The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-08-15
THE GERMAN SOVEREIGN.
A Strong French Picture of the Emperor
William.

A Strong French Picture of the Emperor
William.
From the Paris Figaro.
One of the windows of the Emperor's
cabinet on the ground floor looks out on
the Avenue Inter den Linden, where
Nobling shot at him. Curtains orna-
mented with blue flowers prevent the
passer-by from seeing the whole of the
interior of this cabinet. Here are the
miniatures and photographs of his FAM
lily, and the portraits of the family of
sovereigns. One sees very soon his
preferences. The Emperor Alexander
has large, full-length portrait; Fran
els Joseph has only a medallion. Here,
also, are the souvenirs of the princesses
some work of art or specimen of
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 he only
knows, as bourgeois brings home from
his trip to the water-plants, and shells.
A curious person, following the move
ments of the curtains as they f1utter in
the wind, can see the Emperor, reading
either the Bible or the Rang ind Quar-
tier List (the military annuaD. He is,
above all, a religious man and soldier.
A sword, with cross on the hilt, which
he formerly used, might have served
as a crucifix.
One may well be astonished to see
these religious sentiments in sovereign
who, more than any other, has for dog
ma-Force! But he believes that he ex-
ercises an apostolate. It is a difficult
anomaly to explain. The Emperor is
pietist. At those hours which come,
even in the existence of a 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 H.
But Alexander goes publicly to
the tomb of his mother and his
son, and prays by the lips of his flown
away angels. The Emperor William
reads in 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 Queen 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, ssHave
you prayed to-nightp'' 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, 'sAh! those
brave men!'' 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 ma;tre
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 ydurhig and after
the war. France should make her sim
cere condolences to that royal woman, so
cruelty injured by a fanatic, the same
as one grand lady renders her visit Of
mourning to another grand lady.
The Emperor William sleeps on a
small campbell, under a large soldiers
cloak. At 8 O'Clock a. m. he is work.
ing with his minister's. 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 his 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
~ 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 ltrie6jagden) of VOL
mirstaet. There he dresses like coun-
try gentleman. In the evening, Will
liam sometimes takes hand at a 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-
cor,, of ono xuhrx foaln @1.o% LIZ Al