THE GERMAN POLITICAL CRISIS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7912, 28 July 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE GERMAN POLITICAL CRISIS.

The present political crisis in Germany may, not unlikely, lie fraught with momentous consequences. Many writers have told us how the most iron hand of modern times has held the peoples of Central Europe in its grip for generations, and has moulded them with discipline, specialisation and duplicity unknown to any other member of the human family, l'he world has witnessed the wonderful success of a peaceful revolution in autocratic Russia. Is something akin to that about to happen in Kaiser-ridden Germany ? In other words, does what is now happening presage the coming of a revolution? Mr. Ralph Darlington, as one who ii,as travelled in Germany every year tor twenty-one years and knows sometiiing of her people and institutions, declared in the “Outlook” some weeks ago that he had no hesitancy in replying “Yes.” Mr. Darlington claims tc have witnessed the steady growth of Socialism in Germany for many years, and, he adds, “1 have listened again and again to the free expressions of ‘the man in the street’ which would have done the Kaiser good to hear. He succeeded in muzzling the press as no monarch in history has ever done—no light acnievement in modern times, and among a people of Kultur. How few realise that during the Kaiser’s reign the editors of German newspapers have suffered at least two hundred years’ imprisonment in iheir combined sentences for lose majeste. It seems incredible. The voice of tho pulpit has been similarly vetoed—though Germanv claims to have created the most profound theologians of a’l t. •, who we now realise "nave had too great an influence on the Western mind, in our own hand and others. The credulity of the German people has always Leon an enigma to the people of our islands.” But, m Mr. Darlington’s up in ion, it need not bo. Germany g'ves to the w- rid a clear case of over-specialisation. There everything is spo sin lav'd— science, diplomacy, spying, lying But the one special : st does not contend with the other. Each :s supreme in his own sphere. But .this does not create intelligence, and initiative, and self-reliance — it creates a machine. It has indeed produced the most wonderful machine the world has ever seen, and the marvel is that it Ims boon kept intact through three long years of suffering and pressure unparalleled. Look at the German report of the Jutland battle and tho North Sea fight of the previous year, when the Bluchcr was destroyed. “Yes,” said the German Chancellor, 4 we lost the Bluchcr, but when she went down wo destroyed three British ironclads bigger than the Bluchcr, and so we non the battle.’ The British reply war. ,‘ You injured the Lion, it is true; but she is back it: port under repair. Name tho other steps, and we can toll you where they are.” “Oh, but,” jays the German, “who are vow British? Our Cham •••■'or snvs three British ships are at t-e bottom of the North Sen: that is good enough for us. The Chance’lor is our specialist, and he knows.” Can this go on for ever? Is an intelligent race like the Germarts to be hoodwinked m this way to the end of the war 5 Mr. Darlington’s answer is an emphat’c “No.” The hand-writing, he says, “is already lie ng discerned on the walls of Hohcnzollcrnism! Irresponsible despotism in Russia lias finally collapsed before an astonished world, and its effect is eating its way into Germany. The submissive German race is opening its eyes anew, and we are on the eve of momentous events. The whole world, from Russia to America, is now arrayed against the arrogant aggression of tho military caste, and fires are burning in many hearts. Will a peaceful revolution evolve inside Germany? Think »,f the fires within her own borders—a disaffected and disillusioned army, n crushed and starving people, with millions of deported subjects from tho raided nations round her, compelled under penalty of death to work against their own fatherlands.”