- War and Statesmanship. The achievements of Napoleon as a soldier and of Bismarck as a statesman would not let him sleep. To the dire misfortune of Europe, he believed that he united in himself the genius of both those consummate men: and this he sought to demonstrate by his acts. He chose a succession of mediocrities as his Chancellors, with the result that the policies pursued were his policies. Bismarck had advised Germany to keep on friendly terms with Russia and with England; William antagonized both England and Russia without any apparent compensation, and accustomed the German people to the idea that England was an enemy that must be destroyed, and Russia a peril that must be removed. He used France as a pretext for augmenting the German Army, bullying her to the verge of desperation, and then saying in substance to the Germans: 'You see what wicked people the French are; how hate corrodes their hearts; how revenge is their ruling passion. I am à man of peace, but I shall not

be able forever to restrain my noble Army from taking up the challenge of these insolent braggarts and making an end of them once for all.'

'My noble Army!' For a quarter of a century that was the Kaiser's invariable refrain. To fortify that Army he bent all his plans. He allowed military considerations to control his diplomacy. He made the military caste, whose truculence had long been a by-word, uppermost in the Empire; for like Frederick the Great he knew that the durability of the Hohenzollern dynasty rested on the Army. He need not fear Socialists and Democrats, Anarchists and plain Liberals, so long as he had an Army which at his bidding would shoot down a hundred or a hundred thousand of them. Having secured safety at home, he could turn to his plan for conquest abroad.

Diplomacy conducted by men infected by the itch of militarism cannot fail to be denatured. A manufacturing house which sent out a prize-fighter instead of a persuasive agent to

solicit orders and to adjust claims among its clients would soon lack customers. As the Kaiser fostered the Prussian brand of Diplomacy, which begins by bullying and proceeds through insults to brutality, he could hardly have been surprised to discover, by 1910, that Germany had no disinterested friend in the world. Several governments were polite to her because they feared her; Austria was her submissive vassal, and Turkey gave her a bought amity, which might at any time be shifted to a higher bidder.

Listen to a few passages of the Gospel according to William II:-1

It is the soldier and the Army, not parliamentary majorities and votes, that have welded the German Empire together. My confidence rests upon the Army.

The most important heritage which my illustrious grandfather and father bequeathed to me,

1 These quotations are taken from The War-Lord, compiled by J. M. Kennedy. (New York: Duffield & Co. 1914.) See also The German Emperor as shown by his Public Utterances. By C. Gauss. (New York: Scribners. 1914.)

and which I entered upon with joy and pride, is the Army.

Wherever the German Eagle has thrust his talons into a country, that country is German and will remain German.

The problems which proved insoluble to the Holy Roman Empire, the modern German Empire is in a position to solve. The means that enables it to do this is our Army.

Any opposition on the part of Prussian noblemen to their King is a monstrosity. Such opposition can be justified only when the King leads it.

Our German people will be the granite rock on which Almighty God will complete his building of the civilization of the world.

Only the German nation is left to defend and above all to cultivate great conceptions.

The soldier must not have a will of his own. He must have only one will, and that will mine. A ruler may be very disagreeable, and I will be disagreeable if I think it necessary.

There is only one master in this country: I am he, and I will not tolerate another.

There is only one law-my law; the law which I myself lay down.

God will be on our side if ever our peaceful work is interrupted.

Hurrah for the dry powder and the sharp

sword, for the end we have in sight and the forces we are bending towards it, for the German Army and the General Staff!

Proud of the incomparable discipline and loyalty of its Army, Germany is resolved, without in any way threatening the rights of others, to maintain its Army at the degree of perfection it thinks necessary for the defense of its inter

ests.

If we have been at peace for a long time, we owe our good fortune to our well-tried Army as well as to the favor of the Almighty.

The Army and the Emperor at its head can alone secure the safety of the Empire and the peace of the world.

Our future lies upon the water. Imperial power means sea power, and sea power and imperial power are dependent on each other.

The best word is a blow- the Army and Navy are the pillars of the State.

We are the salt of the earth; we must show ourselves worthy of our great destiny.

God liveth as of old. Our great Ally still reigneth, the Holy God, who cannot suffer sin and iniquity to triumph.

The King of Kings calleth for volunteers for the front.

If history should mention a German world