with the Emperor and American friends. One of them is that of an
American, Mr. Frank Wyberg, the husband of a lady who, with her
children, used often to visit Mr. and Mrs. Armour on their yacht
_Uttowana_ at Kiel, there met the Emperor, and was invariably kindly
greeted by him. Mr. Wyberg was summoned with his friend, General
Miles, to an audience of the Emperor in Berlin. Before going to the
palace Mr. Wyberg went to a well-known picture-dealer in the city and
bought a small but artistic painting costing about £1,000. He had the
picture neatly done up, and carried it off under his arm to the hotel
where he was to meet General Miles. As they were leaving for the
palace the General asked Mr. Wyberg what he was carrying. "Oh, only a
trifle for the Kaiser!" was the reply. The General was horrified, and
tried to dissuade his friend from bringing the picture, telling him
that the proper procedure was to ask through the Foreign Office or the
American Embassy for the Emperor's gracious acceptance of it.
Otherwise the Emperor would be annoyed, he would think badly of
American manners, and so on. Mr. Wyberg, however, was not to be
deterred, and insisted that it would be "all right." While waiting in
the reception-room for the Emperor, Mr. Wyberg unwrapped the picture
and placed it leaning against the wall on a piano. By and by the
Emperor came in, and almost the first thing he said, after shaking
hands, was to ask what the presence of the picture meant. Mr. Wyberg
explained that it was a mark of gratitude for the kindness the Emperor
had shown his wife and children at Kiel. The Emperor smiled, said it
was a very kind thought, and willingly accepted the gift. The story
has a sequel. A day or two after a Court official called at the hotel,
to get from General Miles Mr. Wyberg's initials, and after another few
days had passed reappeared with a bulky parcel. On being opened the
parcel was found to consist of a large silver loving-cup, with Mr.
Wyberg's name chased upon it, and underneath the words, "From Wilhelm
II."
Another anecdote refers to an American naval attaché, a favourite of
the Emperor's. Dinner at the palace was over, and the attaché, wishing
to keep a memento of the occasion, took his large menu card and
concealed it, as he thought, between his waistcoat and his shirt.
Unfortunately, when taking leave of the Emperor, the card slipped down
and part of it became visible. The Emperor's quick eye immediately
noticed it. "Hallo! H----," he exclaimed; "look out, your dickey's
coming down!" The story shows the Emperor's acquaintance with English
slang as well as his geniality.
The Emperor seems to take pleasure in displaying himself to Americans
in as republican a light as possible, and when he desires the company
of an American friend, stands on no sort of ceremony. The American's
telephone bell may ring at any hour of the day or evening, and a voice
is heard--"Here royal palace. His Majesty wishes to ask if the Herr
So-and-So will come to the palace this evening for dinner." On one
occasion this happened to Professor Burgess. The telephone at the
Hotel Adlon in Berlin rang up from Potsdam about six in the afternoon,
and there was so little time for the Professor to catch his train that
he was forced to finish his dressing _en route_. Or the invitation may
be for "a glass of beer" after dinner, about nine o'clock.
If it is a dinner invitation, the guest, in evening clothes, with his
white tie doubtless a trifle more carefully adjusted than usual,
drives or walks to the palace. He enters a gate on the south side
facing the statue of Frederick the Great, and under the archway finds
a doorway with a staircase leading immediately to the royal apartments
on the first floor. In an ante-room are other guests, a couple of
Ministers, the Rector Magnificus of the university, and perhaps a
"Roosevelt" or "exchange" professor; and if the party is not one of
men only, such as the Emperor is fond of arranging, and the Empress is
expected, the wives also of the invited guests. Without previous
notice the Emperor enters, an American lover of slang might almost say
"blows in," with quick steps and a bustling air that instantly fills
the room with life and energy, and showing a cheery smile of welcome
on his face. The guests are standing round in a half or three-quarter
circle, and the Emperor goes from one to the other, shaking hands and
delivering himself of a sentence or two, either in the form of a
question or remark, and then passing on. When it is not a bachelors'
party, the Empress comes in later with her ladies. A servant in the
royal livery of red and gold, on a signal from the Emperor, throws
open a door leading to the dining-room, and the Emperor and Empress
enter first. The guests take their places according to the cards on
the table. If it is a men's party of, say, four guests, the Emperor
will seat them on his right and left and immediately opposite, with an
adjutant or two as makeweights and in case he should want to send for
plans or books. On these occasions he is usually in the dark blue
uniform of a Prussian infantry general, with an order or two blazing
on his breast. He sits very upright, and starts and keeps going the
conversation with such skill and verve that soon every one, even the
shyest, is drawn into it. There is plenty of argument and divergence
of view. If the Emperor is convinced that he is right, he will, as has
more than once occurred, jestingly offer to back his opinion with a
wager. "I'll bet you"--he will exclaim, with all the energy of an
English schoolboy. He enjoys a joke or witticism immensely, and leans
back in his chair as he joins in the hearty peal about him. When
cigars or cigarettes are handed round, he will take an occasional puff
at one of the three or four cigarettes he allows himself during the
evening, or sip at a glass of orangeade placed before him and filled
from time to time. When he feels disposed he rises, and having shaken
hands with his guests, now standing about him, retires into his
workroom. A few moments later the guests disperse.
Conversation, both in England and Germany, sometimes turns on the
question whether or not the Emperor will be known to future
generations as William "the Great." It is agreed on all sides that he
will not take a place among the mediocrities or sink into oblivion. We
have, though only negatively and indirectly, his own view of the
matter, if, that is, it may be deduced from the fact that he has more
than once tried to attach this _epitheton ornans_ to the memory of his
grandfather. At Hamburg in 1891 he desired a statue to the Emperor
William I to bear the inscription "William the Great." The cool common
sense of the cautious Hamburgers refused to anticipate the decision of
posterity and placed on the pedestal the simple words "William the
First." In deference to the Emperor's well-known wishes, if not at his
request, the Hamburg-Amerika line of steamers christened one of their
ocean greyhounds _Wilhelm der Grosse_. The mere fact that people
discuss the question in his lifetime is of happy augury for the
Emperor. Perhaps some other epithet will be found for him. "Puffing
Billy" is one of his titles among English officers, taken from the
name given locally to Stephenson's first locomotive. But history has
many ranks in her peerage and many epithets at her disposal--great,
good, fair, lionhearted, silent--_that_ the Emperor will not have--and
a host more. Maybe the greatest rulers were those whom history, as
though in despair of finding a single term with which to do them
justice, has refrained from decorating. Timur, Akbar, Attila, Julius
Cæsar, Elizabeth, Victoria, Napoleon have no epithets, and need none.
However, it is clear that a verdict on the Emperor's deserts is
premature. Suppose him at the bar of history. The case is still
proceeding, the evidence is not complete, counsel have not been heard,
and--most obvious defect of any--the jury has not been impanelled.
More than half a century has passed since the Emperor was born. How
time flies!
"Alas, alas, O Postumus, Postumus,
The years glide by and are lost to us, lost to us."
But not the memories they enshrine. It is, let us imagine, the night
of the Emperor's Jubilee, and he lies in the old Schloss, still awake,
reflecting on the past. What a multitude of happenings, gay and grave,
throng to his recollection, what a glorious and crowded canvas unrolls
itself before his mental vision! The toy steamer on the Havel; the
games in the palace corridors, with the grim features of the Great
Elector betrayed, one is tempted to think, into a half-smile as he
watches the innocent gaiety of the romping children from the old
wainscoted walls; the irksome but disciplinary hours in the Cassel
schoolroom; the youthful escapades with those carefree Borussian
comrades at the university on the broad bosom of Father Rhine; the
excursions and picnics among the Seven Hills; the visits to England,
its crowded and bustling capital, its country seats with their
pleasant lawns and stately oaks; the war-ships in the Solent, with
their black mass and frowning guns, as they towered, like Milton's
Leviathan, above his head.
What a good time it was, and how rich in manifold and picturesque
impressions!
The canvas continues to unroll and a literary period opens--that age
between youth and manhood, of all ages most passionate and ideal, when
we are enthralled and moved by what we read--by those studies which
"_adolescentiam agunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res
ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent, delectant
domi, non impediunt foris; pernoctant nobiscum,
peregrinantur, rusticantur_."
It was the Lohengrin period, when, filled with the ardour and
imaginativeness of high-souled youth, the future Emperor was dimly
thinking of all he would do in the days to come for the happiness and
prosperity of his people, nay, of all mankind.
Another tableau presents itself. Life has now become real and the
Emperor's soldiering days have begun--never to conclude! His regiment
is his world; parades and drills, the orderly-room and the barrack
square occupy his time; and would seem monotonous and hard but for the
little Eden with its Eve close beside them.
The Emperor turns uneasily, for his thoughts recur to the painful
circumstances of his accession; but calmness soon succeeds as the
curtain rises on the splendid panorama of the reign. He sees himself,
a young and hitherto unknown actor, leaving the wings and taking the
very centre of the stage, while the vast audience sits silent and
attentive, as yet hardly grasping the significance of his words and
gestures, emphatic though they are. And then he recalls the years of
_Sturm und Drang_, the growth of Empire in spite of grudging rivals
and of fellow-countrymen as yet not wholly conscious of their
destinies, which one can now see constituted a whole drama in
themselves, fraught with great consequences to the world.
But we are keeping the Emperor awake when he should be left to
well-deserved repose. He has doubtless half forgotten it all; the
Bismarck episode is one of those
"... old, unhappy, far-off things
And battles long ago"
of which the poet sings. One unquiet political care excepted, all the
rest must be pleasant for him to remember--the rising with the dawn,
the hurried little breakfast with the Empress, the pawing horses of
the adjutants and escort in the courtyard of the palace; the constant
travelling in and far beyond the Empire; the incessant speech-making,
with its appeals to the past and its promises, nobly realized, of
"splendid days" in the future--its calls to the people to arms, to the
sea, to the workshop, to school, to church, to anything praiseworthy,
provided only it was action for the common good; the dockyards in Kiel
and Danzig, with their noise of "busy hammers closing rivets up"; the
ever-swelling trade statistics; and the proud feeling that at last his
country was coming into her own.
Even the sensation the Emperor caused from time to time in other
countries must have had a certain charm for him--endless telegrams,
endless scathing editorials, endless movement and excitement. There is
no fun like work, they say. The Emperor worked hard and enjoyed
working. It was the "personal regiment," maybe, and it could not last
for ever; but while it did it was doubtless very gratifying, and,
notwithstanding all his critics say, magnificently successful.
Those strenuous times are long over, and if strenuous times have yet
to come they will find the Emperor alert and knowing better how to
deal with them. He has, one may be sure, no thoughts of well-earned
rest or dignified repose--he probably never will, with his strong
conception of duty and his interest in the fortunes of his Empire.
Still, he is a good deal changed. Time has taught him more than his
early tutor, worthy Dr. Hinzpeter, ever taught him; and if his spring
was boisterous, and his summer gusty and uncertain, a mellow autumn
gives promise of a hale and kindly winter.
INDEX
Abdul Aziz, 259.
Absolutism, 2, 295, 368 _seq_.
Accession, date, I; period, 69 _seq_.
Achilleion, 317.
Aegir, Song to, 224.
Agadir, 264 _seq_.
Alexandra, Queen, 327.
Algeciras Conference, 261 _seq_.;
Act of, 262.
Alsace-Lorraine, 84 _seq_.
America,
art exhibition, 222;
Germany and, 238;
Frederick the Great and, 242;
squadron at Kiel, 244;
commercial relations with, 331, 380 _seq_.
Anarchism, 42 _seq_.
Anglo-French Agreement, 1904, 259 _seq_.
Anglo-German Agreement,
1890, 140;
1904, 335;
relations, 4-7, 243, 282, 335 _seq_.
Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 201.
Anti-Semites, 178.
Arbitration, compulsory, 340.
Aristocracy, German, 114.
Armament, limitation of, 340.
Army,
accession speech to, 69;
importance of, 71;
true character of, 285;
Emperor and, 294.
Art, Emperor on, 202, 205 _seq_.;
speech to sculptors, 207;
German ideals, 218.
Attempt on,
Emperor, 202;
on William I, 42.
Augusta, Empress, wife of William I, 43, 45.
Auguste, Victoria, present Empress, 37 _seq_.
"Babel und Bibel," 246.
Baghdad railway, 200.
Balkans, 339.
Ballin, 367.
Battenberg affair, 55.
Bebel, August, 58, 90, 359. _See_ Social Democracy
Bennigsen, von, 13.
Berlin palace (Schloss), 114.
Bethmann Hollweg, 322 _seq_.
Biedermeier time, 167.
Bismarck, 13;
Empress Fred. and, 44;
William I and, 43 _seq_.;
on Divine Right, 60 _seq_.;
on foreign policy, 76;
resignation, 104,133;
Emperor and, 49, 131;
"blood and iron" speech, 128;
Emperor's account of quarrel with, 135;
journey to Vienna, 141;
death, 143.
"Bloc" party, 281, 288, 322.
Boer war, German policy and, 156, 303.
Bonn, Emperor at, 29; address at, 203.
Borussia, 30, 36, 203.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 329.
Boulanger, 52, 76.
Boxer troubles, 46, 194 _seq_.
Brandon, 338.
"Brilliant second" speech, 279.
Brooks, Sydney, 361.
Bülow, Prince von, 47;
succeeds Hohenlohe, 187;
fainting fit, 322;
resignation, 322.
Burgess, Prof., 241.
Butler, Dr. Nicholas Murray, 272.
Byzantinism, 121 _seq_.
Cadinen, 334.
Camarilla, 277
Caprivi, von, 141;
treaties, 141, 152 _seq_.;
chancellorship, 151.
Caroline Islands, 151.
Casablanca, 264.
Centrum, 3, 280.
Chamberlain, Mr., 158, 258.
Chamberlain, Stewart, 348.
Chancellor, "responsibility," 289 _seq_.
China,
relations with, 193;
Boxer indemnity, 197.
Chun, Prince, 197 _seq_.
Churchill, Winston, 337.
Colonial development, 148 _seq_.
Commercial treaties, 152; American, 331.
Conscription, 191.
Constitution, German and British compared, 57.
Corps, student, 30 _seq_.
Crefeld, 278.
Crown Prince, 14, 18;
income, 112;
marriage, 270;
Indian tour, 328;
at English coronation, 339;
in aeroplane, 359.
Court,
comparison with English, 109;
nobility, 113.
Cowes, 75.
_Daily Telegraph_,
interview, 302 _seq_.;
text of, 304;
Bülow and, 311 _seq_.;
Emperor's undertaking, 310.
Delcassé, 261, 282.
Delitzsch, Prof., 246.
Dewey, Admiral, 170.
Dictator Paragraph, 86.
Diedrich, Admiral, 170.
Dingley tariff, 331.
Disarmament, 317.
Divine Right, 331 _seq_.
Dreibund, _see_ Triple Alliance.
Dreyfus case, 178.
Dual Alliance.
(Germany and Austria), 79;
(Russia and France), 141.
Duel, _see_ Mensur.
Dynasty, _see_ Hohenzollern.
Education, Emperor on, 98 _seq_.
Edward VII,
at Kiel, 253;
visits Berlin, 323;
funeral, 327.
Elector, Great, 64, 72.
Emperor,
birth, 12;
marriage, 37;
brothers and sisters, 18;
offspring, 40;
first visit England, 20;
at Bonn, 29;
on Art, 207;
and theatre, 355;
on religion, 246;
character, 363 _seq_.;
and people, 368, 372.
Empress,
present, marriage, 37;
character, 39.
Farmer, Emperor as, 334.
Finance reform, 321.
Fleet, English, at Kiel, 253;
American, 244. _See_ Navy.
Flora bust, 324 _seq_.
Foreign policy, in Orient, 199 _seq_.;
Emperor's, 269.
France, and Germany, 51;
Franco-German Agreement, 1911, 266.
Frankfort, treaty of, 153.
Frederick the Great,
death, 120;
tomb, 121;
and navy, 167;
statue, 242;
Emperor and, 251.
Frederick III, 14;
as Crown Prince, 45;
last illness, 54.
Frederick, Empress, 15 _seq_.;
Bismarck and, 44;
death, 204.
Future, "Our future lies on the water," 203.
General Elections, 280, 333.
"Germans to the Front," 245.
Germany,
"Greater," 146;
to-day, 366;
foreign policy, 199, 269.
George V, 174, 237, 339.
George, Lloyd, speech, 336.
Goluchowski, Count, 279.
Goschen, Lord, 160.
Government, dynastic not democratic, 56 _seq_.
Great Elector,
Emperor and, 72;
German navy and, 166.
Grey, Sir Edward, 338.
Grieg, composer, 225; death, 287.
Griscom, ambassador, 319.
Guelphs, 333.
Guildhall, speech at,
1891, 75;
1907, 283.
Hamburg-Amerika line, 367.
Hannover, 333.
Harvard University, 272.
Heine, 13, 374.
Heligoland, 150.
Henry, Prince, 18;
sent Kiautschau, 165;
visits America, 241.
Highcliffe Castle, 285.
Hill, Dr. D.J., 318 _seq_.
Hinzpeter, Dr., 287.
Hödel, attempt, 43.
Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince, 47;
character, 153;
chancellor, 185;
resigns, 187.
Hohenzollern, 2, 11, 17, 23, 41, 56, 72;
Divine Right and, 62 _seq_., 332.
Iltis, gunboat, 195.
Italy, 261 _seq_.
Jameson raid,
Emperor's telegram on, 154;
date of, 159.
Jews, Emperor and, 378.
Journalists, attack on, 329.
Junker, 123.
Ketteler, von, murder of, 195.
Kiautschau, 145, 150.
Kiel, canal, 144;
first regatta, do.;
harbour, 168;
American squadron at, 244;
Edward VII at, 253.
Koenigsberg, speech at, 332.
Kruger, telegram, the, 154 _seq_.;
European tour, 155.
_Kulturkampf_, Emperor and, 50.
Labourdonnais, 167.
Labour Party, 93.
Leoncavallo, 253.
Liberalism, Emperor and, 126.
Liman, Dr. Paul, 62, 360.
Limitation of armaments, 340.
List, Prof., 168.
Lloyd George, speech, 336.
Louise, Queen, 41.
Luderitz, 149.
Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 16, 54.
Madrid Convention, 263.
Magna Charta, Germany's, 1.
Mahan, Captain, 164.
Manila, 170.
Marakesch, 264.
Marble Palace, 118.
"March Days," 128 _seq_.
Mensur, 29 _seq_.
Menzel,
painter, 179;
death, 255.
Moabit riots, 329.
Mommsen, Emperor and, 251.
Monroe doctrine, 240.
Morocco, 255 _seq_.
Navy, German,
First Navy Law, 145;
Prince William and, 163;
early history of, 166;
auctioned, 168;
early proposals, 169 _seq_.;
legislative stages, 171;
Grey's proposal, 317.
New Palace, Potsdam, 116.
Nobiling, attempt, 42, 90.
"November Storm," 289 _seq_.
Open door, The, 257.
"Our future lies on the water," 203.
Oxford university, 284.
Palestine, 145;
journey to, 176.
Panther, 264.
Parliament, introduction;
parliamentary rule, 58;
chancellor and, 291;
Emperor and, 294;
_See_ Reichstag.
"Personal regiment," 289, 296, 371.
Peters, Carl, 149.
"Place in the sun," 204.
Polypus, removed, 250.
Potsdam, 199.
Prussia, at Emperor's birth, 12;
Diet, 293;
electoral reform in, 316.
Quinquennat, 152.
Raid, Jameson, 159.
Rationalism, 344, 369.
Reaction, 123.
_Realpolitik_, see _Weltpolitik_;
in sport, 357.
_Rechtstaat_, 369 _seq_.
Reichstag, introduction, 280, 292 333, 377.
Reinsurance treaty, 133.
Religion, Emperor on, 246.
Rhodes, Cecil, 284.
Richard, Prof., 370.
"Roland von Berlin," 253.
Roosevelt, Alice, 241;
president, 253;
visits Berlin, 325 _seq_.;
professorships, 272.
Russia and Germany, relations, 80.
Russo-Japanese war, 252.
Saladin, 177.
Samoa, 151.
Sans Souci, 119, 179.
Sardanapalus, 235.
Septennat, 53, 152.
Seymour, Admiral, 195.
Shimonoseki, treaty of, 193.
"Shining armour," 328.
Social Democracy, introduction;
Emperor and, 87;
history of, 89;
programme, 91;
causes of, 94.
Socialist laws, 103, 279 _seq_.
Socialism, 92; _See_ Social Democracy.
Sport, in Germany, 357.
"Star of commerce," phrase, 165.
State, German interpretation of, 292.
Stein, Dr. Adolf, 158.
Stoessel, General, 195, 253.
Stone, Melville, 242.
Suffragettes, Emperor and, 332.
Sultan, promise to, 145, 177.
Swinemunde despatch, 244.
Taku Forts, 195.
Tangier, 256, 259;
Emperor's speech at, 260, 268.
Theatre, Emperor on, 230;
Germans and the, 254.
"Times," the, 297, 299, 301, 324.
Tirpitz, von, Admiral, 338.
Tower, ambassador, 318.
Trade Unionism, 92 _seq_.
Transvaal, 156 _seq_.; 303.
Tree, Sir Beerbohm, 287.
Treitschke, von, on Divine Right, 59;
on Bismarck, 125.
Trench, Captain, 338.
Triple Alliance, Emperor on, 77;
history of, 78;
provisions, 79;
renewals, 38, 339.
"Urias Letter," 142.
Universities, England and Germany compared, 98.
"Unser Fritz," 14.
Venezuela, 158, 239.
Victoria Louise, Princess, 333.
Victoria, Queen, 167;
death, 201.
"Von Gottes Gnaden," 56 _seq_.;.
doctrine to-day, 68.
Waldersee, Countess, 45;
Count, 46, 196.
Weihaiwei, 194.
_Weltpolitik_, 51, 144;
Bülow on, 147;
open door and, 201;
foreign policy and, 201, 192, 201, 203.
William I,
career, 42;
character, 43;
death, 54;
parliament and, 294.
Williams, George Valentine, 232.
Wyberg, Frank, 383.
Zeppelin, Count, 358.