The Savannah morning news., 1901-05-13

cellor sought 10 have the Kron
Prinz declared suffering from cancer,
so that on the old Emperor's death the
crown might fall to the present Kaiser,
instead of his father. All the court
physicians were Bismarcks tools; if
they could but he got to see the sufferer
and utter the word cancer. the chan
cellor would deprive his enemy of her
chance of grasping the helm. But the
Crown Princess resisted every persuasion,
every artifice, every menace; she brought
the famous English physician, Sir MoreH
Mackenzie over from England to treat
her husband, and vigorously banned every
German doctor from the sick room. 1t
was like an international war, waged in
the passage outside the sick chamber, an
Imperial Crown being the stake at issue.
She won; Sir Moreli stated that the hron-
PRIMES malady was not such as to de-
prive him of his right; and on the old En-
peror's death the, the Princess Victoria
became Empress of Germany. 1t must
not be thought that she had been fighting
merely for that title. Her deep love for
Fritz" was amply proved by her unfah-
ing devotion to him all through that time
of deadly political Intrigue. And she gave,
incidentally at the same time an eXtraor-
binary proof of her remarkable intellect
ual powers. For during the three months
of her husbands reign she made a pro-
found study of the medical principles in
VOWED in his case, for the sole purpose of
Fastening the recovery-which never
came. Sir Morell Mackenzie afterwards
wrote that the Empress became 50 prom
cient in the matter that a doctor might
have talked with her about it for an hour
at a time without suspecting that she was
"a mere outsider" No wonder that King
Edward VII, when asked who was the
cleverest woman he had known, answered
without hesitation;
My sister, the Dowager Empress OF
Germany"
When after 80 days of tenure of the I'M
perial throne the good Fritz died, there
began the last dismal stage of the EN-
press career. AS Crown Princess and
as Empress she had had dire trouble, I'M
popularity. the persistent adherence of
the all-poWerful Iron Chancellor, all
sorts of ntrigues to fight against; but
she had had power and high place. Now
she WAS to know the misery OF obscurtty
and abandonment. Few mothers have
suffered more from their children than
this unhappy Empress from the Kaiser.
I have heard German officer relate
favorite device of Williams to humil-
late his mother during his grandfather's
reign. The first Emperor Wilhelm,
though not an unlxind old fellow in his
way, was an autocratic ruler of his house
hold and even his stronswilled daughter
in-law never dreamed of resisting him.
He would sometimes send an order to the
Grown Princess by her son, young Will
helm The boy would rudely enter his
mothers presence and, as if in his own
name, bid her do the thing-perhaps to
preside al some function, perhaps 10
leave Berlin for a brief visit to Pottsdam.
Naturally resenting the young mans in
solent manners, the unhappy mother
would refuse to do as he desired. He
TT fta1x~
the refusal. often before other pople, then
would ask her with a triumphant sheer
whether he was to bring the Emperors
word that the Crown Princess despised
the command of her sovereign. The bru-
taity cut the mother to the quick; violent
scenes constantly took place +; and the
naughty woman, who never feared to
confront the stormy rage of the Chance
llor, cry and wiring her hands in despair
over the unfeelng conduct of her son.
Long after the masterful young man
had become Emperor in his turn and had
broken Bismarck, her lifelong enemy, he
still took a strange pleasure, if report be
true. in wounding and sighting his
mother in her lonely widowhood. Even
now he scarcely ever sees her; when ne
does it is only for a formal visit of few
minutes, kind of chHrlish concession to
the outward decencies,- After the death
of her mother, Queen Victoria, he PAID
! such visit in company with his uncle,
the new king, and probably at his urgent
| request. That formal "call of coincidence"
will very likely be the last until he is
summoned to the death-scene that may
any day take place.
For il is not cheerful at Cronsberg on
the Main, where the most miserable of
royal ladies is fighting with death. The
house though called Schloss or castle, is
dismal, ugly building in the worst
| modern German style. The great cheer
less rooms are almost bare; there is no
sign of the domestic comfort which one
would expect to find in the home of an
English Princess living in Germany, the
land of good housewifely order. Except
in the graver crisis of her incurable mall
ady the Empress spends most of her time
seated at window in the big, bare salon,
gazing listlessly at the chimneys that
make her view. They say she is very
often found in tears. though she is does
not like to have it noticed. She reads lit
tie but 1.-The Imitation of Christ is al
ways within reach of her hand. Twice a
week she has a visit from her youngest
daughter, the Princess of Hess, who
comes over from Frankfort to pass the
afternoon at the mournfui Schloss 1t is a
pitiful evening to life which dawned so
brightly dreary ending for the Princess
Royal of England one of the ablest wo-
men of her day.
Stephen Austin.