INTRODUCTION xv 



from a small stout man, with a red face flaring through 

 a tangle of white hair and beard. He had a bundle 

 of papers clenched in each outspread, gesticulating 

 hand, and he was leaning forward as if his passion 

 of fury could reach across to Bismarck. Bismarck 

 had never sat down ; he paid not the slightest 

 attention to the tumult, but slowly gathering some 

 papers from the low desk in front, he turned round 

 stiffly and disappeared, leaving his opponent scream- 

 ing with redoubled fury. And so, I believe, the 

 World-policy was launched by Bismarck himself in 

 1884. 



For the remainder of my time in Berlin I was 

 interested in politics, and discussed England and 

 Germany as often as I had the opportunity. William 

 Minto, formerly editor of the London Examiner, 

 then Professor of Logic and English at Aberdeen, had 

 been very friendly to me, and had given me intro- 

 ductions to people in Berlin, which I now used. 

 These people were Radicals, of internationalist and 

 pacificist tendency, and they not only distrusted Bis- 

 marck, but were convinced that the reign of blood 

 and iron was over, and that the dawn of inter- 

 national peace was at hand. They thought that 

 Bismarck's policy was doomed, and they had a good 

 deal to say of what would happen when the old 

 King was succeeded by his peaceful son, but they 

 were convinced as to the intention and design of 

 the new bill. The subsidizing of commercial 

 steamers was to be a first step in the preparation of 

 Germany for a fight with England for the mastery 

 of the world. 



I find in my note-book of 1884, preserved by a 



