NEWS OF THE WEEK.
ASERIOUS crisis in the affairs of Germany arose on Wednesday, and • although Prince Billow has suc- ceeded ' in.' making the' various sections .of - the Bloc respond humbly once more to the word of command, It' is evident that some danger remains. Prince Billow is consummately clever at that most difficult of all political games—government by Bloc—but the policy upon which- the sections of the Bloc are required to agree is so diverse, and the financial policy of the Government is so obscure, that all his skill will be necessary in the fnture. True, he can govern theoretically without a znajority, but, in practice he would find it nearly impossible 110 do so. Indeed, he has just , appealed for support as the sine quit- non .of his continuance in office like any British Prime Minister. 'the immediate cause of the crisis was the attack on the Minister for War, General von Einem; which has been carried on in the Reichstag dming the debate on the Estimates, and which culminated in the speech of Dr. Peas elle on Tuesday. , But the gloomy financial prospect, and the proposal compulsorily to expropriate Polish landowners in Prussian Poland, are predisposing causes which must not be forgotten. Herr Bassermann, the National Liberal leader, unsuccessfully demanded from General von Einem in the Reichstag on Monday an explanation of why Count Lynar, who figured. in the recent scandals, . was pensioned, ,and why Count Hohenau similarly was placed on half-pay without any official inquiry. He also, as we learn from the Berlin corre- spondent of the Times, condemned the Public Prosecutor's decision to , order a fresh trial of the Moltke-Harden case as unfair to Herr Harden. The case ought to have gone in the ordinary way to a Court of second instance.
Previous page
