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FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM
by
JAMES W. GERARD
Late Ambassador to the German Imperial Court,
Author of "My Four Years in Germany"
[Illustration]
New York
George H. Doran Company
Copyright, 1918,
by George H. Doran Company
Copyright, 1918, by The Public Ledger Company
Copyright, Canada, 1918, by The Public Ledger Company
Printed in the United States of America
TO
COLONEL EDWARD M. HOUSE
STATESMAN AND FRIEND
THE AUTHOR
DEDICATES THIS BOOK
[Illustration]
[Illustration: PAPER MONEY USED IN PRISON CAMPS]
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PRISON CAMP MONEY CERTIFICATE
ISSUED AT THE PRISON CAMP OF NEUHAMMER]
[Illustration: PAPER MONEY ISSUED AGAINST PROPERTY IN GERMANY.
REALLY A "GREENBACK" OR ALMOST FIAT MONEY]
[Illustration: POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED AT RUHLEBEN PRISON CAMP.
USED BY PRISONERS WRITING TO EACH OTHER IN THE CAMP.]
[Illustration: FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION OF THE KAISER'S VISITING
CARD]
[Illustration: THE VISITING CARD OF THE CROWN PRINCE, REPRODUCED
IN FACSIMILE]
[Illustration: THE KAISER AND VON TREUTLER TAKEN IN THE NORWEGIAN
TOWN OF ODDE IN 1910]
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
In some measure this book is a continuation of MY FOUR YEARS IN
GERMANY, the narrative here being carried up to the time of my
return home, with some observations on the situation I have found
in the United States.
What I want especially to impress upon the people of the United
States is that we are at war because Germany invaded the United
States--an invasion insidiously conceived and vigorously
prosecuted for years before hostilities began;--that this war is
our war;--that the sanctity of American freedom and of the
American home depend upon what we do _NOW_.
JAMES W. GERARD.
NEW YORK,
APRIL FIRST, 1918.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I PERSONALITY OF THE KAISER AND SOMETHING OF THE KING BUSINESS 13
II WHO DOES THE KAISER'S THINKING AND WHO DECIDED ON THE BREAK
WITH AMERICA? 32
III WHO SANK THE "LUSITANIA"? 42
IV THE KAISER AND "LÈSE-MAJESTÉ" 49
V WHEN THE KAISER THOUGHT WE WERE BLUFFING 55
VI THE INSIDE OF GERMAN DIPLOMACY 73
VII GERMANY'S PLAN TO ATTACK AMERICA 84
VIII GERMANY'S EARLY PLOTS IN MEXICO 111
IX THE KULTUR OF KAISERDOM--THE GERMAN SOUL 129
X THE LITTLE KAISERS 143
XI ROYALTY'S RECREATION 148
XII THE ETERNAL FEMININE 157
XIII HOME LIFE AND "BRUTALITY" OF THE PEOPLE 166
XIV AIMS OF THE AUTOCRACY 174
XV AUSTRIA-HUNGARY--THE KAISER'S VASSAL STATE 196
XVI GERMAN INFLUENCE ON THE NORTHERN NEUTRALS 217
XVII SWITZERLAND--ANOTHER KIND OF NEUTRAL 230
XVIII A GLIMPSE OF FRANCE 237
XIX MY INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF SPAIN 251
XX GERMAN SPIES AND THEIR METHODS 263
XXI EN ROUTE HOME--KAISERISM IN AMERICA 273
XXII THAT INTERVIEW WITH THE KAISER 300
XXIII THE FUTURE KAISER--THE CROWN PRINCE AND HIS BROTHERS 312
XXIV WHEN GERMANY WILL BREAK DOWN 323
XXV THE ERRORS OF EFFICIENT GERMANY 340
XXVI PRESIDENT WILSON AND PEACE 346
XXVII AFTER THE WAR, WHAT? 368
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE KAISER AND VON TREUTLER _Frontispiece_
THE IRON CROSS 36
THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY STAFF, BERLIN 50
FACSIMILE OF AN ORDER ISSUED BY COMMANDER OF GERMAN PRISON CAMP
OF DOEBERITZ 78
COVER OF PAMPHLET BY JOHN L. STODDARD 104
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN COURTYARD OF EMBASSY, AUGUST, 1916 126
EXAMPLE OF A COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL OFFERED FOR SALE 152
VIEWS OF A TYPICAL HOLSTEIN COUNTRY HOME 188
MAIN STAIRWAY IN THE AMERICAN EMBASSY, BERLIN 210
AMBASSADORS SHARP AND GERARD, PARIS, FEBRUARY, 1917 240
THE "INFANTA ISABELLA" 274
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AFTER BANQUET GIVEN AMBASSADOR GERARD ON JANUARY
6TH, 1917 304
THE CROWN PRINCE AND CROWN PRINCESS 316
REPRODUCTION OF ZEPPELIN POST CARD OF PATRIOTIC SENTIMENT 336
ZEPPELIN POST CARD SOLD IN GERMANY 336
FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM
CHAPTER I
PERSONALITY OF THE KAISER AND SOMETHING OF THE KING BUSINESS
To the American mind the Kaiser is the personification of
Germany. He is the arch enemy upon whom the world places the
responsibility for this most terrible of all wars. I have sat
face to face with him in the palace at Berlin where, as the
personal representative and envoy of the President of the United
States, I had the honor of expressing the viewpoint of a great
nation. I have seen him in the field as the commanding general of
mighty forces, but I also have seen him in the neutral countries
through which I passed on my return home and in my own beloved
land--in the evidence of intrigue and plotting which this
militaristic monarch has begotten and which is to-day "the
Thing," as President Wilson calls it, which has brought the
American people face to face with kaiserism in the greatest
conflict of all history.
What manner of man is he? What is his character? How much was he
responsible for what has happened--how much his General Staff?
What of the Crown Prince and what of the neutral peoples and
their rulers whom Germany has intimidated and would fain
subjugate if it suited her purpose? These are the questions I
shall attempt to answer out of my experiences in Germany and my
contacts with the rulers of other countries in my journeys to and
from Berlin and Washington.
To illustrate the craft of the Kaiser, I believe I can perform no
better service to Americans than to reveal an incident which has
not hitherto been published. It occurred at the New Year's
reception of 1914 when the Ambassadors of all the foreign
countries represented at the German court, were ranged in a large
room at the Palace. They stood about six feet apart in the order
of their residence in Berlin. The Kaiser and his aides entered
the room, and the Emperor spoke a few minutes to each envoy. He
tarried longest with the Turkish Ambassador and myself, thereby
arousing the curiosity of the other diplomats who suspected that
the Kaiser did more than merely exchange the greetings of the
season. He did.
What the German Emperor said to me interests every American
because it shows his subtlety of purpose. _The Kaiser talked at
length to me about what he called Japan's designs on the United
States. He warned me that Mexico was full of Japanese spies and
an army of Japanese colonels._ He also spoke about France, saying
that he had made every effort to make up with France, that he had
extended his hand to that country but that the French had
refused to meet his overtures, that he was through and would not
try again to heal the breach between France and Germany!
All this was in 1914, six months before the outbreak of the
European War. Little did I know then what the purpose was back of
that conversation, but it is clear now that the Emperor wished to
have the government of the United States persuaded through me
that he was really trying to keep Europe at peace and that the
responsibility for what was going to happen would be on France.
The German is so skilful at intrigue that he seeks even in
advance of an expected offensive to lay the foundation for
self-justification.
But the reference to Japan and alleged hostility against us on
the part of fanciful hordes of Japanese in Mexico made me wonder
at the time. There were many evidences subsequent to that New
Year's Day reception of an attempt to alienate us from Japan. As
a climax to it all, as a clarification of what the Emperor had in
mind, came the famous Zimmermann note, the instructions to the
German Minister in Mexico to align both Japan and Mexico against
us when we entered the war against Germany!
Plotting and intriguing for power and mastery! Such is the
business of absolute rulers.
I believe that had the old Austrian Kaiser lived a little while
longer, the prolongation of his life would have been most
disastrous both for Austria and Hungary. I believe after the
death of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo and after a year of war the
German Emperor and autocracy were brooding over a plan according
to which, on the death of Francis Joseph, the successor should be
allowed to rule only as King or Grand-Duke of Austria, the title
of Emperor of Austria to disappear and German Princes to be
placed upon the thrones of Hungary and of a new kingdom of
Bohemia. These and the king or grand-duke of Austria were to be
subject-monarchs under the German Kaiser, who was thus to revive
an empire, if not greater, at least more powerful, than the
empires of Charlemagne and of Charles the Fifth. Many public
utterances of the German Kaiser show that trend of mind.
Emperor William deliberately wrote and published, for instance,
such a statement as this: "From childhood I have been influenced
by five men, Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, Theodoric II,
Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Each of these men dreamed a
dream of world empire. They failed. I have dreamed a dream of
German world empire and my mailed fist shall succeed."
Could any declaration of a life's ambition be more explicit? It
seems impossible for human ambition to stand still. Either a man
loses all stimulus of self and becomes as spiritless as a fagged
animal or ambition drives him always on--he is never content with
any success achieved. The millionaire to whom the first million,
when he was a boy, seemed the extreme limit of human wealth and
desire, presses on insatiably with the first million in his
pocket, more restless, more dissatisfied, than the hungry
farmer's boy who first carries his ambitions to the great city.
When these zealous, scheming men gain the power of kingship, they
usually bring disaster to their country. Their subjects find no
compensation in the personal ambitions which hurry a nation into
the miseries of war. Better Charles II, dallying with his
ringletted mistresses, than an Alexander the Great; better Henry
the Fourth of France, the "ever-green gallant," than Frederick
the Great, bathing his people in blood. "Happy nations have no
history."
William the Second, the present German Emperor, might well be
called the Restless Emperor. He is never satisfied to remain more
than a few days in any place or in any occupation. He commands
his armies in person. He has won distinction as a writer and a
public speaker. He is an excellent shot. He has composed music,
written verses, superintended the production of a ballet, painted
a picture; the beautiful Byzantine chapel in the Castle of Posen
shows his genius for architecture; and, clothed in a clergyman's
surplice, he has preached a sermon in Jerusalem. What ruler in
all history has exhibited such extraordinary versatility?
In my conversations with the Emperor I have been struck by his
knowledge of other countries, lands which he had never visited.
He was familiar not only with their manners, customs, industries
and public men, but with their commercial problems. Through his
conversation one can see the keen eye of the Hanseatic trader
looking with eager envy on the trade of a rival merchant. The
Emperor, incidentally, while instinctively commercial, has an
inborn contempt, if not for the law, at least for lawyers. In
October, 1915, for instance, he remarked to me, "This is a
lawyers' war, Asquith and Lloyd George in England, Poincaré and
Briand in France."
In appearance and conversation Emperor William is very manly. His
voice is strong, with a ring in it. He is a good rider. Following
the German custom, he puts on his nightshirt every afternoon
after lunch and sleeps for two hours--for the German is more
devoted to the siesta than the Spaniard or Mexican. The hours of
the Berlin Foreign Office, for example, were from eleven to one
and from four to eight. After a heavy lunch at one o'clock all
the officials took a nap for an hour or two. Also, the hours of
the bank where I did business were from ten to one and from four
till six. This meant that after six o'clock the clerks had to sit
until perhaps eight making up the books for the day.
In 1916, the Olympic games were to have taken place at Berlin,
and in September, 1913, before sailing for Germany, I attended a
luncheon at the New York Athletic Club, given by President Page,
with the members of the German Commission who had come to America
to study athletics and to see what could be done in Germany so
that the Germans could make a good showing at the games in their
own city.
After my arrival in Germany one of the members of this commission
told me that it was impossible, he believed, to organise the
Germans as athletes until German meal and business hours had been
changed. He said that with us in America young men leaving
business at four-thirty, five or five-thirty, had time in which
to exercise before their evening meal, but that in Germany the
young men ate so much at the midday meal that they required their
siesta after it, and that they did not leave their offices until
so late in the evening that exercise and practice were impossible.
On the Emperor's table his wine glasses or rather cups are of
silver. Possibly this is because he has been forbidden by his
physician to drink wine. The Germans maintain the old-fashioned
custom of drinking healths at meals. Some one far down the table
will lift his glass, look at you and smile. You are then expected
to lift your glass and drink with him and then both bow and smile
over the glasses. As the Emperor must reciprocate with every one
present, his champagne and wine are put in silver cups in order
that those drinking wine with him do not see that he consumes no
appreciable quantity of alcoholic liquor on the occasion of each
health drinking. Some people in America may have often wished for
a similar device.
The Emperor is out of uniform only on rare occasions.
Occasionally, when in a foreign country, he has appeared in
civilian dress, as shown in the accompanying photograph, taken in
1910 at the small town of Odde in Norway, where he had landed
from his yacht. He appears to much better advantage in uniform
than in civilian attire. Although uniformed while at sea as an
Admiral, his favourite uniform is really that of the Hussars. In
this picture he is accompanied by Baron von Treutler, Prussian
Minister to Bavaria and Foreign Office representative with the
Kaiser. Von Treutler is a German of the world. I met him at the
Great General Headquarters, at the end of April, 1916, when the
submarine question was being discussed. He came to dinner several
times at the Chancellor's house, undoubtedly reporting back what
was said to the Emperor, and I believe that his voice was against
the resumption of ruthless submarine warfare and in favour of
peace with America. Shortly after this period he fell into
disfavour and went back to occupy his post of Minister in Munich.
In conversation, the Emperor reminds one very much of Roosevelt,
talking with the same energy, the same violence of gesture and of
voice so characteristic of our great ex-President. When the
Emperor talks all his attention is given to you and all his
mental energy is concentrated on the conversation. In this
violence of manner and voice he seems not at all German. The
average German is neither exuberant nor soft-spoken.
His favourite among his ancestors is William of Orange. Once he
attended a fancy-dress ball in costume and make-up copied from
the well-known picture of that Prince. The Emperor is strongly
built and is about five feet nine inches tall. He sits well on
his horse and walks, too, with head erect and shoulders thrown
back--a picture of military precision.
A friend of mine who was present at Kiel with his yacht, in 1910,
tells me that when all the yachts and warships had been assembled
along the long narrow waterway which constitutes that harbour,
with the crews lined up on deck or manning the yards, with bands
crashing and banners floating, the _Hohenzollern_ slowly steamed
into the harbour and passed lazily and majestically through the
waiting ships. Alone on the upper bridge stood the Monarch,
attired in full military uniform, with white coat and tight
breeches, high top boots, shining silver breastplate and silver
helmet, surmounted by an eagle, the dress of the Prussian Guard
Regiment so dear to those who portray romantic and kingly rôles
upon the stage, a figure on whom all eyes were fixed, as splendid
as that of Lohengrin, drawn by his fairy swan, coming to rescue
the unjustly accused Princess. And, alas, the Germans like all
this pomp and splendour. It appeals to something in the German
heart and seems to create a feeling of affection and humility in
the German breast.
When I talked at length one day with President Wilson on my visit
to America in October, 1916, he remarked, half to himself, in
surprise at my tale of war, "Why does all this horror come on the
world? What causes it?" "Mr. President," I answered, "it is the
king business."
I did not mean nominal kings as harmless as those of Spain and
England. I was thinking of the powerful monarchs. A German
republic would never have embarked on this war; a German Congress
would have thought twice before sending their own sons to death
in a deliberate effort to enslave other peoples. In a free
Germany teachers, ministers and professors would not have taught
the necessity of war. What German merchant in a free Germany
would have thought that all the trade of the East, all the riches
of Bagdad and Cairo and Mosul could compensate him for the death
of his first-born or restore the blind eyes to the youngest son
who now crouches, cowering, over the fire, awaiting death? For
there was no trade necessity for this war. I know of no place in
the world where German merchants were not free to trade. The
disclosures of war have shown how German commerce had penetrated
every land, to an extent unknown to the best informed. If the
German merchants wanted this war in order to gain a German
monopoly of the world's trade, then they are rightly suffering
from the results of overweening covetousness.
Experts in insanity say that the Roman Emperors as soon as they
attained the rule of the world were made mad by the possession of
that stupendous power. The sceptre of Emperor William is mighty.
No more autocratic influence proceeds from any other monarch or
ruler. But you will say how about our President in time of war?
Great power can safely be given to a president. Our presidents
have all risen from the ranks. Usually they have gone through the
school of hard knocks. And there are ways of keeping them abreast
of the people.
It is told that hidden from public view, crouched down in the
chariot in which the successful Roman pro-consul or general drove
triumphantly through the crowded streets of Rome, was a slave
celebrated for his impertinence, whose duty it was to make the
one honoured feel that, after all, he was nothing more than an
ordinary mortal blessed with a certain amount of good luck.
Probably as the chariot passed by the forum the slave would say,
after a thunderous burst of applause from the populace: "Do not
take that applause too seriously. That is the T. Quintus Cassius
Association whose chief received a hundred sesterces from your
brother-in-law yesterday, on account, with a promise of a hundred
more in case the Association's cheers seemed loud and sincere."
So in America the press, serious and comic, takes the place of
the humble slave and throws enough cold water on the head of any
temporarily successful American to reduce it to normal proportions.
Besides, the President knows that some day he must return to the
ranks, live again with his neighbours, seek out the threads of a
lost law practice or eke out a livelihood on the Chautauqua
circuit in the discomfort of tiny hotels, travelling in upper
berths instead of private cars and eating on lunch stools in small
stations instead of in the sumptuous surroundings of presidential
luxury. These are sobering prospects.
Kings, on the other hand, come to look on their subjects as toys.
A post-card popular in Austria and Germany showed the old
Emperor, Francis Joseph, seated at a table with a little
great-grand-nephew on his knee, teaching the child to move toy
soldiers about on the boards; and it is unfortunately true that
the same youngster--should the system of the Central Empires be
perpetuated--will be able to move his subjects across the map of
Europe just as he did the toy soldiers on his great-grand-uncle's
table. He will be able to tear men from their work and their
homes, to seize great scientists, great chemists, great
inventors--men who may be on the eve of discoveries or remedies
destined to rid the human race of the scourge of cancer or the
white plague--and send them to death in the marshes of Macedonia
or the fastnesses of the Carpathians because some fellow-king or
emperor has deceived or outwitted him.
In a monarchy all subjects seem the personal property of the
monarch and all expressions of power become personal. This
extends throughout all countries ruled by royalty.
* * * * *
When, for example, a member of the royal family dies, even in
another country, it must be lamented by the court circle of other
lands. Here is the official notice sent to all diplomats and
members of the Imperial German Court on the occasion of the death
of the Queen of Sweden.
"The Court goes into mourning to-day for Her
Majesty the Queen-Mother of Sweden for three weeks
up to and including the 19th of January, 1914.
"Ladies wear black silk dresses, for the first
fourteen days, including January 12th, with black
hair ornaments, black gloves, black fans and
black jewelry; the last eight days with white hair
ornaments, grey gloves, white fans and pearls.
"Gentlemen wear the whole time a black band on the
left sleeve. Civilians wear with the embroidered
coat, during the first fourteen days, including
January 12th, on occasions of Grand Gala, black
buckles and swords with black sheathes. During the
last eight days bright buckles; on occasions of
'Half Gala' gold or silver embroidered trousers of
the color of the uniform and in the one as in the
other case gold or silver embroidered hat with
white plume; with the 'small' uniform, however,
black trousers (or knee-breeches, black silk
stockings, shoes with black bows and the
'three-cornered' hat with black plume). During the
first fourteen days gentlemen wear black woolen
vests and black gloves, in the last eight days
black silk vests and grey gloves.
"Berlin, December 30, 1913.
"The Ober-Ceremonienmeister.
"GRAF A. EULENBURG.
"By command of His Majesty the Emperor, mourning
will be suspended for New Year's Day and the 17th
and 18th of January."
So, it is apparent what a close corporation all the royal
families make and the peoples are simply viewed as the personal
property of the ruling princes. In his telegram which the German
Kaiser wrote to President Wilson on August tenth, observe that
all is personal. The Kaiser says, "I telegraphed to His Majesty
the King, _personally_, but that if, etc., I would employ _my_
troops elsewhere.... His Majesty answered that he thought _my_
offer...." He speaks of the King of the Belgians "having refused
_my_ petition for a free passage." He refers to "_my_ Ambassador
in London."
This telegram shows, on the other hand, another thing,--the great
ability of the Kaiser. Undoubtedly he knew why I was coming to
see him--to present the offer of mediation of President
Wilson--but from our conversation I do not think that he had even
in his mind prepared the answer, which sets forth his position in
entering the war.
He said, "Wait a moment, I shall write something for the
President." Then taking the telegraph blanks lying on the table,
he wrote rapidly and fluently. It was a message in a foreign
language, and, whatever we may think of its content, at any rate
it is clear, concise, consecutive and forceful.
The personal touch runs through that extraordinary series of
telegrams in the famous "Willy-Nicky" correspondence between
Kaiser Wilhelm and the last of the Romanoffs, discovered in
Petrograd by Herman Bernstein. These reveal, moreover, the
surpassing craft of the German Kaiser. He was the master schemer.
Touting for German trade, always for his advantage, he twists the
poor half-wit of the Winter Palace like a piece of straw.
Emperor William was not satisfied with a quiet life as patron of
trade. As he studied the portraits of his ancestors, he felt that
they gazed at him with reproachful eyes, demanded that he add, as
did they, to the domains of the Hohenzollerns, that he return
from war in triumph at the head of a victorious army with the
keys of fallen cities borne before him in conquering march.
One-tenth of Frederick the Great's people fell, but to the
poverty-stricken peasant woman of Prussia, lamenting her husband
and dead sons, did it matter that the rich province of Silesia
had been added to the Prussian Crown? What was it to that broken
mother whether the Silesian peasants acknowledged the Prussian
King or the Austrian Empress? Despots both. And what countless
serfs fell in the wars between the King and the Empress! I once
asked von Jagow when this war would end. He answered, "An old
history of the Seven Years' War concludes, 'The King and the
Empress were tired of war, so they made peace.' That is how this
war will end." Will it? Will it end in a draw, to be resumed when
some king feels the war fever on him? No, this war must end
despots, and with them all wars!
It is all such a matter of personal whim. For instance before
Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Germany, even the best
informed Germans predicted that King Ferdinand would never join
Germany because of an incident which occurred in the Royal Palace
of Berlin. This is how it happened:
It is the custom for one monarch to make his pals in the King
business officers of his army or navy. Thus the German Emperor
was General Field Marshal and Proprietor of the 34th "William the
first, German Emperor and King of Prussia" Infantry, and of the
7th "William the Second, German Emperor and King of Prussia"
Hussars, in the Austro-Hungarian Army; Chief of the "King
Frederick William III St. Petersburg Life Guards," the 85th
"Viburg" Infantry and the 13th "Narva" Hussars, and the "Grodno"
Hussars of the Guard, in the Russian Army; Field Marshal in British Army;
Hon. Admiral of the British Fleet and Colonel-in-Chief 1st Dragoons;
General in the Swedish Army and Flag Admiral of the Fleet; Hon.
Admiral of the Norwegian and Danish Fleets; Admiral of the
Russian Fleet; Hon. Captain-General in the Spanish Army and Hon.
Colonel of the 11th "Naumancia" Spanish Dragoons; and Hon.
Admiral of the Greek Fleet.
The King of Bulgaria was Chief of the 4th Thuringia Infantry
Regiment No. 72, in the Prussian Army. As per custom, on a visit
to Berlin he donned his uniform of the Thuringian Infantry. He
had put on a little weight, and military unmentionables, be it
known, are notoriously tight. So as he leaned far out of the
Palace window to admire the passing troops, he presented a mark
so tempting that the Emperor, in jovial mood, was impelled to
administer a resounding spank on the sacred seat of the Czar of
all the Balkans. Instead of taking the slap in the same jovial
spirit in which it was given the Czar Ferdinand, a little jealous
of the self-assumed title of Czar, became furiously angry--so
angry that even the old diplomats of the Metternich school
believed for a time that he never would forgive the whack and
even might refuse to join Germany. But Czar Ferdinand, believing
in the military power of Germany, cast his already war-worn
people in the war against the Allies, much to the regret of many
Bulgarian statesmen who, having been educated at Robert College,
near Constantinople, a college founded and maintained by
Americans, and having imbibed somewhat of the American spirit
there, were not over-pleased to think of themselves arrayed
against the United States of America.
But there is no monarch in all Europe who is more wily than Czar
Ferdinand. At a great feast in Bulgaria at which Emperor William
was present, Czar Ferdinand toasted the Emperor in Latin and
alluded to him as "_Miles Gloriosus_"--which all present took to
mean "glorious soldier"; but the exact Latin meaning of
"gloriosus" is "glorious" in its first meaning and "boastful" in
its second, a meaning well known in Berlin where, at the "Little
Theatre," in a series of plays of all ages, the "_Miles
Gloriosus_" of Plautus had just been presented--a boastful,
conceited soldier, the "_Miles Gloriosus_," the chief character
of the comedy.
Nothing illustrates more vividly the belief of the royal families
of the Central Empires in their God-given right to rule the plain
people than those few words of Maximilian written before his
ill-fated expedition to Mexico. Speaking of the Palace at
Caserta, near Naples, he wrote, "The monumental stairway is
worthy of Majesty. What can be finer than to imagine the
sovereign placed at its head, resplendent in the midst of these
marble pillars,--to fancy this monarch, like a God, graciously
permitting the approach of human beings. The crowd surges upward.
The King vouchsafes a gracious glance, but from a very lofty
elevation. All powerful, imperial, he makes one step towards them
with a smile of infinite condescension. Could Charles V, could
Maria Theresa appear thus at the head of this ascending stair,
who would not bow their heads before that majestic, God-given
power?"
What was the condition of the people under Maria Theresa, whom
Maximilian spoke of as possessing a power that, according to him,
was so God-given no one could fail to bow the head before her
majestic presence? The peasants, under her rule, were practically
slaves, as they could not leave the lord's lands nor even marry
without his permission, nor could they bring their children up to
any profession other than that of labourer. In other words, the
children of the slave must remain slaves.
Poor Maximilian! He was a brother of the late Emperor Francis
Joseph and a member of that Kaiserbund and royal system which,
while America was busy with domestic difficulties between the
North and South, sought to wrest from Mexico her liberty. I
wonder if the Mexicans have forgotten the incident and its
implications.
But one-man power always fails in the end. No man, king or
president, whatever he may himself think, has a brain all
powerful and all knowing. There is wisdom in counsel. Too much of
some favourite dish may lead to indigestion and that to bad
judgment at a critical time and disaster. Napoleon III, just
before 1870, was suffering from a wasting disease and so allowed
himself to be ruled by the beautiful, narrow, fascinating,
foolish Spanish Empress whom he gave to the French in a moment of
passion because, as she said to him, "The way to her room lay
through the church door." Colonel Stoffel, the French Military
Attaché to the Berlin Embassy, wrote confidentially report after
report to the Emperor telling him of the immense military
strength of Prussia and of her readiness for immediate war. But
most of these reports were afterwards found unopened in the desk
of the doting, sick and fallen Emperor.
For, after all, however divine the King, Emperor or Kaiser may
consider himself, he is but a vulnerable human being--and no
accident of birth should give even a small number of people on
this earth into the hands of a single mortal.