The Berlin _Lokalanzeiger_ publishes the following description of
the Kaiser by Sven Hedin:
"I had the happiness of speaking to the Kaiser in former years, and
he has not altered. Latterly I have met him frequently, and I can
only say that he has lost nothing of his freshness and elasticity.
His appearance has not altered in the least, and yet every day he
puts in twenty-four hours of work. Everything must be reported to
him and he takes part in everything.
"I am often asked: 'How is the Kaiser able to bear this physical
and mental strain?' I think the correct answer is that he is able
to bear it because his conscience is clear; that he feels himself
innocent before God and man of having caused this war and that
he knows he has done everything in his power to prevent it. The
Germanic cause cannot wish for any better representative than the
Kaiser, and it would almost appear that he had been born for this
crisis. For, just as he did all in his power to keep the peace,
he feels now that he is responsible for the development of German
destiny, and with this in view he devotes to the cause all his
feelings, thoughts and acts."
"A FRIGHTFUL HECATOMB."
The disadvantage of having a sovereign who insists upon being his
own generalissimo must have weighed heavily of late upon the German
armies in the west. A French soldier engaged in the district
just south of the Somme gives particulars, gathered from German
prisoners, of the Kaiser's recent visit to his lines in this region.
He says:
"To prove their zeal in his presence the German officers increased
their daily quota of about 100 shells for firing at the French to
3,000 in twenty-four hours. The next day the imperial traveller was
five miles south of Lihous, where the same ceremonial was organized
for his reception. There was a regular debauch of shells from
cannon, guns and mortars. There, again, the infantry showed little
eagerness to attack us, but some blows and threats improved their
sense of duty.
"There was a frightful hecatomb. They again tried to capture the
villages of Dilrens and Quesnayen Santerre on the following day,
but, although encouraged by the presence of Emperor William, they
failed ingloriously. One officer says 500 German bodies already have
been buried and many still are on the ground."