ADVICE TO KAISER

Hokitika Guardian, 19 May 1917, Page 4

ADVICE TO KAISER

Abdicate I

Hobenzolbrns Should b 8 Sacrificed The British press lately has coat ined telegrams about a pamphlet which his appeared in Bavaria advocating the abdication of the Hohenzollerns and their replacement by the Bavarioa Royal iamily, the House of \Vittelsbach. As this paraphle , writes a Berue correspondent in an exchange, has aioused great attention in Germany, and as it was promptly suppressed by the authorities, it has seemed worth while to translate it, especially as it may serve to throw a certain amount of light on the profoundly interesting question of the internal condition of Germany, The name of “ Heinrich Sieger ” is assumed, but I know the real name of the author. He is neither unknown nor obscure. His pamphlet was brought OU' by ao iLflaential assuciitr’E, the “ Verpinigung Saddentßoher.Manner” (Aesociatior of South German men) in Munich ; and, as I happen to be aware, the manuscript was revised by the editor of a leading Berlin newspaper. The title in the original is simply “B*varia and Peace,” and the burden of (he pamphlet is that, the best way for Germany to conclude a not too disadvantageous peace would be to compel the Hohenzollerns to abdicate and to put in th9ir plaoe the Bavarian Royal Family. This may be the opinion of the men of South Germany, where there is good reason to believe that a movement of disaffection against the Hoberzol'erns has gained considerable power. People outside Germany, however, are not in the habit of considering the present Bavarian King as precisely an angel either of light or olemency. “deadly haired” ior kaiser The author says “A msre glance at the books, pamphlets, and newspaper articles of our enemies makes it obvious that in the Entente countries, Goverz ments and peoples alike feel a deadly hatred fo** the present German Emperor. It is against the Kaiser and his son that the most venomoua attacks are directed. - They arc held responsible, nob merely for the outbreak of (he war, but aIBO for all those acts of war about which our enemies assert they are justified in complaining. This being so, how osn anyone still believe that Eogland, France, and Rassia will ever consent to negotiate with the present principal personages in Germany—that is to gay, With Wilnelm 11 and bis son ? It is impossible not to think of a historical parallel and wonder whether the German Empire is notin precisely such a position as was the French Empire just a century ago ? “ We are now fighting against a terrible coalition just as the French had to do then, L'ke them, we have brought down upon us the implacable hatred of England, and we too, ate carrying on the campaign without any prospeot whatever of ultimately prevailing over an enemy mote numerous and wealthier than ourselves and better supplied with food and war material. What are our victorias but Pyrrhic victories ? They have no tomorrow, to use a phrase popalady ascribed to Hindenburg ; they are of to-day only. Germany, the world is loudly informed, will fight to her iast maD, and when she has no more men she will then c*ll up children, old raeD, and it is even sometimes added, women. All tvhiob, however, will not avert defeat, which is even now a mathematical certainty despite all our exertions, all our sacrifices, part and to oome, and all ruins which we will continue accumulating, The Germany of William II is bound to give way beneath the crushing weight of her enemies, just as France did under Napoleon I. SUGGESTS CHANGE OF DYNASTY, “ The question now arises whether it is possible to complete the analogy. In other words, could Germany emerge from her defeat with the same good fortune as France did in 1814-1815 and even gain to some extent an advantageous peace ? How was it that in 1814 the Coalition should have left France almost unpunished and in full

enjoyment of her national dignity, with her 1792 frontiers—and this despite the episode of the Hundred Days ? How was it that scarcely a fortnight after her defeat, when the enemy was still in occupation of her territory, France was yet allowed to negotiate with her conquerors on a footing of equality ? Three short words —‘ change of dynasty explain everything. Napoleon abdicated and Louis XVIII was call to the throne. “ Turning to Germany, how much le3S oppressive and painful would a change of Emperors be for her today ? The Bavarian King and his son have proved, themselves fully equal to their duty to the Empire. No taint of deserting the colours clings to them. The house of Wittelsbacb in this war has earned one military distinction after another. It was the Crown Prince Bnpprecht who won the great battle near Metz, and his military achievements have raised the rank of field-marshal, as was the case with his unci**, Prince Leopold, the King’s brother, the conqueror of Warsaw. Now, the Wittelsbachs are the oldest dynasty, in Germany. They were already a powerful hereditary ducal family when the Hohenzollerns were leading an obscure existence as petty local mognates in Nuremberg. Three Witt9lsb tl<J ha— Louis theßiva* rinn, Rupert of the Palatinate, and Charles Vll—were crowned as Emperors of the Reiman Empiie, and W'ttel fcachs a'so have sat upon nhe thrones of Sweden and Bohemia. The pronounced hostility of the house of Etohenz illarn to oities and corporations has been temarbed even by men so loyal as the late politic ii economist, Herr Rotoher, and the Berlin jur.st, HerrGieiko, who is still alive. Tte bouse of Wittelsbacb, on tjie contrary, has always bad the repata:ion of being well disposed to the middle olasses generally. " “narrow-minded” house “It is not too much to describe the house of Hoberz'llorn aB narrowminded and igDorant. Except Frederick William IV, who had very little of the HoheDZollsrn about him, and who, moreover, was married to a Wittelsbacb, they have never troubled much about either art or literature. Even Frederick the Great took no interest in German poetry, some of whose choioaafc flowers belong to his time. What Wi'l'am II and his eon appreciate is everything commonplace, everything dilettante, and every thing mediocre in art and literature. l On the other han \ the Kiitfgs of Bavaria—Max Joseph, Louie 1., Max 11. Louis 11., and the Prince Rtgent Luitpo’d—fostered and promoted art and literature, and it mast never be forgotten that Bavarian princes were the first in Germany to tread the path to constitutionalism. King Max \ entirely of his own free will granted the Bavariaa people irnmodi.-itE.lv after the Napoleonic ara a cons’itutioa which for that period was thoroughly modern and liberal. A better understanding between Germany and France is impossible bo long as the Prussianised Germany of the Hohenzollerns exists but it is possible with a democratised Germany under the empire of the liberal democratic Wittelsbachs connected as they are with France by longstanding traditions. A German pire with the Wittelsbachs as its Emperors would not merely make for the BBcurity and peace of Europe, but it would also, despite Germany’s having been defeated, render possible the realisation of the desire for a Greater Germany.” -