As a testimony to the industry of the Fatherland, after the diligent labors of the imperial dockyards, this vessel now stands before us ready to be given over to its element. Thou shalt now be enrolled in the German navy. Thou shalt serve in the protection of the Fatherland to bring defiance and annihilation to the enemy. The names of the ships which belong to the same class are taken from the old Germanic sagas. Therefore thou also shalt hark back to the ancient time of our ancestors, to the powerful divinity who was worshipped and feared by all our German seafaring forefathers and whose mighty realm stretched from the north even unto the south pole, in whose province the northern battles were fought, and whence death and destruction were brought into the land of the enemy. Thou shalt bear the name of this great and mighty god. Mayst thou prove thyself worthy of it! So do I christen thee with the name of _Ægir_. VISIT TO BISMARCK FRIEDRICHSRUH, MARCH 26, 1895 Historians of modern Germany have discussed and explained in various ways the causes of the retirement of Bismarck, the "Iron Chancellor." From the moment he became "Minister President and Minister of Foreign Affairs," in 1862, his hand was the hand that guided German policy, and his was the genius that presided over and shaped the unification of Germany and the building of the empire. It has been truly said that the biography of Bismarck is the history of German union. He had been born in Brandenburg and spent his life in the service of the Prussian Kings. It was he who in the dark days preceding the victories of the sixties had given William I heart and had prevented him from giving up his task. It was, therefore, a great shock to the German world to learn that, two years after the accession of William II, the great founder of German unity had been forced into retirement. There had been rumors of previous disagreements. The German Chancellor is responsible not to the Reichstag but solely to the Emperor; he takes the responsibility of shaping the imperial policy. It was said that Bismarck resented certain interference with his authority in his own cabinet. It is certain that he looked with disfavor on the Emperor's policy with regard to labor legislation. With regard to the attitude toward Russia there was likewise disagreement, and Bismarck opposed the Emperor's visit to Constantinople. But aside from these questions of policy, there were deep psychological incompatibilities. Crabbed age and romantic youth could not live together. Furthermore, the Emperor wished to take the credit for initiating and carrying through his own policies. He was not content to be a shadow king. Bismarck, after nearly forty years of service, was not willing to be a puppet chancellor. He insisted on the form of cabinet government decreed in 1852. The Emperor's