MY RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM 11-1879-1903 249 



less waste and sordid jobbery recently revealed at St. 

 Louis and Minneapolis; it is exceedingly doubtful whe 

 ther he admires some of the speeches on national affairs 

 made for the &quot; Buncombe district&quot; and the galleries; but 

 that he admires and respects the men in the United States 

 who do things worth doing, and say things worth saying; 

 that he takes a deep interest in those features of our policy, 

 or achievements of our people, which are to our credit; 

 that he enjoys the best of our literature ; that he respects 

 every true American soldier and sailor, every American 

 statesman or scholar or writer or worker of any sort who 

 really accomplishes anything for our country, is certain. 

 To sum up his position in contemporary history: As 

 the German nation is the result of an evolution of in 

 dividual and national character in obedience to resistless 

 inner forces and to its environment, so out of the medley 

 of imperial and royal Hohenstaufens, Hapsburgs, Wit- 

 telsbachs, Wettins, Guelphs, and the like, have arisen, as 

 by a survival of the fittest, the Hohenzollerns. These 

 have given to the world various strong types, and espe 

 cially such as the Great Elector, Frederick II, and Wil 

 liam I. Mainly under them and under men trained or 

 selected by them, Germany, from a great confused mass 

 of warriors and thinkers and workers, militant at cross- 

 purposes, wearing themselves out in vain struggles, and 

 preyed upon by malevolent neighbors, has become a great 

 power in arms, in art, in science, in literature ; a fortress 

 of high thought; a guardian of civilization; the natural 

 ally of every nation which seeks the better development 

 of humanity. And the young monarch who is now at 

 its head original, yet studious of the great men and 

 deeds of the past ; brave, yet conciliatory ; never allowing 

 the mail-clad fist to become unnerved, but none the less 

 devoted to the conquests of peace; standing firmly on 

 realities, but with a steady vision of ideals seems likely 

 to add a new name to the list of those who, as leaders 

 of Germany, have advanced the world. 



