THE RECENT ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE GERMAN EMPEROR.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5402, 20 July 1878, Page 3

THE RECENT ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE GERMAN EMPEROR.

(Prom the London 'rimes, May 13.)

We only express the universal feeling of „all classes iu this country when wo offer bur hearty congratulations to the Emperor'William and to the whole German people on this happy escape from a great peril. We share the respect and we appreciate the affection of the German people for the monarch who has accomplished their unity. He is the living symbol of a great national aspiration which he has known how to satisfy, and we recoognise in him a patriot, a warrior, and a statesman who has nobly earned the gratitude of his countrymen. At this juncture of European affairs the removal of the Emperor William would have been a great political event, of which it is hardly possible to exaggerate the consequences. His influence on the question now agitating Europe has been great, and is likely to increase rather than to diminish now that the negotiations seem to have taken a more hopeful turn. His age aud experience give a weight to his judgment in the councils of Europe, and fit him., for the office of mediator, and there is every reason to believe that his influence would bo exercised, iu favor of a .peaceful settlement. On the special differences between England and Russia he is peculiarly qualified to exercise a moderating influence/ for his regard for the Czar is .well known, and ho has always manifested a friendly feeling towards this country. He is bound to England by family tics, no less than to Russia ; nor is he likely to forget that England afforded him a hospitable asylum when the revolutionary troubles in Prussia temporarily drove him from the land he was afterwards destined to rule with undisputed sway. Hia personal affection for the Czar will enablehim to speak with frankness as well as with aa authority fortified by his long experience, aud by his knowledge of the interests, wishes, and feelings of Germany, of Austria, and of England, no less than of Russiaherself. Ibis true that the German policy is directed by Prince Bismarck, but the Hohenzolleius have never accepted the constitutional theory that the King reigns but does not govern,. and Prince Bismarck would probably be the first to acknowledge that the policy of the German Empire is subject to the judgment of the Emperor William.- For all these reasons the life of the Emperor is one which at this moment Europe could ill afford to spare.