September 27, 1890. [13]

When Germany agreed to withdraw her armies from the soil of France, she
replaced them by other soldiers: crossing-sweepers, clerks, workmen,
bankers (industrials or "reptiles" as the case might be), as well
organised, linked up and drilled as her best troops. Unceasingly,
therefore, and without rest, it behoves us to be on our guard and to
defend ourselves.

A good many amiable Frenchmen will shrug their shoulders at this, but
if we act otherwise we shall be delivered over to our enemies, bound
hand and foot, at the psychological moment.

And now, dear reader, to return to William II. You will grant, I
think, that since we have followed the interminable zig-zags of his
wanderings throughout Europe, we are entitled to coin and utter a new
proverb: "A rolling monarch gathers no prestige."



November 1, 1890. [14]

For mastodons like Bismarck, William II prepares a refrigerating
atmosphere which freezes them alive. Splendid mummies like Von Moltke
he smothers with flowers. The men whom William dismisses and discards
are great men in the eyes of Germany, even though in history they may
not be so, because the ex-Chancellor is of inferior character, and
because certain successes of Von Moltke were due rather to luck than