At a meeting of his constituents he laid down his confession of faith.  A special act, he explained, was in no way justified, would indeed be ineffectual, and lead away from the object they had in view.  The government would be guilty of libel if it made the Socialists answerable for a crime committed by two half or wholly insane persons; it was the duty of the government to prove that these attacks were the work of the Socialists:  that proof, however, it had been unable to discover.  Moreover, no special act in the world could hinder people of unsound mind from committing insane deeds—­the crimes of a Hodel or a Nobiling could not be predicted, but neither could they be prevented by any kind of precautionary measure.  The sole result of a special act would be to make the Socialists practically outlaws in their own country.  That would constitute not only a terrible severity against a large class of their fellow-citizens, but a frightful danger to the State.  In hundreds and thousands of hearts it would destroy the sense of fellowship with the community in which they lived; they would look upon themselves as outcasts, and become the enemies of their pursuers.  It would be exactly as if some thousands of Frenchmen were set down in the midst of the German population—­in the army, in the cities, the factories, the arsenals and railways, where they would only wait for a favorable opportunity to revenge themselves on their conquerors.  That would be the inevitable result if the Socialists were deprived of the security of the common law.  He considered the Socialist doctrines false and mischievous, and their aims senseless and—­fortunately—­unattainable, and for that very reason he did not fear them.  But deprive the Socialists of the possibility of expressing themselves freely in word and print, and their grievances, which now found vent in harmless speechifying, would assume the form of practical violence.

His speech made an impression, but that of a rival candidate a still greater, for he succeeded in rousing the deepest and most powerful emotions of his hearers, by the plain statement that whoever refused the government the right of adopting such measures as it thought necessary for the safety of the public, simply delivered the life of their aged and beloved sovereign into the hands of assassins.  At the election, Schrotter had on his side only a small number of independent-minded voters, who were able to remain unmoved by sentimental arguments.  The workingmen would not vote for him, knowing him to be an opponent of Socialism.  The rival candidate was returned by a large majority.

The Reichstag assembled, the Socialist Act was passed, Berlin declared to be in a state of semi-siege, and a great number of workmen dismissed from the city.  It was November, and winter had set in with unusual severity.  On a dark and bitterly cold afternoon, old Stubbe, who had been agent in the Eynhardts’ house for twenty years, entered Wilhelm’s room.