The morning call., 1893-07-11
PARTICULARISn IN GERMANY

With all their crochets and Utopian
theories, with all their sanguinary acts.
the memb ers of the French convention in
many respects displayed remarkable po-
litical perspicacity. While, for example,
their republican calendar was more SYM
etrical than practical, and the guillotine
operated with more continuity than was
consonant with the philanthropic theories
Of the disciples OF Jean Jacques Rous-
seau. it must be acknowledged that in
many ways the theorists and terrorsts had
CLEANS of genius such as is rare in DELHI
erative bodies, even in more peaceful
periods.
An act of the convention whose full sig
nifcanre may have at the time escaped the
attention of the mass of the people, gave
France what it stood in most need Of
national unity. The substitution of de-
partmentS for provinces caused old lines
OF demarkatiOn to he forgotten, and under
the new order OF affairs the Norman and
the Gascon, the Poitevin and the Picard,
were swallowed uD in the trenchman.
There is lesson, it would seem, in this
page of French history for its all powerful
and victorious enemy. Germany lacks to-
day the unity which is the strength of the
French republic. It is confederacy
under the presidency Of the chief of the
house Of Hohenzollern, not a compact
nation. The spirit of division is rife under
the surface. The Saxon, the Bavariap,
the Wurtumberger and the Hanoverian
survives at present in the German. Each
kingdom or prncipality preserves its
geographical distinction of government,
and the Bundsrath or Upper House of
Parliament, composed of the re resenta-
tives of the separate States, helps u keep
alive these old differences between the
Teutonic people. Traditional divergen-
cies find their form in what is known as
particularism, which is totally opposed to
real national unity. During the recent
electoral period this spirit often found
voice on the platform and in the press in
the denunciation of the supremacy of
Prussia 1t is bad sign this forgetful-
ness of national life for local pride and
prejudice. While partcuarism may
never reach the extreme of Separation, it
is still source of weakness to the empire
and one which German statesmen will no
doubt seek to solve at the earliest moment
possible.
lH'S may Ut MAY U6 liupDS-
sible under the present form of Govern
ment Prussia only obtained the consent
of the other German States to encircling
her head with the imperial diadem by
agreeing to the maintenance of their au-
tonomy. 1t would be dangerous to seek to
violate that compact.
But at the rate at which matters are 60
ing in Germany, changed condition of
affairs may not be so far distant as many
persons think. The triumph of the Impe-
rial Government in the recent elections
has much the air of Pyrrhian victory. and
in the natural order of things, the people
must be firing of he military burdens i'm
posed upon them by the imperial policy.
The Germans are patient, but even they
appear to be wearying of the Hohenzol-
lerns.
When the time for change comes. the
spirit of unity should speak out. provincial
discord be abolished. the old political
boundaries and representation be done
away with. Then, and not until then.
will Germany have that great element of
strength possessed at present by France
alone of all continental European nations