Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-11-12
09lo Statesman. = n.
The Kin % of Prussia-'The Most
Fortunate Man lin Europe.
[FrOm the F0rtnightIy Kevle

Fortunate Man i'm Europe.
ll (From the Fortnightly RevieTJ r
The most fortunate man in Europe is
probably at this moment the King of Prus-
sia, This monarch, who Is close upon TO-
has neither been fortunate in youth nor in
manhood. He was brought up with ex-
cessive strictness and pedantry, and had
to listen. from his childhood upward, to the
reproach that his elder brother, the late
Frederick William ", surpassed him in
every kind of talent. He threw himself
with more industry than ability into mill
tary studies, commanded for 30 years at
numberless parades, INCREASINGLY busted
himself with military details, often plagued
both himself and his soldiers with very un-
necessary matters, and knew so much
about every regimental button of the
whole of the Prussian army, that he at
last thought himself a great General, and
yearned after the moment in which he
would be able to measure his strength and
that OF his army with some enemy, which
he would have preferred to be France. lie
had taken part in the war of independence
against Napoleon, but only in his youth,
when he occupied a subordinate position
which gave him no scope for the develop
ment of his military talents. He, therefore,
wished for great war, but long wished
for it in vain. Instead of war, the reyo-
luton of 1913 broke out. He could now only
employ the military qualities which he
had hoped touse against foreign enemy
against the revOlutionists who fought at the
barricades in Berlin; but whether he was
seized with sudden fit of tardiness, or was
obliged to follow the orders of his royal
brother, he allowed the people who attack
ed the palace to enter it, instead of defend
Ing it to the utmost, while he fled to Lon
don in order to avoid the unpopularity
which was attached to his name. In fight
ing the revoutiOnists of Baden he also
won no laIrels. The revolutionary army
which had collected round the remnants of
the Frankfort Parliament. it is true, at
length dispersed; but the Prussians, whose
numbers were ten times those Of the enc
my, suffered reverses in this unequal con-
test which they never would have been eX-
posed to under more skillful leadership, and
the Prussian military tribunals acted with
such severity against the vanquished under
the Presidency of the Prince that the lat
ter is TO this day detested in the whole OF
Southern Germany. and especially in Ba-
den. At court in Berlin his position was
anything but a pleasant one. lie had for
years been on terms of formal courtesy
with his brother, whose character was the
became utterly intolerable, in consequence
of the GOODNESS which existed between his
wife and the Queen. lie came more and
more seldom to Berlin, where the KreuZ
Zeituhg party intrigued against him at
court increasingly and often in the coarsest
way. ------
The heir presumptive thus lives in sort
of1exile, and the childless King, although
he had long been sickly, would not die. At
length he was attacked by, disease OF the
| brain, which made it necessary to establish
| regency, and from that time forward the
| life of the Prince, now King William |, be-
came brighter one; for, thanks to the evil
reputation which attached to his former op-
ponents, the KreuZ Keiting men, in the
whole country, he at length attained GER
tain popularity, and entered on the duties
of the regency accompanied by the best
wishes of The people. King William is a
man who cannot very well do without
popularity; the first days of the regency
were, therefore, perhaps, the happiest he
had known since he was boy. Unfor-
tunateiy his happiness was not of long du-
ration. He could not agree with the liberal
party. and the weakminded ministers with
which it had provided him, and by degrees
| he fell Into the power of those very KreuZ
| Zeitung men who hade mbittered his life
when he was Crown Prince, and who at
length pressed upon him Herr Won Bis
mark as Premier. 1t cost him a hard
Struggle before he could decide on such
an appointment, and it gave him great
pain to perceive that, though he de-
sired nothing more than to be honored as
| the father of his people, he was no longer
cheered by the Berliners In the streets but
he was still impressed with the firm con-
viction that all he had done was for the
good of his country. Fortunate old man
| that which he had aspired to for halt a cen
| tury has been given him towards the de-
cline of his life; first, little war against
Denmark, and short time after, a great,
unprecedentedly glorious and brilliant war
against Austria, the formidable neighhor oi
Prussia in Germany. He has hailed his
son and the princes of his house as victOrs
on the battlefield of Koniggratz, where he
himself nomlnally held the chief command
he has made Prussia the master Of Germany
and the powerful neighbOr of France; ne
has Gas he may himself honestly believe)
been selected by God as the special instru-
ment of His providence; he has proved to
his people that he understands more about
militarymatters than the liberal deputie;
in the chamber, who wished to balk his plar
for, the organization of his army; and hi
has finally entered his capital in triumph
at the head of his victorious troops, in thu
midst of the enthusiastic rejoicings of tht
Whole population, which is generally mo-
Qyer-dispOSed to make any very strong
demonstration of feeling. These are, IL
truth, moments of great happiness such a
few monarchs have enjoyed ut SO advanced
an age. I-