The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-02


 "So you two know one another, do you?' he said, and having explain ed the situation, he introduced us. My newly made acquaintance was Baron von Plessen, who. as a relief from the fatigues of Court life in 1 Germany, was taking a rest in Lon- don. He was to be one of my friends party for the meal, and it was arrang- ed that we should be neighbors at ta- ble. For some time conversation was general, but it presently evolved into a discussion of the European situa- tion and the trend of the Kaiser Will liam's policy towards it.
 'The Kaiser's policy" I ventured to inquire-fHow about Bismarck ?" l 'tHe no longer controls our policy" returned the Baron. His Majesty will be his own Chancellor, and Bismarck will resign. He is now too old to adapt himself to new ideas, and in his Majesty we find a very progressive ruler He will carry Germany beyond Europe, and make our Empire world wide like your own. This cannot be done without a big navy, and His Majesty will build one, for he loves the sea. You know how fond he is of yacht racing, but you want to see him at home aboard the Hohenzollern."
 I expressed to the. Baron the hope that might one day do so, and he re- piled that it might be arranged. He thereupon invited me to drink to the health of His Majesty, and in return I asked him to raise his glass to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. ] rI11o Eoieor ID
 This, would beg leave to repeat was in the year 1890-and the Kaiser had been upon the throne approxi- mately IS months. It was also. as have said, the ,27th of January-His Majesty's birthday, but I did not then realize how true a prophet the Baron was. For it was not until the March following that the world was electri- fled by the announcement that the old Chancellor's resignation had been rendered and accepted, and what the Kaiser has done, or attempted, to- wards the realization of the schemes attributed to him by the Baron, who, I subsequently, ascertained, was a member of His Majestys suite, the events of the present war are wit ness.
 It was nearly six years before the Baron and I again met, and on that , occasion he had with him a fellow countryman, who, whilst attached to the German Embassy in Carlton House Terrace, married the only daughter of a wel1-known English Baronet, and later became notorious , in society. I refer to Baron Hermann von Eckardstein, and it appears to have been through his and Baron von Plessen's joint influence that my first , interview with the Kaiser was arrang- , ed. It was aboard the Hohenzollern, the deck of which I was amazed and amused to find was covered with lin- , oleum.
 Having been tremendously instruc- ted as to the points of etiquette to be observed. I was received by His Imperial Majesty. Now, there have 7 been, and there probably always will be, discussions as to the Kaiser's height That he carries himself vel } there is not a shadow of doubt, and } being erect of figure, most people credit him with five feet, eight or nine } inches. To judge from my own stat ure, however, he cannot exceed five feet, five and a half or six inches
 
 , uanifestly cut to dissemble certain .. bodily shortcomings. His left arm ., and hand are the size of a baby's, bu ; in his right arm and hand he has ob l viously much more power than the !, average person.
 l He brides himself, one would think = upon the vigor rather than the heart ! mess of his greeting and, despite al . SaiH n ho ct hJ l many notable Britishers in his favor
 I must confess that as my right hant
 left his, there came over me 2 feel
 ing which, if not actually revulsion
 was closely akin to it.
 0 "A Friend of Britain" His Majesty put me through 9 rap -- i'd fire of questions in particularl j. stern and unbending manner, and b l. my replies I endeavored to steer tn
 barque of our conversation round t
 points upon which I sought informa
 tion. That His Majesty was a tru
 friend Of Britain was asserted eve If and over again, yet it became in creasingly obvious to me that hi
 friendship depended wholly and sole l. ly upon our desire or ability to thwar N the attainment of his ambitions. Tha ', he regarded himself as the chose t' race to compass the dominion of tn world was too manifest to be mistak
 en.
 Already he was obsessed by tn
 yellow peril" and thought Britai
 should join him in combating i
 France had become, or was rapidl
 becoming, a negligible quantity i
 European affairs, and her politics
 and religious interests in Palestin
 and Syria need not be taken into ac
 count For His Imperial Majesty tn
 question of Alsace-Lorraine. did nc
 exist; the natives of both province
 had long ago become reconciled t
 and enjoyed the full benefits of Ger
 man government, and as both Britis and German statesmen were appa1
 ently agreed that the Turkish Empir