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!