sia was
victorious.

A MEMORABLE HOUR.

That was indeed a memorable hour in the emperor's life when he met
the fallen Emperor of the French in the Chateau Bellevue, on a hill
of the Meuse overlooking Sedan. The king and the emperor had met
before; they then were equals, brother rulers of two of the most
powerful nations on earth. They met now as conqueror and captive,
and the one held the fate of the other in his hands.

"We were both moved at seeing each other again under such
circumstances," said King William. "I had seen Napoleon only three
years before, at the summit of his power. What my feelings were is
more than I can describe."

The king spoke first.

"God has given victory to me in the war that has been declared
against me."

"The war," said Napoleon, "was not sought by me. I did not desire
it. I declared it in obedience to the public sentiment of France."

"Your Majesty," said the king, "made the war to meet public opinion;
but your ministers created that public opinion."

"Your artillery, sire, won the battle. The Prussian artillery is the
finest in the world."

"Has your Majesty any conditions to propose?"

"None: I have no power; I am a prisoner."

"Where is the government in France with which I can treat?"

"In Paris: the empress and the ministers. I am powerless."

King William, as you know, marched to Paris, and at last made
conditions of peace almost as hard as Napoleon I. had made with his
father. The German princes in his hour of victory offered him the
crown of Southern Germany, and he was crowned at Versailles, in the
great hall of mirrors, Emperor of Germany.

Let me now speak of the kaiser's

MILITARY CAREER.

It is rare that men and women live to celebrate their seventy-fifth
birthday. The age allotted to mortals by the Psalmist is threescore
and ten.

[Illustration: THE EMPEROR WILLIAM AND NAPOLEON III.]

But the hale old Emperor of Germany has not only recently
commemorated the completion of his eighty-sixth year, but--what is
still more striking--at the same time marked the seventy-sixth year
of his service as an officer in the Prussian army.

It is related that, on the 22d of March, 1807, on which day William
was just ten years old, his father, then King of Prussia, called him
into his study and said,--

"My son, I appoint you an officer in my army. You will serve in
Com