Draft -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- Defenses; World War, 1914-1918
[2] Prussian policy appears to be modelled upon the human body. Just
as man is endowed with a duality of certain organs--eyes, nostrils,
lungs, kidneys, etc.--so Prussian policy appears to proceed upon the
principle of a double diplomatic representation, two separate Foreign
Office departments, etc., etc. It is no doubt an excellent plan to
have a second string to your bow; but it is not yet clear how far this
can be carried with advantage in delicate negotiations without
destroying confidence in your sincerity.
[3] A labour leader, highly impressed by the spectacle, gave a vivid
description of an equestrian parade through the streets of Berlin after
the declaration of war--the Kaiser in helmet of gold, seated on his
white charger, frowning terribly, in a kind of immobility, as if his
features had been frozen into this dramatically appropriate
expression--following behind him in a carriage the Crown Prince and
Princess, all vivacity and smiles, and bows to this side and the
other--a remarkable contrast!
It is interesting to contrast the ornate and flamboyant being whom we
know as Kaiser Wilhelm the Second with Carlyle's famous description of
the great Frederick:--
"A highly interesting lean little old man, of alert though slightly
stooping figure; whose name among strangers was King Friedrich the
Second, or Frederick the Great of Prussia, and at home among the common
people, who much loved and esteemed him, was _Vater Fritz_,--Father
Fred,--a name of familiarity which had not bred contempt in that
instance. He is a King every inch of him, though without the trappings
of a King. Presents himself in a Spartan simplicity of vesture; no
crown but an old military cocked-hat,--generally old, or trampled and
kneaded into absolute _softness_, if new;--no sceptre but one like
Agamemnon's, a walking-stick cut from the woods, which serves also as a
riding-stick (with which he hits the horse 'between the ears' say
authors);--and for royal robes, a mere soldier's blue coat with red
facings, coat likely to be old, and sure to have a good deal of Spanish
snuff on the breast of it; rest of the apparel dim, unobtrusive in
colour or cut, ending in high over-knee military boots, which may be
brushed (and, I hope, kept soft with an underhand suspicion of oil),
but are not permitted to be blackened or varnished; Day and Martin with
their soot-pots forbidden to approach.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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