After Divine Service, the Lehr Battalion marched in review and
then was given food and beer in long arbours constructed in front
of the palace. While the men were eating, the Emperor and Empress
and Princes passed among the tables, speaking to the soldiers.
We then went to the new palace where in the extraordinary hall
studded with curious specimens of minerals from all countries,
a long table forming three sides of a square was set for about
sixty people. Colonel House and I sat directly across the table
from the Emperor, with General Falkenhayn between us. The Emperor
was in a very good mood and at one time, talking across the table,
said to me that the Colonel and I, in our black dress-suits,
looked like a couple of crows, that we were like two undertakers
at a feast and spoiled the picture. After luncheon the Emperor
had a long talk with Colonel House, and then called me into the
conversation.

On May twenty-sixth, I arranged that the Colonel should meet
von Tirpitz at dinner in our house. We did not guess then what
a central figure in this war the great admiral was going to be.
At that time and until his fall, he was Minister of Marine, which
corresponds to our Secretary of the Navy Department, and what
is called in German _Reichsmarineamt_. The Colonel also
met the Chancellor, von Jagow, Zimmermann and many others.

There are two other heads of departments, connected with the
navy, of equal rank with the Secretary of the Naval Department
and not reporting to him. These are the heads of the naval staff
and the head of what is known as the Marine Cabinet. The head
of the naval staff is supposed to direct the actual operations
of warfare in the navy, and the head of the Marine Cabinet is