The Emperor William is an example of this.  I do not think there is another ruler who had better intentions than he had.  He lived only for his calling—­as he viewed it.  All his thoughts and longings were centred round Germany.  His relations, pleasures and amusements were all subservient to the one idea of making and keeping the German people great and happy, and if good will were sufficient to achieve great things William II. would have achieved them.  From the very beginning he was misunderstood.  He made statements and gestures intended not only to win his listeners but the whole world, which had just the contrary effect.  But he never was conscious of the practical effect of his actions, because he was systematically misled, not only by those in his immediate presence, but by the entire German people.  How many millions, who to-day fling curses at him, could not bow low enough when he appeared on the horizon in all his splendour; how many felt overjoyed if the Imperial glance fell on them!—­and none of them realise that they themselves are to blame for having shown the Emperor a world which never existed, and driven him into a course which he otherwise would never have taken.  It certainly cannot be denied that the whole nature of the Emperor was peculiarly susceptible to this characteristically German attitude, and that monarchs less talented, less keen, less ready, and above all, less impregnated with the idea of self-sufficiency, are not so exposed to the poison of popularity as he was.

I once had the opportunity of studying the Emperor William in a very important phase of his life.  I met him at the house of a friend in the celebrated days of November, 1908, when great demonstrations against the Emperor occurred in the Reichstag, and when the then Imperial Chancellor, Prince Buelow, exposed him.  Although he did not allude to the matter to us with whom he was not familiar, the powerful impression made upon him by these events in Berlin was very obvious, and I felt that in William II.  I saw a man who, for the first time in his life, with horror-stricken eyes, looked upon the world as it really was.  He saw brutal reality in close proximity.  For the first time in his life, perhaps, he felt his position on his throne to be a little insecure.  He forgot his lesson too quickly.  Had the overwhelming impression which prevailed for several days been a lasting one it might perhaps have induced him to descend from the clouds to which his courtiers and his people had raised him, and once more feel firm ground beneath his feet.  On the other hand, had the German people often treated the German Emperor as they did then it might have cured him.