those who are fully in
formed as to the quarrel between Won
Kotz and Schrader consider the death
of the latter as kind of gottesgericht
Judgment of Cod. When the scandal
was first bruited in the summer of 1894
Schrader was designated in the United
Press dispatches as the originator of
the trouble which resulted in Kotz' S
string of misfortunes, his unjust i'm
prisonment under the order of the EN-
peror and his subsequent private trial
and release with a tainted name
amounting to social and official death
Schrader was kotz's accuser, and re-
mained his bitter enemy even when the
latter's innocence had been proved.
The newspapers allege that Schrader
addressed letter to the Emperor prior
to the duel, endeavoring to clear him
self of any share in the scandal, but it
cannot be learned that any such letter
exists
There has also been a complete change
in the attitude of the Emperor. For a
long time his majesty placed the great
ra1io Col
he turned against him, and his studied
contempt for him was shown by his
omission to send a wreath to his fun
eral and his refusal to permit the use
of the Friedrichskirche or the Garri-
zonkirche at Potsdam for the deceased
Master Of Ceremonies.
In spite of the action which the En-
peror had taken, however, a large con-
tingent of the court society testified
their respect for the dead duelist.
The Dowager Empress Frederick, al
though very strong in her condemna-
ton OF the practice of dueling, sent to
the family of Baron Won Schrader a
message of sympathy and coincidence.
and also sent g, wreath OF roses to be
placed upon the coffin.
The body of Baron Won Schrader was
taken on Thursday to Ratzonberg, the
family seat. The parish clergyman re-
fused to give the body a Christian
burial, and Court Chaplain Wendelandt
officiated in his place. The Ratzenberg
veterans fired volley over his grave.
The delay in taking, any action
against Won Kotz for the killing of
Won Schrader has created a widespread
hnf ba J.
sirous that the popular feeling against
dueling shall abate before any appli-
cation is made to the law, not wishing
TO brand the custom as an absolute
offense. In support of this idea, it is
observed that the Hamburg Mach
richten," Prince Bismarck's organ. in
an article on the subject, indicates a
certain reaction in favor of the prac-
tice, contending that the higher classes
cannot wholly abandon the usage,
which has a distinctive social value.
The reports circulated by the German
and foreign press that there has been
a renewal of the Dreibund treaties is
an outcome of the meetings of the EN-
peror and King Humbert of Italy and
Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria.
but they are greatly at variance with
the open facts. The treaty between
Germany and Austria is not subject to
periodical renewal. 1t has no fixed
term of duration and theoretically con-
tues forever, though practically it can
be repudiated at any time. The treaties
between Italy and Germany and Aus
tria, however, are ipso facto renewal
BILE every five years, unless they are
respectively renounced upon either
side one year before their expiration
The last renewal Of these treaties was
made in 1892. The Hamburg Core
spondenz," an official organ, denies the
suggestion that any question of renewal
or alteration of the Dreibund compact
was involved in the recent meeting of
the monarchs party to that alliance.
A considerable number of members
of the Colonial Association are forming
new organization in consequence of
the very general dissatisfaction in colo
nial circles by the scandals affecting
Dr. Carl Peters. Prince Won Arneberg,
Chairman of the Reichstag Committee
on Colonial Affairs, and DR.. HANNA
cher, leader of the National Liberal
party in the Reichstag, are at the head
of the movement.
Some reflects of the disturbances be-
tween the natives and Germans IN
South Africa is to be seen in a men
aced uprising of the natives in German
African territory A dispatch from
namaraland says that the Hereros are
raidng the white settlers, and that Ma
jor Leutwein. the Governor of German