GLIMPSES OF THE GERMAN POINT OF VIEW IN RELATION TO THE UNITED STATES
Time passed. There were alarms, and rumours that German money was
corrupting France, that the distrust aroused by the Morocco incident
was growing, that the French patriot believed that his opponent, the
French pacifist, was using religious differences to weaken the
_morale_ of the French army and navy, to convince Germany that the
'revenge' for 1870 was forgotten.
One day, a very clever English attaché came to luncheon; he always
kept his eyes open, and he was allowed by me to take liberties in
conversation which his chief would never have permitted; it is a
great mistake to bottle up the young, or to try to do it.
'You are determined to be friends with Germany,' he said, 'and
Germany seems to be determined to be friends with you. Your Foreign
Office has evidently instructed you to be very sympathetic with the
German minister. He seldom sees anybody but you; but, at the same
time you have recalled Mr. Tower, whom the Kaiser likes, to give him
Mr. Hill, whom he seems not to want.'
'It is not a question as to whom the Kaiser wants exactly; we
ostensibly sent an ambassador to the German Emperor, but really to
the German people. Mr. Hill is one of the most experienced of our
diplomatists.'
'The Kaiser does not want that. Mr. Tower habituated him to
splendour, and he likes Americans to be splendid. Rich people ought
to spend their money in Berlin. Besides, he had been accustomed to
Mr. Tower, who, he thinks, will oil the wheels of diplomatic
intercourse. Just at this moment, when the Kaiser has lost prestige
because of his double-dealing with the Boers and his apparent deceit
on the Morocco question, he does not want a man of such devotion to
the principles of The Hague convention and so constitutional as Mr.
Hill, who may acknowledge the charm of the emperor, but who, even in
spite of himself, will not be influenced by it.'
'How do you know this?'
'Everybody about the court in Berlin knows it, but I hear it from
Munich. But Speck von Sternberg would have balanced Hill, if he had
lived. They think he would have influenced President Roosevelt. Tell
us the secrets of the White House--you ought to know--it was an awful
competition between Speck and Jusserand, I hear.'
'President Roosevelt is not easily influenced,' I said.
Persons whom I knew in Berlin wrote to me, informing me how charmed
the Kaiser was with the new ambassador; but, in Copenhagen, we
learned that what the Kaiser wanted was not a great international
lawyer, but a rich American of less intensity.
* * * * *
It was worth while to get Russian opinions.
'The Kaiser is having a bad time,' I remarked to a Russian of my
acquaintance--a most brilliant man, now almost, as he said himself,
_homme sans patrie_.
'Temporarily,' he answered; 'those indiscreet pronouncements of his
on the Boers and the reversion of his attitude against England in the
affair of Morocco have shown him that he cannot clothe inconsistency
in the robes of infallibility. He is a personal monarch and he sinks
all his personality in his character as a monarch. He is made to the
likeness of God, and there is an almost hypostatic union between God
and him! Our Tsar is by no means so absolute, though you Americans
all persist in thinking so. I have given you some documents on that
point; I trust that you have sent them to your President. I am sure,
however, that he knew _that_. Do not imagine that the emperor will be
deposed, because he has made a row in Germany. He has only discovered
how far he can go by personal methods, that is all; he has learned
his lesson--_reculer pour mieux sauter_. He has played a clever game
with you. Bernstorff, his new ambassador, will offset Hill. Your
investments in Russia will now come through German hands, and you
will get a bad blow in the matter of potash.'
'What do you mean?' I asked. I had regarded Count Bernstorff as a
Liberal. His English experience seemed to have singled him out as
one of the diplomatists of the Central Powers--there were
several--inclined to admit that other nations had rights which
Germany was bound to respect. In private conversations, he had shown
himself very favourable to the United States, and had even
disapproved of German attacks on the Monroe Doctrine in Brazil.
'Count Bernstorff is not likely to offend Washington, or to reopen
the wound that was made at Manila.'
'You talk as if diplomatists were not, first of all, instructed to
look after the business interests of their countries. Do you think
Bernstorff has been chosen to dance cotillions with your 'cave
dwellers' in Washington or to compliment Senators' wives? First, his
appointment is meant to flatter you. Second, he will easily flatter
you because he really likes America and it is his business to flatter
you. Third, he will do his best to induce you to assist England in
strangling Russia in favour of Turkey. Fourth, he will grip hard,
without offending you, the German monopoly of potash. He doesn't want
trouble between the United States and Germany. He knows that any
difficulty of that kind would be disastrous; he is as anxious to
avoid that as is Ballin. Under the glimmer of rank, of which you
think so much in America, commercialism is the secret of Germany's
spirit to-day. In Berlin, I heard an American, one of your
denaturalised, trying to curry favour with Prince von Bülow by saying
that the national genius of Germany demanded that Alsace-Lorraine
should be kept by Germany to avenge the insolence of Louis XIV. and
Napoleon. Prince von Bülow smiled. He knew that your compatriot was
working for an invitation to an exclusive something or other for his
wife. Bernstorff is just the man to neutralise Hill. It's iron ore
and potash in Alsace-Lorraine that the emperor cares about.'
'And yet I know, at first hand, that the Pan-German hates Bernstorff.
If anything approaching to a Liberal Government came in Germany,
Bernstorff will be Minister of Foreign Affairs.'
My Russian friend smiled sardonically. 'We Russians feel that our one
salvation is to oust the Turk and get to the Mediterranean. My party
would provoke a war with Germany to-morrow, if we could afford it,
and Germany knows it. Count Bernstorff, the most sympathetic of all
German diplomatists, knows this, too, and you may be sure that he
will persuade your Government that he loves you, give the Russian
programme a nasty stroke when he can, and keep the price of potash
high. I, desirous as I am of being an Excellency, would refuse to go
to Berlin to-morrow, if I had Bernstorff against me on the other
side. See what will happen to Hill! Germany may offend you, but
Bernstorff will persuade you that it is the simple _gaucherie_ of a
rustic youth who assumes the antics of a playful bear[5]--a hug or
two; it may hurt, but the jovial bear means well! If Hill should
leave Berlin, you will need a clever man who has political power with
your Government. Bernstorff will contrive to put any other kind of
man in the wrong--I tell you that.'
[5] 'We can say without hesitation that during the last century the
United States have nowhere found better understanding or juster
recognition than in this country. More than any one else the
Emperor William II. manifested this understanding and appreciation
of the United States of America.'--Von Bülow's _Imperial Germany_,
p. 51.
The Russian who predicted this is in exile, penniless, a man _sans
patrie_, as he says himself. When I took these notes he seemed to be
above the blows of fate!
If the hand of Germany was everywhere, everybody was watching the
movements of the fingers. Among the English there were two parties:
One that could tolerate nothing German, the other that hated
everything Russian, but both united in one belief, that the alliance
with Japan would not hold under the influence of German intrigue and
that Italy could not long remain a member of the Triple Alliance.
The gossip from Berlin was always full of pleasant things for an
American to hear. The Kaiser treated our compatriots with unusual
courtesy.
In Copenhagen we were deluged with letters announcing that Count
Bernstorff's coming meant a new era; he even excelled 'Speck' in his
charm, sympathy, and everything that ought to endear him to us; in
him showed that true desire for peace of which his august master was,
of all the world, the best representative. It was even rumoured that
the German Foreign Office had begun to coquette with the Danish
Social Democrats.
The exchange of professors between the United States and Germany was
becoming an institution. Sometimes the American professors found
themselves in awkward positions; they did not 'rank'; they had no
fixed position from the German point of view. As mere American
commoners, unrecognised by their Government, undecorated, they could
not expect attentions from the court as a right. However, the Germans
studied them and rather liked some of them, but, not being _raths_,
they were poor creatures without standing. Even if they should make
reputations approved by the great German universities, they had no
future. How green were the lawns and how pleasant the sweet waters in
the enclosed gardens of autocracy, of which the Emperor, Fountain of
Honours, kept the key!
It was amusing to note the German attitude toward democracy, in spite
of all the pleasant things said by the High, Well-Born citizens of
the Fatherland in favour of the American brand. At the same time, one
could not help seeing that the children of the Kaiser were wiser than
the children of--let us say modestly--Light. 'If the President asked
me,' said one of the most distinguished of lawyers and the most loyal
of Philadelphians to me, 'I should be willing to live all my life in
Germany.' This was the result of the impression the charm of the
Kaiser made on the best of us.
He has changed his opinion now; he swears by the works of his
compatriot, Mr. Beck. Even then, in 1908-9, my distinguished
Philadelphia friend could not have endured life in Germany. He forgot
that even the emperor could not give him rank, and that no matter how
cosmopolitan, how learned, how tactful he was, he would at once be a
commoner, and very much of a commoner on the day he settled there as
a resident.
A Prussian Serene Highness, who came with letters from an Irish
relative in Hungary dropped in; he was mostly Bavarian in blood; he
had cousins in England and Italy. He liked a good luncheon, and, as
Miss Knollys always said (I quote this without shame), 'The best food
in Europe is at the American Legation!' He smoked, too, and Rafael
Estrada, of Havana, had chosen the cigars.
'France is difficult,' said my acquaintance, His Serene Highness. 'It
is not really democratic; and England will go to pieces before it
becomes democratic.
'You Americans have freedom with order, and you respect rank and
titles, though you do not covet them. That is why the Kaiser would
not send any ambassador not of a great family to you. All Americans
who come to Berlin desire to be presented at court. It is a sign that
you will come to our way of thinking some day. We are not so far
apart. You who write must tell your people that we are calumniated,
we are not despots. That woman, the author of _Elizabeth and Her
German Garden_, married to a friend of mine, does us harm. But most
Americans see Germany in a mellow light. We are akin in our
aspirations--Frederick the Great understood that.
'Bismarck, great as he was, became ambitious only for his family. His
son, the coming chancellor, would have used our young emperor as a
puppet, if our emperor had not put him into his place. This is the
truth, and I am telling it to you confidentially. The British
Government will come to anarchy if it weakens the House of Lords. The
House of Commons is already weak. There is no barrier between honest
rule and the demagogues. With your magnificent Senate there will
always be a wall between the will of the _canaille_ and good
government. We Germans understand you!'
'But suppose,' it was Mr. Alexander Weddell, then connected with the
Legation, now Consul General at Athens, who broke in, 'you should
differ from us on the Monroe Doctrine. I have recently read an
article by Mr. Frederick Wile in an English magazine on your
management of your people in Brazil.'
'"Our people!" The Serene Highness seemed startled. 'A German is
always a German. It is the call of the blood.'
'And something more,' Mr. Weddell said, 'a German citizen is always a
German citizen; you never admit that a German can become a Brazilian.
Suppose you should want to join your Germans in Brazil with your
Germans at home. What would become of our Monroe Doctrine?'
'There are Germans in your country who have ceased to be Germans, and
your upper classes are Anglicised, except when they marry into one of
our great families; nevertheless, our own people would still see that
you don't go too far with your Monroe Doctrine. It has not yet been
drastically interpreted. The Monroe Doctrine is a method of defence.
To interfere with the call of the German blood from one country to
another would be offensive to us, and I cannot conceive of your
country so far forgetting itself!'
His Serene Highness was of a mediatised house--a gentleman who had
much experience in diplomacy. He had, I think, visited Newport, and
been almost engaged to an American girl. The legend ran that, when
this lady saw him without his uniform, she broke the engagement. He
was splendid in his uniform. He thought he knew the United States; he
even quoted Bryce and De Tocqueville; he had the impression that the
Kaiser's propaganda of education was Germanising us for our good.
'The most eminent professors at your most important universities are
Germans. Your newest university, that of Chicago, would have no
reputation in Europe if it were not for the Germans. Wundt has
revolutionised your conception of psychology; your scientific and
historical methods are borrowed from us. Even your orthodox
Protestants quote Harnack. Virchow long ago put out the lights of
Huxley and Spencer. And the Catholic German in America, whom Bismarck
almost alienated from us, revolts against the false Americanism of
Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, whom the Kaiser rates as a
son of the Revolution. Your Catholic University has begun to be
moulded in the German way. Mgr. Schroeder, highly considered, was one
of the most energetic of the professors----'
'Was,' I said. 'I happen to know that he was relieved of his
professorship because of those very dominating qualities you value so
much.'
'That is regrettable; but, you see, in Germany we follow the train of
events in your country. Who has a larger audience than Münsterberg?
In the things of the mind we Germans must lead.'
In my opinion, it is best for a diplomatist--at least for a man who
is in the avocation of diplomacy--to be satisfied with _l'eloquence
de l'éscalier_. If he writes memoirs he can always put in the
repartee he intended to make; and, if he does not, he can always
think, too, with satisfaction of what he was almost clever enough to
say! It was enough to have discovered one thing--that, with a large
number of the ruling classes in the Fatherland, the Monroe Doctrine
was looked on as an iridescent bubble. Many times afterwards this
fact was emphasised.
The Austrians were not always so careful as the Germans to save, when
it came to democracy, American susceptibilities. They were always
easy to get on with, provided one remembered that even to the most
discerning among them, the United States, 'America' as they always
called it, was an unknown land.
As for Count Dionys Szechenyi, the Minister of Austria-Hungary, he
was the most genial of colleagues, and he had no sympathy with
tyranny of any kind; he had no illusions as to America.
His wife is a Belgian born, Countess Madeleine Chimay de Caraman. He
was always careful not to touch on 'Prussianism,' as the Danes called
the principle of German domination. He had many subjects of
conversation, from portrait buying to transactions in American steel
and, what had its importance in those days, a good dinner. At his
house one met occasionally men who liked to be frank, and then these
Austro-Hungarians were a delightful group. 'If we should be involved
in a war with England--which is unthinkable, since King Edward and
our Ambassador, Count Mensdorff would never allow it--I could not buy
my clothes in London,' said one very regretfully.
This Austrian magnate heard with unconcealed amusement the German
talk of 'democracy.' 'Max Harden is sincere, but a puppet; he helps
the malcontents to let off steam; the German Government will never
allow another _émeute_ like that of 1848. Bismarck taught the
Government how to be really imperial. In Austria we are frankly
autocratic, but not so new as the Prussian. We wear feudalism like an
old glove. There are holes in it, of course, and Hungary is making
the holes larger. If the Hungarians should have their way, there
would be no more _majorats_, no more estates that can be kept in
families; and that will be the end of our feudalism.
'As it is, things are uncomfortable enough, but a war would mean a
break-up. What do you Americans expect for Max Harden and his
_Zukunft_--exile and suppression as soon as he reaches the limit. All
the influences of the Centre could not keep the Jesuits from being
exiled! Why? They would not admit the superiority of the state.
Harden will never have the real power of the Jesuits, for the reason
that he founds his appeal on principles that vary with the occasion.
But he will go! As for the Social Democrats, they can be played with
as a cat plays with a mouse. Democracy! If the Kaiser gets into a
tight place he can always declare war!
'Is the Imperial Chancellor responsible to the German people? No. He
is imperial because he wears the imperial livery. Can the Reichstag
appoint a chancellor? The idea is _pour rire_! My dear Mr. Minister,
you and your countrymen do not understand Prussian rule in Germany!
And the Federal Council, what chance has it against the will of our
emperor? And what have the people to do with the Federal Council?
The members are appointed by the rulers by right divine. There is
the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He rules his little duchy with
a firm hand. There is the Duke of Brunswick, the Prince of
Lippe-Schaumbourg--not to speak of the Grand Duke of Baden and a
whole nest of rulers responsible only to the Head of the House.'
'But the people _must_ count,' I said. 'Prince von Bülow has shown
himself to be nervous about the growing power of the Social
Democrats.'
'Oh, yes, they are very amusing. They may caterwaul in the Reichstag;
they may wrangle over the credits and the budget; but the emperor can
prorogue them at any time. The Pan-Germans could easily, if the
Reichstag were too independent, counsel the Kaiser to prorogue that
debating club altogether.
'Who can prevent his forcing despotic military rule on the nation,
for the nation's good, of course? Everything in Germany must come
from the top--you know that. Again, the power of the rich, as far as
suffrage is concerned, is unlimited. The members of the Reichstag are
elected by open ballot. Woe be to the working man who defies his
emperor. Fortunately the rich German is not socially powerful until
he ranks. You may be as rich as Krupp, but if the Fountain of Honour
has not dashed a spray of the sacred water on you, you are as nobody.
'The greatest American plutocrat may visit Germany and spend money
like water, and he remains a mere commoner. The Kaiser may invite him
on his yacht and say polite things, but, until he _ranks_, he is
nobody. His wife may manage to be presented at court under the wing
of the American ambassadress, but that is nothing! The poorest and
most unimportant of the little provincial baronesses outranks her.
She will always be an outsider, no matter how long she may live in
Germany.
'With us, in Austria, an American woman, no matter whom she marries,
is never received at court. She is never "born,"' and he laughed.
'Americans can have no heraldic quarterings; but, then, we do not
pretend to be democratic. If I loved an American girl, I would marry
her, of course; but if I went to court, I should go alone. It is the
rule, and going to court is not such a rare treat to people who are
used to it. It becomes a bore.'
To do my German diplomatic colleagues justice, they never attempted
masquerades in the guise of democrats. There were other Germans, whom
one met in society. These people were always loyal to the Fatherland.
Their attitude was that the German world was the best of all possible
worlds.
If my own countrymen and countrywomen abroad were as solidly American
as these people were German, our politeness would not be so
frequently stretched to the breaking point. The most loyal of Germans
were American people of leisure who had lived long in Germany with
titled relatives. They enjoyed themselves; they lived for a time in
the glory of rank.
With those who had to earn their own living in Germany, it was
another story. They did not 'rank'; they were ordinary mortals; they
had not the _entrée_ to some little provincial court, and so they saw
the Prussian point of view as it really was. The American women,
strangely enough, who had married ranking Germans loved everything
German. 'But how do you endure the interference with your daily
life?' my wife asked an American girl married to a Baron.
'I like it; it makes one so safe, so protected; your servants are
under the law, and give you no trouble. Order is not an idea, but a
method. I know just how my children shall be educated. That is the
province of my husband. I have no fault to find.' She laughed. 'I do
not have to explain myself; I do not have to say, "I am a Daughter of
the Revolution, my uncle was Senator so-and-so"--my place is fixed,
and I like it!'
It was a distinguished German professor who assumed the task of
convincing American University men that the German Army was
democratic, and the conclusion of his syllogism was: 'No officer is
ever admitted to a club of officers who has not been voted for by the
members.' Would you believe it? It seems incredible that democracy
should seem to depend on the votes of an aristocracy and not on
principles. But later, just at the beginning of the war, this
professor and a half dozen others signed a circular in which the same
argument was used. In 1907-8-9-10, the propaganda for convincing
Americans that Germany--that is that the Kaiser--loved us was part of
the daily life in the best society in the neutral countries.
The Norwegians openly laughed at it. They knew only too well what the
Kaiser's opinion of them and their king, Haakon, was. Amazed by the
frequent allusions of the admirers of the Kaiser to his love for
democracy, especially the American kind, I had a talk one day with
one of the most frank and sincere of Germans, the late Baron von der
Quettenburg, the father of the present vicar of the Church of St.
Ansgar's in Copenhagen. He was a Hanoverian. He was at least seventy
years of age when I knew him, but he walked miles; he rode; he liked
a good dinner; he enjoyed life in a reasonable way; but he was
frequently depressed. Hanover, his proud, his noble, his beautiful
Hanover, was a vassal to the arrogant Prussian!
'But, if there were a war you would fight for the Kaiser?' I asked,
after a little dinner of which any man might be proud.
'Fight? Naturally. (I did not know that you knew so well how to eat
in America.) Fight! Yes! It would be our duty. Russia or France or
the Yellow Nations might threaten us;--yes, all my family, except the
priest, would fight. But, because one is loyal to the Kaiser through
duty, it does not mean that we Hanoverians are Prussians through
pleasure. We shall never be content until we are Hanoverians
again--nor will Bavaria.'
'A break up of the empire by force?'
'Oh, no!' he said. 'Not by force; but if the Government does not
distract public attention, Hanover will demand more freedom; so will
Bavaria. None of us would embarrass the Kaiser by raising the
question of--let us say--greater autonomy for our countries, if there
were question of a foreign war; but we must raise them soon.'
'Do you think the emperor would make war to avoid the raising
of these questions, which might mean a tendency toward the
disintegration of the German monarchy?'
'The emperor would be incapable of that; he is for peace, but the
raising of the question of a certain independence among the states
that form the German Empire can only be prevented now by a war or
some affliction equally great. Hanover can never remain the abject
vassal of Prussia.'
'You would, then, like to see the German Emperor more democratic--a
President, like ours, only hereditary, governing quasi-independent
States?'
'That would not suit us at all,' he laughed. 'We are quite willing
that the Reichstag should be in the power of the emperor, as it is a
mere association for talk; but we want the tributary kings to have
more power in their own states. Hanover a republic! How absurd!
Republics may be good on your continent, but, then, you know no
better; you began that way. Whoever tells us that we are democratic
in Germany, deceives you. We Hanoverians want more power for Hanover,
all the reasonable rights of our kings restored and less power for
Prussia; but that we want republicanism, oh, no! A liberal
constitution--yes; but no republic!'
* * * * *
An old friend, a Swedish Social Democrat, brought in to tea a German
Social Democrat; they came to meet an Icelandic composer, in whom I
was interested. The Icelander was a good composer, but filled with
curious ideas about Icelandic independence. He was not content that
Iceland should have the power of a State in the Federal Union. A
separate flag meant to him complete independence of Denmark. He
wanted to know the German Social Democrat's opinion of government.
'It is,' said the German, 'that Hohenzollerns shall go, and people
have equality.'
'With us it is,' said the Swede, 'that the King of Sweden shall go,
and the people have equality.'
'But, if Germany goes to war?' I asked.
'For a short war, we will be as one people; but after----' and he
shook his head gravely.
In the meantime, we were told constantly of the Kaiser's charm. 'You
once said,' remarked a débutante at the German court, who had been
presented under the wing of our ambassadress, 'that if one wanted to
dislike Mr. Roosevelt, one must keep away from him! I assure you, it
is the same with the Kaiser. He is charming. For instance, notice
this: he presented a lovely cigarette case, with imperial monogram in
diamonds or something of that kind, to Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone,
the wife of the Danish Minister, when her husband was leaving. "But
my husband does not smoke," said Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone, later
in the day. "That is the reason I gave it to him," said the Kaiser;
"I knew that you like a cigarette, Madame!" _Isn't_ he charming?'
We were told that the Kaiser loved Mark Twain. To love Mark Twain was
to be American. To be sure he turned his back very pointedly on Mark
on one occasion because Mark had dared to criticise the pension
system of the United States. Pensions for the army should not be
criticised, even if their administration were defective. All soldiers
must be taken care of. This was the first duty of a nation, and Mark
Twain forgot himself when he censured any system that put money into
the pockets of the old soldiers, even of the wives of the soldiers of
1812! And this to the War Lord, the emperor of more than a Prætorian
Guard! And as for President Roosevelt, if the Kaiser could only see
this first of republicans! This meeting had been the great joy of his
brother Prince Henry of Prussia's life.
The Kaiser had learned much from Americans--our great capitalists,
for example. No American who was doing things was alien to him. Other
monarchs might pretend to have an interest in the United States; his
was genuine, for Germany, youngest among the nations, had so much to
learn from the giant Republic of the West which possessed everything,
except potash, the science of making use of by-products, and German
Kultur!
President Roosevelt had just gone out of office, and President Taft
was in. He wrote to me: 'You shall remain in your post as long as I
remain in mine.'
I was pleased and grateful. The chance that President Roosevelt had
given me, President Taft continued to give me. I was the slave of a
fixed idea, that the validity not the legality, of the Monroe
Doctrine was somewhat dependent on our acquiring by fair bargains all
the territory we needed to interpret it!
As to Denmark in 1910, it was much more French than anything else.
And, whatever might be done in the way of propaganda by Germany,
France always remained beloved; while the English way of living
might be imitated, nobody ever thought of imitating Germany's
ways. Besides, the Danes are not good at keeping secrets, and
the whisperings of German intentions, desires, likes, and
dislikes disseminated in that city were generally supposed to be
heart-to-heart talks with the world and received by the Danes with
shrewd annotations. This the Kaiser did not approve of. It was
curious that neither he nor his uncle, the King of England, liked
Copenhagen--for different reasons!
It was understood that the King of England disliked it because he
found it dull--the simplicity of Hvidhöre had no charms for him. He
could not join in the liking of his Queen for everything Danish, from
the ballets of De Bournonville to the red-coloured herring salad.
_Napoli_, a ballet which Queen Alexandra especially recommended to my
wife and myself, frankly bored him, and the _mise-en-scène_ of the
Royal Theatre was not equal to Covent Garden.
The Kaiser disliked Copenhagen because he had no regard for his
Danish relatives, who took no trouble to bring out those charming
boyish qualities he could display at times: the influence of the
Princess Valdemar in Denmark displeased him; she was too French, too
democratic, and too popular, and she had something of the quality
for command of her late mother-in-law, Queen Louise. Altogether, the
Danes were not amenable to German Kultur, or subservient to the
continual threat of being absorbed in it, as the good Buddhist is
absorbed in the golden lotus!