unning the risk of
bringing about our own defeat; we must not yield to any of her
allurements nor even smile at any of her wiles."

If the people of Paris applaud Wagner, he who believed himself to be the
genius of victorious Germany personified, it can only be in truth that
Paris has forgotten. And in that case, there will only be left, of those
who rightly remember, but a few mothers, a few widows, a few old
campaigners and your humble servant!

So that we may recognise each other in this world's wilderness, we will
wear in our button-holes and in our bodices that blue flower which grows
in the streams of Alsace-Lorraine, the forget-me-not!

And we shall vanish, one by one, disappearing with the dying century,
_that is, unless some surprise of sudden war, such as one must expect
from William II, should cure us of our antiquated attitude_.

Need I speak of these rumours of disarmament, wherewith the German Press
now seeks to lull us, rumours which spread the more persistently since,
at last, we have come to believe in our armaments?

"Germany is satisfied and seeks no further conquests," says William II.
But does it follow that we also should be satisfied with the bitter
memories of our defeats, and resolved that, no matter what may happen, we
shall never object to Prussia's victories? I never forget that William
II, as a Prince, in his grandfather's time, said, "When I come to the
Throne I shall do my best to make dupes." This rumour of disarmament is
part of his dupe-making. The real William reveals himself in his true
colours when he awakens his aide-de-camp in the middle of the night, to
go and pay a surprise visit to the garrison at Hanover.

In Militarism the German Emperor finds his complete expression and the
emblem of his character. His empire is not a centralised empire and only
the army holds it together.

And for this reason William has favoured the army this year at the
expense of all the other public services, by increasing its peace-footing
strength and the number of its officers, by ordering more than two
hundred locomotives and a corresponding amount of rolling stock intended
to expedite mobilisation. Seventy new batteries have been formed. The
artillery has been furnished with new ammunition, the infantry with new
weapons, and the strategic network of railways has been completed!

Abroad, every one, friends and enemies alike, think as I do on the
subject of disarmament.

"This playthi