Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1888-05-31
RREDERECK ETI.

Max Muller In Contemporary Review.l
Every one who last June witnessed the
glorious procession of the Queen to aad from
Westminster abbey will ever remember one
royal figure towering above all the rest, the
crown prince of Germany, as he was then,
Respondent in his silver helmet and white
picture Of manly strength. He is now the
Emperor of Germany, and when we think Of
him as travelling from San Reno to Berlin
through storms and snow, wrapped up in his
gray Hohenzollern cloak, @ sad and silent
man, is there in all history more tragic con-
trasti Bat there beats in the breast of Fred
erdick III the same stout heart that upheld
Frsderdick at Hochkirchsn. He does not
know what danger means, whether it come
from within or from without. 81 face my
illness, he said to his friends, cas- l faced
the bullets at Koniggrstz and Worth" And
forward he rides undismsyed, following the
trumpet-call of duty, and not swerving one
inch from the straight and rugged path
which now lies open before him.
There was time when his friends imagin-
ed very different career for him. They
believed that he might succeed to the throne
in the very prime of manhood. His father,
the late Emperor, then prince of Prussia, had
been the most unpopular man since 1S4S,
and it was considered by no means impossi-
BILE that he might think it right to decline
the crown and to abdicate in favor of his son.
The star of Prussia was very low ia 1915, and it
sank lower during the last years of the afiict-
ed king, Frederick William ". Few people
only were aware of the changes that had tax
en- place in the political views or the prince
of Prussia, chiefly during his stay in England,
and the best spirits of the time looked npon
his son, Prince Frederick William, as the
only man who could be trusted to inaugurate
q new era in the history of Prussia. His
marriage with the princess royal of England
gave still stronger zest to these hopes, for
while he was trusted as likely to realize the
national yearnings after united Germany,
she was known as the worthy daughter of
her father and mother, at that time the only
truly constitutional rulers in Europe. Eng
land was then the ideal of all German hber-
ais, and close alliance with England was con-
sidered the best solution of ali European diff
culties Young men and old men, toe, ,dreamt
dreams, little knowing how. distant their full
fiIiment should he, and how Dashed with sor-
row when at last they should come to be
fulfilled
The prince himself knew probably moth
iHg about the hopes that were then centered
on him, but, for a man of his viger and his
eagerness to do ssms useful work, the lsng
years of inactivity which followed were a
severe trial. It has been the tradition in
Prussia that the heir to the throne is
allowed less power and influence than
almost anybody. He may be q soldier,
bat, whether as a soldier or a politisiaa,
he IL expected to- stand alosf. to keep silent
and to ebsy. In the violent constitutional
conflicts which began soon after his fathers
accession to the throne, the young crown
prince felt himself isolated and unable to
side with either party in struggle the
nature of which he could not approve and
the distant objects of which he was not al
lowed to foresee. What could be more try
| ing to him than this enforced neutrality,
when he and those nearest and dearest to
| the safety of the throne was being jeo-
parded, and the great future of Prussia, as
| the leader of the German people, forfeited
foreyerg
It would, however, be mistake to imag-
| inc that the years of his manhood have beer
passed in idleness. Good care is taken il
| Prussia that no one, not even the heir to the
crown, should enjoy sinecure. It required
hard work for the crown prince to make
himself soldier such as he has proved
himself in two wars, but he never finched
| from these military duties, whether they
were congenial to him or not. Then came
| his social duties, his constant visits to for.
eign courts, his representative functions OF
| every great occasion in Germany or in Prus-
| sia.
And besides these public duties, he made
| plenty of work for himself in which, helped
and inspired by the crown princess, he could
1 more freely follow the natural bent of his
mind and his heart The pupil of Prof
| Curtius, he preserved through life warn
| interest in historical and archaeological
researches. When he was able to help he
was ready to do SO, and limited sphere Of
/ independent action was at last given him
| as the patron of all museums and collections
of works of art in Prussia. The conscien'
tious discharge of these duties, often under
| considerable difficulties, has borne ample