As will be evident from subsequent addresses, it was the Emperor who everywhere gave the initial impulse. Whether or not he involved himself in contradictions here, the student must decide. To certain of his subjects he appeared to be doing so, and it was for this reason that one of his hostile critics, Doctor Liman, tells us in bitterness that German politics of the last twenty years is "a fantastic mixture of tearful longing for peace and an inflated desire for prestige." ("Der Kaiser," p. 317.) The present empire had been proclaimed on the 18th of January, 1871, and the anniversary marked the crowning celebration of the year. In his speech the Emperor announces that "The German Empire has become a world-empire." This may be said to provide the key to his subsequent policy and to mark the dawning of a new era. The address was delivered at a dinner held in the Royal Palace. The present day, like the entire year in all its festivities, is a day of grateful retrospect. It is a continued high festival of gratitude for and in commemoration of the great departed Emperor. A blessing rests upon the present day, and over it hovers the spirit of him who lies in Charlottenburg,[10] and of him who sleeps in the Friedenskirche.[11] What our fathers had hoped and what German youth in her dreams had sung and desired it was granted to them, the two Emperors, to achieve; working with the princes, it was granted to them to reconquer and re-establish the German Empire. We are privileged gratefully to enjoy its advantages; we have a right to rejoice on the present day. Nevertheless, it is our earnest duty to maintain what the great lords have won for us. The German Empire has become a world-empire. Everywhere in distant quarters of the earth thousands of our countrymen are living. German guardians, German science, German industry are going across the sea. The value of what Germany has upon the seas amounts to thousands of millions. It is your earnest duty, gentlemen, to help to bind this greater German Empire firmly to our ancestral home. The vow which I made you to-day can become truth only if you are animated by a united patriotic spirit and grant me your fullest support. It is my wish that, standing in closest union, you help me to do my duty not only to my countrymen in a narrower sense but also to the many thousands of countrymen in foreign lands. This means that I may be able to protect them if I must. It is with this wish, and deeply conscious of the injunction which is issued to us all--"What you have inherited from your fathers, conquer it in order that you may possess it"--that I raise my glass to our beloved German Fatherland and call out: Long live the German Empire!--once again, may it live!--and a third time, long live the Empire! [10] Emperor William I. [11] Emperor Frederick III. TO THE RECRUITS FOR THE NAVY WILHELMSHAVEN, FEBRUARY 21, 1896