POSITION IN BERLIN.

From Our Special Correspondent. Berlin, Friday.

If the pitiful collapse of the Kapp-trebitsch extravaganza meant the reinstatement of the Bauer Cabinet with undiminished authority, it would probably prove to be the best thing that could have happened to Germany, for it would have shown the world that the old monarchical and militarist ideals have behind them no serious body of organised opinion. Unfortunately, it is not by any means certain that the revolt is going to end well. Even at the headquarters of Vice-chancellor Schiffer, it is admitted that in many directions the horizon is invisible. It is, however, beyond any doubt that the hare-brained exploit of the military party has enormously strengthened the Radical party among the workmen, that attempts are being made to exploit the prevailing confusion in favour of a proletarian dictatorship, and that some towns have already been declared Soviet republics.

Even in Berlin the outlook is far from clear. It was understood yesterday that the Baltic troops and the Erhardt brigade, were to be withdrawn from the city by six o’clock in the evening, but many, if not all of them, are still here. One of the latest rumours of this comic episode is that the same troops who yesterday were defending Kapp against Bauer are to-day defending Bauer against Kapp, and for the most part are unaware that the sense and object of their unbroken vigil have been reversed. The poor louts have no idea of the nature of the game in which they are the pawns, for good pay, plenty of hogwash, and the five-mark daily bonus.