[17] _La Nouvelle Revue_, December 15, 1890, "Letters on Foreign Policy." [18] _La Nouvelle Revue_, January 1, 1891, "Letters on Foreign Policy." CHAPTER II 1891-1892 The danger to France of a _rapprochement_ with Germany--The Empress Frederick's visit to Paris--William II as _summus episcopus_ of the German Evangelical Church--Reception of the Alsace-Lorraine deputation in Berlin--The law against espionage in Germany: every German is a spy abroad--Christening of the Imperial yacht, the _Hohenzollern_--Further increase of the military effective force in peace-time--The _Youth of William the Second_, by Mr. Bigelow. January 12, 1891. [1] The Berlin _Post_ thinks that we should be able to get on very well without Alsace-Lorraine, and that the best thing for us to do, if we are "reasonable souls," is simply to become reconciled with Germany. The reasonable ones among us are directed to prove to us others (who must needs be "gloomy lunatics") the folly of believing in the Russian alliance, and gently to prepare us for a last and supreme act of cowardly surrender--namely, to give William II a friendly reception at Cannes or in Paris. The chief argument with which they would persuade us is, that Berlin is quite willing to receive our philosophers and our doctors. But we are more than quits on this score, seeing the number of Germans that we entertain and enrich in Paris. To prove that we owe them nothing in the matter of hospitality, it should be enough to ascertain on the 27th inst. how many Germans will celebrate the birthday of William II in one of our first-rate hotels. Heaven be praised, hatred of the Hohenzollerns is not yet dead in France! If it be true that the corpse of an enemy always smells sweet, the person of a living enemy must always remain hateful. Before we discuss the possibility of the King of Prussia visiting Paris, however, let us wait until M. Carnot has been to Berlin. January 29, 1891. [2] The nearer we approach to 1900, the less desire have I to be up-to-date. I persist in the belief that the solution of the problems of European policy in which France is concerned, would have been more readily attainable by an old fashioned fidelity to the memory of our misfortunes than by scorning to learn by our experience. Certain well-meaning, end-of-the century sceptics may be able lightly to throw off that past in which they have (or believe they have) lost nothing, whilst we of the "mid-century" are borne down under its heavy burden. These people neglect no occasion to advise us to forget and they do it gracefully, lightly showing us how much more modern it is to crown oneself with roses than to continue to wear tragically our trailing garments of affliction and mourning.