THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1909. THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9549, 22 July 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1909. THE GERMAN CHANCELLOR.

I By the retirement of Prince Bulow from the office cf Imperial Chancellor, Germany loses the most brilliant and forceful holder of that high office since Bismarck. Prince Bulow has held the helm of Government, under the Kaiser, for the last nine years, and for three years before that he was Foreign Secretary. It was under his regime that the first great step forward' in naval expansion Wis made by Germany, and he has presided over each successive advance since 1900, carrying the Reichstag with him by sheer force of leadership, crushing the opposition of the Socialists, and securing the majority necessary for financing the everincreasing naval proposals. Twice, - at least, within the last f',>ur years Garmany has been brought within _ I an ace of war with France, first in I 1905, when the Morocco crisis was j at its height, and when war was only averted at the last moment by the * resignation of the French Foreign I, Minister, M. Delcasse, whose attitude towards Germany had been one of undisguised hostility. Count von Bulow was made a Prince by the Kaiser in honour of his triumph on that occasion. More recently, the absurd Casablanca incident again brought the two countries to the verge of blows, and again Prince j Bulow extricated his country from a difficult situation without loss of prestige. The conclusion of the Anglo-French Agreement in 1903 was a heavy blow to the foreign policy, for which he was responsible, and from that time until March of the preseut year, Prince Bulow has - had to bear the criticisms of mem--1 Lers belonging to practically every . party in the Reichstag, who re- , proached him with allowing Germany to be isolated and hemmed in by the network of "ententes" arranged by England, largely through the personal influence of King Edward. In March, however, Prince Bulow, acting in concert with Baron Aehrenthal, succeeded by a notable coup—nothing less, it is said, than a threat to invade Russia instantly unless his demands with regard to the withdrawal of Russian demanda in the Balkan Peninsula were agreed to—in detaching Russia, at least temporarily, from the Anglo-Franco-Russian "entente." By that "coup," Prince Bulow's foreign policy has been rehabilitated, and he leaves Germany mi his retirement in a stronger position in Europe than she has occupied at any time since he assumed control. But under Prince Bulow's regime, though Germany has enormously advanced in prestige and i material power, that advance has

ieen purchased at colossal expense, th failure to solve the problem of pa inancing that expenditure in the way in ;hat he deemed best has been one of ad ;he chief causes of the downfall of eq the Chancellor. But besides this he er bas had to bear the heavy responsi- bi bility laid upon him by the Kaiser's pc frequent personal intrusions into the cc sphere of foreign policy. He has been m opposed by the enmity of a powerful w camarilla of high offit-ials having the tl ear of the Emneroi, and he has in s( addition suffered from ill-health and u frequent fainting fits, brought on by n constant overwork and by the enor- n mous burden of the responsibility of c directing Herman policy during a n time of almost constant storm and f stess. dince his tenure of office coincides with ths period in which German naval expansion, colonial ambitions, and aggressive Continental I policy, have been sharply accentu- c a ted, and in which German rivalry v with Great Britain bas come into t such prominence that it affects the t attitude of every other nation in Europe, it must be conceded that 1 Prince Bulow has cut a deep furrow 1 in the history of his country, and 1 that his retirement from office cannot i pass unregarded in Great Britain, i His disappearance from the political scene cnanot make any difference in ', Germany's naval policy, since' that policy is already settled up to the year 1917. It is conceivable, however, that it may make a great difference to Germany's policy on the Continent. Dr von Bethmann Hollweg, who succeeds Prince Bulow as Imperial Chancellor, has yet to prove himself the strong man capable of holding the German Emperor in check. If he is able to do so, all may yet be well. But if not, then it is quite conceivable that Europe and the rest of the world may have cause tu regret the trend of inevitable circumstances that have at last culminated in the retirement of the Emperor William's fourth Chancellor.