The Cairo bulletin., 1912-07-08

military mad, yet NEa ~
avoiding war; EA |
] just ruler OF his 49, A |
kingdom and bru- AS&Z&Al
tai tyrant In his A
home. These are lzL=1I j IT
few of the thou FREDERICK WiLHELh
sand contradictions that made up the
nature OF Frederick William l., second
king of Prussia. and father of Freder
lex the Great. Perhaps it Is not who'll
| " fair, in one sense, to call him a
BLACKBOARD, but in other respects few
men have had better claim to the
| word
| His father had been extravaganza
and had left the newly-formed kingdom
! In bad financial state Frederick VIII
liam began his reign In 1913 by cut
| ting down official salaries and dis
| charging many state employees. He
| also excited anger and ridicule by
hundreds of other harsh economies
Yet this misery course had good ef-
fects. <.It paid his fathers debts ard
gave Prussia a full treasury. More
over. Wilhelm had full share of the
national German honesty and stanch
uprightness. His chief faults were TN,
goyernable temper and parsimony.
.Stingy as he was in other ways,
William lavished huge sums on the
army. His great joy in life was to
| play at soldering. He had scheme
for collecting corps OF giants and
would pay unheard-of prices to induce
tall men to serve In his ranks.
In spite of his craze for military at
fairs, Frederick William managed to
reign .27 years,with only one little war
to mar the peace of his realm. He
sneered at all sorts of education that
were not absolutely practical teven
forbidding his son to learn Latin) He
! also chose vulgar and illiterate men
and women as his boon companions.
rather than such persons of intellect
as happened to be at the court. He
used to walk the streets, beating with
his cane any one who CHANGED to be
idling His rule was one OF iron, and
he firmly believed in the divine right
OF kings" to do as they pleased with.
out considering the rights or feelings
of others.
Frederick William held his wife in
contempt and more than once publicly
msde her the object OF brutal iests. OF
his ten children he had a positive hat
red for his clever daughter Wilhelm.
ina and for his eldest son Frederick,
Young Frederick was brought up
In a strict, cruel manner, such as few
modern boys would endure. He was
sensitive and high-spirited. Thepris.
on-like discipline and harshness might
well have ebroken h weaker spirit. 1t
merely Strengthened Fredericks AT
length'Frederiek Williams cruelty to-
ward the lad became unbearable. Fred.
erick, in 1870, when he was eighteen
years old, planned to escape from
bondage and to take refuge with his
uncle, King George II. of England. He
needed a confederate to help him es-
cape. So he chose his dearest friend,
Lieut.. Won Katie. .......
The plot was discovered by the king.
Won Katie was thrown into prison and
was sentenced by military court-mar-
tial to remain there for two years.
Frederick was also arrested and taken
before his father. The king was mad
with rage, heaped vile insults on the
helpless youth, then Slshed fiercely at
him, beating him almost to death be-
fore bystanders could drag bin away.
But this did not check Frederick VIII
liam's wrath. He declared that
his son, as colonel In the Prussian
army. had been guilty of attempted
desertion tn trying to escape to Eng.
land. He had him placed in solitary
confinement In the fortress OF Custrin
and ordered him beheaded.
Only the stern protests of other Eu-
ropean sovereigns prevented the king
from carrying out this unnatural
threat. But he chose another punish.
ment almost as cruel. Condemning
Lieut.. Won Katie to death, he had a
scaffold erected just outside Freder-
icks prison window and forced the
wretched prince to witness his friends
execution. AS the lieutenant mounted
the scaffold Frederick called out to
him, sobbing:
ooh, forgive me, dear Katte!"
aThe lieutenant answered bravely:
ut is pleasure to die for 80 gal,
liant prince ~
The king next tried in vain to force
Frederick to give up his claims as
heir to the throne. Failing In this he
kept him long In semi-imprisonment
and forged him to marry princess he
greatly disliked.
Yet, at the, time Of his own death, in
174Q the old kings last words were:
II die content. having noble son to
succeed mel. .9ys