The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1879-04-01
THE FAILING

0to emperor MlllIAm II reported as
growing feeble and tagging" more rap
idly than ever. The wear and tear of
official existence has told severely on
him, but not SO much as did those two
recent attacks on his life. His ervou
system, always strong, was severely
shocked, and has never come up to its
proper tension since. And yet Will
liam is among the more favored mon
archs of the earth, and his reign marks
the rise Of the great German empire of
modern times. Becoming King of
Prussia at a goodly age, he found his
Kingdom powerful, intelligent, and
respected. But it did not count strong
ly as n Of the powers of Europe.
Williams best act was in his choosing
Bismarck as his prime minister. This
man, as strong in his likes as his dis
likes, believed, with a faith almost SUBJ
lime, in the divine right of Kings, even
to ''the right divine of kings to govern
wrong.n A policy of conquest, much
like that pursued by the great Frederic,
was resolved upon, and the successes
whichattended the Prussian arms, al
ways brought substantial trophies in the
shape of territorial accessions. While
the boundary of the Kingdom enlarged,
the ambition Of the King and minister
also enlarged, and then followed the
unity of the German states in Il grand
German empire, with William for empe-
ror and Berlin for the capital. In this
strongly united condition France found
her foe and r~ecklessly through down the
gauntlet. In a week the Teutonic hordes
were swarming yer the French border;
and victory brought the c%onquerors into
the proud capital of France, and also
brought a treaty Of peace at once great
and beneficial to the German empire.
Thereby a vast territory and a million
and a half Of people were added to the
empire. Now was the glory Of the
latter and the honor Of Emperor Will
liam at their height. Few monarchs
had SO much accomplished for them
during their reign; and the credit, for
the most part, belonged to bismarck.
With the close Of the era Of glory,
which succeeded the war a few years,
ended TIE wonderful cohesive power
of the empire. Bismarck's virulent
persecution of the Catholics brought
put the objections of Bavaria and other
strongly Roman Catholic states, and al
though it was clearly proved that
plots against the empire were conceived
in the monasteries and there nourished
and enlarged, the faithful refused to
sanction the obiiteration of those in
stitutions of holy men and women.
Thus does a religious sentiment become
"a weakness in the empire, just as dis
tui bed molecules weaken an iron cast
ing Of thick and thin parts. However,
there has been no demonstration on the
part of these m%alcontents; they are
merely in a state of unrest; and as they
have not an organized opposition, their
hostility to the government counts as
nothing so far as the power to work a
change is concerned.
One ambition of Bismarck, in which
Emperor William shared too largely,
was that of constituting Germany the
peacemaker of Europe. This was not
to be secured by friendly pretense or
honeyed smoothness, but by a show Of
bayonets which would carry force and
conviction with every suggestion. AS
Germany went, so would go the civiliz-
ed nations of Europe-this was the
proud position laid out by emperor and
chancellor; and how easily attained,
thought they. The ending of the
Franco-Prussian war found them with
an immense army admirably disci-
plined; a treasury creaking with the
shining millions of frances amerce-
ment; and a jealousy on all sides-as
Bismarck recently expressed it, on four
sides. Nothing remained then, but to
maintain a powerful mill tary organiza-
tion regulated by rules at once the most
cxacting and harsh. This was easy
enough 50 long as the French tribute
lasted. But hard times came upon the
empire. The taxes became too burden
some by reason Of the great amounts
needed Cor the support of the army.
Hundreds of thousands of men we're
drawn from the productive class, and
there was to be no diminution even du-
ring distress. Emigration set in; the
government tried to prevent it, but
failed. Protests against the mainte-
nance of a IN army of cormorants were
made; those who uttered them we're
punished for sedition. So q sentiment,
that the government was too oppres-
sive, grew mostpowerfully and ramifed
through all classes. 1t is a cardinal
doctrine Of the political party which is
inspired by this sentiment, that a re-
public, grand, glorious and peaceful,
must succeed the empire. Like all
movements for relief from oppres-
sion, the German republicans have
their fanatics. CraZed they be, no
doubt, hence the two attempted assas-
sinations Of the old emperor.
Since that time the government has
taken a stand against freedom in any
form. There may be a divine right to
think, but, there is no legal right in Ger