Every year the Emperor is present at the swearing in of the recruits to the guard and to the navy. He has made innumerable speeches on such occasions. The present somewhat striking pronouncement was delivered at a time when his feeling toward the Socialists, who had been guilty of no particular outrage, still ran very high. Tolstoi saw in it the worst excesses of militarism and issued shortly after the following criticism of the Emperor’s attitude:
“This man expresses what all wise men know but carefully conceal. He says frankly that men who serve in the army serve him and his advantage and must be prepared for his advantage to kill their brothers and fathers.
“He expresses frankly, and with the coarsest of words, all the horror of the crime for which the men who enter into military service are prepared, all that abyss of degradation which they reach when they promise obedience. Like a bold hypnotizer, he tests the degree of the hypnotized man’s sleep: he puts the glowing iron to his body, the body sizzles and smokes, but the hypnotized man does not awake.
“This miserable, ill man, who has lost his mind from the exercise of power, with these words offends everything which can be holy for a man of our time, and men—Christians, liberals, cultured men of our time, all of them are not only not provoked by this insult but do not even notice it.”
It is possible that such criticism and the resentment aroused in the minds of the law-abiding Socialists led him later to tone down his utterances, though on one subsequent occasion, again with the Socialists in mind, he made a somewhat similar address (March 28, 1901).
Recruits to the Regiment of My Guard:
You are brought together here from all parts of the empire to fulfil your military duty, and in this holy place have just sworn fealty to your Emperor to your last breath. You are still too young to understand all this. You will, however, little by little, be made familiar with its significance. Do not imagine it too difficult, and trust in God; occasionally also say the Lord’s Prayer—that has frequently given many a warrior fresh courage.
Children of my guard, to-day you have become incorporated into my army; you now stand under my command and have the privilege of wearing my uniform. Wear it honorably. Think of the famous history of your Fatherland; remember that the German army must be armed against the internal as well as the external foe. More and more unbelief and discontent raise their heads in the Fatherland, and it may come to pass that you will have to shoot down or stab your own relatives and brothers. Then seal your loyalty with your heart’s blood! And now go to your homes and fulfil your duties.
—(According to the Breslauer Lokalanzeiger of December 8.)
According to the Neisser Zeitung, the second paragraph ran as follows:
Recruits! You have now before the consecrated servant of the Lord and before His altar, sworn fealty to me. You are still too young to understand the true meaning of what has just been said; but be diligent now and follow the directions and instructions given you. You have sworn loyalty to me; that means, children of my guard, that you are now my soldiers, you have given yourselves up to me, body and soul; there is for you but one enemy, and that is my enemy. In view of the present Socialistic agitations it may come to pass that I shall command you to shoot your own relatives, brothers, yes, parents—which God forbid—but even then you must follow my command without a murmur.
Entirely similar, but shorter, is a clipping from the Berlin paper Das Volk, according to the account of one who heard the speech.
You have sworn to me the oath of loyalty; that means, from now on you know only one command, and that is my most high command; you have only one enemy, and that is my enemy! And so I may sometime—which God forbid—have to bid you to shoot upon your own relatives, yes, brothers and parents—then remember your oath!
Berlin, July 4, 1893
The opposition between the Reichstag and the government reached a climax when the session which opened in 1886 was dissolved in January, 1887, because it refused to vote for the bill fixing the army status for the ensuing seven years. The next Reichstag, elected in February, voted the bill. In spite of the fact that the new arrangement was to have been effective until March, 1894, as early as the session of 1890 changes were introduced which fixed the peace footing at 468,983 men, exclusive of the one-year volunteers. In November, 1892, a new army bill was presented, to run for six years, fixing the peace footing at 492,068. All infantrymen were to serve two years. In the debates of 1887 it was announced that Russia was an ally of Germany. The failure to renew the neutrality agreement with that power and the growing rapprochement between France and Russia seems to have been most in the Emperor’s mind in calling for an increase. The increased appropriation of 1887 was covered by a tax on spirits, sugar, and grain. The new increase was to be met by indirect taxes, mostly on beer and brandy. When the Reichstag refused to vote the bill as it stood, it was dissolved and a new one called. The new Reichstag, which is here addressed, accepted the bill on July 15. As much of the opposition had been due to the fear of the less-favored classes that the increased cost would fall heavily on them through indirect taxes, the Chancellor assured the representatives (as the Emperor here indicates) that there would be no tax on beer or brandy nor any other necessities of life.
Since you have been called to work in common with the confederated governments, it is my desire at the beginning of your deliberations to greet you and bid you welcome.
The draft of the bill concerning the peace footing of the German army, through which a strengthening of our available force would have been achieved, was presented to the last Reichstag. To my great regret the project did not meet with the approval of the representatives of the people. The conviction, unanimously shared by my corulers, that in the face of the development of the military arrangements of the other powers this government could no longer put off such a shaping of its military status as should guarantee its safety and its future led to the decision to dissolve the Reichstag and, by the calling of new representatives to attain the end recognized as necessary. Since the proposal of this law the political situation of Europe has undergone no change. To my great satisfaction, the relations of the empire to the foreign states are altogether and everywhere friendly and free from any cloud. The organized military force of Germany, however, compares still more unfavorably with that of our neighbors than it did last year. Since her geographical position and her historical development impose upon Germany the duty of taking thought for a proportionately large standing army, the further development of our defensive strength, therefore, with regard to the progress of other countries becomes a pressing necessity. In order to satisfy the duties constitutionally laid upon me, it seemed to me incontrovertible that I should exercise every existing means at my command toward the restoration of a sufficient and effective defense of the honor of the Fatherland.
There will, therefore, be laid before you without delay a new bill concerning the peace footing of the army. In it the wishes which were strongly expressed during the discussion of the former bill are taken account of, and, in accordance with this, demands made upon the personal capacity and upon the people’s ability to pay taxes have, in so far as this could be done without endangering the end sought, been lessened.
The interest of the realm demands, especially in looking forward to the impending expiration of the seven-year arrangement next spring, that the bill should be decided upon with all possible despatch, in order that this year’s recruiting can be undertaken on the new basis. A delay in carrying out this proposal would be felt for more than twenty years, to the detriment of our defensive strength.
To make it possible for you to give your undivided attention to the discussion of the bill, the confederated governments will refrain from burdening the session with other important matters.
I and my honored corulers are still of the opinion that the means necessary for the reorganization of our military equipment can be raised properly, and without overburdening the people, in the manner brought forward last autumn in the draft of the proposed taxation bill. Nevertheless, the question of making good the deficit is still the object of continued discussions. I expect that a proposal will be set before you by the beginning of the next winter session in which is expressed, even more strongly than in the former bill, the principle that the providing of the necessary means must be carried out with the utmost regard for the individual’s ability to pay and with as little draft as possible upon our power of levying taxes. Until the expiration of the present official year the contributions from the various states may be drawn upon to cover the excess.
Honored Sirs, we have succeeded in the difficult task of welding the German race into a strong union. The nation honors those who have given their possessions and their blood for this work and who have brought the Fatherland to political and industrial prosperity—a prosperity which is the pride and the pleasure of their contemporaries and which, if they build in the same spirit as their fathers, will guarantee to the generations to come the greatness and the happiness of the empire. To protect the glorious acquisitions with which God has blessed us in our struggle for independence is our most sacred duty. We can, however, only fulfil such a duty toward the Fatherland by making ourselves sufficiently strong in military power to defend ourselves, so that we may remain a reliable guarantor of the peace of Europe. I trust that your patriotic, self-sacrificing assistance in the pursuance of this aim will not fail me and my honored corulers.
The Emperor followed the formal address from the throne with the following:
And now, gentlemen, go forth. May our ancient God look down upon you and bestow upon you His blessing to the end that you may bring to successful issue an honorable work for the welfare of our Fatherland! Amen.
Metz, September 3, 1893
On the 3d of September the Emperor, accompanied by the Crown Prince of Italy, paid a visit to Metz. To Burgomaster Halm’s speech of welcome the Emperor replied as follows:
It is with a heart deeply stirred that I enter the city of Metz, and if I could not come last year, as I wished,[7] I see, nevertheless, that the reason for my remaining away has been rightly understood.
[7] The Emperor came to Metz ordinarily to review the Eighth and Sixteenth Army Corps. Because of the cholera scare, the imperial manœuvres had not taken place in the previous year, 1892. The Emperor, who was anxious to conciliate his subjects, had taken up a domain in Urville.
I rejoice to see the monument to my late grandfather at length finished and to be able to allow my troops to pass before it. Metz and my army corps are a corner-stone in the military might of Germany, destined to protect the peace of Germany—yes, of all Europe—and it is my firm purpose to maintain this peace.
I thank the city of Metz for its festive welcome, and I pray you that my thanks be made known to the citizens through an official announcement. If I have removed my headquarters to Urville it is because as a landholder in Lorraine I could not do otherwise, since my subjects in this province wish to have me there. In token of my imperial favor I extend to the burgomaster a golden chain of office which the burgomasters of Metz shall be entitled to wear from this time forth. It gives me especial pleasure, however, to be able to bestow this chain upon the present burgomaster.
Berlin, October 18, 1894
Through a reorganization of the army which was to be made effective in the next legislative session, a large number of partial bodies of troops were created which were later to be increased to bring up the peace footing of the army from 538 whole and 173 half battalions to 624 whole battalions. Every two of these constitute a regiment and every two regiments a brigade. On the anniversary of the battle of Leipzig the Emperor, in the presence of a large number of princes, including the young King of Servia, turned over flags to these troops. His statement that the only pillar upon which the empire rested was the army was strongly resented by many of his loyal subjects of the empire who happened to be merely peaceful merchants or farmers or laborers. The Emperor was doubtless provoked into making the statement from the fact that some of his legislative policies had met with determined opposition on the part of representatives of the people. This he has always regarded as disloyalty and as boding disaster to the empire. Since the army’s tradition for loyalty to the imperial war lord renders opposition here impossible, he saw in it the only salvation of the state.
In order that they may serve as a shining symbol of glory for the troops, we have had the blessing of Heaven called down upon the ensigns which I have bestowed upon every fourth battalion of my regiments, and I now turn them over to the regimental commanders and to the regiments themselves. This inspiring day is one whose memories move the world and which marks an epoch in our German history. I first salute the mausoleum of him[8] whose birthday was once wont to fill the entire German Fatherland with jubilation, the mausoleum of him to whom it was granted to win glorious victories under the eyes of the great, heroic Emperor, his father, and to cover the flags which were consecrated in 1861 with glory. They were nailed to their staffs in the rooms in which the history of Brandenburg and Prussia is immortalized in paintings. The monuments of the rulers and of the generals who created the glory of Prussia have looked down upon them. These flags have now been brought before the monument of the Prussian King who focussed the eyes of the world upon them in years of fierce conflict and whose last breath was a wish of blessing for his army. In the year 1861, when my grandfather undertook the reorganization of his arms, he was misunderstood by many and attacked by even more; nevertheless, the future gave him his splendid justification. Just as at that time, so now, too, distrust and discord are rife among the people. The only pillar on which the empire rested was the army. So is it to-day! The flags which are assembled here are destined for entire bodies of troops, and I hope that the half battalions to which they are to-day delivered will soon stand as entire battalions in the army of the Fatherland.
[8] Emperor Frederick III.
But you, gentlemen, now take over these ensigns and with them the obligation of maintaining the tradition of devotion, of discipline unto death, of unconditional obedience toward the war lord against all inward and outward enemies. Even as heretofore, may the blessing of the Most High rest upon our army, and may the watchful eyes of our ancestors look down upon and protect Prussia’s army and her flags! With God for King and Fatherland!
Kiel, December 3, 1894
It is part of the Emperor’s duty to administer the oath every year to the recruits for the navy as well as to the recruits for the guard. He is inclined to talk to them usually in very simple language, as here, for instance. Indeed, though they are usually twenty years of age, he often addresses them as the “children of my guard.”
The oath is holy, and holy is the place in which you swear it. The altar and the crucifix bear witness to this; it means that we Germans are Christians, that we at all times first give the glory to God in every affair that we undertake, especially in the highest—that of strengthening the defense of the Fatherland. You wear the uniform of the Emperor; you are thereby preferred over other men, and take your rank equally with your comrades of the army and navy; you receive a special place and assume obligations. By many you will be envied because of the uniform which you wear; hold it in honor, and do not besmirch it; this you will accomplish best when you think of your oath—you especially, you people of the sea, who so often have the opportunity in your various journeyings upon the water to learn to know the almighty power of God!
Wherein lies the secret of the fact that we have often overcome our adversary with lesser numbers? In discipline. What is discipline? Single-hearted co-operation, single-hearted obedience. That our ancient forebears already clung to this ideal a single example will show: On one occasion they were marching to war against the Romans. They had climbed over the mountain and found themselves suddenly face to face with the huge masses of the army. Then they realized what a difficult moment was before them. They first prayed, giving God the glory, and then, bound together with chains, side by side, they fell upon the enemies and conquered them. To-day we no longer need the actual chains; we have a powerful religion and our oath. Remain true to it, and think of it, whether you are within the country or without. Hold your colors high, the black, white, and red which here stand before you, and think of your oath, think of your Emperor.
Kiel, March 26, 1895
The Emperor, as will be plain, took much satisfaction in the development of his navy and was to make innumerable addresses on these occasions. The present is a fair type of a number of the shorter speeches. Very soon they were to become occasions in which he was to broach the idea of the greater navy. The present address will serve to illustrate the spirit he was hoping to instil into this branch of the service.
As a testimony to the industry of the Fatherland, after the diligent labors of the imperial dockyards, this vessel now stands before us ready to be given over to its element. Thou shalt now be enrolled in the German navy. Thou shalt serve in the protection of the Fatherland to bring defiance and annihilation to the enemy. The names of the ships which belong to the same class are taken from the old Germanic sagas. Therefore thou also shalt hark back to the ancient time of our ancestors, to the powerful divinity who was worshipped and feared by all our German seafaring forefathers and whose mighty realm stretched from the north even unto the south pole, in whose province the northern battles were fought, and whence death and destruction were brought into the land of the enemy. Thou shalt bear the name of this great and mighty god. Mayst thou prove thyself worthy of it! So do I christen thee with the name of Ægir.
Friedrichsruh, March 26, 1895
Historians of modern Germany have discussed and explained in various ways the causes of the retirement of Bismarck, the “Iron Chancellor.” From the moment he became “Minister President and Minister of Foreign Affairs,” in 1862, his hand was the hand that guided German policy, and his was the genius that presided over and shaped the unification of Germany and the building of the empire. It has been truly said that the biography of Bismarck is the history of German union. He had been born in Brandenburg and spent his life in the service of the Prussian Kings. It was he who in the dark days preceding the victories of the sixties had given William I heart and had prevented him from giving up his task. It was, therefore, a great shock to the German world to learn that, two years after the accession of William II, the great founder of German unity had been forced into retirement. There had been rumors of previous disagreements. The German Chancellor is responsible not to the Reichstag but solely to the Emperor; he takes the responsibility of shaping the imperial policy. It was said that Bismarck resented certain interference with his authority in his own cabinet. It is certain that he looked with disfavor on the Emperor’s policy with regard to labor legislation. With regard to the attitude toward Russia there was likewise disagreement, and Bismarck opposed the Emperor’s visit to Constantinople. But aside from these questions of policy, there were deep psychological incompatibilities. Crabbed age and romantic youth could not live together. Furthermore, the Emperor wished to take the credit for initiating and carrying through his own policies. He was not content to be a shadow king. Bismarck, after nearly forty years of service, was not willing to be a puppet chancellor. He insisted on the form of cabinet government decreed in 1852. The Emperor’s disposition of mind may be gathered from the following extracts from a speech delivered shortly before Bismarck’s retirement, and it should be remembered that at this time Bismarck was far from being an enthusiastic supporter of certain measures then taking shape in the mind of William II. On the 5th of March, 1890, the Emperor announced to the Brandenburgers: “All those who wish to help me in this work I bid heartily welcome, whoever they may be; but all those (whoever they may be) who oppose me in this work I shall smash to pieces” (zerschmettern). Bismarck was forced to offer his resignation two weeks later. Besides his ducal title, he was given the honorary title of general of cavalry, with the rank of field-marshal. Because of his opposition, he was treated in the following years with extreme coolness and occasionally as an enemy. The German ambassador at Vienna was instructed from Berlin, on the occasion of the marriage of Bismarck’s son, not to accept an invitation to the wedding. Foreign ambassadors were informed that for the Emperor there were two Bismarcks: the former responsible servant and the present irresponsible subject. The honors given him were not generally honors due a great ex-chancellor, but honors due a military officer. “Living,” said Bismarck, “they give me the honors of the dead.” On this, his eightieth birthday, the Reichstag voted down the proposal that they send him their congratulations. The Emperor, with an exclusively military suite, however, paid him this visit and presented him with a sword engraved with his arms and with the arms of the conquered provinces, Alsace-Lorraine. In all probability, Bismarck felt the lack of mention of his services as Chancellor; his entirely diplomatic reply printed below would seem to indicate this.
Your Highness:
Our whole Fatherland decks itself out to celebrate your birthday. This day belongs to the army. Its first duty is to do honor to its comrades, to its old officers, whose efficiency made it possible for it to carry through the mighty deeds which found their reward in the crowning of a regenerated Fatherland.
The military host which stands gathered here is a symbol of the whole army, especially this regiment which has the honor of calling your Highness its commander, and especially that standard which reminds us of the fame of Brandenburg and Prussia, which dates from the time of the Great Elector and is consecrated by the blood shed at Mars-la-Tour. Your Highness will see in spirit, behind this gathering of troops, the collected army of the entire German race in battle array to celebrate this day with us.
In sight of this host, I come now to present to your Highness my gift. I could find no better token than a sword, this noblest weapon of the Germans; a symbol of that instrument which your Highness with my late grandfather helped to shape, to sharpen, and also to wield; the symbol of that great, powerful period of building whose mortar was blood and iron; that weapon which is never dismayed and which, when necessary, in the hands of kings and princes will defend against internal foes that unity of the Fatherland which it had once conquered from the foes without. May your Highness be good enough to notice the linking of your arms with those of Alsace-Lorraine here engraved and feel again all that history which found its conclusion in the events of twenty-five years ago!
But we comrades call out: His Highness, Prince Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg—Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Bismarck replied with more pith:
Your Majesty will allow me to lay my humblest thanks at your feet. My military position with regard to your Majesty does not permit me to further express my feelings to your Majesty. I thank your Majesty.
Kiel, June 21, 1895
In furthering Germany’s economic and industrial development, the building of canals has served an important function in reducing the cost of transportation and in making possible competition with other nations. Although the Emperor William Canal was an idea of Bismarck’s, his name is not here mentioned. Emperor William II has taken a very lively interest in this development of inland waterways and has rendered a great service to the industrial development of his country in this regard.
In memory of Emperor William the Great, I baptize the canal “Emperor William Canal.”
The Emperor then accompanied his three hammer strokes with the following words: “In the name of the Triune God, to the honor of Emperor William, to the blessing of Germany, and to the welfare of the people!”
He proposed this toast at the banquet:
I behold with pleasure and with pride this brilliant and festive gathering, and in the name of my honored colleagues I bid you all, the guests of the empire, most heartily welcome. We wish to express our inmost thanks for the interest you have taken in the completion of a work which, begun in peace and accomplished in peace, is to-day given over to general trade.
It is not only in our own day that the idea first existed of joining the North and Baltic Seas by a great canal; far back in the Middle Ages we find drafts and plans for the working out of this undertaking. In the past century the Eider Canal was built, which, while it affords a wonderful example of the ability of that day, still, as it was intended only for the passage of the smaller craft, could not satisfy the increased demands of the present day. It remained for the newly founded German Empire to find a satisfactory solution for this great problem.
It was my immortal grandfather, his Majesty, Emperor William the Great, who, thoroughly appreciating the significance of the canal for increasing the national welfare and strengthening our defense, devoted his unflagging interest to the plan for the building of an effective waterway between the North and the Baltic Seas and for overcoming the many obstacles which stood in the way of its accomplishment. Joyfully and confidently the affiliated rulers of the empire, as well as the Reichstag, followed the imperial initiative, and for eight years the work was industriously carried on which, as it approached completion, aroused in ever-increasing measure the public interest. What technic on the basis of its great development has been able to accomplish, what was possible through pride and joy in the work, what finally could be done in promoting the welfare of the numberless workers engaged in the task, in accordance with the principles of the humane social politics of the empire, has been accomplished in this undertaking. Therefore the Fatherland dare rejoice with me and my noble colleagues in the success of this enterprise.
However, we have worked not only for our own interests. In accordance with the great cultural mission of the German people, we open the locks of the canal to the peaceful trading of the nations with each other, and it will give us great satisfaction if its increasing use shall prove not only that the intentions by which we were led are understood but that they are becoming fruitful in increasing the welfare of the people.
The interest in our celebration on the part of the powers whose representatives we see among us, and whose magnificent ships we have to-day admired, I greet with greater joy the more I have the right to see in it the complete justification of our efforts directed toward the righteous maintenance of peace. Germany will also place the work inaugurated to-day in the service of peace and will consider herself fortunate if the Emperor William Canal strengthens and promotes in this service for all time our friendly relations with the other powers.
I empty my glass to the friendly sovereigns and powers. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
June 16, 1896—March 22, 1905
Berlin, June 16, 1896
It is difficult to fix any definite date at which any new movement in politics may be said to have begun. Toward the close of the year 1894 there appear unmistakable signs of a new dispensation. In this year Caprivi, Bismarck’s successor as Chancellor, retired in favor of Prince Hohenlohe. The latter appears in his new office for the first time in the session of the Reichstag which opened December 5, 1894. In that session the insufficient protection of Germans residing in foreign lands was repeatedly insisted upon, and the colonizing spirit and the agitation for a very considerable increase in the navy began to make themselves felt. The building of three new cruisers was authorized, but the plan to erect a dry dock at Kiel was rejected. The year 1895 was to be crowded with festivals celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversaries of the victories of the Franco-Prussian War, and there resulted a consequent impetus to what might be called nascent imperialism. This was further stimulated by outward events. In 1895 France, Germany, and Russia intervened between Japan and China, then at war. In 1897 Germany seized and then leased Kiaochow from China for ninety-nine years and intervened in the war between Greece and Turkey on behalf of the Turks. She began, therefore, to take a more prominent part in world politics and definitely entered upon her policy of expansion. The German people felt that this was rendered necessary by the fact that Germany had become a great industrial and exporting nation, whose interests demanded insistence on the “open-door” policy. Her rapidly increasing population (the annual increase was between 800,000 and 900,000) also, we are told, made necessary the creation of new colonies to take care of surplus population and to provide sustenance for those at home who were being drawn off into industrial pursuits.
It should be remembered in this connection, however, that emigration from Germany is very far from being on the increase. It has diminished astonishingly since 1880. In the decade from 1880 to 1890 the annual emigration averaged about 135,000, and in 1881 it reached its highest point, 220,000. In the decade from 1900 to 1910 it never in any one year ran over 37,000 and averaged about 27,000—in other words, it had declined, in spite of the increase in population and in the number of colonies, to one fifth of its former proportions. The figures have only a relative significance. The annual emigration from Belgium, for instance, which has little more than one tenth the population of Germany, was considerably higher, averaging 35,000 annually for the years from 1906 to 1910. The annual emigration from the United Kingdom to places outside of Europe in the same period was approximately 532,000 annually. As, therefore, German emigration has in the last quarter century steadily declined, it may be safely inferred that the problem of finding colonies for her surplus population is not now, at least, a more pressing one for Germany than it was twenty-five years ago.
A conscientious American student of contemporary politics has said quite justly that “the most vital and burning problem in the world to-day” is the problem of Germany’s Weltpolitik. It is not the purpose of this volume to enter into questions of controversy. He who wishes, however, to understand Germany’s position and the Emperor’s position toward the world to-day must consider carefully not only the problem itself but some of its practical implications. In one of his bursts of enthusiasm the Emperor will tell us later[9] that this policy implies that no question in the world—no question of international politics, in other words—is to be decided without Germany. This would mean, strictly interpreted, that no transfer or change of status in colonial possessions—Cuba or the Philippines, for instance—no international canal, like Panama, could be made without her sanction. And there are those in Germany, like Doctor Liman, who believe that this doctrine should have been more rigidly maintained than had hitherto been the case. A priori, Germany is, of course, as much entitled to the right to pursue such a policy as any other power. Ethically, however—if ethics have any place in the discussion—it must be the result which justifies such a policy: not the results merely to the nation pursuing the policy but the results also to the nation or tribe at whose expense the policy is pursued. In the utilitarian phrase, it must redound to the greater good of the greater number.
[9] “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.” (July 3, 1900.)
A dispassionate consideration of Prussia’s treatment of her dependencies must convince any except the most partisan that her efforts here have been far less successful than those of most other nations, if they are not to be qualified as utter and absolute failures. Chancellor Caprivi had said quite justly that the worst blow an enemy could give him would be to force more territories in Africa upon him. Nevertheless, Germany has since Caprivi’s time and at imminent risk of war acquired further African possessions. The attempt to colonize Africa, begun, as we have seen, by the Great Elector, was Germany’s first venture in this field. Yet at no time did the Germans seem to get on well with the blacks. In the Emperor’s speeches to the Reichstag he has spoken of his desire to introduce Christian customs and Christian morality among the negroes. Yet his attempts here were hardly successful. The Herreros in Southwest Africa revolted and massacred German colonists, sparing the Boers and English who had come before the German occupation. Doctor Gibbons tells us that the suppression of this rebellion took more than a year and cost Germany an appalling sum of money and many lives. But it cost the natives more. Two thirds of the nation of the Herreros were massacred, and, while only six or seven thousand were in arms, the German official report states that forty thousand were killed. The Germans confiscated all the lands of the natives. In 1906, after twenty-one years of German rule, there were in Southwest Africa sixteen thousand prisoners of war out of a total native population of thirty-one thousand. All the natives lived in concentration camps and were forced to work for the government. It may be conceded that Germany’s problem here was a difficult one; it must also be recognized that her policy had been neither of advantage to the natives nor to Germany herself.
In other cases, where the problem would seem to have been simpler, the results have likewise been disastrous. It is not our purpose to give the reasons but to state the facts. After one hundred and twenty-five years of incorporation into Prussia the Poles of East Prussia have in large part not been amalgamated and are still the victims of discriminatory legislation. In judging such a policy it is not merely a question as to whether Alsace-Lorraine, for instance, did or did not once belong to Germany. Morally it is difficult to concede to any nation the right to govern any population which it makes permanently unhappy. After forty-four years the problem of Alsace-Lorraine seemed to be very little nearer a solution than it was at its inception. It is a mistake to believe that the discontent was due principally to the fact that the inhabitants must transfer their allegiance from France to Germany. The discontent was due to the empire’s refusal to give the population rights and status compatible with their self-respect as enlightened subjects of a twentieth-century government. Men of German as well as of French descent, and even German emigrants who were induced to settle in the province since 1870, took part in the opposition. In a recent haphazard list of the “real leaders” of Alsace-Lorraine, we find the following six names: Wetterlé, Preiss, Blumenthal, Weber, Bucher, and Theodor. Of these the last five, at least, are wholly or in part of German descent. Yet the most serious demonstration in Metz since its annexation took place in June, 1910. On July 25 of that same year, for the first time since the University of Strasburg had been re-established by the Germans, a professor was hissed out of his lecture-room; and, as we have seen, in spite of an energetic propaganda by German newspapers, in 1912 more Alsacians enlisted in the French Foreign Legion than in any single year since 1871. The situation in that province has been already discussed in connection with the Emperor’s speech of March 14, 1891. Quite evidently, the problem there was hardly on the way to successful solution in August, 1914. Of course, Germany’s success in colonizing is not the only question to be considered with regard to her Weltpolitik. It is, however, an essential factor.
As will be evident from subsequent addresses, it was the Emperor who everywhere gave the initial impulse. Whether or not he involved himself in contradictions here, the student must decide. To certain of his subjects he appeared to be doing so, and it was for this reason that one of his hostile critics, Doctor Liman, tells us in bitterness that German politics of the last twenty years is “a fantastic mixture of tearful longing for peace and an inflated desire for prestige.” (“Der Kaiser,” p. 317.) The present empire had been proclaimed on the 18th of January, 1871, and the anniversary marked the crowning celebration of the year. In his speech the Emperor announces that “The German Empire has become a world-empire.” This may be said to provide the key to his subsequent policy and to mark the dawning of a new era. The address was delivered at a dinner held in the Royal Palace.
The present day, like the entire year in all its festivities, is a day of grateful retrospect. It is a continued high festival of gratitude for and in commemoration of the great departed Emperor. A blessing rests upon the present day, and over it hovers the spirit of him who lies in Charlottenburg,[10] and of him who sleeps in the Friedenskirche.[11] What our fathers had hoped and what German youth in her dreams had sung and desired it was granted to them, the two Emperors, to achieve; working with the princes, it was granted to them to reconquer and re-establish the German Empire. We are privileged gratefully to enjoy its advantages; we have a right to rejoice on the present day. Nevertheless, it is our earnest duty to maintain what the great lords have won for us. The German Empire has become a world-empire. Everywhere in distant quarters of the earth thousands of our countrymen are living. German guardians, German science, German industry are going across the sea. The value of what Germany has upon the seas amounts to thousands of millions. It is your earnest duty, gentlemen, to help to bind this greater German Empire firmly to our ancestral home. The vow which I made you to-day can become truth only if you are animated by a united patriotic spirit and grant me your fullest support. It is my wish that, standing in closest union, you help me to do my duty not only to my countrymen in a narrower sense but also to the many thousands of countrymen in foreign lands. This means that I may be able to protect them if I must. It is with this wish, and deeply conscious of the injunction which is issued to us all—“What you have inherited from your fathers, conquer it in order that you may possess it”—that I raise my glass to our beloved German Fatherland and call out: Long live the German Empire!—once again, may it live!—and a third time, long live the Empire!
[10] Emperor William I.
[11] Emperor Frederick III.
Wilhelmshaven, February 21, 1896
On the occasion of administering the oath to the naval recruits at Wilhelmshaven the Emperor delivered the following address:
In the sight of God and of His servants you have sworn to me the oath of allegiance, and I expect from you that you will become good and sturdy sailors. Keep to what you have sworn, for “one man, one word.” The soldiers of the army frequently have the occasion to show what they have learned and what they are capable of under the eyes of their superiors. This is not true in the navy, for many of you will be for years in foreign waters. But you must not think that on that account my eyes have been turned away from you.
In relation to other navies our own navy is still small, is in the budding stage; but through our discipline we must become strong and by it compensate for all that we lack in material strength. What is discipline? Nothing but the unconditional subjection of our own will to a higher will. Even if every one intends to do good, he must none the less subordinate his intention to the good of the whole. Only by holding together can we create a firm body that will be able to accomplish something complete and great.
St. Petersburg, August 8, 1897