The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-07-25
THE GERMAN SOVEREIGN.
A Strong French Picture OF the emperor
William.

One of the windows of the Emperor'ss
cabinet on the ground floor looks out on
the Avenue Inter den Linden, where
Nobling shot at him. Curtains orna-
mentsd with blue flowers prevent the
from seeing the whole OF the
interior of this cabinet. Here are the
miniatures and photographs OF his lam.
lily, and the portraits of the family OF
sovereigns One secs tcry soon ms
preferences. The Emperor Alexander
has q large, full-length portraits Fran
els Joseph has only q medallion. Here,
also, are the souvenirs of the Processes
some work of art or specimen oil
needle-work. At one side are memen-
toes of the war-pieces of shell, etc,
which he has picked up on some battle
field, under circumstances that ne only
knows, as a bourgeois brings home from
his trip to the water-plants and sheilS.
A curious person, following the move
ments of the curtains as they tlutter in
the wind, can see the Emperor, reading
either the Bible or the Rang uDd Quar-
tier LIST (the military annuaD. He is,
above all, religious man and q soldier.
A sword, with s. cross on the nit, which
he formerly used, might have served
as a crucifix.
One may well be astonished to see
these religious sentiments in n sovereign
who, more thar any other, has for dog
ma-Forcei But he believes that he ex-
ercises an apostolate. 1t is difficult
anomaly to explain. The Emperor is
pietist. At those hours which come,
even in the existence of conqueror,
when he does not know whether he Is
going to retreat into gulf or advance
into an abyss, the Emperor William
prays to God as does Alexander III.
But Alexander goes publicly to
the tomb of his mother and his
son, and prays by the lips of his flown
away angels. The Empsror William
reads in q little Bible which he always
carries with him when with the army.
The book opens of itself at certain
pages. would like to tell the reader,
as did OF Qaeen Victoria, which are
those preferred pages. Perhaps the
soldier whose life has been combat,
and the august woman whose life has
been but one long love, read the same
sacred verses.
A French chaplain told me that the
Emperor William always interested him
self in knowing if the wounded prison
| ers received the consultations of religion.
He seemed to say to France, like Othel-
10 before killing Desdemona, "Have
you prayed tonight" am the more
| sensible to this for the reason that a
lively emotion wrested from the Emper-
or at two different times, when seeing
our troops charging in the midst of the
mitrailleuses, the words, "Ah! those
/ brave meni" and he wrote them to the
Empress.
This leads me to the Empress Augusta.
Large, still handsome, thin, majestic,
she is, in an artistic point of view, the
very woman necessary in the German
tableaux beside the tall Emperor. The
| love of art and of belles-letters have
won her, little by little, to French
ideas. Her sympathy for the feeble and
attacked have rendered her almost
favorable to the German Catholics. She
has French reader. The grand s1lGitre
of her household, the Count de Nessro-
rode, is Catholic. She ought TO be,
therefore, almost necessarily the ad-
versary of Bismarck. But this opposi-
| ton gives way before the sovereign,
who is not only her husband but her
king by divine right. We know the at
titude of the Empress during and after
the war France should make her sim
cere condolences to that royal woman, so
cruelty injured by fanatic, the same
as one grand lady renders her visit of
mourning to another grand lady.
The Emperor William sleeps on q
small campbell, under large soldiers
cloak. At 8 O'Clock q. m. he is work
ing with his ministers. While he is at
Berlin he goes almost every morning to
the Thiergarten, in an uncovered vic
tOria, often alone, enveloped in his mil
itarY cloak, and bis helmet or cap on
his head. He is not even preceded by
outriders. Beside the coachman is seat
ed his footman, with his plumed hat
and its tresser of gold, and his short
sword at his side. He responds grave
| ly but slightly to the salutations. The
passers-by, who have positions more or
less official, stop, face the equipage and
make their salute. The Emperor is
fond of hunting. He goes by prefer
ence to the grounds (trIe6jagdefsJ of VOL
mirstaet. There he dresses like coun-
try gentleman. In the evening, Will
liam sometimes takes hand at rub
Der of whist. He plays with the air of
a man who is certain that his partner
will have no fault to reproach him with.
In the army the Emperor used to re-
ceive each morning the Field Marshal
Won Moltke, who brought him the work
of the staff With the habitual uncon-
Germ of one who feels that his is the
greatest, he would say, Sc Bismarck has
done this; Won Moltke has done that"
1t was characteristic remark of
prince who regards himself king by
divine right-that he wished that one
should have q greater idea of his great
ness than of his superiority.
l do not know whether he foresaw
his destiny. But ne would have sup
ported ill-tortune as he supported good
fortune, for the mystical souls escape the
blows of fate in rising above them, like
the great birds which fly higher than
any gun can carry.
He has not been willing to tempt for
tune a second time, in spite of the invi-
tations given by his counselors. After
having invited war once, he has since
refused it. Only the other day he re-
manned calm, Notwithstanding the sound
of the lannon's roar which the wind
from the east brought to him. / esteem
more highly his Majesty in calm than in
excitement. lean comprehend Michael
Angelo, who has represented his Moses
seated in the church of San Pietro in
Vincoli. William has known how to
support victory, which is more difficult
than to support defeat. He has retired
il time, after having won. ~ a sutaire
ChGrlemdg1se.
He grows old slowly, without bend
ing. He even seems to increase in
height-the oblique rays of the setting
sun make the grand old tree appear
still grander! The assassin watched in
the dark like an owl with his eyes OPEN
And the owl has lighted on the highest
of the trees the rest is known The