THE KAISER'S NEW CHANCELLOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 78

THE KAISER'S NEW CHANCELLOR.

A PERSONAL SKETCH. The Kaiser's new Chancellor is bis boyhood's friend and college chum. That 'and the circumstance that Dr Theobald yon Bethmann-Hollgew is of Jewish, origin, like the Colonial Secretory, Herr Dernburg, are the facts standing oafc most prominently in connection with bis elevation to the office hallowed with the memories and traditions of Bismarck. The appointment has not taken Germany by surprise. As Prince Bulow's ViceChancellor and a known intimate of tbe Emperor of many years' standing, Yon Betnmann-Hollweg has long been a logical candidate for the Chancellorship, and Ms ■selection became a foregone- conclueio: from the moment Prince Bplow, in response to the Kaisers invitation, nominated him as his successor. ; Although the new steersman of Germany's- imperial destinies has. had a distinguished .official career, and has risea by legitimate steps to Prime Ministerial rank, he is a littla-known. personality. The type of a- Prussian bureaucrat, who began as assessor, rose to county supervisor, became a provincial president, tben a Prussian Minister, and, later an imperial Secretary of State, his advance through the stereotyped grades of German officialdom has been altogether characteristic. ModWt of bearing and by temperament, he has never intruded buneelf into the glare of public notice. His administrative career has been marked by a studious restriction to official duties. His speeches in the Prussian Diet and House of Lords and before the forum of the Reichstag have been distinguished for nothing but straightforwardness, sincerity, and thoroughness. He has never onoe been known to electrify the countrj or Parliament. But* he has won a reputation in the governing set for honesty, conservatism, and loyalty, and those are qualities which will go far to compensate th Fatherland for tbe brilliancy of Prince Bulow. — When the Kaiser Intervenes. — Herr voi> Bethmann-Hollweg's official career has lain far remote from the paths of diplomacy and foreign affairs. .. His have been the prosaic problems of local government and borne administration — fields in- which he is almost without a peer among his countrymen. He approaches the task of directing Germany's Weltpolitik, therefore, practically a novice. That is a circumstance which leads Germans to conclude that the Kaiser will be very much his own Chancellor — as Bismarck predicted — in so tar, at least, as, foreign affairs are concerned. Either ; that, or the portfolio of German Foreign Secretary will for the first time become 1 something more than a titular position. Yon Betbmann-Hollweg will lean heavily on Baron yon Schon, who under the Bu- - low regime was hardly more than the Chancellor's private secretary for 'oreign affairs. The fifth Chancellor is a born- Branden-bui-ger, a native of Hohen-Finow, a village in the Mark, three-quaiters of an. hour west of Berlin. He is 53 years old. His family, ennobled in 1840, is a»n> old-time Frankfort merchant and banking dynasty, prominent in the commerce of South Germany for several centuries. Originally it consisted of two branches-, Bethmann and Hollweg, which became united under a single nypiienated name through intermarriage. The founder of. the Bethmann branch was driven from Holland in the seventeenth century on account of his religion. Chancellor yon Bethmann-Hollweg's grandfather was tb* first of the family to identify himself with public life.- An- excellent lawyer, he became a professor of jurisprudence at Bonn. ' University, receiving the patent of nobility as a mark kof distinction for bis learning. As a member of the Prussian. Legislature in the 'forties, he was in the thick of the constitutional struggles which had their culmination in 1848, and 10 yeans later he became Minister of Education in a Liberal Cabinet. From this hardy stock, a sterling mixture of traders, barfk.«i>, scholars, and politicians, th« Kaiser has chosen his new Cbanceliofc

— At the University.— , It -was at Bonn, the celebrated university on the Rhine, where all the Hoheazollems of later generations have studied-, that Chancellor yon Betnmansn-HolJ'weg met and became the friend of Emperor William 11. Their real intimacy springs from their memberehip of the famous Borossia student-corps. Many of the yopng noblemen who had the honour of being Prince William's college comrades amd "corps brothers" at Bonn haw risen to poets of eminence in the Fatherland's service, for one of the Kaker's finest touts is * predilection for 'taking care of 3mb friends." After leaving the university young Yon Bethmann-Hollweg took the State examination for the Civil Service, mounting tie first rung on the bureaucratic ladder, that of an "Assessorfibip," in 1885Beiore be was 30, in 1886, he had became Landrat of Oberbaraim, a post at which be spent 10 yearns grounding himself thoroughly in the. principles of Prussian local gevermnejit. .Ofcerbarnim elected him to tie Reichstag in 1890, but -he resigned Jus .seat. In 1896 he was caHed to .the executive department' of the provincial presidency of Potsdam, where he served .for three yeans and had many opportunities of renewing .with bis studentcomrade of Bonn, now Kaiser, the ties of university -day*. In 1899 the Emperor promoted his college friend to the high poet of President of tfte Government of Bromberg, and "within three months had advanced him , stil 1 another grade by making him President of tne jarovince of Brandenburg,' with headquarters at Potedam, where be was once again to _ enjoy the eosnrade&hip of his ImperiaJ patron. The Presidency of Brandenburg is a natural stepping-stone to Ministerial Honours in Prussia, and 1905 brought' Von Betbmamn-Hollweg the traditional distinction in the shape of appointment as Prussian Home Secretary. Two yeans later the Kaiser promoted him from the Prussian Cabinet ■ to a place in the Imperial Government as Secretary of the Imperial Home Office, the position which carries with it the additional Tank of Vioe-chaMceHor and Vice-president of the Prussian Ministry. — Bepotion to Prince Bulow. — Jo all these offices Yon Bethroann-Holl--weg distinguished himself by zeal, industry, and capacity. His devotion to Prince yon Bulow was c x marked feature of his Ministerial career. The late Chancellor was accustomed frequently to entrus' Yon Bethma.un-Hollw.eg with his representation in, oritietlr parliamentary and political situations, and their, personal relation: were of Hie most intimate and confidential cltaracteii. As f parliamentary figure Yon B-ofcbmann-Hollw.eg % not striking, but always .impressive. He ie leas brilliant than Bulow, but more convincing and thorough. Tl>s world will miss the raillery of tne late Chanceiloor, but will get in its stead plain speaking and the wil that springs from brevity. Immensely tall and gaunt, with lofty forehead, bespectacled, and professorial in manner. Yon Beth-waon-Hollweg nevei fails to dominate whan on liis feet, though lie commands attention not by lie fire and force of his remarks so much as by tieir soundness and l acidity. Prince Bulow has enjoyed the reputation of being able to sway the Kaiser and to check his impukes. Vor BetJimannHolf weg has been privileged to be bis Majesty's intimate personal friend, and the assumption is reaeonable that his influence in Imperial quarters will be no lees potent than Bulow's. He enters office as the heir of a humiliating Government defeat at the hands of the ConservativeCatholic oligarchy, w.hieh h*6 seized the reins of parliamentary power in Germany , As yet there is no evidence that the Government will gird itself for battle with its conquerors. But Cha-noellor yon. Beth-nvaain-Hollweg — Bethmamn (pronounced Batsman) aa he will ofter b« called — behind hi amiable, phiilowphica<l mask is an adewt in the aTt of domestic politics ; ' and the "black and blue" alliance, w-hicb dtove Bulow from powei" may find it has ra.-sed in his place another Chancellor of blood a«d "rori.— Fbedsaxc Whxiam Wilk, in the Daily Mail.