Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-28
POLlSHEDBARBS FOR PRINCES
Insult Reduced TO Fine Art by German
Editors and Panphleteers,
HOW LESE MAI:STe is tVA0sD
The Responsible Editor n Convenient
Jnnitor-Historicnl Pnralicls-
Modern Instances of
the Art.

less Volkszeitungs in Germany sat in court
answering the familiar charge Of insulting
a prince.
you are the responsible editor Of the
volkszeitung?" asked the presiding
Judge.
81 am"
And as such you are named in every
issue Of the volkszeitung?"
81 am"
Did you write the article which gave
rise to this action?"
81 did not"
What class of articles Go you writer"
II do not write any articles"
What, then, are your duties?"
u sweep the office and receive the cards
OF persons who wish to see the editors"
what else?"
We'll in winter I build the fires and keep
them going"
rs that all?"
NO | dust the desks to see that each
| gentleman has his paper and ink ready for
work and scOur the windows and come
| times help distribute the papers,
Anything else?"
Why, your honor, what do you expect
| Tor go marks G15) a month";"
The koelnische Zeitung, which reported
the trial, cut short at this point it's ac-
count of the examination of the Volkszei-
1
| alizing on the deceptions and tricks which
| laws regarding insult of majesty. other
wise known as majestaetsbeie- digung or
| ieSe majestic, had forced upon the German
| press, vi course. the editor on trial was
| no editor dt all, except in name He re-
GeiVed his SIS a month merely as z ianitor.
| lhough he was announced to satisfy the
Jaw, In every issue of the Volkszeitung as
| the responsible editor, he never had penned
a me Tor Its columns. For this very rea-
| coll.
Iespohslhlilty for tho men who wrote the
newspaper: If arrested. tried and i'm
pf1Sohei he never would be missed The
Volkszetung would take on another ioni-
tor from It's waiting list, for even in over
educated Germany ianitors are rn,ch r,o-o
abundant than editors.
But the fiction of the responsible editor
,s oniy one or several means by which the
10" lCr the protection of roy:! reput, tlons
| Is lHwaNed' 1t belongs 10 the daily mi
| weuNiy press The panphleteeTs. who up
peal to class of higher average in,aIii-
| gence, have better trick. The most ceIo-
| orated example Of this style Of literature
| ls recent Zines is "Caligula" " written hv the
sou'h German professor Quidde "Calgula"
was aimed directly at the throne. Il was in
| tenueu tC tell the German pe~pie that ,belr
emperor was of the type Of the old Roman
hcnster; that his mind was of the same
! CIloer, ana his impulses OF the Same no
| lure' mat he was passing through the n,me
| course t oi development and that he prom
;i. sgG 10 Dring up in the same sink of in
| lquity' cruelty and madness. The early
promise that Caigula gave of better ,bings
| the dismissal Of tried statesmen the prnw.
| ing love of display that distiug,Iished bis
| reign ana his waxing eccentricity and final
N.rureSs were depicted by Quidde with q
| palnstaking use of modern political phrosas
and current German idioms Where Roman
history threatened to mar the parable he
| tween the monstrous Caesar and The reign
! ing Hchenzollern, Quidde bent II forclbIv
mo ihe' So without once mentioning an
o',. oueHI Vi me last thousand years, and with
put once h!ntlng at nineteenth century men
ne accused William H. of about every enor-
| hllty that human being can conceive
| QuIlDES HISTORICAL PARALLEL
Quludo position was absolutely impreg-
aaole, although his onslaught on the throne
was as vicious and direct as IL could hc
np4uc. ana MS pamphlet was sold up TO the
| twehuem EDITION. There was net a sen
| tence on which the crown prosecutor coni5
| hang a complaint. The whole eInplre rang
with the scandal of the insult and dire
wrath reigned supreme in Berlins old castle
~ ~unu rotsdam new palance, yet Quiide was
| as safe from the clutches of the llw as df he
| mad been in Timbuctoo or Chicago "CaIi-
| sulE was a delicate and poisonous niece of
work: 1t probably has only one superior in
| the literary products OF the lese maiecte
paragraph and that one is in another c!1ss.
in
tone than the Quidde pamphlet 1t includes
revelations of royal scandals notably youth
| lul msdeets In money und love The
scenes of these scandals are laid in the
present, usually, but the names of the
actors are omitted, or given only in distorted
loFin. loFin. Most Of the books, pamphlets and
daily newspaper articles regarding the Kotze
scanial belonged to this clrss For instance
| IN The Secret of the Master of Ceremonies,
Aurlch, 1896 In which Emperor William is
Drought 10 book for some of his love affairs
| under the name CT King Victor Baron Kctze
is mentioned as Baron Speiers. Conntess
Hohenau appears as Countess Hohenhorst
ana the chief of the political police Major
Won Pausch, who then was in difficulties and
therefore safe subject, was disguised but
eaIilly as Herr Won Rausch. All this may
seem rather clumsy, but it was in this class
| OF trlckery, nevertheless, that the lese
| maJeste paragraph, and other provisions Of
| its klnd, have been cheated most cleyerly In
| recent times.
| The EMPEROR'S BROTHER-IN-LAW
One instance is worth telling in some de-
tail' not only because of the light 1t throwe
| oi tne straits of German newspapers but
| also because OF the view it affords of the
| emperors brOther-in-law Duke Ernst
| Gunther of Schleswlg- Holsten This fam
| poyant gentleman has been the subject of
much anonymous and semi-ancnymous liter
| ature for, when not engaged in some
abandoned spree, he has been set up bv
| the emperor under the halo of divine right
| 10 lecture the nobility on its duty to man
kind. As frst-class capacity at the wine
| that Is red, at the table that is green and
| al the chastity that is stained Ernst Gun
| ther has been a sight for kings and noble
men during his periodical appearances in
the role OF moral preceptor In fact. his
lectures on moderation and duty have been
resented by the nobility and not a few
| OF the newspaper attacks on him have been
| inspired by the counts and barcns whom
ne he's offended Thus II ca me that. when
the royal dukes betrothal to the young
| Princess Dorothea of Cobuig -Oohary was
| announced early last summer, the masked
| batteries were opened on him.
| The most cunning, and at the same time
the most daring attack came from a Ber-
| lin Journal Die Welt am Montag Uhe World
| on Monday, whose name, in view of the
| proyerbal blueness of Mondiy, may be in
| tended to explain its periodical publication
| OF very blue" stories. The writer took
| ostensibly as his subject a man who was
| prosecuted by the political police tod his
| story in am easy careless manner and
| brought In as II but incidentally the details
| OF the last diegraceful affair in which the
| imperial brother-in-law had been involved
Ernst Gunther appears In a narrative as
Duke S (Schleswlg), which would be
| Indefinite enough OF itself were II not for
| the care with which the scene of his crime
| is laid In K Koenniggraetzer) street