found that midnight was
long behind us. I rose in alarm and begged the Chancellor's pardon for
having intruded so long upon his time. "Oh," said the Chancellor, "I
am used to late hours, and we have not talked yet about America.
However, you have a right to be tired. But you must come again. You
must dine with me. Can you do so to-morrow? I have invited a
commission on the Penal Code--mostly dull old jurists, I suppose--but
I may find some one among them fit to be your neighbor at the table
and to entertain you."

I gladly accepted the invitation and found myself the next evening in
a large company of serious and learned-looking gentlemen, each one of
whom was adorned with one or more decorations. I was the only person
in the room who had none, and several of the guests seemed to eye me
with some curiosity, when Bismarck in a loud voice presented me to the
Countess as "General Carl Schurz from the United States of America."
Some of the gentlemen looked somewhat surprised, but I at once became
a person of interest, and many introductions followed. At the table I
had a judge from Cologne for my neighbor, who had enough of the
Rhenish temperament to be cheerful company. The dinner was a very
rapid affair--lasting hardly three quarters of an hour, certainly not
more.

[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF KOeNIGGRAeTZ--FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORG
BLEISTREW

THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE SEVEN WEEKS' WAR, BY WHICH PRUSSIA BECAME THE
LEADING POLITICAL AND MILITARY POWER IN GERMANY. IN THE CENTER OF THE
PICTURE IS SHOWN KING WILLIAM, SURROUNDED BY BISMARCK, VON MOLTKE, AND
THE MEMBERS OF HIS STAFF.

_Photographed by the Berlin Photographic Co._]

Before the smokers could have got half through with their cigars, the
Minister of Justice, who seemed to act as mentor and guide to the
gentlemen of the Penal Code Commission, took leave of the host, which
was accepted by the whole company as a signal to depart. I followed
their example, but the Chancellor said: "Wait a moment. Why should you
stand in that crowd struggling for your overcoat? Let us sit down and
have a glass of Apollinaris." We sat down by a small round table, a
bottle of Apollinaris water was brought, and he began at once to ply
me with questions about America.

[Illustration: EMPEROR NAPOLEON III WHOM BISMARCK CALLED "THE ADVENTURER
ON THE THRONE," AND WHOSE DOWNFALL HE PREDICTED IN A CONVERSATION WITH
CARL SCHURZ TWO YEARS BEFORE SEDAN]

He was greatly interested in t