KUHLMANN THE SUBTLE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 24, 23 October 1917, Page 7

KUHLMANN THE SUBTLE

A MAN TO BE WATCHED. 'Bv D Thomas Curtin, in the "Daily - 7 Mail.") The most important of the new appointments in Germany is that of Baron, von Kulilmann as Foreign Minister, Not a great Agrarian coble with tho rushing political tactics of a buil, but a member of tho lesser nobility, cunning and polished, energetic and able, Tie possesses to a higher degree than ever Count Bernstorft those two qualities so dear to the heart of the Wilhelmstrasso (Germany s diplomatic centre), tho ability to combine in a diplomatic office a first-clat*. detective bureau and an elaborate 1 ress instruction" departvnent. His greatest fault ias been a too zealous inclination to overplay his hand. But if we dwell too much upon his wollknown indiscretions lie, and not we, yiu now gain thereby. To be sure, he terminated his career as Chancellor to the German Embassy in London in a blaze of move or less ludicrous Press propaganda designed to keep Britain neutral, which earned him tho name here of tho

"funny man." , In spite of much excellent work latel in Constantinople, he added further to his "funny man" reputation. I ho Kaiser had tho intention of embracing Islam, tho Turks soon learned, True, lint not in precisely tho manner which von TCuhlmann had led them to believo. As evidence of his thoroughness, however, it must be remembered that he inspired tho grouping of Turkish news in some Herman and Austrian newspapers under the heading—pleasing to the Turks who later received them—of . "Dec Hciligo Krieg" (The Holy War). Ho encouraged, widespread propaganda in Turkey, but ho had already loft that country when, it was flooded with the postcard of tho four rulers of the Central Powers sitting at a table—confiscated by the Turkish authorities, because Wilhelm, Franbis Joseph, and. Ferdinand should havo remained standing in the presence of Allah's mundane, representative. ~ During tTTo war I have come upon tno frail of von Kuhlmann in Londoij, Berlin, Scandinavia, Turkey, and Holland, J

and I take him very seriously. Indeed, I was very much relieved during my efforts last autumn to throw his niyriad of spies off my tracks, while planning tf> slip quietly across the North Sea to England, when X heard that he had- become suddenly engrossed in the prospective. transfer of his activities back to Constantinople. ' For a complex "information 3epartment," which included hovering about the little British ships that dash across the North Sa_a, listening to conversation of all kinds in tvains, hotels, tramway cars, and on tho prom- . enade at Scheveningen, utilising hotels from manager down to tho boy who claims a tip because ha was tho first to see your taxicab coming, buyinl strategic points on telephone lines—very often one could not get through to the British Consulate in Rotterdam until the "interpreter" was properly connectedsubsidising newspapers ana entertaining correspondents—l take off my hat to the energy of von Kuhlmann at tho Hagne.Failure to understand the psychology of other people is now a well-known German trait, from which von Kuhlmann has not entirely escaped. Let us not forget, however, that he gained tremendous favour in Imperial esteem when he expressed great donbt secretly to Berlin of Britain's remaining neutral if Belgian neutrality was violated. In this respect ho ma~do good where Lichnowsky failed. His understanding of British psychology has been rewarded to-day by apE ointment to a post which wi U permit im full scope to defeat Great Britain by the wiles of diplomacy if tho siegegun and the torpedo fail to do bo.