Part 9

DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH OF OUR REDEEMER

JERUSALEM, OCTOBER 31, 1898

The Church of Our Redeemer at Jerusalem was dedicated in the presence of the Emperor by the general superintendent and head court chaplain, Doctor Dryander, of Berlin. The church had been planned by King Frederick William IV. After the dedication there was a special church service, and after the prayer by the general superintendent the Emperor offered the following address:

God has been gracious enough to allow us to dedicate in this city, which is holy to all Christians, and in this place, which is consecrated by labors of true love, a house of worship which we have built to honor the Saviour of the world. Through the building and dedication of the Church of Our Redeemer there has now come to successful issue a plan which my blessed predecessors cherished for more than half a century and sought to carry out as the protectors of the work of love which was founded here in Evangelical interests.

Through the saving power of the love which serves, all hearts should now here be brought to the consideration of those things in which alone the troubled human spirit may find salvation, rest, and peace here and hereafter.

All Evangelical Christians, even far beyond Germany's borders, are following our service here with closest interest and sympathy. The delegates of the Evangelical congregation and many who share the Evangelical faith from all parts of the world have come with us to this place in order to be personal witnesses to the completion of this work of faith and love through which the name of our great Lord and Saviour is to be glorified and the kingdom of God upon earth to be advanced.

Jerusalem, the lofty city on which our feet are standing, calls to mind memories of the great act of redemption of our Lord and Saviour. She shows us the common labor which unites all Christians, regardless of confessions and nations, in the apostolic faith.

The power which renewed the world through the gospel which originated here drives us to follow Him; it warns us to look up in faith to Him who died for us upon the cross. It warns us to be patient Christians and to carry out the doctrine of unselfish love of our neighbor in regard to all men. It promises us also that if we hold firm to the true teaching of the gospel even the gates of hell shall not prevail against our dear Evangelical Church.

It was in Jerusalem that was born the Light of the World, in whose splendor our German people has grown great and powerful. What the Germanic peoples have become they have become under the protection of the cross upon Golgotha and through the practice of self-sacrificing love of their neighbors. Just as two thousand years ago, so to-day that call, "Peace upon earth," which voices the earnest hopes of us all, should go forth to all the world.

Not splendor, not might, not glory, not honor, not earthly goods it is that we seek here. We pant, beseech, and strive only for the one highest good, the salvation of our souls, and as I now on this solemn day here repeat the vow of my ancestors who are resting in God, "I and my house, we will serve the Lord," so I ask you all to make the same vow. Let every one seek according to his position and his calling to bring it about that all those who bear the name of the crucified Lord will live their lives under the sign of His holy name to a victory over all the dark powers which are begotten in sin and selfishness.

May God grant that rich streams of blessing may flow back from here into united Christendom, and that on the throne as in the hut, that at home as abroad, trust in God, love of our fellows, patience in affliction, and thorough labor may remain the brightest jewels of the German people, and that the spirit of peace may permeate and hallow the Evangelical Church more and more.

He, the God of grace, will hear our prayers; that is our expectation. He alone is the strong and safe retreat upon which we build.

"Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing; Were not the right man on our side, The man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth His name, From age to age the same, And He must win the battle."[18]

[18] Luther's "Ein' Feste Burg," translated by F. H. Hedge.

BY DIVINE RIGHT

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, _Oberpräsident_ of 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 achievements of 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 which are 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 German _Michel_ will 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 German _Michel_.

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, may every 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.

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

THE HAGUE CONFERENCE

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 armaments which 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!

THE HOUSING OF LABORERS

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.

FRENCH HEROISM AT ST. PRIVAT

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 hesitate a 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.

V

THE GREATER NAVY

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 sent to President Krüger, printed with the _Daily Telegraph_ interview (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 reason for 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 the _Daily Telegraph_ is 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."

"BITTERLY WE NEED A POWERFUL GERMAN FLEET"

HAMBURG, OCTOBER 18, 1899

The _Kaiser Karl der Grosse_ was 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.