"Only an Englishwoman," the ex-Chancellor declared during a visit to Mr.
Burckardt, "could possibly have inspired the Emperor with the idea of
sending her to Paris as a challenge to the French. A German woman would
have had too much respect for her own dignity to go and visit Versailles
and Saint-Cloud. The nobility of her feelings would have forbidden her
to make a triumphal appearance amidst the ruins of the houses and castles
destroyed by our troops, and her pride would have prevented her from
seeking the homage and the favours of the vanquished. The Empress is
English, and English she will remain."


But if France were to welcome with enthusiasm--or even with favour--the
Empress Frederick, William II might justifiably conclude (without making
allowance for the sympathy which the widow of the Emperor-Martyr inspires
in Frenchwomen) that France had accepted the accomplished fact, abandoned
her claims to Alsace-Lorraine, and the defence of her future interests in
common with Russia. In that case, he would have treated France as he
treats those who show him the greatest devotion. In order to get a clear
idea of the object pursued by William II, it is sufficient to read two
short extracts from the _Étoile Belge_, a blind admirer of the Emperor of
Germany, and to read them separately from the enthusiastic articles which
this paper published at the commencement of the journey of the Empress
Frederick.

The correspondent of the _Étoile Belge_ wrote as follows--


"In confiding his mother and his sister to the hospitality of Paris,
William II committed an act as clever as it was courageous. Let him
continue in this policy of pacific advances, and the idea of a