Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-08

Germany's fate in China depends u
one man in whose hands she has placed
her army.
This man, General Count Waldersee,
though no ran to the world, has so
held himself aloof in an accumulation
of duties thai he is probably less known
to the Germans han he is to Ameri,
cans. Far from being a man of the
people. he is Il man of the natton: vet.
when he comes in contact with the peo-
pie, he is affability itself.
If | had to compare Alfred Count
Waldersee with any English soldier I
should name the late General Gordon;
it I had to mention his approximate
double among either living or dead
Frenchnnen I should point to the late
General Trochu.
This comparison would, however, on
ly apply to the mans moral character.
OF his military capacities I am not
called upon to judge here, although by
an almost common consent of the Ger
man General Grand Staff they are esti-
mated very highly, so highly, indeed,
as to have led more han once to the
unanimously expressed opinion that
in the event of any European wal in
which Germany should be called upon
to play a part Waldersee would take
the place of Moltke.
hat OpiriOn has not only found ere
dence in Germany since Moltke's death.
- q II "uiiiS IN l a VI
his life. and the great straget1st him.
self considerably contributed to it's pro-
paSation. Their are some who have per-
sistently pinned their faith in the mat
ter of Moltke's successor on General
r@rnt Won N&csn'er. tn eff Of tn
army corps puartered at Metz, and it is
an open secret that IL the event of such
a war the Emperor himself might be
wavering in his choice betWeen these
two.
GERMANY'S CHOICE.
Count Won Haeseler is. however, if I
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, i'll
fact, wears a silver apparatus, having
had a couple of his ribs STAYED in, just
as Galliffet wears a similar contrlvance
owing to the injuries received in Mex
ico.
Waldersee, though white and looking
much older than his years, is physically
unimpaired, for, if 1 remember rightly,
he has never been wounded
He came unscathed out of the battles
before Metz, he escaped unhurt at Sc.
dan, 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 Cath
Ole, and a SOLDIER. Waldersee, were he
more demonstrative than he is, YOU
willingly say: II am a Prussian, a Pro-
testant. and a soldier" For in a coun-
try of P~russians. Protestants, and sol,
diers, 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 pure
ly military and he has taken few pains
to acquire the subtler and gentler graces
of life.
His marriage with the widow of
Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein
who is an American, has intensified his
originally very strong religious tenden-
cies, which at one time threatened to
drift into anti-Semitism. DR.. Stocker,
the protagonist Of that movement III
Prussia, was an assiduous and always
welcome guest in Countess Waldersee's
drawing-room. In fact, at one time il
was feared that the countess, who ex-
ercises a great influence over her hus-
band, and who managed to extend thas
influence even over the present EN-.
press, whose g~rand-aunt she is in viz
tn of her first marriage, would finally
bring the young emperor beneath her
spell. Those fears We're dissipated when
the emperor showed that he was not
quite so easy to convert to intense
Nhii9tiaHlty ny appointing SdpfIVl dS
Bismarck's successor. This is Count
Waldersee.
A WORTHY MAN.
OF the honesty and %uprightness of the
man there can be no doubt. His an
pointment to the chief In
China is decidedly a step in the right
direction.
It will be generally believed If Couns
Won Waldersee gets command of the in