THE MAN BEHIND THE KAISER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 12

THE MAN BEHIND THE KAISER.

V DEATH OF A GREAT DIPLOMATIST.

A MYSTERIOUS IDENTITY. Horr von Holstoiu, 'that mysterious diulo> matist who v for v many years exorcised a far- • reaching influence behind the scenes of th« German, Foreign Oflico,'.died on Saturday, May 8, at the, ago of soYcnty-tbroe. His- official career terminaed in April, 1906. when h<. was 'practically driven from his post by Horr ■ von Tsohirschky, Imperial Soeretary of StaU for'Foreign'Atfaira, who disapproved _of hit ■ machinations, The position of Horr Von Hoi- , stein at the German Foreign Office was Bim> lar in many rospocts toithat of tho Perman* ont Under, Sccrotatj of. State in the British Foreign Office.. His long exiterienco and knowledge of! ill eutuocta. with which this Departmeni deals' gavo 'him great ' over successive Chancellors and Foreign .See- , reiarios of State., ■Ho. was ■'also,:a, personal friend of tho Emperor, and attended tho Monarch ,on- several-'occasions in his ornimi on the Hohonzollorn. •• >' ; ,1 '. Readers' of tho "Hohenlohe , Memoirs , (says the "Daily Telegraph") need not be. told, how'actively and •'successfully.. Baron , von Holstein polled tho -wirta. .' They thero find Prinoo Eulenbiirg, beseeching tho futur* ChanceHor'to,,dissuade. Baron-von Ilolstem from v the idea of; puttiiig';him' fefwiird a« Foreign Sebrotary,'; It is alsii ' ho who pro-poses-Prince. Bulow as Ambissaddr at.Roma. Rumour shys that- the. recall of tho present Chancellor from. Italy and his ,appointment as Foroign Secretary-was'Jikowiso tho_]omt i<:o\-k of Baron i von Holstein and lrinca i Eulcnburg. Prince Hohenlohe continually ■> reports having recoivod advice' frotft Baron voii H-olstein on this, that, or othor matters. No Shara In tha Kruger ,Telegram. As to ono'important point, of Germany's . foreign, policy, during the period of his lnlluailcu;. Jiaron von Holsl/cinhaß, placed tho following interesting statement on record:—. ■ -''I'had-no share,in the of that group of'political actions to .1 which criticism? has ; frequently tlie. ; French *,Agreement ■ of • April, -1904.; I mean the Kruger ;telegram, : the :Bagdad; Railway. • project,- and-thei .,anti-]!/i3glish . speeches ia , tho German Reichstag. , In- every. ono of those cases > I saw myself . confronted-by an accomplished or already initiated'fact, by an v already cdmpletcd manipulation .of- the points" t - ,Ho did not, howover, attempt to disclaim •-. .responsibility-', for.: inspiring; tho ; : first. phase . of Germany's " Morocco policy. _ This, is,, ia fact; understood ■ to' have cost him his ■ place. It is' said > that the influence of ' Prinbe fallen* burg, between whom- and - himself a lifelong wtiiflaoy -had'': existed, 1 brought - about_ ft ohango- in v thb- conditions at the - Foreign >Offico,' which 'i-rendorod Mfurthor .fltay ,ther* impossible -for: him. . Acceptance of bis ro«, signation took - place during. Prinbe Bulow's ■ illness, and while i.Hcrr yon Tschirsohky was in ohargb of foreign affairs. ... ' ;* ItVhase«ftcn;i;bocn-alloged(,that Hofstois < , was'.bohinS HerriiHamon'riattocki on-.,Princo., Eulen to«fifccur« revenge, for this blow, .-He was • summoned as a witnoss at one of-the inariy trials which ; arose out .of' the v Zukunft campiiign, and 'there, r .wa"B i a' f fltttttr; of .in ' Court wlieh nis hamo wais' 1 called. No one had ro< cognised?' the ; -meagre,'-. greyr-bearded, . spectaclod little manj'who-hid himself nervously away, behind-all the. (itliof witnesses, 'fts the Onco Vpotent'-: wire-puller ,of the AVilholm* strassp;?' =j=.*- ■ ■■*■. • - v ■ Baron' von- Holstein has'loft papers r which • are to hoi published later, and will.' probably ■ fonu important, sourco for-tho future historian" of. Germany's foreign relations dur» , ing the - first thirty yoars :of. the now Em* pire. ' ( 1 : Rooommoildod to Blsmarok by His Sllonca, Baron von Holstoin was for, many years ' one of the,most powerful, and, at tho Bame, time,-one of the most mysterious personage* in; the German diplomatic , world. . "Sis. silence and his . talents,it has beet; said, ro- ■ Commended' hihi to Bismarck, who 'appointed him First Secretary at ' tho Paris Embassy ' some - time before, this'fall of Count Arnim. Herr' Yon;Holstoin' W(M 'on terms- of great , intimacy with the Ambassador whom Bismarck orushod on' thfl ground that Arnim was , . atteniptiiig to npset the i French Republic and and tho furtJier ground . that von Arnirn had ideas of his ;own, and did ; not conault tho 'Berlin Foreign' Office so iussiduously as ! Prince'Bjsmarck desired. It was oharged against Holstein that ho had be. .traycd hiß'chi« to Bismarck.-! In'the'yitriolio - pages,of Busch's/'Bismarck'!, there are. frequont;reforenobs to Holstein, depreciatory, tlm reason for which, is to be found ,in-one of Uic latest allusions, after tho fall .of the'great.Chancellor,,that "Holstein had. gone over to iho other camp." V It was. of course, at Prince Bismarck's in. stancej that Holstein was'removed from Paris to the Wilhelmstrasse,-and at; first he was describod as;;-"exoeodingly hmiab|p,' -liardworlcing. and'helpful.-i* Meanwhile : Bucher had: said -of him to the Chief-that "Holsteitt . was a; quiet; careful mnn,.but he had no roal - knowloago of StatoVaflfairs." ; ; Th«" faot was that'it was because of his .reinarkablo know-, ledge of affairfthat Holstein bec&mo; the permanent head of the Intellisenoo Department - , of tbo Foreign Office'., "That' young : man kno\Vß everything, but can do nothing,was i tho judgment of a Russian diplomat.- ; Novcr Saw An Ambassador, His tnrn .came with tho fall ,of Bismarck.' Thon, writes; Busch;—"He has reccntly .de. veldped, owing. t0 his, ambition, into a. very. \ vdangerous . intriguer;"'' For a qifartcr of a , century ho) held , the threads of German foreign policy. ■ Succossiva Chancellors and Foreign Ministers, like Caprivi, Marshal von BiebersteinV Count 'jEulenburg, wero unable or unwilling- tb disi>ehso with the services,'of ono:who seemed to; wear, tho'mantle of, Bis- . morek. His influoncc was all tho moro remarkable'because'of being wielded ;in absolute ; retiromchti ;.Ho scarcely ever saw ; an .Ambassador, novcr wont to Court, mixed very little in general society, and ,shunned . the 'honours and dignities which among hia '. countrymen, generally are as tho proper rewards of tho official world.Ho had , neither'wifo''n6r 'family,'and'seCtacd.'to ho wholly absorbed in the work of liis offiiio. Ho belonged to the school of. the oki Prussian bureaucrats, and, liko them, was masterful alid: dominioorinß, sovcro in the discipline which they observed and oxactcd, 1 but full of zeal for the public service. - v .a - .