Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-11-15
KAISER WILLIAM II.
Bis Ambition to Dominate Lost Him
Bis ThfCne
WANTED TO CONQUER The WORLD

William II. might have said Of Ger.
many quite as aptly as Louis XIV. sale
Of France: II am the state" for hi
rule Of thirty years was continual as
sertion, almost to the end. that by Di'
inc anointment he embodied the SOU
of his people and through his person
ality Germany was destined for world
dominion.
lie will be remembered as one Of the
strange5t characters Of history, for the
military conceptions which he cherish
ed were applied to every phase of life
and the greatest industrial and COM
mercial expansion Germany had ever
known was coinc!dent with the dicipli-
nary policy Of his reign.
When on occasion he flashed his
sword in international movements the
people came to believe in that method
Of progress and to support It.
The rule of William l.. first German
emperor. which lasted from 1871. until
his death in March, 1888, was not
greatly different from that Of the same
parsonage as king Of Prussia. before
the federated states had constituted
themselves an empire. He was ninety
when he died and when invested with
| .1pcrial power. seventeen years pre-
viously, he had passed the age Of
restless ambition and his aim was to
unite his country and try and preside
over it benignly.
Too Headstrong for Bismarck.
Had his son Frederick. who sue
ceeded him, lived, the militaristic ele-
ment might have been relegated. All
lapprehensions of such tendency van
ished with the accession OF William
III. His education had been military.
At tho beginning Of his rule he declar-
ed that the strength of the government
lay in the army. rather than in the
statesmen.
Bismarck remarked Of him that he
would soon become his own chancel-
llor, a prediction that was soon verified,
when, in 1890, he dropped the pilot
who had been his grandfather's main
stay. Grave fears were then expresse d
that tho impetuosity Of the young ruler
might embroil Germany in a general
European war. The people outgrcw
that when william H., in spite Of his
changing sword and poses of theatric
braggadocio, gave them twenty-five
years of peace and prosperity, but in
international politics the prospect Of a
general European war always stalked
as a spectre; and surprising and unex-
pected as was the outbreak when 1t
came, statesmen Of all countries could
say they had predicted It
While always the advocate Of Ger
man domination and of the rule OF
might the young emperor sought In
the early years Of his reign to ingra-
tiate himself with other governments.
He made frequent visits to foreign
courts, where his affability and bearing
won for him generous and cordial re-
lception. In his early years also. while
expressing .abhorrence Of social dem
locracy, he showed himself sufficiently
Iadroit in politics to placate the Social
ist following by promising the speedy
redress Of grievance, which he never
intended to appease. He would be all
things to all men so long as he was
recognized as supreme.
i On June Is, 1914, the emperor, In
his honorary capacity as British ad-
miral, commanded for an hour Brit
ish squadron at Kiel. He was then pos
ing as the greatest peace maker in the
world. Within a month i.e was speed
ing back to the same port in response
to rumblings of the storm that was to
engulf the world in war. Upon the
arrival Of his yacht a special train car
ried him to Berlin. where he presided
over a meeting Of his war cabinet or
July 80. Instantly following the cabi-
net meeting wire censorship was or
dered in Berlin, and the rumor spread
that the military forces Of the empire
were at once to be modified.
Claimed Support OF God.
From the window Of the palace the
emperor delivered an address in which
he said: "The sword has been forced
Into Germany's hands. II my efforts
at the last hour do not succeed In IN.
ducing our opponents to see eye to eye
with US and in maintaining peace, we
shall, with Gods help. so WELD the
sword that we shall restore 1t to its
sheath again with honor" The cables
told Of gathering Of $4,000 persons
before the palace, singing the nationa
songs and cheering the emperor as M
urged them to enter the combat al
German brothers. ignoring all faction
al strife. He made the same appeal be.
fore the reichstag.
Throughout the war the emperor
made frequent visits to every zone oi
lactivity, encouraging the soldiers and
promising to them certain victory. Al
the same time he kept close eye on the
diplomatic situation. Those who saw
him in Berlin remarked that he hat
grown old. wrinkled and white, but hi
kept moving as IL all depended upor
his energies. In all his speeches to the
army and to civilians he was alway!
confident that God Is with US" Tht
diplomatic exchanges between Ger
many and the United States and Other
neutrals were inspired by the emperor
, il not actually phrased by him. HI
certainly felt himself to be the state
Emperor William held his title b,
virtue of a provision in the German
constitution which made the king o.
Prussia president Of the federation o.
German states and thereby German
emperor, and the laws Of Prussia pro
vided succession by primo-geniture. b!
these provisions the king Of Prussi:
might abdicate, thereby ceasing to b
emperor: but his eldest son would au
tomatically become emperor on th'
score Of kingship. If he were to re
nounce the kingly title. the succession
would fall to his son and witt 1t th'
title Of emperor.
SO abdication Of the kingship b!