is ascending stair,
who would not bow their heads before that majestic, God-given
power?"

What was the condition of the people under Maria Theresa, whom
Maximilian spoke of as possessing a power that, according to him,
was so God-given no one could fail to bow the head before her
majestic presence? The peasants, under her rule, were practically
slaves, as they could not leave the lord's lands nor even marry
without his permission, nor could they bring their children up to
any profession other than that of labourer. In other words, the
children of the slave must remain slaves.

Poor Maximilian! He was a brother of the late Emperor Francis
Joseph and a member of that Kaiserbund and royal system which,
while America was busy with domestic difficulties between the
North and South, sought to wrest from Mexico her liberty. I
wonder if the Mexicans have forgotten the incident and its
implications.

But one-man power always fails in the end. No man, king or
president, whatever he may himself think, has a brain all
powerful and all knowing. There is wisdom in counsel. Too much of
some favourite dish may lead to indigestion and that to bad
judgment at a critical time and disaster. Napoleon III, just
before 1870, was suffering from a wasting disease and so allowed
himself to be ruled by the beautiful, narrow, fascinating,
foolish Spanish Empress whom he gave to the French in a moment of
passion because, as she said to him, "The way to her room lay
through the church door." Colonel Stoffel, the French Military
Attache to the Berlin Embassy, wrote confidentially report after
report to the Emperor telling him of the immense military
strength of Prussia and of her readiness for immediate war. But
most of these reports were afterwards found unopened in the desk
of the doting, sick and fallen Emperor.

For, after all, however divine the King, Emperor or Kaiser may
consider himself, he is but a vulnerable human being--and no
accident of birth should give even a small number of people on
this earth into the hands of a single mortal.

CHAPTER II

WHO DOES THE KAISER'S THINKING AND WHO DECIDED ON THE BREAK WITH
AMERICA?

Because the German Emperor possesses talents of no mean order,
because of his fiery energy, because of the charm of his
conversation and personality, his ambitions for world conquest
are most dangerous to the peace of the world.

Certainly of all the ruling houses of the world, the
Hohenzollerns have