The discontent in Germany is said to be growing serious,
and taking a somewhat unexpected form. The Lippe-Detmold affair irritates the smaller allied Princes, partly because their dignity is hurt, and partly because they are asked by the Emperor to acknowledge that the Federal Council has a right to decide on claims to the succession in German States. They say they will never submit to this, first, because the succession is in each State an internal affair with which ex- ternal authority must not interfere, and secondly, because it is certain that if the question arose in Prussia the Prussians would not submit it to the Federal Council, though the King or Regent of Prussia is, by the Imperial Constitution, Emperor or Emperor-Regent in the entire Empire. They are believed also to agree with the common people that the Emperor takes too direct a part in the Administration. Had he consulted his Ministers and acted through them, the Lippe-Detmold incident could not have arisen, or at all events could not have been exacerbated by the personal rebuke addressed by the Emperor by telegraph to the Regent of Lippe-Detmold. It is quite possible, therefore, that the inter-State question may be widened till it includes a demand for a responsible Ministry, and the comparative seclusion of his Imperial Majesty. William IL behind a screen is, however, an unthinkable figure.
