Our new Minister of Foreign Affairs, upon coming to the Quai d’Orsay, felt keenly the humiliation inflicted upon France by the persistent weakness of our policy.  From the outset he succeeded in foiling the Sultan’s dangerous scheme for securing a representative of the Holy See at Constantinople which would have abolished at one stroke the whole French protectorate over Christians in the East.

Cardinal Ledochowsky, Prefect of Propaganda, with the help of the prospective Nuncio at Constantinople, and in order to emphasise the collapse of French influence in the East, was making his plans in readiness for William II to assume, solemnly and definitely, a protectorate over the Christians.  Already the Kaiser’s trusty friend at the Vatican had decided to instruct the Catholic clergy in Palestine to render exceptional honours to the German Emperor on the occasion of his journey to the Holy Places.  But the Council of the Congregation, in plenary session, has opposed the wishes of Cardinal Ledochowsky, and so there will be no nomination of a representative of the Holy See at the Court of the Grand Turk.  The German Emperor must needs be content with the honours “usually accorded to reigning princes.”  This is the kind of rebuff that neither Abdul Hamid nor William II readily forgives.

One of the German Emperor’s chief joys is to break things.  To bewilder people by the suddenness of his resolutions, to court all risks, to proclaim his power, to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind:  these are the pleasures of the German Emperor, King of Prussia.  There is no need for me to repeat the strange Neronian stories that are whispered in Germany concerning certain incidents of William’s sea-voyages and journeys in Norway.  A number of mysterious deaths following one upon the other provide sufficient material for these tales.  For those who, like myself, have never ceased to regard William II as a creature of unbridled pride, it is enough from time to time to note one of his actions, so as to form our judgment of the man and to be able to predict to what heights of complacent admiration for himself and of severity for others he is likely to attain hereafter.

August 10, 1898. [9]

Created by force, the unity of Germany is maintained by force.  On the day that another force arises, Germany will collapse, for her cohesion has only been attained and cemented by cunning and contempt for the truth; she has lived by the sword and she shall perish by the sword.

It is said that Bismarck was the real obstacle to an understanding between England and Germany.  It is certainly true that neither France nor Russia has anything to gain by England’s throwing herself into the arms of Germany.  Mr. Chamberlain is ready to do all in his power to draw England into the Triple Alliance, and William II, no longer dreading the criticisms of Varzin, would now accept with pleasure the proposals which he seemed to disdain.  Nevertheless, the real rival that threatens England’s future is Germany.