arisian newspapers have been
discussing the probability of the obnoxious presence of the Kaiser in
Paris for the Exhibition, the _Strasburger Post_ has been heaping
bitter reproaches on the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine for their lack
of enthusiasm and meagre contributions towards the proposed statue in
honour of the late Emperor William. In spite of all the pressure
applied, the subscriptions have hardly produced a few hundred marks.
The German Press describes the Alsatians as ungrateful and
short-sighted.

August 9, 1899. [8]

The mania for autocracy dominates the mind of the German Emperor, King
of Prussia, and leaves no room therein for anything but exactions of a
disturbing kind. We know how numerous are the crimes of
_lese-majeste_; also that William II wishes the Reichstag to pass a law
punishing with hard labour those who incite strikes. A lecturer at the
University of Berlin, M. Arons, having dared to proclaim himself a
socialist--needless to say, from the theoretical point of view--the
Emperor required his Minister of Public Education to have M. Arons
brought for trial before the Council of the University, consisting of
forty-five professors. These acquitted the accused, who, in their
opinion, had not indulged in any propaganda and was within his strict
rights in expressing his personal opinions. The Emperor had their
judgment heard on appeal before a court consisting of officials of the
Public Education Department. To make such an appeal possible, the
Reichstag was required to pass a new law in June 1898, known as the
Arons Law.

Whenever the occasion offered, I have shown how deep is the hatred
which William II bears towards the old liberalism of the German
Universities. Yet it is for this same William that certain
Germanophils amongst our French Universities entertain such a
disgraceful weakness. Whilst French newspapers are continually
discussing, with evident sympathy, the possibility of the Kaiser's
paying a visit to France during the Exhibition, it brings the tears to
our eyes to read the following in the _Journal de Colmar_:--

"The possibility of a _rapprochement_ between Frenchmen and Germans
should not lead the latter to suppose that the Alsatians are likely to
forget their country in order to be reconciled with the conquerors.
The Alsatian will never give up his own individual character, he will
never lightly consent to be merged in a homogeneous whole. The
Alsatian remains Fren