GERMAN ASSASSINS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

BERLIN, JUNE 5.

Berlin trembles with horror. The Emperor's life has been attempted twice in three weeks. .....
Both criminals are avowed Socialists. Though the one is a journeyman tinsmith, a thief, and miserable tool of Socialistic agitators—though the other is a doctor of philosophy, the son of a wealthy family, whose members hold high position in the civil and military service of the state—the thief Hodel and the doctor Nobiling agree in regarding royalty as obsolete, and to be removed from the face of the earth. They are not indeed mere Republicans ; but supposing monarchy to be identified with the maintenance of the existing property laws, which they detest, they have determined upon the destruction of kingship as a necessary preliminary to the advent of Communism. Mad as the project may appear, unworthy as it may seem of this highly-cultivated country, circumstances forbid to doubt the existence and deliberate pursuit of the scheme. Hodel, notwithstanding his absurd endeavours to hide his deed under the pretext of suicide, admits his adhesion to the Socialistic creed, and has been frequently heard to declare his abomination of wealth, monarchy, and anything in the way of a constituted government. Nobiling, more outspoken than his cowardly colleague, owns to firing at the King for socialistic motives, and, worse still, declares he is one of a gang which drew lots as to which should do the deed. He is also known to have expressed an opinion a few days previously that if the King and his next 10 successors were shot, Republicanism would come in as a matter of course, and Socialism follow in its wake. If he survives the fearful wound inflicted upon himself immediately after the dastardly attempt, perhaps the story of the plot may be wrung from him. At present he is lying unconscious in prison. There are traits in his previous career calculated to make his revelation appear credible. Though the son of a wealthy father, he at times lived in extreme poverty, at others was flush of money, took part in hunting excursions, travelled in England and France, and altogether behaved as a gentleman of ample means. Coupling this with his apparent indifference to the local socialistic agitation of this capital, the suspicion is forced upon the police that he is a member of one of the various international leagues for the forcible realisation of the Communist theory. The particular fraternity to which he is supposed to belong is the St. Simonise, so called after the Count of St. Simon, a French nobleman, who was the first to start these wild ideas in the present century. The chiefs of this secret society, which has hitherto succeeded in baffling investigation, are believed to reside in London and Paris.
The recent growth of Socialism in Germany is easily accounted for. Twenty years ago the monster was unknown. In 1800, one Dr. Lassalle, a man of the highest literary and political talent, finding himself ousted by Liberals for the habitual insolence and eccentricity of his conduct, determined to create a party of his own by developing the seeds of Communism, faintly apparent in manufacturing districts. His fervid eloquence gathered an audience around him, and with the connivance of the Government rapidly succeeded in creating a stir. It was the time of the notorious military budget conflict between the Prussian Crown and parliament. The middle classes standing out staunchly against the contemplated increase of the army, one Opposition Parliament after the other was elected, and the Crown reduced to a critical position. In his dire need, Prince Bismarck, a man of expediency rather than principle, did not scruple to countenance the socialistic agitation as a counterpoise to middle-class opposition. In a debate brought on by the introduction of an anti-socialistic bill in consequence of Hödel's attempt, a member of the German Parliament stood up to tell Government to their face that from I860 till 1872 the Socialist movement in this country had been an altogether artificial affair, promoted by Ministers, and subsidised out of the public funds. Excepting a few unmeaning words from a personal friend of Prince Bismarck, this accusation elicited no reply. But the sunshine of Government favour was not the only circumstance promoting the growth of the poisonous plant. The commercial changes introduced after the establishment of unity were so sudden, so sweeping and comprehensive, as to revolutionise society. Change of residence was made independent of means of subsistence. Strikes were legalised, and labouring men practically exempted from keeping engagements, imprisonment for debt being abolished. Joint stock companies were abolished from Government control, usury laws done away with, and free-trade all but realised. To the temptations held out by the sudden bestowal of these over-abundant gifts was added the enactment of a penal code more lenient than anything ever witnessed in Christendom, and particularly unsuited to an age in which atheism and pessimism are rampant. If I further remind the reader of the excessive impetus given to trade by the influx of the French milliards, and of the terrible catastrophe which closed the bubble movement induced by the foreign gold, the elements disturbing the tranquil flow of German life have been briefly placed before him.
With so many agencies combining to foster the spread of Socialism, the movement quickly assumed astounding proportions. Working men, lured on to Socialism by being their masters' masters in the prosperous days of 1871 and 1872, were only confirmed in their aspiring theories by the commercial crisis and destitution which promptly replaced the financial orgy. The language of the socialistic press kept pace with the growing excitement of the masses. Tolerated by the Government until very lately, and inadequately punished under the new penal code (when prosecutions were ordered at last), there was nothing to hinder agitators from addressing their vile appeals to the populace day after day. At present we have some 40 socialistic papers in Germany, and although the societies have only a couple of hundred thousand names on their lists, we rejoice in 13 Communist members of Parliament.
But all this gives a faint idea of the intensity of the movement and the extreme bitterness it has engendered in many minds. To appreciate this particular feature the reader ought to have lived some time in Germany, and have observed the proneness of the national mind to adopt ruling principles of conduct, and to be guided by them in the details of everyday life. Whether it arise from promptings from within, or result from the habit of deliberate thought, the German is peculiarly disposed to lay down a fundamental theory for himself, and to abide by it even in the most trivial actions. It was this pervading quality of the national mind which helped to establish Protestantism in a more religious age ; it is the same hard-headed obstinacy which gives such scope to Atheism in these modern times. And now that Socialism has come in as a secular supplement to the anti-religious creed which denies life after death, and radically impairs the notion of duty, a new dogma is springing up which purports to compress the theory of existence into a nutshell—enjoyment the aim, intellectual and physical powers the means. Though the heart of the nation is too sound to be seduced by this rechauffé of Pagan trash, it is preached by not a few intelligent men, and, unfortunately, listened to by thousands of the lower orders. That it will contribute to hasten religious reform is hoped by many; that in the meantime it is instrumental in begetting a Hodel and a Nobiling is a melancholy fact.
The Argus  24 July 1878,