BISMARCK'S SUCCESSOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 15 May 1890, Page 24

BISMARCK'S SUCCESSOR.

In a telegram dated March 19 the Berlin correspondent of The Times sends the following interesting account of Prince Bismarck's successor :—: —

Both yesterday and to-day General yon Caprivi had special interviews with the Emperor, and his appointment as partial successor to the offices now held by Prince Bismarck will probably be published tomorrow simultaneously with the announcement of the present Chancellor's complete retirement from affairs. I say " partial successor" because General yon Caprivi will only succeed to the twofold function of Minister-president of the Prussian Cabinet and Chancellor of the German Empire, leaving the post of Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs to some one else. But his non-acceptance of the latter office has little intrinsic importance, seeing that the Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs proper has only to deal with the relations of the Monarchy to the other Federal States of the Empire, while the relations of the Empire to all non-German countries will remain in the hands of the new Chancellor.

General George yon Caprivi de Caprera de Montecucculi, to give him his full title, is now in his 59th year, having been born at Berlin on February 24, 1831. His father, descended from an illustrious Italian stock, was a high legal functionary in the service of the Prussian State. Entering a general regiment in his 18th year, he won rapid promotion and. served, with, distinction in the

campaigns of 1864 and 1866. In 1870 he acted as Chief of the Staff to the 10th Corps, of which he is now the commander, and reaped fresh laurels in all the battles on the Loire. Swiftly ascending the other steps of the military ladder, he was appointed in 1883 to the command of the 30th Division at Metz ; and next year, passing at a single bound from the army to the navy, he succeeded to Herr yon Stosch, on the latter's retirement from the head of the Admiralty. In a short time naval men by profession were amazed at the mastery of their arc and the perception of their interests which were displayed by a mere landsman and soldier like Yon Caprivi, and his administration conclusively proved at least that here was a man with a rare power of adapting himself to the new modes and lines of activity, a faculty which will render less strange and less dangerous his impending transition from soldiering to diplomacy and statesmanship. Soon after the present Emperor's accession, on the death of Count Monts, he reorganised the navy ; the command of the Imperial fleet being vested in Admiral yon der Goltz, while something like a Ministry ot Marine was created under Eear-admiral yon Heusner; and ifc was on this occasion that General Yon Caprivi, sharing in the redistribution of military commands, returned to his first love, and was rewarded for his loyalty thereto, no less than for his naval services, with the 10th or Hanoverian Army Corps, which is one of the finest in the whole army.

During the manoeuvres of last autumn, when the Hanoverians and Westphalians met in mimic warfare, with smokeless powder and other innovations on their trial, the Emperor had opportunity enough anew to study the character of General yon Caprivi, and this general's character and ability to serve him in a political capacity must have fairly convinced his Majesty, otherwise he would never have asked him to assume the enormous burden of responsibility which Prince Bismarck has now laid down. It was not without grave scruples and self-distrust that General yon Caprivi listened to the flattering proposals of the Emperor ; but his Majesty, as it is said, finally decided to have a soldier for his new Chancellor, thinking, as he does, with Frederick the Great, that a general must be the surest conductor of a foreign policy, as knowing best how far he can go with the army behind him.