558– 572.
ence public opinion to support unpopular measures. The histo
rian receives with caution the actual statements made, although he finds in the inspired interview a valuable record of the conditions
that make it possible. Men in authority are alert to notice changes in the public pulse and an interview given may be quickly repudiated , or disavowed if it is felt to be too divergent from public opinion . The repudiated interview may be true to fact, yet it can not stand as authoritative
if it is denied by the person giving it. Officials are often dominated
by “ the man higher up " and compelled to repudiate interviews they have given in good faith . M . de Blowitz obtained an inter view with Count Münster concerning the retirement of Bismarck , but a month after it had appeared in the London Times it was re
pudiated by the Count. Hewas attacked by the German press for granting the interview , although its facts seem not to have been questioned , and the attack led to the repudiation. At times information may reach the press that the interview
that has been obtained is objectionable, unreasonable, or untrue, and hence it may be suppressed. But the suppressed interview may return to bring discredit to the person interviewed as well as confusion to the historian . In 1908 , Emperor William gave to W . B . Hale a most outspoken interview de omnibus rebus et qui busdam aliis. The Century Magazine announced in its issue of
November, 1908, the early appearance of the interview in its pages,but it did not appear, having apparently been suppressed at the insistent request of the German Foreign Office.
The German Foreign Office was at that time particularly sen sitive to the official indiscretions of the Emperor since he had
recently given an impetuous interview to an English reporter who had written a flattering article about him . The interview
was published in the Daily Telegraph, October 28, 1908, and was designed to conciliate England , but its chief result was to anger Germany where it led to innumerable controversies and investiga
tions. In 1896, the Emperor had sent a congratulatory telegram 8 H . de Blowitz , Memoirs, pp. 292- 306. 9 An account is given in the New York Tribune, December 17 , 1917, and in following issues , to February 10, 1918 . The final word seems to have been said by W . W . Ellsworth , “ The Suppressed Interview with the German
Emperor,” The Golden Age of Authors, pp. 283-293.
