But none came. "Yes--I nearly always have an attack of neuralgia when I
go to the Opera," she said resignedly.
"But do they make you take your cloak off?"
"Of course. It's the Emperor's order."
"Well--I kept mine on," I said.
Her Serene Highness looked at me incredulously. Then she thought it
over and said: "Ah, well--you're an American, and American travellers
bring us so much money that the Emperor's orders are never to bully
them."
What had puzzled me, by the way, when I looked about the crowded Opera
House, was that the Emperor should ever order the ladies of Berlin to
take their cloaks off at the Opera; but that is an affair between them
and their dressmaker. The interesting thing was that the German Princess
did not in the least resent being bullied herself, or having neuralgia
in consequence--but quite recognised that it was good business for her
country not to bully Americans.
That little incident gave me a glimpse of what life in Germany must be
like if you are a German; and also of the essential difference between
the Germans and ourselves.
The difference is this: The German does not care to be free as long as
he is well fed, well amused and making money. The Frenchman, like the
American, wants to be free first of all, and free anyhow--free even when
he might be better off, materially, if he lived under a benevolent
autocracy. The Frenchman and the American want to have a voice in
governing their country, and the German prefers to be governed by
professionals, as long as they make him comfortable and give him what he
wants.
From the purely practical point of view this is not a bad plan, but it
breaks down as soon as a moral issue is involved. They say corporations
have no souls; neither have governments that are not answerable to a
free people for their actions.