The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-09-21
in contact with the people he is anabilit:

in contact with the people Ae IS dlidoAi4ty
itself.
I'll had to compare Alfred Count VALID
ersee with any English soldier 1 should
name the late General Gordon; II | mad
to mention his approximate double among
either living or dead Frenchmen should
point to the late General Trochu.
This comparison would, however, only
apply to the mans moral character VI MS
military capacities I am not calied upon
to Judge here, although by an almost com
mon consent of the German General Grand
staff they are estimated very highly, so
highly, indeed, rs to have led more than
once to the unanimously expressed Damon
that in the event of any European var IN
which Germany should be called upon to
play a part Waldersee would take the
place of Molti1e.
That opinion has not only found oredence
in Germany since Moltke's death, put was
rife during the latter years OF his llte, ana
the great strategist himself CONSIDERABLY
contributed to its propoga ton There are
some who have persistentiy pinned their
faith in the matter of Moltke's successor
on General Count Won Haeseler, the chief
of the army corps uuartered at Metz, and
it is an open secret that in the event OF
such a. war the Emperor himself might pc
wavering in his choice between these two.
Count Won Haeseler is, however. If am
not mistaken, a few years older imam
Waldersee who is sxty-eight, Or, if not
older. at any rate less robust, In addition
to being little short of a wreck, owing 10
infirnities contracted on the battlefield OF
(.rayelotte Haeseler, in fact, wears a sill
yer appara tus, having mad couple OF ms
ribs STAYED in just as Galllffet wears a
similar cnntrivancess owing to the Injuries
received in Mexico.
Waldersee, though white and looking
t1se ic n
unimpaired, for, if I remember rightly,
he has never been wounded.
He came unscatl1ed out Of the battles
before Metz. he escaped unhurt at Sedan.
and the siege of Paris did not give him q
scratch. He is, perhaps, little too APT
to attribute all this immunity to a specla.
Providence watching over him.
Trochu said: 81 am q Breton. a Catholic,
and a SOLDIER Waldersee, We're he more
administrative than he is. would willingly
say:f''I am Prussian.z a Protestant and
soldier For in a country of Prusslans,
Protestants and soldiers no one is so much
Of a Prussian, a Protestant and a soldier
as he. In fact he is little else than these
three things. for his education has been
purely military and he has taken few pains
To acquire the subtler and gentler graces-
CT life.
His marriage with the widow of Prince
Frederick Of S,chleswig-Hols who is an.
American, has intensified his originally,
very strong religious tendencies, which
at one time threatened to drift into anti
Semitism DR.. Stocker. the protagonist Of
that movement in Prussia, was an assld-
uous and always welcome guest IN Coun-
tess Waldersee's drawing-room. In fact,
at one time it was feared that the Coun-
tees who exercises a great influence over
her husband and who managed to extend
that influence even over the present En-
press whose grand-aunt she IS In virtue
Of her first marriage, would finally br1ns
the young Emperor beneath her spell.
Those fears were disSipated Wnen the En-
peror showed that he was not quite so easy
to convert to intense Christianity by ap-.
pointing Caprivi as Bismarcks success
sor This is Count Waldersee
OF the honesty and uprightness OF the
man there can be no doubt. His appoint
mont to the chief command in China Is
decidedly a step in the right direction.
TT will be generally believed If Count Won
waldersee gets command of the lnterna-
tional forces in China that tbs distinction
will he. due to his American wife. who
wae Miss Mary Esther Lea, daughter OF
a New York grocer.
11n,eh himself a man Of brilliant attain
n,ents and undisputed abilities it has
heen the fate of the Count to have the hon-
ors which the present Emperor has show
cred upon him attributed more to his wife's
influence han to his own force OF CHAR
acter.
The Countess Won Waldersee bears a
higher title than that which her marriage
to This her second husband. has conferred
,,non her. She is the Princess Won Noer, the
only American woman who is a princess in
her own right. The title was conferred up
on her by the Emreror Of Austria after
the death Of her first husband. who mad
re'innuished the title nf Prince OF SchlesWlS
Holstein 10 contract Morsanauc marriage
with her, and became me Count Won
Noer, taking the title from one ct his ex-
tenaj,,e estates in Austria He had already
been mt out of business as a prince by
the Prussians, and the claims he renounced
was a shadoWy one.
This marriage was contracted IN 1874
when the prince was Ga years DID, and his
beautiful American bride a Mary Lea's
father had come to New \ ork from Con
nectic,t in 1916 established a business
as aw11olesale grocer in that city. died ami
loft his widow fortune so small that she
was Obliged to find cheap living for her
self and daughters in Stuttgart.
After Mary Lea's marriage she. and
her aged husband went to the Holy Land,
where he died within year, leaving her
his immense fortune, she returned to
Vienna, where she met ana was welded
4
an ancient &Prussian family. and a favor
lite of old Emperor William and Bis
marck.
The countess influence in The present
German court. where she IS often spoken
of as the .'power behind the throne, came
about through the marr!ase.. Of me KAISER.
then Prince Wilhelm, Of Prussia, which
she Is credited with having broust1t about
"a the face Of the angry. opposition of
the princes mother.
niece nv her first marriage, the Princess
Augusta Victoria. Colby treated by her
royal mott,er-inslaw, the princess found
q refuee in the arms of the Ane rIcan
aunt. for whom the present Emperor also
,Iea r.,,ra SO . -, rs t.e Count Won
Swalaersse as,, prc-re-ed s. srestlv that
nothing b,,t the *,.auence Of the American
aunt seemed to account for It. alls.Rnrn in
~ =, - I. ~x ,,,,;th distinction thr0aiph