How many strengthening and
encouraging letters have I not received from you?
And now, Nicholas II, son of Alexander III, the well-beloved Emperor,
who represents in his own person the highest expression of great, holy
and mystical Russia, is coming to Paris officially, as the ally of
France, so that all the ambitions of our patriotism, all our dreams of
the last twenty-five years, are coming true together. Am I not
entitled to say to you, dear readers, "I have fulfilled the mission
that I set before myself, my work amongst you is accomplished"? But
there remains still a tie between us, our common fidelity to Alsace!
How could we forget those who have not ceased to remember? Shall it be
said that we failed those who rather than yield have suffered every
form of torture? Let us endeavour together to prove in a more active
manner our devotion to the brethren who are separated from us. Now
that Prince Bismarck has one foot in the grave, now that the Russian
Alliance is in the hands of the Government of France, let us devote all
our strength and all the resources of our advocacy, all our love of
justice, to the cause of Alsace-Lorraine. . . .
William II is sick, nervous and irritable. He has lost all patience
with the question of the reform of military organisation; he did not
raise that question, it would seem, and has plenty of other things to
worry him. He is going to ask Parliament, on its re-assembling, to
vote large sums for the increase of the navy, his own particular care.
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