CROWN PRINCE AND KAISER.
In the autumn of 1878 Prince William paid a visit to his royal
grandmother at Balmoral. As he passed through London he met Princess
Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, who happened to be staying with her
uncle in England, and on February 27, 1881, he married her. Bismarck
approved of the marriage, for the bride's father had all along claimed
Schleswig-Holstein[142] as his own, and had continually objected to
Prussia's action in seizing these provinces. The marriage put an end to
the Duke's claims, and was, in Bismarck's words, "the concluding act of
joy in a drama otherwise rich in strife."
The Germans were specially pleased that the young Prince had chosen a
German bride, and they cheered the happy pair to the echo. After the
wedding the Prince and Princess made their home in the Marble Palace at
Potsdam, and there, on May 6, 1882, their first son, the present Crown
Prince, was born. When old King William heard the news, he cried, "God
be praised and thanked! Four generations of kings!"
Prince William now threw himself with energy into his military duties.
He became colonel of the famous Hussar regiment, the Garde du Corps, and
was speedily renowned as a brilliant and dashing cavalry officer. When
he led his regiment for the first time before the old Emperor at a
review, his uncle, the famous "Red Prince," who was a man very difficult
to please, said, "You have done very well; I should never have believed
it."
Not only did the Prince give his nights and days to the study of war,
but he also began to study the business arrangements of the Empire, and
to make himself acquainted at first hand with the work of the Foreign
Office. Old Bismarck watched his progress keenly. He believed that the
young Prince would prove an emperor after his own heart; that he would
care nothing for parliaments, and stand up for his imperial rights like
a rock of bronze. So popular did he become, and so much was he admired,
that the people began to overlook his father, the Crown Prince,
altogether. Military men had never regarded the Crown Prince with
favour, and he was now almost eclipsed by his strong-willed, eager,
gifted son. The ruling classes of Prussia saw in him the man who would
surely lead them on to military glory.
In the spring of 1887 a growth appeared in the Crown Prince's throat. It
increased so rapidly that soon he could only speak in a strained, husky
voice. He gradually grew worse, and an English doctor was summoned by
the Crown Princess to examine him. She was much blamed for putting her
faith in an English doctor rather than in German doctors, and many
bitter things were said about her. When the old Emperor heard of his
son's affliction he was overwhelmed with grief. "I have only one wish,"
he said, "which I should like to be gratified before I die, and that is
to hear my poor son Fritz speak as clearly as he used to do." Alas! this
was a wish never to be realized. The poor Crown Prince had lost his
voice for ever.
At the first sign of his father's serious illness all eyes were turned
to Prince William, who began to appear on all sorts of public occasions,
and make speeches about the military glories of his house, and its
bulwark, the Army. At this time there was some trouble with France and
Russia, and the German army was increased by more than half a million
men. Bismarck, who had made a secret treaty with Austria as far back as
1879, went to Parliament and explained the situation in what is thought
to be his greatest speech. He thus concluded: "We Germans fear God, and
nothing else in the world." There was no more delighted listener in the
assembly than Prince William. This defiant speech exactly suited his
temper of mind. He was all for military glory, and though in after years
he constantly declared himself the friend of peace, and more than once
strove to preserve it, we now know that towards the end of the year 1913
he was ready to stake all upon a war which would make him master of
Europe.
[Illustration: "Four Generations of Kings."
The old Emperor William I. is seated, nursing his great-grandson, the
present Crown Prince, who was born in 1882. On the left stands the Crown
Prince, who became the Emperor Frederick III. on the death of William I.
in 1888. On the right stands his son, the baby's father, Prince William,
who became Emperor on the death of his father, after a brief reign of
eighty-four days (1888). When the old Emperor learnt that a
great-grandson had been born to him, he cried, "God be praised and
thanked! Four generations of kings!" He could not, of course, foresee
the present war, which may bring about the ruin of his house and make
his prophecy false. You will learn something of the present Crown Prince
later on.]
The sands of the old Emperor's life were now fast running out. He was
ninety-one years of age, and he had felt his son's affliction very
keenly. It was Prince William who watched over the last few years of the
old Kaiser's life. It was to him that the aged monarch gave warning and
counsel for the future. He advised his grandson to be patient and
dutiful during his father's reign, which could not last long, and he
begged him to be "considerate" to Russia, for he had always feared to
make an enemy of that great Power. He knew full well that if ever
Germany should come to blows with Russia, France would attack her, and
thus she would have to fight two wars, one on each frontier, at the same
time. Then the old man begged Bismarck to remain in office, no matter
what should befall; and a few days later he died, full of years and
honour, leaving the imperial crown to his poor afflicted son. His dying
words were, "Fritz, lieber[143] Fritz."
William was now Crown Prince, and he knew that he would soon be Emperor.
His poor father was a doomed man. He reigned eighty-four days, and bore
his sufferings with the greatest fortitude. He once wrote to the Crown
Prince: "Learn to suffer without complaint, for that is all that I can
teach you." With his broken-hearted wife and some of his devoted
servants kneeling round him, he breathed his last on June 15, 1888, and
the Crown Prince in his twenty-ninth year became Kaiser as William II.
How he received the news of his father's death we do not know, but in
less than half an hour he called out a squadron of Hussars in their red
jackets, and sent them clattering to the Palace where the dead Emperor
lay. They surrounded the building, and behind them came a company of
infantry at the double. The place was thus sealed up, and no one was
allowed to go in or come out. Before his poor mother had recovered from
her first transports of grief the home in which her dead husband lay was
in a state of siege.
[Illustration: The Emperor Frederick III.
(_From the picture by Heinrich von Angeli._)]
The late Emperor had issued his first proclamation to his people, and
his second to his Army, but the new Emperor reversed the order. On the
day of his father's death he sent messages to the Army and Navy, and
kept his people waiting three days before they received their
proclamation. To the Army he wrote as follows:--
"I and the army belong to one another; we are born for one another, and
we will stand together in an indissoluble bond in peace or storm, as God
may will. I swear always to remember that the eyes of my ancestors look
down upon me from the other world, and that one day I shall have to give
an account to them of the honour and glory of the army."
Then he proceeded to bury his father, but there was none of the military
pomp which had been seen at the Emperor William's funeral. It looked as
though the new sovereign thought lightly of his own father because he
was a peace-loving monarch, and had determined to follow the example of
the "War Lord" who had brought France to her knees, and by doing so had
created the German Empire.
In the passage quoted above the Emperor spoke of the bond which united
him with the Army. Let us see what this bond is. As King of Prussia he
is supreme over the Prussian army; he can declare peace or war as he
pleases, though, of course, his people must vote him "the sinews of
war"--that is, money, before he can set his armies in motion. In
ordinary times the Prussian army forms about two-thirds of the whole
German army, so you see that as King of Prussia the Kaiser is a very
powerful "war lord" indeed.
As German Emperor his position is quite different. He is the leader of
the five-and-twenty sovereigns and free cities which are united into the
German Empire, and before he can declare war he must call together the
representatives of all these states, and obtain their consent. Each of
the states has to send to the German army a certain number of troops,
according to its population. In peace time the Kaiser has the right to
inspect them, and to see that they are properly trained and ready to
take the field. As soon as war is declared, he takes the supreme
command, not only of the Prussian soldiers, but also of all the other
German troops.
I cannot now tell you the Kaiser's story in detail. I can only dwell on
a few incidents that reveal his character. When he first opened the
Prussian Parliament in state he declared, amidst a perfect storm of
applause, that he should be guided by the maxim of Frederick the
Great--that the King of Prussia was but the first servant of the state.
To do him justice, he has devoted himself unsparingly to the duties of
his high office; and though he has made many mistakes, and has brought
his Empire to the edge of the precipice over which it bids fair to
topple in utter ruin, he has always laboured, according to his lights,
to make Germany overwhelmingly strong in war and prosperous in peace.
But from the first he meant to do this in his own way. He clearly told
the Prussian Parliament that, while he had no desire to take away such
liberties as the people had, he would never yield one jot or tittle of
his rights as king. British sovereigns know that they derive all their
power from their people, but the Kaiser has always held that he holds
his throne directly from God. Some years later he said:--
"_The German people are the chosen of God. On me, on me as German
Emperor, the Spirit of God has descended. I am His weapon, His sword,
and His viceregent. Woe to cowards and unbelievers!_"
"_There is only one master in this country. I am he, and I shall suffer
no other beside me._"
"_There is only one law--my law, the law which I myself lay down._"
Four years ago, at Königsberg, he repeated his claim to "divine right"
in the following words:--
"_It was on this spot that my grandfather placed the royal crown of
Prussia on his head,[144] insisting once again that it was bestowed upon
him by the grace of God alone, and not by Parliaments and meetings and
decisions of the people. He thus regarded himself as the chosen
instrument of Heaven. I consider myself such an instrument of Heaven,
and shall go my way without regard to the views and opinions of the
day._"
[Illustration: The Kaiser Wilhelm II. opening his First Parliament.
(_From the picture by Anton von Werner._)]
Now to you and me such statements as this seem to be the ravings of a
madman, and we wonder why the Prussians permit one man to lord it over
them in this fashion. The explanation is that the Prussians have never
known any other condition of things; that though every man over
twenty-five has a vote, matters are so arranged that a hundred rich men
have more voting power than two thousand poor men. The nobles and the
officials dislike popular liberty, and they do their utmost to prevent
any further rights being granted to the people. Then, again, as every
Prussian must be a soldier for one or more years, the nation has been
well drilled into submission. All Prussians know that the Empire was
founded by the sword, and they believe that it can only be maintained in
the same way. The majority of them, therefore, regard the Emperor as
their commanding officer, and are prepared to obey him with
unquestioning obedience.
* * * * *
William had not been long on the throne before he quarrelled with
Bismarck, the wily old Chancellor who had served his grandfather so long
and so faithfully, and had taught the young Emperor all the tricks of
government. The fact was, that while Bismarck remained Chancellor,
William could not truthfully say, "There is only one master in this
country. I am he." All the Prussians who were not jealous of Bismarck
knew that he was the chief maker of the German Empire, and they,
therefore, held him in the greatest honour and esteem. The old man was
very strong and self-willed; so was the young monarch, who was extremely
vain as well, and quite confident that he could do everything he turned
his hand to better than anybody else. William therefore determined to
dismiss Bismarck, and treated the old man in such a manner that he
resigned office. When the Chancellor went to the Palace to give up his
seals he still thought that the Emperor would give way. He was soon
undeceived. After listening to the Kaiser for some time, Bismarck said,
"Then I am in your way, sir?" To which William replied, "Yes." He had
already got rid of Moltke.
In the early part of his reign William had treated his mother very
harshly, probably because he thought this would be pleasing to those of
his subjects who hated Britain. He now began to behave better to his
mother, and then suggested to his grandmother, Queen Victoria, that he
should pay her a visit in England. She agreed, and he came amongst us
for the first time as German Emperor. He was present at a naval review,
and the Queen made him, to his great delight, a British admiral. In
return, he made the old Queen colonel of one of his regiments.
Thereafter he professed great friendship for our country. When Queen
Victoria died he walked behind her coffin along the streets of Windsor,
side by side with his uncle, King Edward VII., and showed great grief.
[Illustration: King Edward VII. and the Kaiser following the coffin of
Queen Victoria through the streets of Windsor.]
On his return to Germany the Emperor shone in the full blaze of the
limelight as the one only man in the whole land. He made many speeches,
declaring over and over again that he was the chosen of God, and
assuring his subjects that all who would help in his great task would be
heartily welcomed, but those who attempted to oppose him would be dashed
in pieces. Of course there were many Germans who greatly disliked the
acts and speeches of their boastful and meddlesome sovereign. On one
occasion he told these critical persons that if they were dissatisfied
they should "shake the dust of Germany from their feet." A newspaper
pointed out that if all those who were dissatisfied in the German Empire
were to emigrate, his Imperial Majesty would be left entirely alone, and
then he also would be dissatisfied and would leave too!
At various times during his reign the Emperor has tried hard to win the
favour of the peoples who have been forcibly included in the German
Empire. He went to Alsace, and made a gracious speech in Strassburg; but
later on, at Metz, he harshly told the people of Lorraine, "German you
are, and German you will remain. May God and our German sword help us to
effect this." These words were meant to crush any hopes that the people
might entertain of one day being reunited with France. He also went
amongst the Poles,[145] who have never been satisfied with German rule,
and severely rebuked the nobles and the citizens. When he was leaving
one of the Polish towns he said to the Mayor, "I hope that my words will
be well borne in mind, for you know that I can be very disagreeable
too."
Not content with being supreme in government, William now set up to be a
judge of art and poetry in the Empire. He wrote a set of verses of pagan
fierceness, and sent for an artist, and gave him the idea of the picture
which you see on page 142. It represents the civilized nations of Europe
standing in the midst of mountains, valleys, and cities, with the castle
of Hohenzollern in the foreground. Confronting the nations is a sea of
flames and clouds of smoke, which are twisted into the form of terrible
faces, representing the Chinese and Japanese. Buddha[146] sits enthroned
in the midst of this framework as the demon of destruction. The
Archangel Michael with a flaming sword appears in front of the civilized
nations, urging them to prepare for a terrific conflict. Underneath the
original picture the Emperor wrote, "Nations of Europe, defend your
holiest possessions." You will observe that in this picture, which is
supposed to warn us of what is called the Yellow Peril,[147] Germany is
the chief figure, and that clinging to her is her ally, Austria.
Early in the year 1895 the Kaiser began to turn his thoughts to the
Navy. Already he had the finest and best-organized army in the world;
now he desired to win the sovereignty of the seas as well. "Germany's
future," he said, "is upon the waters." The navy which he proposed to
build was out of all proportion to the number of merchant ships which
Germany possessed, and from the first many people in this country
rightly guessed that it was meant to be the means of overcoming Great
Britain. The Kaiser also caused a canal to be dug through
Schleswig-Holstein, so as to unite the North Sea with the Baltic Sea, in
order that his warships might rapidly pass from one to the other. The
work of enlarging and deepening this canal was only finished in June
1914, within six weeks of the outbreak of war.
* * * * *
All this time envy and hatred of Britain was growing in Germany. Thanks
to hard work, great perseverance, and much thought, Germany had become a
great manufacturing nation, the rival of Great Britain. She felt that
she was marked out to be the head of a world-empire, yet there were many
drawbacks in her way. If you look at a map of Europe you will see that
Germany has a very poor sea coast, and but few good harbours. The bulk
of the Baltic Sea, which fronts the greater part of her coast, is frozen
up for months every year. Every day Germany feels the necessity of
possessing ports on the open ocean; yet she can only secure them by
conquest. She is surrounded by old-established nations: by France on the
west, Russia on the east, Austria-Hungary on the south. Two small
states, one of them neutralized by a treaty to which she was a party,
lie between her and the North Sea, and both of them possess ports which
rank amongst the world's finest havens. The bulk of her sea-borne trade
must pass through Belgium, the more southerly of these states, and she
has never concealed her eager desire to possess it. Holland has long
been regarded by her as a "brave bit of the Fatherland."
Germany, therefore, cannot expand in Europe without conquest, and she
has found many difficulties in the way of expanding overseas. When she
was ready to make herself a world-power, all the best parts of the earth
had been taken up by other nations. She found that she had been born too
late. She managed to found several colonies in Africa; but, with the
exception of Togoland and the Kamerun, they were unfruitful and
thankless regions of sand and stones. In Asia she set up the colony of
Kiao-chau, in North China, and thereby aroused the anger of the
Japanese. When she tried to get territory elsewhere she found herself in
conflict with one or other of the Great Powers. Then, too, she saw
hundreds of thousands of her people departing for America or for the
colonies of other Powers, and there becoming lost to her. All this has
been very galling to the Germans, and the Prussian military class has
never ceased to point out that Germany can only expand by means of
warfare.
[Illustration: Kiel Canal.]
Though the Kaiser has frequently declared himself the friend of peace,
he has always made the most warlike speeches to his own subjects. When
he addresses his Army and Navy he does so in a defiant and boastful
manner, and is fond of talking about the "mailed fist" and "shining
armour" of Germany. For many years past this kind of talk has been very
irritating to the other nations of Europe. On the eve of the Boer War he
sent a telegram to Mr. Kruger, the President of the South African
Republic, which plainly showed that he was no friend to Great Britain.
When the war went against us in its early stages he and his advisers
thought that we should be beaten, and that the British Empire would fall
to pieces. It was openly said by Germans that if they had then possessed
a strong navy they would have been able to capture some of the British
colonies. The Kaiser seized the opportunity to press his Parliament to
give him a big grant for building warships. He plainly told his people
that his navy was to be so strong that "the next greatest naval
power"--that is, Great Britain--would not be able to attack it without
grave risk. So a big navy, costing more than 300 millions of money, was
built.
[Illustration: "Nations of Europe, defend your most sacred possessions."
(_Painted by H. Knackfuss from a sketch by the Kaiser._)]
I have already told you that for many years past Germany has been very
envious of the British Empire. A great German historian was never tired
of teaching that Britain was _the_ enemy of Germany. She was, he said, a
"robber state;" she had become mistress of one-fifth of the whole world
by making cat's paws of other races; and she had no real right to all
this territory. She could not even rule it properly. If ever she had
been strong and warlike, that time had long gone by. Though she appeared
to be strong, she was really very weak, and quite unable to hold her
Empire against such a strong Power as Germany. The Germans have come to
believe this teaching, and for years past they have looked forward to
"the day" on which they would challenge the power of Great Britain, and,
after having defeated her, would enter into her heritage. They have also
been taught that there is nothing wrong in trying to seize the territory
of other nations. Might, they believe, is right, and the spoils of the
world are for the strongest.
Newspaper writers in Germany have constantly preached this doctrine to
the people, and several Prussian officers have written books showing how
Germany ought to go to work to beat down Great Britain, and tear her
Empire from her. War has become the religion of Germany, and she has
prepared for it with wonderful foresight and zeal. While she has grown
to be a great manufacturing and trading nation, she has never for a
moment neglected her Army nor ceased to build up her Navy.
She has also tried to win the mastery of the air. When Count Zeppelin,
about the year 1899, invented a great airship which could travel for
hundreds of miles and carry some thirty or forty men, the Kaiser saw at
once that it might become a great weapon of war. Germany now possesses
about thirty of these airships, and they are meant to play a large part
in an invasion of Britain. On the opposite page you will see a picture
of a modern Zeppelin, with a part of the covering removed to show you
the framing of the interior, and the many separate gas chambers which it
contains. It is said that even if half these chambers were destroyed the
airship would still float and answer its helm. The outside covering is
made of light metal known as aluminium. It costs some thousands of
pounds to inflate a Zeppelin, and two hundred pounds a week to restore
the gas lost by evaporation.
The _Victoria Luise_, one of the crack Zeppelins, has made some
wonderful trips, and she could no doubt fly from Kiel or Hamburg over
any part of the British Isles and back again. But fog and storm are her
deadly enemies, and there are many other difficulties to be overcome
before she could make a raid upon Britain, drop bombs on her cities, and
return in safety.
[Footnote 142: See p. 81.]
[Footnote 143: _Lē´ber_, dear.]
[Footnote 144: See p. 80.]
[Footnote 145: For the story of how part of Poland was included in
Prussia, see p. 48.]
[Footnote 146: _Boo´d´ha_, the founder of a religion largely professed
in Tibet, parts of N. India, Ceylon, Burma, China, and Japan.]
[Footnote 147: The danger arising from the growing power of the Yellow
peoples, chiefly the Chinese and Japanese.]
[Illustration: A Zeppelin with part of the covering removed to show the
interior.]