The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-12-16
A Blind King.

his history, than his blindness, and his
| bllndpesS was the result of three con-
se"utive msfortuDes. He perhaps had a
| constitutional tendency To il, for his
tather was blind of one eye, but at any
rate, he first lost the sight of the left
! eye in disease OF childhood, and then,
In 1888. when he was fourteen, he Seri-
ouSly Injured the other by an accident
while At play with the pre- sent ike of
OF Cambridge in the garden of Windsor
Castle He was amusing himself by
| throwing y long silk purse with heavy.
| gold tasselS up into the air and catching
It as it fell, and was warned to be care
full of his eye, as the purse had already
nearly struck his face; but the very next
throw it fell upon the right eye and inn
| paired It's vision permanently, though
without as yet taking it altogether away.
That was left for another accident in
| 1910. .. ..U .. .t. H
The elder Crate, the celebrated Berlin
oculist, was brought to the palace ot
| Herrenhausen to perform an operation
upon the injured organ, and by some
fatal shake OF the han accidentally cut
through the optic nerve. The surgeon,
driven to despair by what he hal done,
took refuge in suicide imm 3diately on
his return from Hanover Tne Crown
Prince remlinei henceforth in impene-
| trable darkness. He bore this calamity
like a brave III III and q philosopher. He
y$sever complained OF it. He was full of
that cheerful, ii 5ubdued. repose which
so often surprises us snd charms us, and
reproves US, in the blind He even took
that light estimate OF his affection which
sometimes surprises Us even more. He
uscI to say that eye5ight was the sense
we could mostGasily dispense with.
In his fathers lifetime George was
always treated as if he saw. Everybody
was obliged to speak OF him and to him
| as If he had no defect, and though he
never exhibited this senstivenes5 him
self, he stiIl-from habit. pro5ibly -often
used the expression II see" He always
said 81 am glld to see yol.' Bat while
| he was still Crown Prince, there was
party in Hanover who thought this de-
feet legally disqualified him from the
succession, and there was some dissats-
faction on the subject down even to the
last year OF his reign. In that year one
OF the lea ling newspapers of Berlin
| published in its Halov1rIan correspond
| ence an account OF q religious ceremony
| that took place in come cton with soma
| family event in the palace, and men
| toned that sermon was preached from
| a certain text. On referring to this text,
it wasfound to be: Woe t } the country
whose King is blind" The paragraph
was OF course o mystiliCatlon. No such
sermon had been delivered, but the King
was much hurt when it was dis covered
that the writer of the paragraph was a
high Official OF his own treasury. This
official Immediately took to flight, and
the King, with truly royal magnanim-
ity, supported the forsakcn wife and
children from his own private purse.
But as to the prejudice against blind
King, the history of George V. shows
both where ii is wrong and where it is
right, 1t is entirely wrong in consider
ing blindness q necessary intellectual
disqualification for government. On the
contrary, this eject perhaps leaves to
the mini more disposition and more
leisure to reject upon important afftirs;
and King George, at any rate, hal u
better and more enlightened grasp of
public questions than any OF his chief
ministers. But his blindness eyercisel
curious and sinister effect on his rea-
tions with his counselors 1t made him
excessively jealous OF his m0nlrchical
prerogative, and even when he ha | the
highest personal regard and affection for
his ministers, ne was morbldly suspicious
OF them making cncroachmentS, and
consequently never gave them his entire
confidence. For the same reason he never
had any minister of great ability.
Before leaving the subject OF his blind
ness it may be added that in spite OF that
defect he was an excellent AMI even
daring rider. OF course be could not
take the right direction or turning with
out assistance, but in some respects he
had quite wonderful sense OF locality.
81 remember" says Me ling, " being
one day with him on a hill at Goslar and
a3cendint watch tower; he stool with
his face to the north, and then explainel
the whole prospect round the horizon,
ma ming every place aud every hill with
out making single mistake" King
George was very fond of sea-bathing
and Watching, and for these purposes re,
sided On the Island OF Norierney for
rOLlC LhOdbti1 @ Cl y y SstL 1Atlb an 'CI
emory was cast aside, and the life Of the
court was the hlppie5t and fraest. Th9
Island belonged to Hanover, butth King
wishe d it to have the neutral character of
an international bathing resort, and al
ways maintained the incognito while he
|. resided there. He wore only the plain
black clothes of citizen, with the star
and ribbon of the Garter, and H. had
every day little dinner to which the
visitors Of the island were invited with
out any strict regard being paid to their
competency to appear at court. These
little entertainments, where princes and
clergy and players met on easy footing,
were thoroughly enjoyed by the King,
an made most agreeable to all who were
present. An invitation to trip on the
royal yacht was, however, one of the
terrors OF Norlernoy for many. The
King never su fcreI from seaSicknes5,
but he was often the only one on board,
except the crew, who enjoyed this i'm
manity. Herr Won ManteuIlel frequently
implorcd permission to remain ashore,
bat the King always withheld it with
laugh, enjoying the misery of the poor
man, who was alrea ly ill by anticipa.
ton The Queen rarely accompanied
him to Nordtrney. The tendercst at
lection reigued between them; he al
III 1. -.