law. This law is his dearest achievement. He produced it under the same
conditions as his socialist rescripts, all by himself, without consulting
his Minister. It seems that Von Sedlitz was instructed to bring it
forward without discussing its terms. This is a reactionary _coup
d'état_ in the same way that the rescripts on socialism were a democratic
stroke. Will this "new course" of Imperial policy, as they call it in
Germany, last any longer than its predecessor? I presume so, for it
corresponds more closely than the old one to the autocratic instincts of
William II.

The National, Liberal and Progressive parties, and even the Socialists,
who had turned full of hope towards their Liberal Emperor, now vie with
each other in turning their backs on the Sovereign, who fulfils the
policies of a Von Kardoff or a Baron von Stumm, the most determined
Conservatives of the extreme party.

The Universities of Berlin and Halle, together with all the other
educational institutions, have addressed petitions to the Landtag,
protesting against the re-organisation of the primary schools, which it
is proposed to hand over to the Church. Sixty-nine professors out of
eighty-three, six theologians out of eight, including amongst them
certain members of the Faculty, have signed this protest. The greatest
names of German science and literature have here joined forces. Liberals
like Herr Harnack have made common cause with such anti-Semite
Conservatives as Professor Treitschke. Mommsen, Virchow, Curtius
Helmholtz, stand side by side in defence of the rights of liberty of
thought. William is becoming irritated by the lessons thus administered
to him and the opposition thus displayed, and his nervousness continues
to assume an aggressive form.