We have an interesting and, as we venture to think,
a very pleasing announcement to make to our readers. With our issue dated September 18th, and with the six following issues, we shall publish a Supplement containing a translation of the most interesting portions of a book entitled My Early Life which has just been written by the ex-German Emperor. The Spectator has bought the British serial rights of this book, and except in the Spectator none of the ex-Kaiser's autobiography will appear in Great Britain until it is published in book form by Messrs. Methuen later in the year. After reading the book we can honestly say that it is a document of extreme interest. It deals with the author's life up to the time when he became Emperor. This being so, there will be no question of our having to perform the disagreeable duty of traversing the statements of such a book as the ex-Kaiser would undoubtedly write if he were defending his War policy. My Early Life has nothing to do with the War. It has historical importance because it describes the methods by which a German Emperor was trained. We see here the beginnings of the process which ended in disaster. The author is perfectly frank. He gives his opinions of his contem- poraries, including his relations. He describes fully his father's tragic illness and writes indignantly of the medical treatment, incidentally involving a famous English name. He describes his first brushes with Bismarck and his own foreshadowing of a naval policy. Each supplement will be in effect a booklet which will provide our readers with a great deal to entertain and inform them apart from the ordinary reading in the Spectator which will keep, of course, to its usual form and size.
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