"
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 convincing, in that which was delivered
before the Reichstag by that famous strategist, our conqueror de
Moltke, on the subject of the proposed increase in the peace-footing
effectives.
One must read the whole speech to get an idea of the sort of nonsense
that "honorable" Germans are prepared to listen to. In urging the vote
of credit, "the Victor" said: "Confronted with the fundamental problem
of the army, the question of money is of secondary importance; for what
becomes of your prosperous finances in war-time?"
Having proved that conquerors are the greatest benefactors of the human
race, M. de Moltke goes on to declare that it is not the rulers, but
the peoples, who want war to-day.
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