The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY, 13. GERMAN JUSTICE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 314, 13 January 1908, Page 2

The Daily News. MONDAY, JANUARY, 13. GERMAN JUSTICE.

In Germany it would be an accurate representation to depict justice with a bandage over her eyes. At all events so far as the case of Herr Harden discloses there are grounds for believing that not only does justice see, but she takes very careful note of, the rank and circumstances of individuals and outside inlluences involved. A camarilla, a faction or a cabal, surrounds the Kaiser, influencing and swaying) his judgment in all political and social affairs. The bulk of the incmliers of this camarilla Were given to flic practice of certain abominable immoralities. Ilerr Harden, admittedly an able, fearless, and patriotic journalist, attacked the camarilla. Whether he was inspired by others is not a matter of material consequence. In his articles Herr Harden did not affirm that Prince Phillip Lu Eulenberg and Count Kuno Von Moltke were personally guilty of abominations charged against the camarilla; what he did say was that they must, from their close associations with the members, have been cognisant of what was going on. It may not have been a fair inference; that is a matter of opinion. From first to last the I'rince took no action. Tho Count challenged Herr Harden to fight with pistols, but the duel was declined. The Count's next step was to appeal to the Public Prosecutor and the Minister of Justice to take action, but, and it is important to note, these func-

tionaries declined to interfere. Thsn the Count took action for criminal lib.d on his own behalf. At the trial, which was lengthy and apparently exhaustive, the Prince was summoned to appear and give evidence. He pleaded illness, the convenient doctor's certificate, which the court seemingly estimated at its true value, disregarded and summoned again. The Prince refused to appear. Herr Harden was acquitted. Had the matter ended here all would have been well.

Count Kuno Von Moltkc appealed against the decision of the court. The first striking peculiarity appears. The Public Prosecutor and the Minister for Justice, who refused to have anything I to do with the case in the first instanc." are active in the second trial. What hidden occult influence was brought to bear to bring about this attitude? At the second trial the most important witnesses for the defence of Ilerr Harden singularly " weakened." Had s#cret occult influences been brought to bear upon them also? Then for the prosecution surprising new witnesses appeared who had been serenely content to hold their tongues during the whole of ,b e ■rat trial. Had secret occult influence been brought t« bear upon fliem also' Herr Harden was found guilty and fenced to four months' imprisonment. Finally, as recent cables inform, the two magistrates who conducted the first trial have both been disgraced by removal to other departments. These are the facts as ibey have come, and thev seem to show that in (iermany some more or ess filthy sewer is flowing into and polluting the pure fount of justice.

(.ermany is credited with the possesion »f a Parliament, but it is a mere name As a fact the Kaiser is absolute. A Mng, like any other human, must l, av e friends, and his friends are chosen almost entirely on private grounds. How much do the friends of a King care for the King personally? Is there any of them who is not seeking to enhance his own power, extending his influence witli a view to Ins own or his friends' advantage? Is it possible for a Kinw to become acquainted with the actual truth' Headers of the singularly frank memoirs of the Countess Du Tiarrv, the last powerful mistress of Louis XV of France will have exposed to them the kind of thing that takes place in the court of an absolute monarch. The King is surrounded by a set of licentious liars and plunderers. Able, conscientious, patriotic men are not wanted in the service of the State: thev go down at a word before the machinations of he unholy crew around the throne, and the incapable, worthless and linscrupulons creatures of favor, too frequently under the petticoats of immoral women crawl into place. Unlike Louis XV' he personal character of the Kaiser is beyond reproach; but he had around mm a set whose depravities were still more abominable than the hitherto most abominable. They tripped up Chancelors; Ministers of ability fell Wforc their hidden power; thev directed the policy of the State. The camarilla fell before the power of the men wielded by Herr Harden, and he is rewarded by a grateful country with four months' imprisonment. Oh, no, the camarilla has not been destroyed; presently a new camarilla, friends, favorites, sycophantic, creeping things will fill the chambers of the palace.

For the preaont at least the most important Issues exposed by this scandal must remain untouched. Germany has given some of the most profound philosophew the world has known, i,eat stands high. Across hei boarders on the west, over the waters to the north are lands where it is scarcely possible to tamper with the undeviating course o justice, where the duly attained will of the people prevails, where lese majesty is wholly unknown, where the existence of a power that could not only smelly punish for some flippant, careless remark, but interfere to shield or protect the unworthy would not be tolerated for a moment Yet the German pe»ple, educated, industrious, and prosperous as they arc, submit to an absolute system under which the greatest wrongs are possible, and under which rottenness germinates and corruptions thrive. Wliat appears to be wanted in Germany w an Emperor whose private life cannot be said to be without reproach. A cheerful kind of creature like Nero; » King John, a Charles I. or Jam.s If. Then perhaps they miVht wake up to n realisation that a" change —a drastic change-was desirable °