German Emperor

“ A window of the palace overlooking the great Schlossplatz opened and the Emperor stepped out into the narrow balcony. His uniform was caked with dust and mud and his face was drawn with a mortal fatigue; but as he stood there scowling haughtily down upon that upturned sea of woman's faces, the most singular vision that ever had greeted imperial eyes, he was an imposing figure enough to those who knew that he was the Kaiser Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and Alsace-Lorraine, and Emperor in Germany. ”

“ Any man, standing on that throne in the White Saloon of the old Schloss at Berlin, would have to be a good deal considered by his fellow-creatures. Even if we put aside the tremendous international importance of the position of a German Emperor, in that gravely open question of peace or war, he must compel attention as the visible embodiment of a fact, the existence of which those who like it least must still recognize. ”

“ My glorious ancestors look down upon you from the vaulted heavens. The monuments of the Kings look down upon you and, above all, the statue of the great Emperor. When you are discharging your service remember the grievous times through which our Fatherland had to pass; remember them when your labor seems heavy and bitter. Stand firm in your inviolable faith and trust in God who never forsakes us. Then will my army and especially my guard be equal to its task in all times, whether in peace or war. ”

“ William II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, was born January 27, 1859, and became German Emperor June 15, 1888. He is, therefore, in the prime of life, and looks it. His complexion and eyes are as clear as those of an athlete, and his eyes, and his movements, and his talk are vibrating with energy. ”

“ You have created a work of art, the like of which is not often seen in German lands. And I am convinced that in later generations his powerful personality, which will have become surrounded by the glamour of legend, will through this statue be brought nearer to the hearts of the people. And I am sure that the generations of Bremen which are to follow, from father to son, will never forget the second Emperor, whose noble Siegfried figure led the German army to victory and whom we have to thank for our unity. ”

“ Put your hand on your heart, direct your gaze into the distance, and from time to time give a backward glance for memory to the old Emperor and his time, and I am convinced that, as Hamburg is progressing in the world, so will our Fatherland progress along the road of enlightenment, the road of improvement, the road of practical Christianity: a blessing for mankind, a bulwark of peace, the wonder of all countries! ”

“ It is nothing more than the first expression of the newly united and newly arisen German Empire in its tasks beyond the seas. The empire has developed so astonishingly through the extension of its commercial interests that it is my duty to follow up the new German Hansa and to give it the protection which it has a right to expect from the empire and the Emperor. ”

“ Aix and Mainz are for us historic memories; the longing to be brought together into a single nation remained in the German breast, and Emperor William the Great, in union with his faithful servants, achieved it. So cast your eyes from Coblentz to the German Eck and from Rüdesheim to the Niederwald! The pictures teach and prove to you that you are now Germans in a German land, citizens of a definitely bounded German nation. You are here to prepare yourselves to contribute to her future welfare and development. In its proud flower the empire stands before you. ”

“ It is the will of the German Emperor, King of Prussia, to be a law-giver to the East, to dispute with England the sovereignty of the seas, to take bites out of China, to display the ever-victorious flag of Germany all over the world. It is true that, to accomplish this will of his, will require an additional 500 millions, and it will require, in particular, that the Reichstag should vote them in one lump sum. William II is like his teacher Bismarck in the matter of dogged obstinacy. ”

“ Then, as the block of granite yonder bears the great Emperor, so will the German people, true to their traditions, bear upon their hearts and discharge with their strength the new tasks and undertakings which come to them. May they enter with decision upon the work which Heaven assigns them without asking whether it be easy or difficult, without worrying as to how they shall accomplish it, provided only they are going forward! ”

“ The great Emperor with his great aides has laid the basis, the corner-stone of the building; it is for us to build upon it! Therefore it is my opinion and firm conviction that a great future awaits us also, if we are but determined to make it so. Tasks are assigned to us, and, whether they are light or heavy, we must face them as well as we are able and enlist all our strength. Then we shall be able to accomplish them and I am convinced that now as then the German Empire and the German people will never lack the right sort of men. ”

“ THE KAISER AND "LÈSE-MAJESTÉ" The talents and ability and agreeable personality of the German Emperor must not blind us to the fact that he is the centre of the system which has brought the world to a despair and misery such as it never has known since the dawn of history. We must remember that all his utterances disclose the soul of the conqueror, of a man intensely anxious for earthly fame and a conspicuous place in the gallery of human events ”

“ Our commerce is not new; in old times the Hanseatic League was one of the most powerful enterprises which the world has ever seen, and the German cities were able to build a fleet such as the sea’s broad back had never carried in earlier days, but finally it came to naught because the one condition was lacking, namely that of an Emperor’s protection. Now things have changed; the first condition, the German Empire, has been created ”

“ But if we were to receive the German Emperor at the Exhibition of 1900—if at that time he is still master of Alsace-Lorraine—we should be committing the base act of a people defeated beyond all hope of recovery. ”

“ On the 16th of June the army made a triumphant entrance into Berlin, William riding at its head, to be triumphantly hailed as emperor by his own people on his own soil. All Germany, with the exception of Austria, was for the first time fully united into an empire, the minor princes having ceased to exist as ruling potentates. ”

“ The German Emperor is unhampered, as is no other ruler, by considerations of popular favor; and at the same time he directs and influences not Russian peasants, nor Turkish slaves, but an instructed, enlightened, and ambitious people. This environment is unique in the world to-day, and the Germans as a whole seem to consider their ruler a valuable asset, despite occasional vagaries that bring down their own and foreign criticism upon him. ”

“ At the head of the empire is the king of Prussia, who has the title of “German Emperor.” The emperor represents the empire internationally, declares war, concludes peace, and enters into alliance and treaties with foreign powers. For a declaration of war the consent of the federal council is required, unless an attack has been made upon German territory. The emperor is the commander-in-chief of the imperial army and navy. He convokes, opens, adjourns, and closes the federal council and the Reichstag, but the former must be convoked whenever two thirds of its members demand it. ”

“ It was such a legacy that the present Emperor inherited when, after the few months’ reign of his father, he succeeded to the imperial office; and it is this legacy and this tradition which, in fairness to the Emperor, we must remember in reading such seemingly strange pronouncements as his own address at Königsberg in 1910.
The later events in German history and the subsequent policies of the empire are touched upon in such detail that further preamble is hardly necessary. That the Emperor has everywhere energetically taken the lead is undoubted. ”

“ If, first of all, I may speak as grandson of the great Emperor, whose bronze likeness the city of Hamburg has just unveiled, I would like to give utterance to the gratitude which so stirs my heart, that the citizens of Hamburg have been able in such a brilliant, handsome, and noble manner to show their feeling for Germany and their gratitude to the old hero. ”

“ The old empire had lost all touch with its subjects—a very much graver evil than the disintegration of its territory. So formidable an array of intermediate powers had thrust itself in between the emperor and his subjects that at last the citizen and the peasant never by any chance any more heard the voice of their imperial master. ... In three ways the German emperor now found the way to his subjects. Already as king of Prussia the emperor of the future had been obeyed by 19 millions of the whole German population as his immediate subjects. ”

“ All hearts beat higher and remembered the great time and the great men who wrought in it and thought of the Great Emperor and of his Iron Chancellor. It is for us to administer further the legacy that has come down to us. Just as in our individual efforts and in our sports we summon up and exert all our powers to reach our goal, so too we must do the same for our Fatherland. ”

“ I feel conscious of remaining thereby on the road which my grandfather, the founder of the empire, as King of Prussia with military organisation and as German Emperor with social reform, typically fulfilled as his monarchial obligations, thereby creating conditions by which the German people, in united and wrathful perseverance, will overcome this sanguinary time. The maintenance of the fighting force as a real people's army and the promotion of the social uplift of the people in all its classes was, from the beginning of my reign, my aim. ”

“ We are as far from one another as in the days, late in the tenth century, when they complained in England that men learned fierceness from the Saxon of Germany, effeminacy from the Fleming, and drunkenness from the Dane.
As probably the outstanding figure and best-known, superficially known, man in the world, the German Emperor has escaped the notice of very few people who notice anything. His likeness is everywhere, and gossip about him is on every tongue. ”

“ You see, as you look upon the completed work, how significant it is that a united German Empire now exists. Its past glories Lübeck owed to the German Emperors, and its present glory it owes to the German Empire, so I hope that everywhere in the empire and among the people the conviction may grow that through the re-establishment and strengthening of the German Empire we are now called upon to carry through those old tasks which could not [160] be accomplished formerly and which were rendered impossible through the unfortunate lack of union of our ancestors. ”

“ The first armored cruisers, König Wilhelm, Kronprinz, Friedrich Karl, were bought from England and France. In thirty years Germany has here achieved not only complete independence but something approaching very nearly to supremacy. His service in this field has been generally recognized. A German critic not usually favorable to the Emperor speaks thus: “Perhaps nowhere in the development of our political life does the personal activity of the Emperor stand out so strongly as in the building up of the German fleet. ”

“ The German Emperor composed for himself a prayer, which he is accustomed to have said in his presence, and in which God is implored "to grant His protection to the Emperor William, to give him health and inspiration for the fulfilment of his mission towards the nations." To-day, reduced to inactivity by his illness and by the consequences of his folly, he has ample leisure to reflect on the psalm which he is so fond of singing, with the mitre of the summus episcopus on his head: "The kings of the earth are the instruments of God." ”

“ Now another Empire has arisen. The German people has once more an Emperor of its own choice, with the sword on the field of battle has the crown been won, and the imperial flag flutters high in the breeze. But the tasks of the new Empire are different: confined within its borders it has to steel itself anew for the work it has to do, and which it could not achieve in the Middle Ages. We have to live so that the Empire, still young, becomes from year to year stronger in itself, while confidence in it strengthens on all sides. The powerful German army guarantees the peace of Europe. ”

“ The German Emperor has said many clever and some foolish things, but perhaps he never did a wiser one than in making over his schemes of vengeance to his august ally, for the work is more becoming to an Asiatic than a Teutonic people. ”

“ It was precisely, this man whom Providence sought out to accomplish this hardest of all tasks—the uniting of the German races. For no one could resist the charm of the personality, the simple modesty, the winning lovableness of the lofty ruler; and so it was permitted to him, surrounded by his powerful paladins who were devoted to him and who worked with him, to smooth the way and reconcile the differences; while he kept ever before his eyes the goal, the union of the Fatherland. ”

“ I have the will to make of Germany one powerful empire. Oh, that I had the power, too! My friend, we are alone, and no one hears except God. Here on the confines of Germany, the poor unhappy emperor may be permitted to shed a tear over the severed garment of German royalty—that garment which has been rent by so many little princes! ”