The autumn of 1899 was signalised by the visit which was paid to this country by the German Emperor and Empress, who were accompanied by two of their sons, Prince Augustus William and Prince Oscar. Their Imperial Majesties were royally entertained at Windsor by Queen Victoria, to whom they had come to pay their respects, a great State banquet being the chief among the festivities. King Edward naturally took a prominent part in the reception of the German Emperor, who particularly enjoyed some capital shooting on his uncle’s estate at Sandringham. At the time of His Imperial Majesty’s visit, the British arms in South Africa were not meeting with conspicuous success, and various political motives were freely attributed to the Kaiser, but the mass of the British people were content to take the event for what it seemed to be--namely, a tribute of respect to the venerated British Sovereign on the part of her grandson. Queen Victoria took the opportunity to appoint the Kaiser an honorary G.C.V.O., and to confer various grades of the same decoration on the members of His Imperial Majesty’s suite, which included more than one eminent German statesman. The year 1900 was perhaps the most eventful in King Edward’s life, for it saw the first attempt that had ever been made to kill him. Queen Victoria’s memorable visit to Ireland began on the very same day on which this dastardly attempt was perpetrated. Her Majesty landed at Kingstown on the morning of Wednesday, 4th April, and made her State entry into Dublin. Meanwhile King Edward and Queen Alexandra left England for Copenhagen. As the train by which they were travelling to Denmark was leaving the Nord Station at Brussels in the evening, a youth named Sipido jumped on the footboard of the Royal carriage and fired two shots from a revolver into the saloon. Fortunately they completely missed the King, who behaved with the utmost coolness, and as quickly as possible telegraphed a reassuring message to his Royal mother. Sipido, who was of course instantly arrested, declared that he had intended “to kill the Prince because His Royal Highness had caused thousands of men to be slaughtered in South Africa.” There is no doubt that the youth’s mind had become infuriated, partly by Anarchist doctrines, partly by reading the abominable libels which for some time had been circulated in the disreputable Continental journals regarding the conduct of the war in South Africa. Unfortunately it has to be recorded that not disreputable journals alone were guilty. For instance, the issue of the _Kladderadatsch_, the German _Punch_, published just before the attack on the King, contained a paragraph of the grossest and most insulting character, completing a series of abominably scurrilous attacks on His Majesty.