B - ERR BEBEL, the veteran leader of the German Socialist party,
is a very able man ; but, like so many able men of our day, his ability is apt to display itself mainly in criticism. His attack on the foreign policy of his own Government delivered on September 18th before the Socialist Congress at Jena, and received, it would seem, with enthusiastic applause, was marked at once by states- manship and a just appreciation of the facts around him. It is perfectly true that the rulers of Germany—Herr Bebel when speaking outside Parliament carefully avoids naming the Emperor—have mismanaged the great opportunity afforded them by the momentary collapse of Russia. The pressure on their Eastern frontier was relaxed, and Germany stood alone, unfettered, with a strong Fleet and the most effective Army in Europe ; and what has she done with that splendid position ? She has interfered in Morocco, says Herr Bebel, in such a way that France has begun to believe that there is real danger of an attack, and that England " has been practically forced into the arms of the French Republic." In other words, Germany has accomplished nothing with her freedom from pressure; has alienated France, who is watching her with most suspicious eyes ; has exacerbated the soreness in Great Britain, which originally sprang from other and quite removable causes ; and is scarcely in a better position than she was before the Russo-Japanese War began. That is all true, and Prince Billow will have much to do to defend himself and his master in the Reichstag ; but then, what is the alternative policy which Herr Bebel desires and would defend ? Is he asking for simple quiescence ? If that is so—and no doubt that is the recognised policy of his party—the " world-policy," which unquestionably attracts the imagination of many Germans, must be abandoned, the evils produced by the rapid increase of population must be left to cure themselves, and in ten years Germany will be again, as of old, encompassed to the right and to the left by two great and allied military Empires. Or does Herr Bebel seek some irresistible alliance, such as one with France or with Russia, or the concentration of all effort upon some design which to him appears at once possible and reasonable ? He offers in his speech no alternative, except it be quiescence, which the Emperor, and the Military party, and the Colonial party, and at least half the young men of Germany would reject as a mere policy of drift.
We are the more disappointed by the indefiniteness of the great German Radical because we see, or think we see, that it is shared by his powerful opponents, and that it is this peculiarity, more than any special project, which makes of the German Emperor such a disturbing force. We all, or at least all of us who are moderately sensible and not bemused by a vague dislike of particular races, recognise that the difficulties of the German Empire are many and serious, and expect her Emperor to exert himself to find, if he can, a remedy. But what is the remedy threatening to other countries on which his mind has fastened ? Is it a second slice of France, as so many politicians now suspect, but which, if per impossibile it were obtained, would be a source of political weakness greater than German Poland is now, while it would furnish no " dumping ground " for the overspill of the German population ? Or is it the French colonies, which, extensive as they are, are hardly worth a costly and doubtful war, and might in the getting bring Germany into collision with two Great Powers at once ? Or is it, as the French seem inclined to imagine, the whole Empire of Morocco, and the consequent twenty years of guerilla war with a score of tribes each one of which has three times the fighting power of the Hereros ? Or is it Holland and the reversionary heritage of the Indian Archipelago, upon which Japan, and possibly America, would have objections to raise ? Or is it, again, as Russians say when they are angry, Asia Minor, with both Russia and the great Ottoman clan to be defeated first ? Or is it the German section of the Austrian Empire, or some wide possession now occupied by British Colonists ? Or is it, lastly, one of those sections of South America which constantly tempt the ambitious men of Europe, as they once tempted Napoleon Ill., but which are protected, to all appear- ance effectively protected, by the Monroe doctrine. The Emperor would repudiate every one of these suggestions with more than Hebrew indignation, and we do not doubt that his repudiation would be sincere ; but it is the mis- fortune of his indefiniteness, or his martial opportunism, or whatever it is, that he creates fear everywhere by action which is attributed to ambition of this kind, and that in consequence Germany, as Herr Bebel says, is left isolated, and that he himself is spurred on, not so much by ambition as by a necessity for avoiding the appearance of failure. He must, as it were, have at least great dipki- matic successes to show, and he protracts negotiation, as in this Moroccan case, until he secures them, keeping the world thereby on tenterhooks, which the whole world resents.
The Emperor will fulfil his destiny, no doubt, whatever his critics may say ; but it is a little difficult for opponents like Herr Bebel, or quiet observers like most Englishmen, not to wonder a little why he is not more nearly content. He is already the first man in the world, the one on whom when anything happens every eye is turned to see how he will take it. He is nearly absolute within his wide dominion, yet he is free from that depressing kind of responsibility, that loneliness which no man should bear, which crushes and depresses autocrats like his Russian cousin. His dominion, though not the largest, is the strongest in the world, and geographically so situated that when he is fully awake sleep for the remainder of mankind is nearly impossible. There is, and there has been, in history no position greater than his, save for moments in the lives of one or two conquerors, whose careers, he declares, and quite honestly declares, that he has no wish to emulate. The disturbance of the world, the sense that nothing is stable, which is the occasional result of his sudden movements or impulsive speeches, adds nothing to his greatness. The habit of emigration among his people does not diminish either their number or their prosperity, both of which increase every year. They lose themselves, it is complained, among other peoples ; but one result of that " merging method " is that they share the wealth of all peoples, till it is no jest to say that when a millionaire is mentioned anywhere the chances are three to one that his name will be a German one. They do not settle on their lees either, as the successful in other countries are apt to do, but keep up a competition with the world before which the world is perceptibly inclined to shrink. By universal consent the German is the race at this moment most vigorously alive, and in Germany the most living man is her ruler by right of birth. Why, then, should he provoke criticisms like that of Herr Bebel, in which the whole of Europe recognises, as the Times doei, "some truth " ? The Emperor is the keystone of the European arch, but it is not the true function of a keystone to make the arch it is intended to solidify periodically quiver.
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