Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador in London, died
after a very short illness at Badenweiler. on Tuesday morning. A South German by birth, trained for the law, he held various high offices, including those of Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Ambassador at Constantinople—a post which he held for nearly fifteen years. Under the Hamidian regime he won for Germany an influence comparable to that enjoyed by England under Lord Stratford de Reddiffe and Sir William White. His best act was the overthrow of the infamous Feliim Pasha. His remarkable diplomatic skill and adaptability were shown by his regaining under the Young Turk regime nearly all the influence he had lost by the downfall of Abdul Hamid. At The Hague, as at Constantinople, he showed himself the most commanding representative of German. Realpolitik since Bismarck, and at the same time an unrivalled manipulator of Press influences. This fact must discount to some extent his popularity with journalists ; none the less, when he was trans- ferred to London it was felt that Germany bad paid us a signal compliment in sending her strongest man as well as her most sagacious diplomatist. It is a matter for inter- national regret that he should have died at the outset of a task which he described as the proudest that could be given to any statesman—" that of re-establishing harmony between two nations that had so many ties in common."
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