European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 3, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday september 3, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 15 William Safire As the . Court system wins the press loses Farnham England a famous old inn located about 90-minutes drive West of London used to be called the Jolly Farmer. Now it is named the William Cobbett after the journalist born Here in 1763. I be been collecting Cobbett s works for years. One of journalism s first investigative commentators his unpopular eruptions in print made him the Only Man to be chased first out of England and then out of America for printing what he saw to be the  began As a solider in the service of George Iii but after charging his officers with corruption in regimental accounts Cobbett was forced to flee France and then to  the ., taking the prickly name of Peter Porcupine he preceded to infuriate most of his new neighbors by extolling the Vitres of England lacerating our found ing fathers and even presuming to Dis agree with Noah Webster s about English  a Philadelphia judge fined Cobbett $5,000 for libel then an enormous sum it broke Porcupine s Gazette driving its Edi Tor Back to England and to a warm Wel come from the tory government. That Romance did not last Long. By 1804, Cobbett s new paper the political Regis tar turned on England s establishment and became the Foremost radicalism reformist Organ of  William Hazlitt coined the term fourth estate to describe Cobbett s influence and soon the tories had enough of him a libel conviction put the grammarian Farmer editor in Newgate prison for two  serving his sentence Cobbett continued his attacks but when the govern ment threatened to jail him again he Hur ried Back to America and pioneered in the study of  the coast was Clear he returned to England and ultimately wrote Rural rides a masterpiece of local reporting by horse Back warning about the changes that industrialization would make in his nation s  tumultuous life of this combative Good natured ill tempered often bigoted and unabashedly inconsistent Man had a Happy ending. But Vermont tried to jail him again this time for sedition. Cobbett had a following that the judges could not safely ignore. Instead of being imprison again he was elected to parliament where he put some of his reformist ideas into effect. Following the path of Cobbett s Rural rides to Surrey to this tavern in Farnham a visitor is struck by the similarity of the harassment then and now of the press by the state. Particularly by the judges. No longer Are libel and sedition the Means by which judges nibble away at the very first Protection against tyranny demanded by the men who signed our Constitution. Under the Banner of fair trial the Law is putting itself above the Law. Tension has traditionally existed be tween free press and fair trial rights that sometimes clash. When one Good comes into conflict with another it is bad for one to Triumph and the other to be crushed when two rights fight to the Fin ish the result is wrong. Recently judges in Washington decided it serves Justice Best for police officers to have the right to rummage through news men s private notes. In new Jersey a judge had decided be fore he was overruled that it served jus Tice Best for a defendant to be Able to try to Force a reporter to reveal his confidential sources. The court system has forced the Issue and won so far press Freedom has  conclusion was determined As soon As the Issue was joined if the shoe were on the other foot with the press deciding the decision would have been just As absolute and just As  reason the judges can get away with the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government. Repealing the first amendment is that the press has done nothing to Stop the Rise of judicial hubris. Who passed the social legislation of the fifties and sixties not the Congress but the courts. Who struck Down a president not Congress or the press but primarily the  who was leading the cheering As an unrestrained judiciary became the most powerful of the once equal branches of government most of the press now pay ing for that poor judgment with its free Dom. At the very Root of our system of Law is the idea that no Man shall be his own judge. And yet in the decisions about the extent of judicial Power the judges Are their own judges. In this clash the Judici Ary is not a disinterested party. A new York times reporter spent time in jail for not telling who helped him expose an admitted failure of our Law enforcers. How much is that different from the persecution nearly two centuries ago of William Cobbett c new York times but 1 always to John Roche 60 on tue a Clef is out $ suitable can i help it if encounters of the Politico for me August 1968 was a month of strange encounters of a political kind terminating in a Case of walking pneumonia my resignation As special consultant to president Johnson and return to what proved to be an Ivory , its High Points were the democratic convention in Chicago and the soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Inter Nally its character was dominated by the problems of living with a tormented lbs a mortally wounded lion who was too Intelli gent not to know the nature of his wound but too proud to admit it. As background for a period that is now ancient history after March 31, when Johnson took the veil working in the Whitehouse was like attending a continuing Wake. Politically the president was out faction though he tried desperately to maintain the myth of his centrality. He actually convinced himself the North vietnamese would negotiate seriously with him. He planned a Salt Summit with the soviets for the late fall where he would straighten out the arms race for the Benefit of his  also developed a passion for history. Every government Agency was instructed to prepare a detailed study of precisely what it had accomplished since november 1963. The president asked me to supervise this Zany exercise but i declined indicating politely i was a historian not a junk collector. This Corpus then got dumped on poor Joe Califano s Doorstep when i stopped by to give him Farewell greetings his Large office was full of fat Black vol Umes with Doris Kearns scooting around cataloguing them. May god have mercy on those who compiled them and those who read  was also in a perpetual state of internal conflict Over Hubert Humphrey s Campaign. It was once said of Theodore Roosevelt that when he went to a wedding he wanted to be the Groom when he went to a funeral he wanted to be the Corpse. Johnson had the same syndrome and being sidelined drove him mad. In the aftermath of March 31 he announced at a Cabinet meeting that the members were free to support the Democrat of their Choice. Then As the papers reported will Wirtz and Orville Freeman moving in with huh column Sand comments and Stu Udall and Ramsey Clark plumping for Bobby he had a spasm and demanded instant neutrality from All hands. He asked me have you endorsed Hubert i said it seemed to me White House staff should lie Low. All summer he tossed and growled but August was a month right out of Kafka or the theater of the absurd. It began when Charlie Murphy a savvy democratic in Sider then in the White House told me the president wanted me to see the House majority Leader and chairman of the demo cratic platform committee the late Hale Boggs. But the president did t know any thing about it. However Charlie mused he Charlie thought lbs wanted that plat form written  this sounded like a reprieve from the Wake so i made my Way to Boggs Capitol hide away. I spent a couple of hours with Boggs and others san boxing the platform and agreed to be in the Back room in Chica go when the action occurred. Ninety nine percent of the document was Cut and dried but one Section was a time bomb Viet Nam. Boggs had in hand about five drafts of a Plank on the War provided by different ele ments in the party i was handed the Sim ple task of developing several options which would Bridge the Gap Between John Connolly and Kenny o Donnell spokesmen for the Hawks and  i was fur ther instructed to try these for size and to keep a Low  when i inquired How the hell i could try out options on big John and Kenny and simultaneously keep a Low profile Boggs smiled his charming smile and said Lyndon has great Faith in  reassuring but hardly helpful in the Light of the next event three Days after re turning to my office with this collection of Fly paper the direct presidential line rang. Lbs was still working a double hand off it was postmaster general Marvin Watson with Johnson on an Extension to Tell me John Hubert can t know anything about  or remarked another voice any of his seven Campaign  i was looking for a non existent Black cat in a dark room i went Home where i got a message to Call Charlie  dead pan Charlie informed me the president was upset to learn i was mixed up in the platform fight and wanted me to sign off. Nothing personal he  reached for my antidote for lunacy and reread Ecclesiastes the preacher must have worked for a Judean lbs. C King features Syndicate