“DER KAISER.”

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8339, 27 January 1913, Page 11

“DER KAISER.”

BIRTHDAY OF WILHELM 11. a ’character sketch. PROGRESS IN FRIENDLINESS. (By E.N.A) Kaiser Wilhelm 11. is fifty-four years old to-day, having been born in Berlin on January 27th, 1859. Twenty-three years have passed since the impetuous young Hotspur dismissed the ironsouled Bismarck. Wherever loyal sons of the Fatherland pursue their callings, from, the Kameruns to Kiaochau, from Buenos Ayres to Berlin, they will celebrate to-day the “geburtstag” of their King and Emperor. Universal holiday is declared throughout the navy, and extra pudding and potions of lager-beer are distributed among the sailors. Are there not reasons why Englishmen, too, should drink to the health of Germany’s great Emperor, and wish that his reign under the same auspices may he prolonged? Not as the “war-lord” and the exponent of 'a “mailed fist” policy need he bo even though four millions of soldiers would spring to arms at his word. Not as the colossal egotist nor the imperious autocrat has Wilhelm earned the most enduring elements of his fame. Sobered by a wider knowledge of the world and the responsibilities of a groat empire, has not the conceited young man of 1890, whom Bismarck likened to a barking fox-terrier, become a .sagacious and far-seeing monarch, who recognises that his country’s interests are best conserved by European peace? Had Wilhelm 11. been the man his detractors and scoffers of 1890 conceived him to be, would not the newly-consolidated empire have been crushed into tiio dust before now? LEARNED THE SECRETS. Vain, arrogant, egotistic, volcanic in impulse, cryptic and enigmatic in utterance, laughable in bis boundless pretentions, \V imelm has puzzled grave diplomats and statesmen in many critical moments, but who now questions his ability to mould German destinies? Seldom has a ruler so completely won the confidence of his people. During the vast transformation of modern Germany, Wilhelm has proved to a doubting world that he has beyond question learned the secrets of wise and successful government, and that in an intensely critical period of early national growth. Schiller and Goethe laid the foundations of the nationil sentiment; Bismarck and Moltke gave it practical iprm and vindication, with a definite object to which it could cling; Wilhelm 11. is now bringing that sentiment to beneficial fruition” And in spite of Germany’s warlike pretensions, there is an influential body ot public opinion in Europe which bolds that the German Emperor stands for peace. “ONLY BUT IN THE SADDLE.”

'On the Kaiser-strasso of Frankfurt-am-Main there is a splendid statue of Bismarck, showing Germania seated on a noble chargor, with tho banner of Empire across tier snouldor. Tho great chancellor stands alongside, holding tho reins. “Only put Germany in tho saddle, and she will already be able to ride,” Bismarck once declared in the Reichstag, and the words are engraven below. Shrewd observers have noted this wonderful aptitude, developed since IS7I, of the united German kingdoms to pursue their common civilisation and growth in harmony. Once unified, tho Umpire would show its natural genius for cohesion, and not be disrupted by internal animosities. Strengthened by a common language, literature and aspirations, Germany’s unexampled progress was inevitable, and to this extent, has Wilhelm’s task been lightened. But now her ambition is said to go further, in sympathy with Schiller’s lament that tho poets and philosophers came too late to the division of the earth. Germany wants markets and customers. An adequate navy, they declare, is necessary for their expanding commerce. Powerful and warlike States menace them on two frontiers, hence the need for a vast standing array. Tho preamble to tile Navy Bill is by'implication directed against England; yet

si u'n an authority a.s Von Holleben thinks it much more likely that the allied fleets of both countries may have to fight ‘'an enemy who looks with longing eyes on the old decaying Europe/* namely, tho Orient. The British £hnpire is Germany’s best customer, and ihe two nations have countless sympathies in common. Only misunderstandings and an unwillingness to sympathise have obstructed the flow of good feeling. Tactlessness was shown in the Morocco affair, and well docs the writer recall a visit to the Berlin Bourse, agitated and uproarious, in those days of tension. But the entente having been strengthened, Gorman diplomacy was given a prompt object-lesson in its meaning. The atmosphere has again .become clear, and one of the happiest auguries for peace among the great Bowers is an increasing disposition, both in Groat 'Britain and in Germany, to approach the discussion of questions affecting the two countries in a spirit of candour and mutual respect. Misunderstandings begin to be cleared ; motives are more charitably interpreted; and a fooling of friendliness has in many quarters supplanted the hostile, suspicious, and jealous attitude. A REMARKABLE SYMPOSIUM.

Lord Haldane, a great devotee ot German culture and literature, has worked hard to remove English mistrust. In Germany, such men as Adolf Wermuth. Chief Burgomeister of Berlin ; von Holleben, late German Ambassador to Washington; Wilhelm Wundt, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Leipsig; and Theodor Wolff, editor of tho “Berliner Tageblatt,** are striving to create a more friendly impression of England and the English. Such men do not believe in ‘‘inevitable wars.” Some months ago, these leaders of opinion contributed to a remarkable symposium published in “Nord und Sud,” whose editor, Professor Ludwig Stein, must also be numbered among the fr/ends of England. The discussion was carried on in a spirit of tho utmost cordiality, frankness, and mutual esteem, and the dominant feature was a desire to sweep away mistrust and misunderstanding. English leaders dwelt upon the debt they owed to Germany in music, art, philosophy, literature, industrial and educational efficiency ; influential Germans expatiate ed , upon the solid clement of British character, and its magnificent record of achievement in colonisation, pojmlar government, and world-wide commerce. A PERSONAL SKETCH.

The writer’s impression of the Kaiser is always associated with a rawautumn morning in Berlin. It was the courtyard of tho Imperial palace, and his Majesty was seated in a motor-car moving towards tho gates that open on Untor don Linden. A haughty, proudlooking man, with a ruddy complexion emphasis'd by the military helmet ho wore. Moustache well groomed and tilted upwards; jaw clean shaven and well defined. Eyes that oould at a moment flash determination and defiance of opposition or restraint; just the expression natural to a man who could say, “ Him who opposes me, I shall crush.” The nose well formed, large, and straight. There was something that suggested a theatrical pose and an obtrusive consciousness of his_ own boundless authority and power, in the manner he saluted tho tourists. Withal, an earnest, serious, high-souled cast or features. It was not an ascetic type; nor even distinctively intellectual, but it betokened a power of concentrated attention and an alertness of intelligence rarely found in combination with such extraordinary versatility and range of, interests. It was this trait that caused the late Mr W. T. Stead to describe him as “ a latter-day journalist born to the purple;' 1 Here is a man who can cook a meal and govern an Empire; paint a picture and plan campaigns; engage in the porcelain business and suggest details to naval architects; converse in several European languages and design a building; startle diplomats with enigmatic bombast, and charm a select audience with delightful quips and polished raillery; ho knows tho latest scientific invention, the most modern theory in education. Wilhelm is the twentieth century sphinx; the personification of a political puzzle; like a comet moving in an unknown orbit and blazing at intervals with strange portents across the firmament of international concord; unpredictable in his movements, and conforming to no known laws. Happily, his irruptions have not yet caused any collisions; his record is one of peace, and the pious prayer of every Englishman and German will be that his reign may long continue pacific. On that basis, might not the rulers of Germany construct an empire more prosperous and enduring than was ever obtained by the lust of territorial ambition? The economic futility of war between two great trading nations like England and Germany is recognised more and more by influential men on both sides. Lot us hope the Kaiser may be numbered among these, wise in their generation, and drink heartily: Eh lebe der Konig!