Even the imperial councillors seem to have been shocked at the Emperor's speech, and efforts were promptly made to suppress the circulation of his exact words. The efforts were only partly successful. A few weeks later, when letters from the German soldiers in China were being published in local German papers, the leading socialist newspaper, _Vorwärts_, excerpted from them reports of atrocities under the title "Letters of the Huns." Many of the leaders in the Reichstag felt very keenly the brutality of the Emperor's speech. The obnoxious word "Huns" had excited almost universal condemnation. When the Reichstag met, in November, the speech was openly discussed. Herr Lieber, of the Center (the Catholic party), after quoting the "no mercy" portion of the speech, added, "There are, alas, in Germany groups enough who have regarded the atrocities told in the letters which have been published as the dutiful response of soldiers so addressed and encouraged." The leader of the Social Democrats, Herr Bebel, spoke even more pointedly. Toward the end of a two-hour address on the atrocities committed by the German soldiers in China and on the speech of the Emperor he said: "If Germany wishes to be the bearer of civilization to the world, we will follow without contradiction. But the ways and means in which this world policy has been carried on thus far, in which it has been defined by the Emperor * * * are not, in our opinion, the way to preserve the world position of Germany, to gain for Germany the respect of the world." The consequences of the Emperor's speech Bebel aptly described: "By it a signal was given, garbed in the highest authority of the German Empire, which must have most weighty consequences, not only for the troops who went to China but also for those who stayed at home." "An expedition of revenge so barbarous as this has never occurred in the last hundred years and not often in history; at least, nothing worse than this has happened in history, either done by the Huns, by the Vandals, by Genghis Khan, by Tamerlane, or even by Tilly when he sacked Magdeburg." [Sidenote: Atrocities in China.]