The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-09-26
European Correspondence of the Bulletin.l

European Correspondence of the Bulletin.]
BERLIN, August ~, 1875
Dear Buletin-1 dare say many of your
readers have seen in the dispatches how
Staatsminister Falk, Supervisor in General Of
Education in the German Empire, recently
made trip in the Rhine districts, and how the
popular demonstrations in his honor were
such as must have suficed to make even the
grim old Bismarck smile, for DR.. Falk, you
know, is Bismarcks right hand man, and con-
sequently no friend of the Catholics, and the
Rhine country, particularly in the vicinity OF
Cologne, is strongly Ultramontane.
One of the most gratifying ovations ten.
dered the distinguished visitor was at Bonn,
city that belongs, soul and body Except
the university, to the. Catholics, and where il
was feared that the reception would not be
over enthusiastic. Thinking that it may in
terest your readers, make the following ex-
tract from private letter, written by gen.
tleman who was present in Bonn on the above
mentioned occasion, and who attended the
great commers, or students gathering at the
DetuOou Ildil, VI tudt City.
"My dear fellow, wish you had been
here last Friday evening to have seen the
tremendous demonstration given in honor
of Herr Staatsminister, Dr. Falk from your
city.
II suppose, in the atmosphere of Berlin, he
is not man Of such vast Importance, as the
horizon there is crowded with so many royal
and princely stars, but if he had been the
Sultan of Turkey he could hardly have eli
cited more enthusiasm and curiosity than he
did in Bonn. The morning of his arrival
,Friday-was intensely disagreeable, to begin
with, but rain or no rain, you could have
grand entrance of the University court and
deposit their freight of white-cravated, swal-
low-tailed professors and other dignitaries,
while the court itself was thronged with Gu
ious students, hanging around with the hope
of seeing the great man on his arrival.
The immediate cause of this assemblage of
professors was the fact that DR.. Falk was to
have a reception at half-past 8, and all the
University grandees were to be presented to
him. Well, there was this reception, and
grand dinner afterward, to neither of which a
representation of the profdnum uulgus could
be present, and which therefore did not fall
under my personal observation, but you can
rest assured that / saw all there was to be
seen out of doors and at the evenings enter
tainment. l dare say you have seen stu
dents Fdckelatg or torch-Iight procession. but
I fancy that you have not often seen such a
one as that of last Friday night, for it COM
prised at least seven hundred of the eight
hundred students, and was generally gor-
geous to see.
1t had rained until pretty near O'clock,
but as the streets are all paved, this did not
interfere with the march in any way, and
punctually at the procession moved from
Koeln Thou Cologne gate) which was the
place of rendezvous DR.. Falk had his quar-
ters at the Star Hotel, facing the triangular
market place, and as this latter was densely
crowded with people long before the hour for
the procession to arrive, when it did come
there was considerable maneuvering neces-
sary to get that long line of men, brass bands,
carriages etc, into convenient situation in
the square.
The mounted police charged around, and
the crowd surged back and forth toward the
sidewalks, or pressed around the ebelisk in
the center of the Platz, while, for my part, l
was so fortunate as to get hold OF lamp
post near this monument, to which l. chung
with desperate tenacity, and though as much
squeezed by the crowd as have been on past
Christmas days at the Academy OF Music
matinees, managed to keep my hold, and to
avoid being run over by the horses or carried
away dlulu b bcd VI IOuotCIo oAd hi"A NV
women, who, with thin sprinkling of the
better classes, made up the crowd.
HAT last the procession got into some sort OF
order in the Plats, and amid perfect erup-
ton of brilliant colored light that made the
place as light as day, to say nothing OF at
least thousand torches that blazed around,
the distinguished guest made his appearance
in an upper gallery and addressed the vast
audience in a most pleasant little speech,
every word of which could be distinctly
heard, so still and attentive was the crowd,
though half the time the speaker was hid by
dense volumes of smoke that arose from the
chemical lights and the torches
The air, as you can we'll imagine, was fear
fully sulphurous, vitrous, carbonous, ETC.,
and when the gentleman bowed his exit the
people became clamorous for him to reappear.
which he considerably did. Then the pro-
cession broke up, and all those who expected
to attend the Commers rushed of to wash their
faces fof smoke) and to dress for the evening 8
festivities. By IL P. NJ. the hall was packed
with students, and about half an hour later
DR.. Falk entered and was escorted to seat
ON the platform amid some hundred or two OF
professors. All the ''small fry" were seated
at tables in the body of the hall, each division
Of students, the medical, philosophical, evan
gelical, legal, ETC., having their allotted place
The master of cerem onies was medical
student who occupied seat beside the MIN
lister, and armed with bell to compel atten-
ton, he gave out the programme OF songs