Talking With Moltke

By many people es-President Andrew D. White, of Cornell university, ex-minister to Gennany, is regarded as one of the best aathorities on Germán affairsin the United States. Years of patiënt study and observation give great weight to his Tiews on the new Germany of today. Regarding the great Germán soldier and strategist the ex-president says: I first saw Von Moltke just after my arrival at Berlín at the festivals attendant upon the golden wedding of the old Emperor William. The first of these was a great theatrical representation at the Boyal Opera house, at which the emperor and empress and very nearly all the crowned heads of Germany, with representatives of the varions royalties of Europe, were present, and besides these, attracting even more attention, Biamarck, Von Moltke and the leading generáis of the Franco-Prussian war. The appearance of these people comes back before me very vividly, but no one is more distinctly present to me than Von Moltke. He seemed absolutely different from every other personage in that great halL He was a tall, spare rnan, nis face a mixture of determination and kindliness, his whole appearance, as more than one pereon has said at varions times, being that of an intelligent, kindly college professor or schoolmaster. There was something singularly gentle about his whole bearing, yet it was impressive. He sat very quietly, exchanging some little conversation with his next neighbor, Manteuffel, the dreaded viceroy of Alsace-Lorraine. The contrast between the two was very marked - Manteuffel, apparently, all keenness and severity, Von Moltke firm, bat gentle. INTRODUCED BY BARON NOTHOMB. When I next saw him it was at an evening gathering where there was not a large number present, and where I had the opportunity to converse with him. I was introduced to him by the dean of the diplomatic corps, Baron Nothomb, sometimes called "the father of constitntional liberty in continental Europe," a man of very wide political knowledge and who more than once, as I sat at the table, gave me accounts ' his conversations with Talleyrand and other men of the first Napoleonic period. Baron Nothomb in presenting me to Von Moltke took advantage of a little sketch pnblished in one of the Germán newspapers, and said: "Sir Field Marshal, I wish to make you acquainted with a gentleman who was born in Homer, who lives in Syracuse and who has aided in fotmding a university at Ithaca." At this Von Moltke laughed pleasantly, and evidently did not understand the allnsion, wherenpon I told him that in the eariier days of this country we bad a way of naming our townships and villages after noted héroes of antiqtdty, but at present we did bettex, naming thezn after the gxeat men of these times, and telling him that no doubt in the newer states he would find his own name and that of Bismarck attached to some of oor younger towns. He seemed interested in this and talked on very pleasantly. I look back to that evening as one of the most interesting during my stay in Germany. MOLTKE IN PARLLA.HENT. At various other times I met Von Moltke, but do not recall anything of especial interest. No man was more free from the slightest tincture of vanity. As he walked through the streets and in the parks, gping to and from the office of the general staff, he was undistinguishable save by his tall, scholarly form from the crowd of military men about him. He evidently wore just as little in the shape of orders and decorations as was permissible. At court he was expected, of course,' to appear in more splendid attire, bnt even then there was always the same quiet modesty and simplicity. He seemed to me in some respecte "the noblest Roman of them all." But pexhaps his most impressive appearance was as a member of the imperial parliament. From time to time as I happened in to hear the discussions I saw him in his seat, quiet, imperturbable; but on two occasions I heard him speak, and on each of these his subject was the necessity of larger votes of money and men to maintain the military supremacy of Germany. Nothing could be better in their way than these speeches of his. He looked and spoke as I could imagine Julius Casar looked and spoke in the Roman senate. Nothing could be more simple and yet nothing more effective. He was listened to by men of all parties with the utmost respect. He seemed to stand in a sense aloof from all parties, and to be guided simply and solely by what he considered the best interests of the öerman empire. On hearing him speak one conld not resist this conclusión, and as bis manner was simple, voice good and statements very clear, direct and strong, but without the slighteSt tendency to exaggeration, bis words carried great weight. I remember hearing him say in substance in one of these speeches that Qermany must be prepared for any emergency, and must maintain the very highest condition of military efficiency possible for at least fifty years. And I remember, too, with what a sort of solemnizing effect these words, quietly uttered, but evidently the result of conviction based on knowledge, had upon the audience. They seemed to carry a cense of responsibility to the heart of