Gentlemen:
I greatly appreciate your greeting. It gives me pleasure to think that your visit to Germany during the past summer has been so fruitful and that you are satisfied with the welcome accorded you by my countrymen. The power which you possess is great and extremely beneficial when it is used as a means for strengthening the feeling of friendship among the peoples. Your address shows that this task lies near to your hearts. I thank you, therefore, for your appearance here to-day. I rejoice to have seen you and hope that you will exert your influence to foster between our two nations the friendly feelings which are so necessary to the peace of Europe. We belong to the same race and have the same religion. These are bonds which should be strong enough to preserve harmony and friendship between us.
[ALSACE-LORRAINE]
Strasburg, August 30, 1908
The Emperor delivered the following address at a banquet after the imperial manœuvres in Alsace-Lorraine. The general situation in Alsace-Lorraine has been discussed in connection with the address to the delegates of the Landesausschuss on March 14, 1891.
I bid you, gentlemen, heartily welcome and express to you the warmest thanks of the Empress and myself for the beautiful reception through which, here as in Metz, the people of Alsace-Lorraine have given so telling an expression of their love and loyalty. My heart also bids me thank you once more for the restoration of the old castle of Hohkönigsburg, especially the people of Lorraine for their patriotic attitude and the donation of the charming Lorraine Room in the castle. For more than thirty-seven years you have now been able to follow your different callings in peace, and beautiful Alsace-Lorraine, keeping pace with the unexpected development of the German Empire, has in this time blossomed forth most joyously. As inhabitants of this border-land, you naturally have the greatest interest in the further maintenance of peace, and I rejoice to be able to express to you my innermost conviction that the peace of Europe is in no danger. It rests upon too firm a foundation to be easily disturbed through instigations and slanders aroused in certain quarters by jealousy and envy. A solid security of the first rank is afforded by the consciences of the princes and statesmen of Europe who know themselves responsible to God and feel for the life and prosperity of the people intrusted to their charge. On the other hand, it is the wish and will of the people themselves to make themselves useful in the further development of the magnificent acquisitions of their progressive civilization and to measure their strength in peaceful competition. And, finally, peace will be secured and protected also through our forces on water and on land—through the German people in arms! Proud of the unequalled discipline and love of honor of her armies, Germany is determined, without threatening others, to carry these to still greater heights and so to expand as to further her own interests without either favoring or doing harm to any one. With God’s help and under the protection of the German eagle, you can therefore follow still further your peaceful callings and garner the fruits of your industry. May the blessing of God rest upon your work at all times! Long life to the German province Alsace-Lorraine!
[THE “DAILY TELEGRAPH” INTERVIEW]
October 28, 1908
Perhaps the most startling incident in the Emperor’s reign and the most extraordinary evidence of what may be called his “personal diplomacy” policy was brought out by the publication of an interview in the Daily Telegraph of London. German sympathies before and during the Boer War had been strongly pro-Boer. On the third of January, 1896, the Emperor had telegraphed to President Krüger: “I beg to express to you my sincere congratulations that, without help from foreign powers, you have succeeded with your own people and by your own strength in driving out the armed bands which attempted to disturb the peace of your country and in re-establishing order and in defending the independence of your people from attacks from outside.”
The German people had, therefore, assumed that the Emperor shared their friendliness toward the Boers and that the government was observing a policy of neutrality at least. When they learned that his General Staff had been called upon, and that he had prepared a plan of campaign against the Boers, a universal shout of protest was raised. The publication of this interview, which was designed to conciliate England, had a contrary effect upon Holland, and the feeling that their ruler was held down by no sense of responsibility was borne in forcibly upon the people. The matter was made the subject of innumerable controversies, debates in the Reichstag, and investigations. It was originally announced that the interview had been given to an English diplomat who had retired to private life. It was discovered that such was not the case. It had been granted to an English journalist who had written certain flattering articles about the Emperor. As for the text, it was admitted that it was substantially authentic; it had been shown to and had practically received the visé of the German Foreign Office. The Emperor’s Chancellor, however, had not seen the interview and under the storm of criticism offered his resignation. This the Emperor did not accept, and the Chancellor attempted to defend the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Emperor withdrew and for a time, like Achilles, pondered in his tent. Even the Chancellor had to admit the Emperor’s indiscretion and to inform his sovereign that it would be impossible to carry out any consistent foreign policy if the Emperor did not observe a proper reserve in his public and private utterances.