Lampoon the King
Caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 1888-1918.
An accomplished and respected American Navy captain speaks out of turn, but, in so doing, gives voice to sentiments shared widely by the public. Rule books say such conduct necessitates disciplinary action; yet the man has become a hero to many and his punishment would serve to widen the breach between the people and their government. A wise commander in chief handles the matter quickly and with delicacy, preserving the man’s career and reputation while enforcing military discipline.
Is that man Captain Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt? No. The man was Captain Joe Coghlan, the commanding officer of the USS Raleigh during the Spanish-American War of 1898. President William McKinley’s finesse in handling the Joe Coghlan incident 130 years ago is a lesson in wise leadership that offers guidance in resolving the Crozier affair.
For Coghlan, the trouble started with a clownish German king and a Canadian newspaperman who liked to write rhymes.
The silly little ditty, “Hoch Der Kaiser” [hail the Kaiser], began making the rounds in the English-speaking press shortly after it was published in the Montreal Herald newspaper in October 1887. The poem, written by newspaper reporter, A. Rose McGregor, for the Herald and originally entitled “Kaiser & Co.,” lampooned the pompous Kaiser Wilhelm II, then King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, following the Kaiser’s speech on the devine right of kings and his own special mission on Earth.
“[W]e, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their material and intellectual interests." — Kaiser Wilhelm II
Official portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1902.
Long on self-importance, short on good judgment, and convinced of his devine right to rule, Kaiser Wilhelm aimed to make Germany a world power by establishing a network of overseas colonies defended by a vast German navy that would rival the navy of his maternal grandmother, Britain’s Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria holds her first grandchild, Willy [Kaiser Wilhelm II], 1864.
“I look upon the people and nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God… [T]hose who try to interfere with my task I shall crush." — Kaiser Wilhelm II
Kaiser Wilhelm’s grandiose, imperial ambitions threatened the world order of the late nineteenth century; and his clownish antics and lavish military costumes provided rich material for comedians and critics of the day. It didn’t take long for McGregor’s derisive poem to sweep America on a growing wave of anti-German sentiment.
“Der kaiser of dis fatherland, Under Gott on high, all dings command. Ve two—ach, don't you understand? Meinself—und Gott.
“Vile some men sing der power divine. Mein soldiers sing "Der Wacht am Rhein," And drink der health in Rheinish wine Of Me—und Gott.
“Dere's France, she swaggers all aroundt— She's ausgesspieldt (“played out”). To much we think she don't amount— Meinself—und Gott.
“She vill not dare to fight again; But if she shouldt, I'll show her blain, Dot Elsass (vich vas, in French, Lorraine), Are mein—und Gott.
“Dere's grandma (Queen Victoria) dinks she's nicht small beer, Midt Boers und such she'd interfere; She'll learn none owns dis hemisphere But me—und Gott.
“She dinks, good frau, some ships she's got, Und soldiers mit der scarlet goat, Ach, we could knock them—pouf! like dot, Meinself—mit Gott.
“In dimes of peace, brebare for wars. I bear the spear and helm of Mars, Und care not for den dousand czars— Meinself—mit Gott.
“In fact, I humor every whim, With aspect dark and visage grim; Gott pulls mit me und I mit him— Meinself—und Gott.”
Caricatures of “Kaiser Bill” would proliferate in American music, film and newspapers for the next twenty years, reaching their high point with America’s entry into World War I in 1917.
Czar Nicholas II of Russia (second from the right) and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (on the right), third cousins descended from Queen Victoria, on a wild game hunt in Germany, 1910.
When Captain Joseph B. Coghlan, commanding officer of the celebrated USS Raleigh, rose to address the Union League Club of New York on April 21, 1899, at a banquet given for the ship’s officers, the audience calls for a lively recitation of Hoch der Kaiser were not out of step for the times. In fact, Coghlan’s stand-off with the Imperial German Fleet in Manila Bay, Philippines, the year before, at the start of the Spanish-American War, made the poem’s recital and its mockery of Kaiser Wilhelm seem quite appropriate.
Captain J.B. Coghlan and his wife, standing right, below deck on the USS Raleigh.
There had been a major naval battle at Manila Bay in May 1898 that had pitted the Spanish Pacific fleet, described as a group of old, out-of-date warships, against a well-armed, modern American fleet whose preparation for war, including the appointment of Commodore George Dewey as fleet commander, had been directed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt.
Officers of the USS Raleigh on deck; Captain Coghlan is seated, center. 1898.
The USS Raleigh, under Captain Coghlan’s command, had fired the first shot at Manila Bay and her crew was credited for routing several Spanish strongholds on shore. The Raleigh, the first ship of Dewey’s victorious American Asiatic Fleet to return home, received a hero’s welcome as she steamed into New York Harbor the following April.
“[P]ermit me to congratulate you upon the very brilliant victory you achieved over a naval force nearly equal to your own and backed by extensive shore batteries of very heavy guns, and thus without the loss of a single life. History points to no greater achievement.” — Report of Engagement at Manila Bay, May 4, 1898, by Captain J.B. Coghlan and Commodore George Dewey.
With the U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War a few months later, the U.S. acquired control over the Philippines, extinguishing Spain’s claim to the islands and precluding territorial claims on the Philippines by Germany or any other naval power. Coming in the midst of a naval arms race among world powers, the quick, casualty-free American naval victory in Manila Bay proved the might of the U.S. Navy in the eyes of the American public.
“Indeed, it was a great work which Admiral Dewey’s squadron did for the navy and for the country almost a year ago… [T]he American Navy…showed itself the equal, in scientific knowledge, in trained skill, and in disciplined courage of any fleet in the world.” — New York Times, April 16, 1899.
USS Raleigh, a U.S. Navy cruiser commissioned in 1894, under the command of Captain J.B. Coghlan.
The naval engagement, heavily reported by American newspaper reporters embedded with the fleet, had ocurred ten weeks after an explosion in Havana harbor, thought to have been caused by Spain, had sunk the battleship USS Maine with a loss of 260 American sailors. The Philippine naval engagement had been the first major battle of the Spanish-American War; and the American victory there answered the national cry for revenge.
“Remember the Maine,” sheet music, 1898.
At the time of the Manila Bay naval engagement, there were German civilians and businesses operating in the Philippines and rumors that Kaiser Wilhelm was considering intervening in the Spanish-American War on Spain’s behalf. Germany already had colonies on the Pacific islands of New Guinea and Samoa and was rumored to be in negotiations with anti-Spanish Philippine revolutionaries about establishing a German protectorate there. But the American naval victory had made that outcome impossible.
Commodore George Dewey with his dog, Bob, on board his flagship, the USS Olympia, 1898.
After defeating the Spanish fleet, Commodore Dewey ordered a naval blockade of Manila harbor. Several nations with citizens living in the Philippines sent naval vessels to protect them, including Germany, whose large naval squadron was under the command of Vice Admiral Otto Von Diederichs. While other nations complied with Dewey’s orders regarding the blockade of Manila harbor, Germany did not.
Vice Admiral Otto Von Diederichs, commander of the German fleet in Manila Bay.
Von Diederichs and his German crew engaged in repeated flagrant violations of Dewey’s blockade. Von Diederichs sent provisions to Spaniards trapped in Manila and entertained Spanish ladies on board the German ships. German officers visited Spanish and Filipino outposts. Von Diederichs took up residency in the Manila home of a Spanish officer. German soldiers occupied the lighthouse of Manila and conducted onshore drills.
Concerns grew that the large German fleet had hostile intentions in the Philippines; and Kaiser Wilhelm’s previous declarations regarding his desire for a powerful German navy underscored this worry.
“Only those Powers which have great navies will be listened to with respect when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if for that reason only Germany must have a powerful fleet." — Kaiser Wilhelm II
When one of Von Diederich’s ships refused to acknowledge signals from a U.S. vessel that it was to be boarded for inspection and instead continued sailing, the U.S. vessel fired a shot across its bow. Von Diederichs then sent an officer to Dewey’s flagship to lodge a complaint. Coghlan was on board Dewey’s ship at the time and, along with Dewey, confronted the German officer.
In a heated exchange, Dewey threatened war if Germany refused to honor the American naval blockade. Coghlan, standing alongside Dewey, seconded Dewey’s threat. The German officer swiftly backed down and withdrew his large fleet from Manila harbor.
Admiral George Dewey, November 1899.
Dewey’s threat and the German capitulation was widely reported in the world press; and the entire story would be repeated again, years later and with some elaboration, at the time of Coghlan’s death:
“As Coghlan told the story [at the Union League banquet in 1899], the German aid [sic] came on board Dewey’s ship and lodged a complaint about the stopping of German vessels when they attempted to enter Manila Harbor. ‘Tell your Admiral that those ships must stop when I say so. I wish to make this blockade complete,’ Dewey told the aid, according to Coghlan. ‘But we fly the German flag,’ replied Von Diederich’s aid. ‘Those flags can be bought for half a dollar a yard anywhere,’ Dewey retorted, ‘And now you tell your Admiral and be sure to say explicitly that it comes from me, that the slightest infraction of any of my rules will mean only one thing. If you people are ready to fight you can have it at any time.’” — New York Times, December 6, 1908.
Reports say Coghlan told the story of Dewey’s threat to the German officer with glee, to the great delight of his banquet audience; and Coghlan delivered his amusing version of Hoch der Kaiser in response to the clamor of his audience for a hearty recital of the poem.
Coghlan’s banquet speech was widely reported in American and European newspapers. The German press fanned flames of nationalistic outrage at Coghlan’s conduct and lodged a complaint with the McKinley administration. For a time, Captain Coghlan, unfortunately, became the most famous officer in the U.S. Navy; and questions were raised about the need for disciplinary action in order to quell German anger.
USS Raleigh in Philadelphia Harbor, April 1899.
But Coghlan was an American hero. His actions in Manila Bay were a point of pride for an American public that had sought revenge for the Maine and harbored anti-German sentiment. Some speculated that the international incident Coghlan had caused put his naval career in jeopardy; but McKinley resolved the matter quickly, to everyone’s satisfaction.
Coghlan writes to the Navy Secretary. Four days after the Union League Club banquet, Coghlan wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, claiming that reports of his speech had been exaggerated in the press.
McKinley gives Germany something it had long sought. On the same day as Coghlans’ letter, McKinley approved the installation of a new transatlantic cable between Germany and the U.S. The cable, long sought by Germany, would be completed in 1900 and proved to be highly successful. [Before 1907, all intercontinental telecommunications used submarine telegraph cables. Britain owned many of these cables outright; and many foreign-owned cables passed through Britain or its colonies. British firms also held controlling interests in companies that operated the land lines in Europe and the trans-pacific cable. This control gave Britain the ability to read and block foreign telegrams worldwide, a power that Britain first exercised during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. This power was a threat to Germany, but having its own German cable reduced the threat.]
The Navy Secretary issues a formal reprimand of Captain Coghlan for “certain references to Germany in a recent speech.”
McKinley publicly supports Coghlan. Within days of Coghlan’s banquet speech, McKinley and the Navy Secretary visited the Raleigh in Philadelphia harbor and congratulated Coghlan, the officers and crew on their role in the battle of Manila Bay.
President McKinley and Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long board the USS Raleigh in Philadelphia Harbor, April 1899.
In short:
Coghlan ate a small slice of humble pie.
The Navy got pieces of paper for its files that showed it had responded to an officer’s infraction.
Germany’s outrage was quelled with a gift.
The public saw its president shake the hand of its hero, Joe Coghlan.
President McKinley.
Peace with Germany; retention of the services of a dedicated sailor; and fidelity with the American people; all within one week.
Thank you, President McKinley.
Now, let’s do this for Captain Crozier.
Thanks for reading.
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[The illustrations were drawn by Jessie A. Walker and appear in the book, “Hoch Der Kaiser,” written by A. McGregor Rose and published in 1900 by The Abbey Press, New York.]