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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13043-0.txt b/13043-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ab1975 --- /dev/null +++ b/13043-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13584 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13043 *** + +WILLIAM OF GERMANY + +by + +STANLEY SHAW, LL.D. +Trinity College Dublin + +WITH A FRONTISPIECE + +1913 + + + + + + + +The Frontispiece is from a photograph by E. Bieber, of Berlin + + + + +CONTENTS + PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTORY....................................... 1 + + II. YOUTH (1859-1881).................................. 10 + + III. PRE-ACCESSION DAYS (1881-1887)..................... 42 + + IV. "VON GOTTES GNADEN"................................ 56 + + V. THE ACCESSION (1888-1890).......................... 69 + + VI. THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR........................... 105 + + VII. "DROPPING THE PILOT"............................... 125 + + VIII. SPACIOUS TIMES (1891-1899)......................... 144 + + IX. THE NEW CENTURY (1900-1901)........................ 189 + + X. THE EMPEROR AND THE ARTS........................... 205 + + XI. THE NEW CENTURY--_continued_ (1902-1904)........... 237 + + XII. MOROCCO (1905)..................................... 255 + + XIII. BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM" (1906-1907)............ 275 + + XIV. THE NOVEMBER STORM (1908).......................... 289 + + XV. AFTER THE STORM (1909-1913)........................ 321 + + XVI. THE EMPEROR TO-DAY................................. 342 + + INDEX ................................................... 391 + + + + +I. INTRODUCTORY. + +William the Second, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Burgrave of +Nürnberg, Margrave of Brandenburg, Landgrave of Hessen and Thuringia, +Prince of Orange, Knight of the Garter and Field-Marshal of Great +Britain, etc., was born in Berlin on January 27, 1859, and ascended +the throne on June 15, 1888. He is, therefore, fifty-four years old +in the present year of his Jubilee, 1913, and his reign--happily yet +unfinished--has extended over a quarter of a century. + +The Englishman who would understand the Emperor and his time must +imagine a country with a monarchy, a government, and a people--in +short, a political system--almost entirely different from his own. In +Germany, paradoxical though it may sound to English ears, there +is neither a government nor a people. The word "government" occurs +only once in the Imperial Constitution, the Magna Charta of modern +Germans, which in 1870 settled the relations between the Emperor and +what the Englishman calls the "people," and then only in an +unimportant context joined to the word "federal." + +In Germany, instead of "the people" the Englishman speaks of when he +talks politics, and the democratic orator, Mr. Bryan, in America is +fond of calling the "peopul," there is a "folk," who neither claim +to be, nor apparently wish to be, a "people" in the English sense. +The German folk have their traditions as the English people have +traditions, and their place in the political system as the English +people have; but both traditions and place are wholly different from +those of the English people; indeed, it may be said are just the +reverse of them. + +The German Emperor believes, and assumes his people to believe, that +the Hollenzollern monarch is specially chosen by Heaven to guide and +govern a folk entrusted to him as the talent was entrusted to the +steward in Scripture. Until 1848, a little over sixty years ago, the +Emperor (at that time only King of Prussia) was an absolute, or almost +absolute, monarch, supported by soldiers and police, and his wishes +were practically law to the folk. In that year, however, owing to the +influence of the French Revolution, the King by the gift of a +Constitution, abandoned part of his powers, but not any governing +powers, to the folk in the form of a parliament, with permission to +make laws for itself, though not for him. To pass them, that is; for +they were not to carry the laws into execution--that was a matter the +King kept, as the Emperor does still, in his own hands. + +The business of making laws being, as experience shows, provocative of +discussion, discussion of argument, and argument of controversy, there +now arose a dozen or more parties in the Parliament, each with its own +set of controversial opinions, and these the parties applied to the +novel and interesting occupation of law-making. + +However, it did not matter much to the King, so long as the folk did +not ask for further, or worse still, as occurred in England, for all +his powers; and accordingly the parties continued their discussions, +as they do to-day, sometimes accepting and sometimes rejecting their +own or the King's suggestions about law-making. Generally speaking, +the relation is not unlike that established by the dame who said to +her husband, "When we are of the same opinion, you are right, but when +we are of different opinions, I am right." If the Parliament does not +agree with the Emperor, the Emperor dissolves it. + +These parties, from the situation of their seats in a parliament of +397 deputies, became known as the parties of the Right, or +Conservative parties, and the parties of the Left, or Liberal parties. +Between them sat the members of the Centre, who, as representing the +Catholic populations of Germany--roughly, twenty-two millions out of +sixty-six--became a powerful and unchanging phalanx of a hundred +deputies, which had interests and tactics of its own independently of +Right or Left. + +By and by, one of the parties of the Left, representing the classes +who work with their hands as distinguished from the classes who work +with their heads, thought they would like to live under a political +system of their own making and began to show a strong desire to take +all power from the King and from the Parliament too. They agitated and +organized, and organized and agitated, until at length, having settled +on what was found to be an attractive theory, they made a wholly +separate party, almost a people and parliament of their own. This is +known as the Social Democracy, with, at present, no deputies. + +Such, in a comparatively few sentences, is the political state of +things in Germany. It might indeed be expressed in still fewer words, +as follows: Heaven gave the royal house of Hohenzollern, as a present, +a folk. The Hohenzollerns gave the folk, as a present, a parliament, a +power to make laws without the power of executing them. The Social +Democrats broke off from the folk and took an anti-Hohenzollern and +anti-popular attitude, and the folk in their Parliament divided into +parties to pass the time, and--of course--make laws. + +This may seem to be treating an important subject with levity. It is +intended merely as a statement of the facts. The system in Germany +works well, to an Englishman indeed surprisingly so. In England there +is no Heaven-appointed king; all the powers of the King, both that of +making laws and of administering them, have long ago been taken by the +people from the King and entrusted by them to a parliament, the +majority of whom, called the Government, represent the majority of the +electing voters. In the case of Germany the folk have surrendered some +of what an Englishman would term their "liberties," for example, the +right to govern, to the King, to be used for the common good; whereas +in the case of England, the people do not think it needful to +surrender any of their liberties, least of all the government of their +country, in order to attain the same end. + +Thus, while the German Emperor and the German folk have the same aims +as the English King and the English people, the common weal and the +fair fame of their respective countries, the two monarchs and the two +peoples have agreed on almost contrary ways of trying to secure them. + +The political system of Germany has had to be sketched introductorily +as for the Englishman, a necessary preliminary to an understanding of +the German Emperor's character and policy. One of the most important +results of the character and policy is the state of Anglo-German +relations; and the writer is convinced that if the character and +policy were better and more generally known there would be no +estrangement between the two countries, but, much more probably, +mutual respect and mutual good-will. + +With the growth of this knowledge, the writer is tempted to believe, +would cease a delusion that appears to exist in the minds, or rather +the imaginations, of two great peoples, the delusion that the highest +national interests of both are fundamentally irreconcilable, and that +the policies of their Governments are fundamentally opposed. + +It seems indeed as though neither in England nor in Germany has the +least attention been paid to the astonishing growth of commerce +between the countries or to the repeated declarations made through a +long series of years by the respective Governments on their countries' +behalf. The growth in commerce needs no statistics to prove it, for it +is a matter of everyday observation and comment. The English +Government declares it a vital necessity for an insular Power like +Great Britain, with colonies and duties appertaining to their +possession in all, and the most distant, parts of the world, to have a +navy twice as powerful as that of any other possibly hostile Power. +The ordinary German immediately cries out that England is planning to +attack him, to annihilate his fleet, destroy his commerce, and +diminish his prestige among the nations. The German Government +repeatedly declares that the German fleet is intended for defence not +aggression, that Germany does not aim at the seizure of other people's +property, but at protecting her growing commerce, at standing by her +subjects in all parts of the world if subjected to injury or insult, +and at increasing her prestige, and with it her power for good, in the +family of nations. The ordinary Englishman immediately cries out that +Germany is seeking to dispute his maritime supremacy, to rob him of +his colonies, and to appropriate his trade. Is it not conceivable that +both Governments are telling the truth, and that their designs are no +more and no less than the Governments represent them to be? The +necessity for Great Britain possessing an all-powerful fleet that will +keep her in touch with her colonies if she is not to lose them +altogether, is self-evident, and understood by even the most +Chauvinistic German. The necessity for Germany's possessing a fleet +strong enough to make her rights respected is as self-evident. +Moreover, if Germany's fleet is a luxury, as Mr. Winston Churchill +says it is, she deserves and can afford it. As a nation she has +prospered and grown great, not by a policy of war and conquest, but by +hard work, thrift, self-denial, fidelity to international engagements, +well-planned instruction, and first-rate organization. Why should she +not, if she thinks it advisable and is willing to spend the money on +it, supply herself with an arm of defence in proportion to her size, +her prosperity, and her desert? It may be that, as Mr. Norman Angell +holds, the entire policy of great armaments is based on economic +error; but unless and until it is clear that the German navy is +intended for aggression, its growth may be viewed by the rest of the +world with equanimity, and by the Englishman, as a connoisseur in such +matters, with admiration as well. A man may buy a motor-car which his +friends and neighbours think must be costly and pretentious beyond his +means; but that is his business; and if the man finds that, owing to +good management and industry and skill, his business is growing and +that a motor-car is, though in some not absolutely clear and definite +way, of advantage to him in business and satisfying to his legitimate +pride--why on earth should he not buy or build it? + +The truth is that if our ordinary Englishman and German were to sit +down together, and with the help of books, maps, and newspapers, +carefully and without prejudice, consider the annals of their +respective countries for the last sixteen years with a view to +establishing the causes of their delusion, they could hardly fail to +confess that it was due to neither believing a word the other said; to +each crediting the other with motives which, as individuals and men of +honesty and integrity in the private relations of life, each would +indignantly repudiate; to each assuming the other to be in the +condition of barbarism mankind began to emerge from nineteen hundred +years ago; to both supposing that Christianity has had so little +influence on the world that peoples are still compelled to live and go +about their daily work armed to the teeth lest they may be bludgeoned +and robbed by their neighbours; that the hundreds of treaties solemnly +signed by contracting nations are mere pieces of waste paper only +testifying to the profundity and extent of human hypocrisy; that +churches and cathedrals have been built, universities, colleges, and +schools founded, only to fill the empty air with noise; that the +printing presses of all countries have been occupied turning out +myriads of books and papers which have had no effect on the reason or +conscience of mankind; that nations learn nothing from experience; and +to each supposing that he and his fellow-countrymen alone are the +monopolists of wisdom, honour, truth, justice, charity--in short, of +all the attributes and blessings of civilization. Is it not time to +discard such error, or must the nations always suspect each other? To +finish with our introduction, and notwithstanding that _qui s'excuse +s'accuse_, the biographer may be permitted to say a few words on his +own behalf. Inasmuch as the subject of his biography is still, as has +been said, happily alive, and is, moreover, in the prime of his +maturity, his life cannot be reviewed as a whole nor the ultimate +consequences of his character and policy be foretold. The biographer +of the living cannot write with the detachment permissible to the +historian of the dead. No private correspondence of the Emperor's is +available to throw light on his more intimate personal disposition and +relationships. There have been many rumours of war since his +accession, but no European war of great importance; and if a few minor +campaigns in tropical countries be excepted, Germany for over forty +years, thanks largely to the Emperor, has enjoyed the advantages of +peace. + +From the pictorial and sensational point of view continuous peace is a +drawback for the biographer no less than for the historian. What would +history be without war?--almost inconceivable; since wars, not peace, +are the principal materials with which it deals and supply it with +most of its vitality and interest--must it also be admitted, its +charm? For what are Hannibal or Napoleon or Frederick the Great +remembered?--for their wars, and little else. Shakespeare has it +that-- + + "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues + We write in water." + +Who, asks Heine, can name the artist who designed the cathedral of +Cologne? In this regard the biographer of an emperor is almost as +dependent as the historian. + +The biography of an emperor, again, must be to a large extent, the +history of his reign, and in no case is this more true than in that of +Emperor William. But he has been closely identified with every event +of general importance to the world since he mounted the throne, and +the world's attention has been fastened without intermission on his +words and conduct. The rise of the modern German Empire is the salient +fact of the world's history for the last half-century, and accordingly +only from this broader point of view will the Emperor's future +biographer, or the historian of the future, be able to do him or his +Empire justice. + +Lastly, another difficulty, if one may call it so, experienced equally +by the biographer and the historian, is the fact that the life of the +Emperor has been blameless from the moral standpoint. On two or three +occasions early in the reign accounts were published of scandals at +the Court. They may not have been wholly baseless, but none of them +directly involved the Emperor, or even raised a doubt as to his +respectability or reputation. Take from history--or from biography for +that matter--the vices of those it treats of, and one-third, perhaps +one-half, of its "human interest" disappears. + +In the circumstances, therefore, all the writer need add is that he +has done the best he could. He has ignored, certainly, at two or three +stages of his narration, the demands of strict chronological +succession; but if so, it has been to describe some of the more +important events of the reign in their totality. He has also felt it +necessary, as writing for English readers of a country not their own, +to combine a portion of history with his biography. If, at the same +time, he has ventured to infuse into both biography and history a +slight admixture of philosophy, he can only hope that the fusion will +not prove altogether disagreeable. + + + + +II. + + + +YOUTH + + + +1859-1881 + +As the education of a prince, and the surroundings in which he is +brought up, are usually different from the education and surroundings +of his subjects, it is not surprising if, at least during some portion +of his reign, and until he has graduated in the university of life, +misunderstandings, if nothing worse, should occur between them: indeed +the wonder is that princes and people succeed in living harmoniously +together. They are separated by great gulfs both of sentiment and +circumstance. Bismarck is quoted by one of his successors, Prince +Hohenlohe, as remarking that every King of Prussia, with whatever +popularity he began his reign, was invariably hated at the close of +it. + +The prince that would rule well has to study the science of +government, itself a difficult and incompletely explored subject, and +the art of administration; he has to know history, and above all the +history of his own country; not that history is a safe or certain +guide, but that it informs him of traditions he will be expected to +continue in his own country and respect in that of others; he must +understand the political system under which his people choose to live, +and the play of political, religious, economic, and social forces +which are ever at work in a community; he must learn to speak and +understand (not always quite the same thing) other languages besides +his own; and concurrently with these studies he must endeavour to +develop in himself the personal qualities demanded by his high +office--health and activity of body, quick comprehension and decision, +a tenacious memory for names and faces, capacity for public speaking, +patience, and that command over the passions and prejudices, natural +or acquired, which is necessary for his moral influence as a ruler. On +what percentage of his subjects is such a curriculum imposed, and what +allowances should not be made if a full measure of success is not +achieved? + +But even when the prince has done all this, there is still a study, +the most comprehensive and most important of all, in which he should +be learned--the study of humanity, and in especial that part of it +with the care of whose interests and happiness he is to be charged. A +few people seem to have this knowledge instinctively, others acquire +something of it in the school of sad experience. It is not the fault +of the Emperor, if, in his youth, his knowledge of humanity was not +profound. There was always a strong vein of idealism and romance among +Hohenzollerns, the vein of a Lohengrin, a Tancred, or some mediæval +knight. The Emperor, of course, never lived among the common people; +never had to work for a living in competition with a thousand others +more fortunate than he, or better endowed by nature with the qualities +and gifts that make for worldly success; never, so far as is known to +a watchful and exceptionally curious public, endured domestic sorrow +of a deep or lasting kind; never suffered materially or in his proper +person from ingratitude, carelessness, or neglect; never knew the +"penalty of Adam, the seasons' difference"; never, in short, felt +those pains one or more of which almost all the rest of mankind have +at one time or other to bear as best they may. + +The Emperor has always been happy in his family, happy in seeing his +country prosperous, happy in the admiration and respect of the people +of all nations; and if he has passed through some dark hours, he must +feel happy in having nobly borne them. Want of knowledge of the trials +of ordinary humanity is, of course, no matter of reproach to him; on +the contrary, it is matter of congratulation; and, as several of his +frankest deliverances show, he has, both as man and monarch, felt many +a pang, many a regret, many a disappointment, the intensity of which +cannot be gauged by those who have not felt the weight of his +responsibilities. + +A discharge of 101 guns in the gardens of Crown Prince Frederick's +palace in Berlin on the morning of January 27, 1859, announced the +birth of the future Emperor. There were no portents in that hour. +Nature proceeded calmly with her ordinary tasks. Heaven gave no +special sign that a new member of the Hohenzollern family had appeared +on the planet Earth. Nothing, in short, occurred to strengthen the +faith of those who believe in the doctrine of kingship by divine +appointment. + +It was a time of political and social turmoil in many countries, the +groundswell, doubtless, of the revolutionary wave of 1848. The Crimean +War, the Indian Mutiny, and the war with China had kept England in a +continual state of martial fever, and the agitation for electoral +reform was beginning. Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister, with Lord +Odo Russell as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mr. Gladstone as +Minister of Finance. Napoleon III was at war with Austria as the ally +of Italy, where King Emmanuel II and Cavour were laying the +foundations of their country's unity. Russia, after defeating Schamyl, +the hero of the Caucasus, was pursuing her policy of penetration in +Central Asia. + +In Prussia the unrest was chiefly domestic. The country, while +nominally a Great Power, was neutral during the Crimean War, and +played for the moment but a small part in foreign politics. Bismarck, +in his "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," compares her submission to Austria +to the patience of the French noble-man he heard of when minister in +Paris, whose conduct in condoning twenty-four acts of flagrant +infidelity on the part of his wife was regarded by the French as an +act of great forbearance and magnanimity. Prince William, the +Emperor's grandfather, afterwards William I, first German Emperor, was +on the throne, acting as Prince Regent for his brother, Frederick +William IV, incapacitated from ruling by an affection of the brain. +The head of the Prussian Ministry, Manteuffel, had been dismissed, and +a "new era," with ministers of more liberal tendencies, among them von +Bethmann Hollweg, an ancestor of the present Chancellor, had begun. +General von Roon was Minister of War and Marine, offices at that time +united in one department. The Italian War had roused Germany anew to a +desire for union, and a great "national society" was founded at +Frankfurt, with the Liberal leader, Rudolf von Bennigsen, at its head. +Public attention was occupied with the subject of reorganizing the +army and increasing it from 150,000 to 210,000 men. Parliament was on +the eve of a bitter constitutional quarrel with Bismarck, who became +Prussian Prime Minister (Minister President) in 1862, about the grant +of the necessary army funds. Most of the great intellects of +Germany--Kant, Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Fichte, Schleiermacher--had +long passed away. Heinrich Heine died in Paris in 1856. Frederick +Nietzsche was a youth, Richard Wagner's "Tannhäuser" had just been +greeted, in the presence of the composer, with a storm of hisses in +the Opera house at Paris. The social condition of Germany may be +partially realized if one remembers that the death-rate was over 28 +per _mille_, as compared with 17 per _mille_ to-day; that only a start +had been made with railway construction; that the country, with its +not very generous soil, depended wholly upon agriculture; that +savings-bank deposits were not one-twelfth of what they are now; that +there were 60 training schools where there are 221 to-day, and 338 +evening classes as against 4,588 in 1910; that many of the principal +towns were still lighted by oil; that there was practically no navy; +and that the bulk of the aristocracy lived on about the same scale as +the contemporary English yeoman farmer. Berlin contained a little less +than half a million inhabitants, compared with its three and a half +millions of to-day, and the state of its sanitation may be imagined +from the fact that open drains ran down the streets. + +The Emperor's father, Frederick III, second German Emperor, was +affectionately known to his people as "unser Fritz," because of his +liberal sympathies and of his high and kindly character. To most +Englishmen he is perhaps better known as the husband of the Princess, +afterwards Empress, Adelaide Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen +Victoria, and mother of the Emperor. Frederick III had no great share +in the political events which were the birth-pangs of modern Germany, +unless his not particularly distinguished leadership in the war of +1866 and that with France be so considered. The greater part of his +life was passed as Crown Prince, and a Crown Prince in Germany leads a +life more or less removed from political responsibilities. He +succeeded his father, William I, on the latter's death, March 9, 1888, +reigned for ninety-nine days, and died, on June 15th following, from +cancer of the throat, after an illness borne with exemplary fortitude. + +To what extent the character of his parents affected the character of +the Emperor it is impossible to determine. The Emperor seldom refers +to his parents in his speeches, and reserves most of his panegyric for +his grandfather and his grandfather's mother, Queen Louise; but the +comparative neglect is probably due to no want of filial admiration +and respect, while the frequent references to his grandfather in +particular are explained by the great share the latter took in the +formation of the Empire and by his unbounded popularity. The Crown +Prince was an affectionate but not an easy-going father, with a +passion for the arts and sciences; his mother also was a +disciplinarian, and, equally with her husband, passionately fond of +art; and it is therefore not improbable that these traits descended to +the Emperor. As to whether the alleged "liberality" of the Crown +Prince descended to him depends on the sense given to the word +"liberal." If it is taken to mean an ardent desire for the good and +happiness of the people, it did; if it is taken to mean any +inclination to give the people authority to govern themselves and +direct their own destinies, it did not. + +The mother of the Emperor, the Empress Frederick, had much of Queen +Victoria's good sense and still more of her strong will. A thoroughly +English princess, she had, in German eyes, one serious defect: she +failed to see, or at least to acknowledge, the superiority of most +things German to most things English. She had an English nurse, Emma +Hobbs, to assist at the birth of the future Emperor. She made English +the language of the family life, and never lost her English tastes and +sympathies; consequently she was called, always with an accent of +reproach, "the Engländerin," and in German writings is represented as +having wished to anglicize not only her husband, her children, and her +Court, but also her adopted country and its people. A chaplain of the +English Church in Berlin, the Rev. J.H. Fry, who met her many times, +describes her as follows:-- + + "She was not the wife for a German Emperor, she so English + and insisted so strongly on her English ways. The result was + that she was very unpopular in Germany, and the Germans said + many wicked things of her. She hated Berlin, and if her son, + the present Emperor, had not required that she should come + to the capital every winter, she would have lived altogether + at Cronberg in the villa an Italian friend bequeathed to + her. + + "She was extremely musical, had extensively cultivated her + talents in this respect, and was an accomplished linguist. + Like her mother, Queen Victoria, she was unusually + strong-minded, and was always believed to rule over her + amiable and gentle husband. Her interest in the English + community was great, another reason for the dislike with + which the Germans regarded her. To her the community owes + the pretty little English church in the Mon Bijou Platz + (Berlin), which she used to attend regularly, and where a + funeral service, at which the Emperor was present, was held + in memory of her. + + "German feeling was further embittered against her by the + Morell Mackenzie incident, and to this day controversy rages + round the famous English surgeon's name. The controversy is + as to whether or not Morell Mackenzie honestly believed what + he said when he diagnosed the Emperor's illness as + non-cancerous in opposition to the opinion of distinguished + German doctors like Professor Bergmann. Under German law no + one can mount the throne of Prussia who is afflicted with a + mortal sickness. For long it had been suspected that the + Emperor's throat was fatally affected, and, therefore, when + King William was dying, it became of dynastic and national + importance to establish the fact one way or other. Queen + Victoria was ardently desirous of seeing her daughter an + Empress, and sent Sir Morrell Mackenzie to Germany to + examine the royal patient. On the verdict being given that + the disease was not cancer, the Crown Prince mounted the + throne, and Queen Victoria's ambition for her daughter was + realized. + + "The Empress also put the aristocracy against her by + introducing several relaxations into Court etiquette which + had up to her time been stiff and formal. Her relations with + Bismarck, as is well known, were for many years strained, + and on one occasion she made the remark that the tears he + had caused her to shed 'would fill tumblers.' On the whole + she was an excellent wife and mother. She was no doubt in + some degree responsible for the admiration of England as a + country and of the English as a people which is a marked + feature of the Emperor's character." + +This account is fairly correct in its estimation of the Empress +Frederick's character and abilities, but it repeats a popular error in +saying that German law lays down that no one can mount the Prussian +throne if he is afflicted with a mortal sickness. There is no "German +law" on the subject, and the law intended to be referred to is the +so-called "house-law," which, as in the case of other German noble +families, regulates the domestic concerns of the House of +Hohenzollern. Bismarck disposes of the assertion that a Hohenzollern +prince mortally stricken is not capable of succession as a "fable," +and adds that the Constitution, too, contains no stipulation of the +sort. The influence of his mother on the Emperor's character did not +extend beyond his childhood, while probably the only natural +dispositions he inherited from her were his strength of will and his +appreciation of classical art and music. Many of her political ideas +were diametrically opposed to those of her son. Her love of art made +her pro-French, and her visit to Paris, it will be remembered, not +being made _incognito_, led to international unpleasantness, +originating in the foolish Chauvinism of some leading French painters +whose ateliers she desired to inspect. She believed in a homogeneous +German Empire without any federation of kingdoms and states, advocated +a Constitution for Russia, and was satisfied that the common sense of +a people outweighed its ignorance and stupidity. + +The Emperor has four sisters and a brother. The sisters are Charlotte, +born in 1860, and married to the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen; +Victoria, born in 1866, and married to Prince Adolphus of +Schaumberg-Lippe; Sophie, born in 1870, and married to King +Constantine, of Greece; and Margarete, born in 1872, and married to +Prince Friederich Karl of Hessen. + +The Emperor's only brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, was born in 1862, +and is married to Princess Irene of Hessen. He is probably the most +popular Hohenzollern to-day. He adopted the navy as a profession and +devotes himself to its duties, taking no part in politics. Like the +Emperor himself and the Emperor's heir, the Crown Prince, he is a +great promoter of sport, and while a fair golfer (with a handicap of +14) and tennis player, gives much of his leisure to the encouragement +of the automobile and other industries. Every Hohenzollern is supposed +to learn a handicraft. The Emperor did not, owing to his shortened +left arm. Prince Henry learned book-binding under a leading Berlin +bookbinder, Herr Collin. The Crown Prince is a turner. Prince Henry +seems perfectly satisfied with his position in the Empire as +Inspector-General of the Fleet, stands to attention when talking to +the Emperor in public, and on formal occasions addresses him as +"Majesty" like every one else. Only in private conversation does he +allow himself the use of the familiar _Du_. The Emperor has a strong +affection for him, and always calls him "Heinrich." + +Many stories are current in Germany relating to the early part of the +Emperor's boyhood. Some are true, others partially so, while others +again are wholly apochryphal. All, however, are more or less +characteristic of the boy and his surroundings, and for this reason a +selection of them may be given. Apropos of his birth, the following +story is told. An artillery officer went to receive orders for the +salute to be discharged when the birth occurred. They were given him +by the then Prince Regent, afterwards Emperor William I. The officer +showed signs of perplexity. "Well, is there anything else?" inquired +the Regent. "Yes, Royal Highness; I have instructions for the birth of +a prince and for that of a princess (which would be 30 guns); but what +if it should be twins?" The Regent laughed. "In that case," he said, +"follow the Prussian rule--_suum cuique_." + +When the child was born the news ran like wildfire through Berlin, and +all the high civil and military officials drove off in any vehicle +they could find to offer their congratulations. The Regent, who was at +the Foreign Office, jumped into a common cab. Immediately after him +appeared tough old Field-Marshal Wrangel, the hero of the Danish wars. +He wrote his name in the callers' book, and on issuing from the palace +shouted to the assembled crowd, "Children, it's all right: a fine +stout recruit." On the evening of the birth a telegram came from Queen +Victoria, "Is it a fine boy?" and the answer went back, "Yes, a very +fine boy." + +Another story describes how the child was brought to submit cheerfully +to the ordeal of the tub. He was "water-shy," like the vast majority +of Germans at that time, and the nurses had to complain to his father, +Crown Prince Frederick, of his resistance. The Crown Prince thereupon +directed the sentry at the palace gate not to salute the boy when he +was taken out for his customary airing. The boy remarked the neglect +and complained to his father, who explained that "sentries were not +allowed to present arms to an unwashed prince." The stratagem +succeeded, and thereafter the lad submitted to the bathing with a good +grace. + +Like all boys, the lad was fond of the water, though now in another +sense. At the age of two, nursery chroniclers relate, he had a toy +boat, the _Fortuna_, in which he sat and see-sawed--and learned not to +be sea-sick! At three he was put into sailor's costume, with the +bell-shaped trousers so dear to the hearts of English mothers fifty +years ago. + +At the age of four he had a memorable experience, though it is hardly +likely that now, after the lapse of half a century, he remembers much +about it. This was his first visit to England in 1863, when he was +taken by his parents to be present at the marriage of his uncle, King +Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. The boy, in pretty Highland costume, +was an object of general attention, and occupies a prominent place in +the well-known picture of the wedding scene by the artist Frith. The +ensuing fifteen years saw him often on English soil with his father +and mother, staying usually at Osborne Castle, in the Isle of Wight. +Here, it may be assumed, he first came in close contact with the +ocean, watched the English warships passing up and down, and imbibed +some of that delight in the sea which is not the least part of the +heritage of Englishmen. The visits had a decided effect on him, for at +ten we find him with a row-boat on the Havel and learning to swim, and +on one occasion rowing a distance of twenty-five miles between 6 a.m. +and 3 p.m. About this time he used to take part with his parents in +excursions on the _Royal Louise_, a miniature frigate presented by +George IV to Frederick William III. + +Still another story concerns the boy and his father. The former came +one day in much excitement to his tutor and said his father had just +blamed him unjustly. He told the tutor what had really happened and +asked him, if, under the circumstances, he was to blame. The tutor was +in perplexity, for if he said the father had acted unjustly, as in +fact he thought he had, he might lessen the son's filial respect. +However, he gave his candid opinion. "My Prince," he said, "the +greatest men of all times have occasionally made mistakes, for to err +is human. I must admit I think your father was in the wrong." +"Really!" cried the lad, who looked pained. "I thought you would tell +me I was in the wrong, and as I know how right you always are I was +ready to go to papa and beg his pardon. What shall I do now?" "Leave +it to me," the tutor said, and afterwards told the Crown Prince what +had passed. The Crown Prince sent for his son, who came and stood with +downcast eyes some paces off. The Crown Prince only uttered the two +words, "My son," but in a tone of great affection. As he folded the +Prince in his arms he reached his hand to the tutor, saying, "I thank +you. Be always as true to me and to my son as you have been in this +case." + +The last anecdote belongs also to the young Prince's private tutor +days. At one time a certain Dr. D. was teaching him. Every morning at +eleven work was dropped for a quarter of an hour to enable the pair, +teacher and pupil, to take what is called in German "second +breakfast." The Prince always had a piece of white bread and butter, +with an apple, a pear, or other fruit, while the teacher was as +regularly provided with something warm--chop, a cutlet, a slice of +fish, salmon, perch, trout, or whatever was in season, accompanied by +salad and potatoes. The smell of the meat never failed to appeal to +the olfactory nerves of the Prince, and he often looked, longingly +enough, at the luxuries served to his tutor. The latter noticed it and +felt sorry for him; but there was nothing to be done: the royal orders +were strict and could not be disobeyed. One day, however, the lesson, +one of repetition, had gone so well that in a moment of gratitude the +tutor decided to reward his pupil at all hazards. The lunch appeared, +steaming "perch-in-butter" for the tutor, and a plate of bread and +butter and some grapes for the pupil. The Prince cast a glance at the +savoury dish and was then about to attack his frugal fare when the +tutor suddenly said, "Prince, I'm very fond of grapes. Can't we for +once exchange? You eat my perch and I--" The Prince joyfully agreed, +plates were exchanged, and both were heartily enjoying the meal when +the Crown Prince walked in. Both pupil and tutor blushed a little, but +the Crown Prince said nothing and seemed pleased to hear how well the +lesson had gone that day. At noon, however, as the tutor was leaving +the palace, a servant stopped him and said, "His Royal Highness the +Crown Prince would like to speak with the Herr Doktor." + +"Herr Doktor," said the Crown Prince, "tell me how it was that the +Prince to-day was eating the warm breakfast and you the cold." + +The tutor tried to make as little of the affair as possible. It was a +joke, he said, he had allowed himself, he had been so well pleased +with his pupil that morning. + +"Well, I will pass it over this time," said the Crown Prince, + + "but I must ask you to let the Prince get accustomed to bear + the preference shown to his tutor and allow him to be + satisfied with the simple food suitable for his age. What + will he eat twenty years hence, if he now gets roast meat? + Bread and fruit make a wholesome and perfectly satisfactory + meal for a lad of his years." + +During second breakfast next day, the Prince took care not to look up +from his plate of fruit, but when he had finished, murmured as though +by way of grace, "After all, a fine bunch of grapes is a splendid +lunch, and I really think I prefer it, Herr Doktor, to your +nice-smelling perch-in-butter." + +The time had now come when the young Prince was to leave the paternal +castle and submit to the discipline of school. The parents, one may be +sure, held many a conference on the subject. The boy was beginning to +have a character of his own, and his parents doubtless often had in +mind Goethe's lines:-- + + "Denn wir können die Kinder nach unserem Willen nicht formen, + So wie Gott sie uns gab, so muss man sie lieben und haben, + Sie erzielen aufs best und jeglichen lassen gewähren." + + ("We cannot have children according to our will: + as God gave them so must we love and keep them: + bring them up as best we can and leave each to its own + development.") + +It had always been Hohenzollern practice to educate the Heir to the +Throne privately until he was of an age to go to the university, but +the royal parents now decided to make an important departure from it +by sending their boy to an ordinary public school in some carefully +chosen place. The choice fell on Cassel, a quiet and beautiful spot +not far from Wilhelmshohe, near Homburg, where there is a Hohenzollern +castle, and which was the scene of Napoleon's temporary detention +after the capitulation of Sedan. Here at the Gymnasium, or _lycée_, +founded by Frederick the Great, the boy was to go through the regular +school course, sit on the same bench with the sons of ordinary +burghers, and in all respects conform to the Gymnasium's regulations. +The decision to have the lad taught for a time in this democratic +fashion was probably due to the influence of his English mother, who +may have had in mind the advantages of an English public school. The +experiment proved in every way successful, though it was at the time +adversely criticized by some ultra-patriotic writers in the press. To +the boy himself it must have been an interesting and agreeable +novelty. Hitherto he had been brought up in the company of his +brothers and sisters in Berlin or Potsdam, with an occasional +"week-end" at the royal farm of Bornstedt near the latter, the only +occasions when he was absent from home being sundry visits to the +Grand Ducal Court at Karlsruhe, where the Grand Duchess was an aunt on +his father's side, and to the Court at Darmstadt, where the Grand +Duchess was an aunt on the side of his mother. + +An important ceremony, however, had to be performed before his +departure for school--his confirmation. It took place at Potsdam on +September 1, 1874, amid a brilliant crowd of relatives and friends, +and included the following formal declaration by the young Prince: + + "I will, in childlike faith, be devoted to God all the days + of my life, put my trust in Him and at all times thank Him + for His grace. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour and + Redeemer. Him who first loved me I will love in return, and + will show this love by love to my parents, my dear + grandparents, my sisters and brothers and relatives, but + also to all men. I know that hard tasks await me in life, + but they will brace me up, not overcome me. I will pray to + God for strength and develop my bodily powers." + +The boy and his brother Henry stayed in Cassel for three years, in the +winter occupying a villa near the Gymnasium with Dr. Hinzpeter, and in +summer living in the castle of Wilhelmshohe hard by. Besides attending +the usual school classes, they were instructed by private tutors in +dancing, fencing, and music. Both pupils are represented as having +been conscientious, and as moving among their schoolmates without +affectation or any special consciousness of their birth or rank. Many +years afterwards the Emperor, when revisiting Cassel, thus referred to +his schooldays there: + + "I do not regret for an instant a time which then seemed so + hard to me, and I can truly say that work and the working + life have become to me a second nature. For this I owe + thanks to Cassel soil;" + +and later in the same speech: + + "I am pleased to be on the ground where, directed by expert + hands, I learned that work exists not only for its own sake, + but that man in work shall find his entire joy." + +This is the right spirit; but if he had said "greatest joy" and "can +find," he would have said something more completely true. + +The life at Cassel was simple, and the day strictly divided. The +future Emperor rose at six, winter and summer, and after a breakfast +of coffee and rolls refreshed his memory of the home repetition-work +learned the previous evening. He then went to the Gymnasium, and when +his lessons there were over, took a walk with his tutor before lunch. +Home tasks followed, and on certain days private instruction was +received in English, French, and drawing. His English and French +became all but faultless, and he learned to draw in rough-and-ready, +if not professionally expert fashion. Wednesdays and Saturdays, which +were half-holidays, were spent roving in the country, especially in +the forest, with two or three companions of his own age. In winter +there was skating on the ponds. The Sunday dinner was a formal affair, +at which royal relatives, who doubtless came to see how the princes +were getting on, and high officials from Berlin, were usually present. +After dinner the princes took young friends up to their private rooms +and played charades, in which on occasion they amused themselves with +the ever-delightful sport of taking off and satirizing their +instructors. At this time the future Emperor's favourite subjects were +history and literature, and he was fond of displaying his rhetorical +talent before the class. The classical authors of his choice were +Homer, Sophocles, and Horace. Homer particularly attracted him; it is +easy to imagine the conviction with which, as a Hohenzollern, he would +deliver the declaration of King Agamemnon to Achilles:-- + + "And hence, to all the host it shall be known + That kings are subject to the gods alone." + +The young Prince left Cassel in January, 1877, after passing the exit +(_abiturient_) examination, a rather severe test, twelfth in a class +of seventeen. The result of the examination was officially described +as "satisfactory," the term used for those who were second in degree +of merit. On leaving he was awarded a gold medal for good conduct, one +of three annually presented by a patron of the Gymnasium. + +A foreign resident in Germany, who saw the young Prince at this time, +tells of an incident which refers to the lad's appearance, and shows +that even at that early date anti-English feeling existed among the +people. It was at the military manoeuvres at Stettin: + + "Then the old Emperor came by. Tremendous cheers. Then + Bismarck and Moltke. Great acclaim. Then passed in a + carriage a thin, weakly-looking youth, and people in the + crowd said, 'Look at that boy who is to be our future + Emperor--his good German blood has been ruined by his + English training.'" + +Before closing the Emperor's record as a schoolboy it will be of +interest to learn the opinion of him formed by his French tutor at +Cassel, Monsieur Ayme, who has published a small volume on the +education of his pupil, and who, though evidently not too well +satisfied with his remuneration of £7 10s. a month, or with being +required to pay his own fare back from Germany to France, writes +favourably of the young princes. "The life of these young people +(Prince William and Prince Henry) was," he says, + + "the most studious and peaceful imaginable. Up at six in the + morning, they prepared their tasks until it was time to go + to school. Lunch was at noon and tea at five. They went to + bed at nine or half-past. All their hours of leisure were + divided between lessons in French, English, music, + pistol-shooting, equitation, and walking. Now and then they + were allowed to play with boys of their own age, and on fête + days and their parents' birth-anniversaries they had the + privilege of choosing a play and seeing it performed at the + theatre. As pocket-money Prince William received 20s. a + month, and Henry 10s. Out of these modest sums they had to + buy their own notepaper and little presents for the servants + or their favourite companions." + +As to Prince William's character as a schoolboy, Monsieur Ayme writes: + + "I do not suppose William was ever punished while he was in + Cassel. He was too proud to draw down upon himself + criticism, to him the worst form of punishment. At the + castle, as at school, he made it a point of honour to act + and work as if he had made his plans and resolved to stick + to them. He was always among the first of his class, and as + for me I never had any need to urge him on. If I pointed out + to him an error in his task he began it over again of his + own accord. We did grammar, analysis, dictations, and + compositions, and he got over his difficulties by sheer + perseverance. For example, if he was reading a fine page of + Victor Hugo, or the like, he hated to be interrupted, so + deeply was he interested in the subject he was reading. + Style and poetry had a great effect upon him; he expressed + admiration for the form and was aroused to enthusiasm by + generous or noble ideas. Frederick the Great was the hero of + his choice, a model of which he never ceased dreaming, and + which, like his grandfather, he proposed as his own. It is + easy to conceive that after ten or twelve years of such + study, regularly and methodically pursued, the Prince must + have possessed a literary and scientific baggage more varied + and extensive than that of his companions. And he worked + hard for it, few lads so hard. To speak the truth, he was + much more disciplined and much more deprived of freedom and + recreation of all sorts than most children of his age." + +_Par paranthèse_ may be introduced here a reference to Prince Henry, +of whom Monsieur Ayme writes less enthusiastically. + + "One day," the tutor writes, "I was dictating to him + something in which mention of a queen occurs. I came to the + words '... in addition to her natural distinction she + possessed that August majesty which is the appanage of + princesses of the blood royal....' + + "Prince Henry laid down his pen and remarked, 'The author + who wrote this piece did not live much with queens.' + + "'Why?' I asked. + + "'Because I never observed the August majesty which attaches + to princesses of the blood royal, and yet I have been + brought up among them,' was the reply. + + "William, however," continues Monsieur Ayme, "was the + thinker, prudent and circumspect; the wise head which knew + that it was not all truths which bear telling. He was not + less loyal and constant in his opinions. He admired the + French Revolution, and the declaration contained in 'The + Rights of Man,' though this did not prevent his declaiming + against the Terrorists." + +One incident in particular must have appealed to the French tutor. +Monsieur Ayme and his Prussian pupil one day began discussing the +delicate question of the war of 1870. In the course of the discussion +both parties lost their tempers, until at last Prince William suddenly +got up and left the room. He remained silent and "huffed" for some +days, but at last he took the Frenchman aside and made him a formal +apology. "I am very sorry indeed," he said, + + "that you took seriously my conduct of the other day. I + meant nothing by it, and I regret it hurt you. I am all the + more sorry, because I offended in your case a sentiment + which I respect above any in the world, the love of + country." + +But it is time to pass from the details of the Emperor's early youth, +and observe him during the two years he spent, with interruptions, at +the university. From Cassel he went immediately to Bonn, where, as +during the years of military duty which followed, we only catch +glimpses of him as he lived the ordinary, and by no means austere, +life of the university student and soldier of the time; that is to +say, the ordinary life with considerable modifications and exceptions. +He did not, like young Bismarck, drink huge flagons of beer at a +sitting, day after day. He was not followed everywhere by a +boar-hound. He fought no student's duels--though a secret performance +of the kind is mentioned as a probability in the chronicles--or go +about looking for trouble generally as the swashbuckling Junker, +Bismarck, did; for in the first place his royal rank would not allow +of his taking part in the bloody amusement of the _Mensur_, and his +natural disposition, if it was quick and lively, was not choleric +enough to involve him in serious quarrel. His studies were to some +extent interrupted by military calls to Berlin, for after being +appointed second lieutenant in the First Regiment of Foot Guards at +Potsdam on his tenth birthday, the Hohenzollern age for entering the +army, he was promoted to first lieutenant in the same regiment on +leaving Cassel. + +For the most part the university lectures he attended were the courses +in law and philosophy, and he is not reported to have shown any +particular enthusiasm for either subject. The differences between an +English and a German university are of a fundamental kind, perhaps the +greatest being that the German university does not aim at influencing +conduct and character in the same measure as the English, but is +rather for the supply of knowledge of all sorts, as a monster +warehouse is for the supply of miscellaneous goods. Again, the German +university, which, like all American universities except Princetown, +has more resemblance to the Scottish universities than to those at +Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin, is not residential nor divided into +colleges, but is departmentalized into "faculties," each with its own +professors and _privat docentes_, or official lecturers, mostly young +savants, who have not the rank or title of professor, but have +obtained only the _venia legendi_ from the university. The lectures, +as a rule of admirable learning and thoroughness, invariably laying +great and prosy stress on "development," are delivered in large halls +and may be subscribed for in as many faculties as the student chooses, +the cost being about thirty shillings or there-abouts per term for +each lecture "heard." Outside the university the student enjoys +complete independence, which is a privilege highly (and sometimes +violently) cherished, especially by non-studious undergraduates, under +the name "academic freedom." The German preparing for one or other of +the learned professions will probably spend a year or two at each of +three, or maybe four, universities, according to the special faculty +he adopts and for which the university has a reputation. There are +plenty of hard-working students of course; nowadays probably the great +majority are of this kind; but to a large proportion also the +university period is still a pleasant, free, and easy halting-place +between the severe discipline and work of the school and the stern +struggle of the working world. + +The social life of the English university is paralleled in Germany by +associations of students in student "Corps," with theatrical uniforms +for their _Chargierte_ or officers, special caps, sometimes of +extraordinary shape, swords, leather gauntlets, Wellington boots, and +other distinguishing gaudy insignia. The Corps are more or less +select, the most exclusive of all being the Corps Borussia, which at +every university only admits members of an upper class of society, +though on rare occasions receiving in its ranks an exceptionally +aristocratic, popular, or wealthy foreigner. To this Corps, the name +of which is the old form of "Prussia," the Emperor belonged when at +Bonn, and in one or two of his speeches he has since spoken of the +agreeable memories he retains in connexion with it and the practices +observed by it. + +Common to all university associations in Germany--whether Corps, +Landsmannschaft, Burschenschaft, or Turnerschaft--is the practice of +the _Mensur_, or student duel. It is not a duel in the sense usually +given to the word in England, for it lacks the feature of personal +hostility, hate, or injury, but is a particularly sanguinary form of +the English "single-stick," in which swords take the place of sticks. +These swords (_Schläger_), called, curiously enough, _rapiere_, are +long and thin in the blade, and their weight is such that at every +duel students are told off on whose shoulders the combatants can rest +their outstretched sword-arm in the pauses of the combat caused by the +duellists getting out of breath; consequently, an undersized student +is usually chosen for this considerate office. The heads and faces of +the duellists are swathed in bandages--no small incentive to +perspiration, the vital parts of their bodies are well protected +against a fatal prick or blow, and the pricks or slashes must be +delivered with the hand and wrist raised head-high above the shoulder. +It is considered disgraceful to move the head, to shrink in the +smallest degree before the adversary, or even to show feeling when the +medical student who acts as surgeon in an adjoining room staunches the +flow of blood or sews up the scars caused by the swords. The duel of a +more serious kind--that with pistols or the French rapier, or with the +bare-pointed sabre and unprotected bodies--is punishable by law, and +is growing rarer each year. + +Take a sabre duel--"heavy sabre duel" is the German name for +it--arising out of a quarrel in a cafe or beer-house, and in which one +of the opponents may be a foreigner affiliated to some Corps or +Burschenschaft. Cards are exchanged, and the challenger chooses a +second whom he sends to the opponent. The latter, if he accepts the +challenge, also appoints a second; the seconds then meet and arrange +for the holding of a court of honour. The court will probably consist +of old Corps students--lawyer, a doctor, and two or three other +members of the Corps or Burschenschaft. The court summons the +opponents before it and hears their account of the quarrel; the +seconds produce evidence, for example the bills at the cafe or +beer-hall, showing how much liquor has been consumed; also as to age, +marriage or otherwise, and so on. Then the court decides whether there +shall be a duel, or not, and if so, in what form it shall be fought. + +The duel may be fixed to take place at any time within six months, and +meanwhile the opponents industriously practise. The scene of the duel +is usually the back room of some beer-hall, with locked doors between +the duellists and the police. The latter know very well what is going +on, but shut their eyes to it. The opponents take their places at +about a yard and a half distance from advanced foot to advanced foot, +and a chalk line is drawn between them. Close behind each opponent is +his second with outstretched sword, ready to knock up the duellists' +weapons in case of too dangerous an impetuosity in the onset. The +umpire _(Unparteiischer)_, unarmed, stands a little distance from the +duellists. The latter are naked _to_ the waist, but wear a leather +apron like that of a drayman, covering the lower half of the chest, +and another piece of leather, like a stock, protecting their necks and +jugular veins. The duel may last a couple of hours, and any number of +rounds up to as many as two hundred may be fought. The rounds consist +of three or four blows, and last about twenty seconds each, when the +seconds, who have been watching behind their men in the attitude of a +wicket-keeper, with their sword-points on the ground, jump in and +knock up the duellists' weapons. When one duellist is disabled by skin +wounds--there are rarely any others--or by want of breath, palpitation +or the like, the duel is over, and the duellists shake hands. This +description, with some slight modifications, applies to the ordinary +Corps _Mensuren_, which are simply a bloody species of gymnastic +exercise. + +On one occasion early in the reign the Emperor spoke of the Corps +system with great enthusiasm, and especially endorsed the practice of +the _Mensur_. "I am quite convinced," he said at Bonn in 1891, three +years after his accession, + + "that every young man who enters a Corps receives through + the spirit which rules in it, and supposing he imbibes the + spirit, his true directive in life. For it is the best + education for later life a young man can obtain. Whoever + pokes fun at the German student Corps is ignorant of its + true tendency, and I hope that so long as student Corps + exist the spirit which is fostered in them, and which + inspires strength and courage, will continue, and that for + all time the student will joyfully wield the _Schläger_." + +Regarding the _Mensur_, he went on: + + "Our _Mensuren_ are frequently misunderstood by the public, + but that must not let us be deceived. We who have been Corps + students, as I myself was, know better. As in the Middle + Ages through our gymnastic exercises (_Turniere_) the + courage and strength of the man was steeled, so by means of + the Corps spirit and Corps life is that measure of firmness + acquired which is necessary in later life, and which will + continue to exist as long as there are universities in + Germany." + +The word for firmness used by the Emperor was _Festigkeit_, which may +also be translated determination, steadiness, fortitude, or +resoluteness of character. It may be that practice of the _Mensur_, +which is held almost weekly, has a lifelong influence on the German +student's character. It probably enables him to look the adversary in +the eye--look "hard" at him, as the mariners in Mr. A.W. Jacobs's +delightful tales look at one another when some particularly ingenious +lie is being produced. In a way, moreover, it may be said to +correspond to boxing in English universities, schools, and gymnasia. +But, on the whole, the Anglo-Saxon spectator finds it difficult to +understand how it can exercise any influence for good on the moral +character of a youth, or determine, as the Emperor says it does, a +disposition which is cowardly or weak by nature to bravery or +strength, save of a momentary and merely physical kind. The Englishman +who has been present at a _Mensur_ is rather inclined to think the +atmosphere too much that of a shambles, and the chief result of the +practice the cultivation of braggadocio. + +Besides, the practice is illegal, and though purposely overlooked, +save in one German city, that of Leipzig, where it is punished with +some rigour, the Emperor, who is supposed to embody the majesty and +effectiveness of the law, is hardly the person to recommend it. His +inconsistency in the matter on one occasion placed him in an +undignified position. Two officers of the army quarrelled, and one, an +infantry lieutenant, sent a challenge to the other, an army medical +man. The latter refused on conscientious grounds, whereupon he was +called on by a military court of honour to send in his resignation. +The case was sent up to the Emperor, who upheld the decision of the +court of honour, adding the remark that if the surgeon had +conscientious scruples on the point he should not remain in the army. +An irate Social Democratic editor thereupon pointed out that such a +decision came with a bad grace from a man with whom, or with any of +whose six sons, no one was allowed to fight. The Emperor is still a +member of the Borussia Corps, but chiefly shows his interest by +keeping its anniversaries in mind, by every few years attending one of +its annual drinking festivals (_Commers_), and by paying a substantial +yearly subscription. + +The German student Corps, historically, go back to the fourteenth +century, when the first European universities were established at +Bologna, Paris, and Orleans. Universities then were not so called from +the universality of their teachings, but rather as meaning a +corporation, confraternity, or collegium, and were in reality social +centres in the towns where they were instituted. The most renowned was +that of Paris, and here was founded the first student Corps. It was +called the "German Nation of Paris," a corporation of students, with +statutes, oaths, special costumes, and other distinctive features. At +first, strange to say, it contained more Englishmen than Germans. The +"Nation" had a procurator, a treasurer, and a bedell, the last to look +after the legal affairs of the association. Drinking was not the +supposed purpose of the society, but the Corps mostly assembled, as +German Corps do to-day, for drinking purposes. + +The earliest form of German student associations Was the +Landsmannschaft. To this society, composed of elders and juniors, +new-comers, called Pennales, were admitted after painful ceremonies +and became something like the "fags" at an English public school. The +object of the original Landsmannschaft was to keep alive the spirit of +nationality. The object of the German Corps is different. It is to +beget and perpetuate friendship, and this accounts for the steady +goodwill the Emperor has always shown towards the comrades of his Bonn +and Borussia days. + +An ancient form of Corps entertainment is called the Hospiz, now, +however, much modified. Upon invitation the members of the Corps meet +in a beer-hall or in the rooms of one of the Corps. The president is +seated with a house-key on the table before him as a symbol of +unfettered authority. As members arrive, the president takes away +their sticks and swords and deposits them in a closet. The guests sit +down and are handed filled pipes and a lighted _fidibus_, or +pipe-lighter. Bread and butter and cheese, followed by coffee, are +offered. After this, the real work of the evening begins--the +drinking. A large can of beer stands on a stool beside the president. +The latter calls for silence by rapping three times on the table with +the house-key, and the Hospiz is declared open. Thenceforward only the +president pours out the beer, unless he appoints a deputy during his +absence. The president's great aim and honour is to make every one, +including himself, intoxicated. He begins by rapping the table with +his glass and saying "Significat ein Glas." In response all drain +their glasses. Then comes a "health to all," and this is followed by a +"health to each." "The Ladies" follow, including toasts to the pretty +girls of the town, and ladies known to be favourites of those present. +Married ladies or women of bad reputation must not be toasted in the +Hospiz. + +A story is told of a toast the Emperor, in these his Lohengrin days, +once proposed at a Borussia meeting. "On the Kreuzberg" (a hill near +Bonn), he said, + + "I saw a picture, the ideal of a German woman. She united in + herself beauty of face and an imposing form, the roses in + her cheeks spoke of the modesty peculiar to our maids, and + her voice sounded harmoniously like the lute of the + Minnesingers on the Wartburg. She told me her name--may it + be blessed." + +The toast found its way into the local papers and gave birth to a +romantic legend connecting the future Emperor with a pretty and modest +girl of the town, but no true basis for it has ever been discovered. + +In toasting the Ladies in a Hospiz each of those present may name the +lady of his choice, and if two name the same lady they have a drinking +bout to determine which is entitled to claim her. The one who first +admits that he can drink no more--usually signified by a hasty and +zigzag retreat from the room--is declared the loser. If a guest comes +late to the Hospiz he must drink fast so as to catch up with earlier +arrivals, unless he has been drinking elsewhere, when he is let off +with drinking a "general health." + +The close of the Emperor's student days was marked by an event which +was to have a great influence on his life and happiness. It was in +1879 that he made the acquaintance of the young lady who was, a couple +of years later, to become his wife, and subsequently Empress. When at +Bonn Prince William had developed a liking for wild-game shooting, and +accepted an invitation from Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein to +shoot pheasants at Primkenau Castle, the Duke's seat in Silesia. More +than one romantic story is current about the first meeting of the +lovers, but that most generally credited, as it was published at or +near the time, represents the young sportsman as meeting the lady +accidentally in the garden of the castle. He had arrived at night and +gone shooting early next morning before being introduced to the family +of his host, and on his return surprised the fair-haired and blue-eyed +Princess Auguste Victoria as she lay dozing in a hammock in the +garden. The student approached, the words "little Rosebud" on his +lips, but hastily withdrew as the Princess, all blushes, awoke. The +pair met shortly afterwards at breakfast, when the visitor learned who +the "little rosebud" was whom he had surprised. The Princess was then +twenty-two, but looked much younger, a privilege from nature she still +possesses in middle age. The impression made on the student was deep +and lasting, and the engagement was announced on Valentine's Day, in +February, 1880. The marriage was celebrated on February 27th of the +following year at the royal palace in Berlin. Great popular rejoicing +marked the happy occasion, Berlin was gaily flagged to celebrate the +formal entrance of the bride into the capital, and most other German +cities illuminated in her honour. The imperial bridegroom came from +Potsdam at the head of a military escort selected from his regiment +and preceded the bridal cortege, in which the ancient coronation +carriage, with its smiling occupant, and drawn by eight prancing +steeds, was the principal feature. On the day following the marriage +the young couple went to Primkenau for the honeymoon. + +The marriage with a princess of Schleswig-Holstein was not only an +event of general interest from the domestic and dynastic point of +view. It had also political significance, for it meant the happy close +of the troubled period of Prussian dealings with those conquered +territories. + +A story throwing light on the young bride's character is current in +connexion with her wedding. One of the hymns contained a +strophe--"Should misfortune come upon us," which her friends wanted +her to have omitted as striking too melancholy a note. "No," she said, + + "let it be sung. I don't expect my new position to be always + a bed of roses. Prince William is of the same mind, and we + have both determined to bear everything in common, and thus + make what is unpleasant more endurable." + +Since the marriage their domestic felicity, as all the world is aware, +has never been troubled, and the example thus given to their subjects +is one of the surest foundations of their influence and authority in +Germany. The secret of this felicity, affection apart, is to be sought +for in the strong moral sense of the Emperor regarding what he owes to +himself and his people, but no less perhaps in the exemplary character +of the Empress. As a girl at Primkenau she was a sort of Lady +Bountiful to the aged and sick on the estate, and led there the simple +life of the German country maiden of the time. It was not the day of +electric light and central heating and the telephone; hardly of lawn +tennis, certainly not of golf and hockey; while motor-cars and +militant suffragettes were alike unknown. Instead of these delights +the Princess, as she then was, was content with the humdrum life of a +German country mansion, with rare excursions into the great world +beyond the park gates, with her religious observances, her books, her +needlework, her plants and flowers, and her share in the management of +the castle. + +These domestic tastes she has preserved, and the saying, quoted in +Germany whenever she is the subject of conversation, that her +character and tastes are summed up in the four words _Kaiser, Kinder, +Kirche_, and _Küche_--Emperor, children, church, and kitchen--is as +true as it is compendious and alliterative. It is often assumed, +especially by men, that a woman who cultivates these tastes cultivates +no other. This is not as true as is often supposed of the Empress, as +a journal of her voyage to Jerusalem in 1898, published on her return +to Germany, goes to show. Following the traditions and example of the +queens and empresses who have preceded her, she has always given +liberally of her time and care, as she still does, to the most +multifarious forms of charity. She has a great and intelligible pride +in her clever and energetic husband, while her interest in her +children is proverbial. She appears to have no ambition to exercise +any influence on politics or to shine as a leader of society. Like the +Emperor, she is not without a sense of humour, and is always amused by +the racy Irish stories (in dialect) told her and a little circle of +guests by Dr. Mahaffy, of Trinity College, Dublin, who is a welcome +guest at the palace. + +The offspring of the marriage, it may be here noted, is a family of +seven children--six sons and a daughter--as follows:-- + + Crown Prince Frederick William, born 1882 + Prince Eitel Frederick " 1883 + Prince Adalbert " 1884 + Prince August William " 1887 + Prince Oscar " 1888 + Prince Joachim " 1890 + Princess Victoria Louise " 1892 + +The Crown Prince was born on June 6th at the Marble Palace in Potsdam. +He was educated at first privately by tutors, and later at the +military academy at Plön, not far from Kiel. When eighteen he became +of age and began his active career as an officer in the army. He is +now commander of the First Regiment of Boay Guards ("Death's Head" +Hussars) at Langfuhr, near Danzig, with the rank of major. He was +married in June, 1905, to Cecilie, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +and is the father of four children, all boys. The Crown Princess is +one of the cleverest, most popular, and most charming characters in +Germany, of the brightest intelligence and the most unaffected +manners. The leading trait in the Crown Prince's character is his love +of sport, from big-game shooting (on which he has written a book) to +lawn tennis. In May last he began to learn golf. He is personally +amiable, has pleasant manners, and is highly popular with all classes +of his future subjects. He is credited with ability, but is not +believed to have inherited the intellectual manysidedness of his +father. The only part he can be said to have taken in public life as +yet is having called the imperial attention to the Maximilian Harden +allegations regarding Count Eulenburg and a court "camarilla," +referred to later, and having, while sitting in a gallery of the +Reichstag, demonstrated by decidedly marked gestures his disagreement +with the Government's Morocco policy. + +Since his marriage the Emperor has more than once publicly +congratulated himself on his good fortune in having such a consort as +the Empress. The most graceful compliment he paid her was in her own +Province of Silesia in 1890, when he said: + + "The band which unites me with the Province--that of all the + provinces of the Empire which is nearest to my heart--is the + jewel which sparkles at my side, Her Majesty the Empress. A + native of this country, a model of all the virtues of a + German princess, it is her I have to thank that I am in a + position joyfully to perform the onerous duties of my + office." + +Only the other day at Altona, after thirty years of married life, he +referred to her, again in her home Province and again as she sat +smiling beside him, as the + + "first lady of the land, who is always ready to help the + needy, to strengthen family ties, to discharge the duties of + her sex, and suggest to it new aims. The Empress has + bestowed a home life on the House of Hohenzollern such as + Queen Louise, alone perhaps, conferred." + +Queen Louise, the famous wife of Frederick William III, died in 1810 +and is buried in the mausoleum at Charlottenburg, the suburb of +Berlin. She has remained ever since, for the German nation, the type +of womanly perfection. + + + + +III. + + + +PRE-ACCESSION DAYS + + + +1881-1887 + +The seven years between the date of his marriage and that of his +accession were chiefly filled in by the future Emperor with the +conscientious discharge of his regimental duties and the preparation +of himself, by three or four hours' study daily at the various +Ministries, among them the Foreign Office, where he sat at the feet of +Bismarck, for the imperial tasks he would presumably have to undertake +later. + +Emperor William I, now a man of eighty-four, was still on the throne. +Born in 1797, he lived with his parents, Frederick William III and +Queen Louise, in Koenigsberg and Memel for three years after the +battle of Jena, won the Iron Cross at the age of seventeen in the war +with Napoleon in 1814, took part in the entry of the Allies into +Paris, and devoted himself thenceforward, until he became King of +Prussia in 1861, chiefly to the reorganization of the army. For a year +during the troubled times of 1848 he was forced to take refuge in +England, from whence he returned to live quietly at Coblenz until +called to the Regency of Prussia in 1858. He was the Grand Master of +Prussian Freemasonry. The attempts on his life in Berlin in 1878 by +the anarchists Hödel and Nobiling are still spoken of by eye-witnesses +to them. Both attempts were made within a period of three weeks while +the King was driving down Unter den Linden, and on both occasions +revolver shots were fired at him. Hödel's attempt failed, but in view +of Socialist agitation, the would-be assassin was beheaded (the +practice still in Prussia) a few weeks later. Pellets from Nobiling's +weapon struck the King in the face and arm, and disabled him from work +for several weeks. The political events of the reign, including the +Seven Weeks' War with Austria in 1866, which ended at Sadowa, where +King William was in chief command, and that with France in 1870, when +he was present as Commander-in-Chief at Gravelotte and Sedan, are +frequently referred to by Bismarck in his "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," +and to these the reader may be referred. + +The high and amiable character of the old Emperor, as he became after +1870, is common knowledge. He was a thoroughgoing Hohenzollern in his +views of monarchy and his relations to his folk, but he was at the +same time the type of German chivalry, the essence of good nature, the +soul of honour, and the slave of duty. He was extremely fond of his +grandson, Prince William, and it is clear from the latter's speeches +subsequently that the affection was ardently reciprocated. + +Of Emperor William, Bismarck writes in the highest terms, describing +his "kingly courtesy," his freedom from vanity, his impartiality +towards friend and foe alike; in a word, he says, Emperor William was +the idea "gentleman" incorporated. On the other hand, Bismarck tells +how the old Emperor all his life long stood in awe of his consort, the +Empress Augusta, Bismarck's great enemy and the clearing-house +(_Krystallisationspunkt_), as he describes her, of all the opposition +against him; and how the Emperor used to speak of her as "the +hot-head" ("_Feuerkopf_")--"a capital name for her," Bismarck adds, +"as she could not bear her authority as Queen to be overborne by that +of anyone else." The Iron Chancellor, by the way, mentions a curious +fact in connexion with the attempt on Emperor William's life by +Nobiling. The Chancellor says he had noticed that in the seventies the +Emperor's powers had begun to fail, and that he often lost the thread +of a conversation, both in hearing and speaking. After the Nobiling +attempt this disability, strangely enough, completely disappeared. The +fact was noticed by the Emperor himself, for one day he said jestingly +to Bismarck: "Nobiling knew better than the doctors what I really +needed--a good blood-letting." + +Referring to the Empress Frederick at this period, Bismarck writes: + + "With her I could not reckon on the same good-will as I + could with her husband (Emperor Frederick). Her natural and + inborn sympathy for her native country showed itself from + the very beginning in the endeavour to shift the weight of + Prussian-German influence on the European grouping of the + Powers into the scale of England, which she never ceased to + regard as her Fatherland; and, in consciousness of the + opposition of interests between the two great Asiatic + Powers, England and Russia, to see Germany's power, in case + of a breach, used for the benefit of England." + +An incident may be mentioned here which took place at what was to turn +out to be the Emperor William's death-bed and refers particularly to +our young Prince William. Bismarck was talking to the sick Emperor a +few days before the latter's death. The Chancellor spoke about the +necessity of publishing an Order, already drawn up in November of the +preceding year, appointing Prince William regent in case the necessity +for such a measure should occur. The sick Emperor expressed the hope +that Bismarck would stand by his successor. Bismarck promised to do so +and the Emperor pressed his hand in token of satisfaction. Then, +suddenly, Bismarck relates, the Emperor became delirious and began to +rave. Prince William was the central figure in his ravings. He +evidently thought his grandson was at his bedside and exclaimed, using +the familiar _Du_; "_Du_ you must always keep on good terms with the +Czar (Alexander III) ... there is no need to quarrel in that quarter." +Thereafter he was silent, and Bismarck left the sick-room. + +The Prince's parents, Crown Prince Frederick and his English consort, +had also their Court at the Marmor Palais in Potsdam, and their palace +in Berlin, but the life they led was comparatively simple. The Crown +Prince and Princess were great travellers and consequently often +absent from Germany; and when at home, while the Crown Prince, in his +serious-minded fashion, was absorbed in study, the Crown Princess +divided her time between the practice of the arts and correspondence +with her now grown-up sons and daughters. + +Still, it is clear from the signs of the time that there was a good +deal of intrigue going on throughout this pre-accession period, or, if +intrigue is too strong a term for it, a good deal of friction, social +and political, in high circles. It was chiefly caused, if the old +Chancellor's statements to his sycophantic adorer, Busch, are to be +credited, by the interference of the Empress Augusta and her +daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess, in the sphere of politics, the +Empress seeking to influence her husband in favour of the Catholics, +whom she had taken under her protection, and the Crown Princess +trying, as we have seen, to influence German policy in favour of +England. + +Exactly what part Prince William took in it all is not very clear. One +thing we know, that he greatly displeased Bismarck by his constant +attendance at the Waldersee _salon_, then a social centre in Berlin. +Countess Waldersee, who is still living in Hannover, was the daughter +of an American banker named Lee. She married Frederick, Prince of +Schleswig, but he died six months after the wedding. His widow +afterwards married Count Waldersee, who was subsequently to command +the international forces during the Boxer troubles in China. Bismarck +detested Waldersee, perhaps because many people spoke of him as his +probable successor, and consequently looked with anything but favour +on his imperial pupil's visit to the Waldersees. + +The great figure of the time, however, was neither the Emperor nor the +Crown Prince nor Prince William, but Prince Bismarck, who, as +Chancellor for now more than a quarter of a century, had throughout +that period guided the destinies of Prussia and the German Empire. +Emperor William and Crown Prince Frederick and Prince William were +playing, doubtless, more or less prominent parts on the public stage, +but all things of moment gravitated towards Bismarck, whose days were +spent, now persuading or convincing the Emperor, now warring with a +Parliament growing impatient of his dictatorial attitude, now +countermining the intrigues and opposition of his adversaries at Court +and in the Ministries. He hardly ever went into society, but though he +spent his days growling in his den at the Foreign Office when he was +not immersed in work, he was the great popular figure of Berlin; +indeed, it might be said, of all Germany. + +As second lieutenant, Prince William had naturally a good deal to +learn, though, entering life, as we have seen, as a "fine young +recruit," having had a "military governor" appointed to his service +when he was four, being made an officer at the age of ten, and having +passed most of his life hitherto in a military society and atmosphere, +he had less perhaps to learn than the ordinary young German officer. +He went through the usual drills, and doubtless felt, as keenly as +does the young officer everywhere, their monotonous and seemingly +unnecessary repetitions, but they fulfilled the object in view and +gave him the well-set-up bearing and martial tread which still +distinguish him. Living in the old Town Castle of Potsdam, in rooms +that had once been occupied by Frederick the Great, he entered with +zest into the task of learning the mechanism of his regiment and at +the same time of the army generally, though it cannot have been as +interesting a task then as now, when science has added so many new +branches to military organization. Both he and his young wife were as +hospitable as their not too generous means and occasional cheques from +the Emperor William would allow, particularly to any Borussian of the +Prince's Bonn university days who might be passing through Berlin or +Potsdam. The young Prince and Princess took part, as was to be +expected of them, in the festivities and ceremonies of the Emperor's +and Crown Prince's Court, and, when they had nothing more interesting +to do, might be seen strolling arm in arm about the streets in Potsdam +looking into the shops as young married people do in every town, and +being apparently, as the story-books say, as happy as the day is long. + +On the whole, however, during these pre-accession years, only glimpses +of Prince William's character and doings are obtainable, but, though +meagre, they are sufficient to suggest that in his case, too, if we +extend the saying to cover the entire period of youth, the child was +father to the man. The chief, almost the only, reliable authorities +for the inner history of the time are the memoirs and notes left by +the two Chancellors, Prince Bismarck and Prince Hohenlohe--_en +passant_ let the hope be expressed here that in the interests of +Germany herself another Chancellor, Prince Bernhard Ernst von Bülow, +now living in retirement at Rome, will enlighten the world as to that +of the last ten or twelve stirring years, _quorum pars magna fuit_. +Both Bismarck and Hohenlohe were excellent judges of character, and +have, described, though with regrettable brevity, the character of +Prince William about this time. Talking to his confidant, Dr. Busch, +in June, 1882, Bismarck says of the Prince: + + "He is quite different from the Emperor William, and wishes + to take the government into his own hands; he is energetic + and determined, not at all disposed to put up with + parliamentary co-regents, a regular guardsman; Philopater + and Antipater at Potsdam! He is not at all pleased at his + father (Crown Prince Frederick) taking up with professors, + with Mommsen, Virchow, Forckenbeck. Perhaps he may one day + develop into the _rocher de bronze_ of which we stand in + need." + +This _rocher de bronze_ is an expression constantly employed by +devoted royalists and imperialists in Germany. It was first used by +Frederick William IV, who, in the jargon which in his time passed for +the German language, exclaimed: "_Ich werde meine Souvereinetat +stabilizieren wie ein rocher de bronze_." + +Again, about this time Bismarck says: + + "Up to that time (when Prince William was studying at the + Ministries) he knew little, and indeed did not trouble + himself much about it, but preferred to enjoy himself in the + society of young officers and such-like," + +and he goes on to tell how the Prince took--or did not take--to this +Ministerial education. It was proposed that the Under Secretary of +State, Herrfurth, who was reputed to be well informed, particularly in +statistics, should instruct him about internal questions. The Prince +agreed and invited Herrfurth to lunch, but afterwards told Bismarck he +could not stand him, "with his bristly beard, his dryness and +tediousness." Could Bismarck suggest some one else? The Chancellor +mentioned Privy Councillor von Brandenstein. The Prince did not +object, had the Baron several times to meals, but paid so little +attention to his explanations that Brandenstein lost patience and +begged for some other employment. Concerning a rendezvous, Bismarck +writes: + + "He (Prince William) has more understanding, more courage + and greater independence (than his grandfather), but in his + leaning for me he goes too far. He was 'surprised' that I + had waited for him, a thing his grandfather was incapable of + saying;" + +and the Chancellor adds: + + "It is only in trifles and matters of secondary importance + that one occasionally has reason to find fault with him, as, + for instance, in the form of his State declarations--but + that is youthful vivacity which time will correct. Better + too much than too little fire." + +Busch relates, under date of April 6, 1888, Bismarck's birthday, how +Prince William came to offer his congratulations, and, having done so, +invited himself to dinner. The meal over, he made a speech toasting +Bismarck, in which he said: + + "The Empire is like an army corps that has lost its + commander-in-chief in the field, while the officer who is + next to him in rank lies severely wounded. At this critical + moment forty-six million loyal German hearts turn with + solicitude and hope to the standard, and the standard-bearer + in whom all their expectations are centred. The + standard-bearer is our illustrious Prince, our great + Chancellor. Let him lead us. We will follow him. Long may he + live!" + +Prince Hohenlohe's references to Prince William as Emperor are +frequent and full, but he has little to say about his character as +Prince William beyond noting, when there was some talk of the Prince +directly succeeding Emperor William, that he was "too young." On an +occasion subsequently Prince Hohenlohe amusingly notes that the +Emperor shook hands with him until his fingers "nearly cracked." This +is still a genial gesture of the Emperor's. + +One document, however, is available to show the spirit of religious +tolerance which then animated our young Lutheran Prince, as it has +animated him, it may be added, ever since. Pius IX had been succeeded +in the Papacy by the more liberal Leo XIII, and the Kulturkampf had +come to an end. Prince William, writing to an uncle, Cardinal +Hohenlohe, says:-- + + "That this unholy Kulturkampf is at an end is a thing which + rejoices me beyond expression. Of late many eminent + Catholics, among them Kopp (afterwards Cardinal) have + frequently visited me and honoured me with a confidence at + once complete and gratifying. I was often so happy as to be + able to be the interpreter of their wishes (to the Emperor + and Bismarck, presumably) and do them some service. So it + has been granted to my youth to co-operate in this work of + peace. This has given me great pleasure and happiness. + + "Give my regards to Galimberti and lay my respects at the + feet of the Pope. + + "Thy devoted nephew, + + "WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA." + +With his future subjects Prince William was brought into close +relations only in a very limited way. No one, save perhaps Bismarck, +seems to have known or suspected his true character and aims. This was +natural enough, since it is not until a man comes to occupy some +influential or prominent position that the public begins to take an +interest in him. His father would be Emperor before him, and fate +might have it that he himself would not live to come to the throne. +Royal highnesses are not uncommon in a country with such a feudal +history and so many courts as Germany. The young Prince, moreover, was +never, to use a phrase of to-day, in the limelight. He was never +involved in a notorious scandal. He had not, as his eldest son, the +present Crown Prince, has, published a book. He was more or less +absorbed in the army, the early grave of so many dawning talents. And +there was no newspaper press devoted to chronicling the doings and +sayings of the fashionable world of his time. His natural abilities +would doubtless have secured him reputation and success in any sphere +of life, but, as he himself would probably be the first to admit, much +of his fame, and even much of his merit, is due to the splendid +opportunities afforded him by his birth and position. + +At the same time it is obvious that if his people at this period had +not much opportunity of studying the young Prince, he had been +studying them and their requirements as these latter appeared to him. +He had evidently thought much on Germany's conditions and prospects +before he came to the throne, and was Empire-building in imagination +long before he became Emperor. It is not hard to guess the drift of +his meditations. The success of the Empire depended on the success of +Prussia, and the success of Prussia, ringed in by possibly hostile +Powers, on union under a Prussian King whom Germans should swear +fealty to and regard as a Heaven-granted leader. From the history of +Prussia he drew the conclusion that force, physical force, well +organized and equipped, must be the basis of Germany's security. +Physical force had made Brandenburg into Prussia, and Prussia into the +still nascent modern German Empire. He knew that France was only +waiting for the day to come when she would be powerful enough to +recover her lost provinces. Russia was friendly, but there was no +certainty she would always be so. Austria was an ally, but many people +in Austria had not forgotten Sadowa, and in any case her military and +naval forces were far from being efficient. An irresistible army, and +a national spirit that would keep it so, were consequently Germany's +first essentials. + +Simultaneously a new fact of vital importance for Germany's prosperity +presented itself for consideration--the growth of world-policy in +trade, the expansion of commerce through the development caused by new +conditions of transport and intercommunication in which other nations +were already engaged. The Prince saw his country's merchants beginning +to spread over the earth, and believing in the doctrine that trade +follows the flag, he felt that the flag, with the power and protection +it affords, must be supplied. For this it appeared to him that a navy +was as indispensable as was an efficient army for Germany's internal +security. All other great countries had fine navies, while to Germany +this complement of Empire was practically wanting. Accordingly he now +took up the study of naval science and naval construction. + +There was an occasion, however, at this time when the young Prince +attracted general attention, if only for a few days. It was when as +colonel of the Body Guard Hussars, he ordered his officers to withdraw +from a Berlin club in which hazard and high play had ruined some of +the younger and less wealthy members. The committee of the club used +their influence to cause Emperor William to make the new commander +cancel his order. The Emperor sent for his grandson and requested its +withdrawal. + +"Majesty," said the young commander, "permit me a question--am I still +commander of the regiment?" + +"Of course--" + +"Well, then, will your Majesty allow me to maintain the order--or else +accept my resignation?" + +"Oh," said the Emperor, who was in reality pleased with the young +disciplinarian, "there can be no talk of such a thing. I could not +find so good a commanding officer again in a hurry." + +When the club committee's ambassadors came to the Emperor to learn the +result of his intervention, his answer was, "Very sorry, gentlemen; I +did my best, but the colonel refuses." + +The political situation as regards France was just now highly +precarious. General Boulanger, whom Gambetta once described as "one of +the four best officers in France," had become Minister of War in the +de Freycinet Cabinet of 1886. Relying on a supposed superiority of the +French army, he prepared for a war of revenge against Germany and +aimed, with the help of Deroulède and Rochfort, at suppressing the +parliamentary _régime_ and establishing himself as dictator. His plans +were answered in Germany by the acceptance of Bismarck's Septennat +proposals for increasing the army and fixing its budget for seven +years in advance. The war feeling in France diminished, and though it +revived for a time owing to the arrest of the French frontier police +commissary Schnaebele, it finally died out on that officer's release +at the particular request of the Czar to Emperor William. Boulanger's +subsequent history only concerns France. He was sent to a provincial +command, but returned to Paris, where he was joyously received and +elected to Parliament by a large majority. He might, it is believed, a +year or two later, on being elected by the department of the Seine, +with Paris at his back, have made a successful _coup d'état_ on the +night of his triumphant election, but his courage at the last moment +failed, and on learning that he was about to be arrested he fled to +Brussels, where he committed suicide on the grave of his mistress. + +The time, however, was approaching, the most interesting, and as the +succession of events have shown, the most momentous for the Empire +since 1870, when Prince William's accession was obviously at hand. +During the year 1887 and the early part of 1888 the attention of the +world was fixed, first curiously, then anxiously, then sympathetically +on the situation in Berlin. Emperor William was an old man just turned +ninety; he was fast breaking up and any week his death might be +announced. Hereditarily the Crown Prince Frederick, now fifty-six, +should succeed, and a new reign would open which might introduce +political changes of moment to other countries as well as Germany. The +new reign was indeed to open, but only to prove one of the shortest in +history. + +In January, 1887, a Shadow fell on the House of Hohenzollern, the +Shadow that must one day fall on every living creature. It was noticed +that the Crown Prince was hoarse, had caught a cold, or something of +the kind. A stay at Ems did him no good, Doctors Tobold and von +Bergmann, the leading specialists of the day, were consulted, a +laryngoscopic examination followed, the presence of cancer was +strongly suspected, and an operation was advised. At this juncture, at +the suggestion, it is said, of Queen Victoria, it was decided to +summon the specialist of highest reputation in England, Sir Morell +Mackenzie, who, having examined the patient, and basing his opinion on +a report of Professor Virchow's, declared that the growth was not +malignant. It was now May, and on Mackenzie's advice the patient +visited England, where, accompanied by Prince William, he was present +at the celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Some months after his +return to the Continent were spent with his family in Tirol and Italy, +until November found him in San Remo, where a meeting of famous +surgeons from Vienna, Berlin, and Frankfort-on-Main finally diagnosed +the existence of cancer, and Mackenzie coincided with the judgment. + +The old Emperor died on March 9th. He had taken cold on March 3rd, and +on the 7th a chronic ailment of the kidneys from which he suffered +became worse, he could not sleep, his strength began to ebb, and it +was clear the end was near. On the 6th, however, he was able to speak +for a few minutes with Prince William, with Bismarck, and with his +only daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, who had arrived post-haste +the night before to be present at the death-bed. The Grand Duchess, as +the Emperor spoke, besought him not to tire himself by talking. "I +have no time to be tired," he murmured, in a flicker of the sense of +duty which had been a lifelong feature of his character, and a few +hours later he passed quietly away. The funeral, headed by Prince +William and the Knights of the Black Eagle, took place on the 20th. +The new Emperor Frederick, who had hurried from San Remo on receiving +news of the Emperor's condition, was too ill to join it, but stood +behind a closed window of his palace and saluted as the coffin went +by. + +The incidents of the Emperor Frederick's ascent of the throne, the +amnesty and liberal-minded proclamations to his people, and in +particular the heroic resignation with which he bore his fate, are +events of common knowledge. One of them was the so-called Battenberg +affair. Queen Victoria desired a marriage between Princess Victoria, +the present Emperor's sister, then aged twenty-two, and Prince +Alexander of Battenberg, at that time Prince of Bulgaria, so as to +secure him against Russia by an alliance with the imperial house of +Germany. Prince Bismarck objected on the ground that the marriage +would show Germany in an unfriendly light at St. Petersburg, and might +subject a Prussian princess to the risk of expulsion from Sofia. +Another account is that the Chancellor feared an increase of English +influence at the German Court with the Prince of Bulgaria as its +channel. In any case, the result of the Chancellor's opposition was to +place the sick Emperor in a delicate and painful situation. It was +ended by his yielding to the Chancellor's representations, and the +marriage did not come off. + +Meanwhile, the Emperor's malady was making fatal progress. The Shadow +was growing darker and more formidable. A season of patiently-borne +suffering followed, until Death in his terrific majesty appeared and +another Emperor occupied the throne. + + + + +IV. + + + +"VON GOTTES GNADEN" + +Prince William is now German Emperor and King of Prussia. Before +observing him as trustee and manager of his magnificent inheritance a +pause may be made to investigate the true meaning of a much-discussed +phrase which, while suggesting nothing to the Englishman though he +will find it stamped in the words "Dei gratia" on every shilling piece +that passes through his hands, is the bed-rock and foundation of the +Emperor's system of rule and the key to his nature and conduct. + +Government in Germany is dynastic, not, as in England and America, +parliamentary or democratic. The King of Prussia possesses his +crown--such is the theory of the people as well as of the dynasty--by +the grace of God, not by the consent of the people. The same may be +said of the German Emperor, who fills his office as King of Prussia. +To the Anglo-Saxon foreigner the dynasty in Germany, and particularly +in Prussia, appears a sort of fetish, the worship of which begins in +the public schools with lessons on the heroic deeds of the +Hohenzollerns, and with the Emperor, as high priest, constantly +calling on his people to worship with him. This view of the kingly +succession may seem Oriental, but it is not surprising when one +reflects that the Hohenzollern dynasty is over a thousand years old +and during that time has ruled successively in part of Southern +Germany, in Brandenburg, in Prussia, until at last, imperially, in all +Germany. Moreover, it has ruled wisely on the whole; in the course of +centuries it has brought a poor and disunited people, living on a soil +to a great extent barren and sandy, to a pitch of power and prosperity +which is exciting the envy and apprehension of other nations. + +In England government passed centuries ago from the dynasty to the +people, and there are people in England to-day who could not name the +dynasty that occupies the English throne. Such ignorance in Germany is +hardly conceivable. In Prussia government has always been the appanage +of the Hohenzollerns, and the Emperor is resolved that, supported by +the army, it shall continue to be their appanage in the Empire. +Government means guidance, and no one is more conscious of the fact +than the Emperor, for he is trying to guide his people all the time. +Frederick William IV once said to the Diet: "You are here to represent +rights, the rights of your class and, at the same time, the rights of +the throne: to represent opinion is not your task." This relation of +government and people has become modified of recent years to a very +obvious degree, but constitutionally not a step has been taken in the +direction of popular, that is to say parliamentary, rule. + +England and Germany are both constitutional monarchies, but both the +monarch and the Constitution in Germany are different from the monarch +and the Constitution in England. The British Constitution is a growth +of centuries, not, like the German Constitution, the creation of a +day. The British Constitution is unwritten, if it is stamped, as Mary +said the word "Calais" would be found stamped on her heart after +death, on the heart and brain of every Englishman. The German +Constitution is a written document in seventy-eight chapters, not +fifty years old, and on which, compared with the British Constitution, +the ink is not yet dry. In England to the people the Constitution is +the real monarch: in Germany the monarchy is to the people what the +British Constitution is to the Englishman; and while in England the +monarch is the first counsellor to the Constitution, in Germany the +Constitution is the first counsellor to the monarch. + +The consequence in England is representative government, with a +political career for every ordinary citizen; the consequence in +Germany is constitutional monarchy, properly so-called, with a +political career for no common citizen. Neither system is perfect, but +both, apparently, give admirable national results. And yet, of course, +an Englishman cannot help thinking that if Herr Bebel were made +Minister to-morrow, Social Democracy would cease to exist. + +The people acquiesce in the Hohenzollern view, not indeed with perfect +and entire unanimity, for the small Progressive party demand a +parliamentary form of government, if not on the exact model of that +established in England. The Social Democrats, evidently, would have no +government at all. Many English people suppose that Germans generally +must desire parliamentary rule and would help them to get it, for +multitudes of English people are firmly persuaded that it is England's +mission to extend to other peoples the institutions which have suited +her so well, without sufficiently considering how different are their +circumstances, geographical position, history, traditions, and +national character. A very similar mistake is made in Germany by +multitudes of Germans, who believe it is Germany's mission to impose +her culture, her views of man and life, on the rest of the world. + +The Prussian view of monarchy, expressed in the words "von Gottes +Gnaden" ("By the Grace of God"), is a political conception, which, +under its customary English translation, "by Divine Right," has often +been ridiculed by English writers. Lord Macaulay, it will be +remembered, in his "History of England," asserts that the doctrine +first emerged into notice when James the Sixth of Scotland ascended +the English throne. "It was gravely maintained," writes Macaulay, + + "that the Supreme Being regarded hereditary monarchy, as + opposed to other systems of government, with peculiar + favour; that the rule of succession in order of + primogeniture was a divine institution anterior to the + Christian, and even to the Mosaic, dispensation; that no + human power, not even that of the whole legislature, no + length of adverse possession, though it extended to ten + centuries, could deprive the legitimate prince of his + rights; that his authority was necessarily always despotic; + that the laws by which, in England and other countries, the + prerogative was limited, were to be regarded merely as + concessions which the sovereign had freely made and might at + his pleasure resume; and that any treaty into which a king + might enter with his people was merely a declaration of his + present intention, and not a contract of which the + performance could be demanded." + +The statement exactly expresses the ideas on the subject attributed +abroad to the Emperor. + +The distinguished German historian, Heinrich von Treitschke, writes of +King Frederick William IV, the predecessor of Emperor William I, as +follows:-- + + "He believed in a mysterious enlightenment which is granted + 'von Gottes Gnaden' to kings rather than other mortals. All + the blessings of peace, which his People could expect under + a Christian monarch, should Proceed from the wisdom of the + Crown alone; he regarded his high office like a patriarch of + the Old Testament and held the kingship as a fatherly power + established by God Himself for the education of the people. + Whatever happened in the State he connected with the person + of the monarch. If only his age and its royal awakener had + understood each other better! He had, however, in his + strangely complicated process of development, constructed + such extraordinary ideals that though he might sometimes + agree in words with his contemporaries he never did as to + the things, and spoke a different language from his people. + Even General Gerlach, his good friend and servant, used to + say: 'The ways of the King are wonderful;' and the not less + loyal Bunsen wrote about a complaint of the monarch that 'no + one understands me, no one agrees with me,' the + commentary--'When one understood him, how could one agree + with him?'" + +It was this king, be it parenthetically remarked, who said, when his +people were clamouring for a Constitution, in 1847: "Now and never +will I admit that a written paper, like a second Providence, force +itself between our God in Heaven and this land"--and a few months +later had to sign the document his people demanded. + +Von Treitschke, writing on the last birthday of Emperor William I, +thus spoke of the doctrine: + + "A generation ago an attempt was made by a theologizing + State theory to inculcate the doctrine of a power of the + throne, divine, released from all earthly obligations. This + mystery of the Jacobins never found entrance into the clear + common sense of our people." + +Prince Bismarck's view of the doctrine was explained in a speech he +made to the Prussian Diet in 1847. He was speaking on "Prussia as a +Christian State." "For me," he said, + + "the words 'von Gottes Gnaden,' which Christian rulers join + to their names, are no empty phrase, but I see in them the + recognition that the princes desire to wield the sceptre + which God has assigned them according to the will of God on + earth. As God's will I can, however, only recognize what is + revealed in the Christian gospels, and I believe I am in my + right when I call that State a Christian one which has taken + as its task the realization, the putting into operation, of + the Christian doctrine.... Assuming generally that the State + has a religious foundation, in my opinion this foundation + can only be Christianity. Take away this religious + foundation from the State and we retain nothing of the State + but a chance aggregation of rights, a kind of bulwark + against the war of all against all, which the old + philosophers spoke of." + +On the second occasion, thirty years later, the Chancellor's theme was +"Obedience to God and the King." + +"I refer," he said, + + "to the wrong interpretation of a sentence which in itself + is right--namely, that one must obey God rather than man. + The previous speaker must know me long enough to be aware + that I subscribe to the entire correctness of this sentence, + and that I believe I obey God when I serve the King under + the device 'With God for King and Country.' Now he (the + previous speaker) has separated the component parts of the + device, for he sees God separated from King and Fatherland. + I cannot follow him on this road. I believe I serve my God + when I serve my King in the protection of the commonwealth + whose monarch 'von Gottes Gnaden' he is, and on whom the + emancipation from alien spiritual influence and the + independence of his people from Romish pressure have been + laid by God as a duty in which I serve the King. The + previous speaker would certainly admit in private that we do + not believe in the divinity of a State idol, though he seems + to assert here that we believe in it." + +In these passages, it may be remarked, Bismarck avoids an +unconditional endorsement of the Hohenzollern doctrine of divine +"right" or even divine appointment. Indeed all he does is to express +his belief in the sincerity of rulers who declare their desire to rule +in accordance with the will of God as it appears in Holy Scripture. In +addition to his dislike of a "Christianity above the State," the fact +that he did not subscribe to the doctrine of divine right, as these +words are interpreted in England, is shown by another speech in which +he said, "The essence of the constitutional monarchy under which we +live is the co-operation of the monarchical will and the convictions +of the people." But what, one is tempted to ask, if will and +convictions differ? + +In recent times, Dr. Paul Liman, in an excellent character sketch of +the Emperor, devotes his first chapter to the subject, thus +recognizing the important place it occupies in the Emperor's +mentality. Dr. Liman, like all German writers who have dealt with the +topic, animadverts on the Hohenzollern obsession by the theory and +attributes it chiefly to the romantic side of the Emperor's nature +which was strongly influenced in youth by the "wonderful events" of +1870, by the national outburst of thanks to God at the time, and by +the return from victorious war of his father, his grandfather, and +other heroes, as they must have appeared to him, like Bismarck, +Moltke, and Roon. + +It is worth noting that Prince von Bülow, during the ten years of his +Chancellorship, made no parliamentary or other specific and public +allusion to the doctrine. + +Before, however, attempting to offer a somewhat different explanation +of the Emperor's attitude in the matter from those just cited, let us +see what statements he has himself made publicly about it and how the +doctrine has been interpreted by his contemporaries. He made no +reference to it in his declarations to the army, the navy, and the +people when he ascended the throne. His first allusion to it was in +March, 1890, at the annual meeting of the Brandenburg provincial Diet +at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin, and then the allusion was not +explicit. "I see," said the Emperor, + + "in the folk and land which have descended to me a talent + entrusted to me by God, which it is my task to increase, and + I intend with all my power so to administer this talent that + I hope to be able to add much to it. Those who are willing + to help me I heartily welcome whoever they may be: those who + oppose me in this task I will crush." + +His next allusion, at Bremen in April of the same year, when he was +laying the foundation-stone of a statue to his grandfather, King +William, a few months subsequent to Bismarck's retirement, was more +explicit, yet not completely so. + +"It is a tradition of our House," so ran his speech, + + "that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed + by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us + to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their + material and intellectual interests." + +The next reference, and the only one in which a divine "right" to rule +in Prussia is formally claimed, occurs four years later at +Koenigsberg, the ancient crowning-place of Prussian kings. Here he +said:-- + + "The successor (namely himself) of him who _of his own + right_ was sovereign prince in Prussia will follow the same + path as his great ancestor; as formerly the first King (of + Prussia, Frederick I.) said, 'My crown is born with me,' and + as his greater son (the Great Elector) gave his authority + the stability of a rock of bronze, so I too, like my + imperial grandfather, represent the kingship 'von Gottes + Gnaden.'" + +At Coblenz in 1897, in reference to the first Emperor William's +labours for the army and people:-- + + "He (Emperor William) left Coblenz to ascend the throne as + the selected instrument of the Lord he always regarded + himself to be. For us all, and above all for us princes, he + raised once more aloft and lent lustrous beams to a jewel + which we should hold high and holy--that is the kingship von + Gottes Gnaden, the kingship with its onerous duties, its + never-ending, ever-continuing trouble and labour, with its + fearful responsibility to the Creator alone, from which no + human being, no minister, no parliament, no people can + release the prince." + +Here, too, if the words "responsibility to the Creator alone" be taken +in their ordinary English sense, the allusion to a divine right may be +construed, though it is observable that the word "right" is not +actually employed. + +In Berlin, when unveiling a monument to the Great Elector, the Emperor +was filled with the same idea of the God-given mission of the +Hohenzollerns. After briefly sketching the deeds of the Elector--how +he came young to the throne to find crops down-trodden, villages burnt +to the ground, a starved and fallen people, persecuted on every side, +his country the arena for barbarous robber-bands who had spread war +and devastation throughout Germany for thirty years; how, with +"invincible reliance on God" and an iron will, he swept the pieces of +the land together, raised trade and commerce, agriculture and +industry, in for that period an incredibly short time; how he brought +into existence a new army entirely devoted to him; how, in fine, +guided by the hope of founding a great northern Empire, which would +bring the German peoples together, he became an authority in Europe +and laid the corner-stone of the present Empire--after sketching all +this, the Emperor continues: + + "How is this wonderful success of the house of Hohenzollern + to be explained? Solely in this way, that every prince of + the House is conscious from the beginning that he is only an + earthly vicegerent, who must give an account of his labour + to a higher King and Master, and show that he has been a + faithful executor of the high commands laid upon him." + +One finds exactly the same idea expressed three months later when +talking to his "Men of Brandenburg." "You know well," he reminded +them, + + "that I regard my whole position and my task as laid on me + by Heaven, and that I am appointed by a Higher Power to whom + I must later render an account. Accordingly I can assure you + that not a morning or evening passes without a prayer for my + people and a special thought for my Mark Brandenburg." + +To the Anglo-Saxon understanding, of course, the theory of divine +right has long appeared untenable, obsolete, and, as Macaulay says, +absurd. Many people to-day would go farther and argue that there is no +such thing as a divine right at all, since "rights" are a purely human +idea, possibly a purely legal one. But it is at least doubtful that +the Emperor uses the expression "von Gottes Gnaden" in a sense exactly +coterminous with that of "divine right" as used by Lord Macaulay and +later Anglo-Saxon writers and speakers. The latter, when dealing with +things German, not unfrequently fall into the error of mistranslation +and are thus at times responsible for national misunderstandings. The +Italian saying, "_traduttore, tradittore_," is the expression of a +fact too seldom recognized, especially by those whose business it is +to interpret, so to speak, one people to another. Language is as +mysterious and elusive a thing as aught connected with humanity, as +love, for example, or music; and it may be asserted with some degree +of confidence that among every people there are ideas current, and in +all departments--in law, society, art--which it is impossible exactly +to translate into the speech of other nations. The words used may be +the same, but the connotation, all the words imply and suggest, is, +perhaps in very important respects, different, and requires a +paraphrase, longer or shorter, to explain them. Take the word "false" +in English and "falsch" in German. They look alike, yet while the +English "false" carries with it a moral reproach, the German word, +where the context does not explicitly prove otherwise, means simply +"incorrect," "erroneous," without the moral reproach added. +Accordingly, when a German Chancellor asserts that the statement of an +English Minister is "falsch" he does not necessarily mean anything +offensive, but only that the English Minister is mistaken. + +From this point of view one may regard the statements of the Emperor +concerning his kingly office. He has recently begun to use the +expression "German Emperor von Gottes Gnaden," a thing done by none of +his imperial predecessors, and certainly a very curious extension of a +doctrine which traditionally only applies to wearers of the crown of +Prussia. But if he does, it may, it is here suggested, be considered +further evidence that he employs the terms "von Gottes Gnaden" in a +sense other than that of "divine right" as conceived by the +Anglo-Saxon. The German "Gnade" means "favour," "grace," "mercy," +"pity," or "blessing," and is at times used in direct contrast with +the word "Recht," which means "justice" as well as "right." The point, +indeed, need hardly be elaborated, and the Emperor's own explanation +of the revelation of God to mankind, with its special reference to his +grandfather which we shall find later in the confession of faith to +Admiral Hollmann, is highly significant of the sense in which he +regards himself and every ruling Hohenzollern as selected for the +duties of Prussian kingship. It is the work of the kingship he is +divinely appointed to do of which he is always thinking, not the legal +right to the kingship _vis à vis_ his people he is mistakenly supposed +to claim. He regards himself as a trustee, not as the owner of the +property. And is not such a spirit a proper and praiseworthy one? In a +sense we Christians, if in a position of responsibility, believe that +we are all divinely appointed to the work each of us has to do: +instruments of God, who shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may. +The Emperor finely says of the Almighty: "He breathed into man His +breath, that is a portion of Himself, a soul." Reason is what chiefly +distinguishes man from the brute, though there are those who hold that +reason is but a higher form of brutish instinct, which again has its +degree among the brutes; but, assuming that reason is of divine +origin, enabling us to receive, by one means or another, the dictates +of the Almighty, it seems clear that there must be channels through +which these dictates become known to us. + +This conveyance, this making plain is, as many people, and the Emperor +among them, believe, performed by God through the agency of those whom +mankind agree to call "great." For the last nineteen centuries a large +part of civilized mankind is at one in the belief that Christ was such +an agency, while millions again agree to call the agency Buddha, +Mahomet, Confucius, or Zoroaster. In the creed of Islam Christ, as a +prophet, comes fifth from Adam. In America there are thousands who +believe, or did believe, in the agency of a Mrs. Eddy or a Dr. Dowie. +And if this is so in matters of religion, itself only a form of the +reasoning soul, why should it not be the same in morals or philosophy, +art or science, government or administration: why should we not all +accept, as many still do, the sayings and writings of the Hebrew +prophets (as does the Emperor), of Plato and Aristotle, of Bacon and +Hobbes, of Milton and Shakespeare and Goethe, of Kepler and Galileo, +or Charlemagne and Napoleon, as divinely intended to convey and make +plain to us the dictates of Heaven until such time as yet greater +souls shall instruct us afresh and still more fully? + +It may be that the Emperor thinks in some such way; his speeches and +edicts at least suggest it. Certainly, as already mentioned, he did on +one occasion, when speaking of his kingship, employ the word "right" +as descriptive of the nature of his appointment by God. But that was +early in his reign, and at no time since has he insisted on a +Heaven-granted right to rule. It was, no doubt, different with some of +his absolute predecessors, but it was not the view of Frederick the +Great, who declared himself "the first servant of the State." +Moreover, it is hardly conceivable that the Emperor, who is acquainted +with the facts of history and is a man of practical common sense +besides, does not know that the doctrine of "divine right" has long +been rejected by people of intelligence in every civilized country, +including his own. + +If he really believes in divine right in the Stuart sense he must +think that the conditions of Germany are so different from those of +the rest of civilized mankind, and his own people so little advanced +in knowledge and political science, that a doctrine absurd and +dangerous to the peace of enlightened commonwealths is applicable as a +basis of rule in his own. It seems a more plausible view, that the +Emperor considers the expression "von Gottes Gnaden" an academic +formula of government, or what is still more likely, as a moral and +religious, not a legal, dogma, which yet expresses one of the leading +and most admirable features of his policy as a ruler. If it is not so, +he is inconsistent with himself, since he has repeatedly declared +himself bound by the Constitution in accordance with which his +grandfather and father and he himself have hitherto ruled. At present +the doctrine of divine "right" is regarded by Germans no less than by +Englishmen as dead and buried, and mention of it in Germany is usually +greeted with a smile. Even the notion of appointment by divine +"grace," while considered a harmless and praiseworthy article of faith +with the Emperor, is no longer regarded as a living principle of +government. + + + + +V. + + + +THE ACCESSION + + + +1888-1890 + +With his accession began for the Emperor a period of extraordinary +activity which has continued practically undiminished to the present +day. During that time he has been the most prominent man and monarch +of his generation. From the domestic point of view his life perhaps +has not been marked by many notable events, but from the point of view +of politics and international relations it has been the history of his +reign and to no small extent the history of the world. + +When a German Emperor ascends the throne there is no great outburst of +national rejoicing, no great series of popular ceremonials. There is +no brilliant procession as in England, no impressive coronation like +that of an English monarch in Westminster Abbey, no State visit of the +monarch to the Houses of Parliament. In Germany Parliament goes to the +King, not the King to Parliament. + +On the same day that the Emperor began his reign he addressed +proclamations to the army and navy. The addresses to the people and +the Parliament were to come a few days later. In the proclamation to +the army he said: + + "I and the army were born for each other. Let us remain + indissolubly so connected, come peace or storm, as God may + will. You will now take the oath of fidelity and obedience + to me, and I swear always to remember that the eyes of my + ancestors are bent on me from the other world, and that one + day I shall have to give an account touching the fame and + the honour of the army." + +His address to the navy was in the same vein. + + "We have only just put off mourning for my unforgettable + grandfather, Kaiser William I, and already we have had to + lower the flag for my beloved father, who took such an + interest in the growth and progress of the navy. A time of + earnest and sincere sorrow, however, strengthens the mind + and heart of man, and so let us, keeping at heart the + example of my grandfather and father, look with confidence + to the future. I have learned to appreciate the high sense + of honour and of duty which lives in the navy, and know that + every man is ready faithfully to stake his life for the + honour of the German flag, be it where it may. Accordingly I + can, in this serious hour, feel fully assured that we shall + stand strongly and steadily together in good or bad days, in + storm or sunshine, always mindful of the Fatherland and + always ready to shed our heart's blood for the honour of the + flag." + +To his people he promised that he would be a + + "just and mild prince, observant of piety and religion, a + protector of peace, a promoter of the country's prosperity, + a helper to the poor and needy, a faithful guardian of the + right." + +To the Parliament a week later he announced that he meant to walk in +the footsteps of his grandfather, particularly in regard to the +working classes, to acquire the confidence of the federated princes, +the affection of the people, and the friendly recognition of foreign +countries. He said that in his opinion the + + "most important duties of the German Emperor lay in the + domain of the military and political security of the nation + externally, and internally in the supervision of the + carrying out of imperial laws." + +The highest of these laws, he explained, was the Imperial Constitution +and "to preserve and protect the Constitution, and in especial the +rights it gives to the legislative bodies, to every German, but also +to the Emperor and the federated states," he considered "among the +most honourable duties of the Emperor." + +While the order of these addresses is different to what it would be in +England, it entirely accords with the spirit of the Prussian monarchy +and the political system of the German people. Settled in the heart of +Europe, the nation rests on the army, and it is hardly too much to say +that, from the Emperor's point of view, possibly also from the popular +German point of view, the interests of the army must be considered +before the interests of the rest of the population. An English +monarch, who issued his first address to the British navy, would be as +justified in doing so by the real necessities of Great Britain as a +German Emperor who first addresses the German army is justified by the +real necessities of Germany; for the British navy is as vital to the +British as the German army is to the German nation. In England, +however, the monarch's respect for the people and Parliament takes +precedence of his respect for the army, not _vice versa_ as in +Germany. + +In a speech from the throne to the Prussian Diet the Emperor took the +Constitutional Oath: "I swear to hold firmly and unbrokenly to the +Constitution of the Kingdom and to rule in agreement with it and the +laws ... so help me God!" and went on to proclaim the continuance in +Prussia and the Empire of his grandfather's and father's policy and +work. He said at the same time, while undertaking not to make the +People uneasy by trying to extend Crown rights, that he would take +care that the constitutional rights of the Crown were respected and +used, and that he meant to hand them over unimpaired to his successor. +He concluded by saying that he would always bear in mind the words of +Frederick the Great, who described himself as the "first servant of +the State." + +At Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, a few months later, he declared, when +unveiling a monument to his uncle, Prince Frederick Karl, a hero of +the Franco-Prussian War, that he meant never to surrender a stone of +the acquisitions made in the war and + + "believed he voiced the feeling of the entire army in saying + that Germany, rather than do so, would suffer its eighteen + army corps and its whole population of 42 millions to perish + on the field of battle." + +At this period of his career the Emperor was, first and foremost, a +thoroughgoing Hohenzollern. Doubtless he is so still, if he talks less +about the dynasty. He admired Frederick the Great, then as now, and in +the first place as military commander, but the ancestor with whom he +even more sympathized, and sympathizes, was the Great Elector. "The +ancestor," he said himself, + + "for whom I have the most liking (_Schwärmen_, a hardly + translatable German verb, is the word he used) and who + always shone before me as an example in my youth, was the + Great Elector, the man who loved his country with all his + heart and strength, and unrestingly devoted himself to + rescuing the Mark Brandenburg out of its deep distress and + made it a strong and united whole." + +What particularly attracted the Emperor in the history of the Elector +was the fact that he was the first Hohenzollern who saw the importance +of promoting trade and industry, building a navy, and acquiring +colonies. As yet, however, the Emperor had only clear and fairly +definite ideas about the need for a navy. The world-policy may have +been in embryo in his mind, but it was not born. + +The imaginative side of the Emperor's character at this period is well +illustrated in a speech he made in 1890 to his favourite "Men of the +Mark." He was talking of his travels, to which allusion had been made +by a previous speaker. + +"My travels," said the Emperor, + + "have not only had the object of making myself acquainted + with foreign countries and institutions, or to create + friendly relations with neighbouring monarchs, but these + journeys, which have been the subject of much + misunderstanding, had for me the great value that, withdrawn + from the heat of party faction, I could review our domestic + conditions from a distance and submit them to calm + consideration. Any one who, standing on a ship's bridge far + out at sea, with only God's starry heaven above him, + communes with himself, will not fail to appreciate the worth + of such a journey. For many of my fellow-countrymen I would + wish that they might live through such an hour, in which one + can make up an account as to what he has attempted and what + achieved. Then would he be cured of exaggerated + self-estimation, and that we all need." + +Having discharged the duty of addressing his own subjects, the +Emperor's next care, after a stay at Kiel where a German Emperor and +King now for the first time in history appeared in the uniform of an +admiral, was personally to announce his accession at the courts of his +fellow-European sovereigns. We find him, accordingly, paying visits to +Alexander II in St. Petersburg, to King Oscar II in Stockholm (where +he received a telegram announcing the birth of his fifth son), to +Christian IX in Copenhagen, to Kaiser Franz Joseph in Vienna and to +King Humbert in Rome. To both the last-mentioned he presented himself +in the additional capacity of Triplice ally. + +In August of the year following his accession he paid his first visit +as Emperor to England. It was a very different thing, one may imagine, +from the earliest recorded visit of a German Emperor to the English +Court. That was in 1416, when the Emperor Sigismund (1411-1437) +arrived there and was received by Henry V. Henry postponed the opening +of Parliament specially on his account, made him a Knight of the +Garter, and signed with him at Canterbury an offensive and defensive +alliance against France. How poor the German Empire and the German +Emperor were at that epoch may be judged from the fact that on his way +home Sigismund had to pawn the costly gifts he had received in +England. + +On the present occasion a grand naval review of over a hundred +warships, with crews totalling 25,000 men, was held in honour of the +Emperor at Osborne. This was followed, a few days afterwards, by a +parade of the troops at Aldershot under the command of General Sir +Evelyn Wood. On this occasion, after expressing his admiration for the +British troops, the Emperor concluded: "At Malplaquet and Waterloo, +Prussian and British blood flowed in the prosecution of a common +enterprise." In a little speech after the review the Emperor spoke of +the English navy as "the finest in the world." The impression made by +the Emperor on Sir Evelyn has been recorded by that general. "The +Emperor is extremely wide-awake," he writes to a friend, "with a +decided, straightforward manner. He is a good rider. His quick and +very intelligent spirit seizes every detail at a glance, and he +possesses a wonderful memory." The Emperor was now nominated an +honorary Admiral of the British navy and as a return compliment made +Queen Victoria honorary "Chef" of his own First Dragoon Guards. At the +naval review a journalist asked an English naval officer what would +happen if the Emperor, in command of a German fleet, should meet a +British fleet in time of war between England and Germany?--"Would the +British fleet have to salute the Emperor?" "Certainly," replied the +naval officer; "it would fire 100 guns at him." + +Next year the Emperor was again in England, this time to be present at +the Cowes regatta, which he took part in regularly during the four +succeeding years, noting, doubtless, all that might prove useful for +the development of the Kiel yachting "week," the success of which he +had then, as always since, particularly at heart. He was received by +Queen Victoria with the simple and homely words, "Welcome, William!" + +A State visit to the City of London followed, when he was accompanied +by the Empress, and was entertained to a luncheon given by the City +Fathers in the Guildhall. The entertainment, which took place on July +10, 1891, was remarkable for a speech delivered by the Emperor in +English, in which, besides declaring his intention of maintaining the +"historical friendship" between England and Germany, he proclaimed +that his great object "above all" was the preservation of peace, +"since peace alone can inspire that confidence which is requisite for +a healthy development of science, art, and commerce." On the same +occasion he expressed his feeling of "being at home" in England--"this +delightful country"--and spoke of the "same blood which flows alike in +the veins of Germans and English." Shortly afterwards he attended a +review of volunteers at Wimbledon, and, as he said, was "agreeably +astonished at the spectacle of so many citizen-soldiers in a country +that had no conscription." + +The Emperor returned from England to receive the visit of his chief +Triplice ally, the Emperor Franz Joseph, and to discuss with him +doubtless the European situation. Bismarck has been pictured as +sitting at the European chessboard pondering the moves necessary tor +Germany to win the game of which the great prize was the hegemony of +Europe. The chief opposing Pieces, whose aid or neutrality was +desirable, were for long France, Russia, Austria, and Italy; but in +1883, with the conclusion of the Triple Alliance, Austria and Italy +needed less to be considered, and the only two really important +opposing pieces left were France and Russia. Still, Germany, through +her allies of the Triplice, might be dragged into war, and +consequently the doings of Austria and Italy, both in relation to one +another and to France and Russia were, as they now are, of great +importance to her. + +At the time of the accession, the chessboard of our metaphor was +mainly occupied with Franco-German relations and with Russian designs +on Constantinople, the Dardanelles, and the Black Sea. The danger to +Germany of war with France, which had arisen out of the Boulanger and +Schnaebele incidents, had died down, but not altogether ceased. +Hohenlohe tells us how at this time, in conversation with the Emperor, +the latter ventured the forecast: "Boulanger is sure to succeed. I +prophesy that as Kaiser Ernest he will pay a visit to Berlin." He was +wrong, we know, as so many prophets are. + +Russian designs on Turkey had had to reckon with the opposition of +England and Austria. As regards these designs, Bismarck says: + + "Germany's policy should be one of reserve. Germany would + act very foolishly if in Oriental questions, without having + special interests, she took a side before the other Powers, + who were more nearly interested: she would therefore do well + to refrain from making her move as long as possible, and + thus, besides, gain the benefit of longer peace." + +The Chancellor, however, admitted that against the advantages of a +policy of reserve had to be set the disadvantage of Germany's position +in the centre of Europe with its frontiers exposed to the attacks of a +coalition. "From this situation," said the Chancellor, "it results +that Germany is perhaps the only Great Power in Europe which is not +tempted to attain its ends by victorious war." + +"Our interest," he goes on, + + "is to maintain peace, whereas our continental neighbours + without exception have wishes, either secret or officially + admitted, which can only be fulfilled through war. + Consequently, German policy must be to prevent war or + confine it as much as possible: to keep in the background + while the European game of cards is going on: and not by + loss of patience or concession at the cost of the country, + or vanity, or provocation from friends, allow ourselves to + be driven from the waiting attitude: otherwise--_plectuntur + Achivi!_--third parties will rejoice." + +That was the Bismarckian policy twenty-five years ago, and though new +economic conditions have had great influence in modifying it since, +particularly as it regards the East, it is practically Germany's +policy now. + +In his first speech from the throne to the Reichstag the Emperor thus +referred to the Triple Alliance: + + "Our Alliance with Austria-Hungary is publicly known. I hold + to the same with German fidelity, not merely because it has + been concluded, but because I see in this defensive union a + foundation for the balance of power in Europe and a legacy + of German history, the importance of which is recognized by + the whole of the German people, while it accords with + European international law as undeniably in force up to + 1866. Similar historical relations and similar national + exigences of the time bind us to Italy. Both Germany and + Italy desire to prolong the blessings of peace that they may + pursue in tranquillity the consolidation of their newly + acquired unity, the betterment of their national + institutions, and the increase of their prosperity." + +In a speech a few months later he declared that the Alliance had no +other purpose than to strengthen the peaceful relations of Germany to +other foreign Powers. His next public reference to it was in May, +1900, when Kaiser Franz Joseph visited Berlin on the occasion of the +coming of age of the German Crown Prince. "Truly," exclaimed the +Emperor, in a vein of some exaggeration, + + "this Alliance is not alone an agreement in the eyes of the + monarchs, but the longer it has existed, the deeper has it + taken root in the convictions of the peoples, and the moment + that the hearts of the peoples beat in unison nothing can + tear them asunder. Common interests, common feelings, joy + and sorrow shared together, unite our three nations for now + twenty years, and although often enough misunderstandings + and sarcasm and criticisms have been poured out on them, the + three peoples have succeeded in maintaining peace hitherto, + and are regarded by the whole world as its champions." + +The history of the Triplice may be shortly related here as, along with +his navy, it is regarded by the Emperor as the chief factor in the +preservation of the world's peace, and is, in fact, as has been said, +the foundation of his foreign policy. It arose from Bismarck's desire +to be independent of Russia and from his dread of a European +coalition--for example, that of France, Austria, and Russia--against +the German Empire. "We had," Bismarck writes, + + "carried on successful war against two of the European Great + Powers (Austria and France), and it became advisable to + withdraw at least one of them from the temptation to revenge + which lay in the prospect an alliance with others offered. + It could not be France, as any one who knew the history and + temperament of the two peoples could see, nor England owing + to her dislike of permanent alliances, nor Italy as her + support alone was insufficient against an anti-German + coalition; so that the choice lay between Austria-Hungary + and Russia." + +For many reasons Bismarck would have preferred the Russian alliance, +among others the traditional dynastic friendship between the two +countries and the fact that no natural political or religious causes +of conflict existed between them; while a union with Austria was less +reliable, owing to the changeable nature of her public opinion, the +heterogeneousness of her Magyar, Slav, and Catholic populations, and +the loss of influence by the German element with the governing body. +On the other hand, however, an alliance with Austria would be nothing +new, internationally, as such a connection theoretically arose from +the former connection of Germany and Austria in the Holy Roman Empire. +While weighing the matter, a threatening letter from Czar Alexander II +to William I, in which he called on Germany to support his Balkan +policy, and said that if he refused peace could not last between their +two countries, decided Bismarck in favour of Austria. The chief +opponent of the new Alliance was William I, who was moved by personal +chivalric feelings towards his nephew, Czar Alexander; but, +disregarding this, because confident of eventually persuading his +imperial master, Bismarck went to Gastein and there settled with the +Austrian Minister, Count Andrassy, the principles of the Alliance. +Italy came into the Alliance in 1883 as the immediate result of France +obtaining a protectorate in Tunis, in return, partly, for her +acquiescence in the English acquisition of Cyprus. The protectorate +aroused general indignation and fear in Italy, and though it meant a +large expenditure on naval and military armament, on May 20, 1882, she +joined the Dual Alliance for five years, and thus turned it into the +Triplice. + +The Triple Alliance rests on three treaties: one between Germany and +Austria-Hungary, one between Germany and Italy, and one between +Austria-Hungary and Italy. While by the first Germany and +Austria-Hungary bind themselves to combine in case of an attack on +either by Russia, whether as original foe or as ally, and to observe +"at least" benevolent neutrality in case of attack from any other +quarter, by the second Germany and Italy bind themselves to mutual +support in case of an attack on either by France. The third, between +Austria-Hungary and Italy, binds the signatories to benevolent +neutrality in case Austria-Hungary is attacked by Russia, or Italy by +France. + +That there are weak points in the Triple Alliance is obvious. If +Austria-Hungary were a purely homogeneous country like France or +Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, even without Italy, could face +with confidence an attack from either or both their powerful +neighbours. But Austria-Hungary is not homogeneous. A large proportion +of her population is anti-German, or at least non-German, and Italy is +always subject to be tempted by an opportunity of obtaining some of +Austria-Hungary's Adriatic possessions. Moreover, a large party is +even now to be found in Austria-Hungary which desires revenge for the +humiliation of her defeat by Germany in 1866. + +The relations of Germany to Russia have always been rather those of +friendship between the monarchs of the two countries than of +friendship between the two peoples; and it is easy to understand that +the fear of revolution, Socialism, or "government of the people, by +the people, for the people," to use Lincoln's celebrated phrase, at +all times forms a strong and active bond of sympathy between the +monarchs. In the case of Russia there is also always to be considered +the obstinate, or as the Emperor would call it knightly, spirit in +which his grandfather, King William I, regarded his obligation to +maintain friendship with the Czar, and which for a long time made him +hostile to the idea of alliance with Austria instead of alliance with +Russia. The feeling, it is highly probable, is strong, if not equally +strong, in the mind of the Emperor to-day, if only out of respect for +the memory of his ancestor. There is not, to use a popular expression, +much love lost between the two peoples, not only because of racial +differences between Teuton and Slav, but because of the differences in +religion and in degree of civilization. There are not a few Germans +who assert that Germany's next war will be with Russia, and that from +the dominions of the Czar will be obtained the fresh territory Germany +needs for her constantly expanding population. + +The Czar returned the Emperor's accession visit in Berlin in October, +1889, and it was on this occasion that the first sign of trouble +between the Emperor and the old Chancellor showed itself. When the +Emperor first proposed to make his round of visits of accession to +foreign sovereigns, Bismarck agreed except as regarded Russia and +England, objecting that visits to these countries would have an +alternatively bad effect in each. The Emperor, however, as has been +noted, went to Russia. During the return visit in Berlin, Bismarck had +an interview with the Czar which resulted in the final adjustment of +Russo-German relations, but at its close the Czar said, "Yes, I +believe you and have confidence in you, but are you sure you will +remain in office?" Bismarck looked surprised, and said, "Certainly, +Majesty; I am quite certain I shall remain in office all my life"--an +odd thing, one may remark, for a man to say, who must have been +familiar with the saying, "Put not your trust in princes." + +When the Czar was going away, both the Emperor and Bismarck +accompanied him to the station, and on their return the Emperor gave +the old Chancellor a seat in his carriage. The talk concerned the +visit just over, and the Emperor again announced his intention of +spending some time in Russia the following year. Bismarck now advised +against the project on the ground that it would arouse hostility in +Austria, and because "it was not suitable considering the Czar's +disposition towards the Emperor." + +"What disposition? What do you mean? How do you know?" questioned the +Emperor quickly. + +"From confidential letters I am in the habit of receiving from St. +Petersburg, in addition to official reports," replied the Chancellor. + +The Emperor expressed a wish to see the letters, but Bismarck gave an +evasive answer. The result was a temporary coolness between Emperor +and Chancellor. + +From a memorandum of Prince Hohenlohe's we get a glimpse of one of the +political currents and anti-currents just now running high. Prince +Hohenlohe writes under date, June 27, 1888, when the Emperor was +hardly a fortnight on the throne:-- + + "Last evening at 8 left Berlin with Thaden after supping + with Victor and Franz (son and nephew) in the Kaiserhof + Hotel. Paid several visits during the day. I found Friedberg + somewhat depressed. He is no longer the big man he was in + the Emperor Frederick's time, when everybody courted him. He + knows that the Emperor does not favour Jews. Then I visited + the new chief of the Cabinet (civil), Lucanus, a courtly, + polished, obliging man, who looks more like an elegant + Austrian privy councillor. Wilmoski inspires me with more + confidence. At 5 to Bleichroeder's (Bleichroeder was the + great Jew banker). We spoke, or rather he spoke first, about + the political situation. He is satisfied, and says Bismarck + is too. Only the Emperor must take care to keep out of the + hands of the Orthodox. People in the country wouldn't stand + that. (He is right there, comments Hohenlohe.) Waldersee and + his followers, he said, was another danger. Waldersee was a + foe of Bismarck's and thought himself fit for anything and + everything. Who knows but that these gentlemen wouldn't + begin the old game and say to the Emperor, 'You are simply + nothing but a doll. Bismarck is the real ruler.' On the old + Emperor this would have made no impression, but the young + one would be more sensitive. Bismarck, therefore, wanted + Waldersee's banishment, and would, if he could, send him to + Strasburg (where Hohenlohe was Statthalter) as commanding + general. Perhaps he was only aiming at making me (Hohenlohe) + sick of my post and so get rid of Waldersee, his enemy, when + I cleared out. Bleichroeder said Bismarck only introduced + the compulsory pass system to show the Emperor that he too + could act sharply against the French, and so as to take the + wind out of the sails of the military party. Bismarck was + thinking above all about seating his son Herbert firmly in + the saddle (Herbert was Secretary of State for Foreign + Affairs). That is the sole motive of his action and thought. + There was therefore no prospect of matters in the Rhineland + improving. As to Russia, Bleichroeder expected some + occurrence, something out of the way (_exotisches_) by which + Russia might be won, either the withdrawal of troops from + the frontier or a meeting of Emperors. The Emperor, Bismarck + said, would not begin a war. If it came, however, it would + not be unwelcome to him." + +Prince Hohenlohe also tells of a visit he paid in the month of the +accession to the widowed Empress Frederick. "She is much bowed down," +he said, + + "very harassed-looking, and I feel sure that all this recent + time, all the last year in fact, she has been displaying an + artificial good-humour, for now I find her in deep distress. + At first she could not speak for weeping. We spoke of the + Emperor Frederick's last days, then she recovered herself a + little and complained of the wickedness and meanness of men, + by which she meant to allude to certain people.... Herbert + Bismarck had had the impudence to tell the Prince of Wales + (later Edward VII) that an Emperor who could not talk and + discuss things should not be allowed to reign, and so on. + The Prince of Wales, the Empress said, told Herbert that if + it were not that he valued good relations between England + and Germany, he would have thrown him out of the door.... + Waldersee was a false, unprincipled wretch, who would think + nothing of ruining his country if he could only satisfy his + own personal ambition." + +Prince Hohenlohe finally called on the Prince of Wales, who "spoke +prudently, but showed his disgust at the roughness of the Bismarcks, +and could not understand their policy of irritating France." + +The particular question concerning France that was agitating Germany +at the time of the accession was the state of affairs in +Alsace-Lorraine, and particularly Bismarck's measure requiring French +citizens entering the provinces to provide themselves with a pass from +the German Ambassador in Paris. The amiable and conciliatory +Statthalter, Prince Hohenlohe, had to make a reluctant journey to +Berlin in connexion with this question. There was another question +also weighing on his mind--the question whether or not he should have +a sentry guard before his official residence in Strasburg. The +military authorities, whose rivalry with the civil authorities +everywhere in Germany for influence and power still continues, wanted +to have the sentries abolished, but the Prince eventually had his way. +He showed Bismarck that they were necessary for his reputation with +the population, which had already begun to think less of his influence +as Statthalter owing to his one day at a review having incautiously +and gallantly taken a back seat in his carriage in favour of some lady +guests. + +In normal times the composers of speeches from the throne are +accustomed to describe the relations between their own and foreign +countries as "friendly." When the relations are not friendly, yet not +the opposite, they are usually registered on the political barometer +as "correct." The attitude on both sides is formal, rigorously polite, +reserved; such as would become a pair of people who had once been at +feud and after their quarrel had been fought out agreed, if only for +the sake of appearances, to show no outward animosity, but on the +other hand not give an inch of way. The position of France and Germany +is "correct"; it has never been friendly since 1870; and it must be +many a long year before it can be friendly again. Apart from the +difference between the Latin and Teutonic temperaments, apart from the +legacy of hate left in Germany against France by the sufferings and +humiliations the great Napoleon caused her, apart from the fact that +one people is republican and the other monarchical, there is always +one thing that will prevent reconciliation--the loss by France of the +fair provinces Alsace and Lorraine. It is of no use for Germany to +remind France that up to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 this +territory belonged to Germany, or rather to what then was known by +that name. It was useless as well as ungracious for Bismarck to tell +France to seek compensation in Africa for what she had lost in Europe. +Like Rachel mourning for her children, France will not be comforted; +and now, as from the heavy hour in which she lost the provinces, she +grieves over the memory of them and nurses the hope, still mingled +with hate, of one glorious day regaining them. There are sanguine +spirits who assert that the old feeling is dying out, and the German +Government studiously encourages that view. It may be so; time is +having its obliterating effects; and in externals at least the +Germanization of the provinces is slowly making progress. Still the +wound is deep, and there seems no prospect of its healing. + +Several suggestions have been made with a view to an arrangement that +might leave France without reason, or with less reason, for constant +meditation on revenge One of them is the neutralization of +Alsace-Lorraine on the model of Belgium, while another is the +distribution of the territory, so that while Alsace is divided between +Baden and Bavaria, Lorraine becomes a part of Prussia A third would +divide the provinces between the two nations. An illustration of the +yet prevailing feeling is found in the fact that large Alsatian firms +invariably use French in their correspondence with Berlin firms, and +almost as invariably refer to the "customs-arrangement" with Germany +in 1871. They cannot bring themselves to use the word "annexation." + +Yet of late years--to anticipate somewhat the course of +events--Germany has made two important concessions to Alsace-Lorraine. +The first was the abrogation of the so-called "Dictator-Paragraph," +which was part of the law for administering the new provinces after +the war of 1870. Under the paragraph the Lieutenant-Governor +(Oberpresident) of the Reichsland, as the newly incorporated territory +is now officially known, was empowered in case of need to take command +of the military forces and proclaim a state of siege. When announcing +the abrogation of the Paragraph in the Reichstag in 1902, Chancellor +von Bülow gave a résumé of the relations of the provinces to the +Empire since 1870. He stated that immediately after the war the +population were not disposed to incorporation in the Empire, as they +thought the new state of things would only be temporary and that +France would soon reconquer the provinces. This state of feeling, the +Chancellor explained, naturally reacted on the Government, which +accordingly laid down the principle that the claims of the provinces +to equal political rights with other parts of the Empire could only be +recognized step by step, as the Government was satisfied that the +population conformed to the new order of things. + +The second important concession to the Provinces was made only +recently, when the provincial committee was replaced by a popularly +elected Diet and the Provinces were granted three seats in the Federal +Council. There is a proviso that in case of equality in the Council +meetings the votes shall not be allowed to turn the scale in favour of +Prussia. The limitation is a concession to the susceptibilities of the +other Federal states. + +Germany's relations with Great Britain at the time of the accession +were unclouded. Mr. Gladstone had been defeated on his Home Rule +proposals and Lord Salisbury was back in power. A lull had occurred in +British relations with the Transvaal. All nations, including Germany, +were beginning to turn their attention to the Orient with a view to +the acquisition in Asia of "spheres of influence and spheres of +interest," but as yet English and German interests had not come +anywhere into conflict. + +The Emperor's great internal foe and the object of his special enmity +is the Social Democracy, and practically from the day of his accession +he has waged war with it. His attitude towards the Socialists requires +no long description, since it logically results from his traditional +conception of Prussian monarchy and from the revolutionary character +of Social Democratic aims. While a young man he paid little or no +attention to the movement, and probably regarded it as the "passing +phenomenon" he subsequently declared it to be. In 1884 the number of +Social Democratic voters was something over half a million, and the +number of Social Democratic members returned to the Reichstag 25: in +1890, two years after the accession, the figures were a million and a +half and 35 respectively. + +The Emperor's denunciation of Social Democrats has always been +unmeasured. "A crew undeserving the name of Germans," a "plague that +must be extirpated," "traitors," "people without a country and enemies +to religion," "foes to the Empire and the country"--such were a few of +the expressions he then and during the next few years publicly applied +to three millions of his subjects. To-day, it may be added, the number +of Social Democrats in Germany is well over four millions. + +In 1889, in reply to a deputation of three coal miners' +representatives, the Emperor said: + + "As regards your demands, I will have them carefully + investigated (a phrase, by the way, not unknown in England) + by my Government, and let you know the result through the + usual official channels. Should, however, offences against + public peace and order occur, should a connexion between + your movement and Social Democratic circles be demonstrated, + I would not be in a position to weigh your wishes with my + royal goodwill, since for me every Social Democrat is the + same thing as a foe to the Empire and the Fatherland. + Accordingly, if I see that Social Democratic tendencies mix + with the movement and lead to unlawful opposition, I will + intervene with all my powers--and they are great." + +And a month later: + + "That the Radical agitation of the Social Democracy has + turned so many heads and hearts is due to the fact that in + schools, high and low, too little is taught about the cruel + deeds of the French Revolution and too little about the + heroic deeds of the War of Liberation, which was (with the + help of English bayonets, be it parenthetically remarked) + the salvation of the Fatherland." + +In 1892, to anticipate by a year or two, in reply to a guest who had +observed that Social Democrats were not decreasing in numbers, the +Emperor remarked: + + "The moment the Social Democracy feels itself in possession + of power it will not hesitate for an instant to attack the + Burghertum (middle classes) very energetically. No + exhibition of general benevolence is of any use against + these people--here only religious feeling, founded on + decided faith, can have any influence." + +The Emperor, referring to the murder of a manufacturer in Mulhausen, +said: "Another victim to the revolutionary movement kept alive by the +Socialists. If only our people would act like men!" + +And yet it is obvious, looking at it from the standpoint of to-day, +that an admirably organized movement with four million parliamentary +voters in an electorate of fourteen millions, with no members in an +Imperial Parliament of 397 with representatives, more or less +numerous, on almost every municipal board of any importance in the +Empire, with the power of disturbing at any moment the relations +between capital and labour, upon which the prosperity, security, and +comfort of the whole population depend, and in intimate relations with +the Socialists of all other countries, cannot be merely ignored or +disposed of by scornful and sarcastic speeches, by official anathema, +or even by close police supervision. There must be something behind it +all which ought to be susceptible of explanation. + +Before, however, attempting to conjecture what the something is, it +will be advisable, familiar to many though the facts must be, to +recapitulate, as briefly as possible, the history of the movement. Old +as the story is, it is necessary to have some knowledge of it, for +Social Democracy is the great, perhaps the only, domestic political +thorn in the Emperor's side. + +It is a truism to say that the "social question," the question how +best to organize society, is as old as society itself. Great thinkers +all down the ages, from Plato to Sir Thomas More, from More to Jean +Jacques Rousseau, from Rousseau to Saint Simon, Fourier, Louis Blanc, +Lassalle, and Karl Marx, have devoted their attention to it. The +French Revolutionists tried to solve it, and the revolutionary +movement of 1848 took up the problem in its turn. + +German Social Democracy may be referred for its source to the +teachings of Louis Blanc, who formed in 1840 a workmen's society in +Paris. Blanc held, as the Social Democrats hold, that capitalism was +the cause of all social evil, and that the workman was powerless +against it. He therefore proposed the establishment of workmen's +societies for purposes of production, and the grant of the necessary +capital at a low rate of interest by the State. The doctrine was taken +up in Germany with fiery enthusiasm by Ferdinand Lassalle, who, in +May, 1863, founded the General German Workmen's Society for a +"peaceful, lawful agitation" in favour of universal suffrage as a +first means to the desired end. Universal suffrage was granted by the +North German Confederation in 1867, and in 1873 Lassalle's adherents +numbered 60,000. + +Meanwhile, Karl Marx and his disciple, Frederic Engels, had been +propagating their theories, and in 1848 the former published his +famous work on the ideal social state. At first Marx was a partizan of +revolutionary methods, but he subsequently recanted this view and +proclaimed that the Socialistic aim in future should be the +"strengthening of the economic and political power of the workman so +that the expropriation of private property could be obtained by +legislation." The Marxian doctrine was adopted in Germany by Wilhelm +Liebknecht and August Bebel, who, at Eisenach in 1869, founded the +Association of Social Democratic Workmen, to which the present German +party owes its name. The Eisenach programme declared "the economic +dependence of the workmen on the monopolists of the tools of labour +the foundation of servitude and social evil," and demanded "the +economic emancipation of the working classes." An attempt to get the +Lassalle society to join the Eisenacher society on an international +basis failed for the time, but the two associations finally coalesced +at the Gotha Congress of 1875. + +The attempt on the life of William I in 1878 by the anarchist Nobiling +had an important effect on the fortunes of the party and the character +of its programme. The Socialist Laws were passed and the police began +a campaign against the Socialists, of which the mildest features were +the dissolution of societies, the searching of houses, the expulsion +of suspected persons, and the interdiction of Socialist newspapers and +periodicals. + +For the next few years the party held its annual congresses in +Switzerland or Denmark, but as the Socialist Laws ceased to have +effect after three years, and were not then renewed, the party resumed +its congresses in Germany. The Congress at Erfurt in 1891 resulted in +the issue of a new programme rejecting the Lassalle plan for the +establishment of workmen's societies for productive purposes and +substituting for it the transfer of all capitalistic private property +engaged in the means of production, such as lands, mines, raw +material, tools, machinery, and means of transport, to the State. The +term used in the programme is "state," not "society," but the State is +in fact nothing but the society armed with coercive powers. + +Other objects are universal suffrage for both sexes over twenty, +electoral reform, two-year parliaments, direct legislation "through +the people," some form of parliamentary government, autonomy of the +people in Empire, State, Province, and Parish, conscription, national +militia instead of standing army, international arbitration, abolition +of State religion, free and compulsory education, abolition of capital +punishment, free burial, free medical assistance, free legal advice +and advocacy, progressive succession duties, inheritance tax, +abolition of indirect taxation and customs, parliamentary decisions as +to peace and war, and undenominationalism in schools. + +Especially for the working classes are intended the following: +National and international protective legislation for workmen on the +basis of a normal eight hours day, prohibition of child labour under +fourteen years, prohibition of night work save rendered necessary by +the nature of the work or the welfare of society, superintendence of +labour and its relations by a Ministry of Labour, thorough workshop +hygiene, equality of status between the agricultural labourer, servant +class, and the artisan, right of association, and State insurance, as +to which the working class should have an authoritative voice. + +The programme contains nothing as to the practical consequences of the +provisions it contains, but Herr Bebel, in his book on "Woman and +Social Democracy," gives some examples. One is that the working time +will be alike for men and women, another that domestic life will be +limited to the cohabitation of man and woman, for children are to be +brought up by society, and a third that cooking and washing will be +the care of central public kitchens and washhouses. Meanwhile, all +these years, it may be noted, Herr Bebel and his millions of followers +have been living exactly like everybody else. + +The student of working-class conditions in Germany is unlikely to +think clearly unless he distinguishes between such terms as Social +Democracy, Socialism, Trade Unionism, and Labour party. Social +Democracy is a species of Socialism. All Social Democrats are +Socialists, but not all Socialists Social Democrats. The latter, as an +enrolled political party, paying annual subscriptions and looking +forward to the future state as conceived by Marx, and now by Bebel, +number something under a million; the remaining three millions who +voted for Social Democratic candidates at the last general election +may have included men who believe in Social Democratic ideals, but the +vast majority of them, unless one does grave injustice to their common +sense, voted for such candidates owing to dissatisfaction with the +policy of the Government and present conditions generally--the high +cost of living, the pressure of taxation, the severity of class +distinctions, and like grievances, real or imaginary. These people are +Socialists in the English or international sense of the word, not +Social Democrats strictly speaking; and with these people the Emperor +is most angry because he knows they form the element most capable of +dangerous expansion. + +Again, though the vast majority of German Socialists in the broader +sense are Trade Unionists, not all Trade Unionists are Socialists. +Trade Unionism--the organization of labour against capital--is +represented in Germany by two main bodies; the free or Socialist +Unions containing about two million working men, and the "Christian" +or loyal "National" Unions, which are anti-Social Democrat and +anti-Socialist. These have a membership of about 300,000. The +Hirsch-Duncker Unions, with 100,000 members, are Liberal, but also +loyal and anti-Socialist. In labour conflicts, naturally, as +distinguished from politics, all workmen of the particular branch in +conflict work together, whether they are Socialist or not. It need +only be added that there is no so-called "Labour party" in the German +Parliaments. The Social Democratic party in the Reichstag represents +labour interests generally, and promote them much more insistently and +successfully than they do the Utopia of their dreams. + +But enough has been said to show the comprehensive and revolutionary +nature of Social Democratic doctrine. The only other feature that +requires mention in connexion with the movement is the desire on the +part of a section of the party for a revision of its programme. The +party of revision is usually identified with the names of Heinrich von +Vollmar, who first suggested it, and Eduard Bernstein, who is in +favour of trying to realize that portion of the programme which deals +with the social needs of the existing generation, the demands of the +present day, and would leave to posterity the attainment of the final +goal. The views of the Revisionists differ also from those of the +Radicals in respect of two other main questions which divide the +party, that of voting budgets and that of going to court. The +Revisionists are willing to do both, and the Radicals to do neither. A +decisive split in the party is annually looked for, but hitherto, when +congress-day came, the Revisionists, for the sake of peace and unity +in the party, have refrained from pushing their views to extremes. One +might suppose that professors of the tenets of Social Democracy would +get into trouble with the police, but they avoid arrest and +imprisonment by taking care to avoid attacking property or the family, +advocating a republic, or introducing religious questions into their +discussions. + +In dealing with the growth of Social Democracy in Germany the +philosophic historian would doubtless refer to the French Revolution, +or go still farther back to the Reformation, as the starting-point of +every great change in the views of civilized mankind during the last +four and a half centuries; but it is with more recent times these +pages are chiefly concerned and consequently with causes now +operative. The main specific cause is the change from agriculture to +industry, and with it the growth of what is generally spoken of as +"industrialism." Industrialism means the assemblage of large masses of +intelligent men forming a community of their own, with its special +conditions and the wants and wishes arising from them. This is the +most fertile field for Socialism, for a new organization of society. +In Germany Socialistic ideas kept growing with the increase of +industrialism, and came to a head with the attempts by Hödel and +Nobiling on the life of the Emperor William. The anti-Socialist laws, +passed for a definite period, followed, but they were not renewed; the +Emperor and his Government pressed on instead with a great and +far-reaching social policy, and Socialism, in the form of Social +Democracy, freed from restraint, took a new lease of life. + +Another cause of as general, but less ponderable, a nature is the +remnant of the feudal spirit and feudal manners which lingers in the +attitude of the German governing and official classes towards the rest +of the population. The most objectionable features of the feudal +system have passed away, the cruel and exclusive rights and privileges +which only men in ignorant personal servitude to an all-powerful +master could permanently endure; but traces of the system still exist +in the official attitude towards the public and in the tone of the +official communications issued by the administrative services +generally. Attitude and tone may be referred in part to the +traditional character of the Prussian monarchy, which regards the +people as a flock of sheep, or as a "talent," as the Emperor has +called it, entrusted to its care and management by Heaven; but it is +also due in part to the systematization of public life--and largely of +private life--which at times makes the foreigner inclined to think +Germany at once the most Socialistic and at the same time the most +tyrannically ruled country in the world. Everything in Germany must be +done systematically, and the system must be the result of development. +But there is no use in having a system unless it is enforced--otherwise +it remains, like Social Democracy, a theory. Compulsion, therefore, +is necessary, and the Government provides it through its official +machinery and its police. The systematization has enormous public +advantages, but it is difficult for the Anglo-Saxon, jealous of his +individual right to direct his public life through his own +representatives and his private life according to his own judgment, +to accommodate himself to a system which seems to him unduly to +interfere with both right and judgment. + +Perhaps it is the manner in which, under the name of authority, +compulsion is exercised by subordinate officialdom and in especial by +the police, as much as the compulsion itself, which irritates in +Germany. Every profession, business, trade, and occupation, down to +that of selling matches and newspapers in the streets, is meticulously +regulated; and while there is nothing to object to in this, what +strikes the Anglo-Saxon as objectionable is that the regulations are +enforced with the manners and in the tone of a drill-sergeant. The +official in Germany, he finds, is not the servant of the public. There +is a story current in England of a Duke of Norfolk, when +Postmaster-General, going into a district post-office and asking for a +penny stamp. The clerk was dilatory, and the Duke remonstrated. "Who +are you, I should like to know?" asked the clerk impertinently, "that +you are laying down the law." "I am the public," replied the Duke +simply, at the same time showing the clerk his card. An English +Foreign Secretary once told a deputation that the Ministry was +"waiting for instructions from their employers--the people." In +Germany it is the opposite; the official is the master and the public +his dutiful servant. In Germany the official expects marked deference +from the public: the post-office clerk is "Mr. Official," the guardian +of the law "Mr. Policeman" (with your hat off). The Anglo-Saxon rather +expects the deference to be on the other side, and has a sordid +subconsciousness that he pays the official for his services. Perhaps +the Social Democrat has something of the same feeling. + +One of the chief consequences of industrialism in Germany is that the +people of the country are migrating to the towns. To the country +bumpkin the city is an Eldorado and a lordly pleasure-house. In truth, +he is much better off in it than in the stagnant life of the country. +In the city he sees comfort on every hand, with possibilities of +enjoyment of every kind, and if he does not soon get a share of the +good things going he grows discontented and turns Socialist. In the +city, too, he learns to think and compare, he perceives the +distinction of classes and notices that certain classes have open to +them careers from which he is excluded. Then there is the apparently +inevitable antagonism between labour and capital, between the employer +and employed, which drives the worker to Social Democracy, as offering +the prospect of his becoming his own master and enjoying the whole +fruits of his labour. He may not know Matthew Arnold's "Sick King in +Bokhara," but he would endorse Arnold's lines:-- + + "And these all, for a lord + Eat not the fruit of their own hands; + Which is the heaviest of all plagues + To that man's mind, who understands." + +But whatever its causes, Social Democracy is one of the most curious +and anomalous societies extant. In a country which worships order, it +calls for absolute disorder. A revolutionary movement, it anxiously +avoids revolution. It is a magnificent organization for no apparent +practical, direct, or immediate purpose. Proclaiming the protection of +the law and enjoying the blessing of efficient government, it yet +refuses to vote the budget to pay for them. It supports a large +parliamentary party without any clear or consistent parliamentary +policy in internal or external affairs, unless to be "agin the +Government" is a policy. And lastly, if some of its economic demands +are justifiable, and have in several respects been satisfied by modern +legislation, its fundamental doctrine, the basis of the entire +edifice, is a wild hallucination, sickening to common sense, and +completely out of harmony with the progressive economic development of +all nations, including its own. + +In conclusion, it may be added that the social side of the Social +Democracy is perhaps too often unrecognized or ignored by the foreign +observer. Life for the poorer classes in Germany is apt to be more +monotonous and dull than for the poorer classes of any country which +nature has blessed with more fertility, more sunshine, more diversity +of hill and dale, and where people are more mutually sociable and +accommodating. Social Democracy offers something by way of remedy to +this: a field of interest in which the workers can organize and make +processions and public demonstrations and can talk and theorize and +dispute, and in which the woman can share the interest with the man; +or a club, a social club with the largest membership in the world +except freemasonry. + +We must return, however, to the Emperor. During this period, in +December, 1890, he, like every one else with his own ideas on +education as well as on art and religion, delivered his views on +popular instruction. At this time--he was then thirty--he called +together forty-five of the ablest educational experts of the country +and addressed them on the subject of high-school education. His +Minister of Education, Dr. von Grossler, had drawn up a programme of +fourteen points for discussion, and the Emperor added to these a few +others he wished to have considered. + +German high-school education, be it remarked, is a different thing +from English public-school education, and ought rather to be spoken of +as German information than as German education. We have seen that the +spirit of the German university differs largely from that of the +English university, in that it is not concerned with the formation of +character or the inculcation of manners. The same may be said of the +German gymnasium, or high school, the institution from which the +German youth, as a rule, goes to college. No teaching institution, +English or German, be it further said on our own account, makes any +serious attempt to teach what will prepare youth for intercourse with +the extremely complicated world of to-day, to give him, to take but +one example, the faintest notion of contract, which, if he possessed +it, would save him from many a foolish undertaking and protect him +from many a business betrayal, Far from it. All the disagreeable, and +many of the painful incidents of his subsequent life, all equally +avoidable if knowledge regarding them had been instilled into him in +his early years, he must buy with money and suffering and disgust in +after-years. + +But the Emperor is waiting to be heard. His entire speech need not be +quoted, but only its chief contentions. In introducing his remarks he +claimed to speak with knowledge as having himself sat on a +public-school bench at Cassel. + +The Social Democracy being to the Emperor what King Charles's head was +to Mr. Dick, it is not surprising to find almost his first statement +being to the effect that if boys had been properly taught up to then, +there would be no Social Democracy. Up to 1870, he said, the great +subject of instruction for youth was the necessity for German unity. +Unity had been achieved, the Empire was now founded, and there the +matter rested. "Now," said the Emperor, "we must recognize that the +school is for the purpose of teaching how the Empire is to be +maintained. I see nothing of such teaching, and I ought to know, for I +am at the head of the Empire, and all such questions come under my +observation. What," he continues, + + "is lacking in the education of our youth? The chief fault + is that since 1870 the philologists have sat in the high + schools as _beati possidentes_ and laid chief stress upon + the knowledge to be acquired and not on the formation of + character and the demands of the present time. Emphasis has + been put on the ability to know, not on the ability to + do--the pupil is expected to know, that is the main thing, + and whether what he knows is suitable for the conduct of + life or not is considered a secondary matter. I am told the + school has only to do with the gymnastics of the mind, and + that a young man, well trained in these gymnastics, is + equipped for the needs of life. This is all wrong and can't + go on." + +Then the Empire-builder speaks--what is wanted above all is a national +basis. + + "We must make German the foundation for the gymnasium: we + must produce patriotic young Germans, not young Greeks and + Romans. We must depart from the centuries-old basis, from + the old monastic education of the Middle Ages, when Latin + was the main thing and a tincture of Greek besides. That is + no longer the standard. German must be the standard. The + German exercise must be the pivot on which all things turn. + When in the exit examination (_Abiturientenexamen_) a + student hands in a German essay, one can judge from it what + are the mental acquirements of the young man and decide + whether he is fit for anything or not. Of course people will + object--the Latin exercise is very important, very good for + instructing students in other languages, and so on. Yes, + gentlemen, I have been through the mill. How do we get this + Latin exercise? I have often seen a young man get, say 4-1/2 + marks, for his German exercise--'satisfactory,' it was + considered--and 2 for his Latin exercise. The youngster + deserved punishment instead of praise, because it is clear + he did not write his Latin exercise in a proper way; and of + all the Latin exercises we wrote there was not one in a + dozen which was done without cribbing. These exercises were + marked 'good,' but when we wrote an essay on 'Minna von + Barnhelm' (one of Lessing's dramas) we got hardly + 'satisfactory.' So I say, away with the Latin exercise, it + only harms us, and robs us of time we might give to German." + +The Emperor goes on to recommend the study of the nation's history, +geography, and literature ("Der Sage," poetry, he calls it). + + "Let us begin at home," he says; "when we have learned + enough at home, we can go to the museums. But above all we + must know our German history. In my time the Grand Elector + was a very foggy personage, the Seven Years' War was quite + outside consideration, and history ended with the close of + the last century, the French Revolution. The War of + Liberation, the most important for the young citizen, was + not taught thoroughly, and I only learned to know it, thank + God, through the very interesting lectures of Dr. Hinzpeter. + This, however, is the _punctum saliens_. Why are our young + men misled? Why do we find so many unclear, confused + world-improvers? Why is our government so cavilled at and + criticized, and so often told to look at foreign nations? + Because the young men do not know how our conditions have + developed, and that the roots of the development lie in the + period of the French Revolution. Consequently, I am + convinced that if they understood the transition period from + the Revolution to the nineteenth century in its fundamental + features, they would have a far better understanding of the + questions of to-day than they now have. At the universities + they can supplement their school knowledge." + +The Emperor then turned to other points. It was "absolutely necessary" +to reduce the hours of work. When he was at school, he said, all +German parents were crying out against the evil, and the Government +set on foot an inquiry. He and his brother (Henry) had every morning +to hand a memorandum to the head master showing how many hours it had +taken them to prepare the lessons for the day. In the Emperor's case +it took, "honestly," from 5-1/2 to 7 hours' home study. To this was to +be added 6 hours in school and 2 hours for eating meals--"How much of +the day," the Emperor asks, "was left? If I," he said, "hadn't been +able to ride to and from school I wouldn't have known what the world +even looked like." The result of this, he continued, was an + + "over-production of educated people, more than the nation + wanted and more than was tolerable for the sufferers + themselves. Hence the class Bismarck called the + abiturienten-proletariat, all the so-called hunger + candidates, especially the Mr. Journalists, who are often + broken-down scholars and a danger to us. This surplus, far + too large as it is, is like an irrigation field that cannot + soak up any more water, and it must be got rid of." + +Another matter touched on by the Emperor was a reduction in the amount +to be learned, so that more time might be had for the formation of +character. This cannot be done now, he remarks, in a class containing +thirty youngsters, who have such a huge amount of subjects to master. +The teacher, too, the Emperor said, must learn that his work is not +over when he has delivered his lecture. "It isn't a matter of +knowledge," he concludes "but a matter of educating the young people +for the practical affairs of life." + +The Emperor lastly dealt with the subject of shortsightedness. "I am +looking for soldiers," he said. + + "We need a strong and healthy generation, which will also + serve the Fatherland as intellectual leaders and officials. + This mass of shortsightedness is no use, since a man who + can't use his eyes--how can he do anything later?" + +and he went on to mention the extraordinary facts that in some of the +primary classes of German schools as many as 74 per cent, were +shortsighted, and that in his class at Cassel, of the twenty-one +pupils, eighteen wore spectacles, while two of them could not see the +desk before them without their glasses. + +The Englishman in Germany often attributes German shortsightedness to +the Gothic character of German print. It is more probable that the +long hours of study spent poring over books without fresh-air +exercise, judiciously interposed, is responsible for it. + +It has been said that every one, like the Emperor, has his own theory +of education, but there is one passage in the Emperor's speech with +which almost all men will agree--that, namely, in which he urges that +knowledge is not the only--perhaps not the chief--thing, but that +young people must be educated for the practical affairs of life. +Unfortunately, as to how we are successfully to do this, the Emperor +is silent; and it may be that there is no certain or exact way. One +could, of course--but we are concerned with the Emperor. + +The difference of opinion between the Emperor and Bismarck regarding +the Emperor's visit to Russia seems to have left no permanent ill-will +in the Emperor's mind, for on returning in October, 1889, from visits +to Athens, where he attended the wedding of his sister Sophie with the +Heir-Apparent of Greece, Prince Constantine (now King Constantine), +and Constantinople, where he was allowed to inspect the Sultan's +seraglio, he sent a letter to the Chancellor praying God to grant that +the latter's "faithful and experienced counsel might for many years +assist him in his difficult and responsible office." In January, 1890, +however, the question of renewing the Socialist Laws, which would +expire shortly, came up for settlement. A council of Ministers, under +the Emperor's presidency, was called to decide it. When the council +met, Bismarck was greatly surprised by a proposal of the Emperor to +issue edicts developing the principles laid down by his grandfather +for working-class reform instead of renewing the Socialist Laws. The +Reichstag took the Emperor's view and voted against the renewal of the +Laws. It only now remained to give effect to the Emperor's edicts. +They were considered at a further council of Ministers, at which the +Emperor exhorted them to "leave the Social Democracy to me, I can +manage them alone." The Ministers agreed, and Bismarck was in a +minority of one. This, however, was only the beginning of the end. +Bismarck decided to continue in office until he had carried through +Parliament a new military Bill, which was to come before it in May or +June. Meanwhile fresh matters of controversy between the Emperor and +the Chancellor arose regarding the grant of imperial audiences to +Ministers other than the Chancellor. Bismarck insisted that the +Chancellor alone had the right to be received by the Emperor for the +discussion of State affairs. + +The quarrel was accentuated by a lively scene which occurred between +the Emperor and the Chancellor about this period in connexion with a +visit the leader of the Catholic Centre party had paid the Chancellor, +and on March 17th the Emperor sent his chief Adjutant, General von +Hahnke, to say he awaited the Chancellor's resignation. Bismarck +replied that to resign at this juncture would be an act of desertion; +the Emperor could dismiss him. At the same time the Chancellor +summoned a meeting of Ministers for the afternoon, but while they were +discussing the situation a message was brought from the Emperor +telling them he did not require their advice in such a matter and that +he had made up his mind about the Chancellor. The messenger on the +same occasion expressed to Bismarck the Emperor's surprise at not +having received a formal resignation. Bismarck's reply was that it +would require some days to prepare such a document, as it was the last +official statement of a "Minister who had played a meritorious part in +the history of Prussia and Germany, and history should know why he had +been dismissed." Three days later, on March 20th, an hour or two after +the formal resignation reached the palace, the Emperor's letter +granting the Chancellor's request for his release, naming him Duke of +Lauenburg and announcing the appointment of General von Caprivi as his +successor, was put into the old Chancellor's hands. + + + + +VI. + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR + +While the ex-Chancellor is bitterly meditating on the unreliability +and ingratitude of princes, yet having in his heart, as the records +clearly show, the loyal sentiments of a Cardinal Wolsey towards his +royal master, even though that master had cast him off, we may be +allowed to pause awhile in order to give some account of the Court of +which the Emperor now became the centre and pivot. + +Human imagination, in its worship of force as the source of ability to +achieve the ends of ambition and desire, very early conceived the +courts of kings as fairylands of power, wealth, luxury, and +magnificence--in a word, of happiness. The same imagination represents +the Almighty, whose true nature no one knows, as a monarch in the +bright court of heaven, and his great antagonist, Satan, who stands +for the king of evil, is enthroned by it amid the shades of hell. The +fiction that courts are a species of earthly paradise is still kept up +for the entertainment of children; while the adult, whom the annals of +all countries has made familiar with a long record of monarchs, bad as +well as good, is disposed to regard them as beneficial or otherwise to +a country according to the character and conduct of the occupant of +the throne, and to believe that they are at least as liable to produce +examples of vice and hypocrisy as of virtue and honesty. + +The court of the German Emperor in this connexion need not fear +comparison with any court described in history. True, courts all over +the world have improved wonderfully of recent years. Their monarchs +are more enlightened, they are frequented by a very different type of +man and woman from the courts of former times, their morale and +working are more closely scrutinized and more generally subjected to +criticism, and they are occupied with a more public and less selfish +order of considerations. The Court of the Emperor is, so far as can be +known to a lynx-eyed and not always charitably thinking public, +singularly free from the vices and failings the atmosphere of former +courts was wont to foster. There is at all times, no doubt, the +competition of politicians for influence and power acting and reacting +on the Court and its frequenters, but of scandal at the Court of +Berlin there has been none that could be fairly said to involve the +Emperor or his family. Dame Gossip, of course, busied herself with the +Emperor in his youth, but whatever truth she then uttered--and it is +probably extremely little--on this head, there is no question that +from the day he mounted the throne his Court and that of the Empress +has been a model for all institutions of the kind. + +The life of courts, the personages who play leading parts in them, +their wealth and luxury, and the currents of social, amorous, and +political intrigue which are supposed to course through them have in +all countries and in all ages strongly appealed to writers, fanciful +and serious. Perhaps one-third of the prose and poetic literature of +every country deals, directly or indirectly, with the subject, and +determines in no small degree the character of its rising generations. +The great architects of romance, depicting for us life in high places, +and often nobly idealizing it, or working the facts of history into +the web of their imaginings and thus pleasantly combining fact with +fiction, aim at elevating, not at debasing, the mind of the reader. A +second valuable source of information on the topic are the memoirs of +those who have set down their observations and recorded experiences +made in the courts to which they had access. Among this class, +however, are to be found unscrupulous as well as conscientious +authors, the former obviously cherishing some personal grievance or as +obviously actuated by malice, while the latter are usually moved by an +honest desire to tell the world things that are important for it to +know, and at the same time, it is not ill-natured to suspect, enhance +their own reputation with their contemporaries or with posterity. The +multitudinous tribe of anecdote inventors and retailers must also be +taken into account. In our own day there is still another source of +information, which, agreeably or odiously according to the temperament +of the reader, keeps us in touch with courts and what goes on +there--the periodical press; while afar off in the future one can +imagine the historian bent over his desk, surrounded by books and +knee-deep in newspapers, selecting and weighing events, studying +characters, developing personalities, and passing what he hopes may be +a final judgment on the court and period he is considering. + +For a study of the Emperor's life, as it passes in his Court, a large +number of works are available, but not many that can be described as +authoritative or reliable. Among the latter, however, may be placed +Moritz Busch's "Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of His History," three +volumes that make Busch almost as interesting to the reader as his +subject; Bismarck's own "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," which is chiefly +of a political nature; and the "Memorabilia of Prince Chlodwig +Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst," who was for several years Statthalter of +Alsace-Lorraine and subsequently became Imperial Chancellor in +succession to General von Caprivi. These works, with the collections +of the Emperor's speeches and the speeches and interviews of +Chancellor Prince von Bülow, may be ranked in the category of serious +and authentic contributions to the Court history of the period they +cover. Then there are several German descriptions of the Court, +reliable enough in their way which is a dull one, to those who are not +impassioned monarchists or hide-bound bureaucrats. In the category of +works by unscrupulous writers that entitled "The Private Lives of +William II and His Consort," by a lady-in-waiting to the Empress from +1888 to 1898, easily takes first place. Certainly it gives a lively +and often entertaining insight into the domestic life of the palace, +but it is so clearly informed by spite that it is impossible to +distinguish what is true in it from what is false or misrepresented. +Finally, for the closer study of individual events and the impressions +they made at the time of their happening, the daily press can be +consulted. For the Bismarck period the biography of Hans Blum is of +exceptional value. + +What may be termed the anecdotic literature of the Court is +particularly rich and trivial, and this is only to be expected in a +country where the monarchy and its representative are so forcibly and +constantly brought home to the people's consciousness. Yet it has its +uses, and is referred to, though sparingly, in the present work. "The +Emperor as Father of a Family," "The Emperor and His Daughter's +Uniform," "The Amiable Grandfather," "The Emperor as Husband," "The +Emperor as Card Player," "How the Emperor's Family is Photographed," +"What does the Emperor's Kitchen Look Like," "Adieu, Auguste" +("Auguste" is the Empress), "The English Lord and the Emperor's +Cigarettes," "When My Wife Makes You a Sandwich," "What the Emperor +Reads," "The Emperor's Handwriting," "Can the Emperor Vote?" (the +answer is, opinions differ), "Washing Day at the Emperor's," "The +Emperor and the Empress at Tennis," "Emperor and Auto," are the sort +of matters dealt with. Literature of this kind is beyond question +intensely interesting to vast numbers of people, but helps very little +towards understanding a singularly complex human being placed in a +high and extraordinarily responsible position. + +Strictly speaking, there is no Imperial Court in Germany, since the +King of Prussia, in accordance with the Imperial Constitution, always +succeeds to the imperial throne, and therefore officially the Court is +that of the King of Prussia only. The distinction is emphasized by the +fact that the Court is independent of the Empire as regards its +administration and finance. It is a state within a state, an _imperium +in imperio_. In all that pertains to it the Emperor is absolute ruler +and his executive is a special Ministry. At the same time it is almost +needless to add that the Court of Berlin is practically that of the +Empire. It is this character, apart from Prussia's size and +importance, that distinguishes it from other courts in Germany and +reduces them to comparative insignificance in foreign, though by no +means in German, consideration. + +The Court of the Empire and Prussia--and the same thing may be said of +the various other courts in Germany--engages popular interest and +attention to a much larger extent than is the case in England. The +fact is almost wholly due to the nature of the monarchy and of its +relations to the people. In England a great portion of the popular +attention is concentrated on Parliament and the fortunes of its two +great political parties. The attention given to the Court and its +doings is not of the same general and permanent character, but is +intermittent according to the occasion. The Englishman feels deep and +abiding popular interest at all times in Parliament, whether in +session or not, because it represents the people and is, in fact, and +for hundreds of years has been, the Government. + +The reverse may fairly be said to be the case in Germany. In Germany +popular attention has been from early times concentrated on the +monarch, his personality, sayings and doings, since in his hands lay +government power and patronage. Monarchy of a more or less absolute +character was accepted by the people, not only in Germany but all over +the Continent, as the normal and desirable, perhaps the inevitable, +state of things; and it is only since the French Revolution that +parliaments after the English pattern, that is by two chambers elected +by popular vote, yet in many important respects widely differing from +it, were demanded by the people or finally established. Up to +comparatively recent times the monarch in Prussia was an absolute +ruler. Frederick William IV, after the events of 1848, was compelled +to grant Prussia a Constitution which explicitly defined the +respective rights of the Crown and the people in the sphere of +politics; and the Imperial Constitution, drawn up on the formation of +the modern Empire, did the same thing as regards the Emperor and the +people of the Empire; but neither Constitution altered the nature of +the monarchy in the direction of giving governing power to the people. +Both secured the people legislative, but not governing power. +Government in the Empire and Prussia remains, as of old, an appanage, +so to speak, of the Court, and the fact of course tends to concentrate +attention on the Court. + +It has been said that the Court is a state within a state, an +_imperium in imperio_. In this state, within Prussia or within the +Empire, it is the same thing for our purpose, there are two main +departments, that of the Lord Chamberlain (_Oberstkammeramt_) and that +of the Master of the Household (_Ministerium des Königlichen Hauses_). +The first deals with all questions of court etiquette, court +ceremonial, court mourning, precedence, superintendence of the courts +of the Emperor's sons and near relatives, and of all Prussian court +offices. The second deals with the personal affairs of the Emperor and +his sons, the domestic administration of the palace, the management of +the Crown estates and castles, and is the tribunal that decides all +Hohenzollern differences and disputes that are not subject to the +ordinary legal tribunals. Connected with this Ministry are the +Herald's office and the Court Archives office. The chief Court +officials include, beside the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of the +Household, a Chief Court Marshal. The Master of the Household is also +Chief Master of Ceremonies, with a Deputy Master of Ceremonies who is +also Introducer of Ambassadors, two Court Marshals, a Captain of the +Palace Guards, a Court Chaplain, Court Physician, an Intendant in +charge of the royal theatres, a Master of the Horse who has charge of +the royal stables, a House Marshal, and a Master of the Kitchen. All +these officials are princes (_Fürst_) or counts (_Graf_), with the +title Highness (_Durchlaucht_) or Excellency. + +Court officials also include the various nobles in charge of the royal +palaces, castles, and hunting lodges at Potsdam, Charlottenburg, +Breslau, Stettin, Marienburg, Posen, Letzlingen, Hohkönigsberg, +Homberg von der Höhe, Springe, Hubertusstock, Rominten, Korfu (the +"Achilleion"), Wiesbaden, Koenigsberg, etc., to the number of thirty +or more. The Empress has her own Court officials, including a Mistress +of the Robes and Ladies of the Bedchamber, also with the title of +Excellency, the Ladies being chosen from the most aristocratic +families of Germany. The Empress has her own Master of the Household, +physician, treasurer, and so on. Similarly with the households of the +Crown Prince, other royal princes and the Emperor's near relatives. + +Every order the Emperor gives that is not of a purely domestic kind +passes through one of his three cabinets--the Civil Cabinet, the +Military Cabinet, or the Marine Cabinet. The cost of the first, with +its chief, who receives £1,000 a year, and half a dozen subordinate +officials on salaries of £200 to £350, is budgeted at about £10,000 a +year. The Military Cabinet is a much larger establishment, having +several departments and a staff of half a hundred councillors and +clerks. The Naval Cabinet, on the other hand, is composed of only +three upper officials and five clerks. The Emperor's "civil list" is +returned in the Budget as £860,000 roughly. His entire annual revenue +does not exceed £1,000,000. Out of this he has to pay the expenses of +his married sons' households and make large contributions to public +charities. He was left, however, a very considerable sum of money by +the Emperor William. The Crown Prince, as such, receives a grant of +£20,000 a year, chiefly derived from the royal domain of Oels in +Silesia. Like all fathers of large families, the Emperor has been more +than once heard to complain that he finds it difficult to make both +ends meet. + +The Emperor's staff of adjutants are exceptionally useful and +important people. At their head is the chief of the Emperor's Military +Cabinet. Not less important are the members of the Emperor's Marine +Cabinet, consisting of admirals, vice-admirals, and wing-admirals. The +personal adjutants divide the day and night service between them, so +that there may always be three adjutants at the Emperor's immediate +disposal. The adjutant announces Ministers or other visitors to the +Emperor, telegraphs to say that His Majesty has an hour or an hour and +a half at his disposal at such-and-such a time, or intimates that an +audience of half an hour can be given in the train between two given +points. They act as living memorandum books, knock at the Emperor's +door to announce that it is time for him to go to this or that +appointment, remind him that a congratulatory telegram on some one's +seventieth birthday or other jubilee has to be sent, or perhaps +whispers that Her Majesty the Empress wishes to see him. All the +Emperor's correspondence passes through their hands. They accompany +the Emperor on his journeys and voyages, and when thus employed are +usually invited to his table. The Emperor reads of some new book and +tells an adjutant to order it, and the latter does so by communicating +with the Civil Cabinet. + +Court society in Berlin includes the German "higher" and "lower" +nobility, with the exception of the so-called Fronde, who proudly +absent themselves from it; the Ministers; the diplomatic corps; Court +officials; and such members of the burghertum, or middle class, as +hold offices which entitle them to attend court. The wives, however, +of those in the last category are not "court-capable" on this account, +nor is the middle class generally, nor even members of the Imperial or +Prussian Parliaments as such. Members of Parliament are invited to the +Court's seasonal festivities, but as a rule only members of the +Conservative parties or other supporters of the Government. The +nobility, as in England, is hereditary or only nominated for life, and +the hereditary nobility is divided into an upper and lower class. To +the former belongs members of houses that were ruling when the modern +Empire was established, and, while excluding the Emperor, who stands +above them, includes sovereign houses and mediatized houses. Some of +the ancient privileges of the nobility, such as exemption from +taxation, and the right to certain high offices, have been abolished, +but in practice the nobility still occupy the most important charges +in the administration and in the army. The privileges of the +mediatized princes consist of exemption from conscription, the +enjoyment of the Principle called "equality of birth," which prevents +the burgher wife of a noble acquiring her husband's rank, and the +right to have their own "house law" for the regulation of family +disputes and family affairs generally. No increase to the high +nobility of Germany can accrue as no addition will ever be made to the +once sovereign and mediatized families. With the exception of these +houses the rest of the German nobility, hereditary and non-hereditary, +is accounted as belonging to the lower nobility. That part of the +German aristocracy who refuse to go to court, and are accordingly +called by the name Fronde, first given to the opponents of Cardinal +Mazarin, in the reign of Louis XIV, consist chiefly of a few old +families of Prussian Poland, Hannover (the Guelphs), Brunswick, +Nassau, Hessen, and other annexed German territories, and of some +great Catholic houses in Bavaria and the Rhineland. Their dislike is +directed not so much against the Empire as against Prussia. The +Kulturkampf had the effect of setting a small number of ancient +Prussian ultramontane families against the Government. + +Not much that is complimentary can be said of the German aristocracy +as a whole. "Serenissimus" is to-day as frequently the subject of +bitter, if often humorous, caricature in the comic press as ever he +was. A few of the class, like Prince Fürstenberg, Prince Hohenlohe, +Count Henkel-Donnersmarck and some others engage successfully in +commerce; many are practical farmers and have done a good deal for +agriculture; several are deputies to Parliament; but on the whole the +foreigner gets the impression that the class as such contributes but a +small percentage of what it might and should in the way of brains, +industry, or example to the welfare and the progress of the Empire. + +It is difficult to communicate an impression of the Court, whether at +the Schloss in Berlin or the New Palace in Potsdam, and at the same +time avoid the dry and dusty descriptions of the guide-books. If the +reader is not in Berlin, let him imagine the fragment of a mediæval +town, situated on a river and fronted by a bridge; and on the bank of +the river a dark, square, massive and weather-stained pile of four +stories, with barred windows on the ground floor as defence against a +possibly angry populace, and a sentry-box at each of its two lofty +wrought-iron gates. It may be, as Baedeker informs us it is, a +"handsome example of the German renaissance," but to the foreigner it +can as equally suggest a large and grimy barracks as the +five-hundred-years-old palace of a long line of kings and emperors. +And yet, to any one acquainted with the blood-stained annals of +Prussian history, who knows something of the massive stone buildings +about it and of the people who have inhabited them, who strolls +through its interior divided into sombre squares, each with its cold +and bare parade-ground, who reflects on the relations between king and +people, closely identified by their historical associations, yet +sundered by the feudal spirit which still keeps the Crown at a +distance from the crowd, above all to the German versed in his +country's story--how eloquently it speaks! + +When one thinks of the Court of Berlin one should not forget that the +New Palace, the Emperor's residence at Potsdam, sixteen miles distant +from the capital, is as much, and as important, a part of it as the +royal palace in Berlin itself. The Emperor divides his time between +them, the former, when he is not travelling, being his more permanent +residence, and the latter only claiming his presence during the winter +season and for periods of a day or so at other parts of the year, when +occasion requires it. It is only during the six or eight weeks of the +winter season that the Empress and her daughter, Princess Victoria +Louise (now Duchess of Brunswick), go into residence at the Berlin +royal palace. There is a railway between Potsdam and Berlin, but since +the introduction of the motor-car the Emperor almost always uses that +means of conveyance for the half-hour's run between his Berlin and +Potsdam palaces. + +The other section of the Court, if Potsdam may be so described, is +hardly less rich in memories than the old palace by the Spree. Indeed +it is richer from the cosmopolitan point of view, for though Frederick +the Great was born in the Berlin Schloss and spent some of his time +there, it was at Potsdam that, when not campaigning, he may be said to +have lived and died. To this day, for the foreigner, his personality +still pervades the place, and that of the Emperor sinks, +comparatively, into the background. The tourist who has pored over his +Baedeker will learn that Potsdam has 53,000 inhabitants and is +"charmingly situated"--it depends on your temperament what the charm +is, and to guide-book framers all tourists have the same +temperament--on an island in the Havel "which here expands into a +series of lakes bounded by wooded hills." He will learn that the old +town-palace, which few visitors give a thought to, was built by the +Great Elector, that Frederick the Great lived here in "richly +decorated apartments with sumptuous furniture and noteworthy pictures +by Pater, Lancret, and Pesne"; that it contains a cabinet in which the +dining-table could be let up and down by means of a trap-door, and +"where the King occasionally dined with friends without risk of being +overheard by his attendants"; that the present Emperor, then Prince +William, lived here with his young wife when he was still only a +lieutenant. He will drive to the New Palace--now old, for it was built +by Frederick the Great in 1769, during the Seven Years' War, at a cost +of nearly half a million sterling--and gaze with interest at the +summer residence of the Emperor. If he is an American he may think of +his multi-millionaire fellow-citizen, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who, when +driving up to call on his erstwhile imperial schoolfellow and friend, +was nearly shot at by a sentry for whom the name Vanderbilt was no +"Open Sesame." He will see before him a main building, seven hundred +feet in length, three stories high, with the central portion +surmounted by a dome, its chief façade looking towards a park. The +whole, of course--for Baedeker is talking--forms an "imposing pile," +with "mediocre sculptures, but the effect of the weathered sandstone +figures against the red brick is very pleasing." Here the Emperor's +father, Frederick III, was born, lived as Crown Prince, reigned for +ninety-nine days, and died. Here, too, are more "apartments of +Frederick the Great," with pictures by Rubens, including an "Adoration +of the Magi," a good example of Watteau and a portrait of Voltaire +drawn by Frederick's own hand. In the north wing are situated the +present Emperor's suite of chambers, where distinguished men of all +countries have discussed almost every conceivable topic, political, +social, religious, martial, artistic, financial, and commercial, with +one of the most interesting talkers of his time. No bloody tragedy has +defiled the palace, as did the murder of Lord Darnley at Holyrood, +that of the Duke of Guise (Sir Walter Scott's "Le Balafré") the +chateau of Blois, the execution of the Bourbon Duc d'Enghien the +palace of Vincennes, or the murder of the boy princes the Tower of +London. But bloodless tragedy, and exquisite comedy, and farce too, +have doubtless had their hour within the walls. One such incident of +the politico-tragic kind was that which passed only two years ago +between the Emperor and his Imperial Chancellor, when Prince von Bülow +went as deputy from the Federal Council, the Parliament, and the +people to pray the Emperor to exercise more caution in his public, or +semi-public statements; and the historian may possibly find another, +and not without its touch of comedy, in the reception by the Emperor +of the Chinese prince, who headed the "mission of atonement" for the +murder of the Emperor's Minister in Pekin during the Boxer troubles. + +From the New Palace our foreigner will probably drive to the Marble +Palace, which (for Baedeker is ever at one's elbow with the facts) he +will mark was built in 1796 by Frederick William II, who died here, +was completed in 1845 by Frederick William IV, and was the residence +of the present Emperor at the time of his accession. + +But while our foreigner has been hurrying from one palace to another, +with his mind in a fog of historical and topographical confusion--if +he is an American, half-hoping, half-expecting to meet the Emperor or +Empress and secure a bow from one or other, or--why not?--one of +William's well-known vigorous _poignées de main_, there is always one +thought predominant in his mind--Sans Souci. That is the real object +of his quest, the main attraction that has brought him, all +unconscious of it, to Berlin, and not the laudable, but wholly +mistaken efforts of the "Society for the Promotion of Tourist +Traffic," which seeks to lure the moneyed and reluctant foreigner to +the German capital. Our foreigner enters the Park of Sans Souci and +his spirit is at rest. Now he knows where he really is--not in the +wonderful new German Empire, not in modern Berlin with its splendid +and to him unspeaking streets, its garish "night-life," its +faultily-faultless municipal propriety, not in Potsdam, "the true +cradle of the Prussian army," as Baedeker, deviating for an instant +into metaphor, describes it, but simply in Sans Souci. He is now no +longer in the twentieth century, but the eighteenth--one hundred and +fifty years ago or more--in Frederick's day, the period of pigtails, +of giant grenadiers in the old-time blue and red coats, the high and +fantastic shako made of metal and tapering to a point, of +three-cornered hats resting on powdered wigs, of yellow top-boots, and +exhaling the general air of ruffianly geniality characteristic of the +manners and soldiers of the age. + +As our foreigner advances through the park, where, as he is told, the +Emperor makes a promenade each Christmas Eve distributing ten-mark +pieces (spiteful chroniclers make it three marks) to all and sundry +poor, he will notice the fountain "the water of which rises to a +height of 130 feet," with its twelve figures by French artists of the +eighteenth century, and ascend the broad terraced flight of marble +steps up which the present Crown Prince is credited with once urging +his trembling steed--leading to the Mecca of his imagination, the +palace Sans Souci itself. The building is only one story high, not +large, reminding one somewhat of the Trianon at Versailles, though +lacking the Trianon's finished lightness and elegance, yet with its +semicircular colonnade distinctly French, and impressive by its +elevated situation. The chief, the enduring, the magical impression, +however, begins to form as our foreigner commences his pilgrimage +through the rooms in which Frederick passed most of his later years. +As he pauses in the Voltaire Chamber he imagines the two great +figures, seated in stiff-backed chairs at a little table on which +stand, perhaps, a pair of cut Venetian wine-glasses and a tall bottle +of old Rheinish--the great man of thought and the great man of action, +the two great atheists and freethinkers of Europe, with their earnest, +sharply featured faces, and their wigs bobbing at each other, +discussing the events and tendencies of their time. And how they must +have talked--no wonder Frederick, though the idol of his subjects, +withdrew for such discourse from the society of the day, with its +twaddle of the tea-cups and its parade-ground platitudes. + +As in our own time, there was then no lack of stimulating topics. The +influence of the old Catholicism and the old feudalism was rapidly +diminishing, the night of superstition was passing, and the age of +reason, that was to culminate with such tremendous and horrible force +in the French Revolution, was beginning to dawn. The encyclopaedists, +with Diderot and d'Alembert in the van, were holding council in +France, mobilizing the intellects of the time, and, like Bacon, taking +all knowledge for their province, for a fierce attack on the old +philosophy, the old statecraft, the old art, and the old religion. Are +such topics and such men to deal with them to be found to-day, or have +all the great problems of humanity and its intellect been started, +studied, and resolved? And are motor-cars, aeroplanes, dances, +Dreadnoughts, millinery, rag-time reviews, auction bridge, the rise +and fall of stocks, and the last extraordinary round of golf, all that +is left for the present generation to discuss? + +However, the guardian of the palace has moved on, the other members of +the party are getting bored, and our foreigner follows the guardian's +lead. Thus conducted, he passes through half a dozen rooms, each a +museum of historical associations--the dining-room with its round +table made famous by Menzel's picture (now in the Berlin National +Gallery) in which Frederick and his guests are seen seated, but in +which it is difficult if not impossible to be certain which is the +host; the concert-room with the clock which Frederick was in the habit +of winding up, and which "is said to have stopped at the precise +moment of his death, 2.20 a.m., August 17th, 1786"; the death-chamber +with its eloquent and pathetic statue, Magnussen's "Last Moments of +Frederick the Great"; the library and picture gallery. Strangely +enough, Baedeker has no mention of a female subject portrayed in the +concert-room in all sorts of attitudes and in all sorts and no sort of +costume. Yet every one has heard of La Barberini, the only woman, the +chroniclers (and Voltaire among them) assure us, Frederick ever loved. +She was no woman of birth or wit like the Pompadour, Récamier or +Staël, but of merely ordinary understanding and the wife of a +subordinate official of the Court. She charmed Frederick, however, and +may have loved him. If so, let us remember that the morals of those +days were not those of ours, and not grudge the lonely King his +enjoyment of her beauty and amiability. + +One thing only remains for our foreigner to see--the coffin of +Frederick in the old Garrison Church. It lies in a small chamber +behind the pulpit and looks more like the strong box of a miser than +the last resting-place of a great king. For such a man it seems poor +and mean, but probably Frederick himself did not wish for better. He +must have known that his real monument would be his reputation with +posterity. In fact the chroniclers agree, and the noble statue of +Magnussen confirms the impression, that at the close of his stormy +life he was glad finally to be at rest anywhere. "_Quand je serai +là _," he was wont to say, pointing to where his dogs were buried in +the palace park, "_je serai sans souci_." + +In every court there is a disposition on the part of courtiers to +agree with everything the monarch says, to flatter him as dexterously +as they can, to minister to princely vanity, if vanity there be, to +"crawl on their bellies," in the choice language of hostile court +critics, or "wag their tails" and double up their bodies at every bow; +show, in short, in different ways, often all unconsciously, the +presence of a servile and self-interested mind. The disposition is not +to be found in courts alone. It is one of the commonest and most +malignant qualities of humanity, and can any day and at any hour be +observed in action in any Ministry of State, any mercantile office, +any great warehouse, any public institution, in every scene, in fact, +where one or many men are dependent for their living on the favour or +caprice of another. On the other hand, let it not be forgotten that +this innate tendency of human nature is at times replaced by another +which has frequently the same outward manifestations, but is not the +same feeling, the sentiment, namely, of embarrassment arising from the +fear of being servile, and the equally frequent embarrassment arising +from that principle which is always at work in the mind, the +association of ideas, which in the case of a monarch presents him to +the ordinary mortal as embodying ideas of grandeur, power, might, and +intellect to which the latter is unaccustomed. Education, economic +changes, and the art of manners have done much to conceal, if not +eradicate, human proneness to servility, and the Byzantinism of the +time of Caligula and Nero, of Tiberius, Constantine, or Nikiphoros, of +the Stuarts and the Bourbons, has long been modified into respect for +oneself as well as for the person one addresses. There are, however, +still traces of the old evil in the German atmosphere, and in especial +a tendency among officials of all grades to be humble and submissive +to those above them and haughty and domineering to those below them. +The tendency is perhaps not confined to Germany, but it seems, to the +inhabitant of countries where bureaucracy is not a powerful caste, to +penetrate German society and ordinary life to a greater degree--yet +not to a great degree--than in more democratic societies. + +The Emperor naturally knows nothing of such a thing, for there is no +one superior to him in the Empire in point of rank, and he is much too +modern, too well educated, and of too kindly and liberal a nature to +encourage or permit Byzantinism towards him on the part of others. +Indeed Byzantinism was never a Hohenzollern failing. In his able work +on German civilization Professor Richard tells of some Silesian +peasants who knelt down when presenting a petition to Frederick +William I, and were promptly told to get up, as "such an attitude was +unworthy of a human being." Only on one occasion in the reign has an +action of the Emperor's afforded ground for the suspicion that he was +for a moment filled with the spirit of the Byzantine emperors--namely, +when he demanded the "kotow" from the Chinese Prince Tschun, who led +the "mission of atonement" to Germany. This, however, was not really +the result of a Byzantine character or spirit, but of the excusable +anger of a man whose innocent representative had been treacherously +killed. + +Of affinity with the idea of Byzantinism is that as frequently +occurring idea in German court and ordinary life conveyed by the word +"reaction." Here again we have one of those qualities to be found +among mankind everywhere and always: the instinct opposed to change, +even to those changes for the good we call progress, the disposition +that made Horace deride the _laudator temporis acti se puero_ of his +day, the feeling of the man who laments the passing of the "good old +times" and the military veteran who assures us that "the country, sir, +is going to the dogs." In political life such men are usually to be +found professing conservatism, owners of land, dearer to them often +than life itself, which they fear political change will damage or +diminish. In Germany the Conservative forces are the old agrarian +aristocracy, the military nobility, and the official hierarchy, who +make a worship of tradition, hold for the most part the tenets of +orthodox Protestantism, dread the growing influence of industrialism, +and are members of the Landlords' Association: types of a dying +feudalism, disposed to believe nothing advantageous to the community +if it conflicts with any privilege of their class. Under the name of +Junker, the Conservative landowners of the region of Prussia east of +the Elbe, they have become everywhere a byword for pride, selfishness, +in a word--reaction. They and men of their kidney are to be +distinguished from the German "people" in the English sense, and hold +themselves vastly superior to the burghertum, the vast middle class. +They dislike the "academic freedom" of the university professor, would +limit the liberty of the press and restrain the right of public +meeting, and increase rather than curtail the powers of the police. On +the other hand, if they are a powerful drag on the Emperor's Liberal +tendencies--Liberal, that is, in the Prussian sense--towards a +comprehensive and well-organized social policy, they are at least +reliable supporters of his Government for the military and naval +budgets, since they believe as whole-heartedly in the rule of force as +the Emperor himself. The German Conservative would infinitely prefer a +return to absolute government to the introduction of parliamentary +government. At the same time it should not be supposed that the +Emperor or his Chancellor, or even his Court, are reactionary in the +sense or measure in which the Socialist papers are wont to assert. It +is doubtful if nowadays the Emperor would venture to be reactionary in +any despotic way. Given that his monarchy and the spirit that informs +it are secure, that Caesar gets all that is due to Caesar, and that he +and his Government are left the direction of foreign policy, he is +quite willing that the people should legislate for themselves, enjoy +all the rights that belong to them under the _Rechtsstaat_ established +by Frederick the Great, and, in short, enjoy life as best they can. + + + + +VII. + + + +"DROPPING THE PILOT" + +Heinrich von Treitschke, the German historian, writing to a friend, +speaks of the dismissal of Prince Bismarck as "an indelible stain on +Prussian history and a tragic stroke of fate the like of which the +world has never seen since the days of Themistocles." + +Opinions may differ as to the indelibility of the stain--which must be +taken as a reflection on the conduct of the Emperor; and parallels +might perhaps be found, at least by students of English history, in +the dismissal of Cardinal Wolsey by Henry VIII, or that of the elder +Pitt by George III. But there may well be general agreement as to the +tragic nature of the fall, for it was a struggle between a strong +personality and the unknown, but irresistible, laws of fate. + +The historic quarrel between the Emperor and his Chancellor was not +merely the inevitable clash between two dispositions fundamentally +different, but between--to adapt the expression of a modern poet--"an +age that was dying and one that was coming to birth." Old Prussia was +giving place to New Germany. The atmosphere of war had changed to an +atmosphere of peace. The standards of education and comfort were +rising fast. The old German idealism was being pushed aside by +materialism and commercialism, and the thoughts of the nation were +turning from problems of philosophy and art to problems of practical +science and experiment. Thought was to be followed by action. Mankind, +after conversing with the ancients for centuries, now began to +converse with one another. The desire for national expansion, if it +could not be gratified by conquest, was to be satisfied by the spread +of German influence, power, activity, and enterprise in all parts of +the world. Such a collision of the ages is tragedy on the largest +scale, for nothing can be more tragic--more inevitable or +inexorable--than the march of Progress. + +The natures of the two men were, in important respects, fundamentally +different. Bismarck's nature was prosaic, primitive, unscrupulous, +domineering: a type which in an English schoolboy would be described +as a bully, with the modification that while the bully in an English +school is always depicted as a coward at heart (a supposition, +however, by no means always borne out in after-life), Bismarck had the +courage of a bull-dog. Moreover, Bismarck was a Conservative, a +statesman of expediency. The Emperor is a man of principle; and as +expediency, in a world of change, is a note of Conservatism, so, in +the same world, is principle the _leit-motiv_ of Liberalism. To call +the Emperor a man of principle may appear to be at variance with +general opinion as founded on exceptional occurrences, but these do +not supply sufficient material for a fair judgment, and there are many +acts of his reign which show him to be Liberal in disposition. + +Not, it need hardly be said, Liberal in the English political sense. +Liberalism in England--the two-party country--usually means a strong +desire to vote against a Conservative on the assumption that the +Conservative is nearly always completely wrong and never completely +right. As will be seen later, there is no political Liberalism in the +English sense in Germany. The Emperor's Liberalism shows itself in his +sympathy with his people in their desire for improvement as a society +of which he is the head, selected by God and only restricted by a +constitutional compact solemnly sworn to by the contracting parties. +Proofs of this sympathy might be adduced--his determination to carry +through his grandfather's social policy against Bismarck's wish, +however hostile he was and is to Social Democracy; his steadfast peace +policy, however nearly he has brought his country to war; his +encouragement of the arts among the lower classes, however limited his +views on art may be; his friendly intercourse with people of all +nationalities and occupations. + +The characters also of the two men were different. Bismarck's was the +result of civilian training; the Emperor's of military training. +Bismarck had small regard for manners, and would have scoffed had +anyone told him "manners makyth man"; the Emperor is courtesy itself, +as every one who meets him testifies. Bismarck was fond of eating and +drinking, with the appetite of a horse and the thirst of a drayman, +until he was nearly eighty, and smoked strong cigars from morning to +night--a very pleasant thing, of course, if you can stand it. The +Emperor has never cared particularly for what are called the pleasures +of the table, is fond of apples and one or two simple German dishes, +and has never been what in Germany is called a "chain-smoker." +Bismarck appears not to have had the faintest interest in art; the +Emperor, while of late disclaiming in all art company his lack of +expert knowledge, has always found delight in art's most classical +forms. + +Yet the two men had some deeply marked traits of character in common. +The Emperor, as was Bismarck, is Prussian, that is to say mediaeval, +to the core, notwithstanding that he had an English mother and +lived in early childhood under English influences. He has always +exhibited, as Bismarck always did, the genuine qualities of the +Prussian--self-confidence, tenacity of purpose, absolute trust in his +own ideals and intolerance of those of other people, impatience of +rivalry, selfishness for the advantage of Prussia as against other +German States, as strong as that for the newly born Empire against +other countries. Finally, the Emperor is convinced, as Bismarck was +convinced, that in the first and last resort, a society, a people, a +nation, is based on force and by force alone can prosper, or even be +held together. Neither Bismarck nor the Emperor could ever sympathize +with those who look to a time when one strong and sensible policeman +will be of more value to a community than a thousand unproductive +soldiers. + +Long before he became Imperial Chancellor Bismarck had done masterly +and important work for the country. In 1862 he began his career by +filling the post of interim Minister President of Prussia at a time +when the present Emperor was still an infant. It was on taking up the +position that he made the celebrated statement that "great questions +cannot be decided by speeches and majority-votes, but must be resolved +by blood and iron." Born in April, 1815, two months before the battle +of Waterloo, at Schoenhausen, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, not +far from Magdeburg, he studied at the universities of Gottingen and +Berlin and passed two steps of the official ladder--Auscultator and +Referendar--which may be translated respectively protocolist and +junior counsel. His parliamentary career began in 1846, two years +before the second French Revolution. At that time Prussia was an +absolute monarchy, without a Constitution or a Parliament. There was +no conscription, that foundation-stone of Prussian power and of the +modern German Empire. Then came the agitated days of 1848, the +sanguinary "March Days" in Berlin. Frederick William IV was on the +throne, and in 1847 permitted the calling of a Parliament, the +forerunner of the present Reichstag; but only to represent the +"rights," not the "opinions," of the people. "No piece of paper," +cried the King, "shall come, like a second Providence, between God in +heaven and this land!" That, too, was Bismarck's sentiment, +courageously expressed by him when the Diet was debating the idea of +introducing the English parliamentary system, and proved by him in +character and conduct until the day of his death. He would have made a +splendid Jacobite! + +The three "March Days," the 18th, 19th, and 20th of March, 1848, form +one of the few occasions in Prussian or German history on which Crown +and people came into direct and serious conflict. According to German +accounts of the episode the outbreak of the revolution in France was +followed by a large influx into Berlin of Poles and Frenchmen, who +instigated the populace to violence. Collisions with the police +occurred, and on March 15th barricades began to be erected. Traffic in +the streets was only possible with the aid of the military. The King +was in despair, not so much, the accounts say, at the danger he was in +of losing his throne as at the shedding of the blood of his folk, and +issued a proclamation promising to grant all desirable reforms, +abolishing the censorship of the press, and summoning the Diet to +discuss the terms of a Constitution. The citizens, however, continued +to build barricades, made their way into the courtyards of the palace, +and demanded the withdrawal of the troops. The King ordered the +courtyards to be cleared, the palace guard advanced, and, either by +accident or design, the guns of two grenadiers went off. No one was +hit, but cries of "Treason!" and "Murder!" were raised. Within an hour +a score of barricades were set up in various parts of the town and +manned by a medley of workmen, university students, artists, and even +men of the Landwehr, or military reserve. + +At this time there were about 14,000 troops at the King's disposal, +and with these the authorities proceeded against the mob. A series of +scattered engagements between mob and military began. They lasted for +eight hours, until at midnight General von Prittwitz, who was in +command of the troops, was able to report to the King that the +revolution was subdued. + +Next morning, however, the 19th, numerous deputations of citizens +presented themselves at the palace, and assuring the King that it was +the only means of preventing the further effusion of blood, renewed +the request for the withdrawal of the troops. The King consented, +notwithstanding the opposition of Prince, afterwards Emperor, William, +and the troops were drawn off to Potsdam. The citizens thereupon +appointed a National Guard, which took charge of the palace, and in +the evening a vast crowd appeared beneath the King's windows bearing +the corpses of those who had fallen at the barricades during the two +preceding days. The dead bodies were laid in rows in the palace +courtyard, and the King was invited out to see them. He could not but +obey, and bowed to the crowd as he stood bareheaded before the bodies. + +It is clear from the occurrences in Berlin in 1848 that while the +Prussian idea of monarchy is deeply rooted in the German mind, the +possibility of a sudden change in public sentiment and a radical +alteration of the relations between Crown and people are never at any +time to be wholly disregarded. Hence it is that the Emperor and his +Government are so insistent on the doctrine of Heaven-granted +sovereignty, so ready to support more or less autocratic monarchies in +other parts of the world, and so sensitive to popular movements like +Anarchism and Nihilism in Russia, or the always-smouldering Polish +agitation and the propaganda of the Social Democracy in Germany. When +King Frederick William IV said to his assembled generals at Potsdam a +week after the "March Days," "Never have I felt more free or more +secure than when under the protection of my burghers," his words were +drowned in the buzz of murmurs and the angry clanking of swords. The +Emperor to-day might, or might not, endorse the words of his ancestor. +Most probably he would not; for, judging by his speeches, his care for +the army, the military state with which he surrounds himself, and his +habitual appearance in uniform, he, though in truth far more a civil +monarch than the War Lord foreign writers delight in painting him, is +evidently determined to rely only on his soldiers for every +eventuality at home as well as abroad. + +Perhaps the best German authorities on Bismarck's falling-out with the +young Emperor are the statements regarding it to be found in the +memoranda supplied at the time by Prince Bismarck himself to Dr. +Moritz Busch; the Memoirs of Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, +subsequently Imperial Chancellor; and the monograph on Bismarck by Dr. +Hans Blum, one of the Chancellor's confidants. The memoranda supplied +to Busch make regrettably few references to the subject, beyond giving +the terms of the official resignation and some scanty addenda thereto; +but enough is said generally by Busch concerning Bismarck's +conversations to show that the Chancellor was deeply mortified by his +dismissal. Bismarck indeed expressly denies this in a conversational +statement quoted by an able Bismarckian writer of our own time, Dr. +Paul Liman; but in view of subsequent events and statements the denial +can hardly be taken as sincere. The passage referred to is as +follows:-- + + "I bear no grudge against my young master, who is fiery and + lively. He wishes to make all men happy, and that is very + natural at his age. I, for my part, believe perhaps less in + this possibility, and have told him so too. It is very + natural that a mentor like myself does not please him, and + that he therefore rejects my advice. An old carthorse and a + young courser go ill in harness together. Only politics are + not so easy as a chemical combination: they deal with human + beings. I wish certainly that his experiments may succeed, + and am not in the least angry with him. I stand towards him + like a father whom a son has grieved; the father may suffer + thereby, but all the same he says to himself, 'He is a fine + young fellow.' When I was young I followed my King + everywhere: now that I am old I can no longer accompany my + master when he travels so far. Accordingly it is unavoidable + that counsellors who remained closer to him should win his + confidence at my expense. He is very easily influenced when + one puts before him ideas which he supposes will happily + affect the condition of the people, and he can hardly wait + to put them into operation. The Kaiser will achieve + reputation at once: I have my own to watch over, to defend. + I have sacrificed myself for renown and will not place it in + jeopardy." + +Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs are much more valuable in respect of +positive information, and especially in supplying an account of the +incident taken from the lips of the Emperor himself. The Prince was +without his great predecessor's ability, but was much more amiable and +sincere. He was, moreover, a friend of both the parties concerned, and +he impartially jotted down events at the time they occurred. Lastly, +if he was a courtier at heart, he was that not wholly unknown thing, +an honest one. Dr. Hans Blum is obviously a partisan of the great +Chancellor's, but he may also be referred to for a fairly connected +account of the fall and the events that succeeded it up to the time of +Bismarck's death on July 30, 1898. + +Apart from the differences in the ages and temperaments of the Emperor +and the Chancellor, there were differences in their views as to +certain measures of policy. There was a difference of opinion as to +German policy regarding Russia. Friendship with that country had been +the policy of both Emperor William I and Bismarck, and the latter had +effected a reinsurance treaty with Russia, stipulating for Russian +neutrality in case of a war between Germany and France, +notwithstanding the subsistence of the Triple Alliance between +Germany, Austria, and Italy. The reinsurance treaty, which had been +made for a period of three years, was now about to expire, and while +Bismarck desired its renewal, the Emperor, in a spirit of loyalty to +Austria, was against the renewal, and the treaty was not renewed. This +was the "new course" as it regarded Russia. The difference with regard +to the anti-Socialist Laws has been referred to in our chapter on the +accession. + +The Royal Order of September, 1852, which has been mentioned as +leading immediately to the resignation, regulated intercourse between +the Prussian Ministers and the Crown, its chief provision being that +only the Minister President, and not individual Ministers, should have +audience of the Emperor regarding matters of home and foreign policy. +The Emperor desired the abrogation of the Order, for he wished to +consult with the Ministers individually. The text of Bismarck's +official resignation, after describing the origin of the Order, +continues: + + "If each individual Minister can receive commands from his + Sovereign without previous arrangement with his colleagues, + a coherent policy, for which some one is to be responsible, + is an impossibility. It would be impossible for any of the + Ministers, and especially for the Minister President, to + bear the constitutional responsibility for the Cabinet as a + whole. Such a provision as that contained in the Order of + 1852 could be dispensed with under the absolute monarchy and + could also be dispensed with to-day if we returned to + absolutism without ministerial responsibility. But according + to the constitutional arrangements now legally in force the + control of the Cabinet by a President under the Order of + 1852 is indispensable." + +The Emperor replied to Prince Bismarck's resignation in a +communication which the reader, according to his disposition, will +regard as an effusion of the heart, immensely creditable to its +composer, a model of an official reply as demanded by circumstances, a +striking example of the art of throwing dust in the public eye, or an +equally striking contribution to the literature of excusable +hypocrisy. It was as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR PRINCE,--With deep emotion I learn from your + request of the 18th instant that you have decided to retire + from the offices which you have filled for long years with + incomparable success. I had hoped not to have been compelled + to entertain the thought of separation during our lives. + While, however, in full consciousness of the important + consequences of your retirement, I am forced to accustom + myself to the thought. I do so, it is true, with a heavy + heart, but in the strong confidence that the grant of your + request will contribute as much as possible to the + protection and preservation for as long as possible of a + life and strength of unreplaceable value to the Fatherland. + + "The grounds you offer for your resignation convince me that + any further attempt to induce you to reconsider your + determination would have no prospect of success. I + acquiesce, therefore, in your wish by hereby graciously + releasing you from your offices as Imperial Chancellor, + President of my State Ministry, and Minister of Foreign + Affairs, and trust that your counsels and energy, your + loyalty and devotion, will not be wanting to me and the + country in the future also. + + "I have considered it as one of the most valued privileges + in my life that at the commencement of my reign I had you at + my side as my first counsellor. What you have done and + achieved for Prussia and Germany, what you have done for my + House, my ancestors, and me, will remain to me and the + German people in grateful and imperishable memory. But also + in foreign countries your wise and energetic peace policy, + which I, too, in the future also, as a result of sincere + conviction, decide to take as the guiding line of my + conduct, will be always gloriously recognized. It is not in + my power to requite your services as they deserve. I must + rest satisfied with assuring you of my own and the country's + ineffaceable thanks. As a sign of this thanks I confer on + you the rank of a Duke of Lauenburg. I will also send you a + life-sized picture of myself. + + "God bless you, my dear Prince, and grant you still many + years of an old age undisturbed and blessed with the + consciousness of duty faithfully done. + + "In this disposition I remain to you and yours in the future + also your sincere, obliged, and grateful Emperor and King, + + "WILLIAM I.R." + +The Emperor has never, so far as is publicly known, issued, or caused +to be issued, an official account of the episode and its _péripéties_, +but the story he poured, evidently out of a full heart, into the ears +of Prince Hohenlohe, then Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine, during a +midnight drive from the railway station at Hagenau to the hunting +lodge at Sufflenheim, is an historical document of practically +official authenticity. It appears as follows in the Prince's +Memoirs:-- + +"STRASBURG, 26 _April_, 1890. + + "On the evening of the 23rd, nine o'clock, I drove with + Thaden and Moritz to Hagenau, there to await the arrival of + the Emperor. We spent the evening with circle-officer Klemm. + I went to bed at eleven o'clock in the guest-room, and slept + until half-past twelve. Moritz and Thaden drove to the + station with a view to changing their clothes in the train. + At one o'clock I was again at the station, when the Emperor + punctually arrived. I presented the gentlemen to him, and + turned over General Hahnke to Baron Charpentier and + Lieutenant Cramer, for them to conduct him to the hunting + ground. Our journey lasted about an hour, during which the + Emperor related without a pause the whole story of his + quarrel with Bismarck. According to this the coolness had + already begun in December. The Emperor then demanded that + something should be done about the Working Class Question. + The Chancellor was against doing anything. The Emperor held + the view that if the Government did not take the initiative, + the Reichstag, _i.e_. the Socialists, Centre and + Progressives, would take the matter in hand, and then the + Government would lag behind. The Chancellor wanted to lay + the anti-Socialist Bill with the expulsion paragraph again + before the Reichstag, dissolving the chamber if it did not + accept the Bill, and then, if it came to disturbances, to + take energetic measures. The Emperor objected, saying that + if his grandfather, after a long and glorious reign, were + forced to repress disturbances no one would think ill of + him. It was different in his case, who had as yet + accomplished nothing. People would reproach him with + beginning his reign by shooting down his subjects. He was + ready to act, but he wished to do it with a good conscience + after endeavouring to redress the well-founded grievances of + the workmen, or at least after doing everything to meet + their justifiable claims. + + "The Emperor therefore demanded at a ministerial conference + the submission of ministerial edicts which should contain + what subsequently they in fact did contain. Bismarck would + not hear of it. The Emperor then laid the question before + the Council of State, and eventually obtained the edicts in + spite of Bismarck's opposition. Bismarck, however, secretly + continued his opposition, and tried to persuade Switzerland + to persevere with its idea of an International Labour + Conference. The attempt was rendered nugatory by the loyal + attitude of the Swiss Minister in Berlin, Roth. At the very + same time Bismarck was trying to influence the diplomatists + against the conference. + + "The relations between the Emperor and Bismarck, already + shaken by these dissensions, were still further embittered + by the question of the Cabinet Order of 1852. Bismarck had + often advised the Emperor to summon the Ministers to him. + This the Emperor did, and as the intercourse became more + frequent Bismarck took it ill, was jealous, and dragged out + the Order of 1852 so as to keep Ministers from the Emperor. + The Emperor resisted and acquired the abrogation of the + Cabinet Order. Bismarck at first agreed, but gave no further + sign in the matter. The Emperor now demanded either that the + recission of the Order should be laid before him, or that + Bismarck should resign--a demand which the Emperor + communicated to Bismarck through General von Hahnke. The + Chancellor delayed, but at length gave in the resignation on + March 18th. It should be added that already, at the + beginning of February, Bismarck had told the Emperor that he + would retire. Afterwards, however, he declared that he had + thought the position over and would remain--a thing not + agreeable to the Emperor, though he made no remonstrance + until the affair of the Cabinet Order came in addition. The + visit of Windthorst to the Chancellor also gave rise to + unpleasantness, though it was not the deciding factor. In + any case the last three weeks were filled with disagreeable + conversations between the Emperor and the Chancellor. It + was, as the Emperor expressed it, a 'devil of a time,' and + the question was, as the Emperor himself said, whether the + dynasty Bismarck or the dynasty Hohenzollern should reign. + The Emperor spoke very angrily, too, about the article in + the _Hamburg News_. In foreign policy Bismarck, according to + the Emperor, went his own way, and kept back from the + Emperor much of what he did. 'Yes,' he said, 'Bismarck had + it conveyed to St. Petersburg that I wanted to adopt an + anti-Russian policy. But for that,' the Emperor added, 'he + had no proofs.' + + "This conversation," concludes Prince Hohenlohe, "between + the Emperor and myself was told partly on the way to the + lodge and partly on the way back. Between came the shooting; + but there was no sport, as the Emperor took his stand in the + dark under a tree on which was a cock that did not 'call.'" + +The following further extracts from the Hohenlohe Memoirs are given +rather with the object of showing the state of the political and +social atmosphere in which the quarrel took place than as throwing any +fresh light on its course. In June of the preceding year (1889) occurs +an entry which registers the first signs of the coming storm. Prince +Hohenlohe is telling of a visit he made in June to the Grand Duke of +Baden, whom he found irritated by Bismarck's proposal, made in +connection with the arrest of a Prussian police officer by the Swiss, +to close the frontier against the canton Aargau. The Grand Duke, the +Prince relates, quoted Herbert Bismarck as saying he "could not +understand his father any longer and that people were beginning to +believe he was not right in his head." + +The next entry in the Journal is dated Strasburg, August 24th. It +concerns another meeting with the Grand Duke, who now told him that +Bismarck had changed his views and that these oscillations had puzzled +the Emperor and at the same time heightened his self-consciousness; +moreover, that the Emperor noticed that things were being kept back +from him and was becoming suspicious. There had already been a +collision between the Emperor and the Chancellor and the latter might +have to go. What then? Probably the Emperor thought of conducting +foreign policy himself--but that, added the Grand Duke, would be very +dangerous. + +The feeling at Court regarding Bismarck's fall is shown by a passage +in the Memoirs about this time. It runs: + + "At 1.30 p.m. dinner (at the palace) at which I sat between + Stosch and Kameke. The former told me much about his own + quarrel with Bismarck, and was as gay as a snow-king that he + can now speak freely and that the great man is no longer to + be feared. This comfortable sentiment is obvious here on all + sides." + +The anecdote still current in Berlin, that Bismarck actually threw an +inkstand at the Emperor's head is reduced to its proper proportions by +the following entry: + + "The Grand Duke of Baden, with whom I was yesterday, knows a + good deal about the recent crisis. He says the cause of the + breach between the Emperor and Chancellor was a question of + power, and that all other differences of opinion about + social legislation and other things were only secondary. The + chief ground was the Cabinet Order of 1852, which Bismarck + pressed on the attention of the Ministers without the + Emperor's knowledge, and so hindered them from going to make + their reports to the Emperor. The Emperor wanted the Order + rescinded, while Bismarck was against it. Nor had the + conversation with Windthorst led to the breach. A talk + between the Emperor and Bismarck about this conversation is + said to have been so tempestuous that the Emperor + subsequently said when describing it, 'He (Bismarck) all but + threw the inkstand at me.'" To Hohenlohe Bismarck said, as + Hohenlohe remarked that the resignation had surprised him, + "Me also," and that three weeks before he did not think + things would end as they had. Bismarck added: "However, it + was to be expected, for the Emperor is now quite determined + to rule alone." + +Finally the Prince's Journal has the following: + + "Two things struck me in these last three days: one that no + one has any time and every one is in a greater hurry than + before; and secondly, that individualities have expanded. + Every individual is conscious of himself, while before, + under the predominating influence of Prince Bismarck, + individualities shrank and were kept down. Now they are all + swollen like sponges placed in water. That has its + advantages, but also its dangers. The single-minded will is + lacking." + +The period between the great Chancellor's fall and his death nine +years later was marked by so many incidents as to make it almost as +_mouvementé_ as the period of the fall itself. He retired to +Friedrichsruh, all the more immediately as the new Chancellor, General +von Caprivi, showed such indecent haste in taking possession of the +official residence that a portion of Bismarck's furniture was broken +and rendered useless. That Bismarck retired with the angry feelings of +a Coriolanus in his heart, or, as Anglo-Saxon slang would have it, of +a "bear with a sore head," became evident only a few weeks later. He +was visited by the inevitable interviewer, and chose the _Hamburg +News_ as the medium of communicating to the world his opinion of the +new _régime_ and the men who were conducting it; and made use of that +paper with such instant vigour and acerbity that little more than two +months from his retirement elapsed before the new Chancellor thought +it advisable to issue instructions to Germany's diplomatic +representatives warning them carefully to distinguish between the +"present sentiments and views of the Duke of Lauenburg and those of +the erstwhile Prince Bismarck," and to pay no serious attention to the +former. Bismarck replied in the _Hamburg News_ that he would not allow +his mouth to be closed, and set about proving that he meant what he +said. Nothing the men of the "new course" could do met with his +approval. The first thing he fell foul of was the Anglo-German +agreement of July 1, 1890, which gave Germany Heligoland in exchange +for Zanzibar, deploring the badness of the bargain for Germany, and +evidently not foreseeing the importance that island's position, +commanding the approaches to the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser, was +afterwards to possess. Besides the friendliness with England, the +detachment of Germany from Russia in favour of Austria, also a feature +of the "new course," did not please him as tending to drive Russia +into the arms of France. + +His prescience, however, in this respect was demonstrated when a year +later the Czar saluted a French squadron in the harbour of Cronstadt +to the strains of the "Marseillaise" and signed a secret agreement +that was alluded to four years later by the French Premier, M. Ribot, +in the French Chamber of Deputies, who spoke of Russia as "our ally," +and was publicly announced in 1897, on the occasion of President Felix +Faure's visit to St. Petersburg, by the Czar's now famous employment +of the words "_deux nations amies et alliées_." + +The ex-Chancellor was as little satisfied with the new tariff treaties +entered into by General Caprivi with Austria, Italy, Belgium, and +other countries, which the Emperor, wiser, as events have shown, than +his former Minister, characterized on their passage by Parliament as +the country's "salvation" (_eine rettende Tat_). The ex-Chancellor's +caustic but mistaken criticism was punished by the calculated neglect +of the Berlin authorities to invite him to the ceremonies attending +the celebration of the ninetieth birthday of his old comrade, General +von Moltke, in October, 1890, and that of his funeral in the following +April: still more publicly punished in connexion with the marriage of +his son Herbert. + +The wedding of the latter to Countess Marguerite Hoyos was to take +place in Vienna on June 21, 1892, and on the 18th Prince Bismarck +started with his family to attend it. The journey was a species of +triumphal progress to Vienna, but it was to end in disappointment and +chagrin. As the result of representations from Germany, made doubtless +with the Emperor's assent, if not at his suggestion, Bismarck was met +on his arrival with the news that the German Ambassador, Prince Reuss, +and the Embassy staff had orders to absent themselves from the +wedding, that the widow of the Crown Prince Rudolph, who had accepted +a card of invitation to it, had suddenly left Vienna, and that the +Emperor Franz Joseph would not receive him. The German action was +explained by the publication two months later of the edict, +stigmatized by Bismarck as an "Urias Letter," in which Caprivi warned +foreign Governments against attaching any importance to the utterances +of the Duke of Lauenburg. The Bismarckian and anti-Bismarckian storm +came up afresh in Germany. Bismarck was reproached by the Government +as "injuring monarchical feeling," and by his enemies as a traitor to +his country; while the angry statesman published a statement +expressing the opinion that + + "the control of private social intercourse abroad, and the + influencing of dinner invitations, were not tasks for which + high officers of State were selected nor public money for + the payment of diplomatic representatives voted": + +doubting, at the same time, "if the foreign archives of any other +country than Germany could show a parallel to the incident." + +The storm, notwithstanding, had a good effect, for it brought out in +bold relief the immense regard and respect the overwhelming majority +of his countrymen entertained for the chief architect of their Empire; +and when Bismarck fell ill at Kissingen in 1893 the Emperor, +subordinating his political animosities to the chivalrous instincts of +his nature, telegraphed his sorrow to the patient and offered to lend +him one of the royal castles for the purpose of his convalescence. +Bismarck declined, but not ungratefully, and the way to a +reconciliation was opened. Next year, 1894, Bismarck suffered from +influenza, and when this time the Emperor sent an adjutant to +Friedrichsruh to express his regret, invited him to attend the +festivities on the forthcoming royal birthday, and sent along with the +invitation a flask of Steinberger Cabinet from the imperial cellar in +characteristic German proof of the sincerity of his feelings, the +country was delighted. Bismarck accepted the invitation and doubtless +drank the Steinberger; and the visit to Berlin followed in due time. + +The reconciliation was completed amid sympathetic popular rejoicing. +The Emperor sent his brother, Prince Henry, to bring the ex-Chancellor +from the railway station to the palace, where the Emperor himself, +surrounded by a brilliant staff, stood to welcome the guest. Bismarck +spent the day at the palace with the Royal Family and was taken back +to the railway station in the evening by the Emperor. A few days later +the Emperor returned the visit at Friedrichsruh. + +The quiet of the ex-Chancellor's last years was once unpleasantly +affected by the Reichstag in 1895, at the instance of his +parliamentary enemies, rejecting, to its everlasting discredit, a +proposal for an official vote of congratulation to the ex-Chancellor +on his eightieth birthday; but against this unpleasantness may be set +his gratification at the receipt of a telegram from the Emperor +expressing his "deepest indignation" at the rejection. + +Prince Bismarck died on July 30th, 1898, and was laid to rest at +Friedrichsruh in the presence of the Emperor and Empress, while the +world paused for a moment in its occupations to discuss with +sympathetic admiration the dead man's personality and career. +Bismarck's spirit is still abroad in Germany, and the popular memory +of him is as fresh now as though he died but yesterday. It is more +than probable, much rather is it certain, that all trace of irritation +with the proud old Chancellor has long faded from the Emperor's mind: +indeed at no time does there seem to have been sentiments of personal +or permanent rancour on one side or the other. The episode, in short, +was an inevitable collision of ages, temperaments, and times, +regrettable no doubt as a possibly harmful example of political +discord among the leaders of the nation, but--with due respect for the +judgment of so capable an historian as von Treitschke--leaving no +"indelible stain" either on the pages of German history or on the +reputations of Bismarck or the Emperor. + + + + +VIII. + + + +SPACIOUS TIMES + + + +1891-1899 + +A great English poet sings of the "spacious days" of Queen Elizabeth. +From the German standpoint the decade from the fall of Bismarck to the +end of the century may not inaptly be described as the spacious days +of William II and the modern German Empire. To the Englishman the +actual territorial acquisitions of Germany during the period must seem +comparatively insignificant, but, taken in connection with the +Emperor's speeches, the building of the German navy, the Caprivi +commercial treaties, the growth of friendly relations and of trade and +intercourse with America, North and South, they mean the opening of a +new era in the history of the Empire--the era of Weltpolitik. + +Heligoland was obtained in exchange for Zanzibar in 1890, and is now +regarded by Germans much as Gibraltar or Malta is regarded by +Englishmen. The first Kiel regatta, due solely to the initiative of +the Emperor, and starting the development of sport in all fields which +is a feature of modern German progress, ethical and physical, was held +in 1894. The Caprivi commercial treaties were concluded within the +period. The Kiel Canal, connecting the Baltic and North Sea, and +giving the German fleet access to all the open waters of the earth, +was opened in 1895. In 1896 the Kruger telegram testified to imperial +interest in South African developments. The Hamburg-Amerika Line now +sent a specially fast mail and passenger steamer across the Atlantic. +The district of Kiautschau was leased from China in 1898, securing +Germany a foothold and naval base in the Far East. In the same year +the modern Oriental policy of the Empire was inaugurated by the +Emperor's visit to Palestine and his declaration in the course of it +that he would be the friend of Turkey and of the three hundred +millions of Mohammedans who recognized the Sultan as their spiritual +head. To this year also belongs the measure, the most important in its +consequences and significance of the reign hitherto, the passing of +the First Navy Law. Finally, in 1899 Germany acquired the Caroline +Islands by purchase from Spain, and certain Samoan Islands by +agreement with England and America. + +Nothing was more natural as a result of the new world-policy than a +change in the mental outlook of the people. It inaugurated in Germany +an era somewhat analogous to the era inaugurated in England by the +widening and brightening of the Englishman's horizon under Elizabeth. +The analogy may not be closely maintainable throughout, but, generally +speaking, just as the eyes of Englishmen suddenly saw the +possibilities of expansion disclosed to them by Drake, Raleigh, and +Frobisher, so the Emperor's appeals, with the pursuance of German +colonial policy and the attempt to develop Germany's African +possessions, led to an awakening in Germany of a similar, if weaker, +kind. To this awakening the building of the German navy contributed; +and though it did not appeal to the German imagination as did the +deeds of the old navigators to that of Elizabethan Englishmen, it +widened the national outlook and fired the people with new imperial +ambitions. Hitherto, moreover, Germany's attention had been confined +almost solely to trade within continental boundaries: henceforth she +was to do business actively and enterprisingly with all parts of the +world. + +The Emperor's thoughts on the subject were expressed in January, 1896, +at a banquet in the Berlin palace given to a miscellaneous company of +leading personalities of the time. The occasion was the celebration of +the twenty-fifth year of the modern Empire's foundation. He said: + + "The German Empire becomes a world-empire. Everywhere in the + farthest parts of the earth live thousands of our + fellow-countrymen. German subjects, German knowledge, German + industry cross the ocean. The value of German goods on the + seas amounts to thousands of millions of marks. On you, + gentlemen, devolves the serious duty of helping me to knit + firmly this greater German Empire to the Empire at home." + +The expression "greater German Empire" immediately reminded the +Englishman of his own "Greater Britain," and he concluded that the +Emperor was secretly thinking of rivalling him in the extent and value +of his colonial possessions. Possibly he was, and doubtless he +ardently desired to see Germany owning large and fertile colonies; but +it is quite as probable he was thinking of his economic Weltpolitik, +and knew as well then as he does now that it must be left to time and +the hour to show whether they fall to her or not. + +In the same order of ideas may be placed, though it is anticipating +somewhat, the Emperor's utterances at Aix in 1902 and three years +later at Bremen. At Aix, after describing the failure of Charlemagne's +successors to reconcile the duties of a Holy Roman Emperor with those +of a German King, he continued: + + "Now another Empire has arisen. The German people has once + more an Emperor of its own choice, with the sword on the + field of battle has the crown been won, and the imperial + flag flutters high in the breeze. But the tasks of the new + Empire are different: confined within its borders it has to + steel itself anew for the work it has to do, and which it + could not achieve in the Middle Ages. We have to live so + that the Empire, still young, becomes from year to year + stronger in itself, while confidence in it strengthens on + all sides. The powerful German army guarantees the peace of + Europe. In accord with the German character we confine + ourselves externally in order to be unconfined internally. + Far stretches our speech over the ocean, far the flight of + our science and exploration; no work in the domain of new + discovery, no scientific idea but is first tested by us and + then adopted by other nations. This is the world-rule the + German spirit strives for." + +At Bremen he said: + + "The world-empire I dream of is a new German Empire which + shall enjoy on all hands the most absolute confidence as a + quiet, peaceable, honest neighbour--not founded by conquest + with the sword, but on the mutual confidence of nations + aiming at the same end." + +The Emperor's world-policy was referred to more than once about this +time by Chancellor Prince Bülow in the Reichstag. "It is," he said on +one occasion, "Germany's intention and duty to protect the great and +ever-growing oversea interests which she has acquired through the +development of conditions." "We recognize," he continued, + + "that we have no longer interests only round our own + fireside or in the neighbourhood of the church clock, but + everywhere where German industry and Germany's commercial + spirit have penetrated; and we must foster these interests + within the bounds of possibility and good sense." + +"Our world-policy," he said on another occasion in the same place, + + "is not a policy of interference, much less a policy of + intervention: had it interfered in South Africa (he was + alluding to the Boer War) it must have intervened, and + intervention implies the use of force." + +On yet another occasion he explained that a prudent world-policy must +go hand in hand with a sound protective policy for home industry, and +that its basis must be a strong national home policy. + +There is nothing in all this, even supposing Germany's interests at +that time were purposely exaggerated, to which the foreigner could +reasonably object. The foreigner felt perhaps slightly uncomfortable +when the same statesman, departing for a moment from his usual +objective standpoint, spoke of the German "traversing the world with a +sword in one hand and a spade and trowel in the other"; but otherwise +no act of Germany's world-policy need have inspired alarm, or need +inspire alarm at the present time, in sensible foreign minds. The +rapidity of its action probably helped to excite a feeling that it +could not be altogether honest or above-board; but it should be +remembered that the new Empire had much leeway to make up in the race +with other nations, and that quick development was rendered necessary +by her commercial treaties, by her protective system, by the +unexpected growth of industry and trade, by the continuous increase of +population, the development of the mercantile marine, and the growing +consciousness of national strength. + +And if there is nothing in Germany's development of her world-policy +to which the foreigner can reasonably object, there is much in it at +which he can reasonably rejoice. Competition is good for him, for it +puts him on his mettle. A large and prosperous German population +extends his markets and means more business and more profit. The minds +of both Germans and the foreigner become broader, more mutually +sympathetic and appreciative. The elder Pitt warned his +fellow-countrymen against letting France become a maritime, a +commercial, or a colonial power. She has become all three, and what +injury has occurred therefrom to England or any other nation? + +Germany's colonial development dates from about the year 1884, the +period of the "scramble for Africa." The first step to acquiring +German colonies for the Empire was taken in 1883, when a merchant of +Bremen, Edouard Luderitz, made an agreement with the Hottentots by +which the bay of Angra Pequena in South-West Africa, with an area of +fifty thousand square kilometres, was ceded to him. Luderitz applied +to Bismarck for imperial protection. Bismarck inquired of England +whether she claimed rights of sovereignty over the bay. Lord Granville +replied in the negative, but added that he did not consider the +seizure of possession by another Power allowable. Indignant at what he +called a "monstrous claim" on all the land in the world which was +without a master, Bismarck telegraphed to the German Consul at the +Cape to "declare officially to the British Government that Herr +Luderitz and his acquisitions are under the protection of the Empire." + +The Bremen pioneer was fated to gain no advantage from his enterprise, +as he was drowned in the Orange River in 1886. His example as a +colonist, however, was followed by three Hanseatic merchants, +Woermann, Jansen, and Thormealen, of Hamburg, who acquired land in +Togo, a small kingdom to the east of the British Gold Coast, and in +the Cameroons, a large tract in the bend of the Gulf of Guinea, +extending to Lake Chad, and applied for German imperial protection. +Bismarck sent Consul-General Nachtigall with the gunboat _Moewe_ in +1884 to hoist the German flag at various ports. Five days after this +had been done the English gunboat _Flirt_ arrived, but was thus too +late to obtain Togoland and the Cameroons for England. + +Dr. Carl Peters, the German Cecil Rhodes, now arrived at Zanzibar, and +on obtaining concessions from the Sultan founded the German East +Africa Company, with a charter from his Government. German hopes of +great colonial expansion began to run high, but they were dashed by +the Anglo-German agreement of June, 1890, delimiting the spheres of +England, Germany, and the Sultan of Zanzibar, and stipulating that +Germany should receive Heligoland from England in return for German +recognition of English suzerainty in Zanzibar and the possession of +Uganda, which had recently been taken for Germany by Dr. Peters. At +that time Germans thought very little of Heligoland, but there was +then no Anglo-German tension, and no apprehension of an English +descent on the German coast. + +The lease for ninety-nine years of Kiautschau, a small area of about +four hundred square miles on the coast of China, was obtained from the +Chinese in connexion with the murder of two German missionaries in +1897 in the Shantung Province, of which Kiautschau forms a part. Herr +von Bülow, then only Foreign Secretary, referred to the transaction in +the Reichstag in words that may be quoted, as they describe German +foreign policy in the Far East. "Our cruiser fleet," he said, + + "was sent to Kiautschau Bay to exact reparation for the + murder of German Catholic missionaries on the one hand, and + to obtain greater security for the future against a + repetition of such occurrences. The Government," + +he continued, + +"has nothing but benevolent and friendly designs regarding China, and +has no wish either to offend or provoke her. We are ready in East Asia +to recognize the interests of other Great Powers in the certain +confidence that our own interests will be duly respected by them. In +one word--we desire to put no one in the shade, but we too demand our +place in the sun. In East Asia, as in the West Indies, we shall +endeavour, in accordance with the traditions of German policy, without +unnecessary rigour, but also without weakness, to guard our rights and +our interests." + +In mentioning the West Indies the Foreign Secretary was alluding to a +quarrel Germany had at this time with the negro republic of Haiti, +owing to the arrest and imprisonment of a German subject in that +island. Kiautschau is administratively under the German Admiralty. + +The Caroline, Marianne, and Palau Islands, including the Marschall +Islands and the islands of the Bismarck archipelago, were bought from +Spain this year for twenty-five million pesetas, or about one million +sterling. The islands are valuable in German eyes, not only for their +fertility and capacity for plantation development, but as affording +good harbourage and coaling stations on the sea-road to China, Japan, +and Central America. By the agreement with England and America, which +in this year also put an end to the thorny question of Samoan +administration, Germany acquired the Samoan islands of Upolu and +Sawaii in the South Sea. + +The ten years we are now concerned with were perhaps the most +strenuous and picturesque of the Emperor's life hitherto. He was now +his own Chancellor, though that post was nominally occupied by General +von Caprivi and Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe successively. He was +Chancellor, too, knowing that not a hundred miles off the old pilot of +the ship of State was watching, keenly and not too benevolently, his +every act and word. He was conscious that the eyes of the world were +fixed on him, and that every other Government was waiting with +interest and curiosity to learn what sort of rival in statecraft and +diplomacy it would henceforward have to reckon with. Naturally many +plans coursed through his restlessly active brain, but there were +always, one may imagine, two compelling and ever-present thoughts at +the back of them. One of these was a determination to promote the +moral and material prosperity of his people so as to make them a model +and thoroughly modern commonwealth; the other, the resolve that as +Emperor he would not allow Germany to be overlooked, to be treated as +a _quantité négligeable_, in the discussion or decision of +international affairs. + +The Chancellorship of General von Caprivi, who had been successively +Minister of War and Marine, lasted from March, 1890, to October, 1894. +He may have been a good commanding general, but he has left no +reputation either as a man of marked character or as a statesman of +exceptional ability. Nor was either character or ability much needed. +He was, as every one knew, a man of immensely inferior ability to his +great predecessor, but every one knew also that the Emperor intended +to be his own Chancellor, pursue his own policy, and take +responsibility for it. Taking responsibility is, naturally, easier for +a Hohenzollern monarch than for most men, since he is responsible to +no one but himself. With the appointment of Caprivi the Emperor's +"personal regiment" may be said to have begun. + +During General von Caprivi's term of office some measures of +importance have to be noted, among them the Quinquennat, which +replaced Bismarck's Septennat and fixed the military budget for five +years instead of seven; the reduction of the period of conscription +for the infantry from three years to two; and the decision not to +renew Bismarck's reinsurance treaty with Russia. + +The chief event, however, with which Chancellor Caprivi's name is +usually associated, is the conclusion of commercial treaties between +Germany and most other continental countries. Other countries had +followed Germany's example and adopted a protective system, and with a +view to the avoidance of tariff wars, Caprivi, strongly supported, it +need hardly be said, by an Emperor who had just declared that "the +world at the end of the nineteenth century stands under the star of +commerce, which breaks down the barriers between nations," began a +series of commercial treaty negotiations. + +The first agreements were made with Germany's allies in the Triplice, +Austria and Italy. Treaties with Switzerland and Belgium, Servia and +Rumania, followed. Russia held aloof for a time, but as a great +grain-exporting country she too found it advisable to come to terms. +With France there was no need of an agreement, since she was bound by +the Treaty of Frankfurt, concluded after the war of 1870, to grant +Germany her minimum duties. One of the regrettable results of the +Empire's new commercial policy was an antagonism between agriculture +and industry which now declared itself and has remained active to the +present day. The political cause of Caprivi's fall from power, if +power it can be called, was the twofold hostility of the Conservative +and Liberal parties in Parliament, that of the Conservatives being due +to the injury supposed to be done to landlord interests by the +commercial treaties, and that of the Liberals by an Education Bill, +which, it was alleged, would hand the Prussian school system +completely over to the Church. Perhaps the main cause, however, was +the general unpopularity he incurred by attacking, officially and +through the press, his predecessor, Bismarck, the idol of the people. + +It was in the Chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe, which ended in 1900, +that the most memorable events of this remarkable decade occurred; +but, as was to be expected, and as the Emperor himself must have +expected, the Prince, now a man of seventy-five, played a very +secondary part with regard to them. The Prince was what the Germans +call a "house-friend" of the Hohenzollern family and related to it. He +was useful, his contemporaries say, as a brake on the impetuous temper +of his imperial master, though he did not, we may be sure, turn him +from any of the main designs he had at heart. Prince Hohenlohe, in +character, was good-nature and amiability personified. He was beloved +by all classes and parties, and no foreigner can read his Memoirs +without a feeling of friendliness for a Personality so moderate and +calm and simple. A note he makes in one of his diaries amusingly +illustrates the simple side of his character. He is dining with the +Emperor, when the Emperor, catching the Prince's eye, which we may be +sure was on the alert to gather up any of the royal beams that might +come his way, raises his glass in sign of amity. "I felt so overcome," +notes the Prince, "that I almost spilt the champagne." + +The famous "Kruger telegram" episode occurred during the +Chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe. + +For many years the sending of the telegram was cited as a convincing +proof of the Emperor's "impulsive" character, and it was not until +1909 that the truth of the matter was stated by Chancellor von Bülow +in the Reichstag. In March of that year he said: + + "It has been asked, was this telegram an act of personal + initiative or an act of State? In this regard let me refer + you to your own proceedings. You will remember that the + responsibility for the telegram was never repudiated by the + directors of our political business at the time. The + telegram was an act of State, the result of official + consultations; it was in nowise an act of personal + initiative on the part of his Majesty the Kaiser. Whoever + asserts that it was is ignorant of what preceded it and does + his Majesty completely wrong." + +The Emperor's telegram to President Kruger, despatched on January 3, +1896, ran as follows:-- + + "I congratulate you most sincerely on having succeeded with + your people, and without calling on the help of foreign + Powers, by opposing your own force to an armed band which + broke into your country to disturb the peace, in restoring + quiet and in maintaining the independence of your country + against external attack." + +The echoes of this historic message were heard immediately in every +country, but naturally nowhere more loudly than in England; and the +reverberation of them is audible to the present day. In Germany, +however, for a day or two, the telegram seems to have surprised no +one, was indeed spoken of with approval by deputies in the Reichstag, +and seems not to have occurred to any one in the light of a serious +diplomatic mistake. This state of feeling did not last long, and when +the English newspapers arrived an entirely new light was thrown on the +matter. The _Morning Post_ concluded an article with the words: "It is +not easy to speak calmly of the Kaiser's telegram. The English people +will not forget it, and in future will always think of it when +considering its foreign policy." The British Government's comment on +the telegram was to put a flying squadron in commission and issue an +official statement _urbi et orbi_, calling attention to the Convention +made with President Kruger in London in 1884, reserving the +supervision of the foreign relations of the Transvaal to the British +Government. + +The Emperor himself appears to have recognized that he and his +advisers had made a serious blunder, and that a gesture which, it is +highly probable, was partly prompted by the chivalrous side of his +character, was certain to be gravely misunderstood. At any rate his +policy, or that of his Government, changed, and instead of following +up his encouraging words with mediation or intervention, he assumed an +attitude of neutrality towards the war which soon after began. +Subsequently, in the Reichstag, Chancellor von Bülow described the +course the German Government pursued immediately before and during the +war; and there seems no reason to discredit his account. The speech +was made apropos of the projected visit of President Kruger to Berlin, +when on his tour of despair to the capitals of Europe while the war +was still in progress. He was cheered by boulevard crowds in Paris, +itself a thing of no great significance, and was received at the +Elysée and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Delcassé. The +visitor was very reserved on both occasions, and confined himself to +sounding his hosts as to whether or not he could reckon on their good +offices. + +From Paris he started for Berlin, where he had engaged a large and +expensive first-floor suite of rooms in a fashionable hotel. At +Cologne, however, shortly after entering Germany, a telegram from +Potsdam awaited him, announcing the Emperor's refusal to grant him +audience. The imperial telegram consisted of a few words to the effect +that the Emperor was "not in a position" to receive him. Nor in truth +was he. An audience at that moment would have meant war between +Germany and England. + +As to German policy with regard to the Boer War, Prince Bülow +explained that the German Government deplored the war not only because +it was between two Christian and white races, that were, moreover, of +the same Germanic stock, but also because it drew within the evil +circle of its consequences important German economic and political +interests. He went on to describe their nature, enumerating under the +one head the thousands of German settlers in South Africa, the +industrial establishments and banks they had founded there, the busy +trade and the millions sterling of invested capital; while, as +regarded the other head, the Government had to take care that the war +exercised no injurious influence on German territory in that region. + +The Government, the Chancellor claimed, had done everything consistent +with neutrality and the conservation of German interests to hinder the +outbreak of the war. It had "loyally" warned the two Dutch republics +of the disposition in Europe, and left them in no doubt as to the +attitude Germany would adopt if war should come. These communications +were not made directly, but through the Hague authorities and the +Consul-General of the Netherlands in Pretoria. At that time the United +States Government had come forward with a proposal for a submission of +the quarrel to its arbitration, but the proposal had been rejected by +President Kruger. + +A little later the President changed his mind, but it was then too +late and war was declared. Once the die was cast, Germany could only +with propriety have interfered, provided she had reason to believe her +mediation would be accepted by both parties: otherwise her conduct +would not be mediation, but be regarded, in accordance with diplomatic +usage, as intervention with coercive measures in the background. For +such a policy Germany had no disposition, for it meant running the +risk of a diplomatic defeat on the one hand and of an armed conflict +with England on the other. + +As regards the visit of the President to Berlin and the Emperor's +refusal to receive him, the Chancellor asked would a reception have +done any good either to the President or to Germany, and he answered +his own question with an emphatic negative. To the President an +audience would have been of no more use than the ovations and +demonstrations he was greeted with in Paris. To Germany a reception +would have meant a shifting of international relations to the +disadvantage of the country: in other words, would have meant the +risk, almost the certainty, of war. "Wars," said the Chancellor in +this connexion, + + "are much more easily unchained through elementary popular + passions, through the passionate excitation of public + opinion, than in the old days through the ambitions of + monarchs or through the jealousies of Ministers." + +And he concluded: + + "With regard to England we stand entirely independent of + her: we are not a hair's-breadth more dependent on England + than England is on us. But we are ready on the basis of + mutual consideration and complete equality--about this + obvious preliminary condition for a proper relation between + two Great Powers we have never left any Power in doubt: I + say, we are ready on this basis to live with England in + peace, friendship, and harmony. To play the Don Quixote and + to lay the lance in rest and attack wherever in the world + English windmills are to be found, for that we are not + called upon." + +But just then there was little prospect of "peace friendship, and +harmony" with England. The world remembers, and unfortunately the +English people do not forget, that they had nowhere more bitter and +offensive critics than in Germany. One refined method of opprobrium +was the unprohibited sale in the main streets of Berlin of spittoons +bearing the countenance of the English Colonial Minister, Mr. +Chamberlain. A war with England would at that moment have been highly +popular in Germany, but as the Chancellor wisely reminded the +Parliament, it was the duty of the statesman to protect international +relations from disturbance by intrigue or by popular demonstration. + +Finally the Chancellor dealt with a report widely current in England +and Germany at the time, to the effect that the Emperor's refusal to +receive President Kruger was due to the influence of his uncle, King +Edward. The Chancellor emphatically denied that any pressure of the +kind from the English Court, or from any other source, had been +employed, and ended by saying: + + "To suppose that his Majesty the Kaiser could allow himself + to be influenced by family relations shows little + understanding of his character, or of his love of country. + For his Majesty solely the national standpoint is decisive, + and if it were otherwise, and family relations or dynastic + considerations determined our foreign policy, I would not + remain Minister a day longer." + +A precisely similar and unfounded charge, it will be remembered, was +made against King Edward VII in 1902, to the effect that it was Court +influence, not the deliberate judgment of the Cabinet, that was the +efficient cause of the co-operation of the British with the German +fleet in the demonstration off the coast of Venezuela. + +A recent writer, Dr. Adolf Stein, gives an account of the sending of +the famous telegram which corroborates that of Prince von Bülow. The +telegram, according to this version, was a well-considered answer to a +question from the Transvaal Government put to the German Government a +month before the Raid occurred, and when the Transvaal Government got +the first inkling of the preparations being made for it. President +Kruger asked what attitude Germany would adopt in case of a war +between England and the Boer republics. The answer given to the person +who made the inquiry on behalf of the Transvaal Government was that +President Kruger might rest assured of Germany's + + "diplomatic support in so far as it was also Germany's + interest that the independence of the Boer States should be + maintained, but that for anything beyond this he should not + reckon on Germany's assistance or that of any Great Power." + +This answer, Dr. Stein says, was in course of transmission by the post +when the Raid occurred. + +The Raid was made on January 1st. The event was at once telegraphed to +Berlin, where Prince Hohenlohe was Chancellor, with Freiherr Marschall +von Bieberstein, afterwards German Ambassador in Constantinople and +London, as his Foreign Secretary. According to Dr. Stein, they drew up +a telegram to President Kruger, and on the morning of the 3rd laid it +before the Emperor, who had come early from Potsdam for consultation +on the matter. The Chancellor, it should be mentioned, had been at +Potsdam the day previous, but at that time the news of the Raid had +not reached the Emperor. The Emperor, Chancellor, and Foreign +Secretary now decided that a telegram congratulating President Kruger +for having repulsed the Raid "without foreign aid" was the best +non-committal form to adopt. The Emperor, Dr. Stein continues, raised +some objections, but was over-persuaded by Prince Hohenlohe and von +Bieberstein. + +As confirming this version, a little note in Lord Goschen's Biography +may be recalled, in which Lord Goschen confides to a friend a few +weeks before the Raid that the "Germans were taking the Boers under +their wing, as the Americans had done with the Venezuelans." + +Enough perhaps has been said to show that the sending of the telegram +had nothing to do with the Emperor's "impulsive" character, and it +will only be fair to him to let the notion that it had drop finally +out of contemporary history. As an act of State it was in consonance +with German policy at the time. That policy, if it did not look to +acquiring possession of the Transvaal, may very well have looked to +enlisting the sympathies and friendship of the Dutch in South Africa, +and finding in them and their country a field for German enterprise +and a market for German goods; and there was therefore nothing +impulsive, however mistaken the act may have been as a matter of +foreign policy, in the German Government's congratulating President +Kruger on successful resistance to a private raid. + +We have suggested that the telegram was partly due to a certain +element of chivalry in the Emperor's character. The Emperor was well +acquainted with other forms of government and other social systems +besides his own, and though a Hohenzollern could put himself in the +position of the chief of the little Boer republic, threatened as he +was with annihilation by a mighty and powerful opponent. Moreover, +there is always to be remembered the sympathy of view, particularly of +religious view, that existed in the two men as regarded their attitude +and duties to their respective "folk." The President had appealed to +the Emperor for help. The Emperor had had to refuse it, but had wired +that he would do all he could "diplomatically." He knew that this was +but a poor sort of assistance, but it was something, and when the Raid +occurred he gave the diplomatic assistance he had promised by sending +a telegram of congratulation. In any case--_tempi passati_. Foreign +policy is not concerned with sympathies or antipathies, and the whole +episode should be ignored, or, better still, forgotten. + +The Kruger telegram, it turned out, was to usher in a long period of +tension between two countries of the same race, singularly alike in +their ideals of whatever is sound and praiseworthy in Christian +civilization, and almost equally mutual admirers of the fundamental +features of each other's national character. Unfortunately, along with +these fundamental features of the English and German national +characters, the love of money, the _auri sacra fames_, has to be +reckoned with, and in the race of nations for wealth and power the +fundamental qualities are apt, for a time, to be overborne and cease +to act. The rise of the modern German Empire to power and prosperity, +and the new world-situation thus created, largely by the Emperor, is +at the bottom of Anglo-German tension. As a main contributory cause of +both the power and the prosperity, was the creation of the German navy +at the period of which we write. + +The following is a parable which he who runs may read:-- + + In a certain town, with a large and heterogeneous + population, there was once a "monster" shop. The firm (there + were three partners) had been established for hundreds of + years, had thrown out several branches, and by hard work, + enterprise, and honesty had acquired a leading position in + the trade of the town: so much so, indeed, that as time went + on it had also come to do the carriage and delivery of goods + for most of the smaller shops, though some of these were + large houses themselves and the majority of them in a fair + way of business. The smaller shops were naturally a little + jealous of the "monster," and it was the dream of every + owner of them to enlarge his premises and become the + proprietor of an equally great emporium as the "monster." + One day, therefore, a little cluster of shops, at some + distance from the "monster," suddenly resolved to form a + combination, and after settling a dispute with a neighbour + in consideration of a sum of money and a fruitful tract of + land, issued the prospectus of the new company and began to + do business on modern lines. + + Almost from the very beginning the new company was a great + success: its situation was central; the company inspired its + members with enterprise and spirit; it was industrious, + energetic, and splendidly organized; and at last it began to + cut into the trade of the old-established "monster." + Competition might have gone on in the ordinary way had not + the new company made a departure in business methods that + gradually roused special uneasiness among the members of the + "monster" firm. Hitherto the latter had its delivery vans + travel all over the town, and so well was this part of its + system carried on that the firm acquired all but a monopoly + of carrying and delivery. The new company, however, now + began to do a little in the same line, whereupon the + "monster" took to building a superior type of van much more + powerful and imposing, if also much more expensive, than the + one previously in use. The new company naturally followed + suit, and in a surprisingly short time had built, or had + under construction, several vans of an exactly similar kind. + The "monster" saw the new departure of their rivals at first + with curiosity, then with contempt, then with anxiety, and + finally with suspicion and alarm. At the time of writing the + alarm appears to have abated, but a good deal of the + suspicion remains. The town is the world, the "monster" + Great Britain, and the rival company the modern German + Empire. + +It would require the Emperor himself properly to tell the story of his +creation of the modern German navy, and if he has a right to call any +part of his people's property his own, he is justified in speaking, as +he invariably does, of "my navy." As Prince William, his interest in +the subject may have been originally due, as has been seen, to his +partly English parentage, his frequent visits to England, and the fact +that his physical disability threatened to prevent him taking an +active part in the more strenuous duties of the soldier. It is very +probable that it was in the region that cradled the British navy the +idea of a great German navy was conceived by him. We have seen that +the Emperor, as Prince William, showed his enthusiasm in the matter by +delivering lectures on it in military circles, though it was not his +lot, but that of his brother Henry, to be assigned the navy as a +profession. In his Order to the Navy on ascending the throne, he spoke +of the "lively and warm interest" that bound him to the navy, shortly +afterwards issued directions for a new marine uniform on the English +model, and caused the introduction into the Lutheran Church service of +a special prayer for the arm. He gave a parliamentary soirée at the +New Palace in Potsdam, and before allowing his Conservative and +National Liberal guests to sit down to supper, made them listen to a +lecture which occupied two hours, giving particular attention, with +the aid of maps and plans, to the battle of the Yalu between the +fleets of China and Japan. He founded the Technical Shipbuilding +Society, and took, and takes, an animated part in its proceedings, +suggesting positions for the guns, the disposition of armour, the +dimensions of submarines, and a hundred other details. In 1908 he +delivered an after-dinner lecture at the "Villa Achilleion" in Corfu +on Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar, based on the writings of +Captain Mark Kerr of the _Implacable_, at which the situations of the +French, English, and Spanish fleets were sketched by the imperial +hand. To his admiration for the writings of Captain Mahan his +persistence in enlarging the fleet is said largely to be due. He is, +of course, assisted by a host of able experts, among whom Admiral von +Tirpitz--the ablest German since Bismarck, many Germans say--is the +most distinguished; but as he is his own Foreign Minister and own +Commander-in-Chief, he is, in the fullest sense, his own First Lord of +the Admiralty. + +The Emperor closed one of his naval lectures with an anecdote which +the papers reported next day as being received with "stormy +amusement." It was about the metacentrum, the centre of gravity in +ship construction. The Emperor told of his having asked an old sea +lieutenant to explain to him the metacentrum. "I received the answer," +said the Emperor, "that he did not know very exactly himself--it was a +secret. 'All I can say is,' the old seaman went on, 'that if the +metacentrum was in the topmast, the ship would over-turn.'" The +success of a jest, one is told, lies in the ear of the hearer. +Possibly something of the "stormy amusement" may have been called +forth by the reflection that the imperial metacentrum had on occasion +got misplaced. + +In addition to the natural and accidental predispositions of the +Emperor, certain general considerations, which imposed themselves +irresistibly on all men's attention as the century drew to its close, +impelled him to more energetic action. A student of the history of +other countries as well as his own, and a watchful observer of the +tendencies of the time, he felt that the young Empire was incomplete +as long as it was without a navy corresponding in size and power to +its army, the organization of which had been completed. With its army +alone he regarded the Empire as a colossus, no doubt, but a colossus +standing on one leg, and was convinced that if the Empire was to be a +success it must have a navy at least able to withstand attack by any +of his continental neighbours and potential enemies. + +On ascending the throne the Emperor was naturally most occupied with +the internal situation of his new inheritance, and spent a good deal +of his time railing at Social Democracy and the press, explaining the +nature of his Heaven-appointed kingship, and rousing his somewhat +lethargic people to a sense of their power and possibilities; but he +found a moment in 1891 to write under a photograph he gave the +retiring Postmaster-General Stephan: + + "The world, at the end of the nineteenth century, stands + under the star of commerce; commerce breaks down the + barriers which separate the peoples and creates new + relations between the nations." + +Then the idea slumbered in his mind for a few years, while he +continued to make his own people restless with criticism, perhaps +deserved, of their sluggishness, their pessimism, their party strife, +and foreign peoples equally restless with phrases like "_nemo me +impune lacessit_"; until the idea came suddenly to utterance in 1897, +when, on seeing the figure of Neptune on a monument to the Emperor +William, he broke out: "The trident should be in our grip!" From this +time, and for the next few years, the growth of the navy may be said +to have never long been far from his thoughts. In sending Prince Henry +to Kiautschau at the close of 1898 he made the remark that "imperial +power means sea power, and sea power and imperial power are dependent +on each other." Nine months afterwards at Stettin he used a phrase +alone sufficient to keep his name alive in history: "Our future lies +on the water!" + +At Hamburg, in 1899, he laid emphasis on the changes in the world +which justify a naval policy one can see now was almost inevitable. + +"A strong German fleet," he said, "is a thing of which we stand in +bitter need." And he continued: + + "In Hamburg especially one can understand how necessary is a + powerful protection for German interests abroad. If we look + around us we see how greatly the aspect of the world has + altered in recent years. Old-world empires pass away and new + ones begin to arise. Nations suddenly appear before the + peoples and compete with them, nations of whom a little + before the ordinary man had been hardly aware. Products + which bring about radical changes in the domain of + international relations, as well as in the political economy + of the people, and which in old times took hundreds of years + to ripen, come to maturity in a few months. The result is + that the tasks of our German Empire and people have grown to + enormous proportions and demand of me and my Government + unusual and great efforts, which can then only be crowned + with success when, united and decided, without respect to + party, Germans stand behind us. Our people, moreover, must + resolve to make some sacrifice. Above all they must put + aside their endeavour to seek the excellent through the ever + more-sharply contrasted party factions. They must cease to + put party above the welfare of the whole. They must put a + curb on their ancient and inherited weakness--to subject + everything to the most unlicensed criticism; and they must + stop at the point where their most vital interests become + concerned. For it is precisely these political sins which + revenge themselves so deeply on our sea interests and our + fleet. Had the strengthening of the fleet not been refused + me during the past eight years of my Government, + notwithstanding all appeals and warnings--and not without + contumely and abuse for my person--how differently could we + not have promoted our growing trade and our interests beyond + the sea!" + +Perhaps; but perhaps, too, it was as well for the peace of the world +that Germany had no great war fleet during those eight years of +troubled international relations, and that the gentle and adjusting +hand of Providence, not the mailed fist of the Emperor, was guiding +the destinies of nations. + +Previous to the opening of the reign a German navy can hardly be said +to have existed. Yet it should not be forgotten that Germany also has +maritime traditions of no small interest, if of no great importance, +to the world. The Great Elector, the ancestor of the Emperor who ruled +Brandenburg from 1640 to 1688, was fully conscious of the profit his +people might acquire by sea commerce, and the little navy of high-sea +frigates which he built stood manfully, and often successfully, up to +the more powerful navies of Sweden and Spain. This fleet was known, +too, far away from Brandenburg, for the records tell how the Pope and +the Maltese Knights and Louis XIV willingly admitted it to their +harbours. + +But there was lacking what until lately has always hemmed German +progress--money; and the commercially-minded Dutch, a people +themselves with many German characteristics, kept the Germans from the +sea. Then came Frederick the Great, who ruled from 1740 to 1786, and +those Germans who are fond of claiming Shakespeare for their own will +also tell you that the plan drawn up by Frederick for Pitt's seven +years' struggle with France--that plan so unfortunately imitated +afterwards by the Emperor in his correspondence with Queen Victoria +during the Boer War--was the foundation-stone of British naval +supremacy! Frederick, too, saw the advantage of possessing a fleet, +but he had his hands full with France and Russia, and reluctantly had +to decline the offer of the French naval hero, Labourdonnais, to build +him a battle-fleet. At this period, and in the Great Elector's time, +Emden was the Plymouth of Prussia. When Frederick died, there followed +that time of which Germans themselves are ashamed--the hole-and-corner +time, the time when the parochial spirit was abroad and no German +burgher saw beyond the village church and the village pump; the +Biedermeier time (that comic figure of the German _Punch_), the time +of genuine German philistinism, when the people were lapped in an +idyllic repose and were content, as many are to-day, with the smallest +and simplest pleasures. + +This spirit continued until the early quarter of the nineteenth +century, when Professor Frederick List roused the attention of his +countrymen, and notably that of Bismarck, to the necessity of an +independent national existence and a national economic policy. In 1836 +a committee recommended naval coast protection, but it was not until +1848, when Denmark blockaded the German coast, that anything was done +to provide for it. In that year the National Assembly of delegates +from various German Diets, which met at Frankfort, voted for the +marine a million sterling to be levied on the German States, but only +one-half of the money could be collected. Still, three steam frigates, +one large and six small steam corvettes, and two sailing corvettes +were got together, but in 1852, owing to the poverty of the States, +two of the ships were sold to Prussia for £60,000 and the rest +disposed of by auction at less than a fourth of their value. The +officers and men were disbanded with a year's pay. + +To this humiliating state of things Bismarck refers in his "Gedanken +und Erinnerungen." "The German fleet," he writes, + + "and Kiel harbour as a foundation for its institution, were + from 1848 on one of the most burning thoughts at whose fire + German aspirations for unity were accustomed to warm + themselves and to concentrate. Meanwhile, however, the + hatred of my parliamentary opponents was stronger than the + interest for a German fleet, and it seemed to me that the + Progressive party at that time preferred to see the + newly-acquired rights of Prussia to Kiel, and the prospect + of a maritime future founded on its possession, rather in + the hands of the auctioneer, Hannibal Fischer, than in those + of a Bismarck Ministry." + +From this on naval development in Prussia was slow; there was no +interest for a marine either among the governing classes or the +people; but it was not wholly neglected, for Wilhelmshaven was +acquired from the Duchy of Oldenburg, a small fleet was sent to the +Orient with a view to obtaining commercial treaties and concessions, +and a sum of £320,000 was devoted annually to naval requirements. +During the Danish War of 1864 a fleet of three screw corvettes, two +paddle steamers, and a few gunboats was considered sufficient to +protect the coasts and make a blockade impossible. + +From 1885 onwards there had been several Navy Proposals, but it was in +that of 1889, a year after the Emperor's accession, that the beginning +of Germany's naval policy is to be found. In that Proposal it was +announced that the Government intended to depart from the previous +principles of naval policy which had "become antiquated owing to the +progress of science and the character of future naval warfare, as also +owing to the extension of Germany's oversea relations." Up to this +time German maritime needs had invariably been postponed to military +requirements. The necessity for a fleet was indeed recognized, but +only for purposes of coast defence and the prevention of a blockade of +the ports on the North Sea and Baltic. To this end no large fleet was +considered needful, particularly as the war with France had +demonstrated the futility of coast attack. During that war two small +fleets were sent from Cherbourg to blockade the North Sea and Baltic +coasts, but the admirals in charge found the task "impossible" and +returned to France after a few single engagements with divided honours +had occurred. At that time the German people felt entirely secure on +the score of invasion. The numerous espionage incidents of more recent +times prove that this feeling of security has entirely passed away, +and all countries are now armed as though they were to be invaded +to-morrow. + +Emperor William I did something, though not much, for the German navy. +Moltke was interested in it and proposed an armoured cruiser fleet, +but he was thinking chiefly of coast defence. Roon also took up the +matter and laid a Navy Bill before the Diet in 1865, but it was +rejected because, in Virchow's words, the Diet thought "the +Constitution more important than the development of the army and +navy." The war of 1866 showed the necessity of a fleet, and this time +the Diet accepted Roon's proposals. Still, however, the object was +coast defence; and when Emperor William I died the navy was relatively +of no consideration. In the ten years between 1881 and 1891 only one +armoured cruiser, the _Oldenburg_, was launched. With the accession of +the Emperor, however, began a new, and for the Emperor and the +Empire--why not candidly admit it?--a glorious chapter in German naval +history. + +An incident during the reign which really touched German national +pride, and was one of the reasons which caused the Emperor to +accelerate the building of a powerful fleet, was the eviction, if the +term is not too strong, of the German admiral, Diedrich, by the +Americans from the harbour of Manila in the course of the +Spanish-American War. Admiral Dewey was in command of a blockading +fleet at Manila. The ships of various nationalities, and among them +some German warships, were in the harbour. Various causes of +irritation arose between the Germans and Americans. There was talk of +Spain's being desirous of selling the Philippines to Germany, and the +impression got abroad in America that the Germans were inclined to +behave as if they were already the new masters of the islands. The +German warships kept going in and out of the harbour of Millesares, a +village close to Manila, in connexion with the exchange of +time-expired men, using search-lights, the American admiral thought, +in an unnecessary way, and doing other acts which he considered might +give information to blockade-running vessels. + +In accordance with custom, the Germans, had at first supplied +themselves with permits from the American admiral for crossing the +blockade lines, but as time went on the German ships began to cross +the line without them. Admiral Dewey thereupon issued an order that +permits must be obtained. The German admiral sent his flag-lieutenant +to Admiral Dewey to protest, on the ground that warships are exempt +from blockade regulations. The American admiral's reply was to bring +his fist down on his cabin table and say, + + "Tell Admiral Diedrich, with my compliments, that he must + obtain permits, and that if a German ship breaks the + blockade lines without one it spells war, for I shall fire + on the first vessel that attempts it." + +The flag officer went back with the message, and Admiral Diedrich took +his ships, which were greatly inferior in number to those of the +Americans, out of the harbour. + +The German navy, in contrast to the army, is a purely imperial +institution--an institution, according to the Constitution, "entirely +under the chief command of the Kaiser," consequently in no respect +administered or controlled by the federated kingdoms and states. One +speaks of the "royal" army, but of the "imperial" navy. The Emperor is +officially described as the navy's "Chef," superintends its +organization and disposition, with his brother Prince Henry as +Inspector-General, and appoints its officials and officers. He +exercises his functions through the Marine Cabinet, a creation of his +own, which serves as a connecting link between the Emperor and the +Admiralty. + +The legislative stages of the growth of the German navy have so far +been five in number. The first Navy Law passed the Reichstag on third +reading, on March 28, 1898, 212 members voting for it and 139 against, +in a Parliament of 397 members. It provided for the building of a +fleet of seventeen battleships within a certain time, and fixed the +age of the ships at twenty-five years. The new ships were divided into +ships-of-the-line (a new designation), large armoured cruisers, and +small armoured cruisers. This fleet, however, was not large enough to +have any influence on sea politics or seaborne trade, and the +occurrences of the Spanish-American War, just now begun and finished, +determined the Emperor to make further proposals. A great agitation +for the navy was started throughout the Empire, and on January 25, +1900, Admiral Tirpitz laid the second Navy Bill (a "Novelle," as it is +called) before the Reichstag. + +The new measure demanded a doubling of the fleet. The first fleet was +intended chiefly with a view to coast defence, while the new fleet was +to assure "the economic development of Germany, especially of its +world-commerce." If the first Navy Bill had excited surprise and +uneasiness in England, the sensations roused by the second may be +imagined, not altogether because of the increase of German naval +power, but of the power that would result when the new German navy was +combined with the navies of Germany's allies of the Triplice. The +third Navy Bill was a consequence of the Russo-Japanese War and of the +lesson taught by the sea-fight of Tsuschima. It was laid before the +Reichstag on November 28, 1905, for "a stronger representation of the +Empire abroad." Its main object was to increase by almost one-half the +size of the battleships, thus following the lead of England, which had +decided on the new and famous "Dreadnought" class of vessel, +remarkable for its five revolving armoured turrets (instead of two +previously) and the number of its heavy guns. Hitherto English +warships had had an average tonnage of about 14,000 tons: the tonnage +of the original "Dreadnought" was 18,300 tons. Notwithstanding the +enormous nature of the financial demand (£47,600,000 within eleven +years) the Reichstag passed the Bill on May 19, 1905. A torpedo fleet +of 144 boats, in 24 divisions, was additionally provided for in this +Bill. + +The fourth Navy Bill was brought in in 1908, with the diminution of +the age of the German battleship from twenty-five to twenty years as +its principal aim. As a result the number of new ships to be built by +1912 was raised from six to twelve. The fifth and last Navy Bill was +passed last year, 1912, creating a third active squadron as reserve, +made up of existing vessels and three new battleships. The German navy +now consists of 41 battleships of the line, 12 large armoured +cruisers, and 30 small armoured cruisers, the cruisers being for +purposes of reconnaissance; the foreign-service fleet of 8 large and +10 small armoured cruisers; and an active reserve fleet of 16 +battleships, 4 large and 12 small armoured cruisers. + +Like sailors everywhere, the German sailor is a frank and hearty type +of his race, and welcome wherever he goes. The German naval officer is +usually of middle-class extraction, while a slightly larger proportion +of the officers of the army is taken from the _noblesse_. He is a +fine, frank, and manly fellow as a rule, and, like the Emperor, +perfectly willing to admit that his navy is closely modelled on that +of Great Britain. Moreover, in addition to a thorough knowledge of his +profession, he is able, in two cases out of three, to converse with +useful fluency in English, French, and in some cases Italian as well. + +The navy, like the army, is recruited by conscription, but active +service is for three years, as in the German cavalry and artillery, +while only two years in the German infantry. Naturally young men of an +adventurous turn of mind frequently elect for the navy, as they hope +thereby to see something of the world. At the end of their third year +of service they may go back to civil life as reservists or may +"capitulate," that is, continue in active service for another year, +and renew their "capitulation" thenceforward from year to year. The +ordinary sailor receives (since 1912) the equivalent of 14s. 6d. in +cash monthly and 9s. for clothing, but when at sea additional pay of +6s. a month. The result of the system of conscription is that about 40 +per cent. of the fleet's crews consist of what may be called seasoned +sailors, the remainder being three-year conscripts. The officer class +is recruited from young men who have passed a certain school standard +examination and enter the navy as cadets. The one-year-volunteer +system (_Einjähriger Dienst_) only partially obtains in the navy, for +purposes, namely, of coast defence and other services on land. After +two years the cadet becomes a midshipman, and with five or six other +middies serves for a year or so on board ship, when he becomes a +sub-lieutenant and is promoted by seniority to full lieutenant, +captain-lieutenant (the English naval lieutenant with eight +years' service), corvette-captain (the English naval commander, +with three stripes), frigate-captain (corresponding in rank to a +lieutenant-colonel in the English army), and finally captain-at-sea +(with four stripes), when he may get command of a battleship. To reach +this great object of the German naval officer's ambition takes on an +average twenty-four years, or about the same period as in the British +navy. + +The upper ranks, in ascending order, are contre-admiral (the English +rear-admiral), vice-admiral, admiral, grand-admiral (English Admiral +of the Fleet). There are only four grand-admirals in Germany, namely, +the Emperor (as "Chef" of the navy), his brother Prince Henry (as +inspector-general), retired Admiral von Koester (president of the Navy +League), and Admiral von Tirpitz (Secretary of Admiralty and the only +"active" grand-admiral). King George V of England is an admiral of the +German navy, as the Emperor is an admiral of the British navy. + +Salutes are a matter of international agreement. They are: 33 guns +(simultaneously from all ships) for the Emperor and foreign monarchs, +21 for the Crown Prince of Germany or of a foreign country, 19 for a +grand-admiral or an ambassador, 17 for an admiral, the Secretary of +Admiralty or inspector-general, 15 for a vice-admiral, 13 for +contre-admiral, and so descending. 101 guns are fired on the Emperor's +birthday or on the birth of an imperial prince. 66 guns is the salute +when a German monarch ascends the imperial throne, and 101 when a +German Emperor dies. + +The yearly salaries of German naval officers are as follows: Admiral, +£1,294 (of which £699 is "pay"), vice-admiral, £897 (£677 "pay"), +contre-admiral, £772 (£677 "pay"), captain-at-sea, £520 (£438 "pay"), +corvette-captain, £396 (£280 "pay"), full lieutenant, £174 (£120 +"pay"), and so on downwards. Jews are not allowed to become officers +of the navy, thus following the practice in the army. There is no law +to prevent Jews becoming officers in either army or navy, but, as a +matter of tradition or prejudice, no regimental or naval commander is +willing to accept an Israelite among his officers. + +It is time, however, to return to the personal doings of the Emperor. +He is responsible for Germany's foreign policy, and his duties in +connexion with it and with the navy must often have suggested to him +the desirability of seeing with his own eyes something of the Orient, +the new battlefield of the world's diplomacy, and possibly a new +Eldorado for European merchants and engineers. His journey to the +East, now undertaken, was, however, chiefly a religious one, though it +had also something of a chivalric character, since much of every +German's imagination is concerned with the Crusades, the Order of +Knight Templars, and similar historical or legendary incidents and +personalities in the early stages of the struggle between the +Christian and the Saracen. The birthplace of Christ has special +interest for a Hohenzollern who holds his kingship by divine grace, +and in the Emperor's case because his father had made the journey to +Jerusalem thirty years before. The Emperor, lastly, cannot but have +been glad to escape, if only for a time, such harassing concerns as +party politics, scribbling journalists, long-winded ministerial +harangues, and Social Democrats. + +The journey of the Emperor and Empress to Palestine occupied about a +month from the middle of October, 1898, to the middle of the following +November, and while it was one of the most delightful and picturesque +experiences of the Emperor, it entailed some unforeseen and not +altogether agreeable consequences. It was very much criticized in +Germany as an exhibition of a theatrical kind, of the "decorative in +policy," as Bismarck used to say, who saw no utility in decoration, +and evidently did not agree with Shakspeare that the "world is still +deceived by ornament." It was objected that the Emperor should have +stayed at home to look after imperial business, that such a journey +must excite suspicion in England and France--in the former because +England is an Oriental power, and in the latter because France is +supposed to claim special protective rights over Christianity in the +East. + +The Englishman who reads what German writers say about the journey +gets the impression that the criticism was an expression of +jealousy--jealousy, as we know from Bismarck and Prince Bülow, being a +national German failing. Every German ardently desires to see Italy +and the Orient, but until of late years few Germans had the means of +gratifying the wish. In one point, however, the critics were right. +The Emperor, when in Damascus, after saying that he felt "deeply moved +at standing on the spot where one of the most knightly sovereigns of +all times, the great Sultan Saladin, stood," went on to say that +Sultan Abdul "and the three hundred million Mohammedans who, scattered +over the earth, venerated him as their Caliph, might be assured that +at all times the German Emperor would be their friend." It was a +harmless and vague remark enough, one would think, but political +writers in all countries have made great capital out of it ever since +whenever Germany's Oriental policy is discussed. At the risk of +repetition it may be said that that policy is, in the East as +elsewhere, a purely economic one. The Emperor's mistake perhaps +chiefly lay in raising hopes in Turkish minds which were very unlikely +to be realized. + +The Emperor's allusion to Saladin as the most knightly sovereign of +all times was a bad blunder. He was doubtless carried away by a +combination, in his probably at this time somewhat excited +imagination, of the chivalrous figures of the crusading times with +thoughts of the German Knight Templars and other soldierly characters. +Saladin was a brave man physically, and fond of imperial magnificence, +as is only natural and necessary for an Oriental potentate to be; and +a good deal of Eastern legend grew up about him on that account. +Legend was enough for the Emperor in his then romantic mood. He +forgot, or did not know, that Saladin, from the point of view of a +modern and in reality far more knightly age, was a sanguinary +and fanatic ruffian, who showed no mercy to his Christian +prisoners--killed, in fact, one of them, Rainald de Chatillon, with +his own hand, sacked Jerusalem, turned the Temple of Solomon into a +mosque, after having it "disinfected" with rose-water, and killed Pope +Urban III, who died, the chronicles tell, of sorrow at the news. + +The journey was, as has been said, a delightful and picturesque +experience for the Emperor and the Empress. They passed through Venice +with its marble palaces, sailed over the sapphire waters of the +Adriatic, and were received with great demonstrations of welcome by +the Sultan in Constantinople. When they were leaving, the Sultan gave +the Emperor a gigantic carpet, and the Emperor gave the Sultan a gold +walking-stick, an exact imitation of the stick Frederick the Great +used to lean on, and sometimes, very likely, apply to the backs of his +trusty but stupid lieges. + +Before disposing of the events of this period of the Emperor's life +mention may be made of two or three occurrences which must have been a +source of political interest or social entertainment to him. From +among them we select the Dreyfus case and the historic scene arranged +for the painter, Adolf Menzel, in Sans Souci. + +The Dreyfus case, though its investigation brought to light no fact +implicating the German authorities, naturally aroused interest +throughout Germany. The interest was felt equally in the army, +notwithstanding that it contains no Jewish officer, and among the +civil population. In France, it will be remembered, the case acquired +its importance from the charge, made by the anti-Semite Drumont and +his journal _La Libre Parole_, that the Jews were exploiting the +Government and the country. There is an anti-Semite party in Germany, +founded by the Court preacher Stoecker in 1878, but possibly owing to +the prudence and good citizenship of the Jews in Germany, it has +gained little weight or momentum since. + +The "affaire," as it was universally known, was only once referred to +in the German Parliament, in January, 1898, when Chancellor von Bülow +declared "in the most positive way possible" that there had "never +been any traffic or relations of any kind whatsoever between Dreyfus +and any German authority," adding that the alleged finding of an +official German communication in the wastepaper basket of the German +Embassy in Paris was a fiction. The Chancellor concluded by saying +that the case had in no respect ever troubled relations between +Germany and France. + +The incident most often cited as evidence of the Emperor's love of +recalling the days of his great ancestor, Frederick the Great, is the +concert he arranged at Sans Souci on June 13, 1895, to gratify, we may +be sure, as well as surprise, the famous painter. The incident and its +origin are described in a work already mentioned, the "Private Lives +of William II and His Consort," by a lady of the Court. The account +given below is illustrative of the unfriendly sentiments which are +evident throughout the work, but the lady is probably fairly accurate +as regards the incident, and in any case her gossip will give the +reader some notion, though by no means an entirely faithful one, of +the Court atmosphere at the time. Talk at the palace during afternoon +tea having turned on the fact that Adolf Menzel, the painter, would +shortly celebrate his eightieth birthday, some one remarked on the +refusal by the Court marshal in the previous reign to allow him to see +the scene of his celebrated "Flute Concert at Sans Souci," which he +was then composing, lighted up. The conversation, according to the +lady writer, continued thus:-- + + "'Maybe he was frightened at the prospect of furnishing a + couple of dozen wax candles,' sneered the Duke of Schleswig. + + "'More likely he knew nothing of Menzel's growing + reputation,' suggested Begas, the sculptor. + + "The Emperor overheard the last words. 'Are you prepared to + say that my grand-uncle's chief marshal failed to recognize + the genius of the foremost Hohenzollern painter?' he asked + sharply. + + "'I would not like to libel a dead man,' answered Begas, + 'but appearances are certainly against the Count. I have it + from Menzel's own lips that the Court marshal refused him + all and every assistance when he was painting the scenes of + life in Sans Souci. The rooms of the chateau were accessible + to him only to the same extent as to any other paying + visitor or the hordes of foreign tourists, and he had to + make his sketches piece-meal, gathering corroborative and + additional material in museums and picture-galleries.' + + "Quick as a flash the Kaiser turned to Count Eulenburg. 'I + shall repay the debt Prussia owes to Menzel,' he spoke, not + without declamatory effect. 'We will have the representation + of the Sans Souci flute concert three days hence. Your + programme is to be ready tomorrow morning at ten. Menzel, + mind you, must know nothing of this: merely command him to + attend us at the Schloss at supper and for a musical + evening.' And, turning round, he said to her Majesty: 'You + will impersonate Princess Amalia, and you, Kessel' (Adjutant + von Kessel, then Commander of the First Life Guards), + 'engage all your tallest and best-looking officers to enact + the great King's military household.' + + "Again the Kaiser addressed Count Eulenberg: 'Be sure to + have the best artists of the Royal Orchestra perform + Frederick the Great's compositions, and let Joachim be + engaged for the occasion.' Saying this, he took her + Majesty's arm, and bidding his guests and the Court a hasty + good-night, strode out of the apartment." + +A description of the Empress's costume for the concert follows. + + "Her Majesty's dress consisted of a petticoat of sea-green + satin, richly ornamented with silver lace of antique pattern + and an overdress of dark velvet, embroidered with gold and + set with precious stones. On her powdered hair, amplified by + one of Herr Adeljana, the Viennese coiffeur's, most + successful creations, sat a jaunty three-cornered hat having + a blazing aigrette of large diamonds in front, the identical + cluster of white stones which figured at the great + Napoleon's coronation, and which he lost, together with his + entire equipage, in the battle of Waterloo. In her ears her + Majesty wore pearl ornaments representing a small bunch of + cherries. Like the aigrette, they are Crown property, and + that Auguste Victoria thought well enough of the jewels to + rescue them from oblivion for this occasion was certainly + most appropriate." + +The Emperor's costume is also described. + +"He wore the cuirassier uniform of the great Frederick's period, a +highly ornamented dress that suited the War Lord, who was painted and +powdered to perfection, extremely well, especially as Wellington +boots, a very becoming wig and his strange head-gear really and +seemingly added to his figure, while his usually stern face beamed +pleasantly under the powder and rouge laid on by expert hands." + +The arrival of Menzel is then narrated and the reception by the +Emperor, who took the part of an adjutant of Frederick the Great's, +and in that character "bombarded the helpless master," as the +chronicler says, + + "with forty stanzas of alleged verse, in which the deeds of + Prussia's kings and the masterpieces that commemorate them + were extolled with a prosiness that sounded like an + afterclap of William's Reichstag and monument orations." + +A real concert followed, and supper was taken in the Marble Hall +adjoining. The authoress concludes as follows:-- + + "I was contemplating these reminiscences (the pictures of La + Barberini) in silent reverie when the door opened and the + Kaiser came in with little Menzel. + + "'I have a mind to engage Angeli to paint her Majesty's + picture in the costume of Princess Amalia,' said the Emperor + 'What do you think of it?' + + "'Angeli is painter to many emperors and kings,' replied the + Professor, and I saw him smile diplomatically as he moved + his spectacles to get a better view of the allegorical + canvas on the left wall that exhibits the nude figure of the + famous mistress in its entirety. + + "'I am glad you agree with me on that point,' said the + Emperor, impatient to execute the idea that had crossed his + mind. 'I will telegraph to him to-night.' + + "And when, five minutes later, Menzel bent over my hand to + take formal leave, I heard him murmur in his dry, + absent-minded manner--'Pesne ... Angeli ... Frederick the + Great ... William II!" + +We have spoken of the Court atmosphere of this time. The following +extracts from the Memoirs of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe will +assist the reader, perhaps even better than a connected account, to +enter, in imagination at all events, into it. The conversations cited +between the Emperor and the Prince turn on all sorts of topics--the +pass question in Alsace (where Hohenlohe was then Statthalter), the +possibility of war with Russia, pheasant shooting, projected +monuments, the breach with Bismarck, the Triple Alliance, and a +hundred more of the most different kinds. Once talking domestic +politics, the Emperor said: + + "It will end by the Social Democrats getting the upper hand. + Then they will plunder the people. Not that I care. I will + have the palace loop-holed and look on at the plundering. + The burghers will soon call on me for help;" + +and on another occasion, in 1889, Hohenlohe tells of a dinner at the +palace, and how after dinner, when the Empress and her ladies had gone +into another _salon_, the Emperor, Hohenlohe, and Dr. Hinzpeter (the +Emperor's old tutor) conversed together for an hour, all standing. +"The first subject touched on," relates the Prince, was the gymnasia +(high schools), the Emperor holding that they made too exacting claims +on the scholars, while Hohenlohe and Hinzpeter pointed out that +otherwise the run on the schools would be too great and cause danger +of a "learned proletariat." Prince Hohenlohe concludes: + + "In the whole conversation, which never once came to a + standstill, I was pleased by the fresh, lively manner of the + Emperor, and was in all ways reminded of his grandfather, + Prince Albert." + +Next year the Prince was present at an official dinner in the Berlin +palace. He writes:-- + + "BERLIN, 22 _March_, 1890. + + "At seven, dinner in the White Salon (at the palace). I sat + opposite the Empress and between Moltke and Kameke. The + former was very communicative, but was greatly interfered + with by the continuous music, and was very angry at it. Two + bands were placed facing each other, and when one ceased the + other began to play its trumpets. It was hardly endurable. + The Emperor made a speech in honour of the Queen of England + and the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward, present on + the occasion of the investiture of his son Prince George, + now King George V, with the Order of the Black Eagle), and + mentioned his nomination as English admiral (whose uniform + he was wearing) and the comradeship-in-arms at the battle of + Waterloo; he also hoped that the English fleet and the + German army would together maintain peace. Moltke then said + to me: 'Goethe says, "a political song, a discordant song."' + + "He also said he hoped the speech wouldn't get into the + papers." + +(It did, however.) + +The next extract describes a conversation Prince Hohenlohe had with +the Emperor at Potsdam the following year. It gives an idea of the +ordinary nature of conversations between the Emperor and his high +officials on such occasions. + + "BERLIN, 13 _December_, 1891. + + "Yesterday forenoon was invited to the New Palace at + Potsdam. Besides myself were the Prince and Princess von + Wied, with the Mistress of the Robes and the Court marshal. + Emperor and Empress very amiable. The Emperor spoke of his + hunting in Alsace, and supposed it would be some years + before the game there would be abundant. Then he expressed + his satisfaction at my acquisition of Gensburg, and when I + told him there was not much room in the castle he said, no + matter, he could nevertheless pass a few days there with a + couple of gentlemen very pleasantly. Passing to politics, he + gave vent to his displeasure at the attitude of the + Conservative party, who were hindering the formation of a + Conservative-monarchical combination against the + Progressives and Social Democrats. This was all the more + regrettable as the Progressives, if now and then they + opposed the Social Democrats, still at bottom were with + them. The Emperor approves of the commercial treaties and + seemed to have great confidence in Caprivi generally. As we + came to speak of intrigues and gossip, the Emperor hinted + that Bismarck was behind them. He added that people were + urging him from many quarters to be reconciled with + Bismarck, but it was not for him to take the first step. He + seemed well informed about the situation in Russia and + considered it very dangerous. When I asked the Emperor how + he stood now with the Czar, he replied 'Badly. He went + through here without paying me a visit, and I only write him + ceremonious letters. The Queen of Denmark prevented him + coming to Berlin, for fear he should go to Potsdam. She has + gone now with him to Livadia on the pretext of the silver + wedding, but in reality to keep him away from Berlin.'" + +Writing of a lunch at Potsdam, under date Berlin, November 10, 1892, +the Prince notes:-- + + "The Emperor came late and looked tired, but was in good + spirits. We went immediately to table. Afterwards the + conversation turned on Bismarck. 'When one compares what + Bismarck does with that for which poor Arnim had to suffer!' + He would do nothing, he said, against Bismarck, but the + consequences of the whole thing were very serious. Waldersee + and Bismarck couldn't abide one another. They had, however, + become allies out of common hatred of Caprivi, whose fall + Bismarck desired. What might happen afterwards neither + cared." + +The following was penned after the old Chancellor's visit of +reconciliation:-- + + "BERLIN, 27 _January_, 1894. + + "To-night gala performance at the opera. Between the acts I + talked first with different monarchs, the King of + Württemberg, the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of + Oldenburg, and so on. Then I was sent for by the Empress, of + whom I took leave. The Emperor came shortly afterwards. We + spoke of Bismarck's visit the day before and the good + consequences for the Emperor it would have. 'Yes,' said the + Emperor, 'now they can put up triumphal arches for him in + Vienna and Munich, I am all the time a length ahead. If the + press continues its abuse it only puts itself and Bismarck + in the wrong.' I mentioned that red-hot partisans of + Bismarck were greatly dissatisfied with the visit, and said + the Emperor should have gone to Friedrichsruh (Bismarck's + estate near Hamburg). 'I am well aware of it,' said the + Emperor,'but for that they would have had a long time to + wait. He had to come here.' On the whole the Emperor spoke + very sensibly and decisively, and I did not at all get the + impression that he now wants to change everything." + +Prince Hohenlohe was summoned to Potsdam in October, 1894, by a +telegram from the Emperor. All the telegram said was that "important +interests of the Empire" were concerned. Hohenlohe was only aware of +the dismissal of Caprivi from a newspaper he read in Frankfort on his +way to Potsdam. The Emperor met him at the station (Wildpark) and +conveyed him to the New Palace, where the Prince agreed to accept the +Chancellorship "at the Emperor's earnest request." Princess Hohenlohe +was decidedly against her husband, who was now seventy-five, accepting +the post, and even ventured to telegraph to the Empress to prevent it. + +The Prince has a note on his intercourse with his imperial master. He +is writing to his son, Prince Alexander:-- + + "BERLIN, 17 _October_, 1896. + + "It is a curious thing--my relations to his Majesty. I come + now and then to the conclusion, owing to his small + inconsideratenesses, that he intentionally avoids me and + that things can't continue so. Then again I talk with him + and see that I am mistaken. Yesterday I had occasion to + report to him, and he poured out his heart to me and took + occasion in the friendliest way to ask my advice. And thus + my distrust is dissipated." + +Hunting with the Emperor:-- + + "15 _December_, 1896. + + "Yesterday I obeyed the royal invitation to hunt at Springe. + I had to leave Berlin as early as 7 a.m. to catch the royal + train at Potsdam. From Springe railway station we passed + immediately into the hunting district. Only sows were shot. + I brought down six. Then we drove to the Schloss, rested for + a few hours and then dined. The Emperor was in very good + humour and talked incessantly; in addition the Uhlan band + and the usually noisy conversation." + +When presenting his resignation to the Emperor at Hamburg in October, +1900, the Prince, who had evidently been for some time aware that his +term of office was drawing to a close, describes his conversation with +the Emperor:-- + + "At noon, as I came to the Emperor, he received me in a very + friendly way. We first settled about summoning the + Reichstag, and then his Majesty said, 'I have received a + very distressing letter'--an allusion to the Chancellor's + official letter of resignation, which he had placed in the + Emperor's hands through Tschirschky, Foreign Minister. 'As I + then,' continued Hohenlohe, 'explained the necessity of my + resignation on the ground of my health and age the Emperor, + apparently quite satisfied, agreed, so that I could see he + had already expected my request and consequently that it was + high time I should make it. We talked further over the + question of my successor, and I was agreeably surprised when + he forthwith mentioned Bülow, who certainly at the moment is + the best man available. His Majesty then said he would + telegraph to Lucanus (Chief of the Civil Cabinet) to bring + Bülow to Homburg so that we might consult about details. I + breakfasted with their Majesties and went calmly home.'" + +Writing to his daughter next day Prince Hohenlohe, in words that do +equal credit to himself and the imperial family, says: + + "It is always a pleasure to me when on such occasions I can + convince myself of the Christian disposition of the imperial + family. In our for the most part unbelieving age this family + seems to me like an oasis in the desert." + +Prince Hohenlohe was succeeded as Chancellor by Prince von Bülow, who +had held the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for the +preceding two years, and practically conducted the Emperor's foreign +policy during that time. He had served as Secretary of Embassy in St. +Petersburg, Vienna, and Athens, was a Secretary to the Congress of +Berlin, fought in the war with France and after seven years as +Minister in Bucharest spent four years as Ambassador in Rome. Here he +married a divorced Italian lady, the Countess Minghetti. After acting +as deputy Foreign Secretary for the late Baron Marschall von +Bieberstein, he was appointed permanent Foreign Secretary, and on +October 17, 1900, was called by the Emperor to the most responsible +post in the Empire next to his own, that of Imperial Chancellor. The +Emperor's choice was fully justified, for the new Chancellor proved +himself to be the most brilliant diplomatist and parliamentarian since +Bismarck. + + + + +IX + + + +THE NEW CENTURY + + + +1900-1901 + +German writers, commenting on the turn of the century, claim to +discover a change in the Emperor's character about this period. He has +lost much of his imaginative, his Lohengrin, vein, and has become more +practical, more prosaic and matter-of-fact. To use the German word, he +is now a _Realpolitiker_, one who deals in things, not words or +theories, and drawing his gaze from the stars makes them dwell more +attentively on the immediate practical considerations of the world +about him. His nature has not changed, of course, nor his manner, but +he has begun to see that he must employ means and ways different from +those he employed previously. He has not become a Bismarck, for he +still pursues his aims more in the spirit of the colonel of a regiment +leading his men to the attack with banners flying, drums beating, +swords rattling in their scabbards and mailed gauntlets held +threateningly aloft, than in that of the cool and calculating +politician ruminating in his closet on the tactics of his opponents, +and deliberating how best to meet and confound them; but he gives more +thought to what is going on about him, to party politics, to the +economic necessities of the hour, and to modern science and its +inventions. + +What strikes the Englishman perhaps as much as anything in the +Emperor's character at this time is the Cromwellian trait in it. This +is a side of his Protean nature which never seems to have been +adequately recognized in England, yet in a singularly baffling +character-composition it is one of the fundamental elements. The view +of Prussian monarchy, inherited from one Hohenzollern to another for +generation after generation, that the race of people to which he +belonged (with any other race he could include by conquest in it) has +been handed over by Heaven for all eternity to his family, naturally +predisposes him to take a religious, a patriarchal, one might say an +Hebraic, view of government; but in addition we find the warrior +spirit at all times going hand in hand with the religious spirit, +almost as strongly as in the case of Mahomet with the Koran in one +hand and the sword in the other. + +There was nothing in the Emperor's youth to show the existence of +deeply religious conviction, but as soon as he mounted the throne, and +all through the reign up to the close of the century, indeed some +years beyond it, his speeches, especially when he was addressing his +soldiery, were filled with expressions of religious fervour. "Von +Gotten Gnaden," he writes as a preface for a Leipzig publication +appearing on January 1, 1900, + + "is the King; therefore to God alone is he responsible. He + must choose his way and conduct himself solely from this + standpoint. This fearfully heavy responsibility which the + King bears for his folk gives him a claim on the faithful + co-operation of his subjects. Accordingly, every man among + the people must be thoroughly persuaded that he is, along + with the King, responsible for the general welfare." + +It may be noted in passing that Cromwell and the Emperor are alike in +being the founders of the great war navies of their respective +countries. + +On the date mentioned (New Year's Day), in the Berlin arsenal when +consecrating some flags, he addressed the garrison on the turn of the +year: + + "The first day of the new century finds our army, that is + our folk in arms, gathered round its standards, kneeling + before the Lord of Hosts--and certainly if anyone has reason + to bend the knee before God, it is our army." + +"A glance at our standards," the Emperor continued, + + "is sufficient explanation, for they incorporate our + history. What was the state of our army at the beginning of + the century? The glorious army of Frederick the Great had + gone to sleep on its laurels, ossified in pipeclay details, + led by old, incapable generals, its officers shy of work, + sunk in luxury, good living, and foolish self-satisfaction. + In a word, the army was no longer not only not equal to its + task, but had forgotten it. Heavy was the punishment of + Heaven, which overtook it and our folk. They were flung into + the dust, Frederick's glory faded, the standards were cast + down. In seven years of painful servitude God taught our + folk to bethink itself of itself, and under the pressure of + the feet of an arrogant usurper (Napoleon) was born the + thought that it is the highest honour to devote in arms + one's life and property to the Fatherland--the thought, in + short, of universal conscription." + +The word for conscription, it may be here remarked, is in German +_Wehrpflicht_, the duty of defence. To most people in England it means +simply "compulsory military service." It is important to note the +difference, as it explains the German national idea, and the Emperor's +idea, that all military and naval forces are primarily for defence, +not offence. This is, indeed, equally true of the British, or perhaps +any other, army and navy; but how many Englishmen, when they think of +Germany, can get the idea into the foreground of their thoughts or +accustom themselves to it? + +However, we have not yet done with the Emperor's baffling character. +There was a third element that now developed in it--the modern, the +twentieth-century, the American, the Rockefeller element. It is +intimately connected with his Weltpolitik, as his Weltpolitik is with +his foreign policy in general--indeed one might say his Weltpolitik is +his foreign policy--a policy of economic expansion, with a desperate +apprehension of losing any of the Empire's property, and a +determination to have a voice in the matter when there is any loose +property anywhere in the world to be disposed of. To the Hebraic +element and the warrior element (an entirely un-Christlike +combination, as the Emperor must be aware) there now began to be added +the mercantile, the modern, the American element--the interest in all +the concerns of national material prosperity, in the national +accumulation of wealth, the interest in inventions, in commercial +science, in labour-saving machinery, the effort to win American +favour, to facilitate intercourse and establish close and profitable +relations with that wealthy land and people. + +We know that the Emperor has English blood in him, greatly admires +England, and is immensely proud of being a British admiral. We have +seen him exhibiting traits of character that remind one of Lohengrin +or Tancred. He has played many parts in the spirit of a Hebrew prophet +and patriarch, of a Frederick the Great, a Cromwell, a Nelson, a +Theodore Roosevelt. Preacher, teacher, soldier, sailor, he has been +all four, now at one moment, now at another. We shall find him anon as +art and dramatic critic, to end--so far as we are concerned with +him--as farmer. Is it any wonder if such a man, mediæval in his nature +and modern in his character, defies clear and definite portrayal by +his contemporaries? + +Taking the year 1900 as the first year of the new century, not as some +calculators, and the Emperor among them, take it, as the last year of +the old, the twentieth century may be said to have opened with a +dramatic historical episode in which the Emperor and his Empire took +very prominent parts--the Boxer movement. + +Little notice has been taken in our account of Germany's spacious days +of her relations to China and the Far East generally. They were, +nevertheless, all through that period intimately connected with her +expansion or dreams of expansion. About 1890 the Flowery Land awoke to +the benefits of European civilization and in particular of European +ingenuity; and in 1891, for the first time in Chinese history, foreign +diplomatists were granted the privilege of an annual reception +at the Chinese Court. So exclusive was the Manchu dynasty--the +Hohenzollerns of China in point of antiquity; yet not a score of +years later the Manchu monarchy had been quietly removed from its +five-thousand-year-old throne, and China, apparently the most +conservative and monarchical people on earth, proclaimed itself a +republic--a regular modern republic!--an operation that among peoples +claiming infinite superiority to the Chinese would have cost thousands +of lives and a vast expenditure of money. + +Naturally, once China showed a willingness to abandon its axenic +attitude towards foreign devils and all things foreign-devilish, the +European Powers turned their eyes and energies towards her, and a +strenuous commercial and diplomatic race after prospective concessions +for railways, mines, and undertakings of all kinds began. Each Power +feared that China would be gobbled up by a rival, or that at least a +partition of the vast Chinese Empire was at hand. Consequently, when +China was beaten in her war with Japan, and made the unfavourable +treaty of Shimonoseki, the European Powers were ready to appear as +helpers in time of need. Russia, Germany, and France got the +Shimonoseki Treaty altered, and the Laotung Peninsula with Port Arthur +given back, and in return Russia acquired the right to build a railway +through Manchuria (the first step towards "penetration" and +occupation), French engineers obtained several valuable mining and +railway concessions, and Germany got certain privileges in Hankow and +Tientsin. + +Meantime the old, deeply-rooted hatred of the foreign devil, the +European, was spreading among the population, which was still, in the +mass, conservative. Missionaries were murdered, and among them, in +1897, two German priests. Germany demanded compensation, and in +default sent a cruiser squadron to Kiautschau Bay. Russia immediately +hurried a fleet to Port Arthur and obtained from China a lease of that +port for twenty-five years. England and France now put in a claim for +their share of the good things going. England obtained Wei-hai-Wei, +France a lease of Kwang-tschau and Hainan. China was evidently +throwing herself into the arms of Europe, when, in 1898, the Dowager +Empress took the government out of the hands of the young Emperor and +a period of reaction set in. The appearance of Italy with a demand for +a lease of the San-mun Bay in 1899 brought the Chinese anti-foreign +movement to a head, and the Boxer conspiracy grew to great dimensions. + +The movement was caused not merely by religious and race fanaticism, +but by the popular fear that the new European era would change the +economic life of China and deprive millions of Chinese of their wonted +means of livelihood. The Dowager Empress and a number of Chinese +princes now joined it. Massacres soon became the order of the day, and +it is calculated that in the spring of 1900 alone more than 30,000 +Christians were barbarously done to death. Among the victims were +reckoned 118 English, 79 Americans, 25 French, and 40 of other +nationalities. The Ambassadors and Ministers of all nations, conscious +of their danger, applied to the Tsungli Yamen (Foreign Office), +demanding that the Imperial Government should crush the Boxer +movement. The Government took no steps, the diplomatists were +beleaguered in their embassies, and were only saved by friendly police +from being murdered. + +This, however, was but a temporary respite, and it became necessary to +bring marines from the foreign ships of war lying at the mouth of the +Pei-ho River just out of range of the formidable Taku Forts. These +troops, 2,000 in all, were led by Admiral Seymour. They tried to reach +Pekin, but failed owing to the destruction of the railway, and retired +to Tientsin, from whence, however, on June 16th, a detachment set out +to capture the Taku Forts. The capture was effected, the German +gunboat _Iltis_, under Captain Lans, playing a conspicuously brave +part. Tientsin was now in danger from the Boxer bands, but was +relieved by a mixed detachment of Russians and Germans under General +Stoessel, the subsequent defender of Port Arthur. + +The alarm meantime at Pekin was intense. The Chinese Government, +throwing off all disguise, ordered the diplomatists to leave the city. +They refused, knowing that to leave the shelter of the embassies meant +torture and death. One of them, however, the German Minister, Freiherr +von Ketteler, ventured from his Legation and was killed in broad +daylight on his way to the Chinese Foreign Office. Only one of the +Minister's party escaped, to stagger, hacked and bloody, into the +British Legation with the news. This Legation, as the strongest +building in the quarter, became the refuge of the entire diplomatic +corps, with their wives, children, and servants. It was straightway +invested and bombarded by the Boxers, and as the days and weeks went +on the other Legation buildings were burned, and the refugees in the +British Legation had to look death at all hours in the face. + +The murder of von Ketteler excited anger and horror throughout the +world, and in no breast, naturally, to a stronger degree than in that +of the German Emperor. All nations hastened to send troops to Pekin. +Japan was first on the scene with 16,000 men under General +Yamagutschi. Russia followed next with 15,000 under General Lenewitch, +then England with 7,500 under General Gaselee, then France with 5,000 +under General Frey, then America with 4,000 under General Chaffee, +Germany with 2,500 under von Hopfner, Austria and Italy with smaller +contingents--in all more than 50,000 men, with 144 guns. A little +later the expeditionary corps from Germany, 19,000 strong, under +General von Lessel, and that from France, 10,000 strong, arrived. At +the suggestion, it is said, of Russia, and by agreement among the +European Powers, united by a common sympathy and in face of a common +danger, the German Field-Marshal, Count Waldersee, was appointed to +the supreme command of all the European forces. At the same time naval +supports were hurried by all maritime nations to the scene, and within +a short period 160 warships and 30 torpedo boats were assembled off +the Chinese coast. + +The march to Pekin and the relief of the imprisoned Europeans are +incidents still fresh in public memory. In the crowded British +Legation fear alternated with hope, and hope with fear, until, on the +forenoon of August 14th, a boy ran into the Legation crying that +"black-faced Europeans" were advancing along the royal canal in the +direction of the building. In a few minutes a company of Sikh cavalry, +part of some Indian troops diverted on their way to Aden, galloped up, +all danger was over, and the refugees were saved. + +The Boxer troubles ended on May 13, 1901, with the signature by Li +Hung Chang in the name of the Emperor of China of a treaty of peace, +the main conditions of which were the payment by China within thirty +years of a war indemnity to the Powers of 450 million taels +(£66,000,000) and an agreement to send a mission of atonement to the +Courts of Germany and Japan--for among the foreign victims of the +Boxers in the previous year had been the Japanese representative in +China, Baron Sugiyama. + +For two or three weeks the action of the Emperor with regard to the +Chinese mission of atonement brought him into universal ridicule. +Prince Chun, a near relative of the Chinese Emperor, who had been +appointed to conduct the mission, reached Basle in September, 1901, on +his way to Berlin. Here he lingered, and it soon became known that a +hitch had occurred in his relations with Germany. It then transpired +that the delay was caused by the Emperor's having suddenly intimated +that he expected Prince Chun to make thrice to him, as he sat on his +throne at Potsdam, the "kotow" as practised in the Court of China. In +view of the surprise, laughter, and criticism of Europe, the Emperor +modified his demand for the "kotow" to its symbolic performance by +three deep bows. Prince Chun thereupon resumed his journey. An +impressive, if theatrical, scene was prepared in the New Palace at +Potsdam, where the Emperor, seated on the throne, his marshal's baton +in his hand, and flanked by Ministers and the officers of his +household, received the bearer of China's expressions of regret. +Whatever one may think of the scenic effect provided, the reply the +Emperor made to Prince Chun, after the three bows arranged upon had +been made, is a model of its kind--general not personal, sorrowful +rather than angry, warning rather than reproachful. The Emperor said-- + + "No pleasing nor festive cause, no mere fulfilment of a + courtly duty, has brought your Imperial Highness to me, but + a sad and deeply grave occurrence. My Minister to the Court + of his Majesty the Emperor of China, Freiherr von Ketteler, + fell in the Chinese capital beneath the murderous weapons of + an imperial Chinese soldier, who acted by the orders of a + superior, an unheard-of outrage condemned by the law of + nations and the moral sense of all countries. From your + Imperial Highness I have now heard the expression of the + sincere and deep regret of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor + of China regarding the occurrence. I am glad to believe that + your Imperial Highness's royal brother had nothing to do + with the crime or with the further acts of violence against + inviolable Ministers and peaceful foreigners, but all the + greater is the guilt which attaches to his advisers and his + Government. Let these not deceive themselves by supposing + that they can make atonement and receive pardon for their + crime through this mission alone, and not through their + subsequent conduct in the light of the prescriptions of + international law and the moral principles of civilized + peoples. If his Majesty the Emperor of China henceforward + directs the government of his great Empire in the spirit of + these ordinances, his hope that the sad consequences of the + confusion of last year may be overcome, and permanent, + peaceful and friendly relations between Germany and China + may exist as before, will be realized to the benefit of both + peoples and the whole of civilized humanity. In the sincere + wish that it may be so, I welcome your Imperial Highness." + +The Emperor's other speeches referring to the Boxer movement at this +period have been adversely commented on as showing him in the light of +a cruel and blood-thirsty seeker after revenge. This is an unjust, at +least a hard, judgment. A passage in his address at Bremerhaven to the +expeditionary force when setting out for China is the main proof of +the charge--in which, after referring to the murder of von Ketteler, +he said: + + "You know well you will have to fight with a cunning, brave, + well-armed, cruel foe. When you come to close quarters with + him remember--quarter ('Pardon' is the German word the + Emperor used) must not be given: prisoners must not be + taken: manage your weapons so that for a thousand years to + come no Chinaman will dare to look sideways at a German. Act + like men." + +It is difficult, of course, to reconcile such an address with +Christian humanity practised, so far as humanity can be practised, in +modern war, but it should be remembered that the Emperor was speaking +in a state of great excitement, and that, according to Chancellor +Prince Bülow's statement in the Reichstag subsequently, confirmation +of the news of the murder of his Minister to China had only reached +the Emperor ten minutes before he delivered the speech. + +There is one incident, however, though not a very important one, in +connexion with the troubles, which may fairly be made a matter of +reproach to the Emperor--the seizure, on his order, of the ancient +astronomical instruments at Pekin and their transference to Sans +Souci, in Potsdam, where they are to be seen to the present day. The +troops of all nations, it is known, looted freely at Pekin; but the +Emperor might have spared China and his own fair fame the indignity of +such public vandalism. + +While writing of China it may not be superfluous to add that the +Emperor's foreign policy in the Orient cannot be expected to present +exactly the same features, or proceed quite along the same lines, as +his foreign policy in Europe. By far the greater part of Europe is now +as completely parcelled out and as permanently settled as though it +were a huge, well-managed estate. The capacities of its high roads, +its railways, its great rivers, with their commercial and strategic +values and relations are perfectly ascertained; and the knowledge, it +is not too much to say, is the common property of all important +Governments. It is not so, or not nearly to the same extent, in the +Orient. In Europe there is little or no difficulty in distinguishing +between enterprises that are political and those that are commercial, +or in recognizing where they are both; and if a difficulty should +arise it can be arranged by diplomatic conversations, by a conference +of the Powers interested, or in the last resort--short of war--by +arbitration. This is not so simple a matter in the Orient, where +conditions are at once old and new, where interests of possibly great +magnitude are as yet undetermined or unappropriated, where possibly +great mineral sources are undeveloped and the capacities of new +markets unascertained; where, in short, the decisive factors of the +problem are undiscovered, it may be unsuspected. + +In such cases there is often no certain and readily recognizable line +of demarcation between the two kinds of enterprise; and an undertaking +that may present all the appearance of being a purely commercial +scheme, and be solemnly asseverated to be such by the Power or Powers +promoting it, may turn out on closer examination to be one of great +political significance and incalculable political consequence. Of such +enterprises two immediately spring to mind, the Cape to Cairo railway +and the Baghdad railway, not to mention a score of problematic +undertakings in other parts of Africa or Asia. It will be useful to +keep this general consideration in view when forming an opinion +regarding the Emperor's Oriental policy. That policy is, so far, +almost entirely commercial. Long ago wars used to be made for the sake +of religion, then for the sake of territory. Now they are made for the +sake of new markets. + +Yet the Far East is changing with the change in conditions everywhere +in modern times, and it is evident that the premises for any +conclusion as to German foreign policy there may, at any given moment, +be subject to modification. Partly owing to the growth of Germany's +European influence, and to the increase in her navy which has helped +her to it, she is to be found of recent years playing a role in the +Far East which would have been unintelligible to the German of the +last generation. There are many Germans to-day, as in Bismarck's time, +who ridicule the notion that the possibilities of trade in Oriental +countries justify the national risk now run for it and the national +expenditure now made upon it; but it is sometimes forgotten that, +apart from the chance of obtaining concessions for the building of +railways, for the establishment of banks, for the leasing of mines and +working of cotton plantations, there is a large German export of +beads, cloth, and, in short, of hundreds of articles which appeal to +barbarian or only semi-civilized tastes. + +Germany, too, looks hopefully forward to a future in which she will be +supplied with the raw material of her manufactures by her colonies, or +failing that by her subjects trading abroad in the colonies of other +nations. This is one of the main objects of her Weltpolitik. As Prince +von Bülow said: "The time has passed when the German left the earth to +one neighbour and the sea to another, while he reserved heaven, where +pure doctrines are enthroned, to himself;" and again: "We don't seek +to put anybody in the shade, but we demand our place in the sun;" and +the idea finds technical expression in the phrase on which Germany +lays so much stress, the "maintenance of the open door." Her policy in +the Far East, as in Europe, is thus on the whole a commercial one; she +seeks there as elsewhere new markets, not new territory. Accordingly +she supports the principle of the _status quo_ in China, and therefore +raised no objection to the Anglo-Japanese Agreement of 1902 which, +among other objects, secured it. + +In January, 1901, the Emperor was called to England by the sudden, +and, as it was to prove, fatal illness of his grandmother, Queen +Victoria. His journey to Osborne, where he arrived just in time to be +recognized by the dying Queen, and his abandonment of the idea, +impressive and almost sacred to a Prussian King and the Prussian +people, of being present on his birthday, January 27th, at the +bicentenary celebration of the foundation of the Prussian Kingdom, +made a deep and sympathetic impression on the people of England. +Usually on State occasions the Emperor does not display a countenance +of good humour, or indeed of any sentiment save perhaps that of a +sense of dignity; but on the occasion in question, as he rode in the +uniform of a British Field-Marshal beside Edward VII, his looks were +those of genuine sorrow. Public sympathy was not lessened when it +became known that he had mentioned the pride he felt in being +privileged to wear the uniform of two such soldiers of renown as the +Duke of Wellington and Lord Roberts; and added that the privilege +would be highly estimated by the whole German army. It was a +chivalrous remark, the offspring of a chivalrous disposition. + +The Emperor had hardly returned to Germany when, on February 6th, the +only attack ever made on his person occurred in Bremen. He had been at +a banquet in the town hall, and was being driven through the +illuminated streets to the railway station to return to Berlin, when a +half-witted locksmith's apprentice of nineteen, Dietrich Weiland by +name, flung a piece of railway iron at him with such good aim that it +struck him on the face immediately under the right eye, inflicting a +deep and nasty, but not dangerous wound. The Emperor proceeded with +his journey, the doctors attending to his injury in the train, and in +a few weeks he was well again. Weiland was sent to a criminal lunatic +asylum. The attempt had, apparently, nothing to do with Anarchism or +Nihilism or the Social Democracy. When the Emperor alluded to it +afterwards in his speech to the Diet, he referred it to a general +diminution of respect for authority. + +"Respect for authority," he said to the Diet, + + "is wanting. In this regard all classes of the population + are to blame. Particular interests are looked to, not the + general well-being of the folk. Criticism of the measures of + the Government and Throne takes the coarsest and most + injurious forms--and hence the errors and demoralization of + our youth. Parliament must help here, and a change must be + made, beginning with the schools." + +It was natural enough that a few days after, addressing the Alexander +Regiment of Guards, who were taking up quarters in a new barracks near +the palace in Berlin, he should tell them the barracks were like a +citadel to the palace, and that, as a sort of imperial bodyguard, the +regiment "must be ready, day and night as once before"--he was +referring to the "March Days"--"to meet any attack by the citizens on +the Emperor." + +At Bonn in April the Emperor attended the matriculation +(immatriculation, the Germans call it) of his eldest son, the Crown +Prince, at the university. He was in civil dress, one of the rare +public occasions during the reign when he has not been in uniform, but +this did not prevent him delivering a martial address to the +Borussians. "I hope and expect from the younger generation," he said +to the students, + + "that they will put me in a position to maintain our German + Fatherland in its close and strong boundaries and in the + congeries of German races--doing to no one favour and to no + one harm. If, however, anyone should touch us too nearly, + then I will call upon you and I expect you won't leave your + Emperor sitting." + +A great shout of "Bravo!" went up when the Emperor ceased, and the +students doubtless all thought what a fine thing it would be if he +would only lead them straightway against those cheeky Englanders. + +At the end of June, on board the Hamburg-American pleasure-steamer +_Princess Victoria Luise_, the Emperor pronounced the famous +sentence--"Our future lies on the water." The year before he had said +something like it, and it is worth quoting as the Emperor's first +explicit allusion to Weltpolitik. "Strongly," he exclaimed, + + "dashes the beat of ocean at the doors of our people and + compels it to preservation of its place in the world, in a + word, to Weltpolitik. The ocean is indispensable for + Germany's greatness. The ocean testifies that on it and far + beyond it no important decision will be taken without + Germany and the German Emperor." + +His words on the present occasion were: + + "My entire task for the future will be to see that the + undertakings of which the foundations have been laid may + develop quietly and surely. We have, though as yet without + the fleet as it should be, achieved our place in the sun. It + will now be my task to hold this place unquestioned, so that + its rays may act favourably on trade and industry and + agriculture at home inside, and on our sail-sports on the + coast--for our future lies on the water. The more Germans go + on the sea--whether travelling or in the service of the + State--the better. When the German has once learned to look + abroad and afar he will lose that 'hang' towards the petty, + the trivial, which now so often seizes him in daily life." + +And he closed: "We must now go out in search of new spots where we can +drive in nails on which to hang our armour." + +Early in August the Emperor was called to the death-bed of his mother, +the Empress Frederick, at her castle in Cronberg. She died on the +afternoon of her son's arrival, on August 5th. The Emperor ordered +mourning throughout the Empire for six weeks, and forbade all "public +music, entertainments, theatrical or otherwise" until after the +funeral. The Empress was buried in the mausoleum attached to the +Friedenskirche in Potsdam on the 13th of the month. + +The delivery of a famous speech on art by the Emperor in December +brings the chronicle of 1901 to a close, but perhaps it will not +displease the reader if a new chapter is opened for the purpose of +quoting it and of considering the Emperor in what is a traditional +Hohenzollern relationship. + + + + +X. + + + +THE EMPEROR AND THE ARTS + +Art is a favourite subject of conversation on the Continent, where it +is more popularly discussed than in England and where authorities of +all kinds are more alive to its educative capabilities. It is +eminently "safe" ground, does not savour of gossip, and no one need +leave the field of discussion with the feeling that he has been driven +from it. Hence it is the salvation of diplomatists who are +apprehensive of committing their Governments or themselves when mixing +in general society, and it doubtless does good service for the Emperor +also upon occasion. Indeed it is a topic on which he speaks willingly +and well. + +Unfortunately for precision of thought and speech, though useful for +the man in the street, the word "art" has been pressed into the +service of metaphor more than almost any other word in language. We +are told in turn that everything is an art--hair-dressing, +salad-dressing (a different kind), lying, flying, dying. The Germans +are trying to make an art of life. Whistler wrote about the "Gentle +Art of Making Enemies." One hears of "artful hussies" and "artful +dodgers." People are described as "artful" in the small diplomacies of +intercourse. Jugglers, acrobats, sword-swallowers, "supers" at the +theatre, the men who play the elephant in the pantomime would all be +mortified if they were not addressed as "artists," In short, +everything may be called an art. + +But what, truly, is art? The question is as hard to answer +satisfactorily as the questions what is truth or what is beauty? The +notion "art" usually occurs to the mind as contrasted with the notion +"nature"; the word is derived from the Sanskrit root _ar_, to plough, +to make, to do; and accordingly art may be taken to be something made +by man, as contrasted with something made, or grown, or given by God. +How art came into existence it is of course impossible to do more than +conjecture. The necessities of primitive man may have stimulated his +inventive powers into originating and developing the useful arts for +his physical comfort and convenience; and his desire for recreation +after labour, or the mere ennui of idleness, may have urged the same +powers into originating and developing the fine and plastic arts for +the entertainment of his mind. Or, lastly, if no better reason can be +found, and though Sir Joshua Reynolds laid it down that all models of +perfection in art must be sought for on the earth, it may be that +seeing and feeling instinctively the glory and beauty of the Creation, +mankind began gradually, as its intelligence improved, to burn with a +longing to imitate, reproduce, and represent them. + +However art arose, it seems true to say, as a German writer has well +said, that when a work of art, whether a poem or a picture or a +statue, causes in us the thought that so, and in no other way, would +we ourselves have expressed the idea, had we the talent, then we may +conclude that true art is speaking to us, whatever the idea to be +expressed may be. Everything demands thought, but our thoughts are an +unruly folk, which never keep long on the same straight road, and love +to wander off to left and right, here finding something new and there +throwing away something old. The artist, when he conceives a plan, has +to fight with the host of his thoughts and find a way through them. +They often threaten to divert him from it, but on the other hand they +often lead him to his goal by novel paths along which he finds much +that is new and valuable. + +This is a doctrine that, sensible though it is, would hardly be +subscribed to by the Emperor, to whom no new movement in art strongly +appeals, and who thinks that such movements, unless founded on the old +classical school, the Greek and Roman school of beauty, ought, in the +public interest, to be discouraged. However, let him speak for +himself. He set forth his art creed in a speech which he delivered on +December 18, 1901, to the sculptors who had executed the Hohenzollern +statues in the famous Siegesallée at Berlin, and which ran +substantially as follows:-- + + "I gladly seize the occasion, first of all, to express my + congratulations and then my thanks for the manner in which + you have assisted me to carry out my original plan. The + preparation of the plan for the Siegesallée has occupied + many years, and the learned historiographer of my House, + Professor Dr. Poser, is the man who put me in a position to + set the artists clear and intelligible tasks. Once the + historic basis was found the work could be proceeded with, + and when the personalities of the princes were established + it was possible to ascertain those who had been their most + important helpers. In this manner the groups originated and, + to a certain extent, conditioned by their history, the forms + of them came into existence. + + "The next most difficult question was--Was it possible, as I + hoped it was, to find in Berlin so many artists as would be + able to work together harmoniously to realize the programme? + + "As I came to consider the question, I had in view to show + the world that the most favourable condition for the + successful achievement of the work was not the appointment + of an art commission and the establishment of prize + competitions, but that in accord with ancient custom, as in + the classical period, and later during the Middle Ages, was + the case, it lay in the direct intercourse of the employer + with the artists. + + "I am therefore especially obliged to Professor Reinhold + Begas for having assured me, when I applied to him, that + there was absolutely no doubt there could be found in Berlin + a sufficiency of artists to carry out the idea; and with his + help, and in consequence of the acquaintances I have made by + visiting exhibitions and studios in Berlin, I succeeded in + getting together a staff, the majority of whom I see around + me, with whom to approach the task. + + "I think you will not refuse me the testimony that, in + respect of the programme I drew up I have made the treatment + of it as easy as possible, that while I ordered and defined + the work I gave you an absolute freedom not only in the + combination and composition, but precisely the freedom to + put into it that from himself which every artist must if he + is to give the work the stamp of his own individuality, + since every work of art contains in itself something of the + individual character of the artist. I believe that this + experiment, if I may so call it, as made in the Siegesallée, + has succeeded. + + "... I have never interfered with details, but have + contented myself with simply giving the direction, the + impulse. + + "But to-day the thought that Berlin stands there before the + whole world with a guild of artists able to carry out so + magnificent a project fills me with satisfaction and pride. + It shows that the Berlin school of art stands on a height + which could hardly have been more splendid in the time of + the Renaissance. + + "Here, too, one can draw a parallel between the great + artistic achievements of the Middle Ages and the + Italians--that, namely, the head of the State, an art-loving + prince, who offered their tasks to the artists also found + the master round whom a school of artists could gather. + + "How is it, generally speaking, with art in the world? It + takes its models, supplies itself from the great sources of + Mother Nature, who, spite of her apparently unfettered, + limitless freedom, still moves according to eternal laws + which the Creator ordained for himself and which cannot be + passed or violated without danger to the development of the + world. + + "Even so it is in art; and at the sight of the beautiful + remains of old classical times comes again over one the + feeling that here too reigns an eternal law that is always + true to itself, the law of beauty and harmony, of the + aesthetic. This law is given expression to by the ancients + in so surprising and overpowering a fashion, in so + thoroughly complete a form that we, with all our modern + sensibilities and with all our power, are still proud, when + we have done any specially fine piece of work, to hear that + it is almost as good as it was made nineteen hundred years + ago. + + "But only almost! Under this impression I would earnestly + ask you to lay it to heart that sculpture still remains + untainted by so-called modern tendencies and currents--still + stands high and chastely there! Keep her so, don't let + yourselves be misled by human criticism or any wind of + doctrine to abandon the principles on which she has been + built up. + + "An art which transgresses the laws and limits I have + indicated is art no more. It is factory work, handicraft, + and that is a thing art should never be. Under the often + misused word 'freedom' and her flag one falls too readily + into boundlessness, unrestraint, self-exaggeration. For + whoever cuts loose from the law of beauty, and the feeling + for the æsthetic and harmonious, which every human breast + feels, whether he can express it or not, and in his thought + makes his chief object some special direction, some specific + solution of more technical tasks, that man denies art's + first sources. + + "Yet again. Art should help to exercise an educative + influence on the people. She should offer the lower classes, + after the hard work of the day, the possibility of + refreshing themselves by regarding what is ideal. To us + Germans great ideals have become permanent possessions, + whereas to other peoples they have been more or less lost. + Only the German people remain called to preserve these great + ideas, to cultivate and continue them. And among these + ideals is this, that we afford the possibility to the + working classes to elevate themselves by beauty, and by + beauty to enable them to abstract themselves and rise above + the thoughts they otherwise would have. + + "When Art, as now often occurs, does nothing more than + represent misery as still more unlovely than it is already, + by so doing she sins against the German people. The + cultivation of the ideal is at the same time the greatest + work of culture, and if we wish to be and remain an example + in this to other nations the whole people must work together + to that end; if Culture is to fulfil her task she must + penetrate to the lowest classes of society. That she can + only do when art comes into play, when she raises up, + instead of descending into the gutter. + + "As ruler of the country I often find it extremely bitter + that art, through its masters, does not with sufficient + energy oppose such tendencies. I do not for a moment fail to + perceive that many an aspiring character is to be found + among the partisans of these tendencies, who are perhaps + filled with the best intentions but who are on the wrong + path. The true artist needs no advertisement, no press, no + patronage. I do not believe that your great protagonists in + the domain of science, either in ancient Greece or in Italy + or in the Renaissance period ever had recourse to a + _réclame_ such as nowadays is often made in the press in + order to bring their ideas into prominence, but worked as + God inspired them and let others do the talking. + + "And so must an honest, proper artist act. The art which + descends to _réclame_ is no art be it lauded a hundred or a + thousand-fold. A feeling for what is beautiful or ugly has + every one, be he ever so simple, and to educate this feeling + in the people I require all of you. That in the Siegesallée + you have done a piece of such work, I have specially to + thank you. + + "This I can even now tell you--the impression which the + Siegesallée has made on the foreigner is quite an + overpowering one; everywhere respect for German sculpture is + making itself perceivable. May you always remain on these + heights, may such masters stand by my sons and sons' sons, + should they ever come into existence! Then, I am convinced, + will our people be in a position to love the beautiful and + honour lofty ideals." + +At the Berlin Art Museum next year, after praising the devotion of his +parents to art, and especially of his mother, "a nature," he said, +"about which poesy breathed," he continued:-- + + "The son of both stands before you as their heir and + executor: and so I regard it as my task, according to the + intention of my parents, to hold my hand over my German + people and its growing generation, to foster the love of + beauty in them, and to develop art in them; but only along + the lines and within the bounds drawn strictly by the + feelings in mankind for beauty and harmony." + +The Emperor's speech to the sculptors, if it contains some +questionable statements, is a thoughtful address by one who is himself +an artist, though not perhaps an artist of a high class. His artistic +endowments, transmitted from his parents, have been already indicated. +In reference to them he said to the official conducting him over the +Marienburg in later years, when the official expressed surprise at the +Emperor's art-knowledge:-- + + "There is nothing wonderful in it. I was brought up in an + artistic atmosphere. My mother was an artist, and from my + earliest youth I have been surrounded by beautiful things. + Art is my friend and my recreation." + +The highest praise of a work of art is to say of it that it pleased, +or would have pleased; his mother. Of her he said, "Every thought she +had was art, and to her everything, however simple, which was meant +for the use of life, was penetrated with beauty." When giving his +sanction to a plan, a park, a statue or a building he always +thinks--"Would it have pleased my parents--what would they have said +about it?" The Kaiser Friedrich Museum and the Kaiser Friedrich +Memorial Church, both in Berlin, testify to the Emperor's gratitude to +his parents for their artistic legacy. + +He went, as we have seen, through the ordinary art drudgery of the +school, recognizing, no doubt, with Michael Angelo, with all good +artists, that correct drawing is the foundation of every art into +which drawing enters and applying himself industriously to it. As a +young soldier at Potsdam he spent a good deal of his time, during the +three years from 1880 to 1883, practising oil-painting under the +guidance of Herr Karl Salzmann, a distinguished Berlin painter. Among +the results of this instruction was a picture which the princely +artist called "The Corvette--Prince Adalbert in the Bay of Samitsu," +now hanging in the residence of his brother, Prince Henry, at Kiel; +and two years later, as his interest in the navy grew, a "Fight +between an Armoured Ship and a Torpedo-boat." Innumerable aquarelles +and sketches, chiefly of marine subjects, were also the fruit of this +period. + +The Emperor has constantly cultivated free and friendly intercourse +with the best artists of his own and other nations, and been +continually engaged devoting time and money to the art education of +his people. The admirable art exhibitions in Berlin of the best +examples of painting by English, French, and American artists, which +he personally promoted and was greatly interested in, may be recalled +as instances. If his efforts in encouraging art among his people have +not been so successful as his imperial activities in other directions, +the reason is not any fault on his part, but simply that art refuses +to be, in Shakespeare's phrase, "tongue-tied by authority." + +This was shown by the chorus of unfavourable criticism which the +speech to the sculptors drew forth. No one questioned the sincerity of +the Emperor or the magnanimity of his aims, nor was the criticism +wholly caused by the suspicion that it savoured of the "personal +regiment" under which the people were growing impatient; but many +thought he was pushing the dynastic principle too far and unduly +interfering with liberty of thought and judgment, and that there was +something Oriental as well as selfish in occupying with a gallery of +his ancestors, the majority of whom were, after all, very ordinary +people, one of the fairest spots in the capital. Perhaps, however, +what was most objected to was his trying to drive the art of the +nation into a groove, the direction given by himself: in trying to +inspire it with a particular spirit and that an ancient not a modern +spirit, when he ought to let the spirit come of its own accord out of +the mind of the people--the mind of many millions, not the mind of one +man, however high his rank. Politics and government might be things in +which he had a right to an authoritative voice, but art, like +religion, the people considered to be a matter for individual taste +and judgment. + +Yet something may be advanced in favour of the Emperor. His +recommendation, for in fact it was and could be only that, was quite +in keeping with the traditions of his office and the people's own view +of royal government. The speech, as was admitted, was suggested by no +mere dilettante's vanity, but, as is evident from his words at the Art +Museum, by the conviction that just as it is the imperial duty to +provide an efficient army and navy, so it is the imperial duty to use +every personal and private, as well as every public and official, +effort to provide the people with an art as efficient, as honest, and +as clean; and it was inevitable that the art the Emperor recommended +was that which he believed, and still believes, to be in conformity +with the ideals, as he interprets them, or would have them to be, of +the Germanic race. + +The speech itself is interesting as showing the Emperor's attitude +towards art and artists and his personal conception of art and its +nature. His attitude is evidently that of the art-loving prince of +whom he speaks in the address, a royal Maecenas or di Medici, who +gathers artists round him; but he means to use them, not so much +perhaps for art's sake, as for the instruction and elevation of his +folk. A very laudable aim; only, as it happens, the folk in this +matter desire themselves to decide what is improving and elevating for +them and what is not. They are not willing to leave the exclusive +choice to the Emperor. + +The Emperor, again, would give the artist the freedom to put into his +work "that from himself which any artist must, if he is to give the +work the stamp of his own individuality." This attitude, too, is +admirable, but on the other hand lies the danger, such is poor human +nature, that the individuality will be that which the Emperor wishes +it to be, not the artist's independent individuality To the foreign +eye all the Hohenzollern statues in the Siegesallee, with the +exception possibly of two or three, seem to have much the same +individuality, though that again may be due to the nature of the +subject and the foreigner's inherent and ineradicable predispositions. + +Thirdly, art, the Emperor says, can only be educative when it elevates +instead of descending into the gutter. Hogarth descended into the +gutter. Gustav Doré depicts the horrors of hell. Yet both Hogarth and +Doré were great artists, and educative too. The Emperor was here +thinking of the Berlin Secession, a school just then starting, +eccentric indeed and far from "classical," but which nevertheless has +since produced several fine artists. The Emperor, it would appear, +thinks that the antique classical school is the true and only good +school for the artist. Very likely most artists will agree with him-- +at least as a foundation; but the belief, it also appears, is not +considered in Germany, or outside of it, to justify the Emperor, as +Emperor, in discouraging all other schools and particularly the +efforts of modern artists in their non-classical imaginings. + +The Emperor says art "takes its models, supplies itself from the great +sources of Mother Nature." With all courtesy to the Emperor one may +suggest that art, and sane art, takes its models not only from Mother +Nature, but also from an almost as prolific a maternal source, namely +imagination; and that imagination is limited by no eternal laws we +know of, or can even suspect. Accordingly it is useless to check, or +try to check, the imagination by telling it to work in a certain +direction--so long, naturally, as the imagination is not obviously +indecent or insane. + +Again, the Emperor says that in classical art there reigns an eternal +law, the "law of beauty and harmony, of the aesthetic" which is +expressed in a "thoroughly complete form" by the ancients. It is +admittedly a delightful and admirable form, but is it thoroughly +complete? Is it the last and only form; and may not the very same law +be found by experiment to be at work in future art that cannot be +called classical, as it was found to be at work in the various noble +schools since classical times? One must agree with the Emperor that +the Greeks and Romans illustrated the "law of beauty and harmony, of +the esthetic, in a wonderful manner." But it was wonderfully done for +their age and intellect. They did not exhaust the beautiful and +harmonious: far from it. + +Neither the world nor mankind has been standing still ever since; +certainly the mind of man has not, even though his senses have +undergone no elemental change. Paganism was succeeded by Christianity, +and with Christianity came a new art canon, new forms of beauty and +harmony--the Early Italian. The age of reason followed, bringing with +it the Baroque and Rococo canons: and as time went on, and the world's +mind kept working, came other canons still. The most recent canon +appears to be that of naturalism (the Emperor's "gutter ") with which +artists are now experimentalizing. None of the canons, be it noticed, +destroyed the canon that preceded, because beauty and harmony are +indestructible and imperishable. "A thing of beauty is a joy for +ever." + +But not only the mind of man kept changing: the world itself and its +civilization--by war, by treaty, by science, by invention, by art +itself--kept changing, and is changing now. Development, physical as +well as social, has been constant, and the changes accompanying it +have inspired, and are inspiring, artists with new ideas to which they +are always trying to give expression. The subjects of art have +enormously multiplied. Those introduced by sport of all kinds, by the +development of the theatre, by the newly-found effects of light and +colour, need only be mentioned as examples capable of suggesting +beauties and harmonies unknown to and unsuspected by the ancients. +Hence, in addition to the classical art of the day, there is room for +the "new art," the secessionist, the futurist, the impressionist, even +the cubist, or whatever the experimental movement may call itself. And +any day any of these movements may lead to the establishment of a new +and admirable school of genuine art as beautiful as the classical, if +in a different manner. The world has no idea of the surprises in all +directions yet in store for it. + +The Emperor, too, is at one with all the world in assuming that art, +to deserve the name, must possess the quality of beauty. He speaks of +"beauty and harmony," but let it be taken that he understands beauty +to include harmony. Now, as has been suggested, to answer the +question, what is beauty, satisfactorily, is no easy matter. In +immediate proximity to it lies the question, what is ugliness? It +might be argued that nothing in nature is ugly, and that the word was +introduced to express what is merely an inability on the part of +mankind to perceive the beauty which constitutes nature; and it +certainly is possible that, were man endowed with the mind of God, +instead of with only some infinitesimal and mysterious emanation of +it, he would find all things in creation, all art included, beautiful. +The author of the Book of Genesis asserts that when God had finished +making the world He looked upon His handiwork and saw that it was +good. There is one advantage in adopting this view, and no small one, +that a belief in its truth must impel us to look for beauty and +goodness in all things, whether in art or nature--and even in the +Secession. Perhaps, however, we shall not be far from the truth in +saying, as regards art, that all things in creation are beautiful, +that there are degrees in beauty of which ugliness is the lowest, and +that the truly inspired artist can make all things, ugliness included, +beautiful. + +The Emperor thinks the appreciation of beauty is one of our innate +ideas, like the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, which +we call conscience. There is no agreement among thinkers on the point, +and it may be that both beauty and conscience are relative, and simply +the result of environment and education. Certainly there is no +standard of beauty, and more certainly still, not of feminine beauty. +The Mahommedan admires a woman who has the nose of the parrot, the +teeth of the pomegranate seed, and the tread of the elephant. + +But though there is no complete standard of beauty about which all +people, at all times, in all countries, are agreed, there are two +elements of beauty which may be said to have been standardized, at +least for the civilized world, by the early Greeks and Romans. These +elements are simplicity and harmony, simplicity being the forms of +things most directly and pleasingly appealing to the eye and most +easily reaching the common understanding, while harmony is the +combination of parts most nearly identical with the lines, contours, +and proportions of nature. These are two essentials of good sculpture, +and the Emperor was talking to sculptors and perhaps thinking only of +sculpture. + +Yet simplicity and harmony alone do not constitute beauty, while on +the other hand beauty may take very complicated forms. A third element +one may suggest is essential, and its indescribable nature causes all +the difficulty there is in defining beauty. This third element +is--charm. A work of art, to be beautiful, must charm, and to +different people different things are charming. Plato's theory is that +the sense of beauty is a dim recollection of a standard we have seen +in a heavenly pre-existence. Accepting it as as good an explanation of +charm as we can get, we may conclude by defining beauty as, in its +highest form, a combination of simplicity and harmony, resulting in +charm. + +The Emperor says: "To us Germans great ideals have become permanent +possessions, whereas to other peoples they have been more or less +lost." The remark is not one of those best calculated to promote +friendly feelings on the part of other peoples towards Germany or its +Emperor. It is like his declaration that Germans are the "salt of the +earth," and of a piece with the aggressive attitude of intellectual +superiority adopted by many Germans towards other nations--one reason, +by the way, for German unpopularity in the world. But is it true? +Germany has great ideals in permanent possession, but are they more or +less lost to other peoples? It is at least doubtful. Great ideals are +the permanent possession of every great people; it is these ideals +that have made them great; and they are no less great if they differ +according to the nature and conditions of each great people. One might +go further, indeed, and say that great ideals are the common property +and permanent possession of all great peoples. It is a hard saying +that any one people has a monopoly of them. The contribution of every +great nation to the common stock of great ideals is incalculable, and +it would be interesting to investigate which nation is most +successfully working out its great ideals in practice. + +The truth is the German ideal of beauty in art is not, generally +speaking, the same as that of the Anglo-Saxon or Latin foreigner. The +art ideals of the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races in this respect are for +the most part Greek, while those of the German race are for the most +part Roman; and in each case the ideals are the outcome of the spirit +which has had most influence on the mind and manners of the different +races. The Greek philosophic and aesthetic spirit has chiefly +influenced Anglo-Saxon and Latin art ideals: the Roman spirit, +particularly the military spirit and the spirit of law, have chiefly +influenced German ideals: and, as a result, arrived at through ages +during which events of epoch-making importance caused many successive +modifications, while the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races are most +impressed by such qualities as lightness and delicacy of outline, +round and softly-flowing curves and elegance of ornamentation, the +German appears, to the Anglo-Saxon and Latin, to be more impressed by +the elaborate, the gigantic, the Gothic, the grotesque, the hard, the +made, the massive, and the square. In both styles are to be found +"beauty and harmony, the aesthetic," to quote the Emperor, but they +appeal differently to people of different national temperaments. To +the Anglo-Saxon and Latin in general, therefore, German art, and +particularly German sculpture and architecture, while impressive and +admirable, lack for most foreigners the entirely indescribable quality +we have called "charm." + +The true artist, the Emperor says, needs no advertisement, no press, +no patronage. The Emperor is right. The true artist, once he begins to +produce first-rate work, will obtain instant recognition, and his work +will begin to sell, not perhaps at prices the same kind of work may +bring later, but at prices sufficient to support the artist and his +family in reasonable comfort. If it does not, he is not producing good +work and had better turn his attention to something else. As a matter +of fact very few true artists do advertise, use the press, or seek +patronage. The artist does not go to the press or the patron, for +nowadays, the moment the artist does excellent work, the press and the +patron go to him, and, when he is very exceptionally good, he is +advertised and patronized until he is sick of both advertisement and +patronage. + +Naturally it is different in the case of the artist who is not +excellently good, but the Emperor was not considering such. These +artists too, however, insist on living and must find a market for +their wares. It is an age of advertisement, the growth of new economic +conditions, for advertisement creates as well as reveals new markets. +Hence the vast host of mediocrities, not only in art but in almost +every field of human activity, nowadays advertise and seek patronage +because only in this way can they find purchasers and live. These +artists, often men of talent, dislike having to advertise; they would +rather work for art's sake, but having to do so need not hinder them +from working for art's sake, since all that is meant by that much +misused phrase is that while the artist is working he shall not think +of the reward of his work, but simply and solely of how to do the best +work he can. + +Before leaving the Emperor's speech one is tempted to inquire what +should be the attitude of a sovereign towards art and artists. For the +Englishman the doctrine of Individualism--the thing he is so apt to +make a fetish of--gives an answer, and, it may be, the right one. The +Englishman will probably say that if in any one province of life more +than in another freedom should be allowed to originality of conception +regarding the form as well as the substance, the manner as well as the +matter, it is in the province of art, always provided, of course, that +the artist is sane and not guilty of indecency. The artist, like the +poet, is born not made; you cannot make an artist, you can only make +an artisan. The artist, who represents the Creator, the creative +faculty, can influence man: man cannot, and should not try to, +influence the artist, but can, and should only, offer him the +materials for his art, smooth the way for his endeavour, encourage him +in it by sympathetic yet candid criticism, and above all, when he can +afford it, by buying the result of his endeavour when it is +successful. + +This should be the attitude of both monarch and Maecenas: it is an +attitude of benevolent neutrality. "I know," such a Maecenas might say +to the artist, + + "that your artistic faculties move in an atmosphere above as + well as on the earth, as I know that above the atmosphere of + oxygen and hydrogen which envelops the earth there is an + ethereal, a rarefied atmosphere, which stretches to worlds + of which all we know is that they exist. If your spirit can + soar above this earthly atmosphere, well and good. I, for + one, shall do nothing to limit or hinder it: I shall only + welcome and applaud and reward whatever effort you make to + bring our inner being a step, long or short, nearer to the + source of celestial light. Consequently, I offer you no + instructions and put no fetters on your imagination." + +It takes all sorts of art to make an artistic world, as it takes all +sorts of people to make the human world: a world with only classic art +in it would be as uninteresting and unthinkable as a world in which +every one was of the same character, occupation, and dress. + +But it is time to consider the Emperor a little more in detail in +relation to his connexion with the arts. If he were not a first-rate +monarch he would probably be a first-rate artist. He said once that if +he were to be an artist, he would be a sculptor. But if he is not a +professional artist he is a connoisseur, a dilettante in the right +sense, a lover of the arts, an art-loving prince. The painter Salzmann +tells us how he used to go to the Villa Liegnitz in Potsdam to give +Prince William lessons, and how the Empress, then Princess William, +used to sit with the pupil and his teacher, discussing technical and +art questions. A result of the teaching, in addition to the pictures +mentioned elsewhere, was an oil-painting, a sea-fight, which still +hangs in the Ravene Gallery in Berlin. + +In the spring of 1886 the Prince sent his teacher a sketch for +criticism. Salzmann wired his opinion to Potsdam, and a telegram came +back, "What does 'wind too anxious' mean? is it so stormily painted +that you shuddered at it, or is it not stormy enough?" Salzmann is +also authority for the statement that the Prince sent in a sea-piece +to the annual Berlin Art Exhibition. It was placed ready to be judged, +but suddenly disappeared. The Emperor William, it appeared, had +decided that it would not do for a future Emperor to compete with +professional artists or run the risk of sarcastic public criticism. +Naturally since he came to the throne the Emperor has never had time +to cultivate his talent as a painter, but has always fed his eyes and +mind on the best kind of painting, and brings his sense of form and +colour to bear on everything he does or has a voice in. + +That the Emperor's own taste in painting is of a "classical" kind in a +very catholic sense was shown by the personal interest he took in +getting together and having brought to Berlin the exhibition of old +English masters in 1908. At his request the English owners of many of +these treasures agreed to lend them for exhibition in Germany, +submitting thereby to the risk of loss or damage, displaying an +unselfish disposition to aid in elevating the taste of a foreign +people, and at the same time giving Germans a better and more tangible +idea of the nation which could produce artists of such nobility of +feeling and marvellous technical capacity. The Emperor paid several +visits to the exhibition and thousands of Berlin folk followed his +example, so that the beauty of the works of Gainsborough, Raeburn, +Lawrence, Hoppner, and Romney was for months a topic of enthusiastic +conversation in the capital. + +Encouraged by this success, the Emperor next caused a similar +exhibition of French painters to be arranged. The Rococo period was +now chosen, many lovely specimens of the art of Watteau, Lancret, +David, Vigee, Lebrun, Fragonnard, Greuze, and Bonnat were procured, +and again the Berliner was given an opportunity not only of enjoying +an artistic treat of a delightful kind, but of comparing the +impressions made on him by the art spirits of two other nations. The +opening of this French exhibition was made by the Emperor the occasion +of emphasizing his conciliatory feelings towards France, for he +attended an evening entertainment at the French Embassy given +specially in honour of the occasion. + +A third art exhibition followed in 1910--that of two hundred American +oil paintings brought to Berlin and shown in the Royal Academy of Arts +on the Panser Platz. They included works by Sargent, Whistler, Gari +Melchior, Leon Dabo, Joseph Pennell, and many others. The suggestion +for this exhibition did not proceed from the Emperor, but in all +possible ways he gave the exhibition his personal support. On +returning from inspecting it he telegraphed to the American Ambassador +in Berlin, Dr. D. J. Hill, to express the pleasure he had derived from +what he had seen. Nor was such a mark of admiration surprising. The +exhibition was nothing short of a revelation, going far to dissipate +the German belief--perhaps the English belief also--that America +possesses no body of painters of the first rank. + +Again we have recourse to the marine painter, Herr Salzmann. Wired for +by the Emperor, the painter got to the palace at 10.15 PM. When he +arrived the Emperor cried out, "So, at last! Where have you been +hiding yourself? I have had Berlin searched for you." The Emperor and +Empress and suite had just returned from the theatre and were standing +about the room. It turned out that the Emperor wanted the painter to +help him sketch a battleship of a certain design he had in mind, to +see how it would look on the water. In the middle of the room an +adjutant stood and read out a speech made by a Radical deputy in the +Reichstag that day, and the Emperor made occasional remarks about it, +though at the same time he was engaged with the ship. The painter does +not forget to add that he "was provided with a good glass of beer." + +The Emperor is reported to be a capital "sitter." He had the French +painter Borchart staying with him at Potsdam to paint his portrait. +Borchart describes him as an ideal model, so still and patiently did +he sit, and this at times for more than two hours. He talked freely +during the sittings. "I don't want to be regarded as a devourer of +Frenchmen," was a remark made on one of these occasions; on another he +praised President Loubet; and on a third he had a good word even for +the Socialist Jaures. When Borchart had finished and naively expressed +satisfaction with his own work the Emperor said, "Na, na, friend +Borchart, not so proud; it is for us to criticize." + +As the Emperor is a lover of the "classical" in painting and +sculpture, it is not strange to find him an admirer of the classical +in music and recommending it to his people as the best form of musical +education. He holds that there is much in common between it and the +folk-songs of Germany. At Court he revived classical dances like the +minuet and the gavotte. He is devoted to opera and never leaves before +the end of the performance. Concerts frequently take place in the +royal palaces at Potsdam and Berlin, items on the programme for them +being often suggested by the Emperor. The programme is then submitted +to him and is rarely returned without alteration. Not seldom the +concert is preceded by a rehearsal, which the Emperor attends and +which itself has been carefully rehearsed beforehand, as the Emperor +expects everything to run smoothly. At these rehearsals he will often +cause an item to be repeated. Bach and Handel are his prime +favourites. He is no admirer of Strauss. Wagner he often listens to +with pleasure, and especially the "Meistersinger," which is his pet +opera. Of Italian operas Verdi's "Aida" and Meyerbeer's "Huguenots" +are those he is most disposed to hear. + +He has been laughed at for once attempting musical composition. The +"Song to Aegir," which he composed in 1894 at the age of thirty-five +(when he should have known better), was, he told the bandmaster of a +Hannoverian regiment, suggested to him by the singing of a Hannoverian +glee society. It is a song twenty-four lines long, with the inevitable +references to the foe, and the sword and shield, and whales and +mermaids, and the God of the waves, who is called on to quell the +storm. The lady-in-waiting who wrote the "Private Lives of the Emperor +and His Consort" tells with much detail how the song was really +written, not by the Emperor, but almost wholly by a musical adjutant. +It does not greatly matter, but it is likely that the Emperor is +responsible for the text if he did not compose the music. + +One of the best and most interesting descriptions of his kindly and +characteristic way of treating artists is that given by the late +Norwegian composer, Eduard Grieg. + +"The other day," writes the composer, + + I had a chance to meet your Kaiser. He had already expressed + a desire last year to meet me, but I was ill at that time. + Now he has renewed his wish, and therefore I could not + decline the invitation. I am, as you know, little of a + courtier. But I said to myself, 'Remember Aalesund' (for + which the Emperor had sent a large sum after a great fire), + and my sense of duty conquered. Our first meeting was at + breakfast at the German Consul's house. During the meal we + spoke much about music. I like his ways, and--oddly + enough--our opinions also agreed. Afterwards he came to me + and I had the pleasure of talking with him alone for nearly + an hour. We spoke about everything in heaven and + earth--about poetry, painting, religion, Socialism, and the + Lord knows what besides. + + "He was fortunately a human being, and not an Emperor. I was + therefore permitted to express my opinions openly, though in + a discreet manner, of course. Then followed some music. He + had brought along an orchestra (!), about forty men. He took + two chairs, placed them in front of all the others, sat down + on one, and said, 'If you please, first parquet'; and then + the music began--Sigurd Jorsalfar, Peer Gynt, and many other + things. + + "While the music was being played he continually aided me in + correcting the _tempi_ and the expression, although as a + matter of course I had not wanted to do such a thing. He was + very insistent, however, that I should make my intentions + clear. Then he illustrated the impression made by the music + by movements of his head and body. It was wonderful + _(göttlich)_ to watch his serpentine movements _à la + Orientalin_ while they played Anitra's dance, which quite + electrified him. + + "Afterwards I had to play for him on the piano, and my wife, + who sat nearest him, told me that here too he illustrated + the impression made on him, especially at the best places. + + "I played the minuet from the pianoforte sonata which he + found 'very Germanic' and powerfully built: and the 'Wedding + Day at Troldhaugen,' which piece he also liked. + + "On the following day there was a repetition of these things + on board the _Hohenzollern_, where we were all invited to + dinner at eight o'clock. The orchestra played on deck in the + most wondrously bright summer night while many + hundreds--nay, I believe thousands--of rowboats and small + steamers were grouped about us. The crowd applauded + constantly and cheered enthusiastically whenever the Kaiser + became visible. He treated me like a patient: he gave me his + cloak and sent to fetch a rug, with which he covered me + carefully. + + "I must not forget to relate that he grew so enthusiastic + over 'Sigurd Jorsalfar,' the subject of which I explained to + him as minutely as possible, that he said to von Hiilsen, + the intendant of the royal theatres, who sat next to him: + 'We must produce this work! (This was not done, however.) + + "I then invited von Hiilsen to come to Christiania to + witness a performance of it, and he said he was very eager + to so. All in all this meeting was an event and a surprise + in the best sense. The Kaiser, certainly, is a very uncommon + man, a strange mixture of great energy, great self-reliance, + and great kindness of heart. Of children and animals he + spoke often and with sympathy, which I regard as a + significant thing." + +On the New Year's Day following the Emperor sent the composer a +telegram reading: "To the northern bard to listen to whose strains has +always been a joy to me I send my most sincere wishes for the new year +and new creative activity." In 1906, Grieg, having once more been the +Emperor's guest, writes to a friend: + + "He was greatly pleased with having become once more a + grandfather. He called to me across the table (referring to + 'Sigurd'), 'Is it agreeable if I call the child Sigurd?' It + must be something _Urgermanisch_." + +The following anecdote may remind the reader of the amusing scene in +Offenbach's "Grand Duchesse of Gerolstein," where the Grand Duchess, +talking to the guardsman whose athletic proportions she admires, +addresses him with a rising scale of "corporal" ... "sergeant" ... +"lieutenant" ... "captain" ... "colonel," and so on, as she talks, +only, however, later cruelly to re-descend the scale to the very +bottom when her courtship is ineffectual. The Emperor is at an organ +recital in the Kaiser William Memorial Church; the recital is over and +the Court party are about to go when he greets the organist, Herr +Fischer: "My cordial thanks for the great pleasure you have given us, +Herr Professor." "Pardon, your Majesty," replies the organist, with +commendable presence of mind: "May I venture to thank your Majesty for +the great mark of favour?" "What mark of favour?" asks the Emperor, a +little puzzled. "The fact is your Majesty has more than once addressed +me as 'professor,' although--" "Why, that's good," exclaims the +Emperor, with a great laugh, "very good indeed;" and striking his +forehead in self-reproach with the palm of his hand: "so forgetful of +me! Then you are not professor, after all! Well, no matter; what is +not, may be--what I said, I said. Adieu, _Herr Professor_" and goes +off smiling. The very same evening--need it be added?--Herr Fischer +had his patent as Professor in his pocket. + +The Emperor is particularly fond of "my Americans" among his operatic +artists. A good deal of jealousy has at times been shown by the German +employees of the opera towards the American artists entertained there +and a deputy has more than once protested in the Reichstag against the +number employed; but the jealousy rarely results in harm, and on the +whole harmony--as it should--prevails. + +Every year brings hundreds of American girl students to Berlin, +Munich, or Dresden to learn singing and perhaps carry off the great +prize of a "star" engagement at one or the other of the German royal +opera houses. The experiences of some of these students are tragedies +on a small scale, and in one or two instances have been known to end +in death, destitution, or dishonour. The explanation is simple. Such +students, filled with the high hopes inspired by artistic ambition and +the artist's imagination, fail to ask themselves before going abroad +if nature has endowed them with the qualities and powers requisite for +one of the most laborious and, for a girl, exposed professions in the +world; and do not learn until it is too late that they lack the +resolute character, the robust health, and the talent which, not +singly but all three combined, are essential to success. + +Such a girl often starts on her enterprise poorly supplied with means +to pay for her board, lodging, clothes, recreation, and instruction; +she changes from the dearer sort of _pension_ to the cheaper, finding +her company and surroundings at each remove more doubtful and more +dangerous; she grows disappointed and disheartened, perhaps physically +ill; comes under bad influences, male or female; until finally the +curtain falls on a sufferer rescued at the last moment by relatives or +friends, or on a young life blasted. Such tragic cases, it should be +said, are far from common, but they occur, and the possibility of +their occurrence ought to be taken into account at the outset by the +intending music or art student. + +Happily there is another and brighter side to the picture, and the +intending student with money and friends will enjoy and gain advantage +from a few years of continental life, even though exceptional strength +and genuine talent be wanting. Perhaps this is the experience of the +great majority of art students in Germany. Freedom from the restraints +and conventions of life at home compensates for the inconveniences +arising from narrow means. Novelty of scenery and surroundings has a +charm that is constantly recurring. The kindness and helpfulness of +fellow-countrymen and countrywomen make the wheels of daily life roll +smoothly. The freemasonry of art, its optimism and hope, and the +pleasure and interest of its practice, investigation, and discussion +wing the hours and spur to effort. + +But to return to the Emperor. As a lad at Cassel he was fond of +playing charades, and is reported to have had a knack of quickly +sketching the scenario and _dramatis personæ_ of a play which he and +his young companions would then and there proceed to act. One of these +plays had Charlemagne for its subject, with a Saxon feudatory, whose +lovely daughter, Brunhilde, scorns her father for his submission. A +banquet, ending in a massacre of Charlemagne's followers, is one of +the scenes, and as Brunhilde is in love with Charlemagne's son she +helps him to escape from the massacre. The Play ends with the suicide +of Brunhilde. As he grew up the Emperor's interest in the theatre +increased, and, as has been seen, when he succeeded to the throne he +resolved to make use of it for educating and elevating the public +mind. As patriotism consists largely in knowing and properly +appreciating history he has always encouraged dramatists who could +portray historic scenes and events, particularly those with which the +Hohenzollerns were connected. Hence his support of Josef Lauff, Ernst +von Wildenbruch and Detlev von Liliencron. Not long ago he arranged a +series of performances at Kroll's Theatre intended for workmen only. +The performances were chiefly of the stirring historical +kind--Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell," Goethe's "Götz von Berlichingen," +Kleist's "Prince von Hornburg," and others that require huge +processions and a crowded stage. The general public were not supposed +to attend the performances, but tickets were sent to the factories and +workshops for sale at a low price. + +In 1898 the Emperor publicly stated his views about the theatre. "When +I mounted the throne ten years ago," he said, + + "I was, owing to my paternal education, the most fervent of + idealists. Convinced that the first duty of the royal + theatres was to maintain in the nation the cultivation of + the idealism to which, God be thanked, our people are still + faithful, and of which the sources are not yet nearly + exhausted, I determined to myself to make my royal theatres + an instrument comparable to the school or the university + whose mission it is to form the rising generation and to + inculcate in them respect for the highest moral traditions + of our dear German land. For the theatre ought to contribute + to the culture of the soul and of the character, and to the + elevation of morals. Yes, the theatre is also one of my + weapons.... It is the duty of a monarch to occupy himself + with the theatre, because it may become in his hands an + incalculable force." + +If the Emperor has any special gift it is an eye for theatrical effect +in real life as well as on the stage. He had a good share of the +actor's temperament in his younger years, and until recently showed it +in the conduct of imperial and royal business of all kinds. He still +gives it play occasionally in the royal opera houses and theatres. The +Englishman, whose ruler is a civilian, is not much impressed by +pageantry and pomp, except as reminding him of superannuated, though +still revered, historical traditions and events that are landmarks in +a great military and maritime past. He would not care to see his King +always, or even frequently, in uniform, as he would be apt to find in +the fact an undue preference for one class of citizens to another. His +idea is that the monarch ought to treat all classes of his subjects +with equal kingly favour. In Germany it is otherwise. The monarchy +relies on military force for its dynastic security, as much, one might +perhaps say, as for the defence of the country or the keeping of the +public peace, and consequently favours the military. Moreover, the +peoples that compose the Empire have been harassed throughout the long +course of their history by wars; a large percentage of their youth are +serving in the standing army or in the reserves, the Landwehr and the +Landsturm; finally the Germans, though not, as it appears to the +foreigner, an artistic people, save in regard to music, enjoy the +spectacular and the theatrical. + +Accordingly we find the Emperor artistically arranging everything and +succeeding particularly well in anything of an historical and +especially of a military nature. The spring and autumn parades of the +Berlin garrison on the Tempelhofer Field--an area large enough, it is +said, to hold the massed armies of Europe--with their gatherings of +from 30,000 to 60,000 troops of all arms, serve at once to excite the +Berliner's martial enthusiasm, while at the same time it obscurely +reminds him that if he treats the dynasty disrespectfully he will have +a formidable repressive force to reckon with. Hence at manoeuvres the +Emperor is accompanied by an enormous suite; whenever he motors down +Unter den Linden it is at a quick pace, which impresses the crowd +while it lessens the chances of the bomb-thrower or the assassin. The +scene of the reception of Prince Chun at the New Palace was a great +success as an artistic performance, and the pageants at the +restoration of the Hohkönigsburg and at the Saalburg festival were of +the same artistic order. + +The Emperor's theatrical interest and attention when in Berlin are +concentrated on the Berlin Royal Opera and the Berlin Royal Theatre +(Schauspielhaus), and when in Wiesbaden on the Royal Festspielhaus at +that resort. When in his capital he goes very rarely to any other +place of theatrical entertainment. His interest in the royal opera and +theatre both in Berlin and Wiesbaden is personal and untiring, and he +has done almost as much or more for the adequate representation of +grand opera in his capital as the now aged Duke of Saxe-Meiningen did, +through his famous Meiningen players, for the proper presentation of +drama in Germany generally. The revivals of "Aida" and "Les Huguenots" +under the Emperor's own supervision are accepted as faultless examples +of historical accuracy in every detail and of good taste and harmony +in setting. + +In a well-informed article in the _Contemporary Review_ Mr. G. +Valentine Williams writes: + + "Once the rehearsals of a play in which the Emperor is + interested are under way he loses no time in going to the + theatre to see whether the instructions he has appended to + the stage directions in the MS. are being properly carried + out. Some morning, when the vast stage of the opera is + humming with activity, the well-known primrose-coloured + automobile will drive up to the entrance and the Emperor, + accompanied only by a single adjutant, will emerge. In three + minutes William II will be seated at a big, business-like + table placed in the stalls, before him a pile of paper and + an array of pencils. When he is in the house there is no + doubt whatever in anyone's mind as to who is conducting the + rehearsal. His intendant stands at his side in the darkened + auditorium and conveys his Majesty's instructions to the + stage, for the Emperor never interrupts the actors himself. + He makes a sign to the intendant, scribbles a note on a + sheet of paper, while the intendant, who is a pattern of + unruffled serenity, just raises his hand and the performance + abruptly ceases. There is a confabulation, the Emperor, with + the wealth of gesture for which he is known, explaining his + views as to the positions of the principals, the dresses, + the uniforms, using anything, pencil, penholder, or even his + sword to illustrate his meaning. Again and again up to a + dozen times the actors will be put through their paces until + the imperial Regisseur is entirely satisfied that the right + dramatic effect has been obtained. + + "All who have witnessed the imperial stage-manager at work + agree that he has a remarkable _flair_ for the dramatic. + Very often one of his suggestions about the entrances or + exits, a piece of 'business' or a pose, will be found on + trial to enhance the effect of the scene. A story is told of + the Emperor's insistence on accuracy and the minute + attention he pays to detail at rehearsal. After his visit to + Ofen-Pest some years ago for the Jubilee celebration, which + had included a number of Hungarian national dances, the + Emperor stopped a rehearsal of the ballet at the Berlin + opera while a Czardas was in progress and pointed out to the + balletteuses certain minor details which were not correct. + + "In his attitude to the Court actors and actresses he + displays the charm of manner which bewitches all with whom + he comes in contact. He calls them 'meine Schauspieler,' + which makes one think of 'His Majesty's Servants' of + Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. This practice sometimes has + amusing results. Once when the Theatre Royal comedian, Dr. + Max Pohl, was suddenly taken ill the Emperor said to an + acquaintance, 'Fancy, my Pohl had a seizure yesterday;' and + the acquaintance, thinking he was referring to a pet dog + replied, commiseratingly: 'Ah, poor brute!' After rehearsal + the Emperor often goes on to the stage and talks with the + actors about their parts. + + "A Hohenzollern must not be shown on the stage without the + express permission of the Emperor, and in general, if + politics are mixed up in an objectionable way with the + action of the drama, the play will be forbidden. Above all + the Emperor will not tolerate indecency, nor the mere + suggestion of it, in the plays given at the royal theatres. + An anecdote about Herr Josef Lauff's Court drama 'Frederick + of the Iron Tooth,' dealing with an ancestor, an Elector of + Brandenburg, and on which Leoncavallo, at the Emperor's + request, wrote the opera 'Der Roland von Berlin,' shows the + Emperor's strictness in this respect. Frederick of the Iron + Tooth is a burgher of Berlin who leads a revolt against the + Elector. In order to heighten Frederick's hate, Lauff wove + in a love theme into the drama. The wife of Ryke, + burgomaster of Berlin, figured as Frederick's mistress and + egged on her lover against the Elector, because the latter + had hanged her brothers, the Quitzows, notorious outlaws of + the Mark Brandenburg. The Emperor cut out the whole episode + when the play was submitted to him in manuscript. The + marginal note in his big, bold handwriting ran: '_Eine + Courtisane kommt in einem Hohenzollerstück nicht vor_' (A + courtesan has no place in a Hohenzollern drama)." + +The Emperor's constant change of uniform is often said to be a sign of +his liking for the theatrical, and writers have compared him on this +account with lightning-change artists like the great Fregoli. Rather +his respect for and reliance on the army, a sense of fitness with the +occasion to be celebrated, a feeling of personal courtesy to the +person to be received, are the motives for such changes. The Paris +_Temps_ published the following incident apropos of the Emperor's +visit to England in November, 1902. When, on arriving at Port +Victoria, the royal yacht _Hohenzollern_ came in view, the members of +the English Court sent to welcome the Emperor saw him through their +glasses walking up and down the captain's bridge wearing a long +cavalry cloak over a German military uniform. When they stepped on +board they found him in the undress uniform of an English admiral. +They lunched with him, and in the afternoon, when he left for London, +he was wearing the uniform of an English colonel of dragoons. Arrived +in London, he left for Sandringham, and must have changed his dress +_en route_, for he left the train in a frock-coat and tall hat. + +Perhaps the most notable theatrical event of the reign hitherto was +the production at the Royal Opera in 1908 of the historic pantomime +"Sardanapalus." The Emperor's idea, as he said himself, was to "make +the Museums speak," to which a Berlin critic replied, "You can't +dramatize a museum." The ballet, for it was that as well as a +pantomime, engrossed the Emperor's time and attention for several +weeks. He spent hours with the great authority on Assyriology, +Professor Friedrich Delitzsch, going over reliefs and plans taken from +the Kaiser Friedrich Museum or borrowed from museums in Paris, London, +and Vienna, decided on the costumes and designed the war-chariots to +be used in the ballet. The notion was to rehabilitate the reputation +of Asurbanipal, the second-last King of Assyria, whom the Greeks +called "Sardanapalus," who reigned in Nineveh six hundred years before +Christ, over Ethiopia, Babylon and Egypt, and whom Lord Byron, +accepting the Greek story, represented as the most effeminate and +debauched monarch the world had ever known. + +Professor Delitzsch, with a wealth of recondite learning, showed, on +the contrary, that Sardanapalus was a wise and liberal-minded monarch, +who, rather than fall into the hands of the Medes, built himself a +pyre in a chamber of his palace and perished on it with his wives, his +children, and his treasure. The whole four acts, with the various +ballets, gave a perfectly faithful representation of the period as +described by Diodorus and Herodotus, and as plastically shown on the +reliefs discovered at Nineveh by Sir Henry Layard and subsequently by +German excavators. Over £10,000 was spent upon the production, and the +public were worked up to a great pitch of curiosity concerning it. But +it was a complete failure as far as the public were concerned. +"Heavens!" exclaimed one critic, "what a bore!" This, however, was not +the fault of the Emperor, but was due to want of interest on the part +of a public whose enthusiasm for the events and characters of times so +remote could only be kindled by a genius, and a dramatic one. The +Emperor is no such genius, nor had he one at command. + + + + +XI. + + + +THE NEW CENTURY (_continued_) + + + +1902-1904 + +King George V has hardly been sufficiently long on the English throne +for a contemporary to judge of the personal relations that exist +between his Majesty and the Emperor as chief representatives of their +respective nations. The King of England was, until June, 1913, +hindered by various circumstances from paying a visit to the Court of +Berlin, and rumours were current that relations between the two rulers +were not as friendly as they might and should be. There is now every +indication that though the relations of people to people and +Government to Government vary in degrees of coolness or warmth, the +two monarchs are on perfectly good terms of cousinship and amity. + +A visit paid by King George, when Prince of Wales, to the Emperor in +Potsdam at the opening of 1902 testified to the goodwill that then +subsisted between them. It was the evening before the Emperor's +birthday, when the Emperor, at a dinner given by the officers of King +Edward's German regiment, the 1st Dragoon Guards, addressed the +English Heir Apparent in words of hearty welcome. The address was not +a long one, but in it the Emperor characteristically seized on the +motto of the Prince of Wales, "_Ich dien_" (I serve), to make it the +text of a laudatory reference to his young guest's conduct and career. +In its course the Emperor touched on the Prince's tour of forty +thousand miles round the world, and the effect his "winning +personality" had had in bringing together loyal British subjects +everywhere, and helping to consolidate the _Imperium Britannicum_, "on +the territories of which," as the Emperor said, doubtless with an +imperial pang of envy, "the sun never sets." The Prince, in his reply, +tendered his birthday congratulations, and expressed his "respect" for +the Emperor, the appropriate word to use, considering the ages and +royal ranks of the Emperor and his younger first cousin. + +With 1902 may be said to have begun the Emperor's courtship (as it is +often called in Germany) of America. His advances to the Dollar +Princess since then have been unremitting and on the whole cordially, +if somewhat coyly, received. + +The growth of intercourse of all kinds between Germany and the United +States is indeed one of the features of the reign. There are several +reasons why it is natural that friendly relationship should exist. It +has been said on good authority that thirty millions of American +citizens have German blood in their veins. Frederick the Great was the +first European monarch to recognize the independence of America. +German men of learning go to school in America, and American men of +learning go to school in Germany. A large proportion of the professors +in American universities have studied at German universities. The two +countries are thousands of miles apart, and are therefore less exposed +to causes of international jealousy and quarrel between contiguous +nations. On the other hand, the new place America has taken in the Old +World, dating, it may be said roughly, from the time of her war with +Spain (1898); the increase of her influence in the world, mainly +through the efforts of brave, benevolent, and able statesmen; the +expansion of her trade and commerce; the increase of the European +tourist traffic;--these factors also to some extent account for the +growth of friendly intercourse between the peoples. + +Nor should the bond between the two countries created by intermarriage +be overlooked. If the well-dowered republican maid is often ambitious +of union with a scion of the old European nobility, the usually needy +German aristocrat is at least equally desirous of mating with an +American heiress notwithstanding the vast differences in +race-character, political sentiment, manners, and views of life--and +especially of the status and privileges of woman--that must +fundamentally separate the parties. Great unhappiness is frequently +the result of such marriages, perhaps it may be said of a large +proportion of international marriages, but cases of great mutual +happiness are also numerous, and help to bring the countries into +sympathy and understanding. Prince Bülow, when Chancellor, reminded +the Reichstag, which was discussing an objection raised to the late +Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, when German Ambassador to America, that +he had married an American lady, that though Bismarck had laid down +the rule that German diplomatists ought not to marry foreigners, he +was quite ready to make exceptions in special cases, and that America +was one of them. The Emperor is well known to have no objection to his +diplomatic representative at Washington being married to an American, +but rather to prefer it, provided, of course, that the lady has plenty +of money. + +A difficulty between Germany and Venezuela arose in 1902 owing to the +ill-treatment suffered by German merchants in Venezuela in the course +of the civil war in that country from 1898 to 1900. + +The merchants complained that loans had been exacted from them by +President Castro and his Government, and that munitions of war and +cattle had been taken for the use of the army and left unpaid for. The +amount of the claim was 1,700,000 Bolivars (francs), a sum that +included the damage suffered by the merchants' creditors in Germany. +Similar complaints were made by English and Italian merchants. After +several efforts on the part of Germany to obtain redress had failed, +negotiations were broken off, the diplomatic representative of Germany +was recalled, and finally the combined fleets of England, Germany, and +Italy established a blockade of the Venezuelan coast. The difficulty +was eventually referred to the Hague Court of Arbitration, which +allowed the claims and directed payment of them on the security of the +revenues of the customs ports of La Guayra and Puerto Cabella. + +For a time the action of the Powers caused discussion of the Monroe +doctrine on both sides of the Atlantic. On this side it was pointed +out that American susceptibilities had been respected by the conduct +of the Powers in not landing troops, while on the other side there +were not wanting voices to exclaim that the naval demonstration went +too near being a breach of the hallowed creed--"hands off" the Western +Hemisphere. The Monroe doctrine, it may be recalled, was contained in +a message of President James Monroe, issued on February 2, 1823. It +was drawn up by John Quincey Adams, and declared that the United +States "regarded not only every effort of the Holy Alliance to extend +its system to the Western Hemisphere as dangerous to the peace and +freedom of the United States, but also every interference with the +object of subverting any independent American Government in the light +of unfriendliness towards America"; and it went on to declare that +"the Continents of America should no more be regarded as fields for +European colonization." + +The day, of course, may come when the American claim to the control, +if not physical possession, of half the earth will be questioned by +the Powers of Europe; but at present, as far as Germany is concerned, +and notwithstanding the absurd idea that Germany plans the seizure one +day of Brazil, the doctrine is of merely academic interest. For a few +days four years later it became the subject of lively discussion in +Germany and America owing to the first American Roosevelt professor, +Professor Burgess, referring to it in his inaugural lecture before the +Emperor and Empress as an "antiquated theory." As soon, however, as it +became apparent that Professor Burgess was giving utterance to a +purely personal opinion, and was not in any sense the bearer of a +message on the subject from the President, the discussion dropped. + +Another American episode of the year was the visit of Prince Henry, +the Emperor's brother, to the United States. Prince Henry left for +America in February. The visit was in reality made in pursuance of the +Emperor's world-policy of economic expansion, but there were not a few +politicians in England and America to assert that it was part of a +deep scheme of the Emperor's to counteract too warm a development of +Anglo-American friendship. However that may be, the visit was a +striking one, even though it gave no great pleasure to Germans, who +could not see any particular reason for it, nor any prospect of it +yielding Germany immediate tangible return for trouble and expense. +Prince Henry, it is said, though the most genial and democratic of +Hohenzollerns, was a little taken back at the American freedom of +manners, the wringing of hands, the slapping on the back, and other +republican demonstrations of friendship; but he cannot have shown +anything of such a feeling, for he was fêted on all sides, and soon +developed into a popular hero. + +One of the incidents of the visit, previously arranged, was the +christening of the Emperor's new American-built yacht, _Meteor III_, +by Miss Alice Roosevelt, the President's daughter. On February 25th +the Emperor received a cablegram from Prince Henry: "Fine boat, +baptized by the hand of Miss Alice Roosevelt, just launched amid +brilliant assembly. Hearty congratulations;" and at the same time one +from the President's daughter: "To his Majesty the Kaiser, +Berlin--_Meteor_ successfully launched. I congratulate you, thank you +for the kindness shown me, and send you my best wishes. Alice +Roosevelt." + +During the visit the Emperor cabled to President Roosevelt his thanks +and that of his people for the hospitable reception of his brother by +all classes, adding: + + "My outstretched hand was grasped by you with a strong, + manly, and friendly grip. May Heaven bless the relations of + the two nations with peace and goodwill! My best compliments + and wishes to Alice Roosevelt." + +Reference to this cordial electric correspondence may close with +mention of a telegram sent in reply to a message from Mr. Melville +Stone, of the American Associated Press: + + "Accept my thanks for your message. I estimate the great and + sympathetic reception (it was a banquet) given to my dear + brother by the newspaper proprietors of the United States + very highly." + +Prince Henry returned to Germany on March 17th, a Doctor of Law of +Harvard University. + +There have been moments when people in America were influenced by +other sentiments than those of entirely respectful admiration for the +Emperor. It was with mixed feelings that the American public heard the +news of his telegraphed offer to President Roosevelt in May, 1902, +when, as the telegram said, the Emperor was "under the deep impression +made by the brilliant and cordial reception" given to his brother, +Prince Henry, to present to the American nation a statue of--Frederick +the Great, and coupled with the offer a proposal that the statue +should be erected--of all places--in Washington! No one doubted the +Emperor's sincere desire to pay the highest compliment he could think +of to a people to whom he felt grateful for the honour done to Germany +in the person of his brother, but nearly every one smiled at the +simplicity, or, as some called it, the want of political tact shown by +offering the statue of a ruler whose name, to the vast majority of +Americans, is synonymous with absolute autocracy, to a republic which +prides itself on its civic ways and love of personal freedom. The gift +was accepted by the American Government in the spirit in which it was +offered, the spirit of goodwill. And why not? To the Emperor his great +ancestor's effigy is no symbol of autocracy, but the contrary, for to +the Emperor and his subjects Frederick the Great is as much the Father +of Prussia, the man who saved it and made it, as Washington was the +Father of America. Besides, the spirit in which a gift is offered, not +its value or appropriateness, is the thing to be considered. + +Irritation in England was still strong against Germany on account of +the latter's easily understood race-sympathy with the Boers during the +war just over, but the fact did not prevent the Emperor from accepting +King Edward's invitation to spend a few days at Sandringham with him +in November this year on the occasion of his birthday. The Emperor +took the Empress and two of his sons with him. The hostile temper of +the time, both in England and Germany, was alluded to in a sermon +preached in Sandringham Church by the then Bishop of London. It was +notable for its insistence on the necessity of friendlier relations +between England, Germany, and America, the three great branches of the +Teutonic race. After the service the Emperor is reported to have +exclaimed to the Bishop: "What you said was excellent, and is +precisely what I try to make my people understand." + +As a proof that this was no merely complimentary utterance, but the +expression of a thought which is constantly in the Emperor's mind, an +incident which happened at Kiel regatta in the month of June +previously may be recalled. The American squadron, under the late +Admiral Cotton, was paying an official visit to the Emperor during the +Kiel "week" as a return honour for the visit of the Emperor's brother, +Prince Henry of Prussia, to the United States the year before. There +was a constant round of festivities, and among them a lunch to the +Emperor on board the Admiral's flagship, the _Kearsarge_. Lunch over, +the Emperor was standing in a group talking with his customary +vivacity, but, as customary also, with his eyes taking in his +surroundings like a well-trained journalist. Suddenly he noticed a set +of flags, those of America, Germany, and England, twined together and +mingling their colours in friendly harmony. He walked over, gathered +the combined flags in his hand, and turning to the Admiral exclaimed +in idiomatic American: "See here, Admiral; that is exactly as it +should be, and is what I am trying for all the time." + +While in England the Emperor, in company with Lord Roberts and Sir +Evelyn Wood, inspected his English regiment, the 1st Royal Dragoons. A +curious and amusing feature of the visit was a lecture before the +Royal Family at Sandringham by a German engineer, for whom the Emperor +acted as interpreter, on a novel adaptation of spirit for culinary, +lighting, and laundry purposes. The Emperor's practical illustration +of the use of the new heating system, as applied to the ordinary +household flatiron, is said to have caused great merriment among his +audience. + +Germany's home atmosphere about this time was for a moment troubled by +an exhibition of the Emperor's "personal regiment" in the form of a +telegram to the Prince Regent of Bavaria, known in Germany as the +"Swinemunde Despatch." The Bavarian Diet, in a fit of economy, had +refused its annual grant of £5,000 for art purposes. The Emperor was +violently angry, wired to the Prince Regent his indignation with the +Diet and offered to pay the £5,000 out of his own pocket. It was not a +very tactful offer, to be sure, though well intended; and as his +telegram was not an act of State, "covered" by the Chancellor's +signature, while the Bavarians in particular felt hurt at what they +considered outside interference, Germans generally blamed it as a new +demonstration of autocratic rule. + +One or two other art incidents of the period may be noted. A domestic +one was the gift to the Emperor by the Empress of a model of her hand +in Carrara marble, life-sized, by the German sculptor, Rheinhold +Begas. The Emperor, it is well known, has no special liking for the +companionship of ladies, but he confesses to an admiration for pretty +feminine hands. Another incident was the Emperor's order to the +painter, Professor Rochling, to paint a picture representing the +famous episode in the China campaign, when Admiral Seymour gave the +order "Germans to the Front." It is to the present day a popular +German engraving. The year was also remarkable for a visit to Berlin +of Coquelin _aîné_, the great French actor. The Emperor saw him in +"Cyrano de Bergerac," was, like all the rest of the play-going world, +delighted with both play and player, and held a long and lively +conversation with the artist. Lastly may be mentioned a telegram of +the Emperor's to the once-famed tragic actress, Adelaide Ristori, in +Rome, congratulating her on her eightieth birthday and expressing his +regret that he had never met her. A basket of flowers simultaneously +arrived from the German Embassy. + +We are now in 1903. During the preceding years the Emperor's thoughts, +as has been seen, were occupied with art as a means of educating his +folk, purifying their sentiments, and, above all, making them faithful +lieges of the House of Hohenzollern. By a natural association of ideas +we find him this year thinking much and deeply about religion; for, +though artists are not a species remarkable for the depth or orthodoxy +of their views on religious matters, art and religion are close +allies, and probably the greater the artist the more real religion he +will be found to have. + +In this year, accordingly, the Emperor made his remarkable confession +of religious faith to his friend, Admiral Hollmann. He had just heard +a lecture by Professor Delitzsch on "Babel und Bibel," and as he +considered the Professor's views to some extent subversive of orthodox +Christian belief, he took the opportunity to tell his people his own +sentiments on the whole matter. In writing to Admiral Hollmann he +instructed him to make the "confession" as public as possible, and it +was published in the October number of the _Grenzboten_, a Saxon +monthly, sometimes used for official pronouncements. The Emperor's +letter to Admiral Hollmann contained what follows:-- + + "I distinguish between two different sorts of Revelation: a + current, to a certain extent historical, and a purely + religious, which was meant to prepare the way for the + appearance of the Messiah. As to the first, I should say + that I have not the slightest doubt that God eternally + revealed Himself to the race of mankind He created. He + breathed into man His breath, that is a portion of Himself, + a soul. With fatherly love and interest He followed the + development of humanity; in order to lead and encourage it + further He 'revealed' Himself, now in the person of this, + now of that great wise man, priest or king, whether pagan, + Jew or Christian. Hammurabi was one of these, Moses, + Abraham, Homer, Charlemagne, Luther, Shakespeare, Goethe, + Kant, Kaiser William the Great--these He selected and + honoured with His Grace, to achieve for their peoples, + according to His will, things noble and imperishable. How + often has not my grandfather explicitly declared that he was + an instrument in the hand of the Lord! The works of great + souls are the gifts of God to the people, that they may be + able to build further on them as models, that they may be + able to feel further through the confusion of the + undiscovered here below. Doubtless God has 'revealed' + Himself to different peoples in different ways according to + their situation and the degree of their civilization. Then + just as we are overborne most by the greatness and might of + the lovely nature of the Creation when we regard it, and as + we look are astonished at the greatness of God there + displayed, even so can we of a surety thankfully and + admiringly recognize, by whatever truly great or noble thing + a man or a people does, the revelation of God. His influence + acts on us and among us directly. + + "The second sort of Revelation, the more religious sort, is + that which led up to the appearance of the Lord. From + Abraham onward it was introduced, slowly but foreseeingly, + all-wisely and all-knowingly, for otherwise humanity were + lost. And now commences the astonishing working of God's + Revelation. The race of Abraham and the peoples that sprang + from it regard, with an iron logic, as their holiest + possession, the belief in a God. They must worship and + cultivate Him. Broken up during the captivity in Egypt, the + separated parts were brought together again for the second + time by Moses, always striving to cling fast to monotheism. + It was the direct intervention of God that caused this + people to come to life again. And so it goes on through the + centuries till the Messiah, announced and foreshadowed by + the prophets and psalmists, at last appears, the greatest + Revelation of God to the world. Then he appeared in the Son + Himself; Christ is God; God in human form. He redeemed us, + He spurs us on, He allures us to follow Him, we feel His + fire burn in us, His sympathy strengthens us, His + displeasure annihilates us, but also His care saves us. + Confident of victory, building only on His word, we pass + through labour, scorn, suffering, misery and death, for in + His Word we have God's revealed Word, and He never lies. + + "That is my view of the matter. The Word is especially for + us evangelicals made the essential thing by Luther, and as + good theologian surely Delitzsch must not forget that our + great Luther taught us to sing and believe--'Thou shalt + suffer, let the Word stand.' To me it goes without saying + that the Old Testament contains a large number of fragments + of a purely human historical kind and not 'God's revealed + Word.' They are mere historical descriptions of events of + all sorts which occurred in the political, religious, moral, + and intellectual life of the people of Israel. For example, + the act of legislation on Sinai may be regarded as only + symbolically inspired by God, when Moses had recourse to the + revival of perhaps some old-time law (possibly the codex, an + offshoot of the codex of Hammurabi), to bring together and + to bind together institutions of His people which were + become shaky and incapable of resistance. Here the historian + can, from the spirit or the text, perhaps construct a + connexion with the Law of Hammurabi, the friend of Abraham, + and perhaps logically enough; but that would no way lessen + the importance of the fact that God suggested it to Moses + and in so far revealed Himself to the Israelite people. + + "Consequently it is my idea that for the future our good + Professor would do well to avoid treating of religion as + such, on the other hand continue to describe unmolested + everything that connects the religion, manners, and custom + of the Babylonians with the Old Testament. On the whole, I + make the following deductions:-- + + "1. I believe in One God. + + "2. We humans need, in order to teach Him, a Form, + especially for our children. + + "3. This Form has been to the present time the Old Testament + in its existing tradition. This Form will certainly + decidedly alter considerably with the discovery of + inscriptions and excavations; there is nothing harmful in + that, it is even no harm if the nimbus of the Chosen People + loses much thereby. The kernel and substance remain always + the same--God, namely, and His work. + + "Never was religion a result of science, but a gushing out + of the heart and being of mankind, springing from its + intercourse with God." + +It is anticipating by a few months, but part of a speech the Emperor +made in Potsdam at the confirmation of his two sons, August Wilhelm +and Oscar--two Hohenzollerns as yet not distinguished for anything in +particular--may be quoted in this connexion. Naturally he began by +comparing his sons' spiritual situation with that of a soldier on the +day he takes the oath of allegiance: they were _vorgemerkt_, that is, +predestined as "fighters for Christ." "What is demanded of you," the +imperial father went on, "is that you shall be personalities. This is +the point which, in my opinion, is the most important for the +Christian in daily life. For there can be no doubt that we can say of +the person of the Lord, that He is the most 'personal personality' who +has ever wandered among the sons of men.... You will read of many +great men--savants, statesmen, kings and princes, of poets also: but +nevertheless no word of man has ever been uttered worthy of comparison +with the words of Christ; and I say this to you so that you may be in +a position to bear it out when you are in the midst of life's turmoil +and hear people discussing religion, especially the personality of +Christ. No word of man has ever succeeded in making people of all +races and all people enthusiastic for the same cause, namely, to +imitate Him, even to sacrifice their lives for Him. The wonder can +only be explained by assuming that what He said were the words of the +living God, which are the source of life, and continue to live +thousands of years after the words of the wise have been forgotten. +That is my personal experience and it will be yours. + +"The pivot and turning-point," he continued, + + "of our mortal life, especially of a life full of + responsibility and labour--that is clearer and clearer to me + every year I live--lies simply and solely in the attitude a + man adopts towards his Lord and Saviour;" + +and he concludes by exhorting his sons to disregard what people may +say about the cult of Christ being irreconcilable with the tasks and +responsibilities of "modern" life, but simply to do their best, +whatever their occupation, to become a personality after Christ's +example. + +This is a sound and just statement of Christian faith, and it is +quoted here to justify the view that the Emperor's soldiers and his +Dreadnoughts, his mailed fist and shining armour, are built and put on +in the spirit of precaution and defence. The attitude, it cannot of +course be denied, is based on the un-Christlike assumption that all +men (and particularly all peoples and their governments and +diplomatists) are liars; but in his favour it may be urged that for +that saying the Emperor could cite Biblical authority. And yet there +is an inconsistency; for the saying is that of one of those same wise +men whose words, the Emperor admits, are transitory and mortal. + +It is possible that the Emperor had a presentiment of some kind that +his life was now in danger, and that the presentiment may have attuned +his thoughts to meditation on Christ's life and teaching; for it is a +fact, well worthy of remark, that in the fear of death man's one and +only relief and consolation is the knowledge that there was, and is, a +mediator for him with his Creator. The address at his sons' +confirmation was delivered on October 17th, and on Sunday morning, +November 8th all the world, it is hardly too much to say, was +astonished and pained to learn, by a publication in the _Official +Gazette_, that the Emperor the day before had had to submit to a +serious operation on his throat. The announcement spoke of a polypus, +or fungoid growth, which had had to be removed; but all over the world +the conclusion was come to that the mortal affliction of the father +had fallen on the son and that the Emperor was a doomed man. Most +providentially and happily it was nothing of the sort. On the 9th the +Emperor was out of bed and signing official papers, on the 15th he was +allowed to talk in whispers, and on the 17th it was declared by the +physicians that all danger was over and that no more bulletins would +be issued. On December 14th the Emperor received a congratulatory +visit from the President of the Reichstag, who reported to Parliament +his impression that "the Emperor had completely recovered his old +vigour (great applause) and that his voice was again clear and +strong." + +The Emperor had passed through what one may suppose to have been the +darkest hour of his life. He was naturally in high spirits, and a few +days after went to Hannover, where he made a martial speech in which +he toasted the German Legion for having "by its unforgettable heroism, +in conjunction with Blücher and his Prussians, saved the English army +from destruction at Waterloo," a view, of course, which to an +Englishman has all the charm of novelty. + +One or two further memorable incidents of 1903 may be recorded. +Theodore Mommsen, the now aged historian of Rome, the greatest scholar +of his time, died in November. He was in his day a Liberal +parliamentarian of no mean ability; but for such men there is no +career in Germany. However, as it turned out, the German people's loss +proved to be all the world's gain. A son of the historian now +represents a district of Berlin in the Reichstag. Two years before the +historian's death an exchange of telegrams in Latin took place between +him and the Emperor. The occasion was the Emperor's laying the +foundation-stone of a museum on the plateau where the old Roman +castle, known as the Saalburg, stands. The Emperor telegraphed: + + "Theodoro Mommseno, antiquitatum romanarum investigatori + incomparabili, praetorii Saalburgensis fundamenta jaciens + salutem dicit et gratias agit Guilelmus Germanorum + Imperator." + +To which the historian, with a modesty equal to his courtesy, replied: +"Germanorum principi, tam majestate quam humanitate, gratias agit +antiquarius Lietzelburgensis." + +Mention may also be made of a very characteristic speech of the +Emperor's this year at Cüstrin, where he was unveiling a monument to a +favourite Hohenzollern, the Great Elector. Cüstrin, it will be +remembered, is the town where Frederick the Great, another of the +Emperor's favourites, was imprisoned by an angry father, along with +his friend Lieutenant Katte, when Frederick was trying to escape the +parental cruelty and violence. + +Referring to Frederick's declaration that he was the "first servant of +the State," the Emperor said:-- + + "He could only learn to be so by subordination, by + obedience, in a word by what we Prussians describe as + discipline. And this discipline must have its roots in the + King's house as in the house of the citizen, in the army as + among the people. Respect for authority, obedience to the + Crown, and obedience to parental and paternal + influence--that is the lesson the memories of to-day should + teach us. From these attributes spring those which we call + patriotism, namely the subordination of the individual ego, + of the individual subject, to the welfare of all. It is what + is particularly needed at the present time." + +The Emperor was, of course, thinking of the Social Democrats. Having +finished his speech, he went and for a while stood thoughtfully at the +historic window of Cüstrin Castle, from which Frederick watched the +execution of his unfortunate companion, Katte. + +Only the year 1904 separates us from the Emperor's Morocco adventure. +The economic ideas which have been referred to as the basis of German +foreign policy were germinating in his mind, and the plans for at +least a partial realization of them were working in his head. +Addressing the chief burgomaster of Karlsruhe in April, just a year +before he started for Tangier, he spoke of Weltpolitik. "You are +right," he told the burgomaster, + + "in saying that the task of the German people is a hard + one.... I hope our peace will not be disturbed, and that the + events that are now happening will open our eyes, steel our + courage, and find us united, if it should be necessary for + us to intervene in world-policy." + +The Emperor had, no doubt, specially in mind the birth of the +Anglo-French Entente and the war between Russia and Japan, both events +forming the dominant factors of the political situation at this time. +The Russo-Japanese War arose primarily from the unwillingness of +Russia to evacuate Manchuria after the Boxer troubles in China. The +incidents of the war are still fresh in public memory. + +It need only be recalled here that Germany was neutral throughout the +conflict, that both President Roosevelt and the Emperor offered their +services as mediators in its course, and that on the capture of Port +Arthur by Admiral Nogi, in January, 1905, the Emperor telegraphed his +bestowal of the _Ordre pour le Mérile_ on General Stoessel, the +Russian defender of Port Arthur, and on Admiral Nogi. + +In the troubled history of Anglo-German relations is to be recorded +the presence, in June of this year, of King Edward VII at Kiel with a +squadron of battleships to pay an official visit to his nephew. The +two fleets, those sunny days, formed a splendid spectacle--the two +mightiest police forces, the Emperor would probably agree in saying, +the world could produce. In fact, the Emperor had some such thought in +mind, for he addressed King Edward as follows:-- + + "Your Majesty has been welcomed by the thunder of the guns + of the German fleet. It is the youngest navy in the world + and an expression of the reviving sea-power of the new + German Empire, founded by the late great Emperor, designed + for the protection of the Empire's trade and territory, and + intended, equally with the German army, for the preservation + of peace." + +One or two other incidents of interest in the Emperor's life may close +the record of this year. One of them was the arrival of the Italian +composer, Leoncavallo, in Berlin, to hand the Emperor the text of the +opera "Der Roland von Berlin," Leoncavallo had composed at the +Emperor's express request. Roland was a "strong, valiant and pious" +knight of Charlemagne's time--like the Emperor, let us say--who +originally hailed from Brittany--that lone and lovely Cinderella of +France--and afterwards, for some unexplained reason, came to be the +type of municipal independence in Germany. + +During the summer the Emperor and the Empress made an excursion, when +on the Saalburg, to the statues of the Roman Emperors Hadrian and +Severus. Did the Emperor recall, one wonders, as he stood before the +figure of Hadrian, that pagan monarch's address to his soul:-- + + "Animula vagula, blandula, + Hospes, comesque corporis, + Quae nunc abibis in loca, + Pallidula, rigida, nudula, + Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos?" + +It sounds a little gloomy as a quotation, but, fortunately for Germany +and the Emperor, for "nunc" can be put, _pace_ the poet, the +indefinite, yet all too definite, "aliquando." + + + + +XII. + + + +MOROCCO + + + +1905 + +The Emperor started for Tangier towards the end of March, but before +that he had got through imperial business of a miscellaneous kind +which exemplifies the life he leads practically at all times. + +In January he had exchanged telegrams with the Czar and the Mikado +concerning his bestowal of the Order of Merit on Generals Stoessel and +Nogi, asking permission to bestow the Order and receiving expressions +of consent. Another telegram went to the composer Leoncavallo in +Naples, congratulating him on the success there of his "Roland von +Berlin." In February, the Emperor opened an international Automobile +Exhibition in Berlin, received Prince Charles, Infanta of Spain, and +the King of Bulgaria, unveiled a monument to his ancestor, Admiral +Coligny, who was killed in the Bartholomew massacre, listened to a +naval captain's lecture on Port Arthur, opened the new Lutheran +Cathedral (the "Dom") in Berlin, telegraphed thanks to the University +of Pennsylvania for its doctor's degree which the Emperor said he was +proud to know George Washington once held, attended a lecture by +Professor Delitzsch on "Assyria," and was present at a memorial +service for the painter Adolf von Menzel, who died this month. In +March he visited Heligoland, inspected the progress of some +alterations at the Royal Opera in Berlin, and sent the Gold Medal for +Science to Manuel Garcia, on the occasion of the latter's hundredth +birthday, as recognition of his invention of the laryngoscope, or +mirror for examining the throat. + +Just before starting for Morocco the Emperor made the speech in which +he claimed that Germans are the "salt of the earth." In the same +speech he had previously declared that as the result of his reading of +history he meant never to strive after world-conquest. "For what," he +asked, + + "has become of the so-called world-empires? Alexander the + Great, Napoleon the First, all the great warrior heroes swam + in blood and left behind them subjugated peoples, who at the + first opportunity rose and brought their empires to ruin. + The world-empire which I dream of will be, above all, the + newly established German Empire, enjoying on every side the + most absolute confidence as a peaceable, honest, and quiet + neighbour, not founded on conquest by the sword, but on the + mutual confidence of nations, striving for the same + objects." + +While on the way to Morocco the Emperor put in at Lisbon to pay a +visit to the King of Portugal, and with the latter attended a meeting +of the Geographical Society. From Lisbon he went to Gibraltar, and +from thence, after a few hours' stay, he started for Tangier. + +The Morocco incident, as it is often too lightly called, should rather +be regarded as a phase in the world's economic history and an +occurrence of moment for the future peace of all nations than the mere +game on the diplomatic chess-board many writers appear to consider it. +According to French critics, and they may be taken as representative +of the feeling everywhere prevalent during the seven years the +incident lasted, its origin was a matter of alliances and the balance +of power. Germany, according to these writers, wanted to preserve the +position of hegemony in Europe she had obtained under Bismarck, and +consequently felt annoyed by the Triple Entente, which robbed her of +her traditional friend Russia and set up an effective counterpoise to +the Triple Alliance of which Germany was the leading Power, and on +which she could, or believed she could, rely for support in case of +war with France. In going, therefore, to Tangier, at the moment when +her defeat by Japan rendered Russia for the time being of little or no +account in the considerations of diplomacy, the Emperor, according to +these writers, in reality was making a determined attempt to break the +Entente combination and protect his Empire from political isolation or +inferiority. + +It is quite possible that such were the motives of the Emperor's +action, but if so he was building better than he knew. The +vicissitudes of the Moroccan episode are described briefly below, yet +some remarks of a general nature as to the whole episode considered in +its historical perspective may be permitted in advance. But first, +what is historical perspective? It may perhaps be defined as that view +of history which shows in its true proportions the relative importance +of an event to other events which strongly and permanently leave their +mark on the character and development of the period or generation in +which they occur. Regarded from this standpoint the Morocco incident +can claim an exceptional position, for it was the first occasion in +modern diplomatic history on which a Great Power officially proclaimed +_urbi et orbi_ the doctrine of the "open door," the doctrine of equal +economic treatment for all nations for the benefit of all nations, and +was willing to go to war in support of it. + +It was not, of course, the first time the demand for the open door had +been made; loudly and bloodily, too; since most wars from those of +Greece and Rome to the war between Russia and Japan of recent years +were waged with the intention, or in the hope, of opening, by conquest +or contract, territory of the enemy to the mercantile enterprise of +the victors. But this was the open door in a very selfish and +restricted sense, and though many isolated events had occurred of late +years, the international agreements regarding China among them, +proving that the idea of the open door was gaining strength as a right +common to all nations, it was not until the Emperor went to Tangier +that a Great Power risked a great war in order to exemplify and +enforce it. + +The Emperor and his advisers were probably not moved by any altruistic +sentiments in the matter, and their sole reason for action may have +been to see that German subjects should not be excluded from Moroccan +markets. It may also be that Germany was resolved that if there was to +be a seizure of Morocco she should get her share of the territory to +be distributed, notwithstanding her refusal, revealed by the late +Foreign Secretary, Kiderlen-Waechter, in the Reichstag's confidential +committee, to accede to Mr. Chamberlain's proposal, made some time +before the incident, for a partition of the Shereefian Empire. But the +acquisition of territory does not seem to have been the mainspring of +her policy, while from the beginning to the end of the incident, +however theatrical and questionable her diplomatic conduct may have +been at moments during the negotiations, she was throughout consistent +and successful in her demand for economic equality all round. This is +a great gain for the future, for, with the world nearly all parcelled +out, economic considerations, which are almost in all cases +adjustable, are now the most weighty factors in international +relations. + +Apart from this view of the incident, it is clear that Germany was +pursuing her claim to a "place in the sun," and she did so to the +unconcealed annoyance of nations which up to then had never thought of +her in a rôle she appeared to be aspiring to, that of a Mediterranean +Power. To these nations she seemed an intruder in a sphere to which +she neither naturally nor rightfully belonged. Evidently she had no +political or historical claims in Morocco, while her commercial +interests were less than 10 per cent of Morocco trade. + +A narration of the incident may, for the sake of convenience, though +involving some anticipation of the future, be dealt with in three +sections: from the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, and the Emperor's +visit to Tangier in March, 1905, to the Act of Algeciras a year +subsequently; from the Act of Algeciras to the Franco-German Agreement +of 1909; and from that to the--let it be hoped--final settlement by +the Franco-German Agreement of November 5, 1911. + +The Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 gave France a free hand in Morocco +in consideration of France giving England a similar position in Egypt +and the Nile Valley. The state of things in Morocco at this time was +one of discord and rebellion. In the midst of it, the Sultan, El +Hassan, died, and was succeeded by Abdul Aziz, a minor. On coming of +age Abdul Aziz showed his inability to rule, the country fell again +into disorder and Abdul turned for help to France. Meantime England +and France had been negotiating without the knowledge of Germany, and +in April, 1904, the Anglo-French Agreement was signed. It was +accompanied by an official declaration that France had no intention of +changing the political status of Morocco, but only contemplated a +policy there of "pacific penetration and reforms." Thereupon Prince +von Bülow, the German Chancellor, stated in the Reichstag that the +German Government had no reason to assume that the Agreement was +directed against any Power and that "it appeared to be an attempt by +England and France to come to a friendly understanding respecting +their colonial differences." + +"From the standpoint of German interests," continued the Chancellor, +"we have no objections to raise to it." No parliamentary reference was +made to Morocco until March, 1905, when the Chancellor spoke of the +approaching visit of the Emperor to Tangier, and it became evident +that the Emperor and his advisers had come to the conclusion that, as +France seemed about assuming a full protectorate over Morocco, as she +had tried to do in Tunis, and that this, in accordance with French +policy, would result in the exclusion of other nationals from commerce +and the development of the country, Germany must take action. Prince +von Bülow explained that "his Majesty had, in the previous year, +declared to the King of Spain that Germany pursued no policy of +territorial acquisition in Morocco." He continued: + + "Independent of the visit, and independent of the + territorial question, is the question whether we have + economic interests to protect in Morocco. That we have + certainly. We have in Morocco, as in China, a considerable + interest in the maintenance of the open door, that is the + equal treatment of all trading nations." + +And he concluded by saying: + + "So far as an attempt is being made to alter the + international status of Morocco, or to control the open door + in the economic development of the country, we must see more + closely than before that our economical interests are not + endangered. Our first step, accordingly, is to put ourselves + into communication with the Sultan." + +The visit came off as announced, and the Emperor, on arriving at +Tangier, made a speech which caused a sensation in every diplomatic +chancellery; indeed, in all parts of the world. The Emperor's speech, +which was addressed to the German colonists on March 31, 1905, was as +follows:-- + + "I rejoice to make acquaintance with the pioneers of Germany + in Morocco and to be able to say to them that they have done + their duty. Germany has great commercial interests there. I + will promote and protect trade, which shows a gratifying + development, and make it my care to secure full equality + with all nations. This is only possible when the sovereignty + of the Sultan and the independence of the country are + preserved. Both are for Germany beyond question, and for + that I am ready at all times to answer. I think my visit to + Tangier announces this clearly and emphatically, and will + doubtless produce the conviction that whatever Germany + undertakes in Morocco will be negotiated exclusively with + the Sultan." + +The result of these unmistakable declarations was that the Sultan +rejected proposals made to him by the French, and shortly afterwards, +on the advice of Germany, came forward with suggestions for a European +conference. M. Delcassé, the French Foreign Minister, opposed the +proposal, and for a time war between France and Germany appeared +inevitable; but France was not in a military position to ignore +Germany's threatening language, M. Delcassé had to resign, the French +Cabinet under M. Rouvier agreed to the conference, and it met at +Algeciras in January, 1906. At the conference Great Britain, in +consonance with the Entente, supported France; Austria adhered loyally +to her Triplice engagements and proved the "brilliant second" to +Germany the Emperor subsequently described her; Italy, on the other +hand, gave her Teutonic ally only lukewarm support. + +In fairness, however, should be quoted here the explanation of Italy's +attitude given by Chancellor von Bülow when discussing the conference +in Parliament next year. The impression is general, both in and out of +Germany, that Italy is only a half-hearted political ally. It is based +on the temperamental difference between the Latin and the Teutonic +races, on the popular sympathy between the French and Italian peoples, +and to the supposedly reluctant support lent by Italy to Germany +during the critical time of the conference, the extra-tour, as Prince +Bülow, using a metaphor of the ballroom, termed it, she took with +France on that occasion. Prince Bülow now endeavoured to dissipate or +correct the impression, at any rate, as regarded Algeciras. "Italy," +he said, + + "found herself in a difficult position there. Various + agreements between Italy and France regarding Morocco had + come into existence anterior to the conference, but Germany + was satisfied that they were not inconsistent with Italy's + Triplice engagements; in fact, Germany had, several years + ago, officially told Italy she must use her own judgment and + act on her own responsibility in dealing with her French + neighbour in Africa and the Mediterranean." + +When it was settled that a conference should be held, Italy, the +Chancellor continued, "gave Germany timely information as to the +extent to which her support of Germany could go, and as a matter of +fact she supported Germany's views in the bank and police questions." +So far the German official explanation, but the impression of Italian +lukewarmness as a member of the Triplice has lost none of its +universality thereby. How well or ill founded the impression is, it +will be for the future to disclose. + +The summoning of the conference had been a triumph for German +diplomacy, but its results were disappointing to her; for while the +proceedings showed that among all nations she could only fully rely on +the sympathy and support of Austria, they ended in an acknowledgment +by Germany of the special position of France in Morocco. The Act of +Algeciras, which was dated April 7, 1906, stated that the signatory +Powers recognized that "order, peace, and prosperity" could only be +made to reign in Morocco + + "by means of the introduction of reforms based upon the + triple principle of the sovereignty and independence of his + Majesty the Sultan, the integrity of his States, and + economic liberty without any inequality." + +Then followed six Declarations regarding the organization of the +police, smuggling, the establishment of a State bank, the collection +of taxes, and the finding of new sources of revenue, customs, and +administrative services and public works. For the organization of the +police, French and Spanish officers and non-commissioned officers were +to be placed at the disposal of the Sultan by the French and Spanish +Governments. Tenders for public works were to be adjudicated on +impartially without regard to the nationality of the bidder. The +effect of the Act was to give international recognition to the special +position of France and Spain in Morocco, while safeguarding the +economic interests of other Powers. + +The attitude taken up by Germany relative to the conference was set +forth in a speech delivered by Prince von Bülow in the Reichstag in +December, 1905. It was based, he explained, on the provisions of the +Madrid Convention of 1880, in which all the Great Powers and the +United States had taken part. The Chancellor claimed that Germany +sought no special privileges in Morocco, but favoured a peaceful and +independent development of the Shereefian Empire. He denied that +German rights could be abrogated by an Anglo-French Agreement, and +pointing out that Morocco in 1880 had granted all the signatories to +the Madrid Convention most-favoured-nation treatment, claimed that if +France desired to make good her demand for special privileges, she +ought to have the consent of the special signatories to the Madrid +pact. Germany had a right to be heard in any new settlement of +Moroccan conditions; she could not allow herself to be treated as a +_quantité négligeable_, nor be left out of account when a country +lying on two of the world's greatest commercial highways was being +disposed of. She had a commercial treaty with Morocco, conferring +most-favoured-nation rights, and it did not accord with her honour to +give way. + +The Act of Algeciras, however, proved to have brought only temporary +relief to European tension. Disturbances continued in Morocco, French +subjects were murdered at Marakesch in 1907, and France occupied the +province of Udja with troops until satisfaction should be given. Owing +to riots at Casablanca in 1908, in which French as well as Spanish and +Italian labourers were killed, she decided to occupy the place, and +sent a strong military and naval force thither. A French warship +bombarded the town, and by June, 1908, the French army of occupation +numbered 15,000 men. Meanwhile internal commotions and intrigues had +led to the deposition of Abdul Aziz and his replacement on the throne +by his brother, Muley Hafid, with the support of Germany. France and +Spain refused to recognize the new ruler unless he gave guarantees +that he would respect the Act of Algeciras. Muley gave the required +guarantees, and in March, 1909, France "declared herself wholly +attached to the integrity and independence of the Shereefian Empire +and decided to safeguard economic equality in Morocco." Germany on her +side declared she was pursuing in Morocco only economic interests and, +"recognizing that the special political interests of France in Morocco +are closely bound up in that country with the consolidation of order +and of internal peace," was "resolved not to impede those interests." + +The German idea of not impeding French special political interests in +Morocco was disclosed little more than two years later by the dispatch +of the German gunboat _Panther_ (of "Well done, _Panther_!" fame) on +July 3, 1911, to the "closed" port of Agadir on the south Moroccan +coast. + +It was as dramatic a coup as the Emperor's visit to Tangier and caused +as much alarm. The fact is that the march of French troops to Fez, +which had taken place a few months before, convinced the Emperor and +his Government that France, relying on the support of her Entente +friend England, was bent on the Tunisification of Morocco. The +Emperor, Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, and Foreign Secretary +Kiderlen-Wæchter met at the Foreign Office on May 21st, and it was +decided to send a ship of war, as at once a hint and a demonstration, +to Agadir or other Moroccan port. Germany, of course, in accordance +with diplomatic strategy, did not disclose the real springs of her +action, though they must have been patent to all the world. She +notified the Powers of the dispatch of her warship, explaining that +the sending of the _Panther_, which "happened to be in the +neighbourhood," was owing to the representations of German firms, as a +temporary measure for the protection of German protégés in that +region, and taken "in view of the possible spread of disorders +prevailing in other parts of Morocco." + +In France, on the other hand, it was asserted that the step was not in +conformity with the spirit of the Franco-German Agreement of 1909, in +which Germany resolved not to impede French special interests, that +there were no Germans at Agadir, and that only nine months previously +Germany had angrily protested at the calling of a French cruiser at +the same port. The reference was to the visit of the French cruiser +_Du Chaylu_ in November, 1910, when the captain paid a visit to the +local pasha. The German Foreign Secretary eventually said Germany had +no objection to France using her police rights even in a closed port, +and the admission was taken as a fresh renunciation on the part of +Germany of any right to interference. Feeling ran high for a time both +in France and Germany, while the German action added to the sentiment +of hostility to Germany in England, and English political circles +perceived in it a design on Germany's part of acquiring a port on the +Moroccan coast. The word "compensation," which afterwards was to prove +the solution of Franco-German differences was now first mentioned by +Germany. + +After England's determination to support France had been made plain by +ministerial statements, the entire Morocco episode was closed by the +Franco-German Agreement signed on November 5, 1911, as "explanatory +and supplementary" to the Franco-German Agreement of 1909. The effect +of the new Agreement was practically to give France as free a hand in +Morocco as England has in Egypt, with the reservation that "the +proceedings of France in Morocco leave untouched the economic equality +of all nations." The Agreement further gives France "entire freedom of +action" in Morocco, including measures of police. The rights and +working area of the Morocco State bank were left as they stood under +the Act of Algeciras. The sovereignty of the Sultan is assumed, but +not explicitly declared. The compensation to Germany for her agreement +to "put no hindrances in the way of French administration" and for the +"protective rights" she recognizes as "belonging to France in the +Shereefian Empire" was the cession by France to Germany of a large +portion of her Congo territory in mid-Africa, with access to the Congo +and its tributaries, the Sanga and Ubangi. + +While the ground-idea of Germany's policy of economic expansion, and +the source of all her trouble with England, is her insistence on her +"place in the sun," the difficulty attending it for other nations is +to determine the place's nature and extent, so that every one shall be +comfortable and prosperous all round. + +The alterations in conditions among civilized nations during the last +half-century, more especially in all that relates to international +intercourse--political, financial, commercial, social--makes it +reasonable to suppose that changes must follow in the conduct of their +foreign policies. The fact also, recognized by no country more clearly +than by Germany, that the profitable regions of the earth are already +appropriated makes an economic policy for her all the more advisable. +An economic policy, moreover, is, notwithstanding her apparent +militarism, most in harmony with the peaceful and industrious +character of her people. Unfortunately, the stage in progress where +the political and commercial interests of all nations have become +defined and adjusted has not yet been reached, though the numerous +agreements between the Great Powers of recent years go far towards +clearing the way for so desirable a consummation. Unfortunately, too, +it is in the very process of finding bases for such agreements that +international jealousies and misunderstandings arise; and hence in +securing peace, governments and peoples are at all times nowadays most +in jeopardy of war. This consideration alone might very well be used +to justify nations in keeping their military and naval forces strong +and ready. Perhaps some day such forms of force will not be wanted, +though admittedly the great majority of people still refuse to believe +that the changes which have occurred have altered the fundamental +attitude of countries to each other, and remain firmly convinced that +to-day, as yesterday and the day before, great nations are moved by an +irresistible desire to add to their territories and in every way +aggrandize themselves, by diplomacy if possible, and if diplomacy +fails, by force. + +It is, of course, impossible to say with certainty what the real +designs of the Emperor and his Government in this regard were during +the Morocco episode, or are now. Some believe that their designs have +always aimed, and still aim, at depriving Great Britain of her +position of superiority in respect of territory, maritime dominion, +and trade. Others hold that they seek and will have, _coûte que +coûte_, new territory for Germany's increasing population, and look +with greedy eyes towards South America and even Holland. Others yet +again represent them as incessantly on the watch to seize a harbour +here or there as a coaling station for warships and a basis of attack. +But an unbiased survey of the annals of the Emperor's reign hitherto +does not bear out any of these assertions. A policy of territorial +expansion as such, mere earth-hunger, cannot be proved against him. +Prince Bismarck was no colonial enthusiast, though he passes for being +the founder of Germany's present colonial policy; and even to-day +the colonial party in Germany, though a very noisy, is not a very +large or influential one. Samoa--East Africa--Kiao-tschau--the +Carolines--Heligoland--the Cameroons: how can the acquisition of +comparatively insignificant and unprofitable places like these be used +for proving that the might of Germany is or has been directed towards +territorial conquest? + +What, it may however be asked, of the Morocco adventure? Of the speech +at Tangier? Of the sending of the _Panther_ to Agadir? Of the demand +for compensation in Central Africa? Until the Morocco question arose, +all the quarrels amongst the Powers regarding territory were caused by +the territorial ambition of France, or Russia, or Italy--not of +Germany; and it was not until France showed openly, by sending her +troops to Fez, and thus ignoring the Act of Algeciras, that Germany +put forward claims for territorial compensation in connection with +Morocco. The visit of the Emperor to Tangier in 1905, a year after the +Anglo-French Agreement, was doubtless an unpleasant surprise for both +England and France. And not without good cause; for England and France +are naturally and historically Mediterranean Powers--the one as +guardian of the route to her Eastern possessions, the other as the +owners of a large extent of Mediterranean coast; while England, in +addition, was justified in seeing with uneasiness the possibility of a +German settlement at Tangier or elsewhere on the Morocco seaboard. But +the Tangier visit and all that followed it was the consequence, not of +an adventurous policy of territorial conquest, but of a legitimate, +and not wholly selfish, desire for economic expansion. + +Taken, then, as a whole, the Emperor's foreign policy has been, as it +is to-day, almost entirely economic and commercial. The same might, no +doubt, be said in a general way of all civilized Occidental +governments, but there never has yet been a country of which the +foreign policy was so completely directed by the economic and +mercantile spirit as modern Germany. The foreign policy of England has +also been commercial, but it has been influenced at times by noble +sentiment and splendid imagination as well. The first question the +German statesman, in whose vocabulary of state-craft the word +imagination does not occur, asks himself and other nations when any +event happens abroad to demand imperial attention is--how does it +affect Germany's economic and commercial interests, future as well as +present? What is Germany going to get out of it? The manner in which +on various occasions during the reign the question has been propounded +has excited criticism bordering on indignation abroad, but it should +be recognized that it has invariably been answered in the long run by +Germany in the spirit of compromise and conciliation. + +However, all civilized nations nowadays see that war is the least +satisfactory method of adjusting national quarrels, and the tendency +is happily growing among them to pursue a commercial, an economic +policy, a policy of peace. This is true Weltpolitik, true +world-policy. Time was when wars were the unavoidable result of +conditions then prevailing; but conditions have greatly altered, and +war, as there is abundant evidence to show, is to-day, in almost every +case, avoidable by all civilized peoples. Formerly war deranged and +disturbed at any rate for the time being, the commerce and industries +of the countries engaged in it; to-day, as Mr. Norman Angell +demonstrates, it deranges and disturbs commerce and industry all over +the world. The derangement and disturbance may, it is true, be only +temporary; but there is, as always, the loss of life among the youth +of the countries engaged in war to be remembered. Granted that it is +pleasant and honourable to die for one's country. Let us hope the time +is coming when it will be equally pleasant and honourable to live for +it. + +We have done with Morocco, but to round off the record for 1905 +mention should be made of an incident in the Emperor's life which was +a source of great pleasure to him after his return from his journey +thither. The marriage of his eldest son, the Crown Prince, took place +in the Chapel Royal of the Berlin palace on June 15, 1905, to the +young Duchess Cecile of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whose character has been +alluded to elsewhere and whom all Germans look forward with pleasure +to seeing one day their Empress. The marriage naturally was attended +by rejoicings in Berlin similar to those shown when the Emperor was +married in 1881. Their chief popular feature, now as then, was the +formal entry into the capital, and its chief domestic feature a grand +wedding breakfast at the Emperor's palace. On the occasion of the +latter, the Emperor, rising from his seat and using the familiar _Du_ +and _Dich_ (thou and thee), addressed his newly-made daughter-in-law +as follows:-- + + "My dear daughter Cecilie,--Let me, on behalf of my wife and + my whole House, heartily welcome you as a member of my House + and my family circle. You have come to us like a Queen of + Spring amid roses and garlands, and under endless + acclamations of the people such as my Residence city has not + known for long. A circle of noble guests has assembled to + celebrate this high and joyful festival with us, but not + only those present, but also those who are, alas, no more, + are with us in spirit: your illustrious father and my + parents. + + "A hundred thousand beaming faces have enthusiastically + greeted you; they have, however, not merely shone with + pleasure, but whoever can look deeper into the heart of man + could have seen in their eyes the question--a question which + can only be answered by your whole life and conduct, the + question, How will it turn out? + + "You and your husband are about to found a home together. + The people has its examples in the past to live up to. The + examples which have preceded you, dear Cecilie, have been + already eloquently mentioned--Queen Louise and other + Princesses who have sat on the Prussian throne. They are the + standards according to which the people will judge your + life, while you, my dear son, will be judged according to + the standard Providence set up in your illustrious + great-grandfather. + + "You, my daughter, have been received by us with open arms + and will be honoured and cherished. To both of you I wish + from my heart God's richest blessings. Let your home be + founded on God and our Saviour. As He is the most impressive + personality which has left its illuminating traces on the + earth up to the present time, which finds an echo in the + hearts of mankind and impels them to imitate it, so may your + career imitate His, and thus will you also fulfil the laws + and follow the traditions of our House. + + "May your home be a happy one and an example for the younger + generation, in accordance with the fine sentence which William + the Great once wrote down as his confession of faith; 'My powers + belong to the world and my country.' Accept my blessing for your + lives. I drink to the health of the young married couple." + +The record of this memorable year may be closed with mention of an +institution which is not only a special care of the Emperor's, but is +also a landmark in the relation of Germany and America which may prove +to be the forerunner, if it has not already done so, of similar +interchange of ideas and information between nations which only +require mutually to understand each other in order to be the best of +friends. + +The system of an annual exchange of professors between America and +Germany was suggested, it is believed, to the Emperor in this year by +Herr Althoff, the Prussian Minister of Education. The Emperor took up +the idea with enthusiasm, and after discussing it with Dr. Nicholas +Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, who was invited to +Wilhelmshohe for the purpose, had it finally elaborated by the +Prussian Ministry of Education which now superintends its working. + +The original idea of an exchange only between Harvard and Berlin +University professors was, thanks to the liberality of an American +citizen, Mr. Speyer, extended almost simultaneously by the +establishment of what are known as "Roosevelt" professorships. The +holders of these positions, unlike the original "exchange" professors +between Harvard and Berlin only, may be chosen by the trustees of +Columbia University from any American university and can exchange +duties for two terms, instead of one in the place of the exchange +professors, with the professors of any German University. Harvard +professors have been succesively: Francis G. Peabody, Theodore W. +Richards, William H. Scofield, William M. Davis, George F. Moore, H. +Munsterberg, Theobald Smith, Charles S. Minog; and Roosevelt +professors: J.W. Burgess, Arthur T. Hadley, Felix Adler, Benj. Ide +Wheeler, C. Alphonso Smith, Paul S. Reinsch, and William H. Sloane. + +Writing to the German Ambassador in Washington, Baron Speck von +Sternburg, in November, 1905, the Emperor said: + + "Express my fullest sympathy with the movement regarding the + exchange of professors. We are very well satisfied with + Professor Peabody, the first exchange professor, and + thankful to have him. He comes to me in my house, an + honourable and welcome guest. My hearty thanks also to Mr. + Speyer, for his fine gift for the erection of a + professorship in Berlin. The exchange of the learned is the + best means for both nations to know the inner nature of each + other, and from thence spring mutual respect and love, which + are securities for peace." + +The idea of the exchange, as described by Professor John W. Burgess, +of Columbia University, the first Roosevelt professor to Germany, is + + "an exchange of educators which has for its purpose the + bringing of the men of learning of one country into other + countries and by a comparison of fundamental ideas to arrive + at a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which the + world's peace and the world's civilization may finally and + firmly rest." + +The conception of a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which +the world's peace and civilization may rest is not new, being now a +little over 1900 years old, and, moreover, educators and men of +science in all countries are constantly exchanging ideas by personal +visits, correspondence, and publications; but in any case, the +Emperor's exchange system has the advantage that it brings the +educators into touch with large numbers of the rising generation in +America and Germany and undoubtedly helps towards a better mutual +understanding of the relations, and in especial the economic +relations, of the two countries. + +It has worked well, and the Emperor has encouraged it by showing +constant hospitality to the American professors who have come to +Berlin since the system was instituted. One or two episodes have given +rise to a diplomatic question as to whether or not exchange professors +and their wives have the privilege of being presented at Court. The +question has practically been decided in the negative. This, however, +does not prevent the Emperor entertaining the professors at his +palace, or making the acquaintance of the professors' wives on other +than Court ceremonious occasions. + + + + +XIII. + + + +BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM" + + + +1906-1907 + +In the domestic life of the Emperor during these years fall two or +three events of more than ordinary interest. From the dynastic point +of view was of importance the birth of a son and heir to the Crown +Prince in the Marble Palace at Potsdam. + +The Emperor was at sea, on his annual northern trip, when the birth +occurred. As the ship approached Bergen the town was seen to be gaily +decorated with flags. As it happened, everybody on board knew of the +birth except the Emperor, but none of the officers round him ventured +to congratulate him, because they supposed he knew of it already and +were waiting for him to refer to it. At Bergen the German Minister, +Stuebel, and German Consul, Mohr, came on board. The Minister, being a +diplomatist, said nothing, but the Consul, as Consuls will, spoke his +mind and ventured his congratulations. "What? I am a grandfather!" +exclaimed the Emperor. "Why, that's splendid! and I knew nothing about +it!" The captain of the ship then asked should he fire the salute of +twenty-one guns usual on such occasions. "No," said the Emperor, "that +won't do. Mohr is a great talker. Let us first see the official +despatches from Berlin." The party, including the Emperor, went down +into the cabin to await the despatches, which were being brought from +Bergen. + +On their arrival a basketful of State papers was placed before the +Emperor. The first one he took out was a telegram from the Sultan of +Turkey with congratulations (great merriment); the second from an +unknown lady in Berlin, with a name corresponding to the English +"Brown," with four lines of congratulatory poetry; and it was not +until more than a hundred despatches had been opened that they came to +one from the Minister of the Interior and another from the Empress +announcing the birth. Popular reports at the time represented the +Emperor as boiling over with anger at his being kept or left in +ignorance of the happy event. As a matter of fact, he was in high +good-humour, and himself mentioned a similar occurrence at Metz in +1870, when an important movement of the French army was not reported +because it was assumed that it was already known to the Intelligence +Department. As a public sign of his satisfaction he amnestied the +half-dozen of his subjects who happened to be in gaol as punishment +for _lèse majesté_. + +Another domestic event at this time was the celebration by the Emperor +and Empress of their silver wedding. Berlin, of course, was +illuminated and beflagged. There was a great gathering of royal +relatives, a State banquet, and a special parade of troops. At the +latter were remarkable for their huge proportions two former +grenadiers of the regiment of Guards the Emperor commanded in his +youth. They were now settled in America, but came over to Germany on +the Emperor's particular invitation and, of course, at his private +expense. + +The last item of domestic interest this year (1906) worth record was +the marriage of Prince Eitel Frederick, the Emperor's second son, with +Princess Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg. In his speech to the bridal +pair on their wedding-day the Emperor referred to the personal +likeness the young Prince bore to his great-grandfather, Emperor +William, and expressed the hope that the Prince might grow more like +him in character from year to year. + +Meantime the Emperor had to pass through a season of great annoyance +owing to the scandal which arose in connection with the so-called +"Camarilla." The existence of a small and secret group of viciously +minded men among the Emperor's entourage was disclosed to the public +by the well-known pamphleteer, Maximilian Harden, a Jew by birth named +Witowski, who as a younger man had been on semi-confidential terms +with Prince Bismarck and subsequently with Foreign Secretary von +Holstein. As a result of Harden's disclosures some highly placed +friends of the Emperor were compromised and had ultimately to +disappear from public life as well as from the Court. It was perfectly +evident throughout that the Emperor had been totally ignorant of the +private character of the men forming the "Camarilla," and nothing was +proved to show that the group which formed it had ever unduly, or +indeed in any fashion, influenced him. + +An allusion made to the scandal by a deputy in the Reichstag brought +the Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, to his feet in defence of the +monarch. "The view," he said, + + "that the monarch in Germany should not have his own + opinions as to State and Government, and should only think + what his Ministers desire him to think, is contrary to + German State law and contrary to the will of the German + people" + +("Quite right," on the Right). "The German people," continued the +Chancellor, + + "want no shadow-king, but an Emperor of flesh and blood. The + conduct and statements of a strong personality like the + Emperor's are not tantamount to a breach of the + Constitution. Can you tell me a single case in which the + Emperor has acted contrary to the Constitution?" + +The Chancellor concluded: + + "As to a Camarilla--Camarilla is no German word. It is a + hateful, foreign, poisonous plant which no one has ever + tried to introduce into Germany without doing great injury + to the people and to the Prince. Our Emperor is a man of far + too upright a character and much too clear-headed to seek + counsel in political things from any other quarter than his + appointed advisers and his own sense of duty." + +The Camarilla scandal was all the more painful as it was made a ground +for insinuations disgraceful to German officers as a body. Such +insinuations were, as they would be to-day, entirely unfounded. + +Another thing that annoyed the Emperor this year was the publication +of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs. The publication drew from +him a telegram to a son of the ex-Chancellor in which he expressed his +"astonishment and indignation" at the publication of confidential +private conversations between him and Prince Hohenlohe regarding +Prince Bismarck's dismissal. "I must stigmatize," the Emperor +telegraphed, + + "such conduct as in the last degree tactless, indiscreet, + and entirely inopportune. It is a thing unheard-of that + occurrences relating to a sovereign reigning at the time + should be published without his permission." + +Germans as a people are passionately fond of dancing, and though +everybody knows that the people of Vienna bear away the palm in this +respect, claim to be the best waltzers in the world. The Emperor, +accordingly, won great popularity among the dancers of his realm this +year by lending a favourable ear to the sighing of the young ladies of +the provincial town of Crefeld for a regiment which would provide them +with a supply of dancing partners. The Emperor took occasion to visit +the town, and brought with him a regiment of the Guards from +Düsseldorf to form part of the new garrison. He was received by the +city authorities, and was at the same time, doubtless, greeted from +balcony and window by multitudes of fair-haired Crefeld maidens, who +looked with delightful anticipations on the gallant soldiers, who were +to relieve the tedium of their evenings, riding by. "To-day," the +Emperor told the assembled city fathers, "I have kept my word to the +town of Crefeld, and when I make a promise I keep it too (stormy +applause). I have brought the town its garrison and the young ladies +their dancers." The "stormy applause" was again renewed--amid, one may +imagine, the enthusiastic waving of pocket-handkerchiefs from the +windows and the balconies. + +The salient feature of foreign politics just now was, naturally, the +close on March 31st of the Conference of Algeciras. Its results have +been referred to in the chapter on Morocco, and mention need only be +made here of the famous telegram regarding it sent by the Emperor on +April 12th of this year (1906) to the Foreign Minister of Austria, +Count Goluchowski. "A capital example of good faith among allies!" he +telegraphed to the Count, meaning Austria's support of Germany at +Algeciras. "You showed yourself a brilliant second in the tourney, and +can reckon on the like service from me on a similar occasion." + +Internal affairs, and particularly the parliamentary situation in +Germany, had during the three or four years before that of the +"November Storm" demanded a good deal of the Emperor's attention. The +everlasting fight with the rebel angels of the Hohenzollern heaven, +the Social Democracy, had been going on all through the reign. Now the +Emperor would fulminate against it, now his Chancellor, Prince von +Bülow, would attack it with brilliant ability and sarcasm in +Parliament. Still the Social Democratic movement grew, still the +_Vorwärts_, the party organ, continued to rail at industrial +capitalists and the large landowners alike, still Herr Lucifer-Bebel +bitterly assailed every measure of the Government. The fact seems to +be that the people were getting restive under the imperial burdens the +Emperor's world-policy entailed. The cost of living, partly as a +result of the new German tariff, with maximum and minimum duties, +which now replaced the Caprivi commercial treaties, was steadily +rising. The Morocco episode had ended without territorial gain, if +with no loss of national honour or prestige. The Poles were +antagonized afresh by a stricter application of the Settlement Law for +Germanizing Prussian Poland. Colonial troubles in South-west Africa +with Herero and other recalcitrant tribes were making heavy demands on +the Treasury. + +The parliamentary situation was, as usual, at the mercy of the Centrum +party, which, with its hundred or more members, can always make a +majority by combining with Liberal parties of the Left (including the +Socialists) or Conservative parties of the Right. In December, 1906, +when the Budget was laid before Parliament, it was found to contain a +demand for about £1,500,000 for the troops in South-west Africa. The +Centrum refused to grant more than £1,000,000, and required, moreover, +an undertaking that the number of troops in the colony should be +reduced. The Social Democrats, with a number of Progressives and other +Left parties sufficient to form a majority, joined the Centrum, and +the Government demand was rejected by 177 to 168 votes. On the result +of the voting being declared, Chancellor von Bülow solemnly rose and +drew a paper from his pocket. It was an order from the Emperor +dissolving Parliament. + +The general elections were to be held in January following, and great +efforts were made by the Emperor and Chancellor to secure a Government +majority against the combined Centrists and Socialists. The country +was appealed to to say whether Germany should lose her African +colonies or not; a patriotic response was made, and, though the +Centrum, as always, came back to Parliament in undiminished strength, +the Socialists lost one-half of their eighty seats. + +The Emperor, needless to say, was tremendously gratified. On the night +the final results were announced he gave a large dinner-party at the +Palace, and read out to the Royal Family and his guests the bulletins +as they came in. Towards one o'clock in the morning the official +totals were known. The streets were knee-deep in snow, but the people +were not deterred from making a demonstration in their thousands +before the palace. By and by lights were seen moving hurriedly to and +fro along the first floor containing the Emperor's apartments. A +general illumination of the suite of rooms followed, a window was +thrown up, and the Emperor, bare-headed, was seen in the opening. +Instantly complete stillness fell on the vast square, and the Emperor, +leaning far out over the balcony, and evidently much excited, spoke in +stentorian tones and with a dramatic waving of his right arm as +follows: "Gentlemen!"--the "gentlemen" included half the hooligans of +Berlin, but such are the accidents of political life-- + + "Gentlemen! This fine ovation springs from the feeling that + you are proud of having done your duty by your country. In + the words of our great Chancellor (Bismarck), who said that + if the Germans were once put in the saddle they would soon + learn to ride, you can ride and you will ride, and ride + down, any one who opposes us, especially when all classes + and creeds stand fast together. Do not let this hour of + triumph pass as a moment of patriotic enthusiasm, but keep + to the road on which you have started." + +The speech closed with a verse from Kleist's "Prince von Homburg," a +favourite monarchist drama of the Emperor's, conveying the idea that +good Hohenzollern rule had knocked bad Social-Democratic agitation +into a cocked hat. + +The result of the elections enabled the Chancellor to form a new +"bloc" party in Parliament, consisting of conservatives and Liberals, +on whose united aid he could rely in promoting national measures. As +the Chancellor said, he did not expect Conservatives to turn into +Liberals and Liberals into Conservatives overnight nor did he expect +the two parties to vote solid on matters of secondary interest and +importance; but he expected them to support the Government on +questions that concerned the welfare of the whole Empire. + +Before 1907, the year we have now reached, Franco-German and +Anglo-German relations had long varied from cool to stormy. They had +not for many years been at "set-fair," nor have they apparently +reached that halcyon stage as yet. During the Moroccan troubles it was +generally believed that on two or three occasions war was imminent +either between France and Germany or between Germany and England. That +there was such a danger at the time of M. Delcassé's retirement from +the conduct of French foreign affairs just previous to the Algeciras +Conference is a matter of general conviction in all countries; but +there is no publicly known evidence that danger of war between England +and Germany has been acute at any time of recent years. Nor at any +time of recent years has the bulk of the people in either country +really desired or intended war. There has been international +exasperation, sometimes amounting to hostility, continuously; but it +was largely due to Chauvinism on both sides, and was in great measure +counteracted by the efforts of public-spirited bodies and men in both +countries, by international visits of amity and goodwill, and by the +determination of both the English and German Governments not to go to +war without good and sufficient cause. + +Among the most striking testimonies to this determination was the +visit of the Emperor to England in November, 1907. + +The visit was made expressly an affair of State. The Emperor was +accompanied by the Empress, and the visit became a pageant and a +demonstration--a pageant in respect of the national honours paid to +the imperial guests and a demonstration of national regard and respect +for them as friends of England. Nothing could have been simpler, or +more tactful or more sincere than the utterances, private as well as +public, of the Emperor throughout his stay. His very first speech, the +few words he addressed to the Mayor of Windsor, displayed all three +qualities. "It seems to me," he said, "like a home-coming when I enter +Windsor. I am always pleased to be here." At the Guildhall +subsequently, referring to the two nations, he used, and not for the +first time, the phrase "Blood is thicker than water." + +At the Guildhall, on this occasion, the Emperor reminded his hearers +that he was a freeman of the City of London, having been the recipient +of that honour from the hands of Lord Mayor Sir Joseph Savory on his +accession visit to London in 1891. He then referred to the visit of +the Lord Mayor, Sir William Treloar, to Berlin the year previous, and +promised a similar hearty welcome to any deputation from the City of +London to his capital. "In this place sixteen years ago," continued +the Emperor, + + "I said that all my efforts would be directed to the + preservation of peace. History will do me the justice of + recognizing that I have unfalteringly pursued this aim. The + main support, however, and the foundation of the world's + peace is the maintenance of good relations between our two + countries. I will, in future also, do all I can to + strengthen them, and the wishes of my people are at one with + my own in this." + +The procession that followed upon the visit to the Guildhall made a +special impression on the Emperor. "I was so close to the people," he +said afterwards, + + "who were assembled in hundreds of thousands, that I could + look straight into their eyes, and from the expression on + their faces I could see that their reception of the Empress + and myself was no artificial welcome but an out-and-out + sincere one. That stirred us deeply and gave us great + satisfaction. The Empress and I will take back with us + recollections of London and England we shall never forget." + +While at Windsor the Emperor received a deputation of sixteen members +of Oxford University, headed by Lord Curzon, who came to present him +with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws voted him by the University +while he was still on his way to England. It was a picturesque scene: +the members of the University in their academic robes were surrounded +by a brilliant company representing the intellect of the country; and +the Emperor, with the doctor's hood over his field-marshal's uniform, +was the cynosure of all eyes. + +The Emperor's reply to Lord Curzon's address, highly complimentary to +the University though it was, was perhaps chiefly remarkable for the +expression of his expectations from the Rhodes' Scholarship +foundation. "The gift of your great fellow-countryman, Cecil Rhodes," +he said, + + "affords an opportunity to students, not only from the + British colonies, but also from Germany and the United + States, to obtain the benefits of an Oxford education. The + opportunity afforded to young Germans during their period of + study to mix with young Englishmen is one of the most + satisfactory results of Rhodes's far-seeing mind. Under the + auspices of the Oxford _alma mater_, the young students will + have an opportunity of studying the character and qualities + of the respective nations, of fostering by this means the + spirit of good comradeship, and creating an atmosphere of + mutual respect and friendship between the two countries." + +The Emperor had always admired the Colossus of South Africa, +discerning in him no doubt many of those attributes which he felt +existed in himself or which he would like to think existed; and the +admiration stood the test of personal acquaintance when Cecil Rhodes +visited Berlin in March, 1899, in connexion with his scheme for the +Cape to Cairo railway. It does not sound very complimentary to his own +subjects, the "salt of the earth," but it is on record that the +Emperor then said to Rhodes that he wished "he had more men like him." +At the close of the visit the Empress returned to Germany, while the +Emperor took a much needed rest-cure for three weeks at Highcliffe +Castle, a country mansion in Hampshire he rented for the purpose from +its owner, Colonel Stuart-Wortley. + +In the course of this work, it may have been noticed, no particular +attention has been devoted to the Emperor in his military capacity. +The reason is, because it is taken for granted that all the world +knows the Emperor in his character as War Lord, that he is practically +never out of uniform, and that his care for the army is only +second--if it is second--to that for the stability and power of his +monarchy. The two things in fact are closely identified, and, from the +Emperor's standpoint, on both together depend the security, and to a +large extent the prosperity, of the Empire. He knows or believes that +Germany is surrounded by hordes of potential enemies, as a lighthouse +is often surrounded by an ocean that, while treacherously calm, may at +any time rage about the edifice; that round the lighthouse are +gathered his folk, who look to it for safety; and that the monarchy is +the lighthouse itself, a _rocher de bronze_, towering above all. + +In this connexion it may be noted that the army in Germany is not a +mercenary body like the English army, but is simply and solely a +certain portion of the people, naturally the younger men, passing for +two or three years, according as they serve in the infantry or +cavalry, through the ranks. The system of recruiting, as everybody +knows, is called conscription; it ought rather to be described as a +system of national education, whereby the rude and raw youth of the +country is converted into an admirable class of well-disciplined, +self-respecting and healthy, as well as patriotic, citizens. The +Emperor believes, contrary to the opinion of many English army +officers, that a man to be a good soldier must also be a good +Christian, and thus we find him enforcing, or trying to enforce, among +his officers the moral qualities which Christianity is meant to +foster. + +Among these qualities is simplicity of life, and as a result of +simplicity of life, contentment with simple and not too costly +pleasures. We saw the Emperor as a young colonel forbidding his +officers to join a Berlin club where gambling was prevalent. This +year, after a luxurious lunch at one of the regimental messes, he +issues an order, or rather an edict, expressing his wish that officers +in their messes should content themselves with simpler food and wines, +and in particular that when he himself is a guest, the meal should +consist only of soup, fish, vegetables, a roast and cheese. Ordinary +red or white table-wine, a glass of "bowl" ("cup"), or German +champagne should be handed round. Liqueurs, or other forms of what the +French know as "chasse-café," after dinner were best avoided. The +edict of course caused amusement as well as a certain amount of +discontent with what was felt to be a kind of objectionable paternal +interference, and it is doubtful whether it has had much lasting +effect. Even now, the German officer laughingly tells one that when +the Emperor dines at an officers' mess either French champagne (which +is infinitely superior to German) is poured into German champagne +bottles, or else the French label is carefully shrouded in a napkin +that swathes the bottle up to the neck. Apropos of German champagne, a +story is current that Bismarck, one day dining at the palace, refused +the German champagne being handed round. The Emperor noticed the +refusal and said pointedly to Bismarck: "I always drink German +champagne, because I think it right to encourage our national +industries. Every patriot should do so." "Your Majesty," replied the +grim old Chancellor, "my patriotism does not extend to my stomach." + +In the domain of æsthetics this year the Emperor had some pleasant and +some painful experiences. Joachim, the great violinist, and a great +favourite of his, died in August, and his death was followed next +month, September, by that of the composer Grieg, the "Chopin of the +North," as the Emperor called him, whose friendship the Emperor had +acquired on one of his Norwegian trips. Quite at the end of the year +his early tutor, Dr. Hinzpeter, for whom he always had a semi-filial +regard, passed away. + +On the other hand, among the Emperor's pleasant experiences may be +reckoned the visit of Mr. Beerbohm Tree and his English company to the +German capital. Their repertory of Shakespearean drama greatly +delighted the Emperor, who expressed his pleasure to Mr. Tree and his +fellow-players personally, and did not dismiss them without +substantial tokens of his appreciation. + +Earlier in the year the French actress, Suzanne Deprès, visited Berlin +and appealed strongly to the Emperor's taste for the "classical" in +music and drama. Inviting the actress to the royal box, he said to +her: + + "You have shown us such a natural, living Phædra that we + were all strongly moved. How fine a part it is! As a + youngster I used to learn verses from 'Phædra' by heart. I + am told that in France devotion to classical tradition is + growing weaker, and that Molière and Racine are more and + more seldom played. What a pity! Our people, on the + contrary, remain faithful to their great poets and enjoy + their works. After school comes college, and after + college--the theatre. It should elevate and expand the soul. + The people do not need any representation of reality--they + are well acquainted with that in their daily lives. One must + put something greater and nobler before them, something + superior to 'La Dame aux Camélias.'" + +A month later, however, he made one of his extremely rare visits to an +ordinary Berlin theatre to see--"The Hound of the Baskervilles"! + +Meanwhile in domestic politics Chancellor von Bülow's famous "bloc" +continued to work satisfactorily, notwithstanding difficulties arising +from the conflicting interests of industry and agriculture, Free Trade +and Protection and differences of creed and race. At the end of this +year it was near falling asunder in connection with the question of +judicial reform, but Prince von Bülow kept it together for a while by +an impassioned appeal to the patriotism of both parties. In the course +of the speech he told the House how, when he was standing at +Bismarck's death-bed, he noticed on the wall the portrait of a man, +Ludwig Uhland, who had said "no head could rule over Germany that was +not well anointed with democratic oil," and drew the conclusion from +the contrast between the dying man of action and the poet that only +the union of old Prussian conservative energy and discipline with +German broad-hearted, liberal spirit could secure a happy future for +the nation. The "bloc," as we shall see, broke up in 1909 and Prince +von Bülow resigned. The Chancellor afterwards attributed his fall +entirely to the Conservatives, but it is possible, even probable, that +it was in at least some measure due to the events of the _annus +mirabilis_, 1908, which now opened. + + + + +XIV + + + +THE NOVEMBER STORM + + + +1908 + +The "November Storm" was a collision between the Emperor and his folk, +a result of his so-called "personal regiment." + +In a general way the latter phrase is intended to describe and +characterize the method of rule adopted by the Emperor from the very +beginning of his reign, especially as exhibited in his semi-official +utterances, public and private, in his correspondence, private +conversation, and public and private conduct generally. According to +the popular interpretation of the Imperial Constitution--the nearest +thing to a Magna Charta in Germany--the Emperor should observe, in his +words and acts, a reserve which would prevent all chance of creating +dissension among the federated States and in particular would secure +the avoidance of anything which might disturb Germany's relations to +foreign countries or interfere with the course of Germany's foreign +policy as carried on through the regular official channel, the Foreign +Office. The ground for this popular interpretation is a constitutional +device which to an Englishman, if it be not offensive to say so, can +only recall the well-known definition of a metaphysician as "a blind +man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat, _which is not there_." + +The device is known as the Chancellor's "responsibility," which was +regarded, and is still regarded in Germany, as at once "covering" the +Emperor and offering to his folk a safeguard against unwisdom or +caprice on his part. The nature of this responsibility which is +evidenced by the Chancellor signing the Emperor's edicts and other +official statements, is so frequently discussed by German politicians, +the position of the Chancellor--the Grand Vizier of Germany he has +been picturesquely called--is so influential, and the intercourse +between the Emperor and the Chancellor is so close, exclusive, and +confidential, that an examination of the meaning of the term +"responsibility" in this connexion is desirable. + +Whenever the Emperor does anything important or surprising, especially +in foreign policy, the first question asked by his subjects is, has he +taken the step with the knowledge, and therefore with the joint +responsibility, of the Chancellor? If the answer is in the negative, +it is the "personal regiment" again, and people are angry: if the +latter, they may disapprove of the step and grumble at it, but it is +covered by the Chancellor's signature and they can raise no +constitutional objection. Hence the demand usually made on such +occasions for an Act of Parliament once for all defining fully and +clearly the Chancellor's responsibilities. According to Prince von +Bülow, and it is doubtless the Emperor's own view, the responsibility +mentioned in the Constitution is a "moral responsibility," and only +refers to such acts and orders of the Emperor as immediately arise out +of the governing rights vested in him, not to personal expressions of +opinion, even though these may be made on formal occasions; and the +Prince goes on to say that if a Chancellor cannot prevent what he +honestly thinks would permanently and in an important respect be +injurious to the Empire, he is bound to resign. + +The Chancellor, then, takes responsibility of some kind. But +responsibility to whom? To the Emperor? To the Parliament? To the +people? The answer is, solely to the Emperor, for it is the Emperor +who appoints and dismisses him as well as every other Minister, +imperial or Prussian, and the Emperor is only responsible to his +conscience. In parliamentarily ruled countries like England Ministers +are responsible to Parliament, which expresses its disapproval by the +vote of a hostile majority, or in certain circumstances by a vote of +censure or even impeachment. In Germany, where the parliamentary +system of government does not exist, and where there is no upsetting +Ministries by a hostile majority, and no parliamentary vote of censure +or impeachment, no Minister, including the Chancellor, is responsible, +in the English sense of the word, to Parliament; accordingly, a German +Chancellor may continue in office in spite of Parliament, provided of +course the Emperor supports him. At the same time the Chancellor +to-day is to some indefinable extent responsible to Parliament, and +therefore to the people, in so far as they are represented by it, for +he must keep on tolerable terms with Parliament as well as with the +Emperor, or he will have to give up office. How he is to keep on terms +with a Parliament consisting of half a dozen powerful parties and as +many more smaller fractions and factions is probably the part of his +duties that gives him most trouble and at times, doubtless, very +disagreeably interferes with the placidity of his slumbers. + +There is no struggle for government in Germany between the Crown and +the people: Germans have no ancient Magna Charta, no Habeas Corpus, no +Declaration of Rights to look back to on the long road to liberty. In +the protracted struggle for government between the English people and +their rulers, the people's victory took the form of parliamentary +control while retaining the monarch as their highest and most honoured +representative. Socially he is their master, politically their +servant, the "first servant of the State." In Germany there has never, +save for a few months in 1848, been any struggle of a similar +political extent or kind. German monarchs including the Emperor, have +applied the expression "first servant of the State" to themselves, but +they did not apply it in the English sense. They applied it more +accurately. In Germany the State means the system, the mechanism of +government, inclusive of the monarch's office: in England the word +"State" is more nearly equivalent to the word "people." To serve the +system, the government machinery, is the first duty of the monarch, +and government is not a changing reflection of the people's will, but +a permanent apparatus for maintaining the power of the Crown, +harmonizing and reconciling the sentiments and interests of all parts +of the Empire, and for conducting foreign policy. + +It may be objected that legislation is made by the Reichstag, that the +Reichstag has the power of the purse, and that it is elected by +universal suffrage; but in Germany the Government is above and +independent of the Reichstag; legislation is not made by the Reichstag +alone, since it requires the agreement of the Federal Council and of +the Emperor, and--what is of great practical importance--Government +issues directions as to how legislation shall be carried into effect. +The law of 1872 passed against the Jesuits forbade the "activity" of +the Order, but the interpretation of the word "activity," and with it +the effects of the law, were left to the Government. + +Kings of Prussia and German Emperors have never shown much affection +for their Parliaments: Parliaments are apt to act as a check upon +monarchy, and in Prussia in particular to interfere with the carrying +out of the divinely imposed mission. This is not said sarcastically; +and the Emperor, like some of his ancestors, has more than once +expressed the same thought. Parliaments in Germany only date from +after the French Revolution. After that event there came into +existence in Germany the Frankfurt Parliament (1848), the Erfurt +Parliament (1850), and the Parliament of the German Customs Union +(1867). These, however, were not popularly elected Parliaments like +those of the present day, but gatherings of class delegates from the +various Kingdoms and States composing the Germany and Austria of the +time. Since the Middle Ages there had always been quasi-popular +assemblies in Prussia, but they too were not elected, and only +represented classes, not constituencies. The present Parliaments in +Prussia and the Empire are Constitutional Parliaments in the English +sense, elected by universal suffrage, the one indirectly, the other +directly. + +The present Prussian Diet dates from the "First Unified Diet," +summoned by Frederick William IV in 1847, which was transformed next +year under pressure of the revolutionists into a "national assembly." +This was treated a year after by General Wrangel almost exactly as +Cromwell treated the Rump. The General entered Berlin with the troops +which a few weeks before had fought against the revolutionists of the +"March days." He passed along the Linden to the royal theatre, where +the "national assembly" was in session, and was met at the door by the +leader of the citizens' guard with the proud words, "The guard is +resolved to protect the honour of the National Assembly and the +freedom of the people, and will only yield to force." + +Wrangel took out his watch--one can imagine the old silver +"turnip"--and with his thumb on the dial replied: + + "Tell your city guard that the force is here. I will be + responsible for the maintenance of order. The National + Assembly has fifteen minutes in which to leave the building + and the city guard in which to withdraw." + +In a quarter of an hour the building was empty, and next day the city +guard was dissolved. A month later the King, Frederick William IV, +granted his _octroyierte_ Constitution--that is, a concession of his +own royal personal will--which established the Diet as it is to-day. + +Emperor William I, as King of Prussia, had a good deal of trouble with +his Parliament, and in 1852 wanted to abdicate rather than rule in +obedience to a parliamentary majority--it was the "conflict time" +about funds for army reorganization. Bismarck dissuaded him from doing +so by promising to become Minister and carry on the government, if +need were, without a parliament and without a budget. He actually did +so for some years, but there was no change in the Constitution as a +result. + +Nor has there been any constitutional change in the relations of Crown +to Parliament during the present reign. As a young man, the Emperor +had of course nothing to do with Parliament, Prussian or Imperial, and +since his accession, though there is always latent antagonism and has +been even friction at times, he has, generally speaking, lived on +"correct," if not friendly terms with it. There is little, if any, of +the devoted affection one finds for the monarch in the English +Parliament. + +And not unnaturally. Early in his reign, in 1891, he made a reference +to Parliament little calculated to evoke affection. "The soldier and +the army," he said to his generals at a banquet in the palace, "not +parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded together the +German Empire. My confidence is in the army--as my grandfather said at +Coblenz: 'These are the gentlemen on whom I can rely.'" Again, a year +or two afterwards he dissolved the Reichstag for refusing to accept a +military bill and did not conceal his anger with the recalcitrant +majority. In 1895 he telegraphed to Bismarck his indignation with the +Reichstag for refusing to vote its congratulations on the old +statesman's eightieth birthday. In 1897, speaking of the kingship "von +Gottes Gnaden" he took occasion to quote his grandfather's declaration +that "it was a kingship with onerous duties from which no man, no +Minister, no Parliament, no people" could release the Prince. In 1903 +his Chancellor, Prince Bülow, had to defend in Parliament his action +in the case of the Swinemunde despatch already mentioned. Attention +was called to the telegram in the Reichstag and the Chancellor +defended the Emperor. He denied that the telegram was an act of +State--it was a personal matter between two sovereigns, the statement +of a friend to a friend. "The idea," said the Chancellor, who +contended that the Emperor had a right to express his opinions like +any citizen, + + "that the monarch's expression of opinion is to be limited + by a stipulation that every such expression must be endorsed + with the signature of the Chancellor is wholly foreign to + the Constitution." + +Next day the Chancellor had again occasion to defend his imperial +master against a charge of being "anti-social," brought by the +Socialist von Vollmar, who coupled the charge with insinuations of +absolutism and Cæsarism. Prince Bülow said: + + "Absolutism is not a German word, and is not a German + institution. It is an Asiatic plant, and one cannot talk of + absolutism in Germany so long as our circumstances develop + in an organic and legal manner, respecting the rights of the + Crown, which are just as sacred as the rights of the + burgher; respecting also law and order, which are not + disregarded 'from above,' and will not be disregarded. If + ever our circumstances take on an absolute, a Cæsarian, + form, it will be as the consequence of revolution, of + convulsion. For on revolution follows Cæsarism as W follows + U--that is the rule in the A B C of the world's history." + +There is no harm in reminding Prince Bülow that the letter V--which +may be a very important link in the chain of events--comes between U +and W. It is clear also that the Chancellor must have forgotten his +English history for the moment, for though Cromwell's rule may be +called Cæsarism of a kind, the reign of William III, of "glorious, +pious, and immortal memory," which followed the revolution of 1688, +could not fairly be so named. + +Three years later, in 1906, Prince Bülow found it necessary to defend +the Emperor on the score of the "personal regiment." "The view," +Prince Bülow said, + + "that the monarch should have no individual thoughts of his own + about State and government, but should only think with the heads + of his Ministers and only say what they tell him to say, is + fundamentally wrong--is inconsistent with State rights and with + the wish of the German people"; + +and he concluded by challenging the House to mention a single case in +which the Emperor had acted unconstitutionally. None of these +bickerings between Crown and Parliament went to the root of the +constitutional relations between them, but they betrayed the existence +of popular dissatisfaction with the Emperor, which in a couple of +years was to culminate in an outbreak of national anger. + +An occurrence calls for mention here, not only as a kind of harbinger +of the "storm," but as one of the chief incidents which in the course +of recent years have troubled Anglo-German relations. The incident +referred to is that of the so-called "Tweedmouth Letter," which was an +autograph letter from the Emperor to Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of +the British Admiralty at the time, dated February 17, 1908, and +containing among other matters a lengthy disquisition on naval +construction, with reference to the excited state of feeling in +England caused by Germany's warship-building policy. The letter has +never been published, but it is supposed to have been prompted by a +statement made publicly by Lord Esher, Warden of Windsor Castle, in +the London _Observer_, to the effect that nothing would more please +the German Emperor than the retirement of Sir John Fisher, the +originator of the Dreadnought policy, who was at the time First Lord +of the Admiralty; and to have contained the remark that "Lord Esher +had better attend to the drains at Windsor and leave alone matters +which he did not understand." The Emperor was apparently unaware that +Lord Esher was one of the foremost military authorities in England. + +The sending of the letter became known through the appearance of a +communication in the London _Times_ of March 6th, with the caption +"Under which King?"--an allusion to Shakespeare's "Under which king, +Bezonian, speak or die"--and signed "Your Military Correspondent." The +writer announced that it had come to his knowledge that the German +Emperor had recently addressed a letter to Lord Tweedmouth on the +subject of British and German naval policy, and that it was supposed +that the letter amounted to an attempt to influence, in German +interests, the Minister's responsibility for the British Naval +Estimates. The correspondent concluded by demanding that the letter +should be laid before Parliament without delay. The _Times_, in a +leading article, prognosticated the "painful surprise and just +indignation" which must be felt by the people of Great Britain on +learning of such "secret appeals to the head of a department on which +the nation's safety depends," and argued that there could be no +question of privacy in a matter of the kind. The article concluded +with the assertion that the letter was obviously an attempt to "make +it more easy for German preparations to overtake our own." The +incident was immediately discussed in all countries, publicly and +privately. + +Everywhere opinion was divided as to the defensibility of the +Emperor's action; in France the division was reported by the _Times_ +correspondent to be "bewildering." All the evidence available to prove +the Emperor's impulsiveness was recalled--the Kruger telegram, the +telegram to Count Goluchowski, the Austrian Minister of Foreign +Affairs, after the Morocco Conference, characterizing him as a +"brilliant second (to Germany) in the bout at Algeciras," the +premature telegram conferring the Order of Merit on General Stoessel +after the fall of Port Arthur, and other evidence, relevant and +irrelevant. Reuter's agent in Berlin telegraphed on official authority +that the Emperor "had written as a naval expert." + +On the whole, continental opinion may be said to have leaned in favour +of the Emperor. Mr. Asquith, the English Prime Minister, at once made +the statement that the letter was a "purely private communication, +couched in an entirely friendly spirit," that it had not been laid +before the Cabinet, and that the latter had come to a decision about +the Estimates before the letter arrived. + +All eyes and ears were now turned to Lord Tweedmouth, and on March +10th he briefly referred to the matter in the House of Lords. He +received the letter, he said, in the ordinary postal way; it was "very +friendly in tone and quite informal"; he showed it to Sir Edward Grey, +who agreed with him that it should be treated as a private letter, not +as an official one; and he replied to it on February 20th, "also in an +informal and friendly manner." A discussion, in which Lord Lansdowne +and Lord Rosebery took part, followed, the former--to give the tone, +not the words of his speech--handing in a verdict of "Not guilty, but +don't do it again," against the Emperor, and laying down the principle +that "such a communication as that in question must not be allowed to +create a diplomatic situation different from that which has been +established through official channels and documents"; and Lord +Rosebery, while he recognized the importance of the incident, seeking +to minimize its effects by an attitude of banter. The treatment of the +incident by the House of Commons as a whole gave considerable +satisfaction in Germany, where all efforts were directed to showing +malevolent hostility to Germany on the part of the _Times_. + +Prince von Bülow dealt with the letter in a speech on the second +reading of the Budget on March 24, 1908. After referring to the Union +Internationale Interparlementaire, which was to meet in a few months +in Berlin, and to the "very unsatisfactory situation in Morocco," he +said:-- + + "From various remarks which have been dropped in the course + of the debate I gather that this honourable House desires me + to make a statement as to the letter which his Majesty the + Kaiser last month wrote to Lord Tweedmouth. On grounds of + discretion, to the observance of which both the sender and + receiver of a private letter are equally entitled, I am not + in a position to lay the text of the letter before you, and + I add that I regret exceedingly that I cannot do so. The + letter could be signed by any one of us, by any sincere + friend of good relations between Germany and England (hear, + hear). The letter, gentlemen, was in form and substance a + private one, and at the same time its contents were of a + political nature. The one fact does not exclude the other; + and the letter of a sovereign, an imperial letter, does not, + from the fact that it deals with political questions, become + an act of State ('Very true,' on the Right). + + "This is not--and deputy Count Kanitz yesterday gave + appropriate instances in support--the first political letter + a sovereign has written, and our Kaiser is not the first + sovereign who has addressed to foreign statesmen letters of + a political character which are not subject to control. The + matter here concerns a right of action which all sovereigns + claim and which, in the case of our Kaiser also, no one has + a right to limit. How his Majesty proposes to make use of + this right we can confidently leave to the imperial sense of + duty. It is a gross, in no way justifiable + misrepresentation, to assert that his Majesty's letter to + Lord Tweedmouth amounts to an attempt to influence the + Minister responsible for the naval budget in the interests + of Germany, or that it denotes a secret interference in the + internal affairs of the British Empire. Our Kaiser is the + last person to believe that the patriotism of an English + Minister would suffer him to accept advice from a foreign + country as to the drawing up of the English naval budget + ('Quite right,' hear, hear). What is true of English + statesmen is true also of the leading statesmen of every + country which lays claim to respect for its independence + ('Very true'). In questions of defence of one's own country + every people rejects foreign interference and is guided only + by considerations bearing on its own security and its own + needs ('Quite right'). Of this right to self-judgment and + self-defence Germany also makes use when she builds a fleet + to secure the necessary protection for her coasts and her + commerce ('Bravo!'). This defensive, this purely defensive + character of our naval programme cannot, in view of the + incessant attempts to attribute to us aggressive views with + regard to England, be too often or too sharply brought + forward ('Bravo!'). We desire to live in peace and quietness + with England, and therefore it is embittering to find a + portion of the English Press ever speaking of the 'German + danger,' although the English fleet is many times stronger + than our own, although other lands have stronger fleets than + us and are working no less zealously at their development. + Nevertheless it is Germany, ever Germany, and only Germany, + against which public opinion on the other side of the + Channel is excited by an utterly valueless polemic ('Quite + right'). + + "It would be, gentlemen," + +the Chancellor continued, + + "in the interests of appeasement between both countries, it + would be in the interest of the general peace of the world, + that this polemic should cease. As little as we challenge + England's right to set up the naval standard her responsible + statesmen consider necessary for the maintenance of British + power in the world without our seeing therein a threat + against ourselves, so little can she take it ill of us if we + do not wish our naval construction to be wrongly represented + as a challenge against England (hear, hear, on the Right and + Left). Gentlemen, these are the thoughts, as I judge from + your assent, which we all entertain, which find expression + in the statements of all speakers, and which are in harmony + with all our views. Accept my additional statement that in + the letter of his Majesty to Lord Tweedmouth one gentleman, + one seaman, talks frankly to another, that our Kaiser highly + appreciates the honour of being an admiral of the British + navy, and that he is a great admirer of the political + education of the British people and of their fleet, and you + will have a just view of the tendency, tone, and contents of + the imperial letter to Lord Tweedmouth. His Majesty + consequently finds himself in this letter not only in full + agreement with the Chancellor--I may mention this specially + for the benefit of Herr Bebel--but, as I am convinced, in + agreement with the entire nation. It would be deeply + regrettable if the honourable opinions by which our Kaiser + was moved in writing this letter should be misconstrued in + England. With satisfaction I note that the attempts at such + misconstruction have been almost unanimously rejected in + England ('Bravo!' on the Right and Left). Above all, + gentlemen, I believe that the admirable way in which the + English Parliament has exemplarily treated the question will + have the best effect in preventing a disturbance of the + friendly relations between Germany and England and in + removing all hostile intention from the discussions over the + matter (agreement, Right and Left). + + "Gentlemen, one more observation of a general nature. + Deputies von Hertling and Bassermann have recommended us, in + view of the suspicions spread about us abroad, a calm and + watchful attitude of reserve, and for the treatment of the + country's foreign affairs consistency, union, and firmness. + I believe that the foreign policy we must follow cannot be + characterized better or more rightly (applause)." + +A German saying has it that one is wiser coming from, than going to, +the Rathaus, the place of counsel. It is easy to see now that it would +have been better had the Emperor not written the letter, better had +the _Times_ not brought it to public notice, better, also, had the +Emperor or Lord Tweedmouth or Sir Edward Grey--for one of them must +have spoken of it to a third person--not let its existence become +known to anyone save themselves, at least not until the international +situation which prompted it had ceased. As regards the Emperor in +particular, judgment must be based on the answer to the question, Was +the letter a private letter or a public document? The _Times_ regarded +it as the latter, and many politicians took that view, but probably +nine people out of ten now regard it as the former. For such, the +reflection that it was part of a private correspondence between two +friendly statesmen, both well known to be sincere in their views that +a country's navy--that all military preparations--are based on motives +of national defence, not of high-handed aggression, must absolve the +Emperor from any suspicion of political immorality. It was unfortunate +that the letter was written, unfortunate that it was made known +publicly, but, as it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, the +episode may profit monarchs as well as meaner folk as an object lesson +in the advantages of discretion. + +Discussion of the Tweedmouth letter had hardly ceased when the whole +question of the "personal regiment" was again, and as it now, five +years after, appears, finally thrashed out between the Emperor and his +folk. Before, however, considering the _Daily Telegraph_ interview and +the Emperor's part in it, something should be said as to the state of +international ill-feeling which caused him to sanction its +publication. + +The ill-feeling was no sudden wave of hostility or pique, but a +sentiment which had for years existed in the minds of both nations--a +sentiment of mutual suspicion. The Englishman thought Germany was +prepared to dispute with him the maritime supremacy of Great Britain, +the German that England intended to attack Germany before Germany +could carry her great design into execution. The proximate cause of +the irritation--for it has not yet got beyond that--was the decision, +as announced in her Navy Law of 1898, to build a fleet of battleships +which Germany, but especially the Emperor, considered necessary to +complete the defences, and appropriate for affirming the dignity, of +the Empire. + +This was the _origo_, but not the _fons_. The source was the Boer War +and the Kruger telegram, though the philosophic historian might with +some reason refer it in a large measure also to the surprise and +uneasiness with which the leading colonial and commercial, as well as +maritime, nation of the world saw the material progress, the waxing +military power, and the longing for expansion of the not yet +forty-year-old German Empire. Forty years ago the word "Germany" had +no territorial, but only a descriptive and poetical, significance; +certainly it had no political significance; for the North German +Union, out of which the modern German Empire grew, meant for +Englishmen, and indeed for politicians everywhere, only Prussia. +Prussia was less liked by the world then than she is now, when she is +not liked too well; and accordingly there was already in existence the +disposition in England to criticize sharply the conduct of Prussia and +to apply the same criticism to the Empire Prussia founded. In this +condition of international feeling England's long quarrel with the +Transvaal Republic came nearer to the breaking-point; at the same time +there was an idea prevalent in England that Germany was coquetting +with the Boers--if not looking to a seizure of Transvaal territory, at +least hoping for Boer favour and Boer commercial privileges. The +Jameson Raid was made and failed; the Emperor and his advisers sent +the fateful telegram to President Kruger; and the peace of the world +has been in jeopardy ever since! + +The "storm" arose from the publication, in the London _Daily +Telegraph_ of October 28, 1908, of an interview coming, as the editor +said in introducing it, "from a source of such unimpeachable authority +that we can without hesitation commend the obvious message which it +conveys to the attention of the public." As to the origin and +composition of the interview a good deal of mystery still exists. All +that has become known is that some one, whose identity has hitherto +successfully been concealed, with the object of demonstrating the +sentiments of warm friendship with which the Emperor regarded England, +put together, in England or in Germany, a number of statements made by +the Emperor and sanctioned by him for publication. Whether the Emperor +read the interview previous to publication or not, no official +statement has been made; it is, however, quite certain that he did. At +all events it was sent, or sent back, to England and published in due +course. The immediate effect was a hubbub of discussion, accompanied +with general astonishment in England, a storm of popular resentment +and humiliation in Germany, and voluminous comment in other countries, +some of it favourable, some of it unfavourable, to the Emperor. + +The text of the interview in the _Daily Telegraph_ was introduced, as +mentioned, with the words:-- + + We have received the following communication from a source + of such unimpeachable authority that we can without + hesitation commend the obvious message which it conveys to + the attention of the public. + +And continued as follows:-- + + Discretion is the first and last quality requisite in a + diplomatist, and should still be observed by those who, like + myself, have long passed from public into private life. Yet + moments sometimes occur in the history of nations when a + calculated indiscretion proves of the highest public + service, and it is for that reason that I have decided to + make known the substance of a lengthy conversation which it + was my recent privilege to have with his Majesty the German + Emperor. I do so in the hope that it may help to remove that + obstinate misconception of the character of the Kaiser's + feelings towards England which, I fear, is deeply rooted in + the ordinary Englishman's breast. It is the Emperor's + sincere wish that it should be eradicated. He has given + repeated proofs of his desire by word and deed. But, to + speak frankly, his patience is sorely tried now that he + finds himself so continually misrepresented, and has so + often experienced the mortification of finding that any + momentary improvement of relations is followed by renewed + out-bursts of prejudice, and a prompt return to the old + attitude of suspicion. + +As I have said, his Majesty honoured me with a long conversation, and +spoke with impulsive and unusual frankness. "You English," he said, + + "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you + that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite + unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have + done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my + speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace, and + that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the best of + terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? + Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My + actions ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to + them but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is + a personal insult which I feel and resent. To be for ever + misjudged, to have my repeated offers of friendship weighed + and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, taxes my + patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a + friend of England, and your Press--or, at least, a + considerable section of it--bids the people of England + refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates that the other + holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its + will?" + +"I repeat," continued his Majesty, + + "that I am the friend of England, but you make things + difficult for me. My task is not of the easiest. The + prevailing sentiment among large sections _of_ the middle + and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to + England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my + own land, but it is a minority of the best elements, just as + it is in England with respect to Germany. That is another + reason why I resent your refusal to accept my pledged word + that I am the friend of England. I strive without ceasing to + improve relations, and you retort that I am your arch-enemy. + You make it very hard for me. Why is it?" + +Thereupon I ventured to remind his Majesty that not England alone, but +the whole of Europe had viewed with disapproval the recent action of +Germany in allowing the German Consul to return from Tangier to Fez, +and in anticipating the joint action of France and Spain by suggesting +to the Powers that the time had come for Europe to recognize Muley +Hand as the new Sultan of Morocco. + +His Majesty made a gesture of impatience. "Yes," he said, + + "that is an excellent example of the way in which German + action is misrepresented. First, then, as regards the + journey of Dr. Vassel. The German Government, in sending Dr. + Vassel back to his post at Fez, was only guided by the wish + that he should look after the private interests of German + subjects in that city, who cried for help and protection + after the long absence of a Consular representative. And why + not send him? Are those who charge Germany with having + stolen a march on the other Powers aware that the French + Consular representative had already been in Fez for several + months when Dr. Vassel set out? Then, as to the recognition + of Muley I Hand. The Press of Europe has complained with + much acerbity that Germany ought not to have suggested his + recognition until he had notified to Europe his full + acceptance of the Act of Algeciras, as being binding upon + him as Sultan of Morocco and successor of his brother. My + answer is that Muley Hafid notified the Powers to that + effect weeks ago, before the decisive battle was fought. He + sent, as far back as the middle of last July, an identical + communication to the Governments of Germany, France, and + Great Britain, containing an explicit acknowledgment that he + was prepared to recognize all the obligations towards Europe + which were incurred by Abdul Aziz during his Sultanate. The + German Government interpreted that communication as a final + and authoritative expression of Muley Hand's intentions, and + therefore they considered that there was no reason to wait + until he had sent a second communication, before recognizing + him as the _de facto_ Sultan of Morocco, who had succeeded + to his brother's throne by right of victory in the field." + +I suggested to his Majesty that an important and influential section +of the German Press had placed a very different interpretation upon +the action of the German Government, and, in fact, had given it their +effusive approbation precisely because they saw in it a strong act +instead of mere words, and a decisive indication that Germany was once +more about to intervene in the shaping of events in Morocco. "There +are mischief-makers," replied the Emperor, + + "in both countries. I will not attempt to weigh their + relative capacity for misrepresentation. But the facts are + as I have stated. There has been nothing in Germany's recent + action with regard to Morocco which runs contrary to the + explicit declaration of my love of peace which I made both + at Guildhall and in my latest speech at Strassburg." + +His Majesty then reverted to the subject uppermost in his mind--his +proved friendship for England. "I have referred," he said, + + "to the speeches in which I have done all that a sovereign + can to proclaim my goodwill. But, as actions speak louder + than words, let me also refer to my acts. It is commonly + believed in England that throughout the South African War + Germany was hostile to her. German opinion undoubtedly was + hostile--bitterly hostile. The Press was hostile; private + opinion was hostile. But what of official Germany? Let my + critics ask themselves what brought _to_ a sudden stop, and, + indeed, to absolute collapse, the European tour of the Boer + delegates who were striving to obtain European intervention? + They were feted in Holland; France gave them a rapturous + welcome. They wished to come to Berlin, where the German + people would have crowned them with flowers. But when they + asked me to receive them--I refused. The agitation + immediately died away, and the delegation returned + empty-handed. Was that, I ask, the action of a secret enemy? + + "Again, when the struggle was at its height, the German + Government was invited by the Governments of France and + Russia to join with them in calling upon England to put an + end to the war. The moment had come, they said, not only to + save the Boer Republics, but also to humiliate England to + the dust. What was my reply? I said that so far from Germany + joining in any concerted European action to put pressure + upon England and bring about her downfall, Germany would + always keep aloof from politics that could bring her into + complications with a Sea Power like England. Posterity will + one day read the exact terms of the telegram--now in the + archives of Windsor Castle--in which I informed the + Sovereign of England of the answer I had returned to the + Powers which then sought to compass her fall. Englishmen who + now insult me by doubting my word should know what were my + actions in the hour of their adversity. + + "Nor was that all. Just at the time of your Black Week, in + the December of 1899, when disasters followed one another in + rapid succession, I received a letter from Queen Victoria, + my revered grandmother, written in sorrow and affliction, + and bearing manifest traces of the anxieties which were + preying upon her mind and health. I at once returned a + sympathetic reply. Nay, I did more. I bade one of my + officers procure for me as exact an account as he could + obtain of the number of combatants in South Africa on both + sides, and of the actual position of the opposing forces. + With the figures before me, I worked out what I considered + to be the best plan of campaign under the circumstances, and + submitted it to my General Staff for their criticism. Then I + dispatched it to England, and that document, likewise, is + among the State papers at Windsor Castle, awaiting the + serenely impartial verdict of history. And, as a matter of + curious coincidence, let me add that the plan which I + formulated ran very much on the same lines as that which was + actually adopted by Lord Roberts, and carried by him into + successful operation. Was that, I repeat, the act of one who + wished England ill? Let Englishmen be just and say! + + "But, you will say, what of the German navy? Surely that is + a menace to England! Against whom but England are my + squadrons being prepared? If England is not in the minds of + those Germans who are bent on creating a powerful fleet, why + is Germany asked to consent to such new and heavy burdens of + taxation? My answer is clear. Germany is a young and growing + Empire. She has a world-wide commerce, which is rapidly + expanding, and to which the legitimate ambition of patriotic + Germans refuses to assign any bounds. Germany must have a + powerful fleet to protect that commerce, and her manifold + interests in even the most distant seas. She expects those + interests to go on growing, and she must be able to champion + them manfully in any quarter of the globe. Germany looks + ahead. Her horizons stretch far away. She must be prepared + for any eventualities in the Far East. Who can foresee what + may take place in the Pacific in the days to come--days not + so distant as some believe, but days, at any rate, for which + all European Powers with Far Eastern interests ought + steadily to prepare? Look at the accomplished rise of Japan; + think of the possible national awakening of China; and then + judge of the vast problems of the Pacific. Only those Powers + which have great navies will be listened to with respect + when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if + for that reason only Germany must have a powerful fleet. It + may even be that England herself will be glad that Germany + has a fleet when they speak together on the same side in the + great debates of the future." + +Such was the purport of the Emperor's conversation. He spoke with all +that earnestness which marks his manner when speaking on deeply +pondered subjects. I would ask my fellow-countrymen who value the +cause of peace to weigh what I have written, and to revise, if +necessary, their estimate of the Kaiser and his friendship for England +by his Majesty's own words. If they had enjoyed the privilege, which +was mine, of hearing them spoken, they would doubt no longer either +his Majesty's firm desire to live on the best of terms with England or +his growing impatience at the persistent mistrust with which his offer +of friendship is too often received. + +There are more indiscretions than one in the interview, but the most +important and most dangerous was the Emperor's statement that at the +time of the Boer War the Governments of France and Russia invited the +German Government to join with them "not only to save the Boer +Republics, but also to humiliate England to the dust." Such a +revelation coming from the Emperor ought, one would suppose, to have +caused serious trouble between Great Britain and her Entente friends. +That it did not is at once testimony to the cynicism of Governments +and the reality and strength of the Entente engagement. In private +life, if a fourth person confidentially told one of the three partners +in a firm that the other two partners had invited him to join them in +humiliating him to the dust, there would have been a pretty brisk, not +to say acrimonious correspondence between the proposed victim and his +partners. Governments, it appears, look on things differently, and so +far as the public knows, England simply took no notice of the +Emperor's communication. Possibly, however, the Emperor had put the +matter too strongly and an explanation of some kind was forthcoming. +If so, it must be looked for among the secret archives of the Foreign +Office. It was at once suggested that the Emperor made the revelation +expressly to weaken, if not destroy, the Entente. One can conceive +Bismarck doing such a thing; but it is more in keeping with the +Emperor's character, and with the indiscreet character of the entire +interview, to suppose it to be a proof of deplorable candour and +sincerity. + +The excitement in Germany caused by the publication of the interview +soon took the shape of a determination on the part of the Chancellor +and the Federal Council, for once fully identifying themselves with +the feelings of Parliament, Press, and people, that "something must be +done," and it was decided that the Chancellor should go to Potsdam, +see the Emperor, and try to obtain from him a promise to be more +cautious in his utterances on political topics for the future. The +Chancellor went accordingly, being seen off from the railway terminus +in Berlin by a large crowd of people, among whom were many +journalists. To Dr. Paul Goldmann, who wished him God-speed, he could +only reply that he hoped all would be for the best. He looked pale and +grave, as well he might, since he was about to stake his own position +as well as convey a mandate of national reproach. + +What passed at Potsdam between the Emperor and his Chancellor has not +transpired. Naturally there are various accounts of it, one of them +representing the Emperor as flying into a passion and for long +refusing to give the required guarantees; but as yet none of them has +been authenticated. It should not be difficult to imagine the mental +attitudes of the two men on the occasion, and especially not difficult +to imagine the sensations of the Emperor, a Prussian King, on being +impeached by a people--his people--for whom, his feeling would be, he +had done so much, and in whose best interests he felt convinced he had +acted; but whatever occurred, it ended in the Emperor bowing before +the storm and giving the assurances required. + +The Chancellor's countenance and expressions on his return to Berlin +showed that his mission had been successful, and there was great +satisfaction in the capital and country. The text of these assurances, +which was published in the _Official Gazette_ the same evening, was as +follows: + + "His Majesty, while unaffected by public criticism which he + regards as exaggerated, considers his most honourable + imperial task to consist in securing the stability of the + policy of the Empire while adhering to the principle of + constitutional responsibility. The Kaiser accordingly + endorses the statements of the Imperial Chancellor in + Parliament, and assures Prince von Bülow of his continued + confidence." + +After returning to Berlin, Prince Bülow gave in the Reichstag his +impatiently awaited account of the result of his mission, and made +what defence he could of his imperial master's action in allowing the +famous interview to be published. Before giving the speech, which was +delivered on November 10, 1908, it will be as well to quote the five +interpellations introduced in Parliament on the subject, as showing +the unanimity of feeling that existed in all parts of the House:-- + +1. By Deputy Bassermann (leader of the National Liberals): + + "Is the Chancellor prepared to take constitutional + responsibility for the publication of a series of utterances + of his Majesty the Kaiser in the _Daily Telegraph_ and the + facts communicated therein?" + +2. By Deputy Dr. Ablass (Progressive Party): + + "Through the publication of utterances of the German Kaiser + in the _Daily Telegraph_, and through the communication of + the real facts in the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ + caused by the Chancellor, matters have become known which + demonstrate serious short-comings in the treatment of + foreign affairs, and are calculated to influence + unfavourably the relations of the German Empire to other + Powers. What does the Chancellor propose to do to devise a + remedy and to give full effect to the responsibility + attributed to him by the Constitution of the German Empire?" + +3. By Deputy Albrecht (Socialist): + + "What is the Chancellor prepared to do to prevent such + occurrences as have become known through the _Daily + Telegraph's_ communications regarding acts and utterances of + the German Kaiser?" + +4. By Deputy von Norman (Conservative Party): + + "Is the Chancellor prepared to submit further information + regarding the circumstances which led to the publication of + utterances of his Majesty the Kaiser in the English Press?" + +5. By Prince von Hatzfeldt and Freiherr von Gamp (Imperial +Party--Conservative): + + "Is the Chancellor willing to take precautions that such + occurrences as that brought to light by the publication in + the _Daily Telegraph_ shall not recur?" + +In reply to the interpellations Prince von Bülow said:-- + + "Gentlemen, I shall not apply myself to every point which + has just been raised by previous speakers. I have to + consider the effect of my words abroad, and will not add to + the great harm already caused by the publication in the + _Daily Telegraph_ (hear, hear, on the Left and Socialists). + + "In reply to the interpellations submitted, I have to + declare as follows:-- + + "His Majesty the Kaiser has at different times, and to + different private English personalities, made private + utterances which, linked together, have been published in + the _Daily Telegraph_. I must suppose that not all details + of the utterances have been correctly reproduced (hear, + hear, on the Right). One I know is not correct: that is the + story about the plan of campaign (hear, hear, on the right). + The plan in question was not a field campaign worked out in + detail, but a purely academic (laughter among the + Socialists)--Gentlemen, we are engaged in a serious + discussion. The matters on which I speak are of an earnest + kind and of great political importance--be good enough to + listen to me quietly: I will be as brief as possible. I + repeat therefore: the matter is not concerned with a field + campaign worked out in detail, but with certain purely + academic thoughts--I believe they were expressly described + as 'aphorisms'--about the conduct of war in general, which + the Kaiser communicated in his interchange of correspondence + with the late Queen Victoria. They are theoretical + observations of no practical moment for the course of + operations and the issue of the war. The chief of the + General Staff, General von Moltke, and his predecessor, + General Count Schlieffen, have declared that the General + Staff reported to the Kaiser on the Boer War as on every + war, great or small, which has occurred on the earth during + the last ten years. Both, however, have given assurances + that our General Staff never examined a field plan of + campaign, or anything similar, prepared by the Kaiser in + view of the Boer War, or forwarded such to England (hear, + hear, on the Right and Centre). But I must also defend our + policy against the reproach of being ambiguous _vis-à -vis_ + the Boers. We had--the documents show it--given timely + warning to the Transvaal Government. We called its attention + to the fact that in case of a war with England it would + stand alone. We put it to her directly, and through the + friendly Dutch Government in May, 1899, peacefully to come + to an understanding with England, since there could be no + doubt as to the result of a war. + + "In the question of intervention the colours in the article + of the _Daily Telegraph_ are too thickly laid on. The thing + itself had long been known (hear, hear). It was some time + previously the subject of controversy between the _National + Review_ and the _Deutsche Revue_. There can be no talk of a + 'revelation.' It was said that the imperial communication to + the Queen of England, that Germany had not paid any + attention to a suggestion for mediation or intervention, is + a breach of the rules of diplomatic intercourse. Gentlemen, + I will not recall indiscretions to memory, for they are + frequent in the diplomatic history of all nations and at all + times ('Quite right,' on the Right). The safest policy is + perhaps that which need fear no indiscretion ('Quite right,' + on the Left). To pass judgment in particular cases as to + whether or not a breach of confidence has occurred, one must + know more of the closely connected circumstances than + appears in the article of the _Daily Telegraph_. The + communication might be justified if it were attempted in one + quarter or another to misrepresent our refusal or to throw + suspicion on our attitude; circumstances may have previously + happened which make allusion to the subject in a + confidential correspondence at least intelligible. + Gentlemen, I said before that many of the expressions used + in the _Daily Telegraph_ article are too strong. That is + true, in the first place, of the passage where the Kaiser is + represented as having said that the majority of the German + people are inimically disposed towards England. Between + Germany and England misunderstandings have occurred, + serious, regrettable misunderstandings. But I am conscious + of being at one with this entire honourable House in the + view that the German people desire peaceful and friendly + relations with England on the basis of mutual esteem (loud + and general applause)--and I take note that the speakers of + all parties have spoken to-day in the same sense ('Quite + right'). The colours are also too thickly laid on in the + place where reference is made to our interests in the + Pacific Ocean. It has been construed in a sense hostile to + Japan. Wrongly: we have never in the Far East thought of + anything but this--to acquire and maintain for Germany a + share of the commerce of Eastern Asia in view of the great + economic future of this region. We are not thinking of + maritime adventure there: aggressive tendencies have as + little to say to our naval construction in the Pacific as in + Europe. Moreover, his Majesty the Kaiser entirely agrees + with the responsible director of foreign policy in the + complete recognition of the high political importance which + the Japanese people have achieved by their political + strength and military ability. German policy does not regard + it as its task to detract from the enjoyment and development + of what Japan has acquired. + + "Gentlemen, I am, generally speaking, under the impression + that if the material facts--completely, in their proper + shape--were individually known, the sensation would be no + great one; in this instance, too, the whole is more than all + the parts taken together. But above all, gentlemen, one must + not, while considering the material things, quite forget the + psychology, the tendency. For two decades our Kaiser has + striven, often under very difficult circumstances, to bring + about friendly relations between Germany and England. This + honest endeavour has had to contend with obstacles which + would have discouraged many. The passionate partisanship of + our people for the Boers was humanly intelligible; feeling + for the weaker certainly appeals to the sympathy. But this + partisanship has led to unjustified, and often unmeasured, + attacks on England, and similarly unjust and hateful attacks + have been made against Germany from the side of the English. + Our aims were misconstrued, and hostile plans against + England were foisted on us which we had never thought of. + The Kaiser, rightly convinced that this state of things was + a calamity for both countries and a danger for the civilized + world, kept undeviatingly on the course he had adopted. The + Kaiser is particularly wronged by any doubt as to the purity + of his intentions, his ideal way of thinking, and his deep + love of country. + + "Gentlemen, let us avoid anything that looks like + exaggerated seeking for foreign favour, anything that looks + like uncertainty or obsequiousness. But I understand that + the Kaiser, precisely because he was anxious to work + zealously and honestly for good relationship with England, + felt embittered at being ever the object of attacks casting + suspicion on his best motives. Has one not gone so far as to + attribute to his interest in the German fleet secret views + against vital English interests--views which are far from + him. And so in private conversation with English friends he + sought to bring the proof, by pointing to his conduct, that + in England he was misunderstood and wrongly judged. + + "Gentlemen, the perception that the publication of these + conversations in England has not had the effect the Kaiser + wished, and in our own country has caused profound agitation + and painful regret, will--this firm conviction I have + acquired during these anxious days--lead the Kaiser for the + future, in private conversation also, to maintain the + reserve that is equally indispensable in the interest of a + uniform policy and for the authority of the Crown ('Bravo!' + on the Right). + + "If it were not so, I could not, nor could my successor, + bear the responsibility ('Bravo!' on the Right and National + Liberals). + + "For the fault which occurred in dealing with the manuscript + I accept, as I have caused to be said in the _Norddeutsche + Allgemeine Zeitung_, entire responsibility. It also goes + against my personal feelings that officials who have done + their duty all their lives should be stamped as + transgressors because, in a single case, they relied too + much on the fact that I usually read and finally decide + everything myself. + + "With Herr von Heydebrand I regret that in the mechanism of + the Foreign Office, which for eleven years has worked + smoothly under me, a defect should on one occasion occur. I + will answer for it that such a thing does not happen again, + and that with this object, without respect to persons, + though also without injustice, what is needful will be done + ('Bravo!'). + + "When the article in the _Daily Telegraph_ appeared, its + fateful effect could not for a moment be doubtful to me, and + I handed in my resignation. This decision was unavoidable, + and was not difficult to come to. The most serious and most + difficult decision which I ever took in my political life + was, in obedience to the Kaiser's wish, to remain in office. + I brought myself to this decision only because I saw in it a + command of my political duty, precisely in the time of + trouble, to continue to serve his Majesty the Kaiser and the + country (repeated 'Bravo!'). How long that will be possible + for me, I cannot say. + + "Let me say one thing more: at a moment when the fact that + in the world much is once again changing requires serious + attention to be given to the entire situation, wherever it + is matter of concern to maintain our position abroad, and + without pushing ourselves forward with quiet constancy to + make good our interests--at such a moment we ought not to + show ourselves small-spirited in foreign eyes, nor make out + of a misfortune a catastrophe. I will refrain from all + criticism of the exaggerations we have lived through during + these last days. The harm is--as calm reflection will + show--not so great that it cannot with circumspection be + made good. Certainly no one should forget the warning which + the events of these days has given us ('Bravo!')--but there + is no reason to lose our heads and awake in our opponents + the hope that the Empire, inwardly or outwardly, is maimed. + + "It is for the chosen representatives of the nation to + exhibit the prudence which the time demands. I do not say it + for myself, I say it for the country: the support required + for this is no favour, it is a duty which this honourable + House will not evade (loud applause on the Right, hisses + from the Socialists)." + +Prince Bülow's speech requires but little comment--its importance for +Germany is the fact that it brought to a head the country's feeling, +that if the Emperor's unlimited and unrestrained idea of his +heaven-sent mission as sole arbiter of the nation's destinies was not +checked, disaster must ensue. The speech itself is rather an apology +and an explanation than a defence, and in this spirit it was accepted +in Germany. It is fair to say that the Emperor has faithfully kept the +engagement made through Prince Bülow with his people so far, and +unless human nature is incurable there seems no reason why he should +not keep it to the end of the reign. More than four years have passed +since the incidents narrated occurred. The storm has blown over, the +sea of popular indignation has gone down, and at present no cloud is +visible on the horizon. + +Besides the Tweedmouth Letter and the "November Storm" there were one +or two other notable events in the parliamentary proceedings of the +year. The Reichstag dealt with Prussian electoral reform and the +attitude of Germany towards the question of disarmament. As to the +first, the Government refused to regard it as an imperial concern, +though the popular claim was and is that the suffrage should be the +same in Prussia as in the Empire, viz., universal, direct, and secret. +This claim the Emperor will not listen to, on the ground that it would +injure the influence of the middle classes by the admission of +undesirable elements (meaning the Socialists); that the electoral +system for the Empire, with the latter's national tasks, should be on +a broader basis than in the case of the individual States, where the +electors are chiefly concerned with administration, the school, and +the Church; and that it would bring the Imperial and Prussian +Parliaments into conflict to the injury of German unity. The Emperor +has made only one reference to electoral reform in Prussia, a promise, +namely, he gave the Diet in October of this year, that the regulations +concerning the voting should experience + + "an organic further development, which should correspond to + the economic progress, the spread of education and political + understanding, and the strengthening of the feeling of State + responsibility." + +No reform, however, has yet been effected by legislation. + +As to disarmament, Germany's position is simply negative, though it +may be noticed by anticipation that she has recently (1913) expressed +her disposition to accept the proportion of ten German to sixteen +English first-class battleships suggested by Sir Edward Grey in 1912 +as offering the basis of a possibly permanent arrangement. At the time +now dealt with, however, Chancellor von Bülow asserted that no +proposal that could serve as a basis had ever been submitted to his +Government, and added that even if such a proposal were made it was +doubtful if it could be accepted. It was not merely the number of +ships, he said, that was involved; there were a host of technical +questions--standards, criteria of all sorts, which could not be +expressed in figures, economic progress abroad and the possible effect +of new scientific inventions--to be considered. Lastly there were the +navy laws, which the Government was pledged to carry out. As for +military disarmament, the Emperor and his advisers regard it as +impossible, considering the unfavourable strategic situation of +Germany in the midst of Europe, with exposed frontiers on every side. + +This year the Emperor and his family took up their quarters for the +first time in their new Corfu spring residence "Achilleion." They were +met by the Royal Family of Greece, who showed them over the Castle, +and in the evening were welcomed by the mayor of Corfu, who, in a +flight of metaphor, said his people desired to wreathe the Emperor's +"Olympic brow" with a crown of olive. That the Emperor did not pass +his days wholly in admiring the beauty of the scenery was shown by the +fact that a few days after his arrival he delivered a lecture in the +Castle on "Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar," being prompted thereto +by a book on the subject by Captain Mark Kerr, of H.M.S. _Implacable_. +The Emperor illustrated his lecture with sketches drawn by himself of +the positions of the united French and Spanish fleets during the +battle. + +Almost every year sees some specialty produced at the Royal Opera in +Berlin. This year it was Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," performed in the +presence of the French Ambassador in Berlin, Monsieur Jules Cambon, +and two directors of the Paris Opera. The Emperor told Monsieur +Messager, one of the latter, that he had taken an infinity of trouble +to get the right character, colour, and movement of the period of the +opera, and explained his interest in the work by the fact that he had +lost two of his ancestors, Admiral Coligny and the Prince of Orange, +in the historic massacre. This opera, with Verdi's "Aida," are still, +as given at the Royal Opera, the favourite operas of the Berlin +public. + +Americans, like all other people, regard the Emperor with friendly +feelings, but for a time this year their respect for him suffered some +diminution owing to what was known as the Tower-Hill affair. When the +American Ambassador in Berlin, Mr. Charlemagne Tower, resigned his +post in 1908, the Washington authorities found difficulty in choosing +a suitable successor. Mr. Tower was a wealthy man, who by his personal +qualities, aided by a talented wife, whom the Emperor once described +as "the Moltke of society," and by frequent entertainments in one of +the finest houses of the fashionable Tiergarten quarter, had fully +satisfied the Emperor of his fitness to represent a great nation at +the Court of a great Empire. The Emperor has a high opinion of his +country, and, in small things as in great, will not have it treated as +a _quantité négligeable_: consequently a millionaire was not too good +for Berlin. The impression produced by Mr. Tower on Republican America +was not quite the same. When Ambassador in St. Petersburg, Mr. Tower +had invented a Court uniform for himself and staff of a highly ornate, +not to say fantastic, kind, and when in Berlin was thought to take too +little trouble to win popularity among his American fellow-colonists. +This non-republican attitude, as it seemed to be, met with a good deal +of adverse criticism in America, and the Washington authorities, for +that or for some other reason, considered it advisable to choose as +Mr. Tower's successor a man of another type. Their choice fell on Dr. +David Jayne Hill, American Minister at Berne, a former President of +Rochester University, the author of a standard work on the History of +Diplomacy, and as renowned for the amiability of his character as for +his academic attainments. A further reason for choosing him was that +he had been attached to the service of the Emperor's brother, Prince +Henry, during the latter's visit to the United States some years +before. Dr. Hill spoke German excellently, was able and distinguished, +and, if not a man of great means, was sufficiently well-to-do to +represent his country becomingly at the Court of Berlin. His selection +was in due course communicated for _agrément_ to the German Foreign +Office, and by it, also in due course, transmitted to the Emperor. The +Emperor without more ado signed the _agrément_ and the arrival of Dr. +Hill in Berlin was daily expected. + +Just at this time, however, Mr. Tower gave a farewell dinner to the +Emperor, and invited to it specially from Rome the American Ambassador +to Italy, Mr. Griscom. Mr. Griscom was accompanied by his clever and +attractive wife. The dinner-party assembled, and Mr. Griscom and his +wife were placed in the immediate neighbourhood of the Emperor. Before +dinner was over it was evident that the Griscoms had made a most +favourable impression on the imperial guest. Accordingly, so the story +goes, when towards the end of dinner the Emperor, in his impulsive +way, exclaimed, "Now, why didn't America send me the Griscoms instead +of the Hills?" or words to that effect, the company was not completely +taken by surprise. When, however, the Emperor went on to suggest to +his host to telegraph to President Roosevelt to make the change, it +became evident that an international incident of exceptional delicacy +had been created. Mr. Tower, who would perhaps have acted with better +judgment had he declined to adopt the Emperor's suggestion, cabled to +President Roosevelt, and at the same Mr. Griscom wrote to him +privately. Before Mr. Griscom's letter arrived, perhaps before Mr. +Roosevelt was in possession of Mr. Tower's telegram, the words of the +Emperor had become known in Berlin, were cabled to the American Press, +and much indignation at the Emperor's conduct was aroused in all parts +of America. The two Governments, as well as Dr. Hill, were placed in a +position of great embarrassment. In view of the state of public +opinion in America, and in view also of the American Government's +engagement _vis à vis_ Dr. Hill, the Washington authorities could not +withdraw a nominee who had been already signalled to it from Germany +as _persona grata_. The only way possible out of the difficulty was to +employ the machinery of the official _démenti_, and this was +accordingly done. It was denied by the Foreign Office that the Emperor +had expressed dissatisfaction with Dr. Hill's appointment, and the +incident closed with the carrying out of the original arrangements and +the arrival of Dr. Hill in Berlin. Subsequent events proved that had +the Emperor known Dr. Hill personally he would never have thought of +expressing dissatisfaction at the prospect of seeing him as Ambassador +at his Court, for Dr. Hill, during the two years of his stay, fully +vindicated the wisdom of the Washington Government's choice, and +before he left his post had earned the Emperor's complete respect, if +not his cordial friendship. + + + + +XV. + + + +AFTER THE STORM + + + +1909-1913 + +Next year, 1909, was the year of the famous finance reform measure +which, though finally carried through, led to the resignation of +Chancellor von Bülow. It had been obvious for some years that a +reorganization of the imperial system of finance with a view to +meeting the growing expenses of the Empire, and in especial those of +the army and navy, was necessary if imperial bankruptcy was to be +avoided. The practice of taking what were known as matricular +contributions from the separate States to make up for deficits in the +imperial budgets, and of burdening posterity by State loans, had one +day to cease. At the beginning of the reign the National Debt was 884 +million marks (£44,200,000), and in 1908 over 4,000 million marks +(£200,000,000). A year before this Prince Bülow had made his first +proposals for reform, including new taxes on beer, wine, tobacco, and +succession duties on property. + +All parties in Parliament, except of course the Social Democrats, +admitted that fresh imposts were inevitable, but, very naturally, no +party was willing to bear them. The Conservatives would not hear of an +inheritance tax and the Liberals would not hear of duties on popular +consumption. The result was to make the Centrum masters of the +political field and place the Conservative-Liberal "bloc" at its +mercy. After long discussion, the Government proposals were put to the +vote on June 24th, and as the Centrum threw in its lot with the +Conservatives, the proposals were rejected by 195 votes to 187. Prince +Bülow thereupon went to Kiel and tendered his resignation to the +Emperor, but at the latter's urgent request consented to remain in +office until financial reform in one shape or another had been +effected. This result was attained a month later, after much +compromising and discussion. The Chancellor renewed his request for +retirement, and the Emperor agreed. On the same day, July 14th, that +the resignation took effect, it was officially announced that Herr von +Bethmann-Hollweg, who had hitherto been Minister of the Interior, was +appointed to succeed Prince von Bülow as Imperial Chancellor. + +An impression prevails widely in Germany that Prince Bülow's +retirement was due to the loss of the Emperor's favour owing to the +Prince's attitude towards the monarch during the "November storm." +Prince Bülow, very properly, has always refused to say anything about +his relations with his royal master, but a lengthy statement he made +to a newspaper correspondent referring his resignation to the conduct +of the Conservatives, and a letter from the Emperor gratefully +thanking the Prince in the warmest terms for his "long and intimate +co-operation," and conferring upon him at the same time the highest +Order in the Empire, that of the Black Eagle, should be sufficient +evidence to disprove the supposition. It is more probable that the +Prince was weary of the cares of office and of the strife of party. +Moreover, he had, in the state of his health, a strong private reason +for retirement. Four years before, on April 5, 1906, he had fallen +unconscious from his seat on the ministerial bench during the +proceedings in the Reichstag, and although he was back again in +Parliament, perfectly recovered, in the following November, the attack +was an experience which warned him against too great a prolongation of +such heavy work and responsibility as the Chancellorship entails. + +The retirement of Prince Bülow meant the disappearance of the most +notable figure in German political life since the beginning of the +century. In ability, wit, and those graces of a refined and richly +cultivated mind which have so often distinguished great English +statesmen, he was a head and shoulders above any of his +fellow-countrymen; while the mere fact that he was able to maintain +his position for almost twelve years (he had been, as Foreign +Secretary for over two years, the Emperor's most trusted counsellor +and the real executive in foreign policy) is a convincing proof of his +tact and diplomatic talent, as well as of his statesmanship. + +His successor, the present Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, is a +man of another and very different type. He incorporates the spirit of +Prussian patriotism of the most orthodox kind in its worthiest and +best manifestations, but as yet he has given no proofs of possessing +the breadth of view, the oratorical talent, or the urbanity which +distinguished his predecessor. Prince von Bülow's career as a German +diplomatist in foreign capitals made him an acute and highly polished +man of the world. The present Chancellor has spent all his life within +the comparatively narrow confines of Prussian administrative service. +It is, of course, too soon to pass final judgment on him as German +Prime Minister. + +The visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Berlin in +February, 1909, disposed finally of the idea, which had prevailed in +Germany as well as abroad for two or three years, that England was +pursuing a policy aiming to bring about the "isolation" of Germany in +world-politics. The visit was an official one, paid, of course, +chiefly to the Emperor; but its most remarkable feature politics +apart, was the friendly relations which King Edward established with +the Berlin City Fathers at a reception in the Town Hall. It was not +that he said anything out of the way to the assembled burghers; but +his simple manner, genial remarks, and perhaps especially the +sympathetic way in which he handled the loving-cup offered by his +hosts, made an instantaneous and strong impression. + +The controversy that raged round the so-called "Flora Bust" +contributed not a little to the gaiety of nations towards the close of +this year. The bust, an undraped wax figure, reproducing the features +of Leonardo da Vinci's famous "La Joconde," was bought by Dr. Wilhelm +Bode, Director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, for £8,000 +from a London dealer as an authentic work of the celebrated Italian +painter, dating from about the year 1500. It was brought with a great +flourish of trumpets to Berlin, and a chorus of self-congratulation +was raised in Germany on the successful carrying off of such a prize +from England. The harmony, however, was rudely disturbed by the +publication of a letter from Mr. F.C. Cooksey, art critic of the +_Times_, stating that the bust was not by da Vinci at all, but was in +reality the work of Mr. R.C. Lucas, an artist of some note forty or +fifty years ago, and that it had for long occupied a pedestal in +Lucas's suburban garden. + +The Emperor, whose curiosity as well as patriotism was aroused, spent +half an hour on November 11th discussing the bust with Dr. Bode and +examining an album containing photographs of the works of Lucas. At +the close of his inspection the Emperor expressed great delight at the +acquisition, as to the genuineness of which he declared he "had not +the slightest doubt," and said he did not regard the price paid as +extremely high. Unfortunately for the Emperor's conviction, a letter +now appeared in the _Times_ from Mr. A.C. Lucas, a son of R.C. Lucas, +who said he recollected the making of the bust, and suggested that +there might be found in its interior a piece of cloth, probably a part +of an old waistcoat of his father's, which had been used as a sort of +filling. In the presence of such a statement there was only one thing +left to be done: to examine the interior of the bust. First of all it +was subjected to the Roentgen rays, the result being to show that the +interior was not homogeneous. A few days after, there was a great +gathering of experts at the Museum, a hole was cut in the wax at the +back of the bust, a bent wire was introduced, and the search for the +famous piece of waistcoat began. It was a dramatic moment as Professor +Latghen with his wire explored the interior of the bust, and the +tension reached its highest point when the Professor, drawing from the +bust what was evidently a piece of cloth, exclaimed, "_Hier ist die +Veste!_" On being further withdrawn the substance proved to be about +two square inches of a grey, canvas-like material, feeling soft and +velvety to the touch. It was a disagreeable discovery for the Germans, +but it was got over by the suggestion that the original bust had been +entrusted to Lucas for repair, and that in this way the waistcoat had +got into it. The "poor English newspapers," Dr. Bode said, referring +to the sarcastic comments on the discovery from the other side of the +Channel, "had had, without any acquaintance with our bust or with the +work of its alleged forger, to give this particular form of expression +to their ill-humour at the sale." As a matter of fact, the bust, +whoever made it, is a lovely work of art, as every one who has seen it +readily admits. + +The Emperor's friendship with Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, which was now to +be confirmed by personal acquaintance, throws a side light on his own +character, and testifies to his desire to keep in touch with the +rulers of other countries--another illustration, by the way, of his +consistency, since he laid down the policy of cultivating friendly +relations with foreign rulers at the very commencement of his reign. +Probably many letters in the large characteristic handwriting of both +men have passed between them, and there probably always existed a +desire on the part of the wielder of the mailed fist to make the +personal acquaintance of the advocate of the big stick. The meeting +occurred in May, 1910, after Mr. Roosevelt had shot wild beasts in +Africa, visited Egypt, London, Vienna, Rome, and other continental +cities, with a cohort of newspaper correspondents, and caused by his +speeches political, if fortunately harmless, disturbance almost +everywhere he went. When in Berlin he was to have lodged at the +Emperor's palace; but the Emperor's hospitable intent was frustrated +by the death of King Edward VII, which prevented all entertainment in +the home of his German nephew. + +The Roosevelt party, consisting of the ex-President, Mrs. Roosevelt, +and Miss Ethel Roosevelt, arrived in Berlin on May 11th from +Stockholm, and at noon the same day were taken by royal train to +Potsdam. At the New Palace the party were heartily greeted by the +Emperor, whom they found standing on the steps waiting to receive +them. After shaking hands the Emperor led his guests into a small +reception-room, where they were introduced to the Empress, the Crown +Prince and Crown Princess, and other members of the imperial family. +The Emperor then took them to the Shell Room, so called from its being +inlaid with shells and rare stones, and here were found some of the +Emperor's high officials, including Admiral von Müller, chief of the +Marine Cabinet, and one of the most able and amiable of the Emperor's +entourage, who had met Mr. Roosevelt when on his trip to America with +Prince Henry several years before. Luncheon followed at six small +tables in the Jasper Gallery, the Emperor taking his seat between Mrs. +Roosevelt and the Crown Princess, while the Empress had Mr. Roosevelt +on her left and her eldest son, the Crown Prince, on her right. +Princess Victoria Louise, the Emperor's only daughter, occupied a seat +on Mr. Roosevelt's left. After lunch was over the guests went back to +the Shell Room, and here the Emperor, taking Mr. Roosevelt apart, +began a conversation so long and animated that the shades of evening +began to fall before it ended. The Roosevelts did not return to Berlin +by train, but were first driven by the Emperor to inspect Sans Souci, +and were afterwards whirled back to Berlin in the yellow imperial +motors. + +Only two other incidents of the visit need be mentioned. One of them +was a lecture on "The World Movement," delivered by Mr. Roosevelt in +very husky tones (for he was suffering badly from hoarseness) at +Berlin University, in the presence of the Emperor and Empress. The +other was a parade of 12,000 troops, arranged by the Emperor at +Doeberitz, the great military exercise camp near Potsdam, which Mr. +Roosevelt, clad in a khaki coat and breeches, and wearing brown +leather gaiters and black slouch hat, observed from horseback beside +the Emperor. As the troops went by at the close of the review the +Emperor and Mr. Roosevelt saluted in military fashion simultaneously. + +Immediately after the visit of the Roosevelts, the Emperor was called +to England to attend the funeral of King Edward VII. The imperial +yacht _Hohenzollern_, with the Emperor on board, arrived in England on +May 19th. Next day the Emperor travelled to Victoria terminus, where +he was received and warmly embraced by King George. They proceeded to +Buckingham Palace, where the Emperor's first call was made on the +widowed Queen Alexandra. On the 21st took place the funeral of King +Edward, the procession to Westminster Abbey, where the service was +held, being headed by King George with the Emperor on his right and +the Duke of Connaught on his left. Both the Emperor and the Duke were +dressed in Field-Marshal's uniform and carried the bâtons of their +rank. The countenance of the Emperor is described by a chronicler of +the time (and the _Times_) as wearing "an expression grave even to +severity." + +The procession moved slowly on to the famous Abbey, the Emperor riding +a grey horse, saluting at intervals as he rode along. On arrival at +the Abbey an incident occurred. As soon as Queen Alexandra's carriage +arrived and drew up, the Emperor, according to the accounts of +eyewitnesses, ran to the door of the carriage with so much alacrity +that he had reached it before the royal servants, and when it appeared +that her Majesty was not to alight from that side of the carriage, the +Emperor motioned the lacqueys round to the other door, and was there +before them to assist her Majesty. This he did, after himself opening +the door. The Emperor remained in England only a very few days after +the funeral, seeing old friends, among them Lord Kitchener. + +As of interest to both Englishmen and Germans may be mentioned the +tour through India undertaken by the Crown Prince in November. Steele +once happily said of a Lady Hastings that "to love her was a liberal +education"; to make a tour through India, it might similarly be said, +is an education in the extent and character of British imperial power +and administration. The Crown Prince naturally devoted a goodly share +of his time to the delights of sport, including tiger-shooting and +pig-sticking, but he must also have learned much of England's fine +imperial spirit from his intercourse with an official hierarchy as +honest and conscientious as that of his own country. The Crown Prince, +on his return home, published a volume of hunting reminiscences which +does no small credit to him as an author. + +The Emperor's "shining armour" political remark dates from this +period. He was on a visit to his Triplice ally, Kaiser Franz Josef, in +September, 1910, and made a speech at the Vienna Town Hall on the 21st +which contained a reference to the loyal conduct he claimed Germany +had observed when the action of Austria-Hungary in annexing Bosnia and +Herzegovina, despite the wording of the Treaty of Berlin, had raised +an outcry in other countries, and in particular strained Austrian +relations with Russia. After thanking his audience for the personal +reception given him, he continued: + + "On the other hand, it seems to me I read in your resolution + the agreement of the city of Vienna with the action of an + ally in taking his stand in shining armour at a grave moment + by the side of your most gracious sovereign." + +The outcry caused in the world by Austria's high-handed annexation, +and especially in Russia, theoretically always Austria's most probable +enemy, owing to conflicting interests in the Balkans, subsided, we +know, as suddenly as it was raised. The reason, it is currently +believed, and the form in which the rays of the shining armour acted, +was an intimation from the Emperor to the Czar that, if necessary, +Germany was prepared to fight for Austria. + +Peoples are said to have the institutions, and husbands the wives, +they deserve; but if German cities, and especially Berlin, have the +police they deserve, the fact speaks very uncomplimentarily for their +inhabitants. Foreigners in Germany, coming from countries where +manners are more natural and obliging, frequently use the adjectives +"brutal" and "stupid" when speaking of the Prussian constable. The +proceedings of the Berlin police during the Moabit riots in the +capital in September this year are often quoted as an example of their +brutality, while, as to stupidity, it is enough to say that a stranger +in Berlin, discussing its mounted police, naïvely remarked that what +most struck him about them was the look of intelligence on the faces +of the horses. Judgments of this kind are too sweeping. It should be +remembered that Germany is surrounded by countries of which the +riff-raff is at all times seeking refuge in it or passing through it, +that polyglot swindlers of every kind, the most refined as well as the +most commonplace, abound, and that Anarchists are not yet an extinct +species. For the Prussian police, moreover, there is a Social Democrat +behind every bush. + +Possibly to this condition of things, and to the suspicion that Social +Democratic organizers were about, was due the gallant charge made by +half a dozen policemen, with drawn swords in their hands and revolvers +at their belts, on four inoffensive English and American journalists +during the Moabit riots. Towards midnight of September 29th the +journalists were seated in an open taximeter cab, in a brilliantly +lighted square, which some little time before had been swept of +rioters--rioters from the Berlin police point of view being any one, +man, woman, or child, who is, with guilty or innocent intent, it makes +no difference, in or near a theatre of disturbance. Suddenly half a +dozen burly policemen, led on by a police spy, as he afterwards turned +out to be, charged the cab and laid about them with their swords. They +probably only intended to use the flat of their weapons, but one of +them succeeded in slashing deeply the hand of Reuter's representative, +who was of the party. The other journalists escaped with contusions +and bruises, thanks chiefly to the sides of the cab impeding the +sword-play of the attackers. + +The journalists naturally complained to their Ambassadors, who took up +their cause with commendable readiness. Without immediate effect, +however; the authorities, though themselves very strong on the point +of duty, wondered much at journalists being in a place where duty +alone could have brought them, and refused any sort of apology or +other satisfaction. The Government, however, eventually expressed its +"regret," and a year or two after, possibly in the spirit of +conciliation and compensation, agreed to give foreign journalists in +Berlin the _passe-partout_, or _coupe-fil_, as it is known in France, +which is one of the privileges most valued by the journalist, native +and foreign, in Paris. + +Among the international agreements of the year was a commercial one +between Germany and America. Commercial relations between the two +countries have never been quite satisfactory to either, and if there +is no tariff war, occasions of tariff tension, with consequent +disturbance of trade, constantly arise. Germany's European commercial +treaties have secured her a sufficiency of raw material for her +industry. Her chief object now is not so much perhaps to facilitate +imports of material from other countries as to find markets, in +America as elsewhere, for her industry's finished products. +Consequently she strongly dislikes the high tariff barriers of the +United States, inaugurated by the Dingley tariff of 1897, and has in +addition certain grievances against that country regarding customs +administration in respect of appraisement, invoices, and the like. Her +commercial connexion with America dates from the treaty of "friendship +and commerce" made by Frederick the Great, and having the +most-favoured-nation treatment as its basis; a regular treaty of the +same kind between Prussia and America was entered into in 1828; and +since then commercial relations have been regulated provisionally by a +series of short-term agreements which, however, America claims, do not +confer on Germany unrestricted right to most-favoured-nation +treatment. By the agreement now in force, concluded this year (1910), +America and Germany grant each other the benefit of their minimum +duties. + +Since the "November storm" the Emperor had made no reference to the +doctrine of Divine Right, nor given any indication of a desire to +exercise the "personal regiment" which is the natural corollary to it. +It has been seen that the doctrine, viewed from the English +standpoint, is a species of mental malady to which Hohenzollern +monarchs are hereditarily subject. It recurs intermittently and +particularly whenever a Hohenzollern monarch speaks in Koenigsberg, +the Scone of Prussia, where Prussian Kings are crowned. When at +Koenigsberg this year the Emperor suffered from a return of the royal +_idée fixe_. "Here my grandfather," he said, + + "placed, by his own right, the crown of the Kings of Prussia + on his head, once again laying stress upon the fact that it + was conferred upon him by the Grace of God alone, not by + Parliament, by meetings of the people, or by popular + decisions; and that he considered himself the chosen + instrument of Heaven and as such performed his duties as + regent and as ruler." + +Speaking of himself on the occasion he said: + + "Considering myself as an Instrument of the Lord, without + being misled by the views and opinions of the day, I go my + way, which is devoted solely and alone to the prosperity and + peaceful development of our Fatherland." + +The Emperor, by the way, on this occasion made what sounds like an +indirect reference to the Suffragette craze. "What shall our women," +he asked, after mentioning the pattern Queen of Prussia, Queen Louise, + + "learn from the Queen? They must learn that the principal + task of the German woman does not lie in attending public + meetings and belonging to societies, in the attainment of + supposed rights in which women can emulate men, but in the + quiet work of the home and in the family." + +The Emperor's reference to his divine appointment did not pass without +a good deal of popular criticism in Germany, but nearly all Germans +were at one with the Emperor in his view of the proper sphere for +womanly activities. + +The Emperor's domestic life for the last two or three years, including +the early months of the present year, have passed without special +cause of interest or excitement, if we except the visit he and the +Empress made to London in May, 1911, to be present at the unveiling of +Queen Victoria's statue, and the announcement he was able to make a +few months ago that his only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, had +become engaged to Prince Ernest August, Duke of Cumberland, the still +persisting claimant to the Kingdom of Hannover, absorbed by Prussia in +1866. The visit to London lasted only five days and produced no +incident particularly worthy of record. The engagement of Princess +Victoria Louise, while generally believed to be a love-match, +possesses also political significance for Germany, not indeed as +putting an end to the claim of the Duke of Cumberland, but as +practically effecting a reconciliation between the Hohenzollerns and +Guelphs. The young Duke of Brunswick had already implicitly renounced +his claim to Hannover by entering the German army and taking the oath +of allegiance to the Emperor as War Lord, so that, when his father +dies, the Guelph claim to Hannover will die with him. + +It is difficult to determine whether the Government's abandonment of +its design to amend the Prussian franchise system in 1910, its +submissive attitude towards the Pope's Borromeo Encyclical in 1911, +the rapid rise in food prices which marked both years, or finally, the +Emperor's failure to secure a slice of Morocco for Germany had most +antagonizing effect on German popular feeling; but whatever the cause, +the general elections of January, 1912, proved a tremendous Socialist +victory, which must have been, and still remains, gall and wormwood to +the Emperor. Notwithstanding official efforts, over one-third of the +votes polled at the first ballots went for Social Democratic +candidates. The number of seats thus obtained was 64, and this number, +after the second ballots, rose to 110, thus making the Socialist party +numerically the strongest in the Reichstag. Up to the present, +however, Herr Bebel and his cohorts appear to be happy in possessing +power rather than in using it. + +Before completing the Emperor's domestic chronicle of more recent +years, a few lines may be devoted to the role in which he has last +appeared before the public--that of farmer. On February 12, 1913, he +attended a meeting of the German Agricultural Council in Berlin, and +with only a few statistical notes to help him narrated in lively and +amusing fashion his experiences as owner of a farm, the management of +which he has been personally supervising since 1898. The farm is part +of the Cadinen Estate, bequeathed to him by an admirer and universally +known for the majolica ware made out of the clay found on the +property. The Emperor was able to show that he had achieved remarkable +success with his farm, and particularly with a fine species of bull, +_Bos indicus major_, he maintained on it. A year or two before, at a +similar meeting, when speaking of the same breed of bull, he caused +much hilarity among the military portion of his audience by jokingly +remarking that it had "nothing to do with the General Staff." On the +present occasion he also caused laughter by recounting how he had +"fired," to use an American expression exactly equivalent to the +German word employed by the Emperor, a tenant who "wasn't any use." +The Emperor, however, would, as it turned out, have done better by not +mentioning the incident, for the Supreme Court at Leipzig a few days +subsequently quashed the Emperor's order of ejectment on the tenant +and condemned him to pay all the costs in the case. The role of +farmer, it may be added, is one which, had he been born a country +gentleman like Bismarck, the Emperor would have filled with complete +success. But in what role would he not have done well? + +Foreign politics everywhere for the last three or four years have been +full of incident, outcry, and bloodshed. The state of things, indeed, +prevailing in the world for some time past is extraordinary. A +visitant from another planet would imagine that normal peace and +abnormal war had changed places, and that civilized mankind now regard +peace as an interlude of war, not war as an interlude of peace. He +would be wrong, of course, but the race in armament, which threatens +to leave the nations taking part in it financially breathless and +exhausted, might easily lead him astray. On some of the situations +with which these politics are concerned we may briefly touch. + +For the last three or four years the dominant note in the music of +what is called the European Concert, taking Europe for the moment to +include Great Britain, has been the state of Anglo-German relations. +There have been times, as has been seen, when public feeling in both +England and Germany was strongly antagonized, but all through the +period there has been evident a desire on the part of both Governments +to adopt a mutually conciliatory attitude, and if the war in the +Balkans does not lead to a general international conflagration, which +at present appears improbable, the two countries may arrive at a +permanent understanding. There was, and not so very long ago, a +similar state of tension, prolonged for many years, between England +and France. That tension not only ceased, but was converted into +political friendship by the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904. Parallel +with this tension between England and France was the tension between +England and Russia, owing to the latter's advance towards England's +Indian possessions. The latter state of things ended with the +Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907, and it should engender satisfaction +and hope, therefore, to those who now apprehend a war between England +and Germany to note that neither of the tensions referred to, though +both were long and bitter, developed into war. + +The tension between England and Germany of late years has been +tightened rather than relaxed by ministerial speeches as well as by +newspaper polemics in both countries. One of the most disturbing of +the former was the speech delivered by Mr. Lloyd George at the Mansion +House on July 21, 1911. Doubtless with the approval of the Prime +Minister, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George said: + + "I believe it is essential, in the highest interest not + merely of this country, but of the world, that Britain + should at all hazards maintain her place and her prestige + amongst the Great Powers of the world. Her potent influence + has many a time been in the past, and may yet be in the + future, invaluable to the cause of human liberty. It has + more than once in the past redeemed continental nations, + which are sometimes too apt to forget that service, from + overwhelming disasters and even from national extinction. I + would make great sacrifices to preserve peace. I conceive + that nothing would justify a disturbance of international + goodwill except questions of the gravest national moment. + But if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace + could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and + beneficent position Britain has won by centuries of heroism + and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated, where + her interests are vitally affected, as if she were of no + account in the cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically + that peace at that price would be a humiliation intolerable + for a great country like ours to endure." + +These rhetorical platitudes were uttered at the time of the +"conversations" between the French and German Foreign Offices about +the compensation claimed by Germany for giving France, once for all, a +free hand in Morocco. Germany was apparently making demands of an +exorbitant character, and what Mr. Lloyd George really meant was that +if Germany persisted in these demands England would fight on the side +of France in order to resist them. As a genuinely democratic speaker, +however, he followed the rule of many publicists, who are paid for +their articles by the column and say to themselves, "Why use two words +when five will do?" + +Another unfortunate remark that may be noted in this connexion was +that made by Mr. Winston Churchill in referring to the German navy as +"to some extent a luxury." The remark, though true (also to a certain +extent), was unfortunate, for it irritated public opinion in Germany, +where it was regarded as a species of impertinent interference. + +As evidence of the desire on the part of the Emperor and his +Government for a friendly arrangement with England may be quoted the +statement made in December, 1910, by the German Chancellor, Herr von +Bethmann-Hollweg, _to_ the following effect:-- + + "We also meet England in the desire to avoid rivalry in + regard to armaments, and non-binding _pourparlers_, which + have from time to time taken place, have been conducted on + both sides in a friendly spirit. We have always advanced the + opinion that a frank and sincere interchange of views, + followed by an understanding with regard to the economic and + political interests of the two countries, offers the surest + means of allaying all mistrust on the subject of the + relations of the Powers to each other on sea and land." + +The Chancellor went on to explain that this mistrust had manifested +itself "not in the case of the Governments, but of public opinion." + +With regard, in particular, to a naval understanding between England +and Germany, Chancellor von Bülow, in a Budget speech in March, 1909, +declared that up to that time no proposals regarding the dimensions of +the fleets or the amount of naval expenditure which could serve as a +basis for an understanding had been made on the side of England, +though non-binding conversations had taken place on the subject +between authoritative English and German personalities. In March last +year (1912) such proposals may be said to have been made in the form +of a suggestion by Sir Edward Grey during the Budget debate that the +ratio of 16 to 10 (i.e., 50 per cent. more and 10 per cent. over) +should express the naval strength of the two countries. The suggestion +was "welcomed" by Admiral von Tirpitz on behalf of Germany in +February, 1913. And there the matter rests. + +A perhaps inevitable result of the tension between England and Germany +during the period under consideration has been the amount of mutual +espionage discovered to be going on in both countries. An incident +that attracted wide attention was the arrest in 1910 of Captains +Brandon and Trench, the former of whom was arrested at Borkum and the +latter at Emden. They were tried before the Supreme Court at Leipzig, +and were both sentenced to incarceration in a fortress for four years. +Many other arrests, prosecutions, and sentences have taken place both +in England and Germany since then, with the consequence that English +travellers in Germany and German travellers in England, particularly +where the travellers are men of military bearing and are in seaside +regions, are now liable, under very small provocation, to a suspicion +of being spies. An English lady recently made the acquaintance of a +German in England. He was a very nice man, she said, and went on to +relate how they were talking one day about Ireland. She happened to +mention Tipperary. "Oh, I know Tipperary," the German officer said; +"it is in my department." "It was a revelation to me," the lady +concluded when repeating the conversation to her friends. As a matter +of fact, the Intelligence Departments of the army in both Germany and +England are well acquainted with the roads, hills, streams, forts, +harbours, and similar details of topography in almost all countries of +the world besides their own. + +In regard to 1911 should be recorded the journey of the Crown Prince +and Crown Princess to England to represent the Emperor at the +coronation of King George in June; the outbreak in September of the +Turco-Italian War, which placed the Emperor in a dilemma, of which one +fork was his duty to Italy as an ally in the Triplice and the other +his platonic friendship with the Commander of the Faithful; and, +lastly, the suspicion of the Emperor's designs that arose in connexion +with the fortification of Flushing at a cost to Holland of some +£3,000,000. The Emperor was supposed to have insisted on the +fortification in order to prevent the use of the Netherlands by Great +Britain as a naval base against Germany. Like many another scare in +connexion with foreign policy, the supposition may be regarded only as +a product of intelligent journalistic "combination." + +Finally, among subsidiary occurrences, should be mentioned the meeting +of the Emperor and the Czar in July, 1912, at Port Baltic in Finnish +waters, accompanied by their Foreign Ministers, with the official +announcement of the stereotyped "harmonious relations" between the two +monarchs that followed; and the premature prolongation, with the +object of showing solidarity regarding the Balkan situation, of the +Triple Alliance, which, entered into, as mentioned earlier, in the +year 1882, had already been renewed in 1891, 1896, and 1902. The next +renewal should be in 1925, unless in the meantime an international +agreement to which all Great Powers are signatories should render it +superfluous. + +The war in the Balkans need only be referred to in these pages in so +far as it concerns Germany. The position of Germany in regard to it, +so far, appears simple; she will actively support Austria's larger +interests in order to keep faith with her chief ally of the Triplice, +and so long as Austria and Russia can agree regarding developments in +the Balkan situation, there is no danger of war among the Great +Powers. People smiled at the declaration of the Powers some little +time ago that the _status quo_ in the Balkans should be maintained; +but it should be remembered that the whole phrase is _status quo ante +bellum_, and that, once war has broken out, the _status_, the position +of affairs, is in a condition of solution, and that no new _status_ +can arise until the war is over and its consequences determined by +treaties. The result of the present war, let it be hoped, will be to +confine Turkey to the Orient, where she belongs, and that the Balkan +States, possibly after a period of internecine feud, will take their +share in modern European progress and civilization. + +The amount of declaration, asseveration, recrimination (chiefly +journalistic), rectification, intimidation, protestation, +pacification, and many other wordy processes that have been employed +in almost all countries with the avowed object of maintaining peace +during the last four years is in striking contrast to the small +progress actually made in regard to a final settlement of either of +the two great international points at issue--the limitation of +armaments and compulsory arbitration. + +Enough perhaps has been said in preceding pages to show the attitude +of the Emperor, and consequently the attitude of his Government, +towards them. A history of the long agitation in connexion with them +is beyond the scope of this work. The agitation itself, however, may +be viewed as a step, though not a very long one, on the way to the +desired solution, and it is a matter for congratulation that the two +subjects have been, and are still being, so freely and copiously and, +on the whole, so sympathetically and hopefully ventilated. The great +difficulty, apparently, is to find what diplomatists call the proper +"formula"--the law-that-must-be-obeyed. Unfortunately, the finding of +the formula cannot be regarded as the end of the matter; there still +remains the finding of what jurists call the "sanction," that is to +say, the power to enforce the formula when found and to punish any +nation which fails to act in accordance with it. Nothing but an +Areopagus of the nations can furnish such a sanction, but with the +present arrangements for balancing power in Europe, to say nothing of +the ineradicable pugnacity, greed, and ambition of human nature, such +an Areopagus seems very like an impossibility. Time, however, may +bring it about. If it should, and the Golden Age begin to dawn, an +epoch of new activities and new horizons, quite possibly more novel +and interesting than any which has ever preceded it, will open for +mankind. + + + + +XVI. + + + +THE EMPEROR TO-DAY + +What strikes one most, perhaps, on looking back over the Emperor's +life and time, are two surprising inconsistencies, one relating to the +Emperor himself, the other to that part of his time with which he has +been most closely identified. + +The first arises from the fact that a man so many-sided, so impulsive, +so progressive, so modern--one might almost say so American--should +have altered so little either in character or policy during quarter of +a century. This is due to what we have called his mediæval nature. He +is to-day the same Hohenzollern he was the day he mounted the throne, +observing exactly the same attitude to the world abroad and to his +folk at home, tenacious of exactly the same principles, enunciating +exactly the same views in politics, religion, morals, and art--in +everything which concerns the foundations of social life. He still +believes himself, as his speeches and conduct show, the selected +instrument of Heaven, and acts towards his people and addresses them +accordingly. He still opposes all efforts at political change, as +witness his attitude towards electoral reform, towards the +Germanization of Prussian Poland, towards the Socialists, towards +Liberalism in all its manifestations. He is still, as he was at the +outset of his reign, the patron of classical art, classical drama, and +classical music. He is still the War Lord with the spirit of a bishop +and a bishop with the spirit of the War Lord. He is still the model +husband and father he always has been. Most men change one way or +another as time goes on. With the Emperor time for five-and-twenty +years appears to have stood still. + +The inconsistency relating to his time arises from the contrast +between the real and the seeming character of the reign. For, +strikingly and anomalously enough, while the Emperor has been steadily +pursuing an economic policy, a policy of peace, his entire reign, as +one turns over the pages of its history, seems to resound, during +almost every hour, with martial shoutings, confused noises, the +clatter of harness, the clash of swords, and the tramp of armies. From +moment to moment it recalls those scenes from Shakespearean drama in +which indeed no dead are actually seen upon the stage, but at +intervals the air is filled with battle cries, "with excursions and +alarms," with warriors brandishing their weapons, calling for horses, +hacking at imaginary foes, and defying the world in arms. + +And yet in reality it has been a period of domestic peace throughout. +Though there has been incessant talk of war, and at times war may have +been near, it never came, unless the South West African and Boxer +expeditions be so called. Commerce and trade have gone on increasing +by leaps and bounds. The population has grown at the rate of nearly +three-quarters of a million a year. Emperor William the First's social +policy has been closely followed. The navy has been built, the army +strengthened, the Empire's finances reorganized; in whatever direction +one looks one finds a record of solid and substantial and peaceful +progress and prosperity. A great deal of it is owing, admittedly, to +the Germans themselves, but no small share of it is due to the +"impulsive" Emperor's consistency of character and conduct. + +Probably the inconsistencies are only apparent. Germany and her +Emperor have grown, not developed, if by development is meant a +radical alteration in structure or mentality, and if regard is had to +the real Germany and the real Emperor, not to the Germany of the +tourist, and not to the Emperor of contemporary criticism. It has been +seen that the Emperor's nature and policy have not altered. The +Constitution of Germany has not altered, nor her Press, nor her +political parties, nor her social system, nor, indeed, any of the +vital institutions of her national life. With one possible +exception--the navy. The navy is a new organic feature, and, like all +organisms, is exerting deep and far-reaching influences. Germany, of +course, is in a process of development, a state of transition. But +nations are at all times in a state of transition, more or less +obvious; and it will require yet a good many years to show what new +forms and fruits the development now going on in Germany is to bring. +The Emperor, it is safe to say, will remain the same, mediæval in +nature, modern in character, to the end of his life. + +The main thing, however, to be noted both about Germany and the German +Emperor is what they stand for in the movement of world-ideas at the +present time. Germans cause foreigners to smile when they prophesy +that their culture, their civilization, will become the culture and +the civilization of the world. The sameness of ideas that prevailed in +mediæval times about life and religion--about this life and the life +to come--was succeeded, and first in Germany, by an enormous diversity +of ideas about life and religion, beginning with the Rationalism (or +"enlightenment," as the Germans call it) which set in after the +Reformation and the Renaissance; and this diversity again +promises--let us at least hope--to go back, in one of the great +circles that make one think human thought, too, moves in accordance +with planetary laws, to a sameness of views among the nations in +regard to the real interests of society, which are peace, religious +harmony through toleration, commercial harmony through international +intercourse, and the mutual goodwill of governments and peoples. For +all this order of ideas the Emperor, notwithstanding his mailed fist +and shining armour, stands, and in this spirit both he and the German +mind are working. + +More than half a century has passed over the Emperor's head; let us +look a little more closely at him as the man and the monarch he is +to-day. Time appears to have dealt gently with him; the heart, one +hears it said, never grows bald, and in all but years the Emperor is +probably as young and untiring as ever. + +His personal appearance has altered little in the last decade. An +observer, who had an opportunity of seeing him at close quarters in +1902, describes him, as he then appeared, as follows:-- + + "I was standing within arm's length of him at Cuxhaven, + where we were waiting the landing of Prince Henry, his + brother, on his return from America. The _Deutschland_ had + to be warped alongside the quay, and the Emperor, in the + uniform of a Prussian general of infantry, meanwhile mixed + with the suite and chatted, now to one, now to another, with + his usual bonhomie. I was speaking to the American attaché, + Captain H----, when the Emperor came up, and naturally I + stood a little to one side. + + "The thing that most struck me was the Emperor's large grey + eyes. As they looked sharply into those of Captain H---- or + glanced in my direction, they seemed to show absolutely no + feeling, no sentiment of any kind. Not that they gave the + notion of hardness or falsity. They were simply like two + grey mirrors on which outward things made no impression. + + "Two other features did not strike me as anything out of the + ordinary, but the whole face had an air of ability, + cleverness, briskness, and health. The Emperor is about + middle height, with the body very erect, the walk firm, and + is very energetic in his gestures. I did not notice the + shortness of the left arm, but that may have been because + his left hand was leaning on his sword-hilt. Captain H---- + told me he could not put on his overcoat without assistance, + and that the hand is so weak he can do very little with it. + There was nothing of a Hohenzollern hanging under-lip." + +The following judgment was formed a year or two ago by an American +diplomatist: "I have often met him," the diplomatist said, + + "and only speak of the impression he made on me. I would + describe him as intelligent rather than intellectual. He + appreciates men of learning and of philosophic mind, and + while not learned and philosophic himself, enjoys seeing the + learned and philosophic at work, and gladly recognizes their + merit when their labours are thorough and well done. His + mind is marvellously quick, but it does not dwell on + anything for long at a time. It takes in everything + presented to it in, so to speak, a hop, skip, and jump. + + "In company he is never at rest, and surprises one by his + lively play of features and the entirely natural and + unaffected expression of his thoughts. He is sitting at a + lecture, perhaps, when a notion occurs to him, and forthwith + indicates it by a humorous grimace or wink to some one + sitting far away from him. He is always saying unexpected + things. On the whole, he is a right good fellow, and I can + imagine that, though he can come down hard on one with a + heavy hand and stern look, he does not do so by the instinct + of a despot, but acting under a sense of duty." + +Another diplomatist has remarked the Emperor's habit in conversation +of tapping the person he is talking to on the shoulder and of +scrutinizing him all over--"ears, nose, clothes, until it makes one +feel quite uncomfortable." + +The next sketch of him is as he may be seen any day during the +yachting week in June at Kiel:-- + + "The Emperor is in the smoking-room of the Yacht Club, + dressed in a blue lounge suit with a white peaked cap. He is + sitting carelessly on the side of a table, dangling his legs + and discussing with fellow-members and foreign yachtsmen the + experience of the day, now speaking English, now French, now + German. He seems quite in his element as sportsman, and puts + every one at ease round him. His expression is animated and + his voice hearty, if a little strident to foreign ears. His + right hand and arm are in ceaseless movement, emphasizing + and enforcing everything he says. He asks many questions and + often invites opinion, and when it differs from his own, as + sometimes happens, he takes it quite good-humouredly." + +To-day the Emperor is outwardly much the same as he has just been +described. He is perhaps slightly more inclined to stoutness. His +features, though they speak of cleverness and manliness, are forgotten +as one looks into the keen and quickly moving grey eyes with their +peculiar dash of yellow. He is well set up, as is proper for a soldier +ever actively engaged in military duties, and his stride continues +firm and elastic. He is still constantly in the saddle. His hair, +still abundant, is yet beginning to show the first touches of the +coming frost of age, and the reddish brown moustache, once famous for +its haughtily upturned ends, has taken, either naturally or by the aid +of Herr Haby, the Court barber, who attends him daily, a nearly level +form. + +In public, whether mounted or on foot, he preserves the somewhat stern +air he evidently thinks appropriate to his high station, but more +frequently than formerly the features relax into a pleasant smile. The +colour of the face is healthy, tending to rosiness, and the general +impression given is that of a clever man, conscious, yet not +overconscious, of his dignity. The shortness of the left arm, a defect +from birth, is hardly noticeable. + +The extirpation of a polypus from the Emperor's throat in 1903, which +must have been one of the severest trials of his life when the history +of his father's mortal illness is remembered, might lead one to +suppose that his vocal organs would always suffer from the effects of +the operation. It has fortunately turned out otherwise. His voice was +originally strong by nature, and remains so. It never seems tired, +even when, as it often does, it pleases him to read aloud for his own +pleasure or that of a circle of friends. It frequently occurs that he +will pick up a book, one of his ancient favourites, Horace or Homer +perhaps, Mr. Stewart Houston Chamberlain's "Foundations of the +Nineteenth Century"--a work he greatly admires--or a modern +publication he has read of in the papers, and read aloud from it for +an hour or an hour and a half at a time. Nor is his reading aloud +confined to classical or German books. He is equally disposed to +choose works in English or French or Italian, and when he reads these +he is fond of doing so with a particularly clear and distinct +enunciation, partly as practice for himself, and partly that his +hearers may understand with certainty. This is not all, for there +invariably follows a discussion upon what has been read, and in it the +Emperor takes a constant and often emphatic part. It has been remarked +that at the close of the longest sitting of this character his voice +is as strong and sonorous as at the beginning. + +He is still the early riser and hard worker he has always been; still +devotes the greater part of his time to the duties that fall to him as +War Lord; still races about the Empire by train or motor-car, +reviewing troops, laying foundation-stones, unveiling statues, +dedicating churches, attending manoeuvres, encouraging yachting at +Kiel by his presence during the yachting week, or hurrying off to meet +the monarch of a foreign country. He still enjoys his annual trip +along the shores of Norway or breaks away from the cares of State to +pass a few weeks at his Corfu castle, dazzling in its marble whiteness +and overlooking the Acroceraunian mountains, or to hunt or shoot at +the country seat of some influential or wealthy subject. In fine, he +is still engaged with all the energy of his nature, if in a somewhat +less flamboyant fashion than during his earlier years, in his, as he +believes, divinely appointed work of guiding Prussia's destiny and +building up the German Empire. + +It is because he is an Empire-builder that his numerous journeys +abroad and restlessness of movement at home have earned for him the +nickname of the "travelling Kaiser." The Germans themselves do not +understand his conduct in this respect. If one urges that Hohenzollern +kings, and none of them more than the Great Elector and Frederick the +Great, were incessant travellers, they will reply that their kings had +to be so at a time when the Empire was not yet established, when +rebellious nobles had to be subdued, and when the spirit of +provincialism and particularism had to be counteracted. Hence, they +say, former Hohenzollerns had to exercise personal control in all +parts of their dominions, see that their military dispositions were +carried out, and study social and economic conditions on the spot; but +nowadays, when the Empire is firmly established, when the +administration is working like a clock and the post and telegraph are +at command, the Emperor should stay at home and direct everything from +his capital. + +The Emperor himself evidently takes a different view. He does not +consider the forty-year-old Empire as completed and consolidated, but +regards it much as the Great Elector or Frederick the Great regarded +Prussia when that kingdom was in the making. He believes in +propagating the imperial idea by his personal presence in all parts of +the Empire, and at the same time observing the progress that is being +made there. He is, finally, a believer in getting into personal touch, +as far as is possible, with foreign monarchs, foreign statesmen, and +foreign peoples, for he doubtless sees that with every decade the +interests of nations are becoming more closely identified. + +In connexion with the subject of the Emperor's travelling, mention may +be made of the fact that many years ago he thought it necessary to +explain himself publicly in reference to the idea, prevalent among his +people at the time, that he was travelling too much. "On my travels," +he said, + + "I design not only to make myself acquainted with foreign + countries and institutions, and to foster friendly relations + with neighbouring rulers, but these journeys, which have + been often misinterpreted, have high value in enabling me to + observe home affairs from a distance and submit them to a + quiet examination." + +He expresses something in the same order of thought in a speech +telling of his reflections on the high sea concerning his +responsibilities as ruler: + + "When one is alone on the high sea, with only God's starry + heaven above him, and holds communion with himself, one will + not fail to appreciate the value of such a journey. I could + wish many of my countrymen to live through hours like these, + in which one can take reckoning of what he has designed and + what achieved. Then one would be cured of over + self-estimation--and that we all need." + +When the Emperor is about to start on a journey, confidential +telegrams are sent to the railway authorities concerned, and +immediately a thorough inspection of the line the Emperor is about to +travel over is ordered. Tunnels, bridges, points, railway crossings, +are all subjected to examination, and spare engines kept in immediate +readiness in case of a breakdown occurring to the imperial train. The +police of the various towns through which the monarch is to pass are +also communicated with and their help requisitioned in taking +precautions for his safety. Like any private person, the Emperor pays +his own fares, which are reckoned at the rate of an average of fifteen +shillings to one pound sterling a mile. A recent journey to +Switzerland cost him in fares £200. Of late years he has saved money +in this respect by the more frequent use of the royal motor-cars. The +royal train is put together by selecting those required from fifteen +carriages which are always ready for an imperial journey. If the +journey is short, a saloon carriage and refreshment car are deemed +sufficient; in case of a long journey the train consists of a buffer +carriage in addition, with two saloon cars for the suite and two +wagons for the luggage. The train is always accompanied by a high +official of the railway, who, with mechanics and spare guard, is in +direct telephonic communication with the engine-driver and guard. The +carriages are coloured alike, ivory-white above the window-line and +lacquered blue below. + +All the carriages, with the exception of the saloon dining-car, are of +the corridor type. A table runs down the centre of the dining-car; the +Emperor takes his seat in the centre, while the rest of the suite and +guests take their places at random, save that the elder travellers are +supposed to seat themselves about the Emperor. If the Emperor has +guests with him they naturally have seats beside or in the near +neighbourhood of their host. Breakfast is taken about half-past eight, +lunch at one, and dinner at seven or eight. The Emperor is always +talkative at table, and often draws into conversation the remoter +members of the company, occasionally calling to them by their nickname +or a pet name. He sits for an hour or two after dinner, with a glass +of beer and a huge box of cigars before him, discussing the incidents +of the journey or recalling his experiences at various periods of his +reign. + +The Emperor's disposition of the year remains much what it was at the +beginning of the reign. The chief changes in it are the omission of a +yachting visit to Cowes, which he made annually from 1889 to 1895, +and, since 1908, the habit of making an annual summer stay at his +Corfu castle, "Achilleion," instead of touring in the Mediterranean +and visiting Italian cities. January is spent in Berlin in connexion +with the New Year festivities, ambassadorial and other Court +receptions, drawing-rooms, and balls, and the celebration of his +birthday on the 27th. The Berlin season extends into the middle of +February, so that part of that month also is spent in Berlin. During +the latter half of February and in March the Emperor is usually at +Potsdam, occasionally motoring to Berlin to give audience or for some +special occasion. April and part of May are passed in Corfu. Towards +the end of May the Emperor returns to Germany and goes to Wiesbaden +for the opera and Festspiele in the royal theatre; but he must be in +Berlin before May has closed, for the spring parade of the Berlin and +Potsdam garrisons on the vast Tempelhofer Field. His return on +horseback from this parade is always the occasion of popular +enthusiasm in Berlin's principal streets. In early June the Emperor +stays at Potsdam or perhaps pays a visit to some wealthy noble, and at +the end of the month the yachting week calls him to Kiel. Once that is +over he proceeds on his annual tour along the coast of Norway. +September sees him back in Germany for the autumn manoeuvres. October +and November are devoted to shooting at Rominten or some other +imperial hunting lodge, or with some large landowner or industrial +magnate. The whole of December is usually spent at Potsdam, save for +an annual visit to his friend Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen. +Naturally he is in Potsdam for Christmas, when all the imperial family +assemble to celebrate the festival in good old German style. + +In music, as we know, he retains the classical tastes he has always +cultivated and sometimes dictatorially recommended. Good music, he has +said, is like a piece of lace, not like a display of fireworks. He +still has most musical enjoyment in listening to Bach and Handel. The +former he has spoken of as one of the most "modern" of composers, and +will point out that his works contain melodious passages that might be +the musical thought of Franz Lehar or Leo Fall. He has no great liking +for the music of Richard Strauss, and his admiration of Wagner, if +certain themes, that must, one feels, have been drawn from the music +of the spheres, be excepted, is respectful rather than rapturous. Of +Wagner's works the "Meistersingers" is "my favourite." + +A faculty that in the Emperor has developed with the years is that of +applying a sense of humour, not originally small, to the events of +everyday life. He is always ready to joke with his soldiers and +sailors, with artists, professors, ministers--in short, with men of +every class and occupation. Several stories in illustration of his +humour are current, but a homely example or two may here suffice. He +is sitting in semi-darkness in the parquet at the Royal Opera House. +"Le Prophète" is in rehearsal, and it is the last act, in which there +is a powder cask, ready to blow everything to atoms, standing outside +the cathedral. Fraulein Frieda Hempel, as the heroine, appears with a +lighted torch and is about to take her seat on the cask. Suddenly the +imperial voice is heard from the semi-gloom: "Fraulein Hempel, it is +evident you haven't had a military training or you wouldn't take a +light so near a barrel of gunpowder." And the _prima donna_ has to +take her place on the other side of the stage. Or he is presenting +Professor Siegfried Ochs, the famous manager of the Philharmonic +Concerts, with the Order of the Red Eagle, third class, and with a +friendly smile gracefully excuses himself for conferring an "Order of +the third class on a musician of the first class," by pleading +official rule. A third popular anecdote tells of a lady seated beside +him at the dinner-table. Salad is being offered to her, but she thinks +she is bound to give all her attention to the Emperor and takes no +notice of it. Thereupon the Emperor: "Gnadige Frau, an Emperor can +wait, but the salad cannot." Possibly the Emperor had in mind Louis +XIII, who complained that he never ate a plate of warm soup in his +life, it had to pass through so many hands to reach him. + +The German takes his theatre as he takes life, seriously. To cough +during a performance attracts embarrassing attention, a sneeze almost +amounts to misdemeanour. To the German the theatre is a part of the +machinery of culture, and accordingly he is not so easily bored as the +Anglo-Saxon playgoer, who demands that drama shall contain that great +essential of all good drama, action. To the Anglo-Saxon, the more +plentiful and rapid the action is, the better. The German, differing +from most Anglo-Saxons, likes historical scenes, great processions, +costume festivals, the representation of mediæval events in which his +monarchs and generals played conspicuous parts. The Emperor has the +same disposition and taste. + +Yet both national taste and disposition, like other of the nation's +characteristics, are slowly altering with the growth of the modern +spirit, and Germans now begin to require something of a more modern +kind, a more social order, something that comes home more to their +business and bosoms. Greater variety in subject is asked for, more +laughter and tears, more representations of scenes and life dealing +with everyday doings and the fate of the people as distinguished from +the doings and fate of their rulers and the upper classes. The Emperor +has not followed his people in the new direction. He regards the stage +as a vehicle of patriotism, an instrument of education, a guider of +artistic taste, an inculcator of old-time morality. Its aim, he +appears to think, is not to help to produce, primarily, the good man +and good citizen, but the good man and good monarchist, +and--perhaps--not so much primarily the good monarchist as the liege +subject of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Having secured this, he looks for +the elevation of the public taste along his own lines. He assumes that +the public taste can be elevated from without, from above, when it can +only be elevated proportionately with its progress in general +education and its purification from within. Consequently he is for the +"classical," as in the other arts. But apart from its aims and uses, +the theatre has always appealed to him. His fondness for it is a +Hohenzollern characteristic, which has shown itself, with more or less +emphasis, in monarch after monarch of the line. Nor is it surprising +that monarchs should take pleasure in the stage, since the theatre is +one of the places which brings them and their subjects together in the +enjoyment of common emotions, and shows them, if only at second hand, +the domestic lives of millions, from personal acquaintance with which +their royal birth and surroundings exclude them. + +The Emperor treats all artists, male and female, in the same friendly +and unaffected manner. There is never the least soupçon of +condescension in the one case or flirtation in the other, but in both +a lively and often unexpectedly well-informed interest in the play or +other artistic performance of the occasion, and in the actors' or +actresses' personal records. The nationality of the artist has +apparently nothing to do with this interest. The Emperor invites +French, Italian, English, American or Scandinavian artists to the +royal box after a performance as often as he invites the artists of +his own country, and, once launched on a conversation, nothing gives +him more pleasure than to expound his views on music, painting, or the +drama, as the case may be. "Tempo--rhythm--colour," he has been heard +to insist on to a conductor whom in the heat of his conviction he had +gradually edged into a corner and before whom he stood with +gesticulating arms--"All the rest is _Schwindel_." At an entertainment +given by Ambassador Jules Cambon at the French Embassy after the +Morocco difficulty had been finally adjusted, he became so interested +while talking to a group of French actors that high dignatories of the +Empire, including Princes, the Imperial Chancellor and Ministers, +standing in another part of the _salon_, grew impatient and had to +detach one of their number to call the Emperor's attention to their +presence. Since then, it is whispered, it has become the special +function of an adjutant, when the occasion demands it, diplomatically +and gently to withdraw the imperial _causeur_ from too absorbing +conversation. + +Several anecdotes are current having reference to the Emperor as +sportsman. One of them, for example, mentions a loving-cup of +Frederick William III's time, kept at the hunting lodge of Letzlingen, +which is filled with champagne and must be emptied at a draught by +anyone visiting the lodge for the first time. This is great fun for +the Emperor, who a year or two ago made a number of Berlin guests, +including Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Austrian Ambassador, +Szoghenyi-Marich, the Secretary for the Navy, Admiral von Tirpitz, and +the Crown Prince of Greece stand before him and drain the cup. As the +story goes, "the attempts of the guests to drink out of the heavy cup, +which is fixed into a set of antlers in such a way as to make it +difficult to drink without spilling the wine, caused great amusement." + +The principles of sport generally, it may be here interpolated, are +not quite the same in Germany as in England, though no country has +imitated England in regard to sport so closely and successfully as +Germany. Up to a comparatively few years ago the Germans had neither +inclination nor means for it, and though always enthusiastic hunters, +hunting--not the English fox-hunting, but hunting the boar and the +bear, the wolf and the deer--was almost the sole form of manly sport +practised. _Turnen_, the most popular sort of German indoor +gymnastics, only began in 1861, a couple of years after the birth of +the Emperor. There are now nearly a dozen cricket clubs alone in +Berlin, football clubs all over the Empire, tennis clubs in every +town, rowing clubs at all the seaports and along the large rivers, +nearly all following English rules and in numerous cases using English +sporting terms. At the same time sport is not the religion it is in +England--indeed, to keep up the metaphor, hardly a living creed. + +The German attitude towards sport is not altogether the same as the +English attitude. In England the object of the game is that the best +man shall win, that he shall not be in any way unfairly or unequally +handicapped _vis-à -vis_ his opponent, and the honour, not the +intrinsic value of the prize, is the main consideration. These +principles are not yet fully understood or adopted in Germany, +possibly owing to the early military training of the German youth +making the carrying off the prize anyhow and by any means the main +object. It is _Realpolitik_ in sport, and a _Realpolitik_ which is not +wholly unknown in England; but while the spirit of _Realpolitik_ is +still perceivable in German sport, it is equally perceivable that the +standard English way of viewing sporting competition is becoming more +and more approached in Germany. + +The Emperor is an enthusiastic patron of sport of all healthy outdoor +kinds, not as sympathizing with the English youth's disposition to +regard play as work and work as play, to give to his business any time +he can spare from his sport, but because he estimates at its full +value its place in the national health-budget. His personal likings +are for bear-shooting, deer-stalking, and yachting, but he also wields +the lawn-tennis racket and the rapier with fair skill. The names of +several of his hunting lodges---Rominten, Springe, Hubertusstock, and +so on--are familiar to many people in all countries. Rominten preserve +is in East Prussia, and embraces about four square miles, with +little lakes and some rising ground. September is the Emperor's +favourite month for visiting it. Here one year he shot a famous +eight-and-twenty-ender antelope, which had come across from Russian +territory. Before the present reign the deer, or pig, or other wild +animal used to be beaten up to the royal sportsman of the day, but +that practice has long ceased, and the Emperor has to tramp many a +mile, and at times crawl on all fours for hundreds of yards, to get a +shot. + +We have seen that the Emperor's position as King and Emperor renders +inevitable his adoption, either of natural bent, which is extremely +probable, or from a policy in harmony with the wishes of his people, +of a view of the monarch's office that to perhaps most Englishmen +living under parliamentary rule must seem antiquated, not to say +absurd. This attitude apart, the Emperor possesses, as it is hoped has +been sufficiently shown, as modern and progressive a spirit as any of +his contemporaries. His instant recognition of all useful modern +appliances, particularly, of course, those of possible service in war, +is a prominent feature of his mentality. He went, doubtless, too far +in heralding Count Zeppelin, in 1909, as "the greatest man of the +century," but the very words he chose to use marked his appreciation +of the new aeronautical science Count Zeppelin was introducing. +Similarly, the moment the automobile had entered on the stage of +reliability it won a place in the imperial favour, and is now his most +constant means of locomotion. He has never, it is true, emulated the +enterprise of his son, the Crown Prince, whom Mr. Orville Wright had +as a companion for a quarter of an hour in the air at Potsdam three +years ago, but his interest in the aeroplane is none the less keen +because he is too conscious of his responsibilities to subject his +life to unnecessary risk. + +Before closing our sketch of the Emperor as a man by quoting +appreciations written by two contemporary writers, one German and the +other English, it may be added that there is a statesman still--it is +pleasant to think--alive who could, an he only would, draw the +Emperor's character perfectly, both as man and monarch. Indeed, as has +been seen, he has more than once sketched parts of it in Parliament, +but only parts--the whole character of the Emperor, on all its sides +and in all its ramifications, has yet to be revealed. Here need only +be quoted what Chancellor Bülow--and also, by the way, Princess +Bülow--publicly said about the Emperor as man. The Prince's most +noteworthy statement was made in the Reichstag in 1903, when, in +answer to Leader-of-the-Opposition Bebel, the Prince said, "One thing +at least, the Emperor is no Philistine," and proceeded to explain, +rather negatively and disappointingly, that the Emperor possesses what +the Greeks call megalopsychia--a great soul. One knows but too well +the English Philistine, that stolid, solid, self-sufficient bulwark of +the British Constitution. The German Philistine is his twin brother, +the narrow-minded, conservative burgher. Other epithets the Prince +applied to the imperial character were "simple," "natural," "hearty," +"magnanimous," "clear-headed," and "straightforward"; while Princess +Bülow, during a conversation her husband was having with the French +journalist, M. Jules Huret, in 1907, interjected the remark that he +was "a person of good birth, _fils de bonne maison_, the descendant of +distinguished ancestors, and a modern man of great intelligence." + +But let us see how the Emperor appears to his contemporaries. Dr. Paul +Liman, who has made the most serious attempt to sketch the character +of the Emperor that has yet appeared in German, writes:-- + + "We see in him a nature whose ground-tone is enthusiasm, + phantasy, and a passionate impulse towards action. Filled + with the highest sense of the imperial rights and duties + assigned to him, convinced that these are the direct + expression of a divine will, he has inwardly thrown off the + bonds of modern constitutional ideas and in words recently + spoken, where he claimed responsibility for fifty-eight + million people, converted these ideas into a formula that, + while unconstitutional, is yet moral and deeply earnest. + These words were doubly valuable as giving insight into the + soul of a man who can be mistaken in his conclusions and + means, but not in his motives, since these are directed to + the general weal. Here, too, we find the explanation of the + fact that at one time he comes before us surrounded with the + blue and hazy nimbus of the romantic period, and at another + as the most modern prince of our time. Out of the rise in + him of the consciousness of majesty there grows a greater + sense of duty, and instead of keeping watch from his turret + over his people he loses himself in detail. And precisely + here must he fail, because modern life with its development + is far too rich in complications and activities to admit of + its submitting to patriarchal benevolence. And because an + artistic strain and a strong fantasy simultaneously work in + him, he moves joyfully beyond the limits of the actual to + raise before our eyes the highly coloured dream of the + picture of a time in which all men, all nations, will be + friendly and reconciled--an artist's dream. Here is + something characteristic, something unusual, to give + particular charm to a personality which has no parallel in + the history of the dynasty hitherto. There may be concealed + in it the seed of illustrious deeds, but only too often + disappointment and contempt lie scornfully in wait when the + deed is accomplished. For the heaven we erect on earth + always comes to naught, and the idealist is always + vanquished in the strife with fact." + +So far, Dr. Liman. Mr. Sydney Brooks, in a sketch in _Maclure's +Magazine_ for July, 1910, writes:-- + + "The drawback to any and to every _régime_ of paternal + absolutism is that the human mind is limited. The Kaiser + will not admit it, but his acts prove it. It is not given to + one man to know more about everything than anybody else + knows about anything; and the Kaiser, who is a good deal of + a dilettante, and believes himself omniscient, at times + speaks from a lamentable half-knowledge, and occasionally + has to call in the imperial authority to back up his + verdicts against the judgments of experts. + + "Unquestionably his mind is of an unusual order. It is a + facile, quickly moving instrument; it works in flashes; it + assimilates seemingly without effort, and it is at its best + under the highest pressure. The Kaiser is not to be laughed + at for wanting to know all there is to be known, but he may + justly be criticized for failing to distinguish between the + attempt and its failure.... + + "Is it all charlatanerie? Is it all of a part with his + speech in Russian to the regiment of which the Czar made him + honorary colonel, a studied trumpery effort, designed for a + momentary effect? Is the Kaiser just glitter and tinsel, + impulse and rhapsody, with nothing solid beneath? Is it his + supreme object to make an impression at any cost, to force, + like another Nero, the popular applause by arts more + becoming to a _cabotin_ than a sovereign? Vanity, + restlessness, a consuming desire for the palm without the + dust--an intense and theatrical egotism--are these the + qualities that give the clue to his character and actions? + + "I do not think so altogether. The Kaiser has scattered too + much. In an age of specialists on many subjects he speaks + like an amateur. He is always the hero, and often the + victim, of his own imagination; like a star actor, he cannot + bear to be outshone; he is morbidly, almost pruriently, + conscious of the effect he is producing. And on all matters + of intellect and taste his influence makes for blatant + mediocrity. But he is not meretricious; at bottom he is not + by any means as superficial and insincere as he often seems. + He is one of those men in whom an instinct becomes an + immutable truth, an idea a conviction, and a suspicion a + certainty, by an almost instantaneous process; and, the + process completed, action follows forthwith. The Kaiser is + always resolved to do the right thing; the right thing, by + some quaint but invariable coincidence, is whatever he is + resolved to do." + +These appreciations from afar may be as sound as they are brilliant, +but they rather refer to the non-essential parts of the character of +the Emperor in the first flush of imperial glory than to the essential +character as it has developed with the years. + +As a man--he will be dealt with as monarch presently--his essential +character must be judged from his conduct, and conduct extending over +a good many years. One might say, conduct and reputation, but that +reputation is so often the result of a confused mixture of superficial +observation, gossip, tittle-tattle, envy, hatred and uncharitableness, +and, in the case of an Emperor, of merely picturesque and effective +writing. + +There is another source which would materially help us in forming a +judgment, but it is wholly wanting in the case of the Emperor. No +private correspondence of his is, as yet, available to the world. + +Again, a man's character is determined by his motives, if it is not +the other way about; in any case, a man's motives are for the most +part inscrutable and can only be deduced from conduct, while the world +usually makes the mistake of explaining conduct by attributing its own +motives. Tried, then, by the standard of conduct, the only one +available, the Emperor, as a man, shows us a high type of humanity. It +may not, probably does not, appeal to Englishmen wholly, but there are +features of it which must command, and do command, the respect of +people of all nationalities. And, first of all, he is a good man; good +as a Christian, good as a husband, good as a father, good as a +patriot. With all the power and temptation to gratify his +inclinations, he has no personal vices of the baser sort. He is +moderate in the satisfaction of his appetites, whether for food or +wine. He is no debauchee, no voluptuary, no gambler. He is faithful to +old friends and comrades. He has high ideals, and is not ashamed of +them. He is neither indolent nor fussy; neither a cynic, nor an +intriguer, nor a fool; he is neither wrong-headed nor stubborn; he is +honest and sincere to a degree that does him honour as a man, if it +has sometimes proved perilous and blameworthy in him as a monarch. He +is optimistic, and on good grounds. He is no physical or intellectual +giant, but he is a man of more than average all-round intelligence and +capacity. If this appreciation is correct, or even approximately +correct, it is a testimonial, whatever may be its worth, to great +merit. + +Yet the Emperor as man has his failings and drawbacks, though they are +such as time is almost sure to diminish or eradicate. Notably in his +earlier years he lacked judgment, the power of balancing +considerations and arriving at conclusions from them which men more +gifted with poise would endorse as logical and inevitable. He does +not, like spare Cassius, see quite through the deeds of men, as his +friendship for Count Phili Eulenburg and the malodorous "Camarilla" go +to show, and his choice of Imperial Chancellors, his grand viziers, +has not in every instance been happy. He has less tact than character, +as he showed once in Vienna, where he greatly pained the Foreign +Minister, Count Goluchowski, one day at a club by calling to him, +"Golu, Golu, come and sit beside your Kaiser." He has the German +masculine enjoyment in a kind of humour which would have delighted Fox +and the three-bottle men, but would sadly shock the susceptibilities +of an Oxford æsthete. He has a share of personal vanity, but it +springs from the desire to look the Emperor he is, not because he +supposes for a moment that he is an Adonis. He is theatrical in +exactly the same spirit--the desire imperially to impress his folk in +the sense of the German word _imponieren_, a word that needs no +translation. If he has lost much of Dr. Liman's "romantik," he still +retains the "scatteredness" of Mr. Sidney Brooks, though the Emperor +would rather hear it called "many-sidedness." _En résumé_ he has the +defects of his qualities, but to no man or woman's unmerited loss or +injury, and if we weigh the good qualities with the bad, we find a +fine balance remaining to his credit as a man. + +The fierce light which beats upon a throne, if it is apt to dazzle the +bystander, helps those at a distance, especially in these days of the +still fiercer light of modern publicity, to judge fairly the throne's +occupant. The character of the Emperor as monarch ought, therefore, as +far as is possible in the absence of archives marked "secret and +confidential" and yet lying in the ministries of all countries, to +disclose itself nowadays with reasonable clearness. Yet, even still, +different and conflicting opinions regarding it are to be gathered in +Germany and out of it. + +Indeed, his own people are among the severest critics. One of them, +Professor Quidde, early in the reign, made an extraordinarily +ingenious, but quite unjustifiable, comparison of him to Caligula, +which, though only consisting of classical quotations and making no +mention of the Emperor, was seen by everybody to refer to him and has +caused discussion ever since. While many foreign critics have done the +Emperor justice, others in turn have made him out to be arrogant, +snobbish, bombastic, superficial, incompetent, and insincere. To +writers of this class he is always the German War Lord, ready to +pounce, like a highwayman or pirate, on any unprotected person or +property he may come across, regardless of treaty obligations, of +international disaster, or of the dictates of humanity. One day they +announce he is planning the annexation of Holland in order to get a +further set of naval bases, the next that he means to take Belgium to +make a road for his armies into France, a third that he is about to +set at naught the Monroe doctrine and with his Dreadnoughts seize +Brazil. All these things are conceivable and not impossible, but they +are in the very highest degree improbable, and, as yet at least, ought +not to be considered seriously. To sensible and better-informed people +everywhere he is a Prussian king of the best type, a sincere friend of +peace, with a mania for pushing the maxim "_Si vis pacem para bellum_" +to extremes, politically the most influential man in Europe, and, with +all his faults, one of the greatest Germans of his time. + +The character of the Emperor, as monarch, is reflected very largely in +the character of the Germany of to-day. + +Germany is optimistic, ardently desirous of peace, bent on worthily +maintaining the great place she has won, and deserved to win, among +the nations, and so materially prosperous as to make many Germans +tremble at the thought that the prosperity may be too great to last. +This, however, is not to assert that in Germany everything is _couleur +de rose_. There are not a few things in the Empire's social and +political conditions which are antiquated or promise no good. Noxious +as well as beneficial forces have been introduced into the social life +of the country and are beginning to make themselves felt. German +home-life is ceasing to be the admirable and exemplary thing it was +before the present era of class rivalry, commercialism, the parvenu +and the snob. The idealism which made the Empire a possibility is +passing away. There is need, and a general demand, for franchise +reform in Prussia, and a change in the spirit of Prussian bureaucratic +administration would be acceptable, though it is, perhaps, hopeless to +expect it. The opposition in Germany between the monarchic and the +democratic principle, if not more marked than it was twenty or thirty +years ago, is manifesting itself over a wider and perhaps deeper area. +The relations between capital and labour are far from satisfactory +adjustment. Social democracy is yearly gaining fresh adherents, and if +guilty of no political violence, is yet a constant source of danger to +domestic peace. The German middle class, that bourgeoisie which is the +backbone and strength of the Empire, is losing its Spartan simplicity +and its content with small and moderate pleasures; and the national +virtues of thrift and self-denial are yielding to the temptations of +wealth and luxury. Business credit is unduly stretched, speculation in +land has attained disturbing proportions, and the banking world is in +too many instances allied with hazardous or doubtful enterprises. +Nevertheless the country as a whole is sound, intellectually, morally, +and financially. + +It would be difficult to mention any of the greater tasks of imperial +administration to which the Emperor does not continue to devote +personal attention. He is the life and soul of the army and navy, +though it should not be forgotten that as regards the latter he has in +Admiral Tirpitz an executive talent worthy of his own directive. His +interest in the mercantile marine remains what it was when in 1887, as +Prince William, he drew up an expert opinion which decided the +Hamburg-Amerika Company to build their fast ocean-going steamers at +home instead of abroad, and by the success of the experiment commenced +the modern development of Germany's shipbuilding industry. Indeed, his +attention to the Hamburg line, familiarly known as the "Hapag" line, +from the initial letters of its legal title, "Hamburg-Amerika +Packetfahrt-Aktien Gesellschaft," and to the Norddeutsche line from +Bremen, has given rise to the unfounded belief that he is heavily +interested in their financial success. Herr Albert Ballin, the +Director of the Hamburg line, though a Jew, is among his intimates and +advisers, and the Emperor is said to have caused umbrage more than +once to Court officials and the aristocracy by giving directors of +both lines precedence at his table. Without the Emperor's personal +support it is probable that neither the firm of Krupp at Essen nor the +splendid shipbuilding yards at Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin and elsewhere +would continue to progress as they are doing. He neglects no +opportunity of stimulating Germany's internal and external trade. +He is at all times ready to encourage the introduction of useful +achievements of modern science and invention. And lastly, by +tactful treatment of other German rulers, and a wise policy of +non-interference with their States, he is promoting a feeling of +federal solidarity. + +The Emperor's conception of his relations to the people remains to-day +what he was brought up in and what it was when he mounted the throne. +In England, America, and France the people are the real rulers, and +their monarch or president is their highest official servant and +representative. The idea is not perhaps constitutionally expressed, +but it is universally and deeply felt in the countries named. In +Germany the opposite theory obtains--for how long it must be left to +the future to say. In Germany the Emperor is the real ruler, the +genuine monarch, and the people are his subjects, the country his +country. Hence, while an English king in an official document or +public statement would not think of putting himself first and the +people or country second, the German Emperor's official statements and +speeches constantly repeat such expressions as "I and my people," "I +and the army," "my capital," "me and the Fatherland," and a score +more; so that Anglo-Saxons and other foreigners acquire the impression +that the word "my" is no figure of rhetoric or pride, but a simple +claim of ownership or possession. And the official relation between +monarch and people is reflected in the people's ordinary life. To the +foreigner it continually appears that the public are the servants of +the official, not the contrary, whether officialism takes the shape of +a post-office clerk, a tramcar conductor, a shop salesman, a +policeman, or a waiter. All these functionaries are the possessors of +an authority which the citizen is expected to, and usually does, obey. +The explanation of such a state of things is a little abstruse, but an +attempt may be made at giving it. + +The period immediately preceding the reign of Frederick the Great was +a period of absolute monarchy in Germany, a system introduced from +France, where Louis XIV had proclaimed the doctrine _L'etat, c'est +moi_, according to which the lives and property of the subject +belonged to the Prince, whose will was to be obeyed without question +or demur. There were now four hundred courts in Germany in imitation +of the Court of Versailles, and the smaller the principality the +greater the absolutism. Absolutism, however, required an army to +support it; hence the establishment of standing and mercenary armies +and the disuse of arms by the citizen. The result, to quote Professor +Ernst Richard's work on "German Civilization," was that + + "the pride of the burgher and the peasant was broken. A + submissive servility hopelessly pervaded the masses, and + even the best had lost all social and national feeling, all + sense of being part of a greater body.... The luxurious life + and the arrogance of the ruling classes were accepted as a + matter of course, one might say as a divine institution. + Thus those traits of character, which had come to light + under the cruel stress of the Thirty Years War, fostered by + the rule of despotism and the worst vices, took deeper root. + To these belong that greed for social position, for titles + and the smiles of the great; servility towards those who + hold a higher position as bearers of official titles and + dignity, a fear of publicity, above all a rather remarkable + inclination to a peevish, petty, and sceptical attitude as + regards the knowledge and ability of others. The exaltation + of the position of the prince extended to his Court and his + officials, as well as to the nobility, which had long since + become a Court nobility." + +But absolutism had to go with the changes in human thought under the +influence of Rationalism, which brought with it the idea of the State, +not the absolute prince, as ruler. This idea was embodied in the +_Rechtstaat_, or State based on law, which was introduced by Frederick +the Great, the "first servant of the State." The State, he said, +exists for the sake of the citizens. "One must be insane," he wrote, + + "to imagine that men should have said to one of their + equals, 'We will raise you so that we may be your slaves, we + will give you the power to guide our thoughts according to + yours.' They rather said: 'We need you in order to execute + our laws, that you show us the way, and defend us. But we + understand that you will respect our liberties.'" + +The _Rechtstaat_ exists in Germany to the present day, the Emperor is +at the head of it, and the people are content to live within its +confines. It is not, as has been seen, coterminous with the whole +liberty of the subject, but is yet a vast bundle of rights and +obligations which in public, and much of private, life leaves as +little as possible to the unaided or undirected intelligence or +goodwill of the citizen. It is an exaggeration, but still expresses a +popular feeling even in Germany itself--and certainly describes an +impression made on the Anglo-Saxon--to say that outside this bundle of +laws and regulations, which, clearly and logically paragraphed, orders +to a nicety all the public, and many of the private, relations of the +citizens, everything is forbidden or discouraged by authority. Yet, as +has been said, the people are satisfied with it, and it must be +admitted that if it confines individual liberty within what to the +Anglo-Saxon seem narrow limits, still, by directing the individual to +common ends, it works great public advantage. It is in truth a very +intelligent and practical form of Socialism, infinitely less +oppressive to the people than would be the socialism of the professed +Socialist. + +It left, however, the German caste system of Frederick's day +undisturbed; as Professor Richard says: + + "The nobility retained its privileged position. It was + considered a law of nature that the noblemen should assist + the monarch in the administration of the State and as + leaders of the army; the peasant should cultivate the fields + and provide food; the commoner should provide money through + industry and commerce." + +To the Anglo-Saxon, of course, brought up with individualistic views +of life and demanding complete personal freedom, the German +_Rechtstaat_ would be galling, not to say intolerable. The Englishman, +however, has his _Rechtstaat_ too, but the limits it places on his +liberty are not nearly so restrictive in regard to public meeting, +public talking, public writing, in short, public action of all sorts, +as in Germany. Besides, the spirit of laws in England, as naturally +follows from the Englishman's political history, is a much more +liberal one than the German spirit, which is still to some extent +under the influence of the age of absolutism. + +The German conception of the _Rechtstaat_ entails, as one of its +consequences, a sharp contrast between the rights and privileges of +the Crown and the rights and privileges of the people; and therefore, +while the Emperor is never without apprehension that the people may +try to increase their rights and privileges at the expense of those of +the Crown, the people are not without apprehension that the Crown may +try to increase its rights and privileges at the expense of the +political liberties of the people. To this apprehension on the part of +the people is to be attributed their widespread dissatisfaction with +the Emperor's so-called "personal regiment," which, until recently, +was the chief hindrance to his popularity. In truth the Emperor is in +a difficult position. To be popular with the people he must be popular +with the Parliament, but if he were to seek popularity with the +Parliament he would lose popularity and prestige with the aristocracy +and large landowners, who have still a good deal of the old-time +contempt for the mere "folk," the burgher, and he would lose it with +the military officer class, which is aristocratic in spirit, and is, +as the Emperor is constantly assuring it, the sole support of throne +and Empire. In addition to this it has to be remembered that a large +majority of South Germany is Catholic, and, generally speaking, no +great lover of Prussia, its people, and their airs of stiff +superiority. + +The personal relations of the Emperor to his people, and in especial +to the vast burghertum, are precisely those to be expected from his +traditional and constitutional relations. He is not popular, but he is +widely and sincerely respected. His preference for the army, +intelligible though it is, and the cleavage that separates Government +and people, explain to some extent the want of popularity, using +that word in its "popular" sense; while the consciousness of all +the nation owes to his "goodwill," his initiative and energy, his +conscientiousness in all directions, is quite sufficient to account +for the respect. It is, in truth, in part at least, the respect which +excludes the popularity. No one is ever likely to be popular, +anywhere, who is constantly endeavouring to teach people how to live +and what to think, and at the same time seems to have no social +weaknesses to reconcile him with those--no small number--who are fond +of cakes and ale. Some of the Emperor's acts and speeches have +postponed, if not precluded, eventual popularity--his breach with +Bismarck, for example, the whole "personal regiment," and speeches +like that at Potsdam in 1891, when he told his recruits that if he had +to order them to shoot down their brothers, or even their parents, +they must obey without a murmur. Speeches of this last kind live long +in public memory. In his dealings with his people the Emperor is +neither arrogant--"high-nosed" is the elegant German expression: +"arrogant" is no German word, Prince Bülow would doubtless say-- +towards his subjects, nor are they cringing towards him, though this +statement does not exclude the excusable embarrassment an ordinary +mortal may be expected to feel in the presence of a monarch. The +Emperor himself desires no "tail-wagging" from his subjects, and +though there is something of the autocrat in him, there is nothing of +the despot. + +Certainly for the present, Germans, with rare exceptions, are +satisfied with him. They are prospering under him. The shoe pinches +here and there, and if it pinches too hard they will cry out and +perhaps do more than cry out. They do not consider the Emperor +perfect, but they forgive his errors, and particularly the errors of +his impetuous youth, even though on three or four occasions they +brought the country into danger. Monarchy has been defined as a State +in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person +doing interesting things: a republic, as a State in which the +attention is divided between many who are all doing uninteresting +things: Germans find their Emperor interesting, and that is a stage on +the road to popularity. + +The imperial ego, which is quite consistent with the German view of +monarchical rule and conformity with the _Rechtstaat_, is specially +advertised by the pictures and statues of the Emperor which are to be +found all over Germany, to the apparent exclusion of the pictures and +statues of national and local men of distinction. The Emperor's +picture almost monopolizes the walls of every public and municipal +office, every railway-station refreshment-room, every shop, every +restaurant throughout the Empire. Wherever it turns the eye is +confronted by the portrait or bust of the Emperor, and if it is not +his portrait or bust, it is the portrait or bust of one or other of +his ancestors. An exception should be made in the case of Bismarck, +the reproduction of whose rugged features, shaggy eyebrows, and bulky +frame are not infrequent; statues and portraits, too, of Moltke and +Roon, though much more rarely met with than those of Bismarck, are to +be seen, while those of Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Lessing, Wagner, or +other German "Immortal," are still rarer. Only once, or perhaps twice, +in all Germany is there to be found a public statue of Heine--for +Heine was a Jew and said many unpleasant, because true, things about +his country. The travelling foreigner in Germany after a while begins +to wonder if he is not in some far Eastern country where +ancestor-worship obtains, and where one tremendous personality +overshadows, obscures, and obliterates all the rest. In truth, +however, this is not the lesson of the imperial images for the +foreigner. They teach him that he is in a country with a system of +government and views of the State different from his own, that the +Empire is ruled in a military, not a civic spirit, and that the +counterfeit presentment of the Emperor, always in dazzling uniform, is +the sign of the national acceptance of system, views, and spirit. + +A similar lesson is taught by the Emperor's speeches. In England the +King rarely speaks in public, and then with well-calculated brevity +and reserve. In five words he will open a museum and with a sentence +unveil a monument. The Emperor's speeches fill four stout volumes--and +he is only fifty-four. The speeches deal with every sort of topic, and +have been delivered in all parts of the Empire--now to Parliament, now +to his assembled generals, now at the celebration of some national or +individual jubilee, now at the dedication of a building or the opening +of a bridge. The style is always clear and logical, in this respect +contrasting favourably with the German style of twenty years ago, when +the language wriggled from clause to clause in vermiform articulations +until the thought found final expression in a mob of participles and +infinitives. Metaphors abound in the speeches, some of them slightly +far-fetched, but others of uncommon beauty, appropriateness, and pith. +There is no brilliant employment of words, but not seldom one comes +across such terse and happy phrases as the famous "We stand under the +star of commerce," "Our future lies on the water," "We demand a place +in the sun." + +On the English reader the speeches will be apt to pall, unless he is +thoroughly saturated with Prussian historic, military, and romantic +lore and can place himself mentally in the position of the Emperor. +The tone, never quite detached from consciousness of the imperial ego, +hardly ever descends to the level of familiar conversation nor rises +to heights of eloquence that carry away the hearer. With three or four +exceptions, there is no argumentation in the speeches, for they are +not meant to persuade or convince, but to enjoin and command. They do +not contain any of the important and interesting facts and figures of +which, nevertheless, the Emperor's mind must be full, and they are +wanting in wit and humour, though nature has endowed the Emperor with +both. + +On the other hand, it should be remembered that they are the speeches +of an Emperor, not of a statesman. The speeches have no political +timeliness or object save that of rousing and directing imperial +spirit among the people by appeals to their imagination and +patriotism. Had the Emperor been actuated by the spirit of a Minister +or statesman, he would have been far more alive to the fact than he +appears to have been, that every word he uttered would instantly find +an echo in the Parliament, Press, and Stock Exchange of all other +countries. + +The Emperor's fundamental mistakes, as disclosed by his speeches, +appear to an Englishman to have been in assuming when they were made +that the Empire was in a less advanced stage of consolidation and +settlement than it in fact was, and in underrating the intelligence, +knowledge, and patriotism of his people. From this point of view his +early speeches in particular sound jejune or superfluous. What would +the Englishman say to a king who began his reign by a series of +homilies on Alfred the Great or Elizabeth or Queen Victoria; by using +strong language about the Labour party or the Fabian Society; by +appeals to throne and altar; by describing to Parliament the chief +duties of the monarch; by recommending the London County Council to +build plenty of churches; by calling journalists "hunger-candidates"; +by frequent references to the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar? Yet, +_mutatis mutandis_, this is not so very unlike what the young Emperor +did, and not for a year or two, but for several years after his +accession. To an Englishman such addresses would appear rather +ill-timed academic declamation. + +Yet there was much, and perhaps is still much, to account for, if not +quite justify, the Emperor's rhetoric. The peculiarity of Germany's +monarchic system placed, and places, the monarch in a patriarchal +position not very different from that of Moses towards the +Israelites--a leader, preacher, and prophet. Again, the Empire, when +the Emperor came to the throne, was not a homogeneous nation inspired +by a centuries-old national spirit, but suffered, as it still in a +measure suffers, from the particularism of the various kingdoms and +States composing it: in other words, from too local a patriotism and +stagnation of the imperial idea. Thirdly, the Empire had no navy, +while an Empire to-day without a navy is at a tremendous and dangerous +disadvantage in world-politics, and the mere conception that a navy +was indispensable had to be created in a country lying in the heart of +Europe and with only one short coast-line. + +The Englishman is as loyal to his King as the German is to his +Emperor, and England, as little as Germany, is disposed to change from +monarchy to republicanism. But the Englishman's political and social +governor, guide, and executive is not the King, but the Parliament; +because while in the King he has a worthy representative of the +nation's historical development and dignity, in the Parliament he sees +a powerful and immediate reflection of himself, his own wishes, and +his own judgments. Moreover, with the spread of democratic ideas, the +position of a monarch anywhere in the civilized world to-day is not +what it was fifty years ago. The general progress in education since +then; the drawing together of the nations by common commercial and +financial interests; the incessant activity of writers and publishers; +the circulation and power of the Press--themselves almost threatening +to become a despotism--such facts as these tend to change the +relations between kings and peoples. Monarchs and men are changing +places; the ruler becomes the subject, the subject ruler; it is the +people who govern, and the monarch obeys the people's will. + +Such is not the view of the German Emperor nor of the German people. +To both the monarch is no "shadow-king," as both are fond of calling +the King of England, but an Emperor of flesh and blood, commissioned +to take the leading part in decisions binding on the nation, +responsible to no one but the Almighty, and the sole bestower of State +honours. There are, it is true, three factors of imperial government +constitutionally--the Emperor, the Federal Council, and the Imperial +Parliament; but while the Council has only very indirect relations +with the people, the Parliament, a consultative body for legislation, +is not the depositary of power or authority, or an assembly to which +either the Emperor, or the Council, or the Imperial Chancellor is +responsible. It must be admitted that, while such is the +constitutional theory, the actual practice is to a considerable extent +different. The Emperor is no absolute monarch, even in the domain of +foreign affairs, as he is often said to be, but is influenced and +guided, certainly of late years, both by the Federal Council and by +public opinion, the power of which latter has greatly augmented in +recent times. Whether the Reichstag really represents public opinion +in the Empire is a moot-point in Germany itself. It can hardly be +denied that it does so, at least in financial matters, since with +regard to them it has all the powers, or almost all, possessed by the +English House of Commons in this respect. Where its powers fail, it is +said, is in regard to administration; for though it deliberates on and +passes legislation, it is left by the Constitution to the Emperor and +his Ministers to issue instructions as to how legislation is to be +carried into effect. The result is to throw excessive power over +public comfort and convenience into the hands of the official class of +all degrees, which naturally employs it to maintain its own dignity +and privileged position. + +Towards one class of the population, and that a highly important and +exceptional one, the Emperor's attitude of unprejudiced goodwill has +never varied. Israelites form only a small proportion--about 1 per +cent.--of the whole people, and are to be found in very large numbers +only in Berlin and Frankfurt; but to their financial and commercial +ability Germany owes a debt one may almost describe as incalculable. +There is a strong national prejudice against them in all parts of the +Empire, as there probably is in all countries, and it must be admitted +that the manners and customs of the lower-class Jew, his unpleasant +and insistent curiosity, his intrusiveness where he is not desired, +his want of cleanliness, his sharpness at a bargain, his oily bearing +to those he wishes to propitiate and his ruthless sweating of the +worker in all fields when in his power, are all disagreeable personal +qualities. There is also, as a concomitant of the nation's growth in +wealth of every sort, and mostly perhaps to be found in the capital a +class of Jewish parvenu, remarkable for snobbishness, ostentation, and +affectation. + +But one must distinguish; and of a large percentage of the educated +class of Jew in Germany it would be difficult to speak too highly. +Germans may be the "salt of the earth," as the Emperor once told them +they were, but Jewish talent can with quite as much, perhaps more, +justice be called the salt of German prosperity. And not alone in the +region of finance and commerce. Some of the best intellect, most of +the leading enterprise in Germany, in all important directions, is +Jewish. Many of her ablest newspaper proprietors and editors are Jews. +Many of her finest actors and actresses are Jews and Jewesses. Many of +her cleverest lawyers, doctors, and artists are Jews. The career of +Herr Albert Ballin, the Jewish director of the Hamburg-Amerika line, +the Emperor's friend, to whom Germany owes a great deal of her +mercantile marine expansion, is a long romance illustrative of Jewish +organizing power and success. + +The Emperor's friendship for Herr Ballin is obviously not entirely +disinterested, but the interest at the root of it is an imperial one. +In this spirit he cultivates to-day, as he has done since he took over +the Empire, the society of all his subjects, German or Jew, who either +by their talents or through their wealth can contribute to the success +of the mighty task which occupies his waking thoughts, and for all one +knows, his sleeping thoughts--his dreams--as well. Accordingly, the +wealthy German is quite aware that if he is to be reckoned among the +Emperor's friends he must be prepared to pay for the privilege, since +the Emperor is neither slow nor shy about using his influence in order +to make the more fortunate members of the community put their hands +deeply into their pockets for national purposes. A little time ago he +invited a number of merchant princes and captains of industry, as +American papers invariably call wealthy Germans, to a _Bier-abend_ at +the palace. When the score or so of guests were seated, he announced +that he was collecting subscriptions for some public object--the +national airship fund, perhaps--and sent a sheet of paper to Herr +Friedlander Fuld, the "coal-king" of Germany, to head the list. Herr +Fuld wrote down £5,000, and the paper was taken back to the Emperor. +"Oh, this will never do, lieber Fuld," he exclaimed, on seeing the +amount. "At this rate people will be putting down their names for £50. +You must at least double it." And Herr Fuld had to do so. A few weeks +afterwards there was another invitation to the palace, and the same +sort of scene took place. A little later still Herr Fuld got a third +invitation, and as an imperial invitation is equivalent to a command, +he had to go. When he arrived he noticed his fellow-industrials +looking uneasy, not to say sad. The Emperor noticed it too, for his +first words were: "Dear gentlemen, to-night the beer costs nothing." + +Throughout the reign Germany has made it her constant policy to +cultivate friendly relations with the United States. Chancellor von +Bülow, in 1899, apropos of Samoa, said in the Reichstag: "We can +confidently say that in no other country has America during the last +hundred years found better understanding and more just recognition +than in Germany." This is true of the educated classes, professional, +professorial, and scientific; but the ordinary European German, who +does not know and understand America, still displays no particular +love for the ordinary American. At the same time he probably prefers +him to the people of any other nation. American outspokenness in +politics, for example, must be refreshing to minds penned within the +limits of the _Rechtstaat_. He sees in them, too, millionaires, or at +least people who come from a country where money is so abundant that, +as many country-people still think, you have only to stoop to pick it +up. When it comes to business, however, he is a little afraid of their +somewhat too sanguine enterprise, and is given to suspect that a +"bluff" of some sort is behind the simplest business proposition. Much +of this, of course, is due to ignorance heightened by yellow +journalism, for as a rule only the vastly interesting, but mostly +untrue, "stories" regarding Germany printed in the yellow press come +back to the Fatherland. + +The German, again, is made uneasy by what he thinks the hasty manners +of the Americans; he considers them uncivil. So, let it be admitted, +they sometimes appear to be to people of other nationalities; but then +as a rule Americans who jar on European nerves will be found to hail +from places where life, to use the American expression, is "woolly," +or too strenuous to allow of the delicacies of real refinement. The +ordinary idea of the German in Germany, held by the stay-at-home +American, is a vague species of dislike, founded on the conviction +that the American, not the German, is the salt of the earth; that the +German regard for tradition makes them a slow and slowly moving race; +and that the Emperor as War Lord--for he is almost solely known to him +in that capacity--must be ever desirous of war, in particular wishes +to seize a coaling-station or even a country, in South America, and, +generally speaking, set at naught the Monroe doctrine. The Governments +on both sides, of course, know and understand each other better. In +November, 1906, Prince Bülow publicly thanked America for her attitude +at Algeciras, implying that it was due to her representative's +conciliatory and reconciliatory conduct that the Conference did not +end in a fiasco. "This," said the Chancellor, "was the second great +service to the world rendered by America; the other," he added, "being +the bringing about of peace between Russia and Japan." + +A great deal of the increased intercourse between the two countries is +due to the personal endeavours of the Emperor. What his motives are +may be conjectured with fair accuracy from a general knowledge of his +"up-to-date" character, the commercial policy of his Empire, and the +events of recent years. He has a whole-hearted admiration for the +American character and genius, so akin in many ways to his own +character and genius; and if he refuses to recommend for Germans +similar institutions to those in States, federated in a manner +somewhat analogous to that of the kingdoms and States composing his +own Empire, it is not from want of liberality of mind, but because +they are wholly opposed to Prussian tradition, because his people do +not demand them, and because he honestly believes that in respect of +topographical situation, climate, historical development, and race +feelings and sentiment, the safeguards and requirements of Germany are +widely different from those of America. + +As a young man he naturally had very little to do with America or +Americans, though among his schoolboy playmates was a young American, +Poulteney Bigelow, who afterwards wrote an excellent appreciation of +the fine traits in the Emperor's character. At the same time the +Emperor himself has stated that the country always interested him, and +recent visitors bear out the statement fully. In 1889, a year after +his accession, he expressed his admiration for America, when receiving +the American Ambassador, Mr. Phelps. "From my youth on," the Emperor +said, + + "I have had a great admiration for that powerful and + progressive commonwealth which you are called on to + represent, and the study of its history in peace and war has + had for me at all times a special interest. Among the many + distinguished characteristics of your people, which draw to + them the attention of the whole world, are their + enterprising spirit, their love of order, and their talent + for invention. The predominant sentiment of both peoples is + that of affinity and tested friendship, and the future can + only strengthen the heartiness of their relations." + +More than twenty years have elapsed since the words were uttered, and +the prediction has been fulfilled. + +Scores of anecdotes, it need hardly be said, are current in connexion +with the Emperor and American friends. One of them is that of an +American, Mr. Frank Wyberg, the husband of a lady who, with her +children, used often to visit Mr. and Mrs. Armour on their yacht +_Uttowana_ at Kiel, there met the Emperor, and was invariably kindly +greeted by him. Mr. Wyberg was summoned with his friend, General +Miles, to an audience of the Emperor in Berlin. Before going to the +palace Mr. Wyberg went to a well-known picture-dealer in the city and +bought a small but artistic painting costing about £1,000. He had the +picture neatly done up, and carried it off under his arm to the hotel +where he was to meet General Miles. As they were leaving for the +palace the General asked Mr. Wyberg what he was carrying. "Oh, only a +trifle for the Kaiser!" was the reply. The General was horrified, and +tried to dissuade his friend from bringing the picture, telling him +that the proper procedure was to ask through the Foreign Office or the +American Embassy for the Emperor's gracious acceptance of it. +Otherwise the Emperor would be annoyed, he would think badly of +American manners, and so on. Mr. Wyberg, however, was not to be +deterred, and insisted that it would be "all right." While waiting in +the reception-room for the Emperor, Mr. Wyberg unwrapped the picture +and placed it leaning against the wall on a piano. By and by the +Emperor came in, and almost the first thing he said, after shaking +hands, was to ask what the presence of the picture meant. Mr. Wyberg +explained that it was a mark of gratitude for the kindness the Emperor +had shown his wife and children at Kiel. The Emperor smiled, said it +was a very kind thought, and willingly accepted the gift. The story +has a sequel. A day or two after a Court official called at the hotel, +to get from General Miles Mr. Wyberg's initials, and after another few +days had passed reappeared with a bulky parcel. On being opened the +parcel was found to consist of a large silver loving-cup, with Mr. +Wyberg's name chased upon it, and underneath the words, "From Wilhelm +II." + +Another anecdote refers to an American naval attaché, a favourite of +the Emperor's. Dinner at the palace was over, and the attaché, wishing +to keep a memento of the occasion, took his large menu card and +concealed it, as he thought, between his waistcoat and his shirt. +Unfortunately, when taking leave of the Emperor, the card slipped down +and part of it became visible. The Emperor's quick eye immediately +noticed it. "Hallo! H----," he exclaimed; "look out, your dickey's +coming down!" The story shows the Emperor's acquaintance with English +slang as well as his geniality. + +The Emperor seems to take pleasure in displaying himself to Americans +in as republican a light as possible, and when he desires the company +of an American friend, stands on no sort of ceremony. The American's +telephone bell may ring at any hour of the day or evening, and a voice +is heard--"Here royal palace. His Majesty wishes to ask if the Herr +So-and-So will come to the palace this evening for dinner." On one +occasion this happened to Professor Burgess. The telephone at the +Hotel Adlon in Berlin rang up from Potsdam about six in the afternoon, +and there was so little time for the Professor to catch his train that +he was forced to finish his dressing _en route_. Or the invitation may +be for "a glass of beer" after dinner, about nine o'clock. + +If it is a dinner invitation, the guest, in evening clothes, with his +white tie doubtless a trifle more carefully adjusted than usual, +drives or walks to the palace. He enters a gate on the south side +facing the statue of Frederick the Great, and under the archway finds +a doorway with a staircase leading immediately to the royal apartments +on the first floor. In an ante-room are other guests, a couple of +Ministers, the Rector Magnificus of the university, and perhaps a +"Roosevelt" or "exchange" professor; and if the party is not one of +men only, such as the Emperor is fond of arranging, and the Empress is +expected, the wives also of the invited guests. Without previous +notice the Emperor enters, an American lover of slang might almost say +"blows in," with quick steps and a bustling air that instantly fills +the room with life and energy, and showing a cheery smile of welcome +on his face. The guests are standing round in a half or three-quarter +circle, and the Emperor goes from one to the other, shaking hands and +delivering himself of a sentence or two, either in the form of a +question or remark, and then passing on. When it is not a bachelors' +party, the Empress comes in later with her ladies. A servant in the +royal livery of red and gold, on a signal from the Emperor, throws +open a door leading to the dining-room, and the Emperor and Empress +enter first. The guests take their places according to the cards on +the table. If it is a men's party of, say, four guests, the Emperor +will seat them on his right and left and immediately opposite, with an +adjutant or two as makeweights and in case he should want to send for +plans or books. On these occasions he is usually in the dark blue +uniform of a Prussian infantry general, with an order or two blazing +on his breast. He sits very upright, and starts and keeps going the +conversation with such skill and verve that soon every one, even the +shyest, is drawn into it. There is plenty of argument and divergence +of view. If the Emperor is convinced that he is right, he will, as has +more than once occurred, jestingly offer to back his opinion with a +wager. "I'll bet you"--he will exclaim, with all the energy of an +English schoolboy. He enjoys a joke or witticism immensely, and leans +back in his chair as he joins in the hearty peal about him. When +cigars or cigarettes are handed round, he will take an occasional puff +at one of the three or four cigarettes he allows himself during the +evening, or sip at a glass of orangeade placed before him and filled +from time to time. When he feels disposed he rises, and having shaken +hands with his guests, now standing about him, retires into his +workroom. A few moments later the guests disperse. + +Conversation, both in England and Germany, sometimes turns on the +question whether or not the Emperor will be known to future +generations as William "the Great." It is agreed on all sides that he +will not take a place among the mediocrities or sink into oblivion. We +have, though only negatively and indirectly, his own view of the +matter, if, that is, it may be deduced from the fact that he has more +than once tried to attach this _epitheton ornans_ to the memory of his +grandfather. At Hamburg in 1891 he desired a statue to the Emperor +William I to bear the inscription "William the Great." The cool common +sense of the cautious Hamburgers refused to anticipate the decision of +posterity and placed on the pedestal the simple words "William the +First." In deference to the Emperor's well-known wishes, if not at his +request, the Hamburg-Amerika line of steamers christened one of their +ocean greyhounds _Wilhelm der Grosse_. The mere fact that people +discuss the question in his lifetime is of happy augury for the +Emperor. Perhaps some other epithet will be found for him. "Puffing +Billy" is one of his titles among English officers, taken from the +name given locally to Stephenson's first locomotive. But history has +many ranks in her peerage and many epithets at her disposal--great, +good, fair, lionhearted, silent--_that_ the Emperor will not have--and +a host more. Maybe the greatest rulers were those whom history, as +though in despair of finding a single term with which to do them +justice, has refrained from decorating. Timur, Akbar, Attila, Julius +Cæsar, Elizabeth, Victoria, Napoleon have no epithets, and need none. +However, it is clear that a verdict on the Emperor's deserts is +premature. Suppose him at the bar of history. The case is still +proceeding, the evidence is not complete, counsel have not been heard, +and--most obvious defect of any--the jury has not been impanelled. + +More than half a century has passed since the Emperor was born. How +time flies! + + "Alas, alas, O Postumus, Postumus, + The years glide by and are lost to us, lost to us." + +But not the memories they enshrine. It is, let us imagine, the night +of the Emperor's Jubilee, and he lies in the old Schloss, still awake, +reflecting on the past. What a multitude of happenings, gay and grave, +throng to his recollection, what a glorious and crowded canvas unrolls +itself before his mental vision! The toy steamer on the Havel; the +games in the palace corridors, with the grim features of the Great +Elector betrayed, one is tempted to think, into a half-smile as he +watches the innocent gaiety of the romping children from the old +wainscoted walls; the irksome but disciplinary hours in the Cassel +schoolroom; the youthful escapades with those carefree Borussian +comrades at the university on the broad bosom of Father Rhine; the +excursions and picnics among the Seven Hills; the visits to England, +its crowded and bustling capital, its country seats with their +pleasant lawns and stately oaks; the war-ships in the Solent, with +their black mass and frowning guns, as they towered, like Milton's +Leviathan, above his head. + +What a good time it was, and how rich in manifold and picturesque +impressions! + +The canvas continues to unroll and a literary period opens--that age +between youth and manhood, of all ages most passionate and ideal, when +we are enthralled and moved by what we read--by those studies which + + "_adolescentiam agunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res + ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent, delectant + domi, non impediunt foris; pernoctant nobiscum, + peregrinantur, rusticantur_." + +It was the Lohengrin period, when, filled with the ardour and +imaginativeness of high-souled youth, the future Emperor was dimly +thinking of all he would do in the days to come for the happiness and +prosperity of his people, nay, of all mankind. + +Another tableau presents itself. Life has now become real and the +Emperor's soldiering days have begun--never to conclude! His regiment +is his world; parades and drills, the orderly-room and the barrack +square occupy his time; and would seem monotonous and hard but for the +little Eden with its Eve close beside them. + +The Emperor turns uneasily, for his thoughts recur to the painful +circumstances of his accession; but calmness soon succeeds as the +curtain rises on the splendid panorama of the reign. He sees himself, +a young and hitherto unknown actor, leaving the wings and taking the +very centre of the stage, while the vast audience sits silent and +attentive, as yet hardly grasping the significance of his words and +gestures, emphatic though they are. And then he recalls the years of +_Sturm und Drang_, the growth of Empire in spite of grudging rivals +and of fellow-countrymen as yet not wholly conscious of their +destinies, which one can now see constituted a whole drama in +themselves, fraught with great consequences to the world. + +But we are keeping the Emperor awake when he should be left to +well-deserved repose. He has doubtless half forgotten it all; the +Bismarck episode is one of those + + "... old, unhappy, far-off things + And battles long ago" + +of which the poet sings. One unquiet political care excepted, all the +rest must be pleasant for him to remember--the rising with the dawn, +the hurried little breakfast with the Empress, the pawing horses of +the adjutants and escort in the courtyard of the palace; the constant +travelling in and far beyond the Empire; the incessant speech-making, +with its appeals to the past and its promises, nobly realized, of +"splendid days" in the future--its calls to the people to arms, to the +sea, to the workshop, to school, to church, to anything praiseworthy, +provided only it was action for the common good; the dockyards in Kiel +and Danzig, with their noise of "busy hammers closing rivets up"; the +ever-swelling trade statistics; and the proud feeling that at last his +country was coming into her own. + +Even the sensation the Emperor caused from time to time in other +countries must have had a certain charm for him--endless telegrams, +endless scathing editorials, endless movement and excitement. There is +no fun like work, they say. The Emperor worked hard and enjoyed +working. It was the "personal regiment," maybe, and it could not last +for ever; but while it did it was doubtless very gratifying, and, +notwithstanding all his critics say, magnificently successful. + +Those strenuous times are long over, and if strenuous times have yet +to come they will find the Emperor alert and knowing better how to +deal with them. He has, one may be sure, no thoughts of well-earned +rest or dignified repose--he probably never will, with his strong +conception of duty and his interest in the fortunes of his Empire. +Still, he is a good deal changed. Time has taught him more than his +early tutor, worthy Dr. Hinzpeter, ever taught him; and if his spring +was boisterous, and his summer gusty and uncertain, a mellow autumn +gives promise of a hale and kindly winter. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abdul Aziz, 259. + +Absolutism, 2, 295, 368 _seq_. + +Accession, date, I; period, 69 _seq_. + +Achilleion, 317. + +Aegir, Song to, 224. + +Agadir, 264 _seq_. + +Alexandra, Queen, 327. + +Algeciras Conference, 261 _seq_.; + Act of, 262. + +Alsace-Lorraine, 84 _seq_. + +America, + art exhibition, 222; + Germany and, 238; + Frederick the Great and, 242; + squadron at Kiel, 244; + commercial relations with, 331, 380 _seq_. + +Anarchism, 42 _seq_. + +Anglo-French Agreement, 1904, 259 _seq_. + +Anglo-German Agreement, + 1890, 140; + 1904, 335; + relations, 4-7, 243, 282, 335 _seq_. + +Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 201. + +Anti-Semites, 178. + +Arbitration, compulsory, 340. + +Aristocracy, German, 114. + +Armament, limitation of, 340. + +Army, + accession speech to, 69; + importance of, 71; + true character of, 285; + Emperor and, 294. + +Art, Emperor on, 202, 205 _seq_.; + speech to sculptors, 207; + German ideals, 218. + +Attempt on, + Emperor, 202; + on William I, 42. + +Augusta, Empress, wife of William I, 43, 45. + +Auguste, Victoria, present Empress, 37 _seq_. + +"Babel und Bibel," 246. + +Baghdad railway, 200. + +Balkans, 339. + +Ballin, 367. + +Battenberg affair, 55. + +Bebel, August, 58, 90, 359. _See_ Social Democracy + +Bennigsen, von, 13. + +Berlin palace (Schloss), 114. + +Bethmann Hollweg, 322 _seq_. + +Biedermeier time, 167. + +Bismarck, 13; + Empress Fred. and, 44; + William I and, 43 _seq_.; + on Divine Right, 60 _seq_.; + on foreign policy, 76; + resignation, 104,133; + Emperor and, 49, 131; + "blood and iron" speech, 128; + Emperor's account of quarrel with, 135; + journey to Vienna, 141; + death, 143. + +"Bloc" party, 281, 288, 322. + +Boer war, German policy and, 156, 303. + +Bonn, Emperor at, 29; address at, 203. + +Borussia, 30, 36, 203. + +Bosnia and Herzegovina, 329. + +Boulanger, 52, 76. + +Boxer troubles, 46, 194 _seq_. + +Brandon, 338. + +"Brilliant second" speech, 279. + +Brooks, Sydney, 361. + +Bülow, Prince von, 47; + succeeds Hohenlohe, 187; + fainting fit, 322; + resignation, 322. + +Burgess, Prof., 241. + +Butler, Dr. Nicholas Murray, 272. + +Byzantinism, 121 _seq_. + +Cadinen, 334. + +Camarilla, 277 + +Caprivi, von, 141; + treaties, 141, 152 _seq_.; + chancellorship, 151. + +Caroline Islands, 151. + +Casablanca, 264. + +Centrum, 3, 280. + +Chamberlain, Mr., 158, 258. + +Chamberlain, Stewart, 348. + +Chancellor, "responsibility," 289 _seq_. + +China, + relations with, 193; + Boxer indemnity, 197. + +Chun, Prince, 197 _seq_. + +Churchill, Winston, 337. + +Colonial development, 148 _seq_. + +Commercial treaties, 152; American, 331. + +Conscription, 191. + +Constitution, German and British compared, 57. + +Corps, student, 30 _seq_. + +Crefeld, 278. + +Crown Prince, 14, 18; + income, 112; + marriage, 270; + Indian tour, 328; + at English coronation, 339; + in aeroplane, 359. + +Court, + comparison with English, 109; + nobility, 113. + +Cowes, 75. + +_Daily Telegraph_, + interview, 302 _seq_.; + text of, 304; + Bülow and, 311 _seq_.; + Emperor's undertaking, 310. + +Delcassé, 261, 282. + +Delitzsch, Prof., 246. + +Dewey, Admiral, 170. + +Dictator Paragraph, 86. + +Diedrich, Admiral, 170. + +Dingley tariff, 331. + +Disarmament, 317. + +Divine Right, 331 _seq_. + +Dreibund, _see_ Triple Alliance. + +Dreyfus case, 178. + +Dual Alliance. + (Germany and Austria), 79; + (Russia and France), 141. + +Duel, _see_ Mensur. + +Dynasty, _see_ Hohenzollern. + +Education, Emperor on, 98 _seq_. + +Edward VII, + at Kiel, 253; + visits Berlin, 323; + funeral, 327. + +Elector, Great, 64, 72. + +Emperor, + birth, 12; + marriage, 37; + brothers and sisters, 18; + offspring, 40; + first visit England, 20; + at Bonn, 29; + on Art, 207; + and theatre, 355; + on religion, 246; + character, 363 _seq_.; + and people, 368, 372. + +Empress, + present, marriage, 37; + character, 39. + +Farmer, Emperor as, 334. + +Finance reform, 321. + +Fleet, English, at Kiel, 253; + American, 244. _See_ Navy. + +Flora bust, 324 _seq_. + +Foreign policy, in Orient, 199 _seq_.; + Emperor's, 269. + +France, and Germany, 51; + Franco-German Agreement, 1911, 266. + +Frankfort, treaty of, 153. + +Frederick the Great, + death, 120; + tomb, 121; + and navy, 167; + statue, 242; + Emperor and, 251. + +Frederick III, 14; + as Crown Prince, 45; + last illness, 54. + +Frederick, Empress, 15 _seq_.; + Bismarck and, 44; + death, 204. + +Future, "Our future lies on the water," 203. + +General Elections, 280, 333. + +"Germans to the Front," 245. + +Germany, + "Greater," 146; + to-day, 366; + foreign policy, 199, 269. + +George V, 174, 237, 339. + +George, Lloyd, speech, 336. + +Goluchowski, Count, 279. + +Goschen, Lord, 160. + +Government, dynastic not democratic, 56 _seq_. + +Great Elector, + Emperor and, 72; + German navy and, 166. + +Grey, Sir Edward, 338. + +Grieg, composer, 225; death, 287. + +Griscom, ambassador, 319. + +Guelphs, 333. + +Guildhall, speech at, + 1891, 75; + 1907, 283. + +Hamburg-Amerika line, 367. + +Hannover, 333. + +Harvard University, 272. + +Heine, 13, 374. + +Heligoland, 150. + +Henry, Prince, 18; + sent Kiautschau, 165; + visits America, 241. + +Highcliffe Castle, 285. + +Hill, Dr. D.J., 318 _seq_. + +Hinzpeter, Dr., 287. + +Hödel, attempt, 43. + +Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince, 47; + character, 153; + chancellor, 185; + resigns, 187. + +Hohenzollern, 2, 11, 17, 23, 41, 56, 72; + Divine Right and, 62 _seq_., 332. + +Iltis, gunboat, 195. + +Italy, 261 _seq_. + +Jameson raid, + Emperor's telegram on, 154; + date of, 159. + +Jews, Emperor and, 378. + +Journalists, attack on, 329. + +Junker, 123. + +Ketteler, von, murder of, 195. + +Kiautschau, 145, 150. + +Kiel, canal, 144; + first regatta, do.; + harbour, 168; + American squadron at, 244; + Edward VII at, 253. + +Koenigsberg, speech at, 332. + +Kruger, telegram, the, 154 _seq_.; + European tour, 155. + +_Kulturkampf_, Emperor and, 50. + +Labourdonnais, 167. + +Labour Party, 93. + +Leoncavallo, 253. + +Liberalism, Emperor and, 126. + +Liman, Dr. Paul, 62, 360. + +Limitation of armaments, 340. + +List, Prof., 168. + +Lloyd George, speech, 336. + +Louise, Queen, 41. + +Luderitz, 149. + +Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 16, 54. + +Madrid Convention, 263. + +Magna Charta, Germany's, 1. + +Mahan, Captain, 164. + +Manila, 170. + +Marakesch, 264. + +Marble Palace, 118. + +"March Days," 128 _seq_. + +Mensur, 29 _seq_. + +Menzel, + painter, 179; + death, 255. + +Moabit riots, 329. + +Mommsen, Emperor and, 251. + +Monroe doctrine, 240. + +Morocco, 255 _seq_. + +Navy, German, + First Navy Law, 145; + Prince William and, 163; + early history of, 166; + auctioned, 168; + early proposals, 169 _seq_.; + legislative stages, 171; + Grey's proposal, 317. + +New Palace, Potsdam, 116. + +Nobiling, attempt, 42, 90. +"November Storm," 289 _seq_. + +Open door, The, 257. + +"Our future lies on the water," 203. + +Oxford university, 284. + +Palestine, 145; + journey to, 176. + +Panther, 264. + +Parliament, introduction; + parliamentary rule, 58; + chancellor and, 291; + Emperor and, 294; + _See_ Reichstag. + +"Personal regiment," 289, 296, 371. + +Peters, Carl, 149. + +"Place in the sun," 204. + +Polypus, removed, 250. + +Potsdam, 199. + +Prussia, at Emperor's birth, 12; + Diet, 293; + electoral reform in, 316. + +Quinquennat, 152. + +Raid, Jameson, 159. + +Rationalism, 344, 369. + +Reaction, 123. + +_Realpolitik_, see _Weltpolitik_; + in sport, 357. + +_Rechtstaat_, 369 _seq_. + +Reichstag, introduction, 280, 292 333, 377. + +Reinsurance treaty, 133. + +Religion, Emperor on, 246. + +Rhodes, Cecil, 284. + +Richard, Prof., 370. + +"Roland von Berlin," 253. + +Roosevelt, Alice, 241; + president, 253; + visits Berlin, 325 _seq_.; + professorships, 272. + +Russia and Germany, relations, 80. + +Russo-Japanese war, 252. + +Saladin, 177. + +Samoa, 151. + +Sans Souci, 119, 179. + +Sardanapalus, 235. + +Septennat, 53, 152. + +Seymour, Admiral, 195. + +Shimonoseki, treaty of, 193. + +"Shining armour," 328. + +Social Democracy, introduction; + Emperor and, 87; + history of, 89; + programme, 91; + causes of, 94. + Socialist laws, 103, 279 _seq_. + +Socialism, 92; _See_ Social Democracy. + +Sport, in Germany, 357. + +"Star of commerce," phrase, 165. + +State, German interpretation of, 292. + +Stein, Dr. Adolf, 158. + +Stoessel, General, 195, 253. + +Stone, Melville, 242. + +Suffragettes, Emperor and, 332. + +Sultan, promise to, 145, 177. + +Swinemunde despatch, 244. + +Taku Forts, 195. + +Tangier, 256, 259; + Emperor's speech at, 260, 268. + +Theatre, Emperor on, 230; + Germans and the, 254. + +"Times," the, 297, 299, 301, 324. + +Tirpitz, von, Admiral, 338. + +Tower, ambassador, 318. + +Trade Unionism, 92 _seq_. + +Transvaal, 156 _seq_.; 303. + +Tree, Sir Beerbohm, 287. + +Treitschke, von, on Divine Right, 59; + on Bismarck, 125. + +Trench, Captain, 338. + +Triple Alliance, Emperor on, 77; + history of, 78; + provisions, 79; + renewals, 38, 339. + +"Urias Letter," 142. + +Universities, England and Germany compared, 98. + +"Unser Fritz," 14. + +Venezuela, 158, 239. + +Victoria Louise, Princess, 333. + +Victoria, Queen, 167; + death, 201. + +"Von Gottes Gnaden," 56 _seq_.;. + doctrine to-day, 68. + +Waldersee, Countess, 45; + Count, 46, 196. + +Weihaiwei, 194. + +_Weltpolitik_, 51, 144; + Bülow on, 147; + open door and, 201; + foreign policy and, 201, 192, 201, 203. + +William I, + career, 42; + character, 43; + death, 54; + parliament and, 294. + +Williams, George Valentine, 232. + +Wyberg, Frank, 383. + +Zeppelin, Count, 358. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13043 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..79bd7ef --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13043 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13043) diff --git a/old/13043-8.txt b/old/13043-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed30632 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13043-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13974 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, William of Germany, by Stanley Shaw + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: William of Germany + +Author: Stanley Shaw + +Release Date: July 28, 2004 [eBook #13043] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM OF GERMANY*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +WILLIAM OF GERMANY + +by + +STANLEY SHAW, LL.D. +Trinity College Dublin + +WITH A FRONTISPIECE + +1913 + + + + + + + +The Frontispiece is from a photograph by E. Bieber, of Berlin + + + + +CONTENTS + PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTORY....................................... 1 + + II. YOUTH (1859-1881).................................. 10 + + III. PRE-ACCESSION DAYS (1881-1887)..................... 42 + + IV. "VON GOTTES GNADEN"................................ 56 + + V. THE ACCESSION (1888-1890).......................... 69 + + VI. THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR........................... 105 + + VII. "DROPPING THE PILOT"............................... 125 + + VIII. SPACIOUS TIMES (1891-1899)......................... 144 + + IX. THE NEW CENTURY (1900-1901)........................ 189 + + X. THE EMPEROR AND THE ARTS........................... 205 + + XI. THE NEW CENTURY--_continued_ (1902-1904)........... 237 + + XII. MOROCCO (1905)..................................... 255 + + XIII. BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM" (1906-1907)............ 275 + + XIV. THE NOVEMBER STORM (1908).......................... 289 + + XV. AFTER THE STORM (1909-1913)........................ 321 + + XVI. THE EMPEROR TO-DAY................................. 342 + + INDEX ................................................... 391 + + + + +I. INTRODUCTORY. + +William the Second, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Burgrave of +Nürnberg, Margrave of Brandenburg, Landgrave of Hessen and Thuringia, +Prince of Orange, Knight of the Garter and Field-Marshal of Great +Britain, etc., was born in Berlin on January 27, 1859, and ascended +the throne on June 15, 1888. He is, therefore, fifty-four years old +in the present year of his Jubilee, 1913, and his reign--happily yet +unfinished--has extended over a quarter of a century. + +The Englishman who would understand the Emperor and his time must +imagine a country with a monarchy, a government, and a people--in +short, a political system--almost entirely different from his own. In +Germany, paradoxical though it may sound to English ears, there +is neither a government nor a people. The word "government" occurs +only once in the Imperial Constitution, the Magna Charta of modern +Germans, which in 1870 settled the relations between the Emperor and +what the Englishman calls the "people," and then only in an +unimportant context joined to the word "federal." + +In Germany, instead of "the people" the Englishman speaks of when he +talks politics, and the democratic orator, Mr. Bryan, in America is +fond of calling the "peopul," there is a "folk," who neither claim +to be, nor apparently wish to be, a "people" in the English sense. +The German folk have their traditions as the English people have +traditions, and their place in the political system as the English +people have; but both traditions and place are wholly different from +those of the English people; indeed, it may be said are just the +reverse of them. + +The German Emperor believes, and assumes his people to believe, that +the Hollenzollern monarch is specially chosen by Heaven to guide and +govern a folk entrusted to him as the talent was entrusted to the +steward in Scripture. Until 1848, a little over sixty years ago, the +Emperor (at that time only King of Prussia) was an absolute, or almost +absolute, monarch, supported by soldiers and police, and his wishes +were practically law to the folk. In that year, however, owing to the +influence of the French Revolution, the King by the gift of a +Constitution, abandoned part of his powers, but not any governing +powers, to the folk in the form of a parliament, with permission to +make laws for itself, though not for him. To pass them, that is; for +they were not to carry the laws into execution--that was a matter the +King kept, as the Emperor does still, in his own hands. + +The business of making laws being, as experience shows, provocative of +discussion, discussion of argument, and argument of controversy, there +now arose a dozen or more parties in the Parliament, each with its own +set of controversial opinions, and these the parties applied to the +novel and interesting occupation of law-making. + +However, it did not matter much to the King, so long as the folk did +not ask for further, or worse still, as occurred in England, for all +his powers; and accordingly the parties continued their discussions, +as they do to-day, sometimes accepting and sometimes rejecting their +own or the King's suggestions about law-making. Generally speaking, +the relation is not unlike that established by the dame who said to +her husband, "When we are of the same opinion, you are right, but when +we are of different opinions, I am right." If the Parliament does not +agree with the Emperor, the Emperor dissolves it. + +These parties, from the situation of their seats in a parliament of +397 deputies, became known as the parties of the Right, or +Conservative parties, and the parties of the Left, or Liberal parties. +Between them sat the members of the Centre, who, as representing the +Catholic populations of Germany--roughly, twenty-two millions out of +sixty-six--became a powerful and unchanging phalanx of a hundred +deputies, which had interests and tactics of its own independently of +Right or Left. + +By and by, one of the parties of the Left, representing the classes +who work with their hands as distinguished from the classes who work +with their heads, thought they would like to live under a political +system of their own making and began to show a strong desire to take +all power from the King and from the Parliament too. They agitated and +organized, and organized and agitated, until at length, having settled +on what was found to be an attractive theory, they made a wholly +separate party, almost a people and parliament of their own. This is +known as the Social Democracy, with, at present, no deputies. + +Such, in a comparatively few sentences, is the political state of +things in Germany. It might indeed be expressed in still fewer words, +as follows: Heaven gave the royal house of Hohenzollern, as a present, +a folk. The Hohenzollerns gave the folk, as a present, a parliament, a +power to make laws without the power of executing them. The Social +Democrats broke off from the folk and took an anti-Hohenzollern and +anti-popular attitude, and the folk in their Parliament divided into +parties to pass the time, and--of course--make laws. + +This may seem to be treating an important subject with levity. It is +intended merely as a statement of the facts. The system in Germany +works well, to an Englishman indeed surprisingly so. In England there +is no Heaven-appointed king; all the powers of the King, both that of +making laws and of administering them, have long ago been taken by the +people from the King and entrusted by them to a parliament, the +majority of whom, called the Government, represent the majority of the +electing voters. In the case of Germany the folk have surrendered some +of what an Englishman would term their "liberties," for example, the +right to govern, to the King, to be used for the common good; whereas +in the case of England, the people do not think it needful to +surrender any of their liberties, least of all the government of their +country, in order to attain the same end. + +Thus, while the German Emperor and the German folk have the same aims +as the English King and the English people, the common weal and the +fair fame of their respective countries, the two monarchs and the two +peoples have agreed on almost contrary ways of trying to secure them. + +The political system of Germany has had to be sketched introductorily +as for the Englishman, a necessary preliminary to an understanding of +the German Emperor's character and policy. One of the most important +results of the character and policy is the state of Anglo-German +relations; and the writer is convinced that if the character and +policy were better and more generally known there would be no +estrangement between the two countries, but, much more probably, +mutual respect and mutual good-will. + +With the growth of this knowledge, the writer is tempted to believe, +would cease a delusion that appears to exist in the minds, or rather +the imaginations, of two great peoples, the delusion that the highest +national interests of both are fundamentally irreconcilable, and that +the policies of their Governments are fundamentally opposed. + +It seems indeed as though neither in England nor in Germany has the +least attention been paid to the astonishing growth of commerce +between the countries or to the repeated declarations made through a +long series of years by the respective Governments on their countries' +behalf. The growth in commerce needs no statistics to prove it, for it +is a matter of everyday observation and comment. The English +Government declares it a vital necessity for an insular Power like +Great Britain, with colonies and duties appertaining to their +possession in all, and the most distant, parts of the world, to have a +navy twice as powerful as that of any other possibly hostile Power. +The ordinary German immediately cries out that England is planning to +attack him, to annihilate his fleet, destroy his commerce, and +diminish his prestige among the nations. The German Government +repeatedly declares that the German fleet is intended for defence not +aggression, that Germany does not aim at the seizure of other people's +property, but at protecting her growing commerce, at standing by her +subjects in all parts of the world if subjected to injury or insult, +and at increasing her prestige, and with it her power for good, in the +family of nations. The ordinary Englishman immediately cries out that +Germany is seeking to dispute his maritime supremacy, to rob him of +his colonies, and to appropriate his trade. Is it not conceivable that +both Governments are telling the truth, and that their designs are no +more and no less than the Governments represent them to be? The +necessity for Great Britain possessing an all-powerful fleet that will +keep her in touch with her colonies if she is not to lose them +altogether, is self-evident, and understood by even the most +Chauvinistic German. The necessity for Germany's possessing a fleet +strong enough to make her rights respected is as self-evident. +Moreover, if Germany's fleet is a luxury, as Mr. Winston Churchill +says it is, she deserves and can afford it. As a nation she has +prospered and grown great, not by a policy of war and conquest, but by +hard work, thrift, self-denial, fidelity to international engagements, +well-planned instruction, and first-rate organization. Why should she +not, if she thinks it advisable and is willing to spend the money on +it, supply herself with an arm of defence in proportion to her size, +her prosperity, and her desert? It may be that, as Mr. Norman Angell +holds, the entire policy of great armaments is based on economic +error; but unless and until it is clear that the German navy is +intended for aggression, its growth may be viewed by the rest of the +world with equanimity, and by the Englishman, as a connoisseur in such +matters, with admiration as well. A man may buy a motor-car which his +friends and neighbours think must be costly and pretentious beyond his +means; but that is his business; and if the man finds that, owing to +good management and industry and skill, his business is growing and +that a motor-car is, though in some not absolutely clear and definite +way, of advantage to him in business and satisfying to his legitimate +pride--why on earth should he not buy or build it? + +The truth is that if our ordinary Englishman and German were to sit +down together, and with the help of books, maps, and newspapers, +carefully and without prejudice, consider the annals of their +respective countries for the last sixteen years with a view to +establishing the causes of their delusion, they could hardly fail to +confess that it was due to neither believing a word the other said; to +each crediting the other with motives which, as individuals and men of +honesty and integrity in the private relations of life, each would +indignantly repudiate; to each assuming the other to be in the +condition of barbarism mankind began to emerge from nineteen hundred +years ago; to both supposing that Christianity has had so little +influence on the world that peoples are still compelled to live and go +about their daily work armed to the teeth lest they may be bludgeoned +and robbed by their neighbours; that the hundreds of treaties solemnly +signed by contracting nations are mere pieces of waste paper only +testifying to the profundity and extent of human hypocrisy; that +churches and cathedrals have been built, universities, colleges, and +schools founded, only to fill the empty air with noise; that the +printing presses of all countries have been occupied turning out +myriads of books and papers which have had no effect on the reason or +conscience of mankind; that nations learn nothing from experience; and +to each supposing that he and his fellow-countrymen alone are the +monopolists of wisdom, honour, truth, justice, charity--in short, of +all the attributes and blessings of civilization. Is it not time to +discard such error, or must the nations always suspect each other? To +finish with our introduction, and notwithstanding that _qui s'excuse +s'accuse_, the biographer may be permitted to say a few words on his +own behalf. Inasmuch as the subject of his biography is still, as has +been said, happily alive, and is, moreover, in the prime of his +maturity, his life cannot be reviewed as a whole nor the ultimate +consequences of his character and policy be foretold. The biographer +of the living cannot write with the detachment permissible to the +historian of the dead. No private correspondence of the Emperor's is +available to throw light on his more intimate personal disposition and +relationships. There have been many rumours of war since his +accession, but no European war of great importance; and if a few minor +campaigns in tropical countries be excepted, Germany for over forty +years, thanks largely to the Emperor, has enjoyed the advantages of +peace. + +From the pictorial and sensational point of view continuous peace is a +drawback for the biographer no less than for the historian. What would +history be without war?--almost inconceivable; since wars, not peace, +are the principal materials with which it deals and supply it with +most of its vitality and interest--must it also be admitted, its +charm? For what are Hannibal or Napoleon or Frederick the Great +remembered?--for their wars, and little else. Shakespeare has it +that-- + + "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues + We write in water." + +Who, asks Heine, can name the artist who designed the cathedral of +Cologne? In this regard the biographer of an emperor is almost as +dependent as the historian. + +The biography of an emperor, again, must be to a large extent, the +history of his reign, and in no case is this more true than in that of +Emperor William. But he has been closely identified with every event +of general importance to the world since he mounted the throne, and +the world's attention has been fastened without intermission on his +words and conduct. The rise of the modern German Empire is the salient +fact of the world's history for the last half-century, and accordingly +only from this broader point of view will the Emperor's future +biographer, or the historian of the future, be able to do him or his +Empire justice. + +Lastly, another difficulty, if one may call it so, experienced equally +by the biographer and the historian, is the fact that the life of the +Emperor has been blameless from the moral standpoint. On two or three +occasions early in the reign accounts were published of scandals at +the Court. They may not have been wholly baseless, but none of them +directly involved the Emperor, or even raised a doubt as to his +respectability or reputation. Take from history--or from biography for +that matter--the vices of those it treats of, and one-third, perhaps +one-half, of its "human interest" disappears. + +In the circumstances, therefore, all the writer need add is that he +has done the best he could. He has ignored, certainly, at two or three +stages of his narration, the demands of strict chronological +succession; but if so, it has been to describe some of the more +important events of the reign in their totality. He has also felt it +necessary, as writing for English readers of a country not their own, +to combine a portion of history with his biography. If, at the same +time, he has ventured to infuse into both biography and history a +slight admixture of philosophy, he can only hope that the fusion will +not prove altogether disagreeable. + + + + +II. + + + +YOUTH + + + +1859-1881 + +As the education of a prince, and the surroundings in which he is +brought up, are usually different from the education and surroundings +of his subjects, it is not surprising if, at least during some portion +of his reign, and until he has graduated in the university of life, +misunderstandings, if nothing worse, should occur between them: indeed +the wonder is that princes and people succeed in living harmoniously +together. They are separated by great gulfs both of sentiment and +circumstance. Bismarck is quoted by one of his successors, Prince +Hohenlohe, as remarking that every King of Prussia, with whatever +popularity he began his reign, was invariably hated at the close of +it. + +The prince that would rule well has to study the science of +government, itself a difficult and incompletely explored subject, and +the art of administration; he has to know history, and above all the +history of his own country; not that history is a safe or certain +guide, but that it informs him of traditions he will be expected to +continue in his own country and respect in that of others; he must +understand the political system under which his people choose to live, +and the play of political, religious, economic, and social forces +which are ever at work in a community; he must learn to speak and +understand (not always quite the same thing) other languages besides +his own; and concurrently with these studies he must endeavour to +develop in himself the personal qualities demanded by his high +office--health and activity of body, quick comprehension and decision, +a tenacious memory for names and faces, capacity for public speaking, +patience, and that command over the passions and prejudices, natural +or acquired, which is necessary for his moral influence as a ruler. On +what percentage of his subjects is such a curriculum imposed, and what +allowances should not be made if a full measure of success is not +achieved? + +But even when the prince has done all this, there is still a study, +the most comprehensive and most important of all, in which he should +be learned--the study of humanity, and in especial that part of it +with the care of whose interests and happiness he is to be charged. A +few people seem to have this knowledge instinctively, others acquire +something of it in the school of sad experience. It is not the fault +of the Emperor, if, in his youth, his knowledge of humanity was not +profound. There was always a strong vein of idealism and romance among +Hohenzollerns, the vein of a Lohengrin, a Tancred, or some mediæval +knight. The Emperor, of course, never lived among the common people; +never had to work for a living in competition with a thousand others +more fortunate than he, or better endowed by nature with the qualities +and gifts that make for worldly success; never, so far as is known to +a watchful and exceptionally curious public, endured domestic sorrow +of a deep or lasting kind; never suffered materially or in his proper +person from ingratitude, carelessness, or neglect; never knew the +"penalty of Adam, the seasons' difference"; never, in short, felt +those pains one or more of which almost all the rest of mankind have +at one time or other to bear as best they may. + +The Emperor has always been happy in his family, happy in seeing his +country prosperous, happy in the admiration and respect of the people +of all nations; and if he has passed through some dark hours, he must +feel happy in having nobly borne them. Want of knowledge of the trials +of ordinary humanity is, of course, no matter of reproach to him; on +the contrary, it is matter of congratulation; and, as several of his +frankest deliverances show, he has, both as man and monarch, felt many +a pang, many a regret, many a disappointment, the intensity of which +cannot be gauged by those who have not felt the weight of his +responsibilities. + +A discharge of 101 guns in the gardens of Crown Prince Frederick's +palace in Berlin on the morning of January 27, 1859, announced the +birth of the future Emperor. There were no portents in that hour. +Nature proceeded calmly with her ordinary tasks. Heaven gave no +special sign that a new member of the Hohenzollern family had appeared +on the planet Earth. Nothing, in short, occurred to strengthen the +faith of those who believe in the doctrine of kingship by divine +appointment. + +It was a time of political and social turmoil in many countries, the +groundswell, doubtless, of the revolutionary wave of 1848. The Crimean +War, the Indian Mutiny, and the war with China had kept England in a +continual state of martial fever, and the agitation for electoral +reform was beginning. Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister, with Lord +Odo Russell as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mr. Gladstone as +Minister of Finance. Napoleon III was at war with Austria as the ally +of Italy, where King Emmanuel II and Cavour were laying the +foundations of their country's unity. Russia, after defeating Schamyl, +the hero of the Caucasus, was pursuing her policy of penetration in +Central Asia. + +In Prussia the unrest was chiefly domestic. The country, while +nominally a Great Power, was neutral during the Crimean War, and +played for the moment but a small part in foreign politics. Bismarck, +in his "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," compares her submission to Austria +to the patience of the French noble-man he heard of when minister in +Paris, whose conduct in condoning twenty-four acts of flagrant +infidelity on the part of his wife was regarded by the French as an +act of great forbearance and magnanimity. Prince William, the +Emperor's grandfather, afterwards William I, first German Emperor, was +on the throne, acting as Prince Regent for his brother, Frederick +William IV, incapacitated from ruling by an affection of the brain. +The head of the Prussian Ministry, Manteuffel, had been dismissed, and +a "new era," with ministers of more liberal tendencies, among them von +Bethmann Hollweg, an ancestor of the present Chancellor, had begun. +General von Roon was Minister of War and Marine, offices at that time +united in one department. The Italian War had roused Germany anew to a +desire for union, and a great "national society" was founded at +Frankfurt, with the Liberal leader, Rudolf von Bennigsen, at its head. +Public attention was occupied with the subject of reorganizing the +army and increasing it from 150,000 to 210,000 men. Parliament was on +the eve of a bitter constitutional quarrel with Bismarck, who became +Prussian Prime Minister (Minister President) in 1862, about the grant +of the necessary army funds. Most of the great intellects of +Germany--Kant, Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Fichte, Schleiermacher--had +long passed away. Heinrich Heine died in Paris in 1856. Frederick +Nietzsche was a youth, Richard Wagner's "Tannhäuser" had just been +greeted, in the presence of the composer, with a storm of hisses in +the Opera house at Paris. The social condition of Germany may be +partially realized if one remembers that the death-rate was over 28 +per _mille_, as compared with 17 per _mille_ to-day; that only a start +had been made with railway construction; that the country, with its +not very generous soil, depended wholly upon agriculture; that +savings-bank deposits were not one-twelfth of what they are now; that +there were 60 training schools where there are 221 to-day, and 338 +evening classes as against 4,588 in 1910; that many of the principal +towns were still lighted by oil; that there was practically no navy; +and that the bulk of the aristocracy lived on about the same scale as +the contemporary English yeoman farmer. Berlin contained a little less +than half a million inhabitants, compared with its three and a half +millions of to-day, and the state of its sanitation may be imagined +from the fact that open drains ran down the streets. + +The Emperor's father, Frederick III, second German Emperor, was +affectionately known to his people as "unser Fritz," because of his +liberal sympathies and of his high and kindly character. To most +Englishmen he is perhaps better known as the husband of the Princess, +afterwards Empress, Adelaide Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen +Victoria, and mother of the Emperor. Frederick III had no great share +in the political events which were the birth-pangs of modern Germany, +unless his not particularly distinguished leadership in the war of +1866 and that with France be so considered. The greater part of his +life was passed as Crown Prince, and a Crown Prince in Germany leads a +life more or less removed from political responsibilities. He +succeeded his father, William I, on the latter's death, March 9, 1888, +reigned for ninety-nine days, and died, on June 15th following, from +cancer of the throat, after an illness borne with exemplary fortitude. + +To what extent the character of his parents affected the character of +the Emperor it is impossible to determine. The Emperor seldom refers +to his parents in his speeches, and reserves most of his panegyric for +his grandfather and his grandfather's mother, Queen Louise; but the +comparative neglect is probably due to no want of filial admiration +and respect, while the frequent references to his grandfather in +particular are explained by the great share the latter took in the +formation of the Empire and by his unbounded popularity. The Crown +Prince was an affectionate but not an easy-going father, with a +passion for the arts and sciences; his mother also was a +disciplinarian, and, equally with her husband, passionately fond of +art; and it is therefore not improbable that these traits descended to +the Emperor. As to whether the alleged "liberality" of the Crown +Prince descended to him depends on the sense given to the word +"liberal." If it is taken to mean an ardent desire for the good and +happiness of the people, it did; if it is taken to mean any +inclination to give the people authority to govern themselves and +direct their own destinies, it did not. + +The mother of the Emperor, the Empress Frederick, had much of Queen +Victoria's good sense and still more of her strong will. A thoroughly +English princess, she had, in German eyes, one serious defect: she +failed to see, or at least to acknowledge, the superiority of most +things German to most things English. She had an English nurse, Emma +Hobbs, to assist at the birth of the future Emperor. She made English +the language of the family life, and never lost her English tastes and +sympathies; consequently she was called, always with an accent of +reproach, "the Engländerin," and in German writings is represented as +having wished to anglicize not only her husband, her children, and her +Court, but also her adopted country and its people. A chaplain of the +English Church in Berlin, the Rev. J.H. Fry, who met her many times, +describes her as follows:-- + + "She was not the wife for a German Emperor, she so English + and insisted so strongly on her English ways. The result was + that she was very unpopular in Germany, and the Germans said + many wicked things of her. She hated Berlin, and if her son, + the present Emperor, had not required that she should come + to the capital every winter, she would have lived altogether + at Cronberg in the villa an Italian friend bequeathed to + her. + + "She was extremely musical, had extensively cultivated her + talents in this respect, and was an accomplished linguist. + Like her mother, Queen Victoria, she was unusually + strong-minded, and was always believed to rule over her + amiable and gentle husband. Her interest in the English + community was great, another reason for the dislike with + which the Germans regarded her. To her the community owes + the pretty little English church in the Mon Bijou Platz + (Berlin), which she used to attend regularly, and where a + funeral service, at which the Emperor was present, was held + in memory of her. + + "German feeling was further embittered against her by the + Morell Mackenzie incident, and to this day controversy rages + round the famous English surgeon's name. The controversy is + as to whether or not Morell Mackenzie honestly believed what + he said when he diagnosed the Emperor's illness as + non-cancerous in opposition to the opinion of distinguished + German doctors like Professor Bergmann. Under German law no + one can mount the throne of Prussia who is afflicted with a + mortal sickness. For long it had been suspected that the + Emperor's throat was fatally affected, and, therefore, when + King William was dying, it became of dynastic and national + importance to establish the fact one way or other. Queen + Victoria was ardently desirous of seeing her daughter an + Empress, and sent Sir Morrell Mackenzie to Germany to + examine the royal patient. On the verdict being given that + the disease was not cancer, the Crown Prince mounted the + throne, and Queen Victoria's ambition for her daughter was + realized. + + "The Empress also put the aristocracy against her by + introducing several relaxations into Court etiquette which + had up to her time been stiff and formal. Her relations with + Bismarck, as is well known, were for many years strained, + and on one occasion she made the remark that the tears he + had caused her to shed 'would fill tumblers.' On the whole + she was an excellent wife and mother. She was no doubt in + some degree responsible for the admiration of England as a + country and of the English as a people which is a marked + feature of the Emperor's character." + +This account is fairly correct in its estimation of the Empress +Frederick's character and abilities, but it repeats a popular error in +saying that German law lays down that no one can mount the Prussian +throne if he is afflicted with a mortal sickness. There is no "German +law" on the subject, and the law intended to be referred to is the +so-called "house-law," which, as in the case of other German noble +families, regulates the domestic concerns of the House of +Hohenzollern. Bismarck disposes of the assertion that a Hohenzollern +prince mortally stricken is not capable of succession as a "fable," +and adds that the Constitution, too, contains no stipulation of the +sort. The influence of his mother on the Emperor's character did not +extend beyond his childhood, while probably the only natural +dispositions he inherited from her were his strength of will and his +appreciation of classical art and music. Many of her political ideas +were diametrically opposed to those of her son. Her love of art made +her pro-French, and her visit to Paris, it will be remembered, not +being made _incognito_, led to international unpleasantness, +originating in the foolish Chauvinism of some leading French painters +whose ateliers she desired to inspect. She believed in a homogeneous +German Empire without any federation of kingdoms and states, advocated +a Constitution for Russia, and was satisfied that the common sense of +a people outweighed its ignorance and stupidity. + +The Emperor has four sisters and a brother. The sisters are Charlotte, +born in 1860, and married to the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen; +Victoria, born in 1866, and married to Prince Adolphus of +Schaumberg-Lippe; Sophie, born in 1870, and married to King +Constantine, of Greece; and Margarete, born in 1872, and married to +Prince Friederich Karl of Hessen. + +The Emperor's only brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, was born in 1862, +and is married to Princess Irene of Hessen. He is probably the most +popular Hohenzollern to-day. He adopted the navy as a profession and +devotes himself to its duties, taking no part in politics. Like the +Emperor himself and the Emperor's heir, the Crown Prince, he is a +great promoter of sport, and while a fair golfer (with a handicap of +14) and tennis player, gives much of his leisure to the encouragement +of the automobile and other industries. Every Hohenzollern is supposed +to learn a handicraft. The Emperor did not, owing to his shortened +left arm. Prince Henry learned book-binding under a leading Berlin +bookbinder, Herr Collin. The Crown Prince is a turner. Prince Henry +seems perfectly satisfied with his position in the Empire as +Inspector-General of the Fleet, stands to attention when talking to +the Emperor in public, and on formal occasions addresses him as +"Majesty" like every one else. Only in private conversation does he +allow himself the use of the familiar _Du_. The Emperor has a strong +affection for him, and always calls him "Heinrich." + +Many stories are current in Germany relating to the early part of the +Emperor's boyhood. Some are true, others partially so, while others +again are wholly apochryphal. All, however, are more or less +characteristic of the boy and his surroundings, and for this reason a +selection of them may be given. Apropos of his birth, the following +story is told. An artillery officer went to receive orders for the +salute to be discharged when the birth occurred. They were given him +by the then Prince Regent, afterwards Emperor William I. The officer +showed signs of perplexity. "Well, is there anything else?" inquired +the Regent. "Yes, Royal Highness; I have instructions for the birth of +a prince and for that of a princess (which would be 30 guns); but what +if it should be twins?" The Regent laughed. "In that case," he said, +"follow the Prussian rule--_suum cuique_." + +When the child was born the news ran like wildfire through Berlin, and +all the high civil and military officials drove off in any vehicle +they could find to offer their congratulations. The Regent, who was at +the Foreign Office, jumped into a common cab. Immediately after him +appeared tough old Field-Marshal Wrangel, the hero of the Danish wars. +He wrote his name in the callers' book, and on issuing from the palace +shouted to the assembled crowd, "Children, it's all right: a fine +stout recruit." On the evening of the birth a telegram came from Queen +Victoria, "Is it a fine boy?" and the answer went back, "Yes, a very +fine boy." + +Another story describes how the child was brought to submit cheerfully +to the ordeal of the tub. He was "water-shy," like the vast majority +of Germans at that time, and the nurses had to complain to his father, +Crown Prince Frederick, of his resistance. The Crown Prince thereupon +directed the sentry at the palace gate not to salute the boy when he +was taken out for his customary airing. The boy remarked the neglect +and complained to his father, who explained that "sentries were not +allowed to present arms to an unwashed prince." The stratagem +succeeded, and thereafter the lad submitted to the bathing with a good +grace. + +Like all boys, the lad was fond of the water, though now in another +sense. At the age of two, nursery chroniclers relate, he had a toy +boat, the _Fortuna_, in which he sat and see-sawed--and learned not to +be sea-sick! At three he was put into sailor's costume, with the +bell-shaped trousers so dear to the hearts of English mothers fifty +years ago. + +At the age of four he had a memorable experience, though it is hardly +likely that now, after the lapse of half a century, he remembers much +about it. This was his first visit to England in 1863, when he was +taken by his parents to be present at the marriage of his uncle, King +Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. The boy, in pretty Highland costume, +was an object of general attention, and occupies a prominent place in +the well-known picture of the wedding scene by the artist Frith. The +ensuing fifteen years saw him often on English soil with his father +and mother, staying usually at Osborne Castle, in the Isle of Wight. +Here, it may be assumed, he first came in close contact with the +ocean, watched the English warships passing up and down, and imbibed +some of that delight in the sea which is not the least part of the +heritage of Englishmen. The visits had a decided effect on him, for at +ten we find him with a row-boat on the Havel and learning to swim, and +on one occasion rowing a distance of twenty-five miles between 6 a.m. +and 3 p.m. About this time he used to take part with his parents in +excursions on the _Royal Louise_, a miniature frigate presented by +George IV to Frederick William III. + +Still another story concerns the boy and his father. The former came +one day in much excitement to his tutor and said his father had just +blamed him unjustly. He told the tutor what had really happened and +asked him, if, under the circumstances, he was to blame. The tutor was +in perplexity, for if he said the father had acted unjustly, as in +fact he thought he had, he might lessen the son's filial respect. +However, he gave his candid opinion. "My Prince," he said, "the +greatest men of all times have occasionally made mistakes, for to err +is human. I must admit I think your father was in the wrong." +"Really!" cried the lad, who looked pained. "I thought you would tell +me I was in the wrong, and as I know how right you always are I was +ready to go to papa and beg his pardon. What shall I do now?" "Leave +it to me," the tutor said, and afterwards told the Crown Prince what +had passed. The Crown Prince sent for his son, who came and stood with +downcast eyes some paces off. The Crown Prince only uttered the two +words, "My son," but in a tone of great affection. As he folded the +Prince in his arms he reached his hand to the tutor, saying, "I thank +you. Be always as true to me and to my son as you have been in this +case." + +The last anecdote belongs also to the young Prince's private tutor +days. At one time a certain Dr. D. was teaching him. Every morning at +eleven work was dropped for a quarter of an hour to enable the pair, +teacher and pupil, to take what is called in German "second +breakfast." The Prince always had a piece of white bread and butter, +with an apple, a pear, or other fruit, while the teacher was as +regularly provided with something warm--chop, a cutlet, a slice of +fish, salmon, perch, trout, or whatever was in season, accompanied by +salad and potatoes. The smell of the meat never failed to appeal to +the olfactory nerves of the Prince, and he often looked, longingly +enough, at the luxuries served to his tutor. The latter noticed it and +felt sorry for him; but there was nothing to be done: the royal orders +were strict and could not be disobeyed. One day, however, the lesson, +one of repetition, had gone so well that in a moment of gratitude the +tutor decided to reward his pupil at all hazards. The lunch appeared, +steaming "perch-in-butter" for the tutor, and a plate of bread and +butter and some grapes for the pupil. The Prince cast a glance at the +savoury dish and was then about to attack his frugal fare when the +tutor suddenly said, "Prince, I'm very fond of grapes. Can't we for +once exchange? You eat my perch and I--" The Prince joyfully agreed, +plates were exchanged, and both were heartily enjoying the meal when +the Crown Prince walked in. Both pupil and tutor blushed a little, but +the Crown Prince said nothing and seemed pleased to hear how well the +lesson had gone that day. At noon, however, as the tutor was leaving +the palace, a servant stopped him and said, "His Royal Highness the +Crown Prince would like to speak with the Herr Doktor." + +"Herr Doktor," said the Crown Prince, "tell me how it was that the +Prince to-day was eating the warm breakfast and you the cold." + +The tutor tried to make as little of the affair as possible. It was a +joke, he said, he had allowed himself, he had been so well pleased +with his pupil that morning. + +"Well, I will pass it over this time," said the Crown Prince, + + "but I must ask you to let the Prince get accustomed to bear + the preference shown to his tutor and allow him to be + satisfied with the simple food suitable for his age. What + will he eat twenty years hence, if he now gets roast meat? + Bread and fruit make a wholesome and perfectly satisfactory + meal for a lad of his years." + +During second breakfast next day, the Prince took care not to look up +from his plate of fruit, but when he had finished, murmured as though +by way of grace, "After all, a fine bunch of grapes is a splendid +lunch, and I really think I prefer it, Herr Doktor, to your +nice-smelling perch-in-butter." + +The time had now come when the young Prince was to leave the paternal +castle and submit to the discipline of school. The parents, one may be +sure, held many a conference on the subject. The boy was beginning to +have a character of his own, and his parents doubtless often had in +mind Goethe's lines:-- + + "Denn wir können die Kinder nach unserem Willen nicht formen, + So wie Gott sie uns gab, so muss man sie lieben und haben, + Sie erzielen aufs best und jeglichen lassen gewähren." + + ("We cannot have children according to our will: + as God gave them so must we love and keep them: + bring them up as best we can and leave each to its own + development.") + +It had always been Hohenzollern practice to educate the Heir to the +Throne privately until he was of an age to go to the university, but +the royal parents now decided to make an important departure from it +by sending their boy to an ordinary public school in some carefully +chosen place. The choice fell on Cassel, a quiet and beautiful spot +not far from Wilhelmshohe, near Homburg, where there is a Hohenzollern +castle, and which was the scene of Napoleon's temporary detention +after the capitulation of Sedan. Here at the Gymnasium, or _lycée_, +founded by Frederick the Great, the boy was to go through the regular +school course, sit on the same bench with the sons of ordinary +burghers, and in all respects conform to the Gymnasium's regulations. +The decision to have the lad taught for a time in this democratic +fashion was probably due to the influence of his English mother, who +may have had in mind the advantages of an English public school. The +experiment proved in every way successful, though it was at the time +adversely criticized by some ultra-patriotic writers in the press. To +the boy himself it must have been an interesting and agreeable +novelty. Hitherto he had been brought up in the company of his +brothers and sisters in Berlin or Potsdam, with an occasional +"week-end" at the royal farm of Bornstedt near the latter, the only +occasions when he was absent from home being sundry visits to the +Grand Ducal Court at Karlsruhe, where the Grand Duchess was an aunt on +his father's side, and to the Court at Darmstadt, where the Grand +Duchess was an aunt on the side of his mother. + +An important ceremony, however, had to be performed before his +departure for school--his confirmation. It took place at Potsdam on +September 1, 1874, amid a brilliant crowd of relatives and friends, +and included the following formal declaration by the young Prince: + + "I will, in childlike faith, be devoted to God all the days + of my life, put my trust in Him and at all times thank Him + for His grace. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour and + Redeemer. Him who first loved me I will love in return, and + will show this love by love to my parents, my dear + grandparents, my sisters and brothers and relatives, but + also to all men. I know that hard tasks await me in life, + but they will brace me up, not overcome me. I will pray to + God for strength and develop my bodily powers." + +The boy and his brother Henry stayed in Cassel for three years, in the +winter occupying a villa near the Gymnasium with Dr. Hinzpeter, and in +summer living in the castle of Wilhelmshohe hard by. Besides attending +the usual school classes, they were instructed by private tutors in +dancing, fencing, and music. Both pupils are represented as having +been conscientious, and as moving among their schoolmates without +affectation or any special consciousness of their birth or rank. Many +years afterwards the Emperor, when revisiting Cassel, thus referred to +his schooldays there: + + "I do not regret for an instant a time which then seemed so + hard to me, and I can truly say that work and the working + life have become to me a second nature. For this I owe + thanks to Cassel soil;" + +and later in the same speech: + + "I am pleased to be on the ground where, directed by expert + hands, I learned that work exists not only for its own sake, + but that man in work shall find his entire joy." + +This is the right spirit; but if he had said "greatest joy" and "can +find," he would have said something more completely true. + +The life at Cassel was simple, and the day strictly divided. The +future Emperor rose at six, winter and summer, and after a breakfast +of coffee and rolls refreshed his memory of the home repetition-work +learned the previous evening. He then went to the Gymnasium, and when +his lessons there were over, took a walk with his tutor before lunch. +Home tasks followed, and on certain days private instruction was +received in English, French, and drawing. His English and French +became all but faultless, and he learned to draw in rough-and-ready, +if not professionally expert fashion. Wednesdays and Saturdays, which +were half-holidays, were spent roving in the country, especially in +the forest, with two or three companions of his own age. In winter +there was skating on the ponds. The Sunday dinner was a formal affair, +at which royal relatives, who doubtless came to see how the princes +were getting on, and high officials from Berlin, were usually present. +After dinner the princes took young friends up to their private rooms +and played charades, in which on occasion they amused themselves with +the ever-delightful sport of taking off and satirizing their +instructors. At this time the future Emperor's favourite subjects were +history and literature, and he was fond of displaying his rhetorical +talent before the class. The classical authors of his choice were +Homer, Sophocles, and Horace. Homer particularly attracted him; it is +easy to imagine the conviction with which, as a Hohenzollern, he would +deliver the declaration of King Agamemnon to Achilles:-- + + "And hence, to all the host it shall be known + That kings are subject to the gods alone." + +The young Prince left Cassel in January, 1877, after passing the exit +(_abiturient_) examination, a rather severe test, twelfth in a class +of seventeen. The result of the examination was officially described +as "satisfactory," the term used for those who were second in degree +of merit. On leaving he was awarded a gold medal for good conduct, one +of three annually presented by a patron of the Gymnasium. + +A foreign resident in Germany, who saw the young Prince at this time, +tells of an incident which refers to the lad's appearance, and shows +that even at that early date anti-English feeling existed among the +people. It was at the military manoeuvres at Stettin: + + "Then the old Emperor came by. Tremendous cheers. Then + Bismarck and Moltke. Great acclaim. Then passed in a + carriage a thin, weakly-looking youth, and people in the + crowd said, 'Look at that boy who is to be our future + Emperor--his good German blood has been ruined by his + English training.'" + +Before closing the Emperor's record as a schoolboy it will be of +interest to learn the opinion of him formed by his French tutor at +Cassel, Monsieur Ayme, who has published a small volume on the +education of his pupil, and who, though evidently not too well +satisfied with his remuneration of £7 10s. a month, or with being +required to pay his own fare back from Germany to France, writes +favourably of the young princes. "The life of these young people +(Prince William and Prince Henry) was," he says, + + "the most studious and peaceful imaginable. Up at six in the + morning, they prepared their tasks until it was time to go + to school. Lunch was at noon and tea at five. They went to + bed at nine or half-past. All their hours of leisure were + divided between lessons in French, English, music, + pistol-shooting, equitation, and walking. Now and then they + were allowed to play with boys of their own age, and on fête + days and their parents' birth-anniversaries they had the + privilege of choosing a play and seeing it performed at the + theatre. As pocket-money Prince William received 20s. a + month, and Henry 10s. Out of these modest sums they had to + buy their own notepaper and little presents for the servants + or their favourite companions." + +As to Prince William's character as a schoolboy, Monsieur Ayme writes: + + "I do not suppose William was ever punished while he was in + Cassel. He was too proud to draw down upon himself + criticism, to him the worst form of punishment. At the + castle, as at school, he made it a point of honour to act + and work as if he had made his plans and resolved to stick + to them. He was always among the first of his class, and as + for me I never had any need to urge him on. If I pointed out + to him an error in his task he began it over again of his + own accord. We did grammar, analysis, dictations, and + compositions, and he got over his difficulties by sheer + perseverance. For example, if he was reading a fine page of + Victor Hugo, or the like, he hated to be interrupted, so + deeply was he interested in the subject he was reading. + Style and poetry had a great effect upon him; he expressed + admiration for the form and was aroused to enthusiasm by + generous or noble ideas. Frederick the Great was the hero of + his choice, a model of which he never ceased dreaming, and + which, like his grandfather, he proposed as his own. It is + easy to conceive that after ten or twelve years of such + study, regularly and methodically pursued, the Prince must + have possessed a literary and scientific baggage more varied + and extensive than that of his companions. And he worked + hard for it, few lads so hard. To speak the truth, he was + much more disciplined and much more deprived of freedom and + recreation of all sorts than most children of his age." + +_Par paranthèse_ may be introduced here a reference to Prince Henry, +of whom Monsieur Ayme writes less enthusiastically. + + "One day," the tutor writes, "I was dictating to him + something in which mention of a queen occurs. I came to the + words '... in addition to her natural distinction she + possessed that August majesty which is the appanage of + princesses of the blood royal....' + + "Prince Henry laid down his pen and remarked, 'The author + who wrote this piece did not live much with queens.' + + "'Why?' I asked. + + "'Because I never observed the August majesty which attaches + to princesses of the blood royal, and yet I have been + brought up among them,' was the reply. + + "William, however," continues Monsieur Ayme, "was the + thinker, prudent and circumspect; the wise head which knew + that it was not all truths which bear telling. He was not + less loyal and constant in his opinions. He admired the + French Revolution, and the declaration contained in 'The + Rights of Man,' though this did not prevent his declaiming + against the Terrorists." + +One incident in particular must have appealed to the French tutor. +Monsieur Ayme and his Prussian pupil one day began discussing the +delicate question of the war of 1870. In the course of the discussion +both parties lost their tempers, until at last Prince William suddenly +got up and left the room. He remained silent and "huffed" for some +days, but at last he took the Frenchman aside and made him a formal +apology. "I am very sorry indeed," he said, + + "that you took seriously my conduct of the other day. I + meant nothing by it, and I regret it hurt you. I am all the + more sorry, because I offended in your case a sentiment + which I respect above any in the world, the love of + country." + +But it is time to pass from the details of the Emperor's early youth, +and observe him during the two years he spent, with interruptions, at +the university. From Cassel he went immediately to Bonn, where, as +during the years of military duty which followed, we only catch +glimpses of him as he lived the ordinary, and by no means austere, +life of the university student and soldier of the time; that is to +say, the ordinary life with considerable modifications and exceptions. +He did not, like young Bismarck, drink huge flagons of beer at a +sitting, day after day. He was not followed everywhere by a +boar-hound. He fought no student's duels--though a secret performance +of the kind is mentioned as a probability in the chronicles--or go +about looking for trouble generally as the swashbuckling Junker, +Bismarck, did; for in the first place his royal rank would not allow +of his taking part in the bloody amusement of the _Mensur_, and his +natural disposition, if it was quick and lively, was not choleric +enough to involve him in serious quarrel. His studies were to some +extent interrupted by military calls to Berlin, for after being +appointed second lieutenant in the First Regiment of Foot Guards at +Potsdam on his tenth birthday, the Hohenzollern age for entering the +army, he was promoted to first lieutenant in the same regiment on +leaving Cassel. + +For the most part the university lectures he attended were the courses +in law and philosophy, and he is not reported to have shown any +particular enthusiasm for either subject. The differences between an +English and a German university are of a fundamental kind, perhaps the +greatest being that the German university does not aim at influencing +conduct and character in the same measure as the English, but is +rather for the supply of knowledge of all sorts, as a monster +warehouse is for the supply of miscellaneous goods. Again, the German +university, which, like all American universities except Princetown, +has more resemblance to the Scottish universities than to those at +Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin, is not residential nor divided into +colleges, but is departmentalized into "faculties," each with its own +professors and _privat docentes_, or official lecturers, mostly young +savants, who have not the rank or title of professor, but have +obtained only the _venia legendi_ from the university. The lectures, +as a rule of admirable learning and thoroughness, invariably laying +great and prosy stress on "development," are delivered in large halls +and may be subscribed for in as many faculties as the student chooses, +the cost being about thirty shillings or there-abouts per term for +each lecture "heard." Outside the university the student enjoys +complete independence, which is a privilege highly (and sometimes +violently) cherished, especially by non-studious undergraduates, under +the name "academic freedom." The German preparing for one or other of +the learned professions will probably spend a year or two at each of +three, or maybe four, universities, according to the special faculty +he adopts and for which the university has a reputation. There are +plenty of hard-working students of course; nowadays probably the great +majority are of this kind; but to a large proportion also the +university period is still a pleasant, free, and easy halting-place +between the severe discipline and work of the school and the stern +struggle of the working world. + +The social life of the English university is paralleled in Germany by +associations of students in student "Corps," with theatrical uniforms +for their _Chargierte_ or officers, special caps, sometimes of +extraordinary shape, swords, leather gauntlets, Wellington boots, and +other distinguishing gaudy insignia. The Corps are more or less +select, the most exclusive of all being the Corps Borussia, which at +every university only admits members of an upper class of society, +though on rare occasions receiving in its ranks an exceptionally +aristocratic, popular, or wealthy foreigner. To this Corps, the name +of which is the old form of "Prussia," the Emperor belonged when at +Bonn, and in one or two of his speeches he has since spoken of the +agreeable memories he retains in connexion with it and the practices +observed by it. + +Common to all university associations in Germany--whether Corps, +Landsmannschaft, Burschenschaft, or Turnerschaft--is the practice of +the _Mensur_, or student duel. It is not a duel in the sense usually +given to the word in England, for it lacks the feature of personal +hostility, hate, or injury, but is a particularly sanguinary form of +the English "single-stick," in which swords take the place of sticks. +These swords (_Schläger_), called, curiously enough, _rapiere_, are +long and thin in the blade, and their weight is such that at every +duel students are told off on whose shoulders the combatants can rest +their outstretched sword-arm in the pauses of the combat caused by the +duellists getting out of breath; consequently, an undersized student +is usually chosen for this considerate office. The heads and faces of +the duellists are swathed in bandages--no small incentive to +perspiration, the vital parts of their bodies are well protected +against a fatal prick or blow, and the pricks or slashes must be +delivered with the hand and wrist raised head-high above the shoulder. +It is considered disgraceful to move the head, to shrink in the +smallest degree before the adversary, or even to show feeling when the +medical student who acts as surgeon in an adjoining room staunches the +flow of blood or sews up the scars caused by the swords. The duel of a +more serious kind--that with pistols or the French rapier, or with the +bare-pointed sabre and unprotected bodies--is punishable by law, and +is growing rarer each year. + +Take a sabre duel--"heavy sabre duel" is the German name for +it--arising out of a quarrel in a cafe or beer-house, and in which one +of the opponents may be a foreigner affiliated to some Corps or +Burschenschaft. Cards are exchanged, and the challenger chooses a +second whom he sends to the opponent. The latter, if he accepts the +challenge, also appoints a second; the seconds then meet and arrange +for the holding of a court of honour. The court will probably consist +of old Corps students--lawyer, a doctor, and two or three other +members of the Corps or Burschenschaft. The court summons the +opponents before it and hears their account of the quarrel; the +seconds produce evidence, for example the bills at the cafe or +beer-hall, showing how much liquor has been consumed; also as to age, +marriage or otherwise, and so on. Then the court decides whether there +shall be a duel, or not, and if so, in what form it shall be fought. + +The duel may be fixed to take place at any time within six months, and +meanwhile the opponents industriously practise. The scene of the duel +is usually the back room of some beer-hall, with locked doors between +the duellists and the police. The latter know very well what is going +on, but shut their eyes to it. The opponents take their places at +about a yard and a half distance from advanced foot to advanced foot, +and a chalk line is drawn between them. Close behind each opponent is +his second with outstretched sword, ready to knock up the duellists' +weapons in case of too dangerous an impetuosity in the onset. The +umpire _(Unparteiischer)_, unarmed, stands a little distance from the +duellists. The latter are naked _to_ the waist, but wear a leather +apron like that of a drayman, covering the lower half of the chest, +and another piece of leather, like a stock, protecting their necks and +jugular veins. The duel may last a couple of hours, and any number of +rounds up to as many as two hundred may be fought. The rounds consist +of three or four blows, and last about twenty seconds each, when the +seconds, who have been watching behind their men in the attitude of a +wicket-keeper, with their sword-points on the ground, jump in and +knock up the duellists' weapons. When one duellist is disabled by skin +wounds--there are rarely any others--or by want of breath, palpitation +or the like, the duel is over, and the duellists shake hands. This +description, with some slight modifications, applies to the ordinary +Corps _Mensuren_, which are simply a bloody species of gymnastic +exercise. + +On one occasion early in the reign the Emperor spoke of the Corps +system with great enthusiasm, and especially endorsed the practice of +the _Mensur_. "I am quite convinced," he said at Bonn in 1891, three +years after his accession, + + "that every young man who enters a Corps receives through + the spirit which rules in it, and supposing he imbibes the + spirit, his true directive in life. For it is the best + education for later life a young man can obtain. Whoever + pokes fun at the German student Corps is ignorant of its + true tendency, and I hope that so long as student Corps + exist the spirit which is fostered in them, and which + inspires strength and courage, will continue, and that for + all time the student will joyfully wield the _Schläger_." + +Regarding the _Mensur_, he went on: + + "Our _Mensuren_ are frequently misunderstood by the public, + but that must not let us be deceived. We who have been Corps + students, as I myself was, know better. As in the Middle + Ages through our gymnastic exercises (_Turniere_) the + courage and strength of the man was steeled, so by means of + the Corps spirit and Corps life is that measure of firmness + acquired which is necessary in later life, and which will + continue to exist as long as there are universities in + Germany." + +The word for firmness used by the Emperor was _Festigkeit_, which may +also be translated determination, steadiness, fortitude, or +resoluteness of character. It may be that practice of the _Mensur_, +which is held almost weekly, has a lifelong influence on the German +student's character. It probably enables him to look the adversary in +the eye--look "hard" at him, as the mariners in Mr. A.W. Jacobs's +delightful tales look at one another when some particularly ingenious +lie is being produced. In a way, moreover, it may be said to +correspond to boxing in English universities, schools, and gymnasia. +But, on the whole, the Anglo-Saxon spectator finds it difficult to +understand how it can exercise any influence for good on the moral +character of a youth, or determine, as the Emperor says it does, a +disposition which is cowardly or weak by nature to bravery or +strength, save of a momentary and merely physical kind. The Englishman +who has been present at a _Mensur_ is rather inclined to think the +atmosphere too much that of a shambles, and the chief result of the +practice the cultivation of braggadocio. + +Besides, the practice is illegal, and though purposely overlooked, +save in one German city, that of Leipzig, where it is punished with +some rigour, the Emperor, who is supposed to embody the majesty and +effectiveness of the law, is hardly the person to recommend it. His +inconsistency in the matter on one occasion placed him in an +undignified position. Two officers of the army quarrelled, and one, an +infantry lieutenant, sent a challenge to the other, an army medical +man. The latter refused on conscientious grounds, whereupon he was +called on by a military court of honour to send in his resignation. +The case was sent up to the Emperor, who upheld the decision of the +court of honour, adding the remark that if the surgeon had +conscientious scruples on the point he should not remain in the army. +An irate Social Democratic editor thereupon pointed out that such a +decision came with a bad grace from a man with whom, or with any of +whose six sons, no one was allowed to fight. The Emperor is still a +member of the Borussia Corps, but chiefly shows his interest by +keeping its anniversaries in mind, by every few years attending one of +its annual drinking festivals (_Commers_), and by paying a substantial +yearly subscription. + +The German student Corps, historically, go back to the fourteenth +century, when the first European universities were established at +Bologna, Paris, and Orleans. Universities then were not so called from +the universality of their teachings, but rather as meaning a +corporation, confraternity, or collegium, and were in reality social +centres in the towns where they were instituted. The most renowned was +that of Paris, and here was founded the first student Corps. It was +called the "German Nation of Paris," a corporation of students, with +statutes, oaths, special costumes, and other distinctive features. At +first, strange to say, it contained more Englishmen than Germans. The +"Nation" had a procurator, a treasurer, and a bedell, the last to look +after the legal affairs of the association. Drinking was not the +supposed purpose of the society, but the Corps mostly assembled, as +German Corps do to-day, for drinking purposes. + +The earliest form of German student associations Was the +Landsmannschaft. To this society, composed of elders and juniors, +new-comers, called Pennales, were admitted after painful ceremonies +and became something like the "fags" at an English public school. The +object of the original Landsmannschaft was to keep alive the spirit of +nationality. The object of the German Corps is different. It is to +beget and perpetuate friendship, and this accounts for the steady +goodwill the Emperor has always shown towards the comrades of his Bonn +and Borussia days. + +An ancient form of Corps entertainment is called the Hospiz, now, +however, much modified. Upon invitation the members of the Corps meet +in a beer-hall or in the rooms of one of the Corps. The president is +seated with a house-key on the table before him as a symbol of +unfettered authority. As members arrive, the president takes away +their sticks and swords and deposits them in a closet. The guests sit +down and are handed filled pipes and a lighted _fidibus_, or +pipe-lighter. Bread and butter and cheese, followed by coffee, are +offered. After this, the real work of the evening begins--the +drinking. A large can of beer stands on a stool beside the president. +The latter calls for silence by rapping three times on the table with +the house-key, and the Hospiz is declared open. Thenceforward only the +president pours out the beer, unless he appoints a deputy during his +absence. The president's great aim and honour is to make every one, +including himself, intoxicated. He begins by rapping the table with +his glass and saying "Significat ein Glas." In response all drain +their glasses. Then comes a "health to all," and this is followed by a +"health to each." "The Ladies" follow, including toasts to the pretty +girls of the town, and ladies known to be favourites of those present. +Married ladies or women of bad reputation must not be toasted in the +Hospiz. + +A story is told of a toast the Emperor, in these his Lohengrin days, +once proposed at a Borussia meeting. "On the Kreuzberg" (a hill near +Bonn), he said, + + "I saw a picture, the ideal of a German woman. She united in + herself beauty of face and an imposing form, the roses in + her cheeks spoke of the modesty peculiar to our maids, and + her voice sounded harmoniously like the lute of the + Minnesingers on the Wartburg. She told me her name--may it + be blessed." + +The toast found its way into the local papers and gave birth to a +romantic legend connecting the future Emperor with a pretty and modest +girl of the town, but no true basis for it has ever been discovered. + +In toasting the Ladies in a Hospiz each of those present may name the +lady of his choice, and if two name the same lady they have a drinking +bout to determine which is entitled to claim her. The one who first +admits that he can drink no more--usually signified by a hasty and +zigzag retreat from the room--is declared the loser. If a guest comes +late to the Hospiz he must drink fast so as to catch up with earlier +arrivals, unless he has been drinking elsewhere, when he is let off +with drinking a "general health." + +The close of the Emperor's student days was marked by an event which +was to have a great influence on his life and happiness. It was in +1879 that he made the acquaintance of the young lady who was, a couple +of years later, to become his wife, and subsequently Empress. When at +Bonn Prince William had developed a liking for wild-game shooting, and +accepted an invitation from Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein to +shoot pheasants at Primkenau Castle, the Duke's seat in Silesia. More +than one romantic story is current about the first meeting of the +lovers, but that most generally credited, as it was published at or +near the time, represents the young sportsman as meeting the lady +accidentally in the garden of the castle. He had arrived at night and +gone shooting early next morning before being introduced to the family +of his host, and on his return surprised the fair-haired and blue-eyed +Princess Auguste Victoria as she lay dozing in a hammock in the +garden. The student approached, the words "little Rosebud" on his +lips, but hastily withdrew as the Princess, all blushes, awoke. The +pair met shortly afterwards at breakfast, when the visitor learned who +the "little rosebud" was whom he had surprised. The Princess was then +twenty-two, but looked much younger, a privilege from nature she still +possesses in middle age. The impression made on the student was deep +and lasting, and the engagement was announced on Valentine's Day, in +February, 1880. The marriage was celebrated on February 27th of the +following year at the royal palace in Berlin. Great popular rejoicing +marked the happy occasion, Berlin was gaily flagged to celebrate the +formal entrance of the bride into the capital, and most other German +cities illuminated in her honour. The imperial bridegroom came from +Potsdam at the head of a military escort selected from his regiment +and preceded the bridal cortege, in which the ancient coronation +carriage, with its smiling occupant, and drawn by eight prancing +steeds, was the principal feature. On the day following the marriage +the young couple went to Primkenau for the honeymoon. + +The marriage with a princess of Schleswig-Holstein was not only an +event of general interest from the domestic and dynastic point of +view. It had also political significance, for it meant the happy close +of the troubled period of Prussian dealings with those conquered +territories. + +A story throwing light on the young bride's character is current in +connexion with her wedding. One of the hymns contained a +strophe--"Should misfortune come upon us," which her friends wanted +her to have omitted as striking too melancholy a note. "No," she said, + + "let it be sung. I don't expect my new position to be always + a bed of roses. Prince William is of the same mind, and we + have both determined to bear everything in common, and thus + make what is unpleasant more endurable." + +Since the marriage their domestic felicity, as all the world is aware, +has never been troubled, and the example thus given to their subjects +is one of the surest foundations of their influence and authority in +Germany. The secret of this felicity, affection apart, is to be sought +for in the strong moral sense of the Emperor regarding what he owes to +himself and his people, but no less perhaps in the exemplary character +of the Empress. As a girl at Primkenau she was a sort of Lady +Bountiful to the aged and sick on the estate, and led there the simple +life of the German country maiden of the time. It was not the day of +electric light and central heating and the telephone; hardly of lawn +tennis, certainly not of golf and hockey; while motor-cars and +militant suffragettes were alike unknown. Instead of these delights +the Princess, as she then was, was content with the humdrum life of a +German country mansion, with rare excursions into the great world +beyond the park gates, with her religious observances, her books, her +needlework, her plants and flowers, and her share in the management of +the castle. + +These domestic tastes she has preserved, and the saying, quoted in +Germany whenever she is the subject of conversation, that her +character and tastes are summed up in the four words _Kaiser, Kinder, +Kirche_, and _Küche_--Emperor, children, church, and kitchen--is as +true as it is compendious and alliterative. It is often assumed, +especially by men, that a woman who cultivates these tastes cultivates +no other. This is not as true as is often supposed of the Empress, as +a journal of her voyage to Jerusalem in 1898, published on her return +to Germany, goes to show. Following the traditions and example of the +queens and empresses who have preceded her, she has always given +liberally of her time and care, as she still does, to the most +multifarious forms of charity. She has a great and intelligible pride +in her clever and energetic husband, while her interest in her +children is proverbial. She appears to have no ambition to exercise +any influence on politics or to shine as a leader of society. Like the +Emperor, she is not without a sense of humour, and is always amused by +the racy Irish stories (in dialect) told her and a little circle of +guests by Dr. Mahaffy, of Trinity College, Dublin, who is a welcome +guest at the palace. + +The offspring of the marriage, it may be here noted, is a family of +seven children--six sons and a daughter--as follows:-- + + Crown Prince Frederick William, born 1882 + Prince Eitel Frederick " 1883 + Prince Adalbert " 1884 + Prince August William " 1887 + Prince Oscar " 1888 + Prince Joachim " 1890 + Princess Victoria Louise " 1892 + +The Crown Prince was born on June 6th at the Marble Palace in Potsdam. +He was educated at first privately by tutors, and later at the +military academy at Plön, not far from Kiel. When eighteen he became +of age and began his active career as an officer in the army. He is +now commander of the First Regiment of Boay Guards ("Death's Head" +Hussars) at Langfuhr, near Danzig, with the rank of major. He was +married in June, 1905, to Cecilie, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +and is the father of four children, all boys. The Crown Princess is +one of the cleverest, most popular, and most charming characters in +Germany, of the brightest intelligence and the most unaffected +manners. The leading trait in the Crown Prince's character is his love +of sport, from big-game shooting (on which he has written a book) to +lawn tennis. In May last he began to learn golf. He is personally +amiable, has pleasant manners, and is highly popular with all classes +of his future subjects. He is credited with ability, but is not +believed to have inherited the intellectual manysidedness of his +father. The only part he can be said to have taken in public life as +yet is having called the imperial attention to the Maximilian Harden +allegations regarding Count Eulenburg and a court "camarilla," +referred to later, and having, while sitting in a gallery of the +Reichstag, demonstrated by decidedly marked gestures his disagreement +with the Government's Morocco policy. + +Since his marriage the Emperor has more than once publicly +congratulated himself on his good fortune in having such a consort as +the Empress. The most graceful compliment he paid her was in her own +Province of Silesia in 1890, when he said: + + "The band which unites me with the Province--that of all the + provinces of the Empire which is nearest to my heart--is the + jewel which sparkles at my side, Her Majesty the Empress. A + native of this country, a model of all the virtues of a + German princess, it is her I have to thank that I am in a + position joyfully to perform the onerous duties of my + office." + +Only the other day at Altona, after thirty years of married life, he +referred to her, again in her home Province and again as she sat +smiling beside him, as the + + "first lady of the land, who is always ready to help the + needy, to strengthen family ties, to discharge the duties of + her sex, and suggest to it new aims. The Empress has + bestowed a home life on the House of Hohenzollern such as + Queen Louise, alone perhaps, conferred." + +Queen Louise, the famous wife of Frederick William III, died in 1810 +and is buried in the mausoleum at Charlottenburg, the suburb of +Berlin. She has remained ever since, for the German nation, the type +of womanly perfection. + + + + +III. + + + +PRE-ACCESSION DAYS + + + +1881-1887 + +The seven years between the date of his marriage and that of his +accession were chiefly filled in by the future Emperor with the +conscientious discharge of his regimental duties and the preparation +of himself, by three or four hours' study daily at the various +Ministries, among them the Foreign Office, where he sat at the feet of +Bismarck, for the imperial tasks he would presumably have to undertake +later. + +Emperor William I, now a man of eighty-four, was still on the throne. +Born in 1797, he lived with his parents, Frederick William III and +Queen Louise, in Koenigsberg and Memel for three years after the +battle of Jena, won the Iron Cross at the age of seventeen in the war +with Napoleon in 1814, took part in the entry of the Allies into +Paris, and devoted himself thenceforward, until he became King of +Prussia in 1861, chiefly to the reorganization of the army. For a year +during the troubled times of 1848 he was forced to take refuge in +England, from whence he returned to live quietly at Coblenz until +called to the Regency of Prussia in 1858. He was the Grand Master of +Prussian Freemasonry. The attempts on his life in Berlin in 1878 by +the anarchists Hödel and Nobiling are still spoken of by eye-witnesses +to them. Both attempts were made within a period of three weeks while +the King was driving down Unter den Linden, and on both occasions +revolver shots were fired at him. Hödel's attempt failed, but in view +of Socialist agitation, the would-be assassin was beheaded (the +practice still in Prussia) a few weeks later. Pellets from Nobiling's +weapon struck the King in the face and arm, and disabled him from work +for several weeks. The political events of the reign, including the +Seven Weeks' War with Austria in 1866, which ended at Sadowa, where +King William was in chief command, and that with France in 1870, when +he was present as Commander-in-Chief at Gravelotte and Sedan, are +frequently referred to by Bismarck in his "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," +and to these the reader may be referred. + +The high and amiable character of the old Emperor, as he became after +1870, is common knowledge. He was a thoroughgoing Hohenzollern in his +views of monarchy and his relations to his folk, but he was at the +same time the type of German chivalry, the essence of good nature, the +soul of honour, and the slave of duty. He was extremely fond of his +grandson, Prince William, and it is clear from the latter's speeches +subsequently that the affection was ardently reciprocated. + +Of Emperor William, Bismarck writes in the highest terms, describing +his "kingly courtesy," his freedom from vanity, his impartiality +towards friend and foe alike; in a word, he says, Emperor William was +the idea "gentleman" incorporated. On the other hand, Bismarck tells +how the old Emperor all his life long stood in awe of his consort, the +Empress Augusta, Bismarck's great enemy and the clearing-house +(_Krystallisationspunkt_), as he describes her, of all the opposition +against him; and how the Emperor used to speak of her as "the +hot-head" ("_Feuerkopf_")--"a capital name for her," Bismarck adds, +"as she could not bear her authority as Queen to be overborne by that +of anyone else." The Iron Chancellor, by the way, mentions a curious +fact in connexion with the attempt on Emperor William's life by +Nobiling. The Chancellor says he had noticed that in the seventies the +Emperor's powers had begun to fail, and that he often lost the thread +of a conversation, both in hearing and speaking. After the Nobiling +attempt this disability, strangely enough, completely disappeared. The +fact was noticed by the Emperor himself, for one day he said jestingly +to Bismarck: "Nobiling knew better than the doctors what I really +needed--a good blood-letting." + +Referring to the Empress Frederick at this period, Bismarck writes: + + "With her I could not reckon on the same good-will as I + could with her husband (Emperor Frederick). Her natural and + inborn sympathy for her native country showed itself from + the very beginning in the endeavour to shift the weight of + Prussian-German influence on the European grouping of the + Powers into the scale of England, which she never ceased to + regard as her Fatherland; and, in consciousness of the + opposition of interests between the two great Asiatic + Powers, England and Russia, to see Germany's power, in case + of a breach, used for the benefit of England." + +An incident may be mentioned here which took place at what was to turn +out to be the Emperor William's death-bed and refers particularly to +our young Prince William. Bismarck was talking to the sick Emperor a +few days before the latter's death. The Chancellor spoke about the +necessity of publishing an Order, already drawn up in November of the +preceding year, appointing Prince William regent in case the necessity +for such a measure should occur. The sick Emperor expressed the hope +that Bismarck would stand by his successor. Bismarck promised to do so +and the Emperor pressed his hand in token of satisfaction. Then, +suddenly, Bismarck relates, the Emperor became delirious and began to +rave. Prince William was the central figure in his ravings. He +evidently thought his grandson was at his bedside and exclaimed, using +the familiar _Du_; "_Du_ you must always keep on good terms with the +Czar (Alexander III) ... there is no need to quarrel in that quarter." +Thereafter he was silent, and Bismarck left the sick-room. + +The Prince's parents, Crown Prince Frederick and his English consort, +had also their Court at the Marmor Palais in Potsdam, and their palace +in Berlin, but the life they led was comparatively simple. The Crown +Prince and Princess were great travellers and consequently often +absent from Germany; and when at home, while the Crown Prince, in his +serious-minded fashion, was absorbed in study, the Crown Princess +divided her time between the practice of the arts and correspondence +with her now grown-up sons and daughters. + +Still, it is clear from the signs of the time that there was a good +deal of intrigue going on throughout this pre-accession period, or, if +intrigue is too strong a term for it, a good deal of friction, social +and political, in high circles. It was chiefly caused, if the old +Chancellor's statements to his sycophantic adorer, Busch, are to be +credited, by the interference of the Empress Augusta and her +daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess, in the sphere of politics, the +Empress seeking to influence her husband in favour of the Catholics, +whom she had taken under her protection, and the Crown Princess +trying, as we have seen, to influence German policy in favour of +England. + +Exactly what part Prince William took in it all is not very clear. One +thing we know, that he greatly displeased Bismarck by his constant +attendance at the Waldersee _salon_, then a social centre in Berlin. +Countess Waldersee, who is still living in Hannover, was the daughter +of an American banker named Lee. She married Frederick, Prince of +Schleswig, but he died six months after the wedding. His widow +afterwards married Count Waldersee, who was subsequently to command +the international forces during the Boxer troubles in China. Bismarck +detested Waldersee, perhaps because many people spoke of him as his +probable successor, and consequently looked with anything but favour +on his imperial pupil's visit to the Waldersees. + +The great figure of the time, however, was neither the Emperor nor the +Crown Prince nor Prince William, but Prince Bismarck, who, as +Chancellor for now more than a quarter of a century, had throughout +that period guided the destinies of Prussia and the German Empire. +Emperor William and Crown Prince Frederick and Prince William were +playing, doubtless, more or less prominent parts on the public stage, +but all things of moment gravitated towards Bismarck, whose days were +spent, now persuading or convincing the Emperor, now warring with a +Parliament growing impatient of his dictatorial attitude, now +countermining the intrigues and opposition of his adversaries at Court +and in the Ministries. He hardly ever went into society, but though he +spent his days growling in his den at the Foreign Office when he was +not immersed in work, he was the great popular figure of Berlin; +indeed, it might be said, of all Germany. + +As second lieutenant, Prince William had naturally a good deal to +learn, though, entering life, as we have seen, as a "fine young +recruit," having had a "military governor" appointed to his service +when he was four, being made an officer at the age of ten, and having +passed most of his life hitherto in a military society and atmosphere, +he had less perhaps to learn than the ordinary young German officer. +He went through the usual drills, and doubtless felt, as keenly as +does the young officer everywhere, their monotonous and seemingly +unnecessary repetitions, but they fulfilled the object in view and +gave him the well-set-up bearing and martial tread which still +distinguish him. Living in the old Town Castle of Potsdam, in rooms +that had once been occupied by Frederick the Great, he entered with +zest into the task of learning the mechanism of his regiment and at +the same time of the army generally, though it cannot have been as +interesting a task then as now, when science has added so many new +branches to military organization. Both he and his young wife were as +hospitable as their not too generous means and occasional cheques from +the Emperor William would allow, particularly to any Borussian of the +Prince's Bonn university days who might be passing through Berlin or +Potsdam. The young Prince and Princess took part, as was to be +expected of them, in the festivities and ceremonies of the Emperor's +and Crown Prince's Court, and, when they had nothing more interesting +to do, might be seen strolling arm in arm about the streets in Potsdam +looking into the shops as young married people do in every town, and +being apparently, as the story-books say, as happy as the day is long. + +On the whole, however, during these pre-accession years, only glimpses +of Prince William's character and doings are obtainable, but, though +meagre, they are sufficient to suggest that in his case, too, if we +extend the saying to cover the entire period of youth, the child was +father to the man. The chief, almost the only, reliable authorities +for the inner history of the time are the memoirs and notes left by +the two Chancellors, Prince Bismarck and Prince Hohenlohe--_en +passant_ let the hope be expressed here that in the interests of +Germany herself another Chancellor, Prince Bernhard Ernst von Bülow, +now living in retirement at Rome, will enlighten the world as to that +of the last ten or twelve stirring years, _quorum pars magna fuit_. +Both Bismarck and Hohenlohe were excellent judges of character, and +have, described, though with regrettable brevity, the character of +Prince William about this time. Talking to his confidant, Dr. Busch, +in June, 1882, Bismarck says of the Prince: + + "He is quite different from the Emperor William, and wishes + to take the government into his own hands; he is energetic + and determined, not at all disposed to put up with + parliamentary co-regents, a regular guardsman; Philopater + and Antipater at Potsdam! He is not at all pleased at his + father (Crown Prince Frederick) taking up with professors, + with Mommsen, Virchow, Forckenbeck. Perhaps he may one day + develop into the _rocher de bronze_ of which we stand in + need." + +This _rocher de bronze_ is an expression constantly employed by +devoted royalists and imperialists in Germany. It was first used by +Frederick William IV, who, in the jargon which in his time passed for +the German language, exclaimed: "_Ich werde meine Souvereinetat +stabilizieren wie ein rocher de bronze_." + +Again, about this time Bismarck says: + + "Up to that time (when Prince William was studying at the + Ministries) he knew little, and indeed did not trouble + himself much about it, but preferred to enjoy himself in the + society of young officers and such-like," + +and he goes on to tell how the Prince took--or did not take--to this +Ministerial education. It was proposed that the Under Secretary of +State, Herrfurth, who was reputed to be well informed, particularly in +statistics, should instruct him about internal questions. The Prince +agreed and invited Herrfurth to lunch, but afterwards told Bismarck he +could not stand him, "with his bristly beard, his dryness and +tediousness." Could Bismarck suggest some one else? The Chancellor +mentioned Privy Councillor von Brandenstein. The Prince did not +object, had the Baron several times to meals, but paid so little +attention to his explanations that Brandenstein lost patience and +begged for some other employment. Concerning a rendezvous, Bismarck +writes: + + "He (Prince William) has more understanding, more courage + and greater independence (than his grandfather), but in his + leaning for me he goes too far. He was 'surprised' that I + had waited for him, a thing his grandfather was incapable of + saying;" + +and the Chancellor adds: + + "It is only in trifles and matters of secondary importance + that one occasionally has reason to find fault with him, as, + for instance, in the form of his State declarations--but + that is youthful vivacity which time will correct. Better + too much than too little fire." + +Busch relates, under date of April 6, 1888, Bismarck's birthday, how +Prince William came to offer his congratulations, and, having done so, +invited himself to dinner. The meal over, he made a speech toasting +Bismarck, in which he said: + + "The Empire is like an army corps that has lost its + commander-in-chief in the field, while the officer who is + next to him in rank lies severely wounded. At this critical + moment forty-six million loyal German hearts turn with + solicitude and hope to the standard, and the standard-bearer + in whom all their expectations are centred. The + standard-bearer is our illustrious Prince, our great + Chancellor. Let him lead us. We will follow him. Long may he + live!" + +Prince Hohenlohe's references to Prince William as Emperor are +frequent and full, but he has little to say about his character as +Prince William beyond noting, when there was some talk of the Prince +directly succeeding Emperor William, that he was "too young." On an +occasion subsequently Prince Hohenlohe amusingly notes that the +Emperor shook hands with him until his fingers "nearly cracked." This +is still a genial gesture of the Emperor's. + +One document, however, is available to show the spirit of religious +tolerance which then animated our young Lutheran Prince, as it has +animated him, it may be added, ever since. Pius IX had been succeeded +in the Papacy by the more liberal Leo XIII, and the Kulturkampf had +come to an end. Prince William, writing to an uncle, Cardinal +Hohenlohe, says:-- + + "That this unholy Kulturkampf is at an end is a thing which + rejoices me beyond expression. Of late many eminent + Catholics, among them Kopp (afterwards Cardinal) have + frequently visited me and honoured me with a confidence at + once complete and gratifying. I was often so happy as to be + able to be the interpreter of their wishes (to the Emperor + and Bismarck, presumably) and do them some service. So it + has been granted to my youth to co-operate in this work of + peace. This has given me great pleasure and happiness. + + "Give my regards to Galimberti and lay my respects at the + feet of the Pope. + + "Thy devoted nephew, + + "WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA." + +With his future subjects Prince William was brought into close +relations only in a very limited way. No one, save perhaps Bismarck, +seems to have known or suspected his true character and aims. This was +natural enough, since it is not until a man comes to occupy some +influential or prominent position that the public begins to take an +interest in him. His father would be Emperor before him, and fate +might have it that he himself would not live to come to the throne. +Royal highnesses are not uncommon in a country with such a feudal +history and so many courts as Germany. The young Prince, moreover, was +never, to use a phrase of to-day, in the limelight. He was never +involved in a notorious scandal. He had not, as his eldest son, the +present Crown Prince, has, published a book. He was more or less +absorbed in the army, the early grave of so many dawning talents. And +there was no newspaper press devoted to chronicling the doings and +sayings of the fashionable world of his time. His natural abilities +would doubtless have secured him reputation and success in any sphere +of life, but, as he himself would probably be the first to admit, much +of his fame, and even much of his merit, is due to the splendid +opportunities afforded him by his birth and position. + +At the same time it is obvious that if his people at this period had +not much opportunity of studying the young Prince, he had been +studying them and their requirements as these latter appeared to him. +He had evidently thought much on Germany's conditions and prospects +before he came to the throne, and was Empire-building in imagination +long before he became Emperor. It is not hard to guess the drift of +his meditations. The success of the Empire depended on the success of +Prussia, and the success of Prussia, ringed in by possibly hostile +Powers, on union under a Prussian King whom Germans should swear +fealty to and regard as a Heaven-granted leader. From the history of +Prussia he drew the conclusion that force, physical force, well +organized and equipped, must be the basis of Germany's security. +Physical force had made Brandenburg into Prussia, and Prussia into the +still nascent modern German Empire. He knew that France was only +waiting for the day to come when she would be powerful enough to +recover her lost provinces. Russia was friendly, but there was no +certainty she would always be so. Austria was an ally, but many people +in Austria had not forgotten Sadowa, and in any case her military and +naval forces were far from being efficient. An irresistible army, and +a national spirit that would keep it so, were consequently Germany's +first essentials. + +Simultaneously a new fact of vital importance for Germany's prosperity +presented itself for consideration--the growth of world-policy in +trade, the expansion of commerce through the development caused by new +conditions of transport and intercommunication in which other nations +were already engaged. The Prince saw his country's merchants beginning +to spread over the earth, and believing in the doctrine that trade +follows the flag, he felt that the flag, with the power and protection +it affords, must be supplied. For this it appeared to him that a navy +was as indispensable as was an efficient army for Germany's internal +security. All other great countries had fine navies, while to Germany +this complement of Empire was practically wanting. Accordingly he now +took up the study of naval science and naval construction. + +There was an occasion, however, at this time when the young Prince +attracted general attention, if only for a few days. It was when as +colonel of the Body Guard Hussars, he ordered his officers to withdraw +from a Berlin club in which hazard and high play had ruined some of +the younger and less wealthy members. The committee of the club used +their influence to cause Emperor William to make the new commander +cancel his order. The Emperor sent for his grandson and requested its +withdrawal. + +"Majesty," said the young commander, "permit me a question--am I still +commander of the regiment?" + +"Of course--" + +"Well, then, will your Majesty allow me to maintain the order--or else +accept my resignation?" + +"Oh," said the Emperor, who was in reality pleased with the young +disciplinarian, "there can be no talk of such a thing. I could not +find so good a commanding officer again in a hurry." + +When the club committee's ambassadors came to the Emperor to learn the +result of his intervention, his answer was, "Very sorry, gentlemen; I +did my best, but the colonel refuses." + +The political situation as regards France was just now highly +precarious. General Boulanger, whom Gambetta once described as "one of +the four best officers in France," had become Minister of War in the +de Freycinet Cabinet of 1886. Relying on a supposed superiority of the +French army, he prepared for a war of revenge against Germany and +aimed, with the help of Deroulède and Rochfort, at suppressing the +parliamentary _régime_ and establishing himself as dictator. His plans +were answered in Germany by the acceptance of Bismarck's Septennat +proposals for increasing the army and fixing its budget for seven +years in advance. The war feeling in France diminished, and though it +revived for a time owing to the arrest of the French frontier police +commissary Schnaebele, it finally died out on that officer's release +at the particular request of the Czar to Emperor William. Boulanger's +subsequent history only concerns France. He was sent to a provincial +command, but returned to Paris, where he was joyously received and +elected to Parliament by a large majority. He might, it is believed, a +year or two later, on being elected by the department of the Seine, +with Paris at his back, have made a successful _coup d'état_ on the +night of his triumphant election, but his courage at the last moment +failed, and on learning that he was about to be arrested he fled to +Brussels, where he committed suicide on the grave of his mistress. + +The time, however, was approaching, the most interesting, and as the +succession of events have shown, the most momentous for the Empire +since 1870, when Prince William's accession was obviously at hand. +During the year 1887 and the early part of 1888 the attention of the +world was fixed, first curiously, then anxiously, then sympathetically +on the situation in Berlin. Emperor William was an old man just turned +ninety; he was fast breaking up and any week his death might be +announced. Hereditarily the Crown Prince Frederick, now fifty-six, +should succeed, and a new reign would open which might introduce +political changes of moment to other countries as well as Germany. The +new reign was indeed to open, but only to prove one of the shortest in +history. + +In January, 1887, a Shadow fell on the House of Hohenzollern, the +Shadow that must one day fall on every living creature. It was noticed +that the Crown Prince was hoarse, had caught a cold, or something of +the kind. A stay at Ems did him no good, Doctors Tobold and von +Bergmann, the leading specialists of the day, were consulted, a +laryngoscopic examination followed, the presence of cancer was +strongly suspected, and an operation was advised. At this juncture, at +the suggestion, it is said, of Queen Victoria, it was decided to +summon the specialist of highest reputation in England, Sir Morell +Mackenzie, who, having examined the patient, and basing his opinion on +a report of Professor Virchow's, declared that the growth was not +malignant. It was now May, and on Mackenzie's advice the patient +visited England, where, accompanied by Prince William, he was present +at the celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Some months after his +return to the Continent were spent with his family in Tirol and Italy, +until November found him in San Remo, where a meeting of famous +surgeons from Vienna, Berlin, and Frankfort-on-Main finally diagnosed +the existence of cancer, and Mackenzie coincided with the judgment. + +The old Emperor died on March 9th. He had taken cold on March 3rd, and +on the 7th a chronic ailment of the kidneys from which he suffered +became worse, he could not sleep, his strength began to ebb, and it +was clear the end was near. On the 6th, however, he was able to speak +for a few minutes with Prince William, with Bismarck, and with his +only daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, who had arrived post-haste +the night before to be present at the death-bed. The Grand Duchess, as +the Emperor spoke, besought him not to tire himself by talking. "I +have no time to be tired," he murmured, in a flicker of the sense of +duty which had been a lifelong feature of his character, and a few +hours later he passed quietly away. The funeral, headed by Prince +William and the Knights of the Black Eagle, took place on the 20th. +The new Emperor Frederick, who had hurried from San Remo on receiving +news of the Emperor's condition, was too ill to join it, but stood +behind a closed window of his palace and saluted as the coffin went +by. + +The incidents of the Emperor Frederick's ascent of the throne, the +amnesty and liberal-minded proclamations to his people, and in +particular the heroic resignation with which he bore his fate, are +events of common knowledge. One of them was the so-called Battenberg +affair. Queen Victoria desired a marriage between Princess Victoria, +the present Emperor's sister, then aged twenty-two, and Prince +Alexander of Battenberg, at that time Prince of Bulgaria, so as to +secure him against Russia by an alliance with the imperial house of +Germany. Prince Bismarck objected on the ground that the marriage +would show Germany in an unfriendly light at St. Petersburg, and might +subject a Prussian princess to the risk of expulsion from Sofia. +Another account is that the Chancellor feared an increase of English +influence at the German Court with the Prince of Bulgaria as its +channel. In any case, the result of the Chancellor's opposition was to +place the sick Emperor in a delicate and painful situation. It was +ended by his yielding to the Chancellor's representations, and the +marriage did not come off. + +Meanwhile, the Emperor's malady was making fatal progress. The Shadow +was growing darker and more formidable. A season of patiently-borne +suffering followed, until Death in his terrific majesty appeared and +another Emperor occupied the throne. + + + + +IV. + + + +"VON GOTTES GNADEN" + +Prince William is now German Emperor and King of Prussia. Before +observing him as trustee and manager of his magnificent inheritance a +pause may be made to investigate the true meaning of a much-discussed +phrase which, while suggesting nothing to the Englishman though he +will find it stamped in the words "Dei gratia" on every shilling piece +that passes through his hands, is the bed-rock and foundation of the +Emperor's system of rule and the key to his nature and conduct. + +Government in Germany is dynastic, not, as in England and America, +parliamentary or democratic. The King of Prussia possesses his +crown--such is the theory of the people as well as of the dynasty--by +the grace of God, not by the consent of the people. The same may be +said of the German Emperor, who fills his office as King of Prussia. +To the Anglo-Saxon foreigner the dynasty in Germany, and particularly +in Prussia, appears a sort of fetish, the worship of which begins in +the public schools with lessons on the heroic deeds of the +Hohenzollerns, and with the Emperor, as high priest, constantly +calling on his people to worship with him. This view of the kingly +succession may seem Oriental, but it is not surprising when one +reflects that the Hohenzollern dynasty is over a thousand years old +and during that time has ruled successively in part of Southern +Germany, in Brandenburg, in Prussia, until at last, imperially, in all +Germany. Moreover, it has ruled wisely on the whole; in the course of +centuries it has brought a poor and disunited people, living on a soil +to a great extent barren and sandy, to a pitch of power and prosperity +which is exciting the envy and apprehension of other nations. + +In England government passed centuries ago from the dynasty to the +people, and there are people in England to-day who could not name the +dynasty that occupies the English throne. Such ignorance in Germany is +hardly conceivable. In Prussia government has always been the appanage +of the Hohenzollerns, and the Emperor is resolved that, supported by +the army, it shall continue to be their appanage in the Empire. +Government means guidance, and no one is more conscious of the fact +than the Emperor, for he is trying to guide his people all the time. +Frederick William IV once said to the Diet: "You are here to represent +rights, the rights of your class and, at the same time, the rights of +the throne: to represent opinion is not your task." This relation of +government and people has become modified of recent years to a very +obvious degree, but constitutionally not a step has been taken in the +direction of popular, that is to say parliamentary, rule. + +England and Germany are both constitutional monarchies, but both the +monarch and the Constitution in Germany are different from the monarch +and the Constitution in England. The British Constitution is a growth +of centuries, not, like the German Constitution, the creation of a +day. The British Constitution is unwritten, if it is stamped, as Mary +said the word "Calais" would be found stamped on her heart after +death, on the heart and brain of every Englishman. The German +Constitution is a written document in seventy-eight chapters, not +fifty years old, and on which, compared with the British Constitution, +the ink is not yet dry. In England to the people the Constitution is +the real monarch: in Germany the monarchy is to the people what the +British Constitution is to the Englishman; and while in England the +monarch is the first counsellor to the Constitution, in Germany the +Constitution is the first counsellor to the monarch. + +The consequence in England is representative government, with a +political career for every ordinary citizen; the consequence in +Germany is constitutional monarchy, properly so-called, with a +political career for no common citizen. Neither system is perfect, but +both, apparently, give admirable national results. And yet, of course, +an Englishman cannot help thinking that if Herr Bebel were made +Minister to-morrow, Social Democracy would cease to exist. + +The people acquiesce in the Hohenzollern view, not indeed with perfect +and entire unanimity, for the small Progressive party demand a +parliamentary form of government, if not on the exact model of that +established in England. The Social Democrats, evidently, would have no +government at all. Many English people suppose that Germans generally +must desire parliamentary rule and would help them to get it, for +multitudes of English people are firmly persuaded that it is England's +mission to extend to other peoples the institutions which have suited +her so well, without sufficiently considering how different are their +circumstances, geographical position, history, traditions, and +national character. A very similar mistake is made in Germany by +multitudes of Germans, who believe it is Germany's mission to impose +her culture, her views of man and life, on the rest of the world. + +The Prussian view of monarchy, expressed in the words "von Gottes +Gnaden" ("By the Grace of God"), is a political conception, which, +under its customary English translation, "by Divine Right," has often +been ridiculed by English writers. Lord Macaulay, it will be +remembered, in his "History of England," asserts that the doctrine +first emerged into notice when James the Sixth of Scotland ascended +the English throne. "It was gravely maintained," writes Macaulay, + + "that the Supreme Being regarded hereditary monarchy, as + opposed to other systems of government, with peculiar + favour; that the rule of succession in order of + primogeniture was a divine institution anterior to the + Christian, and even to the Mosaic, dispensation; that no + human power, not even that of the whole legislature, no + length of adverse possession, though it extended to ten + centuries, could deprive the legitimate prince of his + rights; that his authority was necessarily always despotic; + that the laws by which, in England and other countries, the + prerogative was limited, were to be regarded merely as + concessions which the sovereign had freely made and might at + his pleasure resume; and that any treaty into which a king + might enter with his people was merely a declaration of his + present intention, and not a contract of which the + performance could be demanded." + +The statement exactly expresses the ideas on the subject attributed +abroad to the Emperor. + +The distinguished German historian, Heinrich von Treitschke, writes of +King Frederick William IV, the predecessor of Emperor William I, as +follows:-- + + "He believed in a mysterious enlightenment which is granted + 'von Gottes Gnaden' to kings rather than other mortals. All + the blessings of peace, which his People could expect under + a Christian monarch, should Proceed from the wisdom of the + Crown alone; he regarded his high office like a patriarch of + the Old Testament and held the kingship as a fatherly power + established by God Himself for the education of the people. + Whatever happened in the State he connected with the person + of the monarch. If only his age and its royal awakener had + understood each other better! He had, however, in his + strangely complicated process of development, constructed + such extraordinary ideals that though he might sometimes + agree in words with his contemporaries he never did as to + the things, and spoke a different language from his people. + Even General Gerlach, his good friend and servant, used to + say: 'The ways of the King are wonderful;' and the not less + loyal Bunsen wrote about a complaint of the monarch that 'no + one understands me, no one agrees with me,' the + commentary--'When one understood him, how could one agree + with him?'" + +It was this king, be it parenthetically remarked, who said, when his +people were clamouring for a Constitution, in 1847: "Now and never +will I admit that a written paper, like a second Providence, force +itself between our God in Heaven and this land"--and a few months +later had to sign the document his people demanded. + +Von Treitschke, writing on the last birthday of Emperor William I, +thus spoke of the doctrine: + + "A generation ago an attempt was made by a theologizing + State theory to inculcate the doctrine of a power of the + throne, divine, released from all earthly obligations. This + mystery of the Jacobins never found entrance into the clear + common sense of our people." + +Prince Bismarck's view of the doctrine was explained in a speech he +made to the Prussian Diet in 1847. He was speaking on "Prussia as a +Christian State." "For me," he said, + + "the words 'von Gottes Gnaden,' which Christian rulers join + to their names, are no empty phrase, but I see in them the + recognition that the princes desire to wield the sceptre + which God has assigned them according to the will of God on + earth. As God's will I can, however, only recognize what is + revealed in the Christian gospels, and I believe I am in my + right when I call that State a Christian one which has taken + as its task the realization, the putting into operation, of + the Christian doctrine.... Assuming generally that the State + has a religious foundation, in my opinion this foundation + can only be Christianity. Take away this religious + foundation from the State and we retain nothing of the State + but a chance aggregation of rights, a kind of bulwark + against the war of all against all, which the old + philosophers spoke of." + +On the second occasion, thirty years later, the Chancellor's theme was +"Obedience to God and the King." + +"I refer," he said, + + "to the wrong interpretation of a sentence which in itself + is right--namely, that one must obey God rather than man. + The previous speaker must know me long enough to be aware + that I subscribe to the entire correctness of this sentence, + and that I believe I obey God when I serve the King under + the device 'With God for King and Country.' Now he (the + previous speaker) has separated the component parts of the + device, for he sees God separated from King and Fatherland. + I cannot follow him on this road. I believe I serve my God + when I serve my King in the protection of the commonwealth + whose monarch 'von Gottes Gnaden' he is, and on whom the + emancipation from alien spiritual influence and the + independence of his people from Romish pressure have been + laid by God as a duty in which I serve the King. The + previous speaker would certainly admit in private that we do + not believe in the divinity of a State idol, though he seems + to assert here that we believe in it." + +In these passages, it may be remarked, Bismarck avoids an +unconditional endorsement of the Hohenzollern doctrine of divine +"right" or even divine appointment. Indeed all he does is to express +his belief in the sincerity of rulers who declare their desire to rule +in accordance with the will of God as it appears in Holy Scripture. In +addition to his dislike of a "Christianity above the State," the fact +that he did not subscribe to the doctrine of divine right, as these +words are interpreted in England, is shown by another speech in which +he said, "The essence of the constitutional monarchy under which we +live is the co-operation of the monarchical will and the convictions +of the people." But what, one is tempted to ask, if will and +convictions differ? + +In recent times, Dr. Paul Liman, in an excellent character sketch of +the Emperor, devotes his first chapter to the subject, thus +recognizing the important place it occupies in the Emperor's +mentality. Dr. Liman, like all German writers who have dealt with the +topic, animadverts on the Hohenzollern obsession by the theory and +attributes it chiefly to the romantic side of the Emperor's nature +which was strongly influenced in youth by the "wonderful events" of +1870, by the national outburst of thanks to God at the time, and by +the return from victorious war of his father, his grandfather, and +other heroes, as they must have appeared to him, like Bismarck, +Moltke, and Roon. + +It is worth noting that Prince von Bülow, during the ten years of his +Chancellorship, made no parliamentary or other specific and public +allusion to the doctrine. + +Before, however, attempting to offer a somewhat different explanation +of the Emperor's attitude in the matter from those just cited, let us +see what statements he has himself made publicly about it and how the +doctrine has been interpreted by his contemporaries. He made no +reference to it in his declarations to the army, the navy, and the +people when he ascended the throne. His first allusion to it was in +March, 1890, at the annual meeting of the Brandenburg provincial Diet +at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin, and then the allusion was not +explicit. "I see," said the Emperor, + + "in the folk and land which have descended to me a talent + entrusted to me by God, which it is my task to increase, and + I intend with all my power so to administer this talent that + I hope to be able to add much to it. Those who are willing + to help me I heartily welcome whoever they may be: those who + oppose me in this task I will crush." + +His next allusion, at Bremen in April of the same year, when he was +laying the foundation-stone of a statue to his grandfather, King +William, a few months subsequent to Bismarck's retirement, was more +explicit, yet not completely so. + +"It is a tradition of our House," so ran his speech, + + "that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed + by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us + to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their + material and intellectual interests." + +The next reference, and the only one in which a divine "right" to rule +in Prussia is formally claimed, occurs four years later at +Koenigsberg, the ancient crowning-place of Prussian kings. Here he +said:-- + + "The successor (namely himself) of him who _of his own + right_ was sovereign prince in Prussia will follow the same + path as his great ancestor; as formerly the first King (of + Prussia, Frederick I.) said, 'My crown is born with me,' and + as his greater son (the Great Elector) gave his authority + the stability of a rock of bronze, so I too, like my + imperial grandfather, represent the kingship 'von Gottes + Gnaden.'" + +At Coblenz in 1897, in reference to the first Emperor William's +labours for the army and people:-- + + "He (Emperor William) left Coblenz to ascend the throne as + the selected instrument of the Lord he always regarded + himself to be. For us all, and above all for us princes, he + raised once more aloft and lent lustrous beams to a jewel + which we should hold high and holy--that is the kingship von + Gottes Gnaden, the kingship with its onerous duties, its + never-ending, ever-continuing trouble and labour, with its + fearful responsibility to the Creator alone, from which no + human being, no minister, no parliament, no people can + release the prince." + +Here, too, if the words "responsibility to the Creator alone" be taken +in their ordinary English sense, the allusion to a divine right may be +construed, though it is observable that the word "right" is not +actually employed. + +In Berlin, when unveiling a monument to the Great Elector, the Emperor +was filled with the same idea of the God-given mission of the +Hohenzollerns. After briefly sketching the deeds of the Elector--how +he came young to the throne to find crops down-trodden, villages burnt +to the ground, a starved and fallen people, persecuted on every side, +his country the arena for barbarous robber-bands who had spread war +and devastation throughout Germany for thirty years; how, with +"invincible reliance on God" and an iron will, he swept the pieces of +the land together, raised trade and commerce, agriculture and +industry, in for that period an incredibly short time; how he brought +into existence a new army entirely devoted to him; how, in fine, +guided by the hope of founding a great northern Empire, which would +bring the German peoples together, he became an authority in Europe +and laid the corner-stone of the present Empire--after sketching all +this, the Emperor continues: + + "How is this wonderful success of the house of Hohenzollern + to be explained? Solely in this way, that every prince of + the House is conscious from the beginning that he is only an + earthly vicegerent, who must give an account of his labour + to a higher King and Master, and show that he has been a + faithful executor of the high commands laid upon him." + +One finds exactly the same idea expressed three months later when +talking to his "Men of Brandenburg." "You know well," he reminded +them, + + "that I regard my whole position and my task as laid on me + by Heaven, and that I am appointed by a Higher Power to whom + I must later render an account. Accordingly I can assure you + that not a morning or evening passes without a prayer for my + people and a special thought for my Mark Brandenburg." + +To the Anglo-Saxon understanding, of course, the theory of divine +right has long appeared untenable, obsolete, and, as Macaulay says, +absurd. Many people to-day would go farther and argue that there is no +such thing as a divine right at all, since "rights" are a purely human +idea, possibly a purely legal one. But it is at least doubtful that +the Emperor uses the expression "von Gottes Gnaden" in a sense exactly +coterminous with that of "divine right" as used by Lord Macaulay and +later Anglo-Saxon writers and speakers. The latter, when dealing with +things German, not unfrequently fall into the error of mistranslation +and are thus at times responsible for national misunderstandings. The +Italian saying, "_traduttore, tradittore_," is the expression of a +fact too seldom recognized, especially by those whose business it is +to interpret, so to speak, one people to another. Language is as +mysterious and elusive a thing as aught connected with humanity, as +love, for example, or music; and it may be asserted with some degree +of confidence that among every people there are ideas current, and in +all departments--in law, society, art--which it is impossible exactly +to translate into the speech of other nations. The words used may be +the same, but the connotation, all the words imply and suggest, is, +perhaps in very important respects, different, and requires a +paraphrase, longer or shorter, to explain them. Take the word "false" +in English and "falsch" in German. They look alike, yet while the +English "false" carries with it a moral reproach, the German word, +where the context does not explicitly prove otherwise, means simply +"incorrect," "erroneous," without the moral reproach added. +Accordingly, when a German Chancellor asserts that the statement of an +English Minister is "falsch" he does not necessarily mean anything +offensive, but only that the English Minister is mistaken. + +From this point of view one may regard the statements of the Emperor +concerning his kingly office. He has recently begun to use the +expression "German Emperor von Gottes Gnaden," a thing done by none of +his imperial predecessors, and certainly a very curious extension of a +doctrine which traditionally only applies to wearers of the crown of +Prussia. But if he does, it may, it is here suggested, be considered +further evidence that he employs the terms "von Gottes Gnaden" in a +sense other than that of "divine right" as conceived by the +Anglo-Saxon. The German "Gnade" means "favour," "grace," "mercy," +"pity," or "blessing," and is at times used in direct contrast with +the word "Recht," which means "justice" as well as "right." The point, +indeed, need hardly be elaborated, and the Emperor's own explanation +of the revelation of God to mankind, with its special reference to his +grandfather which we shall find later in the confession of faith to +Admiral Hollmann, is highly significant of the sense in which he +regards himself and every ruling Hohenzollern as selected for the +duties of Prussian kingship. It is the work of the kingship he is +divinely appointed to do of which he is always thinking, not the legal +right to the kingship _vis à vis_ his people he is mistakenly supposed +to claim. He regards himself as a trustee, not as the owner of the +property. And is not such a spirit a proper and praiseworthy one? In a +sense we Christians, if in a position of responsibility, believe that +we are all divinely appointed to the work each of us has to do: +instruments of God, who shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may. +The Emperor finely says of the Almighty: "He breathed into man His +breath, that is a portion of Himself, a soul." Reason is what chiefly +distinguishes man from the brute, though there are those who hold that +reason is but a higher form of brutish instinct, which again has its +degree among the brutes; but, assuming that reason is of divine +origin, enabling us to receive, by one means or another, the dictates +of the Almighty, it seems clear that there must be channels through +which these dictates become known to us. + +This conveyance, this making plain is, as many people, and the Emperor +among them, believe, performed by God through the agency of those whom +mankind agree to call "great." For the last nineteen centuries a large +part of civilized mankind is at one in the belief that Christ was such +an agency, while millions again agree to call the agency Buddha, +Mahomet, Confucius, or Zoroaster. In the creed of Islam Christ, as a +prophet, comes fifth from Adam. In America there are thousands who +believe, or did believe, in the agency of a Mrs. Eddy or a Dr. Dowie. +And if this is so in matters of religion, itself only a form of the +reasoning soul, why should it not be the same in morals or philosophy, +art or science, government or administration: why should we not all +accept, as many still do, the sayings and writings of the Hebrew +prophets (as does the Emperor), of Plato and Aristotle, of Bacon and +Hobbes, of Milton and Shakespeare and Goethe, of Kepler and Galileo, +or Charlemagne and Napoleon, as divinely intended to convey and make +plain to us the dictates of Heaven until such time as yet greater +souls shall instruct us afresh and still more fully? + +It may be that the Emperor thinks in some such way; his speeches and +edicts at least suggest it. Certainly, as already mentioned, he did on +one occasion, when speaking of his kingship, employ the word "right" +as descriptive of the nature of his appointment by God. But that was +early in his reign, and at no time since has he insisted on a +Heaven-granted right to rule. It was, no doubt, different with some of +his absolute predecessors, but it was not the view of Frederick the +Great, who declared himself "the first servant of the State." +Moreover, it is hardly conceivable that the Emperor, who is acquainted +with the facts of history and is a man of practical common sense +besides, does not know that the doctrine of "divine right" has long +been rejected by people of intelligence in every civilized country, +including his own. + +If he really believes in divine right in the Stuart sense he must +think that the conditions of Germany are so different from those of +the rest of civilized mankind, and his own people so little advanced +in knowledge and political science, that a doctrine absurd and +dangerous to the peace of enlightened commonwealths is applicable as a +basis of rule in his own. It seems a more plausible view, that the +Emperor considers the expression "von Gottes Gnaden" an academic +formula of government, or what is still more likely, as a moral and +religious, not a legal, dogma, which yet expresses one of the leading +and most admirable features of his policy as a ruler. If it is not so, +he is inconsistent with himself, since he has repeatedly declared +himself bound by the Constitution in accordance with which his +grandfather and father and he himself have hitherto ruled. At present +the doctrine of divine "right" is regarded by Germans no less than by +Englishmen as dead and buried, and mention of it in Germany is usually +greeted with a smile. Even the notion of appointment by divine +"grace," while considered a harmless and praiseworthy article of faith +with the Emperor, is no longer regarded as a living principle of +government. + + + + +V. + + + +THE ACCESSION + + + +1888-1890 + +With his accession began for the Emperor a period of extraordinary +activity which has continued practically undiminished to the present +day. During that time he has been the most prominent man and monarch +of his generation. From the domestic point of view his life perhaps +has not been marked by many notable events, but from the point of view +of politics and international relations it has been the history of his +reign and to no small extent the history of the world. + +When a German Emperor ascends the throne there is no great outburst of +national rejoicing, no great series of popular ceremonials. There is +no brilliant procession as in England, no impressive coronation like +that of an English monarch in Westminster Abbey, no State visit of the +monarch to the Houses of Parliament. In Germany Parliament goes to the +King, not the King to Parliament. + +On the same day that the Emperor began his reign he addressed +proclamations to the army and navy. The addresses to the people and +the Parliament were to come a few days later. In the proclamation to +the army he said: + + "I and the army were born for each other. Let us remain + indissolubly so connected, come peace or storm, as God may + will. You will now take the oath of fidelity and obedience + to me, and I swear always to remember that the eyes of my + ancestors are bent on me from the other world, and that one + day I shall have to give an account touching the fame and + the honour of the army." + +His address to the navy was in the same vein. + + "We have only just put off mourning for my unforgettable + grandfather, Kaiser William I, and already we have had to + lower the flag for my beloved father, who took such an + interest in the growth and progress of the navy. A time of + earnest and sincere sorrow, however, strengthens the mind + and heart of man, and so let us, keeping at heart the + example of my grandfather and father, look with confidence + to the future. I have learned to appreciate the high sense + of honour and of duty which lives in the navy, and know that + every man is ready faithfully to stake his life for the + honour of the German flag, be it where it may. Accordingly I + can, in this serious hour, feel fully assured that we shall + stand strongly and steadily together in good or bad days, in + storm or sunshine, always mindful of the Fatherland and + always ready to shed our heart's blood for the honour of the + flag." + +To his people he promised that he would be a + + "just and mild prince, observant of piety and religion, a + protector of peace, a promoter of the country's prosperity, + a helper to the poor and needy, a faithful guardian of the + right." + +To the Parliament a week later he announced that he meant to walk in +the footsteps of his grandfather, particularly in regard to the +working classes, to acquire the confidence of the federated princes, +the affection of the people, and the friendly recognition of foreign +countries. He said that in his opinion the + + "most important duties of the German Emperor lay in the + domain of the military and political security of the nation + externally, and internally in the supervision of the + carrying out of imperial laws." + +The highest of these laws, he explained, was the Imperial Constitution +and "to preserve and protect the Constitution, and in especial the +rights it gives to the legislative bodies, to every German, but also +to the Emperor and the federated states," he considered "among the +most honourable duties of the Emperor." + +While the order of these addresses is different to what it would be in +England, it entirely accords with the spirit of the Prussian monarchy +and the political system of the German people. Settled in the heart of +Europe, the nation rests on the army, and it is hardly too much to say +that, from the Emperor's point of view, possibly also from the popular +German point of view, the interests of the army must be considered +before the interests of the rest of the population. An English +monarch, who issued his first address to the British navy, would be as +justified in doing so by the real necessities of Great Britain as a +German Emperor who first addresses the German army is justified by the +real necessities of Germany; for the British navy is as vital to the +British as the German army is to the German nation. In England, +however, the monarch's respect for the people and Parliament takes +precedence of his respect for the army, not _vice versa_ as in +Germany. + +In a speech from the throne to the Prussian Diet the Emperor took the +Constitutional Oath: "I swear to hold firmly and unbrokenly to the +Constitution of the Kingdom and to rule in agreement with it and the +laws ... so help me God!" and went on to proclaim the continuance in +Prussia and the Empire of his grandfather's and father's policy and +work. He said at the same time, while undertaking not to make the +People uneasy by trying to extend Crown rights, that he would take +care that the constitutional rights of the Crown were respected and +used, and that he meant to hand them over unimpaired to his successor. +He concluded by saying that he would always bear in mind the words of +Frederick the Great, who described himself as the "first servant of +the State." + +At Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, a few months later, he declared, when +unveiling a monument to his uncle, Prince Frederick Karl, a hero of +the Franco-Prussian War, that he meant never to surrender a stone of +the acquisitions made in the war and + + "believed he voiced the feeling of the entire army in saying + that Germany, rather than do so, would suffer its eighteen + army corps and its whole population of 42 millions to perish + on the field of battle." + +At this period of his career the Emperor was, first and foremost, a +thoroughgoing Hohenzollern. Doubtless he is so still, if he talks less +about the dynasty. He admired Frederick the Great, then as now, and in +the first place as military commander, but the ancestor with whom he +even more sympathized, and sympathizes, was the Great Elector. "The +ancestor," he said himself, + + "for whom I have the most liking (_Schwärmen_, a hardly + translatable German verb, is the word he used) and who + always shone before me as an example in my youth, was the + Great Elector, the man who loved his country with all his + heart and strength, and unrestingly devoted himself to + rescuing the Mark Brandenburg out of its deep distress and + made it a strong and united whole." + +What particularly attracted the Emperor in the history of the Elector +was the fact that he was the first Hohenzollern who saw the importance +of promoting trade and industry, building a navy, and acquiring +colonies. As yet, however, the Emperor had only clear and fairly +definite ideas about the need for a navy. The world-policy may have +been in embryo in his mind, but it was not born. + +The imaginative side of the Emperor's character at this period is well +illustrated in a speech he made in 1890 to his favourite "Men of the +Mark." He was talking of his travels, to which allusion had been made +by a previous speaker. + +"My travels," said the Emperor, + + "have not only had the object of making myself acquainted + with foreign countries and institutions, or to create + friendly relations with neighbouring monarchs, but these + journeys, which have been the subject of much + misunderstanding, had for me the great value that, withdrawn + from the heat of party faction, I could review our domestic + conditions from a distance and submit them to calm + consideration. Any one who, standing on a ship's bridge far + out at sea, with only God's starry heaven above him, + communes with himself, will not fail to appreciate the worth + of such a journey. For many of my fellow-countrymen I would + wish that they might live through such an hour, in which one + can make up an account as to what he has attempted and what + achieved. Then would he be cured of exaggerated + self-estimation, and that we all need." + +Having discharged the duty of addressing his own subjects, the +Emperor's next care, after a stay at Kiel where a German Emperor and +King now for the first time in history appeared in the uniform of an +admiral, was personally to announce his accession at the courts of his +fellow-European sovereigns. We find him, accordingly, paying visits to +Alexander II in St. Petersburg, to King Oscar II in Stockholm (where +he received a telegram announcing the birth of his fifth son), to +Christian IX in Copenhagen, to Kaiser Franz Joseph in Vienna and to +King Humbert in Rome. To both the last-mentioned he presented himself +in the additional capacity of Triplice ally. + +In August of the year following his accession he paid his first visit +as Emperor to England. It was a very different thing, one may imagine, +from the earliest recorded visit of a German Emperor to the English +Court. That was in 1416, when the Emperor Sigismund (1411-1437) +arrived there and was received by Henry V. Henry postponed the opening +of Parliament specially on his account, made him a Knight of the +Garter, and signed with him at Canterbury an offensive and defensive +alliance against France. How poor the German Empire and the German +Emperor were at that epoch may be judged from the fact that on his way +home Sigismund had to pawn the costly gifts he had received in +England. + +On the present occasion a grand naval review of over a hundred +warships, with crews totalling 25,000 men, was held in honour of the +Emperor at Osborne. This was followed, a few days afterwards, by a +parade of the troops at Aldershot under the command of General Sir +Evelyn Wood. On this occasion, after expressing his admiration for the +British troops, the Emperor concluded: "At Malplaquet and Waterloo, +Prussian and British blood flowed in the prosecution of a common +enterprise." In a little speech after the review the Emperor spoke of +the English navy as "the finest in the world." The impression made by +the Emperor on Sir Evelyn has been recorded by that general. "The +Emperor is extremely wide-awake," he writes to a friend, "with a +decided, straightforward manner. He is a good rider. His quick and +very intelligent spirit seizes every detail at a glance, and he +possesses a wonderful memory." The Emperor was now nominated an +honorary Admiral of the British navy and as a return compliment made +Queen Victoria honorary "Chef" of his own First Dragoon Guards. At the +naval review a journalist asked an English naval officer what would +happen if the Emperor, in command of a German fleet, should meet a +British fleet in time of war between England and Germany?--"Would the +British fleet have to salute the Emperor?" "Certainly," replied the +naval officer; "it would fire 100 guns at him." + +Next year the Emperor was again in England, this time to be present at +the Cowes regatta, which he took part in regularly during the four +succeeding years, noting, doubtless, all that might prove useful for +the development of the Kiel yachting "week," the success of which he +had then, as always since, particularly at heart. He was received by +Queen Victoria with the simple and homely words, "Welcome, William!" + +A State visit to the City of London followed, when he was accompanied +by the Empress, and was entertained to a luncheon given by the City +Fathers in the Guildhall. The entertainment, which took place on July +10, 1891, was remarkable for a speech delivered by the Emperor in +English, in which, besides declaring his intention of maintaining the +"historical friendship" between England and Germany, he proclaimed +that his great object "above all" was the preservation of peace, +"since peace alone can inspire that confidence which is requisite for +a healthy development of science, art, and commerce." On the same +occasion he expressed his feeling of "being at home" in England--"this +delightful country"--and spoke of the "same blood which flows alike in +the veins of Germans and English." Shortly afterwards he attended a +review of volunteers at Wimbledon, and, as he said, was "agreeably +astonished at the spectacle of so many citizen-soldiers in a country +that had no conscription." + +The Emperor returned from England to receive the visit of his chief +Triplice ally, the Emperor Franz Joseph, and to discuss with him +doubtless the European situation. Bismarck has been pictured as +sitting at the European chessboard pondering the moves necessary tor +Germany to win the game of which the great prize was the hegemony of +Europe. The chief opposing Pieces, whose aid or neutrality was +desirable, were for long France, Russia, Austria, and Italy; but in +1883, with the conclusion of the Triple Alliance, Austria and Italy +needed less to be considered, and the only two really important +opposing pieces left were France and Russia. Still, Germany, through +her allies of the Triplice, might be dragged into war, and +consequently the doings of Austria and Italy, both in relation to one +another and to France and Russia were, as they now are, of great +importance to her. + +At the time of the accession, the chessboard of our metaphor was +mainly occupied with Franco-German relations and with Russian designs +on Constantinople, the Dardanelles, and the Black Sea. The danger to +Germany of war with France, which had arisen out of the Boulanger and +Schnaebele incidents, had died down, but not altogether ceased. +Hohenlohe tells us how at this time, in conversation with the Emperor, +the latter ventured the forecast: "Boulanger is sure to succeed. I +prophesy that as Kaiser Ernest he will pay a visit to Berlin." He was +wrong, we know, as so many prophets are. + +Russian designs on Turkey had had to reckon with the opposition of +England and Austria. As regards these designs, Bismarck says: + + "Germany's policy should be one of reserve. Germany would + act very foolishly if in Oriental questions, without having + special interests, she took a side before the other Powers, + who were more nearly interested: she would therefore do well + to refrain from making her move as long as possible, and + thus, besides, gain the benefit of longer peace." + +The Chancellor, however, admitted that against the advantages of a +policy of reserve had to be set the disadvantage of Germany's position +in the centre of Europe with its frontiers exposed to the attacks of a +coalition. "From this situation," said the Chancellor, "it results +that Germany is perhaps the only Great Power in Europe which is not +tempted to attain its ends by victorious war." + +"Our interest," he goes on, + + "is to maintain peace, whereas our continental neighbours + without exception have wishes, either secret or officially + admitted, which can only be fulfilled through war. + Consequently, German policy must be to prevent war or + confine it as much as possible: to keep in the background + while the European game of cards is going on: and not by + loss of patience or concession at the cost of the country, + or vanity, or provocation from friends, allow ourselves to + be driven from the waiting attitude: otherwise--_plectuntur + Achivi!_--third parties will rejoice." + +That was the Bismarckian policy twenty-five years ago, and though new +economic conditions have had great influence in modifying it since, +particularly as it regards the East, it is practically Germany's +policy now. + +In his first speech from the throne to the Reichstag the Emperor thus +referred to the Triple Alliance: + + "Our Alliance with Austria-Hungary is publicly known. I hold + to the same with German fidelity, not merely because it has + been concluded, but because I see in this defensive union a + foundation for the balance of power in Europe and a legacy + of German history, the importance of which is recognized by + the whole of the German people, while it accords with + European international law as undeniably in force up to + 1866. Similar historical relations and similar national + exigences of the time bind us to Italy. Both Germany and + Italy desire to prolong the blessings of peace that they may + pursue in tranquillity the consolidation of their newly + acquired unity, the betterment of their national + institutions, and the increase of their prosperity." + +In a speech a few months later he declared that the Alliance had no +other purpose than to strengthen the peaceful relations of Germany to +other foreign Powers. His next public reference to it was in May, +1900, when Kaiser Franz Joseph visited Berlin on the occasion of the +coming of age of the German Crown Prince. "Truly," exclaimed the +Emperor, in a vein of some exaggeration, + + "this Alliance is not alone an agreement in the eyes of the + monarchs, but the longer it has existed, the deeper has it + taken root in the convictions of the peoples, and the moment + that the hearts of the peoples beat in unison nothing can + tear them asunder. Common interests, common feelings, joy + and sorrow shared together, unite our three nations for now + twenty years, and although often enough misunderstandings + and sarcasm and criticisms have been poured out on them, the + three peoples have succeeded in maintaining peace hitherto, + and are regarded by the whole world as its champions." + +The history of the Triplice may be shortly related here as, along with +his navy, it is regarded by the Emperor as the chief factor in the +preservation of the world's peace, and is, in fact, as has been said, +the foundation of his foreign policy. It arose from Bismarck's desire +to be independent of Russia and from his dread of a European +coalition--for example, that of France, Austria, and Russia--against +the German Empire. "We had," Bismarck writes, + + "carried on successful war against two of the European Great + Powers (Austria and France), and it became advisable to + withdraw at least one of them from the temptation to revenge + which lay in the prospect an alliance with others offered. + It could not be France, as any one who knew the history and + temperament of the two peoples could see, nor England owing + to her dislike of permanent alliances, nor Italy as her + support alone was insufficient against an anti-German + coalition; so that the choice lay between Austria-Hungary + and Russia." + +For many reasons Bismarck would have preferred the Russian alliance, +among others the traditional dynastic friendship between the two +countries and the fact that no natural political or religious causes +of conflict existed between them; while a union with Austria was less +reliable, owing to the changeable nature of her public opinion, the +heterogeneousness of her Magyar, Slav, and Catholic populations, and +the loss of influence by the German element with the governing body. +On the other hand, however, an alliance with Austria would be nothing +new, internationally, as such a connection theoretically arose from +the former connection of Germany and Austria in the Holy Roman Empire. +While weighing the matter, a threatening letter from Czar Alexander II +to William I, in which he called on Germany to support his Balkan +policy, and said that if he refused peace could not last between their +two countries, decided Bismarck in favour of Austria. The chief +opponent of the new Alliance was William I, who was moved by personal +chivalric feelings towards his nephew, Czar Alexander; but, +disregarding this, because confident of eventually persuading his +imperial master, Bismarck went to Gastein and there settled with the +Austrian Minister, Count Andrassy, the principles of the Alliance. +Italy came into the Alliance in 1883 as the immediate result of France +obtaining a protectorate in Tunis, in return, partly, for her +acquiescence in the English acquisition of Cyprus. The protectorate +aroused general indignation and fear in Italy, and though it meant a +large expenditure on naval and military armament, on May 20, 1882, she +joined the Dual Alliance for five years, and thus turned it into the +Triplice. + +The Triple Alliance rests on three treaties: one between Germany and +Austria-Hungary, one between Germany and Italy, and one between +Austria-Hungary and Italy. While by the first Germany and +Austria-Hungary bind themselves to combine in case of an attack on +either by Russia, whether as original foe or as ally, and to observe +"at least" benevolent neutrality in case of attack from any other +quarter, by the second Germany and Italy bind themselves to mutual +support in case of an attack on either by France. The third, between +Austria-Hungary and Italy, binds the signatories to benevolent +neutrality in case Austria-Hungary is attacked by Russia, or Italy by +France. + +That there are weak points in the Triple Alliance is obvious. If +Austria-Hungary were a purely homogeneous country like France or +Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, even without Italy, could face +with confidence an attack from either or both their powerful +neighbours. But Austria-Hungary is not homogeneous. A large proportion +of her population is anti-German, or at least non-German, and Italy is +always subject to be tempted by an opportunity of obtaining some of +Austria-Hungary's Adriatic possessions. Moreover, a large party is +even now to be found in Austria-Hungary which desires revenge for the +humiliation of her defeat by Germany in 1866. + +The relations of Germany to Russia have always been rather those of +friendship between the monarchs of the two countries than of +friendship between the two peoples; and it is easy to understand that +the fear of revolution, Socialism, or "government of the people, by +the people, for the people," to use Lincoln's celebrated phrase, at +all times forms a strong and active bond of sympathy between the +monarchs. In the case of Russia there is also always to be considered +the obstinate, or as the Emperor would call it knightly, spirit in +which his grandfather, King William I, regarded his obligation to +maintain friendship with the Czar, and which for a long time made him +hostile to the idea of alliance with Austria instead of alliance with +Russia. The feeling, it is highly probable, is strong, if not equally +strong, in the mind of the Emperor to-day, if only out of respect for +the memory of his ancestor. There is not, to use a popular expression, +much love lost between the two peoples, not only because of racial +differences between Teuton and Slav, but because of the differences in +religion and in degree of civilization. There are not a few Germans +who assert that Germany's next war will be with Russia, and that from +the dominions of the Czar will be obtained the fresh territory Germany +needs for her constantly expanding population. + +The Czar returned the Emperor's accession visit in Berlin in October, +1889, and it was on this occasion that the first sign of trouble +between the Emperor and the old Chancellor showed itself. When the +Emperor first proposed to make his round of visits of accession to +foreign sovereigns, Bismarck agreed except as regarded Russia and +England, objecting that visits to these countries would have an +alternatively bad effect in each. The Emperor, however, as has been +noted, went to Russia. During the return visit in Berlin, Bismarck had +an interview with the Czar which resulted in the final adjustment of +Russo-German relations, but at its close the Czar said, "Yes, I +believe you and have confidence in you, but are you sure you will +remain in office?" Bismarck looked surprised, and said, "Certainly, +Majesty; I am quite certain I shall remain in office all my life"--an +odd thing, one may remark, for a man to say, who must have been +familiar with the saying, "Put not your trust in princes." + +When the Czar was going away, both the Emperor and Bismarck +accompanied him to the station, and on their return the Emperor gave +the old Chancellor a seat in his carriage. The talk concerned the +visit just over, and the Emperor again announced his intention of +spending some time in Russia the following year. Bismarck now advised +against the project on the ground that it would arouse hostility in +Austria, and because "it was not suitable considering the Czar's +disposition towards the Emperor." + +"What disposition? What do you mean? How do you know?" questioned the +Emperor quickly. + +"From confidential letters I am in the habit of receiving from St. +Petersburg, in addition to official reports," replied the Chancellor. + +The Emperor expressed a wish to see the letters, but Bismarck gave an +evasive answer. The result was a temporary coolness between Emperor +and Chancellor. + +From a memorandum of Prince Hohenlohe's we get a glimpse of one of the +political currents and anti-currents just now running high. Prince +Hohenlohe writes under date, June 27, 1888, when the Emperor was +hardly a fortnight on the throne:-- + + "Last evening at 8 left Berlin with Thaden after supping + with Victor and Franz (son and nephew) in the Kaiserhof + Hotel. Paid several visits during the day. I found Friedberg + somewhat depressed. He is no longer the big man he was in + the Emperor Frederick's time, when everybody courted him. He + knows that the Emperor does not favour Jews. Then I visited + the new chief of the Cabinet (civil), Lucanus, a courtly, + polished, obliging man, who looks more like an elegant + Austrian privy councillor. Wilmoski inspires me with more + confidence. At 5 to Bleichroeder's (Bleichroeder was the + great Jew banker). We spoke, or rather he spoke first, about + the political situation. He is satisfied, and says Bismarck + is too. Only the Emperor must take care to keep out of the + hands of the Orthodox. People in the country wouldn't stand + that. (He is right there, comments Hohenlohe.) Waldersee and + his followers, he said, was another danger. Waldersee was a + foe of Bismarck's and thought himself fit for anything and + everything. Who knows but that these gentlemen wouldn't + begin the old game and say to the Emperor, 'You are simply + nothing but a doll. Bismarck is the real ruler.' On the old + Emperor this would have made no impression, but the young + one would be more sensitive. Bismarck, therefore, wanted + Waldersee's banishment, and would, if he could, send him to + Strasburg (where Hohenlohe was Statthalter) as commanding + general. Perhaps he was only aiming at making me (Hohenlohe) + sick of my post and so get rid of Waldersee, his enemy, when + I cleared out. Bleichroeder said Bismarck only introduced + the compulsory pass system to show the Emperor that he too + could act sharply against the French, and so as to take the + wind out of the sails of the military party. Bismarck was + thinking above all about seating his son Herbert firmly in + the saddle (Herbert was Secretary of State for Foreign + Affairs). That is the sole motive of his action and thought. + There was therefore no prospect of matters in the Rhineland + improving. As to Russia, Bleichroeder expected some + occurrence, something out of the way (_exotisches_) by which + Russia might be won, either the withdrawal of troops from + the frontier or a meeting of Emperors. The Emperor, Bismarck + said, would not begin a war. If it came, however, it would + not be unwelcome to him." + +Prince Hohenlohe also tells of a visit he paid in the month of the +accession to the widowed Empress Frederick. "She is much bowed down," +he said, + + "very harassed-looking, and I feel sure that all this recent + time, all the last year in fact, she has been displaying an + artificial good-humour, for now I find her in deep distress. + At first she could not speak for weeping. We spoke of the + Emperor Frederick's last days, then she recovered herself a + little and complained of the wickedness and meanness of men, + by which she meant to allude to certain people.... Herbert + Bismarck had had the impudence to tell the Prince of Wales + (later Edward VII) that an Emperor who could not talk and + discuss things should not be allowed to reign, and so on. + The Prince of Wales, the Empress said, told Herbert that if + it were not that he valued good relations between England + and Germany, he would have thrown him out of the door.... + Waldersee was a false, unprincipled wretch, who would think + nothing of ruining his country if he could only satisfy his + own personal ambition." + +Prince Hohenlohe finally called on the Prince of Wales, who "spoke +prudently, but showed his disgust at the roughness of the Bismarcks, +and could not understand their policy of irritating France." + +The particular question concerning France that was agitating Germany +at the time of the accession was the state of affairs in +Alsace-Lorraine, and particularly Bismarck's measure requiring French +citizens entering the provinces to provide themselves with a pass from +the German Ambassador in Paris. The amiable and conciliatory +Statthalter, Prince Hohenlohe, had to make a reluctant journey to +Berlin in connexion with this question. There was another question +also weighing on his mind--the question whether or not he should have +a sentry guard before his official residence in Strasburg. The +military authorities, whose rivalry with the civil authorities +everywhere in Germany for influence and power still continues, wanted +to have the sentries abolished, but the Prince eventually had his way. +He showed Bismarck that they were necessary for his reputation with +the population, which had already begun to think less of his influence +as Statthalter owing to his one day at a review having incautiously +and gallantly taken a back seat in his carriage in favour of some lady +guests. + +In normal times the composers of speeches from the throne are +accustomed to describe the relations between their own and foreign +countries as "friendly." When the relations are not friendly, yet not +the opposite, they are usually registered on the political barometer +as "correct." The attitude on both sides is formal, rigorously polite, +reserved; such as would become a pair of people who had once been at +feud and after their quarrel had been fought out agreed, if only for +the sake of appearances, to show no outward animosity, but on the +other hand not give an inch of way. The position of France and Germany +is "correct"; it has never been friendly since 1870; and it must be +many a long year before it can be friendly again. Apart from the +difference between the Latin and Teutonic temperaments, apart from the +legacy of hate left in Germany against France by the sufferings and +humiliations the great Napoleon caused her, apart from the fact that +one people is republican and the other monarchical, there is always +one thing that will prevent reconciliation--the loss by France of the +fair provinces Alsace and Lorraine. It is of no use for Germany to +remind France that up to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 this +territory belonged to Germany, or rather to what then was known by +that name. It was useless as well as ungracious for Bismarck to tell +France to seek compensation in Africa for what she had lost in Europe. +Like Rachel mourning for her children, France will not be comforted; +and now, as from the heavy hour in which she lost the provinces, she +grieves over the memory of them and nurses the hope, still mingled +with hate, of one glorious day regaining them. There are sanguine +spirits who assert that the old feeling is dying out, and the German +Government studiously encourages that view. It may be so; time is +having its obliterating effects; and in externals at least the +Germanization of the provinces is slowly making progress. Still the +wound is deep, and there seems no prospect of its healing. + +Several suggestions have been made with a view to an arrangement that +might leave France without reason, or with less reason, for constant +meditation on revenge One of them is the neutralization of +Alsace-Lorraine on the model of Belgium, while another is the +distribution of the territory, so that while Alsace is divided between +Baden and Bavaria, Lorraine becomes a part of Prussia A third would +divide the provinces between the two nations. An illustration of the +yet prevailing feeling is found in the fact that large Alsatian firms +invariably use French in their correspondence with Berlin firms, and +almost as invariably refer to the "customs-arrangement" with Germany +in 1871. They cannot bring themselves to use the word "annexation." + +Yet of late years--to anticipate somewhat the course of +events--Germany has made two important concessions to Alsace-Lorraine. +The first was the abrogation of the so-called "Dictator-Paragraph," +which was part of the law for administering the new provinces after +the war of 1870. Under the paragraph the Lieutenant-Governor +(Oberpresident) of the Reichsland, as the newly incorporated territory +is now officially known, was empowered in case of need to take command +of the military forces and proclaim a state of siege. When announcing +the abrogation of the Paragraph in the Reichstag in 1902, Chancellor +von Bülow gave a résumé of the relations of the provinces to the +Empire since 1870. He stated that immediately after the war the +population were not disposed to incorporation in the Empire, as they +thought the new state of things would only be temporary and that +France would soon reconquer the provinces. This state of feeling, the +Chancellor explained, naturally reacted on the Government, which +accordingly laid down the principle that the claims of the provinces +to equal political rights with other parts of the Empire could only be +recognized step by step, as the Government was satisfied that the +population conformed to the new order of things. + +The second important concession to the Provinces was made only +recently, when the provincial committee was replaced by a popularly +elected Diet and the Provinces were granted three seats in the Federal +Council. There is a proviso that in case of equality in the Council +meetings the votes shall not be allowed to turn the scale in favour of +Prussia. The limitation is a concession to the susceptibilities of the +other Federal states. + +Germany's relations with Great Britain at the time of the accession +were unclouded. Mr. Gladstone had been defeated on his Home Rule +proposals and Lord Salisbury was back in power. A lull had occurred in +British relations with the Transvaal. All nations, including Germany, +were beginning to turn their attention to the Orient with a view to +the acquisition in Asia of "spheres of influence and spheres of +interest," but as yet English and German interests had not come +anywhere into conflict. + +The Emperor's great internal foe and the object of his special enmity +is the Social Democracy, and practically from the day of his accession +he has waged war with it. His attitude towards the Socialists requires +no long description, since it logically results from his traditional +conception of Prussian monarchy and from the revolutionary character +of Social Democratic aims. While a young man he paid little or no +attention to the movement, and probably regarded it as the "passing +phenomenon" he subsequently declared it to be. In 1884 the number of +Social Democratic voters was something over half a million, and the +number of Social Democratic members returned to the Reichstag 25: in +1890, two years after the accession, the figures were a million and a +half and 35 respectively. + +The Emperor's denunciation of Social Democrats has always been +unmeasured. "A crew undeserving the name of Germans," a "plague that +must be extirpated," "traitors," "people without a country and enemies +to religion," "foes to the Empire and the country"--such were a few of +the expressions he then and during the next few years publicly applied +to three millions of his subjects. To-day, it may be added, the number +of Social Democrats in Germany is well over four millions. + +In 1889, in reply to a deputation of three coal miners' +representatives, the Emperor said: + + "As regards your demands, I will have them carefully + investigated (a phrase, by the way, not unknown in England) + by my Government, and let you know the result through the + usual official channels. Should, however, offences against + public peace and order occur, should a connexion between + your movement and Social Democratic circles be demonstrated, + I would not be in a position to weigh your wishes with my + royal goodwill, since for me every Social Democrat is the + same thing as a foe to the Empire and the Fatherland. + Accordingly, if I see that Social Democratic tendencies mix + with the movement and lead to unlawful opposition, I will + intervene with all my powers--and they are great." + +And a month later: + + "That the Radical agitation of the Social Democracy has + turned so many heads and hearts is due to the fact that in + schools, high and low, too little is taught about the cruel + deeds of the French Revolution and too little about the + heroic deeds of the War of Liberation, which was (with the + help of English bayonets, be it parenthetically remarked) + the salvation of the Fatherland." + +In 1892, to anticipate by a year or two, in reply to a guest who had +observed that Social Democrats were not decreasing in numbers, the +Emperor remarked: + + "The moment the Social Democracy feels itself in possession + of power it will not hesitate for an instant to attack the + Burghertum (middle classes) very energetically. No + exhibition of general benevolence is of any use against + these people--here only religious feeling, founded on + decided faith, can have any influence." + +The Emperor, referring to the murder of a manufacturer in Mulhausen, +said: "Another victim to the revolutionary movement kept alive by the +Socialists. If only our people would act like men!" + +And yet it is obvious, looking at it from the standpoint of to-day, +that an admirably organized movement with four million parliamentary +voters in an electorate of fourteen millions, with no members in an +Imperial Parliament of 397 with representatives, more or less +numerous, on almost every municipal board of any importance in the +Empire, with the power of disturbing at any moment the relations +between capital and labour, upon which the prosperity, security, and +comfort of the whole population depend, and in intimate relations with +the Socialists of all other countries, cannot be merely ignored or +disposed of by scornful and sarcastic speeches, by official anathema, +or even by close police supervision. There must be something behind it +all which ought to be susceptible of explanation. + +Before, however, attempting to conjecture what the something is, it +will be advisable, familiar to many though the facts must be, to +recapitulate, as briefly as possible, the history of the movement. Old +as the story is, it is necessary to have some knowledge of it, for +Social Democracy is the great, perhaps the only, domestic political +thorn in the Emperor's side. + +It is a truism to say that the "social question," the question how +best to organize society, is as old as society itself. Great thinkers +all down the ages, from Plato to Sir Thomas More, from More to Jean +Jacques Rousseau, from Rousseau to Saint Simon, Fourier, Louis Blanc, +Lassalle, and Karl Marx, have devoted their attention to it. The +French Revolutionists tried to solve it, and the revolutionary +movement of 1848 took up the problem in its turn. + +German Social Democracy may be referred for its source to the +teachings of Louis Blanc, who formed in 1840 a workmen's society in +Paris. Blanc held, as the Social Democrats hold, that capitalism was +the cause of all social evil, and that the workman was powerless +against it. He therefore proposed the establishment of workmen's +societies for purposes of production, and the grant of the necessary +capital at a low rate of interest by the State. The doctrine was taken +up in Germany with fiery enthusiasm by Ferdinand Lassalle, who, in +May, 1863, founded the General German Workmen's Society for a +"peaceful, lawful agitation" in favour of universal suffrage as a +first means to the desired end. Universal suffrage was granted by the +North German Confederation in 1867, and in 1873 Lassalle's adherents +numbered 60,000. + +Meanwhile, Karl Marx and his disciple, Frederic Engels, had been +propagating their theories, and in 1848 the former published his +famous work on the ideal social state. At first Marx was a partizan of +revolutionary methods, but he subsequently recanted this view and +proclaimed that the Socialistic aim in future should be the +"strengthening of the economic and political power of the workman so +that the expropriation of private property could be obtained by +legislation." The Marxian doctrine was adopted in Germany by Wilhelm +Liebknecht and August Bebel, who, at Eisenach in 1869, founded the +Association of Social Democratic Workmen, to which the present German +party owes its name. The Eisenach programme declared "the economic +dependence of the workmen on the monopolists of the tools of labour +the foundation of servitude and social evil," and demanded "the +economic emancipation of the working classes." An attempt to get the +Lassalle society to join the Eisenacher society on an international +basis failed for the time, but the two associations finally coalesced +at the Gotha Congress of 1875. + +The attempt on the life of William I in 1878 by the anarchist Nobiling +had an important effect on the fortunes of the party and the character +of its programme. The Socialist Laws were passed and the police began +a campaign against the Socialists, of which the mildest features were +the dissolution of societies, the searching of houses, the expulsion +of suspected persons, and the interdiction of Socialist newspapers and +periodicals. + +For the next few years the party held its annual congresses in +Switzerland or Denmark, but as the Socialist Laws ceased to have +effect after three years, and were not then renewed, the party resumed +its congresses in Germany. The Congress at Erfurt in 1891 resulted in +the issue of a new programme rejecting the Lassalle plan for the +establishment of workmen's societies for productive purposes and +substituting for it the transfer of all capitalistic private property +engaged in the means of production, such as lands, mines, raw +material, tools, machinery, and means of transport, to the State. The +term used in the programme is "state," not "society," but the State is +in fact nothing but the society armed with coercive powers. + +Other objects are universal suffrage for both sexes over twenty, +electoral reform, two-year parliaments, direct legislation "through +the people," some form of parliamentary government, autonomy of the +people in Empire, State, Province, and Parish, conscription, national +militia instead of standing army, international arbitration, abolition +of State religion, free and compulsory education, abolition of capital +punishment, free burial, free medical assistance, free legal advice +and advocacy, progressive succession duties, inheritance tax, +abolition of indirect taxation and customs, parliamentary decisions as +to peace and war, and undenominationalism in schools. + +Especially for the working classes are intended the following: +National and international protective legislation for workmen on the +basis of a normal eight hours day, prohibition of child labour under +fourteen years, prohibition of night work save rendered necessary by +the nature of the work or the welfare of society, superintendence of +labour and its relations by a Ministry of Labour, thorough workshop +hygiene, equality of status between the agricultural labourer, servant +class, and the artisan, right of association, and State insurance, as +to which the working class should have an authoritative voice. + +The programme contains nothing as to the practical consequences of the +provisions it contains, but Herr Bebel, in his book on "Woman and +Social Democracy," gives some examples. One is that the working time +will be alike for men and women, another that domestic life will be +limited to the cohabitation of man and woman, for children are to be +brought up by society, and a third that cooking and washing will be +the care of central public kitchens and washhouses. Meanwhile, all +these years, it may be noted, Herr Bebel and his millions of followers +have been living exactly like everybody else. + +The student of working-class conditions in Germany is unlikely to +think clearly unless he distinguishes between such terms as Social +Democracy, Socialism, Trade Unionism, and Labour party. Social +Democracy is a species of Socialism. All Social Democrats are +Socialists, but not all Socialists Social Democrats. The latter, as an +enrolled political party, paying annual subscriptions and looking +forward to the future state as conceived by Marx, and now by Bebel, +number something under a million; the remaining three millions who +voted for Social Democratic candidates at the last general election +may have included men who believe in Social Democratic ideals, but the +vast majority of them, unless one does grave injustice to their common +sense, voted for such candidates owing to dissatisfaction with the +policy of the Government and present conditions generally--the high +cost of living, the pressure of taxation, the severity of class +distinctions, and like grievances, real or imaginary. These people are +Socialists in the English or international sense of the word, not +Social Democrats strictly speaking; and with these people the Emperor +is most angry because he knows they form the element most capable of +dangerous expansion. + +Again, though the vast majority of German Socialists in the broader +sense are Trade Unionists, not all Trade Unionists are Socialists. +Trade Unionism--the organization of labour against capital--is +represented in Germany by two main bodies; the free or Socialist +Unions containing about two million working men, and the "Christian" +or loyal "National" Unions, which are anti-Social Democrat and +anti-Socialist. These have a membership of about 300,000. The +Hirsch-Duncker Unions, with 100,000 members, are Liberal, but also +loyal and anti-Socialist. In labour conflicts, naturally, as +distinguished from politics, all workmen of the particular branch in +conflict work together, whether they are Socialist or not. It need +only be added that there is no so-called "Labour party" in the German +Parliaments. The Social Democratic party in the Reichstag represents +labour interests generally, and promote them much more insistently and +successfully than they do the Utopia of their dreams. + +But enough has been said to show the comprehensive and revolutionary +nature of Social Democratic doctrine. The only other feature that +requires mention in connexion with the movement is the desire on the +part of a section of the party for a revision of its programme. The +party of revision is usually identified with the names of Heinrich von +Vollmar, who first suggested it, and Eduard Bernstein, who is in +favour of trying to realize that portion of the programme which deals +with the social needs of the existing generation, the demands of the +present day, and would leave to posterity the attainment of the final +goal. The views of the Revisionists differ also from those of the +Radicals in respect of two other main questions which divide the +party, that of voting budgets and that of going to court. The +Revisionists are willing to do both, and the Radicals to do neither. A +decisive split in the party is annually looked for, but hitherto, when +congress-day came, the Revisionists, for the sake of peace and unity +in the party, have refrained from pushing their views to extremes. One +might suppose that professors of the tenets of Social Democracy would +get into trouble with the police, but they avoid arrest and +imprisonment by taking care to avoid attacking property or the family, +advocating a republic, or introducing religious questions into their +discussions. + +In dealing with the growth of Social Democracy in Germany the +philosophic historian would doubtless refer to the French Revolution, +or go still farther back to the Reformation, as the starting-point of +every great change in the views of civilized mankind during the last +four and a half centuries; but it is with more recent times these +pages are chiefly concerned and consequently with causes now +operative. The main specific cause is the change from agriculture to +industry, and with it the growth of what is generally spoken of as +"industrialism." Industrialism means the assemblage of large masses of +intelligent men forming a community of their own, with its special +conditions and the wants and wishes arising from them. This is the +most fertile field for Socialism, for a new organization of society. +In Germany Socialistic ideas kept growing with the increase of +industrialism, and came to a head with the attempts by Hödel and +Nobiling on the life of the Emperor William. The anti-Socialist laws, +passed for a definite period, followed, but they were not renewed; the +Emperor and his Government pressed on instead with a great and +far-reaching social policy, and Socialism, in the form of Social +Democracy, freed from restraint, took a new lease of life. + +Another cause of as general, but less ponderable, a nature is the +remnant of the feudal spirit and feudal manners which lingers in the +attitude of the German governing and official classes towards the rest +of the population. The most objectionable features of the feudal +system have passed away, the cruel and exclusive rights and privileges +which only men in ignorant personal servitude to an all-powerful +master could permanently endure; but traces of the system still exist +in the official attitude towards the public and in the tone of the +official communications issued by the administrative services +generally. Attitude and tone may be referred in part to the +traditional character of the Prussian monarchy, which regards the +people as a flock of sheep, or as a "talent," as the Emperor has +called it, entrusted to its care and management by Heaven; but it is +also due in part to the systematization of public life--and largely of +private life--which at times makes the foreigner inclined to think +Germany at once the most Socialistic and at the same time the most +tyrannically ruled country in the world. Everything in Germany must be +done systematically, and the system must be the result of development. +But there is no use in having a system unless it is enforced--otherwise +it remains, like Social Democracy, a theory. Compulsion, therefore, +is necessary, and the Government provides it through its official +machinery and its police. The systematization has enormous public +advantages, but it is difficult for the Anglo-Saxon, jealous of his +individual right to direct his public life through his own +representatives and his private life according to his own judgment, +to accommodate himself to a system which seems to him unduly to +interfere with both right and judgment. + +Perhaps it is the manner in which, under the name of authority, +compulsion is exercised by subordinate officialdom and in especial by +the police, as much as the compulsion itself, which irritates in +Germany. Every profession, business, trade, and occupation, down to +that of selling matches and newspapers in the streets, is meticulously +regulated; and while there is nothing to object to in this, what +strikes the Anglo-Saxon as objectionable is that the regulations are +enforced with the manners and in the tone of a drill-sergeant. The +official in Germany, he finds, is not the servant of the public. There +is a story current in England of a Duke of Norfolk, when +Postmaster-General, going into a district post-office and asking for a +penny stamp. The clerk was dilatory, and the Duke remonstrated. "Who +are you, I should like to know?" asked the clerk impertinently, "that +you are laying down the law." "I am the public," replied the Duke +simply, at the same time showing the clerk his card. An English +Foreign Secretary once told a deputation that the Ministry was +"waiting for instructions from their employers--the people." In +Germany it is the opposite; the official is the master and the public +his dutiful servant. In Germany the official expects marked deference +from the public: the post-office clerk is "Mr. Official," the guardian +of the law "Mr. Policeman" (with your hat off). The Anglo-Saxon rather +expects the deference to be on the other side, and has a sordid +subconsciousness that he pays the official for his services. Perhaps +the Social Democrat has something of the same feeling. + +One of the chief consequences of industrialism in Germany is that the +people of the country are migrating to the towns. To the country +bumpkin the city is an Eldorado and a lordly pleasure-house. In truth, +he is much better off in it than in the stagnant life of the country. +In the city he sees comfort on every hand, with possibilities of +enjoyment of every kind, and if he does not soon get a share of the +good things going he grows discontented and turns Socialist. In the +city, too, he learns to think and compare, he perceives the +distinction of classes and notices that certain classes have open to +them careers from which he is excluded. Then there is the apparently +inevitable antagonism between labour and capital, between the employer +and employed, which drives the worker to Social Democracy, as offering +the prospect of his becoming his own master and enjoying the whole +fruits of his labour. He may not know Matthew Arnold's "Sick King in +Bokhara," but he would endorse Arnold's lines:-- + + "And these all, for a lord + Eat not the fruit of their own hands; + Which is the heaviest of all plagues + To that man's mind, who understands." + +But whatever its causes, Social Democracy is one of the most curious +and anomalous societies extant. In a country which worships order, it +calls for absolute disorder. A revolutionary movement, it anxiously +avoids revolution. It is a magnificent organization for no apparent +practical, direct, or immediate purpose. Proclaiming the protection of +the law and enjoying the blessing of efficient government, it yet +refuses to vote the budget to pay for them. It supports a large +parliamentary party without any clear or consistent parliamentary +policy in internal or external affairs, unless to be "agin the +Government" is a policy. And lastly, if some of its economic demands +are justifiable, and have in several respects been satisfied by modern +legislation, its fundamental doctrine, the basis of the entire +edifice, is a wild hallucination, sickening to common sense, and +completely out of harmony with the progressive economic development of +all nations, including its own. + +In conclusion, it may be added that the social side of the Social +Democracy is perhaps too often unrecognized or ignored by the foreign +observer. Life for the poorer classes in Germany is apt to be more +monotonous and dull than for the poorer classes of any country which +nature has blessed with more fertility, more sunshine, more diversity +of hill and dale, and where people are more mutually sociable and +accommodating. Social Democracy offers something by way of remedy to +this: a field of interest in which the workers can organize and make +processions and public demonstrations and can talk and theorize and +dispute, and in which the woman can share the interest with the man; +or a club, a social club with the largest membership in the world +except freemasonry. + +We must return, however, to the Emperor. During this period, in +December, 1890, he, like every one else with his own ideas on +education as well as on art and religion, delivered his views on +popular instruction. At this time--he was then thirty--he called +together forty-five of the ablest educational experts of the country +and addressed them on the subject of high-school education. His +Minister of Education, Dr. von Grossler, had drawn up a programme of +fourteen points for discussion, and the Emperor added to these a few +others he wished to have considered. + +German high-school education, be it remarked, is a different thing +from English public-school education, and ought rather to be spoken of +as German information than as German education. We have seen that the +spirit of the German university differs largely from that of the +English university, in that it is not concerned with the formation of +character or the inculcation of manners. The same may be said of the +German gymnasium, or high school, the institution from which the +German youth, as a rule, goes to college. No teaching institution, +English or German, be it further said on our own account, makes any +serious attempt to teach what will prepare youth for intercourse with +the extremely complicated world of to-day, to give him, to take but +one example, the faintest notion of contract, which, if he possessed +it, would save him from many a foolish undertaking and protect him +from many a business betrayal, Far from it. All the disagreeable, and +many of the painful incidents of his subsequent life, all equally +avoidable if knowledge regarding them had been instilled into him in +his early years, he must buy with money and suffering and disgust in +after-years. + +But the Emperor is waiting to be heard. His entire speech need not be +quoted, but only its chief contentions. In introducing his remarks he +claimed to speak with knowledge as having himself sat on a +public-school bench at Cassel. + +The Social Democracy being to the Emperor what King Charles's head was +to Mr. Dick, it is not surprising to find almost his first statement +being to the effect that if boys had been properly taught up to then, +there would be no Social Democracy. Up to 1870, he said, the great +subject of instruction for youth was the necessity for German unity. +Unity had been achieved, the Empire was now founded, and there the +matter rested. "Now," said the Emperor, "we must recognize that the +school is for the purpose of teaching how the Empire is to be +maintained. I see nothing of such teaching, and I ought to know, for I +am at the head of the Empire, and all such questions come under my +observation. What," he continues, + + "is lacking in the education of our youth? The chief fault + is that since 1870 the philologists have sat in the high + schools as _beati possidentes_ and laid chief stress upon + the knowledge to be acquired and not on the formation of + character and the demands of the present time. Emphasis has + been put on the ability to know, not on the ability to + do--the pupil is expected to know, that is the main thing, + and whether what he knows is suitable for the conduct of + life or not is considered a secondary matter. I am told the + school has only to do with the gymnastics of the mind, and + that a young man, well trained in these gymnastics, is + equipped for the needs of life. This is all wrong and can't + go on." + +Then the Empire-builder speaks--what is wanted above all is a national +basis. + + "We must make German the foundation for the gymnasium: we + must produce patriotic young Germans, not young Greeks and + Romans. We must depart from the centuries-old basis, from + the old monastic education of the Middle Ages, when Latin + was the main thing and a tincture of Greek besides. That is + no longer the standard. German must be the standard. The + German exercise must be the pivot on which all things turn. + When in the exit examination (_Abiturientenexamen_) a + student hands in a German essay, one can judge from it what + are the mental acquirements of the young man and decide + whether he is fit for anything or not. Of course people will + object--the Latin exercise is very important, very good for + instructing students in other languages, and so on. Yes, + gentlemen, I have been through the mill. How do we get this + Latin exercise? I have often seen a young man get, say 4-1/2 + marks, for his German exercise--'satisfactory,' it was + considered--and 2 for his Latin exercise. The youngster + deserved punishment instead of praise, because it is clear + he did not write his Latin exercise in a proper way; and of + all the Latin exercises we wrote there was not one in a + dozen which was done without cribbing. These exercises were + marked 'good,' but when we wrote an essay on 'Minna von + Barnhelm' (one of Lessing's dramas) we got hardly + 'satisfactory.' So I say, away with the Latin exercise, it + only harms us, and robs us of time we might give to German." + +The Emperor goes on to recommend the study of the nation's history, +geography, and literature ("Der Sage," poetry, he calls it). + + "Let us begin at home," he says; "when we have learned + enough at home, we can go to the museums. But above all we + must know our German history. In my time the Grand Elector + was a very foggy personage, the Seven Years' War was quite + outside consideration, and history ended with the close of + the last century, the French Revolution. The War of + Liberation, the most important for the young citizen, was + not taught thoroughly, and I only learned to know it, thank + God, through the very interesting lectures of Dr. Hinzpeter. + This, however, is the _punctum saliens_. Why are our young + men misled? Why do we find so many unclear, confused + world-improvers? Why is our government so cavilled at and + criticized, and so often told to look at foreign nations? + Because the young men do not know how our conditions have + developed, and that the roots of the development lie in the + period of the French Revolution. Consequently, I am + convinced that if they understood the transition period from + the Revolution to the nineteenth century in its fundamental + features, they would have a far better understanding of the + questions of to-day than they now have. At the universities + they can supplement their school knowledge." + +The Emperor then turned to other points. It was "absolutely necessary" +to reduce the hours of work. When he was at school, he said, all +German parents were crying out against the evil, and the Government +set on foot an inquiry. He and his brother (Henry) had every morning +to hand a memorandum to the head master showing how many hours it had +taken them to prepare the lessons for the day. In the Emperor's case +it took, "honestly," from 5-1/2 to 7 hours' home study. To this was to +be added 6 hours in school and 2 hours for eating meals--"How much of +the day," the Emperor asks, "was left? If I," he said, "hadn't been +able to ride to and from school I wouldn't have known what the world +even looked like." The result of this, he continued, was an + + "over-production of educated people, more than the nation + wanted and more than was tolerable for the sufferers + themselves. Hence the class Bismarck called the + abiturienten-proletariat, all the so-called hunger + candidates, especially the Mr. Journalists, who are often + broken-down scholars and a danger to us. This surplus, far + too large as it is, is like an irrigation field that cannot + soak up any more water, and it must be got rid of." + +Another matter touched on by the Emperor was a reduction in the amount +to be learned, so that more time might be had for the formation of +character. This cannot be done now, he remarks, in a class containing +thirty youngsters, who have such a huge amount of subjects to master. +The teacher, too, the Emperor said, must learn that his work is not +over when he has delivered his lecture. "It isn't a matter of +knowledge," he concludes "but a matter of educating the young people +for the practical affairs of life." + +The Emperor lastly dealt with the subject of shortsightedness. "I am +looking for soldiers," he said. + + "We need a strong and healthy generation, which will also + serve the Fatherland as intellectual leaders and officials. + This mass of shortsightedness is no use, since a man who + can't use his eyes--how can he do anything later?" + +and he went on to mention the extraordinary facts that in some of the +primary classes of German schools as many as 74 per cent, were +shortsighted, and that in his class at Cassel, of the twenty-one +pupils, eighteen wore spectacles, while two of them could not see the +desk before them without their glasses. + +The Englishman in Germany often attributes German shortsightedness to +the Gothic character of German print. It is more probable that the +long hours of study spent poring over books without fresh-air +exercise, judiciously interposed, is responsible for it. + +It has been said that every one, like the Emperor, has his own theory +of education, but there is one passage in the Emperor's speech with +which almost all men will agree--that, namely, in which he urges that +knowledge is not the only--perhaps not the chief--thing, but that +young people must be educated for the practical affairs of life. +Unfortunately, as to how we are successfully to do this, the Emperor +is silent; and it may be that there is no certain or exact way. One +could, of course--but we are concerned with the Emperor. + +The difference of opinion between the Emperor and Bismarck regarding +the Emperor's visit to Russia seems to have left no permanent ill-will +in the Emperor's mind, for on returning in October, 1889, from visits +to Athens, where he attended the wedding of his sister Sophie with the +Heir-Apparent of Greece, Prince Constantine (now King Constantine), +and Constantinople, where he was allowed to inspect the Sultan's +seraglio, he sent a letter to the Chancellor praying God to grant that +the latter's "faithful and experienced counsel might for many years +assist him in his difficult and responsible office." In January, 1890, +however, the question of renewing the Socialist Laws, which would +expire shortly, came up for settlement. A council of Ministers, under +the Emperor's presidency, was called to decide it. When the council +met, Bismarck was greatly surprised by a proposal of the Emperor to +issue edicts developing the principles laid down by his grandfather +for working-class reform instead of renewing the Socialist Laws. The +Reichstag took the Emperor's view and voted against the renewal of the +Laws. It only now remained to give effect to the Emperor's edicts. +They were considered at a further council of Ministers, at which the +Emperor exhorted them to "leave the Social Democracy to me, I can +manage them alone." The Ministers agreed, and Bismarck was in a +minority of one. This, however, was only the beginning of the end. +Bismarck decided to continue in office until he had carried through +Parliament a new military Bill, which was to come before it in May or +June. Meanwhile fresh matters of controversy between the Emperor and +the Chancellor arose regarding the grant of imperial audiences to +Ministers other than the Chancellor. Bismarck insisted that the +Chancellor alone had the right to be received by the Emperor for the +discussion of State affairs. + +The quarrel was accentuated by a lively scene which occurred between +the Emperor and the Chancellor about this period in connexion with a +visit the leader of the Catholic Centre party had paid the Chancellor, +and on March 17th the Emperor sent his chief Adjutant, General von +Hahnke, to say he awaited the Chancellor's resignation. Bismarck +replied that to resign at this juncture would be an act of desertion; +the Emperor could dismiss him. At the same time the Chancellor +summoned a meeting of Ministers for the afternoon, but while they were +discussing the situation a message was brought from the Emperor +telling them he did not require their advice in such a matter and that +he had made up his mind about the Chancellor. The messenger on the +same occasion expressed to Bismarck the Emperor's surprise at not +having received a formal resignation. Bismarck's reply was that it +would require some days to prepare such a document, as it was the last +official statement of a "Minister who had played a meritorious part in +the history of Prussia and Germany, and history should know why he had +been dismissed." Three days later, on March 20th, an hour or two after +the formal resignation reached the palace, the Emperor's letter +granting the Chancellor's request for his release, naming him Duke of +Lauenburg and announcing the appointment of General von Caprivi as his +successor, was put into the old Chancellor's hands. + + + + +VI. + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR + +While the ex-Chancellor is bitterly meditating on the unreliability +and ingratitude of princes, yet having in his heart, as the records +clearly show, the loyal sentiments of a Cardinal Wolsey towards his +royal master, even though that master had cast him off, we may be +allowed to pause awhile in order to give some account of the Court of +which the Emperor now became the centre and pivot. + +Human imagination, in its worship of force as the source of ability to +achieve the ends of ambition and desire, very early conceived the +courts of kings as fairylands of power, wealth, luxury, and +magnificence--in a word, of happiness. The same imagination represents +the Almighty, whose true nature no one knows, as a monarch in the +bright court of heaven, and his great antagonist, Satan, who stands +for the king of evil, is enthroned by it amid the shades of hell. The +fiction that courts are a species of earthly paradise is still kept up +for the entertainment of children; while the adult, whom the annals of +all countries has made familiar with a long record of monarchs, bad as +well as good, is disposed to regard them as beneficial or otherwise to +a country according to the character and conduct of the occupant of +the throne, and to believe that they are at least as liable to produce +examples of vice and hypocrisy as of virtue and honesty. + +The court of the German Emperor in this connexion need not fear +comparison with any court described in history. True, courts all over +the world have improved wonderfully of recent years. Their monarchs +are more enlightened, they are frequented by a very different type of +man and woman from the courts of former times, their morale and +working are more closely scrutinized and more generally subjected to +criticism, and they are occupied with a more public and less selfish +order of considerations. The Court of the Emperor is, so far as can be +known to a lynx-eyed and not always charitably thinking public, +singularly free from the vices and failings the atmosphere of former +courts was wont to foster. There is at all times, no doubt, the +competition of politicians for influence and power acting and reacting +on the Court and its frequenters, but of scandal at the Court of +Berlin there has been none that could be fairly said to involve the +Emperor or his family. Dame Gossip, of course, busied herself with the +Emperor in his youth, but whatever truth she then uttered--and it is +probably extremely little--on this head, there is no question that +from the day he mounted the throne his Court and that of the Empress +has been a model for all institutions of the kind. + +The life of courts, the personages who play leading parts in them, +their wealth and luxury, and the currents of social, amorous, and +political intrigue which are supposed to course through them have in +all countries and in all ages strongly appealed to writers, fanciful +and serious. Perhaps one-third of the prose and poetic literature of +every country deals, directly or indirectly, with the subject, and +determines in no small degree the character of its rising generations. +The great architects of romance, depicting for us life in high places, +and often nobly idealizing it, or working the facts of history into +the web of their imaginings and thus pleasantly combining fact with +fiction, aim at elevating, not at debasing, the mind of the reader. A +second valuable source of information on the topic are the memoirs of +those who have set down their observations and recorded experiences +made in the courts to which they had access. Among this class, +however, are to be found unscrupulous as well as conscientious +authors, the former obviously cherishing some personal grievance or as +obviously actuated by malice, while the latter are usually moved by an +honest desire to tell the world things that are important for it to +know, and at the same time, it is not ill-natured to suspect, enhance +their own reputation with their contemporaries or with posterity. The +multitudinous tribe of anecdote inventors and retailers must also be +taken into account. In our own day there is still another source of +information, which, agreeably or odiously according to the temperament +of the reader, keeps us in touch with courts and what goes on +there--the periodical press; while afar off in the future one can +imagine the historian bent over his desk, surrounded by books and +knee-deep in newspapers, selecting and weighing events, studying +characters, developing personalities, and passing what he hopes may be +a final judgment on the court and period he is considering. + +For a study of the Emperor's life, as it passes in his Court, a large +number of works are available, but not many that can be described as +authoritative or reliable. Among the latter, however, may be placed +Moritz Busch's "Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of His History," three +volumes that make Busch almost as interesting to the reader as his +subject; Bismarck's own "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," which is chiefly +of a political nature; and the "Memorabilia of Prince Chlodwig +Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst," who was for several years Statthalter of +Alsace-Lorraine and subsequently became Imperial Chancellor in +succession to General von Caprivi. These works, with the collections +of the Emperor's speeches and the speeches and interviews of +Chancellor Prince von Bülow, may be ranked in the category of serious +and authentic contributions to the Court history of the period they +cover. Then there are several German descriptions of the Court, +reliable enough in their way which is a dull one, to those who are not +impassioned monarchists or hide-bound bureaucrats. In the category of +works by unscrupulous writers that entitled "The Private Lives of +William II and His Consort," by a lady-in-waiting to the Empress from +1888 to 1898, easily takes first place. Certainly it gives a lively +and often entertaining insight into the domestic life of the palace, +but it is so clearly informed by spite that it is impossible to +distinguish what is true in it from what is false or misrepresented. +Finally, for the closer study of individual events and the impressions +they made at the time of their happening, the daily press can be +consulted. For the Bismarck period the biography of Hans Blum is of +exceptional value. + +What may be termed the anecdotic literature of the Court is +particularly rich and trivial, and this is only to be expected in a +country where the monarchy and its representative are so forcibly and +constantly brought home to the people's consciousness. Yet it has its +uses, and is referred to, though sparingly, in the present work. "The +Emperor as Father of a Family," "The Emperor and His Daughter's +Uniform," "The Amiable Grandfather," "The Emperor as Husband," "The +Emperor as Card Player," "How the Emperor's Family is Photographed," +"What does the Emperor's Kitchen Look Like," "Adieu, Auguste" +("Auguste" is the Empress), "The English Lord and the Emperor's +Cigarettes," "When My Wife Makes You a Sandwich," "What the Emperor +Reads," "The Emperor's Handwriting," "Can the Emperor Vote?" (the +answer is, opinions differ), "Washing Day at the Emperor's," "The +Emperor and the Empress at Tennis," "Emperor and Auto," are the sort +of matters dealt with. Literature of this kind is beyond question +intensely interesting to vast numbers of people, but helps very little +towards understanding a singularly complex human being placed in a +high and extraordinarily responsible position. + +Strictly speaking, there is no Imperial Court in Germany, since the +King of Prussia, in accordance with the Imperial Constitution, always +succeeds to the imperial throne, and therefore officially the Court is +that of the King of Prussia only. The distinction is emphasized by the +fact that the Court is independent of the Empire as regards its +administration and finance. It is a state within a state, an _imperium +in imperio_. In all that pertains to it the Emperor is absolute ruler +and his executive is a special Ministry. At the same time it is almost +needless to add that the Court of Berlin is practically that of the +Empire. It is this character, apart from Prussia's size and +importance, that distinguishes it from other courts in Germany and +reduces them to comparative insignificance in foreign, though by no +means in German, consideration. + +The Court of the Empire and Prussia--and the same thing may be said of +the various other courts in Germany--engages popular interest and +attention to a much larger extent than is the case in England. The +fact is almost wholly due to the nature of the monarchy and of its +relations to the people. In England a great portion of the popular +attention is concentrated on Parliament and the fortunes of its two +great political parties. The attention given to the Court and its +doings is not of the same general and permanent character, but is +intermittent according to the occasion. The Englishman feels deep and +abiding popular interest at all times in Parliament, whether in +session or not, because it represents the people and is, in fact, and +for hundreds of years has been, the Government. + +The reverse may fairly be said to be the case in Germany. In Germany +popular attention has been from early times concentrated on the +monarch, his personality, sayings and doings, since in his hands lay +government power and patronage. Monarchy of a more or less absolute +character was accepted by the people, not only in Germany but all over +the Continent, as the normal and desirable, perhaps the inevitable, +state of things; and it is only since the French Revolution that +parliaments after the English pattern, that is by two chambers elected +by popular vote, yet in many important respects widely differing from +it, were demanded by the people or finally established. Up to +comparatively recent times the monarch in Prussia was an absolute +ruler. Frederick William IV, after the events of 1848, was compelled +to grant Prussia a Constitution which explicitly defined the +respective rights of the Crown and the people in the sphere of +politics; and the Imperial Constitution, drawn up on the formation of +the modern Empire, did the same thing as regards the Emperor and the +people of the Empire; but neither Constitution altered the nature of +the monarchy in the direction of giving governing power to the people. +Both secured the people legislative, but not governing power. +Government in the Empire and Prussia remains, as of old, an appanage, +so to speak, of the Court, and the fact of course tends to concentrate +attention on the Court. + +It has been said that the Court is a state within a state, an +_imperium in imperio_. In this state, within Prussia or within the +Empire, it is the same thing for our purpose, there are two main +departments, that of the Lord Chamberlain (_Oberstkammeramt_) and that +of the Master of the Household (_Ministerium des Königlichen Hauses_). +The first deals with all questions of court etiquette, court +ceremonial, court mourning, precedence, superintendence of the courts +of the Emperor's sons and near relatives, and of all Prussian court +offices. The second deals with the personal affairs of the Emperor and +his sons, the domestic administration of the palace, the management of +the Crown estates and castles, and is the tribunal that decides all +Hohenzollern differences and disputes that are not subject to the +ordinary legal tribunals. Connected with this Ministry are the +Herald's office and the Court Archives office. The chief Court +officials include, beside the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of the +Household, a Chief Court Marshal. The Master of the Household is also +Chief Master of Ceremonies, with a Deputy Master of Ceremonies who is +also Introducer of Ambassadors, two Court Marshals, a Captain of the +Palace Guards, a Court Chaplain, Court Physician, an Intendant in +charge of the royal theatres, a Master of the Horse who has charge of +the royal stables, a House Marshal, and a Master of the Kitchen. All +these officials are princes (_Fürst_) or counts (_Graf_), with the +title Highness (_Durchlaucht_) or Excellency. + +Court officials also include the various nobles in charge of the royal +palaces, castles, and hunting lodges at Potsdam, Charlottenburg, +Breslau, Stettin, Marienburg, Posen, Letzlingen, Hohkönigsberg, +Homberg von der Höhe, Springe, Hubertusstock, Rominten, Korfu (the +"Achilleion"), Wiesbaden, Koenigsberg, etc., to the number of thirty +or more. The Empress has her own Court officials, including a Mistress +of the Robes and Ladies of the Bedchamber, also with the title of +Excellency, the Ladies being chosen from the most aristocratic +families of Germany. The Empress has her own Master of the Household, +physician, treasurer, and so on. Similarly with the households of the +Crown Prince, other royal princes and the Emperor's near relatives. + +Every order the Emperor gives that is not of a purely domestic kind +passes through one of his three cabinets--the Civil Cabinet, the +Military Cabinet, or the Marine Cabinet. The cost of the first, with +its chief, who receives £1,000 a year, and half a dozen subordinate +officials on salaries of £200 to £350, is budgeted at about £10,000 a +year. The Military Cabinet is a much larger establishment, having +several departments and a staff of half a hundred councillors and +clerks. The Naval Cabinet, on the other hand, is composed of only +three upper officials and five clerks. The Emperor's "civil list" is +returned in the Budget as £860,000 roughly. His entire annual revenue +does not exceed £1,000,000. Out of this he has to pay the expenses of +his married sons' households and make large contributions to public +charities. He was left, however, a very considerable sum of money by +the Emperor William. The Crown Prince, as such, receives a grant of +£20,000 a year, chiefly derived from the royal domain of Oels in +Silesia. Like all fathers of large families, the Emperor has been more +than once heard to complain that he finds it difficult to make both +ends meet. + +The Emperor's staff of adjutants are exceptionally useful and +important people. At their head is the chief of the Emperor's Military +Cabinet. Not less important are the members of the Emperor's Marine +Cabinet, consisting of admirals, vice-admirals, and wing-admirals. The +personal adjutants divide the day and night service between them, so +that there may always be three adjutants at the Emperor's immediate +disposal. The adjutant announces Ministers or other visitors to the +Emperor, telegraphs to say that His Majesty has an hour or an hour and +a half at his disposal at such-and-such a time, or intimates that an +audience of half an hour can be given in the train between two given +points. They act as living memorandum books, knock at the Emperor's +door to announce that it is time for him to go to this or that +appointment, remind him that a congratulatory telegram on some one's +seventieth birthday or other jubilee has to be sent, or perhaps +whispers that Her Majesty the Empress wishes to see him. All the +Emperor's correspondence passes through their hands. They accompany +the Emperor on his journeys and voyages, and when thus employed are +usually invited to his table. The Emperor reads of some new book and +tells an adjutant to order it, and the latter does so by communicating +with the Civil Cabinet. + +Court society in Berlin includes the German "higher" and "lower" +nobility, with the exception of the so-called Fronde, who proudly +absent themselves from it; the Ministers; the diplomatic corps; Court +officials; and such members of the burghertum, or middle class, as +hold offices which entitle them to attend court. The wives, however, +of those in the last category are not "court-capable" on this account, +nor is the middle class generally, nor even members of the Imperial or +Prussian Parliaments as such. Members of Parliament are invited to the +Court's seasonal festivities, but as a rule only members of the +Conservative parties or other supporters of the Government. The +nobility, as in England, is hereditary or only nominated for life, and +the hereditary nobility is divided into an upper and lower class. To +the former belongs members of houses that were ruling when the modern +Empire was established, and, while excluding the Emperor, who stands +above them, includes sovereign houses and mediatized houses. Some of +the ancient privileges of the nobility, such as exemption from +taxation, and the right to certain high offices, have been abolished, +but in practice the nobility still occupy the most important charges +in the administration and in the army. The privileges of the +mediatized princes consist of exemption from conscription, the +enjoyment of the Principle called "equality of birth," which prevents +the burgher wife of a noble acquiring her husband's rank, and the +right to have their own "house law" for the regulation of family +disputes and family affairs generally. No increase to the high +nobility of Germany can accrue as no addition will ever be made to the +once sovereign and mediatized families. With the exception of these +houses the rest of the German nobility, hereditary and non-hereditary, +is accounted as belonging to the lower nobility. That part of the +German aristocracy who refuse to go to court, and are accordingly +called by the name Fronde, first given to the opponents of Cardinal +Mazarin, in the reign of Louis XIV, consist chiefly of a few old +families of Prussian Poland, Hannover (the Guelphs), Brunswick, +Nassau, Hessen, and other annexed German territories, and of some +great Catholic houses in Bavaria and the Rhineland. Their dislike is +directed not so much against the Empire as against Prussia. The +Kulturkampf had the effect of setting a small number of ancient +Prussian ultramontane families against the Government. + +Not much that is complimentary can be said of the German aristocracy +as a whole. "Serenissimus" is to-day as frequently the subject of +bitter, if often humorous, caricature in the comic press as ever he +was. A few of the class, like Prince Fürstenberg, Prince Hohenlohe, +Count Henkel-Donnersmarck and some others engage successfully in +commerce; many are practical farmers and have done a good deal for +agriculture; several are deputies to Parliament; but on the whole the +foreigner gets the impression that the class as such contributes but a +small percentage of what it might and should in the way of brains, +industry, or example to the welfare and the progress of the Empire. + +It is difficult to communicate an impression of the Court, whether at +the Schloss in Berlin or the New Palace in Potsdam, and at the same +time avoid the dry and dusty descriptions of the guide-books. If the +reader is not in Berlin, let him imagine the fragment of a mediæval +town, situated on a river and fronted by a bridge; and on the bank of +the river a dark, square, massive and weather-stained pile of four +stories, with barred windows on the ground floor as defence against a +possibly angry populace, and a sentry-box at each of its two lofty +wrought-iron gates. It may be, as Baedeker informs us it is, a +"handsome example of the German renaissance," but to the foreigner it +can as equally suggest a large and grimy barracks as the +five-hundred-years-old palace of a long line of kings and emperors. +And yet, to any one acquainted with the blood-stained annals of +Prussian history, who knows something of the massive stone buildings +about it and of the people who have inhabited them, who strolls +through its interior divided into sombre squares, each with its cold +and bare parade-ground, who reflects on the relations between king and +people, closely identified by their historical associations, yet +sundered by the feudal spirit which still keeps the Crown at a +distance from the crowd, above all to the German versed in his +country's story--how eloquently it speaks! + +When one thinks of the Court of Berlin one should not forget that the +New Palace, the Emperor's residence at Potsdam, sixteen miles distant +from the capital, is as much, and as important, a part of it as the +royal palace in Berlin itself. The Emperor divides his time between +them, the former, when he is not travelling, being his more permanent +residence, and the latter only claiming his presence during the winter +season and for periods of a day or so at other parts of the year, when +occasion requires it. It is only during the six or eight weeks of the +winter season that the Empress and her daughter, Princess Victoria +Louise (now Duchess of Brunswick), go into residence at the Berlin +royal palace. There is a railway between Potsdam and Berlin, but since +the introduction of the motor-car the Emperor almost always uses that +means of conveyance for the half-hour's run between his Berlin and +Potsdam palaces. + +The other section of the Court, if Potsdam may be so described, is +hardly less rich in memories than the old palace by the Spree. Indeed +it is richer from the cosmopolitan point of view, for though Frederick +the Great was born in the Berlin Schloss and spent some of his time +there, it was at Potsdam that, when not campaigning, he may be said to +have lived and died. To this day, for the foreigner, his personality +still pervades the place, and that of the Emperor sinks, +comparatively, into the background. The tourist who has pored over his +Baedeker will learn that Potsdam has 53,000 inhabitants and is +"charmingly situated"--it depends on your temperament what the charm +is, and to guide-book framers all tourists have the same +temperament--on an island in the Havel "which here expands into a +series of lakes bounded by wooded hills." He will learn that the old +town-palace, which few visitors give a thought to, was built by the +Great Elector, that Frederick the Great lived here in "richly +decorated apartments with sumptuous furniture and noteworthy pictures +by Pater, Lancret, and Pesne"; that it contains a cabinet in which the +dining-table could be let up and down by means of a trap-door, and +"where the King occasionally dined with friends without risk of being +overheard by his attendants"; that the present Emperor, then Prince +William, lived here with his young wife when he was still only a +lieutenant. He will drive to the New Palace--now old, for it was built +by Frederick the Great in 1769, during the Seven Years' War, at a cost +of nearly half a million sterling--and gaze with interest at the +summer residence of the Emperor. If he is an American he may think of +his multi-millionaire fellow-citizen, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who, when +driving up to call on his erstwhile imperial schoolfellow and friend, +was nearly shot at by a sentry for whom the name Vanderbilt was no +"Open Sesame." He will see before him a main building, seven hundred +feet in length, three stories high, with the central portion +surmounted by a dome, its chief façade looking towards a park. The +whole, of course--for Baedeker is talking--forms an "imposing pile," +with "mediocre sculptures, but the effect of the weathered sandstone +figures against the red brick is very pleasing." Here the Emperor's +father, Frederick III, was born, lived as Crown Prince, reigned for +ninety-nine days, and died. Here, too, are more "apartments of +Frederick the Great," with pictures by Rubens, including an "Adoration +of the Magi," a good example of Watteau and a portrait of Voltaire +drawn by Frederick's own hand. In the north wing are situated the +present Emperor's suite of chambers, where distinguished men of all +countries have discussed almost every conceivable topic, political, +social, religious, martial, artistic, financial, and commercial, with +one of the most interesting talkers of his time. No bloody tragedy has +defiled the palace, as did the murder of Lord Darnley at Holyrood, +that of the Duke of Guise (Sir Walter Scott's "Le Balafré") the +chateau of Blois, the execution of the Bourbon Duc d'Enghien the +palace of Vincennes, or the murder of the boy princes the Tower of +London. But bloodless tragedy, and exquisite comedy, and farce too, +have doubtless had their hour within the walls. One such incident of +the politico-tragic kind was that which passed only two years ago +between the Emperor and his Imperial Chancellor, when Prince von Bülow +went as deputy from the Federal Council, the Parliament, and the +people to pray the Emperor to exercise more caution in his public, or +semi-public statements; and the historian may possibly find another, +and not without its touch of comedy, in the reception by the Emperor +of the Chinese prince, who headed the "mission of atonement" for the +murder of the Emperor's Minister in Pekin during the Boxer troubles. + +From the New Palace our foreigner will probably drive to the Marble +Palace, which (for Baedeker is ever at one's elbow with the facts) he +will mark was built in 1796 by Frederick William II, who died here, +was completed in 1845 by Frederick William IV, and was the residence +of the present Emperor at the time of his accession. + +But while our foreigner has been hurrying from one palace to another, +with his mind in a fog of historical and topographical confusion--if +he is an American, half-hoping, half-expecting to meet the Emperor or +Empress and secure a bow from one or other, or--why not?--one of +William's well-known vigorous _poignées de main_, there is always one +thought predominant in his mind--Sans Souci. That is the real object +of his quest, the main attraction that has brought him, all +unconscious of it, to Berlin, and not the laudable, but wholly +mistaken efforts of the "Society for the Promotion of Tourist +Traffic," which seeks to lure the moneyed and reluctant foreigner to +the German capital. Our foreigner enters the Park of Sans Souci and +his spirit is at rest. Now he knows where he really is--not in the +wonderful new German Empire, not in modern Berlin with its splendid +and to him unspeaking streets, its garish "night-life," its +faultily-faultless municipal propriety, not in Potsdam, "the true +cradle of the Prussian army," as Baedeker, deviating for an instant +into metaphor, describes it, but simply in Sans Souci. He is now no +longer in the twentieth century, but the eighteenth--one hundred and +fifty years ago or more--in Frederick's day, the period of pigtails, +of giant grenadiers in the old-time blue and red coats, the high and +fantastic shako made of metal and tapering to a point, of +three-cornered hats resting on powdered wigs, of yellow top-boots, and +exhaling the general air of ruffianly geniality characteristic of the +manners and soldiers of the age. + +As our foreigner advances through the park, where, as he is told, the +Emperor makes a promenade each Christmas Eve distributing ten-mark +pieces (spiteful chroniclers make it three marks) to all and sundry +poor, he will notice the fountain "the water of which rises to a +height of 130 feet," with its twelve figures by French artists of the +eighteenth century, and ascend the broad terraced flight of marble +steps up which the present Crown Prince is credited with once urging +his trembling steed--leading to the Mecca of his imagination, the +palace Sans Souci itself. The building is only one story high, not +large, reminding one somewhat of the Trianon at Versailles, though +lacking the Trianon's finished lightness and elegance, yet with its +semicircular colonnade distinctly French, and impressive by its +elevated situation. The chief, the enduring, the magical impression, +however, begins to form as our foreigner commences his pilgrimage +through the rooms in which Frederick passed most of his later years. +As he pauses in the Voltaire Chamber he imagines the two great +figures, seated in stiff-backed chairs at a little table on which +stand, perhaps, a pair of cut Venetian wine-glasses and a tall bottle +of old Rheinish--the great man of thought and the great man of action, +the two great atheists and freethinkers of Europe, with their earnest, +sharply featured faces, and their wigs bobbing at each other, +discussing the events and tendencies of their time. And how they must +have talked--no wonder Frederick, though the idol of his subjects, +withdrew for such discourse from the society of the day, with its +twaddle of the tea-cups and its parade-ground platitudes. + +As in our own time, there was then no lack of stimulating topics. The +influence of the old Catholicism and the old feudalism was rapidly +diminishing, the night of superstition was passing, and the age of +reason, that was to culminate with such tremendous and horrible force +in the French Revolution, was beginning to dawn. The encyclopaedists, +with Diderot and d'Alembert in the van, were holding council in +France, mobilizing the intellects of the time, and, like Bacon, taking +all knowledge for their province, for a fierce attack on the old +philosophy, the old statecraft, the old art, and the old religion. Are +such topics and such men to deal with them to be found to-day, or have +all the great problems of humanity and its intellect been started, +studied, and resolved? And are motor-cars, aeroplanes, dances, +Dreadnoughts, millinery, rag-time reviews, auction bridge, the rise +and fall of stocks, and the last extraordinary round of golf, all that +is left for the present generation to discuss? + +However, the guardian of the palace has moved on, the other members of +the party are getting bored, and our foreigner follows the guardian's +lead. Thus conducted, he passes through half a dozen rooms, each a +museum of historical associations--the dining-room with its round +table made famous by Menzel's picture (now in the Berlin National +Gallery) in which Frederick and his guests are seen seated, but in +which it is difficult if not impossible to be certain which is the +host; the concert-room with the clock which Frederick was in the habit +of winding up, and which "is said to have stopped at the precise +moment of his death, 2.20 a.m., August 17th, 1786"; the death-chamber +with its eloquent and pathetic statue, Magnussen's "Last Moments of +Frederick the Great"; the library and picture gallery. Strangely +enough, Baedeker has no mention of a female subject portrayed in the +concert-room in all sorts of attitudes and in all sorts and no sort of +costume. Yet every one has heard of La Barberini, the only woman, the +chroniclers (and Voltaire among them) assure us, Frederick ever loved. +She was no woman of birth or wit like the Pompadour, Récamier or +Staël, but of merely ordinary understanding and the wife of a +subordinate official of the Court. She charmed Frederick, however, and +may have loved him. If so, let us remember that the morals of those +days were not those of ours, and not grudge the lonely King his +enjoyment of her beauty and amiability. + +One thing only remains for our foreigner to see--the coffin of +Frederick in the old Garrison Church. It lies in a small chamber +behind the pulpit and looks more like the strong box of a miser than +the last resting-place of a great king. For such a man it seems poor +and mean, but probably Frederick himself did not wish for better. He +must have known that his real monument would be his reputation with +posterity. In fact the chroniclers agree, and the noble statue of +Magnussen confirms the impression, that at the close of his stormy +life he was glad finally to be at rest anywhere. "_Quand je serai +là_," he was wont to say, pointing to where his dogs were buried in +the palace park, "_je serai sans souci_." + +In every court there is a disposition on the part of courtiers to +agree with everything the monarch says, to flatter him as dexterously +as they can, to minister to princely vanity, if vanity there be, to +"crawl on their bellies," in the choice language of hostile court +critics, or "wag their tails" and double up their bodies at every bow; +show, in short, in different ways, often all unconsciously, the +presence of a servile and self-interested mind. The disposition is not +to be found in courts alone. It is one of the commonest and most +malignant qualities of humanity, and can any day and at any hour be +observed in action in any Ministry of State, any mercantile office, +any great warehouse, any public institution, in every scene, in fact, +where one or many men are dependent for their living on the favour or +caprice of another. On the other hand, let it not be forgotten that +this innate tendency of human nature is at times replaced by another +which has frequently the same outward manifestations, but is not the +same feeling, the sentiment, namely, of embarrassment arising from the +fear of being servile, and the equally frequent embarrassment arising +from that principle which is always at work in the mind, the +association of ideas, which in the case of a monarch presents him to +the ordinary mortal as embodying ideas of grandeur, power, might, and +intellect to which the latter is unaccustomed. Education, economic +changes, and the art of manners have done much to conceal, if not +eradicate, human proneness to servility, and the Byzantinism of the +time of Caligula and Nero, of Tiberius, Constantine, or Nikiphoros, of +the Stuarts and the Bourbons, has long been modified into respect for +oneself as well as for the person one addresses. There are, however, +still traces of the old evil in the German atmosphere, and in especial +a tendency among officials of all grades to be humble and submissive +to those above them and haughty and domineering to those below them. +The tendency is perhaps not confined to Germany, but it seems, to the +inhabitant of countries where bureaucracy is not a powerful caste, to +penetrate German society and ordinary life to a greater degree--yet +not to a great degree--than in more democratic societies. + +The Emperor naturally knows nothing of such a thing, for there is no +one superior to him in the Empire in point of rank, and he is much too +modern, too well educated, and of too kindly and liberal a nature to +encourage or permit Byzantinism towards him on the part of others. +Indeed Byzantinism was never a Hohenzollern failing. In his able work +on German civilization Professor Richard tells of some Silesian +peasants who knelt down when presenting a petition to Frederick +William I, and were promptly told to get up, as "such an attitude was +unworthy of a human being." Only on one occasion in the reign has an +action of the Emperor's afforded ground for the suspicion that he was +for a moment filled with the spirit of the Byzantine emperors--namely, +when he demanded the "kotow" from the Chinese Prince Tschun, who led +the "mission of atonement" to Germany. This, however, was not really +the result of a Byzantine character or spirit, but of the excusable +anger of a man whose innocent representative had been treacherously +killed. + +Of affinity with the idea of Byzantinism is that as frequently +occurring idea in German court and ordinary life conveyed by the word +"reaction." Here again we have one of those qualities to be found +among mankind everywhere and always: the instinct opposed to change, +even to those changes for the good we call progress, the disposition +that made Horace deride the _laudator temporis acti se puero_ of his +day, the feeling of the man who laments the passing of the "good old +times" and the military veteran who assures us that "the country, sir, +is going to the dogs." In political life such men are usually to be +found professing conservatism, owners of land, dearer to them often +than life itself, which they fear political change will damage or +diminish. In Germany the Conservative forces are the old agrarian +aristocracy, the military nobility, and the official hierarchy, who +make a worship of tradition, hold for the most part the tenets of +orthodox Protestantism, dread the growing influence of industrialism, +and are members of the Landlords' Association: types of a dying +feudalism, disposed to believe nothing advantageous to the community +if it conflicts with any privilege of their class. Under the name of +Junker, the Conservative landowners of the region of Prussia east of +the Elbe, they have become everywhere a byword for pride, selfishness, +in a word--reaction. They and men of their kidney are to be +distinguished from the German "people" in the English sense, and hold +themselves vastly superior to the burghertum, the vast middle class. +They dislike the "academic freedom" of the university professor, would +limit the liberty of the press and restrain the right of public +meeting, and increase rather than curtail the powers of the police. On +the other hand, if they are a powerful drag on the Emperor's Liberal +tendencies--Liberal, that is, in the Prussian sense--towards a +comprehensive and well-organized social policy, they are at least +reliable supporters of his Government for the military and naval +budgets, since they believe as whole-heartedly in the rule of force as +the Emperor himself. The German Conservative would infinitely prefer a +return to absolute government to the introduction of parliamentary +government. At the same time it should not be supposed that the +Emperor or his Chancellor, or even his Court, are reactionary in the +sense or measure in which the Socialist papers are wont to assert. It +is doubtful if nowadays the Emperor would venture to be reactionary in +any despotic way. Given that his monarchy and the spirit that informs +it are secure, that Caesar gets all that is due to Caesar, and that he +and his Government are left the direction of foreign policy, he is +quite willing that the people should legislate for themselves, enjoy +all the rights that belong to them under the _Rechtsstaat_ established +by Frederick the Great, and, in short, enjoy life as best they can. + + + + +VII. + + + +"DROPPING THE PILOT" + +Heinrich von Treitschke, the German historian, writing to a friend, +speaks of the dismissal of Prince Bismarck as "an indelible stain on +Prussian history and a tragic stroke of fate the like of which the +world has never seen since the days of Themistocles." + +Opinions may differ as to the indelibility of the stain--which must be +taken as a reflection on the conduct of the Emperor; and parallels +might perhaps be found, at least by students of English history, in +the dismissal of Cardinal Wolsey by Henry VIII, or that of the elder +Pitt by George III. But there may well be general agreement as to the +tragic nature of the fall, for it was a struggle between a strong +personality and the unknown, but irresistible, laws of fate. + +The historic quarrel between the Emperor and his Chancellor was not +merely the inevitable clash between two dispositions fundamentally +different, but between--to adapt the expression of a modern poet--"an +age that was dying and one that was coming to birth." Old Prussia was +giving place to New Germany. The atmosphere of war had changed to an +atmosphere of peace. The standards of education and comfort were +rising fast. The old German idealism was being pushed aside by +materialism and commercialism, and the thoughts of the nation were +turning from problems of philosophy and art to problems of practical +science and experiment. Thought was to be followed by action. Mankind, +after conversing with the ancients for centuries, now began to +converse with one another. The desire for national expansion, if it +could not be gratified by conquest, was to be satisfied by the spread +of German influence, power, activity, and enterprise in all parts of +the world. Such a collision of the ages is tragedy on the largest +scale, for nothing can be more tragic--more inevitable or +inexorable--than the march of Progress. + +The natures of the two men were, in important respects, fundamentally +different. Bismarck's nature was prosaic, primitive, unscrupulous, +domineering: a type which in an English schoolboy would be described +as a bully, with the modification that while the bully in an English +school is always depicted as a coward at heart (a supposition, +however, by no means always borne out in after-life), Bismarck had the +courage of a bull-dog. Moreover, Bismarck was a Conservative, a +statesman of expediency. The Emperor is a man of principle; and as +expediency, in a world of change, is a note of Conservatism, so, in +the same world, is principle the _leit-motiv_ of Liberalism. To call +the Emperor a man of principle may appear to be at variance with +general opinion as founded on exceptional occurrences, but these do +not supply sufficient material for a fair judgment, and there are many +acts of his reign which show him to be Liberal in disposition. + +Not, it need hardly be said, Liberal in the English political sense. +Liberalism in England--the two-party country--usually means a strong +desire to vote against a Conservative on the assumption that the +Conservative is nearly always completely wrong and never completely +right. As will be seen later, there is no political Liberalism in the +English sense in Germany. The Emperor's Liberalism shows itself in his +sympathy with his people in their desire for improvement as a society +of which he is the head, selected by God and only restricted by a +constitutional compact solemnly sworn to by the contracting parties. +Proofs of this sympathy might be adduced--his determination to carry +through his grandfather's social policy against Bismarck's wish, +however hostile he was and is to Social Democracy; his steadfast peace +policy, however nearly he has brought his country to war; his +encouragement of the arts among the lower classes, however limited his +views on art may be; his friendly intercourse with people of all +nationalities and occupations. + +The characters also of the two men were different. Bismarck's was the +result of civilian training; the Emperor's of military training. +Bismarck had small regard for manners, and would have scoffed had +anyone told him "manners makyth man"; the Emperor is courtesy itself, +as every one who meets him testifies. Bismarck was fond of eating and +drinking, with the appetite of a horse and the thirst of a drayman, +until he was nearly eighty, and smoked strong cigars from morning to +night--a very pleasant thing, of course, if you can stand it. The +Emperor has never cared particularly for what are called the pleasures +of the table, is fond of apples and one or two simple German dishes, +and has never been what in Germany is called a "chain-smoker." +Bismarck appears not to have had the faintest interest in art; the +Emperor, while of late disclaiming in all art company his lack of +expert knowledge, has always found delight in art's most classical +forms. + +Yet the two men had some deeply marked traits of character in common. +The Emperor, as was Bismarck, is Prussian, that is to say mediaeval, +to the core, notwithstanding that he had an English mother and +lived in early childhood under English influences. He has always +exhibited, as Bismarck always did, the genuine qualities of the +Prussian--self-confidence, tenacity of purpose, absolute trust in his +own ideals and intolerance of those of other people, impatience of +rivalry, selfishness for the advantage of Prussia as against other +German States, as strong as that for the newly born Empire against +other countries. Finally, the Emperor is convinced, as Bismarck was +convinced, that in the first and last resort, a society, a people, a +nation, is based on force and by force alone can prosper, or even be +held together. Neither Bismarck nor the Emperor could ever sympathize +with those who look to a time when one strong and sensible policeman +will be of more value to a community than a thousand unproductive +soldiers. + +Long before he became Imperial Chancellor Bismarck had done masterly +and important work for the country. In 1862 he began his career by +filling the post of interim Minister President of Prussia at a time +when the present Emperor was still an infant. It was on taking up the +position that he made the celebrated statement that "great questions +cannot be decided by speeches and majority-votes, but must be resolved +by blood and iron." Born in April, 1815, two months before the battle +of Waterloo, at Schoenhausen, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, not +far from Magdeburg, he studied at the universities of Gottingen and +Berlin and passed two steps of the official ladder--Auscultator and +Referendar--which may be translated respectively protocolist and +junior counsel. His parliamentary career began in 1846, two years +before the second French Revolution. At that time Prussia was an +absolute monarchy, without a Constitution or a Parliament. There was +no conscription, that foundation-stone of Prussian power and of the +modern German Empire. Then came the agitated days of 1848, the +sanguinary "March Days" in Berlin. Frederick William IV was on the +throne, and in 1847 permitted the calling of a Parliament, the +forerunner of the present Reichstag; but only to represent the +"rights," not the "opinions," of the people. "No piece of paper," +cried the King, "shall come, like a second Providence, between God in +heaven and this land!" That, too, was Bismarck's sentiment, +courageously expressed by him when the Diet was debating the idea of +introducing the English parliamentary system, and proved by him in +character and conduct until the day of his death. He would have made a +splendid Jacobite! + +The three "March Days," the 18th, 19th, and 20th of March, 1848, form +one of the few occasions in Prussian or German history on which Crown +and people came into direct and serious conflict. According to German +accounts of the episode the outbreak of the revolution in France was +followed by a large influx into Berlin of Poles and Frenchmen, who +instigated the populace to violence. Collisions with the police +occurred, and on March 15th barricades began to be erected. Traffic in +the streets was only possible with the aid of the military. The King +was in despair, not so much, the accounts say, at the danger he was in +of losing his throne as at the shedding of the blood of his folk, and +issued a proclamation promising to grant all desirable reforms, +abolishing the censorship of the press, and summoning the Diet to +discuss the terms of a Constitution. The citizens, however, continued +to build barricades, made their way into the courtyards of the palace, +and demanded the withdrawal of the troops. The King ordered the +courtyards to be cleared, the palace guard advanced, and, either by +accident or design, the guns of two grenadiers went off. No one was +hit, but cries of "Treason!" and "Murder!" were raised. Within an hour +a score of barricades were set up in various parts of the town and +manned by a medley of workmen, university students, artists, and even +men of the Landwehr, or military reserve. + +At this time there were about 14,000 troops at the King's disposal, +and with these the authorities proceeded against the mob. A series of +scattered engagements between mob and military began. They lasted for +eight hours, until at midnight General von Prittwitz, who was in +command of the troops, was able to report to the King that the +revolution was subdued. + +Next morning, however, the 19th, numerous deputations of citizens +presented themselves at the palace, and assuring the King that it was +the only means of preventing the further effusion of blood, renewed +the request for the withdrawal of the troops. The King consented, +notwithstanding the opposition of Prince, afterwards Emperor, William, +and the troops were drawn off to Potsdam. The citizens thereupon +appointed a National Guard, which took charge of the palace, and in +the evening a vast crowd appeared beneath the King's windows bearing +the corpses of those who had fallen at the barricades during the two +preceding days. The dead bodies were laid in rows in the palace +courtyard, and the King was invited out to see them. He could not but +obey, and bowed to the crowd as he stood bareheaded before the bodies. + +It is clear from the occurrences in Berlin in 1848 that while the +Prussian idea of monarchy is deeply rooted in the German mind, the +possibility of a sudden change in public sentiment and a radical +alteration of the relations between Crown and people are never at any +time to be wholly disregarded. Hence it is that the Emperor and his +Government are so insistent on the doctrine of Heaven-granted +sovereignty, so ready to support more or less autocratic monarchies in +other parts of the world, and so sensitive to popular movements like +Anarchism and Nihilism in Russia, or the always-smouldering Polish +agitation and the propaganda of the Social Democracy in Germany. When +King Frederick William IV said to his assembled generals at Potsdam a +week after the "March Days," "Never have I felt more free or more +secure than when under the protection of my burghers," his words were +drowned in the buzz of murmurs and the angry clanking of swords. The +Emperor to-day might, or might not, endorse the words of his ancestor. +Most probably he would not; for, judging by his speeches, his care for +the army, the military state with which he surrounds himself, and his +habitual appearance in uniform, he, though in truth far more a civil +monarch than the War Lord foreign writers delight in painting him, is +evidently determined to rely only on his soldiers for every +eventuality at home as well as abroad. + +Perhaps the best German authorities on Bismarck's falling-out with the +young Emperor are the statements regarding it to be found in the +memoranda supplied at the time by Prince Bismarck himself to Dr. +Moritz Busch; the Memoirs of Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, +subsequently Imperial Chancellor; and the monograph on Bismarck by Dr. +Hans Blum, one of the Chancellor's confidants. The memoranda supplied +to Busch make regrettably few references to the subject, beyond giving +the terms of the official resignation and some scanty addenda thereto; +but enough is said generally by Busch concerning Bismarck's +conversations to show that the Chancellor was deeply mortified by his +dismissal. Bismarck indeed expressly denies this in a conversational +statement quoted by an able Bismarckian writer of our own time, Dr. +Paul Liman; but in view of subsequent events and statements the denial +can hardly be taken as sincere. The passage referred to is as +follows:-- + + "I bear no grudge against my young master, who is fiery and + lively. He wishes to make all men happy, and that is very + natural at his age. I, for my part, believe perhaps less in + this possibility, and have told him so too. It is very + natural that a mentor like myself does not please him, and + that he therefore rejects my advice. An old carthorse and a + young courser go ill in harness together. Only politics are + not so easy as a chemical combination: they deal with human + beings. I wish certainly that his experiments may succeed, + and am not in the least angry with him. I stand towards him + like a father whom a son has grieved; the father may suffer + thereby, but all the same he says to himself, 'He is a fine + young fellow.' When I was young I followed my King + everywhere: now that I am old I can no longer accompany my + master when he travels so far. Accordingly it is unavoidable + that counsellors who remained closer to him should win his + confidence at my expense. He is very easily influenced when + one puts before him ideas which he supposes will happily + affect the condition of the people, and he can hardly wait + to put them into operation. The Kaiser will achieve + reputation at once: I have my own to watch over, to defend. + I have sacrificed myself for renown and will not place it in + jeopardy." + +Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs are much more valuable in respect of +positive information, and especially in supplying an account of the +incident taken from the lips of the Emperor himself. The Prince was +without his great predecessor's ability, but was much more amiable and +sincere. He was, moreover, a friend of both the parties concerned, and +he impartially jotted down events at the time they occurred. Lastly, +if he was a courtier at heart, he was that not wholly unknown thing, +an honest one. Dr. Hans Blum is obviously a partisan of the great +Chancellor's, but he may also be referred to for a fairly connected +account of the fall and the events that succeeded it up to the time of +Bismarck's death on July 30, 1898. + +Apart from the differences in the ages and temperaments of the Emperor +and the Chancellor, there were differences in their views as to +certain measures of policy. There was a difference of opinion as to +German policy regarding Russia. Friendship with that country had been +the policy of both Emperor William I and Bismarck, and the latter had +effected a reinsurance treaty with Russia, stipulating for Russian +neutrality in case of a war between Germany and France, +notwithstanding the subsistence of the Triple Alliance between +Germany, Austria, and Italy. The reinsurance treaty, which had been +made for a period of three years, was now about to expire, and while +Bismarck desired its renewal, the Emperor, in a spirit of loyalty to +Austria, was against the renewal, and the treaty was not renewed. This +was the "new course" as it regarded Russia. The difference with regard +to the anti-Socialist Laws has been referred to in our chapter on the +accession. + +The Royal Order of September, 1852, which has been mentioned as +leading immediately to the resignation, regulated intercourse between +the Prussian Ministers and the Crown, its chief provision being that +only the Minister President, and not individual Ministers, should have +audience of the Emperor regarding matters of home and foreign policy. +The Emperor desired the abrogation of the Order, for he wished to +consult with the Ministers individually. The text of Bismarck's +official resignation, after describing the origin of the Order, +continues: + + "If each individual Minister can receive commands from his + Sovereign without previous arrangement with his colleagues, + a coherent policy, for which some one is to be responsible, + is an impossibility. It would be impossible for any of the + Ministers, and especially for the Minister President, to + bear the constitutional responsibility for the Cabinet as a + whole. Such a provision as that contained in the Order of + 1852 could be dispensed with under the absolute monarchy and + could also be dispensed with to-day if we returned to + absolutism without ministerial responsibility. But according + to the constitutional arrangements now legally in force the + control of the Cabinet by a President under the Order of + 1852 is indispensable." + +The Emperor replied to Prince Bismarck's resignation in a +communication which the reader, according to his disposition, will +regard as an effusion of the heart, immensely creditable to its +composer, a model of an official reply as demanded by circumstances, a +striking example of the art of throwing dust in the public eye, or an +equally striking contribution to the literature of excusable +hypocrisy. It was as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR PRINCE,--With deep emotion I learn from your + request of the 18th instant that you have decided to retire + from the offices which you have filled for long years with + incomparable success. I had hoped not to have been compelled + to entertain the thought of separation during our lives. + While, however, in full consciousness of the important + consequences of your retirement, I am forced to accustom + myself to the thought. I do so, it is true, with a heavy + heart, but in the strong confidence that the grant of your + request will contribute as much as possible to the + protection and preservation for as long as possible of a + life and strength of unreplaceable value to the Fatherland. + + "The grounds you offer for your resignation convince me that + any further attempt to induce you to reconsider your + determination would have no prospect of success. I + acquiesce, therefore, in your wish by hereby graciously + releasing you from your offices as Imperial Chancellor, + President of my State Ministry, and Minister of Foreign + Affairs, and trust that your counsels and energy, your + loyalty and devotion, will not be wanting to me and the + country in the future also. + + "I have considered it as one of the most valued privileges + in my life that at the commencement of my reign I had you at + my side as my first counsellor. What you have done and + achieved for Prussia and Germany, what you have done for my + House, my ancestors, and me, will remain to me and the + German people in grateful and imperishable memory. But also + in foreign countries your wise and energetic peace policy, + which I, too, in the future also, as a result of sincere + conviction, decide to take as the guiding line of my + conduct, will be always gloriously recognized. It is not in + my power to requite your services as they deserve. I must + rest satisfied with assuring you of my own and the country's + ineffaceable thanks. As a sign of this thanks I confer on + you the rank of a Duke of Lauenburg. I will also send you a + life-sized picture of myself. + + "God bless you, my dear Prince, and grant you still many + years of an old age undisturbed and blessed with the + consciousness of duty faithfully done. + + "In this disposition I remain to you and yours in the future + also your sincere, obliged, and grateful Emperor and King, + + "WILLIAM I.R." + +The Emperor has never, so far as is publicly known, issued, or caused +to be issued, an official account of the episode and its _péripéties_, +but the story he poured, evidently out of a full heart, into the ears +of Prince Hohenlohe, then Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine, during a +midnight drive from the railway station at Hagenau to the hunting +lodge at Sufflenheim, is an historical document of practically +official authenticity. It appears as follows in the Prince's +Memoirs:-- + +"STRASBURG, 26 _April_, 1890. + + "On the evening of the 23rd, nine o'clock, I drove with + Thaden and Moritz to Hagenau, there to await the arrival of + the Emperor. We spent the evening with circle-officer Klemm. + I went to bed at eleven o'clock in the guest-room, and slept + until half-past twelve. Moritz and Thaden drove to the + station with a view to changing their clothes in the train. + At one o'clock I was again at the station, when the Emperor + punctually arrived. I presented the gentlemen to him, and + turned over General Hahnke to Baron Charpentier and + Lieutenant Cramer, for them to conduct him to the hunting + ground. Our journey lasted about an hour, during which the + Emperor related without a pause the whole story of his + quarrel with Bismarck. According to this the coolness had + already begun in December. The Emperor then demanded that + something should be done about the Working Class Question. + The Chancellor was against doing anything. The Emperor held + the view that if the Government did not take the initiative, + the Reichstag, _i.e_. the Socialists, Centre and + Progressives, would take the matter in hand, and then the + Government would lag behind. The Chancellor wanted to lay + the anti-Socialist Bill with the expulsion paragraph again + before the Reichstag, dissolving the chamber if it did not + accept the Bill, and then, if it came to disturbances, to + take energetic measures. The Emperor objected, saying that + if his grandfather, after a long and glorious reign, were + forced to repress disturbances no one would think ill of + him. It was different in his case, who had as yet + accomplished nothing. People would reproach him with + beginning his reign by shooting down his subjects. He was + ready to act, but he wished to do it with a good conscience + after endeavouring to redress the well-founded grievances of + the workmen, or at least after doing everything to meet + their justifiable claims. + + "The Emperor therefore demanded at a ministerial conference + the submission of ministerial edicts which should contain + what subsequently they in fact did contain. Bismarck would + not hear of it. The Emperor then laid the question before + the Council of State, and eventually obtained the edicts in + spite of Bismarck's opposition. Bismarck, however, secretly + continued his opposition, and tried to persuade Switzerland + to persevere with its idea of an International Labour + Conference. The attempt was rendered nugatory by the loyal + attitude of the Swiss Minister in Berlin, Roth. At the very + same time Bismarck was trying to influence the diplomatists + against the conference. + + "The relations between the Emperor and Bismarck, already + shaken by these dissensions, were still further embittered + by the question of the Cabinet Order of 1852. Bismarck had + often advised the Emperor to summon the Ministers to him. + This the Emperor did, and as the intercourse became more + frequent Bismarck took it ill, was jealous, and dragged out + the Order of 1852 so as to keep Ministers from the Emperor. + The Emperor resisted and acquired the abrogation of the + Cabinet Order. Bismarck at first agreed, but gave no further + sign in the matter. The Emperor now demanded either that the + recission of the Order should be laid before him, or that + Bismarck should resign--a demand which the Emperor + communicated to Bismarck through General von Hahnke. The + Chancellor delayed, but at length gave in the resignation on + March 18th. It should be added that already, at the + beginning of February, Bismarck had told the Emperor that he + would retire. Afterwards, however, he declared that he had + thought the position over and would remain--a thing not + agreeable to the Emperor, though he made no remonstrance + until the affair of the Cabinet Order came in addition. The + visit of Windthorst to the Chancellor also gave rise to + unpleasantness, though it was not the deciding factor. In + any case the last three weeks were filled with disagreeable + conversations between the Emperor and the Chancellor. It + was, as the Emperor expressed it, a 'devil of a time,' and + the question was, as the Emperor himself said, whether the + dynasty Bismarck or the dynasty Hohenzollern should reign. + The Emperor spoke very angrily, too, about the article in + the _Hamburg News_. In foreign policy Bismarck, according to + the Emperor, went his own way, and kept back from the + Emperor much of what he did. 'Yes,' he said, 'Bismarck had + it conveyed to St. Petersburg that I wanted to adopt an + anti-Russian policy. But for that,' the Emperor added, 'he + had no proofs.' + + "This conversation," concludes Prince Hohenlohe, "between + the Emperor and myself was told partly on the way to the + lodge and partly on the way back. Between came the shooting; + but there was no sport, as the Emperor took his stand in the + dark under a tree on which was a cock that did not 'call.'" + +The following further extracts from the Hohenlohe Memoirs are given +rather with the object of showing the state of the political and +social atmosphere in which the quarrel took place than as throwing any +fresh light on its course. In June of the preceding year (1889) occurs +an entry which registers the first signs of the coming storm. Prince +Hohenlohe is telling of a visit he made in June to the Grand Duke of +Baden, whom he found irritated by Bismarck's proposal, made in +connection with the arrest of a Prussian police officer by the Swiss, +to close the frontier against the canton Aargau. The Grand Duke, the +Prince relates, quoted Herbert Bismarck as saying he "could not +understand his father any longer and that people were beginning to +believe he was not right in his head." + +The next entry in the Journal is dated Strasburg, August 24th. It +concerns another meeting with the Grand Duke, who now told him that +Bismarck had changed his views and that these oscillations had puzzled +the Emperor and at the same time heightened his self-consciousness; +moreover, that the Emperor noticed that things were being kept back +from him and was becoming suspicious. There had already been a +collision between the Emperor and the Chancellor and the latter might +have to go. What then? Probably the Emperor thought of conducting +foreign policy himself--but that, added the Grand Duke, would be very +dangerous. + +The feeling at Court regarding Bismarck's fall is shown by a passage +in the Memoirs about this time. It runs: + + "At 1.30 p.m. dinner (at the palace) at which I sat between + Stosch and Kameke. The former told me much about his own + quarrel with Bismarck, and was as gay as a snow-king that he + can now speak freely and that the great man is no longer to + be feared. This comfortable sentiment is obvious here on all + sides." + +The anecdote still current in Berlin, that Bismarck actually threw an +inkstand at the Emperor's head is reduced to its proper proportions by +the following entry: + + "The Grand Duke of Baden, with whom I was yesterday, knows a + good deal about the recent crisis. He says the cause of the + breach between the Emperor and Chancellor was a question of + power, and that all other differences of opinion about + social legislation and other things were only secondary. The + chief ground was the Cabinet Order of 1852, which Bismarck + pressed on the attention of the Ministers without the + Emperor's knowledge, and so hindered them from going to make + their reports to the Emperor. The Emperor wanted the Order + rescinded, while Bismarck was against it. Nor had the + conversation with Windthorst led to the breach. A talk + between the Emperor and Bismarck about this conversation is + said to have been so tempestuous that the Emperor + subsequently said when describing it, 'He (Bismarck) all but + threw the inkstand at me.'" To Hohenlohe Bismarck said, as + Hohenlohe remarked that the resignation had surprised him, + "Me also," and that three weeks before he did not think + things would end as they had. Bismarck added: "However, it + was to be expected, for the Emperor is now quite determined + to rule alone." + +Finally the Prince's Journal has the following: + + "Two things struck me in these last three days: one that no + one has any time and every one is in a greater hurry than + before; and secondly, that individualities have expanded. + Every individual is conscious of himself, while before, + under the predominating influence of Prince Bismarck, + individualities shrank and were kept down. Now they are all + swollen like sponges placed in water. That has its + advantages, but also its dangers. The single-minded will is + lacking." + +The period between the great Chancellor's fall and his death nine +years later was marked by so many incidents as to make it almost as +_mouvementé_ as the period of the fall itself. He retired to +Friedrichsruh, all the more immediately as the new Chancellor, General +von Caprivi, showed such indecent haste in taking possession of the +official residence that a portion of Bismarck's furniture was broken +and rendered useless. That Bismarck retired with the angry feelings of +a Coriolanus in his heart, or, as Anglo-Saxon slang would have it, of +a "bear with a sore head," became evident only a few weeks later. He +was visited by the inevitable interviewer, and chose the _Hamburg +News_ as the medium of communicating to the world his opinion of the +new _régime_ and the men who were conducting it; and made use of that +paper with such instant vigour and acerbity that little more than two +months from his retirement elapsed before the new Chancellor thought +it advisable to issue instructions to Germany's diplomatic +representatives warning them carefully to distinguish between the +"present sentiments and views of the Duke of Lauenburg and those of +the erstwhile Prince Bismarck," and to pay no serious attention to the +former. Bismarck replied in the _Hamburg News_ that he would not allow +his mouth to be closed, and set about proving that he meant what he +said. Nothing the men of the "new course" could do met with his +approval. The first thing he fell foul of was the Anglo-German +agreement of July 1, 1890, which gave Germany Heligoland in exchange +for Zanzibar, deploring the badness of the bargain for Germany, and +evidently not foreseeing the importance that island's position, +commanding the approaches to the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser, was +afterwards to possess. Besides the friendliness with England, the +detachment of Germany from Russia in favour of Austria, also a feature +of the "new course," did not please him as tending to drive Russia +into the arms of France. + +His prescience, however, in this respect was demonstrated when a year +later the Czar saluted a French squadron in the harbour of Cronstadt +to the strains of the "Marseillaise" and signed a secret agreement +that was alluded to four years later by the French Premier, M. Ribot, +in the French Chamber of Deputies, who spoke of Russia as "our ally," +and was publicly announced in 1897, on the occasion of President Felix +Faure's visit to St. Petersburg, by the Czar's now famous employment +of the words "_deux nations amies et alliées_." + +The ex-Chancellor was as little satisfied with the new tariff treaties +entered into by General Caprivi with Austria, Italy, Belgium, and +other countries, which the Emperor, wiser, as events have shown, than +his former Minister, characterized on their passage by Parliament as +the country's "salvation" (_eine rettende Tat_). The ex-Chancellor's +caustic but mistaken criticism was punished by the calculated neglect +of the Berlin authorities to invite him to the ceremonies attending +the celebration of the ninetieth birthday of his old comrade, General +von Moltke, in October, 1890, and that of his funeral in the following +April: still more publicly punished in connexion with the marriage of +his son Herbert. + +The wedding of the latter to Countess Marguerite Hoyos was to take +place in Vienna on June 21, 1892, and on the 18th Prince Bismarck +started with his family to attend it. The journey was a species of +triumphal progress to Vienna, but it was to end in disappointment and +chagrin. As the result of representations from Germany, made doubtless +with the Emperor's assent, if not at his suggestion, Bismarck was met +on his arrival with the news that the German Ambassador, Prince Reuss, +and the Embassy staff had orders to absent themselves from the +wedding, that the widow of the Crown Prince Rudolph, who had accepted +a card of invitation to it, had suddenly left Vienna, and that the +Emperor Franz Joseph would not receive him. The German action was +explained by the publication two months later of the edict, +stigmatized by Bismarck as an "Urias Letter," in which Caprivi warned +foreign Governments against attaching any importance to the utterances +of the Duke of Lauenburg. The Bismarckian and anti-Bismarckian storm +came up afresh in Germany. Bismarck was reproached by the Government +as "injuring monarchical feeling," and by his enemies as a traitor to +his country; while the angry statesman published a statement +expressing the opinion that + + "the control of private social intercourse abroad, and the + influencing of dinner invitations, were not tasks for which + high officers of State were selected nor public money for + the payment of diplomatic representatives voted": + +doubting, at the same time, "if the foreign archives of any other +country than Germany could show a parallel to the incident." + +The storm, notwithstanding, had a good effect, for it brought out in +bold relief the immense regard and respect the overwhelming majority +of his countrymen entertained for the chief architect of their Empire; +and when Bismarck fell ill at Kissingen in 1893 the Emperor, +subordinating his political animosities to the chivalrous instincts of +his nature, telegraphed his sorrow to the patient and offered to lend +him one of the royal castles for the purpose of his convalescence. +Bismarck declined, but not ungratefully, and the way to a +reconciliation was opened. Next year, 1894, Bismarck suffered from +influenza, and when this time the Emperor sent an adjutant to +Friedrichsruh to express his regret, invited him to attend the +festivities on the forthcoming royal birthday, and sent along with the +invitation a flask of Steinberger Cabinet from the imperial cellar in +characteristic German proof of the sincerity of his feelings, the +country was delighted. Bismarck accepted the invitation and doubtless +drank the Steinberger; and the visit to Berlin followed in due time. + +The reconciliation was completed amid sympathetic popular rejoicing. +The Emperor sent his brother, Prince Henry, to bring the ex-Chancellor +from the railway station to the palace, where the Emperor himself, +surrounded by a brilliant staff, stood to welcome the guest. Bismarck +spent the day at the palace with the Royal Family and was taken back +to the railway station in the evening by the Emperor. A few days later +the Emperor returned the visit at Friedrichsruh. + +The quiet of the ex-Chancellor's last years was once unpleasantly +affected by the Reichstag in 1895, at the instance of his +parliamentary enemies, rejecting, to its everlasting discredit, a +proposal for an official vote of congratulation to the ex-Chancellor +on his eightieth birthday; but against this unpleasantness may be set +his gratification at the receipt of a telegram from the Emperor +expressing his "deepest indignation" at the rejection. + +Prince Bismarck died on July 30th, 1898, and was laid to rest at +Friedrichsruh in the presence of the Emperor and Empress, while the +world paused for a moment in its occupations to discuss with +sympathetic admiration the dead man's personality and career. +Bismarck's spirit is still abroad in Germany, and the popular memory +of him is as fresh now as though he died but yesterday. It is more +than probable, much rather is it certain, that all trace of irritation +with the proud old Chancellor has long faded from the Emperor's mind: +indeed at no time does there seem to have been sentiments of personal +or permanent rancour on one side or the other. The episode, in short, +was an inevitable collision of ages, temperaments, and times, +regrettable no doubt as a possibly harmful example of political +discord among the leaders of the nation, but--with due respect for the +judgment of so capable an historian as von Treitschke--leaving no +"indelible stain" either on the pages of German history or on the +reputations of Bismarck or the Emperor. + + + + +VIII. + + + +SPACIOUS TIMES + + + +1891-1899 + +A great English poet sings of the "spacious days" of Queen Elizabeth. +From the German standpoint the decade from the fall of Bismarck to the +end of the century may not inaptly be described as the spacious days +of William II and the modern German Empire. To the Englishman the +actual territorial acquisitions of Germany during the period must seem +comparatively insignificant, but, taken in connection with the +Emperor's speeches, the building of the German navy, the Caprivi +commercial treaties, the growth of friendly relations and of trade and +intercourse with America, North and South, they mean the opening of a +new era in the history of the Empire--the era of Weltpolitik. + +Heligoland was obtained in exchange for Zanzibar in 1890, and is now +regarded by Germans much as Gibraltar or Malta is regarded by +Englishmen. The first Kiel regatta, due solely to the initiative of +the Emperor, and starting the development of sport in all fields which +is a feature of modern German progress, ethical and physical, was held +in 1894. The Caprivi commercial treaties were concluded within the +period. The Kiel Canal, connecting the Baltic and North Sea, and +giving the German fleet access to all the open waters of the earth, +was opened in 1895. In 1896 the Kruger telegram testified to imperial +interest in South African developments. The Hamburg-Amerika Line now +sent a specially fast mail and passenger steamer across the Atlantic. +The district of Kiautschau was leased from China in 1898, securing +Germany a foothold and naval base in the Far East. In the same year +the modern Oriental policy of the Empire was inaugurated by the +Emperor's visit to Palestine and his declaration in the course of it +that he would be the friend of Turkey and of the three hundred +millions of Mohammedans who recognized the Sultan as their spiritual +head. To this year also belongs the measure, the most important in its +consequences and significance of the reign hitherto, the passing of +the First Navy Law. Finally, in 1899 Germany acquired the Caroline +Islands by purchase from Spain, and certain Samoan Islands by +agreement with England and America. + +Nothing was more natural as a result of the new world-policy than a +change in the mental outlook of the people. It inaugurated in Germany +an era somewhat analogous to the era inaugurated in England by the +widening and brightening of the Englishman's horizon under Elizabeth. +The analogy may not be closely maintainable throughout, but, generally +speaking, just as the eyes of Englishmen suddenly saw the +possibilities of expansion disclosed to them by Drake, Raleigh, and +Frobisher, so the Emperor's appeals, with the pursuance of German +colonial policy and the attempt to develop Germany's African +possessions, led to an awakening in Germany of a similar, if weaker, +kind. To this awakening the building of the German navy contributed; +and though it did not appeal to the German imagination as did the +deeds of the old navigators to that of Elizabethan Englishmen, it +widened the national outlook and fired the people with new imperial +ambitions. Hitherto, moreover, Germany's attention had been confined +almost solely to trade within continental boundaries: henceforth she +was to do business actively and enterprisingly with all parts of the +world. + +The Emperor's thoughts on the subject were expressed in January, 1896, +at a banquet in the Berlin palace given to a miscellaneous company of +leading personalities of the time. The occasion was the celebration of +the twenty-fifth year of the modern Empire's foundation. He said: + + "The German Empire becomes a world-empire. Everywhere in the + farthest parts of the earth live thousands of our + fellow-countrymen. German subjects, German knowledge, German + industry cross the ocean. The value of German goods on the + seas amounts to thousands of millions of marks. On you, + gentlemen, devolves the serious duty of helping me to knit + firmly this greater German Empire to the Empire at home." + +The expression "greater German Empire" immediately reminded the +Englishman of his own "Greater Britain," and he concluded that the +Emperor was secretly thinking of rivalling him in the extent and value +of his colonial possessions. Possibly he was, and doubtless he +ardently desired to see Germany owning large and fertile colonies; but +it is quite as probable he was thinking of his economic Weltpolitik, +and knew as well then as he does now that it must be left to time and +the hour to show whether they fall to her or not. + +In the same order of ideas may be placed, though it is anticipating +somewhat, the Emperor's utterances at Aix in 1902 and three years +later at Bremen. At Aix, after describing the failure of Charlemagne's +successors to reconcile the duties of a Holy Roman Emperor with those +of a German King, he continued: + + "Now another Empire has arisen. The German people has once + more an Emperor of its own choice, with the sword on the + field of battle has the crown been won, and the imperial + flag flutters high in the breeze. But the tasks of the new + Empire are different: confined within its borders it has to + steel itself anew for the work it has to do, and which it + could not achieve in the Middle Ages. We have to live so + that the Empire, still young, becomes from year to year + stronger in itself, while confidence in it strengthens on + all sides. The powerful German army guarantees the peace of + Europe. In accord with the German character we confine + ourselves externally in order to be unconfined internally. + Far stretches our speech over the ocean, far the flight of + our science and exploration; no work in the domain of new + discovery, no scientific idea but is first tested by us and + then adopted by other nations. This is the world-rule the + German spirit strives for." + +At Bremen he said: + + "The world-empire I dream of is a new German Empire which + shall enjoy on all hands the most absolute confidence as a + quiet, peaceable, honest neighbour--not founded by conquest + with the sword, but on the mutual confidence of nations + aiming at the same end." + +The Emperor's world-policy was referred to more than once about this +time by Chancellor Prince Bülow in the Reichstag. "It is," he said on +one occasion, "Germany's intention and duty to protect the great and +ever-growing oversea interests which she has acquired through the +development of conditions." "We recognize," he continued, + + "that we have no longer interests only round our own + fireside or in the neighbourhood of the church clock, but + everywhere where German industry and Germany's commercial + spirit have penetrated; and we must foster these interests + within the bounds of possibility and good sense." + +"Our world-policy," he said on another occasion in the same place, + + "is not a policy of interference, much less a policy of + intervention: had it interfered in South Africa (he was + alluding to the Boer War) it must have intervened, and + intervention implies the use of force." + +On yet another occasion he explained that a prudent world-policy must +go hand in hand with a sound protective policy for home industry, and +that its basis must be a strong national home policy. + +There is nothing in all this, even supposing Germany's interests at +that time were purposely exaggerated, to which the foreigner could +reasonably object. The foreigner felt perhaps slightly uncomfortable +when the same statesman, departing for a moment from his usual +objective standpoint, spoke of the German "traversing the world with a +sword in one hand and a spade and trowel in the other"; but otherwise +no act of Germany's world-policy need have inspired alarm, or need +inspire alarm at the present time, in sensible foreign minds. The +rapidity of its action probably helped to excite a feeling that it +could not be altogether honest or above-board; but it should be +remembered that the new Empire had much leeway to make up in the race +with other nations, and that quick development was rendered necessary +by her commercial treaties, by her protective system, by the +unexpected growth of industry and trade, by the continuous increase of +population, the development of the mercantile marine, and the growing +consciousness of national strength. + +And if there is nothing in Germany's development of her world-policy +to which the foreigner can reasonably object, there is much in it at +which he can reasonably rejoice. Competition is good for him, for it +puts him on his mettle. A large and prosperous German population +extends his markets and means more business and more profit. The minds +of both Germans and the foreigner become broader, more mutually +sympathetic and appreciative. The elder Pitt warned his +fellow-countrymen against letting France become a maritime, a +commercial, or a colonial power. She has become all three, and what +injury has occurred therefrom to England or any other nation? + +Germany's colonial development dates from about the year 1884, the +period of the "scramble for Africa." The first step to acquiring +German colonies for the Empire was taken in 1883, when a merchant of +Bremen, Edouard Luderitz, made an agreement with the Hottentots by +which the bay of Angra Pequena in South-West Africa, with an area of +fifty thousand square kilometres, was ceded to him. Luderitz applied +to Bismarck for imperial protection. Bismarck inquired of England +whether she claimed rights of sovereignty over the bay. Lord Granville +replied in the negative, but added that he did not consider the +seizure of possession by another Power allowable. Indignant at what he +called a "monstrous claim" on all the land in the world which was +without a master, Bismarck telegraphed to the German Consul at the +Cape to "declare officially to the British Government that Herr +Luderitz and his acquisitions are under the protection of the Empire." + +The Bremen pioneer was fated to gain no advantage from his enterprise, +as he was drowned in the Orange River in 1886. His example as a +colonist, however, was followed by three Hanseatic merchants, +Woermann, Jansen, and Thormealen, of Hamburg, who acquired land in +Togo, a small kingdom to the east of the British Gold Coast, and in +the Cameroons, a large tract in the bend of the Gulf of Guinea, +extending to Lake Chad, and applied for German imperial protection. +Bismarck sent Consul-General Nachtigall with the gunboat _Moewe_ in +1884 to hoist the German flag at various ports. Five days after this +had been done the English gunboat _Flirt_ arrived, but was thus too +late to obtain Togoland and the Cameroons for England. + +Dr. Carl Peters, the German Cecil Rhodes, now arrived at Zanzibar, and +on obtaining concessions from the Sultan founded the German East +Africa Company, with a charter from his Government. German hopes of +great colonial expansion began to run high, but they were dashed by +the Anglo-German agreement of June, 1890, delimiting the spheres of +England, Germany, and the Sultan of Zanzibar, and stipulating that +Germany should receive Heligoland from England in return for German +recognition of English suzerainty in Zanzibar and the possession of +Uganda, which had recently been taken for Germany by Dr. Peters. At +that time Germans thought very little of Heligoland, but there was +then no Anglo-German tension, and no apprehension of an English +descent on the German coast. + +The lease for ninety-nine years of Kiautschau, a small area of about +four hundred square miles on the coast of China, was obtained from the +Chinese in connexion with the murder of two German missionaries in +1897 in the Shantung Province, of which Kiautschau forms a part. Herr +von Bülow, then only Foreign Secretary, referred to the transaction in +the Reichstag in words that may be quoted, as they describe German +foreign policy in the Far East. "Our cruiser fleet," he said, + + "was sent to Kiautschau Bay to exact reparation for the + murder of German Catholic missionaries on the one hand, and + to obtain greater security for the future against a + repetition of such occurrences. The Government," + +he continued, + +"has nothing but benevolent and friendly designs regarding China, and +has no wish either to offend or provoke her. We are ready in East Asia +to recognize the interests of other Great Powers in the certain +confidence that our own interests will be duly respected by them. In +one word--we desire to put no one in the shade, but we too demand our +place in the sun. In East Asia, as in the West Indies, we shall +endeavour, in accordance with the traditions of German policy, without +unnecessary rigour, but also without weakness, to guard our rights and +our interests." + +In mentioning the West Indies the Foreign Secretary was alluding to a +quarrel Germany had at this time with the negro republic of Haiti, +owing to the arrest and imprisonment of a German subject in that +island. Kiautschau is administratively under the German Admiralty. + +The Caroline, Marianne, and Palau Islands, including the Marschall +Islands and the islands of the Bismarck archipelago, were bought from +Spain this year for twenty-five million pesetas, or about one million +sterling. The islands are valuable in German eyes, not only for their +fertility and capacity for plantation development, but as affording +good harbourage and coaling stations on the sea-road to China, Japan, +and Central America. By the agreement with England and America, which +in this year also put an end to the thorny question of Samoan +administration, Germany acquired the Samoan islands of Upolu and +Sawaii in the South Sea. + +The ten years we are now concerned with were perhaps the most +strenuous and picturesque of the Emperor's life hitherto. He was now +his own Chancellor, though that post was nominally occupied by General +von Caprivi and Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe successively. He was +Chancellor, too, knowing that not a hundred miles off the old pilot of +the ship of State was watching, keenly and not too benevolently, his +every act and word. He was conscious that the eyes of the world were +fixed on him, and that every other Government was waiting with +interest and curiosity to learn what sort of rival in statecraft and +diplomacy it would henceforward have to reckon with. Naturally many +plans coursed through his restlessly active brain, but there were +always, one may imagine, two compelling and ever-present thoughts at +the back of them. One of these was a determination to promote the +moral and material prosperity of his people so as to make them a model +and thoroughly modern commonwealth; the other, the resolve that as +Emperor he would not allow Germany to be overlooked, to be treated as +a _quantité négligeable_, in the discussion or decision of +international affairs. + +The Chancellorship of General von Caprivi, who had been successively +Minister of War and Marine, lasted from March, 1890, to October, 1894. +He may have been a good commanding general, but he has left no +reputation either as a man of marked character or as a statesman of +exceptional ability. Nor was either character or ability much needed. +He was, as every one knew, a man of immensely inferior ability to his +great predecessor, but every one knew also that the Emperor intended +to be his own Chancellor, pursue his own policy, and take +responsibility for it. Taking responsibility is, naturally, easier for +a Hohenzollern monarch than for most men, since he is responsible to +no one but himself. With the appointment of Caprivi the Emperor's +"personal regiment" may be said to have begun. + +During General von Caprivi's term of office some measures of +importance have to be noted, among them the Quinquennat, which +replaced Bismarck's Septennat and fixed the military budget for five +years instead of seven; the reduction of the period of conscription +for the infantry from three years to two; and the decision not to +renew Bismarck's reinsurance treaty with Russia. + +The chief event, however, with which Chancellor Caprivi's name is +usually associated, is the conclusion of commercial treaties between +Germany and most other continental countries. Other countries had +followed Germany's example and adopted a protective system, and with a +view to the avoidance of tariff wars, Caprivi, strongly supported, it +need hardly be said, by an Emperor who had just declared that "the +world at the end of the nineteenth century stands under the star of +commerce, which breaks down the barriers between nations," began a +series of commercial treaty negotiations. + +The first agreements were made with Germany's allies in the Triplice, +Austria and Italy. Treaties with Switzerland and Belgium, Servia and +Rumania, followed. Russia held aloof for a time, but as a great +grain-exporting country she too found it advisable to come to terms. +With France there was no need of an agreement, since she was bound by +the Treaty of Frankfurt, concluded after the war of 1870, to grant +Germany her minimum duties. One of the regrettable results of the +Empire's new commercial policy was an antagonism between agriculture +and industry which now declared itself and has remained active to the +present day. The political cause of Caprivi's fall from power, if +power it can be called, was the twofold hostility of the Conservative +and Liberal parties in Parliament, that of the Conservatives being due +to the injury supposed to be done to landlord interests by the +commercial treaties, and that of the Liberals by an Education Bill, +which, it was alleged, would hand the Prussian school system +completely over to the Church. Perhaps the main cause, however, was +the general unpopularity he incurred by attacking, officially and +through the press, his predecessor, Bismarck, the idol of the people. + +It was in the Chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe, which ended in 1900, +that the most memorable events of this remarkable decade occurred; +but, as was to be expected, and as the Emperor himself must have +expected, the Prince, now a man of seventy-five, played a very +secondary part with regard to them. The Prince was what the Germans +call a "house-friend" of the Hohenzollern family and related to it. He +was useful, his contemporaries say, as a brake on the impetuous temper +of his imperial master, though he did not, we may be sure, turn him +from any of the main designs he had at heart. Prince Hohenlohe, in +character, was good-nature and amiability personified. He was beloved +by all classes and parties, and no foreigner can read his Memoirs +without a feeling of friendliness for a Personality so moderate and +calm and simple. A note he makes in one of his diaries amusingly +illustrates the simple side of his character. He is dining with the +Emperor, when the Emperor, catching the Prince's eye, which we may be +sure was on the alert to gather up any of the royal beams that might +come his way, raises his glass in sign of amity. "I felt so overcome," +notes the Prince, "that I almost spilt the champagne." + +The famous "Kruger telegram" episode occurred during the +Chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe. + +For many years the sending of the telegram was cited as a convincing +proof of the Emperor's "impulsive" character, and it was not until +1909 that the truth of the matter was stated by Chancellor von Bülow +in the Reichstag. In March of that year he said: + + "It has been asked, was this telegram an act of personal + initiative or an act of State? In this regard let me refer + you to your own proceedings. You will remember that the + responsibility for the telegram was never repudiated by the + directors of our political business at the time. The + telegram was an act of State, the result of official + consultations; it was in nowise an act of personal + initiative on the part of his Majesty the Kaiser. Whoever + asserts that it was is ignorant of what preceded it and does + his Majesty completely wrong." + +The Emperor's telegram to President Kruger, despatched on January 3, +1896, ran as follows:-- + + "I congratulate you most sincerely on having succeeded with + your people, and without calling on the help of foreign + Powers, by opposing your own force to an armed band which + broke into your country to disturb the peace, in restoring + quiet and in maintaining the independence of your country + against external attack." + +The echoes of this historic message were heard immediately in every +country, but naturally nowhere more loudly than in England; and the +reverberation of them is audible to the present day. In Germany, +however, for a day or two, the telegram seems to have surprised no +one, was indeed spoken of with approval by deputies in the Reichstag, +and seems not to have occurred to any one in the light of a serious +diplomatic mistake. This state of feeling did not last long, and when +the English newspapers arrived an entirely new light was thrown on the +matter. The _Morning Post_ concluded an article with the words: "It is +not easy to speak calmly of the Kaiser's telegram. The English people +will not forget it, and in future will always think of it when +considering its foreign policy." The British Government's comment on +the telegram was to put a flying squadron in commission and issue an +official statement _urbi et orbi_, calling attention to the Convention +made with President Kruger in London in 1884, reserving the +supervision of the foreign relations of the Transvaal to the British +Government. + +The Emperor himself appears to have recognized that he and his +advisers had made a serious blunder, and that a gesture which, it is +highly probable, was partly prompted by the chivalrous side of his +character, was certain to be gravely misunderstood. At any rate his +policy, or that of his Government, changed, and instead of following +up his encouraging words with mediation or intervention, he assumed an +attitude of neutrality towards the war which soon after began. +Subsequently, in the Reichstag, Chancellor von Bülow described the +course the German Government pursued immediately before and during the +war; and there seems no reason to discredit his account. The speech +was made apropos of the projected visit of President Kruger to Berlin, +when on his tour of despair to the capitals of Europe while the war +was still in progress. He was cheered by boulevard crowds in Paris, +itself a thing of no great significance, and was received at the +Elysée and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Delcassé. The +visitor was very reserved on both occasions, and confined himself to +sounding his hosts as to whether or not he could reckon on their good +offices. + +From Paris he started for Berlin, where he had engaged a large and +expensive first-floor suite of rooms in a fashionable hotel. At +Cologne, however, shortly after entering Germany, a telegram from +Potsdam awaited him, announcing the Emperor's refusal to grant him +audience. The imperial telegram consisted of a few words to the effect +that the Emperor was "not in a position" to receive him. Nor in truth +was he. An audience at that moment would have meant war between +Germany and England. + +As to German policy with regard to the Boer War, Prince Bülow +explained that the German Government deplored the war not only because +it was between two Christian and white races, that were, moreover, of +the same Germanic stock, but also because it drew within the evil +circle of its consequences important German economic and political +interests. He went on to describe their nature, enumerating under the +one head the thousands of German settlers in South Africa, the +industrial establishments and banks they had founded there, the busy +trade and the millions sterling of invested capital; while, as +regarded the other head, the Government had to take care that the war +exercised no injurious influence on German territory in that region. + +The Government, the Chancellor claimed, had done everything consistent +with neutrality and the conservation of German interests to hinder the +outbreak of the war. It had "loyally" warned the two Dutch republics +of the disposition in Europe, and left them in no doubt as to the +attitude Germany would adopt if war should come. These communications +were not made directly, but through the Hague authorities and the +Consul-General of the Netherlands in Pretoria. At that time the United +States Government had come forward with a proposal for a submission of +the quarrel to its arbitration, but the proposal had been rejected by +President Kruger. + +A little later the President changed his mind, but it was then too +late and war was declared. Once the die was cast, Germany could only +with propriety have interfered, provided she had reason to believe her +mediation would be accepted by both parties: otherwise her conduct +would not be mediation, but be regarded, in accordance with diplomatic +usage, as intervention with coercive measures in the background. For +such a policy Germany had no disposition, for it meant running the +risk of a diplomatic defeat on the one hand and of an armed conflict +with England on the other. + +As regards the visit of the President to Berlin and the Emperor's +refusal to receive him, the Chancellor asked would a reception have +done any good either to the President or to Germany, and he answered +his own question with an emphatic negative. To the President an +audience would have been of no more use than the ovations and +demonstrations he was greeted with in Paris. To Germany a reception +would have meant a shifting of international relations to the +disadvantage of the country: in other words, would have meant the +risk, almost the certainty, of war. "Wars," said the Chancellor in +this connexion, + + "are much more easily unchained through elementary popular + passions, through the passionate excitation of public + opinion, than in the old days through the ambitions of + monarchs or through the jealousies of Ministers." + +And he concluded: + + "With regard to England we stand entirely independent of + her: we are not a hair's-breadth more dependent on England + than England is on us. But we are ready on the basis of + mutual consideration and complete equality--about this + obvious preliminary condition for a proper relation between + two Great Powers we have never left any Power in doubt: I + say, we are ready on this basis to live with England in + peace, friendship, and harmony. To play the Don Quixote and + to lay the lance in rest and attack wherever in the world + English windmills are to be found, for that we are not + called upon." + +But just then there was little prospect of "peace friendship, and +harmony" with England. The world remembers, and unfortunately the +English people do not forget, that they had nowhere more bitter and +offensive critics than in Germany. One refined method of opprobrium +was the unprohibited sale in the main streets of Berlin of spittoons +bearing the countenance of the English Colonial Minister, Mr. +Chamberlain. A war with England would at that moment have been highly +popular in Germany, but as the Chancellor wisely reminded the +Parliament, it was the duty of the statesman to protect international +relations from disturbance by intrigue or by popular demonstration. + +Finally the Chancellor dealt with a report widely current in England +and Germany at the time, to the effect that the Emperor's refusal to +receive President Kruger was due to the influence of his uncle, King +Edward. The Chancellor emphatically denied that any pressure of the +kind from the English Court, or from any other source, had been +employed, and ended by saying: + + "To suppose that his Majesty the Kaiser could allow himself + to be influenced by family relations shows little + understanding of his character, or of his love of country. + For his Majesty solely the national standpoint is decisive, + and if it were otherwise, and family relations or dynastic + considerations determined our foreign policy, I would not + remain Minister a day longer." + +A precisely similar and unfounded charge, it will be remembered, was +made against King Edward VII in 1902, to the effect that it was Court +influence, not the deliberate judgment of the Cabinet, that was the +efficient cause of the co-operation of the British with the German +fleet in the demonstration off the coast of Venezuela. + +A recent writer, Dr. Adolf Stein, gives an account of the sending of +the famous telegram which corroborates that of Prince von Bülow. The +telegram, according to this version, was a well-considered answer to a +question from the Transvaal Government put to the German Government a +month before the Raid occurred, and when the Transvaal Government got +the first inkling of the preparations being made for it. President +Kruger asked what attitude Germany would adopt in case of a war +between England and the Boer republics. The answer given to the person +who made the inquiry on behalf of the Transvaal Government was that +President Kruger might rest assured of Germany's + + "diplomatic support in so far as it was also Germany's + interest that the independence of the Boer States should be + maintained, but that for anything beyond this he should not + reckon on Germany's assistance or that of any Great Power." + +This answer, Dr. Stein says, was in course of transmission by the post +when the Raid occurred. + +The Raid was made on January 1st. The event was at once telegraphed to +Berlin, where Prince Hohenlohe was Chancellor, with Freiherr Marschall +von Bieberstein, afterwards German Ambassador in Constantinople and +London, as his Foreign Secretary. According to Dr. Stein, they drew up +a telegram to President Kruger, and on the morning of the 3rd laid it +before the Emperor, who had come early from Potsdam for consultation +on the matter. The Chancellor, it should be mentioned, had been at +Potsdam the day previous, but at that time the news of the Raid had +not reached the Emperor. The Emperor, Chancellor, and Foreign +Secretary now decided that a telegram congratulating President Kruger +for having repulsed the Raid "without foreign aid" was the best +non-committal form to adopt. The Emperor, Dr. Stein continues, raised +some objections, but was over-persuaded by Prince Hohenlohe and von +Bieberstein. + +As confirming this version, a little note in Lord Goschen's Biography +may be recalled, in which Lord Goschen confides to a friend a few +weeks before the Raid that the "Germans were taking the Boers under +their wing, as the Americans had done with the Venezuelans." + +Enough perhaps has been said to show that the sending of the telegram +had nothing to do with the Emperor's "impulsive" character, and it +will only be fair to him to let the notion that it had drop finally +out of contemporary history. As an act of State it was in consonance +with German policy at the time. That policy, if it did not look to +acquiring possession of the Transvaal, may very well have looked to +enlisting the sympathies and friendship of the Dutch in South Africa, +and finding in them and their country a field for German enterprise +and a market for German goods; and there was therefore nothing +impulsive, however mistaken the act may have been as a matter of +foreign policy, in the German Government's congratulating President +Kruger on successful resistance to a private raid. + +We have suggested that the telegram was partly due to a certain +element of chivalry in the Emperor's character. The Emperor was well +acquainted with other forms of government and other social systems +besides his own, and though a Hohenzollern could put himself in the +position of the chief of the little Boer republic, threatened as he +was with annihilation by a mighty and powerful opponent. Moreover, +there is always to be remembered the sympathy of view, particularly of +religious view, that existed in the two men as regarded their attitude +and duties to their respective "folk." The President had appealed to +the Emperor for help. The Emperor had had to refuse it, but had wired +that he would do all he could "diplomatically." He knew that this was +but a poor sort of assistance, but it was something, and when the Raid +occurred he gave the diplomatic assistance he had promised by sending +a telegram of congratulation. In any case--_tempi passati_. Foreign +policy is not concerned with sympathies or antipathies, and the whole +episode should be ignored, or, better still, forgotten. + +The Kruger telegram, it turned out, was to usher in a long period of +tension between two countries of the same race, singularly alike in +their ideals of whatever is sound and praiseworthy in Christian +civilization, and almost equally mutual admirers of the fundamental +features of each other's national character. Unfortunately, along with +these fundamental features of the English and German national +characters, the love of money, the _auri sacra fames_, has to be +reckoned with, and in the race of nations for wealth and power the +fundamental qualities are apt, for a time, to be overborne and cease +to act. The rise of the modern German Empire to power and prosperity, +and the new world-situation thus created, largely by the Emperor, is +at the bottom of Anglo-German tension. As a main contributory cause of +both the power and the prosperity, was the creation of the German navy +at the period of which we write. + +The following is a parable which he who runs may read:-- + + In a certain town, with a large and heterogeneous + population, there was once a "monster" shop. The firm (there + were three partners) had been established for hundreds of + years, had thrown out several branches, and by hard work, + enterprise, and honesty had acquired a leading position in + the trade of the town: so much so, indeed, that as time went + on it had also come to do the carriage and delivery of goods + for most of the smaller shops, though some of these were + large houses themselves and the majority of them in a fair + way of business. The smaller shops were naturally a little + jealous of the "monster," and it was the dream of every + owner of them to enlarge his premises and become the + proprietor of an equally great emporium as the "monster." + One day, therefore, a little cluster of shops, at some + distance from the "monster," suddenly resolved to form a + combination, and after settling a dispute with a neighbour + in consideration of a sum of money and a fruitful tract of + land, issued the prospectus of the new company and began to + do business on modern lines. + + Almost from the very beginning the new company was a great + success: its situation was central; the company inspired its + members with enterprise and spirit; it was industrious, + energetic, and splendidly organized; and at last it began to + cut into the trade of the old-established "monster." + Competition might have gone on in the ordinary way had not + the new company made a departure in business methods that + gradually roused special uneasiness among the members of the + "monster" firm. Hitherto the latter had its delivery vans + travel all over the town, and so well was this part of its + system carried on that the firm acquired all but a monopoly + of carrying and delivery. The new company, however, now + began to do a little in the same line, whereupon the + "monster" took to building a superior type of van much more + powerful and imposing, if also much more expensive, than the + one previously in use. The new company naturally followed + suit, and in a surprisingly short time had built, or had + under construction, several vans of an exactly similar kind. + The "monster" saw the new departure of their rivals at first + with curiosity, then with contempt, then with anxiety, and + finally with suspicion and alarm. At the time of writing the + alarm appears to have abated, but a good deal of the + suspicion remains. The town is the world, the "monster" + Great Britain, and the rival company the modern German + Empire. + +It would require the Emperor himself properly to tell the story of his +creation of the modern German navy, and if he has a right to call any +part of his people's property his own, he is justified in speaking, as +he invariably does, of "my navy." As Prince William, his interest in +the subject may have been originally due, as has been seen, to his +partly English parentage, his frequent visits to England, and the fact +that his physical disability threatened to prevent him taking an +active part in the more strenuous duties of the soldier. It is very +probable that it was in the region that cradled the British navy the +idea of a great German navy was conceived by him. We have seen that +the Emperor, as Prince William, showed his enthusiasm in the matter by +delivering lectures on it in military circles, though it was not his +lot, but that of his brother Henry, to be assigned the navy as a +profession. In his Order to the Navy on ascending the throne, he spoke +of the "lively and warm interest" that bound him to the navy, shortly +afterwards issued directions for a new marine uniform on the English +model, and caused the introduction into the Lutheran Church service of +a special prayer for the arm. He gave a parliamentary soirée at the +New Palace in Potsdam, and before allowing his Conservative and +National Liberal guests to sit down to supper, made them listen to a +lecture which occupied two hours, giving particular attention, with +the aid of maps and plans, to the battle of the Yalu between the +fleets of China and Japan. He founded the Technical Shipbuilding +Society, and took, and takes, an animated part in its proceedings, +suggesting positions for the guns, the disposition of armour, the +dimensions of submarines, and a hundred other details. In 1908 he +delivered an after-dinner lecture at the "Villa Achilleion" in Corfu +on Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar, based on the writings of +Captain Mark Kerr of the _Implacable_, at which the situations of the +French, English, and Spanish fleets were sketched by the imperial +hand. To his admiration for the writings of Captain Mahan his +persistence in enlarging the fleet is said largely to be due. He is, +of course, assisted by a host of able experts, among whom Admiral von +Tirpitz--the ablest German since Bismarck, many Germans say--is the +most distinguished; but as he is his own Foreign Minister and own +Commander-in-Chief, he is, in the fullest sense, his own First Lord of +the Admiralty. + +The Emperor closed one of his naval lectures with an anecdote which +the papers reported next day as being received with "stormy +amusement." It was about the metacentrum, the centre of gravity in +ship construction. The Emperor told of his having asked an old sea +lieutenant to explain to him the metacentrum. "I received the answer," +said the Emperor, "that he did not know very exactly himself--it was a +secret. 'All I can say is,' the old seaman went on, 'that if the +metacentrum was in the topmast, the ship would over-turn.'" The +success of a jest, one is told, lies in the ear of the hearer. +Possibly something of the "stormy amusement" may have been called +forth by the reflection that the imperial metacentrum had on occasion +got misplaced. + +In addition to the natural and accidental predispositions of the +Emperor, certain general considerations, which imposed themselves +irresistibly on all men's attention as the century drew to its close, +impelled him to more energetic action. A student of the history of +other countries as well as his own, and a watchful observer of the +tendencies of the time, he felt that the young Empire was incomplete +as long as it was without a navy corresponding in size and power to +its army, the organization of which had been completed. With its army +alone he regarded the Empire as a colossus, no doubt, but a colossus +standing on one leg, and was convinced that if the Empire was to be a +success it must have a navy at least able to withstand attack by any +of his continental neighbours and potential enemies. + +On ascending the throne the Emperor was naturally most occupied with +the internal situation of his new inheritance, and spent a good deal +of his time railing at Social Democracy and the press, explaining the +nature of his Heaven-appointed kingship, and rousing his somewhat +lethargic people to a sense of their power and possibilities; but he +found a moment in 1891 to write under a photograph he gave the +retiring Postmaster-General Stephan: + + "The world, at the end of the nineteenth century, stands + under the star of commerce; commerce breaks down the + barriers which separate the peoples and creates new + relations between the nations." + +Then the idea slumbered in his mind for a few years, while he +continued to make his own people restless with criticism, perhaps +deserved, of their sluggishness, their pessimism, their party strife, +and foreign peoples equally restless with phrases like "_nemo me +impune lacessit_"; until the idea came suddenly to utterance in 1897, +when, on seeing the figure of Neptune on a monument to the Emperor +William, he broke out: "The trident should be in our grip!" From this +time, and for the next few years, the growth of the navy may be said +to have never long been far from his thoughts. In sending Prince Henry +to Kiautschau at the close of 1898 he made the remark that "imperial +power means sea power, and sea power and imperial power are dependent +on each other." Nine months afterwards at Stettin he used a phrase +alone sufficient to keep his name alive in history: "Our future lies +on the water!" + +At Hamburg, in 1899, he laid emphasis on the changes in the world +which justify a naval policy one can see now was almost inevitable. + +"A strong German fleet," he said, "is a thing of which we stand in +bitter need." And he continued: + + "In Hamburg especially one can understand how necessary is a + powerful protection for German interests abroad. If we look + around us we see how greatly the aspect of the world has + altered in recent years. Old-world empires pass away and new + ones begin to arise. Nations suddenly appear before the + peoples and compete with them, nations of whom a little + before the ordinary man had been hardly aware. Products + which bring about radical changes in the domain of + international relations, as well as in the political economy + of the people, and which in old times took hundreds of years + to ripen, come to maturity in a few months. The result is + that the tasks of our German Empire and people have grown to + enormous proportions and demand of me and my Government + unusual and great efforts, which can then only be crowned + with success when, united and decided, without respect to + party, Germans stand behind us. Our people, moreover, must + resolve to make some sacrifice. Above all they must put + aside their endeavour to seek the excellent through the ever + more-sharply contrasted party factions. They must cease to + put party above the welfare of the whole. They must put a + curb on their ancient and inherited weakness--to subject + everything to the most unlicensed criticism; and they must + stop at the point where their most vital interests become + concerned. For it is precisely these political sins which + revenge themselves so deeply on our sea interests and our + fleet. Had the strengthening of the fleet not been refused + me during the past eight years of my Government, + notwithstanding all appeals and warnings--and not without + contumely and abuse for my person--how differently could we + not have promoted our growing trade and our interests beyond + the sea!" + +Perhaps; but perhaps, too, it was as well for the peace of the world +that Germany had no great war fleet during those eight years of +troubled international relations, and that the gentle and adjusting +hand of Providence, not the mailed fist of the Emperor, was guiding +the destinies of nations. + +Previous to the opening of the reign a German navy can hardly be said +to have existed. Yet it should not be forgotten that Germany also has +maritime traditions of no small interest, if of no great importance, +to the world. The Great Elector, the ancestor of the Emperor who ruled +Brandenburg from 1640 to 1688, was fully conscious of the profit his +people might acquire by sea commerce, and the little navy of high-sea +frigates which he built stood manfully, and often successfully, up to +the more powerful navies of Sweden and Spain. This fleet was known, +too, far away from Brandenburg, for the records tell how the Pope and +the Maltese Knights and Louis XIV willingly admitted it to their +harbours. + +But there was lacking what until lately has always hemmed German +progress--money; and the commercially-minded Dutch, a people +themselves with many German characteristics, kept the Germans from the +sea. Then came Frederick the Great, who ruled from 1740 to 1786, and +those Germans who are fond of claiming Shakespeare for their own will +also tell you that the plan drawn up by Frederick for Pitt's seven +years' struggle with France--that plan so unfortunately imitated +afterwards by the Emperor in his correspondence with Queen Victoria +during the Boer War--was the foundation-stone of British naval +supremacy! Frederick, too, saw the advantage of possessing a fleet, +but he had his hands full with France and Russia, and reluctantly had +to decline the offer of the French naval hero, Labourdonnais, to build +him a battle-fleet. At this period, and in the Great Elector's time, +Emden was the Plymouth of Prussia. When Frederick died, there followed +that time of which Germans themselves are ashamed--the hole-and-corner +time, the time when the parochial spirit was abroad and no German +burgher saw beyond the village church and the village pump; the +Biedermeier time (that comic figure of the German _Punch_), the time +of genuine German philistinism, when the people were lapped in an +idyllic repose and were content, as many are to-day, with the smallest +and simplest pleasures. + +This spirit continued until the early quarter of the nineteenth +century, when Professor Frederick List roused the attention of his +countrymen, and notably that of Bismarck, to the necessity of an +independent national existence and a national economic policy. In 1836 +a committee recommended naval coast protection, but it was not until +1848, when Denmark blockaded the German coast, that anything was done +to provide for it. In that year the National Assembly of delegates +from various German Diets, which met at Frankfort, voted for the +marine a million sterling to be levied on the German States, but only +one-half of the money could be collected. Still, three steam frigates, +one large and six small steam corvettes, and two sailing corvettes +were got together, but in 1852, owing to the poverty of the States, +two of the ships were sold to Prussia for £60,000 and the rest +disposed of by auction at less than a fourth of their value. The +officers and men were disbanded with a year's pay. + +To this humiliating state of things Bismarck refers in his "Gedanken +und Erinnerungen." "The German fleet," he writes, + + "and Kiel harbour as a foundation for its institution, were + from 1848 on one of the most burning thoughts at whose fire + German aspirations for unity were accustomed to warm + themselves and to concentrate. Meanwhile, however, the + hatred of my parliamentary opponents was stronger than the + interest for a German fleet, and it seemed to me that the + Progressive party at that time preferred to see the + newly-acquired rights of Prussia to Kiel, and the prospect + of a maritime future founded on its possession, rather in + the hands of the auctioneer, Hannibal Fischer, than in those + of a Bismarck Ministry." + +From this on naval development in Prussia was slow; there was no +interest for a marine either among the governing classes or the +people; but it was not wholly neglected, for Wilhelmshaven was +acquired from the Duchy of Oldenburg, a small fleet was sent to the +Orient with a view to obtaining commercial treaties and concessions, +and a sum of £320,000 was devoted annually to naval requirements. +During the Danish War of 1864 a fleet of three screw corvettes, two +paddle steamers, and a few gunboats was considered sufficient to +protect the coasts and make a blockade impossible. + +From 1885 onwards there had been several Navy Proposals, but it was in +that of 1889, a year after the Emperor's accession, that the beginning +of Germany's naval policy is to be found. In that Proposal it was +announced that the Government intended to depart from the previous +principles of naval policy which had "become antiquated owing to the +progress of science and the character of future naval warfare, as also +owing to the extension of Germany's oversea relations." Up to this +time German maritime needs had invariably been postponed to military +requirements. The necessity for a fleet was indeed recognized, but +only for purposes of coast defence and the prevention of a blockade of +the ports on the North Sea and Baltic. To this end no large fleet was +considered needful, particularly as the war with France had +demonstrated the futility of coast attack. During that war two small +fleets were sent from Cherbourg to blockade the North Sea and Baltic +coasts, but the admirals in charge found the task "impossible" and +returned to France after a few single engagements with divided honours +had occurred. At that time the German people felt entirely secure on +the score of invasion. The numerous espionage incidents of more recent +times prove that this feeling of security has entirely passed away, +and all countries are now armed as though they were to be invaded +to-morrow. + +Emperor William I did something, though not much, for the German navy. +Moltke was interested in it and proposed an armoured cruiser fleet, +but he was thinking chiefly of coast defence. Roon also took up the +matter and laid a Navy Bill before the Diet in 1865, but it was +rejected because, in Virchow's words, the Diet thought "the +Constitution more important than the development of the army and +navy." The war of 1866 showed the necessity of a fleet, and this time +the Diet accepted Roon's proposals. Still, however, the object was +coast defence; and when Emperor William I died the navy was relatively +of no consideration. In the ten years between 1881 and 1891 only one +armoured cruiser, the _Oldenburg_, was launched. With the accession of +the Emperor, however, began a new, and for the Emperor and the +Empire--why not candidly admit it?--a glorious chapter in German naval +history. + +An incident during the reign which really touched German national +pride, and was one of the reasons which caused the Emperor to +accelerate the building of a powerful fleet, was the eviction, if the +term is not too strong, of the German admiral, Diedrich, by the +Americans from the harbour of Manila in the course of the +Spanish-American War. Admiral Dewey was in command of a blockading +fleet at Manila. The ships of various nationalities, and among them +some German warships, were in the harbour. Various causes of +irritation arose between the Germans and Americans. There was talk of +Spain's being desirous of selling the Philippines to Germany, and the +impression got abroad in America that the Germans were inclined to +behave as if they were already the new masters of the islands. The +German warships kept going in and out of the harbour of Millesares, a +village close to Manila, in connexion with the exchange of +time-expired men, using search-lights, the American admiral thought, +in an unnecessary way, and doing other acts which he considered might +give information to blockade-running vessels. + +In accordance with custom, the Germans, had at first supplied +themselves with permits from the American admiral for crossing the +blockade lines, but as time went on the German ships began to cross +the line without them. Admiral Dewey thereupon issued an order that +permits must be obtained. The German admiral sent his flag-lieutenant +to Admiral Dewey to protest, on the ground that warships are exempt +from blockade regulations. The American admiral's reply was to bring +his fist down on his cabin table and say, + + "Tell Admiral Diedrich, with my compliments, that he must + obtain permits, and that if a German ship breaks the + blockade lines without one it spells war, for I shall fire + on the first vessel that attempts it." + +The flag officer went back with the message, and Admiral Diedrich took +his ships, which were greatly inferior in number to those of the +Americans, out of the harbour. + +The German navy, in contrast to the army, is a purely imperial +institution--an institution, according to the Constitution, "entirely +under the chief command of the Kaiser," consequently in no respect +administered or controlled by the federated kingdoms and states. One +speaks of the "royal" army, but of the "imperial" navy. The Emperor is +officially described as the navy's "Chef," superintends its +organization and disposition, with his brother Prince Henry as +Inspector-General, and appoints its officials and officers. He +exercises his functions through the Marine Cabinet, a creation of his +own, which serves as a connecting link between the Emperor and the +Admiralty. + +The legislative stages of the growth of the German navy have so far +been five in number. The first Navy Law passed the Reichstag on third +reading, on March 28, 1898, 212 members voting for it and 139 against, +in a Parliament of 397 members. It provided for the building of a +fleet of seventeen battleships within a certain time, and fixed the +age of the ships at twenty-five years. The new ships were divided into +ships-of-the-line (a new designation), large armoured cruisers, and +small armoured cruisers. This fleet, however, was not large enough to +have any influence on sea politics or seaborne trade, and the +occurrences of the Spanish-American War, just now begun and finished, +determined the Emperor to make further proposals. A great agitation +for the navy was started throughout the Empire, and on January 25, +1900, Admiral Tirpitz laid the second Navy Bill (a "Novelle," as it is +called) before the Reichstag. + +The new measure demanded a doubling of the fleet. The first fleet was +intended chiefly with a view to coast defence, while the new fleet was +to assure "the economic development of Germany, especially of its +world-commerce." If the first Navy Bill had excited surprise and +uneasiness in England, the sensations roused by the second may be +imagined, not altogether because of the increase of German naval +power, but of the power that would result when the new German navy was +combined with the navies of Germany's allies of the Triplice. The +third Navy Bill was a consequence of the Russo-Japanese War and of the +lesson taught by the sea-fight of Tsuschima. It was laid before the +Reichstag on November 28, 1905, for "a stronger representation of the +Empire abroad." Its main object was to increase by almost one-half the +size of the battleships, thus following the lead of England, which had +decided on the new and famous "Dreadnought" class of vessel, +remarkable for its five revolving armoured turrets (instead of two +previously) and the number of its heavy guns. Hitherto English +warships had had an average tonnage of about 14,000 tons: the tonnage +of the original "Dreadnought" was 18,300 tons. Notwithstanding the +enormous nature of the financial demand (£47,600,000 within eleven +years) the Reichstag passed the Bill on May 19, 1905. A torpedo fleet +of 144 boats, in 24 divisions, was additionally provided for in this +Bill. + +The fourth Navy Bill was brought in in 1908, with the diminution of +the age of the German battleship from twenty-five to twenty years as +its principal aim. As a result the number of new ships to be built by +1912 was raised from six to twelve. The fifth and last Navy Bill was +passed last year, 1912, creating a third active squadron as reserve, +made up of existing vessels and three new battleships. The German navy +now consists of 41 battleships of the line, 12 large armoured +cruisers, and 30 small armoured cruisers, the cruisers being for +purposes of reconnaissance; the foreign-service fleet of 8 large and +10 small armoured cruisers; and an active reserve fleet of 16 +battleships, 4 large and 12 small armoured cruisers. + +Like sailors everywhere, the German sailor is a frank and hearty type +of his race, and welcome wherever he goes. The German naval officer is +usually of middle-class extraction, while a slightly larger proportion +of the officers of the army is taken from the _noblesse_. He is a +fine, frank, and manly fellow as a rule, and, like the Emperor, +perfectly willing to admit that his navy is closely modelled on that +of Great Britain. Moreover, in addition to a thorough knowledge of his +profession, he is able, in two cases out of three, to converse with +useful fluency in English, French, and in some cases Italian as well. + +The navy, like the army, is recruited by conscription, but active +service is for three years, as in the German cavalry and artillery, +while only two years in the German infantry. Naturally young men of an +adventurous turn of mind frequently elect for the navy, as they hope +thereby to see something of the world. At the end of their third year +of service they may go back to civil life as reservists or may +"capitulate," that is, continue in active service for another year, +and renew their "capitulation" thenceforward from year to year. The +ordinary sailor receives (since 1912) the equivalent of 14s. 6d. in +cash monthly and 9s. for clothing, but when at sea additional pay of +6s. a month. The result of the system of conscription is that about 40 +per cent. of the fleet's crews consist of what may be called seasoned +sailors, the remainder being three-year conscripts. The officer class +is recruited from young men who have passed a certain school standard +examination and enter the navy as cadets. The one-year-volunteer +system (_Einjähriger Dienst_) only partially obtains in the navy, for +purposes, namely, of coast defence and other services on land. After +two years the cadet becomes a midshipman, and with five or six other +middies serves for a year or so on board ship, when he becomes a +sub-lieutenant and is promoted by seniority to full lieutenant, +captain-lieutenant (the English naval lieutenant with eight +years' service), corvette-captain (the English naval commander, +with three stripes), frigate-captain (corresponding in rank to a +lieutenant-colonel in the English army), and finally captain-at-sea +(with four stripes), when he may get command of a battleship. To reach +this great object of the German naval officer's ambition takes on an +average twenty-four years, or about the same period as in the British +navy. + +The upper ranks, in ascending order, are contre-admiral (the English +rear-admiral), vice-admiral, admiral, grand-admiral (English Admiral +of the Fleet). There are only four grand-admirals in Germany, namely, +the Emperor (as "Chef" of the navy), his brother Prince Henry (as +inspector-general), retired Admiral von Koester (president of the Navy +League), and Admiral von Tirpitz (Secretary of Admiralty and the only +"active" grand-admiral). King George V of England is an admiral of the +German navy, as the Emperor is an admiral of the British navy. + +Salutes are a matter of international agreement. They are: 33 guns +(simultaneously from all ships) for the Emperor and foreign monarchs, +21 for the Crown Prince of Germany or of a foreign country, 19 for a +grand-admiral or an ambassador, 17 for an admiral, the Secretary of +Admiralty or inspector-general, 15 for a vice-admiral, 13 for +contre-admiral, and so descending. 101 guns are fired on the Emperor's +birthday or on the birth of an imperial prince. 66 guns is the salute +when a German monarch ascends the imperial throne, and 101 when a +German Emperor dies. + +The yearly salaries of German naval officers are as follows: Admiral, +£1,294 (of which £699 is "pay"), vice-admiral, £897 (£677 "pay"), +contre-admiral, £772 (£677 "pay"), captain-at-sea, £520 (£438 "pay"), +corvette-captain, £396 (£280 "pay"), full lieutenant, £174 (£120 +"pay"), and so on downwards. Jews are not allowed to become officers +of the navy, thus following the practice in the army. There is no law +to prevent Jews becoming officers in either army or navy, but, as a +matter of tradition or prejudice, no regimental or naval commander is +willing to accept an Israelite among his officers. + +It is time, however, to return to the personal doings of the Emperor. +He is responsible for Germany's foreign policy, and his duties in +connexion with it and with the navy must often have suggested to him +the desirability of seeing with his own eyes something of the Orient, +the new battlefield of the world's diplomacy, and possibly a new +Eldorado for European merchants and engineers. His journey to the +East, now undertaken, was, however, chiefly a religious one, though it +had also something of a chivalric character, since much of every +German's imagination is concerned with the Crusades, the Order of +Knight Templars, and similar historical or legendary incidents and +personalities in the early stages of the struggle between the +Christian and the Saracen. The birthplace of Christ has special +interest for a Hohenzollern who holds his kingship by divine grace, +and in the Emperor's case because his father had made the journey to +Jerusalem thirty years before. The Emperor, lastly, cannot but have +been glad to escape, if only for a time, such harassing concerns as +party politics, scribbling journalists, long-winded ministerial +harangues, and Social Democrats. + +The journey of the Emperor and Empress to Palestine occupied about a +month from the middle of October, 1898, to the middle of the following +November, and while it was one of the most delightful and picturesque +experiences of the Emperor, it entailed some unforeseen and not +altogether agreeable consequences. It was very much criticized in +Germany as an exhibition of a theatrical kind, of the "decorative in +policy," as Bismarck used to say, who saw no utility in decoration, +and evidently did not agree with Shakspeare that the "world is still +deceived by ornament." It was objected that the Emperor should have +stayed at home to look after imperial business, that such a journey +must excite suspicion in England and France--in the former because +England is an Oriental power, and in the latter because France is +supposed to claim special protective rights over Christianity in the +East. + +The Englishman who reads what German writers say about the journey +gets the impression that the criticism was an expression of +jealousy--jealousy, as we know from Bismarck and Prince Bülow, being a +national German failing. Every German ardently desires to see Italy +and the Orient, but until of late years few Germans had the means of +gratifying the wish. In one point, however, the critics were right. +The Emperor, when in Damascus, after saying that he felt "deeply moved +at standing on the spot where one of the most knightly sovereigns of +all times, the great Sultan Saladin, stood," went on to say that +Sultan Abdul "and the three hundred million Mohammedans who, scattered +over the earth, venerated him as their Caliph, might be assured that +at all times the German Emperor would be their friend." It was a +harmless and vague remark enough, one would think, but political +writers in all countries have made great capital out of it ever since +whenever Germany's Oriental policy is discussed. At the risk of +repetition it may be said that that policy is, in the East as +elsewhere, a purely economic one. The Emperor's mistake perhaps +chiefly lay in raising hopes in Turkish minds which were very unlikely +to be realized. + +The Emperor's allusion to Saladin as the most knightly sovereign of +all times was a bad blunder. He was doubtless carried away by a +combination, in his probably at this time somewhat excited +imagination, of the chivalrous figures of the crusading times with +thoughts of the German Knight Templars and other soldierly characters. +Saladin was a brave man physically, and fond of imperial magnificence, +as is only natural and necessary for an Oriental potentate to be; and +a good deal of Eastern legend grew up about him on that account. +Legend was enough for the Emperor in his then romantic mood. He +forgot, or did not know, that Saladin, from the point of view of a +modern and in reality far more knightly age, was a sanguinary +and fanatic ruffian, who showed no mercy to his Christian +prisoners--killed, in fact, one of them, Rainald de Chatillon, with +his own hand, sacked Jerusalem, turned the Temple of Solomon into a +mosque, after having it "disinfected" with rose-water, and killed Pope +Urban III, who died, the chronicles tell, of sorrow at the news. + +The journey was, as has been said, a delightful and picturesque +experience for the Emperor and the Empress. They passed through Venice +with its marble palaces, sailed over the sapphire waters of the +Adriatic, and were received with great demonstrations of welcome by +the Sultan in Constantinople. When they were leaving, the Sultan gave +the Emperor a gigantic carpet, and the Emperor gave the Sultan a gold +walking-stick, an exact imitation of the stick Frederick the Great +used to lean on, and sometimes, very likely, apply to the backs of his +trusty but stupid lieges. + +Before disposing of the events of this period of the Emperor's life +mention may be made of two or three occurrences which must have been a +source of political interest or social entertainment to him. From +among them we select the Dreyfus case and the historic scene arranged +for the painter, Adolf Menzel, in Sans Souci. + +The Dreyfus case, though its investigation brought to light no fact +implicating the German authorities, naturally aroused interest +throughout Germany. The interest was felt equally in the army, +notwithstanding that it contains no Jewish officer, and among the +civil population. In France, it will be remembered, the case acquired +its importance from the charge, made by the anti-Semite Drumont and +his journal _La Libre Parole_, that the Jews were exploiting the +Government and the country. There is an anti-Semite party in Germany, +founded by the Court preacher Stoecker in 1878, but possibly owing to +the prudence and good citizenship of the Jews in Germany, it has +gained little weight or momentum since. + +The "affaire," as it was universally known, was only once referred to +in the German Parliament, in January, 1898, when Chancellor von Bülow +declared "in the most positive way possible" that there had "never +been any traffic or relations of any kind whatsoever between Dreyfus +and any German authority," adding that the alleged finding of an +official German communication in the wastepaper basket of the German +Embassy in Paris was a fiction. The Chancellor concluded by saying +that the case had in no respect ever troubled relations between +Germany and France. + +The incident most often cited as evidence of the Emperor's love of +recalling the days of his great ancestor, Frederick the Great, is the +concert he arranged at Sans Souci on June 13, 1895, to gratify, we may +be sure, as well as surprise, the famous painter. The incident and its +origin are described in a work already mentioned, the "Private Lives +of William II and His Consort," by a lady of the Court. The account +given below is illustrative of the unfriendly sentiments which are +evident throughout the work, but the lady is probably fairly accurate +as regards the incident, and in any case her gossip will give the +reader some notion, though by no means an entirely faithful one, of +the Court atmosphere at the time. Talk at the palace during afternoon +tea having turned on the fact that Adolf Menzel, the painter, would +shortly celebrate his eightieth birthday, some one remarked on the +refusal by the Court marshal in the previous reign to allow him to see +the scene of his celebrated "Flute Concert at Sans Souci," which he +was then composing, lighted up. The conversation, according to the +lady writer, continued thus:-- + + "'Maybe he was frightened at the prospect of furnishing a + couple of dozen wax candles,' sneered the Duke of Schleswig. + + "'More likely he knew nothing of Menzel's growing + reputation,' suggested Begas, the sculptor. + + "The Emperor overheard the last words. 'Are you prepared to + say that my grand-uncle's chief marshal failed to recognize + the genius of the foremost Hohenzollern painter?' he asked + sharply. + + "'I would not like to libel a dead man,' answered Begas, + 'but appearances are certainly against the Count. I have it + from Menzel's own lips that the Court marshal refused him + all and every assistance when he was painting the scenes of + life in Sans Souci. The rooms of the chateau were accessible + to him only to the same extent as to any other paying + visitor or the hordes of foreign tourists, and he had to + make his sketches piece-meal, gathering corroborative and + additional material in museums and picture-galleries.' + + "Quick as a flash the Kaiser turned to Count Eulenburg. 'I + shall repay the debt Prussia owes to Menzel,' he spoke, not + without declamatory effect. 'We will have the representation + of the Sans Souci flute concert three days hence. Your + programme is to be ready tomorrow morning at ten. Menzel, + mind you, must know nothing of this: merely command him to + attend us at the Schloss at supper and for a musical + evening.' And, turning round, he said to her Majesty: 'You + will impersonate Princess Amalia, and you, Kessel' (Adjutant + von Kessel, then Commander of the First Life Guards), + 'engage all your tallest and best-looking officers to enact + the great King's military household.' + + "Again the Kaiser addressed Count Eulenberg: 'Be sure to + have the best artists of the Royal Orchestra perform + Frederick the Great's compositions, and let Joachim be + engaged for the occasion.' Saying this, he took her + Majesty's arm, and bidding his guests and the Court a hasty + good-night, strode out of the apartment." + +A description of the Empress's costume for the concert follows. + + "Her Majesty's dress consisted of a petticoat of sea-green + satin, richly ornamented with silver lace of antique pattern + and an overdress of dark velvet, embroidered with gold and + set with precious stones. On her powdered hair, amplified by + one of Herr Adeljana, the Viennese coiffeur's, most + successful creations, sat a jaunty three-cornered hat having + a blazing aigrette of large diamonds in front, the identical + cluster of white stones which figured at the great + Napoleon's coronation, and which he lost, together with his + entire equipage, in the battle of Waterloo. In her ears her + Majesty wore pearl ornaments representing a small bunch of + cherries. Like the aigrette, they are Crown property, and + that Auguste Victoria thought well enough of the jewels to + rescue them from oblivion for this occasion was certainly + most appropriate." + +The Emperor's costume is also described. + +"He wore the cuirassier uniform of the great Frederick's period, a +highly ornamented dress that suited the War Lord, who was painted and +powdered to perfection, extremely well, especially as Wellington +boots, a very becoming wig and his strange head-gear really and +seemingly added to his figure, while his usually stern face beamed +pleasantly under the powder and rouge laid on by expert hands." + +The arrival of Menzel is then narrated and the reception by the +Emperor, who took the part of an adjutant of Frederick the Great's, +and in that character "bombarded the helpless master," as the +chronicler says, + + "with forty stanzas of alleged verse, in which the deeds of + Prussia's kings and the masterpieces that commemorate them + were extolled with a prosiness that sounded like an + afterclap of William's Reichstag and monument orations." + +A real concert followed, and supper was taken in the Marble Hall +adjoining. The authoress concludes as follows:-- + + "I was contemplating these reminiscences (the pictures of La + Barberini) in silent reverie when the door opened and the + Kaiser came in with little Menzel. + + "'I have a mind to engage Angeli to paint her Majesty's + picture in the costume of Princess Amalia,' said the Emperor + 'What do you think of it?' + + "'Angeli is painter to many emperors and kings,' replied the + Professor, and I saw him smile diplomatically as he moved + his spectacles to get a better view of the allegorical + canvas on the left wall that exhibits the nude figure of the + famous mistress in its entirety. + + "'I am glad you agree with me on that point,' said the + Emperor, impatient to execute the idea that had crossed his + mind. 'I will telegraph to him to-night.' + + "And when, five minutes later, Menzel bent over my hand to + take formal leave, I heard him murmur in his dry, + absent-minded manner--'Pesne ... Angeli ... Frederick the + Great ... William II!" + +We have spoken of the Court atmosphere of this time. The following +extracts from the Memoirs of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe will +assist the reader, perhaps even better than a connected account, to +enter, in imagination at all events, into it. The conversations cited +between the Emperor and the Prince turn on all sorts of topics--the +pass question in Alsace (where Hohenlohe was then Statthalter), the +possibility of war with Russia, pheasant shooting, projected +monuments, the breach with Bismarck, the Triple Alliance, and a +hundred more of the most different kinds. Once talking domestic +politics, the Emperor said: + + "It will end by the Social Democrats getting the upper hand. + Then they will plunder the people. Not that I care. I will + have the palace loop-holed and look on at the plundering. + The burghers will soon call on me for help;" + +and on another occasion, in 1889, Hohenlohe tells of a dinner at the +palace, and how after dinner, when the Empress and her ladies had gone +into another _salon_, the Emperor, Hohenlohe, and Dr. Hinzpeter (the +Emperor's old tutor) conversed together for an hour, all standing. +"The first subject touched on," relates the Prince, was the gymnasia +(high schools), the Emperor holding that they made too exacting claims +on the scholars, while Hohenlohe and Hinzpeter pointed out that +otherwise the run on the schools would be too great and cause danger +of a "learned proletariat." Prince Hohenlohe concludes: + + "In the whole conversation, which never once came to a + standstill, I was pleased by the fresh, lively manner of the + Emperor, and was in all ways reminded of his grandfather, + Prince Albert." + +Next year the Prince was present at an official dinner in the Berlin +palace. He writes:-- + + "BERLIN, 22 _March_, 1890. + + "At seven, dinner in the White Salon (at the palace). I sat + opposite the Empress and between Moltke and Kameke. The + former was very communicative, but was greatly interfered + with by the continuous music, and was very angry at it. Two + bands were placed facing each other, and when one ceased the + other began to play its trumpets. It was hardly endurable. + The Emperor made a speech in honour of the Queen of England + and the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward, present on + the occasion of the investiture of his son Prince George, + now King George V, with the Order of the Black Eagle), and + mentioned his nomination as English admiral (whose uniform + he was wearing) and the comradeship-in-arms at the battle of + Waterloo; he also hoped that the English fleet and the + German army would together maintain peace. Moltke then said + to me: 'Goethe says, "a political song, a discordant song."' + + "He also said he hoped the speech wouldn't get into the + papers." + +(It did, however.) + +The next extract describes a conversation Prince Hohenlohe had with +the Emperor at Potsdam the following year. It gives an idea of the +ordinary nature of conversations between the Emperor and his high +officials on such occasions. + + "BERLIN, 13 _December_, 1891. + + "Yesterday forenoon was invited to the New Palace at + Potsdam. Besides myself were the Prince and Princess von + Wied, with the Mistress of the Robes and the Court marshal. + Emperor and Empress very amiable. The Emperor spoke of his + hunting in Alsace, and supposed it would be some years + before the game there would be abundant. Then he expressed + his satisfaction at my acquisition of Gensburg, and when I + told him there was not much room in the castle he said, no + matter, he could nevertheless pass a few days there with a + couple of gentlemen very pleasantly. Passing to politics, he + gave vent to his displeasure at the attitude of the + Conservative party, who were hindering the formation of a + Conservative-monarchical combination against the + Progressives and Social Democrats. This was all the more + regrettable as the Progressives, if now and then they + opposed the Social Democrats, still at bottom were with + them. The Emperor approves of the commercial treaties and + seemed to have great confidence in Caprivi generally. As we + came to speak of intrigues and gossip, the Emperor hinted + that Bismarck was behind them. He added that people were + urging him from many quarters to be reconciled with + Bismarck, but it was not for him to take the first step. He + seemed well informed about the situation in Russia and + considered it very dangerous. When I asked the Emperor how + he stood now with the Czar, he replied 'Badly. He went + through here without paying me a visit, and I only write him + ceremonious letters. The Queen of Denmark prevented him + coming to Berlin, for fear he should go to Potsdam. She has + gone now with him to Livadia on the pretext of the silver + wedding, but in reality to keep him away from Berlin.'" + +Writing of a lunch at Potsdam, under date Berlin, November 10, 1892, +the Prince notes:-- + + "The Emperor came late and looked tired, but was in good + spirits. We went immediately to table. Afterwards the + conversation turned on Bismarck. 'When one compares what + Bismarck does with that for which poor Arnim had to suffer!' + He would do nothing, he said, against Bismarck, but the + consequences of the whole thing were very serious. Waldersee + and Bismarck couldn't abide one another. They had, however, + become allies out of common hatred of Caprivi, whose fall + Bismarck desired. What might happen afterwards neither + cared." + +The following was penned after the old Chancellor's visit of +reconciliation:-- + + "BERLIN, 27 _January_, 1894. + + "To-night gala performance at the opera. Between the acts I + talked first with different monarchs, the King of + Württemberg, the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of + Oldenburg, and so on. Then I was sent for by the Empress, of + whom I took leave. The Emperor came shortly afterwards. We + spoke of Bismarck's visit the day before and the good + consequences for the Emperor it would have. 'Yes,' said the + Emperor, 'now they can put up triumphal arches for him in + Vienna and Munich, I am all the time a length ahead. If the + press continues its abuse it only puts itself and Bismarck + in the wrong.' I mentioned that red-hot partisans of + Bismarck were greatly dissatisfied with the visit, and said + the Emperor should have gone to Friedrichsruh (Bismarck's + estate near Hamburg). 'I am well aware of it,' said the + Emperor,'but for that they would have had a long time to + wait. He had to come here.' On the whole the Emperor spoke + very sensibly and decisively, and I did not at all get the + impression that he now wants to change everything." + +Prince Hohenlohe was summoned to Potsdam in October, 1894, by a +telegram from the Emperor. All the telegram said was that "important +interests of the Empire" were concerned. Hohenlohe was only aware of +the dismissal of Caprivi from a newspaper he read in Frankfort on his +way to Potsdam. The Emperor met him at the station (Wildpark) and +conveyed him to the New Palace, where the Prince agreed to accept the +Chancellorship "at the Emperor's earnest request." Princess Hohenlohe +was decidedly against her husband, who was now seventy-five, accepting +the post, and even ventured to telegraph to the Empress to prevent it. + +The Prince has a note on his intercourse with his imperial master. He +is writing to his son, Prince Alexander:-- + + "BERLIN, 17 _October_, 1896. + + "It is a curious thing--my relations to his Majesty. I come + now and then to the conclusion, owing to his small + inconsideratenesses, that he intentionally avoids me and + that things can't continue so. Then again I talk with him + and see that I am mistaken. Yesterday I had occasion to + report to him, and he poured out his heart to me and took + occasion in the friendliest way to ask my advice. And thus + my distrust is dissipated." + +Hunting with the Emperor:-- + + "15 _December_, 1896. + + "Yesterday I obeyed the royal invitation to hunt at Springe. + I had to leave Berlin as early as 7 a.m. to catch the royal + train at Potsdam. From Springe railway station we passed + immediately into the hunting district. Only sows were shot. + I brought down six. Then we drove to the Schloss, rested for + a few hours and then dined. The Emperor was in very good + humour and talked incessantly; in addition the Uhlan band + and the usually noisy conversation." + +When presenting his resignation to the Emperor at Hamburg in October, +1900, the Prince, who had evidently been for some time aware that his +term of office was drawing to a close, describes his conversation with +the Emperor:-- + + "At noon, as I came to the Emperor, he received me in a very + friendly way. We first settled about summoning the + Reichstag, and then his Majesty said, 'I have received a + very distressing letter'--an allusion to the Chancellor's + official letter of resignation, which he had placed in the + Emperor's hands through Tschirschky, Foreign Minister. 'As I + then,' continued Hohenlohe, 'explained the necessity of my + resignation on the ground of my health and age the Emperor, + apparently quite satisfied, agreed, so that I could see he + had already expected my request and consequently that it was + high time I should make it. We talked further over the + question of my successor, and I was agreeably surprised when + he forthwith mentioned Bülow, who certainly at the moment is + the best man available. His Majesty then said he would + telegraph to Lucanus (Chief of the Civil Cabinet) to bring + Bülow to Homburg so that we might consult about details. I + breakfasted with their Majesties and went calmly home.'" + +Writing to his daughter next day Prince Hohenlohe, in words that do +equal credit to himself and the imperial family, says: + + "It is always a pleasure to me when on such occasions I can + convince myself of the Christian disposition of the imperial + family. In our for the most part unbelieving age this family + seems to me like an oasis in the desert." + +Prince Hohenlohe was succeeded as Chancellor by Prince von Bülow, who +had held the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for the +preceding two years, and practically conducted the Emperor's foreign +policy during that time. He had served as Secretary of Embassy in St. +Petersburg, Vienna, and Athens, was a Secretary to the Congress of +Berlin, fought in the war with France and after seven years as +Minister in Bucharest spent four years as Ambassador in Rome. Here he +married a divorced Italian lady, the Countess Minghetti. After acting +as deputy Foreign Secretary for the late Baron Marschall von +Bieberstein, he was appointed permanent Foreign Secretary, and on +October 17, 1900, was called by the Emperor to the most responsible +post in the Empire next to his own, that of Imperial Chancellor. The +Emperor's choice was fully justified, for the new Chancellor proved +himself to be the most brilliant diplomatist and parliamentarian since +Bismarck. + + + + +IX + + + +THE NEW CENTURY + + + +1900-1901 + +German writers, commenting on the turn of the century, claim to +discover a change in the Emperor's character about this period. He has +lost much of his imaginative, his Lohengrin, vein, and has become more +practical, more prosaic and matter-of-fact. To use the German word, he +is now a _Realpolitiker_, one who deals in things, not words or +theories, and drawing his gaze from the stars makes them dwell more +attentively on the immediate practical considerations of the world +about him. His nature has not changed, of course, nor his manner, but +he has begun to see that he must employ means and ways different from +those he employed previously. He has not become a Bismarck, for he +still pursues his aims more in the spirit of the colonel of a regiment +leading his men to the attack with banners flying, drums beating, +swords rattling in their scabbards and mailed gauntlets held +threateningly aloft, than in that of the cool and calculating +politician ruminating in his closet on the tactics of his opponents, +and deliberating how best to meet and confound them; but he gives more +thought to what is going on about him, to party politics, to the +economic necessities of the hour, and to modern science and its +inventions. + +What strikes the Englishman perhaps as much as anything in the +Emperor's character at this time is the Cromwellian trait in it. This +is a side of his Protean nature which never seems to have been +adequately recognized in England, yet in a singularly baffling +character-composition it is one of the fundamental elements. The view +of Prussian monarchy, inherited from one Hohenzollern to another for +generation after generation, that the race of people to which he +belonged (with any other race he could include by conquest in it) has +been handed over by Heaven for all eternity to his family, naturally +predisposes him to take a religious, a patriarchal, one might say an +Hebraic, view of government; but in addition we find the warrior +spirit at all times going hand in hand with the religious spirit, +almost as strongly as in the case of Mahomet with the Koran in one +hand and the sword in the other. + +There was nothing in the Emperor's youth to show the existence of +deeply religious conviction, but as soon as he mounted the throne, and +all through the reign up to the close of the century, indeed some +years beyond it, his speeches, especially when he was addressing his +soldiery, were filled with expressions of religious fervour. "Von +Gotten Gnaden," he writes as a preface for a Leipzig publication +appearing on January 1, 1900, + + "is the King; therefore to God alone is he responsible. He + must choose his way and conduct himself solely from this + standpoint. This fearfully heavy responsibility which the + King bears for his folk gives him a claim on the faithful + co-operation of his subjects. Accordingly, every man among + the people must be thoroughly persuaded that he is, along + with the King, responsible for the general welfare." + +It may be noted in passing that Cromwell and the Emperor are alike in +being the founders of the great war navies of their respective +countries. + +On the date mentioned (New Year's Day), in the Berlin arsenal when +consecrating some flags, he addressed the garrison on the turn of the +year: + + "The first day of the new century finds our army, that is + our folk in arms, gathered round its standards, kneeling + before the Lord of Hosts--and certainly if anyone has reason + to bend the knee before God, it is our army." + +"A glance at our standards," the Emperor continued, + + "is sufficient explanation, for they incorporate our + history. What was the state of our army at the beginning of + the century? The glorious army of Frederick the Great had + gone to sleep on its laurels, ossified in pipeclay details, + led by old, incapable generals, its officers shy of work, + sunk in luxury, good living, and foolish self-satisfaction. + In a word, the army was no longer not only not equal to its + task, but had forgotten it. Heavy was the punishment of + Heaven, which overtook it and our folk. They were flung into + the dust, Frederick's glory faded, the standards were cast + down. In seven years of painful servitude God taught our + folk to bethink itself of itself, and under the pressure of + the feet of an arrogant usurper (Napoleon) was born the + thought that it is the highest honour to devote in arms + one's life and property to the Fatherland--the thought, in + short, of universal conscription." + +The word for conscription, it may be here remarked, is in German +_Wehrpflicht_, the duty of defence. To most people in England it means +simply "compulsory military service." It is important to note the +difference, as it explains the German national idea, and the Emperor's +idea, that all military and naval forces are primarily for defence, +not offence. This is, indeed, equally true of the British, or perhaps +any other, army and navy; but how many Englishmen, when they think of +Germany, can get the idea into the foreground of their thoughts or +accustom themselves to it? + +However, we have not yet done with the Emperor's baffling character. +There was a third element that now developed in it--the modern, the +twentieth-century, the American, the Rockefeller element. It is +intimately connected with his Weltpolitik, as his Weltpolitik is with +his foreign policy in general--indeed one might say his Weltpolitik is +his foreign policy--a policy of economic expansion, with a desperate +apprehension of losing any of the Empire's property, and a +determination to have a voice in the matter when there is any loose +property anywhere in the world to be disposed of. To the Hebraic +element and the warrior element (an entirely un-Christlike +combination, as the Emperor must be aware) there now began to be added +the mercantile, the modern, the American element--the interest in all +the concerns of national material prosperity, in the national +accumulation of wealth, the interest in inventions, in commercial +science, in labour-saving machinery, the effort to win American +favour, to facilitate intercourse and establish close and profitable +relations with that wealthy land and people. + +We know that the Emperor has English blood in him, greatly admires +England, and is immensely proud of being a British admiral. We have +seen him exhibiting traits of character that remind one of Lohengrin +or Tancred. He has played many parts in the spirit of a Hebrew prophet +and patriarch, of a Frederick the Great, a Cromwell, a Nelson, a +Theodore Roosevelt. Preacher, teacher, soldier, sailor, he has been +all four, now at one moment, now at another. We shall find him anon as +art and dramatic critic, to end--so far as we are concerned with +him--as farmer. Is it any wonder if such a man, mediæval in his nature +and modern in his character, defies clear and definite portrayal by +his contemporaries? + +Taking the year 1900 as the first year of the new century, not as some +calculators, and the Emperor among them, take it, as the last year of +the old, the twentieth century may be said to have opened with a +dramatic historical episode in which the Emperor and his Empire took +very prominent parts--the Boxer movement. + +Little notice has been taken in our account of Germany's spacious days +of her relations to China and the Far East generally. They were, +nevertheless, all through that period intimately connected with her +expansion or dreams of expansion. About 1890 the Flowery Land awoke to +the benefits of European civilization and in particular of European +ingenuity; and in 1891, for the first time in Chinese history, foreign +diplomatists were granted the privilege of an annual reception +at the Chinese Court. So exclusive was the Manchu dynasty--the +Hohenzollerns of China in point of antiquity; yet not a score of +years later the Manchu monarchy had been quietly removed from its +five-thousand-year-old throne, and China, apparently the most +conservative and monarchical people on earth, proclaimed itself a +republic--a regular modern republic!--an operation that among peoples +claiming infinite superiority to the Chinese would have cost thousands +of lives and a vast expenditure of money. + +Naturally, once China showed a willingness to abandon its axenic +attitude towards foreign devils and all things foreign-devilish, the +European Powers turned their eyes and energies towards her, and a +strenuous commercial and diplomatic race after prospective concessions +for railways, mines, and undertakings of all kinds began. Each Power +feared that China would be gobbled up by a rival, or that at least a +partition of the vast Chinese Empire was at hand. Consequently, when +China was beaten in her war with Japan, and made the unfavourable +treaty of Shimonoseki, the European Powers were ready to appear as +helpers in time of need. Russia, Germany, and France got the +Shimonoseki Treaty altered, and the Laotung Peninsula with Port Arthur +given back, and in return Russia acquired the right to build a railway +through Manchuria (the first step towards "penetration" and +occupation), French engineers obtained several valuable mining and +railway concessions, and Germany got certain privileges in Hankow and +Tientsin. + +Meantime the old, deeply-rooted hatred of the foreign devil, the +European, was spreading among the population, which was still, in the +mass, conservative. Missionaries were murdered, and among them, in +1897, two German priests. Germany demanded compensation, and in +default sent a cruiser squadron to Kiautschau Bay. Russia immediately +hurried a fleet to Port Arthur and obtained from China a lease of that +port for twenty-five years. England and France now put in a claim for +their share of the good things going. England obtained Wei-hai-Wei, +France a lease of Kwang-tschau and Hainan. China was evidently +throwing herself into the arms of Europe, when, in 1898, the Dowager +Empress took the government out of the hands of the young Emperor and +a period of reaction set in. The appearance of Italy with a demand for +a lease of the San-mun Bay in 1899 brought the Chinese anti-foreign +movement to a head, and the Boxer conspiracy grew to great dimensions. + +The movement was caused not merely by religious and race fanaticism, +but by the popular fear that the new European era would change the +economic life of China and deprive millions of Chinese of their wonted +means of livelihood. The Dowager Empress and a number of Chinese +princes now joined it. Massacres soon became the order of the day, and +it is calculated that in the spring of 1900 alone more than 30,000 +Christians were barbarously done to death. Among the victims were +reckoned 118 English, 79 Americans, 25 French, and 40 of other +nationalities. The Ambassadors and Ministers of all nations, conscious +of their danger, applied to the Tsungli Yamen (Foreign Office), +demanding that the Imperial Government should crush the Boxer +movement. The Government took no steps, the diplomatists were +beleaguered in their embassies, and were only saved by friendly police +from being murdered. + +This, however, was but a temporary respite, and it became necessary to +bring marines from the foreign ships of war lying at the mouth of the +Pei-ho River just out of range of the formidable Taku Forts. These +troops, 2,000 in all, were led by Admiral Seymour. They tried to reach +Pekin, but failed owing to the destruction of the railway, and retired +to Tientsin, from whence, however, on June 16th, a detachment set out +to capture the Taku Forts. The capture was effected, the German +gunboat _Iltis_, under Captain Lans, playing a conspicuously brave +part. Tientsin was now in danger from the Boxer bands, but was +relieved by a mixed detachment of Russians and Germans under General +Stoessel, the subsequent defender of Port Arthur. + +The alarm meantime at Pekin was intense. The Chinese Government, +throwing off all disguise, ordered the diplomatists to leave the city. +They refused, knowing that to leave the shelter of the embassies meant +torture and death. One of them, however, the German Minister, Freiherr +von Ketteler, ventured from his Legation and was killed in broad +daylight on his way to the Chinese Foreign Office. Only one of the +Minister's party escaped, to stagger, hacked and bloody, into the +British Legation with the news. This Legation, as the strongest +building in the quarter, became the refuge of the entire diplomatic +corps, with their wives, children, and servants. It was straightway +invested and bombarded by the Boxers, and as the days and weeks went +on the other Legation buildings were burned, and the refugees in the +British Legation had to look death at all hours in the face. + +The murder of von Ketteler excited anger and horror throughout the +world, and in no breast, naturally, to a stronger degree than in that +of the German Emperor. All nations hastened to send troops to Pekin. +Japan was first on the scene with 16,000 men under General +Yamagutschi. Russia followed next with 15,000 under General Lenewitch, +then England with 7,500 under General Gaselee, then France with 5,000 +under General Frey, then America with 4,000 under General Chaffee, +Germany with 2,500 under von Hopfner, Austria and Italy with smaller +contingents--in all more than 50,000 men, with 144 guns. A little +later the expeditionary corps from Germany, 19,000 strong, under +General von Lessel, and that from France, 10,000 strong, arrived. At +the suggestion, it is said, of Russia, and by agreement among the +European Powers, united by a common sympathy and in face of a common +danger, the German Field-Marshal, Count Waldersee, was appointed to +the supreme command of all the European forces. At the same time naval +supports were hurried by all maritime nations to the scene, and within +a short period 160 warships and 30 torpedo boats were assembled off +the Chinese coast. + +The march to Pekin and the relief of the imprisoned Europeans are +incidents still fresh in public memory. In the crowded British +Legation fear alternated with hope, and hope with fear, until, on the +forenoon of August 14th, a boy ran into the Legation crying that +"black-faced Europeans" were advancing along the royal canal in the +direction of the building. In a few minutes a company of Sikh cavalry, +part of some Indian troops diverted on their way to Aden, galloped up, +all danger was over, and the refugees were saved. + +The Boxer troubles ended on May 13, 1901, with the signature by Li +Hung Chang in the name of the Emperor of China of a treaty of peace, +the main conditions of which were the payment by China within thirty +years of a war indemnity to the Powers of 450 million taels +(£66,000,000) and an agreement to send a mission of atonement to the +Courts of Germany and Japan--for among the foreign victims of the +Boxers in the previous year had been the Japanese representative in +China, Baron Sugiyama. + +For two or three weeks the action of the Emperor with regard to the +Chinese mission of atonement brought him into universal ridicule. +Prince Chun, a near relative of the Chinese Emperor, who had been +appointed to conduct the mission, reached Basle in September, 1901, on +his way to Berlin. Here he lingered, and it soon became known that a +hitch had occurred in his relations with Germany. It then transpired +that the delay was caused by the Emperor's having suddenly intimated +that he expected Prince Chun to make thrice to him, as he sat on his +throne at Potsdam, the "kotow" as practised in the Court of China. In +view of the surprise, laughter, and criticism of Europe, the Emperor +modified his demand for the "kotow" to its symbolic performance by +three deep bows. Prince Chun thereupon resumed his journey. An +impressive, if theatrical, scene was prepared in the New Palace at +Potsdam, where the Emperor, seated on the throne, his marshal's baton +in his hand, and flanked by Ministers and the officers of his +household, received the bearer of China's expressions of regret. +Whatever one may think of the scenic effect provided, the reply the +Emperor made to Prince Chun, after the three bows arranged upon had +been made, is a model of its kind--general not personal, sorrowful +rather than angry, warning rather than reproachful. The Emperor said-- + + "No pleasing nor festive cause, no mere fulfilment of a + courtly duty, has brought your Imperial Highness to me, but + a sad and deeply grave occurrence. My Minister to the Court + of his Majesty the Emperor of China, Freiherr von Ketteler, + fell in the Chinese capital beneath the murderous weapons of + an imperial Chinese soldier, who acted by the orders of a + superior, an unheard-of outrage condemned by the law of + nations and the moral sense of all countries. From your + Imperial Highness I have now heard the expression of the + sincere and deep regret of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor + of China regarding the occurrence. I am glad to believe that + your Imperial Highness's royal brother had nothing to do + with the crime or with the further acts of violence against + inviolable Ministers and peaceful foreigners, but all the + greater is the guilt which attaches to his advisers and his + Government. Let these not deceive themselves by supposing + that they can make atonement and receive pardon for their + crime through this mission alone, and not through their + subsequent conduct in the light of the prescriptions of + international law and the moral principles of civilized + peoples. If his Majesty the Emperor of China henceforward + directs the government of his great Empire in the spirit of + these ordinances, his hope that the sad consequences of the + confusion of last year may be overcome, and permanent, + peaceful and friendly relations between Germany and China + may exist as before, will be realized to the benefit of both + peoples and the whole of civilized humanity. In the sincere + wish that it may be so, I welcome your Imperial Highness." + +The Emperor's other speeches referring to the Boxer movement at this +period have been adversely commented on as showing him in the light of +a cruel and blood-thirsty seeker after revenge. This is an unjust, at +least a hard, judgment. A passage in his address at Bremerhaven to the +expeditionary force when setting out for China is the main proof of +the charge--in which, after referring to the murder of von Ketteler, +he said: + + "You know well you will have to fight with a cunning, brave, + well-armed, cruel foe. When you come to close quarters with + him remember--quarter ('Pardon' is the German word the + Emperor used) must not be given: prisoners must not be + taken: manage your weapons so that for a thousand years to + come no Chinaman will dare to look sideways at a German. Act + like men." + +It is difficult, of course, to reconcile such an address with +Christian humanity practised, so far as humanity can be practised, in +modern war, but it should be remembered that the Emperor was speaking +in a state of great excitement, and that, according to Chancellor +Prince Bülow's statement in the Reichstag subsequently, confirmation +of the news of the murder of his Minister to China had only reached +the Emperor ten minutes before he delivered the speech. + +There is one incident, however, though not a very important one, in +connexion with the troubles, which may fairly be made a matter of +reproach to the Emperor--the seizure, on his order, of the ancient +astronomical instruments at Pekin and their transference to Sans +Souci, in Potsdam, where they are to be seen to the present day. The +troops of all nations, it is known, looted freely at Pekin; but the +Emperor might have spared China and his own fair fame the indignity of +such public vandalism. + +While writing of China it may not be superfluous to add that the +Emperor's foreign policy in the Orient cannot be expected to present +exactly the same features, or proceed quite along the same lines, as +his foreign policy in Europe. By far the greater part of Europe is now +as completely parcelled out and as permanently settled as though it +were a huge, well-managed estate. The capacities of its high roads, +its railways, its great rivers, with their commercial and strategic +values and relations are perfectly ascertained; and the knowledge, it +is not too much to say, is the common property of all important +Governments. It is not so, or not nearly to the same extent, in the +Orient. In Europe there is little or no difficulty in distinguishing +between enterprises that are political and those that are commercial, +or in recognizing where they are both; and if a difficulty should +arise it can be arranged by diplomatic conversations, by a conference +of the Powers interested, or in the last resort--short of war--by +arbitration. This is not so simple a matter in the Orient, where +conditions are at once old and new, where interests of possibly great +magnitude are as yet undetermined or unappropriated, where possibly +great mineral sources are undeveloped and the capacities of new +markets unascertained; where, in short, the decisive factors of the +problem are undiscovered, it may be unsuspected. + +In such cases there is often no certain and readily recognizable line +of demarcation between the two kinds of enterprise; and an undertaking +that may present all the appearance of being a purely commercial +scheme, and be solemnly asseverated to be such by the Power or Powers +promoting it, may turn out on closer examination to be one of great +political significance and incalculable political consequence. Of such +enterprises two immediately spring to mind, the Cape to Cairo railway +and the Baghdad railway, not to mention a score of problematic +undertakings in other parts of Africa or Asia. It will be useful to +keep this general consideration in view when forming an opinion +regarding the Emperor's Oriental policy. That policy is, so far, +almost entirely commercial. Long ago wars used to be made for the sake +of religion, then for the sake of territory. Now they are made for the +sake of new markets. + +Yet the Far East is changing with the change in conditions everywhere +in modern times, and it is evident that the premises for any +conclusion as to German foreign policy there may, at any given moment, +be subject to modification. Partly owing to the growth of Germany's +European influence, and to the increase in her navy which has helped +her to it, she is to be found of recent years playing a role in the +Far East which would have been unintelligible to the German of the +last generation. There are many Germans to-day, as in Bismarck's time, +who ridicule the notion that the possibilities of trade in Oriental +countries justify the national risk now run for it and the national +expenditure now made upon it; but it is sometimes forgotten that, +apart from the chance of obtaining concessions for the building of +railways, for the establishment of banks, for the leasing of mines and +working of cotton plantations, there is a large German export of +beads, cloth, and, in short, of hundreds of articles which appeal to +barbarian or only semi-civilized tastes. + +Germany, too, looks hopefully forward to a future in which she will be +supplied with the raw material of her manufactures by her colonies, or +failing that by her subjects trading abroad in the colonies of other +nations. This is one of the main objects of her Weltpolitik. As Prince +von Bülow said: "The time has passed when the German left the earth to +one neighbour and the sea to another, while he reserved heaven, where +pure doctrines are enthroned, to himself;" and again: "We don't seek +to put anybody in the shade, but we demand our place in the sun;" and +the idea finds technical expression in the phrase on which Germany +lays so much stress, the "maintenance of the open door." Her policy in +the Far East, as in Europe, is thus on the whole a commercial one; she +seeks there as elsewhere new markets, not new territory. Accordingly +she supports the principle of the _status quo_ in China, and therefore +raised no objection to the Anglo-Japanese Agreement of 1902 which, +among other objects, secured it. + +In January, 1901, the Emperor was called to England by the sudden, +and, as it was to prove, fatal illness of his grandmother, Queen +Victoria. His journey to Osborne, where he arrived just in time to be +recognized by the dying Queen, and his abandonment of the idea, +impressive and almost sacred to a Prussian King and the Prussian +people, of being present on his birthday, January 27th, at the +bicentenary celebration of the foundation of the Prussian Kingdom, +made a deep and sympathetic impression on the people of England. +Usually on State occasions the Emperor does not display a countenance +of good humour, or indeed of any sentiment save perhaps that of a +sense of dignity; but on the occasion in question, as he rode in the +uniform of a British Field-Marshal beside Edward VII, his looks were +those of genuine sorrow. Public sympathy was not lessened when it +became known that he had mentioned the pride he felt in being +privileged to wear the uniform of two such soldiers of renown as the +Duke of Wellington and Lord Roberts; and added that the privilege +would be highly estimated by the whole German army. It was a +chivalrous remark, the offspring of a chivalrous disposition. + +The Emperor had hardly returned to Germany when, on February 6th, the +only attack ever made on his person occurred in Bremen. He had been at +a banquet in the town hall, and was being driven through the +illuminated streets to the railway station to return to Berlin, when a +half-witted locksmith's apprentice of nineteen, Dietrich Weiland by +name, flung a piece of railway iron at him with such good aim that it +struck him on the face immediately under the right eye, inflicting a +deep and nasty, but not dangerous wound. The Emperor proceeded with +his journey, the doctors attending to his injury in the train, and in +a few weeks he was well again. Weiland was sent to a criminal lunatic +asylum. The attempt had, apparently, nothing to do with Anarchism or +Nihilism or the Social Democracy. When the Emperor alluded to it +afterwards in his speech to the Diet, he referred it to a general +diminution of respect for authority. + +"Respect for authority," he said to the Diet, + + "is wanting. In this regard all classes of the population + are to blame. Particular interests are looked to, not the + general well-being of the folk. Criticism of the measures of + the Government and Throne takes the coarsest and most + injurious forms--and hence the errors and demoralization of + our youth. Parliament must help here, and a change must be + made, beginning with the schools." + +It was natural enough that a few days after, addressing the Alexander +Regiment of Guards, who were taking up quarters in a new barracks near +the palace in Berlin, he should tell them the barracks were like a +citadel to the palace, and that, as a sort of imperial bodyguard, the +regiment "must be ready, day and night as once before"--he was +referring to the "March Days"--"to meet any attack by the citizens on +the Emperor." + +At Bonn in April the Emperor attended the matriculation +(immatriculation, the Germans call it) of his eldest son, the Crown +Prince, at the university. He was in civil dress, one of the rare +public occasions during the reign when he has not been in uniform, but +this did not prevent him delivering a martial address to the +Borussians. "I hope and expect from the younger generation," he said +to the students, + + "that they will put me in a position to maintain our German + Fatherland in its close and strong boundaries and in the + congeries of German races--doing to no one favour and to no + one harm. If, however, anyone should touch us too nearly, + then I will call upon you and I expect you won't leave your + Emperor sitting." + +A great shout of "Bravo!" went up when the Emperor ceased, and the +students doubtless all thought what a fine thing it would be if he +would only lead them straightway against those cheeky Englanders. + +At the end of June, on board the Hamburg-American pleasure-steamer +_Princess Victoria Luise_, the Emperor pronounced the famous +sentence--"Our future lies on the water." The year before he had said +something like it, and it is worth quoting as the Emperor's first +explicit allusion to Weltpolitik. "Strongly," he exclaimed, + + "dashes the beat of ocean at the doors of our people and + compels it to preservation of its place in the world, in a + word, to Weltpolitik. The ocean is indispensable for + Germany's greatness. The ocean testifies that on it and far + beyond it no important decision will be taken without + Germany and the German Emperor." + +His words on the present occasion were: + + "My entire task for the future will be to see that the + undertakings of which the foundations have been laid may + develop quietly and surely. We have, though as yet without + the fleet as it should be, achieved our place in the sun. It + will now be my task to hold this place unquestioned, so that + its rays may act favourably on trade and industry and + agriculture at home inside, and on our sail-sports on the + coast--for our future lies on the water. The more Germans go + on the sea--whether travelling or in the service of the + State--the better. When the German has once learned to look + abroad and afar he will lose that 'hang' towards the petty, + the trivial, which now so often seizes him in daily life." + +And he closed: "We must now go out in search of new spots where we can +drive in nails on which to hang our armour." + +Early in August the Emperor was called to the death-bed of his mother, +the Empress Frederick, at her castle in Cronberg. She died on the +afternoon of her son's arrival, on August 5th. The Emperor ordered +mourning throughout the Empire for six weeks, and forbade all "public +music, entertainments, theatrical or otherwise" until after the +funeral. The Empress was buried in the mausoleum attached to the +Friedenskirche in Potsdam on the 13th of the month. + +The delivery of a famous speech on art by the Emperor in December +brings the chronicle of 1901 to a close, but perhaps it will not +displease the reader if a new chapter is opened for the purpose of +quoting it and of considering the Emperor in what is a traditional +Hohenzollern relationship. + + + + +X. + + + +THE EMPEROR AND THE ARTS + +Art is a favourite subject of conversation on the Continent, where it +is more popularly discussed than in England and where authorities of +all kinds are more alive to its educative capabilities. It is +eminently "safe" ground, does not savour of gossip, and no one need +leave the field of discussion with the feeling that he has been driven +from it. Hence it is the salvation of diplomatists who are +apprehensive of committing their Governments or themselves when mixing +in general society, and it doubtless does good service for the Emperor +also upon occasion. Indeed it is a topic on which he speaks willingly +and well. + +Unfortunately for precision of thought and speech, though useful for +the man in the street, the word "art" has been pressed into the +service of metaphor more than almost any other word in language. We +are told in turn that everything is an art--hair-dressing, +salad-dressing (a different kind), lying, flying, dying. The Germans +are trying to make an art of life. Whistler wrote about the "Gentle +Art of Making Enemies." One hears of "artful hussies" and "artful +dodgers." People are described as "artful" in the small diplomacies of +intercourse. Jugglers, acrobats, sword-swallowers, "supers" at the +theatre, the men who play the elephant in the pantomime would all be +mortified if they were not addressed as "artists," In short, +everything may be called an art. + +But what, truly, is art? The question is as hard to answer +satisfactorily as the questions what is truth or what is beauty? The +notion "art" usually occurs to the mind as contrasted with the notion +"nature"; the word is derived from the Sanskrit root _ar_, to plough, +to make, to do; and accordingly art may be taken to be something made +by man, as contrasted with something made, or grown, or given by God. +How art came into existence it is of course impossible to do more than +conjecture. The necessities of primitive man may have stimulated his +inventive powers into originating and developing the useful arts for +his physical comfort and convenience; and his desire for recreation +after labour, or the mere ennui of idleness, may have urged the same +powers into originating and developing the fine and plastic arts for +the entertainment of his mind. Or, lastly, if no better reason can be +found, and though Sir Joshua Reynolds laid it down that all models of +perfection in art must be sought for on the earth, it may be that +seeing and feeling instinctively the glory and beauty of the Creation, +mankind began gradually, as its intelligence improved, to burn with a +longing to imitate, reproduce, and represent them. + +However art arose, it seems true to say, as a German writer has well +said, that when a work of art, whether a poem or a picture or a +statue, causes in us the thought that so, and in no other way, would +we ourselves have expressed the idea, had we the talent, then we may +conclude that true art is speaking to us, whatever the idea to be +expressed may be. Everything demands thought, but our thoughts are an +unruly folk, which never keep long on the same straight road, and love +to wander off to left and right, here finding something new and there +throwing away something old. The artist, when he conceives a plan, has +to fight with the host of his thoughts and find a way through them. +They often threaten to divert him from it, but on the other hand they +often lead him to his goal by novel paths along which he finds much +that is new and valuable. + +This is a doctrine that, sensible though it is, would hardly be +subscribed to by the Emperor, to whom no new movement in art strongly +appeals, and who thinks that such movements, unless founded on the old +classical school, the Greek and Roman school of beauty, ought, in the +public interest, to be discouraged. However, let him speak for +himself. He set forth his art creed in a speech which he delivered on +December 18, 1901, to the sculptors who had executed the Hohenzollern +statues in the famous Siegesallée at Berlin, and which ran +substantially as follows:-- + + "I gladly seize the occasion, first of all, to express my + congratulations and then my thanks for the manner in which + you have assisted me to carry out my original plan. The + preparation of the plan for the Siegesallée has occupied + many years, and the learned historiographer of my House, + Professor Dr. Poser, is the man who put me in a position to + set the artists clear and intelligible tasks. Once the + historic basis was found the work could be proceeded with, + and when the personalities of the princes were established + it was possible to ascertain those who had been their most + important helpers. In this manner the groups originated and, + to a certain extent, conditioned by their history, the forms + of them came into existence. + + "The next most difficult question was--Was it possible, as I + hoped it was, to find in Berlin so many artists as would be + able to work together harmoniously to realize the programme? + + "As I came to consider the question, I had in view to show + the world that the most favourable condition for the + successful achievement of the work was not the appointment + of an art commission and the establishment of prize + competitions, but that in accord with ancient custom, as in + the classical period, and later during the Middle Ages, was + the case, it lay in the direct intercourse of the employer + with the artists. + + "I am therefore especially obliged to Professor Reinhold + Begas for having assured me, when I applied to him, that + there was absolutely no doubt there could be found in Berlin + a sufficiency of artists to carry out the idea; and with his + help, and in consequence of the acquaintances I have made by + visiting exhibitions and studios in Berlin, I succeeded in + getting together a staff, the majority of whom I see around + me, with whom to approach the task. + + "I think you will not refuse me the testimony that, in + respect of the programme I drew up I have made the treatment + of it as easy as possible, that while I ordered and defined + the work I gave you an absolute freedom not only in the + combination and composition, but precisely the freedom to + put into it that from himself which every artist must if he + is to give the work the stamp of his own individuality, + since every work of art contains in itself something of the + individual character of the artist. I believe that this + experiment, if I may so call it, as made in the Siegesallée, + has succeeded. + + "... I have never interfered with details, but have + contented myself with simply giving the direction, the + impulse. + + "But to-day the thought that Berlin stands there before the + whole world with a guild of artists able to carry out so + magnificent a project fills me with satisfaction and pride. + It shows that the Berlin school of art stands on a height + which could hardly have been more splendid in the time of + the Renaissance. + + "Here, too, one can draw a parallel between the great + artistic achievements of the Middle Ages and the + Italians--that, namely, the head of the State, an art-loving + prince, who offered their tasks to the artists also found + the master round whom a school of artists could gather. + + "How is it, generally speaking, with art in the world? It + takes its models, supplies itself from the great sources of + Mother Nature, who, spite of her apparently unfettered, + limitless freedom, still moves according to eternal laws + which the Creator ordained for himself and which cannot be + passed or violated without danger to the development of the + world. + + "Even so it is in art; and at the sight of the beautiful + remains of old classical times comes again over one the + feeling that here too reigns an eternal law that is always + true to itself, the law of beauty and harmony, of the + aesthetic. This law is given expression to by the ancients + in so surprising and overpowering a fashion, in so + thoroughly complete a form that we, with all our modern + sensibilities and with all our power, are still proud, when + we have done any specially fine piece of work, to hear that + it is almost as good as it was made nineteen hundred years + ago. + + "But only almost! Under this impression I would earnestly + ask you to lay it to heart that sculpture still remains + untainted by so-called modern tendencies and currents--still + stands high and chastely there! Keep her so, don't let + yourselves be misled by human criticism or any wind of + doctrine to abandon the principles on which she has been + built up. + + "An art which transgresses the laws and limits I have + indicated is art no more. It is factory work, handicraft, + and that is a thing art should never be. Under the often + misused word 'freedom' and her flag one falls too readily + into boundlessness, unrestraint, self-exaggeration. For + whoever cuts loose from the law of beauty, and the feeling + for the æsthetic and harmonious, which every human breast + feels, whether he can express it or not, and in his thought + makes his chief object some special direction, some specific + solution of more technical tasks, that man denies art's + first sources. + + "Yet again. Art should help to exercise an educative + influence on the people. She should offer the lower classes, + after the hard work of the day, the possibility of + refreshing themselves by regarding what is ideal. To us + Germans great ideals have become permanent possessions, + whereas to other peoples they have been more or less lost. + Only the German people remain called to preserve these great + ideas, to cultivate and continue them. And among these + ideals is this, that we afford the possibility to the + working classes to elevate themselves by beauty, and by + beauty to enable them to abstract themselves and rise above + the thoughts they otherwise would have. + + "When Art, as now often occurs, does nothing more than + represent misery as still more unlovely than it is already, + by so doing she sins against the German people. The + cultivation of the ideal is at the same time the greatest + work of culture, and if we wish to be and remain an example + in this to other nations the whole people must work together + to that end; if Culture is to fulfil her task she must + penetrate to the lowest classes of society. That she can + only do when art comes into play, when she raises up, + instead of descending into the gutter. + + "As ruler of the country I often find it extremely bitter + that art, through its masters, does not with sufficient + energy oppose such tendencies. I do not for a moment fail to + perceive that many an aspiring character is to be found + among the partisans of these tendencies, who are perhaps + filled with the best intentions but who are on the wrong + path. The true artist needs no advertisement, no press, no + patronage. I do not believe that your great protagonists in + the domain of science, either in ancient Greece or in Italy + or in the Renaissance period ever had recourse to a + _réclame_ such as nowadays is often made in the press in + order to bring their ideas into prominence, but worked as + God inspired them and let others do the talking. + + "And so must an honest, proper artist act. The art which + descends to _réclame_ is no art be it lauded a hundred or a + thousand-fold. A feeling for what is beautiful or ugly has + every one, be he ever so simple, and to educate this feeling + in the people I require all of you. That in the Siegesallée + you have done a piece of such work, I have specially to + thank you. + + "This I can even now tell you--the impression which the + Siegesallée has made on the foreigner is quite an + overpowering one; everywhere respect for German sculpture is + making itself perceivable. May you always remain on these + heights, may such masters stand by my sons and sons' sons, + should they ever come into existence! Then, I am convinced, + will our people be in a position to love the beautiful and + honour lofty ideals." + +At the Berlin Art Museum next year, after praising the devotion of his +parents to art, and especially of his mother, "a nature," he said, +"about which poesy breathed," he continued:-- + + "The son of both stands before you as their heir and + executor: and so I regard it as my task, according to the + intention of my parents, to hold my hand over my German + people and its growing generation, to foster the love of + beauty in them, and to develop art in them; but only along + the lines and within the bounds drawn strictly by the + feelings in mankind for beauty and harmony." + +The Emperor's speech to the sculptors, if it contains some +questionable statements, is a thoughtful address by one who is himself +an artist, though not perhaps an artist of a high class. His artistic +endowments, transmitted from his parents, have been already indicated. +In reference to them he said to the official conducting him over the +Marienburg in later years, when the official expressed surprise at the +Emperor's art-knowledge:-- + + "There is nothing wonderful in it. I was brought up in an + artistic atmosphere. My mother was an artist, and from my + earliest youth I have been surrounded by beautiful things. + Art is my friend and my recreation." + +The highest praise of a work of art is to say of it that it pleased, +or would have pleased; his mother. Of her he said, "Every thought she +had was art, and to her everything, however simple, which was meant +for the use of life, was penetrated with beauty." When giving his +sanction to a plan, a park, a statue or a building he always +thinks--"Would it have pleased my parents--what would they have said +about it?" The Kaiser Friedrich Museum and the Kaiser Friedrich +Memorial Church, both in Berlin, testify to the Emperor's gratitude to +his parents for their artistic legacy. + +He went, as we have seen, through the ordinary art drudgery of the +school, recognizing, no doubt, with Michael Angelo, with all good +artists, that correct drawing is the foundation of every art into +which drawing enters and applying himself industriously to it. As a +young soldier at Potsdam he spent a good deal of his time, during the +three years from 1880 to 1883, practising oil-painting under the +guidance of Herr Karl Salzmann, a distinguished Berlin painter. Among +the results of this instruction was a picture which the princely +artist called "The Corvette--Prince Adalbert in the Bay of Samitsu," +now hanging in the residence of his brother, Prince Henry, at Kiel; +and two years later, as his interest in the navy grew, a "Fight +between an Armoured Ship and a Torpedo-boat." Innumerable aquarelles +and sketches, chiefly of marine subjects, were also the fruit of this +period. + +The Emperor has constantly cultivated free and friendly intercourse +with the best artists of his own and other nations, and been +continually engaged devoting time and money to the art education of +his people. The admirable art exhibitions in Berlin of the best +examples of painting by English, French, and American artists, which +he personally promoted and was greatly interested in, may be recalled +as instances. If his efforts in encouraging art among his people have +not been so successful as his imperial activities in other directions, +the reason is not any fault on his part, but simply that art refuses +to be, in Shakespeare's phrase, "tongue-tied by authority." + +This was shown by the chorus of unfavourable criticism which the +speech to the sculptors drew forth. No one questioned the sincerity of +the Emperor or the magnanimity of his aims, nor was the criticism +wholly caused by the suspicion that it savoured of the "personal +regiment" under which the people were growing impatient; but many +thought he was pushing the dynastic principle too far and unduly +interfering with liberty of thought and judgment, and that there was +something Oriental as well as selfish in occupying with a gallery of +his ancestors, the majority of whom were, after all, very ordinary +people, one of the fairest spots in the capital. Perhaps, however, +what was most objected to was his trying to drive the art of the +nation into a groove, the direction given by himself: in trying to +inspire it with a particular spirit and that an ancient not a modern +spirit, when he ought to let the spirit come of its own accord out of +the mind of the people--the mind of many millions, not the mind of one +man, however high his rank. Politics and government might be things in +which he had a right to an authoritative voice, but art, like +religion, the people considered to be a matter for individual taste +and judgment. + +Yet something may be advanced in favour of the Emperor. His +recommendation, for in fact it was and could be only that, was quite +in keeping with the traditions of his office and the people's own view +of royal government. The speech, as was admitted, was suggested by no +mere dilettante's vanity, but, as is evident from his words at the Art +Museum, by the conviction that just as it is the imperial duty to +provide an efficient army and navy, so it is the imperial duty to use +every personal and private, as well as every public and official, +effort to provide the people with an art as efficient, as honest, and +as clean; and it was inevitable that the art the Emperor recommended +was that which he believed, and still believes, to be in conformity +with the ideals, as he interprets them, or would have them to be, of +the Germanic race. + +The speech itself is interesting as showing the Emperor's attitude +towards art and artists and his personal conception of art and its +nature. His attitude is evidently that of the art-loving prince of +whom he speaks in the address, a royal Maecenas or di Medici, who +gathers artists round him; but he means to use them, not so much +perhaps for art's sake, as for the instruction and elevation of his +folk. A very laudable aim; only, as it happens, the folk in this +matter desire themselves to decide what is improving and elevating for +them and what is not. They are not willing to leave the exclusive +choice to the Emperor. + +The Emperor, again, would give the artist the freedom to put into his +work "that from himself which any artist must, if he is to give the +work the stamp of his own individuality." This attitude, too, is +admirable, but on the other hand lies the danger, such is poor human +nature, that the individuality will be that which the Emperor wishes +it to be, not the artist's independent individuality To the foreign +eye all the Hohenzollern statues in the Siegesallee, with the +exception possibly of two or three, seem to have much the same +individuality, though that again may be due to the nature of the +subject and the foreigner's inherent and ineradicable predispositions. + +Thirdly, art, the Emperor says, can only be educative when it elevates +instead of descending into the gutter. Hogarth descended into the +gutter. Gustav Doré depicts the horrors of hell. Yet both Hogarth and +Doré were great artists, and educative too. The Emperor was here +thinking of the Berlin Secession, a school just then starting, +eccentric indeed and far from "classical," but which nevertheless has +since produced several fine artists. The Emperor, it would appear, +thinks that the antique classical school is the true and only good +school for the artist. Very likely most artists will agree with him-- +at least as a foundation; but the belief, it also appears, is not +considered in Germany, or outside of it, to justify the Emperor, as +Emperor, in discouraging all other schools and particularly the +efforts of modern artists in their non-classical imaginings. + +The Emperor says art "takes its models, supplies itself from the great +sources of Mother Nature." With all courtesy to the Emperor one may +suggest that art, and sane art, takes its models not only from Mother +Nature, but also from an almost as prolific a maternal source, namely +imagination; and that imagination is limited by no eternal laws we +know of, or can even suspect. Accordingly it is useless to check, or +try to check, the imagination by telling it to work in a certain +direction--so long, naturally, as the imagination is not obviously +indecent or insane. + +Again, the Emperor says that in classical art there reigns an eternal +law, the "law of beauty and harmony, of the aesthetic" which is +expressed in a "thoroughly complete form" by the ancients. It is +admittedly a delightful and admirable form, but is it thoroughly +complete? Is it the last and only form; and may not the very same law +be found by experiment to be at work in future art that cannot be +called classical, as it was found to be at work in the various noble +schools since classical times? One must agree with the Emperor that +the Greeks and Romans illustrated the "law of beauty and harmony, of +the esthetic, in a wonderful manner." But it was wonderfully done for +their age and intellect. They did not exhaust the beautiful and +harmonious: far from it. + +Neither the world nor mankind has been standing still ever since; +certainly the mind of man has not, even though his senses have +undergone no elemental change. Paganism was succeeded by Christianity, +and with Christianity came a new art canon, new forms of beauty and +harmony--the Early Italian. The age of reason followed, bringing with +it the Baroque and Rococo canons: and as time went on, and the world's +mind kept working, came other canons still. The most recent canon +appears to be that of naturalism (the Emperor's "gutter ") with which +artists are now experimentalizing. None of the canons, be it noticed, +destroyed the canon that preceded, because beauty and harmony are +indestructible and imperishable. "A thing of beauty is a joy for +ever." + +But not only the mind of man kept changing: the world itself and its +civilization--by war, by treaty, by science, by invention, by art +itself--kept changing, and is changing now. Development, physical as +well as social, has been constant, and the changes accompanying it +have inspired, and are inspiring, artists with new ideas to which they +are always trying to give expression. The subjects of art have +enormously multiplied. Those introduced by sport of all kinds, by the +development of the theatre, by the newly-found effects of light and +colour, need only be mentioned as examples capable of suggesting +beauties and harmonies unknown to and unsuspected by the ancients. +Hence, in addition to the classical art of the day, there is room for +the "new art," the secessionist, the futurist, the impressionist, even +the cubist, or whatever the experimental movement may call itself. And +any day any of these movements may lead to the establishment of a new +and admirable school of genuine art as beautiful as the classical, if +in a different manner. The world has no idea of the surprises in all +directions yet in store for it. + +The Emperor, too, is at one with all the world in assuming that art, +to deserve the name, must possess the quality of beauty. He speaks of +"beauty and harmony," but let it be taken that he understands beauty +to include harmony. Now, as has been suggested, to answer the +question, what is beauty, satisfactorily, is no easy matter. In +immediate proximity to it lies the question, what is ugliness? It +might be argued that nothing in nature is ugly, and that the word was +introduced to express what is merely an inability on the part of +mankind to perceive the beauty which constitutes nature; and it +certainly is possible that, were man endowed with the mind of God, +instead of with only some infinitesimal and mysterious emanation of +it, he would find all things in creation, all art included, beautiful. +The author of the Book of Genesis asserts that when God had finished +making the world He looked upon His handiwork and saw that it was +good. There is one advantage in adopting this view, and no small one, +that a belief in its truth must impel us to look for beauty and +goodness in all things, whether in art or nature--and even in the +Secession. Perhaps, however, we shall not be far from the truth in +saying, as regards art, that all things in creation are beautiful, +that there are degrees in beauty of which ugliness is the lowest, and +that the truly inspired artist can make all things, ugliness included, +beautiful. + +The Emperor thinks the appreciation of beauty is one of our innate +ideas, like the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, which +we call conscience. There is no agreement among thinkers on the point, +and it may be that both beauty and conscience are relative, and simply +the result of environment and education. Certainly there is no +standard of beauty, and more certainly still, not of feminine beauty. +The Mahommedan admires a woman who has the nose of the parrot, the +teeth of the pomegranate seed, and the tread of the elephant. + +But though there is no complete standard of beauty about which all +people, at all times, in all countries, are agreed, there are two +elements of beauty which may be said to have been standardized, at +least for the civilized world, by the early Greeks and Romans. These +elements are simplicity and harmony, simplicity being the forms of +things most directly and pleasingly appealing to the eye and most +easily reaching the common understanding, while harmony is the +combination of parts most nearly identical with the lines, contours, +and proportions of nature. These are two essentials of good sculpture, +and the Emperor was talking to sculptors and perhaps thinking only of +sculpture. + +Yet simplicity and harmony alone do not constitute beauty, while on +the other hand beauty may take very complicated forms. A third element +one may suggest is essential, and its indescribable nature causes all +the difficulty there is in defining beauty. This third element +is--charm. A work of art, to be beautiful, must charm, and to +different people different things are charming. Plato's theory is that +the sense of beauty is a dim recollection of a standard we have seen +in a heavenly pre-existence. Accepting it as as good an explanation of +charm as we can get, we may conclude by defining beauty as, in its +highest form, a combination of simplicity and harmony, resulting in +charm. + +The Emperor says: "To us Germans great ideals have become permanent +possessions, whereas to other peoples they have been more or less +lost." The remark is not one of those best calculated to promote +friendly feelings on the part of other peoples towards Germany or its +Emperor. It is like his declaration that Germans are the "salt of the +earth," and of a piece with the aggressive attitude of intellectual +superiority adopted by many Germans towards other nations--one reason, +by the way, for German unpopularity in the world. But is it true? +Germany has great ideals in permanent possession, but are they more or +less lost to other peoples? It is at least doubtful. Great ideals are +the permanent possession of every great people; it is these ideals +that have made them great; and they are no less great if they differ +according to the nature and conditions of each great people. One might +go further, indeed, and say that great ideals are the common property +and permanent possession of all great peoples. It is a hard saying +that any one people has a monopoly of them. The contribution of every +great nation to the common stock of great ideals is incalculable, and +it would be interesting to investigate which nation is most +successfully working out its great ideals in practice. + +The truth is the German ideal of beauty in art is not, generally +speaking, the same as that of the Anglo-Saxon or Latin foreigner. The +art ideals of the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races in this respect are for +the most part Greek, while those of the German race are for the most +part Roman; and in each case the ideals are the outcome of the spirit +which has had most influence on the mind and manners of the different +races. The Greek philosophic and aesthetic spirit has chiefly +influenced Anglo-Saxon and Latin art ideals: the Roman spirit, +particularly the military spirit and the spirit of law, have chiefly +influenced German ideals: and, as a result, arrived at through ages +during which events of epoch-making importance caused many successive +modifications, while the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races are most +impressed by such qualities as lightness and delicacy of outline, +round and softly-flowing curves and elegance of ornamentation, the +German appears, to the Anglo-Saxon and Latin, to be more impressed by +the elaborate, the gigantic, the Gothic, the grotesque, the hard, the +made, the massive, and the square. In both styles are to be found +"beauty and harmony, the aesthetic," to quote the Emperor, but they +appeal differently to people of different national temperaments. To +the Anglo-Saxon and Latin in general, therefore, German art, and +particularly German sculpture and architecture, while impressive and +admirable, lack for most foreigners the entirely indescribable quality +we have called "charm." + +The true artist, the Emperor says, needs no advertisement, no press, +no patronage. The Emperor is right. The true artist, once he begins to +produce first-rate work, will obtain instant recognition, and his work +will begin to sell, not perhaps at prices the same kind of work may +bring later, but at prices sufficient to support the artist and his +family in reasonable comfort. If it does not, he is not producing good +work and had better turn his attention to something else. As a matter +of fact very few true artists do advertise, use the press, or seek +patronage. The artist does not go to the press or the patron, for +nowadays, the moment the artist does excellent work, the press and the +patron go to him, and, when he is very exceptionally good, he is +advertised and patronized until he is sick of both advertisement and +patronage. + +Naturally it is different in the case of the artist who is not +excellently good, but the Emperor was not considering such. These +artists too, however, insist on living and must find a market for +their wares. It is an age of advertisement, the growth of new economic +conditions, for advertisement creates as well as reveals new markets. +Hence the vast host of mediocrities, not only in art but in almost +every field of human activity, nowadays advertise and seek patronage +because only in this way can they find purchasers and live. These +artists, often men of talent, dislike having to advertise; they would +rather work for art's sake, but having to do so need not hinder them +from working for art's sake, since all that is meant by that much +misused phrase is that while the artist is working he shall not think +of the reward of his work, but simply and solely of how to do the best +work he can. + +Before leaving the Emperor's speech one is tempted to inquire what +should be the attitude of a sovereign towards art and artists. For the +Englishman the doctrine of Individualism--the thing he is so apt to +make a fetish of--gives an answer, and, it may be, the right one. The +Englishman will probably say that if in any one province of life more +than in another freedom should be allowed to originality of conception +regarding the form as well as the substance, the manner as well as the +matter, it is in the province of art, always provided, of course, that +the artist is sane and not guilty of indecency. The artist, like the +poet, is born not made; you cannot make an artist, you can only make +an artisan. The artist, who represents the Creator, the creative +faculty, can influence man: man cannot, and should not try to, +influence the artist, but can, and should only, offer him the +materials for his art, smooth the way for his endeavour, encourage him +in it by sympathetic yet candid criticism, and above all, when he can +afford it, by buying the result of his endeavour when it is +successful. + +This should be the attitude of both monarch and Maecenas: it is an +attitude of benevolent neutrality. "I know," such a Maecenas might say +to the artist, + + "that your artistic faculties move in an atmosphere above as + well as on the earth, as I know that above the atmosphere of + oxygen and hydrogen which envelops the earth there is an + ethereal, a rarefied atmosphere, which stretches to worlds + of which all we know is that they exist. If your spirit can + soar above this earthly atmosphere, well and good. I, for + one, shall do nothing to limit or hinder it: I shall only + welcome and applaud and reward whatever effort you make to + bring our inner being a step, long or short, nearer to the + source of celestial light. Consequently, I offer you no + instructions and put no fetters on your imagination." + +It takes all sorts of art to make an artistic world, as it takes all +sorts of people to make the human world: a world with only classic art +in it would be as uninteresting and unthinkable as a world in which +every one was of the same character, occupation, and dress. + +But it is time to consider the Emperor a little more in detail in +relation to his connexion with the arts. If he were not a first-rate +monarch he would probably be a first-rate artist. He said once that if +he were to be an artist, he would be a sculptor. But if he is not a +professional artist he is a connoisseur, a dilettante in the right +sense, a lover of the arts, an art-loving prince. The painter Salzmann +tells us how he used to go to the Villa Liegnitz in Potsdam to give +Prince William lessons, and how the Empress, then Princess William, +used to sit with the pupil and his teacher, discussing technical and +art questions. A result of the teaching, in addition to the pictures +mentioned elsewhere, was an oil-painting, a sea-fight, which still +hangs in the Ravene Gallery in Berlin. + +In the spring of 1886 the Prince sent his teacher a sketch for +criticism. Salzmann wired his opinion to Potsdam, and a telegram came +back, "What does 'wind too anxious' mean? is it so stormily painted +that you shuddered at it, or is it not stormy enough?" Salzmann is +also authority for the statement that the Prince sent in a sea-piece +to the annual Berlin Art Exhibition. It was placed ready to be judged, +but suddenly disappeared. The Emperor William, it appeared, had +decided that it would not do for a future Emperor to compete with +professional artists or run the risk of sarcastic public criticism. +Naturally since he came to the throne the Emperor has never had time +to cultivate his talent as a painter, but has always fed his eyes and +mind on the best kind of painting, and brings his sense of form and +colour to bear on everything he does or has a voice in. + +That the Emperor's own taste in painting is of a "classical" kind in a +very catholic sense was shown by the personal interest he took in +getting together and having brought to Berlin the exhibition of old +English masters in 1908. At his request the English owners of many of +these treasures agreed to lend them for exhibition in Germany, +submitting thereby to the risk of loss or damage, displaying an +unselfish disposition to aid in elevating the taste of a foreign +people, and at the same time giving Germans a better and more tangible +idea of the nation which could produce artists of such nobility of +feeling and marvellous technical capacity. The Emperor paid several +visits to the exhibition and thousands of Berlin folk followed his +example, so that the beauty of the works of Gainsborough, Raeburn, +Lawrence, Hoppner, and Romney was for months a topic of enthusiastic +conversation in the capital. + +Encouraged by this success, the Emperor next caused a similar +exhibition of French painters to be arranged. The Rococo period was +now chosen, many lovely specimens of the art of Watteau, Lancret, +David, Vigee, Lebrun, Fragonnard, Greuze, and Bonnat were procured, +and again the Berliner was given an opportunity not only of enjoying +an artistic treat of a delightful kind, but of comparing the +impressions made on him by the art spirits of two other nations. The +opening of this French exhibition was made by the Emperor the occasion +of emphasizing his conciliatory feelings towards France, for he +attended an evening entertainment at the French Embassy given +specially in honour of the occasion. + +A third art exhibition followed in 1910--that of two hundred American +oil paintings brought to Berlin and shown in the Royal Academy of Arts +on the Panser Platz. They included works by Sargent, Whistler, Gari +Melchior, Leon Dabo, Joseph Pennell, and many others. The suggestion +for this exhibition did not proceed from the Emperor, but in all +possible ways he gave the exhibition his personal support. On +returning from inspecting it he telegraphed to the American Ambassador +in Berlin, Dr. D. J. Hill, to express the pleasure he had derived from +what he had seen. Nor was such a mark of admiration surprising. The +exhibition was nothing short of a revelation, going far to dissipate +the German belief--perhaps the English belief also--that America +possesses no body of painters of the first rank. + +Again we have recourse to the marine painter, Herr Salzmann. Wired for +by the Emperor, the painter got to the palace at 10.15 PM. When he +arrived the Emperor cried out, "So, at last! Where have you been +hiding yourself? I have had Berlin searched for you." The Emperor and +Empress and suite had just returned from the theatre and were standing +about the room. It turned out that the Emperor wanted the painter to +help him sketch a battleship of a certain design he had in mind, to +see how it would look on the water. In the middle of the room an +adjutant stood and read out a speech made by a Radical deputy in the +Reichstag that day, and the Emperor made occasional remarks about it, +though at the same time he was engaged with the ship. The painter does +not forget to add that he "was provided with a good glass of beer." + +The Emperor is reported to be a capital "sitter." He had the French +painter Borchart staying with him at Potsdam to paint his portrait. +Borchart describes him as an ideal model, so still and patiently did +he sit, and this at times for more than two hours. He talked freely +during the sittings. "I don't want to be regarded as a devourer of +Frenchmen," was a remark made on one of these occasions; on another he +praised President Loubet; and on a third he had a good word even for +the Socialist Jaures. When Borchart had finished and naively expressed +satisfaction with his own work the Emperor said, "Na, na, friend +Borchart, not so proud; it is for us to criticize." + +As the Emperor is a lover of the "classical" in painting and +sculpture, it is not strange to find him an admirer of the classical +in music and recommending it to his people as the best form of musical +education. He holds that there is much in common between it and the +folk-songs of Germany. At Court he revived classical dances like the +minuet and the gavotte. He is devoted to opera and never leaves before +the end of the performance. Concerts frequently take place in the +royal palaces at Potsdam and Berlin, items on the programme for them +being often suggested by the Emperor. The programme is then submitted +to him and is rarely returned without alteration. Not seldom the +concert is preceded by a rehearsal, which the Emperor attends and +which itself has been carefully rehearsed beforehand, as the Emperor +expects everything to run smoothly. At these rehearsals he will often +cause an item to be repeated. Bach and Handel are his prime +favourites. He is no admirer of Strauss. Wagner he often listens to +with pleasure, and especially the "Meistersinger," which is his pet +opera. Of Italian operas Verdi's "Aida" and Meyerbeer's "Huguenots" +are those he is most disposed to hear. + +He has been laughed at for once attempting musical composition. The +"Song to Aegir," which he composed in 1894 at the age of thirty-five +(when he should have known better), was, he told the bandmaster of a +Hannoverian regiment, suggested to him by the singing of a Hannoverian +glee society. It is a song twenty-four lines long, with the inevitable +references to the foe, and the sword and shield, and whales and +mermaids, and the God of the waves, who is called on to quell the +storm. The lady-in-waiting who wrote the "Private Lives of the Emperor +and His Consort" tells with much detail how the song was really +written, not by the Emperor, but almost wholly by a musical adjutant. +It does not greatly matter, but it is likely that the Emperor is +responsible for the text if he did not compose the music. + +One of the best and most interesting descriptions of his kindly and +characteristic way of treating artists is that given by the late +Norwegian composer, Eduard Grieg. + +"The other day," writes the composer, + + I had a chance to meet your Kaiser. He had already expressed + a desire last year to meet me, but I was ill at that time. + Now he has renewed his wish, and therefore I could not + decline the invitation. I am, as you know, little of a + courtier. But I said to myself, 'Remember Aalesund' (for + which the Emperor had sent a large sum after a great fire), + and my sense of duty conquered. Our first meeting was at + breakfast at the German Consul's house. During the meal we + spoke much about music. I like his ways, and--oddly + enough--our opinions also agreed. Afterwards he came to me + and I had the pleasure of talking with him alone for nearly + an hour. We spoke about everything in heaven and + earth--about poetry, painting, religion, Socialism, and the + Lord knows what besides. + + "He was fortunately a human being, and not an Emperor. I was + therefore permitted to express my opinions openly, though in + a discreet manner, of course. Then followed some music. He + had brought along an orchestra (!), about forty men. He took + two chairs, placed them in front of all the others, sat down + on one, and said, 'If you please, first parquet'; and then + the music began--Sigurd Jorsalfar, Peer Gynt, and many other + things. + + "While the music was being played he continually aided me in + correcting the _tempi_ and the expression, although as a + matter of course I had not wanted to do such a thing. He was + very insistent, however, that I should make my intentions + clear. Then he illustrated the impression made by the music + by movements of his head and body. It was wonderful + _(göttlich)_ to watch his serpentine movements _à la + Orientalin_ while they played Anitra's dance, which quite + electrified him. + + "Afterwards I had to play for him on the piano, and my wife, + who sat nearest him, told me that here too he illustrated + the impression made on him, especially at the best places. + + "I played the minuet from the pianoforte sonata which he + found 'very Germanic' and powerfully built: and the 'Wedding + Day at Troldhaugen,' which piece he also liked. + + "On the following day there was a repetition of these things + on board the _Hohenzollern_, where we were all invited to + dinner at eight o'clock. The orchestra played on deck in the + most wondrously bright summer night while many + hundreds--nay, I believe thousands--of rowboats and small + steamers were grouped about us. The crowd applauded + constantly and cheered enthusiastically whenever the Kaiser + became visible. He treated me like a patient: he gave me his + cloak and sent to fetch a rug, with which he covered me + carefully. + + "I must not forget to relate that he grew so enthusiastic + over 'Sigurd Jorsalfar,' the subject of which I explained to + him as minutely as possible, that he said to von Hiilsen, + the intendant of the royal theatres, who sat next to him: + 'We must produce this work! (This was not done, however.) + + "I then invited von Hiilsen to come to Christiania to + witness a performance of it, and he said he was very eager + to so. All in all this meeting was an event and a surprise + in the best sense. The Kaiser, certainly, is a very uncommon + man, a strange mixture of great energy, great self-reliance, + and great kindness of heart. Of children and animals he + spoke often and with sympathy, which I regard as a + significant thing." + +On the New Year's Day following the Emperor sent the composer a +telegram reading: "To the northern bard to listen to whose strains has +always been a joy to me I send my most sincere wishes for the new year +and new creative activity." In 1906, Grieg, having once more been the +Emperor's guest, writes to a friend: + + "He was greatly pleased with having become once more a + grandfather. He called to me across the table (referring to + 'Sigurd'), 'Is it agreeable if I call the child Sigurd?' It + must be something _Urgermanisch_." + +The following anecdote may remind the reader of the amusing scene in +Offenbach's "Grand Duchesse of Gerolstein," where the Grand Duchess, +talking to the guardsman whose athletic proportions she admires, +addresses him with a rising scale of "corporal" ... "sergeant" ... +"lieutenant" ... "captain" ... "colonel," and so on, as she talks, +only, however, later cruelly to re-descend the scale to the very +bottom when her courtship is ineffectual. The Emperor is at an organ +recital in the Kaiser William Memorial Church; the recital is over and +the Court party are about to go when he greets the organist, Herr +Fischer: "My cordial thanks for the great pleasure you have given us, +Herr Professor." "Pardon, your Majesty," replies the organist, with +commendable presence of mind: "May I venture to thank your Majesty for +the great mark of favour?" "What mark of favour?" asks the Emperor, a +little puzzled. "The fact is your Majesty has more than once addressed +me as 'professor,' although--" "Why, that's good," exclaims the +Emperor, with a great laugh, "very good indeed;" and striking his +forehead in self-reproach with the palm of his hand: "so forgetful of +me! Then you are not professor, after all! Well, no matter; what is +not, may be--what I said, I said. Adieu, _Herr Professor_" and goes +off smiling. The very same evening--need it be added?--Herr Fischer +had his patent as Professor in his pocket. + +The Emperor is particularly fond of "my Americans" among his operatic +artists. A good deal of jealousy has at times been shown by the German +employees of the opera towards the American artists entertained there +and a deputy has more than once protested in the Reichstag against the +number employed; but the jealousy rarely results in harm, and on the +whole harmony--as it should--prevails. + +Every year brings hundreds of American girl students to Berlin, +Munich, or Dresden to learn singing and perhaps carry off the great +prize of a "star" engagement at one or the other of the German royal +opera houses. The experiences of some of these students are tragedies +on a small scale, and in one or two instances have been known to end +in death, destitution, or dishonour. The explanation is simple. Such +students, filled with the high hopes inspired by artistic ambition and +the artist's imagination, fail to ask themselves before going abroad +if nature has endowed them with the qualities and powers requisite for +one of the most laborious and, for a girl, exposed professions in the +world; and do not learn until it is too late that they lack the +resolute character, the robust health, and the talent which, not +singly but all three combined, are essential to success. + +Such a girl often starts on her enterprise poorly supplied with means +to pay for her board, lodging, clothes, recreation, and instruction; +she changes from the dearer sort of _pension_ to the cheaper, finding +her company and surroundings at each remove more doubtful and more +dangerous; she grows disappointed and disheartened, perhaps physically +ill; comes under bad influences, male or female; until finally the +curtain falls on a sufferer rescued at the last moment by relatives or +friends, or on a young life blasted. Such tragic cases, it should be +said, are far from common, but they occur, and the possibility of +their occurrence ought to be taken into account at the outset by the +intending music or art student. + +Happily there is another and brighter side to the picture, and the +intending student with money and friends will enjoy and gain advantage +from a few years of continental life, even though exceptional strength +and genuine talent be wanting. Perhaps this is the experience of the +great majority of art students in Germany. Freedom from the restraints +and conventions of life at home compensates for the inconveniences +arising from narrow means. Novelty of scenery and surroundings has a +charm that is constantly recurring. The kindness and helpfulness of +fellow-countrymen and countrywomen make the wheels of daily life roll +smoothly. The freemasonry of art, its optimism and hope, and the +pleasure and interest of its practice, investigation, and discussion +wing the hours and spur to effort. + +But to return to the Emperor. As a lad at Cassel he was fond of +playing charades, and is reported to have had a knack of quickly +sketching the scenario and _dramatis personæ_ of a play which he and +his young companions would then and there proceed to act. One of these +plays had Charlemagne for its subject, with a Saxon feudatory, whose +lovely daughter, Brunhilde, scorns her father for his submission. A +banquet, ending in a massacre of Charlemagne's followers, is one of +the scenes, and as Brunhilde is in love with Charlemagne's son she +helps him to escape from the massacre. The Play ends with the suicide +of Brunhilde. As he grew up the Emperor's interest in the theatre +increased, and, as has been seen, when he succeeded to the throne he +resolved to make use of it for educating and elevating the public +mind. As patriotism consists largely in knowing and properly +appreciating history he has always encouraged dramatists who could +portray historic scenes and events, particularly those with which the +Hohenzollerns were connected. Hence his support of Josef Lauff, Ernst +von Wildenbruch and Detlev von Liliencron. Not long ago he arranged a +series of performances at Kroll's Theatre intended for workmen only. +The performances were chiefly of the stirring historical +kind--Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell," Goethe's "Götz von Berlichingen," +Kleist's "Prince von Hornburg," and others that require huge +processions and a crowded stage. The general public were not supposed +to attend the performances, but tickets were sent to the factories and +workshops for sale at a low price. + +In 1898 the Emperor publicly stated his views about the theatre. "When +I mounted the throne ten years ago," he said, + + "I was, owing to my paternal education, the most fervent of + idealists. Convinced that the first duty of the royal + theatres was to maintain in the nation the cultivation of + the idealism to which, God be thanked, our people are still + faithful, and of which the sources are not yet nearly + exhausted, I determined to myself to make my royal theatres + an instrument comparable to the school or the university + whose mission it is to form the rising generation and to + inculcate in them respect for the highest moral traditions + of our dear German land. For the theatre ought to contribute + to the culture of the soul and of the character, and to the + elevation of morals. Yes, the theatre is also one of my + weapons.... It is the duty of a monarch to occupy himself + with the theatre, because it may become in his hands an + incalculable force." + +If the Emperor has any special gift it is an eye for theatrical effect +in real life as well as on the stage. He had a good share of the +actor's temperament in his younger years, and until recently showed it +in the conduct of imperial and royal business of all kinds. He still +gives it play occasionally in the royal opera houses and theatres. The +Englishman, whose ruler is a civilian, is not much impressed by +pageantry and pomp, except as reminding him of superannuated, though +still revered, historical traditions and events that are landmarks in +a great military and maritime past. He would not care to see his King +always, or even frequently, in uniform, as he would be apt to find in +the fact an undue preference for one class of citizens to another. His +idea is that the monarch ought to treat all classes of his subjects +with equal kingly favour. In Germany it is otherwise. The monarchy +relies on military force for its dynastic security, as much, one might +perhaps say, as for the defence of the country or the keeping of the +public peace, and consequently favours the military. Moreover, the +peoples that compose the Empire have been harassed throughout the long +course of their history by wars; a large percentage of their youth are +serving in the standing army or in the reserves, the Landwehr and the +Landsturm; finally the Germans, though not, as it appears to the +foreigner, an artistic people, save in regard to music, enjoy the +spectacular and the theatrical. + +Accordingly we find the Emperor artistically arranging everything and +succeeding particularly well in anything of an historical and +especially of a military nature. The spring and autumn parades of the +Berlin garrison on the Tempelhofer Field--an area large enough, it is +said, to hold the massed armies of Europe--with their gatherings of +from 30,000 to 60,000 troops of all arms, serve at once to excite the +Berliner's martial enthusiasm, while at the same time it obscurely +reminds him that if he treats the dynasty disrespectfully he will have +a formidable repressive force to reckon with. Hence at manoeuvres the +Emperor is accompanied by an enormous suite; whenever he motors down +Unter den Linden it is at a quick pace, which impresses the crowd +while it lessens the chances of the bomb-thrower or the assassin. The +scene of the reception of Prince Chun at the New Palace was a great +success as an artistic performance, and the pageants at the +restoration of the Hohkönigsburg and at the Saalburg festival were of +the same artistic order. + +The Emperor's theatrical interest and attention when in Berlin are +concentrated on the Berlin Royal Opera and the Berlin Royal Theatre +(Schauspielhaus), and when in Wiesbaden on the Royal Festspielhaus at +that resort. When in his capital he goes very rarely to any other +place of theatrical entertainment. His interest in the royal opera and +theatre both in Berlin and Wiesbaden is personal and untiring, and he +has done almost as much or more for the adequate representation of +grand opera in his capital as the now aged Duke of Saxe-Meiningen did, +through his famous Meiningen players, for the proper presentation of +drama in Germany generally. The revivals of "Aida" and "Les Huguenots" +under the Emperor's own supervision are accepted as faultless examples +of historical accuracy in every detail and of good taste and harmony +in setting. + +In a well-informed article in the _Contemporary Review_ Mr. G. +Valentine Williams writes: + + "Once the rehearsals of a play in which the Emperor is + interested are under way he loses no time in going to the + theatre to see whether the instructions he has appended to + the stage directions in the MS. are being properly carried + out. Some morning, when the vast stage of the opera is + humming with activity, the well-known primrose-coloured + automobile will drive up to the entrance and the Emperor, + accompanied only by a single adjutant, will emerge. In three + minutes William II will be seated at a big, business-like + table placed in the stalls, before him a pile of paper and + an array of pencils. When he is in the house there is no + doubt whatever in anyone's mind as to who is conducting the + rehearsal. His intendant stands at his side in the darkened + auditorium and conveys his Majesty's instructions to the + stage, for the Emperor never interrupts the actors himself. + He makes a sign to the intendant, scribbles a note on a + sheet of paper, while the intendant, who is a pattern of + unruffled serenity, just raises his hand and the performance + abruptly ceases. There is a confabulation, the Emperor, with + the wealth of gesture for which he is known, explaining his + views as to the positions of the principals, the dresses, + the uniforms, using anything, pencil, penholder, or even his + sword to illustrate his meaning. Again and again up to a + dozen times the actors will be put through their paces until + the imperial Regisseur is entirely satisfied that the right + dramatic effect has been obtained. + + "All who have witnessed the imperial stage-manager at work + agree that he has a remarkable _flair_ for the dramatic. + Very often one of his suggestions about the entrances or + exits, a piece of 'business' or a pose, will be found on + trial to enhance the effect of the scene. A story is told of + the Emperor's insistence on accuracy and the minute + attention he pays to detail at rehearsal. After his visit to + Ofen-Pest some years ago for the Jubilee celebration, which + had included a number of Hungarian national dances, the + Emperor stopped a rehearsal of the ballet at the Berlin + opera while a Czardas was in progress and pointed out to the + balletteuses certain minor details which were not correct. + + "In his attitude to the Court actors and actresses he + displays the charm of manner which bewitches all with whom + he comes in contact. He calls them 'meine Schauspieler,' + which makes one think of 'His Majesty's Servants' of + Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. This practice sometimes has + amusing results. Once when the Theatre Royal comedian, Dr. + Max Pohl, was suddenly taken ill the Emperor said to an + acquaintance, 'Fancy, my Pohl had a seizure yesterday;' and + the acquaintance, thinking he was referring to a pet dog + replied, commiseratingly: 'Ah, poor brute!' After rehearsal + the Emperor often goes on to the stage and talks with the + actors about their parts. + + "A Hohenzollern must not be shown on the stage without the + express permission of the Emperor, and in general, if + politics are mixed up in an objectionable way with the + action of the drama, the play will be forbidden. Above all + the Emperor will not tolerate indecency, nor the mere + suggestion of it, in the plays given at the royal theatres. + An anecdote about Herr Josef Lauff's Court drama 'Frederick + of the Iron Tooth,' dealing with an ancestor, an Elector of + Brandenburg, and on which Leoncavallo, at the Emperor's + request, wrote the opera 'Der Roland von Berlin,' shows the + Emperor's strictness in this respect. Frederick of the Iron + Tooth is a burgher of Berlin who leads a revolt against the + Elector. In order to heighten Frederick's hate, Lauff wove + in a love theme into the drama. The wife of Ryke, + burgomaster of Berlin, figured as Frederick's mistress and + egged on her lover against the Elector, because the latter + had hanged her brothers, the Quitzows, notorious outlaws of + the Mark Brandenburg. The Emperor cut out the whole episode + when the play was submitted to him in manuscript. The + marginal note in his big, bold handwriting ran: '_Eine + Courtisane kommt in einem Hohenzollerstück nicht vor_' (A + courtesan has no place in a Hohenzollern drama)." + +The Emperor's constant change of uniform is often said to be a sign of +his liking for the theatrical, and writers have compared him on this +account with lightning-change artists like the great Fregoli. Rather +his respect for and reliance on the army, a sense of fitness with the +occasion to be celebrated, a feeling of personal courtesy to the +person to be received, are the motives for such changes. The Paris +_Temps_ published the following incident apropos of the Emperor's +visit to England in November, 1902. When, on arriving at Port +Victoria, the royal yacht _Hohenzollern_ came in view, the members of +the English Court sent to welcome the Emperor saw him through their +glasses walking up and down the captain's bridge wearing a long +cavalry cloak over a German military uniform. When they stepped on +board they found him in the undress uniform of an English admiral. +They lunched with him, and in the afternoon, when he left for London, +he was wearing the uniform of an English colonel of dragoons. Arrived +in London, he left for Sandringham, and must have changed his dress +_en route_, for he left the train in a frock-coat and tall hat. + +Perhaps the most notable theatrical event of the reign hitherto was +the production at the Royal Opera in 1908 of the historic pantomime +"Sardanapalus." The Emperor's idea, as he said himself, was to "make +the Museums speak," to which a Berlin critic replied, "You can't +dramatize a museum." The ballet, for it was that as well as a +pantomime, engrossed the Emperor's time and attention for several +weeks. He spent hours with the great authority on Assyriology, +Professor Friedrich Delitzsch, going over reliefs and plans taken from +the Kaiser Friedrich Museum or borrowed from museums in Paris, London, +and Vienna, decided on the costumes and designed the war-chariots to +be used in the ballet. The notion was to rehabilitate the reputation +of Asurbanipal, the second-last King of Assyria, whom the Greeks +called "Sardanapalus," who reigned in Nineveh six hundred years before +Christ, over Ethiopia, Babylon and Egypt, and whom Lord Byron, +accepting the Greek story, represented as the most effeminate and +debauched monarch the world had ever known. + +Professor Delitzsch, with a wealth of recondite learning, showed, on +the contrary, that Sardanapalus was a wise and liberal-minded monarch, +who, rather than fall into the hands of the Medes, built himself a +pyre in a chamber of his palace and perished on it with his wives, his +children, and his treasure. The whole four acts, with the various +ballets, gave a perfectly faithful representation of the period as +described by Diodorus and Herodotus, and as plastically shown on the +reliefs discovered at Nineveh by Sir Henry Layard and subsequently by +German excavators. Over £10,000 was spent upon the production, and the +public were worked up to a great pitch of curiosity concerning it. But +it was a complete failure as far as the public were concerned. +"Heavens!" exclaimed one critic, "what a bore!" This, however, was not +the fault of the Emperor, but was due to want of interest on the part +of a public whose enthusiasm for the events and characters of times so +remote could only be kindled by a genius, and a dramatic one. The +Emperor is no such genius, nor had he one at command. + + + + +XI. + + + +THE NEW CENTURY (_continued_) + + + +1902-1904 + +King George V has hardly been sufficiently long on the English throne +for a contemporary to judge of the personal relations that exist +between his Majesty and the Emperor as chief representatives of their +respective nations. The King of England was, until June, 1913, +hindered by various circumstances from paying a visit to the Court of +Berlin, and rumours were current that relations between the two rulers +were not as friendly as they might and should be. There is now every +indication that though the relations of people to people and +Government to Government vary in degrees of coolness or warmth, the +two monarchs are on perfectly good terms of cousinship and amity. + +A visit paid by King George, when Prince of Wales, to the Emperor in +Potsdam at the opening of 1902 testified to the goodwill that then +subsisted between them. It was the evening before the Emperor's +birthday, when the Emperor, at a dinner given by the officers of King +Edward's German regiment, the 1st Dragoon Guards, addressed the +English Heir Apparent in words of hearty welcome. The address was not +a long one, but in it the Emperor characteristically seized on the +motto of the Prince of Wales, "_Ich dien_" (I serve), to make it the +text of a laudatory reference to his young guest's conduct and career. +In its course the Emperor touched on the Prince's tour of forty +thousand miles round the world, and the effect his "winning +personality" had had in bringing together loyal British subjects +everywhere, and helping to consolidate the _Imperium Britannicum_, "on +the territories of which," as the Emperor said, doubtless with an +imperial pang of envy, "the sun never sets." The Prince, in his reply, +tendered his birthday congratulations, and expressed his "respect" for +the Emperor, the appropriate word to use, considering the ages and +royal ranks of the Emperor and his younger first cousin. + +With 1902 may be said to have begun the Emperor's courtship (as it is +often called in Germany) of America. His advances to the Dollar +Princess since then have been unremitting and on the whole cordially, +if somewhat coyly, received. + +The growth of intercourse of all kinds between Germany and the United +States is indeed one of the features of the reign. There are several +reasons why it is natural that friendly relationship should exist. It +has been said on good authority that thirty millions of American +citizens have German blood in their veins. Frederick the Great was the +first European monarch to recognize the independence of America. +German men of learning go to school in America, and American men of +learning go to school in Germany. A large proportion of the professors +in American universities have studied at German universities. The two +countries are thousands of miles apart, and are therefore less exposed +to causes of international jealousy and quarrel between contiguous +nations. On the other hand, the new place America has taken in the Old +World, dating, it may be said roughly, from the time of her war with +Spain (1898); the increase of her influence in the world, mainly +through the efforts of brave, benevolent, and able statesmen; the +expansion of her trade and commerce; the increase of the European +tourist traffic;--these factors also to some extent account for the +growth of friendly intercourse between the peoples. + +Nor should the bond between the two countries created by intermarriage +be overlooked. If the well-dowered republican maid is often ambitious +of union with a scion of the old European nobility, the usually needy +German aristocrat is at least equally desirous of mating with an +American heiress notwithstanding the vast differences in +race-character, political sentiment, manners, and views of life--and +especially of the status and privileges of woman--that must +fundamentally separate the parties. Great unhappiness is frequently +the result of such marriages, perhaps it may be said of a large +proportion of international marriages, but cases of great mutual +happiness are also numerous, and help to bring the countries into +sympathy and understanding. Prince Bülow, when Chancellor, reminded +the Reichstag, which was discussing an objection raised to the late +Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, when German Ambassador to America, that +he had married an American lady, that though Bismarck had laid down +the rule that German diplomatists ought not to marry foreigners, he +was quite ready to make exceptions in special cases, and that America +was one of them. The Emperor is well known to have no objection to his +diplomatic representative at Washington being married to an American, +but rather to prefer it, provided, of course, that the lady has plenty +of money. + +A difficulty between Germany and Venezuela arose in 1902 owing to the +ill-treatment suffered by German merchants in Venezuela in the course +of the civil war in that country from 1898 to 1900. + +The merchants complained that loans had been exacted from them by +President Castro and his Government, and that munitions of war and +cattle had been taken for the use of the army and left unpaid for. The +amount of the claim was 1,700,000 Bolivars (francs), a sum that +included the damage suffered by the merchants' creditors in Germany. +Similar complaints were made by English and Italian merchants. After +several efforts on the part of Germany to obtain redress had failed, +negotiations were broken off, the diplomatic representative of Germany +was recalled, and finally the combined fleets of England, Germany, and +Italy established a blockade of the Venezuelan coast. The difficulty +was eventually referred to the Hague Court of Arbitration, which +allowed the claims and directed payment of them on the security of the +revenues of the customs ports of La Guayra and Puerto Cabella. + +For a time the action of the Powers caused discussion of the Monroe +doctrine on both sides of the Atlantic. On this side it was pointed +out that American susceptibilities had been respected by the conduct +of the Powers in not landing troops, while on the other side there +were not wanting voices to exclaim that the naval demonstration went +too near being a breach of the hallowed creed--"hands off" the Western +Hemisphere. The Monroe doctrine, it may be recalled, was contained in +a message of President James Monroe, issued on February 2, 1823. It +was drawn up by John Quincey Adams, and declared that the United +States "regarded not only every effort of the Holy Alliance to extend +its system to the Western Hemisphere as dangerous to the peace and +freedom of the United States, but also every interference with the +object of subverting any independent American Government in the light +of unfriendliness towards America"; and it went on to declare that +"the Continents of America should no more be regarded as fields for +European colonization." + +The day, of course, may come when the American claim to the control, +if not physical possession, of half the earth will be questioned by +the Powers of Europe; but at present, as far as Germany is concerned, +and notwithstanding the absurd idea that Germany plans the seizure one +day of Brazil, the doctrine is of merely academic interest. For a few +days four years later it became the subject of lively discussion in +Germany and America owing to the first American Roosevelt professor, +Professor Burgess, referring to it in his inaugural lecture before the +Emperor and Empress as an "antiquated theory." As soon, however, as it +became apparent that Professor Burgess was giving utterance to a +purely personal opinion, and was not in any sense the bearer of a +message on the subject from the President, the discussion dropped. + +Another American episode of the year was the visit of Prince Henry, +the Emperor's brother, to the United States. Prince Henry left for +America in February. The visit was in reality made in pursuance of the +Emperor's world-policy of economic expansion, but there were not a few +politicians in England and America to assert that it was part of a +deep scheme of the Emperor's to counteract too warm a development of +Anglo-American friendship. However that may be, the visit was a +striking one, even though it gave no great pleasure to Germans, who +could not see any particular reason for it, nor any prospect of it +yielding Germany immediate tangible return for trouble and expense. +Prince Henry, it is said, though the most genial and democratic of +Hohenzollerns, was a little taken back at the American freedom of +manners, the wringing of hands, the slapping on the back, and other +republican demonstrations of friendship; but he cannot have shown +anything of such a feeling, for he was fêted on all sides, and soon +developed into a popular hero. + +One of the incidents of the visit, previously arranged, was the +christening of the Emperor's new American-built yacht, _Meteor III_, +by Miss Alice Roosevelt, the President's daughter. On February 25th +the Emperor received a cablegram from Prince Henry: "Fine boat, +baptized by the hand of Miss Alice Roosevelt, just launched amid +brilliant assembly. Hearty congratulations;" and at the same time one +from the President's daughter: "To his Majesty the Kaiser, +Berlin--_Meteor_ successfully launched. I congratulate you, thank you +for the kindness shown me, and send you my best wishes. Alice +Roosevelt." + +During the visit the Emperor cabled to President Roosevelt his thanks +and that of his people for the hospitable reception of his brother by +all classes, adding: + + "My outstretched hand was grasped by you with a strong, + manly, and friendly grip. May Heaven bless the relations of + the two nations with peace and goodwill! My best compliments + and wishes to Alice Roosevelt." + +Reference to this cordial electric correspondence may close with +mention of a telegram sent in reply to a message from Mr. Melville +Stone, of the American Associated Press: + + "Accept my thanks for your message. I estimate the great and + sympathetic reception (it was a banquet) given to my dear + brother by the newspaper proprietors of the United States + very highly." + +Prince Henry returned to Germany on March 17th, a Doctor of Law of +Harvard University. + +There have been moments when people in America were influenced by +other sentiments than those of entirely respectful admiration for the +Emperor. It was with mixed feelings that the American public heard the +news of his telegraphed offer to President Roosevelt in May, 1902, +when, as the telegram said, the Emperor was "under the deep impression +made by the brilliant and cordial reception" given to his brother, +Prince Henry, to present to the American nation a statue of--Frederick +the Great, and coupled with the offer a proposal that the statue +should be erected--of all places--in Washington! No one doubted the +Emperor's sincere desire to pay the highest compliment he could think +of to a people to whom he felt grateful for the honour done to Germany +in the person of his brother, but nearly every one smiled at the +simplicity, or, as some called it, the want of political tact shown by +offering the statue of a ruler whose name, to the vast majority of +Americans, is synonymous with absolute autocracy, to a republic which +prides itself on its civic ways and love of personal freedom. The gift +was accepted by the American Government in the spirit in which it was +offered, the spirit of goodwill. And why not? To the Emperor his great +ancestor's effigy is no symbol of autocracy, but the contrary, for to +the Emperor and his subjects Frederick the Great is as much the Father +of Prussia, the man who saved it and made it, as Washington was the +Father of America. Besides, the spirit in which a gift is offered, not +its value or appropriateness, is the thing to be considered. + +Irritation in England was still strong against Germany on account of +the latter's easily understood race-sympathy with the Boers during the +war just over, but the fact did not prevent the Emperor from accepting +King Edward's invitation to spend a few days at Sandringham with him +in November this year on the occasion of his birthday. The Emperor +took the Empress and two of his sons with him. The hostile temper of +the time, both in England and Germany, was alluded to in a sermon +preached in Sandringham Church by the then Bishop of London. It was +notable for its insistence on the necessity of friendlier relations +between England, Germany, and America, the three great branches of the +Teutonic race. After the service the Emperor is reported to have +exclaimed to the Bishop: "What you said was excellent, and is +precisely what I try to make my people understand." + +As a proof that this was no merely complimentary utterance, but the +expression of a thought which is constantly in the Emperor's mind, an +incident which happened at Kiel regatta in the month of June +previously may be recalled. The American squadron, under the late +Admiral Cotton, was paying an official visit to the Emperor during the +Kiel "week" as a return honour for the visit of the Emperor's brother, +Prince Henry of Prussia, to the United States the year before. There +was a constant round of festivities, and among them a lunch to the +Emperor on board the Admiral's flagship, the _Kearsarge_. Lunch over, +the Emperor was standing in a group talking with his customary +vivacity, but, as customary also, with his eyes taking in his +surroundings like a well-trained journalist. Suddenly he noticed a set +of flags, those of America, Germany, and England, twined together and +mingling their colours in friendly harmony. He walked over, gathered +the combined flags in his hand, and turning to the Admiral exclaimed +in idiomatic American: "See here, Admiral; that is exactly as it +should be, and is what I am trying for all the time." + +While in England the Emperor, in company with Lord Roberts and Sir +Evelyn Wood, inspected his English regiment, the 1st Royal Dragoons. A +curious and amusing feature of the visit was a lecture before the +Royal Family at Sandringham by a German engineer, for whom the Emperor +acted as interpreter, on a novel adaptation of spirit for culinary, +lighting, and laundry purposes. The Emperor's practical illustration +of the use of the new heating system, as applied to the ordinary +household flatiron, is said to have caused great merriment among his +audience. + +Germany's home atmosphere about this time was for a moment troubled by +an exhibition of the Emperor's "personal regiment" in the form of a +telegram to the Prince Regent of Bavaria, known in Germany as the +"Swinemunde Despatch." The Bavarian Diet, in a fit of economy, had +refused its annual grant of £5,000 for art purposes. The Emperor was +violently angry, wired to the Prince Regent his indignation with the +Diet and offered to pay the £5,000 out of his own pocket. It was not a +very tactful offer, to be sure, though well intended; and as his +telegram was not an act of State, "covered" by the Chancellor's +signature, while the Bavarians in particular felt hurt at what they +considered outside interference, Germans generally blamed it as a new +demonstration of autocratic rule. + +One or two other art incidents of the period may be noted. A domestic +one was the gift to the Emperor by the Empress of a model of her hand +in Carrara marble, life-sized, by the German sculptor, Rheinhold +Begas. The Emperor, it is well known, has no special liking for the +companionship of ladies, but he confesses to an admiration for pretty +feminine hands. Another incident was the Emperor's order to the +painter, Professor Rochling, to paint a picture representing the +famous episode in the China campaign, when Admiral Seymour gave the +order "Germans to the Front." It is to the present day a popular +German engraving. The year was also remarkable for a visit to Berlin +of Coquelin _aîné_, the great French actor. The Emperor saw him in +"Cyrano de Bergerac," was, like all the rest of the play-going world, +delighted with both play and player, and held a long and lively +conversation with the artist. Lastly may be mentioned a telegram of +the Emperor's to the once-famed tragic actress, Adelaide Ristori, in +Rome, congratulating her on her eightieth birthday and expressing his +regret that he had never met her. A basket of flowers simultaneously +arrived from the German Embassy. + +We are now in 1903. During the preceding years the Emperor's thoughts, +as has been seen, were occupied with art as a means of educating his +folk, purifying their sentiments, and, above all, making them faithful +lieges of the House of Hohenzollern. By a natural association of ideas +we find him this year thinking much and deeply about religion; for, +though artists are not a species remarkable for the depth or orthodoxy +of their views on religious matters, art and religion are close +allies, and probably the greater the artist the more real religion he +will be found to have. + +In this year, accordingly, the Emperor made his remarkable confession +of religious faith to his friend, Admiral Hollmann. He had just heard +a lecture by Professor Delitzsch on "Babel und Bibel," and as he +considered the Professor's views to some extent subversive of orthodox +Christian belief, he took the opportunity to tell his people his own +sentiments on the whole matter. In writing to Admiral Hollmann he +instructed him to make the "confession" as public as possible, and it +was published in the October number of the _Grenzboten_, a Saxon +monthly, sometimes used for official pronouncements. The Emperor's +letter to Admiral Hollmann contained what follows:-- + + "I distinguish between two different sorts of Revelation: a + current, to a certain extent historical, and a purely + religious, which was meant to prepare the way for the + appearance of the Messiah. As to the first, I should say + that I have not the slightest doubt that God eternally + revealed Himself to the race of mankind He created. He + breathed into man His breath, that is a portion of Himself, + a soul. With fatherly love and interest He followed the + development of humanity; in order to lead and encourage it + further He 'revealed' Himself, now in the person of this, + now of that great wise man, priest or king, whether pagan, + Jew or Christian. Hammurabi was one of these, Moses, + Abraham, Homer, Charlemagne, Luther, Shakespeare, Goethe, + Kant, Kaiser William the Great--these He selected and + honoured with His Grace, to achieve for their peoples, + according to His will, things noble and imperishable. How + often has not my grandfather explicitly declared that he was + an instrument in the hand of the Lord! The works of great + souls are the gifts of God to the people, that they may be + able to build further on them as models, that they may be + able to feel further through the confusion of the + undiscovered here below. Doubtless God has 'revealed' + Himself to different peoples in different ways according to + their situation and the degree of their civilization. Then + just as we are overborne most by the greatness and might of + the lovely nature of the Creation when we regard it, and as + we look are astonished at the greatness of God there + displayed, even so can we of a surety thankfully and + admiringly recognize, by whatever truly great or noble thing + a man or a people does, the revelation of God. His influence + acts on us and among us directly. + + "The second sort of Revelation, the more religious sort, is + that which led up to the appearance of the Lord. From + Abraham onward it was introduced, slowly but foreseeingly, + all-wisely and all-knowingly, for otherwise humanity were + lost. And now commences the astonishing working of God's + Revelation. The race of Abraham and the peoples that sprang + from it regard, with an iron logic, as their holiest + possession, the belief in a God. They must worship and + cultivate Him. Broken up during the captivity in Egypt, the + separated parts were brought together again for the second + time by Moses, always striving to cling fast to monotheism. + It was the direct intervention of God that caused this + people to come to life again. And so it goes on through the + centuries till the Messiah, announced and foreshadowed by + the prophets and psalmists, at last appears, the greatest + Revelation of God to the world. Then he appeared in the Son + Himself; Christ is God; God in human form. He redeemed us, + He spurs us on, He allures us to follow Him, we feel His + fire burn in us, His sympathy strengthens us, His + displeasure annihilates us, but also His care saves us. + Confident of victory, building only on His word, we pass + through labour, scorn, suffering, misery and death, for in + His Word we have God's revealed Word, and He never lies. + + "That is my view of the matter. The Word is especially for + us evangelicals made the essential thing by Luther, and as + good theologian surely Delitzsch must not forget that our + great Luther taught us to sing and believe--'Thou shalt + suffer, let the Word stand.' To me it goes without saying + that the Old Testament contains a large number of fragments + of a purely human historical kind and not 'God's revealed + Word.' They are mere historical descriptions of events of + all sorts which occurred in the political, religious, moral, + and intellectual life of the people of Israel. For example, + the act of legislation on Sinai may be regarded as only + symbolically inspired by God, when Moses had recourse to the + revival of perhaps some old-time law (possibly the codex, an + offshoot of the codex of Hammurabi), to bring together and + to bind together institutions of His people which were + become shaky and incapable of resistance. Here the historian + can, from the spirit or the text, perhaps construct a + connexion with the Law of Hammurabi, the friend of Abraham, + and perhaps logically enough; but that would no way lessen + the importance of the fact that God suggested it to Moses + and in so far revealed Himself to the Israelite people. + + "Consequently it is my idea that for the future our good + Professor would do well to avoid treating of religion as + such, on the other hand continue to describe unmolested + everything that connects the religion, manners, and custom + of the Babylonians with the Old Testament. On the whole, I + make the following deductions:-- + + "1. I believe in One God. + + "2. We humans need, in order to teach Him, a Form, + especially for our children. + + "3. This Form has been to the present time the Old Testament + in its existing tradition. This Form will certainly + decidedly alter considerably with the discovery of + inscriptions and excavations; there is nothing harmful in + that, it is even no harm if the nimbus of the Chosen People + loses much thereby. The kernel and substance remain always + the same--God, namely, and His work. + + "Never was religion a result of science, but a gushing out + of the heart and being of mankind, springing from its + intercourse with God." + +It is anticipating by a few months, but part of a speech the Emperor +made in Potsdam at the confirmation of his two sons, August Wilhelm +and Oscar--two Hohenzollerns as yet not distinguished for anything in +particular--may be quoted in this connexion. Naturally he began by +comparing his sons' spiritual situation with that of a soldier on the +day he takes the oath of allegiance: they were _vorgemerkt_, that is, +predestined as "fighters for Christ." "What is demanded of you," the +imperial father went on, "is that you shall be personalities. This is +the point which, in my opinion, is the most important for the +Christian in daily life. For there can be no doubt that we can say of +the person of the Lord, that He is the most 'personal personality' who +has ever wandered among the sons of men.... You will read of many +great men--savants, statesmen, kings and princes, of poets also: but +nevertheless no word of man has ever been uttered worthy of comparison +with the words of Christ; and I say this to you so that you may be in +a position to bear it out when you are in the midst of life's turmoil +and hear people discussing religion, especially the personality of +Christ. No word of man has ever succeeded in making people of all +races and all people enthusiastic for the same cause, namely, to +imitate Him, even to sacrifice their lives for Him. The wonder can +only be explained by assuming that what He said were the words of the +living God, which are the source of life, and continue to live +thousands of years after the words of the wise have been forgotten. +That is my personal experience and it will be yours. + +"The pivot and turning-point," he continued, + + "of our mortal life, especially of a life full of + responsibility and labour--that is clearer and clearer to me + every year I live--lies simply and solely in the attitude a + man adopts towards his Lord and Saviour;" + +and he concludes by exhorting his sons to disregard what people may +say about the cult of Christ being irreconcilable with the tasks and +responsibilities of "modern" life, but simply to do their best, +whatever their occupation, to become a personality after Christ's +example. + +This is a sound and just statement of Christian faith, and it is +quoted here to justify the view that the Emperor's soldiers and his +Dreadnoughts, his mailed fist and shining armour, are built and put on +in the spirit of precaution and defence. The attitude, it cannot of +course be denied, is based on the un-Christlike assumption that all +men (and particularly all peoples and their governments and +diplomatists) are liars; but in his favour it may be urged that for +that saying the Emperor could cite Biblical authority. And yet there +is an inconsistency; for the saying is that of one of those same wise +men whose words, the Emperor admits, are transitory and mortal. + +It is possible that the Emperor had a presentiment of some kind that +his life was now in danger, and that the presentiment may have attuned +his thoughts to meditation on Christ's life and teaching; for it is a +fact, well worthy of remark, that in the fear of death man's one and +only relief and consolation is the knowledge that there was, and is, a +mediator for him with his Creator. The address at his sons' +confirmation was delivered on October 17th, and on Sunday morning, +November 8th all the world, it is hardly too much to say, was +astonished and pained to learn, by a publication in the _Official +Gazette_, that the Emperor the day before had had to submit to a +serious operation on his throat. The announcement spoke of a polypus, +or fungoid growth, which had had to be removed; but all over the world +the conclusion was come to that the mortal affliction of the father +had fallen on the son and that the Emperor was a doomed man. Most +providentially and happily it was nothing of the sort. On the 9th the +Emperor was out of bed and signing official papers, on the 15th he was +allowed to talk in whispers, and on the 17th it was declared by the +physicians that all danger was over and that no more bulletins would +be issued. On December 14th the Emperor received a congratulatory +visit from the President of the Reichstag, who reported to Parliament +his impression that "the Emperor had completely recovered his old +vigour (great applause) and that his voice was again clear and +strong." + +The Emperor had passed through what one may suppose to have been the +darkest hour of his life. He was naturally in high spirits, and a few +days after went to Hannover, where he made a martial speech in which +he toasted the German Legion for having "by its unforgettable heroism, +in conjunction with Blücher and his Prussians, saved the English army +from destruction at Waterloo," a view, of course, which to an +Englishman has all the charm of novelty. + +One or two further memorable incidents of 1903 may be recorded. +Theodore Mommsen, the now aged historian of Rome, the greatest scholar +of his time, died in November. He was in his day a Liberal +parliamentarian of no mean ability; but for such men there is no +career in Germany. However, as it turned out, the German people's loss +proved to be all the world's gain. A son of the historian now +represents a district of Berlin in the Reichstag. Two years before the +historian's death an exchange of telegrams in Latin took place between +him and the Emperor. The occasion was the Emperor's laying the +foundation-stone of a museum on the plateau where the old Roman +castle, known as the Saalburg, stands. The Emperor telegraphed: + + "Theodoro Mommseno, antiquitatum romanarum investigatori + incomparabili, praetorii Saalburgensis fundamenta jaciens + salutem dicit et gratias agit Guilelmus Germanorum + Imperator." + +To which the historian, with a modesty equal to his courtesy, replied: +"Germanorum principi, tam majestate quam humanitate, gratias agit +antiquarius Lietzelburgensis." + +Mention may also be made of a very characteristic speech of the +Emperor's this year at Cüstrin, where he was unveiling a monument to a +favourite Hohenzollern, the Great Elector. Cüstrin, it will be +remembered, is the town where Frederick the Great, another of the +Emperor's favourites, was imprisoned by an angry father, along with +his friend Lieutenant Katte, when Frederick was trying to escape the +parental cruelty and violence. + +Referring to Frederick's declaration that he was the "first servant of +the State," the Emperor said:-- + + "He could only learn to be so by subordination, by + obedience, in a word by what we Prussians describe as + discipline. And this discipline must have its roots in the + King's house as in the house of the citizen, in the army as + among the people. Respect for authority, obedience to the + Crown, and obedience to parental and paternal + influence--that is the lesson the memories of to-day should + teach us. From these attributes spring those which we call + patriotism, namely the subordination of the individual ego, + of the individual subject, to the welfare of all. It is what + is particularly needed at the present time." + +The Emperor was, of course, thinking of the Social Democrats. Having +finished his speech, he went and for a while stood thoughtfully at the +historic window of Cüstrin Castle, from which Frederick watched the +execution of his unfortunate companion, Katte. + +Only the year 1904 separates us from the Emperor's Morocco adventure. +The economic ideas which have been referred to as the basis of German +foreign policy were germinating in his mind, and the plans for at +least a partial realization of them were working in his head. +Addressing the chief burgomaster of Karlsruhe in April, just a year +before he started for Tangier, he spoke of Weltpolitik. "You are +right," he told the burgomaster, + + "in saying that the task of the German people is a hard + one.... I hope our peace will not be disturbed, and that the + events that are now happening will open our eyes, steel our + courage, and find us united, if it should be necessary for + us to intervene in world-policy." + +The Emperor had, no doubt, specially in mind the birth of the +Anglo-French Entente and the war between Russia and Japan, both events +forming the dominant factors of the political situation at this time. +The Russo-Japanese War arose primarily from the unwillingness of +Russia to evacuate Manchuria after the Boxer troubles in China. The +incidents of the war are still fresh in public memory. + +It need only be recalled here that Germany was neutral throughout the +conflict, that both President Roosevelt and the Emperor offered their +services as mediators in its course, and that on the capture of Port +Arthur by Admiral Nogi, in January, 1905, the Emperor telegraphed his +bestowal of the _Ordre pour le Mérile_ on General Stoessel, the +Russian defender of Port Arthur, and on Admiral Nogi. + +In the troubled history of Anglo-German relations is to be recorded +the presence, in June of this year, of King Edward VII at Kiel with a +squadron of battleships to pay an official visit to his nephew. The +two fleets, those sunny days, formed a splendid spectacle--the two +mightiest police forces, the Emperor would probably agree in saying, +the world could produce. In fact, the Emperor had some such thought in +mind, for he addressed King Edward as follows:-- + + "Your Majesty has been welcomed by the thunder of the guns + of the German fleet. It is the youngest navy in the world + and an expression of the reviving sea-power of the new + German Empire, founded by the late great Emperor, designed + for the protection of the Empire's trade and territory, and + intended, equally with the German army, for the preservation + of peace." + +One or two other incidents of interest in the Emperor's life may close +the record of this year. One of them was the arrival of the Italian +composer, Leoncavallo, in Berlin, to hand the Emperor the text of the +opera "Der Roland von Berlin," Leoncavallo had composed at the +Emperor's express request. Roland was a "strong, valiant and pious" +knight of Charlemagne's time--like the Emperor, let us say--who +originally hailed from Brittany--that lone and lovely Cinderella of +France--and afterwards, for some unexplained reason, came to be the +type of municipal independence in Germany. + +During the summer the Emperor and the Empress made an excursion, when +on the Saalburg, to the statues of the Roman Emperors Hadrian and +Severus. Did the Emperor recall, one wonders, as he stood before the +figure of Hadrian, that pagan monarch's address to his soul:-- + + "Animula vagula, blandula, + Hospes, comesque corporis, + Quae nunc abibis in loca, + Pallidula, rigida, nudula, + Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos?" + +It sounds a little gloomy as a quotation, but, fortunately for Germany +and the Emperor, for "nunc" can be put, _pace_ the poet, the +indefinite, yet all too definite, "aliquando." + + + + +XII. + + + +MOROCCO + + + +1905 + +The Emperor started for Tangier towards the end of March, but before +that he had got through imperial business of a miscellaneous kind +which exemplifies the life he leads practically at all times. + +In January he had exchanged telegrams with the Czar and the Mikado +concerning his bestowal of the Order of Merit on Generals Stoessel and +Nogi, asking permission to bestow the Order and receiving expressions +of consent. Another telegram went to the composer Leoncavallo in +Naples, congratulating him on the success there of his "Roland von +Berlin." In February, the Emperor opened an international Automobile +Exhibition in Berlin, received Prince Charles, Infanta of Spain, and +the King of Bulgaria, unveiled a monument to his ancestor, Admiral +Coligny, who was killed in the Bartholomew massacre, listened to a +naval captain's lecture on Port Arthur, opened the new Lutheran +Cathedral (the "Dom") in Berlin, telegraphed thanks to the University +of Pennsylvania for its doctor's degree which the Emperor said he was +proud to know George Washington once held, attended a lecture by +Professor Delitzsch on "Assyria," and was present at a memorial +service for the painter Adolf von Menzel, who died this month. In +March he visited Heligoland, inspected the progress of some +alterations at the Royal Opera in Berlin, and sent the Gold Medal for +Science to Manuel Garcia, on the occasion of the latter's hundredth +birthday, as recognition of his invention of the laryngoscope, or +mirror for examining the throat. + +Just before starting for Morocco the Emperor made the speech in which +he claimed that Germans are the "salt of the earth." In the same +speech he had previously declared that as the result of his reading of +history he meant never to strive after world-conquest. "For what," he +asked, + + "has become of the so-called world-empires? Alexander the + Great, Napoleon the First, all the great warrior heroes swam + in blood and left behind them subjugated peoples, who at the + first opportunity rose and brought their empires to ruin. + The world-empire which I dream of will be, above all, the + newly established German Empire, enjoying on every side the + most absolute confidence as a peaceable, honest, and quiet + neighbour, not founded on conquest by the sword, but on the + mutual confidence of nations, striving for the same + objects." + +While on the way to Morocco the Emperor put in at Lisbon to pay a +visit to the King of Portugal, and with the latter attended a meeting +of the Geographical Society. From Lisbon he went to Gibraltar, and +from thence, after a few hours' stay, he started for Tangier. + +The Morocco incident, as it is often too lightly called, should rather +be regarded as a phase in the world's economic history and an +occurrence of moment for the future peace of all nations than the mere +game on the diplomatic chess-board many writers appear to consider it. +According to French critics, and they may be taken as representative +of the feeling everywhere prevalent during the seven years the +incident lasted, its origin was a matter of alliances and the balance +of power. Germany, according to these writers, wanted to preserve the +position of hegemony in Europe she had obtained under Bismarck, and +consequently felt annoyed by the Triple Entente, which robbed her of +her traditional friend Russia and set up an effective counterpoise to +the Triple Alliance of which Germany was the leading Power, and on +which she could, or believed she could, rely for support in case of +war with France. In going, therefore, to Tangier, at the moment when +her defeat by Japan rendered Russia for the time being of little or no +account in the considerations of diplomacy, the Emperor, according to +these writers, in reality was making a determined attempt to break the +Entente combination and protect his Empire from political isolation or +inferiority. + +It is quite possible that such were the motives of the Emperor's +action, but if so he was building better than he knew. The +vicissitudes of the Moroccan episode are described briefly below, yet +some remarks of a general nature as to the whole episode considered in +its historical perspective may be permitted in advance. But first, +what is historical perspective? It may perhaps be defined as that view +of history which shows in its true proportions the relative importance +of an event to other events which strongly and permanently leave their +mark on the character and development of the period or generation in +which they occur. Regarded from this standpoint the Morocco incident +can claim an exceptional position, for it was the first occasion in +modern diplomatic history on which a Great Power officially proclaimed +_urbi et orbi_ the doctrine of the "open door," the doctrine of equal +economic treatment for all nations for the benefit of all nations, and +was willing to go to war in support of it. + +It was not, of course, the first time the demand for the open door had +been made; loudly and bloodily, too; since most wars from those of +Greece and Rome to the war between Russia and Japan of recent years +were waged with the intention, or in the hope, of opening, by conquest +or contract, territory of the enemy to the mercantile enterprise of +the victors. But this was the open door in a very selfish and +restricted sense, and though many isolated events had occurred of late +years, the international agreements regarding China among them, +proving that the idea of the open door was gaining strength as a right +common to all nations, it was not until the Emperor went to Tangier +that a Great Power risked a great war in order to exemplify and +enforce it. + +The Emperor and his advisers were probably not moved by any altruistic +sentiments in the matter, and their sole reason for action may have +been to see that German subjects should not be excluded from Moroccan +markets. It may also be that Germany was resolved that if there was to +be a seizure of Morocco she should get her share of the territory to +be distributed, notwithstanding her refusal, revealed by the late +Foreign Secretary, Kiderlen-Waechter, in the Reichstag's confidential +committee, to accede to Mr. Chamberlain's proposal, made some time +before the incident, for a partition of the Shereefian Empire. But the +acquisition of territory does not seem to have been the mainspring of +her policy, while from the beginning to the end of the incident, +however theatrical and questionable her diplomatic conduct may have +been at moments during the negotiations, she was throughout consistent +and successful in her demand for economic equality all round. This is +a great gain for the future, for, with the world nearly all parcelled +out, economic considerations, which are almost in all cases +adjustable, are now the most weighty factors in international +relations. + +Apart from this view of the incident, it is clear that Germany was +pursuing her claim to a "place in the sun," and she did so to the +unconcealed annoyance of nations which up to then had never thought of +her in a rôle she appeared to be aspiring to, that of a Mediterranean +Power. To these nations she seemed an intruder in a sphere to which +she neither naturally nor rightfully belonged. Evidently she had no +political or historical claims in Morocco, while her commercial +interests were less than 10 per cent of Morocco trade. + +A narration of the incident may, for the sake of convenience, though +involving some anticipation of the future, be dealt with in three +sections: from the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, and the Emperor's +visit to Tangier in March, 1905, to the Act of Algeciras a year +subsequently; from the Act of Algeciras to the Franco-German Agreement +of 1909; and from that to the--let it be hoped--final settlement by +the Franco-German Agreement of November 5, 1911. + +The Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 gave France a free hand in Morocco +in consideration of France giving England a similar position in Egypt +and the Nile Valley. The state of things in Morocco at this time was +one of discord and rebellion. In the midst of it, the Sultan, El +Hassan, died, and was succeeded by Abdul Aziz, a minor. On coming of +age Abdul Aziz showed his inability to rule, the country fell again +into disorder and Abdul turned for help to France. Meantime England +and France had been negotiating without the knowledge of Germany, and +in April, 1904, the Anglo-French Agreement was signed. It was +accompanied by an official declaration that France had no intention of +changing the political status of Morocco, but only contemplated a +policy there of "pacific penetration and reforms." Thereupon Prince +von Bülow, the German Chancellor, stated in the Reichstag that the +German Government had no reason to assume that the Agreement was +directed against any Power and that "it appeared to be an attempt by +England and France to come to a friendly understanding respecting +their colonial differences." + +"From the standpoint of German interests," continued the Chancellor, +"we have no objections to raise to it." No parliamentary reference was +made to Morocco until March, 1905, when the Chancellor spoke of the +approaching visit of the Emperor to Tangier, and it became evident +that the Emperor and his advisers had come to the conclusion that, as +France seemed about assuming a full protectorate over Morocco, as she +had tried to do in Tunis, and that this, in accordance with French +policy, would result in the exclusion of other nationals from commerce +and the development of the country, Germany must take action. Prince +von Bülow explained that "his Majesty had, in the previous year, +declared to the King of Spain that Germany pursued no policy of +territorial acquisition in Morocco." He continued: + + "Independent of the visit, and independent of the + territorial question, is the question whether we have + economic interests to protect in Morocco. That we have + certainly. We have in Morocco, as in China, a considerable + interest in the maintenance of the open door, that is the + equal treatment of all trading nations." + +And he concluded by saying: + + "So far as an attempt is being made to alter the + international status of Morocco, or to control the open door + in the economic development of the country, we must see more + closely than before that our economical interests are not + endangered. Our first step, accordingly, is to put ourselves + into communication with the Sultan." + +The visit came off as announced, and the Emperor, on arriving at +Tangier, made a speech which caused a sensation in every diplomatic +chancellery; indeed, in all parts of the world. The Emperor's speech, +which was addressed to the German colonists on March 31, 1905, was as +follows:-- + + "I rejoice to make acquaintance with the pioneers of Germany + in Morocco and to be able to say to them that they have done + their duty. Germany has great commercial interests there. I + will promote and protect trade, which shows a gratifying + development, and make it my care to secure full equality + with all nations. This is only possible when the sovereignty + of the Sultan and the independence of the country are + preserved. Both are for Germany beyond question, and for + that I am ready at all times to answer. I think my visit to + Tangier announces this clearly and emphatically, and will + doubtless produce the conviction that whatever Germany + undertakes in Morocco will be negotiated exclusively with + the Sultan." + +The result of these unmistakable declarations was that the Sultan +rejected proposals made to him by the French, and shortly afterwards, +on the advice of Germany, came forward with suggestions for a European +conference. M. Delcassé, the French Foreign Minister, opposed the +proposal, and for a time war between France and Germany appeared +inevitable; but France was not in a military position to ignore +Germany's threatening language, M. Delcassé had to resign, the French +Cabinet under M. Rouvier agreed to the conference, and it met at +Algeciras in January, 1906. At the conference Great Britain, in +consonance with the Entente, supported France; Austria adhered loyally +to her Triplice engagements and proved the "brilliant second" to +Germany the Emperor subsequently described her; Italy, on the other +hand, gave her Teutonic ally only lukewarm support. + +In fairness, however, should be quoted here the explanation of Italy's +attitude given by Chancellor von Bülow when discussing the conference +in Parliament next year. The impression is general, both in and out of +Germany, that Italy is only a half-hearted political ally. It is based +on the temperamental difference between the Latin and the Teutonic +races, on the popular sympathy between the French and Italian peoples, +and to the supposedly reluctant support lent by Italy to Germany +during the critical time of the conference, the extra-tour, as Prince +Bülow, using a metaphor of the ballroom, termed it, she took with +France on that occasion. Prince Bülow now endeavoured to dissipate or +correct the impression, at any rate, as regarded Algeciras. "Italy," +he said, + + "found herself in a difficult position there. Various + agreements between Italy and France regarding Morocco had + come into existence anterior to the conference, but Germany + was satisfied that they were not inconsistent with Italy's + Triplice engagements; in fact, Germany had, several years + ago, officially told Italy she must use her own judgment and + act on her own responsibility in dealing with her French + neighbour in Africa and the Mediterranean." + +When it was settled that a conference should be held, Italy, the +Chancellor continued, "gave Germany timely information as to the +extent to which her support of Germany could go, and as a matter of +fact she supported Germany's views in the bank and police questions." +So far the German official explanation, but the impression of Italian +lukewarmness as a member of the Triplice has lost none of its +universality thereby. How well or ill founded the impression is, it +will be for the future to disclose. + +The summoning of the conference had been a triumph for German +diplomacy, but its results were disappointing to her; for while the +proceedings showed that among all nations she could only fully rely on +the sympathy and support of Austria, they ended in an acknowledgment +by Germany of the special position of France in Morocco. The Act of +Algeciras, which was dated April 7, 1906, stated that the signatory +Powers recognized that "order, peace, and prosperity" could only be +made to reign in Morocco + + "by means of the introduction of reforms based upon the + triple principle of the sovereignty and independence of his + Majesty the Sultan, the integrity of his States, and + economic liberty without any inequality." + +Then followed six Declarations regarding the organization of the +police, smuggling, the establishment of a State bank, the collection +of taxes, and the finding of new sources of revenue, customs, and +administrative services and public works. For the organization of the +police, French and Spanish officers and non-commissioned officers were +to be placed at the disposal of the Sultan by the French and Spanish +Governments. Tenders for public works were to be adjudicated on +impartially without regard to the nationality of the bidder. The +effect of the Act was to give international recognition to the special +position of France and Spain in Morocco, while safeguarding the +economic interests of other Powers. + +The attitude taken up by Germany relative to the conference was set +forth in a speech delivered by Prince von Bülow in the Reichstag in +December, 1905. It was based, he explained, on the provisions of the +Madrid Convention of 1880, in which all the Great Powers and the +United States had taken part. The Chancellor claimed that Germany +sought no special privileges in Morocco, but favoured a peaceful and +independent development of the Shereefian Empire. He denied that +German rights could be abrogated by an Anglo-French Agreement, and +pointing out that Morocco in 1880 had granted all the signatories to +the Madrid Convention most-favoured-nation treatment, claimed that if +France desired to make good her demand for special privileges, she +ought to have the consent of the special signatories to the Madrid +pact. Germany had a right to be heard in any new settlement of +Moroccan conditions; she could not allow herself to be treated as a +_quantité négligeable_, nor be left out of account when a country +lying on two of the world's greatest commercial highways was being +disposed of. She had a commercial treaty with Morocco, conferring +most-favoured-nation rights, and it did not accord with her honour to +give way. + +The Act of Algeciras, however, proved to have brought only temporary +relief to European tension. Disturbances continued in Morocco, French +subjects were murdered at Marakesch in 1907, and France occupied the +province of Udja with troops until satisfaction should be given. Owing +to riots at Casablanca in 1908, in which French as well as Spanish and +Italian labourers were killed, she decided to occupy the place, and +sent a strong military and naval force thither. A French warship +bombarded the town, and by June, 1908, the French army of occupation +numbered 15,000 men. Meanwhile internal commotions and intrigues had +led to the deposition of Abdul Aziz and his replacement on the throne +by his brother, Muley Hafid, with the support of Germany. France and +Spain refused to recognize the new ruler unless he gave guarantees +that he would respect the Act of Algeciras. Muley gave the required +guarantees, and in March, 1909, France "declared herself wholly +attached to the integrity and independence of the Shereefian Empire +and decided to safeguard economic equality in Morocco." Germany on her +side declared she was pursuing in Morocco only economic interests and, +"recognizing that the special political interests of France in Morocco +are closely bound up in that country with the consolidation of order +and of internal peace," was "resolved not to impede those interests." + +The German idea of not impeding French special political interests in +Morocco was disclosed little more than two years later by the dispatch +of the German gunboat _Panther_ (of "Well done, _Panther_!" fame) on +July 3, 1911, to the "closed" port of Agadir on the south Moroccan +coast. + +It was as dramatic a coup as the Emperor's visit to Tangier and caused +as much alarm. The fact is that the march of French troops to Fez, +which had taken place a few months before, convinced the Emperor and +his Government that France, relying on the support of her Entente +friend England, was bent on the Tunisification of Morocco. The +Emperor, Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, and Foreign Secretary +Kiderlen-Wæchter met at the Foreign Office on May 21st, and it was +decided to send a ship of war, as at once a hint and a demonstration, +to Agadir or other Moroccan port. Germany, of course, in accordance +with diplomatic strategy, did not disclose the real springs of her +action, though they must have been patent to all the world. She +notified the Powers of the dispatch of her warship, explaining that +the sending of the _Panther_, which "happened to be in the +neighbourhood," was owing to the representations of German firms, as a +temporary measure for the protection of German protégés in that +region, and taken "in view of the possible spread of disorders +prevailing in other parts of Morocco." + +In France, on the other hand, it was asserted that the step was not in +conformity with the spirit of the Franco-German Agreement of 1909, in +which Germany resolved not to impede French special interests, that +there were no Germans at Agadir, and that only nine months previously +Germany had angrily protested at the calling of a French cruiser at +the same port. The reference was to the visit of the French cruiser +_Du Chaylu_ in November, 1910, when the captain paid a visit to the +local pasha. The German Foreign Secretary eventually said Germany had +no objection to France using her police rights even in a closed port, +and the admission was taken as a fresh renunciation on the part of +Germany of any right to interference. Feeling ran high for a time both +in France and Germany, while the German action added to the sentiment +of hostility to Germany in England, and English political circles +perceived in it a design on Germany's part of acquiring a port on the +Moroccan coast. The word "compensation," which afterwards was to prove +the solution of Franco-German differences was now first mentioned by +Germany. + +After England's determination to support France had been made plain by +ministerial statements, the entire Morocco episode was closed by the +Franco-German Agreement signed on November 5, 1911, as "explanatory +and supplementary" to the Franco-German Agreement of 1909. The effect +of the new Agreement was practically to give France as free a hand in +Morocco as England has in Egypt, with the reservation that "the +proceedings of France in Morocco leave untouched the economic equality +of all nations." The Agreement further gives France "entire freedom of +action" in Morocco, including measures of police. The rights and +working area of the Morocco State bank were left as they stood under +the Act of Algeciras. The sovereignty of the Sultan is assumed, but +not explicitly declared. The compensation to Germany for her agreement +to "put no hindrances in the way of French administration" and for the +"protective rights" she recognizes as "belonging to France in the +Shereefian Empire" was the cession by France to Germany of a large +portion of her Congo territory in mid-Africa, with access to the Congo +and its tributaries, the Sanga and Ubangi. + +While the ground-idea of Germany's policy of economic expansion, and +the source of all her trouble with England, is her insistence on her +"place in the sun," the difficulty attending it for other nations is +to determine the place's nature and extent, so that every one shall be +comfortable and prosperous all round. + +The alterations in conditions among civilized nations during the last +half-century, more especially in all that relates to international +intercourse--political, financial, commercial, social--makes it +reasonable to suppose that changes must follow in the conduct of their +foreign policies. The fact also, recognized by no country more clearly +than by Germany, that the profitable regions of the earth are already +appropriated makes an economic policy for her all the more advisable. +An economic policy, moreover, is, notwithstanding her apparent +militarism, most in harmony with the peaceful and industrious +character of her people. Unfortunately, the stage in progress where +the political and commercial interests of all nations have become +defined and adjusted has not yet been reached, though the numerous +agreements between the Great Powers of recent years go far towards +clearing the way for so desirable a consummation. Unfortunately, too, +it is in the very process of finding bases for such agreements that +international jealousies and misunderstandings arise; and hence in +securing peace, governments and peoples are at all times nowadays most +in jeopardy of war. This consideration alone might very well be used +to justify nations in keeping their military and naval forces strong +and ready. Perhaps some day such forms of force will not be wanted, +though admittedly the great majority of people still refuse to believe +that the changes which have occurred have altered the fundamental +attitude of countries to each other, and remain firmly convinced that +to-day, as yesterday and the day before, great nations are moved by an +irresistible desire to add to their territories and in every way +aggrandize themselves, by diplomacy if possible, and if diplomacy +fails, by force. + +It is, of course, impossible to say with certainty what the real +designs of the Emperor and his Government in this regard were during +the Morocco episode, or are now. Some believe that their designs have +always aimed, and still aim, at depriving Great Britain of her +position of superiority in respect of territory, maritime dominion, +and trade. Others hold that they seek and will have, _coûte que +coûte_, new territory for Germany's increasing population, and look +with greedy eyes towards South America and even Holland. Others yet +again represent them as incessantly on the watch to seize a harbour +here or there as a coaling station for warships and a basis of attack. +But an unbiased survey of the annals of the Emperor's reign hitherto +does not bear out any of these assertions. A policy of territorial +expansion as such, mere earth-hunger, cannot be proved against him. +Prince Bismarck was no colonial enthusiast, though he passes for being +the founder of Germany's present colonial policy; and even to-day +the colonial party in Germany, though a very noisy, is not a very +large or influential one. Samoa--East Africa--Kiao-tschau--the +Carolines--Heligoland--the Cameroons: how can the acquisition of +comparatively insignificant and unprofitable places like these be used +for proving that the might of Germany is or has been directed towards +territorial conquest? + +What, it may however be asked, of the Morocco adventure? Of the speech +at Tangier? Of the sending of the _Panther_ to Agadir? Of the demand +for compensation in Central Africa? Until the Morocco question arose, +all the quarrels amongst the Powers regarding territory were caused by +the territorial ambition of France, or Russia, or Italy--not of +Germany; and it was not until France showed openly, by sending her +troops to Fez, and thus ignoring the Act of Algeciras, that Germany +put forward claims for territorial compensation in connection with +Morocco. The visit of the Emperor to Tangier in 1905, a year after the +Anglo-French Agreement, was doubtless an unpleasant surprise for both +England and France. And not without good cause; for England and France +are naturally and historically Mediterranean Powers--the one as +guardian of the route to her Eastern possessions, the other as the +owners of a large extent of Mediterranean coast; while England, in +addition, was justified in seeing with uneasiness the possibility of a +German settlement at Tangier or elsewhere on the Morocco seaboard. But +the Tangier visit and all that followed it was the consequence, not of +an adventurous policy of territorial conquest, but of a legitimate, +and not wholly selfish, desire for economic expansion. + +Taken, then, as a whole, the Emperor's foreign policy has been, as it +is to-day, almost entirely economic and commercial. The same might, no +doubt, be said in a general way of all civilized Occidental +governments, but there never has yet been a country of which the +foreign policy was so completely directed by the economic and +mercantile spirit as modern Germany. The foreign policy of England has +also been commercial, but it has been influenced at times by noble +sentiment and splendid imagination as well. The first question the +German statesman, in whose vocabulary of state-craft the word +imagination does not occur, asks himself and other nations when any +event happens abroad to demand imperial attention is--how does it +affect Germany's economic and commercial interests, future as well as +present? What is Germany going to get out of it? The manner in which +on various occasions during the reign the question has been propounded +has excited criticism bordering on indignation abroad, but it should +be recognized that it has invariably been answered in the long run by +Germany in the spirit of compromise and conciliation. + +However, all civilized nations nowadays see that war is the least +satisfactory method of adjusting national quarrels, and the tendency +is happily growing among them to pursue a commercial, an economic +policy, a policy of peace. This is true Weltpolitik, true +world-policy. Time was when wars were the unavoidable result of +conditions then prevailing; but conditions have greatly altered, and +war, as there is abundant evidence to show, is to-day, in almost every +case, avoidable by all civilized peoples. Formerly war deranged and +disturbed at any rate for the time being, the commerce and industries +of the countries engaged in it; to-day, as Mr. Norman Angell +demonstrates, it deranges and disturbs commerce and industry all over +the world. The derangement and disturbance may, it is true, be only +temporary; but there is, as always, the loss of life among the youth +of the countries engaged in war to be remembered. Granted that it is +pleasant and honourable to die for one's country. Let us hope the time +is coming when it will be equally pleasant and honourable to live for +it. + +We have done with Morocco, but to round off the record for 1905 +mention should be made of an incident in the Emperor's life which was +a source of great pleasure to him after his return from his journey +thither. The marriage of his eldest son, the Crown Prince, took place +in the Chapel Royal of the Berlin palace on June 15, 1905, to the +young Duchess Cecile of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whose character has been +alluded to elsewhere and whom all Germans look forward with pleasure +to seeing one day their Empress. The marriage naturally was attended +by rejoicings in Berlin similar to those shown when the Emperor was +married in 1881. Their chief popular feature, now as then, was the +formal entry into the capital, and its chief domestic feature a grand +wedding breakfast at the Emperor's palace. On the occasion of the +latter, the Emperor, rising from his seat and using the familiar _Du_ +and _Dich_ (thou and thee), addressed his newly-made daughter-in-law +as follows:-- + + "My dear daughter Cecilie,--Let me, on behalf of my wife and + my whole House, heartily welcome you as a member of my House + and my family circle. You have come to us like a Queen of + Spring amid roses and garlands, and under endless + acclamations of the people such as my Residence city has not + known for long. A circle of noble guests has assembled to + celebrate this high and joyful festival with us, but not + only those present, but also those who are, alas, no more, + are with us in spirit: your illustrious father and my + parents. + + "A hundred thousand beaming faces have enthusiastically + greeted you; they have, however, not merely shone with + pleasure, but whoever can look deeper into the heart of man + could have seen in their eyes the question--a question which + can only be answered by your whole life and conduct, the + question, How will it turn out? + + "You and your husband are about to found a home together. + The people has its examples in the past to live up to. The + examples which have preceded you, dear Cecilie, have been + already eloquently mentioned--Queen Louise and other + Princesses who have sat on the Prussian throne. They are the + standards according to which the people will judge your + life, while you, my dear son, will be judged according to + the standard Providence set up in your illustrious + great-grandfather. + + "You, my daughter, have been received by us with open arms + and will be honoured and cherished. To both of you I wish + from my heart God's richest blessings. Let your home be + founded on God and our Saviour. As He is the most impressive + personality which has left its illuminating traces on the + earth up to the present time, which finds an echo in the + hearts of mankind and impels them to imitate it, so may your + career imitate His, and thus will you also fulfil the laws + and follow the traditions of our House. + + "May your home be a happy one and an example for the younger + generation, in accordance with the fine sentence which William + the Great once wrote down as his confession of faith; 'My powers + belong to the world and my country.' Accept my blessing for your + lives. I drink to the health of the young married couple." + +The record of this memorable year may be closed with mention of an +institution which is not only a special care of the Emperor's, but is +also a landmark in the relation of Germany and America which may prove +to be the forerunner, if it has not already done so, of similar +interchange of ideas and information between nations which only +require mutually to understand each other in order to be the best of +friends. + +The system of an annual exchange of professors between America and +Germany was suggested, it is believed, to the Emperor in this year by +Herr Althoff, the Prussian Minister of Education. The Emperor took up +the idea with enthusiasm, and after discussing it with Dr. Nicholas +Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, who was invited to +Wilhelmshohe for the purpose, had it finally elaborated by the +Prussian Ministry of Education which now superintends its working. + +The original idea of an exchange only between Harvard and Berlin +University professors was, thanks to the liberality of an American +citizen, Mr. Speyer, extended almost simultaneously by the +establishment of what are known as "Roosevelt" professorships. The +holders of these positions, unlike the original "exchange" professors +between Harvard and Berlin only, may be chosen by the trustees of +Columbia University from any American university and can exchange +duties for two terms, instead of one in the place of the exchange +professors, with the professors of any German University. Harvard +professors have been succesively: Francis G. Peabody, Theodore W. +Richards, William H. Scofield, William M. Davis, George F. Moore, H. +Munsterberg, Theobald Smith, Charles S. Minog; and Roosevelt +professors: J.W. Burgess, Arthur T. Hadley, Felix Adler, Benj. Ide +Wheeler, C. Alphonso Smith, Paul S. Reinsch, and William H. Sloane. + +Writing to the German Ambassador in Washington, Baron Speck von +Sternburg, in November, 1905, the Emperor said: + + "Express my fullest sympathy with the movement regarding the + exchange of professors. We are very well satisfied with + Professor Peabody, the first exchange professor, and + thankful to have him. He comes to me in my house, an + honourable and welcome guest. My hearty thanks also to Mr. + Speyer, for his fine gift for the erection of a + professorship in Berlin. The exchange of the learned is the + best means for both nations to know the inner nature of each + other, and from thence spring mutual respect and love, which + are securities for peace." + +The idea of the exchange, as described by Professor John W. Burgess, +of Columbia University, the first Roosevelt professor to Germany, is + + "an exchange of educators which has for its purpose the + bringing of the men of learning of one country into other + countries and by a comparison of fundamental ideas to arrive + at a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which the + world's peace and the world's civilization may finally and + firmly rest." + +The conception of a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which +the world's peace and civilization may rest is not new, being now a +little over 1900 years old, and, moreover, educators and men of +science in all countries are constantly exchanging ideas by personal +visits, correspondence, and publications; but in any case, the +Emperor's exchange system has the advantage that it brings the +educators into touch with large numbers of the rising generation in +America and Germany and undoubtedly helps towards a better mutual +understanding of the relations, and in especial the economic +relations, of the two countries. + +It has worked well, and the Emperor has encouraged it by showing +constant hospitality to the American professors who have come to +Berlin since the system was instituted. One or two episodes have given +rise to a diplomatic question as to whether or not exchange professors +and their wives have the privilege of being presented at Court. The +question has practically been decided in the negative. This, however, +does not prevent the Emperor entertaining the professors at his +palace, or making the acquaintance of the professors' wives on other +than Court ceremonious occasions. + + + + +XIII. + + + +BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM" + + + +1906-1907 + +In the domestic life of the Emperor during these years fall two or +three events of more than ordinary interest. From the dynastic point +of view was of importance the birth of a son and heir to the Crown +Prince in the Marble Palace at Potsdam. + +The Emperor was at sea, on his annual northern trip, when the birth +occurred. As the ship approached Bergen the town was seen to be gaily +decorated with flags. As it happened, everybody on board knew of the +birth except the Emperor, but none of the officers round him ventured +to congratulate him, because they supposed he knew of it already and +were waiting for him to refer to it. At Bergen the German Minister, +Stuebel, and German Consul, Mohr, came on board. The Minister, being a +diplomatist, said nothing, but the Consul, as Consuls will, spoke his +mind and ventured his congratulations. "What? I am a grandfather!" +exclaimed the Emperor. "Why, that's splendid! and I knew nothing about +it!" The captain of the ship then asked should he fire the salute of +twenty-one guns usual on such occasions. "No," said the Emperor, "that +won't do. Mohr is a great talker. Let us first see the official +despatches from Berlin." The party, including the Emperor, went down +into the cabin to await the despatches, which were being brought from +Bergen. + +On their arrival a basketful of State papers was placed before the +Emperor. The first one he took out was a telegram from the Sultan of +Turkey with congratulations (great merriment); the second from an +unknown lady in Berlin, with a name corresponding to the English +"Brown," with four lines of congratulatory poetry; and it was not +until more than a hundred despatches had been opened that they came to +one from the Minister of the Interior and another from the Empress +announcing the birth. Popular reports at the time represented the +Emperor as boiling over with anger at his being kept or left in +ignorance of the happy event. As a matter of fact, he was in high +good-humour, and himself mentioned a similar occurrence at Metz in +1870, when an important movement of the French army was not reported +because it was assumed that it was already known to the Intelligence +Department. As a public sign of his satisfaction he amnestied the +half-dozen of his subjects who happened to be in gaol as punishment +for _lèse majesté_. + +Another domestic event at this time was the celebration by the Emperor +and Empress of their silver wedding. Berlin, of course, was +illuminated and beflagged. There was a great gathering of royal +relatives, a State banquet, and a special parade of troops. At the +latter were remarkable for their huge proportions two former +grenadiers of the regiment of Guards the Emperor commanded in his +youth. They were now settled in America, but came over to Germany on +the Emperor's particular invitation and, of course, at his private +expense. + +The last item of domestic interest this year (1906) worth record was +the marriage of Prince Eitel Frederick, the Emperor's second son, with +Princess Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg. In his speech to the bridal +pair on their wedding-day the Emperor referred to the personal +likeness the young Prince bore to his great-grandfather, Emperor +William, and expressed the hope that the Prince might grow more like +him in character from year to year. + +Meantime the Emperor had to pass through a season of great annoyance +owing to the scandal which arose in connection with the so-called +"Camarilla." The existence of a small and secret group of viciously +minded men among the Emperor's entourage was disclosed to the public +by the well-known pamphleteer, Maximilian Harden, a Jew by birth named +Witowski, who as a younger man had been on semi-confidential terms +with Prince Bismarck and subsequently with Foreign Secretary von +Holstein. As a result of Harden's disclosures some highly placed +friends of the Emperor were compromised and had ultimately to +disappear from public life as well as from the Court. It was perfectly +evident throughout that the Emperor had been totally ignorant of the +private character of the men forming the "Camarilla," and nothing was +proved to show that the group which formed it had ever unduly, or +indeed in any fashion, influenced him. + +An allusion made to the scandal by a deputy in the Reichstag brought +the Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, to his feet in defence of the +monarch. "The view," he said, + + "that the monarch in Germany should not have his own + opinions as to State and Government, and should only think + what his Ministers desire him to think, is contrary to + German State law and contrary to the will of the German + people" + +("Quite right," on the Right). "The German people," continued the +Chancellor, + + "want no shadow-king, but an Emperor of flesh and blood. The + conduct and statements of a strong personality like the + Emperor's are not tantamount to a breach of the + Constitution. Can you tell me a single case in which the + Emperor has acted contrary to the Constitution?" + +The Chancellor concluded: + + "As to a Camarilla--Camarilla is no German word. It is a + hateful, foreign, poisonous plant which no one has ever + tried to introduce into Germany without doing great injury + to the people and to the Prince. Our Emperor is a man of far + too upright a character and much too clear-headed to seek + counsel in political things from any other quarter than his + appointed advisers and his own sense of duty." + +The Camarilla scandal was all the more painful as it was made a ground +for insinuations disgraceful to German officers as a body. Such +insinuations were, as they would be to-day, entirely unfounded. + +Another thing that annoyed the Emperor this year was the publication +of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs. The publication drew from +him a telegram to a son of the ex-Chancellor in which he expressed his +"astonishment and indignation" at the publication of confidential +private conversations between him and Prince Hohenlohe regarding +Prince Bismarck's dismissal. "I must stigmatize," the Emperor +telegraphed, + + "such conduct as in the last degree tactless, indiscreet, + and entirely inopportune. It is a thing unheard-of that + occurrences relating to a sovereign reigning at the time + should be published without his permission." + +Germans as a people are passionately fond of dancing, and though +everybody knows that the people of Vienna bear away the palm in this +respect, claim to be the best waltzers in the world. The Emperor, +accordingly, won great popularity among the dancers of his realm this +year by lending a favourable ear to the sighing of the young ladies of +the provincial town of Crefeld for a regiment which would provide them +with a supply of dancing partners. The Emperor took occasion to visit +the town, and brought with him a regiment of the Guards from +Düsseldorf to form part of the new garrison. He was received by the +city authorities, and was at the same time, doubtless, greeted from +balcony and window by multitudes of fair-haired Crefeld maidens, who +looked with delightful anticipations on the gallant soldiers, who were +to relieve the tedium of their evenings, riding by. "To-day," the +Emperor told the assembled city fathers, "I have kept my word to the +town of Crefeld, and when I make a promise I keep it too (stormy +applause). I have brought the town its garrison and the young ladies +their dancers." The "stormy applause" was again renewed--amid, one may +imagine, the enthusiastic waving of pocket-handkerchiefs from the +windows and the balconies. + +The salient feature of foreign politics just now was, naturally, the +close on March 31st of the Conference of Algeciras. Its results have +been referred to in the chapter on Morocco, and mention need only be +made here of the famous telegram regarding it sent by the Emperor on +April 12th of this year (1906) to the Foreign Minister of Austria, +Count Goluchowski. "A capital example of good faith among allies!" he +telegraphed to the Count, meaning Austria's support of Germany at +Algeciras. "You showed yourself a brilliant second in the tourney, and +can reckon on the like service from me on a similar occasion." + +Internal affairs, and particularly the parliamentary situation in +Germany, had during the three or four years before that of the +"November Storm" demanded a good deal of the Emperor's attention. The +everlasting fight with the rebel angels of the Hohenzollern heaven, +the Social Democracy, had been going on all through the reign. Now the +Emperor would fulminate against it, now his Chancellor, Prince von +Bülow, would attack it with brilliant ability and sarcasm in +Parliament. Still the Social Democratic movement grew, still the +_Vorwärts_, the party organ, continued to rail at industrial +capitalists and the large landowners alike, still Herr Lucifer-Bebel +bitterly assailed every measure of the Government. The fact seems to +be that the people were getting restive under the imperial burdens the +Emperor's world-policy entailed. The cost of living, partly as a +result of the new German tariff, with maximum and minimum duties, +which now replaced the Caprivi commercial treaties, was steadily +rising. The Morocco episode had ended without territorial gain, if +with no loss of national honour or prestige. The Poles were +antagonized afresh by a stricter application of the Settlement Law for +Germanizing Prussian Poland. Colonial troubles in South-west Africa +with Herero and other recalcitrant tribes were making heavy demands on +the Treasury. + +The parliamentary situation was, as usual, at the mercy of the Centrum +party, which, with its hundred or more members, can always make a +majority by combining with Liberal parties of the Left (including the +Socialists) or Conservative parties of the Right. In December, 1906, +when the Budget was laid before Parliament, it was found to contain a +demand for about £1,500,000 for the troops in South-west Africa. The +Centrum refused to grant more than £1,000,000, and required, moreover, +an undertaking that the number of troops in the colony should be +reduced. The Social Democrats, with a number of Progressives and other +Left parties sufficient to form a majority, joined the Centrum, and +the Government demand was rejected by 177 to 168 votes. On the result +of the voting being declared, Chancellor von Bülow solemnly rose and +drew a paper from his pocket. It was an order from the Emperor +dissolving Parliament. + +The general elections were to be held in January following, and great +efforts were made by the Emperor and Chancellor to secure a Government +majority against the combined Centrists and Socialists. The country +was appealed to to say whether Germany should lose her African +colonies or not; a patriotic response was made, and, though the +Centrum, as always, came back to Parliament in undiminished strength, +the Socialists lost one-half of their eighty seats. + +The Emperor, needless to say, was tremendously gratified. On the night +the final results were announced he gave a large dinner-party at the +Palace, and read out to the Royal Family and his guests the bulletins +as they came in. Towards one o'clock in the morning the official +totals were known. The streets were knee-deep in snow, but the people +were not deterred from making a demonstration in their thousands +before the palace. By and by lights were seen moving hurriedly to and +fro along the first floor containing the Emperor's apartments. A +general illumination of the suite of rooms followed, a window was +thrown up, and the Emperor, bare-headed, was seen in the opening. +Instantly complete stillness fell on the vast square, and the Emperor, +leaning far out over the balcony, and evidently much excited, spoke in +stentorian tones and with a dramatic waving of his right arm as +follows: "Gentlemen!"--the "gentlemen" included half the hooligans of +Berlin, but such are the accidents of political life-- + + "Gentlemen! This fine ovation springs from the feeling that + you are proud of having done your duty by your country. In + the words of our great Chancellor (Bismarck), who said that + if the Germans were once put in the saddle they would soon + learn to ride, you can ride and you will ride, and ride + down, any one who opposes us, especially when all classes + and creeds stand fast together. Do not let this hour of + triumph pass as a moment of patriotic enthusiasm, but keep + to the road on which you have started." + +The speech closed with a verse from Kleist's "Prince von Homburg," a +favourite monarchist drama of the Emperor's, conveying the idea that +good Hohenzollern rule had knocked bad Social-Democratic agitation +into a cocked hat. + +The result of the elections enabled the Chancellor to form a new +"bloc" party in Parliament, consisting of conservatives and Liberals, +on whose united aid he could rely in promoting national measures. As +the Chancellor said, he did not expect Conservatives to turn into +Liberals and Liberals into Conservatives overnight nor did he expect +the two parties to vote solid on matters of secondary interest and +importance; but he expected them to support the Government on +questions that concerned the welfare of the whole Empire. + +Before 1907, the year we have now reached, Franco-German and +Anglo-German relations had long varied from cool to stormy. They had +not for many years been at "set-fair," nor have they apparently +reached that halcyon stage as yet. During the Moroccan troubles it was +generally believed that on two or three occasions war was imminent +either between France and Germany or between Germany and England. That +there was such a danger at the time of M. Delcassé's retirement from +the conduct of French foreign affairs just previous to the Algeciras +Conference is a matter of general conviction in all countries; but +there is no publicly known evidence that danger of war between England +and Germany has been acute at any time of recent years. Nor at any +time of recent years has the bulk of the people in either country +really desired or intended war. There has been international +exasperation, sometimes amounting to hostility, continuously; but it +was largely due to Chauvinism on both sides, and was in great measure +counteracted by the efforts of public-spirited bodies and men in both +countries, by international visits of amity and goodwill, and by the +determination of both the English and German Governments not to go to +war without good and sufficient cause. + +Among the most striking testimonies to this determination was the +visit of the Emperor to England in November, 1907. + +The visit was made expressly an affair of State. The Emperor was +accompanied by the Empress, and the visit became a pageant and a +demonstration--a pageant in respect of the national honours paid to +the imperial guests and a demonstration of national regard and respect +for them as friends of England. Nothing could have been simpler, or +more tactful or more sincere than the utterances, private as well as +public, of the Emperor throughout his stay. His very first speech, the +few words he addressed to the Mayor of Windsor, displayed all three +qualities. "It seems to me," he said, "like a home-coming when I enter +Windsor. I am always pleased to be here." At the Guildhall +subsequently, referring to the two nations, he used, and not for the +first time, the phrase "Blood is thicker than water." + +At the Guildhall, on this occasion, the Emperor reminded his hearers +that he was a freeman of the City of London, having been the recipient +of that honour from the hands of Lord Mayor Sir Joseph Savory on his +accession visit to London in 1891. He then referred to the visit of +the Lord Mayor, Sir William Treloar, to Berlin the year previous, and +promised a similar hearty welcome to any deputation from the City of +London to his capital. "In this place sixteen years ago," continued +the Emperor, + + "I said that all my efforts would be directed to the + preservation of peace. History will do me the justice of + recognizing that I have unfalteringly pursued this aim. The + main support, however, and the foundation of the world's + peace is the maintenance of good relations between our two + countries. I will, in future also, do all I can to + strengthen them, and the wishes of my people are at one with + my own in this." + +The procession that followed upon the visit to the Guildhall made a +special impression on the Emperor. "I was so close to the people," he +said afterwards, + + "who were assembled in hundreds of thousands, that I could + look straight into their eyes, and from the expression on + their faces I could see that their reception of the Empress + and myself was no artificial welcome but an out-and-out + sincere one. That stirred us deeply and gave us great + satisfaction. The Empress and I will take back with us + recollections of London and England we shall never forget." + +While at Windsor the Emperor received a deputation of sixteen members +of Oxford University, headed by Lord Curzon, who came to present him +with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws voted him by the University +while he was still on his way to England. It was a picturesque scene: +the members of the University in their academic robes were surrounded +by a brilliant company representing the intellect of the country; and +the Emperor, with the doctor's hood over his field-marshal's uniform, +was the cynosure of all eyes. + +The Emperor's reply to Lord Curzon's address, highly complimentary to +the University though it was, was perhaps chiefly remarkable for the +expression of his expectations from the Rhodes' Scholarship +foundation. "The gift of your great fellow-countryman, Cecil Rhodes," +he said, + + "affords an opportunity to students, not only from the + British colonies, but also from Germany and the United + States, to obtain the benefits of an Oxford education. The + opportunity afforded to young Germans during their period of + study to mix with young Englishmen is one of the most + satisfactory results of Rhodes's far-seeing mind. Under the + auspices of the Oxford _alma mater_, the young students will + have an opportunity of studying the character and qualities + of the respective nations, of fostering by this means the + spirit of good comradeship, and creating an atmosphere of + mutual respect and friendship between the two countries." + +The Emperor had always admired the Colossus of South Africa, +discerning in him no doubt many of those attributes which he felt +existed in himself or which he would like to think existed; and the +admiration stood the test of personal acquaintance when Cecil Rhodes +visited Berlin in March, 1899, in connexion with his scheme for the +Cape to Cairo railway. It does not sound very complimentary to his own +subjects, the "salt of the earth," but it is on record that the +Emperor then said to Rhodes that he wished "he had more men like him." +At the close of the visit the Empress returned to Germany, while the +Emperor took a much needed rest-cure for three weeks at Highcliffe +Castle, a country mansion in Hampshire he rented for the purpose from +its owner, Colonel Stuart-Wortley. + +In the course of this work, it may have been noticed, no particular +attention has been devoted to the Emperor in his military capacity. +The reason is, because it is taken for granted that all the world +knows the Emperor in his character as War Lord, that he is practically +never out of uniform, and that his care for the army is only +second--if it is second--to that for the stability and power of his +monarchy. The two things in fact are closely identified, and, from the +Emperor's standpoint, on both together depend the security, and to a +large extent the prosperity, of the Empire. He knows or believes that +Germany is surrounded by hordes of potential enemies, as a lighthouse +is often surrounded by an ocean that, while treacherously calm, may at +any time rage about the edifice; that round the lighthouse are +gathered his folk, who look to it for safety; and that the monarchy is +the lighthouse itself, a _rocher de bronze_, towering above all. + +In this connexion it may be noted that the army in Germany is not a +mercenary body like the English army, but is simply and solely a +certain portion of the people, naturally the younger men, passing for +two or three years, according as they serve in the infantry or +cavalry, through the ranks. The system of recruiting, as everybody +knows, is called conscription; it ought rather to be described as a +system of national education, whereby the rude and raw youth of the +country is converted into an admirable class of well-disciplined, +self-respecting and healthy, as well as patriotic, citizens. The +Emperor believes, contrary to the opinion of many English army +officers, that a man to be a good soldier must also be a good +Christian, and thus we find him enforcing, or trying to enforce, among +his officers the moral qualities which Christianity is meant to +foster. + +Among these qualities is simplicity of life, and as a result of +simplicity of life, contentment with simple and not too costly +pleasures. We saw the Emperor as a young colonel forbidding his +officers to join a Berlin club where gambling was prevalent. This +year, after a luxurious lunch at one of the regimental messes, he +issues an order, or rather an edict, expressing his wish that officers +in their messes should content themselves with simpler food and wines, +and in particular that when he himself is a guest, the meal should +consist only of soup, fish, vegetables, a roast and cheese. Ordinary +red or white table-wine, a glass of "bowl" ("cup"), or German +champagne should be handed round. Liqueurs, or other forms of what the +French know as "chasse-café," after dinner were best avoided. The +edict of course caused amusement as well as a certain amount of +discontent with what was felt to be a kind of objectionable paternal +interference, and it is doubtful whether it has had much lasting +effect. Even now, the German officer laughingly tells one that when +the Emperor dines at an officers' mess either French champagne (which +is infinitely superior to German) is poured into German champagne +bottles, or else the French label is carefully shrouded in a napkin +that swathes the bottle up to the neck. Apropos of German champagne, a +story is current that Bismarck, one day dining at the palace, refused +the German champagne being handed round. The Emperor noticed the +refusal and said pointedly to Bismarck: "I always drink German +champagne, because I think it right to encourage our national +industries. Every patriot should do so." "Your Majesty," replied the +grim old Chancellor, "my patriotism does not extend to my stomach." + +In the domain of æsthetics this year the Emperor had some pleasant and +some painful experiences. Joachim, the great violinist, and a great +favourite of his, died in August, and his death was followed next +month, September, by that of the composer Grieg, the "Chopin of the +North," as the Emperor called him, whose friendship the Emperor had +acquired on one of his Norwegian trips. Quite at the end of the year +his early tutor, Dr. Hinzpeter, for whom he always had a semi-filial +regard, passed away. + +On the other hand, among the Emperor's pleasant experiences may be +reckoned the visit of Mr. Beerbohm Tree and his English company to the +German capital. Their repertory of Shakespearean drama greatly +delighted the Emperor, who expressed his pleasure to Mr. Tree and his +fellow-players personally, and did not dismiss them without +substantial tokens of his appreciation. + +Earlier in the year the French actress, Suzanne Deprès, visited Berlin +and appealed strongly to the Emperor's taste for the "classical" in +music and drama. Inviting the actress to the royal box, he said to +her: + + "You have shown us such a natural, living Phædra that we + were all strongly moved. How fine a part it is! As a + youngster I used to learn verses from 'Phædra' by heart. I + am told that in France devotion to classical tradition is + growing weaker, and that Molière and Racine are more and + more seldom played. What a pity! Our people, on the + contrary, remain faithful to their great poets and enjoy + their works. After school comes college, and after + college--the theatre. It should elevate and expand the soul. + The people do not need any representation of reality--they + are well acquainted with that in their daily lives. One must + put something greater and nobler before them, something + superior to 'La Dame aux Camélias.'" + +A month later, however, he made one of his extremely rare visits to an +ordinary Berlin theatre to see--"The Hound of the Baskervilles"! + +Meanwhile in domestic politics Chancellor von Bülow's famous "bloc" +continued to work satisfactorily, notwithstanding difficulties arising +from the conflicting interests of industry and agriculture, Free Trade +and Protection and differences of creed and race. At the end of this +year it was near falling asunder in connection with the question of +judicial reform, but Prince von Bülow kept it together for a while by +an impassioned appeal to the patriotism of both parties. In the course +of the speech he told the House how, when he was standing at +Bismarck's death-bed, he noticed on the wall the portrait of a man, +Ludwig Uhland, who had said "no head could rule over Germany that was +not well anointed with democratic oil," and drew the conclusion from +the contrast between the dying man of action and the poet that only +the union of old Prussian conservative energy and discipline with +German broad-hearted, liberal spirit could secure a happy future for +the nation. The "bloc," as we shall see, broke up in 1909 and Prince +von Bülow resigned. The Chancellor afterwards attributed his fall +entirely to the Conservatives, but it is possible, even probable, that +it was in at least some measure due to the events of the _annus +mirabilis_, 1908, which now opened. + + + + +XIV + + + +THE NOVEMBER STORM + + + +1908 + +The "November Storm" was a collision between the Emperor and his folk, +a result of his so-called "personal regiment." + +In a general way the latter phrase is intended to describe and +characterize the method of rule adopted by the Emperor from the very +beginning of his reign, especially as exhibited in his semi-official +utterances, public and private, in his correspondence, private +conversation, and public and private conduct generally. According to +the popular interpretation of the Imperial Constitution--the nearest +thing to a Magna Charta in Germany--the Emperor should observe, in his +words and acts, a reserve which would prevent all chance of creating +dissension among the federated States and in particular would secure +the avoidance of anything which might disturb Germany's relations to +foreign countries or interfere with the course of Germany's foreign +policy as carried on through the regular official channel, the Foreign +Office. The ground for this popular interpretation is a constitutional +device which to an Englishman, if it be not offensive to say so, can +only recall the well-known definition of a metaphysician as "a blind +man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat, _which is not there_." + +The device is known as the Chancellor's "responsibility," which was +regarded, and is still regarded in Germany, as at once "covering" the +Emperor and offering to his folk a safeguard against unwisdom or +caprice on his part. The nature of this responsibility which is +evidenced by the Chancellor signing the Emperor's edicts and other +official statements, is so frequently discussed by German politicians, +the position of the Chancellor--the Grand Vizier of Germany he has +been picturesquely called--is so influential, and the intercourse +between the Emperor and the Chancellor is so close, exclusive, and +confidential, that an examination of the meaning of the term +"responsibility" in this connexion is desirable. + +Whenever the Emperor does anything important or surprising, especially +in foreign policy, the first question asked by his subjects is, has he +taken the step with the knowledge, and therefore with the joint +responsibility, of the Chancellor? If the answer is in the negative, +it is the "personal regiment" again, and people are angry: if the +latter, they may disapprove of the step and grumble at it, but it is +covered by the Chancellor's signature and they can raise no +constitutional objection. Hence the demand usually made on such +occasions for an Act of Parliament once for all defining fully and +clearly the Chancellor's responsibilities. According to Prince von +Bülow, and it is doubtless the Emperor's own view, the responsibility +mentioned in the Constitution is a "moral responsibility," and only +refers to such acts and orders of the Emperor as immediately arise out +of the governing rights vested in him, not to personal expressions of +opinion, even though these may be made on formal occasions; and the +Prince goes on to say that if a Chancellor cannot prevent what he +honestly thinks would permanently and in an important respect be +injurious to the Empire, he is bound to resign. + +The Chancellor, then, takes responsibility of some kind. But +responsibility to whom? To the Emperor? To the Parliament? To the +people? The answer is, solely to the Emperor, for it is the Emperor +who appoints and dismisses him as well as every other Minister, +imperial or Prussian, and the Emperor is only responsible to his +conscience. In parliamentarily ruled countries like England Ministers +are responsible to Parliament, which expresses its disapproval by the +vote of a hostile majority, or in certain circumstances by a vote of +censure or even impeachment. In Germany, where the parliamentary +system of government does not exist, and where there is no upsetting +Ministries by a hostile majority, and no parliamentary vote of censure +or impeachment, no Minister, including the Chancellor, is responsible, +in the English sense of the word, to Parliament; accordingly, a German +Chancellor may continue in office in spite of Parliament, provided of +course the Emperor supports him. At the same time the Chancellor +to-day is to some indefinable extent responsible to Parliament, and +therefore to the people, in so far as they are represented by it, for +he must keep on tolerable terms with Parliament as well as with the +Emperor, or he will have to give up office. How he is to keep on terms +with a Parliament consisting of half a dozen powerful parties and as +many more smaller fractions and factions is probably the part of his +duties that gives him most trouble and at times, doubtless, very +disagreeably interferes with the placidity of his slumbers. + +There is no struggle for government in Germany between the Crown and +the people: Germans have no ancient Magna Charta, no Habeas Corpus, no +Declaration of Rights to look back to on the long road to liberty. In +the protracted struggle for government between the English people and +their rulers, the people's victory took the form of parliamentary +control while retaining the monarch as their highest and most honoured +representative. Socially he is their master, politically their +servant, the "first servant of the State." In Germany there has never, +save for a few months in 1848, been any struggle of a similar +political extent or kind. German monarchs including the Emperor, have +applied the expression "first servant of the State" to themselves, but +they did not apply it in the English sense. They applied it more +accurately. In Germany the State means the system, the mechanism of +government, inclusive of the monarch's office: in England the word +"State" is more nearly equivalent to the word "people." To serve the +system, the government machinery, is the first duty of the monarch, +and government is not a changing reflection of the people's will, but +a permanent apparatus for maintaining the power of the Crown, +harmonizing and reconciling the sentiments and interests of all parts +of the Empire, and for conducting foreign policy. + +It may be objected that legislation is made by the Reichstag, that the +Reichstag has the power of the purse, and that it is elected by +universal suffrage; but in Germany the Government is above and +independent of the Reichstag; legislation is not made by the Reichstag +alone, since it requires the agreement of the Federal Council and of +the Emperor, and--what is of great practical importance--Government +issues directions as to how legislation shall be carried into effect. +The law of 1872 passed against the Jesuits forbade the "activity" of +the Order, but the interpretation of the word "activity," and with it +the effects of the law, were left to the Government. + +Kings of Prussia and German Emperors have never shown much affection +for their Parliaments: Parliaments are apt to act as a check upon +monarchy, and in Prussia in particular to interfere with the carrying +out of the divinely imposed mission. This is not said sarcastically; +and the Emperor, like some of his ancestors, has more than once +expressed the same thought. Parliaments in Germany only date from +after the French Revolution. After that event there came into +existence in Germany the Frankfurt Parliament (1848), the Erfurt +Parliament (1850), and the Parliament of the German Customs Union +(1867). These, however, were not popularly elected Parliaments like +those of the present day, but gatherings of class delegates from the +various Kingdoms and States composing the Germany and Austria of the +time. Since the Middle Ages there had always been quasi-popular +assemblies in Prussia, but they too were not elected, and only +represented classes, not constituencies. The present Parliaments in +Prussia and the Empire are Constitutional Parliaments in the English +sense, elected by universal suffrage, the one indirectly, the other +directly. + +The present Prussian Diet dates from the "First Unified Diet," +summoned by Frederick William IV in 1847, which was transformed next +year under pressure of the revolutionists into a "national assembly." +This was treated a year after by General Wrangel almost exactly as +Cromwell treated the Rump. The General entered Berlin with the troops +which a few weeks before had fought against the revolutionists of the +"March days." He passed along the Linden to the royal theatre, where +the "national assembly" was in session, and was met at the door by the +leader of the citizens' guard with the proud words, "The guard is +resolved to protect the honour of the National Assembly and the +freedom of the people, and will only yield to force." + +Wrangel took out his watch--one can imagine the old silver +"turnip"--and with his thumb on the dial replied: + + "Tell your city guard that the force is here. I will be + responsible for the maintenance of order. The National + Assembly has fifteen minutes in which to leave the building + and the city guard in which to withdraw." + +In a quarter of an hour the building was empty, and next day the city +guard was dissolved. A month later the King, Frederick William IV, +granted his _octroyierte_ Constitution--that is, a concession of his +own royal personal will--which established the Diet as it is to-day. + +Emperor William I, as King of Prussia, had a good deal of trouble with +his Parliament, and in 1852 wanted to abdicate rather than rule in +obedience to a parliamentary majority--it was the "conflict time" +about funds for army reorganization. Bismarck dissuaded him from doing +so by promising to become Minister and carry on the government, if +need were, without a parliament and without a budget. He actually did +so for some years, but there was no change in the Constitution as a +result. + +Nor has there been any constitutional change in the relations of Crown +to Parliament during the present reign. As a young man, the Emperor +had of course nothing to do with Parliament, Prussian or Imperial, and +since his accession, though there is always latent antagonism and has +been even friction at times, he has, generally speaking, lived on +"correct," if not friendly terms with it. There is little, if any, of +the devoted affection one finds for the monarch in the English +Parliament. + +And not unnaturally. Early in his reign, in 1891, he made a reference +to Parliament little calculated to evoke affection. "The soldier and +the army," he said to his generals at a banquet in the palace, "not +parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded together the +German Empire. My confidence is in the army--as my grandfather said at +Coblenz: 'These are the gentlemen on whom I can rely.'" Again, a year +or two afterwards he dissolved the Reichstag for refusing to accept a +military bill and did not conceal his anger with the recalcitrant +majority. In 1895 he telegraphed to Bismarck his indignation with the +Reichstag for refusing to vote its congratulations on the old +statesman's eightieth birthday. In 1897, speaking of the kingship "von +Gottes Gnaden" he took occasion to quote his grandfather's declaration +that "it was a kingship with onerous duties from which no man, no +Minister, no Parliament, no people" could release the Prince. In 1903 +his Chancellor, Prince Bülow, had to defend in Parliament his action +in the case of the Swinemunde despatch already mentioned. Attention +was called to the telegram in the Reichstag and the Chancellor +defended the Emperor. He denied that the telegram was an act of +State--it was a personal matter between two sovereigns, the statement +of a friend to a friend. "The idea," said the Chancellor, who +contended that the Emperor had a right to express his opinions like +any citizen, + + "that the monarch's expression of opinion is to be limited + by a stipulation that every such expression must be endorsed + with the signature of the Chancellor is wholly foreign to + the Constitution." + +Next day the Chancellor had again occasion to defend his imperial +master against a charge of being "anti-social," brought by the +Socialist von Vollmar, who coupled the charge with insinuations of +absolutism and Cæsarism. Prince Bülow said: + + "Absolutism is not a German word, and is not a German + institution. It is an Asiatic plant, and one cannot talk of + absolutism in Germany so long as our circumstances develop + in an organic and legal manner, respecting the rights of the + Crown, which are just as sacred as the rights of the + burgher; respecting also law and order, which are not + disregarded 'from above,' and will not be disregarded. If + ever our circumstances take on an absolute, a Cæsarian, + form, it will be as the consequence of revolution, of + convulsion. For on revolution follows Cæsarism as W follows + U--that is the rule in the A B C of the world's history." + +There is no harm in reminding Prince Bülow that the letter V--which +may be a very important link in the chain of events--comes between U +and W. It is clear also that the Chancellor must have forgotten his +English history for the moment, for though Cromwell's rule may be +called Cæsarism of a kind, the reign of William III, of "glorious, +pious, and immortal memory," which followed the revolution of 1688, +could not fairly be so named. + +Three years later, in 1906, Prince Bülow found it necessary to defend +the Emperor on the score of the "personal regiment." "The view," +Prince Bülow said, + + "that the monarch should have no individual thoughts of his own + about State and government, but should only think with the heads + of his Ministers and only say what they tell him to say, is + fundamentally wrong--is inconsistent with State rights and with + the wish of the German people"; + +and he concluded by challenging the House to mention a single case in +which the Emperor had acted unconstitutionally. None of these +bickerings between Crown and Parliament went to the root of the +constitutional relations between them, but they betrayed the existence +of popular dissatisfaction with the Emperor, which in a couple of +years was to culminate in an outbreak of national anger. + +An occurrence calls for mention here, not only as a kind of harbinger +of the "storm," but as one of the chief incidents which in the course +of recent years have troubled Anglo-German relations. The incident +referred to is that of the so-called "Tweedmouth Letter," which was an +autograph letter from the Emperor to Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of +the British Admiralty at the time, dated February 17, 1908, and +containing among other matters a lengthy disquisition on naval +construction, with reference to the excited state of feeling in +England caused by Germany's warship-building policy. The letter has +never been published, but it is supposed to have been prompted by a +statement made publicly by Lord Esher, Warden of Windsor Castle, in +the London _Observer_, to the effect that nothing would more please +the German Emperor than the retirement of Sir John Fisher, the +originator of the Dreadnought policy, who was at the time First Lord +of the Admiralty; and to have contained the remark that "Lord Esher +had better attend to the drains at Windsor and leave alone matters +which he did not understand." The Emperor was apparently unaware that +Lord Esher was one of the foremost military authorities in England. + +The sending of the letter became known through the appearance of a +communication in the London _Times_ of March 6th, with the caption +"Under which King?"--an allusion to Shakespeare's "Under which king, +Bezonian, speak or die"--and signed "Your Military Correspondent." The +writer announced that it had come to his knowledge that the German +Emperor had recently addressed a letter to Lord Tweedmouth on the +subject of British and German naval policy, and that it was supposed +that the letter amounted to an attempt to influence, in German +interests, the Minister's responsibility for the British Naval +Estimates. The correspondent concluded by demanding that the letter +should be laid before Parliament without delay. The _Times_, in a +leading article, prognosticated the "painful surprise and just +indignation" which must be felt by the people of Great Britain on +learning of such "secret appeals to the head of a department on which +the nation's safety depends," and argued that there could be no +question of privacy in a matter of the kind. The article concluded +with the assertion that the letter was obviously an attempt to "make +it more easy for German preparations to overtake our own." The +incident was immediately discussed in all countries, publicly and +privately. + +Everywhere opinion was divided as to the defensibility of the +Emperor's action; in France the division was reported by the _Times_ +correspondent to be "bewildering." All the evidence available to prove +the Emperor's impulsiveness was recalled--the Kruger telegram, the +telegram to Count Goluchowski, the Austrian Minister of Foreign +Affairs, after the Morocco Conference, characterizing him as a +"brilliant second (to Germany) in the bout at Algeciras," the +premature telegram conferring the Order of Merit on General Stoessel +after the fall of Port Arthur, and other evidence, relevant and +irrelevant. Reuter's agent in Berlin telegraphed on official authority +that the Emperor "had written as a naval expert." + +On the whole, continental opinion may be said to have leaned in favour +of the Emperor. Mr. Asquith, the English Prime Minister, at once made +the statement that the letter was a "purely private communication, +couched in an entirely friendly spirit," that it had not been laid +before the Cabinet, and that the latter had come to a decision about +the Estimates before the letter arrived. + +All eyes and ears were now turned to Lord Tweedmouth, and on March +10th he briefly referred to the matter in the House of Lords. He +received the letter, he said, in the ordinary postal way; it was "very +friendly in tone and quite informal"; he showed it to Sir Edward Grey, +who agreed with him that it should be treated as a private letter, not +as an official one; and he replied to it on February 20th, "also in an +informal and friendly manner." A discussion, in which Lord Lansdowne +and Lord Rosebery took part, followed, the former--to give the tone, +not the words of his speech--handing in a verdict of "Not guilty, but +don't do it again," against the Emperor, and laying down the principle +that "such a communication as that in question must not be allowed to +create a diplomatic situation different from that which has been +established through official channels and documents"; and Lord +Rosebery, while he recognized the importance of the incident, seeking +to minimize its effects by an attitude of banter. The treatment of the +incident by the House of Commons as a whole gave considerable +satisfaction in Germany, where all efforts were directed to showing +malevolent hostility to Germany on the part of the _Times_. + +Prince von Bülow dealt with the letter in a speech on the second +reading of the Budget on March 24, 1908. After referring to the Union +Internationale Interparlementaire, which was to meet in a few months +in Berlin, and to the "very unsatisfactory situation in Morocco," he +said:-- + + "From various remarks which have been dropped in the course + of the debate I gather that this honourable House desires me + to make a statement as to the letter which his Majesty the + Kaiser last month wrote to Lord Tweedmouth. On grounds of + discretion, to the observance of which both the sender and + receiver of a private letter are equally entitled, I am not + in a position to lay the text of the letter before you, and + I add that I regret exceedingly that I cannot do so. The + letter could be signed by any one of us, by any sincere + friend of good relations between Germany and England (hear, + hear). The letter, gentlemen, was in form and substance a + private one, and at the same time its contents were of a + political nature. The one fact does not exclude the other; + and the letter of a sovereign, an imperial letter, does not, + from the fact that it deals with political questions, become + an act of State ('Very true,' on the Right). + + "This is not--and deputy Count Kanitz yesterday gave + appropriate instances in support--the first political letter + a sovereign has written, and our Kaiser is not the first + sovereign who has addressed to foreign statesmen letters of + a political character which are not subject to control. The + matter here concerns a right of action which all sovereigns + claim and which, in the case of our Kaiser also, no one has + a right to limit. How his Majesty proposes to make use of + this right we can confidently leave to the imperial sense of + duty. It is a gross, in no way justifiable + misrepresentation, to assert that his Majesty's letter to + Lord Tweedmouth amounts to an attempt to influence the + Minister responsible for the naval budget in the interests + of Germany, or that it denotes a secret interference in the + internal affairs of the British Empire. Our Kaiser is the + last person to believe that the patriotism of an English + Minister would suffer him to accept advice from a foreign + country as to the drawing up of the English naval budget + ('Quite right,' hear, hear). What is true of English + statesmen is true also of the leading statesmen of every + country which lays claim to respect for its independence + ('Very true'). In questions of defence of one's own country + every people rejects foreign interference and is guided only + by considerations bearing on its own security and its own + needs ('Quite right'). Of this right to self-judgment and + self-defence Germany also makes use when she builds a fleet + to secure the necessary protection for her coasts and her + commerce ('Bravo!'). This defensive, this purely defensive + character of our naval programme cannot, in view of the + incessant attempts to attribute to us aggressive views with + regard to England, be too often or too sharply brought + forward ('Bravo!'). We desire to live in peace and quietness + with England, and therefore it is embittering to find a + portion of the English Press ever speaking of the 'German + danger,' although the English fleet is many times stronger + than our own, although other lands have stronger fleets than + us and are working no less zealously at their development. + Nevertheless it is Germany, ever Germany, and only Germany, + against which public opinion on the other side of the + Channel is excited by an utterly valueless polemic ('Quite + right'). + + "It would be, gentlemen," + +the Chancellor continued, + + "in the interests of appeasement between both countries, it + would be in the interest of the general peace of the world, + that this polemic should cease. As little as we challenge + England's right to set up the naval standard her responsible + statesmen consider necessary for the maintenance of British + power in the world without our seeing therein a threat + against ourselves, so little can she take it ill of us if we + do not wish our naval construction to be wrongly represented + as a challenge against England (hear, hear, on the Right and + Left). Gentlemen, these are the thoughts, as I judge from + your assent, which we all entertain, which find expression + in the statements of all speakers, and which are in harmony + with all our views. Accept my additional statement that in + the letter of his Majesty to Lord Tweedmouth one gentleman, + one seaman, talks frankly to another, that our Kaiser highly + appreciates the honour of being an admiral of the British + navy, and that he is a great admirer of the political + education of the British people and of their fleet, and you + will have a just view of the tendency, tone, and contents of + the imperial letter to Lord Tweedmouth. His Majesty + consequently finds himself in this letter not only in full + agreement with the Chancellor--I may mention this specially + for the benefit of Herr Bebel--but, as I am convinced, in + agreement with the entire nation. It would be deeply + regrettable if the honourable opinions by which our Kaiser + was moved in writing this letter should be misconstrued in + England. With satisfaction I note that the attempts at such + misconstruction have been almost unanimously rejected in + England ('Bravo!' on the Right and Left). Above all, + gentlemen, I believe that the admirable way in which the + English Parliament has exemplarily treated the question will + have the best effect in preventing a disturbance of the + friendly relations between Germany and England and in + removing all hostile intention from the discussions over the + matter (agreement, Right and Left). + + "Gentlemen, one more observation of a general nature. + Deputies von Hertling and Bassermann have recommended us, in + view of the suspicions spread about us abroad, a calm and + watchful attitude of reserve, and for the treatment of the + country's foreign affairs consistency, union, and firmness. + I believe that the foreign policy we must follow cannot be + characterized better or more rightly (applause)." + +A German saying has it that one is wiser coming from, than going to, +the Rathaus, the place of counsel. It is easy to see now that it would +have been better had the Emperor not written the letter, better had +the _Times_ not brought it to public notice, better, also, had the +Emperor or Lord Tweedmouth or Sir Edward Grey--for one of them must +have spoken of it to a third person--not let its existence become +known to anyone save themselves, at least not until the international +situation which prompted it had ceased. As regards the Emperor in +particular, judgment must be based on the answer to the question, Was +the letter a private letter or a public document? The _Times_ regarded +it as the latter, and many politicians took that view, but probably +nine people out of ten now regard it as the former. For such, the +reflection that it was part of a private correspondence between two +friendly statesmen, both well known to be sincere in their views that +a country's navy--that all military preparations--are based on motives +of national defence, not of high-handed aggression, must absolve the +Emperor from any suspicion of political immorality. It was unfortunate +that the letter was written, unfortunate that it was made known +publicly, but, as it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, the +episode may profit monarchs as well as meaner folk as an object lesson +in the advantages of discretion. + +Discussion of the Tweedmouth letter had hardly ceased when the whole +question of the "personal regiment" was again, and as it now, five +years after, appears, finally thrashed out between the Emperor and his +folk. Before, however, considering the _Daily Telegraph_ interview and +the Emperor's part in it, something should be said as to the state of +international ill-feeling which caused him to sanction its +publication. + +The ill-feeling was no sudden wave of hostility or pique, but a +sentiment which had for years existed in the minds of both nations--a +sentiment of mutual suspicion. The Englishman thought Germany was +prepared to dispute with him the maritime supremacy of Great Britain, +the German that England intended to attack Germany before Germany +could carry her great design into execution. The proximate cause of +the irritation--for it has not yet got beyond that--was the decision, +as announced in her Navy Law of 1898, to build a fleet of battleships +which Germany, but especially the Emperor, considered necessary to +complete the defences, and appropriate for affirming the dignity, of +the Empire. + +This was the _origo_, but not the _fons_. The source was the Boer War +and the Kruger telegram, though the philosophic historian might with +some reason refer it in a large measure also to the surprise and +uneasiness with which the leading colonial and commercial, as well as +maritime, nation of the world saw the material progress, the waxing +military power, and the longing for expansion of the not yet +forty-year-old German Empire. Forty years ago the word "Germany" had +no territorial, but only a descriptive and poetical, significance; +certainly it had no political significance; for the North German +Union, out of which the modern German Empire grew, meant for +Englishmen, and indeed for politicians everywhere, only Prussia. +Prussia was less liked by the world then than she is now, when she is +not liked too well; and accordingly there was already in existence the +disposition in England to criticize sharply the conduct of Prussia and +to apply the same criticism to the Empire Prussia founded. In this +condition of international feeling England's long quarrel with the +Transvaal Republic came nearer to the breaking-point; at the same time +there was an idea prevalent in England that Germany was coquetting +with the Boers--if not looking to a seizure of Transvaal territory, at +least hoping for Boer favour and Boer commercial privileges. The +Jameson Raid was made and failed; the Emperor and his advisers sent +the fateful telegram to President Kruger; and the peace of the world +has been in jeopardy ever since! + +The "storm" arose from the publication, in the London _Daily +Telegraph_ of October 28, 1908, of an interview coming, as the editor +said in introducing it, "from a source of such unimpeachable authority +that we can without hesitation commend the obvious message which it +conveys to the attention of the public." As to the origin and +composition of the interview a good deal of mystery still exists. All +that has become known is that some one, whose identity has hitherto +successfully been concealed, with the object of demonstrating the +sentiments of warm friendship with which the Emperor regarded England, +put together, in England or in Germany, a number of statements made by +the Emperor and sanctioned by him for publication. Whether the Emperor +read the interview previous to publication or not, no official +statement has been made; it is, however, quite certain that he did. At +all events it was sent, or sent back, to England and published in due +course. The immediate effect was a hubbub of discussion, accompanied +with general astonishment in England, a storm of popular resentment +and humiliation in Germany, and voluminous comment in other countries, +some of it favourable, some of it unfavourable, to the Emperor. + +The text of the interview in the _Daily Telegraph_ was introduced, as +mentioned, with the words:-- + + We have received the following communication from a source + of such unimpeachable authority that we can without + hesitation commend the obvious message which it conveys to + the attention of the public. + +And continued as follows:-- + + Discretion is the first and last quality requisite in a + diplomatist, and should still be observed by those who, like + myself, have long passed from public into private life. Yet + moments sometimes occur in the history of nations when a + calculated indiscretion proves of the highest public + service, and it is for that reason that I have decided to + make known the substance of a lengthy conversation which it + was my recent privilege to have with his Majesty the German + Emperor. I do so in the hope that it may help to remove that + obstinate misconception of the character of the Kaiser's + feelings towards England which, I fear, is deeply rooted in + the ordinary Englishman's breast. It is the Emperor's + sincere wish that it should be eradicated. He has given + repeated proofs of his desire by word and deed. But, to + speak frankly, his patience is sorely tried now that he + finds himself so continually misrepresented, and has so + often experienced the mortification of finding that any + momentary improvement of relations is followed by renewed + out-bursts of prejudice, and a prompt return to the old + attitude of suspicion. + +As I have said, his Majesty honoured me with a long conversation, and +spoke with impulsive and unusual frankness. "You English," he said, + + "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you + that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite + unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have + done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my + speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace, and + that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the best of + terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? + Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My + actions ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to + them but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is + a personal insult which I feel and resent. To be for ever + misjudged, to have my repeated offers of friendship weighed + and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, taxes my + patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a + friend of England, and your Press--or, at least, a + considerable section of it--bids the people of England + refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates that the other + holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its + will?" + +"I repeat," continued his Majesty, + + "that I am the friend of England, but you make things + difficult for me. My task is not of the easiest. The + prevailing sentiment among large sections _of_ the middle + and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to + England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my + own land, but it is a minority of the best elements, just as + it is in England with respect to Germany. That is another + reason why I resent your refusal to accept my pledged word + that I am the friend of England. I strive without ceasing to + improve relations, and you retort that I am your arch-enemy. + You make it very hard for me. Why is it?" + +Thereupon I ventured to remind his Majesty that not England alone, but +the whole of Europe had viewed with disapproval the recent action of +Germany in allowing the German Consul to return from Tangier to Fez, +and in anticipating the joint action of France and Spain by suggesting +to the Powers that the time had come for Europe to recognize Muley +Hand as the new Sultan of Morocco. + +His Majesty made a gesture of impatience. "Yes," he said, + + "that is an excellent example of the way in which German + action is misrepresented. First, then, as regards the + journey of Dr. Vassel. The German Government, in sending Dr. + Vassel back to his post at Fez, was only guided by the wish + that he should look after the private interests of German + subjects in that city, who cried for help and protection + after the long absence of a Consular representative. And why + not send him? Are those who charge Germany with having + stolen a march on the other Powers aware that the French + Consular representative had already been in Fez for several + months when Dr. Vassel set out? Then, as to the recognition + of Muley I Hand. The Press of Europe has complained with + much acerbity that Germany ought not to have suggested his + recognition until he had notified to Europe his full + acceptance of the Act of Algeciras, as being binding upon + him as Sultan of Morocco and successor of his brother. My + answer is that Muley Hafid notified the Powers to that + effect weeks ago, before the decisive battle was fought. He + sent, as far back as the middle of last July, an identical + communication to the Governments of Germany, France, and + Great Britain, containing an explicit acknowledgment that he + was prepared to recognize all the obligations towards Europe + which were incurred by Abdul Aziz during his Sultanate. The + German Government interpreted that communication as a final + and authoritative expression of Muley Hand's intentions, and + therefore they considered that there was no reason to wait + until he had sent a second communication, before recognizing + him as the _de facto_ Sultan of Morocco, who had succeeded + to his brother's throne by right of victory in the field." + +I suggested to his Majesty that an important and influential section +of the German Press had placed a very different interpretation upon +the action of the German Government, and, in fact, had given it their +effusive approbation precisely because they saw in it a strong act +instead of mere words, and a decisive indication that Germany was once +more about to intervene in the shaping of events in Morocco. "There +are mischief-makers," replied the Emperor, + + "in both countries. I will not attempt to weigh their + relative capacity for misrepresentation. But the facts are + as I have stated. There has been nothing in Germany's recent + action with regard to Morocco which runs contrary to the + explicit declaration of my love of peace which I made both + at Guildhall and in my latest speech at Strassburg." + +His Majesty then reverted to the subject uppermost in his mind--his +proved friendship for England. "I have referred," he said, + + "to the speeches in which I have done all that a sovereign + can to proclaim my goodwill. But, as actions speak louder + than words, let me also refer to my acts. It is commonly + believed in England that throughout the South African War + Germany was hostile to her. German opinion undoubtedly was + hostile--bitterly hostile. The Press was hostile; private + opinion was hostile. But what of official Germany? Let my + critics ask themselves what brought _to_ a sudden stop, and, + indeed, to absolute collapse, the European tour of the Boer + delegates who were striving to obtain European intervention? + They were feted in Holland; France gave them a rapturous + welcome. They wished to come to Berlin, where the German + people would have crowned them with flowers. But when they + asked me to receive them--I refused. The agitation + immediately died away, and the delegation returned + empty-handed. Was that, I ask, the action of a secret enemy? + + "Again, when the struggle was at its height, the German + Government was invited by the Governments of France and + Russia to join with them in calling upon England to put an + end to the war. The moment had come, they said, not only to + save the Boer Republics, but also to humiliate England to + the dust. What was my reply? I said that so far from Germany + joining in any concerted European action to put pressure + upon England and bring about her downfall, Germany would + always keep aloof from politics that could bring her into + complications with a Sea Power like England. Posterity will + one day read the exact terms of the telegram--now in the + archives of Windsor Castle--in which I informed the + Sovereign of England of the answer I had returned to the + Powers which then sought to compass her fall. Englishmen who + now insult me by doubting my word should know what were my + actions in the hour of their adversity. + + "Nor was that all. Just at the time of your Black Week, in + the December of 1899, when disasters followed one another in + rapid succession, I received a letter from Queen Victoria, + my revered grandmother, written in sorrow and affliction, + and bearing manifest traces of the anxieties which were + preying upon her mind and health. I at once returned a + sympathetic reply. Nay, I did more. I bade one of my + officers procure for me as exact an account as he could + obtain of the number of combatants in South Africa on both + sides, and of the actual position of the opposing forces. + With the figures before me, I worked out what I considered + to be the best plan of campaign under the circumstances, and + submitted it to my General Staff for their criticism. Then I + dispatched it to England, and that document, likewise, is + among the State papers at Windsor Castle, awaiting the + serenely impartial verdict of history. And, as a matter of + curious coincidence, let me add that the plan which I + formulated ran very much on the same lines as that which was + actually adopted by Lord Roberts, and carried by him into + successful operation. Was that, I repeat, the act of one who + wished England ill? Let Englishmen be just and say! + + "But, you will say, what of the German navy? Surely that is + a menace to England! Against whom but England are my + squadrons being prepared? If England is not in the minds of + those Germans who are bent on creating a powerful fleet, why + is Germany asked to consent to such new and heavy burdens of + taxation? My answer is clear. Germany is a young and growing + Empire. She has a world-wide commerce, which is rapidly + expanding, and to which the legitimate ambition of patriotic + Germans refuses to assign any bounds. Germany must have a + powerful fleet to protect that commerce, and her manifold + interests in even the most distant seas. She expects those + interests to go on growing, and she must be able to champion + them manfully in any quarter of the globe. Germany looks + ahead. Her horizons stretch far away. She must be prepared + for any eventualities in the Far East. Who can foresee what + may take place in the Pacific in the days to come--days not + so distant as some believe, but days, at any rate, for which + all European Powers with Far Eastern interests ought + steadily to prepare? Look at the accomplished rise of Japan; + think of the possible national awakening of China; and then + judge of the vast problems of the Pacific. Only those Powers + which have great navies will be listened to with respect + when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if + for that reason only Germany must have a powerful fleet. It + may even be that England herself will be glad that Germany + has a fleet when they speak together on the same side in the + great debates of the future." + +Such was the purport of the Emperor's conversation. He spoke with all +that earnestness which marks his manner when speaking on deeply +pondered subjects. I would ask my fellow-countrymen who value the +cause of peace to weigh what I have written, and to revise, if +necessary, their estimate of the Kaiser and his friendship for England +by his Majesty's own words. If they had enjoyed the privilege, which +was mine, of hearing them spoken, they would doubt no longer either +his Majesty's firm desire to live on the best of terms with England or +his growing impatience at the persistent mistrust with which his offer +of friendship is too often received. + +There are more indiscretions than one in the interview, but the most +important and most dangerous was the Emperor's statement that at the +time of the Boer War the Governments of France and Russia invited the +German Government to join with them "not only to save the Boer +Republics, but also to humiliate England to the dust." Such a +revelation coming from the Emperor ought, one would suppose, to have +caused serious trouble between Great Britain and her Entente friends. +That it did not is at once testimony to the cynicism of Governments +and the reality and strength of the Entente engagement. In private +life, if a fourth person confidentially told one of the three partners +in a firm that the other two partners had invited him to join them in +humiliating him to the dust, there would have been a pretty brisk, not +to say acrimonious correspondence between the proposed victim and his +partners. Governments, it appears, look on things differently, and so +far as the public knows, England simply took no notice of the +Emperor's communication. Possibly, however, the Emperor had put the +matter too strongly and an explanation of some kind was forthcoming. +If so, it must be looked for among the secret archives of the Foreign +Office. It was at once suggested that the Emperor made the revelation +expressly to weaken, if not destroy, the Entente. One can conceive +Bismarck doing such a thing; but it is more in keeping with the +Emperor's character, and with the indiscreet character of the entire +interview, to suppose it to be a proof of deplorable candour and +sincerity. + +The excitement in Germany caused by the publication of the interview +soon took the shape of a determination on the part of the Chancellor +and the Federal Council, for once fully identifying themselves with +the feelings of Parliament, Press, and people, that "something must be +done," and it was decided that the Chancellor should go to Potsdam, +see the Emperor, and try to obtain from him a promise to be more +cautious in his utterances on political topics for the future. The +Chancellor went accordingly, being seen off from the railway terminus +in Berlin by a large crowd of people, among whom were many +journalists. To Dr. Paul Goldmann, who wished him God-speed, he could +only reply that he hoped all would be for the best. He looked pale and +grave, as well he might, since he was about to stake his own position +as well as convey a mandate of national reproach. + +What passed at Potsdam between the Emperor and his Chancellor has not +transpired. Naturally there are various accounts of it, one of them +representing the Emperor as flying into a passion and for long +refusing to give the required guarantees; but as yet none of them has +been authenticated. It should not be difficult to imagine the mental +attitudes of the two men on the occasion, and especially not difficult +to imagine the sensations of the Emperor, a Prussian King, on being +impeached by a people--his people--for whom, his feeling would be, he +had done so much, and in whose best interests he felt convinced he had +acted; but whatever occurred, it ended in the Emperor bowing before +the storm and giving the assurances required. + +The Chancellor's countenance and expressions on his return to Berlin +showed that his mission had been successful, and there was great +satisfaction in the capital and country. The text of these assurances, +which was published in the _Official Gazette_ the same evening, was as +follows: + + "His Majesty, while unaffected by public criticism which he + regards as exaggerated, considers his most honourable + imperial task to consist in securing the stability of the + policy of the Empire while adhering to the principle of + constitutional responsibility. The Kaiser accordingly + endorses the statements of the Imperial Chancellor in + Parliament, and assures Prince von Bülow of his continued + confidence." + +After returning to Berlin, Prince Bülow gave in the Reichstag his +impatiently awaited account of the result of his mission, and made +what defence he could of his imperial master's action in allowing the +famous interview to be published. Before giving the speech, which was +delivered on November 10, 1908, it will be as well to quote the five +interpellations introduced in Parliament on the subject, as showing +the unanimity of feeling that existed in all parts of the House:-- + +1. By Deputy Bassermann (leader of the National Liberals): + + "Is the Chancellor prepared to take constitutional + responsibility for the publication of a series of utterances + of his Majesty the Kaiser in the _Daily Telegraph_ and the + facts communicated therein?" + +2. By Deputy Dr. Ablass (Progressive Party): + + "Through the publication of utterances of the German Kaiser + in the _Daily Telegraph_, and through the communication of + the real facts in the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ + caused by the Chancellor, matters have become known which + demonstrate serious short-comings in the treatment of + foreign affairs, and are calculated to influence + unfavourably the relations of the German Empire to other + Powers. What does the Chancellor propose to do to devise a + remedy and to give full effect to the responsibility + attributed to him by the Constitution of the German Empire?" + +3. By Deputy Albrecht (Socialist): + + "What is the Chancellor prepared to do to prevent such + occurrences as have become known through the _Daily + Telegraph's_ communications regarding acts and utterances of + the German Kaiser?" + +4. By Deputy von Norman (Conservative Party): + + "Is the Chancellor prepared to submit further information + regarding the circumstances which led to the publication of + utterances of his Majesty the Kaiser in the English Press?" + +5. By Prince von Hatzfeldt and Freiherr von Gamp (Imperial +Party--Conservative): + + "Is the Chancellor willing to take precautions that such + occurrences as that brought to light by the publication in + the _Daily Telegraph_ shall not recur?" + +In reply to the interpellations Prince von Bülow said:-- + + "Gentlemen, I shall not apply myself to every point which + has just been raised by previous speakers. I have to + consider the effect of my words abroad, and will not add to + the great harm already caused by the publication in the + _Daily Telegraph_ (hear, hear, on the Left and Socialists). + + "In reply to the interpellations submitted, I have to + declare as follows:-- + + "His Majesty the Kaiser has at different times, and to + different private English personalities, made private + utterances which, linked together, have been published in + the _Daily Telegraph_. I must suppose that not all details + of the utterances have been correctly reproduced (hear, + hear, on the Right). One I know is not correct: that is the + story about the plan of campaign (hear, hear, on the right). + The plan in question was not a field campaign worked out in + detail, but a purely academic (laughter among the + Socialists)--Gentlemen, we are engaged in a serious + discussion. The matters on which I speak are of an earnest + kind and of great political importance--be good enough to + listen to me quietly: I will be as brief as possible. I + repeat therefore: the matter is not concerned with a field + campaign worked out in detail, but with certain purely + academic thoughts--I believe they were expressly described + as 'aphorisms'--about the conduct of war in general, which + the Kaiser communicated in his interchange of correspondence + with the late Queen Victoria. They are theoretical + observations of no practical moment for the course of + operations and the issue of the war. The chief of the + General Staff, General von Moltke, and his predecessor, + General Count Schlieffen, have declared that the General + Staff reported to the Kaiser on the Boer War as on every + war, great or small, which has occurred on the earth during + the last ten years. Both, however, have given assurances + that our General Staff never examined a field plan of + campaign, or anything similar, prepared by the Kaiser in + view of the Boer War, or forwarded such to England (hear, + hear, on the Right and Centre). But I must also defend our + policy against the reproach of being ambiguous _vis-à-vis_ + the Boers. We had--the documents show it--given timely + warning to the Transvaal Government. We called its attention + to the fact that in case of a war with England it would + stand alone. We put it to her directly, and through the + friendly Dutch Government in May, 1899, peacefully to come + to an understanding with England, since there could be no + doubt as to the result of a war. + + "In the question of intervention the colours in the article + of the _Daily Telegraph_ are too thickly laid on. The thing + itself had long been known (hear, hear). It was some time + previously the subject of controversy between the _National + Review_ and the _Deutsche Revue_. There can be no talk of a + 'revelation.' It was said that the imperial communication to + the Queen of England, that Germany had not paid any + attention to a suggestion for mediation or intervention, is + a breach of the rules of diplomatic intercourse. Gentlemen, + I will not recall indiscretions to memory, for they are + frequent in the diplomatic history of all nations and at all + times ('Quite right,' on the Right). The safest policy is + perhaps that which need fear no indiscretion ('Quite right,' + on the Left). To pass judgment in particular cases as to + whether or not a breach of confidence has occurred, one must + know more of the closely connected circumstances than + appears in the article of the _Daily Telegraph_. The + communication might be justified if it were attempted in one + quarter or another to misrepresent our refusal or to throw + suspicion on our attitude; circumstances may have previously + happened which make allusion to the subject in a + confidential correspondence at least intelligible. + Gentlemen, I said before that many of the expressions used + in the _Daily Telegraph_ article are too strong. That is + true, in the first place, of the passage where the Kaiser is + represented as having said that the majority of the German + people are inimically disposed towards England. Between + Germany and England misunderstandings have occurred, + serious, regrettable misunderstandings. But I am conscious + of being at one with this entire honourable House in the + view that the German people desire peaceful and friendly + relations with England on the basis of mutual esteem (loud + and general applause)--and I take note that the speakers of + all parties have spoken to-day in the same sense ('Quite + right'). The colours are also too thickly laid on in the + place where reference is made to our interests in the + Pacific Ocean. It has been construed in a sense hostile to + Japan. Wrongly: we have never in the Far East thought of + anything but this--to acquire and maintain for Germany a + share of the commerce of Eastern Asia in view of the great + economic future of this region. We are not thinking of + maritime adventure there: aggressive tendencies have as + little to say to our naval construction in the Pacific as in + Europe. Moreover, his Majesty the Kaiser entirely agrees + with the responsible director of foreign policy in the + complete recognition of the high political importance which + the Japanese people have achieved by their political + strength and military ability. German policy does not regard + it as its task to detract from the enjoyment and development + of what Japan has acquired. + + "Gentlemen, I am, generally speaking, under the impression + that if the material facts--completely, in their proper + shape--were individually known, the sensation would be no + great one; in this instance, too, the whole is more than all + the parts taken together. But above all, gentlemen, one must + not, while considering the material things, quite forget the + psychology, the tendency. For two decades our Kaiser has + striven, often under very difficult circumstances, to bring + about friendly relations between Germany and England. This + honest endeavour has had to contend with obstacles which + would have discouraged many. The passionate partisanship of + our people for the Boers was humanly intelligible; feeling + for the weaker certainly appeals to the sympathy. But this + partisanship has led to unjustified, and often unmeasured, + attacks on England, and similarly unjust and hateful attacks + have been made against Germany from the side of the English. + Our aims were misconstrued, and hostile plans against + England were foisted on us which we had never thought of. + The Kaiser, rightly convinced that this state of things was + a calamity for both countries and a danger for the civilized + world, kept undeviatingly on the course he had adopted. The + Kaiser is particularly wronged by any doubt as to the purity + of his intentions, his ideal way of thinking, and his deep + love of country. + + "Gentlemen, let us avoid anything that looks like + exaggerated seeking for foreign favour, anything that looks + like uncertainty or obsequiousness. But I understand that + the Kaiser, precisely because he was anxious to work + zealously and honestly for good relationship with England, + felt embittered at being ever the object of attacks casting + suspicion on his best motives. Has one not gone so far as to + attribute to his interest in the German fleet secret views + against vital English interests--views which are far from + him. And so in private conversation with English friends he + sought to bring the proof, by pointing to his conduct, that + in England he was misunderstood and wrongly judged. + + "Gentlemen, the perception that the publication of these + conversations in England has not had the effect the Kaiser + wished, and in our own country has caused profound agitation + and painful regret, will--this firm conviction I have + acquired during these anxious days--lead the Kaiser for the + future, in private conversation also, to maintain the + reserve that is equally indispensable in the interest of a + uniform policy and for the authority of the Crown ('Bravo!' + on the Right). + + "If it were not so, I could not, nor could my successor, + bear the responsibility ('Bravo!' on the Right and National + Liberals). + + "For the fault which occurred in dealing with the manuscript + I accept, as I have caused to be said in the _Norddeutsche + Allgemeine Zeitung_, entire responsibility. It also goes + against my personal feelings that officials who have done + their duty all their lives should be stamped as + transgressors because, in a single case, they relied too + much on the fact that I usually read and finally decide + everything myself. + + "With Herr von Heydebrand I regret that in the mechanism of + the Foreign Office, which for eleven years has worked + smoothly under me, a defect should on one occasion occur. I + will answer for it that such a thing does not happen again, + and that with this object, without respect to persons, + though also without injustice, what is needful will be done + ('Bravo!'). + + "When the article in the _Daily Telegraph_ appeared, its + fateful effect could not for a moment be doubtful to me, and + I handed in my resignation. This decision was unavoidable, + and was not difficult to come to. The most serious and most + difficult decision which I ever took in my political life + was, in obedience to the Kaiser's wish, to remain in office. + I brought myself to this decision only because I saw in it a + command of my political duty, precisely in the time of + trouble, to continue to serve his Majesty the Kaiser and the + country (repeated 'Bravo!'). How long that will be possible + for me, I cannot say. + + "Let me say one thing more: at a moment when the fact that + in the world much is once again changing requires serious + attention to be given to the entire situation, wherever it + is matter of concern to maintain our position abroad, and + without pushing ourselves forward with quiet constancy to + make good our interests--at such a moment we ought not to + show ourselves small-spirited in foreign eyes, nor make out + of a misfortune a catastrophe. I will refrain from all + criticism of the exaggerations we have lived through during + these last days. The harm is--as calm reflection will + show--not so great that it cannot with circumspection be + made good. Certainly no one should forget the warning which + the events of these days has given us ('Bravo!')--but there + is no reason to lose our heads and awake in our opponents + the hope that the Empire, inwardly or outwardly, is maimed. + + "It is for the chosen representatives of the nation to + exhibit the prudence which the time demands. I do not say it + for myself, I say it for the country: the support required + for this is no favour, it is a duty which this honourable + House will not evade (loud applause on the Right, hisses + from the Socialists)." + +Prince Bülow's speech requires but little comment--its importance for +Germany is the fact that it brought to a head the country's feeling, +that if the Emperor's unlimited and unrestrained idea of his +heaven-sent mission as sole arbiter of the nation's destinies was not +checked, disaster must ensue. The speech itself is rather an apology +and an explanation than a defence, and in this spirit it was accepted +in Germany. It is fair to say that the Emperor has faithfully kept the +engagement made through Prince Bülow with his people so far, and +unless human nature is incurable there seems no reason why he should +not keep it to the end of the reign. More than four years have passed +since the incidents narrated occurred. The storm has blown over, the +sea of popular indignation has gone down, and at present no cloud is +visible on the horizon. + +Besides the Tweedmouth Letter and the "November Storm" there were one +or two other notable events in the parliamentary proceedings of the +year. The Reichstag dealt with Prussian electoral reform and the +attitude of Germany towards the question of disarmament. As to the +first, the Government refused to regard it as an imperial concern, +though the popular claim was and is that the suffrage should be the +same in Prussia as in the Empire, viz., universal, direct, and secret. +This claim the Emperor will not listen to, on the ground that it would +injure the influence of the middle classes by the admission of +undesirable elements (meaning the Socialists); that the electoral +system for the Empire, with the latter's national tasks, should be on +a broader basis than in the case of the individual States, where the +electors are chiefly concerned with administration, the school, and +the Church; and that it would bring the Imperial and Prussian +Parliaments into conflict to the injury of German unity. The Emperor +has made only one reference to electoral reform in Prussia, a promise, +namely, he gave the Diet in October of this year, that the regulations +concerning the voting should experience + + "an organic further development, which should correspond to + the economic progress, the spread of education and political + understanding, and the strengthening of the feeling of State + responsibility." + +No reform, however, has yet been effected by legislation. + +As to disarmament, Germany's position is simply negative, though it +may be noticed by anticipation that she has recently (1913) expressed +her disposition to accept the proportion of ten German to sixteen +English first-class battleships suggested by Sir Edward Grey in 1912 +as offering the basis of a possibly permanent arrangement. At the time +now dealt with, however, Chancellor von Bülow asserted that no +proposal that could serve as a basis had ever been submitted to his +Government, and added that even if such a proposal were made it was +doubtful if it could be accepted. It was not merely the number of +ships, he said, that was involved; there were a host of technical +questions--standards, criteria of all sorts, which could not be +expressed in figures, economic progress abroad and the possible effect +of new scientific inventions--to be considered. Lastly there were the +navy laws, which the Government was pledged to carry out. As for +military disarmament, the Emperor and his advisers regard it as +impossible, considering the unfavourable strategic situation of +Germany in the midst of Europe, with exposed frontiers on every side. + +This year the Emperor and his family took up their quarters for the +first time in their new Corfu spring residence "Achilleion." They were +met by the Royal Family of Greece, who showed them over the Castle, +and in the evening were welcomed by the mayor of Corfu, who, in a +flight of metaphor, said his people desired to wreathe the Emperor's +"Olympic brow" with a crown of olive. That the Emperor did not pass +his days wholly in admiring the beauty of the scenery was shown by the +fact that a few days after his arrival he delivered a lecture in the +Castle on "Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar," being prompted thereto +by a book on the subject by Captain Mark Kerr, of H.M.S. _Implacable_. +The Emperor illustrated his lecture with sketches drawn by himself of +the positions of the united French and Spanish fleets during the +battle. + +Almost every year sees some specialty produced at the Royal Opera in +Berlin. This year it was Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," performed in the +presence of the French Ambassador in Berlin, Monsieur Jules Cambon, +and two directors of the Paris Opera. The Emperor told Monsieur +Messager, one of the latter, that he had taken an infinity of trouble +to get the right character, colour, and movement of the period of the +opera, and explained his interest in the work by the fact that he had +lost two of his ancestors, Admiral Coligny and the Prince of Orange, +in the historic massacre. This opera, with Verdi's "Aida," are still, +as given at the Royal Opera, the favourite operas of the Berlin +public. + +Americans, like all other people, regard the Emperor with friendly +feelings, but for a time this year their respect for him suffered some +diminution owing to what was known as the Tower-Hill affair. When the +American Ambassador in Berlin, Mr. Charlemagne Tower, resigned his +post in 1908, the Washington authorities found difficulty in choosing +a suitable successor. Mr. Tower was a wealthy man, who by his personal +qualities, aided by a talented wife, whom the Emperor once described +as "the Moltke of society," and by frequent entertainments in one of +the finest houses of the fashionable Tiergarten quarter, had fully +satisfied the Emperor of his fitness to represent a great nation at +the Court of a great Empire. The Emperor has a high opinion of his +country, and, in small things as in great, will not have it treated as +a _quantité négligeable_: consequently a millionaire was not too good +for Berlin. The impression produced by Mr. Tower on Republican America +was not quite the same. When Ambassador in St. Petersburg, Mr. Tower +had invented a Court uniform for himself and staff of a highly ornate, +not to say fantastic, kind, and when in Berlin was thought to take too +little trouble to win popularity among his American fellow-colonists. +This non-republican attitude, as it seemed to be, met with a good deal +of adverse criticism in America, and the Washington authorities, for +that or for some other reason, considered it advisable to choose as +Mr. Tower's successor a man of another type. Their choice fell on Dr. +David Jayne Hill, American Minister at Berne, a former President of +Rochester University, the author of a standard work on the History of +Diplomacy, and as renowned for the amiability of his character as for +his academic attainments. A further reason for choosing him was that +he had been attached to the service of the Emperor's brother, Prince +Henry, during the latter's visit to the United States some years +before. Dr. Hill spoke German excellently, was able and distinguished, +and, if not a man of great means, was sufficiently well-to-do to +represent his country becomingly at the Court of Berlin. His selection +was in due course communicated for _agrément_ to the German Foreign +Office, and by it, also in due course, transmitted to the Emperor. The +Emperor without more ado signed the _agrément_ and the arrival of Dr. +Hill in Berlin was daily expected. + +Just at this time, however, Mr. Tower gave a farewell dinner to the +Emperor, and invited to it specially from Rome the American Ambassador +to Italy, Mr. Griscom. Mr. Griscom was accompanied by his clever and +attractive wife. The dinner-party assembled, and Mr. Griscom and his +wife were placed in the immediate neighbourhood of the Emperor. Before +dinner was over it was evident that the Griscoms had made a most +favourable impression on the imperial guest. Accordingly, so the story +goes, when towards the end of dinner the Emperor, in his impulsive +way, exclaimed, "Now, why didn't America send me the Griscoms instead +of the Hills?" or words to that effect, the company was not completely +taken by surprise. When, however, the Emperor went on to suggest to +his host to telegraph to President Roosevelt to make the change, it +became evident that an international incident of exceptional delicacy +had been created. Mr. Tower, who would perhaps have acted with better +judgment had he declined to adopt the Emperor's suggestion, cabled to +President Roosevelt, and at the same Mr. Griscom wrote to him +privately. Before Mr. Griscom's letter arrived, perhaps before Mr. +Roosevelt was in possession of Mr. Tower's telegram, the words of the +Emperor had become known in Berlin, were cabled to the American Press, +and much indignation at the Emperor's conduct was aroused in all parts +of America. The two Governments, as well as Dr. Hill, were placed in a +position of great embarrassment. In view of the state of public +opinion in America, and in view also of the American Government's +engagement _vis à vis_ Dr. Hill, the Washington authorities could not +withdraw a nominee who had been already signalled to it from Germany +as _persona grata_. The only way possible out of the difficulty was to +employ the machinery of the official _démenti_, and this was +accordingly done. It was denied by the Foreign Office that the Emperor +had expressed dissatisfaction with Dr. Hill's appointment, and the +incident closed with the carrying out of the original arrangements and +the arrival of Dr. Hill in Berlin. Subsequent events proved that had +the Emperor known Dr. Hill personally he would never have thought of +expressing dissatisfaction at the prospect of seeing him as Ambassador +at his Court, for Dr. Hill, during the two years of his stay, fully +vindicated the wisdom of the Washington Government's choice, and +before he left his post had earned the Emperor's complete respect, if +not his cordial friendship. + + + + +XV. + + + +AFTER THE STORM + + + +1909-1913 + +Next year, 1909, was the year of the famous finance reform measure +which, though finally carried through, led to the resignation of +Chancellor von Bülow. It had been obvious for some years that a +reorganization of the imperial system of finance with a view to +meeting the growing expenses of the Empire, and in especial those of +the army and navy, was necessary if imperial bankruptcy was to be +avoided. The practice of taking what were known as matricular +contributions from the separate States to make up for deficits in the +imperial budgets, and of burdening posterity by State loans, had one +day to cease. At the beginning of the reign the National Debt was 884 +million marks (£44,200,000), and in 1908 over 4,000 million marks +(£200,000,000). A year before this Prince Bülow had made his first +proposals for reform, including new taxes on beer, wine, tobacco, and +succession duties on property. + +All parties in Parliament, except of course the Social Democrats, +admitted that fresh imposts were inevitable, but, very naturally, no +party was willing to bear them. The Conservatives would not hear of an +inheritance tax and the Liberals would not hear of duties on popular +consumption. The result was to make the Centrum masters of the +political field and place the Conservative-Liberal "bloc" at its +mercy. After long discussion, the Government proposals were put to the +vote on June 24th, and as the Centrum threw in its lot with the +Conservatives, the proposals were rejected by 195 votes to 187. Prince +Bülow thereupon went to Kiel and tendered his resignation to the +Emperor, but at the latter's urgent request consented to remain in +office until financial reform in one shape or another had been +effected. This result was attained a month later, after much +compromising and discussion. The Chancellor renewed his request for +retirement, and the Emperor agreed. On the same day, July 14th, that +the resignation took effect, it was officially announced that Herr von +Bethmann-Hollweg, who had hitherto been Minister of the Interior, was +appointed to succeed Prince von Bülow as Imperial Chancellor. + +An impression prevails widely in Germany that Prince Bülow's +retirement was due to the loss of the Emperor's favour owing to the +Prince's attitude towards the monarch during the "November storm." +Prince Bülow, very properly, has always refused to say anything about +his relations with his royal master, but a lengthy statement he made +to a newspaper correspondent referring his resignation to the conduct +of the Conservatives, and a letter from the Emperor gratefully +thanking the Prince in the warmest terms for his "long and intimate +co-operation," and conferring upon him at the same time the highest +Order in the Empire, that of the Black Eagle, should be sufficient +evidence to disprove the supposition. It is more probable that the +Prince was weary of the cares of office and of the strife of party. +Moreover, he had, in the state of his health, a strong private reason +for retirement. Four years before, on April 5, 1906, he had fallen +unconscious from his seat on the ministerial bench during the +proceedings in the Reichstag, and although he was back again in +Parliament, perfectly recovered, in the following November, the attack +was an experience which warned him against too great a prolongation of +such heavy work and responsibility as the Chancellorship entails. + +The retirement of Prince Bülow meant the disappearance of the most +notable figure in German political life since the beginning of the +century. In ability, wit, and those graces of a refined and richly +cultivated mind which have so often distinguished great English +statesmen, he was a head and shoulders above any of his +fellow-countrymen; while the mere fact that he was able to maintain +his position for almost twelve years (he had been, as Foreign +Secretary for over two years, the Emperor's most trusted counsellor +and the real executive in foreign policy) is a convincing proof of his +tact and diplomatic talent, as well as of his statesmanship. + +His successor, the present Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, is a +man of another and very different type. He incorporates the spirit of +Prussian patriotism of the most orthodox kind in its worthiest and +best manifestations, but as yet he has given no proofs of possessing +the breadth of view, the oratorical talent, or the urbanity which +distinguished his predecessor. Prince von Bülow's career as a German +diplomatist in foreign capitals made him an acute and highly polished +man of the world. The present Chancellor has spent all his life within +the comparatively narrow confines of Prussian administrative service. +It is, of course, too soon to pass final judgment on him as German +Prime Minister. + +The visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Berlin in +February, 1909, disposed finally of the idea, which had prevailed in +Germany as well as abroad for two or three years, that England was +pursuing a policy aiming to bring about the "isolation" of Germany in +world-politics. The visit was an official one, paid, of course, +chiefly to the Emperor; but its most remarkable feature politics +apart, was the friendly relations which King Edward established with +the Berlin City Fathers at a reception in the Town Hall. It was not +that he said anything out of the way to the assembled burghers; but +his simple manner, genial remarks, and perhaps especially the +sympathetic way in which he handled the loving-cup offered by his +hosts, made an instantaneous and strong impression. + +The controversy that raged round the so-called "Flora Bust" +contributed not a little to the gaiety of nations towards the close of +this year. The bust, an undraped wax figure, reproducing the features +of Leonardo da Vinci's famous "La Joconde," was bought by Dr. Wilhelm +Bode, Director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, for £8,000 +from a London dealer as an authentic work of the celebrated Italian +painter, dating from about the year 1500. It was brought with a great +flourish of trumpets to Berlin, and a chorus of self-congratulation +was raised in Germany on the successful carrying off of such a prize +from England. The harmony, however, was rudely disturbed by the +publication of a letter from Mr. F.C. Cooksey, art critic of the +_Times_, stating that the bust was not by da Vinci at all, but was in +reality the work of Mr. R.C. Lucas, an artist of some note forty or +fifty years ago, and that it had for long occupied a pedestal in +Lucas's suburban garden. + +The Emperor, whose curiosity as well as patriotism was aroused, spent +half an hour on November 11th discussing the bust with Dr. Bode and +examining an album containing photographs of the works of Lucas. At +the close of his inspection the Emperor expressed great delight at the +acquisition, as to the genuineness of which he declared he "had not +the slightest doubt," and said he did not regard the price paid as +extremely high. Unfortunately for the Emperor's conviction, a letter +now appeared in the _Times_ from Mr. A.C. Lucas, a son of R.C. Lucas, +who said he recollected the making of the bust, and suggested that +there might be found in its interior a piece of cloth, probably a part +of an old waistcoat of his father's, which had been used as a sort of +filling. In the presence of such a statement there was only one thing +left to be done: to examine the interior of the bust. First of all it +was subjected to the Roentgen rays, the result being to show that the +interior was not homogeneous. A few days after, there was a great +gathering of experts at the Museum, a hole was cut in the wax at the +back of the bust, a bent wire was introduced, and the search for the +famous piece of waistcoat began. It was a dramatic moment as Professor +Latghen with his wire explored the interior of the bust, and the +tension reached its highest point when the Professor, drawing from the +bust what was evidently a piece of cloth, exclaimed, "_Hier ist die +Veste!_" On being further withdrawn the substance proved to be about +two square inches of a grey, canvas-like material, feeling soft and +velvety to the touch. It was a disagreeable discovery for the Germans, +but it was got over by the suggestion that the original bust had been +entrusted to Lucas for repair, and that in this way the waistcoat had +got into it. The "poor English newspapers," Dr. Bode said, referring +to the sarcastic comments on the discovery from the other side of the +Channel, "had had, without any acquaintance with our bust or with the +work of its alleged forger, to give this particular form of expression +to their ill-humour at the sale." As a matter of fact, the bust, +whoever made it, is a lovely work of art, as every one who has seen it +readily admits. + +The Emperor's friendship with Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, which was now to +be confirmed by personal acquaintance, throws a side light on his own +character, and testifies to his desire to keep in touch with the +rulers of other countries--another illustration, by the way, of his +consistency, since he laid down the policy of cultivating friendly +relations with foreign rulers at the very commencement of his reign. +Probably many letters in the large characteristic handwriting of both +men have passed between them, and there probably always existed a +desire on the part of the wielder of the mailed fist to make the +personal acquaintance of the advocate of the big stick. The meeting +occurred in May, 1910, after Mr. Roosevelt had shot wild beasts in +Africa, visited Egypt, London, Vienna, Rome, and other continental +cities, with a cohort of newspaper correspondents, and caused by his +speeches political, if fortunately harmless, disturbance almost +everywhere he went. When in Berlin he was to have lodged at the +Emperor's palace; but the Emperor's hospitable intent was frustrated +by the death of King Edward VII, which prevented all entertainment in +the home of his German nephew. + +The Roosevelt party, consisting of the ex-President, Mrs. Roosevelt, +and Miss Ethel Roosevelt, arrived in Berlin on May 11th from +Stockholm, and at noon the same day were taken by royal train to +Potsdam. At the New Palace the party were heartily greeted by the +Emperor, whom they found standing on the steps waiting to receive +them. After shaking hands the Emperor led his guests into a small +reception-room, where they were introduced to the Empress, the Crown +Prince and Crown Princess, and other members of the imperial family. +The Emperor then took them to the Shell Room, so called from its being +inlaid with shells and rare stones, and here were found some of the +Emperor's high officials, including Admiral von Müller, chief of the +Marine Cabinet, and one of the most able and amiable of the Emperor's +entourage, who had met Mr. Roosevelt when on his trip to America with +Prince Henry several years before. Luncheon followed at six small +tables in the Jasper Gallery, the Emperor taking his seat between Mrs. +Roosevelt and the Crown Princess, while the Empress had Mr. Roosevelt +on her left and her eldest son, the Crown Prince, on her right. +Princess Victoria Louise, the Emperor's only daughter, occupied a seat +on Mr. Roosevelt's left. After lunch was over the guests went back to +the Shell Room, and here the Emperor, taking Mr. Roosevelt apart, +began a conversation so long and animated that the shades of evening +began to fall before it ended. The Roosevelts did not return to Berlin +by train, but were first driven by the Emperor to inspect Sans Souci, +and were afterwards whirled back to Berlin in the yellow imperial +motors. + +Only two other incidents of the visit need be mentioned. One of them +was a lecture on "The World Movement," delivered by Mr. Roosevelt in +very husky tones (for he was suffering badly from hoarseness) at +Berlin University, in the presence of the Emperor and Empress. The +other was a parade of 12,000 troops, arranged by the Emperor at +Doeberitz, the great military exercise camp near Potsdam, which Mr. +Roosevelt, clad in a khaki coat and breeches, and wearing brown +leather gaiters and black slouch hat, observed from horseback beside +the Emperor. As the troops went by at the close of the review the +Emperor and Mr. Roosevelt saluted in military fashion simultaneously. + +Immediately after the visit of the Roosevelts, the Emperor was called +to England to attend the funeral of King Edward VII. The imperial +yacht _Hohenzollern_, with the Emperor on board, arrived in England on +May 19th. Next day the Emperor travelled to Victoria terminus, where +he was received and warmly embraced by King George. They proceeded to +Buckingham Palace, where the Emperor's first call was made on the +widowed Queen Alexandra. On the 21st took place the funeral of King +Edward, the procession to Westminster Abbey, where the service was +held, being headed by King George with the Emperor on his right and +the Duke of Connaught on his left. Both the Emperor and the Duke were +dressed in Field-Marshal's uniform and carried the bâtons of their +rank. The countenance of the Emperor is described by a chronicler of +the time (and the _Times_) as wearing "an expression grave even to +severity." + +The procession moved slowly on to the famous Abbey, the Emperor riding +a grey horse, saluting at intervals as he rode along. On arrival at +the Abbey an incident occurred. As soon as Queen Alexandra's carriage +arrived and drew up, the Emperor, according to the accounts of +eyewitnesses, ran to the door of the carriage with so much alacrity +that he had reached it before the royal servants, and when it appeared +that her Majesty was not to alight from that side of the carriage, the +Emperor motioned the lacqueys round to the other door, and was there +before them to assist her Majesty. This he did, after himself opening +the door. The Emperor remained in England only a very few days after +the funeral, seeing old friends, among them Lord Kitchener. + +As of interest to both Englishmen and Germans may be mentioned the +tour through India undertaken by the Crown Prince in November. Steele +once happily said of a Lady Hastings that "to love her was a liberal +education"; to make a tour through India, it might similarly be said, +is an education in the extent and character of British imperial power +and administration. The Crown Prince naturally devoted a goodly share +of his time to the delights of sport, including tiger-shooting and +pig-sticking, but he must also have learned much of England's fine +imperial spirit from his intercourse with an official hierarchy as +honest and conscientious as that of his own country. The Crown Prince, +on his return home, published a volume of hunting reminiscences which +does no small credit to him as an author. + +The Emperor's "shining armour" political remark dates from this +period. He was on a visit to his Triplice ally, Kaiser Franz Josef, in +September, 1910, and made a speech at the Vienna Town Hall on the 21st +which contained a reference to the loyal conduct he claimed Germany +had observed when the action of Austria-Hungary in annexing Bosnia and +Herzegovina, despite the wording of the Treaty of Berlin, had raised +an outcry in other countries, and in particular strained Austrian +relations with Russia. After thanking his audience for the personal +reception given him, he continued: + + "On the other hand, it seems to me I read in your resolution + the agreement of the city of Vienna with the action of an + ally in taking his stand in shining armour at a grave moment + by the side of your most gracious sovereign." + +The outcry caused in the world by Austria's high-handed annexation, +and especially in Russia, theoretically always Austria's most probable +enemy, owing to conflicting interests in the Balkans, subsided, we +know, as suddenly as it was raised. The reason, it is currently +believed, and the form in which the rays of the shining armour acted, +was an intimation from the Emperor to the Czar that, if necessary, +Germany was prepared to fight for Austria. + +Peoples are said to have the institutions, and husbands the wives, +they deserve; but if German cities, and especially Berlin, have the +police they deserve, the fact speaks very uncomplimentarily for their +inhabitants. Foreigners in Germany, coming from countries where +manners are more natural and obliging, frequently use the adjectives +"brutal" and "stupid" when speaking of the Prussian constable. The +proceedings of the Berlin police during the Moabit riots in the +capital in September this year are often quoted as an example of their +brutality, while, as to stupidity, it is enough to say that a stranger +in Berlin, discussing its mounted police, naïvely remarked that what +most struck him about them was the look of intelligence on the faces +of the horses. Judgments of this kind are too sweeping. It should be +remembered that Germany is surrounded by countries of which the +riff-raff is at all times seeking refuge in it or passing through it, +that polyglot swindlers of every kind, the most refined as well as the +most commonplace, abound, and that Anarchists are not yet an extinct +species. For the Prussian police, moreover, there is a Social Democrat +behind every bush. + +Possibly to this condition of things, and to the suspicion that Social +Democratic organizers were about, was due the gallant charge made by +half a dozen policemen, with drawn swords in their hands and revolvers +at their belts, on four inoffensive English and American journalists +during the Moabit riots. Towards midnight of September 29th the +journalists were seated in an open taximeter cab, in a brilliantly +lighted square, which some little time before had been swept of +rioters--rioters from the Berlin police point of view being any one, +man, woman, or child, who is, with guilty or innocent intent, it makes +no difference, in or near a theatre of disturbance. Suddenly half a +dozen burly policemen, led on by a police spy, as he afterwards turned +out to be, charged the cab and laid about them with their swords. They +probably only intended to use the flat of their weapons, but one of +them succeeded in slashing deeply the hand of Reuter's representative, +who was of the party. The other journalists escaped with contusions +and bruises, thanks chiefly to the sides of the cab impeding the +sword-play of the attackers. + +The journalists naturally complained to their Ambassadors, who took up +their cause with commendable readiness. Without immediate effect, +however; the authorities, though themselves very strong on the point +of duty, wondered much at journalists being in a place where duty +alone could have brought them, and refused any sort of apology or +other satisfaction. The Government, however, eventually expressed its +"regret," and a year or two after, possibly in the spirit of +conciliation and compensation, agreed to give foreign journalists in +Berlin the _passe-partout_, or _coupe-fil_, as it is known in France, +which is one of the privileges most valued by the journalist, native +and foreign, in Paris. + +Among the international agreements of the year was a commercial one +between Germany and America. Commercial relations between the two +countries have never been quite satisfactory to either, and if there +is no tariff war, occasions of tariff tension, with consequent +disturbance of trade, constantly arise. Germany's European commercial +treaties have secured her a sufficiency of raw material for her +industry. Her chief object now is not so much perhaps to facilitate +imports of material from other countries as to find markets, in +America as elsewhere, for her industry's finished products. +Consequently she strongly dislikes the high tariff barriers of the +United States, inaugurated by the Dingley tariff of 1897, and has in +addition certain grievances against that country regarding customs +administration in respect of appraisement, invoices, and the like. Her +commercial connexion with America dates from the treaty of "friendship +and commerce" made by Frederick the Great, and having the +most-favoured-nation treatment as its basis; a regular treaty of the +same kind between Prussia and America was entered into in 1828; and +since then commercial relations have been regulated provisionally by a +series of short-term agreements which, however, America claims, do not +confer on Germany unrestricted right to most-favoured-nation +treatment. By the agreement now in force, concluded this year (1910), +America and Germany grant each other the benefit of their minimum +duties. + +Since the "November storm" the Emperor had made no reference to the +doctrine of Divine Right, nor given any indication of a desire to +exercise the "personal regiment" which is the natural corollary to it. +It has been seen that the doctrine, viewed from the English +standpoint, is a species of mental malady to which Hohenzollern +monarchs are hereditarily subject. It recurs intermittently and +particularly whenever a Hohenzollern monarch speaks in Koenigsberg, +the Scone of Prussia, where Prussian Kings are crowned. When at +Koenigsberg this year the Emperor suffered from a return of the royal +_idée fixe_. "Here my grandfather," he said, + + "placed, by his own right, the crown of the Kings of Prussia + on his head, once again laying stress upon the fact that it + was conferred upon him by the Grace of God alone, not by + Parliament, by meetings of the people, or by popular + decisions; and that he considered himself the chosen + instrument of Heaven and as such performed his duties as + regent and as ruler." + +Speaking of himself on the occasion he said: + + "Considering myself as an Instrument of the Lord, without + being misled by the views and opinions of the day, I go my + way, which is devoted solely and alone to the prosperity and + peaceful development of our Fatherland." + +The Emperor, by the way, on this occasion made what sounds like an +indirect reference to the Suffragette craze. "What shall our women," +he asked, after mentioning the pattern Queen of Prussia, Queen Louise, + + "learn from the Queen? They must learn that the principal + task of the German woman does not lie in attending public + meetings and belonging to societies, in the attainment of + supposed rights in which women can emulate men, but in the + quiet work of the home and in the family." + +The Emperor's reference to his divine appointment did not pass without +a good deal of popular criticism in Germany, but nearly all Germans +were at one with the Emperor in his view of the proper sphere for +womanly activities. + +The Emperor's domestic life for the last two or three years, including +the early months of the present year, have passed without special +cause of interest or excitement, if we except the visit he and the +Empress made to London in May, 1911, to be present at the unveiling of +Queen Victoria's statue, and the announcement he was able to make a +few months ago that his only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, had +become engaged to Prince Ernest August, Duke of Cumberland, the still +persisting claimant to the Kingdom of Hannover, absorbed by Prussia in +1866. The visit to London lasted only five days and produced no +incident particularly worthy of record. The engagement of Princess +Victoria Louise, while generally believed to be a love-match, +possesses also political significance for Germany, not indeed as +putting an end to the claim of the Duke of Cumberland, but as +practically effecting a reconciliation between the Hohenzollerns and +Guelphs. The young Duke of Brunswick had already implicitly renounced +his claim to Hannover by entering the German army and taking the oath +of allegiance to the Emperor as War Lord, so that, when his father +dies, the Guelph claim to Hannover will die with him. + +It is difficult to determine whether the Government's abandonment of +its design to amend the Prussian franchise system in 1910, its +submissive attitude towards the Pope's Borromeo Encyclical in 1911, +the rapid rise in food prices which marked both years, or finally, the +Emperor's failure to secure a slice of Morocco for Germany had most +antagonizing effect on German popular feeling; but whatever the cause, +the general elections of January, 1912, proved a tremendous Socialist +victory, which must have been, and still remains, gall and wormwood to +the Emperor. Notwithstanding official efforts, over one-third of the +votes polled at the first ballots went for Social Democratic +candidates. The number of seats thus obtained was 64, and this number, +after the second ballots, rose to 110, thus making the Socialist party +numerically the strongest in the Reichstag. Up to the present, +however, Herr Bebel and his cohorts appear to be happy in possessing +power rather than in using it. + +Before completing the Emperor's domestic chronicle of more recent +years, a few lines may be devoted to the role in which he has last +appeared before the public--that of farmer. On February 12, 1913, he +attended a meeting of the German Agricultural Council in Berlin, and +with only a few statistical notes to help him narrated in lively and +amusing fashion his experiences as owner of a farm, the management of +which he has been personally supervising since 1898. The farm is part +of the Cadinen Estate, bequeathed to him by an admirer and universally +known for the majolica ware made out of the clay found on the +property. The Emperor was able to show that he had achieved remarkable +success with his farm, and particularly with a fine species of bull, +_Bos indicus major_, he maintained on it. A year or two before, at a +similar meeting, when speaking of the same breed of bull, he caused +much hilarity among the military portion of his audience by jokingly +remarking that it had "nothing to do with the General Staff." On the +present occasion he also caused laughter by recounting how he had +"fired," to use an American expression exactly equivalent to the +German word employed by the Emperor, a tenant who "wasn't any use." +The Emperor, however, would, as it turned out, have done better by not +mentioning the incident, for the Supreme Court at Leipzig a few days +subsequently quashed the Emperor's order of ejectment on the tenant +and condemned him to pay all the costs in the case. The role of +farmer, it may be added, is one which, had he been born a country +gentleman like Bismarck, the Emperor would have filled with complete +success. But in what role would he not have done well? + +Foreign politics everywhere for the last three or four years have been +full of incident, outcry, and bloodshed. The state of things, indeed, +prevailing in the world for some time past is extraordinary. A +visitant from another planet would imagine that normal peace and +abnormal war had changed places, and that civilized mankind now regard +peace as an interlude of war, not war as an interlude of peace. He +would be wrong, of course, but the race in armament, which threatens +to leave the nations taking part in it financially breathless and +exhausted, might easily lead him astray. On some of the situations +with which these politics are concerned we may briefly touch. + +For the last three or four years the dominant note in the music of +what is called the European Concert, taking Europe for the moment to +include Great Britain, has been the state of Anglo-German relations. +There have been times, as has been seen, when public feeling in both +England and Germany was strongly antagonized, but all through the +period there has been evident a desire on the part of both Governments +to adopt a mutually conciliatory attitude, and if the war in the +Balkans does not lead to a general international conflagration, which +at present appears improbable, the two countries may arrive at a +permanent understanding. There was, and not so very long ago, a +similar state of tension, prolonged for many years, between England +and France. That tension not only ceased, but was converted into +political friendship by the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904. Parallel +with this tension between England and France was the tension between +England and Russia, owing to the latter's advance towards England's +Indian possessions. The latter state of things ended with the +Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907, and it should engender satisfaction +and hope, therefore, to those who now apprehend a war between England +and Germany to note that neither of the tensions referred to, though +both were long and bitter, developed into war. + +The tension between England and Germany of late years has been +tightened rather than relaxed by ministerial speeches as well as by +newspaper polemics in both countries. One of the most disturbing of +the former was the speech delivered by Mr. Lloyd George at the Mansion +House on July 21, 1911. Doubtless with the approval of the Prime +Minister, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George said: + + "I believe it is essential, in the highest interest not + merely of this country, but of the world, that Britain + should at all hazards maintain her place and her prestige + amongst the Great Powers of the world. Her potent influence + has many a time been in the past, and may yet be in the + future, invaluable to the cause of human liberty. It has + more than once in the past redeemed continental nations, + which are sometimes too apt to forget that service, from + overwhelming disasters and even from national extinction. I + would make great sacrifices to preserve peace. I conceive + that nothing would justify a disturbance of international + goodwill except questions of the gravest national moment. + But if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace + could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and + beneficent position Britain has won by centuries of heroism + and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated, where + her interests are vitally affected, as if she were of no + account in the cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically + that peace at that price would be a humiliation intolerable + for a great country like ours to endure." + +These rhetorical platitudes were uttered at the time of the +"conversations" between the French and German Foreign Offices about +the compensation claimed by Germany for giving France, once for all, a +free hand in Morocco. Germany was apparently making demands of an +exorbitant character, and what Mr. Lloyd George really meant was that +if Germany persisted in these demands England would fight on the side +of France in order to resist them. As a genuinely democratic speaker, +however, he followed the rule of many publicists, who are paid for +their articles by the column and say to themselves, "Why use two words +when five will do?" + +Another unfortunate remark that may be noted in this connexion was +that made by Mr. Winston Churchill in referring to the German navy as +"to some extent a luxury." The remark, though true (also to a certain +extent), was unfortunate, for it irritated public opinion in Germany, +where it was regarded as a species of impertinent interference. + +As evidence of the desire on the part of the Emperor and his +Government for a friendly arrangement with England may be quoted the +statement made in December, 1910, by the German Chancellor, Herr von +Bethmann-Hollweg, _to_ the following effect:-- + + "We also meet England in the desire to avoid rivalry in + regard to armaments, and non-binding _pourparlers_, which + have from time to time taken place, have been conducted on + both sides in a friendly spirit. We have always advanced the + opinion that a frank and sincere interchange of views, + followed by an understanding with regard to the economic and + political interests of the two countries, offers the surest + means of allaying all mistrust on the subject of the + relations of the Powers to each other on sea and land." + +The Chancellor went on to explain that this mistrust had manifested +itself "not in the case of the Governments, but of public opinion." + +With regard, in particular, to a naval understanding between England +and Germany, Chancellor von Bülow, in a Budget speech in March, 1909, +declared that up to that time no proposals regarding the dimensions of +the fleets or the amount of naval expenditure which could serve as a +basis for an understanding had been made on the side of England, +though non-binding conversations had taken place on the subject +between authoritative English and German personalities. In March last +year (1912) such proposals may be said to have been made in the form +of a suggestion by Sir Edward Grey during the Budget debate that the +ratio of 16 to 10 (i.e., 50 per cent. more and 10 per cent. over) +should express the naval strength of the two countries. The suggestion +was "welcomed" by Admiral von Tirpitz on behalf of Germany in +February, 1913. And there the matter rests. + +A perhaps inevitable result of the tension between England and Germany +during the period under consideration has been the amount of mutual +espionage discovered to be going on in both countries. An incident +that attracted wide attention was the arrest in 1910 of Captains +Brandon and Trench, the former of whom was arrested at Borkum and the +latter at Emden. They were tried before the Supreme Court at Leipzig, +and were both sentenced to incarceration in a fortress for four years. +Many other arrests, prosecutions, and sentences have taken place both +in England and Germany since then, with the consequence that English +travellers in Germany and German travellers in England, particularly +where the travellers are men of military bearing and are in seaside +regions, are now liable, under very small provocation, to a suspicion +of being spies. An English lady recently made the acquaintance of a +German in England. He was a very nice man, she said, and went on to +relate how they were talking one day about Ireland. She happened to +mention Tipperary. "Oh, I know Tipperary," the German officer said; +"it is in my department." "It was a revelation to me," the lady +concluded when repeating the conversation to her friends. As a matter +of fact, the Intelligence Departments of the army in both Germany and +England are well acquainted with the roads, hills, streams, forts, +harbours, and similar details of topography in almost all countries of +the world besides their own. + +In regard to 1911 should be recorded the journey of the Crown Prince +and Crown Princess to England to represent the Emperor at the +coronation of King George in June; the outbreak in September of the +Turco-Italian War, which placed the Emperor in a dilemma, of which one +fork was his duty to Italy as an ally in the Triplice and the other +his platonic friendship with the Commander of the Faithful; and, +lastly, the suspicion of the Emperor's designs that arose in connexion +with the fortification of Flushing at a cost to Holland of some +£3,000,000. The Emperor was supposed to have insisted on the +fortification in order to prevent the use of the Netherlands by Great +Britain as a naval base against Germany. Like many another scare in +connexion with foreign policy, the supposition may be regarded only as +a product of intelligent journalistic "combination." + +Finally, among subsidiary occurrences, should be mentioned the meeting +of the Emperor and the Czar in July, 1912, at Port Baltic in Finnish +waters, accompanied by their Foreign Ministers, with the official +announcement of the stereotyped "harmonious relations" between the two +monarchs that followed; and the premature prolongation, with the +object of showing solidarity regarding the Balkan situation, of the +Triple Alliance, which, entered into, as mentioned earlier, in the +year 1882, had already been renewed in 1891, 1896, and 1902. The next +renewal should be in 1925, unless in the meantime an international +agreement to which all Great Powers are signatories should render it +superfluous. + +The war in the Balkans need only be referred to in these pages in so +far as it concerns Germany. The position of Germany in regard to it, +so far, appears simple; she will actively support Austria's larger +interests in order to keep faith with her chief ally of the Triplice, +and so long as Austria and Russia can agree regarding developments in +the Balkan situation, there is no danger of war among the Great +Powers. People smiled at the declaration of the Powers some little +time ago that the _status quo_ in the Balkans should be maintained; +but it should be remembered that the whole phrase is _status quo ante +bellum_, and that, once war has broken out, the _status_, the position +of affairs, is in a condition of solution, and that no new _status_ +can arise until the war is over and its consequences determined by +treaties. The result of the present war, let it be hoped, will be to +confine Turkey to the Orient, where she belongs, and that the Balkan +States, possibly after a period of internecine feud, will take their +share in modern European progress and civilization. + +The amount of declaration, asseveration, recrimination (chiefly +journalistic), rectification, intimidation, protestation, +pacification, and many other wordy processes that have been employed +in almost all countries with the avowed object of maintaining peace +during the last four years is in striking contrast to the small +progress actually made in regard to a final settlement of either of +the two great international points at issue--the limitation of +armaments and compulsory arbitration. + +Enough perhaps has been said in preceding pages to show the attitude +of the Emperor, and consequently the attitude of his Government, +towards them. A history of the long agitation in connexion with them +is beyond the scope of this work. The agitation itself, however, may +be viewed as a step, though not a very long one, on the way to the +desired solution, and it is a matter for congratulation that the two +subjects have been, and are still being, so freely and copiously and, +on the whole, so sympathetically and hopefully ventilated. The great +difficulty, apparently, is to find what diplomatists call the proper +"formula"--the law-that-must-be-obeyed. Unfortunately, the finding of +the formula cannot be regarded as the end of the matter; there still +remains the finding of what jurists call the "sanction," that is to +say, the power to enforce the formula when found and to punish any +nation which fails to act in accordance with it. Nothing but an +Areopagus of the nations can furnish such a sanction, but with the +present arrangements for balancing power in Europe, to say nothing of +the ineradicable pugnacity, greed, and ambition of human nature, such +an Areopagus seems very like an impossibility. Time, however, may +bring it about. If it should, and the Golden Age begin to dawn, an +epoch of new activities and new horizons, quite possibly more novel +and interesting than any which has ever preceded it, will open for +mankind. + + + + +XVI. + + + +THE EMPEROR TO-DAY + +What strikes one most, perhaps, on looking back over the Emperor's +life and time, are two surprising inconsistencies, one relating to the +Emperor himself, the other to that part of his time with which he has +been most closely identified. + +The first arises from the fact that a man so many-sided, so impulsive, +so progressive, so modern--one might almost say so American--should +have altered so little either in character or policy during quarter of +a century. This is due to what we have called his mediæval nature. He +is to-day the same Hohenzollern he was the day he mounted the throne, +observing exactly the same attitude to the world abroad and to his +folk at home, tenacious of exactly the same principles, enunciating +exactly the same views in politics, religion, morals, and art--in +everything which concerns the foundations of social life. He still +believes himself, as his speeches and conduct show, the selected +instrument of Heaven, and acts towards his people and addresses them +accordingly. He still opposes all efforts at political change, as +witness his attitude towards electoral reform, towards the +Germanization of Prussian Poland, towards the Socialists, towards +Liberalism in all its manifestations. He is still, as he was at the +outset of his reign, the patron of classical art, classical drama, and +classical music. He is still the War Lord with the spirit of a bishop +and a bishop with the spirit of the War Lord. He is still the model +husband and father he always has been. Most men change one way or +another as time goes on. With the Emperor time for five-and-twenty +years appears to have stood still. + +The inconsistency relating to his time arises from the contrast +between the real and the seeming character of the reign. For, +strikingly and anomalously enough, while the Emperor has been steadily +pursuing an economic policy, a policy of peace, his entire reign, as +one turns over the pages of its history, seems to resound, during +almost every hour, with martial shoutings, confused noises, the +clatter of harness, the clash of swords, and the tramp of armies. From +moment to moment it recalls those scenes from Shakespearean drama in +which indeed no dead are actually seen upon the stage, but at +intervals the air is filled with battle cries, "with excursions and +alarms," with warriors brandishing their weapons, calling for horses, +hacking at imaginary foes, and defying the world in arms. + +And yet in reality it has been a period of domestic peace throughout. +Though there has been incessant talk of war, and at times war may have +been near, it never came, unless the South West African and Boxer +expeditions be so called. Commerce and trade have gone on increasing +by leaps and bounds. The population has grown at the rate of nearly +three-quarters of a million a year. Emperor William the First's social +policy has been closely followed. The navy has been built, the army +strengthened, the Empire's finances reorganized; in whatever direction +one looks one finds a record of solid and substantial and peaceful +progress and prosperity. A great deal of it is owing, admittedly, to +the Germans themselves, but no small share of it is due to the +"impulsive" Emperor's consistency of character and conduct. + +Probably the inconsistencies are only apparent. Germany and her +Emperor have grown, not developed, if by development is meant a +radical alteration in structure or mentality, and if regard is had to +the real Germany and the real Emperor, not to the Germany of the +tourist, and not to the Emperor of contemporary criticism. It has been +seen that the Emperor's nature and policy have not altered. The +Constitution of Germany has not altered, nor her Press, nor her +political parties, nor her social system, nor, indeed, any of the +vital institutions of her national life. With one possible +exception--the navy. The navy is a new organic feature, and, like all +organisms, is exerting deep and far-reaching influences. Germany, of +course, is in a process of development, a state of transition. But +nations are at all times in a state of transition, more or less +obvious; and it will require yet a good many years to show what new +forms and fruits the development now going on in Germany is to bring. +The Emperor, it is safe to say, will remain the same, mediæval in +nature, modern in character, to the end of his life. + +The main thing, however, to be noted both about Germany and the German +Emperor is what they stand for in the movement of world-ideas at the +present time. Germans cause foreigners to smile when they prophesy +that their culture, their civilization, will become the culture and +the civilization of the world. The sameness of ideas that prevailed in +mediæval times about life and religion--about this life and the life +to come--was succeeded, and first in Germany, by an enormous diversity +of ideas about life and religion, beginning with the Rationalism (or +"enlightenment," as the Germans call it) which set in after the +Reformation and the Renaissance; and this diversity again +promises--let us at least hope--to go back, in one of the great +circles that make one think human thought, too, moves in accordance +with planetary laws, to a sameness of views among the nations in +regard to the real interests of society, which are peace, religious +harmony through toleration, commercial harmony through international +intercourse, and the mutual goodwill of governments and peoples. For +all this order of ideas the Emperor, notwithstanding his mailed fist +and shining armour, stands, and in this spirit both he and the German +mind are working. + +More than half a century has passed over the Emperor's head; let us +look a little more closely at him as the man and the monarch he is +to-day. Time appears to have dealt gently with him; the heart, one +hears it said, never grows bald, and in all but years the Emperor is +probably as young and untiring as ever. + +His personal appearance has altered little in the last decade. An +observer, who had an opportunity of seeing him at close quarters in +1902, describes him, as he then appeared, as follows:-- + + "I was standing within arm's length of him at Cuxhaven, + where we were waiting the landing of Prince Henry, his + brother, on his return from America. The _Deutschland_ had + to be warped alongside the quay, and the Emperor, in the + uniform of a Prussian general of infantry, meanwhile mixed + with the suite and chatted, now to one, now to another, with + his usual bonhomie. I was speaking to the American attaché, + Captain H----, when the Emperor came up, and naturally I + stood a little to one side. + + "The thing that most struck me was the Emperor's large grey + eyes. As they looked sharply into those of Captain H---- or + glanced in my direction, they seemed to show absolutely no + feeling, no sentiment of any kind. Not that they gave the + notion of hardness or falsity. They were simply like two + grey mirrors on which outward things made no impression. + + "Two other features did not strike me as anything out of the + ordinary, but the whole face had an air of ability, + cleverness, briskness, and health. The Emperor is about + middle height, with the body very erect, the walk firm, and + is very energetic in his gestures. I did not notice the + shortness of the left arm, but that may have been because + his left hand was leaning on his sword-hilt. Captain H---- + told me he could not put on his overcoat without assistance, + and that the hand is so weak he can do very little with it. + There was nothing of a Hohenzollern hanging under-lip." + +The following judgment was formed a year or two ago by an American +diplomatist: "I have often met him," the diplomatist said, + + "and only speak of the impression he made on me. I would + describe him as intelligent rather than intellectual. He + appreciates men of learning and of philosophic mind, and + while not learned and philosophic himself, enjoys seeing the + learned and philosophic at work, and gladly recognizes their + merit when their labours are thorough and well done. His + mind is marvellously quick, but it does not dwell on + anything for long at a time. It takes in everything + presented to it in, so to speak, a hop, skip, and jump. + + "In company he is never at rest, and surprises one by his + lively play of features and the entirely natural and + unaffected expression of his thoughts. He is sitting at a + lecture, perhaps, when a notion occurs to him, and forthwith + indicates it by a humorous grimace or wink to some one + sitting far away from him. He is always saying unexpected + things. On the whole, he is a right good fellow, and I can + imagine that, though he can come down hard on one with a + heavy hand and stern look, he does not do so by the instinct + of a despot, but acting under a sense of duty." + +Another diplomatist has remarked the Emperor's habit in conversation +of tapping the person he is talking to on the shoulder and of +scrutinizing him all over--"ears, nose, clothes, until it makes one +feel quite uncomfortable." + +The next sketch of him is as he may be seen any day during the +yachting week in June at Kiel:-- + + "The Emperor is in the smoking-room of the Yacht Club, + dressed in a blue lounge suit with a white peaked cap. He is + sitting carelessly on the side of a table, dangling his legs + and discussing with fellow-members and foreign yachtsmen the + experience of the day, now speaking English, now French, now + German. He seems quite in his element as sportsman, and puts + every one at ease round him. His expression is animated and + his voice hearty, if a little strident to foreign ears. His + right hand and arm are in ceaseless movement, emphasizing + and enforcing everything he says. He asks many questions and + often invites opinion, and when it differs from his own, as + sometimes happens, he takes it quite good-humouredly." + +To-day the Emperor is outwardly much the same as he has just been +described. He is perhaps slightly more inclined to stoutness. His +features, though they speak of cleverness and manliness, are forgotten +as one looks into the keen and quickly moving grey eyes with their +peculiar dash of yellow. He is well set up, as is proper for a soldier +ever actively engaged in military duties, and his stride continues +firm and elastic. He is still constantly in the saddle. His hair, +still abundant, is yet beginning to show the first touches of the +coming frost of age, and the reddish brown moustache, once famous for +its haughtily upturned ends, has taken, either naturally or by the aid +of Herr Haby, the Court barber, who attends him daily, a nearly level +form. + +In public, whether mounted or on foot, he preserves the somewhat stern +air he evidently thinks appropriate to his high station, but more +frequently than formerly the features relax into a pleasant smile. The +colour of the face is healthy, tending to rosiness, and the general +impression given is that of a clever man, conscious, yet not +overconscious, of his dignity. The shortness of the left arm, a defect +from birth, is hardly noticeable. + +The extirpation of a polypus from the Emperor's throat in 1903, which +must have been one of the severest trials of his life when the history +of his father's mortal illness is remembered, might lead one to +suppose that his vocal organs would always suffer from the effects of +the operation. It has fortunately turned out otherwise. His voice was +originally strong by nature, and remains so. It never seems tired, +even when, as it often does, it pleases him to read aloud for his own +pleasure or that of a circle of friends. It frequently occurs that he +will pick up a book, one of his ancient favourites, Horace or Homer +perhaps, Mr. Stewart Houston Chamberlain's "Foundations of the +Nineteenth Century"--a work he greatly admires--or a modern +publication he has read of in the papers, and read aloud from it for +an hour or an hour and a half at a time. Nor is his reading aloud +confined to classical or German books. He is equally disposed to +choose works in English or French or Italian, and when he reads these +he is fond of doing so with a particularly clear and distinct +enunciation, partly as practice for himself, and partly that his +hearers may understand with certainty. This is not all, for there +invariably follows a discussion upon what has been read, and in it the +Emperor takes a constant and often emphatic part. It has been remarked +that at the close of the longest sitting of this character his voice +is as strong and sonorous as at the beginning. + +He is still the early riser and hard worker he has always been; still +devotes the greater part of his time to the duties that fall to him as +War Lord; still races about the Empire by train or motor-car, +reviewing troops, laying foundation-stones, unveiling statues, +dedicating churches, attending manoeuvres, encouraging yachting at +Kiel by his presence during the yachting week, or hurrying off to meet +the monarch of a foreign country. He still enjoys his annual trip +along the shores of Norway or breaks away from the cares of State to +pass a few weeks at his Corfu castle, dazzling in its marble whiteness +and overlooking the Acroceraunian mountains, or to hunt or shoot at +the country seat of some influential or wealthy subject. In fine, he +is still engaged with all the energy of his nature, if in a somewhat +less flamboyant fashion than during his earlier years, in his, as he +believes, divinely appointed work of guiding Prussia's destiny and +building up the German Empire. + +It is because he is an Empire-builder that his numerous journeys +abroad and restlessness of movement at home have earned for him the +nickname of the "travelling Kaiser." The Germans themselves do not +understand his conduct in this respect. If one urges that Hohenzollern +kings, and none of them more than the Great Elector and Frederick the +Great, were incessant travellers, they will reply that their kings had +to be so at a time when the Empire was not yet established, when +rebellious nobles had to be subdued, and when the spirit of +provincialism and particularism had to be counteracted. Hence, they +say, former Hohenzollerns had to exercise personal control in all +parts of their dominions, see that their military dispositions were +carried out, and study social and economic conditions on the spot; but +nowadays, when the Empire is firmly established, when the +administration is working like a clock and the post and telegraph are +at command, the Emperor should stay at home and direct everything from +his capital. + +The Emperor himself evidently takes a different view. He does not +consider the forty-year-old Empire as completed and consolidated, but +regards it much as the Great Elector or Frederick the Great regarded +Prussia when that kingdom was in the making. He believes in +propagating the imperial idea by his personal presence in all parts of +the Empire, and at the same time observing the progress that is being +made there. He is, finally, a believer in getting into personal touch, +as far as is possible, with foreign monarchs, foreign statesmen, and +foreign peoples, for he doubtless sees that with every decade the +interests of nations are becoming more closely identified. + +In connexion with the subject of the Emperor's travelling, mention may +be made of the fact that many years ago he thought it necessary to +explain himself publicly in reference to the idea, prevalent among his +people at the time, that he was travelling too much. "On my travels," +he said, + + "I design not only to make myself acquainted with foreign + countries and institutions, and to foster friendly relations + with neighbouring rulers, but these journeys, which have + been often misinterpreted, have high value in enabling me to + observe home affairs from a distance and submit them to a + quiet examination." + +He expresses something in the same order of thought in a speech +telling of his reflections on the high sea concerning his +responsibilities as ruler: + + "When one is alone on the high sea, with only God's starry + heaven above him, and holds communion with himself, one will + not fail to appreciate the value of such a journey. I could + wish many of my countrymen to live through hours like these, + in which one can take reckoning of what he has designed and + what achieved. Then one would be cured of over + self-estimation--and that we all need." + +When the Emperor is about to start on a journey, confidential +telegrams are sent to the railway authorities concerned, and +immediately a thorough inspection of the line the Emperor is about to +travel over is ordered. Tunnels, bridges, points, railway crossings, +are all subjected to examination, and spare engines kept in immediate +readiness in case of a breakdown occurring to the imperial train. The +police of the various towns through which the monarch is to pass are +also communicated with and their help requisitioned in taking +precautions for his safety. Like any private person, the Emperor pays +his own fares, which are reckoned at the rate of an average of fifteen +shillings to one pound sterling a mile. A recent journey to +Switzerland cost him in fares £200. Of late years he has saved money +in this respect by the more frequent use of the royal motor-cars. The +royal train is put together by selecting those required from fifteen +carriages which are always ready for an imperial journey. If the +journey is short, a saloon carriage and refreshment car are deemed +sufficient; in case of a long journey the train consists of a buffer +carriage in addition, with two saloon cars for the suite and two +wagons for the luggage. The train is always accompanied by a high +official of the railway, who, with mechanics and spare guard, is in +direct telephonic communication with the engine-driver and guard. The +carriages are coloured alike, ivory-white above the window-line and +lacquered blue below. + +All the carriages, with the exception of the saloon dining-car, are of +the corridor type. A table runs down the centre of the dining-car; the +Emperor takes his seat in the centre, while the rest of the suite and +guests take their places at random, save that the elder travellers are +supposed to seat themselves about the Emperor. If the Emperor has +guests with him they naturally have seats beside or in the near +neighbourhood of their host. Breakfast is taken about half-past eight, +lunch at one, and dinner at seven or eight. The Emperor is always +talkative at table, and often draws into conversation the remoter +members of the company, occasionally calling to them by their nickname +or a pet name. He sits for an hour or two after dinner, with a glass +of beer and a huge box of cigars before him, discussing the incidents +of the journey or recalling his experiences at various periods of his +reign. + +The Emperor's disposition of the year remains much what it was at the +beginning of the reign. The chief changes in it are the omission of a +yachting visit to Cowes, which he made annually from 1889 to 1895, +and, since 1908, the habit of making an annual summer stay at his +Corfu castle, "Achilleion," instead of touring in the Mediterranean +and visiting Italian cities. January is spent in Berlin in connexion +with the New Year festivities, ambassadorial and other Court +receptions, drawing-rooms, and balls, and the celebration of his +birthday on the 27th. The Berlin season extends into the middle of +February, so that part of that month also is spent in Berlin. During +the latter half of February and in March the Emperor is usually at +Potsdam, occasionally motoring to Berlin to give audience or for some +special occasion. April and part of May are passed in Corfu. Towards +the end of May the Emperor returns to Germany and goes to Wiesbaden +for the opera and Festspiele in the royal theatre; but he must be in +Berlin before May has closed, for the spring parade of the Berlin and +Potsdam garrisons on the vast Tempelhofer Field. His return on +horseback from this parade is always the occasion of popular +enthusiasm in Berlin's principal streets. In early June the Emperor +stays at Potsdam or perhaps pays a visit to some wealthy noble, and at +the end of the month the yachting week calls him to Kiel. Once that is +over he proceeds on his annual tour along the coast of Norway. +September sees him back in Germany for the autumn manoeuvres. October +and November are devoted to shooting at Rominten or some other +imperial hunting lodge, or with some large landowner or industrial +magnate. The whole of December is usually spent at Potsdam, save for +an annual visit to his friend Prince Fürstenberg at Donaueschingen. +Naturally he is in Potsdam for Christmas, when all the imperial family +assemble to celebrate the festival in good old German style. + +In music, as we know, he retains the classical tastes he has always +cultivated and sometimes dictatorially recommended. Good music, he has +said, is like a piece of lace, not like a display of fireworks. He +still has most musical enjoyment in listening to Bach and Handel. The +former he has spoken of as one of the most "modern" of composers, and +will point out that his works contain melodious passages that might be +the musical thought of Franz Lehar or Leo Fall. He has no great liking +for the music of Richard Strauss, and his admiration of Wagner, if +certain themes, that must, one feels, have been drawn from the music +of the spheres, be excepted, is respectful rather than rapturous. Of +Wagner's works the "Meistersingers" is "my favourite." + +A faculty that in the Emperor has developed with the years is that of +applying a sense of humour, not originally small, to the events of +everyday life. He is always ready to joke with his soldiers and +sailors, with artists, professors, ministers--in short, with men of +every class and occupation. Several stories in illustration of his +humour are current, but a homely example or two may here suffice. He +is sitting in semi-darkness in the parquet at the Royal Opera House. +"Le Prophète" is in rehearsal, and it is the last act, in which there +is a powder cask, ready to blow everything to atoms, standing outside +the cathedral. Fraulein Frieda Hempel, as the heroine, appears with a +lighted torch and is about to take her seat on the cask. Suddenly the +imperial voice is heard from the semi-gloom: "Fraulein Hempel, it is +evident you haven't had a military training or you wouldn't take a +light so near a barrel of gunpowder." And the _prima donna_ has to +take her place on the other side of the stage. Or he is presenting +Professor Siegfried Ochs, the famous manager of the Philharmonic +Concerts, with the Order of the Red Eagle, third class, and with a +friendly smile gracefully excuses himself for conferring an "Order of +the third class on a musician of the first class," by pleading +official rule. A third popular anecdote tells of a lady seated beside +him at the dinner-table. Salad is being offered to her, but she thinks +she is bound to give all her attention to the Emperor and takes no +notice of it. Thereupon the Emperor: "Gnadige Frau, an Emperor can +wait, but the salad cannot." Possibly the Emperor had in mind Louis +XIII, who complained that he never ate a plate of warm soup in his +life, it had to pass through so many hands to reach him. + +The German takes his theatre as he takes life, seriously. To cough +during a performance attracts embarrassing attention, a sneeze almost +amounts to misdemeanour. To the German the theatre is a part of the +machinery of culture, and accordingly he is not so easily bored as the +Anglo-Saxon playgoer, who demands that drama shall contain that great +essential of all good drama, action. To the Anglo-Saxon, the more +plentiful and rapid the action is, the better. The German, differing +from most Anglo-Saxons, likes historical scenes, great processions, +costume festivals, the representation of mediæval events in which his +monarchs and generals played conspicuous parts. The Emperor has the +same disposition and taste. + +Yet both national taste and disposition, like other of the nation's +characteristics, are slowly altering with the growth of the modern +spirit, and Germans now begin to require something of a more modern +kind, a more social order, something that comes home more to their +business and bosoms. Greater variety in subject is asked for, more +laughter and tears, more representations of scenes and life dealing +with everyday doings and the fate of the people as distinguished from +the doings and fate of their rulers and the upper classes. The Emperor +has not followed his people in the new direction. He regards the stage +as a vehicle of patriotism, an instrument of education, a guider of +artistic taste, an inculcator of old-time morality. Its aim, he +appears to think, is not to help to produce, primarily, the good man +and good citizen, but the good man and good monarchist, +and--perhaps--not so much primarily the good monarchist as the liege +subject of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Having secured this, he looks for +the elevation of the public taste along his own lines. He assumes that +the public taste can be elevated from without, from above, when it can +only be elevated proportionately with its progress in general +education and its purification from within. Consequently he is for the +"classical," as in the other arts. But apart from its aims and uses, +the theatre has always appealed to him. His fondness for it is a +Hohenzollern characteristic, which has shown itself, with more or less +emphasis, in monarch after monarch of the line. Nor is it surprising +that monarchs should take pleasure in the stage, since the theatre is +one of the places which brings them and their subjects together in the +enjoyment of common emotions, and shows them, if only at second hand, +the domestic lives of millions, from personal acquaintance with which +their royal birth and surroundings exclude them. + +The Emperor treats all artists, male and female, in the same friendly +and unaffected manner. There is never the least soupçon of +condescension in the one case or flirtation in the other, but in both +a lively and often unexpectedly well-informed interest in the play or +other artistic performance of the occasion, and in the actors' or +actresses' personal records. The nationality of the artist has +apparently nothing to do with this interest. The Emperor invites +French, Italian, English, American or Scandinavian artists to the +royal box after a performance as often as he invites the artists of +his own country, and, once launched on a conversation, nothing gives +him more pleasure than to expound his views on music, painting, or the +drama, as the case may be. "Tempo--rhythm--colour," he has been heard +to insist on to a conductor whom in the heat of his conviction he had +gradually edged into a corner and before whom he stood with +gesticulating arms--"All the rest is _Schwindel_." At an entertainment +given by Ambassador Jules Cambon at the French Embassy after the +Morocco difficulty had been finally adjusted, he became so interested +while talking to a group of French actors that high dignatories of the +Empire, including Princes, the Imperial Chancellor and Ministers, +standing in another part of the _salon_, grew impatient and had to +detach one of their number to call the Emperor's attention to their +presence. Since then, it is whispered, it has become the special +function of an adjutant, when the occasion demands it, diplomatically +and gently to withdraw the imperial _causeur_ from too absorbing +conversation. + +Several anecdotes are current having reference to the Emperor as +sportsman. One of them, for example, mentions a loving-cup of +Frederick William III's time, kept at the hunting lodge of Letzlingen, +which is filled with champagne and must be emptied at a draught by +anyone visiting the lodge for the first time. This is great fun for +the Emperor, who a year or two ago made a number of Berlin guests, +including Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Austrian Ambassador, +Szoghenyi-Marich, the Secretary for the Navy, Admiral von Tirpitz, and +the Crown Prince of Greece stand before him and drain the cup. As the +story goes, "the attempts of the guests to drink out of the heavy cup, +which is fixed into a set of antlers in such a way as to make it +difficult to drink without spilling the wine, caused great amusement." + +The principles of sport generally, it may be here interpolated, are +not quite the same in Germany as in England, though no country has +imitated England in regard to sport so closely and successfully as +Germany. Up to a comparatively few years ago the Germans had neither +inclination nor means for it, and though always enthusiastic hunters, +hunting--not the English fox-hunting, but hunting the boar and the +bear, the wolf and the deer--was almost the sole form of manly sport +practised. _Turnen_, the most popular sort of German indoor +gymnastics, only began in 1861, a couple of years after the birth of +the Emperor. There are now nearly a dozen cricket clubs alone in +Berlin, football clubs all over the Empire, tennis clubs in every +town, rowing clubs at all the seaports and along the large rivers, +nearly all following English rules and in numerous cases using English +sporting terms. At the same time sport is not the religion it is in +England--indeed, to keep up the metaphor, hardly a living creed. + +The German attitude towards sport is not altogether the same as the +English attitude. In England the object of the game is that the best +man shall win, that he shall not be in any way unfairly or unequally +handicapped _vis-à-vis_ his opponent, and the honour, not the +intrinsic value of the prize, is the main consideration. These +principles are not yet fully understood or adopted in Germany, +possibly owing to the early military training of the German youth +making the carrying off the prize anyhow and by any means the main +object. It is _Realpolitik_ in sport, and a _Realpolitik_ which is not +wholly unknown in England; but while the spirit of _Realpolitik_ is +still perceivable in German sport, it is equally perceivable that the +standard English way of viewing sporting competition is becoming more +and more approached in Germany. + +The Emperor is an enthusiastic patron of sport of all healthy outdoor +kinds, not as sympathizing with the English youth's disposition to +regard play as work and work as play, to give to his business any time +he can spare from his sport, but because he estimates at its full +value its place in the national health-budget. His personal likings +are for bear-shooting, deer-stalking, and yachting, but he also wields +the lawn-tennis racket and the rapier with fair skill. The names of +several of his hunting lodges---Rominten, Springe, Hubertusstock, and +so on--are familiar to many people in all countries. Rominten preserve +is in East Prussia, and embraces about four square miles, with +little lakes and some rising ground. September is the Emperor's +favourite month for visiting it. Here one year he shot a famous +eight-and-twenty-ender antelope, which had come across from Russian +territory. Before the present reign the deer, or pig, or other wild +animal used to be beaten up to the royal sportsman of the day, but +that practice has long ceased, and the Emperor has to tramp many a +mile, and at times crawl on all fours for hundreds of yards, to get a +shot. + +We have seen that the Emperor's position as King and Emperor renders +inevitable his adoption, either of natural bent, which is extremely +probable, or from a policy in harmony with the wishes of his people, +of a view of the monarch's office that to perhaps most Englishmen +living under parliamentary rule must seem antiquated, not to say +absurd. This attitude apart, the Emperor possesses, as it is hoped has +been sufficiently shown, as modern and progressive a spirit as any of +his contemporaries. His instant recognition of all useful modern +appliances, particularly, of course, those of possible service in war, +is a prominent feature of his mentality. He went, doubtless, too far +in heralding Count Zeppelin, in 1909, as "the greatest man of the +century," but the very words he chose to use marked his appreciation +of the new aeronautical science Count Zeppelin was introducing. +Similarly, the moment the automobile had entered on the stage of +reliability it won a place in the imperial favour, and is now his most +constant means of locomotion. He has never, it is true, emulated the +enterprise of his son, the Crown Prince, whom Mr. Orville Wright had +as a companion for a quarter of an hour in the air at Potsdam three +years ago, but his interest in the aeroplane is none the less keen +because he is too conscious of his responsibilities to subject his +life to unnecessary risk. + +Before closing our sketch of the Emperor as a man by quoting +appreciations written by two contemporary writers, one German and the +other English, it may be added that there is a statesman still--it is +pleasant to think--alive who could, an he only would, draw the +Emperor's character perfectly, both as man and monarch. Indeed, as has +been seen, he has more than once sketched parts of it in Parliament, +but only parts--the whole character of the Emperor, on all its sides +and in all its ramifications, has yet to be revealed. Here need only +be quoted what Chancellor Bülow--and also, by the way, Princess +Bülow--publicly said about the Emperor as man. The Prince's most +noteworthy statement was made in the Reichstag in 1903, when, in +answer to Leader-of-the-Opposition Bebel, the Prince said, "One thing +at least, the Emperor is no Philistine," and proceeded to explain, +rather negatively and disappointingly, that the Emperor possesses what +the Greeks call megalopsychia--a great soul. One knows but too well +the English Philistine, that stolid, solid, self-sufficient bulwark of +the British Constitution. The German Philistine is his twin brother, +the narrow-minded, conservative burgher. Other epithets the Prince +applied to the imperial character were "simple," "natural," "hearty," +"magnanimous," "clear-headed," and "straightforward"; while Princess +Bülow, during a conversation her husband was having with the French +journalist, M. Jules Huret, in 1907, interjected the remark that he +was "a person of good birth, _fils de bonne maison_, the descendant of +distinguished ancestors, and a modern man of great intelligence." + +But let us see how the Emperor appears to his contemporaries. Dr. Paul +Liman, who has made the most serious attempt to sketch the character +of the Emperor that has yet appeared in German, writes:-- + + "We see in him a nature whose ground-tone is enthusiasm, + phantasy, and a passionate impulse towards action. Filled + with the highest sense of the imperial rights and duties + assigned to him, convinced that these are the direct + expression of a divine will, he has inwardly thrown off the + bonds of modern constitutional ideas and in words recently + spoken, where he claimed responsibility for fifty-eight + million people, converted these ideas into a formula that, + while unconstitutional, is yet moral and deeply earnest. + These words were doubly valuable as giving insight into the + soul of a man who can be mistaken in his conclusions and + means, but not in his motives, since these are directed to + the general weal. Here, too, we find the explanation of the + fact that at one time he comes before us surrounded with the + blue and hazy nimbus of the romantic period, and at another + as the most modern prince of our time. Out of the rise in + him of the consciousness of majesty there grows a greater + sense of duty, and instead of keeping watch from his turret + over his people he loses himself in detail. And precisely + here must he fail, because modern life with its development + is far too rich in complications and activities to admit of + its submitting to patriarchal benevolence. And because an + artistic strain and a strong fantasy simultaneously work in + him, he moves joyfully beyond the limits of the actual to + raise before our eyes the highly coloured dream of the + picture of a time in which all men, all nations, will be + friendly and reconciled--an artist's dream. Here is + something characteristic, something unusual, to give + particular charm to a personality which has no parallel in + the history of the dynasty hitherto. There may be concealed + in it the seed of illustrious deeds, but only too often + disappointment and contempt lie scornfully in wait when the + deed is accomplished. For the heaven we erect on earth + always comes to naught, and the idealist is always + vanquished in the strife with fact." + +So far, Dr. Liman. Mr. Sydney Brooks, in a sketch in _Maclure's +Magazine_ for July, 1910, writes:-- + + "The drawback to any and to every _régime_ of paternal + absolutism is that the human mind is limited. The Kaiser + will not admit it, but his acts prove it. It is not given to + one man to know more about everything than anybody else + knows about anything; and the Kaiser, who is a good deal of + a dilettante, and believes himself omniscient, at times + speaks from a lamentable half-knowledge, and occasionally + has to call in the imperial authority to back up his + verdicts against the judgments of experts. + + "Unquestionably his mind is of an unusual order. It is a + facile, quickly moving instrument; it works in flashes; it + assimilates seemingly without effort, and it is at its best + under the highest pressure. The Kaiser is not to be laughed + at for wanting to know all there is to be known, but he may + justly be criticized for failing to distinguish between the + attempt and its failure.... + + "Is it all charlatanerie? Is it all of a part with his + speech in Russian to the regiment of which the Czar made him + honorary colonel, a studied trumpery effort, designed for a + momentary effect? Is the Kaiser just glitter and tinsel, + impulse and rhapsody, with nothing solid beneath? Is it his + supreme object to make an impression at any cost, to force, + like another Nero, the popular applause by arts more + becoming to a _cabotin_ than a sovereign? Vanity, + restlessness, a consuming desire for the palm without the + dust--an intense and theatrical egotism--are these the + qualities that give the clue to his character and actions? + + "I do not think so altogether. The Kaiser has scattered too + much. In an age of specialists on many subjects he speaks + like an amateur. He is always the hero, and often the + victim, of his own imagination; like a star actor, he cannot + bear to be outshone; he is morbidly, almost pruriently, + conscious of the effect he is producing. And on all matters + of intellect and taste his influence makes for blatant + mediocrity. But he is not meretricious; at bottom he is not + by any means as superficial and insincere as he often seems. + He is one of those men in whom an instinct becomes an + immutable truth, an idea a conviction, and a suspicion a + certainty, by an almost instantaneous process; and, the + process completed, action follows forthwith. The Kaiser is + always resolved to do the right thing; the right thing, by + some quaint but invariable coincidence, is whatever he is + resolved to do." + +These appreciations from afar may be as sound as they are brilliant, +but they rather refer to the non-essential parts of the character of +the Emperor in the first flush of imperial glory than to the essential +character as it has developed with the years. + +As a man--he will be dealt with as monarch presently--his essential +character must be judged from his conduct, and conduct extending over +a good many years. One might say, conduct and reputation, but that +reputation is so often the result of a confused mixture of superficial +observation, gossip, tittle-tattle, envy, hatred and uncharitableness, +and, in the case of an Emperor, of merely picturesque and effective +writing. + +There is another source which would materially help us in forming a +judgment, but it is wholly wanting in the case of the Emperor. No +private correspondence of his is, as yet, available to the world. + +Again, a man's character is determined by his motives, if it is not +the other way about; in any case, a man's motives are for the most +part inscrutable and can only be deduced from conduct, while the world +usually makes the mistake of explaining conduct by attributing its own +motives. Tried, then, by the standard of conduct, the only one +available, the Emperor, as a man, shows us a high type of humanity. It +may not, probably does not, appeal to Englishmen wholly, but there are +features of it which must command, and do command, the respect of +people of all nationalities. And, first of all, he is a good man; good +as a Christian, good as a husband, good as a father, good as a +patriot. With all the power and temptation to gratify his +inclinations, he has no personal vices of the baser sort. He is +moderate in the satisfaction of his appetites, whether for food or +wine. He is no debauchee, no voluptuary, no gambler. He is faithful to +old friends and comrades. He has high ideals, and is not ashamed of +them. He is neither indolent nor fussy; neither a cynic, nor an +intriguer, nor a fool; he is neither wrong-headed nor stubborn; he is +honest and sincere to a degree that does him honour as a man, if it +has sometimes proved perilous and blameworthy in him as a monarch. He +is optimistic, and on good grounds. He is no physical or intellectual +giant, but he is a man of more than average all-round intelligence and +capacity. If this appreciation is correct, or even approximately +correct, it is a testimonial, whatever may be its worth, to great +merit. + +Yet the Emperor as man has his failings and drawbacks, though they are +such as time is almost sure to diminish or eradicate. Notably in his +earlier years he lacked judgment, the power of balancing +considerations and arriving at conclusions from them which men more +gifted with poise would endorse as logical and inevitable. He does +not, like spare Cassius, see quite through the deeds of men, as his +friendship for Count Phili Eulenburg and the malodorous "Camarilla" go +to show, and his choice of Imperial Chancellors, his grand viziers, +has not in every instance been happy. He has less tact than character, +as he showed once in Vienna, where he greatly pained the Foreign +Minister, Count Goluchowski, one day at a club by calling to him, +"Golu, Golu, come and sit beside your Kaiser." He has the German +masculine enjoyment in a kind of humour which would have delighted Fox +and the three-bottle men, but would sadly shock the susceptibilities +of an Oxford æsthete. He has a share of personal vanity, but it +springs from the desire to look the Emperor he is, not because he +supposes for a moment that he is an Adonis. He is theatrical in +exactly the same spirit--the desire imperially to impress his folk in +the sense of the German word _imponieren_, a word that needs no +translation. If he has lost much of Dr. Liman's "romantik," he still +retains the "scatteredness" of Mr. Sidney Brooks, though the Emperor +would rather hear it called "many-sidedness." _En résumé_ he has the +defects of his qualities, but to no man or woman's unmerited loss or +injury, and if we weigh the good qualities with the bad, we find a +fine balance remaining to his credit as a man. + +The fierce light which beats upon a throne, if it is apt to dazzle the +bystander, helps those at a distance, especially in these days of the +still fiercer light of modern publicity, to judge fairly the throne's +occupant. The character of the Emperor as monarch ought, therefore, as +far as is possible in the absence of archives marked "secret and +confidential" and yet lying in the ministries of all countries, to +disclose itself nowadays with reasonable clearness. Yet, even still, +different and conflicting opinions regarding it are to be gathered in +Germany and out of it. + +Indeed, his own people are among the severest critics. One of them, +Professor Quidde, early in the reign, made an extraordinarily +ingenious, but quite unjustifiable, comparison of him to Caligula, +which, though only consisting of classical quotations and making no +mention of the Emperor, was seen by everybody to refer to him and has +caused discussion ever since. While many foreign critics have done the +Emperor justice, others in turn have made him out to be arrogant, +snobbish, bombastic, superficial, incompetent, and insincere. To +writers of this class he is always the German War Lord, ready to +pounce, like a highwayman or pirate, on any unprotected person or +property he may come across, regardless of treaty obligations, of +international disaster, or of the dictates of humanity. One day they +announce he is planning the annexation of Holland in order to get a +further set of naval bases, the next that he means to take Belgium to +make a road for his armies into France, a third that he is about to +set at naught the Monroe doctrine and with his Dreadnoughts seize +Brazil. All these things are conceivable and not impossible, but they +are in the very highest degree improbable, and, as yet at least, ought +not to be considered seriously. To sensible and better-informed people +everywhere he is a Prussian king of the best type, a sincere friend of +peace, with a mania for pushing the maxim "_Si vis pacem para bellum_" +to extremes, politically the most influential man in Europe, and, with +all his faults, one of the greatest Germans of his time. + +The character of the Emperor, as monarch, is reflected very largely in +the character of the Germany of to-day. + +Germany is optimistic, ardently desirous of peace, bent on worthily +maintaining the great place she has won, and deserved to win, among +the nations, and so materially prosperous as to make many Germans +tremble at the thought that the prosperity may be too great to last. +This, however, is not to assert that in Germany everything is _couleur +de rose_. There are not a few things in the Empire's social and +political conditions which are antiquated or promise no good. Noxious +as well as beneficial forces have been introduced into the social life +of the country and are beginning to make themselves felt. German +home-life is ceasing to be the admirable and exemplary thing it was +before the present era of class rivalry, commercialism, the parvenu +and the snob. The idealism which made the Empire a possibility is +passing away. There is need, and a general demand, for franchise +reform in Prussia, and a change in the spirit of Prussian bureaucratic +administration would be acceptable, though it is, perhaps, hopeless to +expect it. The opposition in Germany between the monarchic and the +democratic principle, if not more marked than it was twenty or thirty +years ago, is manifesting itself over a wider and perhaps deeper area. +The relations between capital and labour are far from satisfactory +adjustment. Social democracy is yearly gaining fresh adherents, and if +guilty of no political violence, is yet a constant source of danger to +domestic peace. The German middle class, that bourgeoisie which is the +backbone and strength of the Empire, is losing its Spartan simplicity +and its content with small and moderate pleasures; and the national +virtues of thrift and self-denial are yielding to the temptations of +wealth and luxury. Business credit is unduly stretched, speculation in +land has attained disturbing proportions, and the banking world is in +too many instances allied with hazardous or doubtful enterprises. +Nevertheless the country as a whole is sound, intellectually, morally, +and financially. + +It would be difficult to mention any of the greater tasks of imperial +administration to which the Emperor does not continue to devote +personal attention. He is the life and soul of the army and navy, +though it should not be forgotten that as regards the latter he has in +Admiral Tirpitz an executive talent worthy of his own directive. His +interest in the mercantile marine remains what it was when in 1887, as +Prince William, he drew up an expert opinion which decided the +Hamburg-Amerika Company to build their fast ocean-going steamers at +home instead of abroad, and by the success of the experiment commenced +the modern development of Germany's shipbuilding industry. Indeed, his +attention to the Hamburg line, familiarly known as the "Hapag" line, +from the initial letters of its legal title, "Hamburg-Amerika +Packetfahrt-Aktien Gesellschaft," and to the Norddeutsche line from +Bremen, has given rise to the unfounded belief that he is heavily +interested in their financial success. Herr Albert Ballin, the +Director of the Hamburg line, though a Jew, is among his intimates and +advisers, and the Emperor is said to have caused umbrage more than +once to Court officials and the aristocracy by giving directors of +both lines precedence at his table. Without the Emperor's personal +support it is probable that neither the firm of Krupp at Essen nor the +splendid shipbuilding yards at Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin and elsewhere +would continue to progress as they are doing. He neglects no +opportunity of stimulating Germany's internal and external trade. +He is at all times ready to encourage the introduction of useful +achievements of modern science and invention. And lastly, by +tactful treatment of other German rulers, and a wise policy of +non-interference with their States, he is promoting a feeling of +federal solidarity. + +The Emperor's conception of his relations to the people remains to-day +what he was brought up in and what it was when he mounted the throne. +In England, America, and France the people are the real rulers, and +their monarch or president is their highest official servant and +representative. The idea is not perhaps constitutionally expressed, +but it is universally and deeply felt in the countries named. In +Germany the opposite theory obtains--for how long it must be left to +the future to say. In Germany the Emperor is the real ruler, the +genuine monarch, and the people are his subjects, the country his +country. Hence, while an English king in an official document or +public statement would not think of putting himself first and the +people or country second, the German Emperor's official statements and +speeches constantly repeat such expressions as "I and my people," "I +and the army," "my capital," "me and the Fatherland," and a score +more; so that Anglo-Saxons and other foreigners acquire the impression +that the word "my" is no figure of rhetoric or pride, but a simple +claim of ownership or possession. And the official relation between +monarch and people is reflected in the people's ordinary life. To the +foreigner it continually appears that the public are the servants of +the official, not the contrary, whether officialism takes the shape of +a post-office clerk, a tramcar conductor, a shop salesman, a +policeman, or a waiter. All these functionaries are the possessors of +an authority which the citizen is expected to, and usually does, obey. +The explanation of such a state of things is a little abstruse, but an +attempt may be made at giving it. + +The period immediately preceding the reign of Frederick the Great was +a period of absolute monarchy in Germany, a system introduced from +France, where Louis XIV had proclaimed the doctrine _L'etat, c'est +moi_, according to which the lives and property of the subject +belonged to the Prince, whose will was to be obeyed without question +or demur. There were now four hundred courts in Germany in imitation +of the Court of Versailles, and the smaller the principality the +greater the absolutism. Absolutism, however, required an army to +support it; hence the establishment of standing and mercenary armies +and the disuse of arms by the citizen. The result, to quote Professor +Ernst Richard's work on "German Civilization," was that + + "the pride of the burgher and the peasant was broken. A + submissive servility hopelessly pervaded the masses, and + even the best had lost all social and national feeling, all + sense of being part of a greater body.... The luxurious life + and the arrogance of the ruling classes were accepted as a + matter of course, one might say as a divine institution. + Thus those traits of character, which had come to light + under the cruel stress of the Thirty Years War, fostered by + the rule of despotism and the worst vices, took deeper root. + To these belong that greed for social position, for titles + and the smiles of the great; servility towards those who + hold a higher position as bearers of official titles and + dignity, a fear of publicity, above all a rather remarkable + inclination to a peevish, petty, and sceptical attitude as + regards the knowledge and ability of others. The exaltation + of the position of the prince extended to his Court and his + officials, as well as to the nobility, which had long since + become a Court nobility." + +But absolutism had to go with the changes in human thought under the +influence of Rationalism, which brought with it the idea of the State, +not the absolute prince, as ruler. This idea was embodied in the +_Rechtstaat_, or State based on law, which was introduced by Frederick +the Great, the "first servant of the State." The State, he said, +exists for the sake of the citizens. "One must be insane," he wrote, + + "to imagine that men should have said to one of their + equals, 'We will raise you so that we may be your slaves, we + will give you the power to guide our thoughts according to + yours.' They rather said: 'We need you in order to execute + our laws, that you show us the way, and defend us. But we + understand that you will respect our liberties.'" + +The _Rechtstaat_ exists in Germany to the present day, the Emperor is +at the head of it, and the people are content to live within its +confines. It is not, as has been seen, coterminous with the whole +liberty of the subject, but is yet a vast bundle of rights and +obligations which in public, and much of private, life leaves as +little as possible to the unaided or undirected intelligence or +goodwill of the citizen. It is an exaggeration, but still expresses a +popular feeling even in Germany itself--and certainly describes an +impression made on the Anglo-Saxon--to say that outside this bundle of +laws and regulations, which, clearly and logically paragraphed, orders +to a nicety all the public, and many of the private, relations of the +citizens, everything is forbidden or discouraged by authority. Yet, as +has been said, the people are satisfied with it, and it must be +admitted that if it confines individual liberty within what to the +Anglo-Saxon seem narrow limits, still, by directing the individual to +common ends, it works great public advantage. It is in truth a very +intelligent and practical form of Socialism, infinitely less +oppressive to the people than would be the socialism of the professed +Socialist. + +It left, however, the German caste system of Frederick's day +undisturbed; as Professor Richard says: + + "The nobility retained its privileged position. It was + considered a law of nature that the noblemen should assist + the monarch in the administration of the State and as + leaders of the army; the peasant should cultivate the fields + and provide food; the commoner should provide money through + industry and commerce." + +To the Anglo-Saxon, of course, brought up with individualistic views +of life and demanding complete personal freedom, the German +_Rechtstaat_ would be galling, not to say intolerable. The Englishman, +however, has his _Rechtstaat_ too, but the limits it places on his +liberty are not nearly so restrictive in regard to public meeting, +public talking, public writing, in short, public action of all sorts, +as in Germany. Besides, the spirit of laws in England, as naturally +follows from the Englishman's political history, is a much more +liberal one than the German spirit, which is still to some extent +under the influence of the age of absolutism. + +The German conception of the _Rechtstaat_ entails, as one of its +consequences, a sharp contrast between the rights and privileges of +the Crown and the rights and privileges of the people; and therefore, +while the Emperor is never without apprehension that the people may +try to increase their rights and privileges at the expense of those of +the Crown, the people are not without apprehension that the Crown may +try to increase its rights and privileges at the expense of the +political liberties of the people. To this apprehension on the part of +the people is to be attributed their widespread dissatisfaction with +the Emperor's so-called "personal regiment," which, until recently, +was the chief hindrance to his popularity. In truth the Emperor is in +a difficult position. To be popular with the people he must be popular +with the Parliament, but if he were to seek popularity with the +Parliament he would lose popularity and prestige with the aristocracy +and large landowners, who have still a good deal of the old-time +contempt for the mere "folk," the burgher, and he would lose it with +the military officer class, which is aristocratic in spirit, and is, +as the Emperor is constantly assuring it, the sole support of throne +and Empire. In addition to this it has to be remembered that a large +majority of South Germany is Catholic, and, generally speaking, no +great lover of Prussia, its people, and their airs of stiff +superiority. + +The personal relations of the Emperor to his people, and in especial +to the vast burghertum, are precisely those to be expected from his +traditional and constitutional relations. He is not popular, but he is +widely and sincerely respected. His preference for the army, +intelligible though it is, and the cleavage that separates Government +and people, explain to some extent the want of popularity, using +that word in its "popular" sense; while the consciousness of all +the nation owes to his "goodwill," his initiative and energy, his +conscientiousness in all directions, is quite sufficient to account +for the respect. It is, in truth, in part at least, the respect which +excludes the popularity. No one is ever likely to be popular, +anywhere, who is constantly endeavouring to teach people how to live +and what to think, and at the same time seems to have no social +weaknesses to reconcile him with those--no small number--who are fond +of cakes and ale. Some of the Emperor's acts and speeches have +postponed, if not precluded, eventual popularity--his breach with +Bismarck, for example, the whole "personal regiment," and speeches +like that at Potsdam in 1891, when he told his recruits that if he had +to order them to shoot down their brothers, or even their parents, +they must obey without a murmur. Speeches of this last kind live long +in public memory. In his dealings with his people the Emperor is +neither arrogant--"high-nosed" is the elegant German expression: +"arrogant" is no German word, Prince Bülow would doubtless say-- +towards his subjects, nor are they cringing towards him, though this +statement does not exclude the excusable embarrassment an ordinary +mortal may be expected to feel in the presence of a monarch. The +Emperor himself desires no "tail-wagging" from his subjects, and +though there is something of the autocrat in him, there is nothing of +the despot. + +Certainly for the present, Germans, with rare exceptions, are +satisfied with him. They are prospering under him. The shoe pinches +here and there, and if it pinches too hard they will cry out and +perhaps do more than cry out. They do not consider the Emperor +perfect, but they forgive his errors, and particularly the errors of +his impetuous youth, even though on three or four occasions they +brought the country into danger. Monarchy has been defined as a State +in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person +doing interesting things: a republic, as a State in which the +attention is divided between many who are all doing uninteresting +things: Germans find their Emperor interesting, and that is a stage on +the road to popularity. + +The imperial ego, which is quite consistent with the German view of +monarchical rule and conformity with the _Rechtstaat_, is specially +advertised by the pictures and statues of the Emperor which are to be +found all over Germany, to the apparent exclusion of the pictures and +statues of national and local men of distinction. The Emperor's +picture almost monopolizes the walls of every public and municipal +office, every railway-station refreshment-room, every shop, every +restaurant throughout the Empire. Wherever it turns the eye is +confronted by the portrait or bust of the Emperor, and if it is not +his portrait or bust, it is the portrait or bust of one or other of +his ancestors. An exception should be made in the case of Bismarck, +the reproduction of whose rugged features, shaggy eyebrows, and bulky +frame are not infrequent; statues and portraits, too, of Moltke and +Roon, though much more rarely met with than those of Bismarck, are to +be seen, while those of Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Lessing, Wagner, or +other German "Immortal," are still rarer. Only once, or perhaps twice, +in all Germany is there to be found a public statue of Heine--for +Heine was a Jew and said many unpleasant, because true, things about +his country. The travelling foreigner in Germany after a while begins +to wonder if he is not in some far Eastern country where +ancestor-worship obtains, and where one tremendous personality +overshadows, obscures, and obliterates all the rest. In truth, +however, this is not the lesson of the imperial images for the +foreigner. They teach him that he is in a country with a system of +government and views of the State different from his own, that the +Empire is ruled in a military, not a civic spirit, and that the +counterfeit presentment of the Emperor, always in dazzling uniform, is +the sign of the national acceptance of system, views, and spirit. + +A similar lesson is taught by the Emperor's speeches. In England the +King rarely speaks in public, and then with well-calculated brevity +and reserve. In five words he will open a museum and with a sentence +unveil a monument. The Emperor's speeches fill four stout volumes--and +he is only fifty-four. The speeches deal with every sort of topic, and +have been delivered in all parts of the Empire--now to Parliament, now +to his assembled generals, now at the celebration of some national or +individual jubilee, now at the dedication of a building or the opening +of a bridge. The style is always clear and logical, in this respect +contrasting favourably with the German style of twenty years ago, when +the language wriggled from clause to clause in vermiform articulations +until the thought found final expression in a mob of participles and +infinitives. Metaphors abound in the speeches, some of them slightly +far-fetched, but others of uncommon beauty, appropriateness, and pith. +There is no brilliant employment of words, but not seldom one comes +across such terse and happy phrases as the famous "We stand under the +star of commerce," "Our future lies on the water," "We demand a place +in the sun." + +On the English reader the speeches will be apt to pall, unless he is +thoroughly saturated with Prussian historic, military, and romantic +lore and can place himself mentally in the position of the Emperor. +The tone, never quite detached from consciousness of the imperial ego, +hardly ever descends to the level of familiar conversation nor rises +to heights of eloquence that carry away the hearer. With three or four +exceptions, there is no argumentation in the speeches, for they are +not meant to persuade or convince, but to enjoin and command. They do +not contain any of the important and interesting facts and figures of +which, nevertheless, the Emperor's mind must be full, and they are +wanting in wit and humour, though nature has endowed the Emperor with +both. + +On the other hand, it should be remembered that they are the speeches +of an Emperor, not of a statesman. The speeches have no political +timeliness or object save that of rousing and directing imperial +spirit among the people by appeals to their imagination and +patriotism. Had the Emperor been actuated by the spirit of a Minister +or statesman, he would have been far more alive to the fact than he +appears to have been, that every word he uttered would instantly find +an echo in the Parliament, Press, and Stock Exchange of all other +countries. + +The Emperor's fundamental mistakes, as disclosed by his speeches, +appear to an Englishman to have been in assuming when they were made +that the Empire was in a less advanced stage of consolidation and +settlement than it in fact was, and in underrating the intelligence, +knowledge, and patriotism of his people. From this point of view his +early speeches in particular sound jejune or superfluous. What would +the Englishman say to a king who began his reign by a series of +homilies on Alfred the Great or Elizabeth or Queen Victoria; by using +strong language about the Labour party or the Fabian Society; by +appeals to throne and altar; by describing to Parliament the chief +duties of the monarch; by recommending the London County Council to +build plenty of churches; by calling journalists "hunger-candidates"; +by frequent references to the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar? Yet, +_mutatis mutandis_, this is not so very unlike what the young Emperor +did, and not for a year or two, but for several years after his +accession. To an Englishman such addresses would appear rather +ill-timed academic declamation. + +Yet there was much, and perhaps is still much, to account for, if not +quite justify, the Emperor's rhetoric. The peculiarity of Germany's +monarchic system placed, and places, the monarch in a patriarchal +position not very different from that of Moses towards the +Israelites--a leader, preacher, and prophet. Again, the Empire, when +the Emperor came to the throne, was not a homogeneous nation inspired +by a centuries-old national spirit, but suffered, as it still in a +measure suffers, from the particularism of the various kingdoms and +States composing it: in other words, from too local a patriotism and +stagnation of the imperial idea. Thirdly, the Empire had no navy, +while an Empire to-day without a navy is at a tremendous and dangerous +disadvantage in world-politics, and the mere conception that a navy +was indispensable had to be created in a country lying in the heart of +Europe and with only one short coast-line. + +The Englishman is as loyal to his King as the German is to his +Emperor, and England, as little as Germany, is disposed to change from +monarchy to republicanism. But the Englishman's political and social +governor, guide, and executive is not the King, but the Parliament; +because while in the King he has a worthy representative of the +nation's historical development and dignity, in the Parliament he sees +a powerful and immediate reflection of himself, his own wishes, and +his own judgments. Moreover, with the spread of democratic ideas, the +position of a monarch anywhere in the civilized world to-day is not +what it was fifty years ago. The general progress in education since +then; the drawing together of the nations by common commercial and +financial interests; the incessant activity of writers and publishers; +the circulation and power of the Press--themselves almost threatening +to become a despotism--such facts as these tend to change the +relations between kings and peoples. Monarchs and men are changing +places; the ruler becomes the subject, the subject ruler; it is the +people who govern, and the monarch obeys the people's will. + +Such is not the view of the German Emperor nor of the German people. +To both the monarch is no "shadow-king," as both are fond of calling +the King of England, but an Emperor of flesh and blood, commissioned +to take the leading part in decisions binding on the nation, +responsible to no one but the Almighty, and the sole bestower of State +honours. There are, it is true, three factors of imperial government +constitutionally--the Emperor, the Federal Council, and the Imperial +Parliament; but while the Council has only very indirect relations +with the people, the Parliament, a consultative body for legislation, +is not the depositary of power or authority, or an assembly to which +either the Emperor, or the Council, or the Imperial Chancellor is +responsible. It must be admitted that, while such is the +constitutional theory, the actual practice is to a considerable extent +different. The Emperor is no absolute monarch, even in the domain of +foreign affairs, as he is often said to be, but is influenced and +guided, certainly of late years, both by the Federal Council and by +public opinion, the power of which latter has greatly augmented in +recent times. Whether the Reichstag really represents public opinion +in the Empire is a moot-point in Germany itself. It can hardly be +denied that it does so, at least in financial matters, since with +regard to them it has all the powers, or almost all, possessed by the +English House of Commons in this respect. Where its powers fail, it is +said, is in regard to administration; for though it deliberates on and +passes legislation, it is left by the Constitution to the Emperor and +his Ministers to issue instructions as to how legislation is to be +carried into effect. The result is to throw excessive power over +public comfort and convenience into the hands of the official class of +all degrees, which naturally employs it to maintain its own dignity +and privileged position. + +Towards one class of the population, and that a highly important and +exceptional one, the Emperor's attitude of unprejudiced goodwill has +never varied. Israelites form only a small proportion--about 1 per +cent.--of the whole people, and are to be found in very large numbers +only in Berlin and Frankfurt; but to their financial and commercial +ability Germany owes a debt one may almost describe as incalculable. +There is a strong national prejudice against them in all parts of the +Empire, as there probably is in all countries, and it must be admitted +that the manners and customs of the lower-class Jew, his unpleasant +and insistent curiosity, his intrusiveness where he is not desired, +his want of cleanliness, his sharpness at a bargain, his oily bearing +to those he wishes to propitiate and his ruthless sweating of the +worker in all fields when in his power, are all disagreeable personal +qualities. There is also, as a concomitant of the nation's growth in +wealth of every sort, and mostly perhaps to be found in the capital a +class of Jewish parvenu, remarkable for snobbishness, ostentation, and +affectation. + +But one must distinguish; and of a large percentage of the educated +class of Jew in Germany it would be difficult to speak too highly. +Germans may be the "salt of the earth," as the Emperor once told them +they were, but Jewish talent can with quite as much, perhaps more, +justice be called the salt of German prosperity. And not alone in the +region of finance and commerce. Some of the best intellect, most of +the leading enterprise in Germany, in all important directions, is +Jewish. Many of her ablest newspaper proprietors and editors are Jews. +Many of her finest actors and actresses are Jews and Jewesses. Many of +her cleverest lawyers, doctors, and artists are Jews. The career of +Herr Albert Ballin, the Jewish director of the Hamburg-Amerika line, +the Emperor's friend, to whom Germany owes a great deal of her +mercantile marine expansion, is a long romance illustrative of Jewish +organizing power and success. + +The Emperor's friendship for Herr Ballin is obviously not entirely +disinterested, but the interest at the root of it is an imperial one. +In this spirit he cultivates to-day, as he has done since he took over +the Empire, the society of all his subjects, German or Jew, who either +by their talents or through their wealth can contribute to the success +of the mighty task which occupies his waking thoughts, and for all one +knows, his sleeping thoughts--his dreams--as well. Accordingly, the +wealthy German is quite aware that if he is to be reckoned among the +Emperor's friends he must be prepared to pay for the privilege, since +the Emperor is neither slow nor shy about using his influence in order +to make the more fortunate members of the community put their hands +deeply into their pockets for national purposes. A little time ago he +invited a number of merchant princes and captains of industry, as +American papers invariably call wealthy Germans, to a _Bier-abend_ at +the palace. When the score or so of guests were seated, he announced +that he was collecting subscriptions for some public object--the +national airship fund, perhaps--and sent a sheet of paper to Herr +Friedlander Fuld, the "coal-king" of Germany, to head the list. Herr +Fuld wrote down £5,000, and the paper was taken back to the Emperor. +"Oh, this will never do, lieber Fuld," he exclaimed, on seeing the +amount. "At this rate people will be putting down their names for £50. +You must at least double it." And Herr Fuld had to do so. A few weeks +afterwards there was another invitation to the palace, and the same +sort of scene took place. A little later still Herr Fuld got a third +invitation, and as an imperial invitation is equivalent to a command, +he had to go. When he arrived he noticed his fellow-industrials +looking uneasy, not to say sad. The Emperor noticed it too, for his +first words were: "Dear gentlemen, to-night the beer costs nothing." + +Throughout the reign Germany has made it her constant policy to +cultivate friendly relations with the United States. Chancellor von +Bülow, in 1899, apropos of Samoa, said in the Reichstag: "We can +confidently say that in no other country has America during the last +hundred years found better understanding and more just recognition +than in Germany." This is true of the educated classes, professional, +professorial, and scientific; but the ordinary European German, who +does not know and understand America, still displays no particular +love for the ordinary American. At the same time he probably prefers +him to the people of any other nation. American outspokenness in +politics, for example, must be refreshing to minds penned within the +limits of the _Rechtstaat_. He sees in them, too, millionaires, or at +least people who come from a country where money is so abundant that, +as many country-people still think, you have only to stoop to pick it +up. When it comes to business, however, he is a little afraid of their +somewhat too sanguine enterprise, and is given to suspect that a +"bluff" of some sort is behind the simplest business proposition. Much +of this, of course, is due to ignorance heightened by yellow +journalism, for as a rule only the vastly interesting, but mostly +untrue, "stories" regarding Germany printed in the yellow press come +back to the Fatherland. + +The German, again, is made uneasy by what he thinks the hasty manners +of the Americans; he considers them uncivil. So, let it be admitted, +they sometimes appear to be to people of other nationalities; but then +as a rule Americans who jar on European nerves will be found to hail +from places where life, to use the American expression, is "woolly," +or too strenuous to allow of the delicacies of real refinement. The +ordinary idea of the German in Germany, held by the stay-at-home +American, is a vague species of dislike, founded on the conviction +that the American, not the German, is the salt of the earth; that the +German regard for tradition makes them a slow and slowly moving race; +and that the Emperor as War Lord--for he is almost solely known to him +in that capacity--must be ever desirous of war, in particular wishes +to seize a coaling-station or even a country, in South America, and, +generally speaking, set at naught the Monroe doctrine. The Governments +on both sides, of course, know and understand each other better. In +November, 1906, Prince Bülow publicly thanked America for her attitude +at Algeciras, implying that it was due to her representative's +conciliatory and reconciliatory conduct that the Conference did not +end in a fiasco. "This," said the Chancellor, "was the second great +service to the world rendered by America; the other," he added, "being +the bringing about of peace between Russia and Japan." + +A great deal of the increased intercourse between the two countries is +due to the personal endeavours of the Emperor. What his motives are +may be conjectured with fair accuracy from a general knowledge of his +"up-to-date" character, the commercial policy of his Empire, and the +events of recent years. He has a whole-hearted admiration for the +American character and genius, so akin in many ways to his own +character and genius; and if he refuses to recommend for Germans +similar institutions to those in States, federated in a manner +somewhat analogous to that of the kingdoms and States composing his +own Empire, it is not from want of liberality of mind, but because +they are wholly opposed to Prussian tradition, because his people do +not demand them, and because he honestly believes that in respect of +topographical situation, climate, historical development, and race +feelings and sentiment, the safeguards and requirements of Germany are +widely different from those of America. + +As a young man he naturally had very little to do with America or +Americans, though among his schoolboy playmates was a young American, +Poulteney Bigelow, who afterwards wrote an excellent appreciation of +the fine traits in the Emperor's character. At the same time the +Emperor himself has stated that the country always interested him, and +recent visitors bear out the statement fully. In 1889, a year after +his accession, he expressed his admiration for America, when receiving +the American Ambassador, Mr. Phelps. "From my youth on," the Emperor +said, + + "I have had a great admiration for that powerful and + progressive commonwealth which you are called on to + represent, and the study of its history in peace and war has + had for me at all times a special interest. Among the many + distinguished characteristics of your people, which draw to + them the attention of the whole world, are their + enterprising spirit, their love of order, and their talent + for invention. The predominant sentiment of both peoples is + that of affinity and tested friendship, and the future can + only strengthen the heartiness of their relations." + +More than twenty years have elapsed since the words were uttered, and +the prediction has been fulfilled. + +Scores of anecdotes, it need hardly be said, are current in connexion +with the Emperor and American friends. One of them is that of an +American, Mr. Frank Wyberg, the husband of a lady who, with her +children, used often to visit Mr. and Mrs. Armour on their yacht +_Uttowana_ at Kiel, there met the Emperor, and was invariably kindly +greeted by him. Mr. Wyberg was summoned with his friend, General +Miles, to an audience of the Emperor in Berlin. Before going to the +palace Mr. Wyberg went to a well-known picture-dealer in the city and +bought a small but artistic painting costing about £1,000. He had the +picture neatly done up, and carried it off under his arm to the hotel +where he was to meet General Miles. As they were leaving for the +palace the General asked Mr. Wyberg what he was carrying. "Oh, only a +trifle for the Kaiser!" was the reply. The General was horrified, and +tried to dissuade his friend from bringing the picture, telling him +that the proper procedure was to ask through the Foreign Office or the +American Embassy for the Emperor's gracious acceptance of it. +Otherwise the Emperor would be annoyed, he would think badly of +American manners, and so on. Mr. Wyberg, however, was not to be +deterred, and insisted that it would be "all right." While waiting in +the reception-room for the Emperor, Mr. Wyberg unwrapped the picture +and placed it leaning against the wall on a piano. By and by the +Emperor came in, and almost the first thing he said, after shaking +hands, was to ask what the presence of the picture meant. Mr. Wyberg +explained that it was a mark of gratitude for the kindness the Emperor +had shown his wife and children at Kiel. The Emperor smiled, said it +was a very kind thought, and willingly accepted the gift. The story +has a sequel. A day or two after a Court official called at the hotel, +to get from General Miles Mr. Wyberg's initials, and after another few +days had passed reappeared with a bulky parcel. On being opened the +parcel was found to consist of a large silver loving-cup, with Mr. +Wyberg's name chased upon it, and underneath the words, "From Wilhelm +II." + +Another anecdote refers to an American naval attaché, a favourite of +the Emperor's. Dinner at the palace was over, and the attaché, wishing +to keep a memento of the occasion, took his large menu card and +concealed it, as he thought, between his waistcoat and his shirt. +Unfortunately, when taking leave of the Emperor, the card slipped down +and part of it became visible. The Emperor's quick eye immediately +noticed it. "Hallo! H----," he exclaimed; "look out, your dickey's +coming down!" The story shows the Emperor's acquaintance with English +slang as well as his geniality. + +The Emperor seems to take pleasure in displaying himself to Americans +in as republican a light as possible, and when he desires the company +of an American friend, stands on no sort of ceremony. The American's +telephone bell may ring at any hour of the day or evening, and a voice +is heard--"Here royal palace. His Majesty wishes to ask if the Herr +So-and-So will come to the palace this evening for dinner." On one +occasion this happened to Professor Burgess. The telephone at the +Hotel Adlon in Berlin rang up from Potsdam about six in the afternoon, +and there was so little time for the Professor to catch his train that +he was forced to finish his dressing _en route_. Or the invitation may +be for "a glass of beer" after dinner, about nine o'clock. + +If it is a dinner invitation, the guest, in evening clothes, with his +white tie doubtless a trifle more carefully adjusted than usual, +drives or walks to the palace. He enters a gate on the south side +facing the statue of Frederick the Great, and under the archway finds +a doorway with a staircase leading immediately to the royal apartments +on the first floor. In an ante-room are other guests, a couple of +Ministers, the Rector Magnificus of the university, and perhaps a +"Roosevelt" or "exchange" professor; and if the party is not one of +men only, such as the Emperor is fond of arranging, and the Empress is +expected, the wives also of the invited guests. Without previous +notice the Emperor enters, an American lover of slang might almost say +"blows in," with quick steps and a bustling air that instantly fills +the room with life and energy, and showing a cheery smile of welcome +on his face. The guests are standing round in a half or three-quarter +circle, and the Emperor goes from one to the other, shaking hands and +delivering himself of a sentence or two, either in the form of a +question or remark, and then passing on. When it is not a bachelors' +party, the Empress comes in later with her ladies. A servant in the +royal livery of red and gold, on a signal from the Emperor, throws +open a door leading to the dining-room, and the Emperor and Empress +enter first. The guests take their places according to the cards on +the table. If it is a men's party of, say, four guests, the Emperor +will seat them on his right and left and immediately opposite, with an +adjutant or two as makeweights and in case he should want to send for +plans or books. On these occasions he is usually in the dark blue +uniform of a Prussian infantry general, with an order or two blazing +on his breast. He sits very upright, and starts and keeps going the +conversation with such skill and verve that soon every one, even the +shyest, is drawn into it. There is plenty of argument and divergence +of view. If the Emperor is convinced that he is right, he will, as has +more than once occurred, jestingly offer to back his opinion with a +wager. "I'll bet you"--he will exclaim, with all the energy of an +English schoolboy. He enjoys a joke or witticism immensely, and leans +back in his chair as he joins in the hearty peal about him. When +cigars or cigarettes are handed round, he will take an occasional puff +at one of the three or four cigarettes he allows himself during the +evening, or sip at a glass of orangeade placed before him and filled +from time to time. When he feels disposed he rises, and having shaken +hands with his guests, now standing about him, retires into his +workroom. A few moments later the guests disperse. + +Conversation, both in England and Germany, sometimes turns on the +question whether or not the Emperor will be known to future +generations as William "the Great." It is agreed on all sides that he +will not take a place among the mediocrities or sink into oblivion. We +have, though only negatively and indirectly, his own view of the +matter, if, that is, it may be deduced from the fact that he has more +than once tried to attach this _epitheton ornans_ to the memory of his +grandfather. At Hamburg in 1891 he desired a statue to the Emperor +William I to bear the inscription "William the Great." The cool common +sense of the cautious Hamburgers refused to anticipate the decision of +posterity and placed on the pedestal the simple words "William the +First." In deference to the Emperor's well-known wishes, if not at his +request, the Hamburg-Amerika line of steamers christened one of their +ocean greyhounds _Wilhelm der Grosse_. The mere fact that people +discuss the question in his lifetime is of happy augury for the +Emperor. Perhaps some other epithet will be found for him. "Puffing +Billy" is one of his titles among English officers, taken from the +name given locally to Stephenson's first locomotive. But history has +many ranks in her peerage and many epithets at her disposal--great, +good, fair, lionhearted, silent--_that_ the Emperor will not have--and +a host more. Maybe the greatest rulers were those whom history, as +though in despair of finding a single term with which to do them +justice, has refrained from decorating. Timur, Akbar, Attila, Julius +Cæsar, Elizabeth, Victoria, Napoleon have no epithets, and need none. +However, it is clear that a verdict on the Emperor's deserts is +premature. Suppose him at the bar of history. The case is still +proceeding, the evidence is not complete, counsel have not been heard, +and--most obvious defect of any--the jury has not been impanelled. + +More than half a century has passed since the Emperor was born. How +time flies! + + "Alas, alas, O Postumus, Postumus, + The years glide by and are lost to us, lost to us." + +But not the memories they enshrine. It is, let us imagine, the night +of the Emperor's Jubilee, and he lies in the old Schloss, still awake, +reflecting on the past. What a multitude of happenings, gay and grave, +throng to his recollection, what a glorious and crowded canvas unrolls +itself before his mental vision! The toy steamer on the Havel; the +games in the palace corridors, with the grim features of the Great +Elector betrayed, one is tempted to think, into a half-smile as he +watches the innocent gaiety of the romping children from the old +wainscoted walls; the irksome but disciplinary hours in the Cassel +schoolroom; the youthful escapades with those carefree Borussian +comrades at the university on the broad bosom of Father Rhine; the +excursions and picnics among the Seven Hills; the visits to England, +its crowded and bustling capital, its country seats with their +pleasant lawns and stately oaks; the war-ships in the Solent, with +their black mass and frowning guns, as they towered, like Milton's +Leviathan, above his head. + +What a good time it was, and how rich in manifold and picturesque +impressions! + +The canvas continues to unroll and a literary period opens--that age +between youth and manhood, of all ages most passionate and ideal, when +we are enthralled and moved by what we read--by those studies which + + "_adolescentiam agunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res + ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent, delectant + domi, non impediunt foris; pernoctant nobiscum, + peregrinantur, rusticantur_." + +It was the Lohengrin period, when, filled with the ardour and +imaginativeness of high-souled youth, the future Emperor was dimly +thinking of all he would do in the days to come for the happiness and +prosperity of his people, nay, of all mankind. + +Another tableau presents itself. Life has now become real and the +Emperor's soldiering days have begun--never to conclude! His regiment +is his world; parades and drills, the orderly-room and the barrack +square occupy his time; and would seem monotonous and hard but for the +little Eden with its Eve close beside them. + +The Emperor turns uneasily, for his thoughts recur to the painful +circumstances of his accession; but calmness soon succeeds as the +curtain rises on the splendid panorama of the reign. He sees himself, +a young and hitherto unknown actor, leaving the wings and taking the +very centre of the stage, while the vast audience sits silent and +attentive, as yet hardly grasping the significance of his words and +gestures, emphatic though they are. And then he recalls the years of +_Sturm und Drang_, the growth of Empire in spite of grudging rivals +and of fellow-countrymen as yet not wholly conscious of their +destinies, which one can now see constituted a whole drama in +themselves, fraught with great consequences to the world. + +But we are keeping the Emperor awake when he should be left to +well-deserved repose. He has doubtless half forgotten it all; the +Bismarck episode is one of those + + "... old, unhappy, far-off things + And battles long ago" + +of which the poet sings. One unquiet political care excepted, all the +rest must be pleasant for him to remember--the rising with the dawn, +the hurried little breakfast with the Empress, the pawing horses of +the adjutants and escort in the courtyard of the palace; the constant +travelling in and far beyond the Empire; the incessant speech-making, +with its appeals to the past and its promises, nobly realized, of +"splendid days" in the future--its calls to the people to arms, to the +sea, to the workshop, to school, to church, to anything praiseworthy, +provided only it was action for the common good; the dockyards in Kiel +and Danzig, with their noise of "busy hammers closing rivets up"; the +ever-swelling trade statistics; and the proud feeling that at last his +country was coming into her own. + +Even the sensation the Emperor caused from time to time in other +countries must have had a certain charm for him--endless telegrams, +endless scathing editorials, endless movement and excitement. There is +no fun like work, they say. The Emperor worked hard and enjoyed +working. It was the "personal regiment," maybe, and it could not last +for ever; but while it did it was doubtless very gratifying, and, +notwithstanding all his critics say, magnificently successful. + +Those strenuous times are long over, and if strenuous times have yet +to come they will find the Emperor alert and knowing better how to +deal with them. He has, one may be sure, no thoughts of well-earned +rest or dignified repose--he probably never will, with his strong +conception of duty and his interest in the fortunes of his Empire. +Still, he is a good deal changed. Time has taught him more than his +early tutor, worthy Dr. Hinzpeter, ever taught him; and if his spring +was boisterous, and his summer gusty and uncertain, a mellow autumn +gives promise of a hale and kindly winter. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abdul Aziz, 259. + +Absolutism, 2, 295, 368 _seq_. + +Accession, date, I; period, 69 _seq_. + +Achilleion, 317. + +Aegir, Song to, 224. + +Agadir, 264 _seq_. + +Alexandra, Queen, 327. + +Algeciras Conference, 261 _seq_.; + Act of, 262. + +Alsace-Lorraine, 84 _seq_. + +America, + art exhibition, 222; + Germany and, 238; + Frederick the Great and, 242; + squadron at Kiel, 244; + commercial relations with, 331, 380 _seq_. + +Anarchism, 42 _seq_. + +Anglo-French Agreement, 1904, 259 _seq_. + +Anglo-German Agreement, + 1890, 140; + 1904, 335; + relations, 4-7, 243, 282, 335 _seq_. + +Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 201. + +Anti-Semites, 178. + +Arbitration, compulsory, 340. + +Aristocracy, German, 114. + +Armament, limitation of, 340. + +Army, + accession speech to, 69; + importance of, 71; + true character of, 285; + Emperor and, 294. + +Art, Emperor on, 202, 205 _seq_.; + speech to sculptors, 207; + German ideals, 218. + +Attempt on, + Emperor, 202; + on William I, 42. + +Augusta, Empress, wife of William I, 43, 45. + +Auguste, Victoria, present Empress, 37 _seq_. + +"Babel und Bibel," 246. + +Baghdad railway, 200. + +Balkans, 339. + +Ballin, 367. + +Battenberg affair, 55. + +Bebel, August, 58, 90, 359. _See_ Social Democracy + +Bennigsen, von, 13. + +Berlin palace (Schloss), 114. + +Bethmann Hollweg, 322 _seq_. + +Biedermeier time, 167. + +Bismarck, 13; + Empress Fred. and, 44; + William I and, 43 _seq_.; + on Divine Right, 60 _seq_.; + on foreign policy, 76; + resignation, 104,133; + Emperor and, 49, 131; + "blood and iron" speech, 128; + Emperor's account of quarrel with, 135; + journey to Vienna, 141; + death, 143. + +"Bloc" party, 281, 288, 322. + +Boer war, German policy and, 156, 303. + +Bonn, Emperor at, 29; address at, 203. + +Borussia, 30, 36, 203. + +Bosnia and Herzegovina, 329. + +Boulanger, 52, 76. + +Boxer troubles, 46, 194 _seq_. + +Brandon, 338. + +"Brilliant second" speech, 279. + +Brooks, Sydney, 361. + +Bülow, Prince von, 47; + succeeds Hohenlohe, 187; + fainting fit, 322; + resignation, 322. + +Burgess, Prof., 241. + +Butler, Dr. Nicholas Murray, 272. + +Byzantinism, 121 _seq_. + +Cadinen, 334. + +Camarilla, 277 + +Caprivi, von, 141; + treaties, 141, 152 _seq_.; + chancellorship, 151. + +Caroline Islands, 151. + +Casablanca, 264. + +Centrum, 3, 280. + +Chamberlain, Mr., 158, 258. + +Chamberlain, Stewart, 348. + +Chancellor, "responsibility," 289 _seq_. + +China, + relations with, 193; + Boxer indemnity, 197. + +Chun, Prince, 197 _seq_. + +Churchill, Winston, 337. + +Colonial development, 148 _seq_. + +Commercial treaties, 152; American, 331. + +Conscription, 191. + +Constitution, German and British compared, 57. + +Corps, student, 30 _seq_. + +Crefeld, 278. + +Crown Prince, 14, 18; + income, 112; + marriage, 270; + Indian tour, 328; + at English coronation, 339; + in aeroplane, 359. + +Court, + comparison with English, 109; + nobility, 113. + +Cowes, 75. + +_Daily Telegraph_, + interview, 302 _seq_.; + text of, 304; + Bülow and, 311 _seq_.; + Emperor's undertaking, 310. + +Delcassé, 261, 282. + +Delitzsch, Prof., 246. + +Dewey, Admiral, 170. + +Dictator Paragraph, 86. + +Diedrich, Admiral, 170. + +Dingley tariff, 331. + +Disarmament, 317. + +Divine Right, 331 _seq_. + +Dreibund, _see_ Triple Alliance. + +Dreyfus case, 178. + +Dual Alliance. + (Germany and Austria), 79; + (Russia and France), 141. + +Duel, _see_ Mensur. + +Dynasty, _see_ Hohenzollern. + +Education, Emperor on, 98 _seq_. + +Edward VII, + at Kiel, 253; + visits Berlin, 323; + funeral, 327. + +Elector, Great, 64, 72. + +Emperor, + birth, 12; + marriage, 37; + brothers and sisters, 18; + offspring, 40; + first visit England, 20; + at Bonn, 29; + on Art, 207; + and theatre, 355; + on religion, 246; + character, 363 _seq_.; + and people, 368, 372. + +Empress, + present, marriage, 37; + character, 39. + +Farmer, Emperor as, 334. + +Finance reform, 321. + +Fleet, English, at Kiel, 253; + American, 244. _See_ Navy. + +Flora bust, 324 _seq_. + +Foreign policy, in Orient, 199 _seq_.; + Emperor's, 269. + +France, and Germany, 51; + Franco-German Agreement, 1911, 266. + +Frankfort, treaty of, 153. + +Frederick the Great, + death, 120; + tomb, 121; + and navy, 167; + statue, 242; + Emperor and, 251. + +Frederick III, 14; + as Crown Prince, 45; + last illness, 54. + +Frederick, Empress, 15 _seq_.; + Bismarck and, 44; + death, 204. + +Future, "Our future lies on the water," 203. + +General Elections, 280, 333. + +"Germans to the Front," 245. + +Germany, + "Greater," 146; + to-day, 366; + foreign policy, 199, 269. + +George V, 174, 237, 339. + +George, Lloyd, speech, 336. + +Goluchowski, Count, 279. + +Goschen, Lord, 160. + +Government, dynastic not democratic, 56 _seq_. + +Great Elector, + Emperor and, 72; + German navy and, 166. + +Grey, Sir Edward, 338. + +Grieg, composer, 225; death, 287. + +Griscom, ambassador, 319. + +Guelphs, 333. + +Guildhall, speech at, + 1891, 75; + 1907, 283. + +Hamburg-Amerika line, 367. + +Hannover, 333. + +Harvard University, 272. + +Heine, 13, 374. + +Heligoland, 150. + +Henry, Prince, 18; + sent Kiautschau, 165; + visits America, 241. + +Highcliffe Castle, 285. + +Hill, Dr. D.J., 318 _seq_. + +Hinzpeter, Dr., 287. + +Hödel, attempt, 43. + +Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince, 47; + character, 153; + chancellor, 185; + resigns, 187. + +Hohenzollern, 2, 11, 17, 23, 41, 56, 72; + Divine Right and, 62 _seq_., 332. + +Iltis, gunboat, 195. + +Italy, 261 _seq_. + +Jameson raid, + Emperor's telegram on, 154; + date of, 159. + +Jews, Emperor and, 378. + +Journalists, attack on, 329. + +Junker, 123. + +Ketteler, von, murder of, 195. + +Kiautschau, 145, 150. + +Kiel, canal, 144; + first regatta, do.; + harbour, 168; + American squadron at, 244; + Edward VII at, 253. + +Koenigsberg, speech at, 332. + +Kruger, telegram, the, 154 _seq_.; + European tour, 155. + +_Kulturkampf_, Emperor and, 50. + +Labourdonnais, 167. + +Labour Party, 93. + +Leoncavallo, 253. + +Liberalism, Emperor and, 126. + +Liman, Dr. Paul, 62, 360. + +Limitation of armaments, 340. + +List, Prof., 168. + +Lloyd George, speech, 336. + +Louise, Queen, 41. + +Luderitz, 149. + +Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 16, 54. + +Madrid Convention, 263. + +Magna Charta, Germany's, 1. + +Mahan, Captain, 164. + +Manila, 170. + +Marakesch, 264. + +Marble Palace, 118. + +"March Days," 128 _seq_. + +Mensur, 29 _seq_. + +Menzel, + painter, 179; + death, 255. + +Moabit riots, 329. + +Mommsen, Emperor and, 251. + +Monroe doctrine, 240. + +Morocco, 255 _seq_. + +Navy, German, + First Navy Law, 145; + Prince William and, 163; + early history of, 166; + auctioned, 168; + early proposals, 169 _seq_.; + legislative stages, 171; + Grey's proposal, 317. + +New Palace, Potsdam, 116. + +Nobiling, attempt, 42, 90. +"November Storm," 289 _seq_. + +Open door, The, 257. + +"Our future lies on the water," 203. + +Oxford university, 284. + +Palestine, 145; + journey to, 176. + +Panther, 264. + +Parliament, introduction; + parliamentary rule, 58; + chancellor and, 291; + Emperor and, 294; + _See_ Reichstag. + +"Personal regiment," 289, 296, 371. + +Peters, Carl, 149. + +"Place in the sun," 204. + +Polypus, removed, 250. + +Potsdam, 199. + +Prussia, at Emperor's birth, 12; + Diet, 293; + electoral reform in, 316. + +Quinquennat, 152. + +Raid, Jameson, 159. + +Rationalism, 344, 369. + +Reaction, 123. + +_Realpolitik_, see _Weltpolitik_; + in sport, 357. + +_Rechtstaat_, 369 _seq_. + +Reichstag, introduction, 280, 292 333, 377. + +Reinsurance treaty, 133. + +Religion, Emperor on, 246. + +Rhodes, Cecil, 284. + +Richard, Prof., 370. + +"Roland von Berlin," 253. + +Roosevelt, Alice, 241; + president, 253; + visits Berlin, 325 _seq_.; + professorships, 272. + +Russia and Germany, relations, 80. + +Russo-Japanese war, 252. + +Saladin, 177. + +Samoa, 151. + +Sans Souci, 119, 179. + +Sardanapalus, 235. + +Septennat, 53, 152. + +Seymour, Admiral, 195. + +Shimonoseki, treaty of, 193. + +"Shining armour," 328. + +Social Democracy, introduction; + Emperor and, 87; + history of, 89; + programme, 91; + causes of, 94. + Socialist laws, 103, 279 _seq_. + +Socialism, 92; _See_ Social Democracy. + +Sport, in Germany, 357. + +"Star of commerce," phrase, 165. + +State, German interpretation of, 292. + +Stein, Dr. Adolf, 158. + +Stoessel, General, 195, 253. + +Stone, Melville, 242. + +Suffragettes, Emperor and, 332. + +Sultan, promise to, 145, 177. + +Swinemunde despatch, 244. + +Taku Forts, 195. + +Tangier, 256, 259; + Emperor's speech at, 260, 268. + +Theatre, Emperor on, 230; + Germans and the, 254. + +"Times," the, 297, 299, 301, 324. + +Tirpitz, von, Admiral, 338. + +Tower, ambassador, 318. + +Trade Unionism, 92 _seq_. + +Transvaal, 156 _seq_.; 303. + +Tree, Sir Beerbohm, 287. + +Treitschke, von, on Divine Right, 59; + on Bismarck, 125. + +Trench, Captain, 338. + +Triple Alliance, Emperor on, 77; + history of, 78; + provisions, 79; + renewals, 38, 339. + +"Urias Letter," 142. + +Universities, England and Germany compared, 98. + +"Unser Fritz," 14. + +Venezuela, 158, 239. + +Victoria Louise, Princess, 333. + +Victoria, Queen, 167; + death, 201. + +"Von Gottes Gnaden," 56 _seq_.;. + doctrine to-day, 68. + +Waldersee, Countess, 45; + Count, 46, 196. + +Weihaiwei, 194. + +_Weltpolitik_, 51, 144; + Bülow on, 147; + open door and, 201; + foreign policy and, 201, 192, 201, 203. + +William I, + career, 42; + character, 43; + death, 54; + parliament and, 294. + +Williams, George Valentine, 232. + +Wyberg, Frank, 383. + +Zeppelin, Count, 358. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM OF GERMANY*** + + +******* This file should be named 13043-8.txt or 13043-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/4/13043 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: William of Germany + +Author: Stanley Shaw + +Release Date: July 28, 2004 [eBook #13043] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM OF GERMANY*** + + +E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +WILLIAM OF GERMANY + +by + +STANLEY SHAW, LL.D. +Trinity College Dublin + +WITH A FRONTISPIECE + +1913 + + + + + + + +The Frontispiece is from a photograph by E. Bieber, of Berlin + + + + +CONTENTS + PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTORY....................................... 1 + + II. YOUTH (1859-1881).................................. 10 + + III. PRE-ACCESSION DAYS (1881-1887)..................... 42 + + IV. "VON GOTTES GNADEN"................................ 56 + + V. THE ACCESSION (1888-1890).......................... 69 + + VI. THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR........................... 105 + + VII. "DROPPING THE PILOT"............................... 125 + + VIII. SPACIOUS TIMES (1891-1899)......................... 144 + + IX. THE NEW CENTURY (1900-1901)........................ 189 + + X. THE EMPEROR AND THE ARTS........................... 205 + + XI. THE NEW CENTURY--_continued_ (1902-1904)........... 237 + + XII. MOROCCO (1905)..................................... 255 + + XIII. BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM" (1906-1907)............ 275 + + XIV. THE NOVEMBER STORM (1908).......................... 289 + + XV. AFTER THE STORM (1909-1913)........................ 321 + + XVI. THE EMPEROR TO-DAY................................. 342 + + INDEX ................................................... 391 + + + + +I. INTRODUCTORY. + +William the Second, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Burgrave of +Nuernberg, Margrave of Brandenburg, Landgrave of Hessen and Thuringia, +Prince of Orange, Knight of the Garter and Field-Marshal of Great +Britain, etc., was born in Berlin on January 27, 1859, and ascended +the throne on June 15, 1888. He is, therefore, fifty-four years old +in the present year of his Jubilee, 1913, and his reign--happily yet +unfinished--has extended over a quarter of a century. + +The Englishman who would understand the Emperor and his time must +imagine a country with a monarchy, a government, and a people--in +short, a political system--almost entirely different from his own. In +Germany, paradoxical though it may sound to English ears, there +is neither a government nor a people. The word "government" occurs +only once in the Imperial Constitution, the Magna Charta of modern +Germans, which in 1870 settled the relations between the Emperor and +what the Englishman calls the "people," and then only in an +unimportant context joined to the word "federal." + +In Germany, instead of "the people" the Englishman speaks of when he +talks politics, and the democratic orator, Mr. Bryan, in America is +fond of calling the "peopul," there is a "folk," who neither claim +to be, nor apparently wish to be, a "people" in the English sense. +The German folk have their traditions as the English people have +traditions, and their place in the political system as the English +people have; but both traditions and place are wholly different from +those of the English people; indeed, it may be said are just the +reverse of them. + +The German Emperor believes, and assumes his people to believe, that +the Hollenzollern monarch is specially chosen by Heaven to guide and +govern a folk entrusted to him as the talent was entrusted to the +steward in Scripture. Until 1848, a little over sixty years ago, the +Emperor (at that time only King of Prussia) was an absolute, or almost +absolute, monarch, supported by soldiers and police, and his wishes +were practically law to the folk. In that year, however, owing to the +influence of the French Revolution, the King by the gift of a +Constitution, abandoned part of his powers, but not any governing +powers, to the folk in the form of a parliament, with permission to +make laws for itself, though not for him. To pass them, that is; for +they were not to carry the laws into execution--that was a matter the +King kept, as the Emperor does still, in his own hands. + +The business of making laws being, as experience shows, provocative of +discussion, discussion of argument, and argument of controversy, there +now arose a dozen or more parties in the Parliament, each with its own +set of controversial opinions, and these the parties applied to the +novel and interesting occupation of law-making. + +However, it did not matter much to the King, so long as the folk did +not ask for further, or worse still, as occurred in England, for all +his powers; and accordingly the parties continued their discussions, +as they do to-day, sometimes accepting and sometimes rejecting their +own or the King's suggestions about law-making. Generally speaking, +the relation is not unlike that established by the dame who said to +her husband, "When we are of the same opinion, you are right, but when +we are of different opinions, I am right." If the Parliament does not +agree with the Emperor, the Emperor dissolves it. + +These parties, from the situation of their seats in a parliament of +397 deputies, became known as the parties of the Right, or +Conservative parties, and the parties of the Left, or Liberal parties. +Between them sat the members of the Centre, who, as representing the +Catholic populations of Germany--roughly, twenty-two millions out of +sixty-six--became a powerful and unchanging phalanx of a hundred +deputies, which had interests and tactics of its own independently of +Right or Left. + +By and by, one of the parties of the Left, representing the classes +who work with their hands as distinguished from the classes who work +with their heads, thought they would like to live under a political +system of their own making and began to show a strong desire to take +all power from the King and from the Parliament too. They agitated and +organized, and organized and agitated, until at length, having settled +on what was found to be an attractive theory, they made a wholly +separate party, almost a people and parliament of their own. This is +known as the Social Democracy, with, at present, no deputies. + +Such, in a comparatively few sentences, is the political state of +things in Germany. It might indeed be expressed in still fewer words, +as follows: Heaven gave the royal house of Hohenzollern, as a present, +a folk. The Hohenzollerns gave the folk, as a present, a parliament, a +power to make laws without the power of executing them. The Social +Democrats broke off from the folk and took an anti-Hohenzollern and +anti-popular attitude, and the folk in their Parliament divided into +parties to pass the time, and--of course--make laws. + +This may seem to be treating an important subject with levity. It is +intended merely as a statement of the facts. The system in Germany +works well, to an Englishman indeed surprisingly so. In England there +is no Heaven-appointed king; all the powers of the King, both that of +making laws and of administering them, have long ago been taken by the +people from the King and entrusted by them to a parliament, the +majority of whom, called the Government, represent the majority of the +electing voters. In the case of Germany the folk have surrendered some +of what an Englishman would term their "liberties," for example, the +right to govern, to the King, to be used for the common good; whereas +in the case of England, the people do not think it needful to +surrender any of their liberties, least of all the government of their +country, in order to attain the same end. + +Thus, while the German Emperor and the German folk have the same aims +as the English King and the English people, the common weal and the +fair fame of their respective countries, the two monarchs and the two +peoples have agreed on almost contrary ways of trying to secure them. + +The political system of Germany has had to be sketched introductorily +as for the Englishman, a necessary preliminary to an understanding of +the German Emperor's character and policy. One of the most important +results of the character and policy is the state of Anglo-German +relations; and the writer is convinced that if the character and +policy were better and more generally known there would be no +estrangement between the two countries, but, much more probably, +mutual respect and mutual good-will. + +With the growth of this knowledge, the writer is tempted to believe, +would cease a delusion that appears to exist in the minds, or rather +the imaginations, of two great peoples, the delusion that the highest +national interests of both are fundamentally irreconcilable, and that +the policies of their Governments are fundamentally opposed. + +It seems indeed as though neither in England nor in Germany has the +least attention been paid to the astonishing growth of commerce +between the countries or to the repeated declarations made through a +long series of years by the respective Governments on their countries' +behalf. The growth in commerce needs no statistics to prove it, for it +is a matter of everyday observation and comment. The English +Government declares it a vital necessity for an insular Power like +Great Britain, with colonies and duties appertaining to their +possession in all, and the most distant, parts of the world, to have a +navy twice as powerful as that of any other possibly hostile Power. +The ordinary German immediately cries out that England is planning to +attack him, to annihilate his fleet, destroy his commerce, and +diminish his prestige among the nations. The German Government +repeatedly declares that the German fleet is intended for defence not +aggression, that Germany does not aim at the seizure of other people's +property, but at protecting her growing commerce, at standing by her +subjects in all parts of the world if subjected to injury or insult, +and at increasing her prestige, and with it her power for good, in the +family of nations. The ordinary Englishman immediately cries out that +Germany is seeking to dispute his maritime supremacy, to rob him of +his colonies, and to appropriate his trade. Is it not conceivable that +both Governments are telling the truth, and that their designs are no +more and no less than the Governments represent them to be? The +necessity for Great Britain possessing an all-powerful fleet that will +keep her in touch with her colonies if she is not to lose them +altogether, is self-evident, and understood by even the most +Chauvinistic German. The necessity for Germany's possessing a fleet +strong enough to make her rights respected is as self-evident. +Moreover, if Germany's fleet is a luxury, as Mr. Winston Churchill +says it is, she deserves and can afford it. As a nation she has +prospered and grown great, not by a policy of war and conquest, but by +hard work, thrift, self-denial, fidelity to international engagements, +well-planned instruction, and first-rate organization. Why should she +not, if she thinks it advisable and is willing to spend the money on +it, supply herself with an arm of defence in proportion to her size, +her prosperity, and her desert? It may be that, as Mr. Norman Angell +holds, the entire policy of great armaments is based on economic +error; but unless and until it is clear that the German navy is +intended for aggression, its growth may be viewed by the rest of the +world with equanimity, and by the Englishman, as a connoisseur in such +matters, with admiration as well. A man may buy a motor-car which his +friends and neighbours think must be costly and pretentious beyond his +means; but that is his business; and if the man finds that, owing to +good management and industry and skill, his business is growing and +that a motor-car is, though in some not absolutely clear and definite +way, of advantage to him in business and satisfying to his legitimate +pride--why on earth should he not buy or build it? + +The truth is that if our ordinary Englishman and German were to sit +down together, and with the help of books, maps, and newspapers, +carefully and without prejudice, consider the annals of their +respective countries for the last sixteen years with a view to +establishing the causes of their delusion, they could hardly fail to +confess that it was due to neither believing a word the other said; to +each crediting the other with motives which, as individuals and men of +honesty and integrity in the private relations of life, each would +indignantly repudiate; to each assuming the other to be in the +condition of barbarism mankind began to emerge from nineteen hundred +years ago; to both supposing that Christianity has had so little +influence on the world that peoples are still compelled to live and go +about their daily work armed to the teeth lest they may be bludgeoned +and robbed by their neighbours; that the hundreds of treaties solemnly +signed by contracting nations are mere pieces of waste paper only +testifying to the profundity and extent of human hypocrisy; that +churches and cathedrals have been built, universities, colleges, and +schools founded, only to fill the empty air with noise; that the +printing presses of all countries have been occupied turning out +myriads of books and papers which have had no effect on the reason or +conscience of mankind; that nations learn nothing from experience; and +to each supposing that he and his fellow-countrymen alone are the +monopolists of wisdom, honour, truth, justice, charity--in short, of +all the attributes and blessings of civilization. Is it not time to +discard such error, or must the nations always suspect each other? To +finish with our introduction, and notwithstanding that _qui s'excuse +s'accuse_, the biographer may be permitted to say a few words on his +own behalf. Inasmuch as the subject of his biography is still, as has +been said, happily alive, and is, moreover, in the prime of his +maturity, his life cannot be reviewed as a whole nor the ultimate +consequences of his character and policy be foretold. The biographer +of the living cannot write with the detachment permissible to the +historian of the dead. No private correspondence of the Emperor's is +available to throw light on his more intimate personal disposition and +relationships. There have been many rumours of war since his +accession, but no European war of great importance; and if a few minor +campaigns in tropical countries be excepted, Germany for over forty +years, thanks largely to the Emperor, has enjoyed the advantages of +peace. + +From the pictorial and sensational point of view continuous peace is a +drawback for the biographer no less than for the historian. What would +history be without war?--almost inconceivable; since wars, not peace, +are the principal materials with which it deals and supply it with +most of its vitality and interest--must it also be admitted, its +charm? For what are Hannibal or Napoleon or Frederick the Great +remembered?--for their wars, and little else. Shakespeare has it +that-- + + "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues + We write in water." + +Who, asks Heine, can name the artist who designed the cathedral of +Cologne? In this regard the biographer of an emperor is almost as +dependent as the historian. + +The biography of an emperor, again, must be to a large extent, the +history of his reign, and in no case is this more true than in that of +Emperor William. But he has been closely identified with every event +of general importance to the world since he mounted the throne, and +the world's attention has been fastened without intermission on his +words and conduct. The rise of the modern German Empire is the salient +fact of the world's history for the last half-century, and accordingly +only from this broader point of view will the Emperor's future +biographer, or the historian of the future, be able to do him or his +Empire justice. + +Lastly, another difficulty, if one may call it so, experienced equally +by the biographer and the historian, is the fact that the life of the +Emperor has been blameless from the moral standpoint. On two or three +occasions early in the reign accounts were published of scandals at +the Court. They may not have been wholly baseless, but none of them +directly involved the Emperor, or even raised a doubt as to his +respectability or reputation. Take from history--or from biography for +that matter--the vices of those it treats of, and one-third, perhaps +one-half, of its "human interest" disappears. + +In the circumstances, therefore, all the writer need add is that he +has done the best he could. He has ignored, certainly, at two or three +stages of his narration, the demands of strict chronological +succession; but if so, it has been to describe some of the more +important events of the reign in their totality. He has also felt it +necessary, as writing for English readers of a country not their own, +to combine a portion of history with his biography. If, at the same +time, he has ventured to infuse into both biography and history a +slight admixture of philosophy, he can only hope that the fusion will +not prove altogether disagreeable. + + + + +II. + + + +YOUTH + + + +1859-1881 + +As the education of a prince, and the surroundings in which he is +brought up, are usually different from the education and surroundings +of his subjects, it is not surprising if, at least during some portion +of his reign, and until he has graduated in the university of life, +misunderstandings, if nothing worse, should occur between them: indeed +the wonder is that princes and people succeed in living harmoniously +together. They are separated by great gulfs both of sentiment and +circumstance. Bismarck is quoted by one of his successors, Prince +Hohenlohe, as remarking that every King of Prussia, with whatever +popularity he began his reign, was invariably hated at the close of +it. + +The prince that would rule well has to study the science of +government, itself a difficult and incompletely explored subject, and +the art of administration; he has to know history, and above all the +history of his own country; not that history is a safe or certain +guide, but that it informs him of traditions he will be expected to +continue in his own country and respect in that of others; he must +understand the political system under which his people choose to live, +and the play of political, religious, economic, and social forces +which are ever at work in a community; he must learn to speak and +understand (not always quite the same thing) other languages besides +his own; and concurrently with these studies he must endeavour to +develop in himself the personal qualities demanded by his high +office--health and activity of body, quick comprehension and decision, +a tenacious memory for names and faces, capacity for public speaking, +patience, and that command over the passions and prejudices, natural +or acquired, which is necessary for his moral influence as a ruler. On +what percentage of his subjects is such a curriculum imposed, and what +allowances should not be made if a full measure of success is not +achieved? + +But even when the prince has done all this, there is still a study, +the most comprehensive and most important of all, in which he should +be learned--the study of humanity, and in especial that part of it +with the care of whose interests and happiness he is to be charged. A +few people seem to have this knowledge instinctively, others acquire +something of it in the school of sad experience. It is not the fault +of the Emperor, if, in his youth, his knowledge of humanity was not +profound. There was always a strong vein of idealism and romance among +Hohenzollerns, the vein of a Lohengrin, a Tancred, or some mediaeval +knight. The Emperor, of course, never lived among the common people; +never had to work for a living in competition with a thousand others +more fortunate than he, or better endowed by nature with the qualities +and gifts that make for worldly success; never, so far as is known to +a watchful and exceptionally curious public, endured domestic sorrow +of a deep or lasting kind; never suffered materially or in his proper +person from ingratitude, carelessness, or neglect; never knew the +"penalty of Adam, the seasons' difference"; never, in short, felt +those pains one or more of which almost all the rest of mankind have +at one time or other to bear as best they may. + +The Emperor has always been happy in his family, happy in seeing his +country prosperous, happy in the admiration and respect of the people +of all nations; and if he has passed through some dark hours, he must +feel happy in having nobly borne them. Want of knowledge of the trials +of ordinary humanity is, of course, no matter of reproach to him; on +the contrary, it is matter of congratulation; and, as several of his +frankest deliverances show, he has, both as man and monarch, felt many +a pang, many a regret, many a disappointment, the intensity of which +cannot be gauged by those who have not felt the weight of his +responsibilities. + +A discharge of 101 guns in the gardens of Crown Prince Frederick's +palace in Berlin on the morning of January 27, 1859, announced the +birth of the future Emperor. There were no portents in that hour. +Nature proceeded calmly with her ordinary tasks. Heaven gave no +special sign that a new member of the Hohenzollern family had appeared +on the planet Earth. Nothing, in short, occurred to strengthen the +faith of those who believe in the doctrine of kingship by divine +appointment. + +It was a time of political and social turmoil in many countries, the +groundswell, doubtless, of the revolutionary wave of 1848. The Crimean +War, the Indian Mutiny, and the war with China had kept England in a +continual state of martial fever, and the agitation for electoral +reform was beginning. Lord Palmerston was Prime Minister, with Lord +Odo Russell as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mr. Gladstone as +Minister of Finance. Napoleon III was at war with Austria as the ally +of Italy, where King Emmanuel II and Cavour were laying the +foundations of their country's unity. Russia, after defeating Schamyl, +the hero of the Caucasus, was pursuing her policy of penetration in +Central Asia. + +In Prussia the unrest was chiefly domestic. The country, while +nominally a Great Power, was neutral during the Crimean War, and +played for the moment but a small part in foreign politics. Bismarck, +in his "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," compares her submission to Austria +to the patience of the French noble-man he heard of when minister in +Paris, whose conduct in condoning twenty-four acts of flagrant +infidelity on the part of his wife was regarded by the French as an +act of great forbearance and magnanimity. Prince William, the +Emperor's grandfather, afterwards William I, first German Emperor, was +on the throne, acting as Prince Regent for his brother, Frederick +William IV, incapacitated from ruling by an affection of the brain. +The head of the Prussian Ministry, Manteuffel, had been dismissed, and +a "new era," with ministers of more liberal tendencies, among them von +Bethmann Hollweg, an ancestor of the present Chancellor, had begun. +General von Roon was Minister of War and Marine, offices at that time +united in one department. The Italian War had roused Germany anew to a +desire for union, and a great "national society" was founded at +Frankfurt, with the Liberal leader, Rudolf von Bennigsen, at its head. +Public attention was occupied with the subject of reorganizing the +army and increasing it from 150,000 to 210,000 men. Parliament was on +the eve of a bitter constitutional quarrel with Bismarck, who became +Prussian Prime Minister (Minister President) in 1862, about the grant +of the necessary army funds. Most of the great intellects of +Germany--Kant, Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Fichte, Schleiermacher--had +long passed away. Heinrich Heine died in Paris in 1856. Frederick +Nietzsche was a youth, Richard Wagner's "Tannhaeuser" had just been +greeted, in the presence of the composer, with a storm of hisses in +the Opera house at Paris. The social condition of Germany may be +partially realized if one remembers that the death-rate was over 28 +per _mille_, as compared with 17 per _mille_ to-day; that only a start +had been made with railway construction; that the country, with its +not very generous soil, depended wholly upon agriculture; that +savings-bank deposits were not one-twelfth of what they are now; that +there were 60 training schools where there are 221 to-day, and 338 +evening classes as against 4,588 in 1910; that many of the principal +towns were still lighted by oil; that there was practically no navy; +and that the bulk of the aristocracy lived on about the same scale as +the contemporary English yeoman farmer. Berlin contained a little less +than half a million inhabitants, compared with its three and a half +millions of to-day, and the state of its sanitation may be imagined +from the fact that open drains ran down the streets. + +The Emperor's father, Frederick III, second German Emperor, was +affectionately known to his people as "unser Fritz," because of his +liberal sympathies and of his high and kindly character. To most +Englishmen he is perhaps better known as the husband of the Princess, +afterwards Empress, Adelaide Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen +Victoria, and mother of the Emperor. Frederick III had no great share +in the political events which were the birth-pangs of modern Germany, +unless his not particularly distinguished leadership in the war of +1866 and that with France be so considered. The greater part of his +life was passed as Crown Prince, and a Crown Prince in Germany leads a +life more or less removed from political responsibilities. He +succeeded his father, William I, on the latter's death, March 9, 1888, +reigned for ninety-nine days, and died, on June 15th following, from +cancer of the throat, after an illness borne with exemplary fortitude. + +To what extent the character of his parents affected the character of +the Emperor it is impossible to determine. The Emperor seldom refers +to his parents in his speeches, and reserves most of his panegyric for +his grandfather and his grandfather's mother, Queen Louise; but the +comparative neglect is probably due to no want of filial admiration +and respect, while the frequent references to his grandfather in +particular are explained by the great share the latter took in the +formation of the Empire and by his unbounded popularity. The Crown +Prince was an affectionate but not an easy-going father, with a +passion for the arts and sciences; his mother also was a +disciplinarian, and, equally with her husband, passionately fond of +art; and it is therefore not improbable that these traits descended to +the Emperor. As to whether the alleged "liberality" of the Crown +Prince descended to him depends on the sense given to the word +"liberal." If it is taken to mean an ardent desire for the good and +happiness of the people, it did; if it is taken to mean any +inclination to give the people authority to govern themselves and +direct their own destinies, it did not. + +The mother of the Emperor, the Empress Frederick, had much of Queen +Victoria's good sense and still more of her strong will. A thoroughly +English princess, she had, in German eyes, one serious defect: she +failed to see, or at least to acknowledge, the superiority of most +things German to most things English. She had an English nurse, Emma +Hobbs, to assist at the birth of the future Emperor. She made English +the language of the family life, and never lost her English tastes and +sympathies; consequently she was called, always with an accent of +reproach, "the Englaenderin," and in German writings is represented as +having wished to anglicize not only her husband, her children, and her +Court, but also her adopted country and its people. A chaplain of the +English Church in Berlin, the Rev. J.H. Fry, who met her many times, +describes her as follows:-- + + "She was not the wife for a German Emperor, she so English + and insisted so strongly on her English ways. The result was + that she was very unpopular in Germany, and the Germans said + many wicked things of her. She hated Berlin, and if her son, + the present Emperor, had not required that she should come + to the capital every winter, she would have lived altogether + at Cronberg in the villa an Italian friend bequeathed to + her. + + "She was extremely musical, had extensively cultivated her + talents in this respect, and was an accomplished linguist. + Like her mother, Queen Victoria, she was unusually + strong-minded, and was always believed to rule over her + amiable and gentle husband. Her interest in the English + community was great, another reason for the dislike with + which the Germans regarded her. To her the community owes + the pretty little English church in the Mon Bijou Platz + (Berlin), which she used to attend regularly, and where a + funeral service, at which the Emperor was present, was held + in memory of her. + + "German feeling was further embittered against her by the + Morell Mackenzie incident, and to this day controversy rages + round the famous English surgeon's name. The controversy is + as to whether or not Morell Mackenzie honestly believed what + he said when he diagnosed the Emperor's illness as + non-cancerous in opposition to the opinion of distinguished + German doctors like Professor Bergmann. Under German law no + one can mount the throne of Prussia who is afflicted with a + mortal sickness. For long it had been suspected that the + Emperor's throat was fatally affected, and, therefore, when + King William was dying, it became of dynastic and national + importance to establish the fact one way or other. Queen + Victoria was ardently desirous of seeing her daughter an + Empress, and sent Sir Morrell Mackenzie to Germany to + examine the royal patient. On the verdict being given that + the disease was not cancer, the Crown Prince mounted the + throne, and Queen Victoria's ambition for her daughter was + realized. + + "The Empress also put the aristocracy against her by + introducing several relaxations into Court etiquette which + had up to her time been stiff and formal. Her relations with + Bismarck, as is well known, were for many years strained, + and on one occasion she made the remark that the tears he + had caused her to shed 'would fill tumblers.' On the whole + she was an excellent wife and mother. She was no doubt in + some degree responsible for the admiration of England as a + country and of the English as a people which is a marked + feature of the Emperor's character." + +This account is fairly correct in its estimation of the Empress +Frederick's character and abilities, but it repeats a popular error in +saying that German law lays down that no one can mount the Prussian +throne if he is afflicted with a mortal sickness. There is no "German +law" on the subject, and the law intended to be referred to is the +so-called "house-law," which, as in the case of other German noble +families, regulates the domestic concerns of the House of +Hohenzollern. Bismarck disposes of the assertion that a Hohenzollern +prince mortally stricken is not capable of succession as a "fable," +and adds that the Constitution, too, contains no stipulation of the +sort. The influence of his mother on the Emperor's character did not +extend beyond his childhood, while probably the only natural +dispositions he inherited from her were his strength of will and his +appreciation of classical art and music. Many of her political ideas +were diametrically opposed to those of her son. Her love of art made +her pro-French, and her visit to Paris, it will be remembered, not +being made _incognito_, led to international unpleasantness, +originating in the foolish Chauvinism of some leading French painters +whose ateliers she desired to inspect. She believed in a homogeneous +German Empire without any federation of kingdoms and states, advocated +a Constitution for Russia, and was satisfied that the common sense of +a people outweighed its ignorance and stupidity. + +The Emperor has four sisters and a brother. The sisters are Charlotte, +born in 1860, and married to the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen; +Victoria, born in 1866, and married to Prince Adolphus of +Schaumberg-Lippe; Sophie, born in 1870, and married to King +Constantine, of Greece; and Margarete, born in 1872, and married to +Prince Friederich Karl of Hessen. + +The Emperor's only brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, was born in 1862, +and is married to Princess Irene of Hessen. He is probably the most +popular Hohenzollern to-day. He adopted the navy as a profession and +devotes himself to its duties, taking no part in politics. Like the +Emperor himself and the Emperor's heir, the Crown Prince, he is a +great promoter of sport, and while a fair golfer (with a handicap of +14) and tennis player, gives much of his leisure to the encouragement +of the automobile and other industries. Every Hohenzollern is supposed +to learn a handicraft. The Emperor did not, owing to his shortened +left arm. Prince Henry learned book-binding under a leading Berlin +bookbinder, Herr Collin. The Crown Prince is a turner. Prince Henry +seems perfectly satisfied with his position in the Empire as +Inspector-General of the Fleet, stands to attention when talking to +the Emperor in public, and on formal occasions addresses him as +"Majesty" like every one else. Only in private conversation does he +allow himself the use of the familiar _Du_. The Emperor has a strong +affection for him, and always calls him "Heinrich." + +Many stories are current in Germany relating to the early part of the +Emperor's boyhood. Some are true, others partially so, while others +again are wholly apochryphal. All, however, are more or less +characteristic of the boy and his surroundings, and for this reason a +selection of them may be given. Apropos of his birth, the following +story is told. An artillery officer went to receive orders for the +salute to be discharged when the birth occurred. They were given him +by the then Prince Regent, afterwards Emperor William I. The officer +showed signs of perplexity. "Well, is there anything else?" inquired +the Regent. "Yes, Royal Highness; I have instructions for the birth of +a prince and for that of a princess (which would be 30 guns); but what +if it should be twins?" The Regent laughed. "In that case," he said, +"follow the Prussian rule--_suum cuique_." + +When the child was born the news ran like wildfire through Berlin, and +all the high civil and military officials drove off in any vehicle +they could find to offer their congratulations. The Regent, who was at +the Foreign Office, jumped into a common cab. Immediately after him +appeared tough old Field-Marshal Wrangel, the hero of the Danish wars. +He wrote his name in the callers' book, and on issuing from the palace +shouted to the assembled crowd, "Children, it's all right: a fine +stout recruit." On the evening of the birth a telegram came from Queen +Victoria, "Is it a fine boy?" and the answer went back, "Yes, a very +fine boy." + +Another story describes how the child was brought to submit cheerfully +to the ordeal of the tub. He was "water-shy," like the vast majority +of Germans at that time, and the nurses had to complain to his father, +Crown Prince Frederick, of his resistance. The Crown Prince thereupon +directed the sentry at the palace gate not to salute the boy when he +was taken out for his customary airing. The boy remarked the neglect +and complained to his father, who explained that "sentries were not +allowed to present arms to an unwashed prince." The stratagem +succeeded, and thereafter the lad submitted to the bathing with a good +grace. + +Like all boys, the lad was fond of the water, though now in another +sense. At the age of two, nursery chroniclers relate, he had a toy +boat, the _Fortuna_, in which he sat and see-sawed--and learned not to +be sea-sick! At three he was put into sailor's costume, with the +bell-shaped trousers so dear to the hearts of English mothers fifty +years ago. + +At the age of four he had a memorable experience, though it is hardly +likely that now, after the lapse of half a century, he remembers much +about it. This was his first visit to England in 1863, when he was +taken by his parents to be present at the marriage of his uncle, King +Edward VII, then Prince of Wales. The boy, in pretty Highland costume, +was an object of general attention, and occupies a prominent place in +the well-known picture of the wedding scene by the artist Frith. The +ensuing fifteen years saw him often on English soil with his father +and mother, staying usually at Osborne Castle, in the Isle of Wight. +Here, it may be assumed, he first came in close contact with the +ocean, watched the English warships passing up and down, and imbibed +some of that delight in the sea which is not the least part of the +heritage of Englishmen. The visits had a decided effect on him, for at +ten we find him with a row-boat on the Havel and learning to swim, and +on one occasion rowing a distance of twenty-five miles between 6 a.m. +and 3 p.m. About this time he used to take part with his parents in +excursions on the _Royal Louise_, a miniature frigate presented by +George IV to Frederick William III. + +Still another story concerns the boy and his father. The former came +one day in much excitement to his tutor and said his father had just +blamed him unjustly. He told the tutor what had really happened and +asked him, if, under the circumstances, he was to blame. The tutor was +in perplexity, for if he said the father had acted unjustly, as in +fact he thought he had, he might lessen the son's filial respect. +However, he gave his candid opinion. "My Prince," he said, "the +greatest men of all times have occasionally made mistakes, for to err +is human. I must admit I think your father was in the wrong." +"Really!" cried the lad, who looked pained. "I thought you would tell +me I was in the wrong, and as I know how right you always are I was +ready to go to papa and beg his pardon. What shall I do now?" "Leave +it to me," the tutor said, and afterwards told the Crown Prince what +had passed. The Crown Prince sent for his son, who came and stood with +downcast eyes some paces off. The Crown Prince only uttered the two +words, "My son," but in a tone of great affection. As he folded the +Prince in his arms he reached his hand to the tutor, saying, "I thank +you. Be always as true to me and to my son as you have been in this +case." + +The last anecdote belongs also to the young Prince's private tutor +days. At one time a certain Dr. D. was teaching him. Every morning at +eleven work was dropped for a quarter of an hour to enable the pair, +teacher and pupil, to take what is called in German "second +breakfast." The Prince always had a piece of white bread and butter, +with an apple, a pear, or other fruit, while the teacher was as +regularly provided with something warm--chop, a cutlet, a slice of +fish, salmon, perch, trout, or whatever was in season, accompanied by +salad and potatoes. The smell of the meat never failed to appeal to +the olfactory nerves of the Prince, and he often looked, longingly +enough, at the luxuries served to his tutor. The latter noticed it and +felt sorry for him; but there was nothing to be done: the royal orders +were strict and could not be disobeyed. One day, however, the lesson, +one of repetition, had gone so well that in a moment of gratitude the +tutor decided to reward his pupil at all hazards. The lunch appeared, +steaming "perch-in-butter" for the tutor, and a plate of bread and +butter and some grapes for the pupil. The Prince cast a glance at the +savoury dish and was then about to attack his frugal fare when the +tutor suddenly said, "Prince, I'm very fond of grapes. Can't we for +once exchange? You eat my perch and I--" The Prince joyfully agreed, +plates were exchanged, and both were heartily enjoying the meal when +the Crown Prince walked in. Both pupil and tutor blushed a little, but +the Crown Prince said nothing and seemed pleased to hear how well the +lesson had gone that day. At noon, however, as the tutor was leaving +the palace, a servant stopped him and said, "His Royal Highness the +Crown Prince would like to speak with the Herr Doktor." + +"Herr Doktor," said the Crown Prince, "tell me how it was that the +Prince to-day was eating the warm breakfast and you the cold." + +The tutor tried to make as little of the affair as possible. It was a +joke, he said, he had allowed himself, he had been so well pleased +with his pupil that morning. + +"Well, I will pass it over this time," said the Crown Prince, + + "but I must ask you to let the Prince get accustomed to bear + the preference shown to his tutor and allow him to be + satisfied with the simple food suitable for his age. What + will he eat twenty years hence, if he now gets roast meat? + Bread and fruit make a wholesome and perfectly satisfactory + meal for a lad of his years." + +During second breakfast next day, the Prince took care not to look up +from his plate of fruit, but when he had finished, murmured as though +by way of grace, "After all, a fine bunch of grapes is a splendid +lunch, and I really think I prefer it, Herr Doktor, to your +nice-smelling perch-in-butter." + +The time had now come when the young Prince was to leave the paternal +castle and submit to the discipline of school. The parents, one may be +sure, held many a conference on the subject. The boy was beginning to +have a character of his own, and his parents doubtless often had in +mind Goethe's lines:-- + + "Denn wir koennen die Kinder nach unserem Willen nicht formen, + So wie Gott sie uns gab, so muss man sie lieben und haben, + Sie erzielen aufs best und jeglichen lassen gewaehren." + + ("We cannot have children according to our will: + as God gave them so must we love and keep them: + bring them up as best we can and leave each to its own + development.") + +It had always been Hohenzollern practice to educate the Heir to the +Throne privately until he was of an age to go to the university, but +the royal parents now decided to make an important departure from it +by sending their boy to an ordinary public school in some carefully +chosen place. The choice fell on Cassel, a quiet and beautiful spot +not far from Wilhelmshohe, near Homburg, where there is a Hohenzollern +castle, and which was the scene of Napoleon's temporary detention +after the capitulation of Sedan. Here at the Gymnasium, or _lycee_, +founded by Frederick the Great, the boy was to go through the regular +school course, sit on the same bench with the sons of ordinary +burghers, and in all respects conform to the Gymnasium's regulations. +The decision to have the lad taught for a time in this democratic +fashion was probably due to the influence of his English mother, who +may have had in mind the advantages of an English public school. The +experiment proved in every way successful, though it was at the time +adversely criticized by some ultra-patriotic writers in the press. To +the boy himself it must have been an interesting and agreeable +novelty. Hitherto he had been brought up in the company of his +brothers and sisters in Berlin or Potsdam, with an occasional +"week-end" at the royal farm of Bornstedt near the latter, the only +occasions when he was absent from home being sundry visits to the +Grand Ducal Court at Karlsruhe, where the Grand Duchess was an aunt on +his father's side, and to the Court at Darmstadt, where the Grand +Duchess was an aunt on the side of his mother. + +An important ceremony, however, had to be performed before his +departure for school--his confirmation. It took place at Potsdam on +September 1, 1874, amid a brilliant crowd of relatives and friends, +and included the following formal declaration by the young Prince: + + "I will, in childlike faith, be devoted to God all the days + of my life, put my trust in Him and at all times thank Him + for His grace. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour and + Redeemer. Him who first loved me I will love in return, and + will show this love by love to my parents, my dear + grandparents, my sisters and brothers and relatives, but + also to all men. I know that hard tasks await me in life, + but they will brace me up, not overcome me. I will pray to + God for strength and develop my bodily powers." + +The boy and his brother Henry stayed in Cassel for three years, in the +winter occupying a villa near the Gymnasium with Dr. Hinzpeter, and in +summer living in the castle of Wilhelmshohe hard by. Besides attending +the usual school classes, they were instructed by private tutors in +dancing, fencing, and music. Both pupils are represented as having +been conscientious, and as moving among their schoolmates without +affectation or any special consciousness of their birth or rank. Many +years afterwards the Emperor, when revisiting Cassel, thus referred to +his schooldays there: + + "I do not regret for an instant a time which then seemed so + hard to me, and I can truly say that work and the working + life have become to me a second nature. For this I owe + thanks to Cassel soil;" + +and later in the same speech: + + "I am pleased to be on the ground where, directed by expert + hands, I learned that work exists not only for its own sake, + but that man in work shall find his entire joy." + +This is the right spirit; but if he had said "greatest joy" and "can +find," he would have said something more completely true. + +The life at Cassel was simple, and the day strictly divided. The +future Emperor rose at six, winter and summer, and after a breakfast +of coffee and rolls refreshed his memory of the home repetition-work +learned the previous evening. He then went to the Gymnasium, and when +his lessons there were over, took a walk with his tutor before lunch. +Home tasks followed, and on certain days private instruction was +received in English, French, and drawing. His English and French +became all but faultless, and he learned to draw in rough-and-ready, +if not professionally expert fashion. Wednesdays and Saturdays, which +were half-holidays, were spent roving in the country, especially in +the forest, with two or three companions of his own age. In winter +there was skating on the ponds. The Sunday dinner was a formal affair, +at which royal relatives, who doubtless came to see how the princes +were getting on, and high officials from Berlin, were usually present. +After dinner the princes took young friends up to their private rooms +and played charades, in which on occasion they amused themselves with +the ever-delightful sport of taking off and satirizing their +instructors. At this time the future Emperor's favourite subjects were +history and literature, and he was fond of displaying his rhetorical +talent before the class. The classical authors of his choice were +Homer, Sophocles, and Horace. Homer particularly attracted him; it is +easy to imagine the conviction with which, as a Hohenzollern, he would +deliver the declaration of King Agamemnon to Achilles:-- + + "And hence, to all the host it shall be known + That kings are subject to the gods alone." + +The young Prince left Cassel in January, 1877, after passing the exit +(_abiturient_) examination, a rather severe test, twelfth in a class +of seventeen. The result of the examination was officially described +as "satisfactory," the term used for those who were second in degree +of merit. On leaving he was awarded a gold medal for good conduct, one +of three annually presented by a patron of the Gymnasium. + +A foreign resident in Germany, who saw the young Prince at this time, +tells of an incident which refers to the lad's appearance, and shows +that even at that early date anti-English feeling existed among the +people. It was at the military manoeuvres at Stettin: + + "Then the old Emperor came by. Tremendous cheers. Then + Bismarck and Moltke. Great acclaim. Then passed in a + carriage a thin, weakly-looking youth, and people in the + crowd said, 'Look at that boy who is to be our future + Emperor--his good German blood has been ruined by his + English training.'" + +Before closing the Emperor's record as a schoolboy it will be of +interest to learn the opinion of him formed by his French tutor at +Cassel, Monsieur Ayme, who has published a small volume on the +education of his pupil, and who, though evidently not too well +satisfied with his remuneration of L7 10s. a month, or with being +required to pay his own fare back from Germany to France, writes +favourably of the young princes. "The life of these young people +(Prince William and Prince Henry) was," he says, + + "the most studious and peaceful imaginable. Up at six in the + morning, they prepared their tasks until it was time to go + to school. Lunch was at noon and tea at five. They went to + bed at nine or half-past. All their hours of leisure were + divided between lessons in French, English, music, + pistol-shooting, equitation, and walking. Now and then they + were allowed to play with boys of their own age, and on fete + days and their parents' birth-anniversaries they had the + privilege of choosing a play and seeing it performed at the + theatre. As pocket-money Prince William received 20s. a + month, and Henry 10s. Out of these modest sums they had to + buy their own notepaper and little presents for the servants + or their favourite companions." + +As to Prince William's character as a schoolboy, Monsieur Ayme writes: + + "I do not suppose William was ever punished while he was in + Cassel. He was too proud to draw down upon himself + criticism, to him the worst form of punishment. At the + castle, as at school, he made it a point of honour to act + and work as if he had made his plans and resolved to stick + to them. He was always among the first of his class, and as + for me I never had any need to urge him on. If I pointed out + to him an error in his task he began it over again of his + own accord. We did grammar, analysis, dictations, and + compositions, and he got over his difficulties by sheer + perseverance. For example, if he was reading a fine page of + Victor Hugo, or the like, he hated to be interrupted, so + deeply was he interested in the subject he was reading. + Style and poetry had a great effect upon him; he expressed + admiration for the form and was aroused to enthusiasm by + generous or noble ideas. Frederick the Great was the hero of + his choice, a model of which he never ceased dreaming, and + which, like his grandfather, he proposed as his own. It is + easy to conceive that after ten or twelve years of such + study, regularly and methodically pursued, the Prince must + have possessed a literary and scientific baggage more varied + and extensive than that of his companions. And he worked + hard for it, few lads so hard. To speak the truth, he was + much more disciplined and much more deprived of freedom and + recreation of all sorts than most children of his age." + +_Par paranthese_ may be introduced here a reference to Prince Henry, +of whom Monsieur Ayme writes less enthusiastically. + + "One day," the tutor writes, "I was dictating to him + something in which mention of a queen occurs. I came to the + words '... in addition to her natural distinction she + possessed that August majesty which is the appanage of + princesses of the blood royal....' + + "Prince Henry laid down his pen and remarked, 'The author + who wrote this piece did not live much with queens.' + + "'Why?' I asked. + + "'Because I never observed the August majesty which attaches + to princesses of the blood royal, and yet I have been + brought up among them,' was the reply. + + "William, however," continues Monsieur Ayme, "was the + thinker, prudent and circumspect; the wise head which knew + that it was not all truths which bear telling. He was not + less loyal and constant in his opinions. He admired the + French Revolution, and the declaration contained in 'The + Rights of Man,' though this did not prevent his declaiming + against the Terrorists." + +One incident in particular must have appealed to the French tutor. +Monsieur Ayme and his Prussian pupil one day began discussing the +delicate question of the war of 1870. In the course of the discussion +both parties lost their tempers, until at last Prince William suddenly +got up and left the room. He remained silent and "huffed" for some +days, but at last he took the Frenchman aside and made him a formal +apology. "I am very sorry indeed," he said, + + "that you took seriously my conduct of the other day. I + meant nothing by it, and I regret it hurt you. I am all the + more sorry, because I offended in your case a sentiment + which I respect above any in the world, the love of + country." + +But it is time to pass from the details of the Emperor's early youth, +and observe him during the two years he spent, with interruptions, at +the university. From Cassel he went immediately to Bonn, where, as +during the years of military duty which followed, we only catch +glimpses of him as he lived the ordinary, and by no means austere, +life of the university student and soldier of the time; that is to +say, the ordinary life with considerable modifications and exceptions. +He did not, like young Bismarck, drink huge flagons of beer at a +sitting, day after day. He was not followed everywhere by a +boar-hound. He fought no student's duels--though a secret performance +of the kind is mentioned as a probability in the chronicles--or go +about looking for trouble generally as the swashbuckling Junker, +Bismarck, did; for in the first place his royal rank would not allow +of his taking part in the bloody amusement of the _Mensur_, and his +natural disposition, if it was quick and lively, was not choleric +enough to involve him in serious quarrel. His studies were to some +extent interrupted by military calls to Berlin, for after being +appointed second lieutenant in the First Regiment of Foot Guards at +Potsdam on his tenth birthday, the Hohenzollern age for entering the +army, he was promoted to first lieutenant in the same regiment on +leaving Cassel. + +For the most part the university lectures he attended were the courses +in law and philosophy, and he is not reported to have shown any +particular enthusiasm for either subject. The differences between an +English and a German university are of a fundamental kind, perhaps the +greatest being that the German university does not aim at influencing +conduct and character in the same measure as the English, but is +rather for the supply of knowledge of all sorts, as a monster +warehouse is for the supply of miscellaneous goods. Again, the German +university, which, like all American universities except Princetown, +has more resemblance to the Scottish universities than to those at +Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin, is not residential nor divided into +colleges, but is departmentalized into "faculties," each with its own +professors and _privat docentes_, or official lecturers, mostly young +savants, who have not the rank or title of professor, but have +obtained only the _venia legendi_ from the university. The lectures, +as a rule of admirable learning and thoroughness, invariably laying +great and prosy stress on "development," are delivered in large halls +and may be subscribed for in as many faculties as the student chooses, +the cost being about thirty shillings or there-abouts per term for +each lecture "heard." Outside the university the student enjoys +complete independence, which is a privilege highly (and sometimes +violently) cherished, especially by non-studious undergraduates, under +the name "academic freedom." The German preparing for one or other of +the learned professions will probably spend a year or two at each of +three, or maybe four, universities, according to the special faculty +he adopts and for which the university has a reputation. There are +plenty of hard-working students of course; nowadays probably the great +majority are of this kind; but to a large proportion also the +university period is still a pleasant, free, and easy halting-place +between the severe discipline and work of the school and the stern +struggle of the working world. + +The social life of the English university is paralleled in Germany by +associations of students in student "Corps," with theatrical uniforms +for their _Chargierte_ or officers, special caps, sometimes of +extraordinary shape, swords, leather gauntlets, Wellington boots, and +other distinguishing gaudy insignia. The Corps are more or less +select, the most exclusive of all being the Corps Borussia, which at +every university only admits members of an upper class of society, +though on rare occasions receiving in its ranks an exceptionally +aristocratic, popular, or wealthy foreigner. To this Corps, the name +of which is the old form of "Prussia," the Emperor belonged when at +Bonn, and in one or two of his speeches he has since spoken of the +agreeable memories he retains in connexion with it and the practices +observed by it. + +Common to all university associations in Germany--whether Corps, +Landsmannschaft, Burschenschaft, or Turnerschaft--is the practice of +the _Mensur_, or student duel. It is not a duel in the sense usually +given to the word in England, for it lacks the feature of personal +hostility, hate, or injury, but is a particularly sanguinary form of +the English "single-stick," in which swords take the place of sticks. +These swords (_Schlaeger_), called, curiously enough, _rapiere_, are +long and thin in the blade, and their weight is such that at every +duel students are told off on whose shoulders the combatants can rest +their outstretched sword-arm in the pauses of the combat caused by the +duellists getting out of breath; consequently, an undersized student +is usually chosen for this considerate office. The heads and faces of +the duellists are swathed in bandages--no small incentive to +perspiration, the vital parts of their bodies are well protected +against a fatal prick or blow, and the pricks or slashes must be +delivered with the hand and wrist raised head-high above the shoulder. +It is considered disgraceful to move the head, to shrink in the +smallest degree before the adversary, or even to show feeling when the +medical student who acts as surgeon in an adjoining room staunches the +flow of blood or sews up the scars caused by the swords. The duel of a +more serious kind--that with pistols or the French rapier, or with the +bare-pointed sabre and unprotected bodies--is punishable by law, and +is growing rarer each year. + +Take a sabre duel--"heavy sabre duel" is the German name for +it--arising out of a quarrel in a cafe or beer-house, and in which one +of the opponents may be a foreigner affiliated to some Corps or +Burschenschaft. Cards are exchanged, and the challenger chooses a +second whom he sends to the opponent. The latter, if he accepts the +challenge, also appoints a second; the seconds then meet and arrange +for the holding of a court of honour. The court will probably consist +of old Corps students--lawyer, a doctor, and two or three other +members of the Corps or Burschenschaft. The court summons the +opponents before it and hears their account of the quarrel; the +seconds produce evidence, for example the bills at the cafe or +beer-hall, showing how much liquor has been consumed; also as to age, +marriage or otherwise, and so on. Then the court decides whether there +shall be a duel, or not, and if so, in what form it shall be fought. + +The duel may be fixed to take place at any time within six months, and +meanwhile the opponents industriously practise. The scene of the duel +is usually the back room of some beer-hall, with locked doors between +the duellists and the police. The latter know very well what is going +on, but shut their eyes to it. The opponents take their places at +about a yard and a half distance from advanced foot to advanced foot, +and a chalk line is drawn between them. Close behind each opponent is +his second with outstretched sword, ready to knock up the duellists' +weapons in case of too dangerous an impetuosity in the onset. The +umpire _(Unparteiischer)_, unarmed, stands a little distance from the +duellists. The latter are naked _to_ the waist, but wear a leather +apron like that of a drayman, covering the lower half of the chest, +and another piece of leather, like a stock, protecting their necks and +jugular veins. The duel may last a couple of hours, and any number of +rounds up to as many as two hundred may be fought. The rounds consist +of three or four blows, and last about twenty seconds each, when the +seconds, who have been watching behind their men in the attitude of a +wicket-keeper, with their sword-points on the ground, jump in and +knock up the duellists' weapons. When one duellist is disabled by skin +wounds--there are rarely any others--or by want of breath, palpitation +or the like, the duel is over, and the duellists shake hands. This +description, with some slight modifications, applies to the ordinary +Corps _Mensuren_, which are simply a bloody species of gymnastic +exercise. + +On one occasion early in the reign the Emperor spoke of the Corps +system with great enthusiasm, and especially endorsed the practice of +the _Mensur_. "I am quite convinced," he said at Bonn in 1891, three +years after his accession, + + "that every young man who enters a Corps receives through + the spirit which rules in it, and supposing he imbibes the + spirit, his true directive in life. For it is the best + education for later life a young man can obtain. Whoever + pokes fun at the German student Corps is ignorant of its + true tendency, and I hope that so long as student Corps + exist the spirit which is fostered in them, and which + inspires strength and courage, will continue, and that for + all time the student will joyfully wield the _Schlaeger_." + +Regarding the _Mensur_, he went on: + + "Our _Mensuren_ are frequently misunderstood by the public, + but that must not let us be deceived. We who have been Corps + students, as I myself was, know better. As in the Middle + Ages through our gymnastic exercises (_Turniere_) the + courage and strength of the man was steeled, so by means of + the Corps spirit and Corps life is that measure of firmness + acquired which is necessary in later life, and which will + continue to exist as long as there are universities in + Germany." + +The word for firmness used by the Emperor was _Festigkeit_, which may +also be translated determination, steadiness, fortitude, or +resoluteness of character. It may be that practice of the _Mensur_, +which is held almost weekly, has a lifelong influence on the German +student's character. It probably enables him to look the adversary in +the eye--look "hard" at him, as the mariners in Mr. A.W. Jacobs's +delightful tales look at one another when some particularly ingenious +lie is being produced. In a way, moreover, it may be said to +correspond to boxing in English universities, schools, and gymnasia. +But, on the whole, the Anglo-Saxon spectator finds it difficult to +understand how it can exercise any influence for good on the moral +character of a youth, or determine, as the Emperor says it does, a +disposition which is cowardly or weak by nature to bravery or +strength, save of a momentary and merely physical kind. The Englishman +who has been present at a _Mensur_ is rather inclined to think the +atmosphere too much that of a shambles, and the chief result of the +practice the cultivation of braggadocio. + +Besides, the practice is illegal, and though purposely overlooked, +save in one German city, that of Leipzig, where it is punished with +some rigour, the Emperor, who is supposed to embody the majesty and +effectiveness of the law, is hardly the person to recommend it. His +inconsistency in the matter on one occasion placed him in an +undignified position. Two officers of the army quarrelled, and one, an +infantry lieutenant, sent a challenge to the other, an army medical +man. The latter refused on conscientious grounds, whereupon he was +called on by a military court of honour to send in his resignation. +The case was sent up to the Emperor, who upheld the decision of the +court of honour, adding the remark that if the surgeon had +conscientious scruples on the point he should not remain in the army. +An irate Social Democratic editor thereupon pointed out that such a +decision came with a bad grace from a man with whom, or with any of +whose six sons, no one was allowed to fight. The Emperor is still a +member of the Borussia Corps, but chiefly shows his interest by +keeping its anniversaries in mind, by every few years attending one of +its annual drinking festivals (_Commers_), and by paying a substantial +yearly subscription. + +The German student Corps, historically, go back to the fourteenth +century, when the first European universities were established at +Bologna, Paris, and Orleans. Universities then were not so called from +the universality of their teachings, but rather as meaning a +corporation, confraternity, or collegium, and were in reality social +centres in the towns where they were instituted. The most renowned was +that of Paris, and here was founded the first student Corps. It was +called the "German Nation of Paris," a corporation of students, with +statutes, oaths, special costumes, and other distinctive features. At +first, strange to say, it contained more Englishmen than Germans. The +"Nation" had a procurator, a treasurer, and a bedell, the last to look +after the legal affairs of the association. Drinking was not the +supposed purpose of the society, but the Corps mostly assembled, as +German Corps do to-day, for drinking purposes. + +The earliest form of German student associations Was the +Landsmannschaft. To this society, composed of elders and juniors, +new-comers, called Pennales, were admitted after painful ceremonies +and became something like the "fags" at an English public school. The +object of the original Landsmannschaft was to keep alive the spirit of +nationality. The object of the German Corps is different. It is to +beget and perpetuate friendship, and this accounts for the steady +goodwill the Emperor has always shown towards the comrades of his Bonn +and Borussia days. + +An ancient form of Corps entertainment is called the Hospiz, now, +however, much modified. Upon invitation the members of the Corps meet +in a beer-hall or in the rooms of one of the Corps. The president is +seated with a house-key on the table before him as a symbol of +unfettered authority. As members arrive, the president takes away +their sticks and swords and deposits them in a closet. The guests sit +down and are handed filled pipes and a lighted _fidibus_, or +pipe-lighter. Bread and butter and cheese, followed by coffee, are +offered. After this, the real work of the evening begins--the +drinking. A large can of beer stands on a stool beside the president. +The latter calls for silence by rapping three times on the table with +the house-key, and the Hospiz is declared open. Thenceforward only the +president pours out the beer, unless he appoints a deputy during his +absence. The president's great aim and honour is to make every one, +including himself, intoxicated. He begins by rapping the table with +his glass and saying "Significat ein Glas." In response all drain +their glasses. Then comes a "health to all," and this is followed by a +"health to each." "The Ladies" follow, including toasts to the pretty +girls of the town, and ladies known to be favourites of those present. +Married ladies or women of bad reputation must not be toasted in the +Hospiz. + +A story is told of a toast the Emperor, in these his Lohengrin days, +once proposed at a Borussia meeting. "On the Kreuzberg" (a hill near +Bonn), he said, + + "I saw a picture, the ideal of a German woman. She united in + herself beauty of face and an imposing form, the roses in + her cheeks spoke of the modesty peculiar to our maids, and + her voice sounded harmoniously like the lute of the + Minnesingers on the Wartburg. She told me her name--may it + be blessed." + +The toast found its way into the local papers and gave birth to a +romantic legend connecting the future Emperor with a pretty and modest +girl of the town, but no true basis for it has ever been discovered. + +In toasting the Ladies in a Hospiz each of those present may name the +lady of his choice, and if two name the same lady they have a drinking +bout to determine which is entitled to claim her. The one who first +admits that he can drink no more--usually signified by a hasty and +zigzag retreat from the room--is declared the loser. If a guest comes +late to the Hospiz he must drink fast so as to catch up with earlier +arrivals, unless he has been drinking elsewhere, when he is let off +with drinking a "general health." + +The close of the Emperor's student days was marked by an event which +was to have a great influence on his life and happiness. It was in +1879 that he made the acquaintance of the young lady who was, a couple +of years later, to become his wife, and subsequently Empress. When at +Bonn Prince William had developed a liking for wild-game shooting, and +accepted an invitation from Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein to +shoot pheasants at Primkenau Castle, the Duke's seat in Silesia. More +than one romantic story is current about the first meeting of the +lovers, but that most generally credited, as it was published at or +near the time, represents the young sportsman as meeting the lady +accidentally in the garden of the castle. He had arrived at night and +gone shooting early next morning before being introduced to the family +of his host, and on his return surprised the fair-haired and blue-eyed +Princess Auguste Victoria as she lay dozing in a hammock in the +garden. The student approached, the words "little Rosebud" on his +lips, but hastily withdrew as the Princess, all blushes, awoke. The +pair met shortly afterwards at breakfast, when the visitor learned who +the "little rosebud" was whom he had surprised. The Princess was then +twenty-two, but looked much younger, a privilege from nature she still +possesses in middle age. The impression made on the student was deep +and lasting, and the engagement was announced on Valentine's Day, in +February, 1880. The marriage was celebrated on February 27th of the +following year at the royal palace in Berlin. Great popular rejoicing +marked the happy occasion, Berlin was gaily flagged to celebrate the +formal entrance of the bride into the capital, and most other German +cities illuminated in her honour. The imperial bridegroom came from +Potsdam at the head of a military escort selected from his regiment +and preceded the bridal cortege, in which the ancient coronation +carriage, with its smiling occupant, and drawn by eight prancing +steeds, was the principal feature. On the day following the marriage +the young couple went to Primkenau for the honeymoon. + +The marriage with a princess of Schleswig-Holstein was not only an +event of general interest from the domestic and dynastic point of +view. It had also political significance, for it meant the happy close +of the troubled period of Prussian dealings with those conquered +territories. + +A story throwing light on the young bride's character is current in +connexion with her wedding. One of the hymns contained a +strophe--"Should misfortune come upon us," which her friends wanted +her to have omitted as striking too melancholy a note. "No," she said, + + "let it be sung. I don't expect my new position to be always + a bed of roses. Prince William is of the same mind, and we + have both determined to bear everything in common, and thus + make what is unpleasant more endurable." + +Since the marriage their domestic felicity, as all the world is aware, +has never been troubled, and the example thus given to their subjects +is one of the surest foundations of their influence and authority in +Germany. The secret of this felicity, affection apart, is to be sought +for in the strong moral sense of the Emperor regarding what he owes to +himself and his people, but no less perhaps in the exemplary character +of the Empress. As a girl at Primkenau she was a sort of Lady +Bountiful to the aged and sick on the estate, and led there the simple +life of the German country maiden of the time. It was not the day of +electric light and central heating and the telephone; hardly of lawn +tennis, certainly not of golf and hockey; while motor-cars and +militant suffragettes were alike unknown. Instead of these delights +the Princess, as she then was, was content with the humdrum life of a +German country mansion, with rare excursions into the great world +beyond the park gates, with her religious observances, her books, her +needlework, her plants and flowers, and her share in the management of +the castle. + +These domestic tastes she has preserved, and the saying, quoted in +Germany whenever she is the subject of conversation, that her +character and tastes are summed up in the four words _Kaiser, Kinder, +Kirche_, and _Kueche_--Emperor, children, church, and kitchen--is as +true as it is compendious and alliterative. It is often assumed, +especially by men, that a woman who cultivates these tastes cultivates +no other. This is not as true as is often supposed of the Empress, as +a journal of her voyage to Jerusalem in 1898, published on her return +to Germany, goes to show. Following the traditions and example of the +queens and empresses who have preceded her, she has always given +liberally of her time and care, as she still does, to the most +multifarious forms of charity. She has a great and intelligible pride +in her clever and energetic husband, while her interest in her +children is proverbial. She appears to have no ambition to exercise +any influence on politics or to shine as a leader of society. Like the +Emperor, she is not without a sense of humour, and is always amused by +the racy Irish stories (in dialect) told her and a little circle of +guests by Dr. Mahaffy, of Trinity College, Dublin, who is a welcome +guest at the palace. + +The offspring of the marriage, it may be here noted, is a family of +seven children--six sons and a daughter--as follows:-- + + Crown Prince Frederick William, born 1882 + Prince Eitel Frederick " 1883 + Prince Adalbert " 1884 + Prince August William " 1887 + Prince Oscar " 1888 + Prince Joachim " 1890 + Princess Victoria Louise " 1892 + +The Crown Prince was born on June 6th at the Marble Palace in Potsdam. +He was educated at first privately by tutors, and later at the +military academy at Ploen, not far from Kiel. When eighteen he became +of age and began his active career as an officer in the army. He is +now commander of the First Regiment of Boay Guards ("Death's Head" +Hussars) at Langfuhr, near Danzig, with the rank of major. He was +married in June, 1905, to Cecilie, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +and is the father of four children, all boys. The Crown Princess is +one of the cleverest, most popular, and most charming characters in +Germany, of the brightest intelligence and the most unaffected +manners. The leading trait in the Crown Prince's character is his love +of sport, from big-game shooting (on which he has written a book) to +lawn tennis. In May last he began to learn golf. He is personally +amiable, has pleasant manners, and is highly popular with all classes +of his future subjects. He is credited with ability, but is not +believed to have inherited the intellectual manysidedness of his +father. The only part he can be said to have taken in public life as +yet is having called the imperial attention to the Maximilian Harden +allegations regarding Count Eulenburg and a court "camarilla," +referred to later, and having, while sitting in a gallery of the +Reichstag, demonstrated by decidedly marked gestures his disagreement +with the Government's Morocco policy. + +Since his marriage the Emperor has more than once publicly +congratulated himself on his good fortune in having such a consort as +the Empress. The most graceful compliment he paid her was in her own +Province of Silesia in 1890, when he said: + + "The band which unites me with the Province--that of all the + provinces of the Empire which is nearest to my heart--is the + jewel which sparkles at my side, Her Majesty the Empress. A + native of this country, a model of all the virtues of a + German princess, it is her I have to thank that I am in a + position joyfully to perform the onerous duties of my + office." + +Only the other day at Altona, after thirty years of married life, he +referred to her, again in her home Province and again as she sat +smiling beside him, as the + + "first lady of the land, who is always ready to help the + needy, to strengthen family ties, to discharge the duties of + her sex, and suggest to it new aims. The Empress has + bestowed a home life on the House of Hohenzollern such as + Queen Louise, alone perhaps, conferred." + +Queen Louise, the famous wife of Frederick William III, died in 1810 +and is buried in the mausoleum at Charlottenburg, the suburb of +Berlin. She has remained ever since, for the German nation, the type +of womanly perfection. + + + + +III. + + + +PRE-ACCESSION DAYS + + + +1881-1887 + +The seven years between the date of his marriage and that of his +accession were chiefly filled in by the future Emperor with the +conscientious discharge of his regimental duties and the preparation +of himself, by three or four hours' study daily at the various +Ministries, among them the Foreign Office, where he sat at the feet of +Bismarck, for the imperial tasks he would presumably have to undertake +later. + +Emperor William I, now a man of eighty-four, was still on the throne. +Born in 1797, he lived with his parents, Frederick William III and +Queen Louise, in Koenigsberg and Memel for three years after the +battle of Jena, won the Iron Cross at the age of seventeen in the war +with Napoleon in 1814, took part in the entry of the Allies into +Paris, and devoted himself thenceforward, until he became King of +Prussia in 1861, chiefly to the reorganization of the army. For a year +during the troubled times of 1848 he was forced to take refuge in +England, from whence he returned to live quietly at Coblenz until +called to the Regency of Prussia in 1858. He was the Grand Master of +Prussian Freemasonry. The attempts on his life in Berlin in 1878 by +the anarchists Hoedel and Nobiling are still spoken of by eye-witnesses +to them. Both attempts were made within a period of three weeks while +the King was driving down Unter den Linden, and on both occasions +revolver shots were fired at him. Hoedel's attempt failed, but in view +of Socialist agitation, the would-be assassin was beheaded (the +practice still in Prussia) a few weeks later. Pellets from Nobiling's +weapon struck the King in the face and arm, and disabled him from work +for several weeks. The political events of the reign, including the +Seven Weeks' War with Austria in 1866, which ended at Sadowa, where +King William was in chief command, and that with France in 1870, when +he was present as Commander-in-Chief at Gravelotte and Sedan, are +frequently referred to by Bismarck in his "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," +and to these the reader may be referred. + +The high and amiable character of the old Emperor, as he became after +1870, is common knowledge. He was a thoroughgoing Hohenzollern in his +views of monarchy and his relations to his folk, but he was at the +same time the type of German chivalry, the essence of good nature, the +soul of honour, and the slave of duty. He was extremely fond of his +grandson, Prince William, and it is clear from the latter's speeches +subsequently that the affection was ardently reciprocated. + +Of Emperor William, Bismarck writes in the highest terms, describing +his "kingly courtesy," his freedom from vanity, his impartiality +towards friend and foe alike; in a word, he says, Emperor William was +the idea "gentleman" incorporated. On the other hand, Bismarck tells +how the old Emperor all his life long stood in awe of his consort, the +Empress Augusta, Bismarck's great enemy and the clearing-house +(_Krystallisationspunkt_), as he describes her, of all the opposition +against him; and how the Emperor used to speak of her as "the +hot-head" ("_Feuerkopf_")--"a capital name for her," Bismarck adds, +"as she could not bear her authority as Queen to be overborne by that +of anyone else." The Iron Chancellor, by the way, mentions a curious +fact in connexion with the attempt on Emperor William's life by +Nobiling. The Chancellor says he had noticed that in the seventies the +Emperor's powers had begun to fail, and that he often lost the thread +of a conversation, both in hearing and speaking. After the Nobiling +attempt this disability, strangely enough, completely disappeared. The +fact was noticed by the Emperor himself, for one day he said jestingly +to Bismarck: "Nobiling knew better than the doctors what I really +needed--a good blood-letting." + +Referring to the Empress Frederick at this period, Bismarck writes: + + "With her I could not reckon on the same good-will as I + could with her husband (Emperor Frederick). Her natural and + inborn sympathy for her native country showed itself from + the very beginning in the endeavour to shift the weight of + Prussian-German influence on the European grouping of the + Powers into the scale of England, which she never ceased to + regard as her Fatherland; and, in consciousness of the + opposition of interests between the two great Asiatic + Powers, England and Russia, to see Germany's power, in case + of a breach, used for the benefit of England." + +An incident may be mentioned here which took place at what was to turn +out to be the Emperor William's death-bed and refers particularly to +our young Prince William. Bismarck was talking to the sick Emperor a +few days before the latter's death. The Chancellor spoke about the +necessity of publishing an Order, already drawn up in November of the +preceding year, appointing Prince William regent in case the necessity +for such a measure should occur. The sick Emperor expressed the hope +that Bismarck would stand by his successor. Bismarck promised to do so +and the Emperor pressed his hand in token of satisfaction. Then, +suddenly, Bismarck relates, the Emperor became delirious and began to +rave. Prince William was the central figure in his ravings. He +evidently thought his grandson was at his bedside and exclaimed, using +the familiar _Du_; "_Du_ you must always keep on good terms with the +Czar (Alexander III) ... there is no need to quarrel in that quarter." +Thereafter he was silent, and Bismarck left the sick-room. + +The Prince's parents, Crown Prince Frederick and his English consort, +had also their Court at the Marmor Palais in Potsdam, and their palace +in Berlin, but the life they led was comparatively simple. The Crown +Prince and Princess were great travellers and consequently often +absent from Germany; and when at home, while the Crown Prince, in his +serious-minded fashion, was absorbed in study, the Crown Princess +divided her time between the practice of the arts and correspondence +with her now grown-up sons and daughters. + +Still, it is clear from the signs of the time that there was a good +deal of intrigue going on throughout this pre-accession period, or, if +intrigue is too strong a term for it, a good deal of friction, social +and political, in high circles. It was chiefly caused, if the old +Chancellor's statements to his sycophantic adorer, Busch, are to be +credited, by the interference of the Empress Augusta and her +daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess, in the sphere of politics, the +Empress seeking to influence her husband in favour of the Catholics, +whom she had taken under her protection, and the Crown Princess +trying, as we have seen, to influence German policy in favour of +England. + +Exactly what part Prince William took in it all is not very clear. One +thing we know, that he greatly displeased Bismarck by his constant +attendance at the Waldersee _salon_, then a social centre in Berlin. +Countess Waldersee, who is still living in Hannover, was the daughter +of an American banker named Lee. She married Frederick, Prince of +Schleswig, but he died six months after the wedding. His widow +afterwards married Count Waldersee, who was subsequently to command +the international forces during the Boxer troubles in China. Bismarck +detested Waldersee, perhaps because many people spoke of him as his +probable successor, and consequently looked with anything but favour +on his imperial pupil's visit to the Waldersees. + +The great figure of the time, however, was neither the Emperor nor the +Crown Prince nor Prince William, but Prince Bismarck, who, as +Chancellor for now more than a quarter of a century, had throughout +that period guided the destinies of Prussia and the German Empire. +Emperor William and Crown Prince Frederick and Prince William were +playing, doubtless, more or less prominent parts on the public stage, +but all things of moment gravitated towards Bismarck, whose days were +spent, now persuading or convincing the Emperor, now warring with a +Parliament growing impatient of his dictatorial attitude, now +countermining the intrigues and opposition of his adversaries at Court +and in the Ministries. He hardly ever went into society, but though he +spent his days growling in his den at the Foreign Office when he was +not immersed in work, he was the great popular figure of Berlin; +indeed, it might be said, of all Germany. + +As second lieutenant, Prince William had naturally a good deal to +learn, though, entering life, as we have seen, as a "fine young +recruit," having had a "military governor" appointed to his service +when he was four, being made an officer at the age of ten, and having +passed most of his life hitherto in a military society and atmosphere, +he had less perhaps to learn than the ordinary young German officer. +He went through the usual drills, and doubtless felt, as keenly as +does the young officer everywhere, their monotonous and seemingly +unnecessary repetitions, but they fulfilled the object in view and +gave him the well-set-up bearing and martial tread which still +distinguish him. Living in the old Town Castle of Potsdam, in rooms +that had once been occupied by Frederick the Great, he entered with +zest into the task of learning the mechanism of his regiment and at +the same time of the army generally, though it cannot have been as +interesting a task then as now, when science has added so many new +branches to military organization. Both he and his young wife were as +hospitable as their not too generous means and occasional cheques from +the Emperor William would allow, particularly to any Borussian of the +Prince's Bonn university days who might be passing through Berlin or +Potsdam. The young Prince and Princess took part, as was to be +expected of them, in the festivities and ceremonies of the Emperor's +and Crown Prince's Court, and, when they had nothing more interesting +to do, might be seen strolling arm in arm about the streets in Potsdam +looking into the shops as young married people do in every town, and +being apparently, as the story-books say, as happy as the day is long. + +On the whole, however, during these pre-accession years, only glimpses +of Prince William's character and doings are obtainable, but, though +meagre, they are sufficient to suggest that in his case, too, if we +extend the saying to cover the entire period of youth, the child was +father to the man. The chief, almost the only, reliable authorities +for the inner history of the time are the memoirs and notes left by +the two Chancellors, Prince Bismarck and Prince Hohenlohe--_en +passant_ let the hope be expressed here that in the interests of +Germany herself another Chancellor, Prince Bernhard Ernst von Buelow, +now living in retirement at Rome, will enlighten the world as to that +of the last ten or twelve stirring years, _quorum pars magna fuit_. +Both Bismarck and Hohenlohe were excellent judges of character, and +have, described, though with regrettable brevity, the character of +Prince William about this time. Talking to his confidant, Dr. Busch, +in June, 1882, Bismarck says of the Prince: + + "He is quite different from the Emperor William, and wishes + to take the government into his own hands; he is energetic + and determined, not at all disposed to put up with + parliamentary co-regents, a regular guardsman; Philopater + and Antipater at Potsdam! He is not at all pleased at his + father (Crown Prince Frederick) taking up with professors, + with Mommsen, Virchow, Forckenbeck. Perhaps he may one day + develop into the _rocher de bronze_ of which we stand in + need." + +This _rocher de bronze_ is an expression constantly employed by +devoted royalists and imperialists in Germany. It was first used by +Frederick William IV, who, in the jargon which in his time passed for +the German language, exclaimed: "_Ich werde meine Souvereinetat +stabilizieren wie ein rocher de bronze_." + +Again, about this time Bismarck says: + + "Up to that time (when Prince William was studying at the + Ministries) he knew little, and indeed did not trouble + himself much about it, but preferred to enjoy himself in the + society of young officers and such-like," + +and he goes on to tell how the Prince took--or did not take--to this +Ministerial education. It was proposed that the Under Secretary of +State, Herrfurth, who was reputed to be well informed, particularly in +statistics, should instruct him about internal questions. The Prince +agreed and invited Herrfurth to lunch, but afterwards told Bismarck he +could not stand him, "with his bristly beard, his dryness and +tediousness." Could Bismarck suggest some one else? The Chancellor +mentioned Privy Councillor von Brandenstein. The Prince did not +object, had the Baron several times to meals, but paid so little +attention to his explanations that Brandenstein lost patience and +begged for some other employment. Concerning a rendezvous, Bismarck +writes: + + "He (Prince William) has more understanding, more courage + and greater independence (than his grandfather), but in his + leaning for me he goes too far. He was 'surprised' that I + had waited for him, a thing his grandfather was incapable of + saying;" + +and the Chancellor adds: + + "It is only in trifles and matters of secondary importance + that one occasionally has reason to find fault with him, as, + for instance, in the form of his State declarations--but + that is youthful vivacity which time will correct. Better + too much than too little fire." + +Busch relates, under date of April 6, 1888, Bismarck's birthday, how +Prince William came to offer his congratulations, and, having done so, +invited himself to dinner. The meal over, he made a speech toasting +Bismarck, in which he said: + + "The Empire is like an army corps that has lost its + commander-in-chief in the field, while the officer who is + next to him in rank lies severely wounded. At this critical + moment forty-six million loyal German hearts turn with + solicitude and hope to the standard, and the standard-bearer + in whom all their expectations are centred. The + standard-bearer is our illustrious Prince, our great + Chancellor. Let him lead us. We will follow him. Long may he + live!" + +Prince Hohenlohe's references to Prince William as Emperor are +frequent and full, but he has little to say about his character as +Prince William beyond noting, when there was some talk of the Prince +directly succeeding Emperor William, that he was "too young." On an +occasion subsequently Prince Hohenlohe amusingly notes that the +Emperor shook hands with him until his fingers "nearly cracked." This +is still a genial gesture of the Emperor's. + +One document, however, is available to show the spirit of religious +tolerance which then animated our young Lutheran Prince, as it has +animated him, it may be added, ever since. Pius IX had been succeeded +in the Papacy by the more liberal Leo XIII, and the Kulturkampf had +come to an end. Prince William, writing to an uncle, Cardinal +Hohenlohe, says:-- + + "That this unholy Kulturkampf is at an end is a thing which + rejoices me beyond expression. Of late many eminent + Catholics, among them Kopp (afterwards Cardinal) have + frequently visited me and honoured me with a confidence at + once complete and gratifying. I was often so happy as to be + able to be the interpreter of their wishes (to the Emperor + and Bismarck, presumably) and do them some service. So it + has been granted to my youth to co-operate in this work of + peace. This has given me great pleasure and happiness. + + "Give my regards to Galimberti and lay my respects at the + feet of the Pope. + + "Thy devoted nephew, + + "WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA." + +With his future subjects Prince William was brought into close +relations only in a very limited way. No one, save perhaps Bismarck, +seems to have known or suspected his true character and aims. This was +natural enough, since it is not until a man comes to occupy some +influential or prominent position that the public begins to take an +interest in him. His father would be Emperor before him, and fate +might have it that he himself would not live to come to the throne. +Royal highnesses are not uncommon in a country with such a feudal +history and so many courts as Germany. The young Prince, moreover, was +never, to use a phrase of to-day, in the limelight. He was never +involved in a notorious scandal. He had not, as his eldest son, the +present Crown Prince, has, published a book. He was more or less +absorbed in the army, the early grave of so many dawning talents. And +there was no newspaper press devoted to chronicling the doings and +sayings of the fashionable world of his time. His natural abilities +would doubtless have secured him reputation and success in any sphere +of life, but, as he himself would probably be the first to admit, much +of his fame, and even much of his merit, is due to the splendid +opportunities afforded him by his birth and position. + +At the same time it is obvious that if his people at this period had +not much opportunity of studying the young Prince, he had been +studying them and their requirements as these latter appeared to him. +He had evidently thought much on Germany's conditions and prospects +before he came to the throne, and was Empire-building in imagination +long before he became Emperor. It is not hard to guess the drift of +his meditations. The success of the Empire depended on the success of +Prussia, and the success of Prussia, ringed in by possibly hostile +Powers, on union under a Prussian King whom Germans should swear +fealty to and regard as a Heaven-granted leader. From the history of +Prussia he drew the conclusion that force, physical force, well +organized and equipped, must be the basis of Germany's security. +Physical force had made Brandenburg into Prussia, and Prussia into the +still nascent modern German Empire. He knew that France was only +waiting for the day to come when she would be powerful enough to +recover her lost provinces. Russia was friendly, but there was no +certainty she would always be so. Austria was an ally, but many people +in Austria had not forgotten Sadowa, and in any case her military and +naval forces were far from being efficient. An irresistible army, and +a national spirit that would keep it so, were consequently Germany's +first essentials. + +Simultaneously a new fact of vital importance for Germany's prosperity +presented itself for consideration--the growth of world-policy in +trade, the expansion of commerce through the development caused by new +conditions of transport and intercommunication in which other nations +were already engaged. The Prince saw his country's merchants beginning +to spread over the earth, and believing in the doctrine that trade +follows the flag, he felt that the flag, with the power and protection +it affords, must be supplied. For this it appeared to him that a navy +was as indispensable as was an efficient army for Germany's internal +security. All other great countries had fine navies, while to Germany +this complement of Empire was practically wanting. Accordingly he now +took up the study of naval science and naval construction. + +There was an occasion, however, at this time when the young Prince +attracted general attention, if only for a few days. It was when as +colonel of the Body Guard Hussars, he ordered his officers to withdraw +from a Berlin club in which hazard and high play had ruined some of +the younger and less wealthy members. The committee of the club used +their influence to cause Emperor William to make the new commander +cancel his order. The Emperor sent for his grandson and requested its +withdrawal. + +"Majesty," said the young commander, "permit me a question--am I still +commander of the regiment?" + +"Of course--" + +"Well, then, will your Majesty allow me to maintain the order--or else +accept my resignation?" + +"Oh," said the Emperor, who was in reality pleased with the young +disciplinarian, "there can be no talk of such a thing. I could not +find so good a commanding officer again in a hurry." + +When the club committee's ambassadors came to the Emperor to learn the +result of his intervention, his answer was, "Very sorry, gentlemen; I +did my best, but the colonel refuses." + +The political situation as regards France was just now highly +precarious. General Boulanger, whom Gambetta once described as "one of +the four best officers in France," had become Minister of War in the +de Freycinet Cabinet of 1886. Relying on a supposed superiority of the +French army, he prepared for a war of revenge against Germany and +aimed, with the help of Deroulede and Rochfort, at suppressing the +parliamentary _regime_ and establishing himself as dictator. His plans +were answered in Germany by the acceptance of Bismarck's Septennat +proposals for increasing the army and fixing its budget for seven +years in advance. The war feeling in France diminished, and though it +revived for a time owing to the arrest of the French frontier police +commissary Schnaebele, it finally died out on that officer's release +at the particular request of the Czar to Emperor William. Boulanger's +subsequent history only concerns France. He was sent to a provincial +command, but returned to Paris, where he was joyously received and +elected to Parliament by a large majority. He might, it is believed, a +year or two later, on being elected by the department of the Seine, +with Paris at his back, have made a successful _coup d'etat_ on the +night of his triumphant election, but his courage at the last moment +failed, and on learning that he was about to be arrested he fled to +Brussels, where he committed suicide on the grave of his mistress. + +The time, however, was approaching, the most interesting, and as the +succession of events have shown, the most momentous for the Empire +since 1870, when Prince William's accession was obviously at hand. +During the year 1887 and the early part of 1888 the attention of the +world was fixed, first curiously, then anxiously, then sympathetically +on the situation in Berlin. Emperor William was an old man just turned +ninety; he was fast breaking up and any week his death might be +announced. Hereditarily the Crown Prince Frederick, now fifty-six, +should succeed, and a new reign would open which might introduce +political changes of moment to other countries as well as Germany. The +new reign was indeed to open, but only to prove one of the shortest in +history. + +In January, 1887, a Shadow fell on the House of Hohenzollern, the +Shadow that must one day fall on every living creature. It was noticed +that the Crown Prince was hoarse, had caught a cold, or something of +the kind. A stay at Ems did him no good, Doctors Tobold and von +Bergmann, the leading specialists of the day, were consulted, a +laryngoscopic examination followed, the presence of cancer was +strongly suspected, and an operation was advised. At this juncture, at +the suggestion, it is said, of Queen Victoria, it was decided to +summon the specialist of highest reputation in England, Sir Morell +Mackenzie, who, having examined the patient, and basing his opinion on +a report of Professor Virchow's, declared that the growth was not +malignant. It was now May, and on Mackenzie's advice the patient +visited England, where, accompanied by Prince William, he was present +at the celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee. Some months after his +return to the Continent were spent with his family in Tirol and Italy, +until November found him in San Remo, where a meeting of famous +surgeons from Vienna, Berlin, and Frankfort-on-Main finally diagnosed +the existence of cancer, and Mackenzie coincided with the judgment. + +The old Emperor died on March 9th. He had taken cold on March 3rd, and +on the 7th a chronic ailment of the kidneys from which he suffered +became worse, he could not sleep, his strength began to ebb, and it +was clear the end was near. On the 6th, however, he was able to speak +for a few minutes with Prince William, with Bismarck, and with his +only daughter, the Grand Duchess of Baden, who had arrived post-haste +the night before to be present at the death-bed. The Grand Duchess, as +the Emperor spoke, besought him not to tire himself by talking. "I +have no time to be tired," he murmured, in a flicker of the sense of +duty which had been a lifelong feature of his character, and a few +hours later he passed quietly away. The funeral, headed by Prince +William and the Knights of the Black Eagle, took place on the 20th. +The new Emperor Frederick, who had hurried from San Remo on receiving +news of the Emperor's condition, was too ill to join it, but stood +behind a closed window of his palace and saluted as the coffin went +by. + +The incidents of the Emperor Frederick's ascent of the throne, the +amnesty and liberal-minded proclamations to his people, and in +particular the heroic resignation with which he bore his fate, are +events of common knowledge. One of them was the so-called Battenberg +affair. Queen Victoria desired a marriage between Princess Victoria, +the present Emperor's sister, then aged twenty-two, and Prince +Alexander of Battenberg, at that time Prince of Bulgaria, so as to +secure him against Russia by an alliance with the imperial house of +Germany. Prince Bismarck objected on the ground that the marriage +would show Germany in an unfriendly light at St. Petersburg, and might +subject a Prussian princess to the risk of expulsion from Sofia. +Another account is that the Chancellor feared an increase of English +influence at the German Court with the Prince of Bulgaria as its +channel. In any case, the result of the Chancellor's opposition was to +place the sick Emperor in a delicate and painful situation. It was +ended by his yielding to the Chancellor's representations, and the +marriage did not come off. + +Meanwhile, the Emperor's malady was making fatal progress. The Shadow +was growing darker and more formidable. A season of patiently-borne +suffering followed, until Death in his terrific majesty appeared and +another Emperor occupied the throne. + + + + +IV. + + + +"VON GOTTES GNADEN" + +Prince William is now German Emperor and King of Prussia. Before +observing him as trustee and manager of his magnificent inheritance a +pause may be made to investigate the true meaning of a much-discussed +phrase which, while suggesting nothing to the Englishman though he +will find it stamped in the words "Dei gratia" on every shilling piece +that passes through his hands, is the bed-rock and foundation of the +Emperor's system of rule and the key to his nature and conduct. + +Government in Germany is dynastic, not, as in England and America, +parliamentary or democratic. The King of Prussia possesses his +crown--such is the theory of the people as well as of the dynasty--by +the grace of God, not by the consent of the people. The same may be +said of the German Emperor, who fills his office as King of Prussia. +To the Anglo-Saxon foreigner the dynasty in Germany, and particularly +in Prussia, appears a sort of fetish, the worship of which begins in +the public schools with lessons on the heroic deeds of the +Hohenzollerns, and with the Emperor, as high priest, constantly +calling on his people to worship with him. This view of the kingly +succession may seem Oriental, but it is not surprising when one +reflects that the Hohenzollern dynasty is over a thousand years old +and during that time has ruled successively in part of Southern +Germany, in Brandenburg, in Prussia, until at last, imperially, in all +Germany. Moreover, it has ruled wisely on the whole; in the course of +centuries it has brought a poor and disunited people, living on a soil +to a great extent barren and sandy, to a pitch of power and prosperity +which is exciting the envy and apprehension of other nations. + +In England government passed centuries ago from the dynasty to the +people, and there are people in England to-day who could not name the +dynasty that occupies the English throne. Such ignorance in Germany is +hardly conceivable. In Prussia government has always been the appanage +of the Hohenzollerns, and the Emperor is resolved that, supported by +the army, it shall continue to be their appanage in the Empire. +Government means guidance, and no one is more conscious of the fact +than the Emperor, for he is trying to guide his people all the time. +Frederick William IV once said to the Diet: "You are here to represent +rights, the rights of your class and, at the same time, the rights of +the throne: to represent opinion is not your task." This relation of +government and people has become modified of recent years to a very +obvious degree, but constitutionally not a step has been taken in the +direction of popular, that is to say parliamentary, rule. + +England and Germany are both constitutional monarchies, but both the +monarch and the Constitution in Germany are different from the monarch +and the Constitution in England. The British Constitution is a growth +of centuries, not, like the German Constitution, the creation of a +day. The British Constitution is unwritten, if it is stamped, as Mary +said the word "Calais" would be found stamped on her heart after +death, on the heart and brain of every Englishman. The German +Constitution is a written document in seventy-eight chapters, not +fifty years old, and on which, compared with the British Constitution, +the ink is not yet dry. In England to the people the Constitution is +the real monarch: in Germany the monarchy is to the people what the +British Constitution is to the Englishman; and while in England the +monarch is the first counsellor to the Constitution, in Germany the +Constitution is the first counsellor to the monarch. + +The consequence in England is representative government, with a +political career for every ordinary citizen; the consequence in +Germany is constitutional monarchy, properly so-called, with a +political career for no common citizen. Neither system is perfect, but +both, apparently, give admirable national results. And yet, of course, +an Englishman cannot help thinking that if Herr Bebel were made +Minister to-morrow, Social Democracy would cease to exist. + +The people acquiesce in the Hohenzollern view, not indeed with perfect +and entire unanimity, for the small Progressive party demand a +parliamentary form of government, if not on the exact model of that +established in England. The Social Democrats, evidently, would have no +government at all. Many English people suppose that Germans generally +must desire parliamentary rule and would help them to get it, for +multitudes of English people are firmly persuaded that it is England's +mission to extend to other peoples the institutions which have suited +her so well, without sufficiently considering how different are their +circumstances, geographical position, history, traditions, and +national character. A very similar mistake is made in Germany by +multitudes of Germans, who believe it is Germany's mission to impose +her culture, her views of man and life, on the rest of the world. + +The Prussian view of monarchy, expressed in the words "von Gottes +Gnaden" ("By the Grace of God"), is a political conception, which, +under its customary English translation, "by Divine Right," has often +been ridiculed by English writers. Lord Macaulay, it will be +remembered, in his "History of England," asserts that the doctrine +first emerged into notice when James the Sixth of Scotland ascended +the English throne. "It was gravely maintained," writes Macaulay, + + "that the Supreme Being regarded hereditary monarchy, as + opposed to other systems of government, with peculiar + favour; that the rule of succession in order of + primogeniture was a divine institution anterior to the + Christian, and even to the Mosaic, dispensation; that no + human power, not even that of the whole legislature, no + length of adverse possession, though it extended to ten + centuries, could deprive the legitimate prince of his + rights; that his authority was necessarily always despotic; + that the laws by which, in England and other countries, the + prerogative was limited, were to be regarded merely as + concessions which the sovereign had freely made and might at + his pleasure resume; and that any treaty into which a king + might enter with his people was merely a declaration of his + present intention, and not a contract of which the + performance could be demanded." + +The statement exactly expresses the ideas on the subject attributed +abroad to the Emperor. + +The distinguished German historian, Heinrich von Treitschke, writes of +King Frederick William IV, the predecessor of Emperor William I, as +follows:-- + + "He believed in a mysterious enlightenment which is granted + 'von Gottes Gnaden' to kings rather than other mortals. All + the blessings of peace, which his People could expect under + a Christian monarch, should Proceed from the wisdom of the + Crown alone; he regarded his high office like a patriarch of + the Old Testament and held the kingship as a fatherly power + established by God Himself for the education of the people. + Whatever happened in the State he connected with the person + of the monarch. If only his age and its royal awakener had + understood each other better! He had, however, in his + strangely complicated process of development, constructed + such extraordinary ideals that though he might sometimes + agree in words with his contemporaries he never did as to + the things, and spoke a different language from his people. + Even General Gerlach, his good friend and servant, used to + say: 'The ways of the King are wonderful;' and the not less + loyal Bunsen wrote about a complaint of the monarch that 'no + one understands me, no one agrees with me,' the + commentary--'When one understood him, how could one agree + with him?'" + +It was this king, be it parenthetically remarked, who said, when his +people were clamouring for a Constitution, in 1847: "Now and never +will I admit that a written paper, like a second Providence, force +itself between our God in Heaven and this land"--and a few months +later had to sign the document his people demanded. + +Von Treitschke, writing on the last birthday of Emperor William I, +thus spoke of the doctrine: + + "A generation ago an attempt was made by a theologizing + State theory to inculcate the doctrine of a power of the + throne, divine, released from all earthly obligations. This + mystery of the Jacobins never found entrance into the clear + common sense of our people." + +Prince Bismarck's view of the doctrine was explained in a speech he +made to the Prussian Diet in 1847. He was speaking on "Prussia as a +Christian State." "For me," he said, + + "the words 'von Gottes Gnaden,' which Christian rulers join + to their names, are no empty phrase, but I see in them the + recognition that the princes desire to wield the sceptre + which God has assigned them according to the will of God on + earth. As God's will I can, however, only recognize what is + revealed in the Christian gospels, and I believe I am in my + right when I call that State a Christian one which has taken + as its task the realization, the putting into operation, of + the Christian doctrine.... Assuming generally that the State + has a religious foundation, in my opinion this foundation + can only be Christianity. Take away this religious + foundation from the State and we retain nothing of the State + but a chance aggregation of rights, a kind of bulwark + against the war of all against all, which the old + philosophers spoke of." + +On the second occasion, thirty years later, the Chancellor's theme was +"Obedience to God and the King." + +"I refer," he said, + + "to the wrong interpretation of a sentence which in itself + is right--namely, that one must obey God rather than man. + The previous speaker must know me long enough to be aware + that I subscribe to the entire correctness of this sentence, + and that I believe I obey God when I serve the King under + the device 'With God for King and Country.' Now he (the + previous speaker) has separated the component parts of the + device, for he sees God separated from King and Fatherland. + I cannot follow him on this road. I believe I serve my God + when I serve my King in the protection of the commonwealth + whose monarch 'von Gottes Gnaden' he is, and on whom the + emancipation from alien spiritual influence and the + independence of his people from Romish pressure have been + laid by God as a duty in which I serve the King. The + previous speaker would certainly admit in private that we do + not believe in the divinity of a State idol, though he seems + to assert here that we believe in it." + +In these passages, it may be remarked, Bismarck avoids an +unconditional endorsement of the Hohenzollern doctrine of divine +"right" or even divine appointment. Indeed all he does is to express +his belief in the sincerity of rulers who declare their desire to rule +in accordance with the will of God as it appears in Holy Scripture. In +addition to his dislike of a "Christianity above the State," the fact +that he did not subscribe to the doctrine of divine right, as these +words are interpreted in England, is shown by another speech in which +he said, "The essence of the constitutional monarchy under which we +live is the co-operation of the monarchical will and the convictions +of the people." But what, one is tempted to ask, if will and +convictions differ? + +In recent times, Dr. Paul Liman, in an excellent character sketch of +the Emperor, devotes his first chapter to the subject, thus +recognizing the important place it occupies in the Emperor's +mentality. Dr. Liman, like all German writers who have dealt with the +topic, animadverts on the Hohenzollern obsession by the theory and +attributes it chiefly to the romantic side of the Emperor's nature +which was strongly influenced in youth by the "wonderful events" of +1870, by the national outburst of thanks to God at the time, and by +the return from victorious war of his father, his grandfather, and +other heroes, as they must have appeared to him, like Bismarck, +Moltke, and Roon. + +It is worth noting that Prince von Buelow, during the ten years of his +Chancellorship, made no parliamentary or other specific and public +allusion to the doctrine. + +Before, however, attempting to offer a somewhat different explanation +of the Emperor's attitude in the matter from those just cited, let us +see what statements he has himself made publicly about it and how the +doctrine has been interpreted by his contemporaries. He made no +reference to it in his declarations to the army, the navy, and the +people when he ascended the throne. His first allusion to it was in +March, 1890, at the annual meeting of the Brandenburg provincial Diet +at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin, and then the allusion was not +explicit. "I see," said the Emperor, + + "in the folk and land which have descended to me a talent + entrusted to me by God, which it is my task to increase, and + I intend with all my power so to administer this talent that + I hope to be able to add much to it. Those who are willing + to help me I heartily welcome whoever they may be: those who + oppose me in this task I will crush." + +His next allusion, at Bremen in April of the same year, when he was +laying the foundation-stone of a statue to his grandfather, King +William, a few months subsequent to Bismarck's retirement, was more +explicit, yet not completely so. + +"It is a tradition of our House," so ran his speech, + + "that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed + by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us + to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their + material and intellectual interests." + +The next reference, and the only one in which a divine "right" to rule +in Prussia is formally claimed, occurs four years later at +Koenigsberg, the ancient crowning-place of Prussian kings. Here he +said:-- + + "The successor (namely himself) of him who _of his own + right_ was sovereign prince in Prussia will follow the same + path as his great ancestor; as formerly the first King (of + Prussia, Frederick I.) said, 'My crown is born with me,' and + as his greater son (the Great Elector) gave his authority + the stability of a rock of bronze, so I too, like my + imperial grandfather, represent the kingship 'von Gottes + Gnaden.'" + +At Coblenz in 1897, in reference to the first Emperor William's +labours for the army and people:-- + + "He (Emperor William) left Coblenz to ascend the throne as + the selected instrument of the Lord he always regarded + himself to be. For us all, and above all for us princes, he + raised once more aloft and lent lustrous beams to a jewel + which we should hold high and holy--that is the kingship von + Gottes Gnaden, the kingship with its onerous duties, its + never-ending, ever-continuing trouble and labour, with its + fearful responsibility to the Creator alone, from which no + human being, no minister, no parliament, no people can + release the prince." + +Here, too, if the words "responsibility to the Creator alone" be taken +in their ordinary English sense, the allusion to a divine right may be +construed, though it is observable that the word "right" is not +actually employed. + +In Berlin, when unveiling a monument to the Great Elector, the Emperor +was filled with the same idea of the God-given mission of the +Hohenzollerns. After briefly sketching the deeds of the Elector--how +he came young to the throne to find crops down-trodden, villages burnt +to the ground, a starved and fallen people, persecuted on every side, +his country the arena for barbarous robber-bands who had spread war +and devastation throughout Germany for thirty years; how, with +"invincible reliance on God" and an iron will, he swept the pieces of +the land together, raised trade and commerce, agriculture and +industry, in for that period an incredibly short time; how he brought +into existence a new army entirely devoted to him; how, in fine, +guided by the hope of founding a great northern Empire, which would +bring the German peoples together, he became an authority in Europe +and laid the corner-stone of the present Empire--after sketching all +this, the Emperor continues: + + "How is this wonderful success of the house of Hohenzollern + to be explained? Solely in this way, that every prince of + the House is conscious from the beginning that he is only an + earthly vicegerent, who must give an account of his labour + to a higher King and Master, and show that he has been a + faithful executor of the high commands laid upon him." + +One finds exactly the same idea expressed three months later when +talking to his "Men of Brandenburg." "You know well," he reminded +them, + + "that I regard my whole position and my task as laid on me + by Heaven, and that I am appointed by a Higher Power to whom + I must later render an account. Accordingly I can assure you + that not a morning or evening passes without a prayer for my + people and a special thought for my Mark Brandenburg." + +To the Anglo-Saxon understanding, of course, the theory of divine +right has long appeared untenable, obsolete, and, as Macaulay says, +absurd. Many people to-day would go farther and argue that there is no +such thing as a divine right at all, since "rights" are a purely human +idea, possibly a purely legal one. But it is at least doubtful that +the Emperor uses the expression "von Gottes Gnaden" in a sense exactly +coterminous with that of "divine right" as used by Lord Macaulay and +later Anglo-Saxon writers and speakers. The latter, when dealing with +things German, not unfrequently fall into the error of mistranslation +and are thus at times responsible for national misunderstandings. The +Italian saying, "_traduttore, tradittore_," is the expression of a +fact too seldom recognized, especially by those whose business it is +to interpret, so to speak, one people to another. Language is as +mysterious and elusive a thing as aught connected with humanity, as +love, for example, or music; and it may be asserted with some degree +of confidence that among every people there are ideas current, and in +all departments--in law, society, art--which it is impossible exactly +to translate into the speech of other nations. The words used may be +the same, but the connotation, all the words imply and suggest, is, +perhaps in very important respects, different, and requires a +paraphrase, longer or shorter, to explain them. Take the word "false" +in English and "falsch" in German. They look alike, yet while the +English "false" carries with it a moral reproach, the German word, +where the context does not explicitly prove otherwise, means simply +"incorrect," "erroneous," without the moral reproach added. +Accordingly, when a German Chancellor asserts that the statement of an +English Minister is "falsch" he does not necessarily mean anything +offensive, but only that the English Minister is mistaken. + +From this point of view one may regard the statements of the Emperor +concerning his kingly office. He has recently begun to use the +expression "German Emperor von Gottes Gnaden," a thing done by none of +his imperial predecessors, and certainly a very curious extension of a +doctrine which traditionally only applies to wearers of the crown of +Prussia. But if he does, it may, it is here suggested, be considered +further evidence that he employs the terms "von Gottes Gnaden" in a +sense other than that of "divine right" as conceived by the +Anglo-Saxon. The German "Gnade" means "favour," "grace," "mercy," +"pity," or "blessing," and is at times used in direct contrast with +the word "Recht," which means "justice" as well as "right." The point, +indeed, need hardly be elaborated, and the Emperor's own explanation +of the revelation of God to mankind, with its special reference to his +grandfather which we shall find later in the confession of faith to +Admiral Hollmann, is highly significant of the sense in which he +regards himself and every ruling Hohenzollern as selected for the +duties of Prussian kingship. It is the work of the kingship he is +divinely appointed to do of which he is always thinking, not the legal +right to the kingship _vis a vis_ his people he is mistakenly supposed +to claim. He regards himself as a trustee, not as the owner of the +property. And is not such a spirit a proper and praiseworthy one? In a +sense we Christians, if in a position of responsibility, believe that +we are all divinely appointed to the work each of us has to do: +instruments of God, who shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may. +The Emperor finely says of the Almighty: "He breathed into man His +breath, that is a portion of Himself, a soul." Reason is what chiefly +distinguishes man from the brute, though there are those who hold that +reason is but a higher form of brutish instinct, which again has its +degree among the brutes; but, assuming that reason is of divine +origin, enabling us to receive, by one means or another, the dictates +of the Almighty, it seems clear that there must be channels through +which these dictates become known to us. + +This conveyance, this making plain is, as many people, and the Emperor +among them, believe, performed by God through the agency of those whom +mankind agree to call "great." For the last nineteen centuries a large +part of civilized mankind is at one in the belief that Christ was such +an agency, while millions again agree to call the agency Buddha, +Mahomet, Confucius, or Zoroaster. In the creed of Islam Christ, as a +prophet, comes fifth from Adam. In America there are thousands who +believe, or did believe, in the agency of a Mrs. Eddy or a Dr. Dowie. +And if this is so in matters of religion, itself only a form of the +reasoning soul, why should it not be the same in morals or philosophy, +art or science, government or administration: why should we not all +accept, as many still do, the sayings and writings of the Hebrew +prophets (as does the Emperor), of Plato and Aristotle, of Bacon and +Hobbes, of Milton and Shakespeare and Goethe, of Kepler and Galileo, +or Charlemagne and Napoleon, as divinely intended to convey and make +plain to us the dictates of Heaven until such time as yet greater +souls shall instruct us afresh and still more fully? + +It may be that the Emperor thinks in some such way; his speeches and +edicts at least suggest it. Certainly, as already mentioned, he did on +one occasion, when speaking of his kingship, employ the word "right" +as descriptive of the nature of his appointment by God. But that was +early in his reign, and at no time since has he insisted on a +Heaven-granted right to rule. It was, no doubt, different with some of +his absolute predecessors, but it was not the view of Frederick the +Great, who declared himself "the first servant of the State." +Moreover, it is hardly conceivable that the Emperor, who is acquainted +with the facts of history and is a man of practical common sense +besides, does not know that the doctrine of "divine right" has long +been rejected by people of intelligence in every civilized country, +including his own. + +If he really believes in divine right in the Stuart sense he must +think that the conditions of Germany are so different from those of +the rest of civilized mankind, and his own people so little advanced +in knowledge and political science, that a doctrine absurd and +dangerous to the peace of enlightened commonwealths is applicable as a +basis of rule in his own. It seems a more plausible view, that the +Emperor considers the expression "von Gottes Gnaden" an academic +formula of government, or what is still more likely, as a moral and +religious, not a legal, dogma, which yet expresses one of the leading +and most admirable features of his policy as a ruler. If it is not so, +he is inconsistent with himself, since he has repeatedly declared +himself bound by the Constitution in accordance with which his +grandfather and father and he himself have hitherto ruled. At present +the doctrine of divine "right" is regarded by Germans no less than by +Englishmen as dead and buried, and mention of it in Germany is usually +greeted with a smile. Even the notion of appointment by divine +"grace," while considered a harmless and praiseworthy article of faith +with the Emperor, is no longer regarded as a living principle of +government. + + + + +V. + + + +THE ACCESSION + + + +1888-1890 + +With his accession began for the Emperor a period of extraordinary +activity which has continued practically undiminished to the present +day. During that time he has been the most prominent man and monarch +of his generation. From the domestic point of view his life perhaps +has not been marked by many notable events, but from the point of view +of politics and international relations it has been the history of his +reign and to no small extent the history of the world. + +When a German Emperor ascends the throne there is no great outburst of +national rejoicing, no great series of popular ceremonials. There is +no brilliant procession as in England, no impressive coronation like +that of an English monarch in Westminster Abbey, no State visit of the +monarch to the Houses of Parliament. In Germany Parliament goes to the +King, not the King to Parliament. + +On the same day that the Emperor began his reign he addressed +proclamations to the army and navy. The addresses to the people and +the Parliament were to come a few days later. In the proclamation to +the army he said: + + "I and the army were born for each other. Let us remain + indissolubly so connected, come peace or storm, as God may + will. You will now take the oath of fidelity and obedience + to me, and I swear always to remember that the eyes of my + ancestors are bent on me from the other world, and that one + day I shall have to give an account touching the fame and + the honour of the army." + +His address to the navy was in the same vein. + + "We have only just put off mourning for my unforgettable + grandfather, Kaiser William I, and already we have had to + lower the flag for my beloved father, who took such an + interest in the growth and progress of the navy. A time of + earnest and sincere sorrow, however, strengthens the mind + and heart of man, and so let us, keeping at heart the + example of my grandfather and father, look with confidence + to the future. I have learned to appreciate the high sense + of honour and of duty which lives in the navy, and know that + every man is ready faithfully to stake his life for the + honour of the German flag, be it where it may. Accordingly I + can, in this serious hour, feel fully assured that we shall + stand strongly and steadily together in good or bad days, in + storm or sunshine, always mindful of the Fatherland and + always ready to shed our heart's blood for the honour of the + flag." + +To his people he promised that he would be a + + "just and mild prince, observant of piety and religion, a + protector of peace, a promoter of the country's prosperity, + a helper to the poor and needy, a faithful guardian of the + right." + +To the Parliament a week later he announced that he meant to walk in +the footsteps of his grandfather, particularly in regard to the +working classes, to acquire the confidence of the federated princes, +the affection of the people, and the friendly recognition of foreign +countries. He said that in his opinion the + + "most important duties of the German Emperor lay in the + domain of the military and political security of the nation + externally, and internally in the supervision of the + carrying out of imperial laws." + +The highest of these laws, he explained, was the Imperial Constitution +and "to preserve and protect the Constitution, and in especial the +rights it gives to the legislative bodies, to every German, but also +to the Emperor and the federated states," he considered "among the +most honourable duties of the Emperor." + +While the order of these addresses is different to what it would be in +England, it entirely accords with the spirit of the Prussian monarchy +and the political system of the German people. Settled in the heart of +Europe, the nation rests on the army, and it is hardly too much to say +that, from the Emperor's point of view, possibly also from the popular +German point of view, the interests of the army must be considered +before the interests of the rest of the population. An English +monarch, who issued his first address to the British navy, would be as +justified in doing so by the real necessities of Great Britain as a +German Emperor who first addresses the German army is justified by the +real necessities of Germany; for the British navy is as vital to the +British as the German army is to the German nation. In England, +however, the monarch's respect for the people and Parliament takes +precedence of his respect for the army, not _vice versa_ as in +Germany. + +In a speech from the throne to the Prussian Diet the Emperor took the +Constitutional Oath: "I swear to hold firmly and unbrokenly to the +Constitution of the Kingdom and to rule in agreement with it and the +laws ... so help me God!" and went on to proclaim the continuance in +Prussia and the Empire of his grandfather's and father's policy and +work. He said at the same time, while undertaking not to make the +People uneasy by trying to extend Crown rights, that he would take +care that the constitutional rights of the Crown were respected and +used, and that he meant to hand them over unimpaired to his successor. +He concluded by saying that he would always bear in mind the words of +Frederick the Great, who described himself as the "first servant of +the State." + +At Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, a few months later, he declared, when +unveiling a monument to his uncle, Prince Frederick Karl, a hero of +the Franco-Prussian War, that he meant never to surrender a stone of +the acquisitions made in the war and + + "believed he voiced the feeling of the entire army in saying + that Germany, rather than do so, would suffer its eighteen + army corps and its whole population of 42 millions to perish + on the field of battle." + +At this period of his career the Emperor was, first and foremost, a +thoroughgoing Hohenzollern. Doubtless he is so still, if he talks less +about the dynasty. He admired Frederick the Great, then as now, and in +the first place as military commander, but the ancestor with whom he +even more sympathized, and sympathizes, was the Great Elector. "The +ancestor," he said himself, + + "for whom I have the most liking (_Schwaermen_, a hardly + translatable German verb, is the word he used) and who + always shone before me as an example in my youth, was the + Great Elector, the man who loved his country with all his + heart and strength, and unrestingly devoted himself to + rescuing the Mark Brandenburg out of its deep distress and + made it a strong and united whole." + +What particularly attracted the Emperor in the history of the Elector +was the fact that he was the first Hohenzollern who saw the importance +of promoting trade and industry, building a navy, and acquiring +colonies. As yet, however, the Emperor had only clear and fairly +definite ideas about the need for a navy. The world-policy may have +been in embryo in his mind, but it was not born. + +The imaginative side of the Emperor's character at this period is well +illustrated in a speech he made in 1890 to his favourite "Men of the +Mark." He was talking of his travels, to which allusion had been made +by a previous speaker. + +"My travels," said the Emperor, + + "have not only had the object of making myself acquainted + with foreign countries and institutions, or to create + friendly relations with neighbouring monarchs, but these + journeys, which have been the subject of much + misunderstanding, had for me the great value that, withdrawn + from the heat of party faction, I could review our domestic + conditions from a distance and submit them to calm + consideration. Any one who, standing on a ship's bridge far + out at sea, with only God's starry heaven above him, + communes with himself, will not fail to appreciate the worth + of such a journey. For many of my fellow-countrymen I would + wish that they might live through such an hour, in which one + can make up an account as to what he has attempted and what + achieved. Then would he be cured of exaggerated + self-estimation, and that we all need." + +Having discharged the duty of addressing his own subjects, the +Emperor's next care, after a stay at Kiel where a German Emperor and +King now for the first time in history appeared in the uniform of an +admiral, was personally to announce his accession at the courts of his +fellow-European sovereigns. We find him, accordingly, paying visits to +Alexander II in St. Petersburg, to King Oscar II in Stockholm (where +he received a telegram announcing the birth of his fifth son), to +Christian IX in Copenhagen, to Kaiser Franz Joseph in Vienna and to +King Humbert in Rome. To both the last-mentioned he presented himself +in the additional capacity of Triplice ally. + +In August of the year following his accession he paid his first visit +as Emperor to England. It was a very different thing, one may imagine, +from the earliest recorded visit of a German Emperor to the English +Court. That was in 1416, when the Emperor Sigismund (1411-1437) +arrived there and was received by Henry V. Henry postponed the opening +of Parliament specially on his account, made him a Knight of the +Garter, and signed with him at Canterbury an offensive and defensive +alliance against France. How poor the German Empire and the German +Emperor were at that epoch may be judged from the fact that on his way +home Sigismund had to pawn the costly gifts he had received in +England. + +On the present occasion a grand naval review of over a hundred +warships, with crews totalling 25,000 men, was held in honour of the +Emperor at Osborne. This was followed, a few days afterwards, by a +parade of the troops at Aldershot under the command of General Sir +Evelyn Wood. On this occasion, after expressing his admiration for the +British troops, the Emperor concluded: "At Malplaquet and Waterloo, +Prussian and British blood flowed in the prosecution of a common +enterprise." In a little speech after the review the Emperor spoke of +the English navy as "the finest in the world." The impression made by +the Emperor on Sir Evelyn has been recorded by that general. "The +Emperor is extremely wide-awake," he writes to a friend, "with a +decided, straightforward manner. He is a good rider. His quick and +very intelligent spirit seizes every detail at a glance, and he +possesses a wonderful memory." The Emperor was now nominated an +honorary Admiral of the British navy and as a return compliment made +Queen Victoria honorary "Chef" of his own First Dragoon Guards. At the +naval review a journalist asked an English naval officer what would +happen if the Emperor, in command of a German fleet, should meet a +British fleet in time of war between England and Germany?--"Would the +British fleet have to salute the Emperor?" "Certainly," replied the +naval officer; "it would fire 100 guns at him." + +Next year the Emperor was again in England, this time to be present at +the Cowes regatta, which he took part in regularly during the four +succeeding years, noting, doubtless, all that might prove useful for +the development of the Kiel yachting "week," the success of which he +had then, as always since, particularly at heart. He was received by +Queen Victoria with the simple and homely words, "Welcome, William!" + +A State visit to the City of London followed, when he was accompanied +by the Empress, and was entertained to a luncheon given by the City +Fathers in the Guildhall. The entertainment, which took place on July +10, 1891, was remarkable for a speech delivered by the Emperor in +English, in which, besides declaring his intention of maintaining the +"historical friendship" between England and Germany, he proclaimed +that his great object "above all" was the preservation of peace, +"since peace alone can inspire that confidence which is requisite for +a healthy development of science, art, and commerce." On the same +occasion he expressed his feeling of "being at home" in England--"this +delightful country"--and spoke of the "same blood which flows alike in +the veins of Germans and English." Shortly afterwards he attended a +review of volunteers at Wimbledon, and, as he said, was "agreeably +astonished at the spectacle of so many citizen-soldiers in a country +that had no conscription." + +The Emperor returned from England to receive the visit of his chief +Triplice ally, the Emperor Franz Joseph, and to discuss with him +doubtless the European situation. Bismarck has been pictured as +sitting at the European chessboard pondering the moves necessary tor +Germany to win the game of which the great prize was the hegemony of +Europe. The chief opposing Pieces, whose aid or neutrality was +desirable, were for long France, Russia, Austria, and Italy; but in +1883, with the conclusion of the Triple Alliance, Austria and Italy +needed less to be considered, and the only two really important +opposing pieces left were France and Russia. Still, Germany, through +her allies of the Triplice, might be dragged into war, and +consequently the doings of Austria and Italy, both in relation to one +another and to France and Russia were, as they now are, of great +importance to her. + +At the time of the accession, the chessboard of our metaphor was +mainly occupied with Franco-German relations and with Russian designs +on Constantinople, the Dardanelles, and the Black Sea. The danger to +Germany of war with France, which had arisen out of the Boulanger and +Schnaebele incidents, had died down, but not altogether ceased. +Hohenlohe tells us how at this time, in conversation with the Emperor, +the latter ventured the forecast: "Boulanger is sure to succeed. I +prophesy that as Kaiser Ernest he will pay a visit to Berlin." He was +wrong, we know, as so many prophets are. + +Russian designs on Turkey had had to reckon with the opposition of +England and Austria. As regards these designs, Bismarck says: + + "Germany's policy should be one of reserve. Germany would + act very foolishly if in Oriental questions, without having + special interests, she took a side before the other Powers, + who were more nearly interested: she would therefore do well + to refrain from making her move as long as possible, and + thus, besides, gain the benefit of longer peace." + +The Chancellor, however, admitted that against the advantages of a +policy of reserve had to be set the disadvantage of Germany's position +in the centre of Europe with its frontiers exposed to the attacks of a +coalition. "From this situation," said the Chancellor, "it results +that Germany is perhaps the only Great Power in Europe which is not +tempted to attain its ends by victorious war." + +"Our interest," he goes on, + + "is to maintain peace, whereas our continental neighbours + without exception have wishes, either secret or officially + admitted, which can only be fulfilled through war. + Consequently, German policy must be to prevent war or + confine it as much as possible: to keep in the background + while the European game of cards is going on: and not by + loss of patience or concession at the cost of the country, + or vanity, or provocation from friends, allow ourselves to + be driven from the waiting attitude: otherwise--_plectuntur + Achivi!_--third parties will rejoice." + +That was the Bismarckian policy twenty-five years ago, and though new +economic conditions have had great influence in modifying it since, +particularly as it regards the East, it is practically Germany's +policy now. + +In his first speech from the throne to the Reichstag the Emperor thus +referred to the Triple Alliance: + + "Our Alliance with Austria-Hungary is publicly known. I hold + to the same with German fidelity, not merely because it has + been concluded, but because I see in this defensive union a + foundation for the balance of power in Europe and a legacy + of German history, the importance of which is recognized by + the whole of the German people, while it accords with + European international law as undeniably in force up to + 1866. Similar historical relations and similar national + exigences of the time bind us to Italy. Both Germany and + Italy desire to prolong the blessings of peace that they may + pursue in tranquillity the consolidation of their newly + acquired unity, the betterment of their national + institutions, and the increase of their prosperity." + +In a speech a few months later he declared that the Alliance had no +other purpose than to strengthen the peaceful relations of Germany to +other foreign Powers. His next public reference to it was in May, +1900, when Kaiser Franz Joseph visited Berlin on the occasion of the +coming of age of the German Crown Prince. "Truly," exclaimed the +Emperor, in a vein of some exaggeration, + + "this Alliance is not alone an agreement in the eyes of the + monarchs, but the longer it has existed, the deeper has it + taken root in the convictions of the peoples, and the moment + that the hearts of the peoples beat in unison nothing can + tear them asunder. Common interests, common feelings, joy + and sorrow shared together, unite our three nations for now + twenty years, and although often enough misunderstandings + and sarcasm and criticisms have been poured out on them, the + three peoples have succeeded in maintaining peace hitherto, + and are regarded by the whole world as its champions." + +The history of the Triplice may be shortly related here as, along with +his navy, it is regarded by the Emperor as the chief factor in the +preservation of the world's peace, and is, in fact, as has been said, +the foundation of his foreign policy. It arose from Bismarck's desire +to be independent of Russia and from his dread of a European +coalition--for example, that of France, Austria, and Russia--against +the German Empire. "We had," Bismarck writes, + + "carried on successful war against two of the European Great + Powers (Austria and France), and it became advisable to + withdraw at least one of them from the temptation to revenge + which lay in the prospect an alliance with others offered. + It could not be France, as any one who knew the history and + temperament of the two peoples could see, nor England owing + to her dislike of permanent alliances, nor Italy as her + support alone was insufficient against an anti-German + coalition; so that the choice lay between Austria-Hungary + and Russia." + +For many reasons Bismarck would have preferred the Russian alliance, +among others the traditional dynastic friendship between the two +countries and the fact that no natural political or religious causes +of conflict existed between them; while a union with Austria was less +reliable, owing to the changeable nature of her public opinion, the +heterogeneousness of her Magyar, Slav, and Catholic populations, and +the loss of influence by the German element with the governing body. +On the other hand, however, an alliance with Austria would be nothing +new, internationally, as such a connection theoretically arose from +the former connection of Germany and Austria in the Holy Roman Empire. +While weighing the matter, a threatening letter from Czar Alexander II +to William I, in which he called on Germany to support his Balkan +policy, and said that if he refused peace could not last between their +two countries, decided Bismarck in favour of Austria. The chief +opponent of the new Alliance was William I, who was moved by personal +chivalric feelings towards his nephew, Czar Alexander; but, +disregarding this, because confident of eventually persuading his +imperial master, Bismarck went to Gastein and there settled with the +Austrian Minister, Count Andrassy, the principles of the Alliance. +Italy came into the Alliance in 1883 as the immediate result of France +obtaining a protectorate in Tunis, in return, partly, for her +acquiescence in the English acquisition of Cyprus. The protectorate +aroused general indignation and fear in Italy, and though it meant a +large expenditure on naval and military armament, on May 20, 1882, she +joined the Dual Alliance for five years, and thus turned it into the +Triplice. + +The Triple Alliance rests on three treaties: one between Germany and +Austria-Hungary, one between Germany and Italy, and one between +Austria-Hungary and Italy. While by the first Germany and +Austria-Hungary bind themselves to combine in case of an attack on +either by Russia, whether as original foe or as ally, and to observe +"at least" benevolent neutrality in case of attack from any other +quarter, by the second Germany and Italy bind themselves to mutual +support in case of an attack on either by France. The third, between +Austria-Hungary and Italy, binds the signatories to benevolent +neutrality in case Austria-Hungary is attacked by Russia, or Italy by +France. + +That there are weak points in the Triple Alliance is obvious. If +Austria-Hungary were a purely homogeneous country like France or +Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary, even without Italy, could face +with confidence an attack from either or both their powerful +neighbours. But Austria-Hungary is not homogeneous. A large proportion +of her population is anti-German, or at least non-German, and Italy is +always subject to be tempted by an opportunity of obtaining some of +Austria-Hungary's Adriatic possessions. Moreover, a large party is +even now to be found in Austria-Hungary which desires revenge for the +humiliation of her defeat by Germany in 1866. + +The relations of Germany to Russia have always been rather those of +friendship between the monarchs of the two countries than of +friendship between the two peoples; and it is easy to understand that +the fear of revolution, Socialism, or "government of the people, by +the people, for the people," to use Lincoln's celebrated phrase, at +all times forms a strong and active bond of sympathy between the +monarchs. In the case of Russia there is also always to be considered +the obstinate, or as the Emperor would call it knightly, spirit in +which his grandfather, King William I, regarded his obligation to +maintain friendship with the Czar, and which for a long time made him +hostile to the idea of alliance with Austria instead of alliance with +Russia. The feeling, it is highly probable, is strong, if not equally +strong, in the mind of the Emperor to-day, if only out of respect for +the memory of his ancestor. There is not, to use a popular expression, +much love lost between the two peoples, not only because of racial +differences between Teuton and Slav, but because of the differences in +religion and in degree of civilization. There are not a few Germans +who assert that Germany's next war will be with Russia, and that from +the dominions of the Czar will be obtained the fresh territory Germany +needs for her constantly expanding population. + +The Czar returned the Emperor's accession visit in Berlin in October, +1889, and it was on this occasion that the first sign of trouble +between the Emperor and the old Chancellor showed itself. When the +Emperor first proposed to make his round of visits of accession to +foreign sovereigns, Bismarck agreed except as regarded Russia and +England, objecting that visits to these countries would have an +alternatively bad effect in each. The Emperor, however, as has been +noted, went to Russia. During the return visit in Berlin, Bismarck had +an interview with the Czar which resulted in the final adjustment of +Russo-German relations, but at its close the Czar said, "Yes, I +believe you and have confidence in you, but are you sure you will +remain in office?" Bismarck looked surprised, and said, "Certainly, +Majesty; I am quite certain I shall remain in office all my life"--an +odd thing, one may remark, for a man to say, who must have been +familiar with the saying, "Put not your trust in princes." + +When the Czar was going away, both the Emperor and Bismarck +accompanied him to the station, and on their return the Emperor gave +the old Chancellor a seat in his carriage. The talk concerned the +visit just over, and the Emperor again announced his intention of +spending some time in Russia the following year. Bismarck now advised +against the project on the ground that it would arouse hostility in +Austria, and because "it was not suitable considering the Czar's +disposition towards the Emperor." + +"What disposition? What do you mean? How do you know?" questioned the +Emperor quickly. + +"From confidential letters I am in the habit of receiving from St. +Petersburg, in addition to official reports," replied the Chancellor. + +The Emperor expressed a wish to see the letters, but Bismarck gave an +evasive answer. The result was a temporary coolness between Emperor +and Chancellor. + +From a memorandum of Prince Hohenlohe's we get a glimpse of one of the +political currents and anti-currents just now running high. Prince +Hohenlohe writes under date, June 27, 1888, when the Emperor was +hardly a fortnight on the throne:-- + + "Last evening at 8 left Berlin with Thaden after supping + with Victor and Franz (son and nephew) in the Kaiserhof + Hotel. Paid several visits during the day. I found Friedberg + somewhat depressed. He is no longer the big man he was in + the Emperor Frederick's time, when everybody courted him. He + knows that the Emperor does not favour Jews. Then I visited + the new chief of the Cabinet (civil), Lucanus, a courtly, + polished, obliging man, who looks more like an elegant + Austrian privy councillor. Wilmoski inspires me with more + confidence. At 5 to Bleichroeder's (Bleichroeder was the + great Jew banker). We spoke, or rather he spoke first, about + the political situation. He is satisfied, and says Bismarck + is too. Only the Emperor must take care to keep out of the + hands of the Orthodox. People in the country wouldn't stand + that. (He is right there, comments Hohenlohe.) Waldersee and + his followers, he said, was another danger. Waldersee was a + foe of Bismarck's and thought himself fit for anything and + everything. Who knows but that these gentlemen wouldn't + begin the old game and say to the Emperor, 'You are simply + nothing but a doll. Bismarck is the real ruler.' On the old + Emperor this would have made no impression, but the young + one would be more sensitive. Bismarck, therefore, wanted + Waldersee's banishment, and would, if he could, send him to + Strasburg (where Hohenlohe was Statthalter) as commanding + general. Perhaps he was only aiming at making me (Hohenlohe) + sick of my post and so get rid of Waldersee, his enemy, when + I cleared out. Bleichroeder said Bismarck only introduced + the compulsory pass system to show the Emperor that he too + could act sharply against the French, and so as to take the + wind out of the sails of the military party. Bismarck was + thinking above all about seating his son Herbert firmly in + the saddle (Herbert was Secretary of State for Foreign + Affairs). That is the sole motive of his action and thought. + There was therefore no prospect of matters in the Rhineland + improving. As to Russia, Bleichroeder expected some + occurrence, something out of the way (_exotisches_) by which + Russia might be won, either the withdrawal of troops from + the frontier or a meeting of Emperors. The Emperor, Bismarck + said, would not begin a war. If it came, however, it would + not be unwelcome to him." + +Prince Hohenlohe also tells of a visit he paid in the month of the +accession to the widowed Empress Frederick. "She is much bowed down," +he said, + + "very harassed-looking, and I feel sure that all this recent + time, all the last year in fact, she has been displaying an + artificial good-humour, for now I find her in deep distress. + At first she could not speak for weeping. We spoke of the + Emperor Frederick's last days, then she recovered herself a + little and complained of the wickedness and meanness of men, + by which she meant to allude to certain people.... Herbert + Bismarck had had the impudence to tell the Prince of Wales + (later Edward VII) that an Emperor who could not talk and + discuss things should not be allowed to reign, and so on. + The Prince of Wales, the Empress said, told Herbert that if + it were not that he valued good relations between England + and Germany, he would have thrown him out of the door.... + Waldersee was a false, unprincipled wretch, who would think + nothing of ruining his country if he could only satisfy his + own personal ambition." + +Prince Hohenlohe finally called on the Prince of Wales, who "spoke +prudently, but showed his disgust at the roughness of the Bismarcks, +and could not understand their policy of irritating France." + +The particular question concerning France that was agitating Germany +at the time of the accession was the state of affairs in +Alsace-Lorraine, and particularly Bismarck's measure requiring French +citizens entering the provinces to provide themselves with a pass from +the German Ambassador in Paris. The amiable and conciliatory +Statthalter, Prince Hohenlohe, had to make a reluctant journey to +Berlin in connexion with this question. There was another question +also weighing on his mind--the question whether or not he should have +a sentry guard before his official residence in Strasburg. The +military authorities, whose rivalry with the civil authorities +everywhere in Germany for influence and power still continues, wanted +to have the sentries abolished, but the Prince eventually had his way. +He showed Bismarck that they were necessary for his reputation with +the population, which had already begun to think less of his influence +as Statthalter owing to his one day at a review having incautiously +and gallantly taken a back seat in his carriage in favour of some lady +guests. + +In normal times the composers of speeches from the throne are +accustomed to describe the relations between their own and foreign +countries as "friendly." When the relations are not friendly, yet not +the opposite, they are usually registered on the political barometer +as "correct." The attitude on both sides is formal, rigorously polite, +reserved; such as would become a pair of people who had once been at +feud and after their quarrel had been fought out agreed, if only for +the sake of appearances, to show no outward animosity, but on the +other hand not give an inch of way. The position of France and Germany +is "correct"; it has never been friendly since 1870; and it must be +many a long year before it can be friendly again. Apart from the +difference between the Latin and Teutonic temperaments, apart from the +legacy of hate left in Germany against France by the sufferings and +humiliations the great Napoleon caused her, apart from the fact that +one people is republican and the other monarchical, there is always +one thing that will prevent reconciliation--the loss by France of the +fair provinces Alsace and Lorraine. It is of no use for Germany to +remind France that up to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 this +territory belonged to Germany, or rather to what then was known by +that name. It was useless as well as ungracious for Bismarck to tell +France to seek compensation in Africa for what she had lost in Europe. +Like Rachel mourning for her children, France will not be comforted; +and now, as from the heavy hour in which she lost the provinces, she +grieves over the memory of them and nurses the hope, still mingled +with hate, of one glorious day regaining them. There are sanguine +spirits who assert that the old feeling is dying out, and the German +Government studiously encourages that view. It may be so; time is +having its obliterating effects; and in externals at least the +Germanization of the provinces is slowly making progress. Still the +wound is deep, and there seems no prospect of its healing. + +Several suggestions have been made with a view to an arrangement that +might leave France without reason, or with less reason, for constant +meditation on revenge One of them is the neutralization of +Alsace-Lorraine on the model of Belgium, while another is the +distribution of the territory, so that while Alsace is divided between +Baden and Bavaria, Lorraine becomes a part of Prussia A third would +divide the provinces between the two nations. An illustration of the +yet prevailing feeling is found in the fact that large Alsatian firms +invariably use French in their correspondence with Berlin firms, and +almost as invariably refer to the "customs-arrangement" with Germany +in 1871. They cannot bring themselves to use the word "annexation." + +Yet of late years--to anticipate somewhat the course of +events--Germany has made two important concessions to Alsace-Lorraine. +The first was the abrogation of the so-called "Dictator-Paragraph," +which was part of the law for administering the new provinces after +the war of 1870. Under the paragraph the Lieutenant-Governor +(Oberpresident) of the Reichsland, as the newly incorporated territory +is now officially known, was empowered in case of need to take command +of the military forces and proclaim a state of siege. When announcing +the abrogation of the Paragraph in the Reichstag in 1902, Chancellor +von Buelow gave a resume of the relations of the provinces to the +Empire since 1870. He stated that immediately after the war the +population were not disposed to incorporation in the Empire, as they +thought the new state of things would only be temporary and that +France would soon reconquer the provinces. This state of feeling, the +Chancellor explained, naturally reacted on the Government, which +accordingly laid down the principle that the claims of the provinces +to equal political rights with other parts of the Empire could only be +recognized step by step, as the Government was satisfied that the +population conformed to the new order of things. + +The second important concession to the Provinces was made only +recently, when the provincial committee was replaced by a popularly +elected Diet and the Provinces were granted three seats in the Federal +Council. There is a proviso that in case of equality in the Council +meetings the votes shall not be allowed to turn the scale in favour of +Prussia. The limitation is a concession to the susceptibilities of the +other Federal states. + +Germany's relations with Great Britain at the time of the accession +were unclouded. Mr. Gladstone had been defeated on his Home Rule +proposals and Lord Salisbury was back in power. A lull had occurred in +British relations with the Transvaal. All nations, including Germany, +were beginning to turn their attention to the Orient with a view to +the acquisition in Asia of "spheres of influence and spheres of +interest," but as yet English and German interests had not come +anywhere into conflict. + +The Emperor's great internal foe and the object of his special enmity +is the Social Democracy, and practically from the day of his accession +he has waged war with it. His attitude towards the Socialists requires +no long description, since it logically results from his traditional +conception of Prussian monarchy and from the revolutionary character +of Social Democratic aims. While a young man he paid little or no +attention to the movement, and probably regarded it as the "passing +phenomenon" he subsequently declared it to be. In 1884 the number of +Social Democratic voters was something over half a million, and the +number of Social Democratic members returned to the Reichstag 25: in +1890, two years after the accession, the figures were a million and a +half and 35 respectively. + +The Emperor's denunciation of Social Democrats has always been +unmeasured. "A crew undeserving the name of Germans," a "plague that +must be extirpated," "traitors," "people without a country and enemies +to religion," "foes to the Empire and the country"--such were a few of +the expressions he then and during the next few years publicly applied +to three millions of his subjects. To-day, it may be added, the number +of Social Democrats in Germany is well over four millions. + +In 1889, in reply to a deputation of three coal miners' +representatives, the Emperor said: + + "As regards your demands, I will have them carefully + investigated (a phrase, by the way, not unknown in England) + by my Government, and let you know the result through the + usual official channels. Should, however, offences against + public peace and order occur, should a connexion between + your movement and Social Democratic circles be demonstrated, + I would not be in a position to weigh your wishes with my + royal goodwill, since for me every Social Democrat is the + same thing as a foe to the Empire and the Fatherland. + Accordingly, if I see that Social Democratic tendencies mix + with the movement and lead to unlawful opposition, I will + intervene with all my powers--and they are great." + +And a month later: + + "That the Radical agitation of the Social Democracy has + turned so many heads and hearts is due to the fact that in + schools, high and low, too little is taught about the cruel + deeds of the French Revolution and too little about the + heroic deeds of the War of Liberation, which was (with the + help of English bayonets, be it parenthetically remarked) + the salvation of the Fatherland." + +In 1892, to anticipate by a year or two, in reply to a guest who had +observed that Social Democrats were not decreasing in numbers, the +Emperor remarked: + + "The moment the Social Democracy feels itself in possession + of power it will not hesitate for an instant to attack the + Burghertum (middle classes) very energetically. No + exhibition of general benevolence is of any use against + these people--here only religious feeling, founded on + decided faith, can have any influence." + +The Emperor, referring to the murder of a manufacturer in Mulhausen, +said: "Another victim to the revolutionary movement kept alive by the +Socialists. If only our people would act like men!" + +And yet it is obvious, looking at it from the standpoint of to-day, +that an admirably organized movement with four million parliamentary +voters in an electorate of fourteen millions, with no members in an +Imperial Parliament of 397 with representatives, more or less +numerous, on almost every municipal board of any importance in the +Empire, with the power of disturbing at any moment the relations +between capital and labour, upon which the prosperity, security, and +comfort of the whole population depend, and in intimate relations with +the Socialists of all other countries, cannot be merely ignored or +disposed of by scornful and sarcastic speeches, by official anathema, +or even by close police supervision. There must be something behind it +all which ought to be susceptible of explanation. + +Before, however, attempting to conjecture what the something is, it +will be advisable, familiar to many though the facts must be, to +recapitulate, as briefly as possible, the history of the movement. Old +as the story is, it is necessary to have some knowledge of it, for +Social Democracy is the great, perhaps the only, domestic political +thorn in the Emperor's side. + +It is a truism to say that the "social question," the question how +best to organize society, is as old as society itself. Great thinkers +all down the ages, from Plato to Sir Thomas More, from More to Jean +Jacques Rousseau, from Rousseau to Saint Simon, Fourier, Louis Blanc, +Lassalle, and Karl Marx, have devoted their attention to it. The +French Revolutionists tried to solve it, and the revolutionary +movement of 1848 took up the problem in its turn. + +German Social Democracy may be referred for its source to the +teachings of Louis Blanc, who formed in 1840 a workmen's society in +Paris. Blanc held, as the Social Democrats hold, that capitalism was +the cause of all social evil, and that the workman was powerless +against it. He therefore proposed the establishment of workmen's +societies for purposes of production, and the grant of the necessary +capital at a low rate of interest by the State. The doctrine was taken +up in Germany with fiery enthusiasm by Ferdinand Lassalle, who, in +May, 1863, founded the General German Workmen's Society for a +"peaceful, lawful agitation" in favour of universal suffrage as a +first means to the desired end. Universal suffrage was granted by the +North German Confederation in 1867, and in 1873 Lassalle's adherents +numbered 60,000. + +Meanwhile, Karl Marx and his disciple, Frederic Engels, had been +propagating their theories, and in 1848 the former published his +famous work on the ideal social state. At first Marx was a partizan of +revolutionary methods, but he subsequently recanted this view and +proclaimed that the Socialistic aim in future should be the +"strengthening of the economic and political power of the workman so +that the expropriation of private property could be obtained by +legislation." The Marxian doctrine was adopted in Germany by Wilhelm +Liebknecht and August Bebel, who, at Eisenach in 1869, founded the +Association of Social Democratic Workmen, to which the present German +party owes its name. The Eisenach programme declared "the economic +dependence of the workmen on the monopolists of the tools of labour +the foundation of servitude and social evil," and demanded "the +economic emancipation of the working classes." An attempt to get the +Lassalle society to join the Eisenacher society on an international +basis failed for the time, but the two associations finally coalesced +at the Gotha Congress of 1875. + +The attempt on the life of William I in 1878 by the anarchist Nobiling +had an important effect on the fortunes of the party and the character +of its programme. The Socialist Laws were passed and the police began +a campaign against the Socialists, of which the mildest features were +the dissolution of societies, the searching of houses, the expulsion +of suspected persons, and the interdiction of Socialist newspapers and +periodicals. + +For the next few years the party held its annual congresses in +Switzerland or Denmark, but as the Socialist Laws ceased to have +effect after three years, and were not then renewed, the party resumed +its congresses in Germany. The Congress at Erfurt in 1891 resulted in +the issue of a new programme rejecting the Lassalle plan for the +establishment of workmen's societies for productive purposes and +substituting for it the transfer of all capitalistic private property +engaged in the means of production, such as lands, mines, raw +material, tools, machinery, and means of transport, to the State. The +term used in the programme is "state," not "society," but the State is +in fact nothing but the society armed with coercive powers. + +Other objects are universal suffrage for both sexes over twenty, +electoral reform, two-year parliaments, direct legislation "through +the people," some form of parliamentary government, autonomy of the +people in Empire, State, Province, and Parish, conscription, national +militia instead of standing army, international arbitration, abolition +of State religion, free and compulsory education, abolition of capital +punishment, free burial, free medical assistance, free legal advice +and advocacy, progressive succession duties, inheritance tax, +abolition of indirect taxation and customs, parliamentary decisions as +to peace and war, and undenominationalism in schools. + +Especially for the working classes are intended the following: +National and international protective legislation for workmen on the +basis of a normal eight hours day, prohibition of child labour under +fourteen years, prohibition of night work save rendered necessary by +the nature of the work or the welfare of society, superintendence of +labour and its relations by a Ministry of Labour, thorough workshop +hygiene, equality of status between the agricultural labourer, servant +class, and the artisan, right of association, and State insurance, as +to which the working class should have an authoritative voice. + +The programme contains nothing as to the practical consequences of the +provisions it contains, but Herr Bebel, in his book on "Woman and +Social Democracy," gives some examples. One is that the working time +will be alike for men and women, another that domestic life will be +limited to the cohabitation of man and woman, for children are to be +brought up by society, and a third that cooking and washing will be +the care of central public kitchens and washhouses. Meanwhile, all +these years, it may be noted, Herr Bebel and his millions of followers +have been living exactly like everybody else. + +The student of working-class conditions in Germany is unlikely to +think clearly unless he distinguishes between such terms as Social +Democracy, Socialism, Trade Unionism, and Labour party. Social +Democracy is a species of Socialism. All Social Democrats are +Socialists, but not all Socialists Social Democrats. The latter, as an +enrolled political party, paying annual subscriptions and looking +forward to the future state as conceived by Marx, and now by Bebel, +number something under a million; the remaining three millions who +voted for Social Democratic candidates at the last general election +may have included men who believe in Social Democratic ideals, but the +vast majority of them, unless one does grave injustice to their common +sense, voted for such candidates owing to dissatisfaction with the +policy of the Government and present conditions generally--the high +cost of living, the pressure of taxation, the severity of class +distinctions, and like grievances, real or imaginary. These people are +Socialists in the English or international sense of the word, not +Social Democrats strictly speaking; and with these people the Emperor +is most angry because he knows they form the element most capable of +dangerous expansion. + +Again, though the vast majority of German Socialists in the broader +sense are Trade Unionists, not all Trade Unionists are Socialists. +Trade Unionism--the organization of labour against capital--is +represented in Germany by two main bodies; the free or Socialist +Unions containing about two million working men, and the "Christian" +or loyal "National" Unions, which are anti-Social Democrat and +anti-Socialist. These have a membership of about 300,000. The +Hirsch-Duncker Unions, with 100,000 members, are Liberal, but also +loyal and anti-Socialist. In labour conflicts, naturally, as +distinguished from politics, all workmen of the particular branch in +conflict work together, whether they are Socialist or not. It need +only be added that there is no so-called "Labour party" in the German +Parliaments. The Social Democratic party in the Reichstag represents +labour interests generally, and promote them much more insistently and +successfully than they do the Utopia of their dreams. + +But enough has been said to show the comprehensive and revolutionary +nature of Social Democratic doctrine. The only other feature that +requires mention in connexion with the movement is the desire on the +part of a section of the party for a revision of its programme. The +party of revision is usually identified with the names of Heinrich von +Vollmar, who first suggested it, and Eduard Bernstein, who is in +favour of trying to realize that portion of the programme which deals +with the social needs of the existing generation, the demands of the +present day, and would leave to posterity the attainment of the final +goal. The views of the Revisionists differ also from those of the +Radicals in respect of two other main questions which divide the +party, that of voting budgets and that of going to court. The +Revisionists are willing to do both, and the Radicals to do neither. A +decisive split in the party is annually looked for, but hitherto, when +congress-day came, the Revisionists, for the sake of peace and unity +in the party, have refrained from pushing their views to extremes. One +might suppose that professors of the tenets of Social Democracy would +get into trouble with the police, but they avoid arrest and +imprisonment by taking care to avoid attacking property or the family, +advocating a republic, or introducing religious questions into their +discussions. + +In dealing with the growth of Social Democracy in Germany the +philosophic historian would doubtless refer to the French Revolution, +or go still farther back to the Reformation, as the starting-point of +every great change in the views of civilized mankind during the last +four and a half centuries; but it is with more recent times these +pages are chiefly concerned and consequently with causes now +operative. The main specific cause is the change from agriculture to +industry, and with it the growth of what is generally spoken of as +"industrialism." Industrialism means the assemblage of large masses of +intelligent men forming a community of their own, with its special +conditions and the wants and wishes arising from them. This is the +most fertile field for Socialism, for a new organization of society. +In Germany Socialistic ideas kept growing with the increase of +industrialism, and came to a head with the attempts by Hoedel and +Nobiling on the life of the Emperor William. The anti-Socialist laws, +passed for a definite period, followed, but they were not renewed; the +Emperor and his Government pressed on instead with a great and +far-reaching social policy, and Socialism, in the form of Social +Democracy, freed from restraint, took a new lease of life. + +Another cause of as general, but less ponderable, a nature is the +remnant of the feudal spirit and feudal manners which lingers in the +attitude of the German governing and official classes towards the rest +of the population. The most objectionable features of the feudal +system have passed away, the cruel and exclusive rights and privileges +which only men in ignorant personal servitude to an all-powerful +master could permanently endure; but traces of the system still exist +in the official attitude towards the public and in the tone of the +official communications issued by the administrative services +generally. Attitude and tone may be referred in part to the +traditional character of the Prussian monarchy, which regards the +people as a flock of sheep, or as a "talent," as the Emperor has +called it, entrusted to its care and management by Heaven; but it is +also due in part to the systematization of public life--and largely of +private life--which at times makes the foreigner inclined to think +Germany at once the most Socialistic and at the same time the most +tyrannically ruled country in the world. Everything in Germany must be +done systematically, and the system must be the result of development. +But there is no use in having a system unless it is enforced--otherwise +it remains, like Social Democracy, a theory. Compulsion, therefore, +is necessary, and the Government provides it through its official +machinery and its police. The systematization has enormous public +advantages, but it is difficult for the Anglo-Saxon, jealous of his +individual right to direct his public life through his own +representatives and his private life according to his own judgment, +to accommodate himself to a system which seems to him unduly to +interfere with both right and judgment. + +Perhaps it is the manner in which, under the name of authority, +compulsion is exercised by subordinate officialdom and in especial by +the police, as much as the compulsion itself, which irritates in +Germany. Every profession, business, trade, and occupation, down to +that of selling matches and newspapers in the streets, is meticulously +regulated; and while there is nothing to object to in this, what +strikes the Anglo-Saxon as objectionable is that the regulations are +enforced with the manners and in the tone of a drill-sergeant. The +official in Germany, he finds, is not the servant of the public. There +is a story current in England of a Duke of Norfolk, when +Postmaster-General, going into a district post-office and asking for a +penny stamp. The clerk was dilatory, and the Duke remonstrated. "Who +are you, I should like to know?" asked the clerk impertinently, "that +you are laying down the law." "I am the public," replied the Duke +simply, at the same time showing the clerk his card. An English +Foreign Secretary once told a deputation that the Ministry was +"waiting for instructions from their employers--the people." In +Germany it is the opposite; the official is the master and the public +his dutiful servant. In Germany the official expects marked deference +from the public: the post-office clerk is "Mr. Official," the guardian +of the law "Mr. Policeman" (with your hat off). The Anglo-Saxon rather +expects the deference to be on the other side, and has a sordid +subconsciousness that he pays the official for his services. Perhaps +the Social Democrat has something of the same feeling. + +One of the chief consequences of industrialism in Germany is that the +people of the country are migrating to the towns. To the country +bumpkin the city is an Eldorado and a lordly pleasure-house. In truth, +he is much better off in it than in the stagnant life of the country. +In the city he sees comfort on every hand, with possibilities of +enjoyment of every kind, and if he does not soon get a share of the +good things going he grows discontented and turns Socialist. In the +city, too, he learns to think and compare, he perceives the +distinction of classes and notices that certain classes have open to +them careers from which he is excluded. Then there is the apparently +inevitable antagonism between labour and capital, between the employer +and employed, which drives the worker to Social Democracy, as offering +the prospect of his becoming his own master and enjoying the whole +fruits of his labour. He may not know Matthew Arnold's "Sick King in +Bokhara," but he would endorse Arnold's lines:-- + + "And these all, for a lord + Eat not the fruit of their own hands; + Which is the heaviest of all plagues + To that man's mind, who understands." + +But whatever its causes, Social Democracy is one of the most curious +and anomalous societies extant. In a country which worships order, it +calls for absolute disorder. A revolutionary movement, it anxiously +avoids revolution. It is a magnificent organization for no apparent +practical, direct, or immediate purpose. Proclaiming the protection of +the law and enjoying the blessing of efficient government, it yet +refuses to vote the budget to pay for them. It supports a large +parliamentary party without any clear or consistent parliamentary +policy in internal or external affairs, unless to be "agin the +Government" is a policy. And lastly, if some of its economic demands +are justifiable, and have in several respects been satisfied by modern +legislation, its fundamental doctrine, the basis of the entire +edifice, is a wild hallucination, sickening to common sense, and +completely out of harmony with the progressive economic development of +all nations, including its own. + +In conclusion, it may be added that the social side of the Social +Democracy is perhaps too often unrecognized or ignored by the foreign +observer. Life for the poorer classes in Germany is apt to be more +monotonous and dull than for the poorer classes of any country which +nature has blessed with more fertility, more sunshine, more diversity +of hill and dale, and where people are more mutually sociable and +accommodating. Social Democracy offers something by way of remedy to +this: a field of interest in which the workers can organize and make +processions and public demonstrations and can talk and theorize and +dispute, and in which the woman can share the interest with the man; +or a club, a social club with the largest membership in the world +except freemasonry. + +We must return, however, to the Emperor. During this period, in +December, 1890, he, like every one else with his own ideas on +education as well as on art and religion, delivered his views on +popular instruction. At this time--he was then thirty--he called +together forty-five of the ablest educational experts of the country +and addressed them on the subject of high-school education. His +Minister of Education, Dr. von Grossler, had drawn up a programme of +fourteen points for discussion, and the Emperor added to these a few +others he wished to have considered. + +German high-school education, be it remarked, is a different thing +from English public-school education, and ought rather to be spoken of +as German information than as German education. We have seen that the +spirit of the German university differs largely from that of the +English university, in that it is not concerned with the formation of +character or the inculcation of manners. The same may be said of the +German gymnasium, or high school, the institution from which the +German youth, as a rule, goes to college. No teaching institution, +English or German, be it further said on our own account, makes any +serious attempt to teach what will prepare youth for intercourse with +the extremely complicated world of to-day, to give him, to take but +one example, the faintest notion of contract, which, if he possessed +it, would save him from many a foolish undertaking and protect him +from many a business betrayal, Far from it. All the disagreeable, and +many of the painful incidents of his subsequent life, all equally +avoidable if knowledge regarding them had been instilled into him in +his early years, he must buy with money and suffering and disgust in +after-years. + +But the Emperor is waiting to be heard. His entire speech need not be +quoted, but only its chief contentions. In introducing his remarks he +claimed to speak with knowledge as having himself sat on a +public-school bench at Cassel. + +The Social Democracy being to the Emperor what King Charles's head was +to Mr. Dick, it is not surprising to find almost his first statement +being to the effect that if boys had been properly taught up to then, +there would be no Social Democracy. Up to 1870, he said, the great +subject of instruction for youth was the necessity for German unity. +Unity had been achieved, the Empire was now founded, and there the +matter rested. "Now," said the Emperor, "we must recognize that the +school is for the purpose of teaching how the Empire is to be +maintained. I see nothing of such teaching, and I ought to know, for I +am at the head of the Empire, and all such questions come under my +observation. What," he continues, + + "is lacking in the education of our youth? The chief fault + is that since 1870 the philologists have sat in the high + schools as _beati possidentes_ and laid chief stress upon + the knowledge to be acquired and not on the formation of + character and the demands of the present time. Emphasis has + been put on the ability to know, not on the ability to + do--the pupil is expected to know, that is the main thing, + and whether what he knows is suitable for the conduct of + life or not is considered a secondary matter. I am told the + school has only to do with the gymnastics of the mind, and + that a young man, well trained in these gymnastics, is + equipped for the needs of life. This is all wrong and can't + go on." + +Then the Empire-builder speaks--what is wanted above all is a national +basis. + + "We must make German the foundation for the gymnasium: we + must produce patriotic young Germans, not young Greeks and + Romans. We must depart from the centuries-old basis, from + the old monastic education of the Middle Ages, when Latin + was the main thing and a tincture of Greek besides. That is + no longer the standard. German must be the standard. The + German exercise must be the pivot on which all things turn. + When in the exit examination (_Abiturientenexamen_) a + student hands in a German essay, one can judge from it what + are the mental acquirements of the young man and decide + whether he is fit for anything or not. Of course people will + object--the Latin exercise is very important, very good for + instructing students in other languages, and so on. Yes, + gentlemen, I have been through the mill. How do we get this + Latin exercise? I have often seen a young man get, say 4-1/2 + marks, for his German exercise--'satisfactory,' it was + considered--and 2 for his Latin exercise. The youngster + deserved punishment instead of praise, because it is clear + he did not write his Latin exercise in a proper way; and of + all the Latin exercises we wrote there was not one in a + dozen which was done without cribbing. These exercises were + marked 'good,' but when we wrote an essay on 'Minna von + Barnhelm' (one of Lessing's dramas) we got hardly + 'satisfactory.' So I say, away with the Latin exercise, it + only harms us, and robs us of time we might give to German." + +The Emperor goes on to recommend the study of the nation's history, +geography, and literature ("Der Sage," poetry, he calls it). + + "Let us begin at home," he says; "when we have learned + enough at home, we can go to the museums. But above all we + must know our German history. In my time the Grand Elector + was a very foggy personage, the Seven Years' War was quite + outside consideration, and history ended with the close of + the last century, the French Revolution. The War of + Liberation, the most important for the young citizen, was + not taught thoroughly, and I only learned to know it, thank + God, through the very interesting lectures of Dr. Hinzpeter. + This, however, is the _punctum saliens_. Why are our young + men misled? Why do we find so many unclear, confused + world-improvers? Why is our government so cavilled at and + criticized, and so often told to look at foreign nations? + Because the young men do not know how our conditions have + developed, and that the roots of the development lie in the + period of the French Revolution. Consequently, I am + convinced that if they understood the transition period from + the Revolution to the nineteenth century in its fundamental + features, they would have a far better understanding of the + questions of to-day than they now have. At the universities + they can supplement their school knowledge." + +The Emperor then turned to other points. It was "absolutely necessary" +to reduce the hours of work. When he was at school, he said, all +German parents were crying out against the evil, and the Government +set on foot an inquiry. He and his brother (Henry) had every morning +to hand a memorandum to the head master showing how many hours it had +taken them to prepare the lessons for the day. In the Emperor's case +it took, "honestly," from 5-1/2 to 7 hours' home study. To this was to +be added 6 hours in school and 2 hours for eating meals--"How much of +the day," the Emperor asks, "was left? If I," he said, "hadn't been +able to ride to and from school I wouldn't have known what the world +even looked like." The result of this, he continued, was an + + "over-production of educated people, more than the nation + wanted and more than was tolerable for the sufferers + themselves. Hence the class Bismarck called the + abiturienten-proletariat, all the so-called hunger + candidates, especially the Mr. Journalists, who are often + broken-down scholars and a danger to us. This surplus, far + too large as it is, is like an irrigation field that cannot + soak up any more water, and it must be got rid of." + +Another matter touched on by the Emperor was a reduction in the amount +to be learned, so that more time might be had for the formation of +character. This cannot be done now, he remarks, in a class containing +thirty youngsters, who have such a huge amount of subjects to master. +The teacher, too, the Emperor said, must learn that his work is not +over when he has delivered his lecture. "It isn't a matter of +knowledge," he concludes "but a matter of educating the young people +for the practical affairs of life." + +The Emperor lastly dealt with the subject of shortsightedness. "I am +looking for soldiers," he said. + + "We need a strong and healthy generation, which will also + serve the Fatherland as intellectual leaders and officials. + This mass of shortsightedness is no use, since a man who + can't use his eyes--how can he do anything later?" + +and he went on to mention the extraordinary facts that in some of the +primary classes of German schools as many as 74 per cent, were +shortsighted, and that in his class at Cassel, of the twenty-one +pupils, eighteen wore spectacles, while two of them could not see the +desk before them without their glasses. + +The Englishman in Germany often attributes German shortsightedness to +the Gothic character of German print. It is more probable that the +long hours of study spent poring over books without fresh-air +exercise, judiciously interposed, is responsible for it. + +It has been said that every one, like the Emperor, has his own theory +of education, but there is one passage in the Emperor's speech with +which almost all men will agree--that, namely, in which he urges that +knowledge is not the only--perhaps not the chief--thing, but that +young people must be educated for the practical affairs of life. +Unfortunately, as to how we are successfully to do this, the Emperor +is silent; and it may be that there is no certain or exact way. One +could, of course--but we are concerned with the Emperor. + +The difference of opinion between the Emperor and Bismarck regarding +the Emperor's visit to Russia seems to have left no permanent ill-will +in the Emperor's mind, for on returning in October, 1889, from visits +to Athens, where he attended the wedding of his sister Sophie with the +Heir-Apparent of Greece, Prince Constantine (now King Constantine), +and Constantinople, where he was allowed to inspect the Sultan's +seraglio, he sent a letter to the Chancellor praying God to grant that +the latter's "faithful and experienced counsel might for many years +assist him in his difficult and responsible office." In January, 1890, +however, the question of renewing the Socialist Laws, which would +expire shortly, came up for settlement. A council of Ministers, under +the Emperor's presidency, was called to decide it. When the council +met, Bismarck was greatly surprised by a proposal of the Emperor to +issue edicts developing the principles laid down by his grandfather +for working-class reform instead of renewing the Socialist Laws. The +Reichstag took the Emperor's view and voted against the renewal of the +Laws. It only now remained to give effect to the Emperor's edicts. +They were considered at a further council of Ministers, at which the +Emperor exhorted them to "leave the Social Democracy to me, I can +manage them alone." The Ministers agreed, and Bismarck was in a +minority of one. This, however, was only the beginning of the end. +Bismarck decided to continue in office until he had carried through +Parliament a new military Bill, which was to come before it in May or +June. Meanwhile fresh matters of controversy between the Emperor and +the Chancellor arose regarding the grant of imperial audiences to +Ministers other than the Chancellor. Bismarck insisted that the +Chancellor alone had the right to be received by the Emperor for the +discussion of State affairs. + +The quarrel was accentuated by a lively scene which occurred between +the Emperor and the Chancellor about this period in connexion with a +visit the leader of the Catholic Centre party had paid the Chancellor, +and on March 17th the Emperor sent his chief Adjutant, General von +Hahnke, to say he awaited the Chancellor's resignation. Bismarck +replied that to resign at this juncture would be an act of desertion; +the Emperor could dismiss him. At the same time the Chancellor +summoned a meeting of Ministers for the afternoon, but while they were +discussing the situation a message was brought from the Emperor +telling them he did not require their advice in such a matter and that +he had made up his mind about the Chancellor. The messenger on the +same occasion expressed to Bismarck the Emperor's surprise at not +having received a formal resignation. Bismarck's reply was that it +would require some days to prepare such a document, as it was the last +official statement of a "Minister who had played a meritorious part in +the history of Prussia and Germany, and history should know why he had +been dismissed." Three days later, on March 20th, an hour or two after +the formal resignation reached the palace, the Emperor's letter +granting the Chancellor's request for his release, naming him Duke of +Lauenburg and announcing the appointment of General von Caprivi as his +successor, was put into the old Chancellor's hands. + + + + +VI. + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR + +While the ex-Chancellor is bitterly meditating on the unreliability +and ingratitude of princes, yet having in his heart, as the records +clearly show, the loyal sentiments of a Cardinal Wolsey towards his +royal master, even though that master had cast him off, we may be +allowed to pause awhile in order to give some account of the Court of +which the Emperor now became the centre and pivot. + +Human imagination, in its worship of force as the source of ability to +achieve the ends of ambition and desire, very early conceived the +courts of kings as fairylands of power, wealth, luxury, and +magnificence--in a word, of happiness. The same imagination represents +the Almighty, whose true nature no one knows, as a monarch in the +bright court of heaven, and his great antagonist, Satan, who stands +for the king of evil, is enthroned by it amid the shades of hell. The +fiction that courts are a species of earthly paradise is still kept up +for the entertainment of children; while the adult, whom the annals of +all countries has made familiar with a long record of monarchs, bad as +well as good, is disposed to regard them as beneficial or otherwise to +a country according to the character and conduct of the occupant of +the throne, and to believe that they are at least as liable to produce +examples of vice and hypocrisy as of virtue and honesty. + +The court of the German Emperor in this connexion need not fear +comparison with any court described in history. True, courts all over +the world have improved wonderfully of recent years. Their monarchs +are more enlightened, they are frequented by a very different type of +man and woman from the courts of former times, their morale and +working are more closely scrutinized and more generally subjected to +criticism, and they are occupied with a more public and less selfish +order of considerations. The Court of the Emperor is, so far as can be +known to a lynx-eyed and not always charitably thinking public, +singularly free from the vices and failings the atmosphere of former +courts was wont to foster. There is at all times, no doubt, the +competition of politicians for influence and power acting and reacting +on the Court and its frequenters, but of scandal at the Court of +Berlin there has been none that could be fairly said to involve the +Emperor or his family. Dame Gossip, of course, busied herself with the +Emperor in his youth, but whatever truth she then uttered--and it is +probably extremely little--on this head, there is no question that +from the day he mounted the throne his Court and that of the Empress +has been a model for all institutions of the kind. + +The life of courts, the personages who play leading parts in them, +their wealth and luxury, and the currents of social, amorous, and +political intrigue which are supposed to course through them have in +all countries and in all ages strongly appealed to writers, fanciful +and serious. Perhaps one-third of the prose and poetic literature of +every country deals, directly or indirectly, with the subject, and +determines in no small degree the character of its rising generations. +The great architects of romance, depicting for us life in high places, +and often nobly idealizing it, or working the facts of history into +the web of their imaginings and thus pleasantly combining fact with +fiction, aim at elevating, not at debasing, the mind of the reader. A +second valuable source of information on the topic are the memoirs of +those who have set down their observations and recorded experiences +made in the courts to which they had access. Among this class, +however, are to be found unscrupulous as well as conscientious +authors, the former obviously cherishing some personal grievance or as +obviously actuated by malice, while the latter are usually moved by an +honest desire to tell the world things that are important for it to +know, and at the same time, it is not ill-natured to suspect, enhance +their own reputation with their contemporaries or with posterity. The +multitudinous tribe of anecdote inventors and retailers must also be +taken into account. In our own day there is still another source of +information, which, agreeably or odiously according to the temperament +of the reader, keeps us in touch with courts and what goes on +there--the periodical press; while afar off in the future one can +imagine the historian bent over his desk, surrounded by books and +knee-deep in newspapers, selecting and weighing events, studying +characters, developing personalities, and passing what he hopes may be +a final judgment on the court and period he is considering. + +For a study of the Emperor's life, as it passes in his Court, a large +number of works are available, but not many that can be described as +authoritative or reliable. Among the latter, however, may be placed +Moritz Busch's "Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of His History," three +volumes that make Busch almost as interesting to the reader as his +subject; Bismarck's own "Gedanke und Erinnerungen," which is chiefly +of a political nature; and the "Memorabilia of Prince Chlodwig +Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst," who was for several years Statthalter of +Alsace-Lorraine and subsequently became Imperial Chancellor in +succession to General von Caprivi. These works, with the collections +of the Emperor's speeches and the speeches and interviews of +Chancellor Prince von Buelow, may be ranked in the category of serious +and authentic contributions to the Court history of the period they +cover. Then there are several German descriptions of the Court, +reliable enough in their way which is a dull one, to those who are not +impassioned monarchists or hide-bound bureaucrats. In the category of +works by unscrupulous writers that entitled "The Private Lives of +William II and His Consort," by a lady-in-waiting to the Empress from +1888 to 1898, easily takes first place. Certainly it gives a lively +and often entertaining insight into the domestic life of the palace, +but it is so clearly informed by spite that it is impossible to +distinguish what is true in it from what is false or misrepresented. +Finally, for the closer study of individual events and the impressions +they made at the time of their happening, the daily press can be +consulted. For the Bismarck period the biography of Hans Blum is of +exceptional value. + +What may be termed the anecdotic literature of the Court is +particularly rich and trivial, and this is only to be expected in a +country where the monarchy and its representative are so forcibly and +constantly brought home to the people's consciousness. Yet it has its +uses, and is referred to, though sparingly, in the present work. "The +Emperor as Father of a Family," "The Emperor and His Daughter's +Uniform," "The Amiable Grandfather," "The Emperor as Husband," "The +Emperor as Card Player," "How the Emperor's Family is Photographed," +"What does the Emperor's Kitchen Look Like," "Adieu, Auguste" +("Auguste" is the Empress), "The English Lord and the Emperor's +Cigarettes," "When My Wife Makes You a Sandwich," "What the Emperor +Reads," "The Emperor's Handwriting," "Can the Emperor Vote?" (the +answer is, opinions differ), "Washing Day at the Emperor's," "The +Emperor and the Empress at Tennis," "Emperor and Auto," are the sort +of matters dealt with. Literature of this kind is beyond question +intensely interesting to vast numbers of people, but helps very little +towards understanding a singularly complex human being placed in a +high and extraordinarily responsible position. + +Strictly speaking, there is no Imperial Court in Germany, since the +King of Prussia, in accordance with the Imperial Constitution, always +succeeds to the imperial throne, and therefore officially the Court is +that of the King of Prussia only. The distinction is emphasized by the +fact that the Court is independent of the Empire as regards its +administration and finance. It is a state within a state, an _imperium +in imperio_. In all that pertains to it the Emperor is absolute ruler +and his executive is a special Ministry. At the same time it is almost +needless to add that the Court of Berlin is practically that of the +Empire. It is this character, apart from Prussia's size and +importance, that distinguishes it from other courts in Germany and +reduces them to comparative insignificance in foreign, though by no +means in German, consideration. + +The Court of the Empire and Prussia--and the same thing may be said of +the various other courts in Germany--engages popular interest and +attention to a much larger extent than is the case in England. The +fact is almost wholly due to the nature of the monarchy and of its +relations to the people. In England a great portion of the popular +attention is concentrated on Parliament and the fortunes of its two +great political parties. The attention given to the Court and its +doings is not of the same general and permanent character, but is +intermittent according to the occasion. The Englishman feels deep and +abiding popular interest at all times in Parliament, whether in +session or not, because it represents the people and is, in fact, and +for hundreds of years has been, the Government. + +The reverse may fairly be said to be the case in Germany. In Germany +popular attention has been from early times concentrated on the +monarch, his personality, sayings and doings, since in his hands lay +government power and patronage. Monarchy of a more or less absolute +character was accepted by the people, not only in Germany but all over +the Continent, as the normal and desirable, perhaps the inevitable, +state of things; and it is only since the French Revolution that +parliaments after the English pattern, that is by two chambers elected +by popular vote, yet in many important respects widely differing from +it, were demanded by the people or finally established. Up to +comparatively recent times the monarch in Prussia was an absolute +ruler. Frederick William IV, after the events of 1848, was compelled +to grant Prussia a Constitution which explicitly defined the +respective rights of the Crown and the people in the sphere of +politics; and the Imperial Constitution, drawn up on the formation of +the modern Empire, did the same thing as regards the Emperor and the +people of the Empire; but neither Constitution altered the nature of +the monarchy in the direction of giving governing power to the people. +Both secured the people legislative, but not governing power. +Government in the Empire and Prussia remains, as of old, an appanage, +so to speak, of the Court, and the fact of course tends to concentrate +attention on the Court. + +It has been said that the Court is a state within a state, an +_imperium in imperio_. In this state, within Prussia or within the +Empire, it is the same thing for our purpose, there are two main +departments, that of the Lord Chamberlain (_Oberstkammeramt_) and that +of the Master of the Household (_Ministerium des Koeniglichen Hauses_). +The first deals with all questions of court etiquette, court +ceremonial, court mourning, precedence, superintendence of the courts +of the Emperor's sons and near relatives, and of all Prussian court +offices. The second deals with the personal affairs of the Emperor and +his sons, the domestic administration of the palace, the management of +the Crown estates and castles, and is the tribunal that decides all +Hohenzollern differences and disputes that are not subject to the +ordinary legal tribunals. Connected with this Ministry are the +Herald's office and the Court Archives office. The chief Court +officials include, beside the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of the +Household, a Chief Court Marshal. The Master of the Household is also +Chief Master of Ceremonies, with a Deputy Master of Ceremonies who is +also Introducer of Ambassadors, two Court Marshals, a Captain of the +Palace Guards, a Court Chaplain, Court Physician, an Intendant in +charge of the royal theatres, a Master of the Horse who has charge of +the royal stables, a House Marshal, and a Master of the Kitchen. All +these officials are princes (_Fuerst_) or counts (_Graf_), with the +title Highness (_Durchlaucht_) or Excellency. + +Court officials also include the various nobles in charge of the royal +palaces, castles, and hunting lodges at Potsdam, Charlottenburg, +Breslau, Stettin, Marienburg, Posen, Letzlingen, Hohkoenigsberg, +Homberg von der Hoehe, Springe, Hubertusstock, Rominten, Korfu (the +"Achilleion"), Wiesbaden, Koenigsberg, etc., to the number of thirty +or more. The Empress has her own Court officials, including a Mistress +of the Robes and Ladies of the Bedchamber, also with the title of +Excellency, the Ladies being chosen from the most aristocratic +families of Germany. The Empress has her own Master of the Household, +physician, treasurer, and so on. Similarly with the households of the +Crown Prince, other royal princes and the Emperor's near relatives. + +Every order the Emperor gives that is not of a purely domestic kind +passes through one of his three cabinets--the Civil Cabinet, the +Military Cabinet, or the Marine Cabinet. The cost of the first, with +its chief, who receives L1,000 a year, and half a dozen subordinate +officials on salaries of L200 to L350, is budgeted at about L10,000 a +year. The Military Cabinet is a much larger establishment, having +several departments and a staff of half a hundred councillors and +clerks. The Naval Cabinet, on the other hand, is composed of only +three upper officials and five clerks. The Emperor's "civil list" is +returned in the Budget as L860,000 roughly. His entire annual revenue +does not exceed L1,000,000. Out of this he has to pay the expenses of +his married sons' households and make large contributions to public +charities. He was left, however, a very considerable sum of money by +the Emperor William. The Crown Prince, as such, receives a grant of +L20,000 a year, chiefly derived from the royal domain of Oels in +Silesia. Like all fathers of large families, the Emperor has been more +than once heard to complain that he finds it difficult to make both +ends meet. + +The Emperor's staff of adjutants are exceptionally useful and +important people. At their head is the chief of the Emperor's Military +Cabinet. Not less important are the members of the Emperor's Marine +Cabinet, consisting of admirals, vice-admirals, and wing-admirals. The +personal adjutants divide the day and night service between them, so +that there may always be three adjutants at the Emperor's immediate +disposal. The adjutant announces Ministers or other visitors to the +Emperor, telegraphs to say that His Majesty has an hour or an hour and +a half at his disposal at such-and-such a time, or intimates that an +audience of half an hour can be given in the train between two given +points. They act as living memorandum books, knock at the Emperor's +door to announce that it is time for him to go to this or that +appointment, remind him that a congratulatory telegram on some one's +seventieth birthday or other jubilee has to be sent, or perhaps +whispers that Her Majesty the Empress wishes to see him. All the +Emperor's correspondence passes through their hands. They accompany +the Emperor on his journeys and voyages, and when thus employed are +usually invited to his table. The Emperor reads of some new book and +tells an adjutant to order it, and the latter does so by communicating +with the Civil Cabinet. + +Court society in Berlin includes the German "higher" and "lower" +nobility, with the exception of the so-called Fronde, who proudly +absent themselves from it; the Ministers; the diplomatic corps; Court +officials; and such members of the burghertum, or middle class, as +hold offices which entitle them to attend court. The wives, however, +of those in the last category are not "court-capable" on this account, +nor is the middle class generally, nor even members of the Imperial or +Prussian Parliaments as such. Members of Parliament are invited to the +Court's seasonal festivities, but as a rule only members of the +Conservative parties or other supporters of the Government. The +nobility, as in England, is hereditary or only nominated for life, and +the hereditary nobility is divided into an upper and lower class. To +the former belongs members of houses that were ruling when the modern +Empire was established, and, while excluding the Emperor, who stands +above them, includes sovereign houses and mediatized houses. Some of +the ancient privileges of the nobility, such as exemption from +taxation, and the right to certain high offices, have been abolished, +but in practice the nobility still occupy the most important charges +in the administration and in the army. The privileges of the +mediatized princes consist of exemption from conscription, the +enjoyment of the Principle called "equality of birth," which prevents +the burgher wife of a noble acquiring her husband's rank, and the +right to have their own "house law" for the regulation of family +disputes and family affairs generally. No increase to the high +nobility of Germany can accrue as no addition will ever be made to the +once sovereign and mediatized families. With the exception of these +houses the rest of the German nobility, hereditary and non-hereditary, +is accounted as belonging to the lower nobility. That part of the +German aristocracy who refuse to go to court, and are accordingly +called by the name Fronde, first given to the opponents of Cardinal +Mazarin, in the reign of Louis XIV, consist chiefly of a few old +families of Prussian Poland, Hannover (the Guelphs), Brunswick, +Nassau, Hessen, and other annexed German territories, and of some +great Catholic houses in Bavaria and the Rhineland. Their dislike is +directed not so much against the Empire as against Prussia. The +Kulturkampf had the effect of setting a small number of ancient +Prussian ultramontane families against the Government. + +Not much that is complimentary can be said of the German aristocracy +as a whole. "Serenissimus" is to-day as frequently the subject of +bitter, if often humorous, caricature in the comic press as ever he +was. A few of the class, like Prince Fuerstenberg, Prince Hohenlohe, +Count Henkel-Donnersmarck and some others engage successfully in +commerce; many are practical farmers and have done a good deal for +agriculture; several are deputies to Parliament; but on the whole the +foreigner gets the impression that the class as such contributes but a +small percentage of what it might and should in the way of brains, +industry, or example to the welfare and the progress of the Empire. + +It is difficult to communicate an impression of the Court, whether at +the Schloss in Berlin or the New Palace in Potsdam, and at the same +time avoid the dry and dusty descriptions of the guide-books. If the +reader is not in Berlin, let him imagine the fragment of a mediaeval +town, situated on a river and fronted by a bridge; and on the bank of +the river a dark, square, massive and weather-stained pile of four +stories, with barred windows on the ground floor as defence against a +possibly angry populace, and a sentry-box at each of its two lofty +wrought-iron gates. It may be, as Baedeker informs us it is, a +"handsome example of the German renaissance," but to the foreigner it +can as equally suggest a large and grimy barracks as the +five-hundred-years-old palace of a long line of kings and emperors. +And yet, to any one acquainted with the blood-stained annals of +Prussian history, who knows something of the massive stone buildings +about it and of the people who have inhabited them, who strolls +through its interior divided into sombre squares, each with its cold +and bare parade-ground, who reflects on the relations between king and +people, closely identified by their historical associations, yet +sundered by the feudal spirit which still keeps the Crown at a +distance from the crowd, above all to the German versed in his +country's story--how eloquently it speaks! + +When one thinks of the Court of Berlin one should not forget that the +New Palace, the Emperor's residence at Potsdam, sixteen miles distant +from the capital, is as much, and as important, a part of it as the +royal palace in Berlin itself. The Emperor divides his time between +them, the former, when he is not travelling, being his more permanent +residence, and the latter only claiming his presence during the winter +season and for periods of a day or so at other parts of the year, when +occasion requires it. It is only during the six or eight weeks of the +winter season that the Empress and her daughter, Princess Victoria +Louise (now Duchess of Brunswick), go into residence at the Berlin +royal palace. There is a railway between Potsdam and Berlin, but since +the introduction of the motor-car the Emperor almost always uses that +means of conveyance for the half-hour's run between his Berlin and +Potsdam palaces. + +The other section of the Court, if Potsdam may be so described, is +hardly less rich in memories than the old palace by the Spree. Indeed +it is richer from the cosmopolitan point of view, for though Frederick +the Great was born in the Berlin Schloss and spent some of his time +there, it was at Potsdam that, when not campaigning, he may be said to +have lived and died. To this day, for the foreigner, his personality +still pervades the place, and that of the Emperor sinks, +comparatively, into the background. The tourist who has pored over his +Baedeker will learn that Potsdam has 53,000 inhabitants and is +"charmingly situated"--it depends on your temperament what the charm +is, and to guide-book framers all tourists have the same +temperament--on an island in the Havel "which here expands into a +series of lakes bounded by wooded hills." He will learn that the old +town-palace, which few visitors give a thought to, was built by the +Great Elector, that Frederick the Great lived here in "richly +decorated apartments with sumptuous furniture and noteworthy pictures +by Pater, Lancret, and Pesne"; that it contains a cabinet in which the +dining-table could be let up and down by means of a trap-door, and +"where the King occasionally dined with friends without risk of being +overheard by his attendants"; that the present Emperor, then Prince +William, lived here with his young wife when he was still only a +lieutenant. He will drive to the New Palace--now old, for it was built +by Frederick the Great in 1769, during the Seven Years' War, at a cost +of nearly half a million sterling--and gaze with interest at the +summer residence of the Emperor. If he is an American he may think of +his multi-millionaire fellow-citizen, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who, when +driving up to call on his erstwhile imperial schoolfellow and friend, +was nearly shot at by a sentry for whom the name Vanderbilt was no +"Open Sesame." He will see before him a main building, seven hundred +feet in length, three stories high, with the central portion +surmounted by a dome, its chief facade looking towards a park. The +whole, of course--for Baedeker is talking--forms an "imposing pile," +with "mediocre sculptures, but the effect of the weathered sandstone +figures against the red brick is very pleasing." Here the Emperor's +father, Frederick III, was born, lived as Crown Prince, reigned for +ninety-nine days, and died. Here, too, are more "apartments of +Frederick the Great," with pictures by Rubens, including an "Adoration +of the Magi," a good example of Watteau and a portrait of Voltaire +drawn by Frederick's own hand. In the north wing are situated the +present Emperor's suite of chambers, where distinguished men of all +countries have discussed almost every conceivable topic, political, +social, religious, martial, artistic, financial, and commercial, with +one of the most interesting talkers of his time. No bloody tragedy has +defiled the palace, as did the murder of Lord Darnley at Holyrood, +that of the Duke of Guise (Sir Walter Scott's "Le Balafre") the +chateau of Blois, the execution of the Bourbon Duc d'Enghien the +palace of Vincennes, or the murder of the boy princes the Tower of +London. But bloodless tragedy, and exquisite comedy, and farce too, +have doubtless had their hour within the walls. One such incident of +the politico-tragic kind was that which passed only two years ago +between the Emperor and his Imperial Chancellor, when Prince von Buelow +went as deputy from the Federal Council, the Parliament, and the +people to pray the Emperor to exercise more caution in his public, or +semi-public statements; and the historian may possibly find another, +and not without its touch of comedy, in the reception by the Emperor +of the Chinese prince, who headed the "mission of atonement" for the +murder of the Emperor's Minister in Pekin during the Boxer troubles. + +From the New Palace our foreigner will probably drive to the Marble +Palace, which (for Baedeker is ever at one's elbow with the facts) he +will mark was built in 1796 by Frederick William II, who died here, +was completed in 1845 by Frederick William IV, and was the residence +of the present Emperor at the time of his accession. + +But while our foreigner has been hurrying from one palace to another, +with his mind in a fog of historical and topographical confusion--if +he is an American, half-hoping, half-expecting to meet the Emperor or +Empress and secure a bow from one or other, or--why not?--one of +William's well-known vigorous _poignees de main_, there is always one +thought predominant in his mind--Sans Souci. That is the real object +of his quest, the main attraction that has brought him, all +unconscious of it, to Berlin, and not the laudable, but wholly +mistaken efforts of the "Society for the Promotion of Tourist +Traffic," which seeks to lure the moneyed and reluctant foreigner to +the German capital. Our foreigner enters the Park of Sans Souci and +his spirit is at rest. Now he knows where he really is--not in the +wonderful new German Empire, not in modern Berlin with its splendid +and to him unspeaking streets, its garish "night-life," its +faultily-faultless municipal propriety, not in Potsdam, "the true +cradle of the Prussian army," as Baedeker, deviating for an instant +into metaphor, describes it, but simply in Sans Souci. He is now no +longer in the twentieth century, but the eighteenth--one hundred and +fifty years ago or more--in Frederick's day, the period of pigtails, +of giant grenadiers in the old-time blue and red coats, the high and +fantastic shako made of metal and tapering to a point, of +three-cornered hats resting on powdered wigs, of yellow top-boots, and +exhaling the general air of ruffianly geniality characteristic of the +manners and soldiers of the age. + +As our foreigner advances through the park, where, as he is told, the +Emperor makes a promenade each Christmas Eve distributing ten-mark +pieces (spiteful chroniclers make it three marks) to all and sundry +poor, he will notice the fountain "the water of which rises to a +height of 130 feet," with its twelve figures by French artists of the +eighteenth century, and ascend the broad terraced flight of marble +steps up which the present Crown Prince is credited with once urging +his trembling steed--leading to the Mecca of his imagination, the +palace Sans Souci itself. The building is only one story high, not +large, reminding one somewhat of the Trianon at Versailles, though +lacking the Trianon's finished lightness and elegance, yet with its +semicircular colonnade distinctly French, and impressive by its +elevated situation. The chief, the enduring, the magical impression, +however, begins to form as our foreigner commences his pilgrimage +through the rooms in which Frederick passed most of his later years. +As he pauses in the Voltaire Chamber he imagines the two great +figures, seated in stiff-backed chairs at a little table on which +stand, perhaps, a pair of cut Venetian wine-glasses and a tall bottle +of old Rheinish--the great man of thought and the great man of action, +the two great atheists and freethinkers of Europe, with their earnest, +sharply featured faces, and their wigs bobbing at each other, +discussing the events and tendencies of their time. And how they must +have talked--no wonder Frederick, though the idol of his subjects, +withdrew for such discourse from the society of the day, with its +twaddle of the tea-cups and its parade-ground platitudes. + +As in our own time, there was then no lack of stimulating topics. The +influence of the old Catholicism and the old feudalism was rapidly +diminishing, the night of superstition was passing, and the age of +reason, that was to culminate with such tremendous and horrible force +in the French Revolution, was beginning to dawn. The encyclopaedists, +with Diderot and d'Alembert in the van, were holding council in +France, mobilizing the intellects of the time, and, like Bacon, taking +all knowledge for their province, for a fierce attack on the old +philosophy, the old statecraft, the old art, and the old religion. Are +such topics and such men to deal with them to be found to-day, or have +all the great problems of humanity and its intellect been started, +studied, and resolved? And are motor-cars, aeroplanes, dances, +Dreadnoughts, millinery, rag-time reviews, auction bridge, the rise +and fall of stocks, and the last extraordinary round of golf, all that +is left for the present generation to discuss? + +However, the guardian of the palace has moved on, the other members of +the party are getting bored, and our foreigner follows the guardian's +lead. Thus conducted, he passes through half a dozen rooms, each a +museum of historical associations--the dining-room with its round +table made famous by Menzel's picture (now in the Berlin National +Gallery) in which Frederick and his guests are seen seated, but in +which it is difficult if not impossible to be certain which is the +host; the concert-room with the clock which Frederick was in the habit +of winding up, and which "is said to have stopped at the precise +moment of his death, 2.20 a.m., August 17th, 1786"; the death-chamber +with its eloquent and pathetic statue, Magnussen's "Last Moments of +Frederick the Great"; the library and picture gallery. Strangely +enough, Baedeker has no mention of a female subject portrayed in the +concert-room in all sorts of attitudes and in all sorts and no sort of +costume. Yet every one has heard of La Barberini, the only woman, the +chroniclers (and Voltaire among them) assure us, Frederick ever loved. +She was no woman of birth or wit like the Pompadour, Recamier or +Stael, but of merely ordinary understanding and the wife of a +subordinate official of the Court. She charmed Frederick, however, and +may have loved him. If so, let us remember that the morals of those +days were not those of ours, and not grudge the lonely King his +enjoyment of her beauty and amiability. + +One thing only remains for our foreigner to see--the coffin of +Frederick in the old Garrison Church. It lies in a small chamber +behind the pulpit and looks more like the strong box of a miser than +the last resting-place of a great king. For such a man it seems poor +and mean, but probably Frederick himself did not wish for better. He +must have known that his real monument would be his reputation with +posterity. In fact the chroniclers agree, and the noble statue of +Magnussen confirms the impression, that at the close of his stormy +life he was glad finally to be at rest anywhere. "_Quand je serai +la_," he was wont to say, pointing to where his dogs were buried in +the palace park, "_je serai sans souci_." + +In every court there is a disposition on the part of courtiers to +agree with everything the monarch says, to flatter him as dexterously +as they can, to minister to princely vanity, if vanity there be, to +"crawl on their bellies," in the choice language of hostile court +critics, or "wag their tails" and double up their bodies at every bow; +show, in short, in different ways, often all unconsciously, the +presence of a servile and self-interested mind. The disposition is not +to be found in courts alone. It is one of the commonest and most +malignant qualities of humanity, and can any day and at any hour be +observed in action in any Ministry of State, any mercantile office, +any great warehouse, any public institution, in every scene, in fact, +where one or many men are dependent for their living on the favour or +caprice of another. On the other hand, let it not be forgotten that +this innate tendency of human nature is at times replaced by another +which has frequently the same outward manifestations, but is not the +same feeling, the sentiment, namely, of embarrassment arising from the +fear of being servile, and the equally frequent embarrassment arising +from that principle which is always at work in the mind, the +association of ideas, which in the case of a monarch presents him to +the ordinary mortal as embodying ideas of grandeur, power, might, and +intellect to which the latter is unaccustomed. Education, economic +changes, and the art of manners have done much to conceal, if not +eradicate, human proneness to servility, and the Byzantinism of the +time of Caligula and Nero, of Tiberius, Constantine, or Nikiphoros, of +the Stuarts and the Bourbons, has long been modified into respect for +oneself as well as for the person one addresses. There are, however, +still traces of the old evil in the German atmosphere, and in especial +a tendency among officials of all grades to be humble and submissive +to those above them and haughty and domineering to those below them. +The tendency is perhaps not confined to Germany, but it seems, to the +inhabitant of countries where bureaucracy is not a powerful caste, to +penetrate German society and ordinary life to a greater degree--yet +not to a great degree--than in more democratic societies. + +The Emperor naturally knows nothing of such a thing, for there is no +one superior to him in the Empire in point of rank, and he is much too +modern, too well educated, and of too kindly and liberal a nature to +encourage or permit Byzantinism towards him on the part of others. +Indeed Byzantinism was never a Hohenzollern failing. In his able work +on German civilization Professor Richard tells of some Silesian +peasants who knelt down when presenting a petition to Frederick +William I, and were promptly told to get up, as "such an attitude was +unworthy of a human being." Only on one occasion in the reign has an +action of the Emperor's afforded ground for the suspicion that he was +for a moment filled with the spirit of the Byzantine emperors--namely, +when he demanded the "kotow" from the Chinese Prince Tschun, who led +the "mission of atonement" to Germany. This, however, was not really +the result of a Byzantine character or spirit, but of the excusable +anger of a man whose innocent representative had been treacherously +killed. + +Of affinity with the idea of Byzantinism is that as frequently +occurring idea in German court and ordinary life conveyed by the word +"reaction." Here again we have one of those qualities to be found +among mankind everywhere and always: the instinct opposed to change, +even to those changes for the good we call progress, the disposition +that made Horace deride the _laudator temporis acti se puero_ of his +day, the feeling of the man who laments the passing of the "good old +times" and the military veteran who assures us that "the country, sir, +is going to the dogs." In political life such men are usually to be +found professing conservatism, owners of land, dearer to them often +than life itself, which they fear political change will damage or +diminish. In Germany the Conservative forces are the old agrarian +aristocracy, the military nobility, and the official hierarchy, who +make a worship of tradition, hold for the most part the tenets of +orthodox Protestantism, dread the growing influence of industrialism, +and are members of the Landlords' Association: types of a dying +feudalism, disposed to believe nothing advantageous to the community +if it conflicts with any privilege of their class. Under the name of +Junker, the Conservative landowners of the region of Prussia east of +the Elbe, they have become everywhere a byword for pride, selfishness, +in a word--reaction. They and men of their kidney are to be +distinguished from the German "people" in the English sense, and hold +themselves vastly superior to the burghertum, the vast middle class. +They dislike the "academic freedom" of the university professor, would +limit the liberty of the press and restrain the right of public +meeting, and increase rather than curtail the powers of the police. On +the other hand, if they are a powerful drag on the Emperor's Liberal +tendencies--Liberal, that is, in the Prussian sense--towards a +comprehensive and well-organized social policy, they are at least +reliable supporters of his Government for the military and naval +budgets, since they believe as whole-heartedly in the rule of force as +the Emperor himself. The German Conservative would infinitely prefer a +return to absolute government to the introduction of parliamentary +government. At the same time it should not be supposed that the +Emperor or his Chancellor, or even his Court, are reactionary in the +sense or measure in which the Socialist papers are wont to assert. It +is doubtful if nowadays the Emperor would venture to be reactionary in +any despotic way. Given that his monarchy and the spirit that informs +it are secure, that Caesar gets all that is due to Caesar, and that he +and his Government are left the direction of foreign policy, he is +quite willing that the people should legislate for themselves, enjoy +all the rights that belong to them under the _Rechtsstaat_ established +by Frederick the Great, and, in short, enjoy life as best they can. + + + + +VII. + + + +"DROPPING THE PILOT" + +Heinrich von Treitschke, the German historian, writing to a friend, +speaks of the dismissal of Prince Bismarck as "an indelible stain on +Prussian history and a tragic stroke of fate the like of which the +world has never seen since the days of Themistocles." + +Opinions may differ as to the indelibility of the stain--which must be +taken as a reflection on the conduct of the Emperor; and parallels +might perhaps be found, at least by students of English history, in +the dismissal of Cardinal Wolsey by Henry VIII, or that of the elder +Pitt by George III. But there may well be general agreement as to the +tragic nature of the fall, for it was a struggle between a strong +personality and the unknown, but irresistible, laws of fate. + +The historic quarrel between the Emperor and his Chancellor was not +merely the inevitable clash between two dispositions fundamentally +different, but between--to adapt the expression of a modern poet--"an +age that was dying and one that was coming to birth." Old Prussia was +giving place to New Germany. The atmosphere of war had changed to an +atmosphere of peace. The standards of education and comfort were +rising fast. The old German idealism was being pushed aside by +materialism and commercialism, and the thoughts of the nation were +turning from problems of philosophy and art to problems of practical +science and experiment. Thought was to be followed by action. Mankind, +after conversing with the ancients for centuries, now began to +converse with one another. The desire for national expansion, if it +could not be gratified by conquest, was to be satisfied by the spread +of German influence, power, activity, and enterprise in all parts of +the world. Such a collision of the ages is tragedy on the largest +scale, for nothing can be more tragic--more inevitable or +inexorable--than the march of Progress. + +The natures of the two men were, in important respects, fundamentally +different. Bismarck's nature was prosaic, primitive, unscrupulous, +domineering: a type which in an English schoolboy would be described +as a bully, with the modification that while the bully in an English +school is always depicted as a coward at heart (a supposition, +however, by no means always borne out in after-life), Bismarck had the +courage of a bull-dog. Moreover, Bismarck was a Conservative, a +statesman of expediency. The Emperor is a man of principle; and as +expediency, in a world of change, is a note of Conservatism, so, in +the same world, is principle the _leit-motiv_ of Liberalism. To call +the Emperor a man of principle may appear to be at variance with +general opinion as founded on exceptional occurrences, but these do +not supply sufficient material for a fair judgment, and there are many +acts of his reign which show him to be Liberal in disposition. + +Not, it need hardly be said, Liberal in the English political sense. +Liberalism in England--the two-party country--usually means a strong +desire to vote against a Conservative on the assumption that the +Conservative is nearly always completely wrong and never completely +right. As will be seen later, there is no political Liberalism in the +English sense in Germany. The Emperor's Liberalism shows itself in his +sympathy with his people in their desire for improvement as a society +of which he is the head, selected by God and only restricted by a +constitutional compact solemnly sworn to by the contracting parties. +Proofs of this sympathy might be adduced--his determination to carry +through his grandfather's social policy against Bismarck's wish, +however hostile he was and is to Social Democracy; his steadfast peace +policy, however nearly he has brought his country to war; his +encouragement of the arts among the lower classes, however limited his +views on art may be; his friendly intercourse with people of all +nationalities and occupations. + +The characters also of the two men were different. Bismarck's was the +result of civilian training; the Emperor's of military training. +Bismarck had small regard for manners, and would have scoffed had +anyone told him "manners makyth man"; the Emperor is courtesy itself, +as every one who meets him testifies. Bismarck was fond of eating and +drinking, with the appetite of a horse and the thirst of a drayman, +until he was nearly eighty, and smoked strong cigars from morning to +night--a very pleasant thing, of course, if you can stand it. The +Emperor has never cared particularly for what are called the pleasures +of the table, is fond of apples and one or two simple German dishes, +and has never been what in Germany is called a "chain-smoker." +Bismarck appears not to have had the faintest interest in art; the +Emperor, while of late disclaiming in all art company his lack of +expert knowledge, has always found delight in art's most classical +forms. + +Yet the two men had some deeply marked traits of character in common. +The Emperor, as was Bismarck, is Prussian, that is to say mediaeval, +to the core, notwithstanding that he had an English mother and +lived in early childhood under English influences. He has always +exhibited, as Bismarck always did, the genuine qualities of the +Prussian--self-confidence, tenacity of purpose, absolute trust in his +own ideals and intolerance of those of other people, impatience of +rivalry, selfishness for the advantage of Prussia as against other +German States, as strong as that for the newly born Empire against +other countries. Finally, the Emperor is convinced, as Bismarck was +convinced, that in the first and last resort, a society, a people, a +nation, is based on force and by force alone can prosper, or even be +held together. Neither Bismarck nor the Emperor could ever sympathize +with those who look to a time when one strong and sensible policeman +will be of more value to a community than a thousand unproductive +soldiers. + +Long before he became Imperial Chancellor Bismarck had done masterly +and important work for the country. In 1862 he began his career by +filling the post of interim Minister President of Prussia at a time +when the present Emperor was still an infant. It was on taking up the +position that he made the celebrated statement that "great questions +cannot be decided by speeches and majority-votes, but must be resolved +by blood and iron." Born in April, 1815, two months before the battle +of Waterloo, at Schoenhausen, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, not +far from Magdeburg, he studied at the universities of Gottingen and +Berlin and passed two steps of the official ladder--Auscultator and +Referendar--which may be translated respectively protocolist and +junior counsel. His parliamentary career began in 1846, two years +before the second French Revolution. At that time Prussia was an +absolute monarchy, without a Constitution or a Parliament. There was +no conscription, that foundation-stone of Prussian power and of the +modern German Empire. Then came the agitated days of 1848, the +sanguinary "March Days" in Berlin. Frederick William IV was on the +throne, and in 1847 permitted the calling of a Parliament, the +forerunner of the present Reichstag; but only to represent the +"rights," not the "opinions," of the people. "No piece of paper," +cried the King, "shall come, like a second Providence, between God in +heaven and this land!" That, too, was Bismarck's sentiment, +courageously expressed by him when the Diet was debating the idea of +introducing the English parliamentary system, and proved by him in +character and conduct until the day of his death. He would have made a +splendid Jacobite! + +The three "March Days," the 18th, 19th, and 20th of March, 1848, form +one of the few occasions in Prussian or German history on which Crown +and people came into direct and serious conflict. According to German +accounts of the episode the outbreak of the revolution in France was +followed by a large influx into Berlin of Poles and Frenchmen, who +instigated the populace to violence. Collisions with the police +occurred, and on March 15th barricades began to be erected. Traffic in +the streets was only possible with the aid of the military. The King +was in despair, not so much, the accounts say, at the danger he was in +of losing his throne as at the shedding of the blood of his folk, and +issued a proclamation promising to grant all desirable reforms, +abolishing the censorship of the press, and summoning the Diet to +discuss the terms of a Constitution. The citizens, however, continued +to build barricades, made their way into the courtyards of the palace, +and demanded the withdrawal of the troops. The King ordered the +courtyards to be cleared, the palace guard advanced, and, either by +accident or design, the guns of two grenadiers went off. No one was +hit, but cries of "Treason!" and "Murder!" were raised. Within an hour +a score of barricades were set up in various parts of the town and +manned by a medley of workmen, university students, artists, and even +men of the Landwehr, or military reserve. + +At this time there were about 14,000 troops at the King's disposal, +and with these the authorities proceeded against the mob. A series of +scattered engagements between mob and military began. They lasted for +eight hours, until at midnight General von Prittwitz, who was in +command of the troops, was able to report to the King that the +revolution was subdued. + +Next morning, however, the 19th, numerous deputations of citizens +presented themselves at the palace, and assuring the King that it was +the only means of preventing the further effusion of blood, renewed +the request for the withdrawal of the troops. The King consented, +notwithstanding the opposition of Prince, afterwards Emperor, William, +and the troops were drawn off to Potsdam. The citizens thereupon +appointed a National Guard, which took charge of the palace, and in +the evening a vast crowd appeared beneath the King's windows bearing +the corpses of those who had fallen at the barricades during the two +preceding days. The dead bodies were laid in rows in the palace +courtyard, and the King was invited out to see them. He could not but +obey, and bowed to the crowd as he stood bareheaded before the bodies. + +It is clear from the occurrences in Berlin in 1848 that while the +Prussian idea of monarchy is deeply rooted in the German mind, the +possibility of a sudden change in public sentiment and a radical +alteration of the relations between Crown and people are never at any +time to be wholly disregarded. Hence it is that the Emperor and his +Government are so insistent on the doctrine of Heaven-granted +sovereignty, so ready to support more or less autocratic monarchies in +other parts of the world, and so sensitive to popular movements like +Anarchism and Nihilism in Russia, or the always-smouldering Polish +agitation and the propaganda of the Social Democracy in Germany. When +King Frederick William IV said to his assembled generals at Potsdam a +week after the "March Days," "Never have I felt more free or more +secure than when under the protection of my burghers," his words were +drowned in the buzz of murmurs and the angry clanking of swords. The +Emperor to-day might, or might not, endorse the words of his ancestor. +Most probably he would not; for, judging by his speeches, his care for +the army, the military state with which he surrounds himself, and his +habitual appearance in uniform, he, though in truth far more a civil +monarch than the War Lord foreign writers delight in painting him, is +evidently determined to rely only on his soldiers for every +eventuality at home as well as abroad. + +Perhaps the best German authorities on Bismarck's falling-out with the +young Emperor are the statements regarding it to be found in the +memoranda supplied at the time by Prince Bismarck himself to Dr. +Moritz Busch; the Memoirs of Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst, +subsequently Imperial Chancellor; and the monograph on Bismarck by Dr. +Hans Blum, one of the Chancellor's confidants. The memoranda supplied +to Busch make regrettably few references to the subject, beyond giving +the terms of the official resignation and some scanty addenda thereto; +but enough is said generally by Busch concerning Bismarck's +conversations to show that the Chancellor was deeply mortified by his +dismissal. Bismarck indeed expressly denies this in a conversational +statement quoted by an able Bismarckian writer of our own time, Dr. +Paul Liman; but in view of subsequent events and statements the denial +can hardly be taken as sincere. The passage referred to is as +follows:-- + + "I bear no grudge against my young master, who is fiery and + lively. He wishes to make all men happy, and that is very + natural at his age. I, for my part, believe perhaps less in + this possibility, and have told him so too. It is very + natural that a mentor like myself does not please him, and + that he therefore rejects my advice. An old carthorse and a + young courser go ill in harness together. Only politics are + not so easy as a chemical combination: they deal with human + beings. I wish certainly that his experiments may succeed, + and am not in the least angry with him. I stand towards him + like a father whom a son has grieved; the father may suffer + thereby, but all the same he says to himself, 'He is a fine + young fellow.' When I was young I followed my King + everywhere: now that I am old I can no longer accompany my + master when he travels so far. Accordingly it is unavoidable + that counsellors who remained closer to him should win his + confidence at my expense. He is very easily influenced when + one puts before him ideas which he supposes will happily + affect the condition of the people, and he can hardly wait + to put them into operation. The Kaiser will achieve + reputation at once: I have my own to watch over, to defend. + I have sacrificed myself for renown and will not place it in + jeopardy." + +Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs are much more valuable in respect of +positive information, and especially in supplying an account of the +incident taken from the lips of the Emperor himself. The Prince was +without his great predecessor's ability, but was much more amiable and +sincere. He was, moreover, a friend of both the parties concerned, and +he impartially jotted down events at the time they occurred. Lastly, +if he was a courtier at heart, he was that not wholly unknown thing, +an honest one. Dr. Hans Blum is obviously a partisan of the great +Chancellor's, but he may also be referred to for a fairly connected +account of the fall and the events that succeeded it up to the time of +Bismarck's death on July 30, 1898. + +Apart from the differences in the ages and temperaments of the Emperor +and the Chancellor, there were differences in their views as to +certain measures of policy. There was a difference of opinion as to +German policy regarding Russia. Friendship with that country had been +the policy of both Emperor William I and Bismarck, and the latter had +effected a reinsurance treaty with Russia, stipulating for Russian +neutrality in case of a war between Germany and France, +notwithstanding the subsistence of the Triple Alliance between +Germany, Austria, and Italy. The reinsurance treaty, which had been +made for a period of three years, was now about to expire, and while +Bismarck desired its renewal, the Emperor, in a spirit of loyalty to +Austria, was against the renewal, and the treaty was not renewed. This +was the "new course" as it regarded Russia. The difference with regard +to the anti-Socialist Laws has been referred to in our chapter on the +accession. + +The Royal Order of September, 1852, which has been mentioned as +leading immediately to the resignation, regulated intercourse between +the Prussian Ministers and the Crown, its chief provision being that +only the Minister President, and not individual Ministers, should have +audience of the Emperor regarding matters of home and foreign policy. +The Emperor desired the abrogation of the Order, for he wished to +consult with the Ministers individually. The text of Bismarck's +official resignation, after describing the origin of the Order, +continues: + + "If each individual Minister can receive commands from his + Sovereign without previous arrangement with his colleagues, + a coherent policy, for which some one is to be responsible, + is an impossibility. It would be impossible for any of the + Ministers, and especially for the Minister President, to + bear the constitutional responsibility for the Cabinet as a + whole. Such a provision as that contained in the Order of + 1852 could be dispensed with under the absolute monarchy and + could also be dispensed with to-day if we returned to + absolutism without ministerial responsibility. But according + to the constitutional arrangements now legally in force the + control of the Cabinet by a President under the Order of + 1852 is indispensable." + +The Emperor replied to Prince Bismarck's resignation in a +communication which the reader, according to his disposition, will +regard as an effusion of the heart, immensely creditable to its +composer, a model of an official reply as demanded by circumstances, a +striking example of the art of throwing dust in the public eye, or an +equally striking contribution to the literature of excusable +hypocrisy. It was as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR PRINCE,--With deep emotion I learn from your + request of the 18th instant that you have decided to retire + from the offices which you have filled for long years with + incomparable success. I had hoped not to have been compelled + to entertain the thought of separation during our lives. + While, however, in full consciousness of the important + consequences of your retirement, I am forced to accustom + myself to the thought. I do so, it is true, with a heavy + heart, but in the strong confidence that the grant of your + request will contribute as much as possible to the + protection and preservation for as long as possible of a + life and strength of unreplaceable value to the Fatherland. + + "The grounds you offer for your resignation convince me that + any further attempt to induce you to reconsider your + determination would have no prospect of success. I + acquiesce, therefore, in your wish by hereby graciously + releasing you from your offices as Imperial Chancellor, + President of my State Ministry, and Minister of Foreign + Affairs, and trust that your counsels and energy, your + loyalty and devotion, will not be wanting to me and the + country in the future also. + + "I have considered it as one of the most valued privileges + in my life that at the commencement of my reign I had you at + my side as my first counsellor. What you have done and + achieved for Prussia and Germany, what you have done for my + House, my ancestors, and me, will remain to me and the + German people in grateful and imperishable memory. But also + in foreign countries your wise and energetic peace policy, + which I, too, in the future also, as a result of sincere + conviction, decide to take as the guiding line of my + conduct, will be always gloriously recognized. It is not in + my power to requite your services as they deserve. I must + rest satisfied with assuring you of my own and the country's + ineffaceable thanks. As a sign of this thanks I confer on + you the rank of a Duke of Lauenburg. I will also send you a + life-sized picture of myself. + + "God bless you, my dear Prince, and grant you still many + years of an old age undisturbed and blessed with the + consciousness of duty faithfully done. + + "In this disposition I remain to you and yours in the future + also your sincere, obliged, and grateful Emperor and King, + + "WILLIAM I.R." + +The Emperor has never, so far as is publicly known, issued, or caused +to be issued, an official account of the episode and its _peripeties_, +but the story he poured, evidently out of a full heart, into the ears +of Prince Hohenlohe, then Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine, during a +midnight drive from the railway station at Hagenau to the hunting +lodge at Sufflenheim, is an historical document of practically +official authenticity. It appears as follows in the Prince's +Memoirs:-- + +"STRASBURG, 26 _April_, 1890. + + "On the evening of the 23rd, nine o'clock, I drove with + Thaden and Moritz to Hagenau, there to await the arrival of + the Emperor. We spent the evening with circle-officer Klemm. + I went to bed at eleven o'clock in the guest-room, and slept + until half-past twelve. Moritz and Thaden drove to the + station with a view to changing their clothes in the train. + At one o'clock I was again at the station, when the Emperor + punctually arrived. I presented the gentlemen to him, and + turned over General Hahnke to Baron Charpentier and + Lieutenant Cramer, for them to conduct him to the hunting + ground. Our journey lasted about an hour, during which the + Emperor related without a pause the whole story of his + quarrel with Bismarck. According to this the coolness had + already begun in December. The Emperor then demanded that + something should be done about the Working Class Question. + The Chancellor was against doing anything. The Emperor held + the view that if the Government did not take the initiative, + the Reichstag, _i.e_. the Socialists, Centre and + Progressives, would take the matter in hand, and then the + Government would lag behind. The Chancellor wanted to lay + the anti-Socialist Bill with the expulsion paragraph again + before the Reichstag, dissolving the chamber if it did not + accept the Bill, and then, if it came to disturbances, to + take energetic measures. The Emperor objected, saying that + if his grandfather, after a long and glorious reign, were + forced to repress disturbances no one would think ill of + him. It was different in his case, who had as yet + accomplished nothing. People would reproach him with + beginning his reign by shooting down his subjects. He was + ready to act, but he wished to do it with a good conscience + after endeavouring to redress the well-founded grievances of + the workmen, or at least after doing everything to meet + their justifiable claims. + + "The Emperor therefore demanded at a ministerial conference + the submission of ministerial edicts which should contain + what subsequently they in fact did contain. Bismarck would + not hear of it. The Emperor then laid the question before + the Council of State, and eventually obtained the edicts in + spite of Bismarck's opposition. Bismarck, however, secretly + continued his opposition, and tried to persuade Switzerland + to persevere with its idea of an International Labour + Conference. The attempt was rendered nugatory by the loyal + attitude of the Swiss Minister in Berlin, Roth. At the very + same time Bismarck was trying to influence the diplomatists + against the conference. + + "The relations between the Emperor and Bismarck, already + shaken by these dissensions, were still further embittered + by the question of the Cabinet Order of 1852. Bismarck had + often advised the Emperor to summon the Ministers to him. + This the Emperor did, and as the intercourse became more + frequent Bismarck took it ill, was jealous, and dragged out + the Order of 1852 so as to keep Ministers from the Emperor. + The Emperor resisted and acquired the abrogation of the + Cabinet Order. Bismarck at first agreed, but gave no further + sign in the matter. The Emperor now demanded either that the + recission of the Order should be laid before him, or that + Bismarck should resign--a demand which the Emperor + communicated to Bismarck through General von Hahnke. The + Chancellor delayed, but at length gave in the resignation on + March 18th. It should be added that already, at the + beginning of February, Bismarck had told the Emperor that he + would retire. Afterwards, however, he declared that he had + thought the position over and would remain--a thing not + agreeable to the Emperor, though he made no remonstrance + until the affair of the Cabinet Order came in addition. The + visit of Windthorst to the Chancellor also gave rise to + unpleasantness, though it was not the deciding factor. In + any case the last three weeks were filled with disagreeable + conversations between the Emperor and the Chancellor. It + was, as the Emperor expressed it, a 'devil of a time,' and + the question was, as the Emperor himself said, whether the + dynasty Bismarck or the dynasty Hohenzollern should reign. + The Emperor spoke very angrily, too, about the article in + the _Hamburg News_. In foreign policy Bismarck, according to + the Emperor, went his own way, and kept back from the + Emperor much of what he did. 'Yes,' he said, 'Bismarck had + it conveyed to St. Petersburg that I wanted to adopt an + anti-Russian policy. But for that,' the Emperor added, 'he + had no proofs.' + + "This conversation," concludes Prince Hohenlohe, "between + the Emperor and myself was told partly on the way to the + lodge and partly on the way back. Between came the shooting; + but there was no sport, as the Emperor took his stand in the + dark under a tree on which was a cock that did not 'call.'" + +The following further extracts from the Hohenlohe Memoirs are given +rather with the object of showing the state of the political and +social atmosphere in which the quarrel took place than as throwing any +fresh light on its course. In June of the preceding year (1889) occurs +an entry which registers the first signs of the coming storm. Prince +Hohenlohe is telling of a visit he made in June to the Grand Duke of +Baden, whom he found irritated by Bismarck's proposal, made in +connection with the arrest of a Prussian police officer by the Swiss, +to close the frontier against the canton Aargau. The Grand Duke, the +Prince relates, quoted Herbert Bismarck as saying he "could not +understand his father any longer and that people were beginning to +believe he was not right in his head." + +The next entry in the Journal is dated Strasburg, August 24th. It +concerns another meeting with the Grand Duke, who now told him that +Bismarck had changed his views and that these oscillations had puzzled +the Emperor and at the same time heightened his self-consciousness; +moreover, that the Emperor noticed that things were being kept back +from him and was becoming suspicious. There had already been a +collision between the Emperor and the Chancellor and the latter might +have to go. What then? Probably the Emperor thought of conducting +foreign policy himself--but that, added the Grand Duke, would be very +dangerous. + +The feeling at Court regarding Bismarck's fall is shown by a passage +in the Memoirs about this time. It runs: + + "At 1.30 p.m. dinner (at the palace) at which I sat between + Stosch and Kameke. The former told me much about his own + quarrel with Bismarck, and was as gay as a snow-king that he + can now speak freely and that the great man is no longer to + be feared. This comfortable sentiment is obvious here on all + sides." + +The anecdote still current in Berlin, that Bismarck actually threw an +inkstand at the Emperor's head is reduced to its proper proportions by +the following entry: + + "The Grand Duke of Baden, with whom I was yesterday, knows a + good deal about the recent crisis. He says the cause of the + breach between the Emperor and Chancellor was a question of + power, and that all other differences of opinion about + social legislation and other things were only secondary. The + chief ground was the Cabinet Order of 1852, which Bismarck + pressed on the attention of the Ministers without the + Emperor's knowledge, and so hindered them from going to make + their reports to the Emperor. The Emperor wanted the Order + rescinded, while Bismarck was against it. Nor had the + conversation with Windthorst led to the breach. A talk + between the Emperor and Bismarck about this conversation is + said to have been so tempestuous that the Emperor + subsequently said when describing it, 'He (Bismarck) all but + threw the inkstand at me.'" To Hohenlohe Bismarck said, as + Hohenlohe remarked that the resignation had surprised him, + "Me also," and that three weeks before he did not think + things would end as they had. Bismarck added: "However, it + was to be expected, for the Emperor is now quite determined + to rule alone." + +Finally the Prince's Journal has the following: + + "Two things struck me in these last three days: one that no + one has any time and every one is in a greater hurry than + before; and secondly, that individualities have expanded. + Every individual is conscious of himself, while before, + under the predominating influence of Prince Bismarck, + individualities shrank and were kept down. Now they are all + swollen like sponges placed in water. That has its + advantages, but also its dangers. The single-minded will is + lacking." + +The period between the great Chancellor's fall and his death nine +years later was marked by so many incidents as to make it almost as +_mouvemente_ as the period of the fall itself. He retired to +Friedrichsruh, all the more immediately as the new Chancellor, General +von Caprivi, showed such indecent haste in taking possession of the +official residence that a portion of Bismarck's furniture was broken +and rendered useless. That Bismarck retired with the angry feelings of +a Coriolanus in his heart, or, as Anglo-Saxon slang would have it, of +a "bear with a sore head," became evident only a few weeks later. He +was visited by the inevitable interviewer, and chose the _Hamburg +News_ as the medium of communicating to the world his opinion of the +new _regime_ and the men who were conducting it; and made use of that +paper with such instant vigour and acerbity that little more than two +months from his retirement elapsed before the new Chancellor thought +it advisable to issue instructions to Germany's diplomatic +representatives warning them carefully to distinguish between the +"present sentiments and views of the Duke of Lauenburg and those of +the erstwhile Prince Bismarck," and to pay no serious attention to the +former. Bismarck replied in the _Hamburg News_ that he would not allow +his mouth to be closed, and set about proving that he meant what he +said. Nothing the men of the "new course" could do met with his +approval. The first thing he fell foul of was the Anglo-German +agreement of July 1, 1890, which gave Germany Heligoland in exchange +for Zanzibar, deploring the badness of the bargain for Germany, and +evidently not foreseeing the importance that island's position, +commanding the approaches to the mouths of the Elbe and the Weser, was +afterwards to possess. Besides the friendliness with England, the +detachment of Germany from Russia in favour of Austria, also a feature +of the "new course," did not please him as tending to drive Russia +into the arms of France. + +His prescience, however, in this respect was demonstrated when a year +later the Czar saluted a French squadron in the harbour of Cronstadt +to the strains of the "Marseillaise" and signed a secret agreement +that was alluded to four years later by the French Premier, M. Ribot, +in the French Chamber of Deputies, who spoke of Russia as "our ally," +and was publicly announced in 1897, on the occasion of President Felix +Faure's visit to St. Petersburg, by the Czar's now famous employment +of the words "_deux nations amies et alliees_." + +The ex-Chancellor was as little satisfied with the new tariff treaties +entered into by General Caprivi with Austria, Italy, Belgium, and +other countries, which the Emperor, wiser, as events have shown, than +his former Minister, characterized on their passage by Parliament as +the country's "salvation" (_eine rettende Tat_). The ex-Chancellor's +caustic but mistaken criticism was punished by the calculated neglect +of the Berlin authorities to invite him to the ceremonies attending +the celebration of the ninetieth birthday of his old comrade, General +von Moltke, in October, 1890, and that of his funeral in the following +April: still more publicly punished in connexion with the marriage of +his son Herbert. + +The wedding of the latter to Countess Marguerite Hoyos was to take +place in Vienna on June 21, 1892, and on the 18th Prince Bismarck +started with his family to attend it. The journey was a species of +triumphal progress to Vienna, but it was to end in disappointment and +chagrin. As the result of representations from Germany, made doubtless +with the Emperor's assent, if not at his suggestion, Bismarck was met +on his arrival with the news that the German Ambassador, Prince Reuss, +and the Embassy staff had orders to absent themselves from the +wedding, that the widow of the Crown Prince Rudolph, who had accepted +a card of invitation to it, had suddenly left Vienna, and that the +Emperor Franz Joseph would not receive him. The German action was +explained by the publication two months later of the edict, +stigmatized by Bismarck as an "Urias Letter," in which Caprivi warned +foreign Governments against attaching any importance to the utterances +of the Duke of Lauenburg. The Bismarckian and anti-Bismarckian storm +came up afresh in Germany. Bismarck was reproached by the Government +as "injuring monarchical feeling," and by his enemies as a traitor to +his country; while the angry statesman published a statement +expressing the opinion that + + "the control of private social intercourse abroad, and the + influencing of dinner invitations, were not tasks for which + high officers of State were selected nor public money for + the payment of diplomatic representatives voted": + +doubting, at the same time, "if the foreign archives of any other +country than Germany could show a parallel to the incident." + +The storm, notwithstanding, had a good effect, for it brought out in +bold relief the immense regard and respect the overwhelming majority +of his countrymen entertained for the chief architect of their Empire; +and when Bismarck fell ill at Kissingen in 1893 the Emperor, +subordinating his political animosities to the chivalrous instincts of +his nature, telegraphed his sorrow to the patient and offered to lend +him one of the royal castles for the purpose of his convalescence. +Bismarck declined, but not ungratefully, and the way to a +reconciliation was opened. Next year, 1894, Bismarck suffered from +influenza, and when this time the Emperor sent an adjutant to +Friedrichsruh to express his regret, invited him to attend the +festivities on the forthcoming royal birthday, and sent along with the +invitation a flask of Steinberger Cabinet from the imperial cellar in +characteristic German proof of the sincerity of his feelings, the +country was delighted. Bismarck accepted the invitation and doubtless +drank the Steinberger; and the visit to Berlin followed in due time. + +The reconciliation was completed amid sympathetic popular rejoicing. +The Emperor sent his brother, Prince Henry, to bring the ex-Chancellor +from the railway station to the palace, where the Emperor himself, +surrounded by a brilliant staff, stood to welcome the guest. Bismarck +spent the day at the palace with the Royal Family and was taken back +to the railway station in the evening by the Emperor. A few days later +the Emperor returned the visit at Friedrichsruh. + +The quiet of the ex-Chancellor's last years was once unpleasantly +affected by the Reichstag in 1895, at the instance of his +parliamentary enemies, rejecting, to its everlasting discredit, a +proposal for an official vote of congratulation to the ex-Chancellor +on his eightieth birthday; but against this unpleasantness may be set +his gratification at the receipt of a telegram from the Emperor +expressing his "deepest indignation" at the rejection. + +Prince Bismarck died on July 30th, 1898, and was laid to rest at +Friedrichsruh in the presence of the Emperor and Empress, while the +world paused for a moment in its occupations to discuss with +sympathetic admiration the dead man's personality and career. +Bismarck's spirit is still abroad in Germany, and the popular memory +of him is as fresh now as though he died but yesterday. It is more +than probable, much rather is it certain, that all trace of irritation +with the proud old Chancellor has long faded from the Emperor's mind: +indeed at no time does there seem to have been sentiments of personal +or permanent rancour on one side or the other. The episode, in short, +was an inevitable collision of ages, temperaments, and times, +regrettable no doubt as a possibly harmful example of political +discord among the leaders of the nation, but--with due respect for the +judgment of so capable an historian as von Treitschke--leaving no +"indelible stain" either on the pages of German history or on the +reputations of Bismarck or the Emperor. + + + + +VIII. + + + +SPACIOUS TIMES + + + +1891-1899 + +A great English poet sings of the "spacious days" of Queen Elizabeth. +From the German standpoint the decade from the fall of Bismarck to the +end of the century may not inaptly be described as the spacious days +of William II and the modern German Empire. To the Englishman the +actual territorial acquisitions of Germany during the period must seem +comparatively insignificant, but, taken in connection with the +Emperor's speeches, the building of the German navy, the Caprivi +commercial treaties, the growth of friendly relations and of trade and +intercourse with America, North and South, they mean the opening of a +new era in the history of the Empire--the era of Weltpolitik. + +Heligoland was obtained in exchange for Zanzibar in 1890, and is now +regarded by Germans much as Gibraltar or Malta is regarded by +Englishmen. The first Kiel regatta, due solely to the initiative of +the Emperor, and starting the development of sport in all fields which +is a feature of modern German progress, ethical and physical, was held +in 1894. The Caprivi commercial treaties were concluded within the +period. The Kiel Canal, connecting the Baltic and North Sea, and +giving the German fleet access to all the open waters of the earth, +was opened in 1895. In 1896 the Kruger telegram testified to imperial +interest in South African developments. The Hamburg-Amerika Line now +sent a specially fast mail and passenger steamer across the Atlantic. +The district of Kiautschau was leased from China in 1898, securing +Germany a foothold and naval base in the Far East. In the same year +the modern Oriental policy of the Empire was inaugurated by the +Emperor's visit to Palestine and his declaration in the course of it +that he would be the friend of Turkey and of the three hundred +millions of Mohammedans who recognized the Sultan as their spiritual +head. To this year also belongs the measure, the most important in its +consequences and significance of the reign hitherto, the passing of +the First Navy Law. Finally, in 1899 Germany acquired the Caroline +Islands by purchase from Spain, and certain Samoan Islands by +agreement with England and America. + +Nothing was more natural as a result of the new world-policy than a +change in the mental outlook of the people. It inaugurated in Germany +an era somewhat analogous to the era inaugurated in England by the +widening and brightening of the Englishman's horizon under Elizabeth. +The analogy may not be closely maintainable throughout, but, generally +speaking, just as the eyes of Englishmen suddenly saw the +possibilities of expansion disclosed to them by Drake, Raleigh, and +Frobisher, so the Emperor's appeals, with the pursuance of German +colonial policy and the attempt to develop Germany's African +possessions, led to an awakening in Germany of a similar, if weaker, +kind. To this awakening the building of the German navy contributed; +and though it did not appeal to the German imagination as did the +deeds of the old navigators to that of Elizabethan Englishmen, it +widened the national outlook and fired the people with new imperial +ambitions. Hitherto, moreover, Germany's attention had been confined +almost solely to trade within continental boundaries: henceforth she +was to do business actively and enterprisingly with all parts of the +world. + +The Emperor's thoughts on the subject were expressed in January, 1896, +at a banquet in the Berlin palace given to a miscellaneous company of +leading personalities of the time. The occasion was the celebration of +the twenty-fifth year of the modern Empire's foundation. He said: + + "The German Empire becomes a world-empire. Everywhere in the + farthest parts of the earth live thousands of our + fellow-countrymen. German subjects, German knowledge, German + industry cross the ocean. The value of German goods on the + seas amounts to thousands of millions of marks. On you, + gentlemen, devolves the serious duty of helping me to knit + firmly this greater German Empire to the Empire at home." + +The expression "greater German Empire" immediately reminded the +Englishman of his own "Greater Britain," and he concluded that the +Emperor was secretly thinking of rivalling him in the extent and value +of his colonial possessions. Possibly he was, and doubtless he +ardently desired to see Germany owning large and fertile colonies; but +it is quite as probable he was thinking of his economic Weltpolitik, +and knew as well then as he does now that it must be left to time and +the hour to show whether they fall to her or not. + +In the same order of ideas may be placed, though it is anticipating +somewhat, the Emperor's utterances at Aix in 1902 and three years +later at Bremen. At Aix, after describing the failure of Charlemagne's +successors to reconcile the duties of a Holy Roman Emperor with those +of a German King, he continued: + + "Now another Empire has arisen. The German people has once + more an Emperor of its own choice, with the sword on the + field of battle has the crown been won, and the imperial + flag flutters high in the breeze. But the tasks of the new + Empire are different: confined within its borders it has to + steel itself anew for the work it has to do, and which it + could not achieve in the Middle Ages. We have to live so + that the Empire, still young, becomes from year to year + stronger in itself, while confidence in it strengthens on + all sides. The powerful German army guarantees the peace of + Europe. In accord with the German character we confine + ourselves externally in order to be unconfined internally. + Far stretches our speech over the ocean, far the flight of + our science and exploration; no work in the domain of new + discovery, no scientific idea but is first tested by us and + then adopted by other nations. This is the world-rule the + German spirit strives for." + +At Bremen he said: + + "The world-empire I dream of is a new German Empire which + shall enjoy on all hands the most absolute confidence as a + quiet, peaceable, honest neighbour--not founded by conquest + with the sword, but on the mutual confidence of nations + aiming at the same end." + +The Emperor's world-policy was referred to more than once about this +time by Chancellor Prince Buelow in the Reichstag. "It is," he said on +one occasion, "Germany's intention and duty to protect the great and +ever-growing oversea interests which she has acquired through the +development of conditions." "We recognize," he continued, + + "that we have no longer interests only round our own + fireside or in the neighbourhood of the church clock, but + everywhere where German industry and Germany's commercial + spirit have penetrated; and we must foster these interests + within the bounds of possibility and good sense." + +"Our world-policy," he said on another occasion in the same place, + + "is not a policy of interference, much less a policy of + intervention: had it interfered in South Africa (he was + alluding to the Boer War) it must have intervened, and + intervention implies the use of force." + +On yet another occasion he explained that a prudent world-policy must +go hand in hand with a sound protective policy for home industry, and +that its basis must be a strong national home policy. + +There is nothing in all this, even supposing Germany's interests at +that time were purposely exaggerated, to which the foreigner could +reasonably object. The foreigner felt perhaps slightly uncomfortable +when the same statesman, departing for a moment from his usual +objective standpoint, spoke of the German "traversing the world with a +sword in one hand and a spade and trowel in the other"; but otherwise +no act of Germany's world-policy need have inspired alarm, or need +inspire alarm at the present time, in sensible foreign minds. The +rapidity of its action probably helped to excite a feeling that it +could not be altogether honest or above-board; but it should be +remembered that the new Empire had much leeway to make up in the race +with other nations, and that quick development was rendered necessary +by her commercial treaties, by her protective system, by the +unexpected growth of industry and trade, by the continuous increase of +population, the development of the mercantile marine, and the growing +consciousness of national strength. + +And if there is nothing in Germany's development of her world-policy +to which the foreigner can reasonably object, there is much in it at +which he can reasonably rejoice. Competition is good for him, for it +puts him on his mettle. A large and prosperous German population +extends his markets and means more business and more profit. The minds +of both Germans and the foreigner become broader, more mutually +sympathetic and appreciative. The elder Pitt warned his +fellow-countrymen against letting France become a maritime, a +commercial, or a colonial power. She has become all three, and what +injury has occurred therefrom to England or any other nation? + +Germany's colonial development dates from about the year 1884, the +period of the "scramble for Africa." The first step to acquiring +German colonies for the Empire was taken in 1883, when a merchant of +Bremen, Edouard Luderitz, made an agreement with the Hottentots by +which the bay of Angra Pequena in South-West Africa, with an area of +fifty thousand square kilometres, was ceded to him. Luderitz applied +to Bismarck for imperial protection. Bismarck inquired of England +whether she claimed rights of sovereignty over the bay. Lord Granville +replied in the negative, but added that he did not consider the +seizure of possession by another Power allowable. Indignant at what he +called a "monstrous claim" on all the land in the world which was +without a master, Bismarck telegraphed to the German Consul at the +Cape to "declare officially to the British Government that Herr +Luderitz and his acquisitions are under the protection of the Empire." + +The Bremen pioneer was fated to gain no advantage from his enterprise, +as he was drowned in the Orange River in 1886. His example as a +colonist, however, was followed by three Hanseatic merchants, +Woermann, Jansen, and Thormealen, of Hamburg, who acquired land in +Togo, a small kingdom to the east of the British Gold Coast, and in +the Cameroons, a large tract in the bend of the Gulf of Guinea, +extending to Lake Chad, and applied for German imperial protection. +Bismarck sent Consul-General Nachtigall with the gunboat _Moewe_ in +1884 to hoist the German flag at various ports. Five days after this +had been done the English gunboat _Flirt_ arrived, but was thus too +late to obtain Togoland and the Cameroons for England. + +Dr. Carl Peters, the German Cecil Rhodes, now arrived at Zanzibar, and +on obtaining concessions from the Sultan founded the German East +Africa Company, with a charter from his Government. German hopes of +great colonial expansion began to run high, but they were dashed by +the Anglo-German agreement of June, 1890, delimiting the spheres of +England, Germany, and the Sultan of Zanzibar, and stipulating that +Germany should receive Heligoland from England in return for German +recognition of English suzerainty in Zanzibar and the possession of +Uganda, which had recently been taken for Germany by Dr. Peters. At +that time Germans thought very little of Heligoland, but there was +then no Anglo-German tension, and no apprehension of an English +descent on the German coast. + +The lease for ninety-nine years of Kiautschau, a small area of about +four hundred square miles on the coast of China, was obtained from the +Chinese in connexion with the murder of two German missionaries in +1897 in the Shantung Province, of which Kiautschau forms a part. Herr +von Buelow, then only Foreign Secretary, referred to the transaction in +the Reichstag in words that may be quoted, as they describe German +foreign policy in the Far East. "Our cruiser fleet," he said, + + "was sent to Kiautschau Bay to exact reparation for the + murder of German Catholic missionaries on the one hand, and + to obtain greater security for the future against a + repetition of such occurrences. The Government," + +he continued, + +"has nothing but benevolent and friendly designs regarding China, and +has no wish either to offend or provoke her. We are ready in East Asia +to recognize the interests of other Great Powers in the certain +confidence that our own interests will be duly respected by them. In +one word--we desire to put no one in the shade, but we too demand our +place in the sun. In East Asia, as in the West Indies, we shall +endeavour, in accordance with the traditions of German policy, without +unnecessary rigour, but also without weakness, to guard our rights and +our interests." + +In mentioning the West Indies the Foreign Secretary was alluding to a +quarrel Germany had at this time with the negro republic of Haiti, +owing to the arrest and imprisonment of a German subject in that +island. Kiautschau is administratively under the German Admiralty. + +The Caroline, Marianne, and Palau Islands, including the Marschall +Islands and the islands of the Bismarck archipelago, were bought from +Spain this year for twenty-five million pesetas, or about one million +sterling. The islands are valuable in German eyes, not only for their +fertility and capacity for plantation development, but as affording +good harbourage and coaling stations on the sea-road to China, Japan, +and Central America. By the agreement with England and America, which +in this year also put an end to the thorny question of Samoan +administration, Germany acquired the Samoan islands of Upolu and +Sawaii in the South Sea. + +The ten years we are now concerned with were perhaps the most +strenuous and picturesque of the Emperor's life hitherto. He was now +his own Chancellor, though that post was nominally occupied by General +von Caprivi and Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe successively. He was +Chancellor, too, knowing that not a hundred miles off the old pilot of +the ship of State was watching, keenly and not too benevolently, his +every act and word. He was conscious that the eyes of the world were +fixed on him, and that every other Government was waiting with +interest and curiosity to learn what sort of rival in statecraft and +diplomacy it would henceforward have to reckon with. Naturally many +plans coursed through his restlessly active brain, but there were +always, one may imagine, two compelling and ever-present thoughts at +the back of them. One of these was a determination to promote the +moral and material prosperity of his people so as to make them a model +and thoroughly modern commonwealth; the other, the resolve that as +Emperor he would not allow Germany to be overlooked, to be treated as +a _quantite negligeable_, in the discussion or decision of +international affairs. + +The Chancellorship of General von Caprivi, who had been successively +Minister of War and Marine, lasted from March, 1890, to October, 1894. +He may have been a good commanding general, but he has left no +reputation either as a man of marked character or as a statesman of +exceptional ability. Nor was either character or ability much needed. +He was, as every one knew, a man of immensely inferior ability to his +great predecessor, but every one knew also that the Emperor intended +to be his own Chancellor, pursue his own policy, and take +responsibility for it. Taking responsibility is, naturally, easier for +a Hohenzollern monarch than for most men, since he is responsible to +no one but himself. With the appointment of Caprivi the Emperor's +"personal regiment" may be said to have begun. + +During General von Caprivi's term of office some measures of +importance have to be noted, among them the Quinquennat, which +replaced Bismarck's Septennat and fixed the military budget for five +years instead of seven; the reduction of the period of conscription +for the infantry from three years to two; and the decision not to +renew Bismarck's reinsurance treaty with Russia. + +The chief event, however, with which Chancellor Caprivi's name is +usually associated, is the conclusion of commercial treaties between +Germany and most other continental countries. Other countries had +followed Germany's example and adopted a protective system, and with a +view to the avoidance of tariff wars, Caprivi, strongly supported, it +need hardly be said, by an Emperor who had just declared that "the +world at the end of the nineteenth century stands under the star of +commerce, which breaks down the barriers between nations," began a +series of commercial treaty negotiations. + +The first agreements were made with Germany's allies in the Triplice, +Austria and Italy. Treaties with Switzerland and Belgium, Servia and +Rumania, followed. Russia held aloof for a time, but as a great +grain-exporting country she too found it advisable to come to terms. +With France there was no need of an agreement, since she was bound by +the Treaty of Frankfurt, concluded after the war of 1870, to grant +Germany her minimum duties. One of the regrettable results of the +Empire's new commercial policy was an antagonism between agriculture +and industry which now declared itself and has remained active to the +present day. The political cause of Caprivi's fall from power, if +power it can be called, was the twofold hostility of the Conservative +and Liberal parties in Parliament, that of the Conservatives being due +to the injury supposed to be done to landlord interests by the +commercial treaties, and that of the Liberals by an Education Bill, +which, it was alleged, would hand the Prussian school system +completely over to the Church. Perhaps the main cause, however, was +the general unpopularity he incurred by attacking, officially and +through the press, his predecessor, Bismarck, the idol of the people. + +It was in the Chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe, which ended in 1900, +that the most memorable events of this remarkable decade occurred; +but, as was to be expected, and as the Emperor himself must have +expected, the Prince, now a man of seventy-five, played a very +secondary part with regard to them. The Prince was what the Germans +call a "house-friend" of the Hohenzollern family and related to it. He +was useful, his contemporaries say, as a brake on the impetuous temper +of his imperial master, though he did not, we may be sure, turn him +from any of the main designs he had at heart. Prince Hohenlohe, in +character, was good-nature and amiability personified. He was beloved +by all classes and parties, and no foreigner can read his Memoirs +without a feeling of friendliness for a Personality so moderate and +calm and simple. A note he makes in one of his diaries amusingly +illustrates the simple side of his character. He is dining with the +Emperor, when the Emperor, catching the Prince's eye, which we may be +sure was on the alert to gather up any of the royal beams that might +come his way, raises his glass in sign of amity. "I felt so overcome," +notes the Prince, "that I almost spilt the champagne." + +The famous "Kruger telegram" episode occurred during the +Chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe. + +For many years the sending of the telegram was cited as a convincing +proof of the Emperor's "impulsive" character, and it was not until +1909 that the truth of the matter was stated by Chancellor von Buelow +in the Reichstag. In March of that year he said: + + "It has been asked, was this telegram an act of personal + initiative or an act of State? In this regard let me refer + you to your own proceedings. You will remember that the + responsibility for the telegram was never repudiated by the + directors of our political business at the time. The + telegram was an act of State, the result of official + consultations; it was in nowise an act of personal + initiative on the part of his Majesty the Kaiser. Whoever + asserts that it was is ignorant of what preceded it and does + his Majesty completely wrong." + +The Emperor's telegram to President Kruger, despatched on January 3, +1896, ran as follows:-- + + "I congratulate you most sincerely on having succeeded with + your people, and without calling on the help of foreign + Powers, by opposing your own force to an armed band which + broke into your country to disturb the peace, in restoring + quiet and in maintaining the independence of your country + against external attack." + +The echoes of this historic message were heard immediately in every +country, but naturally nowhere more loudly than in England; and the +reverberation of them is audible to the present day. In Germany, +however, for a day or two, the telegram seems to have surprised no +one, was indeed spoken of with approval by deputies in the Reichstag, +and seems not to have occurred to any one in the light of a serious +diplomatic mistake. This state of feeling did not last long, and when +the English newspapers arrived an entirely new light was thrown on the +matter. The _Morning Post_ concluded an article with the words: "It is +not easy to speak calmly of the Kaiser's telegram. The English people +will not forget it, and in future will always think of it when +considering its foreign policy." The British Government's comment on +the telegram was to put a flying squadron in commission and issue an +official statement _urbi et orbi_, calling attention to the Convention +made with President Kruger in London in 1884, reserving the +supervision of the foreign relations of the Transvaal to the British +Government. + +The Emperor himself appears to have recognized that he and his +advisers had made a serious blunder, and that a gesture which, it is +highly probable, was partly prompted by the chivalrous side of his +character, was certain to be gravely misunderstood. At any rate his +policy, or that of his Government, changed, and instead of following +up his encouraging words with mediation or intervention, he assumed an +attitude of neutrality towards the war which soon after began. +Subsequently, in the Reichstag, Chancellor von Buelow described the +course the German Government pursued immediately before and during the +war; and there seems no reason to discredit his account. The speech +was made apropos of the projected visit of President Kruger to Berlin, +when on his tour of despair to the capitals of Europe while the war +was still in progress. He was cheered by boulevard crowds in Paris, +itself a thing of no great significance, and was received at the +Elysee and by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Delcasse. The +visitor was very reserved on both occasions, and confined himself to +sounding his hosts as to whether or not he could reckon on their good +offices. + +From Paris he started for Berlin, where he had engaged a large and +expensive first-floor suite of rooms in a fashionable hotel. At +Cologne, however, shortly after entering Germany, a telegram from +Potsdam awaited him, announcing the Emperor's refusal to grant him +audience. The imperial telegram consisted of a few words to the effect +that the Emperor was "not in a position" to receive him. Nor in truth +was he. An audience at that moment would have meant war between +Germany and England. + +As to German policy with regard to the Boer War, Prince Buelow +explained that the German Government deplored the war not only because +it was between two Christian and white races, that were, moreover, of +the same Germanic stock, but also because it drew within the evil +circle of its consequences important German economic and political +interests. He went on to describe their nature, enumerating under the +one head the thousands of German settlers in South Africa, the +industrial establishments and banks they had founded there, the busy +trade and the millions sterling of invested capital; while, as +regarded the other head, the Government had to take care that the war +exercised no injurious influence on German territory in that region. + +The Government, the Chancellor claimed, had done everything consistent +with neutrality and the conservation of German interests to hinder the +outbreak of the war. It had "loyally" warned the two Dutch republics +of the disposition in Europe, and left them in no doubt as to the +attitude Germany would adopt if war should come. These communications +were not made directly, but through the Hague authorities and the +Consul-General of the Netherlands in Pretoria. At that time the United +States Government had come forward with a proposal for a submission of +the quarrel to its arbitration, but the proposal had been rejected by +President Kruger. + +A little later the President changed his mind, but it was then too +late and war was declared. Once the die was cast, Germany could only +with propriety have interfered, provided she had reason to believe her +mediation would be accepted by both parties: otherwise her conduct +would not be mediation, but be regarded, in accordance with diplomatic +usage, as intervention with coercive measures in the background. For +such a policy Germany had no disposition, for it meant running the +risk of a diplomatic defeat on the one hand and of an armed conflict +with England on the other. + +As regards the visit of the President to Berlin and the Emperor's +refusal to receive him, the Chancellor asked would a reception have +done any good either to the President or to Germany, and he answered +his own question with an emphatic negative. To the President an +audience would have been of no more use than the ovations and +demonstrations he was greeted with in Paris. To Germany a reception +would have meant a shifting of international relations to the +disadvantage of the country: in other words, would have meant the +risk, almost the certainty, of war. "Wars," said the Chancellor in +this connexion, + + "are much more easily unchained through elementary popular + passions, through the passionate excitation of public + opinion, than in the old days through the ambitions of + monarchs or through the jealousies of Ministers." + +And he concluded: + + "With regard to England we stand entirely independent of + her: we are not a hair's-breadth more dependent on England + than England is on us. But we are ready on the basis of + mutual consideration and complete equality--about this + obvious preliminary condition for a proper relation between + two Great Powers we have never left any Power in doubt: I + say, we are ready on this basis to live with England in + peace, friendship, and harmony. To play the Don Quixote and + to lay the lance in rest and attack wherever in the world + English windmills are to be found, for that we are not + called upon." + +But just then there was little prospect of "peace friendship, and +harmony" with England. The world remembers, and unfortunately the +English people do not forget, that they had nowhere more bitter and +offensive critics than in Germany. One refined method of opprobrium +was the unprohibited sale in the main streets of Berlin of spittoons +bearing the countenance of the English Colonial Minister, Mr. +Chamberlain. A war with England would at that moment have been highly +popular in Germany, but as the Chancellor wisely reminded the +Parliament, it was the duty of the statesman to protect international +relations from disturbance by intrigue or by popular demonstration. + +Finally the Chancellor dealt with a report widely current in England +and Germany at the time, to the effect that the Emperor's refusal to +receive President Kruger was due to the influence of his uncle, King +Edward. The Chancellor emphatically denied that any pressure of the +kind from the English Court, or from any other source, had been +employed, and ended by saying: + + "To suppose that his Majesty the Kaiser could allow himself + to be influenced by family relations shows little + understanding of his character, or of his love of country. + For his Majesty solely the national standpoint is decisive, + and if it were otherwise, and family relations or dynastic + considerations determined our foreign policy, I would not + remain Minister a day longer." + +A precisely similar and unfounded charge, it will be remembered, was +made against King Edward VII in 1902, to the effect that it was Court +influence, not the deliberate judgment of the Cabinet, that was the +efficient cause of the co-operation of the British with the German +fleet in the demonstration off the coast of Venezuela. + +A recent writer, Dr. Adolf Stein, gives an account of the sending of +the famous telegram which corroborates that of Prince von Buelow. The +telegram, according to this version, was a well-considered answer to a +question from the Transvaal Government put to the German Government a +month before the Raid occurred, and when the Transvaal Government got +the first inkling of the preparations being made for it. President +Kruger asked what attitude Germany would adopt in case of a war +between England and the Boer republics. The answer given to the person +who made the inquiry on behalf of the Transvaal Government was that +President Kruger might rest assured of Germany's + + "diplomatic support in so far as it was also Germany's + interest that the independence of the Boer States should be + maintained, but that for anything beyond this he should not + reckon on Germany's assistance or that of any Great Power." + +This answer, Dr. Stein says, was in course of transmission by the post +when the Raid occurred. + +The Raid was made on January 1st. The event was at once telegraphed to +Berlin, where Prince Hohenlohe was Chancellor, with Freiherr Marschall +von Bieberstein, afterwards German Ambassador in Constantinople and +London, as his Foreign Secretary. According to Dr. Stein, they drew up +a telegram to President Kruger, and on the morning of the 3rd laid it +before the Emperor, who had come early from Potsdam for consultation +on the matter. The Chancellor, it should be mentioned, had been at +Potsdam the day previous, but at that time the news of the Raid had +not reached the Emperor. The Emperor, Chancellor, and Foreign +Secretary now decided that a telegram congratulating President Kruger +for having repulsed the Raid "without foreign aid" was the best +non-committal form to adopt. The Emperor, Dr. Stein continues, raised +some objections, but was over-persuaded by Prince Hohenlohe and von +Bieberstein. + +As confirming this version, a little note in Lord Goschen's Biography +may be recalled, in which Lord Goschen confides to a friend a few +weeks before the Raid that the "Germans were taking the Boers under +their wing, as the Americans had done with the Venezuelans." + +Enough perhaps has been said to show that the sending of the telegram +had nothing to do with the Emperor's "impulsive" character, and it +will only be fair to him to let the notion that it had drop finally +out of contemporary history. As an act of State it was in consonance +with German policy at the time. That policy, if it did not look to +acquiring possession of the Transvaal, may very well have looked to +enlisting the sympathies and friendship of the Dutch in South Africa, +and finding in them and their country a field for German enterprise +and a market for German goods; and there was therefore nothing +impulsive, however mistaken the act may have been as a matter of +foreign policy, in the German Government's congratulating President +Kruger on successful resistance to a private raid. + +We have suggested that the telegram was partly due to a certain +element of chivalry in the Emperor's character. The Emperor was well +acquainted with other forms of government and other social systems +besides his own, and though a Hohenzollern could put himself in the +position of the chief of the little Boer republic, threatened as he +was with annihilation by a mighty and powerful opponent. Moreover, +there is always to be remembered the sympathy of view, particularly of +religious view, that existed in the two men as regarded their attitude +and duties to their respective "folk." The President had appealed to +the Emperor for help. The Emperor had had to refuse it, but had wired +that he would do all he could "diplomatically." He knew that this was +but a poor sort of assistance, but it was something, and when the Raid +occurred he gave the diplomatic assistance he had promised by sending +a telegram of congratulation. In any case--_tempi passati_. Foreign +policy is not concerned with sympathies or antipathies, and the whole +episode should be ignored, or, better still, forgotten. + +The Kruger telegram, it turned out, was to usher in a long period of +tension between two countries of the same race, singularly alike in +their ideals of whatever is sound and praiseworthy in Christian +civilization, and almost equally mutual admirers of the fundamental +features of each other's national character. Unfortunately, along with +these fundamental features of the English and German national +characters, the love of money, the _auri sacra fames_, has to be +reckoned with, and in the race of nations for wealth and power the +fundamental qualities are apt, for a time, to be overborne and cease +to act. The rise of the modern German Empire to power and prosperity, +and the new world-situation thus created, largely by the Emperor, is +at the bottom of Anglo-German tension. As a main contributory cause of +both the power and the prosperity, was the creation of the German navy +at the period of which we write. + +The following is a parable which he who runs may read:-- + + In a certain town, with a large and heterogeneous + population, there was once a "monster" shop. The firm (there + were three partners) had been established for hundreds of + years, had thrown out several branches, and by hard work, + enterprise, and honesty had acquired a leading position in + the trade of the town: so much so, indeed, that as time went + on it had also come to do the carriage and delivery of goods + for most of the smaller shops, though some of these were + large houses themselves and the majority of them in a fair + way of business. The smaller shops were naturally a little + jealous of the "monster," and it was the dream of every + owner of them to enlarge his premises and become the + proprietor of an equally great emporium as the "monster." + One day, therefore, a little cluster of shops, at some + distance from the "monster," suddenly resolved to form a + combination, and after settling a dispute with a neighbour + in consideration of a sum of money and a fruitful tract of + land, issued the prospectus of the new company and began to + do business on modern lines. + + Almost from the very beginning the new company was a great + success: its situation was central; the company inspired its + members with enterprise and spirit; it was industrious, + energetic, and splendidly organized; and at last it began to + cut into the trade of the old-established "monster." + Competition might have gone on in the ordinary way had not + the new company made a departure in business methods that + gradually roused special uneasiness among the members of the + "monster" firm. Hitherto the latter had its delivery vans + travel all over the town, and so well was this part of its + system carried on that the firm acquired all but a monopoly + of carrying and delivery. The new company, however, now + began to do a little in the same line, whereupon the + "monster" took to building a superior type of van much more + powerful and imposing, if also much more expensive, than the + one previously in use. The new company naturally followed + suit, and in a surprisingly short time had built, or had + under construction, several vans of an exactly similar kind. + The "monster" saw the new departure of their rivals at first + with curiosity, then with contempt, then with anxiety, and + finally with suspicion and alarm. At the time of writing the + alarm appears to have abated, but a good deal of the + suspicion remains. The town is the world, the "monster" + Great Britain, and the rival company the modern German + Empire. + +It would require the Emperor himself properly to tell the story of his +creation of the modern German navy, and if he has a right to call any +part of his people's property his own, he is justified in speaking, as +he invariably does, of "my navy." As Prince William, his interest in +the subject may have been originally due, as has been seen, to his +partly English parentage, his frequent visits to England, and the fact +that his physical disability threatened to prevent him taking an +active part in the more strenuous duties of the soldier. It is very +probable that it was in the region that cradled the British navy the +idea of a great German navy was conceived by him. We have seen that +the Emperor, as Prince William, showed his enthusiasm in the matter by +delivering lectures on it in military circles, though it was not his +lot, but that of his brother Henry, to be assigned the navy as a +profession. In his Order to the Navy on ascending the throne, he spoke +of the "lively and warm interest" that bound him to the navy, shortly +afterwards issued directions for a new marine uniform on the English +model, and caused the introduction into the Lutheran Church service of +a special prayer for the arm. He gave a parliamentary soiree at the +New Palace in Potsdam, and before allowing his Conservative and +National Liberal guests to sit down to supper, made them listen to a +lecture which occupied two hours, giving particular attention, with +the aid of maps and plans, to the battle of the Yalu between the +fleets of China and Japan. He founded the Technical Shipbuilding +Society, and took, and takes, an animated part in its proceedings, +suggesting positions for the guns, the disposition of armour, the +dimensions of submarines, and a hundred other details. In 1908 he +delivered an after-dinner lecture at the "Villa Achilleion" in Corfu +on Nelson and the battle of Trafalgar, based on the writings of +Captain Mark Kerr of the _Implacable_, at which the situations of the +French, English, and Spanish fleets were sketched by the imperial +hand. To his admiration for the writings of Captain Mahan his +persistence in enlarging the fleet is said largely to be due. He is, +of course, assisted by a host of able experts, among whom Admiral von +Tirpitz--the ablest German since Bismarck, many Germans say--is the +most distinguished; but as he is his own Foreign Minister and own +Commander-in-Chief, he is, in the fullest sense, his own First Lord of +the Admiralty. + +The Emperor closed one of his naval lectures with an anecdote which +the papers reported next day as being received with "stormy +amusement." It was about the metacentrum, the centre of gravity in +ship construction. The Emperor told of his having asked an old sea +lieutenant to explain to him the metacentrum. "I received the answer," +said the Emperor, "that he did not know very exactly himself--it was a +secret. 'All I can say is,' the old seaman went on, 'that if the +metacentrum was in the topmast, the ship would over-turn.'" The +success of a jest, one is told, lies in the ear of the hearer. +Possibly something of the "stormy amusement" may have been called +forth by the reflection that the imperial metacentrum had on occasion +got misplaced. + +In addition to the natural and accidental predispositions of the +Emperor, certain general considerations, which imposed themselves +irresistibly on all men's attention as the century drew to its close, +impelled him to more energetic action. A student of the history of +other countries as well as his own, and a watchful observer of the +tendencies of the time, he felt that the young Empire was incomplete +as long as it was without a navy corresponding in size and power to +its army, the organization of which had been completed. With its army +alone he regarded the Empire as a colossus, no doubt, but a colossus +standing on one leg, and was convinced that if the Empire was to be a +success it must have a navy at least able to withstand attack by any +of his continental neighbours and potential enemies. + +On ascending the throne the Emperor was naturally most occupied with +the internal situation of his new inheritance, and spent a good deal +of his time railing at Social Democracy and the press, explaining the +nature of his Heaven-appointed kingship, and rousing his somewhat +lethargic people to a sense of their power and possibilities; but he +found a moment in 1891 to write under a photograph he gave the +retiring Postmaster-General Stephan: + + "The world, at the end of the nineteenth century, stands + under the star of commerce; commerce breaks down the + barriers which separate the peoples and creates new + relations between the nations." + +Then the idea slumbered in his mind for a few years, while he +continued to make his own people restless with criticism, perhaps +deserved, of their sluggishness, their pessimism, their party strife, +and foreign peoples equally restless with phrases like "_nemo me +impune lacessit_"; until the idea came suddenly to utterance in 1897, +when, on seeing the figure of Neptune on a monument to the Emperor +William, he broke out: "The trident should be in our grip!" From this +time, and for the next few years, the growth of the navy may be said +to have never long been far from his thoughts. In sending Prince Henry +to Kiautschau at the close of 1898 he made the remark that "imperial +power means sea power, and sea power and imperial power are dependent +on each other." Nine months afterwards at Stettin he used a phrase +alone sufficient to keep his name alive in history: "Our future lies +on the water!" + +At Hamburg, in 1899, he laid emphasis on the changes in the world +which justify a naval policy one can see now was almost inevitable. + +"A strong German fleet," he said, "is a thing of which we stand in +bitter need." And he continued: + + "In Hamburg especially one can understand how necessary is a + powerful protection for German interests abroad. If we look + around us we see how greatly the aspect of the world has + altered in recent years. Old-world empires pass away and new + ones begin to arise. Nations suddenly appear before the + peoples and compete with them, nations of whom a little + before the ordinary man had been hardly aware. Products + which bring about radical changes in the domain of + international relations, as well as in the political economy + of the people, and which in old times took hundreds of years + to ripen, come to maturity in a few months. The result is + that the tasks of our German Empire and people have grown to + enormous proportions and demand of me and my Government + unusual and great efforts, which can then only be crowned + with success when, united and decided, without respect to + party, Germans stand behind us. Our people, moreover, must + resolve to make some sacrifice. Above all they must put + aside their endeavour to seek the excellent through the ever + more-sharply contrasted party factions. They must cease to + put party above the welfare of the whole. They must put a + curb on their ancient and inherited weakness--to subject + everything to the most unlicensed criticism; and they must + stop at the point where their most vital interests become + concerned. For it is precisely these political sins which + revenge themselves so deeply on our sea interests and our + fleet. Had the strengthening of the fleet not been refused + me during the past eight years of my Government, + notwithstanding all appeals and warnings--and not without + contumely and abuse for my person--how differently could we + not have promoted our growing trade and our interests beyond + the sea!" + +Perhaps; but perhaps, too, it was as well for the peace of the world +that Germany had no great war fleet during those eight years of +troubled international relations, and that the gentle and adjusting +hand of Providence, not the mailed fist of the Emperor, was guiding +the destinies of nations. + +Previous to the opening of the reign a German navy can hardly be said +to have existed. Yet it should not be forgotten that Germany also has +maritime traditions of no small interest, if of no great importance, +to the world. The Great Elector, the ancestor of the Emperor who ruled +Brandenburg from 1640 to 1688, was fully conscious of the profit his +people might acquire by sea commerce, and the little navy of high-sea +frigates which he built stood manfully, and often successfully, up to +the more powerful navies of Sweden and Spain. This fleet was known, +too, far away from Brandenburg, for the records tell how the Pope and +the Maltese Knights and Louis XIV willingly admitted it to their +harbours. + +But there was lacking what until lately has always hemmed German +progress--money; and the commercially-minded Dutch, a people +themselves with many German characteristics, kept the Germans from the +sea. Then came Frederick the Great, who ruled from 1740 to 1786, and +those Germans who are fond of claiming Shakespeare for their own will +also tell you that the plan drawn up by Frederick for Pitt's seven +years' struggle with France--that plan so unfortunately imitated +afterwards by the Emperor in his correspondence with Queen Victoria +during the Boer War--was the foundation-stone of British naval +supremacy! Frederick, too, saw the advantage of possessing a fleet, +but he had his hands full with France and Russia, and reluctantly had +to decline the offer of the French naval hero, Labourdonnais, to build +him a battle-fleet. At this period, and in the Great Elector's time, +Emden was the Plymouth of Prussia. When Frederick died, there followed +that time of which Germans themselves are ashamed--the hole-and-corner +time, the time when the parochial spirit was abroad and no German +burgher saw beyond the village church and the village pump; the +Biedermeier time (that comic figure of the German _Punch_), the time +of genuine German philistinism, when the people were lapped in an +idyllic repose and were content, as many are to-day, with the smallest +and simplest pleasures. + +This spirit continued until the early quarter of the nineteenth +century, when Professor Frederick List roused the attention of his +countrymen, and notably that of Bismarck, to the necessity of an +independent national existence and a national economic policy. In 1836 +a committee recommended naval coast protection, but it was not until +1848, when Denmark blockaded the German coast, that anything was done +to provide for it. In that year the National Assembly of delegates +from various German Diets, which met at Frankfort, voted for the +marine a million sterling to be levied on the German States, but only +one-half of the money could be collected. Still, three steam frigates, +one large and six small steam corvettes, and two sailing corvettes +were got together, but in 1852, owing to the poverty of the States, +two of the ships were sold to Prussia for L60,000 and the rest +disposed of by auction at less than a fourth of their value. The +officers and men were disbanded with a year's pay. + +To this humiliating state of things Bismarck refers in his "Gedanken +und Erinnerungen." "The German fleet," he writes, + + "and Kiel harbour as a foundation for its institution, were + from 1848 on one of the most burning thoughts at whose fire + German aspirations for unity were accustomed to warm + themselves and to concentrate. Meanwhile, however, the + hatred of my parliamentary opponents was stronger than the + interest for a German fleet, and it seemed to me that the + Progressive party at that time preferred to see the + newly-acquired rights of Prussia to Kiel, and the prospect + of a maritime future founded on its possession, rather in + the hands of the auctioneer, Hannibal Fischer, than in those + of a Bismarck Ministry." + +From this on naval development in Prussia was slow; there was no +interest for a marine either among the governing classes or the +people; but it was not wholly neglected, for Wilhelmshaven was +acquired from the Duchy of Oldenburg, a small fleet was sent to the +Orient with a view to obtaining commercial treaties and concessions, +and a sum of L320,000 was devoted annually to naval requirements. +During the Danish War of 1864 a fleet of three screw corvettes, two +paddle steamers, and a few gunboats was considered sufficient to +protect the coasts and make a blockade impossible. + +From 1885 onwards there had been several Navy Proposals, but it was in +that of 1889, a year after the Emperor's accession, that the beginning +of Germany's naval policy is to be found. In that Proposal it was +announced that the Government intended to depart from the previous +principles of naval policy which had "become antiquated owing to the +progress of science and the character of future naval warfare, as also +owing to the extension of Germany's oversea relations." Up to this +time German maritime needs had invariably been postponed to military +requirements. The necessity for a fleet was indeed recognized, but +only for purposes of coast defence and the prevention of a blockade of +the ports on the North Sea and Baltic. To this end no large fleet was +considered needful, particularly as the war with France had +demonstrated the futility of coast attack. During that war two small +fleets were sent from Cherbourg to blockade the North Sea and Baltic +coasts, but the admirals in charge found the task "impossible" and +returned to France after a few single engagements with divided honours +had occurred. At that time the German people felt entirely secure on +the score of invasion. The numerous espionage incidents of more recent +times prove that this feeling of security has entirely passed away, +and all countries are now armed as though they were to be invaded +to-morrow. + +Emperor William I did something, though not much, for the German navy. +Moltke was interested in it and proposed an armoured cruiser fleet, +but he was thinking chiefly of coast defence. Roon also took up the +matter and laid a Navy Bill before the Diet in 1865, but it was +rejected because, in Virchow's words, the Diet thought "the +Constitution more important than the development of the army and +navy." The war of 1866 showed the necessity of a fleet, and this time +the Diet accepted Roon's proposals. Still, however, the object was +coast defence; and when Emperor William I died the navy was relatively +of no consideration. In the ten years between 1881 and 1891 only one +armoured cruiser, the _Oldenburg_, was launched. With the accession of +the Emperor, however, began a new, and for the Emperor and the +Empire--why not candidly admit it?--a glorious chapter in German naval +history. + +An incident during the reign which really touched German national +pride, and was one of the reasons which caused the Emperor to +accelerate the building of a powerful fleet, was the eviction, if the +term is not too strong, of the German admiral, Diedrich, by the +Americans from the harbour of Manila in the course of the +Spanish-American War. Admiral Dewey was in command of a blockading +fleet at Manila. The ships of various nationalities, and among them +some German warships, were in the harbour. Various causes of +irritation arose between the Germans and Americans. There was talk of +Spain's being desirous of selling the Philippines to Germany, and the +impression got abroad in America that the Germans were inclined to +behave as if they were already the new masters of the islands. The +German warships kept going in and out of the harbour of Millesares, a +village close to Manila, in connexion with the exchange of +time-expired men, using search-lights, the American admiral thought, +in an unnecessary way, and doing other acts which he considered might +give information to blockade-running vessels. + +In accordance with custom, the Germans, had at first supplied +themselves with permits from the American admiral for crossing the +blockade lines, but as time went on the German ships began to cross +the line without them. Admiral Dewey thereupon issued an order that +permits must be obtained. The German admiral sent his flag-lieutenant +to Admiral Dewey to protest, on the ground that warships are exempt +from blockade regulations. The American admiral's reply was to bring +his fist down on his cabin table and say, + + "Tell Admiral Diedrich, with my compliments, that he must + obtain permits, and that if a German ship breaks the + blockade lines without one it spells war, for I shall fire + on the first vessel that attempts it." + +The flag officer went back with the message, and Admiral Diedrich took +his ships, which were greatly inferior in number to those of the +Americans, out of the harbour. + +The German navy, in contrast to the army, is a purely imperial +institution--an institution, according to the Constitution, "entirely +under the chief command of the Kaiser," consequently in no respect +administered or controlled by the federated kingdoms and states. One +speaks of the "royal" army, but of the "imperial" navy. The Emperor is +officially described as the navy's "Chef," superintends its +organization and disposition, with his brother Prince Henry as +Inspector-General, and appoints its officials and officers. He +exercises his functions through the Marine Cabinet, a creation of his +own, which serves as a connecting link between the Emperor and the +Admiralty. + +The legislative stages of the growth of the German navy have so far +been five in number. The first Navy Law passed the Reichstag on third +reading, on March 28, 1898, 212 members voting for it and 139 against, +in a Parliament of 397 members. It provided for the building of a +fleet of seventeen battleships within a certain time, and fixed the +age of the ships at twenty-five years. The new ships were divided into +ships-of-the-line (a new designation), large armoured cruisers, and +small armoured cruisers. This fleet, however, was not large enough to +have any influence on sea politics or seaborne trade, and the +occurrences of the Spanish-American War, just now begun and finished, +determined the Emperor to make further proposals. A great agitation +for the navy was started throughout the Empire, and on January 25, +1900, Admiral Tirpitz laid the second Navy Bill (a "Novelle," as it is +called) before the Reichstag. + +The new measure demanded a doubling of the fleet. The first fleet was +intended chiefly with a view to coast defence, while the new fleet was +to assure "the economic development of Germany, especially of its +world-commerce." If the first Navy Bill had excited surprise and +uneasiness in England, the sensations roused by the second may be +imagined, not altogether because of the increase of German naval +power, but of the power that would result when the new German navy was +combined with the navies of Germany's allies of the Triplice. The +third Navy Bill was a consequence of the Russo-Japanese War and of the +lesson taught by the sea-fight of Tsuschima. It was laid before the +Reichstag on November 28, 1905, for "a stronger representation of the +Empire abroad." Its main object was to increase by almost one-half the +size of the battleships, thus following the lead of England, which had +decided on the new and famous "Dreadnought" class of vessel, +remarkable for its five revolving armoured turrets (instead of two +previously) and the number of its heavy guns. Hitherto English +warships had had an average tonnage of about 14,000 tons: the tonnage +of the original "Dreadnought" was 18,300 tons. Notwithstanding the +enormous nature of the financial demand (L47,600,000 within eleven +years) the Reichstag passed the Bill on May 19, 1905. A torpedo fleet +of 144 boats, in 24 divisions, was additionally provided for in this +Bill. + +The fourth Navy Bill was brought in in 1908, with the diminution of +the age of the German battleship from twenty-five to twenty years as +its principal aim. As a result the number of new ships to be built by +1912 was raised from six to twelve. The fifth and last Navy Bill was +passed last year, 1912, creating a third active squadron as reserve, +made up of existing vessels and three new battleships. The German navy +now consists of 41 battleships of the line, 12 large armoured +cruisers, and 30 small armoured cruisers, the cruisers being for +purposes of reconnaissance; the foreign-service fleet of 8 large and +10 small armoured cruisers; and an active reserve fleet of 16 +battleships, 4 large and 12 small armoured cruisers. + +Like sailors everywhere, the German sailor is a frank and hearty type +of his race, and welcome wherever he goes. The German naval officer is +usually of middle-class extraction, while a slightly larger proportion +of the officers of the army is taken from the _noblesse_. He is a +fine, frank, and manly fellow as a rule, and, like the Emperor, +perfectly willing to admit that his navy is closely modelled on that +of Great Britain. Moreover, in addition to a thorough knowledge of his +profession, he is able, in two cases out of three, to converse with +useful fluency in English, French, and in some cases Italian as well. + +The navy, like the army, is recruited by conscription, but active +service is for three years, as in the German cavalry and artillery, +while only two years in the German infantry. Naturally young men of an +adventurous turn of mind frequently elect for the navy, as they hope +thereby to see something of the world. At the end of their third year +of service they may go back to civil life as reservists or may +"capitulate," that is, continue in active service for another year, +and renew their "capitulation" thenceforward from year to year. The +ordinary sailor receives (since 1912) the equivalent of 14s. 6d. in +cash monthly and 9s. for clothing, but when at sea additional pay of +6s. a month. The result of the system of conscription is that about 40 +per cent. of the fleet's crews consist of what may be called seasoned +sailors, the remainder being three-year conscripts. The officer class +is recruited from young men who have passed a certain school standard +examination and enter the navy as cadets. The one-year-volunteer +system (_Einjaehriger Dienst_) only partially obtains in the navy, for +purposes, namely, of coast defence and other services on land. After +two years the cadet becomes a midshipman, and with five or six other +middies serves for a year or so on board ship, when he becomes a +sub-lieutenant and is promoted by seniority to full lieutenant, +captain-lieutenant (the English naval lieutenant with eight +years' service), corvette-captain (the English naval commander, +with three stripes), frigate-captain (corresponding in rank to a +lieutenant-colonel in the English army), and finally captain-at-sea +(with four stripes), when he may get command of a battleship. To reach +this great object of the German naval officer's ambition takes on an +average twenty-four years, or about the same period as in the British +navy. + +The upper ranks, in ascending order, are contre-admiral (the English +rear-admiral), vice-admiral, admiral, grand-admiral (English Admiral +of the Fleet). There are only four grand-admirals in Germany, namely, +the Emperor (as "Chef" of the navy), his brother Prince Henry (as +inspector-general), retired Admiral von Koester (president of the Navy +League), and Admiral von Tirpitz (Secretary of Admiralty and the only +"active" grand-admiral). King George V of England is an admiral of the +German navy, as the Emperor is an admiral of the British navy. + +Salutes are a matter of international agreement. They are: 33 guns +(simultaneously from all ships) for the Emperor and foreign monarchs, +21 for the Crown Prince of Germany or of a foreign country, 19 for a +grand-admiral or an ambassador, 17 for an admiral, the Secretary of +Admiralty or inspector-general, 15 for a vice-admiral, 13 for +contre-admiral, and so descending. 101 guns are fired on the Emperor's +birthday or on the birth of an imperial prince. 66 guns is the salute +when a German monarch ascends the imperial throne, and 101 when a +German Emperor dies. + +The yearly salaries of German naval officers are as follows: Admiral, +L1,294 (of which L699 is "pay"), vice-admiral, L897 (L677 "pay"), +contre-admiral, L772 (L677 "pay"), captain-at-sea, L520 (L438 "pay"), +corvette-captain, L396 (L280 "pay"), full lieutenant, L174 (L120 +"pay"), and so on downwards. Jews are not allowed to become officers +of the navy, thus following the practice in the army. There is no law +to prevent Jews becoming officers in either army or navy, but, as a +matter of tradition or prejudice, no regimental or naval commander is +willing to accept an Israelite among his officers. + +It is time, however, to return to the personal doings of the Emperor. +He is responsible for Germany's foreign policy, and his duties in +connexion with it and with the navy must often have suggested to him +the desirability of seeing with his own eyes something of the Orient, +the new battlefield of the world's diplomacy, and possibly a new +Eldorado for European merchants and engineers. His journey to the +East, now undertaken, was, however, chiefly a religious one, though it +had also something of a chivalric character, since much of every +German's imagination is concerned with the Crusades, the Order of +Knight Templars, and similar historical or legendary incidents and +personalities in the early stages of the struggle between the +Christian and the Saracen. The birthplace of Christ has special +interest for a Hohenzollern who holds his kingship by divine grace, +and in the Emperor's case because his father had made the journey to +Jerusalem thirty years before. The Emperor, lastly, cannot but have +been glad to escape, if only for a time, such harassing concerns as +party politics, scribbling journalists, long-winded ministerial +harangues, and Social Democrats. + +The journey of the Emperor and Empress to Palestine occupied about a +month from the middle of October, 1898, to the middle of the following +November, and while it was one of the most delightful and picturesque +experiences of the Emperor, it entailed some unforeseen and not +altogether agreeable consequences. It was very much criticized in +Germany as an exhibition of a theatrical kind, of the "decorative in +policy," as Bismarck used to say, who saw no utility in decoration, +and evidently did not agree with Shakspeare that the "world is still +deceived by ornament." It was objected that the Emperor should have +stayed at home to look after imperial business, that such a journey +must excite suspicion in England and France--in the former because +England is an Oriental power, and in the latter because France is +supposed to claim special protective rights over Christianity in the +East. + +The Englishman who reads what German writers say about the journey +gets the impression that the criticism was an expression of +jealousy--jealousy, as we know from Bismarck and Prince Buelow, being a +national German failing. Every German ardently desires to see Italy +and the Orient, but until of late years few Germans had the means of +gratifying the wish. In one point, however, the critics were right. +The Emperor, when in Damascus, after saying that he felt "deeply moved +at standing on the spot where one of the most knightly sovereigns of +all times, the great Sultan Saladin, stood," went on to say that +Sultan Abdul "and the three hundred million Mohammedans who, scattered +over the earth, venerated him as their Caliph, might be assured that +at all times the German Emperor would be their friend." It was a +harmless and vague remark enough, one would think, but political +writers in all countries have made great capital out of it ever since +whenever Germany's Oriental policy is discussed. At the risk of +repetition it may be said that that policy is, in the East as +elsewhere, a purely economic one. The Emperor's mistake perhaps +chiefly lay in raising hopes in Turkish minds which were very unlikely +to be realized. + +The Emperor's allusion to Saladin as the most knightly sovereign of +all times was a bad blunder. He was doubtless carried away by a +combination, in his probably at this time somewhat excited +imagination, of the chivalrous figures of the crusading times with +thoughts of the German Knight Templars and other soldierly characters. +Saladin was a brave man physically, and fond of imperial magnificence, +as is only natural and necessary for an Oriental potentate to be; and +a good deal of Eastern legend grew up about him on that account. +Legend was enough for the Emperor in his then romantic mood. He +forgot, or did not know, that Saladin, from the point of view of a +modern and in reality far more knightly age, was a sanguinary +and fanatic ruffian, who showed no mercy to his Christian +prisoners--killed, in fact, one of them, Rainald de Chatillon, with +his own hand, sacked Jerusalem, turned the Temple of Solomon into a +mosque, after having it "disinfected" with rose-water, and killed Pope +Urban III, who died, the chronicles tell, of sorrow at the news. + +The journey was, as has been said, a delightful and picturesque +experience for the Emperor and the Empress. They passed through Venice +with its marble palaces, sailed over the sapphire waters of the +Adriatic, and were received with great demonstrations of welcome by +the Sultan in Constantinople. When they were leaving, the Sultan gave +the Emperor a gigantic carpet, and the Emperor gave the Sultan a gold +walking-stick, an exact imitation of the stick Frederick the Great +used to lean on, and sometimes, very likely, apply to the backs of his +trusty but stupid lieges. + +Before disposing of the events of this period of the Emperor's life +mention may be made of two or three occurrences which must have been a +source of political interest or social entertainment to him. From +among them we select the Dreyfus case and the historic scene arranged +for the painter, Adolf Menzel, in Sans Souci. + +The Dreyfus case, though its investigation brought to light no fact +implicating the German authorities, naturally aroused interest +throughout Germany. The interest was felt equally in the army, +notwithstanding that it contains no Jewish officer, and among the +civil population. In France, it will be remembered, the case acquired +its importance from the charge, made by the anti-Semite Drumont and +his journal _La Libre Parole_, that the Jews were exploiting the +Government and the country. There is an anti-Semite party in Germany, +founded by the Court preacher Stoecker in 1878, but possibly owing to +the prudence and good citizenship of the Jews in Germany, it has +gained little weight or momentum since. + +The "affaire," as it was universally known, was only once referred to +in the German Parliament, in January, 1898, when Chancellor von Buelow +declared "in the most positive way possible" that there had "never +been any traffic or relations of any kind whatsoever between Dreyfus +and any German authority," adding that the alleged finding of an +official German communication in the wastepaper basket of the German +Embassy in Paris was a fiction. The Chancellor concluded by saying +that the case had in no respect ever troubled relations between +Germany and France. + +The incident most often cited as evidence of the Emperor's love of +recalling the days of his great ancestor, Frederick the Great, is the +concert he arranged at Sans Souci on June 13, 1895, to gratify, we may +be sure, as well as surprise, the famous painter. The incident and its +origin are described in a work already mentioned, the "Private Lives +of William II and His Consort," by a lady of the Court. The account +given below is illustrative of the unfriendly sentiments which are +evident throughout the work, but the lady is probably fairly accurate +as regards the incident, and in any case her gossip will give the +reader some notion, though by no means an entirely faithful one, of +the Court atmosphere at the time. Talk at the palace during afternoon +tea having turned on the fact that Adolf Menzel, the painter, would +shortly celebrate his eightieth birthday, some one remarked on the +refusal by the Court marshal in the previous reign to allow him to see +the scene of his celebrated "Flute Concert at Sans Souci," which he +was then composing, lighted up. The conversation, according to the +lady writer, continued thus:-- + + "'Maybe he was frightened at the prospect of furnishing a + couple of dozen wax candles,' sneered the Duke of Schleswig. + + "'More likely he knew nothing of Menzel's growing + reputation,' suggested Begas, the sculptor. + + "The Emperor overheard the last words. 'Are you prepared to + say that my grand-uncle's chief marshal failed to recognize + the genius of the foremost Hohenzollern painter?' he asked + sharply. + + "'I would not like to libel a dead man,' answered Begas, + 'but appearances are certainly against the Count. I have it + from Menzel's own lips that the Court marshal refused him + all and every assistance when he was painting the scenes of + life in Sans Souci. The rooms of the chateau were accessible + to him only to the same extent as to any other paying + visitor or the hordes of foreign tourists, and he had to + make his sketches piece-meal, gathering corroborative and + additional material in museums and picture-galleries.' + + "Quick as a flash the Kaiser turned to Count Eulenburg. 'I + shall repay the debt Prussia owes to Menzel,' he spoke, not + without declamatory effect. 'We will have the representation + of the Sans Souci flute concert three days hence. Your + programme is to be ready tomorrow morning at ten. Menzel, + mind you, must know nothing of this: merely command him to + attend us at the Schloss at supper and for a musical + evening.' And, turning round, he said to her Majesty: 'You + will impersonate Princess Amalia, and you, Kessel' (Adjutant + von Kessel, then Commander of the First Life Guards), + 'engage all your tallest and best-looking officers to enact + the great King's military household.' + + "Again the Kaiser addressed Count Eulenberg: 'Be sure to + have the best artists of the Royal Orchestra perform + Frederick the Great's compositions, and let Joachim be + engaged for the occasion.' Saying this, he took her + Majesty's arm, and bidding his guests and the Court a hasty + good-night, strode out of the apartment." + +A description of the Empress's costume for the concert follows. + + "Her Majesty's dress consisted of a petticoat of sea-green + satin, richly ornamented with silver lace of antique pattern + and an overdress of dark velvet, embroidered with gold and + set with precious stones. On her powdered hair, amplified by + one of Herr Adeljana, the Viennese coiffeur's, most + successful creations, sat a jaunty three-cornered hat having + a blazing aigrette of large diamonds in front, the identical + cluster of white stones which figured at the great + Napoleon's coronation, and which he lost, together with his + entire equipage, in the battle of Waterloo. In her ears her + Majesty wore pearl ornaments representing a small bunch of + cherries. Like the aigrette, they are Crown property, and + that Auguste Victoria thought well enough of the jewels to + rescue them from oblivion for this occasion was certainly + most appropriate." + +The Emperor's costume is also described. + +"He wore the cuirassier uniform of the great Frederick's period, a +highly ornamented dress that suited the War Lord, who was painted and +powdered to perfection, extremely well, especially as Wellington +boots, a very becoming wig and his strange head-gear really and +seemingly added to his figure, while his usually stern face beamed +pleasantly under the powder and rouge laid on by expert hands." + +The arrival of Menzel is then narrated and the reception by the +Emperor, who took the part of an adjutant of Frederick the Great's, +and in that character "bombarded the helpless master," as the +chronicler says, + + "with forty stanzas of alleged verse, in which the deeds of + Prussia's kings and the masterpieces that commemorate them + were extolled with a prosiness that sounded like an + afterclap of William's Reichstag and monument orations." + +A real concert followed, and supper was taken in the Marble Hall +adjoining. The authoress concludes as follows:-- + + "I was contemplating these reminiscences (the pictures of La + Barberini) in silent reverie when the door opened and the + Kaiser came in with little Menzel. + + "'I have a mind to engage Angeli to paint her Majesty's + picture in the costume of Princess Amalia,' said the Emperor + 'What do you think of it?' + + "'Angeli is painter to many emperors and kings,' replied the + Professor, and I saw him smile diplomatically as he moved + his spectacles to get a better view of the allegorical + canvas on the left wall that exhibits the nude figure of the + famous mistress in its entirety. + + "'I am glad you agree with me on that point,' said the + Emperor, impatient to execute the idea that had crossed his + mind. 'I will telegraph to him to-night.' + + "And when, five minutes later, Menzel bent over my hand to + take formal leave, I heard him murmur in his dry, + absent-minded manner--'Pesne ... Angeli ... Frederick the + Great ... William II!" + +We have spoken of the Court atmosphere of this time. The following +extracts from the Memoirs of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe will +assist the reader, perhaps even better than a connected account, to +enter, in imagination at all events, into it. The conversations cited +between the Emperor and the Prince turn on all sorts of topics--the +pass question in Alsace (where Hohenlohe was then Statthalter), the +possibility of war with Russia, pheasant shooting, projected +monuments, the breach with Bismarck, the Triple Alliance, and a +hundred more of the most different kinds. Once talking domestic +politics, the Emperor said: + + "It will end by the Social Democrats getting the upper hand. + Then they will plunder the people. Not that I care. I will + have the palace loop-holed and look on at the plundering. + The burghers will soon call on me for help;" + +and on another occasion, in 1889, Hohenlohe tells of a dinner at the +palace, and how after dinner, when the Empress and her ladies had gone +into another _salon_, the Emperor, Hohenlohe, and Dr. Hinzpeter (the +Emperor's old tutor) conversed together for an hour, all standing. +"The first subject touched on," relates the Prince, was the gymnasia +(high schools), the Emperor holding that they made too exacting claims +on the scholars, while Hohenlohe and Hinzpeter pointed out that +otherwise the run on the schools would be too great and cause danger +of a "learned proletariat." Prince Hohenlohe concludes: + + "In the whole conversation, which never once came to a + standstill, I was pleased by the fresh, lively manner of the + Emperor, and was in all ways reminded of his grandfather, + Prince Albert." + +Next year the Prince was present at an official dinner in the Berlin +palace. He writes:-- + + "BERLIN, 22 _March_, 1890. + + "At seven, dinner in the White Salon (at the palace). I sat + opposite the Empress and between Moltke and Kameke. The + former was very communicative, but was greatly interfered + with by the continuous music, and was very angry at it. Two + bands were placed facing each other, and when one ceased the + other began to play its trumpets. It was hardly endurable. + The Emperor made a speech in honour of the Queen of England + and the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward, present on + the occasion of the investiture of his son Prince George, + now King George V, with the Order of the Black Eagle), and + mentioned his nomination as English admiral (whose uniform + he was wearing) and the comradeship-in-arms at the battle of + Waterloo; he also hoped that the English fleet and the + German army would together maintain peace. Moltke then said + to me: 'Goethe says, "a political song, a discordant song."' + + "He also said he hoped the speech wouldn't get into the + papers." + +(It did, however.) + +The next extract describes a conversation Prince Hohenlohe had with +the Emperor at Potsdam the following year. It gives an idea of the +ordinary nature of conversations between the Emperor and his high +officials on such occasions. + + "BERLIN, 13 _December_, 1891. + + "Yesterday forenoon was invited to the New Palace at + Potsdam. Besides myself were the Prince and Princess von + Wied, with the Mistress of the Robes and the Court marshal. + Emperor and Empress very amiable. The Emperor spoke of his + hunting in Alsace, and supposed it would be some years + before the game there would be abundant. Then he expressed + his satisfaction at my acquisition of Gensburg, and when I + told him there was not much room in the castle he said, no + matter, he could nevertheless pass a few days there with a + couple of gentlemen very pleasantly. Passing to politics, he + gave vent to his displeasure at the attitude of the + Conservative party, who were hindering the formation of a + Conservative-monarchical combination against the + Progressives and Social Democrats. This was all the more + regrettable as the Progressives, if now and then they + opposed the Social Democrats, still at bottom were with + them. The Emperor approves of the commercial treaties and + seemed to have great confidence in Caprivi generally. As we + came to speak of intrigues and gossip, the Emperor hinted + that Bismarck was behind them. He added that people were + urging him from many quarters to be reconciled with + Bismarck, but it was not for him to take the first step. He + seemed well informed about the situation in Russia and + considered it very dangerous. When I asked the Emperor how + he stood now with the Czar, he replied 'Badly. He went + through here without paying me a visit, and I only write him + ceremonious letters. The Queen of Denmark prevented him + coming to Berlin, for fear he should go to Potsdam. She has + gone now with him to Livadia on the pretext of the silver + wedding, but in reality to keep him away from Berlin.'" + +Writing of a lunch at Potsdam, under date Berlin, November 10, 1892, +the Prince notes:-- + + "The Emperor came late and looked tired, but was in good + spirits. We went immediately to table. Afterwards the + conversation turned on Bismarck. 'When one compares what + Bismarck does with that for which poor Arnim had to suffer!' + He would do nothing, he said, against Bismarck, but the + consequences of the whole thing were very serious. Waldersee + and Bismarck couldn't abide one another. They had, however, + become allies out of common hatred of Caprivi, whose fall + Bismarck desired. What might happen afterwards neither + cared." + +The following was penned after the old Chancellor's visit of +reconciliation:-- + + "BERLIN, 27 _January_, 1894. + + "To-night gala performance at the opera. Between the acts I + talked first with different monarchs, the King of + Wuerttemberg, the King of Saxony, the Grand Duke of + Oldenburg, and so on. Then I was sent for by the Empress, of + whom I took leave. The Emperor came shortly afterwards. We + spoke of Bismarck's visit the day before and the good + consequences for the Emperor it would have. 'Yes,' said the + Emperor, 'now they can put up triumphal arches for him in + Vienna and Munich, I am all the time a length ahead. If the + press continues its abuse it only puts itself and Bismarck + in the wrong.' I mentioned that red-hot partisans of + Bismarck were greatly dissatisfied with the visit, and said + the Emperor should have gone to Friedrichsruh (Bismarck's + estate near Hamburg). 'I am well aware of it,' said the + Emperor,'but for that they would have had a long time to + wait. He had to come here.' On the whole the Emperor spoke + very sensibly and decisively, and I did not at all get the + impression that he now wants to change everything." + +Prince Hohenlohe was summoned to Potsdam in October, 1894, by a +telegram from the Emperor. All the telegram said was that "important +interests of the Empire" were concerned. Hohenlohe was only aware of +the dismissal of Caprivi from a newspaper he read in Frankfort on his +way to Potsdam. The Emperor met him at the station (Wildpark) and +conveyed him to the New Palace, where the Prince agreed to accept the +Chancellorship "at the Emperor's earnest request." Princess Hohenlohe +was decidedly against her husband, who was now seventy-five, accepting +the post, and even ventured to telegraph to the Empress to prevent it. + +The Prince has a note on his intercourse with his imperial master. He +is writing to his son, Prince Alexander:-- + + "BERLIN, 17 _October_, 1896. + + "It is a curious thing--my relations to his Majesty. I come + now and then to the conclusion, owing to his small + inconsideratenesses, that he intentionally avoids me and + that things can't continue so. Then again I talk with him + and see that I am mistaken. Yesterday I had occasion to + report to him, and he poured out his heart to me and took + occasion in the friendliest way to ask my advice. And thus + my distrust is dissipated." + +Hunting with the Emperor:-- + + "15 _December_, 1896. + + "Yesterday I obeyed the royal invitation to hunt at Springe. + I had to leave Berlin as early as 7 a.m. to catch the royal + train at Potsdam. From Springe railway station we passed + immediately into the hunting district. Only sows were shot. + I brought down six. Then we drove to the Schloss, rested for + a few hours and then dined. The Emperor was in very good + humour and talked incessantly; in addition the Uhlan band + and the usually noisy conversation." + +When presenting his resignation to the Emperor at Hamburg in October, +1900, the Prince, who had evidently been for some time aware that his +term of office was drawing to a close, describes his conversation with +the Emperor:-- + + "At noon, as I came to the Emperor, he received me in a very + friendly way. We first settled about summoning the + Reichstag, and then his Majesty said, 'I have received a + very distressing letter'--an allusion to the Chancellor's + official letter of resignation, which he had placed in the + Emperor's hands through Tschirschky, Foreign Minister. 'As I + then,' continued Hohenlohe, 'explained the necessity of my + resignation on the ground of my health and age the Emperor, + apparently quite satisfied, agreed, so that I could see he + had already expected my request and consequently that it was + high time I should make it. We talked further over the + question of my successor, and I was agreeably surprised when + he forthwith mentioned Buelow, who certainly at the moment is + the best man available. His Majesty then said he would + telegraph to Lucanus (Chief of the Civil Cabinet) to bring + Buelow to Homburg so that we might consult about details. I + breakfasted with their Majesties and went calmly home.'" + +Writing to his daughter next day Prince Hohenlohe, in words that do +equal credit to himself and the imperial family, says: + + "It is always a pleasure to me when on such occasions I can + convince myself of the Christian disposition of the imperial + family. In our for the most part unbelieving age this family + seems to me like an oasis in the desert." + +Prince Hohenlohe was succeeded as Chancellor by Prince von Buelow, who +had held the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for the +preceding two years, and practically conducted the Emperor's foreign +policy during that time. He had served as Secretary of Embassy in St. +Petersburg, Vienna, and Athens, was a Secretary to the Congress of +Berlin, fought in the war with France and after seven years as +Minister in Bucharest spent four years as Ambassador in Rome. Here he +married a divorced Italian lady, the Countess Minghetti. After acting +as deputy Foreign Secretary for the late Baron Marschall von +Bieberstein, he was appointed permanent Foreign Secretary, and on +October 17, 1900, was called by the Emperor to the most responsible +post in the Empire next to his own, that of Imperial Chancellor. The +Emperor's choice was fully justified, for the new Chancellor proved +himself to be the most brilliant diplomatist and parliamentarian since +Bismarck. + + + + +IX + + + +THE NEW CENTURY + + + +1900-1901 + +German writers, commenting on the turn of the century, claim to +discover a change in the Emperor's character about this period. He has +lost much of his imaginative, his Lohengrin, vein, and has become more +practical, more prosaic and matter-of-fact. To use the German word, he +is now a _Realpolitiker_, one who deals in things, not words or +theories, and drawing his gaze from the stars makes them dwell more +attentively on the immediate practical considerations of the world +about him. His nature has not changed, of course, nor his manner, but +he has begun to see that he must employ means and ways different from +those he employed previously. He has not become a Bismarck, for he +still pursues his aims more in the spirit of the colonel of a regiment +leading his men to the attack with banners flying, drums beating, +swords rattling in their scabbards and mailed gauntlets held +threateningly aloft, than in that of the cool and calculating +politician ruminating in his closet on the tactics of his opponents, +and deliberating how best to meet and confound them; but he gives more +thought to what is going on about him, to party politics, to the +economic necessities of the hour, and to modern science and its +inventions. + +What strikes the Englishman perhaps as much as anything in the +Emperor's character at this time is the Cromwellian trait in it. This +is a side of his Protean nature which never seems to have been +adequately recognized in England, yet in a singularly baffling +character-composition it is one of the fundamental elements. The view +of Prussian monarchy, inherited from one Hohenzollern to another for +generation after generation, that the race of people to which he +belonged (with any other race he could include by conquest in it) has +been handed over by Heaven for all eternity to his family, naturally +predisposes him to take a religious, a patriarchal, one might say an +Hebraic, view of government; but in addition we find the warrior +spirit at all times going hand in hand with the religious spirit, +almost as strongly as in the case of Mahomet with the Koran in one +hand and the sword in the other. + +There was nothing in the Emperor's youth to show the existence of +deeply religious conviction, but as soon as he mounted the throne, and +all through the reign up to the close of the century, indeed some +years beyond it, his speeches, especially when he was addressing his +soldiery, were filled with expressions of religious fervour. "Von +Gotten Gnaden," he writes as a preface for a Leipzig publication +appearing on January 1, 1900, + + "is the King; therefore to God alone is he responsible. He + must choose his way and conduct himself solely from this + standpoint. This fearfully heavy responsibility which the + King bears for his folk gives him a claim on the faithful + co-operation of his subjects. Accordingly, every man among + the people must be thoroughly persuaded that he is, along + with the King, responsible for the general welfare." + +It may be noted in passing that Cromwell and the Emperor are alike in +being the founders of the great war navies of their respective +countries. + +On the date mentioned (New Year's Day), in the Berlin arsenal when +consecrating some flags, he addressed the garrison on the turn of the +year: + + "The first day of the new century finds our army, that is + our folk in arms, gathered round its standards, kneeling + before the Lord of Hosts--and certainly if anyone has reason + to bend the knee before God, it is our army." + +"A glance at our standards," the Emperor continued, + + "is sufficient explanation, for they incorporate our + history. What was the state of our army at the beginning of + the century? The glorious army of Frederick the Great had + gone to sleep on its laurels, ossified in pipeclay details, + led by old, incapable generals, its officers shy of work, + sunk in luxury, good living, and foolish self-satisfaction. + In a word, the army was no longer not only not equal to its + task, but had forgotten it. Heavy was the punishment of + Heaven, which overtook it and our folk. They were flung into + the dust, Frederick's glory faded, the standards were cast + down. In seven years of painful servitude God taught our + folk to bethink itself of itself, and under the pressure of + the feet of an arrogant usurper (Napoleon) was born the + thought that it is the highest honour to devote in arms + one's life and property to the Fatherland--the thought, in + short, of universal conscription." + +The word for conscription, it may be here remarked, is in German +_Wehrpflicht_, the duty of defence. To most people in England it means +simply "compulsory military service." It is important to note the +difference, as it explains the German national idea, and the Emperor's +idea, that all military and naval forces are primarily for defence, +not offence. This is, indeed, equally true of the British, or perhaps +any other, army and navy; but how many Englishmen, when they think of +Germany, can get the idea into the foreground of their thoughts or +accustom themselves to it? + +However, we have not yet done with the Emperor's baffling character. +There was a third element that now developed in it--the modern, the +twentieth-century, the American, the Rockefeller element. It is +intimately connected with his Weltpolitik, as his Weltpolitik is with +his foreign policy in general--indeed one might say his Weltpolitik is +his foreign policy--a policy of economic expansion, with a desperate +apprehension of losing any of the Empire's property, and a +determination to have a voice in the matter when there is any loose +property anywhere in the world to be disposed of. To the Hebraic +element and the warrior element (an entirely un-Christlike +combination, as the Emperor must be aware) there now began to be added +the mercantile, the modern, the American element--the interest in all +the concerns of national material prosperity, in the national +accumulation of wealth, the interest in inventions, in commercial +science, in labour-saving machinery, the effort to win American +favour, to facilitate intercourse and establish close and profitable +relations with that wealthy land and people. + +We know that the Emperor has English blood in him, greatly admires +England, and is immensely proud of being a British admiral. We have +seen him exhibiting traits of character that remind one of Lohengrin +or Tancred. He has played many parts in the spirit of a Hebrew prophet +and patriarch, of a Frederick the Great, a Cromwell, a Nelson, a +Theodore Roosevelt. Preacher, teacher, soldier, sailor, he has been +all four, now at one moment, now at another. We shall find him anon as +art and dramatic critic, to end--so far as we are concerned with +him--as farmer. Is it any wonder if such a man, mediaeval in his nature +and modern in his character, defies clear and definite portrayal by +his contemporaries? + +Taking the year 1900 as the first year of the new century, not as some +calculators, and the Emperor among them, take it, as the last year of +the old, the twentieth century may be said to have opened with a +dramatic historical episode in which the Emperor and his Empire took +very prominent parts--the Boxer movement. + +Little notice has been taken in our account of Germany's spacious days +of her relations to China and the Far East generally. They were, +nevertheless, all through that period intimately connected with her +expansion or dreams of expansion. About 1890 the Flowery Land awoke to +the benefits of European civilization and in particular of European +ingenuity; and in 1891, for the first time in Chinese history, foreign +diplomatists were granted the privilege of an annual reception +at the Chinese Court. So exclusive was the Manchu dynasty--the +Hohenzollerns of China in point of antiquity; yet not a score of +years later the Manchu monarchy had been quietly removed from its +five-thousand-year-old throne, and China, apparently the most +conservative and monarchical people on earth, proclaimed itself a +republic--a regular modern republic!--an operation that among peoples +claiming infinite superiority to the Chinese would have cost thousands +of lives and a vast expenditure of money. + +Naturally, once China showed a willingness to abandon its axenic +attitude towards foreign devils and all things foreign-devilish, the +European Powers turned their eyes and energies towards her, and a +strenuous commercial and diplomatic race after prospective concessions +for railways, mines, and undertakings of all kinds began. Each Power +feared that China would be gobbled up by a rival, or that at least a +partition of the vast Chinese Empire was at hand. Consequently, when +China was beaten in her war with Japan, and made the unfavourable +treaty of Shimonoseki, the European Powers were ready to appear as +helpers in time of need. Russia, Germany, and France got the +Shimonoseki Treaty altered, and the Laotung Peninsula with Port Arthur +given back, and in return Russia acquired the right to build a railway +through Manchuria (the first step towards "penetration" and +occupation), French engineers obtained several valuable mining and +railway concessions, and Germany got certain privileges in Hankow and +Tientsin. + +Meantime the old, deeply-rooted hatred of the foreign devil, the +European, was spreading among the population, which was still, in the +mass, conservative. Missionaries were murdered, and among them, in +1897, two German priests. Germany demanded compensation, and in +default sent a cruiser squadron to Kiautschau Bay. Russia immediately +hurried a fleet to Port Arthur and obtained from China a lease of that +port for twenty-five years. England and France now put in a claim for +their share of the good things going. England obtained Wei-hai-Wei, +France a lease of Kwang-tschau and Hainan. China was evidently +throwing herself into the arms of Europe, when, in 1898, the Dowager +Empress took the government out of the hands of the young Emperor and +a period of reaction set in. The appearance of Italy with a demand for +a lease of the San-mun Bay in 1899 brought the Chinese anti-foreign +movement to a head, and the Boxer conspiracy grew to great dimensions. + +The movement was caused not merely by religious and race fanaticism, +but by the popular fear that the new European era would change the +economic life of China and deprive millions of Chinese of their wonted +means of livelihood. The Dowager Empress and a number of Chinese +princes now joined it. Massacres soon became the order of the day, and +it is calculated that in the spring of 1900 alone more than 30,000 +Christians were barbarously done to death. Among the victims were +reckoned 118 English, 79 Americans, 25 French, and 40 of other +nationalities. The Ambassadors and Ministers of all nations, conscious +of their danger, applied to the Tsungli Yamen (Foreign Office), +demanding that the Imperial Government should crush the Boxer +movement. The Government took no steps, the diplomatists were +beleaguered in their embassies, and were only saved by friendly police +from being murdered. + +This, however, was but a temporary respite, and it became necessary to +bring marines from the foreign ships of war lying at the mouth of the +Pei-ho River just out of range of the formidable Taku Forts. These +troops, 2,000 in all, were led by Admiral Seymour. They tried to reach +Pekin, but failed owing to the destruction of the railway, and retired +to Tientsin, from whence, however, on June 16th, a detachment set out +to capture the Taku Forts. The capture was effected, the German +gunboat _Iltis_, under Captain Lans, playing a conspicuously brave +part. Tientsin was now in danger from the Boxer bands, but was +relieved by a mixed detachment of Russians and Germans under General +Stoessel, the subsequent defender of Port Arthur. + +The alarm meantime at Pekin was intense. The Chinese Government, +throwing off all disguise, ordered the diplomatists to leave the city. +They refused, knowing that to leave the shelter of the embassies meant +torture and death. One of them, however, the German Minister, Freiherr +von Ketteler, ventured from his Legation and was killed in broad +daylight on his way to the Chinese Foreign Office. Only one of the +Minister's party escaped, to stagger, hacked and bloody, into the +British Legation with the news. This Legation, as the strongest +building in the quarter, became the refuge of the entire diplomatic +corps, with their wives, children, and servants. It was straightway +invested and bombarded by the Boxers, and as the days and weeks went +on the other Legation buildings were burned, and the refugees in the +British Legation had to look death at all hours in the face. + +The murder of von Ketteler excited anger and horror throughout the +world, and in no breast, naturally, to a stronger degree than in that +of the German Emperor. All nations hastened to send troops to Pekin. +Japan was first on the scene with 16,000 men under General +Yamagutschi. Russia followed next with 15,000 under General Lenewitch, +then England with 7,500 under General Gaselee, then France with 5,000 +under General Frey, then America with 4,000 under General Chaffee, +Germany with 2,500 under von Hopfner, Austria and Italy with smaller +contingents--in all more than 50,000 men, with 144 guns. A little +later the expeditionary corps from Germany, 19,000 strong, under +General von Lessel, and that from France, 10,000 strong, arrived. At +the suggestion, it is said, of Russia, and by agreement among the +European Powers, united by a common sympathy and in face of a common +danger, the German Field-Marshal, Count Waldersee, was appointed to +the supreme command of all the European forces. At the same time naval +supports were hurried by all maritime nations to the scene, and within +a short period 160 warships and 30 torpedo boats were assembled off +the Chinese coast. + +The march to Pekin and the relief of the imprisoned Europeans are +incidents still fresh in public memory. In the crowded British +Legation fear alternated with hope, and hope with fear, until, on the +forenoon of August 14th, a boy ran into the Legation crying that +"black-faced Europeans" were advancing along the royal canal in the +direction of the building. In a few minutes a company of Sikh cavalry, +part of some Indian troops diverted on their way to Aden, galloped up, +all danger was over, and the refugees were saved. + +The Boxer troubles ended on May 13, 1901, with the signature by Li +Hung Chang in the name of the Emperor of China of a treaty of peace, +the main conditions of which were the payment by China within thirty +years of a war indemnity to the Powers of 450 million taels +(L66,000,000) and an agreement to send a mission of atonement to the +Courts of Germany and Japan--for among the foreign victims of the +Boxers in the previous year had been the Japanese representative in +China, Baron Sugiyama. + +For two or three weeks the action of the Emperor with regard to the +Chinese mission of atonement brought him into universal ridicule. +Prince Chun, a near relative of the Chinese Emperor, who had been +appointed to conduct the mission, reached Basle in September, 1901, on +his way to Berlin. Here he lingered, and it soon became known that a +hitch had occurred in his relations with Germany. It then transpired +that the delay was caused by the Emperor's having suddenly intimated +that he expected Prince Chun to make thrice to him, as he sat on his +throne at Potsdam, the "kotow" as practised in the Court of China. In +view of the surprise, laughter, and criticism of Europe, the Emperor +modified his demand for the "kotow" to its symbolic performance by +three deep bows. Prince Chun thereupon resumed his journey. An +impressive, if theatrical, scene was prepared in the New Palace at +Potsdam, where the Emperor, seated on the throne, his marshal's baton +in his hand, and flanked by Ministers and the officers of his +household, received the bearer of China's expressions of regret. +Whatever one may think of the scenic effect provided, the reply the +Emperor made to Prince Chun, after the three bows arranged upon had +been made, is a model of its kind--general not personal, sorrowful +rather than angry, warning rather than reproachful. The Emperor said-- + + "No pleasing nor festive cause, no mere fulfilment of a + courtly duty, has brought your Imperial Highness to me, but + a sad and deeply grave occurrence. My Minister to the Court + of his Majesty the Emperor of China, Freiherr von Ketteler, + fell in the Chinese capital beneath the murderous weapons of + an imperial Chinese soldier, who acted by the orders of a + superior, an unheard-of outrage condemned by the law of + nations and the moral sense of all countries. From your + Imperial Highness I have now heard the expression of the + sincere and deep regret of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor + of China regarding the occurrence. I am glad to believe that + your Imperial Highness's royal brother had nothing to do + with the crime or with the further acts of violence against + inviolable Ministers and peaceful foreigners, but all the + greater is the guilt which attaches to his advisers and his + Government. Let these not deceive themselves by supposing + that they can make atonement and receive pardon for their + crime through this mission alone, and not through their + subsequent conduct in the light of the prescriptions of + international law and the moral principles of civilized + peoples. If his Majesty the Emperor of China henceforward + directs the government of his great Empire in the spirit of + these ordinances, his hope that the sad consequences of the + confusion of last year may be overcome, and permanent, + peaceful and friendly relations between Germany and China + may exist as before, will be realized to the benefit of both + peoples and the whole of civilized humanity. In the sincere + wish that it may be so, I welcome your Imperial Highness." + +The Emperor's other speeches referring to the Boxer movement at this +period have been adversely commented on as showing him in the light of +a cruel and blood-thirsty seeker after revenge. This is an unjust, at +least a hard, judgment. A passage in his address at Bremerhaven to the +expeditionary force when setting out for China is the main proof of +the charge--in which, after referring to the murder of von Ketteler, +he said: + + "You know well you will have to fight with a cunning, brave, + well-armed, cruel foe. When you come to close quarters with + him remember--quarter ('Pardon' is the German word the + Emperor used) must not be given: prisoners must not be + taken: manage your weapons so that for a thousand years to + come no Chinaman will dare to look sideways at a German. Act + like men." + +It is difficult, of course, to reconcile such an address with +Christian humanity practised, so far as humanity can be practised, in +modern war, but it should be remembered that the Emperor was speaking +in a state of great excitement, and that, according to Chancellor +Prince Buelow's statement in the Reichstag subsequently, confirmation +of the news of the murder of his Minister to China had only reached +the Emperor ten minutes before he delivered the speech. + +There is one incident, however, though not a very important one, in +connexion with the troubles, which may fairly be made a matter of +reproach to the Emperor--the seizure, on his order, of the ancient +astronomical instruments at Pekin and their transference to Sans +Souci, in Potsdam, where they are to be seen to the present day. The +troops of all nations, it is known, looted freely at Pekin; but the +Emperor might have spared China and his own fair fame the indignity of +such public vandalism. + +While writing of China it may not be superfluous to add that the +Emperor's foreign policy in the Orient cannot be expected to present +exactly the same features, or proceed quite along the same lines, as +his foreign policy in Europe. By far the greater part of Europe is now +as completely parcelled out and as permanently settled as though it +were a huge, well-managed estate. The capacities of its high roads, +its railways, its great rivers, with their commercial and strategic +values and relations are perfectly ascertained; and the knowledge, it +is not too much to say, is the common property of all important +Governments. It is not so, or not nearly to the same extent, in the +Orient. In Europe there is little or no difficulty in distinguishing +between enterprises that are political and those that are commercial, +or in recognizing where they are both; and if a difficulty should +arise it can be arranged by diplomatic conversations, by a conference +of the Powers interested, or in the last resort--short of war--by +arbitration. This is not so simple a matter in the Orient, where +conditions are at once old and new, where interests of possibly great +magnitude are as yet undetermined or unappropriated, where possibly +great mineral sources are undeveloped and the capacities of new +markets unascertained; where, in short, the decisive factors of the +problem are undiscovered, it may be unsuspected. + +In such cases there is often no certain and readily recognizable line +of demarcation between the two kinds of enterprise; and an undertaking +that may present all the appearance of being a purely commercial +scheme, and be solemnly asseverated to be such by the Power or Powers +promoting it, may turn out on closer examination to be one of great +political significance and incalculable political consequence. Of such +enterprises two immediately spring to mind, the Cape to Cairo railway +and the Baghdad railway, not to mention a score of problematic +undertakings in other parts of Africa or Asia. It will be useful to +keep this general consideration in view when forming an opinion +regarding the Emperor's Oriental policy. That policy is, so far, +almost entirely commercial. Long ago wars used to be made for the sake +of religion, then for the sake of territory. Now they are made for the +sake of new markets. + +Yet the Far East is changing with the change in conditions everywhere +in modern times, and it is evident that the premises for any +conclusion as to German foreign policy there may, at any given moment, +be subject to modification. Partly owing to the growth of Germany's +European influence, and to the increase in her navy which has helped +her to it, she is to be found of recent years playing a role in the +Far East which would have been unintelligible to the German of the +last generation. There are many Germans to-day, as in Bismarck's time, +who ridicule the notion that the possibilities of trade in Oriental +countries justify the national risk now run for it and the national +expenditure now made upon it; but it is sometimes forgotten that, +apart from the chance of obtaining concessions for the building of +railways, for the establishment of banks, for the leasing of mines and +working of cotton plantations, there is a large German export of +beads, cloth, and, in short, of hundreds of articles which appeal to +barbarian or only semi-civilized tastes. + +Germany, too, looks hopefully forward to a future in which she will be +supplied with the raw material of her manufactures by her colonies, or +failing that by her subjects trading abroad in the colonies of other +nations. This is one of the main objects of her Weltpolitik. As Prince +von Buelow said: "The time has passed when the German left the earth to +one neighbour and the sea to another, while he reserved heaven, where +pure doctrines are enthroned, to himself;" and again: "We don't seek +to put anybody in the shade, but we demand our place in the sun;" and +the idea finds technical expression in the phrase on which Germany +lays so much stress, the "maintenance of the open door." Her policy in +the Far East, as in Europe, is thus on the whole a commercial one; she +seeks there as elsewhere new markets, not new territory. Accordingly +she supports the principle of the _status quo_ in China, and therefore +raised no objection to the Anglo-Japanese Agreement of 1902 which, +among other objects, secured it. + +In January, 1901, the Emperor was called to England by the sudden, +and, as it was to prove, fatal illness of his grandmother, Queen +Victoria. His journey to Osborne, where he arrived just in time to be +recognized by the dying Queen, and his abandonment of the idea, +impressive and almost sacred to a Prussian King and the Prussian +people, of being present on his birthday, January 27th, at the +bicentenary celebration of the foundation of the Prussian Kingdom, +made a deep and sympathetic impression on the people of England. +Usually on State occasions the Emperor does not display a countenance +of good humour, or indeed of any sentiment save perhaps that of a +sense of dignity; but on the occasion in question, as he rode in the +uniform of a British Field-Marshal beside Edward VII, his looks were +those of genuine sorrow. Public sympathy was not lessened when it +became known that he had mentioned the pride he felt in being +privileged to wear the uniform of two such soldiers of renown as the +Duke of Wellington and Lord Roberts; and added that the privilege +would be highly estimated by the whole German army. It was a +chivalrous remark, the offspring of a chivalrous disposition. + +The Emperor had hardly returned to Germany when, on February 6th, the +only attack ever made on his person occurred in Bremen. He had been at +a banquet in the town hall, and was being driven through the +illuminated streets to the railway station to return to Berlin, when a +half-witted locksmith's apprentice of nineteen, Dietrich Weiland by +name, flung a piece of railway iron at him with such good aim that it +struck him on the face immediately under the right eye, inflicting a +deep and nasty, but not dangerous wound. The Emperor proceeded with +his journey, the doctors attending to his injury in the train, and in +a few weeks he was well again. Weiland was sent to a criminal lunatic +asylum. The attempt had, apparently, nothing to do with Anarchism or +Nihilism or the Social Democracy. When the Emperor alluded to it +afterwards in his speech to the Diet, he referred it to a general +diminution of respect for authority. + +"Respect for authority," he said to the Diet, + + "is wanting. In this regard all classes of the population + are to blame. Particular interests are looked to, not the + general well-being of the folk. Criticism of the measures of + the Government and Throne takes the coarsest and most + injurious forms--and hence the errors and demoralization of + our youth. Parliament must help here, and a change must be + made, beginning with the schools." + +It was natural enough that a few days after, addressing the Alexander +Regiment of Guards, who were taking up quarters in a new barracks near +the palace in Berlin, he should tell them the barracks were like a +citadel to the palace, and that, as a sort of imperial bodyguard, the +regiment "must be ready, day and night as once before"--he was +referring to the "March Days"--"to meet any attack by the citizens on +the Emperor." + +At Bonn in April the Emperor attended the matriculation +(immatriculation, the Germans call it) of his eldest son, the Crown +Prince, at the university. He was in civil dress, one of the rare +public occasions during the reign when he has not been in uniform, but +this did not prevent him delivering a martial address to the +Borussians. "I hope and expect from the younger generation," he said +to the students, + + "that they will put me in a position to maintain our German + Fatherland in its close and strong boundaries and in the + congeries of German races--doing to no one favour and to no + one harm. If, however, anyone should touch us too nearly, + then I will call upon you and I expect you won't leave your + Emperor sitting." + +A great shout of "Bravo!" went up when the Emperor ceased, and the +students doubtless all thought what a fine thing it would be if he +would only lead them straightway against those cheeky Englanders. + +At the end of June, on board the Hamburg-American pleasure-steamer +_Princess Victoria Luise_, the Emperor pronounced the famous +sentence--"Our future lies on the water." The year before he had said +something like it, and it is worth quoting as the Emperor's first +explicit allusion to Weltpolitik. "Strongly," he exclaimed, + + "dashes the beat of ocean at the doors of our people and + compels it to preservation of its place in the world, in a + word, to Weltpolitik. The ocean is indispensable for + Germany's greatness. The ocean testifies that on it and far + beyond it no important decision will be taken without + Germany and the German Emperor." + +His words on the present occasion were: + + "My entire task for the future will be to see that the + undertakings of which the foundations have been laid may + develop quietly and surely. We have, though as yet without + the fleet as it should be, achieved our place in the sun. It + will now be my task to hold this place unquestioned, so that + its rays may act favourably on trade and industry and + agriculture at home inside, and on our sail-sports on the + coast--for our future lies on the water. The more Germans go + on the sea--whether travelling or in the service of the + State--the better. When the German has once learned to look + abroad and afar he will lose that 'hang' towards the petty, + the trivial, which now so often seizes him in daily life." + +And he closed: "We must now go out in search of new spots where we can +drive in nails on which to hang our armour." + +Early in August the Emperor was called to the death-bed of his mother, +the Empress Frederick, at her castle in Cronberg. She died on the +afternoon of her son's arrival, on August 5th. The Emperor ordered +mourning throughout the Empire for six weeks, and forbade all "public +music, entertainments, theatrical or otherwise" until after the +funeral. The Empress was buried in the mausoleum attached to the +Friedenskirche in Potsdam on the 13th of the month. + +The delivery of a famous speech on art by the Emperor in December +brings the chronicle of 1901 to a close, but perhaps it will not +displease the reader if a new chapter is opened for the purpose of +quoting it and of considering the Emperor in what is a traditional +Hohenzollern relationship. + + + + +X. + + + +THE EMPEROR AND THE ARTS + +Art is a favourite subject of conversation on the Continent, where it +is more popularly discussed than in England and where authorities of +all kinds are more alive to its educative capabilities. It is +eminently "safe" ground, does not savour of gossip, and no one need +leave the field of discussion with the feeling that he has been driven +from it. Hence it is the salvation of diplomatists who are +apprehensive of committing their Governments or themselves when mixing +in general society, and it doubtless does good service for the Emperor +also upon occasion. Indeed it is a topic on which he speaks willingly +and well. + +Unfortunately for precision of thought and speech, though useful for +the man in the street, the word "art" has been pressed into the +service of metaphor more than almost any other word in language. We +are told in turn that everything is an art--hair-dressing, +salad-dressing (a different kind), lying, flying, dying. The Germans +are trying to make an art of life. Whistler wrote about the "Gentle +Art of Making Enemies." One hears of "artful hussies" and "artful +dodgers." People are described as "artful" in the small diplomacies of +intercourse. Jugglers, acrobats, sword-swallowers, "supers" at the +theatre, the men who play the elephant in the pantomime would all be +mortified if they were not addressed as "artists," In short, +everything may be called an art. + +But what, truly, is art? The question is as hard to answer +satisfactorily as the questions what is truth or what is beauty? The +notion "art" usually occurs to the mind as contrasted with the notion +"nature"; the word is derived from the Sanskrit root _ar_, to plough, +to make, to do; and accordingly art may be taken to be something made +by man, as contrasted with something made, or grown, or given by God. +How art came into existence it is of course impossible to do more than +conjecture. The necessities of primitive man may have stimulated his +inventive powers into originating and developing the useful arts for +his physical comfort and convenience; and his desire for recreation +after labour, or the mere ennui of idleness, may have urged the same +powers into originating and developing the fine and plastic arts for +the entertainment of his mind. Or, lastly, if no better reason can be +found, and though Sir Joshua Reynolds laid it down that all models of +perfection in art must be sought for on the earth, it may be that +seeing and feeling instinctively the glory and beauty of the Creation, +mankind began gradually, as its intelligence improved, to burn with a +longing to imitate, reproduce, and represent them. + +However art arose, it seems true to say, as a German writer has well +said, that when a work of art, whether a poem or a picture or a +statue, causes in us the thought that so, and in no other way, would +we ourselves have expressed the idea, had we the talent, then we may +conclude that true art is speaking to us, whatever the idea to be +expressed may be. Everything demands thought, but our thoughts are an +unruly folk, which never keep long on the same straight road, and love +to wander off to left and right, here finding something new and there +throwing away something old. The artist, when he conceives a plan, has +to fight with the host of his thoughts and find a way through them. +They often threaten to divert him from it, but on the other hand they +often lead him to his goal by novel paths along which he finds much +that is new and valuable. + +This is a doctrine that, sensible though it is, would hardly be +subscribed to by the Emperor, to whom no new movement in art strongly +appeals, and who thinks that such movements, unless founded on the old +classical school, the Greek and Roman school of beauty, ought, in the +public interest, to be discouraged. However, let him speak for +himself. He set forth his art creed in a speech which he delivered on +December 18, 1901, to the sculptors who had executed the Hohenzollern +statues in the famous Siegesallee at Berlin, and which ran +substantially as follows:-- + + "I gladly seize the occasion, first of all, to express my + congratulations and then my thanks for the manner in which + you have assisted me to carry out my original plan. The + preparation of the plan for the Siegesallee has occupied + many years, and the learned historiographer of my House, + Professor Dr. Poser, is the man who put me in a position to + set the artists clear and intelligible tasks. Once the + historic basis was found the work could be proceeded with, + and when the personalities of the princes were established + it was possible to ascertain those who had been their most + important helpers. In this manner the groups originated and, + to a certain extent, conditioned by their history, the forms + of them came into existence. + + "The next most difficult question was--Was it possible, as I + hoped it was, to find in Berlin so many artists as would be + able to work together harmoniously to realize the programme? + + "As I came to consider the question, I had in view to show + the world that the most favourable condition for the + successful achievement of the work was not the appointment + of an art commission and the establishment of prize + competitions, but that in accord with ancient custom, as in + the classical period, and later during the Middle Ages, was + the case, it lay in the direct intercourse of the employer + with the artists. + + "I am therefore especially obliged to Professor Reinhold + Begas for having assured me, when I applied to him, that + there was absolutely no doubt there could be found in Berlin + a sufficiency of artists to carry out the idea; and with his + help, and in consequence of the acquaintances I have made by + visiting exhibitions and studios in Berlin, I succeeded in + getting together a staff, the majority of whom I see around + me, with whom to approach the task. + + "I think you will not refuse me the testimony that, in + respect of the programme I drew up I have made the treatment + of it as easy as possible, that while I ordered and defined + the work I gave you an absolute freedom not only in the + combination and composition, but precisely the freedom to + put into it that from himself which every artist must if he + is to give the work the stamp of his own individuality, + since every work of art contains in itself something of the + individual character of the artist. I believe that this + experiment, if I may so call it, as made in the Siegesallee, + has succeeded. + + "... I have never interfered with details, but have + contented myself with simply giving the direction, the + impulse. + + "But to-day the thought that Berlin stands there before the + whole world with a guild of artists able to carry out so + magnificent a project fills me with satisfaction and pride. + It shows that the Berlin school of art stands on a height + which could hardly have been more splendid in the time of + the Renaissance. + + "Here, too, one can draw a parallel between the great + artistic achievements of the Middle Ages and the + Italians--that, namely, the head of the State, an art-loving + prince, who offered their tasks to the artists also found + the master round whom a school of artists could gather. + + "How is it, generally speaking, with art in the world? It + takes its models, supplies itself from the great sources of + Mother Nature, who, spite of her apparently unfettered, + limitless freedom, still moves according to eternal laws + which the Creator ordained for himself and which cannot be + passed or violated without danger to the development of the + world. + + "Even so it is in art; and at the sight of the beautiful + remains of old classical times comes again over one the + feeling that here too reigns an eternal law that is always + true to itself, the law of beauty and harmony, of the + aesthetic. This law is given expression to by the ancients + in so surprising and overpowering a fashion, in so + thoroughly complete a form that we, with all our modern + sensibilities and with all our power, are still proud, when + we have done any specially fine piece of work, to hear that + it is almost as good as it was made nineteen hundred years + ago. + + "But only almost! Under this impression I would earnestly + ask you to lay it to heart that sculpture still remains + untainted by so-called modern tendencies and currents--still + stands high and chastely there! Keep her so, don't let + yourselves be misled by human criticism or any wind of + doctrine to abandon the principles on which she has been + built up. + + "An art which transgresses the laws and limits I have + indicated is art no more. It is factory work, handicraft, + and that is a thing art should never be. Under the often + misused word 'freedom' and her flag one falls too readily + into boundlessness, unrestraint, self-exaggeration. For + whoever cuts loose from the law of beauty, and the feeling + for the aesthetic and harmonious, which every human breast + feels, whether he can express it or not, and in his thought + makes his chief object some special direction, some specific + solution of more technical tasks, that man denies art's + first sources. + + "Yet again. Art should help to exercise an educative + influence on the people. She should offer the lower classes, + after the hard work of the day, the possibility of + refreshing themselves by regarding what is ideal. To us + Germans great ideals have become permanent possessions, + whereas to other peoples they have been more or less lost. + Only the German people remain called to preserve these great + ideas, to cultivate and continue them. And among these + ideals is this, that we afford the possibility to the + working classes to elevate themselves by beauty, and by + beauty to enable them to abstract themselves and rise above + the thoughts they otherwise would have. + + "When Art, as now often occurs, does nothing more than + represent misery as still more unlovely than it is already, + by so doing she sins against the German people. The + cultivation of the ideal is at the same time the greatest + work of culture, and if we wish to be and remain an example + in this to other nations the whole people must work together + to that end; if Culture is to fulfil her task she must + penetrate to the lowest classes of society. That she can + only do when art comes into play, when she raises up, + instead of descending into the gutter. + + "As ruler of the country I often find it extremely bitter + that art, through its masters, does not with sufficient + energy oppose such tendencies. I do not for a moment fail to + perceive that many an aspiring character is to be found + among the partisans of these tendencies, who are perhaps + filled with the best intentions but who are on the wrong + path. The true artist needs no advertisement, no press, no + patronage. I do not believe that your great protagonists in + the domain of science, either in ancient Greece or in Italy + or in the Renaissance period ever had recourse to a + _reclame_ such as nowadays is often made in the press in + order to bring their ideas into prominence, but worked as + God inspired them and let others do the talking. + + "And so must an honest, proper artist act. The art which + descends to _reclame_ is no art be it lauded a hundred or a + thousand-fold. A feeling for what is beautiful or ugly has + every one, be he ever so simple, and to educate this feeling + in the people I require all of you. That in the Siegesallee + you have done a piece of such work, I have specially to + thank you. + + "This I can even now tell you--the impression which the + Siegesallee has made on the foreigner is quite an + overpowering one; everywhere respect for German sculpture is + making itself perceivable. May you always remain on these + heights, may such masters stand by my sons and sons' sons, + should they ever come into existence! Then, I am convinced, + will our people be in a position to love the beautiful and + honour lofty ideals." + +At the Berlin Art Museum next year, after praising the devotion of his +parents to art, and especially of his mother, "a nature," he said, +"about which poesy breathed," he continued:-- + + "The son of both stands before you as their heir and + executor: and so I regard it as my task, according to the + intention of my parents, to hold my hand over my German + people and its growing generation, to foster the love of + beauty in them, and to develop art in them; but only along + the lines and within the bounds drawn strictly by the + feelings in mankind for beauty and harmony." + +The Emperor's speech to the sculptors, if it contains some +questionable statements, is a thoughtful address by one who is himself +an artist, though not perhaps an artist of a high class. His artistic +endowments, transmitted from his parents, have been already indicated. +In reference to them he said to the official conducting him over the +Marienburg in later years, when the official expressed surprise at the +Emperor's art-knowledge:-- + + "There is nothing wonderful in it. I was brought up in an + artistic atmosphere. My mother was an artist, and from my + earliest youth I have been surrounded by beautiful things. + Art is my friend and my recreation." + +The highest praise of a work of art is to say of it that it pleased, +or would have pleased; his mother. Of her he said, "Every thought she +had was art, and to her everything, however simple, which was meant +for the use of life, was penetrated with beauty." When giving his +sanction to a plan, a park, a statue or a building he always +thinks--"Would it have pleased my parents--what would they have said +about it?" The Kaiser Friedrich Museum and the Kaiser Friedrich +Memorial Church, both in Berlin, testify to the Emperor's gratitude to +his parents for their artistic legacy. + +He went, as we have seen, through the ordinary art drudgery of the +school, recognizing, no doubt, with Michael Angelo, with all good +artists, that correct drawing is the foundation of every art into +which drawing enters and applying himself industriously to it. As a +young soldier at Potsdam he spent a good deal of his time, during the +three years from 1880 to 1883, practising oil-painting under the +guidance of Herr Karl Salzmann, a distinguished Berlin painter. Among +the results of this instruction was a picture which the princely +artist called "The Corvette--Prince Adalbert in the Bay of Samitsu," +now hanging in the residence of his brother, Prince Henry, at Kiel; +and two years later, as his interest in the navy grew, a "Fight +between an Armoured Ship and a Torpedo-boat." Innumerable aquarelles +and sketches, chiefly of marine subjects, were also the fruit of this +period. + +The Emperor has constantly cultivated free and friendly intercourse +with the best artists of his own and other nations, and been +continually engaged devoting time and money to the art education of +his people. The admirable art exhibitions in Berlin of the best +examples of painting by English, French, and American artists, which +he personally promoted and was greatly interested in, may be recalled +as instances. If his efforts in encouraging art among his people have +not been so successful as his imperial activities in other directions, +the reason is not any fault on his part, but simply that art refuses +to be, in Shakespeare's phrase, "tongue-tied by authority." + +This was shown by the chorus of unfavourable criticism which the +speech to the sculptors drew forth. No one questioned the sincerity of +the Emperor or the magnanimity of his aims, nor was the criticism +wholly caused by the suspicion that it savoured of the "personal +regiment" under which the people were growing impatient; but many +thought he was pushing the dynastic principle too far and unduly +interfering with liberty of thought and judgment, and that there was +something Oriental as well as selfish in occupying with a gallery of +his ancestors, the majority of whom were, after all, very ordinary +people, one of the fairest spots in the capital. Perhaps, however, +what was most objected to was his trying to drive the art of the +nation into a groove, the direction given by himself: in trying to +inspire it with a particular spirit and that an ancient not a modern +spirit, when he ought to let the spirit come of its own accord out of +the mind of the people--the mind of many millions, not the mind of one +man, however high his rank. Politics and government might be things in +which he had a right to an authoritative voice, but art, like +religion, the people considered to be a matter for individual taste +and judgment. + +Yet something may be advanced in favour of the Emperor. His +recommendation, for in fact it was and could be only that, was quite +in keeping with the traditions of his office and the people's own view +of royal government. The speech, as was admitted, was suggested by no +mere dilettante's vanity, but, as is evident from his words at the Art +Museum, by the conviction that just as it is the imperial duty to +provide an efficient army and navy, so it is the imperial duty to use +every personal and private, as well as every public and official, +effort to provide the people with an art as efficient, as honest, and +as clean; and it was inevitable that the art the Emperor recommended +was that which he believed, and still believes, to be in conformity +with the ideals, as he interprets them, or would have them to be, of +the Germanic race. + +The speech itself is interesting as showing the Emperor's attitude +towards art and artists and his personal conception of art and its +nature. His attitude is evidently that of the art-loving prince of +whom he speaks in the address, a royal Maecenas or di Medici, who +gathers artists round him; but he means to use them, not so much +perhaps for art's sake, as for the instruction and elevation of his +folk. A very laudable aim; only, as it happens, the folk in this +matter desire themselves to decide what is improving and elevating for +them and what is not. They are not willing to leave the exclusive +choice to the Emperor. + +The Emperor, again, would give the artist the freedom to put into his +work "that from himself which any artist must, if he is to give the +work the stamp of his own individuality." This attitude, too, is +admirable, but on the other hand lies the danger, such is poor human +nature, that the individuality will be that which the Emperor wishes +it to be, not the artist's independent individuality To the foreign +eye all the Hohenzollern statues in the Siegesallee, with the +exception possibly of two or three, seem to have much the same +individuality, though that again may be due to the nature of the +subject and the foreigner's inherent and ineradicable predispositions. + +Thirdly, art, the Emperor says, can only be educative when it elevates +instead of descending into the gutter. Hogarth descended into the +gutter. Gustav Dore depicts the horrors of hell. Yet both Hogarth and +Dore were great artists, and educative too. The Emperor was here +thinking of the Berlin Secession, a school just then starting, +eccentric indeed and far from "classical," but which nevertheless has +since produced several fine artists. The Emperor, it would appear, +thinks that the antique classical school is the true and only good +school for the artist. Very likely most artists will agree with him-- +at least as a foundation; but the belief, it also appears, is not +considered in Germany, or outside of it, to justify the Emperor, as +Emperor, in discouraging all other schools and particularly the +efforts of modern artists in their non-classical imaginings. + +The Emperor says art "takes its models, supplies itself from the great +sources of Mother Nature." With all courtesy to the Emperor one may +suggest that art, and sane art, takes its models not only from Mother +Nature, but also from an almost as prolific a maternal source, namely +imagination; and that imagination is limited by no eternal laws we +know of, or can even suspect. Accordingly it is useless to check, or +try to check, the imagination by telling it to work in a certain +direction--so long, naturally, as the imagination is not obviously +indecent or insane. + +Again, the Emperor says that in classical art there reigns an eternal +law, the "law of beauty and harmony, of the aesthetic" which is +expressed in a "thoroughly complete form" by the ancients. It is +admittedly a delightful and admirable form, but is it thoroughly +complete? Is it the last and only form; and may not the very same law +be found by experiment to be at work in future art that cannot be +called classical, as it was found to be at work in the various noble +schools since classical times? One must agree with the Emperor that +the Greeks and Romans illustrated the "law of beauty and harmony, of +the esthetic, in a wonderful manner." But it was wonderfully done for +their age and intellect. They did not exhaust the beautiful and +harmonious: far from it. + +Neither the world nor mankind has been standing still ever since; +certainly the mind of man has not, even though his senses have +undergone no elemental change. Paganism was succeeded by Christianity, +and with Christianity came a new art canon, new forms of beauty and +harmony--the Early Italian. The age of reason followed, bringing with +it the Baroque and Rococo canons: and as time went on, and the world's +mind kept working, came other canons still. The most recent canon +appears to be that of naturalism (the Emperor's "gutter ") with which +artists are now experimentalizing. None of the canons, be it noticed, +destroyed the canon that preceded, because beauty and harmony are +indestructible and imperishable. "A thing of beauty is a joy for +ever." + +But not only the mind of man kept changing: the world itself and its +civilization--by war, by treaty, by science, by invention, by art +itself--kept changing, and is changing now. Development, physical as +well as social, has been constant, and the changes accompanying it +have inspired, and are inspiring, artists with new ideas to which they +are always trying to give expression. The subjects of art have +enormously multiplied. Those introduced by sport of all kinds, by the +development of the theatre, by the newly-found effects of light and +colour, need only be mentioned as examples capable of suggesting +beauties and harmonies unknown to and unsuspected by the ancients. +Hence, in addition to the classical art of the day, there is room for +the "new art," the secessionist, the futurist, the impressionist, even +the cubist, or whatever the experimental movement may call itself. And +any day any of these movements may lead to the establishment of a new +and admirable school of genuine art as beautiful as the classical, if +in a different manner. The world has no idea of the surprises in all +directions yet in store for it. + +The Emperor, too, is at one with all the world in assuming that art, +to deserve the name, must possess the quality of beauty. He speaks of +"beauty and harmony," but let it be taken that he understands beauty +to include harmony. Now, as has been suggested, to answer the +question, what is beauty, satisfactorily, is no easy matter. In +immediate proximity to it lies the question, what is ugliness? It +might be argued that nothing in nature is ugly, and that the word was +introduced to express what is merely an inability on the part of +mankind to perceive the beauty which constitutes nature; and it +certainly is possible that, were man endowed with the mind of God, +instead of with only some infinitesimal and mysterious emanation of +it, he would find all things in creation, all art included, beautiful. +The author of the Book of Genesis asserts that when God had finished +making the world He looked upon His handiwork and saw that it was +good. There is one advantage in adopting this view, and no small one, +that a belief in its truth must impel us to look for beauty and +goodness in all things, whether in art or nature--and even in the +Secession. Perhaps, however, we shall not be far from the truth in +saying, as regards art, that all things in creation are beautiful, +that there are degrees in beauty of which ugliness is the lowest, and +that the truly inspired artist can make all things, ugliness included, +beautiful. + +The Emperor thinks the appreciation of beauty is one of our innate +ideas, like the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, which +we call conscience. There is no agreement among thinkers on the point, +and it may be that both beauty and conscience are relative, and simply +the result of environment and education. Certainly there is no +standard of beauty, and more certainly still, not of feminine beauty. +The Mahommedan admires a woman who has the nose of the parrot, the +teeth of the pomegranate seed, and the tread of the elephant. + +But though there is no complete standard of beauty about which all +people, at all times, in all countries, are agreed, there are two +elements of beauty which may be said to have been standardized, at +least for the civilized world, by the early Greeks and Romans. These +elements are simplicity and harmony, simplicity being the forms of +things most directly and pleasingly appealing to the eye and most +easily reaching the common understanding, while harmony is the +combination of parts most nearly identical with the lines, contours, +and proportions of nature. These are two essentials of good sculpture, +and the Emperor was talking to sculptors and perhaps thinking only of +sculpture. + +Yet simplicity and harmony alone do not constitute beauty, while on +the other hand beauty may take very complicated forms. A third element +one may suggest is essential, and its indescribable nature causes all +the difficulty there is in defining beauty. This third element +is--charm. A work of art, to be beautiful, must charm, and to +different people different things are charming. Plato's theory is that +the sense of beauty is a dim recollection of a standard we have seen +in a heavenly pre-existence. Accepting it as as good an explanation of +charm as we can get, we may conclude by defining beauty as, in its +highest form, a combination of simplicity and harmony, resulting in +charm. + +The Emperor says: "To us Germans great ideals have become permanent +possessions, whereas to other peoples they have been more or less +lost." The remark is not one of those best calculated to promote +friendly feelings on the part of other peoples towards Germany or its +Emperor. It is like his declaration that Germans are the "salt of the +earth," and of a piece with the aggressive attitude of intellectual +superiority adopted by many Germans towards other nations--one reason, +by the way, for German unpopularity in the world. But is it true? +Germany has great ideals in permanent possession, but are they more or +less lost to other peoples? It is at least doubtful. Great ideals are +the permanent possession of every great people; it is these ideals +that have made them great; and they are no less great if they differ +according to the nature and conditions of each great people. One might +go further, indeed, and say that great ideals are the common property +and permanent possession of all great peoples. It is a hard saying +that any one people has a monopoly of them. The contribution of every +great nation to the common stock of great ideals is incalculable, and +it would be interesting to investigate which nation is most +successfully working out its great ideals in practice. + +The truth is the German ideal of beauty in art is not, generally +speaking, the same as that of the Anglo-Saxon or Latin foreigner. The +art ideals of the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races in this respect are for +the most part Greek, while those of the German race are for the most +part Roman; and in each case the ideals are the outcome of the spirit +which has had most influence on the mind and manners of the different +races. The Greek philosophic and aesthetic spirit has chiefly +influenced Anglo-Saxon and Latin art ideals: the Roman spirit, +particularly the military spirit and the spirit of law, have chiefly +influenced German ideals: and, as a result, arrived at through ages +during which events of epoch-making importance caused many successive +modifications, while the Anglo-Saxon and Latin races are most +impressed by such qualities as lightness and delicacy of outline, +round and softly-flowing curves and elegance of ornamentation, the +German appears, to the Anglo-Saxon and Latin, to be more impressed by +the elaborate, the gigantic, the Gothic, the grotesque, the hard, the +made, the massive, and the square. In both styles are to be found +"beauty and harmony, the aesthetic," to quote the Emperor, but they +appeal differently to people of different national temperaments. To +the Anglo-Saxon and Latin in general, therefore, German art, and +particularly German sculpture and architecture, while impressive and +admirable, lack for most foreigners the entirely indescribable quality +we have called "charm." + +The true artist, the Emperor says, needs no advertisement, no press, +no patronage. The Emperor is right. The true artist, once he begins to +produce first-rate work, will obtain instant recognition, and his work +will begin to sell, not perhaps at prices the same kind of work may +bring later, but at prices sufficient to support the artist and his +family in reasonable comfort. If it does not, he is not producing good +work and had better turn his attention to something else. As a matter +of fact very few true artists do advertise, use the press, or seek +patronage. The artist does not go to the press or the patron, for +nowadays, the moment the artist does excellent work, the press and the +patron go to him, and, when he is very exceptionally good, he is +advertised and patronized until he is sick of both advertisement and +patronage. + +Naturally it is different in the case of the artist who is not +excellently good, but the Emperor was not considering such. These +artists too, however, insist on living and must find a market for +their wares. It is an age of advertisement, the growth of new economic +conditions, for advertisement creates as well as reveals new markets. +Hence the vast host of mediocrities, not only in art but in almost +every field of human activity, nowadays advertise and seek patronage +because only in this way can they find purchasers and live. These +artists, often men of talent, dislike having to advertise; they would +rather work for art's sake, but having to do so need not hinder them +from working for art's sake, since all that is meant by that much +misused phrase is that while the artist is working he shall not think +of the reward of his work, but simply and solely of how to do the best +work he can. + +Before leaving the Emperor's speech one is tempted to inquire what +should be the attitude of a sovereign towards art and artists. For the +Englishman the doctrine of Individualism--the thing he is so apt to +make a fetish of--gives an answer, and, it may be, the right one. The +Englishman will probably say that if in any one province of life more +than in another freedom should be allowed to originality of conception +regarding the form as well as the substance, the manner as well as the +matter, it is in the province of art, always provided, of course, that +the artist is sane and not guilty of indecency. The artist, like the +poet, is born not made; you cannot make an artist, you can only make +an artisan. The artist, who represents the Creator, the creative +faculty, can influence man: man cannot, and should not try to, +influence the artist, but can, and should only, offer him the +materials for his art, smooth the way for his endeavour, encourage him +in it by sympathetic yet candid criticism, and above all, when he can +afford it, by buying the result of his endeavour when it is +successful. + +This should be the attitude of both monarch and Maecenas: it is an +attitude of benevolent neutrality. "I know," such a Maecenas might say +to the artist, + + "that your artistic faculties move in an atmosphere above as + well as on the earth, as I know that above the atmosphere of + oxygen and hydrogen which envelops the earth there is an + ethereal, a rarefied atmosphere, which stretches to worlds + of which all we know is that they exist. If your spirit can + soar above this earthly atmosphere, well and good. I, for + one, shall do nothing to limit or hinder it: I shall only + welcome and applaud and reward whatever effort you make to + bring our inner being a step, long or short, nearer to the + source of celestial light. Consequently, I offer you no + instructions and put no fetters on your imagination." + +It takes all sorts of art to make an artistic world, as it takes all +sorts of people to make the human world: a world with only classic art +in it would be as uninteresting and unthinkable as a world in which +every one was of the same character, occupation, and dress. + +But it is time to consider the Emperor a little more in detail in +relation to his connexion with the arts. If he were not a first-rate +monarch he would probably be a first-rate artist. He said once that if +he were to be an artist, he would be a sculptor. But if he is not a +professional artist he is a connoisseur, a dilettante in the right +sense, a lover of the arts, an art-loving prince. The painter Salzmann +tells us how he used to go to the Villa Liegnitz in Potsdam to give +Prince William lessons, and how the Empress, then Princess William, +used to sit with the pupil and his teacher, discussing technical and +art questions. A result of the teaching, in addition to the pictures +mentioned elsewhere, was an oil-painting, a sea-fight, which still +hangs in the Ravene Gallery in Berlin. + +In the spring of 1886 the Prince sent his teacher a sketch for +criticism. Salzmann wired his opinion to Potsdam, and a telegram came +back, "What does 'wind too anxious' mean? is it so stormily painted +that you shuddered at it, or is it not stormy enough?" Salzmann is +also authority for the statement that the Prince sent in a sea-piece +to the annual Berlin Art Exhibition. It was placed ready to be judged, +but suddenly disappeared. The Emperor William, it appeared, had +decided that it would not do for a future Emperor to compete with +professional artists or run the risk of sarcastic public criticism. +Naturally since he came to the throne the Emperor has never had time +to cultivate his talent as a painter, but has always fed his eyes and +mind on the best kind of painting, and brings his sense of form and +colour to bear on everything he does or has a voice in. + +That the Emperor's own taste in painting is of a "classical" kind in a +very catholic sense was shown by the personal interest he took in +getting together and having brought to Berlin the exhibition of old +English masters in 1908. At his request the English owners of many of +these treasures agreed to lend them for exhibition in Germany, +submitting thereby to the risk of loss or damage, displaying an +unselfish disposition to aid in elevating the taste of a foreign +people, and at the same time giving Germans a better and more tangible +idea of the nation which could produce artists of such nobility of +feeling and marvellous technical capacity. The Emperor paid several +visits to the exhibition and thousands of Berlin folk followed his +example, so that the beauty of the works of Gainsborough, Raeburn, +Lawrence, Hoppner, and Romney was for months a topic of enthusiastic +conversation in the capital. + +Encouraged by this success, the Emperor next caused a similar +exhibition of French painters to be arranged. The Rococo period was +now chosen, many lovely specimens of the art of Watteau, Lancret, +David, Vigee, Lebrun, Fragonnard, Greuze, and Bonnat were procured, +and again the Berliner was given an opportunity not only of enjoying +an artistic treat of a delightful kind, but of comparing the +impressions made on him by the art spirits of two other nations. The +opening of this French exhibition was made by the Emperor the occasion +of emphasizing his conciliatory feelings towards France, for he +attended an evening entertainment at the French Embassy given +specially in honour of the occasion. + +A third art exhibition followed in 1910--that of two hundred American +oil paintings brought to Berlin and shown in the Royal Academy of Arts +on the Panser Platz. They included works by Sargent, Whistler, Gari +Melchior, Leon Dabo, Joseph Pennell, and many others. The suggestion +for this exhibition did not proceed from the Emperor, but in all +possible ways he gave the exhibition his personal support. On +returning from inspecting it he telegraphed to the American Ambassador +in Berlin, Dr. D. J. Hill, to express the pleasure he had derived from +what he had seen. Nor was such a mark of admiration surprising. The +exhibition was nothing short of a revelation, going far to dissipate +the German belief--perhaps the English belief also--that America +possesses no body of painters of the first rank. + +Again we have recourse to the marine painter, Herr Salzmann. Wired for +by the Emperor, the painter got to the palace at 10.15 PM. When he +arrived the Emperor cried out, "So, at last! Where have you been +hiding yourself? I have had Berlin searched for you." The Emperor and +Empress and suite had just returned from the theatre and were standing +about the room. It turned out that the Emperor wanted the painter to +help him sketch a battleship of a certain design he had in mind, to +see how it would look on the water. In the middle of the room an +adjutant stood and read out a speech made by a Radical deputy in the +Reichstag that day, and the Emperor made occasional remarks about it, +though at the same time he was engaged with the ship. The painter does +not forget to add that he "was provided with a good glass of beer." + +The Emperor is reported to be a capital "sitter." He had the French +painter Borchart staying with him at Potsdam to paint his portrait. +Borchart describes him as an ideal model, so still and patiently did +he sit, and this at times for more than two hours. He talked freely +during the sittings. "I don't want to be regarded as a devourer of +Frenchmen," was a remark made on one of these occasions; on another he +praised President Loubet; and on a third he had a good word even for +the Socialist Jaures. When Borchart had finished and naively expressed +satisfaction with his own work the Emperor said, "Na, na, friend +Borchart, not so proud; it is for us to criticize." + +As the Emperor is a lover of the "classical" in painting and +sculpture, it is not strange to find him an admirer of the classical +in music and recommending it to his people as the best form of musical +education. He holds that there is much in common between it and the +folk-songs of Germany. At Court he revived classical dances like the +minuet and the gavotte. He is devoted to opera and never leaves before +the end of the performance. Concerts frequently take place in the +royal palaces at Potsdam and Berlin, items on the programme for them +being often suggested by the Emperor. The programme is then submitted +to him and is rarely returned without alteration. Not seldom the +concert is preceded by a rehearsal, which the Emperor attends and +which itself has been carefully rehearsed beforehand, as the Emperor +expects everything to run smoothly. At these rehearsals he will often +cause an item to be repeated. Bach and Handel are his prime +favourites. He is no admirer of Strauss. Wagner he often listens to +with pleasure, and especially the "Meistersinger," which is his pet +opera. Of Italian operas Verdi's "Aida" and Meyerbeer's "Huguenots" +are those he is most disposed to hear. + +He has been laughed at for once attempting musical composition. The +"Song to Aegir," which he composed in 1894 at the age of thirty-five +(when he should have known better), was, he told the bandmaster of a +Hannoverian regiment, suggested to him by the singing of a Hannoverian +glee society. It is a song twenty-four lines long, with the inevitable +references to the foe, and the sword and shield, and whales and +mermaids, and the God of the waves, who is called on to quell the +storm. The lady-in-waiting who wrote the "Private Lives of the Emperor +and His Consort" tells with much detail how the song was really +written, not by the Emperor, but almost wholly by a musical adjutant. +It does not greatly matter, but it is likely that the Emperor is +responsible for the text if he did not compose the music. + +One of the best and most interesting descriptions of his kindly and +characteristic way of treating artists is that given by the late +Norwegian composer, Eduard Grieg. + +"The other day," writes the composer, + + I had a chance to meet your Kaiser. He had already expressed + a desire last year to meet me, but I was ill at that time. + Now he has renewed his wish, and therefore I could not + decline the invitation. I am, as you know, little of a + courtier. But I said to myself, 'Remember Aalesund' (for + which the Emperor had sent a large sum after a great fire), + and my sense of duty conquered. Our first meeting was at + breakfast at the German Consul's house. During the meal we + spoke much about music. I like his ways, and--oddly + enough--our opinions also agreed. Afterwards he came to me + and I had the pleasure of talking with him alone for nearly + an hour. We spoke about everything in heaven and + earth--about poetry, painting, religion, Socialism, and the + Lord knows what besides. + + "He was fortunately a human being, and not an Emperor. I was + therefore permitted to express my opinions openly, though in + a discreet manner, of course. Then followed some music. He + had brought along an orchestra (!), about forty men. He took + two chairs, placed them in front of all the others, sat down + on one, and said, 'If you please, first parquet'; and then + the music began--Sigurd Jorsalfar, Peer Gynt, and many other + things. + + "While the music was being played he continually aided me in + correcting the _tempi_ and the expression, although as a + matter of course I had not wanted to do such a thing. He was + very insistent, however, that I should make my intentions + clear. Then he illustrated the impression made by the music + by movements of his head and body. It was wonderful + _(goettlich)_ to watch his serpentine movements _a la + Orientalin_ while they played Anitra's dance, which quite + electrified him. + + "Afterwards I had to play for him on the piano, and my wife, + who sat nearest him, told me that here too he illustrated + the impression made on him, especially at the best places. + + "I played the minuet from the pianoforte sonata which he + found 'very Germanic' and powerfully built: and the 'Wedding + Day at Troldhaugen,' which piece he also liked. + + "On the following day there was a repetition of these things + on board the _Hohenzollern_, where we were all invited to + dinner at eight o'clock. The orchestra played on deck in the + most wondrously bright summer night while many + hundreds--nay, I believe thousands--of rowboats and small + steamers were grouped about us. The crowd applauded + constantly and cheered enthusiastically whenever the Kaiser + became visible. He treated me like a patient: he gave me his + cloak and sent to fetch a rug, with which he covered me + carefully. + + "I must not forget to relate that he grew so enthusiastic + over 'Sigurd Jorsalfar,' the subject of which I explained to + him as minutely as possible, that he said to von Hiilsen, + the intendant of the royal theatres, who sat next to him: + 'We must produce this work! (This was not done, however.) + + "I then invited von Hiilsen to come to Christiania to + witness a performance of it, and he said he was very eager + to so. All in all this meeting was an event and a surprise + in the best sense. The Kaiser, certainly, is a very uncommon + man, a strange mixture of great energy, great self-reliance, + and great kindness of heart. Of children and animals he + spoke often and with sympathy, which I regard as a + significant thing." + +On the New Year's Day following the Emperor sent the composer a +telegram reading: "To the northern bard to listen to whose strains has +always been a joy to me I send my most sincere wishes for the new year +and new creative activity." In 1906, Grieg, having once more been the +Emperor's guest, writes to a friend: + + "He was greatly pleased with having become once more a + grandfather. He called to me across the table (referring to + 'Sigurd'), 'Is it agreeable if I call the child Sigurd?' It + must be something _Urgermanisch_." + +The following anecdote may remind the reader of the amusing scene in +Offenbach's "Grand Duchesse of Gerolstein," where the Grand Duchess, +talking to the guardsman whose athletic proportions she admires, +addresses him with a rising scale of "corporal" ... "sergeant" ... +"lieutenant" ... "captain" ... "colonel," and so on, as she talks, +only, however, later cruelly to re-descend the scale to the very +bottom when her courtship is ineffectual. The Emperor is at an organ +recital in the Kaiser William Memorial Church; the recital is over and +the Court party are about to go when he greets the organist, Herr +Fischer: "My cordial thanks for the great pleasure you have given us, +Herr Professor." "Pardon, your Majesty," replies the organist, with +commendable presence of mind: "May I venture to thank your Majesty for +the great mark of favour?" "What mark of favour?" asks the Emperor, a +little puzzled. "The fact is your Majesty has more than once addressed +me as 'professor,' although--" "Why, that's good," exclaims the +Emperor, with a great laugh, "very good indeed;" and striking his +forehead in self-reproach with the palm of his hand: "so forgetful of +me! Then you are not professor, after all! Well, no matter; what is +not, may be--what I said, I said. Adieu, _Herr Professor_" and goes +off smiling. The very same evening--need it be added?--Herr Fischer +had his patent as Professor in his pocket. + +The Emperor is particularly fond of "my Americans" among his operatic +artists. A good deal of jealousy has at times been shown by the German +employees of the opera towards the American artists entertained there +and a deputy has more than once protested in the Reichstag against the +number employed; but the jealousy rarely results in harm, and on the +whole harmony--as it should--prevails. + +Every year brings hundreds of American girl students to Berlin, +Munich, or Dresden to learn singing and perhaps carry off the great +prize of a "star" engagement at one or the other of the German royal +opera houses. The experiences of some of these students are tragedies +on a small scale, and in one or two instances have been known to end +in death, destitution, or dishonour. The explanation is simple. Such +students, filled with the high hopes inspired by artistic ambition and +the artist's imagination, fail to ask themselves before going abroad +if nature has endowed them with the qualities and powers requisite for +one of the most laborious and, for a girl, exposed professions in the +world; and do not learn until it is too late that they lack the +resolute character, the robust health, and the talent which, not +singly but all three combined, are essential to success. + +Such a girl often starts on her enterprise poorly supplied with means +to pay for her board, lodging, clothes, recreation, and instruction; +she changes from the dearer sort of _pension_ to the cheaper, finding +her company and surroundings at each remove more doubtful and more +dangerous; she grows disappointed and disheartened, perhaps physically +ill; comes under bad influences, male or female; until finally the +curtain falls on a sufferer rescued at the last moment by relatives or +friends, or on a young life blasted. Such tragic cases, it should be +said, are far from common, but they occur, and the possibility of +their occurrence ought to be taken into account at the outset by the +intending music or art student. + +Happily there is another and brighter side to the picture, and the +intending student with money and friends will enjoy and gain advantage +from a few years of continental life, even though exceptional strength +and genuine talent be wanting. Perhaps this is the experience of the +great majority of art students in Germany. Freedom from the restraints +and conventions of life at home compensates for the inconveniences +arising from narrow means. Novelty of scenery and surroundings has a +charm that is constantly recurring. The kindness and helpfulness of +fellow-countrymen and countrywomen make the wheels of daily life roll +smoothly. The freemasonry of art, its optimism and hope, and the +pleasure and interest of its practice, investigation, and discussion +wing the hours and spur to effort. + +But to return to the Emperor. As a lad at Cassel he was fond of +playing charades, and is reported to have had a knack of quickly +sketching the scenario and _dramatis personae_ of a play which he and +his young companions would then and there proceed to act. One of these +plays had Charlemagne for its subject, with a Saxon feudatory, whose +lovely daughter, Brunhilde, scorns her father for his submission. A +banquet, ending in a massacre of Charlemagne's followers, is one of +the scenes, and as Brunhilde is in love with Charlemagne's son she +helps him to escape from the massacre. The Play ends with the suicide +of Brunhilde. As he grew up the Emperor's interest in the theatre +increased, and, as has been seen, when he succeeded to the throne he +resolved to make use of it for educating and elevating the public +mind. As patriotism consists largely in knowing and properly +appreciating history he has always encouraged dramatists who could +portray historic scenes and events, particularly those with which the +Hohenzollerns were connected. Hence his support of Josef Lauff, Ernst +von Wildenbruch and Detlev von Liliencron. Not long ago he arranged a +series of performances at Kroll's Theatre intended for workmen only. +The performances were chiefly of the stirring historical +kind--Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell," Goethe's "Goetz von Berlichingen," +Kleist's "Prince von Hornburg," and others that require huge +processions and a crowded stage. The general public were not supposed +to attend the performances, but tickets were sent to the factories and +workshops for sale at a low price. + +In 1898 the Emperor publicly stated his views about the theatre. "When +I mounted the throne ten years ago," he said, + + "I was, owing to my paternal education, the most fervent of + idealists. Convinced that the first duty of the royal + theatres was to maintain in the nation the cultivation of + the idealism to which, God be thanked, our people are still + faithful, and of which the sources are not yet nearly + exhausted, I determined to myself to make my royal theatres + an instrument comparable to the school or the university + whose mission it is to form the rising generation and to + inculcate in them respect for the highest moral traditions + of our dear German land. For the theatre ought to contribute + to the culture of the soul and of the character, and to the + elevation of morals. Yes, the theatre is also one of my + weapons.... It is the duty of a monarch to occupy himself + with the theatre, because it may become in his hands an + incalculable force." + +If the Emperor has any special gift it is an eye for theatrical effect +in real life as well as on the stage. He had a good share of the +actor's temperament in his younger years, and until recently showed it +in the conduct of imperial and royal business of all kinds. He still +gives it play occasionally in the royal opera houses and theatres. The +Englishman, whose ruler is a civilian, is not much impressed by +pageantry and pomp, except as reminding him of superannuated, though +still revered, historical traditions and events that are landmarks in +a great military and maritime past. He would not care to see his King +always, or even frequently, in uniform, as he would be apt to find in +the fact an undue preference for one class of citizens to another. His +idea is that the monarch ought to treat all classes of his subjects +with equal kingly favour. In Germany it is otherwise. The monarchy +relies on military force for its dynastic security, as much, one might +perhaps say, as for the defence of the country or the keeping of the +public peace, and consequently favours the military. Moreover, the +peoples that compose the Empire have been harassed throughout the long +course of their history by wars; a large percentage of their youth are +serving in the standing army or in the reserves, the Landwehr and the +Landsturm; finally the Germans, though not, as it appears to the +foreigner, an artistic people, save in regard to music, enjoy the +spectacular and the theatrical. + +Accordingly we find the Emperor artistically arranging everything and +succeeding particularly well in anything of an historical and +especially of a military nature. The spring and autumn parades of the +Berlin garrison on the Tempelhofer Field--an area large enough, it is +said, to hold the massed armies of Europe--with their gatherings of +from 30,000 to 60,000 troops of all arms, serve at once to excite the +Berliner's martial enthusiasm, while at the same time it obscurely +reminds him that if he treats the dynasty disrespectfully he will have +a formidable repressive force to reckon with. Hence at manoeuvres the +Emperor is accompanied by an enormous suite; whenever he motors down +Unter den Linden it is at a quick pace, which impresses the crowd +while it lessens the chances of the bomb-thrower or the assassin. The +scene of the reception of Prince Chun at the New Palace was a great +success as an artistic performance, and the pageants at the +restoration of the Hohkoenigsburg and at the Saalburg festival were of +the same artistic order. + +The Emperor's theatrical interest and attention when in Berlin are +concentrated on the Berlin Royal Opera and the Berlin Royal Theatre +(Schauspielhaus), and when in Wiesbaden on the Royal Festspielhaus at +that resort. When in his capital he goes very rarely to any other +place of theatrical entertainment. His interest in the royal opera and +theatre both in Berlin and Wiesbaden is personal and untiring, and he +has done almost as much or more for the adequate representation of +grand opera in his capital as the now aged Duke of Saxe-Meiningen did, +through his famous Meiningen players, for the proper presentation of +drama in Germany generally. The revivals of "Aida" and "Les Huguenots" +under the Emperor's own supervision are accepted as faultless examples +of historical accuracy in every detail and of good taste and harmony +in setting. + +In a well-informed article in the _Contemporary Review_ Mr. G. +Valentine Williams writes: + + "Once the rehearsals of a play in which the Emperor is + interested are under way he loses no time in going to the + theatre to see whether the instructions he has appended to + the stage directions in the MS. are being properly carried + out. Some morning, when the vast stage of the opera is + humming with activity, the well-known primrose-coloured + automobile will drive up to the entrance and the Emperor, + accompanied only by a single adjutant, will emerge. In three + minutes William II will be seated at a big, business-like + table placed in the stalls, before him a pile of paper and + an array of pencils. When he is in the house there is no + doubt whatever in anyone's mind as to who is conducting the + rehearsal. His intendant stands at his side in the darkened + auditorium and conveys his Majesty's instructions to the + stage, for the Emperor never interrupts the actors himself. + He makes a sign to the intendant, scribbles a note on a + sheet of paper, while the intendant, who is a pattern of + unruffled serenity, just raises his hand and the performance + abruptly ceases. There is a confabulation, the Emperor, with + the wealth of gesture for which he is known, explaining his + views as to the positions of the principals, the dresses, + the uniforms, using anything, pencil, penholder, or even his + sword to illustrate his meaning. Again and again up to a + dozen times the actors will be put through their paces until + the imperial Regisseur is entirely satisfied that the right + dramatic effect has been obtained. + + "All who have witnessed the imperial stage-manager at work + agree that he has a remarkable _flair_ for the dramatic. + Very often one of his suggestions about the entrances or + exits, a piece of 'business' or a pose, will be found on + trial to enhance the effect of the scene. A story is told of + the Emperor's insistence on accuracy and the minute + attention he pays to detail at rehearsal. After his visit to + Ofen-Pest some years ago for the Jubilee celebration, which + had included a number of Hungarian national dances, the + Emperor stopped a rehearsal of the ballet at the Berlin + opera while a Czardas was in progress and pointed out to the + balletteuses certain minor details which were not correct. + + "In his attitude to the Court actors and actresses he + displays the charm of manner which bewitches all with whom + he comes in contact. He calls them 'meine Schauspieler,' + which makes one think of 'His Majesty's Servants' of + Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. This practice sometimes has + amusing results. Once when the Theatre Royal comedian, Dr. + Max Pohl, was suddenly taken ill the Emperor said to an + acquaintance, 'Fancy, my Pohl had a seizure yesterday;' and + the acquaintance, thinking he was referring to a pet dog + replied, commiseratingly: 'Ah, poor brute!' After rehearsal + the Emperor often goes on to the stage and talks with the + actors about their parts. + + "A Hohenzollern must not be shown on the stage without the + express permission of the Emperor, and in general, if + politics are mixed up in an objectionable way with the + action of the drama, the play will be forbidden. Above all + the Emperor will not tolerate indecency, nor the mere + suggestion of it, in the plays given at the royal theatres. + An anecdote about Herr Josef Lauff's Court drama 'Frederick + of the Iron Tooth,' dealing with an ancestor, an Elector of + Brandenburg, and on which Leoncavallo, at the Emperor's + request, wrote the opera 'Der Roland von Berlin,' shows the + Emperor's strictness in this respect. Frederick of the Iron + Tooth is a burgher of Berlin who leads a revolt against the + Elector. In order to heighten Frederick's hate, Lauff wove + in a love theme into the drama. The wife of Ryke, + burgomaster of Berlin, figured as Frederick's mistress and + egged on her lover against the Elector, because the latter + had hanged her brothers, the Quitzows, notorious outlaws of + the Mark Brandenburg. The Emperor cut out the whole episode + when the play was submitted to him in manuscript. The + marginal note in his big, bold handwriting ran: '_Eine + Courtisane kommt in einem Hohenzollerstueck nicht vor_' (A + courtesan has no place in a Hohenzollern drama)." + +The Emperor's constant change of uniform is often said to be a sign of +his liking for the theatrical, and writers have compared him on this +account with lightning-change artists like the great Fregoli. Rather +his respect for and reliance on the army, a sense of fitness with the +occasion to be celebrated, a feeling of personal courtesy to the +person to be received, are the motives for such changes. The Paris +_Temps_ published the following incident apropos of the Emperor's +visit to England in November, 1902. When, on arriving at Port +Victoria, the royal yacht _Hohenzollern_ came in view, the members of +the English Court sent to welcome the Emperor saw him through their +glasses walking up and down the captain's bridge wearing a long +cavalry cloak over a German military uniform. When they stepped on +board they found him in the undress uniform of an English admiral. +They lunched with him, and in the afternoon, when he left for London, +he was wearing the uniform of an English colonel of dragoons. Arrived +in London, he left for Sandringham, and must have changed his dress +_en route_, for he left the train in a frock-coat and tall hat. + +Perhaps the most notable theatrical event of the reign hitherto was +the production at the Royal Opera in 1908 of the historic pantomime +"Sardanapalus." The Emperor's idea, as he said himself, was to "make +the Museums speak," to which a Berlin critic replied, "You can't +dramatize a museum." The ballet, for it was that as well as a +pantomime, engrossed the Emperor's time and attention for several +weeks. He spent hours with the great authority on Assyriology, +Professor Friedrich Delitzsch, going over reliefs and plans taken from +the Kaiser Friedrich Museum or borrowed from museums in Paris, London, +and Vienna, decided on the costumes and designed the war-chariots to +be used in the ballet. The notion was to rehabilitate the reputation +of Asurbanipal, the second-last King of Assyria, whom the Greeks +called "Sardanapalus," who reigned in Nineveh six hundred years before +Christ, over Ethiopia, Babylon and Egypt, and whom Lord Byron, +accepting the Greek story, represented as the most effeminate and +debauched monarch the world had ever known. + +Professor Delitzsch, with a wealth of recondite learning, showed, on +the contrary, that Sardanapalus was a wise and liberal-minded monarch, +who, rather than fall into the hands of the Medes, built himself a +pyre in a chamber of his palace and perished on it with his wives, his +children, and his treasure. The whole four acts, with the various +ballets, gave a perfectly faithful representation of the period as +described by Diodorus and Herodotus, and as plastically shown on the +reliefs discovered at Nineveh by Sir Henry Layard and subsequently by +German excavators. Over L10,000 was spent upon the production, and the +public were worked up to a great pitch of curiosity concerning it. But +it was a complete failure as far as the public were concerned. +"Heavens!" exclaimed one critic, "what a bore!" This, however, was not +the fault of the Emperor, but was due to want of interest on the part +of a public whose enthusiasm for the events and characters of times so +remote could only be kindled by a genius, and a dramatic one. The +Emperor is no such genius, nor had he one at command. + + + + +XI. + + + +THE NEW CENTURY (_continued_) + + + +1902-1904 + +King George V has hardly been sufficiently long on the English throne +for a contemporary to judge of the personal relations that exist +between his Majesty and the Emperor as chief representatives of their +respective nations. The King of England was, until June, 1913, +hindered by various circumstances from paying a visit to the Court of +Berlin, and rumours were current that relations between the two rulers +were not as friendly as they might and should be. There is now every +indication that though the relations of people to people and +Government to Government vary in degrees of coolness or warmth, the +two monarchs are on perfectly good terms of cousinship and amity. + +A visit paid by King George, when Prince of Wales, to the Emperor in +Potsdam at the opening of 1902 testified to the goodwill that then +subsisted between them. It was the evening before the Emperor's +birthday, when the Emperor, at a dinner given by the officers of King +Edward's German regiment, the 1st Dragoon Guards, addressed the +English Heir Apparent in words of hearty welcome. The address was not +a long one, but in it the Emperor characteristically seized on the +motto of the Prince of Wales, "_Ich dien_" (I serve), to make it the +text of a laudatory reference to his young guest's conduct and career. +In its course the Emperor touched on the Prince's tour of forty +thousand miles round the world, and the effect his "winning +personality" had had in bringing together loyal British subjects +everywhere, and helping to consolidate the _Imperium Britannicum_, "on +the territories of which," as the Emperor said, doubtless with an +imperial pang of envy, "the sun never sets." The Prince, in his reply, +tendered his birthday congratulations, and expressed his "respect" for +the Emperor, the appropriate word to use, considering the ages and +royal ranks of the Emperor and his younger first cousin. + +With 1902 may be said to have begun the Emperor's courtship (as it is +often called in Germany) of America. His advances to the Dollar +Princess since then have been unremitting and on the whole cordially, +if somewhat coyly, received. + +The growth of intercourse of all kinds between Germany and the United +States is indeed one of the features of the reign. There are several +reasons why it is natural that friendly relationship should exist. It +has been said on good authority that thirty millions of American +citizens have German blood in their veins. Frederick the Great was the +first European monarch to recognize the independence of America. +German men of learning go to school in America, and American men of +learning go to school in Germany. A large proportion of the professors +in American universities have studied at German universities. The two +countries are thousands of miles apart, and are therefore less exposed +to causes of international jealousy and quarrel between contiguous +nations. On the other hand, the new place America has taken in the Old +World, dating, it may be said roughly, from the time of her war with +Spain (1898); the increase of her influence in the world, mainly +through the efforts of brave, benevolent, and able statesmen; the +expansion of her trade and commerce; the increase of the European +tourist traffic;--these factors also to some extent account for the +growth of friendly intercourse between the peoples. + +Nor should the bond between the two countries created by intermarriage +be overlooked. If the well-dowered republican maid is often ambitious +of union with a scion of the old European nobility, the usually needy +German aristocrat is at least equally desirous of mating with an +American heiress notwithstanding the vast differences in +race-character, political sentiment, manners, and views of life--and +especially of the status and privileges of woman--that must +fundamentally separate the parties. Great unhappiness is frequently +the result of such marriages, perhaps it may be said of a large +proportion of international marriages, but cases of great mutual +happiness are also numerous, and help to bring the countries into +sympathy and understanding. Prince Buelow, when Chancellor, reminded +the Reichstag, which was discussing an objection raised to the late +Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, when German Ambassador to America, that +he had married an American lady, that though Bismarck had laid down +the rule that German diplomatists ought not to marry foreigners, he +was quite ready to make exceptions in special cases, and that America +was one of them. The Emperor is well known to have no objection to his +diplomatic representative at Washington being married to an American, +but rather to prefer it, provided, of course, that the lady has plenty +of money. + +A difficulty between Germany and Venezuela arose in 1902 owing to the +ill-treatment suffered by German merchants in Venezuela in the course +of the civil war in that country from 1898 to 1900. + +The merchants complained that loans had been exacted from them by +President Castro and his Government, and that munitions of war and +cattle had been taken for the use of the army and left unpaid for. The +amount of the claim was 1,700,000 Bolivars (francs), a sum that +included the damage suffered by the merchants' creditors in Germany. +Similar complaints were made by English and Italian merchants. After +several efforts on the part of Germany to obtain redress had failed, +negotiations were broken off, the diplomatic representative of Germany +was recalled, and finally the combined fleets of England, Germany, and +Italy established a blockade of the Venezuelan coast. The difficulty +was eventually referred to the Hague Court of Arbitration, which +allowed the claims and directed payment of them on the security of the +revenues of the customs ports of La Guayra and Puerto Cabella. + +For a time the action of the Powers caused discussion of the Monroe +doctrine on both sides of the Atlantic. On this side it was pointed +out that American susceptibilities had been respected by the conduct +of the Powers in not landing troops, while on the other side there +were not wanting voices to exclaim that the naval demonstration went +too near being a breach of the hallowed creed--"hands off" the Western +Hemisphere. The Monroe doctrine, it may be recalled, was contained in +a message of President James Monroe, issued on February 2, 1823. It +was drawn up by John Quincey Adams, and declared that the United +States "regarded not only every effort of the Holy Alliance to extend +its system to the Western Hemisphere as dangerous to the peace and +freedom of the United States, but also every interference with the +object of subverting any independent American Government in the light +of unfriendliness towards America"; and it went on to declare that +"the Continents of America should no more be regarded as fields for +European colonization." + +The day, of course, may come when the American claim to the control, +if not physical possession, of half the earth will be questioned by +the Powers of Europe; but at present, as far as Germany is concerned, +and notwithstanding the absurd idea that Germany plans the seizure one +day of Brazil, the doctrine is of merely academic interest. For a few +days four years later it became the subject of lively discussion in +Germany and America owing to the first American Roosevelt professor, +Professor Burgess, referring to it in his inaugural lecture before the +Emperor and Empress as an "antiquated theory." As soon, however, as it +became apparent that Professor Burgess was giving utterance to a +purely personal opinion, and was not in any sense the bearer of a +message on the subject from the President, the discussion dropped. + +Another American episode of the year was the visit of Prince Henry, +the Emperor's brother, to the United States. Prince Henry left for +America in February. The visit was in reality made in pursuance of the +Emperor's world-policy of economic expansion, but there were not a few +politicians in England and America to assert that it was part of a +deep scheme of the Emperor's to counteract too warm a development of +Anglo-American friendship. However that may be, the visit was a +striking one, even though it gave no great pleasure to Germans, who +could not see any particular reason for it, nor any prospect of it +yielding Germany immediate tangible return for trouble and expense. +Prince Henry, it is said, though the most genial and democratic of +Hohenzollerns, was a little taken back at the American freedom of +manners, the wringing of hands, the slapping on the back, and other +republican demonstrations of friendship; but he cannot have shown +anything of such a feeling, for he was feted on all sides, and soon +developed into a popular hero. + +One of the incidents of the visit, previously arranged, was the +christening of the Emperor's new American-built yacht, _Meteor III_, +by Miss Alice Roosevelt, the President's daughter. On February 25th +the Emperor received a cablegram from Prince Henry: "Fine boat, +baptized by the hand of Miss Alice Roosevelt, just launched amid +brilliant assembly. Hearty congratulations;" and at the same time one +from the President's daughter: "To his Majesty the Kaiser, +Berlin--_Meteor_ successfully launched. I congratulate you, thank you +for the kindness shown me, and send you my best wishes. Alice +Roosevelt." + +During the visit the Emperor cabled to President Roosevelt his thanks +and that of his people for the hospitable reception of his brother by +all classes, adding: + + "My outstretched hand was grasped by you with a strong, + manly, and friendly grip. May Heaven bless the relations of + the two nations with peace and goodwill! My best compliments + and wishes to Alice Roosevelt." + +Reference to this cordial electric correspondence may close with +mention of a telegram sent in reply to a message from Mr. Melville +Stone, of the American Associated Press: + + "Accept my thanks for your message. I estimate the great and + sympathetic reception (it was a banquet) given to my dear + brother by the newspaper proprietors of the United States + very highly." + +Prince Henry returned to Germany on March 17th, a Doctor of Law of +Harvard University. + +There have been moments when people in America were influenced by +other sentiments than those of entirely respectful admiration for the +Emperor. It was with mixed feelings that the American public heard the +news of his telegraphed offer to President Roosevelt in May, 1902, +when, as the telegram said, the Emperor was "under the deep impression +made by the brilliant and cordial reception" given to his brother, +Prince Henry, to present to the American nation a statue of--Frederick +the Great, and coupled with the offer a proposal that the statue +should be erected--of all places--in Washington! No one doubted the +Emperor's sincere desire to pay the highest compliment he could think +of to a people to whom he felt grateful for the honour done to Germany +in the person of his brother, but nearly every one smiled at the +simplicity, or, as some called it, the want of political tact shown by +offering the statue of a ruler whose name, to the vast majority of +Americans, is synonymous with absolute autocracy, to a republic which +prides itself on its civic ways and love of personal freedom. The gift +was accepted by the American Government in the spirit in which it was +offered, the spirit of goodwill. And why not? To the Emperor his great +ancestor's effigy is no symbol of autocracy, but the contrary, for to +the Emperor and his subjects Frederick the Great is as much the Father +of Prussia, the man who saved it and made it, as Washington was the +Father of America. Besides, the spirit in which a gift is offered, not +its value or appropriateness, is the thing to be considered. + +Irritation in England was still strong against Germany on account of +the latter's easily understood race-sympathy with the Boers during the +war just over, but the fact did not prevent the Emperor from accepting +King Edward's invitation to spend a few days at Sandringham with him +in November this year on the occasion of his birthday. The Emperor +took the Empress and two of his sons with him. The hostile temper of +the time, both in England and Germany, was alluded to in a sermon +preached in Sandringham Church by the then Bishop of London. It was +notable for its insistence on the necessity of friendlier relations +between England, Germany, and America, the three great branches of the +Teutonic race. After the service the Emperor is reported to have +exclaimed to the Bishop: "What you said was excellent, and is +precisely what I try to make my people understand." + +As a proof that this was no merely complimentary utterance, but the +expression of a thought which is constantly in the Emperor's mind, an +incident which happened at Kiel regatta in the month of June +previously may be recalled. The American squadron, under the late +Admiral Cotton, was paying an official visit to the Emperor during the +Kiel "week" as a return honour for the visit of the Emperor's brother, +Prince Henry of Prussia, to the United States the year before. There +was a constant round of festivities, and among them a lunch to the +Emperor on board the Admiral's flagship, the _Kearsarge_. Lunch over, +the Emperor was standing in a group talking with his customary +vivacity, but, as customary also, with his eyes taking in his +surroundings like a well-trained journalist. Suddenly he noticed a set +of flags, those of America, Germany, and England, twined together and +mingling their colours in friendly harmony. He walked over, gathered +the combined flags in his hand, and turning to the Admiral exclaimed +in idiomatic American: "See here, Admiral; that is exactly as it +should be, and is what I am trying for all the time." + +While in England the Emperor, in company with Lord Roberts and Sir +Evelyn Wood, inspected his English regiment, the 1st Royal Dragoons. A +curious and amusing feature of the visit was a lecture before the +Royal Family at Sandringham by a German engineer, for whom the Emperor +acted as interpreter, on a novel adaptation of spirit for culinary, +lighting, and laundry purposes. The Emperor's practical illustration +of the use of the new heating system, as applied to the ordinary +household flatiron, is said to have caused great merriment among his +audience. + +Germany's home atmosphere about this time was for a moment troubled by +an exhibition of the Emperor's "personal regiment" in the form of a +telegram to the Prince Regent of Bavaria, known in Germany as the +"Swinemunde Despatch." The Bavarian Diet, in a fit of economy, had +refused its annual grant of L5,000 for art purposes. The Emperor was +violently angry, wired to the Prince Regent his indignation with the +Diet and offered to pay the L5,000 out of his own pocket. It was not a +very tactful offer, to be sure, though well intended; and as his +telegram was not an act of State, "covered" by the Chancellor's +signature, while the Bavarians in particular felt hurt at what they +considered outside interference, Germans generally blamed it as a new +demonstration of autocratic rule. + +One or two other art incidents of the period may be noted. A domestic +one was the gift to the Emperor by the Empress of a model of her hand +in Carrara marble, life-sized, by the German sculptor, Rheinhold +Begas. The Emperor, it is well known, has no special liking for the +companionship of ladies, but he confesses to an admiration for pretty +feminine hands. Another incident was the Emperor's order to the +painter, Professor Rochling, to paint a picture representing the +famous episode in the China campaign, when Admiral Seymour gave the +order "Germans to the Front." It is to the present day a popular +German engraving. The year was also remarkable for a visit to Berlin +of Coquelin _aine_, the great French actor. The Emperor saw him in +"Cyrano de Bergerac," was, like all the rest of the play-going world, +delighted with both play and player, and held a long and lively +conversation with the artist. Lastly may be mentioned a telegram of +the Emperor's to the once-famed tragic actress, Adelaide Ristori, in +Rome, congratulating her on her eightieth birthday and expressing his +regret that he had never met her. A basket of flowers simultaneously +arrived from the German Embassy. + +We are now in 1903. During the preceding years the Emperor's thoughts, +as has been seen, were occupied with art as a means of educating his +folk, purifying their sentiments, and, above all, making them faithful +lieges of the House of Hohenzollern. By a natural association of ideas +we find him this year thinking much and deeply about religion; for, +though artists are not a species remarkable for the depth or orthodoxy +of their views on religious matters, art and religion are close +allies, and probably the greater the artist the more real religion he +will be found to have. + +In this year, accordingly, the Emperor made his remarkable confession +of religious faith to his friend, Admiral Hollmann. He had just heard +a lecture by Professor Delitzsch on "Babel und Bibel," and as he +considered the Professor's views to some extent subversive of orthodox +Christian belief, he took the opportunity to tell his people his own +sentiments on the whole matter. In writing to Admiral Hollmann he +instructed him to make the "confession" as public as possible, and it +was published in the October number of the _Grenzboten_, a Saxon +monthly, sometimes used for official pronouncements. The Emperor's +letter to Admiral Hollmann contained what follows:-- + + "I distinguish between two different sorts of Revelation: a + current, to a certain extent historical, and a purely + religious, which was meant to prepare the way for the + appearance of the Messiah. As to the first, I should say + that I have not the slightest doubt that God eternally + revealed Himself to the race of mankind He created. He + breathed into man His breath, that is a portion of Himself, + a soul. With fatherly love and interest He followed the + development of humanity; in order to lead and encourage it + further He 'revealed' Himself, now in the person of this, + now of that great wise man, priest or king, whether pagan, + Jew or Christian. Hammurabi was one of these, Moses, + Abraham, Homer, Charlemagne, Luther, Shakespeare, Goethe, + Kant, Kaiser William the Great--these He selected and + honoured with His Grace, to achieve for their peoples, + according to His will, things noble and imperishable. How + often has not my grandfather explicitly declared that he was + an instrument in the hand of the Lord! The works of great + souls are the gifts of God to the people, that they may be + able to build further on them as models, that they may be + able to feel further through the confusion of the + undiscovered here below. Doubtless God has 'revealed' + Himself to different peoples in different ways according to + their situation and the degree of their civilization. Then + just as we are overborne most by the greatness and might of + the lovely nature of the Creation when we regard it, and as + we look are astonished at the greatness of God there + displayed, even so can we of a surety thankfully and + admiringly recognize, by whatever truly great or noble thing + a man or a people does, the revelation of God. His influence + acts on us and among us directly. + + "The second sort of Revelation, the more religious sort, is + that which led up to the appearance of the Lord. From + Abraham onward it was introduced, slowly but foreseeingly, + all-wisely and all-knowingly, for otherwise humanity were + lost. And now commences the astonishing working of God's + Revelation. The race of Abraham and the peoples that sprang + from it regard, with an iron logic, as their holiest + possession, the belief in a God. They must worship and + cultivate Him. Broken up during the captivity in Egypt, the + separated parts were brought together again for the second + time by Moses, always striving to cling fast to monotheism. + It was the direct intervention of God that caused this + people to come to life again. And so it goes on through the + centuries till the Messiah, announced and foreshadowed by + the prophets and psalmists, at last appears, the greatest + Revelation of God to the world. Then he appeared in the Son + Himself; Christ is God; God in human form. He redeemed us, + He spurs us on, He allures us to follow Him, we feel His + fire burn in us, His sympathy strengthens us, His + displeasure annihilates us, but also His care saves us. + Confident of victory, building only on His word, we pass + through labour, scorn, suffering, misery and death, for in + His Word we have God's revealed Word, and He never lies. + + "That is my view of the matter. The Word is especially for + us evangelicals made the essential thing by Luther, and as + good theologian surely Delitzsch must not forget that our + great Luther taught us to sing and believe--'Thou shalt + suffer, let the Word stand.' To me it goes without saying + that the Old Testament contains a large number of fragments + of a purely human historical kind and not 'God's revealed + Word.' They are mere historical descriptions of events of + all sorts which occurred in the political, religious, moral, + and intellectual life of the people of Israel. For example, + the act of legislation on Sinai may be regarded as only + symbolically inspired by God, when Moses had recourse to the + revival of perhaps some old-time law (possibly the codex, an + offshoot of the codex of Hammurabi), to bring together and + to bind together institutions of His people which were + become shaky and incapable of resistance. Here the historian + can, from the spirit or the text, perhaps construct a + connexion with the Law of Hammurabi, the friend of Abraham, + and perhaps logically enough; but that would no way lessen + the importance of the fact that God suggested it to Moses + and in so far revealed Himself to the Israelite people. + + "Consequently it is my idea that for the future our good + Professor would do well to avoid treating of religion as + such, on the other hand continue to describe unmolested + everything that connects the religion, manners, and custom + of the Babylonians with the Old Testament. On the whole, I + make the following deductions:-- + + "1. I believe in One God. + + "2. We humans need, in order to teach Him, a Form, + especially for our children. + + "3. This Form has been to the present time the Old Testament + in its existing tradition. This Form will certainly + decidedly alter considerably with the discovery of + inscriptions and excavations; there is nothing harmful in + that, it is even no harm if the nimbus of the Chosen People + loses much thereby. The kernel and substance remain always + the same--God, namely, and His work. + + "Never was religion a result of science, but a gushing out + of the heart and being of mankind, springing from its + intercourse with God." + +It is anticipating by a few months, but part of a speech the Emperor +made in Potsdam at the confirmation of his two sons, August Wilhelm +and Oscar--two Hohenzollerns as yet not distinguished for anything in +particular--may be quoted in this connexion. Naturally he began by +comparing his sons' spiritual situation with that of a soldier on the +day he takes the oath of allegiance: they were _vorgemerkt_, that is, +predestined as "fighters for Christ." "What is demanded of you," the +imperial father went on, "is that you shall be personalities. This is +the point which, in my opinion, is the most important for the +Christian in daily life. For there can be no doubt that we can say of +the person of the Lord, that He is the most 'personal personality' who +has ever wandered among the sons of men.... You will read of many +great men--savants, statesmen, kings and princes, of poets also: but +nevertheless no word of man has ever been uttered worthy of comparison +with the words of Christ; and I say this to you so that you may be in +a position to bear it out when you are in the midst of life's turmoil +and hear people discussing religion, especially the personality of +Christ. No word of man has ever succeeded in making people of all +races and all people enthusiastic for the same cause, namely, to +imitate Him, even to sacrifice their lives for Him. The wonder can +only be explained by assuming that what He said were the words of the +living God, which are the source of life, and continue to live +thousands of years after the words of the wise have been forgotten. +That is my personal experience and it will be yours. + +"The pivot and turning-point," he continued, + + "of our mortal life, especially of a life full of + responsibility and labour--that is clearer and clearer to me + every year I live--lies simply and solely in the attitude a + man adopts towards his Lord and Saviour;" + +and he concludes by exhorting his sons to disregard what people may +say about the cult of Christ being irreconcilable with the tasks and +responsibilities of "modern" life, but simply to do their best, +whatever their occupation, to become a personality after Christ's +example. + +This is a sound and just statement of Christian faith, and it is +quoted here to justify the view that the Emperor's soldiers and his +Dreadnoughts, his mailed fist and shining armour, are built and put on +in the spirit of precaution and defence. The attitude, it cannot of +course be denied, is based on the un-Christlike assumption that all +men (and particularly all peoples and their governments and +diplomatists) are liars; but in his favour it may be urged that for +that saying the Emperor could cite Biblical authority. And yet there +is an inconsistency; for the saying is that of one of those same wise +men whose words, the Emperor admits, are transitory and mortal. + +It is possible that the Emperor had a presentiment of some kind that +his life was now in danger, and that the presentiment may have attuned +his thoughts to meditation on Christ's life and teaching; for it is a +fact, well worthy of remark, that in the fear of death man's one and +only relief and consolation is the knowledge that there was, and is, a +mediator for him with his Creator. The address at his sons' +confirmation was delivered on October 17th, and on Sunday morning, +November 8th all the world, it is hardly too much to say, was +astonished and pained to learn, by a publication in the _Official +Gazette_, that the Emperor the day before had had to submit to a +serious operation on his throat. The announcement spoke of a polypus, +or fungoid growth, which had had to be removed; but all over the world +the conclusion was come to that the mortal affliction of the father +had fallen on the son and that the Emperor was a doomed man. Most +providentially and happily it was nothing of the sort. On the 9th the +Emperor was out of bed and signing official papers, on the 15th he was +allowed to talk in whispers, and on the 17th it was declared by the +physicians that all danger was over and that no more bulletins would +be issued. On December 14th the Emperor received a congratulatory +visit from the President of the Reichstag, who reported to Parliament +his impression that "the Emperor had completely recovered his old +vigour (great applause) and that his voice was again clear and +strong." + +The Emperor had passed through what one may suppose to have been the +darkest hour of his life. He was naturally in high spirits, and a few +days after went to Hannover, where he made a martial speech in which +he toasted the German Legion for having "by its unforgettable heroism, +in conjunction with Bluecher and his Prussians, saved the English army +from destruction at Waterloo," a view, of course, which to an +Englishman has all the charm of novelty. + +One or two further memorable incidents of 1903 may be recorded. +Theodore Mommsen, the now aged historian of Rome, the greatest scholar +of his time, died in November. He was in his day a Liberal +parliamentarian of no mean ability; but for such men there is no +career in Germany. However, as it turned out, the German people's loss +proved to be all the world's gain. A son of the historian now +represents a district of Berlin in the Reichstag. Two years before the +historian's death an exchange of telegrams in Latin took place between +him and the Emperor. The occasion was the Emperor's laying the +foundation-stone of a museum on the plateau where the old Roman +castle, known as the Saalburg, stands. The Emperor telegraphed: + + "Theodoro Mommseno, antiquitatum romanarum investigatori + incomparabili, praetorii Saalburgensis fundamenta jaciens + salutem dicit et gratias agit Guilelmus Germanorum + Imperator." + +To which the historian, with a modesty equal to his courtesy, replied: +"Germanorum principi, tam majestate quam humanitate, gratias agit +antiquarius Lietzelburgensis." + +Mention may also be made of a very characteristic speech of the +Emperor's this year at Cuestrin, where he was unveiling a monument to a +favourite Hohenzollern, the Great Elector. Cuestrin, it will be +remembered, is the town where Frederick the Great, another of the +Emperor's favourites, was imprisoned by an angry father, along with +his friend Lieutenant Katte, when Frederick was trying to escape the +parental cruelty and violence. + +Referring to Frederick's declaration that he was the "first servant of +the State," the Emperor said:-- + + "He could only learn to be so by subordination, by + obedience, in a word by what we Prussians describe as + discipline. And this discipline must have its roots in the + King's house as in the house of the citizen, in the army as + among the people. Respect for authority, obedience to the + Crown, and obedience to parental and paternal + influence--that is the lesson the memories of to-day should + teach us. From these attributes spring those which we call + patriotism, namely the subordination of the individual ego, + of the individual subject, to the welfare of all. It is what + is particularly needed at the present time." + +The Emperor was, of course, thinking of the Social Democrats. Having +finished his speech, he went and for a while stood thoughtfully at the +historic window of Cuestrin Castle, from which Frederick watched the +execution of his unfortunate companion, Katte. + +Only the year 1904 separates us from the Emperor's Morocco adventure. +The economic ideas which have been referred to as the basis of German +foreign policy were germinating in his mind, and the plans for at +least a partial realization of them were working in his head. +Addressing the chief burgomaster of Karlsruhe in April, just a year +before he started for Tangier, he spoke of Weltpolitik. "You are +right," he told the burgomaster, + + "in saying that the task of the German people is a hard + one.... I hope our peace will not be disturbed, and that the + events that are now happening will open our eyes, steel our + courage, and find us united, if it should be necessary for + us to intervene in world-policy." + +The Emperor had, no doubt, specially in mind the birth of the +Anglo-French Entente and the war between Russia and Japan, both events +forming the dominant factors of the political situation at this time. +The Russo-Japanese War arose primarily from the unwillingness of +Russia to evacuate Manchuria after the Boxer troubles in China. The +incidents of the war are still fresh in public memory. + +It need only be recalled here that Germany was neutral throughout the +conflict, that both President Roosevelt and the Emperor offered their +services as mediators in its course, and that on the capture of Port +Arthur by Admiral Nogi, in January, 1905, the Emperor telegraphed his +bestowal of the _Ordre pour le Merile_ on General Stoessel, the +Russian defender of Port Arthur, and on Admiral Nogi. + +In the troubled history of Anglo-German relations is to be recorded +the presence, in June of this year, of King Edward VII at Kiel with a +squadron of battleships to pay an official visit to his nephew. The +two fleets, those sunny days, formed a splendid spectacle--the two +mightiest police forces, the Emperor would probably agree in saying, +the world could produce. In fact, the Emperor had some such thought in +mind, for he addressed King Edward as follows:-- + + "Your Majesty has been welcomed by the thunder of the guns + of the German fleet. It is the youngest navy in the world + and an expression of the reviving sea-power of the new + German Empire, founded by the late great Emperor, designed + for the protection of the Empire's trade and territory, and + intended, equally with the German army, for the preservation + of peace." + +One or two other incidents of interest in the Emperor's life may close +the record of this year. One of them was the arrival of the Italian +composer, Leoncavallo, in Berlin, to hand the Emperor the text of the +opera "Der Roland von Berlin," Leoncavallo had composed at the +Emperor's express request. Roland was a "strong, valiant and pious" +knight of Charlemagne's time--like the Emperor, let us say--who +originally hailed from Brittany--that lone and lovely Cinderella of +France--and afterwards, for some unexplained reason, came to be the +type of municipal independence in Germany. + +During the summer the Emperor and the Empress made an excursion, when +on the Saalburg, to the statues of the Roman Emperors Hadrian and +Severus. Did the Emperor recall, one wonders, as he stood before the +figure of Hadrian, that pagan monarch's address to his soul:-- + + "Animula vagula, blandula, + Hospes, comesque corporis, + Quae nunc abibis in loca, + Pallidula, rigida, nudula, + Nee, ut soles, dabis jocos?" + +It sounds a little gloomy as a quotation, but, fortunately for Germany +and the Emperor, for "nunc" can be put, _pace_ the poet, the +indefinite, yet all too definite, "aliquando." + + + + +XII. + + + +MOROCCO + + + +1905 + +The Emperor started for Tangier towards the end of March, but before +that he had got through imperial business of a miscellaneous kind +which exemplifies the life he leads practically at all times. + +In January he had exchanged telegrams with the Czar and the Mikado +concerning his bestowal of the Order of Merit on Generals Stoessel and +Nogi, asking permission to bestow the Order and receiving expressions +of consent. Another telegram went to the composer Leoncavallo in +Naples, congratulating him on the success there of his "Roland von +Berlin." In February, the Emperor opened an international Automobile +Exhibition in Berlin, received Prince Charles, Infanta of Spain, and +the King of Bulgaria, unveiled a monument to his ancestor, Admiral +Coligny, who was killed in the Bartholomew massacre, listened to a +naval captain's lecture on Port Arthur, opened the new Lutheran +Cathedral (the "Dom") in Berlin, telegraphed thanks to the University +of Pennsylvania for its doctor's degree which the Emperor said he was +proud to know George Washington once held, attended a lecture by +Professor Delitzsch on "Assyria," and was present at a memorial +service for the painter Adolf von Menzel, who died this month. In +March he visited Heligoland, inspected the progress of some +alterations at the Royal Opera in Berlin, and sent the Gold Medal for +Science to Manuel Garcia, on the occasion of the latter's hundredth +birthday, as recognition of his invention of the laryngoscope, or +mirror for examining the throat. + +Just before starting for Morocco the Emperor made the speech in which +he claimed that Germans are the "salt of the earth." In the same +speech he had previously declared that as the result of his reading of +history he meant never to strive after world-conquest. "For what," he +asked, + + "has become of the so-called world-empires? Alexander the + Great, Napoleon the First, all the great warrior heroes swam + in blood and left behind them subjugated peoples, who at the + first opportunity rose and brought their empires to ruin. + The world-empire which I dream of will be, above all, the + newly established German Empire, enjoying on every side the + most absolute confidence as a peaceable, honest, and quiet + neighbour, not founded on conquest by the sword, but on the + mutual confidence of nations, striving for the same + objects." + +While on the way to Morocco the Emperor put in at Lisbon to pay a +visit to the King of Portugal, and with the latter attended a meeting +of the Geographical Society. From Lisbon he went to Gibraltar, and +from thence, after a few hours' stay, he started for Tangier. + +The Morocco incident, as it is often too lightly called, should rather +be regarded as a phase in the world's economic history and an +occurrence of moment for the future peace of all nations than the mere +game on the diplomatic chess-board many writers appear to consider it. +According to French critics, and they may be taken as representative +of the feeling everywhere prevalent during the seven years the +incident lasted, its origin was a matter of alliances and the balance +of power. Germany, according to these writers, wanted to preserve the +position of hegemony in Europe she had obtained under Bismarck, and +consequently felt annoyed by the Triple Entente, which robbed her of +her traditional friend Russia and set up an effective counterpoise to +the Triple Alliance of which Germany was the leading Power, and on +which she could, or believed she could, rely for support in case of +war with France. In going, therefore, to Tangier, at the moment when +her defeat by Japan rendered Russia for the time being of little or no +account in the considerations of diplomacy, the Emperor, according to +these writers, in reality was making a determined attempt to break the +Entente combination and protect his Empire from political isolation or +inferiority. + +It is quite possible that such were the motives of the Emperor's +action, but if so he was building better than he knew. The +vicissitudes of the Moroccan episode are described briefly below, yet +some remarks of a general nature as to the whole episode considered in +its historical perspective may be permitted in advance. But first, +what is historical perspective? It may perhaps be defined as that view +of history which shows in its true proportions the relative importance +of an event to other events which strongly and permanently leave their +mark on the character and development of the period or generation in +which they occur. Regarded from this standpoint the Morocco incident +can claim an exceptional position, for it was the first occasion in +modern diplomatic history on which a Great Power officially proclaimed +_urbi et orbi_ the doctrine of the "open door," the doctrine of equal +economic treatment for all nations for the benefit of all nations, and +was willing to go to war in support of it. + +It was not, of course, the first time the demand for the open door had +been made; loudly and bloodily, too; since most wars from those of +Greece and Rome to the war between Russia and Japan of recent years +were waged with the intention, or in the hope, of opening, by conquest +or contract, territory of the enemy to the mercantile enterprise of +the victors. But this was the open door in a very selfish and +restricted sense, and though many isolated events had occurred of late +years, the international agreements regarding China among them, +proving that the idea of the open door was gaining strength as a right +common to all nations, it was not until the Emperor went to Tangier +that a Great Power risked a great war in order to exemplify and +enforce it. + +The Emperor and his advisers were probably not moved by any altruistic +sentiments in the matter, and their sole reason for action may have +been to see that German subjects should not be excluded from Moroccan +markets. It may also be that Germany was resolved that if there was to +be a seizure of Morocco she should get her share of the territory to +be distributed, notwithstanding her refusal, revealed by the late +Foreign Secretary, Kiderlen-Waechter, in the Reichstag's confidential +committee, to accede to Mr. Chamberlain's proposal, made some time +before the incident, for a partition of the Shereefian Empire. But the +acquisition of territory does not seem to have been the mainspring of +her policy, while from the beginning to the end of the incident, +however theatrical and questionable her diplomatic conduct may have +been at moments during the negotiations, she was throughout consistent +and successful in her demand for economic equality all round. This is +a great gain for the future, for, with the world nearly all parcelled +out, economic considerations, which are almost in all cases +adjustable, are now the most weighty factors in international +relations. + +Apart from this view of the incident, it is clear that Germany was +pursuing her claim to a "place in the sun," and she did so to the +unconcealed annoyance of nations which up to then had never thought of +her in a role she appeared to be aspiring to, that of a Mediterranean +Power. To these nations she seemed an intruder in a sphere to which +she neither naturally nor rightfully belonged. Evidently she had no +political or historical claims in Morocco, while her commercial +interests were less than 10 per cent of Morocco trade. + +A narration of the incident may, for the sake of convenience, though +involving some anticipation of the future, be dealt with in three +sections: from the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, and the Emperor's +visit to Tangier in March, 1905, to the Act of Algeciras a year +subsequently; from the Act of Algeciras to the Franco-German Agreement +of 1909; and from that to the--let it be hoped--final settlement by +the Franco-German Agreement of November 5, 1911. + +The Anglo-French Agreement of 1904 gave France a free hand in Morocco +in consideration of France giving England a similar position in Egypt +and the Nile Valley. The state of things in Morocco at this time was +one of discord and rebellion. In the midst of it, the Sultan, El +Hassan, died, and was succeeded by Abdul Aziz, a minor. On coming of +age Abdul Aziz showed his inability to rule, the country fell again +into disorder and Abdul turned for help to France. Meantime England +and France had been negotiating without the knowledge of Germany, and +in April, 1904, the Anglo-French Agreement was signed. It was +accompanied by an official declaration that France had no intention of +changing the political status of Morocco, but only contemplated a +policy there of "pacific penetration and reforms." Thereupon Prince +von Buelow, the German Chancellor, stated in the Reichstag that the +German Government had no reason to assume that the Agreement was +directed against any Power and that "it appeared to be an attempt by +England and France to come to a friendly understanding respecting +their colonial differences." + +"From the standpoint of German interests," continued the Chancellor, +"we have no objections to raise to it." No parliamentary reference was +made to Morocco until March, 1905, when the Chancellor spoke of the +approaching visit of the Emperor to Tangier, and it became evident +that the Emperor and his advisers had come to the conclusion that, as +France seemed about assuming a full protectorate over Morocco, as she +had tried to do in Tunis, and that this, in accordance with French +policy, would result in the exclusion of other nationals from commerce +and the development of the country, Germany must take action. Prince +von Buelow explained that "his Majesty had, in the previous year, +declared to the King of Spain that Germany pursued no policy of +territorial acquisition in Morocco." He continued: + + "Independent of the visit, and independent of the + territorial question, is the question whether we have + economic interests to protect in Morocco. That we have + certainly. We have in Morocco, as in China, a considerable + interest in the maintenance of the open door, that is the + equal treatment of all trading nations." + +And he concluded by saying: + + "So far as an attempt is being made to alter the + international status of Morocco, or to control the open door + in the economic development of the country, we must see more + closely than before that our economical interests are not + endangered. Our first step, accordingly, is to put ourselves + into communication with the Sultan." + +The visit came off as announced, and the Emperor, on arriving at +Tangier, made a speech which caused a sensation in every diplomatic +chancellery; indeed, in all parts of the world. The Emperor's speech, +which was addressed to the German colonists on March 31, 1905, was as +follows:-- + + "I rejoice to make acquaintance with the pioneers of Germany + in Morocco and to be able to say to them that they have done + their duty. Germany has great commercial interests there. I + will promote and protect trade, which shows a gratifying + development, and make it my care to secure full equality + with all nations. This is only possible when the sovereignty + of the Sultan and the independence of the country are + preserved. Both are for Germany beyond question, and for + that I am ready at all times to answer. I think my visit to + Tangier announces this clearly and emphatically, and will + doubtless produce the conviction that whatever Germany + undertakes in Morocco will be negotiated exclusively with + the Sultan." + +The result of these unmistakable declarations was that the Sultan +rejected proposals made to him by the French, and shortly afterwards, +on the advice of Germany, came forward with suggestions for a European +conference. M. Delcasse, the French Foreign Minister, opposed the +proposal, and for a time war between France and Germany appeared +inevitable; but France was not in a military position to ignore +Germany's threatening language, M. Delcasse had to resign, the French +Cabinet under M. Rouvier agreed to the conference, and it met at +Algeciras in January, 1906. At the conference Great Britain, in +consonance with the Entente, supported France; Austria adhered loyally +to her Triplice engagements and proved the "brilliant second" to +Germany the Emperor subsequently described her; Italy, on the other +hand, gave her Teutonic ally only lukewarm support. + +In fairness, however, should be quoted here the explanation of Italy's +attitude given by Chancellor von Buelow when discussing the conference +in Parliament next year. The impression is general, both in and out of +Germany, that Italy is only a half-hearted political ally. It is based +on the temperamental difference between the Latin and the Teutonic +races, on the popular sympathy between the French and Italian peoples, +and to the supposedly reluctant support lent by Italy to Germany +during the critical time of the conference, the extra-tour, as Prince +Buelow, using a metaphor of the ballroom, termed it, she took with +France on that occasion. Prince Buelow now endeavoured to dissipate or +correct the impression, at any rate, as regarded Algeciras. "Italy," +he said, + + "found herself in a difficult position there. Various + agreements between Italy and France regarding Morocco had + come into existence anterior to the conference, but Germany + was satisfied that they were not inconsistent with Italy's + Triplice engagements; in fact, Germany had, several years + ago, officially told Italy she must use her own judgment and + act on her own responsibility in dealing with her French + neighbour in Africa and the Mediterranean." + +When it was settled that a conference should be held, Italy, the +Chancellor continued, "gave Germany timely information as to the +extent to which her support of Germany could go, and as a matter of +fact she supported Germany's views in the bank and police questions." +So far the German official explanation, but the impression of Italian +lukewarmness as a member of the Triplice has lost none of its +universality thereby. How well or ill founded the impression is, it +will be for the future to disclose. + +The summoning of the conference had been a triumph for German +diplomacy, but its results were disappointing to her; for while the +proceedings showed that among all nations she could only fully rely on +the sympathy and support of Austria, they ended in an acknowledgment +by Germany of the special position of France in Morocco. The Act of +Algeciras, which was dated April 7, 1906, stated that the signatory +Powers recognized that "order, peace, and prosperity" could only be +made to reign in Morocco + + "by means of the introduction of reforms based upon the + triple principle of the sovereignty and independence of his + Majesty the Sultan, the integrity of his States, and + economic liberty without any inequality." + +Then followed six Declarations regarding the organization of the +police, smuggling, the establishment of a State bank, the collection +of taxes, and the finding of new sources of revenue, customs, and +administrative services and public works. For the organization of the +police, French and Spanish officers and non-commissioned officers were +to be placed at the disposal of the Sultan by the French and Spanish +Governments. Tenders for public works were to be adjudicated on +impartially without regard to the nationality of the bidder. The +effect of the Act was to give international recognition to the special +position of France and Spain in Morocco, while safeguarding the +economic interests of other Powers. + +The attitude taken up by Germany relative to the conference was set +forth in a speech delivered by Prince von Buelow in the Reichstag in +December, 1905. It was based, he explained, on the provisions of the +Madrid Convention of 1880, in which all the Great Powers and the +United States had taken part. The Chancellor claimed that Germany +sought no special privileges in Morocco, but favoured a peaceful and +independent development of the Shereefian Empire. He denied that +German rights could be abrogated by an Anglo-French Agreement, and +pointing out that Morocco in 1880 had granted all the signatories to +the Madrid Convention most-favoured-nation treatment, claimed that if +France desired to make good her demand for special privileges, she +ought to have the consent of the special signatories to the Madrid +pact. Germany had a right to be heard in any new settlement of +Moroccan conditions; she could not allow herself to be treated as a +_quantite negligeable_, nor be left out of account when a country +lying on two of the world's greatest commercial highways was being +disposed of. She had a commercial treaty with Morocco, conferring +most-favoured-nation rights, and it did not accord with her honour to +give way. + +The Act of Algeciras, however, proved to have brought only temporary +relief to European tension. Disturbances continued in Morocco, French +subjects were murdered at Marakesch in 1907, and France occupied the +province of Udja with troops until satisfaction should be given. Owing +to riots at Casablanca in 1908, in which French as well as Spanish and +Italian labourers were killed, she decided to occupy the place, and +sent a strong military and naval force thither. A French warship +bombarded the town, and by June, 1908, the French army of occupation +numbered 15,000 men. Meanwhile internal commotions and intrigues had +led to the deposition of Abdul Aziz and his replacement on the throne +by his brother, Muley Hafid, with the support of Germany. France and +Spain refused to recognize the new ruler unless he gave guarantees +that he would respect the Act of Algeciras. Muley gave the required +guarantees, and in March, 1909, France "declared herself wholly +attached to the integrity and independence of the Shereefian Empire +and decided to safeguard economic equality in Morocco." Germany on her +side declared she was pursuing in Morocco only economic interests and, +"recognizing that the special political interests of France in Morocco +are closely bound up in that country with the consolidation of order +and of internal peace," was "resolved not to impede those interests." + +The German idea of not impeding French special political interests in +Morocco was disclosed little more than two years later by the dispatch +of the German gunboat _Panther_ (of "Well done, _Panther_!" fame) on +July 3, 1911, to the "closed" port of Agadir on the south Moroccan +coast. + +It was as dramatic a coup as the Emperor's visit to Tangier and caused +as much alarm. The fact is that the march of French troops to Fez, +which had taken place a few months before, convinced the Emperor and +his Government that France, relying on the support of her Entente +friend England, was bent on the Tunisification of Morocco. The +Emperor, Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, and Foreign Secretary +Kiderlen-Waechter met at the Foreign Office on May 21st, and it was +decided to send a ship of war, as at once a hint and a demonstration, +to Agadir or other Moroccan port. Germany, of course, in accordance +with diplomatic strategy, did not disclose the real springs of her +action, though they must have been patent to all the world. She +notified the Powers of the dispatch of her warship, explaining that +the sending of the _Panther_, which "happened to be in the +neighbourhood," was owing to the representations of German firms, as a +temporary measure for the protection of German proteges in that +region, and taken "in view of the possible spread of disorders +prevailing in other parts of Morocco." + +In France, on the other hand, it was asserted that the step was not in +conformity with the spirit of the Franco-German Agreement of 1909, in +which Germany resolved not to impede French special interests, that +there were no Germans at Agadir, and that only nine months previously +Germany had angrily protested at the calling of a French cruiser at +the same port. The reference was to the visit of the French cruiser +_Du Chaylu_ in November, 1910, when the captain paid a visit to the +local pasha. The German Foreign Secretary eventually said Germany had +no objection to France using her police rights even in a closed port, +and the admission was taken as a fresh renunciation on the part of +Germany of any right to interference. Feeling ran high for a time both +in France and Germany, while the German action added to the sentiment +of hostility to Germany in England, and English political circles +perceived in it a design on Germany's part of acquiring a port on the +Moroccan coast. The word "compensation," which afterwards was to prove +the solution of Franco-German differences was now first mentioned by +Germany. + +After England's determination to support France had been made plain by +ministerial statements, the entire Morocco episode was closed by the +Franco-German Agreement signed on November 5, 1911, as "explanatory +and supplementary" to the Franco-German Agreement of 1909. The effect +of the new Agreement was practically to give France as free a hand in +Morocco as England has in Egypt, with the reservation that "the +proceedings of France in Morocco leave untouched the economic equality +of all nations." The Agreement further gives France "entire freedom of +action" in Morocco, including measures of police. The rights and +working area of the Morocco State bank were left as they stood under +the Act of Algeciras. The sovereignty of the Sultan is assumed, but +not explicitly declared. The compensation to Germany for her agreement +to "put no hindrances in the way of French administration" and for the +"protective rights" she recognizes as "belonging to France in the +Shereefian Empire" was the cession by France to Germany of a large +portion of her Congo territory in mid-Africa, with access to the Congo +and its tributaries, the Sanga and Ubangi. + +While the ground-idea of Germany's policy of economic expansion, and +the source of all her trouble with England, is her insistence on her +"place in the sun," the difficulty attending it for other nations is +to determine the place's nature and extent, so that every one shall be +comfortable and prosperous all round. + +The alterations in conditions among civilized nations during the last +half-century, more especially in all that relates to international +intercourse--political, financial, commercial, social--makes it +reasonable to suppose that changes must follow in the conduct of their +foreign policies. The fact also, recognized by no country more clearly +than by Germany, that the profitable regions of the earth are already +appropriated makes an economic policy for her all the more advisable. +An economic policy, moreover, is, notwithstanding her apparent +militarism, most in harmony with the peaceful and industrious +character of her people. Unfortunately, the stage in progress where +the political and commercial interests of all nations have become +defined and adjusted has not yet been reached, though the numerous +agreements between the Great Powers of recent years go far towards +clearing the way for so desirable a consummation. Unfortunately, too, +it is in the very process of finding bases for such agreements that +international jealousies and misunderstandings arise; and hence in +securing peace, governments and peoples are at all times nowadays most +in jeopardy of war. This consideration alone might very well be used +to justify nations in keeping their military and naval forces strong +and ready. Perhaps some day such forms of force will not be wanted, +though admittedly the great majority of people still refuse to believe +that the changes which have occurred have altered the fundamental +attitude of countries to each other, and remain firmly convinced that +to-day, as yesterday and the day before, great nations are moved by an +irresistible desire to add to their territories and in every way +aggrandize themselves, by diplomacy if possible, and if diplomacy +fails, by force. + +It is, of course, impossible to say with certainty what the real +designs of the Emperor and his Government in this regard were during +the Morocco episode, or are now. Some believe that their designs have +always aimed, and still aim, at depriving Great Britain of her +position of superiority in respect of territory, maritime dominion, +and trade. Others hold that they seek and will have, _coute que +coute_, new territory for Germany's increasing population, and look +with greedy eyes towards South America and even Holland. Others yet +again represent them as incessantly on the watch to seize a harbour +here or there as a coaling station for warships and a basis of attack. +But an unbiased survey of the annals of the Emperor's reign hitherto +does not bear out any of these assertions. A policy of territorial +expansion as such, mere earth-hunger, cannot be proved against him. +Prince Bismarck was no colonial enthusiast, though he passes for being +the founder of Germany's present colonial policy; and even to-day +the colonial party in Germany, though a very noisy, is not a very +large or influential one. Samoa--East Africa--Kiao-tschau--the +Carolines--Heligoland--the Cameroons: how can the acquisition of +comparatively insignificant and unprofitable places like these be used +for proving that the might of Germany is or has been directed towards +territorial conquest? + +What, it may however be asked, of the Morocco adventure? Of the speech +at Tangier? Of the sending of the _Panther_ to Agadir? Of the demand +for compensation in Central Africa? Until the Morocco question arose, +all the quarrels amongst the Powers regarding territory were caused by +the territorial ambition of France, or Russia, or Italy--not of +Germany; and it was not until France showed openly, by sending her +troops to Fez, and thus ignoring the Act of Algeciras, that Germany +put forward claims for territorial compensation in connection with +Morocco. The visit of the Emperor to Tangier in 1905, a year after the +Anglo-French Agreement, was doubtless an unpleasant surprise for both +England and France. And not without good cause; for England and France +are naturally and historically Mediterranean Powers--the one as +guardian of the route to her Eastern possessions, the other as the +owners of a large extent of Mediterranean coast; while England, in +addition, was justified in seeing with uneasiness the possibility of a +German settlement at Tangier or elsewhere on the Morocco seaboard. But +the Tangier visit and all that followed it was the consequence, not of +an adventurous policy of territorial conquest, but of a legitimate, +and not wholly selfish, desire for economic expansion. + +Taken, then, as a whole, the Emperor's foreign policy has been, as it +is to-day, almost entirely economic and commercial. The same might, no +doubt, be said in a general way of all civilized Occidental +governments, but there never has yet been a country of which the +foreign policy was so completely directed by the economic and +mercantile spirit as modern Germany. The foreign policy of England has +also been commercial, but it has been influenced at times by noble +sentiment and splendid imagination as well. The first question the +German statesman, in whose vocabulary of state-craft the word +imagination does not occur, asks himself and other nations when any +event happens abroad to demand imperial attention is--how does it +affect Germany's economic and commercial interests, future as well as +present? What is Germany going to get out of it? The manner in which +on various occasions during the reign the question has been propounded +has excited criticism bordering on indignation abroad, but it should +be recognized that it has invariably been answered in the long run by +Germany in the spirit of compromise and conciliation. + +However, all civilized nations nowadays see that war is the least +satisfactory method of adjusting national quarrels, and the tendency +is happily growing among them to pursue a commercial, an economic +policy, a policy of peace. This is true Weltpolitik, true +world-policy. Time was when wars were the unavoidable result of +conditions then prevailing; but conditions have greatly altered, and +war, as there is abundant evidence to show, is to-day, in almost every +case, avoidable by all civilized peoples. Formerly war deranged and +disturbed at any rate for the time being, the commerce and industries +of the countries engaged in it; to-day, as Mr. Norman Angell +demonstrates, it deranges and disturbs commerce and industry all over +the world. The derangement and disturbance may, it is true, be only +temporary; but there is, as always, the loss of life among the youth +of the countries engaged in war to be remembered. Granted that it is +pleasant and honourable to die for one's country. Let us hope the time +is coming when it will be equally pleasant and honourable to live for +it. + +We have done with Morocco, but to round off the record for 1905 +mention should be made of an incident in the Emperor's life which was +a source of great pleasure to him after his return from his journey +thither. The marriage of his eldest son, the Crown Prince, took place +in the Chapel Royal of the Berlin palace on June 15, 1905, to the +young Duchess Cecile of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whose character has been +alluded to elsewhere and whom all Germans look forward with pleasure +to seeing one day their Empress. The marriage naturally was attended +by rejoicings in Berlin similar to those shown when the Emperor was +married in 1881. Their chief popular feature, now as then, was the +formal entry into the capital, and its chief domestic feature a grand +wedding breakfast at the Emperor's palace. On the occasion of the +latter, the Emperor, rising from his seat and using the familiar _Du_ +and _Dich_ (thou and thee), addressed his newly-made daughter-in-law +as follows:-- + + "My dear daughter Cecilie,--Let me, on behalf of my wife and + my whole House, heartily welcome you as a member of my House + and my family circle. You have come to us like a Queen of + Spring amid roses and garlands, and under endless + acclamations of the people such as my Residence city has not + known for long. A circle of noble guests has assembled to + celebrate this high and joyful festival with us, but not + only those present, but also those who are, alas, no more, + are with us in spirit: your illustrious father and my + parents. + + "A hundred thousand beaming faces have enthusiastically + greeted you; they have, however, not merely shone with + pleasure, but whoever can look deeper into the heart of man + could have seen in their eyes the question--a question which + can only be answered by your whole life and conduct, the + question, How will it turn out? + + "You and your husband are about to found a home together. + The people has its examples in the past to live up to. The + examples which have preceded you, dear Cecilie, have been + already eloquently mentioned--Queen Louise and other + Princesses who have sat on the Prussian throne. They are the + standards according to which the people will judge your + life, while you, my dear son, will be judged according to + the standard Providence set up in your illustrious + great-grandfather. + + "You, my daughter, have been received by us with open arms + and will be honoured and cherished. To both of you I wish + from my heart God's richest blessings. Let your home be + founded on God and our Saviour. As He is the most impressive + personality which has left its illuminating traces on the + earth up to the present time, which finds an echo in the + hearts of mankind and impels them to imitate it, so may your + career imitate His, and thus will you also fulfil the laws + and follow the traditions of our House. + + "May your home be a happy one and an example for the younger + generation, in accordance with the fine sentence which William + the Great once wrote down as his confession of faith; 'My powers + belong to the world and my country.' Accept my blessing for your + lives. I drink to the health of the young married couple." + +The record of this memorable year may be closed with mention of an +institution which is not only a special care of the Emperor's, but is +also a landmark in the relation of Germany and America which may prove +to be the forerunner, if it has not already done so, of similar +interchange of ideas and information between nations which only +require mutually to understand each other in order to be the best of +friends. + +The system of an annual exchange of professors between America and +Germany was suggested, it is believed, to the Emperor in this year by +Herr Althoff, the Prussian Minister of Education. The Emperor took up +the idea with enthusiasm, and after discussing it with Dr. Nicholas +Murray Butler, President of Columbia University, who was invited to +Wilhelmshohe for the purpose, had it finally elaborated by the +Prussian Ministry of Education which now superintends its working. + +The original idea of an exchange only between Harvard and Berlin +University professors was, thanks to the liberality of an American +citizen, Mr. Speyer, extended almost simultaneously by the +establishment of what are known as "Roosevelt" professorships. The +holders of these positions, unlike the original "exchange" professors +between Harvard and Berlin only, may be chosen by the trustees of +Columbia University from any American university and can exchange +duties for two terms, instead of one in the place of the exchange +professors, with the professors of any German University. Harvard +professors have been succesively: Francis G. Peabody, Theodore W. +Richards, William H. Scofield, William M. Davis, George F. Moore, H. +Munsterberg, Theobald Smith, Charles S. Minog; and Roosevelt +professors: J.W. Burgess, Arthur T. Hadley, Felix Adler, Benj. Ide +Wheeler, C. Alphonso Smith, Paul S. Reinsch, and William H. Sloane. + +Writing to the German Ambassador in Washington, Baron Speck von +Sternburg, in November, 1905, the Emperor said: + + "Express my fullest sympathy with the movement regarding the + exchange of professors. We are very well satisfied with + Professor Peabody, the first exchange professor, and + thankful to have him. He comes to me in my house, an + honourable and welcome guest. My hearty thanks also to Mr. + Speyer, for his fine gift for the erection of a + professorship in Berlin. The exchange of the learned is the + best means for both nations to know the inner nature of each + other, and from thence spring mutual respect and love, which + are securities for peace." + +The idea of the exchange, as described by Professor John W. Burgess, +of Columbia University, the first Roosevelt professor to Germany, is + + "an exchange of educators which has for its purpose the + bringing of the men of learning of one country into other + countries and by a comparison of fundamental ideas to arrive + at a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which the + world's peace and the world's civilization may finally and + firmly rest." + +The conception of a world-philosophy and a world-morality upon which +the world's peace and civilization may rest is not new, being now a +little over 1900 years old, and, moreover, educators and men of +science in all countries are constantly exchanging ideas by personal +visits, correspondence, and publications; but in any case, the +Emperor's exchange system has the advantage that it brings the +educators into touch with large numbers of the rising generation in +America and Germany and undoubtedly helps towards a better mutual +understanding of the relations, and in especial the economic +relations, of the two countries. + +It has worked well, and the Emperor has encouraged it by showing +constant hospitality to the American professors who have come to +Berlin since the system was instituted. One or two episodes have given +rise to a diplomatic question as to whether or not exchange professors +and their wives have the privilege of being presented at Court. The +question has practically been decided in the negative. This, however, +does not prevent the Emperor entertaining the professors at his +palace, or making the acquaintance of the professors' wives on other +than Court ceremonious occasions. + + + + +XIII. + + + +BEFORE THE "NOVEMBER STORM" + + + +1906-1907 + +In the domestic life of the Emperor during these years fall two or +three events of more than ordinary interest. From the dynastic point +of view was of importance the birth of a son and heir to the Crown +Prince in the Marble Palace at Potsdam. + +The Emperor was at sea, on his annual northern trip, when the birth +occurred. As the ship approached Bergen the town was seen to be gaily +decorated with flags. As it happened, everybody on board knew of the +birth except the Emperor, but none of the officers round him ventured +to congratulate him, because they supposed he knew of it already and +were waiting for him to refer to it. At Bergen the German Minister, +Stuebel, and German Consul, Mohr, came on board. The Minister, being a +diplomatist, said nothing, but the Consul, as Consuls will, spoke his +mind and ventured his congratulations. "What? I am a grandfather!" +exclaimed the Emperor. "Why, that's splendid! and I knew nothing about +it!" The captain of the ship then asked should he fire the salute of +twenty-one guns usual on such occasions. "No," said the Emperor, "that +won't do. Mohr is a great talker. Let us first see the official +despatches from Berlin." The party, including the Emperor, went down +into the cabin to await the despatches, which were being brought from +Bergen. + +On their arrival a basketful of State papers was placed before the +Emperor. The first one he took out was a telegram from the Sultan of +Turkey with congratulations (great merriment); the second from an +unknown lady in Berlin, with a name corresponding to the English +"Brown," with four lines of congratulatory poetry; and it was not +until more than a hundred despatches had been opened that they came to +one from the Minister of the Interior and another from the Empress +announcing the birth. Popular reports at the time represented the +Emperor as boiling over with anger at his being kept or left in +ignorance of the happy event. As a matter of fact, he was in high +good-humour, and himself mentioned a similar occurrence at Metz in +1870, when an important movement of the French army was not reported +because it was assumed that it was already known to the Intelligence +Department. As a public sign of his satisfaction he amnestied the +half-dozen of his subjects who happened to be in gaol as punishment +for _lese majeste_. + +Another domestic event at this time was the celebration by the Emperor +and Empress of their silver wedding. Berlin, of course, was +illuminated and beflagged. There was a great gathering of royal +relatives, a State banquet, and a special parade of troops. At the +latter were remarkable for their huge proportions two former +grenadiers of the regiment of Guards the Emperor commanded in his +youth. They were now settled in America, but came over to Germany on +the Emperor's particular invitation and, of course, at his private +expense. + +The last item of domestic interest this year (1906) worth record was +the marriage of Prince Eitel Frederick, the Emperor's second son, with +Princess Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg. In his speech to the bridal +pair on their wedding-day the Emperor referred to the personal +likeness the young Prince bore to his great-grandfather, Emperor +William, and expressed the hope that the Prince might grow more like +him in character from year to year. + +Meantime the Emperor had to pass through a season of great annoyance +owing to the scandal which arose in connection with the so-called +"Camarilla." The existence of a small and secret group of viciously +minded men among the Emperor's entourage was disclosed to the public +by the well-known pamphleteer, Maximilian Harden, a Jew by birth named +Witowski, who as a younger man had been on semi-confidential terms +with Prince Bismarck and subsequently with Foreign Secretary von +Holstein. As a result of Harden's disclosures some highly placed +friends of the Emperor were compromised and had ultimately to +disappear from public life as well as from the Court. It was perfectly +evident throughout that the Emperor had been totally ignorant of the +private character of the men forming the "Camarilla," and nothing was +proved to show that the group which formed it had ever unduly, or +indeed in any fashion, influenced him. + +An allusion made to the scandal by a deputy in the Reichstag brought +the Chancellor, Prince von Buelow, to his feet in defence of the +monarch. "The view," he said, + + "that the monarch in Germany should not have his own + opinions as to State and Government, and should only think + what his Ministers desire him to think, is contrary to + German State law and contrary to the will of the German + people" + +("Quite right," on the Right). "The German people," continued the +Chancellor, + + "want no shadow-king, but an Emperor of flesh and blood. The + conduct and statements of a strong personality like the + Emperor's are not tantamount to a breach of the + Constitution. Can you tell me a single case in which the + Emperor has acted contrary to the Constitution?" + +The Chancellor concluded: + + "As to a Camarilla--Camarilla is no German word. It is a + hateful, foreign, poisonous plant which no one has ever + tried to introduce into Germany without doing great injury + to the people and to the Prince. Our Emperor is a man of far + too upright a character and much too clear-headed to seek + counsel in political things from any other quarter than his + appointed advisers and his own sense of duty." + +The Camarilla scandal was all the more painful as it was made a ground +for insinuations disgraceful to German officers as a body. Such +insinuations were, as they would be to-day, entirely unfounded. + +Another thing that annoyed the Emperor this year was the publication +of ex-Chancellor Prince Hohenlohe's Memoirs. The publication drew from +him a telegram to a son of the ex-Chancellor in which he expressed his +"astonishment and indignation" at the publication of confidential +private conversations between him and Prince Hohenlohe regarding +Prince Bismarck's dismissal. "I must stigmatize," the Emperor +telegraphed, + + "such conduct as in the last degree tactless, indiscreet, + and entirely inopportune. It is a thing unheard-of that + occurrences relating to a sovereign reigning at the time + should be published without his permission." + +Germans as a people are passionately fond of dancing, and though +everybody knows that the people of Vienna bear away the palm in this +respect, claim to be the best waltzers in the world. The Emperor, +accordingly, won great popularity among the dancers of his realm this +year by lending a favourable ear to the sighing of the young ladies of +the provincial town of Crefeld for a regiment which would provide them +with a supply of dancing partners. The Emperor took occasion to visit +the town, and brought with him a regiment of the Guards from +Duesseldorf to form part of the new garrison. He was received by the +city authorities, and was at the same time, doubtless, greeted from +balcony and window by multitudes of fair-haired Crefeld maidens, who +looked with delightful anticipations on the gallant soldiers, who were +to relieve the tedium of their evenings, riding by. "To-day," the +Emperor told the assembled city fathers, "I have kept my word to the +town of Crefeld, and when I make a promise I keep it too (stormy +applause). I have brought the town its garrison and the young ladies +their dancers." The "stormy applause" was again renewed--amid, one may +imagine, the enthusiastic waving of pocket-handkerchiefs from the +windows and the balconies. + +The salient feature of foreign politics just now was, naturally, the +close on March 31st of the Conference of Algeciras. Its results have +been referred to in the chapter on Morocco, and mention need only be +made here of the famous telegram regarding it sent by the Emperor on +April 12th of this year (1906) to the Foreign Minister of Austria, +Count Goluchowski. "A capital example of good faith among allies!" he +telegraphed to the Count, meaning Austria's support of Germany at +Algeciras. "You showed yourself a brilliant second in the tourney, and +can reckon on the like service from me on a similar occasion." + +Internal affairs, and particularly the parliamentary situation in +Germany, had during the three or four years before that of the +"November Storm" demanded a good deal of the Emperor's attention. The +everlasting fight with the rebel angels of the Hohenzollern heaven, +the Social Democracy, had been going on all through the reign. Now the +Emperor would fulminate against it, now his Chancellor, Prince von +Buelow, would attack it with brilliant ability and sarcasm in +Parliament. Still the Social Democratic movement grew, still the +_Vorwaerts_, the party organ, continued to rail at industrial +capitalists and the large landowners alike, still Herr Lucifer-Bebel +bitterly assailed every measure of the Government. The fact seems to +be that the people were getting restive under the imperial burdens the +Emperor's world-policy entailed. The cost of living, partly as a +result of the new German tariff, with maximum and minimum duties, +which now replaced the Caprivi commercial treaties, was steadily +rising. The Morocco episode had ended without territorial gain, if +with no loss of national honour or prestige. The Poles were +antagonized afresh by a stricter application of the Settlement Law for +Germanizing Prussian Poland. Colonial troubles in South-west Africa +with Herero and other recalcitrant tribes were making heavy demands on +the Treasury. + +The parliamentary situation was, as usual, at the mercy of the Centrum +party, which, with its hundred or more members, can always make a +majority by combining with Liberal parties of the Left (including the +Socialists) or Conservative parties of the Right. In December, 1906, +when the Budget was laid before Parliament, it was found to contain a +demand for about L1,500,000 for the troops in South-west Africa. The +Centrum refused to grant more than L1,000,000, and required, moreover, +an undertaking that the number of troops in the colony should be +reduced. The Social Democrats, with a number of Progressives and other +Left parties sufficient to form a majority, joined the Centrum, and +the Government demand was rejected by 177 to 168 votes. On the result +of the voting being declared, Chancellor von Buelow solemnly rose and +drew a paper from his pocket. It was an order from the Emperor +dissolving Parliament. + +The general elections were to be held in January following, and great +efforts were made by the Emperor and Chancellor to secure a Government +majority against the combined Centrists and Socialists. The country +was appealed to to say whether Germany should lose her African +colonies or not; a patriotic response was made, and, though the +Centrum, as always, came back to Parliament in undiminished strength, +the Socialists lost one-half of their eighty seats. + +The Emperor, needless to say, was tremendously gratified. On the night +the final results were announced he gave a large dinner-party at the +Palace, and read out to the Royal Family and his guests the bulletins +as they came in. Towards one o'clock in the morning the official +totals were known. The streets were knee-deep in snow, but the people +were not deterred from making a demonstration in their thousands +before the palace. By and by lights were seen moving hurriedly to and +fro along the first floor containing the Emperor's apartments. A +general illumination of the suite of rooms followed, a window was +thrown up, and the Emperor, bare-headed, was seen in the opening. +Instantly complete stillness fell on the vast square, and the Emperor, +leaning far out over the balcony, and evidently much excited, spoke in +stentorian tones and with a dramatic waving of his right arm as +follows: "Gentlemen!"--the "gentlemen" included half the hooligans of +Berlin, but such are the accidents of political life-- + + "Gentlemen! This fine ovation springs from the feeling that + you are proud of having done your duty by your country. In + the words of our great Chancellor (Bismarck), who said that + if the Germans were once put in the saddle they would soon + learn to ride, you can ride and you will ride, and ride + down, any one who opposes us, especially when all classes + and creeds stand fast together. Do not let this hour of + triumph pass as a moment of patriotic enthusiasm, but keep + to the road on which you have started." + +The speech closed with a verse from Kleist's "Prince von Homburg," a +favourite monarchist drama of the Emperor's, conveying the idea that +good Hohenzollern rule had knocked bad Social-Democratic agitation +into a cocked hat. + +The result of the elections enabled the Chancellor to form a new +"bloc" party in Parliament, consisting of conservatives and Liberals, +on whose united aid he could rely in promoting national measures. As +the Chancellor said, he did not expect Conservatives to turn into +Liberals and Liberals into Conservatives overnight nor did he expect +the two parties to vote solid on matters of secondary interest and +importance; but he expected them to support the Government on +questions that concerned the welfare of the whole Empire. + +Before 1907, the year we have now reached, Franco-German and +Anglo-German relations had long varied from cool to stormy. They had +not for many years been at "set-fair," nor have they apparently +reached that halcyon stage as yet. During the Moroccan troubles it was +generally believed that on two or three occasions war was imminent +either between France and Germany or between Germany and England. That +there was such a danger at the time of M. Delcasse's retirement from +the conduct of French foreign affairs just previous to the Algeciras +Conference is a matter of general conviction in all countries; but +there is no publicly known evidence that danger of war between England +and Germany has been acute at any time of recent years. Nor at any +time of recent years has the bulk of the people in either country +really desired or intended war. There has been international +exasperation, sometimes amounting to hostility, continuously; but it +was largely due to Chauvinism on both sides, and was in great measure +counteracted by the efforts of public-spirited bodies and men in both +countries, by international visits of amity and goodwill, and by the +determination of both the English and German Governments not to go to +war without good and sufficient cause. + +Among the most striking testimonies to this determination was the +visit of the Emperor to England in November, 1907. + +The visit was made expressly an affair of State. The Emperor was +accompanied by the Empress, and the visit became a pageant and a +demonstration--a pageant in respect of the national honours paid to +the imperial guests and a demonstration of national regard and respect +for them as friends of England. Nothing could have been simpler, or +more tactful or more sincere than the utterances, private as well as +public, of the Emperor throughout his stay. His very first speech, the +few words he addressed to the Mayor of Windsor, displayed all three +qualities. "It seems to me," he said, "like a home-coming when I enter +Windsor. I am always pleased to be here." At the Guildhall +subsequently, referring to the two nations, he used, and not for the +first time, the phrase "Blood is thicker than water." + +At the Guildhall, on this occasion, the Emperor reminded his hearers +that he was a freeman of the City of London, having been the recipient +of that honour from the hands of Lord Mayor Sir Joseph Savory on his +accession visit to London in 1891. He then referred to the visit of +the Lord Mayor, Sir William Treloar, to Berlin the year previous, and +promised a similar hearty welcome to any deputation from the City of +London to his capital. "In this place sixteen years ago," continued +the Emperor, + + "I said that all my efforts would be directed to the + preservation of peace. History will do me the justice of + recognizing that I have unfalteringly pursued this aim. The + main support, however, and the foundation of the world's + peace is the maintenance of good relations between our two + countries. I will, in future also, do all I can to + strengthen them, and the wishes of my people are at one with + my own in this." + +The procession that followed upon the visit to the Guildhall made a +special impression on the Emperor. "I was so close to the people," he +said afterwards, + + "who were assembled in hundreds of thousands, that I could + look straight into their eyes, and from the expression on + their faces I could see that their reception of the Empress + and myself was no artificial welcome but an out-and-out + sincere one. That stirred us deeply and gave us great + satisfaction. The Empress and I will take back with us + recollections of London and England we shall never forget." + +While at Windsor the Emperor received a deputation of sixteen members +of Oxford University, headed by Lord Curzon, who came to present him +with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws voted him by the University +while he was still on his way to England. It was a picturesque scene: +the members of the University in their academic robes were surrounded +by a brilliant company representing the intellect of the country; and +the Emperor, with the doctor's hood over his field-marshal's uniform, +was the cynosure of all eyes. + +The Emperor's reply to Lord Curzon's address, highly complimentary to +the University though it was, was perhaps chiefly remarkable for the +expression of his expectations from the Rhodes' Scholarship +foundation. "The gift of your great fellow-countryman, Cecil Rhodes," +he said, + + "affords an opportunity to students, not only from the + British colonies, but also from Germany and the United + States, to obtain the benefits of an Oxford education. The + opportunity afforded to young Germans during their period of + study to mix with young Englishmen is one of the most + satisfactory results of Rhodes's far-seeing mind. Under the + auspices of the Oxford _alma mater_, the young students will + have an opportunity of studying the character and qualities + of the respective nations, of fostering by this means the + spirit of good comradeship, and creating an atmosphere of + mutual respect and friendship between the two countries." + +The Emperor had always admired the Colossus of South Africa, +discerning in him no doubt many of those attributes which he felt +existed in himself or which he would like to think existed; and the +admiration stood the test of personal acquaintance when Cecil Rhodes +visited Berlin in March, 1899, in connexion with his scheme for the +Cape to Cairo railway. It does not sound very complimentary to his own +subjects, the "salt of the earth," but it is on record that the +Emperor then said to Rhodes that he wished "he had more men like him." +At the close of the visit the Empress returned to Germany, while the +Emperor took a much needed rest-cure for three weeks at Highcliffe +Castle, a country mansion in Hampshire he rented for the purpose from +its owner, Colonel Stuart-Wortley. + +In the course of this work, it may have been noticed, no particular +attention has been devoted to the Emperor in his military capacity. +The reason is, because it is taken for granted that all the world +knows the Emperor in his character as War Lord, that he is practically +never out of uniform, and that his care for the army is only +second--if it is second--to that for the stability and power of his +monarchy. The two things in fact are closely identified, and, from the +Emperor's standpoint, on both together depend the security, and to a +large extent the prosperity, of the Empire. He knows or believes that +Germany is surrounded by hordes of potential enemies, as a lighthouse +is often surrounded by an ocean that, while treacherously calm, may at +any time rage about the edifice; that round the lighthouse are +gathered his folk, who look to it for safety; and that the monarchy is +the lighthouse itself, a _rocher de bronze_, towering above all. + +In this connexion it may be noted that the army in Germany is not a +mercenary body like the English army, but is simply and solely a +certain portion of the people, naturally the younger men, passing for +two or three years, according as they serve in the infantry or +cavalry, through the ranks. The system of recruiting, as everybody +knows, is called conscription; it ought rather to be described as a +system of national education, whereby the rude and raw youth of the +country is converted into an admirable class of well-disciplined, +self-respecting and healthy, as well as patriotic, citizens. The +Emperor believes, contrary to the opinion of many English army +officers, that a man to be a good soldier must also be a good +Christian, and thus we find him enforcing, or trying to enforce, among +his officers the moral qualities which Christianity is meant to +foster. + +Among these qualities is simplicity of life, and as a result of +simplicity of life, contentment with simple and not too costly +pleasures. We saw the Emperor as a young colonel forbidding his +officers to join a Berlin club where gambling was prevalent. This +year, after a luxurious lunch at one of the regimental messes, he +issues an order, or rather an edict, expressing his wish that officers +in their messes should content themselves with simpler food and wines, +and in particular that when he himself is a guest, the meal should +consist only of soup, fish, vegetables, a roast and cheese. Ordinary +red or white table-wine, a glass of "bowl" ("cup"), or German +champagne should be handed round. Liqueurs, or other forms of what the +French know as "chasse-cafe," after dinner were best avoided. The +edict of course caused amusement as well as a certain amount of +discontent with what was felt to be a kind of objectionable paternal +interference, and it is doubtful whether it has had much lasting +effect. Even now, the German officer laughingly tells one that when +the Emperor dines at an officers' mess either French champagne (which +is infinitely superior to German) is poured into German champagne +bottles, or else the French label is carefully shrouded in a napkin +that swathes the bottle up to the neck. Apropos of German champagne, a +story is current that Bismarck, one day dining at the palace, refused +the German champagne being handed round. The Emperor noticed the +refusal and said pointedly to Bismarck: "I always drink German +champagne, because I think it right to encourage our national +industries. Every patriot should do so." "Your Majesty," replied the +grim old Chancellor, "my patriotism does not extend to my stomach." + +In the domain of aesthetics this year the Emperor had some pleasant and +some painful experiences. Joachim, the great violinist, and a great +favourite of his, died in August, and his death was followed next +month, September, by that of the composer Grieg, the "Chopin of the +North," as the Emperor called him, whose friendship the Emperor had +acquired on one of his Norwegian trips. Quite at the end of the year +his early tutor, Dr. Hinzpeter, for whom he always had a semi-filial +regard, passed away. + +On the other hand, among the Emperor's pleasant experiences may be +reckoned the visit of Mr. Beerbohm Tree and his English company to the +German capital. Their repertory of Shakespearean drama greatly +delighted the Emperor, who expressed his pleasure to Mr. Tree and his +fellow-players personally, and did not dismiss them without +substantial tokens of his appreciation. + +Earlier in the year the French actress, Suzanne Depres, visited Berlin +and appealed strongly to the Emperor's taste for the "classical" in +music and drama. Inviting the actress to the royal box, he said to +her: + + "You have shown us such a natural, living Phaedra that we + were all strongly moved. How fine a part it is! As a + youngster I used to learn verses from 'Phaedra' by heart. I + am told that in France devotion to classical tradition is + growing weaker, and that Moliere and Racine are more and + more seldom played. What a pity! Our people, on the + contrary, remain faithful to their great poets and enjoy + their works. After school comes college, and after + college--the theatre. It should elevate and expand the soul. + The people do not need any representation of reality--they + are well acquainted with that in their daily lives. One must + put something greater and nobler before them, something + superior to 'La Dame aux Camelias.'" + +A month later, however, he made one of his extremely rare visits to an +ordinary Berlin theatre to see--"The Hound of the Baskervilles"! + +Meanwhile in domestic politics Chancellor von Buelow's famous "bloc" +continued to work satisfactorily, notwithstanding difficulties arising +from the conflicting interests of industry and agriculture, Free Trade +and Protection and differences of creed and race. At the end of this +year it was near falling asunder in connection with the question of +judicial reform, but Prince von Buelow kept it together for a while by +an impassioned appeal to the patriotism of both parties. In the course +of the speech he told the House how, when he was standing at +Bismarck's death-bed, he noticed on the wall the portrait of a man, +Ludwig Uhland, who had said "no head could rule over Germany that was +not well anointed with democratic oil," and drew the conclusion from +the contrast between the dying man of action and the poet that only +the union of old Prussian conservative energy and discipline with +German broad-hearted, liberal spirit could secure a happy future for +the nation. The "bloc," as we shall see, broke up in 1909 and Prince +von Buelow resigned. The Chancellor afterwards attributed his fall +entirely to the Conservatives, but it is possible, even probable, that +it was in at least some measure due to the events of the _annus +mirabilis_, 1908, which now opened. + + + + +XIV + + + +THE NOVEMBER STORM + + + +1908 + +The "November Storm" was a collision between the Emperor and his folk, +a result of his so-called "personal regiment." + +In a general way the latter phrase is intended to describe and +characterize the method of rule adopted by the Emperor from the very +beginning of his reign, especially as exhibited in his semi-official +utterances, public and private, in his correspondence, private +conversation, and public and private conduct generally. According to +the popular interpretation of the Imperial Constitution--the nearest +thing to a Magna Charta in Germany--the Emperor should observe, in his +words and acts, a reserve which would prevent all chance of creating +dissension among the federated States and in particular would secure +the avoidance of anything which might disturb Germany's relations to +foreign countries or interfere with the course of Germany's foreign +policy as carried on through the regular official channel, the Foreign +Office. The ground for this popular interpretation is a constitutional +device which to an Englishman, if it be not offensive to say so, can +only recall the well-known definition of a metaphysician as "a blind +man, in a dark room, looking for a black cat, _which is not there_." + +The device is known as the Chancellor's "responsibility," which was +regarded, and is still regarded in Germany, as at once "covering" the +Emperor and offering to his folk a safeguard against unwisdom or +caprice on his part. The nature of this responsibility which is +evidenced by the Chancellor signing the Emperor's edicts and other +official statements, is so frequently discussed by German politicians, +the position of the Chancellor--the Grand Vizier of Germany he has +been picturesquely called--is so influential, and the intercourse +between the Emperor and the Chancellor is so close, exclusive, and +confidential, that an examination of the meaning of the term +"responsibility" in this connexion is desirable. + +Whenever the Emperor does anything important or surprising, especially +in foreign policy, the first question asked by his subjects is, has he +taken the step with the knowledge, and therefore with the joint +responsibility, of the Chancellor? If the answer is in the negative, +it is the "personal regiment" again, and people are angry: if the +latter, they may disapprove of the step and grumble at it, but it is +covered by the Chancellor's signature and they can raise no +constitutional objection. Hence the demand usually made on such +occasions for an Act of Parliament once for all defining fully and +clearly the Chancellor's responsibilities. According to Prince von +Buelow, and it is doubtless the Emperor's own view, the responsibility +mentioned in the Constitution is a "moral responsibility," and only +refers to such acts and orders of the Emperor as immediately arise out +of the governing rights vested in him, not to personal expressions of +opinion, even though these may be made on formal occasions; and the +Prince goes on to say that if a Chancellor cannot prevent what he +honestly thinks would permanently and in an important respect be +injurious to the Empire, he is bound to resign. + +The Chancellor, then, takes responsibility of some kind. But +responsibility to whom? To the Emperor? To the Parliament? To the +people? The answer is, solely to the Emperor, for it is the Emperor +who appoints and dismisses him as well as every other Minister, +imperial or Prussian, and the Emperor is only responsible to his +conscience. In parliamentarily ruled countries like England Ministers +are responsible to Parliament, which expresses its disapproval by the +vote of a hostile majority, or in certain circumstances by a vote of +censure or even impeachment. In Germany, where the parliamentary +system of government does not exist, and where there is no upsetting +Ministries by a hostile majority, and no parliamentary vote of censure +or impeachment, no Minister, including the Chancellor, is responsible, +in the English sense of the word, to Parliament; accordingly, a German +Chancellor may continue in office in spite of Parliament, provided of +course the Emperor supports him. At the same time the Chancellor +to-day is to some indefinable extent responsible to Parliament, and +therefore to the people, in so far as they are represented by it, for +he must keep on tolerable terms with Parliament as well as with the +Emperor, or he will have to give up office. How he is to keep on terms +with a Parliament consisting of half a dozen powerful parties and as +many more smaller fractions and factions is probably the part of his +duties that gives him most trouble and at times, doubtless, very +disagreeably interferes with the placidity of his slumbers. + +There is no struggle for government in Germany between the Crown and +the people: Germans have no ancient Magna Charta, no Habeas Corpus, no +Declaration of Rights to look back to on the long road to liberty. In +the protracted struggle for government between the English people and +their rulers, the people's victory took the form of parliamentary +control while retaining the monarch as their highest and most honoured +representative. Socially he is their master, politically their +servant, the "first servant of the State." In Germany there has never, +save for a few months in 1848, been any struggle of a similar +political extent or kind. German monarchs including the Emperor, have +applied the expression "first servant of the State" to themselves, but +they did not apply it in the English sense. They applied it more +accurately. In Germany the State means the system, the mechanism of +government, inclusive of the monarch's office: in England the word +"State" is more nearly equivalent to the word "people." To serve the +system, the government machinery, is the first duty of the monarch, +and government is not a changing reflection of the people's will, but +a permanent apparatus for maintaining the power of the Crown, +harmonizing and reconciling the sentiments and interests of all parts +of the Empire, and for conducting foreign policy. + +It may be objected that legislation is made by the Reichstag, that the +Reichstag has the power of the purse, and that it is elected by +universal suffrage; but in Germany the Government is above and +independent of the Reichstag; legislation is not made by the Reichstag +alone, since it requires the agreement of the Federal Council and of +the Emperor, and--what is of great practical importance--Government +issues directions as to how legislation shall be carried into effect. +The law of 1872 passed against the Jesuits forbade the "activity" of +the Order, but the interpretation of the word "activity," and with it +the effects of the law, were left to the Government. + +Kings of Prussia and German Emperors have never shown much affection +for their Parliaments: Parliaments are apt to act as a check upon +monarchy, and in Prussia in particular to interfere with the carrying +out of the divinely imposed mission. This is not said sarcastically; +and the Emperor, like some of his ancestors, has more than once +expressed the same thought. Parliaments in Germany only date from +after the French Revolution. After that event there came into +existence in Germany the Frankfurt Parliament (1848), the Erfurt +Parliament (1850), and the Parliament of the German Customs Union +(1867). These, however, were not popularly elected Parliaments like +those of the present day, but gatherings of class delegates from the +various Kingdoms and States composing the Germany and Austria of the +time. Since the Middle Ages there had always been quasi-popular +assemblies in Prussia, but they too were not elected, and only +represented classes, not constituencies. The present Parliaments in +Prussia and the Empire are Constitutional Parliaments in the English +sense, elected by universal suffrage, the one indirectly, the other +directly. + +The present Prussian Diet dates from the "First Unified Diet," +summoned by Frederick William IV in 1847, which was transformed next +year under pressure of the revolutionists into a "national assembly." +This was treated a year after by General Wrangel almost exactly as +Cromwell treated the Rump. The General entered Berlin with the troops +which a few weeks before had fought against the revolutionists of the +"March days." He passed along the Linden to the royal theatre, where +the "national assembly" was in session, and was met at the door by the +leader of the citizens' guard with the proud words, "The guard is +resolved to protect the honour of the National Assembly and the +freedom of the people, and will only yield to force." + +Wrangel took out his watch--one can imagine the old silver +"turnip"--and with his thumb on the dial replied: + + "Tell your city guard that the force is here. I will be + responsible for the maintenance of order. The National + Assembly has fifteen minutes in which to leave the building + and the city guard in which to withdraw." + +In a quarter of an hour the building was empty, and next day the city +guard was dissolved. A month later the King, Frederick William IV, +granted his _octroyierte_ Constitution--that is, a concession of his +own royal personal will--which established the Diet as it is to-day. + +Emperor William I, as King of Prussia, had a good deal of trouble with +his Parliament, and in 1852 wanted to abdicate rather than rule in +obedience to a parliamentary majority--it was the "conflict time" +about funds for army reorganization. Bismarck dissuaded him from doing +so by promising to become Minister and carry on the government, if +need were, without a parliament and without a budget. He actually did +so for some years, but there was no change in the Constitution as a +result. + +Nor has there been any constitutional change in the relations of Crown +to Parliament during the present reign. As a young man, the Emperor +had of course nothing to do with Parliament, Prussian or Imperial, and +since his accession, though there is always latent antagonism and has +been even friction at times, he has, generally speaking, lived on +"correct," if not friendly terms with it. There is little, if any, of +the devoted affection one finds for the monarch in the English +Parliament. + +And not unnaturally. Early in his reign, in 1891, he made a reference +to Parliament little calculated to evoke affection. "The soldier and +the army," he said to his generals at a banquet in the palace, "not +parliamentary majorities and decisions, have welded together the +German Empire. My confidence is in the army--as my grandfather said at +Coblenz: 'These are the gentlemen on whom I can rely.'" Again, a year +or two afterwards he dissolved the Reichstag for refusing to accept a +military bill and did not conceal his anger with the recalcitrant +majority. In 1895 he telegraphed to Bismarck his indignation with the +Reichstag for refusing to vote its congratulations on the old +statesman's eightieth birthday. In 1897, speaking of the kingship "von +Gottes Gnaden" he took occasion to quote his grandfather's declaration +that "it was a kingship with onerous duties from which no man, no +Minister, no Parliament, no people" could release the Prince. In 1903 +his Chancellor, Prince Buelow, had to defend in Parliament his action +in the case of the Swinemunde despatch already mentioned. Attention +was called to the telegram in the Reichstag and the Chancellor +defended the Emperor. He denied that the telegram was an act of +State--it was a personal matter between two sovereigns, the statement +of a friend to a friend. "The idea," said the Chancellor, who +contended that the Emperor had a right to express his opinions like +any citizen, + + "that the monarch's expression of opinion is to be limited + by a stipulation that every such expression must be endorsed + with the signature of the Chancellor is wholly foreign to + the Constitution." + +Next day the Chancellor had again occasion to defend his imperial +master against a charge of being "anti-social," brought by the +Socialist von Vollmar, who coupled the charge with insinuations of +absolutism and Caesarism. Prince Buelow said: + + "Absolutism is not a German word, and is not a German + institution. It is an Asiatic plant, and one cannot talk of + absolutism in Germany so long as our circumstances develop + in an organic and legal manner, respecting the rights of the + Crown, which are just as sacred as the rights of the + burgher; respecting also law and order, which are not + disregarded 'from above,' and will not be disregarded. If + ever our circumstances take on an absolute, a Caesarian, + form, it will be as the consequence of revolution, of + convulsion. For on revolution follows Caesarism as W follows + U--that is the rule in the A B C of the world's history." + +There is no harm in reminding Prince Buelow that the letter V--which +may be a very important link in the chain of events--comes between U +and W. It is clear also that the Chancellor must have forgotten his +English history for the moment, for though Cromwell's rule may be +called Caesarism of a kind, the reign of William III, of "glorious, +pious, and immortal memory," which followed the revolution of 1688, +could not fairly be so named. + +Three years later, in 1906, Prince Buelow found it necessary to defend +the Emperor on the score of the "personal regiment." "The view," +Prince Buelow said, + + "that the monarch should have no individual thoughts of his own + about State and government, but should only think with the heads + of his Ministers and only say what they tell him to say, is + fundamentally wrong--is inconsistent with State rights and with + the wish of the German people"; + +and he concluded by challenging the House to mention a single case in +which the Emperor had acted unconstitutionally. None of these +bickerings between Crown and Parliament went to the root of the +constitutional relations between them, but they betrayed the existence +of popular dissatisfaction with the Emperor, which in a couple of +years was to culminate in an outbreak of national anger. + +An occurrence calls for mention here, not only as a kind of harbinger +of the "storm," but as one of the chief incidents which in the course +of recent years have troubled Anglo-German relations. The incident +referred to is that of the so-called "Tweedmouth Letter," which was an +autograph letter from the Emperor to Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of +the British Admiralty at the time, dated February 17, 1908, and +containing among other matters a lengthy disquisition on naval +construction, with reference to the excited state of feeling in +England caused by Germany's warship-building policy. The letter has +never been published, but it is supposed to have been prompted by a +statement made publicly by Lord Esher, Warden of Windsor Castle, in +the London _Observer_, to the effect that nothing would more please +the German Emperor than the retirement of Sir John Fisher, the +originator of the Dreadnought policy, who was at the time First Lord +of the Admiralty; and to have contained the remark that "Lord Esher +had better attend to the drains at Windsor and leave alone matters +which he did not understand." The Emperor was apparently unaware that +Lord Esher was one of the foremost military authorities in England. + +The sending of the letter became known through the appearance of a +communication in the London _Times_ of March 6th, with the caption +"Under which King?"--an allusion to Shakespeare's "Under which king, +Bezonian, speak or die"--and signed "Your Military Correspondent." The +writer announced that it had come to his knowledge that the German +Emperor had recently addressed a letter to Lord Tweedmouth on the +subject of British and German naval policy, and that it was supposed +that the letter amounted to an attempt to influence, in German +interests, the Minister's responsibility for the British Naval +Estimates. The correspondent concluded by demanding that the letter +should be laid before Parliament without delay. The _Times_, in a +leading article, prognosticated the "painful surprise and just +indignation" which must be felt by the people of Great Britain on +learning of such "secret appeals to the head of a department on which +the nation's safety depends," and argued that there could be no +question of privacy in a matter of the kind. The article concluded +with the assertion that the letter was obviously an attempt to "make +it more easy for German preparations to overtake our own." The +incident was immediately discussed in all countries, publicly and +privately. + +Everywhere opinion was divided as to the defensibility of the +Emperor's action; in France the division was reported by the _Times_ +correspondent to be "bewildering." All the evidence available to prove +the Emperor's impulsiveness was recalled--the Kruger telegram, the +telegram to Count Goluchowski, the Austrian Minister of Foreign +Affairs, after the Morocco Conference, characterizing him as a +"brilliant second (to Germany) in the bout at Algeciras," the +premature telegram conferring the Order of Merit on General Stoessel +after the fall of Port Arthur, and other evidence, relevant and +irrelevant. Reuter's agent in Berlin telegraphed on official authority +that the Emperor "had written as a naval expert." + +On the whole, continental opinion may be said to have leaned in favour +of the Emperor. Mr. Asquith, the English Prime Minister, at once made +the statement that the letter was a "purely private communication, +couched in an entirely friendly spirit," that it had not been laid +before the Cabinet, and that the latter had come to a decision about +the Estimates before the letter arrived. + +All eyes and ears were now turned to Lord Tweedmouth, and on March +10th he briefly referred to the matter in the House of Lords. He +received the letter, he said, in the ordinary postal way; it was "very +friendly in tone and quite informal"; he showed it to Sir Edward Grey, +who agreed with him that it should be treated as a private letter, not +as an official one; and he replied to it on February 20th, "also in an +informal and friendly manner." A discussion, in which Lord Lansdowne +and Lord Rosebery took part, followed, the former--to give the tone, +not the words of his speech--handing in a verdict of "Not guilty, but +don't do it again," against the Emperor, and laying down the principle +that "such a communication as that in question must not be allowed to +create a diplomatic situation different from that which has been +established through official channels and documents"; and Lord +Rosebery, while he recognized the importance of the incident, seeking +to minimize its effects by an attitude of banter. The treatment of the +incident by the House of Commons as a whole gave considerable +satisfaction in Germany, where all efforts were directed to showing +malevolent hostility to Germany on the part of the _Times_. + +Prince von Buelow dealt with the letter in a speech on the second +reading of the Budget on March 24, 1908. After referring to the Union +Internationale Interparlementaire, which was to meet in a few months +in Berlin, and to the "very unsatisfactory situation in Morocco," he +said:-- + + "From various remarks which have been dropped in the course + of the debate I gather that this honourable House desires me + to make a statement as to the letter which his Majesty the + Kaiser last month wrote to Lord Tweedmouth. On grounds of + discretion, to the observance of which both the sender and + receiver of a private letter are equally entitled, I am not + in a position to lay the text of the letter before you, and + I add that I regret exceedingly that I cannot do so. The + letter could be signed by any one of us, by any sincere + friend of good relations between Germany and England (hear, + hear). The letter, gentlemen, was in form and substance a + private one, and at the same time its contents were of a + political nature. The one fact does not exclude the other; + and the letter of a sovereign, an imperial letter, does not, + from the fact that it deals with political questions, become + an act of State ('Very true,' on the Right). + + "This is not--and deputy Count Kanitz yesterday gave + appropriate instances in support--the first political letter + a sovereign has written, and our Kaiser is not the first + sovereign who has addressed to foreign statesmen letters of + a political character which are not subject to control. The + matter here concerns a right of action which all sovereigns + claim and which, in the case of our Kaiser also, no one has + a right to limit. How his Majesty proposes to make use of + this right we can confidently leave to the imperial sense of + duty. It is a gross, in no way justifiable + misrepresentation, to assert that his Majesty's letter to + Lord Tweedmouth amounts to an attempt to influence the + Minister responsible for the naval budget in the interests + of Germany, or that it denotes a secret interference in the + internal affairs of the British Empire. Our Kaiser is the + last person to believe that the patriotism of an English + Minister would suffer him to accept advice from a foreign + country as to the drawing up of the English naval budget + ('Quite right,' hear, hear). What is true of English + statesmen is true also of the leading statesmen of every + country which lays claim to respect for its independence + ('Very true'). In questions of defence of one's own country + every people rejects foreign interference and is guided only + by considerations bearing on its own security and its own + needs ('Quite right'). Of this right to self-judgment and + self-defence Germany also makes use when she builds a fleet + to secure the necessary protection for her coasts and her + commerce ('Bravo!'). This defensive, this purely defensive + character of our naval programme cannot, in view of the + incessant attempts to attribute to us aggressive views with + regard to England, be too often or too sharply brought + forward ('Bravo!'). We desire to live in peace and quietness + with England, and therefore it is embittering to find a + portion of the English Press ever speaking of the 'German + danger,' although the English fleet is many times stronger + than our own, although other lands have stronger fleets than + us and are working no less zealously at their development. + Nevertheless it is Germany, ever Germany, and only Germany, + against which public opinion on the other side of the + Channel is excited by an utterly valueless polemic ('Quite + right'). + + "It would be, gentlemen," + +the Chancellor continued, + + "in the interests of appeasement between both countries, it + would be in the interest of the general peace of the world, + that this polemic should cease. As little as we challenge + England's right to set up the naval standard her responsible + statesmen consider necessary for the maintenance of British + power in the world without our seeing therein a threat + against ourselves, so little can she take it ill of us if we + do not wish our naval construction to be wrongly represented + as a challenge against England (hear, hear, on the Right and + Left). Gentlemen, these are the thoughts, as I judge from + your assent, which we all entertain, which find expression + in the statements of all speakers, and which are in harmony + with all our views. Accept my additional statement that in + the letter of his Majesty to Lord Tweedmouth one gentleman, + one seaman, talks frankly to another, that our Kaiser highly + appreciates the honour of being an admiral of the British + navy, and that he is a great admirer of the political + education of the British people and of their fleet, and you + will have a just view of the tendency, tone, and contents of + the imperial letter to Lord Tweedmouth. His Majesty + consequently finds himself in this letter not only in full + agreement with the Chancellor--I may mention this specially + for the benefit of Herr Bebel--but, as I am convinced, in + agreement with the entire nation. It would be deeply + regrettable if the honourable opinions by which our Kaiser + was moved in writing this letter should be misconstrued in + England. With satisfaction I note that the attempts at such + misconstruction have been almost unanimously rejected in + England ('Bravo!' on the Right and Left). Above all, + gentlemen, I believe that the admirable way in which the + English Parliament has exemplarily treated the question will + have the best effect in preventing a disturbance of the + friendly relations between Germany and England and in + removing all hostile intention from the discussions over the + matter (agreement, Right and Left). + + "Gentlemen, one more observation of a general nature. + Deputies von Hertling and Bassermann have recommended us, in + view of the suspicions spread about us abroad, a calm and + watchful attitude of reserve, and for the treatment of the + country's foreign affairs consistency, union, and firmness. + I believe that the foreign policy we must follow cannot be + characterized better or more rightly (applause)." + +A German saying has it that one is wiser coming from, than going to, +the Rathaus, the place of counsel. It is easy to see now that it would +have been better had the Emperor not written the letter, better had +the _Times_ not brought it to public notice, better, also, had the +Emperor or Lord Tweedmouth or Sir Edward Grey--for one of them must +have spoken of it to a third person--not let its existence become +known to anyone save themselves, at least not until the international +situation which prompted it had ceased. As regards the Emperor in +particular, judgment must be based on the answer to the question, Was +the letter a private letter or a public document? The _Times_ regarded +it as the latter, and many politicians took that view, but probably +nine people out of ten now regard it as the former. For such, the +reflection that it was part of a private correspondence between two +friendly statesmen, both well known to be sincere in their views that +a country's navy--that all military preparations--are based on motives +of national defence, not of high-handed aggression, must absolve the +Emperor from any suspicion of political immorality. It was unfortunate +that the letter was written, unfortunate that it was made known +publicly, but, as it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, the +episode may profit monarchs as well as meaner folk as an object lesson +in the advantages of discretion. + +Discussion of the Tweedmouth letter had hardly ceased when the whole +question of the "personal regiment" was again, and as it now, five +years after, appears, finally thrashed out between the Emperor and his +folk. Before, however, considering the _Daily Telegraph_ interview and +the Emperor's part in it, something should be said as to the state of +international ill-feeling which caused him to sanction its +publication. + +The ill-feeling was no sudden wave of hostility or pique, but a +sentiment which had for years existed in the minds of both nations--a +sentiment of mutual suspicion. The Englishman thought Germany was +prepared to dispute with him the maritime supremacy of Great Britain, +the German that England intended to attack Germany before Germany +could carry her great design into execution. The proximate cause of +the irritation--for it has not yet got beyond that--was the decision, +as announced in her Navy Law of 1898, to build a fleet of battleships +which Germany, but especially the Emperor, considered necessary to +complete the defences, and appropriate for affirming the dignity, of +the Empire. + +This was the _origo_, but not the _fons_. The source was the Boer War +and the Kruger telegram, though the philosophic historian might with +some reason refer it in a large measure also to the surprise and +uneasiness with which the leading colonial and commercial, as well as +maritime, nation of the world saw the material progress, the waxing +military power, and the longing for expansion of the not yet +forty-year-old German Empire. Forty years ago the word "Germany" had +no territorial, but only a descriptive and poetical, significance; +certainly it had no political significance; for the North German +Union, out of which the modern German Empire grew, meant for +Englishmen, and indeed for politicians everywhere, only Prussia. +Prussia was less liked by the world then than she is now, when she is +not liked too well; and accordingly there was already in existence the +disposition in England to criticize sharply the conduct of Prussia and +to apply the same criticism to the Empire Prussia founded. In this +condition of international feeling England's long quarrel with the +Transvaal Republic came nearer to the breaking-point; at the same time +there was an idea prevalent in England that Germany was coquetting +with the Boers--if not looking to a seizure of Transvaal territory, at +least hoping for Boer favour and Boer commercial privileges. The +Jameson Raid was made and failed; the Emperor and his advisers sent +the fateful telegram to President Kruger; and the peace of the world +has been in jeopardy ever since! + +The "storm" arose from the publication, in the London _Daily +Telegraph_ of October 28, 1908, of an interview coming, as the editor +said in introducing it, "from a source of such unimpeachable authority +that we can without hesitation commend the obvious message which it +conveys to the attention of the public." As to the origin and +composition of the interview a good deal of mystery still exists. All +that has become known is that some one, whose identity has hitherto +successfully been concealed, with the object of demonstrating the +sentiments of warm friendship with which the Emperor regarded England, +put together, in England or in Germany, a number of statements made by +the Emperor and sanctioned by him for publication. Whether the Emperor +read the interview previous to publication or not, no official +statement has been made; it is, however, quite certain that he did. At +all events it was sent, or sent back, to England and published in due +course. The immediate effect was a hubbub of discussion, accompanied +with general astonishment in England, a storm of popular resentment +and humiliation in Germany, and voluminous comment in other countries, +some of it favourable, some of it unfavourable, to the Emperor. + +The text of the interview in the _Daily Telegraph_ was introduced, as +mentioned, with the words:-- + + We have received the following communication from a source + of such unimpeachable authority that we can without + hesitation commend the obvious message which it conveys to + the attention of the public. + +And continued as follows:-- + + Discretion is the first and last quality requisite in a + diplomatist, and should still be observed by those who, like + myself, have long passed from public into private life. Yet + moments sometimes occur in the history of nations when a + calculated indiscretion proves of the highest public + service, and it is for that reason that I have decided to + make known the substance of a lengthy conversation which it + was my recent privilege to have with his Majesty the German + Emperor. I do so in the hope that it may help to remove that + obstinate misconception of the character of the Kaiser's + feelings towards England which, I fear, is deeply rooted in + the ordinary Englishman's breast. It is the Emperor's + sincere wish that it should be eradicated. He has given + repeated proofs of his desire by word and deed. But, to + speak frankly, his patience is sorely tried now that he + finds himself so continually misrepresented, and has so + often experienced the mortification of finding that any + momentary improvement of relations is followed by renewed + out-bursts of prejudice, and a prompt return to the old + attitude of suspicion. + +As I have said, his Majesty honoured me with a long conversation, and +spoke with impulsive and unusual frankness. "You English," he said, + + "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you + that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite + unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have + done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my + speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace, and + that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the best of + terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? + Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My + actions ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to + them but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is + a personal insult which I feel and resent. To be for ever + misjudged, to have my repeated offers of friendship weighed + and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, taxes my + patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a + friend of England, and your Press--or, at least, a + considerable section of it--bids the people of England + refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates that the other + holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its + will?" + +"I repeat," continued his Majesty, + + "that I am the friend of England, but you make things + difficult for me. My task is not of the easiest. The + prevailing sentiment among large sections _of_ the middle + and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to + England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my + own land, but it is a minority of the best elements, just as + it is in England with respect to Germany. That is another + reason why I resent your refusal to accept my pledged word + that I am the friend of England. I strive without ceasing to + improve relations, and you retort that I am your arch-enemy. + You make it very hard for me. Why is it?" + +Thereupon I ventured to remind his Majesty that not England alone, but +the whole of Europe had viewed with disapproval the recent action of +Germany in allowing the German Consul to return from Tangier to Fez, +and in anticipating the joint action of France and Spain by suggesting +to the Powers that the time had come for Europe to recognize Muley +Hand as the new Sultan of Morocco. + +His Majesty made a gesture of impatience. "Yes," he said, + + "that is an excellent example of the way in which German + action is misrepresented. First, then, as regards the + journey of Dr. Vassel. The German Government, in sending Dr. + Vassel back to his post at Fez, was only guided by the wish + that he should look after the private interests of German + subjects in that city, who cried for help and protection + after the long absence of a Consular representative. And why + not send him? Are those who charge Germany with having + stolen a march on the other Powers aware that the French + Consular representative had already been in Fez for several + months when Dr. Vassel set out? Then, as to the recognition + of Muley I Hand. The Press of Europe has complained with + much acerbity that Germany ought not to have suggested his + recognition until he had notified to Europe his full + acceptance of the Act of Algeciras, as being binding upon + him as Sultan of Morocco and successor of his brother. My + answer is that Muley Hafid notified the Powers to that + effect weeks ago, before the decisive battle was fought. He + sent, as far back as the middle of last July, an identical + communication to the Governments of Germany, France, and + Great Britain, containing an explicit acknowledgment that he + was prepared to recognize all the obligations towards Europe + which were incurred by Abdul Aziz during his Sultanate. The + German Government interpreted that communication as a final + and authoritative expression of Muley Hand's intentions, and + therefore they considered that there was no reason to wait + until he had sent a second communication, before recognizing + him as the _de facto_ Sultan of Morocco, who had succeeded + to his brother's throne by right of victory in the field." + +I suggested to his Majesty that an important and influential section +of the German Press had placed a very different interpretation upon +the action of the German Government, and, in fact, had given it their +effusive approbation precisely because they saw in it a strong act +instead of mere words, and a decisive indication that Germany was once +more about to intervene in the shaping of events in Morocco. "There +are mischief-makers," replied the Emperor, + + "in both countries. I will not attempt to weigh their + relative capacity for misrepresentation. But the facts are + as I have stated. There has been nothing in Germany's recent + action with regard to Morocco which runs contrary to the + explicit declaration of my love of peace which I made both + at Guildhall and in my latest speech at Strassburg." + +His Majesty then reverted to the subject uppermost in his mind--his +proved friendship for England. "I have referred," he said, + + "to the speeches in which I have done all that a sovereign + can to proclaim my goodwill. But, as actions speak louder + than words, let me also refer to my acts. It is commonly + believed in England that throughout the South African War + Germany was hostile to her. German opinion undoubtedly was + hostile--bitterly hostile. The Press was hostile; private + opinion was hostile. But what of official Germany? Let my + critics ask themselves what brought _to_ a sudden stop, and, + indeed, to absolute collapse, the European tour of the Boer + delegates who were striving to obtain European intervention? + They were feted in Holland; France gave them a rapturous + welcome. They wished to come to Berlin, where the German + people would have crowned them with flowers. But when they + asked me to receive them--I refused. The agitation + immediately died away, and the delegation returned + empty-handed. Was that, I ask, the action of a secret enemy? + + "Again, when the struggle was at its height, the German + Government was invited by the Governments of France and + Russia to join with them in calling upon England to put an + end to the war. The moment had come, they said, not only to + save the Boer Republics, but also to humiliate England to + the dust. What was my reply? I said that so far from Germany + joining in any concerted European action to put pressure + upon England and bring about her downfall, Germany would + always keep aloof from politics that could bring her into + complications with a Sea Power like England. Posterity will + one day read the exact terms of the telegram--now in the + archives of Windsor Castle--in which I informed the + Sovereign of England of the answer I had returned to the + Powers which then sought to compass her fall. Englishmen who + now insult me by doubting my word should know what were my + actions in the hour of their adversity. + + "Nor was that all. Just at the time of your Black Week, in + the December of 1899, when disasters followed one another in + rapid succession, I received a letter from Queen Victoria, + my revered grandmother, written in sorrow and affliction, + and bearing manifest traces of the anxieties which were + preying upon her mind and health. I at once returned a + sympathetic reply. Nay, I did more. I bade one of my + officers procure for me as exact an account as he could + obtain of the number of combatants in South Africa on both + sides, and of the actual position of the opposing forces. + With the figures before me, I worked out what I considered + to be the best plan of campaign under the circumstances, and + submitted it to my General Staff for their criticism. Then I + dispatched it to England, and that document, likewise, is + among the State papers at Windsor Castle, awaiting the + serenely impartial verdict of history. And, as a matter of + curious coincidence, let me add that the plan which I + formulated ran very much on the same lines as that which was + actually adopted by Lord Roberts, and carried by him into + successful operation. Was that, I repeat, the act of one who + wished England ill? Let Englishmen be just and say! + + "But, you will say, what of the German navy? Surely that is + a menace to England! Against whom but England are my + squadrons being prepared? If England is not in the minds of + those Germans who are bent on creating a powerful fleet, why + is Germany asked to consent to such new and heavy burdens of + taxation? My answer is clear. Germany is a young and growing + Empire. She has a world-wide commerce, which is rapidly + expanding, and to which the legitimate ambition of patriotic + Germans refuses to assign any bounds. Germany must have a + powerful fleet to protect that commerce, and her manifold + interests in even the most distant seas. She expects those + interests to go on growing, and she must be able to champion + them manfully in any quarter of the globe. Germany looks + ahead. Her horizons stretch far away. She must be prepared + for any eventualities in the Far East. Who can foresee what + may take place in the Pacific in the days to come--days not + so distant as some believe, but days, at any rate, for which + all European Powers with Far Eastern interests ought + steadily to prepare? Look at the accomplished rise of Japan; + think of the possible national awakening of China; and then + judge of the vast problems of the Pacific. Only those Powers + which have great navies will be listened to with respect + when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if + for that reason only Germany must have a powerful fleet. It + may even be that England herself will be glad that Germany + has a fleet when they speak together on the same side in the + great debates of the future." + +Such was the purport of the Emperor's conversation. He spoke with all +that earnestness which marks his manner when speaking on deeply +pondered subjects. I would ask my fellow-countrymen who value the +cause of peace to weigh what I have written, and to revise, if +necessary, their estimate of the Kaiser and his friendship for England +by his Majesty's own words. If they had enjoyed the privilege, which +was mine, of hearing them spoken, they would doubt no longer either +his Majesty's firm desire to live on the best of terms with England or +his growing impatience at the persistent mistrust with which his offer +of friendship is too often received. + +There are more indiscretions than one in the interview, but the most +important and most dangerous was the Emperor's statement that at the +time of the Boer War the Governments of France and Russia invited the +German Government to join with them "not only to save the Boer +Republics, but also to humiliate England to the dust." Such a +revelation coming from the Emperor ought, one would suppose, to have +caused serious trouble between Great Britain and her Entente friends. +That it did not is at once testimony to the cynicism of Governments +and the reality and strength of the Entente engagement. In private +life, if a fourth person confidentially told one of the three partners +in a firm that the other two partners had invited him to join them in +humiliating him to the dust, there would have been a pretty brisk, not +to say acrimonious correspondence between the proposed victim and his +partners. Governments, it appears, look on things differently, and so +far as the public knows, England simply took no notice of the +Emperor's communication. Possibly, however, the Emperor had put the +matter too strongly and an explanation of some kind was forthcoming. +If so, it must be looked for among the secret archives of the Foreign +Office. It was at once suggested that the Emperor made the revelation +expressly to weaken, if not destroy, the Entente. One can conceive +Bismarck doing such a thing; but it is more in keeping with the +Emperor's character, and with the indiscreet character of the entire +interview, to suppose it to be a proof of deplorable candour and +sincerity. + +The excitement in Germany caused by the publication of the interview +soon took the shape of a determination on the part of the Chancellor +and the Federal Council, for once fully identifying themselves with +the feelings of Parliament, Press, and people, that "something must be +done," and it was decided that the Chancellor should go to Potsdam, +see the Emperor, and try to obtain from him a promise to be more +cautious in his utterances on political topics for the future. The +Chancellor went accordingly, being seen off from the railway terminus +in Berlin by a large crowd of people, among whom were many +journalists. To Dr. Paul Goldmann, who wished him God-speed, he could +only reply that he hoped all would be for the best. He looked pale and +grave, as well he might, since he was about to stake his own position +as well as convey a mandate of national reproach. + +What passed at Potsdam between the Emperor and his Chancellor has not +transpired. Naturally there are various accounts of it, one of them +representing the Emperor as flying into a passion and for long +refusing to give the required guarantees; but as yet none of them has +been authenticated. It should not be difficult to imagine the mental +attitudes of the two men on the occasion, and especially not difficult +to imagine the sensations of the Emperor, a Prussian King, on being +impeached by a people--his people--for whom, his feeling would be, he +had done so much, and in whose best interests he felt convinced he had +acted; but whatever occurred, it ended in the Emperor bowing before +the storm and giving the assurances required. + +The Chancellor's countenance and expressions on his return to Berlin +showed that his mission had been successful, and there was great +satisfaction in the capital and country. The text of these assurances, +which was published in the _Official Gazette_ the same evening, was as +follows: + + "His Majesty, while unaffected by public criticism which he + regards as exaggerated, considers his most honourable + imperial task to consist in securing the stability of the + policy of the Empire while adhering to the principle of + constitutional responsibility. The Kaiser accordingly + endorses the statements of the Imperial Chancellor in + Parliament, and assures Prince von Buelow of his continued + confidence." + +After returning to Berlin, Prince Buelow gave in the Reichstag his +impatiently awaited account of the result of his mission, and made +what defence he could of his imperial master's action in allowing the +famous interview to be published. Before giving the speech, which was +delivered on November 10, 1908, it will be as well to quote the five +interpellations introduced in Parliament on the subject, as showing +the unanimity of feeling that existed in all parts of the House:-- + +1. By Deputy Bassermann (leader of the National Liberals): + + "Is the Chancellor prepared to take constitutional + responsibility for the publication of a series of utterances + of his Majesty the Kaiser in the _Daily Telegraph_ and the + facts communicated therein?" + +2. By Deputy Dr. Ablass (Progressive Party): + + "Through the publication of utterances of the German Kaiser + in the _Daily Telegraph_, and through the communication of + the real facts in the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ + caused by the Chancellor, matters have become known which + demonstrate serious short-comings in the treatment of + foreign affairs, and are calculated to influence + unfavourably the relations of the German Empire to other + Powers. What does the Chancellor propose to do to devise a + remedy and to give full effect to the responsibility + attributed to him by the Constitution of the German Empire?" + +3. By Deputy Albrecht (Socialist): + + "What is the Chancellor prepared to do to prevent such + occurrences as have become known through the _Daily + Telegraph's_ communications regarding acts and utterances of + the German Kaiser?" + +4. By Deputy von Norman (Conservative Party): + + "Is the Chancellor prepared to submit further information + regarding the circumstances which led to the publication of + utterances of his Majesty the Kaiser in the English Press?" + +5. By Prince von Hatzfeldt and Freiherr von Gamp (Imperial +Party--Conservative): + + "Is the Chancellor willing to take precautions that such + occurrences as that brought to light by the publication in + the _Daily Telegraph_ shall not recur?" + +In reply to the interpellations Prince von Buelow said:-- + + "Gentlemen, I shall not apply myself to every point which + has just been raised by previous speakers. I have to + consider the effect of my words abroad, and will not add to + the great harm already caused by the publication in the + _Daily Telegraph_ (hear, hear, on the Left and Socialists). + + "In reply to the interpellations submitted, I have to + declare as follows:-- + + "His Majesty the Kaiser has at different times, and to + different private English personalities, made private + utterances which, linked together, have been published in + the _Daily Telegraph_. I must suppose that not all details + of the utterances have been correctly reproduced (hear, + hear, on the Right). One I know is not correct: that is the + story about the plan of campaign (hear, hear, on the right). + The plan in question was not a field campaign worked out in + detail, but a purely academic (laughter among the + Socialists)--Gentlemen, we are engaged in a serious + discussion. The matters on which I speak are of an earnest + kind and of great political importance--be good enough to + listen to me quietly: I will be as brief as possible. I + repeat therefore: the matter is not concerned with a field + campaign worked out in detail, but with certain purely + academic thoughts--I believe they were expressly described + as 'aphorisms'--about the conduct of war in general, which + the Kaiser communicated in his interchange of correspondence + with the late Queen Victoria. They are theoretical + observations of no practical moment for the course of + operations and the issue of the war. The chief of the + General Staff, General von Moltke, and his predecessor, + General Count Schlieffen, have declared that the General + Staff reported to the Kaiser on the Boer War as on every + war, great or small, which has occurred on the earth during + the last ten years. Both, however, have given assurances + that our General Staff never examined a field plan of + campaign, or anything similar, prepared by the Kaiser in + view of the Boer War, or forwarded such to England (hear, + hear, on the Right and Centre). But I must also defend our + policy against the reproach of being ambiguous _vis-a-vis_ + the Boers. We had--the documents show it--given timely + warning to the Transvaal Government. We called its attention + to the fact that in case of a war with England it would + stand alone. We put it to her directly, and through the + friendly Dutch Government in May, 1899, peacefully to come + to an understanding with England, since there could be no + doubt as to the result of a war. + + "In the question of intervention the colours in the article + of the _Daily Telegraph_ are too thickly laid on. The thing + itself had long been known (hear, hear). It was some time + previously the subject of controversy between the _National + Review_ and the _Deutsche Revue_. There can be no talk of a + 'revelation.' It was said that the imperial communication to + the Queen of England, that Germany had not paid any + attention to a suggestion for mediation or intervention, is + a breach of the rules of diplomatic intercourse. Gentlemen, + I will not recall indiscretions to memory, for they are + frequent in the diplomatic history of all nations and at all + times ('Quite right,' on the Right). The safest policy is + perhaps that which need fear no indiscretion ('Quite right,' + on the Left). To pass judgment in particular cases as to + whether or not a breach of confidence has occurred, one must + know more of the closely connected circumstances than + appears in the article of the _Daily Telegraph_. The + communication might be justified if it were attempted in one + quarter or another to misrepresent our refusal or to throw + suspicion on our attitude; circumstances may have previously + happened which make allusion to the subject in a + confidential correspondence at least intelligible. + Gentlemen, I said before that many of the expressions used + in the _Daily Telegraph_ article are too strong. That is + true, in the first place, of the passage where the Kaiser is + represented as having said that the majority of the German + people are inimically disposed towards England. Between + Germany and England misunderstandings have occurred, + serious, regrettable misunderstandings. But I am conscious + of being at one with this entire honourable House in the + view that the German people desire peaceful and friendly + relations with England on the basis of mutual esteem (loud + and general applause)--and I take note that the speakers of + all parties have spoken to-day in the same sense ('Quite + right'). The colours are also too thickly laid on in the + place where reference is made to our interests in the + Pacific Ocean. It has been construed in a sense hostile to + Japan. Wrongly: we have never in the Far East thought of + anything but this--to acquire and maintain for Germany a + share of the commerce of Eastern Asia in view of the great + economic future of this region. We are not thinking of + maritime adventure there: aggressive tendencies have as + little to say to our naval construction in the Pacific as in + Europe. Moreover, his Majesty the Kaiser entirely agrees + with the responsible director of foreign policy in the + complete recognition of the high political importance which + the Japanese people have achieved by their political + strength and military ability. German policy does not regard + it as its task to detract from the enjoyment and development + of what Japan has acquired. + + "Gentlemen, I am, generally speaking, under the impression + that if the material facts--completely, in their proper + shape--were individually known, the sensation would be no + great one; in this instance, too, the whole is more than all + the parts taken together. But above all, gentlemen, one must + not, while considering the material things, quite forget the + psychology, the tendency. For two decades our Kaiser has + striven, often under very difficult circumstances, to bring + about friendly relations between Germany and England. This + honest endeavour has had to contend with obstacles which + would have discouraged many. The passionate partisanship of + our people for the Boers was humanly intelligible; feeling + for the weaker certainly appeals to the sympathy. But this + partisanship has led to unjustified, and often unmeasured, + attacks on England, and similarly unjust and hateful attacks + have been made against Germany from the side of the English. + Our aims were misconstrued, and hostile plans against + England were foisted on us which we had never thought of. + The Kaiser, rightly convinced that this state of things was + a calamity for both countries and a danger for the civilized + world, kept undeviatingly on the course he had adopted. The + Kaiser is particularly wronged by any doubt as to the purity + of his intentions, his ideal way of thinking, and his deep + love of country. + + "Gentlemen, let us avoid anything that looks like + exaggerated seeking for foreign favour, anything that looks + like uncertainty or obsequiousness. But I understand that + the Kaiser, precisely because he was anxious to work + zealously and honestly for good relationship with England, + felt embittered at being ever the object of attacks casting + suspicion on his best motives. Has one not gone so far as to + attribute to his interest in the German fleet secret views + against vital English interests--views which are far from + him. And so in private conversation with English friends he + sought to bring the proof, by pointing to his conduct, that + in England he was misunderstood and wrongly judged. + + "Gentlemen, the perception that the publication of these + conversations in England has not had the effect the Kaiser + wished, and in our own country has caused profound agitation + and painful regret, will--this firm conviction I have + acquired during these anxious days--lead the Kaiser for the + future, in private conversation also, to maintain the + reserve that is equally indispensable in the interest of a + uniform policy and for the authority of the Crown ('Bravo!' + on the Right). + + "If it were not so, I could not, nor could my successor, + bear the responsibility ('Bravo!' on the Right and National + Liberals). + + "For the fault which occurred in dealing with the manuscript + I accept, as I have caused to be said in the _Norddeutsche + Allgemeine Zeitung_, entire responsibility. It also goes + against my personal feelings that officials who have done + their duty all their lives should be stamped as + transgressors because, in a single case, they relied too + much on the fact that I usually read and finally decide + everything myself. + + "With Herr von Heydebrand I regret that in the mechanism of + the Foreign Office, which for eleven years has worked + smoothly under me, a defect should on one occasion occur. I + will answer for it that such a thing does not happen again, + and that with this object, without respect to persons, + though also without injustice, what is needful will be done + ('Bravo!'). + + "When the article in the _Daily Telegraph_ appeared, its + fateful effect could not for a moment be doubtful to me, and + I handed in my resignation. This decision was unavoidable, + and was not difficult to come to. The most serious and most + difficult decision which I ever took in my political life + was, in obedience to the Kaiser's wish, to remain in office. + I brought myself to this decision only because I saw in it a + command of my political duty, precisely in the time of + trouble, to continue to serve his Majesty the Kaiser and the + country (repeated 'Bravo!'). How long that will be possible + for me, I cannot say. + + "Let me say one thing more: at a moment when the fact that + in the world much is once again changing requires serious + attention to be given to the entire situation, wherever it + is matter of concern to maintain our position abroad, and + without pushing ourselves forward with quiet constancy to + make good our interests--at such a moment we ought not to + show ourselves small-spirited in foreign eyes, nor make out + of a misfortune a catastrophe. I will refrain from all + criticism of the exaggerations we have lived through during + these last days. The harm is--as calm reflection will + show--not so great that it cannot with circumspection be + made good. Certainly no one should forget the warning which + the events of these days has given us ('Bravo!')--but there + is no reason to lose our heads and awake in our opponents + the hope that the Empire, inwardly or outwardly, is maimed. + + "It is for the chosen representatives of the nation to + exhibit the prudence which the time demands. I do not say it + for myself, I say it for the country: the support required + for this is no favour, it is a duty which this honourable + House will not evade (loud applause on the Right, hisses + from the Socialists)." + +Prince Buelow's speech requires but little comment--its importance for +Germany is the fact that it brought to a head the country's feeling, +that if the Emperor's unlimited and unrestrained idea of his +heaven-sent mission as sole arbiter of the nation's destinies was not +checked, disaster must ensue. The speech itself is rather an apology +and an explanation than a defence, and in this spirit it was accepted +in Germany. It is fair to say that the Emperor has faithfully kept the +engagement made through Prince Buelow with his people so far, and +unless human nature is incurable there seems no reason why he should +not keep it to the end of the reign. More than four years have passed +since the incidents narrated occurred. The storm has blown over, the +sea of popular indignation has gone down, and at present no cloud is +visible on the horizon. + +Besides the Tweedmouth Letter and the "November Storm" there were one +or two other notable events in the parliamentary proceedings of the +year. The Reichstag dealt with Prussian electoral reform and the +attitude of Germany towards the question of disarmament. As to the +first, the Government refused to regard it as an imperial concern, +though the popular claim was and is that the suffrage should be the +same in Prussia as in the Empire, viz., universal, direct, and secret. +This claim the Emperor will not listen to, on the ground that it would +injure the influence of the middle classes by the admission of +undesirable elements (meaning the Socialists); that the electoral +system for the Empire, with the latter's national tasks, should be on +a broader basis than in the case of the individual States, where the +electors are chiefly concerned with administration, the school, and +the Church; and that it would bring the Imperial and Prussian +Parliaments into conflict to the injury of German unity. The Emperor +has made only one reference to electoral reform in Prussia, a promise, +namely, he gave the Diet in October of this year, that the regulations +concerning the voting should experience + + "an organic further development, which should correspond to + the economic progress, the spread of education and political + understanding, and the strengthening of the feeling of State + responsibility." + +No reform, however, has yet been effected by legislation. + +As to disarmament, Germany's position is simply negative, though it +may be noticed by anticipation that she has recently (1913) expressed +her disposition to accept the proportion of ten German to sixteen +English first-class battleships suggested by Sir Edward Grey in 1912 +as offering the basis of a possibly permanent arrangement. At the time +now dealt with, however, Chancellor von Buelow asserted that no +proposal that could serve as a basis had ever been submitted to his +Government, and added that even if such a proposal were made it was +doubtful if it could be accepted. It was not merely the number of +ships, he said, that was involved; there were a host of technical +questions--standards, criteria of all sorts, which could not be +expressed in figures, economic progress abroad and the possible effect +of new scientific inventions--to be considered. Lastly there were the +navy laws, which the Government was pledged to carry out. As for +military disarmament, the Emperor and his advisers regard it as +impossible, considering the unfavourable strategic situation of +Germany in the midst of Europe, with exposed frontiers on every side. + +This year the Emperor and his family took up their quarters for the +first time in their new Corfu spring residence "Achilleion." They were +met by the Royal Family of Greece, who showed them over the Castle, +and in the evening were welcomed by the mayor of Corfu, who, in a +flight of metaphor, said his people desired to wreathe the Emperor's +"Olympic brow" with a crown of olive. That the Emperor did not pass +his days wholly in admiring the beauty of the scenery was shown by the +fact that a few days after his arrival he delivered a lecture in the +Castle on "Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar," being prompted thereto +by a book on the subject by Captain Mark Kerr, of H.M.S. _Implacable_. +The Emperor illustrated his lecture with sketches drawn by himself of +the positions of the united French and Spanish fleets during the +battle. + +Almost every year sees some specialty produced at the Royal Opera in +Berlin. This year it was Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," performed in the +presence of the French Ambassador in Berlin, Monsieur Jules Cambon, +and two directors of the Paris Opera. The Emperor told Monsieur +Messager, one of the latter, that he had taken an infinity of trouble +to get the right character, colour, and movement of the period of the +opera, and explained his interest in the work by the fact that he had +lost two of his ancestors, Admiral Coligny and the Prince of Orange, +in the historic massacre. This opera, with Verdi's "Aida," are still, +as given at the Royal Opera, the favourite operas of the Berlin +public. + +Americans, like all other people, regard the Emperor with friendly +feelings, but for a time this year their respect for him suffered some +diminution owing to what was known as the Tower-Hill affair. When the +American Ambassador in Berlin, Mr. Charlemagne Tower, resigned his +post in 1908, the Washington authorities found difficulty in choosing +a suitable successor. Mr. Tower was a wealthy man, who by his personal +qualities, aided by a talented wife, whom the Emperor once described +as "the Moltke of society," and by frequent entertainments in one of +the finest houses of the fashionable Tiergarten quarter, had fully +satisfied the Emperor of his fitness to represent a great nation at +the Court of a great Empire. The Emperor has a high opinion of his +country, and, in small things as in great, will not have it treated as +a _quantite negligeable_: consequently a millionaire was not too good +for Berlin. The impression produced by Mr. Tower on Republican America +was not quite the same. When Ambassador in St. Petersburg, Mr. Tower +had invented a Court uniform for himself and staff of a highly ornate, +not to say fantastic, kind, and when in Berlin was thought to take too +little trouble to win popularity among his American fellow-colonists. +This non-republican attitude, as it seemed to be, met with a good deal +of adverse criticism in America, and the Washington authorities, for +that or for some other reason, considered it advisable to choose as +Mr. Tower's successor a man of another type. Their choice fell on Dr. +David Jayne Hill, American Minister at Berne, a former President of +Rochester University, the author of a standard work on the History of +Diplomacy, and as renowned for the amiability of his character as for +his academic attainments. A further reason for choosing him was that +he had been attached to the service of the Emperor's brother, Prince +Henry, during the latter's visit to the United States some years +before. Dr. Hill spoke German excellently, was able and distinguished, +and, if not a man of great means, was sufficiently well-to-do to +represent his country becomingly at the Court of Berlin. His selection +was in due course communicated for _agrement_ to the German Foreign +Office, and by it, also in due course, transmitted to the Emperor. The +Emperor without more ado signed the _agrement_ and the arrival of Dr. +Hill in Berlin was daily expected. + +Just at this time, however, Mr. Tower gave a farewell dinner to the +Emperor, and invited to it specially from Rome the American Ambassador +to Italy, Mr. Griscom. Mr. Griscom was accompanied by his clever and +attractive wife. The dinner-party assembled, and Mr. Griscom and his +wife were placed in the immediate neighbourhood of the Emperor. Before +dinner was over it was evident that the Griscoms had made a most +favourable impression on the imperial guest. Accordingly, so the story +goes, when towards the end of dinner the Emperor, in his impulsive +way, exclaimed, "Now, why didn't America send me the Griscoms instead +of the Hills?" or words to that effect, the company was not completely +taken by surprise. When, however, the Emperor went on to suggest to +his host to telegraph to President Roosevelt to make the change, it +became evident that an international incident of exceptional delicacy +had been created. Mr. Tower, who would perhaps have acted with better +judgment had he declined to adopt the Emperor's suggestion, cabled to +President Roosevelt, and at the same Mr. Griscom wrote to him +privately. Before Mr. Griscom's letter arrived, perhaps before Mr. +Roosevelt was in possession of Mr. Tower's telegram, the words of the +Emperor had become known in Berlin, were cabled to the American Press, +and much indignation at the Emperor's conduct was aroused in all parts +of America. The two Governments, as well as Dr. Hill, were placed in a +position of great embarrassment. In view of the state of public +opinion in America, and in view also of the American Government's +engagement _vis a vis_ Dr. Hill, the Washington authorities could not +withdraw a nominee who had been already signalled to it from Germany +as _persona grata_. The only way possible out of the difficulty was to +employ the machinery of the official _dementi_, and this was +accordingly done. It was denied by the Foreign Office that the Emperor +had expressed dissatisfaction with Dr. Hill's appointment, and the +incident closed with the carrying out of the original arrangements and +the arrival of Dr. Hill in Berlin. Subsequent events proved that had +the Emperor known Dr. Hill personally he would never have thought of +expressing dissatisfaction at the prospect of seeing him as Ambassador +at his Court, for Dr. Hill, during the two years of his stay, fully +vindicated the wisdom of the Washington Government's choice, and +before he left his post had earned the Emperor's complete respect, if +not his cordial friendship. + + + + +XV. + + + +AFTER THE STORM + + + +1909-1913 + +Next year, 1909, was the year of the famous finance reform measure +which, though finally carried through, led to the resignation of +Chancellor von Buelow. It had been obvious for some years that a +reorganization of the imperial system of finance with a view to +meeting the growing expenses of the Empire, and in especial those of +the army and navy, was necessary if imperial bankruptcy was to be +avoided. The practice of taking what were known as matricular +contributions from the separate States to make up for deficits in the +imperial budgets, and of burdening posterity by State loans, had one +day to cease. At the beginning of the reign the National Debt was 884 +million marks (L44,200,000), and in 1908 over 4,000 million marks +(L200,000,000). A year before this Prince Buelow had made his first +proposals for reform, including new taxes on beer, wine, tobacco, and +succession duties on property. + +All parties in Parliament, except of course the Social Democrats, +admitted that fresh imposts were inevitable, but, very naturally, no +party was willing to bear them. The Conservatives would not hear of an +inheritance tax and the Liberals would not hear of duties on popular +consumption. The result was to make the Centrum masters of the +political field and place the Conservative-Liberal "bloc" at its +mercy. After long discussion, the Government proposals were put to the +vote on June 24th, and as the Centrum threw in its lot with the +Conservatives, the proposals were rejected by 195 votes to 187. Prince +Buelow thereupon went to Kiel and tendered his resignation to the +Emperor, but at the latter's urgent request consented to remain in +office until financial reform in one shape or another had been +effected. This result was attained a month later, after much +compromising and discussion. The Chancellor renewed his request for +retirement, and the Emperor agreed. On the same day, July 14th, that +the resignation took effect, it was officially announced that Herr von +Bethmann-Hollweg, who had hitherto been Minister of the Interior, was +appointed to succeed Prince von Buelow as Imperial Chancellor. + +An impression prevails widely in Germany that Prince Buelow's +retirement was due to the loss of the Emperor's favour owing to the +Prince's attitude towards the monarch during the "November storm." +Prince Buelow, very properly, has always refused to say anything about +his relations with his royal master, but a lengthy statement he made +to a newspaper correspondent referring his resignation to the conduct +of the Conservatives, and a letter from the Emperor gratefully +thanking the Prince in the warmest terms for his "long and intimate +co-operation," and conferring upon him at the same time the highest +Order in the Empire, that of the Black Eagle, should be sufficient +evidence to disprove the supposition. It is more probable that the +Prince was weary of the cares of office and of the strife of party. +Moreover, he had, in the state of his health, a strong private reason +for retirement. Four years before, on April 5, 1906, he had fallen +unconscious from his seat on the ministerial bench during the +proceedings in the Reichstag, and although he was back again in +Parliament, perfectly recovered, in the following November, the attack +was an experience which warned him against too great a prolongation of +such heavy work and responsibility as the Chancellorship entails. + +The retirement of Prince Buelow meant the disappearance of the most +notable figure in German political life since the beginning of the +century. In ability, wit, and those graces of a refined and richly +cultivated mind which have so often distinguished great English +statesmen, he was a head and shoulders above any of his +fellow-countrymen; while the mere fact that he was able to maintain +his position for almost twelve years (he had been, as Foreign +Secretary for over two years, the Emperor's most trusted counsellor +and the real executive in foreign policy) is a convincing proof of his +tact and diplomatic talent, as well as of his statesmanship. + +His successor, the present Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, is a +man of another and very different type. He incorporates the spirit of +Prussian patriotism of the most orthodox kind in its worthiest and +best manifestations, but as yet he has given no proofs of possessing +the breadth of view, the oratorical talent, or the urbanity which +distinguished his predecessor. Prince von Buelow's career as a German +diplomatist in foreign capitals made him an acute and highly polished +man of the world. The present Chancellor has spent all his life within +the comparatively narrow confines of Prussian administrative service. +It is, of course, too soon to pass final judgment on him as German +Prime Minister. + +The visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Berlin in +February, 1909, disposed finally of the idea, which had prevailed in +Germany as well as abroad for two or three years, that England was +pursuing a policy aiming to bring about the "isolation" of Germany in +world-politics. The visit was an official one, paid, of course, +chiefly to the Emperor; but its most remarkable feature politics +apart, was the friendly relations which King Edward established with +the Berlin City Fathers at a reception in the Town Hall. It was not +that he said anything out of the way to the assembled burghers; but +his simple manner, genial remarks, and perhaps especially the +sympathetic way in which he handled the loving-cup offered by his +hosts, made an instantaneous and strong impression. + +The controversy that raged round the so-called "Flora Bust" +contributed not a little to the gaiety of nations towards the close of +this year. The bust, an undraped wax figure, reproducing the features +of Leonardo da Vinci's famous "La Joconde," was bought by Dr. Wilhelm +Bode, Director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, for L8,000 +from a London dealer as an authentic work of the celebrated Italian +painter, dating from about the year 1500. It was brought with a great +flourish of trumpets to Berlin, and a chorus of self-congratulation +was raised in Germany on the successful carrying off of such a prize +from England. The harmony, however, was rudely disturbed by the +publication of a letter from Mr. F.C. Cooksey, art critic of the +_Times_, stating that the bust was not by da Vinci at all, but was in +reality the work of Mr. R.C. Lucas, an artist of some note forty or +fifty years ago, and that it had for long occupied a pedestal in +Lucas's suburban garden. + +The Emperor, whose curiosity as well as patriotism was aroused, spent +half an hour on November 11th discussing the bust with Dr. Bode and +examining an album containing photographs of the works of Lucas. At +the close of his inspection the Emperor expressed great delight at the +acquisition, as to the genuineness of which he declared he "had not +the slightest doubt," and said he did not regard the price paid as +extremely high. Unfortunately for the Emperor's conviction, a letter +now appeared in the _Times_ from Mr. A.C. Lucas, a son of R.C. Lucas, +who said he recollected the making of the bust, and suggested that +there might be found in its interior a piece of cloth, probably a part +of an old waistcoat of his father's, which had been used as a sort of +filling. In the presence of such a statement there was only one thing +left to be done: to examine the interior of the bust. First of all it +was subjected to the Roentgen rays, the result being to show that the +interior was not homogeneous. A few days after, there was a great +gathering of experts at the Museum, a hole was cut in the wax at the +back of the bust, a bent wire was introduced, and the search for the +famous piece of waistcoat began. It was a dramatic moment as Professor +Latghen with his wire explored the interior of the bust, and the +tension reached its highest point when the Professor, drawing from the +bust what was evidently a piece of cloth, exclaimed, "_Hier ist die +Veste!_" On being further withdrawn the substance proved to be about +two square inches of a grey, canvas-like material, feeling soft and +velvety to the touch. It was a disagreeable discovery for the Germans, +but it was got over by the suggestion that the original bust had been +entrusted to Lucas for repair, and that in this way the waistcoat had +got into it. The "poor English newspapers," Dr. Bode said, referring +to the sarcastic comments on the discovery from the other side of the +Channel, "had had, without any acquaintance with our bust or with the +work of its alleged forger, to give this particular form of expression +to their ill-humour at the sale." As a matter of fact, the bust, +whoever made it, is a lovely work of art, as every one who has seen it +readily admits. + +The Emperor's friendship with Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, which was now to +be confirmed by personal acquaintance, throws a side light on his own +character, and testifies to his desire to keep in touch with the +rulers of other countries--another illustration, by the way, of his +consistency, since he laid down the policy of cultivating friendly +relations with foreign rulers at the very commencement of his reign. +Probably many letters in the large characteristic handwriting of both +men have passed between them, and there probably always existed a +desire on the part of the wielder of the mailed fist to make the +personal acquaintance of the advocate of the big stick. The meeting +occurred in May, 1910, after Mr. Roosevelt had shot wild beasts in +Africa, visited Egypt, London, Vienna, Rome, and other continental +cities, with a cohort of newspaper correspondents, and caused by his +speeches political, if fortunately harmless, disturbance almost +everywhere he went. When in Berlin he was to have lodged at the +Emperor's palace; but the Emperor's hospitable intent was frustrated +by the death of King Edward VII, which prevented all entertainment in +the home of his German nephew. + +The Roosevelt party, consisting of the ex-President, Mrs. Roosevelt, +and Miss Ethel Roosevelt, arrived in Berlin on May 11th from +Stockholm, and at noon the same day were taken by royal train to +Potsdam. At the New Palace the party were heartily greeted by the +Emperor, whom they found standing on the steps waiting to receive +them. After shaking hands the Emperor led his guests into a small +reception-room, where they were introduced to the Empress, the Crown +Prince and Crown Princess, and other members of the imperial family. +The Emperor then took them to the Shell Room, so called from its being +inlaid with shells and rare stones, and here were found some of the +Emperor's high officials, including Admiral von Mueller, chief of the +Marine Cabinet, and one of the most able and amiable of the Emperor's +entourage, who had met Mr. Roosevelt when on his trip to America with +Prince Henry several years before. Luncheon followed at six small +tables in the Jasper Gallery, the Emperor taking his seat between Mrs. +Roosevelt and the Crown Princess, while the Empress had Mr. Roosevelt +on her left and her eldest son, the Crown Prince, on her right. +Princess Victoria Louise, the Emperor's only daughter, occupied a seat +on Mr. Roosevelt's left. After lunch was over the guests went back to +the Shell Room, and here the Emperor, taking Mr. Roosevelt apart, +began a conversation so long and animated that the shades of evening +began to fall before it ended. The Roosevelts did not return to Berlin +by train, but were first driven by the Emperor to inspect Sans Souci, +and were afterwards whirled back to Berlin in the yellow imperial +motors. + +Only two other incidents of the visit need be mentioned. One of them +was a lecture on "The World Movement," delivered by Mr. Roosevelt in +very husky tones (for he was suffering badly from hoarseness) at +Berlin University, in the presence of the Emperor and Empress. The +other was a parade of 12,000 troops, arranged by the Emperor at +Doeberitz, the great military exercise camp near Potsdam, which Mr. +Roosevelt, clad in a khaki coat and breeches, and wearing brown +leather gaiters and black slouch hat, observed from horseback beside +the Emperor. As the troops went by at the close of the review the +Emperor and Mr. Roosevelt saluted in military fashion simultaneously. + +Immediately after the visit of the Roosevelts, the Emperor was called +to England to attend the funeral of King Edward VII. The imperial +yacht _Hohenzollern_, with the Emperor on board, arrived in England on +May 19th. Next day the Emperor travelled to Victoria terminus, where +he was received and warmly embraced by King George. They proceeded to +Buckingham Palace, where the Emperor's first call was made on the +widowed Queen Alexandra. On the 21st took place the funeral of King +Edward, the procession to Westminster Abbey, where the service was +held, being headed by King George with the Emperor on his right and +the Duke of Connaught on his left. Both the Emperor and the Duke were +dressed in Field-Marshal's uniform and carried the batons of their +rank. The countenance of the Emperor is described by a chronicler of +the time (and the _Times_) as wearing "an expression grave even to +severity." + +The procession moved slowly on to the famous Abbey, the Emperor riding +a grey horse, saluting at intervals as he rode along. On arrival at +the Abbey an incident occurred. As soon as Queen Alexandra's carriage +arrived and drew up, the Emperor, according to the accounts of +eyewitnesses, ran to the door of the carriage with so much alacrity +that he had reached it before the royal servants, and when it appeared +that her Majesty was not to alight from that side of the carriage, the +Emperor motioned the lacqueys round to the other door, and was there +before them to assist her Majesty. This he did, after himself opening +the door. The Emperor remained in England only a very few days after +the funeral, seeing old friends, among them Lord Kitchener. + +As of interest to both Englishmen and Germans may be mentioned the +tour through India undertaken by the Crown Prince in November. Steele +once happily said of a Lady Hastings that "to love her was a liberal +education"; to make a tour through India, it might similarly be said, +is an education in the extent and character of British imperial power +and administration. The Crown Prince naturally devoted a goodly share +of his time to the delights of sport, including tiger-shooting and +pig-sticking, but he must also have learned much of England's fine +imperial spirit from his intercourse with an official hierarchy as +honest and conscientious as that of his own country. The Crown Prince, +on his return home, published a volume of hunting reminiscences which +does no small credit to him as an author. + +The Emperor's "shining armour" political remark dates from this +period. He was on a visit to his Triplice ally, Kaiser Franz Josef, in +September, 1910, and made a speech at the Vienna Town Hall on the 21st +which contained a reference to the loyal conduct he claimed Germany +had observed when the action of Austria-Hungary in annexing Bosnia and +Herzegovina, despite the wording of the Treaty of Berlin, had raised +an outcry in other countries, and in particular strained Austrian +relations with Russia. After thanking his audience for the personal +reception given him, he continued: + + "On the other hand, it seems to me I read in your resolution + the agreement of the city of Vienna with the action of an + ally in taking his stand in shining armour at a grave moment + by the side of your most gracious sovereign." + +The outcry caused in the world by Austria's high-handed annexation, +and especially in Russia, theoretically always Austria's most probable +enemy, owing to conflicting interests in the Balkans, subsided, we +know, as suddenly as it was raised. The reason, it is currently +believed, and the form in which the rays of the shining armour acted, +was an intimation from the Emperor to the Czar that, if necessary, +Germany was prepared to fight for Austria. + +Peoples are said to have the institutions, and husbands the wives, +they deserve; but if German cities, and especially Berlin, have the +police they deserve, the fact speaks very uncomplimentarily for their +inhabitants. Foreigners in Germany, coming from countries where +manners are more natural and obliging, frequently use the adjectives +"brutal" and "stupid" when speaking of the Prussian constable. The +proceedings of the Berlin police during the Moabit riots in the +capital in September this year are often quoted as an example of their +brutality, while, as to stupidity, it is enough to say that a stranger +in Berlin, discussing its mounted police, naively remarked that what +most struck him about them was the look of intelligence on the faces +of the horses. Judgments of this kind are too sweeping. It should be +remembered that Germany is surrounded by countries of which the +riff-raff is at all times seeking refuge in it or passing through it, +that polyglot swindlers of every kind, the most refined as well as the +most commonplace, abound, and that Anarchists are not yet an extinct +species. For the Prussian police, moreover, there is a Social Democrat +behind every bush. + +Possibly to this condition of things, and to the suspicion that Social +Democratic organizers were about, was due the gallant charge made by +half a dozen policemen, with drawn swords in their hands and revolvers +at their belts, on four inoffensive English and American journalists +during the Moabit riots. Towards midnight of September 29th the +journalists were seated in an open taximeter cab, in a brilliantly +lighted square, which some little time before had been swept of +rioters--rioters from the Berlin police point of view being any one, +man, woman, or child, who is, with guilty or innocent intent, it makes +no difference, in or near a theatre of disturbance. Suddenly half a +dozen burly policemen, led on by a police spy, as he afterwards turned +out to be, charged the cab and laid about them with their swords. They +probably only intended to use the flat of their weapons, but one of +them succeeded in slashing deeply the hand of Reuter's representative, +who was of the party. The other journalists escaped with contusions +and bruises, thanks chiefly to the sides of the cab impeding the +sword-play of the attackers. + +The journalists naturally complained to their Ambassadors, who took up +their cause with commendable readiness. Without immediate effect, +however; the authorities, though themselves very strong on the point +of duty, wondered much at journalists being in a place where duty +alone could have brought them, and refused any sort of apology or +other satisfaction. The Government, however, eventually expressed its +"regret," and a year or two after, possibly in the spirit of +conciliation and compensation, agreed to give foreign journalists in +Berlin the _passe-partout_, or _coupe-fil_, as it is known in France, +which is one of the privileges most valued by the journalist, native +and foreign, in Paris. + +Among the international agreements of the year was a commercial one +between Germany and America. Commercial relations between the two +countries have never been quite satisfactory to either, and if there +is no tariff war, occasions of tariff tension, with consequent +disturbance of trade, constantly arise. Germany's European commercial +treaties have secured her a sufficiency of raw material for her +industry. Her chief object now is not so much perhaps to facilitate +imports of material from other countries as to find markets, in +America as elsewhere, for her industry's finished products. +Consequently she strongly dislikes the high tariff barriers of the +United States, inaugurated by the Dingley tariff of 1897, and has in +addition certain grievances against that country regarding customs +administration in respect of appraisement, invoices, and the like. Her +commercial connexion with America dates from the treaty of "friendship +and commerce" made by Frederick the Great, and having the +most-favoured-nation treatment as its basis; a regular treaty of the +same kind between Prussia and America was entered into in 1828; and +since then commercial relations have been regulated provisionally by a +series of short-term agreements which, however, America claims, do not +confer on Germany unrestricted right to most-favoured-nation +treatment. By the agreement now in force, concluded this year (1910), +America and Germany grant each other the benefit of their minimum +duties. + +Since the "November storm" the Emperor had made no reference to the +doctrine of Divine Right, nor given any indication of a desire to +exercise the "personal regiment" which is the natural corollary to it. +It has been seen that the doctrine, viewed from the English +standpoint, is a species of mental malady to which Hohenzollern +monarchs are hereditarily subject. It recurs intermittently and +particularly whenever a Hohenzollern monarch speaks in Koenigsberg, +the Scone of Prussia, where Prussian Kings are crowned. When at +Koenigsberg this year the Emperor suffered from a return of the royal +_idee fixe_. "Here my grandfather," he said, + + "placed, by his own right, the crown of the Kings of Prussia + on his head, once again laying stress upon the fact that it + was conferred upon him by the Grace of God alone, not by + Parliament, by meetings of the people, or by popular + decisions; and that he considered himself the chosen + instrument of Heaven and as such performed his duties as + regent and as ruler." + +Speaking of himself on the occasion he said: + + "Considering myself as an Instrument of the Lord, without + being misled by the views and opinions of the day, I go my + way, which is devoted solely and alone to the prosperity and + peaceful development of our Fatherland." + +The Emperor, by the way, on this occasion made what sounds like an +indirect reference to the Suffragette craze. "What shall our women," +he asked, after mentioning the pattern Queen of Prussia, Queen Louise, + + "learn from the Queen? They must learn that the principal + task of the German woman does not lie in attending public + meetings and belonging to societies, in the attainment of + supposed rights in which women can emulate men, but in the + quiet work of the home and in the family." + +The Emperor's reference to his divine appointment did not pass without +a good deal of popular criticism in Germany, but nearly all Germans +were at one with the Emperor in his view of the proper sphere for +womanly activities. + +The Emperor's domestic life for the last two or three years, including +the early months of the present year, have passed without special +cause of interest or excitement, if we except the visit he and the +Empress made to London in May, 1911, to be present at the unveiling of +Queen Victoria's statue, and the announcement he was able to make a +few months ago that his only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, had +become engaged to Prince Ernest August, Duke of Cumberland, the still +persisting claimant to the Kingdom of Hannover, absorbed by Prussia in +1866. The visit to London lasted only five days and produced no +incident particularly worthy of record. The engagement of Princess +Victoria Louise, while generally believed to be a love-match, +possesses also political significance for Germany, not indeed as +putting an end to the claim of the Duke of Cumberland, but as +practically effecting a reconciliation between the Hohenzollerns and +Guelphs. The young Duke of Brunswick had already implicitly renounced +his claim to Hannover by entering the German army and taking the oath +of allegiance to the Emperor as War Lord, so that, when his father +dies, the Guelph claim to Hannover will die with him. + +It is difficult to determine whether the Government's abandonment of +its design to amend the Prussian franchise system in 1910, its +submissive attitude towards the Pope's Borromeo Encyclical in 1911, +the rapid rise in food prices which marked both years, or finally, the +Emperor's failure to secure a slice of Morocco for Germany had most +antagonizing effect on German popular feeling; but whatever the cause, +the general elections of January, 1912, proved a tremendous Socialist +victory, which must have been, and still remains, gall and wormwood to +the Emperor. Notwithstanding official efforts, over one-third of the +votes polled at the first ballots went for Social Democratic +candidates. The number of seats thus obtained was 64, and this number, +after the second ballots, rose to 110, thus making the Socialist party +numerically the strongest in the Reichstag. Up to the present, +however, Herr Bebel and his cohorts appear to be happy in possessing +power rather than in using it. + +Before completing the Emperor's domestic chronicle of more recent +years, a few lines may be devoted to the role in which he has last +appeared before the public--that of farmer. On February 12, 1913, he +attended a meeting of the German Agricultural Council in Berlin, and +with only a few statistical notes to help him narrated in lively and +amusing fashion his experiences as owner of a farm, the management of +which he has been personally supervising since 1898. The farm is part +of the Cadinen Estate, bequeathed to him by an admirer and universally +known for the majolica ware made out of the clay found on the +property. The Emperor was able to show that he had achieved remarkable +success with his farm, and particularly with a fine species of bull, +_Bos indicus major_, he maintained on it. A year or two before, at a +similar meeting, when speaking of the same breed of bull, he caused +much hilarity among the military portion of his audience by jokingly +remarking that it had "nothing to do with the General Staff." On the +present occasion he also caused laughter by recounting how he had +"fired," to use an American expression exactly equivalent to the +German word employed by the Emperor, a tenant who "wasn't any use." +The Emperor, however, would, as it turned out, have done better by not +mentioning the incident, for the Supreme Court at Leipzig a few days +subsequently quashed the Emperor's order of ejectment on the tenant +and condemned him to pay all the costs in the case. The role of +farmer, it may be added, is one which, had he been born a country +gentleman like Bismarck, the Emperor would have filled with complete +success. But in what role would he not have done well? + +Foreign politics everywhere for the last three or four years have been +full of incident, outcry, and bloodshed. The state of things, indeed, +prevailing in the world for some time past is extraordinary. A +visitant from another planet would imagine that normal peace and +abnormal war had changed places, and that civilized mankind now regard +peace as an interlude of war, not war as an interlude of peace. He +would be wrong, of course, but the race in armament, which threatens +to leave the nations taking part in it financially breathless and +exhausted, might easily lead him astray. On some of the situations +with which these politics are concerned we may briefly touch. + +For the last three or four years the dominant note in the music of +what is called the European Concert, taking Europe for the moment to +include Great Britain, has been the state of Anglo-German relations. +There have been times, as has been seen, when public feeling in both +England and Germany was strongly antagonized, but all through the +period there has been evident a desire on the part of both Governments +to adopt a mutually conciliatory attitude, and if the war in the +Balkans does not lead to a general international conflagration, which +at present appears improbable, the two countries may arrive at a +permanent understanding. There was, and not so very long ago, a +similar state of tension, prolonged for many years, between England +and France. That tension not only ceased, but was converted into +political friendship by the Anglo-French Agreement of 1904. Parallel +with this tension between England and France was the tension between +England and Russia, owing to the latter's advance towards England's +Indian possessions. The latter state of things ended with the +Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907, and it should engender satisfaction +and hope, therefore, to those who now apprehend a war between England +and Germany to note that neither of the tensions referred to, though +both were long and bitter, developed into war. + +The tension between England and Germany of late years has been +tightened rather than relaxed by ministerial speeches as well as by +newspaper polemics in both countries. One of the most disturbing of +the former was the speech delivered by Mr. Lloyd George at the Mansion +House on July 21, 1911. Doubtless with the approval of the Prime +Minister, Mr. Asquith, Mr. Lloyd George said: + + "I believe it is essential, in the highest interest not + merely of this country, but of the world, that Britain + should at all hazards maintain her place and her prestige + amongst the Great Powers of the world. Her potent influence + has many a time been in the past, and may yet be in the + future, invaluable to the cause of human liberty. It has + more than once in the past redeemed continental nations, + which are sometimes too apt to forget that service, from + overwhelming disasters and even from national extinction. I + would make great sacrifices to preserve peace. I conceive + that nothing would justify a disturbance of international + goodwill except questions of the gravest national moment. + But if a situation were to be forced upon us in which peace + could only be preserved by the surrender of the great and + beneficent position Britain has won by centuries of heroism + and achievement, by allowing Britain to be treated, where + her interests are vitally affected, as if she were of no + account in the cabinet of nations, then I say emphatically + that peace at that price would be a humiliation intolerable + for a great country like ours to endure." + +These rhetorical platitudes were uttered at the time of the +"conversations" between the French and German Foreign Offices about +the compensation claimed by Germany for giving France, once for all, a +free hand in Morocco. Germany was apparently making demands of an +exorbitant character, and what Mr. Lloyd George really meant was that +if Germany persisted in these demands England would fight on the side +of France in order to resist them. As a genuinely democratic speaker, +however, he followed the rule of many publicists, who are paid for +their articles by the column and say to themselves, "Why use two words +when five will do?" + +Another unfortunate remark that may be noted in this connexion was +that made by Mr. Winston Churchill in referring to the German navy as +"to some extent a luxury." The remark, though true (also to a certain +extent), was unfortunate, for it irritated public opinion in Germany, +where it was regarded as a species of impertinent interference. + +As evidence of the desire on the part of the Emperor and his +Government for a friendly arrangement with England may be quoted the +statement made in December, 1910, by the German Chancellor, Herr von +Bethmann-Hollweg, _to_ the following effect:-- + + "We also meet England in the desire to avoid rivalry in + regard to armaments, and non-binding _pourparlers_, which + have from time to time taken place, have been conducted on + both sides in a friendly spirit. We have always advanced the + opinion that a frank and sincere interchange of views, + followed by an understanding with regard to the economic and + political interests of the two countries, offers the surest + means of allaying all mistrust on the subject of the + relations of the Powers to each other on sea and land." + +The Chancellor went on to explain that this mistrust had manifested +itself "not in the case of the Governments, but of public opinion." + +With regard, in particular, to a naval understanding between England +and Germany, Chancellor von Buelow, in a Budget speech in March, 1909, +declared that up to that time no proposals regarding the dimensions of +the fleets or the amount of naval expenditure which could serve as a +basis for an understanding had been made on the side of England, +though non-binding conversations had taken place on the subject +between authoritative English and German personalities. In March last +year (1912) such proposals may be said to have been made in the form +of a suggestion by Sir Edward Grey during the Budget debate that the +ratio of 16 to 10 (i.e., 50 per cent. more and 10 per cent. over) +should express the naval strength of the two countries. The suggestion +was "welcomed" by Admiral von Tirpitz on behalf of Germany in +February, 1913. And there the matter rests. + +A perhaps inevitable result of the tension between England and Germany +during the period under consideration has been the amount of mutual +espionage discovered to be going on in both countries. An incident +that attracted wide attention was the arrest in 1910 of Captains +Brandon and Trench, the former of whom was arrested at Borkum and the +latter at Emden. They were tried before the Supreme Court at Leipzig, +and were both sentenced to incarceration in a fortress for four years. +Many other arrests, prosecutions, and sentences have taken place both +in England and Germany since then, with the consequence that English +travellers in Germany and German travellers in England, particularly +where the travellers are men of military bearing and are in seaside +regions, are now liable, under very small provocation, to a suspicion +of being spies. An English lady recently made the acquaintance of a +German in England. He was a very nice man, she said, and went on to +relate how they were talking one day about Ireland. She happened to +mention Tipperary. "Oh, I know Tipperary," the German officer said; +"it is in my department." "It was a revelation to me," the lady +concluded when repeating the conversation to her friends. As a matter +of fact, the Intelligence Departments of the army in both Germany and +England are well acquainted with the roads, hills, streams, forts, +harbours, and similar details of topography in almost all countries of +the world besides their own. + +In regard to 1911 should be recorded the journey of the Crown Prince +and Crown Princess to England to represent the Emperor at the +coronation of King George in June; the outbreak in September of the +Turco-Italian War, which placed the Emperor in a dilemma, of which one +fork was his duty to Italy as an ally in the Triplice and the other +his platonic friendship with the Commander of the Faithful; and, +lastly, the suspicion of the Emperor's designs that arose in connexion +with the fortification of Flushing at a cost to Holland of some +L3,000,000. The Emperor was supposed to have insisted on the +fortification in order to prevent the use of the Netherlands by Great +Britain as a naval base against Germany. Like many another scare in +connexion with foreign policy, the supposition may be regarded only as +a product of intelligent journalistic "combination." + +Finally, among subsidiary occurrences, should be mentioned the meeting +of the Emperor and the Czar in July, 1912, at Port Baltic in Finnish +waters, accompanied by their Foreign Ministers, with the official +announcement of the stereotyped "harmonious relations" between the two +monarchs that followed; and the premature prolongation, with the +object of showing solidarity regarding the Balkan situation, of the +Triple Alliance, which, entered into, as mentioned earlier, in the +year 1882, had already been renewed in 1891, 1896, and 1902. The next +renewal should be in 1925, unless in the meantime an international +agreement to which all Great Powers are signatories should render it +superfluous. + +The war in the Balkans need only be referred to in these pages in so +far as it concerns Germany. The position of Germany in regard to it, +so far, appears simple; she will actively support Austria's larger +interests in order to keep faith with her chief ally of the Triplice, +and so long as Austria and Russia can agree regarding developments in +the Balkan situation, there is no danger of war among the Great +Powers. People smiled at the declaration of the Powers some little +time ago that the _status quo_ in the Balkans should be maintained; +but it should be remembered that the whole phrase is _status quo ante +bellum_, and that, once war has broken out, the _status_, the position +of affairs, is in a condition of solution, and that no new _status_ +can arise until the war is over and its consequences determined by +treaties. The result of the present war, let it be hoped, will be to +confine Turkey to the Orient, where she belongs, and that the Balkan +States, possibly after a period of internecine feud, will take their +share in modern European progress and civilization. + +The amount of declaration, asseveration, recrimination (chiefly +journalistic), rectification, intimidation, protestation, +pacification, and many other wordy processes that have been employed +in almost all countries with the avowed object of maintaining peace +during the last four years is in striking contrast to the small +progress actually made in regard to a final settlement of either of +the two great international points at issue--the limitation of +armaments and compulsory arbitration. + +Enough perhaps has been said in preceding pages to show the attitude +of the Emperor, and consequently the attitude of his Government, +towards them. A history of the long agitation in connexion with them +is beyond the scope of this work. The agitation itself, however, may +be viewed as a step, though not a very long one, on the way to the +desired solution, and it is a matter for congratulation that the two +subjects have been, and are still being, so freely and copiously and, +on the whole, so sympathetically and hopefully ventilated. The great +difficulty, apparently, is to find what diplomatists call the proper +"formula"--the law-that-must-be-obeyed. Unfortunately, the finding of +the formula cannot be regarded as the end of the matter; there still +remains the finding of what jurists call the "sanction," that is to +say, the power to enforce the formula when found and to punish any +nation which fails to act in accordance with it. Nothing but an +Areopagus of the nations can furnish such a sanction, but with the +present arrangements for balancing power in Europe, to say nothing of +the ineradicable pugnacity, greed, and ambition of human nature, such +an Areopagus seems very like an impossibility. Time, however, may +bring it about. If it should, and the Golden Age begin to dawn, an +epoch of new activities and new horizons, quite possibly more novel +and interesting than any which has ever preceded it, will open for +mankind. + + + + +XVI. + + + +THE EMPEROR TO-DAY + +What strikes one most, perhaps, on looking back over the Emperor's +life and time, are two surprising inconsistencies, one relating to the +Emperor himself, the other to that part of his time with which he has +been most closely identified. + +The first arises from the fact that a man so many-sided, so impulsive, +so progressive, so modern--one might almost say so American--should +have altered so little either in character or policy during quarter of +a century. This is due to what we have called his mediaeval nature. He +is to-day the same Hohenzollern he was the day he mounted the throne, +observing exactly the same attitude to the world abroad and to his +folk at home, tenacious of exactly the same principles, enunciating +exactly the same views in politics, religion, morals, and art--in +everything which concerns the foundations of social life. He still +believes himself, as his speeches and conduct show, the selected +instrument of Heaven, and acts towards his people and addresses them +accordingly. He still opposes all efforts at political change, as +witness his attitude towards electoral reform, towards the +Germanization of Prussian Poland, towards the Socialists, towards +Liberalism in all its manifestations. He is still, as he was at the +outset of his reign, the patron of classical art, classical drama, and +classical music. He is still the War Lord with the spirit of a bishop +and a bishop with the spirit of the War Lord. He is still the model +husband and father he always has been. Most men change one way or +another as time goes on. With the Emperor time for five-and-twenty +years appears to have stood still. + +The inconsistency relating to his time arises from the contrast +between the real and the seeming character of the reign. For, +strikingly and anomalously enough, while the Emperor has been steadily +pursuing an economic policy, a policy of peace, his entire reign, as +one turns over the pages of its history, seems to resound, during +almost every hour, with martial shoutings, confused noises, the +clatter of harness, the clash of swords, and the tramp of armies. From +moment to moment it recalls those scenes from Shakespearean drama in +which indeed no dead are actually seen upon the stage, but at +intervals the air is filled with battle cries, "with excursions and +alarms," with warriors brandishing their weapons, calling for horses, +hacking at imaginary foes, and defying the world in arms. + +And yet in reality it has been a period of domestic peace throughout. +Though there has been incessant talk of war, and at times war may have +been near, it never came, unless the South West African and Boxer +expeditions be so called. Commerce and trade have gone on increasing +by leaps and bounds. The population has grown at the rate of nearly +three-quarters of a million a year. Emperor William the First's social +policy has been closely followed. The navy has been built, the army +strengthened, the Empire's finances reorganized; in whatever direction +one looks one finds a record of solid and substantial and peaceful +progress and prosperity. A great deal of it is owing, admittedly, to +the Germans themselves, but no small share of it is due to the +"impulsive" Emperor's consistency of character and conduct. + +Probably the inconsistencies are only apparent. Germany and her +Emperor have grown, not developed, if by development is meant a +radical alteration in structure or mentality, and if regard is had to +the real Germany and the real Emperor, not to the Germany of the +tourist, and not to the Emperor of contemporary criticism. It has been +seen that the Emperor's nature and policy have not altered. The +Constitution of Germany has not altered, nor her Press, nor her +political parties, nor her social system, nor, indeed, any of the +vital institutions of her national life. With one possible +exception--the navy. The navy is a new organic feature, and, like all +organisms, is exerting deep and far-reaching influences. Germany, of +course, is in a process of development, a state of transition. But +nations are at all times in a state of transition, more or less +obvious; and it will require yet a good many years to show what new +forms and fruits the development now going on in Germany is to bring. +The Emperor, it is safe to say, will remain the same, mediaeval in +nature, modern in character, to the end of his life. + +The main thing, however, to be noted both about Germany and the German +Emperor is what they stand for in the movement of world-ideas at the +present time. Germans cause foreigners to smile when they prophesy +that their culture, their civilization, will become the culture and +the civilization of the world. The sameness of ideas that prevailed in +mediaeval times about life and religion--about this life and the life +to come--was succeeded, and first in Germany, by an enormous diversity +of ideas about life and religion, beginning with the Rationalism (or +"enlightenment," as the Germans call it) which set in after the +Reformation and the Renaissance; and this diversity again +promises--let us at least hope--to go back, in one of the great +circles that make one think human thought, too, moves in accordance +with planetary laws, to a sameness of views among the nations in +regard to the real interests of society, which are peace, religious +harmony through toleration, commercial harmony through international +intercourse, and the mutual goodwill of governments and peoples. For +all this order of ideas the Emperor, notwithstanding his mailed fist +and shining armour, stands, and in this spirit both he and the German +mind are working. + +More than half a century has passed over the Emperor's head; let us +look a little more closely at him as the man and the monarch he is +to-day. Time appears to have dealt gently with him; the heart, one +hears it said, never grows bald, and in all but years the Emperor is +probably as young and untiring as ever. + +His personal appearance has altered little in the last decade. An +observer, who had an opportunity of seeing him at close quarters in +1902, describes him, as he then appeared, as follows:-- + + "I was standing within arm's length of him at Cuxhaven, + where we were waiting the landing of Prince Henry, his + brother, on his return from America. The _Deutschland_ had + to be warped alongside the quay, and the Emperor, in the + uniform of a Prussian general of infantry, meanwhile mixed + with the suite and chatted, now to one, now to another, with + his usual bonhomie. I was speaking to the American attache, + Captain H----, when the Emperor came up, and naturally I + stood a little to one side. + + "The thing that most struck me was the Emperor's large grey + eyes. As they looked sharply into those of Captain H---- or + glanced in my direction, they seemed to show absolutely no + feeling, no sentiment of any kind. Not that they gave the + notion of hardness or falsity. They were simply like two + grey mirrors on which outward things made no impression. + + "Two other features did not strike me as anything out of the + ordinary, but the whole face had an air of ability, + cleverness, briskness, and health. The Emperor is about + middle height, with the body very erect, the walk firm, and + is very energetic in his gestures. I did not notice the + shortness of the left arm, but that may have been because + his left hand was leaning on his sword-hilt. Captain H---- + told me he could not put on his overcoat without assistance, + and that the hand is so weak he can do very little with it. + There was nothing of a Hohenzollern hanging under-lip." + +The following judgment was formed a year or two ago by an American +diplomatist: "I have often met him," the diplomatist said, + + "and only speak of the impression he made on me. I would + describe him as intelligent rather than intellectual. He + appreciates men of learning and of philosophic mind, and + while not learned and philosophic himself, enjoys seeing the + learned and philosophic at work, and gladly recognizes their + merit when their labours are thorough and well done. His + mind is marvellously quick, but it does not dwell on + anything for long at a time. It takes in everything + presented to it in, so to speak, a hop, skip, and jump. + + "In company he is never at rest, and surprises one by his + lively play of features and the entirely natural and + unaffected expression of his thoughts. He is sitting at a + lecture, perhaps, when a notion occurs to him, and forthwith + indicates it by a humorous grimace or wink to some one + sitting far away from him. He is always saying unexpected + things. On the whole, he is a right good fellow, and I can + imagine that, though he can come down hard on one with a + heavy hand and stern look, he does not do so by the instinct + of a despot, but acting under a sense of duty." + +Another diplomatist has remarked the Emperor's habit in conversation +of tapping the person he is talking to on the shoulder and of +scrutinizing him all over--"ears, nose, clothes, until it makes one +feel quite uncomfortable." + +The next sketch of him is as he may be seen any day during the +yachting week in June at Kiel:-- + + "The Emperor is in the smoking-room of the Yacht Club, + dressed in a blue lounge suit with a white peaked cap. He is + sitting carelessly on the side of a table, dangling his legs + and discussing with fellow-members and foreign yachtsmen the + experience of the day, now speaking English, now French, now + German. He seems quite in his element as sportsman, and puts + every one at ease round him. His expression is animated and + his voice hearty, if a little strident to foreign ears. His + right hand and arm are in ceaseless movement, emphasizing + and enforcing everything he says. He asks many questions and + often invites opinion, and when it differs from his own, as + sometimes happens, he takes it quite good-humouredly." + +To-day the Emperor is outwardly much the same as he has just been +described. He is perhaps slightly more inclined to stoutness. His +features, though they speak of cleverness and manliness, are forgotten +as one looks into the keen and quickly moving grey eyes with their +peculiar dash of yellow. He is well set up, as is proper for a soldier +ever actively engaged in military duties, and his stride continues +firm and elastic. He is still constantly in the saddle. His hair, +still abundant, is yet beginning to show the first touches of the +coming frost of age, and the reddish brown moustache, once famous for +its haughtily upturned ends, has taken, either naturally or by the aid +of Herr Haby, the Court barber, who attends him daily, a nearly level +form. + +In public, whether mounted or on foot, he preserves the somewhat stern +air he evidently thinks appropriate to his high station, but more +frequently than formerly the features relax into a pleasant smile. The +colour of the face is healthy, tending to rosiness, and the general +impression given is that of a clever man, conscious, yet not +overconscious, of his dignity. The shortness of the left arm, a defect +from birth, is hardly noticeable. + +The extirpation of a polypus from the Emperor's throat in 1903, which +must have been one of the severest trials of his life when the history +of his father's mortal illness is remembered, might lead one to +suppose that his vocal organs would always suffer from the effects of +the operation. It has fortunately turned out otherwise. His voice was +originally strong by nature, and remains so. It never seems tired, +even when, as it often does, it pleases him to read aloud for his own +pleasure or that of a circle of friends. It frequently occurs that he +will pick up a book, one of his ancient favourites, Horace or Homer +perhaps, Mr. Stewart Houston Chamberlain's "Foundations of the +Nineteenth Century"--a work he greatly admires--or a modern +publication he has read of in the papers, and read aloud from it for +an hour or an hour and a half at a time. Nor is his reading aloud +confined to classical or German books. He is equally disposed to +choose works in English or French or Italian, and when he reads these +he is fond of doing so with a particularly clear and distinct +enunciation, partly as practice for himself, and partly that his +hearers may understand with certainty. This is not all, for there +invariably follows a discussion upon what has been read, and in it the +Emperor takes a constant and often emphatic part. It has been remarked +that at the close of the longest sitting of this character his voice +is as strong and sonorous as at the beginning. + +He is still the early riser and hard worker he has always been; still +devotes the greater part of his time to the duties that fall to him as +War Lord; still races about the Empire by train or motor-car, +reviewing troops, laying foundation-stones, unveiling statues, +dedicating churches, attending manoeuvres, encouraging yachting at +Kiel by his presence during the yachting week, or hurrying off to meet +the monarch of a foreign country. He still enjoys his annual trip +along the shores of Norway or breaks away from the cares of State to +pass a few weeks at his Corfu castle, dazzling in its marble whiteness +and overlooking the Acroceraunian mountains, or to hunt or shoot at +the country seat of some influential or wealthy subject. In fine, he +is still engaged with all the energy of his nature, if in a somewhat +less flamboyant fashion than during his earlier years, in his, as he +believes, divinely appointed work of guiding Prussia's destiny and +building up the German Empire. + +It is because he is an Empire-builder that his numerous journeys +abroad and restlessness of movement at home have earned for him the +nickname of the "travelling Kaiser." The Germans themselves do not +understand his conduct in this respect. If one urges that Hohenzollern +kings, and none of them more than the Great Elector and Frederick the +Great, were incessant travellers, they will reply that their kings had +to be so at a time when the Empire was not yet established, when +rebellious nobles had to be subdued, and when the spirit of +provincialism and particularism had to be counteracted. Hence, they +say, former Hohenzollerns had to exercise personal control in all +parts of their dominions, see that their military dispositions were +carried out, and study social and economic conditions on the spot; but +nowadays, when the Empire is firmly established, when the +administration is working like a clock and the post and telegraph are +at command, the Emperor should stay at home and direct everything from +his capital. + +The Emperor himself evidently takes a different view. He does not +consider the forty-year-old Empire as completed and consolidated, but +regards it much as the Great Elector or Frederick the Great regarded +Prussia when that kingdom was in the making. He believes in +propagating the imperial idea by his personal presence in all parts of +the Empire, and at the same time observing the progress that is being +made there. He is, finally, a believer in getting into personal touch, +as far as is possible, with foreign monarchs, foreign statesmen, and +foreign peoples, for he doubtless sees that with every decade the +interests of nations are becoming more closely identified. + +In connexion with the subject of the Emperor's travelling, mention may +be made of the fact that many years ago he thought it necessary to +explain himself publicly in reference to the idea, prevalent among his +people at the time, that he was travelling too much. "On my travels," +he said, + + "I design not only to make myself acquainted with foreign + countries and institutions, and to foster friendly relations + with neighbouring rulers, but these journeys, which have + been often misinterpreted, have high value in enabling me to + observe home affairs from a distance and submit them to a + quiet examination." + +He expresses something in the same order of thought in a speech +telling of his reflections on the high sea concerning his +responsibilities as ruler: + + "When one is alone on the high sea, with only God's starry + heaven above him, and holds communion with himself, one will + not fail to appreciate the value of such a journey. I could + wish many of my countrymen to live through hours like these, + in which one can take reckoning of what he has designed and + what achieved. Then one would be cured of over + self-estimation--and that we all need." + +When the Emperor is about to start on a journey, confidential +telegrams are sent to the railway authorities concerned, and +immediately a thorough inspection of the line the Emperor is about to +travel over is ordered. Tunnels, bridges, points, railway crossings, +are all subjected to examination, and spare engines kept in immediate +readiness in case of a breakdown occurring to the imperial train. The +police of the various towns through which the monarch is to pass are +also communicated with and their help requisitioned in taking +precautions for his safety. Like any private person, the Emperor pays +his own fares, which are reckoned at the rate of an average of fifteen +shillings to one pound sterling a mile. A recent journey to +Switzerland cost him in fares L200. Of late years he has saved money +in this respect by the more frequent use of the royal motor-cars. The +royal train is put together by selecting those required from fifteen +carriages which are always ready for an imperial journey. If the +journey is short, a saloon carriage and refreshment car are deemed +sufficient; in case of a long journey the train consists of a buffer +carriage in addition, with two saloon cars for the suite and two +wagons for the luggage. The train is always accompanied by a high +official of the railway, who, with mechanics and spare guard, is in +direct telephonic communication with the engine-driver and guard. The +carriages are coloured alike, ivory-white above the window-line and +lacquered blue below. + +All the carriages, with the exception of the saloon dining-car, are of +the corridor type. A table runs down the centre of the dining-car; the +Emperor takes his seat in the centre, while the rest of the suite and +guests take their places at random, save that the elder travellers are +supposed to seat themselves about the Emperor. If the Emperor has +guests with him they naturally have seats beside or in the near +neighbourhood of their host. Breakfast is taken about half-past eight, +lunch at one, and dinner at seven or eight. The Emperor is always +talkative at table, and often draws into conversation the remoter +members of the company, occasionally calling to them by their nickname +or a pet name. He sits for an hour or two after dinner, with a glass +of beer and a huge box of cigars before him, discussing the incidents +of the journey or recalling his experiences at various periods of his +reign. + +The Emperor's disposition of the year remains much what it was at the +beginning of the reign. The chief changes in it are the omission of a +yachting visit to Cowes, which he made annually from 1889 to 1895, +and, since 1908, the habit of making an annual summer stay at his +Corfu castle, "Achilleion," instead of touring in the Mediterranean +and visiting Italian cities. January is spent in Berlin in connexion +with the New Year festivities, ambassadorial and other Court +receptions, drawing-rooms, and balls, and the celebration of his +birthday on the 27th. The Berlin season extends into the middle of +February, so that part of that month also is spent in Berlin. During +the latter half of February and in March the Emperor is usually at +Potsdam, occasionally motoring to Berlin to give audience or for some +special occasion. April and part of May are passed in Corfu. Towards +the end of May the Emperor returns to Germany and goes to Wiesbaden +for the opera and Festspiele in the royal theatre; but he must be in +Berlin before May has closed, for the spring parade of the Berlin and +Potsdam garrisons on the vast Tempelhofer Field. His return on +horseback from this parade is always the occasion of popular +enthusiasm in Berlin's principal streets. In early June the Emperor +stays at Potsdam or perhaps pays a visit to some wealthy noble, and at +the end of the month the yachting week calls him to Kiel. Once that is +over he proceeds on his annual tour along the coast of Norway. +September sees him back in Germany for the autumn manoeuvres. October +and November are devoted to shooting at Rominten or some other +imperial hunting lodge, or with some large landowner or industrial +magnate. The whole of December is usually spent at Potsdam, save for +an annual visit to his friend Prince Fuerstenberg at Donaueschingen. +Naturally he is in Potsdam for Christmas, when all the imperial family +assemble to celebrate the festival in good old German style. + +In music, as we know, he retains the classical tastes he has always +cultivated and sometimes dictatorially recommended. Good music, he has +said, is like a piece of lace, not like a display of fireworks. He +still has most musical enjoyment in listening to Bach and Handel. The +former he has spoken of as one of the most "modern" of composers, and +will point out that his works contain melodious passages that might be +the musical thought of Franz Lehar or Leo Fall. He has no great liking +for the music of Richard Strauss, and his admiration of Wagner, if +certain themes, that must, one feels, have been drawn from the music +of the spheres, be excepted, is respectful rather than rapturous. Of +Wagner's works the "Meistersingers" is "my favourite." + +A faculty that in the Emperor has developed with the years is that of +applying a sense of humour, not originally small, to the events of +everyday life. He is always ready to joke with his soldiers and +sailors, with artists, professors, ministers--in short, with men of +every class and occupation. Several stories in illustration of his +humour are current, but a homely example or two may here suffice. He +is sitting in semi-darkness in the parquet at the Royal Opera House. +"Le Prophete" is in rehearsal, and it is the last act, in which there +is a powder cask, ready to blow everything to atoms, standing outside +the cathedral. Fraulein Frieda Hempel, as the heroine, appears with a +lighted torch and is about to take her seat on the cask. Suddenly the +imperial voice is heard from the semi-gloom: "Fraulein Hempel, it is +evident you haven't had a military training or you wouldn't take a +light so near a barrel of gunpowder." And the _prima donna_ has to +take her place on the other side of the stage. Or he is presenting +Professor Siegfried Ochs, the famous manager of the Philharmonic +Concerts, with the Order of the Red Eagle, third class, and with a +friendly smile gracefully excuses himself for conferring an "Order of +the third class on a musician of the first class," by pleading +official rule. A third popular anecdote tells of a lady seated beside +him at the dinner-table. Salad is being offered to her, but she thinks +she is bound to give all her attention to the Emperor and takes no +notice of it. Thereupon the Emperor: "Gnadige Frau, an Emperor can +wait, but the salad cannot." Possibly the Emperor had in mind Louis +XIII, who complained that he never ate a plate of warm soup in his +life, it had to pass through so many hands to reach him. + +The German takes his theatre as he takes life, seriously. To cough +during a performance attracts embarrassing attention, a sneeze almost +amounts to misdemeanour. To the German the theatre is a part of the +machinery of culture, and accordingly he is not so easily bored as the +Anglo-Saxon playgoer, who demands that drama shall contain that great +essential of all good drama, action. To the Anglo-Saxon, the more +plentiful and rapid the action is, the better. The German, differing +from most Anglo-Saxons, likes historical scenes, great processions, +costume festivals, the representation of mediaeval events in which his +monarchs and generals played conspicuous parts. The Emperor has the +same disposition and taste. + +Yet both national taste and disposition, like other of the nation's +characteristics, are slowly altering with the growth of the modern +spirit, and Germans now begin to require something of a more modern +kind, a more social order, something that comes home more to their +business and bosoms. Greater variety in subject is asked for, more +laughter and tears, more representations of scenes and life dealing +with everyday doings and the fate of the people as distinguished from +the doings and fate of their rulers and the upper classes. The Emperor +has not followed his people in the new direction. He regards the stage +as a vehicle of patriotism, an instrument of education, a guider of +artistic taste, an inculcator of old-time morality. Its aim, he +appears to think, is not to help to produce, primarily, the good man +and good citizen, but the good man and good monarchist, +and--perhaps--not so much primarily the good monarchist as the liege +subject of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Having secured this, he looks for +the elevation of the public taste along his own lines. He assumes that +the public taste can be elevated from without, from above, when it can +only be elevated proportionately with its progress in general +education and its purification from within. Consequently he is for the +"classical," as in the other arts. But apart from its aims and uses, +the theatre has always appealed to him. His fondness for it is a +Hohenzollern characteristic, which has shown itself, with more or less +emphasis, in monarch after monarch of the line. Nor is it surprising +that monarchs should take pleasure in the stage, since the theatre is +one of the places which brings them and their subjects together in the +enjoyment of common emotions, and shows them, if only at second hand, +the domestic lives of millions, from personal acquaintance with which +their royal birth and surroundings exclude them. + +The Emperor treats all artists, male and female, in the same friendly +and unaffected manner. There is never the least soupcon of +condescension in the one case or flirtation in the other, but in both +a lively and often unexpectedly well-informed interest in the play or +other artistic performance of the occasion, and in the actors' or +actresses' personal records. The nationality of the artist has +apparently nothing to do with this interest. The Emperor invites +French, Italian, English, American or Scandinavian artists to the +royal box after a performance as often as he invites the artists of +his own country, and, once launched on a conversation, nothing gives +him more pleasure than to expound his views on music, painting, or the +drama, as the case may be. "Tempo--rhythm--colour," he has been heard +to insist on to a conductor whom in the heat of his conviction he had +gradually edged into a corner and before whom he stood with +gesticulating arms--"All the rest is _Schwindel_." At an entertainment +given by Ambassador Jules Cambon at the French Embassy after the +Morocco difficulty had been finally adjusted, he became so interested +while talking to a group of French actors that high dignatories of the +Empire, including Princes, the Imperial Chancellor and Ministers, +standing in another part of the _salon_, grew impatient and had to +detach one of their number to call the Emperor's attention to their +presence. Since then, it is whispered, it has become the special +function of an adjutant, when the occasion demands it, diplomatically +and gently to withdraw the imperial _causeur_ from too absorbing +conversation. + +Several anecdotes are current having reference to the Emperor as +sportsman. One of them, for example, mentions a loving-cup of +Frederick William III's time, kept at the hunting lodge of Letzlingen, +which is filled with champagne and must be emptied at a draught by +anyone visiting the lodge for the first time. This is great fun for +the Emperor, who a year or two ago made a number of Berlin guests, +including Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Austrian Ambassador, +Szoghenyi-Marich, the Secretary for the Navy, Admiral von Tirpitz, and +the Crown Prince of Greece stand before him and drain the cup. As the +story goes, "the attempts of the guests to drink out of the heavy cup, +which is fixed into a set of antlers in such a way as to make it +difficult to drink without spilling the wine, caused great amusement." + +The principles of sport generally, it may be here interpolated, are +not quite the same in Germany as in England, though no country has +imitated England in regard to sport so closely and successfully as +Germany. Up to a comparatively few years ago the Germans had neither +inclination nor means for it, and though always enthusiastic hunters, +hunting--not the English fox-hunting, but hunting the boar and the +bear, the wolf and the deer--was almost the sole form of manly sport +practised. _Turnen_, the most popular sort of German indoor +gymnastics, only began in 1861, a couple of years after the birth of +the Emperor. There are now nearly a dozen cricket clubs alone in +Berlin, football clubs all over the Empire, tennis clubs in every +town, rowing clubs at all the seaports and along the large rivers, +nearly all following English rules and in numerous cases using English +sporting terms. At the same time sport is not the religion it is in +England--indeed, to keep up the metaphor, hardly a living creed. + +The German attitude towards sport is not altogether the same as the +English attitude. In England the object of the game is that the best +man shall win, that he shall not be in any way unfairly or unequally +handicapped _vis-a-vis_ his opponent, and the honour, not the +intrinsic value of the prize, is the main consideration. These +principles are not yet fully understood or adopted in Germany, +possibly owing to the early military training of the German youth +making the carrying off the prize anyhow and by any means the main +object. It is _Realpolitik_ in sport, and a _Realpolitik_ which is not +wholly unknown in England; but while the spirit of _Realpolitik_ is +still perceivable in German sport, it is equally perceivable that the +standard English way of viewing sporting competition is becoming more +and more approached in Germany. + +The Emperor is an enthusiastic patron of sport of all healthy outdoor +kinds, not as sympathizing with the English youth's disposition to +regard play as work and work as play, to give to his business any time +he can spare from his sport, but because he estimates at its full +value its place in the national health-budget. His personal likings +are for bear-shooting, deer-stalking, and yachting, but he also wields +the lawn-tennis racket and the rapier with fair skill. The names of +several of his hunting lodges---Rominten, Springe, Hubertusstock, and +so on--are familiar to many people in all countries. Rominten preserve +is in East Prussia, and embraces about four square miles, with +little lakes and some rising ground. September is the Emperor's +favourite month for visiting it. Here one year he shot a famous +eight-and-twenty-ender antelope, which had come across from Russian +territory. Before the present reign the deer, or pig, or other wild +animal used to be beaten up to the royal sportsman of the day, but +that practice has long ceased, and the Emperor has to tramp many a +mile, and at times crawl on all fours for hundreds of yards, to get a +shot. + +We have seen that the Emperor's position as King and Emperor renders +inevitable his adoption, either of natural bent, which is extremely +probable, or from a policy in harmony with the wishes of his people, +of a view of the monarch's office that to perhaps most Englishmen +living under parliamentary rule must seem antiquated, not to say +absurd. This attitude apart, the Emperor possesses, as it is hoped has +been sufficiently shown, as modern and progressive a spirit as any of +his contemporaries. His instant recognition of all useful modern +appliances, particularly, of course, those of possible service in war, +is a prominent feature of his mentality. He went, doubtless, too far +in heralding Count Zeppelin, in 1909, as "the greatest man of the +century," but the very words he chose to use marked his appreciation +of the new aeronautical science Count Zeppelin was introducing. +Similarly, the moment the automobile had entered on the stage of +reliability it won a place in the imperial favour, and is now his most +constant means of locomotion. He has never, it is true, emulated the +enterprise of his son, the Crown Prince, whom Mr. Orville Wright had +as a companion for a quarter of an hour in the air at Potsdam three +years ago, but his interest in the aeroplane is none the less keen +because he is too conscious of his responsibilities to subject his +life to unnecessary risk. + +Before closing our sketch of the Emperor as a man by quoting +appreciations written by two contemporary writers, one German and the +other English, it may be added that there is a statesman still--it is +pleasant to think--alive who could, an he only would, draw the +Emperor's character perfectly, both as man and monarch. Indeed, as has +been seen, he has more than once sketched parts of it in Parliament, +but only parts--the whole character of the Emperor, on all its sides +and in all its ramifications, has yet to be revealed. Here need only +be quoted what Chancellor Buelow--and also, by the way, Princess +Buelow--publicly said about the Emperor as man. The Prince's most +noteworthy statement was made in the Reichstag in 1903, when, in +answer to Leader-of-the-Opposition Bebel, the Prince said, "One thing +at least, the Emperor is no Philistine," and proceeded to explain, +rather negatively and disappointingly, that the Emperor possesses what +the Greeks call megalopsychia--a great soul. One knows but too well +the English Philistine, that stolid, solid, self-sufficient bulwark of +the British Constitution. The German Philistine is his twin brother, +the narrow-minded, conservative burgher. Other epithets the Prince +applied to the imperial character were "simple," "natural," "hearty," +"magnanimous," "clear-headed," and "straightforward"; while Princess +Buelow, during a conversation her husband was having with the French +journalist, M. Jules Huret, in 1907, interjected the remark that he +was "a person of good birth, _fils de bonne maison_, the descendant of +distinguished ancestors, and a modern man of great intelligence." + +But let us see how the Emperor appears to his contemporaries. Dr. Paul +Liman, who has made the most serious attempt to sketch the character +of the Emperor that has yet appeared in German, writes:-- + + "We see in him a nature whose ground-tone is enthusiasm, + phantasy, and a passionate impulse towards action. Filled + with the highest sense of the imperial rights and duties + assigned to him, convinced that these are the direct + expression of a divine will, he has inwardly thrown off the + bonds of modern constitutional ideas and in words recently + spoken, where he claimed responsibility for fifty-eight + million people, converted these ideas into a formula that, + while unconstitutional, is yet moral and deeply earnest. + These words were doubly valuable as giving insight into the + soul of a man who can be mistaken in his conclusions and + means, but not in his motives, since these are directed to + the general weal. Here, too, we find the explanation of the + fact that at one time he comes before us surrounded with the + blue and hazy nimbus of the romantic period, and at another + as the most modern prince of our time. Out of the rise in + him of the consciousness of majesty there grows a greater + sense of duty, and instead of keeping watch from his turret + over his people he loses himself in detail. And precisely + here must he fail, because modern life with its development + is far too rich in complications and activities to admit of + its submitting to patriarchal benevolence. And because an + artistic strain and a strong fantasy simultaneously work in + him, he moves joyfully beyond the limits of the actual to + raise before our eyes the highly coloured dream of the + picture of a time in which all men, all nations, will be + friendly and reconciled--an artist's dream. Here is + something characteristic, something unusual, to give + particular charm to a personality which has no parallel in + the history of the dynasty hitherto. There may be concealed + in it the seed of illustrious deeds, but only too often + disappointment and contempt lie scornfully in wait when the + deed is accomplished. For the heaven we erect on earth + always comes to naught, and the idealist is always + vanquished in the strife with fact." + +So far, Dr. Liman. Mr. Sydney Brooks, in a sketch in _Maclure's +Magazine_ for July, 1910, writes:-- + + "The drawback to any and to every _regime_ of paternal + absolutism is that the human mind is limited. The Kaiser + will not admit it, but his acts prove it. It is not given to + one man to know more about everything than anybody else + knows about anything; and the Kaiser, who is a good deal of + a dilettante, and believes himself omniscient, at times + speaks from a lamentable half-knowledge, and occasionally + has to call in the imperial authority to back up his + verdicts against the judgments of experts. + + "Unquestionably his mind is of an unusual order. It is a + facile, quickly moving instrument; it works in flashes; it + assimilates seemingly without effort, and it is at its best + under the highest pressure. The Kaiser is not to be laughed + at for wanting to know all there is to be known, but he may + justly be criticized for failing to distinguish between the + attempt and its failure.... + + "Is it all charlatanerie? Is it all of a part with his + speech in Russian to the regiment of which the Czar made him + honorary colonel, a studied trumpery effort, designed for a + momentary effect? Is the Kaiser just glitter and tinsel, + impulse and rhapsody, with nothing solid beneath? Is it his + supreme object to make an impression at any cost, to force, + like another Nero, the popular applause by arts more + becoming to a _cabotin_ than a sovereign? Vanity, + restlessness, a consuming desire for the palm without the + dust--an intense and theatrical egotism--are these the + qualities that give the clue to his character and actions? + + "I do not think so altogether. The Kaiser has scattered too + much. In an age of specialists on many subjects he speaks + like an amateur. He is always the hero, and often the + victim, of his own imagination; like a star actor, he cannot + bear to be outshone; he is morbidly, almost pruriently, + conscious of the effect he is producing. And on all matters + of intellect and taste his influence makes for blatant + mediocrity. But he is not meretricious; at bottom he is not + by any means as superficial and insincere as he often seems. + He is one of those men in whom an instinct becomes an + immutable truth, an idea a conviction, and a suspicion a + certainty, by an almost instantaneous process; and, the + process completed, action follows forthwith. The Kaiser is + always resolved to do the right thing; the right thing, by + some quaint but invariable coincidence, is whatever he is + resolved to do." + +These appreciations from afar may be as sound as they are brilliant, +but they rather refer to the non-essential parts of the character of +the Emperor in the first flush of imperial glory than to the essential +character as it has developed with the years. + +As a man--he will be dealt with as monarch presently--his essential +character must be judged from his conduct, and conduct extending over +a good many years. One might say, conduct and reputation, but that +reputation is so often the result of a confused mixture of superficial +observation, gossip, tittle-tattle, envy, hatred and uncharitableness, +and, in the case of an Emperor, of merely picturesque and effective +writing. + +There is another source which would materially help us in forming a +judgment, but it is wholly wanting in the case of the Emperor. No +private correspondence of his is, as yet, available to the world. + +Again, a man's character is determined by his motives, if it is not +the other way about; in any case, a man's motives are for the most +part inscrutable and can only be deduced from conduct, while the world +usually makes the mistake of explaining conduct by attributing its own +motives. Tried, then, by the standard of conduct, the only one +available, the Emperor, as a man, shows us a high type of humanity. It +may not, probably does not, appeal to Englishmen wholly, but there are +features of it which must command, and do command, the respect of +people of all nationalities. And, first of all, he is a good man; good +as a Christian, good as a husband, good as a father, good as a +patriot. With all the power and temptation to gratify his +inclinations, he has no personal vices of the baser sort. He is +moderate in the satisfaction of his appetites, whether for food or +wine. He is no debauchee, no voluptuary, no gambler. He is faithful to +old friends and comrades. He has high ideals, and is not ashamed of +them. He is neither indolent nor fussy; neither a cynic, nor an +intriguer, nor a fool; he is neither wrong-headed nor stubborn; he is +honest and sincere to a degree that does him honour as a man, if it +has sometimes proved perilous and blameworthy in him as a monarch. He +is optimistic, and on good grounds. He is no physical or intellectual +giant, but he is a man of more than average all-round intelligence and +capacity. If this appreciation is correct, or even approximately +correct, it is a testimonial, whatever may be its worth, to great +merit. + +Yet the Emperor as man has his failings and drawbacks, though they are +such as time is almost sure to diminish or eradicate. Notably in his +earlier years he lacked judgment, the power of balancing +considerations and arriving at conclusions from them which men more +gifted with poise would endorse as logical and inevitable. He does +not, like spare Cassius, see quite through the deeds of men, as his +friendship for Count Phili Eulenburg and the malodorous "Camarilla" go +to show, and his choice of Imperial Chancellors, his grand viziers, +has not in every instance been happy. He has less tact than character, +as he showed once in Vienna, where he greatly pained the Foreign +Minister, Count Goluchowski, one day at a club by calling to him, +"Golu, Golu, come and sit beside your Kaiser." He has the German +masculine enjoyment in a kind of humour which would have delighted Fox +and the three-bottle men, but would sadly shock the susceptibilities +of an Oxford aesthete. He has a share of personal vanity, but it +springs from the desire to look the Emperor he is, not because he +supposes for a moment that he is an Adonis. He is theatrical in +exactly the same spirit--the desire imperially to impress his folk in +the sense of the German word _imponieren_, a word that needs no +translation. If he has lost much of Dr. Liman's "romantik," he still +retains the "scatteredness" of Mr. Sidney Brooks, though the Emperor +would rather hear it called "many-sidedness." _En resume_ he has the +defects of his qualities, but to no man or woman's unmerited loss or +injury, and if we weigh the good qualities with the bad, we find a +fine balance remaining to his credit as a man. + +The fierce light which beats upon a throne, if it is apt to dazzle the +bystander, helps those at a distance, especially in these days of the +still fiercer light of modern publicity, to judge fairly the throne's +occupant. The character of the Emperor as monarch ought, therefore, as +far as is possible in the absence of archives marked "secret and +confidential" and yet lying in the ministries of all countries, to +disclose itself nowadays with reasonable clearness. Yet, even still, +different and conflicting opinions regarding it are to be gathered in +Germany and out of it. + +Indeed, his own people are among the severest critics. One of them, +Professor Quidde, early in the reign, made an extraordinarily +ingenious, but quite unjustifiable, comparison of him to Caligula, +which, though only consisting of classical quotations and making no +mention of the Emperor, was seen by everybody to refer to him and has +caused discussion ever since. While many foreign critics have done the +Emperor justice, others in turn have made him out to be arrogant, +snobbish, bombastic, superficial, incompetent, and insincere. To +writers of this class he is always the German War Lord, ready to +pounce, like a highwayman or pirate, on any unprotected person or +property he may come across, regardless of treaty obligations, of +international disaster, or of the dictates of humanity. One day they +announce he is planning the annexation of Holland in order to get a +further set of naval bases, the next that he means to take Belgium to +make a road for his armies into France, a third that he is about to +set at naught the Monroe doctrine and with his Dreadnoughts seize +Brazil. All these things are conceivable and not impossible, but they +are in the very highest degree improbable, and, as yet at least, ought +not to be considered seriously. To sensible and better-informed people +everywhere he is a Prussian king of the best type, a sincere friend of +peace, with a mania for pushing the maxim "_Si vis pacem para bellum_" +to extremes, politically the most influential man in Europe, and, with +all his faults, one of the greatest Germans of his time. + +The character of the Emperor, as monarch, is reflected very largely in +the character of the Germany of to-day. + +Germany is optimistic, ardently desirous of peace, bent on worthily +maintaining the great place she has won, and deserved to win, among +the nations, and so materially prosperous as to make many Germans +tremble at the thought that the prosperity may be too great to last. +This, however, is not to assert that in Germany everything is _couleur +de rose_. There are not a few things in the Empire's social and +political conditions which are antiquated or promise no good. Noxious +as well as beneficial forces have been introduced into the social life +of the country and are beginning to make themselves felt. German +home-life is ceasing to be the admirable and exemplary thing it was +before the present era of class rivalry, commercialism, the parvenu +and the snob. The idealism which made the Empire a possibility is +passing away. There is need, and a general demand, for franchise +reform in Prussia, and a change in the spirit of Prussian bureaucratic +administration would be acceptable, though it is, perhaps, hopeless to +expect it. The opposition in Germany between the monarchic and the +democratic principle, if not more marked than it was twenty or thirty +years ago, is manifesting itself over a wider and perhaps deeper area. +The relations between capital and labour are far from satisfactory +adjustment. Social democracy is yearly gaining fresh adherents, and if +guilty of no political violence, is yet a constant source of danger to +domestic peace. The German middle class, that bourgeoisie which is the +backbone and strength of the Empire, is losing its Spartan simplicity +and its content with small and moderate pleasures; and the national +virtues of thrift and self-denial are yielding to the temptations of +wealth and luxury. Business credit is unduly stretched, speculation in +land has attained disturbing proportions, and the banking world is in +too many instances allied with hazardous or doubtful enterprises. +Nevertheless the country as a whole is sound, intellectually, morally, +and financially. + +It would be difficult to mention any of the greater tasks of imperial +administration to which the Emperor does not continue to devote +personal attention. He is the life and soul of the army and navy, +though it should not be forgotten that as regards the latter he has in +Admiral Tirpitz an executive talent worthy of his own directive. His +interest in the mercantile marine remains what it was when in 1887, as +Prince William, he drew up an expert opinion which decided the +Hamburg-Amerika Company to build their fast ocean-going steamers at +home instead of abroad, and by the success of the experiment commenced +the modern development of Germany's shipbuilding industry. Indeed, his +attention to the Hamburg line, familiarly known as the "Hapag" line, +from the initial letters of its legal title, "Hamburg-Amerika +Packetfahrt-Aktien Gesellschaft," and to the Norddeutsche line from +Bremen, has given rise to the unfounded belief that he is heavily +interested in their financial success. Herr Albert Ballin, the +Director of the Hamburg line, though a Jew, is among his intimates and +advisers, and the Emperor is said to have caused umbrage more than +once to Court officials and the aristocracy by giving directors of +both lines precedence at his table. Without the Emperor's personal +support it is probable that neither the firm of Krupp at Essen nor the +splendid shipbuilding yards at Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin and elsewhere +would continue to progress as they are doing. He neglects no +opportunity of stimulating Germany's internal and external trade. +He is at all times ready to encourage the introduction of useful +achievements of modern science and invention. And lastly, by +tactful treatment of other German rulers, and a wise policy of +non-interference with their States, he is promoting a feeling of +federal solidarity. + +The Emperor's conception of his relations to the people remains to-day +what he was brought up in and what it was when he mounted the throne. +In England, America, and France the people are the real rulers, and +their monarch or president is their highest official servant and +representative. The idea is not perhaps constitutionally expressed, +but it is universally and deeply felt in the countries named. In +Germany the opposite theory obtains--for how long it must be left to +the future to say. In Germany the Emperor is the real ruler, the +genuine monarch, and the people are his subjects, the country his +country. Hence, while an English king in an official document or +public statement would not think of putting himself first and the +people or country second, the German Emperor's official statements and +speeches constantly repeat such expressions as "I and my people," "I +and the army," "my capital," "me and the Fatherland," and a score +more; so that Anglo-Saxons and other foreigners acquire the impression +that the word "my" is no figure of rhetoric or pride, but a simple +claim of ownership or possession. And the official relation between +monarch and people is reflected in the people's ordinary life. To the +foreigner it continually appears that the public are the servants of +the official, not the contrary, whether officialism takes the shape of +a post-office clerk, a tramcar conductor, a shop salesman, a +policeman, or a waiter. All these functionaries are the possessors of +an authority which the citizen is expected to, and usually does, obey. +The explanation of such a state of things is a little abstruse, but an +attempt may be made at giving it. + +The period immediately preceding the reign of Frederick the Great was +a period of absolute monarchy in Germany, a system introduced from +France, where Louis XIV had proclaimed the doctrine _L'etat, c'est +moi_, according to which the lives and property of the subject +belonged to the Prince, whose will was to be obeyed without question +or demur. There were now four hundred courts in Germany in imitation +of the Court of Versailles, and the smaller the principality the +greater the absolutism. Absolutism, however, required an army to +support it; hence the establishment of standing and mercenary armies +and the disuse of arms by the citizen. The result, to quote Professor +Ernst Richard's work on "German Civilization," was that + + "the pride of the burgher and the peasant was broken. A + submissive servility hopelessly pervaded the masses, and + even the best had lost all social and national feeling, all + sense of being part of a greater body.... The luxurious life + and the arrogance of the ruling classes were accepted as a + matter of course, one might say as a divine institution. + Thus those traits of character, which had come to light + under the cruel stress of the Thirty Years War, fostered by + the rule of despotism and the worst vices, took deeper root. + To these belong that greed for social position, for titles + and the smiles of the great; servility towards those who + hold a higher position as bearers of official titles and + dignity, a fear of publicity, above all a rather remarkable + inclination to a peevish, petty, and sceptical attitude as + regards the knowledge and ability of others. The exaltation + of the position of the prince extended to his Court and his + officials, as well as to the nobility, which had long since + become a Court nobility." + +But absolutism had to go with the changes in human thought under the +influence of Rationalism, which brought with it the idea of the State, +not the absolute prince, as ruler. This idea was embodied in the +_Rechtstaat_, or State based on law, which was introduced by Frederick +the Great, the "first servant of the State." The State, he said, +exists for the sake of the citizens. "One must be insane," he wrote, + + "to imagine that men should have said to one of their + equals, 'We will raise you so that we may be your slaves, we + will give you the power to guide our thoughts according to + yours.' They rather said: 'We need you in order to execute + our laws, that you show us the way, and defend us. But we + understand that you will respect our liberties.'" + +The _Rechtstaat_ exists in Germany to the present day, the Emperor is +at the head of it, and the people are content to live within its +confines. It is not, as has been seen, coterminous with the whole +liberty of the subject, but is yet a vast bundle of rights and +obligations which in public, and much of private, life leaves as +little as possible to the unaided or undirected intelligence or +goodwill of the citizen. It is an exaggeration, but still expresses a +popular feeling even in Germany itself--and certainly describes an +impression made on the Anglo-Saxon--to say that outside this bundle of +laws and regulations, which, clearly and logically paragraphed, orders +to a nicety all the public, and many of the private, relations of the +citizens, everything is forbidden or discouraged by authority. Yet, as +has been said, the people are satisfied with it, and it must be +admitted that if it confines individual liberty within what to the +Anglo-Saxon seem narrow limits, still, by directing the individual to +common ends, it works great public advantage. It is in truth a very +intelligent and practical form of Socialism, infinitely less +oppressive to the people than would be the socialism of the professed +Socialist. + +It left, however, the German caste system of Frederick's day +undisturbed; as Professor Richard says: + + "The nobility retained its privileged position. It was + considered a law of nature that the noblemen should assist + the monarch in the administration of the State and as + leaders of the army; the peasant should cultivate the fields + and provide food; the commoner should provide money through + industry and commerce." + +To the Anglo-Saxon, of course, brought up with individualistic views +of life and demanding complete personal freedom, the German +_Rechtstaat_ would be galling, not to say intolerable. The Englishman, +however, has his _Rechtstaat_ too, but the limits it places on his +liberty are not nearly so restrictive in regard to public meeting, +public talking, public writing, in short, public action of all sorts, +as in Germany. Besides, the spirit of laws in England, as naturally +follows from the Englishman's political history, is a much more +liberal one than the German spirit, which is still to some extent +under the influence of the age of absolutism. + +The German conception of the _Rechtstaat_ entails, as one of its +consequences, a sharp contrast between the rights and privileges of +the Crown and the rights and privileges of the people; and therefore, +while the Emperor is never without apprehension that the people may +try to increase their rights and privileges at the expense of those of +the Crown, the people are not without apprehension that the Crown may +try to increase its rights and privileges at the expense of the +political liberties of the people. To this apprehension on the part of +the people is to be attributed their widespread dissatisfaction with +the Emperor's so-called "personal regiment," which, until recently, +was the chief hindrance to his popularity. In truth the Emperor is in +a difficult position. To be popular with the people he must be popular +with the Parliament, but if he were to seek popularity with the +Parliament he would lose popularity and prestige with the aristocracy +and large landowners, who have still a good deal of the old-time +contempt for the mere "folk," the burgher, and he would lose it with +the military officer class, which is aristocratic in spirit, and is, +as the Emperor is constantly assuring it, the sole support of throne +and Empire. In addition to this it has to be remembered that a large +majority of South Germany is Catholic, and, generally speaking, no +great lover of Prussia, its people, and their airs of stiff +superiority. + +The personal relations of the Emperor to his people, and in especial +to the vast burghertum, are precisely those to be expected from his +traditional and constitutional relations. He is not popular, but he is +widely and sincerely respected. His preference for the army, +intelligible though it is, and the cleavage that separates Government +and people, explain to some extent the want of popularity, using +that word in its "popular" sense; while the consciousness of all +the nation owes to his "goodwill," his initiative and energy, his +conscientiousness in all directions, is quite sufficient to account +for the respect. It is, in truth, in part at least, the respect which +excludes the popularity. No one is ever likely to be popular, +anywhere, who is constantly endeavouring to teach people how to live +and what to think, and at the same time seems to have no social +weaknesses to reconcile him with those--no small number--who are fond +of cakes and ale. Some of the Emperor's acts and speeches have +postponed, if not precluded, eventual popularity--his breach with +Bismarck, for example, the whole "personal regiment," and speeches +like that at Potsdam in 1891, when he told his recruits that if he had +to order them to shoot down their brothers, or even their parents, +they must obey without a murmur. Speeches of this last kind live long +in public memory. In his dealings with his people the Emperor is +neither arrogant--"high-nosed" is the elegant German expression: +"arrogant" is no German word, Prince Buelow would doubtless say-- +towards his subjects, nor are they cringing towards him, though this +statement does not exclude the excusable embarrassment an ordinary +mortal may be expected to feel in the presence of a monarch. The +Emperor himself desires no "tail-wagging" from his subjects, and +though there is something of the autocrat in him, there is nothing of +the despot. + +Certainly for the present, Germans, with rare exceptions, are +satisfied with him. They are prospering under him. The shoe pinches +here and there, and if it pinches too hard they will cry out and +perhaps do more than cry out. They do not consider the Emperor +perfect, but they forgive his errors, and particularly the errors of +his impetuous youth, even though on three or four occasions they +brought the country into danger. Monarchy has been defined as a State +in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person +doing interesting things: a republic, as a State in which the +attention is divided between many who are all doing uninteresting +things: Germans find their Emperor interesting, and that is a stage on +the road to popularity. + +The imperial ego, which is quite consistent with the German view of +monarchical rule and conformity with the _Rechtstaat_, is specially +advertised by the pictures and statues of the Emperor which are to be +found all over Germany, to the apparent exclusion of the pictures and +statues of national and local men of distinction. The Emperor's +picture almost monopolizes the walls of every public and municipal +office, every railway-station refreshment-room, every shop, every +restaurant throughout the Empire. Wherever it turns the eye is +confronted by the portrait or bust of the Emperor, and if it is not +his portrait or bust, it is the portrait or bust of one or other of +his ancestors. An exception should be made in the case of Bismarck, +the reproduction of whose rugged features, shaggy eyebrows, and bulky +frame are not infrequent; statues and portraits, too, of Moltke and +Roon, though much more rarely met with than those of Bismarck, are to +be seen, while those of Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Lessing, Wagner, or +other German "Immortal," are still rarer. Only once, or perhaps twice, +in all Germany is there to be found a public statue of Heine--for +Heine was a Jew and said many unpleasant, because true, things about +his country. The travelling foreigner in Germany after a while begins +to wonder if he is not in some far Eastern country where +ancestor-worship obtains, and where one tremendous personality +overshadows, obscures, and obliterates all the rest. In truth, +however, this is not the lesson of the imperial images for the +foreigner. They teach him that he is in a country with a system of +government and views of the State different from his own, that the +Empire is ruled in a military, not a civic spirit, and that the +counterfeit presentment of the Emperor, always in dazzling uniform, is +the sign of the national acceptance of system, views, and spirit. + +A similar lesson is taught by the Emperor's speeches. In England the +King rarely speaks in public, and then with well-calculated brevity +and reserve. In five words he will open a museum and with a sentence +unveil a monument. The Emperor's speeches fill four stout volumes--and +he is only fifty-four. The speeches deal with every sort of topic, and +have been delivered in all parts of the Empire--now to Parliament, now +to his assembled generals, now at the celebration of some national or +individual jubilee, now at the dedication of a building or the opening +of a bridge. The style is always clear and logical, in this respect +contrasting favourably with the German style of twenty years ago, when +the language wriggled from clause to clause in vermiform articulations +until the thought found final expression in a mob of participles and +infinitives. Metaphors abound in the speeches, some of them slightly +far-fetched, but others of uncommon beauty, appropriateness, and pith. +There is no brilliant employment of words, but not seldom one comes +across such terse and happy phrases as the famous "We stand under the +star of commerce," "Our future lies on the water," "We demand a place +in the sun." + +On the English reader the speeches will be apt to pall, unless he is +thoroughly saturated with Prussian historic, military, and romantic +lore and can place himself mentally in the position of the Emperor. +The tone, never quite detached from consciousness of the imperial ego, +hardly ever descends to the level of familiar conversation nor rises +to heights of eloquence that carry away the hearer. With three or four +exceptions, there is no argumentation in the speeches, for they are +not meant to persuade or convince, but to enjoin and command. They do +not contain any of the important and interesting facts and figures of +which, nevertheless, the Emperor's mind must be full, and they are +wanting in wit and humour, though nature has endowed the Emperor with +both. + +On the other hand, it should be remembered that they are the speeches +of an Emperor, not of a statesman. The speeches have no political +timeliness or object save that of rousing and directing imperial +spirit among the people by appeals to their imagination and +patriotism. Had the Emperor been actuated by the spirit of a Minister +or statesman, he would have been far more alive to the fact than he +appears to have been, that every word he uttered would instantly find +an echo in the Parliament, Press, and Stock Exchange of all other +countries. + +The Emperor's fundamental mistakes, as disclosed by his speeches, +appear to an Englishman to have been in assuming when they were made +that the Empire was in a less advanced stage of consolidation and +settlement than it in fact was, and in underrating the intelligence, +knowledge, and patriotism of his people. From this point of view his +early speeches in particular sound jejune or superfluous. What would +the Englishman say to a king who began his reign by a series of +homilies on Alfred the Great or Elizabeth or Queen Victoria; by using +strong language about the Labour party or the Fabian Society; by +appeals to throne and altar; by describing to Parliament the chief +duties of the monarch; by recommending the London County Council to +build plenty of churches; by calling journalists "hunger-candidates"; +by frequent references to the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar? Yet, +_mutatis mutandis_, this is not so very unlike what the young Emperor +did, and not for a year or two, but for several years after his +accession. To an Englishman such addresses would appear rather +ill-timed academic declamation. + +Yet there was much, and perhaps is still much, to account for, if not +quite justify, the Emperor's rhetoric. The peculiarity of Germany's +monarchic system placed, and places, the monarch in a patriarchal +position not very different from that of Moses towards the +Israelites--a leader, preacher, and prophet. Again, the Empire, when +the Emperor came to the throne, was not a homogeneous nation inspired +by a centuries-old national spirit, but suffered, as it still in a +measure suffers, from the particularism of the various kingdoms and +States composing it: in other words, from too local a patriotism and +stagnation of the imperial idea. Thirdly, the Empire had no navy, +while an Empire to-day without a navy is at a tremendous and dangerous +disadvantage in world-politics, and the mere conception that a navy +was indispensable had to be created in a country lying in the heart of +Europe and with only one short coast-line. + +The Englishman is as loyal to his King as the German is to his +Emperor, and England, as little as Germany, is disposed to change from +monarchy to republicanism. But the Englishman's political and social +governor, guide, and executive is not the King, but the Parliament; +because while in the King he has a worthy representative of the +nation's historical development and dignity, in the Parliament he sees +a powerful and immediate reflection of himself, his own wishes, and +his own judgments. Moreover, with the spread of democratic ideas, the +position of a monarch anywhere in the civilized world to-day is not +what it was fifty years ago. The general progress in education since +then; the drawing together of the nations by common commercial and +financial interests; the incessant activity of writers and publishers; +the circulation and power of the Press--themselves almost threatening +to become a despotism--such facts as these tend to change the +relations between kings and peoples. Monarchs and men are changing +places; the ruler becomes the subject, the subject ruler; it is the +people who govern, and the monarch obeys the people's will. + +Such is not the view of the German Emperor nor of the German people. +To both the monarch is no "shadow-king," as both are fond of calling +the King of England, but an Emperor of flesh and blood, commissioned +to take the leading part in decisions binding on the nation, +responsible to no one but the Almighty, and the sole bestower of State +honours. There are, it is true, three factors of imperial government +constitutionally--the Emperor, the Federal Council, and the Imperial +Parliament; but while the Council has only very indirect relations +with the people, the Parliament, a consultative body for legislation, +is not the depositary of power or authority, or an assembly to which +either the Emperor, or the Council, or the Imperial Chancellor is +responsible. It must be admitted that, while such is the +constitutional theory, the actual practice is to a considerable extent +different. The Emperor is no absolute monarch, even in the domain of +foreign affairs, as he is often said to be, but is influenced and +guided, certainly of late years, both by the Federal Council and by +public opinion, the power of which latter has greatly augmented in +recent times. Whether the Reichstag really represents public opinion +in the Empire is a moot-point in Germany itself. It can hardly be +denied that it does so, at least in financial matters, since with +regard to them it has all the powers, or almost all, possessed by the +English House of Commons in this respect. Where its powers fail, it is +said, is in regard to administration; for though it deliberates on and +passes legislation, it is left by the Constitution to the Emperor and +his Ministers to issue instructions as to how legislation is to be +carried into effect. The result is to throw excessive power over +public comfort and convenience into the hands of the official class of +all degrees, which naturally employs it to maintain its own dignity +and privileged position. + +Towards one class of the population, and that a highly important and +exceptional one, the Emperor's attitude of unprejudiced goodwill has +never varied. Israelites form only a small proportion--about 1 per +cent.--of the whole people, and are to be found in very large numbers +only in Berlin and Frankfurt; but to their financial and commercial +ability Germany owes a debt one may almost describe as incalculable. +There is a strong national prejudice against them in all parts of the +Empire, as there probably is in all countries, and it must be admitted +that the manners and customs of the lower-class Jew, his unpleasant +and insistent curiosity, his intrusiveness where he is not desired, +his want of cleanliness, his sharpness at a bargain, his oily bearing +to those he wishes to propitiate and his ruthless sweating of the +worker in all fields when in his power, are all disagreeable personal +qualities. There is also, as a concomitant of the nation's growth in +wealth of every sort, and mostly perhaps to be found in the capital a +class of Jewish parvenu, remarkable for snobbishness, ostentation, and +affectation. + +But one must distinguish; and of a large percentage of the educated +class of Jew in Germany it would be difficult to speak too highly. +Germans may be the "salt of the earth," as the Emperor once told them +they were, but Jewish talent can with quite as much, perhaps more, +justice be called the salt of German prosperity. And not alone in the +region of finance and commerce. Some of the best intellect, most of +the leading enterprise in Germany, in all important directions, is +Jewish. Many of her ablest newspaper proprietors and editors are Jews. +Many of her finest actors and actresses are Jews and Jewesses. Many of +her cleverest lawyers, doctors, and artists are Jews. The career of +Herr Albert Ballin, the Jewish director of the Hamburg-Amerika line, +the Emperor's friend, to whom Germany owes a great deal of her +mercantile marine expansion, is a long romance illustrative of Jewish +organizing power and success. + +The Emperor's friendship for Herr Ballin is obviously not entirely +disinterested, but the interest at the root of it is an imperial one. +In this spirit he cultivates to-day, as he has done since he took over +the Empire, the society of all his subjects, German or Jew, who either +by their talents or through their wealth can contribute to the success +of the mighty task which occupies his waking thoughts, and for all one +knows, his sleeping thoughts--his dreams--as well. Accordingly, the +wealthy German is quite aware that if he is to be reckoned among the +Emperor's friends he must be prepared to pay for the privilege, since +the Emperor is neither slow nor shy about using his influence in order +to make the more fortunate members of the community put their hands +deeply into their pockets for national purposes. A little time ago he +invited a number of merchant princes and captains of industry, as +American papers invariably call wealthy Germans, to a _Bier-abend_ at +the palace. When the score or so of guests were seated, he announced +that he was collecting subscriptions for some public object--the +national airship fund, perhaps--and sent a sheet of paper to Herr +Friedlander Fuld, the "coal-king" of Germany, to head the list. Herr +Fuld wrote down L5,000, and the paper was taken back to the Emperor. +"Oh, this will never do, lieber Fuld," he exclaimed, on seeing the +amount. "At this rate people will be putting down their names for L50. +You must at least double it." And Herr Fuld had to do so. A few weeks +afterwards there was another invitation to the palace, and the same +sort of scene took place. A little later still Herr Fuld got a third +invitation, and as an imperial invitation is equivalent to a command, +he had to go. When he arrived he noticed his fellow-industrials +looking uneasy, not to say sad. The Emperor noticed it too, for his +first words were: "Dear gentlemen, to-night the beer costs nothing." + +Throughout the reign Germany has made it her constant policy to +cultivate friendly relations with the United States. Chancellor von +Buelow, in 1899, apropos of Samoa, said in the Reichstag: "We can +confidently say that in no other country has America during the last +hundred years found better understanding and more just recognition +than in Germany." This is true of the educated classes, professional, +professorial, and scientific; but the ordinary European German, who +does not know and understand America, still displays no particular +love for the ordinary American. At the same time he probably prefers +him to the people of any other nation. American outspokenness in +politics, for example, must be refreshing to minds penned within the +limits of the _Rechtstaat_. He sees in them, too, millionaires, or at +least people who come from a country where money is so abundant that, +as many country-people still think, you have only to stoop to pick it +up. When it comes to business, however, he is a little afraid of their +somewhat too sanguine enterprise, and is given to suspect that a +"bluff" of some sort is behind the simplest business proposition. Much +of this, of course, is due to ignorance heightened by yellow +journalism, for as a rule only the vastly interesting, but mostly +untrue, "stories" regarding Germany printed in the yellow press come +back to the Fatherland. + +The German, again, is made uneasy by what he thinks the hasty manners +of the Americans; he considers them uncivil. So, let it be admitted, +they sometimes appear to be to people of other nationalities; but then +as a rule Americans who jar on European nerves will be found to hail +from places where life, to use the American expression, is "woolly," +or too strenuous to allow of the delicacies of real refinement. The +ordinary idea of the German in Germany, held by the stay-at-home +American, is a vague species of dislike, founded on the conviction +that the American, not the German, is the salt of the earth; that the +German regard for tradition makes them a slow and slowly moving race; +and that the Emperor as War Lord--for he is almost solely known to him +in that capacity--must be ever desirous of war, in particular wishes +to seize a coaling-station or even a country, in South America, and, +generally speaking, set at naught the Monroe doctrine. The Governments +on both sides, of course, know and understand each other better. In +November, 1906, Prince Buelow publicly thanked America for her attitude +at Algeciras, implying that it was due to her representative's +conciliatory and reconciliatory conduct that the Conference did not +end in a fiasco. "This," said the Chancellor, "was the second great +service to the world rendered by America; the other," he added, "being +the bringing about of peace between Russia and Japan." + +A great deal of the increased intercourse between the two countries is +due to the personal endeavours of the Emperor. What his motives are +may be conjectured with fair accuracy from a general knowledge of his +"up-to-date" character, the commercial policy of his Empire, and the +events of recent years. He has a whole-hearted admiration for the +American character and genius, so akin in many ways to his own +character and genius; and if he refuses to recommend for Germans +similar institutions to those in States, federated in a manner +somewhat analogous to that of the kingdoms and States composing his +own Empire, it is not from want of liberality of mind, but because +they are wholly opposed to Prussian tradition, because his people do +not demand them, and because he honestly believes that in respect of +topographical situation, climate, historical development, and race +feelings and sentiment, the safeguards and requirements of Germany are +widely different from those of America. + +As a young man he naturally had very little to do with America or +Americans, though among his schoolboy playmates was a young American, +Poulteney Bigelow, who afterwards wrote an excellent appreciation of +the fine traits in the Emperor's character. At the same time the +Emperor himself has stated that the country always interested him, and +recent visitors bear out the statement fully. In 1889, a year after +his accession, he expressed his admiration for America, when receiving +the American Ambassador, Mr. Phelps. "From my youth on," the Emperor +said, + + "I have had a great admiration for that powerful and + progressive commonwealth which you are called on to + represent, and the study of its history in peace and war has + had for me at all times a special interest. Among the many + distinguished characteristics of your people, which draw to + them the attention of the whole world, are their + enterprising spirit, their love of order, and their talent + for invention. The predominant sentiment of both peoples is + that of affinity and tested friendship, and the future can + only strengthen the heartiness of their relations." + +More than twenty years have elapsed since the words were uttered, and +the prediction has been fulfilled. + +Scores of anecdotes, it need hardly be said, are current in connexion +with the Emperor and American friends. One of them is that of an +American, Mr. Frank Wyberg, the husband of a lady who, with her +children, used often to visit Mr. and Mrs. Armour on their yacht +_Uttowana_ at Kiel, there met the Emperor, and was invariably kindly +greeted by him. Mr. Wyberg was summoned with his friend, General +Miles, to an audience of the Emperor in Berlin. Before going to the +palace Mr. Wyberg went to a well-known picture-dealer in the city and +bought a small but artistic painting costing about L1,000. He had the +picture neatly done up, and carried it off under his arm to the hotel +where he was to meet General Miles. As they were leaving for the +palace the General asked Mr. Wyberg what he was carrying. "Oh, only a +trifle for the Kaiser!" was the reply. The General was horrified, and +tried to dissuade his friend from bringing the picture, telling him +that the proper procedure was to ask through the Foreign Office or the +American Embassy for the Emperor's gracious acceptance of it. +Otherwise the Emperor would be annoyed, he would think badly of +American manners, and so on. Mr. Wyberg, however, was not to be +deterred, and insisted that it would be "all right." While waiting in +the reception-room for the Emperor, Mr. Wyberg unwrapped the picture +and placed it leaning against the wall on a piano. By and by the +Emperor came in, and almost the first thing he said, after shaking +hands, was to ask what the presence of the picture meant. Mr. Wyberg +explained that it was a mark of gratitude for the kindness the Emperor +had shown his wife and children at Kiel. The Emperor smiled, said it +was a very kind thought, and willingly accepted the gift. The story +has a sequel. A day or two after a Court official called at the hotel, +to get from General Miles Mr. Wyberg's initials, and after another few +days had passed reappeared with a bulky parcel. On being opened the +parcel was found to consist of a large silver loving-cup, with Mr. +Wyberg's name chased upon it, and underneath the words, "From Wilhelm +II." + +Another anecdote refers to an American naval attache, a favourite of +the Emperor's. Dinner at the palace was over, and the attache, wishing +to keep a memento of the occasion, took his large menu card and +concealed it, as he thought, between his waistcoat and his shirt. +Unfortunately, when taking leave of the Emperor, the card slipped down +and part of it became visible. The Emperor's quick eye immediately +noticed it. "Hallo! H----," he exclaimed; "look out, your dickey's +coming down!" The story shows the Emperor's acquaintance with English +slang as well as his geniality. + +The Emperor seems to take pleasure in displaying himself to Americans +in as republican a light as possible, and when he desires the company +of an American friend, stands on no sort of ceremony. The American's +telephone bell may ring at any hour of the day or evening, and a voice +is heard--"Here royal palace. His Majesty wishes to ask if the Herr +So-and-So will come to the palace this evening for dinner." On one +occasion this happened to Professor Burgess. The telephone at the +Hotel Adlon in Berlin rang up from Potsdam about six in the afternoon, +and there was so little time for the Professor to catch his train that +he was forced to finish his dressing _en route_. Or the invitation may +be for "a glass of beer" after dinner, about nine o'clock. + +If it is a dinner invitation, the guest, in evening clothes, with his +white tie doubtless a trifle more carefully adjusted than usual, +drives or walks to the palace. He enters a gate on the south side +facing the statue of Frederick the Great, and under the archway finds +a doorway with a staircase leading immediately to the royal apartments +on the first floor. In an ante-room are other guests, a couple of +Ministers, the Rector Magnificus of the university, and perhaps a +"Roosevelt" or "exchange" professor; and if the party is not one of +men only, such as the Emperor is fond of arranging, and the Empress is +expected, the wives also of the invited guests. Without previous +notice the Emperor enters, an American lover of slang might almost say +"blows in," with quick steps and a bustling air that instantly fills +the room with life and energy, and showing a cheery smile of welcome +on his face. The guests are standing round in a half or three-quarter +circle, and the Emperor goes from one to the other, shaking hands and +delivering himself of a sentence or two, either in the form of a +question or remark, and then passing on. When it is not a bachelors' +party, the Empress comes in later with her ladies. A servant in the +royal livery of red and gold, on a signal from the Emperor, throws +open a door leading to the dining-room, and the Emperor and Empress +enter first. The guests take their places according to the cards on +the table. If it is a men's party of, say, four guests, the Emperor +will seat them on his right and left and immediately opposite, with an +adjutant or two as makeweights and in case he should want to send for +plans or books. On these occasions he is usually in the dark blue +uniform of a Prussian infantry general, with an order or two blazing +on his breast. He sits very upright, and starts and keeps going the +conversation with such skill and verve that soon every one, even the +shyest, is drawn into it. There is plenty of argument and divergence +of view. If the Emperor is convinced that he is right, he will, as has +more than once occurred, jestingly offer to back his opinion with a +wager. "I'll bet you"--he will exclaim, with all the energy of an +English schoolboy. He enjoys a joke or witticism immensely, and leans +back in his chair as he joins in the hearty peal about him. When +cigars or cigarettes are handed round, he will take an occasional puff +at one of the three or four cigarettes he allows himself during the +evening, or sip at a glass of orangeade placed before him and filled +from time to time. When he feels disposed he rises, and having shaken +hands with his guests, now standing about him, retires into his +workroom. A few moments later the guests disperse. + +Conversation, both in England and Germany, sometimes turns on the +question whether or not the Emperor will be known to future +generations as William "the Great." It is agreed on all sides that he +will not take a place among the mediocrities or sink into oblivion. We +have, though only negatively and indirectly, his own view of the +matter, if, that is, it may be deduced from the fact that he has more +than once tried to attach this _epitheton ornans_ to the memory of his +grandfather. At Hamburg in 1891 he desired a statue to the Emperor +William I to bear the inscription "William the Great." The cool common +sense of the cautious Hamburgers refused to anticipate the decision of +posterity and placed on the pedestal the simple words "William the +First." In deference to the Emperor's well-known wishes, if not at his +request, the Hamburg-Amerika line of steamers christened one of their +ocean greyhounds _Wilhelm der Grosse_. The mere fact that people +discuss the question in his lifetime is of happy augury for the +Emperor. Perhaps some other epithet will be found for him. "Puffing +Billy" is one of his titles among English officers, taken from the +name given locally to Stephenson's first locomotive. But history has +many ranks in her peerage and many epithets at her disposal--great, +good, fair, lionhearted, silent--_that_ the Emperor will not have--and +a host more. Maybe the greatest rulers were those whom history, as +though in despair of finding a single term with which to do them +justice, has refrained from decorating. Timur, Akbar, Attila, Julius +Caesar, Elizabeth, Victoria, Napoleon have no epithets, and need none. +However, it is clear that a verdict on the Emperor's deserts is +premature. Suppose him at the bar of history. The case is still +proceeding, the evidence is not complete, counsel have not been heard, +and--most obvious defect of any--the jury has not been impanelled. + +More than half a century has passed since the Emperor was born. How +time flies! + + "Alas, alas, O Postumus, Postumus, + The years glide by and are lost to us, lost to us." + +But not the memories they enshrine. It is, let us imagine, the night +of the Emperor's Jubilee, and he lies in the old Schloss, still awake, +reflecting on the past. What a multitude of happenings, gay and grave, +throng to his recollection, what a glorious and crowded canvas unrolls +itself before his mental vision! The toy steamer on the Havel; the +games in the palace corridors, with the grim features of the Great +Elector betrayed, one is tempted to think, into a half-smile as he +watches the innocent gaiety of the romping children from the old +wainscoted walls; the irksome but disciplinary hours in the Cassel +schoolroom; the youthful escapades with those carefree Borussian +comrades at the university on the broad bosom of Father Rhine; the +excursions and picnics among the Seven Hills; the visits to England, +its crowded and bustling capital, its country seats with their +pleasant lawns and stately oaks; the war-ships in the Solent, with +their black mass and frowning guns, as they towered, like Milton's +Leviathan, above his head. + +What a good time it was, and how rich in manifold and picturesque +impressions! + +The canvas continues to unroll and a literary period opens--that age +between youth and manhood, of all ages most passionate and ideal, when +we are enthralled and moved by what we read--by those studies which + + "_adolescentiam agunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res + ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium praebent, delectant + domi, non impediunt foris; pernoctant nobiscum, + peregrinantur, rusticantur_." + +It was the Lohengrin period, when, filled with the ardour and +imaginativeness of high-souled youth, the future Emperor was dimly +thinking of all he would do in the days to come for the happiness and +prosperity of his people, nay, of all mankind. + +Another tableau presents itself. Life has now become real and the +Emperor's soldiering days have begun--never to conclude! His regiment +is his world; parades and drills, the orderly-room and the barrack +square occupy his time; and would seem monotonous and hard but for the +little Eden with its Eve close beside them. + +The Emperor turns uneasily, for his thoughts recur to the painful +circumstances of his accession; but calmness soon succeeds as the +curtain rises on the splendid panorama of the reign. He sees himself, +a young and hitherto unknown actor, leaving the wings and taking the +very centre of the stage, while the vast audience sits silent and +attentive, as yet hardly grasping the significance of his words and +gestures, emphatic though they are. And then he recalls the years of +_Sturm und Drang_, the growth of Empire in spite of grudging rivals +and of fellow-countrymen as yet not wholly conscious of their +destinies, which one can now see constituted a whole drama in +themselves, fraught with great consequences to the world. + +But we are keeping the Emperor awake when he should be left to +well-deserved repose. He has doubtless half forgotten it all; the +Bismarck episode is one of those + + "... old, unhappy, far-off things + And battles long ago" + +of which the poet sings. One unquiet political care excepted, all the +rest must be pleasant for him to remember--the rising with the dawn, +the hurried little breakfast with the Empress, the pawing horses of +the adjutants and escort in the courtyard of the palace; the constant +travelling in and far beyond the Empire; the incessant speech-making, +with its appeals to the past and its promises, nobly realized, of +"splendid days" in the future--its calls to the people to arms, to the +sea, to the workshop, to school, to church, to anything praiseworthy, +provided only it was action for the common good; the dockyards in Kiel +and Danzig, with their noise of "busy hammers closing rivets up"; the +ever-swelling trade statistics; and the proud feeling that at last his +country was coming into her own. + +Even the sensation the Emperor caused from time to time in other +countries must have had a certain charm for him--endless telegrams, +endless scathing editorials, endless movement and excitement. There is +no fun like work, they say. The Emperor worked hard and enjoyed +working. It was the "personal regiment," maybe, and it could not last +for ever; but while it did it was doubtless very gratifying, and, +notwithstanding all his critics say, magnificently successful. + +Those strenuous times are long over, and if strenuous times have yet +to come they will find the Emperor alert and knowing better how to +deal with them. He has, one may be sure, no thoughts of well-earned +rest or dignified repose--he probably never will, with his strong +conception of duty and his interest in the fortunes of his Empire. +Still, he is a good deal changed. Time has taught him more than his +early tutor, worthy Dr. Hinzpeter, ever taught him; and if his spring +was boisterous, and his summer gusty and uncertain, a mellow autumn +gives promise of a hale and kindly winter. + + + + +INDEX + + +Abdul Aziz, 259. + +Absolutism, 2, 295, 368 _seq_. + +Accession, date, I; period, 69 _seq_. + +Achilleion, 317. + +Aegir, Song to, 224. + +Agadir, 264 _seq_. + +Alexandra, Queen, 327. + +Algeciras Conference, 261 _seq_.; + Act of, 262. + +Alsace-Lorraine, 84 _seq_. + +America, + art exhibition, 222; + Germany and, 238; + Frederick the Great and, 242; + squadron at Kiel, 244; + commercial relations with, 331, 380 _seq_. + +Anarchism, 42 _seq_. + +Anglo-French Agreement, 1904, 259 _seq_. + +Anglo-German Agreement, + 1890, 140; + 1904, 335; + relations, 4-7, 243, 282, 335 _seq_. + +Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 201. + +Anti-Semites, 178. + +Arbitration, compulsory, 340. + +Aristocracy, German, 114. + +Armament, limitation of, 340. + +Army, + accession speech to, 69; + importance of, 71; + true character of, 285; + Emperor and, 294. + +Art, Emperor on, 202, 205 _seq_.; + speech to sculptors, 207; + German ideals, 218. + +Attempt on, + Emperor, 202; + on William I, 42. + +Augusta, Empress, wife of William I, 43, 45. + +Auguste, Victoria, present Empress, 37 _seq_. + +"Babel und Bibel," 246. + +Baghdad railway, 200. + +Balkans, 339. + +Ballin, 367. + +Battenberg affair, 55. + +Bebel, August, 58, 90, 359. _See_ Social Democracy + +Bennigsen, von, 13. + +Berlin palace (Schloss), 114. + +Bethmann Hollweg, 322 _seq_. + +Biedermeier time, 167. + +Bismarck, 13; + Empress Fred. and, 44; + William I and, 43 _seq_.; + on Divine Right, 60 _seq_.; + on foreign policy, 76; + resignation, 104,133; + Emperor and, 49, 131; + "blood and iron" speech, 128; + Emperor's account of quarrel with, 135; + journey to Vienna, 141; + death, 143. + +"Bloc" party, 281, 288, 322. + +Boer war, German policy and, 156, 303. + +Bonn, Emperor at, 29; address at, 203. + +Borussia, 30, 36, 203. + +Bosnia and Herzegovina, 329. + +Boulanger, 52, 76. + +Boxer troubles, 46, 194 _seq_. + +Brandon, 338. + +"Brilliant second" speech, 279. + +Brooks, Sydney, 361. + +Buelow, Prince von, 47; + succeeds Hohenlohe, 187; + fainting fit, 322; + resignation, 322. + +Burgess, Prof., 241. + +Butler, Dr. Nicholas Murray, 272. + +Byzantinism, 121 _seq_. + +Cadinen, 334. + +Camarilla, 277 + +Caprivi, von, 141; + treaties, 141, 152 _seq_.; + chancellorship, 151. + +Caroline Islands, 151. + +Casablanca, 264. + +Centrum, 3, 280. + +Chamberlain, Mr., 158, 258. + +Chamberlain, Stewart, 348. + +Chancellor, "responsibility," 289 _seq_. + +China, + relations with, 193; + Boxer indemnity, 197. + +Chun, Prince, 197 _seq_. + +Churchill, Winston, 337. + +Colonial development, 148 _seq_. + +Commercial treaties, 152; American, 331. + +Conscription, 191. + +Constitution, German and British compared, 57. + +Corps, student, 30 _seq_. + +Crefeld, 278. + +Crown Prince, 14, 18; + income, 112; + marriage, 270; + Indian tour, 328; + at English coronation, 339; + in aeroplane, 359. + +Court, + comparison with English, 109; + nobility, 113. + +Cowes, 75. + +_Daily Telegraph_, + interview, 302 _seq_.; + text of, 304; + Buelow and, 311 _seq_.; + Emperor's undertaking, 310. + +Delcasse, 261, 282. + +Delitzsch, Prof., 246. + +Dewey, Admiral, 170. + +Dictator Paragraph, 86. + +Diedrich, Admiral, 170. + +Dingley tariff, 331. + +Disarmament, 317. + +Divine Right, 331 _seq_. + +Dreibund, _see_ Triple Alliance. + +Dreyfus case, 178. + +Dual Alliance. + (Germany and Austria), 79; + (Russia and France), 141. + +Duel, _see_ Mensur. + +Dynasty, _see_ Hohenzollern. + +Education, Emperor on, 98 _seq_. + +Edward VII, + at Kiel, 253; + visits Berlin, 323; + funeral, 327. + +Elector, Great, 64, 72. + +Emperor, + birth, 12; + marriage, 37; + brothers and sisters, 18; + offspring, 40; + first visit England, 20; + at Bonn, 29; + on Art, 207; + and theatre, 355; + on religion, 246; + character, 363 _seq_.; + and people, 368, 372. + +Empress, + present, marriage, 37; + character, 39. + +Farmer, Emperor as, 334. + +Finance reform, 321. + +Fleet, English, at Kiel, 253; + American, 244. _See_ Navy. + +Flora bust, 324 _seq_. + +Foreign policy, in Orient, 199 _seq_.; + Emperor's, 269. + +France, and Germany, 51; + Franco-German Agreement, 1911, 266. + +Frankfort, treaty of, 153. + +Frederick the Great, + death, 120; + tomb, 121; + and navy, 167; + statue, 242; + Emperor and, 251. + +Frederick III, 14; + as Crown Prince, 45; + last illness, 54. + +Frederick, Empress, 15 _seq_.; + Bismarck and, 44; + death, 204. + +Future, "Our future lies on the water," 203. + +General Elections, 280, 333. + +"Germans to the Front," 245. + +Germany, + "Greater," 146; + to-day, 366; + foreign policy, 199, 269. + +George V, 174, 237, 339. + +George, Lloyd, speech, 336. + +Goluchowski, Count, 279. + +Goschen, Lord, 160. + +Government, dynastic not democratic, 56 _seq_. + +Great Elector, + Emperor and, 72; + German navy and, 166. + +Grey, Sir Edward, 338. + +Grieg, composer, 225; death, 287. + +Griscom, ambassador, 319. + +Guelphs, 333. + +Guildhall, speech at, + 1891, 75; + 1907, 283. + +Hamburg-Amerika line, 367. + +Hannover, 333. + +Harvard University, 272. + +Heine, 13, 374. + +Heligoland, 150. + +Henry, Prince, 18; + sent Kiautschau, 165; + visits America, 241. + +Highcliffe Castle, 285. + +Hill, Dr. D.J., 318 _seq_. + +Hinzpeter, Dr., 287. + +Hoedel, attempt, 43. + +Hohenlohe-Schillingsfuerst, Prince, 47; + character, 153; + chancellor, 185; + resigns, 187. + +Hohenzollern, 2, 11, 17, 23, 41, 56, 72; + Divine Right and, 62 _seq_., 332. + +Iltis, gunboat, 195. + +Italy, 261 _seq_. + +Jameson raid, + Emperor's telegram on, 154; + date of, 159. + +Jews, Emperor and, 378. + +Journalists, attack on, 329. + +Junker, 123. + +Ketteler, von, murder of, 195. + +Kiautschau, 145, 150. + +Kiel, canal, 144; + first regatta, do.; + harbour, 168; + American squadron at, 244; + Edward VII at, 253. + +Koenigsberg, speech at, 332. + +Kruger, telegram, the, 154 _seq_.; + European tour, 155. + +_Kulturkampf_, Emperor and, 50. + +Labourdonnais, 167. + +Labour Party, 93. + +Leoncavallo, 253. + +Liberalism, Emperor and, 126. + +Liman, Dr. Paul, 62, 360. + +Limitation of armaments, 340. + +List, Prof., 168. + +Lloyd George, speech, 336. + +Louise, Queen, 41. + +Luderitz, 149. + +Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 16, 54. + +Madrid Convention, 263. + +Magna Charta, Germany's, 1. + +Mahan, Captain, 164. + +Manila, 170. + +Marakesch, 264. + +Marble Palace, 118. + +"March Days," 128 _seq_. + +Mensur, 29 _seq_. + +Menzel, + painter, 179; + death, 255. + +Moabit riots, 329. + +Mommsen, Emperor and, 251. + +Monroe doctrine, 240. + +Morocco, 255 _seq_. + +Navy, German, + First Navy Law, 145; + Prince William and, 163; + early history of, 166; + auctioned, 168; + early proposals, 169 _seq_.; + legislative stages, 171; + Grey's proposal, 317. + +New Palace, Potsdam, 116. + +Nobiling, attempt, 42, 90. +"November Storm," 289 _seq_. + +Open door, The, 257. + +"Our future lies on the water," 203. + +Oxford university, 284. + +Palestine, 145; + journey to, 176. + +Panther, 264. + +Parliament, introduction; + parliamentary rule, 58; + chancellor and, 291; + Emperor and, 294; + _See_ Reichstag. + +"Personal regiment," 289, 296, 371. + +Peters, Carl, 149. + +"Place in the sun," 204. + +Polypus, removed, 250. + +Potsdam, 199. + +Prussia, at Emperor's birth, 12; + Diet, 293; + electoral reform in, 316. + +Quinquennat, 152. + +Raid, Jameson, 159. + +Rationalism, 344, 369. + +Reaction, 123. + +_Realpolitik_, see _Weltpolitik_; + in sport, 357. + +_Rechtstaat_, 369 _seq_. + +Reichstag, introduction, 280, 292 333, 377. + +Reinsurance treaty, 133. + +Religion, Emperor on, 246. + +Rhodes, Cecil, 284. + +Richard, Prof., 370. + +"Roland von Berlin," 253. + +Roosevelt, Alice, 241; + president, 253; + visits Berlin, 325 _seq_.; + professorships, 272. + +Russia and Germany, relations, 80. + +Russo-Japanese war, 252. + +Saladin, 177. + +Samoa, 151. + +Sans Souci, 119, 179. + +Sardanapalus, 235. + +Septennat, 53, 152. + +Seymour, Admiral, 195. + +Shimonoseki, treaty of, 193. + +"Shining armour," 328. + +Social Democracy, introduction; + Emperor and, 87; + history of, 89; + programme, 91; + causes of, 94. + Socialist laws, 103, 279 _seq_. + +Socialism, 92; _See_ Social Democracy. + +Sport, in Germany, 357. + +"Star of commerce," phrase, 165. + +State, German interpretation of, 292. + +Stein, Dr. Adolf, 158. + +Stoessel, General, 195, 253. + +Stone, Melville, 242. + +Suffragettes, Emperor and, 332. + +Sultan, promise to, 145, 177. + +Swinemunde despatch, 244. + +Taku Forts, 195. + +Tangier, 256, 259; + Emperor's speech at, 260, 268. + +Theatre, Emperor on, 230; + Germans and the, 254. + +"Times," the, 297, 299, 301, 324. + +Tirpitz, von, Admiral, 338. + +Tower, ambassador, 318. + +Trade Unionism, 92 _seq_. + +Transvaal, 156 _seq_.; 303. + +Tree, Sir Beerbohm, 287. + +Treitschke, von, on Divine Right, 59; + on Bismarck, 125. + +Trench, Captain, 338. + +Triple Alliance, Emperor on, 77; + history of, 78; + provisions, 79; + renewals, 38, 339. + +"Urias Letter," 142. + +Universities, England and Germany compared, 98. + +"Unser Fritz," 14. + +Venezuela, 158, 239. + +Victoria Louise, Princess, 333. + +Victoria, Queen, 167; + death, 201. + +"Von Gottes Gnaden," 56 _seq_.;. + doctrine to-day, 68. + +Waldersee, Countess, 45; + Count, 46, 196. + +Weihaiwei, 194. + +_Weltpolitik_, 51, 144; + Buelow on, 147; + open door and, 201; + foreign policy and, 201, 192, 201, 203. + +William I, + career, 42; + character, 43; + death, 54; + parliament and, 294. + +Williams, George Valentine, 232. + +Wyberg, Frank, 383. + +Zeppelin, Count, 358. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM OF GERMANY*** + + +******* This file should be named 13043.txt or 13043.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/4/13043 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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