THE BLACK EAGLE

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 97, 26 April 1917, Page 2

THE BLACK EAGLE

ITS OMINOUS FLITTING

A HOHENZOLLERN PORTENT.

A simple fact that seems almost a phenomenon in its significance has startled Germany. To those vsuperstitiously inclined it is an omen of the utmost portent,,arid oven to those less credulous it is an augury that is not passed by with a; word. Ifc is this: The Prussian Black Elagle, from the first founding of the Prussian kingdom, the symbol of power, has forsaken its haunts on the crags of the Swabion. Alps, ;\here towers the castle of the Holienaollems. For ten centuries these.great black eagles have made their homes on the gigantic cliffs of the lower Alps which shelter this cradle of Ho.hen7ollein royalty. This is the first year thoy have disappeared. The cause of their going is a mystery, but to the peasants of the Black Forest and to many others' it signifies the passing of the Hohenzollerns, the hereditary Prussian kings . When the grim old Elector of Brandenburg was crowned King.of Prussia in 1701 he founded tho Military Order of the Black Eagle,' and fcicorporatcd tho king of birds into the imperial peal. Beneath it were the words ■ "Suuir. Cuique"—"To each his own.'' The arrogance of the present em-pei-or, say tho prophets, has not left "To each Ids own. Whether or not the "military necessity" of the ijt'laini is iwsr.ina.ble,. the fact remains ' that ■'Germany has overrun and' ravaged Belgium, Roumania, Serbia,. and Northern Franco. And the'v Prussian ojigto r.ns abandoned the splendid iiaistle of Schwartz; Adlers Horst (literally the Aorie of the Black Eagle). Vvri*li the passing of the black eagle of German, royalty, say the peasants, vt ill coMirt the surrender of tho sceptre of Prussian pdwer... These eagles 'have been protected from molestation by imperial decrea for centuries. Edicts innumerable safeguarded their home and' made thorn the most familiar things in the rugged and majestic vistas outspread s)ofore tho towers/of tho Hohenzollem castle The , sunset that bathed the tall turrets of ■.. the .ancient Prussian pile saw the majestic birds wheeling overhead for the final homing swoop to the nests of their young. S'eeure in their vast aeries, thoy multiplied until the groat predatory bird whs an internal part of the wild mountain scenery. This winter lims witnessed the suddon oxodus of tho famous eagles. According to report's that have reached .Switzerland, there is many a good Gorman who believes that Kaiser Wil'ielm > E'mppror of Gorm.iny and Kipp, of Prussia, having violated the torse legend of the insignia of the Imperial soal—"To each his own"— is bringing down about his head the wreck of vhe Hohenzollern dynasty. Tho end of his regime is written in blwid, and tho peasants believe that the prescient birds, knowing this, are leaving the- cradle >of their species and tho source of Prussian power.

When; have they gone?. It is hardly easier to answer this than to answer that other more insistent interrogatory,, "Why have they gone?" Is th« Hohenzollorn spirit jndeod tho spirit of the black eagle? Is the affinity of method aid purpose of the dynasty and its emblems of power ns foiiiploio ;is would appear? Is it such a one th.it the disappearance ..f tho .bliK'k e.ipbr from the captlo of HohonEolWn may be oonridered as prophetic of-tho downfall of the great genius of mi! ii arism? • Tim 7)rvsnnl-. of the Black Forest an^v.'j's 'Y<s ;! The disjippoarnrice of tho famod hlfiok. entries is all tho in ore ro^vu'k■\b\s by reason of the fact that ni;;rat;if>TJK- two almost unknown !:o \,bn spoc-ios. Tho birds will frequent tlie S'liiii'! nest on the .same aorie yenr ■ after year, the young when old enough seloetinp; tlieir own quai'fcars half a doaen miles away. At all events, with the departure

of the tlack eagles of the Hohenzollerns vanishes something of tho historic atmosphere of the cradle of Prussian power. i