COUNT VON BeLOW. T HE German Emperor's choice of Count von
Billow as his Chancellor, or rather adlatus, has not proved quite the success it was expected to be. It was supposed that while, with his large experience, he was sure to turn out a, wise controller of the difficult and complex diplomacy of Germany, he would also, with his fine adroitness, be able to manage a Parliament which, for all the limitations on its powers, is apt on financial questions and questions involving class interests to be as restive as any Vestry. As a diplomatist, however, he has been but moderately successful. He has certainly renewed the Triple Alliance, but he has suffered serious doubts to grow up as to the working force of that great agreement. He has irritated Slav pride, which is an important factor both in Austria and Russia, almost beyond endurance; no race in the world liking to be told, as it were from a throne, that its importance in the political • scheme arises only from its rapid breeding. He has allowed the sentiment of Particularism within Germany itself to be revived by his master's impulsive imprudences ; and though Sarah Bernhardt has performed in Berlin, he has not really conciliated France, which with much wisdom has swung decidedly towards Great Britain. He has won in this country, it is said, some favour among great personages, so that his Emperor will receive a kinsman's welcome at Sandringham ; but his treatment of the Boer question has in no degree removed the deep distrust of our people as to German designs ; while in the Americas there are things even now happening which Washington, always thoroughly informed, watches with silent suspicion. He has apparently conciliated Denmark, which is a triumph of a kind, for the roots of that quarrel lie deep • but he has irritated the Magyars, or suffered them to be irritated, into a temper which has not been displayed for nearly a hundred years. The total of his diplomatic action, in fact, cannot be described as a success ; and now he is denounced as a failure as a Parliamentarian.
His position in Parliament is, in truth, most difficult. The "Agrarians "—which word means in Germany the whole agricultural interest—are masters there, and they believe that they must be ruined unless they are so far protected as to give them a monopoly of the home market. The Government, which is probably in its inner mind of Free-trading opinions, eannot bear to increase the cost of food so greatly, and seriously dislikes the loss of Customs revenue from cereals which must inevitably follow. It has therefore drawn up a Tariff Bill with a schedule covering nearly a thousand items, and declares that it will have this Bill and no other, even if the consequences are defeat and Dissolution. Its speakers insist, indeed, that the strict Protection demanded would render commercial treaties impossible, and even hint in a curiously reserved way that they are powerless to make concessions, for the Buudesrath, as organ of the Federated Governments, would revolt. The Agrarians do not believe a word of these threats, for they know, or fancy, that a Dissolution would increase their majority ; and in item after item they have increased the duties on food, till the Govern- ment is almost in despair. There is, in fact, a sort of deadlock, and in meeting it Count von Billow shows, in the judgment of his own people, no kind of resource. He does not withdraw the Bill, and so leave the Agrarians powerless to carry their par- ticular end. He does not invent any compromise which all Parties, however sullenly, might accept. He does not dissolve, as Bismarck would probably have done, and make a strong appeal on grounds of patriotism to the average. elector. He simply delays, hinting that the commercial treaties can wait another year, and that as there are some nine hundred items still to be discussed, opportunities of compromise may be found in some of them, and at all events Parliament may in discussing them expend some of its refractoriness. He is trusting, one cannot but suspect, to the chapter of accidents, and forgetting, as diplomatists when puzzled are apt to forget, that acci- dents are not invariably favourable even to those who await them bravely. The Fabian policy may, of course, succeed, though it is improbable, as nothing can bring relief to the agricultural interest except legislation ; but certainly Count von Billow has no success at present, and his hold over his countrymen diminishes with their per- ception of his lack of resource. He would, no doubt, if he were speaking confidentially, plead, as Prince Bismarck once did, that he is only "a vassal of the Hohenzollern " ; but in the estimate of Europe that is not quite sufficient excuse, for the business of a vassal who is also a great counsellor is to persuade and utilise his master while con- trolling or conciliating all opposition. It is the whole car which a good driver directs, not one horse in the team or one wheel of the machine.
The position of the great advisers of the Crown is, in fact, one of the many which impede the union of Parlia- mentary institutions with the "free" kingship. Lord Beaconsfield thought the two things reconcilable ; but he must have unconsciously assumed a King with a genius like his own, or a man with the sympathetic character and popularity of the Emperor Frederick. We doubt the success of his idea in any other circumstances. They are trying it in Germany under very favourable conditions, amidst a grave people, with an Emperor of exceptional ability, and with a Parliament which, though strong as regards finance, cannot in any other department control the Executive, and nevertheless the machine does not move easily. The old dilemma remains. If the Minister possesses the perfect confidence of Parliament, then the King must take his advice, and is, as our own George III. always felt, no longer " free ;" while if he does not possess it, the King cannot get his policy carried out, and is once more deprived of his freedom. The effect of this dilemma is that the Minister has always two masters to serve, and practically can only reconcile them by incessant compromise, to which very strong men will not submit, while the less strong men fail just when it is most necessary they should succeed. Even a diplomatist like Count von Billow, who, as the Germans say, could walk along the keyboard of a piano and never sound a note, finds at last that this cat- like facility does not help him, for the simple reason that one of his businesses is to elicit the notes he wants, and that, in short, ingenuity is not always sufficient of itself to perform great work. If there were always "melodious agreement" between the two powers, Parliament might work well under a " free " King ; but that kind of agreement seldom lasts for more than minutes, and is frequently impossible. Our English system, under which the advice of a Minister trusted by Parliament must always be taken, seems to work more easily, though with a vast expenditure of time ; but we almost despair of seeing it adopted on the Continent. It revolts the Kings, who feel as if they were refused permission to do their duty, and does not altogether satisfy the people, who never quite understand that powers may be only decorations. The States of Europe are drifting towards some new method, but they do not themselves see what it is; and the discredit into which Republics have fallen with those who are seeking Utopias diminishes the number of alternatives.
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