Now the efforts of the government and the Imperial Chancellor to induce me to abdicate began. Drews, the Minister of the Interior, came to me at the behest of the Chancellor, in order to supply me with information concerning the spirit in the country. He described the well-known happenings in press, high finance and public, and Jaid emphasis on the fact that the Imperial Chancellor hia: self had adopted no attitude toward the question of my abdication, but, nevertheless, had sent; him to me. Drews, in short, was well-nigh to suggest to me that 1 j myself should decide to abdicate, n order that it might not appear that the government had exerted pressure upon me.
I spoke to the Minister about the fateful consequence of my abdication and asked how he, as a Prussian official, could reconcile such a supposition with his oath as an official to his King. The Minister grew embarrassed and excused himself by reference to the command of the Imperial Chancellor, who had been unable to find; any other man for the task. 1 was informed later that Drews was one of the first officials who spoke of the abdication of his master and King.
I refused to abdicate and declared that I would gather troops together and return with them in order to help the government to maintain order in the land.
After that, Drews was received, in my presence, by Field Marsha! yo! Hindenburg and General Gréner, whom he informed of the mission entrusted to him by the Imperial Chancellor and by both of whom he was very sharply re-huked in the name of the army. Gréner's characterization of Prince Max, in particular, was expressed in such plain terms that I had to appease and comfort the Minister.
The Field Marshal also called Drews' attention to the fact that, in the event of my abdication, the army would not go on fighting, but would disperse, and that the majority of the officers, in particular, would probably resign and thus eave the army without leaders.
Soon after that I learned from one of my sons that the Imperial Chancellor had tried to ascertain whether he was prepared to undertake the mission which subsequently was undertaken by Drews, My son indignantly declined to suggest abdication to his father.
In the meantime, I had sent the Chief of Cabinet, von Delbriick, to Berlin, in order to lay before the Chancellor a general address, also intended for publication, which should take the place of my address to the Minister (not published by the Chancellor), deal more broadly with the matters taken up therein, and make clear my attitude toward the government and toward the new direction taken by public opinion. At first the Chancellor failed to publish this. Not until several days later did he find himself forced to permit publication, owing to a letter written to him, as I learned afterward, by the Empress.
Thereupon Herr von Delbriick informed me that the address had made a good impression in Berlin and in the press; relieved the situation, and tended to quiet the people, so that the idea of abdication had begun to disappear and even the Socialists of the Right had decided to postpone action concerning it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.