young recruits, in which, to put it mildly, there was preached a
very high theory of the royal and imperial prerogative, and a
very exacting theory of the duty of the subject. Little account
was taken by distant observers of the fundamental facts in the
case; namely, that Germany, being a nation with no natural
frontiers, with hostile military nations on all sides, and with
serious intestine tendencies to anarchy, must, if she is to live,
have the best possible military organization and a central power
strong to curb all the forces of the empire, and quick to hurl
them. Moreover, these speeches, which seemed so absurd to the
average American, hardly astonished any one who had lived long in
Germany, and especially in Prussia. The doctrines laid down by
the young monarch to the recruits were, after all, only what they
had heard a thousand times from pulpit and school desk, and are a
logical result of Prussian history and geography. Something, too,
must be allowed to a young man gifted, energetic, suddenly
brought into so responsible a position, looking into and beyond
his empire, seeing hostile nations north, south, east, and west,
with elements of unreason fermenting within its own borders, and
feeling that the only reliance of his country is in the good
right arms of its people, in their power of striking heavily and
quickly, and in unquestioning obedience to authority.

In the history of American opinion at this time there was one
comical episode. The strongholds of opinion among us friendly to
Germany have been, for the last sixty years, our universities and
colleges, in so many of which are professors and tutors who,
having studied in Germany, have brought back a certain love for
the German fatherland. To them there came in those days a curious
tractate by a little-known German professor--one of the most