an attempt had been made on his life.  The journey takes about forty-eight hours, and as the destination of the Imperial train is always kept secret, the Tzar could not receive the telegram until after his arrival at Borki.  It will be remembered that the delay which thus took place, in the communication of the Tzar’s sympathy with France in her mourning, created an unfortunate impression, and enabled the German Emperor to get in ahead of him by two days.  The explanation of the delay which occurred on that occasion should have been communicated to the Havas Press Agency, and the Tzar’s journey mentioned.  This was done by all foreign newspapers, but good care was taken that no word of the sort should be published in Paris.  It is, therefore, evident that, if the Kaiser has been twice placed in the position which has enabled him to get in well ahead of Alexander III and Nicholas II, the blame must not be ascribed to any indifference, or lukewarm feelings on the part of the friends of France.  The most one can reproach them with is to have retained at Paris an Ambassador about whose sentiments both Tzars were fully informed long ago.

[10] “Truly, this man must be devoted to France,” M. Emile Hinzelin writes me, “he must love her dearly, since he keeps a strip of her, cut from the living flesh, which still palpitates and bleeds.  Whom can he possibly hope to deceive?  Muelhausen is not far from Paris, neither is Colmar, nor Strasburg, nor Metz.  It is from this unhappy town of Metz, the most cruelly tortured of all, that he sends us his condolences and his bag of money.  As is usual with complete hypocrites, he is by no means lacking in impudence.  Never have the French people of Alsace-Lorraine been accused with more bitter determination, prosecuted, condemned and exploited by all possible means and humiliated in every way.  Never has William himself displayed such unrestraint and wealth of insult in his speeches to the Army.  I came across him during a journey of mine some months ago, just as he was unveiling a monument, commemorating the fatal year of 1870.  With his head thrown back, his eyes rolling in frenzy and rage, shaking his fist towards France and with his voice coming in jerks, he uttered imprecations, challenges and threats in wild confusion.  Next day the German Press published his speech, very carefully arranged, toned down, and even changed in certain respects; but it still retained, in spite of this diplomatic doctoring, an unmistakable accent of fierce and determined hatred.  There you have him in his true light, and in his real sentiments, this man of sympathetic telegrams, of flowers, and easy tears.”

[11] La Nouvelle Revue, June 16, 1897, “Letters on Foreign Policy.”

[12] La Nouvelle Revue, July 1, 1897, “Letters on Foreign Policy.”

[13] La Nouvelle Revue, August 1, 1897, “Letters on Foreign Policy.”