PRINCE MAX OF BADEN

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 81, 30 December 1929, Page 2

PRINCE MAX OF BADEN

GERMAN MONARCHY’S LAST CHANCELLOR

Prince Max of Baden (whose death occurred recently) was born on July 10, 1867, and was the heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden, He was a cousin of the ex-Kaiser; French blood also flowed in his veins, for his mother was a granddaughter of Eugene Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon I. In his youth he was an officer and sportsman; later ho devoted himself seriously to legal studies, obtaining a doctorate in law, and he went on to the study of philosophy and religion. Pietism brought him an interest in the social question and the friendship of one of the Jewish leaders of the Social Democrats —the only one to fall in the World War—Ludwig Frank. He was Commander of the Baden Dragoon Guards until 1908, but by then he had become out of sympathy with the policy of those at the bead of affairs, and he devoted more time to his work in the First Chamber of the Baden Diet, in which he was very popular. The Prince had always had English friends, and during the war he played a useful part behind the scenes in improving the lot of the British prisoners and that of the German prisoners in Russia, where he had influence. As the war dragged on Prince Max became one of the outstanding representatives of the agitation in Germany for peace by negotiation and a supporter of the Wilson programme. He strongly resented the title of pacifist, and the prince in. him was only irritated when the Democratic papers began to sing his praises. In December, 1917, he became President of the Baden First Chamber, and a speech which he made shortly after, Wilsonian and moderate in spirit, attracted great attention. In August, 1918 he made- a speech in favour of negotiations, and expressed his support of the idea of a League of Nations. In October, when Count Hertling resigned, the Kaiser proposed to the Reichstag party that Prince Max should succeed Hertling as Chancellor, and this was agreed to. On October 3 Prince Max took over the task of forming the first German Cabinet representing the democratic choice of the parties. For the first time Social Democrats and members of the Democratic and Centre Parties entered the Government. A few days later Ludendorff telegraphed to him requesting him to ask for nn armistice. The front, he declared, could no longer be maintained. Later telegrams—for the Chancellor had delayed action on the first one—suggested that the situation was less desperate, but in the end the Government telegraphed to President Wilson requesting nn armistice. On November 6 —revolution had already broken out in Kiel —the Social Democrats demanded the abdication of the Kaiser, and threatened to leave the Government. They demanded the appointment of a Regent until the eldest son of the Crown Prince came of age. Prince Max agreed with this advice, and telephoned accordingly to the Kaiser, but the latter refused. Meanwhile the revolution was spreading over Germany like wildfire. On November 8 Bavaria was declared n Republic, and the King abdicated. The Kaiser still held his ground. In the night of the 9th Max made a last effort to save the Monarchy. Without seeking the Kaiser’s consent he informed the telegraph agencies that William II had voluntarily abdicated in favour of his grandson. At the same time he telephoned his resignation to the Kaiser. He recommended Fritz Ebert as his successor. The Kaiser agreed, but it was too laic. On the afternoon of the 9th Sohcidcmann had declared the formation of the German Republic. Twenty-four

hours later William II was in Holland. Neither the Kaiser nor the German Monarchists ever forgave the Prince; they regarded him as the betrayer of the Monarchy. The Prince returned to his estate of Salem on Lake Constance. Doubt was thrown on the sincerity of the Prince’s Liberalism when a private letter he had written during the war to his cousin was published in the Swiss press. This epistle was full of anti-democratic sentiments. He wrote articles, occasionally after the revolution dealing with the situation just before it, and especially censuring General Ludendorff for prematurely urging the Government to ask for an immediate armistice. Prince Max, who with the Grand Duke Friedrich 11, of Baden, on November 22, 1918, expressly renounced on behalf of himself and his family any claim to the throne of Baden, married in 1900 a daughter of Duke Ernst August of Cumberland, the Princess Marie Louisa