NEWS OF THE WEEK.
.THE German Emperor, who has 4:)een making a tour of the eastern provinces of Prussia, delivered on Thursday week at Konigsberg a remarkable speech, in which he seemed to claim the title to govern by divine right, irrespective of the wishes and feelings of the German people. The speech had the tone of the Emperor's public utterances of some years ago. Certainly he has said nothing in public even faintly resembling this Konigsberg speech since the crisis of November, 1908, when Prince Billow declared in so many words that the independent acts of the Emperor (such as the .Daily Telegraph, interview) made the Chancellor's position impossible. Konigsberg is the coronation town of the Kings of Prussia, and the claims of the Emperor might seem less controversial if, moved by the associations of the place, he had intended his speech only for Prussia, where Constitu- tionalism has a very slender hold indeed. But apparently the speech was intended for all Germans, and as such it at once provoked widespread and indignant criticism.
