The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-11-19

would have ventured to address any
officer in such terms as those employed
some time ago by him in consuming ah
old, eray-h aired and distinguished eln
eral, who had permitted his name 10 pe-
come connected as that of victim ol n
rather unsavory scandal IN Whlch a
beautiful matchmaking adventures
played leading part.
King Leopold of Belgium and hlng
Charles of Roumania reese mbIe eacis
other in never giving away to violence VI
speech; but both are toucby in the eX-
IRENE and prone to resentment even on 4
the slightest provocation. But instead
of giving vent to their feelings by olt-
ward manifestations, they, as RUE,
bide their time and make use OF means
of not altogether dignified or stralght-
forward character to get even with tnose
who have incurred their wrath. Nelth-
er of them has ever been heard to make
usesof strong language, but both are very
fond of making cutting and sneerlng re-
marks, and while King Charles becomes
sour and sulky King Leopold, on the
other hand, becomes bitter and Queru-
lous, his voice on such occasions rising
to high pitch.
The Emperor of Austria is the most
chivalrous and forebearing of men, very
patient and long. suffering. But every
turbeG by fits of passionate anger, espec-
tally when any mean, disloyal or dlshon-
orable acts is brought before his notice,
in which case he does not hesitate 10
express himself in the most graphic
manner, and "schwein," which may pc
translated as "hog," seems to be ms
favorits yet least forceful epithet winch
he applies to the offender. nave neart'
of his losing his temper during the grand
manoeuvres, and of his cursing roundly
some of his generals and officers VINO
have been guilty of imbecility suflclent
to cause smile to become apparent on
the supercilious faces of the Prusslan
officers present as his guests. His maJes-
ty is also on record as having boxed the
ears of his nephew, Archduke Otto, ZOE
behavior of a peculiarly shocking ana
disgraceful character conduct which
included, among others things, an at
tempt to bring a party of drunken
officers at midnight into the apartment
where his young wife lay sleeping.
Another potentate whose i'll temper
has led him to lay violent hands upon
those subject to his rule, is the old ex-
Khedive Ismail of Egypt who, in 1el9,
having heard that the Ministry OF FIN
ance at Cairo was surrounded by mop
Of recently dismissed army officers clam
oring for tneir unpaid salaries, hurried
to the scene, and after apostrophlzing
the unfortunate fellows with the most
opprobrious epithets, and commanding
them to dlsperse instantly, proceeded to
expedite their compliance with his be
hests by laying his stout cane over their
heads and shoulders, and striking them
with his fists in the face and on the slae
of the head, indeed wherever he could
reach them. He WAS a very short, stout
and apopletic looking, while most OF
the men were big, burly fellows, standing
at least six feet in their stockings. Con-
seouentIy the spectacle was rather coml-
cal, especially as the o9sceFs made no at
tempt to retaliate. but merely devoted
their energies to getting beyond his
reach as fast as they could. There were
over a thousand of them, while the
khedive was practically alone, being
only attended by half dozen Pachas and
Beys. :,
Probably the most violent of all
modern sovereigns was the late King
William of Holland, father OF little
Queen Wilhelmina. He once was Oh the
point of Draining his prime minister with
a ponderous silver inkstand. 1t was ID
1870, when King William, in defiance OF
popular opinion in the Netherlands,
which favored neutrality, was about to
accept Napoleon the Thirds invitation
to Join the French in their war against
Germany. n had insisted on his minis
ter telling him exactly what the people
were saying about his decision to join
the French, and at length extracted from
the reluctant Premier Thorhecke the
admission: "The Haguers declare ut
your majesty has become stark, ST 2
mad ash Before he could utter another
word William jumped up, his face purple
with fury, and raised the heavy silver
inkstand from the table with the inten.
tion of throwing it at the head of the old
statesman. Fortunately a projecting
angle of the inkstand caught in the table
cloth, and, while dragging everything
off the table, arrested the flight of the
missile. "Sire," exclaimed Thorbecke
quietly, stepping close up to the king,
but without betraying the slightest trace
of emotion either in his speech or atti-
tude, if your majesty does hurl that
beautiful inkstand at my head, fear
that the Haguers will have been correct
in their assertions. For second the fat
little king gazed in silence at the lean,
Iank, phlegmatic old Dutchman before
him. Neither uttered a word. Then
gradually William lowered his raised
arm and replaced the inkstand on the
table, after which he walked out for
about five minutes. Returning to the
table he resumed his seat, motioned
Thorbecke to another one. and then SAID
Just as if nothing had happened: And
w
say" An hour later. when the states
man left, he carried with him the mon
rch IS premise to issue, within twenty
four hours Il proclamation declaring the
neutrality OF the Netherlands. Had his
step not been taken at that particular
juncture it Us well nigh sure that Hol-
land would have been incorporated along
with Alsaoe and Lorraine in the German
Empire.
Queen Victoria is notoriously short
tempered and impatient of contradiction,
afact due perhaps to her having welded
the scepuer of the greatest empire in the
world for more than half century.
While in serious matters she displays the
greatest calmness, forbearance and con-
sideration, she is apt to permit herself
TO become irritated to an altogether un-
reasonable extent by mere trifies, and it
then requires considerable length oil
time and all kinds of manoeuvers on the
part of her encourage to restore her to q
pleasant frame of mind. She does not
usesstrong language when she is angry,
differing therein from her father and
immediate predecessors on the throne,
who were removed for their blasphemy,
as is also her cousin George. the present
Duke of Cam bridge, whose expletives are
as highly coIored and picturesque as his
temper is short. Nothing : is more in
structive than to hear the old comman-
H..