THE TABLES TURNED

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 87, 6 January 1908, Page 7

THE TABLES TURNED

MQLTKE AND HARDEN. . / THE ACCUSER SENT TO.GAOL. I B* I'BLEGBArn—riIESS ASSOCIATION' —COPYRIGHT. Berlin, January 3. '• The re-trial, of Herr Harden, . editor of "Du Zukunft," on a charge of having 1' criminally libelled Count Kuno von Moltko : by means of-'artiolcs alleging immorality and 5 intrigue against the Count and other; mems hers 6f tho; ''Camarilla," resulted in Horr Harden being found • guilty. He • was sen--7 tenced to four months' imprisonment. ' ; : HARDEN APPEALS. '■ : THE COURT ABSOIiVES- MOLTKE. t " • 'V EULENBURG'SCASE! APPEAL TO OTHER NOBLES TO FACE :. V. THE "CHARGES. ■ „■ V, s (Rec. .Jan. 5, 4155 p.m.) ) ' . Berlin, January 4. j Tlie President of tho Court declared that i Count Kuno von Moltke emerged fromi'the 1 trial unstained,' and that nothing had been , proved against Prince Eulenbiirg.; , i ■ Tho Minister for War, General von ' Emern, has appealed to Counts Lynar and : ; 'William Holiennu (who are said to have left i Germany) to, return and to stand their trial , ■ for the sake of the honour of their country 1 .and their families. 1 ; London, January 4. i "Tho Times " refers to the Public Prosecutor's strange omission to proceed against Herr Harden. until the close of! the privtite ! aotion brought in the lower court by, Count ; ..yon Moltke. This action, says "The Times," requires explanation. „ _ Herr Harden is appealing to the Supreme Court. ■ ■ '. ' , The'first, trial was held before a court'consisting of a judge (Horr Kern) and two asses-, sors. (a ipilkmau'and. a master butcher), Tho , ~ kiss .was 're-tried; before the Landgerichte, .a . .court -of second instance, in which three or : five\ judges usually sit. The. lower, court found .'that'Herr Harden had proved the truth 1 of his assertions. .Recent cablegrams,have indicated that at.tho re-trial his two.most important ' witnesses 'modified their evidence. Herr Miiximilian Harden, as a sledge-ham- . mer , journalist, 1 has been . compared to M. ; . Henri Rochefort.! It is declared that; ho ivields the most'dreaded pen, in . Germany. After' : ■ Bismarck fpll," that disappointed statesman is said to have piven the ,- journalist' ; many .' "tips," and certainly Herr Harden has been : able from time to time to electrify Berlin ! as no other"journalist has done. ' .Referring;,to Herr Harderi's speeoli in his , own defpneo at the first trial, the "Daily Mail" 6ays: It was evident that a sweeping change in his plan of attack had been ,ds- 1 jided upou in consequence of Count Moltke's 1 protestations of his iiinocenco of the. abnor- i mality-charges. Herr' Harden confined him- ] self almost exclusively to the pernicious poli- f tical aictivity of the: Eulenburg ; "Round 'j :Table," and pleaded; for acquittal on tho < ground that ho had pursued and achieved a I purely political .object., , With adroit mar- '•! shalling of :facts drawii ' from r liis' : - seemingly < inexhaustible 1 '; store' of f< behindrtherSGenes" 1 political reminiscences, he addressed; the/court ;> in accents, pf bordering, on ponciHation. ■ ' .'. J ' . , • Ho sketched the rise and fall of.lmperial '}. Chancellors who, were made;aiid unmade by 1 .Prince Eulonßurg's influence, told how the j Moroccan crisis had arisen in consequence of : : -M. Lecomte'S ipaohinations through'his membership of the "Round Table," anihrplated a •, score of other events dn .high German politics, ] ;in which Count Moltke's "dearcsC :, 'fri&nd''' had ( pujled; unseen wifes. 1 He. observed .wi'th ; fmo. , sarcasm thit'Couiit Moltke ''must' hite'.' Buffered: t a trifling lapso Of ; memory./when -ho' mflin- t tamed' that he did not know even the locatipii , of Count Lynar's villa at Potsdam, ..because , .tho count, lived .'only .the second. house; avay. J for three years, during which the orgies'took j place. . ■' ' • ■ ' ' - - ' ■ ' 1 ■ " I claim for mysolf-: at least," . concluded i Herr Harden,, speaking for ■ the first timo at 'J a'dramatic pitch, of havipg been fi instrumental in bringing' these painful; revola- P tions to the attention of the proper quarters..!. ,iefore the' Social Democracy had fi cliance of ■* doing so. ' l api . taunted with having given . foreign critics an opportunity to point : tho ' finger qf scorn at the Fptherlapd, ]nit those -j ■•critics must and . can only . say that the; f\rst ,j one who intervened, to remove the cancerous . growth was the German Emperor, and that | i one who provoked" his intervention.-was his (. first-born, the Crown Prince." .- I Herr Harden lias been in gaol before for leso' majeate.. To'this lie ;made, reference, when a lie said: '" Thirteen ' years ago, in this very a building, I affirmed there \vero other.' ways 0 'of serving one's ' Kaiser than by bending tho d knee to him—namely, to 6eh-e liim witti truth, t My; judges on that , occasion made acknowledg- v ment' of the righteousness of that principle, I and, as I have /xlhered to that principle, m I this .'instance, I believe I shall receivo another t acknowledgment. .I have nothing -..inoro to | • Throughout, the whole proceedings,. Count i Kiiho Von Moltke strenuously afnrpied his in- • nocence. So did Prince Eulenburg at the subsequent trial of Herr Brandt,, who was . sent to .gaol for eighteen months for libelling v Prince Bulow. It has; been stated: that, Counts r Holienau and Lynar are out of the country. a Referring to the evidence of Prince Eulon- t burg at the Brandt trial, the " Daily. Mail" says: "Pripcp Bulenburg did not make a good personal impression, but quite the contrary. / Nevertheless, the emphatic manner in which he declared his own innoconce produced considerable effect ,on the audience. One could not .help asking why, if Prince Eulenburg felt able to make.'a sworn statement, in this caee he. refrained from following the, example of his friend, Count Moltke, in suing Herr Hardon for libel. His omission to do so created the general 'impression that ho had weighty reasons for remaining passive, and this ira-. pression has not been entirely removed."