Wherever we look, it is always the same, false pretences, trickery,
lying, love of mischief-making and of persecution, innumerable and
unceasing proofs given by William that his sovereign soul, irretrievably
committed to restless agitation, will never know the higher and divine
joys of peace.
March 1, 1891. [3]
For some months past, my dear readers, I have predicted that William II
will not be satisfied without paying a visit to France. The visit of the
Empress Frederick should have prepared us for this amiable surprise. But
because the august mother of the German Emperor was received by us with
nothing more than cold politeness, the _Cologne Gazette_ gives us a sound
drubbing, as witness the following--
"The French have no right to be offensive towards the august head of the
German Empire and his noble mother, by insulting them after the manner of
blackguards (polissons). Every German who has the very least regard for
the dignity of the nation must feel mortally insulted in the person of
the Emperor."
"The German people have the right to expect that the French Government
and the French nation will give them ample satisfaction, and will wipe
out this stain on the honour of France, by sternly calling to order the
wretches in question, creatures whom we Germans consider to be the refuse
of human society."
And we who belong to this "refuse," who flatter ourselves that we have
made extraordinary efforts of self-control when we refrained from saying
to the Empress Frederick: "Madame, spare us; let it not be said that you
went one day to Saint-Cloud, and on the next to Versailles, lest our
resolution to be calm should forsake us"--we, I say, now perceive, that
all our prudence has been wasted, and that we are still "refuse," the
refuse of human society.
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