GERMAN OFFICERS IN LONDON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 194, 17 August 1871, Page 4

GERMAN OFFICERS IN LONDON.

O " The Jiaily News states that lately many officers of the German army of occupation in the North of France have visited London. "The Dieppe and Newliaven steamers," it says, "have witnessed the dire tribulation of these fighting men of a country with a narrow seaboard. There is no question as to their soldierly character; but to a man they are miserably bad sailors, and if the stewards were Frenchmen, they might grimly gloat over the facile victory which Neptune asserts over the men who conquered at Courcelles, SedaD, and St. Quentin. But Neptune's triumph is short-lived, and by the time the warriors in mufti reach London Bridge, they have recovered their color, and, sooth to say, their appetite. In mufti though they are, it is not difficult to mark them down. Our visitors are at once gregarious and' creatures of custom. The first comers arriving at the London Bridge Terminus happened * promiscuously.' no doubt, to put up at the Bridge House Hotel on the other side of the way. On their return, they named the hostelry which they had patronised, and now the troop files regularly, and iv semi-military formation, into the Bridge House Coffeeroom, Bedrooms engaged and ablutions performed, the great question presents itself, ' What shall we drink ?" Patriotism says Rhine wive; inclination probably tempts to champagne; curiosity and tradition dictate British stout. Mostly the stout carries the day, and over mugs of that opaque fluid plans are discussed. Time is very short, for the colonels, sage men, who recognise the yeastiness of the times, are chary of 'long leave,' and four or five days is their usual grant. The German officers have a surprising knowledge of the chief historical places of interest iv the British metropolis. They have read in their schools about the Tower, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall — ' das Rathhaus,' they call it — Westminster Abbey, and so forth ; and these are all booked in their programme. But there is one sight to be seen before any of these— Madame Tussaud's. It is very curious how universal is the deep-rooted conviction that the waxworks must be first visited at any cost. Here is a copy of a programme which a German officer produced the other day on his arrival, as furnished to him by a brother officer who had returned to Rouen full of experience of the objects of interest London presents : — lst, Madame Tussaud's; 2nd, Westminster Abbey; 3rd, the Alhambra; 4tb, Greenwich and Woolwich; sth, the Morning Guard Mounting at the Horse Guards; 6tb, the Park, 'to see the Dames;' 7th, the German Turnverein; Bth, the Opera ; 9th, the Tower; ('note the Armoury'); 10th, the Albert Hall and International Exhibition (' note the munitions of war'); 11th, the Royal Academy; 12th, a Volunteer Regiment; 13tb, the Docks; 14th, the Holborn National Assembly Rooms; 15th, Vienna Bier. A strange suggestive list, is it not, and thoroughly characteristic ? Our military visitors express a frank admiration for the British household troops, both horse and foot. The metropolitan policeman also extracts praise from them. They seem to consider him a kind of Landwehrman, and approve highly of the steady marching of the reliefs; but cannot understand how it is that he should carry no deadlier weapon than the truncheon. It may interest the English 'dames' to know that their charms kindle the profoundest admiration in the susceptible bosoms of the Teuton warriors."