"
[28] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
[29] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 16, 1892, "Letters on Foreign Policy."
CHAPTER III
1893
William II receives the Tzarewitch--Germany would rather shed the last
drop of her blood than give up Alsace-Lorraine--William's journey to
Italy--The German manoeuvres in Alsace-Lorraine.
January 13, 1893. [1]
Being too weak a man to accept such responsibility as that involved in
the scheme of military reforms, Von Caprivi has, so to speak, by his
suppliant attitude towards the parties in the Reichstag, forced William
II to assert himself. In spite of his leanings towards prudent reform,
the Emperor-King, whose pride we know, has found himself all of a
sudden in a sorry plight on the question of the increase of the
standing army. The rising tide of public censure, mounting to the foot
of the throne itself, found no one to hold it back but a bewildered
lock-keeper. And so the Emperor, with his helmet on his head, appeared
upon the scene, to take charge of the damming operations. On January 1
he addressed his generals, his enthusiastic officers (who, like all
soldiers, have a holy horror of politicians), and said to them, "I
shall smash the obstacles that they raise against me."
Thus it happens that it is no longer Von Caprivi who confronts the
Reichstag, no longer the hesitating successor of Bismarck, whom the
country accuses of leading it on the path to ruin: the Emperor-King
takes charge in person.
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