For this Government, the
least of William's wishes is an order.
So the Emperor William II has set foot upon the soil of France by
paying a visit aboard of the _Iphigenie_ (for every one of our ships is
a bit of the mother-country). The Waldeck-Rousseau Cabinet, the ideal
of M. Urbain Gohier, has allowed this monstrous thing to be done almost
immediately after William II had laid the first stone of his fortresses
on the Moselle, fortresses intended (to use his own aggressive words)
to hold _the enemy_ under Germany's guns. So we are the enemy for
Germany and yet, oh shame! even while she slashes us with this word, we
seek to show her that she is our friend.
* * * * * *
It certainly looks as if the present Prussian Ministry has neither the
prestige nor the strength of will to control successfully the conduct
of the ex-Mamelukes. Its failure at the last session of Parliament was
complete. It is amongst the strongest supporters of the monarchy that
the most determined opposition was offered to the proposed law for the
construction of the canal from the Elbe to the Rhine, an enterprise
dear to the heart of the Emperor, once the father of his working men
and now the father of German manufacturers.
Where the political impediments block his path William II cuts and
hacks away as it may please him. There is proof of this in the
feverish haste with which he is lowering the age of officers in the
army.
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