The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-07-29

It was only few weeks ago that the
youthful Grand Duchess Marie of Lux
embourg. upon attaining her age Of ma
-eighteen-assumed the reins a.
the ruler Of her little realm. but already
rumors Of her are rife as to a consort
for the pretty girl sovereign. The name
Of the prince most often coupled with
hers Is not. az has been repeatedly mem
toned. the exiled King Manuel of Por-
tugal, relative, but the hereditary
Friedrich Victor Of HohenxolIern. a scion
OF the nonreigning branch of the house
that has furnished Prussia with its pres
ent dynasty and a lieutenant in the
First Prussian Foot Guards, stationed at
Potsdam
What surprises me Is that the news
papers Of Paris have not printed their
solemn protest. against such a union
In lsU. when the grandfather of the
aforementioned prince, the then heredi-
tary Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern,
was offered the Spanish crown, It was
these same papers which, instigated by
their Empress, Eugene. actually raised
such storm of Indignation at the pros
pect of having lone of the hated Hohen-
Dollerns' ascend the throne of their
neighbor to the south Of the Pyrenees
that terrible war resulted, though that
prince mad no idea of accepting the
questionable honor; nor had King Will
helm OF Prussia the right to dictate his
distant relative. who was of a different
religious faith and altogether indepen-
dent OF the Prussian Hohenzollerns. what
to do or what not to do. All of which,
as is well known. did not satisfy the
hatred OF Eugene Ia native Of Spain.
tito). who insisted that 'Te petit roi de
Prusse" should do that which he was
unable to do. Ffaneur readers know
what followed when the French Am
bassador. Count Benedict. hunted the
aged King up in the small and tranquil
resort or Ems, on the Lain River, and
the more strenuous than polite answer
he got when waylaying the old monarch
on his way to the springs for his morn
ing drink OF the "Emser Kraehnchen."
he began his harangue with. MY most
noble and most illustrious MASTER the
Emperor Of the French" He got no
farther!
Perhaps the lesson then taught the
French press has had a wholesome result
for thus far not a word has been uttered.
As matter OF fact, little Luxembourg
in case OF war could not even be looked
upon as a buffer state between France
and Germany. and were its neutrality not
guaranteed. simply would be overrun by
the armies OF either belligerents, which
1t would be unable to repulse. The en-
tire armed force Of the country consists
OF a company Of gendarmes. comprising
two officers and AS men. and OF another
company. volunteers. having six officers
and 80 men. OF whom thirty-nine are
musicians. The commandments OF
the forces is a major with the classical
name OF Van Dyke.
The young grand duchess has inherited
the bulk OF the immense fortune of her
grandfather Grand Duke Adolf OF Nassau
and Luxembourg. The House OF Orange
is Protestant, but when the late grand
duke married a princess OF the House of
BraganZa, an aunt OF ex-King Manuel.
in spite Of the opposition OF his father. IL
was settled that the daughters OF that
marriage should he brought up as Roman
Catholics. The family consists OF six
daughters. but no son.
Should the union OF the pretty young
ruler OF the Hohenzollern prince mate
rialize. the Hohenzollerns, in the next
generation. would rule over three Euro
pean countries. a matter OF no mean i'm
port among the European concert. But
in another respect also this marriage
would be of consequence for II would
bring into closer relationship the two
branches OF the Braganza family. here
tofore hostile, but recently reunited the
up to recently ruling branch. whose nomi-
nal head is Dom Manuel. and the pre-
tenders led by Dom Miguel. For the
mother of the young Grand Duchess
Marie. the Dowager Marie Anne is a sis
ter Of Dom Miguel, the pretender, while
the grandmother Of the Hereditary Prince
Friedrich Victor. Princess Antonio of
Hohenzollern. was, a sister OF the late
King Louis OF Portugal, the grandfather
Of eX-King Manuel
The father of the new ruler Of the de-
lghtful little country, Grand Duke
William, died last February after long
years Of suffering which were aggra-
waited by forebodings Of what the future
may mean TO his little daughter. Hav-
ing. as have narrated, no male issue, a
law had to be passed empowering the
eldest OF his six daughters to rule over
Luxembourg from the day Of her ma
jOrity. The quaint. old-fashioned. and
patriarchal jewellers of Luxembourg are
pleased with their new ruler. 1t is not
from within that troubles may beset the
youthful sovereign. Her worries will
come from without No doubt that the
grand duchy has always been ardentIy
coveted by both its big neighbors. France
and Germany, as 1t is right on the high
way that leads TO the fortified frontiers
OF both.
Germany has long ago persuaded the
government of Luxembourg to enter the
''Zollverein," thereby winning an over
whelming influence in its economical con-
dition. On the other hand. French is
more spoken there than German. though
the inhabitants are Of sturdy German
stock. In fact. their talk is more of a
uix-up. n Jargon consisting of words of
both languages, just as the jewellers OF
Heligoland and the German North Shore
have dialect of their own. consisting
of German and English words, the Ian
guage of their forefathers, the real
Anglo-SaXons. The people know that
some day they most likely will be swal-
lowed up by one or the other of their big
neighbors.
The early days of the grand duchess
were anything but gay. As child she
spent all her time at her fathers bed
side. for the late Grand Duke William.
owing to his long sufferings had become
very whimsical, and would have no other
nurse than his eldest daughter.
Day after day. in spite Of her studies,
the Grand Duchess Marie acted as few
trained nurses could have acted. and
there was a genuine feeling of admira-
ton among all the members Of the
Luxembourg court at the quiet and duti-
FUNNY