MICHAELIS AND HOLLWEG.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 24 August 1917, Page 1

MICHAELIS AND HOLLWEG.

The correspondent of 'The Times' at Amsterdam states that Dr Michaelis, the new German Chancellor, is only known as * hard, intelligent worker, who goes through thick and thin, regardless of everyone, to attain his aims. He has never been a friend of the reactionaries, and looks a typical bureaucrat. He has a round, Prussian skull, strongly-marked features, deep lines round his mouth, indicative of sternness, a slight frown, sharp eyes, indicating intense concentration, black hair, and a short moustache. Michaelis is rooted in Prussian officialdom, and is utterly ruthless; but he is without political opponents. As Prussian. State Commissioner for the Feeding of the People ha recently incurred the enmity of farmers by sending soldiers , into the most secret recesses of their homes seeking hidden stores of grain. He created infinite friction for a beggarly 3 per cent, additional return. The Kaiser apparently set aside all candidates who* could be regarded as being pledged to particular tendencies in foreign policy, presenting Dr Michaelis to the country merely as the most capable unbiased Prussian offioial he could find. It is now accepted that the change means the triumph of the militarists. The Berlin correspondent of the ' Cologne Gazette' describes Michaelis as the nominee of the armament industry. The Munich ' Nenste Xachrichten'" says that Michaelis will follow the Hindehburg war policy.

The Washington correspondent of the London 'Times' says it is agreed in America that Bethmann Hollweg's resignation means that Germany has fallen on evil days, within and without; but the transfer of • power from one dictator to another will not, it is thought, affect the war. It merely means the elevation of. another tool of the Hohenzollerns, unless by a miracle' the Germaa people obtain control of their W affairs. German observers regard Hollweg's disappearance as final. His personal devotion to the Kaiser knew no limits. His private lifa was unassailable, even by his bitterest enemies, who were lately numerous and powerful, and utterly unscrupulous. The Kaiser, ungrateful, has tossed him to tha wolves. The newspapers condemn Hollweg's irresolution, but admit his strong sense of responsibility. . The 'Volks Zeitung' saya that bis.ideal was to unite all parties for tha commo* weal, but his achievement was an unprecedented disruption of parties. Tha ' Taglische Kundschau,' a military organ, says: "He will live in posterity as the Chancellor most injurious to the Prussian Crown."

'The TiruesV correspondent at Amsterdam states that Dr Von Bethmann Hollweg has been given the Star of the Hohenzollern Order. He will retire to his estate at Hosenfiow, and will'devote his leisure to historical ■work. The Kaiser wished to offer him an ambassadorship after the war, in either London or Bome, but this suggestion he wisely put aside. ,

Commenting on the change in the German Government, the London ' Timea' says: "Hollweg was clearly convinced of the necessity for an early peace if Germany were to escape disaster. But Junkerism could not be expected to consent without a struggle. "" They nave encompassed his fall, but it remains to be seen whether they have improved their <:ase. The Kaiser probably foresees the hour when he must again don hia faded mantle as Peace Lord to play to a gallery of disillusioned subjects in the hope of impressing the war-weary world. When the enemy no longer occupy allied territory, when they are ready to recognise the ; claim of .Belgium, Serbia, Poland, and Eranoe to, reparation, and the rght of European peoples to choose (in President Wilson'a phrase} 'their way of life and obedience/ ii will be time to talk peace. "Until then tha enemy must be educated to a sense of reality by the pedagogy of armed force."