THE GERMAN EMPEROR'S SPEECH.
within this peculiar province an irreconcilable diver- gence of view between the German Sovereign and the German people might prove pregnant with difficulty and disaster. The risk, however, the Government deter- mined to run ; and the event has abundantly justified them. It has shown that, in North Germany at all events, their authority is still unshaken ; and that the sacrifices the Emperor declares to be indispensable to the safety of the Empire, his North German subjects are willing to make. With this support assured, and with the good-will of the South German Governments enlisted on his side, the Emperor can go boldly forward.
For once, however, he has shown discretion as well as courage. The speech from the Throne was thoroughly judicious and conciliatory. It contained no note of triumph ; no forecast of the decision at which the Reichs- tag will arrive. It is simply a restatement of the case for the Bill, and an intimation that every care will be taken to make the new burdens as light as is consistent with the fulfilment of the end for which they are imposed. The moderation of its tone does not deprive this restatement of any of its force. There is, says the Emperor, an abso- lute conviction on the part of all the German Sovereigns that the political situation of Europe demands an extension of the German military system. The feature in the situa- tion that makes this demand is not any ill-will shown or • • felt by foreign States. With them, the Emperor's relations are "perfectly friendly and wholly untroubled." But the development of the military institutions of other Powers goes forward all the same ; and the inevitable result of that development will be to place Germany, if she makes no corresponding change, at a disadvantage by the side of her neighbours. If the German Army was not more than strong enough for the safety of the country three years ago, it is less than strong enough to-day. If three years ago it was not more than a match for the Powers that may possibly be arrayed against Germany, it is less than a match for them now. And. every year this inequality will grow greater. France and Russia have adopted a system which will pass every able-bodied man in the country through the military mill ; and nothing short of this system can give Germany the security, and the sense of security, that every nation that respects itself will insist on enjoying. This is the paramount consideration which has determined the whole course of the Government with reference to the Army Bill. There is only one answer that can be made to the case as thus put. It is the answer which Prince Bismarck gave on several informal occasions when the Bill was before the late Reichstag. It is very well stated by Mr. Smalley in interesting nteresting paper in the Fortnightly Review, The Army, the Prince told his visitor, undoubtedly needs strengthen- ing. But the Bill will not strengthen it, it will only weaken it. The enlistment of new men will involve the appointment of new officers ; and where are these new officers to be found ? The Bill will give Germany more recruits, but it will not give her the means of training them. "What the Army wants is more artillery. We won our last war with France by artillery. The best artillery will win the next, even more certainly." Germany may still have more guns than France has, but she has not as many more as she had in 1870. This is the weakness which the Army Bill ought to have remedied, but does not. It may be that this objection of Prince Bismarck is sound. But whether it is sound or not, the time for urging it is past. It is essentially a technical objection ; and technical objections must, from the nature of the case be submitted to those who have the technical knowledge, which alone can weigh and judge them. It is not likely that the military advisers of the German Emperor can have overlooked the comparative urgency of the need for more men and the need for more guns. They may, of course, have come to a wrong decision between them, as Prince Bismarck thinks they have. But their judgment is one from which there is no appeal. If the Reichstag were competent to set aside the conclusions of the German War Office on a strictly military question, the Reichstag should itself be the War Office. Short of that, there is, as it seems to us, no course for a patriotic German to follow save that of placing his views before the authority with whom the responsibility of action lies, and awaiting the result. This was done on the most ample scale in the late Reichstag, with the result that the Bill was amended in several particulars of some importance. The present Bill is a reproduction of this the later form of its prede- cessor.
The speech from the Throne does not disguise the burdensomeness of the new obligations which the nation is asked to take on itself. The Emperor is content to announce that the demands made upon the personal and. taxpaying capacities of the people have been brought down to the lowest possible limit. The nature or amount of these demands he does not specify. That is left over till next winter, when, as the Emperor hopes, the Army Bill will have passed, and it will only remain to see how the money required to give effect to it can best be raised. Some difference, however, between the taxes asked front the late Reichstag and those asked from the present Reichstag there will certainly be. The principle that the tax-bearing power of a nation has its necessary limits, which no prudent Government will wish to overstep, will have still fuller expression given to it. That is an assurance which is very well calculated to ease the passage of the Bill. It at least shows that the Government are not acting without due consideration of all the difficulties of the situation. If they were not fully conscious how serious these difficulties are, they might be supposed to have asked for more troops in mere lightness of heart. When it is seen that they have thoroughly examined the financial aspect of the question, and are thoroughly aware how poor Germany is, and how heavy are the taxes she already pays, no such suspicion can arise. No Government would be at such pains to raise money in the way that will try the taxpayer least, if it did not honestly believe that it was impossible to do without that money.. That is a fact which every section of the Reichstag will be likely to appreciate, with the single exception of the Social Democrats. But it will be greatly to the advantage of the Government if the Social Demc- crats are found to be the real leaders of the Opposition. They will be almost certain to impart to it the charac- teristic which, more than any other, will make resistance to the Bill hopeless. The chief difficulty with which those who resist the Bill will have to contend is the difficulty of refusing the Emperor's demand without seeming to be guilty of any want of patriotism. This is the note which the Emperor strikes in the closing sentences of his speech. The last generation spent their blood and their substance in making Germany strong ;—will the present generation refuse to spend- their substance in keeping her strong r' The Social Democrats will have their answer ready. . They do not want to see Germany strong. Their patriotism is at once narrower and. wider than the national boundary. Within the nation it embraces only the proletariat, but it comprehends the proletariat everywhere, and not in Germany alone. This sentiment may be greater and more admirable than patriotism if you like, but it is certainly not identical with patriotism ; and the common- place German public, which has been wont to regard patriotism as the first of civic virtues, will not be very tolerant of an Opposition the leaders of which frankly disclaim all pretensions to its possession. From the point of view of European peace, we can only hope that, in accepting the necessity of making every man a soldier, the German military authorities are making a. mistake. If they are right, the supremacy of Russia on the Continent is only a question of time, because Russia has a population largely in excess of any other European country. That is not a pleasant reflection; and until it has been established by experience, we shall prefer to believe that, important as numbers are, there are other things that have their share in the making of armies and in the winning of battles.
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