The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-11-10
PROJECTING ROYALTY.
wilhelm of Germany Has 1900 Men
Guarding Him.


Fifteen hundred persons are lying
awake nights in Berlin and its neigh
borhood to protect the kaiser's life aud
health. and to see that his path runs
smoothly. These 1,500 are servants
of all degrees; some are styled Excel
lency," and others are mere bootblacks
of fortune. Yet despite this host of
watch dogs, the kaiser feels secure
nowhere but in Potsdam, where the
castle is guarded by 500 picked men
in barracks connected with the palace,
and where the royal park Is patrolled
by numerous sentinels. who have or
ders to shoot at any supicious person
who cannot, or will not, give an ac-
count of himself.
Those Potsdam arrangements for
guarding the royal person are observed
at all le courts of Europe. In his
palace. at least, n monarch seems to
be reasonably protected against I'M
pleasant surprise. The dangerous
part of the king business is In outings,
ceremonies and exercises of all sorts.
At the beginning of his reign the kal-
ser magnanimously decided to dispense
with the public police service. Next
day the president of police and the en-
tire officers corps resigned. "If we are
not allowed to watch over your majes-
ty in our Own way we cannot be re-
sponsible for your safety" they said.
The PruSSian court has abandoned
body guards, except for ceremonious
occasions but the kaiser keeps an elite
corps of $50 mounted men about his
person all the time. They are called
body gendarmes. and. like the Field
1aegers. are really nothing more nor
less than royal footmcn. paid out OF
the peoples instead of out of the kais-
er's treasury. When the kaiser goes
riding two body gendarmes, one or
two adjutants and two grooms. ac-
company him. but hundred or more
gendarmes or Feldjaegers in citizens
dress traverse the park in all direc-
tions to look for suspicious characters
and be at hand when necessary.
. The King of italy loves his Wife.
and will not drive out with the queen
for fear that bullet. or a dagger
thrust. Intended for him. may strike
her. But Crispi went further. Out
of half hundred bandtti marked for
the galleys he selected one, Pietro by
name, and place. before him the alter
native of dragging ball and chain
for the rest of his life or of living in
luxury and keeping his dagger and
fists ready for reGicides.
During the last five years Pietro
has shadowed the king by day and
night. He attends him in the council
chamber and to mass; he sleeps on the
threshold of their majestics bedroom.
When the king is about to drive out
Pietro examines the horses and the
carriage. He takes bite or spoon.
full out of every dish before 1t Is plac-
ed on Umberto's and Marguerte's ta-
Die. Disguised as military attache,
this lusty ex-cutthroat. who has n rec
ord as n throttler. sits to his majesty's
left in the royal coach. with a dagger
up his sleeve, or rides by his side at
parades ana reviews.
The cZar is surrounded by half
hundred men of the Pletro stamp the
pick of the Don-Cossacks. Splendid
barbarians they are. and the minister
OF police sees to 1t that the influences
of civilization do not touch them be-
yond the soap point. They must keep
clean. must. indeed. be paragons of
cleanliness but reading and writing.
even the Russian language, are closed
books to them. Knowledge might mar
their supreme solf-contidence; it might
interfere with discipline: if they spoke
any language beside their vernacular
1t might lay them open to foreign In
fucnces. The members of the imperial
family order the Cossacks about by
signs; they are permitted to speak
only to their direct superiors. The ar
rangement works well enough indoors,
but for public occasions there's anoth-
er. When the czar rides or drives or
walks anywhere outside of his own
apartments, he is surrounded by yer.
table cluster of dignltaries and guards
dressed to give them the appearance
OF superior rank. Ard Nicholas. being
small man, completely disappears in
the sea of humanity engulfing him.
To hit him. an assassin would have to
nun IilsSllc lIblD dDDNp, ana then
it's ten to one he would kill some
nobody. or half a dozen of them. OFF,
cially the personal safety Of the czar
is entrusted to the master of police,
who is again controlled by general
chosen by the czar for a longer or
shorter period. or for different local..
ties, as the case may be.
The presidents. or masters of police.
at st. Petersburg, Berlin. Vienna,
Rome and of all the capitals of Europe
report daily to their sovereigns. their
business having precedence over any
other affairs of state. William. Ncho-
las, Francis Joseph, and even Leopold.
would sooner think of dispensing with
the ancient custom of holding morn
ing confab with their cooks than be-
grudge the time allotted for the inter
view with the chief of mouchards.
The Emperor Of Austria. who Is a
pious man. employs few precaution-
ary measures. save the military ones