The Kaiser's fiftieth birthday is commemorated in a "Soliloquy in Berlin," in which the Emperor boasts of having swept aside Bismarck and repressed the "too clamorous people" by police, prison or exile, and defends his impulsive loquacity against his critics. The King must know best, and "while all the discontented loose their tongues and rave against him, shall the King be still?" Moreover, he claims to have kept the world from war:-- And I have kept the peace. Was that well done? I know not, but I know I kept the peace, I, whose blood boiled to hear the clash of swords, At whose command a million men would spring Obedient to the conflict; I, whose soul was made for glorious battle, who could lead Ten thousand thundering horsemen to the charge, Have kept the peace, while others urged to war. [Illustration: "MUMMY, WHAT'S THAT MAN FOR?"] Simultaneously _Punch_ illustrates the growing patriotic fervour at home. Golfers are becoming shy of being detected on their way to or from the links by men in uniform. And _Punch_ praises _An Englishman's Home_ as a "wonderful play," in which the case for national service is presented "with rare tact, and void of offence even to the most violent anti-militarist." Indeed, he goes so far as to admit that the author's advocacy is impaired by his making the vulgar cheerful young "slacker" delightfully human, while the good young patriot is too stagey and talkative. German aggressiveness is illustrated in the cartoon showing the German sailor adopting our "Jingo" song, the copyright having expired. Editorially, though obliquely, _Punch_ deplores the subservience of vital questions of foreign policy to party questions, and gives special praise to Sir Edward Grey. "Prenderby," who impersonates a detached view, pleads for a Coalition Cabinet--a Ministry of all the patriots. In the spring of 1909 Mr. Asquith figures as the Night Watchman who cries "All's well," but John Bull from his window replies: "So you say. All the same, I shall sit up for a bit." This was the time of the cry for more _Dreadnoughts_: "We want Eight and we won't wait." The vote of censure on the Government for their inadequate naval preparations was rejected by 353 votes to 135, and _Punch_ satirized the Labour Party's idea of battleships in a pictorial representation of H.M.S. _Inoffensive_, _Innocuous_, etc. It is curious to find in another of _Punch's_ editorial dialogues one of the speakers constantly harping on what might happen in 1914 when _Dreadnoughts_ would be obsolete; while the happy-go-lucky attitude of the average subaltern towards a possible war is expressed in the wish attributed to one of them: "Let's hope it will come between the polo and the huntin'." Lord Roberts's National Service Bill was thrown out in the Lords in July by a narrow majority. _Punch's_ artist is most frankly honorific to Lord Roberts; but the summary of the debate given