The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-03-16
The Emperor of Europe

The suppression of the revolution in
Russia has one effect outside Russia
which is of the highest Importance to
the world at large, and that Is the
maintenance OF peace. This generation
may never learn how close 1t was to
the absolutely greatest war in the his
tory of the human race. but 1t is fairly
clear, on the surface of things, that at
any moment during the complete
AMUSEMENT of Russia the word of war
might have gone forth that would have
sent half Europe into the throes of an
awful death grapple. The Russian
disasters in Manchuria, followed as
they We're by the paralyzlng revolu-
tionary upheaval in Russia itself, ut
terly destroyed the balance of power in
Europe, and left William III. potential
ly Emperor of Europe. The German
Empire was never so strong as 1t is
today; never so confident: never so
ambitious; never so profoundly dis
ed In the huge undeveloped territories
eccentric Prince whose eccentricity Is
in European history he has living,
active belief In his own divine right
No Emperor of 1.-The Holy Roman EN-
pire, German by Nation" ever took
the center of the worlds stage with
more self confidence, more absolute
assurance of his right to he there;
more conviction of his national and
racial mission In the world, or more
actual power behind him. The EN-
perors in the Middle Ages were elected,
and Christendom could not fully rec
ognize them till the Pope had anointed
them. But the modern German EN-
peror is hampered by neither the ne
cessity of election or the need for the
Papal benediction. He rules by hered-
itary rights and as the master of the
strongest military nation in Europe.
The Western Empire OF Napoleon was
a stroke of genius, and when the
genius had his foolish phase his en-
pire fell like house of cards. But
the Empire of the Hohenzollerns has
been the work of an evolutionary
process developing itself during more
than "a thousand years. The members
of the family have displayed all the
constituents necessary for permanent
energy, and canniness. and have also
enjoyed most of the kinds of luck that
have been current. The supreme
genius of the house Is also the best
exponent of most of its Characters
tics; and his position at the outset OF
his career is to great extent a
parallel to that of William ii. today.
When Frederick came to the throne he
found Prussia in possession of
splendid army. and I'm the very year of
his accession Charles vi died, and was
succeeded by Maria Theresa. The
logic of conditions and events was
clear. Frederick took Silesia, and held
1t in spite of the terrific strain OF the
Seven Years War. Today the Ger
man Empire needs many things more
than Prussia needed Silesia. Some
Germans think that 1t needs the 49,
100000 Germans of the Austria Hun
garian Empire, which is another way
of saying that 1t needs the whole
heritage OF Austria. Others think ii
needs the whole Rhine, and the out
look does not end there. but would take
in Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and
Denmark. II all these ambitions were
realized the German Empire would
stretch from the Atlantic to the Medi-
terranean. France. Italy, Spain Tur-
key. Norway. and Sweden would all be
helpless and Russia would have to
play second fiddle. The German EN-
peror would be actually Emperor of
Europe.
SO runs the dream. Yet It is curious