What a good time it was, and how rich in manifold and picturesque impressions!
The canvas continues to unroll and a literary period opens—that age between youth and manhood, of all ages most passionate and ideal, when we are enthralled and moved by what we read—by those studies which
"adolescentiam agunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium præbent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris; pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur."
It was the Lohengrin period, when, filled with the ardour and imaginativeness of high-souled youth, the future Emperor was dimly thinking of all he would do in the days to come for the happiness and prosperity of his people, nay, of all mankind.
Another tableau presents itself. Life has now become real and the Emperor's soldiering days have begun—never to conclude! His regiment is his world; parades and drills, the orderly-room and the barrack square occupy his time; and would seem monotonous and hard but for the little Eden with its Eve close beside them.
The Emperor turns uneasily, for his thoughts recur to the painful circumstances of his accession; but calmness soon succeeds as the curtain rises on the splendid panorama of the reign. He sees himself, a young and hitherto unknown actor, leaving the wings and taking the very centre of the stage, while the vast audience sits silent and attentive, as yet hardly grasping the significance of his words and gestures, emphatic though they are. And then he recalls the years of Sturm und Drang, the growth of Empire in spite of grudging rivals and of fellow-countrymen as yet not wholly conscious of their destinies, which one can now see constituted a whole drama in themselves, fraught with great consequences to the world.
But we are keeping the Emperor awake when he should be left to well-deserved repose. He has doubtless half forgotten it all; the Bismarck episode is one of those
"… old, unhappy, far-off things And battles long ago"
of which the poet sings. One unquiet political care excepted, all the rest must be pleasant for him to remember—the rising with the dawn, the hurried little breakfast with the Empress, the pawing horses of the adjutants and escort in the courtyard of the palace; the constant travelling in and far beyond the Empire; the incessant speech-making, with its appeals to the past and its promises, nobly realized, of "splendid days" in the future—its calls to the people to arms, to the sea, to the workshop, to school, to church, to anything praiseworthy, provided only it was action for the common good; the dockyards in Kiel and Danzig, with their noise of "busy hammers closing rivets up"; the ever-swelling trade statistics; and the proud feeling that at last his country was coming into her own.
Even the sensation the Emperor caused from time to time in other countries must have had a certain charm for him—endless telegrams, endless scathing editorials, endless movement and excitement. There is no fun like work, they say. The Emperor worked hard and enjoyed working. It was the "personal regiment," maybe, and it could not last for ever; but while it did it was doubtless very gratifying, and, notwithstanding all his critics say, magnificently successful.
Those strenuous times are long over, and if strenuous times have yet to come they will find the Emperor alert and knowing better how to deal with them. He has, one may be sure, no thoughts of well-earned rest or dignified repose—he probably never will, with his strong conception of duty and his interest in the fortunes of his Empire. Still, he is a good deal changed. Time has taught him more than his early tutor, worthy Dr. Hinzpeter, ever taught him; and if his spring was boisterous, and his summer gusty and uncertain, a mellow autumn gives promise of a hale and kindly winter.
INDEX
Abdul Aziz, 259.
Absolutism, 2, 295, 368 seq.
Accession, date, I; period, 69 seq.
Achilleion, 317.
Aegir, Song to, 224.
Agadir, 264 seq.
Alexandra, Queen, 327.
Algeciras Conference, 261 seq.;
Act of, 262.
Alsace-Lorraine, 84 seq.
America,
art exhibition, 222;
Germany and, 238;
Frederick the Great and, 242;
squadron at Kiel, 244;
commercial relations with, 331, 380 seq.
Anarchism, 42 seq.
Anglo-French Agreement, 1904, 259 seq.
Anglo-German Agreement, 1890, 140; 1904, 335; relations, 4-7, 243, 282, 335 seq.
Anglo-Japanese Agreement, 201.
Anti-Semites, 178.
Arbitration, compulsory, 340.
Aristocracy, German, 114.
Armament, limitation of, 340.
Army,
accession speech to, 69;
importance of, 71;
true character of, 285;
Emperor and, 294.
Art, Emperor on, 202, 205 seq.;
speech to sculptors, 207;
German ideals, 218.
Attempt on,
Emperor, 202;
on William I, 42.
Augusta, Empress, wife of William I, 43, 45.
Auguste, Victoria, present Empress, 37 seq.
"Babel und Bibel," 246.
Baghdad railway, 200.
Balkans, 339.
Ballin, 367.
Battenberg affair, 55.
Bebel, August, 58, 90, 359. See Social Democracy
Bennigsen, von, 13.
Berlin palace (Schloss), 114.
Bethmann Hollweg, 322 seq.
Biedermeier time, 167.
Bismarck, 13; Empress Fred. and, 44; William I and, 43 seq.; on Divine Right, 60 seq.; on foreign policy, 76; resignation, 104,133; Emperor and, 49, 131; "blood and iron" speech, 128; Emperor's account of quarrel with, 135; journey to Vienna, 141; death, 143.
"Bloc" party, 281, 288, 322.
Boer war, German policy and, 156, 303.
Bonn, Emperor at, 29; address at, 203.
Borussia, 30, 36, 203.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 329.
Boulanger, 52, 76.
Boxer troubles, 46, 194 seq.
Brandon, 338.
"Brilliant second" speech, 279.
Brooks, Sydney, 361.
Bülow, Prince von, 47; succeeds Hohenlohe, 187; fainting fit, 322; resignation, 322.
Burgess, Prof., 241.
Butler, Dr. Nicholas Murray, 272.
Byzantinism, 121 seq.
Cadinen, 334.
Camarilla, 277
Caprivi, von, 141; treaties, 141, 152 seq.; chancellorship, 151.
Caroline Islands, 151.
Casablanca, 264.
Centrum, 3, 280.
Chamberlain, Mr., 158, 258.
Chamberlain, Stewart, 348.
Chancellor, "responsibility," 289 seq.
China,
relations with, 193;
Boxer indemnity, 197.
Chun, Prince, 197 seq.
Churchill, Winston, 337.
Colonial development, 148 seq.
Commercial treaties, 152; American, 331.
Conscription, 191.
Constitution, German and British compared, 57.
Corps, student, 30 seq.
Crefeld, 278.
Crown Prince, 14, 18; income, 112; marriage, 270; Indian tour, 328; at English coronation, 339; in aeroplane, 359.
Court,
comparison with English, 109;
nobility, 113.
Cowes, 75.
Daily Telegraph, interview, 302 seq.; text of, 304; Bülow and, 311 seq.; Emperor's undertaking, 310.
Delcassé, 261, 282.
Delitzsch, Prof., 246.
Dewey, Admiral, 170.
Dictator Paragraph, 86.
Diedrich, Admiral, 170.
Dingley tariff, 331.
Disarmament, 317.
Divine Right, 331 seq.
Dreibund, see Triple Alliance.
Dreyfus case, 178.
Dual Alliance.
(Germany and Austria), 79;
(Russia and France), 141.
Duel, see Mensur.
Dynasty, see Hohenzollern.
Education, Emperor on, 98 seq.
Edward VII, at Kiel, 253; visits Berlin, 323; funeral, 327.
Elector, Great, 64, 72.
Emperor,
birth, 12;
marriage, 37;
brothers and sisters, 18;
offspring, 40;
first visit England, 20;
at Bonn, 29;
on Art, 207;
and theatre, 355;
on religion, 246;
character, 363 seq.;
and people, 368, 372.
Empress, present, marriage, 37; character, 39.
Farmer, Emperor as, 334.
Finance reform, 321.
Fleet, English, at Kiel, 253;
American, 244. See Navy.
Flora bust, 324 seq.
Foreign policy, in Orient, 199 seq.;
Emperor's, 269.
France, and Germany, 51;
Franco-German Agreement, 1911, 266.
Frankfort, treaty of, 153.
Frederick the Great, death, 120; tomb, 121; and navy, 167; statue, 242; Emperor and, 251.
Frederick III, 14;
as Crown Prince, 45;
last illness, 54.
Frederick, Empress, 15 seq.;
Bismarck and, 44;
death, 204.
Future, "Our future lies on the water," 203.
General Elections, 280, 333.
"Germans to the Front," 245.
Germany, "Greater," 146; to-day, 366; foreign policy, 199, 269.
George V, 174, 237, 339.
George, Lloyd, speech, 336.
Goluchowski, Count, 279.
Goschen, Lord, 160.
Government, dynastic not democratic, 56 seq.
Great Elector,
Emperor and, 72;
German navy and, 166.
Grey, Sir Edward, 338.
Grieg, composer, 225; death, 287.
Griscom, ambassador, 319.
Guelphs, 333.
Guildhall, speech at, 1891, 75; 1907, 283.
Hamburg-Amerika line, 367.
Hannover, 333.
Harvard University, 272.
Heine, 13, 374.
Heligoland, 150.
Henry, Prince, 18; sent Kiautschau, 165; visits America, 241.
Highcliffe Castle, 285.
Hill, Dr. D.J., 318 seq.
Hinzpeter, Dr., 287.
Hödel, attempt, 43.
Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince, 47; character, 153; chancellor, 185; resigns, 187.
Hohenzollern, 2, 11, 17, 23, 41, 56, 72;
Divine Right and, 62 seq., 332.
Iltis, gunboat, 195.
Italy, 261 seq.
Jameson raid, Emperor's telegram on, 154; date of, 159.
Jews, Emperor and, 378.
Journalists, attack on, 329.
Junker, 123.
Ketteler, von, murder of, 195.
Kiautschau, 145, 150.
Kiel, canal, 144; first regatta, do.; harbour, 168; American squadron at, 244; Edward VII at, 253.
Koenigsberg, speech at, 332.
Kruger, telegram, the, 154 seq.;
European tour, 155.
Kulturkampf, Emperor and, 50.
Labourdonnais, 167.
Labour Party, 93.
Leoncavallo, 253.
Liberalism, Emperor and, 126.
Liman, Dr. Paul, 62, 360.
Limitation of armaments, 340.
List, Prof., 168.
Lloyd George, speech, 336.
Louise, Queen, 41.
Luderitz, 149.
Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 16, 54.
Madrid Convention, 263.
Magna Charta, Germany's, 1.
Mahan, Captain, 164.
Manila, 170.
Marakesch, 264.
Marble Palace, 118.
"March Days," 128 seq.
Mensur, 29 seq.
Menzel, painter, 179; death, 255.
Moabit riots, 329.
Mommsen, Emperor and, 251.
Monroe doctrine, 240.
Morocco, 255 seq.
Navy, German, First Navy Law, 145; Prince William and, 163; early history of, 166; auctioned, 168; early proposals, 169 seq.; legislative stages, 171; Grey's proposal, 317.
New Palace, Potsdam, 116.
Nobiling, attempt, 42, 90.
"November Storm," 289 seq.
Open door, The, 257.
"Our future lies on the water," 203.
Oxford university, 284.
Palestine, 145; journey to, 176.
Panther, 264.
Parliament, introduction; parliamentary rule, 58; chancellor and, 291; Emperor and, 294; See Reichstag.
"Personal regiment," 289, 296, 371.
Peters, Carl, 149.
"Place in the sun," 204.
Polypus, removed, 250.
Potsdam, 199.
Prussia, at Emperor's birth, 12; Diet, 293; electoral reform in, 316.
Quinquennat, 152.
Raid, Jameson, 159.
Rationalism, 344, 369.
Reaction, 123.
Realpolitik, see Weltpolitik; in sport, 357.
Rechtstaat, 369 seq.
Reichstag, introduction, 280, 292 333, 377.
Reinsurance treaty, 133.
Religion, Emperor on, 246.
Rhodes, Cecil, 284.
Richard, Prof., 370.
"Roland von Berlin," 253.
Roosevelt, Alice, 241; president, 253; visits Berlin, 325 seq.; professorships, 272.
Russia and Germany, relations, 80.
Russo-Japanese war, 252.
Saladin, 177.
Samoa, 151.
Sans Souci, 119, 179.
Sardanapalus, 235.
Septennat, 53, 152.
Seymour, Admiral, 195.
Shimonoseki, treaty of, 193.
"Shining armour," 328.
Social Democracy, introduction; Emperor and, 87; history of, 89; programme, 91; causes of, 94. Socialist laws, 103, 279 seq.
Socialism, 92; See Social Democracy.
Sport, in Germany, 357.
"Star of commerce," phrase, 165.
State, German interpretation of, 292.
Stein, Dr. Adolf, 158.
Stoessel, General, 195, 253.
Stone, Melville, 242.
Suffragettes, Emperor and, 332.
Sultan, promise to, 145, 177.
Swinemunde despatch, 244.
Taku Forts, 195.
Tangier, 256, 259;
Emperor's speech at, 260, 268.
Theatre, Emperor on, 230;
Germans and the, 254.
"Times," the, 297, 299, 301, 324.
Tirpitz, von, Admiral, 338.
Tower, ambassador, 318.
Trade Unionism, 92 seq.
Transvaal, 156 seq.; 303.
Tree, Sir Beerbohm, 287.
Treitschke, von, on Divine Right, 59; on Bismarck, 125.
Trench, Captain, 338.
Triple Alliance, Emperor on, 77; history of, 78; provisions, 79; renewals, 38, 339.
"Urias Letter," 142.
Universities, England and Germany compared, 98.
"Unser Fritz," 14.
Venezuela, 158, 239.
Victoria Louise, Princess, 333.
Victoria, Queen, 167;
death, 201.
"Von Gottes Gnaden," 56 seq.;.
doctrine to-day, 68.
Waldersee, Countess, 45;
Count, 46, 196.
Weihaiwei, 194.
Weltpolitik, 51, 144; Bülow on, 147; open door and, 201; foreign policy and, 201, 192, 201, 203.
William I, career, 42; character, 43; death, 54; parliament and, 294.
Williams, George Valentine, 232.
Wyberg, Frank, 383.
Zeppelin, Count, 358.