The Washington herald., 1913-01-14


the crown prince was a small boy.
One day her husband. who was an au-
thority upon certain phases Oh nieeI t
uonal law, then occupying the atIe ii'ion
of Germany. was sent for by the haisei-
When he was in the palace and ascend
Ing the stairs leading to the audience
room, he was suddenly confronted by the
little crown prince riding madly down on
the baIustrade and saluting as ne roned
Off at the bottom. to be caught oy a
servant and carried back, bowling ana
struggling.
The visitor was kept waiting fifteen
minutes in the anteroom, while very
audible chastisement took place behind
closed doors. the imperial father ex-
claiming between slaps: 'Siehste Nauke,
da hast du die Pauke."
And when the Kaiser finally received
him, with face flushed and eyes flashing,
he seemed to have forgotten entirely
about the subject of international law,
for he spent an entire hour in disserta-
ton on the necessity of parental dis
ciplinc.
It has been reported from time TO time
that the Kaiser has had various quarrels
with the crown prince, mainly on ac-
count of the Iatter's somewhat uncon-
ventional ways And certainly Friedrich
Wilhelm is, or has been. something of a
madcap, judging by the stories told.
Here is one incident:
One evening the crown prince start
ed a series of bicycle races round and
round the pier at the little resort on the
Baltic where he was staying and the
next night several of his friends came
upon the scene with wheelbarrows. A
well known duchess was taking a ride,
a young guar0snan steering the bar
row, when suddenly he tumbled over
into the sea and was rescued in the
midst of homeric laughter, which re-
doubled when he declared that he and
the duchess had arranged the whole
thing beforehand.
There has been great deal of gos-
sip about Prince Henry of Prussia's re-
cent visit to England. and several jour-
nails have been attaching great impor-
lance to the trip. The fact is that Prince
Henry went there on private business,
which occupied most of his time during
his stay in London, and he saw a good
deal of Prince and Princess Louis OF
Battenberg. He went to Sandringham
one day to dine and sleep at York Cot
tage, and while there he paid a visit
TO Queen Alexandra at the Hall.
Prince Henry is devoted to his profess
sion and has never put himself forward
in political affairs, which is a very wise
policy in the younger brother OF a pow
erful sovereign.
We read often that Prince Henry of
Prussia does not care for shooting. and
we have heard all about his alleged an
swer to Queen Victoria's question as to
what luck he had when out deer-stalk-
ing. Il did not succeed in killing a
stag, but / hit quite a number" is said
to have been the reply. 1t is too bad that
Prince Henry should be made to appear
ridiculous in this fashion. The incl
dent to which reference is made is sup
posed to have occurred years before he
was born. A German prince, long since
deceased. was said to have informed
Queen Victoria that "he had not killed
stag, but he had wounded two"
This story has been told over and
over again. the scene being laid in a
dozen different forests. I do not believe
that any German prince ever would
have made SO idiotic remark. The
HohenZollern princes are brought up to
understand all the niceties Of the chase
and they have a thorough acquaintance
with all the rules OF deer shooting.
The late Baron Marshall Won Bieber-!
stein, because of his career at Con-
stantinople, was taken to have been Ger
many's foremost authority on the near
Eastern question. And yet those familiar
with Germany's foreign policy know that
Won Observation-Disclosures. the Kaiser's
secretary of foreign affairs who re-
sessed far more intimate and compre-
hensive familiarity with the Balkan sit
uation- For number of years he served
his master as minister to small and ap-
parently insignificant Roumania. Com
pared to the prominent mission to Con-
stantinople. the Bucharest representation
did appear inconspicuous, and no doubt
this was the cause Of the widespread
rumor that the Emperor had sent his
college chum and intimate friend out
there, so to say, into exile. because he
had fallen from grace.
Nothing could have been farther re-
moved from the truth. Won Kinderlen-
Waechter was the one man needed in
that locality, for the King of Roumania
is Hohenzollern and kin to the Kaiser,
the only one in whom Germany could
place confidence in the game of chess
between the Balkans and Turkey and
the Balkan nations among themselves.
without attracting attention in the
ChanceIleries of Europe, Won Kinderlin-
Waechter thus was enabled to familiarize
himself as to the true conditions, and no
move was made In Berlin that did not
have its conception in Bucharest. IL 1t
pertained to the near Eastern question.
Probably there was no other diplomat
who possessed his masters ear and con-
fidence to the same degree as that en-
1oyed by the late minister, and no sooner
had the present imbroglio begun in 1910,
with the annexation by Austria-Hungary
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when the
Obscure" minister was recalled from
Bucharest and placed in full charge of
the German foreign office. We all know
how successful he has been in averting
n war which then threatened because Of
Austria's unwarranted proceeding He
was no less successful in settling the
Morocco issue with France in a manner
so satisfactory that the relations between
these two fire-eating neighbors never
were more cordial than at this very mo-
ment.
The loss to Germany is great, but it
is not irreparable; for we all have had
occasion TO learn repeatedly in cases of
emergency that in the last analysis En-
peror William knows how to be his own
foreign minister. and quite a successful
one at that.
During the sittings of the Turco- Balkan
peace conference at ST. James Palace
luncheon being served daily to the dele
gates in the great banqueting room where
George " and William " gave their
large dinner parties, while tea is pro-
vided in the state dr;lwing-room.
The delegates are seated in the picture
gallery, which last was used by the coro-
nation committee, whose meetings eX-
tended over many months. The Queen
Anne room is set apart fer the secre-
taries of the delegates. the tapestry cham
her is reserved for consultations, and the