The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-19
A Baby Bishop.

To the Editor: In the year 1851
Clement Augustus, Roman Catho1c
bishop of OZnabrueck, in the former
kingdom of Hanover, died and was
buried with the usual pomp ana cefe-
mony. 1t accordingly became neceS-
sary to elect his successor. Curlously
enough the law required that TINS sue
ccssor must be both Protestant and
a member of the royal house of Bruins
wick Luxembourg, for the treaty of
Osnabrueck, which terminated that
most dreadful of all religious con-
fiicts, the Thirty Years War, provided
that bishops of Osnabrueck must be
alternately Roman Catholic and FRO
testant and that the Protestant
bishops must always be princes OF the
Notwithstanding family. When,
however, the ecclesiastical authorities
notified George III. of England and
Hanover, who was at that time the
head of the House of Brunswick
Luxembourg, of their purpose to elect a
new bishop within three months, the
obstinate king vigorously objected and,
through the pressure of military force.
succeeded in indefinitely delaying the
election. He moreover insisted that
the large and desirable revenues
should, in the meanwhile, be paid on
ly to his own representatives.
But in 1868 a second son was born
to our bitter enemy of revolutionary
Gays, and this circumstance induced
the king to accept compromise
which was happily effected through
the election of the royal infant Fred
erick, Prince of Great Britain, France,
AID Ireland and Duke of Brunswick
! ueneburg, as bishop of Osnabrueck
The bishop was at that time less than
I We months old. This election by the
&c clesiastical authorities took place on
February 81, 1864, amid enthusiastic
popular rejoicingS at OSnabrueck,
&C mmemorating with Il suggestive vol
ley of musketry from the troops who
surrounded the cathedral where the
election took place. Thereupon all the
cannon upon the walls were fired
three time in honor of the little bishop
who was probably solemnly engaged
with his bottle in London at the mo-
lnent when SO much was being done in
his honor in the distant German town
On the following Sunday thanksgiving
services were held in all the churches
of Osnabrueck, both Roman Catholic
and Protestant, and the TIE Deum was
sung amid a roar of drums and trum-
Lets and the thunder of heavy artil-
lory.
Naturally and for obvious reasons
the newly-elected bishop decided to
remain in England with his mamma,
the queen; and consequently his papa,
the king, could not escape the obliga-
ton to at once make provision for the
government of the bishopric and the
management of it's revenues during his
sons minority. The enforced absence
of the bishop in London at any rate
spared the citizens of Osnabrueck the
expense of maintaining a court for a
period of twenty years, and this Cir
cumStance appears to have completely
reconciled them to their singular fate
of having to wait while their bishop
grew.
At length in 1891, Bishop Frederick
who had then reached the age of
eighteen years, visited Osnabrueck
incognito, but when his presence be-
came known the delighted burghers
fastened to illuminate their houses
brilliantly every evening in his honor,
and when he finally took his depart
IRE for Hanover the civic guard ac-
companied him under arms to the
gates of the quaint old city. and the
great cannon ON the walls again thrice
Numbered their loyal salutations
dhichregulr- C etaoin shrdlu etaoinnn
Two years later, on August 16,
1888, Frederick completed his TWEEN
tieth year and upon the same day as
SHmed the government of his biShopric
with great pompt and circumstances
taking by proxy the prescribed oath
and receiving in person the homage of
the ecclesiastics, mobiles, and munich
pal deputies.
On the 25th of September he made
his formal and official entry into Osna-
brueck with a brilliant escort. AT the
principal gate of the town he was re-
Ceived by the magistrates, and, as the
gorgeous procession moved slowly
through the narrow winding streets,
bright flags waved, great throngs of
people from far and near shouted their
CPnnon thundered a welcome to a
Iroud youth who enjoyed the rare dis
tinction of having always been a
bishop.