THE GERMAN SCANDAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 28, 28 October 1907, Page 4

THE GERMAN SCANDAL.

Somebody has said that the best way to secure the peace of Europe is to hang a dozen editors, but most people aiv convinced that half the wars of the world are caused by the unseen hands that pull the strings of diplomacy. The sensational libel action which is just ■now occupying the almost undivided 'attention of Germany confirms the

popular view. Except to a mind besotted by novel-reading, or filled with the idea that the' Court intrigues that are the subject of old French memoirs are the rule nowadays, the account of the Berlin Court camarilla which we print to-day will seem rather like a fairy story than a chapter of real history. The popular estimate of the Kaiser is of a versatile andrather reckless and noisy despot, as,incapable as Mr. Booseveit of permitting himself to be dominated by _ any mortal being. It is rather surprising to.find, therefore, that he has, in many important respects, and on many grave occasions, been unconsciously a puppet in the hands of the Eulenburg clique. Such an extraordinary network of intrigue and ambitious plotting as has long existed in Germany is, impossible in England. In England, of course, : the King is a constitutional monarch, and; nn ambitious politician can do little by means of secret wire-pulling. He must stand-up and make speeches to the electors if he wishes to take a share in shaping the country's policy. .The exposure in " Die Zukunft "• of the extraordinary proceedings of the German Warwicks has already effected the removal from .po"i~er of the greatest obstacle to the spread of constitutional ideas and Liberalism in the German Empire. The Eulenburg clique aimed at the ending of Liberal tendencies, of concessions to universal suffrage, and of parliamentary efforts to'_ charm away the ill-humour of the Reichstag. With their fall/the hopes of the; Constitutiona l, party have grown "bright. It is for its reaction upon Germany's foreign policy that the present 1 scandal is important. , Every step which the Emperor takes towards ' becoming a J constitutional monarch means _ a step towards a sane and liberal foreign policy for his country, and;;as a consequence, towards a removal of the ; morbidity and , nightmares of Anglo-Ger-man relations. With a constitutional monarch at its head, instead of a badlyadyised despot in bondage to sinister influences, Germany will be far easier to deal with in a frank' and sensible fashion than it has been for ni any years. ,' ' . .. ..