TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

It really seems as if the interesting theory, emitted by one lhat Kaiser, of our contemporaries, that the Kaiser is not the- hasty blunderer he is commonly supposed to be, but a subtle and far-seeing ruler who fires his bomb into tho armed camp of nations only after having fully calculated force, explosion, and recoil, will have to be modified to fit the facts. Here are Gorman official and commercial representatives in Asia shown as writhing uneasily in anticipation of the loss of prestige gained by "a decade of strenuous efforts." The Japanese press is perturbed, and views without satisfaction the Kaiser's hint that it may be one day necessary for Germany and her dear friend England to direct their naval I power jointly towards a settlement of Asiatic grievances. The new information which we publish to-day adds to tho reasons for believing thai the " interview " truly reflects the Kaiser's mind. Apparently some ingenious person or personage made a noose of the Kaiser's pregnant remarks on the occasion of his recent English visit, and invited the Kaiser to put his head in. And the Kaiser did. Evidently he is regarded in Germany as having given away" his nation with a kudgel of heart-to-heart gossip. The Taghche Rundschau, described as the Kaiser's favourite journal, is emphatic in a commentary which reads as if every word had been conned. "Wo advise all German patriots to feel weighed down with care, since it is clear that the Kaiser rules alone in foreign affairs, while constitutionally responsible persons are degraded to the level of a chorus wheh is obliged to follow his orders, to shield him or to palliate his actions, and to disentangle his twisted threads." These are weighty words. The Times presses tho moral of the Kaiser's inference that Germany i 3 the enemy of England, whatever the extent of the Kaiser's friendship ; and the net result of the "interview" is that England and Japan will feel impelled still /more to look to their defences. We have, in fact, a glimpse behind the veil which German diplomacy has been steadily weaving to obscure German plans; and the Quarterly reviewer whom. Prince Biilow contradicted is justified of bis article. Incidentally the Kaisar has made a sad breach in the foundations of his divine right to rule. Germany may not be able greatly to limit his power for mkchief ; but certainly his successor will be prevented from going so far from the discreet role of a " eonstitmbnal monarch. It is to be feared that in Europe the day of the autocrat is over. And, like the Kaiser, the autocrats are the agents of their own ruin. The message of the King to the princes I and peoples of India, given .to India, commemorate the jubilee of the assumption of sovereignty by the British Crown, is a wise utterance that is likely to do good in allaying the prevalent unrest. The Oriental mind desires control, and is habituated to accept as a decree of Fate the expression of the will of the ruling monarch. The report of the message that has been transmitted by cable indicates that it combines in a judicious manner firmners with clemency. The government of India is classed as a trust. Peace must be kept. Conspiracies against the government will be sternly repressed. Indian agitators for representative institutions must accept the administrative structure as it stands, and devote their en-orgy to improving it from within instead of attacking it from without. "Steps aro being continuously taken to obliterate distinctions of race," and "sure progress" is anticipated ; but- the progress is bound to be slow. It is sufficient for tho purposes of government if the races are held equal under the law, and aro given equal freedom to develop, each in accordance) with its own idiosyncrasy. The message •encourages the hope that representative institutions will be gradually extended — in the field of local government, of course. Hero is the real burden of India. By the English mastery a definite bar is set to aspirations for Indian self-government. England must always x-etain the essential control, and the most that can be hoped is that India will one day rise to a governmental status equivalent to that of a British Crown colony." It is useless to kick against tho pricks'; and the Indian ox must bo content to do his ordered work well as long as his material conditions aro comfortable. The English point of view cannot change ; and the English view must be upheld and defended on grounds which, tnough they may not indeed accord with abstract theories of justice, are supported by the stronger logic of the facts that exist. A clergyman of Christchurch has found justification for tho Parsons and marriage of religion and Politics. politics in a sentence of the Lord's Prayer : "Thy kingdom come , Thy will be dono on earth as it is in heaven." What is that will on general politics? Are we to hear from one denomination that the eternal torments of hell aro a surety for the persistent freeholder, and to hear from, another sect that heaven is the prize for tho man who advocates bonuses for the unborn millions? In this matter some clergymen misunder stand tho public mind. No thoughtful person argues that there are necessarily

several kinds of morality — the commercial, the political, the religious, the week-day, the Sunday brands—^each with its own rules and other appur tonances. There is only one morality — the, "white man's" code, which is summarised into "Love thy neighbour as thyself" — but because there is only one morality it is no argument that pulpits should be converted into political platforms. If the clergy attend to their business of deepening and widening the hearts of their flocks, the politics will be all right. The danger of pulpit politics is that the old evil of sectarianism may even enter into politics, and taking extreme cases, for the sake of argument, a man may bo a single taxer because he is a Lutheran, or a Freetrader because he is a Swedenborgian. A little while ago a clergyman made a political speech (not from a public platform), and he left himself open to ridicule by laymen for the simple reason that he had not taken sufficient care to check some of his alleged facts. We have politicians enough and to spare, without having the clergy deserting the Bible for the Year-book, or running the two together. While many thousands of people are sizzling in the streams Book your Seats of political lava, For " Webbanui. " many others are getting peace by contemplating the cool reaches of the Wanganui River. The Southern supporters of Kiphard Arnst (of the Lion Heart), who has ha.d the audacity to challenge Wanganui's William the Conqueror, are wondering whether the railway authorities can bo induced to run an excursion train on 14th December, the day before the great race. Last summer a similar proposal was put forward, but the enthusiasts did not advance a business proposition. -- The Manawatu Company was ready to put up a train if the people interested would put up the money or a guarantee. The guarantee was missing, and therefore the special train was a non-starter. This time the Government will be in charge at the Wellington end of the line, but the State "will need some surety against loss beforo it listens favourably to the agitation for an excursion caravan. Profiting by last February's lesson, the folk anxious to see world-beaters at work on the water should put some common-sense into their campaigning. The contest promises to be even more thrilling than tfyr struggle between Webb and Tresidder, for it is strongly contended that the present challenger will be much more difficult to leave in the rear than the forty-year-old Australian was. Those patient persons who keep watch and ward on the river bank are daily becoming fonder of the sturdy Arnst's prospects. He is putting in more "showy" training than the champion at present, but Webb is not_ idling. He is a subtl? exerciser; he trains with brains. It almost appears that hooligans of Wellington and Auckland were Election acting in collusion last Hooligans, night, for in each city the mud geysers of rowdyism played to some purpose, which was base. Possibly, in the North, some of the populace, wonrying of Mr. Nicholson's vandeville monopoly of the public stago with the Te Oranga girls' hair, effected a protest by putting in another "star turn" to take the place of tho one that should have been hissed off long ago. The intention may have been good, but tho performance was very sad for the victim, Mr. J. W. Taylor, M.A., an elderly candidate for Auckland Central. The unfortunate man was viciously harried. He was cruelly chared from the pillar of a public corner to the post of a private verandah, and finally flew for sa-fety to the Fire Brigade Station; but the men there apparently believed that the fugitive and his friends were dangerous incendiarists, and turned the hose on them. Out into the pitiless street the persecuted one had to go, and he was bombarded with fireworks and bad eggs before ho escaped from the iabble's clutches. Where were the police? Were they enjoying the joke? Or_ did the cowardly assailants not get quite" within the bounds of the boat of »' constable, on duty? When a Mormon missionary was hounded down by a howling pack in Christchurch a few months ago, a policeman calmly said that he noticed a disturbance, but he did not interfere because the fun was taking place outside his beat. Hooliganism had also aa innings in Newtown last night. Mr. Johnston, a candidate for Wellington South, was subjected to interjections which took the form of detonators exploding near his face. Th© hoodlum's argument is, of course, a half-brick, and no one quarrels much with this method of reasoning co long as the hoodlums keep their debates to themselves. It is when they argue with decent folk that the sorrow comes.