Washington Journal., 1943-01-22
GLIMPSES OF SOME CONTEMPORARIES
"Vox popui!'
"Vox ~populi!"
by EDWIN EMERSON

mother that it would be merely a formal affair
of no political consequence
From his stepfather's remarks at the break
fast table, Erwin had gathered that the King,
when told how the Emperor was bound to
return to Berlin by way OF Munich, wanted
to stay away from Munich at his remote cas-
tie Hohenschwanstein in the Alps, but Herr v.
Ilutz respectfully had intlmated to HIS Ma
iesty that this would not do. 1t might harm
his Kingdoms good standing with powerful
Prussia. Newspapers outside of Bavaria
would be sure to make embarrassing com
ments on His Majesty's absence from his
capital at such a time.
So King Ludwig very reluctantly had
agreed to return to Munich and com to the
railway station. Furthermore he had consent
ed to let himself be accompanied by Baron v.
Lutz and by old General Won der Tam, as
ranking officer of the Bavarian army, to pay
their respects to old Emperor William and
to his two ~standbys, Bismarck and Moltke.
Bavarian Antipathy to Prussia
Erwin, like others living in court circles
at Munich, was fully aware OF the Kings
aversion Of the Prussian Hohenzollerns in
Guiding his mother, an aversion shared by
Of his subjects. Most Bavarians | knew had
no use for Prussian ways. Th mere sound
and manner of Prussian speech grated harsh
" on Bavarian ears.
Much lay behind all that antipathy. Ludwig,
shortly after coming to the Bavarian throne
in his teens, had let himself be persuaded to
follow Austria's leadership against Prussia
III the r~uctions resulting from their joint war
against Denmark. Then, within a few weeks
after outbreak of the German Civil War, he
had suffered the humiliation of seeing his
troops beaten in a rapid succession OF battles,
while his allies, the Austrians, Hanoverians,
Hessians, Wurttembergers and Badensians
were being beaten elsewhere, resulting in ca
pitulations that involved c~essions of territory,
money indemnities and signal loss of prestige.
Bavaria was forced to join the North German
Confederation and had to undergo the mill
tary overlordship Of Prussia.
When the war with France cam a few years
afterward, King Ludwig's soldiers, swept
under the command of Prussia s crown prince,
had to march with the Prussians across the
Rhine into France without their King or
other Wittelsbach princes, even while NAL
contents in the Bavarian "Landtag'' were
voting against the Kingdoms participation
in the war.
While the war with France was still being
fought King Ludwig willy-nilly was induced
by Bismarck to come to Versailles, there to
join the other German princes in bestowing
Germany's imperial crown as a hereditary
gift upon the Prussian King.
Afterwards the Bavarian soldiers instead
OF their old time head gear Of crest-pads or
horse hair plumes had to wear spiked he'll
NETS like the hated Prussians. The coinage
was changed from thalers, guilders and kreuz-
ers to new tangled marks and pfennigs. In
stead of Bavarian postage stamps bearing
the escutcheon of the Wittelsbachs, they had
to use Northgerman postage. The conduct
OF their foreign affairs was put in the hands
of the all-powerful Prince Bismarck, who
filled his diplomatic posts with Prussians
rather than Bavarians. Even the spelling of
many words in common usage was changed
from it's old Middle-High German style to
fit their pronunciation by harsh northern
tongues in lieu Of the softer Swabian and
Danubian accents Of South Germany.
All this still ranked in the breast Of King
Ludwig II. Hard feelings against the Pro
testant Prussians was kept alive in Bavaria
by the native Catholic Clergy, who resented
the Pope's loss of temporal power in conse-
quence of the French troops abandonment Of
Rome to Prussia Italian allies. Also they
took amiss Bismarck's attempts to regulate
Catholic church matters in the German EN-
pire contrary to papal policies as well as his
measures against the jesuit order.
King Ludwig, as a devout Catholic, was
DelleVed TO stand under the sway OF his father
confessor, a Jesuit.
MaIcontents in Munich
Besides the f~anatical Catholics, known as
"Blacks' or sUltramontanes" because Of
their adherence to the Vatican across the
Alps, there were other malcontents in Bavaria.
There was DR.. Siegel, the editor of "Das
Vaterland', a newspaper in Munich, which
lost no chances of digs at Prussia. This visit
Of Emperor William and his highest Prus-
sian councillors, Bismarck and Moltke offered