3-077-906 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Berlin's Farewell to Bismarck, 1890. 'Prince Bismarck took leave of the Emperor William II., at the Imperial Palace, on Wednesday, March 26...Crowds of people gathered in the streets all the way from his residence, the Radziwill Palace in the Wilhelmstrasse, to see the great ex-Minister pass...he was made the object of an enthusiastic popular demonstration, the mounted policemen who escorted his carriage having great difficulty in forcing a passage for it through the struggling and cheering multitudes. Many bouquets of flowers were thrown into the carriage, while the waving of hats and handkerchiefs was enough to show that Bismarck, though no longer in office, still retains his hold on the popular heart and mind. He wore his full-dress Cuirassier uniform, with the sash of the Black Eagle...the crowds had increased to such an extent that his carriage could only get on at a walking pace. Shying at the uproar around them, one of the horses kicked over his traces, and the ex-Chancellor of the Empire had to get out until things were put right again...he drove home, surrounded by a multitude who seemed to be sadly affected by the significance of the occasion'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.