After the founding of the German Empire Prince Bismarck, who initiated and carried through many of the policies which brought great prosperity to the German people, was looked upon with much favor and enjoyed great popularity. Emperor William II, as has been noted, dismissed him from his post as Imperial Chancellor in the second year of his reign. His attitude toward Bismarck has already been discussed (March 26, 1895). In most of his speeches which recount the progress of the empire the Emperor is strangely silent about this great figure in German history. When Bismarck died, however (July 30, 1898), the Emperor immediately interrupted his journey into the north and returned on the second of August to pay his respects at the bier of the first Imperial Chancellor in Friedrichsruh. On the same day he issued the following statement which appeared that evening in the special edition of the _Reichsanzeiger_. It is noticeable that on this occasion the Emperor speaks of his grandfather as "William the Great." His tendency to set his ancestors upon lofty pedestals and to praise them somewhat extravagantly finds expression in many of the speeches. He was very desirous of having his grandfather called by this title, and here as everywhere took the initiative. His lead, however, was not generally followed. When the city of Hamburg erected a monument to William I the pedestal was left without an inscription. This has been explained by the fact that they were unwilling to say, "William the Great," and afraid to say merely, "William I." With my lofty peers and with the whole German people I stand in mourning at the bier of the first Chancellor of the German Empire, Prince Otto von Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg. We who were witnesses of his masterly work, who looked upon him as the master of statecraft, as the fearless champion in war as in peace, as the most devoted son of his Fatherland and most faithful servant of his Emperor, are deeply shaken by the demise of the man in whom the Lord God created the implement with which to carry into effect the deathless idea of Germany's union and greatness. At this moment it is not fitting to recount all the deeds which the great departed accomplished, all the cares which he bore for the Emperor and the empire, all the successes which he won. They are too powerful and manifold, and only history can and will engrave them upon her brass tablets. But I feel constrained to make some expression before the world of the whole-hearted grief and grateful reverence which to-day fill the entire nation and, in the name of the nation, to make a vow that what he, the great Chancellor, built up under Emperor William the Great I shall maintain and develop and, if need be, defend with our possessions and our blood. In this may the Lord God help us! I commission you to bring to public attention this, my decree.