New-York tribune., 1917-06-02
His Majesty Myself"
By Richard D. Harlan

W men at lUc AnlOU LcGrIW '-luD DdnQue1
given in New York in April, 1899, Captain
Coghlan, of the United States Navy. rec,sa
the now famous verses entitled "Hoch der
Kaiser" or "Me-und Gott," the verses wer.
received amid roars of laughter II is said.
however, that the captain, for reasons o,
state diplomacy. had to be reprimanded pro
forma by the Secretary Of the Navy thour,
we can well believe the story, then curren,
that the reprimand was accompanied and
softencd by twinkle in the Sccretary's eye
But there is another bit of verse. in much
the same vein as the one made famous BY
Captain Coghlan, which. besides escaping ths
charge of blasphemy that might be broueh.
against "Me-und Gott.' is much the wittier
of the two jingles. Written twenty-five year,
ago by John Kendrick Bangs originally a,
an ofF-hand and ephemeral bit Of satire-it
has since been lost sight Of But il is worthy
of being recalled to public attention in ths
present world crisis, when the flee peoples
Of the world have awakened to the arrogan.
and dangerous pretensions of this Mad
Mulah of modern nations.
Like "Me-und Gott," Mr.. Bangs's jing.
has in a sense ceased TO be humorous, be.
cause unconsciously il was a prophecy Of N.
autocratic and anachronistic position that /,
still claimed by the House of Hohenzollern +,
this era Of popular liberty. Moreover, a, !,
the case of "Me-und Gott," we now see tbs,
it symbolizes the arrogant attitude taken hv
Prussianized Germany toward the rest Of As
world.
Dropping the Pilot
Before quoting Mr.. Bangs's skit on the
Kaiser it will perhaps interest the readers ot
this article 10 know how he came TO write H.
When Kaiser Wilhelm II had been upon the
throne about two years he dismissed Bis.
marck the pilot of the new German Empire.
The writer of this article matrculated at ths
Berlin University shortly after that senss.
tional event. In the flush OF his newly
grasped power among the first things the
youthful Kaiser did was TO repudiate one Of
Bismarcks pet foreign policies. The Iron
Chancellor, who was then living in virtual
exile at his country estate, Frledrlchsruhs,
growled his criticisms of the new departure.
Thereupon, in a speech delivered to the
Brandenburg Regiment, this modern Cessr,
in the following headstrong utterance, sharp
lv reminded his former mentor OF the new
order Of things: "Icn bin der Herr i'm Lande;
len verde kenen anderen dulden'-"I am
the Lord in the Land; | will tolerate no
other" before me-.
That bold challenge was like an echo from
the Ten Commandments, making one think Of
the thunders and lightnings of Sinai. and with
a gasp the world realized that the new War
Lord of Germany meant 10 carry things with
high hand That dctum OF the Kaiser,
which we now recognize as thoroughly char
acterIstc. recalls a remark that was made II
think by Southey who said that he "once
knew a man who had reached such pitch Of
self-conceit that he never spoke Of himself
without first taking off his hat" The Kaisers
rebuke of Bismarck was a clear case Of His
Majesty MYSELF"
That prologue to the new Hohenzoern
Decalogue fell under the eye of John Ken
drick Bangs, and he was moved TO write the
deliciously satrcal lines quoted below. He
whimsically professed to have found them in
the Kaiser's personal wastepaper basket and
that he had sent the original TO the British
Museum for safekeeping. Had he been in
Germany he would undoubtedly have been in
dicted for lese-majeste.
The short opening three lines are the
motifs or text of what follows:
WILHELM THE ONLY-HIS SPEECH
Oh Me.
Oh MY.
And likewise I.
Sit still. ye churls. whilst crate
ME-. /. MYSELF. the Throne. the State,
am the Earth, the Moon. the Sun,
All rolled in one.
Both hemispheres am !;
Oh MY!
If there were three,
The three I'd be.
am the Dipper, Night and Day,
The North and Southern Poles the Milky
Way;
I'm they that walk, or A. on wing,
Or swim. or creep-I'm Everything.
It makes me tremble. like an aspen tree,
To think I'm NJ!
And blink like stars up in the sky,
To think Tm-li
And shrink in terror, Ike frightened ef'
To realize that Pm-MYSELF!
Ye blithering slaves beneath my ron heel
What know ye Of the things ! feel!
Did'st ever walk at dead Of night
And stand in awe Of thine own might
God took six days 10 make the lard ano sea-
Blu. centuries were passed in making Ne.
The universe? An easy task. But !?
On MY!
can't describe MYSELF Why, take
The speech that ancient peoples spaAe'
And then again take every tongue
By moderns spoken, writ or sung,
And every tongue that IS 20 be,
Mix in with these-you cannot picture NE!
So do not try. gnoble worms, 10 grasp
A greatness that can only make you gasp;
But look. and silence keep; unless some
whlm