Just as in the far east of the monarchy at his bidding the powerful stronghold, which once had implanted German culture into the east, rearose and is now nearing completion, so, too, here in the beautiful Taunus Mountains the old Roman citadel has arisen again like a phœnix from its ashes. It is a testimony to the Roman power, a link in the great chain which the legions of Rome built about the powerful empire which, at the bidding of the Roman Emperor Cæsar Augustus alone, forced its way upon the world and opened the whole world to that Roman culture which fell so fruitfully upon Germany especially.
With the first blow of my hammer I therefore dedicate this stone to the memory of Emperor Frederick III; with the second I dedicate it to German youth, to the generations now growing up who may learn here in this restored museum what a world-empire means; with the third I dedicate it to our German Fatherland, to which I hope it will be granted, through the harmonious co-operation of princes and peoples, of its armies and its citizens, to become in the future as closely united, as powerful, and as authoritative as once the Roman world-empire was, and that, just as in old times they said, “Civis romanus sum,” hereafter, at some time in the future, they will say: “I am a German citizen.”
[CABINET ORDER TO THE PRUSSIAN ARMY]
January, 1901
The relationship of the army to the Prussian Kings here referred to is treated in chapter I.
To My Army:
To-day, at the celebration which commemorates the two-hundredth anniversary of our taking over of the royal power of Prussia, my thoughts are directed first of all to my army. In Prussia the King and the army belong indissolubly together. This close personal relationship between me and every single one of my officers and soldiers rests upon a tradition that dates back 200 years. The spirit which from the time of Frederick the Great has been fostered in the army by all the Kings, the spirit of honor, of fidelity to duty, of obedience, of courage, of chivalry has made the army what it is and what it ought to be, the sharp, reliable weapon in the hand of her Kings for the protection and the blessing of the Fatherland’s greatness.
To serve the Fatherland at the head of the army, that is my will and that also was the foremost wish of all my predecessors. It is to their care that the army owes its power and the consideration which it enjoys. For 200 years she has proven true the sentence of the great King: “The world does not rest upon the shoulders of Atlas any more securely than the Prussian state upon the shoulders of the army!” It has sealed with its blood its love and gratitude for its Kings!
For all this I thank the army deeply. I thank it for the devotion which it has unselfishly shown me and my house year in and year out, in its unceasing service for the Fatherland. So long as this spirit binds the army to its Kings, so long we need fear no storms; and Prussia’s eagle will proudly pursue its lofty and undeflected flight for the good of Prussia, for the good of Germany! May God grant us this!
William, I. R.
Berlin Royal Palace.