The force now advancing on Pekin has no officer in
general command, but it appears that the German Emperor has appointed Marshal Count von Waldersee, the head of his Staff, to command the ten thousand Germans now afloat, and that the British, Russian, French, and Japanese forces have agreed to regard him as Generalissimo. He is sixty-eight years of age, has great experience both of battle and organ- isation, and is specially trusted by the Emperor. He would, in fact, have commanded the German armies in any great European war. The appointment of this great officer, who has an American wife, is most satisfactory in itself, but it indicates that William II. means to take the lead in the war with China, that he regards the affair as a very great one, and that he will be compelled to secure advantages for his country commensurate
with its effort. "Do, ut des," is not only .Bismarck's saying, but a maxim of German statecraft. Marshal von Waldersee, it will be noted, cannot arrive on the scene for six weeks, at the end of which Pekin will be either in foreign hands, or all China will be aflame because the Relief Expedi- tion has been repulsed. Note that with a German General- issimo entire German regiments will volunteer for the war.
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