Part 16

I wish to express to the representatives of the province whom I have gathered about me to-day my warmest thanks for the way in which I have everywhere been received in this beautiful country of Westphalia. I would also like to repeat to you in the name of her Majesty, the Empress and Queen, how disconsolate she is that it was unfortunately not possible for her to celebrate the Westphalian days with you and to come into personal contact with the Westphalian people.

The province of Westphalia offers an attractive picture of a state in which it has been proved possible to reconcile historical, religious, and industrial differences through love and loyalty for a common Fatherland. The province is made up of several districts, of which many have for a long time belonged to the crown of Prussia, while many others have been but recently acquired. They, however, vie with one another in their loyalty to our house. As I make no difference between old and new districts, so I also make no difference between the adherents to the Catholic and the Protestant creeds. Let them both stand upon the foundation of Christianity and they are both bound to be true citizens and obedient subjects. All the children of my country stand equally near to my heart, which is devoted to the Fatherland. In its industrial relations the province also offers a highly edifying example. It shows that the great branches of industry do not need to harm each other and that the welfare of the one works for the good of the others also. The farmer diligently cultivates his red Westphalian soil, holding fast to the traditions which have come down to him from ages past; a sturdy character, with unyielding energy and lofty purpose, of loyal nature, a firm foundation for our state. Therefore, the protection of agriculture lies especially near my thoughts. Your citizen brings his cities ever nearer to perfection; there are works for the benefit of the public--museums and collections, hospitals and churches. And deep in your mountains lie hidden the treasures which, mined by the diligent hands of the brave mountain people, give to industry the opportunity to develop itself--that industry, the pride of the nation, wonderful in its progress, the envy of all the world. May it be permitted to gather together further treasures for our national wealth and to increase abroad the good reputation of the thoroughness and excellence of German work.

In this connection I am mindful also of those laborers who, in these vast industrial undertakings, tend the great blast-furnaces and of those who, far from the daylight, accomplish their work with steady hands in the leads of the mines. Consideration for them, for their prosperity and their welfare I have taken over as a precious heritage from my late grandfather, and it is my wish and my will, in the province of such social regulations, to hold fast to the principles laid down in the memorable message of Emperor William the Great.

The lovely picture of unity which the province of Westphalia presents to the observer I would gladly see made general over our entire Fatherland. I believe that for such a unity of all our citizens, of all our conditions, only one means is possible, and that is religion. Not, indeed, understood in the sense of strict theological doctrine, but in the broader sense, practical for daily life. I must here go back to my own experience. In the long period of my reign--it is now the twentieth year since I came to the throne--I have had to do with many men and I have had to endure much from them; many times unconsciously, and unfortunately many times consciously, they have hurt me grievously. And if at such moments I have been in danger of losing my temper and thoughts of revenge have arisen, I have asked myself what were the means best fitted to temper anger and increase moderation. The only one which I have found is to say to myself: "All men are like you, and, although they do you harm, they bear a soul born in the realms of light above, to which we all wish to return, and through their souls they have a part of the Creator within them." Whoever thinks in this way will judge his fellow men mildly. If this idea of mutual forbearance could only be spread among the German people, then the first condition for a complete unity would be established. This can only be accomplished if we tend toward one central ideal--the person of our Redeemer, the Man who called us brothers, who lived as an example for all of us--the most personal of all personalities. He still wanders among the people, and we are all conscious of Him in our hearts. In looking up to Him our people must find their union, and they must build firmly upon His words, concerning which He Himself has said: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." If they do that, then they will succeed. To such co-operation I should like to-day to invite especially the men of Westphalia. For, as I have before explained, in their province they have understood how to present that charming spectacle of differences reconciled. They will also understand me first and best. In this spirit let old and new districts, citizens, farmers, and laborers hold together and unitedly work together through loyalty and love for the Fatherland. Then the German people will be the rock of granite upon which our Lord God can build and complete his work of culture in the world. Then will the words of the poet be fulfilled when he says: "In contact with German life, the world will grow well again." To whosoever is ready to offer me his hand on this I shall be most grateful and I will accept it joyfully, no matter who or of what condition he may be. I believed that I would be most quickly understood by the Westphalians, and therefore I have turned to them.

I now raise my glass with the wish that God's blessing may rest upon the red Westphalian earth and upon all its people, that I may be permitted still longer to maintain peace in order that they may follow their calling undisturbed. God bless Westphalia! The province of Westphalia--Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!

ENGLISH JOURNALISTS

LONDON, NOVEMBER 16, 1907

In November and December, 1907, the Emperor paid a visit to England. On this occasion the degree of Doctor of Civil Law was conferred upon him by Oxford University. Ever since the Morocco incident, in 1905, the feeling between the two countries had been somewhat strained and newspapers on both sides of the channel had helped to foment discontent. To a group of English journalists who had visited Germany during the summer the Emperor gave an audience and addressed them as follows:

GENTLEMEN:

I greatly appreciate your greeting. It gives me pleasure to think that your visit to Germany during the past summer has been so fruitful and that you are satisfied with the welcome accorded you by my countrymen. The power which you possess is great and extremely beneficial when it is used as a means for strengthening the feeling of friendship among the peoples. Your address shows that this task lies near to your hearts. I thank you, therefore, for your appearance here to-day. I rejoice to have seen you and hope that you will exert your influence to foster between our two nations the friendly feelings which are so necessary to the peace of Europe. We belong to the same race and have the same religion. These are bonds which should be strong enough to preserve harmony and friendship between us.

ALSACE-LORRAINE

STRASBURG, AUGUST 30, 1908

The Emperor delivered the following address at a banquet after the imperial manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine. The general situation in Alsace-Lorraine has been discussed in connection with the address to the delegates of the _Landesausschuss_ on March 14, 1891.

I bid you, gentlemen, heartily welcome and express to you the warmest thanks of the Empress and myself for the beautiful reception through which, here as in Metz, the people of Alsace-Lorraine have given so telling an expression of their love and loyalty. My heart also bids me thank you once more for the restoration of the old castle of Hohkönigsburg, especially the people of Lorraine for their patriotic attitude and the donation of the charming Lorraine Room in the castle. For more than thirty-seven years you have now been able to follow your different callings in peace, and beautiful Alsace-Lorraine, keeping pace with the unexpected development of the German Empire, has in this time blossomed forth most joyously. As inhabitants of this border-land, you naturally have the greatest interest in the further maintenance of peace, and I rejoice to be able to express to you my innermost conviction that the peace of Europe is in no danger. It rests upon too firm a foundation to be easily disturbed through instigations and slanders aroused in certain quarters by jealousy and envy. A solid security of the first rank is afforded by the consciences of the princes and statesmen of Europe who know themselves responsible to God and feel for the life and prosperity of the people intrusted to their charge. On the other hand, it is the wish and will of the people themselves to make themselves useful in the further development of the magnificent acquisitions of their progressive civilization and to measure their strength in peaceful competition. And, finally, peace will be secured and protected also through our forces on water and on land--through the German people in arms! Proud of the unequalled discipline and love of honor of her armies, Germany is determined, without threatening others, to carry these to still greater heights and so to expand as to further her own interests without either favoring or doing harm to any one. With God's help and under the protection of the German eagle, you can therefore follow still further your peaceful callings and garner the fruits of your industry. May the blessing of God rest upon your work at all times! Long life to the German province Alsace-Lorraine!

THE "DAILY TELEGRAPH" INTERVIEW

OCTOBER 28, 1908

Perhaps the most startling incident in the Emperor's reign and the most extraordinary evidence of what may be called his "personal diplomacy" policy was brought out by the publication of an interview in the _Daily Telegraph_ of London. German sympathies before and during the Boer War had been strongly pro-Boer. On the third of January, 1896, the Emperor had telegraphed to President Krüger: "I beg to express to you my sincere congratulations that, without help from foreign powers, you have succeeded with your own people and by your own strength in driving out the armed bands which attempted to disturb the peace of your country and in re-establishing order and in defending the independence of your people from attacks from outside."

The German people had, therefore, assumed that the Emperor shared their friendliness toward the Boers and that the government was observing a policy of neutrality at least. When they learned that his General Staff had been called upon, and that he had prepared a plan of campaign against the Boers, a universal shout of protest was raised. The publication of this interview, which was designed to conciliate England, had a contrary effect upon Holland, and the feeling that their ruler was held down by no sense of responsibility was borne in forcibly upon the people. The matter was made the subject of innumerable controversies, debates in the Reichstag, and investigations. It was originally announced that the interview had been given to an English diplomat who had retired to private life. It was discovered that such was not the case. It had been granted to an English journalist who had written certain flattering articles about the Emperor. As for the text, it was admitted that it was substantially authentic; it had been shown to and had practically received the _visé_ of the German Foreign Office. The Emperor's Chancellor, however, had not seen the interview and under the storm of criticism offered his resignation. This the Emperor did not accept, and the Chancellor attempted to defend the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Emperor withdrew and for a time, like Achilles, pondered in his tent. Even the Chancellor had to admit the Emperor's indiscretion and to inform his sovereign that it would be impossible to carry out any consistent foreign policy if the Emperor did not observe a proper reserve in his public and private utterances.

Any number of projects were presented in the November debates of the Reichstag for changing the Constitution, to bring about co-operation between the Reichstag and the Emperor in the appointment and dismissal of Chancellors and declarations of war, and for introducing a law to bring about ministerial responsibility. Nothing came of these, however, and we shall see from the Königsberg speech (August 25, 1910) that the chastening which the Emperor had received on this occasion had no particularly lasting effect. Although both the interview and the telegram are undoubtedly authentic (the interview was published in official government organs in Germany, like the _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_, and by the Wolff Bureau), they are not included in any official collection of the Emperor's utterances, and Penzler, of course, does not print them with the speeches. The interview as here given is taken from the account of the London _Times_, of October 29, 1908.

The Emperor, who is stated to have spoken with "impulsive and unusual frankness," began by declaring that "Englishmen, in giving the rein to suspicions unworthy of a great nation," were "mad as March hares." "What more can I do," he asked, "than I have done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace and that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the best of terms with England.

"My task is not of the easiest. The prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my own land, but it is a minority of the best elements, just as it is in England with respect to Germany. That is another reason why I resent your refusal to accept my pledged word that I am the friend of England."

The writer reminded his Majesty that "not England alone, but the whole of Europe, had viewed with disapproval the recent action of Germany in allowing the German consul to return from Tangier to Fez." His Majesty replied, "with a gesture of impatience," that German subjects in Fez were "crying for help and protection."

"And why not send him? Are those who charge Germany with having stolen a march on the other powers aware that the French consular representative had already been in Fez for several months when Doctor Vassel set out?"

The Emperor then reverted to "the subject uppermost in his mind--his proved friendship for England." It was commonly believed in England, he said, that during the South African War Germany had been consistently hostile to her. German opinion, he admitted, was hostile--"bitterly hostile"; but not so official Germany. In fact, while other European peoples had received and fêted the Boer delegates who came to solicit European intervention, he alone had refused to receive them at Berlin, "where the German people would have crowned them with flowers." His Majesty continued:

"Again, when the struggle was at its height, the German Government was invited by the governments of France and Russia to join with them in calling upon England to put an end to the war. The moment had come, they said, not only to save the Boer republics, but also to humiliate England to the dust. What was my reply? I said that so far from Germany joining in any concerted European action to put pressure upon England and bring about her downfall, Germany would always keep aloof from politics that could bring her into complications with a sea power like England. Posterity will one day read the exact terms of the telegram--now in the archives of Windsor Castle--in which I informed the sovereign of England of the answer I had returned to the powers which then sought to compass her fall. Englishmen who now insult me by doubting my word should know what were my actions in the hour of their adversity."

These were not the only proofs which his Majesty had given of sympathy with the British cause:

"Just at the time of your Black Week, in the December of 1899, when disasters followed one another in rapid succession, I received a letter from Queen Victoria, my revered grandmother, written in sorrow and affliction, and bearing manifest traces of the anxieties which were preying upon her mind and health. I at once returned a sympathetic reply. Nay, I did more. I bade one of my officers procure for me as exact an account as he could obtain of the number of combatants in South Africa on both sides, and of the actual position of the opposing forces. With the figures before me, I worked out what I considered to be the best plan of campaign under the circumstances, and submitted it to my General Staff for their criticism. Then I despatched it to England, and that document, likewise, is among the state papers at Windsor Castle, awaiting the serenely impartial verdict of history. And, as a matter of curious coincidence, let me add that the plan which I formulated ran very much on the same lines as that which was actually adopted by Lord Roberts and carried by him into successful operation."

In conclusion, his Majesty dwelt upon the importance to Germany of a powerful fleet. Germany must be able to protect her growing commerce and manifold interests "in even the most distant seas." "Germany," he went on, "looks ahead. She must be prepared for any eventualities in the far East. Who can foresee what may take place in the Pacific in the days to come?" Looking to the accomplished rise of Japan and the possible national awakening of China, he urged that "only those powers which have great navies will be listened to with respect when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved," and that even England herself may welcome the existence of a German fleet "when they speak together on the same side in the great debates of the future."

THE EMPEROR AND COUNT ZEPPELIN

MANZELL, NOVEMBER 10, 1908

With Prince Fürstenberg the Emperor journeyed from Donaueschingen to Manzell in order to be present at a flight of the dirigible Z-1. Count Zeppelin received the Emperor and conducted him in a motor-boat to the dirigible hangar. Prince Fürstenberg, Admiral von Müller, and General von Plessen ascended with the count. The Emperor did not make the flight. After the landing of the airship he bestowed upon Count Zeppelin the order of the Black Eagle with the following words:

In my name and in the name of our entire German people I heartily congratulate your Excellency on this magnificent work which you have so wonderfully displayed before me to-day. Our Fatherland can be proud to possess such a son--the greatest German of the twentieth century--who through his invention has brought us to a new point in the development of the human race. It is not too much to say that we have to-day lived through one of the greatest moments in the evolution of human culture. I thank God, with all Germans, that he has considered our people worthy to name you one of us. Might it be permitted to us all, as it has been to you, to be able to say with pride in the evening of our life, that we had been successful in serving our dear Fatherland so fruitfully! As a token of my admiring recognition, which certainly all your guests gathered here share with the entire German people, I bestow upon you herewith my high Order of the Black Eagle. [Then followed the investing by his Majesty and the head marshal, Prince Fürstenberg.] Now allow me, my dear count, to bestow unofficially upon you the accolade! [Embraces him three times.] His Excellency, Count Zeppelin, the Conqueror of the Air--Hurrah!

REGATTA AT HAMBURG

HAMBURG, JUNE 22, 1909

The Emperor, as an enthusiastic yachtsman, has made it a point to be present, as we have seen, at nearly all of the Hamburg regattas. As he was this year to visit the Czar in the furtherance of his "personal diplomacy," he had already been forced to decline their invitation; but finding it possible to attend at the last moment, he made all possible speed to arrive at Hamburg, where his recently constructed yacht _Meteor_ was to make her first start. The banquet, at which the Emperor spoke, took place on board the Hamburg-American Liner _Deutschland_.

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