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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Schemes of the Kaiser, by Juliette Adam,
+Translated by J. O. P. Bland
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Schemes of the Kaiser
+
+
+Author: Juliette Adam
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 9, 2006  [eBook #17737]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCHEMES OF THE KAISER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE SCHEMES OF THE KAISER
+
+From the French of Juliette Adam
+
+by J. O. P. Bland
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+E. P. Dutton & Company
+1918
+Printed in Great Britain
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
+
+More fortunate than the majority of the prophets who cannot speak
+smooth things, Madame Adam has lived to find honour in her own country:
+_La grande Française_ has come into her own.  God willing, she should
+live to see that _revanche_ for which, through good and evil report,
+she has laboured unceasingly these forty-five years, to see the
+arrogant Prussian humbled to the dust and Alsace-Lorraine restored to
+France.  1917, she firmly believes will revenge and reverse the tragedy
+of 1871.  More fortunate than the great British soldier who spent his
+veteran days in warning his countrymen of the ordeal to come, Madame
+Adam, now in her eighty-first year, may yet hope to see the banners of
+the Allies crowned with victory, the black wreaths on the statue of
+Strasburg in the Place de la Concorde changed to garlands of rejoicing.
+
+There have been dark days in these forty-five years, times when, even
+to herself, the struggle for _la patrie_ seemed almost a forlorn hope.
+It was so at the time of the Berlin Congress in 1878, when, after his
+visit to Germany, Gambetta abandoned the idea of _la revanche_.  It was
+so in 1891, when she realised that the influence of Paul Déroulède's
+Ligue des Patriotes had ceased to be a living force in public opinion,
+when France had become impregnated with false doctrines of
+international pacifism and homeless cosmopolitanism, when (as she wrote
+at the time) there were left of the faithful to wear the forget-me-not
+of Alsace-Lorraine only "a few mothers, a few widows, a few old
+soldiers, and your humble servant."  But never, even in the darkest of
+dark days, was the flame of her ardent patriotism dimmed.  After her
+breach with Gambetta, determined not to be defeated by the Government's
+abandonment of a vigorous anti-German policy of preparation, she
+founded the _Nouvelle Revue_, to wage war with her brain and pen
+against Bismarck and the ruler of Germany.  The objects with which she
+created that brilliant magazine, as explained by herself to Mr.
+Gladstone in 1879, were threefold--"to oppose Bismarck, to demand the
+restoration of Alsace-Lorraine, and to lift from the minds of young
+French writers the shadow of depression cast on them by national
+defeat."  The fortnightly "Letters on Foreign Politics" which she
+contributed regularly to the _Nouvelle Revue_, for twenty years were
+not only persistently and violently anti-Teuton: they became a powerful
+force in educating public opinion in France to the necessity for an
+effective alliance with Russia, and to the cause of nationalism, in the
+Balkans, in Egypt, and wherever the liberties of the smaller nations
+were endangered by the earth-hunger of the great.  She disliked and
+feared the policy of colonial expansion inaugurated by Gambetta and
+pursued by Jules Ferry, because she felt that it must weaken France in
+preparing for the great and final struggle with Teutonism which she
+knew to be inevitable.  Thus, when Ferry requested her to cease from
+attacking Germany, she defied him, assuring him that nothing less than
+imprisonment would stop her, and that no honour could be greater than
+to be imprisoned for attacking Bismarck.
+
+Juliette Adam has always been intensely sure of herself and her
+opinions.  She has the virile fighting spirit of a super-suffragette.
+"Always out of rank," as Gambetta described her, "Madame Intégrale" has
+displayed throughout her political and literary work a contempt for
+compromise of every kind, which occasionally leads her into untenable
+positions and exaggerations.  Like her friend George Sand, she has ever
+been an inveterate optimist and in the clouds, and this defect of her
+very qualities has tended to make her proficient in the gentle art of
+making enemies.  Thus she broke with Anatole France for espousing the
+cause of Dreyfus, because, in spite of her keen sense of justice, she
+identified the Army with France and was instinctively opposed to Jews,
+because she regarded their "cosmopolitan" influence as incompatible
+with patriotism.  For her, all things and all men have been subordinate
+to the sacred cause, to her watch-word and battle-cry of _Vive la
+France_!  Nobly has she laboured for France, confident ever in the
+_renaissance_ of _la Grande Nation_, and of her country's final
+triumph.  And to-day her unswerving faith is justified, and her life
+work has been recognised and crowned with honour in her own land.
+
+With one exception, all the articles collected in this book have been
+taken from Madame Adam's "Letters on Foreign Politics" in _La Nouvelle
+Revue_.  Together they constitute a remarkable testimony to the
+political foresight and courage of _la grande Française_, and an
+equally remarkable analysis of the policy and character of Germany's
+ruler.
+
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+Modesty is out of fashion nowadays: what is wanted is the glorification
+of every kind of courage.  That being so, I hold myself entitled to
+claim a Military Cross, for my forty-five years of hand-to-hand
+fighting with Bismarck and with William the Second, and to be mentioned
+in despatches for the past.
+
+JULIETTE ADAM.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+1890
+
+
+William II, the "Social Monarch"--What lies beneath his declared
+pacifism--His journey to Russia--The German Press invites us to forget
+our defeat and become reconciled while Germany is adding to her army
+every day.
+
+
+April 12, 1890. [1]
+
+What an all-pervading nuisance is William!
+
+To think of the burden that this one man has imposed upon the
+intelligence of humanity and the world's Press!  The machiavelism of
+Bismarck was bad enough, with its constant demands on our vigilance,
+but this new omniscient German Emperor is worse; he reminds one of some
+infant prodigy, the pride of the family.  Yet his ways are anything but
+kingly; they resemble rather those of a shopkeeper.  He literally fills
+the earth with his circulars on the art of government, spreads before
+us the wealth of his intentions, and puffs his own magnanimity.  He
+struggles to get the widest possible market for his ideas: 'tis a petty
+dealer in imperial sovereignty.
+
+There is nothing fresh about his wares, but he does his best to
+persuade us that they are new; one feels instinctively that some day he
+will throw the whole lot at our heads.  I am quite prepared to admit
+that, if he had any rare or really superior goods to offer, his
+advertising methods might be profitable, but William's stock-in-trade
+has for many years been imported, and exported under two labels, namely
+the principles of '89 and Christian Socialism.
+
+The German Emperor has mixed the two, after the manner of a
+prentice-hand.  His organ, the _Cologne Gazette_, with all the honeyed
+adulation of a suddenly converted opponent, [2] has called this mixture
+"Social Monarchism."  Therefore, it seems, the German Emperor is
+neither a constitutional sovereign nor a monarch by divine right.  He
+has restored Caesarism of the Roman type, clinging at the same time to
+the principle of divine right--and the result is our "Social Monarch"!
+
+Rushing headlong on the path of reform--full steam ahead, as he puts
+it--he is prepared to change the past, present and future in order to
+give happiness to his own subjects.  But France is likely to pay for
+all this; sooner or later some new rescript will tell us that the
+valley of tribulation is our portion and inheritance.
+
+It is one of his ambitions to put an end to class warfare in Germany.
+To this end he begins, with his usual tact, by denouncing the
+capitalists (that is to say; the wealth of the middle class) to the
+workers, and then holds up the scandalous luxury of the aristocracy in
+the army to the contempt of the bourgeois.
+
+One of his most brilliant and at the same time most futile efforts, is
+his rescript on the subject of the shortage of officers for the army.
+As the army itself is steadily increasing every day, it should have
+been easy in each regiment for him, gradually and quite quietly, to
+increase the number of officers drawn from the middle-class; indeed,
+the change would have practically effected itself, for the Minister of
+War had a hundred-and-one means of bringing it about.  But this
+rescript has put a check on what might otherwise have been a natural
+process of change, and unless William now settles matters with a high
+hand, it will cease.  In every regiment the aristocracy provides the
+great majority of officers; bourgeois candidates for admission to the
+service are liable to be black-balled, just as they might be at any
+club; it is now safe to predict that they will henceforward be regarded
+with less favour than ever, and that generals, colonels, majors and the
+rest will form up into a solid phalanx, to prevent the Emperor's
+platonic _protégés_ from getting in.
+
+William II appeals to the higher ranks of officers, who are tradition
+personified, to put an end to tradition.  It is really wonderful what a
+genius he has for exciting cupidity in one class and resistance in the
+other.  And he has done the same thing with the working class as with
+the army.
+
+What a strange riddle his character presents--this quietist, this
+worshipper of an angry and a jealous God, with a mania for achieving
+the happiness of his people in the twinkling of an eye!  A strange
+figure, this Emperor of country squires, who despises the bourgeois and
+who threatens to despoil the aristocracy of the very privileges which
+have been the safeguard of the Hohenzollerns' throne for centuries.
+
+These peculiarities are due to an occult influence which weighs on the
+mind of William II, an influence which, while it points the way to
+action, blinds him to its consequences.  The dead hand is upon him!
+
+Frederick III, that liberal, bourgeois monarch, compels his
+reactionary, Old-Prussian-school son, to do those things which he would
+have done himself, had he not been victimised by Bismarck and his pupil.
+
+I wonder whether the ever-mystical William II sometimes reflects on the
+ways by which God leads men into His appointed ways?  Such thoughts
+might do more to enlighten him than his way of gazing at the heavens in
+the belief that all the stars are his.
+
+There is one piece of advice that William's friends should give
+him--not to restore the sixty millions of Guelph money to the Duke of
+Cumberland.  This ultra-modern young Emperor will very soon have
+greater need of the services of the reptile Press than even Bismarck
+himself; for every one of his latest rescripts adds new public
+difficulties to the number of those secret ones which the
+ex-Chancellor, with his infinite capacity for intrigue, will hatch for
+him.
+
+Bismarck, of the biting wit, who accepts the title of Duke of
+Lauenburg, because, as he says, "it will enable him to travel
+incognito," sends forth from Friedrichsruhe winged words which sink
+deep into the mind of the people.  This phrase, for example, which sums
+up the whole of William's policy: "The Emperor has selected his best
+general to be Chancellor and made of his Chancellor a field marshal."
+And Bismarck begs his readers to insert the adjectives, good and bad,
+where they rightly belong.
+
+
+
+April 28, 1890. [3]
+
+Emperor William continues to increase the list of his excursions into
+every field of mental activity.  Intellectually divided between the
+Middle Ages and the late nineteenth century, it would seem as if he
+were trying to forget the infirmity of his one useless arm by assuming
+a prominent rôle modelled on men of action.  He tries to combine in his
+person the effects of extreme modernism with those of the days of
+Charlemagne.  Because of his very impotence, his desire to grasp and
+clasp all history is the fiercer, and this emphasises and aggravates
+the cruelty he showed in relegating Bismarck to compulsory inaction.
+Just imagine if some power stronger than himself were to compel this
+ever restless monarch to quiescence!  What would be the cumulative
+effect of want of exercise at the end of a year?
+
+
+And just because the German Emperor is pleased, amongst the innumerable
+costumes of his wardrobe, to don that of a socialist sovereign, the
+same people who before 1870 believed in the liberalism of Bismarck, now
+believe in the socialism of William II.  They go on saying the same old
+things.  In different words they ask: "Isn't the young Emperor
+amusing?" (tis' a great word with us French people), and before long,
+they will be appealing to the gullible weaklings among us by suggesting
+"After all, why shouldn't he give us back Alsace-Lorraine?"  And thus
+are being sown the seeds of our national enervation.
+
+The dangers that threaten us from the hatred that the Prussian bears us
+are all the greater now that Germany is ruled by this man-chameleon.
+Let William do what he will, let him change colour as he likes, our
+hatred for Prussia remains unshaken and immutable.  But acquiescence in
+his performances will draw us into his orbit and expose us to those
+same dangers which he incurs, dangers which, were we wise, we should
+know how to turn to our own profit.
+
+
+
+May 12, 1890. [4]
+
+Amidst the ruins of his fallen fortunes, Bismarck can still erect a
+magnificent monument to his pride.  If the results pursued by his
+once-beloved pupil stultify the old man's immediate intentions, they
+constitute nevertheless a testimonial to the Bismarckian doctrine in
+its purest form, to those immortal principles based on lies and the
+exploitation of "human stupidity," which the ex-Chancellor raised to
+such heights in German policy, from the commencement of his career to
+the date of his fall.
+
+Let us, in the first place, inquire how it has come to pass that
+William II has been able to convince a certain number of people, either
+through their "human stupidity" or their cowardice, that he is striving
+for and towards peace, when every single act of his proves the
+opposite.  Is it enough that, because he declares himself a pacifist,
+men should go about saying "Thank God that he, who seemed most eager
+for war, now sings the praises of peace"?  And there are others who
+earnestly implore us to think no more or war "now that William of
+Germany no longer dreams of it."
+
+Now I ask, is there a single reason to be found, either in the
+tradition of his race, or in his own character, or in the logic of
+Prussian militarism, which can justify any clear-thinking mind in
+believing that William is a pacifist?
+
+During the past fortnight a pamphlet has been published in Germany
+under the title _Videant Consules_ (a pamphlet having all the
+appearance of a Berlin semi-official, or officious, document) which
+gives us the key (my readers will agree that I have already placed it
+in the lock) of William II's sudden affection for paths of peace.
+
+The illuminating pages of this work are written with the object of
+preparing the honorable members of the Reichstag to vote an annual
+credit of twenty millions (it is said that the Minister of War and the
+Chief of the General Staff originally asked for fifty).  This money
+will be asked for to provide 474 new batteries, to bring up to 700 the
+number of the German battalions on the Vosges frontier and to increase
+the peace footing strength of the army.  According to a statement made
+by William II, in his speech at the opening of the Reichstag, the
+special object of those twenty millions is to strengthen the defences
+of the eastern and western frontiers.
+
+_Videant Consules_ tells us that Bismarck created the Empire by war,
+but that his later policy threatened to destroy it by peace; for this
+reason the young Emperor deprived him of power.  According to this
+pamphlet, the ex-chancellor allowed France to recover and Russia to
+prepare her defences, whereas he should have crushed us a second time
+in order to have only one enemy--Russia--to deal with later on.
+
+Therefore, Germany's present task is to prepare in haste for the
+struggle against Russia and France united, and for this reason it
+behoves her (says _Videant Consules_) to increase her forces by a
+superhuman effort.  As matters stand, in spite of the Triple Alliance,
+in spite of the sympathy and support of Austria and Italy (ruinous for
+them) William II is by no means confident in the future success of his
+arms.
+
+Now this hero is not taking any chances.  In order that might may
+overcome right, he wants to be quite sure of superior numbers.  And
+this explains why the Emperor of Germany is a "pacifist" to-day!
+
+But things are likely to be different by October 1.  I would have the
+dupes of pacifism read carefully the following extract from his speech;
+if they remain deaf to its meaning, it can only be because, like the
+man in the fable, they do not wish to hear.
+
+"It is true," says the German Emperor, "that we have neglected none of
+the measures by which our military strength may be increased within the
+limits prescribed by the law, but what we have been able to effect in
+this direction has not been sufficient to prevent the changes which
+have taken place in the general situation from being unfavourable to
+us.  We can no longer postpone making additions to the peace footing of
+the army and to effective units, more especially the field artillery.
+A Bill will be brought before you which will provide for the necessary
+increase of the army to take place on the first of October of this
+year."
+
+According to _Videant Consules_, the last _favourable_ date for
+attacking France would have been in 1887.  Bismarck sinned beyond
+forgiveness in not provoking a war at that time.  More than that, his
+manoeuvres to undermine the credit of Russia and his policy of
+intimidation towards France, by exciting the hatred of both countries
+against Germany, only served to unite them.
+
+In the position in which he finds himself, William II has therefore no
+alternative; he must vastly increase his forces, while assuming the
+pacifist rôle.  He must pretend to be severe with the aristocracy of
+his army--the apple of his eye--and to be full of sympathetic concern
+for the welfare of the working classes and peasantry, whom he fears or
+despises, and who are nothing but cannon fodder to him.  And he does
+these things in order to sow seeds of mutual distrust between France
+and Russia.
+
+He will use every possible expedient of trickery and guile, and, even
+more confident than his teacher Bismarck in the eternal gullibility of
+human nature, he will exploit it for all it is worth.
+
+Take this example of our gullibility, as displayed in the question of
+passports for Alsace-Lorraine.  A section of the European Press, well
+primed for the purpose (the Guelph funds not having been restored, so
+far as we know, to their proper owner), continues unceasingly to
+implore William II to consent to a relaxation of the regulations in
+regard to these passports.  The idea is, that when our credulous fools
+come to learn that this relaxation has been granted, there will be
+absolutely no limit to their enthusiasm for him.  Already they speak of
+him good-naturedly as "this young Emperor."
+
+(Is it not so, that, every day, old friends whose rugged patriotism we
+thought unshakable, meet us with the inquiry, "Well, and what have you
+got to say now of this young Emperor?")
+
+This young Emperor piles falsehood upon falsehood.  If he permits any
+relaxation of the passport regulations, you may be perfectly certain
+that he will give orders that the _permis de séjour_ are to be more
+severely restricted than before.  Once a passport is issued, it is of
+some value; but the _permis de séjour_ is a weapon in the hands of the
+lower ranks of German officialdom, which they use with Pomeranian
+cruelty.  Every German bureaucrat in Alsace-Lorraine aims at preventing
+Frenchmen from residing there, at getting them out of the country; and
+nothing earns them greater favour in the eyes of their chiefs.
+Therefore, if this "young Emperor" is to be asked to grant anything,
+let it be a relaxation of the _permis de séjour_.
+
+To be allowed to _travel_ amongst the brothers from whom we are
+separated, can only serve to aggravate the grief we feel at not being
+allowed to _live_ amongst them.
+
+William's socialism is all of the same brand.  His first display of
+affection for the tyrant lower down was due to the fact that he used
+him to overthrow a tyrant higher up: it was the socialist voter who
+broke the power of Bismarck.  When we see William embarking upon so
+many schemes of social reform all at once, we may be sure that he has
+no serious intention of carrying out any one of them.  After having
+made all sorts of lavish promises to the industrial workers, he is now
+busy giving undertakings to make the welfare of the peasantry his
+special care!
+
+In his speech to the Reichstag there is no mention even of the one
+definite benefit that the workers had a right to expect--namely, a
+reduction of the hours of labour; but the threat of shooting "them in
+the back" reappears in a new guise.  William II warns the working
+classes of "the dangers which they will incur in the event of their
+doing anything to disturb the order of government."
+
+"My august confederates and I," adds the Emperor, "are determined to
+defend this order with unshakable energy."
+
+Delicious to my way of thinking, this expression "my august
+confederates."  Is there not something astounding about the use of the
+possessive pronoun in connection with the word "august," implying
+sovereignty?  One wonders what part can they have to play, these
+confederates, led and dominated by a personality as jealous and
+self-centred as this "young Emperor."
+
+There is only one thing about which William II really concerns himself,
+over and above his blind passion for increasing the forces of Germany,
+and that is, other people's morals--the morals of working men or
+officers.  The devil has always had his days for playing the monk.
+
+
+
+May 20, 1890. [5]
+
+Do my readers remember my last article but one, written at a moment
+when the whole Press was singing the praises of William the Pacifist,
+on the eve of the day when _The Times_ published its despatch,
+proclaiming the complete agreement between Tzar and Kaiser, the
+_entente_ that assures the world of the peace that shall come down from
+William's starry heavens?  It was then that I wrote--
+
+"Is there a single reason to be found, either in the traditions of his
+race, or in his own character, or in the logic of Prussian militarism,
+which can justify, any clear-thinking mind in believing that William is
+a Pacifist?"
+
+Hardly had that number of May 1 appeared when the German Emperor made
+his speech at Königsberg!  In his cups, the King of Prussia reveals his
+true nature, just as a champagne cork flies from a badly wired bottle.
+After giving expression once again to his animosity towards France, he
+borrows from us one of the famous dicta of Monsieur Prudhomme--
+
+"The duty of an Emperor," he declared, "is to keep the peace, and I am
+determined to do it; but should I be compelled to draw the sword to
+preserve peace, Germany's blows will fall like hail upon those who have
+dared to disturb it."
+
+Next, in the neighbourhood of the Russian frontier, he used the
+following provocative language: "I will not permit that any one should
+touch my eastern provinces and he who tries to do so, will find that my
+power and my might are as rocks of bronze."
+
+Sire, beware!  The God of the Hohenzollern will prove to you before
+long that your power and your might, those rocks of bronze, are no more
+in His hands than a feather tossed in the wind; He will show you that a
+tricky horse can unseat you, regardless of your dignity, when you take
+your favourite ride, the road to Peacock island, with your august
+brother-in-law.
+
+Say what you will, the Prussians have not yet acquired either wit or
+good taste!  There is proof of this not only in the speeches of William
+II at Konigsberg, but even more convincing, in that which was delivered
+before the Reichstag by that famous strategist, our conqueror de
+Moltke, on the subject of the proposed increase in the peace-footing
+effectives.
+
+One must read the whole speech to get an idea of the sort of nonsense
+that "honorable" Germans are prepared to listen to.  In urging the vote
+of credit, "the Victor" said: "Confronted with the fundamental problem
+of the army, the question of money is of secondary importance; for what
+becomes of your prosperous finances in war-time?"
+
+Having proved that conquerors are the greatest benefactors of the human
+race, M. de Moltke goes on to declare that it is not the rulers, but
+the peoples, who want war to-day.  In Germany, it is "the cupidity of
+the classes whom fate has neglected"; it is also the socialists who
+decline to vote more soldiers because they desire to trouble the
+world's peace and expect "to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives
+in the next war and to threaten the existence of morality and
+civilisation."
+
+I do not know whether my readers can make head or tail of this
+speech--I certainly cannot--but its intention is plain enough.  William
+II has been careful to emphasise it, by declaring that the increase in
+the peace strength of the army is intended to reinforce the eastern and
+western frontiers.  Several officious newspapers (we no longer call
+them reptile, but to do so would make them more authoritative) sum up
+the matter in these words--
+
+"The nearer the peace-footing of the troops on our frontiers approaches
+to war-strength, the more effectively these troops are provided with
+everything necessary to enable them to leave within _three hours_ of
+receiving marching orders, the more secure becomes Germany's position."
+
+Quite so!  By next October there will be 200,000 men in
+Alsace-Lorraine.  As you see, the new law adds to the security of
+Germany precisely what it takes from ours.
+
+
+
+June 12, 1890. [6]
+
+My readers will recollect that after a journey in Switzerland, two
+years ago, I proved by statements which could not be (and never were)
+refuted, that the Russian Nihilists established in Switzerland before
+the Federal Government's inquiry, were all either deliberate or
+unconscious tools of the German police.
+
+On the one hand, M. de Puttkamer, Minister of the Interior, unable to
+refute the evidence brought forward by the socialist deputy, Bebel, had
+then been compelled to confess that the socialist agitators Haupt and
+Schneider were his agents in Switzerland.  On the other hand, at the
+inquiry into the proceedings of these socialists, there was the
+evidence furnished by letters seized on Schmidt and Friedmann,
+associates of Haupt and Schneider, that Schmidt had been commissioned
+by M. Krüger of the Berlin Police to commit a crime.  In one of the
+seized letters, the following words were actually used by Krüger: "The
+next attempt upon the life of the Emperor Alexander must be prepared at
+Geneva.  Write to me; I await your reports." [7]
+
+Whenever the alleged liberalism of William II finds its expression in
+anything else but speeches, it is easy to take its measure.  He has
+just shown once more what it really amounts to, in the Treaty of
+Establishment with Switzerland, wherein restrictions are placed upon
+the issue of good moral character certificates by German parishes to
+their parishioners.  These will no longer be available to enable a
+German to take up his residence in Switzerland.  Henceforward it will
+be the business of the German Legation to pick and choose those whom it
+considers eligible to reside in Switzerland, either to practise a
+profession or to conduct an export business there.  It will be for
+Germany to decide whether or not her subjects are dangerous abroad.
+This would be well enough if it were only a question of restraining
+rogues, but it is anything but reassuring when we come to deal with the
+ever advancing phalanx of German spies.
+
+
+
+July 9, 1890. [8]
+
+It seems to me that this Wagnerian Emperor, pursuing his legends to the
+uttermost parts of the earth, is doing his utmost to darken our
+horizon.  Everywhere, always he confronts us, appearing on the scene to
+deprive us of the last remnants of good-will left to us in Europe.
+
+In the Scandinavian States, even after 1870, we had preserved certain
+trusty friendships: of these William II now tries to rob us.  He
+appears and, to use his own expression, draws men to him by magic
+strings.  To the people who are offshoots of Germany he figures as "the
+Emperor," unique, mysterious, he who goes forward in the name of the
+fables of mythology, gathering and uniting anew in his slumbering
+people the instincts of vassalage.  "Super-German virtues," he calls
+them, "ornaments of old-time Germany."  This monarch who, in his own
+land, is pleased to pose as a Liberal!
+
+Can it be that this same William who, on the Bosphorus held communion
+with the stars, who, writing to Bismarck, said, "I talk with God,"
+finds the celestial responses so inadequate that his mind must needs
+invoke a retinue of Teutonic deities?
+
+"Let the Latins, Slavs and Gauls know it," says he, "the German Emperor
+bears to Germans the glad tidings which promise them the sovereignty of
+the world!"
+
+Have not even the Anglo-Saxons bowed before the sovereign will of
+William II, so that before long the island of Heligoland will see the
+German flag floating over its rocky shores?
+
+Yes, let her Press and public men say what they will, proud Albion has
+delivered herself over to Germany.  She has made surrender to our enemy
+in the hope that we shall thus become for her an easier victim, that
+she will be able to recover at our expense what Germany has taken from
+her.  Lord Salisbury hopes, in return for the plum he has yielded, to
+be able to help himself to ours, to those of Italy and Portugal, and to
+share others with Germany.
+
+But such is the character of William II that he despises those who
+serve him or who yield to his will.  Like Don Juan, he seeks ever new
+worlds to conquer, new resistances to overcome, and neglects no means
+to secure his desired ends.  England and Austria to-day count for less
+than nothing in his schemes.  These countries have had a free hand in
+Bulgaria, and they have used it to indulge in every sort of intrigue.
+Screened by Bismarck, they have advised, upheld and exalted Stamboulof,
+they have set up the Prince of Coburg.  And William, not having
+inspired any of this policy, would like to see it end in complications
+shameful for his associates.
+
+As to the King of Sweden, he thinks it due to the dignity of his people
+to make some show of resistance, but one feels that this is only done
+to save appearances.  He also has delivered himself, bound hand and
+foot, just as they have all done, the Emperor Francis Joseph, the King
+of Italy, the Hohenzollern who reigns at Bucharest, Stamboulof, Lord
+Salisbury and Leopold II.
+
+
+
+July 29, 1890. [9]
+
+The Imperial bagman travelling in Germanophil wares conceals under his
+flag a very mixed cargo.  He makes a Bernadotte to serve as speaking
+trumpet for Prussian Conservatism at the same time that he subsidises
+_agents provocateurs_ for the purpose of misleading and
+internationalising the social reform programme of the Danes.
+
+And all the time, in every direction, he comes and goes--this ever
+restless, universal disturber--creating and perpetuating instability on
+all sides, so as to increase the price of his peace stock, he
+controlling the market.  It is Bismarck's old game, played with
+up-to-date methods.
+
+
+
+August 12, 1890. [10]
+
+Does it not seem to you, dear reader, that the voyage of William II to
+Russia suggests in more ways than one the scene of the Temptation on
+the Mount?
+
+At St. Petersburg there reigns a sovereign whose life, directed by the
+inspirations of his soul, is one long act of virtuous self-denial; who
+prefers the humble and the lowly to fortune's favourites; whose works
+are works of peace, and whose intentions are always those of a man
+ready to appear before Him Who only tolerates the great ones of this
+earth when their power is balanced by a due sense of their moral
+responsibility, by devotion to duty and truth.
+
+At Berlin there reigns a man of ungovernable pride, who aspires to be
+torch-bearer to the world.  Restless, like the spirit of evil,
+tormented by his inability to do good, he has dedicated his soul to
+wickedness and lies.
+
+Alexander III regarded his accession to the throne as an ordeal, the
+sacrifice of his life.  He would have given his own blood to spare his
+father the pangs of death.  William II seized fiercely on the reins of
+power, after having committed a crime, at least in his heart; after
+having wished for the death of his father and increased his sufferings
+by his conduct.
+
+By the tragic end of two martyrs, God has brought face to face those
+who are destined to be the champions of good and of evil respectively
+in these last years of the century.
+
+The German Emperor goes to Russia to say to the Tzar, "Divide with me
+the kingdoms of the earth, always on condition that I receive the
+lion's share."
+
+The Emperor of Russia will reply: "Let us endeavour, my brother, to
+work for the welfare of the nations, let us calm their hatreds and
+follow the rugged paths of justice; above all, let us regard the power
+which the God of hosts has confided into our hands as an instrument of
+sovereignty, whose only purpose should be to keep the nation's honour
+unsullied and safeguard the blessings of peace."
+
+"Words, nothing but words," replies the Tempter.  "Say, Yes or No, wilt
+thou go with me to the conquest of the world?  On all sides your
+influence, which I have undermined, is waning: you and your followers
+are caught in a ring of iron from which before long you will be unable
+to escape.
+
+"In Germany, all things are subject to my unfettered rule.  Henceforth
+nothing can ever check or stop my triumphal march.  Throughout the
+humbly listening world, which will soon be at my feet, I break that
+which will not bend before me.  I overthrow all those that stand, and
+that which comes to me, I keep.  Even the Church, which treated with my
+forefathers on a footing of equality, now bows the knee before me and
+humbly votes the money for my great slaughters.
+
+"Socialism, that bogey of Bismarck's, is an easily tamed monster.  I
+have only to sow discord amongst its leaders to make it serve my ends
+of policy like the veriest National Liberal party.
+
+"In Austria, my grandfather and I created financial troubles, entangled
+things, let loose envy and hatred and sowed the seeds of quarrels,
+which have delivered her into my hands.  Let them try as they will to
+free themselves from the fetters with which I have bound them; I shall
+create such obstacles to all these efforts that the future shall be
+mine, like the present.
+
+"In Hungary, Prussian diplomacy has found a way to turn the people's
+hatred of Austria into hatred of Russia, and to make them forgive the
+House of Hapsburg for a policy of coercion so cruel than even a
+Romanoff denounced it.
+
+"Everywhere I create dissension amongst my allies so that the final
+decision may be mine.
+
+"In Italy I have my _âme damnée_, the only one who understands me, an
+ambitious tyrant, mad like Bismarck with the lust of power, who serves
+my purposes at Rome as effectively as Bismarck hampered them in Berlin.
+
+"I have stifled and destroyed the spirit of brotherhood in the cradle
+of the Latin race.  I have made history a liar, bringing a false
+morality to the interpretation of the most brilliant days and deeds.  I
+have reduced to servility a Royal House that once was proud.  I have
+cheated and deceived the cleverest and most suspicious race on earth.
+
+"At Rome, I have insulted the traditional and sacred majesty of the
+Head of the Christian religion!
+
+"In England, I have done even more.  I have compelled proud Albion to
+serve the ends of my personal policy.  I have forced the most jealous
+of nations to yield the leading place to me, to work, in her own
+colonies and against her own interests, for the benefit of my growing
+rivalry, sacrificing to me her dreams of supremacy in the four quarters
+of the globe.
+
+"As to America, I will deal with her later.  I have my plans.
+
+"Despite Lord Salisbury's make-believe of caution and reserve (about
+which, I may say, we quite understand each other) England is so
+completely delivered into my power that, after the Conservatives the
+Liberals, in the person of the young leader John Morley, now proffer me
+their services, and no matter what changes may take place in the
+English parties my influence will soon prevail.
+
+"My journeys to the Scandinavian States have been fruitful.  In
+Denmark, O Tzar! your own father-in-law has become almost associated
+with my destiny.
+
+"I have linked with my fortunes a king of French stock in Sweden, and I
+will prove it at Alsen Island, where I shall compel him to take part in
+the manoeuvres of my fleet.
+
+"As to Norway, a few words from my Imperial lips have overcome the old
+republicanism of these brother Teutons.
+
+"So as to keep closer watch over the submission of my new allies, I
+have wrested Heligoland from England; and there I shall build an
+eagle's nest from which I shall be able to swoop down upon them, should
+they attempt to escape me.  Those who had any doubts as to the
+importance of this surrender, have learned it from the speeches that I
+made when taking possession.
+
+"By this means I have closed the German Ocean _for ever_, and that
+which is closed gives access to something.
+
+"What need I say of Turkey that you do not know already?  All her
+thoughts, movements and actions are regulated by one man, and he a
+vassal of German policy.  Turkey's army, trade and finances, the
+direction of her ruling minds, are either in my hands or in those of
+England.  And England, say what you will, is hypnotised by me.
+
+"I can afford at my pleasure to challenge her policy indefinitely.
+
+"The diplomas which she conferred upon the Bulgarian bishops after the
+execution at Panitza have shown you, my brother, how greatly I am
+pleased to favour those whom you have condemned!  Stamboulof, the
+inveterate foe of Russia, now dominates the elections in Bulgaria and
+Roumelia, thanks to the iradé on the bishoprics.  He goes in triumph
+through the land, so that even the Russophile candidates invoke the
+protection of this man, who shoots the country's heroes and reduces its
+prince to the level of an ordinary public servant.  His audacity, his
+impunity, the length of his tether, have no limits except those which
+will be imposed upon him by my power should you turn a deaf ear to my
+proposals.
+
+"And just as British policy has served the ends of Prussian statecraft
+in Bulgaria and Roumelia, even so it serves them at this moment in
+Armenia.
+
+"It was I who willed and inspired the indulgence of the Sultan for the
+bloodthirsty Moussa Bey.  Massacred by the Kurds on the one hand, and
+on the other observing the success of the revolution in Roumelia, the
+Armenians will inevitably be led from one revolt to another and, helped
+by a few timely suggestions, will come to believe that they can win
+their autonomy.
+
+"Herein lies another difficulty which disturbs your mind, and of which
+my hands hold the threads; another people, to whom you might have
+looked for help in the event of my allies going to war with you, but
+which England and I will be able to remove from your influence.
+
+"In Roumania, a Hohenzollern guards all the keys which open the doors
+of his frontiers.
+
+"In Serbia, I am working by sure means to destroy the last remaining
+sympathies for Russia.  To attain this end I will leave no stone
+unturned, even as I am doing in Greece against France.
+
+"With an eye to the future interests of my African colonies, I have
+compelled England to keep Portugal quiet.  I do not wish any
+revolutionary upheaval to react upon Spain, that indomitable nation
+which still resists me, but in whose mouth nevertheless, I have put an
+invisible bit.  I shall know how to drive her headlong into the trap
+that awaits her in Morocco.
+
+"With the help of Italy, Switzerland is mine.  And Holland will fall to
+me through the little Duchy of Luxembourg, which will come to me by the
+marriage of one of my sisters with the heir of Nassau.
+
+"My last master stroke was the way of my coming into Belgium.  Therein
+I was artful.  The Belgians affected to believe in the neutrality of
+their microscopic kingdom.  I played up to the joke and entered their
+country by way of the sea.
+
+"In all the splendour of my power, I came to Ostend on the
+_Hohenzollern_, and I made it my business to invest my appearance with
+every feature calculated to impress the mob, in these days when outward
+show appeals most powerfully to the popular imagination.  And I was,
+moreover, determined that nothing should be lacking to the full
+effectiveness of this demonstration.
+
+"Belgium had intimated by a revolution her objections to becoming
+German.  Well and good: I imposed myself upon her as German Emperor.
+With wearisome reiteration she had manifested her sympathy for France.
+In order to challenge these sentiments the more effectively, I
+compelled King Leopold to take his seat beside me as the Colonel of one
+of my Alsatian regiments!
+
+"And do you suppose that the Belgians protested?  Not a bit of it!  No,
+the trick is played.  No longer in secret, but openly, Belgium will
+play my waiting game, in the Congo and at the gates of France.
+
+"My visit to Belgium is destined to produce such important results in
+days to come, that I have neglected not the smallest detail in order to
+produce a legendary impression upon Europe.  Nothing have I forgotten:
+costumes for each part, words, good seed sown broadcast in the public
+mind, communications to the Press, advice given to sovereigns of a
+nature to please the people, and elsewhere (as in England) popularity
+with the military caste!
+
+"An individual of the name of Van der Smissen, having dared to argue in
+the ranks, got broken for his pains.
+
+"At the same time, in order to cast into stronger relief the loftiness
+and majesty of my countenance, I invested it, amongst these good
+Belgians, with certain new features of good nature and cordiality.
+
+"As to France, Russia's only possible ally to-day, her artless
+simplicity protects me from all risks that I might otherwise run.  I
+shall compel her to accept the neutralisation of Alsace-Lorraine,
+whenever the provinces shall have become thoroughly Germanised.
+
+"For the present I leave England to deal with her: England who keeps
+her busy with childish things, and soothes her vanity with illusory
+diplomatic successes, such as the _exequatur_ of the Madagascar Consuls
+(which the settled policy of the residents would have achieved in time)
+and with useless concessions amidst the fogs of Lake Chad, or on the
+Niger, or in regions whose possession none disputed.
+
+"Lord Salisbury evoked much mirth, over these concessions at the Lord
+Mayor's banquet, joking somewhat cynically at his own policy in
+disposing of territories over which he had no rights.  One country,
+amongst others, given to France, has provided my good English friends
+with an inexhaustible source of merriment.
+
+"Concerning Egypt, Lord Salisbury has clearly intimated to France that
+England will _never_ give it up.
+
+"Thus, the Salisbury Ministry has still at its disposal, to keep busy
+my fiery but easily duped neighbours, the Egyptian problem, with a
+French Minister at Cairo, who is more of a help than a hindrance to
+England; the Newfoundland question, with the Anglo-American Waddington,
+more yielding for the purposes of the British Foreign Office than one
+of its own agents.
+
+"Moreover, whenever I choose, the rulers of France can be made to
+believe in a francophile reincarnation of M. Crispi!  I have many
+things in store for them in that quarter.
+
+"Deceived by the infinite resources of my diplomacy, led astray by my
+agents who have taken on less reptilian disguises, the guileless French
+nation remains a prey to ignorance and ambitions as countless as the
+sands on the shore of her democracy.
+
+"To sum up; England, through India; England and Germany, through China,
+we hold in our hands that question of an Asiatic war, a scourge which
+will exhaust the strength of your Empire, O Tzar! and which may finally
+weaken France.  I have said!"
+
+
+'Tis a long tale, and were it all told at one time, Alexander III would
+certainly not listen to half of it.  But William II spent a fortnight
+in Russia, and I have only an hour to summarise his argument.
+
+Have the wings of the German Emperor the span of those of Lucifer, as
+he believes?  He may play the part, but he will never be able to carry
+it through!
+
+
+
+August 28, 1890. [11]
+
+Although for the meeting of these two powerful Emperors (whose
+destinies, as history proves, are so frequently commingled) there was
+no real necessity, other than the desire of the young and restless King
+of Prussia, to keep the whole world guessing as to the object of his
+multifarious designs, their coming together has its undeniable
+importance and significance, for it has been the means of increasing
+the resistance and strengthening the determination of the Tzar.
+Alexander III, whose mind reflects the great and untroubled soul of
+Russia, is well able to estimate at its true worth the insatiable greed
+of Germany and the ever-encroaching character of her ruler.  Because of
+his own self-control and disinterestedness, the Tzar must have been
+able to gather from William's words and works a very fair idea of his
+unbounded self-conceit; of that vanity which, like its emblem the eagle
+of the outspread wings, aspires to cover the whole earth.
+
+Even though William has offered to the Emperor of Russia the prospect
+of a general disarmament; even though, with his present mania for
+speech-making he may have suggested a Congress for the settlement of
+Europe's disputes, his success must have been of the negative kind.
+
+If the Tzar were to agree to a conference, it could only lead to one of
+two results.  Either it would embitter those disputes which threaten to
+embroil the nations in a fierce struggle, and bring France and Russia
+together in resistance to the same greedy foes, or it would end in the
+imposition of a lasting peace, which would mean that the Prussian and
+military fabric of the German State would be dissolved, as by a
+miracle, to the benefit of French and Russian influences in Europe.
+
+Let then the German Emperor have his head.  God is leading him straight
+on the path of failure.  It is this still-vague feeling, that he will
+never have power to add to the Prussian birthright, that makes him rush
+feverishly from one scheme to another; stirring up this question and
+that, ever testing, ever striving.  It is this foreboding that has
+driven him to pursue fame, fortune and glory, and so to weary them with
+his importunities and haste, that they flee from him, unable and
+unwilling to bear with him any longer.
+
+Sire, if it be your ambition to become, immediately and by your own
+endeavours, greater than any one on earth, allow me to express the
+charitable wish without hoping to dissuade you--that you may break your
+neck in the attempt!
+
+
+
+September 12, 1890. [12]
+
+It was just at the time that I was writing my last article, that the
+Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia (who has a perfect obsession for
+being in the middle of the picture), was carrying out at the army
+manoeuvres at Narva, a certain strategic design, long-prepared and
+tested, by means of which he proposed to fill with amazement and
+admiration not only the Russian army but the Imperial Court--nay, all
+Russia, and the whole wide world!
+
+William's idea was to repeat the exploit performed by the troops of
+Charles XII (with the aid of the Russian Viborg Regiment, of which he
+is Colonel) and to pass through the heavy mass of a regiment of cavalry
+with light infantry battalions.  The future Commander-in-Chief of the
+German Army wished to show the world that he would know how to add the
+_élan_ of the French and the impetuosity of the Slav to the qualities
+of method and strength perfected by leaders like Von Moltke or
+Frederick Charles.  Therefore, several weeks before, William II had
+asked the Tzar to be allowed to take part in the manoeuvres and to
+command in person the Viborg Regiment.
+
+And so it came to pass that, having cast himself for a part of
+invincible audacity, he came to cut a very sorry and ridiculous figure.
+Surrounded by the Hussars, he was made to see that what may be done
+with German infantry against Uhlans, cannot be accomplished, even with
+Russian soldiers, against Russian cavalry.
+
+This incident shows that the Tzar had something akin to second sight
+when he gave orders that the length of the manoeuvres would be
+optional.  Thanks to this, the Kaiser was free to take home the sooner
+his pretty jacket (no, his tunic, I mean) from Narva.
+
+What an interesting broadsheet might be made on the subject of "William
+II a prisoner"!
+
+In the long winter evenings to come, how many a Russian peasant--gifted
+with imagination as they are--in telling again the tale of the Viborg
+Regiment's attack, will see in it an omen of the destiny of the German
+Emperor!  And they will add, with bated breath, that the
+_Hohenzollern_, on leaving the shores of Russia narrowly missed being
+cut in two by another vessel.  And one more sign of evil omen--a
+fearful tempest shook the Imperial yacht in Russian waters.
+
+Let us, whose Emperor was a prisoner of the Germans in 1871, pray that
+some day a German Emperor may be taken prisoner by the Russian
+army--not like at Narva, but in all seriousness.
+
+I said in my last letter that it might well be that William's journey
+to Russia might result in stiffening the resolution of the Emperor
+Alexander.  And so it has proved, for scarcely had his Imperial guest
+returned to Berlin, than a ukase raised the Russian Customs tariff and
+imposed a new duty of 20 per cent. on German imports.  A fine result
+this, of that which the German Press, before William's departure,
+described as the Russo-German Economic Entente, at a moment when, even
+for the Berlin newspapers, the prospects of a political _entente_ were
+somewhat dubious.
+
+For this reason, Professor Delbrück says quite bluntly, in the
+"Prussian Annals," that William II's journey to Russia has been a
+lamentable fiasco; that the Tzar declined to listen to any diplomatic
+conversation; that he ridiculed and entertained his Imperial guest with
+a series of military parades whilst the Russian general staff was
+carrying out important manoeuvres on the western frontiers.
+
+In the same spirit as that of the ex-deputy Professor, the whole German
+and Austrian Press have been demanding that, for the peace of Europe,
+the German and Austrian troops should be withdrawn from their
+respective frontiers, so as to compel the Russian forces to do the same.
+
+That is all very well, but inasmuch as the military zones of the Great
+Russian Empire are separated by enormous distances, and the movement of
+troops being very much easier for Germany and Austria than for Russia,
+one would like to know precisely what is the idea at the back of these
+demands.  As soon as ever he returned to Germany, two very significant
+ideas occurred to William II: one, to make a display of the warmest
+sentiments for his august _pis-aller_, the Emperor of Austria; the
+other, to have his faithful ally Italy play some scurvy trick on
+France, Russia's friend.
+
+To this end, the German Emperor proceeded to hold a review of the
+Austro-Hungarian Fleet and went beyond the official programme by going
+aboard the ironclad _Francis Joseph_, flying the flag of Admiral
+Sterneck.  After this, inviting himself to luncheon with the Archduke
+Charles Stephen, commanding the Austrian squadron, he made a fervent
+speech, wishing health and glory to his precious ally the Emperor of
+Austria.
+
+
+
+September 27, 1890. [13]
+
+When Germany agreed to withdraw her armies from the soil of France, she
+replaced them by other soldiers: crossing-sweepers, clerks, workmen,
+bankers (industrials or "reptiles" as the case might be), as well
+organised, linked up and drilled as her best troops.  Unceasingly,
+therefore, and without rest, it behoves us to be on our guard and to
+defend ourselves.
+
+A good many amiable Frenchmen will shrug their shoulders at this, but
+if we act otherwise we shall be delivered over to our enemies, bound
+hand and foot, at the psychological moment.
+
+And now, dear reader, to return to William II.  You will grant, I
+think, that since we have followed the interminable zig-zags of his
+wanderings throughout Europe, we are entitled to coin and utter a new
+proverb:  "A rolling monarch gathers no prestige."
+
+
+
+November 1, 1890. [14]
+
+For mastodons like Bismarck, William II prepares a refrigerating
+atmosphere which freezes them alive.  Splendid mummies like Von Moltke
+he smothers with flowers.  The men whom William dismisses and discards
+are great men in the eyes of Germany, even though in history they may
+not be so, because the ex-Chancellor is of inferior character, and
+because certain successes of Von Moltke were due rather to luck than
+design.  Nevertheless, they are in William's way and he gets rid of
+them, by different means.  He needs about him men of a different stamp
+to those of the iron age; for the present, he is satisfied with
+courtiers, later he will demand valets.  All those who are of any
+worth, all those who stand erect before his shadow, will be sacrificed
+sooner or later.  His autocratic methods will end by producing the same
+results as those of the most jealous of democracies.
+
+Let us bear in mind how often, under Bismarck and William I, the German
+Press made mock of our fatal French mania for change, pointing out to
+Europe how the everlasting see-saw of Ministers of War was bound to
+reduce our national defences to a position of inferiority.  In two
+years William is at his fourth!
+
+Soon, no doubt, William II will be able to score a personal success in
+the matter of his intrigues against Count Taaffe.  His benevolence
+spares not his allies.  We know the measure of his good-will towards
+Italy.  Lately, it seems, the Emperor, King of Prussia, said to the
+Count of Launay, King Humbert's Ambassador at Berlin, "Do not forget
+that, sooner or later, Trieste is destined to become a German port."
+And it was doubtless with this generous idea in his mind that he had
+his compliments conveyed to M. Crispi for his anti-irridentist speech
+at Florence.
+
+That the Triple Alliance is the "safeguard of peace," has become a
+catchword that each of the allies repeats with wearisome reiteration.
+But there!  It is not that William II does not wish for war: it is
+Germany which forbids him to seek it.  It was not M. Crispi who
+declined to seek a pretext for attacking France: it was Italy that
+forbade him to find it.  It is not the Germanised Austrians who
+hesitate to provoke Russia: it is the Slavs who threaten that if a
+provocation takes place they will revolt.
+
+Let me add that the official organs in Germany, Italy and Vienna only
+raise a smile nowadays when they describe Russia and France as
+thunderbolts of war.
+
+
+
+November 12, 1890. [15]
+
+At the outset of the reign of William II, referring to his father, I
+spoke of the "dead hand" and its power over the living.  Now, what has
+the young King of Prussia done since his accession to the Throne?  He,
+the flatterer of Bismarck, this disciple of Pastor Stöker, this
+out-and-out soldier, this hard and haughty personage, who was wont to
+blame his august parents for their bourgeois amiability and their
+frequent excursions?  He carries out everything that his father
+planned, but he does it under impulse from without and he does it
+badly, without forethought, without the sincerity or the natural
+quality which is revealed in a man by a course of skilful action
+legitimate in its methods.
+
+He smashed Von Bismarck in brutal fashion.  His father, on the other
+hand, was wont to say: "I will not touch the Chancellor's statue, but I
+will remove the stones, one by one, from his pedestal, so that some
+fine day it will collapse of itself."
+
+It is a curious thing that these reforms and ideas, not having been
+applied by the monarch whose character would have harmonised perfectly
+with their conception and execution, now possess no reversionary value.
+They lose it completely by being subjected to a false paternity.
+
+It is true that occasionally William II envoys some real satisfaction,
+such as that which he has derived from the coming of the King of
+Belgium.  So impatient was His Majesty to return his visit, that he
+could not wait for the good season and therefore he came in the bad.
+At Ostend, Leopold II had caused sand to be strewn at William's coming
+(the beach being conveniently handy).  The King of Prussia only spread
+mud.  Why was the King of Belgium in such a hurry?  After the visit of
+General Pontus to Berlin and his three days in retirement with the
+German headquarters staff, people at Brussels are still asking what
+more King Leopold could possibly have to settle in person with Messrs.
+Moltke and Waldersee at these same headquarters?
+
+The _Courier de Bruxelles_ informs us that certain proposals for an
+alliance were made to Leopold II during his stay at Potsdam.  What!
+Could Prussia possibly have dared to think of laying an impious hand
+upon Belgian neutrality!  But if not, why should they have been at such
+pains formerly to prove to me that the thing was inconceivable?
+Prussia wants a Belgian alliance and the King refuses.  Splendid!  But
+let him tell us so himself!  I confess that such a document would
+interest me far more than all that I have published on the subject!
+May not the explanation of King Leopold's journey be, that William II
+would like a mobilisation in Belgium just as he wants one in Italy?  M.
+Bleichroder will supply the cash.  He has already got his bargain
+money, viz. Pastor Stöcker in disgrace, and the repudiation of
+anti-Semitism by its ex-partisan, William II.
+
+
+
+November 27, 1890. [16]
+
+How can one avoid taking an interest in William II of Hohenzollern?  He
+is one of those people who, by every means and in every way, insist on
+being noticed.  This up-to-date Emperor is obsessed by the idea of
+making profit, for purposes of advertisement, out of every sensation;
+he loves to upset calculations and produce every kind of astonishment.
+He believes that he has not fulfilled his part, until he has made a
+number of people lift their arms to heaven at least once a day and
+exclaim: "William is marvellous!"  He wants to hear this cry arise from
+the humblest and the highest, from the miner's gallery and the palace
+of his "august confederates," from the workman's cottage and the homes
+of the middle-class, from the officers' club, from church and chapel,
+from the Parliament of the Empire and the House of Peers.
+
+Being _blasé_ himself, it pleases him to tickle public opinion with
+spicy fare; his lack of mental balance compels him to these endless and
+senseless choppings and changes, to all these schemes projected,
+proclaimed and cast aside.
+
+The former Court of his grandfather is already in ruins, the work of
+Bismarck crumbling in the dust; in less than no time he has reduced the
+old aristocratic and feudal Prussian monarchy to the purest kind of
+democratic Caesarism.
+
+Perched above every political party in Germany, William the Young wants
+to be the one and only ruler and judge of all.  Among themselves let
+them differ as and when they will, it being always understood that all
+these separate opinions must equally be sacrificed to the Emperor.
+
+Before long the King of Prussia will endeavour to be at one and the
+same time the spiritual head of the Lutheran Church and the temporal
+Pope of the Catholic Church, the leader of economists, the cleverest of
+stategists, the one and only socialist, the most marvellous incarnation
+of the warrior of German legends, the greatest pacifist of modern
+times, explorer in his day and soothsayer whenever he likes.  In his
+own eyes, William is all these.
+
+Have not the delegates of the old House of Peers ingenuously complained
+during these last few days that they no longer possess any initiative
+of legislation?  But they have just as much or as little as the
+honourable members of the Prussian Diet.
+
+All schemes of reform emanate from the Emperor.  The people have no
+right to be Emperor.  Surely that is simple enough?
+
+To bulk larger in the public eye, William dwells apart; he can no
+longer endure that any one should presume to think himself useful or
+agreeable to him or to give him advice.  He is fulfilling the
+prediction that he made of himself when he was twenty-one: "When I come
+to reign I shall have no friends; I shall only have dupes."
+
+More infatuated with himself than ever, the Emperor wears his mystic
+helmet _à la_ Lohengrin, tramples the purple underfoot and has the
+throne surrounded by his life-guards, wearing the iron-plated bonnets
+of the days of Frederick II.  Thus he deludes himself with the dream of
+absolute authority.  His mania for power is boundless, his pride knows
+no limits.  He recognises only God and Himself.
+
+To his recruits, he says: "After having sworn fidelity to your masters
+upon earth, swear the same oath to your Saviour in Heaven!"
+
+But in his moments of solitude, in the privacy of the potentate's
+toilet-chamber, must it not be dreadful for him to reflect that his
+silver helmet rests on ears that suppurate, that his voice comes from a
+mouth afflicted with fistula of the bone, and that there are days when
+his sceptre is at the mercy of the surgeon's knife?
+
+
+
+December 11, 1890. [17]
+
+The rumour has spread, and has not yet been authoritatively
+contradicted, that William is suffering from disease of the brain.  Is
+not this in itself good and sufficient reason to make him wish to prove
+that no one in his Empire can do as much brain work as he can?  We,
+whose minds are so confused in the endeavour to follow William's
+movements at a distance, where little things escape us, can imagine
+what it must be to observe them from close at hand!
+
+One of the chief glories of his reign will be to have produced the
+diagnosis of a new disease, "locomotor Caesarism" of the restless type.
+Before his case, these symptoms were always associated with paralysis.
+Here is a discovery that may turn out to be more genuine that that of
+Dr. Koch.
+
+The unfortunate Koch is one more of William's victims.  It was his
+Imperial will that Germany should wake up one morning to find herself
+possessed of a Pasteur of her own.  He could not even wait long enough
+to allow the necessary experiments to be made with a remedy which is so
+violent that it may well be mortal.  At the word of command "Forward,
+march," Koch found himself propelled by His Majesty into the position
+of a benevolent genius.
+
+
+Dr. Henri Huchard has expressed his opinion of Koch's method in the
+following words: "In therapeutics, daring is always permissible, so
+long as it preserves its respect for human life."
+
+A few days ago, the German Emperor was thrusting his advice on a man of
+science, to-day he is overthrowing the most venerable traditions of the
+Prussian monarchy with the scheme of M. Miguel, the new system, for
+taxing incomes and legacies, opening a campaign against the nobility
+and the old conservatives.  With the help of an official of the
+"younger generation"--for thus is he pleased to describe his Minister
+of Finance--he begins to make war on the "old school."
+
+With the "old school" in his mind's eye, he conceives another idea,
+namely, that of a new method of teaching in the elementary, secondary
+and high schools, upon which it will be unnecessary to improve for the
+next hundred years.  He sets the faithful M. Hinzpeter to work, and
+compels him to toil night and day to prepare a complete programme in
+all haste--whereupon behold the Emperor holding forth to the collegians
+just as he does to the recruits.
+
+"Down with Latin!" cries William.  "Let us make Germans instead of
+Greeks and Romans!  Let us teach our children the practical side of
+life."  All of which does not prevent him from adding: "Let us teach
+them the fabulous history of our race."
+
+William insists that his name shall be on every lip--that he be
+recognised as father of his workmen, father of collegians, father of
+the country at large.  It is his ambition to look upon all his subjects
+as his sons.  Much good may it do them!
+
+
+
+December 27, 1890. [18]
+
+The Emperor of Germany, determined supporter of triumphant militarism,
+and, therefore, the deadly enemy of every permanent and beneficial
+social reform, has suddenly stopped short in his attempts to improve
+the condition of the masses.
+
+If you ask: To whom does William II give satisfaction? the only
+possible answer is: Himself!  For it matters nothing to him whether
+these plans of his succeed or fail.  The thing that does matter to him
+is, that he should have left his mark everywhere, and that, after a
+quarter of a century or more, legislators shall inevitably find, in
+every project of law, the sacred mark, the holy seal of William's mind.
+
+
+
+[1] From _La Nouvelle Revue_, of April 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[2] This paper had been, till then, in the service of Prince Bismarck.
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] Several pages of the "Letters on Foreign Policy" of June 12 give
+proofs, undeniable and complete, that the preparation of crimes
+committed by anarchists in Europe was instigated at Berlin, William
+knowing and approving the fact.
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 16, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 16, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[16] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[17] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+1891-1892
+
+
+The danger to France of a _rapprochement_ with Germany--The Empress
+Frederick's visit to Paris--William II as _summus episcopus_ of the
+German Evangelical Church--Reception of the Alsace-Lorraine deputation in
+Berlin--The law against espionage in Germany: every German is a spy
+abroad--Christening of the Imperial yacht, the _Hohenzollern_--Further
+increase of the military effective force in peace-time--The _Youth of
+William the Second_, by Mr. Bigelow.
+
+
+January 12, 1891. [1]
+
+The Berlin _Post_ thinks that we should be able to get on very well
+without Alsace-Lorraine, and that the best thing for us to do, if we are
+"reasonable souls," is simply to become reconciled with Germany.  The
+reasonable ones among us are directed to prove to us others (who must
+needs be "gloomy lunatics") the folly of believing in the Russian
+alliance, and gently to prepare us for a last and supreme act of cowardly
+surrender--namely, to give William II a friendly reception at Cannes or
+in Paris.
+
+The chief argument with which they would persuade us is, that Berlin is
+quite willing to receive our philosophers and our doctors.  But we are
+more than quits on this score, seeing the number of Germans that we
+entertain and enrich in Paris.  To prove that we owe them nothing in the
+matter of hospitality, it should be enough to ascertain on the 27th inst.
+how many Germans will celebrate the birthday of William II in one of our
+first-rate hotels.
+
+Heaven be praised, hatred of the Hohenzollerns is not yet dead in France!
+If it be true that the corpse of an enemy always smells sweet, the person
+of a living enemy must always remain hateful.
+
+Before we discuss the possibility of the King of Prussia visiting Paris,
+however, let us wait until M. Carnot has been to Berlin.
+
+
+
+January 29, 1891. [2]
+
+The nearer we approach to 1900, the less desire have I to be up-to-date.
+I persist in the belief that the solution of the problems of European
+policy in which France is concerned, would have been more readily
+attainable by an old fashioned fidelity to the memory of our misfortunes
+than by scorning to learn by our experience.
+
+Certain well-meaning, end-of-the century sceptics may be able lightly to
+throw off that past in which they have (or believe they have) lost
+nothing, whilst we of the "mid-century" are borne down under its heavy
+burden.  These people neglect no occasion to advise us to forget and they
+do it gracefully, lightly showing us how much more modern it is to crown
+oneself with roses than to continue to wear tragically our trailing
+garments of affliction and mourning.
+
+I should be inclined to judge with more painful severity those witty
+writers who advise us to light-hearted friendship with Bismarck the
+"great German," with William the "sympathetic Emperor", with Richard
+Wagner "the highest expression of historical poetry and musical art,"
+those men who prepared and who perpetuate Prussia's victories--I should
+judge them differently, I say, were it not that I remember my former
+anger against the young decadents and the older _roués_ in the last days
+of the Empire.
+
+All of them used to make mock of patriotism in a jargon mixed with slang
+which greatly disturbed the minds of worthy folk, who became half ashamed
+at harbouring, in spite of themselves, the ridiculous emotions "of
+another age."
+
+But these same decadents and _roués_, after a period of initiation
+somewhat longer than that which falls to the lot of ordinary mortals,
+behaved very gallantly in the Terrible Year.
+
+True, in order to convince them that they had been wrong in regarding the
+theft of Schleswig-Holstein as a trifle, wrong in applauding the victory
+of Sadowa, and declaring that each war was the last, it required such
+disasters, that not one of us can evoke without trembling the memory of
+those events, whose lurid light served to open the eyes of the blindest.
+
+"Understand this," Nefftzer was wont to insist (before 1870), "we can
+never wish that Prussia should be victorious without running the risk of
+bringing about our own defeat; we must not yield to any of her
+allurements nor even smile at any of her wiles."
+
+If the people of Paris applaud Wagner, he who believed himself to be the
+genius of victorious Germany personified, it can only be in truth that
+Paris has forgotten.  And in that case, there will only be left, of those
+who rightly remember, but a few mothers, a few widows, a few old
+campaigners and your humble servant!
+
+So that we may recognise each other in this world's wilderness, we will
+wear in our button-holes and in our bodices that blue flower which grows
+in the streams of Alsace-Lorraine, the forget-me-not!
+
+And we shall vanish, one by one, disappearing with the dying century,
+_that is, unless some surprise of sudden war, such as one must expect
+from William II, should cure us of our antiquated attitude_.
+
+Need I speak of these rumours of disarmament, wherewith the German Press
+now seeks to lull us, rumours which spread the more persistently since,
+at last, we have come to believe in our armaments?
+
+"Germany is satisfied and seeks no further conquests," says William II.
+But does it follow that we also should be satisfied with the bitter
+memories of our defeats, and resolved that, no matter what may happen, we
+shall never object to Prussia's victories?  I never forget that William
+II, as a Prince, in his grandfather's time, said, "When I come to the
+Throne I shall do my best to make dupes."  This rumour of disarmament is
+part of his dupe-making.  The real William reveals himself in his true
+colours when he awakens his aide-de-camp in the middle of the night, to
+go and pay a surprise visit to the garrison at Hanover.
+
+In Militarism the German Emperor finds his complete expression and the
+emblem of his character.  His empire is not a centralised empire and only
+the army holds it together.
+
+And for this reason William has favoured the army this year at the
+expense of all the other public services, by increasing its peace-footing
+strength and the number of its officers, by ordering more than two
+hundred locomotives and a corresponding amount of rolling stock intended
+to expedite mobilisation.  Seventy new batteries have been formed.  The
+artillery has been furnished with new ammunition, the infantry with new
+weapons, and the strategic network of railways has been completed!
+
+Abroad, every one, friends and enemies alike, think as I do on the
+subject of disarmament.
+
+"This plaything of William the Second's leisure moments," says _The
+Standard_ (although a fervent admirer of Queen Victoria's grandson),
+"this disarmament idea, is a myth."  Our faithful and loyal supporter,
+the _Sviet_, says the same thing: "Disarmament is a myth, Germany talks
+of it unceasingly, but she strengthens her frontiers, east and west.  On
+the north," adds the Russian organ, "she is converting Heligoland into a
+fortress; on the south-east, she is increasing the defences of Breslau,
+and holds in readiness two thousand axle-trees _of the width of the
+Russian railways_."
+
+It is only in France that a few up-to-date journalists take this
+disarmament talk of the German Emperor quite seriously.  To them, we may
+reply by a quotation from the official organ of the "great German."
+
+"The course of historic events," says the _Hamburger Nachrichten_, "is
+opposed to any realisation of the idea of disarmament, and justifies the
+opinion expressed by Von Moltke, who declared war to be in reality a
+necessary element in the order of things, of itself natural and divine,
+which humanity can never give up without becoming stagnant and submitting
+to moral and physical ruin."
+
+There you have the genuine style of Bismarck, of the man who invented the
+formula--"the Right of Might."
+
+One thing--and one thing only--might possibly lead William II to
+entertain seriously this idea of disarmament, and that would be for
+Bismarck to oppose it.  Truly, there is something extremely pleasant in
+this duel between the two ex-accomplices!  Bismarck terrorising
+socialism, William coaxing and wheedling it, for no other tangible
+purpose than to act in opposition to him whose power he has overthrown.
+
+What an eccentric freak is this German Emperor!  One day he sends the
+Sultan a sword of honour, a bitter jest for one who has never known
+anything but defeat!  The next, he proposes to take back the command of
+the fleet from his brother Henry, and in order to get rid of him
+conceives the plan of making Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg into a new
+kingdom.
+
+At the same time he proposes to provide the Grand Duke of Luxembourg with
+a guard of honour, a guard _à la Prudhomme_, whose business it would be
+to defend and to fight him.  The State Council of the patriotic Grand
+Duchy is aroused, and denies the right of Prussia on any pretext to
+interfere in its affairs.  Boldly it reminds the Powers signatory to the
+Convention of 1867 of their pledges.
+
+And with all his mania for governing the world at large, William II would
+seem to be possessed of the evil eye, and to bring misfortune to all whom
+he honours with his friendship for any length of time.
+
+
+
+February 10, 1891.
+
+It looks as if poor Bismarck were about to be treated just as he treated
+Count von Arnim.  Can it be that everything must be paid for in this
+world, and that a splendid retributive justice rules the destiny even of
+super-men and punishes them for committing base actions?  It is rumoured
+that the Duke of Lauenbourg (Bismarck) is threatened with prosecution on
+a charge of _lèse majesté_, which the lawyers of the Crown will not have
+very much trouble in proving against him.  That any one should dare to
+criticise the Emperor's policy, even though it be Bismarck, or that any
+one, even be it Count Waldersee, should express a personal opinion in his
+presence, is more than William II will tolerate.
+
+The "sympathetic Emperor" has a cruel way of doing things.  Before
+striking his victims it is his wont to give them some public mark of his
+esteem and good-will.  Small and great, they pass before him, sacrificed
+each in his turn, so soon as they have come to believe themselves for a
+moment in the enjoyment of his favour.  Thus Colonel Kaissel,
+aide-de-camp to the Emperor, is about to be shelved.  Lieutenant von
+Chelin has been removed from the Court, General von Wittich has already
+lost his fleeting favour, and the moderating influence of Major de Huene,
+erected on the ruins of that of Von Falkenstein, proves to be equally
+short-lived.  Three generals in command of army corps are now
+threatened--that is, of course, unless a fortnight hence they should
+prove to have reached the highest pinnacle of favour.
+
+Three months ago Von Moltke declared that he and Bismarck would live long
+enough to be able to say "Farewell to the Empire."
+
+On the other hand, Von Puttkamer seems to be regaining something of
+favour, and Prince Battenberg has been welcomed to the old Castle;
+strange plans concerning him are being hatched in the brain of William II.
+
+Prince Henry has been brought back, ostensibly to take part in the
+Councils of the Government, but in reality that he may be watched the
+more closely.  He also has received a letter in which he is publicly
+thanked for the services he has rendered.  If I were in his place I
+should be very uneasy, seeing the kind of brother that he was, the most
+changeable the most jealous, and the most suspicious of men.  There is a
+false ring about this letter to Prince Henry, just as there was in those
+which the Emperor addressed to Count Waldersee and to Bismarck.
+Gratitude is a word that William often thinks fit to use, but it is a
+sentiment that he is careful never to indulge in.
+
+It is impossible to discover any sign of a heart in the actions of the
+German Sovereign.  One may therefore predict that he will continue to
+show an ever increasing preference for distinguished personalities, whom
+it may please him to destroy, or creatures who would be the butts of his
+malicious sport, rather than to encourage the kind of public servants who
+strive continually to increase their efficiency, so as to serve him
+better.  Instead of being simply good and ruling benevolently, he aspires
+to be first a sort of pope, imposing upon his people a social state
+composed of servility and compulsory comfort, and again a leader of
+crusades, drawing his people after him to the conquest of the world.
+
+Spiritual and material interests, military organisation, he mixes and
+confuses them like everything else which occurs to his mind, and every
+day he does something to destroy the results of that marvellous
+continuity, which did more to establish the power of William I than the
+victories of Sadowa and Sedan.  Ever more and more infatuated with the
+idea of military supremacy, he now pretends to be greatly concerned with
+the idea of disarmament.  And he, the avowed protector of socialists,
+looks as if he were about to accept from Mr. Dryander, the protestant
+presidency of that association of workmen, which is being organised for
+the purpose of fighting socialism.
+
+Wherever we look, it is always the same, false pretences, trickery,
+lying, love of mischief-making and of persecution, innumerable and
+unceasing proofs given by William that his sovereign soul, irretrievably
+committed to restless agitation, will never know the higher and divine
+joys of peace.
+
+
+
+March 1, 1891. [3]
+
+For some months past, my dear readers, I have predicted that William II
+will not be satisfied without paying a visit to France.  The visit of the
+Empress Frederick should have prepared us for this amiable surprise.  But
+because the august mother of the German Emperor was received by us with
+nothing more than cold politeness, the _Cologne Gazette_ gives us a sound
+drubbing, as witness the following--
+
+
+"The French have no right to be offensive towards the august head of the
+German Empire and his noble mother, by insulting them after the manner of
+blackguards (polissons).  Every German who has the very least regard for
+the dignity of the nation must feel mortally insulted in the person of
+the Emperor."
+
+"The German people have the right to expect that the French Government
+and the French nation will give them ample satisfaction, and will wipe
+out this stain on the honour of France, by sternly calling to order the
+wretches in question, creatures whom we Germans consider to be the refuse
+of human society."
+
+And we who belong to this "refuse," who flatter ourselves that we have
+made extraordinary efforts of self-control when we refrained from saying
+to the Empress Frederick: "Madame, spare us; let it not be said that you
+went one day to Saint-Cloud, and on the next to Versailles, lest our
+resolution to be calm should forsake us"--we, I say, now perceive, that
+all our prudence has been wasted, and that we are still "refuse," the
+refuse of human society.
+
+
+The character of William II continues to develop its series of
+eccentricities.  With him, one may be sure of incurring displeasure, but
+his favours are shortlived.  His mania for change is manifested to a
+degree unexampled since the days of the decay of the Roman Empire.  His
+freakishness, the suddenness of his impulses, are becoming enough to
+create dismay amongst all those who approach him.  One day he will
+suddenly start off to take by surprise the garrisons of Potsdam and of
+Rinfueld; he gives the order for boots and saddles, which naturally leads
+to innumerable accidents.  Next day you will find him issuing a decree
+that, a play written by one of his _protégés_, entitled _The New
+Saviour_, is a masterpiece, which he would compel the public to applaud.
+The best he can do with it is to prevent its being hissed off the stage.
+Another day he has a room prepared for himself at the Headquarters of the
+General Staff, where he interferes in the preparation of strategic plans,
+without paying the least attention to the new chief who has replaced
+Count Waldersee.  Then, again, he connects his private office with the
+entire Press organisation, so as to be able to manipulate the reptile
+fund himself, and to dictate in person the notices he requires,
+concerning all his proceedings, in the newspapers which he pays in
+Germany and in those which he buys abroad.
+
+All of a sudden it occurs to him that six more war-ships would round off
+the German Fleet; and so he demands that they be built on the spot.  His
+Minister resists, pointing out that the approval of the Reichstag is
+required, William II flies into a passion, and the wretched Minister
+obeys.  Suddenly it occurs to him also to remember the existence of a
+certain Count Vedel, greatly favoured by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar.
+He summons him by telegraph, and makes him his favourite of an hour.
+When it pleases him to remove a superior officer, or to put one on the
+shelf, nothing stops him, neither the worth of the man, nor the value of
+the services he may have rendered.  One can readily conceive that German
+generals live in a state of perpetual fright.  Add to all this that
+William is becoming impecunious.  He has taken to borrowing, and is
+reduced to making money out of everything.  What will the Sultan Abdul
+Hamid say when he learns that the Grand Marshal of the German Court has
+put up for sale the presents which he offered to the Emperor, his guest,
+and which are valued at four millions!
+
+These things bring to mind the threat which William II uttered a few days
+before the fall of Bismarck: "Those who resist me I will break into a
+thousand pieces."
+
+
+
+March 12, 1891. [4]
+
+The many and varied causes which led to the journey of the Empress
+Frederick to Paris, and the equally numerous results that the Emperor,
+her son, expected from that visit, are beginning to stand out in such a
+manner that we can appreciate their significance more and more clearly.
+This proceeding on the part of William II, like all his actions, was
+invested with a certain quality of suddenness, but at the same time, it
+reveals itself as the result of a complicated series of deliberate plans.
+The object of these last was, as usual, the young monarch's unhealthy
+craving for making dupes.  To this I shall return later on.  Let us first
+examine the causes of William's sudden impulses.
+
+He has acquired, and is teaching his people to acquire, the taste and
+habit of sudden and unexpected happenings.  It having been the habit of
+Bismarck to speculate on things foreseen, it was inevitable that his
+jealous adversary should speculate on things unforeseen.  Moreover, the
+King-Emperor is dominated by that law of compensation, from which neither
+men nor things can escape, and from which it follows logically that
+Germany, after having profited by methods of continuity, is now condemned
+to suffer, in the same proportion, her trials of instability.
+
+In determining upon the journey of his august mother to Paris, the
+Emperor took no risks other than those which pleased him, and which
+served the purposes of his grudges and his policy.  In the first place,
+this journey would serve for a moment to divert attention in Germany from
+a policy which the great industrials and the workmen, the party of
+progress and the conservatives, all unite in condemning.  In the next
+place, Berlin, having for a long time made ready to be amiable to Paris,
+was bound to resent all the more acutely any failure to reciprocate her
+kind advances.  These results could not fail to be favourable to the vote
+of credits for military purposes, which are always the last credits asked
+for by the Government (whether under Bismarck or under Caprivi) and which
+are always voted under stress of an appeal to the eternal but utterly
+non-existent dangers, that are supposed to threaten Germany from France.
+
+If our capital, then, should extend a cold welcome to the august mother
+of the German Sovereign, the result could not fail to be of immediate
+advantage to the vote of military credits.  I ask my readers to notice,
+by the way, the deliberate coincidence of the journey of the Empress with
+the demand for these credits, and also with the anniversary of the Treaty
+of Versailles.  Finally, it was to be expected that if she were badly
+received, the mistake thus committed by the Empress Frederick would make
+"the Englishwoman" more unpopular in Germany; and, so far as one knows,
+her Imperial son has never been passionately devoted to her.  Moreover,
+she afforded Bismarck an opportunity of getting rid of a little of his
+venom, as witness the following words of his--
+
+
+"Only an Englishwoman," the ex-Chancellor declared during a visit to Mr.
+Burckardt, "could possibly have inspired the Emperor with the idea of
+sending her to Paris as a challenge to the French.  A German woman would
+have had too much respect for her own dignity to go and visit Versailles
+and Saint-Cloud.  The nobility of her feelings would have forbidden her
+to make a triumphal appearance amidst the ruins of the houses and castles
+destroyed by our troops, and her pride would have prevented her from
+seeking the homage and the favours of the vanquished.  The Empress is
+English, and English she will remain."
+
+
+But if France were to welcome with enthusiasm--or even with favour--the
+Empress Frederick, William II might justifiably conclude (without making
+allowance for the sympathy which the widow of the Emperor-Martyr inspires
+in Frenchwomen) that France had accepted the accomplished fact, abandoned
+her claims to Alsace-Lorraine, and the defence of her future interests in
+common with Russia.  In that case, he would have treated France as he
+treats those who show him the greatest devotion.  In order to get a clear
+idea of the object pursued by William II, it is sufficient to read two
+short extracts from the _Étoile Belge_, a blind admirer of the Emperor of
+Germany, and to read them separately from the enthusiastic articles which
+this paper published at the commencement of the journey of the Empress
+Frederick.
+
+The correspondent of the _Étoile Belge_ wrote as follows--
+
+
+"In confiding his mother and his sister to the hospitality of Paris,
+William II committed an act as clever as it was courageous.  Let him
+continue in this policy of pacific advances, and the idea of a
+reconciliation with Germany will soon become more popular than the
+Russian Alliance."
+
+
+The Berlin correspondent of the same _Étoile_ wrote--
+
+
+"Germany has at least as much as England to gain in bringing it about
+that Russia should not feel too sure of French support."
+
+
+Is not this clear enough?  There you have it: the real object which
+underlay the visit incognito of the Empress Frederick for the furtherance
+of the interests of Germany,  It meant a reconciliation with Germany,
+which would have separated us from Russia, from which England had
+everything to gain, which would once more have surrendered our credit to
+Italy unconditionally, and would have compelled us to renounce
+Alsace-Lorraine for good and all.
+
+What then would have been the results had she paid us an official visit?
+We have already seen that none of the alternative schemes for this
+journey could work to Germany's detriment; we need, therefore, not be
+astonished at the publicity given by the Count von Münster to all the
+comings and goings of the Empress, and at the determination shown by Her
+Majesty to investigate the quality of our patriotism in all its various
+aspects.  The memories which the Empress went to recall at Saint-Cloud
+and at Versailles were the same as those which she compelled us to call
+from the past: memories glorious for her but unforgettably sad for us,
+memories which, in reminding her of victory, were meant to remind us of a
+defeat to which our conquerors have added cruelty.
+
+I watch with fervour the expression of our patriotism.  A race which
+forgets the brutal insults of superior force deserves slavery.  Italy
+would never have reconquered Milan and Venice had she resigned herself to
+see them pass under the yoke of the stranger.  Forty years and more had
+passed since the 2nd of May, [5] when Prince Napoleon thought fit to send
+Prince Jérome as Ambassador to Madrid.  He was forced to leave it.
+Princess Murat was in no way responsible for what the French Generals had
+done.  She came in the suite of the Empress Eugenie, but Spain found a
+way to make her displeasure manifest without any lack of courtesy.  To
+the Empress Frederick, France has shown a melancholy kind of astonishment
+rather than dislike, and has displayed an infinite courtesy.  Not a
+single demonstration, not a gesture, not a word from the population of
+Paris has done anything to detract from the city's world-wide reputation
+for hospitality.
+
+The Emperor William I and Bismarck, who pretended to make war only
+against the Empire, would have shown themselves to be great and
+far-seeing political minds had they left Republican France in possession
+of the whole of her territory.  Although beaten at Sedan, she would have
+remembered Jena, and Germany's revenge would have quickly been forgotten.
+
+Let us remember the words of the Emperor of Germany--
+
+
+"I would rather that all my people should fall upon the field of battle
+than give back to France a single clover-field of Alsace-Lorraine."
+
+
+The _Post_ of Strasburg, recalling this declaration, adds--
+
+
+"The French _bourgeoisie_ is too cowardly to begin a war.  It is willing
+to smile at the words of Déroulède, but does not move.  The people of
+Alsace-Lorraine have done quite rightly in turning away from these
+talkers.  We have _permitted_ them to become Germans, why then, should
+they refuse the privilege?"
+
+
+But William II continues to evoke the red vision of France militant, in
+order to obtain the vote for his military credits.  It would seem that
+his liberalism has gone to join his socialism.  At the dinner of the
+Brandenburgers he said "God inspires me; the people and the nation owe me
+their obedience."  No matter whether he bungles or blunders, God alone is
+responsible, and it is not for the people or the nation to argue.  And
+what is more, has not the new President of the Evangelical Church just
+proclaimed William II as _summus episcopus_?  Just as William claims to
+decide infallibly every political question he will now decide all
+theological questions, without asking any help from the supreme council
+of the Evangelical Church.
+
+Pope, Emperor and King--but does anybody suppose that this will satisfy
+him?
+
+
+
+March 27, 1891. [6]
+
+The reception of the delegates from Alsace-Lorraine at Berlin is
+characteristic.  William II, eternally pre-occupied with stage-effects,
+has on this occasion accentuated the disproportion between the framework
+and the results obtained.  He insisted upon it that the proceedings
+should be as imposing as the refusal of the delegates' request was to be
+humiliating.  All the pomp and circumstance of State was displayed for
+the occasion, with the result of producing a scene, carefully prepared in
+advance, worthy of a Nero.  The Emperor of Germany surrounded by his
+military household, in the hall of his Knights of the Guard, receives the
+complaints of the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine, who have come to
+ask for a relaxation of the laws imposed on them by conquest.  To them,
+William II made answer: "The sooner the population of Alsace-Lorraine
+becomes convinced that the ties which bind her to the German Empire will
+never be broken, the sooner she proves more definitely that she is
+resolved henceforward to display unswerving fidelity towards _me_ and
+towards the Empire, the sooner will this hope of hers be realised."
+
+Above the Imperial Palace, during this scene, the yellow flag of the
+Emperors of Germany floated side by side with the purple banner of
+Prussia.
+
+Another picture--
+
+The Emperor gives a banquet to the delegates of Alsace-Lorraine, after
+having refused to hear their complaints.  At the same table with them he
+invites Herr Krupp to sit, in order to remind the people of the annexed
+provinces of the cannons which defeated France and will defeat her again.
+Here we have a reproduction of the Roman Empire in decay.  The power of
+the conqueror, imposed in all its pomp upon the vanquished, with the
+cruelty of a bygone age.
+
+
+The all-absorbing personality of William grows more and more jealous.  He
+would like to fill the whole stage of the theatre of the empire and of
+the world itself.  More than that, he even demands that the past should
+date from himself, and he turns history inside out, having it written to
+begin with his reign, and reascending the course of time.  First himself,
+then the house of Hohenzollern, then Prussia, and let that suffice.  The
+other dynasties, other kingdoms of Germany, count for so little that it
+is sufficient merely to mention their existence.  The history of which I
+speak, written for the German Army, will be prescribed later on for use
+of the high schools.
+
+From each department of the public service William lifts an important
+part of its business.  From the Department of Education he takes the
+direction of public worship, which, in his capacity as _summus
+episcopus_, he proposes to control in person.  From the War Department he
+takes the section having control of maps and fortresses, which, he
+proposes to place under the general staff and his own direction.  He is
+planning to make a province of Berlin, so that he himself may govern it
+in military fashion, etc., etc.  Is it possible that the mind of such a
+man, thus inflated with pride, should not succumb to every temptation of
+ambition?  Is there any one of those about him, or amongst his subjects,
+who can say where these ambitions will end?  When one thinks of the mass
+of ambitions and emotions that William II has exhausted since he came to
+the throne, when one thinks of the difficult questions he has raised, the
+obstacles he has created and the enterprises he has undertaken, how is it
+possible not to _fear_ the future?
+
+Germany is beginning to be oppressed by a feeling of uneasiness.  She is
+beginning to realise that her Emperor, by designing the orbit of his
+activity on too large a scale, is producing the contrary effect, with the
+result that sooner or later, the narrowing circumference of that orbit
+will close in upon him, and he will only be able to break its barriers by
+violent repression from within _and by a sudden outbreak of war without_.
+Militarism and militarism only, the passion for which is ever recurrent
+with William II, can satisfy his morbid craving for movement and action.
+Thus we see him celebrating the Anniversary of William I by a review of
+his troops and by a speech, so seriously threatening a breach of the
+peace, that even the newspapers of the opposition hesitate to reproduce
+it.  All France should realise that _the German Emperor will make war
+upon her without warning and without formal declaration, just as he
+surprises his own garrisons_.  By his orders, the statement is made on
+all sides that the rifle of the German army is villainously bad.  Let us
+not believe a word of it.  On the contrary, we should know that the
+greater part of the Prussian artillery is superior to ours; let us be on
+our guard against every surprise and ready.
+
+
+
+April 28, 1891. [7]
+
+On the occasion of the presentation of new standards to his troops, the
+Emperor observed that the number 18 is one of deep significance for his
+race, that it corresponds with six important dates in the history of
+Prussia.  "For this reason," he added, "I have chosen the 18th of April
+as the day on which to present the new standards."  As William II himself
+puts it, this day, like all the "eighteenths" that went before it, has
+its special significance.
+
+The strange words uttered by the monarch on this occasion--always
+intoxicated with the sense of his power, and sometimes by
+_Kaiserbier_--are denied to-day, or perhaps it would be more correct to
+say that the _Monitor of the Empire_ has not published them.  "Let our
+soldiers come to me," he proclaimed in the White Hall, to "overcome the
+resistance of the enemies of the Fatherland, abroad as well as at home."
+
+On the one hand, after the manner of the Middle Ages, he reveals to us
+the ancient mysteries of the Cabal, on the other, as an up-to-date
+emperor, he compels his brother Henry to become a sportsman like himself.
+On occasion he will don the uniform of the Navy, interrupt a
+post-captain's lecture, and throw overboard the so-called plan of
+re-organisation, so as to substitute a new strategy of his own making for
+the use of the German fleet.
+
+
+So Field-Marshal von Moltke is dead at last.  His place is already filled
+by the Emperor, who is willing to be called his pupil, but a pupil equal
+in the art of strategy to his master and a better soldier.  The
+remarkably peaceful death of Von Moltke only reminds me of the violent
+deaths that he brought about.  It was to him that we owed the bombardment
+of Paris.  Only yesterday, Marshal Canrobert said "he was our most
+implacable foe, and in that capacity, we must continue to regard him with
+hatred and contempt."  Von Moltke himself was wont to say "when war is
+necessary it is holy."  He leaves behind him all the plans in readiness
+for the next war.
+
+William II, you may be sure, will proceed to depreciate the military work
+of Von Moltke, just as he tries to depreciate his diplomatic and
+parliamentary work.  He has reached a pitch of infatuation unbelievable;
+and is becoming, as I have said before, more and more of a Nero every
+day.  At the present moment he is instigating the construction of an
+arena at Schildorn where spectacles after the ancient manner will be
+given.  These, according to William, are intended to afford instruction
+to the masses as well as to the classes.  A very fitting conclusion this,
+to the fears which he has expressed about seeing the youth of the German
+schools working too hard and overloading its memory.  For the same
+reason, no doubt, he has made Von Sedlitz Minister of Public
+Instruction--it is an unfortunate name--an individual who has never been
+to College, who has never studied at any University, and who only
+attended school up to the age of twelve.
+
+Now, it seems, William II is bored with the Palace of his forefathers.
+For the next two years he is going to establish his Imperial Residence at
+Potsdam;  consequently all his ministers and high officials are compelled
+to reside partly at Potsdam.  His mania for change leads him to destroy
+the historic character of the old castle; his scandalised architects have
+been ordered to restore it in modern style.  And Berlin, his faithful
+Berlin, is abandoned.  It is said that at a gala dinner the other day the
+Emperor uttered these words: "The Empire has been made by the army, and
+not by a parliamentary majority."  But it is also said that Bismarck
+observed to the Conservative Committee at Kiel: "It is best not to touch
+things that are quiet, best to do nothing to create uneasiness, when
+there is no reason for making changes.  There are certain people who seem
+singularly upset by the craving to work for the benefit of humanity."  It
+requires no special knowledge to interpret this sentence as a thinly
+veiled criticism of the character of William II.
+
+
+
+May 12, 1891. [8]
+
+There is an attitude frequently adopted by William II, that German
+socialists are in the habit of describing, as "the whipping after the
+cake."  He has now had the socialist deputies arrested, and he is
+introducing throughout the country a system of espionage and
+intimidation, which is only balanced to a certain extent by his fondness
+for sending abroad a class of reptiles who go about preaching, writing
+and imparting to others the doctrines which he endeavours to strangle at
+birth in his own country.  In spite of his brief flirtation with
+socialism (in which he indulged merely to copy the man whom he opposes in
+everything and cordially detests), William II has now come to persecute
+it.  One of his amiable jokes is to try and lead people to believe that
+the order which he has given, for the dispositions of his troops on the
+frontier _en échelon_, has no other object but to prevent Belgian
+strikers, from coming into Germany.  But can it be also to repel this
+invasion of Belgian strikers that the entire German army now receives
+orders just as if it were actually preparing to begin a campaign?
+
+Sentinels of France, be on your guard!
+
+It goes without saying that during the past fortnight we have had our
+regular supply of speeches from William II.  At Düsseldorf he said three
+things.
+
+The first, coming from the lips of a sovereign known all the world over
+for his mania for change, is calculated to raise a smile--
+
+"From the paths which I have set before me, I shall not swerve a single
+inch."
+
+The second was a threat--
+
+"I trust that the sons of those who fought in 1870 will know how to
+follow the example of their fathers."
+
+The third and last was meant for Bismarck--
+
+"There is but one master, myself, and I will suffer none other beside me."
+
+For the future William will only make his appearances accompanied by
+heralds clad in the costumes of the Middle Ages, bodyguards drawn from
+the nobility, surrounding the _summus episcopus_, pope and khalif of the
+Protestant Church.
+
+The extremely curious mixture which unceasingly permeates the character
+of William II may be observed in the orders which he, the mystic, the
+pious, has recently given to the chaplains of the Court, viz. that they
+are never to preach in his presence for more than twenty minutes.
+Naturally enough, the Prussian pastors are extremely indignant at the
+cavalier way in which the _summus episcopus_ treats the Holy Word.
+
+
+
+May 29, 1891. [9]
+
+The business of a Sovereign is not a bed of roses, and causes of
+discomfiture are just as frequent in the palaces of kings as in the
+humblest cottages.  William II has just had more than one experience of
+this humiliating truth, but it must be admitted he fully deserves most of
+the lessons he receives.
+
+Instead of saying, as he used to say, "my august confederates and
+myself," he has suddenly conceived the pretension that he and he alone is
+the sole master in Germany.  Accordingly the august confederates by
+common consent, although invited by the Grand Marshal of the Palace,
+Count Eulenberg, have refused to take part in the trifling folly of the
+Golden Throne that William is having made for himself.  Kings, Grand
+Dukes and Senators of the Free Cities, all have unanimously declared that
+they will never assist "in the erection of a throne which is the sign and
+attribute of sovereignty."
+
+But to continue the list: At Strelitz, a clergyman refused the request of
+the Prussian colonel of the 89th Regiment to allow his church to be used
+for a thanksgiving service in honour of the birth of William II, and
+preached a sermon declaring that the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz,
+and he alone, had the right to have a divine service and a sermon in
+honour of his birthday.
+
+And yet another instance: The Emperor has organised a regatta to be held
+on Lake Wannsee on May 30 for all yachts and pleasure boats owned by
+princes and by the German aristocracy.  The Archduke, heir to the
+Austrian Throne, has refused to honour the occasion with his presence.
+
+The toast at Dusseldorf, "Myself the only Master," has been very
+generally condemned; equally that which the Emperor addressed to the
+students at Bonn, when he said to them "Let your jolly rapiers have full
+play," or in other words, "Indulge to the top of your bent, and without
+regard to the laws, in your orgies of brutality."  People in Germany are
+beginning to think that William reminds them a little too much of the
+incoherencies of his great-uncle, Frederick William, who was undoubtedly
+clever in all sorts of ways, but who died insane.
+
+At the shipyards of Elbing, William II narrowly escaped being wounded by
+the fall of the large mast of the ship _Kohlberg_, which had been sawn
+through in several places.  He has just had his coachman, Menzel,
+arrested, who very nearly brought him to his death by driving him into a
+lime tree in a _troika_ presented to him by the Tzar.
+
+At present it is his wish that Holland and Belgium should receive him.
+The Queen Regent and Leopold II (in spite of the latter's violent love
+for Germany) are hesitating, by no means certain as to the welcome which
+their peoples would extend to him.  William II proposes to strike the
+imagination of the Dutch, as he did that of the Belgians, and to make his
+appearance before them, aboard his yacht, the _Hohenzollern_, which Dutch
+vessels are to go to meet and escort.  To make the thing complete (and it
+may well be that the idea is germinating in his mind) it would only
+require him to visit the fortifications on the Meuse.  The _Berliner
+Tageblatt_ in a long article informs us that the Emperor declares them to
+be _perfect_.  'Tis a good word. . . .
+
+When the Imperial traveller shall have exhausted all pretexts for rushing
+about on this Continent, he will go to Africa.  There is a _but_ about
+this; it arises from the question whether he will be able to obtain from
+his Ministers that they should ask the Reichstag or the Landtag for the
+800,000 francs that he needs for the voyage, the Constitution forbidding
+the King of Prussia to leave Europe.  But what does the Constitution
+matter to William II?  He, the master, will put an end to it!
+
+
+
+August 1, 1891. [10]
+
+What are the qualities which have distinguished the Government of Germany
+since the victories of Moltke?  The patient tenacity of William I, and a
+continuous policy of trickery raised by Bismarck to the level of genius.
+
+William II is a mind diseased, infatuated with itself.  His actions are
+dominated by pride, and all the most childish off-shoots of that
+weakness, love of noise, of attitudes, of pomps and vanities and
+jewellery; his mind is a thing of somersaults, and his will is subject to
+capricious whims and sudden outbursts of temper.
+
+
+
+August 11, 1891. [11]
+
+May we not flatter ourselves that the torments of William II are now
+beginning?  He, who only yesterday proclaimed himself to be the
+triumphant personification of the German Empire, is now compelled to
+inaction as the result of a fall.  Whilst the Great Tzar is received with
+acclamation on board of the French _Marengo_, he goes awkwardly stumbling
+about on the deck of his yacht.
+
+The German Emperor composed for himself a prayer, which he is accustomed
+to have said in his presence, and in which God is implored "to grant His
+protection to the Emperor William, to give him health and inspiration for
+the fulfilment of his mission _towards the nations_."  To-day, reduced to
+inactivity by his illness and by the consequences of his folly, he has
+ample leisure to reflect on the psalm which he is so fond of singing,
+with the mitre of the _summus episcopus_ on his head: "The kings of the
+earth are the instruments of God."
+
+Yes, Sire, they are instruments which God breaks as easily as He bends a
+reed before the wind.  He is pleased to humble the proud, and He reserves
+defeat and death as the portion of the parricide.
+
+
+
+August 29, 1891. [12]
+
+Germany's luck is running out. . . .
+
+The Emperor certainly lacks neither the youth nor the audacity to compel
+fortune, but he drives her too hard, and ignores all her warnings.  His
+fall is a clear warning, which he appears to be quite unwilling to
+notice; more mechanical than ever in his movements, he is now taking to
+riding again.  By his orders, his illness and even his fall are alike
+contradicted.  His reason for withdrawing himself so long from the gaze
+of his adoring subjects is to let his beard grow, after the fashion of
+Boulanger.  But he hasn't wasted his time; his furious impatience under
+activity has brought about a fresh attack.
+
+
+
+September 11, 1891. [13]
+
+William II makes every effort to keep the Triple Alliance on its legs (it
+being as lame as himself) whilst he continues to give vent to his triple
+_hoch!_ and resumes once more his rushing to and fro, so wearisome to his
+faithful subjects, which compels the European Press to groan so loudly
+that his pennon (Imperial in Austria, or Royal in Bavaria) waves madly
+about his excited person.  Meanwhile the Emperor Alexander III, calm in
+the serenity of his nature, takes his rest in the pleasant retreat of
+Fredensborg, where he finds contented virtues and the joys of family life.
+
+It really looks as if a certain deviltry were at work against William II.
+His splendid statecraft now revolves about questions of rye bread,
+Russian geese, and American pork; he struggles amidst a mass of
+difficulties more comic than sublime.  He has imposed a system of rigid
+protection in order to entangle his allies in a net of tariffs favourable
+only to Germany, and now behold him, all of a sudden, removing the duties
+off diseased pork, all for the profit of the McKinley Bill, the scourge
+of Germany.  Only the future can say what dangers await a policy of
+fierce protection and dangerous favouritism.  How much simpler and
+cleverer it would have been to remove the duties on cereals!  As far as
+the people are concerned, cheap pork will never appeal to them as cheap
+bread would have done.  The progressive party had asked for both; the
+satisfaction they have received appeases them for the moment, but the
+socialists will still be able to say that William's Government takes off
+the duties on foodstuffs that poison the people, and leaves them on those
+which would afford them healthy nourishment.
+
+
+
+September 27, 1891. [14]
+
+William II has decidedly no luck when he puts the martial trumpet to his
+lips.  It was at Erfurt that he learned that the tribes of the Wa Héhé
+had massacred Zalewski's expedition into East Africa.  It is said that,
+on hearing this news, the German Emperor, seized with one of those sudden
+outbursts of rage which throw him into convulsions, swore to avenge in
+torrents of blood the insult thus suffered by the ever-victorious banner
+of Prussia.  Are we, then, to see the Reichstag in its turn, like the
+French and Italian Parliaments, wasting its millions and its men in
+colonial adventures?
+
+At Münich, William II has declared that the wretched condition of the
+artillery in the Austrian army, the lack of cohesion in its infantry, and
+the inexperience, not to say incapacity, of its officers, render it unfit
+for war in the near future, and that no hope of its improvement is to be
+entertained, so long as it shall have as its head a man so completely
+worn out as Francis Joseph.  Germany's armament is to be completely
+changed and renewed, and it is even said that William will go down in
+person to the Reichstag during the autumn session to demand the enormous
+credits which the situation requires.  The _Neue München Tageblatt_ has
+been seized at Münich for having published an attack upon "the mania for
+armaments and for military pomp which possesses William II, a mania which
+is exhausting Germany and will leave her completely ruined after the next
+war."
+
+
+
+November 12, 1891. [15]
+
+The unfortunate Constitution of the German Empire, like the Emperor
+himself, doesn't know which way to turn.  Legislation, administration,
+the army; the universities, the Church and the administration of justice:
+everything is being passed through a sieve, and transformed, first in
+order that it may retransform itself and then become more readily
+accessible to the rising generation.  Anything that savours of a ripe age
+is extremely displeasing to William II.  Ripeness is a thing which he
+disdains to acquire.  All that is youthful finds favour in his eyes, with
+the sole exception of a class of youth with which he is disposed to deal
+severely, viz. the _souteneurs_.  Against them the _summus episcopus_ is
+extremely wroth.  Here the virtue of chaste Germany is at stake, and he
+proposes to cauterise the disease with a red-hot iron.  For the future,
+the scandalous discussion of these things will be forbidden to the Press,
+and thus, even if private morals continue the same, public morality will
+not be offended.  Hypocrisy, at least, will be saved.
+
+There is much talk at Vienna of a plan whispered at headquarters in
+Berlin, which has to do with converting the capital of Austria into an
+entrenched camp, so that an army driven back from the Austro-Russian
+frontiers might there be re-formed.  William means to throw Austria
+against Russia, and to take his precautions in case of defeat,
+precautions which would at the same time, safeguard the rear of the
+German Empire.
+
+
+
+November 29, 1891.
+
+Germany is becoming uneasy; she has heard the rustling of the wings of
+defeat.  Accustomed to victory, she is suffering, as rich people suffer
+under the least of privations.  Bankruptcies, one after another, are
+spreading ruin in Berlin.  Bismarck and William, united in a very
+touching manner on this subject, conceived the idea of bringing about
+Russia's financial ruin, and of importing into the Prussian capital the
+vitality of the Paris market.  The fall in Russian securities was unlucky
+for the German Bank, and all the scrip that the Berlin Bourse so greedily
+devoured, for the sole purpose of preventing Paris from getting it, does
+not seem to have been easily digested.  The middle class is suffering
+from the bad condition of the market, and the increase of taxation; the
+lower classes are hungry.
+
+Impassive in his majesty, the Emperor contemplates himself upon the
+throne.  Now you will find him copying Louis XIV and writing in the
+golden book of the city of Münich _Regis volontas suprema lex_.  And
+again he will imitate St. Louis, but not finding any oak tree within his
+reach, he administers justice on the public highway, as in the
+Skinkel-Platz.  He is having his own statue made of marble, to be placed
+alongside of his throne.  Great Heavens!  If some day, this were to be
+for him the avenging Commander's statue! [16]
+
+But no, it cannot be, for has he not been converted?  Is he not the
+_summus episcopus_, who conducts the service in person?  Has he not
+composed psalms?  Could anybody be more pious, a more resolute foe of
+those vices which he pursues with such energy?  Could any one be more
+determined to be a pillar of the Church?  In his interviews with the
+delegates of the synod of the United Prussian Church, has not the
+_summus_ said that the Reformation drew its strength from the hearts of
+princes?  True, you may say, that this does not sound very like a humble
+Christian; but then humility had never anything to do with William.
+
+At the administration of the oath to new recruits, after having held
+forth to them on the subject of the hardships at the beginning of a
+soldier's life, he added, "It shall be your reward when you have learnt
+your trade, to manoeuvre before me."
+
+
+
+December 13, 1891. [17]
+
+The nations of Europe desire peace, and it has been so often proved to
+them that they also desire it, who have been accused of furbishing their
+weapons unceasingly, that it would be dangerous even for William II to
+seem to be preparing for war, or rather that, having made ready for it,
+he should be working to let it loose.  And so it comes to pass that the
+fire-eating Emperor and King of Prussia himself is compelled to play the
+part of a bleating sheep "admiring his reflection in the crystal stream,"
+and that he cannot even have recourse to the expedient, now exhausted, to
+make it appear that either France or Russia are ravening wolves in search
+of adventure.  But the rôle of a sheep sits badly on William, and the
+_mot d'ordre_, which he dictates is so evidently opposed to the condition
+of affairs for which he is responsible, that Messrs. Kalnoky and Caprivi,
+in spite of their appearance of rotund good nature, have shown distinct
+signs of intractable irritation.
+
+People have been asking what can be the meaning of all these pacific
+assurances, so hopelessly at variance with everything that one sees and
+knows, at a moment when the Monarch of Berlin is furious at the visit of
+the Tzar to Kronstadt?  Well, the truth is out, and it is M. de Kalnoky
+who, by proxy, shall reveal it to you.
+
+"The reception at Kronstadt and its consequences have effected no change
+in the situation."  There you have the secret.  It is necessary to prove
+that the diplomacy of the Triple Alliance has not been checked at any
+point or in any way; that the "excellent impression," to quote the words
+of M. de Caprivi, left in Russia by the visit of William II did not allow
+the Tzar any alternative; he was compelled to show attention to some
+other country than Germany.  Moreover, the appearance of Alexander III on
+the _Marengo_ was nothing more than a simple desire for a sea trip;
+France, going like Mohammed to the mountain, bore in her flanks nothing
+larger than a mouse.  Finally, that Peace never having been threatened by
+the Loyal League of Peace, there could be no possible reason left to
+France and Russia for wanting to defend it, etc., etc.
+
+William II is working hard to control and direct the diplomacy of the
+Triple Alliance.  Nevertheless, all his scaffolding work is liable to
+sudden collapse, overthrown by the most insignificant of events.
+Regarding his speech to the recruits, the German Press has pluckily
+voiced its condemnation by the public.  It is impossible to deny that his
+observations on that occasion were a perfect masterpiece of
+self-glorification.  This is what he said--
+
+"You have just taken the oath of fidelity to myself.  From this day
+forward there exists for you one order and one order only, that of my
+majesty.  Henceforth you have only one enemy, mine, and should it be
+necessary for me some day (which God forbid) to order you to shoot your
+own parents, yes, to fire on your own brothers and sisters, fathers and
+mothers, on that day remember your oath."
+
+Those who wish to form an accurate idea of William's loquacity and
+self-conceit should read a few passages, selected haphazard from "The
+Voice of the Lord upon the waters," a sermon by His Majesty, the
+Emperor-King, for use in polar voyages.  There they will find a strange
+hotch-potch of all sorts of ideas, religious, political and heathen, all
+half digested.  But the dominant note in the sermons preached by William
+II lies in his tendency to diminish the Infinite, to hold it within the
+measure of his own mind, to bring down God to his own stature.  All his
+comparisons tend to show God as an Emperor, built in the image in which
+William sees himself.  When he draws you a picture, in which he brings
+God face to face with himself, there is about him a certain splendour of
+pride, something in his utterance that suggests an Imperial Lucifer.  But
+beyond these relations between God and the German Emperor, his utterances
+reveal nothing beyond commonplace self-conceit.  In his perpetual and
+personal contact with the Divinity, William's morality becomes more
+exacting than even that of God Himself towards His saints, who have long
+enjoyed His sanction to sin seven times a day.  William II will not allow
+of a single sin.  Everywhere and in everything he must interfere.  Well
+may his subjects say, who have just received their catechism: "He is on
+heaven, on earth, and within us."
+
+
+
+January 1, 1892. [18]
+
+I, who have so long been devoted to the Franco-Russian Alliance, have
+followed with acute distress the intrigues of Bismarck in Bulgaria
+(intrigues of which the _Nouvelle Revue_ revealed one proof in the
+letters of Prince Ferdinand of Coburg to the Countess of Flanders).  I
+have known that William, in spite of his actual dislike for the
+proceedings of his ex-Chancellor, is pleased to approve the impertinences
+of a Stamboulof.  Nevertheless, I confess I am seized with anxiety at
+seeing France enter into diplomatic proceedings with the so-called
+Government of Bulgaria.  It is very often more dignified to despise and
+ignore the enterprises of certain people, then to endeavour to obtain
+satisfaction from them.  There are certain complicated circumstances in
+which the manifestation of a sense of honour or loyalty becomes a
+weakness: at all costs one should avoid being led into it.
+
+The Emperor of Germany possesses a special talent for adding new
+complications to a difficult situation, so as to render it impossible of
+solution.  He has now so completely tangled up the parliamentary skein,
+that in a little while it will be impossible for Parliament to govern.
+Can one conceive of a majority of the Chamber rallying around the
+Catholic centre, or the socialists, for the same reason, increasing in
+number at the bye-elections?  In such a case William II, equally unable
+to surrender in favour of the clericals or to submit to the socialists,
+will find himself, as others have been before him, driven to adopt the
+ultimate remedy of war.
+
+
+
+February 12, 1892. [19]
+
+If the States of Germany, in joining themselves on to Prussia, have
+thereby increased in power, they have gained very little in humanity.
+The circular, secretly issued by Prince George of Saxony, commanding the
+12th Army Corps, reveals something of the brutalities and exquisite
+torture which German soldiers have to suffer.  This circular was
+addressed to the commanders of regiments, and has been published by a
+socialist newspaper, the _Vorwärts_.  This Prince of Saxony is indignant
+at these things, doubtless because he is a Saxon; Bavaria, we are told,
+declines to accept the application of the Prussian Military Code.  By
+common consent, the House of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies at Münich
+have voted against subscribing to a condition of things which permits men
+to behave like real savages.  Military Germany takes pleasure in cruelty,
+sentimental Germany is moved by the tortures inflicted on her children.
+Brutality and sentiment rub elbows, and are so strangely intermingled
+amongst our neighbours that I, for one, abandon all attempts at
+understanding them.
+
+It was Von Moltke who said one day that the army was the school of all
+the virtues.  Next day the same Field-Marshal put into circulation
+certain formulas for the infliction of cruelty, intended for the use of
+commanding officers.
+
+"If a superior officer should order an inferior to commit a crime, the
+inferior must commit it."  Thus says William II, who in the very next
+breath expresses his sentimental concern over the unfortunate lot of a
+woman of loose life handed over to the tender mercies of a bully!
+
+
+William's latest quarrel, it seems, is with liberty of conscience.  The
+_summus episcopus_ of the evangelical religion becomes the protector of
+clericalism in Germany.  He, the elect of God, has discovered the power
+of the Catholic Church.  This was the power that broke Bismarck, but it
+will not break William II, for he intends to assimilate it.  He dreams of
+establishing his Protectorate over Catholicism in Europe, America, Africa
+and in the East; his destiny lies in a world-wide mission, which only
+Catholicism can support.  He will, therefore, dominate the papacy, and
+through it will govern the world.
+
+
+
+February 26, 1892. [20]
+
+The list of Emperor William's vagaries continues to grow.  He, who was
+once the father of socialists, now pursues them with all manner of
+cruelty, in order to be revenged for their opposition to the scholastic
+law.  This law is his dearest achievement.  He produced it under the same
+conditions as his socialist rescripts, all by himself, without consulting
+his Minister.  It seems that Von Sedlitz was instructed to bring it
+forward without discussing its terms.  This is a reactionary _coup
+d'état_ in the same way that the rescripts on socialism were a democratic
+stroke.  Will this "new course" of Imperial policy, as they call it in
+Germany, last any longer than its predecessor?  I presume so, for it
+corresponds more closely than the old one to the autocratic instincts of
+William II.
+
+The National, Liberal and Progressive parties, and even the Socialists,
+who had turned full of hope towards their Liberal Emperor, now vie with
+each other in turning their backs on the Sovereign, who fulfils the
+policies of a Von Kardoff or a Baron von Stumm, the most determined
+Conservatives of the extreme party.
+
+The Universities of Berlin and Halle, together with all the other
+educational institutions, have addressed petitions to the Landtag,
+protesting against the re-organisation of the primary schools, which it
+is proposed to hand over to the Church.  Sixty-nine professors out of
+eighty-three, six theologians out of eight, including amongst them
+certain members of the Faculty, have signed this protest.  The greatest
+names of German science and literature have here joined forces.  Liberals
+like Herr Harnack have made common cause with such anti-Semite
+Conservatives as Professor Treitschke.  Mommsen, Virchow, Curtius
+Helmholtz, stand side by side in defence of the rights of liberty of
+thought.  William is becoming irritated by the lessons thus administered
+to him and the opposition thus displayed, and his nervousness continues
+to assume an aggressive form.
+
+Alsace-Lorraine is undisturbed, and all Europe bears witness to its
+pacific tendencies; nevertheless, the German Emperor is bringing forward
+a Bill before the Reichstag for declaring a state of siege in
+Alsace-Lorraine, which includes even a threat of war, and opens the door
+to every abusive power on the part of the civil authority.  The speech
+which he addressed to the members of the Diet of Brandenburg is the most
+complete expression which the Emperor, King of Prussia, has yet given of
+his latest frame of mind.
+
+How dare they criticise him, or discuss his policy!  Let them all go to
+the devil!  He, whose policy it is to block emigration, now wishes for
+nothing better than that all his opponents should leave Germany.  But it
+is impossible to revoke public opinion wholesale, like an edict.  If it
+is difficult now to expel all malcontents from Prussia, what will it be
+when their number is legion?  William II has promised to his people a
+glorious destiny, happiness, and the protection of Heaven.  Truly these
+Germans must be insatiable if they ask for more!
+
+
+
+March 12, 1892. [21]
+
+William II aims at concentrating all power, and, to organise the work of
+espionage, in the hands of the military authorities.  If the Prussian law
+of 1851 is still effective, the Emperor in case of need will be able to
+dispense with a vote of the Reichstag.  This law confers on every general
+and on his representative, who may be an officer of eighteen years of
+age, the right to declare a state of siege in the event of war
+threatening.  On the other hand, the projected Bill against espionage
+meets with very general approval.  Your German has got spies on the
+brain.  He wishes to be able to indulge in spying in other countries, but
+to prevent it in Germany.  The _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the _Vorwärts_
+assert that the proposed law against the revealing of military secrets
+was inspired by the publication of the report by Prince George of Saxony,
+containing revelations of a kind which the Emperor does not wish to occur
+again.  One of the articles of this law against spying reveals the
+Prussian character in all its beauty.  One has only to read it, in order
+to understand the inducements which the Government of William II holds
+out to informers.  The end of this article runs as follows: "Every
+individual having knowledge of such an infringement, and who shall fail
+to notify the authorities, is liable to imprisonment."
+
+To hear these Germans, one would think that France and Russia are
+flooding the Empire with spies, whilst Germany never sends a single one
+of them to France or Russia.  In the first place, all these statements
+are purely cynical; and in the second Germany can very well afford to
+dispense with professionally selected spies, inasmuch as every German
+prides himself on being one at all times in the service of the Fatherland.
+
+
+
+April 12, 1892. [22]
+
+William II makes a solemn promise to his august grandmother, Queen
+Victoria, and to the "best beloved" of his Allies, the Emperor of
+Austria, that he will restore the Guelph Fund.  Francis Joseph has
+obtained from the Duke of Cumberland the somewhat undignified letter of
+renunciation, which we have all read, and now it is either up to Rogue
+Scapin or Bre'r Fox, just as you please!  William II says that he never
+meant to give back the capital, but only the interest!  It is easy to
+imagine the effect produced on those concerned by the revelation of this
+astonishing mental reservation.  But this is not all!  The King of
+Prussia--always short of money, always in debt on account of his
+extravagant fancies and expensive clothes, and half ruined by his mania
+for running to and fro--had made certain arrangements for meeting his
+creditors by means of the Guelph Fund, but with the proviso, needless to
+say, that they affected only the interest!!
+
+It is said that the heir of the House of Hanover has written a second
+letter which evoked a sickly smile from William II, and of which
+Councillor Rössing has suppressed the publication with some difficulty.
+
+
+Amongst other things, William II has had quick-firing guns, supplied to
+the people of Dahomey by slave merchants.  The Berlin _Post_, directly
+inspired by the Emperor, tells us exactly what is his object in so doing--
+
+
+"England and Russia will not help France to settle her difficulties in
+her colonies.  These two Powers are far too pre-occupied with the
+struggle for supremacy in Asia.  France is, therefore, reduced to looking
+to Germany as her sole support.  If France consents to work together with
+Germany, Africa will be won for civilisation, and for the best
+civilisation of all, the Franco-German, but so long as France pursues
+this task single-handed, she will not attain her end, and will find in
+Africa nothing but disappointment."
+
+
+Such evidences of effrontery remind us that William II is the pupil of
+Bismarck.  We are, therefore, justified in concluding that the Germans
+realise that it is not Aristides the Just who has been exiled, but a
+master rogue, whom his pupil now imitates.
+
+
+
+April 29, 1892. [23]
+
+William II continues to expel from Berlin all unemployed workmen, quite
+regardless of the cause of their temporary or continuous idleness.  He
+sends them back to their native parishes, without caring in the least
+whether they will find there the work which they are unable to secure at
+the capital.  The "Workmen's Emperor" compels an emigration into the
+interior of all the most discontented, the most irritated and wretched,
+thus sowing throughout all the land the evil seed of the most dangerous
+kind of propagandist.  The spirit of Germany is full of surprises for any
+one who takes the trouble to observe it carefully, and it is not only in
+the acts of the Emperor that we perceive its contradictions.
+
+To take one instance out of a thousand.  Five non-commissioned officers
+of dragoons have just been tried at Ulm, accused of having beaten
+recruits with sticks until they drew blood.  They have been acquitted,
+after having proved that they acted under the orders of their captain.
+In this connection it is interesting to read the following--
+
+"The Court of Saverne has just condemned a carrier named Schwartz to six
+weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ten marks for ill-treating his horse."
+
+The unstable grandson of the steadfast William I threatens before long to
+get between his teeth a fourth war minister; he has already devoured
+three chiefs of the general staff, and, in a few years, as many ministers
+as his grandfather had during the whole course of his long reign.
+
+It remains to be seen whether, after the withdrawal of the scholastic
+law, William II will still find a majority willing to accept his new and
+disturbing schemes.
+
+
+
+May 28, 1892. [24]
+
+As the German Empire has no other force of cohesion except such as lies
+in militarism, William is necessarily compelled to do everything to
+magnify and increase it.  Whereas we in France are free to develop the
+quality rather than the quantity of our army, Germany, finding the
+elements of cohesion only in her military agglomerations is compelled to
+increase unceasingly the number of her soldiers.
+
+At this very moment William is planning to add a permanent effective of
+40,000 men to the tactical units.  In return, he will promise Parliament
+and the country a provisional two years' service, being quite capable of
+withdrawing his promise so soon as the vote has been secured.
+
+Numbers, always numbers!  It is the German Emperor's only ideal, and he
+becomes further and further removed from any principle of selection. . . .
+
+
+The German newspapers make a speciality of the fabrication of sensational
+rumours.  I could not ask any better vengeance for our beloved country
+than to have their stories placed before the most loyal of Sovereigns,
+the most far-seeing of diplomats, of the politician the furthest removed
+from sordid calculations that the world knows or has ever known, that is
+to say, of the Emperor Alexander III. . . .
+
+But all this is just a manoeuvre of the enemy who plays his own game, and
+it has no importance whatsoever beyond that which credulous and anxious
+people choose to give it.  Inasmuch as the renewal of the Triple Alliance
+has produced a definite situation, which affords no opportunity for any
+of the combinations which might have resulted had it been broken up into
+independent parts, the Tzar with his usual foresight was naturally led to
+proclaim his _rapprochement_ with France, and this he has done.  What
+change has there been in the situation since Kronstadt?  None at all,
+unless it be that Lord Salisbury has revealed something more of the
+nature of his intrigues at Sofia, and of the anti-Russian intentions of
+his Bulgarian policy.  The King of Italy has surrendered himself a little
+more into the hands of the King of Prussia, placing at the disposal of
+William's diseased restlessness further and inexhaustible sources of
+trouble and uneasiness for Europe.
+
+
+
+July 9, 1892. [25]
+
+It seems to me that the speech addressed by William to his new Admiralty
+yacht at the port of Stettin has not attracted sufficient notice.  It is
+simply beautiful, a very choice morsel indeed.  To show how little I
+exaggerate, I will ask my readers to study it in the actual text, and I
+would like to engage the services of the King of Prussia to collaborate
+in the _Nouvelle Revue_ for a page in precisely the same style.  Here is
+this little masterpiece of classic purity--
+
+
+"Thou art ready to glide into thy new element, to take thy place amidst
+the Imperial war-ships, and thou art destined to carry our National Flag.
+Thine elegant construction, thy light sides, showing no sign of the heavy
+threatening defensive turrets, such as are carried by our war-ships
+destined to fight the foe, indicate that thou art consecrated to works of
+peace.  Lightly, as on the wing, to cross the seas, bringing distant
+lands closer to each other, giving rest and recreation to workers,
+happiness to the Imperial children, and to the august mother of the
+country,--that is thine appointed task.  May thy light artillery be worn
+by thee as an ornament and not as a weapon of war.
+
+"It is for me now to give thee a name.  Thou shalt carry that which my
+Castle bears, whose towers rise so high towards Heaven, that which, lying
+amidst the beautiful country of Suabia, has given its name to my family.
+It is a name which recalls to my Fatherland centuries full of labour, of
+work done with and for the people, of life devoted to the people, of good
+examples set in leading the people in paths of literature and in many
+struggles.  The name which thou shall bear means all this.  Mayest thou
+do honour to thy name, and to thy flag, to the great Elector who, first
+of all men, taught us our Mission on the sea, and to my great ancestors
+who, by works of peace as in fierce warfare, knew how to keep and
+increase the glory of our fatherland.  I baptize thee _Hohenzollern_!"
+
+
+
+August 29, 1892. [26]
+
+William II, claiming as usual to be ahead of every change of opinion in
+Europe, and to direct it, has chosen a very singular pretext to make
+profession of his faith as a pacifist, at the moment when Lord Rosebery
+was doing the same, and when the visit of our squadron to Genoa was about
+to emphasise a relaxation of tension in the relations between France and
+Italy.
+
+On June 24, 1890, the following motion was adopted by the Reichstag--
+
+
+"The Governments of the Confederated German States are requested to take
+into serious consideration the introduction of the two years' period of
+military service for the Infantry."
+
+
+Without deigning to remember this, and without bothering his head as to
+the discomfiture of the peasantry, who believed the Emperor to be really
+favourable to a scheme which he had openly patronised hardly six months
+before, on the ground that he had been greatly impressed by General
+Falkenstein's report; indifferent also to the difficulty of the situation
+in which he was placing Von Caprivi, advocate of the two years'
+system--the Emperor-King (apparently just because on that day it had
+pleased him to make a declaration in favour of peace) made a speech to
+his officers after the last review of the Guards, and summarily condemned
+any reduction in the term of military service.  Moreover, he requested
+his hearers to repeat his words and to let people know the motives which
+impelled him thus to set his face against a reform, which, not having
+secured his approval, must remain in the limbo of fantastic schemes.
+
+Much stir and commotion follows, and as usual a great deal is said about
+the most changeable and the most feather-headed of Sovereigns; then we
+have a new interpretation of his speech by the Press, contradictions of
+the original text, withdrawal by the Emperor himself of his original
+words, and finally, as net result: a great deal of noise, and the
+attention of all Europe directed towards William II.  What more could he
+ask?
+
+Soon, thanks to the insidious activities of Austria in Servia, and thanks
+to that of his own police on the Franco-Belgian frontier, William will be
+able to threaten Europe with War.
+
+
+
+September 12, 1892. [27]
+
+William has given up the idea of his trip to Hamburg, cholera being the
+sort of jest for which he has no relish.  To make up, he has rushed off
+to Canossa.  The Black Alliance, as the Liberals call it, is an
+accomplished fact.  The price paid to the Catholics for their assistance
+has been a matter of bargaining; what William II wants is an increase in
+the peace-footing of the army, and of the annual contingent of recruits,
+so that Germany's army of 300,000 men may always be ready.
+
+In twenty years the War budget has been raised from 309 to 700 millions,
+as the result of these new plans.  The _Freisinnige Zeitung_ wonders what
+will happen on the day when the opposition of the Catholic Centre shall
+cease, which has always been a check upon military expenditure and which,
+nevertheless, has not prevented Germany from spending 11,597 millions
+upon armaments since 1871.
+
+Will Austria follow once more the lead of Berlin?  The object of William
+II's visit to Vienna, accompanied by Von Caprivi, is to decide her to do
+so.  In the Empire of the Hapsburgs, as in Germany, people are asking;
+"What is going to be the end of all this expenditure?"  The _Vaterland_,
+discussing William's voyage, says that "the pact between the three great
+powers appears to be beginning to be very shaky."
+
+
+
+September 29, 1892. [28]
+
+William II thinks that War is impending and close at hand; he feels that
+Italy is inclined to argue, and Austria to assert herself.  According to
+the tradition of Von Moltke, he wishes to be ready at the hour of his own
+choosing.
+
+In the last volume of the Field-Marshal's memoirs, there is a letter
+addressed by him to the deputy, Count de Bethusy Huc, dated March 29,
+1869, in which the following words occur--
+
+
+"After a war like that which we have just ended, one can hardly wish for
+another.  I desire, however, to profit by the occasion which now offers
+to make war on France, for, unfortunately, I consider this war to be
+absolutely necessary, and indispensable within a period of five years;
+after that, our organisation and armament, which are to-day superior, may
+be equalled by the efforts of France.  It is therefore to our interest to
+fight as soon as possible.  The present moment is favourable; let us
+profit by it."
+
+
+
+November 12, 1892. [29]
+
+If you would take the measure of the hatred which the Emperor-King of
+Prussia, has towards Russia, read the _Youth of William the Second_ by
+Mr. Bigelow, his companion in childhood, the friend of his youth, and the
+passionate admirer of his imperial greatness.
+
+In the eyes of Mr. Bigelow, William II is endowed with all the virtues,
+all the qualities, and a hatred of evil; he is a complete master of every
+conceivable kind of science.  He is a person of tact, foresight, and
+superior feelings, he possesses the noblest qualities of courage and
+sense of honour.  He knows better than any one else everything concerning
+government, business, trade and industry.  Of his military art, it were
+needless to speak; it is conspicuously evident.  A brilliant talker and a
+fine orator, his lucidity of observation, his judgment, and his rapidity
+of decision are all alike, incomparable.
+
+Mr. Bigelow's William has a complete knowledge of the history of Europe
+and of the character of its peoples.  There is nothing that he does not
+know of the upper and lower foundations of the views of European
+statesmen, past and present.  A frank and loyal fellow withal, good to
+children, he feels keenly the sufferings of soldiers ill-treated by their
+officers, and the hardships of the working classes exploited by their
+masters.
+
+Frederick the Great is the only one who in any way approaches him.  Then,
+as to his magnanimity, he proved it to M. Jules Simon, by offering him
+the musical works of the said Frederick the Great, with a letter which,
+according to Mr. Bigelow, should have made France give up her foolish
+ideas about Alsace-Lorraine, were it not for the fact that "from the
+drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint Germain to the garrets of Montmartre,
+all Frenchmen suffer from an incorrigible mania for revenge."
+
+To the great satisfaction of Mr. Bigelow, however, it has been given to
+England to understand, and she knows how to promote William's mission.
+On August 9, 1890, she ceded to him Heligoland, the Gibraltar of Germany.
+It is not I who put these words into the mouth of the friend of the King
+of Prussia!  "Since Waterloo," adds Mr. Bigelow, "England has not been on
+such good terms with Germany."
+
+A very touching confession for us to remember!  Hatred of Russia finds
+expression in a hundred ways under the pen of Mr. Bigelow.  Nothing that
+is Russian can find favour in his sight; the least of the sins of Russia
+are barbarism, corruption, vice of every kind, cruelty and ignorance.
+After having piled up all the usual accusations, he stops, and one might
+think that it was for lack of materials.  But not at all!  He could, but
+will not say more about it; and this "more" assumes most fabulous
+proportions "so as not to compromise my German friends."  I imagine that
+some of those friends of his must figure on the margin of the Russian
+budget, for if it were not so, why should they be liable to be
+compromised?
+
+Travelling down the Danube by boat, Mr. Bigelow was able to make use
+everywhere of the German language.  Every intelligently conducted
+enterprise which he found on his way was in the hands of Germans.
+"Sooner or later," said he, "the Danube will belong to Germany."
+
+According to Mr. Bigelow, all the people who have the misfortune to live
+in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of Russia only dream of becoming
+Germans, in order to escape her.
+
+There is one remarkable quality which William II possesses and which Mr.
+Bigelow has forgotten, and that is his talent as a scenic artist and
+_impresario_ for any and every kind of ceremony; in this he is past
+master.  For the 375th Anniversary of October 31, 1517, the day on which
+the famous theses, which inaugurated the Reformation, were posted by
+Martin Luther on the door of the chapel at Wittenberg, the Emperor-King
+surpassed himself.  The Imperial procession aroused the greatest
+enthusiasm in the little town by its successful reconstruction of the
+historic picture.  The speech of the _summus episcopus_ cast all sermons
+into the shade by its lofty tone and spirit of tolerance.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 16, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] Spanish insurrection against the French invasion under the first
+Empire.
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[11] _Ibid._, August 15, 1891.
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[13] _Ibid._, September 15,1891.
+
+[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[16] An allusion to the Commander's statue in "Don Juan."
+
+[17] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[19] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[23] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[24] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[25] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[26] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[27] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[28] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[29] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 16, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+1893
+
+
+William II receives the Tzarewitch--Germany would rather shed the last
+drop of her blood than give up Alsace-Lorraine--William's journey to
+Italy--The German manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine.
+
+
+January 13, 1893. [1]
+
+Being too weak a man to accept such responsibility as that involved in
+the scheme of military reforms, Von Caprivi has, so to speak, by his
+suppliant attitude towards the parties in the Reichstag, forced William
+II to assert himself.  In spite of his leanings towards prudent reform,
+the Emperor-King, whose pride we know, has found himself all of a
+sudden in a sorry plight on the question of the increase of the
+standing army.  The rising tide of public censure, mounting to the foot
+of the throne itself, found no one to hold it back but a bewildered
+lock-keeper.  And so the Emperor, with his helmet on his head, appeared
+upon the scene, to take charge of the damming operations.  On January 1
+he addressed his generals, his enthusiastic officers (who, like all
+soldiers, have a holy horror of politicians), and said to them, "I
+shall smash the obstacles that they raise against me."
+
+Thus it happens that it is no longer Von Caprivi who confronts the
+Reichstag, no longer the hesitating successor of Bismarck, whom the
+country accuses of leading it on the path to ruin: the Emperor-King
+takes charge in person.  Instead of being a question of policy and
+bargaining between the political parties, the question becomes one of
+loyalty.  In Parliament, the resistance of the country, instead of
+being a legitimate opposition intended to enlighten the sovereign,
+becomes revolutionary.  So now the Reichstag is compelled either to
+vote the scheme of military reform, or to be dissolved; Germany must
+either confirm her representatives in their obedience, or take the
+consequences of her hostility towards the Emperor and his army.  The
+Reichstag will submit, and Germany will humbly offer to her Sovereign
+an additional million of troops in the next five or six years.  William
+II will hasten their general submission by threats of war and
+revolution, as unlimited as is the field of his falsehood.
+
+
+
+February 12, 1893. [2]
+
+William II has left no stone unturned, and has displayed the utmost
+skill, in endeavouring to enfold in his influence the heir to the
+throne of Russia.  He has devoted to this end all the splendour that an
+Imperial Sovereign can display in the entertainment of his guest, all
+the resources of enthusiasm which he can lead his people to display in
+welcoming him, all his tricks of apparent good-will, all the
+fascination of a mind which is apt to dazzle those who meet it for the
+first time (although later on it is apt to inspire them with weariness
+by its very excesses), every manifestation of a wistful friendship
+which proclaims itself misunderstood.
+
+The whole Germany of tradition displayed itself before the eyes of the
+Tzarewitch, all its treacherous appearance of good nature, all its
+dishonest methods, composed of a mixture of vanity and apparent
+simplicity, whose object it is to make people believe in a sort of
+unconsciousness of great strength.  The German Emperor made an appeal
+for a union of princes to resist the restless democracy of our times,
+and repeated it with urgency, and in the usual stock phrases.  In a
+word, William II laid under contribution, to charm the son of the Tzar,
+all his arts and spells of fascination.  Why wonder that he succeeded,
+when we remember that M. Jules Simon, a French Republican, member of
+the Government of National Defence in 1870, came back from Berlin
+singing the praises of the King of Prussia?  Also, that the entire
+Press of our country, with the sole exception of the _Nouvelle Revue_,
+was wont, at the commencement of William's reign, to speak with
+sympathy of the genial character of the "young Emperor," to praise his
+schemes of social reform, and to express its belief in the superiority
+of a mind which, as a matter of fact, is remarkable only for its
+excesses and disorder?  But all Germany, like M. Jules Simon and the
+French Press, will find out the truth.  The country may have gone into
+ecstasies over the first acts and first speeches of its young
+sovereign, but it will soon learn to know how little connection there
+is between the words and assurances of William of Hohenzollern and his
+deeds.
+
+At the outset, during the sojourn of the Tzarewitch at Berlin, whilst
+he was being carefully coddled by the Emperor, the chancellor, Von
+Caprivi (who boasts of having no initiative of his own and of acting
+only under the orders of his master), was inspiring accusations, and
+making them himself before the military commission, charging the war
+party in Russia with secretly plotting against Germany.  One would like
+to know where the war party in Russia can possibly be at the present
+moment?
+
+At the same time that William II was endeavouring to recover and
+restore amicable relations with the Tzar, he had every intention of
+carrying through his schemes of military re-organisation and the
+increase of the army, which, as Von Caprivi was wont to say after His
+Majesty, constitute essential safeguards against a Russian invasion.
+Now, the good Germans welcomed the son of Alexander III; they meant to
+prove to William II how useless they considered the increase of the
+army, inasmuch as the Tzar, with whom lies the final arbitrament of
+war, had shown his desire for peace by sending his son to Berlin.  The
+Tzar, whose statecraft is great and profound, had clearly foreseen what
+the German people would think of the presence of his son in their
+midst; he showed them by this means that the increase of the army is
+useless, and that all the agitation and complications which William
+provokes, the oppositions and the struggles which he himself creates
+amongst the forces that he lets loose, give rise to dangers, far
+greater than any with which Russia could ever threaten Germany.
+
+William II wears blinkers; he can sometimes see in front of him, but
+never around him nor behind.  He believed that the Tzar and the Russian
+Press were going to be affected by the same sort of enthusiasm which he
+had inspired in the Tzarewitch, but the Tzar, Russia, and the Russian
+Press considered matters dispassionately and saw them in their right
+light; they were even of opinion that William II had displayed far too
+much vanity in his reception of the Tzarewitch and too little dignity.
+Consequently, after the departure of the Tzarewitch, the Emperor-King
+of Prussia, had a fit of rage, furious with disappointment at not
+having been able to follow up the success which he had obtained with
+the Tzarewitch himself.  In one of those fits of ungovernable temper
+which lead him to commit so many irreparable mistakes, and which are
+the despair of his Government and his Court, he caused Von Caprivi's
+Press to publish the news of an attempt upon the life of the Tzar.  But
+the methods of reptile journalism are now thoroughly understood and the
+Emperor Alexander, guessing the source of this lie, demanded an
+immediate apology, which Admiral Prince Henry hastened to convey, in
+the name of his brother, to the Russian Embassy.  At the same time that
+he invented this story of the attempt on the life of the Tzar, the King
+of Prussia, German Emperor, proposed a toast in honour of the Duke of
+Edinburgh, Commander-in-Chief of the British Fleet, in which he looked
+forward to "the glorious day when the British fleet should fight the
+common enemy."  The common and double enemy of England and Germany, as
+every one is aware, is France and Russia.
+
+
+
+March 11, 1893. [3]
+
+Until quite recently, the proposed military law was heatedly discussed
+in Germany.  Realising that the Military Commission was on the point of
+rejecting it, William II finished his speech in the following words--
+
+
+"The supporters of the proposed Sedlitz Law accused the Government of
+weakness, when it withdrew the Bill in the face of the clearly declared
+opposition of a majority of the nation.  Well, then, the proposed
+military law provides us with an opportunity of showing that my
+Government is not a weak one, and that the firm will of my grandfather,
+the Emperor William, lives again in me."
+
+
+A few days before the vote in the Reichstag, Herr Bebel had raised the
+question of International Arbitration wherein, he said, lay Germany's
+best means of proving her love for peace, even should it involve the
+risk of having the question of Alsace-Lorraine brought before an
+International Tribunal.  Hereupon, Von Caprivi, Chancellor of the
+Prusso-German Empire, replied to the applause which had come from
+almost the entire Reichstag, as follows--
+
+
+"The deputy Bebel advises us to adopt a tribunal of International
+Arbitration.  He admits the possibility that such a tribunal might
+raise some day the question of Alsace-Lorraine; he insinuates that we
+were to blame for the outbreak of war in 1870, and that there are those
+who maintain this idea with even greater strength and assurance than
+himself.  Well, then, if such a tribunal should come together, and
+should express, no matter in what connection, its opinion on the
+question of Alsace-Lorraine, and if that opinion should be to the
+effect that Germany should hand back Alsace-Lorraine, I am convinced
+that Germany would never submit to such a decision, and that she would
+rather shed her blood to the last drop than to hand back these
+provinces."
+
+
+To which Herr Bebel naturally replied--
+
+
+"When one holds ideas of this kind, it is perfectly evident that one
+cannot admit of International tribunals."
+
+
+Before his little speech, His Majesty the German Emperor had made a big
+one, from which we learned yet once again that William I had been
+entrusted with a mission, and had handed it down to William II; and
+then we heard once more the phrase with which Bismarck had deafened our
+ears, on one of his blustering days, and which the King of Prussia has
+re-issued in a new form and on his own account: "We Germans fear God
+and nothing else in this world."
+
+Well, Sire, I for my part believe that your Majesty fears something
+else besides God, and that is the disintegration of the Triple Alliance.
+
+
+
+March 29, 1893. [4]
+
+William II is ever at pains to invest those occasions in which his
+personality plays a part, with all the glamour of Imperial pomp.  Once
+again, accompanied this time by an enormous retinue of Germans glad of
+the occasion of a free trip to a sunny land, William II is about to
+remind the Romans at Rome of the majesty of the Caesars.  May their
+King not be reminded at the same time, by certain aspects of this
+triumphal procession, of Rome's captive kings.  In binding herself to
+Germany, has not Italy given herself over into bondage to the Teuton
+and especially to Austria, her hereditary foe?  I could readily answer
+this question in the affirmative by looking back into the past, I who
+have so often shared in the patriotic emotions of Italy in bygone days;
+but every people is entitled to be the sole judge of its own destinies,
+and its best friends abroad have no right to endeavour to enlighten it
+by any rays which do not fall from its own heaven above.  One can
+easily lead a nation astray, even by means of truths that have been
+clearly demonstrated beyond its frontiers.  One is compelled to admit
+that the most extraordinary events may occur amongst one's neighbours.
+
+William II, after having sent General Loë to congratulate Leo XIII on
+his Episcopal Jubilee, has just made a speech on the occasion of the
+silver wedding of King Humbert I and Queen Margaret.  It will please
+the Italians, but this ambiguous policy seems to me anything but
+flattering, either for the Italian Kingdom or for the Papacy.  As in
+1888 and with the same ceremonies, Leo XIII will receive the
+Emperor-King of Prussia at the Vatican, and William II, as on that
+previous occasion will be able to split his sides with laughter on
+returning to the Quirinal, mimicking the Holy Father and boasting that
+he has befooled him once more.
+
+
+
+April 27, 1893. [5]
+
+The wisdom of the nations is now enriched with a new proverb, "A
+rolling Emperor gathers moss, and gathers nothing more."  Before long
+the tumult and the shouting of the fêtes at Rome will die down, and
+with them the popular excitement of enthusiasm for the all-powerful
+German Emperor.  The Italian people will then find itself confronted by
+the exhaustion imposed upon it by the compulsory militarism of the
+so-called pacific Triple Alliance.  Even if cavalcades, reviews and
+tournays, should awaken again in the heart of the Roman people that
+love of the circus, which this people has inspired in all the latinised
+races, the economic question still remains, the question of money and
+of bread, implacable.  I know not why it is, but the brilliancy of
+William II's visit to Italy gives me the impression of a fire of straw.
+What object had he in going there, and what has he attained?  I can see
+none.  All his fervent protestations appear to me in bad taste, when
+compared with the correct dignity of the Court of Austria, third of the
+Allied Powers.
+
+
+
+May 12, 1893. [6]
+
+How can our German Caesar, who has just made a journey to Rome after
+the manner of Barbarossa, continue to suffer an assembly of talkers, of
+political commercial travellers, of people who allow their minds to be
+dominated by the vulgar thing called economics?  It is not possible,
+and therefore Caesar calls to witness the first Military Staff that he
+comes across at the Tempelhof and makes it judge of the matter.  "I
+have had to order the dissolution of the Reichstag," says William to
+his officers and generals, "and I trust that the new Parliament will
+sanction the re-organisation of the Army.  But if this hope should not
+be realised, I fully intend to leave no stone unturned to attain the
+end which I desire.  No stone unturned, gentlemen, and you understand,
+I hope, that it is to you that I am speaking, and you who are
+concerned.  You are the defenders of the past, and of the prerogatives
+of the Imperial and Royal Power."
+
+If the new Reichstag meets in the same spirit of resistance to the
+excesses of Prussian militarism, William II will be condemned to
+constitutional government and then, little by little, to the surrender
+of everything that he believes to be his proper attributes, and of all
+his tastes.  No further possibility then of an offensive war, to escape
+from domestic difficulties; no more parades with the past riding behind
+him; no more finding a way out by some sudden headlong move, for he
+would drag behind him only a people convinced against its will and too
+late.  The only thing then left to the King of Prussia, face to face
+with a new majority opposed to militarism, would be the dangerous
+resource of a _coup d'état_.
+
+Dr. Lieber, an influential deputy, has defined the actual situation
+with a clearness which leaves nothing to be desired--
+
+"We perceive," he said, "that the Prussian principle of government is
+developing more and more, and tending to become the idea of the German
+Empire.  The policy to be pursued in the German Parliament should be
+purely German."
+
+The dilemma is clear.  Will Germany continue to become Prussianised or
+will she remain German?  If she is Prussian, that is to say,
+militarist, socialism will grow and increase; if she is German, the
+development and expansion of her political and social organism, having
+free play, will come about normally and surely.  Therefore, the
+solidity of German unity should consist in resistance to Prussianism or
+militarism, to William II, and to the past.  On the other hand,
+submission of the old Confederation to Prussia must inevitably lead to
+disintegration.
+
+
+
+May 29, 1893. [7]
+
+William II has told us, on the occasion of the unveiling of the statue
+of William I at Gorlitz, that the question which brought about the
+dissolution of the Reichstag, that like which confronts the impending
+election, is that of the Military Bill, and that this question
+dominates all others.
+
+"That which the Emperor, William I, has won, I will uphold," says the
+present Emperor; "we must assure the future of the Fatherland.  In
+order to attain this object, the military strength of the country must
+be increased and fortified, and I have asked the nation to supply the
+necessary means.  Confronted by this grave question, on which the very
+existence of the country depends, all others are relegated to the
+background."
+
+Should we conclude, with the _Frankfurter Zeitung_, that "that which
+oppresses our minds in this struggle is the reflection, that no
+possible benefit is to be attained through victory, nor any remedy for
+defeat"?
+
+Will Germany yield, or will she resist the will of the Emperor thus
+clearly expressed?  Herein lies a question which, in one way or
+another, must have the gravest consequences.
+
+
+
+July 1, 1893. [8]
+
+One day, on the occasion of a first performance of a play called
+"Cadio," by George Sand, I was with a woman, my best friend, in the
+wings of the theatre, Porte-Saint-Martin.  I saw Mélingue stamping on
+the floor with his feet and jumping and twisting about, and upon my
+asking him what was the meaning of these extraordinary antics, he
+replied; "It is because, when I come upon the scene, I am supposed to
+have galloped several miles on horseback and it would not do for me,
+therefore, to present the appearance of a gentleman who has just come
+out of a room or from the garden."  I do not quite know why I should
+have remembered this far-off incident on learning that the German
+Emperor, King of Prussia, had come on horseback from Potsdam to open
+the new Reichstag.  As a comedian, William II does not follow the
+methods of Mélingue.  He rides, in order to present a calmer appearance
+at his entry upon the scene.  Clad in the uniform of a Hussar, he read
+the speech from the throne with an evangelical mildness.  He was
+playing the part of a soldier-clergyman.  The soldier said--
+
+
+"My august allies agree with my conviction that the Empire, in view of
+the development of military institutions by other Powers, can no longer
+delay to give to its armed forces such increase as shall guarantee the
+security of its future."
+
+
+The clergyman had upon his lips the honey of promises of concessions,
+and he concluded with these words, added to the speech from the throne--
+
+
+"And now, gentlemen, may the Lord grant His blessing to every one of
+us, for the successful issue of a meritorious work in the interests of
+our country.  Amen!"
+
+
+In the course of the latest discussion of the military law in the
+Reichstag, we have been able to gather certain unforgettable
+information.  In the first place, Von Caprivi has told us that the
+increase of the army is directed really and more especially against
+France.  Herr Richter declares that Germany, single-handed, can carry
+through victoriously any struggle against us.  Liebknecht says that
+Turkey can hold Russia in check together with Poland, and finally,
+that: "Germany counts upon England as surely as upon Austria and upon
+Italy."
+
+
+
+September 13, 1893. [9]
+
+The Emperor, King of Prussia, has addressed to our brothers that are
+cut off from us, the following words--
+
+
+"You are Germans, and Germans you will remain; may God and our good
+German sword help us to bring it to pass."
+
+
+To which words, every Frenchman has replied--
+
+
+"They are French and French they shall remain, God and our good French
+sword helping us."
+
+
+Calmly we await the final provocation.  The German manoeuvres have only
+served to teach us one thing more, viz. that William II wishes us to
+know that the moment is at hand for a last challenge.  All the German
+Sovereigns who were present at the manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine,
+appeared to be weary of the supremacy which William, the hot-headed,
+asserts throughout all the territory of the Empire.  Certain of their
+number stated in the presence of several people whose sympathies are
+with the French, that the Emperor of Germany was no more master of the
+proceedings than they themselves, and that they had no intention of
+figuring either as members of his suite or of his general staff, in
+accordance with the wish which he had expressed to Von Caprivi.
+
+(Before the Emperor of Germany, Talma had played a part in the presence
+of an audience of kings.)
+
+The gift offered by the German subjects of the city of Metz, by way of
+thanksgiving for the extraordinary performance given by William II,
+proves by its very nature that not a single Frenchman had anything to
+do with its selection.  In its form and substance, and in the taste
+which it displayed, it is a typically German present, this casket of
+green plush full of candied fruits.  No doubt, the Empress will be
+delighted and all the little princes too.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 15, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] _Ibid._, May 15, 1893.
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 16, 1893, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+1894-1895
+
+
+Treaty of Commerce between Germany and Russia--Opening of the Kiel
+Canal; why France should not have sent her ships there--Germany
+proclaims her readiness to give us again the lesson which she gave us
+in 1870.
+
+
+March 29, 1894. [1]
+
+William II is triumphant in Germany, and his officious newspapers vie
+with each other in proclaiming the grandeur of his ideas.  Meanwhile,
+the people of Berlin hiss him and sing rebel songs about him on the
+review ground at Tempelhof.
+
+Beyond all doubt the King of Prussia got the better of much opposition
+when he secured the vote for his commercial treaty with Russia.  Our
+friends of the north cannot doubt that they have our best wishes, that
+their commercial and agrarian position may be improved thereby, but the
+more favourable the treaty proves for them, the more we would beg them
+to profit by its advantages, but not to allow themselves to be
+entangled in its dangerous consequences.  If they act thus, if
+Germany's sacrifices should prove of benefit only to her neighbours, if
+the advantages of influence and penetration aimed at by William II
+under cover of this treaty, should be revealed to Russian patriotism,
+Germany may prove to be the party deceived.
+
+If William II is clever it is only because of our lack of cleverness
+and foresight.  It is because we leave the door open that he is able to
+make his way in.  Prussian policy is completely lacking in honesty.  It
+forces an entry by all possible means, keeps listening ears at every
+door, and weakens its rivals by the dissensions which it creates,
+maintains and fosters.
+
+Neither French influence in Russia, nor Russian influence in France,
+has ever made use of such methods of procedure as Germany employs in
+both our countries.  The unwholesome and dangerous penetration of
+reptile influences and of espionage, in all its multitudinous forms,
+produce effects on our two allied nations, whose consequences are
+impossible to over-estimate.  Only an unceasing vigilance against every
+one of the foreign intruders, salaried and enlisted in our midst, can
+protect Russia and France against their insidious influences.  Our
+enemies labour to weaken us with the desperation inspired in them by
+the dangers which they must face, if only we remain staunch, united and
+strong.
+
+Is it generally known that the German subjects of the poorer class who
+inhabit Paris, receive an annual subsidy of 100 marks?  This amounts to
+putting a premium on a form of emigration useful to Germany and
+constitutes for us a grave danger.  Proof of this is to be found in the
+report of a recent meeting of the municipal council at Metz.  Instead
+of sending back distressed German subjects in France to their own
+country, Germany sends them money.  The Alsatian newspaper which
+affords us this information adds with perfect accuracy: "What would
+Germany say if French municipalities were to subsidise officially
+Frenchmen living in Berlin?"
+
+
+
+April 12, 1894. [2]
+
+I am one of those French people who have hoped, up to the very last
+moment, for a continuation of good commercial relations (which means
+good political relations) with Italy; I am one of those who first
+believed in the possibility of re-establishing a good understanding
+under both these headings; but for this very reason I retain a certain
+susceptibility and pride which others, less sincere in the pursuit of a
+definite reconciliation, certainly do not possess.  Sadly I have
+followed the cavalcade of the Prince of Naples to Metz.  I can find no
+joy in the words of King Humbert, which M. Gaston Calmette has
+reproduced so wittily and with such good nature, in the _Figaro_.  From
+my point of view, both these actions of the King of Italy were inspired
+by William II; and both had the same object in view, viz. to prove at
+Metz that he could wound us cruelly through his ally, and to prove at
+Venice that the good-will of Humbert I was subject to his control,
+dictated in his own good time, and sanctioned at his pleasure.  The
+Emperor of Germany has inaugurated in Europe the policy of
+right-about-face, a policy which bewilders diplomacy, astonishes the
+_bourgeoisie_ and fills the nations with fear.
+
+
+
+April 27, 1894. [3]
+
+The revelations published by Mr. Valentin, Comptroller of Stores in the
+Cameroons, deserve to be quoted in their entirety.  In the _Neue
+Deutsche Rundschau_ he has described the atrocities committed by
+governors of German colonies, or by their representatives.  Wholesale
+butcheries, slow and horrible tortures, a new and ingenious method of
+scalping, the imprisonment of wives snatched from their husbands and of
+young girls taken from their mothers (to minister to the debaucheries
+of these governors and their officers) and then brought back to tell
+the terrible story to other unfortunate creatures destined to the same
+fate; the horrible brutality of sentences, by virtue of which the flesh
+of the victims was reduced to pulp under the eyes of the judges--the
+revelation of all these things leaves one's mind possessed with
+feelings of terror and horror, sufficient in themselves to justify any
+reprisals that negro races might inflict upon white people.
+
+
+
+July 23, 1894. [4]
+
+One of these days I shall tell how the house of Krupp (in which William
+II has so large a personal interest over and above his public interest)
+is about to create for itself a formidable position in China, which is
+likely to overthrow many calculations and may end in turning Asia
+upside down.  The great commercial houses of Hamburg, encouraged and
+supported by the government at Berlin, are in telegraphic communication
+with every market in China.  Germany's economic life is developing with
+frightful rapidity in Asia.
+
+
+
+September 11, 1894. [5]
+
+Amongst the list of surprises with which the Emperor of Germany is
+pleased to supply the makers of small-talk in Europe, one often finds,
+since the journey of the Empress Frederick to Paris (although that was
+hardly to be called a success) that he is by way of making advances to
+France.  From time to time William II, in a carefully premeditated pose
+(as, for that matter, all his poses are), extends towards us, across
+the frontiers of Alsace-Lorraine, the hand of generous friendship.
+Sometimes, for an entire day he will be good enough to forget that he
+is heir to the victories won from us in 1870.  Next day, it is true, we
+shall find him celebrating in splendour our defeat at Sedan; but none
+the less he will have satisfied his great soul by thus inviting us to
+forget the past.  Why is it that William II wearies not in thus
+renewing his attempts at reconciliation with France?  The reason is,
+that he has nothing to lose by continual failures, whilst he has
+everything to gain if he succeeds, even for a moment, in deceiving our
+vigilance, and in diverting us from those feelings which alone can
+honour and raise the vanquished, that is to say, fidelity to the
+brothers we have lost, and the proud belief that, sooner or later, we
+shall re-enter into possession of the conquered territory.
+
+Last on the list of the intermittent advances which William II has made
+to France, there appeared lately the following in the _Allegemeine
+Norddeutsche Zeitung_, official organ of the German government:--
+
+
+"There is no reason for misunderstanding, or for failure to appreciate,
+the increasing signs which go to show that public opinion in France is
+favourable to reconciliation with us, and that this opinion is growing,
+not only amongst the higher classes in France, but amongst the people.
+It is beginning to be recognised that it is to the interest of both
+nations to shake hands, as is fitting between neighbours, no matter
+what may have been their _former differences_.  On the part of Germans
+the tendency towards an _entente_ has gained in strength since we have
+noticed the tendency of the French to judge impartially a personality
+like that of our Emperor, as befits a nation so cultured and richly
+endowed as the French."
+
+
+What say you, veteran soldiers, who fought in the Terrible Year?  What
+say you, Parisians of the Siege, Frenchmen who have seen the Prussian
+conqueror dragging his guns and booty along the roads of our France?
+What say you, men of Alsace-Lorraine, heroes all?  (No matter whether,
+like some, you have sacrificed situation, home and your little
+fatherland, so as not to forsake the greater, or, like others, you have
+consented to become Prussians in order that the land you worship may
+remain in hands that are still French.)  What say you, when our
+dreadful defeat, our piled-up ruin, and the spoliation of a portion of
+France, become for a German official organ our _former differences_?
+What words are these in which to speak of 1870-71, of that
+unforgettable and tragic invasion, of the terrible anguish of our
+ravished provinces, and what a proof they afford of the great gulf
+which separates the mind of Germany from that of France!
+
+
+
+September 26, 1894.
+
+The German Emperor does not forget that he is before all things a
+Prussian.  Having administered a reprimand to the nobility, he proceeds
+to give to the five new fortresses at Königsberg, the five greatest
+family names of the Prussian nobility.
+
+At Thorn he declared--
+
+"Only they can count upon my royal favour who shall regard themselves
+as absolutely and entirely Prussian subjects."  The Germans have not
+yet realised that the German Empire will be Prussian, before ever
+Prussia consents to lose herself in a united Germany.
+
+
+
+October 28, 1894.
+
+The German Emperor, King of Prussia, with that love of peace for which
+even Frenchmen are pleased to praise him, is now chiefly occupied in
+displaying his passion for militarism.  In the case of William II, it
+will be necessary to modify a hallowed phrase, and to say to him:
+"Seeing you in uniform, I guessed that you were no soldier."
+
+The Emperor, King of Prussia, insists on continually reminding the
+German peoples that he is the commander-in-chief of the armies of the
+Empire, and he never misses an opportunity of emphasising the fact.  At
+the presentation of flags to the 132 new battalions created by the new
+military law, (and doubtless with a view to peace, as usual) the
+Emperor with his own hand hammered 132 nails, fixing the standards to
+their flag-staffs.  This sort of thing fills me with admiration, and if
+it were not for my stupid obstinacy, it might convert me to share the
+opinion of M. Jules Simon, who holds that we should entertain the King
+of Prussia at the Exhibition in 1900, and welcome him as the great
+_clou_[6] on that occasion.  But I should not jest about those feelings
+which transcend all others in the heart of the French people.  Germany
+owes us Alsace-Lorraine; she has every interest in trying to make us
+forget the debt.  What would one think of a creditor who allowed the
+debtor to persuade him that the debt no longer existed?  A nation which
+reserves its rights against the victor, and maintains its claims to
+conquered territory, may be despoiled but is not vanquished.  Would
+Italy have recovered Lombardy and Venice had she not unceasingly
+protested against the Austrian occupation?  Excessive politeness
+towards those who have inflicted upon us the unforgettable outrage of
+defeat is not a sign of good manners, but of culpable weakness, for it
+inflicts suffering upon those who have to put up with the material
+consequences of Germany's conquest, and might end in separating them
+from their old and unforgotten mother country.
+
+When William II conducted the Prince of Naples to Metz he was only
+acting in accordance with his usual ideas as an insolent conqueror.
+But if we were to receive the German Emperor at the Exhibition of
+1900--if at that time he is still master of Alsace-Lorraine--we should
+be committing the base act of a people defeated beyond all hope of
+recovery.
+
+
+
+December 12, 1894. [7]
+
+As day by day one follows the proceedings of William II, one gradually
+experiences a feeling of weariness and of numbness, such as one gets
+from watching the spectacle of waves in motion.
+
+Before his speech from the throne, and in order to prepare his public
+for a surprise, William II had directed the King of Saxony, on the
+occasion of a presentation of standards, to tell France to her face
+that she had better behave, that the Saxon heroes of 1870 had sons
+worthy of them, and that the glorious, triumphant march from Metz to
+Paris might very easily begin all over again.  Whereupon, general alarm
+and feverish expectation of the speech of William II, which of course,
+turned out to be pacific.  The following sentence should suffice to
+prove it:
+
+"Our confidence in the maintenance of peace has again been
+strengthened.  Faithful to the spirit of our alliances, we maintain
+good and friendly relations with all the powers."
+
+One can discern, however, a little trumpet note (of which he would not
+lose the habit), in the speech which he made at the opening of the new
+Reichstag building, whose construction was begun at the time of the
+Prussian victories: "May this building remind them (the deputies) that
+it is their duty to watch over that which their fathers have
+conquered."  But this is a pure and simple melody compared to the
+war-march of the Saxons.
+
+
+
+January 12, 1885. [8]
+
+William II, in search of a social position, has become lecturer.  At
+his first lecture, he announced to the whole world that our commercial
+marine no longer holds the second place, that this second place belongs
+to Germany, and it is now necessary that Germany's Navy should also
+take our place.  And in his usual chameleon way, the German Emperor,
+who until quite recently refused to admit that there lay any merit
+whatsoever in the Bismarckian policy, now adds: "And Prince Bismarck
+may rejoice, for the policy which he introduced has triumphed."
+
+
+
+March 12, 1895. [9]
+
+On a certain day, in 1871, the defenders of Paris and its patriotic
+inhabitants learned from the silence of our guns, that the Prussian
+enemy's victory over them was complete.  And now it seems we are going
+to Kiel, to take part in the triumphant procession of H.M. William II,
+King of Prussia, and to add the glory of our flag to the brilliant
+inauguration of his strategic waterway.  Why should we go to Kiel?  Who
+wanted our government to go there?  Nobody, either in France or Russia.
+The great Tzars are too jealous of the integrity of their own splendid
+territory, to refuse to allow that a nation should remember its lost
+provinces.  We were indignant when the Prince Royal of Italy, the ally
+of Germany, went to take part in the German military cavalcades, and
+now we ourselves, whom Prussia defeated, are going, in the train of the
+despoiler of Schleswig-Holstein, to assist at the opening of a canal,
+which penetrates and bleeds Danish provinces, annexed by the same
+conqueror who took from us Alsace-Lorraine.  Will Denmark, whom William
+II has had the audacity to invite, go to Kiel?  No, a thousand times
+no! and neither should we go there ourselves, to applaud this taking
+possession of Danish waters.  Denmark, though invited, will not go to
+Kiel; yet we know what are the ties which bind her Sovereigns to
+Russia.  It has been said, in order to reassure consciences that are
+easily quieted, that our war-ships will go to Kiel sheltered by those
+of Russia, and, so to speak, hidden beneath their shadow.  Our dignity
+is at stake, as much in the truth as in the falsehood of this news.
+The French Government is not a monarchy.  By declining this invitation
+of our conquerors, it would have placed the whole question on its
+proper footing, which should be that of the situation created by the
+Treaty of Frankfort.  We should have said to Germany, France desires
+peace.  Our Chauvinists will remain quiet, so long as the German
+Government gives us no provocation.  If we refrain from going to Kiel,
+it is in order to maintain the peaceful condition of our relations.
+Germany's chief interest is to lead Europe to believe that we have come
+to accept the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, and to make the people of those
+provinces believe that we have forgotten them.
+
+The King of Prussia, German Emperor, just to keep his hand in,
+stimulates the military virtues of his recruits, and for the hundredth
+time presides over the taking of the oath of fidelity.  He teaches the
+recruits that the eagle is a noble bird, which soars aloft into the
+skies and fears no danger; also, that it is the business of the said
+recruits to imitate the eagle.  He adds that the German navy is the
+only real one, that all others are spurious imitations, and he
+concludes by saying that "the German Navy will achieve prosperity and
+greatness along paths of peace, for the good of the Fatherland, as it
+will in war, so as to be able, if God will, to crush the enemy."
+William II never speaks of conquering the enemy or being superior to
+him; it is always "crush."  It is this crushing German navy that our
+sailors are to go and salute at Kiel.
+
+It looks as if our artists were lending a hand to William, and
+gratifying this passion of his for crushing people.  An Alsatian friend
+of mine, who knows his Germany well, said to me the other day that, in
+sending their pictures for exhibition at Berlin, our painters are
+likely to ruin their own market.  For a long time the King of Prussia
+has wanted to have a _salon_ at Berlin, and he looks to French painters
+to give it brilliancy and to attract those foreign artists who are
+accustomed to French exhibitions.  Once it has become the fashion to go
+to Berlin, French artists will find that they have helped to ruin their
+own business.  How can anybody suppose that William II really wishes to
+do honour to French art?  Do not let us forget that Frederick III said
+"France must have her industrial Sedan, as she has had her military
+Sedan."
+
+
+
+March 28, 1895. [10]
+
+It seems then, that Germany's proudest ambitions are about to be
+realised at the fêtes at Kiel.  That patriotic hymn of theirs, which up
+to the present has been a dead letter for those peoples who have not
+yet been incorporated in the Prussianised Empire, will now become a
+living thing.  Henceforward all Europe must hear and accept the
+offensive utterance which the Germans shout: "Deutschland über Alles!"
+Yes, Germany over all things.
+
+That her Emperor should have willed it, is enough to bring together in
+his triumphant procession all the following--
+
+
+Russia, despoiled of her triumph at Constantinople by the Congress of
+Berlin, and exposed on her flank by the Baltic Canal.
+
+England, tricked at Heligoland and at Zanzibar, and whose power is
+threatened by the very fleet which she is going to salute.
+
+Spain, threatened in the Carolines, who has only been protected from
+Prussian presumption by her own indomitable pride.
+
+Denmark, cynically robbed of Schleswig-Holstein.
+
+Italy, from whom the German navy, when it has become the equal of the
+German army and fulfilled the dream of William II, will take Trieste.
+It is true that, to make up for Trieste, diplomacy at Berlin is putting
+Salonika in pickle with a good deal of English pepper, intending to
+offer it as a _hors d'oeuvre_ to Austria, Germany's advanced and
+submissive sentinel in the East.
+
+France, the most deeply injured and despoiled, whom the German conquest
+has plundered to the utmost, she also will take part in the procession,
+and in order that our humiliation be the more complete, so that the
+French army may be unable to forgive the French navy for it, our Flag,
+our beloved colours, will doubtless salute one of those Prussian
+vessels which carry the name of one of our defeats, for instance, the
+_Wörth_!
+
+
+After that, William II, King of Prussia, will be unable to descry a
+single cloud on the German horizon.  And Germany, Germany will be above
+and over all!  The glory and the splendour of the Hohenzollerns will
+shine upon the entire universe, and the German Emperor, Emperor of
+Emperors, like the King of Kings, will have nothing to fear until the
+Heavens fall.
+
+And we, who have forgotten nothing of the Terrible Year and what it
+took from us, we, who can see under the left breast of our beloved
+France, her bleeding heart, ravished Alsace-Lorraine, we shall lift our
+eyes unto Heaven, our last hope, beseeching it to strike down the
+presumptuous one, since men are afraid of him.
+
+
+
+April 10, 1895. [11]
+
+It has always been a dream of mine to see a newspaper founded under the
+title _Foreign Opinion_, a sheet confined to information, in which
+would be presented, clearly, simply, and held together by an
+intelligent sequence of ideas, quotations from the principal organs of
+those countries in which we have interests, either identical or
+opposed.  Statesmen and Members of Parliament would be compelled to
+read such a paper.  A knowledge of foreign opinion would render the
+greatest services to public opinion in this country, for it would
+compel our somewhat self-centred mind to take into consideration the
+judgment of others, to determine the justice or the harshness of the
+criticism directed against us, and to draw, from the study of these
+things, warnings and rules of conduct.
+
+To take an immediate instance, let me give my readers an extract from
+the _Münchner Nachtrichten_, a newspaper, which as a rule does not
+share the brutal harshness of the Berlin Press with regard to our
+feelings and their expression in French newspapers--
+
+
+"These foolishly vain Frenchmen, sitting in their meagre little thicket
+of laurels, contemplate with evident displeasure the stirring of the
+winds in the great forest of German oaks, and their discontent finds
+expression in ways that are frequently comical.  The _Figaro_ for
+example, has expressed it in an article which is particularly silly
+(with a kind of foolishness not often found even in a French newspaper,
+which is saying a good deal).  It denies to Germans the right to
+remember the glorious years of 1870 and '71, for the reason that French
+people might thereby be hurt.  Does it mean to say that the French
+would threaten us with war if we continue to celebrate our victories
+over them?  Well, if these gentlemen are of that opinion, we will
+answer them that Germany is peacefully inclined, but that, if the
+French are not satisfied with the severe lesson that we gave them in
+1870-71, we are quite prepared to begin it all over again."
+
+
+And these are the people, mind you, who would have said that we were
+trying to provoke them if, faithful to the memory of our defeat, as
+they are to the memory of their victory, we had abstained from going to
+Kiel to sing the glories of the conqueror.  Like William II, their
+Sovereign and Lord, Germany will never admit that our actions should be
+a counterpart to their own, even though such actions should include
+recognition of their former victories.  They wish to impose upon us,
+not only the acceptance of defeat, but a definite recognition of their
+conquest, a final sacrifice of our ancient rights, together with
+unlimited scope for their new ambitions.  The German Emperor, King of
+Prussia, has never made two consecutive speeches in which one did not
+contain some threat for us, long or short-dated.  If one were to add
+together all the words of peace which William has spoken and all his
+war-like utterances, the mass of the latter would irretrievably swamp
+all the rest.
+
+
+
+October 28, 1895. [12]
+
+His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, seems to be quite
+incapable of understanding that, in love as in hate, it is wisest not
+to be overfond of repeating either the word "always" or the word
+"never."  It is the intention of William II, that Germany should for
+ever and ever remain the gate of Hell for France, and he has continued
+to din into our ears his _lasciate speranza_ every year for the last
+twenty-five.  He never misses an opportunity of showing us France
+humiliated and Germany magnified and glorified.  The monument at Wörth
+has been unveiled with such a noisy demonstration, that it has for ever
+banished from our minds the figure, softened by suffering, of that
+Emperor Frederick, who had made us forget "Unser Fritz" of
+blood-stained memory.  William II noisily recalls to our mind the
+conqueror, when we wished to see in him only the martyr.  This is what
+the German Emperor now tells the world at large: "Before the statue of
+this great Conqueror, let us swear to keep what he conquered, to defend
+this territory against all comers and to keep it German, by the aid of
+God and our good German sword."
+
+To do him justice, William II has rendered to us patriots a most
+conspicuous service.  At a word he has set us back in the position from
+which the luke-warm, the dreamers, and the cowards were trying to drive
+us.  By saying that Alsace-Lorraine is to remain Prussian for ever and
+for ever, he has compelled France either to accept her defeat for
+centuries to come, or to protest against it every hour of her national
+existence.
+
+
+
+November 2, 1895.
+
+William II suffers from a curious kind of obsession, which makes him
+want to astonish the world by his threats, every time that his recruits
+take the oath.  On the present occasion he said, that the army must not
+only remember the Watch on the Rhine but also the Watch on the Vistula.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 16, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _Ibid._, May 1, 1894.
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1894, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[6] A pun on the word _clou_, a nail.
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _Ibid._, March 16, 1895.
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 15, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+1896-1897
+
+
+Telegram from William II to President Krüger--The Emperor Nicholas II
+visits France--William II and Turkish affairs; he becomes Protector of
+the Sultan--Why the condolences of William II preceded those of the
+Tzar on the occasion of the fire at the Charity Bazaar--"Germany, the
+Enemy": Skobeleff's word remains true--We have been, and we still are,
+gulls--Peace signed between Turkey and Greece.
+
+
+January 11, 1896. [1]
+
+As the result of his telegram to President Krüger, William II has
+recovered the popularity of the early days of his reign.  The German
+Emperor had undoubtedly very powerful reasons for making a chivalrous
+display on behalf of the Transvaal, from which he anticipated deriving
+the greatest advantages.  He expected to produce a moral effect by
+undertaking the defence of the weaker side (a rôle that once belonged
+to France).  He saw a way to flatter Holland, deeply touched by these
+manifestations of German sympathy for Dutchmen, who were represented by
+others as barbarians.  He saw also an opportunity for acquiring and
+keeping admirable outlets into the Transvaal, which had threatened to
+become for ever closed to German emigrants.  Finally, he expected to
+produce a feeling of admiration for his magnanimous attitude, which
+would divert the German people from socialism and make them forget the
+Hammerstein affair.  Truly, the Transvaal is for William II one of
+those lucky finds from which all sorts of good things may spring.
+
+The educated classes in Germany, as well as the lower orders, were
+beginning to get very weary of the everlasting celebrations in memory
+of 1870-71, which continually fed the flames of French hatred.  A
+Silesian journal had just informed us that the 25th anniversary of the
+proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles would be celebrated by
+a great fête in all the German schools.  The German artillery of the
+Siege of Paris had arranged for a commemorative banquet, to be held in
+Berlin on January 5.  The senate and the _bourgeoisie_ of Hamburg had
+made a gift of nearly 200,000 marks on behalf of the regiment of
+Hanseatic infantry which fought at Loigny on December 2, and for
+distressed veterans of that regiment.
+
+Germany was in great need of something to distract her attention by a
+stroke of exotic brilliancy and by the creation of some new object of
+hatred.  Enmity for ever directed against France, was beginning
+somewhat to pall.  This continually living on the strength of one's old
+triumphs, made Germany to appear like some much-dyed old dandy, seeking
+to gain recognition for past conquests by means of art and cosmetics.
+The time had come to create a diversion.  The German Emperor, King of
+Prussia, has found it with his usual headlong impetuosity, the quality
+which impels him always to seize things on the wing, to display
+alternately the capacity of a genius, and that of a stupid
+blunderer. . . .
+
+
+
+March 1, 1896. [2]
+
+German opinion persists in expressing its severe criticisms on the
+subject of the Transvaal business and continues to display its sympathy
+for the Boers.  There is every reason to expect that German interests
+will now be able to create for themselves numerous outlets in the
+Transvaal.
+
+William II has made another speech on the subject of the war of 1870;
+in this he is like the tide, which the waves carry away only to bring
+it back.  Lord, Lord, deliver us from this torture!  I, for one, can
+bear it no longer.  My eyes are filled with tears of rage as I listen
+and listen again, for ever, unceasingly and without end, to the tale of
+our defeat and to the glorification of the army which conquered us, to
+the tale of the German Empire born of these Prussian victories.  Will
+it ever be finished, this tale?  When will they have done, once and for
+all, with inscribing these cruel records of theirs in the golden book
+of Germany, and shut the clasp upon it?
+
+
+We know that William II either painted himself, or had painted, a
+picture, which was all the rage in Germany and which represented Europe
+invaded by the Chinese.  It would look as if William II really believed
+in the danger of this impending invasion, to judge by the inscription
+on the engraving of this picture, reproduced by the thousand; "Nations
+of Europe, take care for your most sacred treasures!--WILLIAM I.R."
+
+But if this be so, how comes it that the German Emperor is sending
+hundreds of military instructors to the Chinese, who are supposed to be
+threatening his country?
+
+
+June 1, 1896. [3]
+
+William II believes that the victories of 1870 were due to Prussia
+alone, and that it was she who made the Empire; and this explains why
+he takes such complete possession of the Empire, and makes the
+celebrations of these victories so personal a matter.  The people of
+Bavaria, Würtemberg and Saxony are herein exposed to humiliation of a
+kind which they decline to accept.  There is no doubt that all Germans
+hate us with an equal hatred, and all have united with the same
+enthusiasm to crush our unfortunate France; nevertheless, we may derive
+some profit from the antipathy inspired in them by Prussia's grasping
+claims to glory and authority.
+
+
+
+September 1, 1896. [4]
+
+Do you remember, my faithful friends, and you, my earliest readers,
+what were the sentiments of hatred, love and fidelity, that inspired
+the letters which I addressed to you nearly eighteen years ago--the
+violence of my hatred for the most tyrannical, and at the same time,
+the most dangerously vindictive, of European statesmen, viz. Von
+Bismarck?
+
+Have you not often smiled, when I then denied the strength of the
+Colossus and asserted his fragility, when I used to say: "He must not
+die with a halo of glory; let him witness rather the bankruptcy of his
+moral estate and give proof of the pettiness of his character and
+evidence of his unbridled lust for power.  Let the effrontery of his
+lies return to him in bitterness?"  And together, you and I, we have
+now seen Prince Bismarck, not hurled down, but slowly crumbling to
+ruin; there has been nothing great about his fall, neither the shout
+that he gave, nor his way of falling, nor the words which he said when
+he picked himself up.
+
+And at the same time when I showed you, in the far distant future, this
+idol of blood-thirstiness broken, I preached to you the love of Russia.
+I saw her freeing herself from German influence and drawing closer to
+us.  Hardly had the Emperor Alexander III come to the throne, than I
+said to you: "He will be a popular Emperor, and the more he loves his
+own people the more he will love ours."  For a long time you thought
+that my hatred of Prince Bismarck was blind, but from the outset you
+regarded my love of Russia as enlightened.  How many strengthening and
+encouraging letters have I not received from you?
+
+And now, Nicholas II, son of Alexander III, the well-beloved Emperor,
+who represents in his own person the highest expression of great, holy
+and mystical Russia, is coming to Paris officially, as the ally of
+France, so that all the ambitions of our patriotism, all our dreams of
+the last twenty-five years, are coming true together.  Am I not
+entitled to say to you, dear readers, "I have fulfilled the mission
+that I set before myself, my work amongst you is accomplished"?  But
+there remains still a tie between us, our common fidelity to Alsace!
+How could we forget those who have not ceased to remember?  Shall it be
+said that we failed those who rather than yield have suffered every
+form of torture?  Let us endeavour together to prove in a more active
+manner our devotion to the brethren who are separated from us.  Now
+that Prince Bismarck has one foot in the grave, now that the Russian
+Alliance is in the hands of the Government of France, let us devote all
+our strength and all the resources of our advocacy, all our love of
+justice, to the cause of Alsace-Lorraine. . . .
+
+William II is sick, nervous and irritable.  He has lost all patience
+with the question of the reform of military organisation; he did not
+raise that question, it would seem, and has plenty of other things to
+worry him.  He is going to ask Parliament, on its re-assembling, to
+vote large sums for the increase of the navy, his own particular care.
+After all, he received the army triumphant from the hands of Moltke and
+of Bismarck, but the navy is his own personal achievement; he believes
+this, and says so repeatedly.  But the German navy has no luck.  This
+year, besides the _Iltis_, the _Frauenlob_, and the _Amazone_, which
+swallowed up a large number of junior officers of the Prussian navy, it
+has lost the _Kurfurstin_ (as the result of an error of navigation)
+with 300 sailors, also the _Augusta_, the _Undine_, and other vessels.
+
+
+
+February 22, 1897. [5]
+
+William II has announced himself as the enemy of Greece, and the prop
+of the Ottoman Empire.  At the subscription ball given at the Opera in
+Berlin, did he not walk arm-in-arm with Ghalik Bey, the Turkish
+Ambassador, and authorise him to telegraph to the Sultan that, under
+existing conditions, he might count upon his sense of justice and his
+good-will?  Does not this constitute an insolent challenge to the
+decision which the Powers are supposed to have taken for the
+observation of neutrality?
+
+When William II is insolent, he does not do things by halves; now, he
+repeats to all concerned: "One does not argue with Greece, one gives
+her orders," and on every occasion that has offered, he has displayed
+sentiments hostile to Greece and favourable to the Sultan.  For these
+reasons, Abdul Hamid is devoted to William II.  He is tied to him, and
+bound by all his sentiments, by all his admiration and his fear, to the
+Germans.  Messrs. Cambon and de Nelidoff believed that they had
+detached the Sultan from Germany, but illusions on that score are no
+longer possible.  Germany possesses his entire confidence.  Did not he,
+the most nervous and suspicious of men, allow on one occasion the
+German military mission to take _effective_ command of his troops,
+whereas no other military mission has ever been allowed anything more
+than the right to put them through their drill?  Germany, which in case
+of need can count upon the Turkish army, is fundamentally interested in
+preventing Turkey from being either weakened or divided up.  A war in
+the East, in which Germany might get Russia deeply involved, at the
+same time that she kept her busy in Asia, is too great an advantage to
+risk losing, without doing everything possible to protect it. . . .
+
+
+
+April 28, 1897. [6]
+
+William II, the God of war and of force, is in every way responsible
+for events in the East.  Only his friendship, and the many consequences
+of that friendship, have given to Abdul Hamid the courage of his
+massacres, of his resistance to all efforts at reconciliation, and of
+his military proceedings in Greece.  The German Emperor had been able
+to persuade the simple-minded Government of France of his peaceful and
+humanitarian intentions.  It only needed a few of us to revolt and to
+express our indignation, to unmask him, and to show in its true, lurid
+light, the real nature of his actions, so as to enable the nations to
+know him for what he is.  To-day he is the master of Europe; but let
+the power of the Kaiser be what it may (and it is a power no more
+capable of honesty than that of Bismarck, who lied without ceasing,
+forfeited without ceasing his honour, and accepted responsibility for
+crime), whatever conquests hereafter William II may achieve, even
+should we be defeated again, we shall be able to stand up before him
+and to his face to say, "You will never achieve greatness!"  Material
+greatness turns again to dust, like all matter, but moral greatness is
+eternal, an intangible thing, which surrounds men, invisible, and which
+emanates from the best amongst them.
+
+We will leave to history, which shall surely record it, the judgment of
+_human_ men, of real peace-lovers, concerning William II, concerning
+this protector of the Red Sultan, this renegade and denier of his
+faith, who has sold his soul in order to govern the world through evil,
+through trickery, through force and through war.  You have only to read
+the German legends, to analyse the souls of the traditional heroes of
+Germany, to see that they are indeed much more closely allied to the
+Turks (who have only understood Islamism under its aspects of conquest)
+than they are to the traditions which Europe has inherited from Greece
+and from her daughters, Rome and Byzantium.
+
+The struggle of to-day lies between these two spirits: one the
+barbarian spirit, the spirit of conquest, which knows no other law but
+force, the spirit which subdues and kills, represented by Turkey and by
+Germany; the other, the spirit of civilisation, of love, which knows no
+other law than the right, the spirit which emancipates and vivifies,
+the spirit of Greece, from which European civilisation is drawn,
+excepting always that of the Germans and Turks.  Either the East will
+resist the Turks, and Europe will resist Germany, or else both will
+relapse into barbarism, and be condemned to war without ceasing, to
+butcheries, to the brutality of force and all its works.
+
+
+
+May 27, 1897. [7]
+
+At all events they have not yet won their bet in Berlin that they would
+make us look ridiculous and hateful.  Those very wise and well-bred
+people, who have been advising us to revise our national education, so
+as to welcome the Kaiser in 1900, have had but meagre success.  As to
+the golden stream, which brought us the 8000 marks of the King of
+Prussia,[8] thank Heaven, it has not been able to drown our patriotism.
+Brother Frenchmen, it is still lawful for lunatics and ill-bred people
+like ourselves to remember Sedan, Metz, Strasburg and Paris, as well as
+Kronstadt and Toulon.  Then let us not forget either the first rays of
+sunlight which reach us from Russia, or the darkness of 1870. [9]
+
+There is not a single German journalist (_and I wish to emphasise this
+fact most clearly_), even in the ultra-Prussian party, who would have
+dared to put his signature to such an article as one of our greatest
+newspapers has published concerning William II, whom it describes as "a
+humanitarian thinker, a gentle philosopher, thinking only of the
+happiness of the human race, of appeasing ancient hatreds and removing
+old grudges.  How joyfully would he not have restored Metz and
+Strasburg had he not been prevented in performing this act by the
+historical necessities of his position."  In proof of all which things,
+this article cites his telegrams of sympathy, the splendid bouquets
+which he has sent to our illustrious dead, his wish to pay homage to
+France in 1900, etc., etc.
+
+The journalist grown old in harness, who has dared to write such
+monstrous things as well as such nonsense, will no doubt be greatly
+astonished when I inform him that no foreign reporter, however
+inexperienced, of any nation great or small, is ignorant of the fact
+that William II is relentlessly determined to achieve the
+re-establishment of absolute autocracy as it was conceived by certain
+Emperors of Rome and Byzantium.  His motto is _Voluntas Regis Supremo
+Lex_, which, on the occasion of his first visit to Münich, he wrote
+there with his own Imperial hand.  On the first occasion of the opening
+of the States of Brandenburg, he declared that he counted on their
+fidelity to help him to crush and destroy everything that might oppose
+his personal wishes.  Is it necessary to say once more for the
+hundredth time that he never has the oath taken by his recruits without
+telling them that "they must ever be ready to fire on those who oppose
+his rule, even though they should be their own fathers, mothers and
+brothers"?  The other day, did he not make his brother Prince Henry
+read a letter to the sailors of his war-ship the _Wilhelm Imperator_
+(the vessel appointed to attend the Jubilee of Queen Victoria), in
+which letter he held up to the execration of the army and navy those
+"unpatriotic" Germans who refused to provide him with millions for his
+wild scheme of increasing the navy, that is to say, about nine-tenths
+of the Reichstag?  There is in Germany one institution which commands
+very general respect, and enjoys traditional liberty, viz. the
+University.  For the last year William II has opened a campaign against
+the liberties of University education, and the scandalous manner in
+which he has attacked the professors at Berlin because of the dignity
+with which they have defended their rights of scientific research, are
+known to every one except "this brilliant Chronicler of the Boulevards."
+
+From one end of Germany to the other they go into ecstasies whenever,
+either before, during, or after his acts of politeness to France,
+William finds some new pretext for humiliating, humbling, or
+threatening us. [10]
+
+A German pamphlet published two years ago, entitled _Caligula; a Study
+of Caesarian Madness_, by Mr. Quidde, achieved such a success, that
+hundreds of thousands of copies were bought up in a few days by the
+faithful subjects of the German Emperor.  This pamphlet, ingeniously
+compiled by means of quotations from Suetonius, Dion Cassius, Philo,
+etc., gives a marvellous analysis of the character of William II.  I
+cannot resist the pleasure of giving a few extracts from this little
+work, for it would appear that William II is endeavouring, since its
+publication, to emphasise the resemblance between himself and Caligula
+and Nero.
+
+"The dominant feature in the actions of Caligula lies in a certain
+nervous haste, which led him spasmodically from one obsession to
+another, often of a self-contradictory nature; moreover, he had the
+dangerous habit of wanting to do everything himself.  Caligula seems to
+have a great fondness of the sea.  The strolling-player side of his
+character was by no means limited to his military performances.  He was
+passionately devoted to the theatre and the circus, and would
+occasionally take part himself on the stage, led thereto by his
+peculiar taste for striking costumes and frequent changes of clothing.
+He was always endeavouring to shine in the display of eloquence; and
+was fond of talking, often in public.  We know that he developed a
+certain talent in this direction, and was particularly successful in
+the gentle art of wounding people.  His favourite quotation was the
+celebrated verse of Homer--
+
+  There is only one Master, only one King.
+
+Sometimes he loved the crowd, and sometimes solitude; at other times he
+would start out on a journey, from which he would return quite
+unrecognisable, having allowed his hair and beard to grow."
+
+
+Just as the names of Caligula and Nero are daily affixed in Germany to
+the name of William II, Herr Hinzpeter is called Senecus, General von
+Hahnke is known as Burrhus; there is also an Acté and a Poppea at
+Berlin.  Frederick III is Germanicus and Prince Bismarck is called
+Macro, after the powerful prefect of the praetorium in disgrace.  Like
+Nero, William II has been cruel to his mother; he is cruel to his
+sister, the Princess of Greece.  He hates England, just as Caligula
+hated Brittany.  With a mind like that of Nero, William II derives the
+greatest pleasure from the thought of degrading the French people by
+making them receive him with acclamation.  What a triumph it must be
+for this grandson of William I (who defeated us but left us our honour)
+thus to bring us to dishonour: us, the descendants of the France of
+1789, republicans in the service of a Prussian Caesar!
+
+
+
+June 10, 1897. [11]
+
+It should have been to the interest of France and, of Russia, and a
+policy of skilful strategy, to oppose Turkey when supported by the
+Triple Alliance, and to create around and about her, in Greece as in
+the Balkans, such a force of resistance as would have put a stop to her
+schemes of expansion, resulting from those of the Powers of the Triple
+Alliance.  By so doing, France and Russia might have taken them in the
+rear and upset their plans.  We were already in a position of
+considerable advantage, in that we could leave to the King of Prussia,
+the German Emperor, all the responsibility for the crimes of the
+Sultan, observing at the same time all those principles which would
+have maintained, in their integrity, the moral and Christian traditions
+of France and Russia.  But our policy has been that of children
+building castles in the sand.  Confronted by a triumphant Turkey,
+leaning on the Triple Alliance, and by a Sultan suffering from the
+dementia of blood-lust, certain of the faithful friendship of William
+II, and confident in his victorious army (already 720,000 strong, and
+commanded by a German General Staff); confronted by such fears and
+threats, we have chosen to place all our hopes upon the balanced mind
+of William II, the generosity of the Sultan, and the loyalty of
+oriental statecraft!  I have said it so repeatedly that I may have
+wearied my readers, but I say it again; "_To their undoing, France and
+Russia have sacrificed their policy to Turkey, protected by Germany_."
+They are now confronted by German policy, evasive and at the same time
+triumphant, that is to say, in full command of the situation which it
+has brought about.  William II is at last revealed, even to the
+blindest eyes, as the instigator and sole director of everything that
+has taken place in the East since his visit to Constantinople.  He
+takes pleasure in advising the Sultan day by day, for he makes him do
+everything that he himself is prevented from doing, and he enjoys the
+satisfaction of being a tyrant in imagination when he cannot be one
+actually.
+
+
+
+June 25, 1897. [12]
+
+The Sultan's million of armed men, organised under a German General
+Staff, in a country where Germany is making every effort to possess
+herself of every kind of influence and every source of wealth, is not
+this the chief danger which Russia has to fear, and whose imminence she
+should clearly foresee, in dealing with a Sultan like Abdul Hamid, a
+man of nervous fears and bloodthirsty instincts, bound to furtherance
+of the sudden or premeditated schemes of William II?
+
+
+
+July 27, 1897. [13]
+
+Although Germany has commemorated her victories for the last
+twenty-five years, and will doubtless continue to commemorate them for
+the next six months and then for evermore, it seems that we are to be
+compelled, in deference to "superior orders" revealed at the Council of
+Ministers, to postpone the official consecration of a monument intended
+to prove our devotion to our mutilated country, and our incurable grief
+at the defeat of Sedan.  It seems that we have not the right, a free
+people, to give to sorely oppressed Alsace-Lorraine (which never ceases
+to give proofs of her fidelity to France) a proof in our turn, that we
+remember the disaster which has separated us, that we lament this
+disaster, and hope one day to repair, if not to avenge it.  Our pride
+is being systematically humiliated in every direction!  The nature and
+consequences of victory have indeed been cruelly modified, if one must
+submit to the law of the conqueror after having been delivered from him
+for twenty-five years.  The glorious resistance of the past thus
+becomes an ignominious surrender and makes us shed tears of shame, even
+more bitter than those which we shed over our saddest memories.
+
+Gentlemen of the Government of France, I would ask you to read the
+German newspapers; go to Berlin, go wherever you like in Germany or in
+Alsace-Lorraine, and you will find there hundreds and hundreds of
+monuments which have been inaugurated by the Imperial German
+Government.  For these, the smallest event, ancient or modern, affords
+sufficient pretext. [14]
+
+In all things and in every direction we yield today to the authority of
+a monarch who emphasises our defeat more severely than those who
+actually conquered us.  Our strict national duty towards him who did
+not overcome us with his own sword, was to hold ourselves firmly
+upright before him and to protect our brethren, victims of the war.
+Alas! we have been obedient to Bismarck, and we shall be submissive to
+William II.  But why, and to what end?  Had we met the liar and cheat
+with honesty, had we remained calm in presence of this nerve-ridden
+individual, we should have been able to recover, morally at first and
+then actually, all the advantages that Prussia gained by her victory.
+
+The Imperial victim of restlessness, whose nerves are so unhealthily
+and furiously shaken when he goes abroad, has a craving for disturbing
+the nerves of others; this in itself makes him the most dangerous of
+advisers.  William II never allows to himself or to others any
+relaxation of the brain; like all spirits in torment, he must needs
+find, forthwith, to the very minute, a counter-effect to every thing
+that confronts him.  With him, even a sudden calm contains the threat
+of a storm, excitement lurks beneath his moods of quietness.  The
+bastard peace which he has authorised Turkey to conclude, conceals a
+new revolution in Crete: such is his will.  No sooner is there evidence
+of an improvement in our relations with Italy, than he invites King
+Humbert to be present at the German military manoeuvres, in order to
+create dissension between the two countries.  And so it is in
+everything.  He makes it his business to inspire weariness and vexation
+of spirit, to destroy those hopes and feelings which restore vitality
+to the soul of a people.  He is for ever stretching out a hand that
+would fain control by itself the rotation of the globe, and he sets it
+all awry.
+
+
+The glorification of William II at Kiel is founded upon shifting sands.
+Schleswig remains Danish and resists the Germanising process with a
+force of energy at least equal to that of Alsace-Lorraine.  The Danes
+of Schleswig are still Danes, they have not bowed the knee in
+admiration of German _Kultur_, any more than the Alsatians, Schleswig
+says: "Let them ask us by a _plébiscite_ and they shall see what we
+want, what civilised men have the right to ask: light and air and the
+right to dispose of themselves."  The people of Alsace-Lorraine say:
+"If you would know what Alsace-Lorraine, which was never consulted,
+thinks of the Treaty of Frankfort, ask her."
+
+
+I blush, and my soul is filled with shame, when I think of the
+degradation of French patriotism contained in the utterances
+of . . . ., of those words which, to our lasting sorrow, evoked in _the
+Centre_ of the Chamber an outburst of enthusiasm.  May our patriots
+never forget this cowardly session of the French Parliament!  Thus,
+then, twenty-seven years after the war, when we have spent countless
+millions on the remaking of our army and navy, when every Frenchman has
+bled himself to the bone to make France so strong and independent that
+she might cherish the brightest hopes, a President of the French
+Council has the unutterable weakness, from the tribune, to threaten
+France with the German cane, should she dare to follow any other policy
+than that desired by Berlin!
+
+And French deputies have applauded these shameful words, that are
+reproduced, with such joy as may be imagined, by the whole German
+Press!  That Press has every reason to be delighted and to find in
+these words clear proof that the official class in France has always
+looked upon the Russian Alliance as a show-piece, never relying upon
+it, and that since the Berlin Congress (how often have I said it!) this
+official class has never ceased to gravitate towards Germany.
+
+And I, a Republican, a fanatic for the Russian Alliance, such as it
+might and should have been, a Frenchwoman, blind worshipper of my
+vanquished country--how can I hold my head up in the face of such a
+shameful collapse!
+
+
+In placing his services at the disposal of the Grand Turk for the
+persecution of Christians, in supporting those in Russia whose policy
+it is to urge their country into war with Japan and China and to divert
+it from its natural sphere of action in Europe, our Minister for
+Foreign Affairs has ruined one of the finest political situations in
+which France has ever found herself.  If the conduct of our foreign
+affairs had been entrusted to a real statesman, France might have
+recovered her position in Europe instead of going, with giant strides,
+down the path of hopeless decadence.
+
+
+Are not the intentions of Germany plain enough now and sufficiently
+proved?  They must be stupidly foolish who cannot see that a great
+German war is being prepared against the Slavs and Gallo-Latins, under
+most disastrous conditions for us and for Russia.  It needs all the
+blindness of King Humbert, of Leopold II and of the Hungarian
+Centralists, to believe that if and when it comes, a German victory
+would confer any benefits on anything that is not German.
+
+
+
+September 8, 1897. [15]
+
+The mind of Germany is everlastingly concerned with the toasts proposed
+by William II.  We know the toast proposed after his review of the 8th
+Army Corps.  First of all, come his remarks on the subject of foreign
+policy.  "It rests with us to maintain in its integrity the work
+accomplished by the great Emperor and to defend it against the
+influences and claims of foreigners."  On such an occasion, after the
+remarks on "justice and equity," which he made on board the _Pothuau_,
+the hot-headed Emperor was bound to deliver himself in some such strain.
+
+The next toast was that which he proposed at Hamburg in honour of King
+Humbert and Queen Marguerita.  This one is emphatic and at the same
+time gracious, for William II cultivates every style and all the arts.
+On this occasion the King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany, referred as
+usual to the solidity of the Triple Alliance and to the mandate which
+it has assumed for the preservation of peace.  He spoke as the grandson
+of William I.  King Humbert replied as the grandson of Victor Emmanuel
+(_sic_), skilfully gliding over the question of the indissoluble nature
+of the Triple Alliance and reminding his hearers that Germany has no
+monopoly in the pursuit of peace, but that all the Governments of
+Europe are equally concerned in endeavouring to attain it.
+
+A movement is taking shape in Italy, full of danger and of promise, as
+events will prove.  The clericals and the republicans have sketched the
+outline of an understanding, which looks as if it might be approved by
+Leo XIII.  The danger of this union between the parties will lead King
+Humbert back to a more national, a more peninsular, policy.  The strong
+opposition that it has to face is useful, in that it will oblige the
+country's rulers to pay more attention to home affairs and to the
+nation's interests than to the glorification of the dynasty.
+
+
+
+September 28, 1897. [16]
+
+"Germany is the enemy," Skobeleff used to say at Paris in 1882,
+speaking to the younger generation of Slavs in the Balkans.  These
+prophetic words were inspired in the hero of Plevna by Germany's
+intrigues at the Berlin Congress, intricate intrigues, full of menace
+for the future of the East.  They should have haunted the spirit of
+every chancellery ever since, and become the formula around and about
+which European diplomacy should have organised its forces to resist
+Prussia's invading tendencies.
+
+Until 1870 the liberal, philosophic, learned and federalist genius of
+Germany, was spreading all over the world through its literature,
+science, poetry and music, a genius whose attitude and equilibrium were
+the fruit of an equal fusion of the mind of North Germany with that of
+the South.  By the victories and conquest of 1870, this genius became
+suddenly and entirely absorbed in Prussian militarism, and has now
+grown to be a force hostile to all other races.  The power of the
+intellect in all its forms, recognises reciprocity and scientific
+research; the power of brute force only recognises the idea of
+predominance and the subjection of others.  The genius of Prussianised
+Germany to-day combines the lust of conquest and power with the
+shopkeeping spirit, but even in this last, there is no idea of
+reciprocity but only of exclusive encroachment.  Her international
+misdeeds are past all number; she saps and undermines all that has been
+laboriously built up by others.  Germanisation carries with it the
+seeds of disintegration; it is a sower of hatred, proclaiming for its
+own exclusive benefit the equity of iniquity, the justice of injustice.
+
+Only less extraordinary than the audacity of Prussia is Europe's
+failure to realise these truths.  In 1870 Napoleon III was deluded,
+fooled and compromised, led into war by means of lies.  Nameless
+intrigues set our generals one against the other.  At a moment when
+victory was possible, the treachery of Bazaine made defeat inevitable
+for France, whom the so-called genius of Moltke and Frederick-Carl
+would never have vanquished.  Having overthrown the Empire, the King of
+Prussia, who had declared that he was fighting against it alone, made
+war on France, well aware that sufficient vitality remained in the
+broken pieces to enable them to come together again, and that, under
+the threat of a French _revanche_, Prussia would be able to keep
+Germany exercised in such a state of mind as would reconcile her to
+remaining under the military yoke of the Hohenzollerns.  And Europe,
+without protest, accepts this condition of things, fatal to her
+interests and security, created for the sole profit of the lowest of
+nations.  By her self-effacement, indeed, she increased fivefold the
+influence and power of that nation.
+
+
+
+September 31, 1897. [17]
+
+You and I, all of us, we French people in particular, who think that we
+were born clever, we are all a pack of credulous fools.  Let any one
+take the trouble to put a little consistency, a little continuity, into
+the business of fooling us--especially about outside matters whose
+origins we ignore, or people whose history we have not closely
+followed--and we will swallow anything!
+
+All of us Republicans, all the Liberals of the Second Empire, Edmond
+Adam, our friends, our group,--great Heavens! how we swallowed German
+republicanism and liberalism!  With what brotherly emotion did we not
+sympathise with the misfortunes of those who, like ourselves, were the
+vanquished victims of tyranny!  We, Frenchmen and Germans alike, were
+defending the same principles, the same cause; we were fighting the
+same good fight for the emancipation of ideas, for the levelling of
+intellectual frontiers, etc., etc.
+
+How well I remember the friendly _abandon_ of Louis Bamberger in our
+midst!  Truly these Prussian Liberals and ourselves held the same
+opinions concerning everything, far or near, which bore upon
+intellectual independence, upon progress and civilisation.  And since
+we were united by such a complete understanding, such identity of
+ideas, it was our duty to work together: our German friends for the
+triumph of liberalism in France, and we, for the triumph of liberalism
+in Germany.  As to such questions as those of territorial frontiers, or
+the banks of the Rhine, Bamberger used to ask, "Who thinks of such
+things in Germany?  No one!  They had other things to think about!"
+The heart's desire of the sons of the German revolution of 1848-49 was
+a universal republic, universal brotherhood, and nothing else.  We
+believed him, but for what an awakening!  Hardly were the Germans in
+France, than all the orders dictated by Bismarck were translated into
+French by Louis Bamberger.
+
+A book by Dr. Hans Blum, which has just been published in Berlin under
+the title of "_The German Revolution of 1848-1849_," throws even more
+light on the "brotherly" sentiments of German republicans.  In this
+book Dr. Blum recalls a speech made in the Palatinate on May 27, 1832.
+This is what the orator said: "There can only be one opinion amongst
+Germans, and only one voice, to proclaim that, on our side, we would
+not accept liberty as the price of giving the left bank of the Rhine to
+France.  Should France show a desire to seize even an inch of German
+territory, all internal dissensions would cease at once and all Germany
+would rise to demand the retrocession of Alsace-Lorraine, for the
+deliverance of our country."
+
+That is how German Republicans thought, as far back as 1832.  In
+1868-69 they made us swallow once again ideas of brotherhood from
+beyond the Rhine, by lulling our perspicacity, by enervating the
+courage we used to display towards _foreigners_, and it was several
+weeks before we realised in 1870 that _all Germany_, from one end to
+the other, was of the same type of honesty, the same character as the
+Ems telegram.
+
+We are nothing but fools, credulous fools, if we believe that any
+German can think otherwise than as a member of united, that is to say
+Prussianised, Germany, or if we imagine that Prussia is anything but
+the complete, total, unique, fully accepted, assimilated and admired
+expression of German patriotism.  Prussia is the fine flower, the ripe
+fruit of German unity.  A few Bavarians, a few so-called German
+liberals, may pretend to be restive under the despotism of the King of
+Prussia, but they accept unreservedly the authority of the German
+Emperor.  And what is more, it is just as he is, that they wish their
+Emperor to be, thus they have imagined, thus they have made him.  He is
+like unto them in their own image, he governs them according to their
+own mind.  There may be some who, as a matter of personal inclination,
+might prefer to have more liberalism, but whenever Germanism is in
+question it is personified in William II, King of Prussia.  Berlin is
+the capital of all the Germans upon earth.
+
+During these past few days, in the Vienna Parliament, whilst an orator
+on the Government side was singing the praises of the Emperor Francis
+Joseph, a German Austrian exclaimed--an Austrian, mark you--"_Our_
+Emperor is William II."
+
+The credulous fools of the moment in France are the Socialists.  Just
+as we believed in the liberalism of German Liberals before 1870, so
+French Socialists now believe in the internationalism of German
+Socialists.  With greater sincerity than anything displayed by the old
+German Liberals of before 1870, the Socialists of Hamburg have taken
+the trouble to enlighten their French brethren with regard to their
+real sentiments.  Herr Liebknecht himself has explained their attitude;
+his words may be summed up as follows: "The Socialists of France are
+our brothers, but if they wanted to take back Alsace-Lorraine, we
+should regard them as enemies."
+
+There is nothing more remarkable than these German Socialists and their
+congresses, these fellows who always preach to other nations against
+patriotism, and never come together except to make speeches about the
+Fatherland.  At the Hamburg Congress, Auer, the socialist deputy,
+looked into the future and saw "the Cossacks trampling underfoot all
+the liberties of Western Europe."  What tyranny of barbarians could be
+more cruel than the tyranny of Germany which, wherever it extends,
+oppresses the racial instincts of mankind, ruins and absorbs a people,
+reducing it to servitude by the assertion of the rights of a superior
+race over its inferiors.
+
+Has the Hamburg Congress disabused the minds of French Socialists on
+the brotherhood of their German brethren?  Let us hope that it will not
+be necessary for them, as it was for us, to hear the thunder of German
+guns to understand that all parties in Germany are included in the
+_German party_, and that those who believe anything else are nothing
+but poor deluded dupes.
+
+
+
+October 26, 1897. [18]
+
+Those amongst us who, hour by hour, have devoted their lives to the
+service of our mutilated country, have for their object, each within
+the humble limits of his individual efforts, the glorification of
+France and that of Russia, the greatness of the one being dependent on
+the greatness of the other.  This twofold devotion, and dual service
+keep our fears perpetually alert in two directions; how great are those
+two commingled sources of fear when patriotic Frenchmen, like patriotic
+Russians, come to consider the bewildering development of Prussian
+power--a veritable process of absorption.
+
+German policy knows no laws except those of which Prussia is sole
+beneficiary.  Only that which is profitable to Prussia is good; the
+rest, all the rest, is a negligible quantity.  Moral precepts,
+religious brotherhood, higher education by force of example, a sense of
+justice applied to the fair apportioning of influence, vested rights,
+and a reasonable idea of reciprocity--all such things are moonshine for
+Prussia.  The sole object that Prussian Germany pursues is brutal
+conquest in all its forms.  By all conceivable means to get a footing
+for herself, here, there and everywhere; by the most energetic and
+methodical diplomacy possible, by military science, by trade and
+manufactures, by emigration and the race-spirit, and at the same time
+by subterranean methods of allurement and by insolent threats; these
+are her purposes and she accomplishes something of them every day.
+When one reflects what Germany's objects were, and what she has
+achieved in the Eastern question, to what humiliations and cross
+purposes she has exposed and reduced Europe, to what contempt for her
+own interests, what bewilderment and impotence, then, I repeat, the
+stoutest heart may have good cause for fear.
+
+Turkey, galvanised by Germany, has become a force to inspire terror
+amongst Christians in the East and throughout the whole range of
+European civilisation, where it comes into contact with Mussulmans, in
+all parts of the world.  All the slow-moving patience of Russian and
+French diplomacy for centuries, all the long struggles of the Crusades
+have been robbed of their garnered fruits in a few months.  German
+policy has overthrown all their influence, destroyed all their approach
+works, released Europe's vassal from all his promises and obligations.
+The Sick Man, cured by a quack who holds his health in pawn, has bound
+himself body and soul to his healer.
+
+Greece, frequently hesitating in her policy between British and French
+sympathies, has nothing to hope for in the future from Turkophil
+Germany.  William II will make her recovery a matter of limitations and
+bargaining.  And who knows but that the strange proceedings of Prince
+Constantine and of the royal princes, his brothers, may not be
+explained by secret promises for the future--promises made by the
+German Emperor in return for blind submission to his will?
+
+William II holds Turkey in the hollow of his hand.  Byzantium and Rome
+are vassals of a German monarch.  If Rome is threatened with ruin by
+her alliance with the King of Prussia, Byzantium is restored by a new
+Caraculla.  William II is, therefore, twice entitled to wear the sphere
+with the Imperial crown atop, as the emblem of his sovereign power and
+as the imitator of the Roman Emperor.  And notwithstanding the
+Anti-Christ protection which he extends to the infidel, he can also
+affix the Cross to his sphere.  Is he not about to take possession, in
+theatrical fashion, of the Holy Places?
+
+Turkey has been restored by the Kaiser of Berlin.  He is her Emperor,
+her Khalif, Master of the Holy Places, for the reason that his most
+humble servant is Emperor, Khalif and Master of the Holy Places.  So
+long as all these titles and powers lay in weak hands, the dangers of
+Turkish policy, if not the anxieties it created, might be disregarded.
+But today the military strength of Turkey is firmly established and it
+is supported by another tremendous Power.  Russia and France have never
+committed an act of graver imprudence than to allow these two forces to
+unite.  Germany, Germany, ever and ever greater!  The German song is no
+longer a dead letter.
+
+
+It was by guile that simulated liberal and democratic ideas, that
+Bismarck prepared public opinion in the German Confederation for union
+with Prussia.  We, too, believed in the liberalism of Germans and of
+Bismarck before 1870, and herein we proved ourselves to be just as
+easily gullible as French socialists are to-day, who believe in the
+genuine internationalism of German socialists.
+
+
+For those whose interest lies in this direction, the Imperial
+Statistical Bureau of Berlin provides information of an astounding
+kind.  Germany's exports in 1896 reached the value of 3754 millions of
+marks.  German exports to England and her colonies amounted to 808
+million marks, whilst England and her colonies supplied Germany with
+produce to the amount of 931 million marks. [19]
+
+Henceforth William II knows that he has at his command the tools with
+which to bite into England, industrially and commercially.  He has
+already had a large bite, and he looks forward to eating up proud
+Albion, slowly but surely.
+
+
+
+November 26, 1897. [20]
+
+We must always remember and incessantly repeat: Germany's paths
+throughout the whole world are widening and lengthening horribly.  The
+latest Roman invader profits at the same time by all the headway that
+Carthage and Athens lose.  England and France, alike responsible for
+their spoliation, are the more to blame in that they allow themselves
+to be smitten with blindness at a time when they are not yet smitten
+with impotence.  In the East, both might have done what they liked,
+with the help and the interested support of Russia.  But what have they
+done?  Less than nothing, since they have worked in servile
+fashion--one for the greater glory of her military conqueror, the other
+for the glory of her commercial conqueror.  The European Concert,
+whether it retreated or advanced, whether it took up a question or
+discussed it, has done all things under the exclusive direction of
+German interests.
+
+With a haughty contempt and disdain for the dignity of all Europe
+outside the Triple Alliance, which should have been met by emphatic
+protests, William II has compelled Russia, England and France to give
+public sanction to the crimes of the hyena of Stamboul, to build up
+with their own hands the supremacy of Prussia in the East and that of
+Austria in the Balkans.
+
+Baron Marshal von Bieberstein, Germany's new Ambassador, has been
+welcomed at the Court of the Grand Turk as the envoy of his chief
+counsellor, his only friend, as the sacrosanct representative of the
+Emperor-King, over-lord of the East.  Thus all the delays, evasions and
+subterfuges of the Sultan are sanctioned by William II.
+
+The King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany, takes pleasure in a
+self-contradictory policy, whereby he misleads and confuses the world.
+He is the same to-day as he was when, as prince heir to the throne, he
+declared that he "would never have any friends, only dupes."  Through
+him the Sultan, whom he delights to honour, becomes a conqueror, his
+crimes are condoned and cynically absolved before the outraged
+conscience of all Europe.  Yes, all these things have been done by
+William II; Abdul Hamid looks upon the German Emperor as the main
+pillar of the temple of his glory!
+
+
+One cannot speak of the East without feelings of shame and heartfelt
+indignation.  In Turkey's stolid resistance to reform, in her
+massacres, in the Cretan revolt, and in the war between her and Greece,
+William II has seen only an opportunity of gain for himself.  He has
+cynically pursued his policy of profit-snatching.  Just as certain
+quacks demand a higher fee when they prescribe for a patient whose life
+is in serious danger, so William II exacts heavier payment from his
+client.  His demands are exorbitant: trade, finance, armaments,
+concessions, sale of arms, renewal of munitions of war, rebuilding of
+the fleet, etc., etc.
+
+
+The King of Prussia continues, without ceasing and at his own sweet
+will, to utter defiance to common sense and to the general direction of
+civilised opinion.  Whilst by his policy he supports the foul murderer
+of Christians and prepares the way for fresh butcheries on the return
+of the victorious Turks from Thessaly, William II has addressed these
+astounding words to the recruits of his Royal Guards: "He who is not a
+good Christian, is not a brave man, nor a worthy Prussian soldier, and
+can by no means fulfil the duty required of a soldier in the Prussian
+army."
+
+
+
+December 10, 1897. [21]
+
+Germanism, which up till 1870 had a certain sense of decent restraint,
+and took the trouble to disguise itself skilfully under Bismarck, no
+longer knows either limitations or scruples.  It displays itself
+without shame, secure in the hesitancy of the Slav and the weakness of
+the Latin peoples.  Who could fail to be roused to indignation by the
+display of German fanaticism which has taken place at Vienna?  To think
+that in the capital of an ally of William II, a faction, relying on
+advice publicly given in Berlin should shout in the Reichsrath,
+overthrow a ministry, disturb the public peace in the streets, and
+accompany these manifestations with Prussia's national song, "Die Wacht
+am Rhein," and the display of the German flag!  If scandalous
+proceedings such as these make no difference in the relations of the
+Triple Alliance, why wonder at the audacity and pride of the Teutons?
+
+Everything is a matter of exclusive right for the German.  There are no
+other rights but German rights, and when Germany claims the exercise of
+a right, neither numbers, nor nationalism, nor races have any
+existence, confronted by the individuality, the nationalism, of the
+German race.  Mommsen, the leading historian of Prussian Germany, wrote
+in the _Neue Freie Presse_ of Vienna, "Pummel the heads of the Czechs
+with your fists," whereat all the Austrians of German race applauded,
+loudly declaring that if it came to a question between the Germans of
+Prussian Germany and Austrian subjects of Slav extraction, their
+sympathies would not be in doubt, for they, although Austrians, saw on
+the one side their brethren of a superior _Kultur_, and, on the other,
+barbarians only fit to remain for ever oppressed.
+
+On another occasion, Mommsen wrote: "We are twin brothers; we became
+separated from you in former days, but soon we must be united again."
+The linguistic map of Germany, widespread wherever German is spoken,
+reveals very clearly what are the ambitions of "Alt-Deutschland."  The
+lion's maw of the "Slav-eaters" is always wide open.  Sometimes the
+devouring beast walks delicately, at others he hurls himself savagely
+on his prey.
+
+The opening of the Reichstag has provided us with a very important
+speech from the throne by William II, for it emphasises the lack of
+agreement which prevails between Sovereign, Parliament and people.  The
+Emperor-King has announced his plan for a seven-years' period for naval
+service, similar to that in force in the army.  The Bill will come
+before the Reichstag during its present session.  As William has
+declared more than once, he intends that the naval strength of Germany
+shall equal that of her army.  As for the German people, while ready to
+accept all the sacrifices required to maintain the supremacy of its
+military forces, it has no hankerings after naval supremacy.  Its
+proudest hopes lie in the direction covered by the "Drang nach Osten"
+formula.  It wants to advance upon Austria, while retaining the ground
+already won.  Mommsen and the Duke of Baden between them sum up
+Germany's ambitions.
+
+In Germany at the present moment, public opinion would appear to be
+satisfied with preserving the work of William I and pushing on towards
+the East; but how little will these things satisfy William II!  It is
+the will of the German Emperor, King of Prussia, to be a law-giver to
+the East, to dispute with England the sovereignty of the seas, to take
+bites out of China, to display the ever-victorious flag of Germany all
+over the world.  It is true that, to accomplish this will of his, will
+require an additional 500 millions, and it will require, in particular,
+that the Reichstag should vote them in one lump sum.  William II is
+like his teacher Bismarck in the matter of dogged obstinacy.  Like him,
+he will present his scheme in a hundred different guises, until its
+opponents become weary and give in.
+
+
+Germany has just been giving the European Concert a lesson in the
+policy of energy.  She displays as much bluntness in her sudden claims
+as she displayed skill in having the Concert brought to ridicule by
+Turkey.  Haiti and China have yielded on the spot to her direct
+threats.  If they reflect, will not the Powers of the Concert realise
+that Germany's every act is either a challenge or a lesson?  The German
+expedition to Kiao-chao, 4000 strong, is so greatly in excess of the
+requirements of her claims to compensation for injuries suffered, that
+it reveals a definite intention on the part of William II to take
+advantage of the first plausible pretext to acquire a naval station in
+China.
+
+Peace has been signed between Turkey and Greece, but let us not regard
+it as a settlement of outstanding questions, for the Ambassadors were
+only able to come to an agreement by eliminating questions in dispute,
+one by one.  Germany now appears to dominate the Eastern question to
+such a degree that, in his Speech from the Throne, William II did not
+even allude to it.  What would have been the good?  Turkey is already a
+province of Germany!  William II and his Ambassador are the rulers
+there and govern the country as sovereigns.  The flood-gate of German
+emigration, secretly unlocked, will soon be thrown wide open; 200,000
+Germans will be able to make their way into the Ottoman Empire every
+year.  Before long their numbers will tell, they will assert their
+rights, and the Slav provinces in the Balkans and in Austria will find
+themselves out off by the flood.
+
+Is Russia beginning to realise that it would have been better for her
+to protect the Christians against Turkey rather than to allow them to
+be slaughtered--that it would have been a more humane and far-seeing
+policy to defend Greece and Crete instead of abandoning them to the
+tender mercies of Turco-German policy?  It is over-late to set the
+clock back and to challenge the pre-eminent control which William II
+has established over everything in the East.
+
+
+
+December 25, 1897. [22]
+
+None but the author of _Tartarin_ and his immortal "departures" could
+have described for us the setting-forth of Prince Henry of Prussia for
+China.  The exchange of speeches between William and his brother makes
+one of the most extravagant performances of modern times, when read in
+conjunction with the actual facts, reduced by means of the telegraph to
+their proper proportions, which may be summed up as follows: Taking up
+the cause of two German missionaries who have suffered ill-treatment in
+China, the Emperor of Germany sends an ultimatum to the Son of Heaven,
+who yields on every point and carries his submission so far that he
+runs the risk of compromising his relations with other Powers.
+Consequently, there is an end of the dispute.  The facts, you see, are
+simple.  But Prince Henry has made him ready to receive his solemn
+investiture at the hands of his brother, the Emperor, by going to kiss
+Prince Bismarck on his forehead and cheek ("forehead and cheek," as
+Prince Henry unctuously remarks, "so often kissed by my grandfather,
+William I").  Next Prince Henry goes to seek the blessing of General
+Waldersee; then he has himself blessed by his mother, and by his aunt,
+and later he will go and get blessed by his grandmother, Queen
+Victoria.  Slowly and solemnly each act and formality is accomplished
+in accordance with the rites prescribed by William.  The Imperial
+missionary, the sailor transformed into a sort of bishop, sets forth.
+The quest of the pirate-knight is to conquer all China, to become its
+emperor, to fall upon it, inspired by the God of battles.  What matters
+it that the Chinese will not resist, that they will fall prostrate
+before him?  The grandeur of Tartarin's setting forth has nothing to do
+with his getting there.
+
+At Kiel all was prepared.  Germany trembled with impatience and this is
+what she heard:--
+
+
+"Imperial power means sea power: the existence of the one depends upon
+the other.  The squadron which your ships will reinforce must act and
+hold itself as the symbol of Imperial and maritime power; it must live
+on good terms of friendship with all its comrades of the fifteen
+foreign fleets out yonder, so as energetically to protect the interests
+of the Fatherland against any one who would injure a German.  Let every
+European over them, every German merchant, and, above all, every
+foreigner in the land to which we are going, or with whom we may have
+to do, understand that the German Michael has firmly planted on this
+soil his shield bearing the Imperial Eagle, so as to be able, once and
+for all, to give his protection to all those who may require it of him.
+May our fellow-countrymen out yonder be firmly convinced that, no
+matter what their situation, be they priests or merchants, the
+protection of the German Empire will be extended to them with all
+possible energy by means of the warships of the Imperial fleet.  And
+should any one ever infringe our just rights strike him with your
+mailed fist!  If God so will He shall bind about your young brow
+laurels of which none, throughout all Germany, shall be jealous!
+
+"Firmly convinced that, following the example of good models (and
+models are not lacking to our house, Heaven be praised!), you will
+fulfil my wishes and my vows, I drink to your health and wish a good
+journey, all success, and, a safe return!  Hurrah for Prince Henry!"
+
+
+Prince Henry's incredible reply was as follows--
+
+
+"As children we grew up together.  Later, when we grew to manhood, it
+was given to us to look into each other's eyes and to remain faithfully
+united to each other.  For your Majesty the Imperial Crown has been
+girt with thorns.  Within my narrower sphere and with my feeble
+strength strengthened by my vows, I have endeavoured to help your
+Majesty as a soldier and a citizen. . . .
+
+"I am very sincerely grateful to your Majesty for the trust which you
+place in my feeble person.  And I can assure your Majesty that it is
+not laurels that tempt me, nor glory.  One thing and one only leads me
+on, it is to go and proclaim in a foreign land the gospel of the sacred
+person of your Majesty and to preach it as well to those who will hear
+it as to those who will not.  It is this that I intend to blazon upon
+my flag and wherever I may go.  Our comrades share these sentiments!
+Eternal life to our well-beloved Emperor!"
+
+
+Such gems must be left intact.  One should read them again and again,
+line by line.  Ponderous eloquence, fustian bombast, and mouldy pathos
+combine with the display of pomp, to excite world-wide admiration.
+This play of well-rehearsed parts is given before an audience of
+generals, high officials and politicians, and the scene is set at Kiel,
+that moving pedestal which the King of Prussia inaugurated when he made
+all the fleets of Europe file past him.
+
+William II looks upon history as a vulgar photographic plate designed
+for the purpose of "taking" him in all his poses and in such places as
+he may select and appoint.
+
+A crusade is afoot: they go, they are gone, to preach "the gospel of
+the sacred person of William II."  A holy war is declared, to be waged
+against a people which declines to fight.  Never mind, they will find a
+way to glory, be it only in the size of the slices of territory which
+they will seize.
+
+
+The two great conceptions of our Minister of Foreign Affairs are to act
+as the honest broker in China between St. Petersburg and Berlin, and to
+put the European Concert to rights.  How often have I not told him that
+all he has to gain by playing this game is a final surrender on the
+part of France?  Alas! my prophecy, already fulfilled in the East, is
+very near to coming true in the Far East.  If it should prove
+otherwise, it would not be to anything in our foreign policy that our
+good luck would be due, but to the fact that all Russia has come to
+realise that she is likely to be Germany's dupe in the Far East, as she
+has been in the East.
+
+During the reign of the Emperor Alexander III and the Presidency of M.
+Carnot, the Franco-Russian Alliance possessed a definite meaning,
+because both these rulers understood that any pro-German tendencies in
+their mutual policy must have constituted an obstacle to the perfect
+union of the national policies of their two countries.  France had
+ceased to indulge in secret flirtations with Germany when the latter
+was no longer Russia's ally.  The plain and inevitable duty of our
+Government was to promote an antagonism of interests between Germany
+and Russia and to prove to the latter that France was loyally working
+to promote her greatness above all else, on condition that she should
+help us to hold our own position.  If France had been governed as she
+should have been, had we possessed a statesman at the Quai d'Orsay, our
+diplomatic defeats at Canea, Athens and Constantinople, though possibly
+inevitable, might have found a Court of Appeal; and France would
+finally have been in a position of exceptional advantage in securing a
+judgment favourable to our alliance.
+
+Germany's brutal seizure in China of a naval station that the Chinese
+Government had leased to Russia for the purposes of a winter harbour
+for her fleet, foreshadows the sort of thing that William II is capable
+of doing, under cover of an _entente_, so soon as Japan comes to
+evacuate Wei-hai-wei, upon China's payment of the war indemnity.
+Germany's scruples in dealing with "sick men," remind one of the
+charlatans who either kill or cure, according to their estimate of
+their prospects of being able to grab the inheritance.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1896, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1896, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1896, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _Ibid._, September 1, 1896.
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] La Nouvelle Revue, May 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] William II had just sent 8000 marks to the fund for the victims of
+the fire at the Charity Bazaar.
+
+[9] Since Parisian journalists have dared to sing their cynical praises
+in honour of the German Emperor, no considerations need restrain our
+pen in defending the Tzars from the charges that have been brought
+against them.  These people ask: How is it that _your_ Emperor of
+Russia has delayed so long in expressing to us his condolence?  Why?
+Let me explain.  The fire at the Charity Bazaar broke out at 4 p.m. on
+May 4, but the Russian Ambassador in Paris only telegraphed the news to
+Count Mouravieff on the evening of May 5.  The Emperor can only have
+heard of the disaster on the 6th; it was then too late for him to
+telegraph a direct message, and it was therefore thought best to send
+instructions to the Russian Embassy.  The blame in this matter falls
+therefore upon M. de Mohrenheim.  It was due to his methods of
+proceeding that the Emperor learnt the news forty-eight hours late.
+_Le Gaulois_, in a somewhat officious explanation, informs us that the
+Russian Ambassador kept back his telegram because May 5 is the birthday
+of the Empress, and because there is a superstition in Russia that it
+is bad luck to get bad news on one's birthday.  This explanation is
+untrue; there is no such superstition.  Did they conceal from Nicholas
+II, on the day of his coronation, the terrible catastrophe at
+Khadyskaje, which cost the lives of thousands of Russians; and did this
+disaster prevent the Tzar from attending M. de Montebello's ball that
+same evening?  Moreover, M. de Mohrenheim should have telegraphed on
+May 4 to Count Mouravieff, leaving to him the choice as to the hour for
+communicating the information to the Tzar.  M. de Mohrenheim is in the
+habit of doing this sort of thing; when he chooses, his instincts are
+dilatory.  He behaved in exactly the same way, and with the same
+object, on the day when M. Carnot was assassinated.
+
+As soon as the news of that dreadful event reached the Quai d'Orsay,
+the _Chef du Protocole_, (then Count Bourqueney) went in all haste to
+the Russian Embassy, woke up the Ambassador, and informed him
+officially of the disaster which had just overtaken France.  It was
+then two o'clock in the morning.  Instead of telegraphing the news at
+once to Alexander III, M. de Mohrenheim only did so at eleven o'clock
+on the following day.  Now, he knew perfectly well that, as the result
+of this delay, the Tzar could only learn the news two days later
+because, on the following day in the early morning, Alexander III was
+starting with the whole Imperial family for Borki, where he was about
+to open a memorial chapel on the spot where several years before an
+attempt had been made on his life.  The journey takes about forty-eight
+hours, and as the destination of the Imperial train is always kept
+secret, the Tzar could not receive the telegram until after his arrival
+at Borki.  It will be remembered that the delay which thus took place,
+in the communication of the Tzar's sympathy with France in her
+mourning, created an unfortunate impression, and enabled the German
+Emperor to get in ahead of him by two days.  The explanation of the
+delay which occurred on that occasion should have been communicated to
+the Havas Press Agency, and the Tzar's journey mentioned.  This was
+done by all foreign newspapers, but good care was taken that no word of
+the sort should be published in Paris.  It is, therefore, evident that,
+if the Kaiser has been twice placed in the position which has enabled
+him to get in well ahead of Alexander III and Nicholas II, the blame
+must not be ascribed to any indifference, or lukewarm feelings on the
+part of the friends of France.  The most one can reproach them with is
+to have retained at Paris an Ambassador about whose sentiments both
+Tzars were fully informed long ago.
+
+[10] "Truly, this man must be devoted to France," M. Emile Hinzelin
+writes me, "he must love her dearly, since he keeps a strip of her, cut
+from the living flesh, which still palpitates and bleeds.  Whom can he
+possibly hope to deceive?  Mülhausen is not far from Paris, neither is
+Colmar, nor Strasburg, nor Metz.  It is from this unhappy town of Metz,
+the most cruelly tortured of all, that he sends us his condolences and
+his bag of money.  As is usual with complete hypocrites, he is by no
+means lacking in impudence.  Never have the French people of
+Alsace-Lorraine been accused with more bitter determination,
+prosecuted, condemned and exploited by all possible means and
+humiliated in every way.  Never has William himself displayed such
+unrestraint and wealth of insult in his speeches to the Army.  I came
+across him during a journey of mine some months ago, just as he was
+unveiling a monument, commemorating the fatal year of 1870.  With his
+head thrown back, his eyes rolling in frenzy and rage, shaking his fist
+towards France and with his voice coming in jerks, he uttered
+imprecations, challenges and threats in wild confusion.  Next day the
+German Press published his speech, very carefully arranged, toned down,
+and even changed in certain respects; but it still retained, in spite
+of this diplomatic doctoring, an unmistakable accent of fierce and
+determined hatred.  There you have him in his true light, and in his
+real sentiments, this man of sympathetic telegrams, of flowers, and
+easy tears."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 16, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[14] Amongst the latest proofs of this, here is one, I quote from a
+German newspaper: "In 1870, when war was declared, the _Kölnische
+Zeitung_ offered a reward of 500 thalers for the first capture of a
+French gun.  This prize was won by some soldiers of the first Silesian
+Battalion of the 5th Regiment of Chasseurs, who, in their first fight
+at Wissemburg, took possession of a cannon which bore the name of Le
+Douay, after the commander-in-chief of a French Army Corps.  It
+occurred to these soldiers to erect a monument at the spot where this
+gun was captured.  The monument itself, consisting of a large rock from
+the Vosges, was the gift of one of them, and on June 20 the
+presentation of the monument took place, in the presence of Chasseurs
+who had come from all parts of the country and of a large number of
+officers.  Twenty-seven years ago, the Chasseurs were there, on the
+same spot, facing the enemy; to-day, they hail the heights of
+Wissemburg as part of the great German Fatherland, reconquered after a
+fierce and bloody struggle."  It is evident that the Emperor is not the
+only one to celebrate these anniversaries, that new ones are always
+being invented, and that no humiliation will be spared us in
+Alsace-Lorraine.
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[16] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[17] This article appeared in the _Petit Marseillais_ under the title
+of "The Gulls."
+
+[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[19] A friend writes to me from Germany: "You cannot conceive the
+effects produced upon me by the _incredible_ development of industrial
+enterprise throughout all Germany.  Factories seem to spring out of the
+ground; in all the large towns that one visits, smoke ascends from
+hundreds of chimneys.  The workshops that manufacture steam-engines are
+so overloaded with work, that orders take more than a year to fill.  I
+went all over the offices of the Patents Bureau in Berlin--a place as
+large as our Ministry of Commerce, with a library more complete than
+that of our poor Conservatoire of arts and trades.  Alas, we are but
+pigmies beside these giants!  Everywhere one sees evidence of order,
+discipline and patience, qualities in which we are somewhat lacking.
+But I am not down-hearted, and with the help of a few colleagues, we
+are going to try and propagate some of the ideas we have learned from
+our neighbours and which may be of benefit to our country."
+
+[20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 2, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+1898
+
+
+The encroaching expansion of Germany--When will there be a determined
+coalition against Germany?--The crime of Jules Ferry--William II
+checked in his attempt to obtain a representative of the Holy See at
+Constantinople--Leo XIII confirms France in her protectorate over
+Christians in the East--William's journey to Palestine.
+
+
+January 9, 1898. [1]
+
+Shall I be told that I repeat myself if, once a fortnight, I say to
+every good citizen, anxious about the many dangers that threaten his
+country, "Beware of this Germany, whose numbers and wealth and strength
+are ever-increasing and multiplying?"
+
+Let each one of us do all that lies in his power not to assist in any
+way the industry and commerce of Germany, which devour and destroy our
+own.  Let us enlighten those near to us who in their turn will
+enlighten their neighbours, and let us stimulate a movement of
+resistance to the invasion of German produce of every kind; let every
+one of us contribute his share to the strengthening of public opinion
+for the struggle against the spirit of Germanism, which is gradually
+undermining the national spirit of France.  May the voter insist that
+his representative should not keep his eyes fixed within the narrow
+semi-circle of parliamentary affairs and that he should observe beyond
+it the continual retreat of our diplomacy before the advance of German
+predominance.
+
+Even the most limited intelligence can now perceive that, even if we
+felt ourselves powerless to pursue our secular policy for the defence
+and protection of Christians in the East, nothing compelled us to
+witness the marriage contract between Germany and the Grand Turk, to
+overwhelm them both with good wishes for their perfect union, to lend
+them our aid in establishing their perfect understanding.
+
+What need is there for us to seek to reconcile Germany and Russia in
+China?  Germany could not have rendered any valuable assistance to our
+ally in the Middle Kingdom, for she brings to Asia nothing but her
+insatiable greed, and had it not been for her reconciliation with
+Russia, she would never have dared to gratify it.  Once sure of the
+confidence of the young Tzar, with what haste and brutality did William
+II proceed to display his long teeth!  So there he is, definitely in
+possession of Kiao-chao Bay, for only the utterly credulous will
+believe in any retrocession of this so-called leased territory, in
+recovering from Germany this admirable commercial harbour, this
+marvellous strategical position.
+
+
+
+February 6, 1898. [2]
+
+Lies, insolence, polite hypocrisy, underhand plotting, audacity,
+cynicism and cruelty, these are the ingredients that go to the making
+of Prussian statecraft.
+
+It must be admitted that the Emperor-King of Prussia is growing.
+Cutting himself clear from the timid souls who are still possessed of a
+sense of right, he assumes the proportions of a Machiavelli and a
+Mephistopheles combined.  William the Incalculable, as his subjects
+call him, develops to his own advantage the influences and the power of
+evil.  What new distress will he bring to Christian souls, this
+applauder of the Armenian massacres, when, after having covered with
+his favour, supported by his strength, guided by his advice and
+encouraged by his friendship, the assassin who reigns at
+Constantinople, he makes his pilgrimage to Palestine, escorted in
+triumph by the same soldiers who, by order of the Red Sultan, have
+killed, tortured and tormented Christians?  We shall see him kneeling
+before the tomb of Christ, surrounded by Turks with bloodstained hands,
+when he goes to take possession of those much-coveted Holy Places,
+which shall make him, the prop and stay of the exterminator of
+Christians, sole arbiter of Christianity in the East.  Can the heavens
+that look down on Mount Sinai smile on William II, sheltering in the
+shadow of Turkish bayonets?  When, at Jerusalem, he celebrates the
+opening of the Prussian Church (whose corner-stone was laid by
+Frederick III, repentant of his military glory), will not this man of
+insatiable pride receive some sign of warning from above?  No, it
+sufficeth perhaps that he should go forward to meet his fate.  Is it
+not the same for all evil-doers, no matter to what heights they may
+attain, who only climb that they may be hurled to lower depths?
+
+The challenges that men fling at the ideal structure of the principles
+of humanity are like the stones that children throw at monuments.  They
+accumulate and serve to consolidate that which they were meant to
+destroy.
+
+No one can reproach William II with inactivity, and in this the monarch
+at Berlin is of one mind with Germany.  He draws the nation after him;
+it follows blindly on dizzy paths of adventure and the pursuit of
+wealth.
+
+There is this about Germany to inspire us with fear--and one wonders
+how it is that Russia and France have not been so terrified long ago as
+to make them leave no stone unturned in the Near and Far East, to
+exorcise the perils with which her earth-hunger threatens them--that
+she is just as greedy as England in the politics of business, has just
+the same jealous desires for financial and commercial expansion, but
+that, in addition, she has hankerings of another sort: for glory, for
+conquests, for the annexations necessary to feed and satisfy her
+imperious military spirit.  When we consider the innumerable objects
+for which Germany is working in the Near and Far East, we are compelled
+to astonishment at the narrow limits of the field of action that she
+leaves for other nations.
+
+Prior to 1870, every country in Europe possessed its own distinguishing
+features, its power, its ambition, or its dominating influences.
+England was the first, of commercial and industrial nations.  Russia
+was the great leader of Oriental policy, the predestined heir to Asia.
+Austria was the supreme German power.  France was a military nation and
+at the same time the eldest daughter of the Church; she was the
+undisputed protector of Catholic Missions all over the world and umpire
+in most of the great international quarrels.  To-day, Germany is at
+once all that England, Russia, Austria and France were.  She holds
+every monopoly, centralises power of every kind, and destroys all power
+of movement in others.  When shall we have a determined coalition
+against Germany?  Herein lies the only hope of liberating Europe from
+the claws of Prussia and recovering something of the lion's share which
+William takes to himself.
+
+
+
+February 22, 1898. [3]
+
+By what process of mental aberration has it come to pass that our
+Minister of Foreign Affairs has placed himself under the wing of
+William II at Constantinople?  His one object should have been to
+combine every effort on the part of Russia and France to keep Germany
+out of the East.
+
+There would be no parallel to such a deplorable lack of foresight, if
+our diplomacy had not provided it in the Far East, if it had not helped
+to prove to Germany, there also, that she was becoming indispensable in
+China, that the prestige of Russia combined with that of France was
+insufficient to cope with the situation and to solve the difficulties
+that had arisen with the Son of Heaven, with Japan and England.
+
+The blindness which has characterised our foreign policy, which, since
+Jules Ferry took it in hand, has made us labour continuously with our
+own hands for the greatness of Germany, as if to justify our humility
+in her eyes, this will remain the crime of the initiator of an
+anti-national policy, the crime of M. Jules Ferry.  It will also remain
+the irreparable fault committed by those who have adopted the
+lamentable policy which consists in following in the train of the
+conqueror once the ransom has been paid.
+
+
+
+March 9, 1898. [4]
+
+William II will have his sea-going fleet, and be able to challenge the
+fleets of the Great Powers and meet them on equal terms.  He had meant
+to carry with a high hand his seven years' naval construction plan, in
+the same way that Bismarck obtained his seven years' military programme
+in spite of the opposition of the German Catholics.  And now behold the
+German Budget Committee has sanctioned the raising of the money for his
+warships in six years!
+
+As to the projected reform of the military code and the complete
+re-organisation of the army on a homogeneous basis, the Emperor-King of
+Prussia is not in the least disturbed.  No doubt Bavaria, Würtemberg
+and certain other Confederated States will claim to keep their
+autonomous armies by virtue of the Constitution of 1871, but the King
+of Prussia is quite determined, on his part, to administer the German
+army under a single military code.  Bavaria, they tell us, will never
+yield.  Bavaria will yield.  The German victories of 1870-71 created
+the German Empire and every Empire must of necessity be centralised or
+else become once more a Confederation.
+
+United Teutondom, Germany, is embodied in Prussia.  The Bavarians, like
+all the other Saxons, sing the national hymn "Germany, Germany, ever
+and ever greater."  What, then, is the good of all their talking at
+Münich?  If Germany is to grow ever greater, she cannot have several
+centres of influence.  Therefore Bavaria will submit.
+
+
+
+April 1, 1898. [5]
+
+Notwithstanding the fact that he is a Protestant, William is impressed
+by the greatness of the rôle that Leo XIII might play in Christianity;
+and, therefore, brings all the influences at his command to bear upon
+him.  Through all his official and officious agents he tells him that
+atheistic France, in the hands of laymen, can no longer be the eldest
+daughter of the Church; that the Holy Father is the Head of
+Christianity throughout the world, and that in the East and Far East he
+should make use of those who are most Christian; that an Emperor who is
+a believer, even though he be a Protestant, is much better fitted to be
+the protector of Christians in China and in Turkey than a Republic
+without faith.  The only possible influences in China and in Turkey are
+religious influences, but economic questions follow in their wake, and
+the German Emperor, King of Prussia, means to appear before the peoples
+of the Near and Far East, in the light of his spectacular proceedings
+at Kiel, of the triumphant audacity of Kiao-chao, and of the splendour
+with which he is going to invest his journey in Palestine, as the
+Controller of their destinies, the defender of their rights and the
+supplier of such goods as they may wish to purchase.
+
+It is possible that William II may be able to persuade Leo XIII that he
+should entrust him with the Holy Places and work together with him in
+China.  In any event, the Catholics of Germany are now a long way from
+the _Kulturkampf_; they will vote the naval budget by an ample majority
+and Germany will become the great Naval Power, and at the same time the
+great Military Power, so that in the end she may become the wealthiest
+of the Commercial Powers: this is the dream of William, King of Prussia!
+
+
+
+June 5, 1898. [6]
+
+William II has become attached to the East, the scene of his chief
+diplomatic successes, a part of the world in which his Imperial word is
+law.  He will continue to shower his favours upon it, and disturb
+everything there, so as to be able to fish in troubled waters.  He will
+ransack everything for his purposes, even that very vague thing,
+homogeneous Turkey, based on the Mussulman faith.  At this moment, he
+is planning I know not what kind of acceptance of the Cross by the
+Crescent, just as he planned Prince Henry's Chinese crusade.  If the
+Cuban war did not detain him in Europe, he would have gone to
+Palestine, with a cavalcade of some sort which would have been an event
+in the history of Christianity.  And he will do it yet.
+
+What does Russia, so jealous for the Holy Places, think of the
+intrusion into them of the German Kaiser?  He is master there.  Here is
+one of the most striking proofs of the fact: the Mussulmans have a
+perfect horror of bells, but the new German Church erected at Jerusalem
+is equipped with a fine peal of them.  That which neither Christian
+kings, nor even Tzars, were able to obtain, William II has achieved.
+And such is the idea of force with which the German Emperor is
+associated in their minds, that even the most fanatical Mussulmans have
+bent the knee in submission to this sacrilege.
+
+
+
+July 12, 1898. [7]
+
+The unseverable unity of Pan-Germanism is the ruling formula with the
+Germans of Austria.  Are they not continually threatening the Hapsburgs
+that they will secede if the supremacy of their German minority over
+the Slav majority is not maintained?  They do not even take the trouble
+to lower their voices when they cry to the neighbouring Empire: "Before
+very long we shall be yours."
+
+Since the defeat of France, Germany's ambitions have grown to a height
+out of all proportion even to the importance of her conquest.  On all
+sides she has cast covetous eyes, stretched out her grasping hand in
+all directions.  For only France, while still intact, possessed the
+courage to protect other nations from the all-consuming German appetite.
+
+That Germany should have captured the monstrous friendship of a French
+Minister for the Christian-slaying Sultan!  Can any one possibly find
+any absolution, any excuses, for such a deplorable mismanagement of our
+material and moral interests in the East?
+
+Gradually, unless something can be done to check these unfortunate
+tendencies of our diplomacy, William II will announce that the time has
+come for the apotheosis, _à la turque,_ of a Protestant Emperor.
+
+And then, all of a sudden after this gradual preparation, the Catholics
+and the Holy Places of the Orthodox will be delivered over to one of
+the only forces of Christianity, to that which gives absolution for
+murder and protects the slayer of Christians.
+
+Race, nationality, politics, trade, influence and guarantees, all may
+be summed up in Oriental countries in a single word: Religion!  Must,
+then, a government seek to advance the cause of its State religion, not
+from religious conviction, but in the spirit which seeks to retain the
+privileges and wealth it has acquired and its powers of self-defence?
+
+Our new Minister of Foreign Affairs understands these things--he has
+pondered over them long: will he not, therefore, seek and find in the
+complexities of Oriental policy the factor of immediate and personal
+advantage which is calculated to minister to boundless self-conceit?
+He will endeavour quietly to untie the least compact of the knots tied
+at Stamboul and Berlin; he will replace them by other knots, tied more
+closely by himself.  He will display the cleverness of those who make
+no effort to be clever, and he will not lack clearness of sight and
+precision for the simple reason that he loves his country better than
+himself.
+
+
+
+July 25, 1898. [8]
+
+The high approval bestowed by Germany upon all the subterfuges of the
+diplomacy of Abdul Hamid, the bankruptcy of the European Concert, the
+embarrassment in which each one of the Governments that compose this
+strange Concert finds itself when confronted with the machiavelism of
+the Turk, all these have produced a situation intolerable for those
+statesmen who have any regard for the dignity of their country.
+
+Our new Minister of Foreign Affairs, upon coming to the Quai d'Orsay,
+felt keenly the humiliation inflicted upon France by the persistent
+weakness of our policy.  From the outset he succeeded in foiling the
+Sultan's dangerous scheme for securing a representative of the Holy See
+at Constantinople which would have abolished at one stroke the whole
+French protectorate over Christians in the East.
+
+Cardinal Ledochowsky, Prefect of Propaganda, with the help of the
+prospective Nuncio at Constantinople, and in order to emphasise the
+collapse of French influence in the East, was making his plans in
+readiness for William II to assume, solemnly and definitely, a
+protectorate over the Christians.  Already the Kaiser's trusty friend
+at the Vatican had decided to instruct the Catholic clergy in Palestine
+to render exceptional honours to the German Emperor on the occasion of
+his journey to the Holy Places.  But the Council of the Congregation,
+in plenary session, has opposed the wishes of Cardinal Ledochowsky, and
+so there will be no nomination of a representative of the Holy See at
+the Court of the Grand Turk.  The German Emperor must needs be content
+with the honours "usually accorded to reigning princes."  This is the
+kind of rebuff that neither Abdul Hamid nor William II readily forgives.
+
+
+One of the German Emperor's chief joys is to break things.  To bewilder
+people by the suddenness of his resolutions, to court all risks, to
+proclaim his power, to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind: these are
+the pleasures of the German Emperor, King of Prussia.  There is no need
+for me to repeat the strange Neronian stories that are whispered in
+Germany concerning certain incidents of William's sea-voyages and
+journeys in Norway.  A number of mysterious deaths following one upon
+the other provide sufficient material for these tales.  For those who,
+like myself, have never ceased to regard William II as a creature of
+unbridled pride, it is enough from time to time to note one of his
+actions, so as to form our judgment of the man and to be able to
+predict to what heights of complacent admiration for himself and of
+severity for others he is likely to attain hereafter.
+
+
+
+August 10, 1898. [9]
+
+Created by force, the unity of Germany is maintained by force.  On the
+day that another force arises, Germany will collapse, for her cohesion
+has only been attained and cemented by cunning and contempt for the
+truth; she has lived by the sword and she shall perish by the sword.
+
+It is said that Bismarck was the real obstacle to an understanding
+between England and Germany.  It is certainly true that neither France
+nor Russia has anything to gain by England's throwing herself into the
+arms of Germany.  Mr. Chamberlain is ready to do all in his power to
+draw England into the Triple Alliance, and William II, no longer
+dreading the criticisms of Varzin, would now accept with pleasure the
+proposals which he seemed to disdain.  Nevertheless, the real rival
+that threatens England's future is Germany.
+
+The German peril, industrial and commercial, inspires England with
+fear, and we should know how to turn this situation to our advantage.
+Let us do all we can to prevent an _entente_ being arranged which would
+deprive us of a card and add one to the enemy's hand.
+
+A war in China between Russia and Great Britain, no matter how it might
+end, would fulfil Germany's dream of being delivered from Russia in the
+East and the Balkans.  This is precisely what William II desires and
+seeks--herein pursuing Bismarckian tactics.  France and Russia must,
+therefore, exercise all their skill to prevent it, and go exceeding
+warily amidst the intrigues that are now afoot.
+
+What has been the result of the Note which the representatives of the
+Powers have handed to the Porte, on the initiative of France and
+Russia, stating that they will never permit the landing of new Turkish
+forces in Crete?  Merely to prove that Austria and Germany refuse to be
+parties to these proceedings, and to speak plainly, support the Sultan.
+Ah, if Russia could only be kept busy in China!  What a godsend if
+France could be left alone to play the part of this admirable European
+Concert, the genial notion of our last Minister of Foreign Affairs!
+
+Germany alone secures her ends, profits by all the disturbances she
+creates, waxes and grows fat, and William II smiles at the thought of a
+world-wide kingdom ruled by himself alone.  Once master of the whole
+earth, he may come to stand face to face with God.
+
+
+
+September 11, 1898. [10]
+
+On the occasion of a gala dinner at Hanover, William II, always in a
+hurry to display his likes and everlastingly parading his dislikes, did
+not fail to seize the opportunity of being polite to England and
+uncivil to France.  He proposed a toast to the health of the 10th Army
+Corps, recalling to memory the brotherhood of arms between Englishmen
+and Germans at Waterloo; he glorified the victory of the Sirdar,
+Kitchener, in the Soudan.
+
+A few days later, speaking of peace, the German Emperor, King of
+Prussia, let fly his Parthian arrow at his august brother, the Tzar.
+At Porta, in Westphalia, he said: "Peace can only be obtained by
+keeping a trained army ready for battle.  May God grant that 'e may
+always be able to work for the maintenance of peace by the use of this
+good and sharp-edged weapon."
+
+Nothing could have been more bluntly expressed; it is now perfectly
+clear that the reduction of armaments has no place in the dreams of
+William II.  I know not by what subterfuge he will pretend to approve
+of a Congress "to prepare for universal peace," but I know that, for
+him, the dominating and absorbing interest of life lies in conquest, in
+victories, in war.  Turkey victorious, America victorious, England
+victorious--these are the lights that lead him on.  He excels at
+gathering in the inheritance won for him by his own people, and he
+likes to have a share also in the successes of others.  He has had his
+share in Turkey and has filed his application in America.  He is
+already beginning with England in China and speculating with Great
+Britain in Delagoa Bay, under the eyes of his greatly distressed
+friends of the Transvaal.
+
+Amidst a hundred other schemes, the German Emperor, King of Prussia, is
+by no means neglecting his apotheosis at Jerusalem.  We are told even
+the details of his clothes, which combine the military with the civil,
+"An open tunic of light cloth, brown coloured; tight trousers, boots
+and sword-scabbard of yellow leather, the insignia of a German General
+of the Guards, a helmet winged with the Prussian eagle."  A truly pious
+rig-out forsooth, in which to go and kneel before the tomb of Christ!
+They say that, in order to judge of the effect of this costume, William
+II has posed for his photograph forty times.
+
+The German Church in Palestine certainly never expected to see the
+_summus episcopus_ adopting an attitude of extreme humility in that
+country.  If any simple-minded Lutheran were to address the Kaiser in
+the streets of Jerusalem, after the manner of the Hungarian workman,
+who saw the archbishop primate, all glittering with gold in his gala
+coach, passing over the Buda bridge, William II would answer him in the
+same style as did the archbishop: "That is just the sort of carriage in
+which Jesus used to drive," exclaimed the workman.  The archbishop
+heard him, and leaning from the carriage door, replied: "Jesus, my good
+fellow, was the son of a carpenter.  I am the son of a magnate, and
+Archbishop Primate of Hungary."
+
+William II undoubtedly believes that he does Christ an honour in going
+to visit Him.  He goes in the full pride of a personality which sees in
+itself all the great events of the past, gathered together as in an
+historic procession.  He goes, with all the pomp and circumstance of a
+glorious omnipotence, he, whose diplomacy has made a protégé of the
+Khalif and a footstool of the Crescent--he goes, I say, to manifest
+himself as the Emperor of Christianity.
+
+Was all then to be lost to us at a stroke--the Crusades, all the moral
+and economic interests of France in the East, that secular protectorate
+of which we, the possessors, make so light whilst William II devotes to
+its conquest all the resources of his skill and cunning?  Not so!  Our
+Minister of Foreign Affairs was on the alert.  William XI, who is an
+artistic walking advertisement, designed, like a Mucha or a Cheret, for
+the German market, has now had evidence of the fact that, if religion
+is an article of export for him, anti-clericalism is nothing of the
+kind for us.  Our interests in the East have been protected and
+preserved.  The Pope of Lutheranism has not been able to silence the
+Pope of Rome.  The radical Republic which represents France remains the
+grand-daughter of Saint Louis.  On hearing the authoritative news of
+William II's journey to Jerusalem, Cardinal Langénieux, Archbishop of
+Rheims, begged Leo XIII for "a reassuring word."  Up to the present,
+the Holy See has recognised our Protectorate in the East as a simple
+fact; to-day it is recognised as a right.  Here is the "reassuring
+word," the answer given by Leo XIII to Cardinal Langénieux:--
+
+"We know that for centuries the French nation's protectorate has been
+established in Eastern Countries and that it has been confirmed by
+treaties between governments.  Therefore no change whatsoever should be
+made in this matter.  This nation's protectorate, wherever it is
+exercised, should be religiously maintained and missionaries must be
+notified accordingly, so that, if they have need of help, they may have
+recourse to the Consuls and other agents of the French nation."
+
+At their last Congress the German Catholics--we know that the Catholics
+constitute a third of the population of Germany and that their
+representatives can hold in check the Imperial policy in the
+Reichstag--openly expressed their sympathy for Leo XIII, for the "noble
+exile at Rome, who is compelled, from the day of his elevation to the
+Papacy, to pledge himself never to cross the threshold of the Vatican
+alive."  When William II is compelled hereafter to make concessions to
+the Centre in the Reichstag, his allies, the Italians, will be well
+advised to give the matter their attention.
+
+
+
+September 26, 1898. [11]
+
+All the actions of that modern Lohengrin, William II, derive their
+inspiration from a Wagnerian theory concerning the harmony of discords.
+This friend of the Sultan, soon to be the guest of the Khedive,
+congratulates Kitchener, the Sirdar, whose deeds are the blood-stained
+consecration of England's machinations in Mussulman territory.
+
+Almost at the identical moment that he sent his telegram to the Sirdar
+to celebrate a British victory, he said at the opening of the new
+harbour at Stettin: "I rejoice that the ancient spirit of Pomerania is
+still alive in the present generation, urging it from the land towards
+the sea.  _Our future lies on the water_."
+
+Queen of the Seas, take warning!
+
+
+We know how William II is wont to express his pacific ideas and what is
+his conception of the reduction of armaments--with blustering threats
+and hosannahs in praise of rifles and cannons.  On the subject of
+peace, the German mind has long since been fixed in its ideas.  One
+cannot sum them up better than in the following quotation from a Berlin
+newspaper.
+
+"At the Paris Salon in 1895 there was a great picture by Danger
+entitled 'The Great Authors of Arbitration and Peace,' depicting all
+those, from Confucius and Buddha down to the Tzar Alexander III, who
+have laboured in the cause of peace.  In a note which explained the
+painter's work, it was said to be impossible to depict all the friends
+of arbitration and peace.  It seems to me that such friends of peace as
+William II and Prince Bismarck should not have been forgotten, for, by
+the Treaty of Frankfort, they have brought about a lasting peace and
+have obtained the power required to maintain it."
+
+
+Between this German conception of peace and ours, is there not a gulf
+that nothing can ever bridge?
+
+
+
+October 23, 1898. [12]
+
+William II is in the seventh heaven.  One by one he dons his shining
+garments, which the eastern sun gladdens with silver and gold.  He has
+made another trip on his swan, that is to say, on the white
+_Hohenzollern_, which carries Lohengrin to the four corners of the
+earth.  The German Emperor's departure from Venice was a master-stroke
+of scenic effects, one of those subversions of history, to which the
+eccentric monarch of Berlin is so passionately addicted.  Nothing
+indeed could have been more original than to make the sons of the
+ancient Venetians, hereditary foes of the Turk, welcome a Protestant
+monarch who is the friend of the chief slaughterer of Catholics.
+
+A Christian Emperor landing at Stamboul accompanied by his Empress,
+obtaining permission from the Sultan to hold a review of troops on a
+_Selamlik_ day, acclaimed by the Mussulman people and soldiery, exalted
+amidst all the pomp and splendour of the East, feasting his eyes on
+magic colours, the hero of unrivalled entertainments, surely it is
+enough to raise to a frenzy of pride the potentate who has made such
+things possible.
+
+But amidst these pomps and vanities, William is by no means neglectful
+of his skilful and lucrative business schemes.  It is said that he has
+secured a concession for a commercial harbour at Haïdar Pasha, near
+Scutari.  Haïdar Pasha is the railhead of the Anatolian line, which
+belongs to a German company.  Will the great commercial traveller,
+William II be able to persuade his sweet friend the Slayer, to make him
+a grant of the coaling station which he covets at Haïfa?  The Sultan
+will refuse him nothing.  Will France and Russia have time to spare for
+lodging protests, their attention having been so skilfully diverted to
+Fashoda on the one hand and to China on the other?  Is it not written
+that the two nations must unite forces if they would check the schemes
+of him who aspires to world-wide dominion over religion and commerce?
+
+Though France and Russia have sometimes quarrelled over the question of
+the Holy Places, they cannot regard without anxiety the triumphant
+entry of the third thief upon the scene.
+
+England, too, is busy with Fashoda and does not seem to be in such a
+position, diplomatically speaking, at Constantinople, as to be able to
+oppose the cession by Turkey to Germany of a Mediterranean harbour.
+Moreover, the manner in which she has grabbed Cyprus leaves her without
+much voice to talk of the _status quo_ in the Mediterranean.
+
+William II in Palestine!  This man with his mania for glittering pomp
+and grandeur going to kneel at the stable in Bethlehem; the proudest
+and most conceited of men, the most puffed up with vainglory, treading
+the paths trodden by the feet of the Humblest; the most egotistical and
+least brotherly, coming to bow before Him who is brotherhood
+personified: could any spectacle be sadder for true Christians?
+
+
+
+November 10, 1898. [13]
+
+The Imperial pilgrim has left the Holy City, _El Cods_, as the Turks
+themselves have it.  Amidst the silence of its holy places his
+turbulent majesty manifested itself in every direction.  He prayed,
+discoursed, telegraphed, wrote and conducted inaugural functions.  He
+made all the Stations of the Cross and preached to the German Colony in
+Jerusalem, telling them that amidst such surroundings "they should be
+possessed of a perpetual inclination to do good."  And forthwith he
+proceeded to speak of his great friendship for the Sultan, for the
+individual who methodically suppresses Christians in his empire by
+killing them.
+
+William has seen the tomb of David, which infidels may not approach,
+and whose stones only Mussulmans may lawfully tread.  The very dear
+friend of Abdul Hamid, he whom the Turkish troops salute with the same
+words as they use for the Sultan, has written to the Holy See,
+announcing his gift of a plot of land to the German Catholic
+Association in the Holy Land and adding "that he was happy to have been
+able to prove to Catholics that their religious interests lie very near
+to his heart."
+
+Leo XIII might have replied: "Sire--Let your Majesty do even more for
+Catholics; persuade your friend the Sultan to cease from killing them."
+
+
+
+November 24, 1898. [14]
+
+William II's journey to Palestine has completely proved the thorough
+understanding which he has established with Abdul Hamid--that he should
+take possession of the Holy Places, as head of the Lutheran religion
+and as representative of the Catholics of his Empire.  France is,
+therefore, no longer _de facto_ protector of Christians in the East,
+since she is not required to protect the German Catholics, now directly
+protected by their Emperor.  In the Far East, William II had already
+refused to allow France to protect his Catholic subjects.  The
+advantages which he derived from this decision were too great for him
+to abandon them elsewhere, since the murder of a single missionary had
+brought him Kiao-ohao.
+
+Thus, then, ended this journey, accomplished in pomp and splendour,
+applauded at the same time by German Christians and by the slayers of
+Christians.  William II has attained his object in the matter of
+religious influence and of the emigration of German colonists, whom the
+Sultan will be pleased to receive with open arms.  The Kaiser paid his
+reckoning liberally by proposing the health of the Sultan at Damascus
+and by declaring his intention to help and sustain the Master and the
+Khalif of 300 million Mussulmans.  The seed of the words thus spoken
+will sprout and will inspire encouragement for every kind of revolt in
+the Mussulman subjects of France--and, for that matter, of England also.
+
+Whilst William II was paying his devotions at the Holy Places, giving
+all the impression of a pious benevolent Head of the Church, a number
+of horrible evictions were being carried out in Schleswig in his name
+and by his orders.  Hundreds of families, dragged from their native
+soil, from their homes and kindred, were led away to the frontier on
+the pretext that they still clung to their belief in a "Southern
+Jutland."  Day after day, for the last thirty-four years, on one
+pretext or another--and sometimes without any--the Danes have been
+discouraged from living in Schleswig.  Either life has gradually been
+made impossible for them, or else they have been suddenly compelled to
+leave the house where they were born, where their elders hoped to die
+in peace, and their places have been filled by German colonists.  A
+terrible exodus, shameful cruelty!  But "Germany for the Germans" is an
+axiom before which all must bow, big and little, rich and poor.
+
+
+
+December 10, 1898. [15]
+
+Mr. Chamberlain's coquetting with Germany has ceased for the time
+being.  _The Times_, in contrast with its former hymns of praise, now
+contents itself with asking William II not to make difficulties for
+England in Europe or beyond the seas, and it adds that a friendly
+attitude would serve the interests of German subjects in the Colonies
+much better than one of hostility.
+
+The passage in the German Emperor's Speech from the Throne which refers
+to China is not calculated, it would seem, to appease Great Britain's
+irritation.  "Germany's Colonies," said the Kaiser, "are in a state of
+prosperous development.  At Kiao-chao steps have already been taken to
+improve the economic conditions of the protectorate.  The frontier has
+been definitely settled by agreement with the Chinese Government.  A
+free port has been opened and work upon it has begun.  The construction
+of the railway which will link up the Protectorate with the Hinterland,
+will be commenced in the near future.  Relying on the old treaties
+still in force, and on the new rights acquired under the treaty
+concluded with China on March 6, 1898, my Government will also
+endeavour in future, whilst carefully respecting the lawful rights
+acquired by other Powers, _to develop economic relations with China,
+which, year by year, will become more important, and to secure to
+German subjects their full share in the activities directed towards
+opening the Far East to Europe, from the economic point of view_."
+
+Nor is the influence acquired by William II and his subjects in the
+Ottoman Empire, emphasised by this same Speech from the Throne, of a
+nature to reassure England with regard to her projects in the East.  In
+the Near, as in the Far, East she sees herself being supplanted by
+Germany, and this by methods identical with her own, against which,
+therefore, she fights more disadvantageously than against France and
+Russia, more foolishly chivalrous.
+
+William II, who had replied with insolent sharpness to a legitimate
+claim advanced by a certain princeling of the Confederated States--the
+Regent of Lippe-Detmold, Count Ernest von Lippe-Biesterfeld, has had
+occasion to see that public opinion severely condemns his unjustifiable
+action.  The Confederated Sovereigns and Princes perceive therein a
+menace to themselves, and have rallied energetically in defence of one
+of their number.  The masses, seeing an insignificant princeling
+oppressed and threatened by the biggest of them, have sided with the
+weaker.  On his return from Jerusalem, William found the situation
+extremely strained, and he endeavoured to relieve it by concessions of
+various kinds.  None of them, however, were regarded as adequate.
+Thereupon, with the suppleness which costs him so little when it is a
+question of sacrificing his most devoted and valuable servant, the
+Emperor, King of Prussia, sacrificed Herr von Lucanus, the head of his
+private household, an almost legendary personage who had had a hand in
+every important act of William's life.  It was he who carried the
+Imperial ultimatum to Von Bismarck and escaped unhurt from the hands of
+the infuriated giant.
+
+Herr von Lucanus had not been sacrificed to the violent sarcasms of the
+Chancellor after his reconciliation with William II; he seemed to be
+unassailable until, simply for having addressed a few improper lines,
+at the Emperor's dictation, to a minor prince, he is removed from the
+anonymous post which was one of the occult powers of Potsdam.  The
+august Confederates may consider themselves satisfied.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La  Nouvelle Revue_, February 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+1899
+
+
+Our diplomatic situation in 1899--William II visits the
+_Iphigénie_--The Hague Conference--Germany the only obstacle to the
+fulfilment of the humanitarian plans of the Tzar.
+
+
+January 11, 1899. [1]
+
+Impelled by a simplicity of mind that suggests vacuity, a great many
+French patriots imagine that our country cannot be equally hated by two
+nations at once.  Seeing England threatening France every day in every
+way and by all the means at her disposal, these hypnotised patriots
+with fixed and staring eyes, see only England and nothing else!  No
+matter what misdeeds Germany may commit, they scarcely trouble to turn
+towards her their inattentive gaze.  Some of them, even, whose lips are
+tightened with anger when they think of London, smile with a vague
+feeling of good-will at the thought of Berlin.  And yet the other
+enemy, the German, emboldened by our absorption, is more ready to
+oppress the weak, reveals himself as bolder and greedier, more cynical
+and exclusive, more violent in denying to others their rights.  German
+influence may spread all over the world, but refuses to allow any other
+influence whatsoever to penetrate Germany.  Prussia introduced the law
+of force because she was strong; she is now inaugurating a new system
+of human rights to the exclusive advantage of Germany.  One newspaper,
+the _Vossische Zeitung_, has dared to say: "This system is unworthy of
+a civilised state and must lead to our being morally humiliated before
+the whole world."  But that is all.
+
+When Germany perpetrates some particularly monstrous act, she is only
+"a civilising power spreading the greatest of all languages."
+Moreover, Germany is the only nation that possesses a secular history;
+other nations have nothing more than a succession of irregular
+proceedings, tolerated by German generosity or indifference.
+
+The German Emperor, King of Prussia, wages a victorious war against
+everything that is not German.  He has just put to the sword the French
+terms in the Prussian military vocabulary.  In vain these poor words
+pleaded the authority of the great Frederick, who introduced them into
+Prussia.  In spite of his fondness for imitating Frederick the Great,
+William II has slaughtered the French expressions "_officier
+aspirant_," "_porte épée_," "_premier lieutenant_," "_général_," etc.,
+etc.  The massacre is complete, their exclusion wholesale; he leaves no
+trace of the enemy's tongue.  William II follows with marked
+satisfaction the anti-French movement of opinion in England.  "England
+will chastise France," he said to his Officers' Club, "and then she
+will come and beg me to protect her."  Germany hates us with all her
+own hatred, added to that of England.  She hopes for our defeat, but if
+we should win, she would come hypocritically to claim from us her
+vulture share of the spoil for her so-called neutrality.
+
+
+
+February 9, 1899.
+
+Bismarck's interest in things was never keenly aroused unless they were
+worth lying about.  When he said "the Eastern question is not worth the
+bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier," he was formulating in his mind
+the programme of the "Drang nach Osten," the great push towards the
+East.  The Russo-Turkish war; the humbling of the victorious Slav
+colossus by the Congress of Berlin; the diabolical treachery contained
+in the Resolutions of the said Congress (not one of which but contains
+the germ of some revolt or movement on the part of the races of the
+Turkish Empire); the separation of Bulgaria and Roumelia, united by the
+Treaty of San Stefano; the subsequent reunion, directed against Russia,
+of these two countries; the handing over of Bulgaria to a Coburg, bound
+by ties to Austria--all these things were brought about by the
+treachery and guile of the super-liar who ruled at Berlin.  And since
+then, William II has done everything possible to advance this "Drang
+nach Osten," Prussia's favourite scheme.
+
+And whilst the menace of this "push towards the East" is steadily
+growing, whilst he who directs it from Berlin holds in his hand all the
+strings of the puppets who can help to advance it or pretend (as part
+of the conspiracy) to oppose it, what is great Russia doing, the mighty
+Tzar, and France?
+
+They tell us that Russia is abandoning her interests in the East and
+that the Tzar is dreaming of giving Europe a lasting peace--a peace
+chiefly favourable to the economic and commercial development of
+Germany and to the increase of her influence.
+
+Russia and France seem scarcely to realise that the only force which
+can drive back the tide of Germanic invasion is the Slav power,
+organised and firmly established in Europe.  A Balkan league including
+Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, a southern Slav kingdom, a
+Bohemia-Moravia, these might hold the German power in check and give to
+Europe the necessary equilibrium.  France has an interest as great as
+Russia's in the organisation of this opposing force, but she does not
+realise the fact.  Just as the Athenians stretched out their hands
+towards the power of Rome, deadly in its fascination, even so there are
+culpably blind patriots among us who dream the monstrous dream of an
+_entente_ with Germanism.  As well might one, to escape the flood,
+throw oneself into the rising ravening torrent.  Before long, Germany
+will be the ruler of Austria, of Hungary, Turkey and Holland, and we
+shall have prepared no counterpoise to this encroachment, we, the
+Allies of the great Russian people, who, even though they may
+eventually succumb to the fatal attraction of Asia, might first help us
+to secure our racial psychology and to establish bonds between our
+Gallo-Latin soul and the soul of the Slavs.
+
+
+The Germans are establishing themselves comfortably and permanently in
+China.  There lies before me an extract from the first number of a
+newspaper published by the Germans in China under the title of _The
+German Asiatic Sentinel_.  This official organ of the Kiao-chao
+territory appears every week with six pages of articles and
+advertisements.  It is strange to find in it advertisements of the most
+diverse description, from that which commends brown Kulmback beer, to
+that in which two young German merchants seek to correspond, with a
+view to marriage, with good-looking young German girls of good family.
+
+When one remembers the solemn investiture at Kiel of Prince Henry of
+Prussia, as leader of the crusade which was to spread the sacred words
+of Christianity amongst the barbarian followers of Confucius, and when
+one sees this investiture finding its expression in the initiation of
+the Chinese into the mysteries of Kulmback beer and the search for
+exportable Gretchens, the association of the two pictures reminds one
+somehow of tight-rope dancing.  But ridicule is unknown in Germany.
+
+
+It seems to me that the Kaiser's latest speech, at the banquet of the
+provincial Landtag of Brandenburg, is in somewhat doubtful taste.  On
+this occasion, he spoke first of the divine right and responsabilities
+of the Hohenzollerns on a footing of familiarity with God, and next he
+compared the functions of a sovereign with those of a gardener, who
+stirs up the earth, smokes the roots and hunts out noxious insects.
+True, the German Emperor has got to cultivate the tree of 1870-71 and
+to destroy "hostile animals," which I take to mean our good
+simple-minded Frenchmen!
+
+The campaign in favour of a _rapprochement_ between France and Germany
+continues to be cleverly managed and directed in our midst.  There is
+talk of a visit of the Tzar, who would come to Antibes and who would
+there receive William II at the same time as M. Félix Faure.  The
+formula with which this arrangement is commended to us is "we have
+sulked long enough."  In other words, they would convert a great,
+strengthening and enduring hatred into a trivial grudge.  That, since
+Fashoda they should regard Sedan as a peccadillo is strange, to say the
+least of it.
+
+The _Kolnische Zeitung_, which opened the discussion with regard to a
+_rapprochement_ with France, now closes it by observing--
+
+"That if ever the French should feel impelled to seek a reconciliation
+with Germany, it could only be sincerely effected on the condition that
+they abandon once and for all the idea of a reckoning to be settled
+between the two countries for the war of 1870-71."
+
+
+When we have estimated the nature and extent of Germany's greed,
+calculated the number of her demands and ambitions, reflected by the
+light of history and German exaggerations, on the character of the
+German race and its unbridled lust of domination, then the National,
+Colonial and Continental interests of France (considered
+dispassionately and without hatred for the conqueror or resentment for
+the cruel and humiliating past) do not lie in the direction of a
+_rapprochement_ with Germany.  They lie in the establishment and
+combination of the Slav States in Europe, in a more effective alliance
+with Russia, and a _rapprochement_ between the Latin nations.
+
+
+
+March 27, 1899. [2]
+
+By our resistance, since the national defeat of 1871, we have pledged
+ourselves not to accept it.  Our moral position and the dignity of our
+claims to restitution have been worthy of our history because we
+inveterate Frenchmen have never ceased to maintain that our power over
+Alsace-Lorraine has been overthrown by force, but that our rights
+remain undiminished.  Austria, to Germany, and Italy, to Austria, have
+sacrificed this moral position and the dignity of their respective
+claims, in return for an alliance which, besides being treacherously
+false, has brought them neither wealth nor honour.
+
+But alas! even whilst our rights became strengthened by our very
+faithfulness and constancy, our rulers were yielding to the insidious
+counsels of the enemy.  M. Ferry listened to Bismarck and slowly, drop
+by drop, we wasted the blood with which we should have reconquered
+Alsace-Lorraine.  Bismarck, seeing us regaining our strength too
+quickly for his liking, and becoming a danger to Germany, and prevented
+by the Tzar from stopping our recovery by striking at us again, played
+his hand so as to throw us headlong into a policy of colonial
+adventures.  But the Great Iron Chancellor, the would-be genial fellow,
+had not foreseen that his pupil William II would be inspired by
+ambitions entirely different from his own: that of a relentless
+colonial policy, that of commercial and industrial development, on
+broad lines of encroachment, and that of a navy.  All these things
+however, followed logically, one from the other; for profitable
+colonisation one must have a market for one's produce, and to protect a
+mercantile marine one must have a navy.  Therefore, under these
+conditions, which Bismarck did not foresee, the danger to France became
+an immediate and equal danger to Germany, for England would be free to
+sweep the seas of Germany's merchantmen as well as those of France.
+
+Certain misguided people, moved by their extravagant feelings either of
+hatred towards England or of fear, seized the opportunity of the hour
+of danger under cover of the well-worn word (which leads so many worthy
+folk to lose their heads, even when it represents just the opposite of
+what it means) pleading our _interests_, I say, seized the opportunity
+to lower France by making overtures to the Kaiser and to Prussia.  Our
+interest, our twofold interest, was not to have a war with England, and
+to let Germany see that it was to her interest that we should not be
+deprived of our maritime power which _protects_ the free development of
+German expansion.
+
+We possess at this moment a third of Africa, a portion of Asia and
+Madagascar; before trying to add to these possessions, let us endeavour
+to make the most of their wealth.
+
+To sum up: our position has never been better, if we _know how to wait_
+and not to make ourselves cheap.  As the faithful Allies of Russia,
+either England or Germany will have need of us.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+And so, the German Emperor, King of Prussia, has added another chapter,
+and not the least astounding, to the volume of his swift changes and
+contradictions.  The author of the telegram to President Krüger has
+received at Berlin Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the instigator of Jameson, invader
+of the Transvaal!  William II has been negotiating with him in the
+matter of the telegraph line and the railway.  If any one had foretold,
+on the day that he sent his famous telegram concerning the rights of
+the South African Republic, that the paladin who signed this chivalrous
+message would come to discuss "business" with Sir [_sic_] Cecil Rhodes,
+or that the latter would have dared to present himself, in a check
+suit, before the Kaiser wearing his winged helmet--such a prophet would
+have been regarded as a dangerous lunatic.  Nevertheless, so it is.
+Mr. Rhodes entered the Imperial Palace quite simply and naturally,
+conveying to the Emperor the affectionate regards of Queen Victoria.  I
+do not know whether they shook hands.  Between business men,
+shopkeepers ready for a deal, etiquette is superfluous and a ready
+understanding easy.  Shake!
+
+Herr von Bülow, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs communicated the
+news to the Reichstag, promising further information on the subject
+before long.  And now, what becomes of the hope of a rupture with
+England, anticipated by our worthy apostles of the Franco-German
+Alliance against perfidious Albion?  Not only does William II flirt
+with old England and give her pledges, but he opens his arms to the
+most dangerous, the most enterprising, the most compromised of
+Englishmen, the Napoleon of the Cape!
+
+
+
+April 27, 1899. [3]
+
+Were it not for Alsace-Lorraine, we should be the ally of colonial
+Germany.  Were it not for Alsace-Lorraine, we should be the most ardent
+disciples of the noble, truly humane, and admirable work of disarmament
+undertaken by the Emperor Nicholas II.  Alsace-Lorraine has made us the
+irreconcilable enemies of Germanism and at the same time the faithful,
+devoted and ever loyal friends of every Slav cause.
+
+Familiar with the work of these causes, attached to the greatness of
+our allies, those of us who were the first to seek that mighty
+alliance, will ever labour to strengthen and extend it by all the
+resources which can add to its glory, but at the same time we are
+anxious that nothing should be said or done to diminish our own first
+claims to restitution.  An article in the _Novae Vremya_ contains a
+protest against the idea (disseminated by the German Press) that Russia
+is working to bring about a reconciliation between Germany and France.
+The Russian organ declares that such a _rapprochement_ would deprive
+France of all the advantages of her alliance with Russia.  The St.
+Petersburg newspaper adds a sentence which appeals to us, because we
+can adapt it to our own case.  "A Franco-German _entente_," says the
+_Novae Vremya_, "would erect a cross on the Franco-Russian _entente_."
+A Russo-German _entente_ would erect a cross on the Franco-Russian
+_entente_.
+
+Needless to say, the _Kolnische Zeitung_ informs us that the _Novae
+Vremya_ only represents middle-class opinion in Russia.  Well, that
+isn't so bad, considering that we are sure of the antipathy of the
+whole Russian people for the Germans.  The _Kleine Zeitung_, already
+reckoning on the conclusion of the _rapprochement_ between Germany and
+France, adds that it will be received with sympathy throughout the
+whole German Empire.  I believe you, _O Kleine Zeitung_!  And the more
+so when, with a mixture of haughtiness and careless indifference, you
+add "with the exception of the question of Alsace-Lorraine, _which for
+us does not exist_, there is no difference which should separate
+Germany from France!"
+
+O most generous _Kleine Zeitung_! it is sweet to differ.  On condition
+that we do not ask you to give us back the flesh that you have torn
+from our side, you are willing to extend to us your mild greetings of
+disinterested friendship, and I have no doubt that you are ready to
+forgive us the crime you have committed against us!
+
+
+
+May 23, 1899. [4]
+
+Amongst the most definite impressions produced by the general
+proceedings of the Peace Conference there are two which stand out: one,
+that the diplomats invariably assert that it will not lead to any
+practical result, either as regards disarmament or the creation of an
+arbitration tribunal; the other, that all patriots who are enemies of
+Germany are filled with anguish at the sight of Germany endeavouring to
+direct its discussions.  In its practical results, the Conference will
+not go further than the splendidly magnanimous proposal of Nicholas II,
+having for its object the humanising of war, the development of
+arbitration as a remedial measure, and the possibility of conditional
+and partial disarmament.  All that will be accomplished might have been
+attained by the Tzar alone in case of war, in the event of proposals
+for arbitration, or by way of leading the Powers to recognise the
+economic dangers to which they expose their peoples by ever-increasing
+armaments.
+
+
+
+June 27, 1899. [5]
+
+We know what a struggle William II had to face on the subject of the
+canal from the Elbe to the Rhine, and what concessions he was compelled
+to make to the Prussian Chamber.  Moreover he had a stiff fight in the
+Parliament of the Empire with regard to the new relations with
+[Transcriber's note: which?] he proposes to establish between Germany
+and England and her colonies.  The agrarians of the Right and the
+Socialists found themselves united in violent opposition.  Herr von
+Bülow required genuine skill to avert the storm.
+
+The Kaiser met with a very decided rebuff in the matter of what is
+called in Germany the "convicts' law."  It will be remembered that last
+autumn, in Westphalia, the Emperor had threatened the socialists that
+those who incited to strikes would be condemned to hard labour.  Such a
+threat is easily uttered, but difficult to enforce by process of law.
+Under the conditions existing nowadays it does not do to speak of
+forced labour in connection with trades unions and strikes;
+nevertheless, in order to make good the word of the German Emperor, his
+Ministers tried to snatch a vote for a fight with the workers.  Baron
+Stumm, a factory king possessed of great influence with the Kaiser, had
+inspired him with hatred against industrial workers, just as others had
+inspired him with love for them at the beginning of his reign.  With
+all his swagger and bluster, William II is more a creature of impulse
+than of constancy.  All parties united to oppose his scheme, except
+those who are known in every Parliament as Mamelukes.  The former
+"Father" of the working classes, suddenly become their enemy, has
+experienced a personal defeat in this matter which is all the greater
+for the fact that the Socialists, while they rejoice at seeing it
+inflicted upon him by the Reichstag, will not forgive him for his
+"convicts' law."
+
+
+
+July 8, 1899. [6]
+
+The wretched policy, which sent French ships to Kiel to salute the flag
+of the King of Prussia, continues to be honoured--no, dishonoured--by
+the Government of the Republic of to-day.  For this Government, the
+least of William's wishes is an order.
+
+So the Emperor William II has set foot upon the soil of France by
+paying a visit aboard of the _Iphigénie_ (for every one of our ships is
+a bit of the mother-country).  The Waldeck-Rousseau Cabinet, the ideal
+of M. Urbain Gohier, has allowed this monstrous thing to be done almost
+immediately after William II had laid the first stone of his fortresses
+on the Moselle, fortresses intended (to use his own aggressive words)
+to hold _the enemy_ under Germany's guns.  So we are the enemy for
+Germany and yet, oh shame! even while she slashes us with this word, we
+seek to show her that she is our friend.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+It certainly looks as if the present Prussian Ministry has neither the
+prestige nor the strength of will to control successfully the conduct
+of the ex-Mamelukes.  Its failure at the last session of Parliament was
+complete.  It is amongst the strongest supporters of the monarchy that
+the most determined opposition was offered to the proposed law for the
+construction of the canal from the Elbe to the Rhine, an enterprise
+dear to the heart of the Emperor, once the father of his working men
+and now the father of German manufacturers.
+
+Where the political impediments block his path William II cuts and
+hacks away as it may please him.  There is proof of this in the
+feverish haste with which he is lowering the age of officers in the
+army.  On the 10th of June, six Prussian generals were allowed to
+retire; on the 15th, ten more were placed on the unattached list, and a
+further movement in the same direction is expected to take place after
+the great Imperial manoeuvres.
+
+
+
+July 25, 1899. [7]
+
+THE HAGUE CONFERENCE
+
+I desire to convince my readers by indisputable facts--
+
+(1) That the pacifist agitation in Europe, in all its various forms, is
+inspired and sustained by the most uncompromising military Power on
+this Continent, that is to say, by Germany;
+
+(2) That if the magnanimous humanitarian idea, so sincerely conceived
+by Nicholas II, has not been fulfilled, its failure is entirely due to
+the treachery of Germany.
+
+For that matter, Germany has been providentially punished for her
+machiavellian ways.  Firstly, because she has been unable to conceal
+the fact that she is primarily responsible for this failure; and
+secondly (the fact is important in other ways and has proved in a most
+striking manner), because the Hague Conference has clearly
+demonstrated, that which the initiated have long suspected, that
+Germany is completely isolated in Europe!
+
+As a matter of fact neither Austria nor Italy were with her, only one
+Power voted solidly with Germany--the Power which is not content with
+war and supplements it by massacres--the Turkey of Abdul Hamid.  This
+isolation (an indirect result of the Franco-Russian alliance, which has
+compelled Austria to come to a complete understanding with Russia in
+regard to affairs in the Balkans, and led Italy to draw closer to
+France), this isolation is a great and inestimable victory, whose
+benefit must be frankly recognised by every honest mind in the two
+allied countries, a victory for those who, like myself, have worked
+heart and soul for the Franco-Russian alliance.
+
+And it is now, now that these things are clearly proved, now, when
+Germany finds but one servile nation in Europe--Turkey--that the French
+Government thinks fit to seek to draw closer to Germany!  The thing is
+unthinkable, unbelievable!
+
+_For years, acting upon an evil policy which I propose to elucidate
+hereafter, the Government of the Republic first set itself to oppose
+the alliance with Russia, preferring an alliance with Germany; later,
+this Government saw in the Russian alliance nothing but a means to gain
+public applause, to acquire popularity.  Now that the strength and
+worth of this alliance have been revealed in all their truth by the
+isolation of Germany, this same Government of the Republic compels our
+sailors to suffer the courtesy of William II and prepares us, by
+diplomatic communiqués, for an entente with Germany_.
+
+Only super-simpletons can believe in William II's sham bluster against
+England on behalf of the Transvaal and of that Africa concerning which
+he has just concluded a binding treaty with Albion.  One must either be
+hopelessly ignorant or wilfully blind not to see through the game of
+William II and to be fooled by his ingratiating ways.
+
+His only object is to compel England to throw herself into his arms and
+to bring about a great common alliance of the Anglo-Saxon races.  Will
+not the cynical supporters of the "policy of interest" experience a
+revulsion of conscience if they know whither they are leading us, or a
+sudden enlightenment, if they do not know?  If not, then to those who,
+through cowardice or treachery, have lightly ruined the noblest of all
+causes, I shall say, "I wash my hands" of this crime of ignorance or
+base surrender.  Weary, sick at heart and indignant I shall say it, in
+my own name and in the name of those who have died, suddenly or
+mysteriously, for the Franco-Russian cause.
+
+Any one who followed carefully the successive events of the performance
+given under the direction of M. de Staal, any one familiar with the
+secret manoeuvres that led to the convening of the Peace Conference,
+could have had no difficulty in predicting what its end would be.  From
+some of these secret manoeuvres in the wings, I propose to lift the
+veil; my readers will then be in a position to understand more clearly
+why it is that the truly Christian act of the Tzar (apart from certain
+unimportant improvements of the Brussels Convention) did not attain the
+result which might have been expected from the initiative of a powerful
+and generous sovereign.
+
+For the past year we have repeatedly been told, in more or less
+sensational revelations, that the influence which chiefly determined
+Nicholas II in his action, was his reading of a famous book on war by
+M. de Bloch.  This is no doubt true and the fact may be admitted.  Much
+moved by the eloquent description, given by the great financial writer
+of Warsaw, of the heavy burdens imposed on the nations by the
+extravagant armaments of the Continent, and terrified at the thought of
+the calamities which the next war would let loose upon all Europe,
+Nicholas II, full of Christian pity for the sufferings of humanity,
+directed Count Mouravieff to send the famous circular to the Powers,
+which resulted in the convening of the Hague Conference.
+
+
+But I would ask, how are we to reconcile the hostile attitude of
+William II's delegates to the Russian proposals with his solemn
+declaration that he was absolutely in agreement with his friend
+Nicholas II?  Why did the German Emperor first give his approval to De
+Bloch's campaign in favour of disarmament and then make Von
+Schwartzkopf publicly repudiate the most important arguments of that
+writer's book?  Was it that William II was in the first instance
+seduced by the lamentable picture which De Bloch gives of France and
+the organisation of her army, or (and this seems far more likely) did
+he simply approve of the intrigue set on foot by the author of this
+work on war, an intrigue which aimed at casting a shadow over the
+patriotic hopes that France placed on the Russian alliance, by inciting
+Nicholas II to call for a general disarmament?
+
+It must be confessed that the Franco-Russian alliance struck a bitter
+blow at the hopes of Polish patriots.  The contempt and hostility
+towards France which inspire M. de Bloch's book are proof sufficient of
+the grudge its author bears us.  It is perfectly evident that they must
+have been delighted in Berlin at the chief object of his work.  But
+there were other objects in view.
+
+For years William II has unceasingly laboured to persuade England that
+she has every interest to join the Triple Alliance.  His perseverance
+in this direction is quite natural.  But if Germany succeeded last year
+in concluding an agreement with England on a few special questions, the
+Hague Conference has proved that it does not involve an agreement in
+matters of general policy.
+
+Nevertheless, William II counted on this Congress to produce closer
+relations with Great Britain.  He hoped that the Congress would result
+in sharp antagonism between England and Russia and he reckoned on this
+antagonism to help him to inflict a severe defeat on Russia, which in
+its turn would have enabled him to draw one or other of these two
+Powers into the orbit of his policy.  Great then was the disappointment
+of the German Emperor _when, from the very outset of the Conference,
+England, performing a most unexpected volte-face, made proposals on the
+subject of arbitration, which went a great deal farther than the
+Russian proposals laid before, the Congress.  This master-stroke of
+British diplomacy compelled Germany to come out into the open and to
+reveal herself in her true light: that is to say, as the only obstacle
+to the fulfilment of the Tzar's humanitarian designs_.
+
+The Stengels, Zorns and Schwartzkopfs completed the success of British
+diplomacy by the brutal violence of their opposition and the cynicism
+of their proposals.  It was not only on the two committees that dealt
+with arbitration and disarmament that German opposition (always
+supported by Turkey alone) wrecked the magnanimous attempt of Nicholas
+II to minimise the horrors of war.  The committee presided over by M.
+de Martens succeeded in effecting certain improvements in the terms of
+the Brussels Convention; if the labours of its President and members
+were not successful in doing more to lessen the evils of war upon land,
+the fact is again due to the opposition of the German representatives.
+Thus, for instance, the humane measures proposed in forbidding the
+bombardment of open towns and private dwellings unoccupied by troops,
+or the destruction of unfortified villages, were not adopted because
+the German delegate insisted on the impossibility of limiting the
+powers of a commander-in-chief, who must remain the sole judge of the
+utility of such destruction in the general interest of military
+operations.  It was the same in the case of the article whereby it was
+proposed that provinces occupied by enemy forces should be guaranteed
+in the maintenance of their autonomous administration and in certain
+rights against the demands of invasions, Germany declared her
+unwillingness to fetter in any way the decision of her army commanders.
+
+I would ask those amongst us who rejoice at the idea of seeing William
+II take part in the Exhibition of 1900, to let their thoughts dwell a
+little on the attitude of the Prussian delegates at the Peace
+Conference.  William I took part in the Exhibition of 1867 and we know
+what that visit cost France three years later.
+
+Now that all the perfidious plans inspired by Berlin have come to
+nought, now that the defenders of German policy at St. Petersburg,
+Warsaw and elsewhere have come to grief, and that the Peace
+Congress--even though it may not have fulfilled the generous hopes of
+Nicholas II--has nevertheless led to a great advance in the opinion of
+the public as in that of governments, on the subjects of arbitration
+and disarmament, William II shifts his rifle on to the other shoulder.
+In order to clear Germany of the blame for the failure of the
+Conference in the eyes of the Tzar, the same individuals who
+constituted themselves the protectors and sponsors of M. de Bloch at
+the Russian Court and who had assured the Tzar of the absolute support
+of William II, have now started a campaign of intrigue against Count
+Mouravieff.
+
+That faithful minister and servant of the Tzar, who undertook with
+great skill to carry out the initiative of his sovereign, and who has
+devoted himself whole-heartedly to the task of winning over to the
+Tzar's ideas not only the sympathy of the entire civilised world, but
+even the vast majority of the sceptical diplomats, who are leaving the
+Conference with the conviction that they have done useful work--well,
+it is this same Count Mouravieff that the German Press is now trying to
+hold responsible for the misdeeds of the Stengels, the Zorns and the
+Schwartzkopfs.
+
+By way of a first attempt at abolishing the horrors of war by means of
+international agreements, the Hague Conference has given very
+satisfactory results, and the honour for these is due to M. de Staal,
+Count Mouravieff and M. de Martens.  The Tzar has reason to be equally
+satisfied in that he has compelled his very good friend William II to
+throw off his mask and to reveal all his hostility towards Russia.
+
+It is now for those who had pledged themselves to guarantee the
+unconditional support of Germany for the Tzar, to bear the load of
+responsibility which is properly theirs for having unworthily deceived
+their Sovereign.  Many other hopes, bearing on internal affairs in
+Russia, had been created by the authors of the intrigue which I have
+endeavoured to expose.  We know how deeply rooted is the religious and
+pacific character of the Russian masses.  No initiative could stir
+their hearts so profoundly as that which seeks to lessen the horrors of
+war and to relieve the people of the crushing burden of armaments.  One
+has only to remember the sects which exist in Russia which are opposed
+to military service and duties.  Such an initiative coming from their
+adored Tzar was bound to produce far-reaching results.
+
+
+After our experiences of 1868 and 1869--and even 1870--how can we be
+guilty of running the same risks again?  Was not William I, King of
+Prussia, amiable enough?  Did he not do everything to lull the
+suspicions of Napoleon whilst he himself was arming to the teeth?  We
+all allowed ourselves to be sufficiently fooled by Bismarck's agents
+and spies in 1870 to be able to recognise the secret agents of William
+II to-day.
+
+It is not only a shameful thing, that the _Iphigénie_ should have
+hoisted at her mainmasthead the Imperial flag, bearing the insulting
+device of 1870, it is also an encouragement to William II in the
+treachery which he is plotting against us.  One's heart is heavy with
+the grief of hopelessness when one thinks of our easy-going short
+memories, and the suffering courage of the people of Alsace-Lorraine.
+During the past few days, whilst our Parisian newspapers have been
+discussing the probability of the obnoxious presence of the Kaiser in
+Paris for the Exhibition, the _Strasburger Post_ has been heaping
+bitter reproaches on the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine for their lack
+of enthusiasm and meagre contributions towards the proposed statue in
+honour of the late Emperor William.  In spite of all the pressure
+applied, the subscriptions have hardly produced a few hundred marks.
+The German Press describes the Alsatians as ungrateful and
+short-sighted.
+
+
+
+August 9, 1899. [8]
+
+The mania for autocracy dominates the mind of the German Emperor, King
+of Prussia, and leaves no room therein for anything but exactions of a
+disturbing kind.  We know how numerous are the crimes of
+_lèse-majesté_; also that William II wishes the Reichstag to pass a law
+punishing with hard labour those who incite strikes.  A lecturer at the
+University of Berlin, M. Arons, having dared to proclaim himself a
+socialist--needless to say, from the theoretical point of view--the
+Emperor required his Minister of Public Education to have M. Arons
+brought for trial before the Council of the University, consisting of
+forty-five professors.  These acquitted the accused, who, in their
+opinion, had not indulged in any propaganda and was within his strict
+rights in expressing his personal opinions.  The Emperor had their
+judgment heard on appeal before a court consisting of officials of the
+Public Education Department.  To make such an appeal possible, the
+Reichstag was required to pass a new law in June 1898, known as the
+Arons Law.
+
+Whenever the occasion offered, I have shown how deep is the hatred
+which William II bears towards the old liberalism of the German
+Universities.  Yet it is for this same William that certain
+Germanophils amongst our French Universities entertain such a
+disgraceful weakness.  Whilst French newspapers are continually
+discussing, with evident sympathy, the possibility of the Kaiser's
+paying a visit to France during the Exhibition, it brings the tears to
+our eyes to read the following in the _Journal de Colmar_:--
+
+"The possibility of a _rapprochement_ between Frenchmen and Germans
+should not lead the latter to suppose that the Alsatians are likely to
+forget their country in order to be reconciled with the conquerors.
+The Alsatian will never give up his own individual character, he will
+never lightly consent to be merged in a homogeneous whole.  The
+Alsatian remains French, and such is the rigour of his nationality that
+it has resisted every attempt to destroy it."
+
+
+In order to make us believe the more easily that a reconciliation with
+Germany is possible, and that we may come to forget 1870 and the loss
+of Alsace-Lorraine, they are continually telling us that Germany has
+never been on better terms with Russia.  I showed in my last letter
+what were the steps taken by the Germans to minimise the great,
+imperishable, humanitarian success of Tzar Nicholas II in bringing
+about the Hague Conference.  I showed that his efforts resulted in
+leading all the diplomats accredited to the Peace Congress to recognise
+that the foundation had been laid, not only of the possibility of
+eliminating needless horrors from the wars of the future, but also of
+action by the Powers in common, to be brought to bear, in the form of
+advice and arbitration proposals, on the minds of rivals, adversaries
+and enemies preparing to settle their quarrels by the arbitrament of
+war.
+
+Germany realises the defeat at the Hague so completely that now she
+thinks only of new armaments and of arming Turkey, her only ally, to
+the teeth.  Herein she finds numerous advantages; such as supplying
+rifles and guns, sending out new military instructors, and threatening
+Russia with a formidable army commanded by German generals.
+
+Germany knows every inch of Russia, by land and by water, and has
+calculated her resources to a nicety.  German spies are legion in
+Russia as they are in France.  She may hope to make easy-going people
+like us believe that she is on the best of terms with our ally, but she
+will find it far more difficult to make Russia herself believe it.  One
+has only to study the Russian Press to be convinced of this, and
+particularly a long article in the _Novae Vremya_, which proves that,
+as a matter of policy and of material facts, it is absolutely
+impossible for Russia and France to admit Germany into their Alliance
+without risking the destruction of that Alliance, inasmuch as its
+fundamental objects are diametrically opposed to those of Germany.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _Ibid._, July 1, 1899.
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, Aug. 15, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCHEMES OF THE KAISER***
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Schemes of the Kaiser, by Juliette Adam,
+Translated by J. O. P. Bland
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Schemes of the Kaiser
+
+
+Author: Juliette Adam
+
+
+
+Release Date: February 9, 2006  [eBook #17737]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCHEMES OF THE KAISER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE SCHEMES OF THE KAISER
+
+From the French of Juliette Adam
+
+by J. O. P. Bland
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+E. P. Dutton & Company
+1918
+Printed in Great Britain
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
+
+More fortunate than the majority of the prophets who cannot speak
+smooth things, Madame Adam has lived to find honour in her own country:
+_La grande Francaise_ has come into her own.  God willing, she should
+live to see that _revanche_ for which, through good and evil report,
+she has laboured unceasingly these forty-five years, to see the
+arrogant Prussian humbled to the dust and Alsace-Lorraine restored to
+France.  1917, she firmly believes will revenge and reverse the tragedy
+of 1871.  More fortunate than the great British soldier who spent his
+veteran days in warning his countrymen of the ordeal to come, Madame
+Adam, now in her eighty-first year, may yet hope to see the banners of
+the Allies crowned with victory, the black wreaths on the statue of
+Strasburg in the Place de la Concorde changed to garlands of rejoicing.
+
+There have been dark days in these forty-five years, times when, even
+to herself, the struggle for _la patrie_ seemed almost a forlorn hope.
+It was so at the time of the Berlin Congress in 1878, when, after his
+visit to Germany, Gambetta abandoned the idea of _la revanche_.  It was
+so in 1891, when she realised that the influence of Paul Deroulede's
+Ligue des Patriotes had ceased to be a living force in public opinion,
+when France had become impregnated with false doctrines of
+international pacifism and homeless cosmopolitanism, when (as she wrote
+at the time) there were left of the faithful to wear the forget-me-not
+of Alsace-Lorraine only "a few mothers, a few widows, a few old
+soldiers, and your humble servant."  But never, even in the darkest of
+dark days, was the flame of her ardent patriotism dimmed.  After her
+breach with Gambetta, determined not to be defeated by the Government's
+abandonment of a vigorous anti-German policy of preparation, she
+founded the _Nouvelle Revue_, to wage war with her brain and pen
+against Bismarck and the ruler of Germany.  The objects with which she
+created that brilliant magazine, as explained by herself to Mr.
+Gladstone in 1879, were threefold--"to oppose Bismarck, to demand the
+restoration of Alsace-Lorraine, and to lift from the minds of young
+French writers the shadow of depression cast on them by national
+defeat."  The fortnightly "Letters on Foreign Politics" which she
+contributed regularly to the _Nouvelle Revue_, for twenty years were
+not only persistently and violently anti-Teuton: they became a powerful
+force in educating public opinion in France to the necessity for an
+effective alliance with Russia, and to the cause of nationalism, in the
+Balkans, in Egypt, and wherever the liberties of the smaller nations
+were endangered by the earth-hunger of the great.  She disliked and
+feared the policy of colonial expansion inaugurated by Gambetta and
+pursued by Jules Ferry, because she felt that it must weaken France in
+preparing for the great and final struggle with Teutonism which she
+knew to be inevitable.  Thus, when Ferry requested her to cease from
+attacking Germany, she defied him, assuring him that nothing less than
+imprisonment would stop her, and that no honour could be greater than
+to be imprisoned for attacking Bismarck.
+
+Juliette Adam has always been intensely sure of herself and her
+opinions.  She has the virile fighting spirit of a super-suffragette.
+"Always out of rank," as Gambetta described her, "Madame Integrale" has
+displayed throughout her political and literary work a contempt for
+compromise of every kind, which occasionally leads her into untenable
+positions and exaggerations.  Like her friend George Sand, she has ever
+been an inveterate optimist and in the clouds, and this defect of her
+very qualities has tended to make her proficient in the gentle art of
+making enemies.  Thus she broke with Anatole France for espousing the
+cause of Dreyfus, because, in spite of her keen sense of justice, she
+identified the Army with France and was instinctively opposed to Jews,
+because she regarded their "cosmopolitan" influence as incompatible
+with patriotism.  For her, all things and all men have been subordinate
+to the sacred cause, to her watch-word and battle-cry of _Vive la
+France_!  Nobly has she laboured for France, confident ever in the
+_renaissance_ of _la Grande Nation_, and of her country's final
+triumph.  And to-day her unswerving faith is justified, and her life
+work has been recognised and crowned with honour in her own land.
+
+With one exception, all the articles collected in this book have been
+taken from Madame Adam's "Letters on Foreign Politics" in _La Nouvelle
+Revue_.  Together they constitute a remarkable testimony to the
+political foresight and courage of _la grande Francaise_, and an
+equally remarkable analysis of the policy and character of Germany's
+ruler.
+
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+Modesty is out of fashion nowadays: what is wanted is the glorification
+of every kind of courage.  That being so, I hold myself entitled to
+claim a Military Cross, for my forty-five years of hand-to-hand
+fighting with Bismarck and with William the Second, and to be mentioned
+in despatches for the past.
+
+JULIETTE ADAM.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+1890
+
+
+William II, the "Social Monarch"--What lies beneath his declared
+pacifism--His journey to Russia--The German Press invites us to forget
+our defeat and become reconciled while Germany is adding to her army
+every day.
+
+
+April 12, 1890. [1]
+
+What an all-pervading nuisance is William!
+
+To think of the burden that this one man has imposed upon the
+intelligence of humanity and the world's Press!  The machiavelism of
+Bismarck was bad enough, with its constant demands on our vigilance,
+but this new omniscient German Emperor is worse; he reminds one of some
+infant prodigy, the pride of the family.  Yet his ways are anything but
+kingly; they resemble rather those of a shopkeeper.  He literally fills
+the earth with his circulars on the art of government, spreads before
+us the wealth of his intentions, and puffs his own magnanimity.  He
+struggles to get the widest possible market for his ideas: 'tis a petty
+dealer in imperial sovereignty.
+
+There is nothing fresh about his wares, but he does his best to
+persuade us that they are new; one feels instinctively that some day he
+will throw the whole lot at our heads.  I am quite prepared to admit
+that, if he had any rare or really superior goods to offer, his
+advertising methods might be profitable, but William's stock-in-trade
+has for many years been imported, and exported under two labels, namely
+the principles of '89 and Christian Socialism.
+
+The German Emperor has mixed the two, after the manner of a
+prentice-hand.  His organ, the _Cologne Gazette_, with all the honeyed
+adulation of a suddenly converted opponent, [2] has called this mixture
+"Social Monarchism."  Therefore, it seems, the German Emperor is
+neither a constitutional sovereign nor a monarch by divine right.  He
+has restored Caesarism of the Roman type, clinging at the same time to
+the principle of divine right--and the result is our "Social Monarch"!
+
+Rushing headlong on the path of reform--full steam ahead, as he puts
+it--he is prepared to change the past, present and future in order to
+give happiness to his own subjects.  But France is likely to pay for
+all this; sooner or later some new rescript will tell us that the
+valley of tribulation is our portion and inheritance.
+
+It is one of his ambitions to put an end to class warfare in Germany.
+To this end he begins, with his usual tact, by denouncing the
+capitalists (that is to say; the wealth of the middle class) to the
+workers, and then holds up the scandalous luxury of the aristocracy in
+the army to the contempt of the bourgeois.
+
+One of his most brilliant and at the same time most futile efforts, is
+his rescript on the subject of the shortage of officers for the army.
+As the army itself is steadily increasing every day, it should have
+been easy in each regiment for him, gradually and quite quietly, to
+increase the number of officers drawn from the middle-class; indeed,
+the change would have practically effected itself, for the Minister of
+War had a hundred-and-one means of bringing it about.  But this
+rescript has put a check on what might otherwise have been a natural
+process of change, and unless William now settles matters with a high
+hand, it will cease.  In every regiment the aristocracy provides the
+great majority of officers; bourgeois candidates for admission to the
+service are liable to be black-balled, just as they might be at any
+club; it is now safe to predict that they will henceforward be regarded
+with less favour than ever, and that generals, colonels, majors and the
+rest will form up into a solid phalanx, to prevent the Emperor's
+platonic _proteges_ from getting in.
+
+William II appeals to the higher ranks of officers, who are tradition
+personified, to put an end to tradition.  It is really wonderful what a
+genius he has for exciting cupidity in one class and resistance in the
+other.  And he has done the same thing with the working class as with
+the army.
+
+What a strange riddle his character presents--this quietist, this
+worshipper of an angry and a jealous God, with a mania for achieving
+the happiness of his people in the twinkling of an eye!  A strange
+figure, this Emperor of country squires, who despises the bourgeois and
+who threatens to despoil the aristocracy of the very privileges which
+have been the safeguard of the Hohenzollerns' throne for centuries.
+
+These peculiarities are due to an occult influence which weighs on the
+mind of William II, an influence which, while it points the way to
+action, blinds him to its consequences.  The dead hand is upon him!
+
+Frederick III, that liberal, bourgeois monarch, compels his
+reactionary, Old-Prussian-school son, to do those things which he would
+have done himself, had he not been victimised by Bismarck and his pupil.
+
+I wonder whether the ever-mystical William II sometimes reflects on the
+ways by which God leads men into His appointed ways?  Such thoughts
+might do more to enlighten him than his way of gazing at the heavens in
+the belief that all the stars are his.
+
+There is one piece of advice that William's friends should give
+him--not to restore the sixty millions of Guelph money to the Duke of
+Cumberland.  This ultra-modern young Emperor will very soon have
+greater need of the services of the reptile Press than even Bismarck
+himself; for every one of his latest rescripts adds new public
+difficulties to the number of those secret ones which the
+ex-Chancellor, with his infinite capacity for intrigue, will hatch for
+him.
+
+Bismarck, of the biting wit, who accepts the title of Duke of
+Lauenburg, because, as he says, "it will enable him to travel
+incognito," sends forth from Friedrichsruhe winged words which sink
+deep into the mind of the people.  This phrase, for example, which sums
+up the whole of William's policy: "The Emperor has selected his best
+general to be Chancellor and made of his Chancellor a field marshal."
+And Bismarck begs his readers to insert the adjectives, good and bad,
+where they rightly belong.
+
+
+
+April 28, 1890. [3]
+
+Emperor William continues to increase the list of his excursions into
+every field of mental activity.  Intellectually divided between the
+Middle Ages and the late nineteenth century, it would seem as if he
+were trying to forget the infirmity of his one useless arm by assuming
+a prominent role modelled on men of action.  He tries to combine in his
+person the effects of extreme modernism with those of the days of
+Charlemagne.  Because of his very impotence, his desire to grasp and
+clasp all history is the fiercer, and this emphasises and aggravates
+the cruelty he showed in relegating Bismarck to compulsory inaction.
+Just imagine if some power stronger than himself were to compel this
+ever restless monarch to quiescence!  What would be the cumulative
+effect of want of exercise at the end of a year?
+
+
+And just because the German Emperor is pleased, amongst the innumerable
+costumes of his wardrobe, to don that of a socialist sovereign, the
+same people who before 1870 believed in the liberalism of Bismarck, now
+believe in the socialism of William II.  They go on saying the same old
+things.  In different words they ask: "Isn't the young Emperor
+amusing?" (tis' a great word with us French people), and before long,
+they will be appealing to the gullible weaklings among us by suggesting
+"After all, why shouldn't he give us back Alsace-Lorraine?"  And thus
+are being sown the seeds of our national enervation.
+
+The dangers that threaten us from the hatred that the Prussian bears us
+are all the greater now that Germany is ruled by this man-chameleon.
+Let William do what he will, let him change colour as he likes, our
+hatred for Prussia remains unshaken and immutable.  But acquiescence in
+his performances will draw us into his orbit and expose us to those
+same dangers which he incurs, dangers which, were we wise, we should
+know how to turn to our own profit.
+
+
+
+May 12, 1890. [4]
+
+Amidst the ruins of his fallen fortunes, Bismarck can still erect a
+magnificent monument to his pride.  If the results pursued by his
+once-beloved pupil stultify the old man's immediate intentions, they
+constitute nevertheless a testimonial to the Bismarckian doctrine in
+its purest form, to those immortal principles based on lies and the
+exploitation of "human stupidity," which the ex-Chancellor raised to
+such heights in German policy, from the commencement of his career to
+the date of his fall.
+
+Let us, in the first place, inquire how it has come to pass that
+William II has been able to convince a certain number of people, either
+through their "human stupidity" or their cowardice, that he is striving
+for and towards peace, when every single act of his proves the
+opposite.  Is it enough that, because he declares himself a pacifist,
+men should go about saying "Thank God that he, who seemed most eager
+for war, now sings the praises of peace"?  And there are others who
+earnestly implore us to think no more or war "now that William of
+Germany no longer dreams of it."
+
+Now I ask, is there a single reason to be found, either in the
+tradition of his race, or in his own character, or in the logic of
+Prussian militarism, which can justify any clear-thinking mind in
+believing that William is a pacifist?
+
+During the past fortnight a pamphlet has been published in Germany
+under the title _Videant Consules_ (a pamphlet having all the
+appearance of a Berlin semi-official, or officious, document) which
+gives us the key (my readers will agree that I have already placed it
+in the lock) of William II's sudden affection for paths of peace.
+
+The illuminating pages of this work are written with the object of
+preparing the honorable members of the Reichstag to vote an annual
+credit of twenty millions (it is said that the Minister of War and the
+Chief of the General Staff originally asked for fifty).  This money
+will be asked for to provide 474 new batteries, to bring up to 700 the
+number of the German battalions on the Vosges frontier and to increase
+the peace footing strength of the army.  According to a statement made
+by William II, in his speech at the opening of the Reichstag, the
+special object of those twenty millions is to strengthen the defences
+of the eastern and western frontiers.
+
+_Videant Consules_ tells us that Bismarck created the Empire by war,
+but that his later policy threatened to destroy it by peace; for this
+reason the young Emperor deprived him of power.  According to this
+pamphlet, the ex-chancellor allowed France to recover and Russia to
+prepare her defences, whereas he should have crushed us a second time
+in order to have only one enemy--Russia--to deal with later on.
+
+Therefore, Germany's present task is to prepare in haste for the
+struggle against Russia and France united, and for this reason it
+behoves her (says _Videant Consules_) to increase her forces by a
+superhuman effort.  As matters stand, in spite of the Triple Alliance,
+in spite of the sympathy and support of Austria and Italy (ruinous for
+them) William II is by no means confident in the future success of his
+arms.
+
+Now this hero is not taking any chances.  In order that might may
+overcome right, he wants to be quite sure of superior numbers.  And
+this explains why the Emperor of Germany is a "pacifist" to-day!
+
+But things are likely to be different by October 1.  I would have the
+dupes of pacifism read carefully the following extract from his speech;
+if they remain deaf to its meaning, it can only be because, like the
+man in the fable, they do not wish to hear.
+
+"It is true," says the German Emperor, "that we have neglected none of
+the measures by which our military strength may be increased within the
+limits prescribed by the law, but what we have been able to effect in
+this direction has not been sufficient to prevent the changes which
+have taken place in the general situation from being unfavourable to
+us.  We can no longer postpone making additions to the peace footing of
+the army and to effective units, more especially the field artillery.
+A Bill will be brought before you which will provide for the necessary
+increase of the army to take place on the first of October of this
+year."
+
+According to _Videant Consules_, the last _favourable_ date for
+attacking France would have been in 1887.  Bismarck sinned beyond
+forgiveness in not provoking a war at that time.  More than that, his
+manoeuvres to undermine the credit of Russia and his policy of
+intimidation towards France, by exciting the hatred of both countries
+against Germany, only served to unite them.
+
+In the position in which he finds himself, William II has therefore no
+alternative; he must vastly increase his forces, while assuming the
+pacifist role.  He must pretend to be severe with the aristocracy of
+his army--the apple of his eye--and to be full of sympathetic concern
+for the welfare of the working classes and peasantry, whom he fears or
+despises, and who are nothing but cannon fodder to him.  And he does
+these things in order to sow seeds of mutual distrust between France
+and Russia.
+
+He will use every possible expedient of trickery and guile, and, even
+more confident than his teacher Bismarck in the eternal gullibility of
+human nature, he will exploit it for all it is worth.
+
+Take this example of our gullibility, as displayed in the question of
+passports for Alsace-Lorraine.  A section of the European Press, well
+primed for the purpose (the Guelph funds not having been restored, so
+far as we know, to their proper owner), continues unceasingly to
+implore William II to consent to a relaxation of the regulations in
+regard to these passports.  The idea is, that when our credulous fools
+come to learn that this relaxation has been granted, there will be
+absolutely no limit to their enthusiasm for him.  Already they speak of
+him good-naturedly as "this young Emperor."
+
+(Is it not so, that, every day, old friends whose rugged patriotism we
+thought unshakable, meet us with the inquiry, "Well, and what have you
+got to say now of this young Emperor?")
+
+This young Emperor piles falsehood upon falsehood.  If he permits any
+relaxation of the passport regulations, you may be perfectly certain
+that he will give orders that the _permis de sejour_ are to be more
+severely restricted than before.  Once a passport is issued, it is of
+some value; but the _permis de sejour_ is a weapon in the hands of the
+lower ranks of German officialdom, which they use with Pomeranian
+cruelty.  Every German bureaucrat in Alsace-Lorraine aims at preventing
+Frenchmen from residing there, at getting them out of the country; and
+nothing earns them greater favour in the eyes of their chiefs.
+Therefore, if this "young Emperor" is to be asked to grant anything,
+let it be a relaxation of the _permis de sejour_.
+
+To be allowed to _travel_ amongst the brothers from whom we are
+separated, can only serve to aggravate the grief we feel at not being
+allowed to _live_ amongst them.
+
+William's socialism is all of the same brand.  His first display of
+affection for the tyrant lower down was due to the fact that he used
+him to overthrow a tyrant higher up: it was the socialist voter who
+broke the power of Bismarck.  When we see William embarking upon so
+many schemes of social reform all at once, we may be sure that he has
+no serious intention of carrying out any one of them.  After having
+made all sorts of lavish promises to the industrial workers, he is now
+busy giving undertakings to make the welfare of the peasantry his
+special care!
+
+In his speech to the Reichstag there is no mention even of the one
+definite benefit that the workers had a right to expect--namely, a
+reduction of the hours of labour; but the threat of shooting "them in
+the back" reappears in a new guise.  William II warns the working
+classes of "the dangers which they will incur in the event of their
+doing anything to disturb the order of government."
+
+"My august confederates and I," adds the Emperor, "are determined to
+defend this order with unshakable energy."
+
+Delicious to my way of thinking, this expression "my august
+confederates."  Is there not something astounding about the use of the
+possessive pronoun in connection with the word "august," implying
+sovereignty?  One wonders what part can they have to play, these
+confederates, led and dominated by a personality as jealous and
+self-centred as this "young Emperor."
+
+There is only one thing about which William II really concerns himself,
+over and above his blind passion for increasing the forces of Germany,
+and that is, other people's morals--the morals of working men or
+officers.  The devil has always had his days for playing the monk.
+
+
+
+May 20, 1890. [5]
+
+Do my readers remember my last article but one, written at a moment
+when the whole Press was singing the praises of William the Pacifist,
+on the eve of the day when _The Times_ published its despatch,
+proclaiming the complete agreement between Tzar and Kaiser, the
+_entente_ that assures the world of the peace that shall come down from
+William's starry heavens?  It was then that I wrote--
+
+"Is there a single reason to be found, either in the traditions of his
+race, or in his own character, or in the logic of Prussian militarism,
+which can justify, any clear-thinking mind in believing that William is
+a Pacifist?"
+
+Hardly had that number of May 1 appeared when the German Emperor made
+his speech at Koenigsberg!  In his cups, the King of Prussia reveals his
+true nature, just as a champagne cork flies from a badly wired bottle.
+After giving expression once again to his animosity towards France, he
+borrows from us one of the famous dicta of Monsieur Prudhomme--
+
+"The duty of an Emperor," he declared, "is to keep the peace, and I am
+determined to do it; but should I be compelled to draw the sword to
+preserve peace, Germany's blows will fall like hail upon those who have
+dared to disturb it."
+
+Next, in the neighbourhood of the Russian frontier, he used the
+following provocative language: "I will not permit that any one should
+touch my eastern provinces and he who tries to do so, will find that my
+power and my might are as rocks of bronze."
+
+Sire, beware!  The God of the Hohenzollern will prove to you before
+long that your power and your might, those rocks of bronze, are no more
+in His hands than a feather tossed in the wind; He will show you that a
+tricky horse can unseat you, regardless of your dignity, when you take
+your favourite ride, the road to Peacock island, with your august
+brother-in-law.
+
+Say what you will, the Prussians have not yet acquired either wit or
+good taste!  There is proof of this not only in the speeches of William
+II at Konigsberg, but even more convincing, in that which was delivered
+before the Reichstag by that famous strategist, our conqueror de
+Moltke, on the subject of the proposed increase in the peace-footing
+effectives.
+
+One must read the whole speech to get an idea of the sort of nonsense
+that "honorable" Germans are prepared to listen to.  In urging the vote
+of credit, "the Victor" said: "Confronted with the fundamental problem
+of the army, the question of money is of secondary importance; for what
+becomes of your prosperous finances in war-time?"
+
+Having proved that conquerors are the greatest benefactors of the human
+race, M. de Moltke goes on to declare that it is not the rulers, but
+the peoples, who want war to-day.  In Germany, it is "the cupidity of
+the classes whom fate has neglected"; it is also the socialists who
+decline to vote more soldiers because they desire to trouble the
+world's peace and expect "to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives
+in the next war and to threaten the existence of morality and
+civilisation."
+
+I do not know whether my readers can make head or tail of this
+speech--I certainly cannot--but its intention is plain enough.  William
+II has been careful to emphasise it, by declaring that the increase in
+the peace strength of the army is intended to reinforce the eastern and
+western frontiers.  Several officious newspapers (we no longer call
+them reptile, but to do so would make them more authoritative) sum up
+the matter in these words--
+
+"The nearer the peace-footing of the troops on our frontiers approaches
+to war-strength, the more effectively these troops are provided with
+everything necessary to enable them to leave within _three hours_ of
+receiving marching orders, the more secure becomes Germany's position."
+
+Quite so!  By next October there will be 200,000 men in
+Alsace-Lorraine.  As you see, the new law adds to the security of
+Germany precisely what it takes from ours.
+
+
+
+June 12, 1890. [6]
+
+My readers will recollect that after a journey in Switzerland, two
+years ago, I proved by statements which could not be (and never were)
+refuted, that the Russian Nihilists established in Switzerland before
+the Federal Government's inquiry, were all either deliberate or
+unconscious tools of the German police.
+
+On the one hand, M. de Puttkamer, Minister of the Interior, unable to
+refute the evidence brought forward by the socialist deputy, Bebel, had
+then been compelled to confess that the socialist agitators Haupt and
+Schneider were his agents in Switzerland.  On the other hand, at the
+inquiry into the proceedings of these socialists, there was the
+evidence furnished by letters seized on Schmidt and Friedmann,
+associates of Haupt and Schneider, that Schmidt had been commissioned
+by M. Krueger of the Berlin Police to commit a crime.  In one of the
+seized letters, the following words were actually used by Krueger: "The
+next attempt upon the life of the Emperor Alexander must be prepared at
+Geneva.  Write to me; I await your reports." [7]
+
+Whenever the alleged liberalism of William II finds its expression in
+anything else but speeches, it is easy to take its measure.  He has
+just shown once more what it really amounts to, in the Treaty of
+Establishment with Switzerland, wherein restrictions are placed upon
+the issue of good moral character certificates by German parishes to
+their parishioners.  These will no longer be available to enable a
+German to take up his residence in Switzerland.  Henceforward it will
+be the business of the German Legation to pick and choose those whom it
+considers eligible to reside in Switzerland, either to practise a
+profession or to conduct an export business there.  It will be for
+Germany to decide whether or not her subjects are dangerous abroad.
+This would be well enough if it were only a question of restraining
+rogues, but it is anything but reassuring when we come to deal with the
+ever advancing phalanx of German spies.
+
+
+
+July 9, 1890. [8]
+
+It seems to me that this Wagnerian Emperor, pursuing his legends to the
+uttermost parts of the earth, is doing his utmost to darken our
+horizon.  Everywhere, always he confronts us, appearing on the scene to
+deprive us of the last remnants of good-will left to us in Europe.
+
+In the Scandinavian States, even after 1870, we had preserved certain
+trusty friendships: of these William II now tries to rob us.  He
+appears and, to use his own expression, draws men to him by magic
+strings.  To the people who are offshoots of Germany he figures as "the
+Emperor," unique, mysterious, he who goes forward in the name of the
+fables of mythology, gathering and uniting anew in his slumbering
+people the instincts of vassalage.  "Super-German virtues," he calls
+them, "ornaments of old-time Germany."  This monarch who, in his own
+land, is pleased to pose as a Liberal!
+
+Can it be that this same William who, on the Bosphorus held communion
+with the stars, who, writing to Bismarck, said, "I talk with God,"
+finds the celestial responses so inadequate that his mind must needs
+invoke a retinue of Teutonic deities?
+
+"Let the Latins, Slavs and Gauls know it," says he, "the German Emperor
+bears to Germans the glad tidings which promise them the sovereignty of
+the world!"
+
+Have not even the Anglo-Saxons bowed before the sovereign will of
+William II, so that before long the island of Heligoland will see the
+German flag floating over its rocky shores?
+
+Yes, let her Press and public men say what they will, proud Albion has
+delivered herself over to Germany.  She has made surrender to our enemy
+in the hope that we shall thus become for her an easier victim, that
+she will be able to recover at our expense what Germany has taken from
+her.  Lord Salisbury hopes, in return for the plum he has yielded, to
+be able to help himself to ours, to those of Italy and Portugal, and to
+share others with Germany.
+
+But such is the character of William II that he despises those who
+serve him or who yield to his will.  Like Don Juan, he seeks ever new
+worlds to conquer, new resistances to overcome, and neglects no means
+to secure his desired ends.  England and Austria to-day count for less
+than nothing in his schemes.  These countries have had a free hand in
+Bulgaria, and they have used it to indulge in every sort of intrigue.
+Screened by Bismarck, they have advised, upheld and exalted Stamboulof,
+they have set up the Prince of Coburg.  And William, not having
+inspired any of this policy, would like to see it end in complications
+shameful for his associates.
+
+As to the King of Sweden, he thinks it due to the dignity of his people
+to make some show of resistance, but one feels that this is only done
+to save appearances.  He also has delivered himself, bound hand and
+foot, just as they have all done, the Emperor Francis Joseph, the King
+of Italy, the Hohenzollern who reigns at Bucharest, Stamboulof, Lord
+Salisbury and Leopold II.
+
+
+
+July 29, 1890. [9]
+
+The Imperial bagman travelling in Germanophil wares conceals under his
+flag a very mixed cargo.  He makes a Bernadotte to serve as speaking
+trumpet for Prussian Conservatism at the same time that he subsidises
+_agents provocateurs_ for the purpose of misleading and
+internationalising the social reform programme of the Danes.
+
+And all the time, in every direction, he comes and goes--this ever
+restless, universal disturber--creating and perpetuating instability on
+all sides, so as to increase the price of his peace stock, he
+controlling the market.  It is Bismarck's old game, played with
+up-to-date methods.
+
+
+
+August 12, 1890. [10]
+
+Does it not seem to you, dear reader, that the voyage of William II to
+Russia suggests in more ways than one the scene of the Temptation on
+the Mount?
+
+At St. Petersburg there reigns a sovereign whose life, directed by the
+inspirations of his soul, is one long act of virtuous self-denial; who
+prefers the humble and the lowly to fortune's favourites; whose works
+are works of peace, and whose intentions are always those of a man
+ready to appear before Him Who only tolerates the great ones of this
+earth when their power is balanced by a due sense of their moral
+responsibility, by devotion to duty and truth.
+
+At Berlin there reigns a man of ungovernable pride, who aspires to be
+torch-bearer to the world.  Restless, like the spirit of evil,
+tormented by his inability to do good, he has dedicated his soul to
+wickedness and lies.
+
+Alexander III regarded his accession to the throne as an ordeal, the
+sacrifice of his life.  He would have given his own blood to spare his
+father the pangs of death.  William II seized fiercely on the reins of
+power, after having committed a crime, at least in his heart; after
+having wished for the death of his father and increased his sufferings
+by his conduct.
+
+By the tragic end of two martyrs, God has brought face to face those
+who are destined to be the champions of good and of evil respectively
+in these last years of the century.
+
+The German Emperor goes to Russia to say to the Tzar, "Divide with me
+the kingdoms of the earth, always on condition that I receive the
+lion's share."
+
+The Emperor of Russia will reply: "Let us endeavour, my brother, to
+work for the welfare of the nations, let us calm their hatreds and
+follow the rugged paths of justice; above all, let us regard the power
+which the God of hosts has confided into our hands as an instrument of
+sovereignty, whose only purpose should be to keep the nation's honour
+unsullied and safeguard the blessings of peace."
+
+"Words, nothing but words," replies the Tempter.  "Say, Yes or No, wilt
+thou go with me to the conquest of the world?  On all sides your
+influence, which I have undermined, is waning: you and your followers
+are caught in a ring of iron from which before long you will be unable
+to escape.
+
+"In Germany, all things are subject to my unfettered rule.  Henceforth
+nothing can ever check or stop my triumphal march.  Throughout the
+humbly listening world, which will soon be at my feet, I break that
+which will not bend before me.  I overthrow all those that stand, and
+that which comes to me, I keep.  Even the Church, which treated with my
+forefathers on a footing of equality, now bows the knee before me and
+humbly votes the money for my great slaughters.
+
+"Socialism, that bogey of Bismarck's, is an easily tamed monster.  I
+have only to sow discord amongst its leaders to make it serve my ends
+of policy like the veriest National Liberal party.
+
+"In Austria, my grandfather and I created financial troubles, entangled
+things, let loose envy and hatred and sowed the seeds of quarrels,
+which have delivered her into my hands.  Let them try as they will to
+free themselves from the fetters with which I have bound them; I shall
+create such obstacles to all these efforts that the future shall be
+mine, like the present.
+
+"In Hungary, Prussian diplomacy has found a way to turn the people's
+hatred of Austria into hatred of Russia, and to make them forgive the
+House of Hapsburg for a policy of coercion so cruel than even a
+Romanoff denounced it.
+
+"Everywhere I create dissension amongst my allies so that the final
+decision may be mine.
+
+"In Italy I have my _ame damnee_, the only one who understands me, an
+ambitious tyrant, mad like Bismarck with the lust of power, who serves
+my purposes at Rome as effectively as Bismarck hampered them in Berlin.
+
+"I have stifled and destroyed the spirit of brotherhood in the cradle
+of the Latin race.  I have made history a liar, bringing a false
+morality to the interpretation of the most brilliant days and deeds.  I
+have reduced to servility a Royal House that once was proud.  I have
+cheated and deceived the cleverest and most suspicious race on earth.
+
+"At Rome, I have insulted the traditional and sacred majesty of the
+Head of the Christian religion!
+
+"In England, I have done even more.  I have compelled proud Albion to
+serve the ends of my personal policy.  I have forced the most jealous
+of nations to yield the leading place to me, to work, in her own
+colonies and against her own interests, for the benefit of my growing
+rivalry, sacrificing to me her dreams of supremacy in the four quarters
+of the globe.
+
+"As to America, I will deal with her later.  I have my plans.
+
+"Despite Lord Salisbury's make-believe of caution and reserve (about
+which, I may say, we quite understand each other) England is so
+completely delivered into my power that, after the Conservatives the
+Liberals, in the person of the young leader John Morley, now proffer me
+their services, and no matter what changes may take place in the
+English parties my influence will soon prevail.
+
+"My journeys to the Scandinavian States have been fruitful.  In
+Denmark, O Tzar! your own father-in-law has become almost associated
+with my destiny.
+
+"I have linked with my fortunes a king of French stock in Sweden, and I
+will prove it at Alsen Island, where I shall compel him to take part in
+the manoeuvres of my fleet.
+
+"As to Norway, a few words from my Imperial lips have overcome the old
+republicanism of these brother Teutons.
+
+"So as to keep closer watch over the submission of my new allies, I
+have wrested Heligoland from England; and there I shall build an
+eagle's nest from which I shall be able to swoop down upon them, should
+they attempt to escape me.  Those who had any doubts as to the
+importance of this surrender, have learned it from the speeches that I
+made when taking possession.
+
+"By this means I have closed the German Ocean _for ever_, and that
+which is closed gives access to something.
+
+"What need I say of Turkey that you do not know already?  All her
+thoughts, movements and actions are regulated by one man, and he a
+vassal of German policy.  Turkey's army, trade and finances, the
+direction of her ruling minds, are either in my hands or in those of
+England.  And England, say what you will, is hypnotised by me.
+
+"I can afford at my pleasure to challenge her policy indefinitely.
+
+"The diplomas which she conferred upon the Bulgarian bishops after the
+execution at Panitza have shown you, my brother, how greatly I am
+pleased to favour those whom you have condemned!  Stamboulof, the
+inveterate foe of Russia, now dominates the elections in Bulgaria and
+Roumelia, thanks to the irade on the bishoprics.  He goes in triumph
+through the land, so that even the Russophile candidates invoke the
+protection of this man, who shoots the country's heroes and reduces its
+prince to the level of an ordinary public servant.  His audacity, his
+impunity, the length of his tether, have no limits except those which
+will be imposed upon him by my power should you turn a deaf ear to my
+proposals.
+
+"And just as British policy has served the ends of Prussian statecraft
+in Bulgaria and Roumelia, even so it serves them at this moment in
+Armenia.
+
+"It was I who willed and inspired the indulgence of the Sultan for the
+bloodthirsty Moussa Bey.  Massacred by the Kurds on the one hand, and
+on the other observing the success of the revolution in Roumelia, the
+Armenians will inevitably be led from one revolt to another and, helped
+by a few timely suggestions, will come to believe that they can win
+their autonomy.
+
+"Herein lies another difficulty which disturbs your mind, and of which
+my hands hold the threads; another people, to whom you might have
+looked for help in the event of my allies going to war with you, but
+which England and I will be able to remove from your influence.
+
+"In Roumania, a Hohenzollern guards all the keys which open the doors
+of his frontiers.
+
+"In Serbia, I am working by sure means to destroy the last remaining
+sympathies for Russia.  To attain this end I will leave no stone
+unturned, even as I am doing in Greece against France.
+
+"With an eye to the future interests of my African colonies, I have
+compelled England to keep Portugal quiet.  I do not wish any
+revolutionary upheaval to react upon Spain, that indomitable nation
+which still resists me, but in whose mouth nevertheless, I have put an
+invisible bit.  I shall know how to drive her headlong into the trap
+that awaits her in Morocco.
+
+"With the help of Italy, Switzerland is mine.  And Holland will fall to
+me through the little Duchy of Luxembourg, which will come to me by the
+marriage of one of my sisters with the heir of Nassau.
+
+"My last master stroke was the way of my coming into Belgium.  Therein
+I was artful.  The Belgians affected to believe in the neutrality of
+their microscopic kingdom.  I played up to the joke and entered their
+country by way of the sea.
+
+"In all the splendour of my power, I came to Ostend on the
+_Hohenzollern_, and I made it my business to invest my appearance with
+every feature calculated to impress the mob, in these days when outward
+show appeals most powerfully to the popular imagination.  And I was,
+moreover, determined that nothing should be lacking to the full
+effectiveness of this demonstration.
+
+"Belgium had intimated by a revolution her objections to becoming
+German.  Well and good: I imposed myself upon her as German Emperor.
+With wearisome reiteration she had manifested her sympathy for France.
+In order to challenge these sentiments the more effectively, I
+compelled King Leopold to take his seat beside me as the Colonel of one
+of my Alsatian regiments!
+
+"And do you suppose that the Belgians protested?  Not a bit of it!  No,
+the trick is played.  No longer in secret, but openly, Belgium will
+play my waiting game, in the Congo and at the gates of France.
+
+"My visit to Belgium is destined to produce such important results in
+days to come, that I have neglected not the smallest detail in order to
+produce a legendary impression upon Europe.  Nothing have I forgotten:
+costumes for each part, words, good seed sown broadcast in the public
+mind, communications to the Press, advice given to sovereigns of a
+nature to please the people, and elsewhere (as in England) popularity
+with the military caste!
+
+"An individual of the name of Van der Smissen, having dared to argue in
+the ranks, got broken for his pains.
+
+"At the same time, in order to cast into stronger relief the loftiness
+and majesty of my countenance, I invested it, amongst these good
+Belgians, with certain new features of good nature and cordiality.
+
+"As to France, Russia's only possible ally to-day, her artless
+simplicity protects me from all risks that I might otherwise run.  I
+shall compel her to accept the neutralisation of Alsace-Lorraine,
+whenever the provinces shall have become thoroughly Germanised.
+
+"For the present I leave England to deal with her: England who keeps
+her busy with childish things, and soothes her vanity with illusory
+diplomatic successes, such as the _exequatur_ of the Madagascar Consuls
+(which the settled policy of the residents would have achieved in time)
+and with useless concessions amidst the fogs of Lake Chad, or on the
+Niger, or in regions whose possession none disputed.
+
+"Lord Salisbury evoked much mirth, over these concessions at the Lord
+Mayor's banquet, joking somewhat cynically at his own policy in
+disposing of territories over which he had no rights.  One country,
+amongst others, given to France, has provided my good English friends
+with an inexhaustible source of merriment.
+
+"Concerning Egypt, Lord Salisbury has clearly intimated to France that
+England will _never_ give it up.
+
+"Thus, the Salisbury Ministry has still at its disposal, to keep busy
+my fiery but easily duped neighbours, the Egyptian problem, with a
+French Minister at Cairo, who is more of a help than a hindrance to
+England; the Newfoundland question, with the Anglo-American Waddington,
+more yielding for the purposes of the British Foreign Office than one
+of its own agents.
+
+"Moreover, whenever I choose, the rulers of France can be made to
+believe in a francophile reincarnation of M. Crispi!  I have many
+things in store for them in that quarter.
+
+"Deceived by the infinite resources of my diplomacy, led astray by my
+agents who have taken on less reptilian disguises, the guileless French
+nation remains a prey to ignorance and ambitions as countless as the
+sands on the shore of her democracy.
+
+"To sum up; England, through India; England and Germany, through China,
+we hold in our hands that question of an Asiatic war, a scourge which
+will exhaust the strength of your Empire, O Tzar! and which may finally
+weaken France.  I have said!"
+
+
+'Tis a long tale, and were it all told at one time, Alexander III would
+certainly not listen to half of it.  But William II spent a fortnight
+in Russia, and I have only an hour to summarise his argument.
+
+Have the wings of the German Emperor the span of those of Lucifer, as
+he believes?  He may play the part, but he will never be able to carry
+it through!
+
+
+
+August 28, 1890. [11]
+
+Although for the meeting of these two powerful Emperors (whose
+destinies, as history proves, are so frequently commingled) there was
+no real necessity, other than the desire of the young and restless King
+of Prussia, to keep the whole world guessing as to the object of his
+multifarious designs, their coming together has its undeniable
+importance and significance, for it has been the means of increasing
+the resistance and strengthening the determination of the Tzar.
+Alexander III, whose mind reflects the great and untroubled soul of
+Russia, is well able to estimate at its true worth the insatiable greed
+of Germany and the ever-encroaching character of her ruler.  Because of
+his own self-control and disinterestedness, the Tzar must have been
+able to gather from William's words and works a very fair idea of his
+unbounded self-conceit; of that vanity which, like its emblem the eagle
+of the outspread wings, aspires to cover the whole earth.
+
+Even though William has offered to the Emperor of Russia the prospect
+of a general disarmament; even though, with his present mania for
+speech-making he may have suggested a Congress for the settlement of
+Europe's disputes, his success must have been of the negative kind.
+
+If the Tzar were to agree to a conference, it could only lead to one of
+two results.  Either it would embitter those disputes which threaten to
+embroil the nations in a fierce struggle, and bring France and Russia
+together in resistance to the same greedy foes, or it would end in the
+imposition of a lasting peace, which would mean that the Prussian and
+military fabric of the German State would be dissolved, as by a
+miracle, to the benefit of French and Russian influences in Europe.
+
+Let then the German Emperor have his head.  God is leading him straight
+on the path of failure.  It is this still-vague feeling, that he will
+never have power to add to the Prussian birthright, that makes him rush
+feverishly from one scheme to another; stirring up this question and
+that, ever testing, ever striving.  It is this foreboding that has
+driven him to pursue fame, fortune and glory, and so to weary them with
+his importunities and haste, that they flee from him, unable and
+unwilling to bear with him any longer.
+
+Sire, if it be your ambition to become, immediately and by your own
+endeavours, greater than any one on earth, allow me to express the
+charitable wish without hoping to dissuade you--that you may break your
+neck in the attempt!
+
+
+
+September 12, 1890. [12]
+
+It was just at the time that I was writing my last article, that the
+Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia (who has a perfect obsession for
+being in the middle of the picture), was carrying out at the army
+manoeuvres at Narva, a certain strategic design, long-prepared and
+tested, by means of which he proposed to fill with amazement and
+admiration not only the Russian army but the Imperial Court--nay, all
+Russia, and the whole wide world!
+
+William's idea was to repeat the exploit performed by the troops of
+Charles XII (with the aid of the Russian Viborg Regiment, of which he
+is Colonel) and to pass through the heavy mass of a regiment of cavalry
+with light infantry battalions.  The future Commander-in-Chief of the
+German Army wished to show the world that he would know how to add the
+_elan_ of the French and the impetuosity of the Slav to the qualities
+of method and strength perfected by leaders like Von Moltke or
+Frederick Charles.  Therefore, several weeks before, William II had
+asked the Tzar to be allowed to take part in the manoeuvres and to
+command in person the Viborg Regiment.
+
+And so it came to pass that, having cast himself for a part of
+invincible audacity, he came to cut a very sorry and ridiculous figure.
+Surrounded by the Hussars, he was made to see that what may be done
+with German infantry against Uhlans, cannot be accomplished, even with
+Russian soldiers, against Russian cavalry.
+
+This incident shows that the Tzar had something akin to second sight
+when he gave orders that the length of the manoeuvres would be
+optional.  Thanks to this, the Kaiser was free to take home the sooner
+his pretty jacket (no, his tunic, I mean) from Narva.
+
+What an interesting broadsheet might be made on the subject of "William
+II a prisoner"!
+
+In the long winter evenings to come, how many a Russian peasant--gifted
+with imagination as they are--in telling again the tale of the Viborg
+Regiment's attack, will see in it an omen of the destiny of the German
+Emperor!  And they will add, with bated breath, that the
+_Hohenzollern_, on leaving the shores of Russia narrowly missed being
+cut in two by another vessel.  And one more sign of evil omen--a
+fearful tempest shook the Imperial yacht in Russian waters.
+
+Let us, whose Emperor was a prisoner of the Germans in 1871, pray that
+some day a German Emperor may be taken prisoner by the Russian
+army--not like at Narva, but in all seriousness.
+
+I said in my last letter that it might well be that William's journey
+to Russia might result in stiffening the resolution of the Emperor
+Alexander.  And so it has proved, for scarcely had his Imperial guest
+returned to Berlin, than a ukase raised the Russian Customs tariff and
+imposed a new duty of 20 per cent. on German imports.  A fine result
+this, of that which the German Press, before William's departure,
+described as the Russo-German Economic Entente, at a moment when, even
+for the Berlin newspapers, the prospects of a political _entente_ were
+somewhat dubious.
+
+For this reason, Professor Delbrueck says quite bluntly, in the
+"Prussian Annals," that William II's journey to Russia has been a
+lamentable fiasco; that the Tzar declined to listen to any diplomatic
+conversation; that he ridiculed and entertained his Imperial guest with
+a series of military parades whilst the Russian general staff was
+carrying out important manoeuvres on the western frontiers.
+
+In the same spirit as that of the ex-deputy Professor, the whole German
+and Austrian Press have been demanding that, for the peace of Europe,
+the German and Austrian troops should be withdrawn from their
+respective frontiers, so as to compel the Russian forces to do the same.
+
+That is all very well, but inasmuch as the military zones of the Great
+Russian Empire are separated by enormous distances, and the movement of
+troops being very much easier for Germany and Austria than for Russia,
+one would like to know precisely what is the idea at the back of these
+demands.  As soon as ever he returned to Germany, two very significant
+ideas occurred to William II: one, to make a display of the warmest
+sentiments for his august _pis-aller_, the Emperor of Austria; the
+other, to have his faithful ally Italy play some scurvy trick on
+France, Russia's friend.
+
+To this end, the German Emperor proceeded to hold a review of the
+Austro-Hungarian Fleet and went beyond the official programme by going
+aboard the ironclad _Francis Joseph_, flying the flag of Admiral
+Sterneck.  After this, inviting himself to luncheon with the Archduke
+Charles Stephen, commanding the Austrian squadron, he made a fervent
+speech, wishing health and glory to his precious ally the Emperor of
+Austria.
+
+
+
+September 27, 1890. [13]
+
+When Germany agreed to withdraw her armies from the soil of France, she
+replaced them by other soldiers: crossing-sweepers, clerks, workmen,
+bankers (industrials or "reptiles" as the case might be), as well
+organised, linked up and drilled as her best troops.  Unceasingly,
+therefore, and without rest, it behoves us to be on our guard and to
+defend ourselves.
+
+A good many amiable Frenchmen will shrug their shoulders at this, but
+if we act otherwise we shall be delivered over to our enemies, bound
+hand and foot, at the psychological moment.
+
+And now, dear reader, to return to William II.  You will grant, I
+think, that since we have followed the interminable zig-zags of his
+wanderings throughout Europe, we are entitled to coin and utter a new
+proverb:  "A rolling monarch gathers no prestige."
+
+
+
+November 1, 1890. [14]
+
+For mastodons like Bismarck, William II prepares a refrigerating
+atmosphere which freezes them alive.  Splendid mummies like Von Moltke
+he smothers with flowers.  The men whom William dismisses and discards
+are great men in the eyes of Germany, even though in history they may
+not be so, because the ex-Chancellor is of inferior character, and
+because certain successes of Von Moltke were due rather to luck than
+design.  Nevertheless, they are in William's way and he gets rid of
+them, by different means.  He needs about him men of a different stamp
+to those of the iron age; for the present, he is satisfied with
+courtiers, later he will demand valets.  All those who are of any
+worth, all those who stand erect before his shadow, will be sacrificed
+sooner or later.  His autocratic methods will end by producing the same
+results as those of the most jealous of democracies.
+
+Let us bear in mind how often, under Bismarck and William I, the German
+Press made mock of our fatal French mania for change, pointing out to
+Europe how the everlasting see-saw of Ministers of War was bound to
+reduce our national defences to a position of inferiority.  In two
+years William is at his fourth!
+
+Soon, no doubt, William II will be able to score a personal success in
+the matter of his intrigues against Count Taaffe.  His benevolence
+spares not his allies.  We know the measure of his good-will towards
+Italy.  Lately, it seems, the Emperor, King of Prussia, said to the
+Count of Launay, King Humbert's Ambassador at Berlin, "Do not forget
+that, sooner or later, Trieste is destined to become a German port."
+And it was doubtless with this generous idea in his mind that he had
+his compliments conveyed to M. Crispi for his anti-irridentist speech
+at Florence.
+
+That the Triple Alliance is the "safeguard of peace," has become a
+catchword that each of the allies repeats with wearisome reiteration.
+But there!  It is not that William II does not wish for war: it is
+Germany which forbids him to seek it.  It was not M. Crispi who
+declined to seek a pretext for attacking France: it was Italy that
+forbade him to find it.  It is not the Germanised Austrians who
+hesitate to provoke Russia: it is the Slavs who threaten that if a
+provocation takes place they will revolt.
+
+Let me add that the official organs in Germany, Italy and Vienna only
+raise a smile nowadays when they describe Russia and France as
+thunderbolts of war.
+
+
+
+November 12, 1890. [15]
+
+At the outset of the reign of William II, referring to his father, I
+spoke of the "dead hand" and its power over the living.  Now, what has
+the young King of Prussia done since his accession to the Throne?  He,
+the flatterer of Bismarck, this disciple of Pastor Stoeker, this
+out-and-out soldier, this hard and haughty personage, who was wont to
+blame his august parents for their bourgeois amiability and their
+frequent excursions?  He carries out everything that his father
+planned, but he does it under impulse from without and he does it
+badly, without forethought, without the sincerity or the natural
+quality which is revealed in a man by a course of skilful action
+legitimate in its methods.
+
+He smashed Von Bismarck in brutal fashion.  His father, on the other
+hand, was wont to say: "I will not touch the Chancellor's statue, but I
+will remove the stones, one by one, from his pedestal, so that some
+fine day it will collapse of itself."
+
+It is a curious thing that these reforms and ideas, not having been
+applied by the monarch whose character would have harmonised perfectly
+with their conception and execution, now possess no reversionary value.
+They lose it completely by being subjected to a false paternity.
+
+It is true that occasionally William II envoys some real satisfaction,
+such as that which he has derived from the coming of the King of
+Belgium.  So impatient was His Majesty to return his visit, that he
+could not wait for the good season and therefore he came in the bad.
+At Ostend, Leopold II had caused sand to be strewn at William's coming
+(the beach being conveniently handy).  The King of Prussia only spread
+mud.  Why was the King of Belgium in such a hurry?  After the visit of
+General Pontus to Berlin and his three days in retirement with the
+German headquarters staff, people at Brussels are still asking what
+more King Leopold could possibly have to settle in person with Messrs.
+Moltke and Waldersee at these same headquarters?
+
+The _Courier de Bruxelles_ informs us that certain proposals for an
+alliance were made to Leopold II during his stay at Potsdam.  What!
+Could Prussia possibly have dared to think of laying an impious hand
+upon Belgian neutrality!  But if not, why should they have been at such
+pains formerly to prove to me that the thing was inconceivable?
+Prussia wants a Belgian alliance and the King refuses.  Splendid!  But
+let him tell us so himself!  I confess that such a document would
+interest me far more than all that I have published on the subject!
+May not the explanation of King Leopold's journey be, that William II
+would like a mobilisation in Belgium just as he wants one in Italy?  M.
+Bleichroder will supply the cash.  He has already got his bargain
+money, viz. Pastor Stoecker in disgrace, and the repudiation of
+anti-Semitism by its ex-partisan, William II.
+
+
+
+November 27, 1890. [16]
+
+How can one avoid taking an interest in William II of Hohenzollern?  He
+is one of those people who, by every means and in every way, insist on
+being noticed.  This up-to-date Emperor is obsessed by the idea of
+making profit, for purposes of advertisement, out of every sensation;
+he loves to upset calculations and produce every kind of astonishment.
+He believes that he has not fulfilled his part, until he has made a
+number of people lift their arms to heaven at least once a day and
+exclaim: "William is marvellous!"  He wants to hear this cry arise from
+the humblest and the highest, from the miner's gallery and the palace
+of his "august confederates," from the workman's cottage and the homes
+of the middle-class, from the officers' club, from church and chapel,
+from the Parliament of the Empire and the House of Peers.
+
+Being _blase_ himself, it pleases him to tickle public opinion with
+spicy fare; his lack of mental balance compels him to these endless and
+senseless choppings and changes, to all these schemes projected,
+proclaimed and cast aside.
+
+The former Court of his grandfather is already in ruins, the work of
+Bismarck crumbling in the dust; in less than no time he has reduced the
+old aristocratic and feudal Prussian monarchy to the purest kind of
+democratic Caesarism.
+
+Perched above every political party in Germany, William the Young wants
+to be the one and only ruler and judge of all.  Among themselves let
+them differ as and when they will, it being always understood that all
+these separate opinions must equally be sacrificed to the Emperor.
+
+Before long the King of Prussia will endeavour to be at one and the
+same time the spiritual head of the Lutheran Church and the temporal
+Pope of the Catholic Church, the leader of economists, the cleverest of
+stategists, the one and only socialist, the most marvellous incarnation
+of the warrior of German legends, the greatest pacifist of modern
+times, explorer in his day and soothsayer whenever he likes.  In his
+own eyes, William is all these.
+
+Have not the delegates of the old House of Peers ingenuously complained
+during these last few days that they no longer possess any initiative
+of legislation?  But they have just as much or as little as the
+honourable members of the Prussian Diet.
+
+All schemes of reform emanate from the Emperor.  The people have no
+right to be Emperor.  Surely that is simple enough?
+
+To bulk larger in the public eye, William dwells apart; he can no
+longer endure that any one should presume to think himself useful or
+agreeable to him or to give him advice.  He is fulfilling the
+prediction that he made of himself when he was twenty-one: "When I come
+to reign I shall have no friends; I shall only have dupes."
+
+More infatuated with himself than ever, the Emperor wears his mystic
+helmet _a la_ Lohengrin, tramples the purple underfoot and has the
+throne surrounded by his life-guards, wearing the iron-plated bonnets
+of the days of Frederick II.  Thus he deludes himself with the dream of
+absolute authority.  His mania for power is boundless, his pride knows
+no limits.  He recognises only God and Himself.
+
+To his recruits, he says: "After having sworn fidelity to your masters
+upon earth, swear the same oath to your Saviour in Heaven!"
+
+But in his moments of solitude, in the privacy of the potentate's
+toilet-chamber, must it not be dreadful for him to reflect that his
+silver helmet rests on ears that suppurate, that his voice comes from a
+mouth afflicted with fistula of the bone, and that there are days when
+his sceptre is at the mercy of the surgeon's knife?
+
+
+
+December 11, 1890. [17]
+
+The rumour has spread, and has not yet been authoritatively
+contradicted, that William is suffering from disease of the brain.  Is
+not this in itself good and sufficient reason to make him wish to prove
+that no one in his Empire can do as much brain work as he can?  We,
+whose minds are so confused in the endeavour to follow William's
+movements at a distance, where little things escape us, can imagine
+what it must be to observe them from close at hand!
+
+One of the chief glories of his reign will be to have produced the
+diagnosis of a new disease, "locomotor Caesarism" of the restless type.
+Before his case, these symptoms were always associated with paralysis.
+Here is a discovery that may turn out to be more genuine that that of
+Dr. Koch.
+
+The unfortunate Koch is one more of William's victims.  It was his
+Imperial will that Germany should wake up one morning to find herself
+possessed of a Pasteur of her own.  He could not even wait long enough
+to allow the necessary experiments to be made with a remedy which is so
+violent that it may well be mortal.  At the word of command "Forward,
+march," Koch found himself propelled by His Majesty into the position
+of a benevolent genius.
+
+
+Dr. Henri Huchard has expressed his opinion of Koch's method in the
+following words: "In therapeutics, daring is always permissible, so
+long as it preserves its respect for human life."
+
+A few days ago, the German Emperor was thrusting his advice on a man of
+science, to-day he is overthrowing the most venerable traditions of the
+Prussian monarchy with the scheme of M. Miguel, the new system, for
+taxing incomes and legacies, opening a campaign against the nobility
+and the old conservatives.  With the help of an official of the
+"younger generation"--for thus is he pleased to describe his Minister
+of Finance--he begins to make war on the "old school."
+
+With the "old school" in his mind's eye, he conceives another idea,
+namely, that of a new method of teaching in the elementary, secondary
+and high schools, upon which it will be unnecessary to improve for the
+next hundred years.  He sets the faithful M. Hinzpeter to work, and
+compels him to toil night and day to prepare a complete programme in
+all haste--whereupon behold the Emperor holding forth to the collegians
+just as he does to the recruits.
+
+"Down with Latin!" cries William.  "Let us make Germans instead of
+Greeks and Romans!  Let us teach our children the practical side of
+life."  All of which does not prevent him from adding: "Let us teach
+them the fabulous history of our race."
+
+William insists that his name shall be on every lip--that he be
+recognised as father of his workmen, father of collegians, father of
+the country at large.  It is his ambition to look upon all his subjects
+as his sons.  Much good may it do them!
+
+
+
+December 27, 1890. [18]
+
+The Emperor of Germany, determined supporter of triumphant militarism,
+and, therefore, the deadly enemy of every permanent and beneficial
+social reform, has suddenly stopped short in his attempts to improve
+the condition of the masses.
+
+If you ask: To whom does William II give satisfaction? the only
+possible answer is: Himself!  For it matters nothing to him whether
+these plans of his succeed or fail.  The thing that does matter to him
+is, that he should have left his mark everywhere, and that, after a
+quarter of a century or more, legislators shall inevitably find, in
+every project of law, the sacred mark, the holy seal of William's mind.
+
+
+
+[1] From _La Nouvelle Revue_, of April 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[2] This paper had been, till then, in the service of Prince Bismarck.
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] Several pages of the "Letters on Foreign Policy" of June 12 give
+proofs, undeniable and complete, that the preparation of crimes
+committed by anarchists in Europe was instigated at Berlin, William
+knowing and approving the fact.
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 16, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 16, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[16] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[17] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+1891-1892
+
+
+The danger to France of a _rapprochement_ with Germany--The Empress
+Frederick's visit to Paris--William II as _summus episcopus_ of the
+German Evangelical Church--Reception of the Alsace-Lorraine deputation in
+Berlin--The law against espionage in Germany: every German is a spy
+abroad--Christening of the Imperial yacht, the _Hohenzollern_--Further
+increase of the military effective force in peace-time--The _Youth of
+William the Second_, by Mr. Bigelow.
+
+
+January 12, 1891. [1]
+
+The Berlin _Post_ thinks that we should be able to get on very well
+without Alsace-Lorraine, and that the best thing for us to do, if we are
+"reasonable souls," is simply to become reconciled with Germany.  The
+reasonable ones among us are directed to prove to us others (who must
+needs be "gloomy lunatics") the folly of believing in the Russian
+alliance, and gently to prepare us for a last and supreme act of cowardly
+surrender--namely, to give William II a friendly reception at Cannes or
+in Paris.
+
+The chief argument with which they would persuade us is, that Berlin is
+quite willing to receive our philosophers and our doctors.  But we are
+more than quits on this score, seeing the number of Germans that we
+entertain and enrich in Paris.  To prove that we owe them nothing in the
+matter of hospitality, it should be enough to ascertain on the 27th inst.
+how many Germans will celebrate the birthday of William II in one of our
+first-rate hotels.
+
+Heaven be praised, hatred of the Hohenzollerns is not yet dead in France!
+If it be true that the corpse of an enemy always smells sweet, the person
+of a living enemy must always remain hateful.
+
+Before we discuss the possibility of the King of Prussia visiting Paris,
+however, let us wait until M. Carnot has been to Berlin.
+
+
+
+January 29, 1891. [2]
+
+The nearer we approach to 1900, the less desire have I to be up-to-date.
+I persist in the belief that the solution of the problems of European
+policy in which France is concerned, would have been more readily
+attainable by an old fashioned fidelity to the memory of our misfortunes
+than by scorning to learn by our experience.
+
+Certain well-meaning, end-of-the century sceptics may be able lightly to
+throw off that past in which they have (or believe they have) lost
+nothing, whilst we of the "mid-century" are borne down under its heavy
+burden.  These people neglect no occasion to advise us to forget and they
+do it gracefully, lightly showing us how much more modern it is to crown
+oneself with roses than to continue to wear tragically our trailing
+garments of affliction and mourning.
+
+I should be inclined to judge with more painful severity those witty
+writers who advise us to light-hearted friendship with Bismarck the
+"great German," with William the "sympathetic Emperor", with Richard
+Wagner "the highest expression of historical poetry and musical art,"
+those men who prepared and who perpetuate Prussia's victories--I should
+judge them differently, I say, were it not that I remember my former
+anger against the young decadents and the older _roues_ in the last days
+of the Empire.
+
+All of them used to make mock of patriotism in a jargon mixed with slang
+which greatly disturbed the minds of worthy folk, who became half ashamed
+at harbouring, in spite of themselves, the ridiculous emotions "of
+another age."
+
+But these same decadents and _roues_, after a period of initiation
+somewhat longer than that which falls to the lot of ordinary mortals,
+behaved very gallantly in the Terrible Year.
+
+True, in order to convince them that they had been wrong in regarding the
+theft of Schleswig-Holstein as a trifle, wrong in applauding the victory
+of Sadowa, and declaring that each war was the last, it required such
+disasters, that not one of us can evoke without trembling the memory of
+those events, whose lurid light served to open the eyes of the blindest.
+
+"Understand this," Nefftzer was wont to insist (before 1870), "we can
+never wish that Prussia should be victorious without running the risk of
+bringing about our own defeat; we must not yield to any of her
+allurements nor even smile at any of her wiles."
+
+If the people of Paris applaud Wagner, he who believed himself to be the
+genius of victorious Germany personified, it can only be in truth that
+Paris has forgotten.  And in that case, there will only be left, of those
+who rightly remember, but a few mothers, a few widows, a few old
+campaigners and your humble servant!
+
+So that we may recognise each other in this world's wilderness, we will
+wear in our button-holes and in our bodices that blue flower which grows
+in the streams of Alsace-Lorraine, the forget-me-not!
+
+And we shall vanish, one by one, disappearing with the dying century,
+_that is, unless some surprise of sudden war, such as one must expect
+from William II, should cure us of our antiquated attitude_.
+
+Need I speak of these rumours of disarmament, wherewith the German Press
+now seeks to lull us, rumours which spread the more persistently since,
+at last, we have come to believe in our armaments?
+
+"Germany is satisfied and seeks no further conquests," says William II.
+But does it follow that we also should be satisfied with the bitter
+memories of our defeats, and resolved that, no matter what may happen, we
+shall never object to Prussia's victories?  I never forget that William
+II, as a Prince, in his grandfather's time, said, "When I come to the
+Throne I shall do my best to make dupes."  This rumour of disarmament is
+part of his dupe-making.  The real William reveals himself in his true
+colours when he awakens his aide-de-camp in the middle of the night, to
+go and pay a surprise visit to the garrison at Hanover.
+
+In Militarism the German Emperor finds his complete expression and the
+emblem of his character.  His empire is not a centralised empire and only
+the army holds it together.
+
+And for this reason William has favoured the army this year at the
+expense of all the other public services, by increasing its peace-footing
+strength and the number of its officers, by ordering more than two
+hundred locomotives and a corresponding amount of rolling stock intended
+to expedite mobilisation.  Seventy new batteries have been formed.  The
+artillery has been furnished with new ammunition, the infantry with new
+weapons, and the strategic network of railways has been completed!
+
+Abroad, every one, friends and enemies alike, think as I do on the
+subject of disarmament.
+
+"This plaything of William the Second's leisure moments," says _The
+Standard_ (although a fervent admirer of Queen Victoria's grandson),
+"this disarmament idea, is a myth."  Our faithful and loyal supporter,
+the _Sviet_, says the same thing: "Disarmament is a myth, Germany talks
+of it unceasingly, but she strengthens her frontiers, east and west.  On
+the north," adds the Russian organ, "she is converting Heligoland into a
+fortress; on the south-east, she is increasing the defences of Breslau,
+and holds in readiness two thousand axle-trees _of the width of the
+Russian railways_."
+
+It is only in France that a few up-to-date journalists take this
+disarmament talk of the German Emperor quite seriously.  To them, we may
+reply by a quotation from the official organ of the "great German."
+
+"The course of historic events," says the _Hamburger Nachrichten_, "is
+opposed to any realisation of the idea of disarmament, and justifies the
+opinion expressed by Von Moltke, who declared war to be in reality a
+necessary element in the order of things, of itself natural and divine,
+which humanity can never give up without becoming stagnant and submitting
+to moral and physical ruin."
+
+There you have the genuine style of Bismarck, of the man who invented the
+formula--"the Right of Might."
+
+One thing--and one thing only--might possibly lead William II to
+entertain seriously this idea of disarmament, and that would be for
+Bismarck to oppose it.  Truly, there is something extremely pleasant in
+this duel between the two ex-accomplices!  Bismarck terrorising
+socialism, William coaxing and wheedling it, for no other tangible
+purpose than to act in opposition to him whose power he has overthrown.
+
+What an eccentric freak is this German Emperor!  One day he sends the
+Sultan a sword of honour, a bitter jest for one who has never known
+anything but defeat!  The next, he proposes to take back the command of
+the fleet from his brother Henry, and in order to get rid of him
+conceives the plan of making Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg into a new
+kingdom.
+
+At the same time he proposes to provide the Grand Duke of Luxembourg with
+a guard of honour, a guard _a la Prudhomme_, whose business it would be
+to defend and to fight him.  The State Council of the patriotic Grand
+Duchy is aroused, and denies the right of Prussia on any pretext to
+interfere in its affairs.  Boldly it reminds the Powers signatory to the
+Convention of 1867 of their pledges.
+
+And with all his mania for governing the world at large, William II would
+seem to be possessed of the evil eye, and to bring misfortune to all whom
+he honours with his friendship for any length of time.
+
+
+
+February 10, 1891.
+
+It looks as if poor Bismarck were about to be treated just as he treated
+Count von Arnim.  Can it be that everything must be paid for in this
+world, and that a splendid retributive justice rules the destiny even of
+super-men and punishes them for committing base actions?  It is rumoured
+that the Duke of Lauenbourg (Bismarck) is threatened with prosecution on
+a charge of _lese majeste_, which the lawyers of the Crown will not have
+very much trouble in proving against him.  That any one should dare to
+criticise the Emperor's policy, even though it be Bismarck, or that any
+one, even be it Count Waldersee, should express a personal opinion in his
+presence, is more than William II will tolerate.
+
+The "sympathetic Emperor" has a cruel way of doing things.  Before
+striking his victims it is his wont to give them some public mark of his
+esteem and good-will.  Small and great, they pass before him, sacrificed
+each in his turn, so soon as they have come to believe themselves for a
+moment in the enjoyment of his favour.  Thus Colonel Kaissel,
+aide-de-camp to the Emperor, is about to be shelved.  Lieutenant von
+Chelin has been removed from the Court, General von Wittich has already
+lost his fleeting favour, and the moderating influence of Major de Huene,
+erected on the ruins of that of Von Falkenstein, proves to be equally
+short-lived.  Three generals in command of army corps are now
+threatened--that is, of course, unless a fortnight hence they should
+prove to have reached the highest pinnacle of favour.
+
+Three months ago Von Moltke declared that he and Bismarck would live long
+enough to be able to say "Farewell to the Empire."
+
+On the other hand, Von Puttkamer seems to be regaining something of
+favour, and Prince Battenberg has been welcomed to the old Castle;
+strange plans concerning him are being hatched in the brain of William II.
+
+Prince Henry has been brought back, ostensibly to take part in the
+Councils of the Government, but in reality that he may be watched the
+more closely.  He also has received a letter in which he is publicly
+thanked for the services he has rendered.  If I were in his place I
+should be very uneasy, seeing the kind of brother that he was, the most
+changeable the most jealous, and the most suspicious of men.  There is a
+false ring about this letter to Prince Henry, just as there was in those
+which the Emperor addressed to Count Waldersee and to Bismarck.
+Gratitude is a word that William often thinks fit to use, but it is a
+sentiment that he is careful never to indulge in.
+
+It is impossible to discover any sign of a heart in the actions of the
+German Sovereign.  One may therefore predict that he will continue to
+show an ever increasing preference for distinguished personalities, whom
+it may please him to destroy, or creatures who would be the butts of his
+malicious sport, rather than to encourage the kind of public servants who
+strive continually to increase their efficiency, so as to serve him
+better.  Instead of being simply good and ruling benevolently, he aspires
+to be first a sort of pope, imposing upon his people a social state
+composed of servility and compulsory comfort, and again a leader of
+crusades, drawing his people after him to the conquest of the world.
+
+Spiritual and material interests, military organisation, he mixes and
+confuses them like everything else which occurs to his mind, and every
+day he does something to destroy the results of that marvellous
+continuity, which did more to establish the power of William I than the
+victories of Sadowa and Sedan.  Ever more and more infatuated with the
+idea of military supremacy, he now pretends to be greatly concerned with
+the idea of disarmament.  And he, the avowed protector of socialists,
+looks as if he were about to accept from Mr. Dryander, the protestant
+presidency of that association of workmen, which is being organised for
+the purpose of fighting socialism.
+
+Wherever we look, it is always the same, false pretences, trickery,
+lying, love of mischief-making and of persecution, innumerable and
+unceasing proofs given by William that his sovereign soul, irretrievably
+committed to restless agitation, will never know the higher and divine
+joys of peace.
+
+
+
+March 1, 1891. [3]
+
+For some months past, my dear readers, I have predicted that William II
+will not be satisfied without paying a visit to France.  The visit of the
+Empress Frederick should have prepared us for this amiable surprise.  But
+because the august mother of the German Emperor was received by us with
+nothing more than cold politeness, the _Cologne Gazette_ gives us a sound
+drubbing, as witness the following--
+
+
+"The French have no right to be offensive towards the august head of the
+German Empire and his noble mother, by insulting them after the manner of
+blackguards (polissons).  Every German who has the very least regard for
+the dignity of the nation must feel mortally insulted in the person of
+the Emperor."
+
+"The German people have the right to expect that the French Government
+and the French nation will give them ample satisfaction, and will wipe
+out this stain on the honour of France, by sternly calling to order the
+wretches in question, creatures whom we Germans consider to be the refuse
+of human society."
+
+And we who belong to this "refuse," who flatter ourselves that we have
+made extraordinary efforts of self-control when we refrained from saying
+to the Empress Frederick: "Madame, spare us; let it not be said that you
+went one day to Saint-Cloud, and on the next to Versailles, lest our
+resolution to be calm should forsake us"--we, I say, now perceive, that
+all our prudence has been wasted, and that we are still "refuse," the
+refuse of human society.
+
+
+The character of William II continues to develop its series of
+eccentricities.  With him, one may be sure of incurring displeasure, but
+his favours are shortlived.  His mania for change is manifested to a
+degree unexampled since the days of the decay of the Roman Empire.  His
+freakishness, the suddenness of his impulses, are becoming enough to
+create dismay amongst all those who approach him.  One day he will
+suddenly start off to take by surprise the garrisons of Potsdam and of
+Rinfueld; he gives the order for boots and saddles, which naturally leads
+to innumerable accidents.  Next day you will find him issuing a decree
+that, a play written by one of his _proteges_, entitled _The New
+Saviour_, is a masterpiece, which he would compel the public to applaud.
+The best he can do with it is to prevent its being hissed off the stage.
+Another day he has a room prepared for himself at the Headquarters of the
+General Staff, where he interferes in the preparation of strategic plans,
+without paying the least attention to the new chief who has replaced
+Count Waldersee.  Then, again, he connects his private office with the
+entire Press organisation, so as to be able to manipulate the reptile
+fund himself, and to dictate in person the notices he requires,
+concerning all his proceedings, in the newspapers which he pays in
+Germany and in those which he buys abroad.
+
+All of a sudden it occurs to him that six more war-ships would round off
+the German Fleet; and so he demands that they be built on the spot.  His
+Minister resists, pointing out that the approval of the Reichstag is
+required, William II flies into a passion, and the wretched Minister
+obeys.  Suddenly it occurs to him also to remember the existence of a
+certain Count Vedel, greatly favoured by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar.
+He summons him by telegraph, and makes him his favourite of an hour.
+When it pleases him to remove a superior officer, or to put one on the
+shelf, nothing stops him, neither the worth of the man, nor the value of
+the services he may have rendered.  One can readily conceive that German
+generals live in a state of perpetual fright.  Add to all this that
+William is becoming impecunious.  He has taken to borrowing, and is
+reduced to making money out of everything.  What will the Sultan Abdul
+Hamid say when he learns that the Grand Marshal of the German Court has
+put up for sale the presents which he offered to the Emperor, his guest,
+and which are valued at four millions!
+
+These things bring to mind the threat which William II uttered a few days
+before the fall of Bismarck: "Those who resist me I will break into a
+thousand pieces."
+
+
+
+March 12, 1891. [4]
+
+The many and varied causes which led to the journey of the Empress
+Frederick to Paris, and the equally numerous results that the Emperor,
+her son, expected from that visit, are beginning to stand out in such a
+manner that we can appreciate their significance more and more clearly.
+This proceeding on the part of William II, like all his actions, was
+invested with a certain quality of suddenness, but at the same time, it
+reveals itself as the result of a complicated series of deliberate plans.
+The object of these last was, as usual, the young monarch's unhealthy
+craving for making dupes.  To this I shall return later on.  Let us first
+examine the causes of William's sudden impulses.
+
+He has acquired, and is teaching his people to acquire, the taste and
+habit of sudden and unexpected happenings.  It having been the habit of
+Bismarck to speculate on things foreseen, it was inevitable that his
+jealous adversary should speculate on things unforeseen.  Moreover, the
+King-Emperor is dominated by that law of compensation, from which neither
+men nor things can escape, and from which it follows logically that
+Germany, after having profited by methods of continuity, is now condemned
+to suffer, in the same proportion, her trials of instability.
+
+In determining upon the journey of his august mother to Paris, the
+Emperor took no risks other than those which pleased him, and which
+served the purposes of his grudges and his policy.  In the first place,
+this journey would serve for a moment to divert attention in Germany from
+a policy which the great industrials and the workmen, the party of
+progress and the conservatives, all unite in condemning.  In the next
+place, Berlin, having for a long time made ready to be amiable to Paris,
+was bound to resent all the more acutely any failure to reciprocate her
+kind advances.  These results could not fail to be favourable to the vote
+of credits for military purposes, which are always the last credits asked
+for by the Government (whether under Bismarck or under Caprivi) and which
+are always voted under stress of an appeal to the eternal but utterly
+non-existent dangers, that are supposed to threaten Germany from France.
+
+If our capital, then, should extend a cold welcome to the august mother
+of the German Sovereign, the result could not fail to be of immediate
+advantage to the vote of military credits.  I ask my readers to notice,
+by the way, the deliberate coincidence of the journey of the Empress with
+the demand for these credits, and also with the anniversary of the Treaty
+of Versailles.  Finally, it was to be expected that if she were badly
+received, the mistake thus committed by the Empress Frederick would make
+"the Englishwoman" more unpopular in Germany; and, so far as one knows,
+her Imperial son has never been passionately devoted to her.  Moreover,
+she afforded Bismarck an opportunity of getting rid of a little of his
+venom, as witness the following words of his--
+
+
+"Only an Englishwoman," the ex-Chancellor declared during a visit to Mr.
+Burckardt, "could possibly have inspired the Emperor with the idea of
+sending her to Paris as a challenge to the French.  A German woman would
+have had too much respect for her own dignity to go and visit Versailles
+and Saint-Cloud.  The nobility of her feelings would have forbidden her
+to make a triumphal appearance amidst the ruins of the houses and castles
+destroyed by our troops, and her pride would have prevented her from
+seeking the homage and the favours of the vanquished.  The Empress is
+English, and English she will remain."
+
+
+But if France were to welcome with enthusiasm--or even with favour--the
+Empress Frederick, William II might justifiably conclude (without making
+allowance for the sympathy which the widow of the Emperor-Martyr inspires
+in Frenchwomen) that France had accepted the accomplished fact, abandoned
+her claims to Alsace-Lorraine, and the defence of her future interests in
+common with Russia.  In that case, he would have treated France as he
+treats those who show him the greatest devotion.  In order to get a clear
+idea of the object pursued by William II, it is sufficient to read two
+short extracts from the _Etoile Belge_, a blind admirer of the Emperor of
+Germany, and to read them separately from the enthusiastic articles which
+this paper published at the commencement of the journey of the Empress
+Frederick.
+
+The correspondent of the _Etoile Belge_ wrote as follows--
+
+
+"In confiding his mother and his sister to the hospitality of Paris,
+William II committed an act as clever as it was courageous.  Let him
+continue in this policy of pacific advances, and the idea of a
+reconciliation with Germany will soon become more popular than the
+Russian Alliance."
+
+
+The Berlin correspondent of the same _Etoile_ wrote--
+
+
+"Germany has at least as much as England to gain in bringing it about
+that Russia should not feel too sure of French support."
+
+
+Is not this clear enough?  There you have it: the real object which
+underlay the visit incognito of the Empress Frederick for the furtherance
+of the interests of Germany,  It meant a reconciliation with Germany,
+which would have separated us from Russia, from which England had
+everything to gain, which would once more have surrendered our credit to
+Italy unconditionally, and would have compelled us to renounce
+Alsace-Lorraine for good and all.
+
+What then would have been the results had she paid us an official visit?
+We have already seen that none of the alternative schemes for this
+journey could work to Germany's detriment; we need, therefore, not be
+astonished at the publicity given by the Count von Muenster to all the
+comings and goings of the Empress, and at the determination shown by Her
+Majesty to investigate the quality of our patriotism in all its various
+aspects.  The memories which the Empress went to recall at Saint-Cloud
+and at Versailles were the same as those which she compelled us to call
+from the past: memories glorious for her but unforgettably sad for us,
+memories which, in reminding her of victory, were meant to remind us of a
+defeat to which our conquerors have added cruelty.
+
+I watch with fervour the expression of our patriotism.  A race which
+forgets the brutal insults of superior force deserves slavery.  Italy
+would never have reconquered Milan and Venice had she resigned herself to
+see them pass under the yoke of the stranger.  Forty years and more had
+passed since the 2nd of May, [5] when Prince Napoleon thought fit to send
+Prince Jerome as Ambassador to Madrid.  He was forced to leave it.
+Princess Murat was in no way responsible for what the French Generals had
+done.  She came in the suite of the Empress Eugenie, but Spain found a
+way to make her displeasure manifest without any lack of courtesy.  To
+the Empress Frederick, France has shown a melancholy kind of astonishment
+rather than dislike, and has displayed an infinite courtesy.  Not a
+single demonstration, not a gesture, not a word from the population of
+Paris has done anything to detract from the city's world-wide reputation
+for hospitality.
+
+The Emperor William I and Bismarck, who pretended to make war only
+against the Empire, would have shown themselves to be great and
+far-seeing political minds had they left Republican France in possession
+of the whole of her territory.  Although beaten at Sedan, she would have
+remembered Jena, and Germany's revenge would have quickly been forgotten.
+
+Let us remember the words of the Emperor of Germany--
+
+
+"I would rather that all my people should fall upon the field of battle
+than give back to France a single clover-field of Alsace-Lorraine."
+
+
+The _Post_ of Strasburg, recalling this declaration, adds--
+
+
+"The French _bourgeoisie_ is too cowardly to begin a war.  It is willing
+to smile at the words of Deroulede, but does not move.  The people of
+Alsace-Lorraine have done quite rightly in turning away from these
+talkers.  We have _permitted_ them to become Germans, why then, should
+they refuse the privilege?"
+
+
+But William II continues to evoke the red vision of France militant, in
+order to obtain the vote for his military credits.  It would seem that
+his liberalism has gone to join his socialism.  At the dinner of the
+Brandenburgers he said "God inspires me; the people and the nation owe me
+their obedience."  No matter whether he bungles or blunders, God alone is
+responsible, and it is not for the people or the nation to argue.  And
+what is more, has not the new President of the Evangelical Church just
+proclaimed William II as _summus episcopus_?  Just as William claims to
+decide infallibly every political question he will now decide all
+theological questions, without asking any help from the supreme council
+of the Evangelical Church.
+
+Pope, Emperor and King--but does anybody suppose that this will satisfy
+him?
+
+
+
+March 27, 1891. [6]
+
+The reception of the delegates from Alsace-Lorraine at Berlin is
+characteristic.  William II, eternally pre-occupied with stage-effects,
+has on this occasion accentuated the disproportion between the framework
+and the results obtained.  He insisted upon it that the proceedings
+should be as imposing as the refusal of the delegates' request was to be
+humiliating.  All the pomp and circumstance of State was displayed for
+the occasion, with the result of producing a scene, carefully prepared in
+advance, worthy of a Nero.  The Emperor of Germany surrounded by his
+military household, in the hall of his Knights of the Guard, receives the
+complaints of the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine, who have come to
+ask for a relaxation of the laws imposed on them by conquest.  To them,
+William II made answer: "The sooner the population of Alsace-Lorraine
+becomes convinced that the ties which bind her to the German Empire will
+never be broken, the sooner she proves more definitely that she is
+resolved henceforward to display unswerving fidelity towards _me_ and
+towards the Empire, the sooner will this hope of hers be realised."
+
+Above the Imperial Palace, during this scene, the yellow flag of the
+Emperors of Germany floated side by side with the purple banner of
+Prussia.
+
+Another picture--
+
+The Emperor gives a banquet to the delegates of Alsace-Lorraine, after
+having refused to hear their complaints.  At the same table with them he
+invites Herr Krupp to sit, in order to remind the people of the annexed
+provinces of the cannons which defeated France and will defeat her again.
+Here we have a reproduction of the Roman Empire in decay.  The power of
+the conqueror, imposed in all its pomp upon the vanquished, with the
+cruelty of a bygone age.
+
+
+The all-absorbing personality of William grows more and more jealous.  He
+would like to fill the whole stage of the theatre of the empire and of
+the world itself.  More than that, he even demands that the past should
+date from himself, and he turns history inside out, having it written to
+begin with his reign, and reascending the course of time.  First himself,
+then the house of Hohenzollern, then Prussia, and let that suffice.  The
+other dynasties, other kingdoms of Germany, count for so little that it
+is sufficient merely to mention their existence.  The history of which I
+speak, written for the German Army, will be prescribed later on for use
+of the high schools.
+
+From each department of the public service William lifts an important
+part of its business.  From the Department of Education he takes the
+direction of public worship, which, in his capacity as _summus
+episcopus_, he proposes to control in person.  From the War Department he
+takes the section having control of maps and fortresses, which, he
+proposes to place under the general staff and his own direction.  He is
+planning to make a province of Berlin, so that he himself may govern it
+in military fashion, etc., etc.  Is it possible that the mind of such a
+man, thus inflated with pride, should not succumb to every temptation of
+ambition?  Is there any one of those about him, or amongst his subjects,
+who can say where these ambitions will end?  When one thinks of the mass
+of ambitions and emotions that William II has exhausted since he came to
+the throne, when one thinks of the difficult questions he has raised, the
+obstacles he has created and the enterprises he has undertaken, how is it
+possible not to _fear_ the future?
+
+Germany is beginning to be oppressed by a feeling of uneasiness.  She is
+beginning to realise that her Emperor, by designing the orbit of his
+activity on too large a scale, is producing the contrary effect, with the
+result that sooner or later, the narrowing circumference of that orbit
+will close in upon him, and he will only be able to break its barriers by
+violent repression from within _and by a sudden outbreak of war without_.
+Militarism and militarism only, the passion for which is ever recurrent
+with William II, can satisfy his morbid craving for movement and action.
+Thus we see him celebrating the Anniversary of William I by a review of
+his troops and by a speech, so seriously threatening a breach of the
+peace, that even the newspapers of the opposition hesitate to reproduce
+it.  All France should realise that _the German Emperor will make war
+upon her without warning and without formal declaration, just as he
+surprises his own garrisons_.  By his orders, the statement is made on
+all sides that the rifle of the German army is villainously bad.  Let us
+not believe a word of it.  On the contrary, we should know that the
+greater part of the Prussian artillery is superior to ours; let us be on
+our guard against every surprise and ready.
+
+
+
+April 28, 1891. [7]
+
+On the occasion of the presentation of new standards to his troops, the
+Emperor observed that the number 18 is one of deep significance for his
+race, that it corresponds with six important dates in the history of
+Prussia.  "For this reason," he added, "I have chosen the 18th of April
+as the day on which to present the new standards."  As William II himself
+puts it, this day, like all the "eighteenths" that went before it, has
+its special significance.
+
+The strange words uttered by the monarch on this occasion--always
+intoxicated with the sense of his power, and sometimes by
+_Kaiserbier_--are denied to-day, or perhaps it would be more correct to
+say that the _Monitor of the Empire_ has not published them.  "Let our
+soldiers come to me," he proclaimed in the White Hall, to "overcome the
+resistance of the enemies of the Fatherland, abroad as well as at home."
+
+On the one hand, after the manner of the Middle Ages, he reveals to us
+the ancient mysteries of the Cabal, on the other, as an up-to-date
+emperor, he compels his brother Henry to become a sportsman like himself.
+On occasion he will don the uniform of the Navy, interrupt a
+post-captain's lecture, and throw overboard the so-called plan of
+re-organisation, so as to substitute a new strategy of his own making for
+the use of the German fleet.
+
+
+So Field-Marshal von Moltke is dead at last.  His place is already filled
+by the Emperor, who is willing to be called his pupil, but a pupil equal
+in the art of strategy to his master and a better soldier.  The
+remarkably peaceful death of Von Moltke only reminds me of the violent
+deaths that he brought about.  It was to him that we owed the bombardment
+of Paris.  Only yesterday, Marshal Canrobert said "he was our most
+implacable foe, and in that capacity, we must continue to regard him with
+hatred and contempt."  Von Moltke himself was wont to say "when war is
+necessary it is holy."  He leaves behind him all the plans in readiness
+for the next war.
+
+William II, you may be sure, will proceed to depreciate the military work
+of Von Moltke, just as he tries to depreciate his diplomatic and
+parliamentary work.  He has reached a pitch of infatuation unbelievable;
+and is becoming, as I have said before, more and more of a Nero every
+day.  At the present moment he is instigating the construction of an
+arena at Schildorn where spectacles after the ancient manner will be
+given.  These, according to William, are intended to afford instruction
+to the masses as well as to the classes.  A very fitting conclusion this,
+to the fears which he has expressed about seeing the youth of the German
+schools working too hard and overloading its memory.  For the same
+reason, no doubt, he has made Von Sedlitz Minister of Public
+Instruction--it is an unfortunate name--an individual who has never been
+to College, who has never studied at any University, and who only
+attended school up to the age of twelve.
+
+Now, it seems, William II is bored with the Palace of his forefathers.
+For the next two years he is going to establish his Imperial Residence at
+Potsdam;  consequently all his ministers and high officials are compelled
+to reside partly at Potsdam.  His mania for change leads him to destroy
+the historic character of the old castle; his scandalised architects have
+been ordered to restore it in modern style.  And Berlin, his faithful
+Berlin, is abandoned.  It is said that at a gala dinner the other day the
+Emperor uttered these words: "The Empire has been made by the army, and
+not by a parliamentary majority."  But it is also said that Bismarck
+observed to the Conservative Committee at Kiel: "It is best not to touch
+things that are quiet, best to do nothing to create uneasiness, when
+there is no reason for making changes.  There are certain people who seem
+singularly upset by the craving to work for the benefit of humanity."  It
+requires no special knowledge to interpret this sentence as a thinly
+veiled criticism of the character of William II.
+
+
+
+May 12, 1891. [8]
+
+There is an attitude frequently adopted by William II, that German
+socialists are in the habit of describing, as "the whipping after the
+cake."  He has now had the socialist deputies arrested, and he is
+introducing throughout the country a system of espionage and
+intimidation, which is only balanced to a certain extent by his fondness
+for sending abroad a class of reptiles who go about preaching, writing
+and imparting to others the doctrines which he endeavours to strangle at
+birth in his own country.  In spite of his brief flirtation with
+socialism (in which he indulged merely to copy the man whom he opposes in
+everything and cordially detests), William II has now come to persecute
+it.  One of his amiable jokes is to try and lead people to believe that
+the order which he has given, for the dispositions of his troops on the
+frontier _en echelon_, has no other object but to prevent Belgian
+strikers, from coming into Germany.  But can it be also to repel this
+invasion of Belgian strikers that the entire German army now receives
+orders just as if it were actually preparing to begin a campaign?
+
+Sentinels of France, be on your guard!
+
+It goes without saying that during the past fortnight we have had our
+regular supply of speeches from William II.  At Duesseldorf he said three
+things.
+
+The first, coming from the lips of a sovereign known all the world over
+for his mania for change, is calculated to raise a smile--
+
+"From the paths which I have set before me, I shall not swerve a single
+inch."
+
+The second was a threat--
+
+"I trust that the sons of those who fought in 1870 will know how to
+follow the example of their fathers."
+
+The third and last was meant for Bismarck--
+
+"There is but one master, myself, and I will suffer none other beside me."
+
+For the future William will only make his appearances accompanied by
+heralds clad in the costumes of the Middle Ages, bodyguards drawn from
+the nobility, surrounding the _summus episcopus_, pope and khalif of the
+Protestant Church.
+
+The extremely curious mixture which unceasingly permeates the character
+of William II may be observed in the orders which he, the mystic, the
+pious, has recently given to the chaplains of the Court, viz. that they
+are never to preach in his presence for more than twenty minutes.
+Naturally enough, the Prussian pastors are extremely indignant at the
+cavalier way in which the _summus episcopus_ treats the Holy Word.
+
+
+
+May 29, 1891. [9]
+
+The business of a Sovereign is not a bed of roses, and causes of
+discomfiture are just as frequent in the palaces of kings as in the
+humblest cottages.  William II has just had more than one experience of
+this humiliating truth, but it must be admitted he fully deserves most of
+the lessons he receives.
+
+Instead of saying, as he used to say, "my august confederates and
+myself," he has suddenly conceived the pretension that he and he alone is
+the sole master in Germany.  Accordingly the august confederates by
+common consent, although invited by the Grand Marshal of the Palace,
+Count Eulenberg, have refused to take part in the trifling folly of the
+Golden Throne that William is having made for himself.  Kings, Grand
+Dukes and Senators of the Free Cities, all have unanimously declared that
+they will never assist "in the erection of a throne which is the sign and
+attribute of sovereignty."
+
+But to continue the list: At Strelitz, a clergyman refused the request of
+the Prussian colonel of the 89th Regiment to allow his church to be used
+for a thanksgiving service in honour of the birth of William II, and
+preached a sermon declaring that the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz,
+and he alone, had the right to have a divine service and a sermon in
+honour of his birthday.
+
+And yet another instance: The Emperor has organised a regatta to be held
+on Lake Wannsee on May 30 for all yachts and pleasure boats owned by
+princes and by the German aristocracy.  The Archduke, heir to the
+Austrian Throne, has refused to honour the occasion with his presence.
+
+The toast at Dusseldorf, "Myself the only Master," has been very
+generally condemned; equally that which the Emperor addressed to the
+students at Bonn, when he said to them "Let your jolly rapiers have full
+play," or in other words, "Indulge to the top of your bent, and without
+regard to the laws, in your orgies of brutality."  People in Germany are
+beginning to think that William reminds them a little too much of the
+incoherencies of his great-uncle, Frederick William, who was undoubtedly
+clever in all sorts of ways, but who died insane.
+
+At the shipyards of Elbing, William II narrowly escaped being wounded by
+the fall of the large mast of the ship _Kohlberg_, which had been sawn
+through in several places.  He has just had his coachman, Menzel,
+arrested, who very nearly brought him to his death by driving him into a
+lime tree in a _troika_ presented to him by the Tzar.
+
+At present it is his wish that Holland and Belgium should receive him.
+The Queen Regent and Leopold II (in spite of the latter's violent love
+for Germany) are hesitating, by no means certain as to the welcome which
+their peoples would extend to him.  William II proposes to strike the
+imagination of the Dutch, as he did that of the Belgians, and to make his
+appearance before them, aboard his yacht, the _Hohenzollern_, which Dutch
+vessels are to go to meet and escort.  To make the thing complete (and it
+may well be that the idea is germinating in his mind) it would only
+require him to visit the fortifications on the Meuse.  The _Berliner
+Tageblatt_ in a long article informs us that the Emperor declares them to
+be _perfect_.  'Tis a good word. . . .
+
+When the Imperial traveller shall have exhausted all pretexts for rushing
+about on this Continent, he will go to Africa.  There is a _but_ about
+this; it arises from the question whether he will be able to obtain from
+his Ministers that they should ask the Reichstag or the Landtag for the
+800,000 francs that he needs for the voyage, the Constitution forbidding
+the King of Prussia to leave Europe.  But what does the Constitution
+matter to William II?  He, the master, will put an end to it!
+
+
+
+August 1, 1891. [10]
+
+What are the qualities which have distinguished the Government of Germany
+since the victories of Moltke?  The patient tenacity of William I, and a
+continuous policy of trickery raised by Bismarck to the level of genius.
+
+William II is a mind diseased, infatuated with itself.  His actions are
+dominated by pride, and all the most childish off-shoots of that
+weakness, love of noise, of attitudes, of pomps and vanities and
+jewellery; his mind is a thing of somersaults, and his will is subject to
+capricious whims and sudden outbursts of temper.
+
+
+
+August 11, 1891. [11]
+
+May we not flatter ourselves that the torments of William II are now
+beginning?  He, who only yesterday proclaimed himself to be the
+triumphant personification of the German Empire, is now compelled to
+inaction as the result of a fall.  Whilst the Great Tzar is received with
+acclamation on board of the French _Marengo_, he goes awkwardly stumbling
+about on the deck of his yacht.
+
+The German Emperor composed for himself a prayer, which he is accustomed
+to have said in his presence, and in which God is implored "to grant His
+protection to the Emperor William, to give him health and inspiration for
+the fulfilment of his mission _towards the nations_."  To-day, reduced to
+inactivity by his illness and by the consequences of his folly, he has
+ample leisure to reflect on the psalm which he is so fond of singing,
+with the mitre of the _summus episcopus_ on his head: "The kings of the
+earth are the instruments of God."
+
+Yes, Sire, they are instruments which God breaks as easily as He bends a
+reed before the wind.  He is pleased to humble the proud, and He reserves
+defeat and death as the portion of the parricide.
+
+
+
+August 29, 1891. [12]
+
+Germany's luck is running out. . . .
+
+The Emperor certainly lacks neither the youth nor the audacity to compel
+fortune, but he drives her too hard, and ignores all her warnings.  His
+fall is a clear warning, which he appears to be quite unwilling to
+notice; more mechanical than ever in his movements, he is now taking to
+riding again.  By his orders, his illness and even his fall are alike
+contradicted.  His reason for withdrawing himself so long from the gaze
+of his adoring subjects is to let his beard grow, after the fashion of
+Boulanger.  But he hasn't wasted his time; his furious impatience under
+activity has brought about a fresh attack.
+
+
+
+September 11, 1891. [13]
+
+William II makes every effort to keep the Triple Alliance on its legs (it
+being as lame as himself) whilst he continues to give vent to his triple
+_hoch!_ and resumes once more his rushing to and fro, so wearisome to his
+faithful subjects, which compels the European Press to groan so loudly
+that his pennon (Imperial in Austria, or Royal in Bavaria) waves madly
+about his excited person.  Meanwhile the Emperor Alexander III, calm in
+the serenity of his nature, takes his rest in the pleasant retreat of
+Fredensborg, where he finds contented virtues and the joys of family life.
+
+It really looks as if a certain deviltry were at work against William II.
+His splendid statecraft now revolves about questions of rye bread,
+Russian geese, and American pork; he struggles amidst a mass of
+difficulties more comic than sublime.  He has imposed a system of rigid
+protection in order to entangle his allies in a net of tariffs favourable
+only to Germany, and now behold him, all of a sudden, removing the duties
+off diseased pork, all for the profit of the McKinley Bill, the scourge
+of Germany.  Only the future can say what dangers await a policy of
+fierce protection and dangerous favouritism.  How much simpler and
+cleverer it would have been to remove the duties on cereals!  As far as
+the people are concerned, cheap pork will never appeal to them as cheap
+bread would have done.  The progressive party had asked for both; the
+satisfaction they have received appeases them for the moment, but the
+socialists will still be able to say that William's Government takes off
+the duties on foodstuffs that poison the people, and leaves them on those
+which would afford them healthy nourishment.
+
+
+
+September 27, 1891. [14]
+
+William II has decidedly no luck when he puts the martial trumpet to his
+lips.  It was at Erfurt that he learned that the tribes of the Wa Hehe
+had massacred Zalewski's expedition into East Africa.  It is said that,
+on hearing this news, the German Emperor, seized with one of those sudden
+outbursts of rage which throw him into convulsions, swore to avenge in
+torrents of blood the insult thus suffered by the ever-victorious banner
+of Prussia.  Are we, then, to see the Reichstag in its turn, like the
+French and Italian Parliaments, wasting its millions and its men in
+colonial adventures?
+
+At Muenich, William II has declared that the wretched condition of the
+artillery in the Austrian army, the lack of cohesion in its infantry, and
+the inexperience, not to say incapacity, of its officers, render it unfit
+for war in the near future, and that no hope of its improvement is to be
+entertained, so long as it shall have as its head a man so completely
+worn out as Francis Joseph.  Germany's armament is to be completely
+changed and renewed, and it is even said that William will go down in
+person to the Reichstag during the autumn session to demand the enormous
+credits which the situation requires.  The _Neue Muenchen Tageblatt_ has
+been seized at Muenich for having published an attack upon "the mania for
+armaments and for military pomp which possesses William II, a mania which
+is exhausting Germany and will leave her completely ruined after the next
+war."
+
+
+
+November 12, 1891. [15]
+
+The unfortunate Constitution of the German Empire, like the Emperor
+himself, doesn't know which way to turn.  Legislation, administration,
+the army; the universities, the Church and the administration of justice:
+everything is being passed through a sieve, and transformed, first in
+order that it may retransform itself and then become more readily
+accessible to the rising generation.  Anything that savours of a ripe age
+is extremely displeasing to William II.  Ripeness is a thing which he
+disdains to acquire.  All that is youthful finds favour in his eyes, with
+the sole exception of a class of youth with which he is disposed to deal
+severely, viz. the _souteneurs_.  Against them the _summus episcopus_ is
+extremely wroth.  Here the virtue of chaste Germany is at stake, and he
+proposes to cauterise the disease with a red-hot iron.  For the future,
+the scandalous discussion of these things will be forbidden to the Press,
+and thus, even if private morals continue the same, public morality will
+not be offended.  Hypocrisy, at least, will be saved.
+
+There is much talk at Vienna of a plan whispered at headquarters in
+Berlin, which has to do with converting the capital of Austria into an
+entrenched camp, so that an army driven back from the Austro-Russian
+frontiers might there be re-formed.  William means to throw Austria
+against Russia, and to take his precautions in case of defeat,
+precautions which would at the same time, safeguard the rear of the
+German Empire.
+
+
+
+November 29, 1891.
+
+Germany is becoming uneasy; she has heard the rustling of the wings of
+defeat.  Accustomed to victory, she is suffering, as rich people suffer
+under the least of privations.  Bankruptcies, one after another, are
+spreading ruin in Berlin.  Bismarck and William, united in a very
+touching manner on this subject, conceived the idea of bringing about
+Russia's financial ruin, and of importing into the Prussian capital the
+vitality of the Paris market.  The fall in Russian securities was unlucky
+for the German Bank, and all the scrip that the Berlin Bourse so greedily
+devoured, for the sole purpose of preventing Paris from getting it, does
+not seem to have been easily digested.  The middle class is suffering
+from the bad condition of the market, and the increase of taxation; the
+lower classes are hungry.
+
+Impassive in his majesty, the Emperor contemplates himself upon the
+throne.  Now you will find him copying Louis XIV and writing in the
+golden book of the city of Muenich _Regis volontas suprema lex_.  And
+again he will imitate St. Louis, but not finding any oak tree within his
+reach, he administers justice on the public highway, as in the
+Skinkel-Platz.  He is having his own statue made of marble, to be placed
+alongside of his throne.  Great Heavens!  If some day, this were to be
+for him the avenging Commander's statue! [16]
+
+But no, it cannot be, for has he not been converted?  Is he not the
+_summus episcopus_, who conducts the service in person?  Has he not
+composed psalms?  Could anybody be more pious, a more resolute foe of
+those vices which he pursues with such energy?  Could any one be more
+determined to be a pillar of the Church?  In his interviews with the
+delegates of the synod of the United Prussian Church, has not the
+_summus_ said that the Reformation drew its strength from the hearts of
+princes?  True, you may say, that this does not sound very like a humble
+Christian; but then humility had never anything to do with William.
+
+At the administration of the oath to new recruits, after having held
+forth to them on the subject of the hardships at the beginning of a
+soldier's life, he added, "It shall be your reward when you have learnt
+your trade, to manoeuvre before me."
+
+
+
+December 13, 1891. [17]
+
+The nations of Europe desire peace, and it has been so often proved to
+them that they also desire it, who have been accused of furbishing their
+weapons unceasingly, that it would be dangerous even for William II to
+seem to be preparing for war, or rather that, having made ready for it,
+he should be working to let it loose.  And so it comes to pass that the
+fire-eating Emperor and King of Prussia himself is compelled to play the
+part of a bleating sheep "admiring his reflection in the crystal stream,"
+and that he cannot even have recourse to the expedient, now exhausted, to
+make it appear that either France or Russia are ravening wolves in search
+of adventure.  But the role of a sheep sits badly on William, and the
+_mot d'ordre_, which he dictates is so evidently opposed to the condition
+of affairs for which he is responsible, that Messrs. Kalnoky and Caprivi,
+in spite of their appearance of rotund good nature, have shown distinct
+signs of intractable irritation.
+
+People have been asking what can be the meaning of all these pacific
+assurances, so hopelessly at variance with everything that one sees and
+knows, at a moment when the Monarch of Berlin is furious at the visit of
+the Tzar to Kronstadt?  Well, the truth is out, and it is M. de Kalnoky
+who, by proxy, shall reveal it to you.
+
+"The reception at Kronstadt and its consequences have effected no change
+in the situation."  There you have the secret.  It is necessary to prove
+that the diplomacy of the Triple Alliance has not been checked at any
+point or in any way; that the "excellent impression," to quote the words
+of M. de Caprivi, left in Russia by the visit of William II did not allow
+the Tzar any alternative; he was compelled to show attention to some
+other country than Germany.  Moreover, the appearance of Alexander III on
+the _Marengo_ was nothing more than a simple desire for a sea trip;
+France, going like Mohammed to the mountain, bore in her flanks nothing
+larger than a mouse.  Finally, that Peace never having been threatened by
+the Loyal League of Peace, there could be no possible reason left to
+France and Russia for wanting to defend it, etc., etc.
+
+William II is working hard to control and direct the diplomacy of the
+Triple Alliance.  Nevertheless, all his scaffolding work is liable to
+sudden collapse, overthrown by the most insignificant of events.
+Regarding his speech to the recruits, the German Press has pluckily
+voiced its condemnation by the public.  It is impossible to deny that his
+observations on that occasion were a perfect masterpiece of
+self-glorification.  This is what he said--
+
+"You have just taken the oath of fidelity to myself.  From this day
+forward there exists for you one order and one order only, that of my
+majesty.  Henceforth you have only one enemy, mine, and should it be
+necessary for me some day (which God forbid) to order you to shoot your
+own parents, yes, to fire on your own brothers and sisters, fathers and
+mothers, on that day remember your oath."
+
+Those who wish to form an accurate idea of William's loquacity and
+self-conceit should read a few passages, selected haphazard from "The
+Voice of the Lord upon the waters," a sermon by His Majesty, the
+Emperor-King, for use in polar voyages.  There they will find a strange
+hotch-potch of all sorts of ideas, religious, political and heathen, all
+half digested.  But the dominant note in the sermons preached by William
+II lies in his tendency to diminish the Infinite, to hold it within the
+measure of his own mind, to bring down God to his own stature.  All his
+comparisons tend to show God as an Emperor, built in the image in which
+William sees himself.  When he draws you a picture, in which he brings
+God face to face with himself, there is about him a certain splendour of
+pride, something in his utterance that suggests an Imperial Lucifer.  But
+beyond these relations between God and the German Emperor, his utterances
+reveal nothing beyond commonplace self-conceit.  In his perpetual and
+personal contact with the Divinity, William's morality becomes more
+exacting than even that of God Himself towards His saints, who have long
+enjoyed His sanction to sin seven times a day.  William II will not allow
+of a single sin.  Everywhere and in everything he must interfere.  Well
+may his subjects say, who have just received their catechism: "He is on
+heaven, on earth, and within us."
+
+
+
+January 1, 1892. [18]
+
+I, who have so long been devoted to the Franco-Russian Alliance, have
+followed with acute distress the intrigues of Bismarck in Bulgaria
+(intrigues of which the _Nouvelle Revue_ revealed one proof in the
+letters of Prince Ferdinand of Coburg to the Countess of Flanders).  I
+have known that William, in spite of his actual dislike for the
+proceedings of his ex-Chancellor, is pleased to approve the impertinences
+of a Stamboulof.  Nevertheless, I confess I am seized with anxiety at
+seeing France enter into diplomatic proceedings with the so-called
+Government of Bulgaria.  It is very often more dignified to despise and
+ignore the enterprises of certain people, then to endeavour to obtain
+satisfaction from them.  There are certain complicated circumstances in
+which the manifestation of a sense of honour or loyalty becomes a
+weakness: at all costs one should avoid being led into it.
+
+The Emperor of Germany possesses a special talent for adding new
+complications to a difficult situation, so as to render it impossible of
+solution.  He has now so completely tangled up the parliamentary skein,
+that in a little while it will be impossible for Parliament to govern.
+Can one conceive of a majority of the Chamber rallying around the
+Catholic centre, or the socialists, for the same reason, increasing in
+number at the bye-elections?  In such a case William II, equally unable
+to surrender in favour of the clericals or to submit to the socialists,
+will find himself, as others have been before him, driven to adopt the
+ultimate remedy of war.
+
+
+
+February 12, 1892. [19]
+
+If the States of Germany, in joining themselves on to Prussia, have
+thereby increased in power, they have gained very little in humanity.
+The circular, secretly issued by Prince George of Saxony, commanding the
+12th Army Corps, reveals something of the brutalities and exquisite
+torture which German soldiers have to suffer.  This circular was
+addressed to the commanders of regiments, and has been published by a
+socialist newspaper, the _Vorwaerts_.  This Prince of Saxony is indignant
+at these things, doubtless because he is a Saxon; Bavaria, we are told,
+declines to accept the application of the Prussian Military Code.  By
+common consent, the House of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies at Muenich
+have voted against subscribing to a condition of things which permits men
+to behave like real savages.  Military Germany takes pleasure in cruelty,
+sentimental Germany is moved by the tortures inflicted on her children.
+Brutality and sentiment rub elbows, and are so strangely intermingled
+amongst our neighbours that I, for one, abandon all attempts at
+understanding them.
+
+It was Von Moltke who said one day that the army was the school of all
+the virtues.  Next day the same Field-Marshal put into circulation
+certain formulas for the infliction of cruelty, intended for the use of
+commanding officers.
+
+"If a superior officer should order an inferior to commit a crime, the
+inferior must commit it."  Thus says William II, who in the very next
+breath expresses his sentimental concern over the unfortunate lot of a
+woman of loose life handed over to the tender mercies of a bully!
+
+
+William's latest quarrel, it seems, is with liberty of conscience.  The
+_summus episcopus_ of the evangelical religion becomes the protector of
+clericalism in Germany.  He, the elect of God, has discovered the power
+of the Catholic Church.  This was the power that broke Bismarck, but it
+will not break William II, for he intends to assimilate it.  He dreams of
+establishing his Protectorate over Catholicism in Europe, America, Africa
+and in the East; his destiny lies in a world-wide mission, which only
+Catholicism can support.  He will, therefore, dominate the papacy, and
+through it will govern the world.
+
+
+
+February 26, 1892. [20]
+
+The list of Emperor William's vagaries continues to grow.  He, who was
+once the father of socialists, now pursues them with all manner of
+cruelty, in order to be revenged for their opposition to the scholastic
+law.  This law is his dearest achievement.  He produced it under the same
+conditions as his socialist rescripts, all by himself, without consulting
+his Minister.  It seems that Von Sedlitz was instructed to bring it
+forward without discussing its terms.  This is a reactionary _coup
+d'etat_ in the same way that the rescripts on socialism were a democratic
+stroke.  Will this "new course" of Imperial policy, as they call it in
+Germany, last any longer than its predecessor?  I presume so, for it
+corresponds more closely than the old one to the autocratic instincts of
+William II.
+
+The National, Liberal and Progressive parties, and even the Socialists,
+who had turned full of hope towards their Liberal Emperor, now vie with
+each other in turning their backs on the Sovereign, who fulfils the
+policies of a Von Kardoff or a Baron von Stumm, the most determined
+Conservatives of the extreme party.
+
+The Universities of Berlin and Halle, together with all the other
+educational institutions, have addressed petitions to the Landtag,
+protesting against the re-organisation of the primary schools, which it
+is proposed to hand over to the Church.  Sixty-nine professors out of
+eighty-three, six theologians out of eight, including amongst them
+certain members of the Faculty, have signed this protest.  The greatest
+names of German science and literature have here joined forces.  Liberals
+like Herr Harnack have made common cause with such anti-Semite
+Conservatives as Professor Treitschke.  Mommsen, Virchow, Curtius
+Helmholtz, stand side by side in defence of the rights of liberty of
+thought.  William is becoming irritated by the lessons thus administered
+to him and the opposition thus displayed, and his nervousness continues
+to assume an aggressive form.
+
+Alsace-Lorraine is undisturbed, and all Europe bears witness to its
+pacific tendencies; nevertheless, the German Emperor is bringing forward
+a Bill before the Reichstag for declaring a state of siege in
+Alsace-Lorraine, which includes even a threat of war, and opens the door
+to every abusive power on the part of the civil authority.  The speech
+which he addressed to the members of the Diet of Brandenburg is the most
+complete expression which the Emperor, King of Prussia, has yet given of
+his latest frame of mind.
+
+How dare they criticise him, or discuss his policy!  Let them all go to
+the devil!  He, whose policy it is to block emigration, now wishes for
+nothing better than that all his opponents should leave Germany.  But it
+is impossible to revoke public opinion wholesale, like an edict.  If it
+is difficult now to expel all malcontents from Prussia, what will it be
+when their number is legion?  William II has promised to his people a
+glorious destiny, happiness, and the protection of Heaven.  Truly these
+Germans must be insatiable if they ask for more!
+
+
+
+March 12, 1892. [21]
+
+William II aims at concentrating all power, and, to organise the work of
+espionage, in the hands of the military authorities.  If the Prussian law
+of 1851 is still effective, the Emperor in case of need will be able to
+dispense with a vote of the Reichstag.  This law confers on every general
+and on his representative, who may be an officer of eighteen years of
+age, the right to declare a state of siege in the event of war
+threatening.  On the other hand, the projected Bill against espionage
+meets with very general approval.  Your German has got spies on the
+brain.  He wishes to be able to indulge in spying in other countries, but
+to prevent it in Germany.  The _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the _Vorwaerts_
+assert that the proposed law against the revealing of military secrets
+was inspired by the publication of the report by Prince George of Saxony,
+containing revelations of a kind which the Emperor does not wish to occur
+again.  One of the articles of this law against spying reveals the
+Prussian character in all its beauty.  One has only to read it, in order
+to understand the inducements which the Government of William II holds
+out to informers.  The end of this article runs as follows: "Every
+individual having knowledge of such an infringement, and who shall fail
+to notify the authorities, is liable to imprisonment."
+
+To hear these Germans, one would think that France and Russia are
+flooding the Empire with spies, whilst Germany never sends a single one
+of them to France or Russia.  In the first place, all these statements
+are purely cynical; and in the second Germany can very well afford to
+dispense with professionally selected spies, inasmuch as every German
+prides himself on being one at all times in the service of the Fatherland.
+
+
+
+April 12, 1892. [22]
+
+William II makes a solemn promise to his august grandmother, Queen
+Victoria, and to the "best beloved" of his Allies, the Emperor of
+Austria, that he will restore the Guelph Fund.  Francis Joseph has
+obtained from the Duke of Cumberland the somewhat undignified letter of
+renunciation, which we have all read, and now it is either up to Rogue
+Scapin or Bre'r Fox, just as you please!  William II says that he never
+meant to give back the capital, but only the interest!  It is easy to
+imagine the effect produced on those concerned by the revelation of this
+astonishing mental reservation.  But this is not all!  The King of
+Prussia--always short of money, always in debt on account of his
+extravagant fancies and expensive clothes, and half ruined by his mania
+for running to and fro--had made certain arrangements for meeting his
+creditors by means of the Guelph Fund, but with the proviso, needless to
+say, that they affected only the interest!!
+
+It is said that the heir of the House of Hanover has written a second
+letter which evoked a sickly smile from William II, and of which
+Councillor Roessing has suppressed the publication with some difficulty.
+
+
+Amongst other things, William II has had quick-firing guns, supplied to
+the people of Dahomey by slave merchants.  The Berlin _Post_, directly
+inspired by the Emperor, tells us exactly what is his object in so doing--
+
+
+"England and Russia will not help France to settle her difficulties in
+her colonies.  These two Powers are far too pre-occupied with the
+struggle for supremacy in Asia.  France is, therefore, reduced to looking
+to Germany as her sole support.  If France consents to work together with
+Germany, Africa will be won for civilisation, and for the best
+civilisation of all, the Franco-German, but so long as France pursues
+this task single-handed, she will not attain her end, and will find in
+Africa nothing but disappointment."
+
+
+Such evidences of effrontery remind us that William II is the pupil of
+Bismarck.  We are, therefore, justified in concluding that the Germans
+realise that it is not Aristides the Just who has been exiled, but a
+master rogue, whom his pupil now imitates.
+
+
+
+April 29, 1892. [23]
+
+William II continues to expel from Berlin all unemployed workmen, quite
+regardless of the cause of their temporary or continuous idleness.  He
+sends them back to their native parishes, without caring in the least
+whether they will find there the work which they are unable to secure at
+the capital.  The "Workmen's Emperor" compels an emigration into the
+interior of all the most discontented, the most irritated and wretched,
+thus sowing throughout all the land the evil seed of the most dangerous
+kind of propagandist.  The spirit of Germany is full of surprises for any
+one who takes the trouble to observe it carefully, and it is not only in
+the acts of the Emperor that we perceive its contradictions.
+
+To take one instance out of a thousand.  Five non-commissioned officers
+of dragoons have just been tried at Ulm, accused of having beaten
+recruits with sticks until they drew blood.  They have been acquitted,
+after having proved that they acted under the orders of their captain.
+In this connection it is interesting to read the following--
+
+"The Court of Saverne has just condemned a carrier named Schwartz to six
+weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ten marks for ill-treating his horse."
+
+The unstable grandson of the steadfast William I threatens before long to
+get between his teeth a fourth war minister; he has already devoured
+three chiefs of the general staff, and, in a few years, as many ministers
+as his grandfather had during the whole course of his long reign.
+
+It remains to be seen whether, after the withdrawal of the scholastic
+law, William II will still find a majority willing to accept his new and
+disturbing schemes.
+
+
+
+May 28, 1892. [24]
+
+As the German Empire has no other force of cohesion except such as lies
+in militarism, William is necessarily compelled to do everything to
+magnify and increase it.  Whereas we in France are free to develop the
+quality rather than the quantity of our army, Germany, finding the
+elements of cohesion only in her military agglomerations is compelled to
+increase unceasingly the number of her soldiers.
+
+At this very moment William is planning to add a permanent effective of
+40,000 men to the tactical units.  In return, he will promise Parliament
+and the country a provisional two years' service, being quite capable of
+withdrawing his promise so soon as the vote has been secured.
+
+Numbers, always numbers!  It is the German Emperor's only ideal, and he
+becomes further and further removed from any principle of selection. . . .
+
+
+The German newspapers make a speciality of the fabrication of sensational
+rumours.  I could not ask any better vengeance for our beloved country
+than to have their stories placed before the most loyal of Sovereigns,
+the most far-seeing of diplomats, of the politician the furthest removed
+from sordid calculations that the world knows or has ever known, that is
+to say, of the Emperor Alexander III. . . .
+
+But all this is just a manoeuvre of the enemy who plays his own game, and
+it has no importance whatsoever beyond that which credulous and anxious
+people choose to give it.  Inasmuch as the renewal of the Triple Alliance
+has produced a definite situation, which affords no opportunity for any
+of the combinations which might have resulted had it been broken up into
+independent parts, the Tzar with his usual foresight was naturally led to
+proclaim his _rapprochement_ with France, and this he has done.  What
+change has there been in the situation since Kronstadt?  None at all,
+unless it be that Lord Salisbury has revealed something more of the
+nature of his intrigues at Sofia, and of the anti-Russian intentions of
+his Bulgarian policy.  The King of Italy has surrendered himself a little
+more into the hands of the King of Prussia, placing at the disposal of
+William's diseased restlessness further and inexhaustible sources of
+trouble and uneasiness for Europe.
+
+
+
+July 9, 1892. [25]
+
+It seems to me that the speech addressed by William to his new Admiralty
+yacht at the port of Stettin has not attracted sufficient notice.  It is
+simply beautiful, a very choice morsel indeed.  To show how little I
+exaggerate, I will ask my readers to study it in the actual text, and I
+would like to engage the services of the King of Prussia to collaborate
+in the _Nouvelle Revue_ for a page in precisely the same style.  Here is
+this little masterpiece of classic purity--
+
+
+"Thou art ready to glide into thy new element, to take thy place amidst
+the Imperial war-ships, and thou art destined to carry our National Flag.
+Thine elegant construction, thy light sides, showing no sign of the heavy
+threatening defensive turrets, such as are carried by our war-ships
+destined to fight the foe, indicate that thou art consecrated to works of
+peace.  Lightly, as on the wing, to cross the seas, bringing distant
+lands closer to each other, giving rest and recreation to workers,
+happiness to the Imperial children, and to the august mother of the
+country,--that is thine appointed task.  May thy light artillery be worn
+by thee as an ornament and not as a weapon of war.
+
+"It is for me now to give thee a name.  Thou shalt carry that which my
+Castle bears, whose towers rise so high towards Heaven, that which, lying
+amidst the beautiful country of Suabia, has given its name to my family.
+It is a name which recalls to my Fatherland centuries full of labour, of
+work done with and for the people, of life devoted to the people, of good
+examples set in leading the people in paths of literature and in many
+struggles.  The name which thou shall bear means all this.  Mayest thou
+do honour to thy name, and to thy flag, to the great Elector who, first
+of all men, taught us our Mission on the sea, and to my great ancestors
+who, by works of peace as in fierce warfare, knew how to keep and
+increase the glory of our fatherland.  I baptize thee _Hohenzollern_!"
+
+
+
+August 29, 1892. [26]
+
+William II, claiming as usual to be ahead of every change of opinion in
+Europe, and to direct it, has chosen a very singular pretext to make
+profession of his faith as a pacifist, at the moment when Lord Rosebery
+was doing the same, and when the visit of our squadron to Genoa was about
+to emphasise a relaxation of tension in the relations between France and
+Italy.
+
+On June 24, 1890, the following motion was adopted by the Reichstag--
+
+
+"The Governments of the Confederated German States are requested to take
+into serious consideration the introduction of the two years' period of
+military service for the Infantry."
+
+
+Without deigning to remember this, and without bothering his head as to
+the discomfiture of the peasantry, who believed the Emperor to be really
+favourable to a scheme which he had openly patronised hardly six months
+before, on the ground that he had been greatly impressed by General
+Falkenstein's report; indifferent also to the difficulty of the situation
+in which he was placing Von Caprivi, advocate of the two years'
+system--the Emperor-King (apparently just because on that day it had
+pleased him to make a declaration in favour of peace) made a speech to
+his officers after the last review of the Guards, and summarily condemned
+any reduction in the term of military service.  Moreover, he requested
+his hearers to repeat his words and to let people know the motives which
+impelled him thus to set his face against a reform, which, not having
+secured his approval, must remain in the limbo of fantastic schemes.
+
+Much stir and commotion follows, and as usual a great deal is said about
+the most changeable and the most feather-headed of Sovereigns; then we
+have a new interpretation of his speech by the Press, contradictions of
+the original text, withdrawal by the Emperor himself of his original
+words, and finally, as net result: a great deal of noise, and the
+attention of all Europe directed towards William II.  What more could he
+ask?
+
+Soon, thanks to the insidious activities of Austria in Servia, and thanks
+to that of his own police on the Franco-Belgian frontier, William will be
+able to threaten Europe with War.
+
+
+
+September 12, 1892. [27]
+
+William has given up the idea of his trip to Hamburg, cholera being the
+sort of jest for which he has no relish.  To make up, he has rushed off
+to Canossa.  The Black Alliance, as the Liberals call it, is an
+accomplished fact.  The price paid to the Catholics for their assistance
+has been a matter of bargaining; what William II wants is an increase in
+the peace-footing of the army, and of the annual contingent of recruits,
+so that Germany's army of 300,000 men may always be ready.
+
+In twenty years the War budget has been raised from 309 to 700 millions,
+as the result of these new plans.  The _Freisinnige Zeitung_ wonders what
+will happen on the day when the opposition of the Catholic Centre shall
+cease, which has always been a check upon military expenditure and which,
+nevertheless, has not prevented Germany from spending 11,597 millions
+upon armaments since 1871.
+
+Will Austria follow once more the lead of Berlin?  The object of William
+II's visit to Vienna, accompanied by Von Caprivi, is to decide her to do
+so.  In the Empire of the Hapsburgs, as in Germany, people are asking;
+"What is going to be the end of all this expenditure?"  The _Vaterland_,
+discussing William's voyage, says that "the pact between the three great
+powers appears to be beginning to be very shaky."
+
+
+
+September 29, 1892. [28]
+
+William II thinks that War is impending and close at hand; he feels that
+Italy is inclined to argue, and Austria to assert herself.  According to
+the tradition of Von Moltke, he wishes to be ready at the hour of his own
+choosing.
+
+In the last volume of the Field-Marshal's memoirs, there is a letter
+addressed by him to the deputy, Count de Bethusy Huc, dated March 29,
+1869, in which the following words occur--
+
+
+"After a war like that which we have just ended, one can hardly wish for
+another.  I desire, however, to profit by the occasion which now offers
+to make war on France, for, unfortunately, I consider this war to be
+absolutely necessary, and indispensable within a period of five years;
+after that, our organisation and armament, which are to-day superior, may
+be equalled by the efforts of France.  It is therefore to our interest to
+fight as soon as possible.  The present moment is favourable; let us
+profit by it."
+
+
+
+November 12, 1892. [29]
+
+If you would take the measure of the hatred which the Emperor-King of
+Prussia, has towards Russia, read the _Youth of William the Second_ by
+Mr. Bigelow, his companion in childhood, the friend of his youth, and the
+passionate admirer of his imperial greatness.
+
+In the eyes of Mr. Bigelow, William II is endowed with all the virtues,
+all the qualities, and a hatred of evil; he is a complete master of every
+conceivable kind of science.  He is a person of tact, foresight, and
+superior feelings, he possesses the noblest qualities of courage and
+sense of honour.  He knows better than any one else everything concerning
+government, business, trade and industry.  Of his military art, it were
+needless to speak; it is conspicuously evident.  A brilliant talker and a
+fine orator, his lucidity of observation, his judgment, and his rapidity
+of decision are all alike, incomparable.
+
+Mr. Bigelow's William has a complete knowledge of the history of Europe
+and of the character of its peoples.  There is nothing that he does not
+know of the upper and lower foundations of the views of European
+statesmen, past and present.  A frank and loyal fellow withal, good to
+children, he feels keenly the sufferings of soldiers ill-treated by their
+officers, and the hardships of the working classes exploited by their
+masters.
+
+Frederick the Great is the only one who in any way approaches him.  Then,
+as to his magnanimity, he proved it to M. Jules Simon, by offering him
+the musical works of the said Frederick the Great, with a letter which,
+according to Mr. Bigelow, should have made France give up her foolish
+ideas about Alsace-Lorraine, were it not for the fact that "from the
+drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint Germain to the garrets of Montmartre,
+all Frenchmen suffer from an incorrigible mania for revenge."
+
+To the great satisfaction of Mr. Bigelow, however, it has been given to
+England to understand, and she knows how to promote William's mission.
+On August 9, 1890, she ceded to him Heligoland, the Gibraltar of Germany.
+It is not I who put these words into the mouth of the friend of the King
+of Prussia!  "Since Waterloo," adds Mr. Bigelow, "England has not been on
+such good terms with Germany."
+
+A very touching confession for us to remember!  Hatred of Russia finds
+expression in a hundred ways under the pen of Mr. Bigelow.  Nothing that
+is Russian can find favour in his sight; the least of the sins of Russia
+are barbarism, corruption, vice of every kind, cruelty and ignorance.
+After having piled up all the usual accusations, he stops, and one might
+think that it was for lack of materials.  But not at all!  He could, but
+will not say more about it; and this "more" assumes most fabulous
+proportions "so as not to compromise my German friends."  I imagine that
+some of those friends of his must figure on the margin of the Russian
+budget, for if it were not so, why should they be liable to be
+compromised?
+
+Travelling down the Danube by boat, Mr. Bigelow was able to make use
+everywhere of the German language.  Every intelligently conducted
+enterprise which he found on his way was in the hands of Germans.
+"Sooner or later," said he, "the Danube will belong to Germany."
+
+According to Mr. Bigelow, all the people who have the misfortune to live
+in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of Russia only dream of becoming
+Germans, in order to escape her.
+
+There is one remarkable quality which William II possesses and which Mr.
+Bigelow has forgotten, and that is his talent as a scenic artist and
+_impresario_ for any and every kind of ceremony; in this he is past
+master.  For the 375th Anniversary of October 31, 1517, the day on which
+the famous theses, which inaugurated the Reformation, were posted by
+Martin Luther on the door of the chapel at Wittenberg, the Emperor-King
+surpassed himself.  The Imperial procession aroused the greatest
+enthusiasm in the little town by its successful reconstruction of the
+historic picture.  The speech of the _summus episcopus_ cast all sermons
+into the shade by its lofty tone and spirit of tolerance.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 16, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] Spanish insurrection against the French invasion under the first
+Empire.
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[11] _Ibid._, August 15, 1891.
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[13] _Ibid._, September 15,1891.
+
+[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[16] An allusion to the Commander's statue in "Don Juan."
+
+[17] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[19] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[23] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[24] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[25] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[26] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[27] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[28] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[29] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 16, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+1893
+
+
+William II receives the Tzarewitch--Germany would rather shed the last
+drop of her blood than give up Alsace-Lorraine--William's journey to
+Italy--The German manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine.
+
+
+January 13, 1893. [1]
+
+Being too weak a man to accept such responsibility as that involved in
+the scheme of military reforms, Von Caprivi has, so to speak, by his
+suppliant attitude towards the parties in the Reichstag, forced William
+II to assert himself.  In spite of his leanings towards prudent reform,
+the Emperor-King, whose pride we know, has found himself all of a
+sudden in a sorry plight on the question of the increase of the
+standing army.  The rising tide of public censure, mounting to the foot
+of the throne itself, found no one to hold it back but a bewildered
+lock-keeper.  And so the Emperor, with his helmet on his head, appeared
+upon the scene, to take charge of the damming operations.  On January 1
+he addressed his generals, his enthusiastic officers (who, like all
+soldiers, have a holy horror of politicians), and said to them, "I
+shall smash the obstacles that they raise against me."
+
+Thus it happens that it is no longer Von Caprivi who confronts the
+Reichstag, no longer the hesitating successor of Bismarck, whom the
+country accuses of leading it on the path to ruin: the Emperor-King
+takes charge in person.  Instead of being a question of policy and
+bargaining between the political parties, the question becomes one of
+loyalty.  In Parliament, the resistance of the country, instead of
+being a legitimate opposition intended to enlighten the sovereign,
+becomes revolutionary.  So now the Reichstag is compelled either to
+vote the scheme of military reform, or to be dissolved; Germany must
+either confirm her representatives in their obedience, or take the
+consequences of her hostility towards the Emperor and his army.  The
+Reichstag will submit, and Germany will humbly offer to her Sovereign
+an additional million of troops in the next five or six years.  William
+II will hasten their general submission by threats of war and
+revolution, as unlimited as is the field of his falsehood.
+
+
+
+February 12, 1893. [2]
+
+William II has left no stone unturned, and has displayed the utmost
+skill, in endeavouring to enfold in his influence the heir to the
+throne of Russia.  He has devoted to this end all the splendour that an
+Imperial Sovereign can display in the entertainment of his guest, all
+the resources of enthusiasm which he can lead his people to display in
+welcoming him, all his tricks of apparent good-will, all the
+fascination of a mind which is apt to dazzle those who meet it for the
+first time (although later on it is apt to inspire them with weariness
+by its very excesses), every manifestation of a wistful friendship
+which proclaims itself misunderstood.
+
+The whole Germany of tradition displayed itself before the eyes of the
+Tzarewitch, all its treacherous appearance of good nature, all its
+dishonest methods, composed of a mixture of vanity and apparent
+simplicity, whose object it is to make people believe in a sort of
+unconsciousness of great strength.  The German Emperor made an appeal
+for a union of princes to resist the restless democracy of our times,
+and repeated it with urgency, and in the usual stock phrases.  In a
+word, William II laid under contribution, to charm the son of the Tzar,
+all his arts and spells of fascination.  Why wonder that he succeeded,
+when we remember that M. Jules Simon, a French Republican, member of
+the Government of National Defence in 1870, came back from Berlin
+singing the praises of the King of Prussia?  Also, that the entire
+Press of our country, with the sole exception of the _Nouvelle Revue_,
+was wont, at the commencement of William's reign, to speak with
+sympathy of the genial character of the "young Emperor," to praise his
+schemes of social reform, and to express its belief in the superiority
+of a mind which, as a matter of fact, is remarkable only for its
+excesses and disorder?  But all Germany, like M. Jules Simon and the
+French Press, will find out the truth.  The country may have gone into
+ecstasies over the first acts and first speeches of its young
+sovereign, but it will soon learn to know how little connection there
+is between the words and assurances of William of Hohenzollern and his
+deeds.
+
+At the outset, during the sojourn of the Tzarewitch at Berlin, whilst
+he was being carefully coddled by the Emperor, the chancellor, Von
+Caprivi (who boasts of having no initiative of his own and of acting
+only under the orders of his master), was inspiring accusations, and
+making them himself before the military commission, charging the war
+party in Russia with secretly plotting against Germany.  One would like
+to know where the war party in Russia can possibly be at the present
+moment?
+
+At the same time that William II was endeavouring to recover and
+restore amicable relations with the Tzar, he had every intention of
+carrying through his schemes of military re-organisation and the
+increase of the army, which, as Von Caprivi was wont to say after His
+Majesty, constitute essential safeguards against a Russian invasion.
+Now, the good Germans welcomed the son of Alexander III; they meant to
+prove to William II how useless they considered the increase of the
+army, inasmuch as the Tzar, with whom lies the final arbitrament of
+war, had shown his desire for peace by sending his son to Berlin.  The
+Tzar, whose statecraft is great and profound, had clearly foreseen what
+the German people would think of the presence of his son in their
+midst; he showed them by this means that the increase of the army is
+useless, and that all the agitation and complications which William
+provokes, the oppositions and the struggles which he himself creates
+amongst the forces that he lets loose, give rise to dangers, far
+greater than any with which Russia could ever threaten Germany.
+
+William II wears blinkers; he can sometimes see in front of him, but
+never around him nor behind.  He believed that the Tzar and the Russian
+Press were going to be affected by the same sort of enthusiasm which he
+had inspired in the Tzarewitch, but the Tzar, Russia, and the Russian
+Press considered matters dispassionately and saw them in their right
+light; they were even of opinion that William II had displayed far too
+much vanity in his reception of the Tzarewitch and too little dignity.
+Consequently, after the departure of the Tzarewitch, the Emperor-King
+of Prussia, had a fit of rage, furious with disappointment at not
+having been able to follow up the success which he had obtained with
+the Tzarewitch himself.  In one of those fits of ungovernable temper
+which lead him to commit so many irreparable mistakes, and which are
+the despair of his Government and his Court, he caused Von Caprivi's
+Press to publish the news of an attempt upon the life of the Tzar.  But
+the methods of reptile journalism are now thoroughly understood and the
+Emperor Alexander, guessing the source of this lie, demanded an
+immediate apology, which Admiral Prince Henry hastened to convey, in
+the name of his brother, to the Russian Embassy.  At the same time that
+he invented this story of the attempt on the life of the Tzar, the King
+of Prussia, German Emperor, proposed a toast in honour of the Duke of
+Edinburgh, Commander-in-Chief of the British Fleet, in which he looked
+forward to "the glorious day when the British fleet should fight the
+common enemy."  The common and double enemy of England and Germany, as
+every one is aware, is France and Russia.
+
+
+
+March 11, 1893. [3]
+
+Until quite recently, the proposed military law was heatedly discussed
+in Germany.  Realising that the Military Commission was on the point of
+rejecting it, William II finished his speech in the following words--
+
+
+"The supporters of the proposed Sedlitz Law accused the Government of
+weakness, when it withdrew the Bill in the face of the clearly declared
+opposition of a majority of the nation.  Well, then, the proposed
+military law provides us with an opportunity of showing that my
+Government is not a weak one, and that the firm will of my grandfather,
+the Emperor William, lives again in me."
+
+
+A few days before the vote in the Reichstag, Herr Bebel had raised the
+question of International Arbitration wherein, he said, lay Germany's
+best means of proving her love for peace, even should it involve the
+risk of having the question of Alsace-Lorraine brought before an
+International Tribunal.  Hereupon, Von Caprivi, Chancellor of the
+Prusso-German Empire, replied to the applause which had come from
+almost the entire Reichstag, as follows--
+
+
+"The deputy Bebel advises us to adopt a tribunal of International
+Arbitration.  He admits the possibility that such a tribunal might
+raise some day the question of Alsace-Lorraine; he insinuates that we
+were to blame for the outbreak of war in 1870, and that there are those
+who maintain this idea with even greater strength and assurance than
+himself.  Well, then, if such a tribunal should come together, and
+should express, no matter in what connection, its opinion on the
+question of Alsace-Lorraine, and if that opinion should be to the
+effect that Germany should hand back Alsace-Lorraine, I am convinced
+that Germany would never submit to such a decision, and that she would
+rather shed her blood to the last drop than to hand back these
+provinces."
+
+
+To which Herr Bebel naturally replied--
+
+
+"When one holds ideas of this kind, it is perfectly evident that one
+cannot admit of International tribunals."
+
+
+Before his little speech, His Majesty the German Emperor had made a big
+one, from which we learned yet once again that William I had been
+entrusted with a mission, and had handed it down to William II; and
+then we heard once more the phrase with which Bismarck had deafened our
+ears, on one of his blustering days, and which the King of Prussia has
+re-issued in a new form and on his own account: "We Germans fear God
+and nothing else in this world."
+
+Well, Sire, I for my part believe that your Majesty fears something
+else besides God, and that is the disintegration of the Triple Alliance.
+
+
+
+March 29, 1893. [4]
+
+William II is ever at pains to invest those occasions in which his
+personality plays a part, with all the glamour of Imperial pomp.  Once
+again, accompanied this time by an enormous retinue of Germans glad of
+the occasion of a free trip to a sunny land, William II is about to
+remind the Romans at Rome of the majesty of the Caesars.  May their
+King not be reminded at the same time, by certain aspects of this
+triumphal procession, of Rome's captive kings.  In binding herself to
+Germany, has not Italy given herself over into bondage to the Teuton
+and especially to Austria, her hereditary foe?  I could readily answer
+this question in the affirmative by looking back into the past, I who
+have so often shared in the patriotic emotions of Italy in bygone days;
+but every people is entitled to be the sole judge of its own destinies,
+and its best friends abroad have no right to endeavour to enlighten it
+by any rays which do not fall from its own heaven above.  One can
+easily lead a nation astray, even by means of truths that have been
+clearly demonstrated beyond its frontiers.  One is compelled to admit
+that the most extraordinary events may occur amongst one's neighbours.
+
+William II, after having sent General Loe to congratulate Leo XIII on
+his Episcopal Jubilee, has just made a speech on the occasion of the
+silver wedding of King Humbert I and Queen Margaret.  It will please
+the Italians, but this ambiguous policy seems to me anything but
+flattering, either for the Italian Kingdom or for the Papacy.  As in
+1888 and with the same ceremonies, Leo XIII will receive the
+Emperor-King of Prussia at the Vatican, and William II, as on that
+previous occasion will be able to split his sides with laughter on
+returning to the Quirinal, mimicking the Holy Father and boasting that
+he has befooled him once more.
+
+
+
+April 27, 1893. [5]
+
+The wisdom of the nations is now enriched with a new proverb, "A
+rolling Emperor gathers moss, and gathers nothing more."  Before long
+the tumult and the shouting of the fetes at Rome will die down, and
+with them the popular excitement of enthusiasm for the all-powerful
+German Emperor.  The Italian people will then find itself confronted by
+the exhaustion imposed upon it by the compulsory militarism of the
+so-called pacific Triple Alliance.  Even if cavalcades, reviews and
+tournays, should awaken again in the heart of the Roman people that
+love of the circus, which this people has inspired in all the latinised
+races, the economic question still remains, the question of money and
+of bread, implacable.  I know not why it is, but the brilliancy of
+William II's visit to Italy gives me the impression of a fire of straw.
+What object had he in going there, and what has he attained?  I can see
+none.  All his fervent protestations appear to me in bad taste, when
+compared with the correct dignity of the Court of Austria, third of the
+Allied Powers.
+
+
+
+May 12, 1893. [6]
+
+How can our German Caesar, who has just made a journey to Rome after
+the manner of Barbarossa, continue to suffer an assembly of talkers, of
+political commercial travellers, of people who allow their minds to be
+dominated by the vulgar thing called economics?  It is not possible,
+and therefore Caesar calls to witness the first Military Staff that he
+comes across at the Tempelhof and makes it judge of the matter.  "I
+have had to order the dissolution of the Reichstag," says William to
+his officers and generals, "and I trust that the new Parliament will
+sanction the re-organisation of the Army.  But if this hope should not
+be realised, I fully intend to leave no stone unturned to attain the
+end which I desire.  No stone unturned, gentlemen, and you understand,
+I hope, that it is to you that I am speaking, and you who are
+concerned.  You are the defenders of the past, and of the prerogatives
+of the Imperial and Royal Power."
+
+If the new Reichstag meets in the same spirit of resistance to the
+excesses of Prussian militarism, William II will be condemned to
+constitutional government and then, little by little, to the surrender
+of everything that he believes to be his proper attributes, and of all
+his tastes.  No further possibility then of an offensive war, to escape
+from domestic difficulties; no more parades with the past riding behind
+him; no more finding a way out by some sudden headlong move, for he
+would drag behind him only a people convinced against its will and too
+late.  The only thing then left to the King of Prussia, face to face
+with a new majority opposed to militarism, would be the dangerous
+resource of a _coup d'etat_.
+
+Dr. Lieber, an influential deputy, has defined the actual situation
+with a clearness which leaves nothing to be desired--
+
+"We perceive," he said, "that the Prussian principle of government is
+developing more and more, and tending to become the idea of the German
+Empire.  The policy to be pursued in the German Parliament should be
+purely German."
+
+The dilemma is clear.  Will Germany continue to become Prussianised or
+will she remain German?  If she is Prussian, that is to say,
+militarist, socialism will grow and increase; if she is German, the
+development and expansion of her political and social organism, having
+free play, will come about normally and surely.  Therefore, the
+solidity of German unity should consist in resistance to Prussianism or
+militarism, to William II, and to the past.  On the other hand,
+submission of the old Confederation to Prussia must inevitably lead to
+disintegration.
+
+
+
+May 29, 1893. [7]
+
+William II has told us, on the occasion of the unveiling of the statue
+of William I at Gorlitz, that the question which brought about the
+dissolution of the Reichstag, that like which confronts the impending
+election, is that of the Military Bill, and that this question
+dominates all others.
+
+"That which the Emperor, William I, has won, I will uphold," says the
+present Emperor; "we must assure the future of the Fatherland.  In
+order to attain this object, the military strength of the country must
+be increased and fortified, and I have asked the nation to supply the
+necessary means.  Confronted by this grave question, on which the very
+existence of the country depends, all others are relegated to the
+background."
+
+Should we conclude, with the _Frankfurter Zeitung_, that "that which
+oppresses our minds in this struggle is the reflection, that no
+possible benefit is to be attained through victory, nor any remedy for
+defeat"?
+
+Will Germany yield, or will she resist the will of the Emperor thus
+clearly expressed?  Herein lies a question which, in one way or
+another, must have the gravest consequences.
+
+
+
+July 1, 1893. [8]
+
+One day, on the occasion of a first performance of a play called
+"Cadio," by George Sand, I was with a woman, my best friend, in the
+wings of the theatre, Porte-Saint-Martin.  I saw Melingue stamping on
+the floor with his feet and jumping and twisting about, and upon my
+asking him what was the meaning of these extraordinary antics, he
+replied; "It is because, when I come upon the scene, I am supposed to
+have galloped several miles on horseback and it would not do for me,
+therefore, to present the appearance of a gentleman who has just come
+out of a room or from the garden."  I do not quite know why I should
+have remembered this far-off incident on learning that the German
+Emperor, King of Prussia, had come on horseback from Potsdam to open
+the new Reichstag.  As a comedian, William II does not follow the
+methods of Melingue.  He rides, in order to present a calmer appearance
+at his entry upon the scene.  Clad in the uniform of a Hussar, he read
+the speech from the throne with an evangelical mildness.  He was
+playing the part of a soldier-clergyman.  The soldier said--
+
+
+"My august allies agree with my conviction that the Empire, in view of
+the development of military institutions by other Powers, can no longer
+delay to give to its armed forces such increase as shall guarantee the
+security of its future."
+
+
+The clergyman had upon his lips the honey of promises of concessions,
+and he concluded with these words, added to the speech from the throne--
+
+
+"And now, gentlemen, may the Lord grant His blessing to every one of
+us, for the successful issue of a meritorious work in the interests of
+our country.  Amen!"
+
+
+In the course of the latest discussion of the military law in the
+Reichstag, we have been able to gather certain unforgettable
+information.  In the first place, Von Caprivi has told us that the
+increase of the army is directed really and more especially against
+France.  Herr Richter declares that Germany, single-handed, can carry
+through victoriously any struggle against us.  Liebknecht says that
+Turkey can hold Russia in check together with Poland, and finally,
+that: "Germany counts upon England as surely as upon Austria and upon
+Italy."
+
+
+
+September 13, 1893. [9]
+
+The Emperor, King of Prussia, has addressed to our brothers that are
+cut off from us, the following words--
+
+
+"You are Germans, and Germans you will remain; may God and our good
+German sword help us to bring it to pass."
+
+
+To which words, every Frenchman has replied--
+
+
+"They are French and French they shall remain, God and our good French
+sword helping us."
+
+
+Calmly we await the final provocation.  The German manoeuvres have only
+served to teach us one thing more, viz. that William II wishes us to
+know that the moment is at hand for a last challenge.  All the German
+Sovereigns who were present at the manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine,
+appeared to be weary of the supremacy which William, the hot-headed,
+asserts throughout all the territory of the Empire.  Certain of their
+number stated in the presence of several people whose sympathies are
+with the French, that the Emperor of Germany was no more master of the
+proceedings than they themselves, and that they had no intention of
+figuring either as members of his suite or of his general staff, in
+accordance with the wish which he had expressed to Von Caprivi.
+
+(Before the Emperor of Germany, Talma had played a part in the presence
+of an audience of kings.)
+
+The gift offered by the German subjects of the city of Metz, by way of
+thanksgiving for the extraordinary performance given by William II,
+proves by its very nature that not a single Frenchman had anything to
+do with its selection.  In its form and substance, and in the taste
+which it displayed, it is a typically German present, this casket of
+green plush full of candied fruits.  No doubt, the Empress will be
+delighted and all the little princes too.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 15, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] _Ibid._, May 15, 1893.
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 1, 1893, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 16, 1893, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+1894-1895
+
+
+Treaty of Commerce between Germany and Russia--Opening of the Kiel
+Canal; why France should not have sent her ships there--Germany
+proclaims her readiness to give us again the lesson which she gave us
+in 1870.
+
+
+March 29, 1894. [1]
+
+William II is triumphant in Germany, and his officious newspapers vie
+with each other in proclaiming the grandeur of his ideas.  Meanwhile,
+the people of Berlin hiss him and sing rebel songs about him on the
+review ground at Tempelhof.
+
+Beyond all doubt the King of Prussia got the better of much opposition
+when he secured the vote for his commercial treaty with Russia.  Our
+friends of the north cannot doubt that they have our best wishes, that
+their commercial and agrarian position may be improved thereby, but the
+more favourable the treaty proves for them, the more we would beg them
+to profit by its advantages, but not to allow themselves to be
+entangled in its dangerous consequences.  If they act thus, if
+Germany's sacrifices should prove of benefit only to her neighbours, if
+the advantages of influence and penetration aimed at by William II
+under cover of this treaty, should be revealed to Russian patriotism,
+Germany may prove to be the party deceived.
+
+If William II is clever it is only because of our lack of cleverness
+and foresight.  It is because we leave the door open that he is able to
+make his way in.  Prussian policy is completely lacking in honesty.  It
+forces an entry by all possible means, keeps listening ears at every
+door, and weakens its rivals by the dissensions which it creates,
+maintains and fosters.
+
+Neither French influence in Russia, nor Russian influence in France,
+has ever made use of such methods of procedure as Germany employs in
+both our countries.  The unwholesome and dangerous penetration of
+reptile influences and of espionage, in all its multitudinous forms,
+produce effects on our two allied nations, whose consequences are
+impossible to over-estimate.  Only an unceasing vigilance against every
+one of the foreign intruders, salaried and enlisted in our midst, can
+protect Russia and France against their insidious influences.  Our
+enemies labour to weaken us with the desperation inspired in them by
+the dangers which they must face, if only we remain staunch, united and
+strong.
+
+Is it generally known that the German subjects of the poorer class who
+inhabit Paris, receive an annual subsidy of 100 marks?  This amounts to
+putting a premium on a form of emigration useful to Germany and
+constitutes for us a grave danger.  Proof of this is to be found in the
+report of a recent meeting of the municipal council at Metz.  Instead
+of sending back distressed German subjects in France to their own
+country, Germany sends them money.  The Alsatian newspaper which
+affords us this information adds with perfect accuracy: "What would
+Germany say if French municipalities were to subsidise officially
+Frenchmen living in Berlin?"
+
+
+
+April 12, 1894. [2]
+
+I am one of those French people who have hoped, up to the very last
+moment, for a continuation of good commercial relations (which means
+good political relations) with Italy; I am one of those who first
+believed in the possibility of re-establishing a good understanding
+under both these headings; but for this very reason I retain a certain
+susceptibility and pride which others, less sincere in the pursuit of a
+definite reconciliation, certainly do not possess.  Sadly I have
+followed the cavalcade of the Prince of Naples to Metz.  I can find no
+joy in the words of King Humbert, which M. Gaston Calmette has
+reproduced so wittily and with such good nature, in the _Figaro_.  From
+my point of view, both these actions of the King of Italy were inspired
+by William II; and both had the same object in view, viz. to prove at
+Metz that he could wound us cruelly through his ally, and to prove at
+Venice that the good-will of Humbert I was subject to his control,
+dictated in his own good time, and sanctioned at his pleasure.  The
+Emperor of Germany has inaugurated in Europe the policy of
+right-about-face, a policy which bewilders diplomacy, astonishes the
+_bourgeoisie_ and fills the nations with fear.
+
+
+
+April 27, 1894. [3]
+
+The revelations published by Mr. Valentin, Comptroller of Stores in the
+Cameroons, deserve to be quoted in their entirety.  In the _Neue
+Deutsche Rundschau_ he has described the atrocities committed by
+governors of German colonies, or by their representatives.  Wholesale
+butcheries, slow and horrible tortures, a new and ingenious method of
+scalping, the imprisonment of wives snatched from their husbands and of
+young girls taken from their mothers (to minister to the debaucheries
+of these governors and their officers) and then brought back to tell
+the terrible story to other unfortunate creatures destined to the same
+fate; the horrible brutality of sentences, by virtue of which the flesh
+of the victims was reduced to pulp under the eyes of the judges--the
+revelation of all these things leaves one's mind possessed with
+feelings of terror and horror, sufficient in themselves to justify any
+reprisals that negro races might inflict upon white people.
+
+
+
+July 23, 1894. [4]
+
+One of these days I shall tell how the house of Krupp (in which William
+II has so large a personal interest over and above his public interest)
+is about to create for itself a formidable position in China, which is
+likely to overthrow many calculations and may end in turning Asia
+upside down.  The great commercial houses of Hamburg, encouraged and
+supported by the government at Berlin, are in telegraphic communication
+with every market in China.  Germany's economic life is developing with
+frightful rapidity in Asia.
+
+
+
+September 11, 1894. [5]
+
+Amongst the list of surprises with which the Emperor of Germany is
+pleased to supply the makers of small-talk in Europe, one often finds,
+since the journey of the Empress Frederick to Paris (although that was
+hardly to be called a success) that he is by way of making advances to
+France.  From time to time William II, in a carefully premeditated pose
+(as, for that matter, all his poses are), extends towards us, across
+the frontiers of Alsace-Lorraine, the hand of generous friendship.
+Sometimes, for an entire day he will be good enough to forget that he
+is heir to the victories won from us in 1870.  Next day, it is true, we
+shall find him celebrating in splendour our defeat at Sedan; but none
+the less he will have satisfied his great soul by thus inviting us to
+forget the past.  Why is it that William II wearies not in thus
+renewing his attempts at reconciliation with France?  The reason is,
+that he has nothing to lose by continual failures, whilst he has
+everything to gain if he succeeds, even for a moment, in deceiving our
+vigilance, and in diverting us from those feelings which alone can
+honour and raise the vanquished, that is to say, fidelity to the
+brothers we have lost, and the proud belief that, sooner or later, we
+shall re-enter into possession of the conquered territory.
+
+Last on the list of the intermittent advances which William II has made
+to France, there appeared lately the following in the _Allegemeine
+Norddeutsche Zeitung_, official organ of the German government:--
+
+
+"There is no reason for misunderstanding, or for failure to appreciate,
+the increasing signs which go to show that public opinion in France is
+favourable to reconciliation with us, and that this opinion is growing,
+not only amongst the higher classes in France, but amongst the people.
+It is beginning to be recognised that it is to the interest of both
+nations to shake hands, as is fitting between neighbours, no matter
+what may have been their _former differences_.  On the part of Germans
+the tendency towards an _entente_ has gained in strength since we have
+noticed the tendency of the French to judge impartially a personality
+like that of our Emperor, as befits a nation so cultured and richly
+endowed as the French."
+
+
+What say you, veteran soldiers, who fought in the Terrible Year?  What
+say you, Parisians of the Siege, Frenchmen who have seen the Prussian
+conqueror dragging his guns and booty along the roads of our France?
+What say you, men of Alsace-Lorraine, heroes all?  (No matter whether,
+like some, you have sacrificed situation, home and your little
+fatherland, so as not to forsake the greater, or, like others, you have
+consented to become Prussians in order that the land you worship may
+remain in hands that are still French.)  What say you, when our
+dreadful defeat, our piled-up ruin, and the spoliation of a portion of
+France, become for a German official organ our _former differences_?
+What words are these in which to speak of 1870-71, of that
+unforgettable and tragic invasion, of the terrible anguish of our
+ravished provinces, and what a proof they afford of the great gulf
+which separates the mind of Germany from that of France!
+
+
+
+September 26, 1894.
+
+The German Emperor does not forget that he is before all things a
+Prussian.  Having administered a reprimand to the nobility, he proceeds
+to give to the five new fortresses at Koenigsberg, the five greatest
+family names of the Prussian nobility.
+
+At Thorn he declared--
+
+"Only they can count upon my royal favour who shall regard themselves
+as absolutely and entirely Prussian subjects."  The Germans have not
+yet realised that the German Empire will be Prussian, before ever
+Prussia consents to lose herself in a united Germany.
+
+
+
+October 28, 1894.
+
+The German Emperor, King of Prussia, with that love of peace for which
+even Frenchmen are pleased to praise him, is now chiefly occupied in
+displaying his passion for militarism.  In the case of William II, it
+will be necessary to modify a hallowed phrase, and to say to him:
+"Seeing you in uniform, I guessed that you were no soldier."
+
+The Emperor, King of Prussia, insists on continually reminding the
+German peoples that he is the commander-in-chief of the armies of the
+Empire, and he never misses an opportunity of emphasising the fact.  At
+the presentation of flags to the 132 new battalions created by the new
+military law, (and doubtless with a view to peace, as usual) the
+Emperor with his own hand hammered 132 nails, fixing the standards to
+their flag-staffs.  This sort of thing fills me with admiration, and if
+it were not for my stupid obstinacy, it might convert me to share the
+opinion of M. Jules Simon, who holds that we should entertain the King
+of Prussia at the Exhibition in 1900, and welcome him as the great
+_clou_[6] on that occasion.  But I should not jest about those feelings
+which transcend all others in the heart of the French people.  Germany
+owes us Alsace-Lorraine; she has every interest in trying to make us
+forget the debt.  What would one think of a creditor who allowed the
+debtor to persuade him that the debt no longer existed?  A nation which
+reserves its rights against the victor, and maintains its claims to
+conquered territory, may be despoiled but is not vanquished.  Would
+Italy have recovered Lombardy and Venice had she not unceasingly
+protested against the Austrian occupation?  Excessive politeness
+towards those who have inflicted upon us the unforgettable outrage of
+defeat is not a sign of good manners, but of culpable weakness, for it
+inflicts suffering upon those who have to put up with the material
+consequences of Germany's conquest, and might end in separating them
+from their old and unforgotten mother country.
+
+When William II conducted the Prince of Naples to Metz he was only
+acting in accordance with his usual ideas as an insolent conqueror.
+But if we were to receive the German Emperor at the Exhibition of
+1900--if at that time he is still master of Alsace-Lorraine--we should
+be committing the base act of a people defeated beyond all hope of
+recovery.
+
+
+
+December 12, 1894. [7]
+
+As day by day one follows the proceedings of William II, one gradually
+experiences a feeling of weariness and of numbness, such as one gets
+from watching the spectacle of waves in motion.
+
+Before his speech from the throne, and in order to prepare his public
+for a surprise, William II had directed the King of Saxony, on the
+occasion of a presentation of standards, to tell France to her face
+that she had better behave, that the Saxon heroes of 1870 had sons
+worthy of them, and that the glorious, triumphant march from Metz to
+Paris might very easily begin all over again.  Whereupon, general alarm
+and feverish expectation of the speech of William II, which of course,
+turned out to be pacific.  The following sentence should suffice to
+prove it:
+
+"Our confidence in the maintenance of peace has again been
+strengthened.  Faithful to the spirit of our alliances, we maintain
+good and friendly relations with all the powers."
+
+One can discern, however, a little trumpet note (of which he would not
+lose the habit), in the speech which he made at the opening of the new
+Reichstag building, whose construction was begun at the time of the
+Prussian victories: "May this building remind them (the deputies) that
+it is their duty to watch over that which their fathers have
+conquered."  But this is a pure and simple melody compared to the
+war-march of the Saxons.
+
+
+
+January 12, 1885. [8]
+
+William II, in search of a social position, has become lecturer.  At
+his first lecture, he announced to the whole world that our commercial
+marine no longer holds the second place, that this second place belongs
+to Germany, and it is now necessary that Germany's Navy should also
+take our place.  And in his usual chameleon way, the German Emperor,
+who until quite recently refused to admit that there lay any merit
+whatsoever in the Bismarckian policy, now adds: "And Prince Bismarck
+may rejoice, for the policy which he introduced has triumphed."
+
+
+
+March 12, 1895. [9]
+
+On a certain day, in 1871, the defenders of Paris and its patriotic
+inhabitants learned from the silence of our guns, that the Prussian
+enemy's victory over them was complete.  And now it seems we are going
+to Kiel, to take part in the triumphant procession of H.M. William II,
+King of Prussia, and to add the glory of our flag to the brilliant
+inauguration of his strategic waterway.  Why should we go to Kiel?  Who
+wanted our government to go there?  Nobody, either in France or Russia.
+The great Tzars are too jealous of the integrity of their own splendid
+territory, to refuse to allow that a nation should remember its lost
+provinces.  We were indignant when the Prince Royal of Italy, the ally
+of Germany, went to take part in the German military cavalcades, and
+now we ourselves, whom Prussia defeated, are going, in the train of the
+despoiler of Schleswig-Holstein, to assist at the opening of a canal,
+which penetrates and bleeds Danish provinces, annexed by the same
+conqueror who took from us Alsace-Lorraine.  Will Denmark, whom William
+II has had the audacity to invite, go to Kiel?  No, a thousand times
+no! and neither should we go there ourselves, to applaud this taking
+possession of Danish waters.  Denmark, though invited, will not go to
+Kiel; yet we know what are the ties which bind her Sovereigns to
+Russia.  It has been said, in order to reassure consciences that are
+easily quieted, that our war-ships will go to Kiel sheltered by those
+of Russia, and, so to speak, hidden beneath their shadow.  Our dignity
+is at stake, as much in the truth as in the falsehood of this news.
+The French Government is not a monarchy.  By declining this invitation
+of our conquerors, it would have placed the whole question on its
+proper footing, which should be that of the situation created by the
+Treaty of Frankfort.  We should have said to Germany, France desires
+peace.  Our Chauvinists will remain quiet, so long as the German
+Government gives us no provocation.  If we refrain from going to Kiel,
+it is in order to maintain the peaceful condition of our relations.
+Germany's chief interest is to lead Europe to believe that we have come
+to accept the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, and to make the people of those
+provinces believe that we have forgotten them.
+
+The King of Prussia, German Emperor, just to keep his hand in,
+stimulates the military virtues of his recruits, and for the hundredth
+time presides over the taking of the oath of fidelity.  He teaches the
+recruits that the eagle is a noble bird, which soars aloft into the
+skies and fears no danger; also, that it is the business of the said
+recruits to imitate the eagle.  He adds that the German navy is the
+only real one, that all others are spurious imitations, and he
+concludes by saying that "the German Navy will achieve prosperity and
+greatness along paths of peace, for the good of the Fatherland, as it
+will in war, so as to be able, if God will, to crush the enemy."
+William II never speaks of conquering the enemy or being superior to
+him; it is always "crush."  It is this crushing German navy that our
+sailors are to go and salute at Kiel.
+
+It looks as if our artists were lending a hand to William, and
+gratifying this passion of his for crushing people.  An Alsatian friend
+of mine, who knows his Germany well, said to me the other day that, in
+sending their pictures for exhibition at Berlin, our painters are
+likely to ruin their own market.  For a long time the King of Prussia
+has wanted to have a _salon_ at Berlin, and he looks to French painters
+to give it brilliancy and to attract those foreign artists who are
+accustomed to French exhibitions.  Once it has become the fashion to go
+to Berlin, French artists will find that they have helped to ruin their
+own business.  How can anybody suppose that William II really wishes to
+do honour to French art?  Do not let us forget that Frederick III said
+"France must have her industrial Sedan, as she has had her military
+Sedan."
+
+
+
+March 28, 1895. [10]
+
+It seems then, that Germany's proudest ambitions are about to be
+realised at the fetes at Kiel.  That patriotic hymn of theirs, which up
+to the present has been a dead letter for those peoples who have not
+yet been incorporated in the Prussianised Empire, will now become a
+living thing.  Henceforward all Europe must hear and accept the
+offensive utterance which the Germans shout: "Deutschland ueber Alles!"
+Yes, Germany over all things.
+
+That her Emperor should have willed it, is enough to bring together in
+his triumphant procession all the following--
+
+
+Russia, despoiled of her triumph at Constantinople by the Congress of
+Berlin, and exposed on her flank by the Baltic Canal.
+
+England, tricked at Heligoland and at Zanzibar, and whose power is
+threatened by the very fleet which she is going to salute.
+
+Spain, threatened in the Carolines, who has only been protected from
+Prussian presumption by her own indomitable pride.
+
+Denmark, cynically robbed of Schleswig-Holstein.
+
+Italy, from whom the German navy, when it has become the equal of the
+German army and fulfilled the dream of William II, will take Trieste.
+It is true that, to make up for Trieste, diplomacy at Berlin is putting
+Salonika in pickle with a good deal of English pepper, intending to
+offer it as a _hors d'oeuvre_ to Austria, Germany's advanced and
+submissive sentinel in the East.
+
+France, the most deeply injured and despoiled, whom the German conquest
+has plundered to the utmost, she also will take part in the procession,
+and in order that our humiliation be the more complete, so that the
+French army may be unable to forgive the French navy for it, our Flag,
+our beloved colours, will doubtless salute one of those Prussian
+vessels which carry the name of one of our defeats, for instance, the
+_Woerth_!
+
+
+After that, William II, King of Prussia, will be unable to descry a
+single cloud on the German horizon.  And Germany, Germany will be above
+and over all!  The glory and the splendour of the Hohenzollerns will
+shine upon the entire universe, and the German Emperor, Emperor of
+Emperors, like the King of Kings, will have nothing to fear until the
+Heavens fall.
+
+And we, who have forgotten nothing of the Terrible Year and what it
+took from us, we, who can see under the left breast of our beloved
+France, her bleeding heart, ravished Alsace-Lorraine, we shall lift our
+eyes unto Heaven, our last hope, beseeching it to strike down the
+presumptuous one, since men are afraid of him.
+
+
+
+April 10, 1895. [11]
+
+It has always been a dream of mine to see a newspaper founded under the
+title _Foreign Opinion_, a sheet confined to information, in which
+would be presented, clearly, simply, and held together by an
+intelligent sequence of ideas, quotations from the principal organs of
+those countries in which we have interests, either identical or
+opposed.  Statesmen and Members of Parliament would be compelled to
+read such a paper.  A knowledge of foreign opinion would render the
+greatest services to public opinion in this country, for it would
+compel our somewhat self-centred mind to take into consideration the
+judgment of others, to determine the justice or the harshness of the
+criticism directed against us, and to draw, from the study of these
+things, warnings and rules of conduct.
+
+To take an immediate instance, let me give my readers an extract from
+the _Muenchner Nachtrichten_, a newspaper, which as a rule does not
+share the brutal harshness of the Berlin Press with regard to our
+feelings and their expression in French newspapers--
+
+
+"These foolishly vain Frenchmen, sitting in their meagre little thicket
+of laurels, contemplate with evident displeasure the stirring of the
+winds in the great forest of German oaks, and their discontent finds
+expression in ways that are frequently comical.  The _Figaro_ for
+example, has expressed it in an article which is particularly silly
+(with a kind of foolishness not often found even in a French newspaper,
+which is saying a good deal).  It denies to Germans the right to
+remember the glorious years of 1870 and '71, for the reason that French
+people might thereby be hurt.  Does it mean to say that the French
+would threaten us with war if we continue to celebrate our victories
+over them?  Well, if these gentlemen are of that opinion, we will
+answer them that Germany is peacefully inclined, but that, if the
+French are not satisfied with the severe lesson that we gave them in
+1870-71, we are quite prepared to begin it all over again."
+
+
+And these are the people, mind you, who would have said that we were
+trying to provoke them if, faithful to the memory of our defeat, as
+they are to the memory of their victory, we had abstained from going to
+Kiel to sing the glories of the conqueror.  Like William II, their
+Sovereign and Lord, Germany will never admit that our actions should be
+a counterpart to their own, even though such actions should include
+recognition of their former victories.  They wish to impose upon us,
+not only the acceptance of defeat, but a definite recognition of their
+conquest, a final sacrifice of our ancient rights, together with
+unlimited scope for their new ambitions.  The German Emperor, King of
+Prussia, has never made two consecutive speeches in which one did not
+contain some threat for us, long or short-dated.  If one were to add
+together all the words of peace which William has spoken and all his
+war-like utterances, the mass of the latter would irretrievably swamp
+all the rest.
+
+
+
+October 28, 1895. [12]
+
+His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, seems to be quite
+incapable of understanding that, in love as in hate, it is wisest not
+to be overfond of repeating either the word "always" or the word
+"never."  It is the intention of William II, that Germany should for
+ever and ever remain the gate of Hell for France, and he has continued
+to din into our ears his _lasciate speranza_ every year for the last
+twenty-five.  He never misses an opportunity of showing us France
+humiliated and Germany magnified and glorified.  The monument at Woerth
+has been unveiled with such a noisy demonstration, that it has for ever
+banished from our minds the figure, softened by suffering, of that
+Emperor Frederick, who had made us forget "Unser Fritz" of
+blood-stained memory.  William II noisily recalls to our mind the
+conqueror, when we wished to see in him only the martyr.  This is what
+the German Emperor now tells the world at large: "Before the statue of
+this great Conqueror, let us swear to keep what he conquered, to defend
+this territory against all comers and to keep it German, by the aid of
+God and our good German sword."
+
+To do him justice, William II has rendered to us patriots a most
+conspicuous service.  At a word he has set us back in the position from
+which the luke-warm, the dreamers, and the cowards were trying to drive
+us.  By saying that Alsace-Lorraine is to remain Prussian for ever and
+for ever, he has compelled France either to accept her defeat for
+centuries to come, or to protest against it every hour of her national
+existence.
+
+
+
+November 2, 1895.
+
+William II suffers from a curious kind of obsession, which makes him
+want to astonish the world by his threats, every time that his recruits
+take the oath.  On the present occasion he said, that the army must not
+only remember the Watch on the Rhine but also the Watch on the Vistula.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 16, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _Ibid._, May 1, 1894.
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1894, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[6] A pun on the word _clou_, a nail.
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1894, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _Ibid._, March 16, 1895.
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 15, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1895, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+1896-1897
+
+
+Telegram from William II to President Krueger--The Emperor Nicholas II
+visits France--William II and Turkish affairs; he becomes Protector of
+the Sultan--Why the condolences of William II preceded those of the
+Tzar on the occasion of the fire at the Charity Bazaar--"Germany, the
+Enemy": Skobeleff's word remains true--We have been, and we still are,
+gulls--Peace signed between Turkey and Greece.
+
+
+January 11, 1896. [1]
+
+As the result of his telegram to President Krueger, William II has
+recovered the popularity of the early days of his reign.  The German
+Emperor had undoubtedly very powerful reasons for making a chivalrous
+display on behalf of the Transvaal, from which he anticipated deriving
+the greatest advantages.  He expected to produce a moral effect by
+undertaking the defence of the weaker side (a role that once belonged
+to France).  He saw a way to flatter Holland, deeply touched by these
+manifestations of German sympathy for Dutchmen, who were represented by
+others as barbarians.  He saw also an opportunity for acquiring and
+keeping admirable outlets into the Transvaal, which had threatened to
+become for ever closed to German emigrants.  Finally, he expected to
+produce a feeling of admiration for his magnanimous attitude, which
+would divert the German people from socialism and make them forget the
+Hammerstein affair.  Truly, the Transvaal is for William II one of
+those lucky finds from which all sorts of good things may spring.
+
+The educated classes in Germany, as well as the lower orders, were
+beginning to get very weary of the everlasting celebrations in memory
+of 1870-71, which continually fed the flames of French hatred.  A
+Silesian journal had just informed us that the 25th anniversary of the
+proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles would be celebrated by
+a great fete in all the German schools.  The German artillery of the
+Siege of Paris had arranged for a commemorative banquet, to be held in
+Berlin on January 5.  The senate and the _bourgeoisie_ of Hamburg had
+made a gift of nearly 200,000 marks on behalf of the regiment of
+Hanseatic infantry which fought at Loigny on December 2, and for
+distressed veterans of that regiment.
+
+Germany was in great need of something to distract her attention by a
+stroke of exotic brilliancy and by the creation of some new object of
+hatred.  Enmity for ever directed against France, was beginning
+somewhat to pall.  This continually living on the strength of one's old
+triumphs, made Germany to appear like some much-dyed old dandy, seeking
+to gain recognition for past conquests by means of art and cosmetics.
+The time had come to create a diversion.  The German Emperor, King of
+Prussia, has found it with his usual headlong impetuosity, the quality
+which impels him always to seize things on the wing, to display
+alternately the capacity of a genius, and that of a stupid
+blunderer. . . .
+
+
+
+March 1, 1896. [2]
+
+German opinion persists in expressing its severe criticisms on the
+subject of the Transvaal business and continues to display its sympathy
+for the Boers.  There is every reason to expect that German interests
+will now be able to create for themselves numerous outlets in the
+Transvaal.
+
+William II has made another speech on the subject of the war of 1870;
+in this he is like the tide, which the waves carry away only to bring
+it back.  Lord, Lord, deliver us from this torture!  I, for one, can
+bear it no longer.  My eyes are filled with tears of rage as I listen
+and listen again, for ever, unceasingly and without end, to the tale of
+our defeat and to the glorification of the army which conquered us, to
+the tale of the German Empire born of these Prussian victories.  Will
+it ever be finished, this tale?  When will they have done, once and for
+all, with inscribing these cruel records of theirs in the golden book
+of Germany, and shut the clasp upon it?
+
+
+We know that William II either painted himself, or had painted, a
+picture, which was all the rage in Germany and which represented Europe
+invaded by the Chinese.  It would look as if William II really believed
+in the danger of this impending invasion, to judge by the inscription
+on the engraving of this picture, reproduced by the thousand; "Nations
+of Europe, take care for your most sacred treasures!--WILLIAM I.R."
+
+But if this be so, how comes it that the German Emperor is sending
+hundreds of military instructors to the Chinese, who are supposed to be
+threatening his country?
+
+
+June 1, 1896. [3]
+
+William II believes that the victories of 1870 were due to Prussia
+alone, and that it was she who made the Empire; and this explains why
+he takes such complete possession of the Empire, and makes the
+celebrations of these victories so personal a matter.  The people of
+Bavaria, Wuertemberg and Saxony are herein exposed to humiliation of a
+kind which they decline to accept.  There is no doubt that all Germans
+hate us with an equal hatred, and all have united with the same
+enthusiasm to crush our unfortunate France; nevertheless, we may derive
+some profit from the antipathy inspired in them by Prussia's grasping
+claims to glory and authority.
+
+
+
+September 1, 1896. [4]
+
+Do you remember, my faithful friends, and you, my earliest readers,
+what were the sentiments of hatred, love and fidelity, that inspired
+the letters which I addressed to you nearly eighteen years ago--the
+violence of my hatred for the most tyrannical, and at the same time,
+the most dangerously vindictive, of European statesmen, viz. Von
+Bismarck?
+
+Have you not often smiled, when I then denied the strength of the
+Colossus and asserted his fragility, when I used to say: "He must not
+die with a halo of glory; let him witness rather the bankruptcy of his
+moral estate and give proof of the pettiness of his character and
+evidence of his unbridled lust for power.  Let the effrontery of his
+lies return to him in bitterness?"  And together, you and I, we have
+now seen Prince Bismarck, not hurled down, but slowly crumbling to
+ruin; there has been nothing great about his fall, neither the shout
+that he gave, nor his way of falling, nor the words which he said when
+he picked himself up.
+
+And at the same time when I showed you, in the far distant future, this
+idol of blood-thirstiness broken, I preached to you the love of Russia.
+I saw her freeing herself from German influence and drawing closer to
+us.  Hardly had the Emperor Alexander III come to the throne, than I
+said to you: "He will be a popular Emperor, and the more he loves his
+own people the more he will love ours."  For a long time you thought
+that my hatred of Prince Bismarck was blind, but from the outset you
+regarded my love of Russia as enlightened.  How many strengthening and
+encouraging letters have I not received from you?
+
+And now, Nicholas II, son of Alexander III, the well-beloved Emperor,
+who represents in his own person the highest expression of great, holy
+and mystical Russia, is coming to Paris officially, as the ally of
+France, so that all the ambitions of our patriotism, all our dreams of
+the last twenty-five years, are coming true together.  Am I not
+entitled to say to you, dear readers, "I have fulfilled the mission
+that I set before myself, my work amongst you is accomplished"?  But
+there remains still a tie between us, our common fidelity to Alsace!
+How could we forget those who have not ceased to remember?  Shall it be
+said that we failed those who rather than yield have suffered every
+form of torture?  Let us endeavour together to prove in a more active
+manner our devotion to the brethren who are separated from us.  Now
+that Prince Bismarck has one foot in the grave, now that the Russian
+Alliance is in the hands of the Government of France, let us devote all
+our strength and all the resources of our advocacy, all our love of
+justice, to the cause of Alsace-Lorraine. . . .
+
+William II is sick, nervous and irritable.  He has lost all patience
+with the question of the reform of military organisation; he did not
+raise that question, it would seem, and has plenty of other things to
+worry him.  He is going to ask Parliament, on its re-assembling, to
+vote large sums for the increase of the navy, his own particular care.
+After all, he received the army triumphant from the hands of Moltke and
+of Bismarck, but the navy is his own personal achievement; he believes
+this, and says so repeatedly.  But the German navy has no luck.  This
+year, besides the _Iltis_, the _Frauenlob_, and the _Amazone_, which
+swallowed up a large number of junior officers of the Prussian navy, it
+has lost the _Kurfurstin_ (as the result of an error of navigation)
+with 300 sailors, also the _Augusta_, the _Undine_, and other vessels.
+
+
+
+February 22, 1897. [5]
+
+William II has announced himself as the enemy of Greece, and the prop
+of the Ottoman Empire.  At the subscription ball given at the Opera in
+Berlin, did he not walk arm-in-arm with Ghalik Bey, the Turkish
+Ambassador, and authorise him to telegraph to the Sultan that, under
+existing conditions, he might count upon his sense of justice and his
+good-will?  Does not this constitute an insolent challenge to the
+decision which the Powers are supposed to have taken for the
+observation of neutrality?
+
+When William II is insolent, he does not do things by halves; now, he
+repeats to all concerned: "One does not argue with Greece, one gives
+her orders," and on every occasion that has offered, he has displayed
+sentiments hostile to Greece and favourable to the Sultan.  For these
+reasons, Abdul Hamid is devoted to William II.  He is tied to him, and
+bound by all his sentiments, by all his admiration and his fear, to the
+Germans.  Messrs. Cambon and de Nelidoff believed that they had
+detached the Sultan from Germany, but illusions on that score are no
+longer possible.  Germany possesses his entire confidence.  Did not he,
+the most nervous and suspicious of men, allow on one occasion the
+German military mission to take _effective_ command of his troops,
+whereas no other military mission has ever been allowed anything more
+than the right to put them through their drill?  Germany, which in case
+of need can count upon the Turkish army, is fundamentally interested in
+preventing Turkey from being either weakened or divided up.  A war in
+the East, in which Germany might get Russia deeply involved, at the
+same time that she kept her busy in Asia, is too great an advantage to
+risk losing, without doing everything possible to protect it. . . .
+
+
+
+April 28, 1897. [6]
+
+William II, the God of war and of force, is in every way responsible
+for events in the East.  Only his friendship, and the many consequences
+of that friendship, have given to Abdul Hamid the courage of his
+massacres, of his resistance to all efforts at reconciliation, and of
+his military proceedings in Greece.  The German Emperor had been able
+to persuade the simple-minded Government of France of his peaceful and
+humanitarian intentions.  It only needed a few of us to revolt and to
+express our indignation, to unmask him, and to show in its true, lurid
+light, the real nature of his actions, so as to enable the nations to
+know him for what he is.  To-day he is the master of Europe; but let
+the power of the Kaiser be what it may (and it is a power no more
+capable of honesty than that of Bismarck, who lied without ceasing,
+forfeited without ceasing his honour, and accepted responsibility for
+crime), whatever conquests hereafter William II may achieve, even
+should we be defeated again, we shall be able to stand up before him
+and to his face to say, "You will never achieve greatness!"  Material
+greatness turns again to dust, like all matter, but moral greatness is
+eternal, an intangible thing, which surrounds men, invisible, and which
+emanates from the best amongst them.
+
+We will leave to history, which shall surely record it, the judgment of
+_human_ men, of real peace-lovers, concerning William II, concerning
+this protector of the Red Sultan, this renegade and denier of his
+faith, who has sold his soul in order to govern the world through evil,
+through trickery, through force and through war.  You have only to read
+the German legends, to analyse the souls of the traditional heroes of
+Germany, to see that they are indeed much more closely allied to the
+Turks (who have only understood Islamism under its aspects of conquest)
+than they are to the traditions which Europe has inherited from Greece
+and from her daughters, Rome and Byzantium.
+
+The struggle of to-day lies between these two spirits: one the
+barbarian spirit, the spirit of conquest, which knows no other law but
+force, the spirit which subdues and kills, represented by Turkey and by
+Germany; the other, the spirit of civilisation, of love, which knows no
+other law than the right, the spirit which emancipates and vivifies,
+the spirit of Greece, from which European civilisation is drawn,
+excepting always that of the Germans and Turks.  Either the East will
+resist the Turks, and Europe will resist Germany, or else both will
+relapse into barbarism, and be condemned to war without ceasing, to
+butcheries, to the brutality of force and all its works.
+
+
+
+May 27, 1897. [7]
+
+At all events they have not yet won their bet in Berlin that they would
+make us look ridiculous and hateful.  Those very wise and well-bred
+people, who have been advising us to revise our national education, so
+as to welcome the Kaiser in 1900, have had but meagre success.  As to
+the golden stream, which brought us the 8000 marks of the King of
+Prussia,[8] thank Heaven, it has not been able to drown our patriotism.
+Brother Frenchmen, it is still lawful for lunatics and ill-bred people
+like ourselves to remember Sedan, Metz, Strasburg and Paris, as well as
+Kronstadt and Toulon.  Then let us not forget either the first rays of
+sunlight which reach us from Russia, or the darkness of 1870. [9]
+
+There is not a single German journalist (_and I wish to emphasise this
+fact most clearly_), even in the ultra-Prussian party, who would have
+dared to put his signature to such an article as one of our greatest
+newspapers has published concerning William II, whom it describes as "a
+humanitarian thinker, a gentle philosopher, thinking only of the
+happiness of the human race, of appeasing ancient hatreds and removing
+old grudges.  How joyfully would he not have restored Metz and
+Strasburg had he not been prevented in performing this act by the
+historical necessities of his position."  In proof of all which things,
+this article cites his telegrams of sympathy, the splendid bouquets
+which he has sent to our illustrious dead, his wish to pay homage to
+France in 1900, etc., etc.
+
+The journalist grown old in harness, who has dared to write such
+monstrous things as well as such nonsense, will no doubt be greatly
+astonished when I inform him that no foreign reporter, however
+inexperienced, of any nation great or small, is ignorant of the fact
+that William II is relentlessly determined to achieve the
+re-establishment of absolute autocracy as it was conceived by certain
+Emperors of Rome and Byzantium.  His motto is _Voluntas Regis Supremo
+Lex_, which, on the occasion of his first visit to Muenich, he wrote
+there with his own Imperial hand.  On the first occasion of the opening
+of the States of Brandenburg, he declared that he counted on their
+fidelity to help him to crush and destroy everything that might oppose
+his personal wishes.  Is it necessary to say once more for the
+hundredth time that he never has the oath taken by his recruits without
+telling them that "they must ever be ready to fire on those who oppose
+his rule, even though they should be their own fathers, mothers and
+brothers"?  The other day, did he not make his brother Prince Henry
+read a letter to the sailors of his war-ship the _Wilhelm Imperator_
+(the vessel appointed to attend the Jubilee of Queen Victoria), in
+which letter he held up to the execration of the army and navy those
+"unpatriotic" Germans who refused to provide him with millions for his
+wild scheme of increasing the navy, that is to say, about nine-tenths
+of the Reichstag?  There is in Germany one institution which commands
+very general respect, and enjoys traditional liberty, viz. the
+University.  For the last year William II has opened a campaign against
+the liberties of University education, and the scandalous manner in
+which he has attacked the professors at Berlin because of the dignity
+with which they have defended their rights of scientific research, are
+known to every one except "this brilliant Chronicler of the Boulevards."
+
+From one end of Germany to the other they go into ecstasies whenever,
+either before, during, or after his acts of politeness to France,
+William finds some new pretext for humiliating, humbling, or
+threatening us. [10]
+
+A German pamphlet published two years ago, entitled _Caligula; a Study
+of Caesarian Madness_, by Mr. Quidde, achieved such a success, that
+hundreds of thousands of copies were bought up in a few days by the
+faithful subjects of the German Emperor.  This pamphlet, ingeniously
+compiled by means of quotations from Suetonius, Dion Cassius, Philo,
+etc., gives a marvellous analysis of the character of William II.  I
+cannot resist the pleasure of giving a few extracts from this little
+work, for it would appear that William II is endeavouring, since its
+publication, to emphasise the resemblance between himself and Caligula
+and Nero.
+
+"The dominant feature in the actions of Caligula lies in a certain
+nervous haste, which led him spasmodically from one obsession to
+another, often of a self-contradictory nature; moreover, he had the
+dangerous habit of wanting to do everything himself.  Caligula seems to
+have a great fondness of the sea.  The strolling-player side of his
+character was by no means limited to his military performances.  He was
+passionately devoted to the theatre and the circus, and would
+occasionally take part himself on the stage, led thereto by his
+peculiar taste for striking costumes and frequent changes of clothing.
+He was always endeavouring to shine in the display of eloquence; and
+was fond of talking, often in public.  We know that he developed a
+certain talent in this direction, and was particularly successful in
+the gentle art of wounding people.  His favourite quotation was the
+celebrated verse of Homer--
+
+  There is only one Master, only one King.
+
+Sometimes he loved the crowd, and sometimes solitude; at other times he
+would start out on a journey, from which he would return quite
+unrecognisable, having allowed his hair and beard to grow."
+
+
+Just as the names of Caligula and Nero are daily affixed in Germany to
+the name of William II, Herr Hinzpeter is called Senecus, General von
+Hahnke is known as Burrhus; there is also an Acte and a Poppea at
+Berlin.  Frederick III is Germanicus and Prince Bismarck is called
+Macro, after the powerful prefect of the praetorium in disgrace.  Like
+Nero, William II has been cruel to his mother; he is cruel to his
+sister, the Princess of Greece.  He hates England, just as Caligula
+hated Brittany.  With a mind like that of Nero, William II derives the
+greatest pleasure from the thought of degrading the French people by
+making them receive him with acclamation.  What a triumph it must be
+for this grandson of William I (who defeated us but left us our honour)
+thus to bring us to dishonour: us, the descendants of the France of
+1789, republicans in the service of a Prussian Caesar!
+
+
+
+June 10, 1897. [11]
+
+It should have been to the interest of France and, of Russia, and a
+policy of skilful strategy, to oppose Turkey when supported by the
+Triple Alliance, and to create around and about her, in Greece as in
+the Balkans, such a force of resistance as would have put a stop to her
+schemes of expansion, resulting from those of the Powers of the Triple
+Alliance.  By so doing, France and Russia might have taken them in the
+rear and upset their plans.  We were already in a position of
+considerable advantage, in that we could leave to the King of Prussia,
+the German Emperor, all the responsibility for the crimes of the
+Sultan, observing at the same time all those principles which would
+have maintained, in their integrity, the moral and Christian traditions
+of France and Russia.  But our policy has been that of children
+building castles in the sand.  Confronted by a triumphant Turkey,
+leaning on the Triple Alliance, and by a Sultan suffering from the
+dementia of blood-lust, certain of the faithful friendship of William
+II, and confident in his victorious army (already 720,000 strong, and
+commanded by a German General Staff); confronted by such fears and
+threats, we have chosen to place all our hopes upon the balanced mind
+of William II, the generosity of the Sultan, and the loyalty of
+oriental statecraft!  I have said it so repeatedly that I may have
+wearied my readers, but I say it again; "_To their undoing, France and
+Russia have sacrificed their policy to Turkey, protected by Germany_."
+They are now confronted by German policy, evasive and at the same time
+triumphant, that is to say, in full command of the situation which it
+has brought about.  William II is at last revealed, even to the
+blindest eyes, as the instigator and sole director of everything that
+has taken place in the East since his visit to Constantinople.  He
+takes pleasure in advising the Sultan day by day, for he makes him do
+everything that he himself is prevented from doing, and he enjoys the
+satisfaction of being a tyrant in imagination when he cannot be one
+actually.
+
+
+
+June 25, 1897. [12]
+
+The Sultan's million of armed men, organised under a German General
+Staff, in a country where Germany is making every effort to possess
+herself of every kind of influence and every source of wealth, is not
+this the chief danger which Russia has to fear, and whose imminence she
+should clearly foresee, in dealing with a Sultan like Abdul Hamid, a
+man of nervous fears and bloodthirsty instincts, bound to furtherance
+of the sudden or premeditated schemes of William II?
+
+
+
+July 27, 1897. [13]
+
+Although Germany has commemorated her victories for the last
+twenty-five years, and will doubtless continue to commemorate them for
+the next six months and then for evermore, it seems that we are to be
+compelled, in deference to "superior orders" revealed at the Council of
+Ministers, to postpone the official consecration of a monument intended
+to prove our devotion to our mutilated country, and our incurable grief
+at the defeat of Sedan.  It seems that we have not the right, a free
+people, to give to sorely oppressed Alsace-Lorraine (which never ceases
+to give proofs of her fidelity to France) a proof in our turn, that we
+remember the disaster which has separated us, that we lament this
+disaster, and hope one day to repair, if not to avenge it.  Our pride
+is being systematically humiliated in every direction!  The nature and
+consequences of victory have indeed been cruelly modified, if one must
+submit to the law of the conqueror after having been delivered from him
+for twenty-five years.  The glorious resistance of the past thus
+becomes an ignominious surrender and makes us shed tears of shame, even
+more bitter than those which we shed over our saddest memories.
+
+Gentlemen of the Government of France, I would ask you to read the
+German newspapers; go to Berlin, go wherever you like in Germany or in
+Alsace-Lorraine, and you will find there hundreds and hundreds of
+monuments which have been inaugurated by the Imperial German
+Government.  For these, the smallest event, ancient or modern, affords
+sufficient pretext. [14]
+
+In all things and in every direction we yield today to the authority of
+a monarch who emphasises our defeat more severely than those who
+actually conquered us.  Our strict national duty towards him who did
+not overcome us with his own sword, was to hold ourselves firmly
+upright before him and to protect our brethren, victims of the war.
+Alas! we have been obedient to Bismarck, and we shall be submissive to
+William II.  But why, and to what end?  Had we met the liar and cheat
+with honesty, had we remained calm in presence of this nerve-ridden
+individual, we should have been able to recover, morally at first and
+then actually, all the advantages that Prussia gained by her victory.
+
+The Imperial victim of restlessness, whose nerves are so unhealthily
+and furiously shaken when he goes abroad, has a craving for disturbing
+the nerves of others; this in itself makes him the most dangerous of
+advisers.  William II never allows to himself or to others any
+relaxation of the brain; like all spirits in torment, he must needs
+find, forthwith, to the very minute, a counter-effect to every thing
+that confronts him.  With him, even a sudden calm contains the threat
+of a storm, excitement lurks beneath his moods of quietness.  The
+bastard peace which he has authorised Turkey to conclude, conceals a
+new revolution in Crete: such is his will.  No sooner is there evidence
+of an improvement in our relations with Italy, than he invites King
+Humbert to be present at the German military manoeuvres, in order to
+create dissension between the two countries.  And so it is in
+everything.  He makes it his business to inspire weariness and vexation
+of spirit, to destroy those hopes and feelings which restore vitality
+to the soul of a people.  He is for ever stretching out a hand that
+would fain control by itself the rotation of the globe, and he sets it
+all awry.
+
+
+The glorification of William II at Kiel is founded upon shifting sands.
+Schleswig remains Danish and resists the Germanising process with a
+force of energy at least equal to that of Alsace-Lorraine.  The Danes
+of Schleswig are still Danes, they have not bowed the knee in
+admiration of German _Kultur_, any more than the Alsatians, Schleswig
+says: "Let them ask us by a _plebiscite_ and they shall see what we
+want, what civilised men have the right to ask: light and air and the
+right to dispose of themselves."  The people of Alsace-Lorraine say:
+"If you would know what Alsace-Lorraine, which was never consulted,
+thinks of the Treaty of Frankfort, ask her."
+
+
+I blush, and my soul is filled with shame, when I think of the
+degradation of French patriotism contained in the utterances
+of . . . ., of those words which, to our lasting sorrow, evoked in _the
+Centre_ of the Chamber an outburst of enthusiasm.  May our patriots
+never forget this cowardly session of the French Parliament!  Thus,
+then, twenty-seven years after the war, when we have spent countless
+millions on the remaking of our army and navy, when every Frenchman has
+bled himself to the bone to make France so strong and independent that
+she might cherish the brightest hopes, a President of the French
+Council has the unutterable weakness, from the tribune, to threaten
+France with the German cane, should she dare to follow any other policy
+than that desired by Berlin!
+
+And French deputies have applauded these shameful words, that are
+reproduced, with such joy as may be imagined, by the whole German
+Press!  That Press has every reason to be delighted and to find in
+these words clear proof that the official class in France has always
+looked upon the Russian Alliance as a show-piece, never relying upon
+it, and that since the Berlin Congress (how often have I said it!) this
+official class has never ceased to gravitate towards Germany.
+
+And I, a Republican, a fanatic for the Russian Alliance, such as it
+might and should have been, a Frenchwoman, blind worshipper of my
+vanquished country--how can I hold my head up in the face of such a
+shameful collapse!
+
+
+In placing his services at the disposal of the Grand Turk for the
+persecution of Christians, in supporting those in Russia whose policy
+it is to urge their country into war with Japan and China and to divert
+it from its natural sphere of action in Europe, our Minister for
+Foreign Affairs has ruined one of the finest political situations in
+which France has ever found herself.  If the conduct of our foreign
+affairs had been entrusted to a real statesman, France might have
+recovered her position in Europe instead of going, with giant strides,
+down the path of hopeless decadence.
+
+
+Are not the intentions of Germany plain enough now and sufficiently
+proved?  They must be stupidly foolish who cannot see that a great
+German war is being prepared against the Slavs and Gallo-Latins, under
+most disastrous conditions for us and for Russia.  It needs all the
+blindness of King Humbert, of Leopold II and of the Hungarian
+Centralists, to believe that if and when it comes, a German victory
+would confer any benefits on anything that is not German.
+
+
+
+September 8, 1897. [15]
+
+The mind of Germany is everlastingly concerned with the toasts proposed
+by William II.  We know the toast proposed after his review of the 8th
+Army Corps.  First of all, come his remarks on the subject of foreign
+policy.  "It rests with us to maintain in its integrity the work
+accomplished by the great Emperor and to defend it against the
+influences and claims of foreigners."  On such an occasion, after the
+remarks on "justice and equity," which he made on board the _Pothuau_,
+the hot-headed Emperor was bound to deliver himself in some such strain.
+
+The next toast was that which he proposed at Hamburg in honour of King
+Humbert and Queen Marguerita.  This one is emphatic and at the same
+time gracious, for William II cultivates every style and all the arts.
+On this occasion the King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany, referred as
+usual to the solidity of the Triple Alliance and to the mandate which
+it has assumed for the preservation of peace.  He spoke as the grandson
+of William I.  King Humbert replied as the grandson of Victor Emmanuel
+(_sic_), skilfully gliding over the question of the indissoluble nature
+of the Triple Alliance and reminding his hearers that Germany has no
+monopoly in the pursuit of peace, but that all the Governments of
+Europe are equally concerned in endeavouring to attain it.
+
+A movement is taking shape in Italy, full of danger and of promise, as
+events will prove.  The clericals and the republicans have sketched the
+outline of an understanding, which looks as if it might be approved by
+Leo XIII.  The danger of this union between the parties will lead King
+Humbert back to a more national, a more peninsular, policy.  The strong
+opposition that it has to face is useful, in that it will oblige the
+country's rulers to pay more attention to home affairs and to the
+nation's interests than to the glorification of the dynasty.
+
+
+
+September 28, 1897. [16]
+
+"Germany is the enemy," Skobeleff used to say at Paris in 1882,
+speaking to the younger generation of Slavs in the Balkans.  These
+prophetic words were inspired in the hero of Plevna by Germany's
+intrigues at the Berlin Congress, intricate intrigues, full of menace
+for the future of the East.  They should have haunted the spirit of
+every chancellery ever since, and become the formula around and about
+which European diplomacy should have organised its forces to resist
+Prussia's invading tendencies.
+
+Until 1870 the liberal, philosophic, learned and federalist genius of
+Germany, was spreading all over the world through its literature,
+science, poetry and music, a genius whose attitude and equilibrium were
+the fruit of an equal fusion of the mind of North Germany with that of
+the South.  By the victories and conquest of 1870, this genius became
+suddenly and entirely absorbed in Prussian militarism, and has now
+grown to be a force hostile to all other races.  The power of the
+intellect in all its forms, recognises reciprocity and scientific
+research; the power of brute force only recognises the idea of
+predominance and the subjection of others.  The genius of Prussianised
+Germany to-day combines the lust of conquest and power with the
+shopkeeping spirit, but even in this last, there is no idea of
+reciprocity but only of exclusive encroachment.  Her international
+misdeeds are past all number; she saps and undermines all that has been
+laboriously built up by others.  Germanisation carries with it the
+seeds of disintegration; it is a sower of hatred, proclaiming for its
+own exclusive benefit the equity of iniquity, the justice of injustice.
+
+Only less extraordinary than the audacity of Prussia is Europe's
+failure to realise these truths.  In 1870 Napoleon III was deluded,
+fooled and compromised, led into war by means of lies.  Nameless
+intrigues set our generals one against the other.  At a moment when
+victory was possible, the treachery of Bazaine made defeat inevitable
+for France, whom the so-called genius of Moltke and Frederick-Carl
+would never have vanquished.  Having overthrown the Empire, the King of
+Prussia, who had declared that he was fighting against it alone, made
+war on France, well aware that sufficient vitality remained in the
+broken pieces to enable them to come together again, and that, under
+the threat of a French _revanche_, Prussia would be able to keep
+Germany exercised in such a state of mind as would reconcile her to
+remaining under the military yoke of the Hohenzollerns.  And Europe,
+without protest, accepts this condition of things, fatal to her
+interests and security, created for the sole profit of the lowest of
+nations.  By her self-effacement, indeed, she increased fivefold the
+influence and power of that nation.
+
+
+
+September 31, 1897. [17]
+
+You and I, all of us, we French people in particular, who think that we
+were born clever, we are all a pack of credulous fools.  Let any one
+take the trouble to put a little consistency, a little continuity, into
+the business of fooling us--especially about outside matters whose
+origins we ignore, or people whose history we have not closely
+followed--and we will swallow anything!
+
+All of us Republicans, all the Liberals of the Second Empire, Edmond
+Adam, our friends, our group,--great Heavens! how we swallowed German
+republicanism and liberalism!  With what brotherly emotion did we not
+sympathise with the misfortunes of those who, like ourselves, were the
+vanquished victims of tyranny!  We, Frenchmen and Germans alike, were
+defending the same principles, the same cause; we were fighting the
+same good fight for the emancipation of ideas, for the levelling of
+intellectual frontiers, etc., etc.
+
+How well I remember the friendly _abandon_ of Louis Bamberger in our
+midst!  Truly these Prussian Liberals and ourselves held the same
+opinions concerning everything, far or near, which bore upon
+intellectual independence, upon progress and civilisation.  And since
+we were united by such a complete understanding, such identity of
+ideas, it was our duty to work together: our German friends for the
+triumph of liberalism in France, and we, for the triumph of liberalism
+in Germany.  As to such questions as those of territorial frontiers, or
+the banks of the Rhine, Bamberger used to ask, "Who thinks of such
+things in Germany?  No one!  They had other things to think about!"
+The heart's desire of the sons of the German revolution of 1848-49 was
+a universal republic, universal brotherhood, and nothing else.  We
+believed him, but for what an awakening!  Hardly were the Germans in
+France, than all the orders dictated by Bismarck were translated into
+French by Louis Bamberger.
+
+A book by Dr. Hans Blum, which has just been published in Berlin under
+the title of "_The German Revolution of 1848-1849_," throws even more
+light on the "brotherly" sentiments of German republicans.  In this
+book Dr. Blum recalls a speech made in the Palatinate on May 27, 1832.
+This is what the orator said: "There can only be one opinion amongst
+Germans, and only one voice, to proclaim that, on our side, we would
+not accept liberty as the price of giving the left bank of the Rhine to
+France.  Should France show a desire to seize even an inch of German
+territory, all internal dissensions would cease at once and all Germany
+would rise to demand the retrocession of Alsace-Lorraine, for the
+deliverance of our country."
+
+That is how German Republicans thought, as far back as 1832.  In
+1868-69 they made us swallow once again ideas of brotherhood from
+beyond the Rhine, by lulling our perspicacity, by enervating the
+courage we used to display towards _foreigners_, and it was several
+weeks before we realised in 1870 that _all Germany_, from one end to
+the other, was of the same type of honesty, the same character as the
+Ems telegram.
+
+We are nothing but fools, credulous fools, if we believe that any
+German can think otherwise than as a member of united, that is to say
+Prussianised, Germany, or if we imagine that Prussia is anything but
+the complete, total, unique, fully accepted, assimilated and admired
+expression of German patriotism.  Prussia is the fine flower, the ripe
+fruit of German unity.  A few Bavarians, a few so-called German
+liberals, may pretend to be restive under the despotism of the King of
+Prussia, but they accept unreservedly the authority of the German
+Emperor.  And what is more, it is just as he is, that they wish their
+Emperor to be, thus they have imagined, thus they have made him.  He is
+like unto them in their own image, he governs them according to their
+own mind.  There may be some who, as a matter of personal inclination,
+might prefer to have more liberalism, but whenever Germanism is in
+question it is personified in William II, King of Prussia.  Berlin is
+the capital of all the Germans upon earth.
+
+During these past few days, in the Vienna Parliament, whilst an orator
+on the Government side was singing the praises of the Emperor Francis
+Joseph, a German Austrian exclaimed--an Austrian, mark you--"_Our_
+Emperor is William II."
+
+The credulous fools of the moment in France are the Socialists.  Just
+as we believed in the liberalism of German Liberals before 1870, so
+French Socialists now believe in the internationalism of German
+Socialists.  With greater sincerity than anything displayed by the old
+German Liberals of before 1870, the Socialists of Hamburg have taken
+the trouble to enlighten their French brethren with regard to their
+real sentiments.  Herr Liebknecht himself has explained their attitude;
+his words may be summed up as follows: "The Socialists of France are
+our brothers, but if they wanted to take back Alsace-Lorraine, we
+should regard them as enemies."
+
+There is nothing more remarkable than these German Socialists and their
+congresses, these fellows who always preach to other nations against
+patriotism, and never come together except to make speeches about the
+Fatherland.  At the Hamburg Congress, Auer, the socialist deputy,
+looked into the future and saw "the Cossacks trampling underfoot all
+the liberties of Western Europe."  What tyranny of barbarians could be
+more cruel than the tyranny of Germany which, wherever it extends,
+oppresses the racial instincts of mankind, ruins and absorbs a people,
+reducing it to servitude by the assertion of the rights of a superior
+race over its inferiors.
+
+Has the Hamburg Congress disabused the minds of French Socialists on
+the brotherhood of their German brethren?  Let us hope that it will not
+be necessary for them, as it was for us, to hear the thunder of German
+guns to understand that all parties in Germany are included in the
+_German party_, and that those who believe anything else are nothing
+but poor deluded dupes.
+
+
+
+October 26, 1897. [18]
+
+Those amongst us who, hour by hour, have devoted their lives to the
+service of our mutilated country, have for their object, each within
+the humble limits of his individual efforts, the glorification of
+France and that of Russia, the greatness of the one being dependent on
+the greatness of the other.  This twofold devotion, and dual service
+keep our fears perpetually alert in two directions; how great are those
+two commingled sources of fear when patriotic Frenchmen, like patriotic
+Russians, come to consider the bewildering development of Prussian
+power--a veritable process of absorption.
+
+German policy knows no laws except those of which Prussia is sole
+beneficiary.  Only that which is profitable to Prussia is good; the
+rest, all the rest, is a negligible quantity.  Moral precepts,
+religious brotherhood, higher education by force of example, a sense of
+justice applied to the fair apportioning of influence, vested rights,
+and a reasonable idea of reciprocity--all such things are moonshine for
+Prussia.  The sole object that Prussian Germany pursues is brutal
+conquest in all its forms.  By all conceivable means to get a footing
+for herself, here, there and everywhere; by the most energetic and
+methodical diplomacy possible, by military science, by trade and
+manufactures, by emigration and the race-spirit, and at the same time
+by subterranean methods of allurement and by insolent threats; these
+are her purposes and she accomplishes something of them every day.
+When one reflects what Germany's objects were, and what she has
+achieved in the Eastern question, to what humiliations and cross
+purposes she has exposed and reduced Europe, to what contempt for her
+own interests, what bewilderment and impotence, then, I repeat, the
+stoutest heart may have good cause for fear.
+
+Turkey, galvanised by Germany, has become a force to inspire terror
+amongst Christians in the East and throughout the whole range of
+European civilisation, where it comes into contact with Mussulmans, in
+all parts of the world.  All the slow-moving patience of Russian and
+French diplomacy for centuries, all the long struggles of the Crusades
+have been robbed of their garnered fruits in a few months.  German
+policy has overthrown all their influence, destroyed all their approach
+works, released Europe's vassal from all his promises and obligations.
+The Sick Man, cured by a quack who holds his health in pawn, has bound
+himself body and soul to his healer.
+
+Greece, frequently hesitating in her policy between British and French
+sympathies, has nothing to hope for in the future from Turkophil
+Germany.  William II will make her recovery a matter of limitations and
+bargaining.  And who knows but that the strange proceedings of Prince
+Constantine and of the royal princes, his brothers, may not be
+explained by secret promises for the future--promises made by the
+German Emperor in return for blind submission to his will?
+
+William II holds Turkey in the hollow of his hand.  Byzantium and Rome
+are vassals of a German monarch.  If Rome is threatened with ruin by
+her alliance with the King of Prussia, Byzantium is restored by a new
+Caraculla.  William II is, therefore, twice entitled to wear the sphere
+with the Imperial crown atop, as the emblem of his sovereign power and
+as the imitator of the Roman Emperor.  And notwithstanding the
+Anti-Christ protection which he extends to the infidel, he can also
+affix the Cross to his sphere.  Is he not about to take possession, in
+theatrical fashion, of the Holy Places?
+
+Turkey has been restored by the Kaiser of Berlin.  He is her Emperor,
+her Khalif, Master of the Holy Places, for the reason that his most
+humble servant is Emperor, Khalif and Master of the Holy Places.  So
+long as all these titles and powers lay in weak hands, the dangers of
+Turkish policy, if not the anxieties it created, might be disregarded.
+But today the military strength of Turkey is firmly established and it
+is supported by another tremendous Power.  Russia and France have never
+committed an act of graver imprudence than to allow these two forces to
+unite.  Germany, Germany, ever and ever greater!  The German song is no
+longer a dead letter.
+
+
+It was by guile that simulated liberal and democratic ideas, that
+Bismarck prepared public opinion in the German Confederation for union
+with Prussia.  We, too, believed in the liberalism of Germans and of
+Bismarck before 1870, and herein we proved ourselves to be just as
+easily gullible as French socialists are to-day, who believe in the
+genuine internationalism of German socialists.
+
+
+For those whose interest lies in this direction, the Imperial
+Statistical Bureau of Berlin provides information of an astounding
+kind.  Germany's exports in 1896 reached the value of 3754 millions of
+marks.  German exports to England and her colonies amounted to 808
+million marks, whilst England and her colonies supplied Germany with
+produce to the amount of 931 million marks. [19]
+
+Henceforth William II knows that he has at his command the tools with
+which to bite into England, industrially and commercially.  He has
+already had a large bite, and he looks forward to eating up proud
+Albion, slowly but surely.
+
+
+
+November 26, 1897. [20]
+
+We must always remember and incessantly repeat: Germany's paths
+throughout the whole world are widening and lengthening horribly.  The
+latest Roman invader profits at the same time by all the headway that
+Carthage and Athens lose.  England and France, alike responsible for
+their spoliation, are the more to blame in that they allow themselves
+to be smitten with blindness at a time when they are not yet smitten
+with impotence.  In the East, both might have done what they liked,
+with the help and the interested support of Russia.  But what have they
+done?  Less than nothing, since they have worked in servile
+fashion--one for the greater glory of her military conqueror, the other
+for the glory of her commercial conqueror.  The European Concert,
+whether it retreated or advanced, whether it took up a question or
+discussed it, has done all things under the exclusive direction of
+German interests.
+
+With a haughty contempt and disdain for the dignity of all Europe
+outside the Triple Alliance, which should have been met by emphatic
+protests, William II has compelled Russia, England and France to give
+public sanction to the crimes of the hyena of Stamboul, to build up
+with their own hands the supremacy of Prussia in the East and that of
+Austria in the Balkans.
+
+Baron Marshal von Bieberstein, Germany's new Ambassador, has been
+welcomed at the Court of the Grand Turk as the envoy of his chief
+counsellor, his only friend, as the sacrosanct representative of the
+Emperor-King, over-lord of the East.  Thus all the delays, evasions and
+subterfuges of the Sultan are sanctioned by William II.
+
+The King of Prussia, Emperor of Germany, takes pleasure in a
+self-contradictory policy, whereby he misleads and confuses the world.
+He is the same to-day as he was when, as prince heir to the throne, he
+declared that he "would never have any friends, only dupes."  Through
+him the Sultan, whom he delights to honour, becomes a conqueror, his
+crimes are condoned and cynically absolved before the outraged
+conscience of all Europe.  Yes, all these things have been done by
+William II; Abdul Hamid looks upon the German Emperor as the main
+pillar of the temple of his glory!
+
+
+One cannot speak of the East without feelings of shame and heartfelt
+indignation.  In Turkey's stolid resistance to reform, in her
+massacres, in the Cretan revolt, and in the war between her and Greece,
+William II has seen only an opportunity of gain for himself.  He has
+cynically pursued his policy of profit-snatching.  Just as certain
+quacks demand a higher fee when they prescribe for a patient whose life
+is in serious danger, so William II exacts heavier payment from his
+client.  His demands are exorbitant: trade, finance, armaments,
+concessions, sale of arms, renewal of munitions of war, rebuilding of
+the fleet, etc., etc.
+
+
+The King of Prussia continues, without ceasing and at his own sweet
+will, to utter defiance to common sense and to the general direction of
+civilised opinion.  Whilst by his policy he supports the foul murderer
+of Christians and prepares the way for fresh butcheries on the return
+of the victorious Turks from Thessaly, William II has addressed these
+astounding words to the recruits of his Royal Guards: "He who is not a
+good Christian, is not a brave man, nor a worthy Prussian soldier, and
+can by no means fulfil the duty required of a soldier in the Prussian
+army."
+
+
+
+December 10, 1897. [21]
+
+Germanism, which up till 1870 had a certain sense of decent restraint,
+and took the trouble to disguise itself skilfully under Bismarck, no
+longer knows either limitations or scruples.  It displays itself
+without shame, secure in the hesitancy of the Slav and the weakness of
+the Latin peoples.  Who could fail to be roused to indignation by the
+display of German fanaticism which has taken place at Vienna?  To think
+that in the capital of an ally of William II, a faction, relying on
+advice publicly given in Berlin should shout in the Reichsrath,
+overthrow a ministry, disturb the public peace in the streets, and
+accompany these manifestations with Prussia's national song, "Die Wacht
+am Rhein," and the display of the German flag!  If scandalous
+proceedings such as these make no difference in the relations of the
+Triple Alliance, why wonder at the audacity and pride of the Teutons?
+
+Everything is a matter of exclusive right for the German.  There are no
+other rights but German rights, and when Germany claims the exercise of
+a right, neither numbers, nor nationalism, nor races have any
+existence, confronted by the individuality, the nationalism, of the
+German race.  Mommsen, the leading historian of Prussian Germany, wrote
+in the _Neue Freie Presse_ of Vienna, "Pummel the heads of the Czechs
+with your fists," whereat all the Austrians of German race applauded,
+loudly declaring that if it came to a question between the Germans of
+Prussian Germany and Austrian subjects of Slav extraction, their
+sympathies would not be in doubt, for they, although Austrians, saw on
+the one side their brethren of a superior _Kultur_, and, on the other,
+barbarians only fit to remain for ever oppressed.
+
+On another occasion, Mommsen wrote: "We are twin brothers; we became
+separated from you in former days, but soon we must be united again."
+The linguistic map of Germany, widespread wherever German is spoken,
+reveals very clearly what are the ambitions of "Alt-Deutschland."  The
+lion's maw of the "Slav-eaters" is always wide open.  Sometimes the
+devouring beast walks delicately, at others he hurls himself savagely
+on his prey.
+
+The opening of the Reichstag has provided us with a very important
+speech from the throne by William II, for it emphasises the lack of
+agreement which prevails between Sovereign, Parliament and people.  The
+Emperor-King has announced his plan for a seven-years' period for naval
+service, similar to that in force in the army.  The Bill will come
+before the Reichstag during its present session.  As William has
+declared more than once, he intends that the naval strength of Germany
+shall equal that of her army.  As for the German people, while ready to
+accept all the sacrifices required to maintain the supremacy of its
+military forces, it has no hankerings after naval supremacy.  Its
+proudest hopes lie in the direction covered by the "Drang nach Osten"
+formula.  It wants to advance upon Austria, while retaining the ground
+already won.  Mommsen and the Duke of Baden between them sum up
+Germany's ambitions.
+
+In Germany at the present moment, public opinion would appear to be
+satisfied with preserving the work of William I and pushing on towards
+the East; but how little will these things satisfy William II!  It is
+the will of the German Emperor, King of Prussia, to be a law-giver to
+the East, to dispute with England the sovereignty of the seas, to take
+bites out of China, to display the ever-victorious flag of Germany all
+over the world.  It is true that, to accomplish this will of his, will
+require an additional 500 millions, and it will require, in particular,
+that the Reichstag should vote them in one lump sum.  William II is
+like his teacher Bismarck in the matter of dogged obstinacy.  Like him,
+he will present his scheme in a hundred different guises, until its
+opponents become weary and give in.
+
+
+Germany has just been giving the European Concert a lesson in the
+policy of energy.  She displays as much bluntness in her sudden claims
+as she displayed skill in having the Concert brought to ridicule by
+Turkey.  Haiti and China have yielded on the spot to her direct
+threats.  If they reflect, will not the Powers of the Concert realise
+that Germany's every act is either a challenge or a lesson?  The German
+expedition to Kiao-chao, 4000 strong, is so greatly in excess of the
+requirements of her claims to compensation for injuries suffered, that
+it reveals a definite intention on the part of William II to take
+advantage of the first plausible pretext to acquire a naval station in
+China.
+
+Peace has been signed between Turkey and Greece, but let us not regard
+it as a settlement of outstanding questions, for the Ambassadors were
+only able to come to an agreement by eliminating questions in dispute,
+one by one.  Germany now appears to dominate the Eastern question to
+such a degree that, in his Speech from the Throne, William II did not
+even allude to it.  What would have been the good?  Turkey is already a
+province of Germany!  William II and his Ambassador are the rulers
+there and govern the country as sovereigns.  The flood-gate of German
+emigration, secretly unlocked, will soon be thrown wide open; 200,000
+Germans will be able to make their way into the Ottoman Empire every
+year.  Before long their numbers will tell, they will assert their
+rights, and the Slav provinces in the Balkans and in Austria will find
+themselves out off by the flood.
+
+Is Russia beginning to realise that it would have been better for her
+to protect the Christians against Turkey rather than to allow them to
+be slaughtered--that it would have been a more humane and far-seeing
+policy to defend Greece and Crete instead of abandoning them to the
+tender mercies of Turco-German policy?  It is over-late to set the
+clock back and to challenge the pre-eminent control which William II
+has established over everything in the East.
+
+
+
+December 25, 1897. [22]
+
+None but the author of _Tartarin_ and his immortal "departures" could
+have described for us the setting-forth of Prince Henry of Prussia for
+China.  The exchange of speeches between William and his brother makes
+one of the most extravagant performances of modern times, when read in
+conjunction with the actual facts, reduced by means of the telegraph to
+their proper proportions, which may be summed up as follows: Taking up
+the cause of two German missionaries who have suffered ill-treatment in
+China, the Emperor of Germany sends an ultimatum to the Son of Heaven,
+who yields on every point and carries his submission so far that he
+runs the risk of compromising his relations with other Powers.
+Consequently, there is an end of the dispute.  The facts, you see, are
+simple.  But Prince Henry has made him ready to receive his solemn
+investiture at the hands of his brother, the Emperor, by going to kiss
+Prince Bismarck on his forehead and cheek ("forehead and cheek," as
+Prince Henry unctuously remarks, "so often kissed by my grandfather,
+William I").  Next Prince Henry goes to seek the blessing of General
+Waldersee; then he has himself blessed by his mother, and by his aunt,
+and later he will go and get blessed by his grandmother, Queen
+Victoria.  Slowly and solemnly each act and formality is accomplished
+in accordance with the rites prescribed by William.  The Imperial
+missionary, the sailor transformed into a sort of bishop, sets forth.
+The quest of the pirate-knight is to conquer all China, to become its
+emperor, to fall upon it, inspired by the God of battles.  What matters
+it that the Chinese will not resist, that they will fall prostrate
+before him?  The grandeur of Tartarin's setting forth has nothing to do
+with his getting there.
+
+At Kiel all was prepared.  Germany trembled with impatience and this is
+what she heard:--
+
+
+"Imperial power means sea power: the existence of the one depends upon
+the other.  The squadron which your ships will reinforce must act and
+hold itself as the symbol of Imperial and maritime power; it must live
+on good terms of friendship with all its comrades of the fifteen
+foreign fleets out yonder, so as energetically to protect the interests
+of the Fatherland against any one who would injure a German.  Let every
+European over them, every German merchant, and, above all, every
+foreigner in the land to which we are going, or with whom we may have
+to do, understand that the German Michael has firmly planted on this
+soil his shield bearing the Imperial Eagle, so as to be able, once and
+for all, to give his protection to all those who may require it of him.
+May our fellow-countrymen out yonder be firmly convinced that, no
+matter what their situation, be they priests or merchants, the
+protection of the German Empire will be extended to them with all
+possible energy by means of the warships of the Imperial fleet.  And
+should any one ever infringe our just rights strike him with your
+mailed fist!  If God so will He shall bind about your young brow
+laurels of which none, throughout all Germany, shall be jealous!
+
+"Firmly convinced that, following the example of good models (and
+models are not lacking to our house, Heaven be praised!), you will
+fulfil my wishes and my vows, I drink to your health and wish a good
+journey, all success, and, a safe return!  Hurrah for Prince Henry!"
+
+
+Prince Henry's incredible reply was as follows--
+
+
+"As children we grew up together.  Later, when we grew to manhood, it
+was given to us to look into each other's eyes and to remain faithfully
+united to each other.  For your Majesty the Imperial Crown has been
+girt with thorns.  Within my narrower sphere and with my feeble
+strength strengthened by my vows, I have endeavoured to help your
+Majesty as a soldier and a citizen. . . .
+
+"I am very sincerely grateful to your Majesty for the trust which you
+place in my feeble person.  And I can assure your Majesty that it is
+not laurels that tempt me, nor glory.  One thing and one only leads me
+on, it is to go and proclaim in a foreign land the gospel of the sacred
+person of your Majesty and to preach it as well to those who will hear
+it as to those who will not.  It is this that I intend to blazon upon
+my flag and wherever I may go.  Our comrades share these sentiments!
+Eternal life to our well-beloved Emperor!"
+
+
+Such gems must be left intact.  One should read them again and again,
+line by line.  Ponderous eloquence, fustian bombast, and mouldy pathos
+combine with the display of pomp, to excite world-wide admiration.
+This play of well-rehearsed parts is given before an audience of
+generals, high officials and politicians, and the scene is set at Kiel,
+that moving pedestal which the King of Prussia inaugurated when he made
+all the fleets of Europe file past him.
+
+William II looks upon history as a vulgar photographic plate designed
+for the purpose of "taking" him in all his poses and in such places as
+he may select and appoint.
+
+A crusade is afoot: they go, they are gone, to preach "the gospel of
+the sacred person of William II."  A holy war is declared, to be waged
+against a people which declines to fight.  Never mind, they will find a
+way to glory, be it only in the size of the slices of territory which
+they will seize.
+
+
+The two great conceptions of our Minister of Foreign Affairs are to act
+as the honest broker in China between St. Petersburg and Berlin, and to
+put the European Concert to rights.  How often have I not told him that
+all he has to gain by playing this game is a final surrender on the
+part of France?  Alas! my prophecy, already fulfilled in the East, is
+very near to coming true in the Far East.  If it should prove
+otherwise, it would not be to anything in our foreign policy that our
+good luck would be due, but to the fact that all Russia has come to
+realise that she is likely to be Germany's dupe in the Far East, as she
+has been in the East.
+
+During the reign of the Emperor Alexander III and the Presidency of M.
+Carnot, the Franco-Russian Alliance possessed a definite meaning,
+because both these rulers understood that any pro-German tendencies in
+their mutual policy must have constituted an obstacle to the perfect
+union of the national policies of their two countries.  France had
+ceased to indulge in secret flirtations with Germany when the latter
+was no longer Russia's ally.  The plain and inevitable duty of our
+Government was to promote an antagonism of interests between Germany
+and Russia and to prove to the latter that France was loyally working
+to promote her greatness above all else, on condition that she should
+help us to hold our own position.  If France had been governed as she
+should have been, had we possessed a statesman at the Quai d'Orsay, our
+diplomatic defeats at Canea, Athens and Constantinople, though possibly
+inevitable, might have found a Court of Appeal; and France would
+finally have been in a position of exceptional advantage in securing a
+judgment favourable to our alliance.
+
+Germany's brutal seizure in China of a naval station that the Chinese
+Government had leased to Russia for the purposes of a winter harbour
+for her fleet, foreshadows the sort of thing that William II is capable
+of doing, under cover of an _entente_, so soon as Japan comes to
+evacuate Wei-hai-wei, upon China's payment of the war indemnity.
+Germany's scruples in dealing with "sick men," remind one of the
+charlatans who either kill or cure, according to their estimate of
+their prospects of being able to grab the inheritance.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1896, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1896, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1896, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _Ibid._, September 1, 1896.
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] La Nouvelle Revue, May 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] William II had just sent 8000 marks to the fund for the victims of
+the fire at the Charity Bazaar.
+
+[9] Since Parisian journalists have dared to sing their cynical praises
+in honour of the German Emperor, no considerations need restrain our
+pen in defending the Tzars from the charges that have been brought
+against them.  These people ask: How is it that _your_ Emperor of
+Russia has delayed so long in expressing to us his condolence?  Why?
+Let me explain.  The fire at the Charity Bazaar broke out at 4 p.m. on
+May 4, but the Russian Ambassador in Paris only telegraphed the news to
+Count Mouravieff on the evening of May 5.  The Emperor can only have
+heard of the disaster on the 6th; it was then too late for him to
+telegraph a direct message, and it was therefore thought best to send
+instructions to the Russian Embassy.  The blame in this matter falls
+therefore upon M. de Mohrenheim.  It was due to his methods of
+proceeding that the Emperor learnt the news forty-eight hours late.
+_Le Gaulois_, in a somewhat officious explanation, informs us that the
+Russian Ambassador kept back his telegram because May 5 is the birthday
+of the Empress, and because there is a superstition in Russia that it
+is bad luck to get bad news on one's birthday.  This explanation is
+untrue; there is no such superstition.  Did they conceal from Nicholas
+II, on the day of his coronation, the terrible catastrophe at
+Khadyskaje, which cost the lives of thousands of Russians; and did this
+disaster prevent the Tzar from attending M. de Montebello's ball that
+same evening?  Moreover, M. de Mohrenheim should have telegraphed on
+May 4 to Count Mouravieff, leaving to him the choice as to the hour for
+communicating the information to the Tzar.  M. de Mohrenheim is in the
+habit of doing this sort of thing; when he chooses, his instincts are
+dilatory.  He behaved in exactly the same way, and with the same
+object, on the day when M. Carnot was assassinated.
+
+As soon as the news of that dreadful event reached the Quai d'Orsay,
+the _Chef du Protocole_, (then Count Bourqueney) went in all haste to
+the Russian Embassy, woke up the Ambassador, and informed him
+officially of the disaster which had just overtaken France.  It was
+then two o'clock in the morning.  Instead of telegraphing the news at
+once to Alexander III, M. de Mohrenheim only did so at eleven o'clock
+on the following day.  Now, he knew perfectly well that, as the result
+of this delay, the Tzar could only learn the news two days later
+because, on the following day in the early morning, Alexander III was
+starting with the whole Imperial family for Borki, where he was about
+to open a memorial chapel on the spot where several years before an
+attempt had been made on his life.  The journey takes about forty-eight
+hours, and as the destination of the Imperial train is always kept
+secret, the Tzar could not receive the telegram until after his arrival
+at Borki.  It will be remembered that the delay which thus took place,
+in the communication of the Tzar's sympathy with France in her
+mourning, created an unfortunate impression, and enabled the German
+Emperor to get in ahead of him by two days.  The explanation of the
+delay which occurred on that occasion should have been communicated to
+the Havas Press Agency, and the Tzar's journey mentioned.  This was
+done by all foreign newspapers, but good care was taken that no word of
+the sort should be published in Paris.  It is, therefore, evident that,
+if the Kaiser has been twice placed in the position which has enabled
+him to get in well ahead of Alexander III and Nicholas II, the blame
+must not be ascribed to any indifference, or lukewarm feelings on the
+part of the friends of France.  The most one can reproach them with is
+to have retained at Paris an Ambassador about whose sentiments both
+Tzars were fully informed long ago.
+
+[10] "Truly, this man must be devoted to France," M. Emile Hinzelin
+writes me, "he must love her dearly, since he keeps a strip of her, cut
+from the living flesh, which still palpitates and bleeds.  Whom can he
+possibly hope to deceive?  Muelhausen is not far from Paris, neither is
+Colmar, nor Strasburg, nor Metz.  It is from this unhappy town of Metz,
+the most cruelly tortured of all, that he sends us his condolences and
+his bag of money.  As is usual with complete hypocrites, he is by no
+means lacking in impudence.  Never have the French people of
+Alsace-Lorraine been accused with more bitter determination,
+prosecuted, condemned and exploited by all possible means and
+humiliated in every way.  Never has William himself displayed such
+unrestraint and wealth of insult in his speeches to the Army.  I came
+across him during a journey of mine some months ago, just as he was
+unveiling a monument, commemorating the fatal year of 1870.  With his
+head thrown back, his eyes rolling in frenzy and rage, shaking his fist
+towards France and with his voice coming in jerks, he uttered
+imprecations, challenges and threats in wild confusion.  Next day the
+German Press published his speech, very carefully arranged, toned down,
+and even changed in certain respects; but it still retained, in spite
+of this diplomatic doctoring, an unmistakable accent of fierce and
+determined hatred.  There you have him in his true light, and in his
+real sentiments, this man of sympathetic telegrams, of flowers, and
+easy tears."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 16, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[14] Amongst the latest proofs of this, here is one, I quote from a
+German newspaper: "In 1870, when war was declared, the _Koelnische
+Zeitung_ offered a reward of 500 thalers for the first capture of a
+French gun.  This prize was won by some soldiers of the first Silesian
+Battalion of the 5th Regiment of Chasseurs, who, in their first fight
+at Wissemburg, took possession of a cannon which bore the name of Le
+Douay, after the commander-in-chief of a French Army Corps.  It
+occurred to these soldiers to erect a monument at the spot where this
+gun was captured.  The monument itself, consisting of a large rock from
+the Vosges, was the gift of one of them, and on June 20 the
+presentation of the monument took place, in the presence of Chasseurs
+who had come from all parts of the country and of a large number of
+officers.  Twenty-seven years ago, the Chasseurs were there, on the
+same spot, facing the enemy; to-day, they hail the heights of
+Wissemburg as part of the great German Fatherland, reconquered after a
+fierce and bloody struggle."  It is evident that the Emperor is not the
+only one to celebrate these anniversaries, that new ones are always
+being invented, and that no humiliation will be spared us in
+Alsace-Lorraine.
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[16] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[17] This article appeared in the _Petit Marseillais_ under the title
+of "The Gulls."
+
+[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[19] A friend writes to me from Germany: "You cannot conceive the
+effects produced upon me by the _incredible_ development of industrial
+enterprise throughout all Germany.  Factories seem to spring out of the
+ground; in all the large towns that one visits, smoke ascends from
+hundreds of chimneys.  The workshops that manufacture steam-engines are
+so overloaded with work, that orders take more than a year to fill.  I
+went all over the offices of the Patents Bureau in Berlin--a place as
+large as our Ministry of Commerce, with a library more complete than
+that of our poor Conservatoire of arts and trades.  Alas, we are but
+pigmies beside these giants!  Everywhere one sees evidence of order,
+discipline and patience, qualities in which we are somewhat lacking.
+But I am not down-hearted, and with the help of a few colleagues, we
+are going to try and propagate some of the ideas we have learned from
+our neighbours and which may be of benefit to our country."
+
+[20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 2, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+1898
+
+
+The encroaching expansion of Germany--When will there be a determined
+coalition against Germany?--The crime of Jules Ferry--William II
+checked in his attempt to obtain a representative of the Holy See at
+Constantinople--Leo XIII confirms France in her protectorate over
+Christians in the East--William's journey to Palestine.
+
+
+January 9, 1898. [1]
+
+Shall I be told that I repeat myself if, once a fortnight, I say to
+every good citizen, anxious about the many dangers that threaten his
+country, "Beware of this Germany, whose numbers and wealth and strength
+are ever-increasing and multiplying?"
+
+Let each one of us do all that lies in his power not to assist in any
+way the industry and commerce of Germany, which devour and destroy our
+own.  Let us enlighten those near to us who in their turn will
+enlighten their neighbours, and let us stimulate a movement of
+resistance to the invasion of German produce of every kind; let every
+one of us contribute his share to the strengthening of public opinion
+for the struggle against the spirit of Germanism, which is gradually
+undermining the national spirit of France.  May the voter insist that
+his representative should not keep his eyes fixed within the narrow
+semi-circle of parliamentary affairs and that he should observe beyond
+it the continual retreat of our diplomacy before the advance of German
+predominance.
+
+Even the most limited intelligence can now perceive that, even if we
+felt ourselves powerless to pursue our secular policy for the defence
+and protection of Christians in the East, nothing compelled us to
+witness the marriage contract between Germany and the Grand Turk, to
+overwhelm them both with good wishes for their perfect union, to lend
+them our aid in establishing their perfect understanding.
+
+What need is there for us to seek to reconcile Germany and Russia in
+China?  Germany could not have rendered any valuable assistance to our
+ally in the Middle Kingdom, for she brings to Asia nothing but her
+insatiable greed, and had it not been for her reconciliation with
+Russia, she would never have dared to gratify it.  Once sure of the
+confidence of the young Tzar, with what haste and brutality did William
+II proceed to display his long teeth!  So there he is, definitely in
+possession of Kiao-chao Bay, for only the utterly credulous will
+believe in any retrocession of this so-called leased territory, in
+recovering from Germany this admirable commercial harbour, this
+marvellous strategical position.
+
+
+
+February 6, 1898. [2]
+
+Lies, insolence, polite hypocrisy, underhand plotting, audacity,
+cynicism and cruelty, these are the ingredients that go to the making
+of Prussian statecraft.
+
+It must be admitted that the Emperor-King of Prussia is growing.
+Cutting himself clear from the timid souls who are still possessed of a
+sense of right, he assumes the proportions of a Machiavelli and a
+Mephistopheles combined.  William the Incalculable, as his subjects
+call him, develops to his own advantage the influences and the power of
+evil.  What new distress will he bring to Christian souls, this
+applauder of the Armenian massacres, when, after having covered with
+his favour, supported by his strength, guided by his advice and
+encouraged by his friendship, the assassin who reigns at
+Constantinople, he makes his pilgrimage to Palestine, escorted in
+triumph by the same soldiers who, by order of the Red Sultan, have
+killed, tortured and tormented Christians?  We shall see him kneeling
+before the tomb of Christ, surrounded by Turks with bloodstained hands,
+when he goes to take possession of those much-coveted Holy Places,
+which shall make him, the prop and stay of the exterminator of
+Christians, sole arbiter of Christianity in the East.  Can the heavens
+that look down on Mount Sinai smile on William II, sheltering in the
+shadow of Turkish bayonets?  When, at Jerusalem, he celebrates the
+opening of the Prussian Church (whose corner-stone was laid by
+Frederick III, repentant of his military glory), will not this man of
+insatiable pride receive some sign of warning from above?  No, it
+sufficeth perhaps that he should go forward to meet his fate.  Is it
+not the same for all evil-doers, no matter to what heights they may
+attain, who only climb that they may be hurled to lower depths?
+
+The challenges that men fling at the ideal structure of the principles
+of humanity are like the stones that children throw at monuments.  They
+accumulate and serve to consolidate that which they were meant to
+destroy.
+
+No one can reproach William II with inactivity, and in this the monarch
+at Berlin is of one mind with Germany.  He draws the nation after him;
+it follows blindly on dizzy paths of adventure and the pursuit of
+wealth.
+
+There is this about Germany to inspire us with fear--and one wonders
+how it is that Russia and France have not been so terrified long ago as
+to make them leave no stone unturned in the Near and Far East, to
+exorcise the perils with which her earth-hunger threatens them--that
+she is just as greedy as England in the politics of business, has just
+the same jealous desires for financial and commercial expansion, but
+that, in addition, she has hankerings of another sort: for glory, for
+conquests, for the annexations necessary to feed and satisfy her
+imperious military spirit.  When we consider the innumerable objects
+for which Germany is working in the Near and Far East, we are compelled
+to astonishment at the narrow limits of the field of action that she
+leaves for other nations.
+
+Prior to 1870, every country in Europe possessed its own distinguishing
+features, its power, its ambition, or its dominating influences.
+England was the first, of commercial and industrial nations.  Russia
+was the great leader of Oriental policy, the predestined heir to Asia.
+Austria was the supreme German power.  France was a military nation and
+at the same time the eldest daughter of the Church; she was the
+undisputed protector of Catholic Missions all over the world and umpire
+in most of the great international quarrels.  To-day, Germany is at
+once all that England, Russia, Austria and France were.  She holds
+every monopoly, centralises power of every kind, and destroys all power
+of movement in others.  When shall we have a determined coalition
+against Germany?  Herein lies the only hope of liberating Europe from
+the claws of Prussia and recovering something of the lion's share which
+William takes to himself.
+
+
+
+February 22, 1898. [3]
+
+By what process of mental aberration has it come to pass that our
+Minister of Foreign Affairs has placed himself under the wing of
+William II at Constantinople?  His one object should have been to
+combine every effort on the part of Russia and France to keep Germany
+out of the East.
+
+There would be no parallel to such a deplorable lack of foresight, if
+our diplomacy had not provided it in the Far East, if it had not helped
+to prove to Germany, there also, that she was becoming indispensable in
+China, that the prestige of Russia combined with that of France was
+insufficient to cope with the situation and to solve the difficulties
+that had arisen with the Son of Heaven, with Japan and England.
+
+The blindness which has characterised our foreign policy, which, since
+Jules Ferry took it in hand, has made us labour continuously with our
+own hands for the greatness of Germany, as if to justify our humility
+in her eyes, this will remain the crime of the initiator of an
+anti-national policy, the crime of M. Jules Ferry.  It will also remain
+the irreparable fault committed by those who have adopted the
+lamentable policy which consists in following in the train of the
+conqueror once the ransom has been paid.
+
+
+
+March 9, 1898. [4]
+
+William II will have his sea-going fleet, and be able to challenge the
+fleets of the Great Powers and meet them on equal terms.  He had meant
+to carry with a high hand his seven years' naval construction plan, in
+the same way that Bismarck obtained his seven years' military programme
+in spite of the opposition of the German Catholics.  And now behold the
+German Budget Committee has sanctioned the raising of the money for his
+warships in six years!
+
+As to the projected reform of the military code and the complete
+re-organisation of the army on a homogeneous basis, the Emperor-King of
+Prussia is not in the least disturbed.  No doubt Bavaria, Wuertemberg
+and certain other Confederated States will claim to keep their
+autonomous armies by virtue of the Constitution of 1871, but the King
+of Prussia is quite determined, on his part, to administer the German
+army under a single military code.  Bavaria, they tell us, will never
+yield.  Bavaria will yield.  The German victories of 1870-71 created
+the German Empire and every Empire must of necessity be centralised or
+else become once more a Confederation.
+
+United Teutondom, Germany, is embodied in Prussia.  The Bavarians, like
+all the other Saxons, sing the national hymn "Germany, Germany, ever
+and ever greater."  What, then, is the good of all their talking at
+Muenich?  If Germany is to grow ever greater, she cannot have several
+centres of influence.  Therefore Bavaria will submit.
+
+
+
+April 1, 1898. [5]
+
+Notwithstanding the fact that he is a Protestant, William is impressed
+by the greatness of the role that Leo XIII might play in Christianity;
+and, therefore, brings all the influences at his command to bear upon
+him.  Through all his official and officious agents he tells him that
+atheistic France, in the hands of laymen, can no longer be the eldest
+daughter of the Church; that the Holy Father is the Head of
+Christianity throughout the world, and that in the East and Far East he
+should make use of those who are most Christian; that an Emperor who is
+a believer, even though he be a Protestant, is much better fitted to be
+the protector of Christians in China and in Turkey than a Republic
+without faith.  The only possible influences in China and in Turkey are
+religious influences, but economic questions follow in their wake, and
+the German Emperor, King of Prussia, means to appear before the peoples
+of the Near and Far East, in the light of his spectacular proceedings
+at Kiel, of the triumphant audacity of Kiao-chao, and of the splendour
+with which he is going to invest his journey in Palestine, as the
+Controller of their destinies, the defender of their rights and the
+supplier of such goods as they may wish to purchase.
+
+It is possible that William II may be able to persuade Leo XIII that he
+should entrust him with the Holy Places and work together with him in
+China.  In any event, the Catholics of Germany are now a long way from
+the _Kulturkampf_; they will vote the naval budget by an ample majority
+and Germany will become the great Naval Power, and at the same time the
+great Military Power, so that in the end she may become the wealthiest
+of the Commercial Powers: this is the dream of William, King of Prussia!
+
+
+
+June 5, 1898. [6]
+
+William II has become attached to the East, the scene of his chief
+diplomatic successes, a part of the world in which his Imperial word is
+law.  He will continue to shower his favours upon it, and disturb
+everything there, so as to be able to fish in troubled waters.  He will
+ransack everything for his purposes, even that very vague thing,
+homogeneous Turkey, based on the Mussulman faith.  At this moment, he
+is planning I know not what kind of acceptance of the Cross by the
+Crescent, just as he planned Prince Henry's Chinese crusade.  If the
+Cuban war did not detain him in Europe, he would have gone to
+Palestine, with a cavalcade of some sort which would have been an event
+in the history of Christianity.  And he will do it yet.
+
+What does Russia, so jealous for the Holy Places, think of the
+intrusion into them of the German Kaiser?  He is master there.  Here is
+one of the most striking proofs of the fact: the Mussulmans have a
+perfect horror of bells, but the new German Church erected at Jerusalem
+is equipped with a fine peal of them.  That which neither Christian
+kings, nor even Tzars, were able to obtain, William II has achieved.
+And such is the idea of force with which the German Emperor is
+associated in their minds, that even the most fanatical Mussulmans have
+bent the knee in submission to this sacrilege.
+
+
+
+July 12, 1898. [7]
+
+The unseverable unity of Pan-Germanism is the ruling formula with the
+Germans of Austria.  Are they not continually threatening the Hapsburgs
+that they will secede if the supremacy of their German minority over
+the Slav majority is not maintained?  They do not even take the trouble
+to lower their voices when they cry to the neighbouring Empire: "Before
+very long we shall be yours."
+
+Since the defeat of France, Germany's ambitions have grown to a height
+out of all proportion even to the importance of her conquest.  On all
+sides she has cast covetous eyes, stretched out her grasping hand in
+all directions.  For only France, while still intact, possessed the
+courage to protect other nations from the all-consuming German appetite.
+
+That Germany should have captured the monstrous friendship of a French
+Minister for the Christian-slaying Sultan!  Can any one possibly find
+any absolution, any excuses, for such a deplorable mismanagement of our
+material and moral interests in the East?
+
+Gradually, unless something can be done to check these unfortunate
+tendencies of our diplomacy, William II will announce that the time has
+come for the apotheosis, _a la turque,_ of a Protestant Emperor.
+
+And then, all of a sudden after this gradual preparation, the Catholics
+and the Holy Places of the Orthodox will be delivered over to one of
+the only forces of Christianity, to that which gives absolution for
+murder and protects the slayer of Christians.
+
+Race, nationality, politics, trade, influence and guarantees, all may
+be summed up in Oriental countries in a single word: Religion!  Must,
+then, a government seek to advance the cause of its State religion, not
+from religious conviction, but in the spirit which seeks to retain the
+privileges and wealth it has acquired and its powers of self-defence?
+
+Our new Minister of Foreign Affairs understands these things--he has
+pondered over them long: will he not, therefore, seek and find in the
+complexities of Oriental policy the factor of immediate and personal
+advantage which is calculated to minister to boundless self-conceit?
+He will endeavour quietly to untie the least compact of the knots tied
+at Stamboul and Berlin; he will replace them by other knots, tied more
+closely by himself.  He will display the cleverness of those who make
+no effort to be clever, and he will not lack clearness of sight and
+precision for the simple reason that he loves his country better than
+himself.
+
+
+
+July 25, 1898. [8]
+
+The high approval bestowed by Germany upon all the subterfuges of the
+diplomacy of Abdul Hamid, the bankruptcy of the European Concert, the
+embarrassment in which each one of the Governments that compose this
+strange Concert finds itself when confronted with the machiavelism of
+the Turk, all these have produced a situation intolerable for those
+statesmen who have any regard for the dignity of their country.
+
+Our new Minister of Foreign Affairs, upon coming to the Quai d'Orsay,
+felt keenly the humiliation inflicted upon France by the persistent
+weakness of our policy.  From the outset he succeeded in foiling the
+Sultan's dangerous scheme for securing a representative of the Holy See
+at Constantinople which would have abolished at one stroke the whole
+French protectorate over Christians in the East.
+
+Cardinal Ledochowsky, Prefect of Propaganda, with the help of the
+prospective Nuncio at Constantinople, and in order to emphasise the
+collapse of French influence in the East, was making his plans in
+readiness for William II to assume, solemnly and definitely, a
+protectorate over the Christians.  Already the Kaiser's trusty friend
+at the Vatican had decided to instruct the Catholic clergy in Palestine
+to render exceptional honours to the German Emperor on the occasion of
+his journey to the Holy Places.  But the Council of the Congregation,
+in plenary session, has opposed the wishes of Cardinal Ledochowsky, and
+so there will be no nomination of a representative of the Holy See at
+the Court of the Grand Turk.  The German Emperor must needs be content
+with the honours "usually accorded to reigning princes."  This is the
+kind of rebuff that neither Abdul Hamid nor William II readily forgives.
+
+
+One of the German Emperor's chief joys is to break things.  To bewilder
+people by the suddenness of his resolutions, to court all risks, to
+proclaim his power, to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind: these are
+the pleasures of the German Emperor, King of Prussia.  There is no need
+for me to repeat the strange Neronian stories that are whispered in
+Germany concerning certain incidents of William's sea-voyages and
+journeys in Norway.  A number of mysterious deaths following one upon
+the other provide sufficient material for these tales.  For those who,
+like myself, have never ceased to regard William II as a creature of
+unbridled pride, it is enough from time to time to note one of his
+actions, so as to form our judgment of the man and to be able to
+predict to what heights of complacent admiration for himself and of
+severity for others he is likely to attain hereafter.
+
+
+
+August 10, 1898. [9]
+
+Created by force, the unity of Germany is maintained by force.  On the
+day that another force arises, Germany will collapse, for her cohesion
+has only been attained and cemented by cunning and contempt for the
+truth; she has lived by the sword and she shall perish by the sword.
+
+It is said that Bismarck was the real obstacle to an understanding
+between England and Germany.  It is certainly true that neither France
+nor Russia has anything to gain by England's throwing herself into the
+arms of Germany.  Mr. Chamberlain is ready to do all in his power to
+draw England into the Triple Alliance, and William II, no longer
+dreading the criticisms of Varzin, would now accept with pleasure the
+proposals which he seemed to disdain.  Nevertheless, the real rival
+that threatens England's future is Germany.
+
+The German peril, industrial and commercial, inspires England with
+fear, and we should know how to turn this situation to our advantage.
+Let us do all we can to prevent an _entente_ being arranged which would
+deprive us of a card and add one to the enemy's hand.
+
+A war in China between Russia and Great Britain, no matter how it might
+end, would fulfil Germany's dream of being delivered from Russia in the
+East and the Balkans.  This is precisely what William II desires and
+seeks--herein pursuing Bismarckian tactics.  France and Russia must,
+therefore, exercise all their skill to prevent it, and go exceeding
+warily amidst the intrigues that are now afoot.
+
+What has been the result of the Note which the representatives of the
+Powers have handed to the Porte, on the initiative of France and
+Russia, stating that they will never permit the landing of new Turkish
+forces in Crete?  Merely to prove that Austria and Germany refuse to be
+parties to these proceedings, and to speak plainly, support the Sultan.
+Ah, if Russia could only be kept busy in China!  What a godsend if
+France could be left alone to play the part of this admirable European
+Concert, the genial notion of our last Minister of Foreign Affairs!
+
+Germany alone secures her ends, profits by all the disturbances she
+creates, waxes and grows fat, and William II smiles at the thought of a
+world-wide kingdom ruled by himself alone.  Once master of the whole
+earth, he may come to stand face to face with God.
+
+
+
+September 11, 1898. [10]
+
+On the occasion of a gala dinner at Hanover, William II, always in a
+hurry to display his likes and everlastingly parading his dislikes, did
+not fail to seize the opportunity of being polite to England and
+uncivil to France.  He proposed a toast to the health of the 10th Army
+Corps, recalling to memory the brotherhood of arms between Englishmen
+and Germans at Waterloo; he glorified the victory of the Sirdar,
+Kitchener, in the Soudan.
+
+A few days later, speaking of peace, the German Emperor, King of
+Prussia, let fly his Parthian arrow at his august brother, the Tzar.
+At Porta, in Westphalia, he said: "Peace can only be obtained by
+keeping a trained army ready for battle.  May God grant that 'e may
+always be able to work for the maintenance of peace by the use of this
+good and sharp-edged weapon."
+
+Nothing could have been more bluntly expressed; it is now perfectly
+clear that the reduction of armaments has no place in the dreams of
+William II.  I know not by what subterfuge he will pretend to approve
+of a Congress "to prepare for universal peace," but I know that, for
+him, the dominating and absorbing interest of life lies in conquest, in
+victories, in war.  Turkey victorious, America victorious, England
+victorious--these are the lights that lead him on.  He excels at
+gathering in the inheritance won for him by his own people, and he
+likes to have a share also in the successes of others.  He has had his
+share in Turkey and has filed his application in America.  He is
+already beginning with England in China and speculating with Great
+Britain in Delagoa Bay, under the eyes of his greatly distressed
+friends of the Transvaal.
+
+Amidst a hundred other schemes, the German Emperor, King of Prussia, is
+by no means neglecting his apotheosis at Jerusalem.  We are told even
+the details of his clothes, which combine the military with the civil,
+"An open tunic of light cloth, brown coloured; tight trousers, boots
+and sword-scabbard of yellow leather, the insignia of a German General
+of the Guards, a helmet winged with the Prussian eagle."  A truly pious
+rig-out forsooth, in which to go and kneel before the tomb of Christ!
+They say that, in order to judge of the effect of this costume, William
+II has posed for his photograph forty times.
+
+The German Church in Palestine certainly never expected to see the
+_summus episcopus_ adopting an attitude of extreme humility in that
+country.  If any simple-minded Lutheran were to address the Kaiser in
+the streets of Jerusalem, after the manner of the Hungarian workman,
+who saw the archbishop primate, all glittering with gold in his gala
+coach, passing over the Buda bridge, William II would answer him in the
+same style as did the archbishop: "That is just the sort of carriage in
+which Jesus used to drive," exclaimed the workman.  The archbishop
+heard him, and leaning from the carriage door, replied: "Jesus, my good
+fellow, was the son of a carpenter.  I am the son of a magnate, and
+Archbishop Primate of Hungary."
+
+William II undoubtedly believes that he does Christ an honour in going
+to visit Him.  He goes in the full pride of a personality which sees in
+itself all the great events of the past, gathered together as in an
+historic procession.  He goes, with all the pomp and circumstance of a
+glorious omnipotence, he, whose diplomacy has made a protege of the
+Khalif and a footstool of the Crescent--he goes, I say, to manifest
+himself as the Emperor of Christianity.
+
+Was all then to be lost to us at a stroke--the Crusades, all the moral
+and economic interests of France in the East, that secular protectorate
+of which we, the possessors, make so light whilst William II devotes to
+its conquest all the resources of his skill and cunning?  Not so!  Our
+Minister of Foreign Affairs was on the alert.  William XI, who is an
+artistic walking advertisement, designed, like a Mucha or a Cheret, for
+the German market, has now had evidence of the fact that, if religion
+is an article of export for him, anti-clericalism is nothing of the
+kind for us.  Our interests in the East have been protected and
+preserved.  The Pope of Lutheranism has not been able to silence the
+Pope of Rome.  The radical Republic which represents France remains the
+grand-daughter of Saint Louis.  On hearing the authoritative news of
+William II's journey to Jerusalem, Cardinal Langenieux, Archbishop of
+Rheims, begged Leo XIII for "a reassuring word."  Up to the present,
+the Holy See has recognised our Protectorate in the East as a simple
+fact; to-day it is recognised as a right.  Here is the "reassuring
+word," the answer given by Leo XIII to Cardinal Langenieux:--
+
+"We know that for centuries the French nation's protectorate has been
+established in Eastern Countries and that it has been confirmed by
+treaties between governments.  Therefore no change whatsoever should be
+made in this matter.  This nation's protectorate, wherever it is
+exercised, should be religiously maintained and missionaries must be
+notified accordingly, so that, if they have need of help, they may have
+recourse to the Consuls and other agents of the French nation."
+
+At their last Congress the German Catholics--we know that the Catholics
+constitute a third of the population of Germany and that their
+representatives can hold in check the Imperial policy in the
+Reichstag--openly expressed their sympathy for Leo XIII, for the "noble
+exile at Rome, who is compelled, from the day of his elevation to the
+Papacy, to pledge himself never to cross the threshold of the Vatican
+alive."  When William II is compelled hereafter to make concessions to
+the Centre in the Reichstag, his allies, the Italians, will be well
+advised to give the matter their attention.
+
+
+
+September 26, 1898. [11]
+
+All the actions of that modern Lohengrin, William II, derive their
+inspiration from a Wagnerian theory concerning the harmony of discords.
+This friend of the Sultan, soon to be the guest of the Khedive,
+congratulates Kitchener, the Sirdar, whose deeds are the blood-stained
+consecration of England's machinations in Mussulman territory.
+
+Almost at the identical moment that he sent his telegram to the Sirdar
+to celebrate a British victory, he said at the opening of the new
+harbour at Stettin: "I rejoice that the ancient spirit of Pomerania is
+still alive in the present generation, urging it from the land towards
+the sea.  _Our future lies on the water_."
+
+Queen of the Seas, take warning!
+
+
+We know how William II is wont to express his pacific ideas and what is
+his conception of the reduction of armaments--with blustering threats
+and hosannahs in praise of rifles and cannons.  On the subject of
+peace, the German mind has long since been fixed in its ideas.  One
+cannot sum them up better than in the following quotation from a Berlin
+newspaper.
+
+"At the Paris Salon in 1895 there was a great picture by Danger
+entitled 'The Great Authors of Arbitration and Peace,' depicting all
+those, from Confucius and Buddha down to the Tzar Alexander III, who
+have laboured in the cause of peace.  In a note which explained the
+painter's work, it was said to be impossible to depict all the friends
+of arbitration and peace.  It seems to me that such friends of peace as
+William II and Prince Bismarck should not have been forgotten, for, by
+the Treaty of Frankfort, they have brought about a lasting peace and
+have obtained the power required to maintain it."
+
+
+Between this German conception of peace and ours, is there not a gulf
+that nothing can ever bridge?
+
+
+
+October 23, 1898. [12]
+
+William II is in the seventh heaven.  One by one he dons his shining
+garments, which the eastern sun gladdens with silver and gold.  He has
+made another trip on his swan, that is to say, on the white
+_Hohenzollern_, which carries Lohengrin to the four corners of the
+earth.  The German Emperor's departure from Venice was a master-stroke
+of scenic effects, one of those subversions of history, to which the
+eccentric monarch of Berlin is so passionately addicted.  Nothing
+indeed could have been more original than to make the sons of the
+ancient Venetians, hereditary foes of the Turk, welcome a Protestant
+monarch who is the friend of the chief slaughterer of Catholics.
+
+A Christian Emperor landing at Stamboul accompanied by his Empress,
+obtaining permission from the Sultan to hold a review of troops on a
+_Selamlik_ day, acclaimed by the Mussulman people and soldiery, exalted
+amidst all the pomp and splendour of the East, feasting his eyes on
+magic colours, the hero of unrivalled entertainments, surely it is
+enough to raise to a frenzy of pride the potentate who has made such
+things possible.
+
+But amidst these pomps and vanities, William is by no means neglectful
+of his skilful and lucrative business schemes.  It is said that he has
+secured a concession for a commercial harbour at Haidar Pasha, near
+Scutari.  Haidar Pasha is the railhead of the Anatolian line, which
+belongs to a German company.  Will the great commercial traveller,
+William II be able to persuade his sweet friend the Slayer, to make him
+a grant of the coaling station which he covets at Haifa?  The Sultan
+will refuse him nothing.  Will France and Russia have time to spare for
+lodging protests, their attention having been so skilfully diverted to
+Fashoda on the one hand and to China on the other?  Is it not written
+that the two nations must unite forces if they would check the schemes
+of him who aspires to world-wide dominion over religion and commerce?
+
+Though France and Russia have sometimes quarrelled over the question of
+the Holy Places, they cannot regard without anxiety the triumphant
+entry of the third thief upon the scene.
+
+England, too, is busy with Fashoda and does not seem to be in such a
+position, diplomatically speaking, at Constantinople, as to be able to
+oppose the cession by Turkey to Germany of a Mediterranean harbour.
+Moreover, the manner in which she has grabbed Cyprus leaves her without
+much voice to talk of the _status quo_ in the Mediterranean.
+
+William II in Palestine!  This man with his mania for glittering pomp
+and grandeur going to kneel at the stable in Bethlehem; the proudest
+and most conceited of men, the most puffed up with vainglory, treading
+the paths trodden by the feet of the Humblest; the most egotistical and
+least brotherly, coming to bow before Him who is brotherhood
+personified: could any spectacle be sadder for true Christians?
+
+
+
+November 10, 1898. [13]
+
+The Imperial pilgrim has left the Holy City, _El Cods_, as the Turks
+themselves have it.  Amidst the silence of its holy places his
+turbulent majesty manifested itself in every direction.  He prayed,
+discoursed, telegraphed, wrote and conducted inaugural functions.  He
+made all the Stations of the Cross and preached to the German Colony in
+Jerusalem, telling them that amidst such surroundings "they should be
+possessed of a perpetual inclination to do good."  And forthwith he
+proceeded to speak of his great friendship for the Sultan, for the
+individual who methodically suppresses Christians in his empire by
+killing them.
+
+William has seen the tomb of David, which infidels may not approach,
+and whose stones only Mussulmans may lawfully tread.  The very dear
+friend of Abdul Hamid, he whom the Turkish troops salute with the same
+words as they use for the Sultan, has written to the Holy See,
+announcing his gift of a plot of land to the German Catholic
+Association in the Holy Land and adding "that he was happy to have been
+able to prove to Catholics that their religious interests lie very near
+to his heart."
+
+Leo XIII might have replied: "Sire--Let your Majesty do even more for
+Catholics; persuade your friend the Sultan to cease from killing them."
+
+
+
+November 24, 1898. [14]
+
+William II's journey to Palestine has completely proved the thorough
+understanding which he has established with Abdul Hamid--that he should
+take possession of the Holy Places, as head of the Lutheran religion
+and as representative of the Catholics of his Empire.  France is,
+therefore, no longer _de facto_ protector of Christians in the East,
+since she is not required to protect the German Catholics, now directly
+protected by their Emperor.  In the Far East, William II had already
+refused to allow France to protect his Catholic subjects.  The
+advantages which he derived from this decision were too great for him
+to abandon them elsewhere, since the murder of a single missionary had
+brought him Kiao-ohao.
+
+Thus, then, ended this journey, accomplished in pomp and splendour,
+applauded at the same time by German Christians and by the slayers of
+Christians.  William II has attained his object in the matter of
+religious influence and of the emigration of German colonists, whom the
+Sultan will be pleased to receive with open arms.  The Kaiser paid his
+reckoning liberally by proposing the health of the Sultan at Damascus
+and by declaring his intention to help and sustain the Master and the
+Khalif of 300 million Mussulmans.  The seed of the words thus spoken
+will sprout and will inspire encouragement for every kind of revolt in
+the Mussulman subjects of France--and, for that matter, of England also.
+
+Whilst William II was paying his devotions at the Holy Places, giving
+all the impression of a pious benevolent Head of the Church, a number
+of horrible evictions were being carried out in Schleswig in his name
+and by his orders.  Hundreds of families, dragged from their native
+soil, from their homes and kindred, were led away to the frontier on
+the pretext that they still clung to their belief in a "Southern
+Jutland."  Day after day, for the last thirty-four years, on one
+pretext or another--and sometimes without any--the Danes have been
+discouraged from living in Schleswig.  Either life has gradually been
+made impossible for them, or else they have been suddenly compelled to
+leave the house where they were born, where their elders hoped to die
+in peace, and their places have been filled by German colonists.  A
+terrible exodus, shameful cruelty!  But "Germany for the Germans" is an
+axiom before which all must bow, big and little, rich and poor.
+
+
+
+December 10, 1898. [15]
+
+Mr. Chamberlain's coquetting with Germany has ceased for the time
+being.  _The Times_, in contrast with its former hymns of praise, now
+contents itself with asking William II not to make difficulties for
+England in Europe or beyond the seas, and it adds that a friendly
+attitude would serve the interests of German subjects in the Colonies
+much better than one of hostility.
+
+The passage in the German Emperor's Speech from the Throne which refers
+to China is not calculated, it would seem, to appease Great Britain's
+irritation.  "Germany's Colonies," said the Kaiser, "are in a state of
+prosperous development.  At Kiao-chao steps have already been taken to
+improve the economic conditions of the protectorate.  The frontier has
+been definitely settled by agreement with the Chinese Government.  A
+free port has been opened and work upon it has begun.  The construction
+of the railway which will link up the Protectorate with the Hinterland,
+will be commenced in the near future.  Relying on the old treaties
+still in force, and on the new rights acquired under the treaty
+concluded with China on March 6, 1898, my Government will also
+endeavour in future, whilst carefully respecting the lawful rights
+acquired by other Powers, _to develop economic relations with China,
+which, year by year, will become more important, and to secure to
+German subjects their full share in the activities directed towards
+opening the Far East to Europe, from the economic point of view_."
+
+Nor is the influence acquired by William II and his subjects in the
+Ottoman Empire, emphasised by this same Speech from the Throne, of a
+nature to reassure England with regard to her projects in the East.  In
+the Near, as in the Far, East she sees herself being supplanted by
+Germany, and this by methods identical with her own, against which,
+therefore, she fights more disadvantageously than against France and
+Russia, more foolishly chivalrous.
+
+William II, who had replied with insolent sharpness to a legitimate
+claim advanced by a certain princeling of the Confederated States--the
+Regent of Lippe-Detmold, Count Ernest von Lippe-Biesterfeld, has had
+occasion to see that public opinion severely condemns his unjustifiable
+action.  The Confederated Sovereigns and Princes perceive therein a
+menace to themselves, and have rallied energetically in defence of one
+of their number.  The masses, seeing an insignificant princeling
+oppressed and threatened by the biggest of them, have sided with the
+weaker.  On his return from Jerusalem, William found the situation
+extremely strained, and he endeavoured to relieve it by concessions of
+various kinds.  None of them, however, were regarded as adequate.
+Thereupon, with the suppleness which costs him so little when it is a
+question of sacrificing his most devoted and valuable servant, the
+Emperor, King of Prussia, sacrificed Herr von Lucanus, the head of his
+private household, an almost legendary personage who had had a hand in
+every important act of William's life.  It was he who carried the
+Imperial ultimatum to Von Bismarck and escaped unhurt from the hands of
+the infuriated giant.
+
+Herr von Lucanus had not been sacrificed to the violent sarcasms of the
+Chancellor after his reconciliation with William II; he seemed to be
+unassailable until, simply for having addressed a few improper lines,
+at the Emperor's dictation, to a minor prince, he is removed from the
+anonymous post which was one of the occult powers of Potsdam.  The
+august Confederates may consider themselves satisfied.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La  Nouvelle Revue_, February 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign
+Policy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+1899
+
+
+Our diplomatic situation in 1899--William II visits the
+_Iphigenie_--The Hague Conference--Germany the only obstacle to the
+fulfilment of the humanitarian plans of the Tzar.
+
+
+January 11, 1899. [1]
+
+Impelled by a simplicity of mind that suggests vacuity, a great many
+French patriots imagine that our country cannot be equally hated by two
+nations at once.  Seeing England threatening France every day in every
+way and by all the means at her disposal, these hypnotised patriots
+with fixed and staring eyes, see only England and nothing else!  No
+matter what misdeeds Germany may commit, they scarcely trouble to turn
+towards her their inattentive gaze.  Some of them, even, whose lips are
+tightened with anger when they think of London, smile with a vague
+feeling of good-will at the thought of Berlin.  And yet the other
+enemy, the German, emboldened by our absorption, is more ready to
+oppress the weak, reveals himself as bolder and greedier, more cynical
+and exclusive, more violent in denying to others their rights.  German
+influence may spread all over the world, but refuses to allow any other
+influence whatsoever to penetrate Germany.  Prussia introduced the law
+of force because she was strong; she is now inaugurating a new system
+of human rights to the exclusive advantage of Germany.  One newspaper,
+the _Vossische Zeitung_, has dared to say: "This system is unworthy of
+a civilised state and must lead to our being morally humiliated before
+the whole world."  But that is all.
+
+When Germany perpetrates some particularly monstrous act, she is only
+"a civilising power spreading the greatest of all languages."
+Moreover, Germany is the only nation that possesses a secular history;
+other nations have nothing more than a succession of irregular
+proceedings, tolerated by German generosity or indifference.
+
+The German Emperor, King of Prussia, wages a victorious war against
+everything that is not German.  He has just put to the sword the French
+terms in the Prussian military vocabulary.  In vain these poor words
+pleaded the authority of the great Frederick, who introduced them into
+Prussia.  In spite of his fondness for imitating Frederick the Great,
+William II has slaughtered the French expressions "_officier
+aspirant_," "_porte epee_," "_premier lieutenant_," "_general_," etc.,
+etc.  The massacre is complete, their exclusion wholesale; he leaves no
+trace of the enemy's tongue.  William II follows with marked
+satisfaction the anti-French movement of opinion in England.  "England
+will chastise France," he said to his Officers' Club, "and then she
+will come and beg me to protect her."  Germany hates us with all her
+own hatred, added to that of England.  She hopes for our defeat, but if
+we should win, she would come hypocritically to claim from us her
+vulture share of the spoil for her so-called neutrality.
+
+
+
+February 9, 1899.
+
+Bismarck's interest in things was never keenly aroused unless they were
+worth lying about.  When he said "the Eastern question is not worth the
+bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier," he was formulating in his mind
+the programme of the "Drang nach Osten," the great push towards the
+East.  The Russo-Turkish war; the humbling of the victorious Slav
+colossus by the Congress of Berlin; the diabolical treachery contained
+in the Resolutions of the said Congress (not one of which but contains
+the germ of some revolt or movement on the part of the races of the
+Turkish Empire); the separation of Bulgaria and Roumelia, united by the
+Treaty of San Stefano; the subsequent reunion, directed against Russia,
+of these two countries; the handing over of Bulgaria to a Coburg, bound
+by ties to Austria--all these things were brought about by the
+treachery and guile of the super-liar who ruled at Berlin.  And since
+then, William II has done everything possible to advance this "Drang
+nach Osten," Prussia's favourite scheme.
+
+And whilst the menace of this "push towards the East" is steadily
+growing, whilst he who directs it from Berlin holds in his hand all the
+strings of the puppets who can help to advance it or pretend (as part
+of the conspiracy) to oppose it, what is great Russia doing, the mighty
+Tzar, and France?
+
+They tell us that Russia is abandoning her interests in the East and
+that the Tzar is dreaming of giving Europe a lasting peace--a peace
+chiefly favourable to the economic and commercial development of
+Germany and to the increase of her influence.
+
+Russia and France seem scarcely to realise that the only force which
+can drive back the tide of Germanic invasion is the Slav power,
+organised and firmly established in Europe.  A Balkan league including
+Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, a southern Slav kingdom, a
+Bohemia-Moravia, these might hold the German power in check and give to
+Europe the necessary equilibrium.  France has an interest as great as
+Russia's in the organisation of this opposing force, but she does not
+realise the fact.  Just as the Athenians stretched out their hands
+towards the power of Rome, deadly in its fascination, even so there are
+culpably blind patriots among us who dream the monstrous dream of an
+_entente_ with Germanism.  As well might one, to escape the flood,
+throw oneself into the rising ravening torrent.  Before long, Germany
+will be the ruler of Austria, of Hungary, Turkey and Holland, and we
+shall have prepared no counterpoise to this encroachment, we, the
+Allies of the great Russian people, who, even though they may
+eventually succumb to the fatal attraction of Asia, might first help us
+to secure our racial psychology and to establish bonds between our
+Gallo-Latin soul and the soul of the Slavs.
+
+
+The Germans are establishing themselves comfortably and permanently in
+China.  There lies before me an extract from the first number of a
+newspaper published by the Germans in China under the title of _The
+German Asiatic Sentinel_.  This official organ of the Kiao-chao
+territory appears every week with six pages of articles and
+advertisements.  It is strange to find in it advertisements of the most
+diverse description, from that which commends brown Kulmback beer, to
+that in which two young German merchants seek to correspond, with a
+view to marriage, with good-looking young German girls of good family.
+
+When one remembers the solemn investiture at Kiel of Prince Henry of
+Prussia, as leader of the crusade which was to spread the sacred words
+of Christianity amongst the barbarian followers of Confucius, and when
+one sees this investiture finding its expression in the initiation of
+the Chinese into the mysteries of Kulmback beer and the search for
+exportable Gretchens, the association of the two pictures reminds one
+somehow of tight-rope dancing.  But ridicule is unknown in Germany.
+
+
+It seems to me that the Kaiser's latest speech, at the banquet of the
+provincial Landtag of Brandenburg, is in somewhat doubtful taste.  On
+this occasion, he spoke first of the divine right and responsabilities
+of the Hohenzollerns on a footing of familiarity with God, and next he
+compared the functions of a sovereign with those of a gardener, who
+stirs up the earth, smokes the roots and hunts out noxious insects.
+True, the German Emperor has got to cultivate the tree of 1870-71 and
+to destroy "hostile animals," which I take to mean our good
+simple-minded Frenchmen!
+
+The campaign in favour of a _rapprochement_ between France and Germany
+continues to be cleverly managed and directed in our midst.  There is
+talk of a visit of the Tzar, who would come to Antibes and who would
+there receive William II at the same time as M. Felix Faure.  The
+formula with which this arrangement is commended to us is "we have
+sulked long enough."  In other words, they would convert a great,
+strengthening and enduring hatred into a trivial grudge.  That, since
+Fashoda they should regard Sedan as a peccadillo is strange, to say the
+least of it.
+
+The _Kolnische Zeitung_, which opened the discussion with regard to a
+_rapprochement_ with France, now closes it by observing--
+
+"That if ever the French should feel impelled to seek a reconciliation
+with Germany, it could only be sincerely effected on the condition that
+they abandon once and for all the idea of a reckoning to be settled
+between the two countries for the war of 1870-71."
+
+
+When we have estimated the nature and extent of Germany's greed,
+calculated the number of her demands and ambitions, reflected by the
+light of history and German exaggerations, on the character of the
+German race and its unbridled lust of domination, then the National,
+Colonial and Continental interests of France (considered
+dispassionately and without hatred for the conqueror or resentment for
+the cruel and humiliating past) do not lie in the direction of a
+_rapprochement_ with Germany.  They lie in the establishment and
+combination of the Slav States in Europe, in a more effective alliance
+with Russia, and a _rapprochement_ between the Latin nations.
+
+
+
+March 27, 1899. [2]
+
+By our resistance, since the national defeat of 1871, we have pledged
+ourselves not to accept it.  Our moral position and the dignity of our
+claims to restitution have been worthy of our history because we
+inveterate Frenchmen have never ceased to maintain that our power over
+Alsace-Lorraine has been overthrown by force, but that our rights
+remain undiminished.  Austria, to Germany, and Italy, to Austria, have
+sacrificed this moral position and the dignity of their respective
+claims, in return for an alliance which, besides being treacherously
+false, has brought them neither wealth nor honour.
+
+But alas! even whilst our rights became strengthened by our very
+faithfulness and constancy, our rulers were yielding to the insidious
+counsels of the enemy.  M. Ferry listened to Bismarck and slowly, drop
+by drop, we wasted the blood with which we should have reconquered
+Alsace-Lorraine.  Bismarck, seeing us regaining our strength too
+quickly for his liking, and becoming a danger to Germany, and prevented
+by the Tzar from stopping our recovery by striking at us again, played
+his hand so as to throw us headlong into a policy of colonial
+adventures.  But the Great Iron Chancellor, the would-be genial fellow,
+had not foreseen that his pupil William II would be inspired by
+ambitions entirely different from his own: that of a relentless
+colonial policy, that of commercial and industrial development, on
+broad lines of encroachment, and that of a navy.  All these things
+however, followed logically, one from the other; for profitable
+colonisation one must have a market for one's produce, and to protect a
+mercantile marine one must have a navy.  Therefore, under these
+conditions, which Bismarck did not foresee, the danger to France became
+an immediate and equal danger to Germany, for England would be free to
+sweep the seas of Germany's merchantmen as well as those of France.
+
+Certain misguided people, moved by their extravagant feelings either of
+hatred towards England or of fear, seized the opportunity of the hour
+of danger under cover of the well-worn word (which leads so many worthy
+folk to lose their heads, even when it represents just the opposite of
+what it means) pleading our _interests_, I say, seized the opportunity
+to lower France by making overtures to the Kaiser and to Prussia.  Our
+interest, our twofold interest, was not to have a war with England, and
+to let Germany see that it was to her interest that we should not be
+deprived of our maritime power which _protects_ the free development of
+German expansion.
+
+We possess at this moment a third of Africa, a portion of Asia and
+Madagascar; before trying to add to these possessions, let us endeavour
+to make the most of their wealth.
+
+To sum up: our position has never been better, if we _know how to wait_
+and not to make ourselves cheap.  As the faithful Allies of Russia,
+either England or Germany will have need of us.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+And so, the German Emperor, King of Prussia, has added another chapter,
+and not the least astounding, to the volume of his swift changes and
+contradictions.  The author of the telegram to President Krueger has
+received at Berlin Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the instigator of Jameson, invader
+of the Transvaal!  William II has been negotiating with him in the
+matter of the telegraph line and the railway.  If any one had foretold,
+on the day that he sent his famous telegram concerning the rights of
+the South African Republic, that the paladin who signed this chivalrous
+message would come to discuss "business" with Sir [_sic_] Cecil Rhodes,
+or that the latter would have dared to present himself, in a check
+suit, before the Kaiser wearing his winged helmet--such a prophet would
+have been regarded as a dangerous lunatic.  Nevertheless, so it is.
+Mr. Rhodes entered the Imperial Palace quite simply and naturally,
+conveying to the Emperor the affectionate regards of Queen Victoria.  I
+do not know whether they shook hands.  Between business men,
+shopkeepers ready for a deal, etiquette is superfluous and a ready
+understanding easy.  Shake!
+
+Herr von Buelow, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs communicated the
+news to the Reichstag, promising further information on the subject
+before long.  And now, what becomes of the hope of a rupture with
+England, anticipated by our worthy apostles of the Franco-German
+Alliance against perfidious Albion?  Not only does William II flirt
+with old England and give her pledges, but he opens his arms to the
+most dangerous, the most enterprising, the most compromised of
+Englishmen, the Napoleon of the Cape!
+
+
+
+April 27, 1899. [3]
+
+Were it not for Alsace-Lorraine, we should be the ally of colonial
+Germany.  Were it not for Alsace-Lorraine, we should be the most ardent
+disciples of the noble, truly humane, and admirable work of disarmament
+undertaken by the Emperor Nicholas II.  Alsace-Lorraine has made us the
+irreconcilable enemies of Germanism and at the same time the faithful,
+devoted and ever loyal friends of every Slav cause.
+
+Familiar with the work of these causes, attached to the greatness of
+our allies, those of us who were the first to seek that mighty
+alliance, will ever labour to strengthen and extend it by all the
+resources which can add to its glory, but at the same time we are
+anxious that nothing should be said or done to diminish our own first
+claims to restitution.  An article in the _Novae Vremya_ contains a
+protest against the idea (disseminated by the German Press) that Russia
+is working to bring about a reconciliation between Germany and France.
+The Russian organ declares that such a _rapprochement_ would deprive
+France of all the advantages of her alliance with Russia.  The St.
+Petersburg newspaper adds a sentence which appeals to us, because we
+can adapt it to our own case.  "A Franco-German _entente_," says the
+_Novae Vremya_, "would erect a cross on the Franco-Russian _entente_."
+A Russo-German _entente_ would erect a cross on the Franco-Russian
+_entente_.
+
+Needless to say, the _Kolnische Zeitung_ informs us that the _Novae
+Vremya_ only represents middle-class opinion in Russia.  Well, that
+isn't so bad, considering that we are sure of the antipathy of the
+whole Russian people for the Germans.  The _Kleine Zeitung_, already
+reckoning on the conclusion of the _rapprochement_ between Germany and
+France, adds that it will be received with sympathy throughout the
+whole German Empire.  I believe you, _O Kleine Zeitung_!  And the more
+so when, with a mixture of haughtiness and careless indifference, you
+add "with the exception of the question of Alsace-Lorraine, _which for
+us does not exist_, there is no difference which should separate
+Germany from France!"
+
+O most generous _Kleine Zeitung_! it is sweet to differ.  On condition
+that we do not ask you to give us back the flesh that you have torn
+from our side, you are willing to extend to us your mild greetings of
+disinterested friendship, and I have no doubt that you are ready to
+forgive us the crime you have committed against us!
+
+
+
+May 23, 1899. [4]
+
+Amongst the most definite impressions produced by the general
+proceedings of the Peace Conference there are two which stand out: one,
+that the diplomats invariably assert that it will not lead to any
+practical result, either as regards disarmament or the creation of an
+arbitration tribunal; the other, that all patriots who are enemies of
+Germany are filled with anguish at the sight of Germany endeavouring to
+direct its discussions.  In its practical results, the Conference will
+not go further than the splendidly magnanimous proposal of Nicholas II,
+having for its object the humanising of war, the development of
+arbitration as a remedial measure, and the possibility of conditional
+and partial disarmament.  All that will be accomplished might have been
+attained by the Tzar alone in case of war, in the event of proposals
+for arbitration, or by way of leading the Powers to recognise the
+economic dangers to which they expose their peoples by ever-increasing
+armaments.
+
+
+
+June 27, 1899. [5]
+
+We know what a struggle William II had to face on the subject of the
+canal from the Elbe to the Rhine, and what concessions he was compelled
+to make to the Prussian Chamber.  Moreover he had a stiff fight in the
+Parliament of the Empire with regard to the new relations with
+[Transcriber's note: which?] he proposes to establish between Germany
+and England and her colonies.  The agrarians of the Right and the
+Socialists found themselves united in violent opposition.  Herr von
+Buelow required genuine skill to avert the storm.
+
+The Kaiser met with a very decided rebuff in the matter of what is
+called in Germany the "convicts' law."  It will be remembered that last
+autumn, in Westphalia, the Emperor had threatened the socialists that
+those who incited to strikes would be condemned to hard labour.  Such a
+threat is easily uttered, but difficult to enforce by process of law.
+Under the conditions existing nowadays it does not do to speak of
+forced labour in connection with trades unions and strikes;
+nevertheless, in order to make good the word of the German Emperor, his
+Ministers tried to snatch a vote for a fight with the workers.  Baron
+Stumm, a factory king possessed of great influence with the Kaiser, had
+inspired him with hatred against industrial workers, just as others had
+inspired him with love for them at the beginning of his reign.  With
+all his swagger and bluster, William II is more a creature of impulse
+than of constancy.  All parties united to oppose his scheme, except
+those who are known in every Parliament as Mamelukes.  The former
+"Father" of the working classes, suddenly become their enemy, has
+experienced a personal defeat in this matter which is all the greater
+for the fact that the Socialists, while they rejoice at seeing it
+inflicted upon him by the Reichstag, will not forgive him for his
+"convicts' law."
+
+
+
+July 8, 1899. [6]
+
+The wretched policy, which sent French ships to Kiel to salute the flag
+of the King of Prussia, continues to be honoured--no, dishonoured--by
+the Government of the Republic of to-day.  For this Government, the
+least of William's wishes is an order.
+
+So the Emperor William II has set foot upon the soil of France by
+paying a visit aboard of the _Iphigenie_ (for every one of our ships is
+a bit of the mother-country).  The Waldeck-Rousseau Cabinet, the ideal
+of M. Urbain Gohier, has allowed this monstrous thing to be done almost
+immediately after William II had laid the first stone of his fortresses
+on the Moselle, fortresses intended (to use his own aggressive words)
+to hold _the enemy_ under Germany's guns.  So we are the enemy for
+Germany and yet, oh shame! even while she slashes us with this word, we
+seek to show her that she is our friend.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+It certainly looks as if the present Prussian Ministry has neither the
+prestige nor the strength of will to control successfully the conduct
+of the ex-Mamelukes.  Its failure at the last session of Parliament was
+complete.  It is amongst the strongest supporters of the monarchy that
+the most determined opposition was offered to the proposed law for the
+construction of the canal from the Elbe to the Rhine, an enterprise
+dear to the heart of the Emperor, once the father of his working men
+and now the father of German manufacturers.
+
+Where the political impediments block his path William II cuts and
+hacks away as it may please him.  There is proof of this in the
+feverish haste with which he is lowering the age of officers in the
+army.  On the 10th of June, six Prussian generals were allowed to
+retire; on the 15th, ten more were placed on the unattached list, and a
+further movement in the same direction is expected to take place after
+the great Imperial manoeuvres.
+
+
+
+July 25, 1899. [7]
+
+THE HAGUE CONFERENCE
+
+I desire to convince my readers by indisputable facts--
+
+(1) That the pacifist agitation in Europe, in all its various forms, is
+inspired and sustained by the most uncompromising military Power on
+this Continent, that is to say, by Germany;
+
+(2) That if the magnanimous humanitarian idea, so sincerely conceived
+by Nicholas II, has not been fulfilled, its failure is entirely due to
+the treachery of Germany.
+
+For that matter, Germany has been providentially punished for her
+machiavellian ways.  Firstly, because she has been unable to conceal
+the fact that she is primarily responsible for this failure; and
+secondly (the fact is important in other ways and has proved in a most
+striking manner), because the Hague Conference has clearly
+demonstrated, that which the initiated have long suspected, that
+Germany is completely isolated in Europe!
+
+As a matter of fact neither Austria nor Italy were with her, only one
+Power voted solidly with Germany--the Power which is not content with
+war and supplements it by massacres--the Turkey of Abdul Hamid.  This
+isolation (an indirect result of the Franco-Russian alliance, which has
+compelled Austria to come to a complete understanding with Russia in
+regard to affairs in the Balkans, and led Italy to draw closer to
+France), this isolation is a great and inestimable victory, whose
+benefit must be frankly recognised by every honest mind in the two
+allied countries, a victory for those who, like myself, have worked
+heart and soul for the Franco-Russian alliance.
+
+And it is now, now that these things are clearly proved, now, when
+Germany finds but one servile nation in Europe--Turkey--that the French
+Government thinks fit to seek to draw closer to Germany!  The thing is
+unthinkable, unbelievable!
+
+_For years, acting upon an evil policy which I propose to elucidate
+hereafter, the Government of the Republic first set itself to oppose
+the alliance with Russia, preferring an alliance with Germany; later,
+this Government saw in the Russian alliance nothing but a means to gain
+public applause, to acquire popularity.  Now that the strength and
+worth of this alliance have been revealed in all their truth by the
+isolation of Germany, this same Government of the Republic compels our
+sailors to suffer the courtesy of William II and prepares us, by
+diplomatic communiques, for an entente with Germany_.
+
+Only super-simpletons can believe in William II's sham bluster against
+England on behalf of the Transvaal and of that Africa concerning which
+he has just concluded a binding treaty with Albion.  One must either be
+hopelessly ignorant or wilfully blind not to see through the game of
+William II and to be fooled by his ingratiating ways.
+
+His only object is to compel England to throw herself into his arms and
+to bring about a great common alliance of the Anglo-Saxon races.  Will
+not the cynical supporters of the "policy of interest" experience a
+revulsion of conscience if they know whither they are leading us, or a
+sudden enlightenment, if they do not know?  If not, then to those who,
+through cowardice or treachery, have lightly ruined the noblest of all
+causes, I shall say, "I wash my hands" of this crime of ignorance or
+base surrender.  Weary, sick at heart and indignant I shall say it, in
+my own name and in the name of those who have died, suddenly or
+mysteriously, for the Franco-Russian cause.
+
+Any one who followed carefully the successive events of the performance
+given under the direction of M. de Staal, any one familiar with the
+secret manoeuvres that led to the convening of the Peace Conference,
+could have had no difficulty in predicting what its end would be.  From
+some of these secret manoeuvres in the wings, I propose to lift the
+veil; my readers will then be in a position to understand more clearly
+why it is that the truly Christian act of the Tzar (apart from certain
+unimportant improvements of the Brussels Convention) did not attain the
+result which might have been expected from the initiative of a powerful
+and generous sovereign.
+
+For the past year we have repeatedly been told, in more or less
+sensational revelations, that the influence which chiefly determined
+Nicholas II in his action, was his reading of a famous book on war by
+M. de Bloch.  This is no doubt true and the fact may be admitted.  Much
+moved by the eloquent description, given by the great financial writer
+of Warsaw, of the heavy burdens imposed on the nations by the
+extravagant armaments of the Continent, and terrified at the thought of
+the calamities which the next war would let loose upon all Europe,
+Nicholas II, full of Christian pity for the sufferings of humanity,
+directed Count Mouravieff to send the famous circular to the Powers,
+which resulted in the convening of the Hague Conference.
+
+
+But I would ask, how are we to reconcile the hostile attitude of
+William II's delegates to the Russian proposals with his solemn
+declaration that he was absolutely in agreement with his friend
+Nicholas II?  Why did the German Emperor first give his approval to De
+Bloch's campaign in favour of disarmament and then make Von
+Schwartzkopf publicly repudiate the most important arguments of that
+writer's book?  Was it that William II was in the first instance
+seduced by the lamentable picture which De Bloch gives of France and
+the organisation of her army, or (and this seems far more likely) did
+he simply approve of the intrigue set on foot by the author of this
+work on war, an intrigue which aimed at casting a shadow over the
+patriotic hopes that France placed on the Russian alliance, by inciting
+Nicholas II to call for a general disarmament?
+
+It must be confessed that the Franco-Russian alliance struck a bitter
+blow at the hopes of Polish patriots.  The contempt and hostility
+towards France which inspire M. de Bloch's book are proof sufficient of
+the grudge its author bears us.  It is perfectly evident that they must
+have been delighted in Berlin at the chief object of his work.  But
+there were other objects in view.
+
+For years William II has unceasingly laboured to persuade England that
+she has every interest to join the Triple Alliance.  His perseverance
+in this direction is quite natural.  But if Germany succeeded last year
+in concluding an agreement with England on a few special questions, the
+Hague Conference has proved that it does not involve an agreement in
+matters of general policy.
+
+Nevertheless, William II counted on this Congress to produce closer
+relations with Great Britain.  He hoped that the Congress would result
+in sharp antagonism between England and Russia and he reckoned on this
+antagonism to help him to inflict a severe defeat on Russia, which in
+its turn would have enabled him to draw one or other of these two
+Powers into the orbit of his policy.  Great then was the disappointment
+of the German Emperor _when, from the very outset of the Conference,
+England, performing a most unexpected volte-face, made proposals on the
+subject of arbitration, which went a great deal farther than the
+Russian proposals laid before, the Congress.  This master-stroke of
+British diplomacy compelled Germany to come out into the open and to
+reveal herself in her true light: that is to say, as the only obstacle
+to the fulfilment of the Tzar's humanitarian designs_.
+
+The Stengels, Zorns and Schwartzkopfs completed the success of British
+diplomacy by the brutal violence of their opposition and the cynicism
+of their proposals.  It was not only on the two committees that dealt
+with arbitration and disarmament that German opposition (always
+supported by Turkey alone) wrecked the magnanimous attempt of Nicholas
+II to minimise the horrors of war.  The committee presided over by M.
+de Martens succeeded in effecting certain improvements in the terms of
+the Brussels Convention; if the labours of its President and members
+were not successful in doing more to lessen the evils of war upon land,
+the fact is again due to the opposition of the German representatives.
+Thus, for instance, the humane measures proposed in forbidding the
+bombardment of open towns and private dwellings unoccupied by troops,
+or the destruction of unfortified villages, were not adopted because
+the German delegate insisted on the impossibility of limiting the
+powers of a commander-in-chief, who must remain the sole judge of the
+utility of such destruction in the general interest of military
+operations.  It was the same in the case of the article whereby it was
+proposed that provinces occupied by enemy forces should be guaranteed
+in the maintenance of their autonomous administration and in certain
+rights against the demands of invasions, Germany declared her
+unwillingness to fetter in any way the decision of her army commanders.
+
+I would ask those amongst us who rejoice at the idea of seeing William
+II take part in the Exhibition of 1900, to let their thoughts dwell a
+little on the attitude of the Prussian delegates at the Peace
+Conference.  William I took part in the Exhibition of 1867 and we know
+what that visit cost France three years later.
+
+Now that all the perfidious plans inspired by Berlin have come to
+nought, now that the defenders of German policy at St. Petersburg,
+Warsaw and elsewhere have come to grief, and that the Peace
+Congress--even though it may not have fulfilled the generous hopes of
+Nicholas II--has nevertheless led to a great advance in the opinion of
+the public as in that of governments, on the subjects of arbitration
+and disarmament, William II shifts his rifle on to the other shoulder.
+In order to clear Germany of the blame for the failure of the
+Conference in the eyes of the Tzar, the same individuals who
+constituted themselves the protectors and sponsors of M. de Bloch at
+the Russian Court and who had assured the Tzar of the absolute support
+of William II, have now started a campaign of intrigue against Count
+Mouravieff.
+
+That faithful minister and servant of the Tzar, who undertook with
+great skill to carry out the initiative of his sovereign, and who has
+devoted himself whole-heartedly to the task of winning over to the
+Tzar's ideas not only the sympathy of the entire civilised world, but
+even the vast majority of the sceptical diplomats, who are leaving the
+Conference with the conviction that they have done useful work--well,
+it is this same Count Mouravieff that the German Press is now trying to
+hold responsible for the misdeeds of the Stengels, the Zorns and the
+Schwartzkopfs.
+
+By way of a first attempt at abolishing the horrors of war by means of
+international agreements, the Hague Conference has given very
+satisfactory results, and the honour for these is due to M. de Staal,
+Count Mouravieff and M. de Martens.  The Tzar has reason to be equally
+satisfied in that he has compelled his very good friend William II to
+throw off his mask and to reveal all his hostility towards Russia.
+
+It is now for those who had pledged themselves to guarantee the
+unconditional support of Germany for the Tzar, to bear the load of
+responsibility which is properly theirs for having unworthily deceived
+their Sovereign.  Many other hopes, bearing on internal affairs in
+Russia, had been created by the authors of the intrigue which I have
+endeavoured to expose.  We know how deeply rooted is the religious and
+pacific character of the Russian masses.  No initiative could stir
+their hearts so profoundly as that which seeks to lessen the horrors of
+war and to relieve the people of the crushing burden of armaments.  One
+has only to remember the sects which exist in Russia which are opposed
+to military service and duties.  Such an initiative coming from their
+adored Tzar was bound to produce far-reaching results.
+
+
+After our experiences of 1868 and 1869--and even 1870--how can we be
+guilty of running the same risks again?  Was not William I, King of
+Prussia, amiable enough?  Did he not do everything to lull the
+suspicions of Napoleon whilst he himself was arming to the teeth?  We
+all allowed ourselves to be sufficiently fooled by Bismarck's agents
+and spies in 1870 to be able to recognise the secret agents of William
+II to-day.
+
+It is not only a shameful thing, that the _Iphigenie_ should have
+hoisted at her mainmasthead the Imperial flag, bearing the insulting
+device of 1870, it is also an encouragement to William II in the
+treachery which he is plotting against us.  One's heart is heavy with
+the grief of hopelessness when one thinks of our easy-going short
+memories, and the suffering courage of the people of Alsace-Lorraine.
+During the past few days, whilst our Parisian newspapers have been
+discussing the probability of the obnoxious presence of the Kaiser in
+Paris for the Exhibition, the _Strasburger Post_ has been heaping
+bitter reproaches on the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine for their lack
+of enthusiasm and meagre contributions towards the proposed statue in
+honour of the late Emperor William.  In spite of all the pressure
+applied, the subscriptions have hardly produced a few hundred marks.
+The German Press describes the Alsatians as ungrateful and
+short-sighted.
+
+
+
+August 9, 1899. [8]
+
+The mania for autocracy dominates the mind of the German Emperor, King
+of Prussia, and leaves no room therein for anything but exactions of a
+disturbing kind.  We know how numerous are the crimes of
+_lese-majeste_; also that William II wishes the Reichstag to pass a law
+punishing with hard labour those who incite strikes.  A lecturer at the
+University of Berlin, M. Arons, having dared to proclaim himself a
+socialist--needless to say, from the theoretical point of view--the
+Emperor required his Minister of Public Education to have M. Arons
+brought for trial before the Council of the University, consisting of
+forty-five professors.  These acquitted the accused, who, in their
+opinion, had not indulged in any propaganda and was within his strict
+rights in expressing his personal opinions.  The Emperor had their
+judgment heard on appeal before a court consisting of officials of the
+Public Education Department.  To make such an appeal possible, the
+Reichstag was required to pass a new law in June 1898, known as the
+Arons Law.
+
+Whenever the occasion offered, I have shown how deep is the hatred
+which William II bears towards the old liberalism of the German
+Universities.  Yet it is for this same William that certain
+Germanophils amongst our French Universities entertain such a
+disgraceful weakness.  Whilst French newspapers are continually
+discussing, with evident sympathy, the possibility of the Kaiser's
+paying a visit to France during the Exhibition, it brings the tears to
+our eyes to read the following in the _Journal de Colmar_:--
+
+"The possibility of a _rapprochement_ between Frenchmen and Germans
+should not lead the latter to suppose that the Alsatians are likely to
+forget their country in order to be reconciled with the conquerors.
+The Alsatian will never give up his own individual character, he will
+never lightly consent to be merged in a homogeneous whole.  The
+Alsatian remains French, and such is the rigour of his nationality that
+it has resisted every attempt to destroy it."
+
+
+In order to make us believe the more easily that a reconciliation with
+Germany is possible, and that we may come to forget 1870 and the loss
+of Alsace-Lorraine, they are continually telling us that Germany has
+never been on better terms with Russia.  I showed in my last letter
+what were the steps taken by the Germans to minimise the great,
+imperishable, humanitarian success of Tzar Nicholas II in bringing
+about the Hague Conference.  I showed that his efforts resulted in
+leading all the diplomats accredited to the Peace Congress to recognise
+that the foundation had been laid, not only of the possibility of
+eliminating needless horrors from the wars of the future, but also of
+action by the Powers in common, to be brought to bear, in the form of
+advice and arbitration proposals, on the minds of rivals, adversaries
+and enemies preparing to settle their quarrels by the arbitrament of
+war.
+
+Germany realises the defeat at the Hague so completely that now she
+thinks only of new armaments and of arming Turkey, her only ally, to
+the teeth.  Herein she finds numerous advantages; such as supplying
+rifles and guns, sending out new military instructors, and threatening
+Russia with a formidable army commanded by German generals.
+
+Germany knows every inch of Russia, by land and by water, and has
+calculated her resources to a nicety.  German spies are legion in
+Russia as they are in France.  She may hope to make easy-going people
+like us believe that she is on the best of terms with our ally, but she
+will find it far more difficult to make Russia herself believe it.  One
+has only to study the Russian Press to be convinced of this, and
+particularly a long article in the _Novae Vremya_, which proves that,
+as a matter of policy and of material facts, it is absolutely
+impossible for Russia and France to admit Germany into their Alliance
+without risking the destruction of that Alliance, inasmuch as its
+fundamental objects are diametrically opposed to those of Germany.
+
+
+
+[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[5] _Ibid._, July 1, 1899.
+
+[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, Aug. 15, 1899, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
+
+
+
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