6 JANUARY 1906, Page 9

The lessons of the Russian trouble in Poland have not

been lost upon the Emperor William, and he is obviously concerned for the behaviour of the members of that race who are under his rule. He has accordingly addressed a letter to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Posen, Dr. von Stablewski, on the subject of a recent pastoral letter of that prelate dealing with religious instruction in the diocesan schools. Religious in- struction, according to the Emperor, embraces the "exhorta- tion to a faithful performance of duties towards Church and State," and Christianity is interpreted as loyalty to Berlin. "My Government will gladly support your efforts to counter- act the propagation of the idea of revolution by propagating the principles of the Christian faith, and deepening their foundations in the hearts of the young." The whole tone of the letter is sharp and mandatory, and that the Emperor should have thought such an epistle necessary to a prelate of a Church with which he is on the best of terms shows the anxiety which he feels about events on the Eastern border. As we argued last week, Germany is the Power which has most to fear from a wholesale revolution in Russia.