The new North-west., 1888-05-11
ylCToRlA-WlLLlAM.

formity AMI easily ins,llted. that he has
scrotulo,lS affection in one ear and that his
general system is abnormal, are bad enough,
but not Just s:ib jects of reproach. But that
he is a re;n.t,l,,ry of the worst type, openly
defiant IF ais fathers wishes and disrespect-
full t. his moth r, and disposed to be dicta-
torln and cruel. these are the really dark
> features ,f MS character. Add that he goes
bey:,;:l Bismarck himself in his demands for
ali i;,il!'+s:.'- military system and has nat
ural iis:.. for war and warlike methods,
amt - pi=ln that Germany's future is
sOf'n:,' Id: ,T,'i,ielnaticaL
Iva american it seems sad and strange
thiii. :.:;1t whole nation should be made
an:l,:< and al Europe disquieted by the
PEI e'u'as;tlns of one young man; but as they
wil ,n,t learn to do without hereditary
mn,a.t.ls they must take the evil with the
goni If there is any good. And William
''cane honestly by" his peculiarities, most
Of them being Of the kind which miss one
generation and take effect on the next. He
''ta1es back" as the western people say Of
that peculiar Inheritance which scientists
cali 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
a few Of his loving subjects Paul was
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
turies the scrofulous faint has run through
monarchical 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 q 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 6,
1882, Frederick, July Z, 1888; Ada1bert, July
IA, 1851, August William, Jan. %, 1887.
His wife is rather plain featured, and not
at all gracious in demeanor.
On the paternal side the family record be-
gins to he 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
er1ck the Great, and repeatedly threatened
him death, and who was SO brutally frank
and plain spoken that his best qualities ap-
pesT much like other mer's 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,
'.Hs is one Of the old Hohenzcllerns."
And yet they like him, because he is born
soldier lie speaks with sneerfng con-
tempt of English traders, and treats hts
mother with undisguised rudeness, she being
English His unfilial 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," he said,
"are the only one who appears to be con-
vinced of my speedy death. And you have
dared to speak and to act as IT ! were already
irretrievably lost You have given an ex-
ample OF an ambition most merciless and un-
dignified But thereby You have lost much
Of tue confidence Of the court and of the
people" The same evening, the report fur
ther 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" The
nrince was silent and his mother and sisters
hurst int, tears