"It is simply hideous," said Wilhelm, as they turned into the
Friedrichstrasse, "that we have such brutes living among us! We
know, of course, that there is a great deal of distress, but a man
who can revenge his own trouble on the person of the emperor must be
lower than the beasts of the field. And men who at this time of day
have such ideas on State organization are electors!"
"Good heavens!" cried Schrotter, with unconscious vehemence, "you
are surely not going to make the popular mistake of drawing sweeping
conclusions from these outrages? Such occurrences have no outside
importance. They are the acts of madmen. Their following so closely
upon one another is the very surest proof of that. There are in
Germany thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of unhappy creatures
whose minds are more or less unhinged, though their inexperienced
surroundings do not know it. Some exceptional event will suddenly
put the entire population in a state of ferment, the imagination of
the already morbidly inclined will be particularly strongly affected
thereby; they picture the occurrence to themselves till it takes
hold of them, and drives out every other thought from their minds,
becomes a nightmare, a possession, and finally an irresistible
impulse to do the same.
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