Europe has not forgotten. She is busy for the moment setting her own house in order for the supreme conflict which her leaders foresee with the advance of the dangerous heresy of people claiming the right to govern themselves.
The Emperor of Germany sounds the keynote in an address to his magnificent army--The Divine Right of Kings was never so boldly proclaimed by any ruler of the world. He speaks the last word of Imperial Culture to Modern Democracy:
“_We Hohenzollerns hold our crown from God alone. Who opposes me I shall crush to pieces!_”
The American Republic is but a lusty youth of untried strength among the nations of earth. The real battle between the Crown and the People for the mastery of the world is yet to be fought. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty today as yesterday and forever.
The liveried flunkey entered the stately library and bowed:
He scarcely breathed the words. In every tone spoke the old servile humility of the creature in the presence of his creator the King. He might have said, “Sire.” His voice, his straight-set eyes, his bowed body, did say it.
His master continued the conversation with the two men without lifting his head. He merely flung the order with studied carelessness:
The servant bowed low, pressed the electric switch, and softly left the room, walking backward as before royalty.
The two men with Charles Waldron in his palatial house in New York passed the incident apparently without knowledge of its significance. An American-born boy of fourteen, seeing it twenty-five years ago, would have wondered where on earth the creature came from. Of one thing he would have been certain--this flunkey could not have been made in the United States of America. Within the past quarter of a century, however, the imported menial has become one of our institutions and he is the outward sign of a momentous change within the mind of the class who have ruled our society.
The crown-embossed electric lantern above the massive table in the center of the room flooded the gold and scarlet cloth with light.
Waldron with a quick gesture of command spoke sharply:
The two men instinctively brought their heels together and took seats within the circle of light. The master of the house paused a moment in deep thought before the stately Louis XIV window looking out on the broad waters of the Hudson.