wonders what part can they have to play, these
confederates, led and dominated by a personality as jealous and
self-centred as this "young Emperor."

There is only one thing about which William II really concerns himself,
over and above his blind passion for increasing the forces of Germany,
and that is, other people's morals--the morals of working men or
officers. The devil has always had his days for playing the monk.

May 20, 1890. [5]

Do my readers remember my last article but one, written at a moment
when the whole Press was singing the praises of William the Pacifist,
on the eve of the day when _The Times_ published its despatch,
proclaiming the complete agreement between Tzar and Kaiser, the
_entente_ that assures the world of the peace that shall come down from
William's starry heavens? It was then that I wrote--

"Is there a single reason to be found, either in the traditions of his
race, or in his own character, or in the logic of Prussian militarism,
which can justify, any clear-thinking mind in believing that William is
a Pacifist?"

Hardly had that number of May 1 appeared when the German Emperor made
his speech at Koenigsberg! In his cups, the King of Prussia reveals his
true nature, just as a champagne cork flies from a badly wired bottle.
After giving expression once again to his animosity towards France, he
borrows from us one of the famous dicta of Monsieur Prudhomme--

"The duty of an Emperor," he declared, "is to keep the peace, and I am
determined to do it; but should I be compelled to draw the sword to
preserve peace, Germany's blows will fall like hail upon those who have
dared to disturb it."

Next, in the neighbourhood of the Russian frontier, he used the
following provocative language: "I will not permit that any one should
touch my eastern provinces and he who tries to do so, will find that my
power and my might are as rocks of bronze."

Sire, beware! The God of the Hohenzollern will prove to you before
long that your power and your might, those rocks of bronze, are no more
in His hands than a feather tossed in the wind; He will show you that a
tricky horse can unseat you, regardless of your dignity, when you take
your favourite ride, the road to Peacock island, with your august
brother-in-law.

Say what you will, the Prussians have not yet acquired either wit or
good taste! There is proof of this not only in the speeches of William
II at Konigsberg, but even more convinc