The German Emperor and Empress started for Palestine from Potsdam
on Tuesday night, travelling via Vienna to. Venice, and accompanied by an immense suite. The Vossische Zeitung deprecates the use of the term "crusade" in connec- tion with the journey, on the ground that "it is not under- taken with the object of conquests except of the moral kind," —a statement rather hard to reconcile with the subsequent admission that it will promote the expansion of Germany's commerce. The claims of art, also, are not to be forgotten, the suite including Professor Knackfuss, the executor of the Kaiser's momentous pictorial allegories, and a staff of photographers attached to the bodyguard. Although the fifty German noblemen who are proceeding to Palestine to be present at the dedication of the Church of the Redeemer, as well as other deputations, will travel at their own expense, it is estimated that the Imperial pilgrimage will cost several million of marks. Emperors, however, cannot travel like private persons ; and besides, this huge outlay may prove a profitable investment if the Emperor is rightly credited with the intention to secure important concessions from the Sultan. For, as the Vossisehe pointedly remarks, "the Emperor does not go to Palestine as the enemy of the infidels,' but as the friend of the Padishah."
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