The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-02-12
THE POLITICS OF AN EMPRESS.
William lis Wife and the Influence She
Is Supposed to Exert.

"A
many says that the present German Empress
takes nand occasionally in Cabinet poll
tics. When Chancellor Won Caprivi resigned
in 1892, the author asserts with authority,
she wrote him a note beseeching him to re-
main in Office. She spoke of the great
weight of care on the Emperor's shoulders,
of his agitation and worry over the existing
Cabinet crisis, and his retirement to Hubee-
tusstock to consider state affairs and re-
cllperate. Cap1ivi at once consented to re-
main in office. The last time he resigned he
received letter from the Empress and he
went. The Empress did not urge Bismarck
to retain his office when he resigned at the
young Emperor's request, says the author
Apparently she was glad to see him &C, las for
months before he resigned he had been
persona non grata to this Princess of
Schleswig- Holstein.
Not only was the Empress eager to see Bis
marck go, but she was much averse to seeing
him returnsmerely for day as the unofi-
cial friend and guest of her husband. She
worked as persistently to hold back the
Emperor from the formal reconciliation as
Herbert Bismarck worked to hold back his
father, and she Is said to be more gratified
than some more sagacious persons at court
with the latest outburst of illfeeling between
the Old Castle and FYiedrichsruh.
AT first the Empress was an enthusiastic
friend of the new Chancellor. Prince Hohen-
lobe, but afterward her fondness abated,
although this is not mentioned by the writer
of the book already referred to. Just why
she has had change of heart regarding this
Bavarian statesman is not known, but the
oil u in
creed He Is a Catholic, and exhibited at
one OF his Parliamentary receptions the
saints relics and other sacred articles col
lected by his family. This exhibition is said
to have given offence to the Empress, whose
Professionalism is of the rockribbed and I'M
bending kind Count Mirbach, the chief
man of her court establishment, is credited
with increasing her religious prejudice. AT
all events, he exercises strong influence
over her in church matters and in return
lends himself to her many religious plans,
such, Tor instance, as the building of some
thirty new churches in Berlin at an expense
of about $4,000, 600. AS Tory and an Agra
rian and bimetalist Mirbach has gone
with his own into the political camp opposed
to the Chancellor, who refuses to encourage
the fantastic Agrarian demands for Gov
eminent grain monopoly, bimetallism by
international agreement, and so on 1t Is
not likely that Mirbach has any determining
influence over the Empress's likes and
dislikes, but it is certain that whatever in
auence he possesses does not go into the
scales on Hohenlohes side. Probably he
has been but one of the court clique that
has moved heaven and earth to overthrow
every fairminded statesman in power since
the Emperor assembled the throne, and to
place at the helm some stubborn, reaction
ary, narrow, and bigoted Tory of the style
of Bothozu Eulenburg. In fact this head of
the house of champion Tory office seekers is
regarded with special favor by the Empress
thence, it is said, the reiterated reports of his
coming return to the Wilhelm strasse when
ever there is trouble in the Cabinet
How far the Emperor is influenced by the
Empress's prejudioes is one of those court
questions that always wait fifty years OF
more to be answered. She certainly does not
dominate his policy as the Empress
Frederick dominated her husbands. The
present Emperor saw too many dire results
of petticoat rule in his fathers family to dig
a similar pit for himself OF allow anybody
else to dig it for him. At the same time she
probably gets more satisfaction for her pains
than the Empress Augusta got. That senti-
mental helpm ate of the old Emperor was SO
open in her advocacy Of French Ambassa-
doris, so ungracious to Bismarck, and so
friendly to every Candidate for the Iron
Chancellor's shoes, tina her husband could
adopt no middle course, but boldly ignored
her prejudices in every matter of state
policy.
In way, the present Empress is better
calculated to gain an occasional point with
the present Emperor than a woman of the
Empress Freder1ck's or the Empress Angus
ta's nature would be. She is strong and
sensible she never gushes as did the old
Emperors wife, and she has no sympathy
with anybody who doubts that Germany's is
the honor, the power, and the glory of all
latter day civilization. Nor is she strong
minded and stiff necked, as is the Empire IS
Frederick. She would mot be openly mas
terful and degrade her husband in the
nations eyes, after her mother-in-law's ex-
ample, for several empires of her own. But
she has backbone and prejudice and a
healthy woman's will, all of which combined
help her to put her mark on the imperial
policy, notably when the choice of officials
in the immediate vicinity of the throne is
concerned. New York Sun.
Something about Drinking.