Our Chancellor is not made so much of as he used to be. I am sorry to
see this, because it is impossible to find anywhere a more capable,
energetic, and active State leader, or a more thorough and consistent
Socialist. But, then, it is not everybody who is as unbiased as I am.
There are a great many people who don’t quite care for the new order of
things, or who are somewhat disappointed in their expectations; and all
these persons lay the blame on the Chancellor. This is especially the
case with women since the universal removals and the introduction of
the State cookshops. There is even talk of a party of re-action being
formed amongst women, but I am thankful to say my wife is not of this
number, and I hope to goodness that Agnes is not.
The report has been assiduously circulated against the Chancellor that
he is at heart an aristocrat. It is even said that he does not clean
his boots himself, that he suffers a servant to brush and clean his
clothes, that he sends someone from the Treasury to fetch his meals
from the State cookshop of his district, instead of going there
himself. Such things would, indeed, be grave offences against the
principle of equality; but it is a question, after all, whether the
charges are true.
Anyhow, this dissatisfaction which has clearly been nourished by the
Younkers, a party composed mainly of flighty youths for whom nothing is
good enough, has just culminated in an outburst of public feeling which
was manifested in a very blameworthy and ugly spirit. The unveiling of
the new allegorical monument in commemoration of the great deeds of
the Paris Commune of 1871, took place yesterday in the square, which
was formerly Palace Square. Since then the square has been continually
beset by crowds anxious to view this magnificent monument. Returning
from a carriage-drive, the Chancellor had to pass the square. He
had almost reached the entrance to the Treasury, when all at once,
from the neighbourhood of the Arsenal, hissing, shouts, and general
tumult ensued. In all probability the mounted police (which is now
re-instated), had shown rather too great zeal in procuring a passage
for the Chancellor’s carriage. The tumult increased in fury, and there
were cries: “Down with the aristocrat; down with the proud upstart;
pitch the carriage into the canal!” The crowd evidently felt greatly
irritated at the now rare spectacle of a private carriage.
The Chancellor, with ill-concealed anger, nevertheless bowed
courteously in all directions, and gave orders to drive on slowly.
All at once, however, he was saluted by a lot of mud and dirt which
emanated seemingly from a group of women, and I saw him free himself,
as far as possible, from this dirt, and noticed, too, that he forbade
the police to attack the women with their truncheons. Scenes such as
this, and which are totally unworthy of Socialism, certainly ought not
to occur. And I have been glad to hear to-day, from various quarters,
that it is intended to prepare great ovations for the Chancellor.