The Kaiser as Orator and Anti-Socialist.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 42, 22 December 1911, Page 8

The Kaiser as Orator and Anti-Socialist.

"The Kaiser as ail Orator" is an illuminating Character • Sketch in the "Contemporary Reriew" for Septem-: ber, particularly timely in the light of recent and ■ pending , developments. It is written by Prof. Charles Sarolea, who eulogises the human interest of. (the speeches from the Throne. Of the Kaiser he remarks: "A strong man. is characterised by self-restraint, and the Emperor is proverbially impulsive. A strong man is characterised by calmness and repose, and the Emperor is always agitated. A strong man, i© characterised by wisdom, and :the Emperor is carried away by his passions, j A strong man is reticent, and tihe German Emperor is proverbially indiscreet and tactless. No ruler,has ever been guilty of more repeated arid more seri- j oils indiscretions." And again :" The j poet Heine once said that to the French.; belongs the Empire of the Earth, to j the German belongs the Empire of. th&.j Air, and to the English the Empire of the Sea. It is he who first told the Germans that their future is on tliewater. ,. Once ■ again: "It cannot be strongly enough emphasised that, in his general attitude to life and politics, Empjeror William is., not a representative<modern : German, ruler. To use an expression of Nietzsche, the German Emperor is 'urizeitgemass , ; he is against the times. He belongs to a former age." He talks like the ordiiir ary fool against criticism: "Would it not be better if the'discontented critics shook the German dust off their slip- j pers, and left as soon as possible a country where such wretched and lam- ' entable conditions prevail?" Some other suggestive passages: "The Emporor, although pasMonaely interested in the artistic activities of his subjects, has never seemed to realise that untrammelled freedom and spontaneity is the very breath of genius, aaid that artistic masterpieces cannot be made by. order. . . His ideals have always been narrowly patriotic." "The Kaiser is intensely earnest and moral. And the parent of his people is also a model parent in his private life. As a paterfamilias, he is of almost bourgeois rectitude. On the contrary, the morals of Germany are getting every day laxer and looser, and Berlin is outbidding Paris in .its sexual immorality, as recent scandals have only too convincingly proved." ;

In, view of the elections for the Reichstag, to be held next month. Prof. Sarolea's abovemeiitioned article is instructively eye-opening in -its references to Socialism. Thus: "The prestige gained by t-he exploits of the great wars still surrounds . the monarchy, and the German middle classes still see in the Empire the bulwark against Socialism." Further: "It is therefore not difficult to .imagine the abhorrence which the Kaiser, must feel with the political aspirations of Young Germany aiid the ever-growing progress of Socialism. Otlier autocratic rulers, like Napoleon 111. and Alexander 11.., have played with Socialistic ideas. "William has made a firm stand against the enemy. He is never weary of calling his supporters to arms against the internal barbarians. An acceptance of Socialism is a crime." Also: "So profoundly convinced is the Kaiser that Socialism is the natural danger, that even the primary school must be .used to fight the enemy." How the Emperor loves the movement destined to destroy him these sayings attest: "With , such men (Socialistic agitators) you- as honorable men can and must have nothing to do., and you must not allow yourself to be led by them." "To mc Social Democrat is synonymous with enemy to Empire and Fatherland."