  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 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— |
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