The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-06-23 00:00:00

THE NEW EMPEROR OF
GERMANY.

"He will certainly be a distinguished man, and
probably a great Sovereign. Prussia will perhaps
have in him a second Frederick the Great." Such was
the forecast which a shrewd and frank observer made
five years ago of the young man whom Fate has
raised to greatness before his time, and who is to•day
Emperor of Germany. That he will play a con-
spicuous part in the drama of European history is a
conviction which has been impressed upon all who
have had opportunities of observing the Intelligence,
the high spirit, and the independence of the young
Sovereign. It will be of interest, therefore, to recall
what preparation he has had for the work of govern-
ment upon which he has entered.

First- and foremost, like his grandfather, he is a
soldier every inch of him. The late Emperor, his
father, was credited with too deeply Liberal a spirit,
and with too entirely pacific intentions, to be alto-
gether a favourite with the army. But the new Em-
peror adores the army and is beloved by it in return.
He has been through the strictest discipline, has held
numerous commands, and well understands the
minute military administration of a German officer.
An amusing account of the new Emperor as a very
small boy was given the other day by Mr. Frith in his
account of the picture ho was commissioned to paint
of the Prince of Wales's wedding. Of all the sitters,
he said, "Prince William of Prussia, the son of the
Crown Prince, I mean, gave me more trouble than
any—a regular enfant terrible, whom I permitted to
paint in a corner of what he callen ' Uncle Wales's
Wedding' to conciliate and quiet him.
It would be a complete mictake to suppose that
the Emperor's training has teen entirely military.
His education has not been marked by such extreme
rigour as that of Frederiek the Great, of whom it was
said that Oliver Twist in the parish workhouse and
Smike at Dotheboys Hall were petted children in corn-
parison to him; but his scholastic training has at any
rate been in accordance with that precept of Mon-
taigne that "to make a man you must not spare the
youth." For 18 months the Emperor studied at Bonn.
He rose every morning at 5 or 5.30, and dined at midday
—his dinner being small and short. Two courses of
meat, some vegetables, and dessert were his ordinary
bill of fare. The Emperor himself ate very little,
drank only wine and water, and for the rest looked
on at his companions dining, talking all the while
with much intelligence or listening with bright
interest. On days when he "entertained," the dinner
would be somewhat more elaborate, and the young
Prince always corrected with his own hand the French
of the menu. For, like Frederick the Great, he is a
French scholar. His French tutor at Bonn, it is
especially interesting to know, was a former editor of
the Figaro, M. Amedee Pigeon. Thanks, too, to his
mother, he is a good English scholar also; and can
converse with ease in French and English. His morn-
ings were devoted to lessons at home; his afternoons,
to lectures at the University. During his eighteen
months at Bonn he went through the courses of law,
history, chemistry, and political economy. He was
also diligent in "private reading," and is said to have
read widely both in French and English literature.
But, needless to say, the Emperor did not abjure out-
door exercise.

In physique the new Emperor is tall and strong,
and of attractive presence; but he suffers from one
curious physical infirmity. He has no power over his
left arm, which is, in fact, no better than an inert
mass. At table he uses 'a special kind of combined
knife and fork, using it first for one purpose, and then
for the other, with his right hand only. The "Prin-
cess Royal," in giving birth to the Emperor, was sub-
jected, it is said, to an operation, in the course of
which the infant's left arm sustained damage which
it has never outgrown.
Something of the Emperor's fondness for French
may be seen in the social side of his character. He
is full of wit and good humour, and his conversation
is described (by a foreign observer) as so sparkling
"as to lead one to doubt hi being German." He
was married, as every one knows, when he was 22,
to the Princess Victoria of Schleswig - Holstein -
Augustenburg ; but his Empress has not, it is be-
lieved, anything like the ascendency over her husband
that the Empress had over his father, the late
Emperor.
His student days at Bonn did not " finish " the
Emperor's education. On the contrary, he passed
from the theoretical education of the University to
the practical education of the Civil Service. This has
been the rule with Prussian Princes for 150 years.
Frederick the Great, when he was heir presumptive
to the Crown, passed several years in the Civil
Service, and the late Emperor was for a time similarly
engaged. Accordingly, in 1882, the present Em-
peror's grandfather wrote to Dr. Aeschembach, presi-
dent of the province of Brandenburg, directing him
to initiate the young Prince in the practical work of
administration:

"My grandson (he wrote) has told me of his desire
to be initiated by you during the ensuing winter, in
the practical knowledge of the Civil Service of my
kingdom, and to be instructed in conformity with the
plan which you have elaborated and submitted tome.
In pursuance of the ancient custom of my House, I
have given my sanction to the execution of this pro-
ject; and I hereby authorise you to make such
arrangements as you may think necessary to give due
effect to the scheme."

The Prince thereupon resigned for a period of six
months his duties as Major of the Hussars of the
Guard, and devoted himself exclusively to the work
of the Civil Service. He attended the sittings (at
Potsdam) of the permanent committee of the Diet of
Brandenberg ; made abstracts of all the papers;
wrote précis, and went through all the routine with
great assiduity and intelligence.
But the Emperor had a more illustrious tutor in
practical politics than Dr. Aeschembach, for he sat
also at the feet of Bismarck. Once a fortnight he
went for a visit to the Imperial Chancellor, the visit
being in fact a lesson. Bismarck, it is said, did
not at first relish the rSle of political tutor; but
he received special instructions on the matter
from his Imperial master, who very wisely
attached the utmost importance to the esta-
blishment of confidential relations between the
young Prince and the Chancellor, and who took the
occasion to let the latter know the fact. The pro-
bability that the Emperor William's forethought in
this respect, hat not been thrown away is one of the
most reassuring factors in estimating the significance
of the new Emperor's accession to power. He is "a
mere tool of Bismarck," said an unsympathetic NI it-
ness the other day. There are, at any rate, good
grounds for hoping that he is a sincere disciple—in
which connection it is worth while recalling the
Emperor's allusions, in a recent public speech, "to
the words of our great Chancellor in the Reichsta
which on that day showed the grand spectacle of the
popular representation going locked hand-in-hand with
the Government."

The rest of the speech of the new Emperor is of
great importance in forecasting his character and in-

tentions. It was made at a -dinner given in honour
of the Brandenburg Provincial Diet, and shows to
what excellent effect the Emperor had studied the
realities of politics in Brandenburg. In proposing the
toast of the province the Emperor said:
"In my rides through Brandenburg in the course
of the manceuvres the flourishing fields and the trades
which I found in full activity clearly showtd me
where the true foundations of national prosperity and
fruitful labour were to be found. lam well aware
that the public at large, especially abroad, imputes to
me a thoughtless inclination for war and a craving
for glory. God preserve me from such criminal
levity! I repudiate such imputations with indigna-
tion. But still, gentlemen, I am a soldier, and all
Brandenburgers are soldiers. This I know. There-
fore let me conclude with the words which on Monday
last our great Chancellor addressed to the Reichstag,
which on that day showed us the grand spectacle of
the popular representation going locked hand-in-hand
with the Government. Let me conclude by adapting
to Brandenburg that sentence: 'We Brandenburgers
only fear God, and nothing else in this world."