The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-05-12
vICTORIA-wILLIAM.

fornity and easily insulted. that he has q
scrofulous affection in one ear, and that his
general system is abnormal. are bad enough,
but not just subjects of reproach. But that
he b a reactionary Of the worst type, openly
defiant Of his fathers wishes and disrespeot-
full to his mother, and disposed to be dicta-
torial and cruel, these are the really dark
features Of his character. Add that he goes
beyond Bismarck himself In his demands for
an immense military system and has nat
ural liking for war and warlike methods,
and it il plain that Germanys future Is
somewhat problematical.
TO an American 1t seems a sad and strange
thing that whole nation should be made
anxious and all Europe disquieted by the
peculiarities OF one young man; but as they
will not learn to do without hereditary
monarchs they must take the evil with the
good-if there Is any good And William
'came honestly by" his peculiarities, most
Of them being of the kind which miss one
generation and take effect on the next He
''takes back" as the western people say of
that peculiar Inheritance which scientists
call atavism. His grandmother Augusta was
granddaughter Of Maria Paulowna, one of
three daughters Of "Crazy Paul." the car
who was trampled to death in his palace by
few of his loving subjects Paul was a
mass Of disease. and, as to his brain, he was
In that most unhappy Of all states-a little
too crazy to be at large and not quite crazy
enough to be shut up-and consequently
capricious and cruel His daughters were
thoroughly scrofulous, and so the younger
Hohenzollerns inherit the curse For CEN
turtles the scrofulous faint has run through
monarchcal lines. and more than one royal
or ducal house has thus become extinct.
Frederick William Albert Victor such Is
his full name) was born Jan. q, 1859, and
was educated at Cassen and Bonn. He was
rather feeble in early life, but by military
training has gained strength. In 1881, when
but % years old, he married the Princess Vic
toria of Schleswig- Holstein- Augustenburg
who was born May 8, 1860, and they have
four children, born as follows: Frederick
William, soon to be crown prince, May q,
1889, Frederick, July z, 1883; Adalbert, July
IA, 1884, August william. Jan. 20, 1887.
His wife Is rather plain featured, and not
at all gracious in demeanor
On the paternal side the family record be-
gins to be conspicuous with that surly Fred
erick who knocked his wife and daughter
down with his heavy and knobby cane, beat
and imprisoned his son, afterward Fred
erfck the Great, and repeatedly threatened
him death, and who was SO brutally frank
and plain spoken that his best qualities ap-
pear much like other meEs worst His son,
the great Frederick, was little better. He
was extremely fond Of argument, but as he
had playful habit Of collaring and kicking
any one who disagreed with him it was, as
Voltaire said, impossible to discuss with a
man who had such powerful arguments and
wore such heavy boots" We can under.
stand, therefore, just what the German peo-
pie mean when they say of the crown prince,
s'He is one of the old Hohenzollerns
And yet they like him, because he is born
soldier He speaks with sneering con-
tempt Of English traders, and treats his
mother with undisguised rudeness, she being
English. His unflial conduct was so noto-
rious before the old Emperor Williams
death that the grandfather denounced it in
unsparing terms His father reproached
him bitterly for seeking the imperial power
while that father lay sick. "You," be said,
''are the only one who appears to be con-
WINGED of my speedy death. And you have
dared to speak and to act as il were already
.irretrievably lost. You have given an ex-
ample of an ambition most merciless and I'M
dignifed But thereby you have lost much
of the confidence Of the court and Of the
people" The same evening, the report fur
Their says, at dinner, when William lifted
his glass and said, II hope for your speedy
and complete convalescence,' the father
asked: "Do you speak the truth" Tho
prince was silent and his mother and sisters
burst into tears
The present days OF grief In Germany have