St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-10
Kaiser William Makes a Sig
nificant Speech to His
Officers.
He Will Stake All in His
Power to Enact the Army
Bill,
Convinced That It Is Neces-
sapy to Guarantee the
Peace of Europe.
Prince Bismarek's Organ Pro-
tests Against the Emper-
op's Statements.

BERLIN, May 9.-After the review OF
the troops on the Tempel Hofferfeld
today, Emperor William commanded the
highest officers of the guards to gather
round him, and addressed to them these
words:
"Since we last met the situation Gre
ated by the army bill has shown peculiar
changes. | could not look forward to
the rejection of the bill. On the con-
trary, trusting to the patriotism OF the
reichstag. hoped for the unconditional
acceptance of it. The result has caused
me deep disappointment and sorrow. l
regret that the patriotic men who were
in the minority did not succeed IN de-
feating those who were Indifferent to the
welfare of their country. During the
last few days passionate words which
might better have remained unsaid
among gentlemen have been spoken.
| was obliged to dissolve the reichstag
in the hope that the new reichstag
would pass the bill. [ am determined,
in case this hope also be disappointed,
to stake all in my power to obtain the
enactment of the measure, for | am too
thoroughly convinced of its necessity as
guarantee of
The Peace of Europe
to allow it to be finally defeated. We
are hearing much about the excitement
of the masses just now. l do not think
that the German people will allow them
selves to be excited by irresponsible
meddlers. On the contrary, know l
am in sympathy with the princes of the
federated states, the people and the
army. | thank you, gentlemen, for
your loyal interest. My desire was to
express to you my views concerning the
bill. as did when the bill was intro
duced."
The emperor spoke very slowly, paus-
ing slightly after every sentence, and
emphasized all significant words, as if
to direct attention to the seriousness OF
the situation and the firmneSS of his
resolution to win. The officers grouped
around him. listening i'll silence. The
speech has caused tightening of the
general tension. 1t was printed,
double loaded, by the Nord Deutsche
Allgemeine Zeltung, and is this evening
the sole topic of conversation through
out the city. The tendency of public
opinion is toward the conviction that
the emperor is pointing straight for the
goal of the Prussian reactionaries, and
that he will not shun conflict with
constitutionalism. The correspondent
of the Associated Press was assured
officially this evening, however, that
the emperor did not wish his speech to
be read as a menace to the reichstag or
as challenge to conflict.
Too Many Parties
"On the contrary" said the informant,
"his majesty desires the most scrupu-
louS adherence to constitutional forms.
lie feels strongly, however, the urgent
need of reforming the reichStag. He
cannot govern with a reichstag split
into ten political parties. among whom.
through chance or partisan agreements,
majorites are constantly forming
against the government OIL vital issues.
His majesty does not wish to rule alb
solutely. He is willing to rule
conditiOnally even TO allow the
parliamentary majority share in the
government-but what imperial cabinet
could work with Bebel, Lieber and
Richter? Not one of them has under
his control positive working majority :;
not one of them can get together a ma
jority combination. Few things would
please the emperor better than a con-
soidation of the parliamentary factions
into two OF three large parties with
whom he would be able to reckon in de-
termining his policy. Then he would
be happy to govern in harmony with
the parliamentary majority"
Prince Bismarck's Hamburger Mach
richten protests against stigmatizing as
against the army bill. The majority, it
says, differed from the government only
as to the amount of the increase. The
Freisinnige Zeitung. edited by Eugene
Richter. says that since the time of
Frederick William l. parliament has not
before been criticized on the parade
ground.