In the Reichstag on Tuesday the debate showed that nobody
was really pleased by the Chancellor's statement. Count Westarp was the most plain-spoken of the Nationalists. His speech was a challenge. He said that Herr Luther's Administration was a last effort at Par- liamentary Government. Failure would mean the con- demnation of the whole system. As the Berlin correspondent of the Times points out, Count Westarp's threat must be read in connexion with the speech which he made at Stuttgart last Sunday. Count Westarp then declared that Germany must " throw Western democracy overboard " and -return to the old monarchical system of Germany ; that is to say to a system under which the Reichstag is a debating society and the real power is in the hands of an oligarchical council. Finally, Count Westarp declared in the Reichstag that the obligations placed upon Germany by the London Agreement were intolerable and must be revised— in fact, the Nationalists had joined the Government in order to secure this revision.
