New-York tribune., 1918-11-10

about the matter Bismarck lost his
temper, and, as he had frequently done
on previous occasions, rendered his res
ignation. This time, to his amaze
ment, the Emperor accepted it, and
when he delayed sending the letter
containing the surrender of his Office
as Chancellor of the Empire aud as
Prime Minister of Prussia William dis
patched one of the members Of his
household to get it. AS soon as he had
received it he issued an imperial re-
script, published in "The Official Ga
zette," expressing his profound graft
tude to the prince for his services.
overwhelming him with eulogy and
comforting upon him the title Of Duke
Of Lauenburg.
ping of the old pilot who had so long
occupied the helm of the German ship
of state was reconciliation of the
Kaiser with his mother and q marked
/ improvement in the relations of Ger
many with the Papacy, with Denmark,
with France, and especially with Great
/ Britain.
Acquisition of Heligoland.
The Prince of Wales paid state
visit to Berlin, and this was followed
by return visit of the Emperor to
! Cowes, where he was received with so
much good will and enthusiasm that
! 1T virtually put an end to the i'll will
! that had subsisted between Germany
! and England throughout all the clos
ing years of Prince Bismarck's Chan
| cellorship, and thus rendered possible
! the conclusion Of the treaty by the
terms of which the Kaiser secured, in
return for his indefinite claims to q
Joint protectorate over Zanzibar, the
abandonment to Germany of the island
of Heligoland.
The latter, situated in the North Sea,
off the German coast in such man.
ner as virtually to command the
mouths of the River Elbe, had been in
the possession Of England for more than
q hundred years, and was a constant
source of menace to German maritime
trade, in view of the possibilities of
war with England. There was also the
danger that in the event Of Germany
being at war with some other power
such as France or Russia, the one or
the other might, even at the risk of
war with England, capture it and use
/ it for the purpose of blockading the
! entrance to the Elbe
That William should have succeeded
in obtaining its surrender by England
to Germany, and that he should,
within six months after his separation
from Bismarck, have accomplished a
/ feat of diplomacy which the old Chan
cellor and so many other German
statesmen had endeavored in vain to
achieve, served to reassure, not mere
ly his Prussian subjects, but the peo-
pie throughout the empire, that their
interests were in clever hands, and that
they need no longer entertain any
/ fears as to the consequences of "the
dropping of the old pilot"
His Foreign Policies.
/ Emperor Williams foreign policy,
from the time of his appointment of
General Won Caprivi, was for many
years one of conciliation, with an oc-
casional display of the mailed fist. He
courted the good will of France assidu-
ously by all sorts of generous compli-
ments and courteous attentions calcu-
lated to fiatter Gallo pride and to
ed Frenchmen visiting Berlin with
marked distinction, sent four officers
Of the gigantic Imperial Guards to the
funeral of MacMahon to place in his
name wreath on the coffin of the
dead soldier and ex-President of the
republic, and gained the heartiest ap-
proval of the French nation when, ON
the occasion of his birthday, he set
free number of French officers ar
rested on German territory as spies.
During the Russo-Japanese War the
German government was far more
ready than even that of France to show
practical sympathy with Russia by
stretching the rules of neutrality to
their utmost. Williams friendly atti-
tude during this war, his assurance
that he would not take advantage of
his Eastern neighbor's difficulties, was
also the soundest diplomacy, for it
none the less allowed Japan, England's
ally, to upset the balance of power in
Europe for years to come by crippling
Russia. How seriously that balance
was disturbed was shown by the unop-
posed success of Austria's bold coup in
the Balkans, the annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina. 1t proved that for
time, at least. the combination be-
tween England, Russia and France, en-
gineered by King Edward VII, was
powerless in the face of Germany's
declaration that she would support
Austria in her policy.
Abused Military Power
In the disputes with France over Mo-
rocco William demonstrated, as he did
also in the affair of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, how adroit and compell-
ing use he could make Of his mill
tary power. Throughout his reign he
must be said to have been more sue
cessful in international than in home
politics. Notwithstanding his early
diplomatic mistakes, due to an unques-
tionable youthful idealsm, there is
discernible in his career as a states
man one guiding idea, the establish
ment of Germany as the mistress of
Europe.
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