KAISER’S REMARKABLE SPEECH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 885, 30 August 1910, Page 3

KAISER’S REMARKABLE SPEECH.

STORM OF CRITICISM IN GERMANY. Bkklin, August 27. Tha Kaiser, iu a remarkable speech at a dinner given in his honour at Konigsberg, in the province of East Prussia, declared that he looked upon himself as the instrument ol the Rord. He added that he would go his way regardless of the views and opinions of the day. The Kaiser, referring to his grandfather’s connection with Konigsberg, said :—“ Here he placed the Crown ®f Prussia on his own head. It was conferred by the Grace of God alone, not by Parliament or popular decision. He was the chosen instrument of heaven. We must always keep onr armaments ready and iu perfection in view of the vast progress of neighbouring Powers. The Queen’s Court, which was associated with Konigsburg, teaches women that their principal task does not lie in public meetings and seeking to attain the proposed rights wherein women would emulate men, but in the quiet work of their homes and families, I regard myself as the instrument of the Rord. Without heeding the opinions of the day, I go my way devoted solely to the prosperity and peaceful development of the Fatherland.” The speech has aroused protests and a tumult of*criticism throughout Germany. It is condemned in the Monarchial press for furnishing fuel for anti-Mon-archists, Radicals, and Democrats. The speech, iu putting the Grace of God against the people’s will, recalls the Kaiser crisis in 1908, when Prince von Buelow apologised for William. The Vossische Zeitung says tha speech, which protests against the idea of disarmament, must excite much attention abroad, and cause a painful commotion. The Berlin Bourse (money market) has been affected by the speech.