ed later on to enlist his outside
support he did not find it at first easy. But, having with some
difficulty got the assent of the Emperor to a new ship being named after
Bismarck, he in the end got from the latter permission to visit him at
Friedrichsruh in 1897. There Tirpitz arrived at noon. The family were
at luncheon. He tells us how the Prince sat at the head of the table,
and how he rose, cool but polite, and remained standing till Tirpitz was
seated. The Prince assumed the air of one suffering from sharp neuralgic
pain, and he kept pressing the side of his head with a small indiarubber
hot-water bottle. It was only with an appearance of difficulty that he
uttered, and his food was minced meat. However, when he had drunk a
bottle and a half of German champagne (_Sect_) he became animated. After
the dishes were removed, Countess Wilhelm Bismarck lit his great pipe
for him, and with the other ladies quitted the room. The atmosphere was
one of gloomy silence. But the great man suddenly broke it by raising
his formidable eyebrows, and directing a grim look at Tirpitz, whom he
appears next to have asked whether he himself was a tomcat that needed
only to be stroked in order to procure sparks to be emitted. Tirpitz
then timidly unfolded his plans and his policy of building big
battleships. Bismarck was critical, and turned his criticism to other
matters also. He denounced as disastrous the abrogation by Caprivi and
William the Second of the treaty he (Bismarck) had made with Russia for
Reinsurance. Bismarck declared that, in case of an Anglo-Russian war,
our policy was contained in the simple words: neutrality as regards
Russia. The modest Tirpitz ventured to suggest that only a fleet strong
enough to be respected could make Germany worthy of an alliance in the
eyes of Russia and other powers. Bismarck rejected this almost angrily.
The English he thought little of. If they tried to invade Germany the
Landwehr would knock them down with the butt-ends of their rifles. That
a close blockade might knock Germany down never seemed to occur to him.
However, in the end Tirpitz says that the Prince became mollified and
expressed agreement with the view that an increased fleet was necessary.

Bismarck then invited the Admiral to go with him for a drive in the
forest. Despite the neuralgia, this drive, which took place amid showers
of rain, lasted for two hours. The carriage, moreover, was open. There
were two bottles of beer, one