The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-03-16


hAisEh WILHELM. aration, he was given
a seat and voice in the Council of State.
In 1910, and after the accession of his child
less brother, Frederick William the Fourth,
to the throne, the subject of this sketch be-
came known rs the heir apparent and
Prince of Prussia. About the same time
he was appointed Governor of Pomerania,
and two years later, during the absence of
his brother in England, the conduct of the
civil as well as the military affairs of the
Kingdom was intrusted to him.
In March, 1913, when the instruction
broke out in Berlin, he withdrew for awhile
to England in order to escape the popular
odium then fastened upon him of being an
absolutist. In the summer of the follow
ing year he returned to Prussia and COM
manded the army which was sent to put
down the inS,lrrectionin Baden and the Pal
atinate, task which, difficult as it proved,
he accomplished in six weeks. 1t was
while on his way from Niedus Ingelheim
to Baden, June -, 1S49, that an unsuccess-
full attempt was made to assassinate him.
In October of the same year he was ap-
pointed Military Governor in Westphalia
and on the Rhine, with his headquarters at
Coblentz, also Governor of the federal
Fortress Mayence or Mentz About the
same time, TOO, he was made Grand Master
of the Free Masons, in which order he,
during his whole life, took the livehest ill.,
terest.
Meanwhile, his answering loyalty to
his brother, the King, as well as his rec
ogni2ed ability as a counselor, was such
that On all important matters his opinions
were sought, and not lnfrequently his adj
vice taken, or his suggestions adopted. In
1857, when the King was taken i'll, Prince
William acted in his stead; in October,
1853, he was formally installed as Regent,
and was finally crowned King January 2,
1851. Prior to his ascending the throne
Prince William had been recognized as the
silent head of the party which was striving
to effect ths union of Germany, and accord
ingly in hun were centere1 the fondest
hopes of every German patriot. How COM
pletely tho,e hopes were realized, the his
tory OF his reign will tell. His policy from
the outset, while far from satisfying the
extreme liberals of his subjects, yet
showed tha grandness of the mans aims
and ideas, and Indicated plainly the reforms
he contemplated bringing about. July IA,
1861, the stadent, Oskar Becker, a Liberaist
extremely fanatical in his views, made a
futile attempt to assassinate the King,
while he was walking on the Promenade
at Baden BADEN. He urged as an excuse
for the dead, the utter incapacity of Will
lam to effect the union of Germany, the
accomplishment of which, however, may
now be pointed to as one Of the notable acts
of long and splendid reign.
In 1862 he placed Bismarck at the head of
his Cabinet, as Minister of Foreign Affairs,
and two years later, after procuring the
cooperation of Austria in the SchlesWig-
Holstein war, achieved splendid victory
for Prussia. His sagacity in selecting able
statesmen and skilled Generals, was only
equaled by his unyielding support, sustain
ing them against all opposition. His I'M
bounded confidence in Bismarck, as well
as in Won ltoon and Mcltke, was fully con-
frmed by the rapid and brilliant successes
attending MS forces in the war against
Austria. This war, in which he personal
~ took all active part, extinguished Aus
tria as a German Power, and placed him at
the head Of the new North German confed-
Grafton with Schleswig- Holstein, Hanover,
Hesse- Cas- sci, Nassau and Frankfort added
to his Prussstn dominions.
On the Gath of February, 1867, he opened
the Constl tuent Reichstag, and on July l
of the sar J ear made Bismarck Chancel-
Ior.
In June, 1851, in company with his neph-
ew, Alexander the Second, of Russia he
visited Paris, and while sojourning in that
city was received as the honored guest of
Napoleon the Third, then on the throne of
France From that time on, the friendly
relations between Prussia and Russia we've
strengthened. especially as the two Chan
cellors Bis marck and Gortschakoff were as
much IN accord, as were their respective
Sovereigns. AS will be seen later on, this
mutual feeling between the two Powers was
no small factor in the ultimate victory over
France ard in the final realization of Ger
man unity. Il has been claimed by some
writers that King William, in his determi.
nation to have his dynasty maintain it's
position as the protector of the Protestant
faith, that he therefore sought to crush out
Catholicism. The facts are, it appears,
that his efforts were not directed against
the freedom, nor the existence Of the
Catholic Church, but only against a domi-
nant party in shat Church, which sought to
stife popular education, forbid free
thought, and with the consequences nee
essarily following, seriously effect the hap
piness and welfare of his people.
The candidacy of Prince Leopold, of
Hohenzollern, for the throne of Spain, and
the Kings objections against further in
teryiew with the French Ambassador at
his court, Count Benedetti became the
pretext upon which the French Govern
ment declared war against Prussia; al
though the real reasons lay in the fact that
Napoleon was far from satisfied with the
results Of the war of 1866, while he also
viewed the rapidly-growing power of Ger
many with jealousy and alarm. The South
German States at once joined the North
German confederation against France, IN
der the lead of Prussia, and as is now
well known, the war, so far as the former
Powers were concerned, was only a sue
cession of brilliant victories. King Will
lam accompanied by Bismarck, Won Room
and Moltke, was in the field with the Ger
man armies from the beginning until the
close of the contest, receiving at Sedan,
September 2, 1870, the surrender of Napo-
leon. On the 5tn of October he made his
headquartes ?, at Versailles in the palace of
the former French Kings, and it was here,
on the 18th of January, 1871, that he was
proclaimed Emperor of Germany.
After signing the prelminaries of peace,
February 26, he took occasion to express to
the Emperor of Russia his warmest
thanks. and also to assure him that Ger
many would not soon forget the service he
had rendered by maintaining his strict
neutrality during the progress of the
war between that country and France.
The treaty was ratified March and Q; the
Emperor William left Versailles on the