Albert Ballin :: CHAPTER IX The Kaiser

CHAPTER IX The Kaiser

The origin of the friendship between Ballin and the Kaiser, which has given rise to so much comment and to so many rumours, was traced back by the Kaiser himself to the year 1891, when he inspected the express steamer Auguste Victoria, and when he, accompanied by the Kaiserin, made a trip on board the newly-built express steamer FÜrst Bismarck. Ballin, although he received the honour of a decoration and a few gracious words from His Majesty, did not think that this meeting had established any special contact between himself and his sovereign. He told me, indeed, that he dated their acquaintance from a memorable meeting which took place in Berlin in 1895, and which was concerned with the preparations for the festivities in celebration of the opening of the Kiel Canal.

The Kaiser wanted the event to be as magnificent as possible, and his wishes to this effect were fully met by the Hamburg civic authorities and by the shipping companies. Although Ballin had only been a short time in the position he then held, his versatile mind did not overlook the opportunity thus offered for advertising his company. The Kaiser was keenly interested in every detail. After some preliminary discussions with the Hamburg Senate, all the interested parties were invited to send their delegates to Berlin, where a general meeting was to be held in the Royal Castle with the Kaiser in the chair. It was arranged that the North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-Amerika Linie should provide one steamer each, which was to convey the representatives of the Government departments and of the Reichstag, as well as the remaining guests, except those who were to be accommodated on board the Hohenzollern, and that both steamers should follow in the wake of the latter all the way down the Elbe from Hamburg to the Canal. When this item was discussed the Kaiser said he had arranged that the Hohenzollern should be followed first by the Lloyd steamer and then by the Hamburg-Amerika liner. Thereupon Ballin asked leave to speak. He explained that, since the journey was to start in Hamburg territorial waters, it would perhaps be proper to extend to the Hamburg company the honour of the position immediately after the Imperial yacht. The Kaiser, in a tone which sounded by no means gracious, declared that he did not think this was necessary, and that he had already given a definite promise to the Lloyd people. Ballin replied that, if the Kaiser had pledged his word, the matter, of course, was settled, and that he would withdraw his suggestion, although he considered himself justified in making it.

At the close of the meeting Count Waldersee, who had been one of those present, took Ballin’s arm and said to him: “As you are now sure to be hanged from the Brandenburger Tor, let us go to Hiller’s before it comes off, to have some lunch together.” Ballin never ceased to be grateful to the Count for this sign of kindness, and his friendship with him and his family lasted until his death. The arrangements made by the Hamburg-Amerika Linie for the reception of its guests were carefully prepared and carried out. It is not easy to give an idea to a non-expert of the great many minute details which have to be attended to in order to accommodate a large number of exacting visitors on a steamer in such a manner that nobody finds anything to complain of, especially if, as is but natural on an occasion such as this, an endless variety of questions as to precedence and etiquette have to be taken into account. Great pains and much circumspection are necessary to arrange to everybody’s satisfaction all matters affecting the reception of the guests, the provision of food and drinks, the conveyance of luggage, etc. Thanks to the infinite care, however, with which Ballin and his fellow-workers attended to this matter, everything turned out eminently satisfactory. In the evening, when the guests of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie were returning to their steamer at the close of the festivities, the company agreeably surprised them by providing an artistically arranged collation of cold meats, etc., and the news of this spread so quickly that from the other vessels people who felt that the official catering had not taken sufficient account of their appetites, lost no time in availing themselves of this opportunity of a meal.

This event, at any rate, helped to establish the reputation of the company’s hospitality.

It may be presumed that this incident had shown the Kaiser—who, although he did not object to being contradicted in private, could not bear it in public—that the Hamburg Company was animated by a spirit of independence which did not subordinate itself to other influences without a protest, and which jealously guarded its position. It must be stated that the Kaiser never bore Ballin any ill will on account of his opposition, which may be partly due to the great pains the Packetfahrt took in order to make the festivities a success. The event may also have induced the Kaiser to watch the progress of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie after that with particular attention. His special interest was centred round the provision for new construction, and in this matter he exerted his influence from an early time in favour of the German yards.

The first occasion of the Kaiser’s pleading in favour of German yards dates from the time previous to his accession to the throne. Ballin, in a speech which he delivered when the trial trip of the s.s. Meteor took place, stated the facts connected with this intervention as follows: The directors had just started negotiations with British shipbuilding firms for the building of their first express steamer when the Prussian Minister to the Free City of Hamburg called to inform them, at the request of Prince Bismarck, that the latter, acting upon the urgent representations of Prince Wilhelm, suggested that they should entrust the building of the big vessel to a German yard. The Prince was profoundly convinced that Germany, for the sake of her own future, must cease to play the part of Cinderella among the nations, and that there was no want of engineers among his countrymen who, if given a chance, would prove just as efficient as their fellow-craftsmen in England. The Packetfahrt thereupon entrusted the building of the vessel to the Stettin Vulkan yard. She was the fast steamer Auguste Victoria, and was christened after the young Empress. Launched in 1888, she immediately won “the blue riband of the Atlantic” on her first trip.

Another and still more practical suggestion of the Kaiser was put forward at the time when the company were about to build an excursion steamer. The satisfactory results which their fast steamers had yielded during the dead season in the transatlantic passage business when used for pleasure cruises had induced them to take this step, and when the Kaiser’s attention was drawn to this project, he, on the strength of the experience he had made with his Hohenzollern, designed a sketch and composed a memorandum dealing with the equipment of such a steamer. It was Ballin’s opinion that this Imperial memorandum contained some suggestions worth studying, although it was but natural that the monarch could not be expected to be sufficiently acquainted with all the practical considerations which the company had to bear in mind in order to make the innovation pay, and that, therefore, some of his recommendations could not be carried out.

If we remember what vivid pleasure the Kaiser derived from his own holiday cruises, it cannot surprise us to see that he took such a keen interest in the company’s excursion trips. How keen it was may be inferred from an incident which happened early in his reign, and to which Ballin, when describing his first experiences on this subject, referred in his above-mentioned speech on the occasion of the trial trip of the Meteor. Ballin said: “Even among my most intimate associates people were not wanting who thought that I was not quite right in my mind when, at the head of 241 intrepid travellers, I set out on the first pleasure cruise to the Far East in January, 1891. The Kaiser had just inspected the vessel, and then bade farewell to the company and myself by saying: ‘That’s right. Make our countrymen feel at home on the open sea, and both your company and the whole nation will reap the benefit.’”

In after years the Kaiser’s interest in the company chiefly centred round those landmarks in its progress which marked the country’s expansion in the direction of Weltpolitik, e.g. its participation in the Imperial Mail Service to the Far East, its taking up a share in the African trade, etc. In fact, after 1901, when the Kaiser had keenly interested himself in the establishment of the Morgan Trust and its connexion with German shipping companies, there was scarcely an important event in the history of the company (such as the extension of its services, the addition of a big new steamer, etc.) which he allowed to pass without a few cordial words of congratulation. He also took the liveliest interest in the personal well-being of Ballin. He always sent him the compliments of the season at Christmas or for the New Year, generally in the shape of picture post-cards or photographs from his travels, together with a few gracious words, and he never failed to remember the anniversaries of important events in Ballin’s life or to inquire after him on recovering from an illness. Ballin, in his turn, acquainted the Kaiser with anything which he believed might be of interest to His Majesty, or might improve his knowledge of the economic conditions existing in his own as well as in foreign countries. He kept him informed about all the more important pool negotiations, e.g. those in connexion with the establishment, in 1908, of the general pool, and those referring to the agreements concluded with other German shipping companies, etc. Whenever he noticed on his travels any signs of important developments, chiefly those of a political kind, he furnished his Imperial friend with reports on the foreign situation.

In 1904 the Kaiser’s interest in Ballin took a particularly practical form. Ballin had suffered a great deal from neuralgic pains which, in spite of the treatment of various physicians, did not really and permanently diminish until the patient was taken in hand by Professor Schweninger, the famous medical adviser of no less a man than Bismarck. Ballin himself testified to the unvaried attention and kindness of Dr. Schweninger, and to the great success of his treatment. It is to be assumed that Schweninger, because of his energetic manner of dealing with his patients, was eminently suited to Ballin’s disposition, which was not an easy one for his doctor and for those round him to cope with.

“As early as January, 1904,” Ballin remarks in his notes, “the Kaiser had sent a telegram inviting me to attend the Ordensfest celebrations in Berlin, and during the subsequent levee he favoured me with a lengthy conversation, chiefly because he wanted to tell me how greatly he was alarmed at the state of my health. His physician, Professor Leuthold, had evidently given him an unfavourable account of it. The Kaiser explained that he could no longer allow me to go on without proper assistance or without a substitute who would do my work when I was away for any length of time. This state of things caused him a great deal of anxiety, and, as it was a matter of national interest, he was bound to occupy himself with this problem. He did not wish to expose himself to a repetition of the danger—which he had experienced in the Krupp case—that a large concern like ours should at any moment be without a qualified steersman at the helm. He said he knew that of all the gentlemen in his entourage Herr v. Grumme was the one I liked best, and that I had an excellent opinion of him. He also considered Grumme the best man he had ever had round him, and it would be difficult to replace him. Nevertheless he would be glad to induce Grumme to join the services of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie, if I thought that this would solve the difficulty he had just referred to, and that such a solution would fall in with my own wishes. He was convinced that I should soon be restored to my normal health if I were relieved of some part of my work, and that this would enable me to do much useful service to the nation and himself; so he would be pleased to make the sacrifice. I sincerely thanked His Majesty, and assured him that I could not think of any solution that I should like better than the one he had proposed, and that, if he were really prepared to do so much for me, I would beg him to discuss the matter with Grumme. That very evening he sent for Grumme, who immediately expressed his readiness to enter the services of our company if such was His Majesty’s pleasure.”

The lively interest which the Kaiser took in the development of our mercantile marine was naturally closely connected with the growth of the Imperial Navy and with our naval policy in general. The country’s maritime interests and the merchant fleet were the real motives that prompted his own naval policy, whereas Tirpitz chiefly looked upon them as a valuable asset for propaganda purposes. During the first stage of the naval policy and of the naval propaganda—which at that time were conducted on quite moderate lines—Ballin, as he repeatedly told me, played a very active part. It was the time when the well-known periodical Nautikus, afterwards issued at regular annual intervals, was first published by the Ministry for the Navy, and when a very active propaganda in favour of the navy and of the country’s maritime interests was started. Experience has proved how difficult it is to start such a propaganda, especially through the medium of a Press so loosely organized as was the German Press in those days. But it is still more difficult to stop, or even to lessen, such propaganda once it has been started, because the preliminary condition for any active propaganda work is that a large number of individual persons and organizations should be interested in it. It is next to impossible to induce these people to discontinue their activities when it is no longer thought desirable to keep up the propaganda after its original aim has been achieved. Germany’s maritime interests remained a favourite subject of Press discussions, and the animation with which these were carried on reached a climax whenever a supplementary Navy Bill was introduced. Even when it was intended to widen the Kiel Canal, as it proved too narrow for the vessels of the “Dreadnought” type, the necessity for doing so was explained by reference to the constantly increasing size of the new steamers built for the mercantile marine; although, seeing that the shallow waters of the Baltic and of the channels leading into it made it quite impossible to use them for this purpose, nobody ever proposed to send those big ships through the canal. In later years Ballin often spoke with great bitterness of those journalists who would never leave off writing about “the daring of our merchant fleet” in terms of unmeasured eulogy, and whom he described as the greatest enemies of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie.

But it was not only the propaganda work for the Imperial Navy to which the Kaiser contributed by his own personal efforts: the range of his maritime interests was much wider. He gave his assistance when the problems connected with the troop transports to the Far East and to South West Africa were under discussion; he studied with keen attention the progress of the German mercantile marine, the vessels of which he frequently met on his travels; he often went on board the German tourist steamers, those in Norwegian waters for instance, when he would unfailingly make some complimentary remarks on the management, and he became the lavish patron of the sporting events known as Kiel Week, the scope of which was extending from year to year. The Kiel Week, originally started by the yachting clubs of Hamburg for the encouragement of their sport, gradually developed into a social event of the first order, and since 1902 it became customary for the Hamburg-Amerika Linie to dispatch one of their big steamers to Kiel, where it served as a hotel ship for a large number of the visitors. From 1897 Kiel Week was preceded by a visit of the Kaiser—and frequently of the Kaiserin as well—to Hamburg, where their Majesties attended the summer races and the yachting regatta on the lower Elbe. In 1897 the Kaiser had the intention of being present at a banquet which the Norddeutsche Regatta-Verein was giving on board the Packetfahrt liner Columbia, and he was only prevented from doing so at the last moment. In the following year the Hamburg-Amerika Linie sent their s.s. Pretoria to Kiel. On this vessel the well-known “Regatta dinner” took place which the Kaiser attended, and which, on future occasions, he continued to honour with his presence. Ballin received a special invitation to visit the Kaiser on board his yacht Hohenzollern. He could not, however, avail himself of it, because the message only reached him on his way home to Hamburg. The year after, the Kaiser commanded Ballin to sit next to him at the table, and engaged him in a long conversation on the subject of the load-line which he wanted to see adopted by German shipping firms for their vessels. The Packetfahrt carried this suggestion into practice shortly afterwards, and in course of time the other companies followed suit.

On the occasion of these festivities the Kaiser in 1904 paid a visit to the new premises of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie. In 1905 and in subsequent years he also visited Ballin’s private home and took lunch with him. The speeches which he made at the regatta dinners given in connexion with the regatta on the lower Elbe frequently contained some political references. In 1908, for instance, he said:

“Although we do not possess such a navy as we ought to have, we have gained a place in the sun. It will now be my duty to see to it that we shall keep this place in the sun against all comers.... I, as the supreme head of the Empire, can only rejoice whenever I see a Hanseatic citizen—let him be a native of Hamburg, or Bremen, or LÜbeck—striking out into the world with his eyes wide open, and trying to find a spot where he can hammer a nail into the wall from which to hang the tools needed to carry on his trade.”

In 1912 he quoted the motto from the LÜbeck Ratskeller:

“It is easy to hoist the flag, but it costs a great deal to haul it down with honour.”

And in 1914, after the launch of the big steamer Bismarck, he quoted Bismarck’s saying, slightly altered:

“We Germans fear God, but nothing and nobody besides.”

Kiel Week never passed without a great deal of political discussion. The close personal contact on such occasions between Ballin and the Kaiser furnished the former with many an opportunity for expressing his views on politics. Much has been said about William II’s “irresponsible advisers,” who are alleged to have endeavoured to influence him in the interests of certain cliques, and it cannot, of course, be denied that the men who formed the personal entourage of the monarch were very far from representing every shade of public opinion, even if that had been possible. The traditions of the Prussian Court and of princely education may have contributed their share to this state of things. The result, at any rate, was that in times of crises—as, for instance, during the war—it was impossible to break through the phalanx of men who guarded the Kaiser and to withdraw him from their influence. Events have shown how strong this influence must have been, and how little it was suited to induce the Kaiser to apply any self-criticism to his preconceived ideas. Added to this, there was the difficulty of obtaining a private conversation with the Kaiser for any length of time—a difficulty which was but rarely overcome even by persons possessing very high credentials. It has already been mentioned that the Kaiser did not like to be contradicted in the presence of others, because he considered it derogatory to his sovereign position. Ballin repeatedly succeeded in engaging the Kaiser in private conversations of some length, especially after his journeys abroad, when the Kaiser invited him to lunch with him, and afterwards to accompany him on a walk unattended.

Ballin’s notes more than once refer to such conversations with the Kaiser, e.g. on June 3rd, 1901, when he had been a member of the Imperial luncheon party:

“After lunch the Kaiser asked me to report on my trip to the Far East, and he, in his turn, told me some exceedingly interesting pieces of news relating to his stay in England, and to political affairs connected with it.”

The following passage, referring to the Kiel Week, is taken from the notes of the same year:

“I received many marks of the Kaiser’s attention, who, on July 27th, summoned me to Kiel once more, as he wished to discuss with the Chancellor and me the question of the Japanese bank.”

During his trip to the Far East Ballin had taken a great deal of trouble to bring about the establishment of a German-Japanese bank.

The following extracts are taken from the notes of subsequent years:

“On December 10th (1903) I received a wire asking me to see the Kaiser at the Neues Palais. To my infinite joy the Kaiser had quite recovered the use of his voice. He looked well and fit, and during a stroll through the park I had a long chat with him concerning my trip to America and other matters. In February the Kaiser intends to undertake a Mediterranean cruise on board the Hohenzollern for the benefit of his health. He will probably proceed to Genoa on board one of the Imperial mail packets, which is to be chartered for him.”

(April 1904). “The Kaiser had expressed a wish to see me in Italy. On my arrival at Naples I found a telegram waiting for me in which I was asked to proceed to Messina if necessary. Owing, however, to the state of our negotiations with the Russian Government, I did not think it desirable to meet the Kaiser just then, and thus I had no opportunity of seeing him until May 3rd when I was in Berlin to attend a meeting of the Disconto-Gesellschaft, and to confer with StÜbel on the question of some further troop transports to South West Africa. I received an invitation to join the Imperial luncheon party at which the birthday of the Crown Prince was to be celebrated in advance, since his Majesty would not be in town on May 6th. The Kaiser’s health had much improved through his cruise; he had lost some of his stoutness, and the Kaiserin, too, was greatly pleased to see him looking so well. We naturally discussed the topics of the day, and the Kaiser, as always, was full of kindness and goodwill towards me.”

“On June 21st, 1904, the usual Imperial Regatta took place at Cuxhaven, and the usual dinner on board the BlÜcher. These events were followed by Kiel Week, which lasted from June 22nd to 28th. We stayed on board the Victoria Luise, and I was thus brought into especially close contact with the Kaiser. I accompanied him to EckernfÖrde on board the Meteor, and we discussed the political situation, particularly in its bearing on the Morocco question and on the attitude of Great Britain.”

“On June 19th, 1904, the Kaiser, the Kaiserin, and some of their sons were staying in Hamburg. I dined with them at Tschirschky’s (the Prussian Minister in Hamburg), and we drove to the races. On June 20th we proceeded to Cuxhaven, where, on board the Deutschland, I heard the news—which the Kaiser had just communicated to Kaempff (the captain of the Deutschland)—that the North German Lloyd steamer Kaiser Wilhelm II, in consequence of her being equipped with larger propellers, had won the speed record. Late at night the Kaiser asked me to see him on board the Hohenzollern, where he engaged me in a long discussion on the most varied subjects. On June 21st the regatta took place at Cuxhaven. The Kaiser and Prince Heinrich were amongst the guests who were entertained at dinner on board the Deutschland. The Kaiser was in the best of health and spirits. Owing to the circumstance that Burgomaster Burchard—who generally engages the Kaiser in after-dinner conversation—was prevented by his illness from being present, I was enabled to introduce a number of Hamburg gentlemen to His Majesty. As the Kaiser had summoned me to dine with him on board the Hohenzollern on the 22nd, I could not return to Hamburg, but had to travel through the Kiel Canal that same night on board a tug steamer. On the 22nd I stayed at the club house of the Imperial Yachting Club, whilst at my own house a dinner party was given for 36 persons. On the 23rd I changed my quarters to the Prinzessin Victoria Luise, and the other visitors arrived there about noon. A special feature of Kiel Week of 1904 was the visit of King Edward to the Kaiser whom he met at Kiel. For the accommodation of the ministers of state and of the other visitors whom the Kaiser had invited in connexion with the presence of the King, we had placed our s.s. Prinz Joachim at his disposal, in addition to the Prinzessin Victoria Luise. We also supplied, for the first time, a hotel ship, the Graf Waldersee, all the cabins of which were engaged. On June 27th my wife and I, and a number of other visitors from the Prinzessin Victoria Luise, were invited to take afternoon tea with the Kaiser and Kaiserin on board the Hohenzollern, and I had a lengthy conversation with King Edward.”

Whenever the Kaiser granted Ballin an interview without the presence of witnesses he cast aside all dignity, and discussed matters with him as friend to friend. Neither did he object to his friend’s counsel and admonitions, and he was not offended if Ballin, on such occasions, subjected his actions or his opinions to severe criticism.

On such occasions the Kaiser, as Ballin repeatedly pointed out, “took it all in without interrupting, looking at me from the depth of his kind and honest eyes.” That he did not bear Ballin any malice for his frankness is shown by the fact that he took a lively and cordial interest in all the events touching the private life of Ballin and his family, his daughter’s engagement, for instance—an interest which still continued after Ballin’s death.

In spite of this close friendship between Ballin and the Kaiser, it would be quite wrong to assume that Ballin exercised anything resembling a permanent influence on His Majesty. Their meetings took place only very occasionally, and were often separated by intervals extending over several months, and it happened only in rare cases that Ballin availed himself of the privilege of writing to the Kaiser in person. It is true that the latter was always pleased to listen to Ballin’s explanations of his views, and it is possible that every now and than he did allow himself to be guided by them; but it is quite certain that he never allowed these views to exercise any actual influence on the country’s politics. The events narrated in the chapter of this book dealing with politics show that in a concrete case, at any rate, Ballin’s recommendations and the weight of his arguments were not sufficient to cope successfully with the influence of others who were the permanent advisers of the sovereign, and who had at all times access to His Majesty.

If thus the effect of Ballin’s friendship with the Kaiser has frequently been greatly overrated in regard to politics, the same holds good—and, indeed, to a still greater extent—in regard to the advantages which the Hamburg-Amerika Linie is supposed to have derived from it. One of Ballin’s associates on the Board of the company was quite right when he said: “Ballin’s friendship with the Kaiser has done more harm than good to the Hamburg-Amerika Linie.” Indirectly, of course, it raised the prestige of the company both at home and abroad. But there is no doubt that it had also an adverse effect upon it: at any rate, outside of Germany. It gave rise to all sorts of rumours, e.g. that the company obtained great advantages from the Government; that the latter subsidized it to a considerable extent; that the Kaiser was one of the principal shareholders, etc. It is also quite certain that these beliefs were largely instrumental in making the Hamburg-Amerika Linie, as Ballin put it, one of the war aims of Great Britain, and it is even alleged that, at the close of the war, the British Government approached some of the country’s leading shipping firms with the suggestion that they should buy up the Hamburg-Amerika Linie or the North German Lloyd. This was at the time when it became desirable to secure the necessary organization for the intended commercial conquest of the Continent. It is quite possible—and, I am inclined to think, quite probable—that this suggestion was put forward because such a step would be in harmony with that frame of mind from which originated such stipulations of the Versailles treaty as deal with shipping masters, and with the assumption that German shipping—which was supposed to depend for its continuance mainly on the existence of the German monarchial system—would practically come to an end with the disappearance of the latter. It would, indeed, be difficult to name any historical document which pays less regard to the vital necessities of a nation and which actually ignores them more completely than does the treaty signed at Versailles.

The allegation that Ballin should ever have attempted to make use of his friendship with the Kaiser for his own or for his company’s benefit is, moreover, diametrically opposed to the established fact that he knew the precise limits of his influence, and that he never endeavoured to overreach himself. His “policy of compromise” was the practical outcome of this trait of his character.

The opinion which my close observation of Ballin’s work during the last ten years of his life enabled me to form was, as far as its political side is concerned, confirmed to me in every detail by no less a person than Prince BÜlow, who, without doubt, is the most competent judge of German affairs in the first decade of the twentieth century. When I asked the Prince whether Ballin could be accused of ever having abused the friendship between himself and the Kaiser for any ulterior ends whatever, he replied with a decided negative. Ballin, he said, had never dreamt of doing such a thing. He had always exercised the greatest tact in his relations with the Kaiser, and had never made use of them to gain any private advantage. Besides, his views had nearly always coincided with those held by the responsible leaders of the country’s political destinies. Once only a conflict of opinion had arisen between Ballin and himself on a political question, and this was at the time when the customs tariffs were under discussion. Ballin held that these were detrimental to the country’s best interests, and it is a well-known fact that, at that time, there was a widespread feeling as to the impossibility of concluding any commercial treaties so long as those tariffs were in operation.

During the most critical period of the existence of the monarchy—i.e. during the war—Ballin’s influence on the Kaiser was but slight. Only on a very few occasions was he able to meet the Kaiser, and he never had an opportunity of talking to him privately, as in former times. It was the constant aim of the Kaiser’s entourage to maintain their controlling influence over the Kaiser unimpaired. Even when they last met—in September, 1918—and when Ballin, at the instance of the Supreme Army Command, was asked to explain to the Kaiser the situation as it actually was, he was not permitted to see the Kaiser without the presence of a witness, so that his influence could not assert itself. The fact that the Kaiser was debarred from knowing the truth was the cause of his and of his country’s ruin. “The Kaiser is only allowed to know the bright side of things,” Ballin used to say, “and therefore he does not see matters as they really stand.”

This is all the more regrettable because, as Ballin thought, the Kaiser was not wanting in either the capacity or the independence of mind which would have enabled him to pursue a policy better than the one in which he actually acquiesced. More than once, Ballin said, the Kaiser’s judgment on a political issue was absolutely sound, but he did not wish to act contrary to the recommendations of his responsible advisers. When, for instance, it was decided that the gunboat Panther should be dispatched to Agadir, a decision which was arrived at during Kiel Week of 1911, the Kaiser exclaimed, with much show of feeling, that a step of such far-reaching importance could not be taken on the spur of the moment and without consulting the nation, and he only gave his consent with great reluctance. Moreover, Ballin stated, he was by no means in sympathy with Tirpitz, and the latter was not a man after his own heart, but he was content to let him have his way, because he believed that the naval policy of Tirpitz was right, so that he was not entitled to jeopardize the interests of his country by dismissing him. The Kaiser was not moved by an ambitious desire to build up a powerful navy destined to risk all in a decisive struggle against Great Britain, and the numerous passages in his public speeches which foreign observers interpreted as implying such a desire, must be regarded as the explosive outbursts of a strong character which was sometimes directed into wrong channels by a certain sense of its own superiority, and which, in seeking to express itself, would occasionally outrun discretion. His inconsistency which made him an easy prey to the influence of his entourage, caused him to be looked upon by foreign critics as vacillating and unstable, and this impression—as was discovered when too late—discredited his country immensely in the eyes of Great Britain, who, after all, had to be reckoned with as the decisive factor in all questions relative to world policy. Such a character could be guided in the right direction only if the right influence could be brought permanently to bear on it. But who was to exercise such influence on the Kaiser? Certainly his entourage did not include anyone qualified to do so, because it was not representative of all sections of the nation; neither was any of the successive Chancellors able to undertake such a task, since none of them succeeded in solving the questions of internal policy in a manner approved by a reliable and solid majority in the Reichstag. The Kaiserin also was not free from prejudice as to the war and the causes of its outbreak. Ballin relates how, on one of the few occasions when he was privileged to see the Kaiser during the war, Her Majesty, with clenched fists, exclaimed: “Peace with England? Never!” The Imperial family considered themselves betrayed by England and the English court. Why this should be so is perhaps still more difficult to say now than Ballin could understand in those days. Arguments, however, were useless in such a case, and could produce nothing but harm. The Kaiser did not bear Ballin any malice because of the frankness with which he explained his views that day; on the contrary, members of the Kaiser’s entourage have confirmed that, after Ballin had left that evening, he even tried to make the Kaiserin see his (Ballin’s) point of view. Putting himself into Ballin’s position, he said, he could perfectly understand how he felt about it all; but he himself could not help thinking that his English relatives had played him false, so that he was forced to continue the struggle with England tooth and nail.

When Ballin, during the summer of 1918, gave me a character sketch of the Kaiser, of which the account I have endeavoured to present in the preceding paragraphs is an outline, he added: “But what is the good of it? He is, after all, the managing director, and if things turn out wrong he is held responsible exactly as if he were the director of a joint-stock company.”

This comparison of the German Empire and its ruler with a joint-stock company and its board of directors used to form a frequent subject of argument in our inner circle, and even before the war these discussions regularly led to the conclusion that, what with the policy carried on by the Government and that carried on by the parties in the Reichstag, the Hamburg-Amerika Linie would have gone bankrupt long ago if its affairs had been conducted on such lines as those of the German Empire. It was a never-ending cause of surprise to us to learn how completely the European situation was misjudged in the highest quarters, when, for instance, the following incident, which was reported to Ballin during the war, became known to us. One day, when the conversation at lunch in the Imperial headquarters turned to the subject of England, the Kaiser remarked: “I only wish someone had told me beforehand that England would take up arms against us,” to which one of those present replied in a quiet whisper: “Metternich.” It would have been just as proper, Ballin added, to have mentioned my own name, because I also warned the Kaiser over and over again. On another page in this book reference is made to the well-known fact that the reason why Count Metternich, the German ambassador at the Court of St. James, had to relinquish his post was that he, in one of his reports, predicted that Germany would be involved in war with Great Britain no later than 1915 unless she reduced the pace of her naval armaments. This was one of those numerous predictions to which, like so many others, especially during the war, no one wanted to listen. Even in the late summer of 1918, when Ballin saw the Kaiser for the last time, such warnings met with a deaf ear. This meeting, to which Ballin consented with reluctance, was the outcome of a friendship which, politically speaking, was devoid of practical results. A detailed account follows.

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