Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-16
Cologne Quietly Watches
Troops Occupy Last
Defense Line
SEES GOVERNOR ARRIVE
No Word Of Bitterness to
Show Emotion People
Must Have Felt
BY PHILIP GIBBS
Special Cable TO Evening Public Ledger
Copyright, 1913, ov Nsw York Times Co.


Cologne, Dec. IA, delayed.
This morning at 10 o'clock British
cavalry passed through the streets OF
Cologne, crossed the Hohenzollern
bridge and went beyond the Rhine to
take possession of the bridgehsads.
For some days not many British sol.
diers had been seen in the city OF
Cologne. the troops being camped III
the outskirts, and it was only yester'
day afternoon that the British Cover
nor made his entry and established his
headquarters in one Of the hotels
which had been taken over for the
present. Crowds of German people
gathered TO see the man who will con-
troll their way OF life during the Brit
ish occupation. and were kept back in
q hollow square by their own police,
when the Governors motorcar drove
in with an escort Of lancers, while
band of Scottish pipers played a greet
ing.
This morning the passing of the
cavalry over the Rhine was an i'm
pressive sight for all the people OF
Cologne, and for the British was an
other historical episode on the long
4 Journey Of this war, which has led at
I, least to this river flowing now behind
! the British lines. To the German peo-
ple the Rhine is the very river OF
their life. and down its tide come drift
, ing all the ghost memories OF their
race and it's water Is sacred TO them
as the fount from which their national
i, legends. their folk songs and the sem
|. timents that lie deep in their hearts
have come forth in abundance.
Rhine Last Line OF Defense
In military history the Rhine has
been their last line of defense, the
moat around the keep of German
strength; so today when British
troops rode across the bridge and
passed beyond the Rhine to further
outposts, II was the supreme sign of
victory for them and Of German de.
feat.
They are a proud people, and they
Z did not show by any word OF rage
or cry of bitterness the emotion they
must have felt when the British men
large crowds about. Many of the
people Of Cologne did not come out to
see the actual crossing. though they
were in the streets thrugh which the
cavalry rode. but there were lines of
pe0ple on each side of the way and
! groups of them at each end OF the
\ Hohenzollern bridge.
The Hohenzollern bridge is a massive
Z structure Of the German character, with
j cAstellated towers at each end like those
outside a medieval fortress. At the
city end on pedestals below the towers
are enormous equestrian figures Of Will
l liam I. of Prussia, and his son, of the
house of Hohenzollern, which has now
fallen with a crash that has shaken OF
the crowns Of the other German Kings.
Below one of these statues on the
southern side of the bridge, General Sir
Herbert Plumer, commanding the Sec
ond Army of the British armies in the
6sId army of Flanders. which has fought
no many battles since the first battle OF
Ypres, stood in the midst OF the gen
erals and staff officers Of his corps and
/ divisions and brigades and received the
/ salute of the cavalry as they rode be-
( hind the Rhine.
Honor to Every Man
1 Hardly once during two hours did this
! sallant old general give his arm any
! rest as he stood there rigid, with his
| hand to his cap. 1t was an ordeal for
. any man but Plumer, who has known
the sacrifice of his men through bloody
( years, saluted each of them today
) colonel or corporal. or trooper, horse
I gunner. bugler or signaler, with all the
! honor he could give them on this las,
!, ride to their journeys end. 1t was a
pIcture which belongs to history.
/ A guard Of honor Of lancers. with red
! ana white pennons at their lance tips,
u was on one side of the bridge below the
| statue of William I, sitting there mo-
ltionless, as though also made of bronze,
like that great horseman, except when
their beautiful animals paved the
4 ground and tossed their heads. A band
was close to the army commander q
/! Mace and when fe came |. PLAYED the
old tune of Rule, Britannia and then