Truly these
Germans must be insatiable if they ask for more!
March 12, 1892. [21]
William II aims at concentrating all power, and, to organise the work of
espionage, in the hands of the military authorities. If the Prussian law
of 1851 is still effective, the Emperor in case of need will be able to
dispense with a vote of the Reichstag. This law confers on every general
and on his representative, who may be an officer of eighteen years of
age, the right to declare a state of siege in the event of war
threatening. On the other hand, the projected Bill against espionage
meets with very general approval. Your German has got spies on the
brain. He wishes to be able to indulge in spying in other countries, but
to prevent it in Germany. The _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the _Vorwaerts_
assert that the proposed law against the revealing of military secrets
was inspired by the publication of the report by Prince George of Saxony,
containing revelations of a kind which the Emperor does not wish to occur
again. One of the articles of this law against spying reveals the
Prussian character in all its beauty. One has only to read it, in order
to understand the inducements which the Government of William II holds
out to informers. The end of this article runs as follows: "Every
individual having knowledge of such an infringement, and who shall fail
to notify the authorities, is liable to imprisonment."
To hear these Germans, one would think that France and Russia are
flooding the Empire with spies, whilst Germany never sends a single one
of them to France or Russia.
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