The Washington herald., 1911-05-07
POWER OF GERMANY'S EMPEROR.

ed to the British Parliament? Did not
the treaty of alliance between Britain
and Japan come upon the world with all
the force OF a great surprise? What. then,
becomes OF all the structures on the dark
and tortuous ways of the Kaiser's foreign
policy?
The chief thing to be remembered in
connection with the position of the Kaiser
as conductor Of the foregn policy of the
empire is that he cannot. on his own in
itiative. declare war. But If Germany
should be attacked, he not only can, but
must. command the army to meet the
| enemy. That is what would happen in
the case of a defensive war, such as
Germany had to wage with France.
For despite all the reports and falsifica-
tionS Of history, which made il appear
that Prussia was the aggressor, it was
France which declared war. But, on the
other hand, the imperial constitution ex-
pressly stipulates that the Emperor can
only declare an aggressive war with the
assent of his fellow-sovereigns in the
union, so that the empire is thus amply
safeg guarded against possible wanton
misuse of its armed forces as the instru-
ments of his power.
And now a few words about the
Kaiser's relationship to the army and
navy of the empire. 1t is here that his
position before his own country and the
whole of Europe is most conspicuous. II
is the flashing of the Kaiser's helmet"
more than of his crown which sometimes
tends to dazzle the eyes and bewilder the
German nation. and other nations as well.
His favorite role, his pose by preference,
is that of .'Kriegsherr,'' or war lord: a
aS himself
"schimmernder wehr'' Qn 'shimmering
armor'D, beautiful phrase. whose
primary aim 1t is not to provoke but to
prevent war. ''Kriegsherr," in fact, is
short for commander-in-chief, in peace
or in war, of all the armed forces of the
union.
But there is a difference between the
army and the navy which requires to be
explained. Strictly speaking. the army
is not imperial in the sense that the navy
IS, being composed of contingents from
the various states, while the fleet is ma
tionaL The imperial army is a collective
unity. The unity of the land forces
OF the empire does not cancel the sepa-
rate existence of the state contingents
1t simply signifies the bond which holds
these various contingents together.
Most OF the minor states practically
have merged their military quotas of men
in that Prussia. so that the German
army, consisting of twenty-three army
corps, now is composed Of four separate
contingents. namely, those Of the four
kingdoms, Prussia, Saxony, wurttem-
berg. and Bavaria, the last-named state
enjoying certain special rights and privi-
leges. political and military. with which
the Emperor cannot interfere. Be It
hnx
states ceded their military rights-not to
the Kaiser. but to the King of Prussia.
1t is the right and the duty of the
Kaiser, as commander -in-chief, to see
that everything is done in accordance
with this principle of national or i'm
perial unity in the military field, while
leaving the detail work of administra.
ton to the separate states. Thus 1t is
that there Is no such thing as an i'm |
perial minister Of war. his work being
done by the war ministers of the four
Kingdoms, tespecially Prussia, which In |
area and population. forms a good two |
thirds Of the whole empire.
But while there IL no Imperial minister
OF war. there is an imperial minister Of |
marine. In the person Of the secretary Of |
state. at the head Of the Reichsma-
rineamt. At the same time, the Kaiser |
cannot add to this feet a single tor !
pedo-boat destroyer without the express.
consent Of the German people, whose |
power OF the purse. as said before, Is |
absolute.
Naval service" as one writer SAYS. |
''is imperial service. No symbols indi-l
eating the supremacy of particular /
state are recognized there. No ships float
under any but the imperial nag. The |
OF state has no place at the /
masthead. All the apparatus Of the navy, |
the feet, the naval harbors. and the docks |
and yards belong to the empire. The
naval budget Is part Of the imperial |
budget" FLANEUk
Copyright, lsql. b. Count Gosap syndsssta)