"In Serbia, I am working by sure means to destroy the last remaining
sympathies for Russia. To attain this end I will leave no stone
unturned, even as I am doing in Greece against France.

"With an eye to the future interests of my African colonies, I have
compelled England to keep Portugal quiet. I do not wish any
revolutionary upheaval to react upon Spain, that indomitable nation
which still resists me, but in whose mouth nevertheless, I have put an
invisible bit. I shall know how to drive her headlong into the trap
that awaits her in Morocco.

"With the help of Italy, Switzerland is mine. And Holland will fall to
me through the little Duchy of Luxembourg, which will come to me by the
marriage of one of my sisters with the heir of Nassau.

"My last master stroke was the way of my coming into Belgium. Therein
I was artful. The Belgians affected to believe in the neutrality of
their microscopic kingdom. I played up to the joke and entered their
country by way of the sea.

"In all the splendour of my power, I came to Ostend on the
_Hohenzollern_, and I made it my business to invest my appearance with
every feature calculated to impress the mob, in these days when outward
show appeals most powerfully to the popular imagination. And I was,
moreover, determined that nothing should be lacking to the full
effectiveness of this demonstration.

"Belgium had intimated by a revolution her objections to becoming
German. Well and good: I imposed myself upon her as German Emperor.