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+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-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.
+
+
+
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