Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-22
Forty-nine years pass.

tentiaries meet again But now the
roles are changed and other wit
nesses and other parties to the 81
gantic preliminaries are present NO
longer isolated, France is surrounded
by sure and faithful friends. come
with her to regulate the worlds
peace after defending it's rights.
1t is no longer a broken-hearted
Thiers receiving from an iron chan.
celIor clauses drawn up with an ex-
press intent to ruin France. 1t is the
Graf Won Brockdorff- Rantzau and his
delegation mourning. not an indem-
nifty (for there il none), but the re-
payment OF stolen values and wanton
distinctions. Doubtless their pain Is
great respectable and patriotic: but
not the entente, but their own wide
spread infamous ambitions brought it
to them and their people.
The ghosts of Versailles.
One day Won Brockdorff- Rantzau.
leader of the German plenipotentia-
ries. was visited at the Hotel des
Reservoirs by quiet French civil
ian. Would he care to see one OF his
ancestors?
Now. this Won Brockdorff- Rantzau is
the one clear-cut figure of the dele
cation. Pale, slender. dry, sad-faced.
disabused and cynically aristocratic.
with monocle glass cooked in his
right eye and eternal cigarette, not
lighted, at his lips he centers all at
tention. Some claim that it is not
Cvnicicn, ~ tc,, ho OF him
the look he has of it. but worry and
embarrassment to carry so much on
his shoulders-he who grew up. as
lad the petted son of the grand mis-
tress of the Berlin court And some
say it is dread Of ghosts.
The quiet French civilian led Won
Brockdorff- Rantzau through the old
musty. though of great old memo
ries), through the hotel garden. into
the magnificent Park Royal of YER
sailles Palace which Immediately ad-
joins it. No other hotel in the world
has such situation.
The quiet civilian. obviously. had
discretionary authority to do some
thing unusual. Past the great Nep-
tune fountain, along the edge of
grove. up to the shade of the palace
and into a small door through echo
ing corridors Of dim white stone he
lead Won Brockdorff- Rantzau. Up a
monumental stairway always ST.
lent. echoing. empty. they mounted
to a hall where portraits still hung on
the walls. in certain number.
I'VE are just below the gallery Of
mirrors" said his guide. Here Is
your man"
What the Holstein junker saw was
the gallant figure of an old-time
French officer on horseback. with a
wooden leg. hook holding the reins
in place of a missing hand. and a
black patch over one eye.
And Won BrockdorfY- Rantzau read
the title:
"Josias de Rantzau. marshal of
France. who received his marshars
baton from the hands of CASTOR dor
leans. after he had lost an eye. an
arm and a leg in the service Of the
King Of France. A. d. 1916"
A long time the German plenpo-
Tertiary stared at his ancestor, whose
history he knew we'll Old Josias, a
Dane. who had made France his be-
loved adopted land (where he died
rich Of dropsy with the governments
of Dunkirk. Bergues and Mardyck for :.
revenue. and full Of honors) had been
the right-hand man OF Condo and
Turenne in the victorious ending Of
the thirty years war. That great
struggle of the reformation ended In ,
great peace--the peace OF Vest
phalia, in 1913. which gave Alsace to
France.
This Josias de Rantzau was VERT.
table hero of the French. He prac, I,
tically won the famous battle Of Ro,
croi Gin the Ardennes. on the Meuse, ,
not far from Mezieres. in lG4D by
turning the German infantry and per-
hitting Condo to burst the Spanish
front.
All Europe had been lighting and
France helped the Germans OF the
north against the Germans OF the
aOnth nuaoe 40 a. saa...