The Washington herald., 1913-11-05

I -
| tcopgnsht. lsls. By A. ID. JacoSson.)
The first child OF Queen Victoria and
her prince consort. the Princess Royal
Victoria. wss born for drama, and as a
consequence tragedy, which forms half
OF every drama came to her with 1unerring
promptitude. Besides, she was born at
a time when the British monarchy still
had to recreate its name and fame, for
under a succession OF very ordinary
Kings It had fallen badly in the esteem
/ OF the people OF the little princess.
/ christening contemporary wag wrote:
This is the bishop. 20 bold and intrevid,
Amazing the water nice aud 30 tepid
To chrsten the bshy. who's stated no doubt.
Her ooSsciion 70 taking It cold without
| 1t is curious TO speculate how different
the course OF history might have been II
! the princess had added to her other quail
tiles that tact. prudence, and power OF
which alone was wanting to make her
one OF the most remarkable women who
ever held her exalted rank.
In this respect she was a great con-
! trast TO her brother. the late King Ed
ward, whose visits to her-he was then
Prince of Wales-in Germany always
were delightfuliy happy times. She was
IA woman Of mind. he was a man of
tact She tried to Undue Prussian life
with certain English spirit, which she,
of course. believed was good, and by do
ing so she managed 20 ALLEVIATE many of
the leading Prussians. not. unnaturaIly.
perhaps. considering what human nature
and national pride is.
II was her fate to be misunderstood.
to see the purity of her motives doubted.
and her most innocent acuons miscon-
strued. Owing partly to the circum-
stances OF her time. partly to her own
generous and warm-hearted but impru-
dent impulsiveness, she failed to win the
affection of her adopted country, as a
whole, though she certainly earned its
respect and esteem. This was not the
least bitter trial of her life, for she was
one OF those natures who have crav-
ing for affection and understanding SYM
pathy; and the criticism, and even the
hostility, with which she was regarded
In Germany were all the more painful
to her. in that she could not in the
least understand on what they were
based.
She could not understand her surround
ings, because she tried to live on plane
the customs of her adopted country. Had
she been born out of the royal purple,
she might have been able to give man
kind some blessings through her indi-
viduality. But as R was. this aiming at
something more refined had to beat
against a golden prison. which, however,
never quite succeeded in stunting her in
tellect and spiritual growth.
Mentally perhaps she was finer
woman than her mother. but she lacked
Queen Victoria's ability TO manage.
which is not. Of necessity, quality OF
intellect. The latter never would have
said TO Bismarck, as Empress Frederick
did on the occasion that there was
more gold and silver plate among the
merchants of Liverpool than among the
entire Prussian royal family" certainly
tactless remark to make on the part
Of a German rulers wife.
Her misfortune was her belief that she
was intellectually above her husband
Unser Fritz. the Inflated Emperor,
whose reign lasted just 100 days ere his
terrible afiiction gathered that Adonis-
like prince TO his fathers she brought
TO the House of HohenLollern a rich
personality. which is reflected in her eld-
H.
her father, the Prince Consort. the
training of 4 versatile man, not that of
a woman, and she passed II on, enriched
by her own individual qualities, to her
great son the Emperor Wilhelm, who
shares with her certain impulsiyeness,
a deficiency in what is ordinarily called
tact. which really amounts to con-
stitutionsl inability to appreciate the
effect which a particular word or action
will necessarily have on other people.
This, which seems a negative quality, is
really a positive one. interviewer with
high courage and a contempt for the
mean little dictates of conventional pru-
dence, which have always commanded
the admiration of generous minds
This might be said as well of the
mother as of the son of the English
woman whom PrusSian "Junkerthum"
distrusted. We have here in reality one
OF life's great ironies; the drama of a