St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1918-01-26

ate the military. until the presen
regime, exalted and strengthened 81
the victories OF 1~S64-187O, is debasef
and disgraced by resounding and dis
astrous defeats. It Is doubtful /
there win be any change even then
for the German people are the most
docile in Europe, with no taste for
revolutions, with no revolutions to
their credit, ais have England, France,
America. Russia, even China. Per.
sonal government has brought the
present calamity upon the world, and
the p~ossessors of that power will
fight to retain it and Will, il neces-
sary, treat the German people with
the same -ruthlessness as they have
treated the other peoples Of Europe.
Let us not be hoodwinked by Easter
messages from William II, or by
cloudy and ambiguous utterances OF
his spokesman, as presagtng forth
coming liberalization Of Germany.
Prussian kings have shown that not
only are treaties scraps of paper, bur
4&ESs#@&# &g&%E#
that constitutions are also scraps OF
paper when their provisions annoy the
monarch. And Prussian monarchs
have never been squeamish about per-
jury. The famous Easter promises"
of this year will not be a greater hind
rance to imperial and royal volition
than previous, celebrated promises to
Belgium and to the United States
have been:4
Germany has renowned liberty in
order the better to carry on her ma
tional industry-war. AS Harden, the
Berlin journalist, has said: In or
der to be strong she has rejected the
great modern comfort of democracy.
The ethical superiority of this people
over all others, SO confidently as
serted as a justification OF her leader
ship in the world, is shown in this
phrase of Prof. De1bruck, Blessed be
the hand that traced those lines
that is, that falsifed the Ems Dispatch
This is the Prussian beautitude. For
it brought a successful war-a war
for prestige and power and lucre. The
present war was intended to repeat on
a far larger scale the inspiring
achievement. And, if it should sue
coed, we would expect to see demo
cracy flourish in Germany by the
same token that we would expect to
grapes Of thorns and figs of
thistles.
All this parade OF constitutional re-
forms must not becloud the issue. The
constitutions of Germany are paper
constitutions. Long before it was the
to treat solemn international
agreements as mere scraps OF paper
The Imperial and the Prussian consti
we're ignored and ~fagrantly
.nfringed in many of their provisions
IMMUNITY by the governing auth
orties. In Germany the army is far
more powerful than the Reichstag,
Ind both know it. Even the Bundles
at Is hardly. If at all. more powerful
han the Great General STAFF. And
he army is not under the control Of
he Reichstag or the legislature Of
Prussia. It stands outside and it
tands above. In Prussia the army
$ a kingdom within a kingdom With
n the army the Prussian King has
reserved all the prerogatives Of an
BISCUITS monarch. No authority in
he state cau intervene between the
rmy and the sovereign. The con-
rol of the army belongs to the King
III army is not the army Of the ma !,
ion, but is the Kings army. L
THE dearest desire Of every Prus- 4
said Bethmann-Hollweg in the !,
russian Landtag January 10, 1914 /
is to see the Kings army remain j
ompletely under the control of the
ing and not to become the army Of
'arliament." j
Prof, Delbruck, of the University Of i
in a recent book describes the
pecial character of the German army. i
rom the point Of view Of sentiment /
be army exemp1ifes not the modern q
otion of patriotism, but the earlier !
otion of loyalty to a chieftian; the c
serve the King, not the faith Z
"The King is their comrade