Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-01-06
THE GERMAN EMpEROR'S JOKE


which is not denied as other Incidents
of the same conversation have been, is
that the Emperor William H., talking
recently to Count Iirhy, who is trav.
eler as we'll as IA statesman, and an eS
centionally long descended man, condo
scended to Jest with him. You
should visit China" said the Emperor.
BY tho time you get there you will
find my bruther Henry Emperor Of
China" The world--the Brother OF
tho Sun and Moon eScepted-laughH
heartily, much pleased that IN En-.
nerur should Joke in such an imperial
way; but was his majesty jesting alto
gether2 We think not. "Out of the
fulness OF the heart the mouth speak
sth, even when the speaker is in
laughing mood; and We take 1t the
Emperor, who has a dreamy side of his
mauy-fsceted character, has not only
been thinking deeply OF this Chinese
adventure of bis, but has bgsn dream.
ing over il, with the result that he sees
very large possibilities before him. The
Keynote, it must be remembered, of
hia maieAty'a transnarine policy ia a
| belief that the chance OF social revo
luton in Germany IN rcul o1e, and
| that tho true way to avert il il Rnne'
| now or other 10 mako the mass OF his
subjects little richer than they are.
| lie thought in tho beginning of his
reign that this end could be attained
by industrial reforms. including an i'm
mOuse extension Of tho principle Of in.
surance but this proving too difficult,
and above all too slow--tbe Emperor
would bs great ruler il he always rn-
mombered the time an oak taxes to
| grow--he began to reflect on 1.-The Eng
lish method" uf becoming rich, and le-
termiued like Napoleon, 10 acquire
ships. colonies aud commerce. Ills
| first attempt, two large settlements 10
| Africa, produced nothing; his second
attempt, tho absorption of tho Trans
vHal, threatened q war which was not
certain in it's results; and withdrawing
from that, he meditated on Cuba,
Morocco and South Hrazil, finding in
each case grave obstacles in his way.
He has now turned bis attention very
seriously towards China, a vast Oriental
Empire in which the fighting instinct
seems to many observers to have finally
| died out. III no could make OF those
huge masses of submissive barbariRns
COOL paying Subjects could turn
China, or third Of China, into an
India for Germany, many Of his
brightest dreams would be at once ac-
complished. Germany would be a
worldwide" Power, be would have
revenue independent of the Reich
stag, his peopls would have hundred
millions Of customers hound by ties OF
steel to deal with them alone, and the
adventurous spirit of the Fatherland
would have endless careers, all we'll
paid, and would be no longer thought
fully discuntented. The project en-
chanted him, ana at the very first op.
portunity the Emperor set himself with
ensrRy to realize it. The Chinese, he
reflected dreamily, would not fight; the
F! Powers of Europe would nat interfere I:
japan he could easily defy il cuu-
scripts could not be obtained volunteers
could-they have come up in hundreds
at the first Gall-ho would make himself
lord Of 10000 villages, or, SHE smil-
ingly SAID to Count Itchy, Emperor of
China, as his grandmother is in all
German imaginations first of all EN-
press of India.
We are not convinced either that
William ii. is wholly joking, or that
he must necessarily fail in realizing
his latest dream. He may, because as
we said last week. he does not know
any mors than any one else whether the
| Eastern Colossus LAS fee. of clay ami
may DO topp!ed aver, or is only i'm.
movable because its feet are anchored
below the mould to rock bed. At the
last moment the statue may awake,
and strike as he struck within our own
recollection at the millions OF Taeping
insurgents, at the Muesulman rebels of
| the West, at the French invaders of the
South; and If be strikes, all the force
that Germany can spare may be in
sufficient for the adventure. But it
may also prove that Chinu is really
| paralysed by the disease in her brain,
that the 10000 green villages are as
willing to obey one lord as another,
and that the Mandarins, though they
arc bitterly angry, az the protest of the
| Viceroy Of Shantung clearly shows,
have in their long reign dissolved the
very springs of defensive power. In
that event the German Emperor will
win. possibly with great rapidity. His
staff have selected Kiao-chow as a
hase, doubtlesE for gond strategic
reasons, and the plan so far as yet de-
veloped is decidedly able one The
Emperor has demanded and secured
not only the harbor of Kiao. chow, but
the city behind it of thu same name.
and territory 100 miles deep by 100
broad. That is TO say, he has annexed
a piece OF China as large as Wa!es, full
OF people, and capable, if only decently
governed, OF yielding sufficient revenue
for small European army and larger
force of Malaya under European
officers. Cautiously enough, the natives
of the Cameroons or of East Africa will
not do. The ono human heiug, as our
experience in the West Indies proves,
whom Chinaman attacks at sight, and
attacsH barvely, il negro. With
that force, which will be stronger
from the beginning than Cliye's
army at rlsHsey, the Emperor's
agents may conquer the peninsula Of
Shantuug. and, gradually spreading
themselves southwark, may possess
themselves of the whole central divi.
sion of China-by far the richest, in
many ways the most civilized, and oc-
cupied probably by double the popula-
tion OF Bengal. Causes Of quarrel with
Pekin, il CAUSES we're wanted, would
occur from frontier quarrels at the rate
of, say, 10 a day. There would be no
| Interference with Russian designs, little
interference with English interests
for Germany is not foolish about tariffs
---and on the hypothesis. little or no re-
sistance from the people. Apart from
the people there is, il the Imperial view
ia correct, no one to resist. Pekin is
dead; there are no Princes in China
with standing armies; there is no trust.
worthy militia; tho population is
wholly unaccustomel to battle; and
the Mandarins could not even resist
| the Japanese.