Let us remember the words of the Emperor of Germany—
"I would rather that all my people should fall upon the field of battle than give back to France a single clover-field of Alsace-Lorraine."
The Post of Strasburg, recalling this declaration, adds—
"The French bourgeoisie is too cowardly to begin a war. It is willing to smile at the words of Déroulède, but does not move. The people of Alsace-Lorraine have done quite rightly in turning away from these talkers. We have permitted them to become Germans, why then, should they refuse the privilege?"
But William II continues to evoke the red vision of France militant, in order to obtain the vote for his military credits. It would seem that his liberalism has gone to join his socialism. At the dinner of the Brandenburgers he said "God inspires me; the people and the nation owe me their obedience." No matter whether he bungles or blunders, God alone is responsible, and it is not for the people or the nation to argue. And what is more, has not the new President of the Evangelical Church just proclaimed William II as summus episcopus? Just as William claims to decide infallibly every political question he will now decide all theological questions, without asking any help from the supreme council of the Evangelical Church.
Pope, Emperor and King—but does anybody suppose that this will satisfy him?
March 27, 1891. [6]
The reception of the delegates from Alsace-Lorraine at Berlin is characteristic. William II, eternally pre-occupied with stage-effects, has on this occasion accentuated the disproportion between the framework and the results obtained. He insisted upon it that the proceedings should be as imposing as the refusal of the delegates' request was to be humiliating. All the pomp and circumstance of State was displayed for the occasion, with the result of producing a scene, carefully prepared in advance, worthy of a Nero. The Emperor of Germany surrounded by his military household, in the hall of his Knights of the Guard, receives the complaints of the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine, who have come to ask for a relaxation of the laws imposed on them by conquest. To them, William II made answer: "The sooner the population of Alsace-Lorraine becomes convinced that the ties which bind her to the German Empire will never be broken, the sooner she proves more definitely that she is resolved henceforward to display unswerving fidelity towards me and towards the Empire, the sooner will this hope of hers be realised."
Above the Imperial Palace, during this scene, the yellow flag of the
Emperors of Germany floated side by side with the purple banner of
Prussia.
Another picture—