The Daily News MONDAY, JANUARY 7th, 1907. GERMANY'S UNREST.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81914, 7 January 1907, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, JANUARY 7th, 1907. GERMANY'S UNREST.

The cabled particulars of the portentous address of the Orinan Chancellor, Count von liulow, and hit sinister inferences regarding- what what wilt follow the success of the socialists, poini, to an approach of snmci.hmg m liie nature of a crisis. The references, it is slated, are interpreied ill JJerlin that, the Kaiser will resort lo a miMax: eoup d'etat if the socialists a;e \'e I tonous at Hie eleclions (as is morV than likely) which takes place on the' 2,'.' th of the present inoiiili. it w.l. be remembered tliat in the early part ol .December a sensation was occasioned in C-ermany by the Kaiser tele graphing- to the President of the Keich stag, expressing indignation at the action of the members of the Kcichsiag in rejecting the supplementary credit for South-West Africa; and afterwards summarily dissolving the Par liainent. ft was announced soon after that Count von Uulow was prepared to resort to successive dissolutions until a patriotic lieiciislag was returned willing to work with the Go veriimeiit. The whole position is very interesting and is fraught with momentous possibilities.

I'he Cci'man En-peror, who is now ii, SCCIIIS to be to a Considerable' extent a disappointed man. Ho com mauds, if is true, the strongest Army in Lurope, lie is very nearly absolute in liis own dominion, and lie enjoys that vigorous health which promises a long continuance of his energetic open air life, Jie hoped, however, when ill ISiSS he succeeded to his father's tiirone, tor something more than this. Jie believed that he understood the "modern spirit," and could be a King or Jimpiji-or 01 tin; new model; i.e., u man who, while retaining the supreme political authority and tile initiative in almost all departments of life cou;d be so heartily in accordance witl his people that he could be soinethiui more than popular,—the object of urn versal, or nearly universal, love am admiration, lor a time it seemed a; it he would realise this very spaciou and large, if not very Jofiy, aspirat ion. tie possessed what Kings Jiav. not very often possessed, widely vai

ied, as well as considerable, powers ot mind,—was, in fact, if not tile deep c>J tliinker in Germany, pcrliap.-, her cleverest man. lie could command a corps of cavalry or a man of war; eouid preach a most interesting sermon; could make a speech which was not oii,y ellcctue—his rank in Lur ope would always secure that—hut a.so eloquent; and possessed so much, at least; of the critical faculty that ids opinion on architecture, sculpture, Jjuinling, and literature exercised a distinct eiiccl upon the minds of ex perls. tie knew, moreover, how to use all these faculties so as to make sure that his possession of thcni was perceived, and inul therefore a decided, sometimes even a weighty, effect upon tin; general opinion of his people, who, though apt to be a little slavish in their reverence for rank, are singmarly independent in thought aim speculation.

L'nfortunatcly, the man Huts gifted being a King "lid surrounded with iktltci'crs and piace hunters, began ill a very short time to display tile defeels of his ouaiities. lie thought lie eouid do without great 'assistants, and alter Lis dismissal of I'rinee iSisiuarck. who no doubt had become impossible in ids magniliccnt egoism, iie seems to have made it the conditio:: of his favour in every L)op;ni,iiiuiit that Oiiie;aw should ascribe to him jnueii oi the ere.lit of their performances. ilau unconsciously, lie absorbed to hinis;'lt ad the substance of power, lie. and not public opinion, eiiuse the Chancel . lors, who in (jermany are deeidediy the %l anv chose tIic&ohU«MjOHH^BHH

veary and alarmed; that. Soutli Oct-I uuuy is beginning to doubt'whether I it hurt gained anything lint glory from I the formation of the Empire; and llmt J the Kiuyeror will lie embittered, ami t therefore rendered less toleranl. mid I wise, by the spectacle of a discontent in which he naturally recognises some-. I.hiim' of what must appear lo him in "Tat'itiHlc. lie has Itiuji-liV. hiuiscK to beiieve the doctrine of Louis XIV., •'l.'eiat e'esl moi." and when a maii.-lie he l-jnpcror or theatre manager, lias onee pit that idee, in his head, it is inevitable Hint any form of incisive criticism should appear to him itnwar rauiabJe reproof. I'lvcn a cook—and Kings are more sensitive than cooks—whose dish is not, enjoyed sees in that j abstinence almost, necessarily something of reproachful neglect.