HOW GERMANY IS GOVERNED.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10781, 1 June 1911, Page 6

HOW GERMANY IS GOVERNED.

THE KAISKP /LIMITED).

(By Charles Lowe.)

Thorp is no country in all Europe concerning which it behoves lis to be sowell informed as about Germany, the great, country whose interests and aims so nearly affect ourselves. And yet the generality of Britons continue to have the most confused, erroneous, and preposterous notions on the subject. The German Empire has now been in existence for forty years —during which period, by the by, it is the only great Power that lias never once drawn the sword, but repeatedly compelled others to keep it in its sheath —and yet there ate very few Englishmen who have clearer and more correct notions about it than they have ahout China. There would he much less alarmism in this country about German ambitionus - .f the' Constitution of the German Empire were better understood. It has come to this, that most Englishmen now look upon the Germans as Gambetta regarded the rjesuits, of whom he said, "L? clericalisme —voila i'ennemi!" But, before rushing to the conclusion, Englishmen should really try to realise how the Germnas are ruled, and to what extent: m .turn they- are permitted to rule ilicmsolvos, and control their rulers._ Well, with the | only oit'broad" and general lines—let us begin with the Emperor, who is by.no i means the>'autocratic ruler which he is generally' represented to be .in . this country" There is nothing exactly cor-fe'spondirigtb-'his position in any other European State—least of all in Russia or ; .Turkey, the. only remaining despotisms in Europe pure and-simple, despite their faclical Dumas and phantom As-semblies.--It is absurd to speak of the Kai?er as an autocrat, because to begin with, ho is not an Imperial Sovereign. Perhaps his nearest analogue is the President of the United States, winch hold the same position in America as the VTJnited States of Germany do m Europe. As forty-five separate States hi-,-America..are.-banded together in a federal Union called Republic, with an elective President for their- executive head,--; so twcntyr,two German monarchies, large and small, and three little Republics, -viz.,> the Hansa Free Cities —Hamburg, Liiheck, and Bremen—did, in 1871, agree to constitute themselves into;! <a corresponding -Confederation, with; ithe presidency- thereof Snot elective, but hereditary in the line of the Kings of Prussia, as a reward for their 'having done- so''much] : to' bring about this national unity; . ■•-'ln the- case of America', the confederation of States, I say, was called '-Republic,;' while to> ; the: corresponding thing in Germany wis awarded the title "Reich," or • Empire, - though, - strictly spdaking, '-'Reich'"only means "realm,while Kaiser-reioh" i is empire, just as "Konig-reioh"- is' kingdom.; ; But the German State Confederation is. not a "FCaisor-reieh"; it is only a "Reich, with a purely titular Kaiser at the head of it— ajnere "Deutscher Kaiser" —or "Gflrman Emperor," which is vastly different from. "Emperor of Germany." William 11. of Prussia is Emperor "in;":, but not. "of," Germany, and; therefore Imperial' sovereignty is not: inherent: in him. - There is an Imperial German family, but in the "Almanacli de Gotha" you will have to look for ic—not; under the head of "Alle-magne;"-.biit:of "Prusse;" "One hears loose talk;about the "Imperial German crown," but in reality there is no such thing, and no such throna. . It may strike my readers with the force of a great surprise, bv.t- it is nevertheless a fact, that William 11. has never yet been crowned either as Kinc of Prussia or as German Emperor. In the latter capacity, of course, it would have been impossible for him to imitate the example of the t«o Napoleons who crowned themselves in Notre Dame, because William' 11. is not an Imperial Sovereign in the sense that the' Satanic Corsican was. But, on the other hand, it is surprising that, as King of Prussia, of which" he certainly is the Sovereign—he, the great stickler for the principle of rule' by right divine —should have omitted to go through the ceremony which was performed upon himself by ther firsVregal member of the Hohenzollern line?-Fre-derick I. at Konigsberg, the Westminster of Prussia, IS, 1701— a day which was afterwards' to be selected by his sixth successor for his proclamation at Versailles —not <as "Emperor of Germany," but as "German Emperor" or hereditary "Roose-velt-President of the .Confederation cailled-'~'ißeieh." --• i ' : .'

ijin-~.tTje~:imperial ''Gohstitution the Kaiser, sis referred- to.-as the : "Bun.despraesidium," 'or President of the Confederation, and that is precisely what.be-is.- : But-iI-.•.repeat' that he is not Sovereign in. the ordinary sense of the. term. As Kaiser he receives no' Civil List' frorii' the Reich, but only from his Prussian subjects, who thus pay him well on to a million sterling;, a jyear for the upkeep of his Imperial"' dignity ; and-rfor :the . lustre which it thus'sheds "on "the Prnssian people. Apart from his own loyal and Honest Prussians the Kaiser has no personal "subjects." The author of one of the numerous tales of invasion of this country by the Germans makes the Kaiser issue a proclamation to all his "loyal subjects" living in England. But this- betrayed, gross ignorance of the writeV-s':--themej -hecause the Germans do not stand to William 11. as Emperor in the relation of subject to Sovereign. The Prussians are his proper subjects; but the Bavarians, the Saxons, the Wurtembergers, and so on, owe similar allegiance to their respective Sovereigns, while all enjoy the superincum-bent-status and privilege of .German citizenship. . . Each of the Federal Sovereigns is _stUl a or c : ' Pater .Patriae, to subjects, "and' T th<J Reeling of personal loyalty which still attaches all Germans to their special }!Landesvater" takes undoubted precedence of their other sense of allegiance to the Kaiser as political overseer and protagonist of the whole "Vaterland I Or let" hie illustrate the case in this way .H Throughout Germany, the military bath—"Fahneneid," or "oath to the colors" —is taken—not to the Kaiser personally: (except,'of/course; in his own kingdom^,, Prussia), :hu't; to the "Landesh'ern" l *Eahaesvater7' or Sovereign of the soldier's particular birth State. Yet in thus taking the oath of allegiances to their own special ruler, recruits at the same-time swear obedi-"ghce'to-the Emperor as Commander-m-Chief of the 'entire German army—though of this more anom • There'; is i even f no such ..thing: as a "German" field-marshal, though we were told by the Berlin correspondents, who ought-to have known better, that the Kaiser signalised' New Year's Day by creating several new onesv, Brit you will only find, field-marshals sian arfliy. Moreover, William:-11. is a "fountain-of honor"—not as Emperor, but only as King of Prussia. There are no such things as Imperial decorations, or Imperial titles of nobility. Bismarck was made a "Furst" —which.is misrendered "Prince," and is nearer "Marquis," being less than "Duke riot bv the German Kaisrer.rbut-by.jthe King of Prussia,, and in this respecthis Majesty's sovereign powers are shared by all his crowned confederates from the Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, and Wtirtemberg" down to the other "wee, wee Gorman lairdics" who continue to wear a crown and cock their hats as proudly as ever, enjoying—as "fountains of honor"—quite as much prerogative elbowroom as the King of Prussia who is onlv "primus inter pares," first in rank and precedence among his sovereign equals. . But let us look at the thmg from another point of view, for it goes to the root of the whole matter. There is a popular'impression, which no'amount of disillusioning explanation seems able to correct, that the various minor Sovereigns in Germany stand to the Kaiser in about the same relation as the .Norman barons once did to William the Conqueror, or as the great feudatory chiets of India now do' to our own KingEmperor. But -nothing could be more erroneous. When, yielding to the temptation to belong to a foreign nation, our Duke of Edinburgh took up the succession to the throne of SaxeCoburg, it was asked by several speakers and writers whether it was possible for an English Prince, "who liad taken an oath of allegiance to a foreign Sovereign," to retain his status as a British subject. These questions indicated a belief that, on ascending the throne of his uncle, Duke Alfred had actually, so to speak, bent the vassal knee to his ! nephew, the German Emperor, as to his | suzerain lord. . * .. . A more erroneous and absurd belief

uever impressed itself on the mind of man. It was probably due to the circumstance that, when Duke Alfred took the oath to the constitution of the united Duchies of Coburg and Gotha, he did .so in the: accidental preseiice of the Emperor who, out of a mere feeling of kinship and sovereign camaraderie for his English uncle, had hastened to Rheinkardtsbruniv to act towards him as a kind of sponsor and Dymokc champion, so to speak, at such a serious juncture of his life. That was all. Otherwise the Duke took he further oath of allegiance to the Emperor than was implied; in his'vow to his own subjects to observe .their ducal Constitution —an act in itself which at ohce : admitted him t&th'e confederation of > his fellow sovereigns! i. .-.._ . j ■.<■■■ , . Finally, let me say that with us in this country the tendency ever is to lose sight of the "King of-Prussia in the German Emperor; and. until the distinction is clearly grasped no one can hope to avoid conf irsion- o£ thought in.- following the course of affairs in the Fatherland. People should always ask themselves, on hearing' that his Majesty: has done this or that, whether he has been, acting as Kaiser, or only as King, and in about seven cases but'of-ten they-'-will find, to their great surprise no donbt, that it was m the latter capacity.