The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-10-13
New German Chan
celIor Does Not
Represent Teuton
Peoples at All
BY F. CUNLIFFE-OWEN.


Lansing, hit the nail on the head when in
acknowledging to the Swiss Government
the receipt of the communication of the
Kaiser's new Chancellor. Prince Maxi
milan of Baden, he pointedly inquired
whether the latter is speaking merely for
pire," leaving it to be inferred that he at
taches no weight or importance TO any
message that does not speak for the Ger
man people, and thus bringing home to
the Central Rowers the fact that the En-
tente will hold no dealings of any kind
with William Of Hohenzollern, regarding
him as beyond the pale of international
law and rs the enemy of mankind.
Pre- 'ident Wilson does well to make this
inquiry. For every Chancellor since the
constitution of the empire nearly half
century ago has Endorsed and repro
claimed in one form or another old Prince
Bismarck's memorable declaration in the
Imperial Parliament at Berlin to the eli
feet that as Chancellor he was "the kai-
ser's man. responsible only to the En-.
peror and not accountable in any respect
to the Federal Council (Bundesrath) or
to the Reichstag, except in so far as il
concerned measures for which under the
terms of the Constitution their sanction
was necessary.
Appointment the Kaiser's Own.
Neither the Federal Council nor the
Imperial Parliament has any voice what
soever in the selection of the Chancellor,
nor is the Kaiser required by the terms
of the Constitution to consult in the mat
ter any of the rulers of the twenty other
sovereign States embraced in the confed-
Grafton known as the German Empire.
The Chancellor owes his appointment en-
tirely and exclusively to the Kaiser, and
holds it subject to the favor and the
caprice of that monarch.
Old Prince Bismarck was dropped as
pilot because he declined TO shape the
course of the German ship of state in ac-
eordance with the whims of the then
youthful monarch whom in an evil mo-
ment he had taught to wage war upon his
parents. Gen. Count Caprivi had to 90
because he found himself unable to spon-
SCR measures insisted upon by his sover-
eigh and which he regarded as inconsistent
with his principles of military, political
and personal honor.
And then there was Prince Buelow, a
Teuton Macmaveli, not overburdened
with scruples, but who, being very rich
and possessed Of great name and of all
the honors that could possibly come his
way, declined to accept the responsibility
for the extraordinary indiscretion perpe-
trated by the Kaiser when he permitted
the publication of his sensational inter
view in the London Daily Telegraph ten
years ago. The interview aroused amaze
ment and Indignation throughout the
length and breadth of Germany.
Buelow Placed Blame Rightly.
Buelow did not propose to sacrifice
either his popularity or his reputation for
cleverness by assuming the blame. He
placed the responsibility squarely upon
the shoulders Of the Emperor. where it
belonged, and naturally was thence
forth regarded by the entire tribe of
Hohenzollerns as a traitor to their house
and had TO make way for Bethmann- Holl-
veg, who, though born of commercial
Family in which integrity was valued as
traditional asset, became so contaminated
by his Office and by his association with
the Kaiser that in August, 1914, he
actually declared that international trca-
iies, the most solemn and ironclad agree
ments between Governments and rulers,
we're rs worthless and as little binding as
mere scraps of paper.
From the above it will be seen that the
new Chancellor of the German Empire
IN the message which he addressed to
President Wilson during the last week
-