. What was the state of our army at the beginning of
the century? The glorious army of Frederick the Great had
gone to sleep on its laurels, ossified in pipeclay details,
led by old, incapable generals, its officers shy of work,
sunk in luxury, good living, and foolish self-satisfaction.
In a word, the army was no longer not only not equal to its
task, but had forgotten it. Heavy was the punishment of
Heaven, which overtook it and our folk. They were flung into
the dust, Frederick's glory faded, the standards were cast
down. In seven years of painful servitude God taught our
folk to bethink itself of itself, and under the pressure of
the feet of an arrogant usurper (Napoleon) was born the
thought that it is the highest honour to devote in arms
one's life and property to the Fatherland--the thought, in
short, of universal conscription."

The word for conscription, it may be here remarked, is in German
_Wehrpflicht_, the duty of defence. To most people in England it means
simply "compulsory military service." It is important to note the
difference, as it explains the German national idea, and the Emperor's
idea, that all military and naval forces are primarily for defence,
not offence. This is, indeed, equally true of the British, or perhaps
any other, army and navy; but how many Englishmen, when they think of
Germany, can get the idea into the foreground of their thoughts or
accustom themselves to it?

However, we have not yet done with the Emperor's baffling character.
There was a third element that now developed in it--the modern, the
twentieth-century, the American, the Rockefeller element. It is
intimately connected with his Weltpolitik, as his Weltpolitik is with
his foreign policy in general--indeed one might say his Weltpolitik is
his foreign policy--a policy of economic expansion, with a desperate
apprehension of losing any of the Empire's property, and a
determination to have a voice in the matter when there is any loose
property anywhere in the world to be disposed of. To the Hebraic
element and the warrior element (an entirely un-Christlike
combination, as the Emperor must be aware) there now began to be added
the mercantile, the modern, the American element--the interest in all
the concerns of national material prosperity, in the national
accumulation of wealth, the interest in inventions, in commercial
science, in labour-saving machiner