The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-02-28
Tho RiotinR In Berlin.

It may have been only coincidence. but
the rioting which began in Berlin on Thurs
day and continued for some forty-eight
hours looked like an answer to the En-
pcror's ll-tcmpercd speech at Brandon
ed had better quit the German soil. He
seems to labor under the delusion that tho
soil belongs 10 the sovereign and that his
subjects are merely tenants by sufferance.
LOUIS XVI had the same notion in his
head. and the result was that he proved un-
able to keep his head upon his shoulders.
II all the discontinued In Prussia are once
firmly arrayed on one side and the HoHEN-
ZoLLERNs on the other. the young Kaiser
will speedily discover what the rights and
powers of his dynasty amount to. 1t Is
lucky for him that the police managed to
cope with tho rioters. and that the soldiers
wcro not called out to repeat tho horrible
massacre perpctrated In April. 1S4s VIII
LIAM II. has as yet shed no blood Of his own
upon tho battlefield. and II the blood Of his
subjects were shed In torrents by his order
in tho streets OF Berlin, not only his crown
but his life might bo in danger In these
days OF universal CONSUMPTION tho army is
not the plant tool OF despotlsm which 1t
once was. and it remains to be seen whether
German soldiers could long be trusted ITO
fro upon their brethren at the command Of
u selfish and perhaps crazy ruler.
The cheers with which the Emperor is
said to have been received when he rode
through the streets Of Berlin on Friday. do
not necessarily prove anything. There were
hundreds OF policemen In plain clothes scat
tered through tho crowd. and they doubt
less understand how to work up applause as
well Us did tho agents Of NAPOLEON III.
how to elicit shouts OF "Vive FEmpere,r!"
There is no doubt. on the other hand. that
the jeers and Misses with which the young
ruler was greeted when he passed knot OF
Socialists were genuine. Neither can any
ono mistake the Significance Of the Mar
sei!laisc'' chanted by q thousand throats
within earshot OF the Kaiser. Tho adoption
OF the French hymn to liberty by Prussian
workingmen means that the tOillng mil
lions of Europe nre tired OF being pitted like
gurnecocks against each other to please u
military caste; that they have come to
recognize the solidarity OF their interests.
and that they can no longer be blinded by
visions OF glory abroad TO the fact that they
lack food at home. Nor should it be for
gotten that the German prolctariat is by no
means as helpless as 1t was In 1913. Every
able-bodied member OF Thursdays mob
must have served for years under the
colors. and only needed gun to be trans
formed into q soldier. II guns were not
procurable. they might have been'able to get
dynamite bombe. and they would almost
certainly have had recourse to such missiles
had thcy been fired upon.
1t was Just such disturbances us those
witnessed this week In Berlin which began
tho movement that extorted the Prussian
Constitution from the granduncle Of tho
present ruler. There was first riot. next
a massacre. and then the sovereign was in
formed that the soldiers could no longer be
depended on. That Is probably what would
happen now II hundreds OF tho citizens Of
Berlin were to be shot down: and tho ulti-
mate result would be acquicscence In most
Of the workingmeR's demands II WILLIAM