TEE SCENE OF A CENTURY.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 100, 28 April 1888, Page 6

TEE SCENE OF A CENTURY.

FUNERAL OF THE EMPEROR ; , , WILLIAM. ~

DISAPPOINTED SIGHTSEEBS

*■> RIOTOUS.

(FROM OUB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, March 21. The blinds of all the greab houses, We3^ End clabs and public offices wore drawn on Friday last till aftor the hour fixed for the Emperor William's funeral, and in th° evening there were no concerts or danceß in " society" and some of the theatre 8 closed their doors. The restaurants too, were almost empty. At the Criterion, I was told, they had not known such a slack day for years, and other groat dining haunts suffered similarly. This proves there was really a popular feeling in favour of showing respoct to the good old Kaiser's memory—surely a surprising thing. Would Berlin affect to mourn for our Queen or Princo of Wales ? I doubt id much. The best account of the groat pageant of Friday was in the " Times." from which I clip tho following :—Outside the Cathedral hoarso shouts of command, noise, crowding, gloomy skies, snow-encumbered ground, bitter frost, and biting wind. Inside a pleasant temperature, silonco, STATE, BEAUTY, MAJESTY, and the fragrance of all tho sweetest an** loveliest flowers that the hothouse or_ th° sunny Riviera knows. Imagine a classical looking church of the Basilica stylo, without transepts, built from north to south, instead of fromeaattowosfc —achurchabout 100 yards long—with an arched und panelled roof supported by two rows of flu tod Corinthian pillars, 24 in all. Imagine, further, that all the seats and pows m the body of fchjs church have been removed, and that thoir place is 'aken for the nonco by a black carpoted floor, sloping upwards to the northern end from tho albar. The pillars and tho gallery which runs round tho whole edifice arc also draped in blaok, bub indeed this colour is almost concealed by the piles of votivo wreaths and other floral offerings that fill the building with such a pleasant odour. Tho sloping floor and tho gallery running round are crowded with a select throng of ALL THAT IS FOREMOST IN THE LAND, soldiers, statesmen, provincial magnates, nobles, officials, foroign diplomatists, strangers of rank and note, and representatives of tho press, all looking at tho scene in front of tho severely pimple altar, Fiirmounted by a crucifix and by a painting commemorative of tho last moments of Christ upon earth. All the mourners who fill this spacious chapeile ardente aro gazing at the coffin which now hides from view tho mortal remains of William tho Victorious, tho seventh King of Prussia and First Emperor of a reunited Germany. When first-, this sceno meets tho eye of the beholder it only presents a rich, overloaded, and confusing picture of lights, uniforms, flushing steel, plumes, and HUMAN FIGURES MOTIONLESS AND MUTE. But on closer scrutiny you sco that the centre of tho ptoture is the coffin of his late Majesty, which is covered with rich crimson velvet, edged and embroidored with gold. The conin is flanked on each side by three large candelabra, shedding a flood of light around, and guarcfed by soldiers with fixed bayonets or drawnswords. At the coffin's foot and fronting t.\o altar, with his back to us, stands General yon Pape—commanding the Army Corps of tho Guards—who holds tho white silk banner of the Empire embroidered with a black eagle. On his right, with drawn sword, is tho tall and aristocratic, figure of Coynt,.L©hndoi>ff, the late EMPEROR'S FAVOURITE AIDE-DE-CAMP or Adjutant-General, as they call it—who had unbounded influence over his Majesty, and was one of tho few men who could venture to talk to him as freely and as boldly as his own brother. Flanking the bearer of the Imperial banner, on th» loft, stands another.great favourito and personal attendant of the departed Kaiser, Prince Anton yon Radziwill, a man who was also-another fidwi Achates to His Majesty, and was by him entrusted with many a delicate personal mission, including thab of delivering his ultimatum to M. Benedetti on that fateful, yet fortunate, day at Ems which SEALED THE DOOM OF ONE EMPIRE and ushered in the dawn of another. At tho head of tbe coffin—which, by tho way, is surmounted with the plumed, knightly helm of the Hohcnzollerus—is a tabouret supporting the Royal Crown, and beside it stands Coant Stolberg-Wernigerodc, tho Lord Chamberlain - the magnate, of mild and gentle mien, who OWNS HALF THE HARZ MOUNTAINS. The ceremony was joined in with deep feeli ing. But hark ! the religious hush of the bent congrcgabion is ab bhis final moment rudely disturbed by a rattlinsc, rolling crash of musketry outside, and bhis reminds us that tho army is now aleo adding its benediction of fire over its lato heroic chief, to whom the sound of simultaneous musketry was ever as the sweetest music. But bhis bime bhe firing .sounds strangely irregular to those inside, whether from nervousness, or inattention to tho word of command, does not appear. But the salvofiring goes on improving until the last volley is delivered like A SHARP CLAP OF REVERBERATING '■•■•■ ■:; THUNDER, and so this last battle melody is sounded in the cold unheeding ears of tho man who loved it so well. Twclvo stalwart colouela now take hold of the Emperor's coffin (how carefully and tenderly they lift the weight!) and to the solemn tones of the pealing organ bear it out to the waiting hearse. Companies of infantry opposite the church door present arms, and the bands with muffled drums burst out with the strains of "Jesus, refuge of my soul." Strong, willing hands soon adjust the coffin on the hearse and pile it round with some of the choicesb floral offerings. As a pageant the procession down the Linden - avenue would have been more brilliant but for the cold, which obliged all the soldiers to wear their overcoats. The sombre dress of the troops was, however, in keeping with the occasion, and bhe spectacle as seen from the Brandenburg Gate, along the whole extent of the long broad street was striking andgrand. There was a moment when, the whole procession being on the move, and the entire AVENUE FILLED WITH, SERRIED COLUMNS of soldiers in dark clothes, the contrast of glittering helmets, flashing sabres, nodding plumes, and fluttering lance pennons came oub in striking relief bo the black underground of the picture. Those who meant Ito witness the profession from one of the stands erected on the Pariser Plate, just inside the Brandenburg Gate, had bo be in their places before eleven, aud as the hearse did not pass this point until two o'clock this involved ab leant three hours' waiting in bhe open air under the whistling March wind. This trial of endurance, however, was nothing-, to whab was undergone by THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF POOR PEOPLE who took up their stand on the edge of the pavement before daybreak in the hope of obbaining good points of view. Alas, for these good people! Long before the

gaudy coaches of Kings, Princes, End Ambassadors heralded the near approach of the hour fixed for the funeral, privileged deputations of trades, students, and army veberans were assigned places five or six deep in front of the early , comers, so that in many cases all that those latter gained by their long vigil was to have eaten their poor breakfasts of black bread and sausage in the cold, and to have been well hustled by the police, ordered to stand back, and flouted generally. Some sense of the injustice of this struck the crowd on the Pariser Plate, and it led to A HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT between tho early occupants of the pavement and the members of deputations with banners. There was no cordon of troops at this point to keep the road clear, so that when once the crowd had surged forward witha pugnacious purpose the carriage-way, strewn with branches of fir, was invaded in a moment, and the scuffle between masses and classes was continued, amid unseemly execrations and yoils, until squads of mounted police camo up at a hand gallop and ploughed thoir way through tho human surf. Drawn by six black caparisoned horses, and escorted by 24 Generals as guards and pall-bearers, the open car bearing tho coffin, and surmounted by a golden baldachino, moved slowly on its way. There was not a flower on tho coffin, which wafi' of high shape, covered with crimson velvet, and crowned with an enormous knight's helmet. The Emperor's ridorlosscharger, with bootsinthoßtirrups, walked behind the hearse. Looking like a ho;=b, tho mournors must also be comprehensively described as such, for it would be iropoasiblo bo say in what particular order Kings, Hcirs-Apparont, Grand-Dukes, and Royal Highnesses walkod. Thoy were all mufUod in mantles, woro thoir hats, and.stopped close together. By tho new Emperor's special desire no unnecessary exposure to cold was to bo risked by any of his illustrious guests. The precession had passed all bho way from the Pom along a roadway strewn with green leaves and branchos, and immediately after tho lasb row in the final squad had gono by, tho crowds invaded tho road, and began to pick up sprigs of fir as keopsakep. LOOKING DOWN OK THE DEAD. Up to the last moment ib was generally believed that tho Emperor would join the procession within tho park, and his appearance ab the window several times before its arrival soemod to add probability _to tho supposition. But bho cold was too intense for such oxpofiure as this would have ontailed, and Hia Majesty therefore watched the mournful sceno from an upper window \in the central part of tho Casblo. Tho cortege, entered She park ab tho south-east corner, and thus did nob pass bho fronb of ' bho Castle. When the hearse roached ! the central towor there was a slight halt, as tho Crown Prince and Prince Henry catne out in ordor to accom- | pany the coffin to its resting-placo. The Emperor meanwhile looked down with grave face from his elevated position, and acknowledged the many salutes that came from the passing brain.