Bells have been cast from cannon in the past. More than two hundred years ago, in 1710, the Emperor Joseph I, of Austria, had a great bell cast from Turkish cannon and placed in the tower of St. Stephen's at Vienna. This, known as the emperor bell, weighed seventeen tons. But this, although it symbolized a triumph of the Christian over the Turk, was also meant to glorify the emperor's military might. It spoke of insolent pride, not peace and good will, and furnished an example for Emperor William in 1873. Read now the arrogant inscription that winds in three encircling lines about this later emperor bell, so named in honor of Emperor William, who had it cast from twenty cannon taken from the French in 1870, and hung in the tower of Cologne Cathedral. The original is in Latin, but is translated thus: "William, the most illustrious Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, in pious remembrance of the heavenly aid granted him in the fortunate course and conclusion of the last French war, has ordered, after the restoration of the German empire, a bell to be cast from the captured cannon, of the weight of 50,000 pounds, which is to be suspended in the house of God, now nearly completed. In accordance with this pious desire of the victorious prince, the society formed for the completion of the cathedral has caused it to be cast, under Roman Pontiff Pius IX and the Archbishop of Cologne, Paul Melchers, in the year of our Lord 1874." And underneath the German imperial coat of arms occurs this verse, here freely translated: "Emperor" Bell I am named, The Emperor's name make famed. On holy ward I stand For German Fatherland. I pray, God grant it hence Peace, welfare, and defense. Was it with something of intuitive appreciation of Prussian character on the part of the designer of this bell that the six arms that form the crown are decorated with angels' heads above, and end where they join the bell in lions' feet? Why, a whole sermon could be preached on this alone! The saintly, sacred, outward seeming, but, underlying all, the Beast! And did those lions' claws but typify the grasping spirit of the Prussian war-lord? And the bell, France, that he would grasp entire and sway or strike at will? Perhaps even then some Fate foresaw the jangling discord of the last few years and as a symbol and a prophecy caused the great bell to come from the founder's hand C-sharp instead of C, and, therefore, not in tune with the other bells of the cathedral! Again, in 1887, no less than twenty-two French guns were used to cast the "Gloriosa," another great bell that was raised with much ceremony to its place in Cologne Cathedral, there to join the "Emperor" bell in a clangorous derision of defeated and humiliated France.