123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354

Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg made his first appearance as Imperial Chancellor

in the Reichstag on Thursday. The special note of his speech, which was well received by the Conservatives, was his refusal to be drawn into any detailed programme or any declaration as to what combination of parties he thought of depending upon for his majority. He strongly deprecated the attempts of Radicalism to promote the artificial division of Germany into two hostile political camps. "As decidedly as the separate parties have ever refused, and still refuse, to be Government parties—and I personally can thoroughly understand it—so little will a Government in Germany ever be able to be a party Government." This state- ment, with its inferential condemnation of a Parliamentary system of government, excited loud uproar on the Left.

Next page