Ka

d 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 betw

e 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

any 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, howev

ed to establish the reputatio

t 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 h

e 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 th

hem 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

is 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 se

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 h

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 t

s 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

d 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 o

lly 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

n subsequent years he also visited Ballin's private home and took lunch with him. The speeches which he made at the regatta dinners

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-strik

the motto from the

g, but it costs a great deal

e big steamer Bismarck, he quoted B

od, but nothing an

ad 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 obtai

tions with the Kaiser, e.g. on June 3rd, 1901, when

d he, in his turn, told me some exceedingly interesting pieces of news re

ng to the Kiel Week, is taken

27th, summoned me to Kiel once more, as he wished to discuss

aken a great deal of trouble to bring about

are taken from the no

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 Mediterra

pportunity 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 adva

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 E

uests 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

discussed matters with him as friend to friend. Neither did he object to his friend's counsel and admonitions,

nest 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 event

ed 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

pany 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

y's benefit is, moreover, diametrically opposed to the established fact that he knew the precise limits of his influence, and tha

iendship 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 destinie

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

ll 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

o present in the preceding paragraphs is an outline, he added: "But what is the good of it? He is, after all, the managing

, 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