Last on the list of the intermittent advances which William II has made
to France, there appeared lately the following in the _Allegemeine
Norddeutsche Zeitung_, official organ of the German government:--
"There is no reason for misunderstanding, or for failure to appreciate,
the increasing signs which go to show that public opinion in France is
favourable to reconciliation with us, and that this opinion is growing,
not only amongst the higher classes in France, but amongst the people.
It is beginning to be recognised that it is to the interest of both
nations to shake hands, as is fitting between neighbours, no matter
what may have been their _former differences_. On the part of Germans
the tendency towards an _entente_ has gained in strength since we have
noticed the tendency of the French to judge impartially a personality
like that of our Emperor, as befits a nation so cultured and richly
endowed as the French."
What say you, veteran soldiers, who fought in the Terrible Year? What
say you, Parisians of the Siege, Frenchmen who have seen the Prussian
conqueror dragging his guns and booty along the roads of our France?
What say you, men of Alsace-Lorraine, heroes all? (No matter whether,
like some, you have sacrificed situation, home and your little
fatherland, so as not to forsake the greater, or, like others, you have
consented to become Prussians in order that the land you worship may
remain in hands that are still French.
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