Diaries of the Emperor Frederick during the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, as well as his journeys to the East and to Spain;

Hi

{

Wi

ee ree ee ore ern ee er er ee ee)
SLA Ee BI; STEER CPTI 5 EN ey er eer eredene alle ee oS es ee w a

ene

DT |
A

== <
Se ’a\\|
— NS beh eh
<> S 4h ‘|
<0 \

YAS 3

> Ff

% 2

a

SACRA ET

<r

A OGRE OA

rise

ul

HE

S= EES

aE at
ARAMA ANE

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
Microsoft Corporation

~ http://www.archive.org/details/diariesofemperorO0Ofredrich

DIARIES OF THE EMPEROR
FREDERICK

DIARIES OF THE? :::):::
EMPEROR FREDERICK

DURING

THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1866 AND 1870-71

AS WELL AS

HIS JOURNEYS TO THE EAST AND TO SPAIN

EDITED BY

MARGARETHE VON POSCHINGER

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

By FRANCES A. WELBY

LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD.
1902

aap
oi

pe Perr
i

cy

PREFACE

It has been repeatedly suggested to the under-
signed publisher by his friends and patrons that
he should re-edit the Diaries of the august
Monarch, as published in ‘‘ Kaiser. Friedrich :
a New and Authorized Presentment,” by Mar-
garethe von Poschinger (3 vols., 1899-1900), thus
making them accessible to a wider circle of the
German nation. In view of the inestimable
value which these notes possess, with regard to
our knowledge of the thoughts and feelings of
their distinguished Author, and as a contribution
to the History of his Time, the firm has felt itself
justified in acceding to the request.

No one could paint a clear picture of the
character of this Prince with greater sympathy,
or make it appear more worthy of respect, than
it is, as it stands out from his own Diaries. The

983377

Vi Preface

very spirit of his noble soul breathes to us from
his writings.

A further reason for the appearance of this
book is the wish to celebrate the approach of the
seventieth birthday of our well-beloved Sovereign
by some adequate publication throughout the
Fatherland.

RICHARD SCHRODER.

(Late Ep. DArrne’s HEtrs.)

BERLIN,
October, 1901.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

I HAVE to express my warmest thanks to Fraulein
Ide Clausius for assisting me in the translation
of these Diaries.

For the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, I have
also availed myself of the authorized translations
of the German Reports, prepared at the Topo-
graphical and Statistical Department of the War
Office.

FRANCES A. WELBY.

LONDON,
October, 1901.

Wee ye
1o% uh

P 4

CONTENTS

PAGE

ES OT a UR em AR ek ON ged Cada Col LAL ea i,

I. From tHe Diary or THE Crown Prince FREDERICK
WILLIAM IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1866. . . . I

ll. From tHe Diary or THE CrowN PRINCE IN HIS
JOURNEY TO THE EAST, IN 1869 a : ‘ go ee

Ill. From tHe Diary oF THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE
Wark with FRANCE, 1870-71 ; ; i ; .- 190

IV. From tHe Diary or THE CRowN PRINCE IN HIS
JOURNEY TO SPAIN, 1883. ; : ; t . 263

INDEX . 2 : ; : : : : : j ; . 3865

INTRODUCTION

From a very early period, the Emperor Frederick
formed the admirable habit, to which he re-
mained faithful all his life, of jotting down in
Diaries the fugitive images of the moment, its
events and experiences, perceptions and sensa-
tions, so as to preserve them from oblivion. If,
on the one hand, it seemed to him a worthy task
thus to keep the book of his life, and to be the
chronicler of his own history, on the other it
was no less the intimate joy of literary work and
creation that led him to prosecute the develop-
ment of the habit.

The first of the Kaiser’s notes in Diary form
date from his eleventh year, followed by others
in the next three years. The youthful author
in these describes, boy-fashion, and with extreme
brevity, Court functions, a Cadets’ manceuvre, and,

Xl I[utvoduction

among other things, the laying of the foundation-
stone, and consecration, of the Memorial to King
Frederick William III. in Potsdam. Later on
we find notes of the journeys of Prince Frederick
William to Russia, in the year 1852, which are
pleasantly written, and give evidence of marked
literary capacity.

When, ten years later, the Crown Prince
Frederick William returned as the victorious
leader from the Bohemian Campaign, he felt
impelled to gather up in the form of a Diary the
epoch-making events of the time, as supplied by
his notes and letters from the scene of action.

If the illustrious author herein proved his
marked capacity for the graphic description of
severe and terrible scenes ot war, the later notes
of his journey to the Hast, in the year 1869,
exhibit no less a highly developed faculty of
throwing light upon the conditions and people
of the countries in which he travelled, under
the aspects of history and culture. With the
artist’s seeing eye he depicts for us landscapes
of rare beauty ; with fine perception he describes
the works of art of a vanished age, now indeed
lying in ruins, but still commanding admiration.

I[utvoduction Xill

The effect of these lively and graphic descriptions
is enhanced by a remarkably attractive style, rich
in felicitous expressions. The evidences of an
exceedingly clear presentation, and artistic appre-
hension of things seen, are again pleasantly con-
Spicuous in the Crown Prince’s diary of his journey
to Spain in 1883, and make the reading of it a
veritable enjoyment.

The Crown Prince also set down, as a faithful
chronicler, the memorabilia of the year of war,
1870-71, in so far as he came day by day into
personal contact with them. Herein he reveals
himself as the far-sighted politician in the grand
style, entirely occupied with the idea of the unifi-
cation of Germany, and the resolute and liberal
building up of the Empire. His measures have
in many respects the character of programmes for
the future, and are inspired with an imposing
moral grandeur.

DIARIES OF THE EMPEROR
FREDERICK

I

In view of the preparations for war on the part
of Austria, King William I. had, in the days
between May 3 and 12, 1866, signed a number
of orders, by which the field-armies collectively
were mobilized.

While several corps were concentrating as
the I. Army, and the Elbe Army, on both banks
of the Elbe, and in the Lausitz, under the chief
command of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia,
a second army was organized for the protection
of Silesia, the command of which was given to
the Crown Prince.

This II. Army consisted at first of the
V. Army Corps (General von Steinmetz) and the
VI. Army Corps (General von Mutius), but these
were soon joined by the I. Army Corps (General

von Bonin), and the Guard Corps under Prince
B

2 Diaries of: the. mperor Frederick
August of Wurtemburg. A special Division of
Cavalry was formed out of different regiments
of the V. and VI. Army Corps, Major-General
von Hartmann being appointed Commander.

The appointment of the Crown Prince to be
Commander-in-Chief of this Army, with his simul-
taneous promotion to the rank of General of
Infantry, took place on May 17; on June 2 the
military government of the Province of Silesia
was further entrusted to him.

The Chief of the General Staff was Major-
General von Blumenthal; the Quartermaster-
General, Major-General von Stosch. Captain von
Jasmund of the Leib-Grenadiers (I. Brandenburg),
No. 8, and First-Lieutenant Count zu Eulenburg
of the Ist Foot Guards, acted as personal adjutants
to the Crown Prince.

On July 15 followed the declaration of war
against Saxony, Hanover, and Electoral Hesse,
after these states had rejected the Prussian offer
of neutrality. On June 18 King William pub-
lished his war-manifesto.

On the evening of June 20 an order from
the King was received in the Head-Quarters of
the Silesian Army, directing the Crown Prince
to send a message on the morning of the 21st
to the commanders of all the Austrian outposts

Austrian Campaign of 1866 3

opposite, to the effect that ‘through the bearing
of Austria at Frankfurt-on-Maine, the state of war
had practically broken out, and that the Prussian
troops had instructions to act accordingly.”

On the same evening the Crown Prince issued
an army-order to his troops.

On June 22 a telegram was sent from the King
to the Head-Quarters of the Crown Prince, com-
manding him, in conjunction with the I. Army,
to take the offensive in Bohemia by concentrating
in the direction of Gitschin. It was calculated
approximately, with regard to the enemy, that,
at the time of the entry of the II. Army into
Bohemia, it was improbable that its bulk would
already have advanced far enough on the left
flank to present any organized resistance to the
isolated columns of the Crown Prince as they
debouched from the mountains.

The junction with the I. Army could only
be effected by the right wing of the II. Army.
The Crown Prince ordered, accordingly, that the
I. Army Corps, followed by the Cavalry Division,
should form the Advance-guard in this movement
of the right wing, while the V. Corps was to take
possession of the Pass of Nachod from Reinerz,
so as to cover the movements of the army against
the main strength of the enemy, expected on

4 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

this side. The Guard Corps was directed to make
use of the roads between the two Corps above
mentioned, so as to be used as a reserve by the
one or the other in case of need, or to occupy the
third exit from the mountains, the Pass of Hypel.
The VI. Corps was to remain at Glatz, on the
look-out for divisions of the enemy who might
show themselves to the south of this fortress;
as soon as possible it was to be removed from
there, and to push on the Hoffman Brigade of this
Corps to effect junction with the V. Corps at
Reinerz.

On the 26th, the columns of the Guard Corps,
which now had to push forward from their position
(the farthest back on the Neisse) so as to be
available as an immediate reserve on either hand,
crossed the Austrian frontier at Tunschendorf and
Johannesberg, amid the cheers of the troops,
and under the eyes of the Crown Prince. Detach-
ments of the 3rd Regiment of the Uhlans of the
Guard had on this occasion a successful skirmish
with the Austrian Windischgritz, and Mexico-
Uhlan Dragoons. The corps bivouacked between
Politz and Braunau.

The V. Corps had pushed the 9th Infantry
Division toward the frontier, in the direction
of Nachod. The frontier town of Schlaney was

Crossing the Austrian Frontier 5

occupied by the enemy with some sixty infantry-
men, two squadrons, and two guns: the bridge
over the Metau was destroyed. Two guns of
the 5:4-pounder Foot Battery of the Field
Artillery Regiment, No. 5, were brought up
against them, and the first firing from the II.
Army took place here. The enemy were forced
to surrender, and by the evening the pass and
town of Nachod were also occupied by the
Prussians.

After these preparatory movements on the
26th, June 27 opened the succession of brilliant
and arduous days, in which the II. Army effected
its débouché from the mountains.

FROM MY DIARY IN THE CAMPAIGN
OF 1866

FREDERICK WILLIAM

(Compiled by the Crown Prince after the war, from
various notices and letters to his wife, all political
and higher military considerations being omitted.)

On June 26 we passed the Austrian frontier.
My Head-Quarters on the day before had been at
Eggersdorf, with Count Magnis, and I went from

6 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

there on the morning of June 26 to the Braunauer
Strasse, by which the Guard Corps set out on its
march to Bohemia.

When we reached the Austrian frontier, there
was great jubilation. Every division * cheered,
the bands played, many companies sang their
national melodies; wherever the people recog-
nized me, they gave me a hearty greeting, as, for
instance, when I reached the town of Braunau,
at the same moment as the Regiment of Guard-
Fusiliers. All the villages were deserted by their
male population; only old men, women, and
children looked anxiously through the half-open
doors as we passed, but as soon as they found we
did nothing to hurt them, they brought water to
the soldiers, to whom one could not grudge the
luxury in the fierce heat of the sun.

About a mile and a half? beyond Braunau we
threw up outposts, and I waited here, with the
regiment of the Queen’s Guard-Grenadiers. On
the march we met three men of the Third Guard-
Uhlans, who had had a skirmish with the Win-
dischgritz Dragoons, in which two of the latter

* The word Zug as applied to infantry, is translated as division, of
which there are two in each company. The large unit of troops is
distinguished by an initial capital letter—Division—Tr. (From War
Office Report.)

+ The German mile is about 64 English miles, or 73 kilometres. —Tr.

Battle of Nachod 7

were severely wounded, and one was taken
prisoner ; one horse belonging to our Uhlans was
cut down, but they promptly curbed an Austrian
steed with a Prussian bridle and saddle, and rode
off gaily.

In Braunau I was greeted with loud cheers
by the Second Battalion of the First Regiment
of the Guards; then the Abbot of the Benedictine
Monastery made his appearance, and later on I
returned his visit, at the same time visiting the
fine Church and Cloisters.

June 27, 1866.

We marched forward to-day in the direction
of Hronow, over steep and difficult mountain-paths.
Part of the Infantry baggage had to follow after,
which extended the columns enormously. Livery
one was in good spirits. I sent Major von der
Burg and Captain Mischke to the I. Army Corps,
in the direction of the Pass of Trautenau.

Not far from Hronow we heard the firing of
cannon, and also met a detachment (Zug) of eight
Dragoon Regiments (Second Silesian), which
established our communications with the V.
Army Corps. I rode off at once in the direction
of the firing towards Nachod, where one could

8 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

already hear in the distance the cheers of the
columns that were crossing the frontier. At the
customs-house of Nachod lay a dead infantry-
man, who had been left on the field last night
after a short engagement, in which the Ninth
Division had taken possession of this important
defile.

It was sultry and frightfully dusty; cannon-
balls fell round us, yet no one believed that the
enemy would make any serious resistance at this
point, the more so as the Pass, with its high and
very commanding castle, was not occupied.

The town was like a deserted place: a wounded
officer of the Dragoons lay in the market-place ;
just then an orderly came hurrying by, to call up
the light field-hospital of the Division. After all,
the fighting was in earnest, and slightly-wounded
men were already coming towards me. Riding
further along the chaussée, I saw a steep hill on
the left, with fir-trees growing on it; the artillery
were going up, and shells were bursting in the air.

Making my way, not without difficulty, between
the guns and the ammunition waggons, Captain
Fassong (Fifth Artillery Brigade) overtaking me,
I was speaking to some of the artillery-men, who
were rejoicing with me over the beginning of a
fight, when a shell whizzed over us. A non-

Battle of Nachod 9

commissioned artillery officer riding near me said
with a beaming face, ‘‘That was a good one!”
Just at that moment we stumbled at the very

edge of the wood, into musketry fire; some
ammunition waggons, on which the wounded had

been laid, came wildly towards me; it was not
easy to get out of this confusion, especially as the
path was a hollow way. I looked round for a
better place, which would give a general view,
and tried to get to another hill, but was suddenly
caught in a detachment of the Fourth Dragoons,
who tore over a hill-top in mad confusion, hurrying
out of the battle, with loose horses and riders of
different arms running off in all directions. To
resist the torrent was impossible, especially as I
found myself between this wild rout and a column
of infantry, as well as the artillery and ammunition
waggons; in fact, just in front of me, and in my
path, some guns had been dismounted. It was
only the almost total block of the road that
checked the Dragoons, whom I ordered perempt-
orily into arrest, while loose horses crushed me
between the wheels of the waggons. At this
moment I perceived at my side Captain von Ploitz,
and Lieutenant Baensch (Sixth Artillery Brigade),
with drawn swords, expecting a hand-to-hand
fight with the enemy’s cavalry. It did not come

10 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

to that: and indeed the worthy dragoons seem to
have been overcome with panic, the Lord knows
why, in this attack (which otherwise would
certainly have succeeded), when their detachment
fell in, and advanced with one of the wings. I
was raging, but could do nothing, so I shouted
to the infantry column of the 46th Regiment
that there was a pretty fight ahead of us, to which
they replied with enthusiasm. Major-General
von Stosch mancuvred the infantry columns with
great circumspection, to bring them into action
by the shortest possible route. Eventually I
reached my hill. Thence one saw the cavalry
stationed alongside of the half-battalions of
infantry, changing their position at every moment
on account of the shell-firing. Lieutenant-General
v. Loéwenfeld, came a message, had been drawn
late into action with the bulk of the Ninth
Division, so that he could no longer maintain his
position.

While I was deliberating with Blumenthal
and Stosch what would be best to do, the Tenth
Division had already advanced and mingled in ‘the
mélée, and the news came shortly after that the
day was going as well as possible, while the cheer-
ing could be heard from our own side.

Captain von Jarotzki, from the Staff of

Battle of Nachod Il

the General-Commando of the V. Army Corps,
announced to me that a standard had been taken
by the Second Silesian Dragoon Regiment, No. 8.
I fell on his neck for joy, and passed the news on
at once to the troops standing round me, who
broke into loud shouts of satisfaction. The
instant before, Colonel Walker had pointed out
to me that there were corn-flowers all round us,
and I had just plucked one for my wife. ‘This
seemed to be a good omen, and must be added to
the manifold significances of this flower for us.
Shortly after, another standard was announced as
taken by the First Regiment of Uhlans (West-
Prussian).

I now rode down, to express my acknowledg-
ments to the brave fellows. ‘Two soldiers were
carrying off Count Rittberg, of the 58th Infantry
Regiment, who was severely wounded in the
lower abdomen; but he was still conscious, and
recognized me, rejoicing in a touching manner
over the standards we had taken. I soon reached
the cavalry. The Second Silesian Dragoons,
No. 8, had halted on the chaussée. Lieutenant-
Colonel von Wichmann, Commander of the regi-
ment, whose face was covered with the clotted
blood that had streamed down from a sword-cut,
informed me with a beaming countenance of the

12 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

deeds of his regiment. The men, looking as
proud as they were happy, responded to my
congratulations with a ‘‘Hurrah” that I shall
never forget.

Half the corps of officers was unfortunately
hors-de-combat. I went on to the West-Prussian
Uhlans, and found the same scene. The Com-
mander, who was wounded, was missing. In
order to shake hands with one at least, I gave
my hand to the standard-bearer. General von
Wuuck, who had taken over the Brigade the day
before, had joined in the attack, and had unfortu-
nately received a cut on the back of his head;
luckily the brain was not injured, and the wound
was harmless. During this exchange of greetings
the shells whizzed over us, and a dragoon, turning
to me, christened them the ‘‘ Austrian bees.”

We went into a neighbouring farm to water
our horses. Here I met the 47th Infantry and
the Fifth Battalion of Jagers together, the men
all in good spirits and happy. At the same
moment a drummer from the First West-Prussian
Grenadiers, No. 6, brought me a flag which had
been captured, or rather, in the hand-to-hand
tussle, had been taken away from the fallen
ensign. A wounded Austrian infantry-man ap-
peared to be wearing a uniform similar to that of

Battle of Nachod 13

my own Austrian regiment ; asked by a musketeer
who spoke Polish, he replied, ‘‘ Crown-Prince-of-
Prussia’s Infantry,” so that my own name was
fighting against me. This is a singular coinci-
dence.

I now rode on to a height, and a shell ex-
ploded just in front of us, upon a dead horse,
which was blown into quarters.

Shortly after, we saw the West-Prussian Uhlans
make an attack on the cavalry, in which attackers
and attacked were mixed up together; the regi-
ment captured two guns.

I sent Leopold Hohenzollern off to look for
Steinmetz, and get exact information as to the
state of the battle, since its successful issue
seemed no longer doubtful. Shortly after I met
Steinmetz, whom I embraced, and greeted as the
victor, for we now saw the enemy drawing off
on all sides in the direction from Skalitz to
Josephstadt.

After discussing the principal matters for the
next day, and exactly repeating the orders already
given for the forward march to the Elbe, we
decided to give the name of “ Battle of Nachod ”’
to to-day’s achievement. Telegrams were sent
to the King with news of the victory that had
been gained.

14. Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

After that I rode over the different points of
the battle-field ; at the station of the right wing
lay a young Austrian officer of the ‘‘ Kaiser’s
Cuirassiers,’’ who was severely wounded in the
leg, dead horses and the corpses of Austrian
cavalry lay around him. In a brook lay an over-
turned Austrian gun, said to have been taken by
the 6th Brandenburg Regiment, No. 52. Here
I met the West-Prussian Uhlans, and made them
my acknowledgments for the capture of the two
guns. Further to the left we were confronted by
a gruesome field of corpses, covered with Austrian
infantry sacrificed to our percussion-guns. Hvery-
where wailing and groaning—whilst our men
carried the enemy to the ambulance station,
or shot off the arms they had taken from
them, so that one ran some risk of being hit
by our own people. Here I met Adalbert, who
had been much under fire to-day with the In-
fantry. Lieutenant-General v. Kirchbach described
to me the decisive moment for his Tenth Division,
who lost many brave officers here, their corpses,
as those of a Captain v. Heuduck, and Lieutenant
Walter, being borne away before my eyes. I
shook hands with many of the wounded; they
accepted their fate with quiet resignation, and
without audible murmuring.

Battle of Nachod 15

Near Skalitz the ground fell away steeply, and
here about eighty guns were posted; these,
although exposed to the enemy’s fire, had suffered
little, because the Austrians had to aim from
below, and could get no direct effect.

I spoke words of recognition to many of the
soldiers, and as I was shaking hands with a non-
commissioned officer and the corporals of a battery,
which had had much to do, and had suffered con-
siderable loss in its station on the left wing, all
the gunners ran up to me and pressed me by the
hand. At one part of the wood our infantry of
the Ninth Division had had a sharp fight; here
again the Austrians were lying in heaps, the
wounded crying out for water, one on the other
hand was quietly lighting his pipe.

Further on we found the body of Major v.
Natzmer of the 8th Dragoon Regiment, who had
fallen in the cavalry attack; his perruke had
dropped under his head, one glove was half drawn
off. Most of the dead Prussians had a peaceful
expression.

On the left wing the infantry had fought along
a hollow path, and then by the walls of a church,
where the Austrians lay in heaps, the Kaiser’s
Jager piled three high, again the result of our
percussion-guns. On the way I met many brave

16 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Battalions to whom I spoke grateful words, and I
also met Lieutenant-General v. Léwenfeld. Major-
General v. Ollech was severely wounded. Lieu-
tenant-Colonel v. Walther, the commander of the
46th Infantry Regiment, was wounded in the
head.

We had been thirteen hours in the saddle,
evening was coming on, and it behoved us to
think of turning homewards, seeing that my Head-
Quarters were still two miles off.

Passing two ambulance stations, I further
visited an officers’ hospital, near which was a shed
for the wounded men. What a scene of misery !
A sergeant of the 52nd Infantry called to me,
stretching out his hand, and wanting to know the
issue of the fight. On hearing my account of our
achievements, he exclaimed, ‘‘ Now, thank God,
I will gladly bear all my wounds!”

Many of the captured officers and men of my
Austrian regiment now came towards me, and I
made myself known to them as their commanding
officer, on which we shook hands—a strange
meeting !

In Nachod itself we found the Commander of
the regiment, Colonel Baron v. Wimpffen (whom
I had known in 1852 in Petersburg), lying
wounded in the arm, and many other officers of

Battle of Nachod 17

the regiment were with him. Many of our
Dragoon officers suffered severely, but were in
good spirits at our victory, and the prowess of
the regiment. Major-General v. Ollech was fairly
comfortable, though heavily wounded in the thigh,
otherwise the same good fellow as usual.

I ordered that the Castle of Nachod, which is
many stories high, and belongs to a Prince Lippe-
Biickeburg, in the Austrian service, should be
turned into a hospital. Prince Pless was busy all
day, rendering St. John’s ambulance aid to the
wounded.

I must also mention that as I was making in
the morning for the height above described, I
ordered a battery to come up, which was not
accomplished without difficulty, on account of the
steep slope ; the Infantry of the 1st West-Prussian
Grenadiers, No. 6, had already occupied the
summit. I further ordered the opposite hill-top
to be occupied also, because our left wing appeared
to be threatened from the side of Neustadt—the
more so, as the wood shut out any distant prospect.
The troops had already done three miles before
they came into battle, and were in some cases so
exhausted that the men lay down in the trenches
of the chaussée. I then gave the order to discard
the baggage, which some of the Advance-guard

C

18 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

had already done of their own accord, and the
relief to the men was obviously very great. Such
&@ measure is, indeed, open to the objection that
many of the men might not find their knapsacks —
again, or even that, in the case of losing the
position, these might fall into the enemy’s hands;
but in the scorching heat it was imperative to give
alleviations of this sort.

At sunset I left Nachod, thanking God from
my heart that He had been pleased to give victory
to our troops, and thus, on the first day of the
campaign, to show the world what was meant by
our officers and soldiers. During the day we
thought many times that, as on the appointed
days of prayer and intercession, petitions were
going up to Heaven in the churches of the
Fatherland for the success of our arms. A heavy
weight must have been thrown into the scales this
day for the future of Germany, under the leader-
ship of Prussia.

June 28, 1866.

Late in the night of yesterday, Major von der
Burg and Captain Mischke returned from the
I. Army Corps, to which I had sent them. There
has been a sanguinary battle at Trautenau with

Advance on Trautenau 19

the Austrians, under Gablenz. In this encounter
our brave East-Prussians took and occupied the
town of Trautenau till four in the afternoon.
Then, however, Gablenz came up with fresh troops,
and Bonin had to evacuate the position he had
gained. So that at night a retrograde movement
of the I. Army Corps was to be expected, the
more so as single bodies of troops had already
retired in disorder.

It was at once clear to me that the important
position of Trautenau must, at all cost, be re-
occupied, so I immediately dictated the order for
the Guards to march on Trautenau, so as to get
to the rear of Gablenz’ right flank by Hipel, and
thus repossess ourselves of Trautenau ;* in this
way giving enormous relief to the I. Army Corps.
In Blumenthal’s room, we four wrote the orders

* This order ran as follows :—

“As the issue of the action of the I. Army Corps at Trautenau is
undecided, the Corps of Guards will continue its march in the direction
already ordered as far as Keile; if the action at Trautenau be still going
on, it will then march on the latter place and engage the enemy imme-
diately. The Corps will set off as early as possible.

“(Signed) § FREDERICK WILHELM,
“ Crown Prince.”

In this connection Sybel remarks, in his book, “ Die Begriindung des
Deutschen Reichs” (p. 143), in order to show the activity which charac-
terized the Crown Prince, “‘ Such important and at the’ same time incom-
plete intelligence would have incited many strategists to greater and more
stringent precautions ; in the Crown Prince it merely called out an instant
determination to move forward with accelerated and redoubled energy.”

20 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

for the respective Corps, so that it was half-past
one before we got to bed.

Karly on the 28th, I rode with the whole Staff
to Kosteletz, a mountain village, three-quarters

of a mile from Nachod, close to the Josephstadt- —

Schwadowitz railway, where I found myself in
the centre of my army, and could operate in the
direction of Nachod or Trautenau, as required.
Albrecht (son), with the heavy Brigade of
Guards, the Guard-Reserve Artillery, and several
columns, were bivouacking here. Steinmetz asked
for reinforcements, as he was out-numbered; I
could, however, only send Albrecht to him, by
withdrawing the latter from the Guards, since
the Guard Corps had to be kept together in its
full strength for the important events of the
day. At 11.30 there was heavy firing of cannon
near Skalitz, the smoke of which we saw, without
being able properly to overlook the operations.
Steinmetz was obviously engaged in a sharp fight:
of course I felt very anxious, since I had been
obliged to refuse him the desired reinforcements,
and felt sure that he would not have asked for
more troops without pressing necessity. Forwards,
towards Hipel, we could also hear and see that
the Artillery were engaged. Towards 2 o’clock
such a tremendous dust-cloud was moving in the

Ne ee ee <= = -

Battle of Trautenau 21

direction of Nachod, that for some time we took
for granted that the V. Army Corps had been
forced to execute a retrograde movement. Hence
it was a vast relief, as evening drew on, to see
the Austrian fire retiring farther and farther in
the direction of Josephstadt, followed so closely
by our men that it was evident the day was ours,
and that the brave Steinmetz and his gallant
corps had won another victory.

This was speedily confirmed by Major von
Gaffron and Captain Kroseck, whom I had sent
to the V. Army Corps; and to-day’s engagement
must have been even more severe than that of
yesterday. Adalbert was fully exposed, especially
when he was in the thick of the fire with the
King’s Grenadiers, and lost Lieutenant von St.
Paul of the 3rd Foot Guards, who was acting as
adjutant for him, in place of his sick brother.

I also visited our wounded of the 3rd Uhlan
Guards, who made a splendid attack yesterday,
at Czerwenagora, upon the Austrian Mexico-
Uhlans, and then rode to Hipel, to spend the
night there. It was a magnificent ride along the
south side of our beloved Riesen-gebirge, whose
snow-summits, yesterday as to-day, stood out as
the witness of our victory. ‘The Guards were
bivouacking in Hipel, and it was here that I

22 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

received the first intelligence of the sanguinary
combat in which most of the Berlin and Potsdam
Infantry Regiments had taken part; many of
our dear friends had also fallen.

Hardly had we arrived, when it was evident
that Hipel lay fairly open to the enemy, and
my Head-Quarters appeared to be insecure; nor
did I find the general atmosphere more hopeful,
in spite of our definite successes. Just then
came Lieutenant v. Rosenberg from the Posen-
Uhlans, to announce that the I. Army Corps
had retired last night without a halt over the
frontier to Liebau, and was bivouacking there
with Hartmann’s Division of Cavalry. What had
happened to Trautenau had not been ascertained.

Some painful moments of deliberation as to
what was best to be done ensued, whilst the
dawn was already breaking. Then Major von
der Burg, whom I had sent to the Guard Corps,
arrived with the announcement that everything
was going splendidly; the fighting had indeed
been very severe, but the results were brilliant
to a degree. ‘Trautenau was in our hands, the
Prince of Wurtemburg was already quartered
there, and Gablenz, entirely beaten, was in full
flight. I immediately ordered Bonin to march
beyond Trautenau to Arnau, and make himself

Battle of Trautenau 23

master of the passage of the Elbe at that point ;
and gave orders that the Prince of Wurtemberg
should go to Kéniginhof, and General von Stein-
metz to Gradlitz, to occupy the defiles in either
direction respectively, while General von Mutius
was to follow the V. Corps. I myself went
immediately with my two personal adjutants,
and von der Burg, to Trautenau. The ride in
an unforgettable moonlight night, enhanced by
the fragrance of the air from mountain and
pinewood, was wonderfully beautiful.

Shortly before reaching ‘Trautenau, these
enjoyments were dispelled by the stench of
corpses and dead horses’ bodies, and the general
havoc that characterizes a battle-field glittered
eerily in the moonlight. At the gate we were
received by our own pickets of the Elizabeth
Guard-Grenadiers; their company took a flag
to-day. Not a single inhabitant was to be seen,
only soldiers here and there; on the picturesque
market-place, surrounded with stone arcades,
were bivouackers, canteens, prisoners, arms taken
from the enemy, slightly wounded men, all viewed
in the moonlight, and the rays from the canteen
lanterns.

We took up our quarters in the best room of
the ‘‘ Hotel,” where the Prince of Wurtemberg

24 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

was established, after ordering out a tipsy Austrian
soldier, and then slept soundly, for it was again
2 a.m. before we got any rest. |

June 29, 1866.

The Prince of Wurtemberg was in high spirits
over yesterday’s victory, and praised the gallant
exploits of men and officers in glowing terms.
Lhe Second Battalion of the Guard-Grenadiers
(Kaiser-Franz) in particular suffered heavy losses,
Lieutenant-Colonel v. Gaudy and Captains v.
Witzleben and v. Wittich being killed. I rode
out to the bivouacking troops, who greeted me
with loud acclamations. When I gave my hand
to some of the Kaiser-Franz men, they all flung
themselves upon me, and tried to take my hand,
which moved me deeply. A grenadier planted
a birch-pole in front of me; I gazed at him,
wondering what it meant. “Just look at the
point of it,” they said. It was the head of the
flag, with the Iron Cross; the staff had been
broken in the hand-to-hand mélée, and could not
be found, but these brave men had saved the tip,
and brought it to me thus. I could not help kiss-
ing the head of it; honour to all those gallant
fellows who have fallen !

ee a

March to Prausnitz 25

Bonin now came in with his Army Corps. The
strain on his brave troops during the fight of the
day before yesterday, as well as the exhaustion of
the men, must have been extraordinary. I ordered
the corps to defile before me, my Hast-Prussian
Grenadiers at the head of the Advance-guard, and
commended the men for their brave conduct.
They looked fresh and energetic, in spite of the
African heat and the grinding dust. Many of the
officers wounded the day before yesterday, among
them Captain v. Lettow, Lieutenant v. Loellhével,
Ensign v. Borbstidt of my East-Prussian Regiment,
lay in Trautenau. I went to see them. The
Austrians kept them prisoners for one day, and
even took their swords away. The whole town
stank of blood, and it was so crammed with
wounded and prisoners, that many Austrians had
to lie under the arcades, not a single Austrian
surgeon with them! ‘Three Prussian surgeons
had been made prisoners, and were only left with
our men on giving their word of honour not to
carry arms against Austria in this campaign! To
be sure, Austria refused to subscribe to the Con-
vention of Geneva.

In the afternoon the Head-Quarters were moved
to Prausnitz, a friendly village lying back on the
Elbe, between Gradlitz and Kéniginhof. The

26 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

way led over a great part of the battle-field, where
the Guard Corps had been in action yesterday. It
presented a ghastly appearance, for along with
those who fell yesterday lay the rotten corpses
of the Austrians who were killed on the 28th,
with heaps of arms and uniforms, like the
front of a military depot. This was apparently
the place where the Austrians had rested, or
formed up, or where they had been taken prisoner.
Nothing is more awful than a battle-field on the
day after the fight! No one who is not wanting
in sensibility can look on it without profound
sorrow. Happily our men only lay there for a
very few hours, for ambulance-bearers and comrades
hastened to carry wounded and dead alike to the
bandaging-station. |

Some firing was reported; but at this stage
every door that bangs sounds like a shot to one’s
excited nerves, and no one would believe it until
I satisfied myself that it was a fact. The news
soon came that the V. Corps had been engaged
in a heavy cannonade, while the Advance-guard
of the Guard Corps had taken the passage of the
Elbe after some easy fighting at Kéniginhof, and
the 12th Company of the First Foot Guards had
taken a flag from the Coronini Regiment.

My quarters were at the Priest’s house; he,

Prausnitz 27

with his flocks and the greater part of the in-
habitants, having fled into the forest. Since no
authorities were in the place, and our troops had
to live while bivouacking in this neighbourhood
(our provision column not having yet come up),
we were obliged to resort to commandeering.
Many poor families had perforce to give up the
little live-stock left them by the Austrians, but
this was unavoidable. The Kaiser’s troops,
indeed, had not spared their countrymen, before
our arrival on the scene.

After some hours the Priest, a Sicnit of the
purest water, came in, and bade us welcome.
With him was a pert and dressed-out lady who
had “fled” from Trautenau to her friend the
Pastor; lastly, the Chaplain, trembling like an
aspen leaf, and using so many words in his terror,
that one had to help him to finish his own
sentence. At last we all got off early to bed, our
meal having been a late supper rather than
dinner. :

June 30, 1866.

In the night Captain v. Hahnke, whom I had
sent to Steinmetz with orders, waked me to say he
could not go by the nearest way to the General,

28 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

because the enemy were still on this side of the
Elbe; he would have to make his way by riding
some considerable distance round. This was
uncomfortable, as we might be nicely caught in
our Head-Quarters. Soon after 4 o’clock, Jasmund
waked me, to say that a lively cannonade had
begun, and seemed to be coming nearer. To
jump up, dress, saddle, and breakfast, was the
work of a moment in the firing. As we were
riding off, however, Hahnke, who had ridden
all night, came back, and announced that the
cannonade meant nothing, but only concerned
the baggage of the V. Army Corps, which the
enemy was bombarding from the opposite bank,
so it was all ‘much ado about nothing.” I rode
to the Guard Corps partly in order to hear
Wurtemburg’s report, and subsequently to re-
connoitre Kéniginhof for myself along the high
banks of the Hlbe. A sharp storm had at last
cleared the air. The town was in our hands; the
enemy’s Jigers held the opposite bank with some
inconsiderable defences, the high walls of the
valley were mounted with guns and batteries, so ~
that a passage here would be dearly paid for.
Hiller, Kessel, and still more Obernitz had much
to relate. From here I rode to the gallant
V. Army Corps. On passing the bivouac I was

The Black Eagle conferred on Steinmetz 29

greeted heartily by the soldiers of every regiment,
and was touched when they smiled at me with
proud and happy faces. In the King’s Regi-
ment of Grenadiers there are still ten sound
officers.

I embraced Steinmetz, and told him that
I had begged his Majesty to send him the Order
of the Black Eagle, which visibly delighted the
old hero; a great happiness had befallen him in
the late evening of his life, and he rejoiced that
my military experiences should be inaugurated
under such favourable auspices. He ought to
reckon in yesterday’s affair, when he fought hard
at Schweinschidel, along with the two battles of
Nachod. This morning there was a sharp cannon-
ade, and a great barn with the enemy’s granaries
caught fire. The flames blazed up not far from
his house, and that in which Adalbert was
quartered. A reservist of the 46th Regiment, by
name Mersiewski, took another flag yesterday,
and was at once promoted to the rank of non-
commissioned officer.

The bivouacs of the V. Army Corps were
collectively within the range of the enemy’s fire,
which I objected to. Steinmetz, however, would
not alter the place he had once taken up, and
accordingly in the afternoon the enemy threw

-_-

30 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

shells into the bivouacking troops, happily without
wounding many of them.

The Austrian General v. Fragner had fallen
at Skalitz: in his pocket we found important
papers. In the first place, Ramming’s report to
Benedek of the Battle of Nachod, in which he
begged for reinforcements, as in all probability he
would be attacked again on the morrow, and had
been obliged to retire to-day, with serious losses.
Next, Benedek’s order in consequence of this
despatch, that Archduke Leopold should proceed
to the VIII. Corps next day, and take over the
command. Finally, a long proclamation, to be
distributed ‘‘on crossing the Prussian frontier’!
Steinmetz handed me over these papérs, which
I at once made known, and then forwarded to

Berlin.

Sunday, July 1, 1866. Head-Quarters at Prausnitz.

A day of rest, and no thundering of cannon,
a thing unheard-of !

I sent the Catholics to mass; the priest seems
to have prayed for our King as “the present
Sovereign ’—he deserves to be hung!

Alexander arrived; in the evening I rode round
the bivouacs of the Advance-guard, where the

A Rest-day 31

Guard-Fusiliers, in particular, who had also taken
a flag yesterday, greeted me with the greatest
enthusiasm. MHelldorf, of the 1st Foot Guards, was
proud of the exploit of the 12th Company, and
would not admit that the Guard-Fusiliers had
accomplished the same thing. He wanted to fling
on to Vienna in his usual go-ahead manner.

Anton Hohenzollern was whole and sound, and
had led his column all day with the greatest
fortitude and devotion; his men adore him.

I returned with Colonel Walker. I cannot
insist enough on the extent to which this amiable,
intelligent, and experienced officer has won my
heart and confidence. Everything he says is
practical, and hits the nail on the head, and his
interest in our army and its future must attract
every one who comes across him.

To-day Count Schweinitz, the Chief Justice
(Ober-A ppellations-Gerichts-Prdsident) from Posen,
leaves us: as an old tourist he had kindly offered
to show us the paths over thé Riesen and Glatzer
mountains, which I had accepted. We owe him
the indication of many marching routes, which
we should not otherwise have discovered, on the
advance to Bohemia.

Fiirst Pless and Herr v. Salisch visited the
hospitals at Nachod and Skalitz, and were pleased

32 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

with the arrangements for the wounded. Un-
luckily, the Cavalry Division bivouacking in our
vicinity had committed some excesses; certain
individuals even penetrated into the quarters of
Leopold Hohenzollern and Colonel Walker.

July 2, 1866. Head-Quarters at Prausnitz.

On establishing our Head-Quarters at Kénigin-
hof we saw plainly how sharp the fighting must
have been in the streets of the town, and how many
dwellings had been damaged. Whether, however,
our people alone were responsible for this, may be
doubted, since the Austrians are notoriously bad
tenants. My lodging was at a manufacturer’s,
who had apparently fled in the greatest haste with
his belongings, for unpaid bills were lying every-
where, with unfinished bits of writing, and the
crockery was still covered with half-eaten food.
Some Guard-Jigers must have looked round here
before we came in; one of them had written on
a lady’s photograph that there was no cause for
alarm at the Prussians, they were honest people.
Signed—‘‘ A Guard-Jager !”’

I visited the hospital in a large manufactory,
where, among others, was the badly wounded
ensign of the 3rd Battalion of the Guard-Fusiliers ;

Ride to Plateau 33

when he was wounded, Sergeant Griser at once
seized the flag and led several sections against
the enemy. After this I rode over to the opposite
side; the enemy had gradually evacuated this
since yesterday morning, so that our Advance-
guard had already taken possession of the opposite
heights.

Then a Pioneer officer met me with the in-
telligence that he had seen some Feld-Jagers, who
assured him that Josephstadt was evacuated by
the Austrians. I sent immediately to the V.
Army Corps, and ordered a reconnaissance to
determine the truth of this news, and gave the
same order to Lieutenant-General v. Hiller. The
latter was not sufficiently informed from the out-
posts, so that it was important that I should get
definite intelligence. Steinmetz had thrown up
a pontoon bridge, and some two battalions had
been ordered over to the right bank of the Elbe.

We had a pretty ride to Plateau, from which we
could see first Josephstadt, and in the far distance
the conical summit with the castle of Pardubitz,
and so came to our outposts, where, however,
nothing had been seen of the enemy, hardly even
a patrol. Strange, quaint figures from the Passion-
story, along with shrines to the Saints, stood
hewn out of the rock in the forest, and on the

D

34 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

precipices, and seemed to be the tasteless, costly
expression of some soaring fancy of the seventeenth
century.

On this road I met Fusilier Bochnia of the
1st Foot Guards, who had taken the flag at
Koniginhof. He carried the case of it over his
shoulder, and is a handsome Ober-Silesian, in
his fourth year’s service, slightly wounded by
some bayonet-cuts. Colonel Walker treated him
to cigarettes, and I gave him some ducats, which
I happened to have by me. On the heights we
were taken round by Lieutenant Chorus, of the
2nd Foot Guards, who was well orientated. Major
von Petery of this regiment commanded a portion
of the outposts, and I met him here for the first
time since his gallant behaviour of the last few
days.

Our dinner, from want of room, had to be out-
of-doors. Adalbert, and Anton von Hohenzollern
were there. Lieutenant von Schleinitz in the
2nd Foot Guards, an orderly-officer from Berlin,
came with positive intelligence that the King was
close to us; indeed, already in Gitschin.

I was very tired, and hoped to get to bed early,
but was not to be let off so easily. In the first
place, Prince Friedrich Karl sent to say he wished
to-morrow to make a reconnaissance, and begged

The Night before Koniggratz 35

me to reinforce him with the Guards, as he had
intelligence that troops were collecting on his
front. While I was talking to Colonel v. Kessel
about the fight at Sohr, Major Count Grdében
from the General Staff at the King’s Head-Quarters
was announced, to take part in to-morrow’s recon-
naissance. As yet I knew nothing officially about
this reconnaissance, for First-Lieutenant Count
Blumenthal, my orderly-officer, who was to bring
me the order, had not yet returned with his
over-tired horse from the King’s Head-Quarters.

Scarcely had I gone to bed, when a fresh
orderly-officer arrived from Prince [Friedrich
Karl, followed shortly by General v. Blumenthal.
The latter had been yesterday to Gitschin, and
reported that Prince Friedrich Karl laid great
weight on the concentration of the enemy,
nothing of which had been reported by our
reconnaissances. After some hours’ sleep, General
vy. Blumenthal and Major Count Finkenstein, the
aide-de-camp, waked me with the King’s order
not to reconnoitre on the 3rd, but, as several
Corps of the enemy’s troops were marching on
Horzitz, to cross the Elbe with my army, and
support the I. Army, which was moving forward
at 3 a.m. this night. And thus the night went
by ; the night before Kéniggritz.

36 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

July 3, 1866.

The Battle of Kéniggritz. It had rained hard
in the night. My orders, sent out at daybreak
to the Corps, directed them to march off by
8.30 am. At this hour I joined the bulk of the
Guard Corps, and with them made the exces-
sively heavy march, in pouring rain, over the
steep bank of the Elbe and the mountains lying
to the back of it. The paths were obliterated,
which terribly hindered the advance of all the
regiments, and made the march difficult to a
degree. I did not believe in the possibility of
a big engagement, because I was of the opinion
that the Austrians would not attempt to give
battle, with their backs to the Elbe.

Far off, however, we heard intermittent
cannon-shots, and at length we reached the
highest point, not far from the neighbourhood
in which we reconnoitred yesterday. It then
became clear that a sharp artillery fight, at any
rate, was in progress, for we could hear single
cannon-shots quite plainly, and distinguish the
enemy’s from our own batteries. On this plateau
the march in the sopping ground was frightfully
heavy.

Then came the message, Lieut.-General v.

Battle of Koniggratz 37

Fransecky was nearest to our right wing with
his 7th Division; he had a difficult position, and
begged for reinforcements of artillery. The
reserve artillery of the Guard Corps was at once
ordered out.

At the village of Zizeloves the Advance-guard
of the Guard Corps went in the direction of
Masloved, and after some three-quarters of an
hour the battery itself opened fire, taking up
its station on this side. It seemed as if the
firing was rapidly increasing in our right flank,
and as if a forward movement of our men was
simultaneously taking place.

Half an hour straight in front of us, at the
height of the village of Horenoves, stood an
enormous and solitary tree. This I gave to the
different corps as their main point de vue, for
the enemy seemed to have taken up a very
strong artillery position there, which jutted out
hook-wise upon the I. Army. The firing indeed
seemed to stop at times, only to begin again
with renewed activity, and it seemed to be
gaining ground in that direction. The bulk of
the Guard Corps followed slowly, in particular
the Second Division of the Guards, because they
were all marching along one route, instead of
in several columns, so as to save time and space.

38 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

The Advance-guard went forward slowly, but
decidedly gained ground, whilst in our right
flank the artillery fire steadily retreated; the
enemy’s battery at the big tree fired once hotly,
then the guns were silent; the enemy must have
felt us within their flank.

On reaching the plateau, especially on halting
at Zizeloves, I at once recognized that my task
was to surround the enemy’s right flank and dis-
lodge them. I shouted this order to the single
columns, as they defiled before me, and many a
sturdy answer from the sections assured me that
I was understood.

General v. Mutius with a portion of the VI.
Army Corps must now—it was about 1 o’clock—
have attacked the rear of the enemy’s right flank,
for, on further advance towards the aforesaid tree,
I could discover nothing of the VI. Army Corps,
and yet I heard firing in the left flank. The
ground was shocking, hindering all rapid move-
ment, and only too easily tearing the shoes off
the horses’ feet. Nowhere could one get a good
point of view; the wet and rain, moreover,
deceived us very much as to the distance, so that
the big tree never came any nearer.

The wounded were carried by, the dead lay
round, several villages on our right were in flames,

Battle of Koniggratz 39

and the thunder of the cannon continued in the
same place. We often looked round for the
I, Army Corps, which had to march some two and
a half miles, but was due on the field at 2 o’clock.
Major von der Burg went to meet it, but brought.
the unwelcome news that General v. Hartmann
with the Cavalry Division was behind the I. Army
Corps, and could not move his position on account
of the columns. At length the heads of the
Infantry columns appeared, and my army was
now complete.

General v. Steinmetz, whom I had directed
to follow to-day,with his V. Army Corps, as the
reserve, had orders to join the VI. Army Corps
immediately. I met their Infantry and Cavalry
columns ; and was greeted with loud cheers, when
I informed them how serious was the day’s work,
and informed them that our King was present,
and to-day commanded the army in person.

As soon as we heard the significant firing
of the cannon, General Blumenthal at once said
to me, ‘‘ This is the decisive battle,” and we
became more convinced of this every quarter of
an hour. The advent of my army had broken
the enemy’s right flank, and this gave the I.
Army an opportunity to take the offensive. Since
my arrival on the field of battle, the advance had

40 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

once more become general; soon after, it was
rumoured that the order to withdraw had been
given just before our appearance, because after
fighting for hours the I. Army had not been able
to move from its place.

When we finally reached the famous tree,
which really consisted of two colossal limes stand-
ing one on either side of a giant crucifix, fresh
hills prevented us from obtaining any view of the
fight that was raging in front of us. We were in
the immediate neighbourhood of two battalions of
Guard-Grenadiers (Kénigin-Elisabeth) when some
dispersed Austrian cavalry came by us; a section
which was pretty far off from them fired and shot
them down, man for man, so that the horses tore
by riderless.

Some Guard-Hussars, who saw this from afar,
swooped down on the horses, and claimed them
as booty. Then a considerably larger body of
cavalry came up to us. We could not see from
their white cloaks whether they were Dragoons or
Cuirassiers ; I was preparing to ride down into one
of our battalions, in case they formed a square,
but our percussion-guns once more cleared the
ground, and diverted the danger.

Reaching the height of Masloved, where
Austrian corpses of all regiments lay alongside

Battle of Koniggratz AI

of the badly wounded, I heard that Colonel v.
Obernitz lay here in a farm with a wound in
his head.

I at once looked him up, and found him
fortunately only slightly wounded in the head;
near him, however, was Lieutenant v. Strantz,
of the 1st Foot Guards, who had had several fingers
of his left hand shot off. In the farm our own
and the Austrian wounded lay in heaps; one
could not, and must not, however, stop, for to-day
one’s thoughts had to be wholly bent on the enemy.
Obernitz thought he had narrowly escaped being
taken prisoner.

A few shells fell near us, and it must be said
that the Austrian artillery shoot splendidly, for
the missiles nearly always hit the mark at which
they were first aimed.

A short quarter of a mile before us at the
highest point lay the village of Chlum; musketry-
fire, cheers, and infantry-salvos were being dis-
charged there, and it was evident that the fighting
was desperate in that direction. The Guards
were engaged there, and though I still had no in-
telligence, I conjectured that the Second Division
must already be beyond Masloved. The Advance-
guard from the I. Army Corps, consisting of my
Kast-Prussian Grenadier Regiment, and the 5th

42 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Kast-Prussian Regiment, No. 41, came up at the
right moment to help the Guards in Chlum; it
was high time, for they were in a very difficult
position. I sent Eulenburg to the Advance-guard
to give them the exact direction in which they
were to march.

Lieut.-General von Boyen came from His
Majesty, from Sadowa. He had galloped round
half a mile of byways to call my attention to the
necessity of commanding the village of Chlum,
which we were apparently no longer occupying ;
and he arrived at the right moment to be an eye-
witness of the final taking of the place; while
Major von Grivenitz, of the 8th Hussars, Adjutant
of the I. Army Corps, came up simultaneously
with the announcement that Chlum was taken by
the Advance-guard of the I. Army Corps. It
must have been just at that moment that a very
exhausted and ragged infantry column came out
from Chlum, whom I even took at first to be
prisoners. Some prisoners were with them, but
the column was going round under the shelter of
a hill by Chlum, in order to occupy the right
flank of the place more easily, since our station
on that side was still under a sharp fire.

And now at last the bulk of the I. Army Corps
came up: the advance in such weather, and many

Battle of Koniggratz 43

other hindrances, had not permitted the march
to be properly directed upon Chlum.

I now rode myself to the I. Army Corps, gave
the direction of the march-forward to the flank-
battalion, and, while many shells were bursting
in our neighbourhood, greeted the troops of the
EKast-Prussian province! It was an inspiriting
moment !

From here I rode on, past an advanced battery,
freshly thrown-up, which showed by what impor-
tant outworks the Austrians had fortified their
position, and not far from which two Prussian
4-pounders were standing ahandoned, to the steep
heights of Chlum. In the vicinity of a battery
that was still firing, surrounded by the men of my
Kast-Prussian Regiment, I surveyed the three
miles of battle-field, and acquired the certainty
that the victory was ours, and the enemy in full
retreat.

Such moments must be lived through; de-
scription is impossible! Hearty thanks—I might
say ejaculations—went up to God. Then it was
necessary to plunge once more into actualities, to
look into everything, to go everywhere, hardly
daring to glance at the ground, where old acquaint-
ances, whom one had just before seen in full
vigour of life in the battle, were stretched out.

44 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

The fight was raging at our feet, round Rosberitz ;
but the Rear-guard was already in unmistakable
retreat; while at my left flank, which was nearest
to Kéniggritz, Boyen was still actively engaged
with the VI. Army Corps, and the cannon from
the fortress had also begun to fire.

The sky was beginning to clear, and rays of
sunshine fell across the bloody battle-field. Just
as the heroic death of Lieut.-General von Hiller
and his second Adjutant, the promising Lieutenant
Theissen of the 4th Foot Guards, was announced
to me, and the feeling of grief at these losses was
beginning to assert itself, I heard some cheering.
We thought the King must be coming, but it was
Fritz Karl.*

We waved our caps to each other from afar,
and then, amid the hurrahs of the troops of my
extreme right, and his extreme left wing, with
whom I raised an enthusiastic cheer for our King,
we fell into each other’s arms. Such greetings,
again, must be lived through; two years ago
I embraced him before Diippel as a victor, to-day
we were both conquerors, and when his troops
were hard pressed I had decided the day with the
advent of my army.

* Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, Commander-in-Chief of the ©
I. Army and Army of the Elbe.

After the Victory 45

My thoughts were now with my wife, my
children, my mother and sister. My little Sigis-
mund, who had gone home, hovered before me,
as though his death had been the forerunner of
a great event in my life. Yet no victory com-
pensates for the loss of a child; far rather does
the gnawing grief first make itself fully felt, amid
such powerful impressions.

But I had to remind myself that this was no
time to give way to such feelings; that, on the
contrary, all one’s thoughts must be turned to the
defeated enemy, to the proper use to be made of
the victory for which we had fought. I pointed
out to my Adjutants the pressing necessity of
immediate pursuit of the Austrians, and sent
Jasmund to Steinmetz with instructions to set
out at once after the enemy. I gave the same
order to the 2nd Hussars, who had just arrived
upon the heights of Chlum; and directed that
the command should be repeated to General v.
Hartmann by Captain Count Rédern, as also
by Major-General v. Borstell.

The artillery fire was still continuing, but was
retiring to a distance, and there was now a little
pause, in which we collected intelligence, and
were able to identify the dead and wounded.
Anton MHohenzollern was severely wounded;

46 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Count Dohna, of the East-Prussian Jiiger Bat-
talion, lay shot through the breast, not far from
the body of Theissen, whose scarf and neck-chain
we took off for his family. Dohna charged me
with greetings to his father, and was still able to
say that only two officers of the battalion were
left uninjured after an appalling volley from the
Austrian Jigers.

Lieutenant v. Pape, of the 2nd Foot Guards,
the only son of the Commander, was carried by,
hit with three bullets; I embraced him in his
father’s name, as I had known him from a child,
while Lieutenant Chorus, of the 2nd Foot Guards,
informed me that he had captured a gun!

Never shall I forget the earnest expression of
Kessel’s countenance, when we met here, as he
was mustering the First Regiment of the Guards
from Chlum. From him I received the first
particulars: on our right, the 7th Division, more
especially the Magdeburg Regiments, Nos. 26
and 27, must have had a desperately hard
position.

Around us lay or limped so many of the well-
known figures from the Potsdam and Berlin
garrison! Hach had something to tell. Those
who were using their weapons as crutches, or were
being supported up the heights by their comrades,

Pursuit of the Enemy 47

looked sadly woe-begone. The grimmest sight,
however, was an Austrian Battery, whose entire
equipment of men and horses had been shot down.
And thus the most diverse sensations chased
through one’s brain in a second.

Now came an order from the King that
General v. Herwarth was to pursue the enemy
with his VIII. Army Corps, while all the rest
were to bivouac on the field.

After quite unexpectedly meeting the Grand-
Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Chlum, of
whose presence in the army I was ignorant, I next
rode to the villages, to obtain further intelligence,
and to visit the King. I talked some time to the
men of the 27th Infantry Regiment. They said, as
out of one mouth, ‘‘ We all knew that you would
come to-day ; we had a hard stand in the wood at
Sadowa, till all at once we heard, He is coming!
He is coming! Then everything went well again,
but it was high time that you did come.”

This simple, homely account of the situation
made a deep impression on me.

In Rosberitz, where the battle must have been
truly desperate, to judge from the masses of dead
and wounded, and where the farms were still.
blazing, I found Anton Hohenzollern, who was
hit in the leg by three bullets. He was quite

48 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

beaming, and at the same time touchingly naif in
the way he depreciated his wounds: he wished me
luck, and said he had been under a furious fire
with his detachment, had ordered rapid file-fire,
was then wounded, and even thus taken prisoner,
so that his sword was taken away in spite of his
wounds; but was then on our advance set free
again. He was lying in a peasant’s house, among
dying Austrians, but was at once transported to a
S. John’s ambulance. |

It is a gruesome thing to ride over a battle-field,
and the ghastly mutilations that meet one’s eye
are indescribable.

War is an appalling thing, and the man who
brings it about with a stroke of his pen at
the “ green table,’ little recks what he is conjur-
ing with.

I first unexpectedly met some wounded from
the 51st Infantry Regiment, among them Captain
Hiebe, one of my former subalterns in the 11th
Infantry, who was shot in the foot. A badly
wounded Grenadier of the 2nd Guards called out
to me, ‘“‘Oh, dear Crown Prince, do have me
taken away.”

Major v. Kckart of the 2nd Guards, who seemed
to be fatally wounded, passed us in an ambulance-
waggon. He could only reply to my inquiries in a

Pour le Mérite 49

weak voice. Then I met the Kolberg Grenadiers,
and the Bliicher Hussars of my Pomeranian Army
Corps: an unexpected pleasure, to find them
here.

I also met Uncle Karl and Wilhelm Mecklen-
burg. The latter had received a slight sword-cut.
Finally, after much seeking and asking, we found
the King. I informed him of the presence of
my Army on the field, and kissed his hand, and
then he embraced me. Neither of us could speak
for some time ; then he was the first to find words,
and told me he rejoiced that I had so far achieved
successful results, and had shown capacity for
command. As I must already know by his tele-
gram, he had given me the Pour le Mérite for the
preceding victories. This telegram I had not
received, and thus it was on the battle-field, where
I had with him decided the victory, that my King
and Father presented me with our highest military
order.*

* The order Pour le Mérite had already been conferred on the Crown
Prince for the 27th and 28th of June. It came, however, as a complete
surprise, singe the telegram intended for the Crown Prince had fallen into
the hands of the Austrians. It ran as follows :—

“Victory! Thanks to you and your splendid troops. Repeat to
General Steinmetz’ Fifth Corps the thanks you have already expressed
in my name, and give my royal thanks to the Guard Corps for their
incomparable valour, and for their prompt realization of my parting
words. To-morrow I am going to the army by Goerlitz. I send you the
order Pour le Mérite.—WiLu1AM.”

E

50 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

I was deeply moved, and those standing by
seemed also to be touched. It had been a
wonderful evening, and just while we were ex-
changing our greetings, the sun was setting in
full splendour. Bismarck, with all the officers of
the King’s Head-Quarters, as well as my entire
Staff, were present. I met Schweinitz and Reuss
VII. again here.

I further had a long talk with the King,
in which I particularly recommended Generals
Blumenthal and Steinmetz to him, for these two
high military authorities had taken an active part
in all my arrangements. His Majesty had granted
my request that he would give the Order of the
Black Eagle to General v. Steinmetz for his
services, and ratified my proposal to give the name
of Kéniggritz to this battle.

We now rode back by Chlum, to seek for night-
quarters in Horenowes, but the baggage, which
had been left in Kéniginhof, could not arrive
before the early morning. After many wanderings,
in which all the horrors of the battle-field pursued
us into the darkness, we at length reached the
above-mentioned place, where 38000 Austrian
prisoners were already lodged.

The troops were bivouacking in every part of
the field ; only a few of them were singing.

Campaigning Quarters 51

Here, as so often, the comic was lurking near
the tragic. A number of infantry-men were
following a tame pig, so as to enjoy roasting it
before the camp-fire! The hunt went in all
directions, till at last the revolvers came into
play :—and close to this scene lay the corpses of
cavalry-men from the hot fight that had raged
that afternoon at the foot of Chlum, and in
which the two Regiments of Dragoon Guards,
the Neumark Dragoons, both the Brandenburg
Uhlans, and also the Zieten Hussars had taken
part.

It was astonishing how quickly our men
managed to carry off their fallen comrades, so
that there were far fewer bodies of Prussian than
of Austrian soldiers. The ambulance-bearers, too,
conducted themselves splendidly in this respect.

We settled ourselves on straw and the like,
in an entirely empty house with no furniture, and
after living the whole day on bread and cognac,
had to feed ourselves again: in the evening on
cheap ammunition-bread, which we had bought at
a canteen; & la querre comme a la guerre, 18 accom-
plished here in the full sense of the words. We
ourselves had been on horseback from 8 a.m. till
8.30 p.m., and so slept well in spite of the
impossible lodging—in as far as the excitements

52 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

of such an adventure allowed one to sleep in
peace.

We were not able either to feed or to water
our poor horses. Whenever I met baggage-waggons
I pulled out some hay, and gave it to my faithful
Cairngorm to eat out of my hand. The chestnut
has done me good service again to-day.

I felt that this had been one of the most signi-
ficant days for Prussia, and prayed God to en-
lighten the King and his Council, as well as to
bring about the right conclusion for the welfare
and future of Prussiaand Germany. In the night
I had vivid dreams of my wife and children !

July 4, 1866. Head-Quarters at Horenowes.

One of our Feld-Jaiger lieutenants (Krieger)
who had already been useful to us yesterday
evening, from his zeal and discretion, discovered a
coffee-canteen. The rest of yesterday’s canteen-
bread still held out, and so we had a successful
breakfast ; coffee out of beer-glasses, and the
spoons each man made for himself out of twigs.
Then I visited our wounded in this place,
among them Colonel v. Zychlinski, Commander
of the brave 27th, who insisted on returning
to his regiment, until I formally forbade it;

Proposals of Armistice 53

further, Captain Count Groeben of the Guard-
Hussars, whose horse had been shot, v. Fabek
of the 3rd Guards. None of our men were
repining, to-day as little as yesterday; the
Austrians, on the contrary, murmured a great
deal. A captured Hungarian spoke half in
German, half in Danish, because he had been in
the campaign of Schleswig, in 1864. At length
our things arrived, and I was able to have clean
linen. Then Captain v. Wrangel of the Guard-
Hussars announced that he had ridden to K6énigin-
hof, had demanded entrance in my name, had
been led in with his eyes bound, and had de-
manded a capitulation in my name, which was
not refused unconditionally; so that a written
demand would very probably be successful. I at
once sent Major von der Burg on this errand, and
Captain Mischke on a similar errand to Joseph-
stadt. The latter, however, in spite of beckoning
with the flag of truce, and signalling by trumpet,
was fired at, his own and the trumpeter’s horses
being wounded, and this happened indeed some
half-mile from the fortress. Burg was more
fortunate, for he brought a written acceptance
of capitulation with him. The Commandant
asked to have till 12 at noon to-morrow to
consider and make enquiries. I refused.

54 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

In the afternoon, Prince August of Wurtem-
burg announced to me through his Orderly-officer,
Prince Croy, that Lieut.-Field-Marshal von
Gablenz was with him, and urgently desired to
speak with the King and myself. I ordered that
he should be brought with bandaged eyes to the
King’s Head-Quarters at Horzitz, and at once
rode off myself by a nearer way to His Majesty.
The King, however, had already gone off to the

bivouacs, met Gablenz on the way, offered an
armistice, and sent him on again to Horzitz, to

Roon, Moltke, and Bismarck. It was accordingly
there that I met him, After an embrace and
exchange of reminiscences from 1864, he told us
quite openly that the Austrian army was totally
destroyed, and was in a most melancholy condi-
tion. All this had been clearly and openly stated
to the Kaiser; he, Gablenz, came on his own
responsibility, only authorized by Benedek to
appeal to the King’s feelings: a three days’ truce
could not do us any material harm, and would
also give them no advantage; in the mean time,
however, much might possibly be arranged.

I told him quite openly that as a soldier I
never could entertain such propositions. If
Austria handed over the fortresses of Josefstadt
and Koéniggritz, along with the Elbe, to us as the

Visit from Gablenz 55

lines of demarcation, we might certainly give a
three days’ armistice, otherwise not. He did not
feel himself authorized to accept this. He then
told us that the Arch-Dukes Wilhelm and Joseph
were slightly wounded; Count Festetics badly
wounded in the leg, Count Thun in the head.
Colonel Binder was dead. ‘The loss through our
percussion-guns was enormous. Even at Trautenau
he had conceived a vast respect for our brave
troops; yesterday, however, I had come up quite
- unexpectedly in his flank, and when he heard the
firing of my batteries, it became clear to him that
the day was lost for the Austrian army. This
whole embassy I took to be a ruse, without, how-
ever, feeling sure what lay behind it ; the Austrians
either wanted to gain time, or to get some informa-
tion as to our disposition of troops. Both physi-
cally and mentally Gablenz was the picture of
exhaustion, but he must indeed have been tired
out, as he had ridden over from a place two miles
behind Kéniggritz. |

The King only returned at 11.30 at night;
Gablenz had to wait till then, and only to depart
without having effected his business. Bismarck
invited me, with my Adjutant, and General v.
Stosch, to dine with him. As it was midnight
before His Majesty allowed me to depart, I could

56 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

not do the two miles back in the darkness with
my tired horses to Horenowes, especially in the
hostile disposition of the inhabitants, so 1 spent
the night in the quarters of the Duke of Coburg,
who had just arrived. In the King’s Head-
Quarters the most essential things were still
wanting, seeing that there was a lack of food and
drink. The King, namely, had not gone back
to Gitschin, his Head-Quarters of yesterday, but
had taken up his quarters after the battle in
Horzitz, with Prince Friedrich Karl, while the
baggage was still in Gitschin. A few wounded
officers came in late yesterday evening from the
battle-field, among them Colonel v. Wietersheim,
Commander of the 6th Pomeranian Infantry,
No. 49, who is said to be very severely wounded.

July 5, 1866.

_ Harly, at 6 a.m., I went back from Horzitz to
Horenowes, and went to bed by daylight. I now
learnt for the first time, from Captain v. Franken-
burg of the Guard-Landwehrs, the Orderly-officer
of Mutius, how splendidly the brave VI. Army
Corps on my left wing had worked, and how
materially their prompt surrounding of the right
Austrian flank, where, among others, the Black-

Sights of the Battlefield 57

and-Yellow Brigade was fighting, had aided in
the result. Through Frankenburg I conveyed
to General v. Mutius my sincere wishes for his
success. Hewell deserves the Pour le Mérite. In
the afternoon I rode with the Staff over the field
of battle to Opatowitz, our night-quarters.
Horrible sights at the burial of half-dressed
corpses, or rotten and mortified bodies, were to be
seen in appalling variety ; never shall I forget the
corpses from which the head had been torn off or
mangled. The very horses shrank from these
cadavers. The Commandant of Kénigegriitz, who
had doubtless spoken with Gablenz during the
night, had changed his tune, and gave no answer,
so that for an hour he had to be talked to with
field-guns. I rode to the bivouac of the 2nd
Division, where I received hearty greetings, and
was able on the way to convince myself of the con-
fused flight of the Austrians, since at every moment
the overturned waggons, discarded knapsacks, and
similar traces, showed how hurriedly the troops
had departed. The suburbs of Koéniggriitz were
burning ; the Commandant had tried to raze them
to the ground. Not far from a railway-crossing at
the friendly village of Opatowitz, we were met by
a captured gendarme of Benedek’s Staff-Watch,
who, however, could only speak Italian. I talked

58 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

brokenly with him as best I could in his mother-
tongue, and ascertained that he had deserted
because they had nothing to eat nor drink. In
the place itself I found Colonel v. Pape, Com-
mander of the 2nd Guards, who was just returning
from the funeral of his only son, the same whom
I had found wounded at Chlum. I also spoke to a
non-commissioned officer, who had just come out
of captivity. In effect, seventy men of different
regiments were made prisoners the day before
yesterday during the battle, and were at once
conveyed by the Austrians to Kéniggritz. These
prisoners, therefore, had to accompany the entire
flight, which this sub-officer called a regular rout,
and were compelled to swim through the inun-
dated environs of the fortress, as well as through
the Elbe. At Pardubitz, Benedek saw our men,
shook his head, and ordered their release, because
the Kaiser’s people had not enough for themselves,
let alone the feeding of prisoners. An Austrian
officer said to another non-commissioned officer,
with his revolver at his breast, ‘‘ Confess, fellow,
that you were led by French officers in disguise,
for of yourselves you would never have succeeded
in getting such results!” No one could have
paid us a greater compliment.

I found some badly wounded Austrian officers

March to Pardubttz 59

in a peasant’s house, in which I was looking for
the wounded Prince Windischgritz, the son of
the Field-Marshal. He had, however, already
been transported. .The others lay upon straw,
longing for hospital comforts. An Austrian
surgeon, who had apparently been taken prisoner,
wished to go after his troop, and was not to be
persuaded to remain with his countrymen, al-
though not a single Austrian surgeon had stopped
to take care of the Kaiser’s men. Of course I
did not let the fellow go. ‘The officers would only
sign a bond “‘ not to serve against us in this war,”’
with the inclusion of the clause, ‘until after. the
exchange of prisoners.” Our night’s quarters
were in a friendly mill.

July 6, 1866. Head-Quarters at Pardubitz.

Uncle Ernst* met us in the act of marching
off; we rode to-day to Pardubitz, being much
delayed on the way by the marching troops. Once
more we crossed the Elbe on pontoon-bridges, in
place of the permanent bridges that had been
burned by the Austrians. Here I learned what a
splendid charge the Neumark Dragoons had made,
the entire officers’ corps being wounded. I further

* Duke-Ermest IT. of Coburg.

60 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

heard how boldly Prince Krafft of Hohenlohe had
joined in with the Reserve Artillery of the Guard
Corps at Maslowed and Chlum, and that he had
effected important results. Men of the VIII. Army
Corps were looking for their companies. A painter
of stained glass, from Cologne, a reservist, had
succeeded in taking fifty-four prisoners to a
Prussian ambulance station, after they had made
him prisoner in the first instance. I told him he
should some day work at the window of Cologne
Cathedral, which we have designed for the main
entrance. In the evening the King Aarived, and
I brought him the flag captured at Schweinschidel
by the 46th Infantry, which was handed to His
Majesty by Mersiewski, who had actually taken
the flag, and had been promoted to the rank of
non-commissioned officer in recognition; and by
Fusilier Schellin of the First Guards.

July 7, 1866. Head-Quarters at Chroustowitz.

Rode to the charming Thurn-and-Taxis hunt-
ing castle of Chroustowitz, where we made our
night-quarters. The neighbourhood was infinitely
picturesque. Wheat land is here in perfection.
The castle is of an imposing size, in the earlier
rococo style, with the corresponding arrangements

Gablenz again! 61

of garden. The stables are splendid, and a real
treat for our horses.

July 8, 1866. Head- Quarters at Chroustowitz-
Hohenmauth.

This morning, at 4 a.m., I was awakened by
the rattle of a carriage. Gablenz had come back
again! He brought conditions of armistice, based
on Moltke’s idea of the evacuation of the fortresses
of Josefstadt and Kéniggritz. I sent him to
Pardubitz, with the Kaiser’s aide-de-camp, Count
Fratzavari, a knight of the Theresien Order, who
escorted him (evidently Baron v. Fejervary). I
went to the King by another route. Gablenz
brought papers to Moltke; these were the signed
“instructions’’ from Mensdorff, at Zwittau, to
Gablenz, to hand over the above fortresses, after
the previous free and honourable withdrawal of
the garrisons, military stores, and war material ;
further, an eight weeks’ armistice, with fourteen
days’ warning of re-commencement of hostilities ;
and, lastly, a new line of demarcation, to be here-
after regulated more precisely, behind which the
Austrians might retire without any danger! A
victorious conqueror could not have dictated other
conditions to the vanquished. The King, of

62 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

course, declined to receive Gablenz under these
conditions; on the contrary, he was politely con-
ducted away, with a document from Moltke to
the effect ‘“‘that we were ready to enter into
direct peace negotiations with Austria.” The
newspaper reports of the cession of Venetia are
fully confirmed. Henry VII. of Reuss has gone
to Paris with an autograph letter from the King
to express our willingness to consider negotia-
tions for peace. But that we remain in marching
form is, of course, understood. Schweinitz was
sent to Petersburg. On the return journey, one
of my black horses fell, and I had to take a
baggage horse from the first good waggon we
met. Returned to Chroustowitz. Gablenz was just
leaving. He stopped my carriage, took me aside,
and said he hoped to be in Vienna to-morrow
morning, and that peace would soon be ar-
ranged. After a few remarks on the singularity
of the cession of Venetia to France, he repeated
his professions of ignorance. ‘‘But,’’ said I,
‘‘Mensdorff is with you in Zwittau; he must
surely know it; and the fact has been known
since the 4th of this month!” ‘ Mensdorff has
been there since the 5th,” he replied, ‘but I
have heard nothing; for the rest, your Royal
Highness must not forget that Bismarck has also

Weallenstein’s Castle 63

been treating with Italy.” Upon this we parted
with all our old cordiality and friendliness.
Wrangel appeared. In the evening I reached
our Head-Quarters at Hohenmauth on horseback.
A nasty, dirty little hole. :

July 9, 1866. Head-Quarters, Leitomischel.

A little rain; a ride of some 24 miles, to
Leitomischel; sunshine on the way; met a few
Saxon prisoners. Leitomischel was the famous
seat of Wallenstein, adorned with a magnificent
castle with three rows of open arcades one above
the other, recently squandered by the worthless
heirs of the great name. In the castle were 5000
Austrian wounded, without a single Austrian
surgeon, or any instruments. Isolated cases of
cholera have occurred among them... . Benedek
had lodged in my room, and related with great
depression that he had led the infantry columns
himself at Chlum, but they refused to do any
more—so he had been forced to retire. We heard
that Anton MHohenzollern’s wound was very
severe, as the thigh-bone is said to be splintered
above the knee. He is in Kéniginhof, under the
care of the excellent Dr. Middeldorpff, who has
offered his services gratuitously in this war, as
already in 1864....

64 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

July 10,1866. Head-Quarters, Mihrisch-Triibau.

We marched off on horseback in pouring rain,
4} miles to Miéhrisch-Triibau. High boots and
rain-cloaks were in request to-day. As we
crossed the steep passes of the mountain, Mahren
lay charmingly in the sun before us; the rain
kept to Bohemia. ‘The Second Division met us,
and I marched with the Infantry to Mihrisch-
Triibau. In the afternoon I convinced myself
that whole companies in the I. Army Corps did
not know that I was leading them, the talk being
still only of Prince Karl and von Wrangel.

July 11, 1866. Head-Quarters, Miéhrisch- Triibau.

At last a rest-day! Intercepted Austrian
letters describe in plain language the disorganiza-
tion of the army during the flight. The initiated
write that the generalship was miserable, and
‘‘even surpassed that of Solferino”! There was
a strange concurrence in the sense of being fully
beaten, which turned high and low alike to their
homes. One hears rumours that Count Alexander
Mensdorff, who undoubtedly has a close enough
acquaintance with the army to instruct the
Kaiser, as an eye-witness, as to its real constitu-
tion, is to be Benedek’s successor... .

State of the Prussian Army 65

From the Biirgermeister with whom I was
lodged, I heard that the Austrians had withdrawn
the day before yesterday, in the afternoon, with
the Saxons, under the Crown Prince of Saxony,
Benedek, and Mensdorff. In the evening we
sat in a Bier-Garten with the garrison.

July 12, 1866. Head-Quarters, Mahrisch- Triibau.

Still here on account of the march towards
Olmiitz; the enemy will certainly entrench them-
selves there, and wait for us. The V. Army
Corps marched through—the King’s Regiment
of Grenadiers, with more than half its officers
killed or wounded, so that an ensign had to act
as Adjutant. The men looked at me with proud
self-consciousness. Steinmetz messed with me,
and I drank his health as ‘‘the Hero of Nachod
and Skalitz.”’ General v. Hartmann followed
the V. Corps with the Cavalry Division. The
condition of the horses in ‘the West-Prussian
Cuirassiers was more especially excellent. The
2nd Landwehr Hussars looked very smart. Hart-
mann has unfortunately been able to do nothing
so far, and looked extremely crestfallen. At
Chlum he only received my orders to follow
the enemy in the night. Steinmetz has not yet

F

66 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

received the promised Order of the Black Eagle,
and feels a keen desire for it, as he knows
through me that His Majesty has granted it to
him, at my particular request, for his three
victories. In the evening back to the Bier-
Garten. The day before yesterday, the 2nd
Pomeranian Uhlans, No. 9, had a nice little
fight at Zwittau, when two Biilows were wounded.
The King’s Head-Quarters are moved to Briinn,
where Fritz Karl has already arrived. It will
depend upon the results of the reconnaissances
and the subsequent intelligence whether I shall
have to remain with my army before Olmiitz, or
follow the I. Army with two of my Corps to
Vienna. We have been without any home-
letters or papers since the 8th of this month,
and our tobacco has quite given out. At
length a belated and uninjured packet of four
days has turned up to-day, so that we have
plenty to read. Four letters at once from my
wife! Coburg is occupied by the Bavarians,
and will be administered. At Schmalkalden,
as previously at Dermbach, Falckenstein and
Groeben have had successful encounters with the
Bavarians, but at the penalty of considerable
losses. It is said that the intervention of France
is to the advantage of Austria.

Summer Marching 67

July 13, 1866. Head-Quarters, Opatowitz, Count
Herberstein’s Schloss.

We marched painfully out of Mahrisch-Triibau
in the sweltering heat, because the Guard Corps,
co-operating with the Columns of the V. Army
Corps, blocked the exits. Quartered in the
charmingly situated, exceedingly spacious, and
many-roomed little castle of Count Herberstein,
who also has properties on Glatz. I inhabit the
Boudoir de Madame. We sat long in the shade,
and dined al fresco. M. Lefébre, of the French
Embassy in Berlin, has betaken himself to the
Austrian outposts, there to treat of proposals for
an armistice.

July 14, 1866. Head-quarters at Konitz.

Again a sweltering heat, and terribly steep
paths; met Kirchbach’s Division, the gallant
Ist West-Prussian Grenadier Regiment, No. 6,
and the 46th Infantry Regiment. The latter in
particular had many fagged out, who remained
behind. The stiff close collars are no good
for mountain and summer marching; I always
permit the neckcloths to come off altogether, but
heard to-day that Steinmetz had expressly for-
bidden this on the march, but ordered it, on the

68 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

contrary, in action. The mountain pass we came
over resembles the Thiiringerwald. I heard to-—
day of the death of Colonel v. Wietersheim, Com-
mander of the 6th Pomeranian Infantry Regiment,
No. 49, who has died of the wounds he received
at Kéniggriitz. The loss of such a talented Com-
mander in my Pomeranian Army Corps distresses
me very much. Quarters in the market-place
of Konitz, in the ruined town-hall. Benedek,
Mensdorff, Arch-Duke Ernest have come through.
The Infantry are still marching in disorder. The
gardeners say the taxes were becoming unbear-
able. The Government was doing nothing to
help the increasing poverty. ...

Major von der Burg is to assist to-morrow
in Bonin’s expedition, which is to go south to
Olmiitz by Tobitzschau, while General v. Hart-
mann is to push forward to Prerau. We hear,
indeed, that the Austrians have already left
Olmiitz, and are retiring upon Vienna; this
must absolutely be put a stop to. As the I.
Army is to march upon Lundenburg, it might
perhaps be possible to cut off a portion of the
Austrian army. lieutenant v. Wintzigerode, of
the 2nd Regiment of lLeib-Hussars, rode while
reconnoitring right up to the redoubts of Olmiitz,
without encountering a single shot. He was

Steinmetz and the Black Eagle 69

even able to ascertain the march-off of an im-
portant number of columns towards the south.
I immediately sent him my approval. In the
evening rode to Steinmetz, to invest him, on
the part of His Majesty, with the Order of the
Black Eagle, for which I had asked the King,
since it has been conferred so long without the
old hero actually possessing it. Steinmetz kissed
the star, and then my hand, before I could pre-
vent him. ‘Would that I could thank my
King thus also; the greatest wish of my life
is fulfilled.”” ‘Two very gracious autograph letters
from the King moved him deeply. Afterwards
I read these aloud to the Staff, as well as to
the Secretaries, Watch, etc., and all rejoiced
at the well-deserved distinction of the valiant
leader. The evening was unprecedently beautiful
for the homeward ride. I have sent Mischke to
Briinn to His Majesty.

July 15, 1866. Head-Quarters at Konitz.

The reconnaissance has succeeded; Bonin led
the engagement at Tobitschau with great success.
‘Major-General v. Malotki distinguished himself
in it. <A sortie from Olmiitz was driven back,
many hundreds being taken prisoners. A Brigade

70 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

of the enemy, said to be that of General v.
Rothkirch, which had not fought with us till
now, has been intercepted on the way south.
The West-Prussian Cuirassiers took fifteen guns;
the Silesian Cuirassiers, No. 1, three dismounted
cannon; Hartmann went as far as Prerau, where,
notwithstanding that the place was still occupied
by the enemy, he managed to damage the rail-
way. The 2nd Leib-Hussars, as well as the ~
Landwehr Hussars, had broken into the squares,
and captured many men and horses; but they
also suffered heavy losses. Colonel v. Glase-
napp, the Commander of the Landwehr Hussars,
fell, covered with sword-cuts. Yesterday evening
the Silesian Cuirassiers fell on a square of Saxons
in the darkness, but unfortunately lost three
officers in the action. To-morrow Steinmetz is
going to Prerau to reconnoitre, and will be sup-
ported by the I. Army Corps. Hartmann, too, is
ordered to the front.

July 16, 1866. Head-Quarters at Prédlitz.
Countess Kalnoky’s Schloss.

Pouring rain; mounted march to Prossnitz, in
the hope of joining in the action at that place.
On the way we met and stopped some men with

Ambulance Stations 71

blackened faces, who seemed to us to be deserters
in disguise. The reconnaissance of the V. Army
Corps came to nothing, for Bonin, who was
nearest to Prerau, only marched off in the after-
noon, owing to a misunderstanding. The two
Divisions of the V. Army Corps therefore marched
back to their cantonments. The men looked
in splendid condition, especially the gallant
King’s Grenadiers, No. 7. In Prossnitz our
arrival excited a great commotion among the
very courteous inhabitants; sultry heat had suc-
ceeded to the rain. In the Hospital of the
Barmherzigen Bruder, our officers and men were
being very well taken care of. Most of them
had been wounded with the sword, from which
one could see that it had been a hot encounter.
Among others of our officers, we found here
Lieutenants v. Estorff and v. Blumenthal of
the 2nd Leib-Hussars, also v. Rothkirch of the
Landwehr, who had six sword-cuts on the head,
and two in the neck, without, however, being
dangerously wounded. Many officers of the Ist
Leib-Hussars, too, were being tended here. From
Prossnitz we had to do two miles further to the
pretty rococo country-house of a Countess
Kalnoky, whose eldest son was an attaché in
Berlin, but is now in London. A Herr von

72 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Wattwyl did the honours. The Countess had
withdrawn with her daughters to a neighbouring
forester’s house, leaving us in possession of
everything, even the beds, adorned with innu-
merable pictures of Saints, wreaths of roses,
consecrated tapers, etc. Herr v. Wattwyl at
first took me for General v. Blumenthal, and
almost collapsed when he afterwards heard my
name. In Vienna people seem to be expecting
our speedy advent, and the Empress has already
retired to Pesth.

July 17, 1866. Head-Quarters at Prédlitz.

A so-called rest-day, in which at least we
did not have to march. The troops, and notably
the horses, required rest. The boots of the
infantry need repair, otherwise the whole of this
important section of our army would go to pieces.
The heat is African. The I. Army Corps is going
in a direction south of Olmiitz; I ordered the
V. Corps to prepare to march to Lundenburg along
the March; the Guard Corps and VI. Corps are to
march to Briinn, in a straight line by Biskopitz.
The Commissariat, thank God, seems to have
been well managed so far; for this we have to
thank, along with the wise arrangements of my

Rest-day fe:

Army-Intendant, the Cabinet Minister for War,
Kéliner. I paid a visit to Countess Kalnoky,
whose husband has been out of his mind for
ten years. The eldest son is attaché in London,
and known to the Berlin Embassy; the other
four sons are fighting on the opposite side, one
as Adjutant to the Arch-Duke Joseph. All the
ladies are living together bivouac fashion in the
little forester’s lodge. In the evening I went
with the Uncles and most of the Adjutants to
an adjacent hill, the central point of Moravia,
to look in the direction of Olmiitz, which, how-
ever, was invisible. It appears that the Emperor
of Austria has proclaimed that Vienna is to be
treated as an open town, not as a fortress.
Further, that the Austrian army is to march off
to Hungary, there to be organized anew, so that
in two to three months it may be ready to take
the field again.

July 18, 1866. Head-Quarters, Briinn.

We wanted to transport our Head-Quarters to
the Castle of Austerlitz, so as to be about in
the middle of my marching corps. Since, how-
ever, it appeared possible from the intelligence
we had received that the Austrians might attempt

74 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

a desperate attack upon us, and then upon
our centre, from the side of the Carpathians,
Briinn seemed more prudent. In the midst of
our discussions of the pros and cons, came a
telegram from Bismarck, expressing a wish that
I would not delay too long in coming to Briinn.
I at once got ready, and did the journey of four
and a half miles by carriage, one of the maddest
sorts of high-road that I have ever seen, from
the point of view of being unpractical; it went
steeply up and down the mountain, instead of —
using the valleys that lay half a mile away.
Kaiser Joseph once ploughed this road, and the
deed has been immortalized in a memorial. The
battle-field of Austerlitz is partially visible from
the chaussée. Briinn makes an imposing appear-
ance from afar, with its notorious Spielberg, its
high church towers, and many luxurious dwell-
ings, corresponding with its industrial prosperity.
In former times the nobility of Moravia resorted
hither for their winter season; these times are
over, and the richly decorated palaces stand
deserted. On arriving, the first thing I heard
was that His Majesty had just ridden off half an
hour before with Bismarck to the Dietrichstein
Schloss at Nikolsburg. So there I sat without
any intelligence, and only heard quite casually —

State of Austrian Affairs 75

from Count Frankenburg, one of General v.
Mutius’ orderly-officers, that it had been known
since yesterday evening that, after a battle won
by our side, General v. Falckenstein had entered
Frankfurt-on-Main with flying colours, and drums
beating, demanding from the rich and anti-
Prussian city an indemnity of 25 millions. Thus
our success endures! God keep us from reverses !
Reports from Vienna say that the proffered truce
- has been rejected, so that we may well come to
a fresh encounter before the capital. Austrian
levies, especially from Croatia and in the border-
districts, have been commanded; it is moreover
said that 50,000 men are already on their way
from Italy. It is thought that Benedek has been
deposed, and Arch-Duke Albrecht made Gene-
ralissimo in his place. Burgermaster Giskra, a
well-known liberal delegate to the Vienna Reich-
stag, greeted me, recommending the town to me,
as it had conceded whatever had been demanded,
and would soon be entirely exhausted. I dis-
cussed the state of Austrian affairs with this
clever lawyer.

July 19, 1866. Head-Quarters, Gross-Seelowitz.

This is a family place of the Arch-Duke
Albrecht, and his brothers and sisters; they seem

76 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

to care very little for air or cleanliness. The style
recalls Schénhausen, but otherwise only an oil-
painting of the famous Arch-Duke Karl Ferdinand
and his wife are remarkable. ( The truce is in the
air; Benedetti has gone from Briinn to the King’s
Head-Quarters at the castle of Nikolsburg., They
are talking of renewed negotiations at ‘the out-
posts, through M. Lefebre of the French Embassy.
Reuss VII. travelled through here on his way to
Nikolsburg. On the way between Briinn and this
place we encountered two showers, which resem-
bled water-spouts, the like of which I have never
seen before. In a train column a horse was
drowned, and a man was only saved with difficulty.
We fled with the carriage into a sheepfold. The

cooling was wanted !
|

July 20, 1866. ' Head- Quarters, Schloss Eisgrub.

At night came the news that Austria had
agreed to withdraw from the Confederation, and
that an armistice was requested. I drove to the
King’s Head-Quarters at Mensdorff’s, formerly
Dietrichstien’s, castle of Nikolsburg. On the way
we found the bridges over the Thaya burned;.
the Pioneers were restoring a sunken temporary
bridge just as I came up, and in order to help me
over, a number of the men undressed at once,

Conditions of Armistice 77

in the cheeriest way now working in the water,
now showing off swimming tricks, so that both
bodies and clothes obtained a much-needed refresh-
ment. A merry humour is so easily induced in
our good people! Nikolsburg, on a dominating
cone of rock, restored in the style of the Thirty
Years’ War, will, when finished, be very habit-
able; the view is more extensive than beautiful.
Austria consents to payment of an indemnity to
us, and also to the evacuation of the frontier ;
further, to the founding of a North-German
Union, as far as the Maine, with Prussian
military supremacy ; finally, to the annexation of
Schleswig-Holstein. On our side it is proposed
to conclude a truce with Austria, to be shortly
followed by peace; then to conclude peace with
the German opponents also, reserving the partial
annexation of their territories. I saw the French
Ambassador Benedetti, and the Italian Ambassador
Count Barral, at the King’s dinner. In the
evening, late over Felsburg, with a thousand
difficulties (as we did not know the way nor the
place), to Hisgrub, the reception-rooms of which
are much like English castles. My bedroom
is in the library. Duke Wilhelm of Mecklen-

burg was here before us, and had a merry time
with his officers.

78 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

July 21,1866. Head-Quarters at Eisgrub.

Papa came here to the early breakfast, looked
round the charming English grounds, and went
with me all through the splendid deer-park, which
is stocked with the finest herds of red- and roe-
deer, and also contains wonderfully beautiful
glades of oak. Already to-day there have been
conjectures as to the conclusion of peace, im re
the establishment of a line of demarcation, and
the fulfilment of the conditions of the armistice.
And late in the night came Major Verdy, who
had been sent in the direction of Lundenburg,
where Major-General v. Podbielski was to establish
the line of demarcation with the Austrians, with
the intelligence that a fifteen days’ truce was to
come into effect at noon to-morrow. Major
Wright, Moltke’s lieutenant, was in Vienna to-
day, with a letter to the Duc de Gramont; he
was taken to the Hofburg, and thought people
were sniffing after war again. Others, indeed,
think just the contrary. The cholera is every-
where announcing itself. Hven here two men
died last night from my watch of the Grenadier
Guards (Kénigin-Hlisabeth).

Peace Proposats 79

July 22,1866. Head-Quarters, Eisgrub.

A rest-day. Beautiful ride over the innumer-
able villas and grounds of the enormously ex-
tended park, through which, sixty years ago, the
Thaya was diverted in order to make pretty
situations with lakes.

The intelligence about the demarcation is
correct. There are rumours of a fight at Presburg.
A Division was certainly sent. there (probably
Fransecky’s), to take the town by a coup de main,
before the defeated Corps which are said to be
coming down, by way of the Carpathians, from
Olmiitz, could arrive. The thing may miscarry
for us, if, as I suspect, we stumble upon a
superior force there—that would be an affair before
the armistice! It is’ said that Count Karolyi
(ambassador to Berlin), Lieutenant Field-Marshal
Count Degenfeld, and Baron Brenner are on their
way to Nikolsburg.

‘

July 23, 1866. Head-Quarters, Exsgrub.

Ride of half a mile to His Majesty at Nikols-
burg. The three gentlemen whom I mentioned
yesterday have really arrived as commissioners
from Vienna, and propose the above-mentioned

4

80 Diaries of the E mperor Frederick

terms. Austria only stipulates for the geographical
integrity of Saxony, because it is a point of
honour with the Emperor not to let his allies
suffer. Another envoy is expected from Bavaria,
to make an offensive and defensive alliance with
Munich. |

Journey to the East, 1869 SI

IT

In the summer of 1869, invitations were sent
from the Khedive of Egypt to the King, the Crown
Prince and Princess, and the Federal Chancellor
Count von Bismarck, to take part in the function
of the opening of the Suez Canal.. His Majesty
felt compelled to refuse the invitation on account
of his age, and of the fatigue of the journey.
Count Bismarck excused himself likewise on the
score of his official duties. With regard to the
invitation sent to the Crown Prince, the King
sought the advice of Count Bismarck; he had
scruples in view of the great expenses that would
be incurred by such a journey. Count Bismarck,
however, overcame the hesitation of the King,
by pointing out the good effect which a visit
of the Crown Prince to the Emperor of Austria
on the occasion of this journey must result in.

It was accordingly communicated by telegraph
to Vienna, that the Crown Prince had accepted
the invitation of the Khedive to take part in the
ceremony of inaugurating the Suez Canal, and

G

82 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

would visit the Emperor and the Imperial family
in Vienna, if agreeable to His Imperial Majesty.
Kaiser Franz Josef at once replied that it would
be a great pleasure to him to receive the visit
of the hoir to the Prussian throne.

DIARY OF THE CROWN PRINCE ON HIS
JOURNEY TO THE EAST, 1869.

After Ismail Pasha, Viceroy or Khedive of
Egypt, had visited our Court in June, 1869, with
his youngest son, and had been received with
great distinction by His Majesty, he addressed
the following letter to me on July 16 :—

‘¢ MONSEIGNEUR,
‘‘Je viens de réitérer & Votre Auguste
Pere et Souverain la priére que j’ai pris la liberté
de Lui addresser 4 Berlin. Je sais, Monseigneur,
que Sa Majesté ne peut pas accedér de Sa
personne & ma priere; mais il a eu l|’extréme
bonté de me promettre d’autoriser un des
Princes de son Auguste Famille d’assister a
l’ouverture de l’Isthme de Suez.
‘Votre Altesse a été si gracieuse & mon égard,
Elle a été si pleine de bontés que je prends la

Preliminary Discussion 83

liberté de Lui demander encore, comme une
faveur, de vouloir bien honorer l’Egypte de Sa
Présence.

“C’est un pays bien intéressant, Monseigneur,
jose le dire, le passé et l'avenir s’y trouvent
répresentés par tout ce qu'il y a de plus ancien
et de plus moderne. II mérite de fixer les regards
de Votre Altesse Royale.

“< J’espere, Monseigneur, que le Roi Votre
Auguste Pere et Souverain agréera ma priere et
autorisera ce voyage que j’appelle de tout mes
veux. Si Son Altesse Royale, Madame la
Princesse Royale, daignait accompagner Son
Auguste Epoux, alors mes veux seront comblés,
et l’Egypte pourrait témoigner & Votre Altesse
Royale combien elle Lui est reconnaissante pour
les faveurs dont Votre Altesse Royale a bien
voulu me combler. Je prie Votre Altesse Royale
de vouloir bien agréer les hommages.

“de Son dévoué
“(sioné) Ismait.
“ Kaux-Bonnes, le 16 Juillet, 1869.”

Upon my announcing the arrival of the above
despatch to the King, His Majesty replied that
he must first ascertain Count Bismarck’s wishes.

While the great autumn manceuyres of the

84 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

II. Army Corps were going on at Stargard in
Pomerania, the Chancellor arrived at the King’s
Head-Quarters, and on September 11, I received
the order to prepare for a journey to Turkey and
Egypt. I was first of all to pay an official visit
to the Imperial Court of Vienna with the object
of establishing friendly relations after the events
of 1866; next to return, at Constantinople, the
visit of the Sultan to our King at Coblentz,
1867; and lastly, to represent our Fatherland
at the opening of the Suez Canal. A visit to
Greece, as well as to Palestine and Syria, was
in addition permitted me. Since the opening of
the Canal was fixed for November 17, there was
not much time before that date to become
acquainted with these countries; for the journey
must be over before the function, in order that
I might subsequently visit Upper Egypt, and
be back with my own people by Christmas. 3
During the King’s review, which was in Hast
Prussia, the preparations for the journey were
arranged with Admiral Jachmann, who had been
summoned to Koénigsberg, the all-important point
being a squadron for my escort. With this
object, the corvette Hertha, which had just started
from Kiel to go to her station in the Pacific
Ocean, was telegraphed to make arrangements

Travelling Arrangements 85

in Plymouth for the accommodation of my person
and my suite. In addition, the corvette Elizabeth,
which had only just left the Dantzic dockyard,
and had as yet made no trial-trip, was com-
missioned for service. The corvette Arcona, as
well as H.M. yacht Grille, received orders to go
to the Mediterranean, while the gunboat Delphin,
which was stationed on the Sulina-estuary, was
ordered to the Grecian Archipelago.

It was only on September 23 that the answer
came from the Hertha, and that from Portsmouth,
because she had been obliged by contrary winds
to cross the North Sea; accordingly the pro-
jected embarkation at Brindisi could not be
thought of before October 15, and thus I parted
from my wife and children on the evening of
October 3.

My travelling-suite consisted of—

1. Prince Ludwig zu Hessen und bei Rhein.

2. Major-General von Stosch, Director of the
Department of Military Economy in the Royal
War Ministry.

3. Court-Marshal Count Eulenburg.

4, Lieut.-Colonel Count Lehndorff, Aide-de-
camp to His Majesty.

5. Captain von Jasmund

6. Captain von Schleinitz Personal Adjutants.

86 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

7. Surgeon-General and Body-Physician Dr.
Wegner.

8. Lieutenant von Zitzewitz, appointed to
my personal service, during my stay on board
ship.

On the 4th I went to Baden-Baden, to say
good-bye to my parents, and brothers and sisters.
Here I saw my cousin, Karl von Hohenzollern,
Prince of Roumania, for the first time since the
beginning of his reign. A few days after, he was
betrothed to Princess Elizabeth of Wied, whom
in November he brought home as his wife. ©

The further journey was undertaken by way
of Munich, without halting there, and on Oc-
tober 6 I crossed the Austrian frontier, received
by Lieut. Field-Marshal Count Huyn, Major and
Emperor’s Aide-de-camp von Groller, Captain
Count Wallis of the Prince Friedrich Karl
Hussars, and a Guard of Honour.

Guards of Honour greeted me at many stations,
as well as in Vienna itself, where Kaiser Franz
Joseph in Prussian uniform was waiting for me
on the platform,* and led me from thence to the

* According to the account in the Debatte, the Kaiser said on greeting
the Crown Prince, “ You are heartily welcome” (Seien Sie mir herzlich
gegriisst) ; on which the Crown Prince answered, “,A long-cherished wish

is now fulfilled, inasmuch as I respectfully greet your Majesty upon
Austrian soil.”

Visit to Vienna De * ¢,

Castle. Here, to my complete surprise, I was
greeted by the beautiful Empress Elizabeth, whom
I believed to be still in Ischl, and their two
Majesties then conducted me to the magnificent
rooms prepared for me.

I spent October 7 and 8 in Vienna, the first
day being taken up with visits, followed by a
dinner and thédtre paré. On the next day I
received the Generals and Staff-officers from
the garrison, the Diplomatic Body, and some of
the Ministers. The remaining free time I used
to see the new buildings, besides the Arsenal,
the Belvedere, the Votiv-Kirche, and the grave
of my unfortunate friend, Arch-Duke Max, the
Emperor of Mexico. A gala-dinner, at which all
the Ministers as well as the Chief-Biirgermeister
of Vienna appeared, and which was again followed
by a performance at the theatre, concluded my
visit.

I look back with pleasure to the days I spent
in Vienna, for they recognized there the good
intentions that prompted my visit, were on that
account friendly and courteous to me, and, in short, °
failed in no external marks of honour. After the
events of 1866, it could not be easy for any
Austrian to see the arrival of a representative
of our King, such as I was, but no one allowed

88 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

me to perceive this only too comprehensible feel-
ing. The Kaiser was unchanged in his manner
towards me, and any one who knows him as well
as I, could not have a moment’s doubt that he
received me with genuine warmth.

The Arch-Dukes greeted me with no less friend-
liness than the Kaiser, and all, according to our
closer or more distant acquaintance, exchanged
with me words of old friendship, which were not
altered by 1866.*

It was no less a surprise to me, and as I
thought to the Viennese also, that during my

* In his book, “ The Founding of the German Empire” (Die Begriin-
dung des Deutschen Reichs), pp. 112, et seg., Heinrich von Sybel further
tells us that Arch-Duke Albrecht asserted, as an expert, to the Crown
Prince, that he (the Crown Prince) had done his duty as a soldier, and
that every one must recognize this. The Liberal minister Giskra
expressed his satisfaction at seeing in this visit the precursor of a signifi-
cant rapprochement ; the results of the mission would make themselves
felt gradually, Count Beust, too, thought no more of revenge, but took
what was past as past. In fact, Beust protested vigorously against
Bismarck’s accusation, that he influenced the press in a direction inimical
to the interests of Prussia, adding the remark that, with regard to the
South German Question, he was by no means opposed to its development.
As Austrian Minister, however, his first duty was to watch over the
welfare of the Austrian Crown lands, and hence he was obliged to keep
a sharp eye upon any dénouement of the South German Question that could
endanger this welfare. With this statement, as well as with the condition
of affairs in general, corresponds the fact, that both at this time in Vienna,
and later in Egypt, Kaiser Franz Joseph had no political talk with the
Crown Prince. Giskra, however, had correctly summed up the attitude
of this monarch in regard to the future. A first pregnant step towards
a reconciliation between the former antagonists had been taken, hereby
opening a new outlook for the maintenance of peace in Europe.

Venice 89

stay in Vienna the rumour suddenly arose, and
was afterwards confirmed by the Kaiser and
Count Beust, that the former was going to Suez
for the ceremonial Inauguration of the Canal.

Vienna is so altered by the demolition of the
old walls, that one can hardly find one’s way
about in the new quarters; these are so exactly
planned after the Parisian Boulevards, that they
seem to have changed places with them. The
new Opera House is in particular an ornament
of the highest rank to Vienna.

The further journey, in the first place by the
Semmering-Bahn on October 9, afforded splendid
views of the scenery, which were the more agree-
able inasmuch as I had last traversed these pein
in 1862, on a dull December day.

After parting with the Austrian functionaries,
who from General to the lowest servant had
been full of attention for me, we crossed the
Italian frontier at night, and with sunrise Venice
rose from the lagoons. ' Here nothing is
altered—in contrast to Vienna, which, with its
razed walls and magnificent new buildings, has
become quite another city.

Here the presence of Count Usedom afforded
me especial pleasure; I went round with him
daily, and devoted myself to all that was worth

90 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

seeing. Only the Palazzo Morosini was new to
me; it still stands unaltered in its brilliant sur-
roundings, and is rich in memories of the famous
General of the Republic, Morosini. In addition,
the Church of Santa Maria ai Miracoli, with its
romantic charm, was previously unknown to me.

I was obliged to accept a theatrical perform-
ance in San Carlo, which was lit in my honour
al giorno, and was filled with an elegant audience ;
otherwise I preserved my incognito, and this led
to entertaining scenes, since the very curious
Venetian public (especially of an evening, when
the music was playing on the illuminated piazzetta)
took Count Lehndorff and then Count Eulenburg
for me, surrounded them, and accompanied them
with ‘‘ Hvvivas,’”’ while I was lost in the crowd, and
looked on at the sight.

The Sindaco was determined to make use of
my presence, to honour in my person the King’s
representative; for, said he, since Venice had
féted the Empress Hugénie on account of Sol-
ferino, it was the duty of the city to do the same
on account of ‘“‘Sadowa” (as Kéniggritz is always
called outside our own country) !

Ravenna, which I visited on continuing my
journey, is richer than I could have conceived
possible in its undamaged relics of Byzantine

Ravenna QI

buildings, from the fifth and sixth centuries. Here
one fully understands this style for the first
time.

Bari, October 16, 1869.

To-morrow we embark, and are bound first of
all for Corfu, in the hope that H.M. corvette
Hertha will pick us up there on the 19th.

My fifth visit to Italy! I look back with
delight to one of the most beautiful autumn weeks
that can be granted to any traveller. After the
dull skies of Vienna, the weather altered in Venice,
so that no cloud was to be seen, and moonlight
and starry nights succeeded to the brightest,
warmest sunshine.

Corfu, October 18, 1869.

At the end of our visit to the wonderful anti-
quities of Ravenna, which took me back to the
times of the Christian Art of the fourth and fifth
centuries, and which are unequalled in the colours
of their mosaics, and the purity of style of their
basilicas, we took the train to Bari. The railway
nearly always follows close to the sea-shore, and
the journey, especially in the neighbourhood of

92 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the miniature state of San Marino, as also at Pesaro
(Rossini’s birthplace), was particularly charming.
In Bari we again met with an enthusiastic
reception, reminding me of my welcome in Upper
Italy, in 1868. The Russians venerate 8. Nicholas
of this place, as their patron.
On the 17th we left Brindisi on board an
Italian passenger-steamer, and reached the much
be-praised island on the morning of my thirty-
eighth birthday. Jasmund and Schleinitz had been
unable to resist the rocking of the vessel, which,
indeed, for some time was horrible. Unfortu-
nately, rain came on; and we could only get an
approximate idea of the charms of Corfu when,
towards evening, the sky cleared up. The place
itself, which lies in a picturesque bay, is sur-
rounded on all sides by high rocky mountains,
with charming valleys clothed with olive-woods.
The town has no definite character; the hotels
and public buildings still show many signs of
English comforts, particularly with regard to their
furnishing ; in other respects, all that is English
has quickly vanished, to the great sorrow of the
inhabitants. The fortifications that had been
brought from England at enormous cost were all
blown up when the island was handed over to
Greece, so that only the old castles from the

Brindist to Corinth 93

Genoese-Venetian period of the Middle Ages
remained standing.

The Greek population, who come into the
town from the country round, are strikingly
beautiful in face and figure, and wear with much
natural grace the well-known tasteful costume
of the Albanian people—one of the most beautiful
and picturesque in Europe.

Hunting-weapons, a beautiful bronze frame of
the period of Frederick I., along with a riding-
whip, flowers, and cakes with candles, all packed
up by my wife’s care for to-day, come as a greeting
from home, and from my dear ones, and most
agreeably soften the pain of separation.

On the 19th, we hired the little Austrian-Lloyd
steamer, the Lario, to take us as quickly as possible
to the Bay of Lepanto, and thence to Corinth, so
as to save the Hertha the détour by Corfu. The
commander of the Hertha in effect had announced
that he would reach Corfu on the 20th at
earliest, and as we wanted to lose none of our time
in Athens, we proposed to save the two days it
would take him to get round the Peloponnesus, by
making the straight journey across Corinth.

Hardly were we two hours under way, and
rolling about as never before, in sight of the
beautiful Albanian coast in brightest sunshine,

94 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

when a corvette came into view. After looking
for some time, my brother-in-law Louis was the
first to discover that it carried the North-German
standard; it was the longed-for and expected
Hertha. As our rocking little Lloyd-pirate carried
no sort of signalling-filags, we had to steer straight
for the unsuspecting Hertha, and endeavour to
make ourselves known by every form of arm-
telegraphy. Our attempts at last drew the
attention of the sailors to us, and we were able
to make ourselves understood. As regarded board-
ing her, however, we were dissuaded by Captain
Kohler, who advised us on the contrary for the
sake of gaining time, and still more on account
of the favourable weather, to remain on our
nutshell, and keep to our arrangements for the
rest of the voyage. The Hertha profited, inasmuch
as she escaped the further voyage to Corfu.

And now began one of the strangest of sea-
voyages. Although we rolled; about in every
direction, no one felt ill, or even uncomfortable.
Indeed, we leaned over the edge for hours,
rejoicing in the fine panorama that unfolded
before us, first in the rays of the setting sun,
then in the twilight, and lastly, in the clearest
silvery light of the beams of the full moon.

Never before have I experienced such pleasure

First Impressions of Greece 95

at sea, enhanced by the marvellously mild air,
like that of an Oriental dream. So we fared past
the sharp rocky walls of Ithaca and Cephalonia,
at whose names the Odyssey, with all the child-
hood’s memories that link themselves with the
glamour of these ancient tales, rose vividly before
my mind. And if we were not yet on classical
ground, the rocking element was well calculated,
by the environment of its shores, to excite our
soul and emotions powerfully. At length the
waves went down, as, with Patras, we reached
the proper entrance to the Bay of Corinth.

Delphi and Missolungi are the first spots that
meet one’s eye. Yet here the name is every-
thing, for one sails uninterruptedly between the
beautiful, but quite uninhabited, and strangely
overgrown rocky mountains of the Morea and
Rumelia. The eye can seldom detect even a
wretched village or a sailing-boat.

The sunrise which we witnessed to-day must
be lived through, in order to realize what we
felt as we saw the highest peaks of Greece glow
in the rosy dawn, and felt we were approaching
the mighty rock of Acro-Corinth.

In an historic land, in which the scanty vegeta-
tion of the soil, and the want of all culture (once
so rich) almost saddens one, the eternally new

96 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

and beautiful impressions of the sunrise and sun-
set, the silver light of the full moon, supply the
want, and, like faithful travelling companions,
make good that which is missing. Most keenly
did we feel the want of everything that the
traveller’s eye seeks upon classical ground, when,
at midday, we landed at Corinth. Here almost
nothing is left—not a tree, not a vestige of build-
ing! Only the seven columns of a temple, round
which picturesquely-clad peasants were working
with their horses, indicated that here there had
once been a sacred hall, whilst nothing but the
strangely tall and picturesque cone of rock, on
which the town is throned, now stands out in
the eternally-smiling blue ether as a landmark
of long-vanished days. What the hand of man
once accomplished here of astonishing value, the
hand of man has again destroyed, and what
remained over has been ruined by earthquakes.

The new site, although it bears the famous
name of Corinth, can hardly claim the designation
of ‘‘ village ’” ; some excuse for so much disillusion
is, however, provided in the variety of the rich
and picturesque national costume, which is proudly
worn by a marvellously fine race.

In forty minutes we had traversed the Peninsula
of Corinth, and, with greetings from the Prussian

Arrival at Athens 97

gunboat Delphin, and from Dr. Kohler, legal
adviser to the Embassy, and a distinguished
archeologist, as well as from the Greek escort
who came to receive us, we went on board our
ship at Kalamaki, and made across the Bay of
Aigina for the Pireus. Aigina, Megara, and
Salamis passed before our eyes, but as proud
names only,—otherwise the same mountain forms
we had seen early in the morning, the same lack
of inhabitants and buildings. Unfortunately it
was already dark when we neared the Pireus,
for night falls suddenly here with the sunset, only
the lights and illuminations from the other ships
anchored in the harbour showing us that we had
almost reached our goal.

The King received me here with his wonted
cordiality and friendship, in the midst of an
enthusiastic crowd, who had collected round a
number of triumphal arches, adorned with Greek
inscriptions relating to the events of 1866. In
ten minutes the railway took us into an Athens
illuminated with Bengal lights, where all were
on their feet, and a constant ‘‘ [ttah’’ was heard.
All the ministers, dignitaries, and officers had
gathered at the station to meet me.

The Queen, in all the brilliancy of unaltered
youth and graciousness, received us in the most

H

98 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

amiable manner, in the well-lighted, magnificently
appointed, high, and spacious halls of the Palace,
which resembles the Kénigsbau at Munich. The
Acropolis looked down with high dignity in the
light of the full moon upon the gay traffic of the
modern town below, and wove its stupendous
glamour around us; for this aspect is of all the
most imposing, in that the columns still standing
of the Propylea, the Parthenon, and the Erech-
theum are seen clear and transparent, while the
rubble-heaps, on the contrary, are obliterated.
That proud Acropolis in the moonlight must have
given much the same impression as of old, in the
flower of its prosperity.

Athens, October 22, 1869.

The perfect moonlight night of which I wrote
last, lent to the Acropolis the aspect of a still
uninjured structure from the old Greek world; ‘
even by daylight, however, the great height of
the ruins prevented one from seeing the full extent
of the damage. It is only on ascending the rocky q
hill, and climbing the steps that lead to the —
Propylea, that the beholder is deeply grieved
at sight of the horrid heaps of ruin, strewn by
human violence in the place of the finest art-

Athens 99

creations of the world. And yet, despite long
centuries of destruction, the Propylea, Par-
thenon, and Erechtheum still convey such wealth
of noblest grandeur, such unsurpassable beauty of
form, that I could not gaze my fill of the ruins.
The Propylea are much smaller than I had
imagined; the Parthenon, on the contrary, is
larger, and reminded me of the Temple at
Pestum; no temple ruins present such splendid
reliefs as those which stand here, notwithstanding
the thefts of the archeologists.

The Erechtheum worked the same charm upon
me, with its caryatids still partly standing in
their original place; while its unique ornaments,
in their perfect proportions and splendid execu-
tion, have been the types of pure architecture
from all antiquity. Here man’s hand has, indeed,
brought perfection into being; here the spectator
feels what vast gaps he needs to fill in his lay-
man’s education in art. The simplest description
of what here meets the eye must seem overdrawn ;
and, on the other hand, no heights of speech could
convey the real impression of the magnificent as
one here finds it. The sea of rubble, with which
the ground is covered, conceals an incredible
wealth of beautiful art-forms, many bearing in-
scriptions. Hach stroke of the spade brings new

100 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

relics to the light ; the inhabitants, unfortunately,
show very little interest in the excavations, and
when foreigners are willing to undertake the work,
the export duty upon the treasures discovered is
prohibitive.

And yet I must admit that this regulation is
fully justified. England, France, and Bavaria
despoiled the Acropolis some forty years ago, by
plundering whatever is finest in their museums,
with little less effect than did the rude peoples
of antiquity by their gross destruction. King
Louis I. of Bavaria and Lord Elgin did indeed
endeavour to replace what they carried off by
copies, or facsimiles in different materials, and
yet this only seems to have increased the evil,
since new patches upon the crown of ancient
art offend the eye unpardonably.

The Acropolis Hill is surrounded by several
magnificent amphitheatres, among them that of
Dionysus, discovered and excavated some eight
years ago by Curtius and Strack. This theatre is
of peculiar interest, inasmuch as a great part of
the marble seating is not merely intact, but is
even inscribed with the names of the seat-holders.

To-day I am constantly thinking of my dear
tutor Curtius! It was his brilliant disquisition
upon the Acropolis, more than twenty-five years

Athens” 3 % ey ty t) aeee

ago, in the Wissenschaftlichen ae that first
attracted the eyes of my parents to him, and
led to his appointment as my tutor.

As to the other antiquities of Athens, there
remains, firstly, the Temple of Theseus at the foot
of the Acropolis, which is in perfect preservation ;
next, the colossal dozen pillars of a Temple of
Jupiter ; then the charming memorial to Lysicrates
(familiar to us all, since it stands as the cornice
to the open pavilion of Glienicke on the long
bridge); and lastly, the Tower of the Four Winds.

All the famous parts of Athens are gone, yet
one can trace with certainty the seats of the
Assemblies of the Areopagus, where once Paul
preached; and the Pnyx, at whose rostrum
Demosthenes gave his powerful discourses. _

The bald mountains of the neighbourhood, and
more particularly Hymettus, are picturesque in
their shapes, but present a melancholy aspect on
account of their total lack of green vegetation.
In the prime of the Gréek age this was quite
different; but when attempts are made in the
present day to cultivate the soil, which in itself
is inexhaustibly fertile, they all fail on account
of the inhabitants. These picturesque and well-
grown people, whose proportions are fine as a
statue, will not take the trouble to plant young

102: _ Diaries of: the Emperor Frederick

live nies for the sakes of future harvests, but
content themselves with using what is to hand,
because it is less trouble to live from day to day
than be at the pains of providing for the future.
They are peculiarly apt in external and gracious
marks of respect.

The entire external appointments of the Court
are very dignified, and coupled with a judicious
splendour. The personnel for the most part wear
the picturesque national costume; the military
uniform is very like the Danish, only somewhat
Franco-Italian. The Infantry at first reminded
me involuntarily of the Danish Infantry in the
campaign of 1864.

Near the Royal Palace is a shady garden that
Queen Amelia has laboriously contrived out of
the waste arable land, and which afforded us
grateful refreshment in the fierce heat; a late
Roman mosaic of 100 feet in length, which was —
discovered in excavating, forms the principal
ornament of the place. Lions and monkeys en-
tertain the public, who are admitted there every
afternoon. An olive wood, situated some half-
mile* beyond the town, is otherwise the only
shade in the whole neighbourhood.

* The German mile = about 64 English miles,—Tr.

In Stambul 103

Constantinople, October 25, 1869.

And so we are really in Stambil, guests of
the commander of the Faithful, and personally
received by him, as only high princely guests
are honoured after European fashion; and on
Asiatic soil, for the Beylerbey Palace assigned to
me lies on the Asiatic side.

One must give up all attempt at description
on reaching the Bosphorus, seeing the Golden
Horn, and making caique-journeys in the radiant
sunshine and silver moonlight. For, little as
one’s highly strained expectation is gratified in
the first moment, so much the more powerful is
the impression, when one gazes at the lines of
towns and estates that stretch for miles along
both shores of the sea, and give to Constantinople
its character of a totally unique city.

Here again we have been favoured by quite
exceptional weather. The clouds that threatened
several times dispersed again, to show us every-
thing the eye can desire. After a last look at the
Acropolis of Athens, whose impress is indelibly
stamped upon me, we made an incredibly quick
voyage, in a perfectly calm sea, on board the
Hertha, from midday of the 22nd to the morn-
ing of the 23rd October, when we reached the

104 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Dardanelles. We were, however, little edified by
the contemplation of these Straits, for here on the
flat shores there is nothing at all to see; this
applies more especially to Troy, the name which
naturally calls up the highest expectations from
one’s memories of early youth,—which, however,
find no realization.

The Sultan’s Master of the Horse, Raouf Pasha,
who proffered us one of the imperial yachts, as
well as the Governor of the Province, with Count
Keyserlingk, received me here, whereupon we
were very agreeably surprised by permission to
enter the Bosphorus on board the Hertha. As it
turned out later, we owed this to the fact that I,
as His Majesty’s representative, making a return
visit for the Sultan’s journey to Coblentz, was
entitled to the highest consideration; other-
wise, according to treaty, no corvettes could pass
the Danube, since war-ships are not allowed in
the Bosphorus. So we went on past Gallipoli
into the Sea of Marmora, where a fresh north-
east breeze was blowing.

Karly on the 24th we arrived in sight of
Constantinople, at the Princes’ Island, but could
not enter the Bosphorus before 1 o’clock, partly
because we had to reckon that the thick fog
that unfortunately concealed everything on this

The Bosphorus 105

morning would last till then, but also because the
Sultan was to receive me first at that hour in
the palace destined for my dwelling.

A very edifying and brief Service took place
on the gun-deck; immediately after its con-
clusion, a large steamer crammed with Germans
arrived, who greeted me enthusiastically, and gave
escort. We accordingly boarded the imperial
yacht, and entered Stambil, escorted by the
Hertha, Grille, and Delphin. The fog slowly
lifted, but the air was cold, and we agreed among
ourselves that we had really expected more from
the approach.

Passing the old Serai point, the magnificent
panorama unrolled before us in greater and
greater splendour at every splash of the waves,
while the guns saluted from all sides, and
the shouts of the men on the rigging was
audible. Thus we passed the Sultan’s residence,
** Dolmabagdsche,”’ leaving the Golden Horn to our
left, and steered toward ‘the Beylerbey Palace
built by the late Sultan, and kept up in the
Renaissance-Corinthian style. Directly we had
anchored, the Grand-Vizier, Ali Pasha, and the
Turkish Ambassador to Berlin, Aristarchi Bey,
came on board to greet me, and conduct me in
a gilded caique to the steps of the aforesaid palace.

106 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Here stood the Sultan in the open air, in
an embroidered uniform, adorned with the Order
of the Black Eagle, surrounded by the picturesque
and rainbow-garbed officers of his body-guard,
who are selected from among the many popula-
tions that own his sway. <A band of music
played the Borussia of Spontini, and a company
of Infantry was posted as a Guard of Honour. The
Sultan gave me his hand, and we passed silently
through the rows of bowing officials, all making
the well-known salaam, into the interior of the
palace.

Beylerbey is constructed with an indescribable
profusion of space, colour, and costly ornament ;
every conceivable manner is employed here, so
that the eye nowhere finds a resting-point, but
sees before it a constant dazzle of many-coloured
splendour. In one of the countless saloons, and
in front of the porcelain portrait-vase presented
by our King to the Sultan, the latter took his
place, and invited Louis and myself to seat our-
selves, while the Grand-Vizier acted as inter-
preter. During his inquiries after my parents,
the Sultan mentioned his visit to Coblentz with
evident pleasure, and I heard many times that
he particularly liked to think of that reception.

After the Sultan had left us, with the same

Constantinople 107

formalities with which we had been received, he
got into a charming caique, decorated with
gilding, and served by two oarsmen; opposite to
him sat two Adjutants, who remained immovable,
bowed, and with crossed arms, their eyes cast
down.

Soon after we went to Dolmabagdsche (in Ger-
man something like ‘‘ cabbage-leaf’’) to pay our re-
spects to the Sultan. The sun had now penetrated
through the mists in full splendour, so that we
could at last admire the picturesque aspect of
the shores and cities of the Bosphorus in their
splendid amphitheatre-like succession.

The Grand-Signior’s residence is quite European
in its ¢enue, and consists in a series of palaces of
different sizes, which are built in a sort of Louis
XIV. style, with many-pillared halls, but with
no trace of Oriental magnificence. Within, the
halls, as in Beylerbey, are extraordinarily spacious,
and magnificent of their kind. Here the order
of the reception was repeated; the Sultan stood
at the threshold of the palace when we left the
caique.

We used the rest of the daylight to make
excursions in a little steamer on the sweet Asiatic
waters; then came a dinner, served French-
fashion, illuminated by hundreds of wax-lights in

108 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

every room, after which the imperial stables
belonging to Beylerbey were shown us by gas-
light. ‘The internal arrangements are so wonder-
fully contrived with the application of all the
latest Anglo-French inventions, that one could
easily live there one’s self. The moon now shone
out in a cloudless sky; well-conducted Huropean
music was heard; while we wandered in the air
on the terraces, and admired the Kiosk, with its
many stories, shining in the light of tapers.

At length a caique-ride in the moonlight brought
the close of this richly occupied day, which had
seemed to me like an Oriental dream !

Constantinople, October 26 to 29, 1869.

I have now explored Constantinople on every
side, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot,
but more especially in the twelve-oared caique,
and favoured throughout by magnificent weather.
My constant companion was the very learned,
clever, and meritorious scholar, Dr. G. Busch,
Dragoman to our Embassy, who is a master of
the Turkish language, and whose local knowledge
is comprehensive.

To the man who is permitted to enjoy the
splendours presented by the Bosphorus in peace

Constantinople 109

and tranquillity, the view from Constantinople,
from the entrance at the Serai point to the
opening into the Black Sea is one of the most
magnificent pictures to be found upon this earth.

From without, the great Mosques only present
the aspect of wide whitewashed buildings, rich
in cupolas; their slender minarets, however, are
exceedingly pretty, and give the chief charac-
teristic of these Oriental cities. Aja Sofia still
presents internally the appearance of a splendid
Christian basilica, along with an inconceivable
wealth of costly marble, and mosaics to any
extent, On entering, I felt myself overwhelmed
by this magnificent wonder of architecture.

The Mohammedan Mosques have nothing pecu-
liar inside, and seem to be a mixture of the Oriental
and European rococo-styles. Everywhere in the
entrance halls are little saloons with comfortable
cushions, and invitation is not lacking to make
one’s self comfortable there. The invariably
latticed upper-galleries, designed for the exclusive
use of the Sultan, are similarly fitted. I assisted
in comfort from one such, at the exegetical dis-
course of an Ulema; clad in white, his feet cross-
wise on a divan, and a little marqueterie-table in
front of him, he spoke quite naturally and without
emphasis to his hearers. The elder among them,

110 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

who were all attired in the old Turkish fashion,
listened devoutly; the modern youths, on the
contrary, looked curiously at each other.

The remains of the old Sultans’ residence,
situated on the beautiful Serai point, with its
wealth of cypresses, present a quantity of histori-
cally interesting fragments of walls.

A single kiosk among the many here has pre-
served the pure and charming Oriental taste, even
to its least details; and as it affords a splendid
view over the Bosphorus, the Islands of the
Princes, and the Sea of Marmora, this otherwise
little-regarded spot of earth has made a deep
impressionon me. The kiosk in which the Sultans
formerly gave audience to the foreign envoys is
interesting; but one must not expect anything
magnificent, for it contains nothing but a small
dark saloon, in one corner of which, exactly
opposite the visitor, is an old covered divan,
adorned with a metal gilded baldachin, all set
with turquoises and other precious stones: that
is all. Nor do the now empty courts present
anything remarkable, while they remind one
forcibly of the European cloisters.

In considering the landscape of the Bos-
phorus, the eye everywhere falls upon what seem
to be enormous palaces; a nearer inspection,

Constantinople III

however, invariably reveals them to be barracks,
which, from their great extent and strikingly
beautiful situation, are a real ornament to the
neighbourhood. Nor are the actual residences
of the aristocracy less effective. Along with these
are the imperial country-houses, called Kiosks,

_ whose name is legion.

The Imperial Stables are very well kept, and
have recently been thoroughly rebuilt. The
coach-houses contain some ancient gilded coaches,
otherwise only European carriages.

As regards the troops, I saw twelve Battalions,
one Cavalry regiment, and two Artillery regiments.
The uniform, which was formerly European, has
during the reign of the present Sultan been
imitated from that of the French Zouaves. These,
again, are known to have borrowed their uniform
from the old Turkish pattern. The result is
strikingly beautiful, and looks very martial; the
artillery, as regards arms, material, and regula-
tions, is remarkably like our own. The Cavalry
garrisoned here are drawn from the much-discussed,
exiled Russian Tcherkesses, who have retained
their national costume.

During a four-hour ride all round Constanti-
nople, we came upon the old Byzantine city-walls,
which are still in preservation, along with the

112 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

breech through which the Turks forced their
entrance under Mahomet II. in the conquest of
1453, when the Emperor Constantine IX. fell.
The way led past the great cemetery. Later, we
came upon sundry quarters of the city, rigidly
separated from each other according to their
creeds, in which it was quite apparent how thinly
populated were the Mohammedan, in comparison
with the Christian and Jewish quarters.

The palaces of the Foreign Embassies make
a striking effect, while several Legations from
smaller states have recently established them-
selves also in pretty buildings.

I received the Corps Diplomatique officially,
and thus made the acquaintance of the amiable
English Ambassador, Mr. Elliot; the Russian
General Ignatieff was already known to me from
former years. ‘The Persian Ambassador was so
captivated by the Prussians that he sent me a
costly Persian carpet on the day after the Recep-
tion, for which I had of course at once to make
him a return present; and he then invested the
officer who took it, and the midshipman from
the Hertha who accompanied him, with Persian
orders.

Yesterday the Emperor of Austria arrived from
Varna; the Hertha was the first ship that saluted

Constantinople 113

him. Immediately after the salute of the.Hertha
came the thunder of the land-batteries, and of
the ships lying in the Bosphorus. When, with
Louis, I visited the Kaiser, he expressed himself
with much satisfaction as to his first impressions.

As the Sultan allotted him the state-rooms
in the Dolmabagdsche for his abode, the former
himself withdrew into the Seraglio. Here, accord-
ingly, the Grand-Signior received me for the
farewell visit.

The day before yesterday the Sultan drove
with us and with Prince Amadeo of Italy to a
kiosk, situated high above the Bosphorus, with
a glorious view. I was with him and Raouf
Pasha, his Master of Horse, in a carriage, and
the conversation flowed cheerily; then we got
on our horses, and rode, seated on over-richly
decorated velvet housings, through new scenes to
another kiosk, for a breakfast in which all my
suite participated; then we again took horse;
till we finally parted from the Sultan in the
charming valley of the ‘‘Sweet Waters of
Kiurope.’’ Here we found richly decorated
caiques waiting for us, which we boarded, to
traverse the entire Golden Horn, favoured by
the most beautiful evening sunshine. Steamers,
caiques, war-ships, and traders of all kinds were

I

114 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

crossing to and fro, decked with the gayest
fashions of the Hast, and manned most pic-
turesquely. On the whole, it must be said that
the dense population in these countries presents
a cheerful aspect, because even where the national
costume does not predominate, the red head-
coverings, known as the ‘‘tarbiéish”’ or fez, which
are worn by all the Faithful, suffice to bring
variety into the crowds of people, while with us
nothing but black hats or dark caps are en évidence.

The Sultan’s Friday ride to the Mosques
to-day was exceptionally charming; because on
this occasion the mass of spectators, apart from
the above-mentioned gay crowd, was augmented
by a large number of women, who, clad in flaring
colours, and wrapt in quite thin veils, had taken
up their station under the old plane trees, exactly
opposite the windows allotted to us as spectators.
The Sultan’s son, Izzedin-Effendi, who has grown
a great deal since 1867, stood at the head of his
regiment, which formed the Guard of Honour
for to-day’s function! Apparently a new custom
in consequence of the Grand-Signior’s visit to
HKurope! ‘The Grand-Signior himself wore un-
dress uniform, over which was a kind of long
paletot, rode a mare, and replied to none of the
greetings made to him, this being the etiquette.

Scutare 115

Only when he perceived the Emperor of Austria
and myself at the window did he greet us curtly,
in military fashion.

Yesterday I visited the barracks at Scutari,
where I was able to acquaint myself thoroughly
with the clothing and provisioning, and was
astonished to find that a kind of cherry soup,
with “ pillaw,” containing a great deal of sugar,
was given as the principal meal. Sixty men slept
in one place, which is fitted round with a wooden
shelf, on which man by man arranges himself with
his blanket and mattress: a grey woollen cloak
was worn at the upper edge of the knapsack, and
this also served as the dress in Quarters. The
married men could not take their families into
barracks, and were only permitted to visit them
occasionally.

Not the least part of my pleasure in my stay
at Stambil was owing to the way in which
our thoughtful and highly cultivated Premier
Dragoman, Dr. Busch, knew how to conduct
us. He speaks Turkish quite fluently, having
originally learned it only for the sake of his
scientific studies, and is now the life of the
Embassy. The whole conduct of business de-
pends, as is known, exclusively upon the relations
of the Dragoman with the Grand-Vizier, to whom

116 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the former repairs as much and as often as the
ambassadors in Europe to the Foreign Ministers.
Consequently everything depends on the per-
sonality of the interpreter, who, if he be a cultured
European, can certainly make greater claim to
reliability than if one has to trust to the natives,
as was formerly the case. Busch was extra-
ordinarily active over the Jerusalem expedition,
and also took the lead as regards all my goings
and comings, since he is well acquainted with
city, country, and people.

Among the Turkish officials and officers I met
countrymen who left the Prussian military ser-
vice many years ago for that of the Porte, and
have notably been of great use to the artillery.

Aristarchi-Bey, the amiable Ambassador from
the Porte to our own Court, accompanied us
daily, and always occupied himself to the utmost
in making himself useful.

Each time I crossed the threshold of my
palace, I found a Guard of Honour, with a band
of music sixty strong, who struck up, Heil
Dir, ete.

Our Evangelico-German institutions are small,
but well conducted; the Hospital, managed by
-the Kaiserswerth Sisters, is self-supporting, and
very well organized by the Superior.

Turkish Cuzsine 117

The Chapel, which stands under the wing of
our Embassy, is not large, and is very simple.
An Altar Bible was presented to it by the late
King. The present minister, Herr Hulsen, was
formerly Divisions-Prediger in Berlin. The school
is very full, and Greek and Armenian children are
educated there along with the Germans. Among
our countrymen who were presented to me here,
I found many from Coblentz. An Armenian
sect, which long since became evangelical, and
is directed by a ‘‘ Vekil’’ and Superintendent
who were a long time in America, and speak
English, makes use of our church for its
Services.

Turkish dishes were freely mixed with the other-
wise entirely French cuisine. Mostly, however,
they seemed to me to be too sweet, as well as
too fat. On the other hand, I enjoyed the Turkish
coffee, the ‘‘pillaw,’’ and the roast collops of
mutton called ‘‘clebab.” It goes without saying
that we smoked industriously, since one cannot
pay a visit, nor even enter the barracks, without
at once being invited to sit down, to drink coffee,
and to smoke. At my own house, too, when the
Kmperor of Austria came to visit me, the Turkish
servants at once appeared with the paraphernalia
for smoking, and everything pertaining, so that

118 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

we at any rate flavoured our discourse, which,
as in Vienna, was kept away from politics.

On Board H.M. Corvette “‘ Hertha” off Con-
stantinople, October 29, 1869.

We have just weighed anchor, and seen
- Stambil vanish quickly in the evening mists;
the weather seems to be turning to rain, as
if it had kept fine until our departure for Jeru-
salem, All the forcible impressions I have re-
ceived here are chasing through my brain, and
I think with grateful recollections of the splendid
and abundant enjoyment which we have had
here.

The Sultan gave each one of us the impression
that he was pleased with our visit. The initiated
had seldom seen him so contented and in such
persistent good temper as in the hours in which
he held intercourse with us; and, after all, that
is saying something, when one reflects on the
difficulties of conversation with him through the
medium of an interpreter only. He has ‘deco-
rated all the gentlemen of my Swite, as well as
the superior naval officers, and even my valet;
and has done the same for all the personnel of
the Embassy, so that Keyserlingk is making his
début with the Grand Cordon.

oe = eg

Negotiations between Sultan and King 119

I am curious to see what comes out of the
impulse to progress in the European sense, in
Turkey, to which even the Sultan is not opposed.

I am rejoiced that I have succeeded in ful-
filling the wishes of our King, by obtaining from
the Sultan a site in Jerusalem, that once belonged
to the Order of St. John, as a gift for evangelical
objects. The Grand-Vizier was much surprised
when I proposed this to him, as it had till then
been kept very dark; but thanks to his and the
Sultan’s willingness to do a kindness to our King,
and also to the exertions of Dr. Busch, the affair
came off. We managed, during the five days
of my stay in Constantinople, to bring the neces-
sary negotiations to an end. We succeeded in
getting telegraphic orders sent off to the Pasha
of Jerusalem, in re direct negotiations with our
Consul there, and finally Ali Pasha drew up
in my palace a sort of ‘“‘jirman,’”’ by which I
was confirmed in the transfer of the aforesaid
bit of ground. :

Aboard H.M. Corvette “Hertha” between Rhodes
and the Coast of Palestine, October 30 to No-
vember 1, 1869.

We have already been floating three days
upon the high seas, sometimes delayed by the

120 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

south-east wind, as we are steering right in the
wind’s eye, and yet, till now at any rate, unbe-
rufen, in no wise the worse. ‘To-day the sea
is actually calm, which seems to us wonderful,
and we hope that it will remain the same till
our anticipated landing in Jaffa at daybreak on
the 3rd, for with west or north wind the landing
on this harbourless coast is impracticable.

Yesterday we surveyed the entire length of
Rhodes, passing for hours along the picturesque
and jagged island, but unfortunately making the
harbour at nightfall only, so that we could form
no clear picture of that once important place,
now reduced to a heap of ruins by earthquakes
and powder explosions. Since the weather was
favourable we were advised to push on imme-
diately; and accordingly we sailed, seeing the
cypress coasts only in the far distance, towards
the Promised Land,—bathed in a real July heat,
that makes writing particularly difficult.

Our arrangements on board are excellent, and
every one is cheerful and in good spirits. My
cabin, ‘‘ No. 8,” is convenient, although I have
the screw as my immediate neighbour. On the
other side of it are the general saloon and the
library. My brother-in-law Louis has the cabin
next the dining-saloon, on the starboard side.

Arrival at Jerusalem 121

Count Eulenburg’s arrangements for the journey,
as well as, more particularly, for our life on
board ship, testify anew to his qualifications for
his post. Most of my companions, who are
making their first voyage, have so far found the
swaying element very comfortable ; each, however,
is anxiously expecting to experience the reverse
side of this satisfaction before long.

The days on board afford a welcome rest
after the fatigues of Stambil, and are par-
ticularly well adapted for writing down one’s
impressions, for which there was little time on

dry land.

Jerusalem, November 4 to 9, 1869. ©

If I were to attempt in this, the most sacred
spot of the whole world, to express how deeply
I am moved at the thought of being in Jeru-
salem, I should endeavour too much. Each
must come here for himself, for himself live
through the great disillusioning that attends on
the first view, and the entrance into the City,
and for himself at last achieve the deep inward
peace that comes when calm contemplation and
reflection have obtained the upper hand, and
enable one to grasp it.

122 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

It will be the happiness of my entire life
to have walked in the places in which Jesus
Christ lived, the places in which His foot has
trod, to have seen the mountains and the waters
on which His eye rested daily. This, above all,
of the Mount of Olives, and Gethsemane with
the Brook Kedron, as well as the wild rock shores
of the Dead Sea, with the Valley of the Jordan,
and the country round Bethlehem. These places
have undoubtedly retained their original cha-
racter of landscape and geological formation, and
they may be viewed as witnesses to the actions,
teaching, and sufferings of our Saviour, since
by good fortune no human hand has violated the
scene, and no religious zeal has presumed to
replace by buildings what can only keep its
historical character in the simple growths of
nature. In contrast to this the “ Holy Sites”
have been disfigured and defaced.

The profound and pious feeling with which
one approaches the Holy Sepulchre is repulsed
when one learns from the Greek and Latin
monks at the entrance to the church, that this
portion or that stone belongs to the one or the
other Confession, and that accordingly one must
first come in this direction, next go in that,

On entering the great Rotunda, in whose

The “ Holy Sites” 123

midst is the space, now covered over with a
chapel, that goes by the name of the Saviour’s
Tomb, one at first sees nothing in front of one
but a dark and narrow little hall. From this
the pilgrim proceeds through an opening only
three feet high to a little chapel, inlaid with
marble slabs, in which four men could hardly
stand, and in which is an oblong altar. The
altar-slab itself, also of marble, covers the space
hewn in the rock, in which the Saviour rested,
so that one is actually at the place of the grave,
but the hollow in the rock is not visible. The
monks, for fear the pilgrims should break off too
many souvenirs in their piety, or by degrees should
kiss away too much of the rock, prefer that the
visitor should see no more. If one is next
taken to Golgotha, there is absolutely nothing
to be seen. To reach it one must pass from
the Rotunda of the Sepulchre through the
Greek church immediately adjacent to it, climb
up many dark stairs, and then penetrate into
a chapel illuminated only by lamps. Here a
monk lifts up a cover under the altar, and
-exhibits a hole in the marble slab _ below,
through which a little depression in the rock
is visible, in which the Saviour’s cross is said
to have been erected. An oval opening in the

124 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

rock is shown as the cleft that opened in the
ground at the instant that our Lord expired.
The visitor can distinguish nothing in the pre-
vailing darkness, and can hardly see down with
the help of wax tapers.

The richest compensation awaits the ascent
of the Monnt of Olives, after one has crossed
the dried torrent-bed of the Brook Kedron and
looked into the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Ireached
the summit of Olivet shortly before sunset, and
took up my station so that the whole extent
of the city of Jerusalem, following the gradual
dip of the Kedron, was unrolled before me,
while on the opposite side the singularly beau-
tiful formation of the rocky walls of the Dead
Sea was to be seen, mirrored in the water,
with a portion of the Valley of the Jordan
in its attractive grandeur. The rays of the
setting sun lit up the city and the bare, grey,
desolate mountains that lie round about Jeru-
salem, with a golden-red, so that life and warmth
seemed suddenly to have come into the land-
scape. At the same moment the rocky walls
of the Dead Sea, which remind me vividly of
Loch Muick in Scotland, took on that glow
from the evening sun, which always gives a
special glamour to the mountains, and the waves

The Mount of Olives 125

shimmered every minute in brighter light! Now
for the first time I was able to picture the
Saviour, as He tarried here and let His eyes
rest in compassion on these plains and buildings,
as He pitied their inhabitants, in that they would
not hear at the right time the things pertaining
to their peace.

Every stranger should go first to the Mount of
Olives at the time when the sun is declining, and
then tarry an instant under the ancient trees of
Gethsemane, which may not improbably have been
contemporaneous with our Lord, seeing that olive
trees grow very slowly, and are fabulously old.
The monks have here laid out little gardens, in
which each Confession points to its own as the
true scene of the Passion ; speaking generally,
the bare declivity presents no attractions.
Close by, the Capuchins show the Tomb of the
Virgin, and the Cave in which the Saviour sweated
blood, where, however, a part of the rock has been
removed, “ to give the altar a better position” !

Never in all my life shall I forget this first
evening in Jerusalem, where I watched the setting
sun from the Mount of Oliyes, while nature fell
into that great silence which has always some-
thing of solemnity, even in other places. Here the
soul could detach itself from earth, and plunge

126 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

uninterruptedly into the thoughts by which each
Christian is inwardly moved, when he considers
the great work of salvation, that here fulfilled
its sublimest issues. The reading over of one’s
favourite passages in the Gospels in such a spot
is in itself a religious service.

We paid yet another visit to the empty Church
of the Sepulchre in the twilight, in the glimmer of
the few lamps. I always like to see churches thus
in the late evening hours with subdued light, and
this unique House of God was wondrously to my
liking, although it failed to call up any of the
sensations I experienced on the Mount of Olives.

So far I have only pursued my feelings, and
have given free rein to my fancy, but must now
come back to things positive, and continue my
descriptions. And here let me say once for all
that I never have more than a few minutes for
writing, and can perceive accordingly, to my own
annoyance, how desultory my style will generally
be. But on a hurried journey, touching at all the
most interesting points of the world, one naturally
stays little in one’s room, and can therefore devote
little time to the writing-table.

When, after a favourable passage of five days,
in which we were only delayed a little by the south
wind, we approached the coast of Palestine, every

Jaffa 127
one looked eagerly towards the Promised Land.
Yet the yellow shores afforded little that was
beautiful ; it was only after rowing in the pinnace
safely through the very dangerous cliffs that
enclose the harbour, and reaching the shore, that
we attained the satisfactory feeling of being really
in the East. I had the same sensation in Jaffa,
as in 1862 at Tunis, that everything here was
different from Europe.

We were received by our Consul-General, Herr
von Alten, and by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and
by Kiamil-Pasha, the Governor of the Province,
and lastly by the band of the Guard of Honour,
surrounded by innumerable gaily-clad Arabs,
Greeks, and Jews, and we immediately mounted
our horses. First came two standard-bearers with
the Prussian and North-German Colours ; then the
escort of Turkish Cavalry and Bashi-Baziks ;
next thirty men of our naval battalion under the
command of Lieutenant Kutzen, also mounted;
and finally, our whole company on high steeds,
with the addition of the ship’s surgeon, and ship’s
chaplain—the baggage on mules. After a short
rest in the colony of a Wurtemberg sect under the
direction of the brother of Hof-prediger Hoffman,
we went in the burning heat, through the famous*
orange-gardens of Jaffa, towards the mountains of

128 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Judea. As soon as we had left the environs of the
town, the already scanty vegetation became more
sparse ; the villages looked poverty-stricken ; the
inhabitants, nevertheless, bore themselves with
picturesque pride, the dark Syrian contrasting
with the browner Arab and the shining Moor.
One was particularly struck with the many camels
used as pack-animals, which grunted at the
traveller, with their morose and flouting faces.
The inhabitants, who greeted me in gay caftans of
flaring colours, made a very pretty effect. During
the ride the Bashi-Baziks executed a sham
fight, called a ‘“‘fantasiéh,” for us, while we
allowed our horses to try every method of pro-
gression in turn, as was permissible on this road,
which had indeed been mended, but still re-
sembled a freshly -laid chaussée ; and so reached our
tent-camp at Bab-el-Wad, at the entrance to
the mountains, where we spent the night.

On November 4, we departed at sunrise from
our very comfortable tents in the land of the
Philistines. For hours we climbed the steep rock
valleys, here and there perceiving the remains of
Christian churches; then to Abu-Ghésh, whence
David once fetched the ark of the covenant, the
place still bearing the name of Kirjath-Jearim.

An hour from Jerusalem we were met by the

Route to Jerusalem 129

Germans of that town, all on horseback, and led
by the evangelical Pastor Hoffman, son of the
General Superintendent, and Court Chaplain at
Berlin. During a short halt we put on our
uniforms, I that of the Dragoons, and then, con-
versing with our countrymen, most of whom were
Wurtembergers, we climbed the last steep hill,
whence one catches the first view of Jerusalem.
The Greek Bishop first advanced to meet us, in
the name of the Patriarch, then the Jewish re-
presentative ; meantime our advance-commando of
marines had fallen in, saluted, and received me
with cheers—certainly the first military salute of
this kind in the Holy City—and still no Jerusalem,
only a vast tent, surrounded by a number of men
from the Turkish Watch, and teeming with a
multitude of strange uniforms.

Here began the presentation of the English
ecclesiastics, the Patriarchs, Roman prelates,
Consuls (among them Count Potocki!), monks, and
priests. At last I escaped, and mounted my horse
again, and, hoping now at last to see Jerusalem in
peace, attempted to withdraw from the crowd, by
attaching myself closely to our own soldiers, who
were marching immediately in front of me.

It was touching to see the joy of the
Deaconesses from Kaiserswerth, who are attached

K

130 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

to the only Institution here for nursing and teach-
ing, and who all shook hands with me in their joy
at once more seeing their countrymen; at their
head was Friulein Charlotte Pilz, whose beneficent
influence I had long heard well spoken of.

Finally, I asked our Consul, von Alten, if we
should not soon be able to see Jerusalem. ‘‘ It
has been before you for a long time,’ was the
reply. That is to say, the splendid Russian
monastic hospital, and cathedral-like church be-
longing to it, are so placed that they and their
buildings hide every glimpse of the town from
us, and one can only see a minaret and a few
walls. Thick masses of dust whirled up from the
feet of the countless inhabitants running after
us, to increase the sweltering midday heat, while
the road wound downwards, and still I could see
no city, but only walls; so at last we came down
to the Damascus Gate, in the vicinity of which
Godfrey of Bouillon undertook his victorious
siege, and through which no Christian Prince
had hitherto been allowed to enter. At last we
passed inside the town. But here the narrowness
of the streets made any view impossible. Finally
we came by winding streets to the door of the
Church of the Sepulchre, by which, along with
our attendants and the marines, we entered the

oe) i Ph a Bee i ee >

ee ee ee ee

The ‘‘ Mosque of Omar” 131

sanctuary. The Greek clergy received me in
rich festal vestments, with lights, and incense,
and consecrated rose-water, and led me to the
Holy Places.

Our dwelling is pleasantly situated, half in
the evangelical Hospice of St. John, and half
in the Consulate, which is connected with the
latter by a little garden and platform, inhabited
by Herr von Alten, looking straight across to
the Mount of Olives. All the houses are vaulted
inside, with flat roofs outside, and fairly good
arrangements for ventilation. The water for
drinking and washing comes exclusively from
the cisterns, but is always cold in the morning,
because the nights get very cool after midnight.

The afternoon was employed in visiting the
so-called ‘‘ Mosque of Omar’’ on the Haram, the
site once occupied by the Temple of Solomon,
and the precincts belonging to the latter. Two
very amiable Mullahs acted as guides, and must
already have had a great deal to do with Ger-
mans, for they several times attempted to repeat
words which we eyentually traced to the German
language ; in particular, there was one expression,
‘“‘qinstain,’’ which we eventually discovered to
mean ‘‘ein Stein” (a stone). The mosque is
externally very attractive, from its wealth of

132 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

exquisite coloured porcelain tiles; inside, a great
rock projects from the ground—one of the original
foundations of the Jewish Temple, which also
played a part in the time of Mohammed.

At dinner the Armenian Patriarch (who does
not know a word of French, but is most amiably
disposed towards Germany) made his appearance,
along with several of the Germans who live here,
and some Pashas.

A serenade, with the presentation of an address
from the Germans and Jewish inhabitants, brought
the day to a close.

On November 5 we rode across the mountains
to Hebron, accompanied by Kiamil-Pasha and
Dr. Sandretzky from Bavaria, an archeologist
living here. Not far from Bethlehem the road
went by Rachel’s grave; it soon became one
of the roughest I have ever seen, for we had
to ride over smooth slopes of rock, then again
over interminable loose rolling stones, so that
I feared every minute that my little Barbary
steed would lose his footing. But these clever,
tough little animals know no difficulties, and
never even stumble. So we went for six hours
uninterruptedly through the bald wild mountains
of Judea: we seldom saw a bush, and only twice
a spring. About a mile on this side of the place,

flebvon and Bethlehem 133

the authorities received us on horseback, and gave
us alead. Hebron is the well-known Abrahamitic
place of the Scriptures to this day ; the mosque,
which has little worthy of notice in itself, con-
tains the graves of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Leah,
and Joseph—the cenotaphs, with rich hangings,
standing inside the building, while the bones that
have never yet been disturbed rest far below in
untrodden sepulchres. The pristine fertility of
the land, and its wealth of trees, have long since
disappeared; only two ‘oak-trees’ are pointed
out as contemporaneous with the Patriarchs, and
are not far from the site of the former grove of
Mamre. Memories of the Biblical teaching of my
childhood, imparted by my first and venerated
teacher Godet, surged up on beholding the places
of which I had so often seen the names—how
he would have loved to accompany me to the
Promised Land!

Our night-quarters were in tents at the great
mountain reservoir of Solomon, from which
Jerusalem is supplied with fresh mountain water
by means of conduits.

On November 6 we visited Bethlehem and
the Birthplace of the Saviour. This was shown
to us in the hollow of a rock, between the spaces
occupied by the church and cloister.

134 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

A ride round the walls of Jerusalem, which
led us past the Place of Wailing and the colossal
corner-stones of the Temple, with visits to the
evangelical German and English institutions,
ended the day, the evening of which, however,
I spent quite quietly by myself on the Mount
of Olives.

Our marines went everywhere to see the sights,
and no one can imagine how strange it seemed
to me to see our men promenading in this place,
just as one is used to seeing them in the garrison
or barracks when their duty is over.

Sunday, the 7th, I went alone to the Lord’s
Supper in the sacristy of the English church,
where they were holding the German service.

At midday, in the presence of the evangelical
community, as well as of Kiamil Pasha, and our
own marines, I solemnly took possession, in the
name of our King, of the ruins of the former
Hospice of St. John, and the Church belonging
to it. An armorial eagle that had been painted
on board was fixed up to the beautiful door, which
is still in good preservation, and the Prussian
standard was planted on the highest point, while
we gave three cheers for our King.*

* The words with which the Crown Prince completed the occupation
ran: “In the Name of His Majesty, I hereby take possession of the

Departure from Jerusalem 135

In the afternoon we left Jerusalem by the
same way as we had come, visiting a few re-
maining institutions outside the gates. These
were a girls’ school, named Talitha-Cumi, which
is under the direction of the brave Deaconess
Charlotte Pilz, and is splendidly managed; also
the boys’ orphanage, established by Herr Schneller
out of his private means, and by voluntary con-
tributions, for the survivors of the massacre from
the Christian community in 1860.

Our night’s quarters were again at Bab-el-
Wad, under canvas. Through the careful and
practical arrangements of a fellow-countryman
of the name of Thiel, from the Rhine Provinces,
who has been many years in Jerusalem, every-
thing here, as at each place where our caravans
have stopped, was splendidly managed. Larly
the next morning we rode to Jaffa, and at the
entrance to that place met the Emperor of
Austria, who had just landed with his large
retinue; after a brief but hearty greeting, I
betook myself to the Greek Patriarch of Jeru-
salem, who was still waiting here, and at his
ancient church of the S. John’s Hospitallers, of all the ruins of the same,
above and beneath the earth, and of all other remains of structures
pertaining to the same above and under the earth. Long live His

Majesty the King, Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!” (Die Anwerenheit des Kron-
prinzer von Preussen in Paldistina, By a South-German. Berlin, 1870.)

136 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

wish discussed the cession of some property next
to the St. John’s land, belonging to his church.
We soon signed a protocol, by which the pos-
sessions of our King in Jerusalem can be still
further increased.

Amid heavy breakers we went on board the
Hertha at midday, and weighed anchor for Beyriat,
which we reached in the morning twilight of
November 9, and were greeted by the corvette
Elizabeth, which I at once inspected.

Beyrit, November 9 and 10, 1869.

We had a remarkably remunerative and in-
teresting time in Syria; our journey took us
from the romantically situated Beyrit (which
was reached in a twelve-hour voyage from Jaffa)
directly into the remotest valleys of Lebanon, and
then again at Damascus showed us one of the
“ Pearls ”’ of all the Oriental cities ; while the ruins
of Baalbec—once called Heliopolis—presented the
richest treasures of late Greek architecture.

Beyriit has been compared with Naples, on
account of its situation near the sea, surrounded
by beautifully formed mountains. My admiration
does not indeed go this length, but I willingly
concede that the green gardens of its suburbs
present a charming appearance hitherto unseen

Beyrit and Lebanon 137

by us in the Hast; a great part of the town is
EHuropeanized, or, at any rate, has a strong ad-
mixture of ‘‘ Frankish ’’ ingredients ; among these,
the Institutions conducted by the Deaconesses of
Kaiserswerth for the education of children and
orphans, as well as the Johanniter Hospital,
can hold their own with the English Thompson
school, and the French Charité.

Most of the Sisters are from Prussia, and it
was touching to see their delight at meeting their
fellow-countrymen. The Sultan had ordered the
Governor of Tripoli, Kiamil-Pasha, and a Colonel,
to meet me here.

On the following day we undertook an excur-
sion into Lebanon, under the guidance of our
Consul, Weber. At first we rode through the
groves of orange and sweet-pine, which grow in
rich luxuriance close to the environs, and point
the way into the mountains by many devious
turnings. After passing through the ravines of
the picturesque rock mountains, through which
at every winding of the path one sees the
splendid blue ocean, we found, in the gradual
upward ascent, places which have appreciated the
presence of green in their surroundings, a thing
we had not hitherto seen in this part of the
world. So we went with our caravan, escorted

138 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

by the gayest costumes, deeper and deeper into
the savage-seeming valleys of the Libanus. The
collective inhabitants of the places—half-Chris-
tian Maronites, half-Mohammedan Druses—came
towards us singing, bearing palms or green
branches in their hands, while the women burned
incense before me, or sprinkled me with orange-
water. The usual greeting is, ‘‘ Allah give you
victory ;’’ but, as a great proportion of those
who met us to-day were Christian Maronites, and
this said to me from the mouths of the Christian
subjects of the Sultan of Turkey might have been
inimically construed by him, instructions had
been given previously to shout, ‘‘ Hail, Prince of
Germany ! ”’

Thus we went on nearly all day, until we met
the Governor of Lebanon, Franco Pasha, whose
sons had already greeted us with refreshments ;
while a spinning school, conducted by some
English, sang, ‘“‘God save the Queen.” _

Franco Pasha is a Christian, since, according
to treaty, there has been a governor of the
Christian persuasion here since the blood-bath of
1860. Beit-Eddin is the name of his lofty castle
residence, which was the magnificent home of the
family of the late Emir Beschir-Schehab, who
formerly reigned here as sovereigns.

‘Lebanon 139

We had to traverse two large terraced courts,
lying one above the other, before we dismounted
from our horses. In the upper of these stood
the numerous crowd of servitors in a row; a
few of them were presented. ‘The inside of the
Palace is largely Oriental, and little Kuropeanized,
and there is not much that is modern in the
whole of the arrangements, so that, e.g., divans
and little plaster balconies are apparent every-
where,

The evening sun lit up Deir-el-Kamar, the
chief city of Lebanon, as I entered the narrow
mountainous streets, which were filled with a
mass of men pressed neck to neck together. Here
again, as in the valleys, were palms and branches,
incense and orange-water; as the women were
mostly on the flat roofs of the houses, I found
myself under a perpetual douche, which indeed
was not unpleasant after the six-hours’ ride
in the heat. Franco Pasha’s Arab infantry
looked martial in their white uniforms; no less
so the irregular cavalry, which in the evening
performed ‘‘fantasiéhs”” in the castle-yard by
Bengal light.

From the highest pinnacle of the mountain
castle we watched the sunset, which was soon
followed by the new moon, so that we had a

140 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

most splendid ending to this delightful day,
which I hold to be the most interesting of the
journey. 3

Damascus, November 11, 1869.

To-day began at 4 o’clock, in the beautiful
hours of the morning, with a seven-hours’ ride
along steeply rising, mountainous rock paths.
Our way was lighted by torches until sunrise, then
the Oriental sun burned down on our heads, making
itself particularly obvious, until at 10 o’clock we
reached the French posting-road to Damascus, and
took the messagerie coach, in which we reached the
aforesaid town at nine in the evening. The road,
which was only built eight years ago, winds three
times up and down the stony mountains of
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, and then cuts through
Cele-Syria, before it reaches Damascus.

The officials, or rich inhabitants of the place,
who appear to be extraordinarily numerous, pre-
sented the most charming variety, as, clad in
every conceivable and voyant colour, they accom-
panied us on horseback. Both yesterday and
to-day, many Arabic documents were presented
to me, which sometimes had the translations
appended; the most original of all was one in

OE ee ee ee —

en i

Damascus IAI

which a gushing and bombastic enthusiast com-
pared me to a lily!

All Damascus seemed, in spite of the late
hour, to be upon its feet: all the Dignitaries, the
Pasha at their head, met me at the Gate of the
city. Iwas made to mount, and then for over half
an hour we went along the streets and through
the Bazaar. Torch-bearers went in front—for
there is no gas, only here and there a modest
oil-lamp—but an occasional triumphal arch, set
with little lanterns, gave rather more light. The
beautiful Arab costumes, together with the women,
who were mostly clad entirely in white and
wrapped in long cotton veils, made a fantastic
effect in this illumination, more particularly in
the vaulted halls of the Bazaar. Greek women,
unveiled, and decked with jewels, peeped curi-
ously down from the balconies, and showed their
beautiful white teeth ; in all classes of the Oriental
peoples I was struck with the clean and well-kept
mouth.

We dismounted at our quarters with a rich
Maronite. His house was splendidly arranged,
and rich in marble mosaics, silk, and golden
tissues; the great court, adorned with spouting
fountains, surrounded the reception hall and the
scattered pavilion-like dwelling-rooms.

142 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Amid such splendour the European misses his
writing-table, and other simple and daily con-
veniences, while beds and divans, on the other
hand, are most comfortably arranged. To-day it
was quite legitimate to crave for repose.

Damascus, November 12, 1869.

Our first walk was in the Bazaar; this seems
to me more extensive than that at Constanti-
nople, and, especially in the goldsmiths’ quarters,
affords much more striking pictures. European
clothes are hardly seen at all, and even the
modern Turkish dress of the reform is not to
be found, so that we feel ourselves in the Hast
indeed! In every tiny room that can possibly
be glorified with the name of a booth, sat Turks,
Greeks, and Arabs, in their old national costume,
gazing with half-cunning, half-apathetic eyes at
the strangers, only thawing with alacrity so soon
as there was question of a purchase.

My attempted incognito was really preserved
for some time; at the end of an hour, however,
it was discovered; the merchants then came to
our house. Even in the most active bargain-
ing the friendly side of hospitality is never for-
gotten, and a tschibuk with coffee is offered by

a a

Damascus 143

every one whose department one enters. It is
one of the dearest customs of the Oriental to
seat himself in a shop, converse a little, and
then again watch the crowd aimlessly. This
was particularly the case to-day, because it was
Friday.

The mosques were very full. At our entrance
into the Omeiyad Mosque, the former basilica of
St. John the Baptist, which boasts to this day
of possessing his head, the police soldiers who
walked in front of us turned every one out.
No one took this amiss; on the contrary, most
of the eyes were directed at our feet, to see if
we had drawn on slippers over our shoes! As
is well known, one must be careful, on entering
the mosques, not to wear the foot-covering that
has touched the pavement of the streets; so
either one’s boots come off, or one draws slippers
over them !

In the next place we paid a visit to the
richest houses of the city, and on horseback
visited the place where Paul, fleeing by night,
was let down by cords; also that in which are
the ruins of Naaman’s house; and at the close
of the day at sunset, we contemplated the really
magnificent city from the heights.

Damascus may be compared to a pearl set

144 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

with emeralds, for the white houses, the mosques,
and minarets, surrounded by a mile-wide ring of
green groves of oranges and citrons, involuntarily
suggest to me this image. I shall never lose
this magic impression. |

When in the evening I returned to my quarters,
I was suddenly asked to allow the marriage of
the fifteen-year old daughter of the house with
her betrothed in my presence. ‘They had, so
ran the message, been on the point of marrying,
when a death in the family obliged them to put
it off; since they could not, therefore, have any
great festivity, they were anxious to take the
opportunity, which was not likely to occur again,
of celebrating their wedding in our presence.

So of a sudden I became best man at
an orthodox Greek wedding. The ceremonial
reminded me of the Russian rite, more par-
ticularly in the use of the crown, and the taking
of the cup of water by the bridal pair; other-
wise the ceremony consisted exclusively in long
prayers, without any exchange of rings, as with
us. I stood at the right near the bridegroom,
while his stepmother kept her left arm round
the bride. Costly diamond flowers hung over
her forehead, as over that of the bridegroom’s
mother; the dress was pale pink, with threads

To Baalbec 145

of gold silk worked through it; the other women
were more simply, but no less characteristically,
dressed than these. The priests wore rose-
coloured silk vestments, stitched with gold flowers,
seemingly of the same cut as those of the
Russian Popes; the whole assemblage held
candles in their hand, the wedded pair alone
excepted.

Baalbec, November 13, 1869.

On the next day, at three in the morning, we
rode out of Damascus, accompanied by the whole
family.

At the gate we mounted the diligence, to go
to Baalbec. At the place called Shtaura, we
got on our horses at 10 o’clock, and rode for
five hours over the plain of the Becka‘a, which
has been used from all time as the highway to
Heliopolis by the hordes of, Heathen, Crusading,
and Muslim peoples who have passed through
Syria. We were surrounded by several hundreds
of mounted Arabs, who performed continuous
“ fantasieéhs,” and thereby covered us well’ with
dust.

In Baalbec, or Heliopolis, are the ruins of the
Temple of Zeus (which date from the late Greek

L

146 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

period), as well as those of the Sun-God, the
destruction of which was due rather to an earth-
quake than to the ravages that are unfortunately
too common here. The decoration is already
overdone, but the material and its application
are still treated with the same exactitude as in
the Golden Age of Art. Arabs, Turks, and Kurds
all use the ruins to build fortresses with ; in spite
of all, however, eight majestic columns still carry
their entablature, and the old foundations are
yet standing with their corner-stones of over
forty feet in length, bidding defiance to de-
struction.

A splendid sunset enhanced the aspect of the
ruins, whilst remarkably good beds afforded us
a welcome night’s rest.

On November 14 we rode back by the same
way that we had come, took the diligence again,
and reached Beyrit in the afternoon. At the
boundary of the city we were surprised to see
Franco Pasha, who entertained us as his guests
in a large tent, surrounded by his sons, by many
officers, and his picturesque escort.

I forgot to say that both yesterday and
to-day we were entertained en route by an escort
of camel-cavalry, which had the strangest effect.
Each pair of soldiers sat one behind the other

FC ae ae ee +
a Bit

Off Port Said 147

on a kind of saddle, which was buckled on to
the hump, and supported themselves in loading
their arms. Instead of the bridle-rein, a rope
went over the bumptious and ill-tempered nose
of the animal, which always gives a sullen grunt
when it has to kneel down or stand up again.
Several regular evolutions were executed with
remarkable precision, and the trot was fairly
even.

Port Said, November 16, 1869.

We are lying here in the new harbour of
Port Sa’id, which is at the mouth of the Suez
Canal. Attempts at writing, on the way between
this and Beyrft, had to be given up, on account
of the horrid rolling, and because the sea was
excessively high.

Even the embarkation at Beyriit was extremely
unpleasant, because the surf rose so much, after
a stormy night which had already disturbed our
rest in Baalbec, that the waves were ten to twenty
feet high. Since, however, there was no other
hindrance,—the storm itself being over, and the
time appointed for our arrival at Port Sa’id at
hand,—we put to sea.

At sunset we lay off the roads at Port Sa’id,

148 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

but could not enter the harbour, because, in spite
of repeated signals, no pilot appeared, and we
could not venture to steer in by ourselves in the
darkness, on account of the large coast traffic.
We were, moreover, warned by the English
Admiral and Commander of the Mediterranean
Squadron, Sir John Milnes, that two of his iron-
clads had already stuck in the sand at the entrance
to the harbour.

Thus we had to stay all night on the high
seas, which, thank goodness, calmed down visibly
and sensibly. And so we came into harbour this
morning at 8.30 in full state, the Elizabeth lead-
ing, the Delphin bringing up the rear. The
English war-ships did not salute my standard,
apparently because it was still too early to run
the flags up; the Empress Eugénie, who came
in immediately after, was, on the other hand,
greeted with the customary marks of honour.

And now from all sides were heard cheers
and firing of guns to salute us. An imposing
array of vessels was closely packed together in

the none too large harbour, flags were flying from

all their masts, and the crews were in the rigging.
The same thing was repeated for the Empress
Eugénie, who, standing on the covered deck of
her yacht Aigle, made gracious bows in answer

a

Inauguration Ceremonies 149

to our greeting. The saluting and cheering now
went on the whole day without intermission, as
the Emperor of Austria, the Empress of the
French, the Khedive, Henry and Amalie of the
Netherlands, I, and the rest of the strangers
present, e.g. Mr. Elliot the English Ambassador,
General Ignatieff the Russian Ambassador, etc.,
went about, paying each other visits. Naturally
the din began afresh each time one passed a
war-ship, which had an extraordinary effect on
account of the forest of masts in the harbour.
The town, on the other hand, offers little, and was
visited about as much as Wilhelmshaven at the
Jahdebusen !

The Austrian corvette Grez/, on which Kaiser
Franz Joseph received me, was remarkably simple
in its appointments, as was also that from the
Netherlands, on which Heinrich and Amalie had
made their passage here. The Empress EKugénie
received us with a charming grace in the big
saloon-like cabin on board the beautifully fitted
Aigle, and, cheerful as ever, held a three-quarters
of an hour conversation with us. Prince Joachim
Murat did the honours on board, and previously
came to pay me a visit. In the swite of the
Empress were, among others, her nephew, the
Spanish Duque d’Huescar with his two sisters,

150 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the Demoiselles d’Alba, also Madame de la Poése,
the Comtesse de Larochelambert.

Meantime, what interested me the most was to
make acquaintance with Abd-el-Kader, who came
to see me on board ship, on which occasion he
wore the ribbon of the Order of the Red Eagle
over his white Algerian costume. His handsome
and apparently youthful face has characteristically
strong features, and a highly attractive and intel-
lectual expression. His whole appearance is that
of a man to be reckoned with. I was also in-
terested in the personality of the Hungarian
Minister, Count Andrassy, whose fine, distin-
guished appearance was enhanced by his clever,
bright eyes. He had not been in Vienna during
my visit, so that I first made his acquaintance
here.

The Viceroy came to see me shortly after my
arrival, and was very kind and amiable. His two
sons, who accompanied him, looked good and
intelligent. ‘The yacht on which he received my
return visit is a floating house of the greatest
luxury.

In the afternoon, at 3 o’clock, we all went
on shore to attend an Arabic and Roman Catholic
Te Deum. For this, two kiosk-like pavilions
had been erected side by side; while in the one

Inauguration Ceremonies I5I

there was a kind of pulpit such as is used in
the mosques, in the other was a Roman Catholic
altar. Opposite these kiosks was a tribune with
a high baldachin. Kaiser Franz Joseph led the
Empress Eugénie. The Khedive took Amalie of
the Netherlands, and behind us came the multi-
tude of uniforms.

Immediately in front of their Majesties walked
three Austrian workmen, a great number of whom
are at present employed here, and who every-
where prepared great ovations for their Kaiser.
One preceded the Emperor with the Austrian
flag, walking between two fellows, who wore the
fez on their heads, but were otherwise dressed
HKuropean fashion, and carried arms. German-
Italian “‘ Vivas”” for Kaiser Franz Joseph mingled
with ‘‘ Vive l’Impératrice.”

Along with these the splendid Egyptian troops,
clothed in gray, & la Zouave, shouted at the word
of command their “* Haya Padischa’’ or *‘ Tschok-
Jascha,’ which I fancy means something like
“Health and long life,” so that one had a nice
mixture of languages.

The Arab service was conducted by a venerable
old Mullah, clad in a beautiful dark violet velvet
caftan. Then a Roman Catholic Bishop appeared,
who intoned the Latin Te Deum, after which a

152 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

French Almoner of the Empress, Monseigneur
Bauer, ascended the steps of the altar, and made
a very clever discourse in a resounding voice.

It was characteristic that a Christian priest
should thank the Mohammedan Sovereign in the
name of Christianity and of civilization for the
making of the Canal!

During this function, which took place close
to the sea-shore, it interested me to watch the
natives, who, undisturbed by what was going on,
were saying the prayers prescribed by the Koran,
stretched upon the sand of the dunes, their faces
turned to Mecca.

We left the scene of the function in the same
order in which we had entered, and then rowed
quickly, incognito, round the harbour, and visited
the Arcona, which had come in yesterday.

A splendid full moon vied with the illuminated
ships, while our sailors engaged in all sorts of
pastimes, danced, and gave themselves up to well-
deserved recreation, of which they were much in
need after the not inconsiderable exertions of the
last weeks.

To-morrow we must go on board the Grille, |

because the Hertha carries too much water for the
present depth of the canal. Iam sorry to leave
the corvette, in which we have had such a very

— =F -* 2 a?

Inauguratory Passage of the Canal 153

enjoyable voyage, and of whose captain, Kohler,
I have acquired the highest opinion, on account of
his prudence, tranquillity, steadiness, and insight.
He rightly enjoys the full confidence of our navy.

Inauguration Passage of the Suez Canal, on board
the ** Grille,’ November 17, 1869.

And so we find ourselves upon the newest
wonder of our age,—inaugurate the Canal,—and
feel that we are witnesses of an event that will
be of quite stupendous importance in the world’s
traffic, and which is the proof of what human
foresight, perseverance, and strength of will can
accomplish. May God’s blessing rest on the
sources of commerce that will spring from it, and
on the new undertakings that will necessarily be
its appanage. Would that Germany might shortly
have to glory in similarly great undertakings in
the field of commerce.

The departure was arranged for 6 a.m. First
the Aigle, with the Empress Eugénie; next the
Greif, with the Emperor of Austria; then I on
board the Grille; lastly, the Netherland steamship
with Prince and Princess Henry of the Netherlands,
followed by the Ambassadors, and some fifty other
steamboats.

154 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

But the procession was only set in motion
at 10.30, because an Egyptian steamboat, sent
ahead out of extreme precaution, only wired late
that the through-passage was certain. Then we
started down the Canal, the mouth of which is
marked by two obelisks, constructed of brick-
work.

From that moment to the arrival at Ismailia,
the passage offers nothing but the view of a
straight-drawn canal, enclosed all along by sandy
banks. It was, however, instructive to listen to
the information given by M. Laroche, one of the
first French engineers of the work, who was our
conductor. One of the Austrian ships, the Eliza-
beth, stuck three times in the sand, and kept us
back with all the other vessels, otherwise the
seven-hour passage was accomplished without
touching the shore; of course the steering had
to be very cautious.

Ismailia, November 18, 1869.

Here we are on thirty ships in the great basin
of water, at the newly constructed town of Ismailia,
which lies halfway between Suez and Port Sa’id,
and consisted at first only of the houses of M.
Lesseps and his employés, but is now springing up.

> a — —o. _ cong ——* xr
a eS ae

At Ismaiha 155

When we arrived yesterday evening at night-
fall, we could only see the pink, shining, sandy
shores, and a sea of lights,—to judge from the
number of which there was an important town,
whence we could distinguish hollow sounds of
trumpets or tambourines. Curiosity soon took
us ashore, and then we found ourselves suddenly
plunged once more into the enchantments of the
Kast. For the desert was covered with a tent-
encampment of over 30,000 Arabs, headed by
their Sheikhs, and gathered from all parts of the
land; every tent was illuminated, besides which
lanterns were burning everywhere, while fireworks
sent up their shining trail for hours into the
night. |

While the Sheikhs in solemn gravity, seated
on their divans, received visits, smoked, or played
chess, the Dervishes were praying, howling, and
whirling in their tents. Syrians performed con-
juring tricks with children, and danced almén
with distortions of their bodies, and the Arab
singing-women were heard chanting behind the
shelter of their wooden booths. Between these
moved the crowd of Arabs in gay caftans, and
white or striped burnouses, each stalking along
with grave pride.

It would be a hopeless undertaking to describe

156 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the magic effect which this Oriental gathering
had upon me, and on all of us; again and again
we said, it is exactly like a dream! The picture
was almost as beautiful on the following morning,
but the darkness lent more charm to the traffic
in the camp than did the bright sunshine.

In strangest contrast with this was the ball
which the Khedive gave at night in his unfinished
palace. In spaces where perhaps some eight
hundred persons would have found room, there
were now two to three thousand guests, among
whom unfortunately but few displayed Oriental
garments amidst the sea of black coats. It was
so crammed, that after a single promenade or
polonaise which we made round the room, and in
which half the guests did not discover that ‘‘ Their
Majesties’ had arrived, we practically spent the
whole evening in a little salon. We gentlemen
were bidden to appear in civil dress, so that the
strangers were unable to discover what nationalities
were present.

Before the function we all went round the
Bedouin camp once more incognito.

To-morrow we go down to the Bitter Lakes,
the day after to Suez, and then I go direct to
Cairo and the Nile.

The Passage accomplished 157

Suez, November 20, 1869.

The Passage of the Canal has been success-
fully accomplished; none of the ships on which
were the principal guests had any difficulties to
overcome, and even where there were some
dangerous rocks we passed safely over them, and
avoided them by constant steering or slow
progress.

The fact now lies patent to the whole world
that great ships can be brought from the Red
Sea to the Mediterranean, and the trade of the
future will take its route henceforth with an extra-
ordinary saving of time by the shortest path from
India and the Pacific Ocean to Europe. |

At daybreak we weighed anchor in the
Bitter Lakes, where there was a strong wind
yesterday evening, so that we were rocked by
the waves. This basin, which has only been
filled with sea-water since the spring, and was
till then a stretch of dry land, has already the
aspect of a proper sea.

Although it is surrounded by the sands of the
desert, the landscape does not look sandy or
bare, because there is always a peculiar rosy
glow in this part, which makes an indescribably
living shimmer at all times of day, and even in

158 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the darkness. Otherwise no living creature was
to be seen about us here, except those who
were on our thirty steam-ships.

I had already, yesterday evening, visited Their
Majesties on board their ships; Kaiser Franz
Joseph was very courteous, and returned my
visit at a later hour.

At 12 o’clock we reached the small and
quite insignificant town of Suez, charmingly
situated at the foot of picturesque hills, and
washed by the ‘‘ blue”’ waves of the ‘‘ Red’ Sea.
And so I have made acquaintance with this sea
also, after being only four weeks ago in the
Black Sea, and in the course of the previous
summer having bathed in the waters of the North
Sea. I cannot deny that at that moment my
thoughts turned with a little sigh across the
waves of the Red Sea to the Hast: Here I was
close to the spells of India and to the Himalayas
as never before, and as I never shall be again
in the whole course of my life! But the thunder
of the guns and the cheering of the crews upon
the rigging of the East India transports and
many other merchant vessels, dispersed all traces
of sentimentality, and the prosaic reality of pro-
ceeding as rapidly as possible to the disembarkation
took its place, because I was to travel the first

The Passage accomplished 159

after the Viceroy upon the railway, to take ship
again this evening for the Nile journey.

The passage of the Suez Canal has no intrinsic
charm; only the’ circumstance that the desert and
the sand (with the homelike feelings it arouses)
give out a real ‘shimmer of light, which one
must see to realize it, render the inanimate land-
scape a little less monotonous. It might therefore
be supposed that a two and a half days’ voyage
would gradually become monotonous; this, how-
ever, was not at all the case; we all found it
a welcome opportunity for undisturbed writing
or reading, besides which our sufficiently restricted
society on board ship was in no melancholy
humour. To me the climax of these days was
indisputably the sight of the Arab tents in Ismailia,
and the impression I received there will remain
indelibly linked with the images of the Opening
of the Suez Canal. ‘This life, so entirely different
from any festival and traffic of the people that I
have ever encountered on my various travels,
presents a charm that is unique of its kind.

The fairy tales of one’s childhood find realiza-
tion here to large extent, without the necessity
of any great outlay of imagination, and a few
hours’ wandering in this Oriental crowd give new-
comers a Clearer idea of the life in the Hast than

160 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

if they had been travelling there for weeks.
Hence it was a joy for us to succeed in wandering
round three times without our incognito being
discovered, so that everything went on naturally
and without constraint around us. When, on the
other hand, the Khedive arranged an official
promenade for us all, with “‘ fantasiéhs”’ to order,
the picture turned at once to a made-up affair.

I was more particularly struck by the dis-
tinguished coolness with which sheikhs as well as
vassals and slaves demeaned themselves, looking
down with a certainly comprehensible contempt
out of their splendid caftans upon our civilian
garments. The swarthiest and most ragged Moor
in this country wears his shirt or caftan, and the
Abdéyeh with as much dignity as a nobleman.

On the Nile, November 21, 1869.

After the landing at Suez yesterday, which
was delayed for nearly an hour by the clumsiness
of our pilot (so that we could only pay a hurried
visit to the fine Dry-docks, which are of the
newest construction), we took the railway, and
in six hours arrived at Cairo. On the way we
saw our first grove of palm trees, which drew
loud exclamations from us all, as it lay shining

At Cairo 161

in the golden evening sunlight. Beside them the
cotton plantations presented a sober aspect, the
tall shrubs with white blossoms looking like a
potato-plant shot up. The villages one sees
consist of absolutely flat lumps of earth, built in
a square—a sort of caricature of human dwellings.
Otherwise the landscape is pure desert land, bare
rocks and sand.

We reached Cairo at eight in the evening, in
the beams of the full moon, and a voluptuous
sea of light, the streets and squares being
illuminated. The Khedive received us in the
Station Buildings, from which we drove in elegant
carriages that were quite English in their turn-
out, surrounded by escorts, torch-bearers, and
runners in Arab dress, to the landing-place of the
steamers.

The whole garrison lined the way, and shouted
incessantly ‘‘ Tschok-Jascha ;” but several times I
heard the tune, ‘‘ Ich bin ein Preusse” (I am a
Prussian). Eventually we were conducted through
one of the triumphal arches which the Austrian
inhabitants of the place had erected in honour of
their Kaiser, its Latin inscription giving point to it.

A French cuisine awaited our hunger on board
the steamboat, coupled, moreover, with the greatest
luxury of all kinds. My bed is protected against

M

162 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the flies by a curtain of silver muslin, with gold
Stars.

On the banks we saw now groves of palms,
now regular woods of this splendid and poetical
tree. The character of the shore is little
romantic, and so far less fertile than one would
have expected from the descriptions.

The brown waves of the river resemble our
mountain waters after heavy rain-flows, and des-
perate resolution is needed to wash one’s self in this
brown, coffee-coloured water. Pelicans, birds of
prey, and a few eagles, which circle round us, bring
life into the desert, while the inhabitants of the
poor little lime-huts, for the most part clad in
nothing but a turban, gazed at our steamboat. The
temperature is not high. At midday, indeed, the
sun is fierce, but the mornings and evenings are
cool, and demand precaution in the way of clothing.

On the Nile, November 22 to December 1, 1869.

Already for four days we have been steaming
up the Nile, without any alteration in the cha-
racter of the scenery of its banks, or of the more
distant bare mountains, from that described above.
The temperature, indeed, becomes a little hotter
every day, but at sunset gives way to very cold

Up the Nile 163

hours in the night and evening. We may con-
gratulate ourselves on approaching the tropics just
at this time, especially as there is a north wind
blowing.

Three steamers were told off for my convoy ;
two of them accommodate my numerous retinue,
while the provisions and kitchen requisites are on
the third. We stop every morning to collect the
entire company on my ship for breakfast, where
they then remain till late evening. We live much
too well on board, especially when one considers
that we go on for days without any exercise other
than at most a promenade upon the little quarter-
deck, |

Up to the present we have only landed at Siit,
on the 23rd, one of the largest cities of the
country, to see the Rock-Tombs which date from
the XIII. Dynasty—1400 B.c.—but are no longer
in good preservation. The town is built of brown
bricks and inhabited by brown men, who, since
they find it hot, wear next to no clothes. As the
Nile has been falling for fourteen days, the spring
is already beginning here, and the plains present
the same appearance as with us in March, when
the winter sowing begins to come up green.

The effects of light and colour in the glorious
transparent air are magnificent, and even the stars

164 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

shine with far greater brilliancy than with us.
Jupiter really illuminates the darkness, and is
reflected in the water before the moon rises. The
Great Bear, on the contrary, has already dis-
appeared below the horizon, so that even the
starry heavens show us how far from our homes
we have travelled. Our travelling party on board
ship has been increased by Professors Lepsius
and Diimichen, extremely pleasant and amiable
companions, who know how to impart their

scientific knowledge and discoveries in the most ~

attractive manner, without falling into any dry
or dogmatic tone. It is a real pleasure to me
to make this part of the journey under such
guidance. Moreover, the repose on board is a true
luxury after the preceding weeks. ‘The life on
the steamboat almost reminds one of the Rhine
journeys. |

Next came the days of Egyptian study proper,
for on the 25th we arrived at the Temple of
Dendera at daybreak. In the afternoon we
reached the Plains of Thebes, where we visited
the half-destroyed ruins of Luxor with the Colossi ;
then the wonderful dynastic temple of Karnak,
and its Avenue of Ram-headed Sphinxes, in which
almost all the dynasties have sought to immortalize
themselves ; and lastly, we rode far into the night

Temple of Edfu 165

along the western banks of the Nile, past the
remains of the vast City of the Dead to a part
of the Tombs of the Kings.

On November 26 we continued our inspection
of Thebes, including the Tombs of the Kings
at Bibin-el-Mulik, and the Temple of Medinet
Habou and Alt-Kurna, along with the so-called
Statue of Memnon; then we pursued our journey
up the Nile past Esneh to Edfu.

On November 27 we made a thorough study of
the Temple of Edfu, which has recently been
excavated ; it is of colossal proportions, and in
perfect preservation: the pleasure was unalloyed,
because here no ruins compel one to whip up the
imagination; rather what is seen is clear and
comprehensible to the bystander, and permits one
to appreciate the marvellous works of the ancient
Egyptians in their boldest architectural efforts.

In the afternoon we went on up the Nile
through sandstone rocks and breaches to the First
Cataract of the Nile, where ‘we came to anchor at
Assian and the island of Hlephantine. A boating
party in the evening sunshine took us to the rocks,
where, however, only rapids, and not, as I had
expected, cataracts, were to be seen. A rich
growth of palm trees lent a great charm to the
landscape, which was repeated on the following

166 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

day, when, after a camel-ride through the desert,
we perceived Phile in the morning hours of
November 28. ;

On visiting the tolerably well-preserved ruins
on the island of Phile, which les in mid-stream,
we experienced the glamour of being in Nubia.
Our satisfaction, however, reached its climax when
in the afternoon we got to the edge of the tropics,
and crossed the zone of the Crab, and we had the
satisfaction of sleeping one night below 23 degrees
of the northern latitude. At Phile we were
transferred to an elegant dahabiyeh, the name
given to the usual sailing vessels on which the Nile
traveller journeys, and which are comparable to a
large covered gondola. Our dahabiyeh was towed
by little steam-tugs, and steered by. statuesque
black Nubians, clad wholly in white. Our joy in
the tropics could only be of short duration, for the
return to Cairo and approaching voyage home
across the Mediterranean Sea had to include a
whole week for the Nile journey down-stream.
And so we. had to content ourselves with the
thought that we had penetrated beyond the First
Cataract, and were able to say we had been in the
tropics.

On November 29, after visiting the first of the
four famous rock-hewn temples of Gerf Husén,

a : a

——-

From Phile to Assnan 167

as well as a peasant’s farm of the most primitive
kind, we turned northwards. From the moment
at which the helmsman made this revolution, and
we turned our backs to the equator, we really
began our homeward journey, and every one was
accordingly in good spirits ; for, in spite of palms
and Nile, and however great the enjoyment
afforded to-day by the Nubian landscape, the
longing after the Fatherland and one’s dear ones
left behind there, will have its way.

From Phile a camel-ride brought us down
by the Cataract to Asstan. I confess that this
mode of riding pleases me much more than I
had anticipated, for as soon as one gets the
right balance, perched on the hump-saddle, and
becomes used to the animal’s step, one feels
quite comfortable. After we got on board our
original steamer again, the journey down the
Nile was prosecuted without further stoppage.

On December 4 we hope to visit the Sahara
from Pedreschin, to enter Cairo on the evening
of the same day, and after remaining some days
there, on account of our Oriental-Egyptological
studies, to take ship on December 9, on the
Elizabeth. Please God, we shall make the shores
of Europe in a four to five days’ voyage, and then
land at Brindisi, Naples, or Marseilles, when,

168 Duaries of the Emperor Frederick

after a rapid journey through these countries,
which are already familiar to us, we hope to
be seasonably reunited with our dear ones before
the lighting of the Christmas Tree.

I have purposely abbreviated this portion of
the journey. In the first place, all correspond-
ence must be ready at the latest by December 3,
to catch the last post that leaves Alexandria
before our own departure. In the second, it
would be only a vain commencement to attempt
any detailed description of the ancient Egyptian
Temples. As memorials of this wonderful people,
they resemble each other with an almost schedule-
like precision. In all, the same magnificence,
the same colossal proportions, the same admirable
craft of builder and stonemason, but also the
same repetition in the types of figures, meet
the traveller, and daily cause him fresh surprise.

A certain art, or rather perhaps dexterity in
art, is not wanting in these memorials; in fact,
I saw relievos of charming delicacy. Neverthe-
less, what we call taste and esthetic is wanting,
and the eye feels itself overwearied, since it per-
petually meets the same thing. Thanks to the
scholars of Berlin, who have raised the study
of Egyptian art and history to such a high pitch,
the presentments of Egyptian structures and

A Dromedary-Ride 169

monuments of art, the originals of which I have
been permitted to see here, are known, and even
in a certain sense familiar to us. Still, it affected
me strongly to see with my own eyes that which,
defying centuries of destruction, bears witness to
the rich history of a past age of culture, and
to the capacities for work in the people who
have been the vessels of such a civilisation.

Our rides to the Temples were always upon
donkeys; one driver held the rein, while a second
went by the side, to spring forward to help the
rider, if a saddle-girth gave way or a buckle burst
—which, for the rest, happened every moment !

Accordingly, our riding-parties were always
merry, but reached their climax when we all
mounted on dromedaries to ride across the desert
to the Cataract at Assian. On mounting the
aforesaid animal it must bend completely down,
an operation that takes place in three bends of
the knee. Having now taken one’s place on the
broad saddle, consisting of two stuffed pommels,
so that one leg of the rider is laid right across
the animal’s neck, it bellows like our stags in the
rutting, and raises itself to its feet again in three
leaps, when one must be careful not to lose
one’s balance. At first one feels quite giddy up
there, but this does not last long: one soon gains

170 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

confidence, finds one’s own method of sitting
comfortably, and in the end feels very snug. I
rode the whole time on the camel, although my
white donkey was led at the side, because this
kind of riding appealed to me more; and the
same held good for the gentlemen of my swie,
who, in half-European dress, with the native
protections against the heat of the sun, presented
a sufficiently comical appearance.

The inhabitants of Egypt are distinguished
from those of Nubia by marked characteristics.
The Egyptian is brownish-yellow in his skin, and
looks as if some vestiges of Huropean exterior
still clung to him. The Nubian, on the contrary,
is dark brown, already turning black, but of
much nobler build, and I must also say of more
intellectual appearance. We particularly noticed
this in the men who were told off to steer and ©
to guide us. The Nubian race is said to be par-
ticularly capable and dependable, and is much
sought after in Cairo for this reason. The inhabi-
tants of Dar-Far and the Sudan, on the contrary,
who are frequently met with here, are quite of
the ancient Moorish type.

The Egyptian fellah often goes naked, espe-
cially when he is working in the fields. He is
much darker, and more earth-coloured, than the

The Population of Egypt 171

richer and superior class, and with his scanty
clothing can often be hardly distinguished from
the soil; a light apron, open at the sides, hardly
covers his loins. The women, on the contrary,
are clothed in a long heavy woollen material,
that hangs over their shoulders, and falls into
the most beautiful antique folds I have ever seen.
These women walk about with a straight and
indeed proud carriage, bearing clay vessels on
their heads according to the custom of the country
—one thinks to see antique statues walking before
one’s eyes, and every sculptor ought to spend a
long time here on the study of these folds and
garments. I have frequently stood in astonish-
ment to rejoice in the sight. As the women are
exceedingly shy and retiring, they are in the habit
of veiling their faces, which are usually uncovered,
so soon as they become aware of a stranger.
Hence one can rarely tell of what material their
clasps and bracelets are made. Many wear heavy
silver armlets, others mix glass spangles with fruit
kernels in gaudy variety in their ornaments.

The Nile people collectively are very thin
according to our notions; they are tall, with
square shoulders, no trace of calf. At first we
took their huts for piles of bricks. Since it
hardly ever rains here, palm branches are sufficient

172 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

for the roof; there are no conveniences in the
way of seats, and four posts carrying a straw
mattress serve for a bed. The inmates always
look clean, thanks to the Koran, which enjoins
daily ablutions. Here in the country, more par-
ticularly, one sees that every Mussulman fulfils
the external precepts of religion with the greatest
fidelity. The sailors of our ship went three
times a day to the paddle-box, where, turning
to Mecca to make their obeisance, they knelt
down, with their foreheads touching the ground,
and their hands raised, a ceremonial lasting each
time for nearly ten minutes. On shore one sees
the people in rows fulfilling their form of orison,
and should any one be interrupted by his duties,
he seeks in every free moment to make up the
appointed tale once more.

In parts where the intercourse of the people
with strangers has already sharpened their wits,
one is often addressed in a jargon of German,
English, French, and Italian, and that with a
vigour of gesticulation and expression that often
reminds one of Italians’ vivacity. |

Innumerable Old Egyptian objects are every-
where offered for sale to the traveller. The
scarabs are always the prettiest, while the remains
of mummies disgusted me. The latter are

Down the Nile 173

beginning tc diminish considerably, since the
graves have been plundered by speculative lay-
people, who have carried off everything they dis-
covered there.

The smuggling away of the larger works of
art is, indeed, forbidden now by the customs-
prohibitions ; but how many Tombs of Kings and
Temple ruins show gaps and empty places, the
former ornaments whereof are now on view in
the principal Museums of Kurope !

On the Nile, December 2, 1869.

We have been travelling down the stream of
the Nile for days, and expect to reach Cairo
to-morrow. All the colossal ruins we visited on
our journey up are flying past us again, ‘‘ smiled
on” by the eternally blue sky and unbroken
sunshine.* The air has, however, changed
materially since we turned from Nubia, for a
stormy north wind blows upon us continually,
making the nights, mornings, and evenings ex-
tremely cold, and compelling us to prepare warmer
clothing. When, on the other hand, the sun

* Von dem stets blauen Himmel und ununterbrochenen Sonnenschein
“belacht.” A punning reference to the double sense of the verb
“ belachen ”—as in the catch, “ Wer lacht iiber Griechenland?” “ Hin
ewiger blauer Himmel.” —Tr.

174 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

shines, or one finds shelter from the wind, the
refreshing warmth is the same we have become
familiar with. |

A voyage up the Nile is perhaps among the
most pleasing experiences of a journey, but it
takes a terribly long time; at least, it leaves me
with the feeling that, in spite of all its enjoy-
ments, I have no desire to undertake it a second
time. Everything in Upper Egypt interested me,
but more, as I said above, on account of its
novelty than because I thought it beautiful. In
spite of its palms and rocks, there is a great
monotony in the landscape, while in Italy, e.g.,
I never could gaze my fill. There everything is
life, variety, and change; in the Valley of the
Nile it is all just the contrary.

They lie behind us now—those temples, whose
towers and ruins we mostly learned to know at
break of day, and in the rays of the rising sun.
Vanished are the Colossi of Memnon, which we
first saw shining in the evening light, and then in
the rosy dawn; vanished the Rock-Temples, and
Chambers of the Tombs, over which soar eagles,
vultures, and other birds of prey. Pelicans and
herons tempt the bloodthirsty to futile shots at
these rare birds, which seldom appear in flocks.

We shall soon be again in the centre of one

oe

Down the Nile 175

of the capital cities of the Hast, which is indeed
engaged in throwing off its national character for
the most rapid artificialities of modern life, so
that shortly it will only resemble Paris or
London.

The Pyramids look down gravely on this
European movement.

Cairo, December 4, 1869.

We interrupted our journey down the Nile to
Cairo, on the afternoon of December 3, to dis-
embark at Sakk4ra, and thence to visit the
Serapeum with the Tombs of Apis, along with
the tombs and pyramids in the vicinity. The
monotony of the journey was broken near Minyeh
by some Coptic monks of a mendicant order,
who begged from us in a most original manner.
These swarthy men sit quite naked during the
whole day on the rocky shore, and as soon as
they see travellers coming (since they are able to
calculate with great accuracy the exact speed of
any steamer), jump into the stream, climb up
into the small boats, and will not budge from
the place until they have compelled one to give
them alms.

Under the guidance of the most distinguished

176 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

of the French Egyptologists, Professor Mariette,
we visited the tombs of Apis discovered by him,—
the name of the Bull, under which people living
here thousands of years ago worshipped the
divinity. Nearly a hundred burial-chambers hewn
out in the rock, each containing a granite sarco-
phagus in which eight persons could be seated
comfortably, are to be found here deep under
the earth. One asks one’s self in amazement
how those colossal sarcophagi could have been
prepared and transported into the vaults in those
days of little mechanical contrivance! Nor is
less astonishment excited by the fine relievos of
the private tombs, which must date from a period
at least three thousand years before Christ. The
Pyramids—in a very damaged state—stand in
the midst of the desecrated Plain of the Dead at
Memphis, which city itself has vanished from the
earth without a trace, and on whose ruined heaps
the palm trees are now growing.

Late in the evening we got to Cairo, and
sought rest in the Palace on the Ezbekiyeh.

Early on the 4th I received and paid visits
to the Khedive, the Heir Apparent, etc. The
former spoke fluent French, and did the honours
in the most amiable manner, a certain distin-
guished reserve being noticeable in his bearing.

At Cairo again 177

He is a man with insight into the troubles and
needs of his country, and is earnestly engaged in
raising it by the introduction of Huropean culture.

The Heir to the Throne received me in a
house near the desert, where his father possesses
three or four palaces close together.

The tombs of the Khalifs which we inspected
to-day, and which contain the bones of the rulers
of this country from the epoch of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, are famed for their
fascinating display of Arabic cupolas and many-
coloured marble slabs.

On the hill on which the citadel is seated,
Mehemed Ali built a splendid mosque, with two
slender minarets entirely constructed of Oriental
alabaster, in which he placed his tomb. Hard
by is the modest dwelling, in a pleasant house,
in which he died. From here we enjoyed the
view over the mighty city in the finest evening
sunshine, and I could understand why Cairo,
along with Damascus and Constantinople, is
rightly called the Pearl of the Kast.

This was the first day of the Ramadan—the
fast that lasts for four weeks, in which no Mussul-
man from sunrise to sunset may eat, or drink,
or smoke; even the odour of edible things must
be avoided during this time.

178 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

What we have to-day seen of Cairo gives one
the impression that, by some process d& la Haus-
mann, &® Huropean city had everywhere been
constructed in place of the old town; I have, at
any rate, seen hardly any but Huropean houses
outside the Bazaar.

Cairo, December 5, 1869.

To-day, Sunday, was celebrated by an open-
air service, in which we united for the laying of
the foundation-stone of the German Evangelical
Church here. Pfarrer Luttke, from Alexandria,
gave a simple discourse in good taste, and the
whole function was conducted in proper German
fashion, with the assistance of the entire German
colony of Cairo, who yesterday honoured me with
a serenade and torchlight procession. Nudar
Pasha, the present Foreign Minister, as well as my
two Egyptian companions, appeared in gala-dress.
We collectively attended the function in uniform.

The church will have to be built by degrees,
although a substantial contribution from our King
was announced to-day by telegram. It will soon
be surrounded by modern buildings, representing |
the new Cairo. The church is to be erected on
its own ground and property, given for this object

Excurstons vound Cairo 179

by the Khedive. At present the community only
possesses @ hired hall for its ecclesiastical neces-
sities.

Excursions in the neighbourhood to-day com-
prised the ‘‘ Petrified Forest,” the ‘ Virgin’s
Tree,” and the ruins of ‘ Heliopolis.” At the
tombs of the Kalifas we let ourselves be photo-
graphed, to leave to our contemporaries and to
posterity the exotic picture of the camel-riders
of our race. But neither camels nor the uni-
versally prized donkey did credit to their reputa-
tion to-day, for at each instant one of the four-
footed creatures declined his duty, nor could the
carriages be moved from their places.

The stone forest is a place in which the ground
is covered with vast remains of petrified tree-
trunks. Under the Virgin’s Tree, according to
the legend, the Blessed Virgin rested with the
Christ-Child and Joseph after the flight to Egypt.
lt is a very old and gnarled sycamore, with
knotted trunk and green branches, standing in the
midst of garden ground. ‘Tradition sees in the
present tree the descendant of one that died many
centuries ago, and had been regarded as histori-
cally sacred. There was formerly no wood in
its vicinity.

A few steps from the Virgin’s Tree was once

180 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the city of Heliopolis, known already in the books
of Moses as ‘‘On,”’ but to-day vanished from the
earth without a trace. Only a single obelisk,
dating from the earliest times of history, and of
importance to Egyptologists, is still standing as
an index to the buried splendours.

We returned to Cairo covered with dust. In
the evening we attended quite a good performance
of the Italian Opera, in an imposing and tasteful
theatre, built in six months by the Viceroy.

Cairo, December 6, 1869.

We began to-day at three in the morning,
because we wanted to ascend the oldest and largest
of the Pyramids of Gizeh.

‘The imagination can form no adequate picture
of this stone edifice, which the Kings built for
themselves as their burying-place, and one asks
once again in astonishment, how the Egyptians
managed, in their total ignorance of machinery,
to execute such structures. Beautiful I cannot
indeed call the Pyramids when one gets near
them, because on close consideration the devasta-
tion strikes one more than the total effect of the
still-existing intact structure. In the landscape, on
the contrary, the Pyramids look very picturesque,

A scent of the Pyramids 181

especially when their summits are illuminated by
the morning or evening sun.

The ascent of the Pyramids belongs to those
things that one undertakes for the sake of saying
one has done them, but which otherwise makes no
claim to utility or pleasure. A couple of Arabs
place themselves in front of each stranger, and
draw him step-wise from stone to stone, for the
external covering of the Pyramids resembles a
staircase built of irregular disintegrated square
stones, each step being often three to four feet
high. One’s knees gradually refuse to work, one’s
breath goes, and at last one arrives, shaking in
one’s whole body, at the summit. Thence a wide
view is, of course, obtained. The ill-fortune was,
however, in store for us, that just to-day the sun
quite exceptionally did not rise, and the morning
illumination therefore was also wanting.

The descent presented almost as many dis-
agreeables as the ascent, with dizziness added on
to them. To complete my enjoyment, I went
inside the pyramid with Lepsius. This expedition
is quite indescribable, as any mine would be easier
to crawl through than these holes. Every con-
ceivable position and flexion of the human body
was employed to get forward, in addition to which
one had to take two or three men who help by

182 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

pushing, dragging, or carrying the visitor forward.
We went uphill and downhill; sometimes we slid,
or had to crawl on all-fours. At length we reached
the burial-chamber with the stone sarcophagus,
inspected the granite blocks of the greatest re-
cularity masons can achieve, and sweated like a
Turkish bath. It was so hot, that we had to take
off our coats, and were dripping.

The Pyramids are surrounded with remains of
tombs and temples, that were for the most part
discovered by Lepsius; and since his name is
universally known here, and to the mind of the
inhabitants is inseparable from all the Hgyptian
discoveries, they showed him to-day the tomb of
Professor Lepsius, vastly to his own and our
delight !

The Khedive has built a pavilion, roads, via-
ducts, and dams, to facilitate the expedition for
strangers, and the approach through the moist
surroundings of the Nile—a grotesque object in
contrast with the structure of the Pyramids built
three thousand years ago.

We went to the Museum instituted by Mariette
at Builak, and admired its unique treasures.
Certain statuettes and gold objects in the Museum
convinced me that the Egyptians had a real and
even exalted notion of art.

Alexandria 183

We then visited the latest creation of Ismail
Pasha, the Palace of Geztreh, which is built
throughout in Moorish style.

To pluck Mandarin oranges from the trees,
and eat them in the open air, and that in the
beginning of December, was a most agreeable and
unwonted treat for us Northerners.

Cairo, December 7, 1869.

Our stay in Cairo was brought to a close by
a ball at the palace Kasr-en-Nil, preceded by a
dinner in Gezireh. Madame Ferdinand de Lesseps,
a nineteen-year-old Creole, who in youthful
_ enthusiasm had married the sixty-five-year-old
Creator of the Canal immediately after the con-
clusion of the Inauguration Ceremonies, was the
chief guest of the evening.

On the morning of December 8, the Khedive
and his suite, as well as our countrymen, escorted
us to the station, while the Heir to the Throne
went on with me to Alexandria.

Rain and wind, a rare event in this country,
set in during the four hours’ railway journey, and
gave Alexandria a very gloomy aspect. This
great trading centre has almost entirely laid aside
its Oriental character: on that account, however,

184 Dazaries of the Emperor Frederick

the view from the vice-regal Summer Palace of
the great harbour lying at its feet is quite unusual,
and was so much the more beautiful to-day on
account of the regular forest of masts with which
its space was filled. Otherwise the sights are
hardly worth the attention of the traveller who
brings his stay in Africa to an end here. We
went through the streets and squares, the pave-
ment of which deserves the name only in parts
inhabited by the Europeans. Otherwise one has
to struggle step by step through slime and
puddles.

A visit to the German Evangelical Church, and
the hospital which is now building, ended with
a drive to Ramleh, to the country estate of our
Consul Theremin, where the German inhabitants
of Alexandria, who had all decorated and illumi-
nated their houses, gave me a torchlight pro- —
cession. |

Late in the evening we went on board the
Elizabeth, and parted from the Heir Apparent, as
well as from the Egyptian escort.

On the morning of December 9 we weighed
anchor in a strong north wind, which, more par-
ticularly as we passed by Crete and the entrance
to the Adriatic Sea, rose gradually until early on
the 12th. When we came in sight of the coast,

Homeward Passage 185

it was impossible to say whether we were off
Calabria or Sicily. The restless element assumed
such an unfavourable character, that we were
forced to turn and steer again for the high seas,
to avoid the danger of being cast on the cliffs;
and so we prepared ourselves for the cheering
thought that we might, under these circumstances,
be cruising for days on the ocean.

However, since our calculation of time had
been based upon an uncertain voyage, the
threatened delay did not much matter, and we
resigned ourselves to our fate.

The rain, which came down in torrents, and
the heavy rolling of the ship, made our stay on
board really most uncomfortable, because we did
not know at last where we were going. fie

All the same, both now and through the
journey, I remained proof against sea-sickness.

By good luck the wind ‘‘ veered ”’ several times
in the course of the day, so that even during the
night the sky cleared, and early on the 13th the
sun was struggling with the clouds, until at last
we had light enough to reckon our longitude
and latitude with the help of the measuring in-
struments. We had hardly done this, when the
sun broke quite through, and brilliantly justified
the calculations of our officers. We found ourselves

186 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

in sight of Cape Spartivento, and were able
quietly to enter the Straits of Messina.

The snow-covered Etna projected far into the
blue heaven, and at its feet lay the charming
outline of the Sicilian coast, recalling happy
memories of previous journeys. The aspect of the
Calabrian coast was equally attractive, and my
companions were entranced by it, as to nearly
all of them it was the first glimpse of Italy.

We made without halting for Naples, which
lay before us on the morning of December 14 in
all its unique splendour, and I felt an indescribable
satisfaction in seeing it again. Yes, I am not
afraid of saying that I would compare this view
with any of the impressions that I received in the
Kast.

The Crown Prince and Princess, who are
staying here, and have just celebrated their first
parental joys, received me as an old friend, and
I saw the Heir to the Throne, the Duca di Napoli,
who was born here, and is only a few weeks old,
and also the Duke and Duchess of Aosta. I
employed my spare time in revisiting Sorrento
and Pompeii, as well as the rich treasures of
the Museo Reale. Since 1862, when I was last
here, the town has acquired quite a different and
flourishing aspect.

[nu Italy 187

My pleasure in staying in this splendid Naples
was disturbed by the news from Cannes, where
my wife and all the children were staying, that
our youngest son Waldemar had an attack of
bronchitis. He was, indeed, so much better as to
be out of danger, but the journey from Cannes so
as to arrive in Berlin for Christmas was not to
be thought of. I accordingly decided to proceed
to Cannes by the comfortable Rome-Florence
railway, so as to take ship at La Spezzia, since
there was as yet no direct communication along
the coast, and then to steam on the Elizabeth to
Villafranca, whence there is only an hour to
Cannes.

We reached Florence in twenty-four hours,
after I had greeted the Abruzzi and the Campagna
as old acquaintances; I passed through Rome,
however (where the Cicumenical Council had
just begun its sittings), late in the evening, and
without stopping. |

In Florence, which I had last seen in its
spring vesture, on the occasion of the Crown
Prince Umberto’s wedding, I visited King Victor
Kmanuel,—who, just recovered from a long
dangerous illness, received me with open arms.

On the 19th we went by Bologna, where I
parted from my entire retinue, and travelled to

188 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

La Spezzia. After a very rocking, but pleasant
night voyage, when I dined with the officers in
their mess, we landed on the morning of the 20th
at Villafranca. Another short halt at Monaco
and Nice, and then I finally arrived at Cannes,
where, thank God, I still found my dear ones.
The circle had meantime been increased by my
Sister-in-law Alice, my Cousin Albrecht, and my
Uncle and Aunt Frederick of the Netherlands,
with Cousin Marie. |

A cheery Christmas gathering united all this
unusually large group of near relations under the
Christmas tree, in a foreign land. We then paid
a farewell visit to the Elizabeth, where we were
greeted by the American Admiral Radford, who
was lying with two war-ships in the harbour of
Villafranca, and who invited us on board the
John Franklin, which had just been dressed for
a ball. All the Americans of Nice and the neigh-
bourhood were collected there, and so finally we
had also been upon the territory of the United
States.

On the 26th we went, in a three days’ journey,
by Avignon and Dijon to Paris. On this journey
I felt the moment when we turned our backs to
the sea at Marseilles, to be bitingly cold.

The Emperor Napoleon and the Empress

Arrival at Berlin 189

Eugénie received us on the 29th with their wonted
friendliness, amid a ministerial crisis, which had
resulted on this very day in the nomination of
M. Emile Ollivier.

After a last halt in Cologne, we arrived safely
at Berlin on New Year’s Eve.

III

On the outbreak of the war with France, in
1870-71, three armies were mobilized on the
German side; the Third, under the command of
the Crown Prince, consisting of—

The V. Prussian Corps, under Lieut.-General
v. Kirschbach..

The XI. Prussian Corps, under Lieut.-General
v. Bose.

The I. Bavarian Corps, under General of
Infantry von der Tann.

The II. Bavarian Corps, dalla General of
Infantry v. Hartmann.

The Wiirtemberg Field Division, under Lieut.-
General v. Obernitz.

‘The Baden Field Division, under Lieut.-General
v. Beyer.

The 4th Cavalry Division, under Commander-
General of Cavalry Prince Albrecht (father) of
Prussia.

The army comprised 128 battalions, 102
squadrons, and 80 batteries (128,000 infantry
men, 15,300 horses, 480 guns).

War with Frauce, 1870-71 1g!

The Personal Adjutants of the Crown Prince
were Major von Mischke, attached General Staff
of the Army, Captain Count z. Hulenburg,
Reserve of 1st Foot Guards, and Captain Baron
von Schleinitz, attached 2nd Regiment of the
8th (Silesian) Dragoons.

Chief of the General Staff: Lieut.-General v.
Blumenthal.

Quartermaster-in-Chief: Colonel von Gott-
berg.

Commander of Artillery: Lieut. - General
Herkt, Inspector of the 3rd Artillery Inspection.

Commander of Engineers and Pioneers:
Major-General Schulz, Inspector of the 2nd
Engineer Inspection.

The army of the Crown Prince united the
most dissimilar parts of the Fatherland. The
V. and XI. Army Corps contained the Regiments
from Lower Silesia and Posen, Westphalia, Elec-
toral Hesse, Nassau, Thuringia, Waldeck, and the
city of Frankfurt-on-Main. To these were added
Bavarians, Wiirtembergers, and Badensers. The
VI. Army Corps brought the Upper Silesians a
few days after the opening of hostilities, and
later on the Pomeranians of the II. Army Corps
joined the Third Army as well. More than twelve
German dialects were spoken in this army.

192 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Owing to the intimate contact between the
North and South German people (Volkselemente)
which arose out of this juxtaposition, it was
more peculiarly in the III. Army that the political
reflections on this national war found their most
lively expression within the army. On every
opportunity that presented itself of speaking on
state occasions either to the troops or to the
officers, the Crown Prince emphasized the high
satisfaction which he felt in having been per-
mitted to unite the South German forces under
his supreme command.

DIARY OF THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE
WAR WITH FRANCE (1870-71)

July 11.—Thile very grave; can hardly see
his way between Ems, Varzin, and Sigmaringen,
whence he has to get his instructions. The Here-
ditary Prince is in the Alps. The French Chargé
d’Affaires, Lesourd, said to the Spanish Ambas-
sador, in presence of the Austrian, that he should
leave, since no one was there to negotiate.*

* On July 3, 1870, it was announced that the Spanish Ministry had
resolved to elect the Hereditary Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern as their
King, and that a deputation had been despatched to Germany to offer
him the Spanish Crown. This measure was resented by the French

The Spanish Candidature 193

July 12.—Bismarck is coming, Gortschakow
and Reuss arrive.

July 13.—Talked with Bismarck, who received
the news of the renunciation of the Prince of
Hohenzollern late on the 12th from Madrid,
from which he concludes that peace is a certainty ;
he wishes to return to Varzin—appears surprised
at the state of affairs in Paris. Gortschakow
is also for peace, although he has just received
the news that France demands guarantees for
the future: these must be waited for, yet this
point, too, may be settled. He admires our
conduct, and that of the Hereditary Prince, and
of our press, and will take care that this is
recognized by the great Huropean cabinets. In
the mean time, I hear from Paris that Napoleon.
said to one of his former Ministers that the
Spanish affairs are quite insignificant in the present
crisis ; it is a struggle for supreme power between
Prussia and France. Some French papers blame
the action of the Government; Ollivier’s organs
claim the fulfilment of Article V. of the Peace

Government, and although the Prince of Hohenzollern withdrew his
candidature, it was made the pretext for the rupture between France
and Germany.

At this time King William was at Ems, undergoing a cure; Count
Bismarck was at Varzin; the Prince of Hohenzollern (father of Prince
Leopold) at Sigmaringen. Hence the allusions of the first paragraph —Tr.

0

194 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

of Prague in re North Schleswig, and the disso-
lution of the Union between the South-German —
States and ourselves. |

July 14.—Confirmation of the war news.

July 15.—Bismarck tells me that he is going
with Roon and Moltke to meet the King, as far
as Brandenburg. On the way he propounded his
views as to the state of our relations with
France with great perspicacity, and without any
of his usual favourite little jokes, so that I now
saw Clearly that any compliance with suggestions
for peace was already impossible: in his opinion,
and in that of Moltke, the strength and condi-
tion of the French army were nothing remark-
able. The King was surprised at our appearance,
but had, after hearing Bismarck’s report during
the continuation of the drive, nothing essential
to say against the urgency of an imperative
mobilization. At the station, Thile with Ollivier’s
speech; the King decides on the mobilization
of the VII. and VIII. Army Corps, since it is
evident that the French will be before Mainz
in twenty-four hours. I pressed the immediate
mobilization of the entire army and navy, because
there is no time to be lost; this was agreed to, and
I made it known publicly. The King embraced
me with the deepest emotion; we both felt what

Mobilization of German Army 195

was coming; he got with me into the carriage;
enthusiastic reception; I drew the King’s atten-
tion to the ** Wacht am Rhein;”’ at that moment
every one felt the solemn significance of the
words belonging to it.

July 16.—Three armies will be mobilized ;
I am to command the South-German, and thus
have the hardest task, in fighting with these
troops (who have not in the least the training of
our school) such a powerful opponent as the
French army will prove to be, seeing that it has
long since prepared itself, and will certainly fall
at once upon South Germany.

July 17 (Sunday).—A striking sermon from
Strauss, in the Garrison Church of Potsdam;
then a Council of War, the South-Germans for
me, with the XI. Prussian corps. Stosch is
unavailable, Blumenthal the Chief of my Staff,
Gottberg Quartermaster.

July 18.—General enthusiasm: Germany rises ~
like one man, and will restore its unity.

July 19.—I received my official recognition.
Opening of the Reichstag. Drove with the King
to Charlottenburg, on the anniversary of the death
of Queen Luise, where we prayed for a long while,
with heavy hearts, at the grave of the grand-

parents ; on the return journey, I said to my

196 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Father, that a war, undertaken under such con-
ditions, could not fail to be successful. Peacefal
afternoon with wife and children.

July 20.—To Moltke, who advised me not to
go to the South at present; Bismarck, on the con-
trary, urged that I should immediately and clearly
announce my impending arrival, by a personal-
telegraphic despatch, to the South-German princes,
in order to make a good impression, and should
then proceed to those Courts as quickly as possible:
the King agreed, and the telegram went off.

July 21.—The Duke of Coburg has come from
Fiume, and begs to be employed in a Reserve
Corps, or in the Elbe-Duchies, eventually on my
Staff.

July 22.—The Queen arrives; touched by the
enthusiasm on the Rhine; my Staff is getting
organized; the Bureau, as in 1866, in my palace:
most of the German Princes are coming in to offer
their services.

July 23.—Rest.

July 24.—Christening in great state, the King
too much moved to hold the child; solemn
function: who of us will come back again? But—
we shall conquer! I expect to be appointed to
a reserve position, which will principally be called
on to act in the flanks of the Central Army,

To Munich 197

for I should hardly be able to execute any great
undertaking.

July 25.—With my wife quietly to Sigismund’s
grave for the Lord’s Supper; I learn that I must
set out to-morrow.

July 26.—Departure ; everywhere enthusiastic
reception.

July 27.—By Nuremberg to Munich. King
Louis seems to be heart and soul with the national
cause, his rapid decision is universally applauded ;
unbeknown to Bray he signed the order for
mobilization laid before him by Pranckh. Enthusi-
astic reception. ‘To my surprise Duke Friedrich
is here, and that as a just-appointed Bavarian
General,—a transition stage towards approxima-
tion with us. Brings letters patent; then goes
back home, to regulate the affairs on his estate.
Usedom and Hohenlohe have no doubts as to
Austria’s neutrality, in spite of Beust’s ambiguities.
Reception in the Theatre; , Wallenstein’s Lager.
The King thinks that Schiller had many demo-
cratic tendencies, and believes that on this
account thé Berliners will not be willing to put
up his monument. Just as I was starting, I
received a letter from him; the independence
of Bavaria may be admitted in the event of
peace.

198 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

July 28.—Stuttgart. The King receives me
officially ; the Queen friendly, pale, much affected.
Suckow is honestly national; Barnbiihler makes
himself out very patriotic; said to Napoleon at
the railway-station, in 1867, Germany will become
united when she is attacked; begs to send an
ambassador to head-quarters ; recommends Prince
Wilhelm, or Spitzemberg, who might speedily be
appointed Major in the Landwehrs. The Chan-
cellor of the French Embassy only departed
yesterday, as also Barnbiihler’s son, from Paris.
Reception of the other ministers; the Burger-
meister, a delegate of the national party; the
enthusiasm at our departure almost makes me
uneasy ; they presented me with a bouquet in
the North-German colours; what responsibilities
this freeing of the German people lays upon us!
It would be well to respect the little idiosyncrasies
of these States, e.g. their envoys. Gortschakow
is summoned to Petersburg; Russia will keep a
strict watch on the neutrality of Austria; Italy is
uncertain, has nofunds. The remarkable inactivity
of the French points to some error in calculation.

July 29.—Karlsruhe. Our main thought is
how to prosecute the liberal development of
Germany after our struggles have earned peace.

July 30.—Went off to Speyer, where the Head-

Preparations for War 199

Quarters are at Pfeuffer. Bavarian bivouac, capable
soldiers ; in this Cathedral the first meeting of the
Prince of Wales with the Princess Alexandra
took place, in 1867.

July 31.—Impressive service. Moltke tele-
graphed to me to go south, as soon as the
_Wiirtembergers and Badensers had arrived, by the
left bank, and attack, in order to prevent any
building of a bridge at Lauterberg. Iam not yet
ready for that, but the people feel safe everywhere,
now that the Prussians have come.

August 1.—Question of an arm-band, as a
token of recognition; vetoed, because too easily
imitated. Long tranquillizing talk with the Duke
of Coburg and Morier. Freytag is there; I hope
that Roggenbach is also coming. We are ready
for battle, and want to be beforehand; who could
have expected it? Cartwright comes from Italy ;
opinions there are wavering, as to whom Rome
may expect the most from. I have a presentiment
that this war must bring a pause in the battles
and the shedding of blood, but for now my
watchword is, ‘‘In God’s Name, fearlessly and
steadily forward!’’ My Head-Quarters are swelling
to such an extent, that I am obliged to divide it
into two échelons, the first of which will include
all the really working members.

200 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

August 2.—Order, to my army to concentrate ;
the Bavarians are fairly ready.

August 3.—Farewell; last bath in the Rhine;
Landau quite retrograde ; probably we give battle
to-morrow ; to-day is to be the unveiling of the
statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III.

August 4.—Weissenburg. Our men made use
of every unevenness in the ground, as they do in
the peace-mancuvres, and our Bavarian com-
panions let fall expressions of admiration, as much
for our soldiers as for their manner of fighting.
Gate of the city shot down, and the place taken,
thus winning a secure position, and the command
of the railways and roads leading to Strasburg.
We had in all two Divisions, the enemy one, part
of which only arrived on the scene at nightfall,
but had the most favourable portion of the field.
Great rejoicing ; the dying and heavily wounded
raised themselves, by a great effort of strength, to
make known their satisfaction. The colours of
the King’s regiment were hit through the staff;
three bearers fell before Sergeant Forster reached
the heights at the van of the storming-party: I
was obliged to press the banner thus gloriously
upborne to my lips. On the southern declivity
two canvas encampments of tentes d’abri were
taken, with undisturbed dinner and provisions ;

Battle of Worth 201

General Douai’s little dog was whimpering round
his corpse; the chattering French surgeon knew
nothing of the Convention of Geneva, had no Red
Cross band, and only cried out, ‘‘ Procurez nous
notre bagage.” The Turcos are the real savages ;
quarters at Pfarrer Schifer’s, in Schweighofen.
French soldiers said to me, ‘‘ Ah vos soldats Prus-
siens sé battent admirablement.”’

August 5.—Marched towards France; _pros-
perous districts, deserted, terror of the German
man-eaters; the grim appearance of the battle-
field gets ever more horrible,—everywhere traces
of hurried withdrawal. Roggenbach comes as the
Major of the Baden-Landwehrs. A telegraph book
found at the railway station gives important de-
tails ; shows, 2.¢., how little prepared the French are
with mobilization, formation, and commissariat,
and enables one to conjecture that the French
army is concentrating its main force before Metz.
Intelligence of a great French bivouac behind
Worth in three Divisions, who are waiting for
reinforcements; a stronger position even than
Weissenburg.

August 6.—Wéorth. 80,000 French; I have
100,000 men. MacMahon’s tough resistance, and
fight as he gradually drew off, were admirable, but
he left me the field. I had the entire lead.

202 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Blumenthal and Gottberg supported me admirably.
At 3.30 I was able to announce victory to the
King. |
The mitrailleuses are incredibly destructive
within the narrow limits of their range. The
South-German coéperation welded the different
troops together; the consequences will be of
enormous importance if we set to in good earnest,
and determine not to let such an opportunity pass
unused. A Colonel of Cuirassiers said to me,
“Ah, Monseigneur, quel défaite, quel malheur, jar la
honte @étre prisonnier, nous avons tout perdu.” I
replied, ‘“‘ Vous avez tort de dire d’avoir tout perdu,
car apres vous étre battu comme de braves soldats, vous
on which he said,
“ Ah merci, vous me faites du bien en me traitant de

9?

nravez pas perdu l’honneur:

la sorte.” The officers expressed surprise at their
swords being left them. A talk with Roggenbach
afforded me a welcome distraction after all the
stirring impressions of the day. Intelligence of
Goeben’s victory at Saarbriick.

August 7.—Rest-day. At Kéniggritz the fire
was not near so hot and enduring; the Zouaves
shot well, the others fired too early and too high;
our helmets did good service. Great bitterness is
felt against MacMahon; the Emperor they call
“‘vieille femme.’ MacMahon’s papers are captured ;

Programme for the Future 203

the correspondents of the Gaulois and Figaro,
captured on the church tower of Wérth, announce /
themselves as enemies of Ollivier. Starvation
threatens the wounded French soldiers; it will be
another fortnight before the Commissariat is ready.
During the battle, trains were constantly going to
Worth with 60 or 100 men, who were sent into
action without proper leaders. More profound
talks with Roggenbach. I begged him to write
down the matter of them for me shortly and
concisely, if possible in paragraph form. His
propositions are noteworthy, even though I cannot
call them quite practical—rather are they often
very anomalous: this is natural, in exchanging
views as to the future constitution of Germany at
a time when it is still impossible to see what will
be the consequences of the victories I have gained.
I am of opinion that it would be impossible for us,
after peace has been won, to content ourselves
with the mere tracing out (Anbahnung) of new
efforts, in the German sense; far rather are we
bound to propound to the German people some-
thing whole and tangible, and to this end one
must strike the iron of the German Cabinet while
it is hot. Wé6rth is the first victory over the »
French in the open field since 1815.

August 8.—March-forward on the Vosges.

a

204. Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

French Cuirassiers have shot their officers who
were leading them into the vineyards. The
material of the ‘‘ Cuirasse ” is splendid ; an Officer
of the Zouaves cannot write.

August 9.—Thoroughly German impression.

‘ The inhabitants resemble those in the Black

Forest, and understand no French, which has
only been taught for the last twenty years. The
difference in the Confessions makes itself felt. It
is very remarkable that the Catholics in Alsace
have long said that there would be war this year,
which, after the downfall of Germany, would turn
against the Protestants; these predictions are
repeated daily in each place. Quarters with the
evangelical Pastor Hann, who describes the flight ;
he desires peace; we are not. to blame; the
Empress and Ollivier ought to see a battle-field.
In MacMahon’s carriage was an accurate map of
the Vosges, along with a plan of all the connections,
which stands us in good stead: in the baggage of
Ducrot, the Commandant of Strasburg, were the
effects of two ladies.

August 10-12.—Petersbach. The Vosges here
resemble the Thiiringer Wald. The inhabitants

~ are all German, and strongly Protestant. Hvery-

where we saw statues of the Reformers. The dis-
organization of the French is great; the fugitives

March towards France 205

say they never had to deal with such soldiers.
The range of our victories carries far; our officers
are modest. Freytag is amiable, liked by every
one, contented with everything, a diligent observer.

August 13.—Sarrebourg. Here the German ~
language comes abruptly to an end.

August 14.—Blamont. The people are getting
over their fright.

August 15.—The peasants say they were de-
ceived in the plébiscite.

August17,18.—In Nancy. Fighting round Metz,
feverish excitement; the inhabitants are Orleanist.

August 20.—Meeting with the King at Pont-a-
Mousson; he is deeply grieved at our losses.
Council of War. Moltke quite himself, clear,
determined to go to Paris. Bismarck temperate,
though not at all sanguine. Our conditions are
Alsace, and indemnity for the war.

August 21.—Vaucouleurs. Baudricourt’s castle,
ruins, the chapel a wine-cellar; the Pfarrer told
us that interest in the birthplace of the Maid of
Orleans was first excited by the march-through
of the Germans in 1814.

August 23.—Steinmetz seems to want to play
the part of York, unnecessarily. Have seen the
King again, who isonce more cheerful. I obtained
with difficulty that the Iron Cross should be

*

*

206 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

conferred on those also who are not Prussians.
Shifting intelligence as to the enemy’s march;
Moltke intends to get him into a mouse-trap (?).
Gallifet writes that abdication is unavoidable, the
Republic a probability. Benedetti’s project has
been prejudicial to us in England; without Bis-
marck’s encouragement, no such speech’ would
have been permitted. The eighty-seven-year-old
Madame de Boullenois sent her regards to my
wife, whom she admires as an excellent mother,
housewife, and hostess; the life here is that of
a simple chateau.

mh ee * * % %

September 1.—Sedan. Count Bothmer brings
the intelligence that Napoleon is in Sedan : the
King asked me yesterday what we are to do with
Napoleon when we have caught him? The white
flag is hoisted at Sedan: Napoleon is there. Bron-
sart has spoken with him; he told him that he
was sending General Reille. An unsuccessful cheer;
it does not correspond with the magnitude of the
occasion—perhaps one cannot yet tell whether it
5 a -thayel of good ina or no. A A parlementainé
Dinka, Moltke, and Roon, acircle round the
King; Inear His Majesty. Reille appears, humbled,
but not without dignity, and brings the following

Sedan 207

letter to the King: ‘*‘ Monsieur mon frére. N’ayant
pas pu mourir au milieu de mes troupes il ne me
reste qa remettre mon épée entre les mains de Votre
Majesté. Je suis de Votre Majesté le bon frére
Napoléon, Sedan, 1st Sept., 1870.” After a con-
sultation with Bismarck, Moltke, and myself,
the King dictated to Hatzfeld the sketch of an
answer, which was written with his own hand
later on. We had some trouble in finding writing
materials,—my writing-paper stamped with the
Eagle from the saddle-pocket, the Grand-Duke
of Weimar gave ink and pen, two straw chairs
made the table, on which Gustedt laid his Hussars’
pouch as a board. ‘* Monsieur mon frére. En
regrettant les circonstances dans lesquelles nous nous
recontrons, j accepte l’epée de Votre Mayesté et je prie
de bien vouloir nommer un de Ses officiers, muni de
pleins pouvoirs pour traite des conditions de la capitu-
lation de Varmée, qui s'est st bravement battue sous
Vos ordres. De mon coté jai désigne le général de
Moltke & cet effet. Je suis dé Votre Majesté le bon
Frere Guillaume. Devant Sedan, 1st Séptember,
1870.’’ Meantime I talked to Reille, an amiable
man, distinguished in the best sense; he was
attached to me in 1867, my sympathy did him
good ;—the Prince Imperial is not there. When
he had departed, the King and I fell on each

208 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

other’s necks, the recollection of July 3 was upon
us: extraordinary enthusiasm of the troops.
““ Nun danket alle Gott” (‘‘ Now thank we all our
God’’); I could not restrain my tears. mei

September 2.—The words, ‘‘ The world’s history
is the world’s judgment,” came back to me from
my childhood’s lessons. Wimpffen’s difficulties
(sic) ; Napoleon is coming; is waiting in the
potato-field not far from Donchery: Bismarck and
Moltke hasten to him; he requests more favourable
terms of capitulation and withdrawal of the army to
Belgium ; wishes to speak with the King. Moltke
believes this to be a pretext; he no longer feels
himself safe in Sedan, andis concerned about his

carriages and fourgons. Moltke seeks for more
suitable quarters, while Bismarck converses with
Napoleon. The King keeps to unconditional sur-
render of arms, the officers will be free on parole ;
the Capitulation will be signed at 12 noon. Moltke
receives the Iron Cross of the First Class; Bis-
marck arrives; while smoking, they talked over

everything, except politics. I proposed Wilhelms- |
hohe as a residence for Napoleon; advised against
the meeting on the heights, in presence of the
troops, as humiliating; suggested that the King
should ride to Bellevue to the Emperor. Conference
with Bismarck, Roon, and Moltke; through the

Sedan 209

Bavarian bivouac to Bellevue, where we found
the Imperial carriage and fourgons, the lackey,

and postillions powdered &@ la Longjumeau. We
"were received by General Castelnau; Napoleon
appeared in full uniform at the entrance of the
glass pavilion, and led the King within. I closed
the doors, and remained standing in front of them ;
the French swite retired into the garden. Reille,
Achille Murat, and Davilliers kept me company.
The interview, as communicated to me later on
by the King, was as follows.

The King began that, inasmuch as the fortune
of the war had turned against the Emperor, and
obliged him to give up his sword, he had come to
ask what were his present views? Napoleon
referred his future solely to His Majesty. The
latter replied that it was with genuine sympathy
that he saw his opponent in such a case, the more
so as he knew that it had not been easy for the
Emperor to decide upon the war. This utterance
did Napoleon obvious good, and he protested
warmly that he had only bowed to public
opinion in deciding upon the war, to which the
King replied, ‘‘ That public opinion should have
taken this turn, must be laid to the score of those
whom you called to be your advisers.” Passing
to the immediate object of the visit, the King

B

210 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

asked if Napoleon had now any propositions to
make, which the Emperor negatived, with the
remark that, as a prisoner, he had no influence on
the Government. To the further question where
then was their Government, he replied, ‘‘In Paris.”
The King then turned the conversation to the
immediate personal position of the Emperor, and
offered him Wilhelmshéhe as a residence, which
he at once accepted; he seemed more particularly
gratified when His Majesty remarked that he
would for security give hima guard of honour
over the border. When in the further course
of the conversation, Napoleon expressed the
conjecture that he had been opposed by the Army
of Frederick Charles, the King informed him that
it had been I and the Crown Prince of Saxony.
To his question, ‘‘ Where then was Prince Frederick
Charles ?’’ the King replied with emphasis,
‘“With seven Army Corps before Metz.’ The
Emperor stepped back with every sign of distressed
surprise; a painful twitch crossed his face, for it
was now clear to him for the first time that he had
not got the entire German army against himself.
The King praised the valour of the French army,
which Napoleon willingly conceded, but he remarked
that they were lacking in the discipline which
so greatly distinguished our army. The Prussian

Interview with Napoleon 211

artillery are the finest in the world, and his troops
were unable to withstand our fire. The interview
must have lasted a good quarter of an hour, when
they came out again; the King’s tall, fine figure
looking wonderfully dignified as compared with
the solid little Emperor. When the latter became
aware of my presence, he stretched out one hand
to me, while with the other he brushed away the
heavy tears that coursed down his cheeks. He
told me with gratitude of the words, and more
particularly the magnanimous manner, with which
the King had received him. I, of course, adopted
the same tone, and asked if he had been able to
rest in the night? to which he replied that
anxiety for his people had prevented him from
getting any sleep. To my regrets that the war
should have taken such a desperately sanguinary
course, he replied that this was unfortunately
only too true, and the more terrible ‘ quand
on Ma pas voulu la guerre!” He had had no
news of the Empress and of his son for eight
days, and begged permission to send them
cypher telegrams. We took leave with ‘shake
hands” (sic). Boyen and Linar accompanied
him; his suite looked gloomy, in brand-new uni-
forms, beside ours, which had gone through the
war with us.

212 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

September 3.—Donchéry. Bismarck came to
see me. We retain Alsace, under German ad-
ministration for Confederation or Empire: the
Kaiser idea was hardly mentioned; I saw that
Bismarck only favoured it conditionally, and took
care not to press it, although I am convinced
that we must come to it; the development tends
that way, and no better opportunity can come
than through this victory. Failly and Ducrot
asked me if they might travel through Belgium:
Napoleon has gone off—immediately after came
a cypher-telegram for him from the Empress,
which I sent after him by Seckendorf—the
Belgians show much sympathy for him. My
fear is that the results of the war will not
correspond with the just expectations of the
German people.

September 6.—Rheims. Quarters with Werle
(Cliquot), where I gave champagne as an ex-
ception, otherwise nothing of that sort is drunk
under my command in the field. Cathedral and
Coronation Hall spoiled by rococo style.

Apart from the desire for peace, there is
a general feeling of resentment against Paris,
that decides everything; the people are formally
divided into French and Parisian; they wonder
that we go among them without an _ escort.

Question of A lsace-Lorraine 213

‘‘ Napoléon n'aurait jamais osé se hasarder ainsi”
is what one hears. My hope is in the serious
nature of the people, the duty of a liberal building-
up of Imperial and National life; if the right
moment is missed now in the general agitation,
the passions will be diverted, through inactivity,
into byways. The King of Bavaria has conferred
on me the Order of Max-Joseph, which is only
given for victories that have been won; no one
possesses it in Bavaria. °

September 8.—Deep grief at Jasmund’s death ;
many were more gifted, but few so faithful; I had

counted much on him for the future. France is ~

now our natural foe for all time, hence her
debilitation is our task; the field of strategic
action, hitherto so narrow, is made easier through
the possession of Alsace.

September 12 to 14.—Alsace-Lorraine. Imperial
territory without a dynasty ; indigenous Council
of Administration ; the question is how to separate
them from the great body of the French State,
and yet let them feel themselves part of a great
Empire, and not condemned to rank with the
Particularists (die Kleinstaaterei mit zu machen).
Russell (the Times correspondent), who disappeared
without a trace, travelled direct to England, even
writing much in the carriage. Roggenbach

214 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

advises that we use the time to advocate
decentralization in France by our influence. _

September 16.—Coulommiers. Order to the
army to invest Paris; from Meaux to Head-
Quarters. Favre announced through English
mediation; Bismarck agrees; one must give him
a hearing in order to know him. Bavaria, not
inclined to a congress of ministers, had, in the
first place, urgently demanded that Delbriick
should come. Gortschakow against the cession
of Alsace. Napoleon is astonished at his good
treatment in Wilhelmshéhe! what did he expect
from us? we honour ourselves by acting thus.
Boyen says the behaviour of the public has every-
where been tactful; he admired our Landwehr-
guards. The Republic is settling down, without
making any talk; the Maire of Coulommiers says
that Napoleon’s position had already been made
untenable through Ollivier. Isle de France is a
splendid land; the country-folk make a pleasing
impression, the people ask quaint questions, and
handle my star.

* % * % * *

September 19.—Paris invested. Versailles on
the point of capitulating! then congratulates
itself on being within range, on account of the
mob. Sevres begs for billets.

Investment of Paris 215

September 20.—In Versailles at the Préfecture.
The news from Bavaria good. In considering the
State apartments, where so much unhappiness
for Germany has been determined on, and in
which the scorn for its degeneration is pictorially
represented, I foster the firm hope that the
rehabilitation of Emperor and Empire may be
celebrated on this very spot.

September 22.—To Ferriéres. Comparable to a
chest of drawers with its legs uppermost, inside
a curiosity-cabinet of meaningless luxury. Favre
is grateful for the treatment he has received ;
has left a favourable impression on our officers, ;
but refuses our demands by letter. Impression
made by Sedan and the Republic upon Austria ;
the Emperor of Russia sends Moltke the Order
of St. George. Three years ago, I was walking
with the Empress Eugénie in the Park at Ver-
Sailles! Christening carriages, cradles of the
Duke of Reichstadt, the Comte de Chambord, the
Comte de Paris, the Prince Imperial! Solemn
service in the open air—the French much im-
pressed. Excursion to 8. Cloud; picture of the
arrival of Queen Victoria when the Crown Princess
first came on the continent; the French even-
tually destroyed it themselves! On the Council
table, where the decision for war had been carried,

216 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

lay draughts of the Prussian army, lint in baskets,
invitation cards of the Empress-Regent. The
appointments are charming and luxurious. ?

September 28.—Strasburg has capitulated; I
am writing to the King to prepare everything
for the immediate restoration of the Cathedral,
the Library, and so forth.

September 29.—Fifteen years ago to-day, I was
betrothed at Balmoral.

September 30.—To Ferriéres. Favourable news
from Delbriick, to the astonishment of Bismarck.
I talked to His Majesty about the Imperial
Question, which is drawing near; he treats it
as if it were not on the horizon: stands upon
du Bois-Reymond’s dictum, that Imperialism has
gone to the ground, so that in future there can
only be a King of Prussia, Duke of the Germans.
I pointed out, on the other hand, that the three
Kings obliged us to take the supremacy as Kaiser,
that the thousand years’ crown of Kaiser and King
had nothing to do with modern Imperialism; at
the end his opposition was weakened.

October 2.—Queen Victoria, who watches our —
actions with touching sympathy, has telegraphed
to His Majesty to urge him to be magnanimous
in regard to the Favre proposals of peace, although
she has no practical measures to propose.

Investment of Parts 217

October 3.-—General Burnside comes from Paris
—looks wise—speaks so candidly that Blumenthal
and I think him not to be talking without the
permission of the plenipotentiaries. They wish
for peace, but with no cession of territory. Favre,
on the contrary, told him he saw perfectly that
France, now vanquished, must acquiesce in the
loss of Alsace, but the present Government could
not take arbitrary steps in the matter, because
consent to our demands would mean their own
downfall. Therefore, the convening of a Con-
stituent Assembly is necessary, because the desire
for peace expressed in the same, and in the name
of the people, might give support to the Govern-
ment. JI remarked that we have throughout
been unwilling to hinder the elections fixed for
October 2, which surprises the Americans. Re-
moved to Les Ombrages.

October 5.—His Majesty arrives with the
colossal Head-Quarters; the mass of the waggons
is incredible, since every tinker and tailor has
his own. |

October 6.—The fountains play: to the great
surprise of the public, the King goes about
casually among the crowd.

Thiers suggests bringing King Leopold to the
Throne of France, which Bismarck holds to be

218 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

still-born: it disappoints him to find no response
in England; they seem unwilling there to recog-
nize that German help will have to be sought
in the future. Delbriick summoned, to explain
the contradictions in his letters and telegrams.
Bismarck wants to upset nothing, properly speak-
ing; he disapproves of Jacobi’s arrest, and is
uneasy about its effect on the elections, but
cannot persuade the King to liberate him. Vogel
von Falckenstein is no politician, insists on doing
everything, and declines legal assistance; the
King cannot disavow him. Letter from Renan,
asking me for a safe conduct, recalling our
acquaintance of 1867.

October 9.—Service in the Palace Chapel.

October 10.—Preliminary arrangements of the
siege. Delbriick arrives. Bavaria consents to
the conditions of entrance into the North-German
Confederation, only standing out for military and
diplomatic points. The Ministers are not at one
among themselves, and appeal to contradictory
statements of the King, who discoursed with
Delbriick for an hour and a half upon matters
which for the most part have nothing to do
with his mission; he is studying the Infalli-
bility Question. Bismarck is much provoked
with Schneider, who puts tactless and false

Investment of Paris 219

statements into the Staats-Anzeiger. Duke Fried-
rich goes to v. d. Tann, believes it will come
to nothing, and in Versailles finds the news
of Artenay. Bismarck tells me that Chambord
and Ollivier have written to His Majesty. The
former would listen to the cry of his people, but
with no territorial concessions. Ollivier owns to
having advised war; warns us, however, against
demanding concessions. The one can do nothing ;
the other is involved in everything, and both
dare to give advice to the victor! St. Cloud
in flames. Burnside comes from Paris again,
deputed by the Government, who are pursuing
the war without any plan, simply to keep in ‘
office. Bazaine is sending his Chief of the Staff
to negotiate on a military-political footing. Bis-
marck would give him audience, Roon and Moltke
not—disunited among themselves; upbraid each
other for not having received any intelligence.
Friedrich Karl is opposed, because he fears
the capitulation might be definitively settled in
Versailles.

The King of Wiirtemberg wants to treat with
us directly, so as not to appear to be towed by
Bavaria. Bismarck is grappling with the Kaiser
Problem, tells me he made a mistake in treating
the question with indifference in 1866, but did

220 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

not then think the desire among the German
people for the Imperial throne so strong as it now
appears to be, and only fears the development of
great luxury at the Court, as to which I reassured
him. The Duke of Coburg is for election by
Princes, who would take the place of the Electors.

October 14.—Stosch tells me that Boyer has
been in Versailles since yesterday evening; he
wants to negotiate for the free withdrawal of the _
army of Metz, since Bazaine might attempt a

Restoration. Bismarck will make use of him, so
as to retain all means in his hand that could

possibly lead to a peaceful conclusion.

October 18.—This unique celebration of my
birthday shows me plainly the serious nature of
the task which I must accomplish in the field
of German politics, for I hope to be spared
more wars in the future, and that this may be
my last campaign. Evidently, many are looking
with confidence towards the task which will one
day, please God, rest in my hands, and I feel
a certain security for the performance of the
same, because I know that I shall prove myself
worthy of the confidence placed in me. The
present negotiations are difficult. Bismarck seems
to be putting his whole strength into the thing.
The King came to me early; he has granted my

The Kaiser Question 221

request,and wears the First Class of the Iron Cross:
at dinner he proposed my health, as the one
*‘ who has brought us all here.’”” The Grand-Duke
of Weimar asks my views about the German
Question, and uses the expression, ‘‘ a constitution
unifying all the German States:’’ this must
come, but in the first place Germany requires
the Monarchical Head, and that indeed at the
present time.—I have discovered that there has
been some ill-feeling against England; that is
over, but whether the predisposition for Russia
and America will not fan the hatred of England
once more, no one can tell.

Twesten’s death is a loss that cannot be re-
placed; I met Bennigsen, who was summoned by
Bismarck, and told me he had received a favourable
impression. Bismarck is against an Upper House.

October 23.—Bray, Pranckh, and Suckow are
with me; they do not say much, but are there.

October 24.—Rumours of Gortschakow’s re-
nunciation of the neutralization of the Black Sea.
Bismarck tells my brother-in-law that at the end
of the war he will stand out against Infallibility.

October 25.—The South-German Ministers dine
with me. Mitnacht seems the most capable; he
expressed himself favourably in a private audience
that he requested, as does Suckow. Bray spoke

222 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

with Bismarck yesterday about the Imperial
Dignity (Kaiser- Wiirde); he, the latter, declared
that an Upper House, in which the Kings would
sit with the Counts and Lords upon a dais,
would be impossible, so that over this question
alone the Kaiser and the Confederation would be
at a standstill.

October 26.—Moltke’s seventieth birthday. I
brought him a laurel wreath; he is one with me
in wishing to reduce Paris by starvation, and is
against the opening of parallels.

October 27.—Metz has capitulated, but France
is making every effort to relieve Paris, while
Podbielski always demonstrated that it was in-
capable of doing so. I treat Dalwigk coldly—
Hofmann in a friendly manner. Bismarck says
he is not against the Upper House and Imperial
Prime Minister on principle, and would not refuse
his consent later on.

October 28.—In the Orangerie at Versailles. The
trees might be twice as high. Napoleon III. did
not like oranges, and presented a great many to
the Comtesse Beauregard. But what was built
in former times was for eternity, to-day it is mostly
surface-show, and for appearance only.

October 29.—Telegram from Friedrich Karl,
‘‘ Congratulations, mein Herr General - Feld-

The Kaiser Question 223

marschall.’ An hour and a half later, I received
my appointment. Its touching and ajffectingly
beautiful words of recognition ; above all, however,
the sentence that my brave army must in this
promotion, never before conferred on a Prince of
the House, see a distinction for its own services, |
helped me over the feeling of grief that this pecu-
liarly beautiful old family tradition had now been
broken through. Friedrich Karl will have taken
this appointment more as something expected.

Moltke has been made Count. I suggested
to the Grand-Duke of Baden to come; Dalwigk
appears very coulant, will make propositions as
to the Imperial Minister and the Upper House.
Roggenbach is and remains the only reasonable
and dependable man among the statesmen who
are present.

October 30.—Thiers arrives ; meets the magni-
ficent Guard-Landwehrs; avoids political topics
until he has been in Paris. In Berlin, the lay-
people from their warm rooms advocate the bom-
bardment of Paris. To my astonishment Dalwigk
unfolded to me the programme of the German
_ Question. Prince Otto of Bavaria, who has
suddenly been called to Munich by a weighty
communication, came to make his adieus.

November 1.—Dalwigk had a conference with

224 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the assembled German and Friesian Ministers, in
order to win Bavaria to the idea of a German
Kmpire with responsible Ministry and a States
or Upper House; but they arrived at no result,
more particularly since Bray made known that
the question under consideration had already been
discussed with Delbriick in Munich, but had fallen
through owing to the refusal of Prussia! Bismarck,
however, appealed to the South-German feeling
against it. The King told Roggenbach yesterday
evening that he looked upon the North-German
Constitution as requiring revision and alteration,
and in general expressed himself favourably in
regard to the Imperial Question. Since Bismarck
cannot get away, it has been proposed to convene
the German Reichstag in this place; a forcible
impression would be made, and if this could be
combined with the Congress of Princes that I
desire, the German Question would be settled at
one blow.
4 November 2.—Report of Bismarck as to the
negotiations with Thiers. The latter says that
twenty-eight days are required to elect the
Constituent Assembly,—the same to be a time of
armistice, and ravitaillement, to which we ought
to contribute. On Bismarck’s enquiring for the
reciprocal proposals, Thiers said in surprise, the

Sr

Negotiations with Thiers 225

prospect of arriving at a regular Government
through the “ Constituante:”’ on the refusal of
provisions, the exclamation escaped him, “‘ Mais
nous aurions done alors la capitulation au milieu
de Varmistice.””’ When Bismarck blamed him for
making use of the Turcos, he replied, ‘ Mais
vous vous servez donc tout de méme des Uhlans.”’
November 3.—Thiers makes his proposals in
writing; three weeks will not suffice to get in
the provisions necessary for the victualling of
Paris. Reinforcements must be sent against the
masses gathering on the banks of the Loire; the
King, however, does not agree. Delbriick thinks
one cannot compel a member of the Union, such
as Bavaria, to come in at the present moment :
I, however, assert that we do not know our own
power, and in consequence can, in the present
epoch-making moment, do whatever we earnestly
desire—only in God’s name, let us ask what we do
want; and who does want anything in earnest
now? Idea of assembling the Reichstag here
given up. The Grand-Duke of Baden is coming.
November 7.—At last the reinforcements for
v. d. Tann have been conceded by the King. The
Grand-Duke finds the King more inclined to the
German Question than he anticipated. Bismarck
has told the Ministers it is the wish of the
Q

226 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Prussian Government that the German Princes
should seal the peace here with the pommels
of their swords, to which idea the King of Saxony
has already given his consent. The Grand-Duke
of Oldenburg is coming, so we shall soon have
material enough for a Congress of Princes. The
Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg receives the chief
command on the Loire. I would willingly have
given him the Duke of Coburg, who is keenly
anxious for service; the Military Cabinet, how-
ever, makes the undeniable nervous activity of the
Duke of value in critical moments.

November 10.—Note to Bismarck about the
attitude of our Press in regard to England.
VY. d. Tann’s news from Coulommiers sounds
unfavourable. |

November 11.—Bismarck sends Abeken, who
is full-bearded, to reply in answer to my note,
that he regrets the tone of our Press against
England, and has accordingly instructed Hulen-
burg; and Bernstein has also been written to
in the same sense. The Grand-Duke of Baden
has the impression that Bismarck is in earnest
about the Imperial Question: the Grand-Duke
has written a quite extraordinary letter to the
King of Bavaria, which, however, remains un-
answered. Wiirtemberg makes reservations about

“ ee ee ee

The Imperial Question 227

the Military Convention; the right to promotion
in his Division is prejudicial to his own officers.

November 12.—The sentry will not admit me
to the Villa Stern, as he has no order to make
exceptions! The Wiirtemberg Ministers have
suddenly departed, on the receipt of bad news,
just as they were going to sign; this is an
intrigue of Gasser—Suckow and Mitnacht are
honest. Roon and Podbielski complain of know-
ing nothing. Bismarck is shocked that such
Prussian Particularists should be concerned in this
affair. Ledochowski is informing himself whether
the Pope will be accepted in Prussia. Bismarck
holds that the evacuation of Rome would be an
enormous error on the part of Pio Nono, but his
stay in Germany might be productive of good
results, because the sight of the Roman Priest-
hood would cure the Germans. The King and
myself are strongly against it.

November 14.—Odo Russell is coming; the
Russian withdrawal is a fact. It is said that
Palmerston remarked to Brunnow, on the signing
of the Treaty of 1856, that it would not last ten
years. General Annenkow brings a letter from
the Emperor Alexander—Reuss only heard of it
after it had been sent off—with the request not
to telegraph until the King had received the

228 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

letter. We telegraphed to postpone the step,
but received the answer that it was too late—
despatches had gone simultaneously to London
and Vienna.

November 16.—Our representatives are to
remain passive; the King is much annoyed, and
tells me that this surprise is beyond a joke.
In England this will certainly be taken as a
reprisal for the export of arms. Bismarck, how-
ever, denies all cognizance of it.

Talk with Bismarck on the German Problem ;
he is willing to come to a conclusion, but points
out the difficulties with a shrug of his shoulders:
what, ¢g., are we to do against the South
Germans? Do I wish that they should be
threatened? I reply, ‘ Yes, surely; there is
no danger if only we maintain a firm and com-
manding attitude; you will see that I was right
to maintain that; you are not yet fully aware
of your power.” Bismarck entirely refuses
threats, and says that even in the most ex-
treme measures, in last resort, we ought not
to threaten, because that would be throwing
these States into the arms of Austria. On
taking office he had the firm intention of bring-
ing Prussia to war with Austria, but was careful
then, and in general, to avoid speaking to His

The Imperial Question 229

Majesty too early about it, until he saw that
the psychological moment had arrived. So now
we must wait for the fitting time to let the
German Question develop itself. I replied that
I could not view such delays with indifference,
seeing that I represented the Future. It was
not necessary to use force: we could quietly wait
to see if Bavaria or Wiirtemberg ventured to
attach themselves to Austria. Nothing would
be easier than not merely to have the Kaiser
proclaimed by the majority of the German Princes
here assembled, but also to ratify some Constitu-
tion with a Supreme Head, corresponding with
the just demands of the German people: this
would’ create a pressure that the Kings would
be unable to withstand. Bismarck observed that
I was quite alone in this opinion; it would be
more correct to reach the desired end by letting
the movement come from the lap of the Reichstag.
On my pointing to the dispositions of Baden,
Oldenburg, Weimar, Cobutg, he took refuge in
the wishes of His Majesty. I replied that I
knew very well that in such a matter his refusal
would of itself be sufficient to make the thing im-
possible with His Majesty. Bismarck replied that
I was reproaching him, while he knew that the
blame was deserved by quite other people. In

ry \

230 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

this respect we must remember the great inde-
pendence of the King in political matters, in that
he always looks through every weighty despatch
himself, and even corrects it. He regretted that
the question of the Kaiser and Supreme Head
should be generally discussed, because the
Bavarians and Wiirtembergers would thereby be
offended. I remarked that Dalwigk had incited
them. Bismarck thought my utterances must
be prejudicial ; he considers, speaking generally,
that the Crown Prince ought not to express such
views. I at once protested emphatically, on the
contrary, that speech should not be denied to
me in this way,—rather in such questions of the
future, I regarded it as a duty not to leave any
one in doubt as to my views; in any case, it
rested with His Majesty alone to point out to
me in what matters I might express myself, and
in what not—if indeed I were not thought old
enough to judge of them for myself. Bismarck
replied that if the Crown Prince commanded, he
would act in accordance with his views. I pro-
tested against this, because I had no orders to
give him, on which he explained that, for his
part, he would be quite ready to make way for
any one else whom I thought more fitted for the
conduct of affairs than himself; till then, however,

The Imperial Question 231

he must maintain his principles according to his
best lights and individual knowledge of all the
circumstances relating to the subject. Then we
came to questions of detail; at the conclusion I
remarked that I had perhaps been too hasty, but
that no one could expect me to be indifferent at
this epoch-making moment.

November 17.—Delbriick goes to Berlin for
the opening of the Reichstag. In my opinion,
the present disposition of the Third Army should
be kept up in peace, as in this way I should
remain Commander-in-Chief: I could then exert
my influence, with the needful admixture of
prudence and severity, only excusing myself the
inspections, with parades, dinners, etc. The King
is over-done; he is obliged to follow the opera-
tions and negotiations simultaneously, and the
distractions of social intercourse are wanting,
seeing that the daily guests are becoming highly
monotonous. I am well; read and write from
6 a.m. ; later on the time is cut up.

November 18.—Roggenbach thinks the situation
more favourable than it appears to be. I am
pleased with the Zimes article on my letter of
thanks to Lindsay; would that I might suc-
ceed, according to the principles of my ever-
remembered father-in-law, in forging a chain

232 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

between these two countries, so closely bound up
with one another.

November 19.—Odo Russell has come; his first
impression of Bismarck was favourable; he is my
old, respected, and beloved acquaintance of Rome
in 1862. Meyer comes, to the general astonish-
ment.

November 20.—Bavaria is veering round.

November 21,—Bismarck tells me our conver-
sation of the 16th has decided him to set to work
in earnest, and to take the negotiations in hand
after Delbriick’s departure; both kingdoms are
now willing to come in, but he still has to play
his trump-card. oon threatens to break off the
military negotiations on account of the external
cognizances. Thus at the “green table” we
remain for ever the same; in contrast, I am
refreshed by the opinions in the Volks-Zeitung,
which always hits the nail on the head.

November 23.—A moment of strained combi-
nations. Moltke always brings the matter forward
with the greatest lucidity, and even precision ;
has invariably considered and calculated on every-
thing, and always hits the nail on the head; but
Roon’s shrugs, and Podbielski’s Olympic security,
often influence the King. Talked with Prankh,
who has enough insight and knowledge to be able

The Imperial Question 233

to help his own people, but for the moment can-
not get beyond entrance into the Confederation.
He attaches much importance to this result, but
asks all the more that the rest should be left to
time.

November 24.—Signed with Bavaria yesterday
evening.

November 25.—Bismarck urgently advocates »
shelling. Blumenthal, in a Memorandum to
Moltke, points out the senselessness of a bom-
bardment that only involves the forts, which
must be taken by regular approaches and assault.
We ought to make good our lodgment there under
the effective fire of the enemy—thence attack the
strongly fortified enceiznte—and lastly advance to
the city itself. Bismarck has let it be known
that if the offer of the Imperial Dignity (Kaiser
Wiirde) is not made shortly from the side of the
Princes, the Reichstag cannot be prevented longer
than at latest the middle of next week from
making the proposition. A prolonged conversa-
tion with Odo Russell again displayed the capability
of this gifted diplomatist; he is satisfied with
Bismarck, whom he finds very amenable. In the
Roman Question, he foresees great trouble for the
Savoy Dynasty in consequence of the occupation
of Rome; he anticipates far-reaching democratic

234 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

reforms within the Catholic Church from the
successors of Pius, so that in time an active Pope
might well succeed in uniting the spiritual with
the temporal Sovereignty in Italy (?). Prince
Lynar is sent to Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and
Saxony, with an autograph letter from the King
to invite the Sovereigns. Holnstein has arrived,
and is seeking lodging and stabling for the King
in the Trianon. Odo Russell tells His Majesty
that it will be owing to the statesmanlike wisdom,
as well as to the correct procedure of Bismarck,
if we escape from the Pontifical Question without
a belligerent conflict.

November 28.—In Berlin they are gone mad
over the bombardment: Frau von B designates
me ‘as the culprit, quite correctly. Nothing shall
incline me to begin until all the ammunition has
arrived; the mere firing could have commenced
long ago, but would promptly have been obliged
to cease for lack of ammunition. The war-drones
(Schlachten-bummler), who follow the course of the
war without responsibility or knowledge, argue
that our batteries can only be so disposed as to
leave the Artizans’ Quarters untouched—and
these decide. I offer the command to any
man who talks to me in this way.

Holnstein has suddenly departed! Bismarck

The Imperial Question 235

orders all members of the Reichstag who are on
the field to set off to Berlin to vote.

November 30.—A draught from Bismarck for
the King’s letter to His Majesty in re the Imperial
Dignity has gone to Munich. The Grand-Duke
tells me they did not manage to find the right
way of expressing it there, and begged it might .
be sent from us: the King of Bavaria has really
subscribed to the letter, and Holnstein is bring-
ing it!

December 3.—Holnstein has arrived; Prince
Luitpold is to hand over the document to the King
by special command. After dinner, report from
Bismarck, who reads the letter aloud, the King
finding it as untimely as possible, whereupon
Bismarck remarks that the Imperial Problem has
nothing to do with the campaign of the moment.
As we left the room, Bismarck and I shook hands.
With to-day’s work Emperor and Empire are irre-
vocably established ; the sixty-five years’ interreg-
num—the Kaiser-less, terrible time—is now over,
this proud title is already pledged; we owe this
essentially to the Grand-Duke of Baden, who has
been extraordinarily active. Roggenbach is sent
to Berlin by Bismarck; I am writing a letter
(Lese-Brief) to Simson.

December 6.—Odo Russell says Bismarck is

236 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

favourable to the alliance with England. The
King much annoyed that Delbriick read the
letter from the King of Bavaria to the Reichstag.
Stillfried sends marvellous attempts at Imperial
Coats-of-Arms, the Prussian with the crown of
the Austrian House; he will not admit the
crown of the German Kings, which I particularly
wanted as the attribute of the German Imperial
Sovereignty.

December 7.—Princess Frederick of the Nether-
lands dead; she was the most gifted of the three
sisters. The Grand-Duke of Weimar told me
that, as the King’s brother-in-law, he had com-
manded his delegates to propose to the Council
of the Confederation that Kaiser and Empire
should be admitted to the League; Bismarck
wished this. Great dinner at the King’s in honour
of the Russian Feast of St. George. Stosch on
the brilliant victory at Bazoches; he speaks well of
the Grand-Duke, who is considered to have talent.

December 9.—I received Delbriick’s proposition
of the Imperial Question ; it is beyond measure
weak, dull, and dry; it was deplorable—as if he
had pulled the Kaiser’s crown, wrapped up in old
newspaper, out of his breeches’ pocket: it is
impossible to put any spirit into these people.
It is asked if this Confederation is to be the result

The Imperial Question 237

of the sacrifice, a work that only befits the men,
for whom and by whom it has been undertaken.
I am quite aware of the endless worries and diffi-
culties that to-day’s sins of omission will bring
to my lot. Meantime I have ordered Commandant
v. Voigts-Rhetz tacitly to keep the Salle des

Glaces free. The Grand-Duke of Baden says that ~

the title of Kaiser, so apparently empty to-day,
will soon acquire its full significance.

December 10.—Russell complains of the in-
creasingly apparent isolation of England. The
King is excited over Delbriick’s procedure; the
King of Saxony has expressed his surprise: he
is afraid of the deputation from the Reichstag,
because it looks as if the Imperial Question issued
from the Reichstag, and will not receive it until
he has the consensus of all the States collectively, *
through the King of Bavaria.

December 12.—Pfalzburg capitulates, which ,
it has never done before. On the 16th the
Deputation is to arrive. The King of Bavaria
has been telegraphed to send off the document
which has long been in his hands.

December 14.—Anniversary of Prince Albert’s
death. I remember how he always said to me,
we must give up the idea of playing any decisive
role without the co-operation of Germany.

238 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

December 15.—Moltke is expecting the capitu-
lation of Longwy and Meziéres, because the Com-
mandant declares that he will only let himself be
buried with the last stone! His bearing and
manner of expression in such moments are quite
empayable.

December 16.—The King will not hear of re-
ceiving the Deputies, yet he is more alive to the
thing ; it is unfortunate that Bismarck should just
now be suffering in his foot. The Grand-Duke of
Baden works as a good genius.

December 17.—I hear from Prince Karl’s Court
Marshal, that His Majesty is giving a dinner
to-morrow to the Delegates from the Reichstag.
Bismarck says the King intends to receive them
before ; long talk with Simson, who is correct and
logical. Count Perponcher said to Adalbert,
‘We want this Imperialism (Kaiserthum) to be
not for every day, but for great Court functions
or celebrations;’’ to which Adalbert replied, ‘ If
the King raised you to the rank of Prince, would
you assume the title only on exceptional occa-
sions ?”’ Boyen asks what our King will do, if the
Prussian Landtag deny him the Imperial crown ?
“* Du gleichts dem Geist dem Du begrerfst” (Thou
art equal to the mind that thou conceivest).

Sunday, December 18.—Deeply moved by the

King William as Emperor 239

reception—dignified and good. Rogge’s sermon
proved to me that some weight was still attaching
to the reception. Princes and Generals begged of
me that they might be present, which I at once
repeated to the King after church; he was much
astonished, but ended by saying that if any of
them really wished to be there he had no objection
to make. Accordingly they all appeared, at which
the King again expressed his surprise; only
Luitpold was missing. At the last moment the
Royal Adjutants were appointed. His Majesty
took his place in the chief saloon of the centre
building, the Princes of the House to the right,
the reigning Princes (Fiirsten) to the left. Simson’s
masterly discourse moved me to tears; no eye
was dry ; then came the reading of the address.
The King’s answer followed with some, hesi-
tation, for he no longer reads easily without
glasses; from emotion, too, he had to pause several
times. Then followed the, presentation of the
Delegates. During the entire ceremony cannon
were fired from Mont Valérien ; outside there were
crowds of people. The future position of the
King’s family is still dubious; Kaiserliche Hoheit
(Imperial Highness) goes much against the grain
with me.

December 19.—The Delegates are content ;

240 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

their appearance has worked favourably. I dined
with Bismarck ; the officials sat dumb, the candles
were stuck into the necks of bottles. Stosch is
back ; praises Wittich very much, as also Treskow. .

December 24.—Christmas festivities. Great
surprise on the part of the French at our pur-
chases; Russell got an officer’s porte-épée in the
lottery.

December 25.—Properly speaking, it is an ironical
travesty of the Angels’ message, since either side
appeals to God on behalf of its own as the just
cause, and argues at each success that its opponents
have been left in the lurch by Heaven.

December 27.—Bourbaki against Belfort. Blu-
menthal is happy over this indiscretion.

December 28.—Letter from the King of the
Belgians, full of sympathy for the Kaiser and
Empire, and full of great expectations for the
latter. He sees in it the restoration of Order and
Conscience of Law in Europe, and designates the
duties which these involve as ‘truly splendid.”
He is zealously endeavouring to fulfil his duties as
the neutral party according to agreement, but the
advantages of such a position are not without
serious drawbacks and difficulties. He accuses
the foreign littérateurs of misusing the Belgian
freedom of the Press against us ; France complains

King Wilham proclaimed Emperor 241

of Belgium, because the latter permits the German
wounded and provisions to pass through, while
the fugitive French are forbidden to return to
France, and are kept there.

December 29.—The King received a commenda- ,
tory telegram of congratulation from the Képenicker
Strasse, on our having at last begun the bombard-
ment. I drew up with the Grand-Duke of Baden a
proclamation for Kaiser and Empire. ‘The former
succeeds to the German Kaiser, but is new in
every respect, seeing that in 1848 the old Prussian
Kingdom collapsed, to arise again constitutionally,
while title and forms remained. A year ago to-day
Napoleon communicated to me that Ollivier had |
been made Premier. Bismarck expressed himself “
as gratified with Leopold’s letter, and begs me to
point out in my answer the support that Belgium
would obtain from a strong Germany, from whom
she would never have anything to fear, nor, so
long as Germany remained strong, need she fear
France either.

December 31.—The King determines that he
will allow no publicity to-morrow, because Bavaria
has not yet consented. Delbriick, on the con-
trary, announces that the printed Constitution
of the Empire will appear in Berlin this even-
ing, and come into force at daybreak to-morrow,

R

242 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

proclaiming as actual the Kaiser and Empire.
Bismarck, whom I found in bed, and whose room
was like a rubbish-hole, declares that no Inaugura-
tion is possible without Bavaria’s acquiescence.
I then begged him to look at the historical 18th
of January, which seemed to appeal to him. It
is impossible for us to renounce Alsace-Lorraine,
even if the conquest of the latter is precarious.

1871.

January 1.—The King greeted me seriously
and with friendly emotion, with the wish that it
might be granted me to enter into the pacific
harvest sown by the present undertaking. He
could not indeed think that the permanent unity
of Germany would continue, since unfortunately
a, minority of the princes had not acted and thought
as one could have wished, in spite of the noble
example given by the Grand-Duke. I asked
Delbriick how the marine, telegraph, tax, and
postal departments were to be designated? ‘As
Imperial.” And the Army? ‘Ah, that is
another matter.’’” Whereupon I wished Delbriick
joy of the resulting chaos, A masterly toast of
the Grand-Duke to King William the Victorious—

ease.

Bombardment of Paris 243

in which he referred to the Empire as to-day, by
the official publication of the Constitution, coming
into force, although His Majesty would not
assume the Crown until the members collectively
gave in their adhesion. Great impression.

January 2.—A warm letter from Albrecht junior.
*« May this last and highest attainable step of our
House be for its welfare, and may it succeed in
being for the whole of Germany what it always
has been and is for Brandenburg and Prussia.”’

January 4.—Roon forbids the distribution of
the Volks-Zeitung. First day of bombardment.
What will the wiseacres of Berlin say, if, after
fourteen days, everything goes on as it was before ?
Werder in a critical position. Nothing on account
of my individual antipathy to war is to be spared
me in this colossal war of the giants. My aversion
to the bloody work is known everywhere ; indeed,
they even say of me, as I read to my secret
satisfaction, that wherever it is compatible with
strict fulfilment of duty, I let mildness and
leniency prevail.

January 8.—The burning questions are, treat- /
ment of invested Paris, armistice, and conditions
of peace. His Majesty invites Bismarck and
myself to debate over the Insignia of Kaiser and
Kmpire. Manteuffel is coming, on his way to

244 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the Army of the South; praises the débouché of
Albrecht, son, at St. Quentin. Bismarck consents
to talk to Moltke in my quarters.

January 12.—I pointed out to the King that
Schleinitz must be heard on Kaiser and Empire;
he replied that he only saw in the Kaiser a re-
version of the President of the Confederation, and
would preferably style himself ‘“‘ King of Prussia,
elected Emperor of Germany,’’ in which I see a
formal affront to the Princes as well as the people.

January 13.—Conversation between Bismarck
and Moltke at my quarters. A lively debate; the
taciturn Moltke was voluble. Schleinitz ordered
here.

January 15.—Werder asks if he would not do
better to give up Belfort now, because he thinks
he could then defend Alsace? Moltke read this,
and said with undisturbed icy composure, “ Your
Majesty will of course agree that General von
Werder will be answered that he has simply to
stand still, and to beat the enemy wherever he
finds him.” Moltke seems to me admirable
beyond praise; in a second he cleared up the whole
situation. His reply to Trochu with respect to
the Hospitals was that we would spare them, as
soon as we came near enough to distinguish them.
The King has finally agreed to the Proclamation

The German Constitution 245

on the 18th in the Salle des Glaces, but will have
nothing to do with the preparations, not even as
regards the Insignia.

January 16.—Werder’s victory on the defen-
sive; Manteuffel advances.

January 17.—In the afternoon a sitting in the
King’s Quarters, of Bismarck, Schleinitz, and
myself, of three hours, in an over-heated house,
over the title, succession to the throne, etc. In
consulting over the titles, Bismarck acknowledged :
that in discussing the Constitution, the Bavarian
Deputies would not admit the ‘‘ Emperor of
Germany,’ and that finally to please them, but
without previously asking His Majesty, he had con-
sented to the formula ‘‘ German Emperor.” This
designation satisfied the King as little as myself,
but in vain. Bismarck endeavoured to show that
“ Emperor of Germany ” implied territorial rights,
which we do not possess over the Empire, while
‘‘German Emperor” is the, natural consequence
of the Jmperator Romanus. We had to submit,
but the “of Germany” will come into use in
common parlance; the address will be ‘ Your
Imperial and Royal Majesty” (Hw. Kaserl. und
Kémgl. Mayjestit), never the ‘‘K.K.” Since we
hereby recognize that we have no territorial rights
over the Empire, the wearer of the crown, along

246 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

with his heirs, is certainly taken in a manner
exclusively from the Royal family of Prussia, and
thus my plan that our united family should take
the Imperial title falls to the ground. Next, long
debates as to the relation of Kaiser to Kaiser,
because His Majesty, against the old Prussian tra-
dition, ranks an Emperor higher. Both Ministers
contradicted this with me, and appealed to the
Archives, according to which Frederick I., on the
recognition of the Czar as Kaiser, expressly de-
clared that the latter was never to have precedence
of the Prussian King. Frederick William I. even
demanded, on meeting the German Kaiser, that
they should enter a tent with two doors simul-
taneously; and finally Bismarck pointed out that
Frederick William IV. had only introduced the
principle of subordination to the Arch-Ducal House
of Austria from his own well-known personal sense
of humility towards that House. The King, how-
ever, declared that since Frederick William III.,
on meeting Alexander I., had determined that
precedence belonged to the latter as Hmperor, he
‘also would now accept the will of his royal father
as authoritative for himself. As in the course of
the conversation it was determined that our family
should maintain its present position, the King
again pronounced his desire to express its equality

The German Constitution 247

with the Imperial Houses. Nothing was finally
settled in regard to this point, and the decision
was put off till a time of peace, or to some future
coronation. There was no talk of Imperial
Minister. Bismarck was to be Imperial Chancellor,
although the synonymous designation with Beust
annoyed him so much that he exclaimed ‘that he
was getting thereby into shocking company.” ‘The
Imperial colours needed little consideration, for,
as the King said, they had not to be picked out
of the street, but he would only; stand the cockade
along with that of Prussia. He forbade the idea
of an Imperial Army; the Navy, however, might
be termed Imperial. We could see how hard it
was for him to take leave to-morrow of the old
Prussians, to whom he clung so tenaciously.
When I pointed to the History of the House,—
how we had risen from Burgraves to be Electoral
Princes, and then Kings,—how Frederick I. had
exercised a nominal royalty, and had then made
it so powerful that the Imperial dignity was now
to be ours,—he replied, ‘‘ My son is with all his
heart in the new order of things, while I care
not a straw for them, and hold only by Prussia.
I say that he and his successors are ¢alled to
make the Empire now established into a reality.’’
January 18.—The duties of my wife and

248 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

myself are now doubled, but I call them thereby
doubly welcome, because I fear no difficulty : and
again, because I feel that I am not wanting in fresh
courage to undertake the work fearlessly and per-
sistently : and lastly, because I am convinced that
it was not brought about in vain, that between
the age of thirty and forty I have repeatedly been
called on to make the most weighty decisions, and,
looking in the face of the accompanying dangers,
to carry them through in spite of the latter. The
hopes, during long years, of our forefathers, the
dreams of German poets, are fulfilled, and—purified
from the dross of the Holy Roman Incubus—an
Empire, reformed in head and limbs, stands forth
under the old name, and the cognizances of a
thousand years, from its sixty years’ eclipse.

The good news of Werder’s victory at Chene-
biéres has an inspiriting effect upon the King ; just
as Moltke had read the despatches, the music that
was accompanying the sixty standards rang out.
This spectacle cheered him. Counting upon this
impression, I had ordered that a détour should be
made, so that the procession had to pass by the
Préfecture just at the moment of the audience.
A ray of sunshine broke at this moment through
the clouds. The ceremony was unique, its full
significance will only be known to us in course of

Proclamation of the Emperor Wiliam 249

time; only Albrecht sen. and jun. are wanting,
since they are in the field, and the Prince of
Hohenzollern, who, being in bad health, could
not attend the fulfilment of his dearest wishes.
The order of the Court Marshal’s announcement
was, that ‘‘the Ceremony of the Ordensfest will
take place,” etc. As the command, ‘ Helmets
off for prayer,’ was forgotten, I had to give it
myself aloud; the ‘‘ simple prayer’’ consisted in
a critique of Louis XIV., along with a historico-
politico treatise on the significance of January
18; the conclusion again was better. After His ,
Majesty had read a short address to the German
Sovereigns, Bismarck stepped forward, and read in
an even and business-like voice, the ‘‘ Address to
the German People.” At the words, ‘“‘ Augmentor
of the Empire,” I heard a thrill run through
the whole assembly, who had otherwise remained
without a sound. The Grand-Duke of Baden
now came forward with his own, natural, quiet
dignity, and cried aloud, ‘‘ Long live His Imperial
Majesty, Kaiser Wilhelm!” I bent my knee
before the Kaiser, and kissed his hand, on which
he raised me, and embraced me with deep emotion.
Then the Court. At dinner, His Majesty said to
me that I must now be addressed as Kazserliche
_ Hoheit (Imperial Highness), although he did not

250 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

yet know my title. In the evening, the Princes,
collectively, were with me; the Versaillese took
the thing as if the King had been made Emperor
of France. The first time I was addressed as
‘Your Imperial Highness,’’ I felt quite startled.

* % i xf # f

January 20.—During the family dinner I was
called out; the Comte d’Hélicourt has been sent by
Trochu to beg for an armistice, or at least, for a
forty-eight hours’ truce. As soon as I announced
this to the Emperor he looked hard at me for a
moment, for we both felt instinctively that such
a step must be the forerunner of great things.
I at once let Bismarck know how things were ;
we went to him to discuss the answer, which ran,
that the outposts were to agree about the inter-
ments in the usual manner, the rest could only
be arranged by writing.

January 22.—To-day, for the first time, prayed
for the ‘‘ Kaiser and King.’”’ The Kaiser has told
his suite that he remains their King, now as
before. Since there can be no Minister of the
Empire, for which I had recommended Roggen-
bach, I would gladly see him employed in Alsace,
where he knows about everything. We ought to
put those who are not Prussians in office, but the
Kaiser will not hear of it.

Capitulation of Paris discussed 251

January 23.—In the evening I received a
Cabinet Order about my title; that is a side-issue,
compared with its inner significance. I still feel
myself German only, and know no distinction
between Bavarian, Badenser, and whatever else
the inhabitants of the thirty-three Fatherlands
may call themselves, but will in no way mix
myself up in their internal affairs, or rob them of
their individuality. Would that all Germans
might regard me and my wife as theirs, and not
as North-German intruders.

In the afternoon, Favre appeared suddenly, and »
alighted at Bismarck’s.

January 24.—Tremendous excitement. Bis-
marck announced, in a conference at His Majesty’s,
attended by Moltke, Roon, and myself, that Favre
wanted to conclude an armistice, to hand over
the forts and lay down arms; he states that
hunger prevails in Paris, and that “‘ une sédition
a éclaté,’—Trochu has retired, and is now only
Président de la défense. Favre fears to return,
and manifested a wolf's hunger at Bismarck’s
supper. Silence was imposed upon us, but
Bismarck, coming from the Kaiser, whistled
Halali, which was enough for Lehndorff.

January 25.—Favre is here again, eating, “
as Bismarck declares, dinner enough for three

252 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

people all to himself, and yesterday took away
some Spickgans. |
January 26.—Conference with His Majesty in
regard to an armistice till February 19; the Jura
excepted; demarcation-lines of ten kilometres,
Constitutional Assembly ; the forts to be evacuated,
with the exception of Vincennes, which is a State
prison. The Germans are not to enter Paris
before the conclusion of the armistice, which
annoys the King; however, there is no help for
it, because no one will stand surety for the safety
of strangers while the Parisians are so embit-
tered. The enceintes will be disarmed, the gun-
carriages will be removed, the cannon will remain,
as they are not transportable; the laying down
of arms follows, with the exception of 12,000
men for the maintenance of order. Should the
armistice expire without the conclusion of peace,
everything is to be spoil of war. Favre excuses
himself for having come without military escort—
Trochu had sworn not to capitulate—Binoy could
not come, after he had once resigned the Com-
mando,—and Ducrot would not be accepted.
January 27.—To-day is Wilhelm’s thirteenth
birthday. May he become a clever, right-minded,
true, and faithful man, a genuine German, who
will carry out what is projected without prejudice.

Capitulation of Paris discussed 253

Thank God, the relations between him and our-
selves are simple, natural, and hearty; and our
task must be to maintain the same, so that he
may always regard us as his true, best friends.
The thought is really an anxious one, when one
clearly sees what hopes are already centred on the
head of this child, and how much responsibility
we incur towards the Fatherland, in the directing
of his education,—while external family matters
and questions of etiquette, Court life in Berlin,
and many other things, enormously increase the
difficulties of it.

Favre is here again, with Beaufort d’Hautpoul,
who was a little above himself, and made himself
too comfortable, so that it was hard to negotiate,
and Favre was much annoyed.

When the enemy’s outposts on the Sevres
bridge learned the aim of Favre’s journey, the
officers and men immediately danced a cancan on
the bridge with one another. ,

January 28.—Forckenbeck is with me.

January 30.—Visited Mont Valérien ; shocking
dirt in the forts; the guns are turned against
Paris; the French openly show us all their
mines. Favre is entirely loyal. Gambetta must »
have put away millions in safety, as is rumoured
from the Oppenheim bank circles.

254 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

February 2.—Bismarck says it seems to him
nowadays as if he must also be in the service
of France, because every Frenchman asks his
advice.

February 6.—Rumours of presents being pre-
pared at home for us, which I immediately
deprecated. The Grand-Duke of Baden proposes
that the German Princes should give the Kaiser
a life-sized picture of the Imperial Proclamation.

Werner was with us. )

| February 7,—Conditions of peace. Delbriick
will listen to nothing about colonies and warships.
Friedrich Karl with me; carries a riding-cane with
a gold knob, and a black and silver tassel twisted
round, similar to those carried by the Austrian
Field-Marshals; but he does not display it before
the King.

February 8.—Bismarck finds Favre temperate
and subdued, but so unbusiness-like and procrasti-
nating that the most important answers are often
delayed for days, because he forgets half of them.

February 14.—Cardinal, Bonnechose, Arch-
bishop of Rouen, with me; highly cultivated,
open-minded. After he had looked cautiously
round, to make sure that his chaplain in the next
room could not hear him, he brought up the
question of the contribution, and then came to

The Future of Italy 255

the position of the Pope. He hopes that the
institution of the Empire will restore to the Pope
the territory that is so essential to him, and will
confine Italy to Lombardy and Venetia, and rein-
state the King of Naples and the Grand-Duke of
Tuscany. Russia will vouch for the former, Austria
for the latter, while Germany, through her Kaiser,
will know how to keep down the Revolution, and
thus at the same time do a service to France,
since it is otherwise certain that anarchy would
ensue on the departure of our troops. To my
question, how all that is to be brought about, he
replied, through a Congress. Himself a convert,
he spoke temperately about the Evangelicals,

February 15.—Friulein von O6ctzen sends
reports from Stettin about the mismanagement
of the voluntary nursing of the sick, that make
one’s hair stand on end.

February 16.—Russell deplores the present
English politics. England could put a stop to the
war by decided speaking; by her actual politics
she will sink to the rank of a second-rate power.
It is, however, to be hoped that, as England’s
Crimean ally turns away from her, she will seek

compensation in Germany.—In Paris they are »

talking of the letting out of windows for our entry.
February 17.— With Eulenburg, Mischke,

256 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Winterfeldt, and Hahnke to Orleans. There we saw
Dupanloup before his departure for the constituante
—a nice old gentleman, but somewhat parlous.
Blois, a magnificent Castle in the Renaissance
style: never did I see such wealth of carving, of
fine stone-work, of clever devices of ciphers and
coats of arms, as well as of artistic knots and
festoons, and all this derives from the most
sanguinary period of French history.

February 18.—Chambord,—bald within,—the
portrait of a banished prince. Chaumont, belong-
ing to the strong Legitimist Count Walsh,
furnished entirely in style, hardly any cabinets
of curios. Amboise. Chenonceau, which belongs
to Madame Pelouse, née Wilson. In the evening
to Tours, where Friedrich Karl treated me as
a Field-Marshal; one of his Adjutants, that is,
came towards me, as far as the third step, and
remained standing there as a fixture, to which
my cousin expressly called my attention, as I
had of course not noticed it.

February 20.—Returned. Thiers has arrived.

February 21.—I think Metz might in any case
be sacrificed. Bismarck agrees, but is afraid of
being at a disadvantage, in view of the military
requisitions. A Coronation would only weaken
the 18th of January.

eS

a

Thiers and Peace Proposals 257

February 22.—I received Thiers; he declares »
that France is sighing for peace, but the Parisians
lay great stress on our not entering the capital, while
excesses and demonstrations seem to be feared.
As regards the cession of territory, that of Alsace
is hard enough, but no Frenchman will agree to
the cession of Lorraine; six milliards would be
impossible. He attaches most of the blame for
the war to Napoleon III., expresses himself
sharply as to Gambetta; the freely elected deputy
is the true representative of the people. Flatter-
ing words about the name I had won in France;
he acknowledged that the Kaiser was living in the
Préfecture, and leaving the Castle for the wounded.
He spoke with little modulation, mostly with his
eyes cast down, resigned, tactful throughout,
suave, without manner or phrases. When I
spoke, he looked at me inquiringly with shining,
clever eyes, through great sharp spectacles, clear,
straight, and critically. His external aspect is
that of a flourishing rentier.

February 23.—The task when peace is con-
cluded will be the solution of social questions,
which I must probe to the bottom. It is said that
the King of Wiirtemberg is coming.

February 24.—To Dreux, the family burying-
place of the Orléans: a strange mixture of the

S

258 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Gothic and Greek styles, Louis Philippe, among
others, as a saint on painted glass. Contradictory
rumours about the negotiations, idea of taking
Luxemburg instead of Metz.

February 25.—Coming to our accustomed con-
ference, the Kaiser at once asked me what I
said to the extraordinary events of yesterday's
negotiations, which had lasted into the night?
When I looked at him in complete bewilderment,
since as usual no one had seen fit to communi-
cate anything to me, he was incredulous. Thiers
would not consent to Bismarck’s proposition to
hand over Luxemburg to wus, whereupon the
alternative of Metz or Belfort was proposed, on
which Bismarck decided for Metz. Thiers dis-
coursed a great deal, till Bismarck lost patience,
and was not only testy, but talked German at him:
Thiers complained of barbarity, Bismarck of the
sending of an old man, with whom he could hardly
quarrel. Bray, Mitnacht, and Jolly, as witnesses
of the conversation, cannot sufficiently praise
Bismarck’s superiority. Thiers’ ignorance of
business has always been prejudicial to him.
Our successes are enormous, as Russell says
also.

February 26.—The Ratification. “Where shall
we find men with the right insight to set forth

Capitulation signed 259

the true principles, that must stand alongside
of these results? The Kaiser brings the news »
that after negotiating the whole day, the capitula-
tion was signed at 5 o’clock; embraced me,
Moltke, and Roon. When I expressed my sur-
prise to Bismarck that no communication had
been made to me, he excused himself on the
score of the lateness of the hour, and the utter
exhaustion of his officials. He admitted that
the great difficulty of justifying the surrender of
Metz to our military had mainly determined
him to hold out for this fortress.

February 27.—The King of Wiirtemberg came
to smoke with me in the evening; most courteous
to all whom I presented to him.

February 28.—I am to command the bails v
of 30,000 men in Longchamps, precisely where
the French review, which followed on the attempt
of Berezowski, took place in 1867.

March 1.—The Empress Eugénie telegraphed
to the Kaiser in the name of. all mothers and
children, to delay the entry of the troops, even
now, on account of the unavoidable bloodshed.

March 2.—Ratification fulfilled. Favre had
already telegraphed, and had then come himself,
but as Bismarck was still in bed, he could not
be admitted, so that he could only repeat the

260 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

communication in writing; upon which came
the reply that the original document was
required. The Emperor regretted that the
Guards were not now to enter the city; but
Moltke and Roon urged a strict compliance with
the conditions. I went with the Grand-Duke
through the deserted Bois de Boulogne; we lost
ourselves, came suddenly upon the Arc de l’Etoile,
and decided to go on into Paris. We went over
the Champs Elysées, which were full of soldiers,
along with the townspeople. The women were
in mourning, but curious,—the statues in the
city in mourning,—otherwise everything as it was.

March 3.—Bleichréder on the unbusiness-like
character of the French. Bismarck very short
with Rothschild, who at first spoke French
to him.

March 4.—To Chartres, where the Gothic
style was born into the world; in particular, the
treatment of many of the figures is wonderful,
their peculiar stiffness blending with the archi-
tectural forms. Russell took leave, greatly touched
at the way His Majesty bade him farewell. His
stay here was a real blessing.

March 6.—1 endeavoured to win Bismarck
over to Roggenbach, as Governor of Alsace, but

failed signally.

Future of German Empire 261

March 7.—Ferritres. EEven the greatest folly
cannot cancel what has been gained. I question
the sincerity of the liberal construction of the
Empire, and believe that only a new era, which
will have to reckon with me, will see this.
Experiences, such as I have accumulated during
the last ten years, cannot have been won in vain.
In the now united nation I shall find a strong
support for my ideas, more especially as I shall
be the first prince who comes before his people,
honestly attached to constitutional measures,
without reservation. More than ever in these
days I think of the proverb, ‘‘ Who fixes his
mind upon the whole, has long since quelled
the strife in his own breast” (Wer der Sinn
auf das Ganze hdlt gerichtet, dem ist der Streit
mm der Bunt schon ldngst geschlichtet). I bring
no sentiments of enmity against the French,
rather striving for reconciliation.

March 8.—Rest. Took the air with Stosch.
Rothschild has accumulated objects of luxury
without method. Bismarck is to be Prince
(First), Moltke Field-Marshal. Granville, Tri-
quetti, and Hyacinthe will justify my character in
their letters, apart from military matters, where
the moment must decide. As regards moral
earnestness and political conviction, these can

vA

262 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

only be the result of inward maturity and inward
strife, which must be carried on daily, and for
which one must be self-sufficing. And when I
see that my efforts for the oppressed in Germany
and her neighbours are so recognized that they
produce confidence in my future, I congratulate
myself.

Napoleon is quietly trying to approach us ;—
moderation of the conditions of peace, in return
for promises of a common war against England.

March 11.—In the Kaiser’s place to Rouen.
Our brave Goben is coming to Amiens. The
Gothic here has already borrowed much from
the English style.

March 12.—Home, after a separation of nearly
nine months.

Journey to Spain, 1883 263

IV

In September, 1883, Alfonso XII., King of
Spain, during the course of a long journey, had
paid a visit to the Emperor William I., at
Hamburg, where he had been very cordially
received, and invited to take part in the mancuvres.
At his departure, the Emperor invested him as
a compliment with the command of the Schleswig-
Holstein Uhlan Regiment, No. 15, then in the

garrison at Strasburg. These proceedings ex-
cited a passionate outburst in Paris, where the
Hohenzollern candidature for the Spanish throne,
in 1870, was brought up again, and led to
damaging attacks on Germany and Spain from
part of the Press. These even amounted to
menaces against King Alfonso, and when, on the
return journey to Spain, this monarch passed
through Paris, deplorable insults were directed
against him. The excitement in the City of the
Seine was calmed down by the rumour at once
circulated in the newspapers that the German
Crown-Prince was planning a ceremonial return-
visit to the King of Spain. It was soon, moreover,

264 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

reported officially that Lieut.-General von Loé
had gone to Spain to announce the visit of the
Crown Prince to the Court of Madrid. This in-
telligence was received with great satisfaction by
King Alfonso, as well as by the Spanish nation.

DIARY OF THE CROWN PRINCE IN HIS
JOURNEY TO SPAIN, 1883

In September, 1883, King Alfonso XII., after
energetically putting down certain military out-
breaks in different garrisons of his realm, had
appeared at the review of the XI. Army Corps,
conducted by the ‘Kaiser and King” at
Homburg.

While thus fulfilling his long-cherished desire
to visit our Kaiser, and become acquainted with
his army, he was at the same time able to
exchange greetings with my wife and myself, as
old acquaintances, since we had already met at
Vienna in 1873.

The daily intercourse with us led to friendly
relations with this amiable and highly gifted
young monarch, the more so as he was well aware
of my personal interest in him, as the ruler called
at the age of seventeen to the throne of his

Journey to Spain 265

oppressed fatherland, and also as the man tried
in such early years by hard blows of fate.

On departing from Homburg he expressed
the wish that I, with my wife and children,
would—in the spring, if possible, as being the
most favourable season in Spain—pay him a visit :
an idea that was extremely tempting to us, and
from the point of view of a return-visit from our
Court also seemed to be not impracticable.

The King took his homeward journey by way
of Paris, where he encountered the most vexatious
reception. The national feeling of the Spaniards
was thereby irritated to the last degree, while
they valued so much the more highly the atten-
tions which our Court had paid to their Monarch.

In view of such a favourable feeling towards
Germany in a country hitherto pretty well un-
known to us, it seemed to our Government
desirable not to delay the return-visit to the
Spanish King, and I was accordingly requested
to betake myself to Madrid before the close of the
year, as the representative of our Kaiser.

In view of the excited state of feeling in France,
the voyage to Spain by the Mediterranean was
preferred to the nearer journey through France,
and the following squadron was appointed for the
purpose :—

266 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

H.M. corvette, Prince Adalbert ; Commandant,
Captain Mensing I..

H.M. corvette, Sophie; Commandant, Corvette-
Captain Stubenrauch.

H.M. avisa, JLoreley; Commandant, Lieut.-
Captain Rittmeyer.

These were placed under the command of
Captain Mensing I. |

My escort consisted of General of Infantry
Count Blumenthal, Commanding-General of the
IV. Army Corps ; Major-General Mischke, Chief of
my Staff in the IV. Army Inspection; my Court-
Marshal von Normann and my three personal
Adjutants — Lieut.-Colonel Sommerfeld (of the
General Staff), Captain Baron von Nyvenheim
{2nd Regiment of the Leib-Hussars), and Captain
von Kessel (1st Regiment of Foot Guards).

During our stay in Spain my suite was further
augmented by Lieut.-Captain Geissler (First Officer
of H.M.S8. Prince Adalbert) as Orderly Officer, and
Staff-Physician Dr. Benda (H.M.S. Sophie), as
also eventually by Lieut.-General and Adjutant-
General Baron von Loé, Commander of the 5th
Division, who had been sent on by His Majesty
direct to Madrid, to announce my arrival officially
to that Court.

I left Berlin immediately after the magnificent

Departure from Genoa 267

celebration throughout Germany, on November
10, of Luther’s 400th birthday. It was a strange
coincidence that I should leave my home under
these particular impressions to become acquainted
with that very land, in which, more than in any
other, the Inquisition had waged a war of annihila-
tion on the work of the great Reformer !

After a twenty-four hours’ journey wid the
S. Gothard tunnel, I reached Genoa on Novem-
ber 18, about midnight. Notwithstanding the late
hour, I was received by the officials of the town;
and a great crowd of people were also waiting for
me, and greeted me so enthusiastically, that I
was obliged to appear on the balcony of the Royal
Palace, in which I was the guest of my friend
the King of Italy.

Genoa, November 19, 1883.

The morning hours were taken up with audi-
ences, which I had to grant to, the civic authorities
of Genoa in the beautiful palace of the King.
Then a Russian admiral, Tschebyochtew, appeared,
who had arrived with the corvette Svetlana, and
another, in the harbour, and whose unexpected
arrival at such a moment was regarded on all
sides as a remarkable demonstration of political
amity.

268 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

At midday I went on board the Prince
Adalbert, with a most cordial reception from
the officials, inhabitants, and the Germans who
reside here. At the instant when I stepped into
the boat that was waiting for me, the Sindaco
announced that the landing-place would bear my
name henceforward. Under such unmistakable
proofs that my sympathy for the Italy which
is so dear to me found recognition, I took leave
of this well-known, glorious country, to enter
one that was strange to me, and that from
its very remoteness promised something of the
fabulous,—towards which I accordingly set forth
with high expectations.

Amid the thunder of Italian as well as of
Russian guns, we weighed anchor, and favoured
by the most splendid weather, steered our course
for Valencia.

On Board H.M.S. “* Prince Adalbert,”’
November 20, 1883.

A most uncomfortable day! for the ill-famed
Gulf of Lyons claimed its rights, inasmuch as
we were overtaken by a regular south-west gale,
which reached such a pitch by midday that we
were hardly able to steam forward, and were
driven out of our course to Valencia. The situation

In the Gulf of Lyons 269

was so grave that I discussed possible altera-
tions of the route with the Commandant, and
thought of the Balearic Isles, or even of the west
coast of Italy, as places of refuge. Except for
a single brief attack of sickness at starting, I
did not suffer from this malady, and spent many
hours on deck, though I was obliged to cling on
tightly. My swite for the most part remained
invisible, the servants collectively, as well as a
great proportion of the sailors, being sea-sick,
so that the Commandant’s boy, a jolly Pomeranian,
was obliged to wait on me, while Captain Mensing
did not leave the bridge for twenty-four hours.
The Loreley had to be taken in tow by the Sophie,
which perceptibly hindered our voyage, and was
doubly unpleasant for the portion of my suite who
were on board of her !

On Board H.M.S. ‘‘ Prince Adalbert,”’
November 21, 1883.

On this day, so dear to me, my thoughts
turned to wife and children; even wind and
weather seemed to take it under their protection,
for since yesterday evening we have gradually
come out of the region of the storm, and the sea
from hour to hour has been getting calmer.

A short service, conducted in a simple and

270 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

dignified manner by Pfarrer Hein, united officers
and men upon the deck; such a service at sea
inclines one always to devotion, the more when
it has a significance like that of to-day. Many
a cheer went up in the course of it for the
Crown Princess, for in honour of her birthday
the men received increased rations, which, after
yesterday’s exertions, were doubly deserved, and
therefore the more specially welcome !

Towards evening I espied the outlines of
mountains on the horizon; and thus saw Spain
for the first time on my wife’s birthday. We
had again resumed our course to Valencia, and
now had the prospect of reaching the city of the
Cid by noon to-morrow.

Valencia, November, 22, 1883.

And so I am really in Spain! Some hours
before the landing a squadron, consisting of four
Spanish war-ships (among them two ironclads),
came towards us; they gave the Royal Salute
three times, and then escorted me into the roads.
‘By good luck there was no sea on here, otherwise
with big waves the landing would have been
impracticable, because a ship like the Prince
Adalbert cannot enter the very shallow harbour.

The town of Valencia, picturesquely situated

Arvival at Valencia 271

on the flat seashore, the name of which rings
pleasantly in one’s ear from childhood’s tales of
the heroic deeds of the Cid, was covered with
grey clouds; but the sun broke through at the
instant when the Spanish guard of honour,
General Blanco and Colonel Cap de Pon, with
the Ambassador, Count Solm, and Lieut.-General
and Adjutant-General Baron von Loé, came on
board, and we got into the boat.

I set foot in Grao, the proper harbour of
Valencia, on Spanish soil, surrounded by the
assembled and very sympathetic population; who
at once pressed so closely around me that I could
hardly take the proffered fruit and flowers, pre-
sented to me by young ladies of the town in the
national costume, while my swite. got entirely
separated from me. From Grao to the boundary
of the town the garrison lined the way, and I
had to wait through their march-past before I
could betake myself to the quarters of the Capitan
General (the Military Governor).

The breakfast provided by the King under the
direction of the Royal Court-Marshal Sepoloeda,—
then a défilé of the Court in the Throne-room for
all the assembled officials,—and, lastly, my appear-
ance on the balcony, were the order before I could
visit the sights of the town.

272 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

In the Cathedral it was already very dark,
so that I had to confine myself to the considera-
tion of its magnificent structure. On the other
hand, I was able to see the splendid honeycombed
and gilded ceiling in the Casa Consistorial or
Udienza (Court of Justice), and to admire the old
pictures in the Museo, which have been taken
from the Cloisters, as well as, lastly, the Lonja,
a kind of Exchange Hall, which is supported by
splendid Moorish pillars. After that the darkness
prevented us from continuing our investigations,
so that we had entirely to forego the famous
orange-gardens of the place.

The people greeted me with striking cordiality;
I often heard my name called out by groups of
the lower classes, or heard them cry, ‘‘ Viva
Espatia y Alemania,’’ when the gracious gestures
from feminine hands delighted me particularly.
After a Gala-Dinner, served by the Royal Servants
from the Royal Kitchen, I had to visit the magnifi-
cent Opera-House, illuminated “ al giorno,” where
the really extraordinarily beautiful bevy of ladies
displayed as great a wealth of jewels as of spark-
ling eyes. In the Court Box I was the only
one who sat, while the members of the several
inland offices stood behind my chair; both when
I came in, and when I left, the Italian Opera,

Journey to Madrid 273

La Forza del Destino, was interrupted by clapping
of hands as a greeting to me, and by the playing
of the Marcia Real. A supper, provided by the
city, was given in the grand foyer of the Opera
House, at which the Alcalde was my neighbour,
and proposed that our conversation should be in
Italian, because he was more at home with this
language than with French.

Men, houses, and streets reminded me of Sicily ;
but unfortunately I did not see a single national
costume in the streets; even the priests had
exchanged the Basilio hat, once so characteristic
of Spain, for one of more modern fashion. Only
the attendants on the magistrates were still con-
spicuous, as they wear red damask clothes of old
Spanish cut, and carry finely worked wands of office
embossed in silver from the seventeenth century.

As the King wished me to arrive in Madrid
by 11 o’clock on the folléwing morning, we were
obliged to make a night-journey, and thereby had
unfortunately to forego the sight of the orange
plantations with their plenitude of fruit; they
extend for miles like a garden.

The temperature was so mild that one’s cloak
was superfluous, even late in the evening.

When I awoke the following morning in the
railway carriage, the arid brown Mancha extended

T

274 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

before us, so far as the eye could reach; rarely
was a tree visible. When here and there occasional
villages cropped up, they consisted of incon-
spicuous little stone houses, dominated by a tiny
church without any style. The living landscape
consisted of windmills, alternately with donkeys,—
whose drivers retain a little brown hat, such as
ladies used to wear with us in former years, along
with a dark cloak thrown over their shoulders,
as a vestige of the national costume. Often
during this journey I was reminded by the wind-
mills and donkeys of Don Quixote.

At last Aranjuez brought a welcome change
in the monotony of the landscape. Its long
regular alleys were parallel with the railway,
while of its buildings only the castle cupola was
just visible from the greenery of the Park. Then
the character of Za Mancha reasserted itself, and
lasted to the first houses of Madrid. On the plat-
form the King was waiting for me in the uniform
of our Uhlans, surrounded by all his ministers,
a throng of Generals and high dignitaries behind
him, standing at the head of an Infantry
Escort.

After a cordial greeting, and the customary —
subsequent presentation of the suite, we both got
into an open carriage with four horses, whose —

Arvival in Madrid 275

jockeys, dressed in velvet coats, were powdered,
and wore three-cornered hats, set on obliquely.
Near the carriage rode Generals with un-
sheathed swords, as well as the Master of Horse,
and an escort of the Body-Guard; the troops of
the garrison lined the streets, which were filled
with a mass of people, who greeted us, and also
shouted, but without any loud expression of en-
thusiasm, as is usual in Italy. So we drove for
nearly half an hour, over a part of the Prado, as
well as over the Puerta del Sol, to the imposing
residential castle, H/ Palacio; shortly before we
reached it, our carriage stopped, and the rest of
the equipages with the suite passed us, so that the
King and I were the last, and, as such, entered
the great arch of the door, while a Guard of
Honour received us with ‘‘ Heil Dir.” The mag-
nificent staircase, reminding one of Wurzburg and
Briihl, was full of Grandees, fifty in number, who
here represent the nobles of the Court, since there
are, properly speaking, no Court officials in Spain.
The resplendent crowd, in every kind of shining
uniform, moved solemnly forward; behind them
and immediately in front of us went the Patriarch
of India (the Archbishop), while our suites followed,
but to the right and left of the King and myself
the Halbardiers formed a mobile barrier. So we

276 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

passed on into a great Hall, where the Queen-
Consort, the Queen-Mother Isabella II., and the
Infantas Isabella and Eulalia, sisters of the King,
surrounded by fifty dames d’honneur, wives of the
Grandees, were waiting me.

Queen Maria Christina, a slender figure, whose
Austrian features may be termed lovely, advanced
towards me with friendly words; then Queen
Isabella came forward, and expressed her pleasure
at making my acquaintance at last, adding that
she was infinitely grateful for the constant atten-
tion and sympathy shown her by us, which she
never could forget. After I had greeted the
Infantas, the elder of whom I had previously met
in Vienna, and who made extraordinarily graceful
curtseys, the Queen Consort gave me her arm,
and we went into the Camera, the room which
only Grandees, and not even the Ministers, may
enter, and where she presented the ladies to
me singly. The King then did the same by the
Grandees, and, lastly, I introduced my swite to the
August Personages.

The Queen Consort is uncommonly amiable
and natural, and gives the impression of being a
talented Princess, who knows what she wants.
She talks Spanish fluently. The Infanta Isabella,
widow of Count Girgenti, brother of King Francis

Reception in the Palacio 277

of Naples, whose intellect had already attracted
me in Vienna, is a woman of much character,
who was early matured by a hard destiny; her
sister Eulalia has not long made her debut; she
looks wide awake, and the expression of her eyes,
as well as of her mouth, reminds me of my niece,
Marie Else of Meiningen.

The King conducted me to the rooms pre-
pared for my occupation, which lie on the side
exactly opposite to his own, looking on to the
Guadarama Mountains, and the Plain of the
Manzanar. Of the rooms, which are not large,
and furnished in modern Louis XVI. taste, my
working cabinet is ornamented with little pictures
by Velasquez, among which the one of his own
hand, holding a letter, pleased me the most.
The rooms are very liveable, and extremely prac-
tical, with every conceivable comfort for daily life.

When I left them to go to luncheon, the lackey
on duty clapped his hands repeatedly, as did also
the keeper of the doors of the King’s apartments
—a custom that is always observed when any
member of the Royal Family appears.

After taking our second breakfast, to which all
my suite were invited, the King conducted me
in civil dress through the streets of the city by
the Prado to the Retiro, a part corresponding in

278 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

some degree to Hyde Park, where the personages
of society, as well as the Queen and the Infantas,
drive in very elegant carriages; we also found
masses of people on foot.

Soon after our return, I received the Ministry
of the State, collectively, after which came a
dinner, in which the surrounding company took
part; even yet the day was not at an end ;—on the
contrary, we spent from eight to half-past twelve
atthe Italian Opera Mefistofele, composed by Boito,
in which the Signore Teodorini and Gurgano, and
the Signori Masine, Nannetti, and Battistini, sang
the principal parts.

Madrid, November 24, 18838.

On waking, I could hardly realize clearly at first
that I was actually in Madrid; the powerful impres-
sions of yesterday in this entirely strange new
world—above all the reception at the Court, which
in its degree of splendour and magnificence sur-
passed all I had hitherto experienced, except at
my wedding—still worked upon me so strongly
that I really required some time to collect myself
before I went to the day’s work.

I paid a short visit to the Museo, in which is
the famous Picture Gallery, and found so much

Picture Galleries in Madrid 279

that was splendid and worthy of admiration,
that although I confined myself to the two first
rooms, I still left it, feeling quite stupefied, to
betake myself to the grand Parade on the Prado
at midday. For the 10 Raphaels, 43 Titians, 62
Rubens, 21 Van Dycks, 21 Paolo Veroneses, which
are shown here along with 46 Murillos, and 62
Velasquez, represent such a wealth of master-
pieces, that my eyes fairly overflowed in the delight
of actually standing before the originals of the
pictures so well known to one by replicas of every
sort.

Here I learned to know Velasquez on quite a
new side, in his realistic studies from the life of
the people, his achievements in landscape, and
also his presentments of strange human pheno-
mena. I have the impression that he gave himself
with greater satisfaction to the expression of his
fine talents in these directions than to the execu-
tion of princely portraits and pictures of State
events, for in spite of all the magnificence of these
works, one is conscious rather of duties fulfilled
from affection to the highly ceremonious Court,
than of the free soaring of his genius.

Murillo’s religious, as well as his secular
pictures present only Spanish types, of which
it must certainly be said, in view of the store of

280 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

pictures amassed here, that they are not all of
equal value, and do not all exhibit the grandeur
of the master equally.

Raphael’s Lo Spasimo seems to have been
painted over, for the flesh-tones are remarkably
reddish brown. But so, too, the Perla, and also
the Madonna with the Fish, give me the impres-
sion of having suffered by touching-up.

At the Parade I was struck by the thoroughly
French character of the Spanish troops; for the
cut of the uniform and the red trousers are so
exactly modelled on the pattern of their neigh-
bours that it would be impossible to distinguish
them. The materials of the equipment seemed
to me to be good and lasting, and I should take
the horses, which are indeed long in the leg, but
strong and solidly built, for a useful breed. This
is true also of the mules, with which the entire
artillery is harnessed.

The défilé of the front lnatod for quite an hour
and a half, and the march past no less a time, so
that, including the riding to and fro, we were
from 1 to 5 in the saddle. After the Infantry
parade was over, there was a pause of half
an hour before the other regiments came up,
because it was necessary to be careful at the
street-crossings. The King led the troops past

Ci ourt Functions at Madrid 281

with his sword drawn; the Queens, the Infantas,
and the Diplomats sat upon a tribune. Innumer-
able crowds attended this parade in the Prado,
nor were the numbers less of those who thronged
the streets and greeted us courteously as we went
by. The Spaniard is externally much less demon-
strative than the Italian, but to-day it was evident
that the people wanted to show their warm
sympathy with the Germans by outward signs.

In the evening there was a grand gala dinner
in a fine long gallery, at which I found opportu-
nity to admire the rich ornaments of the fair sex ;
for these old families have preserved enormous
diadems of many kinds of precious stones, as well
as diamonds. Queen Isabella possesses magnificent
parures.

The Diplomatic Body, with the Nuncio Mgre.
Rampolla and the French Ambassador at their
head, along with the corresponding ladies, had
been invited; further, the Cardinal Archbishop
of Toledo (as Primate, and also Archbishop
proper of Madrid), the Patriarch of India, who
is in some sort Chaplain-General to the army
and Almoner, and, lastly, a great number of
Grandees. The King drank the health of our
Kaiser, in remembrance of his never-to-be-forgotten
visit to Homburg, and referred at the same time

282 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

to the friendship which united our two families,
as also the two monarchies—to which I replied
in a few French words. Then came a Cercle of
an hour, in which there was no ‘end to the pre-
sentations; but I found occasion to talk longer
with the Nuncio, a cheerful, good-looking prelate,
as also with the French Ambassador, Baron Des-
michels. I exchanged some military views with
Marshals Concha, Primo de Revera, and Novaliches.

The immensely long table at which we sat
was exceedingly well arranged, and ornamented
with bronze appointments, of which the centres
represented marble triumphal arches and pyramids ;
the service was admirably organized. Upon the
State staircase, which reminds me of that of
Bruhl, were arm in arm the entire personnel of
the stables, powdered, in old Spanish liveries,
with red stockings, while the Court servants wore —
clothes of modern cut. Hverything here is in
the grand style, and the splendid rooms of the
Palace, which is appointed in the Versailles style,
are all in correspondence.

Madrid, Sunday, November 25, 1883.

I attended the evangelical service, which was
held in the justice-room of the German Embassy.

Spanish Bull-fight 283

Pfarrer Fliedner, who has already been seventeen
years in the service of the English Bible Society
in Madrid, reads the prayers here out of good
nature, but quite in his own fashion, since he
declares he will have nothing to say to our
State liturgy!

At midday the bull-fight which the King had
ordered in my honour took place before thou-
sands of people, who greeted us enthusiastically
when we entered the Royal Box of the gigantic
arena.

Both Queens, the Infantas, and the ladies of
the Court wore mantillas and fans, and each of
them had their special manner of wearing this
charming national costume, now, alas, rapidly
dying out! |

Seven bulls did we have to sit through! If
I had not been officially obliged to stay there,
I would gladly have departed at the end of the
first victim, chiefly because the unlucky animals
on which the Picadores were seated are regularly
sacrificed on the horns of the bull, and are only
carried off when the bull is slain, until which
time they remain where they fell—a repulsive
spectacle !

I cannot enter into further details of this
national pleasure ; besides, its procedure has been

284 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

described often enough. Only one thing I must
remark,—that my fear, as a spectator, for the
endangered human lives was dissipated as the
thing went on, because I became convinced of
the dexterity with which each man involved knew
how to extricate himself from the danger, and
saw that the pursuit, as well as the fleeing for
shelter, belongs to the sport; and, lastly, that the
Espada proceeds with extreme caution before
putting the bull to death with his sword. The
main point always is, that no one is hurt.

The entrance into the arena of all who take
part in the bull-fight—Picadores, Espadas, Ban-
derillos—called the ‘‘ Quadrilla,” is extremely
picturesque, for the men all wear the beautiful
Spanish national costume, richly embroidered
with gold and silver, and come in with a native
carriage, proud grandeur, and _ self-conscious
security, first holding themselves very upright
and then bowing low. I must say here that the
Berlin performance of the opera of Carmen gives a

true picture of the original, and that the behaviour |

of the Espada in the ballet seems to be taken
from life.

As a striking proof of the sympathy shown
here towards us as Germans, I may cite the fact
that all signs of displeasure, as expressed in —

Academy for Jurisprudence 285

whistling and noises, which are usually indispen-
sable when any mistake occurs, were entirely
absent to-day, out of consideration of my presence,
although just the classes who are particularly
prone to such demonstrations appeared in great
force among the spectators.

This bull-fight came near being used as a
demonstration by the Conservative party. For
when my visit to Madrid was announced, and
received with the most widely different feelings,
this party wanted to get up a Corrida, or loyal
ovation. And then in all probability there would
have been obnoxious demonstrations of the Repub-
licans and partisans of the French. The King,
however, succeeded at once, with his wonted tact,
in allaying the threatened discord by the announce-
ment that he was going to give this entertainment.

After the dinner came a short pause for
smoking in the King’s private apartments, and
I then accompanied him, the two Queens, and
the Infantas, to a solemn introductory sitting
of the Academy for Jurisprudence—a sort of
College for Jurists. As this function was official,
we betook ourselves, escorted by Halbardiers, and
preceded by lights, down the Grand Staircase.
The President, a former Minister of the Interior,
Romero Robledo, with all his colleagues, received.

286 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

us in black gowns, with wide falling collars, and
red barettas. While we took our places under
the canopy, the lawyers in the above-described
dress made a picturesque group contrasting
admirably with the mass of black coats. All
parties, in which Spain is so rich, were repre-
sented in the very numerous assemblage, and
even Martos, known as the friend of the Seen
‘was present.

After the Secretary, a Republican, had read
the Report, Romero Robledo made a long dis-
course on the measures to be taken as to the
treatment of the daily press. Although, as a
Conservative, he made many sharp hits at his
opponents, his words were taken in good part,
and even greeted with applause, till finally he
addressed the King and myself, when he was
interrupted by applause.

When he had finished, the King got up, and
spoke in his resonant voice to the Assembly. In
the first place, he alluded to the circumstances
of his country, in that he had been called to the
Throne so young, that it had not been granted
to him, as to myself, who had been to the Hoch-
Schule in Bonn, to prepare himself for duties
demanded by the exercise of his vocation as the
highest protector of the realm. Then, however,

NN —

Rg TI hat PE em

RI ae Se oe,

Academy for Jurisprudence 287

he continued, he had seen whither anarchy and
want of respect for law would lead, and so he
had determined to do all that lay in his power
to save his fatherland from the return of any
such fate, so that Spain, under the blessings of
internal peace, might rejoice in a prosperous
development. And, finally, calling on all who
were present to range themselves in co-operation
at his side, he shouted the watchword, Father-
land, Justice, Order, and Freedom! These words,
spoken with decided oratorical power, with no
striving after effect, yet energetic, and often inter-
rupted by loudly expressed agreement, kindled
such enthusiasm that he was pursued by applause
that lasted for minutes.

It was most valuable to me to witness the
manner in which my young friend exposed his
gifts thus nobly before the representatives of
science, and of the different political parties; and
to see how they were deservedly honoured,
especially as the King came forward publicly at
a moment when the internal affairs of Spain are
awaking only too well-founded anxieties. Cer-
tainly his royal predecessors were far enough
from mingling in such a manner among their
people, and I regard it as a good omen for
the future of Spain that Alfonso XII. should

288 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

possess the gifts as well as the understanding
for it !

To-day, for the first time, I heard speeches in
Spanish, and thought at first I should be able to
follow it easily on account of its Italian assonances,
but I soon became convinced of the difficulties,
especially when Romero Robledo was speaking ;
for his pronunciation, as that of a Catalonian
born, is quite different from the Castilian, which
one hears here, and which the King speaks so
plainly that I understood him quite well.

The Spaniard is little skilled in foreign tongues,
and even if he uses French in his intercourse with
strangers, it is for the most part so characteris-
tically pronounced by most of the natives that
one’s ear has to become properly accustomed
to it.

Among the King’s household no one under-
stands anything except Spanish, so that it is not
easy to make one’s self understood by them.
My people accordingly have to go about with
dictionaries in their hand to avoid the most.
embarrassing confusions.

The King invited me to-day to make a journey
through Andalusia, and to Granada.

ee. re

ray Ee

OS DO >t en rt are

Visit to the Armeria — 289

Madrid, November 26, 1883.

A rainy day allowed me to consecrate my free
morning hours to the famous Armeria, just
opposite my windows, and preserved in the last
remains of the old Royal Palace.

This magnificent collection may be regarded
as a chapter in the History of Arms, because
historical, as well as highly artistic armour,
weapons of every age, and memorials of celebrated
persons, are preserved here.

To the present Director, Conde de Valencia
San Juan, who looks like an Englishman, is due
the credit of having, with astounding industry,
arranged the arms in chronological sequence, put
them once more in working order, and determined
the epoch to which they belong, with all the
necessary adjuncts. The spectator, therefore,
not only stands before arms and armour of the
most different periods, but sees how coats of steel
and iron mail were worn and put together.

I convinced myself with great satisfaction that
the German work takes a conspicuous place among
the productions of artistic handicraft that are here

_ collected. The illustrated catalogue compiled in

the time of Philip II. is worthy of notice, because it
speaks for the authenticity of the materials present.
U

290 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Charles V. must have possessed a large quantity
of armour, and even if he did not use all that is
collected here, it is at least known of one suit
that he really did wear it, along with its appurte-
nances, at the Battle of Mihlberg, the more so
as Titian’s celebrated life-sized portrait of him on
horseback, in the Museo, represents the Emperor
in this very armour.

The Queen took me to-day to her two pretty
little daughters, the eldest of whom, Mercedes,
Princess of the Asturias, understands German.

In the afternoon, as the rain had ceased, 1
went with the King to a mineralogical exhibition,
in which I became acquainted with specimens
from the famous manufactory of arms at Toledo,
as well as with the ceramics which have been
revived from the Moorish types, and also bronze
guns on the system of Lieut.-Colonel Sottomajor,
recently introduced into the Spanish army.

The reception of the whole Diplomatic Corps,

introduced by the Chief Master of the Ceremonies,

Conde Zarco del Valle, Aztaché in 1849 to the
Spanish Embassy at Berlin, claimed a good pro-
portion of my time.

After this reception I had a long and interest-
ing talk with our Consul, Richard Lindau, from
Barcelona, who has lived in Spain for many years,

aw

CR hl, et CaS AFP See,

SS Pa rw Sry 7 Tee en

Gala-dinner 291

and was hence able to give me much information
as to the present state of affairs, which he is
watching closely.

In the evening there was a great military gala-
dinner, after which the King made me acquainted
with the Generals and Commanders of Regiments,
while a tattoo was performed, quite after our own
fashion, in the Square in front of the Palace, by
the military band of the garrison. All along the
side of the Armeria the word ‘‘ Welcome ”’ shone
out in gigantic letters formed of lanterns, so that
persistent attentions are really being shown us
in the most agreeable manner, down to the least
detail.

Among the Marshals is the Conde de Cheste,
who is also Captain of the Halbardiers, whose
uniform he usually wears. The Marques de
Novaliches once received a shot right through
both cheeks, which carried off part of his tongue,
so that he has difficulty in speaking.

Don Arsenio Martinez Campos had the prime
share in the Restoration of the House of Bourbon
in Spain, for which reason Queen Isabella calls
him ‘‘my Champion,” and although he had
already been presented to me, took him by the
hand, and brought him up specially.

Many of the officers possess high Military

292 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Orders, but these have not been conferred on
them for actual wars, but rather on account of
their victorious wrestling with circumstances, or
for their gallant behaviour in the struggle with
the Carlists in their own country.

In addition to these Military Orders there are
many other Orders of Merit in Spain, which are
always worn at Court, while no one puts them
elsewhere, as, for instance, at the theatre.

Madrid- Toledo, November 27, 1883.

The King to-day accompanied me with my
suite to Toledo, from whose churches, streets, and
monuments, the Moorish ascendency on the one
hand, and the Christian Middle Ages on the
other, seemed to speak to us. For this ancient
capital of Castile once possessed the significance
for Spain that Moscow had for Russia, and is
in some sense a Spanish Nuremburg. The fact
that. Toledo is built upon most dissimilar hills
gives to its situation an aspect as picturesque
as it is imposing, while its very steep and narrow
streets, enclosed by almost windowless houses,
take the traveller back to the early centuries.

At the railway station we found a guard of
honour, formed of the Institution of Cadets in

Madrid—T oledo 293

this place, while its students lined the street
down to the bridge over the Tagus, and men
in armour were placed at its battlemented portal.

The Cardinal-Archbishop Ignacio Moreno,
with all the Authorities, received us, and we went
first with salvos of cannon and ringing of bells to
the oldest chapel, del Cristo de la Luz, in which
are Byzantine paintings from the epoch when it
belonged to the Order of the Templars—that is,
before the conquest by the Moors—as well as
Saracen ornaments, along with later Christian
additions, and where King Alfonso VI. heard his
first mass immediately after the conquest of
Toledo in 1085. A thing I have never yet met
with on entering a Roman Catholic church
occurred here,—the priests, namely, offered me
the Holy Water on entering as well as on leaving
the church. .

Our next object was one of the largest of the
Hospitals here, of San Juan Battista or el Hospital
de Afuera (without the city), in the church of which
there is a fine marble epitaph in Renaissance
style to the founder, Cardinal de Tavera. This
was followed by an exercise of the Cadet-corps
as a variety, which for the rest was very well
executed by a pupil who was quite unprepared to
do it.

294 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

In the famous Fabrica de Armas we were
shown the forging of the now historic blades,
which bear the inscription: ‘‘ No me saques sin
razon, no me embaines sin honor” (‘Draw me
not without cause, sheathe me not without
honour ”’).

While our numerous retinue made a detour
on account of the steep path, the King led me
into the Capilla Cristo de la Vega, to see a very
singular but much honoured carved crucifix.
Queen Christina had particularly told me about
it, because the right arm of the Saviour is hang-
ing down, and all kinds of legends are connected
with this remarkable presentment.

We then went to the church built by Ferdinand
and Isabella in remembrance of the conquest of
Granada, San Juan de los Reyes, on the outer
walls of which still hang the chains which were
then taken off the captive Christians. This build-
ing, consecrated as a thankoffering for the
struggle waged for centuries by the Christian
zeal of many generations of Kings with Islam, is
of a purely Spanish character, for it represents
the transition from the late Gothic of this country
to the Renaissance period, and is in addition
filled with a wealth of shields, ciphers, and
strange ornaments. Near the church are some

Toledo 295

Gothic cloisters, which exhibit wonderfully beauti-
ful designs, borrowed by the stonemasons from
nature; above it is a little picture gallery, in
which breakfast was prepared for us.

Not far from this spot are the remains of several
small Mosques, one of which, S. Maria la Blanca,
was formerly used as a Synagogue; now, however,
they are all turned into churches, of which the
wonderfully beautiful Saracen ornaments accord
but little with the modern adjuncts of the late
Christian period. In the house of a very skilled
goldsmith there is a gigantic hall of Moorish
origin, where the ceiling has fortunately escaped
damage, as indeed in this city there are many
other such vestiges of the Saracen age, which we
had unfortunately no time to investigate.

The proportions of the five-aisled Cathedral in
pure Gothic style are extraordinarily magnificent.
The Cardinal-Archbishop received us at the main
door with the assembled Chapter, among whom
was a German-speaking Canon, the Queen’s Con-
fessor. He acted as our guide, although in con-
sequence of an apoplexy, from which he has
suffered for some time, he is very crippled. The
interior of the Cathedral is dark, and obstructed
by a high choir built in the Middle Ages. Here
the Gothic gives place to Renaissance, which is

296 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

very strong in chapels, choir-stalla: and altar
decorations. In this as in all cathedrals, there is
a Capilla de los Reyes that is at the same time the
private chapel of the Sovereign, at the door of which
we were received by specially appointed eccle-
siastics, preceded by mace-bearers, who showed
the Tombs of the Kings that are to be seen here.

In the next place, the Capilla Mozarabe is
remarkable, for here the mass is still read
after the Muzarabic ritual, 7.¢e. that in which the
Christian service was suffered during the Saracen
dominion. It is difficult in a short visit like
that of to-day to get an adequate conception
of the splendour of the materials in marble
and gilded bronze that are lavishly expended
everywhere in the Cathedral. While, lastly,
the revelation of the wealth of precious stones
and jewels preserved in the church’s treasures
strikes one dumb.

After all these ecclesiastical impressions came
the visit to the old Royal Seat, the Alcazar. On
the way to it Iremarked many buildings of Saracen
origin, which reminded me of Cairo and Damascus,
along with other palatial houses, with iron-
sheathed doors, beautiful lattice-work windows,
and door-knockers. Carriages could not pass one
another in the oldest streets of Toledo, and the

Toledo 207

horses of to-day’s breed get about with the utmost
difficulty.

The vast Alcazar, in which the Spanish
Sovereigns down to Charles V. and Philip held
their court, lies on the finest hill, and commands
the whole of Toledo. This Renaissance palace,
with its splendid courts, and a vast number of
rooms, many of which conserve their Saracen
ornamenting, was among the favourite residences
of Charles V., and it was on its really marvellous
staircase that he uttered the words that he never
felt himself more King of Spain than on these
steps. The wars of later times have, however,
damaged its brilliancy and splendour, and the re-
moval of the Residence to Madrid also did serious
detriment to the Palace, until the present King
restored the neglected structure to honour. The
Alcazar is now turned into a school for military
cadets. The gigantic court, as well as the rooms
in which Moorish, as well as Christian, Art has
perpetuated itself, have fortunately been restored
by skilled hands.

A cadet well versed in the German language
addressed me in the name of his comrades, and
expressed their pleasure at seeing us here.

The inhabitants gave uninterrupted vent to
their feelings of sympathy with us, so that here

298 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

again I was convinced of the rapidity with which
an interest in Germany has arisen in Spain.

At our departure the King made me notice
that he was greeted with the cry of “ Viva el
Colonel de los Ulanos!”’ (‘Long live the Colonel
of the Uhlans! ”’)

In Madrid the evening was brought to a close
by a representation of Meyerbeer’s L’ Africaine.

Madrid, November 28, 1883.

This is King Alfonso’s birthday, of which,
however, little notice was taken in the streets,
such a day not being kept here as it is with us.
It was only at the hour of the second déeuner that
I had the opportunity of congratulating the King,
as did also my swite,—when I presented him, by
command of the Kaiser, with a small bronze copy
of the Monument to the Great Elector, and with
a statuette of myself as a Cuirassier, in the same
material. Immediately after the meal, at which
all had already appeared ‘‘in gala,” the Grandees.
and Diplomats appeared for the Court. The
former, with their ladies, who wore trains, walked
past the Royal Pair, seated in fauteuils in the
Camera, after which the doors into the Throne-
room opened, and their Majesties passed in, to
speak to the diplomats assembled there.

— ee —s

Birthday Festivities in Madrid 299

Then they ascended the throne, and seated
themselves; the Infantas took their place at the
side, while the Court ranged itself to the right
and left of the throne; the officers and officials,
who had been smoking in the adjoining rooms,
until their turn came, now defiled past their
Majesties, and made their bow. I did not lose
the opportunity of seeing this reception from a
hiding-place, and was much pleased with the
charming appearance of the Queen, who, in her
white and gold raiment and diamond ornaments,
moved about with a natural grace, walking like
the Empress of Austria. Her manner reminded
me of her aunt, the Queen of the Belgians, as
well as of Archduchess Rainer, and there is some-
thing particularly sympathetic in her unconstrained
cheerfulness.

In the evening there was a concert in the
same saloon in which we assemble before meals ;
at this an aunt of the King, the Infanta Christina,
as well as the aristocracy, made their appearance.

The members of the Royal Family, as also the
elite of the fair sex, took their places as they
liked, without distinction of rank, so that the King
sat near the Prima Donna, Sga. Teodorini, an
amusing contrast to the strictly observed etiquette
of the forenoon! I thus had a splendid opportunity

— 300 Liaries of the Emperor Frederick

of studying the Spanish type at close quarters ;
now strikingly beautiful, now piquant, it often
reminds one strongly of the Italian race, and yet
preserves its own individuality very distinctly.
As to ornaments, the wealth of solitaires, as well
as the enormous stones of every variety, in no-
wise falls below that of the English families. It
was evident that many ladies painted, and also
that antiquity wears pink gowns.

I was able to talk at length with the leaders
of the two chief parties in this country, Canovas
and Sagasta. The former resembles a German
ecclesiastic in appearance, while the other has
the Saracen type of countenance.

A part of the old Spanish etiquette is still kept
up at the Court. The King, who also seems to
have the clearest head among them, makes this a
matter of personal supervision.

The Chamberlain’s Office is fulfilled daily by
one of the Grandees, who appears for the whole
day in an embroidered coat, with gold cross-bands ;
the wives of the Grandees perform the same
function as ladies of the palace to the Queen.
The military officials on duty appear in uniform,
while the King usually wears civil dress.

Since the whole of the Reception Rooms were
open and fully illuminated to-day, the saloons,

Birthday Festivities in Madrid 301

which had originally been appointed in Versailles
taste, but were improved by later additions, were
seen in their full splendour. Queen Christina, on
her arrival in the country, found herself without
any furniture, and with very few seats, so she can
justly pride herself on having entirely remedied this
defect, and introduced the present arrangements.
The Throne-room, though beset with blunders
from the ‘‘ Empire Period,” for the most part
bears the stamp of its original combination.
The ancient velvet carpets, edged with silver
embroidery, are set-off by fourteen life-size Floren-
tine bronze figures of the finest green patina, some
of which are imitations from the antique, others
again are the products of the baroque period. At
either side of the throne are two more than life-
sized statues in bronze, which represent Justice
and Wisdom, while on each of the six steps reach-
ing up to it is a pair of lions holding marble
globes. Besides these the space is further filled
with bronze candelabras, many of which are
originals from Gutierre, busts of marble and
porphyry, costly consoles with marble slabs, crystal
crowns, and enormous clocks, while a painting by
Tiepolo covers the ceiling; so that this Throne-
room is unique in its way, and gives a splendid
impression, whether by day or by artificial light.

302 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Taken as a whole, the Reception Rooms are
the same height as the rooms in the New Palace
at Potsdam; next to that above described, the
one assigned to me as an ante-room is the most
costly, with its old satin hangings, decorated with
colossal Italian embroideries in relief, in the
baroque style, while a cabinet entirely inlaid with
porcelain plates and bas-reliefs from the former
manufactory at Buen Fetiro belongs to the sights
of Madrid. If my wife had accompanied me, this
would have been her boudoir.

Since the way from my rooms to those of the
King invariably takes me through these State
apartments, I am able to enjoy their treasures
at close quarters.

In the early morning I devoted many hours

to the Museo, and went through all the rooms,
so as to see the modern French and Spanish
Schools, until I found myself on another floor,
with the Holbeins, van Hycks, Roger van der
Weydes, and a host of masterpieces of the Old
German and Flemish Schools.

Later on I visited the Academia de San
Fernando, to see Murillo’s very famous pictures, The
Dream of the Roman Patrician and Saint Elizabeth,
which pleased me more than the examples of this
Master in the Museo. The rooms are used for

Pictures in the Museo 303

public purposes, and are in parts so dark that
it is difficult to recognize Zurbaran’s paintings, as
also a little sketch by Raphael.

After I had made some official visits, and also
paid my respects to the mother of the wife of our
Spanish Ambassador, Count Benomar, I spent
a few moments in the family circle of the English
Ambassador, Sir Robert Morier, who is well known
to us. In such drives as these, as also on ordinary
occasions, the lackeys perform the duties of grooms
when I get into the carriage ; for as we only leave
the Palacio at foot’s pace until the great doorway
has been passed, the footmen in knee-breeches
attend us on both sides to the street, where they
remain standing, and bow, with their hats off, till
the horses begin to trot. The same thing is
repeated on the return to the Palace.

Madrid, November 29, 1883.

Again I devoted the morning hours to the
enjoyment of the paintings at the Museo, and
endeavoured, as far as possible, to orientate myself
among the 53 Teniers, 33 Tintorettos, 55 Luca
Giordanos, 58 Riberas, 35 Bassanos, etc., always,
however, returning to the masterpieces of the
Italian and Dutch Schools, and to Velasquez.

304. Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Lastly, I glanced through the rooms in which the
newer School is represented, including the crea-
tions of Goya—celebrated at the beginning ot
this century—many of whose pictures are also
in the Palace. The very latest Spanish School
has made an extraordinary development, and
promises, thanks to the Academy instituted in
Rome, to do great things.

After a pianist from Hamburg had played
before their Majesties, I visited the Artillery
Museum and plan-room of the Engineer Corps,
where the history of the development of those
weapons, as well as some historical relics, are
shown in models. The Infanta Isabella, who is
constantly occupied in thinking of what I ought
to see in Madrid among the objects that are to

my taste, particularly recommended me to visit —

this collection.

Lastly, I went to the Church of the Afocha,
specially venerated for its image of the Madonna,
—here the official Court and State Ceremonies
take place, distinguished men are buried, and
trophies are put up. Structurally, the church
is of little interest; the only thing remarkable is
the Monument to Marshal Prim, which is entirely
made of Toledo steel, inlaid with gold.

To-day’s anniversary of their Spanish Majesties’

Madrid 305

wedding enabled me to present the Queen with
some porcelain vases, executed very beautifully
by the Royal Manufactory at Berlin from old
rococo models,—and received with evident
pleasure by Queen Christina, who is a connoisseur.

In honour of the day, our Ambassador, Count
Solm, gave a dinner to the King in his pretty
house, which is fitted up with valuable old
furniture and his own paintings, but which he
now has to leave, because the building is shortly
to be turned into a Cloister. The Marshals and
Ministers, with the highest Dignitaries, were in-
vited. As the Foreign Minister, Ruiz Gomez, was
my neighbour, I had a good opportunity of dis-
cussing political questions with him. |

After the dinner I accompanied the King to
the Theatre.

Madrid, November 30, 1883.

The Spanish entourage thought it very singular
that I should spend my morning hours in the
Museo; but I employ these leisure moments in
the contemplation of treasures that I shall pro-
bably never see again in my life.

Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck in one room, on
the same wall as Raphael—that in itself sounds

x

306 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

almost overwhelming. Still, it is not in keeping
with our modern requirements to hang masses of
various masterpieces on both walls of an exceed-
ingly long gallery, lighted from the top; the
effect of the pictures is thereby seriously detracted
from.

Since in such a wealth of masterpieces one
may be permitted to have favourites, I admit that
among the Raphaels here the half-length of the
so-called Cardinal Bibiena pleases me more than
any of the other pictures.

Further, among the Maurillos, I give the
preference to a blonde Virgin ascending to Heaven
over any of his other pictures, because the ideal-
istic treatment of this appeals to me more than
his many realistic, however beautifully-handled,
figures.

The technique of Velasquez, looked at closely,
often resembles a canvas covered with dashes;
while at the right distance his pictures are really
perfection.

Titian, Paolo Veronese, Van Dyck, and Rubens,
are here so wonderfully represented that I should
take Madrid as the place which possesses all their
best works. ,

A history of painting as such is not represented
in the Madrid Galleries, because the collection

Madrid 307

of paintings is more casual, and originated in the
pictures taken arbitrarily from the various castles,
in particular from the Escorial. Since Charles V.,
Philip II., and Philip IV., little more has been
acquired, and till forty years ago these treasures
were actually relegated to the rubbish-rooms to
give place to modern stuff! However the afore-
said Emperor and his successors may have
thought magnificently and acted royally in their
various enterprises, in the collecting of this vast
number of masterpieces alone they raised to
themselves an indestructible memorial.

At midday I accompanied their Majesties
with the Infantas to the unveiling of the Memorial
to Queen Isabella Ja Catolica (wife of Ferdinand)
by the Municipality, to which we resorted ‘in
gala,” the gentlemen in uniform.

The simple ceremony was performed in the
presence of the Marshals, Ministers, the Cardinal
of Toledo, the Patriarch, and others, as well as
of troops who lined the way, after which we
partook of a dejewner & la fourchette provided by
the city.

The statue, which is executed with great
artistic taste, represents the still-venerated Queen
on horseback, between two famous contemporaries,
entering Granada, and holding in her hand a

308 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

gigantic cross, which she carried on that occasion,
and which is still preserved.

From here the King took me to some barracks,
where troops of all arms were drawn up in the
court, in order to show us the equipment and
handling of the troops, and then the arrange-
ments of the barracks. It interested me to
examine more closely the excellent material in
cloth, leather, and metal, which had already
struck me on parade, as well as the long halls,
so contrary to our ideas, which are used as rooms,
without giving the soldier any locked space in
which he can put away his effects, as he is only
allotted a knapsack, or haversack.

The sandal-like covering for the foot is quite
peculiar ; it is arranged, as is the custom of the
country, so that in summer the bare foot rests on
a laced sole.

The mountain artillery exercised with their
small-calibre guns, which can be taken to pieces
for the march, and transported on mule-back ;
the men manage to put them into firing order
again, at the shortest notice, with commendable
dexterity.

The Spanish soldier has for the most part a
swarthy complexion and black hair; his expression
is not unintelligent.

State Ball 309

We only got home after sunset, but were
illuminated by the strange, so-called zodiacal
light. Just after I had received a deputation of
the Germans resident here, the King suddenly
came in, presented me with the highest Spanish
military order of San Fernando, and stayed on
some time with me.

At dinner we all appeared “in gala,’ on
account of the ball that was to follow, although
it was only to begin one and a half hours later.
The customary afternoon smoke with the King
came off on the ground-floor, because his rooms
were to be used for the Reception to-day, and,
indeed, we lingered in these rooms, in which, as
usual during Court Functions, any one may
indulge himself in smoking to his heart’s content.

At the beginning of the ball I led Queen
Christina to the State Rooms, which were, indeed,
the same in which we take our meals daily, and
where the Concert had been given—since there is
no Ball-room in the Palacio. The Grandee on duty
clapped his hands as a signal that the Court was
approaching, and after greeting the Papal Nuncio,
as well as the Patriarch, the dancing began. A
Quadrille @honneur came first, in which I danced
with the Queen; the King was my wis-d-vis
with his mother, and General von Blumenthal

310 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

danced with the Infanta Isabella, Lieut.-General
Baron von Loé with the Infanta Eulalia, Major-
General Mischke with Countess Dubsky, wife of
the Austrian Ambassador, Court-Marshal von
Normann with the Marquesa de Lalaguna.

Queen Christina and the two Infantas also
requested round dances from me; after that the
King led me through all the rooms, to make me
known to a number of persons. When I was
subsequently left to myself, came the not less
difficulty of recognizing among the eight Duquesas,
twenty-eight Marquesas, and thirty-three Con-
desas, those who had been presented to me on
the day of my arrival by the Queen; but the
magnificent family jewels, exhibited to-day in their
full magnificence, afforded in themselves a wel-
come and convenient subject of conversation, and,
indeed, thanks to the amiability of the fair sex,
the talk was never at a standstill. |

At the Spanish Court, on occasions of this
kind, the Grandees, when not military, wear
embroidered coats, the officers appear in uniform,
the civilians, however, who have no uniform, in
knee-breeches, as at the English Court; on the
other hand, every invited guest who happens to
be a delegate must appear in black tie and
trousers. Since in Spain there are a number of

a ae es -

The Spanish Court 311

Grand Crosses, as also of Orders of Knighthood,
nearly every one wears distinguished orders; this
is particularly the case with the officers, for even
Captains wear several stars, and Staff-Officers
display ribbons of the First Class. There are
stars which designate the higher ranks of civil
servants, as, ¢.g., the Grand Cross S. Ildefonso,
given for thirty-five years of service.

The Royal Family, with some of the Diplomats
and Grandees, supped seated in the castle-halls,
which are hung with great Gobelin tapestries,
and thereby present the appearance of a fine
saloon. When I endeavoured to devote myself
to the inspection of it, I was prevented, with the
remark that it was ‘‘very bad;” on the other
hand, the famous collection should be hung up
next day, in my honour, in all the corridors, which
is only done on very special occasions.

The splendid /éte ended only towards morning.

Madrid, December 1, 1883.

To-day began late for all of us, since we
required a thorough rest after the exertions of
the night; in the afternoon a ‘‘drive into the
country’ was arranged for our amusement, to
the villa at Pardo, which, in brilliant summer
sunshine, was a great success.

312 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

After that I enjoyed a walk upon the balcony
beneath my windows, which affords a wide view
over the valley of the Manzanares, as well as the
snow-clad Guadaramas Mountains. Below, the
Castle Watch, consisting of several companies of
Infantry, a Division of Cavalry, and a Battery,
the strength in which it is daily stationed here,
was forming up. So soon as the Relief reaches
the edge of the square in front of the Palacio, it
marches up in slow time with advance and rear
guard, to the sounds of the National Hymn, which
melody is then played also by the Castle Watch,
who, meanwhile, stand to their arms; then about
three-quarters of an hour elapse, while all stand

in form with their arms, till the whole of the ~

formalities have been fulfilled. No soldier, how-

ever, enters the upper walks or inner parts of the —

Palacio, because the ward of these devolves ex-
clusively upon retired non-commissioned officers,
who form the Halbardiers, and wear uniforms
similar to those of the ‘‘ Swiss Guard” at the
end of the last century, with three-cornered hats
and gaiters, but without powder or pigtail. All
through the day they carry tall halbards in their
hand; at the approach of darkness these are
exchanged for muskets.

When I came out of my room, a great portion

EE ————

Gobelin Tapestries 313

of the renowned Gobelin tapestries had already
been hung on both sides of the corridors, so that
I could walk between these chefs d’a@uvre of the
art of weaving, which begin with the fifteenth
century, the oldest having, as is known, been
bought by Joan ‘the Crazy,’ from the annual
market of Flanders.

The wealth of splendid and well-preserved
Gobelin tapestries, exhibited by the thousand at
the Spanish Court, is well known to be unique.
It was in the first instance Charles V. who
adorned his castles with a store of gold-embroidered
arrases, and his example was followed by Philip
II., from whose time the canopy of the Escorial
is preserved here, among others—these being at
firsts made to the order of the several Kings,
although subsequently manufactories were estab-
lished. In the treatment of subjects, the motives
alternate between religion, history, symbolism,
and mythology, or are derived from the life of the
people, arabesques being intermingled. Here
one sees the heroic deeds of Charles V., there
the Gospels, then adventurous groups of fantastic
inventions in the splendid costume of the
Burgundian Court, or scenes from the antique
world of Gods and Sagas, many of which were
prepared from the designs of famous masters.

314 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

A whole section of such wall-coverings belonged
to Count Egmont, and came with the confisca-
tion of his goods into the hands of the Spanish
Crown.

The great bare Halls of the Palacio at once
assumed a hospitable aspect; for the suspended
Gobelins fulfil their original function to-day in

clothing the walls and giving them an air of ~

festivity.

After the second déjeuner their Majesties and
the Infantas, with myself, mounted a “four-
in-hand” coach, the King, next whom I sat,
taking the reins, while the Royal ladies sat
behind us. So we went two miles out into the
country, first through the pretty parts of the
Casa del Campo and La Florida, later through
a grove of cork trees, in which there were deer.
The Queen gave me no peace till I lighted my
pipe, another proof of the delightful ease with
which I am treated here!

Externally the Summer Residence presents
nothing striking beyond its vast proportions ;
the more remarkable therefore are the masses
of Gobelins, from the two last centuries, with
which each small space of the hundred rooms
is covered. Nowhere have I hitherto seen such
a wealth of tissues, so richly squandered, for

£:l Pardo 315

there is literally no room in El Pardo where
the walls are hung with paper. After visiting
“ La Zarzuela,”’ a charming summer-house, quite
in the style of the Trianon, we got into a little
carriage drawn by six Andalusian ponies, when
the Infanta Isabella seated herself on the box.
She drove us with great dexterity, galloping all
the way over hill, stock, and stone, while she
urged the ponies on faster and faster, through
oak-woods, by the lonely hunting-castle of Quinta,
back to Madrid. We went by such roads that my
suite, who were following in the next carriage,
were unable to follow, which added not a little
to the cheerful humour we were all in already.

The unconstrained intercourse with Queen
Christina, whose features remind me of the wife
of General von Albedyll, née von Alten, as well
as with the Infantas, the younger of whom,
Eulalia, is very attractive, with a clever, half-
melancholy, half-roguish expression, gave a par-
ticular charm to this country éxcursion.

In the evening a sort of Gala-Opera was
arranged in my honour with Meyerbeer’s Hugue-
nots, and to-day we were received on entering
with ‘‘ Heil Dir.”” This, however, did not prevent
the public from disapproving of the prima donna
who took the part of the Queen, and the latter

316 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

accordingly began to weep, so that the perform-
ance threatened to be interrupted, had we not
all given her fresh courage by clapping our hands.
Between the acts the Ministers, as well as our
highly-approved-of Ambassador, Count Solms,
came to pay their respects.

When, late in the night, we came back from
the Opera, the gloomy corridors of the Palacio,
all hung with tapestry, presented quite a changed
appearance from that of the previous evening.
Hach lonely hall seemed indeed to be peopled
by all manner of gay but silent, indistinguishable
forms, while in reality only the Halbardier stand-
ing at his night-post gave a sign of life, inasmuch
as—so soon as I approached him—he cried to
the watch, by order thirty strong, ‘‘ Arma per Sua —
Altessa el Principe Imperial,” and the latter had
then to stand at arms, even if I did not pass
them. .

And here I must mention that from the oldest
times to this day, the custom for the protection
of the Sovereign has been that two gentlemen
of noble birth, who must be natives of the city —
of Espinoza, should watch the whole night through j
outside the King’s room, in Court uniform. The ©
King himself never sees them, or even knows —
them, for at such an hour he never enters the —

The ‘ Estudiantina” 317

Comera, in which these gentlemen have to stay,
but the noble families of Espinoza prize this
privilege so highly that many resort to that
town, simply in order that their sons may come
into the world there, and thus acquire the right
to exercise this strange office.

Many times, on coming home at night, I
purposely went past the King’s apartments in
order to convince myself of this marvel, and, sure
enough, in the dimly lighted room I always
found those two Cdballeros in gold-embroidered
coats, holding three-cornered hats in their hand,
who then inclined themselves before me. With
the impression of this medisval performance, I
then had to go on through the dim Throne Room
and the rest of the Reception Rooms before I
could reach my own apartments.

Madrid, December 2, 1883.

As we were driving to the English Chapel,
where I attended Divine Service to-day, a young
man sprang on to my open carriage, clung to
it, and spoke excitedly to General Blanco, who
was sitting at my side. It turned out that he
was a member of the ‘‘ Hstudiantina,” a students’
association, who had petitioned some days ago

318 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

to give a performance of their musical achieve-
ments, and who, since no answer had yet been
vouchsafed, hoped in this extraordinary fashion to
obtain the decision.

After service there was a luncheon at Sir
Robert Morier’s, at the conclusion of which the
King showed me his stables and carriage-houses,
called Las Caballerizas and La Real Cochera. Here
a fair proportion of old Spanish pomp is still
displayed, notably in the harness, liveries, and
trappings for the Gala bull-fights.

Both their Majesties are extremely fond of
horses, and the animals, which are partly bred
in the country, partly imported from England,
are splendidly managed; the stables, too, are in
admirable order. The King, as well as the Queen,
who appeared some time after, showed off their —
riding-horses more particularly, after which some
fast trotters were exhibited, till I was called away
by enforced audiences.

I had, of course, to conform to the custom
here, by which distinguished Spaniards can claim —
a special reception,—even when they have already
been presented, and when one has met them
before, and perhaps daily.

This time there was a deputation from the
Grandees, consisting of the heads of the first

Academia de Jurisprudenzia 319

families of the Kingdom, and further of the Field-
Marshals Novaliches, Martinez Campos, Quesada,
and of the Minister-President Posada Herero, the
President of the Upper Court of Justice, the
Marques de la Ribera (formerly Ambassador to
Berlin), Don Manuel Silvela, Don Manuel
Uriarte, Conde de las Almenas. And lastly
appeared a deputation from the Academia de
Jurisprudenzia, headed by their President,
Romero Robledo, to incorporate me as an
honorary member, upon which the customary
tokens and diplomas were handed over to me.*

From the speeches of to-day and of previous
days, I see very well that many far-sighted

* On this occasion Romero Robledo addressed the Crown Prince in
the following words: “‘ The Academicians beg Your Imperial Highness to
accept an Album that we are dedicating to the Crown Princess, This
_ Album, which contains the names of the Academicians who admire in Your
Imperial Highness the love of Art and of the Sciences, has been illustrated
by one of our finest artists, and requires some time longer for its completion ;
we shall rejoice in the moment when we shall be able to forward it to its
distinguished destination.” The Crown Prince replied, “I am proud of
the nomination as member of your Academy, an honour that will be
prized in my Fatherland. I have had a predilection for juristic studies
from the time I was a student in Bonn. You know that the legislative
work of Germany is still being actively pursued. In the first place, at this.
moment, there is the codification of the Civil Law, a task that is much
heavier with us than in Spain. Your Fatherland has been a united
country from very early times; the German Empire consists of different
States, which have different justice, and different legislations. The
equalizing of these differences, the formulating of a legislation, based
on scientific principles, is the problem that jurisprudence now has to solve
in Germany, and as I hope will solve. The first task of the law-giver,
however, in my eyes, is that of obtaining equal rights for all.”

320 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Spaniards, some party-leaders at their head, are
disposed to study us Germans pretty closely. The
martial deeds of our people, crowned by the
_ restoration of Emperor and Empire, excite in
them as much admiration as that feeling so innate
in Germans, of fidelity in duty, self-sacrifice, and
devotion for the good of the Fatherland. These
men earnestly desire to awaken the same ideas
among the Spaniards. |

Last night at half-past ten the city of Madrid
gave a féte in my honour, the announcement
of which ran, ‘‘ Recepcion que en honor de S. A. J.
y. R. el Principe heredero de Alemania celebra el
Ayuntamiento de Madrid en su primera casa
consistorial.””

Since the Court went ‘‘in gala,’’ we descended

the Grand Staircase of the Palacio, escorted by

Halbardiers, and preceded by lackeys bearing wax-
tapers, and then remained a long time in the
vicinity of the illuminated town hall, with the
carriage, until all the gentlemen and ladies of
the suite had passed us, and had alighted.

The Alcalde (Chief Burgomaster) received us

at the foot of the stately staircase at the head —
of a line of firemen, while on the steps of the —
Alguazil powdered lackeys stood in picturesque —
Old-Spanish costume, none of whom might stir —

Reception by the City 321

a finger to remove our cloaks, since this is never
the duty of the servants! During my stay here,
I have never found out whose business this really
is, since I have always had to accept the kind-
ness of the nearest bystander, or, at the theatre,
to help myself.

The féte consisted only of a ‘‘ rout,” in which
the middle-class inhabitants of the town, the
diplomats, and a small number of the upper ranks
of society took part. The scene of the festivities
was the glazed-in court of the Ayuntamiento
building, which was lit with electric light.

After we had made several turns, there was
as much conversation as was possible among the
many unknown guests; the fete closed with a
supper at the buffet.

Prince Louis of Bavaria, the eldest son of
Prince Luitpold, and husband of the Queen’s step-
sister, has arrived from Lisbon.

I have received an intimation from Berlin that
my visit must not be further extended; the King,
on the other hand, begs me in the most cordial
manner not to leave before the entire programme
arranged for my stay has been carried out, and in
addition he insists upon a journey through Anda-
lusia, before I leave Spain—all of which I com-

municated in reply to the message I had received.
¥

322 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Madrid, December 3, 1883.

A day’s shoot, for rabbits and red-legged
partridges, under the broom-bushes and cork-trees
of the Casa del Campo, not far from Madrid, gave
us the promised enjoyment of fresh air and fine

warm sunshine. Here I slew eighty-six of those

fleet little four-footed animals, and sixteen
*‘partridges,”’ as these birds, which are double
the size of our partridge, and have red beaks and
claws, are called here.

Both Queens appeared at our second breakfast
in the open, as also the Infantas, with the Austrian —
Ambassadress, Countess Dubsky. We all sat down —
under some very large old oaks, while a band
of music entertained us with Spanish National —
Airs, and the most unconstrained good-humour —
reigned. 1

We returned with our bag of 1264 rabbits after —
sunset, but in the golden illumination of the —
evening glow that has been daily repeated so long
as I have been here. i

At the Spanish Theatre Apolo, we attended —
the performance of the national opera Marina, d
greeted on arriving and leaving with a fanfare. :

The Escorial 323

Madrid, Escorial, December 4, 1883.

The King took us to-day by rail to the Escorial,
which one must have seen in order to appreciate
the past glories of Spain.

A Prince whose sole joy was in things
ecclesiastical, and who at the same time, as King,
was capable of great thoughts, produced with
astonishing energy (in both church and monastery),
a gigantic work which has for ever immortalized
him, and one may say his age, with him. Every
labour on that gigantic structure is thought out
even to the least detail, and executed in the
most polished manner from the best materials.
Since, however, no colours, but only stone and
metal were employed in it, the spectator feels no
impressions that benefit or satisfy, much rather
is the only feeling left him one of astonishment at
the mighty proportions of this burial-place of the
Royal House, built in honour of the Blessed
Lawrence in the shape of the gridiron on which
he found his martyr’s death.

Inasmuch as the Escorial is consecrated to
the memory of the dead, the plan of it made upon
me an impression as earnest as melancholy, and
I then understood why most visitors to it speak of
the gloomy horror inspired in them by the work

324 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

of Philip II. I found myself, however, somewhat
compensated by the right royal dignity which is
stamped on the magnificent pile, and this helped
me to shake off the melancholy of the place.

The church forms the middle point of the
monastic buildings, it is built of fine greyish-
yellow squares of stone, and reminds one in the
interior of the side-aisle of S. Peter’s in Rome;
it is full of altars, possesses carved choir-stalls,
and wrought-iron ornaments of the finest work,
with splendid decoration. In contradiction with
the bareness of its walls are the gilded bronze
groups to the right and left of the High Altar,
which represent Charles V., Philip II., and
their relatives. Close by lay Philip’s dwelling-
room, very simple, but decorated with majolica,
with the seats and tables he used—which I
found in no wise so repulsive as is commonly
made out by strangers. Under the High Altar,
that King constructed the Panteon, the family
vault of the monarchs, a tall, octagonal chapel,
completely inlaid with marble plates, upon
whose walls six stone sarcophagi of precisely
similar workmanship are ranged opposite to one
another in niches, inscribed only with the names
of those who rest there. From Charles V.
onwards, all the Kings, with the consorts who —

The Escorial 325

had borne them heirs, found their rest in this place.
The other Queens, however, with the exception
of the first wife of the present King, Mercedes,
who rests in a side chapel of the church itself,
as well as the members of the Royal Family,
collectively, were buried in side-vaults. King
Alfonso has prepared a new and more dignified
burial-place in the strong adjacent vaults, re-
sembling my plans for the Berlin Priedhofhalle in
the Cathedral, and intends to translate the bones
thither.

The wide Halls of the Convent lead into the
magnificently appointed rooms of the Library,
which reminds one of the Vatican, and possesses
a great wealth of manuscripts and books. The
celebrated picture-gallery formerly collected in the
Escorial was carried off to Madrid to the Museo:
its monks left the cloister in consequence of
the secularizing ; ecclesiastics, among whom some
were able to speak German, took over the super-
intendence of the Library, and a school for com-
missioners of taxes took the place of the Fathers
of the Convent.

The part occasionally inhabited by the Royal
Family is in sharp contrast with that above
described; the walls are hung with a profusion
of Gobelin tapestry ; the Empire arrangement of

326 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

the rooms is disturbing, though the view on to
the plains indeed gives compensation. The little
country house in the garden, in Louis XVI. style,
is prettier, from it one sees the high mountains
that form the background to the Escorial.

We concluded the day at the opera, Mejistofele.

Madrid, December 5, 1883.

After the morning hours had been devoted
exclusively to the inspection of arrases and
tapestries, under the guidance of the Marques
Alcanizes (Duque di Sesto) and the Count of
Valencia, the King rode with me to the Ochesa de
los Carabancheles, the great exercising-ground of
the garrison, where Brigades of Infantry, Cavalry,
and Artillery, respectively exercised before us.

The troops formed up in three divisions, the
first of which was made up from the Ist Battalion
of the Regiments ‘‘ Mallorco”’ and ‘“‘ Garellano,”
as well as the Jager-Battalions ‘‘ Manila” and —
‘“Puerto Rico;” these stood in the oddest wayin
the middle of the Pioneer Exercising-ground, so —
that, as we rode down the front, a wide scarped
trench suddenly opened before us! ‘This, of
course, was taken incontinently by the King and ~
myself, but the suite had time to select a less
unpleasant way. | :

Inspection of the Army 327

The second skirmish included the 4th Regiment
of Field Artillery as well as the 2nd Regiment of
Mountain Artillery. The third was made up from
the Hussar Regiments, ‘‘ Princesa” and. ‘‘ Pavia.”

The Infantry stood to their arms in good
order, went creditably through their manual exer-
cises, and later, in the sham-fight, showed good
*« fire-discipline.”’

Of the manner of fighting, it may be said that
they are trying to adapt it to the experiences of
modern times.

The subsequent display of Mounted Artillery
was dexterous, and the training of these men was
the most satisfactory. A target practice, which
was to follow, had to be omitted, because there.
were spectators within range, and also because the
Cavalry brought their horses too near the targets
during the long period of waiting. The range
was only clear after the manceuvres of the
Mountain Artillery, but, as the sun set meantime,
even the marvellously clear light that prevails here
after that would only have permitted the targets
to be seen imperfectly. The dexterity of the
troops in bringing the guns into action, and un-
limbering them, as well as the transport of the latter
by mules, was the chief part of the performance.

Queen Christina, who, with the two Infantas,

328 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

had appeared a little later than ourselves, and
also on horseback, stayed through a great part
of the maneuvres, taking her place among the
spectators, but had returned to the house earlier
than ourselves.

Queen Isabella, however, without our knowing
it, was on the Lisbon road, which we only got on
to in our return to Madrid, and so it fell out that
she was smothered in the thick clouds of dust that
accompanied us before we had even recognized
her carriage.

In the evening, after dinner, the Estudiantina,
consisting of simple young people, appeared to
perform a little concert in the Royal Saloon.
Most of them wore morning coats, or any attire
that was convenient, only a few boys, who led the
singing with tambourine and castanets, had put
on a kind of national costume. Their Majesties
and the Court moved about unconstrainedly
among the hundreds of people who formed the
company. Finally, some individuals of the above
Association seated themselves at the piano, and
performed their own compositions.

To me there was a great charm in seeing the
apartments—at certain hours devoted solely to
the old Spanish etiquette—thrown open now to
the studious young people of the middle classes,

Last Days in Madrid 329

and in watching the King as he conversed and
jested with them, with that natural affability that
won the hearts of his subjects from the moment
when he first came to the throne.

To-day I received His Majesty’s permission
from Berlin to visit Andalusia on the way home.
But as the express to the South only goes three
times a week, I must avail myself of the next
opportunity, which will be on the 7th, and accord-
ingly I have fixed my departure for the evening of

that day.

Madrid, December 6, 1883.

To-day, to my intense surprise, brought me
commands from the highest quarters to pay a
visit to the Court of the King of Italy in Rome,
on my return journey.

After visiting the Assembly Room of E/ Senado
(the Senate), and £7 Congreso de los Diputados
(the Lower House), which are splendid modern
edifices, and in which a goodly number of por-
traits of celebrated party-leaders and delegates
are hung upon the walls, I glanced round the
parish church of Madrid, S. Isidro el Real, which is
lavishly decorated in the rococo style, and takes
the place of the Cathedral proper, that is still

330 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

wanting. After we had been shown innumerable
models, and also many historical relics and pictures
in the Marine Museum, I betook myself to the
Museum of Archeology, which has only been built
in the last few years, so as yet there is no great
number of objects, although it includes some
excessively interesting remains of monuments and
products of art from different centuries.

I drove through Madrid for the last time, and
now looked at its gay, busy traffic with quite other
eyes than those of fourteen days ago, when under
the charm of its novelty I could not recognize, as I
do to-day, that the character of the Spanish Capital
is essentially modern. For streets and squares
have already assumed the appearance that con-
forms best with the ideas of our contemporaries.
With the exception of the Ministerial Buildings
and the Palacio, Real, there is hardly a house
of which the architecture strikes one’s eye; in
particular those buildings are absent which, e.g. in
Italy, testify to the splendour and eminence of the
families of the nobility.

Monuments, too, of earlier ages are few in
number; the best is an equestrian statue of
Philip IV., which came from Florence, and stands
in front of the East Facade of the Castle. It is
surrounded by pleasure-grounds, with colossal

Last Days in Madrid 331

figures of isandstone that were formerly on the
cornice of the King’s residence.

Among other things I drove over the Plaza
Mayor, which resembles a large court, in the
centre of which, where now stands a bronze eques-
trian statue of Philip ITI. by Juan di Bologna, the
autos de fe formerly took place. A monument,
Dos de Mayo (May 2), in charming surroundings,
is dedicated to the memory of the Patriots who
struggled against Murat’s usurpation, and belongs
to the grounds of the Prado, standing not far from
a tasteful, triumphal arch, erected in the time of
Charles III., which bears the name of Puerta del
Alcala. |

At my return my audiences were awaiting me.
Among others appeared the Minister of War, and
the Minister of the Interior, to offer me works that
had been brought out at the cost of the State.

The last evening was filled with the Italian
Opera figoletto, in which the tenor Masini dis
tinguished himself. Castelar,, known on the Re-
publican Opposition, had taken his seat immediately
en face.

Madrid, December 7, 1883.

Snow showers and frost, alternating with sun-
shine, for my last day in Madrid.

332 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

After wandering once more to-day through
the splendid Gobelins, a picture of Old-Spanish
Court Ceremonial unrolled itself in their midst,
the anniversary, namely, of the Founding of the
Order of Charles III., with a procession of the
Knights in the dress of the Order. Investiture
and High office in the chapel of the castle.

The King, with all who bore the chain that
distinguishes the Knights of the highest grade,
wore an Old-Spanish costume, with a light-blue
trained mantle, rich in silver embroidery, over —
it, and a baretta with feathers on his head; the ~
same cloak was worn by the Patriarch and various ~
ecclesiastics in their capacity as prelates of the
order. The stately procession, at which both
the Queens, near whom I was standing, looked
on from one of the windows to the great corridor,
went, preceded by a corps of music, and escorted
by Halbardiers, into the beautiful church of the
castle, which was draped with rich stuffs, even

on the seats of the Knights. The King took his —

place under a marvellous white satin baldachin,
very tastefully ornamented with arms and ara-
besques, in which the newly-received Duke of
Medina Sidonia, after fulfilling certain formali-
ties at the Altar, where he was surrounded by
the ecclesiastics, knelt down, and received the —

Last Days in Madrid 333

investiture with the chain. After that a musical
High Mass was celebrated, attended by the Queens
and the Infantas from their stalls in the church.
Directly afterwards I had a long and searching
talk with Adjutant-General Count Mirasol over
the military affairs of Spain.

At the close of the service I had expressed a
wish to see the treasures of the chapel, and the
Patriarch suggested that he would wait there
for me, and himself show me the costly treasures
and reliquaries which had escaped the plundering
hands of Napoleon, or had been amassed at a
later time. Stones and precious metals, with
which many coffers are filled, are better repre-
sented here than fine types of form. The Library
of the Palace interested me more, in which, among
other costly missals, they preserve that which
formerly belonged to Ferdinand and Isabella.
Among the innumerable manuscripts, I saw
many deeds, to which attached the special in-
terest that they had been signed by both the
** Kings.”

On my final visit to take leave, the Royal Pair
showed me their private apartments, which are
comparatively small; the sleeping-chamber takes
up most of the space. Here the present King
was born, and on its wall his wife has hung the

334 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

cross which Queen Mary of Scotland carried with
her on the scaffold.

After I had taken leave of Queen Isabella IL.,
as well as of the Infantas Isabella and Eulalia,
who all treated me with touching cordiality, the
King invited me, notwithstanding the driving
snowstorm, to go with him to the church of
S. Francisco, which is undergoing restoration. In
this church, which is in connection with the
Jerusalem Order of the Holy Sepulchre, some
magnificent paintings on the walls and cupolas
were being splendidly executed by the best fol- —
lowers of the modern school, and will certainly —
be heard of again.

Near the Church are the barracks of an In-
fantry Regiment ; when its Commander presented
himself to the King, he was informed that he
would be amongst those officers who had been
selected to go to Berlin for the next Spring-
Manceuvres.

Immediately after, the Patriarch and various
dignitaries appeared, to take leave of me. ‘The
King then accompanied me to the railway station,
after I had made my adieus to the Royal Family,
from whose circle I parted with regret, since they
had all met me with such extraordinary kindness
and cordiality. At the Station I found all the

Last Days in Madrid 335

Ministers and Marshals, the Diplomatic Corps,
headed by the Nuncio and the French Ambas-
sador,—also deputations, and country people.
And here I finally bade the King ‘ Farewell.”’

And now the beautiful days in Madrid are
over! I part from King Alfonso with the feeling
of genuine friendship, and the greatest respect
for his penetration and strength of character, as
also for his courage, and the perseverance with
which he has endeavoured to bring his country
back to more pacific conditions, and to raise it.
Developed in advance of his years, endowed with
the true instinct of a King, as well as with the
needful self-confidence, he surely will succeed in
winning new respect for the Monarchy.

¢

336 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Seville, December 8, 1883.

‘*Die Schénen von Sevilla
Mit Facher und Mantilla
Blicken den Strom entlang ;
Sie lauschen mit Gefallen,
Wenn meine Lieder schallen
Zum Mandolinenklang,
Und dunkle Rosen fallen
Mir vom Balkon zum Dank.” *

These lines from Geibel’s [Hidalgo came into
my mind as we neared the walls of Seville; by good
luck, however, I entered the city with anticipa-
tions other than those of the hero of this ballad,
as I was to experience nothing of what these —
poetical lines describe! For the prevailing and
wholly unusual frost kept the fair ones in their —
houses, and spoiled the last of the flowers, among —
which the jasmine is notably conspicuous, as well _
as the oranges, whose boughs hang full of fruit. —
Ample compensation for the flowers was, however,

* “The Beauties of Sevilla
With fans and mantilla
Spy down the stream ;
They listen with delight
When my songs ring bright
To the mandoline,

And roses of the night
Drop thanks from hands unseen.”

Seville 337

provided by the guidance of the amiable Duc
de Montpensier, who resides here, and also at his
country house, San Lucar di Barameda, with his
wife, the sister of Queen Isabella II., and who,
with the officials, and the German inhabitants
of the place, received me at the railway-station.
The King’s mother also has her residence at
Seville, in the Alcazar.

In this, the first Andalusian city I had entered,
I was struck by the comparatively insignificant
and often wretched houses, the windows of which
have balconies in the upper stories, while the
lower floors almost rest upon the ground, but are
always barricaded by iron bars, like a prison.

In the older parts of the town, the streets are
so incredibly narrow that the foot-passenger could.
touch the houses on either side with his out-
stretched arms; no vehicles, therefore, can pass
along them. But when the doors of these
buildings are opened, one finds a charming court,
planted, according to the custom here, with green
things in great abundance, and fountains playing
in the middle. I was reminded by this charac-
teristic feature, which dates from earlier times,
and still prevails to-day, of the scenes in Don
Juan, in Figaro, and of the gipsy maiden in
Carmen, to which our stages have indeed given

Z

338 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

other settings than that which properly befits
them.

Seville calls herself with pride the native town
of Murillo, and accordingly honours this Master,
as does Nuremberg Albrecht Diirer. Next to
Madrid there is no such collection of his pictures,
some of which adorn the churches; twenty-four,
however, have been collected in the Museo (the
former cloister of la Merced), since the year 1836,
from all parts of the country. These pictures,
however, are not all masterpieces, but are of very
different value. To my taste, the representation
of a vision, in which the Saviour comes down
from the Cross to embrace §. Francis, is, both in —
drawing and in the ingenious application of the :
few colours, the most perfect of Murillo’s works in —
this place. q

His Moses is highly prized, as also the Feeding —
of the Ten Thousand, in the church of the Hospital —
la Caridad, which is decorated with a fine fagade,

where the figures of saints in majolica, as wellasthe

pulpit of wrought ironwork, pleased me particularly. —
‘The high development attained by the majolica —
industry in this place, in the Middle Ages, is
shown by the wealth of tiles in the Museo, which
afford a regular primer of the technique, being even —
used for picture-frames. Unique in its kind is

The Cathedral of Seville 339

the church of Santa Paula, for the turreted facade
from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, whose
monograms it bears, the interior halfway up
the walls, and even the fastenings of the doors,
are of the same material.

The Gothic Cathedral, one of the largest in
Spain, is of colossal proportions ; unfortunately, its
outer walls are disfigured by various buildings
which partially conceal them, so that the structure
of the church can hardly be made out. The
more effectively, however, does the beautiful
tower, La Giralda, spring out of this mass of
buildings, its massive Moorish sub-structure
standing in the Patio de los Naranos, the
court orange-trees, designed in the time of the
Saracens for ablutions. The Renaissance period
made an addition, which is crowned by the
bronze statue of “‘ Faith,” and recalls the famous
earthenware vessels (Stezngut Gefdsse) of Henri II.
of France.

The enormous stone masses of the Cathedral
darken the light inside, obscured as it is already
by the magnificent old windows, so that Murillo’s
S. Antonio, stolen in 1874, and found again in
America, is as hard to recognize as the gigantic
carved reredos behind the altar, called the Retadlo,
which fills the entire height of the dome.

340 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

There is more light in the Capilla Real and in
the Sacristy. In the former rests the sainted
Fernando (1252), whose sword, the statue of the
Virgin he took to the wars, and a wooden figure
presented to him by 8. Louis IX. of France, La
Virgen de los Reyes, are held in the highest honour.
This life-size image of the Madonna, both as a
sculpture of the thirteenth century, and also
because its clothing in the dress of the period
has been preserved, is of great archeological
interest, and contrasts with the enormous mass of
waxen, as also of carved wooden statues of saints,
with which the churches and dwelling-houses here
are overfilled.

In the same chapel rest also Don Alonso el
Sabio (the Wise), and his consort Beatrix, and that
in a right marvellous fashion, in open niches that
are more than a man’s height, and painted red,
with crowns and sceptre lying on the coffins that
are covered with cloth of gold.

The Sacristy should properly be called the
Treasure-room, for church vessels and ornaments

are heaped up there in the most costly materials, —

and in incredible profusion; a Gothic cross of —
silver, and more particularly a huge Renaissance —
monstrance of the finest work, are reckoned as the
best Spanish achievements in the art of this period.

Dance of the Choristers 341

As a proof of the lavish manner in which gifts
were formerly heaped on the Church, one may
take the silver candlesticks, which must have
required twenty men to carry them; further, a
bronze candelabra, designed for use during the
ceremonies of Holy Week, called Tenabrario, which
is almost thirty feet high, and on which the
Saviour with fourteen saints is represented; this,
on account of its enormous weight, can only be
brought into the church on wheels.

The most remarkable thing in the Cathedral
to me, however, was the dance of the choristers,
during the evening-vespers, in honour of the Im-
maculate Conception.

In accordance with a custom four hundred
years old, these boys perform a sort of saraband,
in the page’s dress of the time of Philip LV., in
the space between the High Altar and the Arch-
bishop’s Stall, where the latter is seated, sur-
rounded by all the Canons of the Cathedral, and
the faithful assemble round: the choir. These
choristers dance in slow step to the sound of
fiddles, contrabass, and flutes, turning on their
heels, and now putting on their tall plumed hats,
now taking them off, while, during the pauses,
they follow the time of the music with castanets.
This vestige of the medieval mysteries is a most

342 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

singular survival, but does not jar on the spectator
as much as might have been expected from a
dance in the church, because there is nothing
frivolous about it, on the contrary, both the
ecclesiastics and lay people attend it respectfully,
as if it were a service.

Near the Cathedral is the ‘‘ Library for India,”
a noble building, rich in manuscripts from the
time of the Discovery of America, among which
those deriving from Christopher Columbus and
Fernando Cortes attracted me most. _

The Royal Residential Palace, the Alcazar,
still contains wonderfully beautiful Moorish
structures and ornaments, which are carefully
preserved, and count among the finest achieve-
ments of Saracenic art. The large garden be-
longing to it is laid out in a mixture of Oriental
and medieval taste; palms, lemons, oranges, and
bananas, alternate with old-world hedges of box,
and the jasmine grows luxuriantly.

Majolica-tiles are employed throughout. The
highest perfection of this ¢echnique is seen, how-
ever, in the minute domestic chapel of Isabella
the Catholic, the painting of which reminds one ~
of Perugino. :

In the Palace of the Duque di Medinaceli, —
La Casa di Pilatos, one learns to appreciate

Palacio San Telmo 343

the luxury which the great ones of the land
formerly developed in their houses, at the same
time preserving Oriental forms.

After I had received a deputation of our
countrymen residing here, as also the Sefiore
Merry y Colon, father and brother of Count Beno-
mar, the Spanish Ambassador in Berlin, a dinner
in the fine Palacio San Telmo, the winter-residence
of the Duc de Montpensier, brought this well-
filled day to a close, the evening being again
illuminated by a most remarkable streaming of
zodiacal lights. The above building, which was
originally endowed as a Marine School by the
son of Christopher Columbus, was given to the
Duke on his marriage, and is adorned with the
productions of ancient as well as modern art,
while the taste of the internal decorations dates
from the time of his father, King Louis Philippe.

Two sketches of the equestrian portraits of
Philip IV. and the Duke of Olivarez, entirely
from the hand of Velasquez; as well as some
Aurberans, struck me particularly ; not less so an
Ary Scheffer, which I had seen during the life
of Queen Marie Amélie, in her house at Claremont.

The cold of the nights is the more perceptible,
as, in contrast to the comfortable warmth of San
Telmo, the heating arrangements of the Hotel

344 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

are very meagre, and we have to fall back upon
braseros, which yield a most inadequate response
to our demands.

San Luca de Barameda, December 9, 1883.

I made use of the early hours to visit some
of the antiquities of Seville, and then took a walk
in the garden of San Telmo, which is very remark-
able. The Duc de Montpensier has succeeded in
acclimatizing all kinds of exotic plants here, and
in obtaining stately trees from little cuttings ;
palms and oranges are here in profusion, so that
the owner gets a considerable income from the
sale of the fruit. Along with these delights of
nature, he permitted himself a jest in honour of
the Don Juan from Mozart’s opera (who is, more-
over, the hero of an old Seville legend), by buying
up the sepulchral monuments of the Tenorio
family, to which Comthur and Donna Anna
belonged, at the breaking-up of the monastery
in which they stood, and set them up here, calling
them after the principal persons. Only the tomb- —
stones of Figaro, the Barber, and the friends of |
Mozart’s as of Rossini’s music, are wanting, in q
order that all the euphonious names should be
united here in one resting-place.

A five-hour steam-boat journey on the

Granada 345

Guadalquivir, which did not indeed afford any
attractions in the way of landscape, until towards
evening we espied the pine-woods and the rocks
of Gibraltar, brought us in the company of the
Duc de Montpensier to the shores of the Atlantic
Ocean, where the Duchesse received us in San
Lucar de Barameda.

A friendly, spacious country-house with a
pretty garden provides the princely pair (who of
the eight children born to them, have only two
living) with a peaceful home in this salubrious
air, amid a people who are devoted to them.

Cordial hospitality, and a welcome fire on the
hearth, made the evening in the tastefully furnished
rooms a very pleasant one.

Granada, December 10, 1883.

From San Lucar, a ten-hour journey took us
through Andalusia’s red-brown landscape, which
exhibited little variety, and also through parts
of the Sierra Nevada, to Granada. Only at Xeres,
where the proprietor of the largest of the vine-
yards there, and also the German Consul from
Cadiz, came to meet me, was there any sign of
vegetation. Ossuna, the family seat and burial-
ground of the well-known Duke of that name, who
is now dead,—and which has ten churches and

346 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

twenty monasteries, but no school,—makes as deso-
late an impression upon one as Bobadilla, where we
connected with the express from Cartagena to Gra-
nada, and met the Knoop family from Wiesbaden.

We reached Granada at nine in the evening ;
so soon as I had got over the reception formalities,
I hastened to the Alhambra, situated near the Inn
of the Seven Stories (fonda de los siete suelos),
and entered it in the radiant moonlight.

This evening visit could indeed only give me
a general idea of the outlines, along with the
internal plan of this marvellous building; yet so
much the more effective was the ghostly appear-
ance lent by the moon to those halls and courts
immortalized by history as by poetry! As a back-
ground rose the glistening snow-covered heights
of the Sierra Nevada, while, far below, the
valley of the Xenil, and Granada, lay in a silvery
shimmer, broken only here and there by a beam
of light from the sea of houses, against which the
darkened gipsy quarter stood out eerily. a

Only the mild air of Andalusia and the murmur _
of the springs were wanting to make the enchant-
ment of this evening complete. Unfortunately, a
however, several degrees of frost, to which the —
cactuses were victims, and even quite thick ice,
contradicted my wishes. The present onset of

The Alhambra 347

winter, not known here for twenty years, compels
us to wear our warmest clothing, not merely in
the open, but even in the rooms of the Inn. For
here the heating apparatus is confined to dimi-
nutive fireplaces, and beyond that exclusively, as
in Seville, to the charcoal basins, called braseros.

Granada, December 11, 1883.

The cold of the night and early morning hours
was succeeded by warm sunshine; the ice dis-
appeared, the fountains flowed, so that to-day’s
visit to the Alhambra was accompanied by a
pleasant warmth, which even permitted us to sit
out in the open.

Before we entered the Moorish castle, our
way led between two creations of Charles V., a
magnificent fountain, and a palace in the luxu-
rious Renaissance style. While the former still
flows, and is made use of, the Imperial Palace
has, on the contrary, remained unfinished, and
even unroofed, on the spot where the Moorish
Winter Residence once stood, which was pulled
down by Charles V. The glaring contrast be-
tween this and the Moorish building is in itself
a chapter of history, but there was no time for
such reflections, for the threshold of the Al-
hambra lay in our immediate neighbourhood.

348 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

I had already been long acquainted with this j
monument of architecture—of its kind unique—

first from pictures, and then from the plaster 7

reproductions of its most striking rooms in the
Crystal Palace at Sydenham. Now, however, as —
I entered the place itself, this all disappeared from .
memory, like the images of a cloud, before the —
splendid reality; it rose before me here in a —

manner so enchanting that a shiver of joy and

satisfaction ran through me.

All, that I had seen in my Eastern Journey —
of 1868, of the works of Oriental decorative art, —
now seemed to me like piece-work before the —
gorgeous exhibition of taste and colour brought ©
to its perfection in the Alhambra. Strange to —
relate, this lavish splendour and fantastic multi- —
plicity contents itself with comparatively small —
courts and chambers, none of which can be termed q
a ‘‘ saloon ’”’ in our sense of the word, and however q
much the architecture of the interior corresponds —

with that wealth of treasure, it has done equally —
little for the outside of the Alhambra, which,

indeed, exhibits only heavy irregular walls, piled —
up against each other, and towers devoid of style. ;
I must not permit myself any even approximate —

description of the structure, but will only point

out how astonishing it is that material and colour ¥ :

The Generalife 349

should still resist the weather, so that the chef
d’cuvre of Saracen architecture has endured from
the epoch of Charles V. to the present day.

A structure of the age of the Alhambra of
course requires careful watching; unfortunately
in the course of past ages this has been most
inadequately attended to, while happily at
the present day it is managed by clever and
capable hands; and since, in addition to this,
the Spanish majolica manufactory has now been
revived, this form of art, which is so richly
employed in the Alhambra itself, can be applied
here conformably with the original style.

For many hours we traversed this wonderful
work of men’s hands in amazed contemplation, —
for the splendid natural scenes around lend a
peculiar charm to the achievement. Out of each
window, in front of each balcony, is unfolded a
vast landscape, which could only be guessed at
yesterday evening in the moonlight, while to-day
Granada and its mountains are sparkling under
a deep-blue sky in the clearest sunshine.

The Generalife, originally “ Jennatu-l’-arif,”’
which is, being translated, the ‘‘ garden of the
architect,’’ is a structure lying higher than the
Alhambra, in which much fine Moorish ornament
is still preserved, although it has given way to

350% Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

a great extent to the later European taste. Here
garden grounds from the last century present a
charming alternation with all kinds of water-
works of Arab origin, while there are some very
old trees to which all kinds of tales attach. The
proximity of the mountains, the distant views of
valley and plain, lend to this spot, in which to-day
the winter is forgotten in the sunshine, a character
of ideal summer freshness. 7
The Generaliste is the property of the Marchesa —
Durazzo-Palavicini, well known to me in Genoa, —
who greets me here through her officials, and in —
whose possession is the splendidly wrought sword —
of the last Moorish King, Boabdil—E/ Rey Chico —
—which he gave up on handing over Granada to P
Ferdinand and Isabella. His memory is linked ~
with the mountain pass of the Sierra Nevada, q
which he had to traverse on the retreat from his 4
lost residence, and which to this day is known ~
as ‘the last sigh of the Moor,” as Heine sings— :

‘** Berg des letzten Mohren Seufzer’s’
Heisst bis auf den heutigen Tag
Jene Hohe, wo der Konig
Sah zum letzten Mal Granada.” * | ,

* «¢¢ Mountain of the latest Moor’s sigh,’
So they call it to the present ;
Height from which the banished Monarch
For the last time saw Granada,”

La Cartwa * 251

To the Oriental reminiscences of the forenoon
followed those of the epoch in which the Moors
were driven out, among which the mighty cathe-
dral, dating from the late Gothic transition-period,
along with the burial-place of the Conquerors of
Granada, the Catholic “‘ Kings” Ferdinand and
Isabella, appealed to me particularly. Huge
marble sarcophagi in the Renaissance style do
honour to their memory, as also to that of their
daughter, Joan the Crazy, and her husband Philip
of Burgundy. A simple vault under the High
Altar, however, covers the bones—within a coffin
of curious shape, entirely encased in iron—of this
distinguished princely pair, still held in veneration
to-day, and whom I am proud to reckon among
-my ancestors.

As in the church of Toledo, S. Juan de los
Reyos possesses shields and ciphers, as well as
countless historical objects such as the sword,
banner, and missals of these conquerors, of whom
there are several pictures. ;

La Cartwa, a former Carthusian convert,
contains some really marvellous work in inlaid
cedar and ebony wood, mother-of-pearl and
tortoiseshell—the doors of the sacristy-chapel, as
well as a great number of gigantic coffers, being
made out of these materials. In addition, the

352 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

view of the Alhambra, the Sierra Nevada, and
the valley of the Xenil from the terrace of this
monastery is as attractive, as the character of the
gipsy quarter, located in rock caves, is the reverse..
This singular people have here lost many of their
original characteristics, partly because they were
established in Granada, partly because a mixed
race has sprung up by marriage with the people
of the country.

The so-called King of the Gipsies appeared
before my dwelling in a dress that resembled the
costume of the bandits at the theatre, so that at
the outset I felt sceptical of his genuineness ; but
when His Majesty approached me to present his
august photograph, I became convinced, by the
unmistakably Indian type of countenance, as —
well as by the piercing eyes, of the indubitable —
relationship of this monarch to his race. |

Granada’s antiquity-stalls have the charm of —

large rag-shops, in the rust and dust of which the ©
original character of many Hispano - Moorish

objects has been preserved from the perils of 4

modern restoration. Close by there is an

industry peculiar to this place, which supplies A |

models of Moorish architecture, with exact repro-
ductions of colour and pattern, and, thanks to ~

the execution by intelligent technicians, it has 3 .

Cordova 353

been brought to a really astonishing degree of
perfection.

Cordova, December 12, 1883.

I left Granada at four in the morning, in clear
moonlight; the discomfort of this early hour was
increased owing to the by-no-means Andalusian
climate, and the inadequate heating arrangements
of the railway carriages, while the want of variety
in the landscape on the long journey to Cordova
presented little that was attractive.

In the days when this city was still the
residence of the Khalif, the number of its in-
habitants amounted to a million, and the life
there must have resembled that of the Thousand
and One Nights; to-day the streets give one the
impression that everything has changed into the
direct contrary.

So soon as one reaches the Cathedral, or
Mezquita, one perceives that the Muslims must
have developed their full power here; for this
marvellous mosque, begun at the end of the
eighth century, and containing 1096 columns, is
among the greatest that Islam ever called forth.

After passing through an outer court, filled
with cypresses and palms, and notably with a
real grove of orange-trees, the porch of the

2A

354 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Cathedral, called Puerta del Predon, which is
inlaid with Saracen and Gothic bronze plates,
admits one to the sight of a labyrinth of pillars,
resembling a petrified forest.

The founder, Abd-el-Rahman, and also his
successors, collected pillars of jasper, porphyry,
and verd-antique, from Constantinople, Alex-
andria, and Carthage, and from France and Spain, —
many of which support the ancient capitals to this _
day. Hach pair is connected with the next by ©
high, rounded Saracen arches, of richly chiselled —
marble, over-arched, as a rule, by a second set, ;
the extraordinary number of which forms a regular —
- maze of geometrical figures, that assume a dif- |
ferent aspect at every step one takes. The most —
lively imagination can hardly form any idea of the —
strange architectural complexities of this effect, —
which almost produces vertigo in the onlooker. {

A direct contrast to this is afforded by three :
chapels surmounted by cupolas—the former q
Mihrab, or sanctuary turned towards Mecca—whose
costly mosaics, closely resembling byzantine work, —
alternate with the most tasteful ornaments of
stone and stucco. Not far from this is the former —
Seat of the Khalifs, designed for the Fridays’
devotional exercises, now known as the Capilla de —
Villaviciosa, which rises as a sort of crypt upon 4 a

The Mezquita 355

steps, and shows in its fine Saracen-Gothic orna-
mentation that, long after the expulsion of the
Moors, Oriental artificers were still employed to
complete the works of their forefathers.

When, after eleven centuries, there is still
so much that commands our admiration, and
defies destruction, in spite of the demolition in
which Christianity and the Roman Church bore
the principal part,—from religious zeal no less
than from defective taste,—we can conceive what
the effect of the Mosque must have been in its
original and complete splendour, when the
Followers of Islam were supreme here.

In the time of Charles V. the ecclesiastics
built a high choir in the Renaissance style in
the middle of the Mosque, which is, indeed, a
stately church in itself, with wonderfully fine
carved choir-stalls, but still has a most detrimental
effect upon the Oriental structure, and accordingly
deserves the reproach which that Emperor ex-
pressed in regard to it.*

The treasures of the Cathedral are kept in the
Capilla del Cardenal, and contains masterpieces
of the goldsmith’s art; among other rarities, there

* Charles V. remarked to the Chapter, “ You have built here what

you, or any one, might have built elsewhere; but you have destroyed what
was unique in the world.” —TR.

356 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

is here a huge silver-gilt monstrance, in the Gothic
style, with magnificent processional crosses, two
in that, and one in Renaissance style, works which
brought the master-hands of Cordova into the
highest honour in the Middle Ages.

The chief ecclesiastics greeted me in the name
of the Bishop, and served as guides, along with
some of the canons, whose heads would have
made real studies. Two of these had a certain
acquaintance with modern languages, and were
vastly occupied in answering questions made to
them about the localities, now in English, and
now in German, with the aid of written vocabu-
laries, which they carried in their hats.

It was with great difficulty that my swite
_ persuaded me to leave the contemplation of this
wondrous Mosque, for its interior surpasses in
magnificence all the Oriental monuments that —
I had formerly seen in the Hast, although to a
certain point I was reminded of that in Old Cairo. —
Our stay, indeed, could not be longer, for a weari-
some railway journey of a day and a half lay
before us, and impelled us to a start, in order —
that we might get without a break to Tarragona,
and thence to Barcelona.

Yet I counted these physical exertions as —
little, because I owed to them the enjoyment a

Tarragona | 357

of the Alhambra’s spells, and the marvellous
structure of the Mezquita of Cordova !

At dark we reached the Sierra Morena, and
crossed the ridge about midnight, in the moon-
light. On gazing at this wild and barren rocky
landscape, I involuntarily began to think how
easily an accident to the train, which here
happens not infrequently, might occur—and what
an untoward end such an adventure would make
to my journey! While thinking this I went
to sleep. In the middle of the night I was
awaked, not by bandits, but on account of Queen
Isabella, who was travelling from Madrid to
Seville, and had arrived at the junction of Alcazar
simultaneously with our train, and who had
interrupted my slumbers, to bid me farewell once
more. The conversation at this rendezvous could
have been carried on from window to window,
since our carriages were exactly opposite each
other; of course, however, I jumped out, in spite
of my not very ceremonious attire, and paid my
respects, in the dead of night, standing on the
rails, to the honourable traveller.

Tarragona, December 13, 1883.

At daybreak the landscape had essentially
altered to its great advantage—in fact, we were

358 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

already on the same railway that had taken us,
in the night of November 22-23, to Madrid;
to-day, however, we saw the beautiful mountainous
country of the east coast by day, and reached the
famous plain of the Huerta de Valencia in the
forenoon.

Here, so far as the eye could reach, we were
surrounded by a thick hedge of oranges, in which
each single tree was quite laden with great fruits
of the most brilliant colour. On the declivities
of the mountains were country houses alternating
with villages; everywhere one perceived labouring
men at work, in fields and gardens, cheerful sights
we had long been deprived of. And why this
sudden transformation? Because in the Huerta
the system of canals, introduced by the Moors,
is still in force, and thanks to this supply of
water these plains are a fertile garden, on the
rich produce of which the inhabitants live in a

certain prosperity.

Whenever the train stopped, great baskets, —

or branches with the fruit still hanging on them,

of the splendid apples which grow so well on ~ !
this soil were handed into our carriage; they
tasted as sweet as if each fruit had been dipped 7

in honey.
At the station of Valencia was a _ large

t

Valencia 359

concourse of men, and the same officials whose
acquaintance I had made on landing. They all
gave me a hearty greeting. From here the rail-
way goes uninterruptedly along the beautiful
shores of the sea, which we had seen from our
ship three weeks before, to Tarragona, which
we reached at nine o’clock, and where our night-
quarters were taken in the hotel. The municipal
authorities, however, had determined to receive
me as a guest in the Ayuntamiento, or Town Hall.
With this object the Council Room had been
turned into a living-room, so that I there found
a gorgeous reception.

Among all the courtesies which I had to
accept, this hospitality took the very prejudicial
form of serving a magnificent supper, much
against my wishes; but as the fathers of the city
collectively partook of it, I naturally could not
refuse to attend. While the kind hosts relished
this dainty meal—which perhaps is a rare luxury |
with them—with evident enjoyment, I was silently
longing for my bed, and this the more as my
companions at table understood nothing but
Spanish, so that we were necessarily debarred
from conversation.

360 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

Barcelona, on board H.M.S. “ Prince Adalbert,”
December 14, 1883.

After visiting the municipal museum of Tarra-
gona, which possesses some quite good antiquities,
I went by the railway to Barcelona, where the
whole population of the town had turned out to
meet me. |

It had been reported that the fact that my
first landing on Spanish soil had been in Valencia
instead of here had vexed the inhabitants of this
town. The people evidently laid themselves out
to convince me of the contrary, which they did to
the fullest extent. For as I moved by the side
of the Capitan General and the Alcalde in an
hour and a half’s drive through the principal
streets and squares, amid the lines formed by the
garrison, I found the houses much decorated
with flags, and every window full of people
making friendly greetings, while the close masses
of the populace were in a really enthusiastic frame
of mind.

During the drive I was struck with the modern
character of this commercial city, which is
obviously in the full tide of its prosperity; it
resembles Marseilles in many respects, but in

Barcelona 361

spite of its rich manufactures is not, as to-day
is mostly the case, disfigured by forests of
chimneys, because the manufactures are situated
more in the side-valleys and the neighbourhood.
Great wide streets, planted with rows of trees, are
the arteries for the traffic of all this moving
life, and stately four-storied houses are speaking
witnesses to the commercial significance of
this harbour, which also possesses a climatic
importance.

Strangely enough, there is here a much greater
show of Toledo wares than in the city where they
are manufactured, or in Madrid, so that a selection
we had not hitherto been able to secure of the
finest works of this genuinely Spanish industry
were, thanks to the forethought of our Consul
Lindau, sent on board for our acceptance at the
last moment before starting.

German work is much prized in Spain as
in France, so that innumerable wares from
home find a market here—of course only so
long as the Spanish firms conceal their German
origin !

From the balcony at the house of the Capitan
General, I inspected the march past of the troops ;
during this the Bishop appeared, seated himself
at my side, and was also my neighbour at table,

362 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick

where he made himself most agreeable, and later
escorted me on foot to the Cathedral.

In Barcelona, as repeatedly during the journey,
Prefects and superior officers of justice were pre-
sented to me, who had taken office in consequence
of the recent change of ministry—that is, within
the last few weeks. |

To show the city some reciprocal attention, I
went to the very respectable Ayuntamiento, because
there is here the picture by the late talented
artist Fortuni, native of Barcelona, which re-
presents the Battle of Tetuan, 1859, of which his
countrymen are so inordinately proud. From
there I went to the Cathedral, which was sur-
rounded by masses of people; since these all
poured into the church, the crush there soon
became so unbearable that I declined the close
inspection of that great Norman-Gothic edifice,
and confined myself to the ecclesiastical treasure —
and the beautiful cloisters. The evening sun cast
its beams through the very striking and well-pre-
served stained glass of many colours, and warned
us to depart, as we were to weigh anchor before
nightfall.

At the embarkation I caught more friendly
cheers, the last we heard coming from our own
countrymen assembled in the harbour. After

HM.S. “ Prince Adalbert” 363

going on board the Loreley, I dismissed the vessel
from the squadron, and took leave of our Am-
bassador, Count Solm, who during my whole stay
had been most kind and useful, and so departed
amid the salutes of the guns to Genoa, by sea.

And so my stay_in this most interesting
country is at an end! [I shall always reckon the
days spent here as among the most cherished
recollections of my life.

As I parted from Spain with the most lively
sympathy for the King, his family and his country,
I entertain the hope that closer relations than
have ever yet subsisted with Germany may be
initiated through my visit. At the same time’
I feel myself justified in the anticipation that the
Government, as well as those clear-sighted men
who have their people’s welfare at heart, will
henceforward recognize our Empire as a prop of
the monarchical principle, and still more as a
disinterested and well-wishing friend.

The more closely the larger States of Europe
approximate to each other the more certain will
be the maintenance of peace. And herein the
wish is justified, that my mission to Spain may
prove to be another element in the prolongation
of this desired state.

I landed in Genoa on the morning of the 16th,

364 Diaries of the Emperor F vedevich

after as stormy a passage as I had on the outward
voyage, took leave after Divine Service on board
of the officers and men, and was received on
Italian soil with the same demonstrations of
respect as at starting. At night I embarked on
the journey to Rome.

ae

INDEX

Avon or Kanvo 14507

1 Ritter Lakaa 14f 157

ERRATA

Page 216, line 1, and page 235, line 3, for “draught” read “ draft.”

Page 350, line 10, for “Generaliste” read ‘“‘ Generalife.”

Page 351, lines 17, 18, for “ As in the church . . . possesses” read “ Here,
as in the church of 8. Juan de los Reyos at Toledo, there are,” etc.

DIARIES OF THE EMPEROR FREDERICK.

Bab-el-Wada, 128, 135

Barcelona, 360

Bari, 91

Bashi-Bazfiks, 127

Bazaine, Marshal, 219, 220

Becka‘a, Plains of, 145

Bedouin camp at Ismailia, 154-156

Benomar, Count, 303 ff.

Bethlehem, 133

Beylerbey Palace, 103 ff.

Beyrit, 136, 146

Bismarck, Count von, and Italy, 62;
and Suez Canal, 81; in Franco-
German war, 192-262 passim ; on
the Imperial Question, 212-250
passim; and the Crown Prince,
228, 258

logne, 60; of Cordova, 353; of
Seville, 339; of Toledo, 295
Chambord, 256
Charles V., 290 ff.; 318, 347
Chartres, 260 _
Chaumont, 256
Chlum, 41 ff.
Chroustowitz, Castle of, 60
Civil Orders in Spain, 311
Constantinople, 103-118
Constituent Assembly, 217, 224
Convention of Geneva, 25
Cordova, 353-356
Corfu, 91 ff.
Corinth, 95 ff.
Corrida, The, 285
Curtius, 100

364 Diaries of the Emperor Frederick —

after as stormy a passage as I had on the outward
voyage, took leave after Divine Service on board — ¥
of the officers and men, and was received on a
Italian soil with the same demonstrations a
respect as at starting. At night I embarked on

the journey to Rome. :

INDEX

Axsp-rL-Kaper, 150

Abu-Ghésh, 128

Academia de Jurisprudenzia, 285,
319

Acropolis, 98 ff., 1

Alcazar Goll), 342: (Toledo), 296

Alexandria, 183

Alfonso XII., 263-364 passim

Alhambra, 346-349

Alsace-Lorraine, 212-260 passim

Ambulance aid, 17, 48

Amelia, Queen, 102

Andrassy, Count, 150

Apis, Tombs of, 175-176

Aranjuez, be
Aristarchi Bey, 105, 116
Armeria ( rid), 289

Army of the Elbe, 1 ff.

Assfian, 165, 169

Athens, 97-102

Atocha, Church of the, 304

August of Wurtemburg, Prince, 1,

54
Austerlitz, Field of, 74
Austrian campaign, 1-80, 84, 87 ff.

BAALBEC, 136, 145
Bab-el-Wada, 128, 135
Barcelona, 360
Bari, 91
Bashi-Baztiks, 127
Bazaine, Marshal, 219, 220
Becka‘a, Plains of, 145
Bedouin camp at Ismailia, 154-156
Benomar, Count, 303 ff.
Bethlehem, 133
Beylerbey Palace, 103 ff.
Beyrfit, 136, 146
Bismarck, Count von, and Italy, 62;
and Suez Canal, 81; in Franco-
German war, 192-262 passim ; on
the Imperial Question, 212-250
assim; and the Crown Prince,
28, 258

Bitter Lakes, 156, 157

Black Eagle conferred on Steinmetz,
29, 50, 69

Blois, Castle of, 256

Blumenthal, Major-General von, 2,
39, 195 ff.

Boabdil, King of the Moors, 350

Bonin, General von, 1, 22, 25

Bilak Museum, 182

Bull-fight at Madrid, 283

Burnside, General, 217 ff.

Busch, Dr. G., 108, 115, 119

CABALLERIZAS, Las, 318

Cairo, 1, 60, 176-183

Camel-cavalry, 146

Camera (Madrid), 276

Campos, Don Arsenio Martinez, 291

Cannes, 187-188

Canovas, 300

Capilla Gristo de la Vega (Toledo),294

Capilla Mozarabe (Toledo), 296

Carmen, 284

Cartuja, La, 351

Casa del Campo, 314

Castelar, 331

Cathedral of Chartres, 261; of Co-
logne, 60; of Cordova, 353; of
Seville, 339; of Toledo, 295

Chambord, 256

Charles V., 290 ff.; 318, 347

Chartres, 260

Chaumont, 256

Chlum, 41 ff.

Chroustowitz, Castle of, 60

Civil Orders in Spain, 311

Constantinople, 103-118

Constituent Assembly, 217, 224

Convention of Geneva, 25

Cordova, 353-356

Corfu, 91 ff.

Corinth, 95 ff.

Corrida, The, 285

Curtius, 100

366

Damascus, 140-145

Dance of Choir-boys in Seville Cathe-
dral, 341

Dead Sea, 124

Deir-el-Kamar, 139

Dendera, 164

Dionysus, Theatre of, 100

Dolmabagdsche Palace, 105, 107

Don Alonso el Sabio, 340

Don Quixote, 274

Diimichen, Prof., 164

Eprv, Temple of, 165
Egmont, Count, 314

Egyptian population, 170
Egyptian ‘troops, 151
Elephantine, Island of, 165
Elliot, Mr., 112 ff.

El Pardo, 311, 315
Erechtheum, 99

Ernest II., Duke of Coburg, 59
Escorial, 323-326

Espinoza guards, 316
Estudiantina, The, 317, 328
Eugenie, Empress, 149 ff., 189
Eulenburg, Count zu, 4, 85
Hypel, 4, 21

Fasrica DE ArmAS (Toledo), 290, 294

Favre, M., 214 ff.

Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 307,
333, 339, 350, 351

Ferriéres, 215

Fliedner, Pfarrer, 283

Florence, 187

Fortuni, 362

Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria,
86 ff.; in Constantinople, 112; at
Jaffa, 135; at inauguration of Suez
Canal, 149

Franco-German War, 190-262

Franco Pasha, 138, 146

Frederick of the N etherlands, Prin-
cess, 236

Frederick Charles of Prussia, 1; 34,
44, 56, 66; in Franco - German
War, 210

GaBLENzZ, Lieut.-Field-Marshal von,
19-61 passim

Gambetta, 257

Generalife, The, 349, nal

Genoa, 267, 363

Gerf Husén, 166

Giralda, La, 339

Gobelin tapestry in Spain, 311, 313,
314

Lndex

Godfrey of Bouillon, 130
Gortschakow, 193, 198, 214, 221
Goya, 304

Granada, 345-353

Grandees of Spanish Court, 275, 310
Grao, 271

Haram, The, 131
Hebron, 132
Heliopolis (Baalbec), 136, 145; (On)
179-180
Henry of the Netherlands, Prince
and Princess, 149 ff.
Hiller, General von, 44
5 ae tata Prince Anton, 34, 45,
47, 6
Hohenzollern Candidature for Spa- __
nish throne, 192 ff., 263
Holy Sites, 122, 131
—— Sepulchre, 122 ff.
— — , Order of, 334 ‘I
Horenoves, Tree of, 37, 40 "
Hospitals, Field, 31
Huerta de Valencia, 358

IqnatTIEFF, General, 112, 149
Imperial dignity conferred on King
William, 259 ff.
—— Question, 212-262 passim A
Infallibility Question, 218 ff. 4
Infantas Isabella and Eulalia, 276,
315, 322, 327 a
Interview between Napoleon and
King William, 206-211
Iron Cross, and non-Prussians, 205 ;
conferred on Moltke, 208; worn
by King William, 221 a
Ismailia, 154 c
Ismail Pasha, 82 7.

JAFFA, 127, 135 ‘A
Jasmund, Capt. von, 2-92, 213 ;
Jerusalem, 121-134

Joan the Crazy, 313, 351 if
Johanniter Hospital, 137 ..
John, Hospice of S., 119, 134-136 a
Josephstadt, 33, 53, 54, 60
Journey to the East, 88-189

Kalser Question, The, 212-262 passim
Kaiserswerth deaconesses, 116,129 ff.,
137 ig
Kalnoky, Countess, 73 RY
Karnak, 164
Khedive, The, 81-83; 147-183 ,
Kiosks of the Sultan, 111
Kirjath-Jearim, 128

L[ndex

Koniggratz, Battle of, 36-52, 90
— , Fortress of, 54, 57; evacuation,
1

Kéniginhof, 32, 53

Laroong, M., 154

Lebanon, 137-140

Lepsius, Prof., 164, 181 ff.

Lesseps, M. Ferdinand, 154

Library for India, 340

Lindau, Consul B., 290 ff.

Loch Muick, 124

Louis, King, of Bavaria, 197-262

Luther, Celebration of, 267
Luxor, 164

Macmanon, Marshal, 231 ff.

Madrid, 274-335

Majolica ware, 338, 342

Mamre, Grove of, 133

Mancha, La, 273

Mariette, Prof., 176

Martos, 286

Mary Queen of Scots, 334

Max-Joseph conferred on Crown
Prince, 213

Medinet Habou, 165

Mensdorff, Count, 62, 64

Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, 290

Meiz, 205; Capture of, 222

Mezquita (Cordova), 353

wer Orders in Spain, 292, 309,

Mischke, Capt., 53-69, 191

Mobilization of German army (1866),
1-5; (1870), 190-192

Moltke, General von, 61; 194-262

passim

Morier, Sir R., 303 ff.

Mosque of Omar, 131

Mount of Olives, 122, 124

Muick, Loch, 124

Murillo, 279, 306, 338

Museo( Madrid), 278-392 passim, 303,
305; (Seville), 338

Mutius, General von, 1, 38

Nacuop, Battle of, 7-18

—, Castle of, 17

— Pass, 3, 5

Naples, 186

Napoleon, Emperor, in Paris, 188 ; at
Sedan, 206; at Wilhelmshéhe, 214

Nikolsburg, 79

Nile, Journey up the, 162-175

Nubian population, 170

3607

OLIVET, 122, 124

Ollivier, M. Emile, 189, 193-262
passim

Omeiyad Mosque, 143

On, 180

Order of Charles III., 333; Black
Eagle, 29, 50, 69; Iron Cross, 205,
208, 221; Max-Joseph, 213; Pour
le Mérite, 49, 57; San Fernando,
309; San Ildefonso, 311

Ossuna, 345

Paxacto San Tetmo, 343

Papal Question, 218, 223 ff.

Pardo, 311

Pardubitz, 33

Paris, Visit to (1866), 188; Invest-
ment of, 214-259

Parthenon, 99 ff.

Passage, Inauguration (of Suez
Canal), 153-158

Patio de los Naranjos, 339

Philae, 165

Philip IL, 313

Pilz, Fraulein C., 130, 135

Pirzeus, 97

Port Sa’id, 147

Pour le Mérite conferred on Crown
Prince, 49; on von Mutius, 57

Prado, The, 275, 277

Prince Consort, 231, 237

Propylea, 99 ff.

Prussian Press, Attitude of the,
226

Pyramids, 180 ff.

QUADRILLA, The, 284

Queen Amelia, 102

Isabella la Catolica, 307, 333,
339, 350-351

—— Isabella II., 276, 281, 322, 328,
334, 357

—— Maria Christina, 276, 335 ff.

—— ‘Mary of Scotland, 334

—— Mercedes, 325

—— Victoria, and peace proposals,
216

Quinta, 315

RAPHAEL, 280, 306
Ravenna, 90

Real Cochera, La, 318
Retiro, The, 277

Rheims, 212

Rhodes, 120

Romero Robledo, 285, 319
Rosberitz, 44

368

Rotunda of Holy Sepulchre, 122,
126, 130
Russell, Odo, 213, 227, 232, 260

S. Franoisco (Madrid), 334

S. Isidro el Real (Madrid), 329

S. Juan Battista (Toledo), 293

Ss. foe de los Reyes (Toledo), 294,

51

S. Maria la Blanca (Toledo), 295

Sagasta, 300

San Fernando conferred on Crown
Prince, 309

San Lucar de Barameda, 337, 344

San Telmo, 344

Santa Paula (Seville), 339

Schiller, 197

Schleswig-Holstein, Annexation of,

Scutari, Barracks of, 115

Sedan, 206

Serai Point, 105, 109

Serapeum, The, 175

Sepulchre, Holy, 122-126

Seville, 336-344 By

Shtaura, 145

Siege of Paris, 214-251

Silesian Army, | ff.

Sitt, Tombs of, 163

Sofia, Aja, 109, 110

Solm, Count, 271, 305, 363 ff.

Solomon, Temple of, 131; Reservoir
of, 133

Spain, Journey to, 263-364

Spanish Court, 275-335 passim

— Orders, 292, 309, 311, 333

—— Troops, 280, 308, 326-7

Stambfl, 103-115

Steinmetz, General von, 1-80 passim ;
205; receives the Black Eagle, 29-
69 passim

‘Stosch, Major-General von, 2 ff.

Strasburg, Capitulation of, 216

Suez Canal, Inauguration of, 81 ff. ;
147-160

THE

Index

Sultan, The, visit to Coblentz, 84,
ff.; in Constantinople, 103-
; ;
Sweet Waters of Europe, 113

TaxitHa-Cumt, 135

Tann, General von der, 190, 225

‘Tarragona, 357

Temple of Dendera, 164; of Dionysus,
100; of Karnak, 164; of Medinet
Habou, 165; of Solomon, 131; of
Theseus, 101; of Zeus, 145

Thebes, 164

Thiers, 257

Thile, 192

Third Army, 190 ff.

Toledo, 290, 292-298

Tombs of Apis, 175; of the Khalifs,
177; of the Kings, 165

Trautenau, Battle of, 18 ff., 55

— Pass of, 7

Troy, 104.

Turkish Army, 111

—- cuisine, 117

—— progress, 119

VALENCIA, 270, 358

Vaucouleurs, 205

Velasquez, 277-9, 306, 343

Venetia, Cession of, 62

Versailles, 214, 215

Virgen de los Reyes, La (Seville), 340
Virgin’s Tomb, The, 125; Tree, 179

Wartine, Place of, 134

Walker, Col., 11, 31-34 passim

Wallenstein’s Castle, 63

Weissenburg, Battle of, 200

Wimpffen, Col. Baron von, 16

William, King, passim; proclaimed
Emperor, 239 ff.

Worth, Battle of, 200, 203

ZARZUELA, La, 315
Zizeloves, 37

END

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCUES.

.
eS ee Te!

RETURN i . z NI) ene ae
TO=_> é |
LOAN PERIOD 1 12 a |

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
TICLE

MAR 06 1989

: auto pisc MAR 04 1

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

FORM NO. DDO, 5m, 3/78 BERKELEY, CA 94720 ae

met «

“Ue. BERKELEY LIBRARIES

\

co209394bs

EE ‘ . mane net SO : - =
= ee = - * - > =

SAS TN PRG CaS OT One ie

~ ene cher eee nn a ame nt en nad
Syomeens anc nae a oc cn ae er near a
& Jot ro

comsigueeld . -
~
-
nm a re cr nen
abet :
ee moe
pt vane nee tame net