In his own country the Emperor was either glorified and exalted to the skies or else scorned and scoffed at by a minority of the Press in a prejudicial manner.  In the latter case it bore so evidently the stamp of personal enmity that it was discredited a priori.  Had there existed earnest papers and organs that would, in dignified fashion, have discussed and criticised the Emperor’s faults and failings, while recognising all his great and good qualities, it would have been much more satisfactory.  Had there been more books written about him showing that the real man is quite different from what he is made to appear to be; that he is full of the best intentions and inspired with a passionate love of Germany; that in a true and profound religious sense he often wrestles with himself and his God, asking himself if he has chosen the right way; that his love for his people is far more genuine than that of many of the Germans for him; that he never has deceived them, but was constantly deceived by them—­such literature would have been more efficacious and, above all, nearer the truth.

Undoubtedly the German Emperor’s gifts and talents were above the average, and had he been an ordinary mortal would certainly have become a very competent officer, architect, engineer, or politician.  But for lack of criticism he lost his bearings, and it caused his undoing.  According to all the records the Emperor William I. was of a very different nature.  Yet Bismarck often had a hard task in dealing with him, though Bismarck’s loyalty and subservience to the dynastic idea made him curb his characteristically ruthless frankness.  But William I. was a self-made man.  When he came to the throne and began to govern his kingdom was tottering.  Assisted by the very capable men he was able to find and to retain, he upheld it, and by means of Koeniggraetz and Sedan created the great German Empire.  William II. came to the throne when Germany had reached the zenith of her power.  He had not acquired what he possessed by his own work, as his grandfather had; it came to him without any effort on his part; a fact which had a great and far from favourable influence on his whole mental development.

The Emperor William was an entertaining and interesting causeur.  One could listen to him for hours without wearying.  Emperors usually enjoy the privilege of finding a ready audience, but even had the Emperor William been an ordinary citizen he would always have spoken to a crowded house.  He could discourse on art, science, politics, music, religion, and astronomy in a most animated manner.  What he said was not always quite correct; indeed, he often lost himself in very questionable conclusions; but the fault of boring others, the greatest of social faults, was not his.