27th Jan.
Wuuert IL, German Emperor and King of Prussia, enters to-day on his thirty-fifth year, and on the 15th of Tune next on the sixth year of his reign. In former notices of the Kaiser's birthday we have dwelt on the completeness with which in the first year or two of his reign he falsified the preditions that had been made of his failure; and we may consider this morning whether be has still succeeded in maintaining his own reputation and the prestige of his country; whether he has strengthened or weakened the stability of the throne. he imperial throne is supposed to date from Christmas Day in the year 800, when Charlemague was crowned Kaiser at Rome. There were interregna between 1254 and 1273 and ogum between 1378 and 1438, and in 1806 the empire was overthrown by Napoleon. It was re-established at Versailles, but with Austria excluded, in 1871, and is now hereditary in the House of Hohenzollern, On the 10th of January, 1701, nine hundred years and less than a month after the crowning of Charlemagne, Friedrich I, the son of the "Great Elector," crowned himself the first King of Prussia at Kinigsberg. Wilhelm LI is the ninth King of Prussia and the fifty-second German Emperor. He is still a young man to fill such onerous positions: he hasfilled them much better than the world generally expected. Is he filling them as well as possible The answer of the impartial observer vould probably be that it might have been better if the Emperor Frederick hiad lived. for fifteen or twenty years longer and allowed his son to gain more knowledge and experience of the world before having such a weight placed his shoulders; but that fate having.imposed that weight on these young shoulders, it had on the whole being nobly borne. Called to power before he was thirty, Wilhelm LI determined to govern as well as reign, and he has succeeded for the last three years not only without the aid, but often in spite of the open or veiled opposition and acrid criticism of Prince Bismarck; and in the contest between them, full as he may be of the hot blood of youth, he has shown more reserve and dignity that the favourite Minister of his grandfather. There is indeed a feeling in Germany which it would be hard to trace to any particular source, that Wilhelm LI is not so popular as he was, and that the authority of and respect for the Throne are weaker than they were. We doubt, however, if the Kaiser is responsible for this, if indeed there is any weight in it; it is probably nothing more than the passage of the wave of unrest and discontent with existing institutions that is agitating the whole of Europe. Germany has made no step backward during this Kaiser's reign, nor has any nation made farther sure advances. With bitter enemies on either side of her she is as strong and as united as she was twenty years ago. She rose so high in 1871 that in the hands of a lesser man than her Kaiser she might easily have fallen back; but no one can show wherein she has not maintained her position. She does not hold such a preponderating place in theCounoils of Birope, because France has made such a wonderful recovery, but Wilhelm LI is not to be blamed for this; the stronger France feels herself, the more she has to lose by another war, the less likely she is to be tempted into again breaising the peace of Europe.
It may be urged that the internal condition of Germany leaves much to be desired at the present moment; but this is true of almost every European nation. The agricultural party in England thinks that its sufferings are due to free trade, and protection does not prevent the same sufferings in Germany. It is no easy task to govern with a par-linment so divided as the Reichstag is, with an ex-Minister so powerful and popular as Prince Bismarck acting the part of the too candid friend when he 1s not the open enemy. A party is forming itself behind the Prince, according to the Berlin correspondent of the Times, which "has grown out of the triumphant progress of Prince Bismarck last summer through Munich, Kissingen, and Jena, The party will consist of Bismarckian enthusiasts. Its programme will favour bimetallism, anti-Semitism, and a progressive colonial policy; in short, consistent opposition all along the line to the Emperor." No one can care to see the old Pilot of the German Ship of State taking charge of a new ship constructed of such materials as these. Unfortunately the largest individual party in the Reichstag is the Centre or Ultramontane, whose main object is the complete revocation of the May Laws and the recall of the Jesuits, This is the price for which they will support the Emperor; and the offer of this price would drive all the Liberals and the Free Conservatives into the arms of the Bismarckians. Year by year while these parties, all monarchical, are fighting, the Social Democrats are gaining in strength, and they thrive under repression. As long as Germany remains liable to sudden attack from France on one side and Russia on the other, the pressure will hold the empire together. How long this pressure will last no one can tell; for France is longing for victory quite as much as for her provinces, and will therefore make no compromise; and only a revol lution in Russia would divert the dread and hatred which the Slavs have of the Germans. "A motive power exists in Russia," says the Spectator, "beyond the reach of diplomatists, and beyond conciliation by any bribe, which may at any moment throw upon the Germans an organised race of brave white men, twice as numerous as themselves. This is a part of the situation which insular Englishmen are apt to forget, and which should be considered when we condemn the Germans for allowing their institutions to remain so penetrated with the military spirit." When we feel inclined to think of the Kaiser as being too autocratic, we must remember that he is the Commander-in-chief of a nation in arms as well as its King; and if we can abstract ourselves sufficiently to take the clear view which the historian of the future will take, we shall agree that it would be an ungrateful country that would not be satisfied with so good a ruler, taking him for all in all, as Wilhelm IL.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.