William II, who had replied with insolent sharpness to a legitimate claim advanced by a certain princeling of the Confederated States--the Regent of Lippe-Detmold, Count Ernest von Lippe-Biesterfeld, has had occasion to see that public opinion severely condemns his unjustifiable action. The Confederated Sovereigns and Princes perceive therein a menace to themselves, and have rallied energetically in defence of one of their number. The masses, seeing an insignificant princeling oppressed and threatened by the biggest of them, have sided with the weaker. On his return from Jerusalem, William found the situation extremely strained, and he endeavoured to relieve it by concessions of various kinds. None of them, however, were regarded as adequate. Thereupon, with the suppleness which costs him so little when it is a question of sacrificing his most devoted and valuable servant, the Emperor, King of Prussia, sacrificed Herr von Lucanus, the head of his private household, an almost legendary personage who had had a hand in every important act of William's life. It was he who carried the Imperial ultimatum to Von Bismarck and escaped unhurt from the hands of the infuriated giant. Herr von Lucanus had not been sacrificed to the violent sarcasms of the Chancellor after his reconciliation with William II; he seemed to be unassailable until, simply for having addressed a few improper lines, at the Emperor's dictation, to a minor prince, he is removed from the anonymous post which was one of the occult powers of Potsdam. The august Confederates may consider themselves satisfied. [1] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [2] _La Nouvelle Revue_, February 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [3] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [4] _La Nouvelle Revue_, March 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [5] _La Nouvelle Revue_, April 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [6] _La Nouvelle Revue_, June 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [7] _La Nouvelle Revue_, July 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [8] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [9] _La Nouvelle Revue_, August 16, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [10] _La Nouvelle Revue_, September 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [11] _La Nouvelle Revue_, October 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [12] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [13] _La Nouvelle Revue_, November 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [14] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 1, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [15] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1898, "Letters on Foreign Policy." CHAPTER VII 1899 Our diplomatic situation in 1899--William II visits the _Iphigenie_--The Hague Conference--Germany the only obstacle to the fulfilment of the humanitarian plans of the Tzar. January 11, 1899. [1]