New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-02-02
EARLY YEARS.

IT would be interesting. were there present
space for ii, to study the German Emperor IN
the light Of DR. Holiness rule. that ones edu~
cation should begin with his grandparents
This however Mr.. Lowe does not attempt 10
do. william II was born both Guelph and
Hohenzollern He should display traits of both
those illustr.ous lines. But who can say that
ne does? Some resemblance 10 every one or MS
paterral ancestors. from the Great Elector
down. we may perceive: but to his mother and
her line no. the least Yet he was not
only born of an English mother. but in his
early years he trained at home in English
fashion. He was. however. consta ntly reminded
Of the growing spirit of German mtarsm.
At the time OF his birth came the war be-
tween France and Austria. which modified the
Prussan Army with his father at its head;
perhaps he was unconscously impressed by It..
The Danish war came in his childhood. me
Austrian war came when he was old enough to
observe such things And in his boyhood came
the great Franco-Cierman War. He was sent
70 a public school ard then to uni
versity wherein he became fully imbued
with the beer-drinking and duelling spirit
the best education he has said. which a
Young man can get for his future lie.
Finally, during stormy season in German
politics. he sat as pupil at the feet Vi
William l. Bismarck and Moltke SUCH were
the environments and influences amid when ne
came to manhood. They did not necessarily
make him what he is. They might have made
him. or LEI him be. anything.
The Young Prince was first brought into pub
lie notice by the illness of his father. 1t is not
necessary here to rethrash the old straw OF mat
wretched controversy. The essential fact Is tha'
with his grandfather feeble with age ana MS
father stricken with serious Illness Hou"s
William became the actual representative OF
Prusslan royalty and Imperial authority. II was
time too Of feverish excitement. for France
was men acine and Russia omnous Then came
the great stroke of the Austrian alliance. In all
these things William figured largely He went
about making speeches. often famboyant ana
extravagant He regarded with interest
by ali the world. and he knew it. Self-conscious-
ness became conspicuous as one Of the dominant
notes of his character. Susceptible TO nattefy'
he allowed himself tc be made the centre OF
coterie almost a rival court organized by the
clever Countess Won Waldersee. with the no.
torious Jew-baiter Stoecker as its spiritual d.
rector The common accusation that he was on
strained relations with his father, and actually
conspired 10 prevent the latter's succession to
the throne Mr.. Lowe controverts. earnestly and
n,ausibly " not quite convincngy. But 1t is not
essential ]
IT, He was universally regarded as the certain
successor Of his grandfather, at most after q
very brief interval and ne. and not his father,
who was at San Reno received the venerable
Kaisers last counsel and dying benediction. or
this William. thus become Crown Prince, was
most conscious and showed ii in his struttngs.
even at the Kaisers funeral. With all his sad
ness" saws Mr.. Lowe. there was something
in his deIneanor as he stalked about among the
groups of officers who had come to lay regi-
mental wreaths at the foot OF his grandfathers
bier-a something, je ne sails quoi, which
struck me as much more imperious than I'M
perial a touch almost as Of the stage. an an
tcipatio Of the authority not yet vested in his
person Nor was this self-consciousness alto
gether absent from his air when he walked. as
the central figure among the mourning multi
tude of sovereigns and princes who, In the black
est and bitterest Of wlntry March weather. fol-
lowed the coffin of his grandfather to the maui
solemn"