Highest” alone.  It was not usual, Colonel House was informed, for His Imperial Majesty to discuss such matters except in the presence of a representative of the Foreign Office.  Germany had not yet recovered from the shock which the Emperor’s conversation with certain foreign correspondents had given the nation.  The effects were still felt of the famous interviews of October 28, 1908, which, when published in the London Telegraph, had caused the bitterest resentment in Great Britain.  The Kaiser had given his solemn word that he would indulge in no more indiscretions of this sort, and a private interview with Colonel House was regarded by his advisers as a possible infraction of that promise.  But the American would not be denied.  He knew that an interview with a third person present would be simply time thrown away since his message was intended for the Kaiser’s own ears; and ultimately his persistence succeeded.  The next Monday would be June 1st—­a great day in Germany.  It was the occasion of the Schrippenfest, a day which for many years had been set aside for the glorification of the German Army.  On that festival, the Kaiser entertained with great pomp representative army officers and representative privates, as well as the diplomatic corps and other distinguished foreigners.  Colonel House was invited to attend the Kaiser’s luncheon on that occasion, and was informed that, after this function was over, he would have an opportunity of having a private conversation with His Majesty.

The affair took place in the palace at Potsdam.  The militarism which Colonel House had felt so oppressively in Berlin society was especially manifest on this occasion.  There were two luncheon parties—­that of the Kaiser and his officers and guests in the state dining room, and that of the selected private soldiers outside.  The Kaiser and the Kaiserin spent a few moments with their humbler subjects, drinking beer with them and passing a few comradely remarks; they then proceeded to the large dining hall and took their places with the gorgeously caparisoned and bemedalled chieftains of the German Army.  The whole proceeding has an historic interest, in that it was the last Schrippenfest held.  Whether another will ever be held is problematical, for the occasion was an inevitable part of the trappings of Hohenzollernism.  Despite the gravity of the occasion, Colonel House’s chief memory of this function is slightly tinged with the ludicrous.  He had spent the better part of a lifetime attempting to rid himself of his military title, but uselessly.  He was now embarrassed because these solemn German officers persisted in regarding him as an important part of the American Army, and in discussing technical and strategical problems.  The visitor made several attempts to explain that he was merely a “geographical colonel”—­that the title was constantly conferred in an informal sense on Americans, especially Southerners, and that the handle to his name had, therefore, no military significance.  But the round-faced Teutons stared at his explanation in blank amazement; they couldn’t grasp the point at all, and continued to ask his opinion of matters purely military.