Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-30
LEADING GERMAN WRITER
Yields the Most Dreaded Pen in All
the Empire.
UEsANDCABALs OF COURT
Revelations Of the Ground Table"
Doings-serious Charges Finally
Provoked Challenge for Duel.
Special Cablegram to The Star.

Special Cablegram to The Star.
BERLIN, June 29-The German capital
has cause celebre which promises to be
unusually rich in sensations This is. the
criminal libel action brought by Gen. Count
Won Moltke, ex-military governor of Ber-
lin, against Herr Macmillan Harden, editor
Of the Zukunft.
Herr Harden yields the most dreaded pen
in the German empire, and he has In the
last few years conquered for himself a po-
sition which is unique in the field of Ger
man journalism. He first came to the front
about twelve or thirteen years ago. He
wrote a series Of articles under the title of
Apostata which created a sensation in Ber-
lin. In country where the press is kept
SO carefully in hand as in Germany people
were unaccustomed to read such outspoken
opinions. for Herr Harden did not even fear
to criticize the kaiser himself. Some eight
or ten years ago he founded the Zukunft,
a little weekly review of about thirty pages,
In which he continued his outspoken arti-
cles There is perhaps no journalist to
whom he can be compared except perhaps
to Henri Rochefort, the great French pam
phleteer, in his prime, when his Lanterne
shook the second empire with sledge-ham-
mer strokes. His outspokenness was not
long in getting Herr Harden into trouble.
He was accused of lese majestic, and did
term of Imprisonment in a German fortress
But his writings attracted the attention
also of Prince Bismarck. then growing at
FREDERICKSBURG and pouring out the bitter
ness OF his heart about the way the kaiser
had treated him. He sent for Herr Har-
den, and sort of alliance was formed
between them. The journalist was a fire.
quent visitor to FREDERICKSBURG, and he
soon came to be regarded as an active
exponent of the views Of the eX-chancellor
h1f
confided to him many things that gave him
the key to much that was going on be-
hind the scenes in German government
circles. Bit by bit Herr Harden became
identified with the Bismarckian standpoint,
and even today he is looked upon as the
best exponent of Bismarckian traditions
both at home and abroad. But what the
ex-chancellOr undoubtedly initiated him
into, among other things, were the in
trigues and cabals of the Berlin court.
Intrigue Rife in Berlin Court.
There is no court in Europe where more
mysterious nets are spun-no court where
intrigue is SO rife. ALI Bismarcks career
was undoubtedly embittered by constant
struggle against secret enemies. The court
hated him to man, and undoubtedly
did much to poison the mind Of the kaiser
against him. The famous Arnim case was
only one of the few intrigues that became
publicly known. But nobody knew better
than did Bismarck how untiring were his
enemies and no sooner was one intrigue
defeated than another one was started.
Powerful noblemen had the ear Of the
kaiser from his youth up, and used their
great power to embarrass the policy Of the
iron chancellor.
In this respect there has been no change
in German official life. Intrigues and
cabals are still rampant The kaiser is
surrounded by men like Prince Henckel
Won Donnersmarch, Prince Phillip zu
Gutenberg, Gen. Won Hulsen, and a dozen
more who form kind OF power behind the
throne, with which even the most powerful
of ministers must still reckon.
The extent to which these intrigues are
spun was clearly proved some years ago
when Baron Won Marschal Won EIeber-
stein, secretary of state for foreign af-
fairs, found that the only way that he
could sweep away the network that was
being drawn around him was to indulge
publicity" He had few obscure news
papermen arrested and put on trial for
libeling him, and proved that the man
who inspired them. and to whom they
went daily for their instructions, was
Herr Tausch the head of a political sec
ton Of the Berlin police. For whom he
was working never transpired, at least
in open court. The criminal authorities
did not dare to probe the thing TOO far.
The preSsmen were sentenced to various
terms of imprisonment and Herr Iausch
during the hearing of the case was
transferred to Alsace Lorraine. But the
affair did not profit Marschal Won Bleber-
stein. The court clique could not forgive
him for having exposed their intrigues,
and sufficient pressure was brought to
bear on the kaiser to have him Iemoved
from office as secretary of state FIR for
eign affairs and exiled to Constantinople,
a gilded exile, but still an exile.
Victims of the Court Cabal.
The next victim of court intrigue was
Gen. Count Caprivi. Prince Bismarck's
successor in the chancellorship. Count
Caprivi was a loyal soldier and one of
the most chivalrous of men ever known
in the service of the kaiser. But tor this
very reason he could not defend himself
against the intrigues of the court. His
worst enemies were the members of the
Eulenburg family, and it was during a
visit of the kaiser to Liebenburg castle,
the Eulenburg family seat near Berlin,
that the kaiser finally decided upon the
downfall of Count Caprivi.
The Eulenburgs, General Count Won
Moltke military governor of Berlin; Gen.
Won Hulsen, chief of the military cabinet
of the kaiser. and half dozen more men,
bers of the court form group whose in
f1uence must be reckoned upon by even the
imperial chancellor. There has been dam
ger in the past even that this set of men,
knowing the military loving disposition of
the kaiser, would even induce the emperor
to take some step which would cause some
complications with the foreign powers
There was an example of this two years
led to the Moltke-Harden conflict.
Three years ago one of the leading Off
Gals at the foreign Office was Herr Won
Holstein. He was next in rank to the sec
rotary of state for foreign affairs. and took
the place of the latter when absent. Herr
Won Holstein was undoubtedly one of the
greatest living authorities upon diplomatic
affairs His knowledge of them was ency-
clo2edic. But he was rarely seen in public;
the great mass of his fellow countrymen
were almost unaware of his very existence
He was a reserved, taciturn man, who had
little to say even to his colleagues at the
Wilhelm Strasse. He had the reputation of
being one Of the best dispatch writer's in
Europe, and certainly the documents of
this sort that have come from his hand
were models of their kind. He was friend
of the Eulenburgs. and it is supposed to
have been at their instigation that he per-
suaded the emperor to plunge into the Mo-
rocco trouble
Dignifed Retreat for Germany.
1t took all of the skill and diplomacy of
Prince Buelow to arrange something like
dignified retreat for Germany from an
untenable position. But all the same, Ger
man diplomacy undoubtedly did lose some