ite of
being autocratic to the last degree, he is honest, courageous,
ambitious, hard working, and, withal, a thorough German, being
intensely patriotic. Indeed, if the people of the Fatherland had the
right to vote for a sovereign, they would undoubtedly choose the
present constitutional ruler, for, while the virtues we have named may
seem commonplace, they are not so when embodied in an emperor. One
thing which places William at a disadvantage is his excessive
frankness, which is, in him, almost a fault, for if he couched his
utterances in courtly or diplomatic phrases, they would pass
unchallenged, instead of being cited to ridicule him. His mistakes
have largely resulted from his impulsive nature coupled with
chauvinism, which is, perhaps, justifiable, or, at least, excusable,
in a ruler.

Since the time when William was a child he evidenced a strong desire
to become acquainted with the details of the office to which his lofty
birth entitled him. It is doubtful if any king since the time of
Frederick the Great has studied the routine of the public offices and
has made such practical inspections of industries of all kinds;
indeed, there is hardly a man in Germany who has more general
knowledge of the material development of the country.

In the army he has worked his way up like any other officer and has a
firm grasp on all the multifarious details of the military
establishment of the great country. He believes in militarism, or in
force to use a more common expression, but in this he is right, for it
has taken two hundred and fifty years to bring Prussia to the position
she now holds, and what she has gained at the point of the sword must
be retained in the same way. The immense sacrifices which the people
make to support the army and navy are deemed necessary for
self-preservation, and with France on one side and Russia on the
other, there really seems to be ample excuse for it. To-day the German
army is as ready as in 1870, when Von Moltke walked down the Unter den
Linden, the day after hostilities were declared, looking in the shop
windows.

No ruler, except possibly Peter the Great, ever gave so many _ex
cathedra_ opinions on so many different subjects in the same length of
time, and of course it cannot be supposed that he has not made
mistakes, but it shows that it is only by prodigious industry that he
has been able to gather the materials on which these utterances are
based. He is indeed the "first serva