The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1917. INSURRECTION IN GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3053, 14 April 1917, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1917. INSURRECTION IN GERMANY

Kaiserism is reaping in .Western Europe some of the things it has sown," In Northern' Franc© 'the scene of many an atrocity on the. part <>f 'the ■ Kaiseii's soldiers retribution is descending on Kaiser-: ism. The British guns are blast-, ing a ,way • to victory.- On the Dutch-and Bolgikn ,bordors the foul thing known- a.5..-Kaiserism is assailed by internal foes.- Tlie lurid flames of insurrection have been' kindled by tho Kaiser's subjects,' driven mad probably by hunger and sorrow. In seven great towns, veritable .beehives _ of industry in times of peace, with an aggregate population . of nearly 1,000,000, alarming riots have taken place. The rioters are the wives and sisters of the Kaiser's soldiers, and' they demand bread and revolution. ■In the old historic town of Aix-la-Chapelle. the fury.of the mob has led to. the burning of tho Town Hall, part of which, was . 600 years old:This building was a memorial of German 1 Kaiserism,- and perhaps because it'was'so, it excited, the fury of, the mob. In this'building there was the famous coronation hall, in which after the coronation servicein, the adjoining cathedral, no fewer •than-'35.'.-kings' and 11 queens 'were, '.banqueted.-'''' lii'this'-building also'.'were, the' Tories of She" great'-Kaiser" Charlemagne,;', -which' the-' "present Raises, urieartb'cd'.in 1908 1 to satisfy -his ' morbid .".curiosity... ; '• Essen, famous-for- its' KRppp'.guns,- and a place specially, beloved _by _the Kaiser, is also the scene- of .insurrection, - and there- also the. soldierahave been' commanded to. shoot down without warning the Kaiser's wrenched subjects, sick 'of • Hamburg, with its population of nearly 1,000,000 in time of peace, is also the scene of disorder and riot.' The-corner-nqusesln the streets are turned into miniature .forts, and machine-guns are placed- there to shoot down the ruined citizens of a place that once gloried.in its freedom. There : is "perhaps no sadder-city in-.the world to-day than Hamburg. Its shipping 'for two years has been shut up in the Elbe,- and- daily a forest of funnels and masts representing, untold millions remind the people of the commercial ruin that the Kaiser has brought'down upon them.by this war.- AVilliam had told them in his boasting' days before ; the war that tho "future of' Germany was on the ocean," and they will now feel his words to_ bo bitter satire. "And to-day machine-guns at the street ■ corners -are- the latest mani"festation's of tho Kaiser's . way of ruling his subjects in Hamburg. As this rioting, arid'disorder have taken placG in cities contiguous to the borders of Holland the story cannot be suppressed. In Central Germany insurrection -may breakout,'and the hews might never leak out of Germany. ' To what extent the. spirit of. revolution is. moving among the people in Germany is a matter for speculation. There must be a huge multitude of wounded or disabled soldiers scattered all over' Germany who know that Germany is practically beaten in this war, and that economic ruin is staring the nation in the face, and these men may foster the spirit of revolution. Tho Kaiser and his .War Lords may have been induced by the' spirit of revolution to offer the domooracy electoral rights and fran-chise:-Bills to. appease them, The Kaiser's proposals to the democracy to-day with regard to votes and Parliamentary rGprcsentatiOT/ sound strange in the lights of his past history. Dr. Stanley Shaw, in his informing book, William of Ger■tiwny,;"■'. writes.:=i"The -EMPEaqa's"

great internal foe and'the object of his,special enmity.is.the.Social Democracy, . and practically from the day of his accession he has waged war with it.". The Kaiser for -many years could find no language -too strong to denounce the party which to-day his War Lords - are seeking to make friends with. He branded them as "foes to tho Emperor and tho country,!' as "aplague that must be extirpated," 'and'as;; "a crew undeserving of the name of Germans." .In speaking thus, the Kaiser but voiced the views- of the men around him. Prince von Bulow, in his- Imperial Germany, writes:—'-'lf the Prussian Government renounce the fight against the Social Democrats, Prussia would take it to mean that they had yielded to tho forces of revolution"; and, further, he says:—"The Social Democratic movement does not only threaten the extinction of ono party or another; it is a danger, to. the country and. tho monarchy.".'. 'This language.'of abuse and denunciation was applied to a party whose voting strength in 1912 wa5.4,000,0Q0.. .- It is this party that the Kaiser's advisers are seeking to propitiate'at this hour. Why they are doing it is not difficult to imagine. It may be that before their eyes there is revolution. It may be that they wish the Social Democrats to' share with them the responsibility of making peace terms which must bo disastrous to' Germany.

There is ground for saying that one reason why the Kaiser plunged his country into war was.the rise in Germany of Social Democracy, .which to him was a haunting horror. In spite of the handicap that tho towns had in electing members for the Reichstag, where a population of 800,000 could only, command ono member, while country districts, where the Kaiser's party roigned, could command a member on a population of 60,000—in spite of this handicap, the Social Democrats in .1912'-became through their members the largest party in the Reichstag. Mr. Perris, in ■ his almost prophetic book, Germany and the German Emperor, describes this rise in Social Democracy as "the gathering storm." Had peace continued there would have been bitter encounters in the Reichstag between the ,German v War Lords and a party that stood at that time for antagonism to the Kaiser and his ambitions. The Kaisee plunged his Empire into war in a political crisis in Germany; and. diverted attention" from all internal strife. The Social Democrats fed on falsehood, or hypnotised into submission, shouted for war. ' Two'years and more have elapsed since then, and the party .that was false to all its past professions has had time,to come to its senses. Its war madness has probably long ere this passed away. It may yet redeem,itself by taking its part in saving Germany from the war policy which is its curse to-day and will be its ruin. Away back in. 1861 Bismarck "forged a weapon" to accomplish Prussian expansion. He described it thus: —"lt is not by Parliamentary speeches and majority votes that these great problems will be settled, but by iron and blood." William gloried- in this weapon. when he. ascended the throne: "My hopo is in my army." Durch Blu't und Eisen ! That old weapon is in use to-day. That is turned against the Kaiser's'own demented subjects. The crushing of Kaiserism. means their deliverance ,as well as the world's freedom. , .