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.