William of Germany

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attentively on the immediate practical considerations of the world about him. His nature has not changed, of course, nor his manner, but he has begun to see that he must employ means and ways different from those he employed previously. He has not become a Bismarck, for he still pursues his aims more in the spirit of the colonel of a regiment leading his men to the attack with banners flying, drums beati

ndamental elements. The view of Prussian monarchy, inherited from one Hohenzollern to another for generation after generation, that the race of people to which he belonged (with any other race he could include by conquest in it) has been handed over by Heaven for all eternity to his family, naturall

ough the reign up to the close of the century, indeed some years beyond it, his speeches, especially when he was addressing his soldiery, were f

fearfully heavy responsibility which the King bears for his folk gives him a claim on the faithful co-operation of his subjects. Acco

e Emperor are alike in being the founders of th

Berlin arsenal when consecrating some flags, he

s, gathered round its standards, kneeling before the Lord of Hosts-and ce

standards," the E

y, good living, and foolish self-satisfaction. In a word, the army was no longer not only not equal to its task, but had forgotten it. Heavy was the punishment of Heaven, which overtook it and our folk. They were flung into the dust, Frederick's glory faded, the standards were cast down. In seven year

note the difference, as it explains the German national idea, and the Emperor's idea, that all military and naval forces are primarily for defence, not offence. This is, indeed, equally tru

of economic expansion, with a desperate apprehension of losing any of the Empire's property, and a determination to have a voice in the matter when there is any loose property anywhere in the world to be disposed of. To the Hebraic element and the warrior element (an entirely un-Christlike combination, as the Emperor must be aware) there now began to be added the me

y parts in the spirit of a Hebrew prophet and patriarch, of a Frederick the Great, a Cromwell, a Nelson, a Theodore Roosevelt. Preacher, teacher, soldier, sailor, he has been all four, now at one moment, now at another. We shall find

them, take it, as the last year of the old, the twentieth century may be said to have opened with a dram

ular of European ingenuity; and in 1891, for the first time in Chinese history, foreign diplomatists were granted the privilege of an annual reception at the Chinese Court. So exclusive was the Manchu dynasty-the Hohenzollerns of China in point of antiquity; yet not a score of years later the Manchu monarchy had been quietly

feared that China would be gobbled up by a rival, or that at least a partition of the vast Chinese Empire was at hand. Consequently, when China was beaten in her war with Japan, and made the unfavourable treaty of Shimonoseki, the European Powers were ready to appear as helpers in time of need. Russia, Germany, and France got the Shimonos

ussia immediately hurried a fleet to Port Arthur and obtained from China a lease of that port for twenty-five years. England and France now put in a claim for their share of the good things going. England obtained Wei-hai-Wei, France a lease of Kwang-tschau and Hainan. China was evidently throwing herself into the ar

assacres soon became the order of the day, and it is calculated that in the spring of 1900 alone more than 30,000 Christians were barbarously done to death. Among the victims were reckoned 118 English, 79 Americans, 25 French, and 40 of other nationalities. The Ambassadors and Ministers of all n

dmiral Seymour. They tried to reach Pekin, but failed owing to the destruction of the railway, and retired to Tientsin, from whence, however, on June 16th, a detachment set out to capture the Taku Forts. The capture was effected, the German gu

ventured from his Legation and was killed in broad daylight on his way to the Chinese Foreign Office. Only one of the Minister's party escaped, to stagger, hacked and bloody, into the British Legation with the news. This Legation, as the strongest building in the quarter, became the refuge

ance with 5,000 under General Frey, then America with 4,000 under General Chaffee, Germany with 2,500 under von Hopfner, Austria and Italy with smaller contingents-in all more than 50,000 men, with 144 guns. A little later the expeditionary corps from Germany, 19,000 strong, under General von Lessel, and that from France, 10,000 strong, arrived. At the suggestion, it is said, of Russia,

with fear, until, on the forenoon of August 14th, a boy ran into the Legation crying that "black-faced Europeans" were advancing along the royal canal in the direction of the

h were the payment by China within thirty years of a war indemnity to the Powers of 450 million taels (￡66,000,000) and an agreement to send a mission of atonement

s having suddenly intimated that he expected Prince Chun to make thrice to him, as he sat on his throne at Potsdam, the "kotow" as practised in the Court of China. In view of the surprise, laughter, and criticism of Europe, the Emperor modified his demand for the "kotow" to its symbolic performance by three deep bows. Prince Chun thereupon resumed his journey. An impressive, if theatrical, scene was prepared in the New Palace at Potsdam, where th

ret of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China regarding the occurrence. I am glad to believe that your Imperial Highness's royal brother had nothing to do with the crime or with the further acts of violence against inviolable Ministers and peaceful foreigners, but all the greater is the guilt which attaches to his advisers and his Government. Let these not deceive themselves by supposing that they can make atonement and receive pardon for their crime through this mission alone, and not through their subsequent conduct in the light of t

cruel and blood-thirsty seeker after revenge. This is an unjust, at least a hard, judgment. A passage in his address at Bremerhaven to the e

him remember-quarter ('Pardon' is the German word the Emperor used) must not be given: prisoners must not be taken: man

ould be remembered that the Emperor was speaking in a state of great excitement, and that, according to Chancellor Prince Bülow's statement in the Reichs

zure, on his order, of the ancient astronomical instruments at Pekin and their transference to Sans Souci, in Potsdam, where they are to be seen to the present day.

strategic values and relations are perfectly ascertained; and the knowledge, it is not too much to say, is the common property of all important Governments. It is not so, or not nearly to the same extent, in the Orient. In Europe there is little or no difficulty in distinguishing between enterprises that are political and those that are commercial, or in recognizing where they are both; and if a difficulty should arise it can be arranged by diplomatic conversati

on closer examination to be one of great political significance and incalculable political consequence. Of such enterprises two immediately spring to mind, the Cape to Cairo railway and the Baghdad railway, not to mention a score of problematic undertakings in other parts of Africa or Asia. It will b

is to be found of recent years playing a role in the Far East which would have been unintelligible to the German of the last generation. There are many Germans to-day, as in Bismarck's time, who ridicule the notion that the possibilities of trade in Oriental countries justify the national risk now run for it and the national expenditure now made upon

eft the earth to one neighbour and the sea to another, while he reserved heaven, where pure doctrines are enthroned, to himself;" and again: "We don't seek to put anybody in the shade, but we demand our place in the sun;" and the idea finds technical expression in the phrase on which Germany lays so much stress, the "maintenance of th

icentenary celebration of the foundation of the Prussian Kingdom, made a deep and sympathetic impression on the people of England. Usually on State occasions the Emperor does not display a countenance of good humour, or indeed of any sentiment save perhaps that of a sense of dignity; but on the occasion in question, as he rode in the uniform of a British Field-Marshal beside Edward VII, his l

of nineteen, Dietrich Weiland by name, flung a piece of railway iron at him with such good aim that it struck him on the face immediately under the right eye, inflicting a deep and nasty, but not dangerous wound. The Emperor proceeded with his journey, the doctors attending to his injury in the train, and i

thority," he sa

l-being of the folk. Criticism of the measures of the Government and Throne takes the coarsest and most injurious forms-and hen

the palace in Berlin, he should tell them the barracks were like a citadel to the palace, and that, as a sort of imperial bodyguard, the re

the university. He was in civil dress, one of the rare public occasions during the reign when he has not been in uniform, but this did

es and in the congeries of German races-doing to no one favour and to no one harm. If, however, anyone

students doubtless all thought what a fine thing it would be if h

onounced the famous sentence-"Our future lies on the water." The year before he had said something like it

orld, in a word, to Weltpolitik. The ocean is indispensable for Germany's greatness. The ocean testifies

the present o

will now be my task to hold this place unquestioned, so that its rays may act favourably on trade and industry and agriculture at home inside, and on our sail-sports on the coast-for our future lies on the water. The more Germans go

search of new spots where we can drive

er son's arrival, on August 5th. The Emperor ordered mourning throughout the Empire for six weeks, and forbade all "public music, entertainments, theat

a close, but perhaps it will not displease the reader if a new chapter is opened for the purpose