Chapter II (2)

"The reception at Kronstadt and its consequences have effected no change in the situation." There you have the secret. It is necessary to prove that the diplomacy of the Triple Alliance has not been checked at any point or in any way; that the "excellent impression," to quote the words of M. de Caprivi, left in Russia by the visit of William II did not allow the Tzar any alternative; he was compelled to show attention to some other country than Germany. Moreover, the appearance of Alexander III on the _Marengo_ was nothing more than a simple desire for a sea trip; France, going like Mohammed to the mountain, bore in her flanks nothing larger than a mouse. Finally, that Peace never having been threatened by the Loyal League of Peace, there could be no possible reason left to France and Russia for wanting to defend it, etc., etc.

William II is working hard to control and direct the diplomacy of the Triple Alliance. Nevertheless, all his scaffolding work is liable to sudden collapse, overthrown by the most insignificant of events. Regarding his speech to the recruits, the German Press has pluckily voiced its condemnation by the public. It is impossible to deny that his observations on that occasion were a perfect masterpiece of self-glorification. This is what he said--

"You have just taken the oath of fidelity to myself. From this day forward there exists for you one order and one order only, that of my majesty. Henceforth you have only one enemy, mine, and should it be necessary for me some day (which God forbid) to order you to shoot your own parents, yes, to fire on your own brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, on that day remember your oath."

Those who wish to form an accurate idea of William's loquacity and self-conceit should read a few passages, selected haphazard from "The Voice of the Lord upon the waters," a sermon by His Majesty, the Emperor-King, for use in polar voyages. There they will find a strange hotch-potch of all sorts of ideas, religious, political and heathen, all half digested. But the dominant note in the sermons preached by William II lies in his tendency to diminish the Infinite, to hold it within the measure of his own mind, to bring down God to his own stature. All his comparisons tend to show God as an Emperor, built in the image in which William sees himself. When he draws you a picture, in which he brings God face to face with himself, there is about him a certain splendour of pride, something in his utterance that suggests an Imperial Lucifer. But beyond these relations between God and the German Emperor, his utterances reveal nothing beyond commonplace self-conceit. In his perpetual and personal contact with the Divinity, William's morality becomes more exacting than even that of God Himself towards His saints, who have long enjoyed His sanction to sin seven times a day. William II will not allow of a single sin. Everywhere and in everything he must interfere. Well may his subjects say, who have just received their catechism: "He is on heaven, on earth, and within us."

January 1, 1892. [18]

I, who have so long been devoted to the Franco-Russian Alliance, have followed with acute distress the intrigues of Bismarck in Bulgaria (intrigues of which the _Nouvelle Revue_ revealed one proof in the letters of Prince Ferdinand of Coburg to the Countess of Flanders). I have known that William, in spite of his actual dislike for the proceedings of his ex-Chancellor, is pleased to approve the impertinences of a Stamboulof. Nevertheless, I confess I am seized with anxiety at seeing France enter into diplomatic proceedings with the so-called Government of Bulgaria. It is very often more dignified to despise and ignore the enterprises of certain people, then to endeavour to obtain satisfaction from them. There are certain complicated circumstances in which the manifestation of a sense of honour or loyalty becomes a weakness: at all costs one should avoid being led into it.

The Emperor of Germany possesses a special talent for adding new complications to a difficult situation, so as to render it impossible of solution. He has now so completely tangled up the parliamentary skein, that in a little while it will be impossible for Parliament to govern. Can one conceive of a majority of the Chamber rallying around the Catholic centre, or the socialists, for the same reason, increasing in number at the bye-elections? In such a case William II, equally unable to surrender in favour of the clericals or to submit to the socialists, will find himself, as others have been before him, driven to adopt the ultimate remedy of war.

February 12, 1892. [19]

If the States of Germany, in joining themselves on to Prussia, have thereby increased in power, they have gained very little in humanity. The circular, secretly issued by Prince George of Saxony, commanding the 12th Army Corps, reveals something of the brutalities and exquisite torture which German soldiers have to suffer. This circular was addressed to the commanders of regiments, and has been published by a socialist newspaper, the _Vorwärts_. This Prince of Saxony is indignant at these things, doubtless because he is a Saxon; Bavaria, we are told, declines to accept the application of the Prussian Military Code. By common consent, the House of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies at Münich have voted against subscribing to a condition of things which permits men to behave like real savages. Military Germany takes pleasure in cruelty, sentimental Germany is moved by the tortures inflicted on her children. Brutality and sentiment rub elbows, and are so strangely intermingled amongst our neighbours that I, for one, abandon all attempts at understanding them.

It was Von Moltke who said one day that the army was the school of all the virtues. Next day the same Field-Marshal put into circulation certain formulas for the infliction of cruelty, intended for the use of commanding officers.

"If a superior officer should order an inferior to commit a crime, the inferior must commit it." Thus says William II, who in the very next breath expresses his sentimental concern over the unfortunate lot of a woman of loose life handed over to the tender mercies of a bully!

William's latest quarrel, it seems, is with liberty of conscience. The _summus episcopus_ of the evangelical religion becomes the protector of clericalism in Germany. He, the elect of God, has discovered the power of the Catholic Church. This was the power that broke Bismarck, but it will not break William II, for he intends to assimilate it. He dreams of establishing his Protectorate over Catholicism in Europe, America, Africa and in the East; his destiny lies in a world-wide mission, which only Catholicism can support. He will, therefore, dominate the papacy, and through it will govern the world.

February 26, 1892. [20]

The list of Emperor William's vagaries continues to grow. He, who was once the father of socialists, now pursues them with all manner of cruelty, in order to be revenged for their opposition to the scholastic law. This law is his dearest achievement. He produced it under the same conditions as his socialist rescripts, all by himself, without consulting his Minister. It seems that Von Sedlitz was instructed to bring it forward without discussing its terms. This is a reactionary _coup d'état_ in the same way that the rescripts on socialism were a democratic stroke. Will this "new course" of Imperial policy, as they call it in Germany, last any longer than its predecessor? I presume so, for it corresponds more closely than the old one to the autocratic instincts of William II.

The National, Liberal and Progressive parties, and even the Socialists, who had turned full of hope towards their Liberal Emperor, now vie with each other in turning their backs on the Sovereign, who fulfils the policies of a Von Kardoff or a Baron von Stumm, the most determined Conservatives of the extreme party.

The Universities of Berlin and Halle, together with all the other educational institutions, have addressed petitions to the Landtag, protesting against the re-organisation of the primary schools, which it is proposed to hand over to the Church. Sixty-nine professors out of eighty-three, six theologians out of eight, including amongst them certain members of the Faculty, have signed this protest. The greatest names of German science and literature have here joined forces. Liberals like Herr Harnack have made common cause with such anti-Semite Conservatives as Professor Treitschke. Mommsen, Virchow, Curtius Helmholtz, stand side by side in defence of the rights of liberty of thought. William is becoming irritated by the lessons thus administered to him and the opposition thus displayed, and his nervousness continues to assume an aggressive form.

Alsace-Lorraine is undisturbed, and all Europe bears witness to its pacific tendencies; nevertheless, the German Emperor is bringing forward a Bill before the Reichstag for declaring a state of siege in Alsace-Lorraine, which includes even a threat of war, and opens the door to every abusive power on the part of the civil authority. The speech which he addressed to the members of the Diet of Brandenburg is the most complete expression which the Emperor, King of Prussia, has yet given of his latest frame of mind.

How dare they criticise him, or discuss his policy! Let them all go to the devil! He, whose policy it is to block emigration, now wishes for nothing better than that all his opponents should leave Germany. But it is impossible to revoke public opinion wholesale, like an edict. If it is difficult now to expel all malcontents from Prussia, what will it be when their number is legion? William II has promised to his people a glorious destiny, happiness, and the protection of Heaven. Truly these Germans must be insatiable if they ask for more!

March 12, 1892. [21]

William II aims at concentrating all power, and, to organise the work of espionage, in the hands of the military authorities. If the Prussian law of 1851 is still effective, the Emperor in case of need will be able to dispense with a vote of the Reichstag. This law confers on every general and on his representative, who may be an officer of eighteen years of age, the right to declare a state of siege in the event of war threatening. On the other hand, the projected Bill against espionage meets with very general approval. Your German has got spies on the brain. He wishes to be able to indulge in spying in other countries, but to prevent it in Germany. The _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the _Vorwärts_ assert that the proposed law against the revealing of military secrets was inspired by the publication of the report by Prince George of Saxony, containing revelations of a kind which the Emperor does not wish to occur again. One of the articles of this law against spying reveals the Prussian character in all its beauty. One has only to read it, in order to understand the inducements which the Government of William II holds out to informers. The end of this article runs as follows: "Every individual having knowledge of such an infringement, and who shall fail to notify the authorities, is liable to imprisonment."

To hear these Germans, one would think that France and Russia are flooding the Empire with spies, whilst Germany never sends a single one of them to France or Russia. In the first place, all these statements are purely cynical; and in the second Germany can very well afford to dispense with professionally selected spies, inasmuch as every German prides himself on being one at all times in the service of the Fatherland.

April 12, 1892. [22]

William II makes a solemn promise to his august grandmother, Queen Victoria, and to the "best beloved" of his Allies, the Emperor of Austria, that he will restore the Guelph Fund. Francis Joseph has obtained from the Duke of Cumberland the somewhat undignified letter of renunciation, which we have all read, and now it is either up to Rogue Scapin or Bre'r Fox, just as you please! William II says that he never meant to give back the capital, but only the interest! It is easy to imagine the effect produced on those concerned by the revelation of this astonishing mental reservation. But this is not all! The King of Prussia--always short of money, always in debt on account of his extravagant fancies and expensive clothes, and half ruined by his mania for running to and fro--had made certain arrangements for meeting his creditors by means of the Guelph Fund, but with the proviso, needless to say, that they affected only the interest!!

It is said that the heir of the House of Hanover has written a second letter which evoked a sickly smile from William II, and of which Councillor Rössing has suppressed the publication with some difficulty.

Amongst other things, William II has had quick-firing guns, supplied to the people of Dahomey by slave merchants. The Berlin _Post_, directly inspired by the Emperor, tells us exactly what is his object in so doing--

"England and Russia will not help France to settle her difficulties in her colonies. These two Powers are far too pre-occupied with the struggle for supremacy in Asia. France is, therefore, reduced to looking to Germany as her sole support. If France consents to work together with Germany, Africa will be won for civilisation, and for the best civilisation of all, the Franco-German, but so long as France pursues this task single-handed, she will not attain her end, and will find in Africa nothing but disappointment."

Such evidences of effrontery remind us that William II is the pupil of Bismarck. We are, therefore, justified in concluding that the Germans realise that it is not Aristides the Just who has been exiled, but a master rogue, whom his pupil now imitates.

April 29, 1892. [23]

William II continues to expel from Berlin all unemployed workmen, quite regardless of the cause of their temporary or continuous idleness. He sends them back to their native parishes, without caring in the least whether they will find there the work which they are unable to secure at the capital. The "Workmen's Emperor" compels an emigration into the interior of all the most discontented, the most irritated and wretched, thus sowing throughout all the land the evil seed of the most dangerous kind of propagandist. The spirit of Germany is full of surprises for any one who takes the trouble to observe it carefully, and it is not only in the acts of the Emperor that we perceive its contradictions.

To take one instance out of a thousand. Five non-commissioned officers of dragoons have just been tried at Ulm, accused of having beaten recruits with sticks until they drew blood. They have been acquitted, after having proved that they acted under the orders of their captain. In this connection it is interesting to read the following--

"The Court of Saverne has just condemned a carrier named Schwartz to six weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ten marks for ill-treating his horse."

The unstable grandson of the steadfast William I threatens before long to get between his teeth a fourth war minister; he has already devoured three chiefs of the general staff, and, in a few years, as many ministers as his grandfather had during the whole course of his long reign.

It remains to be seen whether, after the withdrawal of the scholastic law, William II will still find a majority willing to accept his new and disturbing schemes.

May 28, 1892. [24]

As the German Empire has no other force of cohesion except such as lies in militarism, William is necessarily compelled to do everything to magnify and increase it. Whereas we in France are free to develop the quality rather than the quantity of our army, Germany, finding the elements of cohesion only in her military agglomerations is compelled to increase unceasingly the number of her soldiers.

At this very moment William is planning to add a permanent effective of 40,000 men to the tactical units. In return, he will promise Parliament and the country a provisional two years' service, being quite capable of withdrawing his promise so soon as the vote has been secured.

Numbers, always numbers! It is the German Emperor's only ideal, and he becomes further and further removed from any principle of selection. . . .

The German newspapers make a speciality of the fabrication of sensational rumours. I could not ask any better vengeance for our beloved country than to have their stories placed before the most loyal of Sovereigns, the most far-seeing of diplomats, of the politician the furthest removed from sordid calculations that the world knows or has ever known, that is to say, of the Emperor Alexander III. . . .

But all this is just a manoeuvre of the enemy who plays his own game, and it has no importance whatsoever beyond that which credulous and anxious people choose to give it. Inasmuch as the renewal of the Triple Alliance has produced a definite situation, which affords no opportunity for any of the combinations which might have resulted had it been broken up into independent parts, the Tzar with his usual foresight was naturally led to proclaim his _rapprochement_ with France, and this he has done. What change has there been in the situation since Kronstadt? None at all, unless it be that Lord Salisbury has revealed something more of the nature of his intrigues at Sofia, and of the anti-Russian intentions of his Bulgarian policy. The King of Italy has surrendered himself a little more into the hands of the King of Prussia, placing at the disposal of William's diseased restlessness further and inexhaustible sources of trouble and uneasiness for Europe.

July 9, 1892. [25]

It seems to me that the speech addressed by William to his new Admiralty yacht at the port of Stettin has not attracted sufficient notice. It is simply beautiful, a very choice morsel indeed. To show how little I exaggerate, I will ask my readers to study it in the actual text, and I would like to engage the services of the King of Prussia to collaborate in the _Nouvelle Revue_ for a page in precisely the same style. Here is this little masterpiece of classic purity--

"Thou art ready to glide into thy new element, to take thy place amidst the Imperial war-ships, and thou art destined to carry our National Flag. Thine elegant construction, thy light sides, showing no sign of the heavy threatening defensive turrets, such as are carried by our war-ships destined to fight the foe, indicate that thou art consecrated to works of peace. Lightly, as on the wing, to cross the seas, bringing distant lands closer to each other, giving rest and recreation to workers, happiness to the Imperial children, and to the august mother of the country,--that is thine appointed task. May thy light artillery be worn by thee as an ornament and not as a weapon of war.

"It is for me now to give thee a name. Thou shalt carry that which my Castle bears, whose towers rise so high towards Heaven, that which, lying amidst the beautiful country of Suabia, has given its name to my family. It is a name which recalls to my Fatherland centuries full of labour, of work done with and for the people, of life devoted to the people, of good examples set in leading the people in paths of literature and in many struggles. The name which thou shall bear means all this. Mayest thou do honour to thy name, and to thy flag, to the great Elector who, first of all men, taught us our Mission on the sea, and to my great ancestors who, by works of peace as in fierce warfare, knew how to keep and increase the glory of our fatherland. I baptize thee _Hohenzollern_!"

August 29, 1892. [26]

William II, claiming as usual to be ahead of every change of opinion in Europe, and to direct it, has chosen a very singular pretext to make profession of his faith as a pacifist, at the moment when Lord Rosebery was doing the same, and when the visit of our squadron to Genoa was about to emphasise a relaxation of tension in the relations between France and Italy.

On June 24, 1890, the following motion was adopted by the Reichstag--

"The Governments of the Confederated German States are requested to take into serious consideration the introduction of the two years' period of military service for the Infantry."

Without deigning to remember this, and without bothering his head as to the discomfiture of the peasantry, who believed the Emperor to be really favourable to a scheme which he had openly patronised hardly six months before, on the ground that he had been greatly impressed by General Falkenstein's report; indifferent also to the difficulty of the situation in which he was placing Von Caprivi, advocate of the two years' system--the Emperor-King (apparently just because on that day it had pleased him to make a declaration in favour of peace) made a speech to his officers after the last review of the Guards, and summarily condemned any reduction in the term of military service. Moreover, he requested his hearers to repeat his words and to let people know the motives which impelled him thus to set his face against a reform, which, not having secured his approval, must remain in the limbo of fantastic schemes.

Much stir and commotion follows, and as usual a great deal is said about the most changeable and the most feather-headed of Sovereigns; then we have a new interpretation of his speech by the Press, contradictions of the original text, withdrawal by the Emperor himself of his original words, and finally, as net result: a great deal of noise, and the attention of all Europe directed towards William II. What more could he ask?

Soon, thanks to the insidious activities of Austria in Servia, and thanks to that of his own police on the Franco-Belgian frontier, William will be able to threaten Europe with War.

September 12, 1892. [27]

William has given up the idea of his trip to Hamburg, cholera being the sort of jest for which he has no relish. To make up, he has rushed off to Canossa. The Black Alliance, as the Liberals call it, is an accomplished fact. The price paid to the Catholics for their assistance has been a matter of bargaining; what William II wants is an increase in the peace-footing of the army, and of the annual contingent of recruits, so that Germany's army of 300,000 men may always be ready.

In twenty years the War budget has been raised from 309 to 700 millions, as the result of these new plans. The _Freisinnige Zeitung_ wonders what will happen on the day when the opposition of the Catholic Centre shall cease, which has always been a check upon military expenditure and which, nevertheless, has not prevented Germany from spending 11,597 millions upon armaments since 1871.

Will Austria follow once more the lead of Berlin? The object of William II's visit to Vienna, accompanied by Von Caprivi, is to decide her to do so. In the Empire of the Hapsburgs, as in Germany, people are asking; "What is going to be the end of all this expenditure?" The _Vaterland_, discussing William's voyage, says that "the pact between the three great powers appears to be beginning to be very shaky."

September 29, 1892. [28]

William II thinks that War is impending and close at hand; he feels that Italy is inclined to argue, and Austria to assert herself. According to the tradition of Von Moltke, he wishes to be ready at the hour of his own choosing.

In the last volume of the Field-Marshal's memoirs, there is a letter addressed by him to the deputy, Count de Bethusy Huc, dated March 29, 1869, in which the following words occur--

"After a war like that which we have just ended, one can hardly wish for another. I desire, however, to profit by the occasion which now offers to make war on France, for, unfortunately, I consider this war to be absolutely necessary, and indispensable within a period of five years; after that, our organisation and armament, which are to-day superior, may be equalled by the efforts of France. It is therefore to our interest to fight as soon as possible. The present moment is favourable; let us profit by it."

November 12, 1892. [29]

If you would take the measure of the hatred which the Emperor-King of Prussia, has towards Russia, read the _Youth of William the Second_ by Mr. Bigelow, his companion in childhood, the friend of his youth, and the passionate admirer of his imperial greatness.

In the eyes of Mr. Bigelow, William II is endowed with all the virtues, all the qualities, and a hatred of evil; he is a complete master of every conceivable kind of science. He is a person of tact, foresight, and superior feelings, he possesses the noblest qualities of courage and sense of honour. He knows better than any one else everything concerning government, business, trade and industry. Of his military art, it were needless to speak; it is conspicuously evident. A brilliant talker and a fine orator, his lucidity of observation, his judgment, and his rapidity of decision are all alike, incomparable.

Mr. Bigelow's William has a complete knowledge of the history of Europe and of the character of its peoples. There is nothing that he does not know of the upper and lower foundations of the views of European statesmen, past and present. A frank and loyal fellow withal, good to children, he feels keenly the sufferings of soldiers ill-treated by their officers, and the hardships of the working classes exploited by their masters.

Frederick the Great is the only one who in any way approaches him. Then, as to his magnanimity, he proved it to M. Jules Simon, by offering him the musical works of the said Frederick the Great, with a letter which, according to Mr. Bigelow, should have made France give up her foolish ideas about Alsace-Lorraine, were it not for the fact that "from the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg Saint Germain to the garrets of Montmartre, all Frenchmen suffer from an incorrigible mania for revenge."

To the great satisfaction of Mr. Bigelow, however, it has been given to England to understand, and she knows how to promote William's mission. On August 9, 1890, she ceded to him Heligoland, the Gibraltar of Germany. It is not I who put these words into the mouth of the friend of the King of Prussia! "Since Waterloo," adds Mr. Bigelow, "England has not been on such good terms with Germany."

A very touching confession for us to remember! Hatred of Russia finds expression in a hundred ways under the pen of Mr. Bigelow. Nothing that is Russian can find favour in his sight; the least of the sins of Russia are barbarism, corruption, vice of every kind, cruelty and ignorance. After having piled up all the usual accusations, he stops, and one might think that it was for lack of materials. But not at all! He could, but will not say more about it; and this "more" assumes most fabulous proportions "so as not to compromise my German friends." I imagine that some of those friends of his must figure on the margin of the Russian budget, for if it were not so, why should they be liable to be compromised?

Travelling down the Danube by boat, Mr. Bigelow was able to make use everywhere of the German language. Every intelligently conducted enterprise which he found on his way was in the hands of Germans. "Sooner or later," said he, "the Danube will belong to Germany."

According to Mr. Bigelow, all the people who have the misfortune to live in the neighbourhood of the frontiers of Russia only dream of becoming Germans, in order to escape her.

There is one remarkable quality which William II possesses and which Mr. Bigelow has forgotten, and that is his talent as a scenic artist and _impresario_ for any and every kind of ceremony; in this he is past master. For the 375th Anniversary of October 31, 1517, the day on which the famous theses, which inaugurated the Reformation, were posted by Martin Luther on the door of the chapel at Wittenberg, the Emperor-King surpassed himself. The Imperial procession aroused the greatest enthusiasm in the little town by its successful reconstruction of the historic picture. The speech of the _summus episcopus_ cast all sermons into the shade by its lofty tone and spirit of tolerance.

[1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 16, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[5] Spanish insurrection against the French invasion under the first Empire.

[6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[11] _Ibid._, August 15, 1891.

[12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[13] _Ibid._, September 15,1891.

[14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[16] An allusion to the Commander's statue in "Don Juan."

[17] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[19] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[23] _La Nouvelle Revue_, May 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[24] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[25] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[26] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[27] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[28] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[29] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 16, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."