Evening star., 1911-01-27

and the ruler of the Germans one must
hark back a few
Line OF Ancestors centuries and cast
~r w., over the progress
Was a Noted One. Of This riant
among the nations. The house of Ho-
henzollern, to which William belongs goes
back a thousand years through a long
line Of the able and the weak, the sickiy
and the strong, the mean and the great
But little more than 200 years ago the
chiefs of the house of Hohenzollern were
among the despised of the royalty of Eu-
rope. The MarquiSate of Brandenburg
had been given the family by Sigismund.
The King of Poland gave ii the duchy of
Prussia. They were a rough lot, these
old HohenZollerns. The country about
Berlin and Potsdam was like desert,
and the deep sand could barely be forced
to yield thin crops of rye and oats. Where
there was no sand there We're ancient
forests or inSalubrious marshes The
great elector, Frederic William. extended
the family possessions and got the rich
city and district of Magdeburg. His son
Frederic assumed the dignity of King of
Prussia in 100, but even then he was
despised among the rest of kings.
1t is far cry from the Prussia Of 900
years ago. with it's sterile wastes. its
poverty and it's meager army, to the Ger
man empire of today. Frederick the
Great took the army which has father
had welded into a great fighting machine
and despoiled Austria, defeated France and
Russia, held his own against the COM
bined forces of Europe, and died with
Prussia respected as one of the foremost
of the European powers. Then came
Napoleon and the humiliating defeats he
heaped on the German people. 1t was
the Franco-German war of the seventies
that proved to the world beyond dispute
the tremendous military power of the
frrnr
brought about the union of the German
states, raising it to the commanding place
it deserved among nations.
From a sparse province to an empire
of tremendous wealth and power; from
thin line of
Remarkable Strides regiments to a
Of German Empire. Of % 100, men
and the second navy of the world, the
domain of the Hohenzollerns has risen
in two centuries. And if the ambition
accredited to Emperor William is full
filed In the remaining years Of his reign
his empire may be extended still farther.
The diplomacy Of practically all Europe
is directed toward confining that domain
to its present boundaries. France would
like to sheer off the provinces Of Alsace
and Lorraine, which she lost in the war
of forty years ago. On the other hand,
Germany, with its huge and healthy pop
ulatiOn, with its large families and its
innumerable babies. is pressing hard at
the borders Some day, who knows
when, she may break over. Then will
come the confiagration.
A strange minsling of the medieval
autocrat and the most modern of princes
Hnhanznllarn VI m
greets with "HOch der Kaiser" Many
sided as he is and multitudinous as are
his activities, he is. above all, sol
der. The army and the navy are first
in his affections. He is at home among
those who wear the uniform. In his
heart, like the average German military
man. he cannot refrain from looking
down on the civilian.
1t is extraordinary that a man with
such capacity for work as the kaiser
should at the
In Constant Dread same time be
of Being Srri:.:cs... withsred WI" ara, a
and fear of the malady that killed his
rather after pitiful reign of only
ninety-nne days. But il is SO. Inde-
fatigable in activity, the fear that the
taint in the blood of his forebears may
strike him low at any time hangs over
him. Perhaps this is one Of the reasons
for his remorseless energy. Doubtless a
clean and bustling life has preserved in
him the visor which he has. despite the
weaknesses he is heir to- Certain it is
he can take the saddle with the most
active of his generals to study the
maneuvers of his troops or dash along
at the head of his cavalry. He is also
known as a successful and enthusiastic
hunter. who does not soon tire.
BY the favor of God and of none else"
And his grandson, the kaiser, is strict
believer in this doctrine-the divine right
or kings. 1t is one of the inheritances
OF his house. II would seem that a man
as modern as William Is i'm so many re-
spects would have long ago discarded
this idea of rule. But he has neither
lost faith in it nor has he discarded 1t,
though the bitter criticism he has suffer-
ed on various occasions has served to
make him careful how he expounds it,
In not a few respects William III is
like his great ancestor. Frederick the
Great. Should a great war come IT
PROBABLY would be impossible to keep
him from taking the command of his
troops and seeking to demonstrate that
he has not lost the military genius that
attaches to the history Of his family His
dlspoSltlon TO be the real boss of things
not the nominal one, never has been bet-
ter exhibited than in forcing out Bis
marck in 1890 He was then a young
man Of thirty-one and had been emperor
only about two years. 1t was almost a
foregone conclusion that two men OF dis
positions such as theirs would collide.
The collision came early and the out
come of it was the discontented retire
ment of the iron chancellor
In reign crowded with great events
William II has followed closely the
policy of
Some Of the Things Bismarck as
~. A...-~1;.h.a to the triple
AAe AAe0 AAoo"" PAu' alliance and
has departed from It widely In getting