SOME GERMAN POSSIBILITIES. pro THE EDITOR Or THR " SPRCIATOR."]
SIE,—A remarkable appointment has just been made to the post of Director of the German Colonial Department. The announcement has received ample notice in the Press of this and other countries, but its ultimate possibilities for good or evil have been somewhat blanketed by the patent and immediate actualities of the matter. Prince Hohenlobe, aristocrat of the aristocrats, in direct descent from Everard Duke of Franconia, and brother of Conrad I., has retired in dudgeon, and probably impotent disgust, from what the Germans themselves designate as the " Tohu-Bohn "
of Colonial intrigue.
In his place is set up no heir of patrician lineage, not even a Conservative bureaucrat, but, mirabile dicta! a "self-made man," a " banausic bank-director of Jewish lineage," "a cleaner of financial styes, not of Imperial stables" (I epitomise some com- ments), with no other reputation than that of having put some financial concerns on their legs again after the Pommern Bank smash. The man with the soubriquet "Sanitiits-rath " becomes the man with the real title "Genuine Privy Councillor and Excellenz." It is worth while to consider this appointment for a moment, b3C1111138 it is an event of importance, not merely in the internal economy of Prussia and the Empire, but, potentially at least, in the external relations also.
Whether Herr Dernburg succeeds or fails, his fate must sensibly modify the political conditions of Germany. His appoint- ment is a direct challenge to the hitherto unquestioned supremacy of the aristocratic and bureaucratic party, the party of Agrarian Conservatism and violent Protection in fiscal matters and of a.utocratic reaction in political policy. A simple German commoner is set to strangle the boa-constrictor of Geheimrathism, which is bureaucracy ; but so strong is the law of custom that to equip him for his task he is armed with the highest title in the hierarchy of bureaucracy itself. The appointment of Herr Dernburg is the first step towards the open recognition of the weight of Germany's commercial classes in political life. The value of their advice was privately recognised when, as is now known, they induced the Government to surrender the claim to the Moroccan port of Casa- blanca, and thus practically to end the Alg,ociras struggle. But in taking the present step the Emperor has done more than shake hands with the merchants ; he has also cast a stone—perhaps one should say a pebble—at the landed gentry, from which class, of course, the bureaucrats or permanent officials are almost entirely derived. Now it is matter of common note that the Agrarians and Conservatives, the Country Party, are the chief supporters of Prussian autocracy. They are also the mainstay of the Fleet programme since Count Eulenburg succeeded in convincing them that a Fleet programme did not involve a policy of free imports. It was at the same period that Count Eulenburg brought the Agrarians back to Court, and got rid of the Chancellor Faineant, another Prince Hohenlohe. It will be of absorbing interest to note what effect this latest appointment will have on the attitude of the Agrarian Party towards the Fleet programme, and on their influence at Court.
But Prince Biilow succeeded the Chancellor Faineant, as was natural, with an avowed policy of Agrarianism and Con- servatism. It is therefore conceivable that the damaged health of the present Chancellor, combined -with the circum- stances of his undoubted quarrel with General Podbielski, may induce him to regard this triumph of commercialism as sufficient reason for resignation, even though he has hastened to assure Germany through the medium of his own organ that he himself recommended the appointment of Herr Dernburg. The idea mooted in some part of the German Press that Herr Benin, director of the Hamburg-America line, is a possible successor may probably be rejected as mere extravagance; but the very suggestion is significant of the new importance attained by the " banausic " element in Germany. Verily has German diplomacy learnt, as the Emperor said it should, to become imbued with the commercial spirit. It is not impossible that the mercantile personages of the seaboard will pay for Royal favour by a lean compromising support of the Imperial Fleet scheme with its attendant items of policy, in which case the growing influence of the commercials at Court and in the offices of State may yet bring a Liberal Administration into power in the Wilhelmstrasse, backed by the mereantilised Court, and sullenly opposed by the discontented and flouted Agrarians in the Reichstag. By the process of mutual influence the Court policy might become somewhat freer in all senses, and the policy of the commercials somewhat more courtly. In which case it would hardly be extravagant to hope for a second Caprivistic r6gime with a more stable foundation. But all this is, of course, " Znkunfts-Musik" depending on Herr Dernburg's success. That he will succeed in enforcing a drastic purge in the internal organisation of the Colonial Depart- ment may probably be taken for granted, if the Emperor resists the intrigues of the bureaucratic faction at Court. It is doubtful, however, whether Herr Dernburg will succeed in abolishing the bureaucratic mechanism which throttles the colonies them- selves. To do that he will have to devise some scheme for making emigration to the German colonies more popular than it has hitherto been; in fact, he will have virtually to repopulate the "Protectorates," as they are still officially designated. Those who know something of the conditions prevalent in the larger colonial townships will imagine the state of the streets if all the officials were removed. In 1904 there were estimated to be three thousand German " settlers " in South-West Africa, of which number two- thirds were soldiers or officials. But if Herr Dernburg attains only a moderate measure of success in dealing with the colonies and the Colonial Department, he will have succeeded where Prince Hohenlohe failed, and his success will undoubtedly encourage the Emperor to seek further to impress the leading commercials into the service of the Empire.
There follows at once the question : "If commercialism provo thus successful in colonial matters, can it fail soon to exercise an equal influence in the foreign politics of the Empire ? "
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