THE SITUATION IN GERMANY. T HE vagueness of the situation in
Germany makes it intensely important for the attitude of the Associated Nations towards her to be as vigilant as ever. So far as we can disentangle the facts from many conflicting statements, we believe the political condition of Germany to be briefly as follows. Doling the past few days the soldiers by means of the Soldiers' and Workmen's Councils—what in Russia would be known as Soviets—have been steadily getting the upper hand. At Berlin there are two forms of government, which came into the field before the creation of the Soviets. There is the Provisional Federal Government controlled by the Chancellor, Herr Ebert, and there is the Provisional Prussian Government. Both these Provisional Governments have been referred to in telegrams as the Central Government, and it is necessary for the reader to discriminate between them. Herr Ebert received. the succession of the Chancellorship from Prince Max of Baden, and when he did so there was, as every one remembers, much talk of a Regency. In whose interest the Regency was to be exercised outsiders did not know, but the gossip in those recent yet far distant days was that the future King was to be the German Crown Prince's son. It is impossible to define the exact degree of authority now possessed by Herr Ebert. One would think that as the conditions under which he came into office have all been superseded his power amounted to nothing. Yet he still issues decrees which he signs as Chancellor. Both the Prussian Central Government and the Federal Central Government profess to be in favour of summoning a Constituent Assembly as soon as possible. That also is the demand of Vortarts, the Socialist newspaper which has become the organ of the Central Government. But no one who examines the diffi- culties of summoning a Constituent Assembly can doubt that its meeting is yet a long way off. It has been agreed that the suffrage is to be extended to women, and that the age of voters is to be reduced from twenty-four to twenty. This expansion of the franchise probably means that there will be something like forty million voters. Look at the confusion which has been caused in the British electorate by our own recent expansion of the franchise, then reflect upon the dis- order which prevails throughout Germany, and finally re- member that it was hoped to summon the Constituent Assembly for next February. He would indeed be a credulous person who could believe such a thing possible. Meanwhile, as we have said, the power of the Soviets is growing, and a well-defined movement is on foot to dispense with a Con- stituent Assembly altogether and to rule by means of a General Council of Soviets.
The rise in power of the Soviets bears a close resemblance to the development of the Russian Revolution. But the resemblance is not likely, in our opinion, to remain very close, as the temperament and education of the Russian and German peoples are quite dissimilar. So far as things have gone, the German Soviets are opposed to anything like Bolshevism, and the Spartacus group—the wild adherents of Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg—after their minor triumph of having a newspaper of their own for a whole day, do not seem to be adding to their strength. Of course anything may happen in a revolution, and we shall not attempt to prophesy; but there are other dangers than Bolshevism, and frankly they seem to us to be much more real. The fact which we need to keep in mind is that the Army is still the strongest body in Germany, that a large part of it still responds to discipline, and that if the military rulers should become the rulers of Germany there may still be much trouble in store. We are quite conscious that the various Soviets are at present all detached units. The writ of Berlin does not run in many other cities. But the grouping of the Soviets may not be far off. The German newspapers, which would be much more wisely engaged in making a frank confession of guilt in the past and in promising honest and active co-operation with the rest of the world, still seem to cling to the old stupid tradition of German diplomacy and to be trying to create friction among the Allies. It is mad of them, for there is no prospect whatever of advantage along those lines. They pretend that President Wilson is anxious to relax the blockade. Nothing of course would be more foolish than for the Allies to relax the blockade till the terms of Peace are signed. This does not mean that Germany is to go short of food. What food is necessary will of course be supplied by the Allies, who have no notion whatever of following the German example of being barbarous. On the confession of certain German newspapers, however, the food shortage in Germany is nothing like so acute as it was pretended to be a few days ago. In any case, there never was a better opportunity than the present for showing what a blockade means, and what an instrument it could be in the hands of a League of Nations determined to keep the peace. We imagine that no one wants to prove that point more keenly than President Wilson himself.
In conclusion, we must return once more to the subject of the Kaiser, We confess to becoming a little weary of the technical discussions about the legal position of the Kaiser. The only fact that matters is that the peace of the world must be made secure. If the personality of the Kaiser stands In the way of that peace, as we think it does, the Kaiser must be extradited, or " surrendered," or interned, or tried and punished otherwise than by internment. It is ridiculous to suppose that after all these years of terrible war for a single purpose, the Kaiser's personality can be allowed to act as a veto because international law is a delicate matter, or because Holland sometimes feels too weak to be able to express her views plainly. For our own part, we fancy that the Extradi- tion Treaty between France and Holland would meet the case if French Courts could show that the Kaiser was responsible for military crimes on French soil. Be that as it may there is always the precedent made by the " surrender " of Napoleon's person. There are many friends of the Kaiser in Germany. Those friends are chiefly soldiers. Soldiers are the real power in Germany. The Kaiser must not be allowed to remain where he is.
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