But ridicule is unknown in Germany.
It seems to me that the Kaiser's latest speech, at the banquet of the
provincial Landtag of Brandenburg, is in somewhat doubtful taste. On
this occasion, he spoke first of the divine right and responsabilities
of the Hohenzollerns on a footing of familiarity with God, and next he
compared the functions of a sovereign with those of a gardener, who
stirs up the earth, smokes the roots and hunts out noxious insects.
True, the German Emperor has got to cultivate the tree of 1870-71 and
to destroy "hostile animals," which I take to mean our good
simple-minded Frenchmen!
The campaign in favour of a _rapprochement_ between France and Germany
continues to be cleverly managed and directed in our midst. There is
talk of a visit of the Tzar, who would come to Antibes and who would
there receive William II at the same time as M. Felix Faure. The
formula with which this arrangement is commended to us is "we have
sulked long enough." In other words, they would convert a great,
strengthening and enduring hatred into a trivial grudge. That, since
Fashoda they should regard Sedan as a peccadillo is strange, to say the
least of it.
The _Kolnische Zeitung_, which opened the discussion with regard to a
_rapprochement_ with France, now closes it by observing--
"That if ever the French should feel impelled to seek a reconciliation
with Germany, it could only be sincerely effected on the condition that
they abandon once and for all the idea of a reckoning to be settled
between the two countries for the war of 1870-71.
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