UNDERGROUND GERMANY.

Evening Star, Issue 10399, 21 August 1897, Page 4

UNDERGROUND GERMANY.

The Tausch case is over ; but the strange story of underground intrigue and treachery with which all Germany has been scandalised for so many months past can hardly be allowed to drop with the acquittal of the chief police spy. At the final trial, which ended on June 4, Von Tausch was indicted on two counts, one of neglect of duty and one of perjury, and on each he was fouud not guilty ; while his wretched tool, Von Lutzow, received a sentence of two months 5 imprisonment on a petty charge of misappropriating fifty shillings. Nobody in Germany or out of it, however, cares very much whether the two rascals did or did not commit the particular offences with which they were charged; the real political, and social interest of the case lies in the exposure it has elicited of the loathsome system of espionage with which all official Germany, or at any rate Prussia, is permeated. As one correspondent says : “ Anyone whose occupation is in the remotest degree connected with political affairs cannot have resided long in the capital of United Germany without becoming aware that on one occasion or another his manner of life, his friends, and his various interests have been duly made the subject of careful inquiries on the part of the political police. 55 Even in the case of altogether private and unimportant persons it often happens that their visits, their conversation, their views are systematically watched and reported upon; and Von Tausch himself boasted, according to one witness, that “he had surrounded the Emperor with a network of spies. 55 For it is the characteristic of this dirty trade that no one who touches it can trust his neighbor. The secret police spy upon everybody, and are themselves spied upon by still lower agents; great Ministers of State spy upon each other and inspire scandalous attacks upon their rivals or their colleagues. Half the Press appears to in the pay of some, faction or other, and circulates lying reports in the interest of’its employers. It was even suggested, and believed by many, that Prince Bismarck was not altogether a stranger to the circulation of slanderous attacks on the Emperor. Everywhere there was secret calumny, treachery, perjury. The trial can only result in the diversion of public attention to those “ psychological influences" which, in the opinion of the jury, ”

orraed an excuse for the charges and intrigues n which Yon Tausch was undeniably implicated. It is a blow for the Foreign Minister, Baron Marschall; but it is also a damaging exposure for the whole system of political espionage which has grown up round the Emperor. In the ‘Contemporary Review’ there is an article by “ Germanicus ” which expresses the discontent felt now in Germany in many circles against the Kaiser “ The Emperor leads a double life, a kind of Jekyll and Hyde existence. In theory he acknowledges that the present age represents progress undforward movement, but in practice he recognises no other will but his own in every sphere, in every department of public and, as far as possible, of private life, I! eg is voluntas supremo, lex. The king’s will, and nothing else, is the law of the land ; this maxim forms tho guiding principle of all his actions. Omniscience he claims as one of the attributes of his kiugly majesty; popular wit expresses this in the words ‘ God knows everything, but the Emperor William knows everything better.’ ”

THE EMPEROR AND HIS SPIES.

Woe betide the poor German subject, says the writer, who dare criticise his Emperor. Ldse-majeste and years in prison can alone atone for such a crime : —“ Political spies, like the dclalores of corrupt imperial Rome, prowl about in all parts of the Fatherland, and denounce the unwary citizen. Sycophantic Byzantine public prosecutors indict him with the greatest zeal and official fury for some ldse-majeste, which was very often nothing but the hasty expression of an ill-bred person, or the remark of a sharp tougue. These pushing young king’s attorneys demean themselves by taking up cases in which, perhaps years ago, a man in the presence of his own family made an unguarded remark about the Emperor; it is now denounced to the police by a servant or a bad relation from spite or other infamous motive. Well, these Slaatsamcaelte know that by such zeal they ingratiate themselves in the highest quarters. They are sure to ‘ arrive,’ as the French put it. Their lord and master has a’ good memory for such magistrates. And the poor wretches who in a moment of excitement or, perhaps, in a drunken fit have used bad language concerning the Emperor—for in nine cases out of ten it comes to nothing more—are sure to be punished severely, without the slightest hope of pardon; whereas the nobleman, the officer, who killed a private citizen, is let off after a short imprisonment.' Thus the middle classes see, with sullen discontent, that the administration of justice, formerly the brightest spot in Prussian public life, is tarnished as soon as the slightest question arises between the feudal nobility and the members of the citizen class. Equality of the Prussian before the law no longer exists. A feudal baron, though a convict and sentenced to penal servitude for the most degrading crime, is addressed by the president of a court of justice, before whom the prisoner has to appear as a witness, in the most obsequious manner as Herr Baron. An editor of a newspaper, on the contrary, who is sent to prison for some imaginary insult offered to a railway guard or other Civil Service employe is treated before the court of justice with the grossest rudeness. The magistrates who behave in this manner are wise men. They know the time of day.”

TREPIDATION IN THE ARMY.

Discontent is not limited to the Social Democrats ; the middle classes also grumble, and complain that the Emperor fosters and favors the pretensions of the feudal nobility, that even the administration of justice is tainted, wherever there is a conflict between feudal pretensions and the rights of the citizen. Thousands are thus driven into the ranks of the Social Democratic party ; every election shows this more clearly, and the Emperor thinks that reactionary laws, repression, and violence will stem the tide, which they can no more do than Mrs Partington’s broom. One would think that the military class at least would unreservedly admire the Emperor. But even this docs not happen to be the case. The highest military circles are continually in a s'ale of trepidation, lest the Emperor in one of hia unaccountable fits of energy should plunge the country into war, and then insist on taking command of the army, being his own general-in-chief, chief of staff, and commander of everything under heaven.

BARON MARSCHALL’s POSITION.

It is thought that Baron Marchall Von Bieberstein’s enemies will turn Von Tausch’s discharge to the discredit of the Foreign Office. Though Baron Marschall, in giving his evidence, was careful to disclaim any prejudice against Von Tausch, it if, nevertheless, the general opinion that Una trial was at tho bottom a duel between the Foreign Office and the Commissioner of Political Police. The Berlin correspondent of the ‘ Morning Post,’commenting *on the situation, says:—‘‘The secret police must bo reformed or abolished ; but at tho same time Baron Marschall, who is now' away from Berlin ‘ on two months’ leave,’ is certain to bo exposed to fresh covert attacks from the friends of Herr Von Tausch and of tho vast political system to which he is sent back without a stain on hia name.” It is, however, believed that Baron Marschall is really very ill, and it is surprising that be did not leave earlier. The correspondent of the ‘ Daily News,’ commenting upon the circumstance, says “ Will he return to his office? It is impossible to say with certainty. My personal opinion, based on reliable information, is that he will not. I am afraid that his state of health is such that it will unfit him to resume his most troublesome task.”

The Berlin correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ says “Upon the face of it, the result of the trial amounts to the failure of the proceedings initialed by tho Foreign Office in order to obtain ‘ perfect clearness ’ regarding the dark intrigues of which the political police were suspected, and regarding the action of police spies who were at time journalists and who were using the Press in order to incite Minister against Minister, and so bring about crises in the Government.”

The Surrey County Council prohibited the ancient custom of playing football in the streets of Dorking on Shrove Tuesday. A hundred policemen were drafted into the town to enforce the prohibition, but throughout the day residents endeavored to maintain their rights by kicking off a ball which was as often captured by the police. A Pontefract woman sued her husband for deserting her and her six children. It was alleged that the husband a year ago sold his wife for half a gallon of beer, and that she readily went to reside with her purchaser. The Bench refused to grant a maintenance order against the husband. An undefended case of divorce was heard lately in which a clergyman at Weston-super-Mare sued on the ground of hia wife’s adultery with a member of a troupe of negro minstrels. The clergyman is ninety-two years of age and his wife quite a young woman. Decree nisi with coats was granted.

Nob a single ship bearing the United States flag passed through the Suez Canal last year, according to the report of the consul at Cairo, although the traffic aggregated nearly 3,000,000 tons. Two-thirds of the vessels using the waterway were English.

“For my part I don’t see why you should make a fool of yourself by getting into a mob of chattering women at a bargain sale,” said Heeler. “ No,” replied MrsJETeeler; “’l suppose it would be better for me to get into a crowd of cheering idiots at a political meeting with you.”

This is the age of invention. Is the public the gainer by these inventions ? Undeniably so. A thin, small draught of air. will cause a cold, a serious one often, but that unfailing remedy "Wood’s Great Peppermint Cure, can always be depended on to defy serious results —fADVT.]