arena at Schildorn where spectacles after the ancient manner will be
given. These, according to William, are intended to afford instruction
to the masses as well as to the classes. A very fitting conclusion this,
to the fears which he has expressed about seeing the youth of the German
schools working too hard and overloading its memory. For the same
reason, no doubt, he has made Von Sedlitz Minister of Public
Instruction--it is an unfortunate name--an individual who has never been
to College, who has never studied at any University, and who only
attended school up to the age of twelve.

Now, it seems, William II is bored with the Palace of his forefathers.
For the next two years he is going to establish his Imperial Residence at
Potsdam; consequently all his ministers and high officials are compelled
to reside partly at Potsdam. His mania for change leads him to destroy
the historic character of the old castle; his scandalised architects have
been ordered to restore it in modern style. And Berlin, his faithful
Berlin, is abandoned. It is said that at a gala dinner the other day the
Emperor uttered these words: "The Empire has been made by the army, and
not by a parliamentary majority." But it is also said that Bismarck
observed to the Conservative Committee at Kiel: "It is best not to touch
things that are quiet, best to do nothing to create uneasiness, when
there is no reason for making changes. There are certain people who seem
singularly upset by the craving to work for the benefit of humanity." It
requires no special knowledge to interpret this sentence as a thinly
veiled criticism of the character of William II.



May 12, 1891. [8]