The reopening to-day of the Reichstag, and the decision of the Nationalist Opposition to introduce motions of no confidence in the Bruening Government, which will be voted on on Friday, is the subject of comment in all the London papers to-day.
If Dr. Bruening is defeated, the “Daily Telegraph” says, President Hindenburg will not tolerate government by decree, but will call upon a Nationalist leader to form a Cabinet. It is thought not unlikely, it suggests, that he will first, for the sake of formal propriety, turn to the Social Democrats as the largest party in the Reichstag, but they, it is assumed, will refuse the charge, and he is then expected to send for the Hitlerist leader in the Reichstag, or for Herr Hugenberg.
It is possible, it remarks, that such a development was referred to in the audience granted by the President to Herr Hitler (who as an Austrian subject is not qualified to sit in the Reichstag), and that the prospects of an early accession to power were the real moderating elements at Harzburg.
In any case, it proceeds, well-informed quarters state it as a fact that President Hindenburg is prepared to appoint a Government of the Right if it can be formed by constitutional methods. He has recently come to the conclusion that sooner or later such a Government is inevitable in Germany and that perhaps it will be better if it comes sooner than later.
The “Times”, in an editorial article to-day, says that Germany is fortunate to possess at a critical moment three men like Dr. Bruening, President Hindenburg, and General Groener, the new Minister of the Interior, possessing in no small degree the quality of leadership and able to act in unison, but, nevertheless, it sees the enemies of the Bruening regime massing in strength in the Reichstag, and nobody, it writes, can foretell with any certainty the outcome of the struggle that begins to-day.
The Hitlerists, having previously abandoned an area in which they contributed more melodrama than political performance, it proceeds, are now returning to their places, and are resolved to throw in their votes with any party that aims at the defeat of the Chancellor. After a reference to the Harzburg gathering, where the followers of Hitler, the members of the Steelhelm, Dr. Hugenberg, Dr. Schacht and the others celebrated their reunion, the “Times” concludes with a warning that “if Germany were to choose these men as leaders rather than Dr. Bruening, she could look for little sympathy abroad when retribution followed”.
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