Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1908. THE UNIVERSAL WAVE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LIX, Issue 9214, 5 November 1908, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1908. THE UNIVERSAL WAVE.

That human affairs are iv a transition state is plaiu ; but uothiug reminds us | of tho fact so forcibly as the Kaiser's receut iudiscretions. It would appear that some occult power has led his German Majesty to effect with a stroke of the pen or the tougue, iv oue act, more than a revolution could have done. The Socialists might have battered at the walls of despotism for years without doiug what the Kaiser has dove rmcousciously. Hitherto, .he Kaiser has ruled Germany aud challenged tbe world, with the "mailed fist" ; aud presuming on the "divine right," be has certainly constituted himself the-champion of autocracy. But his discretion has uot been equal to his enthusiasm, aud vow he has committed himself so far as to damage his prestige beyond repair. Clearly the Kaiser has fallen, like Lucifer, never to rise again as a despot, though he will probably remain, for the rest of his life, the most commanding figure in the German Empire. His iudiscretiou, about which all the world is vow talking so much, has awakened the dormant love of freedom and opened the way for constitutioual reform. Had tlie Kaiser been approached on such a subject as "constitutional reform," he would have, perhaps, resented the suggestiou, and sworn by his ancestors never to modify the existiug state of things. But a higher power has silently aud mysteriously intervened, and "in the twinkling of an eye," tho position has been reversed. Outside the boundaries of the Empire, talk is fast and furious; and it has,we may be sure, kindled all the inflammable material within; and demand is now being made for a change in the German constitution, by which the personal powers of the Kaiser shall be curtailed. Such a movement cau have but oue cud. The will of the people must prevail; and not eveu the Kaiser cau arrest its progress. A remarkable contrast is afforded by Great Britain, where the nation applauds tho individual efforts of the Sovereign. But King Edward is not perpetually making speeches; he does not lend himself to interviewers. His nephew is always in the lime-light. It is impossible to imagine the Kaiser in connection with a modified sovereignty, yet that is what lies before him. " The ghosts of the r;ast, the shades of Frederick the Great, aud the long live of his illustrious House will vanish, aud the representative of centuries of despotism will be brought face to face with the democratic sentiment in realism. To him it is anathema. But it is irresistible. It is a, tidal wave, before which thrones aud traditions must fall. Such thrones as endure have as their base a democratic constitution, and the German throne is not yet so placed. What will vow become of the Imperial schemes of assimilation of territory? These will not appeal to the popular mind, and the Kaiser will never again

dominate that strange aud restlesß thing. Aud if the Gorman ' system' fails—what will .become of the Russian?