If the Kaiser Died.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 4, 18 February 1916, Page 3

If the Kaiser Died.

A short time ago there seemed reason to believe that the Kaiser, like O’Callaghan, was on his last legs, and that Germany would soon have a new ruler. This state of affairs may still exist, (says the Wanganui Chronicle), but if any credence is to be given to the reports of the banquet at Nish and the review of Bulgarian troops at Sofia, the German Emperor is anything but

a dead man. What effect would the Kaiser’s death have upon the war ? This is a question which has been debated long and futilely. It is generarlly conceded that the death of the Kaiser might make a very considerable difference. One would expect it to have a generally disintegrating effect. As a writer in a contemporary,discussing this matter, says, the Kaiser is a man of character, ability and magnetism, very far removed from the dull, self-worshipping brute of the cartoons, and under his rule many otherwise opposing forces have been bound together in the service of Prussian Germany. Even if the Crown Prince were a far stronger and more able man than, he seems, his task, if he were to succeeded his father now,might very likely be too much for him. What, for instance,, would happen to the relations- between Germany and Austria, Germany and Hungary ? Can anyone imagine Wilhelm the younger and lesser assuming his father’s attitude towards poor old Francis Josef, or towards the Hungarian Premier ? How would the rulers of Saxony, Bavaria, or Wurtemberg take the new accession ? Or, coming to another side of German politics, could any influence less strong than the Kaiser’s keep the well-known opposition between the parties led by the Chancellor (Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg) on the one hand and Grand Admiral von Tirpitz on the other from blazing up into a disruptive force ? Then, setting aside politics, there is to be considered the effect upon the direction and conduct of the war. There have been reports of personal interferences by the present Kaiser and as to their ill-effects, but judging by what is known of the Prince so far, interference by him might be, for Germany, nothing less than calamitous. If rumour tells true again, the Crown Prince has a strong inclination towards action, and particularly military action, but not necessarily of a wellconsidered kind. On the whole, his reign might be expected to begin with an outburst of military energy, due partly to this personal characteristic, and partly to the deepening of national enthusiasm that the death of a widely-loved ruler would naturally cause. And if the activities generated, and the enemy’s policy generally were to lose unity of direction and tend towards the disrelated and spasmodic, that would be a, very great surprise. The will and personality of the Kaiser have meant a great deal to the enemy s unity of will and coordination of effort; his death might bring his country nearer to something like the condition from which the Allies are trying to emerge.