The herald., 1896-01-26

the emergency is question. Many
regard him as weak and undecided
and without the stability to curb the
eccentricities of the clustering Empe-
ror William. When compared with
his immediate predecessors, Bismarck
and Csprivi, the result has never been
favorable to the present chancellor.
But nine hundred and ninety-nine out
of every thousand d would suffer by
such comparison.
There is no doubt that Hohenlohe
has been cast into the shade by the
greatness of Bismarck and the senti-
mental fondness of the Germans for
the Man of Blood and Iron has worked
to the detriment of the man chosen by
the emperor to aid him in guiding the
affairs of the empire. But Bismarck
and Caprivi made their great reputa-
tions when less eccentric emperors
were on the throne. They both gave
up the position in disgust when forced
to combat the will-o'-the-wisp desires
of Emperor William. Hohenlohe has
hung on, doing the best he could un-
der adverse circumstances, and with
little or no love of the job. It will oc-
cRsion no surprise when he resigns.
AS it is, there is no chance of Hohen-
lohe stay ing long in the chancellor's
seat, as the emperor will dispose of
him as soon as he has gained from the
Catholics what he hoped to when he
propitiated them by making Hohen-
lohe chancellor just at the time when
the support of the Catholics was 30
much desired by the Conservatives to
pass the Umsturzgesetz.
1t was thought that Caprivi was sent
away because he was hostile to the Um-
sturZgesetZ and to Count Kanitz's
grain monopoly plan. However, the
emperor, who at first talked great
deal about helping the poor, impover-
ished landed proprietors of Count Ka-
nitzs stamp by supporting the scheme
for putting all the grain in Germany
into the hands of the government and
fixing a normal price, has suddenly
veered around and declared himself
against the Agrarians, quite in accord
ance with the sentiments of the ban
ished Caprivi. What, in the light of
this, could have been the reason for
Csprivi's departure and Hohenlohe's
arrival, If not the furtberance of the
UmsturzgesetZ, which Caprivi opposed,
and Hohenlohe's adherents, the Catho-
lies were willing to support if it could
be made worth their while?
A popular pen picture was made of
Hohenlohe when he first took his seat
as chancellor in the reichstag, and it
tan in this way:
"In his seat to the right of the presi-
dent sits the new chancellor of the
empire, Fuerst Hohenlohe, the sue
cessor of Bismarck and Caprivi. Like
Hamlet's mother, one might find it in
structive to look here, upon this pic
ture and then on this. There is moth
ing in the appearance of this little, in
significant man to mark him as the
follower of such giants as we're his pre-
decessors. He is very little old man,
whose bent, gray head reaches scarcely
to the shoulder of medium-sizad men.
That alone would not be enough to
condemn him, of course, ut his face
bears out Jne impression of exhausted
vitality which his figure suggests.
There is in it no life, no fire, not a
spark of animation, only inexpressible
weakness and wearines ,-such a look
as one sees III Jne faces of men who
have had their day and are waiting
only for thu evening. A man with a
face like that can be no formidable
check to young sovereign very much
Au'o, do 10 tHe emperOr VI IHe Oer-
mans"
But while Hob snlohe has not en-
deared himself to the masses, he is
thought very highly of by the conser-
vative, intelligent people. He is re-
garded as safe man, whose passive
ness is largely prompted by shrewd-
ness. To guide the emperor is more
difficult task than guiding the nation,
and Hohenlohe has devoted himself to
the former. It is thankless work, the
handling of man who unreservedly
believes that "the king can do no
wrong" Violent opposition to his
wishes might drive the emperor to
trsgical absurdities, and it is the
sneered at meekness of the chancellor
which has probably saved the empire
from many entanglements. We're Bis.
marck or Oaprivi still chancellor NO one
0n say - what extreme fslly theiz