The Schemes of the Kaiser, Juliette Adam [readict books .txt] 📗
- Author: Juliette Adam
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something of the brutalities and exquisite torture which German soldiers have to suffer. This circular was addressed to the commanders of regiments, and has been published by a socialist newspaper, the _Vorwaerts_. This Prince of Saxony is indignant at these things, doubtless because he is a Saxon; Bavaria, we are told, declines to accept the application of the Prussian Military Code. By common consent, the House of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies at Muenich have voted against subscribing to a condition of things which permits men to behave like real savages. Military Germany takes pleasure in cruelty, sentimental Germany is moved by the tortures inflicted on her children. Brutality and sentiment rub elbows, and are so strangely intermingled amongst our neighbours that I, for one, abandon all attempts at understanding them.
It was Von Moltke who said one day that the army was the school of all the virtues. Next day the same Field-Marshal put into circulation certain formulas for the infliction of cruelty, intended for the use of commanding officers.
"If a superior officer should order an inferior to commit a crime, the inferior must commit it." Thus says William II, who in the very next breath expresses his sentimental concern over the unfortunate lot of a woman of loose life handed over to the tender mercies of a bully!
William's latest quarrel, it seems, is with liberty of conscience. The _summus episcopus_ of the evangelical religion becomes the protector of clericalism in Germany. He, the elect of God, has discovered the power of the Catholic Church. This was the power that broke Bismarck, but it will not break William II, for he intends to assimilate it. He dreams of establishing his Protectorate over Catholicism in Europe, America, Africa and in the East; his destiny lies in a world-wide mission, which only Catholicism can support. He will, therefore, dominate the papacy, and through it will govern the world.
February 26, 1892. [20]
The list of Emperor William's vagaries continues to grow. He, who was once the father of socialists, now pursues them with all manner of cruelty, in order to be revenged for their opposition to the scholastic 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'etat_ 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.
Alsace-Lorraine is undisturbed, and all Europe bears witness to its pacific tendencies; nevertheless, the German Emperor is bringing forward a Bill before the Reichstag for declaring a state of siege in Alsace-Lorraine, which includes even a threat of war, and opens the door to every abusive power on the part of the civil authority. The speech which he addressed to the members of the Diet of Brandenburg is the most complete expression which the Emperor, King of Prussia, has yet given of his latest frame of mind.
How dare they criticise him, or discuss his policy! Let them all go to the devil! He, whose policy it is to block emigration, now wishes for nothing better than that all his opponents should leave Germany. But it is impossible to revoke public opinion wholesale, like an edict. If it is difficult now to expel all malcontents from Prussia, what will it be when their number is legion? William II has promised to his people a glorious destiny, happiness, and the protection of Heaven. Truly these Germans must be insatiable if they ask for more!
March 12, 1892. [21]
William II aims at concentrating all power, and, to organise the work of espionage, in the hands of the military authorities. If the Prussian law of 1851 is still effective, the Emperor in case of need will be able to dispense with a vote of the Reichstag. This law confers on every general and on his representative, who may be an officer of eighteen years of age, the right to declare a state of siege in the event of war threatening. On the other hand, the projected Bill against espionage meets with very general approval. Your German has got spies on the brain. He wishes to be able to indulge in spying in other countries, but to prevent it in Germany. The _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the _Vorwaerts_ assert that the proposed law against the revealing of military secrets was inspired by the publication of the report by Prince George of Saxony, containing revelations of a kind which the Emperor does not wish to occur again. One of the articles of this law against spying reveals the Prussian character in all its beauty. One has only to read it, in order to understand the inducements which the Government of William II holds out to informers. The end of this article runs as follows: "Every individual having knowledge of such an infringement, and who shall fail to notify the authorities, is liable to imprisonment."
To hear these Germans, one would think that France and Russia are flooding the Empire with spies, whilst Germany never sends a single one of them to France or Russia. In the first place, all these statements are purely cynical; and in the second Germany can very well afford to dispense with professionally selected spies, inasmuch as every German prides himself on being one at all times in the service of the Fatherland.
April 12, 1892. [22]
William II makes a solemn promise to his august grandmother, Queen Victoria, and to the "best beloved" of his Allies, the Emperor of Austria, that he will restore the Guelph Fund. Francis Joseph has obtained from the Duke of Cumberland the somewhat undignified letter of renunciation, which we have all read, and now it is either up to Rogue Scapin or Bre'r Fox, just as you please! William II says that he never meant to give back the capital, but only the interest! It is easy to imagine the effect produced on those concerned by the revelation of this astonishing mental reservation. But this is not all! The King of Prussia--always short of money, always in debt on account of his extravagant fancies and expensive clothes, and half ruined by his mania for running to and fro--had made certain arrangements for meeting his creditors by means of the Guelph Fund, but with the proviso, needless to say, that they affected only the interest!!
It is said that the heir of the House of Hanover has written a second letter which evoked a sickly smile from William II, and of which Councillor Roessing has suppressed the publication with some difficulty.
Amongst other things, William II has had quick-firing guns, supplied to the people of Dahomey by slave merchants. The Berlin _Post_, directly inspired by the Emperor, tells us exactly what is his object in so doing--
"England and Russia will not help France to settle her difficulties in her colonies. These two Powers are far too pre-occupied with the struggle for supremacy in Asia. France is, therefore, reduced to looking to Germany as her sole support. If France consents to work together with Germany, Africa will be won for civilisation, and for the best civilisation of all, the Franco-German, but so long as France pursues this task single-handed, she will not attain her end, and will find in Africa nothing but disappointment."
Such evidences of effrontery remind us that William II is the pupil of Bismarck. We are, therefore, justified in concluding that the Germans realise that it is not Aristides the Just who has been exiled, but a master rogue, whom his pupil now imitates.
April 29, 1892. [23]
William II continues to expel from Berlin all unemployed workmen, quite regardless of the cause of their temporary or continuous idleness. He sends them back to their native parishes, without caring in the least whether they will find there the work which they are unable to secure at the capital. The "Workmen's Emperor" compels an emigration into the interior of all the most discontented, the most irritated and wretched, thus sowing throughout all the land the evil seed of the most dangerous kind of propagandist. The spirit of Germany is full of surprises for any one who takes the trouble to observe it carefully, and it is not only in the acts of the Emperor that we perceive its contradictions.
To take one instance out of a thousand. Five non-commissioned officers of dragoons have just been tried at Ulm, accused of having beaten recruits with sticks until they drew blood. They have been acquitted, after having proved that they acted under the orders of their captain. In this connection it is interesting to read the following--
"The Court of Saverne has just condemned a carrier named Schwartz to six weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ten marks for ill-treating his horse."
The unstable grandson of the steadfast William I threatens before long to get between his teeth a fourth war minister; he has already devoured three chiefs of the general staff, and, in a few years, as many ministers as his grandfather had during the whole course of his long reign.
It remains to be seen whether, after the withdrawal of the scholastic law, William II will still find a majority willing to accept his new and disturbing schemes.
May 28, 1892. [24]
As the German Empire has no other force of cohesion except such as lies in militarism, William is necessarily compelled to do everything to magnify and increase it. Whereas we in France are free to develop the quality rather than the quantity of our army, Germany, finding the elements of cohesion only in her military agglomerations is compelled to increase unceasingly the number of her soldiers.
At this very moment William is planning to add a permanent effective of 40,000 men to the tactical units. In return, he will promise Parliament and the country a provisional two years' service, being quite capable of withdrawing his promise so soon as the vote has been secured.
Numbers, always numbers! It is
It was Von Moltke who said one day that the army was the school of all the virtues. Next day the same Field-Marshal put into circulation certain formulas for the infliction of cruelty, intended for the use of commanding officers.
"If a superior officer should order an inferior to commit a crime, the inferior must commit it." Thus says William II, who in the very next breath expresses his sentimental concern over the unfortunate lot of a woman of loose life handed over to the tender mercies of a bully!
William's latest quarrel, it seems, is with liberty of conscience. The _summus episcopus_ of the evangelical religion becomes the protector of clericalism in Germany. He, the elect of God, has discovered the power of the Catholic Church. This was the power that broke Bismarck, but it will not break William II, for he intends to assimilate it. He dreams of establishing his Protectorate over Catholicism in Europe, America, Africa and in the East; his destiny lies in a world-wide mission, which only Catholicism can support. He will, therefore, dominate the papacy, and through it will govern the world.
February 26, 1892. [20]
The list of Emperor William's vagaries continues to grow. He, who was once the father of socialists, now pursues them with all manner of cruelty, in order to be revenged for their opposition to the scholastic 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'etat_ 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.
Alsace-Lorraine is undisturbed, and all Europe bears witness to its pacific tendencies; nevertheless, the German Emperor is bringing forward a Bill before the Reichstag for declaring a state of siege in Alsace-Lorraine, which includes even a threat of war, and opens the door to every abusive power on the part of the civil authority. The speech which he addressed to the members of the Diet of Brandenburg is the most complete expression which the Emperor, King of Prussia, has yet given of his latest frame of mind.
How dare they criticise him, or discuss his policy! Let them all go to the devil! He, whose policy it is to block emigration, now wishes for nothing better than that all his opponents should leave Germany. But it is impossible to revoke public opinion wholesale, like an edict. If it is difficult now to expel all malcontents from Prussia, what will it be when their number is legion? William II has promised to his people a glorious destiny, happiness, and the protection of Heaven. Truly these Germans must be insatiable if they ask for more!
March 12, 1892. [21]
William II aims at concentrating all power, and, to organise the work of espionage, in the hands of the military authorities. If the Prussian law of 1851 is still effective, the Emperor in case of need will be able to dispense with a vote of the Reichstag. This law confers on every general and on his representative, who may be an officer of eighteen years of age, the right to declare a state of siege in the event of war threatening. On the other hand, the projected Bill against espionage meets with very general approval. Your German has got spies on the brain. He wishes to be able to indulge in spying in other countries, but to prevent it in Germany. The _Frankfurter Zeitung_ and the _Vorwaerts_ assert that the proposed law against the revealing of military secrets was inspired by the publication of the report by Prince George of Saxony, containing revelations of a kind which the Emperor does not wish to occur again. One of the articles of this law against spying reveals the Prussian character in all its beauty. One has only to read it, in order to understand the inducements which the Government of William II holds out to informers. The end of this article runs as follows: "Every individual having knowledge of such an infringement, and who shall fail to notify the authorities, is liable to imprisonment."
To hear these Germans, one would think that France and Russia are flooding the Empire with spies, whilst Germany never sends a single one of them to France or Russia. In the first place, all these statements are purely cynical; and in the second Germany can very well afford to dispense with professionally selected spies, inasmuch as every German prides himself on being one at all times in the service of the Fatherland.
April 12, 1892. [22]
William II makes a solemn promise to his august grandmother, Queen Victoria, and to the "best beloved" of his Allies, the Emperor of Austria, that he will restore the Guelph Fund. Francis Joseph has obtained from the Duke of Cumberland the somewhat undignified letter of renunciation, which we have all read, and now it is either up to Rogue Scapin or Bre'r Fox, just as you please! William II says that he never meant to give back the capital, but only the interest! It is easy to imagine the effect produced on those concerned by the revelation of this astonishing mental reservation. But this is not all! The King of Prussia--always short of money, always in debt on account of his extravagant fancies and expensive clothes, and half ruined by his mania for running to and fro--had made certain arrangements for meeting his creditors by means of the Guelph Fund, but with the proviso, needless to say, that they affected only the interest!!
It is said that the heir of the House of Hanover has written a second letter which evoked a sickly smile from William II, and of which Councillor Roessing has suppressed the publication with some difficulty.
Amongst other things, William II has had quick-firing guns, supplied to the people of Dahomey by slave merchants. The Berlin _Post_, directly inspired by the Emperor, tells us exactly what is his object in so doing--
"England and Russia will not help France to settle her difficulties in her colonies. These two Powers are far too pre-occupied with the struggle for supremacy in Asia. France is, therefore, reduced to looking to Germany as her sole support. If France consents to work together with Germany, Africa will be won for civilisation, and for the best civilisation of all, the Franco-German, but so long as France pursues this task single-handed, she will not attain her end, and will find in Africa nothing but disappointment."
Such evidences of effrontery remind us that William II is the pupil of Bismarck. We are, therefore, justified in concluding that the Germans realise that it is not Aristides the Just who has been exiled, but a master rogue, whom his pupil now imitates.
April 29, 1892. [23]
William II continues to expel from Berlin all unemployed workmen, quite regardless of the cause of their temporary or continuous idleness. He sends them back to their native parishes, without caring in the least whether they will find there the work which they are unable to secure at the capital. The "Workmen's Emperor" compels an emigration into the interior of all the most discontented, the most irritated and wretched, thus sowing throughout all the land the evil seed of the most dangerous kind of propagandist. The spirit of Germany is full of surprises for any one who takes the trouble to observe it carefully, and it is not only in the acts of the Emperor that we perceive its contradictions.
To take one instance out of a thousand. Five non-commissioned officers of dragoons have just been tried at Ulm, accused of having beaten recruits with sticks until they drew blood. They have been acquitted, after having proved that they acted under the orders of their captain. In this connection it is interesting to read the following--
"The Court of Saverne has just condemned a carrier named Schwartz to six weeks' imprisonment and a fine of ten marks for ill-treating his horse."
The unstable grandson of the steadfast William I threatens before long to get between his teeth a fourth war minister; he has already devoured three chiefs of the general staff, and, in a few years, as many ministers as his grandfather had during the whole course of his long reign.
It remains to be seen whether, after the withdrawal of the scholastic law, William II will still find a majority willing to accept his new and disturbing schemes.
May 28, 1892. [24]
As the German Empire has no other force of cohesion except such as lies in militarism, William is necessarily compelled to do everything to magnify and increase it. Whereas we in France are free to develop the quality rather than the quantity of our army, Germany, finding the elements of cohesion only in her military agglomerations is compelled to increase unceasingly the number of her soldiers.
At this very moment William is planning to add a permanent effective of 40,000 men to the tactical units. In return, he will promise Parliament and the country a provisional two years' service, being quite capable of withdrawing his promise so soon as the vote has been secured.
Numbers, always numbers! It is
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