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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



which has given to the world such superb 

 soldiers as Frederick the Great and von 

 Moltke ; a nation whose great Emperor 

 has managed the affairs of state so 

 grandly, and who, although inheriting 

 from his noble ancestors all the qualities 

 of a splendid soldier, has nevertheless 

 done so much towards maintaining peace 

 in Europe during the past decade. 



It gives me pleasure to present to you 

 His Excellency Count von Bernstorff, 

 the Ambassador from the Empire of 

 Germany. 



THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR, COUNT J. H. 

 VON BERNSTORFF 



Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentle- 

 men: I wish to thank you most sincerely 

 for the kind invitation to this splendid 

 banquet. We diplomats in this most 

 hospitable of all countries of the world 

 become experts in banquets, so that if I 

 say it is a splendid banquet I hope it will 

 convey the superlative to you. It is a 

 great honor and a pleasure for me to 

 meet here tonight one of your most cele- 

 brated compatriots — a man who has done 

 more than anybody else in the world to 

 promote aviation. 



There is only one disadvantage for us 

 ambassadors, if we are honored and have 

 the pleasure of attending a banquet like 

 this, and that is that we have to earn 

 this honor and pleasure by making a 

 speech. Now making a speech is not so 

 difficult if one knows what one has to 

 say. I do not mean to say that we am- 

 bassadors know nothing at all, but those 

 things we do know we are generally sup- 

 posed not to speak about ; and it so often 

 happens that we speak about things of 

 which we know nothing. But I must 

 confess that I never in my life have been 

 asked to speak upon something I knew 

 so little about as now, when I have been 

 asked to speak about aviation in Ger- 

 many, of which I know positively noth- 

 ing. 



The only experience which I ever had 

 and which promoted my knowledge of 

 aviation was not in Germany, but in 

 America, about two years ago, when the 

 long debates about the tariff kept us 



diplomats here in Washington until about 

 August. Our principal form of recre- 

 ation was to go over to Fort Myer and 

 see our distinguished fellow-guest of this 

 evening preparing for his test flight. I 

 remember one day very well that he was 

 kind enough to show me his machine in 

 all details. I tried to understand as much 

 as I could ; but, to my great humiliation — 

 we must not have been alone when he 

 was teaching me — I remember the next 

 morning seeing in a local newspaper that 

 Mr. Wilbur Wright had tried to explain 

 his machine to the German Ambassador, 

 who did not seem, however, to under- 

 stand anything about it. 

 ' Speaking of aviation in Germany, I 

 may say that it has developed of late 

 very much, which is perhaps sufficiently 

 proved by the fact that Prince Henry, 

 the brother of our Emperor, has gained 

 a certificate as a pilot. One other proof 

 out of many recollections I can give of 

 the development of aviation in Germany 

 is that only eight years ago I was coming 

 home from a trip in Switzerland, and we 

 crossed the Lake of Constance. When 

 we came to the shore I saw a very great 

 garage, which nobody seemed to know 

 the use of. There was one person on the 

 ship who was clever enough to tell us 

 that that was a garage in which a mad 

 fellow named Zeppelin was building a 

 ship in which he hoped to be able to 

 travel in the air. Last year, only eight 

 years later, when I came across that same 

 lake, I saw this same supposed madman 

 crossing over the lake with about 20 

 people in his airship. 



Germany has been particularly success- 

 ful in developing the type of airships 

 which are known under the names of 

 Zeppelin, Parsival, and Gross. In the 

 beginning the Zeppelin airship, with its 

 rigid envelope, created the greatest en- 

 thusiasm, but since a reaction of public 

 opinion has set in on account of several 

 accidents which these airships have suf- 

 fered. I believe, however, that this re- 

 action is not justified. In consequence 

 of the first successes which these airships 

 had, the great aeronauts forgot that to- 

 day the success of a trip in the air 



