SIR,-I have read your article in the Spectator of May
7th on " The German Emperor's Speeches" with interest and profit, and I should not trouble you with any comment were it not that you appear to have omitted an important factor in the in- fluences which move the Emperor to speak in the way he has recently been speaking. There is no doubt that he is very conscious of the want of success which has characterised the proceedings of German diplomacy lately, and wishes foreign countries to understand that Germany can do a great deal if she chooses. By German diplomacy, of course, is meant the diplomacy of the Imperial Government, and by the Imperial Government is meant the Army, of which the Emperor is the head. It is not sufficiently remembered in this country that the Army is not at all a popular institution with a large
section of the German nation. The books that have recently appeared clearly show the feelings of intense dislike felt by the German middle classes serving as privates in the ranks for the aristocratic, overbearing, and insolent officer caste. I do not intend to say that this view is justified, but merely to call attention to the fact that it is very widely held. There is also a strong Republican and Socialistic element in Germany, as the recent elections proved. It is only when the Army is shown to be absolutely indispensable for the safety of the Fatherland that the Republican and Socialistic party will quietly acquiesce in the enormous taxes which the maintenance of the Army renders necessary. The Emperor has, so to speak, to justify the Army from time to time to the non- military members of the Germanic body politic. There has been a danger in the past few months that they might say :-"If our foreign policy is to suffer these reverses, what is the good of our Government as at present con- stituted? Perhaps we had better try something else." Every one who has been much in Germany must have been struck by the prevalence and increase of democratic and anti- Imperial sentiment. Whenever this unpleasant form of public opinion seems to be gaining ground the Emperor has to do a bit of swaggering and introduce the Weltpolitik, or revive heroic memories of 1870, or have a slap at England, as the circumstances of the hour may dictate: This is what he has just been doing at Karlsruhe and Mainz. Your article would suggest that the display is organised merely for the benefit of foreigners ; but it would seem that it is quite as much intended for a domestic audience, and that if the Emperor felt quite secure of the enduring popularity of the Imperial regime he would not trouble to blow the war trumpet merely to impress the world at large. I only add these few words by way of supplement to your article, and not in any way as criticising your views, with which I cordially agree as far as they go.-I am, Sir, &c.,
V. DE S. FOWBE.
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