St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-10
md from 1866 until 1871 the empire was

poleon ILL.,, however, resulted in again
| uniting the German states in one en-
pire, and when William was elected
| emperor Jan. Is it was by the vote of
| the reichstag of the North German con-
federation on the initiative of all the
| reigning princes of Germany. April
16, of that year, the emperor formulated
| the constitution of the empire.
William first became publicly known
when, upon the accession. Of his child
| less brother to the Prussian throne in
1910, he became the heir apparent. He
was invested with high official honors
and powers, and in 1S47 he sat in the
| first united diet. He became regarded
as an absolutiSt in 1913, owing
to his exhibition of the natural fondness
! of the Hohenzollern for military eff
fort, and he visited England, where he
remained until June, when, the excite
ment at Berlin having subsidized, he
quietly returned and accepted deputy's
seat in the national assembly.
The next year, OH June IL, an UNI
successful attempt was made upon his
life at Nieder-Ingelheim while he was
Ell route to Baden to take command of
the Prussian army. 1t was in the heat
of republican insurrection. William
quelled the revolt in few weeks, and
subsequently he became military
governor Oh the Rhine and
Westphalia, stationed at Cob.
lentz. He was also governor of
the military fortress of MentZ. Imbued
with the patriotism of the great Freder-
lex, his grand uncle, his loyalty to
Prussia was soon very generally recOg-
niZed, and on all important occasions
Prince William was called to Berlin.
When his brother became disabled he
was made regent of the kingdom, to
the throne of which he acceded two
years later, viz, Jan. 2, 1861.
The king had not reigned more than
six months when another abortive at
tempt was made upon his life. This
was in July at Baden-Baden by the
student OSkar Becker. Becker charged
the king with inability to effect the
union of the empire, which, however,
pose of King Williams life, and the
cOnsummatiOn of which was the great
achievement of his reign.
With Won Rooms aid he succeeded in
recognizing the army, and thus paved
the way for the bringing about of the
consolidation of all the German king
dOms, principalitieS, states, grand
duchieS, duchieS, and free towns. for
the German empire had become GER
tainly the most disunited power in
Europe. He laid the foundation of the
future empire when in 1862 he placed
Prince Otto Won -SchOnhausen
at the head of his cabinet as his minister
Of foreign affairs.
In the Schleswig-HOlstein war, in
1864, he procured the cooperation
of Austria, and he then achieved
his first great victory, both in
military glory and craftsmanship
for f.4 Prussia; At the he convention OF
assigned temporarily to him, and Lau-
enburg permanently. He displayed the
same military ardOr in the war with
Austria, as he did, when, as a
young officer, he served in the
armies at Waterloo, and elsewhere,
which overthrow the ambitious Ma
pOleOn BOnaparte, for, securing the con-
junction of Italy and placing the fullest
confidence in Bismarck, as we'll as in
Won Room and Won MOltke, he took
an active part personally in the military
maneuyerS, and his brilliant successes
of 1866 extinguished Austria as a
German power, and placed King
William at the head of the North
German confederation with Schleswig-
HOlstein, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Mas
sau, and Frankfort, included in the
Prussian dominion.
He opened the constituent reichstag
on Feb. "a, 1867, and on July he made
Bismarck chancellor.
The month preceding this he had Wis
tied Napoleon Ill, accompanied by his
nephew, the Emperor Alexander H., of
Russia, on the occasion of the Paris
exposition. This and subsequent
meetings of William and Alexan-
der, and the good understand
ing that existed between the
two chancellOrs, Bismarck and Gort-
chakOff, did much to strengthen the
friendly relations between Prussia and
Russia. The king seized every oppor-
tunity to maintain the historic posi-
ton of the HohenZollerns as de-
tenders of the Protestant faith.
When Prince Leopold became a
candidate for the Spanish throne
and when the king objected to any
further audiences with Count Bendetti,
the French ambassador, who had re-
peatedly impOrtuned King William at
Ems, i'll July of 1870, Napoleon LII.
easily saw in it a preteXt for war, and
hostilities were soon declared by France
states allied themselves with the con-
Franco Prussian war developed
into a series Of great personal
victories for King William, Prince Bis
marck, and Counts Won Room and
Won Moltke. Napoleon III. surren-
dered to William at Sedan, Sept. 2. On
Oct 5, the king took up his headquarters
in the palace of former French kings
at Versailles, and there shortly
afterwaId he was enthusiastically pro-
claimed emperor of Germany, while
his soldiers jubilantly chriStened him
Wilhelm the Victorious, and Deutcher
Kaiser. Jan. IS, the date OF the begin
ming of the fourth German empire, was
also the date of the founding of the
monarchy of Prussia somewhat sin
gular coincidence.
RuSsia'S neutrality in this great
struggle between the two belligerent
powers was never forgotten by Kaiser
Wilhelm, and he intimated that much
to the car as soon as the preliminaries
of peace received Williams signature.
The treaty was ratified on March and
the emperor left Versailles five days
after. In ten days he entered Berlin,
and OH the 21st he opened the first
reichstag of the new empire. The definite
peace with France was signed May 10
at Frankfort, and on June 9the imperial
proclamation incorporating Alsace-Lor-
raine with the empire was published.
Under William /. Germany takes her
place among the nations of the world as
one of the four great powers. The
progress of nation from lot of dis
jointed belligerent states to the present
powerful confederation was indeed a
marvellous accomplishment, and
to-day Germany's position in
the great problem of Europe is of
grave significance to diplomatic maneu-
vers, and may have much to do with
shaping the future nations of the old
world. The history of Germany under
Williams reign has been one of military
marvel and most SagaciOus diplomacy.
For this, Bismarck must always share
the credit with the lamented emperor.