rel--into the arms of Bismarck for
the fulfilment of his schemes.

But that some sort of madness did, in consequence of the above-mentioned
circumstances, seize the German people shortly before the outbreak of
the present war we can hardly doubt, though (remembering the proverb) we
must not put the blame for that on her, but on the gods. It was a heady
intoxication, caused largely, I believe, by that era of unexampled
commercial prosperity following upon a period of great political and
military expansion, and confirmed by the direct incitement of the
military and political teachers I have mentioned. All these things,
acting on a people unskilled in politics--of whom Bernhardi himself says
"We are a non-political people"[15]--had their natural effect. But it
seems part of the irony of fate that at this very juncture Germany
should have fallen under the influence of a man who of all the world was
perhaps least fitted to guide her steadily through a difficult crisis.
"We all know the Kaiser," says Mr. Fisher, "the most amazing and amusing
figure on the great stage of politics. The outlines of his character are
familiar to everybody, for his whole life is spent in the full glare of
publicity. We know his impulsiveness, his naivete, his heady fits of
wild passion, his spacious curiosity and quick grasp of detail, his
portentous lack of humour and delicacy, his childish vanity and
domineering will. A character so romantic, spontaneous, and robust must
always be a favourite with the British people, who, were his lunacies
less formidable, would regard him as the most delectable burlesque of
the age."

However the British generally may regard him, it is certain that the
German nation accepted him as their acclaimed leader. Clever,
good-looking, versatile, imperious, fond of the romantic pose, Wilhelm
was exactly the hero in shining armour that would capture the enthusiasm
of this innocent people. They idolized him. And it is possible that
their quick response confirmed him in his rather generous estimate of
his own capabilities. He dismissed Bismarck and became his own Foreign
Secretary, and entered upon a perilous career as Imperial politician,
under the aegis of God and the great tradition of the Hohenzollerns, a
career made all the more perilous by his constant change of role and his
real uncertainty as to his own mind. His "seven thousand speeches and
three hundred uniforms" were only the numerous and really emblematic
dis