CHAPTER TEN 



LEIPSIC AND DRESDEN 



^r^HOUGH our destination was Dresden, we stopped at Leipsic in 



Jl order to see our friend, Dr. C. R. Gregory, who had been Hving 

 there for several years and, after being naturalised, was appointed a 

 professor in the University. He received us most warmly and strongly 

 advised me to remain in Leipsic for the remainder of the semester and 

 attend lectures every day as a means of improving my German. I also 

 took many long evening walks with Dr. Gregory and he told me things, 

 the full significance of which I did not appreciate till many years later. 



One evening Dr. Gregory made a simple remark, the significance 

 of which I did not grasp till years afterwards. "The Germans have an 

 intense dislike of the English." I replied: "I am surprised to hear that; 

 what reason have they for disUking them?" "The British Navy is too 

 strong." 



That remark aroused my interest, especially because of the affection 

 for England which grew out of my student life there. During the re- 

 mainder of my stay in Germany and in many subsequent visits, I kept 

 my ears open for corroboration of Gregory's statement and of this I 

 heard an abundance. I can compare the slow process of my enlighten- 

 ment only to the putting together of a picture-puzzle. I cannot re- 

 member just when I learned that the real authority in Germany was 

 the army. So long as Bismarck remained in power, he was able to curb 

 the Great General Staff, though only imperfectly, and more than once 

 old Moltke was too much for him. Until 1890, however, the political 

 power of the army was mostly in abeyance. 



The anti-British feeling began to grow, among the classes whose 

 opinion was of importance, during the Franco-Prussian War and was 

 strengthened by the events of 1875, when England and Russia inter- 

 fered to stop the contemplated attack on France. Bismarck always 

 denied that he meant to make any such attack and those who like may 

 believe him, but if he told the truth, his own countrymen much belied 



C 104 2 



