NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13195, 5 June 1906, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A REMARKABLE GERMAN. Tin: Loudon Times, in an interesting lending article on Die retirement of Baron von rTolslein, of the German Foreign Office, says his strong- will, his great/abilities, and his unequalled knowledge and experience of the whole field of European politics enabled him during his long tenure of office to he much more than the mere counsellor of his hierarchical chiefs. He not merely suggested their policy: he often inspired it, and sometimes imposed, it upon them. »'He exercised an influence, and even an authority, in the conduct of German foreign affairs for nearly a generation which were unique. No permanent■■official and no statesman in any other country has been so constant a force in European itics, x and, because that force was constant, no Minister, perhaps, or diplomatist, however conspicuous the part lie may have played in the public eye, lias exerted ai more effective pressure in moulding them. Heir von Holstein's power was the more remarkable because it was wielded in absolute retirement. He scarcely ever saw an' ambassador, though diplomatists, it need scarcely hp said, were eager enough to ohUiii access to a man whose influence, on German policy was felt and recognised, whoever might be at the time its official director. He never went to Court, in a land where all classes who are Hof-i'ahig, and particularly where all official classes, are constant, and punctilious in their appearance at Court functions. He even shunned the honours and the dignities which are so greedily sought and so inordinately prized by the ordinary run of his countrymen, and which are generally regarded as amongst the chief rewards of the bureii.ueraey. A man of refined and cultivated tastes, he refrained altogether from mixing in general society, and confined himself (<, visiting the house* of a verv small number of close personal friends. He had not even the distractions of a wife and family to ' divert him from the work for which he lived, and in which he was completely absorbed. It. is loudly asserted in Berlin that his withdrawal from the work to which he has bent all his powers for so many years is wholly unconnected with the Morocco ((nestion. That, we imagine, is one of those inspired dementis which a cynical world persists in regarding as the strongest confirmation of the propositions they contradict. Indeed, it is openly affirmed that since the end of last summer or the beginning of the wintersince the lime, intact, when the necessity tor German} of abandoning her efforts to bully France into subjection became palpable to the world—his influence had practically ceased to exist. To a man of his character and antecedents such a change must have been as intolerable as it was to Bismarck himself. He lost the Imperial favour and support as suddenly a.s Count Cupi'ivi, as Baron Mnrschall von I'ieherstein, or as Count Ruleuburg, and the reptile press which he had himself long fed and managed as unscrupulously as Ids old chief herai'deo his coming downfall by a. scries of savage attacks, the significance of which lie.must easily have recognised. THE AMERICAN PRESS AND ZION CITY. In the midst of the roubles precipitated by John Alexander Dowie. self-styled Elijah the Restorer, the American public is won*-de-ring what will become of '/Ami City, the little theocracy founded by the outcast prophet. To begin with, will the citizens of /ion remain Dowieites? Dowieism is the lock upon which they stand, a.nd yet- the rock upon which they split is Dowie. Already the whole community ii. heterodox, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

points out. Dovvie alone remains orthodox. Besides, legally, much of the property stands in Dowie's iiame,.fend the community cannot tamper with the State law. In the opinion of many newspapers. '/Ann City, with its population of nearly 10.000. will continue. to flourish, Elijah or no Elijah. After all, Mr. Voliva, the new leader, is a young man of meat commercial and executive ability, and his regime, thinks the Atlanta Constitution, "starts as suspiciously" as that of the deposed prophet. Monument though it is to Dowie's "bizarre methods." Zion City, in the opinion of the New York World, is a "substantial" monument, It is a peaceful, orderly community. a.nd, granted "an energetic leader of good principles,-' The World cannot see why the prophet's dreams should not "materialise in a useful permanent settlement." The Chicago Tribune and many other papers are of precisely the same way of thinking, and the Toledo Blade adds 'as a rider that Mr. ; \ olive may succeed in turning its people "away from Dowie's heresies.'" For. of course, in clinging to Dowieism, he would encounter difficulty. As the New York Tribune puts it, " Can the disciple of a false prophet say, 'My master was a fakir, but I am the real thing':' Or if he does. can he expect sane people to look at him without grinning?" Indeed, the Chicago Chronicle (eels that "death and dissolution are "—certainly so fair as concerns the religious side. And just as. in the words of the old song. " the light of a

whole life dies when love is gone," so, thinks the New York Times, Dowieism must fail with no Dowie behind it. And when it comes to uninspired communism, well, the advice of The Times is that Mr. Voliva had better "not read history if he would sleep o' nights.'' Judging from l appearances, adds the Times, " the experiment at Zion City has now degenerated into a. light for the assets." Dowie is ill and stricken, but the Chicago Chronicle, quoted, above, predicts that " Zion City will never be quiet even after his death."