Emperor Frederick To His People

The ni'iv Eniperor, Frederick of Gernany, lias issued ihe following proclamation to his peojjle: To my people- The Kmperor lias er.dil hls nuble life. In the much loved father wliora I bewall, whoin my royal louse with nu' litment in deepest sorrow, the r.iitiitnl l'ru-si:in people have lost their fame-erowned King, the Germán lation the f mnder of its unity, and the ïewly risen empire tlie rlrst Germán Emjeror. His illustrious name wlll remaln nseparably bound up with all the greatïess of the Germán Fatberland, in who-e crentlon the streuuous labor of the Prussian people and Princes had met wlth its noat splendld reward. While King Wilam raised the Prussian army to the leights of its earncst vocation by neyer Uring eire, a nation's father, he liad a su re foundation tor the victories afterwards gained by Germán arms, mider his eadership, and out of wliich sprang na, i o 1 1 ti 1 unity. He thereby secured to the Empire a position of power such as up to that time every GerniHii heart hadyearned for but had scaieely dared to hope for, ind thut which he won for his people In ïonorable, death-bringing fight he was destined to streiigthen and bencflcially ncrease by the long peaceful toil of his aborious years of government. Safely resting upon her own strength Oermany stands torth esteemed in the couucils of the natlons, aaddealree ouly to enjoy in eacelul progresa that which she bas von. Thai this is so we have to thauk Smperor Williani. In his never-wavering devotlou to duty and his indefatigable ictivity, cousecrated to the welfare of the fatherland, iie was supported by hisreliance upon the self-saciitioinf; devotion of which the Prussian people have given unvarying proofs and in which all the Gernan races shared. All the rights and duties which are conuected witli the crown and my house, and which for the time that, according to God's will my be allotted me to rule, I am resolved to faithfully preserve. Imbtied with the treatnes 01 my mission, I shall makp it my whole endeavor to continue the fabric in the spirit n wliich it was founded - to make Germany the center of peace ind tf rotter her welfare. To my faithful eople who have stood to my house hroughoiit the history of tne whole cenury, in gooi as in evil dayn, I offer my unboiinileil conlidence, for 1 am convinced that on the basis of the unbreakable bond between the Sovevelgn and the peo)le, which ndependently of every change n the life of the state tonus the unalterable nheritaace of the house of Hohenzollern. ny cioivii reata henceforward as securely as it does i])dii the devotion of the counry to the government nf which I am now called, aml of which I solenmly jiromise to e a fdltbful KlDg botb in happiness and n sorrow. May (0l gran t me His bless Dg and trength to earry out thls work, o wliich iny Ufe shall henceforth be devoted.