The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-10
VON HOLLEBEN
 WAS A FAILURE His Absence from Washington Means Permanent Retirement SEVERAL STORIES AFLOAT
While He Was Not Officially Recalled, Reports From Berlin Say He Showed an Unsklled Hand
 In Diplomatic Work.

Rerlin. January 9.-Ambassador von HolIeben was not recalled from Washing ton. but learning that his government was not wholly satisfied with his work ana feeling i'll and depressed he cabled for a long leave of absence, which was imme- diately granted.
 He will not return to Washington Baron Speck won Sternbergs temporary assignment as charge d'affaires or Ger many at Washington will be followed at- ter an interval by his appointment as ann bassador The baron in the meantime VIII retain his position as consul general or Germany at Calcutta. Oddly enough the exact whereabouts of Baron von stern berg is not known at the foreign office. It is thought, however, that he is visiting lxinspeople in Saxony.
 All the foreign office officials will say about Dr. von Honeben is:
 '.He has not been recalled and his leave is granted upon his own initiative. The government would never recall an ambas- sador in the midst of important negotia- tions without grave reasons, and they certainly do not exist in this case. The supposition that the government Is an- noyed because the ambassador failed to obtain President Roosevelt's acceptance of the arbitratorship of the Venezuelan dispute Is wholly incorrect.
 "Germany reckoned in advance that the President might have weighty reasons for declining. hence her note of Decem- Der 23 contained the alternative proposi- ton to refer the matter to The Hague al the international political factors in the case dictated the appropriateness of first offering the President the arbitrator ship"
 Other Stories Afloat.
 Ambassador von Hollebens leave of ab- sence from Washington is pretty general ly received here as being his virtual re- cali, due it is saidJ to the dissatisfac- tion of the government with his man agement of the Venezuelan affair. This is asserted without reserve in important newspapers and no official denials nave yet been forthcoming. It seems that the government was misled, or at least not fully informed by the Washington em- bassy respecting President Roosevelts s attitude when he was requested to arbi- trate the Venezuelan dispute. The opln- ion is also that von Hollenben's dispatch regarding the policy of the United States in the Venezuelan business and It's gen eral foreign policy have neither been ade- quate nor precise.
 A variety of other reasons may nave contributed to the lack of confidence in the ambassador The Vossiche Zeitung, for instance, attributes importance to the telegram sent by Emperor William to MT. Kipling March D. 1899, when kipiing was i'll in New York. The newspaper assumes that Dr. von Holenben counsell- of hn the Emperor, especially since the publica- ton of I<ipling's recent poem Ihe Rowers," feels he was ill-advised.
 The kipling Telegram.
 Emperior William, when Kipling was Ill wired as follows
 ITO Mrs. Rudyard Kipling:
 "As an admirer of the comparative work of your husband, I await with anx- iety the news of his condition. God grant that he may be spared to you and to all who are thankful to him for the heart moving manner in which he has sung the deeds of our great common race.
 CIVILIAN I. R."
 pr. von HoIlebens critics also aver that he showed an unskilled hand in the great Champagne war and in the Witt incl dent and also in permitting himself to become the object of press attacks even though uniustly The matter of the statue of Frederick the Great is also re- membered with it's indifferent reception by part of the American people ihis' it Is alleged, Won Holleben ought to have foreseen, and he should have dissuaded the emperor from offering the statue to the United States.
 Another German Minister Gone.
 Berlin, January 9-Baron von Kicking the German minister to Mexico, has been granted an extended leave or absence. It is nossible that he will not return to his post