Heligoland was obtained in exchange for Zanzibar in 1890, and is now regarded by Germans much as Gibraltar or Malta is regarded by Englishmen.  The first Kiel regatta, due solely to the initiative of the Emperor, and starting the development of sport in all fields which is a feature of modern German progress, ethical and physical, was held in 1894.  The Caprivi commercial treaties were concluded within the period.  The Kiel Canal, connecting the Baltic and North Sea, and giving the German fleet access to all the open waters of the earth, was opened in 1895.  In 1896 the Kruger telegram testified to imperial interest in South African developments.  The Hamburg-Amerika Line now sent a specially fast mail and passenger steamer across the Atlantic.  The district of Kiautschau was leased from China in 1898, securing Germany a foothold and naval base in the Far East.  In the same year the modern Oriental policy of the Empire was inaugurated by the Emperor’s visit to Palestine and his declaration in the course of it that he would be the friend of Turkey and of the three hundred millions of Mohammedans who recognized the Sultan as their spiritual head.  To this year also belongs the measure, the most important in its consequences and significance of the reign hitherto, the passing of the First Navy Law.  Finally, in 1899 Germany acquired the Caroline Islands by purchase from Spain, and certain Samoan Islands by agreement with England and America.

Nothing was more natural as a result of the new world-policy than a change in the mental outlook of the people.  It inaugurated in Germany an era somewhat analogous to the era inaugurated in England by the widening and brightening of the Englishman’s horizon under Elizabeth.  The analogy may not be closely maintainable throughout, but, generally speaking, just as the eyes of Englishmen suddenly saw the possibilities of expansion disclosed to them by Drake, Raleigh, and Frobisher, so the Emperor’s appeals, with the pursuance of German colonial policy and the attempt to develop Germany’s African possessions, led to an awakening in Germany of a similar, if weaker, kind.  To this awakening the building of the German navy contributed; and though it did not appeal to the German imagination as did the deeds of the old navigators to that of Elizabethan Englishmen, it widened the national outlook and fired the people with new imperial ambitions.  Hitherto, moreover, Germany’s attention had been confined almost solely to trade within continental boundaries:  henceforth she was to do business actively and enterprisingly with all parts of the world.

The Emperor’s thoughts on the subject were expressed in January, 1896, at a banquet in the Berlin palace given to a miscellaneous company of leading personalities of the time.  The occasion was the celebration of the twenty-fifth year of the modern Empire’s foundation.  He said: