persuade him that the debt no longer existed? A nation which
reserves its rights against the victor, and maintains its claims to
conquered territory, may be despoiled but is not vanquished. Would
Italy have recovered Lombardy and Venice had she not unceasingly
protested against the Austrian occupation? Excessive politeness
towards those who have inflicted upon us the unforgettable outrage of
defeat is not a sign of good manners, but of culpable weakness, for it
inflicts suffering upon those who have to put up with the material
consequences of Germany's conquest, and might end in separating them
from their old and unforgotten mother country.

When William II conducted the Prince of Naples to Metz he was only
acting in accordance with his usual ideas as an insolent conqueror.
But if we were to receive the German Emperor at the Exhibition of
1900--if at that time he is still master of Alsace-Lorraine--we should
be committing the base act of a people defeated beyond all hope of
recovery.

December 12, 1894. [7]

As day by day one follows the proceedings of William II, one gradually
experiences a feeling of weariness and of numbness, such as one gets
from watching the spectacle of waves in motion.

Before his speech from the throne, and in order to prepare his public
for a surprise, William II had directed the King of Saxony, on the
occasion of a presentation of standards, to tell France to her face
that she had better behave, that the Saxon heroes of 1870 had sons
worthy of them, and that the glorious, triumphant march from Metz to
Paris might very easily begin all over again. Whereupon, general alarm
and feverish expectation of the speech of William II, which of course,
turned out to be pacific. The following sentence should suffice to
prove it:

"Our confidence in the maintenance of peace has again been
strengthened. Faithful to the spirit of our alliances, we maintain
good and friendly relations with all the powers."

One can discern, however, a little trumpet note (of which he would not
lose the habit), in the speech which he made at the opening of the new
Reichstag building, whose construction was begun at the time of the
Prussian victories: "May this building remind them (the deputies) that
it is their duty to watch over that which their fathers have
conquered." But this is a pure and simple melody compared to the
war-march of the Saxons.

January 12, 1885. [8]

William II, in search of a soc