51 “taken his stand in shining armor”: Spender, Asquith, I, 248
52 “Russia was stiff”: Grey, Twenty-Five Years, I, 181
53 “I have been assured”: ibid., 182
54 “Germany told us”: Bing, 236, 239–40
55 “This is my war!”: Mansergh, 136
Chapter 33
The Navy Scare of 1909
1 “Strategic requirements”: Woodward, 98
2 “As you know”: McKenna, 65
3 “a preponderance of ten percent”: Woodward, 244
4 “a practical certainty”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 154
5 “My dear Grey”: McKenna, 71
6 “My dear Prime Minister”: ibid., 72
7 “I will not dwell”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 159
8 “I found the Admiralty’s figures”: Churchill, World Crisis, I, 37
9 “The Admiralty mean to get”: Randolph Churchill, II, 498
10 “What are Winston’s reasons”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 160
11 “The economists are in a state”: McKenna, 79
12 “I think it shows”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 161
13 “We are placing”: McKenna, 82
14 “is rejected either in the Commons”: ibid., 81
15 “I do not see how”: ibid., 82
16 “nothing less than eight ships”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 163
17 “No matter what the cost”: The Times, March 17, 1909
18 “We want eight”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 167
19 “Citoyens”: ibid.
20 “reincarnation of Marshal Le-Boeuf”: ibid.
21 “since Nero fiddled”: ibid., 168
22 “In the opinion of this House”: ibid.
23 Grey’s speech is taken from Woodward, 230–34
24 “In the end”: Churchill, World Crisis, I, 37
25 “There is no half-way house”: Woodward, 220
26 “According to information”: ibid., 217
27 “I think it would be better”: ibid., 218
28 “We have got to have a margin”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 164
29 “His Majesty the Kaiser”: ibid., 177
30 “start of building”: ibid., 178
31 “How all this scare would vanish”: FGDN, II, 235
32 “Until November last”: Woodward, 238
33 “Nonsense!”: ibid.
34 “Winston, Churchill, Lloyd, and George”: FGDN, II, 227
35 “very sore”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 170
36 “If the Government”: ibid., 156
37 “without prejudice”: ibid., 171
38 “In the light of what actually happened”: Churchill, World Crisis, I, 37
Chapter 34
Invading England
1 “I know of nothing”: Marder, Anatomy, 65
2 “free-booting enterprise”: ibid., 372
3 “The Empire, stripped of its armor”: ibid., 377
4 “Unless our Navy”: ibid., 378
5 “The only difficulty we see”: ibid., 380
6 “Invasion may be an off-chance”: ibid., 78
7 “A great defensive army”: ibid.
8 “Not thirty army corps”: ibid.
9 “As to a stronger Regular Army”: ibid.
10 “not an eventuality”: The Times, May 12, 1905
11 “I have no hesitation”: Hynes, 40
12 “luminous”... “quite perfect in form and language”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 380
13 “The Navy... is the 1st, 2nd, 3rd...”: Marder, Anatomy, 65
14 “I am too busy to waste my time”: Marder, Scapa Flow, I, 181
15 “You might as well talk”: Fisher, Records, 91
16 “When the German Emperor”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 380
17 “Refuse to be served”: Marwick, 50
18 “envy of England’s great Empire”: Clarke, 109
19 “this sceptred isle”... “this fortress built by Nature”: Richard II, II, I
20 “without losing the perfectly courteous tone”: Clarke, 110
21 “would involve this country”: ibid., 111
22 “The great increase in prosperity”: ibid., 113
23 “We might, despite all our precautions”: ibid., 112
24 “A couple of thousand men”: ibid.
25 “the tube of steel”: ibid., 124
26 “The course... was about west”: Childers, 262
27 “the wind humming into the mainsail”... “the persuasive song”... “the noble expanse”: ibid., 50, 89
28 “‘Here’s this huge empire’”: ibid., 80
29 “sun-burnt, brine-burnt”: ibid., 99
30 “‘We’re a maritime nation’”: ibid., 97
31 “I die full of intense love”: ibid., 7
32 “It is not true”: ibid.
33 “The pride of these English”: Le Queux, 340
34 “too horrible to here describe”: ibid., 534
35 “had we adopted his scheme”: ibid., 333
36 “the catastrophe that may happen”: ibid., opp. p. vi
37 “not keep to remote, one-eyed”: Clarke, 145
38 “Most of these men”: ibid., 148
39 “military men from a foreign nation”: ibid., 152
40 “Lord Roberts’ repeated statements”: Maurice, 256
41 “a strong, aristocratic government”: Le Queux, 542
42 “to be judged by the good sense”: Hynes, 42
43 “Bah! What does that matter?”: ibid., 47
Chapter 35
The Budget and the House of Lords
1 “The cure for the House of Lords”: quoted in Willoughby de Broke, 256
2 “An obscure and doubtless a useful existence”: Dangerfield, 42
3 “We were all out hunting”: Willoughby de Broke, 244
4 “the man in the street”: Barker, 158
5 “the great Unionist Party”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 44
6 “It is essential”: Newton, 353
7 “not the watchdog”: Spender, Campbell-Bannerman, II, 358
8 “The resources of the House of Commons”: Newton, 357
9 “a first class funeral”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 69
10 “slain by the stiletto”: Dangerfield, 16
11 “I shall have to rob”: Amery, VI, 934
12 “to raise money”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 78
13 “something between incomparable drama”: Dangerfield, 22
14 “We sank into a pit”: ibid.
15 “Only one stock”: Bernstein, 111
16 “A fully equipped duke”: Magnus, 430
17 “The question will be asked”: ibid.
18 “a swooping robber gull”: Asquith, Fifty Years, 82
19 “the croakings of a retired raven”: ibid., 83
20 “I think my friends”: ibid.
21 “firm as a rock”: Jenkins, 199
22 “Amendment by the House of Lords”: Asquith, Fifty Years, 83
23 “an omnipotent House of Commons”: Willoughby de Broke, 259
24 “a breach of the constitution”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 88
25 “If you gentlemen”: Willoughby de Broke, 265
26 “We have got them”: Barker, 162
27 “We shall not assume office”: Lee, II, 670
28 “if the Lords fail”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 98
29 “I myself do not see”: Magnus, 440
30 “Really, it is too bad”: Lee, II, 686
31 “till we all nearly screamed”: Ponsonby, 255
32 “the head of the British Empire”: Bülow, II, 475
33 “My God, he is dying!”: Pless, 176
34 The account of King Edward’s death is taken from Lee, II, 714–18; Magnus, 455–66; Ponsonby, 270
35 “that horrid Biarritz”: Ponsonby, 271
36 “I have lost my best friend”: Magnus, 456
37 “The world [is] not the same”: Barker, 84
38 “the death of Edward VII”:
Bülow, III, 98
39 “the death of the ‘Encircler’”: William II, My Memoirs, 124
40 “I am deeply grieved”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 100
41 “I felt bewildered”: ibid.
42 “The entire royal family”: William II, My Memoirs, 124
43 The Kaiser’s descriptions of the funeral are in ibid., 124, 126
44 “many talks”: Spender, Asquith, I, 282
45 “Looking into the future”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 392
46 “Yes, sir”: Margot Asquith, III, 212
47 “Dear Lord Lansdowne”: Asquith, Fifty Years, II, 111
48 “Let them make their peers”: Dangerfield, 44
49 “invariably objected on principle”: Newton, 361
50 “solemn duty to God and country”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 396
51 “Even if I am alone”: Dangerfield, 52
52 “I agree with Lord Lansdowne”: Newton, 426
53 The account of the attack on Asquith in the Commons is drawn from Dangerfield, 55–58, and issues of The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily News, and The Daily Chronicle of July 25, 1911
54 “For God’s sake, defend him”: Margot Asquith, III, 216
55 “I am not going to degrade myself’: Dangerfield, 57
56 “pure bluff”: ibid., 63
57 “I have to say”: ibid.
58 “boiling with rage”: ibid., 65
59 “Traitor!”... “Judas!”: ibid.
60 “The cataracts, the pines, and the precipices”: Tuchman, Proud Tower, 402
61 “quite unusually odious”: Blanche Dugdale, II, 61
Chapter 36
The Eulenburg Scandal
1 “the internal condition of Germany”: Newton, 372
2 “PRUSSIAN COURT SCANDALS”: The Times, October 24, 1907
3 “It is false and foolish”: Balfour, 276
4 “I could never put into words”: Haller, I, 10
5 “torment of unfair, narrow-minded, and coarse-natured”: ibid., 14
6 “terribly boring”: Hull, 50
7 “Her conversation was negligible”: ibid.
8 “I enjoy family life little”: ibid., 51
9 “My official career”: Haller, I, 27
10 “dear Phili”: ibid., 30
11 “I shall take care”: Bülow, IV, 490
12 “used to enliven our evenings”: William II, My Early Life, 196
13 “He was one of those”: ibid., 197
14 “my bosom friend”: Hull, 202
15 “it was like a flood of sunshine”: William II, My Early Life, 197
16 “has become a radiance”: Haller, I, 75
17 “I will lay among my most treasured gifts”: ibid., 42
18 “that Prince William”: ibid., 41
19 “He was very pale”: Röhl, 189
20 “Phil was so excited”: Bülow, I, 194
21 “It was very useful”: Haller, I, 31
22 “So you are going to be in Bayreuth”: ibid.
23 “Your influence on His Majesty”: ibid., 73
24 “I would never have dreamed”: Isabel Hull, “Kaiser Wilhelm and the ‘Liebenberg Circle,’” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 205
25 “If I feel a certain degree”: Haller, I, 124
26 “Your letter of today”: ibid., 132
27 “The Emperor has never touched me”: ibid., 187
28 “would impair my influence”: ibid., 218
29 “I agree with you”: ibid., 219
30 “I soon fell under the spell”: Bülow, IV, 492
31 “The friend who has been”: ibid.
32 “I have a great longing”: Haller, II, 3
33 “Nothing will ever be able”: ibid., 5
34 “in the depths of our souls”: ibid., 4
35 “A poor barndoor fowl”: ibid., I, 217
36 “I—not as a friend”: ibid. 70
37 “We cannot be sufficiently thankful”: ibid., I, 87
38 “Bernhard is the most valuable”: ibid., II, 6
39 “Bülow will be my Bismarck”: ibid., 7
40 “on our boundless love”: Röhl, 159
41 “Your Majesty will allow me”: ibid., 159
42 “As a personality”: Haller, II, 35
43 “You are our dear good sovereign’s”: ibid., 37
44 “One of the best things”: ibid., 38
45 “wrinkled, prematurely aged”: Röhl, “The Emperor’s New Clothels,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 43
46 “told me with feverish agitation”: Bülow, I, 520
47 “love for his Majesty”: ibid., 708
48 “Ten years of uphill work”: ibid., 694
49 “sweet, affected piety”: Hull, 131
50 “At a certain age”: ibid.
51 “men who in their sensitivity”: ibid.
52 “As Phili will never come to me”: Haller, II, 148
53 “This floating theatre”: Bülow, I, 708
54 “My dear Phili”: ibid., II, 321
55 “I am now free”: Hull, 130
56 “a matter of life and death”: Haller, II, 174
57 “exchange pistol shots”: ibid.
58 “literally collapsed into his chair”: ibid.
59 “for God’s sake and the Emperor’s”: ibid.
60 “Prince Eulenburg having assured me”: ibid., 175
61 “I cannot say”: ibid.
62 “nothing but good people”: Isabel Hull, “Kaiser Wilhelm II and the ‘Liebe3nberg Circle,’” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 193
63 “unhealthy, late Romantic”: ibid.
64 “with unflagging zeal”: ibid.
65 “For years”: ibid.
66 “Never shall I forget”: Crown Prince William, 15
67 “I insist that Philip Eulenburg”: Bülow, II, 346
68 “The loss of an old imperial friendship”: ibid.
69 “I know myself”: ibid.
70 “I was convinced”: ibid., 322
71 “Disgusting orgies”: The Times, October 25, 1907
72 “thought he recognized”: ibid.
73 “in the interests of our whole country”: Wile, 197
74 “Between that man and me”: ibid.
75 “In these painful circumstances”: Bülow, II, 347
76 “begging me”: ibid., 343
77 “As the highest official”: ibid., 344
78 “considered the practices in question”: ibid., 349
79 “I have never done anything dirty”: Hull, 138
80 “Could you ever have believed”: Haller, II, 222
81 “Besides, if anything of the kind”: ibid., 242
82 “Harden sent 145 printed accusations”: Bülow, III, 30
83 “in the long period of 34 years”: Haller, II, 326
84 “Only one thing”: Bülow, III, 30
85 “My dear Phili”: ibid., 32
86 “abnormal instincts”: ibid., 31
87 “perilous inclination”: ibid.
88 “erotic integrity”: ibid., II, 323
89 “An obvious comparison”: ibid., III, 33
90 “Prince Eulenberg is not fit”: Haller, II, 269
91 “It has been a very difficult year”: Balfour, 276
92 “Poor Phili”: Hull, 145
93 “absolutely innocent”: Isabel Hull, “Kaiser William II and the ‘Liebenberg Circle,’” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm II: New Interpretations, 218
Chapter 37
The Daily Telegraph Interview
1 “good sport in the dear old park”: Lee, II, 546
2 “My head hit the ground”: Bülow, II, 337
3 “bronchitis and acute cough”: Lee, II, 554
4 “I cannot say how upset I am”: ibid., 555
5 “there is little doubt”: BD, VI, 88
6 “The worst of it is”: Bülow, II, 338
7 “The German squa
dron”: The Times, November 12, 1907
8 “It seems like coming home”: ibid.
9 “For a long time”: Lee, II, 557
10 “Sunshine and breeze”: The Times, November 14, 1907
11 “BLUT 1ST DICKER ALS WASSER”: ibid.
12 “Sixteen years ago”: Lee, II, 558
13 “next to General von Einem”: Haldane, Autobiography, 221
14 “I said I knew”: Haldane, Before the War, 48
15 “I will give you the ‘gate’”: ibid.
16 “giving us a ‘gate’”: ibid., 49
17 “I feel myself an intruder”: ibid., 50
18 “I wish to express my satisfaction”: Gooch, History of Modern Europe, 434
19 “It is bound to have”: ibid.
20 “the visit of the German Emperor”: Jonathan Steinberg, “The Kaiser and the British,” in Röhl and Sombart, Kaiser Wilhelm 11: New Interpretations, 138
21 “Our King makes a better show”: Esher, II, 255
22 “The great British people”: ibid., 278
23 “Overwhelmed with work”: Bülow, II, 375
24 “on no account forward it”: Spender, Fifty Years, 318
25 “Without the slightest suspicion”: Bülow, II, 376
26 The précis of the Daily Telegraph Interview is drawn from Holstein Papers, I, 203–207
27 “more than any previous manifestation”: Bülow, II, 376
28 “And haven’t you learned”: ibid., 393
29 “I am not in a position”: ibid., 395
30 “To a newcomer like myself”: BD, VI, 217
31 “Never before in Prussian history”: Jarausch, 59
32 “it will be impossible”: ibid.
33 “If Your Majesty is displeased”: E.T.S. Dugdale, III, 313; DGP, XXTV, 179
34 “He was... as he always was”: Bülow, II, 397
35 “Go ahead”: ibid.
36 “His trustful, childlike attitude”: ibid.
37 “The wish that in future”: ibid., 404
38 “For the mistake”: Gooch, History of Modern Europe, 441
39 “Gentlemen, the knowledge”: Bülow, II, 409
40 “When, amid a roar of cheering”: ibid., 410
41 “In view of the Kaiser’s indiscretions”: Holstein Papers, I, 190
42 “We have a population”: Cowles, 269
43 “He was longing”: Bülow, II, 398
44 “Did you, as people are saying”: Holstein Papers, I, 190
45 “If you met Kaiser William”: Balfour, 291
46 “The two days here”: Cowles, 264