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13 September 1900 — Schloss Friedrichshof, Kronberg | |
Thursday. 13th [September 1900]. When the Empress came down to breakfast at 9.30 she said she was not so well—but she seemed to improve as the day went on. Ola left for England directly after breakfast. I sent my maid Baker with her as far as Frankfurt to see her off. The Empress was so unwell she did not go out in her chair but went back to bed till lunch time. I sat a while with Countess Perponcher in her sitting room & Princess Teo also came there. The Countess was anxious to talk to me about faith healing as she has an idea that it may be of use for a brother of hers who has fits. I could not tell her much—nor do I really believe in it tho’ in the case of my friend Mrs Arthur Hanson (late of Constantinople) it seems to have done wonders. Having tried an operation for a tumour in her stomach which was a failure—the Drs gave her 6 months to live. She was in agonies after the operation. She was prayed over & the pain ceased suddenly. This happened more than 2 years ago & she went back to the faith healing & is still alive & goes about altho’ she is very delicate and looks very ill. After lunch they made me show the Prince & the Reischachs my divining powers. The Empress seemed better & even came down from the stone terrace to the lawn where I was demonstrating. We had tea at 4.30 & then I went for a drive with the Empress & Princess Teo. H.M. got out & walked a good way. We drove through the forest that H.M. might show me some of her favorite rides & she said she felt the privation from her rides very keenly. I suggested she must not look back so much on the past—& she replied that the past was still so near—she had ridden up to last summer– Abt 7 Princess Teo left the Schloss to return home to Frankfurt am Oder to meet her husband who was returning from the manoeuvres. Css Perponcher accompanied her to Frankfurt to see her off. Prince L. Charles left the Schloss abt 4 & Princess Margaret accompanied him to the station. We were a small party at dinner Princess Margaret, the Reischachs, Seckendorff & myself. Before dinner the Empress sent for me & gave me a copy of the Catalogue of some of her works of art in the Schloss– A beautifully got up volume. I had a great discussion with Baron Reischach about the Transvaal war. He was most bitter against England—& censured the war. Did not believe that the Boers had made foul use of the white flag—hated Chamberlain—ran down Roberts & made it very unpleasant for me. I answered as pleasantly as I could—& was determined to keep my temper. Seckendorff tho’ not daring to openly side with me still tried to soften down the abuse– The Baron gave me many to him, good reasons why Germany should hate England—amongst then that we being an old nation were not tender eno’ with the young nation. He said we had offended their susceptibilities in many ways—for one thing when the son of our Prince Alfred died the D. of Connaught who was heir presumptive but was an Englishman who addressed the people of Coburg in a letter direct instead of going through the Berlin Govt & so slighted the Emperor who was head of the German State. Also the Queen had refused the Emperor’s offer to go to England to visit her on her 80th birthday on the plea that she was only going to have her immediate family & then had allowed the Gd Duke of Hesse to visit her. In fact he convinced me that we constantly behaved very ill to Germany & worse in fighting the Boers & I had to take refuge in remarks as to the unlucky telegram sent by the Emperor to Krüger wh I said was the cause that he was encouraged to go to war with us. This invariably brought the discussion to a sudden end. When I referred to the abuse by the Boers of the white flag of truce the Baron declared in an excited manner “that he did not believe it.” I answered that he must believe it because Lord Roberts had certified to it and he was no more likely to tell a lie than any German general wh be in the same position. The Baron was very bitter at our having executed the ringleader of the plot to murder our officers at Pretoria—one Gargantua—a German. I said I had not believed the Germans set so much store by such an individual who was not an honour to any nation—& so we went on till Pss Margaret returned from the Empress’ room & we played some games of patience & then retired to bed. | |
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