corps of officers, to assume the rank of a
full general.

The same request was presented to the present czar at the time of
his coronation, but met with a refusal on the part of his Muscovite
majesty, for he pointed out that Peter the Great had throughout his
entire reign contented himself with the rank of colonel. There is also
another reason which Nicholas did not mention officially, but which is
well known to the members of his immediate _entourage_. At the present
moment his name figures on the army list as the principal orderly
officer and personal adjutant of the late czar. This is an office
which can only be held by military men below the rank of general.
The moment young Nicholas acquires that rank his name _ipso-facto_
disappears from the list of his dead father's adjutants, and he is far
too attached to his memory to desire this, preferring the minor rank
of colonel and the association with his beloved predecessor, to all
the pomp and glory of a generalissimo.

Of all the other sovereigns in Europe there is not one who travels
with such an immense amount of luggage as Emperor William. He seldom
undertakes a trip without taking along at least one hundred huge
trunks of the so-called Saratoga pattern, which fill several wagons
of the imperial train; indeed, an entire special train is not
infrequently chartered solely for the conveyance of his luggage. Like
some French _elegantes_ at a fashionable seaside resort, he changes
his garb five, six, and even seven times a day. The consequence is
that it is necessary to have at hand not only a vast number of naval
and military uniforms, but also a diversity of shooting suits, hunting
suits, civilian clothes, Tyrolese jaeger costumes, and even the kilt,
sporran and tartan of a Highlander, for he is very proud of the fact
that Stuart blood flows in his veins, and considers that he is quite
as much entitled to wear the Stuart tartan as his uncle, the Prince of
Wales.

All these clothes are not under the charge of a mere valet,
but of a grand dignitary of the Court of Berlin,--Count
Perponcher-Sedlinzky,--who holds the rank of privy councillor, and
who is addressed as "your excellency." The count has a perfect army of
dressers and valets under his orders, but it is he who is responsible,
not only for the uniforms being in good trim, but likewise for their
being on hand whenever the emperor happens to need them.

In order to understand what this entails, it must be reme