THE UNCHANGEABLE EMPEROR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10587, 17 October 1910, Page 6

THE UNCHANGEABLE EMPEROR.

SOME OF THE KAISER'S SPEECHES. fjii'rt is memorj and short is re.pcrlince Baiel> two years ago the ,Uor 'lap Empeior promised to put a .curb on liis tongue, and the Geiman people said, "Now wc shall get on better •' But is. Heir Bebel observes, the iHohenzolkiLS never aker. The speech •at Koemg>beig certainly shows that 'months ot eniorrcd silence have not 'chanted oi-hei the manner or tne mattei or the jmpoual oiations. It is as 'flambo\ant and dictatonal m tone and as instinct with belief in "sovereignty by Divine light" as anv of those harangues that have astonished the woilcl and agitated Germany since William 11. ascended the tin one in 1888. Theie is a general belief that the Emperor takes tor his model and ideal the grandfather who, in the words ot the Koemgsbcig speech, "placed by his own no-lit the ciowti of the Kings or Pru«»='a on his head, once again laying stress upon the fact that it was confer', cl up.hi him by the grace of God alone ai d not bv Parliaments, National Assemblies 01 popular dcciees. But we ha\c the Ka.sci's own confession th?t Lis hero is the Great Elector, Frederick William, who established his authoutj au Koeii'gsbcrg as a "lochei de bronze." We all of us work, so to speak, m the shadow ot the Gieat Electoi, a man i.ho, with every hbie and with his wholj heart, loved his homeland, and who exerted himself with imL .- v energetic toil for its benefit, ii.-til he had developed and amalgam • i. i h>& B'andenburg into a firm, '- !. .2-it whole, allaying the countk< wounds winch an inhuman th'ity ■ :.'■>-J wai had inflicted. Ho is the t ancs-tor ot mine ior whom I have the . ieatfiEt admiration and mho has, Turce mi bovlibod dajs, illuminated t!i- rati before me as my mocicl and idea! 11' W) it'o Emperor piesenicd to the <■!•" or "i. Hold a bionze rcpiodaction ", the ma-mmeut ot the Great Elector I <r iJtil.i-, : oo added to the gift woids tint i' i •' '.i i- Ha in the speech at 1 x<.c-i.j«bcie Th.s . . is a'so a memento to my?ch, i'i,rnig me ou > " ltu ' a WIU dt lro | l 1 as iVy gie~t ancestor's, in the path v,'uch i have recognised as the light cue," uninfluenced by opposition of eveiy kiiid. Aq»m in 1900 we have the same deck latum ui a Divine mission What were the causes which made a possible tor our House ot Hoheni '"*ei n t.) achie\ c such grand results ° b»h tli'S tbat each and every Bohensiilei, in lor knew fiom the first that ho w •, but the lepiesentative Here bclcr. of a Higher One, that he was to gn e in aocoui't one da> of his acL. and his aelne\encnts to a moic not-lit King and 2Uastoi, that he mi. t b" a laitliful ■stewaid and oomni' -\> th the belief oi a most high U.ip.r'ir VTheiK-e. too, the rocklike crnvton of ins mission which ui- ' ri-A e\er\ or>e of nv\ forelath'i *- 1 hence the unbending >ullpo\iei wh'ch enabled them to carij uh..u thev had once set themselves i>i d.' Theie ii a famili. i rnig about the [vocrngsbeig oialion lliat iccalls the speech ol tne X.'isci m East Prussia in 1891 • - % r lhc opposition jif nobles against the vll of then Iving is a monstmus thing. Oppos lion is notifiable ouAy when the King himself stands at its head. Hon oitcn ha\c mj ancestors been compelled to withstand the misguided members of a single class for - the good of the whole community' ,Evea as once the fiist King of Pi ussia "sa'd, '3 c me mea nata corona," and „ as li': en moulded the rojal authoiity ii'ti a "loclier de bronze," so do I, like m\ impeiial giandfathei represent the monaichy by right Divine. The Gcunr.n Na\j is the creation of the Empjioi William. In ISBB, when, he came to the throne, the Navj was i:i=igtuhcanl and obsolete and the people weie mdiffeient His cncrg-\ .and eloquence laiscd it to the second place among the Navies of the world, and this achievement he ascribes to the example of the Great' Elector 'this -south, remember, when armed at watuiitv, was the fiist German Pi nice w ho pointed his people to the sea, who founded the Nav\ of Brandenbuig When the Kaiser sent his biother, Pnnce Hcmv to lepiesent him at the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria, m 1897, he addressed him m these woids. I deeply regret my inability to send you to the iubilee with a better vessel than the Konig Wilhelm, while other nations will shine in their proud battleships. This "is the saddening consequence of the conduct of,those enemies of the Fatherland who contrive to prevent the acquisition of muchneeded vessels But I shall never rest until J have raised my Navy to the same' height as my Army. This humility was, of course, intended to be a reproach to his people. Theie wore much hner ships at lus disposal than the worm-eaten Konig Wilhelm, as the Kaiser proved, nine months later when Prmce Henry departed for Ch.ua with the mailed fist May every European m the distant l egiijii to which you >are bound, may every Geiman merchant, and, above all, may every foreigner on whoseisoil we are, or with whom we have to deal, be aware that the . German Michael has firmly planted his shield with the device ot the German Eagle upon the soil,, in order once for all to give his protection to all who ask tor it. And may our countrymen in those legions,, be tjiey pnests or be they merchants, or be their business what it may, rest assuied that ( the protection of the Geiman' Empire implied b-v "the German- ship-of 7 war w ill be steadily vouchsafed. v , But "-should anvone essay to detract from our'just rights or to injure us, then, up and at him with your mailed fist, alidj if it is God's will, weave tor, your outh--1 nl biow a wreath - -of laurel winch no one in all the German Empire'will grudge you: - ' '.-;■".'' The Kaiser's faith m force is not less stiong than his belief m his.~destinyi~ Addressing the officers of thc-_ Berlin garrison in 1900 he said,: * * As m\ grandfather .labored for his '-iinn, so will I m like manner, and uneiringlv, carry on and. s carry llnough the work of reorgamsing'my N.im in order that n may be worthy i . ii\ land forces, and that by it also t n o Geiman Kmpne maj be in a, posi11111' to win abioad a place it has not -sot attuned With the two united I 1 iij e lo !)i enabled, by the guidance ol Gixi to piove the truth of the sayiv; til I'lpcleurk William 1 • "When < ne of liiis vol Id wants to decidp «■ moth n<_ the pei' w ill not do unless it snppoited by the strength of the .swoid " ' Those hiftj ideals expressed now in

the language of 'prophet'and priest and poet and now in the flamboyant style <,f the hustings, have occasional lapses that astonish admirers in this country. Take, for example, the address to .students at Bonn in 1S91: It is my firm conviction that every youth who enters a beer-drinking and duelling club will receive the. true ' direction of his life 'from the spirit pre/ailing there. He who scoffs at the Gorman Student Corps does not understand its real meaning. I hope that as long as there arc German corps-students the spirit winch is there iostered and which is steeled bv strength and courage, will he preserved, and that } ou will always take delight- in handling the duelling blade. Many people dor not understand what our .duels really mean; but" that must not lead us astray. You and I know hotter. Tt would he rash *to- judge the German Emperor by a, few extract; from his innumerable orations' "on almost • every topic within the range of'luiman knowledge and experience. His opinions have as many sides as his character and his abilities. Yet two convictions stand out plainly and' unmistakably—that he rules' Germany bv Divine right and that the rattle of the sabre is the strongest of arguments. ,„ .