Monday, Aug. 10, 1925

In Saxony

At Moritzburg, near Dresden, which is the capital of so-called "red" Saxony, ex-King Friedrich Augustus III of Saxony reviewed several thousand Monarchist "troops."

Of all the German States,* Saxony is considered the most unlikely to harbor any Monarchist designs. The spectacle of King Friedrich Augustus reviewing his legions was, therefore, as strange as it was surprising./- King Friedrich Augustus ascended the Saxon throne in 1904 on the death of his father, King George. He is possessed of an anemic personality and a presence far from inspiring, which accounts in no small degree for the alleged lack of Monarchist sentiment in Saxony. It is said that on one occasion, when he was standing in uniform upon a station platform, a lady asked him to move her trunk. He replied suavely: "Madam, I am not a porter; I only look like one."

Undoubtedly the continual growth of the Monarchist idea in Germany is responsible for last week's demonstration, to which may be added the recent visit of the ex-King to the ex-Kaiser at Doom. But if his loyal followers expected an imperial message from the exile at Doom, they were disappointed; Friedrich Augustus, as also might have been expected, said nothing. Nevertheless, when he reviewed his "troops" (Monarchists in uniform) he did something which no ex-monarch in Germany has done since 1918.

*Germany, like the U. S., is a Federated Republic.

/-In the phrase of the Garrick Gaieties (now on Broadway), though Friedrich Augustus III once had a "seat on his throne," he has since been "thrown on his seat."