DIVINE RIGHT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1103, 17 April 1911, Page 5

DIVINE RIGHT.

KAISER AND AMBASSADOR. A RESIGNATION. WHAT WAS THE CAUSE? Bs Telegraph—Press Association-Oopyricht (K<?c. April 16, 5.5 p.m.) New York, April 15. Dr. Hill, tho American Ambassador at Berlin, will resign in July. The reason is not given. Berlin, April 15. Dr. Hill's resignation of tho American Ambassadorship recalls the coolness raised through tho Kaiser's objections to his appointment in 1908. Mr. Hill is at present visiting the United States, and he recently, in the course of a lecture at Columbia University, declared that the Divine right of kings was an extinct belief. In Berlin his resignation is said to be due to the inability of a man of modcrate means to meet the expenses of an important Embassy.

DR. HILL'S APPOINTMENT. i Dr. David Jayno Hill was appointed American Ambassador at Berlin early in 1908. Ho was previously Minister at The Hague. It was at once reported that the German Government immediately declined to receive him. The objection was said to be personal, the Kaiser declaring that Dr. Hill was. "persona non grata." The Washington Government professed surprise at the Emperor's action, as Secretary Hoot wss under tho impression that he cad his Majesty's formal acceptance of Dr. Hill, who was considered to be, in point of ability, character, and experience, tho peer of any American Ambassador in the service. The German Foreign Office, however, quickly denied tho report as to its attitude, and stated that tho matter had not been mentioned' for some months, but when tho Government had been privately approached, tho opinion expressed was entirely favourable to Dr. Hill. This version of the affair was confirmed in an official statement issued at Washington after a conference between President Roosevelt and tho German Ambassador. It was thought that the Germans would perhaps havo preferred as ambassador a wealthy man, like Dr. Hill's predecessor, at Berlin, Mr. Charlemagne Towers, but the appointment of Dr. Hill was meant to show that men of moderate means might hold high diplomatic posts, if they had tho necessary ability and experience. It was one.of a series , of such appointments. Towards the end of April, 190G, the matter was discussed in Conpross, when Mr. Longworth, the President's son-in-law, stated that "the objection to Dr. Hill was simply and solely that his private fortune would not enablo him to represent properly the dignity of tho American nation." It is, of course, well know that the Kai?cr docs not regard the divine right of the German Emperor as an extinct belief. Ho has made this fact very clear on several occasions recentk.