ii6 



The Review of Reviews. 



abreast the Protectionists. The figures for the last six 

 elections show this ; — 



Year of Election, Protectionist Vote, Aiiti- Protectionist Vote. 



iSgo ,.. .. 4,405,000 ... 2,735,000 



IS93 4,723,000 ... 2,879,000 



1S98 4,624,000 ... 2,970,000 



1903 5,503,000 ... 3,885,000 



11/07 (1,656,000 ... 4,570,000 



I9I2 6,283,000 ... 5,841,000 



Of course if the National Liberals were left out as an 

 indeterminate factor the Free Traders would be in a 

 majority of nearly a million. There is, however, no 

 doubt as to the placing of the National Liberals 

 among .the Non-Contents, They are for Constitu- 

 tional Government, and therefore they are in Opposi- 

 tion._ The plebiscite therefore in round numbers 

 shows that when twelve million Germans go to the 

 poll seven and a half million vote against the 

 Government and only four and a half million vote in 

 its favour. When people tell us that the Germans 

 hate the English and that war is inevitable, we reply 

 by pointing to these figures as much better evidence 

 that the majority of the Germans are against their 

 own Government than any that can be adduced 

 to prove that the German nation as a whole is 

 thirsting for war. 



When I was in Berlin on the 

 The Rise morrow of the elections of 1907 



the Socialist Vote. I called on a friend who had just 

 parted from Herr Bebel. The 

 veteran Socialist leader was in despair. The Social 

 Democratic party seemed to have received a knock- 

 down blow, nor did he venture to hope for its revival 

 during his lifetime. Only five years have passed and 

 lo ! the Social Democrats are now the strongest party in 

 the Reichstag, and behind their one hundred and ten 

 members stand nearly four and a quarter million Ger- 

 man voters. They have put on nearly a million votes 

 since last election. Of course it would be a mistake to 

 regard these four millions as all convinced Socialists. 

 When a German is irritated with the Government he 

 votes Radical, but when he gets mad with-it and wants 

 to say "Damn" he votes Socialist. The rise in the 

 Socialist vote indicates rather a rise in the temperature 

 of exasperation than of conversion to the scientific 

 doctrines of Socialism. That the Socialists deserve 

 their .success is indisputable. They are the only party 

 that is' steady for human brotherhood and that has 

 ofiered an unflinching opposition to all the predatory 

 ])olicies of our time. At the same time it is probable 

 that high prices had more to do with the increase in 

 the Socialist vote than their views on international 

 politics. What the effect will be on the foreign 

 policy of Germany of this demonstration of the 



unpopularity of the Government who can say? It 

 was a much less alarming registration of hostile votes 

 in 1870 which led Napoleon to precipitate the war 

 with Germany. 



Many incidents in the Elections 



Notable S'^'^ one furiously to think. The 



Electoral Victories. Socialists swept the whole of Berlin 



with the exception of the division 

 in which the Kaiser lives, and they alniDst carried 

 that. The Radical candidate defeated a Socialist by 

 only a handful of nine votes. In Potsdam the 

 Socialists swept all before them, much to the indigna- 

 tion of the Kaiser, who finds himself represented in 

 the Reichstag by a Socialist for Potsdam, and by a 

 Radical for the Kaiser quarter of Berlin. Even more 

 remarkable than the victories of Berlin was the capture 

 of the great Catholic centre of Cologne by the 

 Socialists with a majority of 4,000, and almost 

 equally decisive was the Socialists' victory in that 

 Liberal stronghold Frankfort. As a whole the 

 Socialists have no members, constituting much the 

 largest group in the new Reichstag. The following 

 table shows the strength of the various parties in the 

 present and late Reichstag ; — 



Socialists no [53] 



44 [5'] 

 46 [49] 



93 ['o.>] 



43 [58] 



13 [25I 

 19 [20] 



14 [20] 



NationalLiberals 



Radicals 

 Centre 



Conservatives ;. . 



Free Conservatives 



Poles 



Anti-Semites 



Alsatians, Guelplis, Danes, and Indepen- 

 dents 



■5 [17] 



Total 



397 



Count Aehrenthal. 



Universal regret is felt at the 

 breakdown of Count Aehrenthal. 

 He struggled gamely to the last to 

 discharge the duties of his high 

 and responsible position, but an insidious disease 

 proved too much for him, and he has passed into 

 retirement to the regret of all excepting those who 

 regarded him as an obstacle in the way of the 

 realisation of tlieir cherished policy. The Clericals, 

 who saw in Aehrenthal an insuperable obstacle 

 in the way of an anti-Italian policy, are rejoicing, 

 although with trembling, for until the old Emi.eror 

 goes the way of his Foreign Minister they are not 

 likely to have a free hand to carry out the policy 

 which is dear to their hearts. 



The Italian Government is prc- 



" When Thieves parini; a i;ood deal of trouble for 



Fall Out." itself by the high-handed fashion 



in which it is •exercising the light 



of search of steamers of neutral Powers. Within the 



