He said to Hinzpeter (court preacher) in so many words that 'the Chancellor must be got out of the way.' Unfortunately, the kindly Moltke, 'whose perceptions are no longer very clear,' sought to persuade Bismarck to stick to his post; but nevertheless, and luckily, the 'smash' was unavoidable, so Waldersee jots down contentedly that 'the Kaiser is only play-acting a little.'

But all the same, matters went far too slowly, and on March 15, in the Kaiser's presence, he took the liberty of speaking openly, 'and this time unsparingly,' about Bismarck, who had made a botch of the whole situation -in case the Chancellor did not resign, the Kaiser ought to dismiss him, and that 'as soon as possible.' 'Under the circumstances, it is impossible for Your Majesty to bother longer with the Chancellor. . . . I beg to suggest that Your Majesty come to a decision in regard to the personal question, and then act. I pray God your Majesty may hold your head high and choose the right man!'

William gave him his hand with a smile, saying: 'I think it will be all right. Weidmannsheil!' (huntsman's greeting, a jovial sporting expression). More blushing spots, denoting unprintable expressions in the journal.

On the following day the General denies, to himself, the vanity of wishing to be Chancellor in that position his excellent relations with the Kaiser might suffer. However, if he should actually order me to take the post of Chancellor, I would look at the matter purely as a soldier, and do what I was told.'

Alas for hopes, alas for scheming! Not alone with Bismarck, but with Waldersee as well, was William playing. To the very last he kept the General in ignorance that, fully three weeks before, he had arranged with Caprivi

Very shortly afterward, on March 21, the journal states: 'Unfortunately, I have had a misunderstanding with the Kaiser.' This was in connection with the critique of the examination in tactics. "The Kaiser's remarks made a very poor impression.' Everybody present 'recognized the incorrectness and the immaturity of his opinions.

...

It was most regrettable that the Kaiser, in his overvaluation of his accomplishments, exposed himself so sadly.' Even in solving the second tactical problem he had the.. weakness to ask to see the solution, which was already done, and then to start working.

In spite of all, Waldersee did endeavor to reconquer the Kaiser's favor, and advised him to take steps against and to 'muzzle' the old retired Chancellor, who had begun to fulminate from Friedrichsruh, asserting, among other things, that it had been planned before his fall to confine him in the fortress of Spandau. But Waldersee's docile pupil was tired of squabbling. I am sorry to say,' says the General, 'that he is mostly ruled by vanity.' And soon after: 'Very disagreeable is his mania for popularity, which is becoming more and more evident,' and his 'pronounced inclination to play soldier,' his 'constant sport of alarming garrisons,' his 'setting his own opinions above those of experienced people.'

By August 11, 1890, he has already come to the sad conclusion that William possesses no independent views

in any field of activity, and does n't know what he wants himself: 'One thought dominates his every act personal popularity. Together with this are a feeling of anxiety for his personal safety and increasing vanity. I always regarded the Emperor Frederick as a very vain man, who loved to pose and attitudinize, but the present Kaiser far outdoes him. He fairly yearns for orations, and loves nothing so much as hurrah-yelling crowds. Being fully persuaded of his own accomplishments-a conviction that unfortunately rests on a very weak basis

he is extremely sensitive to flattery. He is very fond of playing the rôle of a Mæcenas, throwing money about in the most careless way. All this has developed so quickly that I find myself falling from one surprise into another.'

Well, yes; 'all this' certainly developed since the 'coming man' found out the meaning of the Kaiser's 'Weidmannsheil!' From that time on William committed a whole series of 'extremely rash acts.' 'Is there anybody left whose life is safe?' he asks with misgiving. In his bitterness he even holds the Kaiser up to ridicule. During manœuvres, the Kaiser has only a sense of the drill-ground. He rushes here and there and interferes clumsily with the command. He 'wants to be the victor on all occasions, and is offended when the judgment of the umpires goes against him.' Waldersee makes him out very much of a vanquished leader of troops.

Very soon Caprivi approached him with the invitation to take the position of Commanding General at Stuttgart, on which occasion he was to receive the order of the Black Eagle, and a flattering citation from the Imperial Cabinet. But Waldersee refused. He preferred to remain in Berlin as Chief of the General Staff, and noted in his journal that 'the Kaiser dislikes to

appear dependent on me. . . . And yet what dilettantism he shows, especially in military matters. If he should insist upon the command in time of war, a catastrophe would inevitably follow.' Nobody had any more hope for the future now, for the Kaiser 'is certainly not the right man to lead the Fatherland in times of threatening danger. He ascended the throne decidedly too soon. . . . Following upon his highly developed megalomania has come the conviction. that he represents something very exceptional.'

Then more mockery and derision of the Kaiser playing soldier, lightning changes of uniform, ridiculous cavalrytactics, spectacular pageants, irresolution and inconstancy, dislike of work, and unreliability. "To-day he flirts with one party and to-morrow with another.'

On October 4, Waldersee is commanded to make a personal report to the Kaiser. 'He certainly shall not get the impression that I am afraid of him, or that he can overawe me,' he writes. However, once again the storm passed by without breaking. More laments follow concerning the Kaiser's love of tale-bearing. 'We always complained that Bismarck played fast and loose with characters, but here we see the same tendency, only in much more extensive and dangerous form.'

By January 17, 1891, Waldersee has progressed so far in his feeling toward the Kaiser that he ridicules the presentation of the latter's portrait to the German Embassy in Paris. 'He stands there in an unbelievably aggressive pose, decked out in the uniform of the Gardes-du-Corps, with black breastplate and purple mantle, leaning upon a marshal's baton. Everybody must note the intention of browbeating the French. The portrait made a mournful impression on me: it

shows him to the world as he really thinks and feels. . . . Well, we shall not be able to pronounce a final judgment for ten or twenty years yet. If he shall have accomplished great things by that time, the portrait is an excellent one; if not, then it is simply ridiculous.'

Then, however, was Time's cycle full, and the lightning struck. On January 27, William II conferred upon General von Waldersee not the Order of the Black Eagle, but only the Grand Cross of the Hohenzollern Order, with the remark that he wished to give him a proof of his favor on his birthday. At the same time the Kaiser informed him that he contemplated giving him the command of an army corps to afford him scope for his talents as a leader.

At last, then! To leave Berlin! He was ordered to Altona and refused; but William remained obstinate. 'I want you up there to keep an eye on Prince Bismarck, who has been getting very nasty again lately, and is intriguing against me.' And then: "The Chief of the General Staff from now on will be only a sort of amanuensis for me, and for that I need a younger man.' Waldersee still resisted-would not the Kaiser consider the matter once more? And in the journal we read: 'He wants to be his own Chief of the General Staff! God save the Fatherland!'

Waldersee sent in his resignation from the army and withdrew it. He went to Altona- into 'exile.' "Transinto ‘exile.' 'Transferred for administrative purposes,' as he puts it. 'The Kaiser has really not behaved fairly to me. He is a wavering rush.' And he adds maliciously:

'March, 1890, the Kaiser declared, "If Windthorst (head of the great Clerical Party) enters my Palace I will have him arrested by a subcorporal and three men!"

'December, 1890. Parliamentary dinner at the Palace of the Chancellor.

The Kaiser consented, after some hesitation, to the invitation to Windthorst, and conversed a long time with him privately.

'January, 1891. (1) Windthorst falls downstairs and injures himself. The Kaiser asks, "Would it be too much for me to send my adjutant to ask about him?" (2) The Kaiser looks over the list of invited guests for the next court ball, and inquires, "Why is n't Windthorst's name here?"

'Why then should one wonder about anything?'

During the years at Altona, the General constantly nursed the hope of becoming Chancellor, but nevertheless kept on using quarts of ink for the purpose of belittling his Kaiser, who was convinced that he understood everything, even to understanding it better than other people, whereas he 'really had no thorough knowledge of anything, nor was capable of any positive aim.' The trouble with his ear seemed to be more serious than was thought at first. After all, was n't his mind diseased? Years ago General Wittich pointed out a certain predisposition to Cæsarism.

Volkszeitung was right: William was not to be taken seriously; the Russian Ambassador, Shuvalov, often said that, and Waldersee repeatedly records the same opinion. He relates that Count Philipp Eulenburg had encouraged the Kaiser in his spiritualistic tendencies, and had him consult a medium in Munich. 'In a state of trance, and supposedly ignorant of the Kaiser's presence, she was asked what the Kaiser had to expect from a certain friend in Russia - the Tsar was meant, of course. If the monarch can be played upon in such fashion, the welfare of the country is irretrievably in the hands of swindlers. Frederick William II and Bischoffswerder!' This is dated November 18, 1891.

On December 23, 1893, he again refers to the Kaiser's mysticism and spiritualistic dabbling: A hundred years ago Bischoffswerder and his accomplices were playing their deadly game.' This is an allusion to the swindling of the then King in the Charlottenburg Palace, when, together with Cagliostro, he invoked spirits, made gold, and discovered the stone of wisdom.

Only Waldersee might have been somewhat moved by gratitude toward Frederick William II. The General's grandfather was the illegitimate son of the reigning Prince of Anhalt, and received from the Prussian King, instead of the mother's plebeian name, the title of Count von Waldersee, from an old ruined castle near Dessau.

The General welcomed all kinds and descriptions of gossip about the Kaiser, for example that - a sure sign of personal cowardice - he was having a tower of steel built in such a situation as to command the Spree and its bridges. Again, that the Kaiser cheated when solving the tactical problems of the War College, secretly getting hold of the solutions before beginning to work. 'Le roi s'amuse.' Nobody had any more confidence in him. He even belittled his grandfather as a senile weakling. He proscribed Bismarck; in fact, Waldersee now began to proclaim the Kaiser's bad treatment of Bismarck as a crime. He does not speak of the Kaiser yet as 'Guillaume le timide,' but he records the fear, confessed fear, of the Russians, and calls

the monarch's visit to Friedrichsruh a farce. 'Was it necessary to deprive himself of such a force, such authority? Would it not have been better for everybody to preserve Bismarck for us?'

In a word, Waldersee breathes gall! and wormwood in speaking of the monarch whom he once so idealized. There is no book, either in German or in any other language, in which William II is held up to scorn and contempt in so pitiless a manner as in these Memoirs of the man whom he afterward raised to the rank of fieldmarshal, indeed world-marshal, as Waldersee in a sense was when he commanded the allied Anti-Boxer expedition in China. For the opponents > of the monarchy and the Hohenzollerns, they are an inexhaustible mine. And all too much of what the author records is true and historically important, irrespective of the many trivialities.

'If the war comes and we lose it, the Republic will appear, and the Hohenzollerns can retire into exile,' writes Waldersee on April 26, 1892. And under the date July 12, we may read the pessimistic reflection of General von Wittich: "The collapse is coming, and when it arrives the Kaiser will fasten the blame upon others.'

So prophesied so fulfilled. But Waldersee, as well as William, must bear his portion of the blame. He was, to quote the dictum of Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe, 'one of the most dangerous political generals who ever belonged to the German Army.'

In spite of the representations of the court physician and the protestations of his special favorite, the mechanician Torriano, His Spanish Majesty, Carolus Quintus, crotchety and obstinate as he had got to be in his old age, had insisted upon taking the chief part in the ceremonial rehearsal of his obsequies in the cold church of the Convent of St. Just. The King-Emperor would allow nobody but himself to impersonate the illustrious corpse, and for three mortal hours and longer lay in his shroud with folded hands, motionless and devout, listening with rapture to the chanting and lamentations of the priests.

When they finally lifted him laboriously from the coffin, the monarch was half frozen and hardly conscious, more dead than alive. He was taken back to his cell and his emaciated body rubbed down with cloths dipped in powerful essences. And then, in the hope of offering a stimulus to his blunted, apathetic senses, Torriano, the mechanician, brought forth the latest triumph of his inventive genius, the Lady Olympia. This was a manikin or doll about three feet tall, with a sweet face. She was fashionably and richly dressed in a gorgeous robe of red brocade and yellow satin, covered with gold embroidery. In her left hand she held a tiny mandolin, upon the strings of which the fingers of her right hand rested.

The Emperor, stretched upon his lowly cot, the heavy discolored lids nearly closed over his sleepy eyes, seemed to take no notice whatever of VOL. 317- - NO. 4109

his surroundings. He seemed hardly alive. Noiselessly Torriano set his toy in motion, and at once she began to approach the Emperor's cot with little, mincing steps, nodding her pretty head in all directions. At the same time her right hand gripped the strings of her mandolin, producing a series of tinkling chords, while a thin little voice, like the chirp of a bird, issued from her lips, singing the following song:

'When the golden day seems long, When in sadness sunk thou art, Hark, oh, harken to my song: I am thine with all my heart!' Slowly the Emperor's eyes opened. A tired smile spread over his yellow weather-beaten face, imparting to it a fearsome, uncanny expression. Then he stretched out his long, skinny hand, on which the blue veins stood out like rivers on a map, to his faithful servant to be kissed. It was a sign of his gratitude.

When, a few weeks later, the Emperor Charles really gave up the ghost, he left this doll that had been the last joy of his life to the Duke of Mendoza, his old friend and minister, as a personal legacy. And thus the Lady Olympia, the last toy of a childish old monarch, who at this time treated puppets like people, whereas in his prime he had treated human beings like puppets, came into the possession of the Dukes of Mendoza.

Along the dreary road that leads from Madrid to Aranjuez lies, on the southern bank of the Henares, the little town of Guadalajara. Its entire glory

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