The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-11-22
BERLIN LETTER.
From our regular correspondent.)

BERLIN, Nov. 1st, 1879,
| Kaiser Wilhelm's august relatives, the Rus.
sian Grand Dukes, forego no opportunity of
demonstrating tire resentment with which the
Romanoif family is inspired towards its ven-
cradle klnsman by the sanction of the impor
tant alliance concluded with the Austrian gov
eminent by Prince Bismarck during his recent
sojourn in Vienna. Berlin, as everybody knows,
is the terminus of the two principal railway
lines connecting Russia Proper and the Gov
eminent of the Nistua" with Central and West
crn Europe. IL lies on the direct route from
st. Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw to Paris,
Brussels, Rome, London, although these cities
may be reached from the Russian frontier by
a roundabout route through Galicia and Hun
gary. For the last seventy years the custom
has prevailed that all members of the Imperial
Russian family when bound westward Into
civilized countries upon pleasure or business
expeditions, should call upon their Royal
l'russian relations as they passed through Der.
lin; and during the reign of the present king
this custom, until very lately, has never been
himself down to the most juvenile or insignfi.
cant Grand Duke or Duchess Since the Aus
troGerman alliance, however has been on the
taps, more than one of the Emperor Williams
Russian kinSiOk have availed themselves of
the suburban line that runs from one railway
to another Of the German capital, in order to
avoid making even such brief soiourn in Ber
lin rs would entail upon them "a compliment
tary visit to the head of the Hohcnzollern
House. This cXpedient was adopted by the
Czarna herself on her way to Cannes, and her
example was followed last Wednesday by the
Grand Duke Constantine, Gar Alexander's
eldest brother and formerly Governor of Pc.
land. Only week or two ago the Grand Duke
Nicholas, always a welcome guest at his un-
cles court, remained for a whole day at the
Prusslan Palace Under the Under, without
calling upon any of his august relatives and
1t Is stated that, while he sat at his favOrlte
window on the ground floor, overlooking the
famous avenue, the aged Kaiser drove by IN
his Victoria without eliclting the least greet
ing or salutation from his Imperial nephew.
How fierce Is the ire aroused in Russian
breasts by Germanys sudden abandonment Of
the traditional Prusso- Muscovte alliance, in |
favor OF more advantageous arrangements with |
her AuNfrO-llungarlan nclghhOrS, may be gath |
cred from the circumstance that a leading
tacs Of ga!lantry as to publish in the Journal
de 81. Petersbourg furious diatrIbe against
German women, from which We subjoin few
extracts IN literal translation. 1t is needless
to say that this illjudged and unp:ovoked at
tack has excited the Indignation of the German
press to degree wholly Unprecedented. The
writer alluded to commences his article as fol-
lows; ut is well that German women occupy
the very last position in the great family of
European women, not to mention that any
between them and the representa-
tiveS of the two thoroughbred classes of the
European female species, French and Russian
women Is utterly unlmaginable The German
woman, oddly enough, Is completely iorOrn
OF wOmanHness! She is sort of hybrd-a
cross between a human female and mammal
of the lower animal tribes. Mammal, indeed,
is just the right word for her German wO-
men are not endowed with any of the feline
such as agility, gracefulness,
swltness OF motion, playtulness. They are, in
a greater or less degree, cowlike. Their char
acteristics are vulgarity, coarseness, dullness,
helplessness, laZness, torpor And all this is
so deeply ingrained into their natures that
even those among them who experience a
groundless tendency towards displaying
'pOrtive demanor only remind one of leaplng
COWS with Wreaths of roses on their heads"
such outrageous criticism of women, at once
he most highly educated and domestic of their
Eek in Europe, tcnCs to SOW dissenSlons be- '
ween nations more deeply than do the gravest t
grievances. {