SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 30 July 1924, Page 5

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

( THE KAISER AND ENGLAND. (By Sir William Beach Thomas.) Has the Kaieer in his peaceful retirement al Hans Doorn quite resigned Imperial ambitions? He is wholly free, at any rate, from the turbulence of such longings. Doubtless it is not the , least likely that he will ever cease to stiive for self-justification in regard to the war. That desire is always with him, in spite of discouragement from hi,-: friends, who effectively prevent him taking any direct personal efforts. But his political ambitions have been duelled both by the restfulness of his life and the spectacle of his successors iu office. | It was here that I heard an aristoi critic German talk of “those beastly I Germans,” meaning to indict the better part of the post Kaiser Zerliners and Bavarians to boot. The turn of fortune which killed the late Kaiserin has been accepted by the Kaiser almost with complacency . Standing before the last ixirtrait of the Kaiserin I said somei tiling about the overwhelming sadness lof the eyes. “Yes,” I was told, “the [ news that the Kaiser was to be handed over to the Allies killed her as with a | breath of poisoned gas.” The Kaiser. on the other hand, never, from the moment of his arrival in Holland, gai e any outward sign, of strong emotion. It is the opinion Of some of those who know the Kaiser best in his role as country gentleman that he is contented, is happy. Some of his sons openly say they are happier than ever they were. So, perhaps, is their father. One of the more obvious temperamental changes is that he no longer hates ot expresses rancour. He is subdued >o the spirit of the liayfield in which he works. He has become a calm spectator; and bis interests are wide and various. His ; letter-bag is enormous, especially w-ith I communications from the United States. ■ The monthly paper from there that con- | titiues its campaign for fixing the cause I of the war on Russian and French poii|i: :is—on Poincare and Sazonoff —is i'-.-d with avidity. But the letters me so many that only a proportion ever meet the Kaiiser’s eye; and it is the strong, definite policy of those surrounding him that he should keep himself out of the hurly-burly of argument and justification, whether spoken or written. He reads a great deal, aloud and to himself. Often, ol an evening he will take an English book and read it aloud in German to the company, translating fluently and at sight, seldom pausing for word of phrase. Indeed, his inti rest m jjig.’and and English affairs dee,' and contii. oi.s. He would like t. be told what Ei.g!...» Jxwke he should get. And if any one wishes further to increase his postbag’s dimensions a selection of the best and raciest new books would be welcome. One of the latest to be recommended to him was “Simon Called Peter.” Severer works than that are opened on Sunday. It is the Kaiser's custom at nine o’clock on a Sunday morning to invite his household to a service held in the house, at which he himself plays the part of preacher. It is to be regretted that on this occasion he avoids originality, preferring to select for his reading the homilies of a well-tried pulpiteer. The Kaiser follows the politics of the world closely and keenly. In his circle there is considerable disappointment over the British Premier. It was exacted that he would take firm action over the Ruhr; and he is now charged by the Doorn colony with a new and turncoat affection for France. Yet the Kaiser has recently uttered some curiously sympathetic sentiments iu reference to British democracy. He was asked by one of his staff if he believed iu the victory of the totalled democratic Idea. In the course of a long reply he said “England knows, no written constitution. The Englishman feels that the form kills and only the spirit keeps alive. Germany, on the other hand, has fashioned for itself a form made up of alien elements—a .sort .of democracy that quite fails to foster either the individuality or the rich variety of German life.” After this most sapient and philosophic dictum he proceeded ot quote a passage: from "Gulliver’s Travels” to illustrate h:s point. Perhaps his ambition is to imitate I'rederiek the Great, that admirer and entertainer of foreign men ot letters. Was it not one of his guests who decided that one of the great morals of life was to cultivate the garden: “11 faut cultiver notre.jardin”?