ssed against every oppressor. Of
course we were simpletons, we of '48, and the golden youth of to-day
scoffs superciliously at our naive ideals. In the present order of
things everything has become a curse--even the parliamentary system.
For that gives the people no means of making its will known, and has
simply become a vehicle for general corruption at the elections. Our
officials, on whose independence of spirit we used to pride ourselves
so much, have sunk into mere electioneering agents, and unless they
pursue, oppress, and grind the opponents of the government, have no
chance of promotion. It is a Police State such as we have never known,
not even before '48. For at least every man got his rights in those
days, scanty as those rights may have been, and the official was not
the enemy of the citizen, but his somewhat despotic guardian and
protector. Shall I say all? The most consoling class to me in Germany
to-day are the Social Democrats. They have independence of spirit,
self-denial, character, and idealism. Their ideals are not my
ideals--far from it--but what does that matter? It is relief enough to
find people who have any ideals at all, and who are ready to suffer and
die for them. I fear that not till this generation has passed away will
the German people become once more the upright, true-hearted,
incorruptible idealists they were, who, at every turning-point of their
history, were ready to bleed to death for freedom of opinion, and other
purely spiritual advantages. I take a very black view of things
perhaps. If only the harm done is not permanent, if only Germany
retains sufficient virile strength to throw off the poison instilled
into her veins and recover her former health!"

In his excitement he had risen, and was pacing the room like an angry
lion in a cage. Wilhelm did not like to interrupt the stream of words,
which seemed to be forced from him by some powerful inward pressure.
Now he said:

"I can well understand your point of view. You emigrated in '48, and
kept your democratic ideas fresh in your heart. Twenty years of
absence, and an intense longing for your home, glorified the Fatherland
in your eyes. You come back and find a country whose historical
development has taken a totally different turn in the meantime, and the
plain reality in nowise corresponds to the poetical picture you had
painted for yourself. Naturally you are painfully disappointed. I know
that of old from my own father. But