The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-06-14
WILLIAM THE FIRST.
The Retiremen of the Aged Emperor of
Germany.


The Retirement of the Aged Emperor o
Germany.
After having passed the span of years
allotted to man, and after term OF
twenty one years spent as Regent and
King of Prussia and Emperor of Ger.
many, says the Chicago Tribune, Will
lam L., lying in his palace and suffering
from the wounds of cowardly assassin,
retires from the cares and duties OF the
throne, and appoints as Regent his son,
the Grown Prince Frederick William
Nicholas Charles, or "Unser Fritz, as
the Germans Familiarity call him. The
old Emperor has had an eventful life.
He was born March %, 1877, son of
Frederick William III. and Queen
Louisa, and as boy marched with the
allies into Paris after the overthrow of
Napoleon. Coming into manhood as a
soldier, he has always remained one,
never giving up his uniform, and always
sleeping under his military blankets
upon rude iron couch. When his
brother, Frederick William w., ascend
ed the throne in 1910, he was recognized
as the heir apparent His military pre-
objections gave rise to the idea that he
was an absolutist, and 80 general was
this idea that, in the uprising of 1848,
he had to leave the country. After an
absence of a few months he returned,
put down the republican instruction,
and subsequently held several impor-
tant military positions. In 1857, his
brother, being incapacitated by illness,
he assumed his functions, and the next
year was formally installed as Regent,
succeeding as King of Prussia in 1861.
From that time until 1870 he accom-
plished a great work in giving Ger
many her present military strength and
prestige. He reorganized the army
as his first step. He made Bismarck
Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1862; Sc
cured Schleswig and Lauenburg in the
Schleswig- Holstein war; in 1866, ex-
tinguished Austria as German power,
and added Schleswig- Holstein, Hanover,
Hesse-C assel, Nassau, and Frankfort to
Prussia, and established the North Ger
man Confederation; and in 1867 made
Bismarck Chancellor. The candidature of
the Spanish throne in 1870 precipitated
war between France and Germany. The
South German States joined the North
ern, and the war was marked by a sue
cession of brilliant victories achieved by
the German armies, with which he re-
manned from the firing of the first shot
to the final surrender of Napoleon at
Sedan. On the 18th of January, 1871,
at his military headquarters at Yer
sailles, by the request of the German
states, he was crowned Emperor of Ger
many, and his first proclamation incor-
porated Alsace and Lorraine in the en-
pire. Since that time he has cemented
still stronger the friendship of Germany
with Russia, Austria, and Italy, and
carried on a prolonged and severe con-
test with the Roman hierarchy during
the Pontifcate of Plus TX.
The Emperor has but one daughter,
the Princess Louisa, born in 1888. and
married in 1856 to the Grand Duke
Frederick of Baden; and one son, Prince
Frederick William Nicholas Charles, in
whose favor he has retired. The Grown
Prince, now Regent, was born in 1881,
and graduated from the University of
Konigsberg. In 1858 he married Vic
toria Adelaide, the Princess Royal of
Great Britain, by whom he has had six
children. Like his father, he il great
soldier, and has performed distinguished
service in two important wars.