The Daily News. MONDAY JANUARY 26, 1920. HOHENZOLLERN METHODS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 January 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY JANUARY 26, 1920. HOHENZOLLERN METHODS.

•The publication of the remarkable series of letters written by •the ex-Kaiser to Nicholas of Russia has revealed the inner working of the Hohenzollern mind, its autocratic, unscrupulous, and ruthless methods, and that insatiable appetite for power, dissimulation, and intrigue which gave a zest to all the ex-Kaiser's machinations. One fact is jperfectly clear, namely, that "Wilhelm never for a moment expected these letters to appear in the public Press, for they are all couched in language which, while being spontaneous, certainly cannot be classed as royal, while some are grossly intemperate, spiteful and vitriolic. Especially is this the case concerning his references to the Press. Certain traits in the exKaiser's character were well known before the appearance of these letters, but there were others that now stand revealed in all their ghastliness. In dealing with Nicholas 11., "Wilhelm was well aware that he had a man of weak mind to cajole, deceive, and manipulate. It is quite possible this knowledge was the inspiration of the dream of the foundation of a Great Teutonic Eastern Empire, otherwise it is impossible to conjecture why he should have done his utmost to bring disaster on Nicholas by cunning advice given at various times, well calculated to lead to disaster. He was the Mephistopheles, and Nicholas the Faust, while Britain stood for Christianity. That was the position, only there were complicaj tions, yet in the end both Wilhelm j and Nicholas lost their power, and Nicholas his life, while the scourge of war decimated the nations. The ex-Kaiser was obsessed by the lust of power, the spirit of autocracy, and the belief of infallibility. He had the status of an Emperor and the impulses of a spieler, together with the petulance of a spoiled child, and the trappings of a dramatic villain. When an autocratic monarch takes up the attitude that he alone is the only man in the regiment of nations who is in step, untoward events are bound to happen. Steeped in arrogance and intrigue, Wilhelm was ever suspicious of others in authority among the greater nations, hence his bitter animosity to.Britain, because she stood like the lion in his path co world domination. His 'favorite pose was as the great man of the earth, whose will was law, and whose authority was from Heaven. The letters to "Nicky," however, show him as a mere puppet of vanity, with a veneer of polish, yet continually lapsing into vulgarity and venom. Had Wilhelm possessed a grain of sincerity in his composition there is little doubt but that there would have been no Russo-Japanese war. A weakened Russia, however, suited his schemes better than a strong Russia, and the war helped forward (so he thought) the great ambition which permeated his whole life, and eventually brought about his downfall. One of the most striking illustrations of the will of the ex-Kaiser to play the part of "evil genius" to the late Czar is, remarks the Auckland Star, set forth in the letter in which Wilhelm refers to the terrible crime known to the Russian people as "Bloody Sunday," when Father Gapon led a demonstration of many thousands of workers to the Winter Palace to present a petition for the redress of ! political and industrial grievJ aaces. .witfe tie result that they

■were fired on by the soldiery, acting under the orders of the Czar's uncle, five hundred being killed on the spot, and over three thousand wounded. To this Wilhebn said he was glad the soldiers showed themselves true and reliable to their Emperor. Our contemporary adds: "Nothing could well be more»j;horoughly characteristic of the tyrannical, brutal and inhuman attitude that the Hohenzollerna naturally, assumed towards their siil>i<?f' f ' and their instinctive tendenc" de with Might against Eight, zv.d cft( > strong against. the weak. Not evon .ae Kaiser's pious regrets for the assassination of the Gfland Duke Sergius—one of the worst of all Russia's tyrants—or his diatribes against the menace of a Free Press give a better idea of the Hohenzollern conception of government and the rights of subjects against theijr ruler. Historically ,iit iia important to remember that it was the inexpiable crime of "Bloody Sunday" which first convinced the mass of the Russian people that there could be no peace or safety for them while the Autocracy survived. And there is something of poetic justice in the inevitable series of events which, starting from that terrible day, gave its first impetus to Bolshevism and so ultimately hurled the Czar to destruction and brought down to ruin with him the Hohenzollern tyrant who, by poisoning his mind and depraving his moral sense, had prepared the way for Autocracy's downfall."

This is only one instance of many that can be quoted as exhibiting the German autocrat in his true light, and the series of letters will' famish the historian of the future with ample materials for forming a reliable estimate of the baseness of "Wilhelm and the emptiness of his humanity.