The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-08-27
.UNEXAMPLED
DEFEAT Of
THE KAISER
Action of the Diet on the
Canal Bill a Personal
Blow.
WILLIAM IS ANGRY
Dares Not Punish Offending Leaders
Until BE Receivers Lost
Strength.
WILLIAM IS ANGRY
Copyrighted. 1899, by the Associated Press.


BERLIN, Aug. 26.-The political sit
uation this week has been highly In
teresting. The unexampled defeat Of
the Government in the Diet, which,
after his emphatic utterance at bort
mund, was a personal defeat of En-
peror William, has engrossed attention,
to the exclusion of almost everything
else. The fact that the blow was
dealt by the conservatives. party
which has been favored and nursed for
generations at the expense of every
other party, made the event all the
more sensational. The absence Of his
Majesty complicated the situation for
the Cabinet, and the Emperor, not hav-
ing expected the rejection of the canal
bill, no provision was made as to what
steps the Government would take in
such an event. After the final vote
both Prince Hohenlohe. the Imperial
Chancellor, and DR.. Won Miguel. Vice
President of the Council of Ministers
and Prussian Minister Of Finance, not
having any instructions, neither the
Cabinet nor the Government press
knew what to say or do. For several
days political chaos reigned, even the
opposition press being at loss.
Detailed reports had been wired the
Emperor, and every member of the
Cabinet participated in the debates, and
his Majesty wrote and wired brief re-
plies in which it was apparent he felt
a keen sense of personal outrage and
meant to deal punishment to the worst
blunderers and offenders. That, how
ever, was insufficient to let the Cabinet
see their way clear how to shade their
actions 1t was only on Wednesday
that the nation and the Cabinet began
to know precisely how the Emperor
stood and what were his intentions re-
garding the unprecedented situation,
nothing like this defeat having been
met with since the establishment Of the
Diet fifty years ago.
Wednesdays and Thursdays crown
councils, however, furnished light. 1t
appeared that Emperor William, after
mature reflection. had concluded not to
dissolve the Diet and not to accept the
resignation of the Cabinet. 1t was rep
resented to his Majesty that the cleo
lions might not result in a majority for
the canal project, while the dismissal of
the Cabinet and the formation of new
one would present at this juncture new
and almost insurmountable difficult
formed almost half the membership or
the Diet and the party strong enough
to govern must be on hand, which was
not the case.
Another weighty reason with his
Majesty is the consideration, skilfully
dwelt on by the conservative press, that
the Emperor absolutely needs a party
to restrain and fight the revolutionary
elements, notably the socialists.
The proposed partial reorganization
of the Cabinet, relieving it of some of
its inefficient members, like Baron Won
der Ecke and Baron Won der Horst,
the Minister of the Interior, has been
postponed to quieter times, his Majesty
meanwhile disciplining some of the
most refractory officials, who, as dele
gates, voted and agitated against the
canal bill. Having resolved on this, the
present outcome of the crisis amounts
to next to nothing. The Emperor and
the Cabinet will continue to govern
with the same party which brought on
the crisis.
Mild threats have been launched in
the entire press by the members of the
against the Conservatives
and their leaders. These threats ap
peared for several days in such Govern
ment organs as the Allegemeine lei
tung. Politische Correspondent, Neu-
stan Wachrichten, Hamburger Core
Spondent and others. The crisis is so
serious. however, that every member
Of the Cabinet has been recalled to Ber-
lin. Prince Hohenlohe even abandoned
his usual summer trip to AusZe, Aus
tria, and will remain in this city for
some time. The widest rumors and
statements pervaded the papers during
the first half of the week. The entire
Liberal press INDUCED in the hope of a
radical change in the political system
Of Prussia, the submerging of the Con-
sentative and Agrarian elements and
the coming to the front of the Liberals
and the industrial interests of the
1t was the premature and in
judicious publication of their hopes
which startled the Emperor and made
him retrace his steps to the Conserva-
tive camp. The correspondent here Of
the Associated Press hears from a reli-
a BILE source that Prince Hohenlohe in
sisted on a dissolution of the Diet and
the resigning of the Cabinet While DR.. |
yon MIGUEL viewed the situation in the |
light finally adopted by the Emperor.
Prince Hohenlohe, although he yield |
ID. is heartily tired of office and cannot |
we'll bear the burdens much longer. A
most interesting feature of the situa-
ion was the attitude of the Conserva-