“An individual of the name of Van der Smissen, having dared to argue in the ranks, got broken for his pains.

“At the same time, in order to cast into stronger relief the loftiness and majesty of my countenance, I invested it, amongst these good Belgians, with certain new features of good nature and cordiality.

“As to France, Russia’s only possible ally to-day, her artless simplicity protects me from all risks that I might otherwise run.  I shall compel her to accept the neutralisation of Alsace-Lorraine, whenever the provinces shall have become thoroughly Germanised.

“For the present I leave England to deal with her:  England who keeps her busy with childish things, and soothes her vanity with illusory diplomatic successes, such as the exequatur of the Madagascar Consuls (which the settled policy of the residents would have achieved in time) and with useless concessions amidst the fogs of Lake Chad, or on the Niger, or in regions whose possession none disputed.

“Lord Salisbury evoked much mirth, over these concessions at the Lord Mayor’s banquet, joking somewhat cynically at his own policy in disposing of territories over which he had no rights.  One country, amongst others, given to France, has provided my good English friends with an inexhaustible source of merriment.

“Concerning Egypt, Lord Salisbury has clearly intimated to France that England will never give it up.

“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 shore 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]