BY DIVINE RIGHT

[18]Luther’s “Ein’ Feste Burg,” translated by F. H. Hedge.

Brandenburg, February 3, 1899

There is a particular whole-heartedness noticeable in all of the Emperor’s speeches to his hereditary subjects, the Brandenburgers. He seemed to take them most fully into his confidence and expect from them a higher degree of loyalty and understanding. For them he felt a particular kinship. His personal pretensions are, therefore,set forth in these speeches and in those to the Prussians, as for instance in his Königsberg speech (August 25, 1910) with less reserve than usual, if we may speak of reserve in one who shows but little and who is unusually frank and personal in his statements. It is for this reason that these speeches have occasionally been severely criticised by his South German subjects, as for instance by Doctor Liman in his “Der Kaiser.” This address was delivered by the Emperor at a banquet which was given by Doctor von Achenbach,Oberpräsidentof Brandenburg Province and Minister of State, to the members of the Provincial Assembly. The wording is taken from the “Reichsanzeiger.” The historical facts here referred to will be found in chapter I.

My Honored President and Dear Men Of Brandenburg:

The speech which we have just heard has laid before us in small compass and in patriotic spirit, embellished with poetic flights, the deeds of my house and the history of our people. I think that I speak from the heart of all of you when I say that there were two circumstances which made it possible for my ancestors and my house to discharge their tasks in this way. The first and prime circumstance was the fact that, above all other princes, and even in a time when perhaps such thoughts and feelings were not yet current,they felt and discharged the personal responsibility of the ruler toward Heaven. The second circumstance is the fact that they had behind them the people of the mark. Let us look back to the time when Frederick I had been named Elector and when he exchanged his magnificent Frankish home country for the mark, which at that time was in a condition which we can hardly picture to ourselves even from the description of historians. We can only understand this exchange on the assumption that the ruler felt within himself the call to journey to this land, which had been intrusted to him by the imperial protection in order here to bring about a better-ordered condition, not only for the Emperor’s sake or for his own sake, but he was convinced that the task had been given him from above.

The same conviction we shall find in all of my ancestors. Their great battles without and the development and the making of laws within the country have always been dictated by the thought that they were responsible for the people given over to them and for the country which had been intrusted to them.

Your President has been kind enough to mention our journey to Palestine and the acts which I accomplished there. I dare say that many different impressions of a lofty nature forced themselves upon me, and they were partly religious, partly historical, and partly drawn from modern life, but aside from the celebration in our church (October 31, 1898), the loftiest and the deepest was the consciousness that I was standing on the Mount of Olives, that I was treading upon the very place where the greatest battle which was ever fought out upon the earth, the battle for the salvation of mankind, had been fought out by our Saviour. This fact moved me, as it were, on that same day to renew my oath to the flag above that I would leave nothing untried in order to unite my people and to push aside whatever might be able to divide it.

But as I was tarrying in the far country, and in different places where we Germans feel so keenly the lack of dear woods and beautiful waters, I remembered the lakes of the mark with their dark, clear waves, and the woods of oak and of fir, and I thought to myself that, although in Europe they sometimes looked down upon us, we are none the less much better off in Brandenburg than in foreign countries. And when I think of the tree and of the use we make of it and our love for the woods I am reminded of an incident that is very interesting for us as we begin to develop the empire.

It was after the great and noble achievementsof the year 1870-1. The troops had returned home; the tumult and the enthusiasm had subsided, and the old work of founding and developing our newly conquered Fatherland was now to begin. There, for the first time, the three paladins of the great old Emperor, the great General,[19]the powerful Chancellor,[20]and the faithful Minister of War,[21]were sitting together at their common meal. After they had emptied the first glass to the Lord of the Land and to the Fatherland, the Chancellor spoke and turning to his two colleagues said: “We have now achieved everything for which we have striven, suffered, and fought. We have reached the highest point of which we had ever dreamed. What can there now be, after what we have lived through, which shall interest or elevate or inspire us?” There was a pause and then the old master of battles said suddenly, “We can watch the tree grow,” and a deep silence fell upon the room.

[19]Moltke.

[20]Bismarck.

[21]Roon.

Yes, gentlemen! The tree which we watch growing and for which we must care is the German imperial oak. A healthy growth is in store for it because it stands under the protection of the people of the mark in whose land it is rooted. It has lived through many a storm and has often been threatened, but the stalk and the shoot whichare sunk in the sands of the mark will, God willing, endure to all eternity!

I can merely vow once again to-day to do everything for it that is in my power! And even the journey to hallowed shrines and places will help me in this, and I shall be better able, therefore, to protect this tree and to watch and foster it, cutting back like a good gardener the branches which are superfluous, and keeping watch upon and exterminating the animals which would gnaw at its roots. I hope that I may then see this picture. The tree will have developed gloriously and before it the GermanMichelwill be standing, his hand upon his sword, and looking out into the distance in order to protect it. That peace stands firm which stands under the shield and under the sword of the GermanMichel.

It is a magnificent thing to begin with the idea of bringing peace to all the nations; but an error is likely to slip into our calculations. So long as there is unregenerate sin in humanity, so long there will be war and hatred, envy and discord, and one man will try to take advantage of another. But the rules which govern men govern nations also. Therefore we must see to it that we Germans, at least, stand together like a firm block. Far beyond the seas[22]and here in Europe, mayevery wave that threatens peace break upon this “rocher de bronze” of the German people! But it is the mark and its inhabitants first of all which are called upon to help me in this, and as I assume that it is not hard for you to follow the black and white banner and your red one,[23]so I hope that I shall be understood by you when I say that I intend to look for aid to the mark now and hereafter, and that I count upon its loyal support!

[22]The Spanish-American War was ended by treaty December 10, 1898.[23]The flag of Brandenburg is a red griffin on a white field.

[22]The Spanish-American War was ended by treaty December 10, 1898.

[23]The flag of Brandenburg is a red griffin on a white field.

Therefore I raise my glass and call out: Long live Brandenburg and the inhabitants of the mark. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

Wiesbaden, May 18, 1899

On the Czar’s birthday the Emperor was present at the banquet given in Wiesbaden, to which the Russian Ambassador, Count Osten-Sacken, had been invited. The Emperor proposed the following toast. On the same day the peace conference at The Hague had been opened and the Russian delegate De Staal had been elected its president. At the end of August, 1898, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs had issued the following communication to all the representatives of the powers in St. Petersburg. “The maintenance of universal peace and a possible reduction of the armamentswhich burden all nations in the present state of civilization is an ideal for all the world toward which all governments must be directed.” The Czar believed that a conference might achieve this object, and he suggested that they might regulate the reduction of armaments all around and eliminate many of the horrors of war through the establishment of certain humane principles. The programme was presented by Russia on January 11, 1899, and the conference was called on her invitation for May 18 of that year.

Every year I offer my toast to the health of his Majesty, the Emperor of Russia, with deep feeling. To-day I add to it my heartiest good wishes for the success of the conference which owes its inception to his Majesty’s initiative.

My honored Baron, my wish includes the hope that the two tried and experienced statesmen, his Excellency Baron de Staal and Count Münster, may succeed in their efforts and that they may conduct the conference on the old, established tradition which unites my house to that of his Majesty and the German people to the Russian; and by doing so, in accordance with the exactly similar orders which the Emperor and I have issued, that the conference may result to the entire satisfaction of his Majesty.

His Majesty, the Emperor Nicholas! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

Early June, 1899

Kadinen is one of the Emperor’s many farming estates and is situated in the neighborhood of Elbing, in East Prussia. It was here that he expressed the following sentiment:

Many things must be changed at Kadinen; especially the housing of the laborers must be changed. Here in the east this seems still to be a particular evil. The fine cattle stable in Kadinen is a veritable palace compared to the homes of the laborers. We must see to it that the pigsties are not better than the laborers’ houses.

The Battle-Field of St. Privat, August 18, 1899

The following noble address of the Emperor’s was delivered at the dedication of the monument to the soldiers of the 1st Regiment of the Guard, who fell in the battle of St. Privat (August 18, 1870). In it he speaks of the splendid heroism of the French troops who were fighting for their Emperor. It should be remembered that the monument was erected in the provinces which had been conquered from France by Germany. At this time the Emperor had adopted a conciliatory attitude toward the inhabitants of these provinces.(See speech of March 14, 1891.) If, therefore, it may seem ungracious, it is nevertheless merely just to call attention to the fact that when he later (March 28, 1901) presented a painting of the battle of St. Privat to the Alexander Regiment of the Guard in Berlin he did not mention French heroism and speaks a different language.

Serious and solemn memories surround this day and make our hearts beat high. My 1st Infantry Regiment of the Guard is represented here by my company of the Body-Guard, by its glorious flags, and by many old comrades who once fought and bled in this place. They are to-day to unveil this monument to their fallen comrades. This ceremony will take place in the presence of my youngest regiment,[24]and the troops of the Fourteenth Army Corps, which represent the entire German army.

[24]Infantry Regiment No. 145, garrisoned at Metz.

It has been almost the only regiment which up to the present has not been represented by a monument in this place, where so much blood was shed, and yet it had full claim to be thus commemorated. Through its history it is closely associated with my house, and it is called upon to train its Princes and Kings, and may therefore be properly regarded as a family and a house regiment. Nevertheless, my imperial grandfather did not hesitatea moment to hazard these troops, which were so dear to him, for the good of the Fatherland.

History teaches us how the regiment fought and bled and respected its oath to the flag and how its conduct, its sufferings, and its losses won the praise and the tears of the great Emperor.

With me as its oldest comrade the regiment now erects this shaft to the memory of the heroes that rest beneath the green sod. The form of the monument differs from that which is usually found on battle-fields. The archangel in armor, peacefully at rest, is leaning upon his sword, which is decorated with the proud motto of the regiment, “Semper talis.”[25]I therefore wish that a general significance should be attached to this figure. It stands upon this bloody field as the guardian of all the brave soldiers, both the French and our own, who fell here. For bravely and heroically the French soldiers sank to their honored graves, fighting for their Emperor and their Fatherland. And if our flags touch each other as they are lowered before the bronze monument and sadly rustle over the graves of our dear comrades, may they also wave over the graves of our opponents and whisper to them that in reverent sorrow we remember the brave dead!

[25]By an unfortunate error Penzler prints the motto as “Semper talio”—“Retaliation forever.” The reading has been changed, as the motto of the regiment is in reality “Semper talis”—“Ever the same.”

Let us look up to the Lord of Hosts and thank Him for the guidance graciously given to our great Emperor. Let us picture to ourselves to-day that the souls of all those who once opposed each other in fierce conflict upon this field are now gathered about the throne of the Supreme Judge and that, united in the everlasting peace of God, they now look down upon us.

Many of the speeches which follow will be found to bear upon the question of increasing the navy, and from this time forth, for various reasons, that idea will be uppermost in the Emperor’s mind. His statement that he had, from the first, strongly urged an increase in the navy must be accepted with certain reserves. Such increases as were suggested were slight as compared to the programmes now to be urged, and his speeches of that time give little evidence of any particular insistence or disappointment at his failure in this regard. He really begins to preach the need of the greater navy insistently in the last years of the century, and his present statement, “Bitterly do we need a powerful German fleet,” is his sharpest pronouncement up to this time. It takes on an added significance if we remember that it was made nine days after the Boer ultimatum which began the Boer War had been despatched. In this connection it is well to read the telegram sentto President Krüger, printed with theDaily Telegraphinterview (October 28, 1908).

William II had in 1889 divided the admiralty and appointed a naval officer to act as head of the organization and development of the fleet. It was only in the late nineties, however, after the appointment of Admiral Tirpitz, that this work began to go forward with leaps and bounds. That German sentiment was quick to follow the lead of the Emperor is shown by the immense enthusiasm which has made the German Navy League (organized in 1898) so great a success. In 1907 it already counted a million paying members, and its journal,Die Flotte, had a circulation of over 370,000 copies, which is about as large as that of nearly all other important German monthlies combined.[26]Shortly after the disaster of Spion Kop Admiral Tirpitz spoke thus: “We do not know what adversary we may have to face. We must therefore arm ourselves with a view to meeting the most dangerous naval conflict possible.” The preamble to the German navy bill of 1900 reads: “Germany must have a fleet of such strength that a war against the mightiest power would involve risks threatening the supremacy of that power.” Emperor William protests, and there is no reasonfor doubting his sincerity, that this policy of increasing the navy was not primarily directed at England. It was necessary to protect Germany’s commerce and increase her prestige. On this point his famous interview given to theDaily Telegraphis interesting. Undoubtedly, however, this rapid increase in the navy, which began with the navy bill of 1900 and which happened to coincide with the events of the Boer War, did much to heighten the ill feeling which had already begun to spring up between England and Germany. The idea of increasing the navy met with more general support among the people than any other policy of the Emperor’s, though it called for very decided increases in taxation. How keen was the Emperor’s personal interest in the matter we may judge from the fact that in 1897 he sent to all the members of the Reichstag and innumerable other officials a memorandum comparing the naval strength of Germany, France, Russia, America, and Japan. The appropriation bill of that year calling for 240,000,000 marks was voted with a slight reduction. The sense that the struggle for naval supremacy with England was impending made necessary immensely larger appropriations in the bill of 1900.

[26]These are the figures given by J. Ellis Barker in “Modern Germany.”

Hamburg, October 18, 1899

TheKaiser Karl der Grossewas launched in Hamburg on the 18th of October, 1899. It will be noticed that the Emperor is always careful to observe the anniversaries that commemorate the military prowess, the birthdays, and the achievements of the members of his house. The present date is again an anniversary of the battle of Leipzig, 1813. In the evening the Emperor spoke as follows at the banquet in the Rathaus:

It is with particular pleasure that I find myself among you again on this historic anniversary. It always gives me new strength and vigor when I feel around me the dashing spray and bubbling life of one of the cities of the Hanseatic League. It was a solemn act that we have just witnessed when we gave over to its element a new portion of the floating defense of the Fatherland. Every one who was present must have been impressed with the thought that the proud ship would soon be able to take up its calling. We feel its lack, and bitterly do we need a powerful German fleet.

Its name reminds us of the first glorious days of the old empire and of its mighty protector. The first beginnings of Hamburg date from that time,even though it was merely the point of departure for the missions in the service of the powerful Emperor. Now our Fatherland has been newly united through Emperor William the Great and is in a position to take up its glorious outward development. And right here in this great emporium of trade we feel the sense of power and energy which the German people are capable of putting into their enterprises through the fact that they are bound together and united. But here, too, we can most readily understand how necessary it is that we should have powerful support and that we can no longer continue without increasing our fighting strength upon the seas.

But this feeling penetrates all too slowly into the German Fatherland, which unfortunately wastes its strength in fruitless party strife. I have had to watch with deep concern how slow is the progress of interest in, and political comprehension of, the great world problems among the German people.

If we look about us we can see how in the last few years the face of all the world has been changed. Old world empires are disappearing and new ones are arising. Nations have appeared among the peoples and are taking their place in the competition—nations which previously the layman had scarcely noticed. Events which change thewhole field of international relationships and the whole field of our national economy, and which formerly were accomplished only in the course of centuries, now take place in a few months. Through this fact the tasks of the German Empire and the German people have grown greatly in extent and demand from me and my government extraordinary and serious efforts. They can be crowned with success only if the Germans stand behind us firmly united and give up their party divisions. But our people must make up their minds to make sacrifices. Above all things, it must give up the attempt to find the highest by dividing itself more and more sharply into parties. It must cease to put the party above the good of the nation. It must put a check upon its old hereditary failing to make everything the occasion of unrestrained criticism, and it must realize the boundaries which its own vital interests draw for it. For it is precisely these old political sins which are now being visited upon our interests on the sea and upon our fleet. I insistently requested and warned that it must be strengthened in the first eight years of my reign, and if these requests had not been continually refused, and refused in ways which heaped scorn and ridicule upon me, we would have been able to advance our growing trade and our oversea interests far differently.

But my hopes that the German will choose the manlier way have not yet disappeared, for in him love of the Fatherland is great and powerful. The October fires which to-day he lights upon the hills and by which he celebrates the noble figure of the Emperor[27]who was born on this day bear eloquent witness to this fact.

[27]Frederick III.

And, in fact, Emperor Frederick with his great father and his great paladins did help to build a wonderful edifice and left it to us as the German Empire. It stands before us in glory, as it had been yearned for by our fathers and celebrated by our poets! Let us no longer, therefore, as heretofore, dispute uselessly as to how the particular rooms, halls, and apartments of this building are to look or how they are to be furnished; but may the people, burning like these October fires with an ideal enthusiasm, strive to follow its ideal second Emperor, and above all things let it rejoice in the beautiful edifice and help to protect it. Let it be proud of its greatness. Let it be conscious of its inner worth. Let it watch every foreign state in its development. Let it make the sacrifices which our position as a world-power demands. Let it give up the spirit of party and stand united and firm behind its princes and its Emperor—then only will the German people help the Hanseaticcities in carrying out their great work for the benefit of the Fatherland.

That is my wish to-day, and to it and the health of Hamburg I raise my glass.

Berlin, January 1, 1900

The military New Year’s celebration took place near the armory, and the standards of the entire Berlin garrison were for this purpose brought from the Royal Palace. The Empress and her younger children watched the celebration from the windows of the armory.

The first day of the new century sees our army, that is our people under arms, gathered about its standards and kneeling before the Lord of Hosts. And, indeed, if any one has particular cause for bowing down to-day before God it is our army.

A glance at our flags will explain the reason, for they embody our history. At the beginning of the last century what was the position of our army? The glorious army of Frederick the Great had become ossified and was interested only in petty and insignificant details; it was led by generals feeble with age and no longer capable of conducting active campaigns; its corps of officers had lost thehabit of invigorating labor; through a life of luxury and comfort and foolish exaltation of self it had fallen asleep upon its laurels. In one word, the army was not only no longer capable of carrying out its task, but had forgotten it.

The punishment of Heaven was grievous, for it was suddenly visited upon our entire people. Cast down into the dust, Frederick’s glory vanished, and the army’s standards were broken. In the seven long years of grievous slavery God taught our people to take thought, and under the pressure of the foot of an insolent conqueror developed the idea of universal military service, the idea that the greatest honor lies in dedicating our services in arms and in sacrificing our blood and our possessions for the Fatherland. My great-grandfather gave the idea form and life, and new laurels crowned the newly established army and her recent flags.

But the idea of universal military service reached its full significance only under our great departed Emperor. In spite of opposition and lack of comprehension he quietly went to work at the reorganization, and at the re-establishment of our army. Victorious campaigns, nevertheless, gave his work an altogether unexpected sanction. His spirit filled the ranks of his army, even as his trust in God carried them on to unheard-of victories. With this, his own creation, he brought the Germanic peoples together again and gave us the German unity for which we had prayed. We owe it to him that, thanks to this honor, the German Empire commands respect again and takes up its appointed place in the council of the nations.

It is for you, gentlemen, to cherish and exemplify in the new century the old qualities through which our forefathers gave greatness to the army. This means that you must make few demands in daily life,[28]that you must practise simplicity and give yourselves up unconditionally to the royal service, that you must in ceaseless labor offer all the powers of body and soul to the building up and development of our troops, and,just as my grandfather labored for his land forces, so, undeterred, I shall carry through to its completion the work of reorganizing my navy in order that it may stand justified at the side of my army and that through it the German Empire may also be in a position to win outwardly the place which she has not yet attained.

[28]“To the Americans the pay of the German troops, officers and men, is ludicrously small. It is evident that men do not undertake to fit themselves to be officers, and do not struggle through frequent and severe examinations to remain officers, for the pay they receive. A lieutenant receives for the first three years $300 a year, from the fourth to the sixth year $425, from the seventh to the ninth year $550, and after the twelfth year $600 a year. A captain receives from the first to the fourth year $850, from the fifth to the eighth year $1,150, and the ninth year and after $1,275 a year. Of one hundred officers who join, only an average of eight ever attain to the command of a regiment. In Bavaria and Würtemberg promotion is quicker by from one to three years than in Prussia. In Prussia promotion toOberleutnantaverages 10 years, to captain orRittmeister15 years, to major 25 years, to colonel 33 years, and to general 37 years. It would not be altogether inhuman if these gentlemen occasionally drank a toast to war and pestilence.”—Price Collier, “Germany and the Germans.”

When both are united I hope to be in a position, firmly trusting in the leadership of God, to carry into effect the saying of Frederick William I: “If one wishes to decide anything in the world, it cannot be done with the pen unless the pen is supported by the force of the sword.”

Berlin, February 13, 1900

On the occasion of the return of Prince Henry from the Orient, whither he had been sent at the time of the troubles in Kiaochow, the Emperor greeted him at a dinner held in the Royal Palace in Berlin. The question of the imperial foreign policy, as during all this period, is evidently here uppermost in the Emperor’s mind.

Your Royal Highness, My Dear Brother:

I bid you a hearty welcome to our Fatherland and our capital! Two years ago I sent you forth to carry out your task in the far East, and couldonly hope that God would give you His protection and bring the work to a successful issue. The joyous and enthusiastic reception which all classes in my home city, Berlin, give you is a testimony to the loving interest which our entire people have in the completion of the task which you had set yourself.

But this reception has a still deeper significance. It is an unambiguous indication which proves how deeply the people have come to understand the need of strengthening our sea power. The German people is of one mind with its princes and its Emperor in the feeling that in its powerful development it must set up a new boundary post and create a great fleet which will correspond to its needs.

Just as Emperor William the Great created the weapon by whose help we became again black, white, and red, so the German people is now lending its efforts to forging the weapon through which, God willing and in all eternity, both here and in foreign countries, it will remain black, white, and red.

On your return you find a little lad[29]in the arms of your faithful wife. As sponsor for the growth of our young fleet may you see him grow up to full maturity under the protection of God! Hurrah!

[29]Prince Henry, born January 9, 1900.

Lübeck, June 16, 1900

The opening of the Elbe-Trave Canal took place at Lübeck in the presence of the Emperor. He again took up the question of the development of the German Empire.

On this day I congratulate the city of Lübeck most heartily. First of all I offer my heartiest thanks for the wonderful reception which you prepared for me. I have seen in the attitude and the faces of the citizens how joyously their hearts are moved to-day; for they know that I, too, take a lively interest in all that now moves them. May the canal which they have carried through with their irresistible Hanseatic activity not fall short in any way of their expectations, and I am convinced that it will not do so. You see, as you look upon the completed work, how significant it is that a united German Empire now exists. Its past glories Lübeck owed to the German Emperors, and its present glory it owes to the German Empire, so I hope that everywhere in the empire and among the people the conviction may grow that through the re-establishment and strengthening of the German Empire we are now called upon to carry through those old tasks which could notbe accomplished formerly and which were rendered impossible through the unfortunate lack of union of our ancestors.

I hope that in the future, under my protection, Lübeck may continue to develop. I could not express this hope with the same satisfaction if I did not now stand before you joyously buoyed up by the hope that we to-day have the prospect of at last possessing a German fleet.

An Emperor can only undertake to protect a seaport when he is in a position with his cannon to protect her flag, even in the farthermost corners of the world, whether it be that of Lübeck, or of Hamburg, or of Bremen, or of Prussia.

May it be granted us to maintain peace outwardly through our fleet, and may we succeed through the building of the necessary canals within to simplify the problem of transportation! A blessing will certainly always rest upon our waterways.

Kiel, July 3, 1900

The ship of the line “Wittelsbach” was launched on this day. As the house of Wittelsbach is the reigning house of Bavaria, Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria was present at the christening and gavethe boat its name. A banquet took place in the evening at the officers’ casino. The Emperor replied to Prince Rupprecht as follows:

I thank your Royal Highness for the friendly words which you have been good enough to address to me.

At the christening of this new ship your Royal Highness has mentioned the support which the house of Wittelsbach has given to the German Emperors. I would like to call attention in this connection to an episode in the early history of our houses.

On the fields before Rome it was granted to one of the ancestors of your Royal Highness in company with one of mine to be made the recipient of a very unusual distinction. Mounted upon their horses and clad in armor, in sight of the hostile squadron of knights, they received the accolade from Emperor Henry VII. The incident is immortalized in a picture upon my yachtHohenzollern.

The descendants of those princes gave each other assistance at Mühldorf,[30]where the Hohenzoller won the battle for Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria. Just as at that time the houses of Wittelsbach and of Hohenzollern fought side byside for the good of the empire, so now, too, and in the future they will work together.

[30]Battle fought in 1322 between two competitors for the empire, Louis V and Frederick the Fair.

Your Royal Highness has had the opportunity to be present during these days when we came to weighty conclusions and to be the witness of historical moments which mark a new point in the history of our people. Your Royal Highness has been able to convince himself how powerfully the wave beat of the ocean knocks at the door of our people and forces it to demand its place in the world as a great nation; drives it on, in short, to world politics.

Germany’s greatness makes it impossible for her to do without the ocean—but the ocean also proves that even in the distance, and on its farther side, without Germany and the German Emperor no great decision dare henceforth be taken.[31]

[31]See the introduction to chapter IV, “The Beginning of World Politics.”

I do not believe that thirty years ago our German people, under the leadership of their princes, bled and conquered in order that they might be shoved aside when great decisions are to be made in foreign politics. If that could happen the idea that the German people are to be considered as a world-power would be dead and done for, and it is not my will that this should happen. To this end it is only my duty and my finest privilege to usethe proper and, if need be, the most drastic means without fear of consequences. I am convinced that in this course I have the German princes and the German people firmly behind me.

It is of great significance that precisely at this time, when Bavarians and Würtembergers, Saxons and Prussians are going into the far East in order to re-establish the honor of the German flag, your Royal Highness should have accepted the honor of theà la suiteposition to the naval battalion. Just as the house of Wittelsbach took up arms in 1870 to fight for Germany’s honor, for her union, and her imperial dignity, so I hope that the empire may always be assured of the support of this noble race.

As a representative of this noble house I greet your Royal Highness with the wish that the close connection which theà la suiteposition to my navy now gives you will always maintain your Royal Highness’s interest for our fleet.

I drink to the health of his Royal Highness, Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

Bremen, July 27, 1900

Events in China touched upon in the speech delivered on December 15, 1897, had finallybrought about the Pekin crisis. Baron von Ketteler, the German Minister, had been shot down in the streets on June 20.The following is one of five speeches which the Emperor delivered on the occasion of the departure of the German troops for China. This particular one was delivered to the troops at Bremen in the presence of the Empress, Princes Eitel Friedrich and Adelbert, Chancellor Hohenlohe, Secretary of State von Bülow, Minister of War von Gossler, and Lieutenant-General von Bessel. Various versions of this speech exist and in many of them the harshness of the Emperor’s expression has been toned down. We give first the version which was printed in theReichsanzeiger, the official journal, and which seems to have been somewhat edited. In order that the reader may realize more fully the impression conveyed by the Emperor’s farewell address to his troops, we print under it the account which a volunteer of the 1st East Asiatic Regiment of infantry sent home to his family.

The following is one of five speeches which the Emperor delivered on the occasion of the departure of the German troops for China. This particular one was delivered to the troops at Bremen in the presence of the Empress, Princes Eitel Friedrich and Adelbert, Chancellor Hohenlohe, Secretary of State von Bülow, Minister of War von Gossler, and Lieutenant-General von Bessel. Various versions of this speech exist and in many of them the harshness of the Emperor’s expression has been toned down. We give first the version which was printed in theReichsanzeiger, the official journal, and which seems to have been somewhat edited. In order that the reader may realize more fully the impression conveyed by the Emperor’s farewell address to his troops, we print under it the account which a volunteer of the 1st East Asiatic Regiment of infantry sent home to his family.

Great tasks oversea have fallen to the lot of the newly arisen German Empire, tasks far greater than many of my countrymen have expected. The character of the German Empire makes it a duty for it to protect its citizens no matter how far they may have penetrated into foreign lands. The new German Empire is in a position to discharge the task which the old Roman Empire of theGerman Nation could not discharge. The instrument which makes this possible for us is our army.

In thirty years of faithful and peaceful labor it has been developed according to the principles of my late grandfather. You too have received your training according to these principles, and are now called upon to give proof before the enemy whether or not you have observed them well. Your comrades of the navy have undergone this trial; they have shown you that the principles of our training are good, and I am proud of the praise which has come from the mouths of foreign leaders, in recognition of the service which your comrades out there have given. It is now for you to do likewise.

A great task is waiting for you. You are to right the grievous wrong which has been done. The Chinese have overthrown the law of nations; in a way which has never been heard of in the history of the world, they have scorned the duties of hospitality and the sanctity of the Ambassador. This is the more revolutionary, as this crime was committed by a nation which is proud of its very ancient culture. Preserve the old Prussian thoroughness; show yourselves as Christians in joyfully bearing your trials; may honor and glory follow your flags and weapons! Give the world an example of manliness and discipline.

You know very well that you are to fight against a cunning, brave, well-armed, and terrible enemy. If you come to grips with him, be assured quarter will not be given, no prisoners will be taken. Use your weapons in such a way that for a thousand years no Chinese shall dare to look upon a German askance. Show your manliness.

The blessing of God be with you! The prayers of an entire people and my wishes accompany you, every one. Open the way for culture once for all!

And now take up your journey! Adieu, comrades!

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