Arizona republican., 1911-03-06

his favor. but the king replied: 'No3 for this man. being a wit. d bard and a minstrel. forsooth, hath composed many ribald songs against me and sung them to raise the horse laugh ot mine enemies. Now it hath pleased God to deliver him into my hands. Punished he shall be to deter other. from like petulance"
 It is not quite clear whether the sentence was carried out as arranged. Some chroniclers assert that De Barre's eyes were in fact put out and that he died of the torture. while others say that he cheated the exc cutioner by flashing out his brains against the stone wall of his prison.
 The penalty for libel fixed by King Alfred tS71-g00) was the loss of the tongue Seven and a half centuries later the punishment was no less severe In the reign of Charles I G625-1649) the following sentence was passed upon a seditious libeler: The book containing the libel was to be burned before his face by the com mon hangman. while the author him self was to stand in the pillory in two places. having an ear cut off at each. to wear paper on his heac describing his offense. to pay fine of c5.OOO and to suffer perpetual imprisonment
 Trials for libeling the sovereign are rare in this country. but the case is recalled of Leigh Hunt. the radical poet and essayist In 1913. as editor of the Examiner. he wrote some ar ticles severely criticising the prince regent, afterward George ". one of the passages complained of was that which described the prince as "a fat Adonis of fifty"
 Leigh Hunt was not permitted to call evidence to prove the truth of this statement. and he was sentenced to two years imprisonment in Surrey jail. While in jail he write The De- scent of Liberty: a Masque." The Story of Rimini' and '"rhe Feast of the Poets"
 There are some interesting records of British subjects who have been tried in the English courts for issu- ing libels against the heads of for eign states. In March. 1799. John Vint. George Ross and John Barry were prosecuted at the Guild hall in London for libeling the Emperor Paul I of Russia in the columns of the Courier. They were found guilty and the proprietor of the paper was fined 100 with six months imprisonment. while his companions were sentenced to months Imprisonment apiece.
 For reflections upon Napoleon. then first consul. Jean Peltier was tried in the kings bench before Lord Ellen borough and special jury in Feb- ruary. 1SOS Although found guilty, he was never sentenced. as war again broke out between England and France.
 In more recent time Jerome K. Je- rome. when editor of Day. rouset. the ire of the ex- Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey. more pcpularly known as Abdul the Damned. by the severity of his comments upon the Armenian massacres The sultan went to the length of threatening a prosecution Lord Salisbury tried to smooth mat tres over and had an interview with MT. Jerome at the foreign office. but the editor of To-Day refused to give the apology that was asked of him.
 Insults to the sovereign in Germany are punishable with imprisonment for not less than two months or more than five years Convictions are ire ouent under this head. scarcely a week elapsing without trial for Majestatsbeleidigu taking place m some part of the empire. The statis- ties published at the end of the first