to Africa. There is a _but_ about
this; it arises from the question whether he will be able to obtain from
his Ministers that they should ask the Reichstag or the Landtag for the
800,000 francs that he needs for the voyage, the Constitution forbidding
the King of Prussia to leave Europe. But what does the Constitution
matter to William II? He, the master, will put an end to it!

August 1, 1891. [10]

What are the qualities which have distinguished the Government of Germany
since the victories of Moltke? The patient tenacity of William I, and a
continuous policy of trickery raised by Bismarck to the level of genius.

William II is a mind diseased, infatuated with itself. His actions are
dominated by pride, and all the most childish off-shoots of that
weakness, love of noise, of attitudes, of pomps and vanities and
jewellery; his mind is a thing of somersaults, and his will is subject to
capricious whims and sudden outbursts of temper.

August 11, 1891. [11]

May we not flatter ourselves that the torments of William II are now
beginning? He, who only yesterday proclaimed himself to be the
triumphant personification of the German Empire, is now compelled to
inaction as the result of a fall. Whilst the Great Tzar is received with
acclamation on board of the French _Marengo_, he goes awkwardly stumbling
about on the deck of his yacht.

The German Emperor composed for himself a prayer, which he is accustomed
to have said in his presence, and in which God is implored "to grant His
protection to the Emperor William, to give him health and inspiration for
the fulfilment of his mission _towards the nations_." To-day, reduced to
inactivity by his illness and by the consequences of his folly, he has
ample leisure to reflect on the psalm which he is so fond of singing,
with the mitre of the _summus episcopus_ on his head: "The kings of the
earth are the instruments of God."

Yes, Sire, they are instruments which God breaks as easily as He bends a
reed before the wind. He is pleased to humble the proud, and He reserves
defeat and death as the portion of the parricide.

August 29, 1891. [12]

Germany's luck is running out. . . .

The Emperor certainly lacks neither the youth nor the audacity to compel
fortune, but he drives her too hard, and ignores all her warnings. His
fall is a clear warning, which he appears to be quite unwilling to
notice; more mechanical than ever in his movements, he is now taki