New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-08-21
ONCE MORE IN THE SADDLE

ONCE MORE IN THE SADDLE.
No little sensation has been creatad MT ONLY,
throughout Germany, but also in diplomatic off,
ciai and court circles in all parts of the world by
D1e news from Berlin that Privy Councillor Baron
Won Hosten. the ''Eminence Grise" of several sue
eessive chancenors and until his retirement eigh-
teen months ago, the most powerful member of the
German Foreign Office. is back more IN the
saddle He had insisted upon retiring on a pension
When Baron Tschirschky. intimate friend Of
frlnce Gutenberg and a member Of the latter's
co'erie. was appointed Secretary State for For
eish Affairs over his head. Now Prince Gutenberg
= IN complete disgrace, deprived of his rank of
ambassador. and virtually banished from court
- baron Hostein is once again playing an
'H'e role In the affairs of state and has emerged
from his retirement Not urnaturaIy neorla a.
germany and elsewhere are now looking for m.
"iii"ii OF Baron Tschirschky at any rate for
ms transfer to some other post, though it cannot
DE uenied that he has done well in his present
oNlce' and IL seems hard that he should suffer on
account of the disgrace of his friends
Baron Holstein has not. however returned To his
Oiu "eT'h In the Foreign Office No. rs Wilhelm
ouaSSe- he is established. instead next door, at
NO. "-that is to say in the Chancellor's palace
where he is working a member of the immedj-
ate staff of Prince Riow And while t,a rr;noa
mas thus resained the most able, experienced and
nara working assistant and adviser in Baron HoI-
STEM the latters presence in the immediate en-
tourage of the Chancellor is not precisely calculated
door. very comfortable or secure.
Baron Holstein for years one of the members
OF the personal staff of Prince Bismarck accom-
panyfng him throughout the OF 1870 being
present with him at the capitulation of Napoleon
III at Sedan and at the surrender of Paris When
Count Arnim began, Ambassador in Paris TO
show signs of characterization TO Bismarck the lat
ter appointed Holstein to a secretaryshp of the
German Embassy. in the Rue de Lise. and it
was on the strength Of Holsein's reports and sub
sequently OF Holsten's testimony that Count Ar
MIN was deprived Of the Enthusiastically. indicted
disgraced and outlawed- This contributed to rem
der Holsteins position impossible at Paris where
he was accused by the Royalist society which Ar
MIN almost exclusively frequented with having be
trayed his chief and Of ingratitude on the fall of
Bismarck the charge OF ingratitude was again
brought against Hostein. this time by the
Chancellor his family and his friends
But It has always seemed TO me that in these
two instances Holsten untustly- accused He
and Is before everything else government
official inbued with sense OF duty TO his SOW
eregn. everything else being subordinated thereto
When he saw his chief Paris rendering himself
guilty OF conduct which he knew TO be wrong he
did not shrink from making reports against him.
and in the same way, on the retirement OF Bis
rnarck. he preferred 10 remain true to the Kaiser
and TO refrain from joining in the policy of open
hostility toward the latter instituted by the
prince rather than make common cause with him
against his monarch. He then became object
press, which, among other things, charged him
with being the moving spirit Of conspiracy to
prevent any reconciliation between the Emperor
and his former Chancellor. and matters at length
reached such a pass that Holstein challenged the
late Prince Herbert Bismarck 10 a duel. Herbert
refusing the cartel the ground that he was in
no way responsible for the attacks upon the baron
In the press.
In those days Holstein was thrown much
with Prince Gutenberg. but they ere long drifted
apart the baron disappearing Of much of Eulen-
berg's course in official well as in private life
and for several years past they have been bitterly
opposed 10 each other. Holstein. who is admit
rable English scholar. and who has always taken
a warm in the United States, has for the
last ten or fifteen years been complete recluse
+ is known more by reputation than by appearance
in Berlin society and is never seen at court But
there is no who possesses so extensive a
knowledge and complete a mastery of all the
manifold threads OF diplomacy of Germany during
The last five and thirty years. this Eminence
! C5rise'' OF Prince BIlow.
MAROTTISF, DE FONTFNOY.