My Four Years in Germany | Page 8

court
nobles or those connected with the government.
A very interesting character whom I met during the first winter and
often conversed with, was Prince Henkel-Donnersmarck. Prince

Donnersmarck, who died December, 1916, at the age of eighty-six
years, was the richest male subject in Germany, the richest subject
being Frau von Krupp-Böhlen, the heiress of the Krupp cannon foundry.
He was the first governor of Lorraine during the war of 1870 and had
had a finger in all of the political and commercial activities of Germany
for more than half a century. He told me, on one occasion, that he had
advocated exacting a war indemnity of thirty milliards from France
after the war of 1870, and said that France could easily pay it--and that
that sum or much more should be exacted as an indemnity at the
conclusion of the World War of 1914. He said that he had always
advocated a protective tariff for agricultural products in Germany as
well as encouragement of the German manufacturing interests: that
agriculture was necessary to the country in order to provide strong
soldiers for war, and manufacturing industries to provide money to pay
for the army and navy and their equipment. He made me promise to
take his second son to America in order that he might see American life,
and the great iron and coal districts of Pennsylvania. Of course, most of
these conversations took place before the World War. After two years
of that war and, as prospects of paying the expenses of the war from the
indemnities to be exacted from the enemies of Germany gradually
melted away, the Prince quite naturally developed a great anxiety as to
how the expenses of the war should be paid by Germany; and I am sure
that this anxiety had much to do with his death at the end of the year,
1916.
Custom demanded that I should ask for an appointment and call on
each of the Ambassadors on arrival. The British Ambassador was Sir
Edward Goschen, a man of perhaps sixty-eight years, a widower. He
spoke French, of course, and German; and, accompanied by his dog,
was a frequent visitor at our house. I am very grateful for the help and
advice he so generously gave me--doubly valuable as coming from a
man of his fame and experience. Jules Cambon was the Ambassador of
France. His brother, Paul, is Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
Jules Cambon is well-known to Americans, having passed five years in
this country. He was Ambassador to Spain for five years, and, at the
time of my arrival, had been about the same period at Berlin. In spite of
his long residence in each of these countries, he spoke only French; but

he possessed a really marvellous insight into the political life of each of
these nations. Bollati, the Italian Ambassador, was a great admirer of
Germany; he spoke German well and did everything possible to keep
Italy out of war with her former Allies in the Triple Alliance.
Spain was represented by Polo de Bernabe, who now represents the
interests of the United States in Germany, as well as those of France,
Russia, Belgium, Serbia and Roumania. It is a curious commentary on
the absurdity of war that, on leaving Berlin, I handed over the interests
of the United States to this Ambassador, who, as Spanish minister to
the United States, was handed his passports at the outbreak of the
Spanish-American war! I am sure that not only he, but all his Embassy,
will devotedly represent our interests in Germany. Sverbeeu
represented the interests of Russia; Soughimoura, Japan; and Mouktar
Pascha, Turkey. The wife of the latter was a daughter of the Khedive of
Egypt, and Mouktar Pascha himself a general of distinction in the
Turkish army.
An Ambassador must keep on intimate terms with his colleagues. It is
often through them that he learns of important matters affecting his
own country or others. All of these Ambassadors and most of the
Ministers occupied handsome houses furnished by their government.
They had large salaries and a fund for entertaining.
During this first winter before the war, I saw a great deal of the German
Crown Prince as well as of several of his brothers.
I cannot subscribe to the general opinion of the Crown Prince. I found
him a most agreeable man, a sharp observer and the possessor of
intellectual attainments of no mean order. He is undoubtedly popular in
Germany, excelling in all sports, a fearless rider and a good shot. He is
ably seconded by the Crown Princess. The mother of the Crown
Princess is a Russian Grand Duchess, and her father was a Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She is a very beautiful woman made popular
by her affable manners. The one defect