William II's journey to Palestine has completely proved the thorough understanding which he has established with Abdul Hamid—that he should take possession of the Holy Places, as head of the Lutheran religion and as representative of the Catholics of his Empire. France is, therefore, no longer de facto protector of Christians in the East, since she is not required to protect the German Catholics, now directly protected by their Emperor. In the Far East, William II had already refused to allow France to protect his Catholic subjects. The advantages which he derived from this decision were too great for him to abandon them elsewhere, since the murder of a single missionary had brought him Kiao-ohao.
Thus, then, ended this journey, accomplished in pomp and splendour, applauded at the same time by German Christians and by the slayers of Christians. William II has attained his object in the matter of religious influence and of the emigration of German colonists, whom the Sultan will be pleased to receive with open arms. The Kaiser paid his reckoning liberally by proposing the health of the Sultan at Damascus and by declaring his intention to help and sustain the Master and the Khalif of 300 million Mussulmans. The seed of the words thus spoken will sprout and will inspire encouragement for every kind of revolt in the Mussulman subjects of France—and, for that matter, of England also.
Whilst William II was paying his devotions at the Holy Places, giving all the impression of a pious benevolent Head of the Church, a number of horrible evictions were being carried out in Schleswig in his name and by his orders. Hundreds of families, dragged from their native soil, from their homes and kindred, were led away to the frontier on the pretext that they still clung to their belief in a "Southern Jutland." Day after day, for the last thirty-four years, on one pretext or another—and sometimes without any—the Danes have been discouraged from living in Schleswig. Either life has gradually been made impossible for them, or else they have been suddenly compelled to leave the house where they were born, where their elders hoped to die in peace, and their places have been filled by German colonists. A terrible exodus, shameful cruelty! But "Germany for the Germans" is an axiom before which all must bow, big and little, rich and poor.
December 10, 1898. [15]
Mr. Chamberlain's coquetting with Germany has ceased for the time being. The Times, in contrast with its former hymns of praise, now contents itself with asking William II not to make difficulties for England in Europe or beyond the seas, and it adds that a friendly attitude would serve the interests of German subjects in the Colonies much better than one of hostility.
The passage in the German Emperor's Speech from the Throne which refers to China is not calculated, it would seem, to appease Great Britain's irritation. "Germany's Colonies," said the Kaiser, "are in a state of prosperous development. At Kiao-chao steps have already been taken to improve the economic conditions of the protectorate. The frontier has been definitely settled by agreement with the Chinese Government. A free port has been opened and work upon it has begun. The construction of the railway which will link up the Protectorate with the Hinterland, will be commenced in the near future. Relying on the old treaties still in force, and on the new rights acquired under the treaty concluded with China on March 6, 1898, my Government will also endeavour in future, whilst carefully respecting the lawful rights acquired by other Powers, to develop economic relations with China, which, year by year, will become more important, and to secure to German subjects their full share in the activities directed towards opening the Far East to Europe, from the economic point of view."
Nor is the influence acquired by William II and his subjects in the Ottoman Empire, emphasised by this same Speech from the Throne, of a nature to reassure England with regard to her projects in the East. In the Near, as in the Far, East she sees herself being supplanted by Germany, and this by methods identical with her own, against which, therefore, she fights more disadvantageously than against France and Russia, more foolishly chivalrous.
William II, who had replied with insolent sharpness to a legitimate claim advanced by a certain princeling of the Confederated States—the Regent of Lippe-Detmold, Count Ernest von Lippe-Biesterfeld, has had occasion to see that public opinion severely condemns his unjustifiable action. The Confederated Sovereigns and Princes perceive therein a menace to themselves, and have rallied energetically in defence of one of their number. The masses, seeing an insignificant princeling oppressed and threatened by the biggest of them, have sided with the weaker. On his return from Jerusalem, William found the situation extremely strained, and he endeavoured to relieve it by concessions of various kinds. None of them, however, were regarded as adequate. Thereupon, with the suppleness which costs him so little when it is a question of sacrificing his most devoted and valuable servant, the Emperor, King of Prussia, sacrificed Herr von Lucanus, the head of his private household, an almost legendary personage who had had a hand in every important act of William's life. It was he who carried the Imperial ultimatum to Von Bismarck and escaped unhurt from the hands of the infuriated giant.
Herr von Lucanus had not been sacrificed to the violent sarcasms of the Chancellor after his reconciliation with William II; he seemed to be unassailable until, simply for having addressed a few improper lines, at the Emperor's dictation, to a minor prince, he is removed from the anonymous post which was one of the occult powers of Potsdam. The august Confederates may consider themselves satisfied.
[1] La Nouvelle Revue, January 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."