The German Emperor is paying heavily for his burry. On
Tuesday, the Catholics in the Reichstag, to punish him for withdrawing the Education Bill, refused the grant for a new corvette of the first class, upon which he had set his heart. The majority against the Government was 177 to 109, and it is said that 80 abstainers, many of them Conservatives, were all against the vote. Prince Bismarck, moreover, "has not forbidden" the publication of his opinion that the Emperor is "a magnanimous young Sovereign enraptured with the grand and the beautiful, who is anxiously marching in the steps of Joseph II. to reform the world, curing all its abuses and follies." The Socialists, he says, repudiate him; the National Liberals consider him too fickle ; and now "he offends even the Conservatives, firm supporters of the Throne and the Altar, because he shrinks, and very justly, from their formidable demands." The reaction against William II. has extended even to England, where the Contemporary Review for April gives the first place to an unsigned article describing him as "a modern man,"—that is, one intent on advertising himself, perpetually restless, and very rash. The recoil is too violent, for the Emperor, it is evident, can take counsel ; but that his tongue is doing him mischief is undeniable.
