William of Germany

by Stanley Shaw

A visit paid by King George, when Prince of Wales, to the Emperor in Potsdam at the opening of 1902 testified to the goodwill that then subsisted between them. It was the evening before the Emperor's birthday, when the Emperor, at a dinner given by the officers of King Edward's German regiment, the 1st Dragoon Guards, addressed the English Heir Apparent in words of hearty welcome. The address was not a long one, but in it the Emperor characteristically seized on the motto of the Prince of Wales, "Ich dien" (I serve), to make it the text of a laudatory reference to his young guest's conduct and career. In its course the Emperor touched on the Prince's tour of forty thousand miles round the world, and the effect his "winning personality" had had in bringing together loyal British subjects everywhere, and helping to consolidate the Imperium Britannicum, "on the territories of which," as the Emperor said, doubtless with an imperial pang of envy, "the sun never sets." The Prince, in his reply, tendered his birthday congratulations, and expressed his "respect" for the Emperor, the appropriate word to use, considering the ages and royal ranks of the Emperor and his younger first cousin.

With 1902 may be said to have begun the Emperor's courtship (as it is often called in Germany) of America. His advances to the Dollar Princess since then have been unremitting and on the whole cordially, if somewhat coyly, received.

The growth of intercourse of all kinds between Germany and the United States is indeed one of the features of the reign. There are several reasons why it is natural that friendly relationship should exist. It has been said on good authority that thirty millions of American citizens have German blood in their veins. Frederick the Great was the first European monarch to recognize the independence of America. German men of learning go to school in America, and American men of learning go to school in Germany. A large proportion of the professors in American universities have studied at German universities. The two countries are thousands of miles apart, and are therefore less exposed to causes of international jealousy and quarrel between contiguous nations. On the other hand, the new place America has taken in the Old World, dating, it may be said roughly, from the time of her war with Spain (1898); the increase of her influence in the world, mainly through the efforts of brave, benevolent, and able statesmen; the expansion of her trade and commerce; the increase of the European tourist traffic;—these factors also to some extent account for the growth of friendly intercourse between the peoples.

Nor should the bond between the two countries created by intermarriage be overlooked. If the well-dowered republican maid is often ambitious of union with a scion of the old European nobility, the usually needy German aristocrat is at least equally desirous of mating with an American heiress notwithstanding the vast differences in race-character, political sentiment, manners, and views of life—and especially of the status and privileges of woman—that must fundamentally separate the parties. Great unhappiness is frequently the result of such marriages, perhaps it may be said of a large proportion of international marriages, but cases of great mutual happiness are also numerous, and help to bring the countries into sympathy and understanding. Prince Bülow, when Chancellor, reminded the Reichstag, which was discussing an objection raised to the late Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, when German Ambassador to America, that he had married an American lady, that though Bismarck had laid down the rule that German diplomatists ought not to marry foreigners, he was quite ready to make exceptions in special cases, and that America was one of them. The Emperor is well known to have no objection to his diplomatic representative at Washington being married to an American, but rather to prefer it, provided, of course, that the lady has plenty of money.

A difficulty between Germany and Venezuela arose in 1902 owing to the ill-treatment suffered by German merchants in Venezuela in the course of the civil war in that country from 1898 to 1900.

The merchants complained that loans had been exacted from them by President Castro and his Government, and that munitions of war and cattle had been taken for the use of the army and left unpaid for. The amount of the claim was 1,700,000 Bolivars (francs), a sum that included the damage suffered by the merchants' creditors in Germany. Similar complaints were made by English and Italian merchants. After several efforts on the part of Germany to obtain redress had failed, negotiations were broken off, the diplomatic representative of Germany was recalled, and finally the combined fleets of England, Germany, and Italy established a blockade of the Venezuelan coast. The difficulty was eventually referred to the Hague Court of Arbitration, which allowed the claims and directed payment of them on the security of the revenues of the customs ports of La Guayra and Puerto Cabella.

For a time the action of the Powers caused discussion of the Monroe doctrine on both sides of the Atlantic. On this side it was pointed out that American susceptibilities had been respected by the conduct of the Powers in not landing troops, while on the other side there were not wanting voices to exclaim that the naval demonstration went too near being a breach of the hallowed creed—"hands off" the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe doctrine, it may be recalled, was contained in a message of President James Monroe, issued on February 2, 1823. It was drawn up by John Quincey Adams, and declared that the United States "regarded not only every effort of the Holy Alliance to extend its system to the Western Hemisphere as dangerous to the peace and freedom of the United States, but also every interference with the object of subverting any independent American Government in the light of unfriendliness towards America"; and it went on to declare that "the Continents of America should no more be regarded as fields for European colonization."

The day, of course, may come when the American claim to the control, if not physical possession, of half the earth will be questioned by the Powers of Europe; but at present, as far as Germany is concerned, and notwithstanding the absurd idea that Germany plans the seizure one day of Brazil, the doctrine is of merely academic interest. For a few days four years later it became the subject of lively discussion in Germany and America owing to the first American Roosevelt professor, Professor Burgess, referring to it in his inaugural lecture before the Emperor and Empress as an "antiquated theory." As soon, however, as it became apparent that Professor Burgess was giving utterance to a purely personal opinion, and was not in any sense the bearer of a message on the subject from the President, the discussion dropped.

Another American episode of the year was the visit of Prince Henry, the Emperor's brother, to the United States. Prince Henry left for America in February. The visit was in reality made in pursuance of the Emperor's world-policy of economic expansion, but there were not a few politicians in England and America to assert that it was part of a deep scheme of the Emperor's to counteract too warm a development of Anglo-American friendship. However that may be, the visit was a striking one, even though it gave no great pleasure to Germans, who could not see any particular reason for it, nor any prospect of it yielding Germany immediate tangible return for trouble and expense. Prince Henry, it is said, though the most genial and democratic of Hohenzollerns, was a little taken back at the American freedom of manners, the wringing of hands, the slapping on the back, and other republican demonstrations of friendship; but he cannot have shown anything of such a feeling, for he was fêted on all sides, and soon developed into a popular hero.

One of the incidents of the visit, previously arranged, was the christening of the Emperor's new American-built yacht, Meteor III, by Miss Alice Roosevelt, the President's daughter. On February 25th the Emperor received a cablegram from Prince Henry: "Fine boat, baptized by the hand of Miss Alice Roosevelt, just launched amid brilliant assembly. Hearty congratulations;" and at the same time one from the President's daughter: "To his Majesty the Kaiser, Berlin—Meteor successfully launched. I congratulate you, thank you for the kindness shown me, and send you my best wishes. Alice Roosevelt."