6 JANUARY 1900, Page 10

On New Year's Day the German Emperor addressed a very

striking speech to the officers of the Berlin garrison. The first day of the new century, said the Emperor, saw the Army—i.e., the people—in arms gathered round their standards. He then described how the Army of Frederick the Great had been sapped by luxury and arrogance, and destroyed by Napoleon, and how the German Army and people had been restored and saved by universal military service and German unity,—in both of which works the Emperor William I. bad the first place. "And even as my grandfather laboured for his Army, so will I in like manner and unerringly carry on and carry through the work of re- organising my Navy, in order that it may be justified in standing by the side of my land forces, and that by it the German Empire may also be in a position abroad to win a place which it has not yet attained. With the two united, I hope to be enabled, with firm trust in the guidance of God, to prove the truth of the saying of Frederick William I. :— ' When one of this world wants to decide something, the pen will not do it unless it is supported by the strength of the sword.' "