It is only in France that a few up-to-date journalists take this
disarmament talk of the German Emperor quite seriously. To them, we may
reply by a quotation from the official organ of the "great German."

"The course of historic events," says the _Hamburger Nachrichten_, "is
opposed to any realisation of the idea of disarmament, and justifies the
opinion expressed by Von Moltke, who declared war to be in reality a
necessary element in the order of things, of itself natural and divine,
which humanity can never give up without becoming stagnant and submitting
to moral and physical ruin."

There you have the genuine style of Bismarck, of the man who invented the
formula--"the Right of Might."

One thing--and one thing only--might possibly lead William II to
entertain seriously this idea of disarmament, and that would be for
Bismarck to oppose it. Truly, there is something extremely pleasant in
this duel between the two ex-accomplices! Bismarck terrorising
socialism, William coaxing and wheedling it, for no other tangible
purpose than to act in opposition to him whose power he has overthrown.

What an eccentric freak is this German Emperor! One day he sends the
Sultan a sword of honour, a bitter jest for one who has never known
anything but defeat! The next, he proposes to take back the command of
the fleet from his brother Henry, and in order to get rid of him
conceives the plan of making Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg into a new
kingdom.

At the same time he proposes to provide the Grand Duke of Luxembourg with