[15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [16] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [17] This article appeared in the _Petit Marseillais_ under the title of "The Gulls." [18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [19] A friend writes to me from Germany: "You cannot conceive the effects produced upon me by the _incredible_ development of industrial enterprise throughout all Germany. Factories seem to spring out of the ground; in all the large towns that one visits, smoke ascends from hundreds of chimneys. The workshops that manufacture steam-engines are so overloaded with work, that orders take more than a year to fill. I went all over the offices of the Patents Bureau in Berlin--a place as large as our Ministry of Commerce, with a library more complete than that of our poor Conservatoire of arts and trades. Alas, we are but pigmies beside these giants! Everywhere one sees evidence of order, discipline and patience, qualities in which we are somewhat lacking. But I am not down-hearted, and with the help of a few colleagues, we are going to try and propagate some of the ideas we have learned from our neighbours and which may be of benefit to our country." [20] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [21] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1897, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [22] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 2, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." CHAPTER VI 1898 The encroaching expansion of Germany--When will there be a determined coalition against Germany?--The crime of Jules Ferry--William II checked in his attempt to obtain a representative of the Holy See at Constantinople--Leo XIII confirms France in her protectorate over Christians in the East--William's journey to Palestine. January 9, 1898. [1] Shall I be told that I repeat myself if, once a fortnight, I say to every good citizen, anxious about the many dangers that threaten his country, "Beware of this Germany, whose numbers and wealth and strength are ever-increasing and multiplying?" Let each one of us do all that lies in his power not to assist in any way the industry and commerce of Germany, which devour and destroy our own. Let us enlighten those near to us who in their turn will enlighten their neighbours, and let us stimulate a movement of resistance to the invasion of German produce of every kind; let every one of us contribute his share to the strengthening of public opinion for the struggle against the spirit of Germanism, which is gradually undermining the national spirit of France. May the voter insist that his representative should not keep his eyes fixed within the narrow semi-circle of parliamentary affairs and that he should observe beyond it the continual retreat of our diplomacy before the advance of German predominance.