DARK CLOUDS GATHERING OVER GERMANY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14285, 30 April 1917, Page 9

DARK CLOUDS GATHERING OVER GERMANY.

FIERCE DOMESTIO STRIFE AFIER

THE WAR

GENERAL UUDENDORF THK PROBABLE NEW CHANCELLOR. In a third article by an influential! American who has just left Germany! an Amsterdam special correspondent furnishes this acute observ-j er's views on domestic politics and influences m the Fatherland. AMSTERDAM, February 14. "Tlie only politics that Count at the moment m Germany," said my- friend, (writes a special correspondent), "are ( so tangled up with the question of peace that I would prefer to deal with these ( when Aye come to talk about the, many- j sided peace question aus it now worries, and ■, distracts all Germany. | "But it may help to make .the present, situation clearer, and a leas tough pro-| position to grip mentally, if I run* oyer : just a little previous history,, dating ( ifrom the time shortly before the out- 1 break of war, and even m this I think 1; can tell you some things, not hitherto known outside small circles m Germany, j "In the first place, let me say I do not take the view whioh; I find so wide-i spread outside Germany, that the Kaiser and Chancellor were the main conspirators who formed Germany's war plans.; Whatever both may be now, I hold both wwe completely" deceived and! misled as to European affair^ ahd Gtirm&iiy's danger by the Junker group, whose eternal ciy was that Germtunyy was threatened' by the Entente -Oordiale, and that England was looking 1 on yapprov-y ingly while Germany allowed herself to be t oowed : by threats f rom . France and Russia every time German diplomacy made one of Its periodical blunders. ZABERN TURNED TO ACCOUNT. "At this period the Chancellor was a sort of spiritual- valet tc* his , master, j The great aim of the Junker's was to be sure nothing tended £o lessen the pres-, tige of the military caste and military, ideaJs, and even the. Zabern affair was so nTanaged that, whiter the rest ( of the world roared with laughter, m Germany the incident was by a clever press and psychological argument turned i<p good account, and even Aended still ' fur tli er . to exalt.' militarism. I "In "defending militarism the Chan-' cellor probably acted under great stress of personal private troubles. 'On the day after th« famous interpellation, during? -trliich ihe Cro^vn Prince made him-i self ridiculous, the Chancellor wa® ill. Many said it was a' diplomatic illness, but the truth was -he liad that day set-: tied an unsavory affair m which hia son < was fche --qulprit, and through: which the Chancellor had : to pay what was to Him. a very large sum of money, y , T "I regard the Kaiser as having set out on his reign with a genuine desire to be remembered as the guardian of peace, but that the Chancellor was not strong enough, lately to protect him from" the. evil Junker military influences. j LTJDENDOR** AS CHANCELLOR. "For gfeneral- purposes" it may be said that present political power is thus ar-j ranged, namely,- pl*b-phancellor block on; the Left and " anti-Chancellor coalition, ' which is pro-Tirpifcz, : Reventlow and 'Fi-ightfulne^.- ,>. | "It is considered the Chancellor will j not remain m oflioe after .the war, and j General Ludendorf , the present Chief of ! the General Staff, is openly pointed io as . his successor. Ludendorf is known a« an , excellent organiser, and his pbgsible succession to the Chancellorship may indi-j ckfce a hope oh the Kaiser's part -that he^ niay be the man to steer ■ the ship .... of ', State tlu*ough the troublous after-war period. •'.-■•.-:■ "For it is certain that Scheidemann, who is the champion of the new orientation, with larger powers for the people, ' will not submit to see his pland*-.thwart-ed. • The new orientation will if. ndt by pacific means then by revolution,] and men who return, from the front: will h^e learned c,tha£.siere, aw*, things more terrible than tli(j \vratlv -of- super-' iors.. . . - ? '.!-.,-' .'•'■■' "Moreover, the influence of the Junkers is w;aning. Most of the older leaders have lost muoh pNnver, and younger, men will push them aside when the real internal struggle- begins afiter the war. TERRIBLE STRIFE AHEAD. "I am fully convinced Germany will^ be convulsed with internal strife of the! most ferocious character, perhaps with ' secret fighting and l barricades as of old times, a f tei* the. war. "Such problems as the relations between the Federal -States and the political parties will, I am convinced, .be ■ fought out with unrestricted fierceness.' j Indeed, many serious thinking Germans expect that after the war ends Germany's new orientation will then- only be achieved by the cost of much of the best blood remaining m the country. "There are many- different groups already m course of formation. One strong body aims at an allianoe, or aty lea&L at a rapproabhmeni with' England, and the 'United States. Another seeks' reconciliation with France and Belgium and desires -to 'take it' out of Russia.' ! "The prime mover m this movement is Hammann, fihe former director of the Berlin Foreign/ Office' Press Bureau, . and ohief censor until lately. This nian was, and indeed continues to be, one of Germany's most evil spirits, whose work it is to poison the Press m a certain direction and to aid 1 the schemes pf Revent-i low. I "Among m6n Wbo are ? undoubtedly losing influence are StreseiriArin! and Bas-.| sermanny'two of 'the 'most notorious leaders of the National Liberals. In the summer of 1916. the pro-Russian group actually succeeded- in making .the Go-* vernment send proposals* to Russia for a separate peace. It was on the indighaht' refusal of these by ROssia that matin was shelved. > REVENTLOW'S MACHINATIONS. "As I said, Hammann, works, closely] with Reventlow. Now -this man ia' strangely misunderstood,/ m England: especially, so far as I can judge' from your ' newspapers. There are, two Re xventlows, * one the crank, "*and fireband of the Deutsche Tages'zeitung', arid an-. other j the clever, subtle, ' Machiavellian intriguer, "who has enormous power to\ sway^opinion and influence the public, by means which never come to the surface. "He more than anyone^ by meafls of iihmense propaganda, has ; caused the masses to believe that' Zeppelins and submarines will brijig. food and >Viotory. His Tageszeitung. waitings are merely a cloak for machinations of a widespread and influential character. "He has succeeded m successfully stifling they almost innumerable voices of serious Germans, who r fear that'submarine/ ferocity will bring complications which, added to present difficulties, must end m disaster. This serious mass ofi the population crave for peace with' all .their hearts and hold ; that' Germany should continue to direct efforts to achieve peace. "This, too, m spite of the absolute; "bewilderment -'produced by the Entente's reply to Mr Wilson's Peace Not?. Many j of the clearest thinkers and best speak- j ers among th# least Pmssianised were' qnite oentain that the end of 1916 -"vo-uld ! see peace. by agreement or compromlse (| well on the way. In these \ circles I/ordl Grey was regarded as serioiisly and hon- j estly striving to maintain peace m the, summer of 1914, and he is still similarly, regarded. ' ?Thiei*e are others, however, whose views so often find expression m caricatures m weeklies, who regard Lord Grey as the incarnation of -evil. I ''Mr Lloyd Qeorge, is spoken of as a strong, courageous man, but misled .by j a. schemuig clique, who will drop him ' when he -has served their endg and pre-' sents his bill on behalf of his paiHy and the laboring, cl^sqs, generally. This view is probably^ partly caused by a sort :of feq.r of ftlr LloydvGreQVge, and; a faint • hope, by ysaytng sudi : : things, to cause' domestic strife' in' England, r In fact,' when hearing such talk the phrase 'sour grapes' comes at once .to one's tongue.