Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-08
Sketch of the .GeneralissiElO About tn
Take Command of the Allies.

Sketch of the GeneralissiElO About to
Take Command of the Allies.
From the London Telegraph
If | had to compare Alfred Count Valdez
see with any English soldier | should name
the late General Gordon; if | had to men
ton his approximate double among either
living or dead Frenchmen | should point TO
the late General Trochu. This comparison
would, however, only apply to the man )
moral character. OF his military capacities
| am not called upon to judge here, al
though by an almost common consent Of
the German grand staff they are estimated
very highly, 80 highly, indeed, as TO have
led more than once 10 the unanimously ex-
pressed opinion that in the event of any
European war in which Germany should be
called upon TO play part Waldersee would
take the place Of MOltke. That opinion has
not only found credence in Germany since
Moltke's death, but was rife during the
latter years of his life, and the great strate-
gist himself considerably contributed to its
propagation There are some who have
persistently pinned their faith in the mat
ter of Moitke's successor on General Count
Won Haeseler, the chief of the army corps
quartered at Metz. and it is an open secret
that in the event of such a war the en-
peror himself might be waverng in his
choice between these two. Count Won
Haeseler is, however. if l am not mistaken.
a few years older than Waldersee who is
sixty-eight, or. if not Older at any rate less
robust, in addition to being little short of
a wreck. owing to infirmities contracted on
the battlefield Of Gravelotte. Haeseler in
fact wears a silver apparatus, having had
couple OF his ribs STAYED in just Cal
Hffet wears a similar cOntrivance owing to
the injuries received in Mexico.
Waldersee, though white and looking
much older than his years. is physically
unimpaired, for, if / remember rightly he
has never been wounded. He came I'M
scathed out of the battles before Metz, he
escaped unhurt al Sedan and the siege of
Paris did not give him a scratch. He is.
perhaps. a little too apt to attribute all
this immunity to a special Providence
watching over him. Trochu said: Il am
a Breton, a Catholic and soldier Wal
dersee. were he more demonstrative than
he Is, would willingly say, Il am Prus-
sian, Protestant and a soldier" For in
a country of Prussians. Protestants and
soldiers one is much of Prussian a
Protestant and 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 SUBJ
tier and gentler graces of life. His mar
riage with the widow of Prince Frederick
of Schleswig- Hostein. who Is an American
named Lee has intensified his originally
very strong religious tendencies, which al
one time threatened to drift into anti
Semtism. DR.. Stoecker. the protagonist
of that movement in Prussia, was an as
siduous and always welcome guest in
Countess Waldersee's drawing room In
fact, at one time IL was feared that the
countess, who exercised a great influence
over her husband, and who managed to
extend that influence even over the present
empress. whose grand-aunt she Is in virtue
of her first marriage, would finally bring
the young emperor beneath her SPELL
Those fears were dissipated when the en-
peror showed that he was not quite so easy
to convert TO intense Christianity by APP
pointing Caprivi as Bismarck's successor
This is Count Waldersee as / know him.
or the honesty and uprightness Of the man
there can be no doubt, and IL the rumor of
his appointment to the chief command in
China be true II is decidedly a step In the
right direction.