of London, daughter of Colonel and Mrs.
Cornwallis-West, and sister of the Duchess of Westminster and
Cornwallis-West, formerly married to Lady Randolph Churchill, and
now the husband of Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the well-known actress.
And therefore the position of Princess Pless has not been
enviable during this war.

Emperor William does not, like many kings and dictators, confine
himself in his search for general information regarding men and
conditions to the reports of a few persons. He always has been
accessible, seeking even to meet strangers, not merely his own
people but foreigners, thus escaping the penalty of those rulers
who shut themselves up and who have all their information and
thoughts coloured for them by the preferences and desires of
prejudiced counsellors.

The chiefs of the army are always in close touch with the Kaiser,
but he is consulted on army commands and promotions much less
than on civil and even naval promotions.

Always with him is the head of the Civil Cabinet, who advises
with the Emperor on all appointments and promotions on the civil
side of the Government, helping even to make and unmake
Ambassadors and Chancellors. Admiral von Mueller, head of the
Marine Cabinet, is constantly in the Emperor's company. He is a
shrewd, capable, reasonable man; for a long time Admiral von
Mueller was against taking the chance of war with America and
perhaps, even to the end, persisted in this course. After the
fall of von Tirpitz, von Mueller acquired more real power. But in
a sense it is incorrect to speak of the forced retirement of von
Tirpitz as a "fall," because from his retirement he was able to
carry on such a campaign in favour of "ruthless" submarine war
that the mass of the people, Reichstag deputies, the General Staff,
and all came over to his point of view and von Bethmann-Hollweg,
who had brought about his dismissal, was forced officially to adopt
the policy first sponsored by this skilful old sea-dog and politician.

CHAPTER III

WHO SANK THE "LUSITANIA"?

Who is responsible for the sinking of the _Lusitania_, for the
deliberate murder which has always remained deep in the
consciousness of every American, and which at the outset turned
this great nation against Germany?

In the first place there was no mistake--no question of orders
exceeded or disobeyed. Count von Bernstorff frankly, boldly,
defiantly, and impudently advertised to the world, with the
authority of the