SOLF THE "SUBTLE"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 43, 15 November 1918, Page 6

SOLF THE "SUBTLE"

MAN WHO WANTED TO GOVERN AUSTRALIA

A PERSONAL SKETCH

(By Helen Jerome in the "Sydney Sun.")

The other day the Swiss Charge d'Atl'air?s begged to be excused from the responsibility of translating Dr. Solf's reply to President Wilson, owing "to tho subtlety in which Solf's language was couched." This is, of course, in accord with thi> accepted currency that passes , for the psychologist':) diagnosis of the German mind. Subtlety! Dr. Solf is about as subtle as the rest of his countrymen! Deceit and subterfuge can only be dressed up in those terms bv the Amateur of Life. I knew Dr. Solf for some years prior to the outbreak of the war, and on one occasion travelled with him and hia suite for nearly two months from Fiji to Vancouver, met him again in Chicago and Ne>f York, and subsequently in , Berlin. As this was at tine time he had just concluded the Governorship of isauion, lie was naturally full of the Pacific const, and .his conversation turned very much upon the possibilities and future of Australia.

Solf certainly was, and, I suppose, ie, tho nto.it misubtle-looking person one can imagine. We never expect those ponderously, monumental-looking people to poss;ss the delicate mental mechanism which indicates delicate mental processes. Nevertheless, one must not divorce his physical bigness from mental bigness beoauso of the absence of subtlety. Fifteen stone he stood in his shoes— and if you had not known his nationality you would not have . accused him of it. 1 have never met a German who had a more sincere partiality for Eng-: lish people, and who admitted it so frankly. He particularly envied us our instinct for, and proficiency at, sports— but this k a penchant that I have repeatedly observed among Teuton people. Their Vc.-' heaviness and clumsiness— the two qualities so obvious in their physique and their diplomacy-rendering them peculiarly susceptible to the possession of activity by other people. Strangely enough, (in the light of subsequent events), during some of our conversations on board, Dr. Solf conhded that he quite expected- to meet trouble on his arrival in Germany owing to ms too favourable reports upon the administration of affairs in Australia, and ho admitted that he materially disagreed with the report of the then German Consul-General residont in Sydney-who was responsible for the absurd _ story current in Germany that Australia was anxious to cut loose from England—another instance of the subtlety of the German mind! Eyes on Australia, Solf's words were surely prophetic! No sooner had he arrived iu Berlin, where, preparatory to bigger things,, he expected a minor • Cabinet appointment, than there was quite- a commotion in the Reichstag,, when the Leader of the Opposition made a violent attack on Solf's administration u of Samoa, and incidentally liis friendliness with Australian politicians—his particular friend here having been the ' late Sir George Keid, and a particular, object of his admiration being our present Premier, who was then Attorney-General, Mr. Holuiau'e subtle and ingenious mind happening to be the precise type to which the Germans so aspire, and in which they are so deficient-in spite of the complaint of tho Swiss Charge d Affaires. , , , ... The storm in the Ecichstag spent i> eelf and the influence of his wife s family soon gained for Solf the post of Secretary for the Colonies—whieh has since translated itself into that of Minister of Foreign Affairs. He missed the Chancellorship because of his reputation 'for friendliness towards the hated English. All this is pertinent to Australia be. cause of Solf's avowed interest in and enthusiasm for the possibilities of this country—and his report concerning what he called its "unparalleled resources — both facts that evidently helped on tho. Once he hinted in his "subtle" GcrI man. way that it was "a pity that Australia did not belong/to Germany, as Germany would do so much more with it than the British race seemed to have Accomplished." He further remarked that he would like "to have tho good luck of being the administrator of affairs in Australia." , The "vastness" and "spaciousness _ of this country were expressions of his— and his imagination was evidently very strongly appealed to. On another occasion, when speaking of .Vuatralia, he said: "I am afraid that Australians do not know what to do with their big country/' . These remarks are a further example of the."subtlety" of his language. He delivered an address one day which did something towards atoning for tho general standard of mental mediocrity on the ship. He spoke in cujtaed Eng. lish, without the-slightest trace of an accent, and after thirty minutes of measured eloquence he concluded with a re-mark-that in tho light of subsequent history-may help to explain the /high hope with which the German nation entered into this war of theirs: What,. 1 really mean to say," concluded Solf, is that 'the people on the Pacific coast have half a dozen empires-only they don t know it-and if they did know it would not know what to do with it. He left a perfectly clear, impression in my mind that Alsace-Lorraine- was as nothing to Germany as a prize worth fiKhtine for compared with Australia if "any envious nation were to cast appraising eyes "at her." "Fifty years are not ioo much to sacTifice for such a prize," he said in Ins "subtle' , German way. Eating First. As another instance of the "subtlety" of the German mind, I might mention a little episode which happened at a dinner party in Berlin wl«n as luck would have it,'Solf happened to be my neighbour. ■ , Two or three courses had been traversed in the menu before any wort had been exchanged. 1 wanted him to talk. "What shall we talk about.' I asked, impatient. . Let me first eat, . madame, he answred, gravely. ~ More silencc-and much eating, tame the fourth course. "After which course do vou usually talk, Herr Solf?' 1 asked, more in sorrow than in anger. He raised his eyes in pained astonishment to mint. "After the last, madame!" he answered. From the lazy, langorous days when ono lounged on a deck-chair in the'cool water* that lull tne nower-sccnted shores of Honolulu and listened halt-dreamily to tho measured utterances of a coming actor wlio-was it unconwionsiy.'-K 1 - hearsed his lines to an audience ot one, to the sudden deafening uproar that Dor aided the overture in August, 1014, nnd ushered in the tragedy that has since been strewing the stage with ooipses ihat out-Hamlet Ilainirt, wms n far c <, times what is it he was-an actor or a prophet? . .