One can discern, however, a little trumpet note (of which he would not lose the habit), in the speech which he made at the opening of the new Reichstag building, whose construction was begun at the time of the Prussian victories:  “May this building remind them (the deputies) that it is their duty to watch over that which their fathers have conquered.”  But this is a pure and simple melody compared to the war-march of the Saxons.

January 12, 1885. [8]

William II, in search of a social position, has become lecturer.  At his first lecture, he announced to the whole world that our commercial marine no longer holds the second place, that this second place belongs to Germany, and it is now necessary that Germany’s Navy should also take our place.  And in his usual chameleon way, the German Emperor, who until quite recently refused to admit that there lay any merit whatsoever in the Bismarckian policy, now adds:  “And Prince Bismarck may rejoice, for the policy which he introduced has triumphed.”

March 12, 1895. [9]

On a certain day, in 1871, the defenders of Paris and its patriotic inhabitants learned from the silence of our guns, that the Prussian enemy’s victory over them was complete.  And now it seems we are going to Kiel, to take part in the triumphant procession of H.M.  William II, King of Prussia, and to add the glory of our flag to the brilliant inauguration of his strategic waterway.  Why should we go to Kiel?  Who wanted our government to go there?  Nobody, either in France or Russia.  The great Tzars are too jealous of the integrity of their own splendid territory, to refuse to allow that a nation should remember its lost provinces.  We were indignant when the Prince Royal of Italy, the ally of Germany, went to take part in the German military cavalcades, and now we ourselves, whom Prussia defeated, are going, in the train of the despoiler of Schleswig-Holstein, to assist at the opening of a canal, which penetrates and bleeds Danish provinces, annexed by the same conqueror who took from us Alsace-Lorraine.  Will Denmark, whom William II has had the audacity to invite, go to Kiel?  No, a thousand times no! and neither should we go there ourselves, to applaud this taking possession of Danish waters.  Denmark, though invited, will not go to Kiel; yet we know what are the ties which bind her Sovereigns to Russia.  It has been said, in order to reassure consciences that are easily quieted, that our war-ships will go to Kiel sheltered by those of Russia, and, so to speak, hidden beneath their shadow.  Our dignity is at stake, as much in the truth as in the falsehood of this news.  The French Government is not a monarchy.  By declining this invitation of our conquerors, it would have placed the whole question on its proper footing, which should be that of the situation created by the Treaty of Frankfort.  We should have said to Germany, France desires peace.  Our Chauvinists will remain quiet, so long as the German Government gives us no provocation.  If we refrain from going to Kiel, it is in order to maintain the peaceful condition of our relations.  Germany’s chief interest is to lead Europe to believe that we have come to accept the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, and to make the people of those provinces believe that we have forgotten them.