[THE GREAT ELECTOR]
Kiel, June 20, 1901
Because of his activity in founding the Brandenburg fleet, a monument was erected to the Great Elector at Kiel. His history has been touched upon in chapter I. In connection with the services of the Dutch admirals it is interesting to note that one of the Emperor’s heroes was the God-fearing Dutch admiral De Ruyter, who always offered prayers before battle. The Emperor once laid a wreath upon his grave, and to-day on board the battle-ships the Dutch prayer before going into action is often read by the chaplains of the navy.
What extraordinary progress has been made in naval matters under the Emperor we may judge when we remember that before the Franco-Prussian War there were in Germany no construction bureaus and no wharves in which cruisers could be built. The first armored cruisers, König Wilhelm, Kronprinz, Friedrich Karl, were bought from England and France. In thirty years Germany has here achieved not only complete independence but something approaching very nearly to supremacy. His service in this field has been generally recognized. A German critic not usually favorable to the Emperor speaks thus: “Perhaps nowhere in the development of our political life does the personal activity of the Emperor stand out so strongly as in the building up of the German fleet. From the beginning he has displayed so much energy and perseverance, in this respect, and has so emphatically carried his will into effect that history will certainly credit him with a great and unique service.”
At the unveiling of the monument to the Great Elector, the founder of the German navy, the Emperor spoke as follows:
Downtrodden fields, desolate plains, razed villages, disease, poverty, and misery; these were the conditions in the sandy mark when the young Elector in his earliest youth was called to the throne by the sudden death of his father. Truly, no enviable heritage; a task that called for a man who was mature, experienced, and conversant with all branches, and one which, even so, might have proved too difficult.
Undismayed, the young man entered upon his mission, and with wonderful ability he succeeded in discharging it. With an iron energy, keeping the goal which he had once set for himself ever before his eyes, allowing nothing to turn him aside, the Elector raised up and strengthened his country, put his people in a position to defend themselves, freed his borders of enemies, and soon acquired for himself such a position that the contemporary world, and even his enemies, gave him while still living that title, “The Great,” which in other cases a grateful people only bestows after an arduous life of service upon a departed ruler.
And this youth who grew up to powerful manhood, who had directed his country in this work, was the first prince who called our attention to the sea; he was the founder of the Brandenburg fleet.
If the German fleet, then, sets up a monument to him, and if her officers and crews educate themselves and learn steadfastness of purpose by looking at his statue, they are merely discharging their honorable duty. God had so disposed that the Elector should pass his youth in the Netherlands and learn to foster and appreciate labor, industry, foreign relationships, and the advantages of trade. He carried over into his own country what he had acquired among that industrious and simple folk of seafarers who come from German stock. At that time it was, indeed, a most important decision, and one which at first his subjects and contemporaries could hardly understand.