The German Emperor, King of Prussia, wages a victorious war against everything that is not German. He has just put to the sword the French terms in the Prussian military vocabulary. In vain these poor words pleaded the authority of the great Frederick, who introduced them into Prussia. In spite of his fondness for imitating Frederick the Great, William II has slaughtered the French expressions "officier aspirant," "porte épée," "premier lieutenant," "général," etc., etc. The massacre is complete, their exclusion wholesale; he leaves no trace of the enemy's tongue. William II follows with marked satisfaction the anti-French movement of opinion in England. "England will chastise France," he said to his Officers' Club, "and then she will come and beg me to protect her." Germany hates us with all her own hatred, added to that of England. She hopes for our defeat, but if we should win, she would come hypocritically to claim from us her vulture share of the spoil for her so-called neutrality.
February 9, 1899.
Bismarck's interest in things was never keenly aroused unless they were worth lying about. When he said "the Eastern question is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier," he was formulating in his mind the programme of the "Drang nach Osten," the great push towards the East. The Russo-Turkish war; the humbling of the victorious Slav colossus by the Congress of Berlin; the diabolical treachery contained in the Resolutions of the said Congress (not one of which but contains the germ of some revolt or movement on the part of the races of the Turkish Empire); the separation of Bulgaria and Roumelia, united by the Treaty of San Stefano; the subsequent reunion, directed against Russia, of these two countries; the handing over of Bulgaria to a Coburg, bound by ties to Austria—all these things were brought about by the treachery and guile of the super-liar who ruled at Berlin. And since then, William II has done everything possible to advance this "Drang nach Osten," Prussia's favourite scheme.
And whilst the menace of this "push towards the East" is steadily growing, whilst he who directs it from Berlin holds in his hand all the strings of the puppets who can help to advance it or pretend (as part of the conspiracy) to oppose it, what is great Russia doing, the mighty Tzar, and France?
They tell us that Russia is abandoning her interests in the East and that the Tzar is dreaming of giving Europe a lasting peace—a peace chiefly favourable to the economic and commercial development of Germany and to the increase of her influence.
Russia and France seem scarcely to realise that the only force which can drive back the tide of Germanic invasion is the Slav power, organised and firmly established in Europe. A Balkan league including Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, a southern Slav kingdom, a Bohemia-Moravia, these might hold the German power in check and give to Europe the necessary equilibrium. France has an interest as great as Russia's in the organisation of this opposing force, but she does not realise the fact. Just as the Athenians stretched out their hands towards the power of Rome, deadly in its fascination, even so there are culpably blind patriots among us who dream the monstrous dream of an entente with Germanism. As well might one, to escape the flood, throw oneself into the rising ravening torrent. Before long, Germany will be the ruler of Austria, of Hungary, Turkey and Holland, and we shall have prepared no counterpoise to this encroachment, we, the Allies of the great Russian people, who, even though they may eventually succumb to the fatal attraction of Asia, might first help us to secure our racial psychology and to establish bonds between our Gallo-Latin soul and the soul of the Slavs.
The Germans are establishing themselves comfortably and permanently in China. There lies before me an extract from the first number of a newspaper published by the Germans in China under the title of The German Asiatic Sentinel. This official organ of the Kiao-chao territory appears every week with six pages of articles and advertisements. It is strange to find in it advertisements of the most diverse description, from that which commends brown Kulmback beer, to that in which two young German merchants seek to correspond, with a view to marriage, with good-looking young German girls of good family.
When one remembers the solemn investiture at Kiel of Prince Henry of Prussia, as leader of the crusade which was to spread the sacred words of Christianity amongst the barbarian followers of Confucius, and when one sees this investiture finding its expression in the initiation of the Chinese into the mysteries of Kulmback beer and the search for exportable Gretchens, the association of the two pictures reminds one somehow of tight-rope dancing. But ridicule is unknown in Germany.
It seems to me that the Kaiser's latest speech, at the banquet of the provincial Landtag of Brandenburg, is in somewhat doubtful taste. On this occasion, he spoke first of the divine right and responsabilities of the Hohenzollerns on a footing of familiarity with God, and next he compared the functions of a sovereign with those of a gardener, who stirs up the earth, smokes the roots and hunts out noxious insects. True, the German Emperor has got to cultivate the tree of 1870-71 and to destroy "hostile animals," which I take to mean our good simple-minded Frenchmen!
The campaign in favour of a rapprochement between France and Germany continues to be cleverly managed and directed in our midst. There is talk of a visit of the Tzar, who would come to Antibes and who would there receive William II at the same time as M. Félix Faure. The formula with which this arrangement is commended to us is "we have sulked long enough." In other words, they would convert a great, strengthening and enduring hatred into a trivial grudge. That, since Fashoda they should regard Sedan as a peccadillo is strange, to say the least of it.