New-York tribune., 1918-11-10

worst was feared. The prophetic say
| ing attributed to Bismarck had gone
the round of diplomatic circles:
| prince William will be his own Chan
cellor."
Called "Wilhelm the Sudden"
The new reign was begun with
series of brilliant visits to the Empe-
ror's northern fellow sovereigns, and,
later, to his two allies, the Emperor
of Austria and the King of Italy.
About this time began, also, the in
vention of the many sobriquets which
cid Emperor William had been "der
greise Kaiser" (the White EMPEROR;
Frederick, "der weise Kaiser" (the
Wise Emperor; William II was nick
named "der Reise Kaiser" or Travel
ling Emperor, or, more briefly, "Wan-
dering Willie" The impetuosity of his
actions, the recklessness of his
Of wilhelm der Plotzliche" (William
the Sudden); and his midnight alarm
of the garrisons within reach of the
capital led to the suggestion that he
was suffering from "delirium tre-
mems"
One remembers the address to the
troops at Potsdam telling them that
it was their duty to shoot down their
parents and brothers at his command;
for me by God"; 81 have only to an.
swer to God and my conscience"
Supreme lex, regis voluntas"; "Those
WHO do not like my reign can leave
the country'-these are but few OF
the blazing, absolutist indiscretions
which William II yet could reconcile
with respect for the constitutional
government of the realm.
In foreign affairs, too, he; more than
rash words, as when he Enthusiastically
threatened the stolid Alexander III of
Russia with the announcement, Those
who oppose me I will dash to pieces
and when he sent off the Kruger tele-
gram, which he subsequently disavowed.
Later still he reused the resentment OF
his people by the revelations contained
in an interview printed in an English
newspaper, the incident leading to
promise. through the Chancellor, Won
Bilow, of a mending of his ways, which
was strictly kept.
Erratic he was considered to be in
those days. His feverish attempts to
control the tendencies of national art,
his sermons, pictures and musical COM
positions, his attempts to purify the
language of foreign words, his cham
pionship of German. champagne, which
led Bismarck to say that his patriotism
ended at his stomach-all this added
to the uneasiness.
Exceeds Constitutional Grants
He succeeded in bringing the military
forces of all the various states into a
far more compact and united army sub
ject to his control, alike in peace and
in war, than was ever contemplated by
the constitution of the empire, and
rendered all the units of the confedera-
ton a,ke Interested in the existence
and maintenance of the imperial navy.
Moreover, he managed to induce
most of the federal sovereigns to
abolish their independent diplomatic
missions abroad and intrust the guild
ance of their foreign relations to the
Chancellor of the Empire, who was al
ways a man of his own choice, and
who, after the fall of Bismarck in
variably took his instructions and di-
rections from him, turning a politely
deaf ear to the protests of some few
of those petty sovereigns who clam
ored for voice in the control of the
relations of the empire with foreign
nations.
1t cannot be doubted that it was one
of the aims Of William II to convert
head into a nation, into an empire
one and indivisible. The other rulers
of Germany, his confederates, watched
him with a jealous eye, especially Ba-
varia, the most important of them all
after Prussia, and it was Bavarian
prince who made that impulsive
speech at the great state dinner in
Petrograd. on the occasion of the coro-
nation Of Nicholas II, to the effect that
the German rulers, even the smallest
of them, were the Kaiser's allies, not
his vassals.
Williams attempted interference in
the succession to the duchy of Lippe-
Ditmold, an internal affair of the prin-
cipality and no concern of Emperor or
empire, raised another storm of pro-
test and apprehension of designs to
"Prussianize" them all.
First Addressed Army
Williams first manifesto on becom-
ing Emperor was addressed to the
army. His second public utterance was
addressed to his people, and in it he
His second public utterance was ad-
dressed to his people, and in it he
pledged himself to adhere to the prin-
ciples of Frederick the Great, when he
declared that "in Prussia the King is
the first servant of the state and of
viz PCOPlc.
: He determined to organize an inter-
, national congress to meet at Berlin un-
. der his own presidency for the purpose
Of devising means for reconciling the
interests of socialism with the state
: and those of capital with labor.
! Bismarck at once expressed his dis
approval Of the scheme and proceeded
to condemn it with more than his ordi-
nary irritability and brusquerie as i'm
practicable and utopan.
Finally, when the Emperor discov-
ered. that his Chancellor was negotiat-
ing behind his back with various party
leaders, notably with Dr. Windhorst,
leader of the Guelph and Catholic
parties in the Reichstag, with view
to the prolongation of the anti-Social-
tst measures, and had even endeavored
to influence foreign governments from
sending delegates to the congress, he
decided to get rid of him at the first
opportunity.
The Bismarck Affair