lon_, 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