The Schemes of the Kaiser Part 3

"Thus, the Salisbury Ministry has still at its disposal, to keep busy my fiery but easily duped neighbours, the Egyptian problem, with a French Minister at Cairo, who is more of a help than a hindrance to England; the Newfoundland question, with the Anglo-American Waddington, more yielding for the purposes of the British Foreign Office than one of its own agents.

"Moreover, whenever I choose, the rulers of France can be made to believe in a francophile reincarnation of M. Crispi! I have many things in store for them in that quarter.

"Deceived by the infinite resources of my diplomacy, led astray by my agents who have taken on less reptilian disguises, the guileless French nation remains a prey to ignorance and ambitions as countless as the sands on the sh.o.r.e of her democracy.

"To sum up; England, through India; England and Germany, through China, we hold in our hands that question of an Asiatic war, a scourge which will exhaust the strength of your Empire, O Tzar! and which may finally weaken France. I have said!"

'Tis a long tale, and were it all told at one time, Alexander III would certainly not listen to half of it. But William II spent a fortnight in Russia, and I have only an hour to summarise his argument.

Have the wings of the German Emperor the span of those of Lucifer, as he believes? He may play the part, but he will never be able to carry it through!

August 28, 1890. [11]

Although for the meeting of these two powerful Emperors (whose destinies, as history proves, are so frequently commingled) there was no real necessity, other than the desire of the young and restless King of Prussia, to keep the whole world guessing as to the object of his multifarious designs, their coming together has its undeniable importance and significance, for it has been the means of increasing the resistance and strengthening the determination of the Tzar.

Alexander III, whose mind reflects the great and untroubled soul of Russia, is well able to estimate at its true worth the insatiable greed of Germany and the ever-encroaching character of her ruler. Because of his own self-control and disinterestedness, the Tzar must have been able to gather from William's words and works a very fair idea of his unbounded self-conceit; of that vanity which, like its emblem the eagle of the outspread wings, aspires to cover the whole earth.

Even though William has offered to the Emperor of Russia the prospect of a general disarmament; even though, with his present mania for speech-making he may have suggested a Congress for the settlement of Europe's disputes, his success must have been of the negative kind.

If the Tzar were to agree to a conference, it could only lead to one of two results. Either it would embitter those disputes which threaten to embroil the nations in a fierce struggle, and bring France and Russia together in resistance to the same greedy foes, or it would end in the imposition of a lasting peace, which would mean that the Prussian and military fabric of the German State would be dissolved, as by a miracle, to the benefit of French and Russian influences in Europe.

Let then the German Emperor have his head. G.o.d is leading him straight on the path of failure. It is this still-vague feeling, that he will never have power to add to the Prussian birthright, that makes him rush feverishly from one scheme to another; stirring up this question and that, ever testing, ever striving. It is this foreboding that has driven him to pursue fame, fortune and glory, and so to weary them with his importunities and haste, that they flee from him, unable and unwilling to bear with him any longer.

Sire, if it be your ambition to become, immediately and by your own endeavours, greater than any one on earth, allow me to express the charitable wish without hoping to dissuade you--that you may break your neck in the attempt!

September 12, 1890. [12]

It was just at the time that I was writing my last article, that the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia (who has a perfect obsession for being in the middle of the picture), was carrying out at the army manoeuvres at Narva, a certain strategic design, long-prepared and tested, by means of which he proposed to fill with amazement and admiration not only the Russian army but the Imperial Court--nay, all Russia, and the whole wide world!

William's idea was to repeat the exploit performed by the troops of Charles XII (with the aid of the Russian Viborg Regiment, of which he is Colonel) and to pa.s.s through the heavy ma.s.s of a regiment of cavalry with light infantry battalions. The future Commander-in-Chief of the German Army wished to show the world that he would know how to add the _elan_ of the French and the impetuosity of the Slav to the qualities of method and strength perfected by leaders like Von Moltke or Frederick Charles. Therefore, several weeks before, William II had asked the Tzar to be allowed to take part in the manoeuvres and to command in person the Viborg Regiment.

And so it came to pa.s.s that, having cast himself for a part of invincible audacity, he came to cut a very sorry and ridiculous figure.

Surrounded by the Hussars, he was made to see that what may be done with German infantry against Uhlans, cannot be accomplished, even with Russian soldiers, against Russian cavalry.

This incident shows that the Tzar had something akin to second sight when he gave orders that the length of the manoeuvres would be optional. Thanks to this, the Kaiser was free to take home the sooner his pretty jacket (no, his tunic, I mean) from Narva.

What an interesting broadsheet might be made on the subject of "William II a prisoner"!

In the long winter evenings to come, how many a Russian peasant--gifted with imagination as they are--in telling again the tale of the Viborg Regiment's attack, will see in it an omen of the destiny of the German Emperor! And they will add, with bated breath, that the _Hohenzollern_, on leaving the sh.o.r.es of Russia narrowly missed being cut in two by another vessel. And one more sign of evil omen--a fearful tempest shook the Imperial yacht in Russian waters.

Let us, whose Emperor was a prisoner of the Germans in 1871, pray that some day a German Emperor may be taken prisoner by the Russian army--not like at Narva, but in all seriousness.

I said in my last letter that it might well be that William's journey to Russia might result in stiffening the resolution of the Emperor Alexander. And so it has proved, for scarcely had his Imperial guest returned to Berlin, than a ukase raised the Russian Customs tariff and imposed a new duty of 20 per cent. on German imports. A fine result this, of that which the German Press, before William's departure, described as the Russo-German Economic Entente, at a moment when, even for the Berlin newspapers, the prospects of a political _entente_ were somewhat dubious.

For this reason, Professor Delbruck says quite bluntly, in the "Prussian Annals," that William II's journey to Russia has been a lamentable fiasco; that the Tzar declined to listen to any diplomatic conversation; that he ridiculed and entertained his Imperial guest with a series of military parades whilst the Russian general staff was carrying out important manoeuvres on the western frontiers.

In the same spirit as that of the ex-deputy Professor, the whole German and Austrian Press have been demanding that, for the peace of Europe, the German and Austrian troops should be withdrawn from their respective frontiers, so as to compel the Russian forces to do the same.

That is all very well, but inasmuch as the military zones of the Great Russian Empire are separated by enormous distances, and the movement of troops being very much easier for Germany and Austria than for Russia, one would like to know precisely what is the idea at the back of these demands. As soon as ever he returned to Germany, two very significant ideas occurred to William II: one, to make a display of the warmest sentiments for his august _pis-aller_, the Emperor of Austria; the other, to have his faithful ally Italy play some scurvy trick on France, Russia's friend.

To this end, the German Emperor proceeded to hold a review of the Austro-Hungarian Fleet and went beyond the official programme by going aboard the ironclad _Francis Joseph_, flying the flag of Admiral Sterneck. After this, inviting himself to luncheon with the Archduke Charles Stephen, commanding the Austrian squadron, he made a fervent speech, wishing health and glory to his precious ally the Emperor of Austria.

September 27, 1890. [13]

When Germany agreed to withdraw her armies from the soil of France, she replaced them by other soldiers: crossing-sweepers, clerks, workmen, bankers (industrials or "reptiles" as the case might be), as well organised, linked up and drilled as her best troops. Unceasingly, therefore, and without rest, it behoves us to be on our guard and to defend ourselves.

A good many amiable Frenchmen will shrug their shoulders at this, but if we act otherwise we shall be delivered over to our enemies, bound hand and foot, at the psychological moment.

And now, dear reader, to return to William II. You will grant, I think, that since we have followed the interminable zig-zags of his wanderings throughout Europe, we are ent.i.tled to coin and utter a new proverb: "A rolling monarch gathers no prestige."

November 1, 1890. [14]

For mastodons like Bismarck, William II prepares a refrigerating atmosphere which freezes them alive. Splendid mummies like Von Moltke he smothers with flowers. The men whom William dismisses and discards are great men in the eyes of Germany, even though in history they may not be so, because the ex-Chancellor is of inferior character, and because certain successes of Von Moltke were due rather to luck than design. Nevertheless, they are in William's way and he gets rid of them, by different means. He needs about him men of a different stamp to those of the iron age; for the present, he is satisfied with courtiers, later he will demand valets. All those who are of any worth, all those who stand erect before his shadow, will be sacrificed sooner or later. His autocratic methods will end by producing the same results as those of the most jealous of democracies.

Let us bear in mind how often, under Bismarck and William I, the German Press made mock of our fatal French mania for change, pointing out to Europe how the everlasting see-saw of Ministers of War was bound to reduce our national defences to a position of inferiority. In two years William is at his fourth!

Soon, no doubt, William II will be able to score a personal success in the matter of his intrigues against Count Taaffe. His benevolence spares not his allies. We know the measure of his good-will towards Italy. Lately, it seems, the Emperor, King of Prussia, said to the Count of Launay, King Humbert's Amba.s.sador at Berlin, "Do not forget that, sooner or later, Trieste is destined to become a German port."

And it was doubtless with this generous idea in his mind that he had his compliments conveyed to M. Crispi for his anti-irridentist speech at Florence.

That the Triple Alliance is the "safeguard of peace," has become a catchword that each of the allies repeats with wearisome reiteration.

But there! It is not that William II does not wish for war: it is Germany which forbids him to seek it. It was not M. Crispi who declined to seek a pretext for attacking France: it was Italy that forbade him to find it. It is not the Germanised Austrians who hesitate to provoke Russia: it is the Slavs who threaten that if a provocation takes place they will revolt.

Let me add that the official organs in Germany, Italy and Vienna only raise a smile nowadays when they describe Russia and France as thunderbolts of war.

November 12, 1890. [15]

At the outset of the reign of William II, referring to his father, I spoke of the "dead hand" and its power over the living. Now, what has the young King of Prussia done since his accession to the Throne? He, the flatterer of Bismarck, this disciple of Pastor Stoker, this out-and-out soldier, this hard and haughty personage, who was wont to blame his august parents for their bourgeois amiability and their frequent excursions? He carries out everything that his father planned, but he does it under impulse from without and he does it badly, without forethought, without the sincerity or the natural quality which is revealed in a man by a course of skilful action legitimate in its methods.

He smashed Von Bismarck in brutal fashion. His father, on the other hand, was wont to say: "I will not touch the Chancellor's statue, but I will remove the stones, one by one, from his pedestal, so that some fine day it will collapse of itself."

It is a curious thing that these reforms and ideas, not having been applied by the monarch whose character would have harmonised perfectly with their conception and execution, now possess no reversionary value.

They lose it completely by being subjected to a false paternity.

It is true that occasionally William II envoys some real satisfaction, such as that which he has derived from the coming of the King of Belgium. So impatient was His Majesty to return his visit, that he could not wait for the good season and therefore he came in the bad.

At Ostend, Leopold II had caused sand to be strewn at William's coming (the beach being conveniently handy). The King of Prussia only spread mud. Why was the King of Belgium in such a hurry? After the visit of General Pontus to Berlin and his three days in retirement with the German headquarters staff, people at Brussels are still asking what more King Leopold could possibly have to settle in person with Messrs.

Moltke and Waldersee at these same headquarters?

The _Courier de Bruxelles_ informs us that certain proposals for an alliance were made to Leopold II during his stay at Potsdam. What!