The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-04-12
German Foreign Office Adds to
It's Reputation for
Stupidity.
nY ia MAnauIsE pE FoNrENoY.

ny IA MARaUrsE DE FoNTENoY.
~ uuired, since the departure III .r.-
ID from of the great Prince Bis
rnarck. an altogether internati onni
reputation for stupidity and tactIcss-
ness. which only those who are ac.
Quainted with the Prussian bureau
cerat In ali his glory can appreciate in
It's true light. Bismarck himself had
no words suffic!cntly strong 10 de-
noupce German bureaucracS as the
bane of tao empire. As revealed TO US
by his Roswell, Busch, AMI by othcr
remarks, the prince had an extremely
nncompllrncntary opinion OF German
diplomats. as lacking all sense OF pro
portion anu humor. In the pages Of
Busch, he cnumcrates one alnbagsad o,
| after the other. together with his
failings.
But even the most Inefficient dip!2-
mat. overwhelmed with a sense Of hts
oifictal Importance, is. thanks to for
ciEn travel superior TO those stay-at-
home Tcuton oureaucrais who. lar
more tial. the actual Minister of
| Eora!Sn Affairs. are the real rulers OF
| the Department.
! 1t may we'll he asked. In what
! Department would have placed tho
executive In such an awkward POSITION
as the one in which tia German TOR
| ciSn OHtcc landed the Kaiser last week.
-
the creator oil thc Panama Canal. Lot
/ Cocktails, who. during his briei stay
| In Germany, for the purpose ri visit ne
! ths it!el Canal, in order to see II tnegv
! were any cpntrivanc"s that could lie
adopted with advantage on the lsthuus
! was entertained by the Kaiser al
beriin At, a. luncheon, and the Two spent
/ affairs The Emperor is. .speciaiiy
/ when talking tete-a-tctc TO a plain.
! spidlerly man, such Is Col. Gocthals.
perfectly natural, and intensely inter
F, ested. and interesting. The two would.
I naturally, discuss the question OF fort-
| flying the canal the necessity OF which
! Is so apparent - every foreign nation
! that the United states wouln 10 uni-
I Ncrsally regarded as tempting Provi-
dcnce were they to omit TO do so. in
I deed. this being so. 1t L. incredible that
| the Emperor should have failed to touch
upon the matter OF the defcnses in
| conversation with Col Cocktails.
Col. Goethals. who is straightfor-
ward soldier, when interviewed, on his
| return to America. about hls converse
ton with the Emperor. briefly replied
| that the Kaiser had been much Inter-
ested in the question of fortitication.
and had expressed his personal views
were necessary. his idea being that
| plenty OF care should be taken to avoid
| THAR being attacked in the rear and
from the land side. The Emperor, at
4
without waiting to communicate with
! him, the Berlin Foreign Office prompt
! iy issued, in response TO the alleged
utterancs BY Col. Geethals, an abso-
! lutte denial that the Kaiser had said
| anything whatsoever TO Col Cocktails
about the fertilization of the canal.
| Col. Goethals, on being confronted with
! this denial, merely reiterated that no
| was not in ths habit of lying. that he
| had nothing to retract, and that what
| ne had said was perfectly true.
Any ono who knows the Emperor
| personally. as man. 70 man, and not
! as a PruSSian bureaucrat 10 his SOW
| ereign, and who knows Col. Cocktails,
will have at once believed Col. Coo
| thals, and will have merely set down
The denial of the German Foreign
! or consent OF the Kaiser. as one OF
! those numerous and tactlcss blunders
for which it has become so famous.
! subsequently,, when the Emperor. at
! Corfu, had received "A German Foreign
| Office version of what had taken place.
he caused the Foreign Office 20 issue
! something very much al kin to Il climb
| down. which cannot but have Lcen
! humiliatlng to its officials. and there
| is no doubt that when he learns wha t
| has actually taken place, from I'M
| partial sources. his anger against the
Foreign Office Will be unrestrained.
II must be recoliected that It was
simply the Berlin Foreign Omice which
| landed William, while he was away
his yearly yachting trip. in that Panth-
! crAgadir imbroglio. which brought
! Germany 20 the very brink of war with
( France and England: a tangle from
/ which he alone managed to cNtrtcate
, his country with honor. 1t WAS the
: German Foreign Office. TOO, witch, IN
| It's negotiations with France about
| Morocco later on, sustained so signal
| diplomatic defeat at the hands of
! the French Government. 1t was the
| German Foreign Office which was
| responsible for Williams mcmorabl )
visit to raneier, which did so much
{ 10 undertake. 1t was the German For
cign Office, again, which was wholly
responsible for his unfortunate dis
patch to Paul Kruger on the morrow
German Foreign Office that has SUE
ceeded in undoing all the work that
he had accomplished In connection with
Teuton interest in Turkey during the
reign of Abdul Hamid. rend .rinS Ger
many the prepondernnt foreign power
on the Bosphorus, and acquiring what
was something akin to monopoly for
German trade, finance and Industry.
in the Ottoman Empire.
/ Then there was the memorable in
:, terview by the Kaiser in the London
! Daily Telegraph. which WAS per-
! fectly natural expression OF the Views,
| friendly to England, TO which the
Kaiser had often given voice, but which
! was seized upon, at the time. by the
| anti English press IN Germany, ami
made much of. Then. although tnc in
! ,ervicw had been passed upon by
Prince Buelow and by the Foreign
Office at Berlin. the latter profess "a
/ 10 know nothing about 1t. and Prince
Buclow. bctraylnc his master. went
before the Rcichstas and practically
, told the people that ne could not he
! responsible for the Naisers lrrespon-
Siblr utteranccs on foreign affairs.
! although the control Of foreign rela-
/ tons Is, by the terms of the Constitu-
/ ton iii tn" Emperor.
/ Unfortunately, the Emperor, instead
OF sticking 10 his guns, Diminishing
| Buelow, and cmbarlSing upon IA much
, needed and thorough house cleaning of
the FOREIGN Office at Berlin, gave way
10 one OF mis- periodical hts of deprcs-
! sion. He was not very we'll at the time,