Now, it seems, William II is bored with the Palace of his forefathers. For the next two years he is going to establish his Imperial Residence at Potsdam; consequently all his ministers and high officials are compelled to reside partly at Potsdam. His mania for change leads him to destroy the historic character of the old castle; his scandalised architects have been ordered to restore it in modern style. And Berlin, his faithful Berlin, is abandoned. It is said that at a gala dinner the other day the Emperor uttered these words: "The Empire has been made by the army, and not by a parliamentary majority." But it is also said that Bismarck observed to the Conservative Committee at Kiel: "It is best not to touch things that are quiet, best to do nothing to create uneasiness, when there is no reason for making changes. There are certain people who seem singularly upset by the craving to work for the benefit of humanity." It requires no special knowledge to interpret this sentence as a thinly veiled criticism of the character of William II. May 12, 1891. [8] There is an attitude frequently adopted by William II, that German socialists are in the habit of describing, as "the whipping after the cake." He has now had the socialist deputies arrested, and he is introducing throughout the country a system of espionage and intimidation, which is only balanced to a certain extent by his fondness for sending abroad a class of reptiles who go about preaching, writing and imparting to others the doctrines which he endeavours to strangle at birth in his own country. In spite of his brief flirtation with socialism (in which he indulged merely to copy the man whom he opposes in everything and cordially detests), William II has now come to persecute it. One of his amiable jokes is to try and lead people to believe that the order which he has given, for the dispositions of his troops on the frontier _en echelon_, has no other object but to prevent Belgian strikers, from coming into Germany. But can it be also to repel this invasion of Belgian strikers that the entire German army now receives orders just as if it were actually preparing to begin a campaign? Sentinels of France, be on your guard! It goes without saying that during the past fortnight we have had our regular supply of speeches from William II. At Duesseldorf he said three things. The first, coming from the lips of a sovereign known all the world over for his mania for change, is calculated to raise a smile-- "From the paths which I have set before me, I shall not swerve a single inch." The second was a threat-- "I trust that the sons of those who fought in 1870 will know how to follow the example of their fathers." The third and last was meant for Bismarck-- "There is but one master, myself, and I will suffer none other beside me."