My eyes are filled with tears of rage as I listen
and listen again, for ever, unceasingly and without end, to the tale of
our defeat and to the glorification of the army which conquered us, to
the tale of the German Empire born of these Prussian victories. Will
it ever be finished, this tale? When will they have done, once and for
all, with inscribing these cruel records of theirs in the golden book
of Germany, and shut the clasp upon it?
We know that William II either painted himself, or had painted, a
picture, which was all the rage in Germany and which represented Europe
invaded by the Chinese. It would look as if William II really believed
in the danger of this impending invasion, to judge by the inscription
on the engraving of this picture, reproduced by the thousand; "Nations
of Europe, take care for your most sacred treasures!--WILLIAM I.R."
But if this be so, how comes it that the German Emperor is sending
hundreds of military instructors to the Chinese, who are supposed to be
threatening his country?
June 1, 1896. [3]
William II believes that the victories of 1870 were due to Prussia
alone, and that it was she who made the Empire; and this explains why
he takes such complete possession of the Empire, and makes the
celebrations of these victories so personal a matter. The people of
Bavaria, Wuertemberg and Saxony are herein exposed to humiliation of a
kind which they decline to accept. There is no doubt that all Germans
hate us with an equal hatred, and all have united with the same
enthusiasm to crush our unfortunate France; nevertheless, we may derive
some profit from the antipathy inspired in them by Prussia's grasping
claims to glory and authority.
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