DEAD MEN TELLING TALES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 104, 15 April 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

DEAD MEN TELLING TALES.

LIFE STORIES OF FAMOUS PEOPLE THAT HAYE CAUSED TROUBLE AND CONSTERNATION.

In a month or two, (says a Home paper), there is to be published YVagm’f s e '. s 'l°r.v written by himself, and this fact is causing great excitement in 1 certain quarters. “I nadorned Truthfulness” is the great musician’s own description of his book, and that lining so, it is more than probable that there are some truths in it that will annoy many of tliose who have survived him. After the b >ok was written, it appears. it was put into type by Italian compositors. Twelve copies were afterwards printed, and these were care'ullv preserved by members of the YY'agner family, while the notebooks used <n writing the book were burnt after , S T Proofs had been corrected. Hus is not by any moans the only •nstance of dead men breaking the proverb tnat says, they tell no tales _ Gernwuy—and the Kaiser in particular—i? specially unfortunate in this sort of thing, for there are at least, three books of recollections waiting to jC published that may bo likened to bombs waiting to burst. A year or two ago the Kaiser was moved to fury by the publication of rrinee s son published his father’s prifevv years after his father’s death the *2 nc j- s < ’°' l P n klshod his father’s private diary, and the woild in general read some astonishing things. Tor instance, how the Kaiser said L.smarck came “very near throwing the inkpot at mv head."’ And how Bisadvised Hohenlohe to "keep out i?, Emperor’s sight as much as pos- I • • . 'l° which Hojionlohe added the P l '7j l d l t lr e note: "Easier said than done.” l.he Kaiser’s rage found vent in a lurions hundred-word telegram to th? * mice’s son : and when the loyal Germans heard that, the book went liki hot cakes But the Prince’s son had to resi,gn his official appointment. Every now and then the Kaiser has been thrown into a panic by rumours that the third volume of Bismarck’s ■>wn life-story is to be published, but it is now definitely stated that this “bomb” will not burst till alter his Majesty's death. The first two volumes have already been published, but it is the thiril that is supposed to contain all sorts of tremendous State secrets. Bismarck > left orders that the manuscript should ! >e deposited in the safe of a London bank, evidently fearing that it would

lie too great a temptation to the Kaisei to have it suppressed or destroyed. AY hen the Kaiser’s tutor, Herr Hintzpeter, died a year or two ago, it was discovered that certain confidential papers mentioned in his will had been stolen. So far as is known to the public they have never been recovered, and their possible publication haunts the Kaiser like a horrid ghost. Another -great German statesman, Baron Holstein, who died last year, also left a bundle of dangerous recollections. but as these are in fairly safe hands his Majesty is saved some anxiety. But, at the same time, the Hohenlohe papers were suposed to be in safe hands, and yet even they saw the light.

There are a number of people still alive whose recollections would make sensational reading. Everybody was surprised last year to hear that the Empress Eugenie’s recollecttons were to lie issued at once, but almost at the last moment the book was withdrawn, and a remarkable plot was disclosed. Kndwing the enormous value of such a book, some unscrupulous people had forged an entire work in the Empress’s name, had it printed in five different languages, and were actually on the point of publication when the secret leaked out, and the Empress issued an, emphatic denial that she had written the book . If her ■ memoirs are published at all, they will not see the light until long after her death. One of Princess Louise of Belgium’s most successful ways of raising money used to consist of issuing a statement that she was just about to publish hetmemoirs, telling the whole horrid truth about her father, the late King Leopold, and her husband, Prince Philip or Coburg. This usually had the desired effect of making these two gentlemen pay Up. for she gave them a hint of how things would look in a sensational letter she wrote to a Dutch newspaper..