By General Wood’s orders the mass of German prisoners were moved to concentration camps at Gettysburg, but the Crown Prince was taken to Washington, where he and his staff were confined with suitable honours in the Hotel Bellevue, taken over by the government for this purpose. Here, during the subsequent fortnight, I had the honour of seeing the illustrious prisoner on several occasions. It seems that he remembered me pleasantly from the New England campaign and was glad to call upon my knowledge of American men and affairs for his own information.
{Illustration: “YOU KNOW, MARK TWAIN WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF MY FATHER’S,” SAID THE CROWN PRINCE, “I REMEMBER HOW MY FATHER LAUGHED, ONE EVENING AT THE PALACE IN BERLIN, WHEN MARK TWAIN TOLD US THE STORY OF ‘THE JUMPING FROG.’”}
As to von Hindenburg’s defeat (leaving aside the question of military ethics which he denounced scathingly) the Crown Prince said this had been accomplished by a mere accident that could never occur again and that could not interfere with Germany’s ultimate conquest of America.
“This will be a short-lived triumph,” declared His Imperial Highness, when he received me in his quarters at the Bellevue, “and the American people will pay dearly for it. The world stands aghast at the horror of this barbarous act.”
“America is fighting for her existence,” said I.
“Let her fight with the methods of civilised warfare. Germany would scorn to gain an advantage at the expense of her national honour.”
“If Your Imperial Highness will allow me to speak of Belgium in 1914—” I began, but he cut me short with an impatient gesture.
“Our course in Belgium was justified by special reasons—that is the calm verdict of history.”
I refrained from arguing this point and was patient while the prince turned the conversation on his favourite theme, the inferiority of a democratic to an autocratic form of government.
“I have been studying the lives of your presidents,” he said, “and—really, how can one expect them to get good results with no training for their work and only a few years in office? Take men like Johnson, Tyler, Polk, Hayes, Buchanan, Pierce, Filmore, Harrison, McKinley. Mediocre figures, are they not? What do they stand for?”