Note 176 — Chapter V

In January, 1896, the Emperor had sent the famous telegram to President Krueger of the Transvaal which was regarded by the British as showing a desire to take the Boers under Germany’s wing. On Dec. 6, 1897, Bülow in his first speech before the Reichstag as secretary of state for foreign affairs declared: “The days are past when the German left to one neighbor the earth, to another the sea, and reserved for himself the air. . . . . We do not wish to place anyone in the shadow, but we demand also our place in the sun” (Bülow, Reden, I, 7 f.). In 1898 the first important navy bill was passed by the Reichstag. On September 23, 1898, the Emperor declared, “Our future lies on the sea” (G. P. Gooch, History of Modern Europe, 1878-1919 [New York, 1923], pp. 225 ff.). These were merely a few examples of Germany’s changed interests.