The Portland daily press., 1888-06-16

along the rows of faces as he walked and
lifted his finger to his cap in easy, pleased
recognition of the cheers.
think have related before in these col
ums remark which heard made here in
Berlin two years ago, during the Congo con-
ference. 1t was at a State function, and /
stood beside an elderly lady who had been in
Berlin for many years and who had been in
position to know the younger members of
the imperial family as we'll and closely as she
could have known her own nephews and
nieces. In the course of talk 1 asked her.
What kind Of man is the young Prince
William?"
Il don't call him man at ALL she replied
quickly and with emphasis. HE is a
brute"
can fancy an elderly woman of couple
OF generations back, who was attached to
the suite OF the Empress Josephine, speaking
in precisely the same words Of the first Ma
poleon.. Mime. de Remusat, for example, if
she could have made sure of not being over
heard, might have spoken thus.
William is very deeply and thoroughly
Prussian. He is living, breathing embodf-
ment of all the qualities and lack of quali-
ties which, through precisely two centuries,
have brought the little mark of.Brandenburg
up from puny fief, with poor, scattered
population of a million and a half, to the
state Of kingdom, ruling over so millions of
is saturated with all the instincts, and ideas
which have raised this parvenu Prussia to
her present eminence, and his character is
the crown and flower of these two centuries
Of might and ruthlessness and spoliation ex-
alted into creed. On the other hand, his
mother is the royal product of a totally
and fundamentally different civilization.
Victoria Adelaide is unquestionably the
broadest, most liberal and most lovable of
all the Guelphs who have been born since
Elector George first landed in England
When | say that she is the only one of her
family who at present sympathizes wholly
with Mr.. Gladstone have most simply and
fully indicated her disposition and bent of
mind. Obviously she can have but little in
common with son who would hang Glad
stone offhand. and who avowedly hates Eng
land as the country whence has come all the
constitutional nonsense which nowadays
hampers kingship.
Out OF this wide political difference be-
tween mother and son has grown a personal
estrangement which everybody in Berlin
knows more or less about, and which no
doubt strongly c0lors the opinions of the
English circle here which have been quoted.
Prince William habitually speaks of his
mother to his associates and familiars as
addresses her in German, although he knows
English perfectly, and she has always made
a point of having her children speak English
in the family eircle. An old acquaintance of
mine here, who was at San Reno fortnight
ago, told me something that he saw with his
own eyes. 1t was on Sunday morning, and
the imperial family were starting from the
front door of the little English Villa Zirio to
go to the chapel on the .esplanade to attend
Anglican service. Prince William and his
mother came out of the door together ahead
of the others. As they stepped outside She
made a movement as If to take his arm. He
drew away, said something to her in a low
tone of voice, and walkedi down the broad
graveled path alone in front of her and the
rest. 1t transpired later in the day that what
he said to her was in substance this: II am
here as personal representative of nv
grandfather, the German Kaiser. This be-
ing the case, it is fitting that l take prece-
dence. There IS nobody who could probably
the Kaiserin Augusta"
This anecdote does not reveal nice boy.
But, after all, when a young man stands
upon tue very threshold of an Imperial career