The times., 1898-02-09
A Question of Imperiai Pedigree

In the Review of Reviews for Febru-
airy Mr.. w. T. Stead the distinguished
English editor, has paper on British
Problems and Policies for 1895" Among
the incidental discussions of this able
contribution to the literature of the
worlds current economic and
political situation, Mr.. Stead de-
votes some attention to the personality
| of the German Kaiser. and in a way
that occasions us considerable surprise.
He refers to the effect upon public
peror during the closing month of the
| old year, and says:
when mel OF science are preparing
microscopicai specimens for exhibition they
frequently stain the exhibit with some
cUlored dye, which leaves its form in
tact and brj !gs cat its outline in clear re-
lie. A similar result has been attained
on wider arena than the slide OF a
microscope, ~ introducing a strain of
German blood into the distinctly English
stock of the Kaiser. He is and will be
Till he dies tss, ntially English-a Harry
Tudor of the nineteenth century.
Ordinarily we should hesitate to ques-
ton so widely accepted an authority on
the affairs of his own country as Mr..
Stead, but the above statement is so
completely opposed to every conception
we ever had as to the family tree of
Wilhelm II, that we cannot refrain
from calling attention to the matter
Let us see how far Mr.. Stead can be
correct in chasing the Kaiser as an
Englishmen. with dash of German
coloring. to bring out the fact in bold
er relief.
On the paternal or HohenZollern side,
which is supposed to furnish the streak
of Teutonic coloring matter, the fam
lily is sufficiently German TO satisfy
most geneaologists. The crosses have
been few and unimportant. The aged
Empress Augusta brought in a little
Russian blood, but that, is the only
halfway racial cross that We now re-
member. OF course, it is on the ma
ternal. or Guelph side, that the predom-
inant English composition Of the sub
ject is to be looked for. Wilhelm's
mother is the Empress Victoria, eldest
daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert, of Saxe-Coburg- -Gotha. Queen
Victoria's mother was the German
widow of the Prince of Lein-
ingen when the Duke of Kent
married her. Queen Victoria's
father was English born, his father
being George III, and his mother Ger
man. George III was of German de-
scent purely. His father, of German
parentage, was born in England but
his grandfather, George H. was not,
nor his great grandfather. George 1,
Elector of Hanover. From the pres
ent sovereign. back to the days when
Elizabeth Stuart, daughter OF King
James /, married a petty German
princeling, the English stock" upon
which Mr.. Stead lays such stress has
been totally absent in the blood of the
Guelphs, and what little they have
essentially is of Scotch origin
1t is only of late years that any at
tempt has been made to Introduce a
really British element into the reigning
family of Great Britain. The first de-
parture was made in the marriage of
Queen Nictoria's daughter the Princess
Louise. to the Marquis of Lorne, heir
to the Scotch dukedom of Argyle. That
marriage, we believe, is without issue.
Later, the Prince of Wales married one
of his girls to the Duke of Fife. another
Scotchman, and this couple have pre-
sented English royalty with the first
undoubted British sprout from the
Guelph tribal tree. Considering all
these facts and circumstances, the Kais-
er has a good deal more excuse to call
his British relatives German than they
could have to regard him as essen
tally a John Bull.