"
At their last Congress the German Catholics--we know that the Catholics
constitute a third of the population of Germany and that their
representatives can hold in check the Imperial policy in the
Reichstag--openly expressed their sympathy for Leo XIII, for the "noble
exile at Rome, who is compelled, from the day of his elevation to the
Papacy, to pledge himself never to cross the threshold of the Vatican
alive." When William II is compelled hereafter to make concessions to
the Centre in the Reichstag, his allies, the Italians, will be well
advised to give the matter their attention.
September 26, 1898. [11]
All the actions of that modern Lohengrin, William II, derive their
inspiration from a Wagnerian theory concerning the harmony of discords.
This friend of the Sultan, soon to be the guest of the Khedive,
congratulates Kitchener, the Sirdar, whose deeds are the blood-stained
consecration of England's machinations in Mussulman territory.
Almost at the identical moment that he sent his telegram to the Sirdar
to celebrate a British victory, he said at the opening of the new
harbour at Stettin: "I rejoice that the ancient spirit of Pomerania is
still alive in the present generation, urging it from the land towards
the sea. _Our future lies on the water_."
Queen of the Seas, take warning!
We know how William II is wont to express his pacific ideas and what is
his conception of the reduction of armaments--with blustering threats
and hosannahs in praise of rifles and cannons.
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