FUNERAL OF THE EMPRESS FREDERICK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11771, 28 September 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

FUNERAL OF THE EMPRESS FREDERICK.

STATE CEREMONY AT THE CHURCH OF PEACE.

Berlin*, August 13.—Most elaborate, sys

; ! tematic, and complete are the preparations 5 j which have been made for the impressive, ; but mournful, pageant of to-day. But tie | ground idea, or leitmotiv of them all, as the l Germans would term it, is that fitting honl our shall be paid to the memory of the illus- ' trious dead, rather than an imposing spec--1 tacle arranged for a, curious crowd. Hence, [ admission was rigorously withheld from all . but those whose relationship to the Empress ; or political position entitled them to be present, and even of these only the men took part in the funeral cortege itself, to which j a. decidedly and almost exclusively military ' character was given. Half-past ten o'clock i had been fixed by His Majesty for the arrij val of the train at Wildpark Station, but j already at eight o'clock carriages began to I drive up. j At nine o'clock all the roads, paths, and I avenues about Sans Souci are bright with | Hashing sabres, gleaming helmets, sparkling i orders and decorations. Journalists and arI tists, notebooks in hand, saunter about the ! grounds as near as permissible to the forbidj den domain. The palace guard takes pos- ! session of the public station of Wildpark, j detachments of cavalry are continually pour- ' ing into the park or taking up positions on | the road. From the trains which steam in | in rapid succession magnificent garlands and •' crowns of flowers are taken and carefully I borne towards the mausoleum. One colosl sal crown of roses challenges universal ad- ! miration, and supplies groups of officers ( with a subject for animated conversation. ! It is 4ijsft in diameter, and is surmounted by | a crown of red velvet and white flowers. I Above the crown is a white cross, oroa- j ! mented with lilac-tinted orchids. But the j interest manifested in this graceful tribute j to the memory of the deceased Empress is | owing neither to the dimension;; of the sou- | venir, which was sent by the cicy of Poseu, ! nor to the consummate art with which the j tasteful design has been carried out. It emanates entirely from the pathos of a curious coincidence. The nimble fingers that wove that crown of mourning for Kaiserin Friedrieh's funeral are the same that made the bridal bouquet for her on her wedding ! day, and also a garland that was laid upon ! the tomb of her Imperial Consort. Many of \ these floral tributes, which continue to arI rive down to the moment of the advent of I the Imperial tram, are placed in the cloistral court of the Church of Peace, or laid at the feet of the majestic figure of Thorwaldsen's " Christ." None of them are taken inside the mausoleum, which remains in the austere simplicity that befits the last restingplace of a German Empress and a Prussian Queen. AKRIVAX OF THE KAISER AND KING EDWARD. At ten o'clock the members.of the Imperial and Royal families resident in Pots- | dam and Berlin foregather in the State apartment at the station, which is draped in i Hack. Everything is done with dignified deliberation, slowly, silently. Human figures seem to glide rather than to walk, and Sunday stillness reigns over all. The noble ladies are arrayed in deep mourning, their countenances hidden by dense black veils. The gold and silver embroidery, swords, and porte epees are covered with crape. Order, method, accuracy are characteristic of all the arrangements. At a quar-ter-past ten Kaiser Wilhelm drives up with King Edward on his right hand, both monarch dressed 'in the picturesque blue uniform of the Second Regiment of the Prussian Dragoon Guards, of which the late Queen Victoria was the chief. They wore the insignia of the Orders of the Garter and the Black Eagle. The Royalties assembled in the State apartment had been carrying on a desultory conversation in barely audible whispers, but on the appearance of the Imperial carriage deep silence was observed. Immediately after the arrival of the Emperor and the King the carriage with the Kaiserin and the Queen of England drove up. In accordance with the military character of the ceremony the Kaiser bore his marshal's staff in his right hand. With the scrupulous punctuality characteristic of official arrangements throughout Prussia, the special train, conveying the mortal remains of one of the most gifted among the crowned women of all times and countries, moved softly and smoothly into Wildpark Station at half-past ten o'clock. It was seen for a moment by the few privileged onlookers, and then lost again in a veritable labyrinth of greenery. Matted creepers, trailing vine tendrils* interwoven branches of acacias and limes literally bury even the houses and villas which are siiuaated near the line, while the path running parallel to it is over-arched by heavy clusters of ripening grapes. In the first rank of mourners are the Kaiser, the King and Prince Heinrich, and then the daughters of the deceased Empress. When, after a time, the seemingly chaotic crowd resolved itself into a long procession, the effect was wonderfully powerful. Never before has it been my lot to behold the emotional side of militarism in such concentrated force and amid such pathetic surroundings. j

Chopin's " Funeral March" intensified the emotion, while the oppressive, sunless heat weakened the nerves of all. The German Empress, standing together with the Queen of England, as the mourning escort was departing, was at last unable to keep down any longer the torrent of tears that was welling up. It was several minutes before Her Majesty succeeded in regaining her former composure. The route over which the procession passed was the same by which the body of Kaiser Fried rich had been conveyed. Towering above the bluish heights of the wooded hills rises the brown square bell tower of the Church of Peace, in the shadow of which stands the Imperial house of death. Through one of the pillared openings, which servo as windows of the belfry, the off-shoot of a, time tree has put forth leaves. In the lower portion of the sacred edifice a fresco representing Christ in the Garden of Gethsemune touches the keystone of the hallowed place. In front of the church stands the majestic figure of Christ, modelled after Thorwaldsen's statue. A little to the north of the vestibule is the door that- opens into the mausoleum. It was erected by the late Empress, and she herself furnished the designs. When. Kaiser Friedrich, her husband, was breathing the air of the Tyrolean Hills, and his life was slowly ebbing away, he was struck with the appearance of the little church of Innichen, which is an imitation of that of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. With his thoughts irrevocably fixed on the rapidly-approaching end. which no human efforts could stay, he uttered a. wish to be laid to rest in a mausoleum s'uch as this simple temple. And his desire was fulfilled by his august widow, who drew the plans and had the edifice constructed by the architect, Raschdorff. The bereaved' lady was wont to come hither from time to time", and commune for hours with the departed spirits of her beloved husband and her two children, Waldemar and Sigismund. She generally received Holy Communion at the little altar on the anniversary of the death of Prince Waldemar. The mausoleum, is a circular building of sandstone, supported within by nine pillars of marble. THE CLOSING SCENE. But now the stone has been removed and (he door is open, at the threshold of which the wildest storms that shake the human heart are hushed for ever. Within the hall of death dusk is made visible by subdued light and silence made audible by the dreamy hum of tenanted grass and air and the muffled rustle of whispering trees. Outside the mausoleum is the court, which bears a certain resemblance to the burial plot of the Grande Chartreuse, surrounded by its cloistered corridors. If aught could be termed pleasing which is associated with death it would be the thought of being laid to rest in such a fitting place as this. Heretofore the mausoleum contained but three graves, those of the two Princes whose lives were fraught with bright promise unfulfilled, and that of the ideal Monarch who was discrowned by unrelenting death. Thev are all too fresh to have outlasted the sorrow that once sealed them up. Garlands and crowns are there to attest it. But now the chief mourner has come to rest for ever with those she loved, taking with her to the grave the remainder of the unrealised dreams of great and noble things that might have been. __ It was nearly eleven o'clock when the Kaiserin, the Queen of England, the Crown Princess of Greece, and other ladies entered the atrium of the Church of Peace to await the arrival of the coffin. A detachment of

I the Ist Regiment of the Guards occupied j positions at either side of the portal. The J sounds of the drum become gradually more distinct, and at last a messenger on" horseback warns the ladies that the coffin is drawing near. The twenty Black Hussars make ready to render the last sad service to their beloved chief. The hearse appears, and halts, the Hussars grasp the big handles, and bear the oaken case reverently to the Mausoleum. Kaiser and King, Empress, Queen, and Princesses enter this ante-cham-ber of eternal peace, slowly and in silence. The moment the coffin passed the threshold of the edifice the sonorous voices of the cathedral choirs chanted one of those psalms which sum up man's life in a simile, and formulate his hope in a prayerful ejaculation. The waves of solemn musical sound swelled and rolled till the building itself seemed to vibrate in unison. No outsider, not even among high Court dignitaries, was present during this final act of a most pathetic drama. It lasted but a quarter of an hour. Kaiser Wilhelm took his stand by the sarcophagus of his father. Kaiser Friedrich. The officiating clergyman, Dr. Persius, offered up a prayer, and the choir chanted another hymn, after which the parting prayer was 'slowly spoken. Then came a painful pause of death-like stillness and short duration. A movement of the Kaiser broke the spell, and startled back the mourners to a sense of dull reality. There was a shuffling of feet and a jingling of spurs, and a few minutes later the' Church of Peace was left, alone with its latest tenant, whose uncomplaining sorrow was coeval with greatness, and whose attainment of happiness was contemporary with death. The others had gone back to the world to continue to make history.