The Emperor paid his promised visit on Tuesday, and held
a review, after which he made to the Prince a rather astonishing speech. He presented him with a sword engraved with the arms of Alsace-Lorraine, and said that the repre- sentative of the Army beheld in Prince Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, a great comrade. The sword was "the symbol of that great building-time during which the mortar was blood and iron," and was also "the remedy which never fails, and which in the hands of Kings and Princes will also pre- serve unity in the interior of the Fathetland, even as, when applied outside the country, it led to internal union." The Prince declined to reply, except by thanks, as "my military position in respect to your Majesty will not allow me to give expression to my feelings," an acknowledgment surely rather enigmatical. At a subsequent luncheon, the Emperor was again loud in laudation of his host, and ended his speech by declaring that "Germans from the snow-clad Alps to the dykes of the Belt, where the breakers thunder and roar, will shout hurrah for Prince Bismarck with glowing hearts." The events of the day, and especially its speeches, leave on our mind, especially when studied by the light cf the vote in the Reichstag, a rather melancholy impression, which we have recorded elsewhere. In judging the German Emperor, how- ever, we must not forget that besides being statesman, soldier, and chief patron in the Services, he is also a composer and a poet. Something of the literary weakness for telling words enters into his mind as well as into his speeches.
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