y; to-day, they hail the heights of
Wissemburg as part of the great German Fatherland, reconquered after a
fierce and bloody struggle." It is evident that the Emperor is not the
only one to celebrate these anniversaries, that new ones are always
being invented, and that no humiliation will be spared us in
Alsace-Lorraine.

[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign
Policy."

[16] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[17] This article appeared in the _Petit Marseillais_ under the title
of "The Gulls."

[18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[19] A friend writes to me from Germany: "You cannot conceive the
effects produced upon me by the _incredible_ development of industrial
enterprise throughout all Germany. Factories seem to spring out of the
ground; in all the large towns that one visits, smoke ascends from
hundreds of chimneys. The workshops that manufacture steam-engines are
so overloaded with work, that orders take more than a year to fill. I
went all over the offices of the Patents Bureau in Berlin--a place as
large as our Ministry of Commerce, with a library more complete than
that of our poor Conservatoire of arts and trades. Alas, we are but
pigmies beside these giants! Everywhere one sees evidence of order,
discipline and patience, qualities in which we are somewhat lacking.
But I am not down-hearted, and with the help of a few colleagues, we
are going to try and propagate some of the ideas we have learned from
our neighbours and which may be of benefit to our country."

[20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

[21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign
Policy."

[22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 2, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy."

CHAPTER VI

1898

The encroaching expansion of Germany--When will there be a determined
coalition against Germany?--The crime of Jules Ferry--William II
checked in his attempt to obtain a representative of the Holy See at
Constantinople--Leo XIII confirms France in her protectorate over
Christians in the East--William's journey to Palestine.

January 9, 1898. [1]

Shall I be told that I repeat myself if, once a fortnight, I say to
every good citizen, anxious about the many dangers that threaten his
country, "Beware of this Germany, whose numbers and wealth and strength
are ever-increasing and multiplying?"