THE KAISER'S INDISCRETIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LXII, Issue 9767, 30 August 1910, Page 4

THE KAISER'S INDISCRETIONS.

Germany's Kaiser is euhauciug his reputation as a most irresponsible genius. He is known to Englishmen as a groat soldier, a clever diplomat, and a scholar of many accomplishments. He is also known as a- very erratic monarch, who is a source of constant anxiety to his Ministers. Everyone remembers Wilhelm's message to the Boers, when the South African war was at its height, and {.he consequent excitement among patriotic Britons; and. in I'.K'S, the Kaiser's letter to Lord Tweodmouth (then First JUord of flic Admiralty) relative to British tu;d German naval policies— a letter Hiat was hold to bo an attempt to influence, in Garmiui interests, the Minister responsible for the British Naval Estimates; ami, in the same year, the statement made by the Kaiser in au alleged interview with "a representative Englishman" to the effect that, when England sustained her "Black Week" (Htormberg, Magersfonteui, Colenso), "I worked out what I considered the best plan of campaign, submitted it to my General Staff for criticism, and tlieu dispatched it to England. That document awaits, among the State papers at Windsor, tiie impartial verdict of history; and, as a matter of curious coincidence, let me add that the plan I formulated ran very much on the same lives as that actually adopted by Lord Roberts and carried into successful operation." This picture of the Kaiser a&, an unbidden strategist, planning the annihilation of a small but valiant and kindred race, was commented upon iv Berlin in tho most bitter terms. As a consequence, Prince Bulow (then Imperial Uhancellor) tendered his resignation, but it was not accepted. In the Reichstag the Kaiser's action in interfering in foreign policy was strongly criticised ; Prince Bulow replied that he was convinced the Emperor would in future observe that; reserve, even iv private conversations, which was equally indispensable for a uniform policy and for the authority of the Orown. But /'that reserve" nas net been rigidly observed, as evidenced ou one or two occasions since, ant! by this latest outburst.