Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-05-22
ROYAL RELATIONSHIPS.

ted, either by birth or marriage, to the
royal houses of Russia, Germany,
Great Britain and Denmark. Since
blood is thicker than water, the init
mate relations of the rsigning houses
of Europe have exercised considera-
BILE influence in the Greek crises. Min
listers have done their work and meas
ures of European policy have been
carried out, but the common interests
and even the caprices and resentments
of royalty are not without weight in
the scales of human destiny.
King George, of. Greece,is the second
son of the King of Denmark. He is
a brother of the Princess of Wales and
the Dowager Empress of Russia, the
mother of the tsar and woman of
great force of character. He is the
tsar's uncle. His wife, Queen Olga, is
the tsar's second cousin. The crown
prince, the Duke of Sparta, is the tsar's
first cousin and also the German En-
peror's brother-in-law, having married
Princess Sophia of Prussia.
These relationships have produced
opposite tendencies in recent diplo-
macy. The tsar was disposed at first
to regard his uncle and cousins OF
Greece as poor relations, who ought
not to have taken up the Cretan cause
without his knowledge and consent.
The German emperor was not on good
terms with the royal family in Athens.
He had been piqued because his sister,
the Crown Princess of Greece, had not
asked bis advice before abandoning
Lutheranism and entering the Greek
church. He resented the airs which
the Danish princes were putting on in
the feeble little maritime kingdom of
Greece, and was even more dictatorial
and perverse than the tsar in proposing
coercion and coast blockade.
There is, however, no royal family
in Europe so clannish as the Danish.
1t was not long before they were hold
ing family councils for mutual protec-
tion. King Christian was unwilling
to have his son and grandchildren in
Athens sacrificed either to the petty
resentments or to the mysterious poll
cies of the tsar and the German empe-
ror. His daughters, the Dowager
Empress of Russia and the Princess of
Wales, united with him in family
alliance on behalf of King George.
The sympathies of the tsaritsa.
favorite grandchild of Queen Victoria,
were enlisted on the same side. The
tsar was brought under the influence
of his grandfather, his mother and his
wife, and was induced to reconsider
the Cretan question and to deal more
leniently with Greece.
While this play of cross-purpose was
going on, The influence of Queen Vic
toria was quietly and effectively e1-
erted in the interests of European
peace. The German emperor, the
tsaritsa and the crown princess of
Greece were her grandchildren, and
she was connected by marriage ties
with every great court except those OF
Austria Hungary and Italy. Her per-
sonal authority over the royal families
of Europe was very great, and un-
doubtedly it has been exercised with
discretion during the Cretan crisis.
Kings and princes are human.
Sometimes they are jealous, resentful
and quarrelsome; but oftener they are
clannish and stand by one another.
On the great issues of European state
policy the royal houses are in hearty
accord, and. they are seeking to pro-
mote the interests of peace.