The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-10
LESE MAJESTE IN ENGLAND.
Using of Postage Stamp Upside
Down Punishable in Great Britain.

Many people blissfuily imagine that lese
majeste-that is. insulting royalty-ls a
crime peculiar to foreign countries ana
unknown in free and happy Britain.
That however, is where they make
mistake
There are all sorts of pains and penal
ties on the statute book relative 10 Pc
culiar British forms of lese maleste.
Many of them have fallen into opiiVloh
or allegiance owning to one cause or an,
other, but they could still be enforced
if those in high places claimed all they
are strictly entitled to.
1t is, for instance technically a pun
ishable offense TO stick a penny stamp
on a letter upside down. Doing so is to
insult the king through his eftisy, ana
few centuries agO-SuppOSing penny
stamps to have been then invented
might easily have landed the offender in
prison on a charge of seeking to bring
ridicue on the sovereign, or TO express
contempt for his authority by causing his
picture to stand on its head.
Also, il is a punishable offense to deface
coin Of the realm bearing the royal inn
age and then deliberately put II into cir
culation again
Any private individual who audaciously
hoisted the royal standard over his dwell
ing would get into serious trouble. lie
would be peremptOrily ordered to take II
down and abjectly apologize. and If ne
escaped a heavy fine would have to thank
His Maiestys forbearance for his good
luck The royal standard is the emblem
of the kings regal authority. to be dis
played only where he is personally pres
emit and for a subject to hoist il is NOM
inally equivalent to high treason The
Union Jack. as the flag of the nation, IS a
different thing altogether, and can be dis
played by anybody.
1t is popularity supposed in this coun-
try a man can get up and say whatever
he likes about the sovereign with impun-
ity. This is true only within strictly de-
},
licly denOInce the theoretical evils of
mOnarchial institutions and announce a
decided preference for q republic. and no.
body can touch him.
But if he once began to speak insult
ingly or slightingly of the king person
ally he would be at once run in" or eff
fectually suppressed by the nearest po-
licemaa
To strike the king would according TO
the strict letter of the law render the
matter how trifling the blow was in real
ity
Lieutenant Pape, who is usually reck-
oned among those who attempted the life
of the late Queen Victoria. could not
have actually contemplated murder. He
had no lethal weapon i'm his possession at
the time of the outrage, but he struck
Her Majesty across the face with his rid
ing stick This was sufficient to bring
him within the shadow of the scaffold
He was condemned to death and would
have been hanged had his sentence not
been committed
1t is lese majestic to bring the kings
uniform into contempt. Members of the
atrical companies who have appeared on
the stage as comic characters attired in
discarded military or naval uniforms have
occasionally been unpleasanUy reminded
of this fact Careful stage managers nut
themselves on the safe side by seeing that
no uniform. whether to be worn by the
hero. villain or low comedian of the
piece, is an exact copy of the real uni
form of any branch of His Majestys
forces.