e depended on the will of a young autocrat who now and again gave
the impression that he was about to draw the sword for the satisfaction
of his ancestral _manes_. A sharp and long-continued tariff war between
Germany and Russia also embittered the relations between the two Powers.

Rumours of war were widespread in the year 1891. Wild tales were told as
to a secret treaty between Germany and Belgium for procuring a passage
to the Teutonic hosts through that neutralised kingdom, and thus turning
the new eastern fortresses which France had constructed at enormous
cost[269]. Parts of Northern France were to be the reward of King
Leopold's complaisance, and the help of England and Turkey was to be
secured by substantial bribes[270]. The whole scheme wears a look of
amateurish grandiosity; but, on the principle that there is no smoke
without fire (which does not always hold good for diplomatic smoke),
much alarm was felt at Paris. The renewal of the Triple Alliance in June
1891, for a term of six years, was followed up a month later by a visit
of the Emperor William to England, during which he took occasion at the
Guildhall to state his desire "to maintain the historical friendship
between these our two nations" (July 10). Balanced though this assertion
was by an expression of a hope in the peaceful progress of all peoples,
the words sent an imaginative thrill to the banks of the Seine and
the Neva.

[Footnote 269: In the French Chamber of Deputies it was officially
stated in 1893, that in two decades France had spent the sum of
L614,000,000 on her army and the new fortresses, apart from that on
strategic railways and the fleet.]

[Footnote 270: Notovich, _L'Empereur Alexandre III._ ch. viii.]

The outcome of it all was the visit of the French Channel Fleet to
Cronstadt at the close of July; and the French statesman M. Flourens
asserts that the Czar himself took the initiative in this matter[271].
The fleet received an effusive welcome, and, to the surprise of all
Europe, the Emperor visited the flagship of Admiral Gervais and remained
uncovered while the band played the national airs of the two nations.
Few persons ever expected the autocrat of the East to pay that tribute
to the _Marseillaise_. But, in truth, French democracy was then entering
on a new phase at home. Politicians of many shades of opinion had begun
to cloak themselves with "opportunism"--a conveniently vague term, first
employed by Gambetta, but finally