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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:14 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:40:14 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12548-0.txt b/12548-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27fe3ab --- /dev/null +++ b/12548-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8391 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12548 *** + +SECRET MEMOIRS + + +William II and Francis Joseph + + +VOLUME I + + +[Illustration: _WILLIAM II EMPEROR OF GERMANY_ +_From Life_] + + + + +SECRET MEMOIRS +OF THE +COURTS OF EUROPE + + +William II +_Germany_ + +Francis Joseph +_Austria Hungary_ + + +BY + +MME. LA MARQUISE DE FONTENOY + + + + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOL. I + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE + + +The essential qualifications for an author of such a work as the +present are an actual acquaintance with the persons mentioned, an +intimate knowledge of their daily lives, and a personal familiarity +with the scenes described. + +The author of William II. and Francis-Joseph, sheltered under the _nom +de plume_ of Marquise de Fontenoy, is a lady of distinguished birth +and title. Her work consists largely of personal reminiscences, and +descriptions of events with which she is perfectly familiar; a sort of +panoramic view of the characteristic happenings and striking features +of court life, such as will best give a true picture of persons and +their conduct. + +There has been no attempt to trammel the subject,--which embraces +religious, official, social and domestic life,--by following a +strictly sequential form in the narrative, but the writer's aim has +been to present her facts in a familiar way, impressing them with +characteristic naturalness and lifelike reality. + +To this task the author has brought the habits of a watchful observer, +the candor of a conscientious narrator, and the refinement of a +writer who respects her subject. Hence she presents a true, vivid +and interesting picture of court life in Germany and Austria. If such +merely sensational, and too often fictitious, unsavory tales as crowd +the so-called court narratives expressly concocted for the "society" +columns of the periodical press are not the most prominent features +of the present work, it is because they receive only a truthful +recognition and place in its pages. + + + + +WILLIAM II + +AND + +FRANCIS-JOSEPH + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +"If only Emperor William would be true to himself--be natural, +in fact!" exclaimed Count S----, a Prussian nobleman, high in the +diplomatic service of his country, with whom I was discussing the +German Emperor a year or so ago. Then my friend, who had, a short +time previously, been brought into frequent personal contact with his +sovereign, in connection with his official duties, went on to say: + +"There are really two distinct characters, one might almost say +two personalities, in the kaiser. When he is himself he is the most +charming companion that it is possible to conceive. His manners are as +genial and as winning as those of his father and grandfather, both +of whom he surpasses in brilliancy of intellect, and in quickness +of repartee, as well as in a keen sense of humor. He gives one +the impression of possessing a heart full of the most generous +impulses,--aye, of a generosity carried even to excess, and this, +together with a species of indescribable magnetism which appears to +radiate from him in these moments, contributes to render him a most +sympathetic man." + +"But," interposed an Englishman who was present, "that is not how he +is portrayed to the outer world. Nor is that the impression which he +made upon me and upon others when he was at Cowes." + +"That is precisely why I deplore so much that the emperor should +fail to appear in his true colors," continued Count S----. "All +the qualities which I have just now ascribed to him are too often +concealed beneath a mantle of reserve, self-consciousness, nay, +even pose. During my recent interviews with his majesty, whenever we +happened to be alone, he would show himself in the light which I +have just described to you. But let a third person appear upon the +scene--be it even a mere servant--at once his entire manner would +change. The magnetic current so pleasantly established between us +would be cut through, his eyes would lose their kindly, friendly +light, and become hard, his attitude self-conscious and constrained, +the very tone of his speech sharp, abrupt, commanding, I would almost +say arrogant. In fact he would give one the impression that he was +playing a rôle--the rôle of emperor--that he was, in one word, posing, +even if it were only for the benefit of the menial who had interrupted +us. But when the intruder had vanished, William would, like a flash, +become his own charming self again. That is what made me exclaim just +now, 'if only the kaiser would be true to himself!--be natural, in +fact.'" + +"I fully agree with you, my dear S----," I remarked, after a short +pause. "If the emperor has remained anything like what he was prior +to his ascension to the throne, your estimate of his character is +correct." And I went on to relate a little incident which occurred on +the occasion of my first meeting with the emperor many years ago. + +This meeting took place on that particular spot where the empires of +Germany, Austria, and Russia may be said to meet, the frontier guards +of each of those three nations being within hail of one another. +The great autumnal military manoeuvres were in progress, and a merry +party, including a number of ladies, were riding home from the mimic +battlefield. We passed through a narrow lane, bordered on each side by +groups of stunted willows and birch trees, under the sparse shadow of +which nestled a few cottages painted in blue, pink, or yellow, in +true Polish fashion. Suddenly our progress was arrested by terrifying +screams proceeding from one of these hovels. Several of us were out of +our saddles in an instant and rushed in at the low door. + +Before the hearth, where a huge peat-fire was burning, stood a young +peasant woman, her face distorted with agonized grief, and holding in +her arms a bundle of blackened rags. We found that her baby had fallen +into the glowing embers, while she herself was occupied out of doors, +and the poor mite was so badly burned that there seemed but little +hope of its ever reviving from its state of almost complete coma. We +were all busying ourselves eagerly about the child and its distraught +mother, when raising my eyes from the palpitating form of the child, +I caught sight of "Prince William," as the kaiser was then called, +standing near the door, apparently quite undisturbed and unmoved by +this tragedy in lowly life. It even seemed to me in the dim light as +if he were smiling derisively at our efforts to relieve the sufferings +of the little one, and to soothe the grief of its mother. But my +indignation vanished quickly when a slanting ray of the setting sun, +piercing through the grime of the little window, revealed the presence +on his cheek of two very large and _bona-fide_ tears, which had +welled up in his eyes, to which the lad was endeavoring to impart an +expression of callous indifference; and when at last we left the hut +to seek a doctor for the tiny sufferer it was Prince William's own +military coat, none too new, and even, to say the truth, much worn, +that remained as an additional coverlet upon the roughly-hewn wooden +cot, over which the sobbing mother was bending. + +"Nobody," I added, "will, therefore, make me believe that Emperor +William has not got a very soft spot in his heart, and that beneath +the mannerisms which he considers it necessary to affect in order to +maintain the dignity of his position as emperor,--those mannerisms +which have given rise to so much misapprehension about his +character,--there is not concealed a very kindly spirit, literally +brimming over with generous impulses, which, if more widely known, +would serve to render the kaiser the most popular, as he is the most +interesting figure of Old World royalty." + +It is because Emperor Francis-Joseph and the veteran King of Saxony +are so thoroughly acquainted with his real nature, that they are truly +and honestly fond of him. Both of them old men, with no sons in whom +to seek support for the eventide of lives that have been saddened by +many a public and private sorrow, they entertain a fatherly affection +for William, who as emperor treats them in public as brother +sovereigns, and as equals, but accords to them in private the most +touching filial deference and regard, remembering full well the +kindness which both of them showed to him when he was still the +much-snubbed, and not altogether justly-treated "Prince William." They +on their side are led by his behavior towards them to regard him in +the light of a son. Of course they cannot be blind to his faults, but +they are disposed to treat them with an indulgence that is even more +than paternal, and to see in them relatively trivial defects, due +to the manner in which he was brought up, and which are certain to +disappear with advancing years and experience. + +During his early manhood, Prince William was by no means a favorite +either at his grandfather's court or at that of any other foreign +sovereign which he was occasionally allowed to visit. Pale-faced and +delicate-looking, very severely treated by his mother, who is what one +is bound to call _une maîtresse femme_, the boy at seventeen was by no +manner of means prepossessing, and his efforts to assert himself, and +to crush down a good deal of natural awkwardness and timidity added to +his singularly unlikeable appearance. + +In those days it could clearly be seen that everything that he did or +said was meant to create an impression of dignity and of grandeur, to +which his physique did not lend itself very easily, and the contrast +between him and his bosom friend the courteous, graceful and dashing +Crown Prince of Austria, was very marked. + +Good-hearted and endowed with a great many truly generous instincts +the young fellow was, however, sorely handicapped by his education, +the abnormal strictness displayed towards him at the Court of Berlin, +and also by a continually and most distressingly empty purse. It is a +hard and almost pitiful thing for the heir apparent of a great empire +to find himself often without the necessary amount with which to cut +the figure which his social rank forces him to adopt, and it must have +been especially galling to the overbearing and proud nature of this +boy to be continually obliged to borrow from his friends, nay even +from his _aides de camp_, small sums wherewith to pay his way wherever +he went. Nevertheless his father and mother, then Crown Prince and +Crown Princess of Germany, believed it to be a thoroughly wholesome +thing for the young man to have to humble his pride, should he not be +content with the very small allowance made to him, this unfortunate +idea being, however, the cause of a great deal of bitterness, which to +this day has not completely faded from the heart of the now omnipotent +ruler of the German Empire. + +It is undeniable that many eccentricities and false moves on the part +of William II. have been grossly exaggerated and placed before the +public in a false light, showing him up as a conceited, bumptious +and silly person, whereas not only his state of health, but his +_entourage_ should have been blamed for whatever he did that was out +of place. During a great many years the young prince suffered from +what is called technically _otitis media_, namely, a disease of the +middle ear, very painful, exasperating and even somewhat humiliating +to endure, and which he must have inherited in some extraordinary way +from his great-uncle, King William IV. of Prussia, who died insane. +There are certainly some traits of resemblance between this hapless +monarch and the present occupant of the German throne, for in both +there exists and has existed the same exaggerated and narrow-minded +religious beliefs, bordering on mysticism, and also an all-embracing +faith in their absolute and unquestionable infallibility. + +It has long since become a well-anchored creed that William II. has +occasional fits of insanity. This is by no means the case, but it must +be admitted that the peculiar malady to which I referred above, and +which is as yet not eradicated from his system, causes him, at times, +days of the most excruciating pains all over the back and side of his +head, and it is scarcely surprising that at such moments the emperor +should act in a way which astonishes the uninitiated. Indeed, William +II. displays extraordinary force of character in suppressing physical +agony, when the duties he owes to the state force him to come forward +when unfit for anything else but the sick room. + +The truth of the matter is that there are but few who can boast of +knowing him well, and the masses as well as the classes both at home +and abroad seem to take a peculiarly keen delight in accepting for +gospel truth any sweeping statements made about him by the press of +all civilized countries. + +Although twenty-nine years of age when he ascended the throne on June +15, 1888, he may be said to have been at that time still but a raw +youth, continually kept in the background, and treated more or less +like a child, without any consequence or weight. It is, therefore, +not remarkable that the first years of his reign should have been +signalized by many errors of judgment; for it is not with impunity +that one suddenly releases a person, locked up for years in a dark +room and drives him into dazzlingly-lighted spaces without a guide, +a philosopher, or a friend by his side to lead him on the way. +The mental, as well as the physical optic has to gradually become +accustomed to so complete a change, and this fact was not sufficiently +taken into consideration by all the detractors of the young monarch, +when he, to speak very familiarly, leaped over the saddle in his +anxiety to secure for himself a firm seat on the throne of his +forefathers. + +It is well to mention also that Emperor Frederick III., who reigned +alas! but for a few weeks, was positively worshipped by the German +people, and not without cause, for he was undoubtedly one of the +finest personalities of this century. His appearance, his demeanor, +his unaffected dignity, kindness of heart, and loftiness of purpose +were difficult to surpass, and it was a bitter disappointment to his +subjects when death snatched him away before he had had time to carry +out the grand plans and ideas which he had long cherished and reserved +for the time when he would have the reins of government in his own +hands. + +Speaking with all kindness and good-will, one cannot but after +a fashion understand the disappointment of the Germans when this +towering military figure, this magnificent specimen of perfect +physical and mental manhood, vanished from their ken, to be replaced +by the slender, pale-faced, somewhat arrogant and despotic young man, +who resembled this father so little. + +Emperor William II. is an extremely intelligent personage, in spite +of all that may have been said to the contrary. He thinks for himself +when he has a mind to do so, and, what is more, thinks logically, and +is quite capable of following a thus logically-attained conclusion to +its furthermost point. He feels keenly his enormous responsibilities, +and the tremendous international importance of his position as the +ruler of over 50,000,000 people, for he well knows that any man +wearing on his head the double crown of King of Prussia, and of German +Emperor, is a being endowed with powers which are bound to compel +attention from every point of the European Continent. Being given, as +I have just remarked, that his health and his physique are neither of +them of a kind to aid him in the tremendous task which belongs to him +by right of birth, it is easily explainable that his self-assertive +ways and imperious manners should often be mistaken for posing and +posturing. Moreover, his imperfect left arm--a misfortune which has +been a source of great distress to him ever since his birth--is but +another one of those physical troubles which his pride makes him +anxious to conceal, this only adding to his stilted and repellent +attitude. In spite of all these drawbacks, the emperor fences +exceedingly well, rides with pluck, and even skill, managing to hold +his reins with his poor withered left hand when in uniform, in order +to keep his sword-arm free, and during his visit to Austrian Poland, +which I referred to at the beginning of this chapter, I more than once +saw him with my own eyes, whilst we were riding across country, take +obstacles which would have made a far older and more experienced +hunter pause and reflect on. + +Nobody, even the best-intentioned, can deny that Emperor William has +many faults; those are, however, either ignored altogether, or else +exaggerated to an extent that eclipses all his good qualities, by his +various biographers. Very few pen-portraits of royal personages that +pass through the hands of the publishers can be said to present a true +picture of their subject. Either the writer holds up the object of his +literary effort as a person so blameless as to suggest the idea that +he is an impossible prig, or else every piece of malevolent gossip is +construed into a positive fact, his shortcomings magnified until they +lose all touch of resemblance, while every word and action capable of +misrepresentation is construed in the manner most detrimental to his +reputation. In one word, he is either glorified as a preposterous +saint, or else held up to public execration as an equally impossible +villain. Now, in pictorial art, a portrait, in order to present a +satisfactory and successful resemblance to its subject, must contain +lights and shadows. You cannot have all light, or all shadow, but it +is necessary to have a judicious mixture of both. So it is with the +art of biography. If one wishes to give in print a true, and above +all, a human picture of one's subject, it is necessary to mingle the +shadows with the lights. In fact, the former may be said to set off +the latter, and there are many shortcomings, especially those +which the French, so graphically describe as _petits vices_,--small +vices--which, resulting from a generous and impulsive temperament, +serve, like the Rembrandt shadow of a portrait, to render the subject +more attractive to the eye. + +It is my object, not to give a definitive biography of either of the +two kaisers, or even a mere record of their _vie intime_, but rather +to present to my readers a series of incidents, full of lights and +full of shadows, showing their surroundings, describing as far as +possible the atmosphere in which they move, the conditions of life +which they are obliged to consider, the temptations to which they +are exposed--and to which they sometimes succumb--and when I have +completed my task I venture to believe that the readers of these +volumes, while they may find the two emperors neither quite so +blameless, nor yet quite so bad as they expected, may nevertheless +experience a greater degree of sympathy and regard for them as being +after all so extremely human. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +While Emperor Francis-Joseph is justly reputed to have played sad +havoc with the hearts of the fair sex in his dominions, especially in +his younger days, having inherited that frivolity with regard to women +which is a traditional characteristic of the illustrious House of +Hapsburg, he has never at any moment during his long reign permitted +his susceptibility to feminine charms to go to the length of +influencing his political conduct, or the action of his government. + +Emperor William, on the other hand, whose married life has been, from +a domestic point of view, singularly blameless, and who has been +an exceptionally faithful husband, has, in at least two instances, +permitted himself to be swayed in his rôle of sovereign by ladies, +who for a time figured as his "Egerias." One of them was a woman of +extraordinary cleverness, and an American by birth, who while she has +long since ceased to exercise any influence upon him, has retained the +affection and the regard of both his consort and himself. She is the +Countess Waldersee, daughter of the late David Lee, a wholesale +grocer of New York, and who at the time that she became the wife of +Field-marshal Count Waldersee, was the widow of the present German +empress's uncle, Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein. The latter +abandoned his royal rank and titles, and assumed the merely nobiliary +status of a Prince of Noer, in order to make her his consort. + +The countess is treated as an aunt by both William and the kaiserin, +and she may be said to have swayed her imperial nephew by her +cleverness and intellectual brilliancy, rather than by her looks, for +she is a woman already well-advanced in years. + +Different in this respect was the influence of the emperor's other +Egeria, namely, the Polish baroness, Jenny Koscielska, a woman of rare +elegance and beauty, whose political importance during the time +she reigned supreme at the Court of Berlin, was attributable to her +personal fascination rather than to her sagacity or statecraft. She +is the wife of that Baron Kosciol-Koscielski, who was one of the most +celebrated leaders of the Polish party in the Russian House of Lords, +and perhaps, also, the most popular of all modern Polish poets and +playwrights. + +It would be going too far to assert that William was infatuated by her +loveliness. Yet there Is no doubt that as long as she figured at the +Court of Berlin, he not only paid her the most marked attention, but +likewise allowed himself to be advised by her in political matters. +It was during the so-called "reign of the baroness" that the kaiser +showed such an extraordinary degree of favor to his Polish subjects as +to excite the jealousy and ill-will of the people in many other parts +of his dominions. He reestablished the Polish language in the schools +and churches of Posen, that is of Prussian-Poland, nominated a Polish +ecclesiastic to the archbishopric of that province, and conferred so +many court dignities, government offices, and decorations upon the +compatriots of the fair Jenny, as to give rise to the remark that the +best road to imperial preferment at Berlin was to add the Polish and +feminine termination of "ska" to one's name. Old Prince Bismarck, who +was at the time at daggers-drawn with his young sovereign, at length +gave public utterance to the popular ill-will, excited by the rôle +of Egeria, which the baroness was accused of playing to the "Numa +Pompilius" of Emperor William. For, in the course of an address +delivered by the old ex-chancellor at Friedrichsrüh, and reproduced in +extenso in the press, he declared among other things that: "The Polish +influence in political affairs increases always in the measure that +some Polish family obtains of more or less influence at Court. I need +not allude here to the rôle formerly played by the princely house of +Radziwill. To-day we have exactly the same state of affairs, which +is to be deplored!" Bismarck's allusion to the Radziwills was an +ungenerous reference to the romantic attachment of old Emperor William +for that Princess Elize Radziwill, whom he was so determined to marry +that he offered his father to abandon his rights of succession to the +throne on her account. This King Frederick-William would not permit, +and William was compelled to wed Goethe's pupil, Princess Augusta +of Saxe-Weimar. A loveless match in every sense of the word, for he +remained until the day of Princess Elize's death her most devoted +friend and admirer, seeking her advice in many a difficulty, to the +great annoyance of Prince Bismarck, who detested her, and after her +death the old emperor continued to show the utmost favor and good-will +to the members of her family in honor of her memory. Of course this +speech of Prince Bismarck created no end of a sensation throughout the +empire, as well as abroad, the press being encouraged thereby to +print in cold type what had until that time been merely whispered +in official and court circles. It is possible that the young emperor +might have remained indifferent to popular clamor about the matter, +had not two other incidents occurred about the same time to cool his +liking for the fair Jenny. + +In the first place, she felt herself so much encouraged by the +influence which she believed that she exercised over the emperor, that +when during the annual army manoeuvres Field Marshal Prince George of +Saxony, and other Prussian and foreign royalties were quartered under +her roof, she absolutely declined to hoist either the German flag, or +the Royal Saxon standard, but insisted upon flying the national +colors of Poland from the flag staff that surmounted the turret of +her château. Naturally, Prince George and his fellow royal guests +complained of this breach of etiquette to the kaiser, and protested +strongly against it. + +Almost at the same time, her husband, the baron, having been invited +to attend the opening of a provincial exhibition in the neighboring +Empire of Austria, was so carried away by enthusiasm, due to the +kindness with which the Poles present were treated by Emperor +Francis-Joseph, that forgetting all he owed to Emperor William, +he publicly hailed Francis-Joseph as "sole sovereign of all Polish +hearts," and as "Poland's future king!" About this time too, the +empress paid a couple of rather mysterious visits to her mother-in-law +at Friedrichkron. Court gossip ascribed these hurried trips to +the fact that the empress had been prompted by her jealousy of the +baroness to invoke the intervention of the strong-minded widow of +Frederick the Noble. But it is far more likely that the empress +visited the Dowager Kaiserin in order that she should call the +attention of her son to the harm which the association of the name of +the baroness with his own was doing him in a political sense both at +home and abroad. + +Whatever the cause of these consultations between the two +empresses may have been, the fact remains that almost immediately +afterwards Baron and Baroness Koscielski received from the +Grand-Master-of-the-Court, Count Eulenburg, an official intimation +that their presence at court was not desired in highest quarters until +further notice, and that under the circumstances they would do well +to remain at their country seat. In fact they were virtually banished, +and when both husband and wife travelled all the way to Berlin with +the object of asking for an explanation from the emperor, he declined +to receive either the one or the other. He had apparently come to the +conclusion that the game was not worth the candle, and that in view +of the fact that his intimacy with the baroness had never gone beyond +platonic friendship and mild flirtation, it was ridiculous to incur +the ill-will of his subjects and expose himself to slanderous stories +concocted by his enemies on her account. + +The influence of the American born Countess Waldersee was of a far +more lasting character, and may be said to have been inaugurated +very shortly after his marriage. Prior to becoming a benedict, Prince +William was as gay as his very limited financial means would permit. +In fact, he was charged with playing the rôle of Don Juan to at least +half a dozen beauties of the Prussian Court, while at Vienna he became +involved in a scandal of a feminine character, from which he was only +extricated with the utmost difficulty by the then German Ambassador to +the Austrian Court, namely, Prince Reuss. The presumption is that he +had allowed himself to become the prey of an adventuress, and with the +object of avoiding publicity he was practically compelled to provide +for the welfare and future of a child which may or may not have been +his offspring. But as soon as he married, he turned over a new leaf, +and became the very model of husbands. + +It has always been my conviction that this was due in part to the +influence of the Countess Waldersee, and largely also to the unkindly +treatment which his consort received during the early years of +her marriage at the hands of his family. Although a nice and +gentle-looking girl, Augusta-Victoria was far from shining either by +her beauty or her elegance at a court which is one of the most cruelly +critical and satirical in all Europe. Moreover, she labored under the +disadvantage of being the daughter of the Duchess of Augustenburg, who +is not credited with a robust intellect, and, in fact has passed +the greater part of her life in retirement, and of the Duke of +Augustenburg, who was famed thirty years ago for the dullness of his +mind. In fact, after Prussia had undertaken in his behalf the conquest +of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, to which he was entitled by right +of inheritance, and which had been unlawfully seized by Denmark, +Prince Bismarck refused to permit the duke to assume the sovereignty +thereof, on the publicly expressed ground that it would be an act of +the most outrageous tyranny to subject any state to the rule of so +intensely stupid a man as the duke. + +This utterance on the part of Bismarck, which may be found in most +of the German histories printed prior to the accession of the present +Emperor, was naturally recalled to mind at the Court of Berlin, when +the daughter of the duke became the bride of Prince William, and the +widespread belief in her inherited dullness of intellect was further +increased by the mingled impatience and pity which characterized the +behavior of her husband's mother and sisters towards her. + +There is much that is chivalrous in the nature of the present German +emperor, and it was precisely the unkindness and slights to which his +bride was subjected that had the effect of drawing him more closely +to her. He did not conceal the fact that he strongly resented the +attitude of his family towards her, and his friendship with Countess +Waldersee owes its origin to the motherly way in which she behaved +to his wife, acting as her mentor, as her adviser and guide in the +intricate maze of Berlin society, and of court life. Debarred from all +intimacy with her sisters-in-law, who were ever ready to scoff at, and +to make fun of her, Augusta-Victoria was wont to have recourse to +the countess in all her difficulties, and inasmuch as Count Waldersee +himself is the most brilliant soldier of the German army, and was +designated at the time by the great Moltke as his successor and his +principal lieutenant, Prince William and his wife ended by becoming +very intimate indeed with the Waldersees, and almost daily visitors at +their house. + +The countess is of a deeply religious turn of mind, with a strong +disposition towards evangelism, and already before the marriage +of Prince William, she had become conspicuous as one of the most +influential leaders of the anti-Semite party in Prussia. It was in her +salons at Berlin that the great Jew-baiter Stoecker was wont to hold +his politico-religious meetings, denouncing the Jews, and it was +through her influence, too, that he obtained appointment as court +chaplain, in spite of the opposition of the father and the mother of +Prince William. It was also under the roof of the Countess Waldersee +that the present emperor became imbued with that very religious,--one +might almost say pietist--disposition, which has since been so marked +a feature of his character. + +True, the hereditary tendency of the sovereign house of Prussia is +distinctly religious, leaning in fact towards fanaticism, and King +Frederick-William III., his son Frederick-William IV., and likewise +old Emperor William, entertained the most extraordinary ideas on the +subject of Providence, with which they believed themselves to be in +constant communion, as well as its principal agent here on earth. +In fact, there is hardly a public utterance of any of these three +sovereigns, which is not marked throughout by a deep religious tone, +and by a degree of familiarity with the Almighty which would be +blasphemous were it not so manifestly sincere. This hereditary +tendency towards religion was, to a certain extent, obliterated by the +education which William received, and which was of a nature to dispose +him to be both a materialist and a free-thinker. He may be said +in fact to have been brought up in an atmosphere of Renan-ism and +Strauss-ism, for which his extraordinary and mercilessly clever +mother, Empress Frederick, was largely responsible, and at the moment +of his marriage it looked as if he were destined to figure in history +as quite as much of a philosopher, and even atheist, as Frederick the +Great, for whom he professed the most profound veneration. + +It was Countess Waldersee who revived all the inherited and latent +religious tendencies of his character. + +Up to the time when he ascended the throne, Prince William and his +consort were constant and devout attendants at the prayer-meetings +held in the salons of the countess, and if he remains to this day +a remarkably religious man, with a sufficient regard for scriptural +commands to have shown himself a more faithful husband than any other +prince of his house, either living or dead--if, to-day, piety is +fashionable at the court of Berlin instead of being bad form, if the +building or endowment of a church, or of a charitable institution, +is regarded as the surest road to imperial favor, it is due to the +influence of William's American aunt, the daughter of that New +York grocer, the first Princess Noer, and who is to-day Countess of +Waldersee. + +It is natural that the influence exercised over William and his +wife by the countess should have given rise to the utmost jealousy, +especially on the part of his mother, Empress Frederick, and during +the hundred days' reign of her lamented husband, she availed herself +of her brief spell of power to secure the virtual banishment of the +count and the countess from Berlin, by causing the field marshal to +be transferred from the chieftaincy of the headquarter staff to +the command of the army stationed in Altona. Moreover, she did not +hesitate to denounce the influence of the Waldersees as disastrous, +as illiberal, and in every sense of the word reactionary, and if her +husband, Emperor Frederick, was led to share her views concerning +them, it was because of his disapproval of the movement against the +Jews in which the countess had figured so conspicuously. It is a +peculiar fact that although Emperor William has always remained on +the most affectionate terms with the Waldersees, and never loses any +opportunity of manifesting the warmth of his affection for them, +he has never repealed the decree of banishment to which they were +virtually subjected during his father's reign. He has transferred the +field marshal from one post to another, but he has never appointed +him to one which would admit of his coming back to live in Berlin. I +cannot help thinking that the emperor resented the imputation that he +was subject to the sway of his wife's aunt, and was offended by the +articles which appeared at one moment both in the German and foreign +press intimating that she was the power behind the throne. He is +sufficiently jealous of his dignity to object to be considered as +subject to the influence of anyone, be it man or woman, and one of +the chief causes of the dismissal of old Prince Bismarck was precisely +because so long as he remained in office there was a disposition to +regard the kaiser as a mere puppet in the hands of the old statesman. + +It is this aversion to being considered as swayed by any other +influence than his own that has led the emperor on so many occasions +to adopt a course diametrically opposed to that urged upon him by his +clever and masterful mother, a woman with the most powerful intellect +and the least tact to be found in all Old World royalties. It was +this, too, that led the emperor to banish, just a trifle unjustly, +the pretty and dashing Countess Hohenau from his court. She had been +guilty of no indiscretion with regard to him. She had done nothing +wrong, and she was not only a brilliant ornament of the imperial +_entourage_, but likewise a relative of the family. But he banished +both her husband and herself almost at a moment's notice, owing to +the fact that in the anonymous letters circulated at the time of the +so-called Kotze scandal, he was mentioned as altogether infatuated and +subjugated by her beauty. + +Count Hohenau is the half-brother of that Prince Albert of Prussia, +who is now Regent of the Grand Duchy of Brunswick. Old Prince Albert +of Prussia, his father, was married to the eccentric and half-crazy +Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. Not long after the birth of +the present Prince Albert, she lost her heart to such an extent to a +chamberlain in her household that her husband was compelled to divorce +her, whereupon she contracted a morganatic marriage with the gentleman +in question, and lived and died at an advanced age only about twelve +years ago. + +Prince Albert, the elder, thereupon married morganatically a young +girl of noble birth of the name of Baroness Rauch, whose family had +for more than one hundred and fifty years occupied leading positions +at the Court of Berlin. On the occasion of her marriage to the prince, +she received from the Prussian Crown the title of Countess of Hohenau, +and the children whom she bore to Prince Albert the elder are now +known as Counts and Countesses of Hohenau. The elder of these Counts +Hohenau bears the name of Fritz, and his wife, before their banishment +from the capital, was one of the most dashing and brilliant figures +in the ultra-aristocratic society of Berlin. No entertainment was +regarded as complete without her presence, and in every social +enterprise, no matter whether it was a flower corso, a charity fair, +a hunt, a picnic, or amateur theatricals, she was always to the +fore, besides being the leader in every new fashion, and in every new +extravagance. Although eccentric--she was the first member of her sex +to show herself astride on horseback in the Thiergarten--and in spite +of her being famed as a thorough-paced coquette, and as a flirt, +yet no one ventured to impugn her good name, until the disgraceful +anonymous letter scandal; and both her husband and herself naturally +resent most keenly that without any hearing or explanation they should +have been banished from the court, and sent to live, first at Hanover, +then at Dresden, but always away from Berlin and Potsdam, solely on +account of an anonymous letter. + +The sympathy of society in the affair was all with the Hohenaus, who +although absent from Berlin, may be said to have taken the leading +part in that great controversy which is known to this day as "the +anonymous letter scandal," and which not only divided all Berlin +society into separate hostile camps, but led to innumerable duels, +some of them with fatal results; to the imprisonment of some great +personages; to the ruin of others, and in one word to one of the +most talked of court scandals of the present century. In fact, the +anonymous letter affair, many of the features of which remain shrouded +in mystery to this day, played so important a part in the history of +the Court of Berlin during the first decade of the present emperor's +reign, that it deserves a chapter to itself. + +What, however, I wish specially to impress upon my readers is that in +spite of the many scurrilous stories that have been circulated on both +sides of the ocean concerning the alleged intrigues of Emperor William +with the fair sex, since his marriage, nearly eighteen years ago, his +wedded life has been singularly free from storms, and exceptionally +happy. In fact, there are few more thoroughly-devoted couples than +William and Augusta-Victoria, who is to-day far more comely as a woman +than she was as a young girl. So domestic, indeed, are the tastes of +the kaiser, so excellent is he both as a husband and a father, that +his home life may be said to atone for many of his political errors +and shortcomings as a monarch. His loyalty towards his consort is all +the more to his credit, as the Anointed of the Lord in the Old World +are exposed to feminine temptations in a degree of which no conception +can be formed in this country. In most of the capitals of Europe it +is in the power of the sovereign to make or mar the social position +of any man, and of any woman. Social ambitions coupled with an +exaggerated degree of loyalty will lead many a beautiful woman +to cross that border line which separates mere indiscretion from +something worse, all the more that the reputation of being the fair +favorite of a monarch, and able to influence his conduct, is regarded +as a title to prestige, and has the effect of converting the fair one +into one of the acknowledged powers of the land. + +For an ambitious woman it is something to be treated by statesmen and +the representatives of foreign governments, as the power behind the +throne, and provided this power is wisely exercised, the intimacy of +the lady with the monarch is regarded by high and low with something +more than mere indulgence. + +History has given so lofty a pedestal to Madame de Maintenon, that +there are many women who are eager to emulate her rôle in present +times, and to likewise figure in history. That is why royal +personages, and especially kings and emperors, are exposed to such +extraordinary temptations. + +Most women put forth all their charms and powers of fascination +to captivate the attention, and, if possible, the heart of their +sovereign, who is, after all, but human. That is why Emperor William +deserves so much credit for having remained true to his wife, and +why Emperor Francis-Joseph of Austria merits so much indulgence in +connection with the indiscretions which had the effect of keeping him +for so many years parted and estranged from his lovely consort, the +late Empress Elizabeth. + +While on this subject, it should be stated that for many years past, +probably for the last decade, the life of Francis-Joseph has been free +from affairs of this kind, for it is hardly possible to treat in the +light of a scandal his association with that now elderly actress, +Mlle. Schratt, since it is virtually tolerated, accepted and, so to +speak, recognized both by the imperial family and by the Austrian +people. Indeed the only persons who have ever taken exception to +this intimacy have been Herr Schoenerer, and some of his anti-Semite +colleagues who, to the indignation of every one, gave vent three +years ago to their spite against their kindly old sovereign by calling +attention in the Reichsrath to the alleged questionable relations +between the sovereign and the popular and veteran star-actress of the +Burg Theatre. + +Herr Schoenerer, who was formerly a baron, but who was deprived of +his title by the emperor at the time when he was sentenced to a +year's imprisonment for a violent and unprovoked assault upon a Jewish +newspaper proprietor, declared in the legislature, to which he had +been elected on emerging from jail, that public opinion was becoming +outraged by the impropriety of the conduct of the emperor. The scene +which ensued defied description. Schoenerer was suspended, and had not +steps been taken to assure his protection, would have been subjected +to very violent treatment by the vast majority of the house, which +is intensely loyal to the emperor, and the members of which resented +criticism of his majesty's twenty years' friendship with old Frau +Schratt Even the late empress herself did not regard as serious or +dangerous her husband's association with the actress. This is shown by +the fact that on two separate occasions she honored Frau Schratt with +a visit at the actress's villa near Ischl. At the Austrian Court it +is generally understood that whatever may have been the nature of the +intimacy of the monarch and the actress in the past, it is now nothing +more than a platonic affection between two old friends, the emperor +being accustomed to spend half an hour or so with this witty and +amiable lady nearly every day. The actress is a great favorite with +the people at large, on account of her devotion to the emperor, and +for her tact in declining to take any undue advantage of the favor +which he accords to her. Indeed, the degree of indulgence with which +Austrian society, as well as the masses, look upon this intimacy maybe +gathered from the fact that one of the most--popular photographs on +exhibition in the windows of the leading picture-shops at Vienna, and +at Pesth, is a snapshot, showing the kindly-faced old emperor and +the sunny-tempered old actress seated in the most domestic fashion +opposite one another at a breakfast table with the actress's pet dog +on a chair midway between stage and throne. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +It was on the evening of June 7th, 1894, that a carriage, the servants +of which wore court liveries, drew up at the entrance of that old +building on the avenue known as "Unter Den Linden," which serves as +a military prison of the Berlin garrison. From this equipage alighted +two men, each of them a well-known figure in the great world of the +Prussian metropolis. The one in uniform was General Count von Hahnke, +chief of the military household of the emperor, while the other, who +was in civilian attire, was Baron von Kotze, master of ceremonies at +the court of Berlin, one of the most well-to-do and jovial of _bons +vivants_, and who up to that time had stood so high in the favor of +the reigning family that his sovereign was accustomed to address him +by his Christian name, and by the so familiar equivalent pronoun in +German of "thou." + +Shortly afterwards General von Hahnke reappeared alone, entered the +carriage hurriedly, and drove back to the palace. On the following +morning it became known that Baron von Kotze had been suddenly +arrested, and lodged in the military prison by personal order of the +kaiser, and without the warrant of any tribunal or magistrate, either +military or civil. + +While the general public was speculating as to the cause of this +mysterious and startling disciplinary measure against a nobleman so +well known and so prominent in every way as Baron von Kotze, the court +gossips were rubbing their hands, chuckling with satisfaction, and +congratulating themselves on the fact that success had at length +crowned the efforts made to bring to book the author of the hundreds +of anonymous letters that had been circulated in the great world of +Berlin during the two preceding years. + +Gradually the circumstances which had led to the arrest of Baron Kotze +became public property, and people both at home and abroad were made +aware for the first time of the existence of a scandal which for over +four-and-twenty months had set court and society by the ears, and +which had caused every man and woman to regard with suspicion not +merely their acquaintances, but even their most intimate friends and +nearest relatives. No one, with the exception of the emperor, the +empress, and the widow of Emperor Frederick, can be said to have been +altogether exempt from this reflection on their honor. For among those +who were at one time most strongly suspected of being the author +of these letters were the eldest sister of the kaiser, Princess +Charlotte, and the only brother of the empress, Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein. + +Color was given to these suspicions by the fact that many of the +anonymous letters contained remarks and information that manifestly +emanated from the imperial family, while some of the views expressed +in the letters were known not merely to have been shared, but even +to have been uttered in conversation by the prince and princess in +question. What gave still further weight to these suppositions was the +extraordinary fact that incidents which had occurred within what may +be described as the most intimate circle of the court,--incidents, +indeed, of which no one could be aware, save royal personages +themselves and those few chosen friends and associates who were +with them at the time when the incidents in question occurred,--were +revealed a few days later in the anonymous letters, twisted and +distorted in such a manner as to admit only of the most shameful +interpretation. + +Added to this was the knowledge that there are few women at the Court +of Berlin more cruelly satirical or have a keener sense of ridicule +than Princess Charlotte, or any more inveterate gossip than Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein. + +The anonymous letters had literally spared no one, not even that most +blameless and excellent of women, the Empress Augusta-Victoria; nor +was there anybody of mark who had not received at least several of +them. But for some reason or other which was not understood at the +time, they seemed to be imbued with an especially relentless and +savage animosity against the charming Countess "Fritz" von Hohenau, +who must not be confounded with her less attractive sister-in-law, +Countess "Willy" von Hohenau; for whereas the latter is by birth a +princess of Hohenlohe and a niece of the imperial chancellor of +that ilk, Countess Fritz is by birth a Countess von der Decken, and +rejoices in the Christian name of Charlotte. + +If Countess Fritz has one weakness which in any degree lends itself to +unfriendly criticism and ridicule it is the pride which she manifests +in her relationship through marriage to the reigning house of Prussia, +and in her being the sister-in-law of that Prince Albert of Prussia, +who is regent of the Duchy of Brunswick, her husband, Count Fritz von +Hohenau, being a half-brother to Prince Albert. It is owing to +this very innocent weakness of the countess that she was nicknamed +"_Lottchen von Preussen_," or "_Die Preussiche Lotte_" that is to say +"_Lotte of Prussia_" and at least a third of the hundreds of anonymous +letters confided to the mails during the period extending between 1892 +and 1896 were filled with the most scurrilous remarks concerning the +unfortunate "_Lottchen von Preussen_." + +The letters imputed to the countess almost every crime under the sun. +Inasmuch as her husband's principal friend was Baron Schrader, who +was of course frequently seen in her company at the races and at the +opera, it naturally followed that she was charged with an altogether +questionable intimacy with him. In fact, she was accused of sharing +her favors between him and the emperor, and in the letters that +reached both the kaiser and his consort, it was asserted that she was, +moreover, in the habit of constantly boasting among her friends about +the influence which as "_Sultana"_ she was able to exercise over the +ruler of the German Empire. + +It was on the receipt of one of these letters that the emperor without +a moment's warning abruptly ordered Count and Countess Fritz Hohenau +to leave Berlin and to transfer their residence to Hanover. The count +and countess were not long in discovering the cause of their disgrace, +and bitterly incensed, at once resolved to leave no stone unturned in +their efforts to discover the culprit. + +In this determination they were supported by the "Willy" von Hohenaus, +by the various members of the Hohenlohe family, by Baron Schrader, +Baron Hugo Reischach, chamberlain to the Empress Frederick, Prince and +Princess Aribert of Anhalt, the latter being a granddaughter of Queen +Victoria, Prince and Princess Albert of Saxe-Altenburg, and last, but +not least, Baron von Tausch, the chief of the secret police attached +to the particular service of the emperor. + +I have already mentioned that suspicions had at first been +directed against the empress's only brother, Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein. Somehow or other, probably through reading the +detective novels of Gaboriau, Baron Schrader became imbued with the +idea that the most successful manner of discovering the identity of +the suspected writer of the anonymous letters would be to carefully +examine the blotting-pads which either he or she were in the habit of +using. Accordingly, Countess Fritz von Hohenau took advantage of the +admiration and devotion entertained for her by Count Augustus Bismarck +to induce him to bring to her the blotting-pad habitually used by the +duke, to whose household he belonged, as chief aid-de-camp. The count, +very reluctantly, it is true, brought to Madame von Hohenau, the said +blotting-pad, and it was immediately submitted to a most careful and +even microscopical examination by her husband, herself, and their +friends. But in spite of every effort it was impossible to discover +the slightest analogy between the writing of the anonymous letters and +the impressions left on the blotting-pad of the duke. The countess and +her assistants in this queer task, therefore, came to the conclusion +that they would have to search in a different direction. + +It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty how suspicion was +then directed towards Baron Kotze. But I am under the impression that +his name was first mentioned in connection with the affair by Baron +Schrader, who like himself was a Master of Ceremonies of the Court +of Berlin. The vast wealth enjoyed by the Kotzes, as well as the +extraordinary favor manifested towards them by the emperor and the +members of the reigning family, had not unnaturally rendered them +objects of no little jealousy on the part of other personages +belonging to the court circle. The exceedingly sarcastic and +malevolent tongue of the Baroness Kotze, and the somewhat coarse +flavor of the ever-ready jest and quip of her jovial, loud-voiced, +hail-fellow-well-met mannered husband did not tend to render the +couple very popular. + +Baron Kotze's mother had been an heiress in her own right as the +daughter of the court banker, Krause, while the baron's wife is the +daughter of that extraordinary old General von Treskow, who for so +long commanded the division of Guards, and whose reputation as one of +the bravest and most dashing officers of the war of 1870, alone saved +him from the ridicule which his corseted waist, his painted cheeks, +his dyed moustache, and his youthful wig, would otherwise have +excited. While he himself has no drop of Jewish blood in his veins, +both his daughter, Madame Kotze, and her brother possess the facial +features of the Semitic race in a most marked degree, and despite +their protestations to the contrary, have undoubtedly Hebrew +ancestors, if not on the father's side, at any rate on that of the +mother. Old General Treskow was very rich indeed, his country seat at +Friedrichsfeld being one of the most magnificent country seats in the +neighborhood of Berlin. + +During the early years of the reign of Emperor William, his eldest +sister, Princess Charlotte, and her husband, Prince Bernhardt of +Saxe-Meiningen, occupied a lovely little palace, or rather, I should +say large and roomy villa on the outskirts of the Thiergarten, at +Berlin. Among their near neighbors were Baron and Baroness Kotze. +Little Ursula Kotze, the daughter of the baroness, was precisely of +the same age as Princess Fedora of Saxe-Meiningen, the only child of +Princess Charlotte, and the two young girls soon became inseparable +friends. The relations thus established soon extended to the parents, +and while Princess Charlotte,--herself disposed to satirizing and +ridiculing everybody, and like many royal personages, passionately +fond of gossip, especially when spiced with scandal,--found +never-ceasing entertainment in the witty comments of the baroness +about the social events of the day, and in her reports of the latest +stories current concerning mutual acquaintances and friends, Prince +Bernhardt, in spite of his seriousness, and his fond predilection +for Hellenic research, could not help laughing and enjoying the merry +sallies of Baron Kotze. In fact, the Kotzes ended by becoming the most +intimate friends of the princely Saxe-Meiningen couple, whose taste +for their society was eventually shared by the Empress Frederick to +a degree that excited the utmost jealousy and ill-will of her +chamberlain, Baron Reischach. The latter was, therefore, only too +ready to accept the view expressed by his friend. Baron Schrader, to +the effect that Baron Kotze was the author of the anonymous letters. + +I think that it was in the latter part of 1892 that the Prince and +Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, having made up their minds to visit Greece +and the Holy Land, invited Baron and Baroness Kotze to accompany +them. Some quarrel, however, took place between the princess and the +baroness during this trip, which they did not complete together, and +when they took up their residence once more at Berlin the formerly so +intimate relations between the two families ceased absolutely. It was +about this time that it became known that Princess Charlotte either +during her trip to the Orient, or just before she started, had in some +unexplainable manner lost the diary in which she had, like so many +members of the fair sex, been accustomed to describe her daily +impressions, and to the pages of which she was wont to impart +sentiments and opinions that she did not venture to confide to anybody +else. + +For a considerable time after the return of the princess from the +Orient the anonymous letters contained phrases and peculiarities of +expression that clearly indicated Princess Charlotte, and to such an +extent was this the case that those in pursuit of the sender of the +missives would have ascribed their authorship to the princess, had it +not been that she herself was referred to in many of the letters in +a particularly savage and scurrilous manner. Baron Schrader, the +Hohenaus and their friends, being aware of the existence of the +quarrel between the Kotzes and the Saxe-Meiningens, naturally became +more convinced than ever that it was either Baron Kotze, or his +"viper-tongued" wife, as they described her, who were the culprits, +and insisted that it was the baroness who had taken advantage of her +intimacy with the princess to get possession of her royal highness's +diary, the contents of which were now being used in so many of the +letters. + +What has now become of the diary it is impossible to say, but +judging by the excerpts used in the anonymous letters, it must have +constituted a particularly piquant volume or series of volumes! +Thus there was one remark about the emperor which ridiculed "his +intolerable swagger." There were also some comical references to +Princess Victoria of Prussia, who was jilted by the late Prince +Alexander of Battenberg, on the very eve of the day appointed for the +wedding, and that for the sake of a little actress. This princess +has since then married Prince Adolph of Schaumburg, who was recently +ousted from the regency of the tiny principality of Lippe. "_Poor +Vicky_" was described as being "_many-sided_" owing to the number of +her _affaires de coeur_, notably those with Baron Hugo von Reischach, +at that time a very handsome lieutenant of the "Garde-du-Corps," +but who afterward became gentleman-in-waiting to the widowed Empress +Frederick, and married one of the princesses of Hohenlohe. This +flirtation between Baron Reischach and Princess Victoria formed +the theme of quite a number of the anonymous letters, in which +the princess was charged with every kind of indelicacy, while the +unfortunate baron was ridiculed in connection with the modernity +of his nobility. Other love affairs of "_poor Vicky_" were likewise +discussed in no friendly manner, and she was represented as being to +such a degree infatuated for Count Andrassy, the eldest son of the +famous Austro-Hungarian statesman, that the young fellow, it +is declared, was forced to resign his secretaryship to the +Austro-Hungarian Embassy, at Berlin, and to flee from the Prussian +Court, in order to escape from the demonstrative attentions of the +princess: "If it is like this now," said one of the letters, "what in +Heaven's name will it be when '_Vicky_' marries!" + +There were, moreover, all sorts of matters relating to the _vie +intime_ of the imperial family discussed in these anonymous +communications, such as bickerings between the emperor and his mother, +quarrels with his English relatives, flirtations of the younger +princesses, etc., which no one could possibly have known about, save +members of the imperial family, and which were just the sort of thing +that Princess Charlotte would have written in her diary, in her witty +and sarcastic manner. + +In fact there was so much of the phraseology and style habitual to +Princess Charlotte in the letters, that they would inevitably have +been, as I remarked above, positively ascribed to her had it not been +for the grossly improper and even disgusting twist and construction +that was invariably added to her well-known manner of writing. +Although a terrible flirt as well as a daring coquette, the princess +has never been charged with anything more serious than trivial +_affaires de coeur_, excepting by the writer of the anonymous letters. + +Then too, as I have also already stated many of these letters assailed +the princess herself, in the most unscrupulous fashion; an abominable +and impossible story, picked up from the filthiest of Berlin gutters, +impugning the legitimacy of the only child of the princess, being thus +circulated far and wide. This vile fabrication alleged that Charlotte +had been married off in a hurry to Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, +in order to avoid a public scandal. It is only necessary to recall the +fact that the sole child of Princess Charlotte, Princess Fedora, now +married to Prince Henry of Reuss, was born twelve months after her +mother's marriage, in order to show how utterly without foundation was +this shameful slander. At least a dozen anonymous letters sent to the +emperor and to various other personages dealt with an episode said to +have taken place during a trip undertaken by the princess in Norway +and Sweden. She was attended on that occasion by a Captain von Berger, +and his wife, who were her gentleman and lady-in-waiting, and there +was also in her suite a diminutive officer holding the rank of +lieutenant, and bearing the old Silesian name of Count Schack, who +acted as aid-de-camp. + +According to the anonymous letters, Princess Charlotte made a kind +of toy of the little officer, and behaved in a most volatile manner. +There was evidence of such intense malignity in these letters against +Princess Charlotte that they were attributed to a jealous woman, +and that if not actually written by one, they had at any rate been +inspired by a member of the fair sex. + +There can be no doubt that Princess Charlotte and her husband ended by +sharing the opinion entertained by the Schrader-Hohenau clique, about +the letters being inspired by Baroness Kotze, and written by her +husband, and it must be confessed that there was a certain amount of +ground for their doing so. The blotting pads used by Baron Kotze, +both at the Union Club and elsewhere, were subjected to much the +same microscopic examination as those of Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein, and when at length a distinct degree of similarity +was discovered to exist between the caligraphy of the anonymous +letter writer and the impressions which figured on the blotting pads +habitually used by Baron Kotze, Baron Schrader drew up a report on the +subject, charging Baron Kotze with being the author of the letters, +and presented it to the emperor. The latter hesitated a little before +taking any action in the matter, and would doubtless have yielded +to the advice of the minister of the imperial household, Prince +Stolberg-Wernigrode, who urged him to institute a very careful secret +investigation of his own before rushing the _denouement_, cautioning +him that Baron Schrader's evidence was inadequate, had it not been for +the pressure brought to bear upon his majesty by the Saxe-Meiningens +and other members of his family, who were all convinced that Baron +Kotze was the guilty party. + +It was due entirely to this pressure that the kaiser, incensed beyond +measure at the persistency and the malignity of these letters, took +the extraordinary step of having Baron von Kotze arrested by the chief +of his military household, General von Hahnke merely on the strength +of his imperial order, dispensing with any legal warrant. That Count +Hahnke should have been selected for this duty, and that a military +prison, rather than the ordinary house of detention, should have been +chosen for the incarceration of Baron Kotze, must be ascribed to +the fact that the latter was at the time a captain of cavalry on the +reserve lists, and that in a military prison the authority of the +emperor, as head of the army, is supreme and absolute, which cannot be +said of the ordinary civil prisons, the officers of which are subject +above everything else to the tribunals and to the laws of the land. + +Of course, from the very moment when the baron was arrested, the +entire scandal, that is to say the existence of a conspiracy for the +writing and distribution of anonymous letters, became public, and +served to furnish material for articles both in the German and the +foreign press on the alleged moral rottenness of the Court of Berlin. +At first there is no doubt that society, and even the ordinary public, +accepted the guilt of Baron Kotze as assured, and were further led +to believe the story about the baroness having been the instigator of +many of the letters, by her at once withdrawing to her country-seat at +Friedrichsfeld, and refusing to receive anyone. + +Doubts as to the baron's guilt, however, commenced to arise when it +was found that in spite of his incarceration, the anonymous letters +continued to be sent as before, without any interruption, while all +efforts to bring home the guilt to the baron completely failed in +every sense of the word. Not only did the famous expert in caligraphy, +Langenbuch, declare that the handwriting of the letters had nothing +whatsoever in common with that of Baron Kotze, but that those written +during his incarceration were exactly similar to the others. The +emperor himself received anonymous letters, describing him to be a +fool for having unjustly imprisoned an altogether innocent man, and +recommending him to look after his brother-in-law, Duke Ernest-Gunther +of Schleswig-Holstein. + +At the end of a fortnight, therefore, the military governor of Berlin, +old Field Marshal Count Pape, declared to his majesty that he would +do well to immediately set Baron Kotze at liberty, since there was +no adequate ground for keeping him under arrest. The field marshal, +however, suggested that in view of the seriousness of the charge that +had been made against the baron, the only thing to do would be to +hold a court-martial, permitting the baron meanwhile to reside "_on +parole_" at Friedrichsfeld. The whole matter was thereupon turned over +to General Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern, brother of the King +of Roumania, commanding the metropolitan division of troops, to the +reserve force of which Baron Kotze belonged. + +Nine months after his arrest. Baron Kotze appeared before a +court-martial, composed of a colonel, who acted as president, and +eight other officers, and after a lengthy trial, during the course of +which Baron Schrader acted not merely as witness against Kotze, +but likewise as prosecutor, endeavoring to show analogy between the +writing of the anonymous letters, and the caligraphy, not merely of +Baron Kotze, but also of the baroness, the court-martial acquitted +the prisoner, and the emperor not only signified his approval of the +verdict, but a week later took the occasion of the Easter festivities +to send to his former favorite Kotze, a huge floral piece in the shape +of an Easter egg, bound with ribbons in the national colors. + +William, however, refrained from intimating to Kotze his desire that +he should resume his service at court as master of ceremonies, and +this taken in conjunction with the fact that the procedure of the +court-martial remained a secret, left a painful degree of suspicion +resting upon the character of the unfortunate Baron Kotze. It is +perfectly true that many of those members of the court, and of +society, who had been most bitter in their denunciation of him, +left cards at his residence, but the Hohenau clique still remained +obdurate, and in spite of every possible intervention, persisted +in regarding Baron Kotze as having been unable to clear himself +completely. His most obdurate detractor remained Baron Schrader. + +Kotze learning the part which Schrader had played in the entire +affair, after having consulted with his friends, came to the +conclusion that the injury done to him by his fellow master of +ceremonies, was far too great to admit of its being expiated, or +atoned for by a mere exchange of bullets on the duelling field, and +he accordingly instituted criminal proceedings against him. The +preliminaries to this sort of thing are exceedingly intricate and +tedious in Germany, and the legal authorities having received the +impression in one way or another that the public trial in connection +with the scandal would be viewed with displeasure in high quarters, +naturally placed every obstacle in Baron Kotze's way. Of course, +having instituted legal proceedings against Schrader, he was +debarred by the so-called code of honor from challenging Schrader, a +circumstance of which the latter took advantage to insinuate that if +Kotze had refrained from calling him to account on the field of honor, +it was because he did not feel sufficiently sure of his ground. + +This insinuation was taken up by Kotze's cousin, Captain Dietrich +Kotze, who challenged Schrader and fought a duel with him, slightly +wounding him. Kotze himself meanwhile challenged, and fought a duel +with another of his persecutors, Baron Hugo Reischach, the chamberlain +of Empress Frederick, and received a rather severe wound, which kept +him in bed for several weeks. + +As legal proceedings were pending, which were expected to eventually +clear up the entire scandal, and show who was the author of the +anonymous letters, it was generally assumed that Baron von Kotze could +not be regarded as altogether cleared from the suspicion which rested +upon him, until the case had come up for trial. Meanwhile poor Kotze +remained under a cloud. Nearly nine months elapsed before the criminal +authorities declared that there was no ground for a criminal suit +against Schrader. Kotze thereupon endeavored to institute a civil +suit, this requiring still more time, and when at length the matter +came into court, Kotze was non-suited virtually without any hearing, +on the ground that the statutes of limitation had disqualified him +from any civil redress against Baron Schrader. + +Kotze being thus frustrated in his efforts to obtain punishment +for his foe and persecutor through the courts of law, came to the +conclusion that there was no other means left him to vindicate his +honor, but a challenge to fight a duel. His demand for satisfaction, +however, was declined by Baron Schrader, on the ground that it was too +late for Kotze to resort to arms, and that if he had stood in need of +satisfaction of this kind, he should not have allowed so long a period +to elapse before demanding it. The matter was referred to a so-called +court of honor, which sustained the contention of Baron Schrader, and +declared that inasmuch as Baron Kotze had by his dilatoriness placed +himself beyond the power of exacting satisfaction from Baron Schrader +for the indignities to which he had been subjected, he was no longer +worthy to wear the uniform of a Prussian officer. This decision of the +court of honor was ratified by Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern, the +general commanding the division of Guards, to the reserve force of +which Baron Kotze belonged, but it was annulled by the emperor, an +action on the part of his majesty which led Prince Frederick to resign +his command, and to withdraw for the time from the Court of Berlin. + +The emperor thereupon entrusted the affair to another jury of honor +at Hanover, which rendered a decision, blaming Baron Kotze for +his dilatoriness in demanding satisfaction of Baron Schrader, but +authorizing him to continue to wear the uniform, and to remain in the +service of the emperor as an officer. This verdict was ratified by the +emperor himself and on the strength thereof the long delayed duel +took place between the two barons. In June, 1896, Baron Schrader was +wounded in the abdomen by Baron Kotze, a wound to which he succumbed +on the following day. That seemed to settle, in the minds of all, the +innocence of Baron Kotze, for after spending the customary few months +in nominal imprisonment for infraction of the civil laws, which +prohibit the fighting of those very duels which are prescribed by the +military code, he was invited to resume his service as master of the +ceremonies at court, was treated once more with the utmost distinction +by the emperor, while his wife spent several weeks in the autumn of +that year as the guest of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, at the +latter's country seat. + +But who was the author of the anonymous letters? + +That is a question with which I propose to deal in the following +chapter, at the same time showing how this most sensational court +scandal of the latter half of the nineteenth century led to the +exodus from Berlin, and the desertion of its court by numerous royal +personages and great nobles. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +To this day the identity of the writer of the anonymous letters +remains a secret to the general public in Germany, as well as abroad, +but it is pretty generally known in court circles at Berlin and at +Vienna; and if steps have been taken by the authorities to prevent the +true facts from getting into print, and the writer was merely expelled +from Germany, instead of being brought to justice and sentenced to a +long term of imprisonment, it is only because the culprit could not +have been tried and convicted without the name of one of the greatest +personages in Germany being dragged into the case. + +Needless to add that the anonymous letter writer was a woman--a +foreign lady of title--who for a time was one of the most admired +beauties at the Court of Berlin, where, thanks to her inimitable chic, +elegance and brilliancy of wit, everybody, men and women alike, were +charmed. Old Emperor William, who was always very attentive to the +fair sex, up to the very last, and easily smitten by a pretty face, +had introduced the lady to his court without taking much trouble to +investigate her antecedents or character, and of course, with such +a sponsor, everyone took it for granted that she was above reproach, +socially, as well as morally. She became very intimate with many of +the court people, notably with the Hohenaus, the Kotzes, etc., and was +even admitted to the intimacy of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, +the emperor's eldest sister. She possibly might have, in spite of +all, retained her social eminence, had she not allowed herself to be +compromised, first, in the eyes of a few, and subsequently, in a +more general fashion, by the only brother of the empress, Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg. The association of +their names ultimately became such that the great ladies of the +Berlin Court, commenced to cut adrift from the fair foreigner, whose +resentment at this treatment naturally became particularly bitter +against precisely those with whom she had been most intimate. + +Her animosity against Countess Fritz Hohenau was especially +intensified by the particularly offensive manner in which she was +cut by "Charlotte of Prussia," whose bitter and contemptuous remarks +concerning her were naturally communicated to the foreign lady by +the men who still frequented her salons. Through these noblemen and +princes she was kept _au courant_ of everything that went on at court, +and there is no doubt that she was able to extract much information +concerning the emperor and his family from the duke, who visited her +daily, and who was infatuated by her potent and undeniable charms +beyond all reason. + +Of course, no one dreams to-day of accusing the duke of having +knowingly played any part in the fabrication of the anonymous letters; +but there is no doubt that, with his utter absence of discretion, his +lack of intellectual brilliancy, and the thoroughly royal predilection +for gossip and tittle-tattle, which monopolize to this day his +interest, he imparted to her, in the course of his daily visits, a +vast amount of news and information which she could not possibly have +obtained from any one else. Dissipated, foolish and indiscreet to an +incredible extent, the duke is nevertheless an honorable man, and in +spite of the suspicions entertained at one time concerning him by the +Schraders, the Hohenaus, the Anhalts, and the Reischachs, there is no +doubt that he had not the slightest conception of the manner in which +the gossip which he retailed day by day to his _inamorata_ was used by +her for the fabrication of her anonymous letters. + +It was Baron von Kotze's cousin, Captain Dietrich Kotze, mentioned in +the preceding chapter as having espoused the cause of his unfortunate +relative with particular vigor, to whom belongs the credit of having +discovered the culprit. He accomplished this more through a piece of +good fortune than by design, for he was put on the right scent by a +mere chance remark which he happened to overhear at a dinner party in +Paris. The information which he obtained was imparted to the emperor, +and the latter without a moment's hesitation gave orders that his +palace police should visit the "Grande Dame's" residence during the +following night, take possession of all her papers and correspondence, +and convey her to a small town, near the Belgian frontier, where she +was to be kept by the police under strict surveillance, without being +permitted to see any one, until further orders. + +It is impossible to say exactly what was discovered among these +papers, but it is generally understood that the police recovered +possession of the missing diary of Princess Charlotte, and obtained +ample proofs of the fact that the fair foreigner was the author of all +the anonymous letters. + +After a twenty-four hours' detention, she was conducted to the +frontier by the police, and warned against returning to Germany. If no +severer measures were taken against her, it is because it would have +resulted in a more or less public disclosure of the indiscreet rôle +played by the duke in the matter, and likewise because she really +knew too much! In fact, there is scarcely a secret pertaining to the +reigning family, or to the Court of Prussia, with which she is not +acquainted, and the fact that she should have refrained from +making any attempt to publish them to the world, gives rise to the +presumption that means of a financial character, or else some threats +of terrorism, have been used to insure her silence. + +At the time of the descent of the police upon her house, Duke +Ernest-Gunther was staying at Lowther Castle, in Westmoreland, +England, as the guest of Lord Lonsdale, and was to have gone on at the +end of the week to Sandringham, to stay with the Prince and Princess +of Wales. On receiving telegrams, however, from his beautiful friend, +notifying him of her expulsion from Germany, he left Lowther Castle, +literally at an hour's notice, and without taking leave of his host, +proceeded immediately to Paris for the purpose of meeting her, in +order to find out to what extent the situation was compromised. There +is every reason to believe that it was not until then that he realized +that the writer of the long series of anonymous letters was no +other than the lady by whose fascinations he had been so completely +captivated. A considerable time elapsed before he returned to Berlin. +In fact, a very serious estrangement between himself and the emperor +ensued, William declining to hold any intercourse with a relative +whose susceptibility to feminine charms, and whose extraordinary +absence of even the most elementary discretion, had contributed to one +of the most painful scandals that have overtaken the Prussian Court +since the close of the last century. + +Not even the Kaiser's fondness for his wife, nor his anxiety to please +her, could soften the anger which he felt against his brother-in-law, +and when after a prolonged voyage to India and elsewhere, the duke +on landing at Trieste, ran over from there to the neighboring seaside +resort of Abbazia, for the purpose of visiting the German imperial +couple, who were spending the early spring there with their children, +the kaiser declined to receive his brother-in-law and went out +shooting, so as to avoid an interview with him, the princely prodigal +meeting with no one except his sister, the empress, with whom he had +an interview of a couple of hours. + +It is generally believed that Princess Charlotte's missing diary is +to-day in the possession of the emperor, after having been seized +by the police among the correspondence of Duke Ernest-Gunther's fair +friend; for the former very warm affection manifested by William for +his eldest sister, arising from the belief that she had been subjected +to as harsh treatment as he imagined himself to have received at the +hands of their mother, the imperious, masterful and immensely clever +Empress Frederick, appears since the anonymous letter episode to +have given way to feelings of distrust, and even dislike. Princess +Charlotte and her husband have been ever since that time virtually +banished from the Court of Berlin, at which they are rarely if ever +seen. Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, was transferred to the +command of the troops at Breslau, although he has but little taste for +a military career, and is far more devoted to art, literature, music, +and the drama, than to soldiering. At Berlin his duties as a general +were more or less titular, and he had all the leisure which he +required for the researches into the affairs of modern and ancient +Greece, which have won for him celebrity as one of the most erudite +Hellenists of the present time. He was surrounded by a congenial +circle of friends possessed of the same disposition as himself, and +had access to some of the finest libraries and museums in the world, +while his still charming wife was the most conspicuous figure in a +circle composed of all that was most elegant, witty, brilliant and +clever in the so-called "_Athens on the Spree_" Indeed, her palace +in the Thiergarten was the centre of everything that was eclectic and +brilliant, and her salons were the rendezvous of all that was best in +Berlin society. + +Imagine, therefore, a prince and princess with tastes and dispositions +such as these compelled to close up their lovely home, to bid adieu to +all their friends, and to take up their residence in the dullest, +most uninteresting and provincial of cities, situated in the least +picturesque portion of the empire; where the only society consists +of bureaucrats of the most starchy description, with no ideas +beyond their office, or of impoverished landowners, belonging to the +district, whose nobiliary pretensions can only be compared with the +paucity of their resources, and whose conversation and even intellect +is restricted to mangelwurzels, potatoes, and the different grades of +fertilizers. + +Breslau, to say the whole truth, is a city utterly without any +attractions, either social or intellectual; the only other royal +personage in the place is an eccentric Wurtemberg princess, a cousin +of the now reigning King of Wurtemberg. This lady sacrificed her royal +rank and prerogatives in order to marry a physician of the name of +Dr. Willim, who had attended her father in his last illness. She could +not, however, bring herself to descend to the social level of her +husband, who is of plebeian origin, and a mere commoner, but thought +that she had done enough in that direction when she contented herself +with the name and title of Baroness Kirchbach, which she now bears. Of +late years she has become a convert to socialism, much to the dismay +and distress of her eminently respectable husband, and at the last +Socialist Congress held at Breslau, took a very prominent part in the +proceedings, arrayed in a blouse of flaming red. + +I am very sorry to have to destroy the romance by which the name of +this Princess Wilhelmina of Wurtemberg has until now been surrounded, +especially that portion thereof which represents her as a lovely and +interesting woman. The truth is that she is fearfully homely, both in +face and figure, while her eccentricities are such that in America, +for instance, she would be described as a "crank." Thus she +distinguishes herself through her inordinate fondness for cats, goats +and rabbits; escorted by whole herds of which she is wont to wander +through the gloomy streets of Breslau. Her costumes are invariably +as queer as the one in which she appeared on the platform of the +Socialist Congress. Compare this strange figure so utterly unfeminine +in its lack of all elegance, with the dainty, spirituelle Princess +Charlotte! Yet Baroness von Kirchbach is the only lady of sufficiently +lofty birth either in Breslau or in the vicinity to associate with +Princess Charlotte on terms of any thing like equality! + +It is probable that Princess Charlotte and her husband will be kept +at Breslau, virtually exiled from the Court of Berlin, until the +accession of Prince Bernhardt to the throne of Saxe-Meiningen, through +the death of his aged father. It is naturally surprising that Prince +Bernhardt, as heir to his father's crown, should not take up his +residence in the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, instead of +being condemned to vegetate at Breslau. The fact of the matter is, +however, that the atmosphere of the Saxe-Meiningen capital is even +less congenial than that of Breslau to Prince Bernhardt and Princess +Charlotte, for the old duke is morganatically married to an actress +of the local theatre, upon whom he has conferred the title of Baroness +Helburg, and the princess finds it difficult to associate with this +person. + +How unrelenting William remains with regard to his sister, may be +gathered from the fact that when her only daughter, Princess Fedora, +was married the other day at Breslau, he himself, and the empress, +pointedly avoided being present at the ceremony, although they were +within a couple of hours' distance of Breslau at the time, spending +the day in shooting. The slight thus placed upon Princess Charlotte +and her husband was all the more marked, as not only were all the +other members of the reigning house of Prussia present, but even the +aged King of Saxony, the King of Wurtemberg and the Grand Duke of +Hesse, had all three taken the trouble to come from long distances in +order to attend the wedding, at which Queen Victoria was represented +by several members of her family, who had travelled from England for +the purpose. The sensation created, not only over all Germany, but +even throughout Europe by the absence of the emperor and empress from +the wedding of the only child of the hereditary Prince and Princess +of Saxe-Meiningen, when they were actually in the neighborhood, was so +great that it can only be assumed that the emperor intended to give a +public manifestation of his continued ill-will towards his sister; +and that his so kind-hearted and good-natured consort should have thus +joined him in this act of public discourtesy, can be explained by a +story current at Berlin to the effect that she, too, feels that she +can neither forget nor forgive the mingled ridicule, satire and even +downright contempt expressed not only about herself, but about the +emperor, her sisters, and her mother in the missing diary of Princess +Charlotte. + +Another reason why Princess Charlotte and her husband are forced to +conform themselves to the command, by means of which the sovereign +keeps them almost permanently at Breslau, is that Prince Bernhardt has +little or no money at all, as long as his father lives, and that the +couple are, therefore, almost entirely dependent upon the allowance +which the princess receives as a member of the reigning house +of Prussia. Now it is the kaiser who, as chief of the family of +Hohenzollern, controls all its vast private possessions, and, if at +any time, a member of the House of Prussia declines to yield obedience +to his orders, he is empowered by the statutes of the Hohenzollern +family to suspend the allowances of those guilty of such +insubordination. Thus it is greatly because they are so poor that the +prince and princess invariably travel incognito when they go abroad, +although it has been asserted that the kaiser carries his irritation +against his sister to the extent of declining to permit her to leave +Germany, save on the understanding that neither she nor her husband +will anywhere exact, or receive the honors due to their royal rank. + +At the time of the visit of the Emperor and Empress of Germany to +Rome, during the silver-wedding festivities of King Humbert and Queen +Marguerite of Italy, Prince Bernhardt and Princess Charlotte were in +the Eternal City, entirely ignored by the Italian court, as well as by +all the foreign royalties present. Indeed, while the emperor, and even +the pettiest foreign princelets invited for the occasion, were driving +about the streets and parks in royal equipages, the kaiser's sister +and brother-in-law had to content themselves with the dingiest of hack +cabs, and also with the rôle of ordinary sight-seers. + +Those who imagine that Princess Charlotte prefers an incognito rôle +to that of a royal princess are singularly mistaken. No one is fonder +than she is of the prerogatives of rank, and like all clever and +pretty women, she is ever eager to be the centre of attraction, and +the object of much homage. She cannot, therefore, be said to relish +the treatment and neglect to which she is subjected through her +brother's displeasure. + +In the Berlin great world the princess has always been popular, not +merely by reason of her devotion to society, but because a certain +amount of sympathy was felt for her in connection with the treatment +which she had received at the hands of her mother. For some strange +reason or other, Princess Charlotte was never appreciated by her +mother, who showed her preference for her younger daughters in a very +marked manner. Charlotte was always treated with a far greater degree +of strictness than any of the other girls, in spite of her being +vastly superior to them in intellect and in looks. Princess Charlotte +is still a very charming woman, and was in her younger days a +singularly attractive girl, one of the fairest indeed of all Queen +Victoria's numerous descendants, but her sisters are inclined to be +homely, absolutely deficient in feminine elegance or chic, and, while +accomplished, are extremely dull, and not a bit sparkling or witty. + +Empress Frederick always declared that her daughter Charlotte was +frivolous, and as much inclined to be forward and rebellious to +discipline and control as her eldest son, the present emperor. +Therefore, as I have already stated, Charlotte and William were +treated by their mother with exceptional severity, were snubbed on +every occasion, often in the most humiliating manner, and were made to +feel that Prince Henry and their younger sisters held a higher place +in the maternal heart than they. + +Sad is it to add that the youth of neither William nor Charlotte was +a particularly happy one, and thus it is not astonishing that one as +well as the other should have felt inclined to run a bit wild, like +young colts, when first emancipated from the school-room. It was +during the very few years that intervened between his leaving the +university at Bonn and his marriage, that William obtained his +reputation for dissipation. His shortcomings, due to the exuberance of +youth, were exaggerated until they were transformed from very venial +offences into the most mortal of sins, while in the same way the +delight manifested by Princess Charlotte at the admiration and homage +to which her comeliness gave rise--a very natural feeling when one +recalls the snubbings and humiliations to which she had been subjected +until then--were construed into frivolity and deep-dyed coquetry, +altogether unworthy of a royal princess. She was taxed, too, with an +absence of that simpering modesty, more or less affected, which is +_de mise_ with so many young girls in Germany and in France, when they +make their début in society, and even her most harmless flirtations +were condemned by her mother as grave indiscretions. + +Empress Frederick became very soon imbued with the idea that it was +necessary to marry off Charlotte without delay, in order to avert +the danger, as she conceived it, of one or another of these girlish +flirtations developing into something calculated to compromise both +her dignity and her fair name. Had the princess been less hurried in +this matter, it is probable that she would have found a more suitable +husband, and above all one calculated to capture the fancy of a +young girl, reared at a court which can boast of some of the finest +specimens of manhood in the world. But she was married to the first +princelet who happened to catch the eye of Empress Frederick, namely +Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen--aye, and she was hustled into +matrimony in such a hurry, too, as to give a sort of foundation for +some shameful and base slanders, cruelly unmerited, but which one +hears even Germans who profess loyalty to the crown repeating to this +day. Prince Bernhardt, though an excellent man in his way, was very +far from meeting the requirements of the "Prince Charmant" fit to +be mated to a princess so gay and so brilliant as Charlotte of +Hohenzollern. His appearance is effeminate, his manner finicky and +old-maidish to a degree. He is neither stalwart nor good-looking; he +excels neither as a dancer nor as a rider, nor yet as an athlete, and +he gives one at first sight the impression of being an artist or a +composer, rather than a son of that grand looking old fellow, the +reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. + +Indeed, there was at the time of the marriage but one voice in Berlin +society, condemning it as having been forced upon Princess Charlotte +against her inclinations by her mother. And after the marriage the +poverty of the prince rendered him to such an extent dependent upon +the financial assistance of his mother-in-law, that he, as well as +his wife, was compelled to remain subservient in every respect to +her wishes. Nor was it until William came to the throne and availed +himself of his position as head of the family to grant Princess +Charlotte an allowance suitable to her rank, that the princess and +her husband were emancipated from the strict control of her mother, +Empress Frederick. + +Young married folks in America can form no conception of the extent of +such tyranny, and when, some time after the wedding, Prince Bernhardt +and Princess Charlotte secured permission from Empress Frederick--then +only crown princess--to visit Paris, and to make a stay there of three +weeks, she only gave her consent on the condition that they should +be accompanied by one of her chamberlains, and one of her +ladies-in-waiting who had known the princess from childhood, and whose +behests the prince and princess were obliged to obey throughout their +sojourn in the French capital, just as if they had been a little +boy and girl, instead of grown-up and married people. Probably the +happiest time of Princess Charlotte's life was the period which +elapsed between the death of her lamented father and her exile to +Breslau. She amused herself to her heart's content, fluttered about in +Berlin like a butterfly, took a leading part in every social movement, +was admired, fêted and petted by everyone, but gave her worthy husband +no cause whatsoever for uneasiness, and avoided all scandals, save +those contained in the anonymous letters, for which she cannot really +be held responsible. + +To-day she must feel that she has exchanged the unbearable tyranny of +Empress Frederick for the yet infinitely more oppressive despotism of +her eldest brother, Emperor William,--a despotism so harsh that it has +won for her, somewhat late it is true, the kindly sympathy of her own +mother,--a severity which may be said to have its source in that most +dangerous of all the intimate friends and confidants of the princess, +namely, that diary of hers which was stolen from her, and which is +believed to be now in the possession of the kaiser. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +I am thoroughly aware that the point which is likely to excite the +attention of my readers to a greater degree than any other in the +previous chapter, is the reference contained therein to the tyranny +exercised by the monarchs of the Old World upon their relatives. In +fact, it is far better in Europe to be a mere subject than a kinsman +or kinswoman of the sovereign. + +Even the lowliest of the lieges of the anointed of the Lord has +certain constitutional rights and prerogatives which may be said +to safeguard him from oppression and persecution, but princes and +princesses of the blood have no such rights, and are exposed to every +caprice and every whim of the head of their family, defiance of whose +wishes entails exile, loss of property, even poverty and outlawry, +without any redress. + +Royal and imperial personages, in addition to being subjected to +the ordinary laws of the land, are expected to yield blind and +unquestioned obedience to another code, comprising what are officially +styled the "Family Statutes" of the dynasty to which they belong. +These are administered by the head of the family, who is free to +construe them as he sees fit, and while they are binding upon the +members of his house, they in no way can be said to constitute any +limitation to the exercise of his authority. In fact, the latter is +absolutely unrestricted, and extends to every phase of the life of a +royal personage. Thus, a prince or princess of the blood is debarred +from contracting a marriage without the consent of the sovereign, and +if any union has taken place without the sanction of the head of the +family, it is regarded, not only at court, but even by the tribunals +of the land, as invalid, and children that may be born of the marriage +bear the stigma of illegitimacy. If a marriage has received the full +authorization of the ruler, and there is any issue, the children +cannot be educated without the sovereign's wishes being consulted. +The parents, in fact, are regarded much as if they were either minors, +outlaws, or demented people, unfitted to be entrusted with the control +and bringing up of their offspring, for the sovereign is _ex officio_ +the guardian of all children who are under age, belonging to the +married members of his family, and his rights over the children are +superior to those of the latter's father and mother. + +If the boy is to have a tutor, or the girl a governess, the +appointment cannot be made by the parents without their previously +obtaining the permission of the sovereign, and he has it in his power +to reject their nominee, and to assign some candidate of his own, +who may possibly be regarded as most objectionable to the unfortunate +parents, for the duty of taking charge of the education of the young +people in question. The royal or imperial mother, indeed, may esteem +herself fortunate if the sovereign does not insist on personally +selecting the nurses of her infants: when the present kaiser was +born, not merely the late Empress Augusta, but likewise all the other +members of the reigning house of Prussia, and of the Court of Berlin, +thought it quite right and natural that the old Emperor William should +exercise his authority for the purpose of prohibiting the young mother +from herself nursing her baby; on the ground that it was contrary to +the traditions of the House of Hohenzollern, and a quite undignified +proceeding. Fortunately, the late Emperor Frederick, who had spent +much of his time at the court of his mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, +and who was aware that she had nursed every one of her numerous +children herself, without permitting this motherly duty to interfere +with the arduous official business of the State, expostulated with +his father, and persuaded him to withdraw his prohibition, much to the +horror of the courtiers, and greatly to the satisfaction of the royal +lady, who is now Empress Frederick. + +In Austria one of the principal sources of the domestic unhappiness +of the lamented Empress of Austria, was the small voice that she was +allowed by the sovereign--her husband--to have in the management and +the control of her own children, as long as her mother-in-law, the +late Archduchess Sophia, was alive. It was only after the demise of +the archduchess that Empress Elizabeth first realized in their full +measure the joys of motherhood. + +While on the subject of Austria, I may cite the case of the widowed +Crown Princess Stephanie as another illustration of the extent to +which royal parents are deprived of all authority over their children. +Thus when Crown Prince Rudolph died at Mayerling, his little +daughter, at that time barely six years of age, was assigned to the +guardianship, not of her widowed mother, but of her grandfather. A +very general belief prevails that this arrangement about the care of +the little Archduchess Elizabeth, was due to a piece of animosity on +the part of the ill-fated crown prince against his wife, and I have +seen it stated in print that he had left a will confiding his only +child to his father, and directing that its mother should be allowed +no voice in its education. There is no official authority for any such +statement, but no matter whether the crown prince expressed any such +testamentary wish or not, the fact remains that at his death his child +was bound by the statutes of the House of Hapsburg, to become the ward +of the sovereign, who in this case happened to be her grandfather. +Gentle and soft-hearted as is Emperor Francis-Joseph, he nevertheless +exercised his authority over his grandchild in a way that cannot but +have been galling in the extreme to its mother, a way, in fact, which +I imagine would be beyond the endurance of any American woman. Thus +he insisted upon himself appointing and selecting her governesses and +teachers; he nominated her entire household without consulting her +mother, and its members, as well as the girl's instructors made their +reports not to Crown Princess Stephanie, but to him, from whom, also, +they alone took their instructions. + +It was the emperor who decided where his grandchild was to stay, where +she was to spend this part of the year, and where another season, and +finally he strictly prohibited her from leaving his dominions. The +position of the Crown Princess of Austria since the death of her +husband has been so extremely unpleasant and painful, that she has +spent much of her time--indeed, at least nine months of the year--in +foreign travel. The imperial family, the court and the people, hold +her responsible for that domestic wretchedness which drove her so +universally popular husband to his tragic death at Mayerling. Of +a jealous disposition and of a temper that even at its best is +difficult, she is generally understood to have driven him by her +violence and injustice to seek, away from his home, the pleasures that +he could not find by his own fireside. + +It had been known that she had been strangely lacking in dignity in +her complaints concerning his behavior, and after his death she gave +cruel offence both to his parents and to the people of her adopted +country by her indifference to his terrible fate, and by the frivolity +with which she bore her widowhood, not a little of which was spent +at the gaming tables of Monte-Carlo in the gayest mourning costumes +possible; a circumstance which horrified Queen Victoria, who was at +that time at Nice, and naturally cruelly embittered the bereaved and +sorrowing mother, Empress Elizabeth, who, robed in deepest black, +was at Cap-Martin, endeavoring to recover her health, which had been +absolutely shattered by the tragedy. + +All these things led to the crown princess being regarded with deep +disfavor in Austria. Difficulties were raised with regard to her rank +and precedence at court, and the animosity manifested towards her was +such at Vienna, and elsewhere in the dual empire, that she found it +preferable to spend the greater part of her time abroad. She was not, +however, permitted to take her little daughter with her, and thus the +young archduchess may be said to have grown up altogether away from +her mother, whom she saw for barely two months of the year, and then +more as a visitor and a stranger, than as a relative who had any voice +in the ordering of her life. + +If, then, this control of the minor princes and princesses of his +dynasty is insisted upon to such an extent by the aged Emperor of +Austria, the kindliest, most warm-hearted and sympathetic of old men, +always prone to patient forbearance and indulgence, it will be readily +understood that it is exercised to its fullest extent by Emperor +William, in whose character the tendency to autocracy, and the spirit +of command, is far more developed than in his brother monarch. Indeed, +he not only claims the right to act as the chief guardian of the +junior members of the reigning house of Prussia, of which he is the +head, but likewise of the children of all those sovereign families of +Germany which have acknowledged him as their emperor. Thus he insisted +upon having entire control of his young cousin, the only son of +the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, declaring that his own +authority must be substituted for that of the lad's father, in spite +of the latter being himself a reigning sovereign, and an ally rather +than a vassal. + +The tragic fate of the young prince will be too fresh in the memory of +my readers to need more than passing reference here. The boy, removed +from parental care, was transferred by Emperor William to Berlin, with +the avowed purpose of being under his own imperial eye. Unfortunately, +the duties and occupations of William are so multifarious that he was +unable to fulfil his very excellent intentions with regard to Prince +Alfred. The latter fell into bad hands, squandered large sums of +money at cards, became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and in +his endeavors to retrieve them, sunk deeper and deeper into the mire, +until finally Emperor William, suddenly alive to the results of his +wholly-unintentional neglect of the royal lad, sent him back to +his heart-broken parents, discredited, implicated in all sorts of +unpleasant gambling transactions, and shattered alike in health and +mind. In the midst of their silver-wedding festivities, they were +forced to send their only boy off to a sanitarium in Austria, where, +in spite of the close restraint under which he was kept, he managed +to put an end to his life, only a few days after his arrival, prompted +thereto by either physical or mental agony, no one knows which. + +Small wonder, when it became necessary to find a likely successor to +the present reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and his younger brother, +Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught, was proclaimed +heir, that the prince decided that it would be preferable to sacrifice +his rights to this throne, rather than his rights over his only son. +On being given to understand that if he accepted the position of heir +apparent, his sixteen-year-old boy would become the ward of Emperor +William, and that the authority of the kaiser would be superior to his +own over the lad, Prince Arthur declined to have anything to do with +the Saxe-Coburg succession, and abandoned both his own claims thereto +and those of his son, in favor of his young nephew, the fatherless +Duke of Albany. It was precisely on the same ground that the Duke of +Cumberland declined to complete the agreement whereby a reconciliation +was to be effected between himself and the kaiser. Born crown prince +of the now defunct Kingdom of Hanover, he should have succeeded to the +throne of the Duchy of Brunswick on the death of his kinsman, the late +Duke of Brunswick, in 1884. The German Emperor, however, decided that +he could not be permitted to take possession of the sovereignty of the +duchy, nor to assume the status of one of the federal rulers of the +confederation known as the German Empire, unless he recognized the +latter, as now constituted, that is to say with his father's Kingdom +of Hanover incorporated with Prussia. For a long time he refused to +do this, but was ultimately persuaded by his brother-in-law, the late +czar, and the Prince of Wales, to consent to a reconciliation +with Prussia, and to accept the present condition of affairs. The +arrangements were on the eve of being completed when a conflict arose +between the duke and the kaiser, as to the education of the former's +eldest son, Prince George. The duke wished to send him to the Vizhum +College, at Dresden, where so many members of the sovereign families, +and of the great houses of the nobility, have received their +instruction, while the kaiser objected to this particular school on +the ground that its teachings were calculated to increase instead +of to diminish particularist and anti-Prussian sentiments. The duke +thereupon declared that he alone was competent to judge and determine +how his boy should be educated, whereupon the kaiser put forth his +pretension to the guardianship of all the junior members of the +sovereign houses comprised in the German Empire. Rather than consent +to this, the Duke of Cumberland, who has inherited much of the +obstinacy for which his great-grandfather, King George III. of Great +Britain, was so celebrated, broke off all negotiations with Emperor +William, and refused to have anything more to do with him, for, like +his cousin, the Duke of Connaught, he would rather sacrifice his +rights to a German throne than his parental rights over a much-loved +boy. + +But the despotism of the monarchs of the Old World is by no means +restricted to this question of the control and custody of the junior +members of their respective families. Every prince and princess of +the latter, no matter what his or her age, or superiority in point of +years to the sovereign may be, is subjected to the will of the head +of the house. For instance, no Russian grand duke or grand duchess can +leave the Muscovite empire without previously asking and obtaining the +permission of the czar, and in the same way, the Austrian +archdukes and archduchesses have to crave the sanction of Emperor +Francis-Joseph, and the Prussian princes and princesses, that of the +kaiser, before they can leave their respective countries for a foreign +trip. Even Empress Frederick is compelled to obtain the permission +of her son, the emperor, before taking her departure from Germany for +England or Italy, and a few years ago when quietly enjoying herself in +Paris, she was forced by a peremptory command from her son to suddenly +cut short her stay in the French capital, and to betake herself to +England. + +To such an extent is this despotism carried that when Prince Henry +of Prussia was stationed at Kiel, he had to ask his elder brother's +permission before he could run up to Berlin, although Kiel is only +a few hours' trip from the capital; and, as stated in the previous +chapter, Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen and her husband, +are kept at Breslau, except when their brother William graciously +condescends to permit them to leave their home. Two years ago the +emperor, for reasons which can only be surmised, and which were of +a personal rather than of a political character--of which more +anon--suddenly ordered his only brother Henry off to China, and a +little later, possibly with the object of showing to the world that +his authority extended to the ladies of his house, as well as to the +men, he directed Princess Henry to join her husband at Hong Kong. As +the two little boys of the princess are exceedingly delicate, owing +possibly to the fact that their parents are first cousins, the poor +mother was very reluctant to undertake the trip, but she was forced +by the emperor to go, and had scarcely reached Hong Kong before +she learnt by cable that both her little ones were prostrated by a +terrible attack of diphtheria. She was not, however, permitted to +return, but was kept out in China away from her children until late +in the spring, and reached home well on towards autumn, to find her +little ones--the youngest was but two years old--more delicate than +ever, but fortunately alive. + +In the memoirs of Bismarck published by Dr. Busch, there is reproduced +one of Emperor William's letters, written prior to his accession +to the throne, in the course of which he asks the great chancellor +whether he approves of his "commanding" (the German word is +"_befehlen_") his brother Prince Henry to make certain inquiries of +the late Prince Alexander of Battenberg. William in this letter does +not talk of "requesting" his brother, but of ordering him to do this. +If then William, as crown prince, already took upon himself the right +of ordering his brother and his sisters to do this and to do that, it +may be readily imagined that he is not less peremptory in his dealings +with them now that he is their emperor and king. + +If they disobey him, he has various means of punishment at his +command. He can banish them from court for a long term; he can +deprive them temporarily, or for all time, of the prerogatives, the +privileges, and the honors due to their rank; he can suspend their +allowances from the national treasury, or from the family property, +or can stop it altogether; he can take from them the control of any +estates which they may have inherited, and confide the administration +thereof to curators appointed for the purpose; finally, he can subject +them to various forms of arrest, as he once did in the case of his +brother-in-law, Prince Frederick-Leopold; while in very extreme cases +he can place the offending relative under restraint in an asylum for +the insane on the pretext of dementia, as has been done in the case +of Princess Louise of Coburg, daughter of King Leopold of Belgium, +and mother of Princess "Dolly" of Coburg, who is now the wife of Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein. + +"_Aux arrêts_," or confinement to one's quarters, is the most common +form of punishment inflicted by Old World monarchs upon those of their +kith and kin who have failed to comply with their behests, and there +is scarcely a single sovereign or prince of the blood, who has not +been subjected to this species of discipline at one time or another of +his career. Thus the late Emperor Frederick, prior to his accession +to the throne, but long after his marriage, was sentenced to several +weeks' detention in his palace under strict arrest, as a punishment +for a little joke which he had played during the course of a military +inspection. + +He had been protesting for a long time against the tightness of the +uniforms, and of the belts of the rank and file of the infantry, +declaring that it impeded the movements and play of the muscles of the +men, to such an extent as to deprive them of more than fifty per cent, +of their usefulness. One day, during an inspection of the division of +guards at Potsdam, while the troops happened to be standing at ease, +he walked along the front rank of the first regiment, accompanied by +a number of officers, with whom he had just been discussing this very +question of equipment; suddenly, he stopped short in his walk, and +extracting a piece of gold from his pocket, dropped it on the ground, +and told the men nearest him to pick it up, adding that whoever got +hold of it first, might keep it! Several of them made frantic attempts +to bend down in order to get the money, but so tight were their +uniforms and belts that they found it absolutely impossible to reach, +the coin, which Emperor Frederick ultimately picked up himself, and +handed to them. + +"And how do you expect to win battles with soldiers hampered to such +an extent as that in their movements?" he exclaimed contemptuously +to the officers around him. "What greater demonstration than this is +needed to prove the justice of my argument?" + +The incident was reported to the then Minister of War, who immediately +lodged a complaint with Frederick's father, the result being that +"Unser Fritz," at that time Crown Prince of Prussia, was placed by old +Emperor William for several weeks under arrest in his palace! + +Prince Rupert of Bavaria, the heir apparent to the ancient throne of +the Wittelsbachs, was sentenced by his grandfather, the prince regent, +to no less than three months' close arrest in his quarters at Munich, +for having left the kingdom without permission, in order to spend +three days at Paris, in fair but frail company; while the widowed +Duchess of Aosta on one occasion was placed under arrest in her palace +of Turin by her brother-in-law, King Humbert, because she had ventured +to appear in public on her wheel wearing a pair of bloomers! + +Prince and Princess Frederick-Leopold, the latter a younger sister of +the Empress of Germany, have both been condemned on several occasions +by the kaiser to close confinement in their palace under the most +stringent kind of arrest, for having disobeyed his majesty's commands +with regard to the management of their household. Duke Ernest-Gunther +of Schleswig-Holstein, the brother of the empress, has been subjected +to more numerous orders of arrest by his imperial kinsman than any +prince of the blood now living. + +Severe as are European monarchs nowadays in punishing the disobedience +of the members of their families, they do not, however, venture any +longer to proceed to such extremities as the father of Frederick the +Great, who when the latter was still crown prince, cast his son into +prison, and ordered him to be shot, merely because he discovered +that he was about to leave the kingdom without his permission for the +purpose of undertaking a trip to England; and there is no doubt that +the crown prince would have been put to death, and thus shared the +fate of his two aids-de-camp, who were beheaded before his very +eyes, in the fortress prison of Küstrin, had it not been for the +intervention of the ambassadors of Austria, Great Britain, Russia and +France in behalf of his royal highness. + +Yet another phase of this despotism, which the two kaisers,--namely +their majesties of Germany and of Austria,--exercise over the members +of their respective families, is the right which they claim to select +and appoint the officers and ladies-in-waiting of every prince and +princess of the blood. In order to appreciate what this means it +must be explained that it is not merely contrary to etiquette, but +absolutely forbidden by the rules and regulations instituted by +Emperor William and his brother sovereigns, that any such princes or +princesses should venture to appear anywhere in public without being +escorted either by a gentleman or a lady-in-waiting. These attendants, +who are, it is needless to state, of noble birth, may be said to +constitute the very shadow of the personage to whose household they +are attached. In fact a royal or imperial prince or princess cannot +even cross the street, far less leave home for a ride, a drive, a +walk, or for the purpose of paying a visit, or of doing some shopping +without being escorted, if a prince, by a gentleman-in-waiting, and +if a princess, by a lady-in-waiting, and possibly by a chamberlain as +well. + +Nor are the duties of the ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting confined to +attendance upon their royal charges in public, for they form part and +parcel of the royal or imperial household to which they are attached, +and if they do not occupy quarters in the palace, at any rate they +take all their meals there, since their duties commence in the early +morning, and only cease late at night. + +Now, human shadows of this kind are all very well when one is at +liberty to choose them one's self; but it is very different when +one has no voice whatsoever in the matter, and when one is forced to +submit to close and intimate attendance of this kind by ladies and +gentlemen whom one neither likes nor trusts. In such cases as these, +the gentlemen or ladies-in-waiting are apt to be regarded in the +light of spies by their royal charges, and as people appointed by the +sovereign to keep watch upon their actions. It is probable that no +one has suffered so cruelly in this connection as the widowed +Empress Frederick of Germany. Possessed of extremely liberal views in +political matters--ideas which she imparted to her consort, she found +herself, within a few years after her marriage, in complete opposition +to Prince Bismarck. The latter regarded her as a very dangerous +opponent, and responded to her openly avowed disapproval of his +political methods by using his influence with her father-in-law, old +Emperor William, urging him to interfere with her management of +her children; and above all, to appoint as members of her household +personages with whom she could have no possible sympathy, political +or otherwise, and who were, in every sense of the word, devoted to +the Iron Chancellor. In fact, Prince Bismarck acknowledges in his +reminiscences, as published by his Boswell, Dr. Busch, that he caused +the crown princess--as Empress Frederick was then--to shed many a +bitter tear, by his interference, through her father-in-law, in her +domestic affairs. + +Bismarck made no secret of his enmity towards Empress Frederick and +her husband before the latter ascended the throne, and it is on record +that he even officially insisted that secrets of state should not be +confided to "Unser Fritz," for fear that the latter's consort might +communicate them to her English relatives. He even went so far as to +accuse her of having, during the war of 1870, betrayed to non-German +relatives Prussian military secrets, which were used by the French +against her adopted country, and served to prolong the conflict. These +odious charges, "_which have been abundantly disproved_" and for which +"_there was not even the shadow of a foundation_," are merely referred +to here in order to show the intense bitterness of the personal +animosity entertained by the chancellor towards Empress Frederick. Yet +it was he, Bismarck, who, through the old emperor, had the right of +selecting and nominating, not merely the instructors and attendants of +her boys, but her own gentlemen and ladies-in-waiting--nay, even the +physicians and surgeons to be called in cases of illness. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +It is to the part played by Prince Bismarck in selecting the +attendants and tutors of the present emperor that must be ascribed the +strained relations that notoriously existed between the kaiser and his +mother during the few years immediately preceding and following his +accession to the throne; while there is no doubt whatsoever that the +last eighteen months of Emperor Frederick's so prematurely-ended life, +were saddened and embittered by the feeling that a conspiracy was +on foot to prevent his succession to the throne on the ground of the +incurable malady from which he was suffering--a conspiracy in which +some of the principal participants were members of his household and +physicians who had been forced upon him by his father at instigation +of Prince Bismarck. + +If I mention this, it is not so much with the idea of evoking a very +painful chapter of the history of the Court Berlin, as it is for the +purpose of explaining, and in a measure of excusing, the charges +of unfilial conduct brought against the present emperor, and which +contributed so much to his unpopularity both at home and abroad during +the early years of his reign. + +I have related in a previous chapter how William, while a boy, was +snubbed by his parents, and treated with considerable strictness. +His father, like so many good-looking giants, utterly free from +affectation and pose, believed that he saw in his eldest boy a +tendency to posture, a forwardness of manner, and a disposition +towards pride of rank, amounting to arrogance, which it was necessary, +at all costs, to repress. Prince William, therefore, was constantly +receiving setbacks, often of a most humiliating character, from his +parents, and I am sorry to say that this practice of regarding him as +a presumptuous youth whom it was necessary to check, extended to other +European courts, so that poor William can not be said to have had an +altogether enjoyable time; and in this connection it is just as well +to state that the Prince of Wales and his other English relatives, +took their cue from his mother in their treatment of him, a +circumstance which he has neither forgiven nor forgotten. Indeed the +notorious absence of cordiality between the Prince of Wales and his +imperial nephew of Berlin originates with the snubs which the +British heir apparent, in his capacity of uncle, felt it necessary to +administer to William, when the latter was a lad, and even when he had +reached manhood. + +Yet it would be unfair to ascribe any undue blame in the matter to the +parents of Emperor William. The responsibility must rest rather +with those people with whom Prince Bismarck, acting through the old +emperor, surrounded the young prince. The mission of these nominees +of the chancellor was to counteract the influence of the then crown +prince and crown princess over their eldest son, and this was achieved +by setting the boy against his parents. Every direction or command +given by Frederick or by his consort to their son was made the subject +of critical discussion by the personages with whom Bismarck had +surrounded him, until the latter became convinced that the judgment of +his parents was at fault in almost everything that could be imagined, +and that all their views, political as well as social, were thoroughly +out of keeping with Prussian traditions and German patriotism. + +This in itself was bad enough: but what made matters infinitely worse, +was that whenever William was subjected to any reproof or discipline +by either his father or mother, those composing his immediate +_entourage_ at once impressed upon the royal youth that he was the +victim of the most gross and unpardonable injustice, that both +his father and mother were inordinately jealous of his striking +individuality, that the unmerited severity to which he was subjected +was brought about by their consciousness that his intellect was +superior to theirs, and that his ideas were too thoroughly Prussian to +constitute anything but a serious danger to their English liberalism. +The effect of influences such as these upon a high-spirited and +impulsive youth, at the time entirely devoid of experience or of +knowledge of the world, may readily be conceived. It naturally led to +an increase of what his parents regarded as his presumptuousness and +forwardness of manner, and consequently to a growth of their severity +towards him. He, on the other hand, became more and more embittered +by the unduly harsh and rather unjust treatment to which he was being +subjected by both his father and his mother. + +The persons in attendance on the imperial family, with the conspicuous +exceptions of Count Seckendorff and Countess Hedwig Brühl, were +careful to fan the embers of bitterness rankling in the bosom of young +William whenever any opportunity offered, and thus it happened that +when Emperor Frederick, while still crown prince, was discovered to be +suffering from that cancer of the larynx which ultimately carried him +off, the relations between parents and son were so strained as to give +rise to the very widespread belief that William was the ally of his +father's enemies, and a participator in the disgraceful conspiracy +which ensued for the purpose of barring him from succession to the +throne on the ground of his fearful malady. + +As soon as the nature of the disease from which Frederick was +suffering had been ascertained, his opponents, Prince Bismarck first +and foremost, dug out from the most remote recesses of the family +archives of the house of Hohenzollern an obsolete and forgotten law +barring from the succession to the throne of Prussia any prince of +the blood who was afflicted with an incurable malady. Of course, +the original object of the statute in question was to enable the +elimination from the line of succession of princes afflicted with +hopeless insanity, or some such disease as would prevent them from +administering the government, thus rendering the institution of a +regency necessary. In one word, the purpose of the measure was to +prevent such a situation from arising in Prussia as prevails now in +Bavaria, where, since 1886 the throne has been occupied by a lunatic +prince, who was incurably insane for many years before his accession +to the crown, and whose dementia takes that peculiar form, which is +described in the Bible as having overtaken Nebuchadnezzar. King Otto +of Bavaria imagines himself to be alternately a quadruped or a bird, +and when he is not browsing on leaves and grass in the gardens of his +prison palace at Fürstenried, under the impression that he is a sheep +or goat, he will stand on one leg in the centre of a shallow pond, +firmly convinced that he is a stork, occasionally flapping his long +coat-tails in lieu of wings, and greedily attempting to devour any +frogs or tadpoles that may come within his reach, unless prevented by +his attendants from doing so. + +There have been, alas! numerous cases of insanity in the reigning +house of Prussia. Old Emperor William's elder brother and predecessor, +King Frederick-William IV., spent the last few years of his life +under restraint, hopelessly insane, his brother and ultimate successor +administering the government as regent. The late Princess Frederick +of Prussia was afflicted like her brother, the last Duke of +Anhalt-Bernburg, with a peculiar kind of lunacy which took the form of +an invincible objection to clothing of any kind whatsoever; while one +of her two sons, Prince Alexander, who died only a few months ago, +suffered from a species of good-natured imbecility, which led him +to offer his heart and his hand to every woman or young girl that +he encountered, no matter what her age, or looks, or rank, sometimes +making as many as thirty or forty offers of marriage in the same day! +The above-mentioned law was created for the purpose of preventing a +prince thus situated from ascending the throne of Prussia, but the +family statutes evoked by Prince Bismarck and his followers certainly +never contemplated the deprival of a prince of his hereditary rights +of succession to the throne because of some physical ailment or +infirmity. This would have been entirely contrary to the spirit and +ethics of the monarchical system of the Old World; as will be readily +seen when attention is called to the fact that both the late King of +Hanover, and the present reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, +were absolutely and totally blind at the time they succeeded to their +present thrones. + +Prince Bismarck took the view, however, that the statute in question +was sufficient to bar "Unser Fritz" from succeeding to his father, if +it were once medically admitted that his malady was incurable, or if +curable, that it was liable to permanently destroy the vocal chords, +thus abolishing forever the power of speech. + +Prince Bismarck declared that in a matter of such extreme importance, +where the succession to the throne, and the life of the heir apparent +were at stake, the surgeons and physicians should be selected by the +State--that is, by himself--and that their verdict should be final. +Chief among the medical experts whom he nominated for the purpose, was +the celebrated German surgeon, Professor von Bergmann, who is as famed +for his skill in the use of the knife as for his fondness in applying +it in cases where it might possibly be dispensed with. Having +convinced himself that the malady from which Crown Prince Frederick +suffered was a cancer, he decreed that the only manner of saving the +life of the illustrious patient was the extremely dangerous and almost +certainly fatal operation of removing the entire portion of the larynx +that was affected. This, as stated above, would have left the crown +prince dumb for the remainder of his days, and according to the +views of Prince Bismarck would have barred him from succession to the +throne. + +It is related in court circles at Berlin, that Professor Bergmann was +on the point of operating upon the crown prince unknown to the crown +princess, and under the pretext of making a very radical examination, +for which anaesthetics were necessary, when, he was prevented at the +very last moment by her imperial highness. It is even stated that she +tore the instruments from his hands, and turned him out of the room +with the most bitter and cutting reproaches. Whatever may be true in +this bit of court gossip, it is certain that a fierce quarrel did take +place between the crown princess and the great surgeon, and that the +cause of this quarrel was the decision taken by the latter to operate +upon the crown prince as the only means of saving his life. + +[Illustration: +_THE CROWN PRINCESS AND PROFESSOR VON BERGMANN_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The crown princess thereupon summoned to her assistance Sir Morel +MacKenzie, the greatest throat specialist in England, who throughout +his long career was consulted by all the leading singers and orators +of his day. MacKenzie came to Berlin, examined the crown prince, +and utterly rejected the diagnosis of Professor Bergmann, and of the +German physicians. He declared that the affection of the larynx, while +cancerous, would not be bettered by using the knife, at any rate at +that time, and that he believed the malady to be curable by treatment. +Needless to add that his opinion was reviled in Germany as that of +a charlatan, and that the Teuton specialists declared that the crown +prince was doomed to certain death within six months, unless the +operation was performed. + +Fearing that some further attempt might be made at Berlin to operate +upon her husband without her knowledge, or in spite of her opposition, +the crown princess took him off to England, and from thence to +the Tyrol, from which place they eventually migrated to San Remo. +Meanwhile, the German newspapers, that is to say, those which were +believed to be receiving their inspiration from Bismarckian sources, +were filled with abuse of the crown princess, who was charged openly +with being willing to sacrifice the life of her husband rather than +her chances of becoming German Empress. + +Meanwhile the crown prince became worse and worse, and while at San +Remo had several fits of agonizing suffocation, to which he almost +succumbed, and from the worst of which he was virtually saved by +the late Dr. Thomas Evans, of Philadelphia, who displayed the utmost +devotion and intelligence of treatment in the case of the imperial +sufferer. + +It was at this juncture that one of the most dramatic scenes which can +be imagined took place in the antechamber of the illustrious patient. +The crown princess received letters which informed her that Prince +Bismarck had submitted to the old emperor, then himself near death, a +decree for signature, transferring the succession of the throne from +Crown Prince Frederick to the latter's son, Prince William, a decree +which, by the by, the old emperor could not bring himself to sign. +Furthermore, she learnt through the same sources that one of the +principal members of her household at San Remo, in fact, one of the +chamberlains in attendance, was sending daily reports of the most +venomous character to Berlin, and to Prince Bismarck particularly, +about everything that went on around the unhappy crown prince. Not a +thing was said, not a thing done, not a change for the worse or the +better in the condition of the hapless crown prince, that was not +instantly reported to the chancellor, in a sense most detrimental and +inimical to the imperial couple at San Remo. This traitor in the camp +owed his appointment to the imperial household to Prince Bismarck, but +by his charming manners, his professions of loyalty and of devotion, +and his denunciations of Prince Bismarck, and of the latter's policy +and ways, had completely captured the confidence of both the crown +prince and crown princess. + +Empress Frederick has inherited from her mother, Queen Victoria, a +singularly fiery temper. Her passionate anger when she realized +the base treachery to which her sick husband and herself had been +subjected in their time of cruel tribulation and trouble can only be +imagined by those who have the privilege of knowing her, and the scene +that took place between herself and the offending chamberlain was not +merely dramatical, but tragical in its fierce intensity. + +It was very shortly after this that the old emperor died. If Prince +Bismarck entertained any further hopes of preventing the accession of +Crown Prince Frederick to the throne, they were frustrated by Prince +William, who declined to be a party to any such conspiracy. Indeed, in +spite of all that has been said to the contrary, I am firmly convinced +that William at no time took any part, either directly or indirectly, +in the Bismarckian plot to oust his so sadly afflicted father from his +rights to the crown. But, on the other hand, it is certain that he was +suspected by his parents and relatives of being privy to the scheme, +and that he was treated with still greater hostility and lack of +affection by them than previously, which naturally served to embitter +him more than ever before. + +Emperor Frederick's reign lasted not quite one hundred days, and +throughout that period a conflict may be said to have raged around the +bedside of the dying man. Both he and his wife, aware how brief his +tenure of the throne was destined to be, were bent on inaugurating +some of those liberal reforms and popular measures which had been the +dream of their entire married life, and which they wished to see put +in force, as a lasting memorial of that monarch who figures in German +history to-day as "Frederick the Noble." + +Prince Bismarck, and all the leading statesmen of Prussia, it must be +admitted, ranged themselves against the imperial couple in the matter. +They expressed profound pity for the dying emperor, but they denounced +the empress with the utmost virulence for taking advantage, as they +described it, of his condition to endow Germany with some of the most +pernicious features of English political life, which, while all very +well for Britons, were destined to prove disastrous in the extreme if +applied to Prussia. The fiercer the opposition, the more resolute did +both the emperor and empress become in their determination to attain +their aim, before death once more rendered the throne vacant; and +the position of William, who was now crown prince, became even more +difficult than it had hitherto been. His political sympathies were, it +is impossible to deny, with Prince Bismarck and his followers, and he +could not with his training and with the influences by which he had +been surrounded, ever since he had left school, but disapprove of +the measures which his father and mother wished to adopt. This very +naturally added to their distrust of him, and while they lavished +every token of affection upon their other children, he was treated by +them more as a political adversary and a personal foe than as a friend +or a son. + +At length the end came. The pitiful sufferings of "Unser Fritz," +uncomplainingly and patiently borne, were brought to a close by a +death which in his case must have been a longed-for release; and +within an hour afterwards, William, the present emperor, had +startled his subjects and the entire civilized world, by taking an +extraordinary step, which for a long time afterwards served as a theme +for the denunciation of unfilial character hurled against him both +in Germany and abroad; this step being the giving of an order to the +effect that the guards placed at all the entrances of the Palace of +Potsdam, in which his father had breathed his last, should be doubled, +that a cordon of troops should be drawn around the park walls, and +that no one should be allowed to enter or leave the palace without his +permission. + +While there is every reason to believe that this measure was suggested +to him by Prince Bismarck, yet it must be admitted that it was to a +certain extent justified by the circumstances. Emperor Frederick +was known to have kept a most exhaustive diary throughout his entire +married life, dealing day by day with all the political questions of +the hour, the secrets of the Prussian State, the incidents of court +life, etc., just as they occurred. From a German point of view it +was a matter of the most extreme importance that this collection +of diaries should not be permitted to leave Prussia, or to reach a +foreign country, for it would practically have meant the placing at +the mercy of a foreign land all the state secrets of Prussia during +the previous thirty years. Emperor William and Prince Bismarck had +both been led to believe that Empress Frederick had made arrangements +to have these books conveyed to England by Sir Morel MacKenzie, whom +they both disliked as much as they distrusted him. The idea that +these volumes should be in the care of MacKenzie, even during the +twenty-four hours journey separating Berlin from London, was to them +quite intolerable. + +Before many hours had elapsed, however, the measures were relaxed. It +was discovered that the diaries were no longer in the palace, and that +they had been taken over to England either knowingly or unknowingly by +Queen Victoria on the occasion of her visit to Potsdam, when she came +to bid adieu to her dying son-in-law. + +Let me add that some time later, after a considerable amount of +explanation and negotiation, Queen Victoria, of her own accord, +returned the cases containing Emperor Frederick's diaries to her +grandson at Berlin, with the seals unbroken, taking the very sensible +ground that inasmuch as there were many Prussian state secrets +therein contained, their place was in the archives of the House of +Hohenzollern, rather than in England. + +Emperor William has never forgotten the course adopted by his +grandmother in the matter, and by his manner towards her has +repeatedly shown since then that he feels how greatly he can rely +upon having his actions appreciated with perfect impartiality and all +absence of prejudice at Windsor. + +Empress Frederick was naturally deeply offended by the precautionary +measures adopted by the emperor on his father's death, and saw therein +a new and most insulting indication of his unfilial conduct towards +herself. Nor were the relations between the mother and the son +improved, but on the contrary rather aggravated by the presence of the +Prince of Wales at Berlin. The latter remained in the Prussian capital +for a number of weeks after the funeral of Emperor Frederick, and the +English newspapers, which had been most outspoken in their criticisms +of the young emperor's attitude towards his parents, did not hesitate +to declare openly that if the prince was continuing his stay in +Berlin, it was for the purpose of championing the interests of his +favorite sister, and of protecting her from the insults of her son, +and of the latter's mentor and chief counsellor, Prince Bismarck. + +There were all sorts of troublesome questions cropping up between the +mother and the son during the first few months of her widowhood, many +of which were inevitable; for certain courses of policy upon +which Emperor Frederick had embarked were disapproved by the young +sovereign's constitutional advisers. Then, too, it would appear that +Frederick III. had taken advantage of his brief tenure of power to +unduly favor his wife and his younger children at the expense of the +Hohenzollern family property in a manner that was not in consonance +with the traditions of the reigning house. It was also whispered +that the late emperor had lent a very large sum of money to his +brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, and it was further asserted that +the then minister of the imperial household had preferred resigning +his post to countenancing such a use of the money belonging to +the Hohenzollern family. There was the question, moreover, of the +distribution of the palaces. While William was perfectly ready to +permit his mother to keep her residence at Berlin, he felt that he +was entitled, as emperor and chief of the family, to the new palace of +Potsdam, the finest of the lot, and the only one roomy enough for the +abode of a reigning sovereign. It was, therefore, necessary that he +should have possession thereof. His mother, on the other hand, took +the ground that inasmuch as it had been her principal home throughout +her married life, that nearly all her children had been born there, +and that it was in many respects a creation of her husband's, she +ought to be allowed to retain it. Of course the emperor had his way, +and this but served to increase the bitterness, particularly when +he issued an order to the effect that its old name of "Neues Palais" +should be restored in the place of "Friedrichskron," which had been +given to it by the widowed empress during her husband's brief reign. + +Of course all these differences of opinion between the mother and the +son were carefully intensified by Prince Bismarck, and aggravated +by the continued presence of the Prince of Wales, who was regarded, +probably unjustly, as largely responsible for the animosity which it +was claimed was entertained and manifested by the imperial widow for +her son. The newspapers took sides in the matter, and the press being +very active, there is every reason to believe, in view of the wide +field of German and foreign journalism over which the influences of +the chancellor extended at the time, that he had a finger, not alone +in the denunciation on the one hand of Empress Frederick as grasping, +mercenary, and too much of an Englishwoman to be a patriotic German, +but likewise in the abuse of Emperor William for unfilial conduct. +Every act of his that could possibly be construed as such, was painted +in the blackest of colors, especially in the English press, manifestly +with the idea of conveying to the kaiser the impression that the +attacks originated with his English relatives, possibly with his +mother herself; and I can recall seeing at the time a story to which +the London papers devoted columns, and which was made the theme of +editorials, the subject of which was that the emperor had sold to a +carpenter the pony-carriage and pony used by his father daring the few +weeks immediately preceding his death, for his drives in the palace +gardens. The story related with much detail about how the pony trap +was to be seen during the week in the streets of Potsdam, laden with +window-sashes, etc., while on Sunday and holidays the seat where +formerly the dying emperor reclined was occupied by the "Herr +Tischlermeister" and his frowsy, vulgar-looking "frau." Yet there was +not a word of truth in this story. The pony-carriage used by "Unser +Fritz" during the closing days of his life is preserved as a species +of sacred relic in the imperial coach-house at Potsdam, while the pony +leads a life of ease, idleness and equine luxury, out of regard for +the fact that it had the honor of drawing the moribund monarch around +the grounds of Charlottenburg and Potsdam. Inasmuch as this precious +story about Emperor William's selling the pony-carriage in question +first made its appearance in a London newspaper, which, as long as +Bismarck remained in office, was regarded as his particular organ in +the British press, being owned by a gentleman bearing a distinctly +German name, there is every reason to believe that the tale in +question originated with some of the journalistic myrmidons employed +by the chancellor, and that its object was to embitter William against +the English, against his British kinsfolk, and, above all, against his +mother. + +It is not without significance that the mother and the eldest son have +understood one another only since the dismissal from office of Prince +Bismarck. From that time the relations between the two have been of +the most affectionate and cordial character. Perhaps at first there +was at times a little difference of opinion, owing to the difficulty +experienced by a woman of the imperious character of Empress Frederick +in realizing the fact that her eldest son was no longer "her boy +Willie," to be ordered about and controlled, but that he had become, +not merely emancipated from her control, but her sovereign master, +whose commands she is now forced to obey, and whose wishes she is +obliged to consult and consider. But every year since the fall of +Bismarck has had the effect of bringing the mother and the son nearer +to each other. + +The empress seems to have come to the conclusion that she has judged +her son harshly and unjustly, prejudiced by appearances which were +frequently against him; while he, on the other hand, demonstrated to +Prince Bismarck that, while he was grateful to him for his services +to the empire, he found difficulty in pardoning him for the advantage +which he had taken of his--the emperor's--youth and inexperience to +estrange him from both his father and his mother. + +If I have repeated in this chapter some history that may be regarded +as ancient, since it dates back to eleven and twelve years ago, it +is for the purpose of relieving Emperor William of much unmerited +reproach heaped upon him, as the most unfilial of royal and imperial +princes in modern times. William has a warm heart, and an affectionate +disposition. He shows this in the happiness of his home life, and by +the tenderness of his devotion to his wife and children. If he was for +a time estranged from his parents, and in particular from his mother, +it was less through any fault of his, or of theirs--I repeat it--than +through the intrigues of Bismarck, and of the latter's friends within +and without the imperial household, who fondly imagined that they were +serving the "vaterland" by keeping the parents and their son estranged +from one another. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Everyone, I presume, is acquainted with that old French saying, "_Dis +moi qui tu hantes et je te dirai qui tu es!_" which may be rendered in +English: "Tell me with whom you associate and I will tell you who +you are!" While this adage is almost invariably true in the case of +ordinary people, it would hardly be just to apply it where monarchs +and princes of the blood are concerned. Given that every form of +pleasure, of entertainment and of amusement is always within their +reach, thanks to the loftiness of their station, their wealth, and +facilitated furthermore by the anxiety of their courtiers both to +please them and to retain their favor, they naturally soon become +blasé to such an extent that they become a prey to ennui--a thoroughly +royal malady, from which few, if any, of the scions of the reigning +houses of Europe are exempt. "Ennui," like "chic," is a French +word difficult to translate and subject to much misinterpretation, +especially in the United States, where it is practically unknown. The +majority of Americans are far too busy, and are environed by too much +bustle and activity to experience such a thing as ennui, and even the +American leisure class, still in an embryo condition, as a rule are +too new to their privileges to have that feeling. To suffer from ennui +implies so deep a knowledge of life, and a corresponding satiety of +its pleasures, that all the ordinary routine events of existence have +no longer any power to interest the mind. Ennui is not weariness nor +tediousness, as described in the dictionary; neither is it boredom, +for the latter differs therefrom in its not necessarily being the +outcome of a high degree of civilization, which ennui certainly is. + +An untutored savage of Central Africa, or of the wilds of Australia +may be bored; so are many of the ignorant houris of Oriental harems +and zenanas. Nay, even an energetic business man may feel +temporarily bored by enforced bodily or mental inaction, or by dreary +associations; but that can scarcely be described as _ennui_, a feeling +which in the true sense of the word means being thoroughly _blasé_ +and oppressed by moral and physical satiety. You must know everything, +have tried everything, have had all your personal wishes and desires +satisfied, all obstacles removed from your path, and pass your way +through life with the firm conviction that there remains nothing to +interest or arouse your ambition in order to be a victim of _ennui_. +The greatest sufferers from this disagreeable sensation are, as I +have just remarked, the royal and imperial personages of Europe, and +although the emperors of Germany and Austria have the greater +portion of their time taken up by the business of the State, and the +administration of the government of their respective countries, yet +neither of them is exempt from ennui. Indeed, there are no princes +whose features betray to such an extent unmistakable evidence of +ennui, as those of the imperial house of Hapsburg, while Emperor +William's choice of many of his friends is guided by the powers which +they may possess to entertain him, and to deliver him in his hours of +leisure from that dreaded complaint. Of course there are exceptions to +this rule, and there are several of Emperor William's cronies who owe +the friendship of their sovereign to kindnesses which they rendered, +and devotion which they displayed to him, in the days prior to +his accession to the throne. But in the majority of instances, +the sometimes strange selection of friends made by the emperor is +attributable to the fact that the personages to whom he accords his +favor succeed in amusing and entertaining him during the time that he +is not occupied with the cares of his empire. + +Conspicuous among friends of this particular character, is Baron von +Kiderlen-Waechter, who holds the rank of minister plenipotentiary in +the diplomatic service of Germany, and who was recently, and possibly +still remains, Prussian envoy to the Court of Denmark, but who is +known in the imperial circle at Berlin by the nickname of "August," +that being the "sobriquet" given to the clowns belonging to +variety-shows and circuses in England, Austria, and France. In fact, +he certainly occupies among William's immediate circle of cronies and +associates the position of court jester, and the emperor makes a point +of taking the baron along with him whenever he goes on his annual +yachting trips along the coast of Sweden and Norway. The latter is the +life and soul of these imperial yachting parties, his witticisms, his +antics, and, above all, his inimitable talent for mimicry keeping even +the sailors of the _Hohenzollern_ in continual roars of laughter. Yet +he can be grave and dignified on state occasions, and when one sees +him at the Court of Berlin arrayed in full uniform, his breast +covered with decorations, it is difficult to realize that this +imposing-looking diplomat is the principal partner of the autocrat +of Germany in such juvenile games as "Hot Cockles," which is a very +favorite game on board the _Hohenzollern_, and in which the kneeling +and blindfolded victim receives a terrific spank or smack, and then +has to guess, under the penalty of ridiculous forfeits, who it is that +struck him! + +No one would ever have dreamt of finding any fault with this intimacy +between the emperor and the baron, had it not been for the fact that +the latter laid himself open to charges of having taken advantage of +the imperial favor won by mimicry and practical joking, to further +political and personal intrigues in which he was interested. Indeed, +he was repeatedly accused in the German press of being largely +responsible for the manifestation of animosity between the Court of +Berlin and Friedrichsrüh that characterized the last eight or nine +years of the life of Prince Bismarck. The newspapers did not +hesitate to assert that the baron, who had formerly been one of the +confidential secretaries of the old chancellor, had deliberately +fomented the irritation of the kaiser against the veteran statesman, +believing that any reconciliation between the monarch and his former +chancellor would entail the baron's disgrace. Finally, the abuse +of the baron in the Berlin press became so pronounced that he +was virtually obliged to challenge the editor of one of the most +vituperative of the metropolitan sheets, and very gallantly lodged a +bullet through the shoulder of this "knight of the quill!" + +For this escapade the baron was condemned to three months' +imprisonment by the courts, duelling, as has been intimated already, +being forbidden by law in Germany. His incarceration in the military +fortress of Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine was absolutely unprecedented. +Ambassadors and envoys have in times gone by been imprisoned by +sovereigns to whose courts they were accredited, in defiance of all +the laws of international right regulating the intercourse between +civilized powers, but this was the first occasion of a government +taking the unheard-of step of jailing one of its own envoys. + +Fortunately for the baron, the King of Denmark was, before his +accession to the throne, an officer of the German army, and as such +was disposed to regard with the utmost leniency the offence for which +his excellency was condemned to imprisonment. He realized that +the baron had no alternative but to fight, his honor having been +questioned by the paper whose editor he challenged. Although duelling +is forbidden by the criminal law of Germany, under the penalty of +imprisonment, yet, had the baron failed to fight, and taken shelter +behind the law, he would not only have been compelled to resign his +diplomatic office, his position at court, and his rank in the army, +but he would have subjected himself to such odium as to have become +to all intents and purposes a social outcast, and compelled to leave +Germany. + +Appreciating this, old King Christian raised no objections to the +appointment of a chargé d'affaires, to represent the diplomatic +interests of Germany at his court, during the term of imprisonment +served by the minister plenipotentiary, and from the moment when the +latter completed his term, and was liberated from prison, he resumed +his duties as envoy at the Court of Copenhagen, just as if nothing had +happened. + +Another intimate friend of the kaiser, who possesses much the same +_talents de société_ as Baron Kiderlen-Waechter, and whose position +in the high favor of the kaiser has been a subject of much unfavorable +comment, and even of open abuse in Berlin, is Baron Holstein, +popularly known as the "_Austern-Freund"_ or "Oyster-Friend," owing to +his altogether phenomenal capacity for the absorption of bivalves, and +his strongly developed fondness for good cheer! Baron Holstein, +like Baron Kiderlen-Waechter, was formerly one of the confidential +secretaries of Prince Bismarck, and a daily guest at his table, and +was treated as a member of the old chancellor's family for years, yet +he became one of the most relentless foes of the Bismarck family as +soon as the prince was dismissed from office. + +Prince Bismarck was not the sort of man to submit in silence to the +enmity of his former secretary, and a few years after his retirement +to Friedrichsrüh he took occasion, during the course of a public +discussion of the circumstances which led to the disgrace and ruin +of Count Harry Arnim, for a long time German ambassador at Paris, to +disclose for the first time in speech, and in print, the part which +Baron Holstein had played in the affair. According to the prince, +Baron Holstein, while first secretary of the German embassy at Paris, +and though treated by Count Arnim as an inmate of his home, living +in fact under his roof, and eating at his table, was in the habit +throughout an entire year of sending secret reports to Berlin against +the chief under whom he was serving--reports which subsequently +furnished the basis of the charges upon which Count Arnim was tried, +convicted and disgraced. + +It is true that some mention was made in the Parisian and English +press at the time of the Arnim trial of the questionable rôle which +Baron Holstein had played in the affair, and there were a number of +Parisian papers that did not hesitate to hold up the baron to, at +any rate, French obloquy, as a man guilty of the base betrayal of the +kindest and most indulgent of chiefs. The only person on that occasion +who had the courage to take up the baron's defence was M. de Blowitz, +French correspondent of the London _Times_, of which he is described +on the banks of the Seine, as the "ambassador," and who possesses +an immense amount of influence with the Parisian press. Blowitz's +championship of the baron's cause was sincerely appreciated by the +latter. He called upon the correspondent, thanked him effusively, and +declared that it was his intervention alone that had made his stay at +Paris possible. + +During the conversation that followed, Blowitz opened his heart to his +visitor, telling him that his own position as the Paris correspondent +of the _Times_ was in danger owing to some changes in the +administration of the London office. A fortnight later, Blowitz +received from the managing editor of the _Times_ in London a letter +sixteen pages long, addressed to Printing-House Square, and entirely +written and signed by Baron Holstein. It denounced Blowitz as being +one of the creatures of the late Duc Decazes, as wilfully ignoring +and concealing for interested purposes of his own, a number of matters +that should have found their way into the columns of the _Times_, and +urging the managers of the latter to send to Paris some fitter and +more impartial person, who would be better able to keep the great +English newspaper _au courant_ of what was going on below as well as +above the surface, than so unscrupulous a person as M. de Blowitz. +This letter was dated exactly three days after the latter's visit of +gratitude to the correspondent, and the incident may be regarded as +being in perfect harmony with the behavior of this favorite of the +kaiser to both Count Harry Arnim and subsequently to Prince Bismarck. + +The third of these cronies of the kaiser, to whom his subjects take +objection on the ground that they are in the habit of using the favor +shown to them by his majesty to further their own interests, and +to injure those who, for one reason or another, have incurred their +animosity, is Count Philip Eulenburg, who has been again and again +referred to in the Berlin newspapers as "the Troubadour." He is at the +present moment German ambassador at Vienna, whence his predecessor, +Prince Reuss, was ousted in spite of the eminent services of a +personal character which he had rendered to the emperor, in order to +make way for the count. The latter's intimacy with his sovereign is +largely due to his cleverness as a poet, a dramatist, and a +composer, and while he has furnished the words to many of the musical +compositions of the kaiser, William has, in turn, had much of his own +poetry set to music by the count. + +Philip Eulenburg has been clever enough to foster William's very +pardonable weakness as to his gifts as a musician and a poet, and +being a man of the most charming manners, possessed of an unusual +supply of tact, and extremely accomplished in many respects, he has +acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over his sovereign. +Indeed it may be doubted whether there is any member of the imperial +entourage who stands as high in the good graces of the German ruler as +does his ambassador to the Court of Vienna. + +Each year the emperor makes a point of spending a week at Liebenberg, +the country-seat of the count, and it has long been a matter +of comment that these visits are invariably signalized by the +inauguration of some political or administrative move on the part of +the kaiser. It was, indeed, at Liebenberg that the emperor decided +upon the dismissal from the chancellorship of General Count Caprivi, +who had been unfortunate enough to incur the enmity of the Eulenburgs. + +Count Philip, who possesses a fine voice, and who during the +annual yachting trip of the emperor on board the _Hohenzollern_, is +accustomed to sing duets with the monarch, and to play the latter's +accompaniments, is not, as is generally supposed, the brother, +but merely the cousin of Botho, Augustus, and the late Count Wend +Eulenburg. His career was almost wrecked at its very outset by +an incident which developed into an international question. While +stationed as a young sub-lieutenant of cavalry at Bonn, he was one day +inadvertently jostled in the street by a gray-haired and rather portly +stranger, whom he at once addressed in the most insulting manner. Upon +the stranger responding in kind, the count drew his sabre and cut the +man down, inflicting upon him such a wound that he expired a short +time afterwards at the hospital. There it was discovered that he +was one Ott, a Frenchman, and one of the chefs of Queen Victoria, +momentarily detached from his duties at Windsor Castle, in order +to attend her majesty's second son, the Duke of Edinburgh,--now the +reigning sovereign of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,--during his stay on the +continent. Both the queen and Prince Alfred were indignant at the +outrage, which was made the subject of an acrimonious correspondence +between the English, French and Prussian Governments, the result being +that Count Philip was sentenced to pay heavy damages to the widow +and to the orphaned children of his victim, and to undergo a year's +imprisonment in a fortress. + +He only joined the diplomatic profession in 1881, when he was +appointed as third secretary to the German embassy at Paris, and he +occupied very inferior rôles in the diplomatic service of his country +until the accession to the throne of his friend and patron, Emperor +William, who promoted him a few weeks later, at one bound, from the +post of second secretary of the legation at Munich to the rank +of Prussian minister-plenipotentiary at Aldenberg, whence he was +transferred a year later to Stuttgart, then, to The Hague, and then +back to Munich, as chief of the legation, which post he retained until +his nomination in 1892 to the German ambassadorship at Vienna, that is +to say, to the blue ribbon of the diplomatic service of the kaiser. + +He is generally regarded as destined in course of time to become +chancellor of the empire, in spite of the human blood with which his +hands are stained. + +Both the court and the public object far less to the intimacy that +exists between Count Augustus Eulenburg and his imperial friend, for +Augustus, who is the grand master of the imperial household and the +chief executive dignitary of the court, has been the closest associate +of William since the latter's earliest boyhood. He was one of those +officials whom Prince Bismarck forced upon the then crown prince +and crown princess, in order to keep watch over their actions and +to counteract their influence on their eldest son. It was he, Count +Augustus, who acted as the comforter of William whenever he was +subjected to reproof or to disciplinary measures by his father or +mother; who invariably espoused the lad's cause, and who contributed +more than anyone else to convince William that he was a victim of the +most cruel and unmerited form of parental severity and persecution. He +constituted himself the mentor and the guide of the prince, initiated +him into all the intricacies of the imperial court, as well as into +the secrets of its most prominent members. In one word, he rendered +himself so indispensable to the prince, that as soon as the latter +succeeded to the throne he at once appointed Count Augustus Eulenburg +to the grand mastership of the court and household. + +To what extent Emperor and Empress Frederick were aware of the spirit +characterizing the count's relations with their eldest son, it is +difficult to say, but there is no doubt that during the last two or +three years of Emperor Frederick's life, the position of Augustus in +the household of "Unser Fritz" was vastly improved and facilitated by +the sensational quarrels of his elder brother, Count Botho Eulenburg, +the celebrated statesman, with Prince Bismarck, for both Frederick +and his wife, from, that time forth, ceased to look upon Augustus as a +creature and a spy of the chancellor. + +How great was the intimacy between William and the count, may be +gathered from the fact that Augustus was the invariable and sole +companion of the emperor in that species of Haroun-al-Raschid +nocturnal expeditions which his majesty was wont to undertake in the +slums of his capital, for the purpose of learning what his people were +saying about him. At that time, his features were far less familiar +to the public than they are to-day, and by giving his moustache +a different twist, and his hair another turn, he experienced no +difficulty in disguising himself. The adventures which he met with +during the course of these nightly prowls in the company of Count +Augustus are numerous enough to fill a book. Still, while they +furnished plenty of amusement, excitement, and experiences not +altogether unpleasant, they involved his majesty, on one or two +occasions, in so much personal danger, that the count, realizing the +responsibility which would rest upon his shoulders in the eyes not +merely of the nation, but of the entire world, if anything untoward +happened to the monarch, induced him, though with difficulty, to +abandon this species of pastime so dear to crowned heads. + +Let me add that it was on the occasion of one of these expeditions +that the emperor met with a very severe injury to his hand. There +is an old established usage in Berlin, on New Year's eve, which +prescribed that any man appearing in the street in a high or stiff hat +should be incontinently bonneted, that is to say, have his hat crushed +down over his eyes and ears by a blow of the fist. Emperor William, +who is somewhat fond of rough horse-play, used to delight in this form +of amusement, and on the first New Year's eve after his accession +to the throne, he sallied forth with Augustus Eulenburg in search of +adventures. Catching sight of a portly citizen of mature years walking +along under the shadows of the trees that line the magnificent avenue +known as "Unter den Linden," he immediately proceeded to crush +the high silk hat which the man wore by a tremendous blow from his +imperial fist! He was unable, however, to refrain from a cry of pain, +and his companion the count, on seeing that his sovereign's hand was +drenched with blood, at once summoned the two detectives who were +following discreetly in the rear, and caused them to arrest the +citizen. The man on being searched at the palace police station, was +found to be a merchant of high standing, who, determined to get even +with the practical jokers from whose brutality he himself had suffered +on previous New Year's eves, had devised a sort of thick leather +hat-lining, armed with long and sharp prongs, pointed outward like the +quills of a porcupine. The emperor, on smashing the hat, naturally had +his hand dreadfully lacerated. The citizen was kept under arrest +for twenty-four hours, during which the question was discussed as to +whether he should be prosecuted and punished for inflicting personal +injury upon the sovereign, or not. Finally, William himself, with +that good sense which so often characterizes him, gave orders for his +liberation, on the ground that he could not possibly have dreamt that +he would be bonneted by his sovereign, that he was, therefore, quite +innocent of any intention to inflict injury upon the person of the +emperor, and that he, William, had, after all, got nothing but what +he deserved for playing such a prank. Moreover, in order to show the +citizen that he bore him no grudge, he sent him, by way of consolation +for his arrest and the destruction of his hat, a portrait bearing the +autograph signature of the kaiser, as well as the words: "In memory of +_Sylvester-nacht_."--New Year's eve is sacred to Saint Sylvester. + +Count Botho Eulenburg, the elder brother of Augustus, has repeatedly +held the offices of cabinet minister and Premier of Prussia. He +happened to be at the head of the Department of the Interior at +the time when the attempts were made by Nobiling to assassinate old +Emperor William, and ever since that time has been the sworn foe of +socialism, and identified with everything that is reactionary and +despotic in Prussian legislation. His influence with the emperor is +very great, and there is no doubt that he has contributed in a great +measure to the somewhat extravagant views which the kaiser entertains +with regard to the Divine Rights of monarchs, and especially +concerning their responsibility, not towards their people alone, but +also towards the Almighty. + +Count Botho's quarrel with Prince Bismarck, originated in the +following manner. The count, in accordance with a decision reached at +a cabinet meeting, spoke as Minister of the Interior in the Prussian +Diet in favor of placing the communal councils under the provincial +board, instead of under the central government. He had no sooner sat +down than a member arose and said that he was instructed by the Prime +Minister, Prince Bismarck, to disavow the view taken by the Minister +of the Interior. This extraordinary action of the prince was due +to the fact that he had suddenly decided upon coquetting with the +Liberals, for the sake of obtaining their support upon the subject of +another of his little inaugurations. Count Botho immediately sent in +his resignation, and did not resume office until after the disgrace of +Prince Bismarck. Previous to this quarrel, however, as I have +already stated, the most intimate relations had subsisted between the +Eulenburgs and the Bismarcks. Indeed, Countess Marie, only daughter +of Prince Bismarck, was at one time betrothed to Wend, the youngest of +the three Eulenburg brothers. Three days before the day fixed for +the wedding, the young man was suddenly seized with typhus, and +forty-eight hours later succumbed to this awful disease. Countess +Marie, it may be added, subsequently married Count Rantzau, after +having been between times engaged to Baron Eisendecker, once German +envoy at Washington, and now the kaiser's adviser in yachting matters, +whom she jilted in consequence of differences of religious opinion. + +So much for the Eulenburgs, who may be said to constitute the most +influential family at the Court of Berlin, and without a description +of whom no history of the life and surroundings of Emperor William +could possibly be regarded as complete. + +Other cronies of the kaiser, who are less influential in a political +sense, and, therefore, less obnoxious to the people, are Counts +Douglas, Count Dohna, and Count Goertz. Public attention, however, has +often been drawn to the friendship of the kaiser for the Dohnas by +the frequency of the imperial visit with which Count Richard Dohna +is honored at his superb old château of Schlobitten, and likewise by +reason of the fact that on two occasions William almost lost his life +through carriage accidents which he sustained while out driving with +the count. + +[Illustration: _THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The Dohnas are one of the most ancient houses of the old German +nobility, and Schlobitten, with its grand old park, shaded by glorious +trees, has been in the possession of the family since the fourteenth +century. The castle, as now arranged, is only two hundred years old, +having been reconstructed on the site, and with the ruins, of an +ancient monastery and dwelling. The name of Dohna is recorded in the +most important pages of Prussian history. Statesmen, generals, and +in particular, confidants and cronies of their successive rulers have +borne that name, and there is not a king who has reigned over Prussia, +and previous to that an elector who has ruled over Brandenburg, +who has not stayed at the castle of Schlobitten and occupied the +antiquated four-poster bed, in which the present emperor sleeps +whenever he makes a visit there. + +Count Richard Dohna is a great breeder of blooded horses, a +magnificent whip, and the accidents which happened to the kaiser, +while out driving with him, were merely due to the fact that in each +case the horses were too young, and not sufficiently broken in. On one +occasion, the drag was upset into a ditch not far from Schlobitten, +the kaiser and the count being severely bruised and shaken up; while +at another time a splendid team got beyond the control of the count, +smashed harnesses and pole, and dashed helter-skelter into the little +town of Proeckelwitz, where they were fortunately stopped without +further mishap. + +The intimacy of the kaiser with the Dohna family serves to recall the +fact that there was a daughter of this house, Countess Anna Dohna, who +claimed to have become the wife of the late Emperor William. She lived +for a time in London, Geneva, and then in New York, and was wont to +style herself Countess Dohna-Brandenburg, having added the name of +Brandenburg to that of Dohna by reason of this alleged marriage. + +While in New York she lived in a large house in Lexington Avenue, +which she furnished handsomely, and she never seemed to be in want of +money. According to her own story she met the late Emperor William in +1825, during the lifetime of his father, King Frederick-William III., +when she was sixteen years of age. After several clandestine meetings, +she claimed that they were married late one night at Clegnitz, in +Silesia, by a young country parson. The latter did not know the +prince, who gave the name of William Count Brandenburg, and his +occupation as that of an officer of the Royal Guards. The marriage +certificate was duly made out, and then her husband told her that it +would be expedient to keep their union secret for a time. To this she +reluctantly assented. + +When at length, urged by her entreaties, her husband revealed their +marriage to his father, King Frederick-William III., he flew into a +terrible rage, forced him to sign a renunciation of the countess's +hand, and she was conveyed to a small castle near Königsberg, in +East-Prussia, where she was kept a close prisoner for years. In 1837, +always according to her story, she succeeded in escaping, and crossing +the Polish frontier reached Warsaw, where in the following year she +was recognized at a state performance of the opera given by Czar +Nicholas, in honor of the King of Prussia and Prince William, who were +visiting the Russian Court. + +She was arrested at the theatre, and on the following morning conveyed +to Eastern Russia, where she was kept under strict surveillance until +the death of Frederick-William III., in 1840, led to her release. +She was then permitted to return to Prussia, and the new king, +Frederick-William IV., offered to compromise the matter with her. This +she refused to do. Her father's death placed her in possession of a +large fortune, and she spent several years in travelling. + +In 1848 she intended to appeal to the Prussian National Assembly for +justice, but the police got wind of it, and she was interned in her +château in Silesia. On William becoming King of Prussia, she was given +the alternative of leaving the country or of becoming an inmate of +a lunatic asylum, so she transferred her abode to Paris, and after +living for awhile in London and Geneva, came to New York in 1876. + +The truth of this story having been questioned, it may be mentioned +that the Prussian _Staats Anzeiger_, or official Berlin Gazette, of +June 4, 1829, contains the following royal decree: + + +"By order of his majesty the king, Anna Countess Dohna having claimed +to be the wife of Prince William of Prussia, I hereby decree that such +a union if it ever took place, be null and void. + + + "FREDERICK WILLIAM, Rex. + + "ANTHONY VON ALTENSTEIN, + "Secretary of State." + + +I have seen it mentioned both in German and foreign publications that +the three Counts of Brandenburg, two of them distinguished generals, +and the third for many years Prussian envoy at Brussels, were the +issue of the union of Countess Anna Dohna and old Emperor William of +Germany. But this is not true; for their father, a famous premier and +soldier, of whom a fine statue exists at Berlin, was the son of +King Frederick-William II. of Prussia, and his morganatic wife, the +Countess of Dohenhoff. + +With regard to Count Douglas, I may state that the kaiser's intimacy +with him dates back to many years prior to his accession to the +throne. Like his twin brother, Count Louis Douglas, the Swedish +statesman, who until a few weeks ago occupied the post of minister of +foreign affairs at Stockholm, Count Willie Douglas may be said to have +royal blood in his veins, for his father, old Count Douglas, now dead, +married the morganatic daughter of a royal princess of the reigning +house of Baden. On the old count's death, William, the elder of the +twins, inherited his mother's vast property, while Louis, the younger, +took possession of his father's estates in Sweden. + +William was educated in Germany, is an officer of the Prussian army, +as well as a member of the Prussian House of Lords: Louis was brought +up in Sweden, entered the Swedish army, became chamberlain to the +Crown Prince of Sweden, married the daughter of Count Ehrensward, late +minister of foreign affairs at Stockholm, and eventually succeeded to +his father-in-law's post at the head of Sweden's foreign office. Like +his twin brother in Prussia, he is exceedingly conservative, imbued +with the necessity of retaining the old feudal prerogatives, and of +placing every obstacle in the way of the rising tide of democracy. +Indeed, whatever influence he exercises over the King and Crown Prince +of Sweden, is as reactionary as any influence which his German brother +may be said to enjoy over the kaiser. + +The Douglas twins are descended from the great Scotch family of +Douglas, and are therefore allied to the Duke of Hamilton and the +Marquis of Queensberry. Their ancestors emigrated to Prussia +from Scotland at the time of the Thirty Years' War, fought under +Gustavus-Adolphus, and afterwards returned with him to Sweden, where +they became members of the Swedish nobility. Count Willie, like his +brother, displays all the hereditary traits of the Scotch house that +bears his name, having the peculiar jaw, falling underlip, and dark +complexion of the celebrated "Black Douglas." Yet neither of the twins +speaks a word of English, nor has ever visited the land of his sire, +though they bear the Douglas motto of "Do or Die." Count Willie has +few British sympathies, but some British tastes, being famous as +a four-in-hand whip, and as a magnificent shot. He is also very +hospitable, and entertains at Berlin in a right royal fashion, his +wealth, derived from the mines which he owns in the Hartz Mountains, +enabling him to do so without hesitation on the score of expense. + +It is no secret that Emperor William has, on two or three occasions, +offered a cabinet office to his friend William Douglas, who has, +however, invariably declined it, much to the relief of those who are +convinced that the same peculiar moral and psychological affinity +exists between the Douglas twins as that attributed to the Corsican +brothers. It would have been, they declare, a dangerous experiment to +have had one of them directing the foreign policy of Germany, and the +other that of the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. + +It may interest my American readers to add that a few years ago Count +Willie Douglas was the defendant in an extraordinary lawsuit at Berlin +which had an American end to it. It seems that some thirty years ago a +man of the name of Brandt died in the United States, leaving a fortune +of several millions of dollars. Having no near relatives in America, +the lawyers advertised for any heirs that he might have left +behind him in Germany. The father of Count Douglas was at the time +burgomaster of the little town of Aschersleben, and one day some of +the inhabitants of the place bearing the name of Brandt placed a lot +of papers in his hands, asking him to glance over them, and to see +whether there was any truth in the statement that they were heirs +to an immense fortune in America. The old count, in his capacity of +burgomaster, declared that the affair looked to him very questionable, +that he believed it was a mere swindle, and that there was surely +nothing in it for them. Whether he returned to them the papers or +not, is unknown, but he declared to the day of his death that he had +restored them, whereas the Brandts of Aschersleben swear that he did +not. Eventually, they brought suit against his son, not merely for +the recovery of the documents, but likewise for the fortune, actually +alleging that the latter had been appropriated by old Count Douglas, +with the connivance of the late Prince Bismarck, who had received a +large share of the plunder. It is scarcely necessary to state that +they were non-suited. + +Emperor William's intimacy with Count and Countess Goertz may be said +to be a sort of inherited friendship, the count's father, president +of the Hessian House of Lords, and his consort, a princess of +Sayn-Wittgenstein, having been the most intimate friends of Emperor +and Empress Frederick, whose acquaintance they made through the +late Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse. In order to show the +affectionate relations existing between the parents of the kaiser +and those of the present head of the ancient and illustrious house of +Goertz, it is merely necessary to state that Professor Hintzpeter, who +for a number of years directed the education of Emperor William and +his brother Henry, and who, as their old tutor, retains much influence +over both the imperial brothers, was selected by Emperor and Empress +Frederick for the purpose, on the personal recommendation of the late +Count and Countess Goertz, in whose family he had resided for a number +of years as tutor to their son. + +In fact, the present Count Goertz, who is some eight or nine years the +senior of the emperor, can boast, like the latter, of having been +a pupil of old Hintzpeter, who in some respects is the German +counterpart of the late Czar Alexander's tutor, M. Pobietnotzoff. +That William shares the confidence placed by his parents in the Goertz +family is shown by the fact that when he found it necessary, at +one time, to obtain the services of a tutor for one of his young +relatives, in a case, it must be added, of particular delicacy, he +at once nominated to the post Professor Krenge, who at the time was +tutoring the sons of the present Count Goertz. Countess Goertz is a +woman of great beauty, which she may be said to have inherited from +her mother, the so-celebrated Countess of Villeneuve, wife to the +Brazilian envoy to the Court of Brussels, and renowned throughout +Europe on account of her loveliness. + +Although the admiration which the kaiser displays for the fascinating +countess is of the most undisguised character, it fails to excite the +jealousy either of his consort or the count, and the relations between +the empress and the countess are so close that the former has been +known to lend to her friend articles of jewelry, and even of dress, +for use at fancy dress balls and elsewhere. The emperor and the count +are also as united and unrestrained with each other as two men can be +who have the same tastes, who have been intimately acquainted since +childhood, and whose parents have been close friends before them. It +is doubtful whether William ever enjoys himself so much, or feels so +thoroughly at home, as when visiting the Goertzes at Schlitz. There +his days are spent in shooting and hunting with the count, and the +evenings in composing new melodies, and setting songs to music with +the countess. The emperor's children and the young Goertzes are bound +by equal ties of affection, and are old-time playmates, so that there +seems every likelihood of this friendship between the Hohenzollerns +and the former reigning sovereign house of Goertz being continued in +the third generation. + +No account of the emperor's private life can be properly written +without including a brief sketch of General Count von Hahnke, and of +Baron von Lucanus. The former is the chief of the military cabinet of +the emperor, and the other is at the head of his civil cabinet, that +is to say, he occupies the post of principal private secretary. Both +of them accompany the emperor wherever he goes, and in fact constitute +his very shadow, enjoying by reason of their proximity to the +sovereign, and by their close association with him, a far greater +degree of power and influence than any cabinet minister. + +Baron Lucanus is an extremely good-looking man, whose popular nickname +at Berlin, namely, "the emperor's Blackie Man," is in nowise due to +any swarthiness of complexion, but to the fact that among the great +dignitaries in attendance on the emperor, he is the only one in +civilian attire, while moreover he is invariably selected by the +sovereign to convey to any cabinet minister, whose resignation is +required, the imperial intimation "_that he has ceased to please_." + +It was Baron von Lucanus who communicated to Prince Bismarck the +emperor's request and subsequent peremptory command for the surrender +of the chancellorship of the empire, and it was he, too, who was +sent to ask Bismarck's successor, General Count Caprivi, for his +resignation; in fact, there has not been a single ministerial head +to fall during the last ten years--and they have been very numerous +during the present reign--where Herr von Lucanus has not been the +imperial emissary of these evil tidings. This is so well known +in Berlin that the moment the baron is seen to be calling at the +residence of any distinguished statesman who happens to be in office, +it is at once taken for granted that the axe has once more fallen, and +that it is another case of a ministerial downfall. + +The Berliners declare that Emperor William pitches upon Lucanus +for these particular jobs in consequence of his being the son of a +Halberstadt druggist, and as such, more likely to be proficient in the +art of sugar-coating the bitter pills than any mere military officer! +He owes his patent of nobility to the late Emperor Frederick, who +entertained a very high opinion of his intelligence, and it is worthy +of note that he first came to the fore in the entourage of the emperor +when Prince Bismarck's power as chancellor commenced to wane. He is +a man of about fifty, and served for a quarter of a century in the +Department of Public Worship. It was, however, as an expert in art +matters, and as an intelligent assistant in the organization of the +Imperial Museum of Science and Art at Berlin, that he first attracted +the notice and good-will of the late emperor, and particularly of the +Empress Frederick. + +His military colleague, General Count von Hahnke, although a charming +man, is, nevertheless, one of the most bitterly-hated officers of the +German army; this is due to the fact that he has virtually usurped +the prerogatives and the power of the minister of war, who has been +reduced to a mere instrument of his wishes. This is not altogether the +fault of the general, for the emperor insists on retaining absolute +control of the army in his own hands, and of exercising its command in +every particular, no appointment being made without his initiative +and sanction, while everything is done through Count Hahnke as supreme +head of the military cabinet of his majesty. + +A few years ago the general lost his son under singularly tragical and +somewhat mysterious circumstances. The misfortune occurred during +one of the annual yachting trips of the kaiser, young Hahnke being a +lieutenant on board the yacht. According to the official version, the +young officer met with his death while coasting down a mountain road +at one of the Norwegian ports at which the yacht had touched, his +bicycle getting beyond his control, and precipitating itself with its +rider over a low stone parapet into a fierce torrent hundreds of feet +below. The emperor happened at the time to have a bruise on the face, +caused by a block and tackle swinging against him during a squall, +while on deck, and on the strength of this temporary disfigurement, +a story most painful to the emperor was circulated to the effect that +his black eye was due to a blow from young Hahnke, who resented some +indignity in connection with the practical jokes and rough horse-play +so frequent on board the _Hohenzollern_ during the emperor's annual +holiday. It was added that the young officer had been given by +military and naval etiquette the alternative of blowing out his +brains, or of taking his life in some other way, as the only means of +saving his name from disgrace and his honor from loss; and a certain +degree of color was given to the tale by the fact that it was +published at full length in a London society newspaper, at the very +time when its proprietor and editor was sojourning at Marienbad with +the Prince of Wales, and in daily intercourse with the British heir +apparent, who was naturally supposed to know the truth about young +Hahnke's death. Perhaps the most striking and convincing evidence of +the absurd fabrication of this story, which has given much sorrow, +both to the emperor and empress, is to be found in the fact that the +young officer's father remained at the head of the emperor's military +cabinet, and has never abandoned, even temporarily, his service near +the kaiser; this the general would certainly not have done had William +been in any sense of the word responsible for the death of his boy. +In fact it was the kindly and tactful sympathy of both the emperor +and the empress that enabled the bereaved father to bear his loss +with fortitude, and his gratitude for the kindness shown to him by his +sovereign is of a deep and undying quality. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Great is the contrast between the Court of Berlin to-day and the +aspect which it presented during the closing years of the reign of old +Emperor William, and were any of the latter's familiars to return to +the place where so much of their existence had been spent, they would +indeed find themselves amidst strange surroundings and strange faces. +In those days, grey and white hair were the rule rather than the +exception. To-day the contrary is the case, and not merely do +the dignitaries of the court and of the army belong to a younger +generation, but also the members of the imperial circle, that is to +say, the princes and princesses of the blood, with whom the emperor +and empress associate as kinsfolk and near relatives. + +The few older members of the reigning house of Prussia who +survive--the contemporaries of the grandfather and father of William +II.--find the atmosphere of the court so different from what they have +been accustomed to in the past, so out of keeping with their ideas--in +one word, feel themselves so little at home there, that they prefer to +stay away as much as they can. Thus Prince Albert of Prussia, one of +the grandest looking soldiers of the imperial army, and certainly one +of the most gigantic in stature, divides his time between Brunswick, +where he holds a court of his own as regent, and England, where he +is accustomed to spend his holidays. The widowed Princess +Frederick-Charles lives nearly all the year round in Italy with +her chamberlain, Baron Wangenheim, whom she is understood to have +morganatically married, and in whose company she occasionally visits +the pope, a circumstance which has led to the rumor that she has +joined the Church of Rome. The widowed Empress Frederick is either +at her lovely castle of Kronberg, near Homburg, which is stocked from +garret to cellar with those art treasures of which she is one of the +finest _connaisseuses_ in Europe, or else is traveling about in Italy, +Austria or England. Indeed the only contemporary of the old Emperor +who still remains at Berlin, and who is occasionally to be seen at +court, giving one the impression of a spectre of the past, is +Prince George, who bears a startling resemblance to the old kaiser +particularly when arrayed in uniform. + +While slightly eccentric, he is remarkably accomplished, and has not +only written a number of German plays over the pen-name of "George +Conrad," which have been successfully staged in Germany, but is even +the author of a drama written in the purest and most exquisitely +correct French, sparkling with Parisian wit and brilliancy, which has +had long runs in many theatres without either the actors or the public +being aware that it was from the pen of a prince of Prussia. + +Until the war of 1870, Prince George was on terms of the utmost +intimacy with the de Goncourts, the Dumases, de Girardin, and all +the principal literary lights of France, with whom he was wont to +foregather on a footing of artistic equality each year at Ems, a +German watering-place much frequented by the French prior to the great +struggle of 1870; of course, since that time his intercourse with +French people has been much more restricted, and through a feeling +of delicacy and tact, with which he is not usually credited, he has +refrained from visiting Paris, or even from setting his foot on French +territory since the war. This, however, has not prevented him from +keeping himself _au courant_ of every literary and dramatic event that +takes place on the banks of the Seine, and a French academician of +my acquaintance who was presented to him last summer at Ems, and +who spent several days there in his company, could not sufficiently +express his amazement, not merely at the extraordinary purity of the +prince's French, but likewise at the amazing manner in which he seems +to have kept track of everything that has happened at Paris in the +world of letters and art, as well as of the French idioms, figures of +speech, and even witticisms of the present day. + +The delicacy which Prince George manifests with regard to the +French people, and his fear lest his admiration for them should be +misinterpreted, is largely due to the treatment that he received at +the hands of Empress Eugénie at Carlsbad, in 1874 or 1875. Having +been a frequent and welcome guest at the Tuileries during the reign of +Napoleon III., the prince, when he found that the widowed empress had +arrived at Carlsbad, and had taken up her residence at the very hotel +at which he was staying, naturally considered that he could not do +otherwise than take some notice of her presence; if he affected to +ignore her, he would have exposed himself to the reproach of gross +discourtesy; at the same time he felt that any public form of +attention might prove unwelcome to her, and might possibly serve to +impair her son's prospects of recovering his father's throne; so he +contented himself with sending her every day magnificent baskets of +flowers, and with bowing to her with the utmost deference, but without +attempting to accost her when he met her in the gardens or park. He +likewise caused it to be intimated to her secretary, M. Pietri, that +if at any moment she felt disposed to accord him an audience, he would +be only too glad of the opportunity to "lay his homage at the feet of +her majesty." That was all. Yet such as it was, the empress managed to +turn it to political account, for she suddenly left Carlsbad, making +it known throughout France, by means of the press, that she had been +compelled to quit the baths, and to interrupt the cure, in consequence +of the undesirable attentions which Prince George of Prussia persisted +in forcing upon her. Naturally, the newspapers made the most of her +story, and were filled with denunciations and abuse of the prince, +some of the sheets asserting, by way of explanation of his +conduct, that he was mentally unbalanced, his mother having been an +acknowledged lunatic, and his brother. Prince Alexander, an imbecile. +Nothing can be further from the truth. It cannot be denied that he +has a few harmless and kindly eccentricities which would attract no +attention whatever in an ordinary septuagenarian, but which excite +comment merely by reason of his rank as a prince of the blood. He is +a gentle, brilliantly accomplished, chivalrous old fellow, without +an enemy in the world, and is a great favorite with the emperor's +children, who will deeply miss him when he passes over to the +majority, and is laid to rest in the family vault of the house of +Hohenzollern. + +With this exception, the princes and princesses of the blood of the +Court of Berlin are all of much the same age as the emperor. They +comprise Prince Henry, his only brother, who is due home from China in +the spring of 1900, and his consort, Princess Irene of Hesse, sister +of the young czarina. Then there is Prince Frederick-Leopold, the +extremely wealthy son of Prussia's celebrated cavalry general, Prince +Frederick-Charles, to whom belonged the credit of taking the French +stronghold of Metz, in the war of 1870. He is married to a younger +sister of the empress, and is, therefore, not only the cousin, but +likewise the brother-in-law of the kaiser. + +Prince Adolph, of Schaumburg-Lippe, although nominally stationed at +Bonn, is also accustomed to spend the entire season at Berlin, with +his wife, Princess Victoria of Prussia, a sister of the kaiser. The +latter is credited with the intention of investing Prince Adolph with +the regency of Brunswick, should it be vacated by Prince Albert, or +else of appointing him Viceroy of Alsace-Lorraine. Princess Aribert +of Anhalt and her husband, too, are very conspicuous figures in the +imperial circle, the princess being a special favorite of the kaiser. +She is his first cousin, being the offspring of Queen Victoria's +daughter Helena, who married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, +the guardian of the present empress, who spent much of her girlhood +in England with Prince and Princess Christian, so that her friendship +with Princess Aribert may be said to date from childhood. Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, the only brother of the empress, +has quieted down to a great extent since his marriage a year ago to +Princess Dorothy of Coburg, and inasmuch as his eighteen-year-old wife +appears to be supremely happy, there is every reason to believe that +he has demonstrated the truth of the good old adage, according to +which "reformed rakes make the best husbands!" The only daughter of +the King of Wurtemberg has made her home at Potsdam and at Berlin +since her marriage to the Prince of Wied, and as she is not only the +cousin, but likewise the most intimate friend of the young Queen +of Holland, the kaiser finds considerable political advantage in +lavishing tokens of his affection and regard upon both her and her +husband. + +Another young couple belonging to the Court of Berlin are Prince and +Princess William of Hohenzollern. The princess is a daughter of the +Sicilian branch of the house of Bourbon, while her husband is the +eldest son of that Leopold of Hohenzollern, on account of whose +election to the throne of Spain in 1870, France embarked upon her +disastrous war with Germany. Young Prince William of Hohenzollern, it +may be added, figured for a time as Crown Prince of Roumania, and as +heir to the throne of his uncle, King Charles; but after living +for some time at Bucharest, he came to the conclusion that life in +Roumania as crown prince was infinitely less agreeable than that of +a scion of the house of Hohenzollern at Berlin, so he renounced his +rights to the Roumanian throne, and came back to Berlin to live. + +His younger brother, Charles of Hohenzollern, divides his time between +Berlin and Potsdam; he is married to Princess Josephine of Belgium, +daughter of that Count of Flanders, who is brother and next heir to +King Leopold. Besides these, there are Prince and Princess Albert +of Saxe-Altenburg, and several other young couples belonging to the +junior sovereign houses of the German empire, who prefer to make +their home at Berlin, and at Potsdam, rather than in the smaller and +infinitely less brilliant capitals of their respective countries. +Moreover, it has now become the fashion among the various non-Prussian +rulers of the German Confederation, to send the junior members of +their families--the young men--to Berlin for a time, in order to +complete their military education under the eyes of the kaiser, and +to be in touch with that general staff which is virtually the Supreme +Council of War of the German army. + +It is for this reason that Prince Louis of Bavaria, although he +notoriously dislikes the kaiser and resents his assumption of +superiority, claiming that the members of the Wittelsbach family are +not the vassals, but the allies of the emperor, nevertheless has sent +first his eldest son, and then each of his younger ones in turn, +to spend a year or two at the Court of Berlin, under the immediate +direction and eye of the kaiser. Prince Louis was particularly anxious +that his eldest son, Rupert, as future King of Bavaria, should get +in touch with the emperor, and become thoroughly acquainted, not +only with Prussian methods, but also with the leading statesmen and +generals, and with the trend of political aims and aspirations at +Berlin. The example of Prince Louis has been followed by all the other +petty German sovereigns, so that there are always about a score of +non-Prussian but German young princes of the blood, giving life and +gayety to the Courts of Berlin, and Potsdam, and taking a leading part +in Berlin society. + +Among the princes there is none, however, who possesses so striking an +individuality as William's only brother, Henry. His assignment to the +command of the German naval forces in the far Orient a couple of years +ago, created much comment and speculation, being construed by many, +both in Germany and abroad, as a banishment resulting from the +kaiser's jealousy and dislike of the very popular Sailor Prince. I +do not believe for one moment that this supposed jealousy exists, +although everything that can possibly be conceived has been done, +unintentionally and intentionally, to create it, in a manner which I +will describe a little further on. + +The reason of Prince Henry's being sent to the far Orient was of a +twofold character. In the first place, the Chinese Empire seemed to +be on the eve of a break-up, and each of the various Great Powers of +Europe, was exerting its utmost energies to secure the lion's share in +the game of grab in progress at Pekin. Scions of European royalty who +visit China and Japan are few and far between, and the emperor very +naturally thought that the presence of Prince Henry at the head of +the German naval forces in Chinese waters--a prince who in addition +to being the kaiser's only brother, is brother-in-law to the Russian +czar, and a grandson of the Queen of England,--would have the effect +of giving to the cause of Germany in the Orient an importance and a +prestige which would atone for the inferiority of its naval strength +in that part of the globe. Then, too, the emperor is generally +believed to have foreseen the conflict between Spain and the United +States, and to have known beforehand of the intention of the latter to +make a dash upon Manila, in order to secure possession of the rich and +fertile Philippine archipelago at the first outbreak of hostilities. +Germany's navy is of such relatively recent origin that its +flag-officers are far from possessing either the spirit of resource, +or the cleverness and diplomacy for which the commanding generals of +the German army are so distinguished. They are men who, officially, +intellectually, and socially, are of an inferior calibre, the majority +of them being of plebeian birth. The emperor held, therefore, that it +was all-important that Germany's squadron in the far Orient should be, +at that particular juncture, under the command of an officer such +as Prince Henry, who, by reason of his royal rank and his intimate +knowledge of his brother's views and wishes, would have the necessary +boldness, tact, and presence of mind to know exactly how to deal with +any crisis that might arise. + +I am perfectly aware that there is a disposition in the United States +to blame Prince Henry for the bad feeling which was caused by the +attitude of the German warships at Manila during the few months that +followed the great American naval victory gained under the guns of +that city, but the trouble was due to the Prussian rear-admiral, +Diederichs, who, to use the expressive phrase of the English captain, +Sir Edward Chichester, in endeavoring to excuse him in the eyes of +Admiral Dewey, "had no sea-manners," and there is no doubt that had +Prince Henry been at Manila, instead of Diederichs, at that moment, +there would have been no friction whatsoever, either between the naval +commanders, or subsequently between the two nations, for Prince Henry +possesses precisely those qualities which would have resulted in +feelings of good-will and friendship with Admiral Dewey. He is modest, +honest, broad-minded, speaks English perfectly, and is entirely free +from any affectation or pose. He is a man, indeed, who has so many +qualities in common with Dewey that it is impossible that they should +not have understood each other, and under the circumstances it is most +unfortunate that the prince happened to be in the northernmost portion +of the China seas at the very time that the battle of Manila was +fought. It may be remembered that matters went on very much more +smoothly between the Germans and the Americans at Manila after the +withdrawal of Admiral Diederichs. + +There was another very important reason for sending Prince Henry to +Manila; he is, of all the members of his house, the one most strongly +imbued with liberal and progressive ideas in political affairs. In +fact, he seems to have inherited all those political views of his +father, Emperor Frederick, which were a source of so much concern +and apprehension to the late Prince Bismarck. To tell the truth, the +political views and aspirations of Henry are diametrically opposed to +those of his elder brother, a circumstance which does not, however, in +any way impair the affection existing between the two. + +At the time when he sent off Prince Henry to China, the kaiser was far +from well, and was suffering more than usually from the painful +malady of the ear already referred to, and which is identical with +the disease which first of all wrecked the mind and then killed his +grand-uncle, King Frederick William IV. Added to this, he is firmly +imbued with the idea that he is destined to meet with a sudden death +at the hands of an assassin, a conviction which never leaves him, +and which is perhaps responsible for that species of stern and even +aggressive air with which he, gazes at the cheering crowds when he +rides home at the head of his troops through the streets of Berlin +or of Potsdam after a day spent in military manoeuvres on the great +plains of Tempelhof. + +If any of my readers feel disposed to condemn him for this +apprehension,--it would be unjust to style it fear,--let them try to +imagine how they themselves would feel if they knew that there were +scores of desperate men and women who had sworn to take their lives by +means of bullets or explosive bombs, fired or hurled from the centre +of some dense crowd, which would destroy the life of the victim of +such an outrage without a moment's warning, or without being able to +even so much as raise a hand in self-defense. + +Now at the time when Prince Henry sailed for China, the young crown +prince was sixteen years of age; that is to say, he lacked two years +of the attainment of his majority. Had anything untoward happened +to the kaiser during the minority of the crown prince, Prince Henry +would, according to the laws of the house of Hohenzollern and of the +Prussian constitution, have been appointed as regent until his nephew +came of age. Prince Henry's right to the regency, as nearest +male relative, was one of which he could not be deprived, save by +altogether exceptional and questionable methods, which both policy +and fraternal affection forbade the emperor to employ. Yet he realized +that were Henry to be entrusted with the regency he would change +in the most radical fashion the course of the ship of state; would +introduce measures dear to the late Emperor Frederick, but to which +he, the kaiser, was unalterably opposed, and would, in short, undo +everything that he himself had done; so that when eventually the crown +prince came of age there would be no longer any possibility of his +continuing his father's policy, a policy which the emperor has been at +great pains to inculcate into his boy. + +With Prince Henry at the Antipodes, there was an excuse for vesting +the regency either in the harmless hands of Frederick-Leopold, or in +those of Prince Albert, whose ideas on the subject of government are +to a great extent in keeping with those of the kaiser. That was one +of the reasons why Henry was sent off to China, and any doubt upon the +subject will be removed by remembering the fact that his sojourn in +the far East will terminate with the eighteenth birthday,--the coming +of age--of his nephew, the young crown prince. + +That such real and lasting affection should subsist between +William and Henry is indeed surprising, and speaks volumes for the +warm-heartedness, and I might almost say magnanimity of the kaiser's +character. For everything that could possibly have contributed to +render him jealous of his brother, has been done, as I remarked above. + +Henry was always favored at the expense of William by his father and +mother, as well as by the entire imperial family. In fact, the late +emperor gave a striking expression of his preference for his younger +son, when at the time of the prince's marriage to Princess Irene of +Hesse, he pressed into Henry's hand a slip of paper--he could not +speak any longer, owing to the awful malady which carried him off,--on +which he had written, "_You at least have never given me a moment's +sorrow, and will make as good a husband as you have been a loving +son_;" and when soon after this Emperor Frederick breathed his last, +it was found that he had left the major part of his fortune either +to Henry directly, or to Empress Frederick, in trust for this, his +favorite son. + +This privileged position in the affection of his parents, aye, and +it may be added in the hearts of the German people, is due in a large +measure to Prince Henry's education. He was brought up, so to speak, +at sea, and the moral profession is of all others the one which +calls forth all the best qualities of a man, develops manliness, and +diminishes pride and affectation. Before he was twenty years of age, +he had twice circumnavigated the globe, visiting every corner of the +earth, and carrying the flag of Germany into regions where it had +never been seen before. This in itself was sufficient to interest +Germans in the young prince, the first of his house to seek adventures +in such far distant climes; and this healthy, manly, interesting mode +of life was compared to his advantage with the somewhat dissipated +existence of a young army officer, which his elder brother, prior to +his marriage, indulged in at Berlin. + +Occasionally, stories reached the public through the press of feats +of gallantry performed by the royal sailor, such as the plunging +overboard once in a squall, and at another time in shark-infested +waters, to save drowning sailors; while every incident which thus +became known concerning the young prince served to confirm his +countrymen in the belief that he was endowed in an altogether +exceptional degree with those qualities which we are so fond of +ascribing to "those who go down to the sea in ships." These long sea +voyages had, moreover, the effect of keeping him clear of all +those court and political intrigues with which Emperor William was +surrounded, as if with a very network, prior to his accession to the +throne; intrigues, I may add, which since William became emperor, have +been devoted to many a futile endeavor designed to create mischief +between the two brothers. It is probable that they will have less +effect than ever from henceforth, since William, now that his eldest +boy has attained his majority, will have no longer any reason to +apprehend the possibility of Henry's undoing, in the capacity of +regent, all the work that he, the kaiser, has accomplished during the +eleven years of his reign; indeed, now that this danger is eliminated, +the two brothers are likely to become more intimate than ever, and the +Court of Berlin will probably see much more of the sailor prince than +heretofore. Henry is the very life of his brother's court, as he is +not only extremely fond of making fun, even at the expense sometimes +of his majesty, especially about the excessively earnest attitude +which the emperor assumes, with regard to the most trivial questions. +Absolutely unconventional, save on his own quarter-deck, he carries +about with him an atmosphere of brightness and breeziness which is +almost as infectious and as bracing as a whiff of sea air. + +For all his love of skylarking, and the freedom of his manners, his +name has never been associated with any questionable story, save by +the gutter element of the Parisian press, which endeavored to drag him +into the Dreyfus case by declaring that Germany's strange attitude in +the affair was due to the alleged knowledge the French War Department +of terrible immorality proved to have been committed by Prince Henry +during frequent secret visits to Paris. Of course there is not a word +of truth in these contemptible stories, and the prince's reputation as +a perfect husband and a healthy-minded gentleman, stands high, even +in Berlin, where people are overfond of scandalous gossip. Certainly +there are plenty of stories current about the pranks that he has +played, but these are all of an innocent and boyish character. The +prince creates the impression of the most complete wholesomeness; his +six feet of well set up manhood, his bright eyes and clear, tanned +skin, seem the outward and visible sign of a thoroughly clean and +sound mind; common sense, frankness, fearlessness, dignity and +kindness, are written in his every feature in a way that reminds +people vividly of his lamented father; while the easy movements of +an athletic body, always apparently in the pink of condition, are +evidently allied to the smooth serenity of a mind confident in itself, +but modest with the humility of knowledge. + +After having said so much that is pleasant of the prince, I must, +in pursuance of my determination to give the shadows as well as the +lights of my portraits, admit that there are two particulars in which +Prince Henry cannot be said to shine. One of these is public speaking, +and the other is shooting; he is as unfortunate in the one respect as +in the other. + +His only public utterance of any importance was made at the time +of his departure for China, when he addressed the emperor in such +extravagant terms, referring to his "consecrated majesty," and so on, +that it created mingled feelings of amazement and amusement from one +end of the civilized world to the other! There has always been an +impression in my mind that there was in this extraordinary speech just +a suspicion of a disposition to guy his brother: for not only were the +terms that he used entirely foreign to his character,--their _outré_ +tenor bordering on the ridiculous,--but it is impossible for anyone +who has ever heard him chaffing his seasick brother while out +yachting, putting his head in at the cabin door every now and again, +and calling out, "Well, Willie, how do you feel now, and what has +become of your imperial dignity?" to believe that he was really +serious when he so solemnly ascribed divine attributes to this +selfsame Willie. + +I heard that after the prince's arrival in China, where banquets were +given in his honor by the German and English leading colonists, he was +repeatedly asked to make a few remarks in reply to the toasts drunk +in his honor, but that on each occasion he politely informed his hosts +that he would see them in Jericho before he got on his feet to address +them. "Only once in my life," he was wont to say, "did I make a +speech, and I shall never hear the end of that to the close of my +days!" A little later on, when the Shanghai correspondent of the +London _Times_ was presented to him, he himself referred to this most +celebrated and oft-quoted speech by inquiring good-humoredly, and +withal plaintively, "By the way, don't you think your newspapers have +roasted me enough about it?" + +With regard to his shooting, there is no scion of royalty who has been +the cause of more gun accidents than the prince. He had not attained +his majority before he managed, while shooting in the game preserves +of his uncle, the Grand Duke of Baden, to wound a gamekeeper so +severely that the man was crippled for life, and has since been in the +receipt of a generous pension from the prince. Then in Corfu, while +clambering up a steep hill, he had the misfortune to unintentionally +discharge his gun, the lead lodging in a Greek gentleman who was +following a few feet behind him and grievously injuring him; while +at a later period he succeeded in inflicting serious damage upon a +Turkish dignitary appointed by the Sultan to attend him during his +shooting trips in Syria. It is of him, too, that is related the story +of how, when asked as a youth of twenty, by Queen Victoria, during +one of his stays at Balmoral, what sport he had had while out deer +stalking, he replied proudly: "Well, grandma, I did not succeed in +killing a stag, but I hit quite a number." It is recorded that there +was a painful silence after this remark, and that the prince was not +again urged to go out deer stalking during his stay at Balmoral! + +Princess Henry is probably the least favored, both as to beauty and +brilliancy of intellect, of the daughters of the late Grand Duke of +Hesse, and of his consort, Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen +Victoria. Her three sisters, the Grand Duchess Sergius of Russia, +Princess Louis of Battenberg, and the young czarina, are renowned for +their loveliness and their cleverness, the latter inherited from their +talented mother; whereas Princess Irene and her brother, the reigning +Grand Duke of Hesse, take far more after their father. Princess Irene +was born in 1866, during the Seven Weeks' War, when her father was +called upon to fight his own brothers in the Prussian army, and his +brother-in-law, the late Emperor Frederick, then Crown Prince of +Prussia. Her baptismal sponsors were the officers and men belonging +to the two cavalry regiments under her father's special command during +that war:--there is no other princess in Europe who has ever had two +entire regiments of cavalry for godfathers! The name of Irene was +bestowed upon her by way of gratitude for the restoration of peace, +and she used always to be known in her young days at Darmstadt as the +"Friedenskind," or "child of peace." After her mother's death from +diphtheria, it was the latter's eldest sister, the now widowed Empress +Frederick, who endeavored, as far as possible, to look after the +children, and it was perhaps this that led to Prince Henry's falling +in love with his cousin. The match was strongly opposed by Prince +Bismarck, partly upon the ground of the close relationship of the +parties, but mainly on account of his hatred for the reigning house of +Hesse. But when Prince Henry declared that he would remain single all +his life unless he were allowed to marry Princess Irene, consent was +given, and the wedding took place at Charlottenburg in the presence +of the dying Emperor Frederick, this being the last public ceremony at +which he was present. One of the saddest of sights, indeed, was that +presented by "Unser Fritz," almost too weak to stand, giving his +voiceless blessing after the ceremony to his favorite son, and to +his new daughter-in-law, who, having been born in a time of war and +misery, was entering upon her new life as a wife at a time when the +whole nation was once more sorrowing. While Princess Irene is +perhaps less attractive than her sisters, she is more interested in +philanthropic movements than any other member of her family, and at +Kiel, where she makes her home, she is greatly liked, especially by +the poor. She is a magnificent equestrienne, and a very clever shot, +being infinitely more successful in this respect than her husband, who +is so devoted to her that he bears this superiority with the greatest +equanimity. + +Although Prince Frederick-Leopold has certainly relieved himself from +any imputation of effeminacy by the conspicuous part he took in the +long-distance rides between Berlin and Vienna, and by his magnificent +horsemanship, yet he does not convey to people the impression of +manliness that constitutes so distinguishing a characteristic of his +cousins, Prince Henry and the kaiser. He is lacking alike in virility +and intellect, and seems to have no other aim and aspiration in life +than to live up to his name and reputation as the leader of masculine +fashion or "Gigerl König," which may be rendered into English as +"king of the dudes." They say at the Court of Berlin that he is so +particular about the fit of his clothes that he will never remain +seated for more than five minutes at a time, not even when traveling, +for fear of spoiling the crease in his trousers or of making them +baggy at the knees! He does not attempt to disguise the fact that +the faultlessness of his coats or of his uniforms is an object of +paramount importance. These are, however, very harmless weaknesses, +which are more than atoned for by the fact that he is an excellent +father and husband, but the obstinacy of his temper and his vagaries +as a leader of masculine fashion at Berlin have often been a source of +impatience and irritation to the kaiser. It is only just to lay stress +on his excellence both as a husband and a father, as all sorts of +stories have been circulated, not merely in the foreign press, but +also in the German newspapers, charging him with intemperance and with +brutality towards his wife, who is a younger sister of the empress, +such as to necessitate the intervention of the kaiser. + +These stories are pure calumnies, and originate in a confusion between +the prince and his father, the celebrated cavalry general. The latter, +popularly known as the "Red Prince," was the commander to whom Metz +capitulated in 1870, and was not only noted for his hard drinking, +but likewise for his rough usage of his amiable and formerly lovely +consort when he was in his cups. He is credited with having frequently +beaten her, either with his fist or with his riding whip, when crazed +with drink; and it is no secret that she left him on three occasions +with the avowed intention of securing a separation and even divorce, +and was only persuaded to return to her husband by the entreaties of +the old emperor. + +Of course all this was a matter of court gossip at the time, and three +or four years ago the stories formerly current concerning the father, +who has been dead for more than a decade, were revived with regard to +his son, for no other reason than that the prince had quite frequently +rendered himself subject to disciplinary measures by the kaiser. If +the latter has, however, ordered him to remain under arrest in his +palace at various times, it has not been as a punishment for having +horsewhipped his wife when drunk, as some foreign illustrated papers +would have the world believe, but only because the prince had been +guilty of some neglect in military duty, or had disobeyed the wishes +of the emperor in connection with the management of his household. + +Thus, some two or three winters ago, Princess Frederick-Leopold was +almost drowned while out skating near Potsdam; she broke through the +ice, was completely unconscious when miraculously rescued by four +peasants who happened to be in the neighborhood, and was only brought +back to life with the utmost difficulty. The emperor and empress +were naturally much concerned and distressed by this accident; but +William's sympathy changed into very serious anger when he learnt that +the princess had remained so long under the ice and had been dependent +on the courage and bravery of the peasants who rescued her, only +because neither her husband nor any of the gentlemen of his household +had been in attendance upon her. In fact, she was quite alone with a +lady-in-waiting, who lost her head, and was completely unable to offer +any assistance when the mishap occurred. The emperor also discovered +that on the previous day the princess had, without any escort +whatsoever, skated alone all the way from Potsdam to Brandenburg and +back, a remarkable feat, calling for much endurance and attended by +no little danger. Now, as I have already stated, it is contrary to the +rules of court etiquette and usage for any prince or princess of the +blood to leave their residence, unattended, and it was on account of +the infraction of this regulation that the kaiser sentenced both the +prince and his consort to several weeks' arrest in their palace. It +was this circumstance that gave rise to the ridiculous and sensational +tale of the prince having been punished by the emperor in consequence +of the latter having caught him in the act of beating the princess +while in a fit of drunken fury. + +Prince Frederick-Leopold is a great traveller, and has not only spent +a considerable time in India as the guest of his brother-in-law, the +Duke of Connaught, when the latter was in military command at Bombay, +but, moreover, he has visited China and Japan, and devoted several +months to a tour in the United States, which was wound up by some +rather exciting events at Coney Island before his return home to +Berlin. + +[Illustration: _SCENE IN DUKE ERNEST GUNTHER'S QUARTERS_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +Of the bachelorhood days of the kaiser's other brother-in-law, Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, already mentioned several times +in these pages, especially in connection with the anonymous letter +scandal, the least said the better. A hard-drinking, dissipated, and +somewhat coarse-mannered cavalry officer, he has often been a source +of perpetual anger to the kaiser and of distress to his sister, the +excellent empress. He managed to get his name involved in all sorts of +unsavory speculations on the stock exchange and in gambling scandals, +invariably, it is true, as a victim; while at least three foreign +footlight favorites were expelled from Germany by the police on +account of the scandals created by his association with them. On one +occasion, he even had the audacity to appear at Charlottenburg with a +notorious American "_demi-mondaine_" seated beside him on the box of +his drag, although his sister, the empress, was present at the races, +as well as a large number of ladies of the court and many great +dignitaries. Seeing the servants of his coach arrayed in the familiar +liveries of his house, they all naturally imagined that the +lady beside the duke was one of his sisters, either Princess +Frederick-Leopold or Princess Fedora, and accorded to her the homage +which would have belonged by right to either of these two princesses, +but which was totally misplaced when conceded to a woman of such +unenviable notoriety as the fair stranger who sat beside the duke. +Needless to add that the emperor was furious when he heard of the +affair, and after giving orders for the immediate expulsion of the +woman, directed the prince to leave Berlin, and to remain at his +castle of Prinkenau until he had expiated his gross and flagrant +breach of the proprieties. + +Duke Ernest-Gunther was a suitor for the hand of quite a large number +of princesses, and among those to whom he proposed were the daughters +of the Prince of Wales and of the latter's brother, the Duke of +Coburg, his suit being rejected with touching unanimity in each +instance, in consequence of his unenviable reputation. Yet strangely +enough, as stated previously, he seems to have developed into +an exemplary husband, although his marriage was contracted under +circumstances which, verged on a tragedy; for his wife, a mere +seventeen-year-old girl, just issuing from the school-room when he +made an offer for her hand, was literally flung into his arms by both +her parents, who were determined to separate from each other, and who +had been informed by Emperor Francis-Joseph of Austria, and by King +Leopold of Belgium, that no such step could be tolerated until after +the marriage of little Princess "Dolly," the only daughter of this +ill-matched couple. The betrothal took place in due course at Vienna. +But before the marriage could follow, the young girl's mother, namely, +Princess Louise of Coburg and of Belgium, deliberately eloped from the +Austrian capital with her husband's chamberlain, the Hungarian Count +Keglewitch; and what was worse, took her daughter with her. The trio +fled to Nice, where they were visited by King Leopold, who after +endeavoring in vain to persuade the princess to return to her husband +at Vienna, discarded her in hot anger, declaring that she was no +longer his daughter! + +The next act in the drama was a challenge issued by Prince Philip of +Coburg against Count Keglewitch, who left Nice for the encounter: the +duel was fought in the army riding-school at Vienna, the commander of +the metropolitan garrison and the minister of war acting as seconds +to Prince Philip, although duelling is strictly forbidden by law in +Austria, as it is in Germany. Prince Philip received a painful wound +in the hand, and the count forthwith left to rejoin the princess at +Nice. The publicity given to this duel had the unfortunate result, +however, of calling attention to the presence of poor little Princess +Dorothy at Nice with her misguided mother and the count, and the +princess having been warned by the Austrian authorities and the French +police that her daughter would be taken from her by force unless she +relinquished her hold upon the child, she sent her back to Vienna, +whence the girl was immediately dispatched to Dresden and placed under +the care of the mother and the unmarried sister of the German empress, +with whom she remained until her marriage. + +Shortly after her departure from Nice, her mother was forced to take +flight in consequence of the persecution to which she was subjected by +her creditors; and with a shamelessness that can only be explained on +the score of an unbalanced mind, she deliberately returned to Austria +with her lover, and coolly took up her residence at his castle near +Agram, where the count actually made preparations for a siege, in +order to resist by force any attempt on the part of the authorities to +take the princess from him. + +Ultimately, both were captured by strategy, and while the princess was +conveyed under police escort to Vienna, and lodged at the request of +her husband in a lunatic asylum, on the sworn statements of two court +physicians concerning her insanity, the count was placed under close +arrest at Agram on the charge of grossly immoral conduct, unbecoming +an officer and a gentleman. Before he had been very long in the +military prison, this charge was changed to one of forgery; for it was +discovered that there were notes in circulation at Vienna and Paris +to the extent of more than a million dollars, which the count had +negotiated, and which bore the forged signature of Princess Louise's +sister, the widowed Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria. + +The count of course denied that he had forged the signature, but +as the fact remains that he negotiated the notes, and that Princess +Louise, who, failing himself, can alone have been the culprit, is +officially declared insane, and legally irresponsible, he has had to +bear the brunt of the affair, and is now, after having undergone the +terrible ceremony of military degradation, working out a sentence of +five years' penal servitude in a fortress; doubtless comparing his +fate with that of the celebrated Baron Trench, who was imprisoned +for years in the dungeons of Spandau, and of Magdeburg, for having +compromised the fair name of the sister of Frederick the Great by +indiscreet attentions. + +Princess Louise is now under strict restraint in an asylum for the +insane near Dresden, and inasmuch as both her father, King Leopold of +the Belgians, and her husband, have declined to pay any of her +debts, public sales of her belongings, even of her dresses and her +under-garments, were permitted to take place at Vienna and at Nice +for the benefit of her creditors. It is only fair to the unfortunate +princess to state that her entire married life has been one of +uninterrupted misery, owing to the brutality and drunken habits of +her husband, who is noted as one of the most dissolute princes in +all Europe. In fact if court gossip at Berlin and Vienna is to be +believed, the princess first became enamored of Count Keglewitch when +the latter, in attendance on the princely couple as their chamberlain, +interfered one day to protect her from the blows of her husband. + +It was amidst circumstances such as these that Princess Dorothy was +married to Duke Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, neither her +father nor her mother being present at her marriage; the reigning Duke +of Coburg, as chief of the Coburg family figuring in the place of her +parents, and giving her away at the altar. That with such a father, +such a mother, and with a husband of such a past reputation for +dissipation and wildness, the little princess should have found +happiness in marriage, is, to say the least, surprising. But the duke +seems devoted to his little wife, while she on her side is completely +wrapped up in her husband, and thinks him perfect, in every way. + +Yet another brother-in-law of the kaiser who is a conspicuous figure +at the Court of Berlin, is Prince Adolphus of Schaumburg-Lippe, +married to Princess Victoria, the least attractive and least +popular of William's sisters. After several flirtations of a rather +sensational character with young Count Andrassy, and several other gay +diplomats and noblemen, which were a source of amusement to the court, +although of great concern to her mother, she ultimately fell in love +with Prince Alexander of Battenburg, who at the time had just been +forced to abandon the throne of Bulgaria, and who was certainly one of +the handsomest and most fascinating of European princes. The prince, +who was at the time, to put matters plainly, out of a job, being +without fortune or future, was persuaded by his relatives, notably by +his brother Henry, who had married Princess Beatrice of England, +to apply for her hand; this he did, on the understanding that his +marriage to her would facilitate his restoration to the German army, +from which he had resigned on ascending the throne of Bulgaria; for as +a general of the Prussian army, he anticipated retrieving the prestige +and fame which he had lost as ruler of Bulgaria. + +Prince Bismarck, however, set his face strongly against the match on +the ground that it would impair the friendly relations between the +Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander being for +personal reasons an object of the most intense animosity to the late +czar. Indeed, it was this hatred on the part of the late Emperor of +Russia that had rendered it impossible for Prince Alexander to retain +his throne of Bulgaria. Old Emperor William, supported his chancellor +in the matter, and while the late Emperor Frederick, at that time +merely crown prince, remained quite passive, the cause of Princess +Victoria and Prince Alexander was strongly championed by Empress +Frederick and Queen Victoria. The controversy continued even after the +death of old Emperor William, and finally, in face of the persistent +hostility in the matter displayed by Prince Bismarck, and by the +present kaiser, it was arranged that the couple should be married, not +in Germany, but in England, at Windsor Castle, and that they should +make their home elsewhere than in Germany. This, however, did not meet +the views of Prince Alexander, who thus saw all his ambition for a +military career in the German army frustrated instead of promoted by +the union. So at the very last moment, within a few days of the date +appointed for the wedding at Windsor, and after all the trousseau had +been purchased and the wedding presents bought, he deliberately +jilted his royal fiancee, and married at Nice, an actress named Mlle. +Lösinger, an offspring of the valet and the cook of the old Austrian +General Faviani. + +The prince, it may be remembered, subsequently abandoned the title +and status of a Prince Battenberg, secured the title of Count Hartenau +from his father's old friend and comrade, the Emperor of Austria, as +well as a colonelcy in the Austrian army, and died as major-general in +command of a brigade at Gratz. + +It was more than a year after this, that Princess Victoria found a +husband in the insignificant-looking and inoffensive Prince Adolph of +Schaumburg-Lippe, son of Prince George of that ilk, the prince at that +time serving as Captain of Hussars at Bonn. Soon afterwards, Emperor +William learning that Prince Waldemar of Lippe was dying, took +advantage of the fact that he was rather weak-minded to induce him to +sign a species of will bequeathing the regency of the principality at +his death to Prince Adolph of Schaumburg-Lippe, the next heir to the +throne of Lippe; his brother Alexander of Lippe being an incurable +lunatic. On the strength of this document, which was of a purely +personal character, and which was neither ratified by the legislature +of the principality of Lippe, nor recognized by the federal council of +the German empire, Prince Adolph, with the assistance of a couple +of Prussian regiments, coolly took possession of the principality of +Lippe, proclaimed himself regent, and assumed the reins of government. + +According to the laws of Germany governing the succession of its +sovereign houses, the regency in such a case as that presented by the +principality of Lippe, should have fallen to the lot of the nearest +living agnate. The latter happened to be Count Ernest of Lippe, chief +of the Beisterfeld branch of the Lippe family. Prince Adolph, however, +and his brother-in-law, Emperor William, took the ground that Count +Ernest was debarred from the regency, and from succession to the +throne on the death of the crazy Prince Alexander, by the fact +that sometime in the early part of the last century one of his male +ancestors had contracted a mésalliance, and thus brought a plebeian +strain into the family. This contention was accepted neither by the +people of Lippe, nor by the count; they appealed to the tribunals +of the empire, and to every reigning family of Germany in turn, the +entire non-Prussian press, as well as many newspapers in Prussia +itself, espousing their cause. + +Finally, the emperor and his brother-in-law were forced by +popular clamor to consent to bring the matter before a tribunal of +arbitration, composed of the principal judges of the Supreme Federal +Court at Leipzig, presided over for the occasion by the dean and +veteran of German sovereigns, King Albert of Saxony. The tribunal, +after due deliberation, rendered a decision against the emperor and +Prince Adolph; directing the latter to at once surrender the regency +and the Lippe estates, which are immensely valuable, yielding an +income of eight hundred thousand dollars, to Count Ernest of Lippe, +on the ground that if a mésalliance such as the one contracted by the +count's eighteenth-century ancestor were to be considered sufficient +to invalidate his rights to the regency and to the succession to the +throne, as the nearest living male relative of the crazy reigning +prince, half the thrones of Germany would have to be vacated by their +present occupants. + +It was pointed out by the arbitrators that if the contention of Prince +Adolph and the kaiser were admitted, the Grand Duke of Baden would +have to abandon his throne; the branch of the Baden family to which +he belonged being descended from a prince of Baden who contracted a +mésalliance at the close of the last century; that all the children of +the emperor himself would be barred from succession to the throne of +Germany, since the great-grandfather of the present Empress of Germany +was the offspring of a terrible mésalliance; while last, but not +least, Prince Adolph himself was descended from a prince of Lippe who +towards the close of the last century, fell in love with and married +the daughter of a mere writ-server, whose blood flows in the veins of +the emperor's brother-in-law. + +Emperor William and Prince Adolph bitterly resented the setback to +which they were subjected by this decree of the King of Saxony; and +although they were forced to yield in the present instance, they +threatened to reopen the entire question should anything untoward +happen to the present regent, Count Lippe, for they insist that under +no circumstances can any of his sons be permitted to inherit either +his rights or his honors, owing to the fact that his wife, the +Countess of Lippe, is also the issue of a mésalliance, her mother +having been an American girl, a native of Philadelphia, who married +Count Leopold Wartensleben. On the strength of this, Prussian +authorities, military as well as civilian, while directed to accord +to the Count of Lippe the honors due to the regent of a German +sovereignty, are forbidden to recognize in any way either the count's +consort or his children, on the ground that these can only be regarded +as morganatic, and as such debarred from the tokens of respect due to +full-fledged members of a sovereign house. + +Naturally, all this has served to render Prince Adolph and his wife +extremely unpopular throughout the length and breadth of Germany; and +when a short time ago there was a question of appointing the prince +as regent of the Duchy of Brunswick in succession to Prince Albert +of Prussia, who is tired of the post, or as a stadtholder of +Alsace-Lorraine in the place of Prince Herman Hohenlohe, the press +throughout Germany, and even in Prussia, raised its voice in protest +against the emperor's forcing his brother-in-law into places for which +he was in no sense of the word fitted, either by his talents, his +administrative skill, his tact, or his intellectual abilities. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Although Germany's young crown prince has until now been more or less +of a stranger to court functions and gaieties at Berlin, his time +being absorbed by his studies at the military academy of Plön, and his +holidays spent in travel and Alpine expeditions, yet, as he is about +to celebrate his majority, and has passed from the stages of boyhood +to those of manhood, he will be from henceforth a personage of the +utmost importance--second only in rank to the emperor. + +Destined, in course of time, to succeed to the throne and to the +immense responsibilities of his father, and to become virtually the +autocratic ruler of a nation of fifty million people, as well as the +absolute master of the greatest military power on the face of the +globe, every scrap of information concerning this youth must naturally +be of vast interest, not only to his future subjects, but also to +the entire civilized world. Under the circumstances, therefore, it is +satisfactory to be able to say truthfully that Germany's future kaiser +is a fine, healthy-minded, healthy-bodied lad, disposed to take an +extremely serious view of his duties and his obligations, and who, +thanks to the excellent education which he has received both from his +parents and his teachers, seems destined to prove a wise as well as a +popular monarch. + +It seems but the other day that the young crown prince, as a chubby +ten-year-old lad, was being introduced by his father to the officers +and men of the first regiment of Foot Guards at Potsdam, to which, +in accordance with traditional usage, he was appointed on his tenth +birthday as lieutenant. There may be some of my readers who were +present on that occasion, and who may remember the spectacle presented +by the little fellow, vainly endeavoring to keep step with the giant +strides of these huge grenadiers, the tallest men in the German army, +during the march-past that followed the ceremony. Since then there +have been so many portraits of the crown prince published, as he +appeared at that time, that this taken in conjunction with the rapid +flight of years, renders it difficult to realize that he is now no +longer a little boy, but a youth considerably taller and almost as +broad and stalwart as his father, whose best friend he has become. + +William and his eldest boy are fondly devoted to each other. To the +crown prince, his father is in every sense of the word "William second +to none;" while the kaiser himself is entirely wrapped up in his heir. +For the last few years the emperor has given every spare moment that +he could snatch away from his multifarious occupations to the task of +instilling his ideas and views into the crown prince. In talking +and reasoning with him, he has treated the lad as far older than his +years, has discussed with him, in fact, as if he were a man; and it +is due to this that Germany's future emperor is at the present moment +remarkably mature for his age, and really in a position to view +matters with a degree of experience and knowledge that are unrivalled +in so young a man. As a general rule, young people are unwilling to +accept the advice of their elders, or to benefit by their experience, +convinced that their seniors are behind the spirit of the age, and in +no sense of the word up to date. But with the German crown prince this +is different: he is so imbued with the idea that his father is wiser +and better than anyone else in the world, that he is willing and glad +to accept the paternal recommendations and to benefit by paternal +advice. + +Yet with all this the lad is not a prig, nor is he forward or +presumptuous. True, he has a keen sense of his own dignity, but it +takes the form of an extreme simplicity, and of an absolute lack of +affectation, since he is intelligent enough to realize that his rank +and position are sufficiently assured to render it unnecessary that he +should call attention thereto either by his manner or by his speech. +He is modest too, very frank, particularly courteous to old people, +boyishly chivalrous to women, and firmly convinced that there is no +member of the fair sex in the entire world who is so ideally perfect +in appearance, as well as in character, as his mother. + +I would not for all the world that this description of the crown +prince should in any way convey the impression to my readers that he +is a milksop or an overgrown child! Devoted to every form of sport, a +splendid gymnast, a clever oarsman, a skilful driver and a bold rider, +an excellent shot, he is in every sense of the word a manly young +fellow, who, however, has been kept free from all contact with the +darker sides of life, and who still retains, therefore, mingled with +the experience of a grown man, much of the innocence and freshness of +mind of a mere boy. Indeed, he is a son of whom any father and mother +might well be proud! + +Fair-haired and blue-eyed, with the down of a blond moustache upon his +upper lip, the young prince is a typical Hohenzollern, and resembles +his grandfather, Emperor Frederick, more than he does his father. He +is passionately devoted to everything military, and keenly relishes +the idea that the six months following the attainment of his majority +are to be devoted to military duties at Potsdam, for although he has +held a commission of lieutenant of the first regiment of Foot Guards +since his tenth year, he is only now about to be called upon to fulfil +the duties of his rank with the regiment. + +It will be in every sense of the word an arduous training, for the +first regiment of Guards being considered all the world over as the +crack corps of the German army, and as the embodiment of military +perfection in every sense of the word, its officers, realizing that +it is, so to speak, the star phalanx of Germany, are engaged, morning, +noon and night, in maintaining it at its proper standard, and there +are no officers anywhere in Europe who are so hard worked as those +of the first regiment of Prussian Guards;--that regiment which in the +days of Frederick the Great's father was composed entirely of giants, +recruited, or rather purchased often, at a cost of several thousand +dollars apiece, from all parts of the world! + +The prince must be on the drill grounds and the manoeuvre fields as +early as four o'clock in the morning, returning for a sort of luncheon +towards ten or eleven; he must devote his afternoon to military +studies of one kind or another; while from four o'clock till seven his +time will be taken up by barrack-room inspections, company reports, +and the other thousand and one duties incidental to regimental life +in Germany. In the case of the crown prince the work will be +exceptionally heavy, as he is expected to acquire in the course of six +months an experience which other subalterns take years to obtain. At +the end of the term in question he is to go to Bonn, there to take +his seat, like his father before him, on the benches of the celebrated +university as an ordinary student. + +From his eighteenth birthday the crown prince will have an +establishment and a civil list of his own. He will have his court +marshal, who will be at the same time the treasurer, governor, and +chief officer of his household. He will have his aids-de-camp, who +will, as far as possible, be young men of his own age and alive to the +responsibilities of their office; he will also have a palace of his +own, stables of his own, and his own shooting. Indeed the forest of +Spandau has already been for some time past strictly preserved in view +of his coming of age. + +This particular forest has from time immemorial been assigned as the +particular game-park of the heir to the crown. The crown prince is +to make his home in the so-called "Stadtschloss" at Potsdam, where +he will occupy the same suite of apartments that was tenanted by his +parents during the alterations that recently took place at the "Neues +Palais." This palace was erected at the close of the seventeenth +century, and contains, among other objects of interest, the furniture +used by Frederick the Great, the coverings of which were nearly all +torn to shreds by the claws of his dog; his writing-table covered with +ink-stains, his library filled with Trench books, music composed by +himself, etc. The various halls and rooms are kept nearly in the same +manner, indeed, as when he used them. Adjoining his bedroom there is +a small cabinet, where he used to dine alone or with Voltaire, without +attendants, everything coming through the floor on a dumbwaiter, the +king himself placing the dishes on the table. + +It is in this palace, haunted, one might almost say, at every point +by memories and by the spirit of the most famous of Prussian kings, +a monarch distinguished as a general, as an administrator and as a +philosopher, that Germany's future emperor will from henceforth make +his home until he in turn, on the death of his father, will migrate, +as did the latter, from the so-called Stadtschloss to the "Neues +Palais," two miles and a half distant. The crown prince is also to +have a residence of his own at Berlin, where he is to occupy the +Bellevue Palace during the court season. + +Among other characteristics of the young crown prince is his fondness +for animals, and the extraordinary influence which, even as a child, +he has always seemed to exercise over them. He succeeded in training +his ponies, his dogs and other domestic pets to perform such clever +tricks that on several occasions he managed, with the assistance of +his brothers, to organize very creditable circus performances, usually +in honor of the birthday of his father or his mother. There was one +instance especially that I may recall, which took place some years +ago. This particular performance began in the afternoon at three, with +a prologue spoken by Prince August William, in which he mentioned the +different items of the programme. Then each of the royal lads led his +pony in front of the box in which the imperial couple sat with their +guests, and the crown prince put his horse "Daretz," through all kinds +of tricks, of a high school character, winding up by making the horse +kneel in token of salute before the emperor and empress. More trick +riding on another horse named "Puck," belonging to the crown prince, +followed, and thereupon there was a comical _intermezzo_, in which +Prince Adalbert and Prince Eitel took the part of two clowns. Later +on, the crown prince's dogs were brought on the scene, and his +favorite "Tom" went through some extraordinary antics, walking about +all over the ring on his hind legs, tolling bells, driving other of +the prince's dogs with reins, and jumping through hoops covered +with tissue paper. The whole affair lasted over two hours, was very +entertaining, even to grown-up people who did not happen to be related +to the organizers of the entertainment, and did great credit to +the cleverness of the crown prince, and above all to the marvellous +influence which he exercises over animals of every description. + +Military tastes in the royal lad have been developed by the games +and pastimes in which he and his brothers were encouraged to indulge; +hence, in the grounds of the Bellevue Palace at Berlin, as well as in +a corner of the great park of the Neues Palais at Potsdam, the boys +constructed full-fledged forts with water-filled moats, and cleverly +constructed bastions, which were stormed from time to time in due +form, and being defended with the utmost tenacity, hard knocks were +ofttimes given and received. The playmates of the crown prince and his +brothers have been not merely the sons of nobles forming part of the +imperial household and court, but likewise the children of employés of +much less exalted rank, such as the sons of lodge-keepers, gardeners, +game-keepers, etc., who all played and tumbled with the young princes +on a footing of the most perfect equality, drubbing one another +totally irrespective of rank. It is a pleasant thing to know that +friendships thus formed subsist in after life; as an instance, when +the kaiser's sister, now crown princess of Greece, sent to Germany +some time ago for a nursery governess for her young children, she +was able to acquire the services of her old girlhood playmate, the +daughter of one of the gardeners employed at the "Neues Palais." + +The crown prince may be said to have traveled over all Germany, and +that, too, in the most democratic and sensible fashion. In Germany, +and, in fact, all over the continent of Europe, a pedestrian tour, +domestic and foreign, constitutes part and parcel of the education +of every youth, especially those of the industrial classes. No +apprenticeship is considered complete without the accomplishment of a +trip of this kind, which is usually performed with a knapsack on the +back, and in the most economical manner imaginable. This portion of +the youth's life is known as his "_wanderjahr_" and the traveler is +known by the name of "_wanderbürsche_" The trip serves to broaden the +mind of the "_bürsche,_" to render him self-reliant, and to give him +a knowledge and experience of the world--aye, and of his craft as +well--that he could never obtain if he remained at home. Emperor +William, who in many things is so exceedingly reactionary, and +so apparently assured that royalty is constructed of an entirely +different clay than that used for ordinary folks, gave a manifestation +of those democratic notions which constitute such a paradox to the +remainder of his character by sending forth his three eldest boys each +year during their holidays on a pedestrian tour through the length and +breadth of his dominions, just as if they were the sons of artisans, +and were compelled to learn a trade for a living. The crown prince and +his brothers traveled, not in a palace-car, nor in carriages, but on +foot, with knapsacks on their backs, and spending the nights at mere +roadside inns. They had no servant with them, only their military +governor, Colonel von Falkenheyn, and his assistant, the latter a +lieutenant of the guards, and the name tinder which they journeyed was +an incognito one; indeed, so cleverly did they manage to conceal their +identity that it was hardly ever revealed. + +It is difficult to imagine anything that appealed more to the masses +in Germany than this manner adopted by the kaiser for making his sons +acquainted with the world. It was felt that the royal lads, with their +knapsacks on their backs, afoot, and with no indication of their rank, +would obtain by actual experience a contact with the people and a +knowledge which they could never hope to acquire if they had +toured through the land in special trains, on horseback, or in +splendidly-appointed carriages. Moreover, it makes every German youth, +trudging along the dusty roads, and ignorant for the most part of +where and how he is to sup and sleep that night, feel that after +all his lot is not such a very unenviable one, since even his future +monarch has been a "_wanderbürsche_," like himself. + +It is probable that before the education of the crown prince is +considered complete, he will be sent on a trip around the world, +mainly with the object of endowing him with that breadth of mind +which foreign travel alone can give, and partly also with the idea of +reviving the dormant loyalty of Germans who have settled in foreign +lands. Emperor William has frequently expressed the opinion that +among the hitherto unused factors in German politics, are the Germans +established in the United States, in Australia, and in other equally +distant climes. While he does not in any way expect or imagine that +Germans who have thus emigrated from the Fatherland, will render +themselves guilty of any disloyalty to the land of their adoption, yet +he believes that by keeping alive their memories of the old country, +and their affection for its reigning house they may help Germany by +using their political influence in their new home for the benefit +of Germany. Thus William, in spite of all that has been said to the +contrary, has in contemplation an eventual understanding if not an +actual alliance with the United States; this result to be brought +about largely through the influence of the immense and prosperous +German population in America, and he believes that the project is +likely to be promoted and fostered by a visit of his eldest son, the +crown prince, to the United States for the purpose of making himself +acquainted, not only with the country, but above all with its German +inhabitants. + +In making the grand tour of the world, the crown prince will be but +following in the footsteps of the heirs to the thrones of Austria and +Belgium, who have both visited the United States for the purpose of +improving their minds, and of fitting themselves more thoroughly +for their duties as twentieth century rulers. The present Emperor of +Russia, and his younger brother, the late Czarevitch George, likewise +started on a tour round the world, which in the case of George was cut +short at Bombay by that sickness to which he subsequently succumbed, +while the globe-trotting tour of Nicholas was brought to a sudden +close through his attempted assassination in Japan. + +No pen-sketch of the young Crown Prince of Germany would be complete +without a reference to his remarkable skill as a violinist, an +instrument which he has been studying steadily ever since his eighth +year, under the direction of the Berlin court violinist Von Exner. He +seems to have inherited all the musical talent for which the reigning +house of Prussia is so celebrated, and to which I propose to devote at +least a part of the following chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +If it is observable that the taste, ear, and talent for music prevail +among the inhabitants of the mountain districts of the world far more +extensively than among the populations of the plains, it is no less +true that nearly all persons belonging to the exalted spheres of +life, for instance, emperors and kings and their consorts, as well as +princes and princesses of the blood, are not only passionately fond +of music, but frequently absolute melomaniacs. In none of the reigning +houses, however, is this particular branch of art developed to such +an extent as in the Hohenzollern family. Thus the collection of the +compositions for the flute by Frederick the Great discovered some ten +years ago in the lumber rooms of the "Neues Palais" at Potsdam, and +recently published after being edited by Professor Spitta, proves that +the royal patron of Voltaire, and the founder of Prussia's military +power was no mere dilettante, but a real genius in the art of +composition. Prince Louis Ferdinand, the son of Frederick the Great's +brother, who courted and met with a premature death at Saalfeld, while +rashly engaging the French enemy, against strict orders, showed, with +all his eccentricities, remarkable musical gifts, leaving in fact +behind him a variety of compositions for orchestras. He also wrote a +march which is published under his name. + +Among the collection of marches constantly used in the Prussian army, +is one composed by Frederick-William III. in 1806, which occupies a +place between that of Frederick the Great, written in 1741, and +the well-known Dessauer march. In that very same collection are the +so-called _"Geschwind Marsch," No. 148, for infantry_, the _"Parade +Marsch" No. 51, for cavalry_, and the _"Marsch Für Cavallerie" No. +55_, which emanate from the pen of Princess Charlotte of Prussia, +niece of old Emperor William, and first wife of the present reigning +Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. It is doubtless from her that Prince Bernhardt +of Saxe-Meiningen, married to the eldest sister of the present kaiser, +has inherited his powers of composition, for his name figures on +the title page of many a piece of music; and among his other more +important works has been the setting to music of _"the Persians of +Aeschylus,"_ which has been most successfully staged at Athens. This +is published under the initials of _"E.B." (Erbprinz Bernhardt)_. + +Though King Frederick-William IV. did not himself add anything to +royal musical literature, as did his predecessors on the throne, he +devoted much attention to ecclesiastical melody and song. The Berlin +cathedral choir of men and boys--trained to sing without musical +accompaniments--owes its origin to his ambition for having a choir in +his own Protestant basilica at Berlin, corresponding more or less +to the Pope's in the Sistine Chapel of Rome. It was he who engaged +Mendelssohn as director of this choir, as well as composer; and it was +the latter's successor, the director of the music of the Chapel Royal +at the Prussian court, who compiled a collection of volumes containing +settings of many of the Psalms of David, most beautifully arranged. + +Among living Hohenzollerns, musical talent is most strongly developed. +Prince Albert, regent of Brunswick, is not only a composer of rare +genius, but likewise a most talented organist. His son, Prince +Joachim, has inherited his talent for composition, and is the author +of some eight works, which have been printed for circulation, in court +circles only, and have not become the property of the public; the +cleverest of them being a festal march, written for his father's +birthday, and a grand funeral march. He shares his father's intense +devotion to Bach and Handel, as well as his fondness for the works +of Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart, and is a most accomplished +performer on the violoncello, being a pupil of the well-known master +of that instrument, Professor Luedemann. Prince Albert's sister, the +widowed Duchess William of Mecklenberg-Schwerin, has been particularly +active as a composer of songs for mezzo soprano, but none of her +works, which are printed for private circulation under the initials of +"A.H.M.", have been placed on public sale. Her songs, some thirty in +number, are melodious and full of feeling. She seems to thoroughly +understand how to bring out the meaning of the words of her +composition, the melody of one of them, _"Ein Duerres Blatt"_ +furnishing a particularly striking illustration of this peculiarity; +they left a very lasting impression upon my mind. Among her +collections is an English song, beginning with the words: + + "No ditch is too deep, + And no wall is too high, + If two love each other + They'll meet by-and-by." + +The music of this is particularly sweet, graceful and tender. + +Prince Henry, the sailor brother of the kaiser, has written a number +of pieces, one of the best known and most popular of which is called +the _"Matrosen Marsch,"_ which is to be purchased in all large music +stores. He also holds his own as a first-class amateur performer, both +on the violin and the piano. His sister, the crown princess of Greece, +a pupil of Rufer, excels on the organ, as does also the widowed +Empress Frederick, while there is not one of the children of the +present kaiser who does not possess musical gifts of a high order, +which are being developed both in theory and in practice by celebrated +professors and masters. + +There is no doubt that, but for the weakness of his left arm, Emperor +William would have been as skilful a performer as the other members +of his family. As it is, his devotion to music is restricted to +composition and to conducting. The kaiser is very fond of acting +as bandmaster during the musical soirées given at court, and other +entertainments of this kind honored by the presence of the reigning +family. It has been claimed that he is the first Prussian ruler to +thus wield the bâton since the days of Frederick the Great. But this +is not the case, for I recall being present, many years ago, at a +dinner at the palace of Koblenz, given by Empress Augusta in honor of +her consort, old Emperor William, who had come over from Ems for the +purpose, when during the dinner the old emperor remarked that the band +of the Augusta regiment, which was playing at the further end of the +White Hall, had played the ballet melody of _"Satanella"_ in too +fast a time. Rising from his seat, and pushing aside the screen which +concealed the band from view, he took the bâton from the hand of the +bandmaster, and after exclaiming: "Very quietly and slowly, gentlemen, +if you please," he tapped twice on the music-stand in front of him, +and then commenced to conduct with as much skill and art as if he had +never done anything else in his life. Several times during the course +of the piece he exclaimed "Noch rühiger," (still more gently) and +when the end of the piece was reached he laid down the bâton with +the remark, "Now, that was fine," and, thanking the band with a very +friendly and kindly smile, returned to his seat at table. + +The present kaiser's principal contribution to music is undoubtedly +his composition of the melody to the "_Sang am Aegir,_" a poem +of considerable power by his friend Count Philipp Eulenburg. The +composition begins as follows: + +[Illustration: O Ae-gir Herr der Flu-then dem Nix und Nex sich beugt!] + +The words may be rendered as: + + "Of Aegir, Lord of the Waves, + Whom mermaids and mermen revere." + +The bars that follow rivet the attention of the listener on account of +their weird originality. They are full of feeling, very melodious, +and easily caught by the ear. Towards the close, the melody breaks off +into a purely military strain, so that the final bars are suggestive +of the sound of trumpets, recalling to mind some ancient martial +fanfare. + +William has a very marked predilection for Wagnerian music, and is the +life and soul of the "Potsdam-Berlin Wagner Society," which is one of +the most influential social institutions of the Prussian capital. +His principal lieutenant and Adlatus in the management of this +association, which is in every sense of the word a court institution, +is Major von Chelius, who holds a commission in the kaiser's own body +regiment of Hussars of the Guard. The major is a particular favorite +of both the emperor and the empress, and he takes a very prominent +part in all the musical entertainments at court, almost invariably +playing the piano accompaniments for the singing of Princess Albert +of Saxe-Altenburg, and of Prince Max of Baden, who possesses a +rich baritone voice. The major is the composer of the popular opera +"_Haschisch,_" and has inherited his musical talents from his mother, +a Hamburger by birth. His father is a dignitary of the Court of Baden, +while his wife, a most charming woman, was, prior to her marriage, a +Fraulein von Puttkamer, a member, therefore, of the same family as the +late Princess Bismarck. + +But although manifesting a preference for Wagner, the kaiser is not +averse to Mozart, or to the Italian school. "_Der Freischuetz_" is one +of his favorite operas, and while he does not care for Falstaff, he +is very fond of "_I Medici_," and greatly admires Leon Cavallo. He +possesses a very correct ear, and a most pleasing voice, and many +of his evenings are passed in trying new songs, his wife, who is an +excellent pianist, playing the accompaniment. + +Though quite as passionately fond of music as the Hohenzollerns, the +Hapsburgs have achieved less distinction as composers, and even as +performers. Indeed, there are but two scions of the reigning house of +Austria, who can be said to have won any kind of fame as composers, +namely, the missing Archduke John, who was the author of an +exceedingly pretty and catchy ballet that still figures on the +repertoire of the imperial opera, and Archduke Joseph, so well known +by the name of the "Gypsy Archduke," who has done more than anyone +else in Europe to place on record, both in writing and in print, +the weird music and extraordinary quaint melodies of the Tziganes, +melodies which he has arranged exquisitely for orchestral use. True, +there is not a single archduke or archduchess in Austria and Hungary, +who does not play with taste and feeling. Indeed, music seems to be +inborn in them, and while the widowed crown princess is devoted to +her piano, on which her performances are characterized by a superb +technique, but coupled alas! with a complete absence of sentiment, her +husband, the lamented Crown Prince Rudolph, was a composer of no +mean power and seemed at times to pour forth his entire soul in the +melodies which he coaxed from this instrument. Indeed he often sat at +the piano for hours, playing, in a manner indescribably expressive and +touching, airs improvised on the spur of the moment, which, while they +remained impressed on the minds and ears of those present, would seem +to fade at once from the memory of the prince himself. His was what +may be called a true genius for music. + +The member of the House of Hapsburg most famous in the annals of music +of the present century, was undoubtedly that Archduke Rudolph, son of +Emperor Leopold II., who died a cardinal. He was the protector, the +friend and disciple of Beethoven, many of whose most famous works, +would assuredly have remained unwritten had it not been for the fact +that he received the same powerful support, both material and moral, +from the imperial cardinal as Richard Wagner obtained from King Louis +of Bavaria. + +With regard to Archduke Joseph, the above-mentioned "Gypsy Archduke," +there is no doubt that without him the outer world would still have +been left in ignorance of the incalculably rich mine of Tzigane music. +He is only distantly related to Emperor Francis-Joseph, being the +senior member of a branch of the house of Hapsburg which has been +settled for more than one hundred years in Hungary. His father's +entire life was spent there, where he held the office of Viceroy, and +it is there that Archduke Joseph himself was entirely brought up, and +where he has spent his whole existence. + +At an early age he was attracted to the gypsies by their music, and it +was this that led him to think of their welfare, and to devote himself +to the study of the characteristics, the history and the origin of +these mysterious nomads. Until he took them under his protection, they +were regarded more or less as pariahs of Central and Southern Europe, +the hand of every man being against them, and the authorities and +people at large combining to subject them to persecution of the most +cruel character. Their gratitude to the archduke when he obtained +better treatment for them knew no bounds, and was shown, among other +instances, in a notable manner during the Austro-Prussian. war, when +Joseph was at the head of a division of Magyar troops. + +"Our retreat," so the archduke tells the story, "before the advance of +the Prussian army, immediately preceding the battle of Sadowa, led +us to camp one night in the neighborhood of a town in Bohemia. I was +lodged in a peasant's cottage, when about midnight I heard the +sentry at my door hoarsely challenging some new-comer. My aid-de-camp +entered, and reported that a gypsy wanted to see me in private. + +"On my asking the dusky visitor in Romani what was the matter, he told +me that the enemy was approaching to surprise us. + +"'The outposts have not heard anything suspicious?' I remarked. + +"'No, your imperial highness,' he replied, 'because the enemy is still +a long way off.' + +"'But how do you know this?' I asked. + +"'Come to the window,' replied the Zingari, leading me forward to the +narrow glazed opening in the rough wall, and directing my gaze to the +dark sky, lighted by the silver rays of the moon. 'Do you see those +birds flying over the woods towards the south?' + +"'Yes, I see them. What of it?' + +"'What of it? Do not birds sleep as well as men? They would certainly +not fly about at night-time thus had they not been disturbed. The +enemy is marching through the wood southwards, and has frightened and +driven the birds before it.' + +"I at once ordered the outposts to be reinforced, and the camp to be +alarmed. Two hours later, the outposts were fighting fiercely with the +foe, and I was able to realize that my camp and my division had been +saved from surprise and destruction only by the keen observation and +sagacity of a grateful gypsy." + +The archduke spent a large sum of money, some years ago, in +endeavoring to turn the gypsies from their nomadic life, and to induce +them to settle down, in order to devote their time and energies to the +practice of the wonderful art of working metal, which they possess to +so marked a degree, instead of roaming aimlessly about, and sometimes +thieving, as is unfortunately their habit. He built a number of +villages for them in the district surrounding Presburg, and organized +gypsy settlements. But the scheme proved a failure. The Tziganes, true +to the instincts that they have inherited from countless generations, +abandoned the comfortable houses, the fields and blossoming gardens +with which they had been provided by their imperial benefactor. They +refused to till the soil, and commenced once more their interminable +wanderings. + +In spite of this fiasco, the archduke still continues to consider +himself as the protector of the Romanys, and remains proud of his +title of "Gypsy Prince," being sagacious enough to realize that it +is impossible for a race to eradicate from their character, in a +comparatively short space of time, traits that have been theirs for +hundreds, nay thousands of years; for the origin of these gypsies is +still shrouded in mystery and lost in the gloom of prehistoric ages, +although it is probable that they are of Persian descent. + +While Emperor William's taste as regards music meets with very +widespread approval, and his gifts as a composer are very generally +recognized, he has been less fortunate with regard to other branches +of art; notably in the matter of painting, where he finds himself in +frequent conflict with his people, especially with the great painters +of his empire. Of all the muses there is none so truly democratic as +that of pictorial art. The pictorial muse displays a truly republican +intolerance of control on the part of either king or government. Hence +it is only natural that Germany, which has produced in the past, +and still possesses, so many world-famed painters and architectural +designers, should strongly resent the kaiser's assumption of the +supreme arbitership in all matters relating to art. His subjects +submitted to his claim of "_Regis voluntas suprema lex_," in matters +connected with the administration of the government, in diplomacy, +in the drama, in music, and in literature, but they deny his power to +impose upon them his taste in pictorial art. + +It is no exaggeration to state that the emperor is in almost perpetual +conflict, and at open war with the great majority of German painters +and designers--a notable exception being the case of Professor von +Menzel. Indeed, their discontent occasionally breaks forth with +an intensity altogether new in the annals of German loyalty to the +throne. A very remarkable instance thereof is the means which they +adopted to show their disapproval of the emperor's treatment of +Wallot, the designer of the palace of the imperial parliament. Wallot +is universally recognized as the foremost architect of the age in +Germany, and his original design for the building, as accepted by +the authorities, was a very grandiose and magnificent conception. +Financial considerations necessitated the modification of some of the +features of the building, while others were forced upon the architect +sorely against his will by the emperor, with the result that the +palace is not quite so superb as originally projected. It remains, +however, a magnificent and imposing pile, well worthy of the purpose +for which it has been erected, and in no way a displeasing monument of +German art and architecture as understood in the nineteenth century. + +All the recognized authorities, both Teuton and foreign, in questions +of art and architecture, have pronounced themselves in this sense, +the only discordant note being that to which the emperor has given +utterance. Not only has he publicly declared the new Reichshaus to +be "the very acme of bad taste," but he even went to the length of +striking the designer's name from the list of gold medalists at the +exhibition of art and architecture held at Berlin shortly after the +completion and inauguration of the building. The gold medal had been +voted to Herr Wallot by a jury composed of all the most celebrated +artists in Germany, whose verdict, representing that of the nation, +might have been considered as definite and final. The kaiser, however, +when the list was submitted to him for final approval, substituted, +in lieu of the name of Professor Wallot, that of his favorite +portrait painter, Madame Palma Parlaghy, whose work is, in the eyes of +Germany's leading artists, so execrable that the hanging committee of +the Berlin Academy have repeatedly refused to accord places to any of +her pictures on its walls. + +Madame Parlaghy is a pupil of Makart and of Lenbach, and a native of +Hadji-Dóròg, in Hungary. She is between thirty and forty, possessed +of glittering, enigmatic eyes, highly-colored cheeks and lips, and the +almost too profuse head of hair that one sees so often on the shores +of the Danube. Her beauty may, nevertheless, be described as majestic, +and she conveys the idea of being a woman possessed of considerable +strength of mind, as well as much diplomacy. She was first recommended +to the emperor by the present Czarina of Russia, to whom she gave +drawing lessons, prior to the marriage of the empress, and after +William had obtained an idea of her skill by a very pleasing portrait +which she painted of Field Marshal von Moltke, which was, however, +rejected by the hanging committee of an art exhibition at Berlin, he +purchased the picture in question for a large sum, and likewise gave +her an order to paint several portraits of himself, declaring openly +that if the judgment of the leading Berlin artists were to be final in +the matter of admitting paintings to public galleries and exhibitions, +there would never be a single work of art worthy of the name on view. +Madame Parlaghy's portraits of the emperor, though questionable as +works of art, are, it must be confessed, very flattering likenesses of +his majesty. + +It was shortly after this slight inflicted by the emperor on Professor +Wallot, and the honor conferred upon Madame Parlaghy, that the +National Society of Architects and the National Association +of Artists, the two principal organizations of the kind in +Germany--composed of all that is most eminent in the realms of +architecture and art--jointly invited Professor Wallot to a great +banquet in Berlin, at which over six hundred guests were present, in +the course of which William was guyed in a most merciless manner! The +chief ornament on the principal table was a model of the Reichshaus in +"Schwarzbrod," cheese and confectionery. The dome consisted of a Dutch +cheese, the "Germania" on the top was represented by a smartly aproned +chambermaid on horseback, the horse being led by a footman in imperial +livery, while the whole was labeled "Der gipfel des geschmack,"--the +acme of taste. Another item of the programme was a sort of automatic +machine, which, when a gold medal was placed in the slot, would +perform "Der gesang an Ihr,"--the song to her--meaning, of course, +Madame Parlaghy. + +The joke, I need hardly say, consisted in the parodying of the title +of the emperor's musical composition "Sang am Aegir!" The +lustre hanging from the ceiling, which is known in Germany as a +"Kronleuchter" was in the form of an old crinoline. At the entrance to +the banqueting hall hung the representation of a gold medal, which +a lady painter was trying in vain to grasp. The tone of the speeches +throughout the evening was in thorough keeping with the decorations, +and it is doubtful whether such a bold exhibition of independence, +and even disloyalty towards the sovereign, has ever been seen in the +Prussian capital. It speaks well for William's good sense that he +should have refrained from proceeding against any of the organizers of +the entertainment on the ground of _lése majesté_. + +There is, as I stated above, one Prussian painter, however, of whom +the kaiser is exceedingly fond, whose eminence in art is acknowledged, +not only in Germany, but all the world over, and upon whom William +has lavished the highest honors that it is in his power to bestow. The +painter in question is Professor von Menzel; popularly known in Berlin +as "His Little Excellency," owing to his diminutive size, his stature +being about four feet nine inches! Professor Menzel, who is of the +most humble origin, is to-day a Knight of the Order of the Black +Eagle, which is the Prussian equivalent of the English Order of the +Garter, or of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, this +decoration carrying with it a patent of hereditary nobility. He is now +considerably over eighty, but from his twelfth year he has earned his +living by means of his brush and palette. All his principal paintings +are devoted to the illustration of historic episodes of Prussian +history and of the reigning house of Hohenzollern. One of his +masterpieces is entitled "The Flute Concert," and represents Frederick +the Great in his palace at Sans-Souci, at a concert with the principal +members of court and his household around him. + +One evening the emperor sent for old Menzel, and asked him to join the +royal family at Sans-Souci. When the little painter alighted he was +conducted to the imperial presence, and was somewhat astonished +to notice that the sentinels at the various doors instead of being +arrayed in their ordinary uniform, wore the military garb of the time +of Frederick the Great. But his surprise developed into downright +amazement, when at length two folding-doors were thrown open, and he +found himself in the same apartment which had furnished the scene of +his painting of "The Flute Concert." The room was lighted, as in +olden times, with wax candles, the old-time furniture was disposed +identically as represented in his painting, and, moreover, the company +assembled was composed of men in the costumes of the time of Frederick +the Great, and of ladies attired in the picturesque dress of the +middle of the last century. There advanced to welcome the astounded +artist a personage who, but for the moustache, was the very image +of Frederick the Great, and in whom the little professor had +some difficulty to recognize the kaiser. William greeted him with +old-fashioned courtesy, using the elaborate politeness of our great +grandfathers, and after having presented the little painter to all +the guests, the ladies curtsying deeply in the fashion of the Court of +Versailles, and the men bowing low, Menzel was led by the emperor to +a seat beside the empress, and the emperor's private band, whose +uniforms were in perfect keeping with the costumes of the guests, +played first of all several of Frederick the Great's compositions for +the flute, and then a few of Bach's loveliest _morceaux_. The emperor +himself remained standing beside the little painter's chair throughout +the entire concert, the empress alone and some of her ladies being +seated, while the remainder of the fair guests, as well as all the +men, stood about the apartment endeavoring as far as possible to group +themselves in the same way as the personages figuring in Menzel's +painting. After the concert was finished, the company adjourned to an +adjoining room, Menzel occupying the place of honor to the right of +the empress, while the emperor toasted the little fellow with more +than ordinary eloquence and cordiality. + +It is doubtful whether any sovereign has ever gone to such lengths +in order to honor the leading artist of his dominions, and it is +difficult to speak too highly of the delicacy of the compliment, or of +its originality. It might have been sufficient to turn the head of +any other painter than Menzel. But while he is devoted to the reigning +family there is certainly no one who is less of a courtier. In fact he +is terribly outspoken, and never hesitates to speak to his sovereign +with the fearless sincerity of a Diogenes. Of a truth, there is no end +to the stories current, illustrating his independence of character. +Once, having been commissioned by the grandfather of the present +kaiser, namely, old Emperor William, to paint a picture of his +coronation as King of Prussia, he reproduced with too much exactitude, +and too little flattery, the features of the emperor's exceedingly +vain and by no means youthful consort, Empress Augusta. Her majesty +insisted that he should alter his portrait of her, and render it +more attractive, but this Menzel absolutely refused to do, and the +consequence was that the empress on numerous occasions made him feel +the weight of her displeasure. + +The old painter bided his time, and eventually got even with her in +a very characteristic fashion. Being entrusted with the task of +reproducing on canvas the scene of the emperor's departure for the +seat of war in 1870, he portrayed the Empress Augusta with her face +entirely concealed in her handkerchief, as if weeping, although she +prided herself on not having shed a single tear on that occasion. + +Another time during the life of old Field Marshal Wrangel, a lady of +the court, more famous for her vanity than her beauty, complained +to him that Menzel had done her scant justice in a large picture +representing some important event of contemporary court history. +Wrangel, who was famous as a brow-beating bully of the good old +Prussian type,--people trembling at the mere sight of him,--promised +to see Menzel, and to make him change the portrait of the lady to a +more flattering likeness. Greatly to his surprise, however, when he +broached the subject to Menzel, he discovered that the latter greatly +resented such meddlesomeness. Indeed, Menzel even had the temerity to +suggest that field marshals would do far better to attend to subjects +that they knew something about than to the art of painting, of which +they knew nothing. Wrangel flared up, so did Menzel, and soon the +air was blue with finely characterized and bona-fide Prussian oaths, +punctuated with the angry sarcasms of the enraged painter. The upshot +of the interview was that Wrangel, who had never before turned his +back on an enemy, was compelled to beat an ignominious retreat without +having accomplished his object; but before disappearing through the +door of the studio, he turned and positively yelled at the painter: + +"You are a disgusting little toad, and your picture is vile." + +While most of the members of the House of Hapsburg paint and sketch +with a good deal of cleverness and skill, there is only one, namely, +the now widowed Archduchess Maria-Theresa, who can be regarded as an +artist in every sense of the word. She excels alike with the chisel +and the brush, while during the lifetime of her husband, her salon +became, in spite of the strictness of Austrian court etiquette, +the one place where eminent artists were certain to find a cordial +welcome, irrespective of birth or social status. + +The studio of the archduchess is situated on the second floor of her +palace, in the Favoritenstrasse, and is a very lofty, long and narrow +apartment, looking out on the street. It is particularly remarkable +for its simplicity, presenting therein a powerful contrast to the +magnificence of the two salons through which it is necessary to pass +in order to reach it. The few stools, tabourets, armchairs and divans +therein contained, are upholstered with soft-toned Oriental rugs, the +walls are hidden by some sort of olive-colored velvety fabric, and +the wall opposite the windows is divided in the middle by a species +of gallery, the exquisite wood carvings of which were brought by +the archduchess herself from Meran. The parqueted floors are partly +concealed by the skins of tigers and polar bears, shot in the Arctic +regions and in India by her brother, Dom Miguel, Duke of Braganza, the +legitimist pretender to the throne of Portugal, while on easels, and +suspended from the walls, are oil-color portraits by the archduchess +of Baroness C. Kolmossy, to whom she is indebted for her knowledge of +painting, of her husband, the late Archduke Charles-Louis, and of her +sister-in-law, the lamented Empress Elizabeth, in riding habit and in +ball-dress. + +There is also a very pretty picture of a cat in the act of effecting +its escape from the basket in which it had been confined, and +a wonderful crayon sketch of Maria-Theresa's stepson, Archduke +Francis-Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The +colossal fire-place niched in one of the corners of the studio, is +surmounted, not by a mirror, but by a panel of well-nigh priceless +Oriental embroidery, the brilliant colors of which have been softened +and rendered harmonious and mellow by age. + +The doors are draped by portieres of Flemish tapestry, and shielded +by Mucharabieh screens of curiously-carved wood from Cairo. Preserved +from dust and damage beneath plate-glass are some unique pieces of +antique Venetian point lace, presented by another brother-in-law, Don +Alfonso of Spain, the younger brother of the Pretender Don Carlos, +while on a huge square writing-table, the equipments of which are +of Oriental gold filigree-work, richly jewelled, are usually +found letters either to or from the favorite brother-in-law of the +archduchess, Duke Charles-Theodore of Bavaria, the celebrated oculist, +who during the course of his practice has performed more than three +thousand successful operations for cataract without accepting a single +penny-piece by way of remuneration. + +True, the patients of this royal physician are nearly all of them poor +people, and it is for their benefit that he has converted one of his +castles into an ophthalmic hospital, and another palace into a species +of convalescent home and resort, where poor gentlefolk and government +servants with inadequate means can spend a couple of weeks in the +country free of all cost. + +It is difficult to refrain from a deep degree of sympathy for this so +brilliant and accomplished Archduchess Maria-Theresa, whose character +is best illustrated by the fact that she is literally worshipped by +her grown-up step-children. The sudden death of her husband was not +only a cruel bereavement, but was also the destruction of great and +much-cherished ambitions. + +Through the death of Crown Prince Rudolph, her husband, as next +brother to Emperor Francis-Joseph, became heir to the throne, and +owing to the refusal of Empress Elizabeth to take any part whatsoever +in court life, the archduchess was from that moment, to all intents +and purposes, the "first lady in the land." It was she who presided +at all court ceremonies and official functions, who received the +presentations, and who filled the post of empress alike at Vienna +and at Pesth. Her husband was entirely swayed by her, and completely +subject to her influence, and it is notorious that she looked for the +day when, through his accession to the throne, she would become +the virtual ruler of the great dual empire, and be in a position to +inaugurate all sorts of political ideas, peculiar to herself, notably +in connection with a reversal of Austria's present foreign policy. She +has never made any secret of her disapproval of the Austrian alliance +with Italy, and has even gone so far as to attend with her husband +public meetings in favor of the restoration of the temporal power of +the Papacy, at which King Humbert was bitterly denounced and abused +as a usurper! There seemed no reason whatsoever why her consort should +not live to succeed his elder brother, and as the archduke possessed +a singularly strong constitution, and had scarcely suffered a single +hour's illness since his childhood, there was no cause to fear any +untoward event. Indeed he might have been alive at the present moment +had it not been for his unfortunate pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where +in some way he contracted the malady which carried him off so very +suddenly. He enjoys the distinction of being the only member of his +house whose whole body reposes in the vault of the Capuchin Church +at Vienna, where so many hundred Hapsburgs sleep, some in coffins of +silver and gold, others in caskets of exquisitely ornamented copper. +According to a very gruesome custom in vogue with the reigning house +of Austria for many centuries, the heart is extracted from the body of +the imperial dead within twenty-four hours after their demise, placed +in a silver urn filled with spirits of wine, hermetically sealed, and +then conveyed with the utmost pomp and ceremony, though at night, +to the old cathedral of St. Stephen, where it is received with much +solemnity by the clergy, and placed in niches of the wall, near the +high altar. The entrails are in the same way removed, and conveyed +with identically the same ceremonies to the ancient church of the +Augustines, and it is only what is left that is buried in the vaults +of the Capuchin Church. + +Archduke Charles-Louis did not relish this extraordinary yet +traditional treatment of his remains after death, and fervently +believing in the resurrection of the body in the flesh, thought it +distinctly uncanny that his heart and his entrails should each have +to go hunting through the city for his body on the Day of Judgment. +Accordingly, he was laid to rest just as he died, instead of being +entombed, like all the other members of the House of Hapsburg, in +sections. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +If I have refrained in the preceding chapter from making any mention +of the attainments of the Dowager Empress Frederick, either as +a sculptor or as a painter, it is because she is so immeasurably +superior to all other royal personages in the realms of art that she +can no longer be regarded as a mere amateur, no matter how clever. +Besides this, her individuality is so strong, her intellectual gifts +so great, and the part which she has played in German politics so +important that she really deserves separate treatment. + +If I link her name with that of her daughter-in-law, Empress +Augusta-Victoria, it is because the latter's influence on German +affairs has been even still more weighty, though she is far less +brilliant and clever than her husband's mother. Indeed my readers +after perusing this chapter may feel disposed to ask themselves +whether ordinary intelligence in high places does not work more +successfully than genius. + +It is difficult to describe Empress Frederick as anything else than +a genius. Certainly I have never known a more gifted woman. The +diversity, the scope, and the depth of her knowledge are simply +amazing. In conversation it is difficult to broach any subject, no +matter what it is, that she has not mastered. Her acquaintance with +the mediaeval, Renaissance and modern schools of painting, and with +every form and work of art industry is unsurpassed even by those men +who have devoted their entire lives to these studies. I have on one +and the same evening heard her converse on Venetian art with Ludovic +Passini, proving herself his equal in her astounding knowledge of +Venice, past and present; talk with a distinguished physician, who was +amazed by the theoretical knowledge which she displayed of the throat +and breathing organs, and who declared that if she had only had +practical experience, she would have been the finest throat specialist +in the world; and discuss literature with a celebrated Englishman of +letters, chiding him upon his admitting his inability to cap a passage +from Pope, which she quoted! The late Sir Richard Wallace, than whom +no one possessed a more profound knowledge of the masterpieces of the +painters, goldsmiths, jewelers and potters of bygone centuries, was +wont to declare that Empress Frederick surpassed him as an expert, +although, with unlimited wealth at his disposal, he had devoted more +than half a century of his life to the collection of "chefs d'oeuvre" +in all parts of the world. + +The depth of her researches into chemical science exceeds that of Lord +Salisbury, who is her most intimate personal friend in England, and +at whose Elizabethan country seat she invariably visits when in her +native country, most of her time while under his roof being spent with +him in his laboratory. But it is particularly as an artist, both with +brush and chisel, that she excels, and while as a painter she ranks +with some of the leading professional masters of the present day, as a +sculptor she surpasses anything achieved or even attempted as yet by a +woman. + +The subject which naturally stimulates her most to artistic effort is +the portraiture of her fondly-loved husband. His memory, although he +has been dead eleven years, is so fresh in her mind, her eye is so +capable of recalling his image, and her hand is so well trained to +follow her impressions, and to reproduce what she can visualize, that +no sculptor could vie with her in reproducing his splendid form and +manly features. She once gave a commission to the celebrated German +sculptor Uphues for a colossal statue of "Unser Fritz," and calling +at the artists' studio, whilst he was at work on his clay model, she +pointed out to him some points in which he had not caught the right +expression. Verbal explanations not adequately conveying her meaning, +she asked permission to use the roughing chisel, set to work, and +in half an hour with a touch here and a touch there, modified the +features to such a degree that the sculptor was astounded at the +striking improvement. The model has since been transferred to marble, +and is universally considered to be the best portrait extant of +Emperor Frederick. + +No greater tribute to her brilliancy and penetration in the matter +of statecraft could possibly be given than the undisguised and openly +acknowledged animosity with which she was, throughout her married +life, regarded by the late Prince Bismarck, who feared her more than +all his masculine rivals and opponents together. She was a political +foe worthy in every respect of his steel, for she repeatedly +checkmated his moves; and if he sometimes spoke of her with a +brutality and a degree of vehemence altogether out of place, this +must be regarded as more in the light of a compliment than as an +intentional piece of discourtesy, as it was a virtual admission of +the fact that her opposition to his projects was of altogether too +masculine and virile a character to admit for one moment of his +according to her that forbearance and chivalrous deference which men +as a rule are wont to concede to women as a tribute to their sex. She +fought him unceasingly, from the time when he violated the Prussian +constitution, shortly before the war with Denmark, until the day +when through her efforts and statecraft he was driven from office,--a +vanquished foe. He had used in vain every weapon against her that his +ingenuity could devise. He had even gone so far as to publicly charge +her with treason in betraying to the English, and through them to +the French, military secrets which had been imparted to her by her +husband, during the war of 1870. He had, in short, done everything +that lay in his power to prevent her husband from succeeding to the +crown, mainly, as he admitted, with the object of preventing her from +sharing the throne as empress; and after having grossly insulted +her in the presence of her dying, voiceless and helpless husband +by refusing to transact any state business, or to communicate any +confidential reports to the monarch as long as she was in the room, +he incited her eldest son, whose mind he had deliberately poisoned +against her, to take steps which could only intensify the sorrow of +the grief-stricken woman immediately after her so fondly loved husband +had been taken from her. + +Yet she carried the day in the end, and her son is now the very first +to acknowledge his mother's cleverness and the fact that she showed +herself more than a match in statecraft for the man reputed as the +greatest statesman of the century, namely, Bismarck. + +One of the cleverest of the many clever things that she did, was the +manner in which she brought about the fall of Bismarck. She was too +shrewd to dream of exercising any direct pressure on her son. It was +done indirectly, and with so much diplomacy, that William never dreamt +at the time of dismissing the iron chancellor that he was playing his +mother's game. Abstaining from any steps towards a reconciliation +with her son, she merely took advantage of the kaiser's visit to +Westphalia, to place in his path his old tutor, Professor Hintzpeter, +a pedagogue of whom William had been very fond, and whose teachings +had left a deep impression upon the mind of his imperial pupil. The +empress knew the professor's characteristics, his fads, and his views. +She likewise recognized and understood, as only a mother can do, the +complex character of her son, and she foresaw the effects that +were likely to be achieved by bringing the two men once more into +communication with each other. + +Like William II., Hintzpeter is full of contrasts, for while on the +one hand he has always professed the most advanced radical and even +socialistic doctrines,--doctrines with which he impregnated the mind +of his princely charge,--yet he would tolerate no familiarity or +condescension on his part towards inferiors, and was even wont to +force William to wash his hands when he had so far forgotten himself +as to shake hands with anyone of a subordinate or menial rank. Another +trait of character of Professor Hintzpeter, is his firm conviction +that difficulties, no matter how vast and intricate, are always +capable of being settled and satisfactorily arranged by means of +eloquent phrases and good intentions. + +At the time when William renewed his acquaintance, in the capital of +Westphalia, with his old tutor, the socialistic and labor problems +were engaging the attention not merely of Germany, but likewise of +all Europe. Prince Bismarck was in favor of a continuance of harsh +measures with regard to labor, and of persecution of the most +resentless nature so far as the socialists were concerned. Hintzpeter, +full of his former sympathies for autocracy and socialism at one and +the same time, called William's attention to the fact that Bismarck's +policy had merely had the effect of vastly increasing the strength of +the socialists as a factor in German politics, and of rendering the +labor difficulties more acute. He, therefore, suggested to the emperor +the idea that he should endeavor to solve both problems by means of +an international congress, under his own presidency, at which means +should be devised for reconciling the interests of socialism with the +state, and those of capital with labor. + +William, with all his common-sense and cleverness, has inherited +from his ancestress, Queen Louise, and one might almost say from his +grand-uncle, King Frederick William IV., a very strongly developed +tendency towards idealism. It was to this phase of his nature that the +recommendation of Professor Hintzpeter particularly appealed, and the +more he considered the matter, the more he discussed it with his old +tutor, the more convinced he became that it was in his power to solve +the difficulties of both socialism and labor, and thus to earn the +gratitude, not only of his own people, but of the entire civilized +world. + +Of course, Prince Bismarck immediately realized the Utopian character +of the scheme, saw its impracticability, and proceeded to condemn it +with more than his ordinary irritability and _brusquerie_. Finding, +however, that the emperor was not to be argued out of the idea of +holding a labor conference, he proceeded to ridicule it, and what was +worse, to cause it to be scoffed at and treated with derision as +the vaporings of an inexperienced and altogether too generous-minded +youth, in German as well as foreign papers, which William knew derived +their inspiration from the chancellor's palace in the Wilhelmstrasse. + +All this served to embitter the relations between the emperor and the +prince. The latter perceived that the kaiser was getting beyond his +control, and was subject to other influences, while the emperor +now commenced to appreciate the extent to which, he had been made +subservient to the policy and to the wishes of his chancellor. +Meanwhile the necessity became apparent of taking some immediate +step, one way or another, in connection with the prolongation of the +exceptional measures against the socialists which were just expiring. +The chancellor was determined that they should be renewed, while the +emperor felt that, with the international congress coming on, he would +be handicapped in his rôle of arbitrator, and his good faith would +justly be suspected by the socialists were he to consent to the +continuance of repressive measures against them that were extra-legal, +that is to say, beyond the laws of the land, and as such, strictly +speaking, unconstitutional. + +Finally, William discovering that Bismarck was negotiating with the +various party leaders, notably with the late Dr. Windhorst, leader of +the Catholic party in the Reichstag, with a view to the prolongation +of the anti-socialist measures, made up his mind to dismiss him, and +called for his resignation for having ventured to negotiate with the +opposition leaders in the Reichstag, without his knowledge or consent, +in order to obtain their support to a measure about which he had +expressed his disapproval. That was the real cause of Bismarck's fall, +despite all other stories current on the subject, and had not Empress +Frederick engineered the meeting in the Westphalian capital between +her son and his former tutor, it is possible that Prince Bismarck +might have died in office. + +It is scarcely necessary to remind my readers that, as predicted by +the old chancellor, the international labor congress resulted in +a fiasco, while the emperor ultimately became so embittered by the +failure of the socialists to appreciate his kindly intentions towards +them, that he now regards them as his most bitter enemies, and +practically calls upon every soldier who joins the army to be prepared +to use his rifle, not only against the enemies from without, but also +against the enemies within--that is, the socialists. + +Naturally William to-day regrets that he permitted himself to be +talked into any such schemes as the reconciliation of the socialists +with the crown, and of capital with labor, and Professor Hintzpeter, +while retaining the affection of his former pupil, has long ceased to +enjoy his confidence as a political adviser. He is no longer looked +upon in the light of a German Richelieu, as the foreign newspapers +were wont to describe him when he was at the climax of his power, +and he no longer possesses anything in common with his Russian +counterpart, Professor Pobiedenotsoff, except in a singular +peculiarity of appearance. Indeed, Hintzpeter's looks invite +caricature. He is lanky, ungainly and lantern-jawed, and seems like +a man who has never been young, and who has not yet obtained the +venerability of old age. His manners are exceedingly ungracious, and +even repellent, but when once he becomes interested in a discussion +he seems to undergo an entire transformation. He is no longer the same +man, and gives one at that moment the impression of being nothing but +a bundle of seething nerves, the vibrations of which seem to extend +to, as well as to influence, all those who are within range of his +voice. + +The Empress Frederick was shrewd enough to keep in the background all +the time! She took no part in the fight between her son and Prince +Bismarck, and was particularly careful to avoid identifying herself in +any way with Professor Hintzpeter. The result was that the kaiser did +not dream of ascribing to her any responsibility for the mistake into +which he had been led by his former tutor. + +As foreseen by Empress Frederick, with Prince Bismarck once in +retirement and disgrace, and the emperor disposed to reverse the +entire Bismarckian policy, it commenced to dawn upon his majesty that +among other errors into which he had been led by his ex-chancellor was +his own harshness and unfriendliness towards his mother. It was +while under this impression that he took the first steps towards +a reconciliation with the imperial widow, who, by showing herself +particularly affectionate and amiable, made her son feel still more +bitterly the unfilial nature of the conduct which he had been led +by Bismarck to adopt until then towards his mother. The friendly +relations thus established between mother and son have subsisted +ever since, and the emperor does not disdain now to seek Empress +Frederick's advice in a number of matters, having realized how clever +she is, while there is no one whose approval he values more highly +than hers. Most people are in the habit of portraying the Empress +Frederick as a woman embittered and soured by disappointment. Yet if +the truth were known, there are few whose existence at the present +moment is of a more ideal character, She has lost a noble and devoted +husband, but this bereavement must, to a certain extent, have been +softened by the genuine sorrow manifested by all, not only in his +own country, but throughout the civilized world, when he died. Her +marriage was a singularly happy one, unclouded by even the faintest +difference of opinion with her consort, and she is now enjoying a +delightfully contented eventide of life. + +She resides during the greater part of the year in a home constructed +in one of the loveliest portions of Germany, near Homburg, according +to her own designs, and her own ideas; she possesses a vast fortune, +which renders her independent of all her relatives, and which she is +free to spend as she wishes. With all her sons and daughters married, +she has no domestic cares of her own, and is at liberty to order her +mode of existence as she pleases, unhampered by any obligations or +restrictions, save those which her son may see fit to impose. Her rank +is of the highest, for she is the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, +and the mother of the present German emperor, besides which she has +the status and title of an empress-queen. In fact, she has the rank +of a sovereign, without any of the responsibilities that are +attached thereto, and while she may have experienced, at one moment, +disappointment at being deprived by her husband's premature death +of engineering a number of political, social and economic reforms in +Germany, upon which she had set her heart, yet she cannot but have +realized by this time that her existence as an empress-dowager is +infinitely more agreeable than that of an empress-regent would have +been, for had she been at the present moment seated by her husband's +side on the throne, she would have found no time to devote to those +arts and sciences to which she is so passionately devoted, and which +nowadays occupy the greater portion of her life. + +In spite of being a great-grandmother, Empress Frederick is still +in splendid bodily health and vigor. She rides on horseback daily in +summer, and in winter spends a considerable amount of time skating +on the ice. She is not handsome, and, in fact, has never been even +pretty, but has always had a bright, intelligent and pleasing face. +Moreover, she has inherited her mother's peculiarly melodious voice. +Unfortunately, she is imperious, and intolerant of stupidity; it is +this, coupled with her lack of tact, which is responsible for her +unpopularity. + +In spite of all her philanthropy, her generosity, and her cleverness, +and notwithstanding the blamelessness of her life, she is not liked +by the people of her adopted country, and this, while it has not +prevented her from playing a preponderant rôle in German politics, +as above described, has proved an obstacle to her exercise of any +influence upon the German people. After all, this absence of tact may +be excused, for it is usually wanting in people of genius. She is very +tender-hearted, and will not, if she can prevent it, allow any living +thing on the estate to be disturbed or killed. + +No description of Empress Frederick seems complete without adding +thereto a brief reference to the grand-master of her court, Count +Seckendorff, who may be said to have devoted his entire life to her +service, and to that of her husband. A scion of one of the oldest +houses of the Prussian aristocracy, and bearing a name that figures +frequently in the pages of German history, he was attached to the +household of Empress Frederick as chamberlain in the early days of her +marriage, and the only time since then when he has been absent from +her side was during the war; for the count is no mere drawing-room +soldier, as is the case with so many military men who are in +attendance on royalty. He has seen active service in the wars of +1864, 1866 and 1870, winning the iron cross for bravery in the latter +campaign, and was likewise attached to Lord Napier's expedition to +Abyssinia, which found its climax in the storming of Magdala, and in +the death of Emperor Theodore. + +As an artist he may be said to be almost as gifted as Empress +Frederick is herself, and his paintings have won distinctions of the +highest order at many national and foreign exhibitions. Indeed, it +is this sympathy of artistic tastes that has contributed in no small +measure to the altogether exceptional position which he enjoys in +the favor and confidence of the widowed empress. He has seen all her +children grow up around her, has been the confidant of many of her +sorrows, and at a moment when both she and her dying husband were +surrounded by chamberlains and officers who were devoted to the +interests of Bismarck, and virtually traitors in the camp, he alone +remained loyal in evil as well as in happier days. Being a bachelor, +he makes his home with the empress, attends her wherever she goes, +and, after having been the object of much abuse and even calumny,--the +latter originated and circulated by the so-called "reptile +press,"--that is to say, the newspapers, domestic and foreign, drawing +pay and inspiration from Prince Bismarck,--he now enjoys the regard +and the good-will of everyone at the Courts of Berlin and Windsor, +particularly at the latter, where his lifelong devotion to the widowed +empress is keenly appreciated by her mother, Queen Victoria. + +No greater contrast can be conceived than that which exists between +Empress Frederick and her daughter-in-law, the empress-regnant. Far +less brilliant than either her husband's mother or grandmother, she +has nevertheless managed to achieve, as I have remarked before, not +only an infinitely greater degree of popularity, but likewise a more +extensive influence upon the German people. Experience and history +show that ordinary sense on the throne is far more beneficial to +the population than a lofty order of intellect, and Empress +Augusta-Victoria merely offers another illustration of the truth of +this assertion. None of the queens of Prussia, nor either of the +first German empresses, can be said to have left any impress upon the +subjects of their respective husbands. There is no doubt that the +so celebrated Queen Louise of Prussia was the cause of Prussia's +receiving infinitely harsher treatment at the hands of Napoleon than +the kingdom would otherwise have experienced; while the consort of +old Emperor William, a pupil of Goethe, and famed for her culture and +accomplishments, was disliked by the people, and was just as little +in touch with them as her still more talented daughter-in-law, Empress +Frederick. + +For Empress Augusta-Victoria, however, a most profound sympathy +extends throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Every housewife, +every mother, looks to her as to a model, knows that she is satisfied +to excel in her purely domestic duties, and that she does, not strive +to render herself superior to her sex by intellectual brilliancy and +scientific attainments. Thanks to this sympathy which she inspires, +and to the fact that she is looked upon by men and women alike in her +husband's dominions as the ideal of what a German "_hausfrau_" should +be, she has been able to exercise an influence of infinitely greater +importance upon the nation at large than any other consort of a +Prussian sovereign can have boasted to achieve. + +It is to this estimable woman, whom some were disposed at first to +denounce as narrow-minded and witless, that must be attributed +the very strongly developed religious revival apparent throughout +Protestant Germany since the present emperor came to the throne. Prior +to the present reign, church-going was as a rule eschewed by the male +sex, women constituting the backbone of the congregation, while the +clergy of the Lutheran persuasion was looked down upon, being treated +by the territorial nobility much in the same way as upper servants, +that is to say, on a par with the farm bailiffs, the stewards and the +housekeepers In a word, religion and everything pertaining thereto was +not considered fashionable. + +To-day all this is changed. Under the guidance of the empress, her +husband, reared by his broad-minded mother in the ideas of Strauss +and of Renan, has become a strict churchman, and court, nobility, +bureaucracy and in fact the middle and lower classes too, have +followed suit. Free-thinking and neglect of religious duties are +at present considered the acme of bad form in Germany. Everybody +professes the most profound interest in questions and enterprises +relating to the church, and a large number of daughters of the most +illustrious houses of the German nobility have conferred their hands +and their hearts upon penniless Lutheran pastors, whose social status +has thereby been entirely changed. Moreover, if during the past ten +years more churches have been built, particularly in Berlin, than had +been the case in the entire previous half-century, this is because +every one has become aware that the most facile way of winning +the good graces of the empress, and the favor of her consort is by +building a church, or endowing some hospital. + +The empress is ever ready to help in every good work, and her private +charities are very great, but she does not approve of the higher +education or the emancipation of women, and entertains a holy horror +of everything pertaining to the female suffrage movement. Women, +according to her views, should remain in their own sphere, and should +regard their duties to their husbands, their children, and their homes +as their first and foremost obligations; the nursing of the sick, +the training of young people, and the organization and direction of +charitable institutions, affording plenty of scope for those members +of the fair sex who have no domestic tasks to occupy their time. + +[Illustration: _AUGUSTE VICTORIA EMPRESS OF GERMANY_] +_From Life_ + +She claims that in this way a woman is able to exercise a far more +important and beneficial influence than by endeavoring to supplant +men in professions essentially masculine, and certainly she herself +constitutes a striking illustration of the truth of her contention, +for the influence of the present German empress is felt throughout the +length and breadth of the land--a gracious womanly influence in every +sense of the word. + +Among the many philanthropic organizations which owe their origin to +the empress, is the Central Association of German Actresses, which has +of late years done more towards elevating the stage than has ever been +accomplished by members of the aristocracy who have seen fit to join +the dramatic profession with that avowed object in view. The work +of this society is to enable actresses to provide themselves, at the +lowest possible cost, with the costumes considered necessary by the +managers of the theatres. It is well known that while in Germany the +pieces are beautifully put on the stage, the salaries paid to the +actresses do not in many cases cover the expenses of the stage +dresses. The empress makes a point of giving all her court and evening +gowns, which were formerly the perquisites of her dressers and maids, +to the association, and has invited the ladies of the Court of Berlin +to follow her example. Those ladies who feel that they cannot afford +to give the dresses, are asked to sell them to the Association as +cheaply as possible, and the latter then turns them over at a +merely nominal cost to such ladies of the dramatic profession as are +considered worthy of support and assistance. + +This organization is managed entirely by great ladies, the empress +herself acting as president, and in this manner they are brought +into personal contact with actresses both of high and low degree. The +intercourse thus established has been most beneficial, for it has +not only helped to place the social status of the stage on a more +agreeable basis, but it also constitutes an incentive to actresses +to keep their names and reputations free from blemish, since they +naturally understand that the empress and the great ladies of the +aristocracy can only treat them as friends, so long as they live up +to the same standard of respectability as that which prevails in the +highest circles of society, and at court. + +One of the most valuable qualities of Empress Augusta-Victoria is her +extraordinary tact. It is due to this, more than anything else, that +she has been able to retain, not only a hold upon the affection and +regard of her impulsive and brilliant husband, but also an influence +over him without his being aware of the fact. By the leading members +of his court, and by his principal ministerial advisers, she is +regarded not merely in the light of his guardian angel, but as his +most sensible counsellor. She may be relied upon at all times to +soothe his anger, soften any bitterness which he may entertain towards +this or that person, and call forth at critical moments the most +generous and chivalrous phases of his, on the whole, very attractive +character. + +She is claimed by those who know the true state of affairs to act in +the capacity of a brake and a safety-valve to her husband, and it +is no secret that both the classes and the masses feel an additional +sense of security when they know their popular empress to be by the +emperor's side; for every mistake that he has made since he ascended +the throne has taken place during her absence, and he himself is the +first to acknowledge that she is largely responsible for every success +that he has achieved. + +The sentiments of the empress towards Bismarck have been much +misunderstood and misconstrued. It is perfectly true that she was +brought up from her earliest childhood to regard him as the enemy +of her house, the prince having, as I have already related, been the +author of the indefensible act of spoliation, by means of which her +father had been deprived of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, now +forming part of the kingdom of Prussia. The manner in which the Iron +Chancellor was viewed in the home of the empress when a young girl, +may best be gathered from the fact that whenever her nurses and +governesses were desirous of putting a stop to her naughtiness and +of frightening her into obedience, they would exclaim: "_Bismarck's +coming! wow! wow!_" This childhood impression has continued so +deep that even to this day, whenever the empress shows any signs of +reluctance to comply with her husband's wishes, or betrays irritation, +the kaiser is in the habit of springing upon her the familiar old cry +of "_Bismarck's coming! wow! wow!_" which at first always makes her +start as she did in infancy and girlhood, and then causes her to burst +into laughter, and restores her to good humor. + +These sentiments of aversion to Bismarck were to a great extent +modified at the time of her marriage by the knowledge that it was the +chancellor who had contributed more than anybody else to facilitate +and bring about the match. The latter was opposed by many of Emperor +William's kinsfolk, as well as by influential people at court, on the +ground that her rank was inadequate to render her a suitable match for +the heir to the throne of Germany. Bismarck, however, took the ground +that a marriage between the heir presumptive and the eldest daughter +of the _de jure_ Duke of Schleswig-Holstein would go a long way +to reconcile the inhabitants of the above-named duchies to their +annexation by Prussia, while at the same time it would constitute the +reparation of an act which he himself admitted was extremely unjust, +but to which he was compelled by imperative considerations of policy. + +Empress Augusta-Victoria has been so supremely happy in her married +life that she has always felt a certain amount of gratitude to +Bismarck, which tended to obliterate her childhood's impressions +against him; and no more striking indication of her sentiments towards +the famous statesman can be given than the fact that she travelled all +the way to Friedrichsrüh at a moment when the sickness of her children +demanded her presence by their bedside, in order to attend the private +and home funeral of the man who had publicly described her father +as the most stupid prince in all Europe; who had deprived him of his +throne, and who had sent him to an early grave as a broken-spirited +and thoroughly embittered man. + +While the empress takes but little part in politics, on her favorite +ground, that women should have no concern whatsoever in the conduct +thereof, she has at least on two occasions, to my knowledge, +intervened in important crises. Thus in 1892, when General Count +Caprivi, having differed with William on the subject of the new +education laws, had written to tender his resignation of the office +of chancellor, the empress at once indicted an autograph letter, in +which, with expressions of mingled pathos and dignity, she appealed to +him so strongly not to desert her husband, or to subject the latter +to the anxiety, the trouble, and even the odium of another ministerial +crisis, that he at once traveled down to Hübertüsstock, where +the emperor was staying, and informed him that he withdrew his +resignation, and would remain in office. + +Two years later, when Caprivi again resigned, it was largely the +personal entreaties contained in the letters which she addressed to +old Princess Hohenlohe which led to the latter's withdrawal of +the opposition that, until then, had stood in the way of Prince +Hohenlohe's acceptance of the chancellorship. + +Like most other consorts of reigning sovereigns and princesses of the +blood, Empress Augusta-Victoria holds the colonelcy of a number of +Prussian and Russian regiments, whose uniform she occasionally wears +in a somewhat feminized form at those grand military reviews of which +the kaiser is so fond. Her favorite garb of this kind is the uniform +of the second regiment of Pomeranian Cuirassiers, one of the oldest +and most celebrated corps of cavalry of the Prussian army. The +regimental tunic is of snow-white cloth, and held in its place by the +silver shoulder-straps of a colonel is the orange ribbon of the Order +of the Black Eagle, which crosses her breast to the left hip, where +the jewel of the order is attached by a large rosette. The star of the +order is worn on the left breast, while just above it are a number of +smaller decorations. With this white tunic, with its silver buttons, +its silver embroidery and scarlet facings, a white cloth skirt is +worn, while in lieu of the helmet now in use by the regiment, the +empress has adopted the old-fashioned, broad-brimmed cavalier hat, +with the flowing white ostrich plumes which the officers of the corps +were wont to don in the early part of the last century. Thus attired, +the empress takes her place by the side of her husband at the saluting +point at any of the grand reviews at which she may happen to be +present, and as soon as a regiment of which she happens to be colonel +approaches, she at once canters, takes her place at its head as +commanding officer, and leads it past her husband in true military +fashion, saluting with her riding whip before returning to his side. + +Sometimes she is accompanied by one or another of the emperor's +sisters, or else by the handsome young Grand Duchess of Hesse, all of +whom hold honorary colonelcies, and who appear on such occasions on +horseback and in uniform. The Grand Duchess of Hesse, who holds the +command of an infantry regiment, wears not merely the tunic, but +likewise the helmet of the corps in question, and looks particularly +fascinating on these occasions. + +Empress Augusta-Victoria and her mother-in-law, the Empress Frederick, +are the only two women who have ever been admitted to the Order of the +Black Eagle, the highest order of the kingdom of Prussia, and neither +the consort of Old Emperor William nor any of the earlier queens of +Prussia, not even Queen Louise, ever received this distinction. The +innovation dates from the time of the late Emperor Frederick. The +first thing he did on becoming emperor was to take the ribbon of the +order from his own uniform and hang it across the shoulders of his +wife, in token of gratitude, and in recognition of the fact that, had +it not been for her championship and faithful guard of his interests, +Bismarck would have carried the day, and debarred him from accession +to the crown. While the emperor's action, of course, excited a good +deal of criticism amongst the older dignitaries of the order, and +among the members of the government and court, it was heartily +approved of by the world at large, as being not only well deserved, +but also a singularly pathetic demonstration on the part of the +dying monarch of his profound sense of obligation to his most devoted +consort. + +When Emperor William in turn ascended the throne, he at once proceeded +to follow his father's example, and to invest his own wife with the +Black Eagle, in order to place her, as the reigning empress, upon +the same level in this particular respect, as her mother-in-law, the +dowager empress. It may be taken for granted that henceforth the Order +of the Black Eagle will remain a prerogative of all the consorts of +the kings of Prussia and emperors of Germany. + +The whole youth of the empress was spent at Prinkenau, the fine +country seat of her parents, which is now owned by her brother. Those +days were varied only by visits to her uncle, Prince Christian of +Schleswig-Holstein, who makes his home in England, where he is married +to Queen Victoria's daughter Helena, and to her relatives, the Prince +and Princess Hohenlohe. The emperor first made her acquaintance during +a day's shooting at Prinkenau. He was _en route_ to the château, when, +having lost his way in the forest, he met a young girl, of whom he +inquired his whereabouts and how to proceed. This was the Princess +Augusta-Victoria, and he always declared that he fell in love with her +from that moment. + +She was, therefore, a total stranger to Berlin court life and Berlin +society at the time of her marriage, and at first found it very +difficult to adapt herself to the formal etiquette by which royal +personages are surrounded at Berlin. It was here that her American +aunt, Countess Waldersee, came to her assistance, instructed her, and +acted as her mentor, not only in matters of etiquette and manner, but +in the attitude to be observed towards the various members of Berlin +society as well. + +It is as a mother that the empress shows herself in one of her most +charming lights. She is, indeed, an ideal mother, and, in spite of her +manifold duties, personally supervises, not merely the education +of her children, but even every little detail connected with their +comfort and well-being. In fact the empress, as well as the emperor, +are at their best when surrounded by their children, in whose company +they spend far more time than fashionable people in less exalted +spheres of society consider it necessary or pleasant to do. + +The empress is extremely economical as regards the clothing of her +children, and the suits of the elder princes are cut down to fit their +younger brothers. + +With her own wardrobe the empress is equally careful, and she has a +staff of dressmakers who are always at work remodelling her gowns, so +that it is possible for her to appear in them several times without +their being recognized. On state occasions she is always superbly +dressed, and covered with the most gorgeous jewels, but when in the +country she delights in the simplest costumes; a serge skirt, a pretty +blouse, and a plain straw hat, being her favorite garb. Her +grand court costumes, as a rule, hail from Vienna, and Empress +Augusta-Victoria probably shares with her grandmother, Queen Victoria, +the distinction of being one of the two ladies, occupants of thrones, +who do not patronize any of the great Parisian couturiers. + +The empress never orders her dresses herself. That is done by her +principal lady-in-waiting, who has patterns sent to the palace, from +which she selects a certain number to show the empress. When the +imperial lady has made her choice, she settles from plates the way +in which the gown is to be made, after invariably submitting her +selections to the emperor, who has excellent taste in such matters. + +The empress usually breakfasts alone with the emperor. In summer, +often at the unearthly hour of six in the morning! The meal is a +substantial one, American and English, rather than Continental in +fashion, and she is apt to declare that it is the only time throughout +the entire day when she is able to discuss matters of a private or +domestic character with her husband. The imperial couple often ride +out on horseback together in the early morning, after breakfast, +before the kaiser repairs to the palace to begin his day's work at +nine o'clock. The empress looks very well on horseback, as she has an +excellent seat, and the plain habit suits her rounded figure extremely +well. Her stable is quite distinct from that of the emperor, and with +the exception of one white horse all the mounts that she uses are +brown in color. + +At luncheon the emperor and empress generally have a few guests, and +it is the same at dinner, which takes place at seven in the evening. +On rising from the table, the empress frequently takes her place at +the piano to accompany the emperor, who has a fine baritone and most +expressive voice. + +It is asserted by those who know the empress best, that she has kept a +diary since her earliest girlhood, in which she has set down her daily +experiences, although it is claimed that these diaries have been seen +by no one, not even by the emperor. The empress, who never fails to +write her diary every evening, keeps the precious volumes under lock +and key in a large cabinet situated in her bedroom. Perhaps some +day the personal experiences of Empress Augusta-Victoria will be +published, and while they may possibly throw light on many dark places +in the history both of the nation and the court, there is no doubt +that their revelations will be characterized by that kindliness of +heart, that forbearance, and, above all, that sound common sense which +are so conspicuous in Empress Augusta-Victoria. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Since the days of the canonized rulers of Hungary, Bohemia, Russia, +and France, there have been no sovereigns of the Old World who have +been so distinguished for their piety and for the fervor of their +religious belief as the present Emperors of Germany and Austria, for +they both take very seriously to heart their official and liturgical +designation as the Anointed of the Lord. + +It is no mere cant or hypocrisy in their case, but a profound belief +in the teachings of the Scripture in which they truly believe is to be +found the most powerful bulwark of the throne against the ever rising +tide of democracy, and the fundamental basis of the entire monarchical +system. Save for this, their manifestations of Christianity may be +said to differ. + +Francis-Joseph, now in the eventide of a singularly sad and stormy +life, and of a reign that was inaugurated by a most sanguinary civil +war, reminds one, in spite of the hereditary title of "_Apostolic +Majesty_" conferred upon his forbears by the Papacy, of nothing so +much as of the publican of the parable going up to the temple to pray, +so deep and unaffected is the humility with which he approaches the +altar or kneels at the priedieu in the chapel of his palace, or beside +the tombs of those most near and dear to him. + +Emperor William's piety, while equally fervent, does not give one the +same idea of self-abasement in the sight of the Almighty. It would be +unfair to compare him to that other personage of the parable, namely, +the Pharisee, for the latter was obviously lacking in sincerity; +but at the same time, William in his moments of religious fervor, +invariably recalls to mind that pretty story told by the late Alphonse +Daudet, entitled the "Dauphin's Deathbed," in which the little +boy-prince, on the eve of his departure for a happier world, responds +to the exhortations of his chaplain with the exclamation: "But +one thing consoles me, M. l'Abbé, and that is that up there in the +Paradise of the stars I shall still be the Dauphin. I know that the +good God is my cousin, and cannot fail to treat me according to my +rank!" + +Emperor Francis-Joseph will be prepared, in, a future existence, to +take his place among the very humblest of his subjects, realizing that +in the eyes of the Divinity all human creatures are equal, whereas +Emperor William, on the other hand, in his heart of hearts, is +certainly convinced that there will be a special place reserved for +him above--a place in keeping with his rank here on earth. True, he +has never actually said this in so many words, but he has assuredly +indicated this belief both by his utterances and his actions. He makes +no attempt to conceal his conviction that personages of royal birth, +and, in particular, reigning sovereigns, are fashioned by the Almighty +with clay of a quality vastly superior to that employed for the +composition of ordinary human creatures. + +Notwithstanding all the Spartan rigor and severity to which he was +subjected in his youth, for the purpose of dispelling exaggerated +pride of birth and station, he feels assured that the rights and +privileges which he enjoys above his fellow-men are of Divine origin. +Although a constitutional sovereign, he is never tired of declaring +that he is responsible for the performance of his duties as ruler +of Germany to the Almighty alone, and that God alone is able to +appreciate and to pass judgment upon his actions. + +That Emperor William considers himself to be far nearer to the throne +of God, and in an infinitely closer degree of communion with the +Almighty than any ordinary being, is apparent from many of his public +utterances. In fact, the amazing intimacy which he professes with +his Maker, and the strange manner in which he implies that he and the +Creator have interests in common, and joint understandings that are +beyond the comprehension of ordinary mankind, would savor of downright +blasphemy, were it not for the undeniable sincerity of his Teutonic +majesty, who really regards himself as a Divine instrument. Indeed, +there is no doubt that it is this belief which he honestly entertains +that has served to keep his private life, since he ascended the +throne, so thoroughly blameless. For there is no doubt that William +does his utmost to live up to the teachings of his faith, to order +every phase of his existence in conformity with the precepts of +Christianity, and to avoid everything that could tend to impair his +status as a vice-regent of Providence in the eyes of the devout. + +Few are the incidents and events of his reign to which he does not +impart a religious flavor. Thus it was only last summer, on the +completion of a new fort at Metz, that he insisted on its inauguration +taking place with much religious pomp and ceremony, and he himself +christened the fortress in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and +of the Holy Ghost, thus calling down the blessing of the Trinity on +a stronghold, the guns of which are pointed against France, and the +success of which can only consist in the destruction of innumerable +French foes! + +It is he, too, who has originated the practice of christening with +religious ceremonies the great guns furnished by Krupp for use afloat +and ashore against Germany's enemies; and on the blades of the swords +which he has presented to his elder sons, and to his favorite generals +and officers, there is invariably inscribed on the one side, "In the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and on the +other, averse from the Bible, surmounted by the imperial cypher. + +William has even gone to the length of drawing up an extraordinary +argument in defence of duelling based upon quotations taken from the +Bible. The emperor takes as the text of his argument that verse of +the writings of St. Paul, in which the Apostle declares that he would +rather die than that anyone should rob him of his good name. William +infers from this that the most eloquent and forcible of all the +fathers of the Church was prepared to fight to the death for the honor +of his name. + +"Nowhere in the Bible," adds his majesty, "is there any prohibition +of duelling, not even in the New Testament, which, unlike the Old +Testament, is not a book of law. Indeed, every attempt to use the New +Testament as the basis for a new code of law has resulted in failure." + +With regard to the use made by the opponents of duelling of that +law in the Old Testament which proclaims, "Thou shalt not kill," +the emperor draws attention to another portion of the Old Testament, +wherein is mentioned that the sword shall not be carried in vain. Then +invoking St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, in which the Apostle +exclaims: "Oh! ye foolish Galatians. This only would I learn of you. +Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of +the faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, that ye wish +to perfect yourselves in the flesh?" + +The emperor declares that to twist the Word of God into a prohibition +of duelling is nothing else than to perfect one's self by the +flesh--that is to say to attribute an altogether material and +common-place interpretation to what is meant spiritually. He adds +that this is just as reprehensible in the eyes of the Almighty as +the attempts by the Pharisees to adapt the Mosaic law to their own +convenience, attempts which were so bitterly denounced by Christ. + +Finally, the emperor generally concludes this extraordinary exposition +of his views by the following exordium: + +"He who after careful self-examination finds himself compelled to +fight a duel, and whose conscience is clear of sentiments of hatred +and of vengeance, may do so in the conviction that he is in no wise +acting contrary to the Word of God, to the obligations of honor, or +to the accepted customs of society. As in battle, so also in the duel, +which has been forced upon him in one way or another, he may say to +himself: _If we live, we live in the Lord, and if we die, we die in +the Lord, Amen_." + +It must be borne in mind that Emperor William delivered himself of +these utterances, not merely in his capacity of Emperor of Germany, +King of Prussia, and commander-in-chief of the entire German army, but +also in his self-assumed rôle of _Summus-Episcopus,_ or spiritual as +well as temporal chief of the Lutheran Church throughout the empire. +Such a speech was delivered on the occasion of the endeavor made by +certain members of the court circles to induce the Lutheran synod to +institute disciplinary measures against the Potsdam pastor who +had declined to accord the rites of Christian burial to Baron von +Schrader, killed in a duel by Baron Kotze, the encounter being the +outcome of the anonymous letter scandal already described. The synod, +however, thoroughly endorsed the attitude of the Lutheran minister in +question, and availed itself of the opportunity to pass a resolution +to the effect that no person killed in a combat of this kind, or even +dying from wounds received in a duel, could be regarded as having met +his death as a Christian, and as such entitled to Christian burial. + +Curiously enough this view was endorsed by the gallant old General +Bronsart von Schellendorf, at that time minister of war, who, in +expressing his approval of the resolution, called upon the emperor +as commander-in-chief to take more radical steps for checking the +phenomenal growth of the practice of duelling. + +William, however, declined to comply with the request, dismissed +the general shortly afterwards from office, and, on the contrary, +proceeded to condemn both the action of the synod and of the Potsdam +pastor who had declined to officiate at Baron Schrader's obsequies, +giving as the reason for his position in the matter the argument from +which I have just given some extracts. + +This was by no means the first time that William found himself in +conflict with the provincial synods of the Lutheran Church in his +dominions. On one occasion the consistory of the Lutheran Church of +the Province of East Prussia, in which the imperial game preserves +of Rominten are situated, passed a unanimous vote of censure upon the +kaiser for having desecrated the Sabbath, and violated the secular +laws with regard to its observance, by giving a big hunting-party on +Sunday at Rominten. It was understood at the time that the consistory +would have abstained from taking this extreme step had it not been +for the comment excited throughout Germany by the somewhat malicious +juxtaposition in most of the newspapers of two articles, one of which +gave an elaborate description of the Sunday shooting-party of the +emperor at Rominten, while in a parallel column was a proclamation +just issued by the civil governor of the province of Westphalia, +calling attention to the lax observance of the Sunday laws, and +reiterating the pains and penalties that are prescribed by statute +for those who shoot, sing, dance, play skittles or indulge in any +recreation, whether in public or in private, that is inconsistent with +repose on Sunday. + +Of course, the vote of the consistory of Eastern Prussia was +eventually quashed, and its members disciplined. But the publicity +given to the affair served to call the attention of the people at +large to the emperor's disregard of the laws which he himself had +caused to be enacted. Previous to his reign, Sunday had been looked +upon as a day of recreation, revelry, and festivity throughout +Germany. + +In the days of the old emperor all the finest performances of the +court theatres were reserved for Sunday, the principal state banquets +took place on that day, as well as the imperial hunting parties and +battues. Among the _bourgeoisie_, dances, balls and picnics were the +order of the Lord's Day, while the lower classes thronged the beer +gardens and the beer halls that constitute so important a feature +of German life. Regattas, parades, race-meetings, and popular +entertainments and festivals of one kind or another, were, in fact, +all reserved for Sunday. + +All this was changed when the emperor came to the throne, and among +the earliest laws enacted on his initiative, were those to which +the Governor of Westphalia called attention in the proclamation just +described, and which prohibited every form of revelry on the Sabbath. +For instance, a few months after William's accession he was invited by +the Berlin Yacht Club to attend the annual regatta, which was to take +place on the following Sunday morning, but he declined on the ground +that it would prevent his going to church, and when the committee +offered to postpone the races until the afternoon he declared that +his principles would not permit him to regard Sunday as a day to be +devoted to regattas, and analogous forms of popular entertainment. +It must be explained that he was at the time strongly imbued with +the evangelistic views which he had derived from his wife's aunt, +the American Countess of Waldersee, and from her protégé, ex-Court +Chaplain Stoecker, who combined with his strict and Puritanical views +on the subject of the Sabbath, the most intense animosity towards the +Jews, and a virulent hatred for the late Emperor Frederick. + +This strange divine, so famous for many years as the leader of the +so-called "Jüdenhetz" movement, is one of the most displeasing figures +in German public life, and Emperor William, who has long since turned +his back upon him, and dismissed him from his court chaplaincy, must +bitterly regret that he ever accorded him any favor or intimacy, and +permitted himself to be influenced by his views. How is it possible to +speak with any patience of a minister of the Church who, in a weekly +paper, "The Ecclesiastical Review," of December 10, 1887, actually had +the audacity to write in an editorial article signed with his name the +following cruel sentence? "Let us pray every day and every hour for +our royal family, and in particular for the Old Man (the old kaiser) +and for the Young Man (the present emperor) of this race of heroes. +May God in His mercy grant that the terrible punishment which has +overtaken the sick Prince Frederick (the late Emperor Frederick) bear +fruit, and may it bring resignation to his mind, and peace to his +conscience." + +At the moment when the article appeared, in which it was publicly +intimated that the crown prince's malady was a just and well-merited +punishment for his sins, the imperial patient, so sorely afflicted, +whose life had been so blameless, was at death's door, a fact +over which the court chaplain openly rejoiced, proclaiming that "a +brilliant future is about to open up before us." + +Since William has cut himself adrift from Pastor Stoecker, the +strictness of his views with regard to the observance of Sunday, has +undergone a change. At any rate, he has modified them in so far as he +himself is concerned, and while he is very regular in his attendance +at church on Sunday morning, he no longer seems to consider it a sin +to go out sailing, shooting or hunting on Sunday afternoons, or to +attend theatrical performances or other kinds of entertainment in +the evening. Inasmuch as the Sunday Observance Laws have not been +repealed, one can only take it for granted that he considers himself +and his consort as being above the law of the land, and in no wise +bound thereby. Yet neither of their majesties has a legal right to any +such immunity. According to the terms of the Prussian constitution the +emperor and empress are just as amenable to the laws that figure in +the statute book, and equally required to obey them as any ordinary +German citizen. The only advantage that the emperor enjoys is that +he possesses certain prerogatives in connection with the giving +of evidence, and with the punishment of offences that are directed +against his person and his honor. + +In this obligation to submit to the laws of the land he differs +from his grandmother Queen Victoria, and from his ally, Emperor +Francis-Joseph, the tenure of whose thrones was originally based on +what in olden times was known as the Divine right of kings. Thus, in +England, as in Austria, and even in Spain and Portugal, the mediaeval +theory still prevails that "_the king can do no wrong!_" Queen +Victoria, for instance, is not below the law like Emperor William, +but above it. No court has jurisdiction over her, and legally speaking +there is no jurisdiction upon earth to try her in a civil or criminal +way, much less to condemn her to punishment. + +Of all the prerogatives enjoyed by Queen Victoria, the one, however, +of which the kaiser is the most envious is her supremacy of the state +Church of England. His ambition is to acquire the same position with +regard to the whole Lutheran Church as she enjoys over the Anglican +denomination. This dream, difficult of execution for reasons which I +will proceed to explain, originated with his great-grandfather, King +Frederick-William III., who first conceived the idea of a species of +Lutheran Kaliphate, with its headquarters at Berlin, and its Mecca at +Jerusalem. + +His successor, King Frederick-William IV., took up the notion with all +the enthusiasm natural to his mystic character, and kept one of his +most trusted statesmen and confidants busily employed for years in +endeavoring to federate all the Reformed Churches, with the exception +of that of England, under the protectorate and supremacy of the +Hohenzollerns. Emperor William goes still further. He aspires to +become, not merely the temporal head of the Lutheran Church throughout +the world, but likewise its spiritual chief, its pontiff, in fact, in +the same manner that the czar is the chief ecclesiastical dignitary +and the duly consecrated spiritual head of the national Church +of Russia. William bases his claims to the dignity of a +_summus-episcopus_ on the fact that he is a titular bishop and +archbishop, some nineteen times over, for his ancestors, when annexing +the various petty states and sovereignties in bygone times, always +made a point of getting the mitre with the crown, and the crozier +with the purple and ermine. Many of the petty states of Germany in +mediaeval days were ruled, not by temporal rulers, but by archbishops +possessing the rank of sovereign and the title of prince. + +The ecclesiastical dignity was, in fact, inherent, and part and parcel +of the sovereignty. Consequently, when Emperor William's ancestors +acquired the one, they likewise secured possession of the other, and +thus among his many ecclesiastical titles is that of Prince Archbishop +of Silesia, and it is in his ecclesiastical capacity that he has +conferred canonries and deaneries upon the military and civil members +of his household. + +Of course, the difficulty in the way of the emperor's recognition as +the supreme head of the Lutheran Church is the fact that the Lutheran +faith is by no means confined to his dominions. Lutherans constitute +the major part of the population in Würtemberg, Saxony and Baden, as +well as in all the other non-Prussian states of the Confederation, +save Bavaria. Besides this, there are millions of Lutherans in +Austro-Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia, who could not +recognize his supremacy without disloyalty to their own rulers, all +of whom, with the exception of the king of Saxony, the Czar and the +Austrian emperor, are, like himself, members of the Reformed Church. + +His celebrated pilgrimage to Jerusalem a year ago, the first +pilgrimage of a German emperor to the Holy Land since the days of the +Crusades, clearly showed the trend of the kaiser's aspirations. He +had invited all his fellow-Protestant monarchs to accompany him to +Jerusalem, either in person or to send one of the princes of their +houses as their representatives, and to ride in his train when he +made his entry into the Holy City of Christendom. But not one of the +sovereigns thus invited responded to the invitation tendered, and +William had no German or foreign prince with him during this memorable +pilgrimage. + +It was the most extraordinary thing of the kind that has ever been +seen, the strangeness of the affair being intensified by that same +mixture of the mediaeval with the intensely modern and up-to-date +ways which constitutes so peculiar a phase of William's character. The +emperor rode into Jerusalem by the same route as that followed by the +Founder of Christianity on the first Palm Sunday, wearing a flowing +white mantle, and mounted on a milk-white steed. He prayed at dusk +with the members of his suite in the Garden of Gethsemane, piously +kneeling on the ground, pronounced a religious discourse on the Mount +of Olives, received the Holy Communion in the Coenaculum, that is to +say, the house in which, according to tradition, Christ celebrated +the Last Supper,--nay, he even preached a full-fledged sermon on the +occasion of the dedication of the Church of the Saviour at Jerusalem, +and traveled by road from Jerusalem to Damascus! And yet, destroying +all the romance and old-time glamor that might otherwise have +surrounded this imperial crusade, was the fact that he was a +"_personally conducted" Cook's tourist_, that his meals were prepared +by French chefs, that champagne was the ordinary beverage at his +table, and that, while tramcars were used to go about Damascus, the +railroad was selected by him to get back from Jerusalem to Jaffa! + +Emperor William has a weakness for preaching, and it must be confessed +that he does it well. He possesses a very ready gift of speech, +and his fervent religious belief seems to serve as a species of +inspiration to his eloquence. Thus on board the Hohenzollern, during +his annual yachting cruise along the coast of Norway, he invariably +conducts divine service on Sunday morning, taking his place in front +of an altar erected on deck, upon which the German war-flag is +spread, in lieu of an altar-cloth. Luther's hymns, accompanied by the +trombones of the band, are sung. Then the emperor reads the epistle +and the gospel with great feeling, and recites the liturgical prayers +with considerable fervor. Next he preaches a sermon, which, as a rule, +is of his own composition, and extemporary, though occasionally he +will read the sermon of some well-known pulpit orator. + +It has been observed that he is always much more indulgent in cases +of inattention on the part of the congregation when he reads a +sermon than when he preaches one of his own. Any sailor who has the +misfortune to fall asleep during the discourse is disciplined, and +his name figures, of course, on the punishment roll on the following +morning, when the day's report is presented to the emperor as the +commanding officer of the ship. If the sermon has been one of his +majesty's own composition, as a rule he allows the punishment to +stand. But if the discourse happens to have been of less illustrious +origin, he will almost invariably order the penalty to be remitted, +adding, with a smile of indulgence, that "the sermon was rather +dreary, wasn't it?" + +At Berlin and at Potsdam the kaiser keeps his court chaplains +under very strict discipline, and they expose themselves to a stern +reprimand if they presume to extend their pulpit orations beyond the +term of ten or, at the most, fifteen minutes. Emperor William very +justly takes the ground that if they are sufficiently concise in their +remarks, they can say all that they have to say within that space of +time, and if their discourse is prolonged beyond the stipulated period +it loses its force and its power of retaining the interest and the +attention of the congregation. + +The emperor does not hesitate to call the divines to account when +they enunciate doctrines of which he does not approve, and whereas +in former reigns a court chaplaincy was regarded in the light of +an office for life, it is now considered as a merely temporary +appointment, so frequent are the dismissals. + +At the Dome at Berlin, and at the Garrison Church at Potsdam, the +emperor follows the service with an air of mingled devotion and +authority that is rather amusing. While most devout and fervent in his +prayers, and joining in the hymns in such a manner that his ringing +baritone voice is easily discernible above the rest, his eyes wander +in a stern fashion around the church, quick to note any member of the +congregation who is not behaving with proper decorum and reverence. He +conveys the impression that he considers it to be his duty to keep the +congregation in proper order, and if he finds that either he, or the +imperial party is being stared at with any degree of persistency or +curiosity, he at once sends off one of his officers to sharply warn +the offenders. Indeed, he has more than once caused it to be made +known through official communications to the press that he thoroughly +disapproves of being stared at when attending church, and engaged in +his devotions. + +Like William, Francis-Joseph has made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and +the Holy Land, but it was without any fuss or pomp. In fact, there are +few persons, save those connected with the Court of Austria, who are +aware that Austria's ruler ever visited the Holy Land. He went there +in 1869, traveling in the strictest incognito, and attended only +by two of his gentlemen-in-waiting and two servants, after the +inauguration of the Suez Canal, at which he had been present. There +was no solemn entry on horseback into the city that witnessed the +foundation of Christianity, and while he prayed at the Holy Places +like Emperor William, he did so quietly and unobtrusively, without +attracting any attention. His pilgrimage was characterized by the same +unaffected humility that distinguishes his religion from that of his +brother monarch at Berlin. + +William's faith still retains the enthusiasm and, if I may use the +word, the exuberance of youth, whereas that of Francis-Joseph, +though even more fervent, is chastened, humbled and mellowed by the +experience of many a cruel sorrow and many a hard blow. To some +of these he would have succumbed had it not been for his religious +belief. There have been at least three different occasions during +his fifty years' reign when he would have abandoned his throne, +and abdicated his crown had it not been pointed out to him by his +spiritual adviser that it was his duty--his religious duty--to remain +at his post, and to bear with bravery the trials with which he was +overwhelmed. + +The first of these occasions was at the close of the disastrous wars +of 1866, when the march of the Prussians on Vienna was only stayed +within a few hours' distance of the capital by the ignominious peace +of Nicolsburg. The second time was when he lost his only son by the +frightful tragedy of Mayerling, and he saw his boy's body refused even +Christian rites of burial by the church, until he had been able to +convince the kindly old pontiff at Rome that the poor lad's mind was +unbalanced at the time that he took his life. The third occasion was +when his lovely consort, to whom, in spite of all that is said to the +contrary, he was so deeply devoted, was taken from him by the hand +of an assassin in a foreign land, and under peculiarly heartrending +circumstances. + +Moreover, he saw the body of his brother Maximilian brought home from +the Mexican plain of Queretaro, where he had been shot down by a file +of soldiers as if a vulgar criminal; he stood by the deathbed of +a favorite niece, burnt to death before his eyes in the palace of +Schoenbrunn, when her dress had caught fire from a lighted cigarette +which she was endeavoring to conceal from him and from her father; he +followed to the grave another favorite of his, a nephew, accidentally +killed while out shooting. Indeed, there is no end to the tragedies +which have gone to sadden the life of this now septuagenarian monarch, +and while on ordinary occasions, especially when engaged in military +inspections or in great court functions, he appears to retain the +elasticity, vigor and temperament of a man still in his prime, yet +when in church or chapel, attending divine service, and so wrapped up +in his devotions that he becomes oblivious to his surroundings, the +restraint which he puts upon his feelings at other times disappears, +and one is able to realize the extent of his sufferings, and how +supreme is the consolation that he finds in his religion. + +Vienna is the only capital in the world where one can see a +full-fledged monarch kneeling bareheaded in the streets, and offering +up prayers in the most fervent manner, the spectacle exciting not +ridicule, but sentiments of profound reverence and sympathy on the +part of the people--Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans from Herzegovina +and Bosnia--who throng the thoroughfares of the beautiful city on +the Danube. The sight is witnessed each year, on the occasion of the +_Corpus Christi_ procession. This glorious procession starts out from +the Cathedral of St. Stephen at an early hour in the morning, and the +entire route through the various streets which it traverses Is kid +with boards, over which grass is strewn. At various points along the +way there are altars, or so-called _reposoirs_, where the Sacred Host +is placed for a few moments, the emperor and the great personages with +him kneeling piously on the ground and offering up prayers. + +The procession is opened by choristers, then come priests and monks +with hands crossed upon their breasts, next the rectors of the various +metropolitan parishes, displaying their distinctive banners like +the knights of old. The municipal authorities, the officers of the +imperial household, the Knights Grand Cross of the various orders, the +cabinet ministers, and the principal dignitaries of the army, of the +navy, and of the crown. Finally, comes a magnificent canopy borne by +generals, under which walks the tall and stately Cardinal Archbishop +of Vienna, carrying the Host, to which the troops lining the route +bend the knee while presenting arms, the civilians behind them baring +their heads, while the women cross themselves. Immediately behind the +Host, bareheaded and alone, with a lighted candle in his hand, and +wearing the full uniform of an Austrian field marshal,--a snow-white +cloth tunic with scarlet and gold facings,--strides the aged emperor, +still erect as a dart, with all the slender, shapely elegance of a man +of thirty, in spite of his three-score years and ten. He is followed +by the archdukes, conspicuous among them the gigantic Archduke Eugene, +grand master of the Teutonic Order, in the semi-ecclesiastical habits +of his rank, while the procession is brought to a close by escorts of +the superbly arrayed Archer and Hungarian Body Guards. + +The spectacle is impressive, and the silence along the route, save for +the chanting of the choristers, and the recitation of prayers in an +undertone by the clergy, adds to the solemnity of the occasion. In +days gone by, the murdered empress used to figure in the procession +in full court dress and followed by her ladies, but now women take no +part therein. + +Another remarkable religious ceremony in which the emperor plays the +leading part, and which is only to be witnessed nowadays at the +Court of Vienna, is the washing of the feet of twelve aged men on the +Thursday of Holy Week, in memory of the washing of the feet of +the twelve apostles on the first Holy Thursday by the Founder of +Christianity. The ceremony takes place at the imperial palace, in +the presence of the entire court. The twelve old men, each carefully +dressed for the occasion, who have been brought from their homes to +the palace in imperial carriages, are seated in a row, and, after a +brief religious service celebrated by the cardinal archbishop, the +emperor kneels in front of each, and washes his feet in a golden basin +filled with rose water, the ewer being carried by the heir to the +throne, while the prelate who holds the office of court chaplain hands +to his majesty the gold-embroidered towel with which the feet are +dried after having been washed. When the emperor has reached the end +of the line there are more prayers, and the blessing; then a banquet +is served to the old men, at which they are waited on in person by the +emperor, the various dishes being handed to him by the archdukes and +princes of the blood. The old people are finally sent home, each with +a purse containing gold pieces, and a large hamper, wherein are placed +several bottles of fine wine and the remains of the various dishes and +gastronomical masterpieces which have figured on the table during the +banquet. As a rule, the old men dispose of these for considerable sums +of money to wealthy Viennese, who are only too delighted to purchase +them, and thus to be able to boast of having partaken of the emperor's +hospitality! + +Brought up by parents who axe renowned for their religious bigotry, +in the absolutist school of the great Prince Metternich, Emperor +Francis-Joseph has experienced the utmost difficulty in reconciling +his religions belief with his obligations as a constitutional monarch, +for he has been repeatedly obliged to give his sanction as a sovereign +to reforms enacted by the legislature of Austria, and particularly +of Hungary, which were strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, +fiercely denounced by the clergy, and condemned by the Vatican. That +he should in matters such as these have sacrificed his religious +prejudices and conscientious scruples to what he conceived to be his +duty as a constitutional monarch, speaks volumes for his strength of +character, and for his uprightness as a ruler. There is only one thing +that he has declined to do, in spite of all the pressure brought to +bear upon him by his ministers and by his allies: he has absolutely +declined to visit Rome so long as the Pope remains deprived of his +temporal sovereignty. Ordinarily the most chivalrous and courteous +of monarchs, and extremely punctilious in the fulfilment of all the +obligations imposed by etiquette, he has up to the present moment +refrained from returning the visit paid to his court at Vienna by King +Humbert and Queen Marguerite nearly twenty years ago. Leo XIII., like +his predecessor, has intimated that he would regard any visit paid to +the King of Italy in the former Papal Palace of the Quirinal at Rome, +by a Catholic sovereign, as a cruel affront to the occupant of the +chair of St. Peter. The only Catholic ruler who has visited King +Humbert at the Quirinal, in spite of this papal protest, is Prince +Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who was at the time subject to the ban of +the church, in consequence of the conversion of his little son from +Catholicism to the Greek orthodox rite, in order to insure his +own (Ferdinand's) recognition by Russia as ruler of Bulgaria. But +Francis-Joseph has never consented to set his foot in Rome, although +it has been pointed out to him that the existence of the triple +alliance was imperilled by this slight placed upon King Humbert and +Queen Marguerite. He did not hesitate to declare that he would rather +forego the alliance than affront the Pope by visiting Rome under the +present circumstances. + +One little scene, in conclusion, which I witnessed at Vienna, has +always remained impressed upon my mind, illustrating as it does the +democracy of the Catholic Church, if I may use that expression, and +demonstrating the good old emperor's belief,--so different from that +of Emperor William,--that in the eyes of the Almighty all men are +equal. + +It transpired at the funeral of Cardinal Gangelbauer, the popular and +universally venerated Archbishop of Vienna. The obsequies took place +in the ancient Cathedral of St. Stephen. Military and ecclesiastical +pomp were combined with the magnificent ceremonial of the Austrian +court for the purpose of rendering the last honors to the dead +prelate. The entire metropolitan garrison was under arms, and lined +the streets through which the funeral procession passed. The bells +of all the churches in the metropolis were tolling throughout the +ceremony, and added to the solemnity of the occasion. The stately +Papal Nuncio performed the funeral service in the most impressive +manner, and when he stood on the step of the high altar, and raised +his hands aloft to pronounce the absolution, the whole of the vast +assemblage bowed down, the wintry sunlight streaming through the rich +stained glass windows, falling alike upon the reverently bent head of +the monarch, and those of the peasant mourners who stood by his side +at the head of the bier. For the dead cardinal was the son of an old +farmer, and his brothers, his sisters, and his nephews, all of them +plain, humble peasants of Upper Austria, were kneeling there in their +peasant garb with the emperor in their midst, and surrounded by the +glittering uniforms of the archdukes, the princes, the generals, +cabinet ministers and ambassadors assembled around the coffin. There +was no undue exaltation or timidity on the part of the peasants, +no undue condescension or contempt on the part either of emperor or +dignitaries for the lowly rank of their fellow mourners. All seemed +thoroughly to realize that they were equal in the face of death, and +in the presence of their Creator. + +It is only in a metaphorical sense that William can be described as an +Anointed of the Lord. For whereas Francis-Joseph was both anointed and +crowned as King of Hungary in 1867, Emperor William has never been the +object of either of these ceremonies. The fact of the matter is that +there is a good deal of difference of opinion concerning the dignity +of a German emperor; for while William claims that it is identical +with the status of the emperors of Austria and Russia, the +non-Prussian states of Germany insist that it is merely titular, +inasmuch as he has no control or jurisdiction in the various federal +states which constitute the empire, such as Bavaria, Saxony and +Würtemberg, each of which has an independent king in nowise subject, +but merely allied to the Prussian monarch. + +It is only in time of war, and for the sake of successful co-operation +that the supreme command of the united German military forces is by +special agreement vested in the hands of the German emperor--a +tribute to the superiority and pre-eminence of the Prussian military +reorganizations. It is true that Prussia has since then, by degrees, +endeavored to encroach upon the independence of the federal states. +But this is strongly resented, to-day more than ever, and William +is constantly being reminded by the non-Prussian press, by the +non-Prussian governments, and even by the non-Prussian reigning +dynasties that they are not vassals, but allies of Prussia. + +The German emperor has no crown as such, nor any civil list, and +with the solitary exception of his eldest son, all the members of his +family figure merely as royal Prussian, not imperial German princes. +Thus, for instance, Prince Henry, the brother of the emperor, is +addressed not as imperial highness, but only as royal highness. + +Had William attempted to have himself crowned as German emperor, it +would merely have had the effect of attracting public attention to the +difference existing between his own status as emperor and that of his +fellow-sovereigns of Austria and Russia, besides which it would +have raised all sorts of troublesome questions with the non-Prussian +courts, and intensified their sensibilities and prejudices. If, on the +other hand, he had caused himself to be crowned king of Prussia in +the ancient city of Königsberg, where all Prussian kings have been +crowned, the ceremony would have had the effect of impressing upon the +world at large the fact that the only real crown to which William can +lay claim, and which he is entitled to wear, is the crown of the kings +of Prussia. + +That is why he has never been either crowned or anointed, differing in +this respect from Francis-Joseph, Emperor Nicholas and Queen Victoria, +all of whom have experienced both ceremonies, which by the masses of +Europe, especially among the uneducated and ignorant, are considered +indispensable to endow the majesty of the sovereign with a sacred +character. The Hungarians did not consider Francis-Joseph as entitled +to their allegiance and loyalty until he had been crowned at Pesth +with the crown of St. Stephen, and anointed with the sacred oil, and +there is no doubt that the Bohemians would be transformed from the +most turbulent, malcontent, and troublesome of his subjects into his +most devoted lieges, were he to comply with their demands, and have +himself anointed and crowned as King of Bohemia, with the crown of +Saint Wenceslaus. + +Nor was Emperor Nicholas of Russia considered a full-fledged Czar +of Russia, nor his consort a czarina, until he had been anointed and +crowned at Moscow, nearly two years after his accession to the throne. +In fact, until the time of his coronation, his mother, the dowager +empress, enjoyed precedence of his wife on all official occasions, on +the ground that she was the widow of a crowned czar, and had herself +been solemnly crowned as the consort of Alexander III., by her +imperial husband, whereas her daughter-in-law, the younger empress, +had enjoyed no such advantage up to that time. + +Only those who know William well can realize how deeply he feels this +difference which exists between himself and the rulers of more ancient +dynasties, or how glad he would be to find some means of being crowned +and anointed, not as a mere titular German emperor, but as Emperor +of Germany. It is difficult to see how this ambition of his could be +fulfilled so long as the Austrian empire remains in existence. The +dignity of Emperor of Germany belonged for centuries to the house +of Hapsburg, in relation to the head of which the chief of the +Hohenzollern family ranked merely as a cup-bearer, being compelled to +stand behind the chair of the Hapsburg monarch at all state banquets, +and to keep his cup supplied with wine. The whole of the ancient +insignia of the former Emperors of Germany, including the sceptre, +the orb, and the sword of state, are in the possession of Emperor +Francis-Joseph at Vienna, and are comprised in the imperial Austrian +regalia. Indeed, at the time when King William of Prussia was +proclaimed German Emperor at the palace of Versailles, in 1871, the +Emperor of Austria wrote to the then widowed Queen Marie of Bavaria, +that he protested, "from the very bottom of his heart, against the +dignity and crown of his father being vested in persons without a +shadow of right thereto, and that he had placed his rights in +the hands of Providence." Although he entertains the friendliest +sentiments towards Emperor William, there is no reason to believe that +either he or the members of his house have modified their resentment +in connection with this quasi-usurpation of the dignity of Emperor of +Germany by the Prussian family of Hohenzollern. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +There is no more restless man in all Europe than the kaiser. It is +related of him at the Court of Berlin that when on one occasion he +inquired of his brother, Prince Henry, if he could suggest to him +anything new wherewith to startle both his own subjects and the world +in general, the sailor prince, with a merry laugh, proposed that +his majesty should remain perfectly quiet, without saying or doing +anything, for an entire week! That, he assured his imperial brother, +would amaze and dumbfound the entire universe more than anything else +that could possibly be conceived. + +While this lack of repose on the part of William is the source of a +good deal of fun both at home and abroad, there is no doubt that it +has had the effect of strengthening the monarchial system in Prussia +to a far greater degree than in any previous reign. It is not that +the kaiser is more popular than his predecessors on the throne. On +the contrary, it may be doubted whether he holds the same place in the +affections of the German people as did his father and grandfather. But +while it is possible to imagine a Prussia without either of them, it +is difficult to picture to oneself a Germany without William! It seems +as if he were indispensable to the existence of the nation, and that +if anything untoward were to happen to him, everything in Germany +would suddenly stop working, precisely as if the mainspring of a watch +were to break. He conveys the impression of being the source from +which proceeds every action, every phase of activity and every +enterprise, no matter what its character. To such an extent is this +the case, that practically nothing seems to be done throughout the +length and breadth of his dominions without his influence in the +matter being both felt and apparent. There is nothing so trivial that +it does not interest him. He will turn from the greatest and most +important matters of state to the most petty question concerning +court etiquette or domestic mismanagement, and will not hesitate to +interrupt an interview with the chancellor of the empire, or with some +foreign ambassador, to spank one of his youngsters if he happens to +have been misbehaving himself! + +He keeps absolute personal control over the army, the navy, the state +administration, and his court, and yet finds time to supervise his +children's lessons and amusements. He attends even to the pulling out +of the milk teeth of his little ones and permits no one else to do it, +as the following little anecdote, concerning Prince Oscar, his fifth +son, will illustrate. + +The boys had, and I believe still have, an English governess, who is +very strict and independent with them, and who just on that account, +probably, is highly esteemed and liked by her young pupils, as well as +by their parents. On the occasion of her last anniversary, the empress +with her usual kindness prepared a pretty birthday table for her, +decked out with all kinds of presents from the imperial couple, and +from each of the children. Prince Oscar's gift, which he had carefully +done up himself in ribbons and tinted paper, and inscribed with his +name, turned out to be a small and empty cardboard box. On being taken +to task by his mother as to what he meant by this, he informed her +that the box was destined to hold the first tooth, which he was about +to lose, and which his father, the emperor, was to pull for him with +a string that very afternoon, at the conclusion of a "Kronrath," or +council of the crown, at which his majesty was to preside. The little +prince regarding that tooth as the greatest treasure at his disposal, +was convinced that he could bestow upon his governess no more +acceptable gift. She now wears it in a gold bangle presented to her by +the empress. + +Among other domestic affairs which have occupied the kaiser's +attention, has been the tendency of his boys to dyspepsia and +digestive troubles, owing to their habit of eating too rapidly, a +fault which they have certainly inherited from their father, for he +has subjected them to the same process that was adopted in his case +when a child, to make him eat slowly; to wit, whenever apples or pears +are given to the boys they are not permitted to get them whole, and to +munch them, like any ordinary boy, but only to receive them cut into +quarters, each bit being wrapped in a number of pieces of tissue +paper, the unfolding of which requires time, thus preventing the young +princes from eating too fast! The kaiser often alludes to the fact +that he was subjected to the same formalities and will add: + +"You see nothing was made easy for me in my youth. Even the matter of +eating an apple was rendered as difficult for me as possible!" + +The kaiser is followed wherever he goes by an extremely clever +stenographer, Dr. Weiss, who was formerly official shorthand writer to +the imperial parliament. He now forms part of the emperor's household, +and accompanies his majesty on all his numerous travels. It is the +doctor's duty to place on record and preserve all the pearls that drop +from the imperial lips, or perhaps, to put it more correctly, to give +the emperor and his advisers an opportunity of editing and revising +his public utterances before they find their way into print. Dr. +Weiss has several assistants who help him in the transcription of his +shorthand notes, and none of the emperor's public speeches or casual +remarks find their way into print nowadays except through Dr. Weiss. +Thanks to the tact of this precious secretary, there exists, very +often, a considerable diversity between what the emperor says, and +what he is represented as having said, and it is in consequence of +this wise provision that the imperial speeches appear to have become +so much more discreet, and at the same time less sensational, than was +the case during the early part of his reign. + +Quick-tempered, passionate, generous-hearted, and extremely impulsive, +the emperor, often speaking on the spur of the moment, frequently +said more than he intended to say, and thus laid himself open to both +domestic and foreign criticism and abuse. He has not yet outgrown this +fault, although he has become much more cautious than formerly, and +moreover, with Dr. Weiss at his elbow, and with the care that is +observed by the authorities to let none of the imperial utterances +reach the public in print, save through Dr. Weiss, after being duly +edited by him, most of the former perils have been averted. The +emperor is very particular, indeed, about having Dr. Weiss by his +side, and frequently at public functions himself directs the doctor +where to stand and where to sit, so that he may not lose a word of +what his imperial master says. + +Like the aged pontiff at Rome, William manifests a great predilection +for the telephone. There are telephonic instruments in his library, +in his workroom, and even in his bed-chamber, and quite a considerable +portion of the day is spent talking over the wires to his ministers, +government officials, relatives, courtiers or mere friends. He +seems to find the same pleasure in calling up the various government +departments that he does in alarming the various garrisons at night +time, being evidently under the impression that by so doing he keeps +the officials strictly attentive to their duties, and convinced that +if not the eye, at any rate the ear of the emperor is on the _qui +vive!_ Nor are the government offices safe from being rung up by his +majesty over the wires even at night time. For the past two or three +years he has insisted that at the ministry of foreign affairs, at the +ministry of the interior, and at the war and naval departments, at +least one of the divisional chiefs and half a dozen clerks should be +kept on duty all night long, in order to attend to any business or +to communicate to him without delay anything that they may regard as +needing his immediate attention. + +Berlin is the only capital where the principal government offices +are thus kept open for official business all night long, and +the circumstance serves to furnish another illustration of the +extraordinary activity, energy, and impatience of delay that +distinguish the emperor, who wants everything done right away, without +a moment's waiting! + +Emperor William gives the telephone companies at Berlin and at Potsdam +far more trouble than any other of their subscribers, for when he +telephones to any of the government departments, or to dignitaries or +officials of high rank, the operators at the central office are under +the strictest orders to abstain from listening to the conversation, +and are forced to rise from their seats and remove to a distance from +the wires. Anyone caught disobeying in this particular is subject not +only to dismissal, but to serious unpleasantness on the part of the +police. + +When the emperor rings up anybody, he does not announce his identity, +taking it for granted that the tones of his voice are sufficiently +well known to reveal it. It has been noted, moreover, that he +commences all his conversations over the wire with the pronoun "I," +while the verb "command," either in the past or in the present tense, +almost invariably follows. This is quite sufficient to show who is +talking. + +William is the first sovereign of his line to accept the hospitality +of his subjects. Prior to his advent to the throne, such a thing as +the monarch attending any private entertainment or dinner given by one +of his lieges was altogether unknown. Neither King Frederick-William +III., King Frederick-William IV., nor old Emperor William, whose +reigns extended over nearly ninety years of the nineteenth century, +ever once honored any member of the nobility, no matter how high in +rank, with their presence for a single evening or night, except +during the course of the annual manoeuvres, when the monarch, as +commander-in-chief of the army, was quartered in some château, much +in the same manner as the officers of minor rank and the soldiers. +Emperor William, however, following the example of his British +relatives, and greatly to the dismay of all the old-fashioned +authorities on the etiquette of the Court of Berlin, has adopted +the practice of inviting himself out to dinner in town, and to +shooting-parties in the country, in a manner that is absolutely +startling, even to his English relatives; for whereas the latter never +dine out anywhere, unless the list of guests invited to meet them is +previously submitted to them for consideration and revision, in +order to avoid being brought into contact with people that are not +congenial, the kaiser, on the other hand, when he hears that a dinner +is about to be given by one of his friends or followers, frequently +invites himself either at the last moment, an hour or two before the +time fixed for the meal, or else arrives unannounced and uninvited, +knowing full well that he will always be welcome, since his coming +can only be regarded as a particular mark of imperial regard and favor +toward the giver of the entertainment. + +Thus, while Count Shuvaloff was still Russian ambassador at Berlin, +the emperor was in the habit of dropping in unannounced about luncheon +time, and of sitting down with the count and countess, the latter +being as often as not in the négligée of a mere tea-gown, and more +than once when he had sat with them longer than he intended, and found +that there was no time left to return to the palace before proceeding +to the railroad station to take his departure for Potsdam or some +other place, he would ask leave of the count to use his telephone, +ring up the empress, and not only bid her adieu, but also dispatch her +a kiss over the wires, in the most charmingly domestic fashion. + +William prides himself in no small degree on his descent through Queen +Victoria in an unbroken line from the Biblical King David, and claims +that he, therefore, belongs to the same family as the founder of +Christianity. Hanging in a conspicuous position in his workroom in the +"Neues-Palais" at Potsdam, is a copy of the royal family tree, showing +the name of King David engrossed at the root of it, with that of +Emperor William at the top. According to this tree, the reigning house +of England is descended from King David through the eldest daughter +of Zedekiah, who, with her sister, fled to Ireland in charge of the +prophet Jeremiah,--then an old man,--to be married to Heremon, the +king of Ulster of the period. + +Curiously enough, a Mr. Glover, a clergyman of the Church of England, +who had devoted the greater portion of his life to the study of +genealogy, wrote to Queen Victoria a letter in 1869, informing her +that he had discovered her to be descended in an unbroken line from +King David. Her majesty sent for him to come to Windsor, and to his +astonishment informed him that what he thought he had been the first +to discover had been known to herself and to the prince consort for +many years. + +Naturally, William, with his religious ideas, has always been deeply +interested in this family tree, and soon after his accession to the +throne requested his grandmother to let him have a copy thereof, which +was sent to him most handsomely engrossed and magnificently framed. +Its contemplation has, of course, tended to increase his belief in the +divine origin of his authority, since, if he does not, like the old +kings of France, describe himself as "first cousin of the Almighty," +he can at any rate claim to be a near kinsman of the founder of +Christianity. + +Notwithstanding all the emperor's manifest desire to render himself +agreeable to the French, and his evident eagerness to assuage by +gracious and chivalrous courtesy the bitterness resulting from the +war of 1870 and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, he has absolutely +declined since he ascended the throne to permit France's national +hymn, "The Marseillaise," to be played at his court, at any of the +imperial and royal theatres, or by any German military or naval band. +When he entertains the French ambassador at dinner or receives him in +state and wishes to pay him musical honors, he causes the old "March +of St. Denis," in use at Versailles prior to the great revolution, +which is in every sense of the word a Bourbon hymn, to be played. + +The ambassador who now represents France is the Marquis de Noailles, a +scion of one of the oldest ducal houses of the French nobility, whose +origin dates back to the crusades. This being the case, the envoy +naturally offers no objection to the attitude of the emperor with +regard to the "Marseillaise." + +The kaiser, after all, acts in the matter with a far greater degree of +logic and reason than any of his fellow-sovereigns, for the strains +of the "Marseillaise" are familiar in the palace of the czar at St. +Petersburg, at Windsor Castle, in the royal palace of Madrid, in +the imperial Hofburg at Vienna, and even at the Vatican, and it is +difficult to conceive anything more paradoxical than a royal band +of music playing for the delectation of royal and imperial ears a +national hymn, the words of which passionately call upon the people +to rise up and to put to death all kings and emperors, queens and +empresses, denounced as bloodthirsty tyrants. + +Emperor William, even before his accession to the throne, manifested +such a pronounced hostility towards the practice of gambling at cards, +which is one of the curses of the corps of officers of the German +army, that a very widespread impression prevails to the effect that he +objects to card games in any shape or form. This is a mistake. It is +the gambling and not the game itself to which the kaiser is opposed. +In fact, he is very fond of a game of cards, provided the stakes are +merely nominal, and I have known him to play an entire evening after +a dinner at the castle of Kuckelna, which marked the close of a great +pheasant "drive" organized in his honor by Prince Lichnòwski. The game +which the emperor played was the German one called _Skat_, and the +point was a German penny. The emperor was the principal loser, having +had poor hands dealt to him throughout the entire game, and when he +arose from the table he was out of pocket exactly six cents. In thus +limiting the stakes to a merely nominal amount he has followed the +example of his old friend and adviser, the veteran King of Saxony, who +is accustomed to play every night his game of _skat_ after dinner, his +stakes, like those of the kaiser, never exceeding one penny. + +I have often wished that I could see the face of the kaiser's uncle, +the Prince of Wales, were such truly regal stakes as these proposed to +him. His ordinary points and stakes are any sum from five guineas to +fifty, and even a hundred, and the only time that I can recollect his +having played for less than a guinea was at Hughenden when on a visit +to the Earl of Beaconsfield. Bernal Osborne, father of the Duchess of +St. Albans, was one of the party when the prince proposed a game of +whist at five-guinea points. Lord Beaconsfield was a poor man, obliged +to count every penny, and Bernal Osborne caught sight of the manner +in which his face fell when the proposal was made. Grasping the +situation, and remembering that Lord Beaconsfield had but a few weeks +previously added the imperial crown of India to the British regalia, +by causing Queen Victoria to be proclaimed Empress of India, he turned +to the prince and remarked: + +"Would it not be more appropriate, sir, to play for crown stakes?" The +prince grasped the situation at once, made a flattering reference to +the old premier, and the points played for were, as suggested, five +shillings instead of five guineas! + +Apropos of this question of cards, William has done everything in +his power to check gambling, especially among the army officers, and +before succeeding to the throne, while still only Prince of Prussia, +he actually went to the length of issuing a stringent order to the +officers of the Hussar regiment, of which he was colonel, forbidding +them to cross the threshold of the Union Club, on account of the +high play for which that institution was notorious. The club deeply +resented being thus placed under a ban, and sent its president, the +late Duke of Ratibor, to the aged emperor to entreat him to rescind +his grandson's order, on the ground that it was a reflection upon the +most aristocratic and exclusive club of all Germany, besides being +unjust to the officers of the regiment, some of whom were among the +most brilliant and popular members of that institution. Old Emperor +William, after inquiring whether Prince William had really issued such +an order, shook his head rather seriously for a few minutes, and then +told the duke that he would see what he could do, but that knowing his +grandson well, he feared that there would be a good deal of difficulty +about the matter. On the following morning, when young Prince William +came to pay his daily visit to his grandfather, the latter broached +the subject to him with the utmost caution, and with manifest +expectation of encountering a refusal. Nor was he disappointed. For no +sooner had he mentioned the matter than the young prince declared in +the most positive manner that nothing would induce him to rescind his +order, and that rather than give way, he would resign command of the +regiment, arguing that in such a matter especially he could brook no +interference. The old emperor admitted in a rather shame-faced +way that his grandson was in the right, excused himself for having +mentioned the matter, did all that he could to soothe what he believed +to be the ruffled feelings of the prince, and on the following day +told the Duke of Ratibor that he was very sorry, but that, in spite +of all his efforts, he had been unable to accomplish anything with his +grandson in the way desired. + +Immediately after he came to the throne he requested the resignation +of a number of officers, some of them bearing the greatest names +in the empire, for instance, the late Prince Fürstenberg and Prince +George Radziwill, for no other reason than their fondness for +cards, and in consequence of the large sums of money which they were +accustomed to stake. All the princes and nobles thus forced to leave +the army also quitted Berlin, in token of their disapproval of an +emperor who took upon himself to interfere with what they were pleased +to regard as their private amusements, and there is no doubt that for +a time the brilliancy of the Berlin Court and the prosperity of +trade in the Prussian capital suffered through the closing of so many +princely palaces and grand houses. + +It is strange that in spite of all that the emperor has done to +stop gambling, the play has been higher, and the card-scandals more +frequent since he became emperor than during any previous reign, with +the exception of that of his grand-uncle, King Frederick-William IV. +The latter's crusade against gambling culminated in the tragic death +of his chief of police, and most intimate friend and crony, Baron +von Hinkelday, whose spectre he was wont to see before him during +his moments of temporary dementia, previous to his becoming entirely +insane. + +Emperor William's reign has been saddened much in the same way +through the suicide of his young cousin, Prince Alfred of Coburg; the +self-destruction of the young prince, who had been placed under the +immediate care and guardianship of his majesty, having been due, as +I have intimated, to enormous losses at the card tables of Berlin and +Potsdam. In spite of all the well-meant efforts of the kaiser, and +notwithstanding all his threats and disciplinary measures, gambling +is more rampant to-day among the officers of the German army, and +overwhelming a greater number of illustrious names with ruin and +disgrace than ever before. + +With all his keen sense of dignity, his shortness of temper, and his +impulsiveness, the emperor is nevertheless more easily diverted from +anger to good humor by means of a piece of wit than most of his fellow +sovereigns. Some time ago, when old Baron Boetticher, secretary of +state for the interior, was discussing with his majesty the most +suitable nominations to be made in the case of a number of vacant +offices, the latter became greatly irritated by the old statesman's +unanswerable objections to the candidate for whom he himself desired +to obtain a certain post, his anger grew quite violent, and when the +baron inquired if there were no other person upon whom he would like +to confer the appointment, William replied, curtly, "Oh, confer it on +the devil if you like!" + +"Very well," replied the old minister, with a twinkle in his eye, +but in his most suave and courtly manner, and with a most unruffled +demeanor: "And shall I allow the patent signed by your majesty in +that case to go out in the usual form, 'To my trusted and well-beloved +cousin and counsellor?'" + +The kaiser saw the joke at once, burst into a loud peal of laughter, +his ill-temper having vanished in a moment. + +Another amusing incident in which the devil was called upon to play a +part occurred on the occasion of the emperor's inspection of a number +of newly-joined recruits for the first regiment of Foot Guards. In +accordance with his invariable custom, he was examining-them as to +what they would do in this or that emergency. Addressing one burly +Pomeranian grenadier, he inquired what he would say to a man who +annoyed him while on sentry duty. + +"Go to the devil! Get out! your majesty," responded the man. + +"All right, my friend," exclaimed the emperor, laughing, "I'll get +out; but I'll be hanged if I'll go to the devil," and with that he +turned to the next man. + +Military inspections very often furnish the occasion for amusing +and sometimes rather disconcerting episodes. I can recall as an +illustration an inspection of recruits for the navy at Kiel. On that +day the emperor had been holding forth, as he so often does, about the +duty of sailors as well as soldiers to defend the crown against +the foes beyond the frontiers of the empire, as well as against the +enemies within the boundaries of the latter. He then singled out a +stolid-looking recruit, and having ascertained that he was the son +of a Bavarian farmer, with a strongly developed taste for the sea, he +proceeded to question him with regard to the address which he had just +delivered. + +"And who are our foreign foes, my good fellow?" he inquired. + +"The Russians and the French, your majesty," replied the recruit. + +"And who are the enemies within the empire?" proceeded the emperor, +expecting of course that the sailor would say that they were the +socialists. + +"The Prussians, your majesty," answered the Jack-tar that was to +be, without apparently realizing that he had said anything wrong or +impolite, and merely giving a frank utterance to the sentiment in +which he, like all his countrymen in Bavaria, had been brought up. + +One of the most pleasing features about Emperor William is his +readiness to forgive and forget, and his inability to bear a grudge +for any length of time against those who have either insulted or +injured him. No more striking instance of this can be given than his +treatment of General Baron von Krosick, who expected to be dismissed +from the army, possibly even banished, when William ascended the +throne, but who instead has been overwhelmed by his sovereign with +every conceivable honor, having received not merely his promotion +from the rank of brigadier-general to that of inspector-general of the +army, but also investiture with the exceedingly rare distinction of +the Order of the Black Eagle, which, as I have already stated before, +is the Prussian equivalent to the English Order of the Garter, and +the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece. The baron enjoys the +well-deserved reputation of being the most phenomenally rude and +rough-spoken man in the German army, and was at one time colonel in +command of the hussar regiment in which William, prior to becoming +emperor, received his cavalry training. + +On one occasion an almost incredible scene took place. It was at +a regimental mess banquet, to which William, at that time only a +captain, had invited Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, then on a visit +at Berlin. During the course of the dinner, the conversation turned +upon some projected reforms in cavalry drill and movements, which +ultimately turned out to be impracticable and were not carried into +effect. William, in his impulsive, impetuous, and somewhat arrogant +way, declaimed in a loud tone of voice on their superlative merits, +declared himself in their favor, and added that he would do his utmost +to see them carried through, as he regarded them as indispensable to +raise the standard and tone of the German cavalry. + +Colonel von Krosick, like the remainder of the officers, had drunk his +fair share of wine. He never liked his royal subaltern, and took +no pains to conceal his sentiments. The arrogance of the prince's +utterances, as well as his assumption of superiority, exasperated him +beyond measure, and, breaking into the conversation, he exclaimed in +tones that were heard throughout the apartment: + +"_Aber das ist ja der blödste Unsinn_ [But that is the most ridiculous +nonsense];" and then proceeded to contemptuously ridicule William's +arguments. + +Much nettled, and quite as short-tempered as his colonel, William +called out, half jokingly, half bitterly: + +"That is all very well, colonel. You are my superior officer at +present, and I am bound to defer to your opinion. But our positions +may change one of these days, and then you will see." + +Perfectly frantic and purple in the face, Colonel von Krosick +thundered forth: + +"When that day comes to pass, prince, I will rather break my sabre +across my knee than serve under your command." + +Immediately the whole place was in an uproar. The Austrian crown +prince being the first to jump from his seat, and a minute later both +princes had left the mess-room and the barracks. Contrary to general +expectation, Prince William made no report about the matter, either to +his father or grandfather, and Colonel von Krosick heard nothing more +about the affair. + +Of course he expected to receive his discharge when William ascended +the throne. But to his amazement, he has ever since been made the +object of the most signal favor, kindliness and respect: the respect +that is frequently entertained by a man after he has grown up toward +the head master who caned him when he was at school. Indeed, William +seems never to be able to forget that he was for several years under +the old martinet's direct command. + +In spite of Emperor William being at the present moment over forty +years of age, he still retains a great store of boyishness, and in +particular, a liking for practical jokes, though never when they are +at his own expense! It is not so very long ago that he had notified +a number of generals and military dignitaries to meet him at the +railroad station at Potsdam, at half-past eleven in the evening, in +order to accompany him to manoeuvres that were to be held at a place +several hours' distance on the following day. Leaving the palace on +foot shortly after eleven, he entered the railroad station by a back +door, and managed to slip in without being recognized. + +Shielded by the darkness, he made his way unobserved to the special +train, which was in waiting, got into his carriage by the door on the +opposite side from the platform. For at least half an hour he amused +himself by peeping at the officers on the platform, whose faces +expressed surprise and vexation that his majesty, ordinarily so +punctual, should be so long in coming. Suddenly he raised the blind, +opened the window, and intimated by loud and prolonged laughter his +presence in the carriage, and the success of his little trick. The +astonishment and the dismay depicted on the visages of those on the +platform can be more easily imagined than described. + +Emperor William is not fond of the press, and has never taken any +trouble to conceal his dislike for that branch of the literary +profession. It is true that he has been subjected to a good deal of +abuse at its hands, and that he has been made the object of calumny +sufficient to drive a man so hypersensitive to public comment into a +lunatic asylum. Many of the most intricate troubles and most annoying +episodes of his life and his reign have been in a large measure due to +the press, inasmuch as they were either originated or envenomed by the +newspapers. William is as nervous about what the papers will say as a +young débutante on the stage. Not only does he keep an anxious watch +upon the utterances of all German editors, but he ordains a vigilant +scrutiny of the articles printed in foreign countries from the pens of +correspondents stationed in Berlin, who, if any unfriendly mention +of his name is brought home to them, are ultimately driven out of the +country. + +One of the first acts of Emperor William's reign was the expulsion +from Berlin of a number of foreign journalists, whose criticisms +and comments on his attitude towards his mother, as well as on +his opposition to the political views of his dead father, had been +distasteful to the imperial eye. A year later he caused a new series +of press laws to be presented to the Reichstag, which contained such +arbitrary provisions for stamping out the remaining liberties of +the press that even the _Cologne Gazette_ denounced it as "putting +a frightful weapon into the hands of the government for suppressing +freedom of speech and silencing opposition." This measure did not +pass, in spite of all the efforts of his majesty, and its rejection +merely served to embitter the emperor still further against the press. + +As far as the German press is concerned William manages to get even +with it by insisting upon the strict execution of the laws concerning +the crime of _Lése majesté_ with a severity that savors of the +middle ages rather than of modern times. Indeed, while there are few +prominent journalists in Germany who have not undergone imprisonment +since he ascended the throne, for writing of him in a manner that he +considered disrespectful, there are some newspapers that are literally +obliged to employ distinguished members of their staff for no other +purpose than doing time in jail, as the penalty of too free utterances +of the sheet with which they are connected. + +Of course, William has no such means of dealing with the foreign +press, which being more fearless, thanks to its immunity, has +naturally subjected him to worse treatment than that of Germany. +Occasionally though, he gets even with some of his foreign assailants, +and the following story is told of the manner in which he dealt with +a newspaper proprietor in New York, who after rendering his journal +conspicuous above all others for its personal attacks on his majesty, +had the audacity to write him a letter, asking him for a brief article +from his, the kaiser's, pen. + +The editor in question gave as a pretext for his request, the alleged +existence of a widespread belief in the United States that his majesty +was not quite right in his mind, and suggested that a brief message, +for which a check of five thousand dollars was enclosed, might relieve +the anxiety of millions of Germans in America, and convince them that +the kaiser was quite sane. Some weeks later the enterprising editor +received a visit from the German consul-general in New York. On being +admitted to the august presence of the editor the consul-general +extracted an envelope from his pocket, and from the envelope the +five-thousand-dollar check, to the order of his majesty, the German +emperor, and bearing the signature of the editor; the consul-general +then made a bow to the latter, handed him the check, made another bow, +and withdrew without having said a single word, or opened his mouth, +even to greet him! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Emperor William, like his brother monarch at Vienna, is seldom seen +out of uniform. Soldiers above everything else by profession, it +constitutes the garb to which they have been accustomed from their +boyhood, and both look ill at ease and uncomfortable in civilian +clothes. + +Francis-Joseph, in fact, never wears "mufti" except when abroad, and +it is doubtful whether anyone in Switzerland or in the South of France +would have recognized the Emperor of Austro-Hungary in the elderly +gentleman who was there on several occasions, and who wore a black +round hat, and a rather badly-fitting morning or sack suit of dark +cloth, had it not been for the striking appearance of the beautiful +and slender black-garbed empress by his side. In the same way, Emperor +William, although he gets his civilian clothes from some of the +leading London tailors, invariably looks by no means to advantage in +them, and suggests the French description of _endimanché_, that is to +say, like a young man in his Sunday, go-to-meeting attire. + +The uniforms ordinarily affected by Francis-Joseph are the undress +regimentals of an Austrian general, the blue-gray short tunic, faced +with scarlet and gold, trousers with broad red stripes, and that +peculiar, oval-shaped, rather high-crowned soft cap, with a small +vizor, which constitutes the undress headgear of officers belonging to +every rank of the Austrian army. The only token of his imperial rank +is the small badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece peeping forth +from between the first and second buttons of his tunic, the cross of +Maria-Theresa, and the medal accorded to every officer and soldier who +has served fifty years in the army attached to his breast. On state +occasions at Vienna the emperor dons the full-dress uniform of an +Austrian general, consisting of a white short tunic or "Atilla," faced +with gold and scarlet, scarlet trousers, with broad gold stripes, +and a general's three-cornered _chapeau_, surmounted by a big tuft of +green plumes. + +When Francis-Joseph is in Hungary he invariably wears either the +undress or full-dress uniform of a Hungarian general, and it must be +confessed that, in spite of the somewhat theatrical appearance of the +gold embroidered, tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons and gold-topped +high boots, the scarlet gold-laced tunic of the full dress, with +the heron-plumed kálpà k, or the slightly less gorgeous "shako," +and blue-grey, gold-laced tunic of the undress uniform, he looks +remarkably well, thanks to the extraordinary elasticity and elegance +which he has retained in spite of his three-score years and ten. + +Emperor William's ordinary garb is the familiar undress uniform of a +Prussian general, the dark-blue long frock coat, with its double row +of silver buttons, its scarlet collar, and its silver shoulder-straps. +The trousers are of the same hue as the coat, with broad scarlet +stripes, the latter being worn only by generals. Hanging from the +collar is usually the cross of the Brandenburg Langue of the Order of +St. John of Jerusalem, while on the breast is fastened a sort of star, +consisting of the letter "W" encircled by gold laurel leaves, which +has been accorded to all the officers who formed part of the household +of Old Emperor William. The cap is the ordinary flat, black vizored +undress headgear of all the officers of the German army. + +The uniforms which the emperor wears on state occasions are either +the full-dress uniform of a Prussian general, richly-embroidered, +dark-blue tunic, and epaulets, with a helmet surmounted by the +white plumes of a field officer, or else the regimentals of a +colonel-in-chief of the gardes-du-corps. In the latter, the emperor +looks exceedingly well, especially on horseback. The helmet is +surmounted by a silver eagle with outstretched wings, the white tunic +is partly concealed by a silver cuirass, adorned with a gold sun, and +with the white, tight-fitting knee-breeches are worn high jack-boots. +In fact, it is no flattery to Emperor William to declare that his +appearance in this uniform invariably suggests "Lohengrin." At court +entertainments, in the evening, he frequently wears the so-called +gala, or court dress of this regiment. The coat is scarlet instead of +white, while the cuirass is abandoned. Sometimes the emperor attires +himself in the uniform of a colonel of the Hussar regiment which he +commanded at the time of his accession to the throne. It is scarlet, +gold-laced, and the tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons are worn with +knee-boots, topped with gold. + +The emperor is likewise very fond of donning naval attire, being +particularly proud of his connection with the fleet of Germany and +those of a number of foreign countries. Indeed, it may be safely +asserted that if there is any one foreign dignity which he cherishes +extremely, it is that of admiral of the fleet in the British navy, +conferred upon him by his grandmother, Queen Victoria. + +Emperor William was only a brigadier-general at the time of his +accession to the throne. It was not until several months after +becoming emperor that he assumed the insignia of a general of +division. Inasmuch as some curiosity exists as to how a monarch can +promote himself, it may be stated that old Field Marshal Moltke, who +was then possessed of the highest rank in the German army, called +one day upon William, and, presenting him with a pair of silver +shoulder-straps, adorned with the insignia of a general of division, +entreated his majesty in the name of the entire army, and in +particular on behalf of the corps of officers, to assume the rank of a +full general. + +The same request was presented to the present czar at the time of +his coronation, but met with a refusal on the part of his Muscovite +majesty, for he pointed out that Peter the Great had throughout his +entire reign contented himself with the rank of colonel. There is also +another reason which Nicholas did not mention officially, but which is +well known to the members of his immediate _entourage_. At the present +moment his name figures on the army list as the principal orderly +officer and personal adjutant of the late czar. This is an office +which can only be held by military men below the rank of general. +The moment young Nicholas acquires that rank his name _ipso-facto_ +disappears from the list of his dead father's adjutants, and he is far +too attached to his memory to desire this, preferring the minor rank +of colonel and the association with his beloved predecessor, to all +the pomp and glory of a generalissimo. + +Of all the other sovereigns in Europe there is not one who travels +with such an immense amount of luggage as Emperor William. He seldom +undertakes a trip without taking along at least one hundred huge +trunks of the so-called Saratoga pattern, which fill several wagons +of the imperial train; indeed, an entire special train is not +infrequently chartered solely for the conveyance of his luggage. Like +some French _élégantes_ at a fashionable seaside resort, he changes +his garb five, six, and even seven times a day. The consequence is +that it is necessary to have at hand not only a vast number of naval +and military uniforms, but also a diversity of shooting suits, hunting +suits, civilian clothes, Tyrolese jäger costumes, and even the kilt, +sporran and tartan of a Highlander, for he is very proud of the fact +that Stuart blood flows in his veins, and considers that he is quite +as much entitled to wear the Stuart tartan as his uncle, the Prince of +Wales. + +All these clothes are not under the charge of a mere valet, +but of a grand dignitary of the Court of Berlin,--Count +Perponcher-Sedlinzky,--who holds the rank of privy councillor, and +who is addressed as "your excellency." The count has a perfect army of +dressers and valets under his orders, but it is he who is responsible, +not only for the uniforms being in good trim, but likewise for their +being on hand whenever the emperor happens to need them. + +In order to understand what this entails, it must be remembered +that the kaiser is not only colonel of some hundred or more German +regiments, but also of a very great many foreign corps, belonging to +every country in Europe, except Turkey, Bulgaria and France. Now for +each regiment, there are sometimes six, sometimes eight different +uniforms--one each for parade, fatigue duty, court wear, an undress +uniform, and others too numerous to mention. + +When the emperor travels and is likely to be brought into contact with +English princes, with Russians or with Austrians, it is necessary +that he should have within his reach, not merely one of his English, +Austrian or Russian uniforms, but all of them--that is to say, thirty +or forty at least, in addition to his German uniforms and ordinary +clothes. + +An immense amount of importance is attached to these sumptuary +questions by the reigning families of Europe. On one occasion an +imperial meeting between the kaiser and the late czar was delayed for +three whole days, while government stocks all over the world declined +in value, and the utmost apprehension prevailed on the score of peace, +merely because the prince who held the office of grand-master of the +czar's wardrobe had neglected to bring with him the German uniforms of +his master. It may be added that he lost his office in consequence. + +This peculiar form of royal and imperial courtesy, consisting in the +sovereign and royal princes of one country donning the uniforms or +livery of the foreign monarch whom they wish to compliment, originated +with Frederick the Great. In 1770, he had to pay a visit to the +Emperor of Austria at the castle of Neustadt, in Moravia. Only seven +years before, Prussia had been engaged in her great struggle with the +empire, and had thoroughly beaten Austria. Frederick feared that the +too familiar blue Prussian uniform might awaken unpleasant memories on +the part of the emperor and his court. So, with the utmost delicacy, +he and all his staff appeared at Neustadt in the white Austrian +uniforms, an act of courtesy on the part of the victor to the +vanquished which was warmly appreciated both by Emperor Joseph and all +his Austrian _entourage_. The fashion thus inaugurated has remained +in existence ever since, being facilitated by the fact that every +sovereign in Europe, including even Queen Victoria, the Queen Regent +of Spain, and the two Queens of Holland, holds honorary commands in a +number of foreign regiments. + +During the reign of Old Emperor William, those who did not possess +the right to wear any civil or military uniform were permitted to make +their appearance at court in ordinary evening dress, which ultimately +had the effect of giving a sort of _bourgeois_ flavor to imperial +entertainments. The present kaiser, however, proceeded to change all +this before he had been very long on the throne, and having noticed +that at the court of his English grandmother, no one is allowed to +appear at any of the state entertainments or functions in ordinary +evening dress,--the only exception made being in favor of the United +States embassy,--he inaugurated similar regulations at Berlin. + +According to these sumptuary decrees gentlemen who are invited to +entertainments at court, and who for any reason have no right to +military, naval or civil service uniform, are compelled to appear in a +species of court dress, consisting of a coat cut after the fashion of +the last, rather than of the present century. Its color is black, or +dark blue, as are also the revers, the collar and the cuffs; with it +are worn black, tight fitting knee breeches, black silk stockings, +and low patent leather shoes with gold buckles. A three-cornered +_chapeau_, without feathers, and a court sword, complete this costume. + +The emperor likewise directed that all officials of the court and the +civil service, namely, every man who did not happen to belong either +to the army or to the navy, should wear at court balls and at all +great state entertainments, white knee breeches, and white silk +stockings, with low, gold-buckled shoes, in lieu of the blue, black, +or white gold-laced trousers that had until then been habitually worn +with the gold-embroidered swallow-tail coat, which constitutes the +uniform of the German civil service, and of court officialdom. Until +that time, the only European court at which knee breeches had been +insisted upon at court and state entertainments, was that of Great +Britain. They were likewise _de rigueur_ at the Tuileries during the +reign of Napoleon III. The kaiser, however, came to the conclusion +that continuations of this kind gave a more brilliant and dressy +appearance to court functions than long trousers, and accordingly the +latter are barred, save in the case of officers of the army and navy. + +At the imperial court of Berlin there are four types of receptions +or _cours_, the latter being the French word which has clung to these +state functions ever since the reign of Frederick the Great. They +are the "Défiler-Cour," the "Spiel-Cour," the "Sprech-Cour" and the +"Trauer-Cour." The first, namely, the "défiler cour"--from the French +word _défiler_, to file past--is the Berlin counterpart of Queen +Victoria's drawing-rooms at Buckingham Palace in London, and is held +once a year for the purpose of presenting débutantes, brides and +ladies whose husbands have recently been promoted, or raised to the +rank of nobility. They pass one by one before the throne, curtsy +profoundly to each of their majesties, while the grand chamberlain +mentions their names, and then leave the imperial presence by a side +exit. No one kisses the empress's hand, as is the case with Queen +Victoria in England, nor are the presentees compelled to back out of +the imperial presence, as at Buckingham Palace. The court dress of +débutantes at Berlin is not necessarily white, though that is the hue +most affected. The long court train may be of an entirely different +material and color from the dress itself, if the wearer pleases, the +only stipulation made being that the richness and splendor of the +fabric must be beyond question. An indispensable feature of the +toilette is the so-called "barbe," a sort of tiny lace veil, suspended +on each side of the coiffure, about two inches in width. The lace of +course must be real, though the kind is left to the wearer's choice. +It is generally white Spanish point, Alençon, or _Point d'Angleterre_. + +The "défiler-cour" almost invariably takes place on New Year's Day, +immediately after Divine service. This service begins at ten o'clock, +the men being in full uniform, and during the benediction a battery of +artillery, stationed in the "Lust-Garten," fires a royal salute of one +hundred and one guns. + +As soon as the last gun has been fired, the royal and imperial +procession forms, headed by the grand marshal of the court, Count +Augustus Eulenburg, bearing his wand of office, and leaves the +court chapel. When it reaches the "Weisse-Saal"--one of the grandest +apartments of this ancient palace--the band stationed in the gallery +commences to play, generally the Hohenzollern march. The emperor and +empress thereupon take their places on the dais beneath the great +escutcheoned golden canopy, and in front of the two chairs of state +that represent the thrones. At the right and left are grouped the +various royal and imperial personages present, while at the foot of +the dais stands the grand master of the ceremonies for the purpose of +mentioning to their majesties the names of those who pass before them. +At the back of the royal and imperial party are ranged the palace +guard in their quaint, old-fashioned, and exceedingly picturesque +uniforms. The first to pass before the throne is invariably the +chancellor of the empire, and while the emperor and empress merely +respond with an inclination of the head to the salutations of those of +minor rank, they invariably approach to the edge of the dais in +order to give their hands to be kissed by the octogenarian Prince +of Hohenlohe, who has held the office of chancellor ever since the +retirement of General Count Caprivi. The band plays throughout the +entire ceremony, which is a most magnificent affair. + +The so-called "spiel-cour" still keeps its name, implying card +playing, although, as a matter of fact, cards are never played at +court now. In former times they constituted a very important feature +of court entertainment, and the "spiel-cour," or "le jeu de leurs +majestés," was the function to which those whom the anointed of the +Lord desired to honor were most frequently bidden. In earlier days, +as soon as the guests had made their bows to the sovereign and to the +princes and princesses of the blood, card-tables were set out, and +gambling commenced, those to whom their majesties wished to accord +special distinction and honor receiving royal commands, through the +chamberlains-in-waiting to take their places at the card-tables of the +king, or of the queen, as the case might be. + +It was these royal games of cards at the Court of Versailles which +contributed in no small measure to the downfall of the old French +monarchy, and to the outbreak of the great revolution in Paris a +hundred years ago. The ill-fated Queen Marie-Antoinette of France +became an inveterate gambler. It was her craze for high play that +led her to admit not only to her court, but also to her card-table, +parvenus of doubtful reputation and of questionable antecedents, such +as the infamous Cagliostro, _soi-disant_ Count of St. Germain, and +others of his class, whose only merit in her eyes was that they were +rich and willing to lose their money without counting it. Indeed, +the celebrated diamond necklace scandal, which compromised to such a +terrible degree the reputation of this French queen, and precipitated +the overthrow of the throne, would have been impossible had it not +been for her gambling propensities. + +[Illustration: IN THE WHITE HALL +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The "spiel-cour" only takes place on the eve of the wedding of a +member of the Hohenzollern family. It is held in the _weisse-saal_ of +the Berlin _schloss_, or palace. The kaiser and the kaiserin, with the +bridal pair, seat themselves at a card table under a canopy of gold +brocade, adorned with the imperial arms. The other royal personages +sit at card-tables lower down on the dais on each side. The invited +guests then pass before their majesties, precisely as at the +"défiler-cour." + +The "sprech-cour" is, as its name signifies, a kind of +_conversazione_. The persons invited are partitioned off, according +to their ranks, in different rooms, through which their majesties +promenade. Those not personally known to the emperor and empress are +introduced by the masters of ceremonies in attendance, and others with +whom their majesties are already acquainted are honored by a short +conversation. + +"Trauer-cours," or mourning levées, are held immediately after the +death of the reigning sovereign, and are exceedingly impressive, +mainly by reason of the flowing robes and peculiar sable-hued attire +which the ladies of the royal family of Prussia and of their courts +are compelled by tradition and etiquette to adopt. Moreover, all the +apartments are draped in black, the gilded ornaments being shrouded +in crape. The last of these mourning courts was held by Empress +Frederick, in the place of her dying husband, on the demise of old +Emperor William, and so painful and depressing was this occasion, that +at her urgent request, no ceremony of the kind was held when "_Unser +Fritz_" in his turn, was gathered to his fathers. + +Very stately are the court balls, of which a number are given in +the early part of each year, between the First of January and the +beginning of Lent. In fact, court balls at Berlin are infinitely +less amusing, at any rate to young people, than are analogous +entertainments at the Hofburg, at Vienna, or at Buckingham Palace, in +London. This is due partly to the fact that Hohenzollern tradition and +etiquette require that the proceedings should be inaugurated with the +Polonaise, and furthermore, because the waltz has, for nearly +forty years, been denied a place in the programme of terpsichorean +entertainments at court. + +In fact, waltzes have been forbidden ever since an accident which +happened to Empress Frederick at a court ball not long after her +marriage. She was waltzing with a young nobleman, when suddenly she +was tripped up inadvertently by her partner, and precipitated to the +floor at the very feet of old Empress Augusta, her mother-in-law. The +latter, who was a terrible despot on the score of etiquette, could +not bear the idea of a dance which could have the effect of placing a +princess of the blood in such an undignified position, and turning +a deaf ear to all arguments about the mishap being due to the +awkwardness of the dancers, rather than to the dance itself, she +vetoed the inclusion of waltzes thenceforth in all programmes of court +balls. + +Fortunately, no such regulation prevails at the Court of Vienna, where +Strauss's waltzes invariably form the most attractive feature of the +so-called "hofball" and "ball-bei-hof." There is a great difference +in the character of these two state balls at Vienna. To the first, +all sorts of people are commanded who are entitled solely by virtue of +their official position to appear at court. The second, and far more +brilliant one, is restricted to what is known as the court circle, or +the _elite_,--the old blue-blooded aristocracy,--alone. + +So far Emperor William has resisted all the pressure brought to bear +upon him by the princesses and ladies of his court to revive the +waltz, taking the ground that it is more conducive than any other +dance to ridiculous mishaps on the highly polished and parqueted +floors of the royal and imperial palaces. Even with the polka, +the schottische and the mazurka, to which the round dances are now +limited, there are so many accidents that some time ago the kaiser +summoned the generals commanding the various troops stationed in and +around Berlin, and instructed them to direct those officers who were +not able to dance properly, to abstain from attempting to do so at the +imperial entertainments. The result is that young officers are now put +through their paces by their seniors, and have to display a certain +proficiency in dances around the billiard or mess table before they +are allowed to dance at court. + +I remember on one occasion at a court ball at Berlin when a young +subaltern incurred the anger of the late Prince Frederick-Charles by +tripping up his partner. The Red Prince assailed the young officer so +bitterly that the crown prince was obliged to intervene. + +At a Viennese court ball I once saw the young secretary of a +foreign embassy fall so unfortunately while dancing with one of the +archduchesses that he actually came down in a sitting position on her +face, and caused her nose to bleed. It need scarcely be added that he +left Vienna the next day, and a week later obtained his transfer to +another post. + +A short time before the tragedy of Mayerling, Crown Princess Stephanie +had a very nasty fall, owing to the gaucherie of a cavalry officer +with whom she was waltzing. The emperor was terribly annoyed, and +Crown Prince Rudolph spoke his mind in no measured tones to the +offender. + +Far more polite was Emperor Napoleon III. when at a Tuileries ball +a middle-aged officer and his fair partner came to grief. As the +mortified warrior scrambled to his feet, the emperor extended a hand +to help him, and turning to the lady, remarked: + +"_Madame, c'est la deuxième fois que j'ai vu tomber monsieur le +colonel. La première fois c'était sur le champ de bataille de +Magenta_." (Madame, this is the second time I have seen the colonel +fall. The first time was on the battlefield of Magenta.) + +In order to see the Polonaise danced in all its glory, it must be +witnessed on the occasion of the wedding of some princess of the +reigning house of Prussia, when the dance is headed by a procession of +cabinet ministers, bearing candles or torches, whence it is styled the +"Fackel-tanz," (Torch-dance). + +On such an occasion the emperor, the empress and the royal guests +having taken up their places on the dais, under the baldaquin, and +immediately in front of the throne, the less exalted guests ranging +themselves to the right and left of the great white hall, according +to rank and precedence, the court marshal receives orders from his +majesty for the dance to begin. The count thereupon approaches the +royal bride and bridegroom, and bowing low to them, invites them +to take part in the dance. The bridegroom extends his hand to his +consort, and to the sound of a very slow and stately march conducts +her around the hall, preceded by the twelve ministers of state, +walking two by two, those highest in rank coming last. Each, minister +bears in his hand a lighted torch of white perfumed wax. When the +procession returns to the point from which it started, in front of the +throne, the bride approaches the emperor, and with a curtsy invites +his majesty to take part in the dance, and is conducted around the +room by him, the bridegroom going through the same formality with the +empress. As soon as these first three rounds are concluded, the twelve +ministers hand over their wax torches to twelve pages of honor, each +lad being of noble birth, and the bridegroom then similarly invites +the remaining princesses of the blood, two at a time, leading one with +each hand, while the bride goes through the same procedure with two +princes of the blood, until the total list of royal personages has +been exhausted. When the number of royal guests is very large this +dance sometimes lasts nearly two hours. + +On ordinary cases, of course, the torches are dispensed with, and the +polonaise only continues long enough to enable the emperor and +empress to march once round, the hall with those guests whom they +wish particularly to honor. On such occasions they are preceded by the +court marshal bearing the wand of grand marshal, by several masters of +the ceremonies, and by picturesquely attired pages of honor. + +Court ceremonies have been few and far between during the last ten +or twelve years at Vienna owing to the circumstance that the imperial +family have been almost uninterruptedly in mourning, consequent upon +the successive deaths of Crown Prince Rudolph, Archduke Charles-Louis +and Empress Elizabeth, in addition to a number of less important +members of the imperial family. The ceremonial is very different +from that which prevails at Berlin, and it must be confessed that the +guests are more select, since the Court of Vienna is infinitely +more exclusive than that of Berlin, and requires much more stringent +genealogical qualifications on the part of women admitted to the honor +of presentation. Indeed, there Is no court in Europe more exclusive +than that of Emperor Francis-Joseph, and the threshold of the Hofburg +may be regarded as barred without hope of admission to any lady who is +not endowed with the necessary ancestry, free from all plebeian strain +for at least eight generations on both the father's and the mother's +side. + +The presentation of débutantes and of brides ordinarily takes place +prior to the commencement of court balls, and there are no such things +as state concerts or "défiler-cours," as at Berlin, and in England, at +which latter court guests receive their invitations to state balls +by means of large lithographed cards emblazoned with the royal or +imperial arms, on which it is stated that the grand-master of the +Court at Berlin, or the lord chamberlain in London, has been directed +by their majesties, or her majesty, as the case may be, to "command" +the attendance of such and such a person to a ball at court. These +commands are usually sent out about a week or more in advance: but +in Vienna, where it is taken for granted that all the people having +a right to invitations belong to the same intimate circle, cards are +dispensed with, and on the day before the entertainment, sometimes on +the very morning on which it is given, one of the court messengers, or +so-called Hofcouriers, calls at the residence of invited guests with +a long sheet of paper, on which is inscribed the list of _invités._ On +this list, opposite his or her name, the invited person writes yes +or no, indicating thereby acceptance of the imperial command or +prevention by some grave event. + +The guests are already assembled in the Hall of Ceremonies before the +imperial party makes its appearance. The ladies all wear court trains, +and in almost every case the bodice of their dress is adorned with +the insignia of the "Sternkreutz" [star cross], an order restricted +exclusively to women, of which the late empress was grand-mistress, +and to possess which even still greater ancestral qualifications are +needed than for presentation at court. The men are all in uniform, +either civilian, military or naval. Indeed it is impossible to find +in Austria any man that has the right to appear at court who does +not possess some sort of uniform. If he happens to be a Hungarian, he +wears the picturesque dress of the great Magyar kingdom, bordered with +priceless furs, adorned with jewels and composed of costly velvets and +silks. + +Shortly before the arrival of the imperial procession the grand-master +of ceremonies taps on the floor with his ivory wand of office to +attract attention, and the guests thereupon range themselves along the +two sides of the hall, the ladies to the right and the gentlemen to +the left. Suddenly the folding-doors at the further end of the hall +are flung open, and to the sound of the most inspiriting march that +the conductor of the court orchestra, Edouard Strauss, can devise, the +imperial cortege makes its appearance, preceded by Count Hunyadi, in +his uniform of a cavalry general, and Prince Rudolph Leichtenstein, +each armed with a wand of office. Since the disappearance of the +empress from court life--a disappearance which may be said to have +preceded her death by several years--the emperor has been in the habit +on these occasions of offering his arm to the Duchess of Cumberland, +daughter of King Christian of Denmark, and _de jure_ sovereign duchess +of Brunswick, as the principal foreign royal lady present. Immediately +after him follows the archduke next in the line of succession, now +Francis-Ferdinand, or, failing him, Otto, leading the archduchess +designated to take the place of the first lady of the land, and who at +the present time is Archduchess Maria-Josepha, wife of Archduke Otto. + +The imperial procession, consisting of all the archdukes and +archduchesses--there are nearly one hundred of them--and of the +principal members of their households, marches along the avenue thus +formed by the guests, and are welcomed by low curtsies on the part of +the women, and by profound bows on the part of the men. The brilliant +pageant then disappears in the room set apart for the imperial party, +and thereupon the emperor and Archduchess Maria-Josepha return, and +while the emperor passes along in front of the male guests, preceded +by one of the principal dignitaries of his court, either Count +Kalmà n Hunyadi or Prince Montenuovo, the archduchess, escorted by the +grand-mistress of her court, makes her way along the front rank of the +ladies, bowing to some, extending her hand to be kissed by others, and +chatting familiarly to those who are old friends. + +As soon as the emperor and the archduchess reach the end of the line +the emperor passes over to the ladies' side, while the archduchess in +her turn passes along the front rank of the men. The archduchess then +proceeds to the so-called "Rittersaal," and taking her seat on a +sofa, sends her ladies-in-waiting and her chamberlains to bring to her +presence ladies who have presentations to make. With each débutante +the archduchess converses for a few seconds before dismissing her, the +wives of the foreign ambassadors being on these occasions invited to +take a seat beside the archduchess on her sofa while presenting their +countrywomen. + +Meanwhile the ball has commenced in the Hall of Ceremonies, and is +usually opened with a waltz. While the dancing is in progress the +emperor strolls about, talking from time to time to some guest. +Foreign ambassadors and envoys usually avail themselves of this +opportunity to present their countrymen to his majesty. + +Of course no one is permitted to invite any of the archduchesses or +foreign princesses of the blood who may happen to be present to dance. +It is they who have the privilege of taking the first step in the +matter. Whenever they desire to dance with any man they cause him +to be notified of their wish by their chamberlain in attendance. The +cavalier thus honored is obliged to consider this intimation in the +nature of a command, and all engagements with fair partners of a less +exalted rank, are annulled thereby. + +Refreshments are served for the ordinary guests in the "Pietra-Dura" +room, where a superb buffet is set, the tables glittering with gold +plate and Venetian glass. For the imperial princes and princesses the +Hall of Mirrors is generally reserved, and there the scene is even +still more magnificent. By midnight all is over. The court has retired +with the same ceremonial that marked its arrival, and the guests are +looking for their wraps and cloaks. All court entertainments at Vienna +begin early and end early, so as not to interfere unduly with the +emperor's practice of rising at about five o'clock in the morning. + +One of the features of the great court functions at Berlin, as well as +at Vienna, which excites the greatest surprise of Americans visiting +Europe for the first time, is that particular form of homage accorded +to royalty which consists in the kissing of the hand or "handkuss." +Not only the hands of the royal and imperial ladies are required +by etiquette to be kissed when offered to gentlemen, but it is also +considered necessary for both men and women to kiss the hand of the +sovereign when he condescends to extend it for the purpose. This +seems, perhaps, less odd at Vienna, as the emperor is a septuagenarian +with snow-white hair and a sad and kindly face, inspiring feelings of +sympathy and loyal affection. Indeed there is nothing out of the way +in a young girl, and even a man of mature years, kissing the hand of a +veteran of the age of Francis-Joseph, just as if he were their father. +But it certainly does appear strange to those from across the Atlantic +who are obtaining their first insight into European court life, to see +not only grey-haired generals, and white-whiskered statesmen, but also +venerable ladies,--grandmothers perhaps--and belonging to the highest +ranks of the nobility kissing the hand of Emperor William. + +It has always seemed to me that William must have realized for the +first time his altered rank when old Field-Marshal Moltke, and the +late Prince Bismarck, on hailing him as emperor within a few hours +after his father's death, bent down to kiss his hand. This took place +more or less in private. But shortly afterwards, when he opened the +imperial parliament for the first time as emperor, in the presence of +most of the German sovereigns who had come to Berlin for the purpose, +and had finished reading his speech, and handed it to the chancellor +of the empire, old Bismarck, as he took it, bent almost double to kiss +the hand that was tendering the document to him, in the presence of +the princes and representatives of the entire German empire. + +Kissing, it may be added, forms a great feature of court etiquette +in Germany and Austria. It is, for instance, _de rigueur_ that two +sovereigns of equal rank visiting each other, should embrace at least +thrice, no matter how deeply they may detest each other privately! +A petty sovereign will have to content himself with being embraced +merely twice by a monarch such as Francis-Joseph or Emperor William, +while a crown prince or heir apparent will receive only one hug. +Mere princes of the blood receive no kisses at all, but only a hearty +hand-shake, with which they have to be satisfied, and which is, after +all, perhaps the most sensible fashion of greeting. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +All royal and imperial people are more or less superstitious, +and neither Emperor William nor his brother monarch at Vienna are +exceptions to the rule. Striking evidence thereof is furnished by the +presence of a large horseshoe cemented into the wall just outside +the fourth window of the first story of Empress Frederick's palace +at Berlin. One day, some time before his accession to the throne, and +before his father was seized with that terrible malady to which he +eventually succumbed, William was invited to dine with his parents. +Finding that he was very late, and knowing the strictness of his +father and mother on the score of punctuality, William directed his +coachman to drive as fast as he could, and the carriage positively +raced up the incline to the portal. + +Suddenly one of the big Mecklenburg horses lost his shoe, which in +some extraordinary manner, flew up into the air, dashed through the +first-story window and fell upon the dinner table, right in front +of Frederick and the then crown princess, who, declining to wait +any longer, had just sat down to table. The shoe is reported to have +grazed the nose of the late emperor. At any rate, the fact that it +should have failed to seriously injure anyone is a miracle. It was so +regarded by Frederick, his wife and his children, who deemed the queer +advent of the shoe, and the escape of everybody from injury, as an +indication of good luck. At the suggestion of the present kaiser, it +was thereupon cemented into the wall just outside the window through +which it had come, and was fastened upside down, in order to prevent +the luck from dropping out. + +It is not altogether astonishing that royal personages should be prone +to superstition, for in almost every case they are compelled to make +their homes in palaces and castles that have been stained with the +blood of one or more of their ancestors. Ordinary people experience an +uncanny feeling when forced by circumstances to live in houses which +have been the scene of suicide or murder, even when the victims of +the tragedy, or the perpetrators thereof are in no way, even the +most remotely, connected with them. What wonder, then, that royal and +imperial personages should entertain the same kind of superstition and +sentiments with regard to their palaces, when it is borne in mind that +the participants in the drama have been members of their own families! + +For months prior to the assassination of Empress Elizabeth, +forebodings of an impending catastrophe were prevalent at the Court +of Vienna, and so imbued was Emperor Francis-Joseph with ominous +presentiments, that he repeatedly exclaimed in the hearing of his +entourage: "Oh, if only this year were at an end!" + +These apprehensions on the part of the monarch and his court were due +to an incident which took place on the night of April 24, 1898, and +which was of sufficient importance to be comprised in the regular +report made on the following morning to his military superiors by the +officer of the guard at the Hofburg. It seems that the sentinel posted +in the corridor or hall leading to the chapel was startled almost out +of his senses by seeing the form of a white-clad woman approaching +him, soon after one o'clock in the morning. He at once challenged her, +whereupon the figure turned round, and passed back into the chapel, +where the soldier then observed a light. Hastily summoning assistance, +a strict search was instituted, but the chapel was explored without +any result. + +The sentinel in question was a stolid, rather dull-minded Styrian +peasant, who was possessed of but little power of imagination or of +education, and who was entirely ignorant, therefore, of the tradition +according to which a woman in white makes her appearance by night +in the Hofburg at Vienna, either in the chapel or in the adjoining +corridors and halls, whenever any misfortune is about to overtake the +imperial house of Hapsburg. + +On each occasion, this spectral appearance to the sentinel on duty +has been described in the report of the officer of the guard on the +following morning, and is absolutely a matter of official record. The +previous visitations of the "white lady" had taken place on the eve +of the shocking tragedy of Mayerling; a few weeks previous to the +shooting of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico; and prior to the burning to +death of the daughter of old Archduke Albert, at Schoenbrunn; while +the very fact that there should have been no supernatural appearance +of this kind at the time when Archduke John vanished from human ken, +leads the imperial family and the Court of Austria to still doubt the +story, according to which he perished at sea while on his way round +Cape Horn, from La Plata to Valparaiso. + +I do not know the origin of the "white lady" tradition at Vienna, +nor have I ever been able to ascertain anything definite about her +history, but there is plenty of documentary evidence, as well as +a wonderful array of records concerning "the white lady of the +Hohenzollerns," who makes her appearance in the old palace at Berlin +whenever death is about to overtake a member of the reigning house of +Prussia. The late Emperor Frederick--the most matter-of-fact and least +imaginative prince of his line--was particularly interested in the +matter, and collected all the evidence that he could upon the subject, +for the purpose of depositing it in the archives of his family. + +Perhaps the most important testimony in this connection are the sworn +statements signed by Prince Frederick of Prussia, and a number of his +fellow officers, to all of whom the "White Lady" is declared to have +appeared as they sat together on the eve of the prince's death at the +battle of Saalfeld in 1806. + +Moreover, Thomas Carlyle went to no little trouble to procure evidence +when writing the history of Frederick the Great, that the "White Lady" +had appeared to that famous monarch on the eve of his death. The king, +it is asserted, was on the high road to recovery from his illness, +when suddenly one morning he declared that he had seen the white-clad +spectre during the night, that his hour had come, and that it was +useless to ward off death any longer. So he refused to take any +further medicine or nourishment, turned his face to the wall, and +died. + +The "White Lady" is considered sufficiently real by the hard-headed +matter-of-fact commanders of the Prussian army, to lead to their +adopting special measures whenever her appearance is reported. The +moment she is seen, the sentinels within and around the royal palace +are at once doubled. The object of this is not so much to protect the +royal family from harm, as to prevent the sentinels themselves from +following the example of the two who shot themselves while on guard +at the palace in the year 1888, one, shortly before the death of old +Emperor William, the other, a few days before the demise of Emperor +Frederick, the men in each case declaring before they expired that +they had seen the "White Lady," their story being in a measure +borne out by the fact that their faces even after death seemed to be +distorted with terror. + +The appearances of the "White Lady" are kept as quiet as possible, +the matter is never mentioned at court, save in whispers, and nothing +concerning her is ever permitted to appear in print in the Berlin +papers. + +This dread apparition that forebodes evil to the reigning house of +Prussia, is supposed to be the spectre of Countess Agnes Orlamunde, +who murdered her first husband, as well as her two children, who +constituted an obstacle to her marriage with, one of the ancestors of +the kaiser. + +The palace in which the spectre of this historic murderess appears +is a huge and massive structure of grey stone, the walls of which +are pierced by over one thousand windows, and which contains over six +hundred rooms. Commenced four hundred and fifty years ago by one of +the earliest electors of Brandenburg, it has been added to by +each sovereign in turn, until it has attained its present enormous +dimensions. + +There is probably no structure of the kind in the world the building +of which has cost so many lives. Indeed the very mortar used in its +construction may be said to have been mixed with blood. The people of +Berlin, who from time immemorial have been noted for their democracy +and their spirit of independence, have opposed from the very outset +the erection of this building in their midst as calculated to endanger +their liberty, and many were the attempts that they made to arrest +the undertaking, and to destroy the work already accomplished. Bloody +fights took place between the mob and the troops appointed to protect +the workmen, and on two occasions the populace even went so far as to +cut the dams, and destroy the flood gates, deluging the foundations +with the waters of the River Spree, and drowning each time many +hundreds of workmen. + +Even at the present moment Emperor William is engaged in an angry +fight with, the people of Berlin in connection with this palace. +He wishes to surround it with a terrace and a garden, which will +naturally add to its beauty. At present the windows look onto the +public streets, a fact which, in these days of bombs and dynamite +outrages, renders it difficult to protect with any degree of +efficiency. The municipality and people of Berlin, however, absolutely +decline to consent to the expropriations necessary in order to enable +the destruction and removal of the existing houses and buildings which +interfere with the execution of his majesty's project. + +Like his uncle, the Prince of Wales, the kaiser is very superstitious +on the subject of the number thirteen in the case of any +entertainment, and more than once has a mere subaltern who happened to +be on duty at the palace as an officer of the guard, been commanded at +a moment's notice to join the imperial party in order to avoid there +being thirteen at the table. + +This superstition is perhaps partly due to the fact that the emperor +is aware of the old Scandinavian custom, from which it originates, and +which still subsists among the peasantry of the west coast of France. +In the Pagan days of Scandinavia, the hardy Norsemen were accustomed +at all their banquets to invite the spirit of the last of their male +relatives or friends to participate in the feast, and the food that he +would have eaten and the mead that he would have drunk was cast into +the fire, the supposed resting-place of the soul. When the Norsemen +embraced Christianity, on ceremonious occasions they sat down to +the banquet in parties of twelve, doing this in honor of the twelve +Apostles; but unable entirely to disassociate themselves from their +old heathen custom of inviting the spirit of a dead relative or +friend, they constituted him,--the spectre,--the thirteenth guest at +table, and his health was always drunk in solemn silence. In course +of time people came to forget the traditional custom of considering +a spectre to be the thirteenth guest. He was, however, associated in +their minds with the notion of death, and thus the belief has grown +that though a thirteenth person at table is no longer a corpse, one of +the party is destined, at any rate, to speedily become one. + +Throughout Brittany on the eve of the day sacred to the memory of the +dead "La Toussaint," the family all sit down to a festive repast, and +there is invariably a place laid at table, the plate filled with the +choicest viands, and the glass filled with the finest wine or cider, +for the one or more members of the family who have died during the +previous twelve months. The peasantry are convinced that the spirits +of their dear ones take part in this repast at one time or another +during the course of the night. It is for this reason that they +consider it their duty to sit up till daybreak, the women chiefly +praying, the men talking in undertones about the qualities and the +characteristics of the mourned ones. Wearied with watching, imbued +with the most fervent and devout faith, blended with a belief in +old-time legends, what wonder is it that towards dawn both the men +and the women, especially the latter, should imagine that they see +the spirits of their dead glide into the room, take their place at the +family board, and then, after a brief sojourn in their midst, vanish +with the light of the breaking day. It is a pretty and a touching +idea, which is not combated by the clergy, and of which, indeed, no +one possessed of any heart would seek to disabuse the minds of the +poor, simple-minded peasant folks. + +Of course Emperor Francis-Joseph and Emperor William are imbued with +all the old superstitions peculiar to Nimrods. As an instance, they +will give up an entire day's shooting, no matter how elaborate the +arrangements made for it, if a hare is seen to cross their path, for +this is always looked upon as being a very bad omen. + +Both emperors also attach much importance to dreams, and claim to have +been furnished by them with premonitions of each misfortune that has +overtaken them, and regard Friday as the most unlucky day of the week. + +There is no colder, more unemotional and level-headed woman in +the-world than the young Empress of Russia, who is a German princess +by birth, and a first cousin of Emperor William, yet she too believes +in dreams, since the following incident, which enjoys the fullest +degree of credence on the part of the emperors of Germany and Austria. +It seems that during the coronation festivities she was resting one +afternoon, and had dropped off into a doze, when she suddenly found +herself awakened by one of her ladies who had been frightened by the +manner in which she moaned and even wailed in her sleep. The empress +then related that her slumbers had been disturbed by a bad dream. +An old gray-haired Moujik, or peasant, all covered with blood, had +appeared to her, and had exclaimed: + +"I have come all the way from Siberia, czaritza, to see your day of +honor, and now your Cossacks have killed me." + +The vision had been so real that the empress hastened to her husband +to inquire if any misfortune had happened. Nicholas laughed at his +wife's fears, but to soothe her, telephoned to the minister of the +imperial household, asking whether anything untoward had occurred, +and only then learnt of the terrible disaster that had taken place in +connection with the open-air banquet, where over two thousand lives +were lost, through a panic that had seized upon the vast concourse of +people, the terrible catastrophe being aggravated by the unfortunate +attempts of large bodies of mounted Cossacks to restore order by +riding into the crowd and using their whips and even their swords +against the terrified masses of penned-up Moujiks. + +It must be borne in mind that the entire monarchial system of the old +world is largely based on legend and superstition, and that a belief +in the supernatural, therefore, is to be expected in such personages +as the anointed of the Lord, who are firmly convinced that there is a +considerable amount of the supernatural in their authority and in the +origin of their power. + +Another manner in which Emperor William displays his superstition, is +his absolute refusal to permit any steps to be taken to clear up the +mystery which has existed throughout this entire century in connection +with the hunting château of Grünewald, which, like the great palace +at Berlin, is popularly believed to be haunted. Indeed, it is regarded +with considerable misgiving by the peasantry of the surrounding +district. It is an old castle, built almost two centuries ago, by the +father of the first King of Prussia, and has been the scene of several +tragedies. + +The one which is supposed to have led to the haunting of the palace +is the murder by one of the princes of the house of Hohenzollern, in a +fit of passion, of a Prussian nobleman who was his guest at the time. +The prince is reported to have run the nobleman through the back with +his sword while following him down one of the staircases from the +upper story to the ground floor. + +Endeavors have repeatedly been made to obtain permission from the +sovereign to tear down the brick wall so as to give access to this +staircase, not only for the sake of convenience, but also with the +object of setting at rest forever the popular superstitions and rumors +on the subject. Neither King Frederick-William IV., nor the late +Emperor William would ever hear of such a thing, and the late Emperor +Frederick, who was the least superstitious and most matter-of-fact +of men, grew grave and silent, when it was suggested to him that he +should give the desired permission. As for the present emperor, he +has sternly forbidden that the matter should even be mentioned in his +presence. This extraordinary reluctance displayed by both the kaiser +and his predecessors to discover what there is behind that brick wall +leads to the conviction that the mouldering remains of the victim +of the treacherous hospitality of a prince of Prussia lie concealed +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +It is among the crowned heads and princes of the blood in the Old +World that St. Hubert, the patron of the chase, finds his most fervent +devotees, and nowhere is his cult followed with a greater degree +of pomp and ceremoniousness, and, I might almost add, religious +sentiment, than at the Courts of Berlin and Vienna. + +The foremost Nimrod of Europe is undoubtedly old Emperor +Francis-Joseph, who finds his only relaxation from the cares of state +in stalking the chamois, and who is celebrated in the annals of sport +as the most successful and fearless hunter of that excessively shy and +difficult quarry. + +No man living possesses a larger collection of gemsbock beards, which +constitute the hunter's trophy of this form of the chase. They +number nearly three thousand, and the only person whose score at all +approximates the emperor's is his intimate friend and crony, the +aged King Albert of Saxony. Both monarchs are now old men, with hair, +whiskers and moustache, of a snowy white, but neither their years, +nor their sorrows, which have contributed so much towards aging them +prematurely, have been permitted until now to interfere with their +chamois-hunting expeditions in the Styrian Alps. On these occasions +the two sovereigns make their headquarters at Francis-Joseph's +picturesque shooting-lodge, or rather château, at Mürzsteg. They are +usually accompanied by the emperor's eldest son-in-law, Prince Leopold +of Bavaria, Archduke Francis-Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne, +some younger members of the imperial family, and a few of the +dignitaries of the court who have been the longest attached to the +service of his majesty, prominent among whom is Baron Gudemus, grand +huntsman of the empire. The latter, by virtue of his office, holds a +seat in the privy council, ranks higher than the cabinet ministers, +has under his control all the game preserves, the hunting equipages, +and the shooting lodges of the crown in the various parts of the +empire, and is the generalissimo of the army of game-keepers, and +jägers, many thousands in number, who wear the livery of the house of +Hapsburg. + +Usually, the first three or four days of the stay at Mürzsteg +are devoted to stalking the chamois, the two sovereigns generally +remaining together, attended only by the grand huntsman, and by a +few jägers and guides, while the other members of the shooting party +follow their individual devices. The start is made each morning about +an hour before dawn, so as to enable the sportsmen to be well up on +the mountain side by daybreak, that being the time when it is least +difficult to get within range of a chamois. + +All day long the two old sovereigns, Alpenstock in hand, and short, +stocky rifles slung over the shoulder, go toiling up and down the +mountains, along the edges of great precipices, tracing their steps +along paths that to the uninitiated would seem to afford no foothold +to any living thing, save a goat or a chamois. Sometimes they are +overtaken by snowstorms while up in the mountains, and are unable +to see their way, or to move either backwards or forwards, for whole +hours together, while at other times they are forced to lie down flat +on their stomachs and to cling with hand and foot to any friendly +piece of projecting rock in order to avoid being blown down the +precipices, or into the deep crevasses, by the terrible winds which +without warning suddenly sweep through the Alpine gorges and valleys, +with a force that can only be described as cyclonic. + +All the party, emperor, king, princes, and attendants, down to the +humblest jäger, wear the same kind of Styrian dress, consisting of a +sort of Yoppe, or Austrian jacket of grey homespun, with green collar +and facings, and buttons of rough stag-horn, homespun breeches, cut +off above the knees, which are left entirely uncovered, thick woollen +stockings rolled below the knee, and heavy, hob-nailed, laced boots. +The head gear is that known in this country as the Tyrolese hat, +adorned by a chamois beard, which is inserted between the ribbon and +the felt. + +By nightfall, which comes early in the mountains, everybody is back +at the "jagdschloss," and dinner is served at five, in a room panelled +with wood and decorated with trophies. The emperor and the king sit +next to each other, while Baron Gudemus, as grand huntsman, faces them +on the opposite table. The attendants are not liveried footmen, but +jägers and game-keepers. On arising from the table the party as a rule +descends into the courtyard, where all the game killed during the +day is laid out on a layer of pine branches, the jägers forming three +sides of a square, lighting up the scene with great pine torches, +while the huntsmen sound the _curée-chaude_ on their hunting horns. By +eight or nine o'clock, everybody is in bed, and the whole château is +wrapped in slumber. + +During the last three or four days of the stay, the so-called +"Treibjagds," or "Battues" take the place of stalking. They are +far more ceremonious, but infinitely less fatiguing and interesting +affairs, and as they begin between eight and nine, and last till four, +they do not involve getting out of bed at the unearthly hour of three +or four in the morning. They necessitate, however, an enormous amount +of preparation and organization on the part of the grand huntsman. For +at least forty-eight hours previously, a vast corps of "treibers," +or Styrian mountaineers engaged for the purpose have been employed in +surrounding a district of mountain and valley many miles in area. +The circle is gradually narrowed down until the whole of the game is +driven from the heights into the valley, where the emperor and his +guests have taken up their positions. + +The selection of the positions of the party is regarded as a matter of +the utmost importance, and on the evening before, the grand huntsman +submits to the emperor a carefully drawn up plan of the locality. His +majesty thereupon designates with his own hand the spot where each +of his guests is to take up his position on the following morning. He +himself and the King of Saxony generally await the game in the lowest +part of the valley, the remaining guests and officials being spread up +the mountain side on each hand according to their degree of rank and +the imperial favor, those who enjoy the greatest share of the latter +being the nearest to the sovereign down the valley, while those of +less importance are posted higher up on the mountain side. By nine +o'clock, every member of the party must be in the place assigned to +him on the plan, and the beaters, who have kept the game carefully +within the circle of their lines, now proceed to drive it down towards +the shooting party. + +Usually, great nets are stretched a hundred yards to the rear of the +two monarchs, with the object of forcing the game which may have got +past their majesties to retrace its steps, and to face the royal and +imperial sportsmen once more. + +Sometimes curious scenes result in connection with these nets. On one +occasion a magnificent gemsbock had managed to get past the King of +Saxony, and finding a net in the way, charged it full tilt with a +flying leap. Its horns got entangled in the meshes, seven or eight +feet high, and there it remained hanging and kicking until a couple of +jägers in attendance on the king disentangled it and carefully +placed it on the ground. For a moment it stood as if transfixed +with amazement, gazing steadfastly at the net, and then deliberately +charged head down, and with a tremendous bound, at the obstacle once +more, with the same result, of course. Again the jägers disengaged +it, but in its struggles to recover its liberty the gemsbock left its +beard torn out by the very roots in the hand of one of the men who had +grabbed it for the purpose of holding the animal fast. A third time +the gallant buck charged the net, and cleared it in magnificent style +and made good its escape. The beard which it left behind it figures +to this day on the Alpine hat of King Albert, who is probably the only +man living who can boast of wearing the beard of a chamois that may +still be roaming over the Styrian Alps. + +Emperor William's favorite form of sport is wild-boar hunting. +This species of game abounds in the imperial preserves of +Königs-Wusterhausen, Letzlingen, Gohrde and Springe, the latter being +quite near to the ancient city of Hamelin, celebrated in legendary +lore for its "_pied-piper_" and for its rats! + +The preserves at Gohrde are liked best by the kaiser, as they were by +his grandfather, the old emperor, for they are alive with wild boars. +Persons invited for the first time to these imperial shooting parties +have to go through a regular form of initiation, somewhat akin to that +practised in the case of people crossing the line for the first time +at sea. + +On the eve of the day on which the hunt is to begin, and when the +party are assembled in the smoking and card-rooms of the jagdschloss, +after dinner, the great oak table in the dining-room is cleared and +ornamented with several lines of chalk; thereupon, the deputy grand +huntsman, Baron Heintze Weissenrode, after receiving the emperor's +final instructions, selects a dozen members of the party, and conducts +them to the dining-room, where they take their places around the +table, each armed with a wooden spoon of a different size from those +of his neighbors. + +At a given signal the huntsman in charge of the imperial pack of +boar-hounds, who has been stationed at the entrance leading into the +dining-room, sounds the "view-halloo!" on his horn, and immediately +every one of the wooden spoons is rubbed up and down the oaken table +in a manner that produces a sound similar to that of the noise made +by a pack in full pursuit. The person about to be initiated is then +seized and blindfolded, after which the doors are thrown open, and he +is carried into the dining-room, and laid upon the table athwart the +chalk lines. The emperor immediately draws his short hunting-knife, +and after making several mystic passes with it in the air, strikes the +prostrate body of the neophyte a smart blow with the flat of the broad +blade. The huntsman toots forth the signal of "dead! dead!" which is +used to call the pack off the quarry, and the new-fledged "weide-man" +is permitted to struggle off the table and onto the ground. + +I may add that the emperor's blow with the hunting-knife is not the +only one which the neophyte receives while stretched on the table on +his face, nor does it constitute the sum total of the initiation, but +only the conclusion thereof. Indeed, there is sometimes a good deal +of rough horse-play on these occasions, in which the emperor, who +delights therein, takes a prominent part. + +The boar hunt on the following day partakes of the nature of the +chamois drives already described, the only difference being that the +beaters are assisted in their work by a carefully trained pack of +boar-hounds, which are accustomed to obey the horn signals of the +huntsman in charge, and are of much service in driving the quarry from +its lair in the dense brush and underwood. + +Another difference is that the shooting parties, instead of firing in +the direction of the drivers, are under the strictest orders only +to fire away from them; that is to say, the hunters are practically +forced to wait until the wild boar rushes past before their rifles may +be levelled. Of course, it sometimes happens that the boar, instead +of charging past, charges directly at some member of the party in the +fiercest and most dangerous manner, and it is in order to be prepared +for an assault of this kind, that each of them is provided with a kind +of pike, or lance, which goes by the euphonious name of "sowpen." + +The costume worn on these occasions is an exceptionally hideous +uniform, specially invented and devised by the present emperor. +It consists of a double-breasted frock coat of grey cloth, with +grass-green lapels and collar, green striped pantaloons, high boots, +and a grey Tyrolese hat, with a wide green band. In the emperor's case +it is further adorned by the ribbon and badge of a Hohenzollern family +order known as that of the "White Hart." + +At these shooting parties the emperor is accustomed to wind up the day +with a most extraordinary kind of drink, of which he himself is very +fond, and of which he insists upon everybody's partaking, assuring +them that it will help them to sleep. It consists of the following +ingredients: White beer, sugar, citron peel, ginger spices, the yolks +of at least a dozen eggs, Rhine wine, Madeira, and old Santa Cruz rum. +All this, after being thoroughly stirred, is placed on the fire +and slowly heated, several large pats of butter being added to the +concoction while it is warm. + +It need scarcely be said that it requires a stomach as strong as that +of the emperor to be able to absorb several glasses of such a drink +before retiring, and it is asserted at the Court of Berlin that there +are many of his subjects of high rank who feign illness when +commanded to join the imperial hunting parties, solely because of the +apprehensions they entertain of being called upon by the kaiser to +drink this extraordinary brew. + +For shooting wild-fowl, hares and other small game, William uses a +very dainty and extremely light fowling-piece, specially constructed +for him, which he raises to his shoulder with one hand, and with +extraordinary rapidity takes a remarkably sure aim; but when it comes +to hunting the wild boar, stag, elk, bear and big game in general, +the killing of which requires a heavier gun, he is naturally forced +to adopt other devices. His crippled left arm being useless to support +the weapon, his body jäger, specially trained for this particular +duty, steps forward and offers either his arm or his shoulder for the +support of his master's rifle. This, _bien entendu_, when his majesty +is engaged in stalking. In cases where the chase takes the form of a +"battue," a species of horizontal bar is affixed at right angles to +the tree beside which the emperor stands, and it is on this support +that the kaiser rests his gun when shooting at the driven game. + +Handicapped as William is by this crippled arm, his record of 33,967 +head of game killed with his own hand, during the past two decades, is +a very remarkable one. It may be found in his "Game Book," published a +few months ago for private circulation among the royal personages and +court circles of the Old World. + +Comprised in this grand total are some pieces which do not fall to the +lot of every sportsman. Thus there are a couple of "aurochsen," which +is a species of bison-like wild cattle, still to be found strictly +preserved in the private domains of the Emperor of Russia. Unless I +am mistaken, there are only about five hundred of them left, and, in +spite of all the efforts made to foster the breed, they are so rapidly +diminishing in number that ere many years are past they will surely +become extinct. In pre-Christian times they roamed all over Germany, +and were, and still are, larger, fiercer, and much lighter colored +than the American buffalo. + +The wild boars number in the "Game Book" over 2,700. There are eleven +elks shot in Sweden, three reindeer killed in Norway, and ten bears +laid low, some of them in Russia, and others in Hungary. The emperor +has, much to his vexation, only managed to bag three unfortunate +snipe, an extremely difficult bird to shoot on the wing; but his +record of 120 chamois is decidedly good, when it is remembered what +an exceedingly difficult game this is to reach, entailing, as it does, +mountaineering of the most arduous and perilous character, especially +in the case of a man who can use but one arm easily. These 120 chamois +serve in a measure to atone for the twenty foxes which figure as +having been shot by the emperor, a fact which is more likely to injure +his reputation and prestige in the eyes of hunting men than any other +fault or even crime of which he could possibly render himself +guilty. The most unique item of this "Game Book," with the exception, +naturally, of the two aurochsen, are assuredly the three whales which +the emperor shot with a harpoon gun, on the occasion of his yachting +trip to the furthermost portion of Norway a few summers ago. These +three huge monsters of the deep form a fitting and amusing counterpart +in the "Game Book" to the three snipe above mentioned. + +Emperor William has a number of shooting-lodges, among the best known +of which is Hubertusstock, of which he is particularly fond owing to +its proximity to the capital. Yet it is hated by the members of his +suite, for it is a terribly gloomy place. It stands in the midst of +a dense, dark forest of vast extent, and swarming with game, within +a few hundred yards of the reed covered and marshy shores of the +Werbellin Lake, and was built by the late King Frederick-William IV. +During the last few years of his madness this monarch was frequently +taken out to Hubertusstock by his attendants, who hoped that the +entire absence of all excitement and the intense solitude of the place +would diminish the recurrences of his attacks of violence. + +The emperor sometimes spends an entire week at Hubertusstock and it +has frequently been asserted that he takes advantage of the complete +absence from public observation which he then enjoys, to make secret +trips abroad. It was his absence at this place for a period of ten +days while the czar was at Paris that led to the very circumstantial +story in the German and foreign press about his having been in the +French capital, in the strictest incognito, for several days during +the Russian emperor's stay on the banks of the Seine. A number of +people claim to have recognized him, and it is even alleged that he +caught the czar's eye, and was recognized by him during the grand +entertainment given by President Faure in honor of his Muscovite +visitors at the Palace of Versailles. + +A story was told at the time about a couple of German officers, one of +them attached to the embassy, who happening to find themselves face to +face with an individual presenting a striking likeness to the kaiser, +save for the fact that his moustache was twisted downwards instead +of upwards, and his hair brushed in a different way, lost to such an +extent their presence of mind that they could not help drawing their +heels together and standing at attention; a form of courtesy which +received as its only response the muttered exclamation of "Verdammte +Esel!" which may be translated: "Accursed jackasses!" + +That served to confirm their suspicions, and unfortunately both their +behavior and the growl of the stranger had been witnessed and heard by +people who were quick to make the matter public. + +It was with the object of endeavoring to disprove and discredit these +stories that the emperor caused a telegram, to be sent to the czar +from Hubertusstock, not written, as usual, in cipher, but in ordinary +language. There is an old French proverb according to which "he who +seeks to prove too much, proves nothing," and thus it happened that +this open telegram which reached the czar at Châlons, and which was +published in the German newspapers, even before Nicholas had made +it known to the members of his entourage, merely served to convince +people that the kaiser had really been in Paris when he was supposed +to be buried amidst the gloomy forests of Hubertusstock. + +Hubertusstock is not, as most people seem to imagine, a castle, but +merely a huge, overgrown two-storied chalet, surrounded by a number +of smaller wooden dwelling-houses for the use of the imperial suite. +Formerly, it required a drive of at least three hours from the station +on the main line in order to reach the jagdschloss. But since the +accession of the emperor he has caused a private railroad to be +constructed from the trunk line to a small station within a few +hundred yards of the chalet. + +Seldom is the kaiser found in the schloss after daybreak. The entire +morning is spent by him in the woods, which are so vast that one can +wander about them for days without meeting a soul. Luncheon is usually +partaken of at some point in the forest, and frequently during this +repast a concert takes place, the performers consisting of a quartette +of foresters, their instruments being mere hunting horns, and their +melodies those of old hunting-songs. Within the limits of the imperial +preserves is the celebrated Schorfhaide, which each year, towards the +month of November, becomes the meeting place of thousands of stags. +They come from all parts of Germany and Austria, this being rendered +possible by the proximity to one another of the great estates of the +territorial nobility, so that it would be feasible to march almost +from the Adriatic to the Baltic without leaving forest glades. This +annual assemblage of stags on the Schorfhaide has been taking place +every autumn for untold centuries. In fact, mention thereof has been +found in documents more than a thousand years old. The meetings afford +an extraordinary sight, and are the scenes of numerous single combats +to death between "Royals," the other stags and the deer standing +round, as if to form a huge amphitheatre, and gravely watching the +duel without making any attempt to interfere. + +All sorts of theories have been put forward with regard to this annual +concourse of stags on the Schorfhaide. Foresters, however, insist that +it is nothing more nor less than a species of great animal congress, +at which the various antlered tribes meet for a big "palaver" to +decide matters affecting the policy and the leadership of their +various clans! Far-fetched as this theory may seem at first sight, it +is evident that there is something of the kind which brings stags and +their mates from the remote forests of Galicia on the Russian border, +from the vast Liechtenstein game preserves to the South of Vienna, +and from the still larger sporting property of Belyer, in Hungary, +belonging to Archduke Frederick, all the way to the Schorfhaide on +the reedy banks of the Werbellin Lake, in order to flock together by +thousands. + +It is a matter of forest ethics, and of the law of the chase, to +abstain from disturbing this annual _convivium_ of the stags, as it +is called, and while it lasts, not a single shot is to be heard in the +forests around Hubertusstock. In fact, November has on this account +become a species of close season there, no one interested in sport +wishing to do anything that could in the least degree interfere with +this, so far as I know, altogether unique custom in the animal world. +The meetings, however, have been witnessed by the emperor and a few +chosen companions who concealed themselves in the branches of +trees, bordering on the Schorfhaide, and William is never tired of +expatiating on the magnificence of the spectacle presented. + +Next to Hubertusstock, the most favored shooting-lodge and +sporting-estate of the kaiser, is Rominten, not far from the Russian +frontier. Owing to this proximity, bears and wolves, especially +the latter, of Muscovite origin, are frequently to be found in the +Rominten forests, adjoining which is the celebrated imperial Trakenen +stud and horsebreeding establishment, founded as far back as 1732 +by Frederick the Great. Some idea of the size and importance of this +stud-farm may be gathered from the fact that over two thousand hands +are employed in connection with the concern. Trakenen was originally +famous for elk, and an elk's horn remains to this day the Trakenen +brand placed upon all horses bred there. The emperor's headquarters at +Rominten are situated at a place called Theerbude. His jagdschloss or +shooting-lodge consists of a handsome Norwegian block house, brought +from Norway, and erected on the Goldberg on the left bank of the +Rominten River. The stables are built on a most extensive scale, and +the chapel, as well as all the other buildings, are constructed in the +picturesque Norwegian style, which harmonizes so well with the dark +fir forests by which they are surrounded. + +There is no interruption of the business of slate during the emperor's +stay at Rominten. Theerbude is connected with Berlin by wire, and +telegrams are arriving and departing at all hours of the day. + +The kaiser shoots as a rule twice a day, at four in the morning, and +four in the afternoon, the drive to the hunting-grounds often taking +several hours, for most of them are at a considerable distance. The +various foresters' lodges, even at the most remote portion of the +estates, are connected by telephone with the imperial residence, and +thus the emperor is able to know at midday where the game is likely to +be most plentiful in the afternoon. + +When the emperor is not shooting, he transacts business with his +various military and civil secretaries, and long after his guests are +asleep he himself is still at work, signing state papers or reading +and annotating reports. Indeed one of the most remarkable things about +Emperor William is his apparent ability to do almost entirely without +sleep. + +On Sundays the emperor invariably makes a point of attending divine +service at the Chapel of St. Hubert, opposite his residence, and +subsequently is accustomed to walk to the Königshöhe, a neighboring +hill on which he has built an observatory-tower about one hundred feet +high, which commands a magnificent view of the surrounding forest, +extending about twenty miles in every direction from the tower. +Curiously enough, wild boars are not found at Rominten; but the stags +there are superb, and specimens turning the scales at a thousand +pounds are the rule rather than the exception. + +One of the features of the Theerbude is a goblet of the time of King +Frederick-William III. The vessel is held between the points of a +couple of antlers, and it is only possible to drink out of it by +squeezing one's face between these two points. The possessor of a +rotund countenance experiences considerable difficulty in performing +this feat, and is apt to spill the contents over himself, yet every +one of the emperor's guests has to submit to the ordeal, for +an inscription on the goblet says that all persons attending +shooting-parties at Rominten for the first time must empty the vessel +of its contents,--a pint bottle of champagne,--at one draught, to the +health of the sovereign. + +So great are the quantities of game shot by the emperor and his guests +at these shooting-parties that they very much exceed the needs for the +consumption of the imperial household. Formerly, it was the kaiser's +custom to distribute all the surplus among the various hospitals and +charitable institutions; but since discovering that these gifts of +game seldom reached the persons for whom they were destined, namely +the inmates, but were monopolized by the staff and the attendants +of the establishments, he has given orders that the game that is not +needed for imperial consumption should be sold, and the money derived +therefrom turned over to the funds of the hospitals and convalescent +homes under the patronage of the crown. That is why one so frequently +sees in the great Central Market of Berlin, deer, stags, wild boars, +etc., adorned with greenery, and with cards intimating that the quarry +in question has been shot by his imperial majesty the kaiser. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +WILLIAM II AND FRANCIS JOSEPH + + +_VOLUME I_ + +WILLIAM II, EMPEROR OF GERMANY........... _Fronts_ + +PRINCESS FREDERICK AND PROFESSOR VON BERGMANN............. 80 + +THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ............................... 104 + +SCENE IN DUKE ERNEST GUNTHER'S QUARTERS................... 136 + +AUGUSTA VICTORIA, EMPRESS OF GERMANY...................... 192 + +IN THE WHITE HALL......................................... 256 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of +Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2), by Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12548 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd24d2a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12548 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12548) diff --git a/old/12548-8.txt b/old/12548-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b30289b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12548-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8814 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: +William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2), by Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2) + +Author: Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +Release Date: June 8, 2004 [EBook #12548] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECRET MEMOIRS *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced +from images provided by the Million Book Project. + + + + + +SECRET MEMOIRS + + +William II and Francis Joseph + + +VOLUME I + + +[Illustration: _WILLIAM II EMPEROR OF GERMANY_ +_From Life_] + + + + +SECRET MEMOIRS +OF THE +COURTS OF EUROPE + + +William II +_Germany_ + +Francis Joseph +_Austria Hungary_ + + +BY + +MME. LA MARQUISE DE FONTENOY + + + + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOL. I + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE + + +The essential qualifications for an author of such a work as the +present are an actual acquaintance with the persons mentioned, an +intimate knowledge of their daily lives, and a personal familiarity +with the scenes described. + +The author of William II. and Francis-Joseph, sheltered under the _nom +de plume_ of Marquise de Fontenoy, is a lady of distinguished birth +and title. Her work consists largely of personal reminiscences, and +descriptions of events with which she is perfectly familiar; a sort of +panoramic view of the characteristic happenings and striking features +of court life, such as will best give a true picture of persons and +their conduct. + +There has been no attempt to trammel the subject,--which embraces +religious, official, social and domestic life,--by following a +strictly sequential form in the narrative, but the writer's aim has +been to present her facts in a familiar way, impressing them with +characteristic naturalness and lifelike reality. + +To this task the author has brought the habits of a watchful observer, +the candor of a conscientious narrator, and the refinement of a +writer who respects her subject. Hence she presents a true, vivid +and interesting picture of court life in Germany and Austria. If such +merely sensational, and too often fictitious, unsavory tales as crowd +the so-called court narratives expressly concocted for the "society" +columns of the periodical press are not the most prominent features +of the present work, it is because they receive only a truthful +recognition and place in its pages. + + + + +WILLIAM II + +AND + +FRANCIS-JOSEPH + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +"If only Emperor William would be true to himself--be natural, +in fact!" exclaimed Count S----, a Prussian nobleman, high in the +diplomatic service of his country, with whom I was discussing the +German Emperor a year or so ago. Then my friend, who had, a short +time previously, been brought into frequent personal contact with his +sovereign, in connection with his official duties, went on to say: + +"There are really two distinct characters, one might almost say +two personalities, in the kaiser. When he is himself he is the most +charming companion that it is possible to conceive. His manners are as +genial and as winning as those of his father and grandfather, both +of whom he surpasses in brilliancy of intellect, and in quickness +of repartee, as well as in a keen sense of humor. He gives one +the impression of possessing a heart full of the most generous +impulses,--aye, of a generosity carried even to excess, and this, +together with a species of indescribable magnetism which appears to +radiate from him in these moments, contributes to render him a most +sympathetic man." + +"But," interposed an Englishman who was present, "that is not how he +is portrayed to the outer world. Nor is that the impression which he +made upon me and upon others when he was at Cowes." + +"That is precisely why I deplore so much that the emperor should +fail to appear in his true colors," continued Count S----. "All +the qualities which I have just now ascribed to him are too often +concealed beneath a mantle of reserve, self-consciousness, nay, +even pose. During my recent interviews with his majesty, whenever we +happened to be alone, he would show himself in the light which I +have just described to you. But let a third person appear upon the +scene--be it even a mere servant--at once his entire manner would +change. The magnetic current so pleasantly established between us +would be cut through, his eyes would lose their kindly, friendly +light, and become hard, his attitude self-conscious and constrained, +the very tone of his speech sharp, abrupt, commanding, I would almost +say arrogant. In fact he would give one the impression that he was +playing a rôle--the rôle of emperor--that he was, in one word, posing, +even if it were only for the benefit of the menial who had interrupted +us. But when the intruder had vanished, William would, like a flash, +become his own charming self again. That is what made me exclaim just +now, 'if only the kaiser would be true to himself!--be natural, in +fact.'" + +"I fully agree with you, my dear S----," I remarked, after a short +pause. "If the emperor has remained anything like what he was prior +to his ascension to the throne, your estimate of his character is +correct." And I went on to relate a little incident which occurred on +the occasion of my first meeting with the emperor many years ago. + +This meeting took place on that particular spot where the empires of +Germany, Austria, and Russia may be said to meet, the frontier guards +of each of those three nations being within hail of one another. +The great autumnal military manoeuvres were in progress, and a merry +party, including a number of ladies, were riding home from the mimic +battlefield. We passed through a narrow lane, bordered on each side by +groups of stunted willows and birch trees, under the sparse shadow of +which nestled a few cottages painted in blue, pink, or yellow, in +true Polish fashion. Suddenly our progress was arrested by terrifying +screams proceeding from one of these hovels. Several of us were out of +our saddles in an instant and rushed in at the low door. + +Before the hearth, where a huge peat-fire was burning, stood a young +peasant woman, her face distorted with agonized grief, and holding in +her arms a bundle of blackened rags. We found that her baby had fallen +into the glowing embers, while she herself was occupied out of doors, +and the poor mite was so badly burned that there seemed but little +hope of its ever reviving from its state of almost complete coma. We +were all busying ourselves eagerly about the child and its distraught +mother, when raising my eyes from the palpitating form of the child, +I caught sight of "Prince William," as the kaiser was then called, +standing near the door, apparently quite undisturbed and unmoved by +this tragedy in lowly life. It even seemed to me in the dim light as +if he were smiling derisively at our efforts to relieve the sufferings +of the little one, and to soothe the grief of its mother. But my +indignation vanished quickly when a slanting ray of the setting sun, +piercing through the grime of the little window, revealed the presence +on his cheek of two very large and _bona-fide_ tears, which had +welled up in his eyes, to which the lad was endeavoring to impart an +expression of callous indifference; and when at last we left the hut +to seek a doctor for the tiny sufferer it was Prince William's own +military coat, none too new, and even, to say the truth, much worn, +that remained as an additional coverlet upon the roughly-hewn wooden +cot, over which the sobbing mother was bending. + +"Nobody," I added, "will, therefore, make me believe that Emperor +William has not got a very soft spot in his heart, and that beneath +the mannerisms which he considers it necessary to affect in order to +maintain the dignity of his position as emperor,--those mannerisms +which have given rise to so much misapprehension about his +character,--there is not concealed a very kindly spirit, literally +brimming over with generous impulses, which, if more widely known, +would serve to render the kaiser the most popular, as he is the most +interesting figure of Old World royalty." + +It is because Emperor Francis-Joseph and the veteran King of Saxony +are so thoroughly acquainted with his real nature, that they are truly +and honestly fond of him. Both of them old men, with no sons in whom +to seek support for the eventide of lives that have been saddened by +many a public and private sorrow, they entertain a fatherly affection +for William, who as emperor treats them in public as brother +sovereigns, and as equals, but accords to them in private the most +touching filial deference and regard, remembering full well the +kindness which both of them showed to him when he was still the +much-snubbed, and not altogether justly-treated "Prince William." They +on their side are led by his behavior towards them to regard him in +the light of a son. Of course they cannot be blind to his faults, but +they are disposed to treat them with an indulgence that is even more +than paternal, and to see in them relatively trivial defects, due +to the manner in which he was brought up, and which are certain to +disappear with advancing years and experience. + +During his early manhood, Prince William was by no means a favorite +either at his grandfather's court or at that of any other foreign +sovereign which he was occasionally allowed to visit. Pale-faced and +delicate-looking, very severely treated by his mother, who is what one +is bound to call _une maîtresse femme_, the boy at seventeen was by no +manner of means prepossessing, and his efforts to assert himself, and +to crush down a good deal of natural awkwardness and timidity added to +his singularly unlikeable appearance. + +In those days it could clearly be seen that everything that he did or +said was meant to create an impression of dignity and of grandeur, to +which his physique did not lend itself very easily, and the contrast +between him and his bosom friend the courteous, graceful and dashing +Crown Prince of Austria, was very marked. + +Good-hearted and endowed with a great many truly generous instincts +the young fellow was, however, sorely handicapped by his education, +the abnormal strictness displayed towards him at the Court of Berlin, +and also by a continually and most distressingly empty purse. It is a +hard and almost pitiful thing for the heir apparent of a great empire +to find himself often without the necessary amount with which to cut +the figure which his social rank forces him to adopt, and it must have +been especially galling to the overbearing and proud nature of this +boy to be continually obliged to borrow from his friends, nay even +from his _aides de camp_, small sums wherewith to pay his way wherever +he went. Nevertheless his father and mother, then Crown Prince and +Crown Princess of Germany, believed it to be a thoroughly wholesome +thing for the young man to have to humble his pride, should he not be +content with the very small allowance made to him, this unfortunate +idea being, however, the cause of a great deal of bitterness, which to +this day has not completely faded from the heart of the now omnipotent +ruler of the German Empire. + +It is undeniable that many eccentricities and false moves on the part +of William II. have been grossly exaggerated and placed before the +public in a false light, showing him up as a conceited, bumptious +and silly person, whereas not only his state of health, but his +_entourage_ should have been blamed for whatever he did that was out +of place. During a great many years the young prince suffered from +what is called technically _otitis media_, namely, a disease of the +middle ear, very painful, exasperating and even somewhat humiliating +to endure, and which he must have inherited in some extraordinary way +from his great-uncle, King William IV. of Prussia, who died insane. +There are certainly some traits of resemblance between this hapless +monarch and the present occupant of the German throne, for in both +there exists and has existed the same exaggerated and narrow-minded +religious beliefs, bordering on mysticism, and also an all-embracing +faith in their absolute and unquestionable infallibility. + +It has long since become a well-anchored creed that William II. has +occasional fits of insanity. This is by no means the case, but it must +be admitted that the peculiar malady to which I referred above, and +which is as yet not eradicated from his system, causes him, at times, +days of the most excruciating pains all over the back and side of his +head, and it is scarcely surprising that at such moments the emperor +should act in a way which astonishes the uninitiated. Indeed, William +II. displays extraordinary force of character in suppressing physical +agony, when the duties he owes to the state force him to come forward +when unfit for anything else but the sick room. + +The truth of the matter is that there are but few who can boast of +knowing him well, and the masses as well as the classes both at home +and abroad seem to take a peculiarly keen delight in accepting for +gospel truth any sweeping statements made about him by the press of +all civilized countries. + +Although twenty-nine years of age when he ascended the throne on June +15, 1888, he may be said to have been at that time still but a raw +youth, continually kept in the background, and treated more or less +like a child, without any consequence or weight. It is, therefore, +not remarkable that the first years of his reign should have been +signalized by many errors of judgment; for it is not with impunity +that one suddenly releases a person, locked up for years in a dark +room and drives him into dazzlingly-lighted spaces without a guide, +a philosopher, or a friend by his side to lead him on the way. +The mental, as well as the physical optic has to gradually become +accustomed to so complete a change, and this fact was not sufficiently +taken into consideration by all the detractors of the young monarch, +when he, to speak very familiarly, leaped over the saddle in his +anxiety to secure for himself a firm seat on the throne of his +forefathers. + +It is well to mention also that Emperor Frederick III., who reigned +alas! but for a few weeks, was positively worshipped by the German +people, and not without cause, for he was undoubtedly one of the +finest personalities of this century. His appearance, his demeanor, +his unaffected dignity, kindness of heart, and loftiness of purpose +were difficult to surpass, and it was a bitter disappointment to his +subjects when death snatched him away before he had had time to carry +out the grand plans and ideas which he had long cherished and reserved +for the time when he would have the reins of government in his own +hands. + +Speaking with all kindness and good-will, one cannot but after +a fashion understand the disappointment of the Germans when this +towering military figure, this magnificent specimen of perfect +physical and mental manhood, vanished from their ken, to be replaced +by the slender, pale-faced, somewhat arrogant and despotic young man, +who resembled this father so little. + +Emperor William II. is an extremely intelligent personage, in spite +of all that may have been said to the contrary. He thinks for himself +when he has a mind to do so, and, what is more, thinks logically, and +is quite capable of following a thus logically-attained conclusion to +its furthermost point. He feels keenly his enormous responsibilities, +and the tremendous international importance of his position as the +ruler of over 50,000,000 people, for he well knows that any man +wearing on his head the double crown of King of Prussia, and of German +Emperor, is a being endowed with powers which are bound to compel +attention from every point of the European Continent. Being given, as +I have just remarked, that his health and his physique are neither of +them of a kind to aid him in the tremendous task which belongs to him +by right of birth, it is easily explainable that his self-assertive +ways and imperious manners should often be mistaken for posing and +posturing. Moreover, his imperfect left arm--a misfortune which has +been a source of great distress to him ever since his birth--is but +another one of those physical troubles which his pride makes him +anxious to conceal, this only adding to his stilted and repellent +attitude. In spite of all these drawbacks, the emperor fences +exceedingly well, rides with pluck, and even skill, managing to hold +his reins with his poor withered left hand when in uniform, in order +to keep his sword-arm free, and during his visit to Austrian Poland, +which I referred to at the beginning of this chapter, I more than once +saw him with my own eyes, whilst we were riding across country, take +obstacles which would have made a far older and more experienced +hunter pause and reflect on. + +Nobody, even the best-intentioned, can deny that Emperor William has +many faults; those are, however, either ignored altogether, or else +exaggerated to an extent that eclipses all his good qualities, by his +various biographers. Very few pen-portraits of royal personages that +pass through the hands of the publishers can be said to present a true +picture of their subject. Either the writer holds up the object of his +literary effort as a person so blameless as to suggest the idea that +he is an impossible prig, or else every piece of malevolent gossip is +construed into a positive fact, his shortcomings magnified until they +lose all touch of resemblance, while every word and action capable of +misrepresentation is construed in the manner most detrimental to his +reputation. In one word, he is either glorified as a preposterous +saint, or else held up to public execration as an equally impossible +villain. Now, in pictorial art, a portrait, in order to present a +satisfactory and successful resemblance to its subject, must contain +lights and shadows. You cannot have all light, or all shadow, but it +is necessary to have a judicious mixture of both. So it is with the +art of biography. If one wishes to give in print a true, and above +all, a human picture of one's subject, it is necessary to mingle the +shadows with the lights. In fact, the former may be said to set off +the latter, and there are many shortcomings, especially those +which the French, so graphically describe as _petits vices_,--small +vices--which, resulting from a generous and impulsive temperament, +serve, like the Rembrandt shadow of a portrait, to render the subject +more attractive to the eye. + +It is my object, not to give a definitive biography of either of the +two kaisers, or even a mere record of their _vie intime_, but rather +to present to my readers a series of incidents, full of lights and +full of shadows, showing their surroundings, describing as far as +possible the atmosphere in which they move, the conditions of life +which they are obliged to consider, the temptations to which they +are exposed--and to which they sometimes succumb--and when I have +completed my task I venture to believe that the readers of these +volumes, while they may find the two emperors neither quite so +blameless, nor yet quite so bad as they expected, may nevertheless +experience a greater degree of sympathy and regard for them as being +after all so extremely human. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +While Emperor Francis-Joseph is justly reputed to have played sad +havoc with the hearts of the fair sex in his dominions, especially in +his younger days, having inherited that frivolity with regard to women +which is a traditional characteristic of the illustrious House of +Hapsburg, he has never at any moment during his long reign permitted +his susceptibility to feminine charms to go to the length of +influencing his political conduct, or the action of his government. + +Emperor William, on the other hand, whose married life has been, from +a domestic point of view, singularly blameless, and who has been +an exceptionally faithful husband, has, in at least two instances, +permitted himself to be swayed in his rôle of sovereign by ladies, +who for a time figured as his "Egerias." One of them was a woman of +extraordinary cleverness, and an American by birth, who while she has +long since ceased to exercise any influence upon him, has retained the +affection and the regard of both his consort and himself. She is the +Countess Waldersee, daughter of the late David Lee, a wholesale +grocer of New York, and who at the time that she became the wife of +Field-marshal Count Waldersee, was the widow of the present German +empress's uncle, Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein. The latter +abandoned his royal rank and titles, and assumed the merely nobiliary +status of a Prince of Noer, in order to make her his consort. + +The countess is treated as an aunt by both William and the kaiserin, +and she may be said to have swayed her imperial nephew by her +cleverness and intellectual brilliancy, rather than by her looks, for +she is a woman already well-advanced in years. + +Different in this respect was the influence of the emperor's other +Egeria, namely, the Polish baroness, Jenny Koscielska, a woman of rare +elegance and beauty, whose political importance during the time +she reigned supreme at the Court of Berlin, was attributable to her +personal fascination rather than to her sagacity or statecraft. She +is the wife of that Baron Kosciol-Koscielski, who was one of the most +celebrated leaders of the Polish party in the Russian House of Lords, +and perhaps, also, the most popular of all modern Polish poets and +playwrights. + +It would be going too far to assert that William was infatuated by her +loveliness. Yet there Is no doubt that as long as she figured at the +Court of Berlin, he not only paid her the most marked attention, but +likewise allowed himself to be advised by her in political matters. +It was during the so-called "reign of the baroness" that the kaiser +showed such an extraordinary degree of favor to his Polish subjects as +to excite the jealousy and ill-will of the people in many other parts +of his dominions. He reestablished the Polish language in the schools +and churches of Posen, that is of Prussian-Poland, nominated a Polish +ecclesiastic to the archbishopric of that province, and conferred so +many court dignities, government offices, and decorations upon the +compatriots of the fair Jenny, as to give rise to the remark that the +best road to imperial preferment at Berlin was to add the Polish and +feminine termination of "ska" to one's name. Old Prince Bismarck, who +was at the time at daggers-drawn with his young sovereign, at length +gave public utterance to the popular ill-will, excited by the rôle +of Egeria, which the baroness was accused of playing to the "Numa +Pompilius" of Emperor William. For, in the course of an address +delivered by the old ex-chancellor at Friedrichsrüh, and reproduced in +extenso in the press, he declared among other things that: "The Polish +influence in political affairs increases always in the measure that +some Polish family obtains of more or less influence at Court. I need +not allude here to the rôle formerly played by the princely house of +Radziwill. To-day we have exactly the same state of affairs, which +is to be deplored!" Bismarck's allusion to the Radziwills was an +ungenerous reference to the romantic attachment of old Emperor William +for that Princess Elize Radziwill, whom he was so determined to marry +that he offered his father to abandon his rights of succession to the +throne on her account. This King Frederick-William would not permit, +and William was compelled to wed Goethe's pupil, Princess Augusta +of Saxe-Weimar. A loveless match in every sense of the word, for he +remained until the day of Princess Elize's death her most devoted +friend and admirer, seeking her advice in many a difficulty, to the +great annoyance of Prince Bismarck, who detested her, and after her +death the old emperor continued to show the utmost favor and good-will +to the members of her family in honor of her memory. Of course this +speech of Prince Bismarck created no end of a sensation throughout the +empire, as well as abroad, the press being encouraged thereby to +print in cold type what had until that time been merely whispered +in official and court circles. It is possible that the young emperor +might have remained indifferent to popular clamor about the matter, +had not two other incidents occurred about the same time to cool his +liking for the fair Jenny. + +In the first place, she felt herself so much encouraged by the +influence which she believed that she exercised over the emperor, that +when during the annual army manoeuvres Field Marshal Prince George of +Saxony, and other Prussian and foreign royalties were quartered under +her roof, she absolutely declined to hoist either the German flag, or +the Royal Saxon standard, but insisted upon flying the national +colors of Poland from the flag staff that surmounted the turret of +her château. Naturally, Prince George and his fellow royal guests +complained of this breach of etiquette to the kaiser, and protested +strongly against it. + +Almost at the same time, her husband, the baron, having been invited +to attend the opening of a provincial exhibition in the neighboring +Empire of Austria, was so carried away by enthusiasm, due to the +kindness with which the Poles present were treated by Emperor +Francis-Joseph, that forgetting all he owed to Emperor William, +he publicly hailed Francis-Joseph as "sole sovereign of all Polish +hearts," and as "Poland's future king!" About this time too, the +empress paid a couple of rather mysterious visits to her mother-in-law +at Friedrichkron. Court gossip ascribed these hurried trips to +the fact that the empress had been prompted by her jealousy of the +baroness to invoke the intervention of the strong-minded widow of +Frederick the Noble. But it is far more likely that the empress +visited the Dowager Kaiserin in order that she should call the +attention of her son to the harm which the association of the name of +the baroness with his own was doing him in a political sense both at +home and abroad. + +Whatever the cause of these consultations between the two +empresses may have been, the fact remains that almost immediately +afterwards Baron and Baroness Koscielski received from the +Grand-Master-of-the-Court, Count Eulenburg, an official intimation +that their presence at court was not desired in highest quarters until +further notice, and that under the circumstances they would do well +to remain at their country seat. In fact they were virtually banished, +and when both husband and wife travelled all the way to Berlin with +the object of asking for an explanation from the emperor, he declined +to receive either the one or the other. He had apparently come to the +conclusion that the game was not worth the candle, and that in view +of the fact that his intimacy with the baroness had never gone beyond +platonic friendship and mild flirtation, it was ridiculous to incur +the ill-will of his subjects and expose himself to slanderous stories +concocted by his enemies on her account. + +The influence of the American born Countess Waldersee was of a far +more lasting character, and may be said to have been inaugurated +very shortly after his marriage. Prior to becoming a benedict, Prince +William was as gay as his very limited financial means would permit. +In fact, he was charged with playing the rôle of Don Juan to at least +half a dozen beauties of the Prussian Court, while at Vienna he became +involved in a scandal of a feminine character, from which he was only +extricated with the utmost difficulty by the then German Ambassador to +the Austrian Court, namely, Prince Reuss. The presumption is that he +had allowed himself to become the prey of an adventuress, and with the +object of avoiding publicity he was practically compelled to provide +for the welfare and future of a child which may or may not have been +his offspring. But as soon as he married, he turned over a new leaf, +and became the very model of husbands. + +It has always been my conviction that this was due in part to the +influence of the Countess Waldersee, and largely also to the unkindly +treatment which his consort received during the early years of +her marriage at the hands of his family. Although a nice and +gentle-looking girl, Augusta-Victoria was far from shining either by +her beauty or her elegance at a court which is one of the most cruelly +critical and satirical in all Europe. Moreover, she labored under the +disadvantage of being the daughter of the Duchess of Augustenburg, who +is not credited with a robust intellect, and, in fact has passed +the greater part of her life in retirement, and of the Duke of +Augustenburg, who was famed thirty years ago for the dullness of his +mind. In fact, after Prussia had undertaken in his behalf the conquest +of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, to which he was entitled by right +of inheritance, and which had been unlawfully seized by Denmark, +Prince Bismarck refused to permit the duke to assume the sovereignty +thereof, on the publicly expressed ground that it would be an act of +the most outrageous tyranny to subject any state to the rule of so +intensely stupid a man as the duke. + +This utterance on the part of Bismarck, which may be found in most +of the German histories printed prior to the accession of the present +Emperor, was naturally recalled to mind at the Court of Berlin, when +the daughter of the duke became the bride of Prince William, and the +widespread belief in her inherited dullness of intellect was further +increased by the mingled impatience and pity which characterized the +behavior of her husband's mother and sisters towards her. + +There is much that is chivalrous in the nature of the present German +emperor, and it was precisely the unkindness and slights to which his +bride was subjected that had the effect of drawing him more closely +to her. He did not conceal the fact that he strongly resented the +attitude of his family towards her, and his friendship with Countess +Waldersee owes its origin to the motherly way in which she behaved +to his wife, acting as her mentor, as her adviser and guide in the +intricate maze of Berlin society, and of court life. Debarred from all +intimacy with her sisters-in-law, who were ever ready to scoff at, and +to make fun of her, Augusta-Victoria was wont to have recourse to +the countess in all her difficulties, and inasmuch as Count Waldersee +himself is the most brilliant soldier of the German army, and was +designated at the time by the great Moltke as his successor and his +principal lieutenant, Prince William and his wife ended by becoming +very intimate indeed with the Waldersees, and almost daily visitors at +their house. + +The countess is of a deeply religious turn of mind, with a strong +disposition towards evangelism, and already before the marriage +of Prince William, she had become conspicuous as one of the most +influential leaders of the anti-Semite party in Prussia. It was in her +salons at Berlin that the great Jew-baiter Stoecker was wont to hold +his politico-religious meetings, denouncing the Jews, and it was +through her influence, too, that he obtained appointment as court +chaplain, in spite of the opposition of the father and the mother of +Prince William. It was also under the roof of the Countess Waldersee +that the present emperor became imbued with that very religious,--one +might almost say pietist--disposition, which has since been so marked +a feature of his character. + +True, the hereditary tendency of the sovereign house of Prussia is +distinctly religious, leaning in fact towards fanaticism, and King +Frederick-William III., his son Frederick-William IV., and likewise +old Emperor William, entertained the most extraordinary ideas on the +subject of Providence, with which they believed themselves to be in +constant communion, as well as its principal agent here on earth. +In fact, there is hardly a public utterance of any of these three +sovereigns, which is not marked throughout by a deep religious tone, +and by a degree of familiarity with the Almighty which would be +blasphemous were it not so manifestly sincere. This hereditary +tendency towards religion was, to a certain extent, obliterated by the +education which William received, and which was of a nature to dispose +him to be both a materialist and a free-thinker. He may be said +in fact to have been brought up in an atmosphere of Renan-ism and +Strauss-ism, for which his extraordinary and mercilessly clever +mother, Empress Frederick, was largely responsible, and at the moment +of his marriage it looked as if he were destined to figure in history +as quite as much of a philosopher, and even atheist, as Frederick the +Great, for whom he professed the most profound veneration. + +It was Countess Waldersee who revived all the inherited and latent +religious tendencies of his character. + +Up to the time when he ascended the throne, Prince William and his +consort were constant and devout attendants at the prayer-meetings +held in the salons of the countess, and if he remains to this day +a remarkably religious man, with a sufficient regard for scriptural +commands to have shown himself a more faithful husband than any other +prince of his house, either living or dead--if, to-day, piety is +fashionable at the court of Berlin instead of being bad form, if the +building or endowment of a church, or of a charitable institution, +is regarded as the surest road to imperial favor, it is due to the +influence of William's American aunt, the daughter of that New +York grocer, the first Princess Noer, and who is to-day Countess of +Waldersee. + +It is natural that the influence exercised over William and his +wife by the countess should have given rise to the utmost jealousy, +especially on the part of his mother, Empress Frederick, and during +the hundred days' reign of her lamented husband, she availed herself +of her brief spell of power to secure the virtual banishment of the +count and the countess from Berlin, by causing the field marshal to +be transferred from the chieftaincy of the headquarter staff to +the command of the army stationed in Altona. Moreover, she did not +hesitate to denounce the influence of the Waldersees as disastrous, +as illiberal, and in every sense of the word reactionary, and if her +husband, Emperor Frederick, was led to share her views concerning +them, it was because of his disapproval of the movement against the +Jews in which the countess had figured so conspicuously. It is a +peculiar fact that although Emperor William has always remained on +the most affectionate terms with the Waldersees, and never loses any +opportunity of manifesting the warmth of his affection for them, +he has never repealed the decree of banishment to which they were +virtually subjected during his father's reign. He has transferred the +field marshal from one post to another, but he has never appointed +him to one which would admit of his coming back to live in Berlin. I +cannot help thinking that the emperor resented the imputation that he +was subject to the sway of his wife's aunt, and was offended by the +articles which appeared at one moment both in the German and foreign +press intimating that she was the power behind the throne. He is +sufficiently jealous of his dignity to object to be considered as +subject to the influence of anyone, be it man or woman, and one of +the chief causes of the dismissal of old Prince Bismarck was precisely +because so long as he remained in office there was a disposition to +regard the kaiser as a mere puppet in the hands of the old statesman. + +It is this aversion to being considered as swayed by any other +influence than his own that has led the emperor on so many occasions +to adopt a course diametrically opposed to that urged upon him by his +clever and masterful mother, a woman with the most powerful intellect +and the least tact to be found in all Old World royalties. It was +this, too, that led the emperor to banish, just a trifle unjustly, +the pretty and dashing Countess Hohenau from his court. She had been +guilty of no indiscretion with regard to him. She had done nothing +wrong, and she was not only a brilliant ornament of the imperial +_entourage_, but likewise a relative of the family. But he banished +both her husband and herself almost at a moment's notice, owing to +the fact that in the anonymous letters circulated at the time of the +so-called Kotze scandal, he was mentioned as altogether infatuated and +subjugated by her beauty. + +Count Hohenau is the half-brother of that Prince Albert of Prussia, +who is now Regent of the Grand Duchy of Brunswick. Old Prince Albert +of Prussia, his father, was married to the eccentric and half-crazy +Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. Not long after the birth of +the present Prince Albert, she lost her heart to such an extent to a +chamberlain in her household that her husband was compelled to divorce +her, whereupon she contracted a morganatic marriage with the gentleman +in question, and lived and died at an advanced age only about twelve +years ago. + +Prince Albert, the elder, thereupon married morganatically a young +girl of noble birth of the name of Baroness Rauch, whose family had +for more than one hundred and fifty years occupied leading positions +at the Court of Berlin. On the occasion of her marriage to the prince, +she received from the Prussian Crown the title of Countess of Hohenau, +and the children whom she bore to Prince Albert the elder are now +known as Counts and Countesses of Hohenau. The elder of these Counts +Hohenau bears the name of Fritz, and his wife, before their banishment +from the capital, was one of the most dashing and brilliant figures +in the ultra-aristocratic society of Berlin. No entertainment was +regarded as complete without her presence, and in every social +enterprise, no matter whether it was a flower corso, a charity fair, +a hunt, a picnic, or amateur theatricals, she was always to the +fore, besides being the leader in every new fashion, and in every new +extravagance. Although eccentric--she was the first member of her sex +to show herself astride on horseback in the Thiergarten--and in spite +of her being famed as a thorough-paced coquette, and as a flirt, +yet no one ventured to impugn her good name, until the disgraceful +anonymous letter scandal; and both her husband and herself naturally +resent most keenly that without any hearing or explanation they should +have been banished from the court, and sent to live, first at Hanover, +then at Dresden, but always away from Berlin and Potsdam, solely on +account of an anonymous letter. + +The sympathy of society in the affair was all with the Hohenaus, who +although absent from Berlin, may be said to have taken the leading +part in that great controversy which is known to this day as "the +anonymous letter scandal," and which not only divided all Berlin +society into separate hostile camps, but led to innumerable duels, +some of them with fatal results; to the imprisonment of some great +personages; to the ruin of others, and in one word to one of the +most talked of court scandals of the present century. In fact, the +anonymous letter affair, many of the features of which remain shrouded +in mystery to this day, played so important a part in the history of +the Court of Berlin during the first decade of the present emperor's +reign, that it deserves a chapter to itself. + +What, however, I wish specially to impress upon my readers is that in +spite of the many scurrilous stories that have been circulated on both +sides of the ocean concerning the alleged intrigues of Emperor William +with the fair sex, since his marriage, nearly eighteen years ago, his +wedded life has been singularly free from storms, and exceptionally +happy. In fact, there are few more thoroughly-devoted couples than +William and Augusta-Victoria, who is to-day far more comely as a woman +than she was as a young girl. So domestic, indeed, are the tastes of +the kaiser, so excellent is he both as a husband and a father, that +his home life may be said to atone for many of his political errors +and shortcomings as a monarch. His loyalty towards his consort is all +the more to his credit, as the Anointed of the Lord in the Old World +are exposed to feminine temptations in a degree of which no conception +can be formed in this country. In most of the capitals of Europe it +is in the power of the sovereign to make or mar the social position +of any man, and of any woman. Social ambitions coupled with an +exaggerated degree of loyalty will lead many a beautiful woman +to cross that border line which separates mere indiscretion from +something worse, all the more that the reputation of being the fair +favorite of a monarch, and able to influence his conduct, is regarded +as a title to prestige, and has the effect of converting the fair one +into one of the acknowledged powers of the land. + +For an ambitious woman it is something to be treated by statesmen and +the representatives of foreign governments, as the power behind the +throne, and provided this power is wisely exercised, the intimacy of +the lady with the monarch is regarded by high and low with something +more than mere indulgence. + +History has given so lofty a pedestal to Madame de Maintenon, that +there are many women who are eager to emulate her rôle in present +times, and to likewise figure in history. That is why royal +personages, and especially kings and emperors, are exposed to such +extraordinary temptations. + +Most women put forth all their charms and powers of fascination +to captivate the attention, and, if possible, the heart of their +sovereign, who is, after all, but human. That is why Emperor William +deserves so much credit for having remained true to his wife, and +why Emperor Francis-Joseph of Austria merits so much indulgence in +connection with the indiscretions which had the effect of keeping him +for so many years parted and estranged from his lovely consort, the +late Empress Elizabeth. + +While on this subject, it should be stated that for many years past, +probably for the last decade, the life of Francis-Joseph has been free +from affairs of this kind, for it is hardly possible to treat in the +light of a scandal his association with that now elderly actress, +Mlle. Schratt, since it is virtually tolerated, accepted and, so to +speak, recognized both by the imperial family and by the Austrian +people. Indeed the only persons who have ever taken exception to +this intimacy have been Herr Schoenerer, and some of his anti-Semite +colleagues who, to the indignation of every one, gave vent three +years ago to their spite against their kindly old sovereign by calling +attention in the Reichsrath to the alleged questionable relations +between the sovereign and the popular and veteran star-actress of the +Burg Theatre. + +Herr Schoenerer, who was formerly a baron, but who was deprived of +his title by the emperor at the time when he was sentenced to a +year's imprisonment for a violent and unprovoked assault upon a Jewish +newspaper proprietor, declared in the legislature, to which he had +been elected on emerging from jail, that public opinion was becoming +outraged by the impropriety of the conduct of the emperor. The scene +which ensued defied description. Schoenerer was suspended, and had not +steps been taken to assure his protection, would have been subjected +to very violent treatment by the vast majority of the house, which +is intensely loyal to the emperor, and the members of which resented +criticism of his majesty's twenty years' friendship with old Frau +Schratt Even the late empress herself did not regard as serious or +dangerous her husband's association with the actress. This is shown by +the fact that on two separate occasions she honored Frau Schratt with +a visit at the actress's villa near Ischl. At the Austrian Court it +is generally understood that whatever may have been the nature of the +intimacy of the monarch and the actress in the past, it is now nothing +more than a platonic affection between two old friends, the emperor +being accustomed to spend half an hour or so with this witty and +amiable lady nearly every day. The actress is a great favorite with +the people at large, on account of her devotion to the emperor, and +for her tact in declining to take any undue advantage of the favor +which he accords to her. Indeed, the degree of indulgence with which +Austrian society, as well as the masses, look upon this intimacy maybe +gathered from the fact that one of the most--popular photographs on +exhibition in the windows of the leading picture-shops at Vienna, and +at Pesth, is a snapshot, showing the kindly-faced old emperor and +the sunny-tempered old actress seated in the most domestic fashion +opposite one another at a breakfast table with the actress's pet dog +on a chair midway between stage and throne. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +It was on the evening of June 7th, 1894, that a carriage, the servants +of which wore court liveries, drew up at the entrance of that old +building on the avenue known as "Unter Den Linden," which serves as +a military prison of the Berlin garrison. From this equipage alighted +two men, each of them a well-known figure in the great world of the +Prussian metropolis. The one in uniform was General Count von Hahnke, +chief of the military household of the emperor, while the other, who +was in civilian attire, was Baron von Kotze, master of ceremonies at +the court of Berlin, one of the most well-to-do and jovial of _bons +vivants_, and who up to that time had stood so high in the favor of +the reigning family that his sovereign was accustomed to address him +by his Christian name, and by the so familiar equivalent pronoun in +German of "thou." + +Shortly afterwards General von Hahnke reappeared alone, entered the +carriage hurriedly, and drove back to the palace. On the following +morning it became known that Baron von Kotze had been suddenly +arrested, and lodged in the military prison by personal order of the +kaiser, and without the warrant of any tribunal or magistrate, either +military or civil. + +While the general public was speculating as to the cause of this +mysterious and startling disciplinary measure against a nobleman so +well known and so prominent in every way as Baron von Kotze, the court +gossips were rubbing their hands, chuckling with satisfaction, and +congratulating themselves on the fact that success had at length +crowned the efforts made to bring to book the author of the hundreds +of anonymous letters that had been circulated in the great world of +Berlin during the two preceding years. + +Gradually the circumstances which had led to the arrest of Baron Kotze +became public property, and people both at home and abroad were made +aware for the first time of the existence of a scandal which for over +four-and-twenty months had set court and society by the ears, and +which had caused every man and woman to regard with suspicion not +merely their acquaintances, but even their most intimate friends and +nearest relatives. No one, with the exception of the emperor, the +empress, and the widow of Emperor Frederick, can be said to have been +altogether exempt from this reflection on their honor. For among those +who were at one time most strongly suspected of being the author +of these letters were the eldest sister of the kaiser, Princess +Charlotte, and the only brother of the empress, Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein. + +Color was given to these suspicions by the fact that many of the +anonymous letters contained remarks and information that manifestly +emanated from the imperial family, while some of the views expressed +in the letters were known not merely to have been shared, but even +to have been uttered in conversation by the prince and princess in +question. What gave still further weight to these suppositions was the +extraordinary fact that incidents which had occurred within what may +be described as the most intimate circle of the court,--incidents, +indeed, of which no one could be aware, save royal personages +themselves and those few chosen friends and associates who were +with them at the time when the incidents in question occurred,--were +revealed a few days later in the anonymous letters, twisted and +distorted in such a manner as to admit only of the most shameful +interpretation. + +Added to this was the knowledge that there are few women at the Court +of Berlin more cruelly satirical or have a keener sense of ridicule +than Princess Charlotte, or any more inveterate gossip than Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein. + +The anonymous letters had literally spared no one, not even that most +blameless and excellent of women, the Empress Augusta-Victoria; nor +was there anybody of mark who had not received at least several of +them. But for some reason or other which was not understood at the +time, they seemed to be imbued with an especially relentless and +savage animosity against the charming Countess "Fritz" von Hohenau, +who must not be confounded with her less attractive sister-in-law, +Countess "Willy" von Hohenau; for whereas the latter is by birth a +princess of Hohenlohe and a niece of the imperial chancellor of +that ilk, Countess Fritz is by birth a Countess von der Decken, and +rejoices in the Christian name of Charlotte. + +If Countess Fritz has one weakness which in any degree lends itself to +unfriendly criticism and ridicule it is the pride which she manifests +in her relationship through marriage to the reigning house of Prussia, +and in her being the sister-in-law of that Prince Albert of Prussia, +who is regent of the Duchy of Brunswick, her husband, Count Fritz von +Hohenau, being a half-brother to Prince Albert. It is owing to +this very innocent weakness of the countess that she was nicknamed +"_Lottchen von Preussen_," or "_Die Preussiche Lotte_" that is to say +"_Lotte of Prussia_" and at least a third of the hundreds of anonymous +letters confided to the mails during the period extending between 1892 +and 1896 were filled with the most scurrilous remarks concerning the +unfortunate "_Lottchen von Preussen_." + +The letters imputed to the countess almost every crime under the sun. +Inasmuch as her husband's principal friend was Baron Schrader, who +was of course frequently seen in her company at the races and at the +opera, it naturally followed that she was charged with an altogether +questionable intimacy with him. In fact, she was accused of sharing +her favors between him and the emperor, and in the letters that +reached both the kaiser and his consort, it was asserted that she was, +moreover, in the habit of constantly boasting among her friends about +the influence which as "_Sultana"_ she was able to exercise over the +ruler of the German Empire. + +It was on the receipt of one of these letters that the emperor without +a moment's warning abruptly ordered Count and Countess Fritz Hohenau +to leave Berlin and to transfer their residence to Hanover. The count +and countess were not long in discovering the cause of their disgrace, +and bitterly incensed, at once resolved to leave no stone unturned in +their efforts to discover the culprit. + +In this determination they were supported by the "Willy" von Hohenaus, +by the various members of the Hohenlohe family, by Baron Schrader, +Baron Hugo Reischach, chamberlain to the Empress Frederick, Prince and +Princess Aribert of Anhalt, the latter being a granddaughter of Queen +Victoria, Prince and Princess Albert of Saxe-Altenburg, and last, but +not least, Baron von Tausch, the chief of the secret police attached +to the particular service of the emperor. + +I have already mentioned that suspicions had at first been +directed against the empress's only brother, Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein. Somehow or other, probably through reading the +detective novels of Gaboriau, Baron Schrader became imbued with the +idea that the most successful manner of discovering the identity of +the suspected writer of the anonymous letters would be to carefully +examine the blotting-pads which either he or she were in the habit of +using. Accordingly, Countess Fritz von Hohenau took advantage of the +admiration and devotion entertained for her by Count Augustus Bismarck +to induce him to bring to her the blotting-pad habitually used by the +duke, to whose household he belonged, as chief aid-de-camp. The count, +very reluctantly, it is true, brought to Madame von Hohenau, the said +blotting-pad, and it was immediately submitted to a most careful and +even microscopical examination by her husband, herself, and their +friends. But in spite of every effort it was impossible to discover +the slightest analogy between the writing of the anonymous letters and +the impressions left on the blotting-pad of the duke. The countess and +her assistants in this queer task, therefore, came to the conclusion +that they would have to search in a different direction. + +It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty how suspicion was +then directed towards Baron Kotze. But I am under the impression that +his name was first mentioned in connection with the affair by Baron +Schrader, who like himself was a Master of Ceremonies of the Court +of Berlin. The vast wealth enjoyed by the Kotzes, as well as the +extraordinary favor manifested towards them by the emperor and the +members of the reigning family, had not unnaturally rendered them +objects of no little jealousy on the part of other personages +belonging to the court circle. The exceedingly sarcastic and +malevolent tongue of the Baroness Kotze, and the somewhat coarse +flavor of the ever-ready jest and quip of her jovial, loud-voiced, +hail-fellow-well-met mannered husband did not tend to render the +couple very popular. + +Baron Kotze's mother had been an heiress in her own right as the +daughter of the court banker, Krause, while the baron's wife is the +daughter of that extraordinary old General von Treskow, who for so +long commanded the division of Guards, and whose reputation as one of +the bravest and most dashing officers of the war of 1870, alone saved +him from the ridicule which his corseted waist, his painted cheeks, +his dyed moustache, and his youthful wig, would otherwise have +excited. While he himself has no drop of Jewish blood in his veins, +both his daughter, Madame Kotze, and her brother possess the facial +features of the Semitic race in a most marked degree, and despite +their protestations to the contrary, have undoubtedly Hebrew +ancestors, if not on the father's side, at any rate on that of the +mother. Old General Treskow was very rich indeed, his country seat at +Friedrichsfeld being one of the most magnificent country seats in the +neighborhood of Berlin. + +During the early years of the reign of Emperor William, his eldest +sister, Princess Charlotte, and her husband, Prince Bernhardt of +Saxe-Meiningen, occupied a lovely little palace, or rather, I should +say large and roomy villa on the outskirts of the Thiergarten, at +Berlin. Among their near neighbors were Baron and Baroness Kotze. +Little Ursula Kotze, the daughter of the baroness, was precisely of +the same age as Princess Fedora of Saxe-Meiningen, the only child of +Princess Charlotte, and the two young girls soon became inseparable +friends. The relations thus established soon extended to the parents, +and while Princess Charlotte,--herself disposed to satirizing and +ridiculing everybody, and like many royal personages, passionately +fond of gossip, especially when spiced with scandal,--found +never-ceasing entertainment in the witty comments of the baroness +about the social events of the day, and in her reports of the latest +stories current concerning mutual acquaintances and friends, Prince +Bernhardt, in spite of his seriousness, and his fond predilection +for Hellenic research, could not help laughing and enjoying the merry +sallies of Baron Kotze. In fact, the Kotzes ended by becoming the most +intimate friends of the princely Saxe-Meiningen couple, whose taste +for their society was eventually shared by the Empress Frederick to +a degree that excited the utmost jealousy and ill-will of her +chamberlain, Baron Reischach. The latter was, therefore, only too +ready to accept the view expressed by his friend. Baron Schrader, to +the effect that Baron Kotze was the author of the anonymous letters. + +I think that it was in the latter part of 1892 that the Prince and +Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, having made up their minds to visit Greece +and the Holy Land, invited Baron and Baroness Kotze to accompany +them. Some quarrel, however, took place between the princess and the +baroness during this trip, which they did not complete together, and +when they took up their residence once more at Berlin the formerly so +intimate relations between the two families ceased absolutely. It was +about this time that it became known that Princess Charlotte either +during her trip to the Orient, or just before she started, had in some +unexplainable manner lost the diary in which she had, like so many +members of the fair sex, been accustomed to describe her daily +impressions, and to the pages of which she was wont to impart +sentiments and opinions that she did not venture to confide to anybody +else. + +For a considerable time after the return of the princess from the +Orient the anonymous letters contained phrases and peculiarities of +expression that clearly indicated Princess Charlotte, and to such an +extent was this the case that those in pursuit of the sender of the +missives would have ascribed their authorship to the princess, had it +not been that she herself was referred to in many of the letters in +a particularly savage and scurrilous manner. Baron Schrader, the +Hohenaus and their friends, being aware of the existence of the +quarrel between the Kotzes and the Saxe-Meiningens, naturally became +more convinced than ever that it was either Baron Kotze, or his +"viper-tongued" wife, as they described her, who were the culprits, +and insisted that it was the baroness who had taken advantage of her +intimacy with the princess to get possession of her royal highness's +diary, the contents of which were now being used in so many of the +letters. + +What has now become of the diary it is impossible to say, but +judging by the excerpts used in the anonymous letters, it must have +constituted a particularly piquant volume or series of volumes! +Thus there was one remark about the emperor which ridiculed "his +intolerable swagger." There were also some comical references to +Princess Victoria of Prussia, who was jilted by the late Prince +Alexander of Battenberg, on the very eve of the day appointed for the +wedding, and that for the sake of a little actress. This princess +has since then married Prince Adolph of Schaumburg, who was recently +ousted from the regency of the tiny principality of Lippe. "_Poor +Vicky_" was described as being "_many-sided_" owing to the number of +her _affaires de coeur_, notably those with Baron Hugo von Reischach, +at that time a very handsome lieutenant of the "Garde-du-Corps," +but who afterward became gentleman-in-waiting to the widowed Empress +Frederick, and married one of the princesses of Hohenlohe. This +flirtation between Baron Reischach and Princess Victoria formed +the theme of quite a number of the anonymous letters, in which +the princess was charged with every kind of indelicacy, while the +unfortunate baron was ridiculed in connection with the modernity +of his nobility. Other love affairs of "_poor Vicky_" were likewise +discussed in no friendly manner, and she was represented as being to +such a degree infatuated for Count Andrassy, the eldest son of the +famous Austro-Hungarian statesman, that the young fellow, it +is declared, was forced to resign his secretaryship to the +Austro-Hungarian Embassy, at Berlin, and to flee from the Prussian +Court, in order to escape from the demonstrative attentions of the +princess: "If it is like this now," said one of the letters, "what in +Heaven's name will it be when '_Vicky_' marries!" + +There were, moreover, all sorts of matters relating to the _vie +intime_ of the imperial family discussed in these anonymous +communications, such as bickerings between the emperor and his mother, +quarrels with his English relatives, flirtations of the younger +princesses, etc., which no one could possibly have known about, save +members of the imperial family, and which were just the sort of thing +that Princess Charlotte would have written in her diary, in her witty +and sarcastic manner. + +In fact there was so much of the phraseology and style habitual to +Princess Charlotte in the letters, that they would inevitably have +been, as I remarked above, positively ascribed to her had it not been +for the grossly improper and even disgusting twist and construction +that was invariably added to her well-known manner of writing. +Although a terrible flirt as well as a daring coquette, the princess +has never been charged with anything more serious than trivial +_affaires de coeur_, excepting by the writer of the anonymous letters. + +Then too, as I have also already stated many of these letters assailed +the princess herself, in the most unscrupulous fashion; an abominable +and impossible story, picked up from the filthiest of Berlin gutters, +impugning the legitimacy of the only child of the princess, being thus +circulated far and wide. This vile fabrication alleged that Charlotte +had been married off in a hurry to Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, +in order to avoid a public scandal. It is only necessary to recall the +fact that the sole child of Princess Charlotte, Princess Fedora, now +married to Prince Henry of Reuss, was born twelve months after her +mother's marriage, in order to show how utterly without foundation was +this shameful slander. At least a dozen anonymous letters sent to the +emperor and to various other personages dealt with an episode said to +have taken place during a trip undertaken by the princess in Norway +and Sweden. She was attended on that occasion by a Captain von Berger, +and his wife, who were her gentleman and lady-in-waiting, and there +was also in her suite a diminutive officer holding the rank of +lieutenant, and bearing the old Silesian name of Count Schack, who +acted as aid-de-camp. + +According to the anonymous letters, Princess Charlotte made a kind +of toy of the little officer, and behaved in a most volatile manner. +There was evidence of such intense malignity in these letters against +Princess Charlotte that they were attributed to a jealous woman, +and that if not actually written by one, they had at any rate been +inspired by a member of the fair sex. + +There can be no doubt that Princess Charlotte and her husband ended by +sharing the opinion entertained by the Schrader-Hohenau clique, about +the letters being inspired by Baroness Kotze, and written by her +husband, and it must be confessed that there was a certain amount of +ground for their doing so. The blotting pads used by Baron Kotze, +both at the Union Club and elsewhere, were subjected to much the +same microscopic examination as those of Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein, and when at length a distinct degree of similarity +was discovered to exist between the caligraphy of the anonymous +letter writer and the impressions which figured on the blotting pads +habitually used by Baron Kotze, Baron Schrader drew up a report on the +subject, charging Baron Kotze with being the author of the letters, +and presented it to the emperor. The latter hesitated a little before +taking any action in the matter, and would doubtless have yielded +to the advice of the minister of the imperial household, Prince +Stolberg-Wernigrode, who urged him to institute a very careful secret +investigation of his own before rushing the _denouement_, cautioning +him that Baron Schrader's evidence was inadequate, had it not been for +the pressure brought to bear upon his majesty by the Saxe-Meiningens +and other members of his family, who were all convinced that Baron +Kotze was the guilty party. + +It was due entirely to this pressure that the kaiser, incensed beyond +measure at the persistency and the malignity of these letters, took +the extraordinary step of having Baron von Kotze arrested by the chief +of his military household, General von Hahnke merely on the strength +of his imperial order, dispensing with any legal warrant. That Count +Hahnke should have been selected for this duty, and that a military +prison, rather than the ordinary house of detention, should have been +chosen for the incarceration of Baron Kotze, must be ascribed to +the fact that the latter was at the time a captain of cavalry on the +reserve lists, and that in a military prison the authority of the +emperor, as head of the army, is supreme and absolute, which cannot be +said of the ordinary civil prisons, the officers of which are subject +above everything else to the tribunals and to the laws of the land. + +Of course, from the very moment when the baron was arrested, the +entire scandal, that is to say the existence of a conspiracy for the +writing and distribution of anonymous letters, became public, and +served to furnish material for articles both in the German and the +foreign press on the alleged moral rottenness of the Court of Berlin. +At first there is no doubt that society, and even the ordinary public, +accepted the guilt of Baron Kotze as assured, and were further led +to believe the story about the baroness having been the instigator of +many of the letters, by her at once withdrawing to her country-seat at +Friedrichsfeld, and refusing to receive anyone. + +Doubts as to the baron's guilt, however, commenced to arise when it +was found that in spite of his incarceration, the anonymous letters +continued to be sent as before, without any interruption, while all +efforts to bring home the guilt to the baron completely failed in +every sense of the word. Not only did the famous expert in caligraphy, +Langenbuch, declare that the handwriting of the letters had nothing +whatsoever in common with that of Baron Kotze, but that those written +during his incarceration were exactly similar to the others. The +emperor himself received anonymous letters, describing him to be a +fool for having unjustly imprisoned an altogether innocent man, and +recommending him to look after his brother-in-law, Duke Ernest-Gunther +of Schleswig-Holstein. + +At the end of a fortnight, therefore, the military governor of Berlin, +old Field Marshal Count Pape, declared to his majesty that he would +do well to immediately set Baron Kotze at liberty, since there was +no adequate ground for keeping him under arrest. The field marshal, +however, suggested that in view of the seriousness of the charge that +had been made against the baron, the only thing to do would be to +hold a court-martial, permitting the baron meanwhile to reside "_on +parole_" at Friedrichsfeld. The whole matter was thereupon turned over +to General Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern, brother of the King +of Roumania, commanding the metropolitan division of troops, to the +reserve force of which Baron Kotze belonged. + +Nine months after his arrest. Baron Kotze appeared before a +court-martial, composed of a colonel, who acted as president, and +eight other officers, and after a lengthy trial, during the course of +which Baron Schrader acted not merely as witness against Kotze, +but likewise as prosecutor, endeavoring to show analogy between the +writing of the anonymous letters, and the caligraphy, not merely of +Baron Kotze, but also of the baroness, the court-martial acquitted +the prisoner, and the emperor not only signified his approval of the +verdict, but a week later took the occasion of the Easter festivities +to send to his former favorite Kotze, a huge floral piece in the shape +of an Easter egg, bound with ribbons in the national colors. + +William, however, refrained from intimating to Kotze his desire that +he should resume his service at court as master of ceremonies, and +this taken in conjunction with the fact that the procedure of the +court-martial remained a secret, left a painful degree of suspicion +resting upon the character of the unfortunate Baron Kotze. It is +perfectly true that many of those members of the court, and of +society, who had been most bitter in their denunciation of him, +left cards at his residence, but the Hohenau clique still remained +obdurate, and in spite of every possible intervention, persisted +in regarding Baron Kotze as having been unable to clear himself +completely. His most obdurate detractor remained Baron Schrader. + +Kotze learning the part which Schrader had played in the entire +affair, after having consulted with his friends, came to the +conclusion that the injury done to him by his fellow master of +ceremonies, was far too great to admit of its being expiated, or +atoned for by a mere exchange of bullets on the duelling field, and +he accordingly instituted criminal proceedings against him. The +preliminaries to this sort of thing are exceedingly intricate and +tedious in Germany, and the legal authorities having received the +impression in one way or another that the public trial in connection +with the scandal would be viewed with displeasure in high quarters, +naturally placed every obstacle in Baron Kotze's way. Of course, +having instituted legal proceedings against Schrader, he was +debarred by the so-called code of honor from challenging Schrader, a +circumstance of which the latter took advantage to insinuate that if +Kotze had refrained from calling him to account on the field of honor, +it was because he did not feel sufficiently sure of his ground. + +This insinuation was taken up by Kotze's cousin, Captain Dietrich +Kotze, who challenged Schrader and fought a duel with him, slightly +wounding him. Kotze himself meanwhile challenged, and fought a duel +with another of his persecutors, Baron Hugo Reischach, the chamberlain +of Empress Frederick, and received a rather severe wound, which kept +him in bed for several weeks. + +As legal proceedings were pending, which were expected to eventually +clear up the entire scandal, and show who was the author of the +anonymous letters, it was generally assumed that Baron von Kotze could +not be regarded as altogether cleared from the suspicion which rested +upon him, until the case had come up for trial. Meanwhile poor Kotze +remained under a cloud. Nearly nine months elapsed before the criminal +authorities declared that there was no ground for a criminal suit +against Schrader. Kotze thereupon endeavored to institute a civil +suit, this requiring still more time, and when at length the matter +came into court, Kotze was non-suited virtually without any hearing, +on the ground that the statutes of limitation had disqualified him +from any civil redress against Baron Schrader. + +Kotze being thus frustrated in his efforts to obtain punishment +for his foe and persecutor through the courts of law, came to the +conclusion that there was no other means left him to vindicate his +honor, but a challenge to fight a duel. His demand for satisfaction, +however, was declined by Baron Schrader, on the ground that it was too +late for Kotze to resort to arms, and that if he had stood in need of +satisfaction of this kind, he should not have allowed so long a period +to elapse before demanding it. The matter was referred to a so-called +court of honor, which sustained the contention of Baron Schrader, and +declared that inasmuch as Baron Kotze had by his dilatoriness placed +himself beyond the power of exacting satisfaction from Baron Schrader +for the indignities to which he had been subjected, he was no longer +worthy to wear the uniform of a Prussian officer. This decision of the +court of honor was ratified by Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern, the +general commanding the division of Guards, to the reserve force of +which Baron Kotze belonged, but it was annulled by the emperor, an +action on the part of his majesty which led Prince Frederick to resign +his command, and to withdraw for the time from the Court of Berlin. + +The emperor thereupon entrusted the affair to another jury of honor +at Hanover, which rendered a decision, blaming Baron Kotze for +his dilatoriness in demanding satisfaction of Baron Schrader, but +authorizing him to continue to wear the uniform, and to remain in the +service of the emperor as an officer. This verdict was ratified by the +emperor himself and on the strength thereof the long delayed duel +took place between the two barons. In June, 1896, Baron Schrader was +wounded in the abdomen by Baron Kotze, a wound to which he succumbed +on the following day. That seemed to settle, in the minds of all, the +innocence of Baron Kotze, for after spending the customary few months +in nominal imprisonment for infraction of the civil laws, which +prohibit the fighting of those very duels which are prescribed by the +military code, he was invited to resume his service as master of the +ceremonies at court, was treated once more with the utmost distinction +by the emperor, while his wife spent several weeks in the autumn of +that year as the guest of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, at the +latter's country seat. + +But who was the author of the anonymous letters? + +That is a question with which I propose to deal in the following +chapter, at the same time showing how this most sensational court +scandal of the latter half of the nineteenth century led to the +exodus from Berlin, and the desertion of its court by numerous royal +personages and great nobles. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +To this day the identity of the writer of the anonymous letters +remains a secret to the general public in Germany, as well as abroad, +but it is pretty generally known in court circles at Berlin and at +Vienna; and if steps have been taken by the authorities to prevent the +true facts from getting into print, and the writer was merely expelled +from Germany, instead of being brought to justice and sentenced to a +long term of imprisonment, it is only because the culprit could not +have been tried and convicted without the name of one of the greatest +personages in Germany being dragged into the case. + +Needless to add that the anonymous letter writer was a woman--a +foreign lady of title--who for a time was one of the most admired +beauties at the Court of Berlin, where, thanks to her inimitable chic, +elegance and brilliancy of wit, everybody, men and women alike, were +charmed. Old Emperor William, who was always very attentive to the +fair sex, up to the very last, and easily smitten by a pretty face, +had introduced the lady to his court without taking much trouble to +investigate her antecedents or character, and of course, with such +a sponsor, everyone took it for granted that she was above reproach, +socially, as well as morally. She became very intimate with many of +the court people, notably with the Hohenaus, the Kotzes, etc., and was +even admitted to the intimacy of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, +the emperor's eldest sister. She possibly might have, in spite of +all, retained her social eminence, had she not allowed herself to be +compromised, first, in the eyes of a few, and subsequently, in a +more general fashion, by the only brother of the empress, Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg. The association of +their names ultimately became such that the great ladies of the +Berlin Court, commenced to cut adrift from the fair foreigner, whose +resentment at this treatment naturally became particularly bitter +against precisely those with whom she had been most intimate. + +Her animosity against Countess Fritz Hohenau was especially +intensified by the particularly offensive manner in which she was +cut by "Charlotte of Prussia," whose bitter and contemptuous remarks +concerning her were naturally communicated to the foreign lady by +the men who still frequented her salons. Through these noblemen and +princes she was kept _au courant_ of everything that went on at court, +and there is no doubt that she was able to extract much information +concerning the emperor and his family from the duke, who visited her +daily, and who was infatuated by her potent and undeniable charms +beyond all reason. + +Of course, no one dreams to-day of accusing the duke of having +knowingly played any part in the fabrication of the anonymous letters; +but there is no doubt that, with his utter absence of discretion, his +lack of intellectual brilliancy, and the thoroughly royal predilection +for gossip and tittle-tattle, which monopolize to this day his +interest, he imparted to her, in the course of his daily visits, a +vast amount of news and information which she could not possibly have +obtained from any one else. Dissipated, foolish and indiscreet to an +incredible extent, the duke is nevertheless an honorable man, and in +spite of the suspicions entertained at one time concerning him by the +Schraders, the Hohenaus, the Anhalts, and the Reischachs, there is no +doubt that he had not the slightest conception of the manner in which +the gossip which he retailed day by day to his _inamorata_ was used by +her for the fabrication of her anonymous letters. + +It was Baron von Kotze's cousin, Captain Dietrich Kotze, mentioned in +the preceding chapter as having espoused the cause of his unfortunate +relative with particular vigor, to whom belongs the credit of having +discovered the culprit. He accomplished this more through a piece of +good fortune than by design, for he was put on the right scent by a +mere chance remark which he happened to overhear at a dinner party in +Paris. The information which he obtained was imparted to the emperor, +and the latter without a moment's hesitation gave orders that his +palace police should visit the "Grande Dame's" residence during the +following night, take possession of all her papers and correspondence, +and convey her to a small town, near the Belgian frontier, where she +was to be kept by the police under strict surveillance, without being +permitted to see any one, until further orders. + +It is impossible to say exactly what was discovered among these +papers, but it is generally understood that the police recovered +possession of the missing diary of Princess Charlotte, and obtained +ample proofs of the fact that the fair foreigner was the author of all +the anonymous letters. + +After a twenty-four hours' detention, she was conducted to the +frontier by the police, and warned against returning to Germany. If no +severer measures were taken against her, it is because it would have +resulted in a more or less public disclosure of the indiscreet rôle +played by the duke in the matter, and likewise because she really +knew too much! In fact, there is scarcely a secret pertaining to the +reigning family, or to the Court of Prussia, with which she is not +acquainted, and the fact that she should have refrained from +making any attempt to publish them to the world, gives rise to the +presumption that means of a financial character, or else some threats +of terrorism, have been used to insure her silence. + +At the time of the descent of the police upon her house, Duke +Ernest-Gunther was staying at Lowther Castle, in Westmoreland, +England, as the guest of Lord Lonsdale, and was to have gone on at the +end of the week to Sandringham, to stay with the Prince and Princess +of Wales. On receiving telegrams, however, from his beautiful friend, +notifying him of her expulsion from Germany, he left Lowther Castle, +literally at an hour's notice, and without taking leave of his host, +proceeded immediately to Paris for the purpose of meeting her, in +order to find out to what extent the situation was compromised. There +is every reason to believe that it was not until then that he realized +that the writer of the long series of anonymous letters was no +other than the lady by whose fascinations he had been so completely +captivated. A considerable time elapsed before he returned to Berlin. +In fact, a very serious estrangement between himself and the emperor +ensued, William declining to hold any intercourse with a relative +whose susceptibility to feminine charms, and whose extraordinary +absence of even the most elementary discretion, had contributed to one +of the most painful scandals that have overtaken the Prussian Court +since the close of the last century. + +Not even the Kaiser's fondness for his wife, nor his anxiety to please +her, could soften the anger which he felt against his brother-in-law, +and when after a prolonged voyage to India and elsewhere, the duke +on landing at Trieste, ran over from there to the neighboring seaside +resort of Abbazia, for the purpose of visiting the German imperial +couple, who were spending the early spring there with their children, +the kaiser declined to receive his brother-in-law and went out +shooting, so as to avoid an interview with him, the princely prodigal +meeting with no one except his sister, the empress, with whom he had +an interview of a couple of hours. + +It is generally believed that Princess Charlotte's missing diary is +to-day in the possession of the emperor, after having been seized +by the police among the correspondence of Duke Ernest-Gunther's fair +friend; for the former very warm affection manifested by William for +his eldest sister, arising from the belief that she had been subjected +to as harsh treatment as he imagined himself to have received at the +hands of their mother, the imperious, masterful and immensely clever +Empress Frederick, appears since the anonymous letter episode to +have given way to feelings of distrust, and even dislike. Princess +Charlotte and her husband have been ever since that time virtually +banished from the Court of Berlin, at which they are rarely if ever +seen. Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, was transferred to the +command of the troops at Breslau, although he has but little taste for +a military career, and is far more devoted to art, literature, music, +and the drama, than to soldiering. At Berlin his duties as a general +were more or less titular, and he had all the leisure which he +required for the researches into the affairs of modern and ancient +Greece, which have won for him celebrity as one of the most erudite +Hellenists of the present time. He was surrounded by a congenial +circle of friends possessed of the same disposition as himself, and +had access to some of the finest libraries and museums in the world, +while his still charming wife was the most conspicuous figure in a +circle composed of all that was most elegant, witty, brilliant and +clever in the so-called "_Athens on the Spree_" Indeed, her palace +in the Thiergarten was the centre of everything that was eclectic and +brilliant, and her salons were the rendezvous of all that was best in +Berlin society. + +Imagine, therefore, a prince and princess with tastes and dispositions +such as these compelled to close up their lovely home, to bid adieu to +all their friends, and to take up their residence in the dullest, +most uninteresting and provincial of cities, situated in the least +picturesque portion of the empire; where the only society consists +of bureaucrats of the most starchy description, with no ideas +beyond their office, or of impoverished landowners, belonging to the +district, whose nobiliary pretensions can only be compared with the +paucity of their resources, and whose conversation and even intellect +is restricted to mangelwurzels, potatoes, and the different grades of +fertilizers. + +Breslau, to say the whole truth, is a city utterly without any +attractions, either social or intellectual; the only other royal +personage in the place is an eccentric Wurtemberg princess, a cousin +of the now reigning King of Wurtemberg. This lady sacrificed her royal +rank and prerogatives in order to marry a physician of the name of +Dr. Willim, who had attended her father in his last illness. She could +not, however, bring herself to descend to the social level of her +husband, who is of plebeian origin, and a mere commoner, but thought +that she had done enough in that direction when she contented herself +with the name and title of Baroness Kirchbach, which she now bears. Of +late years she has become a convert to socialism, much to the dismay +and distress of her eminently respectable husband, and at the last +Socialist Congress held at Breslau, took a very prominent part in the +proceedings, arrayed in a blouse of flaming red. + +I am very sorry to have to destroy the romance by which the name of +this Princess Wilhelmina of Wurtemberg has until now been surrounded, +especially that portion thereof which represents her as a lovely and +interesting woman. The truth is that she is fearfully homely, both in +face and figure, while her eccentricities are such that in America, +for instance, she would be described as a "crank." Thus she +distinguishes herself through her inordinate fondness for cats, goats +and rabbits; escorted by whole herds of which she is wont to wander +through the gloomy streets of Breslau. Her costumes are invariably +as queer as the one in which she appeared on the platform of the +Socialist Congress. Compare this strange figure so utterly unfeminine +in its lack of all elegance, with the dainty, spirituelle Princess +Charlotte! Yet Baroness von Kirchbach is the only lady of sufficiently +lofty birth either in Breslau or in the vicinity to associate with +Princess Charlotte on terms of any thing like equality! + +It is probable that Princess Charlotte and her husband will be kept +at Breslau, virtually exiled from the Court of Berlin, until the +accession of Prince Bernhardt to the throne of Saxe-Meiningen, through +the death of his aged father. It is naturally surprising that Prince +Bernhardt, as heir to his father's crown, should not take up his +residence in the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, instead of +being condemned to vegetate at Breslau. The fact of the matter is, +however, that the atmosphere of the Saxe-Meiningen capital is even +less congenial than that of Breslau to Prince Bernhardt and Princess +Charlotte, for the old duke is morganatically married to an actress +of the local theatre, upon whom he has conferred the title of Baroness +Helburg, and the princess finds it difficult to associate with this +person. + +How unrelenting William remains with regard to his sister, may be +gathered from the fact that when her only daughter, Princess Fedora, +was married the other day at Breslau, he himself, and the empress, +pointedly avoided being present at the ceremony, although they were +within a couple of hours' distance of Breslau at the time, spending +the day in shooting. The slight thus placed upon Princess Charlotte +and her husband was all the more marked, as not only were all the +other members of the reigning house of Prussia present, but even the +aged King of Saxony, the King of Wurtemberg and the Grand Duke of +Hesse, had all three taken the trouble to come from long distances in +order to attend the wedding, at which Queen Victoria was represented +by several members of her family, who had travelled from England for +the purpose. The sensation created, not only over all Germany, but +even throughout Europe by the absence of the emperor and empress from +the wedding of the only child of the hereditary Prince and Princess +of Saxe-Meiningen, when they were actually in the neighborhood, was so +great that it can only be assumed that the emperor intended to give a +public manifestation of his continued ill-will towards his sister; +and that his so kind-hearted and good-natured consort should have thus +joined him in this act of public discourtesy, can be explained by a +story current at Berlin to the effect that she, too, feels that she +can neither forget nor forgive the mingled ridicule, satire and even +downright contempt expressed not only about herself, but about the +emperor, her sisters, and her mother in the missing diary of Princess +Charlotte. + +Another reason why Princess Charlotte and her husband are forced to +conform themselves to the command, by means of which the sovereign +keeps them almost permanently at Breslau, is that Prince Bernhardt has +little or no money at all, as long as his father lives, and that the +couple are, therefore, almost entirely dependent upon the allowance +which the princess receives as a member of the reigning house +of Prussia. Now it is the kaiser who, as chief of the family of +Hohenzollern, controls all its vast private possessions, and, if at +any time, a member of the House of Prussia declines to yield obedience +to his orders, he is empowered by the statutes of the Hohenzollern +family to suspend the allowances of those guilty of such +insubordination. Thus it is greatly because they are so poor that the +prince and princess invariably travel incognito when they go abroad, +although it has been asserted that the kaiser carries his irritation +against his sister to the extent of declining to permit her to leave +Germany, save on the understanding that neither she nor her husband +will anywhere exact, or receive the honors due to their royal rank. + +At the time of the visit of the Emperor and Empress of Germany to +Rome, during the silver-wedding festivities of King Humbert and Queen +Marguerite of Italy, Prince Bernhardt and Princess Charlotte were in +the Eternal City, entirely ignored by the Italian court, as well as by +all the foreign royalties present. Indeed, while the emperor, and even +the pettiest foreign princelets invited for the occasion, were driving +about the streets and parks in royal equipages, the kaiser's sister +and brother-in-law had to content themselves with the dingiest of hack +cabs, and also with the rôle of ordinary sight-seers. + +Those who imagine that Princess Charlotte prefers an incognito rôle +to that of a royal princess are singularly mistaken. No one is fonder +than she is of the prerogatives of rank, and like all clever and +pretty women, she is ever eager to be the centre of attraction, and +the object of much homage. She cannot, therefore, be said to relish +the treatment and neglect to which she is subjected through her +brother's displeasure. + +In the Berlin great world the princess has always been popular, not +merely by reason of her devotion to society, but because a certain +amount of sympathy was felt for her in connection with the treatment +which she had received at the hands of her mother. For some strange +reason or other, Princess Charlotte was never appreciated by her +mother, who showed her preference for her younger daughters in a very +marked manner. Charlotte was always treated with a far greater degree +of strictness than any of the other girls, in spite of her being +vastly superior to them in intellect and in looks. Princess Charlotte +is still a very charming woman, and was in her younger days a +singularly attractive girl, one of the fairest indeed of all Queen +Victoria's numerous descendants, but her sisters are inclined to be +homely, absolutely deficient in feminine elegance or chic, and, while +accomplished, are extremely dull, and not a bit sparkling or witty. + +Empress Frederick always declared that her daughter Charlotte was +frivolous, and as much inclined to be forward and rebellious to +discipline and control as her eldest son, the present emperor. +Therefore, as I have already stated, Charlotte and William were +treated by their mother with exceptional severity, were snubbed on +every occasion, often in the most humiliating manner, and were made to +feel that Prince Henry and their younger sisters held a higher place +in the maternal heart than they. + +Sad is it to add that the youth of neither William nor Charlotte was +a particularly happy one, and thus it is not astonishing that one as +well as the other should have felt inclined to run a bit wild, like +young colts, when first emancipated from the school-room. It was +during the very few years that intervened between his leaving the +university at Bonn and his marriage, that William obtained his +reputation for dissipation. His shortcomings, due to the exuberance of +youth, were exaggerated until they were transformed from very venial +offences into the most mortal of sins, while in the same way the +delight manifested by Princess Charlotte at the admiration and homage +to which her comeliness gave rise--a very natural feeling when one +recalls the snubbings and humiliations to which she had been subjected +until then--were construed into frivolity and deep-dyed coquetry, +altogether unworthy of a royal princess. She was taxed, too, with an +absence of that simpering modesty, more or less affected, which is +_de mise_ with so many young girls in Germany and in France, when they +make their début in society, and even her most harmless flirtations +were condemned by her mother as grave indiscretions. + +Empress Frederick became very soon imbued with the idea that it was +necessary to marry off Charlotte without delay, in order to avert +the danger, as she conceived it, of one or another of these girlish +flirtations developing into something calculated to compromise both +her dignity and her fair name. Had the princess been less hurried in +this matter, it is probable that she would have found a more suitable +husband, and above all one calculated to capture the fancy of a +young girl, reared at a court which can boast of some of the finest +specimens of manhood in the world. But she was married to the first +princelet who happened to catch the eye of Empress Frederick, namely +Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen--aye, and she was hustled into +matrimony in such a hurry, too, as to give a sort of foundation for +some shameful and base slanders, cruelly unmerited, but which one +hears even Germans who profess loyalty to the crown repeating to this +day. Prince Bernhardt, though an excellent man in his way, was very +far from meeting the requirements of the "Prince Charmant" fit to +be mated to a princess so gay and so brilliant as Charlotte of +Hohenzollern. His appearance is effeminate, his manner finicky and +old-maidish to a degree. He is neither stalwart nor good-looking; he +excels neither as a dancer nor as a rider, nor yet as an athlete, and +he gives one at first sight the impression of being an artist or a +composer, rather than a son of that grand looking old fellow, the +reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. + +Indeed, there was at the time of the marriage but one voice in Berlin +society, condemning it as having been forced upon Princess Charlotte +against her inclinations by her mother. And after the marriage the +poverty of the prince rendered him to such an extent dependent upon +the financial assistance of his mother-in-law, that he, as well as +his wife, was compelled to remain subservient in every respect to +her wishes. Nor was it until William came to the throne and availed +himself of his position as head of the family to grant Princess +Charlotte an allowance suitable to her rank, that the princess and +her husband were emancipated from the strict control of her mother, +Empress Frederick. + +Young married folks in America can form no conception of the extent of +such tyranny, and when, some time after the wedding, Prince Bernhardt +and Princess Charlotte secured permission from Empress Frederick--then +only crown princess--to visit Paris, and to make a stay there of three +weeks, she only gave her consent on the condition that they should +be accompanied by one of her chamberlains, and one of her +ladies-in-waiting who had known the princess from childhood, and whose +behests the prince and princess were obliged to obey throughout their +sojourn in the French capital, just as if they had been a little +boy and girl, instead of grown-up and married people. Probably the +happiest time of Princess Charlotte's life was the period which +elapsed between the death of her lamented father and her exile to +Breslau. She amused herself to her heart's content, fluttered about in +Berlin like a butterfly, took a leading part in every social movement, +was admired, fêted and petted by everyone, but gave her worthy husband +no cause whatsoever for uneasiness, and avoided all scandals, save +those contained in the anonymous letters, for which she cannot really +be held responsible. + +To-day she must feel that she has exchanged the unbearable tyranny of +Empress Frederick for the yet infinitely more oppressive despotism of +her eldest brother, Emperor William,--a despotism so harsh that it has +won for her, somewhat late it is true, the kindly sympathy of her own +mother,--a severity which may be said to have its source in that most +dangerous of all the intimate friends and confidants of the princess, +namely, that diary of hers which was stolen from her, and which is +believed to be now in the possession of the kaiser. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +I am thoroughly aware that the point which is likely to excite the +attention of my readers to a greater degree than any other in the +previous chapter, is the reference contained therein to the tyranny +exercised by the monarchs of the Old World upon their relatives. In +fact, it is far better in Europe to be a mere subject than a kinsman +or kinswoman of the sovereign. + +Even the lowliest of the lieges of the anointed of the Lord has +certain constitutional rights and prerogatives which may be said +to safeguard him from oppression and persecution, but princes and +princesses of the blood have no such rights, and are exposed to every +caprice and every whim of the head of their family, defiance of whose +wishes entails exile, loss of property, even poverty and outlawry, +without any redress. + +Royal and imperial personages, in addition to being subjected to +the ordinary laws of the land, are expected to yield blind and +unquestioned obedience to another code, comprising what are officially +styled the "Family Statutes" of the dynasty to which they belong. +These are administered by the head of the family, who is free to +construe them as he sees fit, and while they are binding upon the +members of his house, they in no way can be said to constitute any +limitation to the exercise of his authority. In fact, the latter is +absolutely unrestricted, and extends to every phase of the life of a +royal personage. Thus, a prince or princess of the blood is debarred +from contracting a marriage without the consent of the sovereign, and +if any union has taken place without the sanction of the head of the +family, it is regarded, not only at court, but even by the tribunals +of the land, as invalid, and children that may be born of the marriage +bear the stigma of illegitimacy. If a marriage has received the full +authorization of the ruler, and there is any issue, the children +cannot be educated without the sovereign's wishes being consulted. +The parents, in fact, are regarded much as if they were either minors, +outlaws, or demented people, unfitted to be entrusted with the control +and bringing up of their offspring, for the sovereign is _ex officio_ +the guardian of all children who are under age, belonging to the +married members of his family, and his rights over the children are +superior to those of the latter's father and mother. + +If the boy is to have a tutor, or the girl a governess, the +appointment cannot be made by the parents without their previously +obtaining the permission of the sovereign, and he has it in his power +to reject their nominee, and to assign some candidate of his own, +who may possibly be regarded as most objectionable to the unfortunate +parents, for the duty of taking charge of the education of the young +people in question. The royal or imperial mother, indeed, may esteem +herself fortunate if the sovereign does not insist on personally +selecting the nurses of her infants: when the present kaiser was +born, not merely the late Empress Augusta, but likewise all the other +members of the reigning house of Prussia, and of the Court of Berlin, +thought it quite right and natural that the old Emperor William should +exercise his authority for the purpose of prohibiting the young mother +from herself nursing her baby; on the ground that it was contrary to +the traditions of the House of Hohenzollern, and a quite undignified +proceeding. Fortunately, the late Emperor Frederick, who had spent +much of his time at the court of his mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, +and who was aware that she had nursed every one of her numerous +children herself, without permitting this motherly duty to interfere +with the arduous official business of the State, expostulated with +his father, and persuaded him to withdraw his prohibition, much to the +horror of the courtiers, and greatly to the satisfaction of the royal +lady, who is now Empress Frederick. + +In Austria one of the principal sources of the domestic unhappiness +of the lamented Empress of Austria, was the small voice that she was +allowed by the sovereign--her husband--to have in the management and +the control of her own children, as long as her mother-in-law, the +late Archduchess Sophia, was alive. It was only after the demise of +the archduchess that Empress Elizabeth first realized in their full +measure the joys of motherhood. + +While on the subject of Austria, I may cite the case of the widowed +Crown Princess Stephanie as another illustration of the extent to +which royal parents are deprived of all authority over their children. +Thus when Crown Prince Rudolph died at Mayerling, his little +daughter, at that time barely six years of age, was assigned to the +guardianship, not of her widowed mother, but of her grandfather. A +very general belief prevails that this arrangement about the care of +the little Archduchess Elizabeth, was due to a piece of animosity on +the part of the ill-fated crown prince against his wife, and I have +seen it stated in print that he had left a will confiding his only +child to his father, and directing that its mother should be allowed +no voice in its education. There is no official authority for any such +statement, but no matter whether the crown prince expressed any such +testamentary wish or not, the fact remains that at his death his child +was bound by the statutes of the House of Hapsburg, to become the ward +of the sovereign, who in this case happened to be her grandfather. +Gentle and soft-hearted as is Emperor Francis-Joseph, he nevertheless +exercised his authority over his grandchild in a way that cannot but +have been galling in the extreme to its mother, a way, in fact, which +I imagine would be beyond the endurance of any American woman. Thus +he insisted upon himself appointing and selecting her governesses and +teachers; he nominated her entire household without consulting her +mother, and its members, as well as the girl's instructors made their +reports not to Crown Princess Stephanie, but to him, from whom, also, +they alone took their instructions. + +It was the emperor who decided where his grandchild was to stay, where +she was to spend this part of the year, and where another season, and +finally he strictly prohibited her from leaving his dominions. The +position of the Crown Princess of Austria since the death of her +husband has been so extremely unpleasant and painful, that she has +spent much of her time--indeed, at least nine months of the year--in +foreign travel. The imperial family, the court and the people, hold +her responsible for that domestic wretchedness which drove her so +universally popular husband to his tragic death at Mayerling. Of +a jealous disposition and of a temper that even at its best is +difficult, she is generally understood to have driven him by her +violence and injustice to seek, away from his home, the pleasures that +he could not find by his own fireside. + +It had been known that she had been strangely lacking in dignity in +her complaints concerning his behavior, and after his death she gave +cruel offence both to his parents and to the people of her adopted +country by her indifference to his terrible fate, and by the frivolity +with which she bore her widowhood, not a little of which was spent +at the gaming tables of Monte-Carlo in the gayest mourning costumes +possible; a circumstance which horrified Queen Victoria, who was at +that time at Nice, and naturally cruelly embittered the bereaved and +sorrowing mother, Empress Elizabeth, who, robed in deepest black, +was at Cap-Martin, endeavoring to recover her health, which had been +absolutely shattered by the tragedy. + +All these things led to the crown princess being regarded with deep +disfavor in Austria. Difficulties were raised with regard to her rank +and precedence at court, and the animosity manifested towards her was +such at Vienna, and elsewhere in the dual empire, that she found it +preferable to spend the greater part of her time abroad. She was not, +however, permitted to take her little daughter with her, and thus the +young archduchess may be said to have grown up altogether away from +her mother, whom she saw for barely two months of the year, and then +more as a visitor and a stranger, than as a relative who had any voice +in the ordering of her life. + +If, then, this control of the minor princes and princesses of his +dynasty is insisted upon to such an extent by the aged Emperor of +Austria, the kindliest, most warm-hearted and sympathetic of old men, +always prone to patient forbearance and indulgence, it will be readily +understood that it is exercised to its fullest extent by Emperor +William, in whose character the tendency to autocracy, and the spirit +of command, is far more developed than in his brother monarch. Indeed, +he not only claims the right to act as the chief guardian of the +junior members of the reigning house of Prussia, of which he is the +head, but likewise of the children of all those sovereign families of +Germany which have acknowledged him as their emperor. Thus he insisted +upon having entire control of his young cousin, the only son of +the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, declaring that his own +authority must be substituted for that of the lad's father, in spite +of the latter being himself a reigning sovereign, and an ally rather +than a vassal. + +The tragic fate of the young prince will be too fresh in the memory of +my readers to need more than passing reference here. The boy, removed +from parental care, was transferred by Emperor William to Berlin, with +the avowed purpose of being under his own imperial eye. Unfortunately, +the duties and occupations of William are so multifarious that he was +unable to fulfil his very excellent intentions with regard to Prince +Alfred. The latter fell into bad hands, squandered large sums of +money at cards, became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and in +his endeavors to retrieve them, sunk deeper and deeper into the mire, +until finally Emperor William, suddenly alive to the results of his +wholly-unintentional neglect of the royal lad, sent him back to +his heart-broken parents, discredited, implicated in all sorts of +unpleasant gambling transactions, and shattered alike in health and +mind. In the midst of their silver-wedding festivities, they were +forced to send their only boy off to a sanitarium in Austria, where, +in spite of the close restraint under which he was kept, he managed +to put an end to his life, only a few days after his arrival, prompted +thereto by either physical or mental agony, no one knows which. + +Small wonder, when it became necessary to find a likely successor to +the present reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and his younger brother, +Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught, was proclaimed +heir, that the prince decided that it would be preferable to sacrifice +his rights to this throne, rather than his rights over his only son. +On being given to understand that if he accepted the position of heir +apparent, his sixteen-year-old boy would become the ward of Emperor +William, and that the authority of the kaiser would be superior to his +own over the lad, Prince Arthur declined to have anything to do with +the Saxe-Coburg succession, and abandoned both his own claims thereto +and those of his son, in favor of his young nephew, the fatherless +Duke of Albany. It was precisely on the same ground that the Duke of +Cumberland declined to complete the agreement whereby a reconciliation +was to be effected between himself and the kaiser. Born crown prince +of the now defunct Kingdom of Hanover, he should have succeeded to the +throne of the Duchy of Brunswick on the death of his kinsman, the late +Duke of Brunswick, in 1884. The German Emperor, however, decided that +he could not be permitted to take possession of the sovereignty of the +duchy, nor to assume the status of one of the federal rulers of the +confederation known as the German Empire, unless he recognized the +latter, as now constituted, that is to say with his father's Kingdom +of Hanover incorporated with Prussia. For a long time he refused to +do this, but was ultimately persuaded by his brother-in-law, the late +czar, and the Prince of Wales, to consent to a reconciliation +with Prussia, and to accept the present condition of affairs. The +arrangements were on the eve of being completed when a conflict arose +between the duke and the kaiser, as to the education of the former's +eldest son, Prince George. The duke wished to send him to the Vizhum +College, at Dresden, where so many members of the sovereign families, +and of the great houses of the nobility, have received their +instruction, while the kaiser objected to this particular school on +the ground that its teachings were calculated to increase instead +of to diminish particularist and anti-Prussian sentiments. The duke +thereupon declared that he alone was competent to judge and determine +how his boy should be educated, whereupon the kaiser put forth his +pretension to the guardianship of all the junior members of the +sovereign houses comprised in the German Empire. Rather than consent +to this, the Duke of Cumberland, who has inherited much of the +obstinacy for which his great-grandfather, King George III. of Great +Britain, was so celebrated, broke off all negotiations with Emperor +William, and refused to have anything more to do with him, for, like +his cousin, the Duke of Connaught, he would rather sacrifice his +rights to a German throne than his parental rights over a much-loved +boy. + +But the despotism of the monarchs of the Old World is by no means +restricted to this question of the control and custody of the junior +members of their respective families. Every prince and princess of +the latter, no matter what his or her age, or superiority in point of +years to the sovereign may be, is subjected to the will of the head +of the house. For instance, no Russian grand duke or grand duchess can +leave the Muscovite empire without previously asking and obtaining the +permission of the czar, and in the same way, the Austrian +archdukes and archduchesses have to crave the sanction of Emperor +Francis-Joseph, and the Prussian princes and princesses, that of the +kaiser, before they can leave their respective countries for a foreign +trip. Even Empress Frederick is compelled to obtain the permission +of her son, the emperor, before taking her departure from Germany for +England or Italy, and a few years ago when quietly enjoying herself in +Paris, she was forced by a peremptory command from her son to suddenly +cut short her stay in the French capital, and to betake herself to +England. + +To such an extent is this despotism carried that when Prince Henry +of Prussia was stationed at Kiel, he had to ask his elder brother's +permission before he could run up to Berlin, although Kiel is only +a few hours' trip from the capital; and, as stated in the previous +chapter, Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen and her husband, +are kept at Breslau, except when their brother William graciously +condescends to permit them to leave their home. Two years ago the +emperor, for reasons which can only be surmised, and which were of +a personal rather than of a political character--of which more +anon--suddenly ordered his only brother Henry off to China, and a +little later, possibly with the object of showing to the world that +his authority extended to the ladies of his house, as well as to the +men, he directed Princess Henry to join her husband at Hong Kong. As +the two little boys of the princess are exceedingly delicate, owing +possibly to the fact that their parents are first cousins, the poor +mother was very reluctant to undertake the trip, but she was forced +by the emperor to go, and had scarcely reached Hong Kong before +she learnt by cable that both her little ones were prostrated by a +terrible attack of diphtheria. She was not, however, permitted to +return, but was kept out in China away from her children until late +in the spring, and reached home well on towards autumn, to find her +little ones--the youngest was but two years old--more delicate than +ever, but fortunately alive. + +In the memoirs of Bismarck published by Dr. Busch, there is reproduced +one of Emperor William's letters, written prior to his accession +to the throne, in the course of which he asks the great chancellor +whether he approves of his "commanding" (the German word is +"_befehlen_") his brother Prince Henry to make certain inquiries of +the late Prince Alexander of Battenberg. William in this letter does +not talk of "requesting" his brother, but of ordering him to do this. +If then William, as crown prince, already took upon himself the right +of ordering his brother and his sisters to do this and to do that, it +may be readily imagined that he is not less peremptory in his dealings +with them now that he is their emperor and king. + +If they disobey him, he has various means of punishment at his +command. He can banish them from court for a long term; he can +deprive them temporarily, or for all time, of the prerogatives, the +privileges, and the honors due to their rank; he can suspend their +allowances from the national treasury, or from the family property, +or can stop it altogether; he can take from them the control of any +estates which they may have inherited, and confide the administration +thereof to curators appointed for the purpose; finally, he can subject +them to various forms of arrest, as he once did in the case of his +brother-in-law, Prince Frederick-Leopold; while in very extreme cases +he can place the offending relative under restraint in an asylum for +the insane on the pretext of dementia, as has been done in the case +of Princess Louise of Coburg, daughter of King Leopold of Belgium, +and mother of Princess "Dolly" of Coburg, who is now the wife of Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein. + +"_Aux arrêts_," or confinement to one's quarters, is the most common +form of punishment inflicted by Old World monarchs upon those of their +kith and kin who have failed to comply with their behests, and there +is scarcely a single sovereign or prince of the blood, who has not +been subjected to this species of discipline at one time or another of +his career. Thus the late Emperor Frederick, prior to his accession +to the throne, but long after his marriage, was sentenced to several +weeks' detention in his palace under strict arrest, as a punishment +for a little joke which he had played during the course of a military +inspection. + +He had been protesting for a long time against the tightness of the +uniforms, and of the belts of the rank and file of the infantry, +declaring that it impeded the movements and play of the muscles of the +men, to such an extent as to deprive them of more than fifty per cent, +of their usefulness. One day, during an inspection of the division of +guards at Potsdam, while the troops happened to be standing at ease, +he walked along the front rank of the first regiment, accompanied by +a number of officers, with whom he had just been discussing this very +question of equipment; suddenly, he stopped short in his walk, and +extracting a piece of gold from his pocket, dropped it on the ground, +and told the men nearest him to pick it up, adding that whoever got +hold of it first, might keep it! Several of them made frantic attempts +to bend down in order to get the money, but so tight were their +uniforms and belts that they found it absolutely impossible to reach, +the coin, which Emperor Frederick ultimately picked up himself, and +handed to them. + +"And how do you expect to win battles with soldiers hampered to such +an extent as that in their movements?" he exclaimed contemptuously +to the officers around him. "What greater demonstration than this is +needed to prove the justice of my argument?" + +The incident was reported to the then Minister of War, who immediately +lodged a complaint with Frederick's father, the result being that +"Unser Fritz," at that time Crown Prince of Prussia, was placed by old +Emperor William for several weeks under arrest in his palace! + +Prince Rupert of Bavaria, the heir apparent to the ancient throne of +the Wittelsbachs, was sentenced by his grandfather, the prince regent, +to no less than three months' close arrest in his quarters at Munich, +for having left the kingdom without permission, in order to spend +three days at Paris, in fair but frail company; while the widowed +Duchess of Aosta on one occasion was placed under arrest in her palace +of Turin by her brother-in-law, King Humbert, because she had ventured +to appear in public on her wheel wearing a pair of bloomers! + +Prince and Princess Frederick-Leopold, the latter a younger sister of +the Empress of Germany, have both been condemned on several occasions +by the kaiser to close confinement in their palace under the most +stringent kind of arrest, for having disobeyed his majesty's commands +with regard to the management of their household. Duke Ernest-Gunther +of Schleswig-Holstein, the brother of the empress, has been subjected +to more numerous orders of arrest by his imperial kinsman than any +prince of the blood now living. + +Severe as are European monarchs nowadays in punishing the disobedience +of the members of their families, they do not, however, venture any +longer to proceed to such extremities as the father of Frederick the +Great, who when the latter was still crown prince, cast his son into +prison, and ordered him to be shot, merely because he discovered +that he was about to leave the kingdom without his permission for the +purpose of undertaking a trip to England; and there is no doubt that +the crown prince would have been put to death, and thus shared the +fate of his two aids-de-camp, who were beheaded before his very +eyes, in the fortress prison of Küstrin, had it not been for the +intervention of the ambassadors of Austria, Great Britain, Russia and +France in behalf of his royal highness. + +Yet another phase of this despotism, which the two kaisers,--namely +their majesties of Germany and of Austria,--exercise over the members +of their respective families, is the right which they claim to select +and appoint the officers and ladies-in-waiting of every prince and +princess of the blood. In order to appreciate what this means it +must be explained that it is not merely contrary to etiquette, but +absolutely forbidden by the rules and regulations instituted by +Emperor William and his brother sovereigns, that any such princes or +princesses should venture to appear anywhere in public without being +escorted either by a gentleman or a lady-in-waiting. These attendants, +who are, it is needless to state, of noble birth, may be said to +constitute the very shadow of the personage to whose household they +are attached. In fact a royal or imperial prince or princess cannot +even cross the street, far less leave home for a ride, a drive, a +walk, or for the purpose of paying a visit, or of doing some shopping +without being escorted, if a prince, by a gentleman-in-waiting, and +if a princess, by a lady-in-waiting, and possibly by a chamberlain as +well. + +Nor are the duties of the ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting confined to +attendance upon their royal charges in public, for they form part and +parcel of the royal or imperial household to which they are attached, +and if they do not occupy quarters in the palace, at any rate they +take all their meals there, since their duties commence in the early +morning, and only cease late at night. + +Now, human shadows of this kind are all very well when one is at +liberty to choose them one's self; but it is very different when +one has no voice whatsoever in the matter, and when one is forced to +submit to close and intimate attendance of this kind by ladies and +gentlemen whom one neither likes nor trusts. In such cases as these, +the gentlemen or ladies-in-waiting are apt to be regarded in the +light of spies by their royal charges, and as people appointed by the +sovereign to keep watch upon their actions. It is probable that no +one has suffered so cruelly in this connection as the widowed +Empress Frederick of Germany. Possessed of extremely liberal views in +political matters--ideas which she imparted to her consort, she found +herself, within a few years after her marriage, in complete opposition +to Prince Bismarck. The latter regarded her as a very dangerous +opponent, and responded to her openly avowed disapproval of his +political methods by using his influence with her father-in-law, old +Emperor William, urging him to interfere with her management of +her children; and above all, to appoint as members of her household +personages with whom she could have no possible sympathy, political +or otherwise, and who were, in every sense of the word, devoted to +the Iron Chancellor. In fact, Prince Bismarck acknowledges in his +reminiscences, as published by his Boswell, Dr. Busch, that he caused +the crown princess--as Empress Frederick was then--to shed many a +bitter tear, by his interference, through her father-in-law, in her +domestic affairs. + +Bismarck made no secret of his enmity towards Empress Frederick and +her husband before the latter ascended the throne, and it is on record +that he even officially insisted that secrets of state should not be +confided to "Unser Fritz," for fear that the latter's consort might +communicate them to her English relatives. He even went so far as to +accuse her of having, during the war of 1870, betrayed to non-German +relatives Prussian military secrets, which were used by the French +against her adopted country, and served to prolong the conflict. These +odious charges, "_which have been abundantly disproved_" and for which +"_there was not even the shadow of a foundation_," are merely referred +to here in order to show the intense bitterness of the personal +animosity entertained by the chancellor towards Empress Frederick. Yet +it was he, Bismarck, who, through the old emperor, had the right of +selecting and nominating, not merely the instructors and attendants of +her boys, but her own gentlemen and ladies-in-waiting--nay, even the +physicians and surgeons to be called in cases of illness. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +It is to the part played by Prince Bismarck in selecting the +attendants and tutors of the present emperor that must be ascribed the +strained relations that notoriously existed between the kaiser and his +mother during the few years immediately preceding and following his +accession to the throne; while there is no doubt whatsoever that the +last eighteen months of Emperor Frederick's so prematurely-ended life, +were saddened and embittered by the feeling that a conspiracy was +on foot to prevent his succession to the throne on the ground of the +incurable malady from which he was suffering--a conspiracy in which +some of the principal participants were members of his household and +physicians who had been forced upon him by his father at instigation +of Prince Bismarck. + +If I mention this, it is not so much with the idea of evoking a very +painful chapter of the history of the Court Berlin, as it is for the +purpose of explaining, and in a measure of excusing, the charges +of unfilial conduct brought against the present emperor, and which +contributed so much to his unpopularity both at home and abroad during +the early years of his reign. + +I have related in a previous chapter how William, while a boy, was +snubbed by his parents, and treated with considerable strictness. +His father, like so many good-looking giants, utterly free from +affectation and pose, believed that he saw in his eldest boy a +tendency to posture, a forwardness of manner, and a disposition +towards pride of rank, amounting to arrogance, which it was necessary, +at all costs, to repress. Prince William, therefore, was constantly +receiving setbacks, often of a most humiliating character, from his +parents, and I am sorry to say that this practice of regarding him as +a presumptuous youth whom it was necessary to check, extended to other +European courts, so that poor William can not be said to have had an +altogether enjoyable time; and in this connection it is just as well +to state that the Prince of Wales and his other English relatives, +took their cue from his mother in their treatment of him, a +circumstance which he has neither forgiven nor forgotten. Indeed the +notorious absence of cordiality between the Prince of Wales and his +imperial nephew of Berlin originates with the snubs which the +British heir apparent, in his capacity of uncle, felt it necessary to +administer to William, when the latter was a lad, and even when he had +reached manhood. + +Yet it would be unfair to ascribe any undue blame in the matter to the +parents of Emperor William. The responsibility must rest rather +with those people with whom Prince Bismarck, acting through the old +emperor, surrounded the young prince. The mission of these nominees +of the chancellor was to counteract the influence of the then crown +prince and crown princess over their eldest son, and this was achieved +by setting the boy against his parents. Every direction or command +given by Frederick or by his consort to their son was made the subject +of critical discussion by the personages with whom Bismarck had +surrounded him, until the latter became convinced that the judgment of +his parents was at fault in almost everything that could be imagined, +and that all their views, political as well as social, were thoroughly +out of keeping with Prussian traditions and German patriotism. + +This in itself was bad enough: but what made matters infinitely worse, +was that whenever William was subjected to any reproof or discipline +by either his father or mother, those composing his immediate +_entourage_ at once impressed upon the royal youth that he was the +victim of the most gross and unpardonable injustice, that both +his father and mother were inordinately jealous of his striking +individuality, that the unmerited severity to which he was subjected +was brought about by their consciousness that his intellect was +superior to theirs, and that his ideas were too thoroughly Prussian to +constitute anything but a serious danger to their English liberalism. +The effect of influences such as these upon a high-spirited and +impulsive youth, at the time entirely devoid of experience or of +knowledge of the world, may readily be conceived. It naturally led to +an increase of what his parents regarded as his presumptuousness and +forwardness of manner, and consequently to a growth of their severity +towards him. He, on the other hand, became more and more embittered +by the unduly harsh and rather unjust treatment to which he was being +subjected by both his father and his mother. + +The persons in attendance on the imperial family, with the conspicuous +exceptions of Count Seckendorff and Countess Hedwig Brühl, were +careful to fan the embers of bitterness rankling in the bosom of young +William whenever any opportunity offered, and thus it happened that +when Emperor Frederick, while still crown prince, was discovered to be +suffering from that cancer of the larynx which ultimately carried him +off, the relations between parents and son were so strained as to give +rise to the very widespread belief that William was the ally of his +father's enemies, and a participator in the disgraceful conspiracy +which ensued for the purpose of barring him from succession to the +throne on the ground of his fearful malady. + +As soon as the nature of the disease from which Frederick was +suffering had been ascertained, his opponents, Prince Bismarck first +and foremost, dug out from the most remote recesses of the family +archives of the house of Hohenzollern an obsolete and forgotten law +barring from the succession to the throne of Prussia any prince of +the blood who was afflicted with an incurable malady. Of course, +the original object of the statute in question was to enable the +elimination from the line of succession of princes afflicted with +hopeless insanity, or some such disease as would prevent them from +administering the government, thus rendering the institution of a +regency necessary. In one word, the purpose of the measure was to +prevent such a situation from arising in Prussia as prevails now in +Bavaria, where, since 1886 the throne has been occupied by a lunatic +prince, who was incurably insane for many years before his accession +to the crown, and whose dementia takes that peculiar form, which is +described in the Bible as having overtaken Nebuchadnezzar. King Otto +of Bavaria imagines himself to be alternately a quadruped or a bird, +and when he is not browsing on leaves and grass in the gardens of his +prison palace at Fürstenried, under the impression that he is a sheep +or goat, he will stand on one leg in the centre of a shallow pond, +firmly convinced that he is a stork, occasionally flapping his long +coat-tails in lieu of wings, and greedily attempting to devour any +frogs or tadpoles that may come within his reach, unless prevented by +his attendants from doing so. + +There have been, alas! numerous cases of insanity in the reigning +house of Prussia. Old Emperor William's elder brother and predecessor, +King Frederick-William IV., spent the last few years of his life +under restraint, hopelessly insane, his brother and ultimate successor +administering the government as regent. The late Princess Frederick +of Prussia was afflicted like her brother, the last Duke of +Anhalt-Bernburg, with a peculiar kind of lunacy which took the form of +an invincible objection to clothing of any kind whatsoever; while one +of her two sons, Prince Alexander, who died only a few months ago, +suffered from a species of good-natured imbecility, which led him +to offer his heart and his hand to every woman or young girl that +he encountered, no matter what her age, or looks, or rank, sometimes +making as many as thirty or forty offers of marriage in the same day! +The above-mentioned law was created for the purpose of preventing a +prince thus situated from ascending the throne of Prussia, but the +family statutes evoked by Prince Bismarck and his followers certainly +never contemplated the deprival of a prince of his hereditary rights +of succession to the throne because of some physical ailment or +infirmity. This would have been entirely contrary to the spirit and +ethics of the monarchical system of the Old World; as will be readily +seen when attention is called to the fact that both the late King of +Hanover, and the present reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, +were absolutely and totally blind at the time they succeeded to their +present thrones. + +Prince Bismarck took the view, however, that the statute in question +was sufficient to bar "Unser Fritz" from succeeding to his father, if +it were once medically admitted that his malady was incurable, or if +curable, that it was liable to permanently destroy the vocal chords, +thus abolishing forever the power of speech. + +Prince Bismarck declared that in a matter of such extreme importance, +where the succession to the throne, and the life of the heir apparent +were at stake, the surgeons and physicians should be selected by the +State--that is, by himself--and that their verdict should be final. +Chief among the medical experts whom he nominated for the purpose, was +the celebrated German surgeon, Professor von Bergmann, who is as famed +for his skill in the use of the knife as for his fondness in applying +it in cases where it might possibly be dispensed with. Having +convinced himself that the malady from which Crown Prince Frederick +suffered was a cancer, he decreed that the only manner of saving the +life of the illustrious patient was the extremely dangerous and almost +certainly fatal operation of removing the entire portion of the larynx +that was affected. This, as stated above, would have left the crown +prince dumb for the remainder of his days, and according to the +views of Prince Bismarck would have barred him from succession to the +throne. + +It is related in court circles at Berlin, that Professor Bergmann was +on the point of operating upon the crown prince unknown to the crown +princess, and under the pretext of making a very radical examination, +for which anaesthetics were necessary, when, he was prevented at the +very last moment by her imperial highness. It is even stated that she +tore the instruments from his hands, and turned him out of the room +with the most bitter and cutting reproaches. Whatever may be true in +this bit of court gossip, it is certain that a fierce quarrel did take +place between the crown princess and the great surgeon, and that the +cause of this quarrel was the decision taken by the latter to operate +upon the crown prince as the only means of saving his life. + +[Illustration: +_THE CROWN PRINCESS AND PROFESSOR VON BERGMANN_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The crown princess thereupon summoned to her assistance Sir Morel +MacKenzie, the greatest throat specialist in England, who throughout +his long career was consulted by all the leading singers and orators +of his day. MacKenzie came to Berlin, examined the crown prince, +and utterly rejected the diagnosis of Professor Bergmann, and of the +German physicians. He declared that the affection of the larynx, while +cancerous, would not be bettered by using the knife, at any rate at +that time, and that he believed the malady to be curable by treatment. +Needless to add that his opinion was reviled in Germany as that of +a charlatan, and that the Teuton specialists declared that the crown +prince was doomed to certain death within six months, unless the +operation was performed. + +Fearing that some further attempt might be made at Berlin to operate +upon her husband without her knowledge, or in spite of her opposition, +the crown princess took him off to England, and from thence to +the Tyrol, from which place they eventually migrated to San Remo. +Meanwhile, the German newspapers, that is to say, those which were +believed to be receiving their inspiration from Bismarckian sources, +were filled with abuse of the crown princess, who was charged openly +with being willing to sacrifice the life of her husband rather than +her chances of becoming German Empress. + +Meanwhile the crown prince became worse and worse, and while at San +Remo had several fits of agonizing suffocation, to which he almost +succumbed, and from the worst of which he was virtually saved by +the late Dr. Thomas Evans, of Philadelphia, who displayed the utmost +devotion and intelligence of treatment in the case of the imperial +sufferer. + +It was at this juncture that one of the most dramatic scenes which can +be imagined took place in the antechamber of the illustrious patient. +The crown princess received letters which informed her that Prince +Bismarck had submitted to the old emperor, then himself near death, a +decree for signature, transferring the succession of the throne from +Crown Prince Frederick to the latter's son, Prince William, a decree +which, by the by, the old emperor could not bring himself to sign. +Furthermore, she learnt through the same sources that one of the +principal members of her household at San Remo, in fact, one of the +chamberlains in attendance, was sending daily reports of the most +venomous character to Berlin, and to Prince Bismarck particularly, +about everything that went on around the unhappy crown prince. Not a +thing was said, not a thing done, not a change for the worse or the +better in the condition of the hapless crown prince, that was not +instantly reported to the chancellor, in a sense most detrimental and +inimical to the imperial couple at San Remo. This traitor in the camp +owed his appointment to the imperial household to Prince Bismarck, but +by his charming manners, his professions of loyalty and of devotion, +and his denunciations of Prince Bismarck, and of the latter's policy +and ways, had completely captured the confidence of both the crown +prince and crown princess. + +Empress Frederick has inherited from her mother, Queen Victoria, a +singularly fiery temper. Her passionate anger when she realized +the base treachery to which her sick husband and herself had been +subjected in their time of cruel tribulation and trouble can only be +imagined by those who have the privilege of knowing her, and the scene +that took place between herself and the offending chamberlain was not +merely dramatical, but tragical in its fierce intensity. + +It was very shortly after this that the old emperor died. If Prince +Bismarck entertained any further hopes of preventing the accession of +Crown Prince Frederick to the throne, they were frustrated by Prince +William, who declined to be a party to any such conspiracy. Indeed, in +spite of all that has been said to the contrary, I am firmly convinced +that William at no time took any part, either directly or indirectly, +in the Bismarckian plot to oust his so sadly afflicted father from his +rights to the crown. But, on the other hand, it is certain that he was +suspected by his parents and relatives of being privy to the scheme, +and that he was treated with still greater hostility and lack of +affection by them than previously, which naturally served to embitter +him more than ever before. + +Emperor Frederick's reign lasted not quite one hundred days, and +throughout that period a conflict may be said to have raged around the +bedside of the dying man. Both he and his wife, aware how brief his +tenure of the throne was destined to be, were bent on inaugurating +some of those liberal reforms and popular measures which had been the +dream of their entire married life, and which they wished to see put +in force, as a lasting memorial of that monarch who figures in German +history to-day as "Frederick the Noble." + +Prince Bismarck, and all the leading statesmen of Prussia, it must be +admitted, ranged themselves against the imperial couple in the matter. +They expressed profound pity for the dying emperor, but they denounced +the empress with the utmost virulence for taking advantage, as they +described it, of his condition to endow Germany with some of the most +pernicious features of English political life, which, while all very +well for Britons, were destined to prove disastrous in the extreme if +applied to Prussia. The fiercer the opposition, the more resolute did +both the emperor and empress become in their determination to attain +their aim, before death once more rendered the throne vacant; and +the position of William, who was now crown prince, became even more +difficult than it had hitherto been. His political sympathies were, it +is impossible to deny, with Prince Bismarck and his followers, and he +could not with his training and with the influences by which he had +been surrounded, ever since he had left school, but disapprove of +the measures which his father and mother wished to adopt. This very +naturally added to their distrust of him, and while they lavished +every token of affection upon their other children, he was treated by +them more as a political adversary and a personal foe than as a friend +or a son. + +At length the end came. The pitiful sufferings of "Unser Fritz," +uncomplainingly and patiently borne, were brought to a close by a +death which in his case must have been a longed-for release; and +within an hour afterwards, William, the present emperor, had +startled his subjects and the entire civilized world, by taking an +extraordinary step, which for a long time afterwards served as a theme +for the denunciation of unfilial character hurled against him both +in Germany and abroad; this step being the giving of an order to the +effect that the guards placed at all the entrances of the Palace of +Potsdam, in which his father had breathed his last, should be doubled, +that a cordon of troops should be drawn around the park walls, and +that no one should be allowed to enter or leave the palace without his +permission. + +While there is every reason to believe that this measure was suggested +to him by Prince Bismarck, yet it must be admitted that it was to a +certain extent justified by the circumstances. Emperor Frederick +was known to have kept a most exhaustive diary throughout his entire +married life, dealing day by day with all the political questions of +the hour, the secrets of the Prussian State, the incidents of court +life, etc., just as they occurred. From a German point of view it +was a matter of the most extreme importance that this collection +of diaries should not be permitted to leave Prussia, or to reach a +foreign country, for it would practically have meant the placing at +the mercy of a foreign land all the state secrets of Prussia during +the previous thirty years. Emperor William and Prince Bismarck had +both been led to believe that Empress Frederick had made arrangements +to have these books conveyed to England by Sir Morel MacKenzie, whom +they both disliked as much as they distrusted him. The idea that +these volumes should be in the care of MacKenzie, even during the +twenty-four hours journey separating Berlin from London, was to them +quite intolerable. + +Before many hours had elapsed, however, the measures were relaxed. It +was discovered that the diaries were no longer in the palace, and that +they had been taken over to England either knowingly or unknowingly by +Queen Victoria on the occasion of her visit to Potsdam, when she came +to bid adieu to her dying son-in-law. + +Let me add that some time later, after a considerable amount of +explanation and negotiation, Queen Victoria, of her own accord, +returned the cases containing Emperor Frederick's diaries to her +grandson at Berlin, with the seals unbroken, taking the very sensible +ground that inasmuch as there were many Prussian state secrets +therein contained, their place was in the archives of the House of +Hohenzollern, rather than in England. + +Emperor William has never forgotten the course adopted by his +grandmother in the matter, and by his manner towards her has +repeatedly shown since then that he feels how greatly he can rely +upon having his actions appreciated with perfect impartiality and all +absence of prejudice at Windsor. + +Empress Frederick was naturally deeply offended by the precautionary +measures adopted by the emperor on his father's death, and saw therein +a new and most insulting indication of his unfilial conduct towards +herself. Nor were the relations between the mother and the son +improved, but on the contrary rather aggravated by the presence of the +Prince of Wales at Berlin. The latter remained in the Prussian capital +for a number of weeks after the funeral of Emperor Frederick, and the +English newspapers, which had been most outspoken in their criticisms +of the young emperor's attitude towards his parents, did not hesitate +to declare openly that if the prince was continuing his stay in +Berlin, it was for the purpose of championing the interests of his +favorite sister, and of protecting her from the insults of her son, +and of the latter's mentor and chief counsellor, Prince Bismarck. + +There were all sorts of troublesome questions cropping up between the +mother and the son during the first few months of her widowhood, many +of which were inevitable; for certain courses of policy upon +which Emperor Frederick had embarked were disapproved by the young +sovereign's constitutional advisers. Then, too, it would appear that +Frederick III. had taken advantage of his brief tenure of power to +unduly favor his wife and his younger children at the expense of the +Hohenzollern family property in a manner that was not in consonance +with the traditions of the reigning house. It was also whispered +that the late emperor had lent a very large sum of money to his +brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, and it was further asserted that +the then minister of the imperial household had preferred resigning +his post to countenancing such a use of the money belonging to +the Hohenzollern family. There was the question, moreover, of the +distribution of the palaces. While William was perfectly ready to +permit his mother to keep her residence at Berlin, he felt that he +was entitled, as emperor and chief of the family, to the new palace of +Potsdam, the finest of the lot, and the only one roomy enough for the +abode of a reigning sovereign. It was, therefore, necessary that he +should have possession thereof. His mother, on the other hand, took +the ground that inasmuch as it had been her principal home throughout +her married life, that nearly all her children had been born there, +and that it was in many respects a creation of her husband's, she +ought to be allowed to retain it. Of course the emperor had his way, +and this but served to increase the bitterness, particularly when +he issued an order to the effect that its old name of "Neues Palais" +should be restored in the place of "Friedrichskron," which had been +given to it by the widowed empress during her husband's brief reign. + +Of course all these differences of opinion between the mother and the +son were carefully intensified by Prince Bismarck, and aggravated +by the continued presence of the Prince of Wales, who was regarded, +probably unjustly, as largely responsible for the animosity which it +was claimed was entertained and manifested by the imperial widow for +her son. The newspapers took sides in the matter, and the press being +very active, there is every reason to believe, in view of the wide +field of German and foreign journalism over which the influences of +the chancellor extended at the time, that he had a finger, not alone +in the denunciation on the one hand of Empress Frederick as grasping, +mercenary, and too much of an Englishwoman to be a patriotic German, +but likewise in the abuse of Emperor William for unfilial conduct. +Every act of his that could possibly be construed as such, was painted +in the blackest of colors, especially in the English press, manifestly +with the idea of conveying to the kaiser the impression that the +attacks originated with his English relatives, possibly with his +mother herself; and I can recall seeing at the time a story to which +the London papers devoted columns, and which was made the theme of +editorials, the subject of which was that the emperor had sold to a +carpenter the pony-carriage and pony used by his father daring the few +weeks immediately preceding his death, for his drives in the palace +gardens. The story related with much detail about how the pony trap +was to be seen during the week in the streets of Potsdam, laden with +window-sashes, etc., while on Sunday and holidays the seat where +formerly the dying emperor reclined was occupied by the "Herr +Tischlermeister" and his frowsy, vulgar-looking "frau." Yet there was +not a word of truth in this story. The pony-carriage used by "Unser +Fritz" during the closing days of his life is preserved as a species +of sacred relic in the imperial coach-house at Potsdam, while the pony +leads a life of ease, idleness and equine luxury, out of regard for +the fact that it had the honor of drawing the moribund monarch around +the grounds of Charlottenburg and Potsdam. Inasmuch as this precious +story about Emperor William's selling the pony-carriage in question +first made its appearance in a London newspaper, which, as long as +Bismarck remained in office, was regarded as his particular organ in +the British press, being owned by a gentleman bearing a distinctly +German name, there is every reason to believe that the tale in +question originated with some of the journalistic myrmidons employed +by the chancellor, and that its object was to embitter William against +the English, against his British kinsfolk, and, above all, against his +mother. + +It is not without significance that the mother and the eldest son have +understood one another only since the dismissal from office of Prince +Bismarck. From that time the relations between the two have been of +the most affectionate and cordial character. Perhaps at first there +was at times a little difference of opinion, owing to the difficulty +experienced by a woman of the imperious character of Empress Frederick +in realizing the fact that her eldest son was no longer "her boy +Willie," to be ordered about and controlled, but that he had become, +not merely emancipated from her control, but her sovereign master, +whose commands she is now forced to obey, and whose wishes she is +obliged to consult and consider. But every year since the fall of +Bismarck has had the effect of bringing the mother and the son nearer +to each other. + +The empress seems to have come to the conclusion that she has judged +her son harshly and unjustly, prejudiced by appearances which were +frequently against him; while he, on the other hand, demonstrated to +Prince Bismarck that, while he was grateful to him for his services +to the empire, he found difficulty in pardoning him for the advantage +which he had taken of his--the emperor's--youth and inexperience to +estrange him from both his father and his mother. + +If I have repeated in this chapter some history that may be regarded +as ancient, since it dates back to eleven and twelve years ago, it +is for the purpose of relieving Emperor William of much unmerited +reproach heaped upon him, as the most unfilial of royal and imperial +princes in modern times. William has a warm heart, and an affectionate +disposition. He shows this in the happiness of his home life, and by +the tenderness of his devotion to his wife and children. If he was for +a time estranged from his parents, and in particular from his mother, +it was less through any fault of his, or of theirs--I repeat it--than +through the intrigues of Bismarck, and of the latter's friends within +and without the imperial household, who fondly imagined that they were +serving the "vaterland" by keeping the parents and their son estranged +from one another. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Everyone, I presume, is acquainted with that old French saying, "_Dis +moi qui tu hantes et je te dirai qui tu es!_" which may be rendered in +English: "Tell me with whom you associate and I will tell you who +you are!" While this adage is almost invariably true in the case of +ordinary people, it would hardly be just to apply it where monarchs +and princes of the blood are concerned. Given that every form of +pleasure, of entertainment and of amusement is always within their +reach, thanks to the loftiness of their station, their wealth, and +facilitated furthermore by the anxiety of their courtiers both to +please them and to retain their favor, they naturally soon become +blasé to such an extent that they become a prey to ennui--a thoroughly +royal malady, from which few, if any, of the scions of the reigning +houses of Europe are exempt. "Ennui," like "chic," is a French +word difficult to translate and subject to much misinterpretation, +especially in the United States, where it is practically unknown. The +majority of Americans are far too busy, and are environed by too much +bustle and activity to experience such a thing as ennui, and even the +American leisure class, still in an embryo condition, as a rule are +too new to their privileges to have that feeling. To suffer from ennui +implies so deep a knowledge of life, and a corresponding satiety of +its pleasures, that all the ordinary routine events of existence have +no longer any power to interest the mind. Ennui is not weariness nor +tediousness, as described in the dictionary; neither is it boredom, +for the latter differs therefrom in its not necessarily being the +outcome of a high degree of civilization, which ennui certainly is. + +An untutored savage of Central Africa, or of the wilds of Australia +may be bored; so are many of the ignorant houris of Oriental harems +and zenanas. Nay, even an energetic business man may feel +temporarily bored by enforced bodily or mental inaction, or by dreary +associations; but that can scarcely be described as _ennui_, a feeling +which in the true sense of the word means being thoroughly _blasé_ +and oppressed by moral and physical satiety. You must know everything, +have tried everything, have had all your personal wishes and desires +satisfied, all obstacles removed from your path, and pass your way +through life with the firm conviction that there remains nothing to +interest or arouse your ambition in order to be a victim of _ennui_. +The greatest sufferers from this disagreeable sensation are, as I +have just remarked, the royal and imperial personages of Europe, and +although the emperors of Germany and Austria have the greater +portion of their time taken up by the business of the State, and the +administration of the government of their respective countries, yet +neither of them is exempt from ennui. Indeed, there are no princes +whose features betray to such an extent unmistakable evidence of +ennui, as those of the imperial house of Hapsburg, while Emperor +William's choice of many of his friends is guided by the powers which +they may possess to entertain him, and to deliver him in his hours of +leisure from that dreaded complaint. Of course there are exceptions to +this rule, and there are several of Emperor William's cronies who owe +the friendship of their sovereign to kindnesses which they rendered, +and devotion which they displayed to him, in the days prior to +his accession to the throne. But in the majority of instances, +the sometimes strange selection of friends made by the emperor is +attributable to the fact that the personages to whom he accords his +favor succeed in amusing and entertaining him during the time that he +is not occupied with the cares of his empire. + +Conspicuous among friends of this particular character, is Baron von +Kiderlen-Waechter, who holds the rank of minister plenipotentiary in +the diplomatic service of Germany, and who was recently, and possibly +still remains, Prussian envoy to the Court of Denmark, but who is +known in the imperial circle at Berlin by the nickname of "August," +that being the "sobriquet" given to the clowns belonging to +variety-shows and circuses in England, Austria, and France. In fact, +he certainly occupies among William's immediate circle of cronies and +associates the position of court jester, and the emperor makes a point +of taking the baron along with him whenever he goes on his annual +yachting trips along the coast of Sweden and Norway. The latter is the +life and soul of these imperial yachting parties, his witticisms, his +antics, and, above all, his inimitable talent for mimicry keeping even +the sailors of the _Hohenzollern_ in continual roars of laughter. Yet +he can be grave and dignified on state occasions, and when one sees +him at the Court of Berlin arrayed in full uniform, his breast +covered with decorations, it is difficult to realize that this +imposing-looking diplomat is the principal partner of the autocrat +of Germany in such juvenile games as "Hot Cockles," which is a very +favorite game on board the _Hohenzollern_, and in which the kneeling +and blindfolded victim receives a terrific spank or smack, and then +has to guess, under the penalty of ridiculous forfeits, who it is that +struck him! + +No one would ever have dreamt of finding any fault with this intimacy +between the emperor and the baron, had it not been for the fact that +the latter laid himself open to charges of having taken advantage of +the imperial favor won by mimicry and practical joking, to further +political and personal intrigues in which he was interested. Indeed, +he was repeatedly accused in the German press of being largely +responsible for the manifestation of animosity between the Court of +Berlin and Friedrichsrüh that characterized the last eight or nine +years of the life of Prince Bismarck. The newspapers did not +hesitate to assert that the baron, who had formerly been one of the +confidential secretaries of the old chancellor, had deliberately +fomented the irritation of the kaiser against the veteran statesman, +believing that any reconciliation between the monarch and his former +chancellor would entail the baron's disgrace. Finally, the abuse +of the baron in the Berlin press became so pronounced that he +was virtually obliged to challenge the editor of one of the most +vituperative of the metropolitan sheets, and very gallantly lodged a +bullet through the shoulder of this "knight of the quill!" + +For this escapade the baron was condemned to three months' +imprisonment by the courts, duelling, as has been intimated already, +being forbidden by law in Germany. His incarceration in the military +fortress of Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine was absolutely unprecedented. +Ambassadors and envoys have in times gone by been imprisoned by +sovereigns to whose courts they were accredited, in defiance of all +the laws of international right regulating the intercourse between +civilized powers, but this was the first occasion of a government +taking the unheard-of step of jailing one of its own envoys. + +Fortunately for the baron, the King of Denmark was, before his +accession to the throne, an officer of the German army, and as such +was disposed to regard with the utmost leniency the offence for which +his excellency was condemned to imprisonment. He realized that +the baron had no alternative but to fight, his honor having been +questioned by the paper whose editor he challenged. Although duelling +is forbidden by the criminal law of Germany, under the penalty of +imprisonment, yet, had the baron failed to fight, and taken shelter +behind the law, he would not only have been compelled to resign his +diplomatic office, his position at court, and his rank in the army, +but he would have subjected himself to such odium as to have become +to all intents and purposes a social outcast, and compelled to leave +Germany. + +Appreciating this, old King Christian raised no objections to the +appointment of a chargé d'affaires, to represent the diplomatic +interests of Germany at his court, during the term of imprisonment +served by the minister plenipotentiary, and from the moment when the +latter completed his term, and was liberated from prison, he resumed +his duties as envoy at the Court of Copenhagen, just as if nothing had +happened. + +Another intimate friend of the kaiser, who possesses much the same +_talents de société_ as Baron Kiderlen-Waechter, and whose position +in the high favor of the kaiser has been a subject of much unfavorable +comment, and even of open abuse in Berlin, is Baron Holstein, +popularly known as the "_Austern-Freund"_ or "Oyster-Friend," owing to +his altogether phenomenal capacity for the absorption of bivalves, and +his strongly developed fondness for good cheer! Baron Holstein, +like Baron Kiderlen-Waechter, was formerly one of the confidential +secretaries of Prince Bismarck, and a daily guest at his table, and +was treated as a member of the old chancellor's family for years, yet +he became one of the most relentless foes of the Bismarck family as +soon as the prince was dismissed from office. + +Prince Bismarck was not the sort of man to submit in silence to the +enmity of his former secretary, and a few years after his retirement +to Friedrichsrüh he took occasion, during the course of a public +discussion of the circumstances which led to the disgrace and ruin +of Count Harry Arnim, for a long time German ambassador at Paris, to +disclose for the first time in speech, and in print, the part which +Baron Holstein had played in the affair. According to the prince, +Baron Holstein, while first secretary of the German embassy at Paris, +and though treated by Count Arnim as an inmate of his home, living +in fact under his roof, and eating at his table, was in the habit +throughout an entire year of sending secret reports to Berlin against +the chief under whom he was serving--reports which subsequently +furnished the basis of the charges upon which Count Arnim was tried, +convicted and disgraced. + +It is true that some mention was made in the Parisian and English +press at the time of the Arnim trial of the questionable rôle which +Baron Holstein had played in the affair, and there were a number of +Parisian papers that did not hesitate to hold up the baron to, at +any rate, French obloquy, as a man guilty of the base betrayal of the +kindest and most indulgent of chiefs. The only person on that occasion +who had the courage to take up the baron's defence was M. de Blowitz, +French correspondent of the London _Times_, of which he is described +on the banks of the Seine, as the "ambassador," and who possesses +an immense amount of influence with the Parisian press. Blowitz's +championship of the baron's cause was sincerely appreciated by the +latter. He called upon the correspondent, thanked him effusively, and +declared that it was his intervention alone that had made his stay at +Paris possible. + +During the conversation that followed, Blowitz opened his heart to his +visitor, telling him that his own position as the Paris correspondent +of the _Times_ was in danger owing to some changes in the +administration of the London office. A fortnight later, Blowitz +received from the managing editor of the _Times_ in London a letter +sixteen pages long, addressed to Printing-House Square, and entirely +written and signed by Baron Holstein. It denounced Blowitz as being +one of the creatures of the late Duc Decazes, as wilfully ignoring +and concealing for interested purposes of his own, a number of matters +that should have found their way into the columns of the _Times_, and +urging the managers of the latter to send to Paris some fitter and +more impartial person, who would be better able to keep the great +English newspaper _au courant_ of what was going on below as well as +above the surface, than so unscrupulous a person as M. de Blowitz. +This letter was dated exactly three days after the latter's visit of +gratitude to the correspondent, and the incident may be regarded as +being in perfect harmony with the behavior of this favorite of the +kaiser to both Count Harry Arnim and subsequently to Prince Bismarck. + +The third of these cronies of the kaiser, to whom his subjects take +objection on the ground that they are in the habit of using the favor +shown to them by his majesty to further their own interests, and +to injure those who, for one reason or another, have incurred their +animosity, is Count Philip Eulenburg, who has been again and again +referred to in the Berlin newspapers as "the Troubadour." He is at the +present moment German ambassador at Vienna, whence his predecessor, +Prince Reuss, was ousted in spite of the eminent services of a +personal character which he had rendered to the emperor, in order to +make way for the count. The latter's intimacy with his sovereign is +largely due to his cleverness as a poet, a dramatist, and a +composer, and while he has furnished the words to many of the musical +compositions of the kaiser, William has, in turn, had much of his own +poetry set to music by the count. + +Philip Eulenburg has been clever enough to foster William's very +pardonable weakness as to his gifts as a musician and a poet, and +being a man of the most charming manners, possessed of an unusual +supply of tact, and extremely accomplished in many respects, he has +acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over his sovereign. +Indeed it may be doubted whether there is any member of the imperial +entourage who stands as high in the good graces of the German ruler as +does his ambassador to the Court of Vienna. + +Each year the emperor makes a point of spending a week at Liebenberg, +the country-seat of the count, and it has long been a matter +of comment that these visits are invariably signalized by the +inauguration of some political or administrative move on the part of +the kaiser. It was, indeed, at Liebenberg that the emperor decided +upon the dismissal from the chancellorship of General Count Caprivi, +who had been unfortunate enough to incur the enmity of the Eulenburgs. + +Count Philip, who possesses a fine voice, and who during the +annual yachting trip of the emperor on board the _Hohenzollern_, is +accustomed to sing duets with the monarch, and to play the latter's +accompaniments, is not, as is generally supposed, the brother, +but merely the cousin of Botho, Augustus, and the late Count Wend +Eulenburg. His career was almost wrecked at its very outset by +an incident which developed into an international question. While +stationed as a young sub-lieutenant of cavalry at Bonn, he was one day +inadvertently jostled in the street by a gray-haired and rather portly +stranger, whom he at once addressed in the most insulting manner. Upon +the stranger responding in kind, the count drew his sabre and cut the +man down, inflicting upon him such a wound that he expired a short +time afterwards at the hospital. There it was discovered that he +was one Ott, a Frenchman, and one of the chefs of Queen Victoria, +momentarily detached from his duties at Windsor Castle, in order +to attend her majesty's second son, the Duke of Edinburgh,--now the +reigning sovereign of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,--during his stay on the +continent. Both the queen and Prince Alfred were indignant at the +outrage, which was made the subject of an acrimonious correspondence +between the English, French and Prussian Governments, the result being +that Count Philip was sentenced to pay heavy damages to the widow +and to the orphaned children of his victim, and to undergo a year's +imprisonment in a fortress. + +He only joined the diplomatic profession in 1881, when he was +appointed as third secretary to the German embassy at Paris, and he +occupied very inferior rôles in the diplomatic service of his country +until the accession to the throne of his friend and patron, Emperor +William, who promoted him a few weeks later, at one bound, from the +post of second secretary of the legation at Munich to the rank +of Prussian minister-plenipotentiary at Aldenberg, whence he was +transferred a year later to Stuttgart, then, to The Hague, and then +back to Munich, as chief of the legation, which post he retained until +his nomination in 1892 to the German ambassadorship at Vienna, that is +to say, to the blue ribbon of the diplomatic service of the kaiser. + +He is generally regarded as destined in course of time to become +chancellor of the empire, in spite of the human blood with which his +hands are stained. + +Both the court and the public object far less to the intimacy that +exists between Count Augustus Eulenburg and his imperial friend, for +Augustus, who is the grand master of the imperial household and the +chief executive dignitary of the court, has been the closest associate +of William since the latter's earliest boyhood. He was one of those +officials whom Prince Bismarck forced upon the then crown prince +and crown princess, in order to keep watch over their actions and +to counteract their influence on their eldest son. It was he, Count +Augustus, who acted as the comforter of William whenever he was +subjected to reproof or to disciplinary measures by his father or +mother; who invariably espoused the lad's cause, and who contributed +more than anyone else to convince William that he was a victim of the +most cruel and unmerited form of parental severity and persecution. He +constituted himself the mentor and the guide of the prince, initiated +him into all the intricacies of the imperial court, as well as into +the secrets of its most prominent members. In one word, he rendered +himself so indispensable to the prince, that as soon as the latter +succeeded to the throne he at once appointed Count Augustus Eulenburg +to the grand mastership of the court and household. + +To what extent Emperor and Empress Frederick were aware of the spirit +characterizing the count's relations with their eldest son, it is +difficult to say, but there is no doubt that during the last two or +three years of Emperor Frederick's life, the position of Augustus in +the household of "Unser Fritz" was vastly improved and facilitated by +the sensational quarrels of his elder brother, Count Botho Eulenburg, +the celebrated statesman, with Prince Bismarck, for both Frederick +and his wife, from, that time forth, ceased to look upon Augustus as a +creature and a spy of the chancellor. + +How great was the intimacy between William and the count, may be +gathered from the fact that Augustus was the invariable and sole +companion of the emperor in that species of Haroun-al-Raschid +nocturnal expeditions which his majesty was wont to undertake in the +slums of his capital, for the purpose of learning what his people were +saying about him. At that time, his features were far less familiar +to the public than they are to-day, and by giving his moustache +a different twist, and his hair another turn, he experienced no +difficulty in disguising himself. The adventures which he met with +during the course of these nightly prowls in the company of Count +Augustus are numerous enough to fill a book. Still, while they +furnished plenty of amusement, excitement, and experiences not +altogether unpleasant, they involved his majesty, on one or two +occasions, in so much personal danger, that the count, realizing the +responsibility which would rest upon his shoulders in the eyes not +merely of the nation, but of the entire world, if anything untoward +happened to the monarch, induced him, though with difficulty, to +abandon this species of pastime so dear to crowned heads. + +Let me add that it was on the occasion of one of these expeditions +that the emperor met with a very severe injury to his hand. There +is an old established usage in Berlin, on New Year's eve, which +prescribed that any man appearing in the street in a high or stiff hat +should be incontinently bonneted, that is to say, have his hat crushed +down over his eyes and ears by a blow of the fist. Emperor William, +who is somewhat fond of rough horse-play, used to delight in this form +of amusement, and on the first New Year's eve after his accession +to the throne, he sallied forth with Augustus Eulenburg in search of +adventures. Catching sight of a portly citizen of mature years walking +along under the shadows of the trees that line the magnificent avenue +known as "Unter den Linden," he immediately proceeded to crush +the high silk hat which the man wore by a tremendous blow from his +imperial fist! He was unable, however, to refrain from a cry of pain, +and his companion the count, on seeing that his sovereign's hand was +drenched with blood, at once summoned the two detectives who were +following discreetly in the rear, and caused them to arrest the +citizen. The man on being searched at the palace police station, was +found to be a merchant of high standing, who, determined to get even +with the practical jokers from whose brutality he himself had suffered +on previous New Year's eves, had devised a sort of thick leather +hat-lining, armed with long and sharp prongs, pointed outward like the +quills of a porcupine. The emperor, on smashing the hat, naturally had +his hand dreadfully lacerated. The citizen was kept under arrest +for twenty-four hours, during which the question was discussed as to +whether he should be prosecuted and punished for inflicting personal +injury upon the sovereign, or not. Finally, William himself, with +that good sense which so often characterizes him, gave orders for his +liberation, on the ground that he could not possibly have dreamt that +he would be bonneted by his sovereign, that he was, therefore, quite +innocent of any intention to inflict injury upon the person of the +emperor, and that he, William, had, after all, got nothing but what +he deserved for playing such a prank. Moreover, in order to show the +citizen that he bore him no grudge, he sent him, by way of consolation +for his arrest and the destruction of his hat, a portrait bearing the +autograph signature of the kaiser, as well as the words: "In memory of +_Sylvester-nacht_."--New Year's eve is sacred to Saint Sylvester. + +Count Botho Eulenburg, the elder brother of Augustus, has repeatedly +held the offices of cabinet minister and Premier of Prussia. He +happened to be at the head of the Department of the Interior at +the time when the attempts were made by Nobiling to assassinate old +Emperor William, and ever since that time has been the sworn foe of +socialism, and identified with everything that is reactionary and +despotic in Prussian legislation. His influence with the emperor is +very great, and there is no doubt that he has contributed in a great +measure to the somewhat extravagant views which the kaiser entertains +with regard to the Divine Rights of monarchs, and especially +concerning their responsibility, not towards their people alone, but +also towards the Almighty. + +Count Botho's quarrel with Prince Bismarck, originated in the +following manner. The count, in accordance with a decision reached at +a cabinet meeting, spoke as Minister of the Interior in the Prussian +Diet in favor of placing the communal councils under the provincial +board, instead of under the central government. He had no sooner sat +down than a member arose and said that he was instructed by the Prime +Minister, Prince Bismarck, to disavow the view taken by the Minister +of the Interior. This extraordinary action of the prince was due +to the fact that he had suddenly decided upon coquetting with the +Liberals, for the sake of obtaining their support upon the subject of +another of his little inaugurations. Count Botho immediately sent in +his resignation, and did not resume office until after the disgrace of +Prince Bismarck. Previous to this quarrel, however, as I have +already stated, the most intimate relations had subsisted between the +Eulenburgs and the Bismarcks. Indeed, Countess Marie, only daughter +of Prince Bismarck, was at one time betrothed to Wend, the youngest of +the three Eulenburg brothers. Three days before the day fixed for +the wedding, the young man was suddenly seized with typhus, and +forty-eight hours later succumbed to this awful disease. Countess +Marie, it may be added, subsequently married Count Rantzau, after +having been between times engaged to Baron Eisendecker, once German +envoy at Washington, and now the kaiser's adviser in yachting matters, +whom she jilted in consequence of differences of religious opinion. + +So much for the Eulenburgs, who may be said to constitute the most +influential family at the Court of Berlin, and without a description +of whom no history of the life and surroundings of Emperor William +could possibly be regarded as complete. + +Other cronies of the kaiser, who are less influential in a political +sense, and, therefore, less obnoxious to the people, are Counts +Douglas, Count Dohna, and Count Goertz. Public attention, however, has +often been drawn to the friendship of the kaiser for the Dohnas by +the frequency of the imperial visit with which Count Richard Dohna +is honored at his superb old château of Schlobitten, and likewise by +reason of the fact that on two occasions William almost lost his life +through carriage accidents which he sustained while out driving with +the count. + +[Illustration: _THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The Dohnas are one of the most ancient houses of the old German +nobility, and Schlobitten, with its grand old park, shaded by glorious +trees, has been in the possession of the family since the fourteenth +century. The castle, as now arranged, is only two hundred years old, +having been reconstructed on the site, and with the ruins, of an +ancient monastery and dwelling. The name of Dohna is recorded in the +most important pages of Prussian history. Statesmen, generals, and +in particular, confidants and cronies of their successive rulers have +borne that name, and there is not a king who has reigned over Prussia, +and previous to that an elector who has ruled over Brandenburg, +who has not stayed at the castle of Schlobitten and occupied the +antiquated four-poster bed, in which the present emperor sleeps +whenever he makes a visit there. + +Count Richard Dohna is a great breeder of blooded horses, a +magnificent whip, and the accidents which happened to the kaiser, +while out driving with him, were merely due to the fact that in each +case the horses were too young, and not sufficiently broken in. On one +occasion, the drag was upset into a ditch not far from Schlobitten, +the kaiser and the count being severely bruised and shaken up; while +at another time a splendid team got beyond the control of the count, +smashed harnesses and pole, and dashed helter-skelter into the little +town of Proeckelwitz, where they were fortunately stopped without +further mishap. + +The intimacy of the kaiser with the Dohna family serves to recall the +fact that there was a daughter of this house, Countess Anna Dohna, who +claimed to have become the wife of the late Emperor William. She lived +for a time in London, Geneva, and then in New York, and was wont to +style herself Countess Dohna-Brandenburg, having added the name of +Brandenburg to that of Dohna by reason of this alleged marriage. + +While in New York she lived in a large house in Lexington Avenue, +which she furnished handsomely, and she never seemed to be in want of +money. According to her own story she met the late Emperor William in +1825, during the lifetime of his father, King Frederick-William III., +when she was sixteen years of age. After several clandestine meetings, +she claimed that they were married late one night at Clegnitz, in +Silesia, by a young country parson. The latter did not know the +prince, who gave the name of William Count Brandenburg, and his +occupation as that of an officer of the Royal Guards. The marriage +certificate was duly made out, and then her husband told her that it +would be expedient to keep their union secret for a time. To this she +reluctantly assented. + +When at length, urged by her entreaties, her husband revealed their +marriage to his father, King Frederick-William III., he flew into a +terrible rage, forced him to sign a renunciation of the countess's +hand, and she was conveyed to a small castle near Königsberg, in +East-Prussia, where she was kept a close prisoner for years. In 1837, +always according to her story, she succeeded in escaping, and crossing +the Polish frontier reached Warsaw, where in the following year she +was recognized at a state performance of the opera given by Czar +Nicholas, in honor of the King of Prussia and Prince William, who were +visiting the Russian Court. + +She was arrested at the theatre, and on the following morning conveyed +to Eastern Russia, where she was kept under strict surveillance until +the death of Frederick-William III., in 1840, led to her release. +She was then permitted to return to Prussia, and the new king, +Frederick-William IV., offered to compromise the matter with her. This +she refused to do. Her father's death placed her in possession of a +large fortune, and she spent several years in travelling. + +In 1848 she intended to appeal to the Prussian National Assembly for +justice, but the police got wind of it, and she was interned in her +château in Silesia. On William becoming King of Prussia, she was given +the alternative of leaving the country or of becoming an inmate of +a lunatic asylum, so she transferred her abode to Paris, and after +living for awhile in London and Geneva, came to New York in 1876. + +The truth of this story having been questioned, it may be mentioned +that the Prussian _Staats Anzeiger_, or official Berlin Gazette, of +June 4, 1829, contains the following royal decree: + + +"By order of his majesty the king, Anna Countess Dohna having claimed +to be the wife of Prince William of Prussia, I hereby decree that such +a union if it ever took place, be null and void. + + + "FREDERICK WILLIAM, Rex. + + "ANTHONY VON ALTENSTEIN, + "Secretary of State." + + +I have seen it mentioned both in German and foreign publications that +the three Counts of Brandenburg, two of them distinguished generals, +and the third for many years Prussian envoy at Brussels, were the +issue of the union of Countess Anna Dohna and old Emperor William of +Germany. But this is not true; for their father, a famous premier and +soldier, of whom a fine statue exists at Berlin, was the son of +King Frederick-William II. of Prussia, and his morganatic wife, the +Countess of Dohenhoff. + +With regard to Count Douglas, I may state that the kaiser's intimacy +with him dates back to many years prior to his accession to the +throne. Like his twin brother, Count Louis Douglas, the Swedish +statesman, who until a few weeks ago occupied the post of minister of +foreign affairs at Stockholm, Count Willie Douglas may be said to have +royal blood in his veins, for his father, old Count Douglas, now dead, +married the morganatic daughter of a royal princess of the reigning +house of Baden. On the old count's death, William, the elder of the +twins, inherited his mother's vast property, while Louis, the younger, +took possession of his father's estates in Sweden. + +William was educated in Germany, is an officer of the Prussian army, +as well as a member of the Prussian House of Lords: Louis was brought +up in Sweden, entered the Swedish army, became chamberlain to the +Crown Prince of Sweden, married the daughter of Count Ehrensward, late +minister of foreign affairs at Stockholm, and eventually succeeded to +his father-in-law's post at the head of Sweden's foreign office. Like +his twin brother in Prussia, he is exceedingly conservative, imbued +with the necessity of retaining the old feudal prerogatives, and of +placing every obstacle in the way of the rising tide of democracy. +Indeed, whatever influence he exercises over the King and Crown Prince +of Sweden, is as reactionary as any influence which his German brother +may be said to enjoy over the kaiser. + +The Douglas twins are descended from the great Scotch family of +Douglas, and are therefore allied to the Duke of Hamilton and the +Marquis of Queensberry. Their ancestors emigrated to Prussia +from Scotland at the time of the Thirty Years' War, fought under +Gustavus-Adolphus, and afterwards returned with him to Sweden, where +they became members of the Swedish nobility. Count Willie, like his +brother, displays all the hereditary traits of the Scotch house that +bears his name, having the peculiar jaw, falling underlip, and dark +complexion of the celebrated "Black Douglas." Yet neither of the twins +speaks a word of English, nor has ever visited the land of his sire, +though they bear the Douglas motto of "Do or Die." Count Willie has +few British sympathies, but some British tastes, being famous as +a four-in-hand whip, and as a magnificent shot. He is also very +hospitable, and entertains at Berlin in a right royal fashion, his +wealth, derived from the mines which he owns in the Hartz Mountains, +enabling him to do so without hesitation on the score of expense. + +It is no secret that Emperor William has, on two or three occasions, +offered a cabinet office to his friend William Douglas, who has, +however, invariably declined it, much to the relief of those who are +convinced that the same peculiar moral and psychological affinity +exists between the Douglas twins as that attributed to the Corsican +brothers. It would have been, they declare, a dangerous experiment to +have had one of them directing the foreign policy of Germany, and the +other that of the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. + +It may interest my American readers to add that a few years ago Count +Willie Douglas was the defendant in an extraordinary lawsuit at Berlin +which had an American end to it. It seems that some thirty years ago a +man of the name of Brandt died in the United States, leaving a fortune +of several millions of dollars. Having no near relatives in America, +the lawyers advertised for any heirs that he might have left +behind him in Germany. The father of Count Douglas was at the time +burgomaster of the little town of Aschersleben, and one day some of +the inhabitants of the place bearing the name of Brandt placed a lot +of papers in his hands, asking him to glance over them, and to see +whether there was any truth in the statement that they were heirs +to an immense fortune in America. The old count, in his capacity of +burgomaster, declared that the affair looked to him very questionable, +that he believed it was a mere swindle, and that there was surely +nothing in it for them. Whether he returned to them the papers or +not, is unknown, but he declared to the day of his death that he had +restored them, whereas the Brandts of Aschersleben swear that he did +not. Eventually, they brought suit against his son, not merely for +the recovery of the documents, but likewise for the fortune, actually +alleging that the latter had been appropriated by old Count Douglas, +with the connivance of the late Prince Bismarck, who had received a +large share of the plunder. It is scarcely necessary to state that +they were non-suited. + +Emperor William's intimacy with Count and Countess Goertz may be said +to be a sort of inherited friendship, the count's father, president +of the Hessian House of Lords, and his consort, a princess of +Sayn-Wittgenstein, having been the most intimate friends of Emperor +and Empress Frederick, whose acquaintance they made through the +late Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse. In order to show the +affectionate relations existing between the parents of the kaiser +and those of the present head of the ancient and illustrious house of +Goertz, it is merely necessary to state that Professor Hintzpeter, who +for a number of years directed the education of Emperor William and +his brother Henry, and who, as their old tutor, retains much influence +over both the imperial brothers, was selected by Emperor and Empress +Frederick for the purpose, on the personal recommendation of the late +Count and Countess Goertz, in whose family he had resided for a number +of years as tutor to their son. + +In fact, the present Count Goertz, who is some eight or nine years the +senior of the emperor, can boast, like the latter, of having been +a pupil of old Hintzpeter, who in some respects is the German +counterpart of the late Czar Alexander's tutor, M. Pobietnotzoff. +That William shares the confidence placed by his parents in the Goertz +family is shown by the fact that when he found it necessary, at +one time, to obtain the services of a tutor for one of his young +relatives, in a case, it must be added, of particular delicacy, he +at once nominated to the post Professor Krenge, who at the time was +tutoring the sons of the present Count Goertz. Countess Goertz is a +woman of great beauty, which she may be said to have inherited from +her mother, the so-celebrated Countess of Villeneuve, wife to the +Brazilian envoy to the Court of Brussels, and renowned throughout +Europe on account of her loveliness. + +Although the admiration which the kaiser displays for the fascinating +countess is of the most undisguised character, it fails to excite the +jealousy either of his consort or the count, and the relations between +the empress and the countess are so close that the former has been +known to lend to her friend articles of jewelry, and even of dress, +for use at fancy dress balls and elsewhere. The emperor and the count +are also as united and unrestrained with each other as two men can be +who have the same tastes, who have been intimately acquainted since +childhood, and whose parents have been close friends before them. It +is doubtful whether William ever enjoys himself so much, or feels so +thoroughly at home, as when visiting the Goertzes at Schlitz. There +his days are spent in shooting and hunting with the count, and the +evenings in composing new melodies, and setting songs to music with +the countess. The emperor's children and the young Goertzes are bound +by equal ties of affection, and are old-time playmates, so that there +seems every likelihood of this friendship between the Hohenzollerns +and the former reigning sovereign house of Goertz being continued in +the third generation. + +No account of the emperor's private life can be properly written +without including a brief sketch of General Count von Hahnke, and of +Baron von Lucanus. The former is the chief of the military cabinet of +the emperor, and the other is at the head of his civil cabinet, that +is to say, he occupies the post of principal private secretary. Both +of them accompany the emperor wherever he goes, and in fact constitute +his very shadow, enjoying by reason of their proximity to the +sovereign, and by their close association with him, a far greater +degree of power and influence than any cabinet minister. + +Baron Lucanus is an extremely good-looking man, whose popular nickname +at Berlin, namely, "the emperor's Blackie Man," is in nowise due to +any swarthiness of complexion, but to the fact that among the great +dignitaries in attendance on the emperor, he is the only one in +civilian attire, while moreover he is invariably selected by the +sovereign to convey to any cabinet minister, whose resignation is +required, the imperial intimation "_that he has ceased to please_." + +It was Baron von Lucanus who communicated to Prince Bismarck the +emperor's request and subsequent peremptory command for the surrender +of the chancellorship of the empire, and it was he, too, who was +sent to ask Bismarck's successor, General Count Caprivi, for his +resignation; in fact, there has not been a single ministerial head +to fall during the last ten years--and they have been very numerous +during the present reign--where Herr von Lucanus has not been the +imperial emissary of these evil tidings. This is so well known +in Berlin that the moment the baron is seen to be calling at the +residence of any distinguished statesman who happens to be in office, +it is at once taken for granted that the axe has once more fallen, and +that it is another case of a ministerial downfall. + +The Berliners declare that Emperor William pitches upon Lucanus +for these particular jobs in consequence of his being the son of a +Halberstadt druggist, and as such, more likely to be proficient in the +art of sugar-coating the bitter pills than any mere military officer! +He owes his patent of nobility to the late Emperor Frederick, who +entertained a very high opinion of his intelligence, and it is worthy +of note that he first came to the fore in the entourage of the emperor +when Prince Bismarck's power as chancellor commenced to wane. He is +a man of about fifty, and served for a quarter of a century in the +Department of Public Worship. It was, however, as an expert in art +matters, and as an intelligent assistant in the organization of the +Imperial Museum of Science and Art at Berlin, that he first attracted +the notice and good-will of the late emperor, and particularly of the +Empress Frederick. + +His military colleague, General Count von Hahnke, although a charming +man, is, nevertheless, one of the most bitterly-hated officers of the +German army; this is due to the fact that he has virtually usurped +the prerogatives and the power of the minister of war, who has been +reduced to a mere instrument of his wishes. This is not altogether the +fault of the general, for the emperor insists on retaining absolute +control of the army in his own hands, and of exercising its command in +every particular, no appointment being made without his initiative +and sanction, while everything is done through Count Hahnke as supreme +head of the military cabinet of his majesty. + +A few years ago the general lost his son under singularly tragical and +somewhat mysterious circumstances. The misfortune occurred during +one of the annual yachting trips of the kaiser, young Hahnke being a +lieutenant on board the yacht. According to the official version, the +young officer met with his death while coasting down a mountain road +at one of the Norwegian ports at which the yacht had touched, his +bicycle getting beyond his control, and precipitating itself with its +rider over a low stone parapet into a fierce torrent hundreds of feet +below. The emperor happened at the time to have a bruise on the face, +caused by a block and tackle swinging against him during a squall, +while on deck, and on the strength of this temporary disfigurement, +a story most painful to the emperor was circulated to the effect that +his black eye was due to a blow from young Hahnke, who resented some +indignity in connection with the practical jokes and rough horse-play +so frequent on board the _Hohenzollern_ during the emperor's annual +holiday. It was added that the young officer had been given by +military and naval etiquette the alternative of blowing out his +brains, or of taking his life in some other way, as the only means of +saving his name from disgrace and his honor from loss; and a certain +degree of color was given to the tale by the fact that it was +published at full length in a London society newspaper, at the very +time when its proprietor and editor was sojourning at Marienbad with +the Prince of Wales, and in daily intercourse with the British heir +apparent, who was naturally supposed to know the truth about young +Hahnke's death. Perhaps the most striking and convincing evidence of +the absurd fabrication of this story, which has given much sorrow, +both to the emperor and empress, is to be found in the fact that the +young officer's father remained at the head of the emperor's military +cabinet, and has never abandoned, even temporarily, his service near +the kaiser; this the general would certainly not have done had William +been in any sense of the word responsible for the death of his boy. +In fact it was the kindly and tactful sympathy of both the emperor +and the empress that enabled the bereaved father to bear his loss +with fortitude, and his gratitude for the kindness shown to him by his +sovereign is of a deep and undying quality. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Great is the contrast between the Court of Berlin to-day and the +aspect which it presented during the closing years of the reign of old +Emperor William, and were any of the latter's familiars to return to +the place where so much of their existence had been spent, they would +indeed find themselves amidst strange surroundings and strange faces. +In those days, grey and white hair were the rule rather than the +exception. To-day the contrary is the case, and not merely do +the dignitaries of the court and of the army belong to a younger +generation, but also the members of the imperial circle, that is to +say, the princes and princesses of the blood, with whom the emperor +and empress associate as kinsfolk and near relatives. + +The few older members of the reigning house of Prussia who +survive--the contemporaries of the grandfather and father of William +II.--find the atmosphere of the court so different from what they have +been accustomed to in the past, so out of keeping with their ideas--in +one word, feel themselves so little at home there, that they prefer to +stay away as much as they can. Thus Prince Albert of Prussia, one of +the grandest looking soldiers of the imperial army, and certainly one +of the most gigantic in stature, divides his time between Brunswick, +where he holds a court of his own as regent, and England, where he +is accustomed to spend his holidays. The widowed Princess +Frederick-Charles lives nearly all the year round in Italy with +her chamberlain, Baron Wangenheim, whom she is understood to have +morganatically married, and in whose company she occasionally visits +the pope, a circumstance which has led to the rumor that she has +joined the Church of Rome. The widowed Empress Frederick is either +at her lovely castle of Kronberg, near Homburg, which is stocked from +garret to cellar with those art treasures of which she is one of the +finest _connaisseuses_ in Europe, or else is traveling about in Italy, +Austria or England. Indeed the only contemporary of the old Emperor +who still remains at Berlin, and who is occasionally to be seen at +court, giving one the impression of a spectre of the past, is +Prince George, who bears a startling resemblance to the old kaiser +particularly when arrayed in uniform. + +While slightly eccentric, he is remarkably accomplished, and has not +only written a number of German plays over the pen-name of "George +Conrad," which have been successfully staged in Germany, but is even +the author of a drama written in the purest and most exquisitely +correct French, sparkling with Parisian wit and brilliancy, which has +had long runs in many theatres without either the actors or the public +being aware that it was from the pen of a prince of Prussia. + +Until the war of 1870, Prince George was on terms of the utmost +intimacy with the de Goncourts, the Dumases, de Girardin, and all +the principal literary lights of France, with whom he was wont to +foregather on a footing of artistic equality each year at Ems, a +German watering-place much frequented by the French prior to the great +struggle of 1870; of course, since that time his intercourse with +French people has been much more restricted, and through a feeling +of delicacy and tact, with which he is not usually credited, he has +refrained from visiting Paris, or even from setting his foot on French +territory since the war. This, however, has not prevented him from +keeping himself _au courant_ of every literary and dramatic event that +takes place on the banks of the Seine, and a French academician of +my acquaintance who was presented to him last summer at Ems, and +who spent several days there in his company, could not sufficiently +express his amazement, not merely at the extraordinary purity of the +prince's French, but likewise at the amazing manner in which he seems +to have kept track of everything that has happened at Paris in the +world of letters and art, as well as of the French idioms, figures of +speech, and even witticisms of the present day. + +The delicacy which Prince George manifests with regard to the +French people, and his fear lest his admiration for them should be +misinterpreted, is largely due to the treatment that he received at +the hands of Empress Eugénie at Carlsbad, in 1874 or 1875. Having +been a frequent and welcome guest at the Tuileries during the reign of +Napoleon III., the prince, when he found that the widowed empress had +arrived at Carlsbad, and had taken up her residence at the very hotel +at which he was staying, naturally considered that he could not do +otherwise than take some notice of her presence; if he affected to +ignore her, he would have exposed himself to the reproach of gross +discourtesy; at the same time he felt that any public form of +attention might prove unwelcome to her, and might possibly serve to +impair her son's prospects of recovering his father's throne; so he +contented himself with sending her every day magnificent baskets of +flowers, and with bowing to her with the utmost deference, but without +attempting to accost her when he met her in the gardens or park. He +likewise caused it to be intimated to her secretary, M. Pietri, that +if at any moment she felt disposed to accord him an audience, he would +be only too glad of the opportunity to "lay his homage at the feet of +her majesty." That was all. Yet such as it was, the empress managed to +turn it to political account, for she suddenly left Carlsbad, making +it known throughout France, by means of the press, that she had been +compelled to quit the baths, and to interrupt the cure, in consequence +of the undesirable attentions which Prince George of Prussia persisted +in forcing upon her. Naturally, the newspapers made the most of her +story, and were filled with denunciations and abuse of the prince, +some of the sheets asserting, by way of explanation of his +conduct, that he was mentally unbalanced, his mother having been an +acknowledged lunatic, and his brother. Prince Alexander, an imbecile. +Nothing can be further from the truth. It cannot be denied that he +has a few harmless and kindly eccentricities which would attract no +attention whatever in an ordinary septuagenarian, but which excite +comment merely by reason of his rank as a prince of the blood. He is +a gentle, brilliantly accomplished, chivalrous old fellow, without +an enemy in the world, and is a great favorite with the emperor's +children, who will deeply miss him when he passes over to the +majority, and is laid to rest in the family vault of the house of +Hohenzollern. + +With this exception, the princes and princesses of the blood of the +Court of Berlin are all of much the same age as the emperor. They +comprise Prince Henry, his only brother, who is due home from China in +the spring of 1900, and his consort, Princess Irene of Hesse, sister +of the young czarina. Then there is Prince Frederick-Leopold, the +extremely wealthy son of Prussia's celebrated cavalry general, Prince +Frederick-Charles, to whom belonged the credit of taking the French +stronghold of Metz, in the war of 1870. He is married to a younger +sister of the empress, and is, therefore, not only the cousin, but +likewise the brother-in-law of the kaiser. + +Prince Adolph, of Schaumburg-Lippe, although nominally stationed at +Bonn, is also accustomed to spend the entire season at Berlin, with +his wife, Princess Victoria of Prussia, a sister of the kaiser. The +latter is credited with the intention of investing Prince Adolph with +the regency of Brunswick, should it be vacated by Prince Albert, or +else of appointing him Viceroy of Alsace-Lorraine. Princess Aribert +of Anhalt and her husband, too, are very conspicuous figures in the +imperial circle, the princess being a special favorite of the kaiser. +She is his first cousin, being the offspring of Queen Victoria's +daughter Helena, who married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, +the guardian of the present empress, who spent much of her girlhood +in England with Prince and Princess Christian, so that her friendship +with Princess Aribert may be said to date from childhood. Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, the only brother of the empress, +has quieted down to a great extent since his marriage a year ago to +Princess Dorothy of Coburg, and inasmuch as his eighteen-year-old wife +appears to be supremely happy, there is every reason to believe that +he has demonstrated the truth of the good old adage, according to +which "reformed rakes make the best husbands!" The only daughter of +the King of Wurtemberg has made her home at Potsdam and at Berlin +since her marriage to the Prince of Wied, and as she is not only the +cousin, but likewise the most intimate friend of the young Queen +of Holland, the kaiser finds considerable political advantage in +lavishing tokens of his affection and regard upon both her and her +husband. + +Another young couple belonging to the Court of Berlin are Prince and +Princess William of Hohenzollern. The princess is a daughter of the +Sicilian branch of the house of Bourbon, while her husband is the +eldest son of that Leopold of Hohenzollern, on account of whose +election to the throne of Spain in 1870, France embarked upon her +disastrous war with Germany. Young Prince William of Hohenzollern, it +may be added, figured for a time as Crown Prince of Roumania, and as +heir to the throne of his uncle, King Charles; but after living +for some time at Bucharest, he came to the conclusion that life in +Roumania as crown prince was infinitely less agreeable than that of +a scion of the house of Hohenzollern at Berlin, so he renounced his +rights to the Roumanian throne, and came back to Berlin to live. + +His younger brother, Charles of Hohenzollern, divides his time between +Berlin and Potsdam; he is married to Princess Josephine of Belgium, +daughter of that Count of Flanders, who is brother and next heir to +King Leopold. Besides these, there are Prince and Princess Albert +of Saxe-Altenburg, and several other young couples belonging to the +junior sovereign houses of the German empire, who prefer to make +their home at Berlin, and at Potsdam, rather than in the smaller and +infinitely less brilliant capitals of their respective countries. +Moreover, it has now become the fashion among the various non-Prussian +rulers of the German Confederation, to send the junior members of +their families--the young men--to Berlin for a time, in order to +complete their military education under the eyes of the kaiser, and +to be in touch with that general staff which is virtually the Supreme +Council of War of the German army. + +It is for this reason that Prince Louis of Bavaria, although he +notoriously dislikes the kaiser and resents his assumption of +superiority, claiming that the members of the Wittelsbach family are +not the vassals, but the allies of the emperor, nevertheless has sent +first his eldest son, and then each of his younger ones in turn, +to spend a year or two at the Court of Berlin, under the immediate +direction and eye of the kaiser. Prince Louis was particularly anxious +that his eldest son, Rupert, as future King of Bavaria, should get +in touch with the emperor, and become thoroughly acquainted, not +only with Prussian methods, but also with the leading statesmen and +generals, and with the trend of political aims and aspirations at +Berlin. The example of Prince Louis has been followed by all the other +petty German sovereigns, so that there are always about a score of +non-Prussian but German young princes of the blood, giving life and +gayety to the Courts of Berlin, and Potsdam, and taking a leading part +in Berlin society. + +Among the princes there is none, however, who possesses so striking an +individuality as William's only brother, Henry. His assignment to the +command of the German naval forces in the far Orient a couple of years +ago, created much comment and speculation, being construed by many, +both in Germany and abroad, as a banishment resulting from the +kaiser's jealousy and dislike of the very popular Sailor Prince. I +do not believe for one moment that this supposed jealousy exists, +although everything that can possibly be conceived has been done, +unintentionally and intentionally, to create it, in a manner which I +will describe a little further on. + +The reason of Prince Henry's being sent to the far Orient was of a +twofold character. In the first place, the Chinese Empire seemed to +be on the eve of a break-up, and each of the various Great Powers of +Europe, was exerting its utmost energies to secure the lion's share in +the game of grab in progress at Pekin. Scions of European royalty who +visit China and Japan are few and far between, and the emperor very +naturally thought that the presence of Prince Henry at the head of +the German naval forces in Chinese waters--a prince who in addition +to being the kaiser's only brother, is brother-in-law to the Russian +czar, and a grandson of the Queen of England,--would have the effect +of giving to the cause of Germany in the Orient an importance and a +prestige which would atone for the inferiority of its naval strength +in that part of the globe. Then, too, the emperor is generally +believed to have foreseen the conflict between Spain and the United +States, and to have known beforehand of the intention of the latter to +make a dash upon Manila, in order to secure possession of the rich and +fertile Philippine archipelago at the first outbreak of hostilities. +Germany's navy is of such relatively recent origin that its +flag-officers are far from possessing either the spirit of resource, +or the cleverness and diplomacy for which the commanding generals of +the German army are so distinguished. They are men who, officially, +intellectually, and socially, are of an inferior calibre, the majority +of them being of plebeian birth. The emperor held, therefore, that it +was all-important that Germany's squadron in the far Orient should be, +at that particular juncture, under the command of an officer such +as Prince Henry, who, by reason of his royal rank and his intimate +knowledge of his brother's views and wishes, would have the necessary +boldness, tact, and presence of mind to know exactly how to deal with +any crisis that might arise. + +I am perfectly aware that there is a disposition in the United States +to blame Prince Henry for the bad feeling which was caused by the +attitude of the German warships at Manila during the few months that +followed the great American naval victory gained under the guns of +that city, but the trouble was due to the Prussian rear-admiral, +Diederichs, who, to use the expressive phrase of the English captain, +Sir Edward Chichester, in endeavoring to excuse him in the eyes of +Admiral Dewey, "had no sea-manners," and there is no doubt that had +Prince Henry been at Manila, instead of Diederichs, at that moment, +there would have been no friction whatsoever, either between the naval +commanders, or subsequently between the two nations, for Prince Henry +possesses precisely those qualities which would have resulted in +feelings of good-will and friendship with Admiral Dewey. He is modest, +honest, broad-minded, speaks English perfectly, and is entirely free +from any affectation or pose. He is a man, indeed, who has so many +qualities in common with Dewey that it is impossible that they should +not have understood each other, and under the circumstances it is most +unfortunate that the prince happened to be in the northernmost portion +of the China seas at the very time that the battle of Manila was +fought. It may be remembered that matters went on very much more +smoothly between the Germans and the Americans at Manila after the +withdrawal of Admiral Diederichs. + +There was another very important reason for sending Prince Henry to +Manila; he is, of all the members of his house, the one most strongly +imbued with liberal and progressive ideas in political affairs. In +fact, he seems to have inherited all those political views of his +father, Emperor Frederick, which were a source of so much concern +and apprehension to the late Prince Bismarck. To tell the truth, the +political views and aspirations of Henry are diametrically opposed to +those of his elder brother, a circumstance which does not, however, in +any way impair the affection existing between the two. + +At the time when he sent off Prince Henry to China, the kaiser was far +from well, and was suffering more than usually from the painful +malady of the ear already referred to, and which is identical with +the disease which first of all wrecked the mind and then killed his +grand-uncle, King Frederick William IV. Added to this, he is firmly +imbued with the idea that he is destined to meet with a sudden death +at the hands of an assassin, a conviction which never leaves him, +and which is perhaps responsible for that species of stern and even +aggressive air with which he, gazes at the cheering crowds when he +rides home at the head of his troops through the streets of Berlin +or of Potsdam after a day spent in military manoeuvres on the great +plains of Tempelhof. + +If any of my readers feel disposed to condemn him for this +apprehension,--it would be unjust to style it fear,--let them try to +imagine how they themselves would feel if they knew that there were +scores of desperate men and women who had sworn to take their lives by +means of bullets or explosive bombs, fired or hurled from the centre +of some dense crowd, which would destroy the life of the victim of +such an outrage without a moment's warning, or without being able to +even so much as raise a hand in self-defense. + +Now at the time when Prince Henry sailed for China, the young crown +prince was sixteen years of age; that is to say, he lacked two years +of the attainment of his majority. Had anything untoward happened +to the kaiser during the minority of the crown prince, Prince Henry +would, according to the laws of the house of Hohenzollern and of the +Prussian constitution, have been appointed as regent until his nephew +came of age. Prince Henry's right to the regency, as nearest +male relative, was one of which he could not be deprived, save by +altogether exceptional and questionable methods, which both policy +and fraternal affection forbade the emperor to employ. Yet he realized +that were Henry to be entrusted with the regency he would change +in the most radical fashion the course of the ship of state; would +introduce measures dear to the late Emperor Frederick, but to which +he, the kaiser, was unalterably opposed, and would, in short, undo +everything that he himself had done; so that when eventually the crown +prince came of age there would be no longer any possibility of his +continuing his father's policy, a policy which the emperor has been at +great pains to inculcate into his boy. + +With Prince Henry at the Antipodes, there was an excuse for vesting +the regency either in the harmless hands of Frederick-Leopold, or in +those of Prince Albert, whose ideas on the subject of government are +to a great extent in keeping with those of the kaiser. That was one +of the reasons why Henry was sent off to China, and any doubt upon the +subject will be removed by remembering the fact that his sojourn in +the far East will terminate with the eighteenth birthday,--the coming +of age--of his nephew, the young crown prince. + +That such real and lasting affection should subsist between +William and Henry is indeed surprising, and speaks volumes for the +warm-heartedness, and I might almost say magnanimity of the kaiser's +character. For everything that could possibly have contributed to +render him jealous of his brother, has been done, as I remarked above. + +Henry was always favored at the expense of William by his father and +mother, as well as by the entire imperial family. In fact, the late +emperor gave a striking expression of his preference for his younger +son, when at the time of the prince's marriage to Princess Irene of +Hesse, he pressed into Henry's hand a slip of paper--he could not +speak any longer, owing to the awful malady which carried him off,--on +which he had written, "_You at least have never given me a moment's +sorrow, and will make as good a husband as you have been a loving +son_;" and when soon after this Emperor Frederick breathed his last, +it was found that he had left the major part of his fortune either +to Henry directly, or to Empress Frederick, in trust for this, his +favorite son. + +This privileged position in the affection of his parents, aye, and +it may be added in the hearts of the German people, is due in a large +measure to Prince Henry's education. He was brought up, so to speak, +at sea, and the moral profession is of all others the one which +calls forth all the best qualities of a man, develops manliness, and +diminishes pride and affectation. Before he was twenty years of age, +he had twice circumnavigated the globe, visiting every corner of the +earth, and carrying the flag of Germany into regions where it had +never been seen before. This in itself was sufficient to interest +Germans in the young prince, the first of his house to seek adventures +in such far distant climes; and this healthy, manly, interesting mode +of life was compared to his advantage with the somewhat dissipated +existence of a young army officer, which his elder brother, prior to +his marriage, indulged in at Berlin. + +Occasionally, stories reached the public through the press of feats +of gallantry performed by the royal sailor, such as the plunging +overboard once in a squall, and at another time in shark-infested +waters, to save drowning sailors; while every incident which thus +became known concerning the young prince served to confirm his +countrymen in the belief that he was endowed in an altogether +exceptional degree with those qualities which we are so fond of +ascribing to "those who go down to the sea in ships." These long sea +voyages had, moreover, the effect of keeping him clear of all +those court and political intrigues with which Emperor William was +surrounded, as if with a very network, prior to his accession to the +throne; intrigues, I may add, which since William became emperor, have +been devoted to many a futile endeavor designed to create mischief +between the two brothers. It is probable that they will have less +effect than ever from henceforth, since William, now that his eldest +boy has attained his majority, will have no longer any reason to +apprehend the possibility of Henry's undoing, in the capacity of +regent, all the work that he, the kaiser, has accomplished during the +eleven years of his reign; indeed, now that this danger is eliminated, +the two brothers are likely to become more intimate than ever, and the +Court of Berlin will probably see much more of the sailor prince than +heretofore. Henry is the very life of his brother's court, as he is +not only extremely fond of making fun, even at the expense sometimes +of his majesty, especially about the excessively earnest attitude +which the emperor assumes, with regard to the most trivial questions. +Absolutely unconventional, save on his own quarter-deck, he carries +about with him an atmosphere of brightness and breeziness which is +almost as infectious and as bracing as a whiff of sea air. + +For all his love of skylarking, and the freedom of his manners, his +name has never been associated with any questionable story, save by +the gutter element of the Parisian press, which endeavored to drag him +into the Dreyfus case by declaring that Germany's strange attitude in +the affair was due to the alleged knowledge the French War Department +of terrible immorality proved to have been committed by Prince Henry +during frequent secret visits to Paris. Of course there is not a word +of truth in these contemptible stories, and the prince's reputation as +a perfect husband and a healthy-minded gentleman, stands high, even +in Berlin, where people are overfond of scandalous gossip. Certainly +there are plenty of stories current about the pranks that he has +played, but these are all of an innocent and boyish character. The +prince creates the impression of the most complete wholesomeness; his +six feet of well set up manhood, his bright eyes and clear, tanned +skin, seem the outward and visible sign of a thoroughly clean and +sound mind; common sense, frankness, fearlessness, dignity and +kindness, are written in his every feature in a way that reminds +people vividly of his lamented father; while the easy movements of +an athletic body, always apparently in the pink of condition, are +evidently allied to the smooth serenity of a mind confident in itself, +but modest with the humility of knowledge. + +After having said so much that is pleasant of the prince, I must, +in pursuance of my determination to give the shadows as well as the +lights of my portraits, admit that there are two particulars in which +Prince Henry cannot be said to shine. One of these is public speaking, +and the other is shooting; he is as unfortunate in the one respect as +in the other. + +His only public utterance of any importance was made at the time +of his departure for China, when he addressed the emperor in such +extravagant terms, referring to his "consecrated majesty," and so on, +that it created mingled feelings of amazement and amusement from one +end of the civilized world to the other! There has always been an +impression in my mind that there was in this extraordinary speech just +a suspicion of a disposition to guy his brother: for not only were the +terms that he used entirely foreign to his character,--their _outré_ +tenor bordering on the ridiculous,--but it is impossible for anyone +who has ever heard him chaffing his seasick brother while out +yachting, putting his head in at the cabin door every now and again, +and calling out, "Well, Willie, how do you feel now, and what has +become of your imperial dignity?" to believe that he was really +serious when he so solemnly ascribed divine attributes to this +selfsame Willie. + +I heard that after the prince's arrival in China, where banquets were +given in his honor by the German and English leading colonists, he was +repeatedly asked to make a few remarks in reply to the toasts drunk +in his honor, but that on each occasion he politely informed his hosts +that he would see them in Jericho before he got on his feet to address +them. "Only once in my life," he was wont to say, "did I make a +speech, and I shall never hear the end of that to the close of my +days!" A little later on, when the Shanghai correspondent of the +London _Times_ was presented to him, he himself referred to this most +celebrated and oft-quoted speech by inquiring good-humoredly, and +withal plaintively, "By the way, don't you think your newspapers have +roasted me enough about it?" + +With regard to his shooting, there is no scion of royalty who has been +the cause of more gun accidents than the prince. He had not attained +his majority before he managed, while shooting in the game preserves +of his uncle, the Grand Duke of Baden, to wound a gamekeeper so +severely that the man was crippled for life, and has since been in the +receipt of a generous pension from the prince. Then in Corfu, while +clambering up a steep hill, he had the misfortune to unintentionally +discharge his gun, the lead lodging in a Greek gentleman who was +following a few feet behind him and grievously injuring him; while +at a later period he succeeded in inflicting serious damage upon a +Turkish dignitary appointed by the Sultan to attend him during his +shooting trips in Syria. It is of him, too, that is related the story +of how, when asked as a youth of twenty, by Queen Victoria, during +one of his stays at Balmoral, what sport he had had while out deer +stalking, he replied proudly: "Well, grandma, I did not succeed in +killing a stag, but I hit quite a number." It is recorded that there +was a painful silence after this remark, and that the prince was not +again urged to go out deer stalking during his stay at Balmoral! + +Princess Henry is probably the least favored, both as to beauty and +brilliancy of intellect, of the daughters of the late Grand Duke of +Hesse, and of his consort, Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen +Victoria. Her three sisters, the Grand Duchess Sergius of Russia, +Princess Louis of Battenberg, and the young czarina, are renowned for +their loveliness and their cleverness, the latter inherited from their +talented mother; whereas Princess Irene and her brother, the reigning +Grand Duke of Hesse, take far more after their father. Princess Irene +was born in 1866, during the Seven Weeks' War, when her father was +called upon to fight his own brothers in the Prussian army, and his +brother-in-law, the late Emperor Frederick, then Crown Prince of +Prussia. Her baptismal sponsors were the officers and men belonging +to the two cavalry regiments under her father's special command during +that war:--there is no other princess in Europe who has ever had two +entire regiments of cavalry for godfathers! The name of Irene was +bestowed upon her by way of gratitude for the restoration of peace, +and she used always to be known in her young days at Darmstadt as the +"Friedenskind," or "child of peace." After her mother's death from +diphtheria, it was the latter's eldest sister, the now widowed Empress +Frederick, who endeavored, as far as possible, to look after the +children, and it was perhaps this that led to Prince Henry's falling +in love with his cousin. The match was strongly opposed by Prince +Bismarck, partly upon the ground of the close relationship of the +parties, but mainly on account of his hatred for the reigning house of +Hesse. But when Prince Henry declared that he would remain single all +his life unless he were allowed to marry Princess Irene, consent was +given, and the wedding took place at Charlottenburg in the presence +of the dying Emperor Frederick, this being the last public ceremony at +which he was present. One of the saddest of sights, indeed, was that +presented by "Unser Fritz," almost too weak to stand, giving his +voiceless blessing after the ceremony to his favorite son, and to +his new daughter-in-law, who, having been born in a time of war and +misery, was entering upon her new life as a wife at a time when the +whole nation was once more sorrowing. While Princess Irene is +perhaps less attractive than her sisters, she is more interested in +philanthropic movements than any other member of her family, and at +Kiel, where she makes her home, she is greatly liked, especially by +the poor. She is a magnificent equestrienne, and a very clever shot, +being infinitely more successful in this respect than her husband, who +is so devoted to her that he bears this superiority with the greatest +equanimity. + +Although Prince Frederick-Leopold has certainly relieved himself from +any imputation of effeminacy by the conspicuous part he took in the +long-distance rides between Berlin and Vienna, and by his magnificent +horsemanship, yet he does not convey to people the impression of +manliness that constitutes so distinguishing a characteristic of his +cousins, Prince Henry and the kaiser. He is lacking alike in virility +and intellect, and seems to have no other aim and aspiration in life +than to live up to his name and reputation as the leader of masculine +fashion or "Gigerl König," which may be rendered into English as +"king of the dudes." They say at the Court of Berlin that he is so +particular about the fit of his clothes that he will never remain +seated for more than five minutes at a time, not even when traveling, +for fear of spoiling the crease in his trousers or of making them +baggy at the knees! He does not attempt to disguise the fact that +the faultlessness of his coats or of his uniforms is an object of +paramount importance. These are, however, very harmless weaknesses, +which are more than atoned for by the fact that he is an excellent +father and husband, but the obstinacy of his temper and his vagaries +as a leader of masculine fashion at Berlin have often been a source of +impatience and irritation to the kaiser. It is only just to lay stress +on his excellence both as a husband and a father, as all sorts of +stories have been circulated, not merely in the foreign press, but +also in the German newspapers, charging him with intemperance and with +brutality towards his wife, who is a younger sister of the empress, +such as to necessitate the intervention of the kaiser. + +These stories are pure calumnies, and originate in a confusion between +the prince and his father, the celebrated cavalry general. The latter, +popularly known as the "Red Prince," was the commander to whom Metz +capitulated in 1870, and was not only noted for his hard drinking, +but likewise for his rough usage of his amiable and formerly lovely +consort when he was in his cups. He is credited with having frequently +beaten her, either with his fist or with his riding whip, when crazed +with drink; and it is no secret that she left him on three occasions +with the avowed intention of securing a separation and even divorce, +and was only persuaded to return to her husband by the entreaties of +the old emperor. + +Of course all this was a matter of court gossip at the time, and three +or four years ago the stories formerly current concerning the father, +who has been dead for more than a decade, were revived with regard to +his son, for no other reason than that the prince had quite frequently +rendered himself subject to disciplinary measures by the kaiser. If +the latter has, however, ordered him to remain under arrest in his +palace at various times, it has not been as a punishment for having +horsewhipped his wife when drunk, as some foreign illustrated papers +would have the world believe, but only because the prince had been +guilty of some neglect in military duty, or had disobeyed the wishes +of the emperor in connection with the management of his household. + +Thus, some two or three winters ago, Princess Frederick-Leopold was +almost drowned while out skating near Potsdam; she broke through the +ice, was completely unconscious when miraculously rescued by four +peasants who happened to be in the neighborhood, and was only brought +back to life with the utmost difficulty. The emperor and empress +were naturally much concerned and distressed by this accident; but +William's sympathy changed into very serious anger when he learnt that +the princess had remained so long under the ice and had been dependent +on the courage and bravery of the peasants who rescued her, only +because neither her husband nor any of the gentlemen of his household +had been in attendance upon her. In fact, she was quite alone with a +lady-in-waiting, who lost her head, and was completely unable to offer +any assistance when the mishap occurred. The emperor also discovered +that on the previous day the princess had, without any escort +whatsoever, skated alone all the way from Potsdam to Brandenburg and +back, a remarkable feat, calling for much endurance and attended by +no little danger. Now, as I have already stated, it is contrary to the +rules of court etiquette and usage for any prince or princess of the +blood to leave their residence, unattended, and it was on account of +the infraction of this regulation that the kaiser sentenced both the +prince and his consort to several weeks' arrest in their palace. It +was this circumstance that gave rise to the ridiculous and sensational +tale of the prince having been punished by the emperor in consequence +of the latter having caught him in the act of beating the princess +while in a fit of drunken fury. + +Prince Frederick-Leopold is a great traveller, and has not only spent +a considerable time in India as the guest of his brother-in-law, the +Duke of Connaught, when the latter was in military command at Bombay, +but, moreover, he has visited China and Japan, and devoted several +months to a tour in the United States, which was wound up by some +rather exciting events at Coney Island before his return home to +Berlin. + +[Illustration: _SCENE IN DUKE ERNEST GUNTHER'S QUARTERS_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +Of the bachelorhood days of the kaiser's other brother-in-law, Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, already mentioned several times +in these pages, especially in connection with the anonymous letter +scandal, the least said the better. A hard-drinking, dissipated, and +somewhat coarse-mannered cavalry officer, he has often been a source +of perpetual anger to the kaiser and of distress to his sister, the +excellent empress. He managed to get his name involved in all sorts of +unsavory speculations on the stock exchange and in gambling scandals, +invariably, it is true, as a victim; while at least three foreign +footlight favorites were expelled from Germany by the police on +account of the scandals created by his association with them. On one +occasion, he even had the audacity to appear at Charlottenburg with a +notorious American "_demi-mondaine_" seated beside him on the box of +his drag, although his sister, the empress, was present at the races, +as well as a large number of ladies of the court and many great +dignitaries. Seeing the servants of his coach arrayed in the familiar +liveries of his house, they all naturally imagined that the +lady beside the duke was one of his sisters, either Princess +Frederick-Leopold or Princess Fedora, and accorded to her the homage +which would have belonged by right to either of these two princesses, +but which was totally misplaced when conceded to a woman of such +unenviable notoriety as the fair stranger who sat beside the duke. +Needless to add that the emperor was furious when he heard of the +affair, and after giving orders for the immediate expulsion of the +woman, directed the prince to leave Berlin, and to remain at his +castle of Prinkenau until he had expiated his gross and flagrant +breach of the proprieties. + +Duke Ernest-Gunther was a suitor for the hand of quite a large number +of princesses, and among those to whom he proposed were the daughters +of the Prince of Wales and of the latter's brother, the Duke of +Coburg, his suit being rejected with touching unanimity in each +instance, in consequence of his unenviable reputation. Yet strangely +enough, as stated previously, he seems to have developed into +an exemplary husband, although his marriage was contracted under +circumstances which, verged on a tragedy; for his wife, a mere +seventeen-year-old girl, just issuing from the school-room when he +made an offer for her hand, was literally flung into his arms by both +her parents, who were determined to separate from each other, and who +had been informed by Emperor Francis-Joseph of Austria, and by King +Leopold of Belgium, that no such step could be tolerated until after +the marriage of little Princess "Dolly," the only daughter of this +ill-matched couple. The betrothal took place in due course at Vienna. +But before the marriage could follow, the young girl's mother, namely, +Princess Louise of Coburg and of Belgium, deliberately eloped from the +Austrian capital with her husband's chamberlain, the Hungarian Count +Keglewitch; and what was worse, took her daughter with her. The trio +fled to Nice, where they were visited by King Leopold, who after +endeavoring in vain to persuade the princess to return to her husband +at Vienna, discarded her in hot anger, declaring that she was no +longer his daughter! + +The next act in the drama was a challenge issued by Prince Philip of +Coburg against Count Keglewitch, who left Nice for the encounter: the +duel was fought in the army riding-school at Vienna, the commander of +the metropolitan garrison and the minister of war acting as seconds +to Prince Philip, although duelling is strictly forbidden by law in +Austria, as it is in Germany. Prince Philip received a painful wound +in the hand, and the count forthwith left to rejoin the princess at +Nice. The publicity given to this duel had the unfortunate result, +however, of calling attention to the presence of poor little Princess +Dorothy at Nice with her misguided mother and the count, and the +princess having been warned by the Austrian authorities and the French +police that her daughter would be taken from her by force unless she +relinquished her hold upon the child, she sent her back to Vienna, +whence the girl was immediately dispatched to Dresden and placed under +the care of the mother and the unmarried sister of the German empress, +with whom she remained until her marriage. + +Shortly after her departure from Nice, her mother was forced to take +flight in consequence of the persecution to which she was subjected by +her creditors; and with a shamelessness that can only be explained on +the score of an unbalanced mind, she deliberately returned to Austria +with her lover, and coolly took up her residence at his castle near +Agram, where the count actually made preparations for a siege, in +order to resist by force any attempt on the part of the authorities to +take the princess from him. + +Ultimately, both were captured by strategy, and while the princess was +conveyed under police escort to Vienna, and lodged at the request of +her husband in a lunatic asylum, on the sworn statements of two court +physicians concerning her insanity, the count was placed under close +arrest at Agram on the charge of grossly immoral conduct, unbecoming +an officer and a gentleman. Before he had been very long in the +military prison, this charge was changed to one of forgery; for it was +discovered that there were notes in circulation at Vienna and Paris +to the extent of more than a million dollars, which the count had +negotiated, and which bore the forged signature of Princess Louise's +sister, the widowed Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria. + +The count of course denied that he had forged the signature, but +as the fact remains that he negotiated the notes, and that Princess +Louise, who, failing himself, can alone have been the culprit, is +officially declared insane, and legally irresponsible, he has had to +bear the brunt of the affair, and is now, after having undergone the +terrible ceremony of military degradation, working out a sentence of +five years' penal servitude in a fortress; doubtless comparing his +fate with that of the celebrated Baron Trench, who was imprisoned +for years in the dungeons of Spandau, and of Magdeburg, for having +compromised the fair name of the sister of Frederick the Great by +indiscreet attentions. + +Princess Louise is now under strict restraint in an asylum for the +insane near Dresden, and inasmuch as both her father, King Leopold of +the Belgians, and her husband, have declined to pay any of her +debts, public sales of her belongings, even of her dresses and her +under-garments, were permitted to take place at Vienna and at Nice +for the benefit of her creditors. It is only fair to the unfortunate +princess to state that her entire married life has been one of +uninterrupted misery, owing to the brutality and drunken habits of +her husband, who is noted as one of the most dissolute princes in +all Europe. In fact if court gossip at Berlin and Vienna is to be +believed, the princess first became enamored of Count Keglewitch when +the latter, in attendance on the princely couple as their chamberlain, +interfered one day to protect her from the blows of her husband. + +It was amidst circumstances such as these that Princess Dorothy was +married to Duke Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, neither her +father nor her mother being present at her marriage; the reigning Duke +of Coburg, as chief of the Coburg family figuring in the place of her +parents, and giving her away at the altar. That with such a father, +such a mother, and with a husband of such a past reputation for +dissipation and wildness, the little princess should have found +happiness in marriage, is, to say the least, surprising. But the duke +seems devoted to his little wife, while she on her side is completely +wrapped up in her husband, and thinks him perfect, in every way. + +Yet another brother-in-law of the kaiser who is a conspicuous figure +at the Court of Berlin, is Prince Adolphus of Schaumburg-Lippe, +married to Princess Victoria, the least attractive and least +popular of William's sisters. After several flirtations of a rather +sensational character with young Count Andrassy, and several other gay +diplomats and noblemen, which were a source of amusement to the court, +although of great concern to her mother, she ultimately fell in love +with Prince Alexander of Battenburg, who at the time had just been +forced to abandon the throne of Bulgaria, and who was certainly one of +the handsomest and most fascinating of European princes. The prince, +who was at the time, to put matters plainly, out of a job, being +without fortune or future, was persuaded by his relatives, notably by +his brother Henry, who had married Princess Beatrice of England, +to apply for her hand; this he did, on the understanding that his +marriage to her would facilitate his restoration to the German army, +from which he had resigned on ascending the throne of Bulgaria; for as +a general of the Prussian army, he anticipated retrieving the prestige +and fame which he had lost as ruler of Bulgaria. + +Prince Bismarck, however, set his face strongly against the match on +the ground that it would impair the friendly relations between the +Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander being for +personal reasons an object of the most intense animosity to the late +czar. Indeed, it was this hatred on the part of the late Emperor of +Russia that had rendered it impossible for Prince Alexander to retain +his throne of Bulgaria. Old Emperor William, supported his chancellor +in the matter, and while the late Emperor Frederick, at that time +merely crown prince, remained quite passive, the cause of Princess +Victoria and Prince Alexander was strongly championed by Empress +Frederick and Queen Victoria. The controversy continued even after the +death of old Emperor William, and finally, in face of the persistent +hostility in the matter displayed by Prince Bismarck, and by the +present kaiser, it was arranged that the couple should be married, not +in Germany, but in England, at Windsor Castle, and that they should +make their home elsewhere than in Germany. This, however, did not meet +the views of Prince Alexander, who thus saw all his ambition for a +military career in the German army frustrated instead of promoted by +the union. So at the very last moment, within a few days of the date +appointed for the wedding at Windsor, and after all the trousseau had +been purchased and the wedding presents bought, he deliberately +jilted his royal fiancee, and married at Nice, an actress named Mlle. +Lösinger, an offspring of the valet and the cook of the old Austrian +General Faviani. + +The prince, it may be remembered, subsequently abandoned the title +and status of a Prince Battenberg, secured the title of Count Hartenau +from his father's old friend and comrade, the Emperor of Austria, as +well as a colonelcy in the Austrian army, and died as major-general in +command of a brigade at Gratz. + +It was more than a year after this, that Princess Victoria found a +husband in the insignificant-looking and inoffensive Prince Adolph of +Schaumburg-Lippe, son of Prince George of that ilk, the prince at that +time serving as Captain of Hussars at Bonn. Soon afterwards, Emperor +William learning that Prince Waldemar of Lippe was dying, took +advantage of the fact that he was rather weak-minded to induce him to +sign a species of will bequeathing the regency of the principality at +his death to Prince Adolph of Schaumburg-Lippe, the next heir to the +throne of Lippe; his brother Alexander of Lippe being an incurable +lunatic. On the strength of this document, which was of a purely +personal character, and which was neither ratified by the legislature +of the principality of Lippe, nor recognized by the federal council of +the German empire, Prince Adolph, with the assistance of a couple +of Prussian regiments, coolly took possession of the principality of +Lippe, proclaimed himself regent, and assumed the reins of government. + +According to the laws of Germany governing the succession of its +sovereign houses, the regency in such a case as that presented by the +principality of Lippe, should have fallen to the lot of the nearest +living agnate. The latter happened to be Count Ernest of Lippe, chief +of the Beisterfeld branch of the Lippe family. Prince Adolph, however, +and his brother-in-law, Emperor William, took the ground that Count +Ernest was debarred from the regency, and from succession to the +throne on the death of the crazy Prince Alexander, by the fact +that sometime in the early part of the last century one of his male +ancestors had contracted a mésalliance, and thus brought a plebeian +strain into the family. This contention was accepted neither by the +people of Lippe, nor by the count; they appealed to the tribunals +of the empire, and to every reigning family of Germany in turn, the +entire non-Prussian press, as well as many newspapers in Prussia +itself, espousing their cause. + +Finally, the emperor and his brother-in-law were forced by +popular clamor to consent to bring the matter before a tribunal of +arbitration, composed of the principal judges of the Supreme Federal +Court at Leipzig, presided over for the occasion by the dean and +veteran of German sovereigns, King Albert of Saxony. The tribunal, +after due deliberation, rendered a decision against the emperor and +Prince Adolph; directing the latter to at once surrender the regency +and the Lippe estates, which are immensely valuable, yielding an +income of eight hundred thousand dollars, to Count Ernest of Lippe, +on the ground that if a mésalliance such as the one contracted by the +count's eighteenth-century ancestor were to be considered sufficient +to invalidate his rights to the regency and to the succession to the +throne, as the nearest living male relative of the crazy reigning +prince, half the thrones of Germany would have to be vacated by their +present occupants. + +It was pointed out by the arbitrators that if the contention of Prince +Adolph and the kaiser were admitted, the Grand Duke of Baden would +have to abandon his throne; the branch of the Baden family to which +he belonged being descended from a prince of Baden who contracted a +mésalliance at the close of the last century; that all the children of +the emperor himself would be barred from succession to the throne of +Germany, since the great-grandfather of the present Empress of Germany +was the offspring of a terrible mésalliance; while last, but not +least, Prince Adolph himself was descended from a prince of Lippe who +towards the close of the last century, fell in love with and married +the daughter of a mere writ-server, whose blood flows in the veins of +the emperor's brother-in-law. + +Emperor William and Prince Adolph bitterly resented the setback to +which they were subjected by this decree of the King of Saxony; and +although they were forced to yield in the present instance, they +threatened to reopen the entire question should anything untoward +happen to the present regent, Count Lippe, for they insist that under +no circumstances can any of his sons be permitted to inherit either +his rights or his honors, owing to the fact that his wife, the +Countess of Lippe, is also the issue of a mésalliance, her mother +having been an American girl, a native of Philadelphia, who married +Count Leopold Wartensleben. On the strength of this, Prussian +authorities, military as well as civilian, while directed to accord +to the Count of Lippe the honors due to the regent of a German +sovereignty, are forbidden to recognize in any way either the count's +consort or his children, on the ground that these can only be regarded +as morganatic, and as such debarred from the tokens of respect due to +full-fledged members of a sovereign house. + +Naturally, all this has served to render Prince Adolph and his wife +extremely unpopular throughout the length and breadth of Germany; and +when a short time ago there was a question of appointing the prince +as regent of the Duchy of Brunswick in succession to Prince Albert +of Prussia, who is tired of the post, or as a stadtholder of +Alsace-Lorraine in the place of Prince Herman Hohenlohe, the press +throughout Germany, and even in Prussia, raised its voice in protest +against the emperor's forcing his brother-in-law into places for which +he was in no sense of the word fitted, either by his talents, his +administrative skill, his tact, or his intellectual abilities. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Although Germany's young crown prince has until now been more or less +of a stranger to court functions and gaieties at Berlin, his time +being absorbed by his studies at the military academy of Plön, and his +holidays spent in travel and Alpine expeditions, yet, as he is about +to celebrate his majority, and has passed from the stages of boyhood +to those of manhood, he will be from henceforth a personage of the +utmost importance--second only in rank to the emperor. + +Destined, in course of time, to succeed to the throne and to the +immense responsibilities of his father, and to become virtually the +autocratic ruler of a nation of fifty million people, as well as the +absolute master of the greatest military power on the face of the +globe, every scrap of information concerning this youth must naturally +be of vast interest, not only to his future subjects, but also to +the entire civilized world. Under the circumstances, therefore, it is +satisfactory to be able to say truthfully that Germany's future kaiser +is a fine, healthy-minded, healthy-bodied lad, disposed to take an +extremely serious view of his duties and his obligations, and who, +thanks to the excellent education which he has received both from his +parents and his teachers, seems destined to prove a wise as well as a +popular monarch. + +It seems but the other day that the young crown prince, as a chubby +ten-year-old lad, was being introduced by his father to the officers +and men of the first regiment of Foot Guards at Potsdam, to which, +in accordance with traditional usage, he was appointed on his tenth +birthday as lieutenant. There may be some of my readers who were +present on that occasion, and who may remember the spectacle presented +by the little fellow, vainly endeavoring to keep step with the giant +strides of these huge grenadiers, the tallest men in the German army, +during the march-past that followed the ceremony. Since then there +have been so many portraits of the crown prince published, as he +appeared at that time, that this taken in conjunction with the rapid +flight of years, renders it difficult to realize that he is now no +longer a little boy, but a youth considerably taller and almost as +broad and stalwart as his father, whose best friend he has become. + +William and his eldest boy are fondly devoted to each other. To the +crown prince, his father is in every sense of the word "William second +to none;" while the kaiser himself is entirely wrapped up in his heir. +For the last few years the emperor has given every spare moment that +he could snatch away from his multifarious occupations to the task of +instilling his ideas and views into the crown prince. In talking +and reasoning with him, he has treated the lad as far older than his +years, has discussed with him, in fact, as if he were a man; and it +is due to this that Germany's future emperor is at the present moment +remarkably mature for his age, and really in a position to view +matters with a degree of experience and knowledge that are unrivalled +in so young a man. As a general rule, young people are unwilling to +accept the advice of their elders, or to benefit by their experience, +convinced that their seniors are behind the spirit of the age, and in +no sense of the word up to date. But with the German crown prince this +is different: he is so imbued with the idea that his father is wiser +and better than anyone else in the world, that he is willing and glad +to accept the paternal recommendations and to benefit by paternal +advice. + +Yet with all this the lad is not a prig, nor is he forward or +presumptuous. True, he has a keen sense of his own dignity, but it +takes the form of an extreme simplicity, and of an absolute lack of +affectation, since he is intelligent enough to realize that his rank +and position are sufficiently assured to render it unnecessary that he +should call attention thereto either by his manner or by his speech. +He is modest too, very frank, particularly courteous to old people, +boyishly chivalrous to women, and firmly convinced that there is no +member of the fair sex in the entire world who is so ideally perfect +in appearance, as well as in character, as his mother. + +I would not for all the world that this description of the crown +prince should in any way convey the impression to my readers that he +is a milksop or an overgrown child! Devoted to every form of sport, a +splendid gymnast, a clever oarsman, a skilful driver and a bold rider, +an excellent shot, he is in every sense of the word a manly young +fellow, who, however, has been kept free from all contact with the +darker sides of life, and who still retains, therefore, mingled with +the experience of a grown man, much of the innocence and freshness of +mind of a mere boy. Indeed, he is a son of whom any father and mother +might well be proud! + +Fair-haired and blue-eyed, with the down of a blond moustache upon his +upper lip, the young prince is a typical Hohenzollern, and resembles +his grandfather, Emperor Frederick, more than he does his father. He +is passionately devoted to everything military, and keenly relishes +the idea that the six months following the attainment of his majority +are to be devoted to military duties at Potsdam, for although he has +held a commission of lieutenant of the first regiment of Foot Guards +since his tenth year, he is only now about to be called upon to fulfil +the duties of his rank with the regiment. + +It will be in every sense of the word an arduous training, for the +first regiment of Guards being considered all the world over as the +crack corps of the German army, and as the embodiment of military +perfection in every sense of the word, its officers, realizing that +it is, so to speak, the star phalanx of Germany, are engaged, morning, +noon and night, in maintaining it at its proper standard, and there +are no officers anywhere in Europe who are so hard worked as those +of the first regiment of Prussian Guards;--that regiment which in the +days of Frederick the Great's father was composed entirely of giants, +recruited, or rather purchased often, at a cost of several thousand +dollars apiece, from all parts of the world! + +The prince must be on the drill grounds and the manoeuvre fields as +early as four o'clock in the morning, returning for a sort of luncheon +towards ten or eleven; he must devote his afternoon to military +studies of one kind or another; while from four o'clock till seven his +time will be taken up by barrack-room inspections, company reports, +and the other thousand and one duties incidental to regimental life +in Germany. In the case of the crown prince the work will be +exceptionally heavy, as he is expected to acquire in the course of six +months an experience which other subalterns take years to obtain. At +the end of the term in question he is to go to Bonn, there to take +his seat, like his father before him, on the benches of the celebrated +university as an ordinary student. + +From his eighteenth birthday the crown prince will have an +establishment and a civil list of his own. He will have his court +marshal, who will be at the same time the treasurer, governor, and +chief officer of his household. He will have his aids-de-camp, who +will, as far as possible, be young men of his own age and alive to the +responsibilities of their office; he will also have a palace of his +own, stables of his own, and his own shooting. Indeed the forest of +Spandau has already been for some time past strictly preserved in view +of his coming of age. + +This particular forest has from time immemorial been assigned as the +particular game-park of the heir to the crown. The crown prince is +to make his home in the so-called "Stadtschloss" at Potsdam, where +he will occupy the same suite of apartments that was tenanted by his +parents during the alterations that recently took place at the "Neues +Palais." This palace was erected at the close of the seventeenth +century, and contains, among other objects of interest, the furniture +used by Frederick the Great, the coverings of which were nearly all +torn to shreds by the claws of his dog; his writing-table covered with +ink-stains, his library filled with Trench books, music composed by +himself, etc. The various halls and rooms are kept nearly in the same +manner, indeed, as when he used them. Adjoining his bedroom there is +a small cabinet, where he used to dine alone or with Voltaire, without +attendants, everything coming through the floor on a dumbwaiter, the +king himself placing the dishes on the table. + +It is in this palace, haunted, one might almost say, at every point +by memories and by the spirit of the most famous of Prussian kings, +a monarch distinguished as a general, as an administrator and as a +philosopher, that Germany's future emperor will from henceforth make +his home until he in turn, on the death of his father, will migrate, +as did the latter, from the so-called Stadtschloss to the "Neues +Palais," two miles and a half distant. The crown prince is also to +have a residence of his own at Berlin, where he is to occupy the +Bellevue Palace during the court season. + +Among other characteristics of the young crown prince is his fondness +for animals, and the extraordinary influence which, even as a child, +he has always seemed to exercise over them. He succeeded in training +his ponies, his dogs and other domestic pets to perform such clever +tricks that on several occasions he managed, with the assistance of +his brothers, to organize very creditable circus performances, usually +in honor of the birthday of his father or his mother. There was one +instance especially that I may recall, which took place some years +ago. This particular performance began in the afternoon at three, with +a prologue spoken by Prince August William, in which he mentioned the +different items of the programme. Then each of the royal lads led his +pony in front of the box in which the imperial couple sat with their +guests, and the crown prince put his horse "Daretz," through all kinds +of tricks, of a high school character, winding up by making the horse +kneel in token of salute before the emperor and empress. More trick +riding on another horse named "Puck," belonging to the crown prince, +followed, and thereupon there was a comical _intermezzo_, in which +Prince Adalbert and Prince Eitel took the part of two clowns. Later +on, the crown prince's dogs were brought on the scene, and his +favorite "Tom" went through some extraordinary antics, walking about +all over the ring on his hind legs, tolling bells, driving other of +the prince's dogs with reins, and jumping through hoops covered +with tissue paper. The whole affair lasted over two hours, was very +entertaining, even to grown-up people who did not happen to be related +to the organizers of the entertainment, and did great credit to +the cleverness of the crown prince, and above all to the marvellous +influence which he exercises over animals of every description. + +Military tastes in the royal lad have been developed by the games +and pastimes in which he and his brothers were encouraged to indulge; +hence, in the grounds of the Bellevue Palace at Berlin, as well as in +a corner of the great park of the Neues Palais at Potsdam, the boys +constructed full-fledged forts with water-filled moats, and cleverly +constructed bastions, which were stormed from time to time in due +form, and being defended with the utmost tenacity, hard knocks were +ofttimes given and received. The playmates of the crown prince and his +brothers have been not merely the sons of nobles forming part of the +imperial household and court, but likewise the children of employés of +much less exalted rank, such as the sons of lodge-keepers, gardeners, +game-keepers, etc., who all played and tumbled with the young princes +on a footing of the most perfect equality, drubbing one another +totally irrespective of rank. It is a pleasant thing to know that +friendships thus formed subsist in after life; as an instance, when +the kaiser's sister, now crown princess of Greece, sent to Germany +some time ago for a nursery governess for her young children, she +was able to acquire the services of her old girlhood playmate, the +daughter of one of the gardeners employed at the "Neues Palais." + +The crown prince may be said to have traveled over all Germany, and +that, too, in the most democratic and sensible fashion. In Germany, +and, in fact, all over the continent of Europe, a pedestrian tour, +domestic and foreign, constitutes part and parcel of the education +of every youth, especially those of the industrial classes. No +apprenticeship is considered complete without the accomplishment of a +trip of this kind, which is usually performed with a knapsack on the +back, and in the most economical manner imaginable. This portion of +the youth's life is known as his "_wanderjahr_" and the traveler is +known by the name of "_wanderbürsche_" The trip serves to broaden the +mind of the "_bürsche,_" to render him self-reliant, and to give him +a knowledge and experience of the world--aye, and of his craft as +well--that he could never obtain if he remained at home. Emperor +William, who in many things is so exceedingly reactionary, and +so apparently assured that royalty is constructed of an entirely +different clay than that used for ordinary folks, gave a manifestation +of those democratic notions which constitute such a paradox to the +remainder of his character by sending forth his three eldest boys each +year during their holidays on a pedestrian tour through the length and +breadth of his dominions, just as if they were the sons of artisans, +and were compelled to learn a trade for a living. The crown prince and +his brothers traveled, not in a palace-car, nor in carriages, but on +foot, with knapsacks on their backs, and spending the nights at mere +roadside inns. They had no servant with them, only their military +governor, Colonel von Falkenheyn, and his assistant, the latter a +lieutenant of the guards, and the name tinder which they journeyed was +an incognito one; indeed, so cleverly did they manage to conceal their +identity that it was hardly ever revealed. + +It is difficult to imagine anything that appealed more to the masses +in Germany than this manner adopted by the kaiser for making his sons +acquainted with the world. It was felt that the royal lads, with their +knapsacks on their backs, afoot, and with no indication of their rank, +would obtain by actual experience a contact with the people and a +knowledge which they could never hope to acquire if they had +toured through the land in special trains, on horseback, or in +splendidly-appointed carriages. Moreover, it makes every German youth, +trudging along the dusty roads, and ignorant for the most part of +where and how he is to sup and sleep that night, feel that after +all his lot is not such a very unenviable one, since even his future +monarch has been a "_wanderbürsche_," like himself. + +It is probable that before the education of the crown prince is +considered complete, he will be sent on a trip around the world, +mainly with the object of endowing him with that breadth of mind +which foreign travel alone can give, and partly also with the idea of +reviving the dormant loyalty of Germans who have settled in foreign +lands. Emperor William has frequently expressed the opinion that +among the hitherto unused factors in German politics, are the Germans +established in the United States, in Australia, and in other equally +distant climes. While he does not in any way expect or imagine that +Germans who have thus emigrated from the Fatherland, will render +themselves guilty of any disloyalty to the land of their adoption, yet +he believes that by keeping alive their memories of the old country, +and their affection for its reigning house they may help Germany by +using their political influence in their new home for the benefit +of Germany. Thus William, in spite of all that has been said to the +contrary, has in contemplation an eventual understanding if not an +actual alliance with the United States; this result to be brought +about largely through the influence of the immense and prosperous +German population in America, and he believes that the project is +likely to be promoted and fostered by a visit of his eldest son, the +crown prince, to the United States for the purpose of making himself +acquainted, not only with the country, but above all with its German +inhabitants. + +In making the grand tour of the world, the crown prince will be but +following in the footsteps of the heirs to the thrones of Austria and +Belgium, who have both visited the United States for the purpose of +improving their minds, and of fitting themselves more thoroughly +for their duties as twentieth century rulers. The present Emperor of +Russia, and his younger brother, the late Czarevitch George, likewise +started on a tour round the world, which in the case of George was cut +short at Bombay by that sickness to which he subsequently succumbed, +while the globe-trotting tour of Nicholas was brought to a sudden +close through his attempted assassination in Japan. + +No pen-sketch of the young Crown Prince of Germany would be complete +without a reference to his remarkable skill as a violinist, an +instrument which he has been studying steadily ever since his eighth +year, under the direction of the Berlin court violinist Von Exner. He +seems to have inherited all the musical talent for which the reigning +house of Prussia is so celebrated, and to which I propose to devote at +least a part of the following chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +If it is observable that the taste, ear, and talent for music prevail +among the inhabitants of the mountain districts of the world far more +extensively than among the populations of the plains, it is no less +true that nearly all persons belonging to the exalted spheres of +life, for instance, emperors and kings and their consorts, as well as +princes and princesses of the blood, are not only passionately fond +of music, but frequently absolute melomaniacs. In none of the reigning +houses, however, is this particular branch of art developed to such +an extent as in the Hohenzollern family. Thus the collection of the +compositions for the flute by Frederick the Great discovered some ten +years ago in the lumber rooms of the "Neues Palais" at Potsdam, and +recently published after being edited by Professor Spitta, proves that +the royal patron of Voltaire, and the founder of Prussia's military +power was no mere dilettante, but a real genius in the art of +composition. Prince Louis Ferdinand, the son of Frederick the Great's +brother, who courted and met with a premature death at Saalfeld, while +rashly engaging the French enemy, against strict orders, showed, with +all his eccentricities, remarkable musical gifts, leaving in fact +behind him a variety of compositions for orchestras. He also wrote a +march which is published under his name. + +Among the collection of marches constantly used in the Prussian army, +is one composed by Frederick-William III. in 1806, which occupies a +place between that of Frederick the Great, written in 1741, and +the well-known Dessauer march. In that very same collection are the +so-called _"Geschwind Marsch," No. 148, for infantry_, the _"Parade +Marsch" No. 51, for cavalry_, and the _"Marsch Für Cavallerie" No. +55_, which emanate from the pen of Princess Charlotte of Prussia, +niece of old Emperor William, and first wife of the present reigning +Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. It is doubtless from her that Prince Bernhardt +of Saxe-Meiningen, married to the eldest sister of the present kaiser, +has inherited his powers of composition, for his name figures on +the title page of many a piece of music; and among his other more +important works has been the setting to music of _"the Persians of +Aeschylus,"_ which has been most successfully staged at Athens. This +is published under the initials of _"E.B." (Erbprinz Bernhardt)_. + +Though King Frederick-William IV. did not himself add anything to +royal musical literature, as did his predecessors on the throne, he +devoted much attention to ecclesiastical melody and song. The Berlin +cathedral choir of men and boys--trained to sing without musical +accompaniments--owes its origin to his ambition for having a choir in +his own Protestant basilica at Berlin, corresponding more or less +to the Pope's in the Sistine Chapel of Rome. It was he who engaged +Mendelssohn as director of this choir, as well as composer; and it was +the latter's successor, the director of the music of the Chapel Royal +at the Prussian court, who compiled a collection of volumes containing +settings of many of the Psalms of David, most beautifully arranged. + +Among living Hohenzollerns, musical talent is most strongly developed. +Prince Albert, regent of Brunswick, is not only a composer of rare +genius, but likewise a most talented organist. His son, Prince +Joachim, has inherited his talent for composition, and is the author +of some eight works, which have been printed for circulation, in court +circles only, and have not become the property of the public; the +cleverest of them being a festal march, written for his father's +birthday, and a grand funeral march. He shares his father's intense +devotion to Bach and Handel, as well as his fondness for the works +of Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart, and is a most accomplished +performer on the violoncello, being a pupil of the well-known master +of that instrument, Professor Luedemann. Prince Albert's sister, the +widowed Duchess William of Mecklenberg-Schwerin, has been particularly +active as a composer of songs for mezzo soprano, but none of her +works, which are printed for private circulation under the initials of +"A.H.M.", have been placed on public sale. Her songs, some thirty in +number, are melodious and full of feeling. She seems to thoroughly +understand how to bring out the meaning of the words of her +composition, the melody of one of them, _"Ein Duerres Blatt"_ +furnishing a particularly striking illustration of this peculiarity; +they left a very lasting impression upon my mind. Among her +collections is an English song, beginning with the words: + + "No ditch is too deep, + And no wall is too high, + If two love each other + They'll meet by-and-by." + +The music of this is particularly sweet, graceful and tender. + +Prince Henry, the sailor brother of the kaiser, has written a number +of pieces, one of the best known and most popular of which is called +the _"Matrosen Marsch,"_ which is to be purchased in all large music +stores. He also holds his own as a first-class amateur performer, both +on the violin and the piano. His sister, the crown princess of Greece, +a pupil of Rufer, excels on the organ, as does also the widowed +Empress Frederick, while there is not one of the children of the +present kaiser who does not possess musical gifts of a high order, +which are being developed both in theory and in practice by celebrated +professors and masters. + +There is no doubt that, but for the weakness of his left arm, Emperor +William would have been as skilful a performer as the other members +of his family. As it is, his devotion to music is restricted to +composition and to conducting. The kaiser is very fond of acting +as bandmaster during the musical soirées given at court, and other +entertainments of this kind honored by the presence of the reigning +family. It has been claimed that he is the first Prussian ruler to +thus wield the bâton since the days of Frederick the Great. But this +is not the case, for I recall being present, many years ago, at a +dinner at the palace of Koblenz, given by Empress Augusta in honor of +her consort, old Emperor William, who had come over from Ems for the +purpose, when during the dinner the old emperor remarked that the band +of the Augusta regiment, which was playing at the further end of the +White Hall, had played the ballet melody of _"Satanella"_ in too +fast a time. Rising from his seat, and pushing aside the screen which +concealed the band from view, he took the bâton from the hand of the +bandmaster, and after exclaiming: "Very quietly and slowly, gentlemen, +if you please," he tapped twice on the music-stand in front of him, +and then commenced to conduct with as much skill and art as if he had +never done anything else in his life. Several times during the course +of the piece he exclaimed "Noch rühiger," (still more gently) and +when the end of the piece was reached he laid down the bâton with +the remark, "Now, that was fine," and, thanking the band with a very +friendly and kindly smile, returned to his seat at table. + +The present kaiser's principal contribution to music is undoubtedly +his composition of the melody to the "_Sang am Aegir,_" a poem +of considerable power by his friend Count Philipp Eulenburg. The +composition begins as follows: + +[Illustration: O Ae-gir Herr der Flu-then dem Nix und Nex sich beugt!] + +The words may be rendered as: + + "Of Aegir, Lord of the Waves, + Whom mermaids and mermen revere." + +The bars that follow rivet the attention of the listener on account of +their weird originality. They are full of feeling, very melodious, +and easily caught by the ear. Towards the close, the melody breaks off +into a purely military strain, so that the final bars are suggestive +of the sound of trumpets, recalling to mind some ancient martial +fanfare. + +William has a very marked predilection for Wagnerian music, and is the +life and soul of the "Potsdam-Berlin Wagner Society," which is one of +the most influential social institutions of the Prussian capital. +His principal lieutenant and Adlatus in the management of this +association, which is in every sense of the word a court institution, +is Major von Chelius, who holds a commission in the kaiser's own body +regiment of Hussars of the Guard. The major is a particular favorite +of both the emperor and the empress, and he takes a very prominent +part in all the musical entertainments at court, almost invariably +playing the piano accompaniments for the singing of Princess Albert +of Saxe-Altenburg, and of Prince Max of Baden, who possesses a +rich baritone voice. The major is the composer of the popular opera +"_Haschisch,_" and has inherited his musical talents from his mother, +a Hamburger by birth. His father is a dignitary of the Court of Baden, +while his wife, a most charming woman, was, prior to her marriage, a +Fraulein von Puttkamer, a member, therefore, of the same family as the +late Princess Bismarck. + +But although manifesting a preference for Wagner, the kaiser is not +averse to Mozart, or to the Italian school. "_Der Freischuetz_" is one +of his favorite operas, and while he does not care for Falstaff, he +is very fond of "_I Medici_," and greatly admires Leon Cavallo. He +possesses a very correct ear, and a most pleasing voice, and many +of his evenings are passed in trying new songs, his wife, who is an +excellent pianist, playing the accompaniment. + +Though quite as passionately fond of music as the Hohenzollerns, the +Hapsburgs have achieved less distinction as composers, and even as +performers. Indeed, there are but two scions of the reigning house of +Austria, who can be said to have won any kind of fame as composers, +namely, the missing Archduke John, who was the author of an +exceedingly pretty and catchy ballet that still figures on the +repertoire of the imperial opera, and Archduke Joseph, so well known +by the name of the "Gypsy Archduke," who has done more than anyone +else in Europe to place on record, both in writing and in print, +the weird music and extraordinary quaint melodies of the Tziganes, +melodies which he has arranged exquisitely for orchestral use. True, +there is not a single archduke or archduchess in Austria and Hungary, +who does not play with taste and feeling. Indeed, music seems to be +inborn in them, and while the widowed crown princess is devoted to +her piano, on which her performances are characterized by a superb +technique, but coupled alas! with a complete absence of sentiment, her +husband, the lamented Crown Prince Rudolph, was a composer of no +mean power and seemed at times to pour forth his entire soul in the +melodies which he coaxed from this instrument. Indeed he often sat at +the piano for hours, playing, in a manner indescribably expressive and +touching, airs improvised on the spur of the moment, which, while they +remained impressed on the minds and ears of those present, would seem +to fade at once from the memory of the prince himself. His was what +may be called a true genius for music. + +The member of the House of Hapsburg most famous in the annals of music +of the present century, was undoubtedly that Archduke Rudolph, son of +Emperor Leopold II., who died a cardinal. He was the protector, the +friend and disciple of Beethoven, many of whose most famous works, +would assuredly have remained unwritten had it not been for the fact +that he received the same powerful support, both material and moral, +from the imperial cardinal as Richard Wagner obtained from King Louis +of Bavaria. + +With regard to Archduke Joseph, the above-mentioned "Gypsy Archduke," +there is no doubt that without him the outer world would still have +been left in ignorance of the incalculably rich mine of Tzigane music. +He is only distantly related to Emperor Francis-Joseph, being the +senior member of a branch of the house of Hapsburg which has been +settled for more than one hundred years in Hungary. His father's +entire life was spent there, where he held the office of Viceroy, and +it is there that Archduke Joseph himself was entirely brought up, and +where he has spent his whole existence. + +At an early age he was attracted to the gypsies by their music, and it +was this that led him to think of their welfare, and to devote himself +to the study of the characteristics, the history and the origin of +these mysterious nomads. Until he took them under his protection, they +were regarded more or less as pariahs of Central and Southern Europe, +the hand of every man being against them, and the authorities and +people at large combining to subject them to persecution of the most +cruel character. Their gratitude to the archduke when he obtained +better treatment for them knew no bounds, and was shown, among other +instances, in a notable manner during the Austro-Prussian. war, when +Joseph was at the head of a division of Magyar troops. + +"Our retreat," so the archduke tells the story, "before the advance of +the Prussian army, immediately preceding the battle of Sadowa, led +us to camp one night in the neighborhood of a town in Bohemia. I was +lodged in a peasant's cottage, when about midnight I heard the +sentry at my door hoarsely challenging some new-comer. My aid-de-camp +entered, and reported that a gypsy wanted to see me in private. + +"On my asking the dusky visitor in Romani what was the matter, he told +me that the enemy was approaching to surprise us. + +"'The outposts have not heard anything suspicious?' I remarked. + +"'No, your imperial highness,' he replied, 'because the enemy is still +a long way off.' + +"'But how do you know this?' I asked. + +"'Come to the window,' replied the Zingari, leading me forward to the +narrow glazed opening in the rough wall, and directing my gaze to the +dark sky, lighted by the silver rays of the moon. 'Do you see those +birds flying over the woods towards the south?' + +"'Yes, I see them. What of it?' + +"'What of it? Do not birds sleep as well as men? They would certainly +not fly about at night-time thus had they not been disturbed. The +enemy is marching through the wood southwards, and has frightened and +driven the birds before it.' + +"I at once ordered the outposts to be reinforced, and the camp to be +alarmed. Two hours later, the outposts were fighting fiercely with the +foe, and I was able to realize that my camp and my division had been +saved from surprise and destruction only by the keen observation and +sagacity of a grateful gypsy." + +The archduke spent a large sum of money, some years ago, in +endeavoring to turn the gypsies from their nomadic life, and to induce +them to settle down, in order to devote their time and energies to the +practice of the wonderful art of working metal, which they possess to +so marked a degree, instead of roaming aimlessly about, and sometimes +thieving, as is unfortunately their habit. He built a number of +villages for them in the district surrounding Presburg, and organized +gypsy settlements. But the scheme proved a failure. The Tziganes, true +to the instincts that they have inherited from countless generations, +abandoned the comfortable houses, the fields and blossoming gardens +with which they had been provided by their imperial benefactor. They +refused to till the soil, and commenced once more their interminable +wanderings. + +In spite of this fiasco, the archduke still continues to consider +himself as the protector of the Romanys, and remains proud of his +title of "Gypsy Prince," being sagacious enough to realize that it +is impossible for a race to eradicate from their character, in a +comparatively short space of time, traits that have been theirs for +hundreds, nay thousands of years; for the origin of these gypsies is +still shrouded in mystery and lost in the gloom of prehistoric ages, +although it is probable that they are of Persian descent. + +While Emperor William's taste as regards music meets with very +widespread approval, and his gifts as a composer are very generally +recognized, he has been less fortunate with regard to other branches +of art; notably in the matter of painting, where he finds himself in +frequent conflict with his people, especially with the great painters +of his empire. Of all the muses there is none so truly democratic as +that of pictorial art. The pictorial muse displays a truly republican +intolerance of control on the part of either king or government. Hence +it is only natural that Germany, which has produced in the past, +and still possesses, so many world-famed painters and architectural +designers, should strongly resent the kaiser's assumption of the +supreme arbitership in all matters relating to art. His subjects +submitted to his claim of "_Regis voluntas suprema lex_," in matters +connected with the administration of the government, in diplomacy, +in the drama, in music, and in literature, but they deny his power to +impose upon them his taste in pictorial art. + +It is no exaggeration to state that the emperor is in almost perpetual +conflict, and at open war with the great majority of German painters +and designers--a notable exception being the case of Professor von +Menzel. Indeed, their discontent occasionally breaks forth with +an intensity altogether new in the annals of German loyalty to the +throne. A very remarkable instance thereof is the means which they +adopted to show their disapproval of the emperor's treatment of +Wallot, the designer of the palace of the imperial parliament. Wallot +is universally recognized as the foremost architect of the age in +Germany, and his original design for the building, as accepted by +the authorities, was a very grandiose and magnificent conception. +Financial considerations necessitated the modification of some of the +features of the building, while others were forced upon the architect +sorely against his will by the emperor, with the result that the +palace is not quite so superb as originally projected. It remains, +however, a magnificent and imposing pile, well worthy of the purpose +for which it has been erected, and in no way a displeasing monument of +German art and architecture as understood in the nineteenth century. + +All the recognized authorities, both Teuton and foreign, in questions +of art and architecture, have pronounced themselves in this sense, +the only discordant note being that to which the emperor has given +utterance. Not only has he publicly declared the new Reichshaus to +be "the very acme of bad taste," but he even went to the length of +striking the designer's name from the list of gold medalists at the +exhibition of art and architecture held at Berlin shortly after the +completion and inauguration of the building. The gold medal had been +voted to Herr Wallot by a jury composed of all the most celebrated +artists in Germany, whose verdict, representing that of the nation, +might have been considered as definite and final. The kaiser, however, +when the list was submitted to him for final approval, substituted, +in lieu of the name of Professor Wallot, that of his favorite +portrait painter, Madame Palma Parlaghy, whose work is, in the eyes of +Germany's leading artists, so execrable that the hanging committee of +the Berlin Academy have repeatedly refused to accord places to any of +her pictures on its walls. + +Madame Parlaghy is a pupil of Makart and of Lenbach, and a native of +Hadji-Dóròg, in Hungary. She is between thirty and forty, possessed +of glittering, enigmatic eyes, highly-colored cheeks and lips, and the +almost too profuse head of hair that one sees so often on the shores +of the Danube. Her beauty may, nevertheless, be described as majestic, +and she conveys the idea of being a woman possessed of considerable +strength of mind, as well as much diplomacy. She was first recommended +to the emperor by the present Czarina of Russia, to whom she gave +drawing lessons, prior to the marriage of the empress, and after +William had obtained an idea of her skill by a very pleasing portrait +which she painted of Field Marshal von Moltke, which was, however, +rejected by the hanging committee of an art exhibition at Berlin, he +purchased the picture in question for a large sum, and likewise gave +her an order to paint several portraits of himself, declaring openly +that if the judgment of the leading Berlin artists were to be final in +the matter of admitting paintings to public galleries and exhibitions, +there would never be a single work of art worthy of the name on view. +Madame Parlaghy's portraits of the emperor, though questionable as +works of art, are, it must be confessed, very flattering likenesses of +his majesty. + +It was shortly after this slight inflicted by the emperor on Professor +Wallot, and the honor conferred upon Madame Parlaghy, that the +National Society of Architects and the National Association +of Artists, the two principal organizations of the kind in +Germany--composed of all that is most eminent in the realms of +architecture and art--jointly invited Professor Wallot to a great +banquet in Berlin, at which over six hundred guests were present, in +the course of which William was guyed in a most merciless manner! The +chief ornament on the principal table was a model of the Reichshaus in +"Schwarzbrod," cheese and confectionery. The dome consisted of a Dutch +cheese, the "Germania" on the top was represented by a smartly aproned +chambermaid on horseback, the horse being led by a footman in imperial +livery, while the whole was labeled "Der gipfel des geschmack,"--the +acme of taste. Another item of the programme was a sort of automatic +machine, which, when a gold medal was placed in the slot, would +perform "Der gesang an Ihr,"--the song to her--meaning, of course, +Madame Parlaghy. + +The joke, I need hardly say, consisted in the parodying of the title +of the emperor's musical composition "Sang am Aegir!" The +lustre hanging from the ceiling, which is known in Germany as a +"Kronleuchter" was in the form of an old crinoline. At the entrance to +the banqueting hall hung the representation of a gold medal, which +a lady painter was trying in vain to grasp. The tone of the speeches +throughout the evening was in thorough keeping with the decorations, +and it is doubtful whether such a bold exhibition of independence, +and even disloyalty towards the sovereign, has ever been seen in the +Prussian capital. It speaks well for William's good sense that he +should have refrained from proceeding against any of the organizers of +the entertainment on the ground of _lése majesté_. + +There is, as I stated above, one Prussian painter, however, of whom +the kaiser is exceedingly fond, whose eminence in art is acknowledged, +not only in Germany, but all the world over, and upon whom William +has lavished the highest honors that it is in his power to bestow. The +painter in question is Professor von Menzel; popularly known in Berlin +as "His Little Excellency," owing to his diminutive size, his stature +being about four feet nine inches! Professor Menzel, who is of the +most humble origin, is to-day a Knight of the Order of the Black +Eagle, which is the Prussian equivalent of the English Order of the +Garter, or of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, this +decoration carrying with it a patent of hereditary nobility. He is now +considerably over eighty, but from his twelfth year he has earned his +living by means of his brush and palette. All his principal paintings +are devoted to the illustration of historic episodes of Prussian +history and of the reigning house of Hohenzollern. One of his +masterpieces is entitled "The Flute Concert," and represents Frederick +the Great in his palace at Sans-Souci, at a concert with the principal +members of court and his household around him. + +One evening the emperor sent for old Menzel, and asked him to join the +royal family at Sans-Souci. When the little painter alighted he was +conducted to the imperial presence, and was somewhat astonished +to notice that the sentinels at the various doors instead of being +arrayed in their ordinary uniform, wore the military garb of the time +of Frederick the Great. But his surprise developed into downright +amazement, when at length two folding-doors were thrown open, and he +found himself in the same apartment which had furnished the scene of +his painting of "The Flute Concert." The room was lighted, as in +olden times, with wax candles, the old-time furniture was disposed +identically as represented in his painting, and, moreover, the company +assembled was composed of men in the costumes of the time of Frederick +the Great, and of ladies attired in the picturesque dress of the +middle of the last century. There advanced to welcome the astounded +artist a personage who, but for the moustache, was the very image +of Frederick the Great, and in whom the little professor had +some difficulty to recognize the kaiser. William greeted him with +old-fashioned courtesy, using the elaborate politeness of our great +grandfathers, and after having presented the little painter to all +the guests, the ladies curtsying deeply in the fashion of the Court of +Versailles, and the men bowing low, Menzel was led by the emperor to +a seat beside the empress, and the emperor's private band, whose +uniforms were in perfect keeping with the costumes of the guests, +played first of all several of Frederick the Great's compositions for +the flute, and then a few of Bach's loveliest _morceaux_. The emperor +himself remained standing beside the little painter's chair throughout +the entire concert, the empress alone and some of her ladies being +seated, while the remainder of the fair guests, as well as all the +men, stood about the apartment endeavoring as far as possible to group +themselves in the same way as the personages figuring in Menzel's +painting. After the concert was finished, the company adjourned to an +adjoining room, Menzel occupying the place of honor to the right of +the empress, while the emperor toasted the little fellow with more +than ordinary eloquence and cordiality. + +It is doubtful whether any sovereign has ever gone to such lengths +in order to honor the leading artist of his dominions, and it is +difficult to speak too highly of the delicacy of the compliment, or of +its originality. It might have been sufficient to turn the head of +any other painter than Menzel. But while he is devoted to the reigning +family there is certainly no one who is less of a courtier. In fact he +is terribly outspoken, and never hesitates to speak to his sovereign +with the fearless sincerity of a Diogenes. Of a truth, there is no end +to the stories current, illustrating his independence of character. +Once, having been commissioned by the grandfather of the present +kaiser, namely, old Emperor William, to paint a picture of his +coronation as King of Prussia, he reproduced with too much exactitude, +and too little flattery, the features of the emperor's exceedingly +vain and by no means youthful consort, Empress Augusta. Her majesty +insisted that he should alter his portrait of her, and render it +more attractive, but this Menzel absolutely refused to do, and the +consequence was that the empress on numerous occasions made him feel +the weight of her displeasure. + +The old painter bided his time, and eventually got even with her in +a very characteristic fashion. Being entrusted with the task of +reproducing on canvas the scene of the emperor's departure for the +seat of war in 1870, he portrayed the Empress Augusta with her face +entirely concealed in her handkerchief, as if weeping, although she +prided herself on not having shed a single tear on that occasion. + +Another time during the life of old Field Marshal Wrangel, a lady of +the court, more famous for her vanity than her beauty, complained +to him that Menzel had done her scant justice in a large picture +representing some important event of contemporary court history. +Wrangel, who was famous as a brow-beating bully of the good old +Prussian type,--people trembling at the mere sight of him,--promised +to see Menzel, and to make him change the portrait of the lady to a +more flattering likeness. Greatly to his surprise, however, when he +broached the subject to Menzel, he discovered that the latter greatly +resented such meddlesomeness. Indeed, Menzel even had the temerity to +suggest that field marshals would do far better to attend to subjects +that they knew something about than to the art of painting, of which +they knew nothing. Wrangel flared up, so did Menzel, and soon the +air was blue with finely characterized and bona-fide Prussian oaths, +punctuated with the angry sarcasms of the enraged painter. The upshot +of the interview was that Wrangel, who had never before turned his +back on an enemy, was compelled to beat an ignominious retreat without +having accomplished his object; but before disappearing through the +door of the studio, he turned and positively yelled at the painter: + +"You are a disgusting little toad, and your picture is vile." + +While most of the members of the House of Hapsburg paint and sketch +with a good deal of cleverness and skill, there is only one, namely, +the now widowed Archduchess Maria-Theresa, who can be regarded as an +artist in every sense of the word. She excels alike with the chisel +and the brush, while during the lifetime of her husband, her salon +became, in spite of the strictness of Austrian court etiquette, +the one place where eminent artists were certain to find a cordial +welcome, irrespective of birth or social status. + +The studio of the archduchess is situated on the second floor of her +palace, in the Favoritenstrasse, and is a very lofty, long and narrow +apartment, looking out on the street. It is particularly remarkable +for its simplicity, presenting therein a powerful contrast to the +magnificence of the two salons through which it is necessary to pass +in order to reach it. The few stools, tabourets, armchairs and divans +therein contained, are upholstered with soft-toned Oriental rugs, the +walls are hidden by some sort of olive-colored velvety fabric, and +the wall opposite the windows is divided in the middle by a species +of gallery, the exquisite wood carvings of which were brought by +the archduchess herself from Meran. The parqueted floors are partly +concealed by the skins of tigers and polar bears, shot in the Arctic +regions and in India by her brother, Dom Miguel, Duke of Braganza, the +legitimist pretender to the throne of Portugal, while on easels, and +suspended from the walls, are oil-color portraits by the archduchess +of Baroness C. Kolmossy, to whom she is indebted for her knowledge of +painting, of her husband, the late Archduke Charles-Louis, and of her +sister-in-law, the lamented Empress Elizabeth, in riding habit and in +ball-dress. + +There is also a very pretty picture of a cat in the act of effecting +its escape from the basket in which it had been confined, and +a wonderful crayon sketch of Maria-Theresa's stepson, Archduke +Francis-Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The +colossal fire-place niched in one of the corners of the studio, is +surmounted, not by a mirror, but by a panel of well-nigh priceless +Oriental embroidery, the brilliant colors of which have been softened +and rendered harmonious and mellow by age. + +The doors are draped by portieres of Flemish tapestry, and shielded +by Mucharabieh screens of curiously-carved wood from Cairo. Preserved +from dust and damage beneath plate-glass are some unique pieces of +antique Venetian point lace, presented by another brother-in-law, Don +Alfonso of Spain, the younger brother of the Pretender Don Carlos, +while on a huge square writing-table, the equipments of which are +of Oriental gold filigree-work, richly jewelled, are usually +found letters either to or from the favorite brother-in-law of the +archduchess, Duke Charles-Theodore of Bavaria, the celebrated oculist, +who during the course of his practice has performed more than three +thousand successful operations for cataract without accepting a single +penny-piece by way of remuneration. + +True, the patients of this royal physician are nearly all of them poor +people, and it is for their benefit that he has converted one of his +castles into an ophthalmic hospital, and another palace into a species +of convalescent home and resort, where poor gentlefolk and government +servants with inadequate means can spend a couple of weeks in the +country free of all cost. + +It is difficult to refrain from a deep degree of sympathy for this so +brilliant and accomplished Archduchess Maria-Theresa, whose character +is best illustrated by the fact that she is literally worshipped by +her grown-up step-children. The sudden death of her husband was not +only a cruel bereavement, but was also the destruction of great and +much-cherished ambitions. + +Through the death of Crown Prince Rudolph, her husband, as next +brother to Emperor Francis-Joseph, became heir to the throne, and +owing to the refusal of Empress Elizabeth to take any part whatsoever +in court life, the archduchess was from that moment, to all intents +and purposes, the "first lady in the land." It was she who presided +at all court ceremonies and official functions, who received the +presentations, and who filled the post of empress alike at Vienna +and at Pesth. Her husband was entirely swayed by her, and completely +subject to her influence, and it is notorious that she looked for the +day when, through his accession to the throne, she would become +the virtual ruler of the great dual empire, and be in a position to +inaugurate all sorts of political ideas, peculiar to herself, notably +in connection with a reversal of Austria's present foreign policy. She +has never made any secret of her disapproval of the Austrian alliance +with Italy, and has even gone so far as to attend with her husband +public meetings in favor of the restoration of the temporal power of +the Papacy, at which King Humbert was bitterly denounced and abused +as a usurper! There seemed no reason whatsoever why her consort should +not live to succeed his elder brother, and as the archduke possessed +a singularly strong constitution, and had scarcely suffered a single +hour's illness since his childhood, there was no cause to fear any +untoward event. Indeed he might have been alive at the present moment +had it not been for his unfortunate pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where +in some way he contracted the malady which carried him off so very +suddenly. He enjoys the distinction of being the only member of his +house whose whole body reposes in the vault of the Capuchin Church +at Vienna, where so many hundred Hapsburgs sleep, some in coffins of +silver and gold, others in caskets of exquisitely ornamented copper. +According to a very gruesome custom in vogue with the reigning house +of Austria for many centuries, the heart is extracted from the body of +the imperial dead within twenty-four hours after their demise, placed +in a silver urn filled with spirits of wine, hermetically sealed, and +then conveyed with the utmost pomp and ceremony, though at night, +to the old cathedral of St. Stephen, where it is received with much +solemnity by the clergy, and placed in niches of the wall, near the +high altar. The entrails are in the same way removed, and conveyed +with identically the same ceremonies to the ancient church of the +Augustines, and it is only what is left that is buried in the vaults +of the Capuchin Church. + +Archduke Charles-Louis did not relish this extraordinary yet +traditional treatment of his remains after death, and fervently +believing in the resurrection of the body in the flesh, thought it +distinctly uncanny that his heart and his entrails should each have +to go hunting through the city for his body on the Day of Judgment. +Accordingly, he was laid to rest just as he died, instead of being +entombed, like all the other members of the House of Hapsburg, in +sections. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +If I have refrained in the preceding chapter from making any mention +of the attainments of the Dowager Empress Frederick, either as +a sculptor or as a painter, it is because she is so immeasurably +superior to all other royal personages in the realms of art that she +can no longer be regarded as a mere amateur, no matter how clever. +Besides this, her individuality is so strong, her intellectual gifts +so great, and the part which she has played in German politics so +important that she really deserves separate treatment. + +If I link her name with that of her daughter-in-law, Empress +Augusta-Victoria, it is because the latter's influence on German +affairs has been even still more weighty, though she is far less +brilliant and clever than her husband's mother. Indeed my readers +after perusing this chapter may feel disposed to ask themselves +whether ordinary intelligence in high places does not work more +successfully than genius. + +It is difficult to describe Empress Frederick as anything else than +a genius. Certainly I have never known a more gifted woman. The +diversity, the scope, and the depth of her knowledge are simply +amazing. In conversation it is difficult to broach any subject, no +matter what it is, that she has not mastered. Her acquaintance with +the mediaeval, Renaissance and modern schools of painting, and with +every form and work of art industry is unsurpassed even by those men +who have devoted their entire lives to these studies. I have on one +and the same evening heard her converse on Venetian art with Ludovic +Passini, proving herself his equal in her astounding knowledge of +Venice, past and present; talk with a distinguished physician, who was +amazed by the theoretical knowledge which she displayed of the throat +and breathing organs, and who declared that if she had only had +practical experience, she would have been the finest throat specialist +in the world; and discuss literature with a celebrated Englishman of +letters, chiding him upon his admitting his inability to cap a passage +from Pope, which she quoted! The late Sir Richard Wallace, than whom +no one possessed a more profound knowledge of the masterpieces of the +painters, goldsmiths, jewelers and potters of bygone centuries, was +wont to declare that Empress Frederick surpassed him as an expert, +although, with unlimited wealth at his disposal, he had devoted more +than half a century of his life to the collection of "chefs d'oeuvre" +in all parts of the world. + +The depth of her researches into chemical science exceeds that of Lord +Salisbury, who is her most intimate personal friend in England, and +at whose Elizabethan country seat she invariably visits when in her +native country, most of her time while under his roof being spent with +him in his laboratory. But it is particularly as an artist, both with +brush and chisel, that she excels, and while as a painter she ranks +with some of the leading professional masters of the present day, as a +sculptor she surpasses anything achieved or even attempted as yet by a +woman. + +The subject which naturally stimulates her most to artistic effort is +the portraiture of her fondly-loved husband. His memory, although he +has been dead eleven years, is so fresh in her mind, her eye is so +capable of recalling his image, and her hand is so well trained to +follow her impressions, and to reproduce what she can visualize, that +no sculptor could vie with her in reproducing his splendid form and +manly features. She once gave a commission to the celebrated German +sculptor Uphues for a colossal statue of "Unser Fritz," and calling +at the artists' studio, whilst he was at work on his clay model, she +pointed out to him some points in which he had not caught the right +expression. Verbal explanations not adequately conveying her meaning, +she asked permission to use the roughing chisel, set to work, and +in half an hour with a touch here and a touch there, modified the +features to such a degree that the sculptor was astounded at the +striking improvement. The model has since been transferred to marble, +and is universally considered to be the best portrait extant of +Emperor Frederick. + +No greater tribute to her brilliancy and penetration in the matter +of statecraft could possibly be given than the undisguised and openly +acknowledged animosity with which she was, throughout her married +life, regarded by the late Prince Bismarck, who feared her more than +all his masculine rivals and opponents together. She was a political +foe worthy in every respect of his steel, for she repeatedly +checkmated his moves; and if he sometimes spoke of her with a +brutality and a degree of vehemence altogether out of place, this +must be regarded as more in the light of a compliment than as an +intentional piece of discourtesy, as it was a virtual admission of +the fact that her opposition to his projects was of altogether too +masculine and virile a character to admit for one moment of his +according to her that forbearance and chivalrous deference which men +as a rule are wont to concede to women as a tribute to their sex. She +fought him unceasingly, from the time when he violated the Prussian +constitution, shortly before the war with Denmark, until the day +when through her efforts and statecraft he was driven from office,--a +vanquished foe. He had used in vain every weapon against her that his +ingenuity could devise. He had even gone so far as to publicly charge +her with treason in betraying to the English, and through them to +the French, military secrets which had been imparted to her by her +husband, during the war of 1870. He had, in short, done everything +that lay in his power to prevent her husband from succeeding to the +crown, mainly, as he admitted, with the object of preventing her from +sharing the throne as empress; and after having grossly insulted +her in the presence of her dying, voiceless and helpless husband +by refusing to transact any state business, or to communicate any +confidential reports to the monarch as long as she was in the room, +he incited her eldest son, whose mind he had deliberately poisoned +against her, to take steps which could only intensify the sorrow of +the grief-stricken woman immediately after her so fondly loved husband +had been taken from her. + +Yet she carried the day in the end, and her son is now the very first +to acknowledge his mother's cleverness and the fact that she showed +herself more than a match in statecraft for the man reputed as the +greatest statesman of the century, namely, Bismarck. + +One of the cleverest of the many clever things that she did, was the +manner in which she brought about the fall of Bismarck. She was too +shrewd to dream of exercising any direct pressure on her son. It was +done indirectly, and with so much diplomacy, that William never dreamt +at the time of dismissing the iron chancellor that he was playing his +mother's game. Abstaining from any steps towards a reconciliation +with her son, she merely took advantage of the kaiser's visit to +Westphalia, to place in his path his old tutor, Professor Hintzpeter, +a pedagogue of whom William had been very fond, and whose teachings +had left a deep impression upon the mind of his imperial pupil. The +empress knew the professor's characteristics, his fads, and his views. +She likewise recognized and understood, as only a mother can do, the +complex character of her son, and she foresaw the effects that +were likely to be achieved by bringing the two men once more into +communication with each other. + +Like William II., Hintzpeter is full of contrasts, for while on the +one hand he has always professed the most advanced radical and even +socialistic doctrines,--doctrines with which he impregnated the mind +of his princely charge,--yet he would tolerate no familiarity or +condescension on his part towards inferiors, and was even wont to +force William to wash his hands when he had so far forgotten himself +as to shake hands with anyone of a subordinate or menial rank. Another +trait of character of Professor Hintzpeter, is his firm conviction +that difficulties, no matter how vast and intricate, are always +capable of being settled and satisfactorily arranged by means of +eloquent phrases and good intentions. + +At the time when William renewed his acquaintance, in the capital of +Westphalia, with his old tutor, the socialistic and labor problems +were engaging the attention not merely of Germany, but likewise of +all Europe. Prince Bismarck was in favor of a continuance of harsh +measures with regard to labor, and of persecution of the most +resentless nature so far as the socialists were concerned. Hintzpeter, +full of his former sympathies for autocracy and socialism at one and +the same time, called William's attention to the fact that Bismarck's +policy had merely had the effect of vastly increasing the strength of +the socialists as a factor in German politics, and of rendering the +labor difficulties more acute. He, therefore, suggested to the emperor +the idea that he should endeavor to solve both problems by means of +an international congress, under his own presidency, at which means +should be devised for reconciling the interests of socialism with the +state, and those of capital with labor. + +William, with all his common-sense and cleverness, has inherited +from his ancestress, Queen Louise, and one might almost say from his +grand-uncle, King Frederick William IV., a very strongly developed +tendency towards idealism. It was to this phase of his nature that the +recommendation of Professor Hintzpeter particularly appealed, and the +more he considered the matter, the more he discussed it with his old +tutor, the more convinced he became that it was in his power to solve +the difficulties of both socialism and labor, and thus to earn the +gratitude, not only of his own people, but of the entire civilized +world. + +Of course, Prince Bismarck immediately realized the Utopian character +of the scheme, saw its impracticability, and proceeded to condemn it +with more than his ordinary irritability and _brusquerie_. Finding, +however, that the emperor was not to be argued out of the idea of +holding a labor conference, he proceeded to ridicule it, and what was +worse, to cause it to be scoffed at and treated with derision as +the vaporings of an inexperienced and altogether too generous-minded +youth, in German as well as foreign papers, which William knew derived +their inspiration from the chancellor's palace in the Wilhelmstrasse. + +All this served to embitter the relations between the emperor and the +prince. The latter perceived that the kaiser was getting beyond his +control, and was subject to other influences, while the emperor +now commenced to appreciate the extent to which, he had been made +subservient to the policy and to the wishes of his chancellor. +Meanwhile the necessity became apparent of taking some immediate +step, one way or another, in connection with the prolongation of the +exceptional measures against the socialists which were just expiring. +The chancellor was determined that they should be renewed, while the +emperor felt that, with the international congress coming on, he would +be handicapped in his rôle of arbitrator, and his good faith would +justly be suspected by the socialists were he to consent to the +continuance of repressive measures against them that were extra-legal, +that is to say, beyond the laws of the land, and as such, strictly +speaking, unconstitutional. + +Finally, William discovering that Bismarck was negotiating with the +various party leaders, notably with the late Dr. Windhorst, leader of +the Catholic party in the Reichstag, with a view to the prolongation +of the anti-socialist measures, made up his mind to dismiss him, and +called for his resignation for having ventured to negotiate with the +opposition leaders in the Reichstag, without his knowledge or consent, +in order to obtain their support to a measure about which he had +expressed his disapproval. That was the real cause of Bismarck's fall, +despite all other stories current on the subject, and had not Empress +Frederick engineered the meeting in the Westphalian capital between +her son and his former tutor, it is possible that Prince Bismarck +might have died in office. + +It is scarcely necessary to remind my readers that, as predicted by +the old chancellor, the international labor congress resulted in +a fiasco, while the emperor ultimately became so embittered by the +failure of the socialists to appreciate his kindly intentions towards +them, that he now regards them as his most bitter enemies, and +practically calls upon every soldier who joins the army to be prepared +to use his rifle, not only against the enemies from without, but also +against the enemies within--that is, the socialists. + +Naturally William to-day regrets that he permitted himself to be +talked into any such schemes as the reconciliation of the socialists +with the crown, and of capital with labor, and Professor Hintzpeter, +while retaining the affection of his former pupil, has long ceased to +enjoy his confidence as a political adviser. He is no longer looked +upon in the light of a German Richelieu, as the foreign newspapers +were wont to describe him when he was at the climax of his power, +and he no longer possesses anything in common with his Russian +counterpart, Professor Pobiedenotsoff, except in a singular +peculiarity of appearance. Indeed, Hintzpeter's looks invite +caricature. He is lanky, ungainly and lantern-jawed, and seems like +a man who has never been young, and who has not yet obtained the +venerability of old age. His manners are exceedingly ungracious, and +even repellent, but when once he becomes interested in a discussion +he seems to undergo an entire transformation. He is no longer the same +man, and gives one at that moment the impression of being nothing but +a bundle of seething nerves, the vibrations of which seem to extend +to, as well as to influence, all those who are within range of his +voice. + +The Empress Frederick was shrewd enough to keep in the background all +the time! She took no part in the fight between her son and Prince +Bismarck, and was particularly careful to avoid identifying herself in +any way with Professor Hintzpeter. The result was that the kaiser did +not dream of ascribing to her any responsibility for the mistake into +which he had been led by his former tutor. + +As foreseen by Empress Frederick, with Prince Bismarck once in +retirement and disgrace, and the emperor disposed to reverse the +entire Bismarckian policy, it commenced to dawn upon his majesty that +among other errors into which he had been led by his ex-chancellor was +his own harshness and unfriendliness towards his mother. It was +while under this impression that he took the first steps towards +a reconciliation with the imperial widow, who, by showing herself +particularly affectionate and amiable, made her son feel still more +bitterly the unfilial nature of the conduct which he had been led +by Bismarck to adopt until then towards his mother. The friendly +relations thus established between mother and son have subsisted +ever since, and the emperor does not disdain now to seek Empress +Frederick's advice in a number of matters, having realized how clever +she is, while there is no one whose approval he values more highly +than hers. Most people are in the habit of portraying the Empress +Frederick as a woman embittered and soured by disappointment. Yet if +the truth were known, there are few whose existence at the present +moment is of a more ideal character, She has lost a noble and devoted +husband, but this bereavement must, to a certain extent, have been +softened by the genuine sorrow manifested by all, not only in his +own country, but throughout the civilized world, when he died. Her +marriage was a singularly happy one, unclouded by even the faintest +difference of opinion with her consort, and she is now enjoying a +delightfully contented eventide of life. + +She resides during the greater part of the year in a home constructed +in one of the loveliest portions of Germany, near Homburg, according +to her own designs, and her own ideas; she possesses a vast fortune, +which renders her independent of all her relatives, and which she is +free to spend as she wishes. With all her sons and daughters married, +she has no domestic cares of her own, and is at liberty to order her +mode of existence as she pleases, unhampered by any obligations or +restrictions, save those which her son may see fit to impose. Her rank +is of the highest, for she is the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, +and the mother of the present German emperor, besides which she has +the status and title of an empress-queen. In fact, she has the rank +of a sovereign, without any of the responsibilities that are +attached thereto, and while she may have experienced, at one moment, +disappointment at being deprived by her husband's premature death +of engineering a number of political, social and economic reforms in +Germany, upon which she had set her heart, yet she cannot but have +realized by this time that her existence as an empress-dowager is +infinitely more agreeable than that of an empress-regent would have +been, for had she been at the present moment seated by her husband's +side on the throne, she would have found no time to devote to those +arts and sciences to which she is so passionately devoted, and which +nowadays occupy the greater portion of her life. + +In spite of being a great-grandmother, Empress Frederick is still +in splendid bodily health and vigor. She rides on horseback daily in +summer, and in winter spends a considerable amount of time skating +on the ice. She is not handsome, and, in fact, has never been even +pretty, but has always had a bright, intelligent and pleasing face. +Moreover, she has inherited her mother's peculiarly melodious voice. +Unfortunately, she is imperious, and intolerant of stupidity; it is +this, coupled with her lack of tact, which is responsible for her +unpopularity. + +In spite of all her philanthropy, her generosity, and her cleverness, +and notwithstanding the blamelessness of her life, she is not liked +by the people of her adopted country, and this, while it has not +prevented her from playing a preponderant rôle in German politics, +as above described, has proved an obstacle to her exercise of any +influence upon the German people. After all, this absence of tact may +be excused, for it is usually wanting in people of genius. She is very +tender-hearted, and will not, if she can prevent it, allow any living +thing on the estate to be disturbed or killed. + +No description of Empress Frederick seems complete without adding +thereto a brief reference to the grand-master of her court, Count +Seckendorff, who may be said to have devoted his entire life to her +service, and to that of her husband. A scion of one of the oldest +houses of the Prussian aristocracy, and bearing a name that figures +frequently in the pages of German history, he was attached to the +household of Empress Frederick as chamberlain in the early days of her +marriage, and the only time since then when he has been absent from +her side was during the war; for the count is no mere drawing-room +soldier, as is the case with so many military men who are in +attendance on royalty. He has seen active service in the wars of +1864, 1866 and 1870, winning the iron cross for bravery in the latter +campaign, and was likewise attached to Lord Napier's expedition to +Abyssinia, which found its climax in the storming of Magdala, and in +the death of Emperor Theodore. + +As an artist he may be said to be almost as gifted as Empress +Frederick is herself, and his paintings have won distinctions of the +highest order at many national and foreign exhibitions. Indeed, it +is this sympathy of artistic tastes that has contributed in no small +measure to the altogether exceptional position which he enjoys in +the favor and confidence of the widowed empress. He has seen all her +children grow up around her, has been the confidant of many of her +sorrows, and at a moment when both she and her dying husband were +surrounded by chamberlains and officers who were devoted to the +interests of Bismarck, and virtually traitors in the camp, he alone +remained loyal in evil as well as in happier days. Being a bachelor, +he makes his home with the empress, attends her wherever she goes, +and, after having been the object of much abuse and even calumny,--the +latter originated and circulated by the so-called "reptile +press,"--that is to say, the newspapers, domestic and foreign, drawing +pay and inspiration from Prince Bismarck,--he now enjoys the regard +and the good-will of everyone at the Courts of Berlin and Windsor, +particularly at the latter, where his lifelong devotion to the widowed +empress is keenly appreciated by her mother, Queen Victoria. + +No greater contrast can be conceived than that which exists between +Empress Frederick and her daughter-in-law, the empress-regnant. Far +less brilliant than either her husband's mother or grandmother, she +has nevertheless managed to achieve, as I have remarked before, not +only an infinitely greater degree of popularity, but likewise a more +extensive influence upon the German people. Experience and history +show that ordinary sense on the throne is far more beneficial to +the population than a lofty order of intellect, and Empress +Augusta-Victoria merely offers another illustration of the truth of +this assertion. None of the queens of Prussia, nor either of the +first German empresses, can be said to have left any impress upon the +subjects of their respective husbands. There is no doubt that the +so celebrated Queen Louise of Prussia was the cause of Prussia's +receiving infinitely harsher treatment at the hands of Napoleon than +the kingdom would otherwise have experienced; while the consort of +old Emperor William, a pupil of Goethe, and famed for her culture and +accomplishments, was disliked by the people, and was just as little +in touch with them as her still more talented daughter-in-law, Empress +Frederick. + +For Empress Augusta-Victoria, however, a most profound sympathy +extends throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Every housewife, +every mother, looks to her as to a model, knows that she is satisfied +to excel in her purely domestic duties, and that she does, not strive +to render herself superior to her sex by intellectual brilliancy and +scientific attainments. Thanks to this sympathy which she inspires, +and to the fact that she is looked upon by men and women alike in her +husband's dominions as the ideal of what a German "_hausfrau_" should +be, she has been able to exercise an influence of infinitely greater +importance upon the nation at large than any other consort of a +Prussian sovereign can have boasted to achieve. + +It is to this estimable woman, whom some were disposed at first to +denounce as narrow-minded and witless, that must be attributed +the very strongly developed religious revival apparent throughout +Protestant Germany since the present emperor came to the throne. Prior +to the present reign, church-going was as a rule eschewed by the male +sex, women constituting the backbone of the congregation, while the +clergy of the Lutheran persuasion was looked down upon, being treated +by the territorial nobility much in the same way as upper servants, +that is to say, on a par with the farm bailiffs, the stewards and the +housekeepers In a word, religion and everything pertaining thereto was +not considered fashionable. + +To-day all this is changed. Under the guidance of the empress, her +husband, reared by his broad-minded mother in the ideas of Strauss +and of Renan, has become a strict churchman, and court, nobility, +bureaucracy and in fact the middle and lower classes too, have +followed suit. Free-thinking and neglect of religious duties are +at present considered the acme of bad form in Germany. Everybody +professes the most profound interest in questions and enterprises +relating to the church, and a large number of daughters of the most +illustrious houses of the German nobility have conferred their hands +and their hearts upon penniless Lutheran pastors, whose social status +has thereby been entirely changed. Moreover, if during the past ten +years more churches have been built, particularly in Berlin, than had +been the case in the entire previous half-century, this is because +every one has become aware that the most facile way of winning +the good graces of the empress, and the favor of her consort is by +building a church, or endowing some hospital. + +The empress is ever ready to help in every good work, and her private +charities are very great, but she does not approve of the higher +education or the emancipation of women, and entertains a holy horror +of everything pertaining to the female suffrage movement. Women, +according to her views, should remain in their own sphere, and should +regard their duties to their husbands, their children, and their homes +as their first and foremost obligations; the nursing of the sick, +the training of young people, and the organization and direction of +charitable institutions, affording plenty of scope for those members +of the fair sex who have no domestic tasks to occupy their time. + +[Illustration: _AUGUSTE VICTORIA EMPRESS OF GERMANY_] +_From Life_ + +She claims that in this way a woman is able to exercise a far more +important and beneficial influence than by endeavoring to supplant +men in professions essentially masculine, and certainly she herself +constitutes a striking illustration of the truth of her contention, +for the influence of the present German empress is felt throughout the +length and breadth of the land--a gracious womanly influence in every +sense of the word. + +Among the many philanthropic organizations which owe their origin to +the empress, is the Central Association of German Actresses, which has +of late years done more towards elevating the stage than has ever been +accomplished by members of the aristocracy who have seen fit to join +the dramatic profession with that avowed object in view. The work +of this society is to enable actresses to provide themselves, at the +lowest possible cost, with the costumes considered necessary by the +managers of the theatres. It is well known that while in Germany the +pieces are beautifully put on the stage, the salaries paid to the +actresses do not in many cases cover the expenses of the stage +dresses. The empress makes a point of giving all her court and evening +gowns, which were formerly the perquisites of her dressers and maids, +to the association, and has invited the ladies of the Court of Berlin +to follow her example. Those ladies who feel that they cannot afford +to give the dresses, are asked to sell them to the Association as +cheaply as possible, and the latter then turns them over at a +merely nominal cost to such ladies of the dramatic profession as are +considered worthy of support and assistance. + +This organization is managed entirely by great ladies, the empress +herself acting as president, and in this manner they are brought +into personal contact with actresses both of high and low degree. The +intercourse thus established has been most beneficial, for it has +not only helped to place the social status of the stage on a more +agreeable basis, but it also constitutes an incentive to actresses +to keep their names and reputations free from blemish, since they +naturally understand that the empress and the great ladies of the +aristocracy can only treat them as friends, so long as they live up +to the same standard of respectability as that which prevails in the +highest circles of society, and at court. + +One of the most valuable qualities of Empress Augusta-Victoria is her +extraordinary tact. It is due to this, more than anything else, that +she has been able to retain, not only a hold upon the affection and +regard of her impulsive and brilliant husband, but also an influence +over him without his being aware of the fact. By the leading members +of his court, and by his principal ministerial advisers, she is +regarded not merely in the light of his guardian angel, but as his +most sensible counsellor. She may be relied upon at all times to +soothe his anger, soften any bitterness which he may entertain towards +this or that person, and call forth at critical moments the most +generous and chivalrous phases of his, on the whole, very attractive +character. + +She is claimed by those who know the true state of affairs to act in +the capacity of a brake and a safety-valve to her husband, and it +is no secret that both the classes and the masses feel an additional +sense of security when they know their popular empress to be by the +emperor's side; for every mistake that he has made since he ascended +the throne has taken place during her absence, and he himself is the +first to acknowledge that she is largely responsible for every success +that he has achieved. + +The sentiments of the empress towards Bismarck have been much +misunderstood and misconstrued. It is perfectly true that she was +brought up from her earliest childhood to regard him as the enemy +of her house, the prince having, as I have already related, been the +author of the indefensible act of spoliation, by means of which her +father had been deprived of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, now +forming part of the kingdom of Prussia. The manner in which the Iron +Chancellor was viewed in the home of the empress when a young girl, +may best be gathered from the fact that whenever her nurses and +governesses were desirous of putting a stop to her naughtiness and +of frightening her into obedience, they would exclaim: "_Bismarck's +coming! wow! wow!_" This childhood impression has continued so +deep that even to this day, whenever the empress shows any signs of +reluctance to comply with her husband's wishes, or betrays irritation, +the kaiser is in the habit of springing upon her the familiar old cry +of "_Bismarck's coming! wow! wow!_" which at first always makes her +start as she did in infancy and girlhood, and then causes her to burst +into laughter, and restores her to good humor. + +These sentiments of aversion to Bismarck were to a great extent +modified at the time of her marriage by the knowledge that it was the +chancellor who had contributed more than anybody else to facilitate +and bring about the match. The latter was opposed by many of Emperor +William's kinsfolk, as well as by influential people at court, on the +ground that her rank was inadequate to render her a suitable match for +the heir to the throne of Germany. Bismarck, however, took the ground +that a marriage between the heir presumptive and the eldest daughter +of the _de jure_ Duke of Schleswig-Holstein would go a long way +to reconcile the inhabitants of the above-named duchies to their +annexation by Prussia, while at the same time it would constitute the +reparation of an act which he himself admitted was extremely unjust, +but to which he was compelled by imperative considerations of policy. + +Empress Augusta-Victoria has been so supremely happy in her married +life that she has always felt a certain amount of gratitude to +Bismarck, which tended to obliterate her childhood's impressions +against him; and no more striking indication of her sentiments towards +the famous statesman can be given than the fact that she travelled all +the way to Friedrichsrüh at a moment when the sickness of her children +demanded her presence by their bedside, in order to attend the private +and home funeral of the man who had publicly described her father +as the most stupid prince in all Europe; who had deprived him of his +throne, and who had sent him to an early grave as a broken-spirited +and thoroughly embittered man. + +While the empress takes but little part in politics, on her favorite +ground, that women should have no concern whatsoever in the conduct +thereof, she has at least on two occasions, to my knowledge, +intervened in important crises. Thus in 1892, when General Count +Caprivi, having differed with William on the subject of the new +education laws, had written to tender his resignation of the office +of chancellor, the empress at once indicted an autograph letter, in +which, with expressions of mingled pathos and dignity, she appealed to +him so strongly not to desert her husband, or to subject the latter +to the anxiety, the trouble, and even the odium of another ministerial +crisis, that he at once traveled down to Hübertüsstock, where +the emperor was staying, and informed him that he withdrew his +resignation, and would remain in office. + +Two years later, when Caprivi again resigned, it was largely the +personal entreaties contained in the letters which she addressed to +old Princess Hohenlohe which led to the latter's withdrawal of +the opposition that, until then, had stood in the way of Prince +Hohenlohe's acceptance of the chancellorship. + +Like most other consorts of reigning sovereigns and princesses of the +blood, Empress Augusta-Victoria holds the colonelcy of a number of +Prussian and Russian regiments, whose uniform she occasionally wears +in a somewhat feminized form at those grand military reviews of which +the kaiser is so fond. Her favorite garb of this kind is the uniform +of the second regiment of Pomeranian Cuirassiers, one of the oldest +and most celebrated corps of cavalry of the Prussian army. The +regimental tunic is of snow-white cloth, and held in its place by the +silver shoulder-straps of a colonel is the orange ribbon of the Order +of the Black Eagle, which crosses her breast to the left hip, where +the jewel of the order is attached by a large rosette. The star of the +order is worn on the left breast, while just above it are a number of +smaller decorations. With this white tunic, with its silver buttons, +its silver embroidery and scarlet facings, a white cloth skirt is +worn, while in lieu of the helmet now in use by the regiment, the +empress has adopted the old-fashioned, broad-brimmed cavalier hat, +with the flowing white ostrich plumes which the officers of the corps +were wont to don in the early part of the last century. Thus attired, +the empress takes her place by the side of her husband at the saluting +point at any of the grand reviews at which she may happen to be +present, and as soon as a regiment of which she happens to be colonel +approaches, she at once canters, takes her place at its head as +commanding officer, and leads it past her husband in true military +fashion, saluting with her riding whip before returning to his side. + +Sometimes she is accompanied by one or another of the emperor's +sisters, or else by the handsome young Grand Duchess of Hesse, all of +whom hold honorary colonelcies, and who appear on such occasions on +horseback and in uniform. The Grand Duchess of Hesse, who holds the +command of an infantry regiment, wears not merely the tunic, but +likewise the helmet of the corps in question, and looks particularly +fascinating on these occasions. + +Empress Augusta-Victoria and her mother-in-law, the Empress Frederick, +are the only two women who have ever been admitted to the Order of the +Black Eagle, the highest order of the kingdom of Prussia, and neither +the consort of Old Emperor William nor any of the earlier queens of +Prussia, not even Queen Louise, ever received this distinction. The +innovation dates from the time of the late Emperor Frederick. The +first thing he did on becoming emperor was to take the ribbon of the +order from his own uniform and hang it across the shoulders of his +wife, in token of gratitude, and in recognition of the fact that, had +it not been for her championship and faithful guard of his interests, +Bismarck would have carried the day, and debarred him from accession +to the crown. While the emperor's action, of course, excited a good +deal of criticism amongst the older dignitaries of the order, and +among the members of the government and court, it was heartily +approved of by the world at large, as being not only well deserved, +but also a singularly pathetic demonstration on the part of the +dying monarch of his profound sense of obligation to his most devoted +consort. + +When Emperor William in turn ascended the throne, he at once proceeded +to follow his father's example, and to invest his own wife with the +Black Eagle, in order to place her, as the reigning empress, upon +the same level in this particular respect, as her mother-in-law, the +dowager empress. It may be taken for granted that henceforth the Order +of the Black Eagle will remain a prerogative of all the consorts of +the kings of Prussia and emperors of Germany. + +The whole youth of the empress was spent at Prinkenau, the fine +country seat of her parents, which is now owned by her brother. Those +days were varied only by visits to her uncle, Prince Christian of +Schleswig-Holstein, who makes his home in England, where he is married +to Queen Victoria's daughter Helena, and to her relatives, the Prince +and Princess Hohenlohe. The emperor first made her acquaintance during +a day's shooting at Prinkenau. He was _en route_ to the château, when, +having lost his way in the forest, he met a young girl, of whom he +inquired his whereabouts and how to proceed. This was the Princess +Augusta-Victoria, and he always declared that he fell in love with her +from that moment. + +She was, therefore, a total stranger to Berlin court life and Berlin +society at the time of her marriage, and at first found it very +difficult to adapt herself to the formal etiquette by which royal +personages are surrounded at Berlin. It was here that her American +aunt, Countess Waldersee, came to her assistance, instructed her, and +acted as her mentor, not only in matters of etiquette and manner, but +in the attitude to be observed towards the various members of Berlin +society as well. + +It is as a mother that the empress shows herself in one of her most +charming lights. She is, indeed, an ideal mother, and, in spite of her +manifold duties, personally supervises, not merely the education +of her children, but even every little detail connected with their +comfort and well-being. In fact the empress, as well as the emperor, +are at their best when surrounded by their children, in whose company +they spend far more time than fashionable people in less exalted +spheres of society consider it necessary or pleasant to do. + +The empress is extremely economical as regards the clothing of her +children, and the suits of the elder princes are cut down to fit their +younger brothers. + +With her own wardrobe the empress is equally careful, and she has a +staff of dressmakers who are always at work remodelling her gowns, so +that it is possible for her to appear in them several times without +their being recognized. On state occasions she is always superbly +dressed, and covered with the most gorgeous jewels, but when in the +country she delights in the simplest costumes; a serge skirt, a pretty +blouse, and a plain straw hat, being her favorite garb. Her +grand court costumes, as a rule, hail from Vienna, and Empress +Augusta-Victoria probably shares with her grandmother, Queen Victoria, +the distinction of being one of the two ladies, occupants of thrones, +who do not patronize any of the great Parisian couturiers. + +The empress never orders her dresses herself. That is done by her +principal lady-in-waiting, who has patterns sent to the palace, from +which she selects a certain number to show the empress. When the +imperial lady has made her choice, she settles from plates the way +in which the gown is to be made, after invariably submitting her +selections to the emperor, who has excellent taste in such matters. + +The empress usually breakfasts alone with the emperor. In summer, +often at the unearthly hour of six in the morning! The meal is a +substantial one, American and English, rather than Continental in +fashion, and she is apt to declare that it is the only time throughout +the entire day when she is able to discuss matters of a private or +domestic character with her husband. The imperial couple often ride +out on horseback together in the early morning, after breakfast, +before the kaiser repairs to the palace to begin his day's work at +nine o'clock. The empress looks very well on horseback, as she has an +excellent seat, and the plain habit suits her rounded figure extremely +well. Her stable is quite distinct from that of the emperor, and with +the exception of one white horse all the mounts that she uses are +brown in color. + +At luncheon the emperor and empress generally have a few guests, and +it is the same at dinner, which takes place at seven in the evening. +On rising from the table, the empress frequently takes her place at +the piano to accompany the emperor, who has a fine baritone and most +expressive voice. + +It is asserted by those who know the empress best, that she has kept a +diary since her earliest girlhood, in which she has set down her daily +experiences, although it is claimed that these diaries have been seen +by no one, not even by the emperor. The empress, who never fails to +write her diary every evening, keeps the precious volumes under lock +and key in a large cabinet situated in her bedroom. Perhaps some +day the personal experiences of Empress Augusta-Victoria will be +published, and while they may possibly throw light on many dark places +in the history both of the nation and the court, there is no doubt +that their revelations will be characterized by that kindliness of +heart, that forbearance, and, above all, that sound common sense which +are so conspicuous in Empress Augusta-Victoria. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Since the days of the canonized rulers of Hungary, Bohemia, Russia, +and France, there have been no sovereigns of the Old World who have +been so distinguished for their piety and for the fervor of their +religious belief as the present Emperors of Germany and Austria, for +they both take very seriously to heart their official and liturgical +designation as the Anointed of the Lord. + +It is no mere cant or hypocrisy in their case, but a profound belief +in the teachings of the Scripture in which they truly believe is to be +found the most powerful bulwark of the throne against the ever rising +tide of democracy, and the fundamental basis of the entire monarchical +system. Save for this, their manifestations of Christianity may be +said to differ. + +Francis-Joseph, now in the eventide of a singularly sad and stormy +life, and of a reign that was inaugurated by a most sanguinary civil +war, reminds one, in spite of the hereditary title of "_Apostolic +Majesty_" conferred upon his forbears by the Papacy, of nothing so +much as of the publican of the parable going up to the temple to pray, +so deep and unaffected is the humility with which he approaches the +altar or kneels at the priedieu in the chapel of his palace, or beside +the tombs of those most near and dear to him. + +Emperor William's piety, while equally fervent, does not give one the +same idea of self-abasement in the sight of the Almighty. It would be +unfair to compare him to that other personage of the parable, namely, +the Pharisee, for the latter was obviously lacking in sincerity; +but at the same time, William in his moments of religious fervor, +invariably recalls to mind that pretty story told by the late Alphonse +Daudet, entitled the "Dauphin's Deathbed," in which the little +boy-prince, on the eve of his departure for a happier world, responds +to the exhortations of his chaplain with the exclamation: "But +one thing consoles me, M. l'Abbé, and that is that up there in the +Paradise of the stars I shall still be the Dauphin. I know that the +good God is my cousin, and cannot fail to treat me according to my +rank!" + +Emperor Francis-Joseph will be prepared, in, a future existence, to +take his place among the very humblest of his subjects, realizing that +in the eyes of the Divinity all human creatures are equal, whereas +Emperor William, on the other hand, in his heart of hearts, is +certainly convinced that there will be a special place reserved for +him above--a place in keeping with his rank here on earth. True, he +has never actually said this in so many words, but he has assuredly +indicated this belief both by his utterances and his actions. He makes +no attempt to conceal his conviction that personages of royal birth, +and, in particular, reigning sovereigns, are fashioned by the Almighty +with clay of a quality vastly superior to that employed for the +composition of ordinary human creatures. + +Notwithstanding all the Spartan rigor and severity to which he was +subjected in his youth, for the purpose of dispelling exaggerated +pride of birth and station, he feels assured that the rights and +privileges which he enjoys above his fellow-men are of Divine origin. +Although a constitutional sovereign, he is never tired of declaring +that he is responsible for the performance of his duties as ruler +of Germany to the Almighty alone, and that God alone is able to +appreciate and to pass judgment upon his actions. + +That Emperor William considers himself to be far nearer to the throne +of God, and in an infinitely closer degree of communion with the +Almighty than any ordinary being, is apparent from many of his public +utterances. In fact, the amazing intimacy which he professes with +his Maker, and the strange manner in which he implies that he and the +Creator have interests in common, and joint understandings that are +beyond the comprehension of ordinary mankind, would savor of downright +blasphemy, were it not for the undeniable sincerity of his Teutonic +majesty, who really regards himself as a Divine instrument. Indeed, +there is no doubt that it is this belief which he honestly entertains +that has served to keep his private life, since he ascended the +throne, so thoroughly blameless. For there is no doubt that William +does his utmost to live up to the teachings of his faith, to order +every phase of his existence in conformity with the precepts of +Christianity, and to avoid everything that could tend to impair his +status as a vice-regent of Providence in the eyes of the devout. + +Few are the incidents and events of his reign to which he does not +impart a religious flavor. Thus it was only last summer, on the +completion of a new fort at Metz, that he insisted on its inauguration +taking place with much religious pomp and ceremony, and he himself +christened the fortress in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and +of the Holy Ghost, thus calling down the blessing of the Trinity on +a stronghold, the guns of which are pointed against France, and the +success of which can only consist in the destruction of innumerable +French foes! + +It is he, too, who has originated the practice of christening with +religious ceremonies the great guns furnished by Krupp for use afloat +and ashore against Germany's enemies; and on the blades of the swords +which he has presented to his elder sons, and to his favorite generals +and officers, there is invariably inscribed on the one side, "In the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and on the +other, averse from the Bible, surmounted by the imperial cypher. + +William has even gone to the length of drawing up an extraordinary +argument in defence of duelling based upon quotations taken from the +Bible. The emperor takes as the text of his argument that verse of +the writings of St. Paul, in which the Apostle declares that he would +rather die than that anyone should rob him of his good name. William +infers from this that the most eloquent and forcible of all the +fathers of the Church was prepared to fight to the death for the honor +of his name. + +"Nowhere in the Bible," adds his majesty, "is there any prohibition +of duelling, not even in the New Testament, which, unlike the Old +Testament, is not a book of law. Indeed, every attempt to use the New +Testament as the basis for a new code of law has resulted in failure." + +With regard to the use made by the opponents of duelling of that +law in the Old Testament which proclaims, "Thou shalt not kill," +the emperor draws attention to another portion of the Old Testament, +wherein is mentioned that the sword shall not be carried in vain. Then +invoking St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, in which the Apostle +exclaims: "Oh! ye foolish Galatians. This only would I learn of you. +Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of +the faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, that ye wish +to perfect yourselves in the flesh?" + +The emperor declares that to twist the Word of God into a prohibition +of duelling is nothing else than to perfect one's self by the +flesh--that is to say to attribute an altogether material and +common-place interpretation to what is meant spiritually. He adds +that this is just as reprehensible in the eyes of the Almighty as +the attempts by the Pharisees to adapt the Mosaic law to their own +convenience, attempts which were so bitterly denounced by Christ. + +Finally, the emperor generally concludes this extraordinary exposition +of his views by the following exordium: + +"He who after careful self-examination finds himself compelled to +fight a duel, and whose conscience is clear of sentiments of hatred +and of vengeance, may do so in the conviction that he is in no wise +acting contrary to the Word of God, to the obligations of honor, or +to the accepted customs of society. As in battle, so also in the duel, +which has been forced upon him in one way or another, he may say to +himself: _If we live, we live in the Lord, and if we die, we die in +the Lord, Amen_." + +It must be borne in mind that Emperor William delivered himself of +these utterances, not merely in his capacity of Emperor of Germany, +King of Prussia, and commander-in-chief of the entire German army, but +also in his self-assumed rôle of _Summus-Episcopus,_ or spiritual as +well as temporal chief of the Lutheran Church throughout the empire. +Such a speech was delivered on the occasion of the endeavor made by +certain members of the court circles to induce the Lutheran synod to +institute disciplinary measures against the Potsdam pastor who +had declined to accord the rites of Christian burial to Baron von +Schrader, killed in a duel by Baron Kotze, the encounter being the +outcome of the anonymous letter scandal already described. The synod, +however, thoroughly endorsed the attitude of the Lutheran minister in +question, and availed itself of the opportunity to pass a resolution +to the effect that no person killed in a combat of this kind, or even +dying from wounds received in a duel, could be regarded as having met +his death as a Christian, and as such entitled to Christian burial. + +Curiously enough this view was endorsed by the gallant old General +Bronsart von Schellendorf, at that time minister of war, who, in +expressing his approval of the resolution, called upon the emperor +as commander-in-chief to take more radical steps for checking the +phenomenal growth of the practice of duelling. + +William, however, declined to comply with the request, dismissed +the general shortly afterwards from office, and, on the contrary, +proceeded to condemn both the action of the synod and of the Potsdam +pastor who had declined to officiate at Baron Schrader's obsequies, +giving as the reason for his position in the matter the argument from +which I have just given some extracts. + +This was by no means the first time that William found himself in +conflict with the provincial synods of the Lutheran Church in his +dominions. On one occasion the consistory of the Lutheran Church of +the Province of East Prussia, in which the imperial game preserves +of Rominten are situated, passed a unanimous vote of censure upon the +kaiser for having desecrated the Sabbath, and violated the secular +laws with regard to its observance, by giving a big hunting-party on +Sunday at Rominten. It was understood at the time that the consistory +would have abstained from taking this extreme step had it not been +for the comment excited throughout Germany by the somewhat malicious +juxtaposition in most of the newspapers of two articles, one of which +gave an elaborate description of the Sunday shooting-party of the +emperor at Rominten, while in a parallel column was a proclamation +just issued by the civil governor of the province of Westphalia, +calling attention to the lax observance of the Sunday laws, and +reiterating the pains and penalties that are prescribed by statute +for those who shoot, sing, dance, play skittles or indulge in any +recreation, whether in public or in private, that is inconsistent with +repose on Sunday. + +Of course, the vote of the consistory of Eastern Prussia was +eventually quashed, and its members disciplined. But the publicity +given to the affair served to call the attention of the people at +large to the emperor's disregard of the laws which he himself had +caused to be enacted. Previous to his reign, Sunday had been looked +upon as a day of recreation, revelry, and festivity throughout +Germany. + +In the days of the old emperor all the finest performances of the +court theatres were reserved for Sunday, the principal state banquets +took place on that day, as well as the imperial hunting parties and +battues. Among the _bourgeoisie_, dances, balls and picnics were the +order of the Lord's Day, while the lower classes thronged the beer +gardens and the beer halls that constitute so important a feature +of German life. Regattas, parades, race-meetings, and popular +entertainments and festivals of one kind or another, were, in fact, +all reserved for Sunday. + +All this was changed when the emperor came to the throne, and among +the earliest laws enacted on his initiative, were those to which +the Governor of Westphalia called attention in the proclamation just +described, and which prohibited every form of revelry on the Sabbath. +For instance, a few months after William's accession he was invited by +the Berlin Yacht Club to attend the annual regatta, which was to take +place on the following Sunday morning, but he declined on the ground +that it would prevent his going to church, and when the committee +offered to postpone the races until the afternoon he declared that +his principles would not permit him to regard Sunday as a day to be +devoted to regattas, and analogous forms of popular entertainment. +It must be explained that he was at the time strongly imbued with +the evangelistic views which he had derived from his wife's aunt, +the American Countess of Waldersee, and from her protégé, ex-Court +Chaplain Stoecker, who combined with his strict and Puritanical views +on the subject of the Sabbath, the most intense animosity towards the +Jews, and a virulent hatred for the late Emperor Frederick. + +This strange divine, so famous for many years as the leader of the +so-called "Jüdenhetz" movement, is one of the most displeasing figures +in German public life, and Emperor William, who has long since turned +his back upon him, and dismissed him from his court chaplaincy, must +bitterly regret that he ever accorded him any favor or intimacy, and +permitted himself to be influenced by his views. How is it possible to +speak with any patience of a minister of the Church who, in a weekly +paper, "The Ecclesiastical Review," of December 10, 1887, actually had +the audacity to write in an editorial article signed with his name the +following cruel sentence? "Let us pray every day and every hour for +our royal family, and in particular for the Old Man (the old kaiser) +and for the Young Man (the present emperor) of this race of heroes. +May God in His mercy grant that the terrible punishment which has +overtaken the sick Prince Frederick (the late Emperor Frederick) bear +fruit, and may it bring resignation to his mind, and peace to his +conscience." + +At the moment when the article appeared, in which it was publicly +intimated that the crown prince's malady was a just and well-merited +punishment for his sins, the imperial patient, so sorely afflicted, +whose life had been so blameless, was at death's door, a fact +over which the court chaplain openly rejoiced, proclaiming that "a +brilliant future is about to open up before us." + +Since William has cut himself adrift from Pastor Stoecker, the +strictness of his views with regard to the observance of Sunday, has +undergone a change. At any rate, he has modified them in so far as he +himself is concerned, and while he is very regular in his attendance +at church on Sunday morning, he no longer seems to consider it a sin +to go out sailing, shooting or hunting on Sunday afternoons, or to +attend theatrical performances or other kinds of entertainment in +the evening. Inasmuch as the Sunday Observance Laws have not been +repealed, one can only take it for granted that he considers himself +and his consort as being above the law of the land, and in no wise +bound thereby. Yet neither of their majesties has a legal right to any +such immunity. According to the terms of the Prussian constitution the +emperor and empress are just as amenable to the laws that figure in +the statute book, and equally required to obey them as any ordinary +German citizen. The only advantage that the emperor enjoys is that +he possesses certain prerogatives in connection with the giving +of evidence, and with the punishment of offences that are directed +against his person and his honor. + +In this obligation to submit to the laws of the land he differs +from his grandmother Queen Victoria, and from his ally, Emperor +Francis-Joseph, the tenure of whose thrones was originally based on +what in olden times was known as the Divine right of kings. Thus, in +England, as in Austria, and even in Spain and Portugal, the mediaeval +theory still prevails that "_the king can do no wrong!_" Queen +Victoria, for instance, is not below the law like Emperor William, +but above it. No court has jurisdiction over her, and legally speaking +there is no jurisdiction upon earth to try her in a civil or criminal +way, much less to condemn her to punishment. + +Of all the prerogatives enjoyed by Queen Victoria, the one, however, +of which the kaiser is the most envious is her supremacy of the state +Church of England. His ambition is to acquire the same position with +regard to the whole Lutheran Church as she enjoys over the Anglican +denomination. This dream, difficult of execution for reasons which I +will proceed to explain, originated with his great-grandfather, King +Frederick-William III., who first conceived the idea of a species of +Lutheran Kaliphate, with its headquarters at Berlin, and its Mecca at +Jerusalem. + +His successor, King Frederick-William IV., took up the notion with all +the enthusiasm natural to his mystic character, and kept one of his +most trusted statesmen and confidants busily employed for years in +endeavoring to federate all the Reformed Churches, with the exception +of that of England, under the protectorate and supremacy of the +Hohenzollerns. Emperor William goes still further. He aspires to +become, not merely the temporal head of the Lutheran Church throughout +the world, but likewise its spiritual chief, its pontiff, in fact, in +the same manner that the czar is the chief ecclesiastical dignitary +and the duly consecrated spiritual head of the national Church +of Russia. William bases his claims to the dignity of a +_summus-episcopus_ on the fact that he is a titular bishop and +archbishop, some nineteen times over, for his ancestors, when annexing +the various petty states and sovereignties in bygone times, always +made a point of getting the mitre with the crown, and the crozier +with the purple and ermine. Many of the petty states of Germany in +mediaeval days were ruled, not by temporal rulers, but by archbishops +possessing the rank of sovereign and the title of prince. + +The ecclesiastical dignity was, in fact, inherent, and part and parcel +of the sovereignty. Consequently, when Emperor William's ancestors +acquired the one, they likewise secured possession of the other, and +thus among his many ecclesiastical titles is that of Prince Archbishop +of Silesia, and it is in his ecclesiastical capacity that he has +conferred canonries and deaneries upon the military and civil members +of his household. + +Of course, the difficulty in the way of the emperor's recognition as +the supreme head of the Lutheran Church is the fact that the Lutheran +faith is by no means confined to his dominions. Lutherans constitute +the major part of the population in Würtemberg, Saxony and Baden, as +well as in all the other non-Prussian states of the Confederation, +save Bavaria. Besides this, there are millions of Lutherans in +Austro-Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia, who could not +recognize his supremacy without disloyalty to their own rulers, all +of whom, with the exception of the king of Saxony, the Czar and the +Austrian emperor, are, like himself, members of the Reformed Church. + +His celebrated pilgrimage to Jerusalem a year ago, the first +pilgrimage of a German emperor to the Holy Land since the days of the +Crusades, clearly showed the trend of the kaiser's aspirations. He +had invited all his fellow-Protestant monarchs to accompany him to +Jerusalem, either in person or to send one of the princes of their +houses as their representatives, and to ride in his train when he +made his entry into the Holy City of Christendom. But not one of the +sovereigns thus invited responded to the invitation tendered, and +William had no German or foreign prince with him during this memorable +pilgrimage. + +It was the most extraordinary thing of the kind that has ever been +seen, the strangeness of the affair being intensified by that same +mixture of the mediaeval with the intensely modern and up-to-date +ways which constitutes so peculiar a phase of William's character. The +emperor rode into Jerusalem by the same route as that followed by the +Founder of Christianity on the first Palm Sunday, wearing a flowing +white mantle, and mounted on a milk-white steed. He prayed at dusk +with the members of his suite in the Garden of Gethsemane, piously +kneeling on the ground, pronounced a religious discourse on the Mount +of Olives, received the Holy Communion in the Coenaculum, that is to +say, the house in which, according to tradition, Christ celebrated +the Last Supper,--nay, he even preached a full-fledged sermon on the +occasion of the dedication of the Church of the Saviour at Jerusalem, +and traveled by road from Jerusalem to Damascus! And yet, destroying +all the romance and old-time glamor that might otherwise have +surrounded this imperial crusade, was the fact that he was a +"_personally conducted" Cook's tourist_, that his meals were prepared +by French chefs, that champagne was the ordinary beverage at his +table, and that, while tramcars were used to go about Damascus, the +railroad was selected by him to get back from Jerusalem to Jaffa! + +Emperor William has a weakness for preaching, and it must be confessed +that he does it well. He possesses a very ready gift of speech, +and his fervent religious belief seems to serve as a species of +inspiration to his eloquence. Thus on board the Hohenzollern, during +his annual yachting cruise along the coast of Norway, he invariably +conducts divine service on Sunday morning, taking his place in front +of an altar erected on deck, upon which the German war-flag is +spread, in lieu of an altar-cloth. Luther's hymns, accompanied by the +trombones of the band, are sung. Then the emperor reads the epistle +and the gospel with great feeling, and recites the liturgical prayers +with considerable fervor. Next he preaches a sermon, which, as a rule, +is of his own composition, and extemporary, though occasionally he +will read the sermon of some well-known pulpit orator. + +It has been observed that he is always much more indulgent in cases +of inattention on the part of the congregation when he reads a +sermon than when he preaches one of his own. Any sailor who has the +misfortune to fall asleep during the discourse is disciplined, and +his name figures, of course, on the punishment roll on the following +morning, when the day's report is presented to the emperor as the +commanding officer of the ship. If the sermon has been one of his +majesty's own composition, as a rule he allows the punishment to +stand. But if the discourse happens to have been of less illustrious +origin, he will almost invariably order the penalty to be remitted, +adding, with a smile of indulgence, that "the sermon was rather +dreary, wasn't it?" + +At Berlin and at Potsdam the kaiser keeps his court chaplains +under very strict discipline, and they expose themselves to a stern +reprimand if they presume to extend their pulpit orations beyond the +term of ten or, at the most, fifteen minutes. Emperor William very +justly takes the ground that if they are sufficiently concise in their +remarks, they can say all that they have to say within that space of +time, and if their discourse is prolonged beyond the stipulated period +it loses its force and its power of retaining the interest and the +attention of the congregation. + +The emperor does not hesitate to call the divines to account when +they enunciate doctrines of which he does not approve, and whereas +in former reigns a court chaplaincy was regarded in the light of +an office for life, it is now considered as a merely temporary +appointment, so frequent are the dismissals. + +At the Dome at Berlin, and at the Garrison Church at Potsdam, the +emperor follows the service with an air of mingled devotion and +authority that is rather amusing. While most devout and fervent in his +prayers, and joining in the hymns in such a manner that his ringing +baritone voice is easily discernible above the rest, his eyes wander +in a stern fashion around the church, quick to note any member of the +congregation who is not behaving with proper decorum and reverence. He +conveys the impression that he considers it to be his duty to keep the +congregation in proper order, and if he finds that either he, or the +imperial party is being stared at with any degree of persistency or +curiosity, he at once sends off one of his officers to sharply warn +the offenders. Indeed, he has more than once caused it to be made +known through official communications to the press that he thoroughly +disapproves of being stared at when attending church, and engaged in +his devotions. + +Like William, Francis-Joseph has made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and +the Holy Land, but it was without any fuss or pomp. In fact, there are +few persons, save those connected with the Court of Austria, who are +aware that Austria's ruler ever visited the Holy Land. He went there +in 1869, traveling in the strictest incognito, and attended only +by two of his gentlemen-in-waiting and two servants, after the +inauguration of the Suez Canal, at which he had been present. There +was no solemn entry on horseback into the city that witnessed the +foundation of Christianity, and while he prayed at the Holy Places +like Emperor William, he did so quietly and unobtrusively, without +attracting any attention. His pilgrimage was characterized by the same +unaffected humility that distinguishes his religion from that of his +brother monarch at Berlin. + +William's faith still retains the enthusiasm and, if I may use the +word, the exuberance of youth, whereas that of Francis-Joseph, +though even more fervent, is chastened, humbled and mellowed by the +experience of many a cruel sorrow and many a hard blow. To some +of these he would have succumbed had it not been for his religious +belief. There have been at least three different occasions during +his fifty years' reign when he would have abandoned his throne, +and abdicated his crown had it not been pointed out to him by his +spiritual adviser that it was his duty--his religious duty--to remain +at his post, and to bear with bravery the trials with which he was +overwhelmed. + +The first of these occasions was at the close of the disastrous wars +of 1866, when the march of the Prussians on Vienna was only stayed +within a few hours' distance of the capital by the ignominious peace +of Nicolsburg. The second time was when he lost his only son by the +frightful tragedy of Mayerling, and he saw his boy's body refused even +Christian rites of burial by the church, until he had been able to +convince the kindly old pontiff at Rome that the poor lad's mind was +unbalanced at the time that he took his life. The third occasion was +when his lovely consort, to whom, in spite of all that is said to the +contrary, he was so deeply devoted, was taken from him by the hand +of an assassin in a foreign land, and under peculiarly heartrending +circumstances. + +Moreover, he saw the body of his brother Maximilian brought home from +the Mexican plain of Queretaro, where he had been shot down by a file +of soldiers as if a vulgar criminal; he stood by the deathbed of +a favorite niece, burnt to death before his eyes in the palace of +Schoenbrunn, when her dress had caught fire from a lighted cigarette +which she was endeavoring to conceal from him and from her father; he +followed to the grave another favorite of his, a nephew, accidentally +killed while out shooting. Indeed, there is no end to the tragedies +which have gone to sadden the life of this now septuagenarian monarch, +and while on ordinary occasions, especially when engaged in military +inspections or in great court functions, he appears to retain the +elasticity, vigor and temperament of a man still in his prime, yet +when in church or chapel, attending divine service, and so wrapped up +in his devotions that he becomes oblivious to his surroundings, the +restraint which he puts upon his feelings at other times disappears, +and one is able to realize the extent of his sufferings, and how +supreme is the consolation that he finds in his religion. + +Vienna is the only capital in the world where one can see a +full-fledged monarch kneeling bareheaded in the streets, and offering +up prayers in the most fervent manner, the spectacle exciting not +ridicule, but sentiments of profound reverence and sympathy on the +part of the people--Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans from Herzegovina +and Bosnia--who throng the thoroughfares of the beautiful city on +the Danube. The sight is witnessed each year, on the occasion of the +_Corpus Christi_ procession. This glorious procession starts out from +the Cathedral of St. Stephen at an early hour in the morning, and the +entire route through the various streets which it traverses Is kid +with boards, over which grass is strewn. At various points along the +way there are altars, or so-called _reposoirs_, where the Sacred Host +is placed for a few moments, the emperor and the great personages with +him kneeling piously on the ground and offering up prayers. + +The procession is opened by choristers, then come priests and monks +with hands crossed upon their breasts, next the rectors of the various +metropolitan parishes, displaying their distinctive banners like +the knights of old. The municipal authorities, the officers of the +imperial household, the Knights Grand Cross of the various orders, the +cabinet ministers, and the principal dignitaries of the army, of the +navy, and of the crown. Finally, comes a magnificent canopy borne by +generals, under which walks the tall and stately Cardinal Archbishop +of Vienna, carrying the Host, to which the troops lining the route +bend the knee while presenting arms, the civilians behind them baring +their heads, while the women cross themselves. Immediately behind the +Host, bareheaded and alone, with a lighted candle in his hand, and +wearing the full uniform of an Austrian field marshal,--a snow-white +cloth tunic with scarlet and gold facings,--strides the aged emperor, +still erect as a dart, with all the slender, shapely elegance of a man +of thirty, in spite of his three-score years and ten. He is followed +by the archdukes, conspicuous among them the gigantic Archduke Eugene, +grand master of the Teutonic Order, in the semi-ecclesiastical habits +of his rank, while the procession is brought to a close by escorts of +the superbly arrayed Archer and Hungarian Body Guards. + +The spectacle is impressive, and the silence along the route, save for +the chanting of the choristers, and the recitation of prayers in an +undertone by the clergy, adds to the solemnity of the occasion. In +days gone by, the murdered empress used to figure in the procession +in full court dress and followed by her ladies, but now women take no +part therein. + +Another remarkable religious ceremony in which the emperor plays the +leading part, and which is only to be witnessed nowadays at the +Court of Vienna, is the washing of the feet of twelve aged men on the +Thursday of Holy Week, in memory of the washing of the feet of +the twelve apostles on the first Holy Thursday by the Founder of +Christianity. The ceremony takes place at the imperial palace, in +the presence of the entire court. The twelve old men, each carefully +dressed for the occasion, who have been brought from their homes to +the palace in imperial carriages, are seated in a row, and, after a +brief religious service celebrated by the cardinal archbishop, the +emperor kneels in front of each, and washes his feet in a golden basin +filled with rose water, the ewer being carried by the heir to the +throne, while the prelate who holds the office of court chaplain hands +to his majesty the gold-embroidered towel with which the feet are +dried after having been washed. When the emperor has reached the end +of the line there are more prayers, and the blessing; then a banquet +is served to the old men, at which they are waited on in person by the +emperor, the various dishes being handed to him by the archdukes and +princes of the blood. The old people are finally sent home, each with +a purse containing gold pieces, and a large hamper, wherein are placed +several bottles of fine wine and the remains of the various dishes and +gastronomical masterpieces which have figured on the table during the +banquet. As a rule, the old men dispose of these for considerable sums +of money to wealthy Viennese, who are only too delighted to purchase +them, and thus to be able to boast of having partaken of the emperor's +hospitality! + +Brought up by parents who axe renowned for their religious bigotry, +in the absolutist school of the great Prince Metternich, Emperor +Francis-Joseph has experienced the utmost difficulty in reconciling +his religions belief with his obligations as a constitutional monarch, +for he has been repeatedly obliged to give his sanction as a sovereign +to reforms enacted by the legislature of Austria, and particularly +of Hungary, which were strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, +fiercely denounced by the clergy, and condemned by the Vatican. That +he should in matters such as these have sacrificed his religious +prejudices and conscientious scruples to what he conceived to be his +duty as a constitutional monarch, speaks volumes for his strength of +character, and for his uprightness as a ruler. There is only one thing +that he has declined to do, in spite of all the pressure brought to +bear upon him by his ministers and by his allies: he has absolutely +declined to visit Rome so long as the Pope remains deprived of his +temporal sovereignty. Ordinarily the most chivalrous and courteous +of monarchs, and extremely punctilious in the fulfilment of all the +obligations imposed by etiquette, he has up to the present moment +refrained from returning the visit paid to his court at Vienna by King +Humbert and Queen Marguerite nearly twenty years ago. Leo XIII., like +his predecessor, has intimated that he would regard any visit paid to +the King of Italy in the former Papal Palace of the Quirinal at Rome, +by a Catholic sovereign, as a cruel affront to the occupant of the +chair of St. Peter. The only Catholic ruler who has visited King +Humbert at the Quirinal, in spite of this papal protest, is Prince +Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who was at the time subject to the ban of +the church, in consequence of the conversion of his little son from +Catholicism to the Greek orthodox rite, in order to insure his +own (Ferdinand's) recognition by Russia as ruler of Bulgaria. But +Francis-Joseph has never consented to set his foot in Rome, although +it has been pointed out to him that the existence of the triple +alliance was imperilled by this slight placed upon King Humbert and +Queen Marguerite. He did not hesitate to declare that he would rather +forego the alliance than affront the Pope by visiting Rome under the +present circumstances. + +One little scene, in conclusion, which I witnessed at Vienna, has +always remained impressed upon my mind, illustrating as it does the +democracy of the Catholic Church, if I may use that expression, and +demonstrating the good old emperor's belief,--so different from that +of Emperor William,--that in the eyes of the Almighty all men are +equal. + +It transpired at the funeral of Cardinal Gangelbauer, the popular and +universally venerated Archbishop of Vienna. The obsequies took place +in the ancient Cathedral of St. Stephen. Military and ecclesiastical +pomp were combined with the magnificent ceremonial of the Austrian +court for the purpose of rendering the last honors to the dead +prelate. The entire metropolitan garrison was under arms, and lined +the streets through which the funeral procession passed. The bells +of all the churches in the metropolis were tolling throughout the +ceremony, and added to the solemnity of the occasion. The stately +Papal Nuncio performed the funeral service in the most impressive +manner, and when he stood on the step of the high altar, and raised +his hands aloft to pronounce the absolution, the whole of the vast +assemblage bowed down, the wintry sunlight streaming through the rich +stained glass windows, falling alike upon the reverently bent head of +the monarch, and those of the peasant mourners who stood by his side +at the head of the bier. For the dead cardinal was the son of an old +farmer, and his brothers, his sisters, and his nephews, all of them +plain, humble peasants of Upper Austria, were kneeling there in their +peasant garb with the emperor in their midst, and surrounded by the +glittering uniforms of the archdukes, the princes, the generals, +cabinet ministers and ambassadors assembled around the coffin. There +was no undue exaltation or timidity on the part of the peasants, +no undue condescension or contempt on the part either of emperor or +dignitaries for the lowly rank of their fellow mourners. All seemed +thoroughly to realize that they were equal in the face of death, and +in the presence of their Creator. + +It is only in a metaphorical sense that William can be described as an +Anointed of the Lord. For whereas Francis-Joseph was both anointed and +crowned as King of Hungary in 1867, Emperor William has never been the +object of either of these ceremonies. The fact of the matter is that +there is a good deal of difference of opinion concerning the dignity +of a German emperor; for while William claims that it is identical +with the status of the emperors of Austria and Russia, the +non-Prussian states of Germany insist that it is merely titular, +inasmuch as he has no control or jurisdiction in the various federal +states which constitute the empire, such as Bavaria, Saxony and +Würtemberg, each of which has an independent king in nowise subject, +but merely allied to the Prussian monarch. + +It is only in time of war, and for the sake of successful co-operation +that the supreme command of the united German military forces is by +special agreement vested in the hands of the German emperor--a +tribute to the superiority and pre-eminence of the Prussian military +reorganizations. It is true that Prussia has since then, by degrees, +endeavored to encroach upon the independence of the federal states. +But this is strongly resented, to-day more than ever, and William +is constantly being reminded by the non-Prussian press, by the +non-Prussian governments, and even by the non-Prussian reigning +dynasties that they are not vassals, but allies of Prussia. + +The German emperor has no crown as such, nor any civil list, and +with the solitary exception of his eldest son, all the members of his +family figure merely as royal Prussian, not imperial German princes. +Thus, for instance, Prince Henry, the brother of the emperor, is +addressed not as imperial highness, but only as royal highness. + +Had William attempted to have himself crowned as German emperor, it +would merely have had the effect of attracting public attention to the +difference existing between his own status as emperor and that of his +fellow-sovereigns of Austria and Russia, besides which it would +have raised all sorts of troublesome questions with the non-Prussian +courts, and intensified their sensibilities and prejudices. If, on the +other hand, he had caused himself to be crowned king of Prussia in +the ancient city of Königsberg, where all Prussian kings have been +crowned, the ceremony would have had the effect of impressing upon the +world at large the fact that the only real crown to which William can +lay claim, and which he is entitled to wear, is the crown of the kings +of Prussia. + +That is why he has never been either crowned or anointed, differing in +this respect from Francis-Joseph, Emperor Nicholas and Queen Victoria, +all of whom have experienced both ceremonies, which by the masses of +Europe, especially among the uneducated and ignorant, are considered +indispensable to endow the majesty of the sovereign with a sacred +character. The Hungarians did not consider Francis-Joseph as entitled +to their allegiance and loyalty until he had been crowned at Pesth +with the crown of St. Stephen, and anointed with the sacred oil, and +there is no doubt that the Bohemians would be transformed from the +most turbulent, malcontent, and troublesome of his subjects into his +most devoted lieges, were he to comply with their demands, and have +himself anointed and crowned as King of Bohemia, with the crown of +Saint Wenceslaus. + +Nor was Emperor Nicholas of Russia considered a full-fledged Czar +of Russia, nor his consort a czarina, until he had been anointed and +crowned at Moscow, nearly two years after his accession to the throne. +In fact, until the time of his coronation, his mother, the dowager +empress, enjoyed precedence of his wife on all official occasions, on +the ground that she was the widow of a crowned czar, and had herself +been solemnly crowned as the consort of Alexander III., by her +imperial husband, whereas her daughter-in-law, the younger empress, +had enjoyed no such advantage up to that time. + +Only those who know William well can realize how deeply he feels this +difference which exists between himself and the rulers of more ancient +dynasties, or how glad he would be to find some means of being crowned +and anointed, not as a mere titular German emperor, but as Emperor +of Germany. It is difficult to see how this ambition of his could be +fulfilled so long as the Austrian empire remains in existence. The +dignity of Emperor of Germany belonged for centuries to the house +of Hapsburg, in relation to the head of which the chief of the +Hohenzollern family ranked merely as a cup-bearer, being compelled to +stand behind the chair of the Hapsburg monarch at all state banquets, +and to keep his cup supplied with wine. The whole of the ancient +insignia of the former Emperors of Germany, including the sceptre, +the orb, and the sword of state, are in the possession of Emperor +Francis-Joseph at Vienna, and are comprised in the imperial Austrian +regalia. Indeed, at the time when King William of Prussia was +proclaimed German Emperor at the palace of Versailles, in 1871, the +Emperor of Austria wrote to the then widowed Queen Marie of Bavaria, +that he protested, "from the very bottom of his heart, against the +dignity and crown of his father being vested in persons without a +shadow of right thereto, and that he had placed his rights in +the hands of Providence." Although he entertains the friendliest +sentiments towards Emperor William, there is no reason to believe that +either he or the members of his house have modified their resentment +in connection with this quasi-usurpation of the dignity of Emperor of +Germany by the Prussian family of Hohenzollern. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +There is no more restless man in all Europe than the kaiser. It is +related of him at the Court of Berlin that when on one occasion he +inquired of his brother, Prince Henry, if he could suggest to him +anything new wherewith to startle both his own subjects and the world +in general, the sailor prince, with a merry laugh, proposed that +his majesty should remain perfectly quiet, without saying or doing +anything, for an entire week! That, he assured his imperial brother, +would amaze and dumbfound the entire universe more than anything else +that could possibly be conceived. + +While this lack of repose on the part of William is the source of a +good deal of fun both at home and abroad, there is no doubt that it +has had the effect of strengthening the monarchial system in Prussia +to a far greater degree than in any previous reign. It is not that +the kaiser is more popular than his predecessors on the throne. On +the contrary, it may be doubted whether he holds the same place in the +affections of the German people as did his father and grandfather. But +while it is possible to imagine a Prussia without either of them, it +is difficult to picture to oneself a Germany without William! It seems +as if he were indispensable to the existence of the nation, and that +if anything untoward were to happen to him, everything in Germany +would suddenly stop working, precisely as if the mainspring of a watch +were to break. He conveys the impression of being the source from +which proceeds every action, every phase of activity and every +enterprise, no matter what its character. To such an extent is this +the case, that practically nothing seems to be done throughout the +length and breadth of his dominions without his influence in the +matter being both felt and apparent. There is nothing so trivial that +it does not interest him. He will turn from the greatest and most +important matters of state to the most petty question concerning +court etiquette or domestic mismanagement, and will not hesitate to +interrupt an interview with the chancellor of the empire, or with some +foreign ambassador, to spank one of his youngsters if he happens to +have been misbehaving himself! + +He keeps absolute personal control over the army, the navy, the state +administration, and his court, and yet finds time to supervise his +children's lessons and amusements. He attends even to the pulling out +of the milk teeth of his little ones and permits no one else to do it, +as the following little anecdote, concerning Prince Oscar, his fifth +son, will illustrate. + +The boys had, and I believe still have, an English governess, who is +very strict and independent with them, and who just on that account, +probably, is highly esteemed and liked by her young pupils, as well as +by their parents. On the occasion of her last anniversary, the empress +with her usual kindness prepared a pretty birthday table for her, +decked out with all kinds of presents from the imperial couple, and +from each of the children. Prince Oscar's gift, which he had carefully +done up himself in ribbons and tinted paper, and inscribed with his +name, turned out to be a small and empty cardboard box. On being taken +to task by his mother as to what he meant by this, he informed her +that the box was destined to hold the first tooth, which he was about +to lose, and which his father, the emperor, was to pull for him with +a string that very afternoon, at the conclusion of a "Kronrath," or +council of the crown, at which his majesty was to preside. The little +prince regarding that tooth as the greatest treasure at his disposal, +was convinced that he could bestow upon his governess no more +acceptable gift. She now wears it in a gold bangle presented to her by +the empress. + +Among other domestic affairs which have occupied the kaiser's +attention, has been the tendency of his boys to dyspepsia and +digestive troubles, owing to their habit of eating too rapidly, a +fault which they have certainly inherited from their father, for he +has subjected them to the same process that was adopted in his case +when a child, to make him eat slowly; to wit, whenever apples or pears +are given to the boys they are not permitted to get them whole, and to +munch them, like any ordinary boy, but only to receive them cut into +quarters, each bit being wrapped in a number of pieces of tissue +paper, the unfolding of which requires time, thus preventing the young +princes from eating too fast! The kaiser often alludes to the fact +that he was subjected to the same formalities and will add: + +"You see nothing was made easy for me in my youth. Even the matter of +eating an apple was rendered as difficult for me as possible!" + +The kaiser is followed wherever he goes by an extremely clever +stenographer, Dr. Weiss, who was formerly official shorthand writer to +the imperial parliament. He now forms part of the emperor's household, +and accompanies his majesty on all his numerous travels. It is the +doctor's duty to place on record and preserve all the pearls that drop +from the imperial lips, or perhaps, to put it more correctly, to give +the emperor and his advisers an opportunity of editing and revising +his public utterances before they find their way into print. Dr. +Weiss has several assistants who help him in the transcription of his +shorthand notes, and none of the emperor's public speeches or casual +remarks find their way into print nowadays except through Dr. Weiss. +Thanks to the tact of this precious secretary, there exists, very +often, a considerable diversity between what the emperor says, and +what he is represented as having said, and it is in consequence of +this wise provision that the imperial speeches appear to have become +so much more discreet, and at the same time less sensational, than was +the case during the early part of his reign. + +Quick-tempered, passionate, generous-hearted, and extremely impulsive, +the emperor, often speaking on the spur of the moment, frequently +said more than he intended to say, and thus laid himself open to both +domestic and foreign criticism and abuse. He has not yet outgrown this +fault, although he has become much more cautious than formerly, and +moreover, with Dr. Weiss at his elbow, and with the care that is +observed by the authorities to let none of the imperial utterances +reach the public in print, save through Dr. Weiss, after being duly +edited by him, most of the former perils have been averted. The +emperor is very particular, indeed, about having Dr. Weiss by his +side, and frequently at public functions himself directs the doctor +where to stand and where to sit, so that he may not lose a word of +what his imperial master says. + +Like the aged pontiff at Rome, William manifests a great predilection +for the telephone. There are telephonic instruments in his library, +in his workroom, and even in his bed-chamber, and quite a considerable +portion of the day is spent talking over the wires to his ministers, +government officials, relatives, courtiers or mere friends. He +seems to find the same pleasure in calling up the various government +departments that he does in alarming the various garrisons at night +time, being evidently under the impression that by so doing he keeps +the officials strictly attentive to their duties, and convinced that +if not the eye, at any rate the ear of the emperor is on the _qui +vive!_ Nor are the government offices safe from being rung up by his +majesty over the wires even at night time. For the past two or three +years he has insisted that at the ministry of foreign affairs, at the +ministry of the interior, and at the war and naval departments, at +least one of the divisional chiefs and half a dozen clerks should be +kept on duty all night long, in order to attend to any business or +to communicate to him without delay anything that they may regard as +needing his immediate attention. + +Berlin is the only capital where the principal government offices +are thus kept open for official business all night long, and +the circumstance serves to furnish another illustration of the +extraordinary activity, energy, and impatience of delay that +distinguish the emperor, who wants everything done right away, without +a moment's waiting! + +Emperor William gives the telephone companies at Berlin and at Potsdam +far more trouble than any other of their subscribers, for when he +telephones to any of the government departments, or to dignitaries or +officials of high rank, the operators at the central office are under +the strictest orders to abstain from listening to the conversation, +and are forced to rise from their seats and remove to a distance from +the wires. Anyone caught disobeying in this particular is subject not +only to dismissal, but to serious unpleasantness on the part of the +police. + +When the emperor rings up anybody, he does not announce his identity, +taking it for granted that the tones of his voice are sufficiently +well known to reveal it. It has been noted, moreover, that he +commences all his conversations over the wire with the pronoun "I," +while the verb "command," either in the past or in the present tense, +almost invariably follows. This is quite sufficient to show who is +talking. + +William is the first sovereign of his line to accept the hospitality +of his subjects. Prior to his advent to the throne, such a thing as +the monarch attending any private entertainment or dinner given by one +of his lieges was altogether unknown. Neither King Frederick-William +III., King Frederick-William IV., nor old Emperor William, whose +reigns extended over nearly ninety years of the nineteenth century, +ever once honored any member of the nobility, no matter how high in +rank, with their presence for a single evening or night, except +during the course of the annual manoeuvres, when the monarch, as +commander-in-chief of the army, was quartered in some château, much +in the same manner as the officers of minor rank and the soldiers. +Emperor William, however, following the example of his British +relatives, and greatly to the dismay of all the old-fashioned +authorities on the etiquette of the Court of Berlin, has adopted +the practice of inviting himself out to dinner in town, and to +shooting-parties in the country, in a manner that is absolutely +startling, even to his English relatives; for whereas the latter never +dine out anywhere, unless the list of guests invited to meet them is +previously submitted to them for consideration and revision, in +order to avoid being brought into contact with people that are not +congenial, the kaiser, on the other hand, when he hears that a dinner +is about to be given by one of his friends or followers, frequently +invites himself either at the last moment, an hour or two before the +time fixed for the meal, or else arrives unannounced and uninvited, +knowing full well that he will always be welcome, since his coming +can only be regarded as a particular mark of imperial regard and favor +toward the giver of the entertainment. + +Thus, while Count Shuvaloff was still Russian ambassador at Berlin, +the emperor was in the habit of dropping in unannounced about luncheon +time, and of sitting down with the count and countess, the latter +being as often as not in the négligée of a mere tea-gown, and more +than once when he had sat with them longer than he intended, and found +that there was no time left to return to the palace before proceeding +to the railroad station to take his departure for Potsdam or some +other place, he would ask leave of the count to use his telephone, +ring up the empress, and not only bid her adieu, but also dispatch her +a kiss over the wires, in the most charmingly domestic fashion. + +William prides himself in no small degree on his descent through Queen +Victoria in an unbroken line from the Biblical King David, and claims +that he, therefore, belongs to the same family as the founder of +Christianity. Hanging in a conspicuous position in his workroom in the +"Neues-Palais" at Potsdam, is a copy of the royal family tree, showing +the name of King David engrossed at the root of it, with that of +Emperor William at the top. According to this tree, the reigning house +of England is descended from King David through the eldest daughter +of Zedekiah, who, with her sister, fled to Ireland in charge of the +prophet Jeremiah,--then an old man,--to be married to Heremon, the +king of Ulster of the period. + +Curiously enough, a Mr. Glover, a clergyman of the Church of England, +who had devoted the greater portion of his life to the study of +genealogy, wrote to Queen Victoria a letter in 1869, informing her +that he had discovered her to be descended in an unbroken line from +King David. Her majesty sent for him to come to Windsor, and to his +astonishment informed him that what he thought he had been the first +to discover had been known to herself and to the prince consort for +many years. + +Naturally, William, with his religious ideas, has always been deeply +interested in this family tree, and soon after his accession to the +throne requested his grandmother to let him have a copy thereof, which +was sent to him most handsomely engrossed and magnificently framed. +Its contemplation has, of course, tended to increase his belief in the +divine origin of his authority, since, if he does not, like the old +kings of France, describe himself as "first cousin of the Almighty," +he can at any rate claim to be a near kinsman of the founder of +Christianity. + +Notwithstanding all the emperor's manifest desire to render himself +agreeable to the French, and his evident eagerness to assuage by +gracious and chivalrous courtesy the bitterness resulting from the +war of 1870 and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, he has absolutely +declined since he ascended the throne to permit France's national +hymn, "The Marseillaise," to be played at his court, at any of the +imperial and royal theatres, or by any German military or naval band. +When he entertains the French ambassador at dinner or receives him in +state and wishes to pay him musical honors, he causes the old "March +of St. Denis," in use at Versailles prior to the great revolution, +which is in every sense of the word a Bourbon hymn, to be played. + +The ambassador who now represents France is the Marquis de Noailles, a +scion of one of the oldest ducal houses of the French nobility, whose +origin dates back to the crusades. This being the case, the envoy +naturally offers no objection to the attitude of the emperor with +regard to the "Marseillaise." + +The kaiser, after all, acts in the matter with a far greater degree of +logic and reason than any of his fellow-sovereigns, for the strains +of the "Marseillaise" are familiar in the palace of the czar at St. +Petersburg, at Windsor Castle, in the royal palace of Madrid, in +the imperial Hofburg at Vienna, and even at the Vatican, and it is +difficult to conceive anything more paradoxical than a royal band +of music playing for the delectation of royal and imperial ears a +national hymn, the words of which passionately call upon the people +to rise up and to put to death all kings and emperors, queens and +empresses, denounced as bloodthirsty tyrants. + +Emperor William, even before his accession to the throne, manifested +such a pronounced hostility towards the practice of gambling at cards, +which is one of the curses of the corps of officers of the German +army, that a very widespread impression prevails to the effect that he +objects to card games in any shape or form. This is a mistake. It is +the gambling and not the game itself to which the kaiser is opposed. +In fact, he is very fond of a game of cards, provided the stakes are +merely nominal, and I have known him to play an entire evening after +a dinner at the castle of Kuckelna, which marked the close of a great +pheasant "drive" organized in his honor by Prince Lichnòwski. The game +which the emperor played was the German one called _Skat_, and the +point was a German penny. The emperor was the principal loser, having +had poor hands dealt to him throughout the entire game, and when he +arose from the table he was out of pocket exactly six cents. In thus +limiting the stakes to a merely nominal amount he has followed the +example of his old friend and adviser, the veteran King of Saxony, who +is accustomed to play every night his game of _skat_ after dinner, his +stakes, like those of the kaiser, never exceeding one penny. + +I have often wished that I could see the face of the kaiser's uncle, +the Prince of Wales, were such truly regal stakes as these proposed to +him. His ordinary points and stakes are any sum from five guineas to +fifty, and even a hundred, and the only time that I can recollect his +having played for less than a guinea was at Hughenden when on a visit +to the Earl of Beaconsfield. Bernal Osborne, father of the Duchess of +St. Albans, was one of the party when the prince proposed a game of +whist at five-guinea points. Lord Beaconsfield was a poor man, obliged +to count every penny, and Bernal Osborne caught sight of the manner +in which his face fell when the proposal was made. Grasping the +situation, and remembering that Lord Beaconsfield had but a few weeks +previously added the imperial crown of India to the British regalia, +by causing Queen Victoria to be proclaimed Empress of India, he turned +to the prince and remarked: + +"Would it not be more appropriate, sir, to play for crown stakes?" The +prince grasped the situation at once, made a flattering reference to +the old premier, and the points played for were, as suggested, five +shillings instead of five guineas! + +Apropos of this question of cards, William has done everything in +his power to check gambling, especially among the army officers, and +before succeeding to the throne, while still only Prince of Prussia, +he actually went to the length of issuing a stringent order to the +officers of the Hussar regiment, of which he was colonel, forbidding +them to cross the threshold of the Union Club, on account of the +high play for which that institution was notorious. The club deeply +resented being thus placed under a ban, and sent its president, the +late Duke of Ratibor, to the aged emperor to entreat him to rescind +his grandson's order, on the ground that it was a reflection upon the +most aristocratic and exclusive club of all Germany, besides being +unjust to the officers of the regiment, some of whom were among the +most brilliant and popular members of that institution. Old Emperor +William, after inquiring whether Prince William had really issued such +an order, shook his head rather seriously for a few minutes, and then +told the duke that he would see what he could do, but that knowing his +grandson well, he feared that there would be a good deal of difficulty +about the matter. On the following morning, when young Prince William +came to pay his daily visit to his grandfather, the latter broached +the subject to him with the utmost caution, and with manifest +expectation of encountering a refusal. Nor was he disappointed. For no +sooner had he mentioned the matter than the young prince declared in +the most positive manner that nothing would induce him to rescind his +order, and that rather than give way, he would resign command of the +regiment, arguing that in such a matter especially he could brook no +interference. The old emperor admitted in a rather shame-faced +way that his grandson was in the right, excused himself for having +mentioned the matter, did all that he could to soothe what he believed +to be the ruffled feelings of the prince, and on the following day +told the Duke of Ratibor that he was very sorry, but that, in spite +of all his efforts, he had been unable to accomplish anything with his +grandson in the way desired. + +Immediately after he came to the throne he requested the resignation +of a number of officers, some of them bearing the greatest names +in the empire, for instance, the late Prince Fürstenberg and Prince +George Radziwill, for no other reason than their fondness for +cards, and in consequence of the large sums of money which they were +accustomed to stake. All the princes and nobles thus forced to leave +the army also quitted Berlin, in token of their disapproval of an +emperor who took upon himself to interfere with what they were pleased +to regard as their private amusements, and there is no doubt that for +a time the brilliancy of the Berlin Court and the prosperity of +trade in the Prussian capital suffered through the closing of so many +princely palaces and grand houses. + +It is strange that in spite of all that the emperor has done to +stop gambling, the play has been higher, and the card-scandals more +frequent since he became emperor than during any previous reign, with +the exception of that of his grand-uncle, King Frederick-William IV. +The latter's crusade against gambling culminated in the tragic death +of his chief of police, and most intimate friend and crony, Baron +von Hinkelday, whose spectre he was wont to see before him during +his moments of temporary dementia, previous to his becoming entirely +insane. + +Emperor William's reign has been saddened much in the same way +through the suicide of his young cousin, Prince Alfred of Coburg; the +self-destruction of the young prince, who had been placed under the +immediate care and guardianship of his majesty, having been due, as +I have intimated, to enormous losses at the card tables of Berlin and +Potsdam. In spite of all the well-meant efforts of the kaiser, and +notwithstanding all his threats and disciplinary measures, gambling +is more rampant to-day among the officers of the German army, and +overwhelming a greater number of illustrious names with ruin and +disgrace than ever before. + +With all his keen sense of dignity, his shortness of temper, and his +impulsiveness, the emperor is nevertheless more easily diverted from +anger to good humor by means of a piece of wit than most of his fellow +sovereigns. Some time ago, when old Baron Boetticher, secretary of +state for the interior, was discussing with his majesty the most +suitable nominations to be made in the case of a number of vacant +offices, the latter became greatly irritated by the old statesman's +unanswerable objections to the candidate for whom he himself desired +to obtain a certain post, his anger grew quite violent, and when the +baron inquired if there were no other person upon whom he would like +to confer the appointment, William replied, curtly, "Oh, confer it on +the devil if you like!" + +"Very well," replied the old minister, with a twinkle in his eye, +but in his most suave and courtly manner, and with a most unruffled +demeanor: "And shall I allow the patent signed by your majesty in +that case to go out in the usual form, 'To my trusted and well-beloved +cousin and counsellor?'" + +The kaiser saw the joke at once, burst into a loud peal of laughter, +his ill-temper having vanished in a moment. + +Another amusing incident in which the devil was called upon to play a +part occurred on the occasion of the emperor's inspection of a number +of newly-joined recruits for the first regiment of Foot Guards. In +accordance with his invariable custom, he was examining-them as to +what they would do in this or that emergency. Addressing one burly +Pomeranian grenadier, he inquired what he would say to a man who +annoyed him while on sentry duty. + +"Go to the devil! Get out! your majesty," responded the man. + +"All right, my friend," exclaimed the emperor, laughing, "I'll get +out; but I'll be hanged if I'll go to the devil," and with that he +turned to the next man. + +Military inspections very often furnish the occasion for amusing +and sometimes rather disconcerting episodes. I can recall as an +illustration an inspection of recruits for the navy at Kiel. On that +day the emperor had been holding forth, as he so often does, about the +duty of sailors as well as soldiers to defend the crown against +the foes beyond the frontiers of the empire, as well as against the +enemies within the boundaries of the latter. He then singled out a +stolid-looking recruit, and having ascertained that he was the son +of a Bavarian farmer, with a strongly developed taste for the sea, he +proceeded to question him with regard to the address which he had just +delivered. + +"And who are our foreign foes, my good fellow?" he inquired. + +"The Russians and the French, your majesty," replied the recruit. + +"And who are the enemies within the empire?" proceeded the emperor, +expecting of course that the sailor would say that they were the +socialists. + +"The Prussians, your majesty," answered the Jack-tar that was to +be, without apparently realizing that he had said anything wrong or +impolite, and merely giving a frank utterance to the sentiment in +which he, like all his countrymen in Bavaria, had been brought up. + +One of the most pleasing features about Emperor William is his +readiness to forgive and forget, and his inability to bear a grudge +for any length of time against those who have either insulted or +injured him. No more striking instance of this can be given than his +treatment of General Baron von Krosick, who expected to be dismissed +from the army, possibly even banished, when William ascended the +throne, but who instead has been overwhelmed by his sovereign with +every conceivable honor, having received not merely his promotion +from the rank of brigadier-general to that of inspector-general of the +army, but also investiture with the exceedingly rare distinction of +the Order of the Black Eagle, which, as I have already stated before, +is the Prussian equivalent to the English Order of the Garter, and +the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece. The baron enjoys the +well-deserved reputation of being the most phenomenally rude and +rough-spoken man in the German army, and was at one time colonel in +command of the hussar regiment in which William, prior to becoming +emperor, received his cavalry training. + +On one occasion an almost incredible scene took place. It was at +a regimental mess banquet, to which William, at that time only a +captain, had invited Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, then on a visit +at Berlin. During the course of the dinner, the conversation turned +upon some projected reforms in cavalry drill and movements, which +ultimately turned out to be impracticable and were not carried into +effect. William, in his impulsive, impetuous, and somewhat arrogant +way, declaimed in a loud tone of voice on their superlative merits, +declared himself in their favor, and added that he would do his utmost +to see them carried through, as he regarded them as indispensable to +raise the standard and tone of the German cavalry. + +Colonel von Krosick, like the remainder of the officers, had drunk his +fair share of wine. He never liked his royal subaltern, and took +no pains to conceal his sentiments. The arrogance of the prince's +utterances, as well as his assumption of superiority, exasperated him +beyond measure, and, breaking into the conversation, he exclaimed in +tones that were heard throughout the apartment: + +"_Aber das ist ja der blödste Unsinn_ [But that is the most ridiculous +nonsense];" and then proceeded to contemptuously ridicule William's +arguments. + +Much nettled, and quite as short-tempered as his colonel, William +called out, half jokingly, half bitterly: + +"That is all very well, colonel. You are my superior officer at +present, and I am bound to defer to your opinion. But our positions +may change one of these days, and then you will see." + +Perfectly frantic and purple in the face, Colonel von Krosick +thundered forth: + +"When that day comes to pass, prince, I will rather break my sabre +across my knee than serve under your command." + +Immediately the whole place was in an uproar. The Austrian crown +prince being the first to jump from his seat, and a minute later both +princes had left the mess-room and the barracks. Contrary to general +expectation, Prince William made no report about the matter, either to +his father or grandfather, and Colonel von Krosick heard nothing more +about the affair. + +Of course he expected to receive his discharge when William ascended +the throne. But to his amazement, he has ever since been made the +object of the most signal favor, kindliness and respect: the respect +that is frequently entertained by a man after he has grown up toward +the head master who caned him when he was at school. Indeed, William +seems never to be able to forget that he was for several years under +the old martinet's direct command. + +In spite of Emperor William being at the present moment over forty +years of age, he still retains a great store of boyishness, and in +particular, a liking for practical jokes, though never when they are +at his own expense! It is not so very long ago that he had notified +a number of generals and military dignitaries to meet him at the +railroad station at Potsdam, at half-past eleven in the evening, in +order to accompany him to manoeuvres that were to be held at a place +several hours' distance on the following day. Leaving the palace on +foot shortly after eleven, he entered the railroad station by a back +door, and managed to slip in without being recognized. + +Shielded by the darkness, he made his way unobserved to the special +train, which was in waiting, got into his carriage by the door on the +opposite side from the platform. For at least half an hour he amused +himself by peeping at the officers on the platform, whose faces +expressed surprise and vexation that his majesty, ordinarily so +punctual, should be so long in coming. Suddenly he raised the blind, +opened the window, and intimated by loud and prolonged laughter his +presence in the carriage, and the success of his little trick. The +astonishment and the dismay depicted on the visages of those on the +platform can be more easily imagined than described. + +Emperor William is not fond of the press, and has never taken any +trouble to conceal his dislike for that branch of the literary +profession. It is true that he has been subjected to a good deal of +abuse at its hands, and that he has been made the object of calumny +sufficient to drive a man so hypersensitive to public comment into a +lunatic asylum. Many of the most intricate troubles and most annoying +episodes of his life and his reign have been in a large measure due to +the press, inasmuch as they were either originated or envenomed by the +newspapers. William is as nervous about what the papers will say as a +young débutante on the stage. Not only does he keep an anxious watch +upon the utterances of all German editors, but he ordains a vigilant +scrutiny of the articles printed in foreign countries from the pens of +correspondents stationed in Berlin, who, if any unfriendly mention +of his name is brought home to them, are ultimately driven out of the +country. + +One of the first acts of Emperor William's reign was the expulsion +from Berlin of a number of foreign journalists, whose criticisms +and comments on his attitude towards his mother, as well as on +his opposition to the political views of his dead father, had been +distasteful to the imperial eye. A year later he caused a new series +of press laws to be presented to the Reichstag, which contained such +arbitrary provisions for stamping out the remaining liberties of +the press that even the _Cologne Gazette_ denounced it as "putting +a frightful weapon into the hands of the government for suppressing +freedom of speech and silencing opposition." This measure did not +pass, in spite of all the efforts of his majesty, and its rejection +merely served to embitter the emperor still further against the press. + +As far as the German press is concerned William manages to get even +with it by insisting upon the strict execution of the laws concerning +the crime of _Lése majesté_ with a severity that savors of the +middle ages rather than of modern times. Indeed, while there are few +prominent journalists in Germany who have not undergone imprisonment +since he ascended the throne, for writing of him in a manner that he +considered disrespectful, there are some newspapers that are literally +obliged to employ distinguished members of their staff for no other +purpose than doing time in jail, as the penalty of too free utterances +of the sheet with which they are connected. + +Of course, William has no such means of dealing with the foreign +press, which being more fearless, thanks to its immunity, has +naturally subjected him to worse treatment than that of Germany. +Occasionally though, he gets even with some of his foreign assailants, +and the following story is told of the manner in which he dealt with +a newspaper proprietor in New York, who after rendering his journal +conspicuous above all others for its personal attacks on his majesty, +had the audacity to write him a letter, asking him for a brief article +from his, the kaiser's, pen. + +The editor in question gave as a pretext for his request, the alleged +existence of a widespread belief in the United States that his majesty +was not quite right in his mind, and suggested that a brief message, +for which a check of five thousand dollars was enclosed, might relieve +the anxiety of millions of Germans in America, and convince them that +the kaiser was quite sane. Some weeks later the enterprising editor +received a visit from the German consul-general in New York. On being +admitted to the august presence of the editor the consul-general +extracted an envelope from his pocket, and from the envelope the +five-thousand-dollar check, to the order of his majesty, the German +emperor, and bearing the signature of the editor; the consul-general +then made a bow to the latter, handed him the check, made another bow, +and withdrew without having said a single word, or opened his mouth, +even to greet him! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Emperor William, like his brother monarch at Vienna, is seldom seen +out of uniform. Soldiers above everything else by profession, it +constitutes the garb to which they have been accustomed from their +boyhood, and both look ill at ease and uncomfortable in civilian +clothes. + +Francis-Joseph, in fact, never wears "mufti" except when abroad, and +it is doubtful whether anyone in Switzerland or in the South of France +would have recognized the Emperor of Austro-Hungary in the elderly +gentleman who was there on several occasions, and who wore a black +round hat, and a rather badly-fitting morning or sack suit of dark +cloth, had it not been for the striking appearance of the beautiful +and slender black-garbed empress by his side. In the same way, Emperor +William, although he gets his civilian clothes from some of the +leading London tailors, invariably looks by no means to advantage in +them, and suggests the French description of _endimanché_, that is to +say, like a young man in his Sunday, go-to-meeting attire. + +The uniforms ordinarily affected by Francis-Joseph are the undress +regimentals of an Austrian general, the blue-gray short tunic, faced +with scarlet and gold, trousers with broad red stripes, and that +peculiar, oval-shaped, rather high-crowned soft cap, with a small +vizor, which constitutes the undress headgear of officers belonging to +every rank of the Austrian army. The only token of his imperial rank +is the small badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece peeping forth +from between the first and second buttons of his tunic, the cross of +Maria-Theresa, and the medal accorded to every officer and soldier who +has served fifty years in the army attached to his breast. On state +occasions at Vienna the emperor dons the full-dress uniform of an +Austrian general, consisting of a white short tunic or "Atilla," faced +with gold and scarlet, scarlet trousers, with broad gold stripes, +and a general's three-cornered _chapeau_, surmounted by a big tuft of +green plumes. + +When Francis-Joseph is in Hungary he invariably wears either the +undress or full-dress uniform of a Hungarian general, and it must be +confessed that, in spite of the somewhat theatrical appearance of the +gold embroidered, tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons and gold-topped +high boots, the scarlet gold-laced tunic of the full dress, with +the heron-plumed kálpàk, or the slightly less gorgeous "shako," +and blue-grey, gold-laced tunic of the undress uniform, he looks +remarkably well, thanks to the extraordinary elasticity and elegance +which he has retained in spite of his three-score years and ten. + +Emperor William's ordinary garb is the familiar undress uniform of a +Prussian general, the dark-blue long frock coat, with its double row +of silver buttons, its scarlet collar, and its silver shoulder-straps. +The trousers are of the same hue as the coat, with broad scarlet +stripes, the latter being worn only by generals. Hanging from the +collar is usually the cross of the Brandenburg Langue of the Order of +St. John of Jerusalem, while on the breast is fastened a sort of star, +consisting of the letter "W" encircled by gold laurel leaves, which +has been accorded to all the officers who formed part of the household +of Old Emperor William. The cap is the ordinary flat, black vizored +undress headgear of all the officers of the German army. + +The uniforms which the emperor wears on state occasions are either +the full-dress uniform of a Prussian general, richly-embroidered, +dark-blue tunic, and epaulets, with a helmet surmounted by the +white plumes of a field officer, or else the regimentals of a +colonel-in-chief of the gardes-du-corps. In the latter, the emperor +looks exceedingly well, especially on horseback. The helmet is +surmounted by a silver eagle with outstretched wings, the white tunic +is partly concealed by a silver cuirass, adorned with a gold sun, and +with the white, tight-fitting knee-breeches are worn high jack-boots. +In fact, it is no flattery to Emperor William to declare that his +appearance in this uniform invariably suggests "Lohengrin." At court +entertainments, in the evening, he frequently wears the so-called +gala, or court dress of this regiment. The coat is scarlet instead of +white, while the cuirass is abandoned. Sometimes the emperor attires +himself in the uniform of a colonel of the Hussar regiment which he +commanded at the time of his accession to the throne. It is scarlet, +gold-laced, and the tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons are worn with +knee-boots, topped with gold. + +The emperor is likewise very fond of donning naval attire, being +particularly proud of his connection with the fleet of Germany and +those of a number of foreign countries. Indeed, it may be safely +asserted that if there is any one foreign dignity which he cherishes +extremely, it is that of admiral of the fleet in the British navy, +conferred upon him by his grandmother, Queen Victoria. + +Emperor William was only a brigadier-general at the time of his +accession to the throne. It was not until several months after +becoming emperor that he assumed the insignia of a general of +division. Inasmuch as some curiosity exists as to how a monarch can +promote himself, it may be stated that old Field Marshal Moltke, who +was then possessed of the highest rank in the German army, called +one day upon William, and, presenting him with a pair of silver +shoulder-straps, adorned with the insignia of a general of division, +entreated his majesty in the name of the entire army, and in +particular on behalf of the corps of officers, to assume the rank of a +full general. + +The same request was presented to the present czar at the time of +his coronation, but met with a refusal on the part of his Muscovite +majesty, for he pointed out that Peter the Great had throughout his +entire reign contented himself with the rank of colonel. There is also +another reason which Nicholas did not mention officially, but which is +well known to the members of his immediate _entourage_. At the present +moment his name figures on the army list as the principal orderly +officer and personal adjutant of the late czar. This is an office +which can only be held by military men below the rank of general. +The moment young Nicholas acquires that rank his name _ipso-facto_ +disappears from the list of his dead father's adjutants, and he is far +too attached to his memory to desire this, preferring the minor rank +of colonel and the association with his beloved predecessor, to all +the pomp and glory of a generalissimo. + +Of all the other sovereigns in Europe there is not one who travels +with such an immense amount of luggage as Emperor William. He seldom +undertakes a trip without taking along at least one hundred huge +trunks of the so-called Saratoga pattern, which fill several wagons +of the imperial train; indeed, an entire special train is not +infrequently chartered solely for the conveyance of his luggage. Like +some French _élégantes_ at a fashionable seaside resort, he changes +his garb five, six, and even seven times a day. The consequence is +that it is necessary to have at hand not only a vast number of naval +and military uniforms, but also a diversity of shooting suits, hunting +suits, civilian clothes, Tyrolese jäger costumes, and even the kilt, +sporran and tartan of a Highlander, for he is very proud of the fact +that Stuart blood flows in his veins, and considers that he is quite +as much entitled to wear the Stuart tartan as his uncle, the Prince of +Wales. + +All these clothes are not under the charge of a mere valet, +but of a grand dignitary of the Court of Berlin,--Count +Perponcher-Sedlinzky,--who holds the rank of privy councillor, and +who is addressed as "your excellency." The count has a perfect army of +dressers and valets under his orders, but it is he who is responsible, +not only for the uniforms being in good trim, but likewise for their +being on hand whenever the emperor happens to need them. + +In order to understand what this entails, it must be remembered +that the kaiser is not only colonel of some hundred or more German +regiments, but also of a very great many foreign corps, belonging to +every country in Europe, except Turkey, Bulgaria and France. Now for +each regiment, there are sometimes six, sometimes eight different +uniforms--one each for parade, fatigue duty, court wear, an undress +uniform, and others too numerous to mention. + +When the emperor travels and is likely to be brought into contact with +English princes, with Russians or with Austrians, it is necessary +that he should have within his reach, not merely one of his English, +Austrian or Russian uniforms, but all of them--that is to say, thirty +or forty at least, in addition to his German uniforms and ordinary +clothes. + +An immense amount of importance is attached to these sumptuary +questions by the reigning families of Europe. On one occasion an +imperial meeting between the kaiser and the late czar was delayed for +three whole days, while government stocks all over the world declined +in value, and the utmost apprehension prevailed on the score of peace, +merely because the prince who held the office of grand-master of the +czar's wardrobe had neglected to bring with him the German uniforms of +his master. It may be added that he lost his office in consequence. + +This peculiar form of royal and imperial courtesy, consisting in the +sovereign and royal princes of one country donning the uniforms or +livery of the foreign monarch whom they wish to compliment, originated +with Frederick the Great. In 1770, he had to pay a visit to the +Emperor of Austria at the castle of Neustadt, in Moravia. Only seven +years before, Prussia had been engaged in her great struggle with the +empire, and had thoroughly beaten Austria. Frederick feared that the +too familiar blue Prussian uniform might awaken unpleasant memories on +the part of the emperor and his court. So, with the utmost delicacy, +he and all his staff appeared at Neustadt in the white Austrian +uniforms, an act of courtesy on the part of the victor to the +vanquished which was warmly appreciated both by Emperor Joseph and all +his Austrian _entourage_. The fashion thus inaugurated has remained +in existence ever since, being facilitated by the fact that every +sovereign in Europe, including even Queen Victoria, the Queen Regent +of Spain, and the two Queens of Holland, holds honorary commands in a +number of foreign regiments. + +During the reign of Old Emperor William, those who did not possess +the right to wear any civil or military uniform were permitted to make +their appearance at court in ordinary evening dress, which ultimately +had the effect of giving a sort of _bourgeois_ flavor to imperial +entertainments. The present kaiser, however, proceeded to change all +this before he had been very long on the throne, and having noticed +that at the court of his English grandmother, no one is allowed to +appear at any of the state entertainments or functions in ordinary +evening dress,--the only exception made being in favor of the United +States embassy,--he inaugurated similar regulations at Berlin. + +According to these sumptuary decrees gentlemen who are invited to +entertainments at court, and who for any reason have no right to +military, naval or civil service uniform, are compelled to appear in a +species of court dress, consisting of a coat cut after the fashion of +the last, rather than of the present century. Its color is black, or +dark blue, as are also the revers, the collar and the cuffs; with it +are worn black, tight fitting knee breeches, black silk stockings, +and low patent leather shoes with gold buckles. A three-cornered +_chapeau_, without feathers, and a court sword, complete this costume. + +The emperor likewise directed that all officials of the court and the +civil service, namely, every man who did not happen to belong either +to the army or to the navy, should wear at court balls and at all +great state entertainments, white knee breeches, and white silk +stockings, with low, gold-buckled shoes, in lieu of the blue, black, +or white gold-laced trousers that had until then been habitually worn +with the gold-embroidered swallow-tail coat, which constitutes the +uniform of the German civil service, and of court officialdom. Until +that time, the only European court at which knee breeches had been +insisted upon at court and state entertainments, was that of Great +Britain. They were likewise _de rigueur_ at the Tuileries during the +reign of Napoleon III. The kaiser, however, came to the conclusion +that continuations of this kind gave a more brilliant and dressy +appearance to court functions than long trousers, and accordingly the +latter are barred, save in the case of officers of the army and navy. + +At the imperial court of Berlin there are four types of receptions +or _cours_, the latter being the French word which has clung to these +state functions ever since the reign of Frederick the Great. They +are the "Défiler-Cour," the "Spiel-Cour," the "Sprech-Cour" and the +"Trauer-Cour." The first, namely, the "défiler cour"--from the French +word _défiler_, to file past--is the Berlin counterpart of Queen +Victoria's drawing-rooms at Buckingham Palace in London, and is held +once a year for the purpose of presenting débutantes, brides and +ladies whose husbands have recently been promoted, or raised to the +rank of nobility. They pass one by one before the throne, curtsy +profoundly to each of their majesties, while the grand chamberlain +mentions their names, and then leave the imperial presence by a side +exit. No one kisses the empress's hand, as is the case with Queen +Victoria in England, nor are the presentees compelled to back out of +the imperial presence, as at Buckingham Palace. The court dress of +débutantes at Berlin is not necessarily white, though that is the hue +most affected. The long court train may be of an entirely different +material and color from the dress itself, if the wearer pleases, the +only stipulation made being that the richness and splendor of the +fabric must be beyond question. An indispensable feature of the +toilette is the so-called "barbe," a sort of tiny lace veil, suspended +on each side of the coiffure, about two inches in width. The lace of +course must be real, though the kind is left to the wearer's choice. +It is generally white Spanish point, Alençon, or _Point d'Angleterre_. + +The "défiler-cour" almost invariably takes place on New Year's Day, +immediately after Divine service. This service begins at ten o'clock, +the men being in full uniform, and during the benediction a battery of +artillery, stationed in the "Lust-Garten," fires a royal salute of one +hundred and one guns. + +As soon as the last gun has been fired, the royal and imperial +procession forms, headed by the grand marshal of the court, Count +Augustus Eulenburg, bearing his wand of office, and leaves the +court chapel. When it reaches the "Weisse-Saal"--one of the grandest +apartments of this ancient palace--the band stationed in the gallery +commences to play, generally the Hohenzollern march. The emperor and +empress thereupon take their places on the dais beneath the great +escutcheoned golden canopy, and in front of the two chairs of state +that represent the thrones. At the right and left are grouped the +various royal and imperial personages present, while at the foot of +the dais stands the grand master of the ceremonies for the purpose of +mentioning to their majesties the names of those who pass before them. +At the back of the royal and imperial party are ranged the palace +guard in their quaint, old-fashioned, and exceedingly picturesque +uniforms. The first to pass before the throne is invariably the +chancellor of the empire, and while the emperor and empress merely +respond with an inclination of the head to the salutations of those of +minor rank, they invariably approach to the edge of the dais in +order to give their hands to be kissed by the octogenarian Prince +of Hohenlohe, who has held the office of chancellor ever since the +retirement of General Count Caprivi. The band plays throughout the +entire ceremony, which is a most magnificent affair. + +The so-called "spiel-cour" still keeps its name, implying card +playing, although, as a matter of fact, cards are never played at +court now. In former times they constituted a very important feature +of court entertainment, and the "spiel-cour," or "le jeu de leurs +majestés," was the function to which those whom the anointed of the +Lord desired to honor were most frequently bidden. In earlier days, +as soon as the guests had made their bows to the sovereign and to the +princes and princesses of the blood, card-tables were set out, and +gambling commenced, those to whom their majesties wished to accord +special distinction and honor receiving royal commands, through the +chamberlains-in-waiting to take their places at the card-tables of the +king, or of the queen, as the case might be. + +It was these royal games of cards at the Court of Versailles which +contributed in no small measure to the downfall of the old French +monarchy, and to the outbreak of the great revolution in Paris a +hundred years ago. The ill-fated Queen Marie-Antoinette of France +became an inveterate gambler. It was her craze for high play that +led her to admit not only to her court, but also to her card-table, +parvenus of doubtful reputation and of questionable antecedents, such +as the infamous Cagliostro, _soi-disant_ Count of St. Germain, and +others of his class, whose only merit in her eyes was that they were +rich and willing to lose their money without counting it. Indeed, +the celebrated diamond necklace scandal, which compromised to such a +terrible degree the reputation of this French queen, and precipitated +the overthrow of the throne, would have been impossible had it not +been for her gambling propensities. + +[Illustration: IN THE WHITE HALL +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The "spiel-cour" only takes place on the eve of the wedding of a +member of the Hohenzollern family. It is held in the _weisse-saal_ of +the Berlin _schloss_, or palace. The kaiser and the kaiserin, with the +bridal pair, seat themselves at a card table under a canopy of gold +brocade, adorned with the imperial arms. The other royal personages +sit at card-tables lower down on the dais on each side. The invited +guests then pass before their majesties, precisely as at the +"défiler-cour." + +The "sprech-cour" is, as its name signifies, a kind of +_conversazione_. The persons invited are partitioned off, according +to their ranks, in different rooms, through which their majesties +promenade. Those not personally known to the emperor and empress are +introduced by the masters of ceremonies in attendance, and others with +whom their majesties are already acquainted are honored by a short +conversation. + +"Trauer-cours," or mourning levées, are held immediately after the +death of the reigning sovereign, and are exceedingly impressive, +mainly by reason of the flowing robes and peculiar sable-hued attire +which the ladies of the royal family of Prussia and of their courts +are compelled by tradition and etiquette to adopt. Moreover, all the +apartments are draped in black, the gilded ornaments being shrouded +in crape. The last of these mourning courts was held by Empress +Frederick, in the place of her dying husband, on the demise of old +Emperor William, and so painful and depressing was this occasion, that +at her urgent request, no ceremony of the kind was held when "_Unser +Fritz_" in his turn, was gathered to his fathers. + +Very stately are the court balls, of which a number are given in +the early part of each year, between the First of January and the +beginning of Lent. In fact, court balls at Berlin are infinitely +less amusing, at any rate to young people, than are analogous +entertainments at the Hofburg, at Vienna, or at Buckingham Palace, in +London. This is due partly to the fact that Hohenzollern tradition and +etiquette require that the proceedings should be inaugurated with the +Polonaise, and furthermore, because the waltz has, for nearly +forty years, been denied a place in the programme of terpsichorean +entertainments at court. + +In fact, waltzes have been forbidden ever since an accident which +happened to Empress Frederick at a court ball not long after her +marriage. She was waltzing with a young nobleman, when suddenly she +was tripped up inadvertently by her partner, and precipitated to the +floor at the very feet of old Empress Augusta, her mother-in-law. The +latter, who was a terrible despot on the score of etiquette, could +not bear the idea of a dance which could have the effect of placing a +princess of the blood in such an undignified position, and turning +a deaf ear to all arguments about the mishap being due to the +awkwardness of the dancers, rather than to the dance itself, she +vetoed the inclusion of waltzes thenceforth in all programmes of court +balls. + +Fortunately, no such regulation prevails at the Court of Vienna, where +Strauss's waltzes invariably form the most attractive feature of the +so-called "hofball" and "ball-bei-hof." There is a great difference +in the character of these two state balls at Vienna. To the first, +all sorts of people are commanded who are entitled solely by virtue of +their official position to appear at court. The second, and far more +brilliant one, is restricted to what is known as the court circle, or +the _elite_,--the old blue-blooded aristocracy,--alone. + +So far Emperor William has resisted all the pressure brought to bear +upon him by the princesses and ladies of his court to revive the +waltz, taking the ground that it is more conducive than any other +dance to ridiculous mishaps on the highly polished and parqueted +floors of the royal and imperial palaces. Even with the polka, +the schottische and the mazurka, to which the round dances are now +limited, there are so many accidents that some time ago the kaiser +summoned the generals commanding the various troops stationed in and +around Berlin, and instructed them to direct those officers who were +not able to dance properly, to abstain from attempting to do so at the +imperial entertainments. The result is that young officers are now put +through their paces by their seniors, and have to display a certain +proficiency in dances around the billiard or mess table before they +are allowed to dance at court. + +I remember on one occasion at a court ball at Berlin when a young +subaltern incurred the anger of the late Prince Frederick-Charles by +tripping up his partner. The Red Prince assailed the young officer so +bitterly that the crown prince was obliged to intervene. + +At a Viennese court ball I once saw the young secretary of a +foreign embassy fall so unfortunately while dancing with one of the +archduchesses that he actually came down in a sitting position on her +face, and caused her nose to bleed. It need scarcely be added that he +left Vienna the next day, and a week later obtained his transfer to +another post. + +A short time before the tragedy of Mayerling, Crown Princess Stephanie +had a very nasty fall, owing to the gaucherie of a cavalry officer +with whom she was waltzing. The emperor was terribly annoyed, and +Crown Prince Rudolph spoke his mind in no measured tones to the +offender. + +Far more polite was Emperor Napoleon III. when at a Tuileries ball +a middle-aged officer and his fair partner came to grief. As the +mortified warrior scrambled to his feet, the emperor extended a hand +to help him, and turning to the lady, remarked: + +"_Madame, c'est la deuxième fois que j'ai vu tomber monsieur le +colonel. La première fois c'était sur le champ de bataille de +Magenta_." (Madame, this is the second time I have seen the colonel +fall. The first time was on the battlefield of Magenta.) + +In order to see the Polonaise danced in all its glory, it must be +witnessed on the occasion of the wedding of some princess of the +reigning house of Prussia, when the dance is headed by a procession of +cabinet ministers, bearing candles or torches, whence it is styled the +"Fackel-tanz," (Torch-dance). + +On such an occasion the emperor, the empress and the royal guests +having taken up their places on the dais, under the baldaquin, and +immediately in front of the throne, the less exalted guests ranging +themselves to the right and left of the great white hall, according +to rank and precedence, the court marshal receives orders from his +majesty for the dance to begin. The count thereupon approaches the +royal bride and bridegroom, and bowing low to them, invites them +to take part in the dance. The bridegroom extends his hand to his +consort, and to the sound of a very slow and stately march conducts +her around the hall, preceded by the twelve ministers of state, +walking two by two, those highest in rank coming last. Each, minister +bears in his hand a lighted torch of white perfumed wax. When the +procession returns to the point from which it started, in front of the +throne, the bride approaches the emperor, and with a curtsy invites +his majesty to take part in the dance, and is conducted around the +room by him, the bridegroom going through the same formality with the +empress. As soon as these first three rounds are concluded, the twelve +ministers hand over their wax torches to twelve pages of honor, each +lad being of noble birth, and the bridegroom then similarly invites +the remaining princesses of the blood, two at a time, leading one with +each hand, while the bride goes through the same procedure with two +princes of the blood, until the total list of royal personages has +been exhausted. When the number of royal guests is very large this +dance sometimes lasts nearly two hours. + +On ordinary cases, of course, the torches are dispensed with, and the +polonaise only continues long enough to enable the emperor and +empress to march once round, the hall with those guests whom they +wish particularly to honor. On such occasions they are preceded by the +court marshal bearing the wand of grand marshal, by several masters of +the ceremonies, and by picturesquely attired pages of honor. + +Court ceremonies have been few and far between during the last ten +or twelve years at Vienna owing to the circumstance that the imperial +family have been almost uninterruptedly in mourning, consequent upon +the successive deaths of Crown Prince Rudolph, Archduke Charles-Louis +and Empress Elizabeth, in addition to a number of less important +members of the imperial family. The ceremonial is very different +from that which prevails at Berlin, and it must be confessed that the +guests are more select, since the Court of Vienna is infinitely +more exclusive than that of Berlin, and requires much more stringent +genealogical qualifications on the part of women admitted to the honor +of presentation. Indeed, there Is no court in Europe more exclusive +than that of Emperor Francis-Joseph, and the threshold of the Hofburg +may be regarded as barred without hope of admission to any lady who is +not endowed with the necessary ancestry, free from all plebeian strain +for at least eight generations on both the father's and the mother's +side. + +The presentation of débutantes and of brides ordinarily takes place +prior to the commencement of court balls, and there are no such things +as state concerts or "défiler-cours," as at Berlin, and in England, at +which latter court guests receive their invitations to state balls +by means of large lithographed cards emblazoned with the royal or +imperial arms, on which it is stated that the grand-master of the +Court at Berlin, or the lord chamberlain in London, has been directed +by their majesties, or her majesty, as the case may be, to "command" +the attendance of such and such a person to a ball at court. These +commands are usually sent out about a week or more in advance: but +in Vienna, where it is taken for granted that all the people having +a right to invitations belong to the same intimate circle, cards are +dispensed with, and on the day before the entertainment, sometimes on +the very morning on which it is given, one of the court messengers, or +so-called Hofcouriers, calls at the residence of invited guests with +a long sheet of paper, on which is inscribed the list of _invités._ On +this list, opposite his or her name, the invited person writes yes +or no, indicating thereby acceptance of the imperial command or +prevention by some grave event. + +The guests are already assembled in the Hall of Ceremonies before the +imperial party makes its appearance. The ladies all wear court trains, +and in almost every case the bodice of their dress is adorned with +the insignia of the "Sternkreutz" [star cross], an order restricted +exclusively to women, of which the late empress was grand-mistress, +and to possess which even still greater ancestral qualifications are +needed than for presentation at court. The men are all in uniform, +either civilian, military or naval. Indeed it is impossible to find +in Austria any man that has the right to appear at court who does +not possess some sort of uniform. If he happens to be a Hungarian, he +wears the picturesque dress of the great Magyar kingdom, bordered with +priceless furs, adorned with jewels and composed of costly velvets and +silks. + +Shortly before the arrival of the imperial procession the grand-master +of ceremonies taps on the floor with his ivory wand of office to +attract attention, and the guests thereupon range themselves along the +two sides of the hall, the ladies to the right and the gentlemen to +the left. Suddenly the folding-doors at the further end of the hall +are flung open, and to the sound of the most inspiriting march that +the conductor of the court orchestra, Edouard Strauss, can devise, the +imperial cortege makes its appearance, preceded by Count Hunyadi, in +his uniform of a cavalry general, and Prince Rudolph Leichtenstein, +each armed with a wand of office. Since the disappearance of the +empress from court life--a disappearance which may be said to have +preceded her death by several years--the emperor has been in the habit +on these occasions of offering his arm to the Duchess of Cumberland, +daughter of King Christian of Denmark, and _de jure_ sovereign duchess +of Brunswick, as the principal foreign royal lady present. Immediately +after him follows the archduke next in the line of succession, now +Francis-Ferdinand, or, failing him, Otto, leading the archduchess +designated to take the place of the first lady of the land, and who at +the present time is Archduchess Maria-Josepha, wife of Archduke Otto. + +The imperial procession, consisting of all the archdukes and +archduchesses--there are nearly one hundred of them--and of the +principal members of their households, marches along the avenue thus +formed by the guests, and are welcomed by low curtsies on the part of +the women, and by profound bows on the part of the men. The brilliant +pageant then disappears in the room set apart for the imperial party, +and thereupon the emperor and Archduchess Maria-Josepha return, and +while the emperor passes along in front of the male guests, preceded +by one of the principal dignitaries of his court, either Count +Kalmàn Hunyadi or Prince Montenuovo, the archduchess, escorted by the +grand-mistress of her court, makes her way along the front rank of the +ladies, bowing to some, extending her hand to be kissed by others, and +chatting familiarly to those who are old friends. + +As soon as the emperor and the archduchess reach the end of the line +the emperor passes over to the ladies' side, while the archduchess in +her turn passes along the front rank of the men. The archduchess then +proceeds to the so-called "Rittersaal," and taking her seat on a +sofa, sends her ladies-in-waiting and her chamberlains to bring to her +presence ladies who have presentations to make. With each débutante +the archduchess converses for a few seconds before dismissing her, the +wives of the foreign ambassadors being on these occasions invited to +take a seat beside the archduchess on her sofa while presenting their +countrywomen. + +Meanwhile the ball has commenced in the Hall of Ceremonies, and is +usually opened with a waltz. While the dancing is in progress the +emperor strolls about, talking from time to time to some guest. +Foreign ambassadors and envoys usually avail themselves of this +opportunity to present their countrymen to his majesty. + +Of course no one is permitted to invite any of the archduchesses or +foreign princesses of the blood who may happen to be present to dance. +It is they who have the privilege of taking the first step in the +matter. Whenever they desire to dance with any man they cause him +to be notified of their wish by their chamberlain in attendance. The +cavalier thus honored is obliged to consider this intimation in the +nature of a command, and all engagements with fair partners of a less +exalted rank, are annulled thereby. + +Refreshments are served for the ordinary guests in the "Pietra-Dura" +room, where a superb buffet is set, the tables glittering with gold +plate and Venetian glass. For the imperial princes and princesses the +Hall of Mirrors is generally reserved, and there the scene is even +still more magnificent. By midnight all is over. The court has retired +with the same ceremonial that marked its arrival, and the guests are +looking for their wraps and cloaks. All court entertainments at Vienna +begin early and end early, so as not to interfere unduly with the +emperor's practice of rising at about five o'clock in the morning. + +One of the features of the great court functions at Berlin, as well as +at Vienna, which excites the greatest surprise of Americans visiting +Europe for the first time, is that particular form of homage accorded +to royalty which consists in the kissing of the hand or "handkuss." +Not only the hands of the royal and imperial ladies are required +by etiquette to be kissed when offered to gentlemen, but it is also +considered necessary for both men and women to kiss the hand of the +sovereign when he condescends to extend it for the purpose. This +seems, perhaps, less odd at Vienna, as the emperor is a septuagenarian +with snow-white hair and a sad and kindly face, inspiring feelings of +sympathy and loyal affection. Indeed there is nothing out of the way +in a young girl, and even a man of mature years, kissing the hand of a +veteran of the age of Francis-Joseph, just as if he were their father. +But it certainly does appear strange to those from across the Atlantic +who are obtaining their first insight into European court life, to see +not only grey-haired generals, and white-whiskered statesmen, but also +venerable ladies,--grandmothers perhaps--and belonging to the highest +ranks of the nobility kissing the hand of Emperor William. + +It has always seemed to me that William must have realized for the +first time his altered rank when old Field-Marshal Moltke, and the +late Prince Bismarck, on hailing him as emperor within a few hours +after his father's death, bent down to kiss his hand. This took place +more or less in private. But shortly afterwards, when he opened the +imperial parliament for the first time as emperor, in the presence of +most of the German sovereigns who had come to Berlin for the purpose, +and had finished reading his speech, and handed it to the chancellor +of the empire, old Bismarck, as he took it, bent almost double to kiss +the hand that was tendering the document to him, in the presence of +the princes and representatives of the entire German empire. + +Kissing, it may be added, forms a great feature of court etiquette +in Germany and Austria. It is, for instance, _de rigueur_ that two +sovereigns of equal rank visiting each other, should embrace at least +thrice, no matter how deeply they may detest each other privately! +A petty sovereign will have to content himself with being embraced +merely twice by a monarch such as Francis-Joseph or Emperor William, +while a crown prince or heir apparent will receive only one hug. +Mere princes of the blood receive no kisses at all, but only a hearty +hand-shake, with which they have to be satisfied, and which is, after +all, perhaps the most sensible fashion of greeting. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +All royal and imperial people are more or less superstitious, +and neither Emperor William nor his brother monarch at Vienna are +exceptions to the rule. Striking evidence thereof is furnished by the +presence of a large horseshoe cemented into the wall just outside +the fourth window of the first story of Empress Frederick's palace +at Berlin. One day, some time before his accession to the throne, and +before his father was seized with that terrible malady to which he +eventually succumbed, William was invited to dine with his parents. +Finding that he was very late, and knowing the strictness of his +father and mother on the score of punctuality, William directed his +coachman to drive as fast as he could, and the carriage positively +raced up the incline to the portal. + +Suddenly one of the big Mecklenburg horses lost his shoe, which in +some extraordinary manner, flew up into the air, dashed through the +first-story window and fell upon the dinner table, right in front +of Frederick and the then crown princess, who, declining to wait +any longer, had just sat down to table. The shoe is reported to have +grazed the nose of the late emperor. At any rate, the fact that it +should have failed to seriously injure anyone is a miracle. It was so +regarded by Frederick, his wife and his children, who deemed the queer +advent of the shoe, and the escape of everybody from injury, as an +indication of good luck. At the suggestion of the present kaiser, it +was thereupon cemented into the wall just outside the window through +which it had come, and was fastened upside down, in order to prevent +the luck from dropping out. + +It is not altogether astonishing that royal personages should be prone +to superstition, for in almost every case they are compelled to make +their homes in palaces and castles that have been stained with the +blood of one or more of their ancestors. Ordinary people experience an +uncanny feeling when forced by circumstances to live in houses which +have been the scene of suicide or murder, even when the victims of +the tragedy, or the perpetrators thereof are in no way, even the +most remotely, connected with them. What wonder, then, that royal and +imperial personages should entertain the same kind of superstition and +sentiments with regard to their palaces, when it is borne in mind that +the participants in the drama have been members of their own families! + +For months prior to the assassination of Empress Elizabeth, +forebodings of an impending catastrophe were prevalent at the Court +of Vienna, and so imbued was Emperor Francis-Joseph with ominous +presentiments, that he repeatedly exclaimed in the hearing of his +entourage: "Oh, if only this year were at an end!" + +These apprehensions on the part of the monarch and his court were due +to an incident which took place on the night of April 24, 1898, and +which was of sufficient importance to be comprised in the regular +report made on the following morning to his military superiors by the +officer of the guard at the Hofburg. It seems that the sentinel posted +in the corridor or hall leading to the chapel was startled almost out +of his senses by seeing the form of a white-clad woman approaching +him, soon after one o'clock in the morning. He at once challenged her, +whereupon the figure turned round, and passed back into the chapel, +where the soldier then observed a light. Hastily summoning assistance, +a strict search was instituted, but the chapel was explored without +any result. + +The sentinel in question was a stolid, rather dull-minded Styrian +peasant, who was possessed of but little power of imagination or of +education, and who was entirely ignorant, therefore, of the tradition +according to which a woman in white makes her appearance by night +in the Hofburg at Vienna, either in the chapel or in the adjoining +corridors and halls, whenever any misfortune is about to overtake the +imperial house of Hapsburg. + +On each occasion, this spectral appearance to the sentinel on duty +has been described in the report of the officer of the guard on the +following morning, and is absolutely a matter of official record. The +previous visitations of the "white lady" had taken place on the eve +of the shocking tragedy of Mayerling; a few weeks previous to the +shooting of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico; and prior to the burning to +death of the daughter of old Archduke Albert, at Schoenbrunn; while +the very fact that there should have been no supernatural appearance +of this kind at the time when Archduke John vanished from human ken, +leads the imperial family and the Court of Austria to still doubt the +story, according to which he perished at sea while on his way round +Cape Horn, from La Plata to Valparaiso. + +I do not know the origin of the "white lady" tradition at Vienna, +nor have I ever been able to ascertain anything definite about her +history, but there is plenty of documentary evidence, as well as +a wonderful array of records concerning "the white lady of the +Hohenzollerns," who makes her appearance in the old palace at Berlin +whenever death is about to overtake a member of the reigning house of +Prussia. The late Emperor Frederick--the most matter-of-fact and least +imaginative prince of his line--was particularly interested in the +matter, and collected all the evidence that he could upon the subject, +for the purpose of depositing it in the archives of his family. + +Perhaps the most important testimony in this connection are the sworn +statements signed by Prince Frederick of Prussia, and a number of his +fellow officers, to all of whom the "White Lady" is declared to have +appeared as they sat together on the eve of the prince's death at the +battle of Saalfeld in 1806. + +Moreover, Thomas Carlyle went to no little trouble to procure evidence +when writing the history of Frederick the Great, that the "White Lady" +had appeared to that famous monarch on the eve of his death. The king, +it is asserted, was on the high road to recovery from his illness, +when suddenly one morning he declared that he had seen the white-clad +spectre during the night, that his hour had come, and that it was +useless to ward off death any longer. So he refused to take any +further medicine or nourishment, turned his face to the wall, and +died. + +The "White Lady" is considered sufficiently real by the hard-headed +matter-of-fact commanders of the Prussian army, to lead to their +adopting special measures whenever her appearance is reported. The +moment she is seen, the sentinels within and around the royal palace +are at once doubled. The object of this is not so much to protect the +royal family from harm, as to prevent the sentinels themselves from +following the example of the two who shot themselves while on guard +at the palace in the year 1888, one, shortly before the death of old +Emperor William, the other, a few days before the demise of Emperor +Frederick, the men in each case declaring before they expired that +they had seen the "White Lady," their story being in a measure +borne out by the fact that their faces even after death seemed to be +distorted with terror. + +The appearances of the "White Lady" are kept as quiet as possible, +the matter is never mentioned at court, save in whispers, and nothing +concerning her is ever permitted to appear in print in the Berlin +papers. + +This dread apparition that forebodes evil to the reigning house of +Prussia, is supposed to be the spectre of Countess Agnes Orlamunde, +who murdered her first husband, as well as her two children, who +constituted an obstacle to her marriage with, one of the ancestors of +the kaiser. + +The palace in which the spectre of this historic murderess appears +is a huge and massive structure of grey stone, the walls of which +are pierced by over one thousand windows, and which contains over six +hundred rooms. Commenced four hundred and fifty years ago by one of +the earliest electors of Brandenburg, it has been added to by +each sovereign in turn, until it has attained its present enormous +dimensions. + +There is probably no structure of the kind in the world the building +of which has cost so many lives. Indeed the very mortar used in its +construction may be said to have been mixed with blood. The people of +Berlin, who from time immemorial have been noted for their democracy +and their spirit of independence, have opposed from the very outset +the erection of this building in their midst as calculated to endanger +their liberty, and many were the attempts that they made to arrest +the undertaking, and to destroy the work already accomplished. Bloody +fights took place between the mob and the troops appointed to protect +the workmen, and on two occasions the populace even went so far as to +cut the dams, and destroy the flood gates, deluging the foundations +with the waters of the River Spree, and drowning each time many +hundreds of workmen. + +Even at the present moment Emperor William is engaged in an angry +fight with, the people of Berlin in connection with this palace. +He wishes to surround it with a terrace and a garden, which will +naturally add to its beauty. At present the windows look onto the +public streets, a fact which, in these days of bombs and dynamite +outrages, renders it difficult to protect with any degree of +efficiency. The municipality and people of Berlin, however, absolutely +decline to consent to the expropriations necessary in order to enable +the destruction and removal of the existing houses and buildings which +interfere with the execution of his majesty's project. + +Like his uncle, the Prince of Wales, the kaiser is very superstitious +on the subject of the number thirteen in the case of any +entertainment, and more than once has a mere subaltern who happened to +be on duty at the palace as an officer of the guard, been commanded at +a moment's notice to join the imperial party in order to avoid there +being thirteen at the table. + +This superstition is perhaps partly due to the fact that the emperor +is aware of the old Scandinavian custom, from which it originates, and +which still subsists among the peasantry of the west coast of France. +In the Pagan days of Scandinavia, the hardy Norsemen were accustomed +at all their banquets to invite the spirit of the last of their male +relatives or friends to participate in the feast, and the food that he +would have eaten and the mead that he would have drunk was cast into +the fire, the supposed resting-place of the soul. When the Norsemen +embraced Christianity, on ceremonious occasions they sat down to +the banquet in parties of twelve, doing this in honor of the twelve +Apostles; but unable entirely to disassociate themselves from their +old heathen custom of inviting the spirit of a dead relative or +friend, they constituted him,--the spectre,--the thirteenth guest at +table, and his health was always drunk in solemn silence. In course +of time people came to forget the traditional custom of considering +a spectre to be the thirteenth guest. He was, however, associated in +their minds with the notion of death, and thus the belief has grown +that though a thirteenth person at table is no longer a corpse, one of +the party is destined, at any rate, to speedily become one. + +Throughout Brittany on the eve of the day sacred to the memory of the +dead "La Toussaint," the family all sit down to a festive repast, and +there is invariably a place laid at table, the plate filled with the +choicest viands, and the glass filled with the finest wine or cider, +for the one or more members of the family who have died during the +previous twelve months. The peasantry are convinced that the spirits +of their dear ones take part in this repast at one time or another +during the course of the night. It is for this reason that they +consider it their duty to sit up till daybreak, the women chiefly +praying, the men talking in undertones about the qualities and the +characteristics of the mourned ones. Wearied with watching, imbued +with the most fervent and devout faith, blended with a belief in +old-time legends, what wonder is it that towards dawn both the men +and the women, especially the latter, should imagine that they see +the spirits of their dead glide into the room, take their place at the +family board, and then, after a brief sojourn in their midst, vanish +with the light of the breaking day. It is a pretty and a touching +idea, which is not combated by the clergy, and of which, indeed, no +one possessed of any heart would seek to disabuse the minds of the +poor, simple-minded peasant folks. + +Of course Emperor Francis-Joseph and Emperor William are imbued with +all the old superstitions peculiar to Nimrods. As an instance, they +will give up an entire day's shooting, no matter how elaborate the +arrangements made for it, if a hare is seen to cross their path, for +this is always looked upon as being a very bad omen. + +Both emperors also attach much importance to dreams, and claim to have +been furnished by them with premonitions of each misfortune that has +overtaken them, and regard Friday as the most unlucky day of the week. + +There is no colder, more unemotional and level-headed woman in +the-world than the young Empress of Russia, who is a German princess +by birth, and a first cousin of Emperor William, yet she too believes +in dreams, since the following incident, which enjoys the fullest +degree of credence on the part of the emperors of Germany and Austria. +It seems that during the coronation festivities she was resting one +afternoon, and had dropped off into a doze, when she suddenly found +herself awakened by one of her ladies who had been frightened by the +manner in which she moaned and even wailed in her sleep. The empress +then related that her slumbers had been disturbed by a bad dream. +An old gray-haired Moujik, or peasant, all covered with blood, had +appeared to her, and had exclaimed: + +"I have come all the way from Siberia, czaritza, to see your day of +honor, and now your Cossacks have killed me." + +The vision had been so real that the empress hastened to her husband +to inquire if any misfortune had happened. Nicholas laughed at his +wife's fears, but to soothe her, telephoned to the minister of the +imperial household, asking whether anything untoward had occurred, +and only then learnt of the terrible disaster that had taken place in +connection with the open-air banquet, where over two thousand lives +were lost, through a panic that had seized upon the vast concourse of +people, the terrible catastrophe being aggravated by the unfortunate +attempts of large bodies of mounted Cossacks to restore order by +riding into the crowd and using their whips and even their swords +against the terrified masses of penned-up Moujiks. + +It must be borne in mind that the entire monarchial system of the old +world is largely based on legend and superstition, and that a belief +in the supernatural, therefore, is to be expected in such personages +as the anointed of the Lord, who are firmly convinced that there is a +considerable amount of the supernatural in their authority and in the +origin of their power. + +Another manner in which Emperor William displays his superstition, is +his absolute refusal to permit any steps to be taken to clear up the +mystery which has existed throughout this entire century in connection +with the hunting château of Grünewald, which, like the great palace +at Berlin, is popularly believed to be haunted. Indeed, it is regarded +with considerable misgiving by the peasantry of the surrounding +district. It is an old castle, built almost two centuries ago, by the +father of the first King of Prussia, and has been the scene of several +tragedies. + +The one which is supposed to have led to the haunting of the palace +is the murder by one of the princes of the house of Hohenzollern, in a +fit of passion, of a Prussian nobleman who was his guest at the time. +The prince is reported to have run the nobleman through the back with +his sword while following him down one of the staircases from the +upper story to the ground floor. + +Endeavors have repeatedly been made to obtain permission from the +sovereign to tear down the brick wall so as to give access to this +staircase, not only for the sake of convenience, but also with the +object of setting at rest forever the popular superstitions and rumors +on the subject. Neither King Frederick-William IV., nor the late +Emperor William would ever hear of such a thing, and the late Emperor +Frederick, who was the least superstitious and most matter-of-fact +of men, grew grave and silent, when it was suggested to him that he +should give the desired permission. As for the present emperor, he +has sternly forbidden that the matter should even be mentioned in his +presence. This extraordinary reluctance displayed by both the kaiser +and his predecessors to discover what there is behind that brick wall +leads to the conviction that the mouldering remains of the victim +of the treacherous hospitality of a prince of Prussia lie concealed +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +It is among the crowned heads and princes of the blood in the Old +World that St. Hubert, the patron of the chase, finds his most fervent +devotees, and nowhere is his cult followed with a greater degree +of pomp and ceremoniousness, and, I might almost add, religious +sentiment, than at the Courts of Berlin and Vienna. + +The foremost Nimrod of Europe is undoubtedly old Emperor +Francis-Joseph, who finds his only relaxation from the cares of state +in stalking the chamois, and who is celebrated in the annals of sport +as the most successful and fearless hunter of that excessively shy and +difficult quarry. + +No man living possesses a larger collection of gemsbock beards, which +constitute the hunter's trophy of this form of the chase. They +number nearly three thousand, and the only person whose score at all +approximates the emperor's is his intimate friend and crony, the +aged King Albert of Saxony. Both monarchs are now old men, with hair, +whiskers and moustache, of a snowy white, but neither their years, +nor their sorrows, which have contributed so much towards aging them +prematurely, have been permitted until now to interfere with their +chamois-hunting expeditions in the Styrian Alps. On these occasions +the two sovereigns make their headquarters at Francis-Joseph's +picturesque shooting-lodge, or rather château, at Mürzsteg. They are +usually accompanied by the emperor's eldest son-in-law, Prince Leopold +of Bavaria, Archduke Francis-Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne, +some younger members of the imperial family, and a few of the +dignitaries of the court who have been the longest attached to the +service of his majesty, prominent among whom is Baron Gudemus, grand +huntsman of the empire. The latter, by virtue of his office, holds a +seat in the privy council, ranks higher than the cabinet ministers, +has under his control all the game preserves, the hunting equipages, +and the shooting lodges of the crown in the various parts of the +empire, and is the generalissimo of the army of game-keepers, and +jägers, many thousands in number, who wear the livery of the house of +Hapsburg. + +Usually, the first three or four days of the stay at Mürzsteg +are devoted to stalking the chamois, the two sovereigns generally +remaining together, attended only by the grand huntsman, and by a +few jägers and guides, while the other members of the shooting party +follow their individual devices. The start is made each morning about +an hour before dawn, so as to enable the sportsmen to be well up on +the mountain side by daybreak, that being the time when it is least +difficult to get within range of a chamois. + +All day long the two old sovereigns, Alpenstock in hand, and short, +stocky rifles slung over the shoulder, go toiling up and down the +mountains, along the edges of great precipices, tracing their steps +along paths that to the uninitiated would seem to afford no foothold +to any living thing, save a goat or a chamois. Sometimes they are +overtaken by snowstorms while up in the mountains, and are unable +to see their way, or to move either backwards or forwards, for whole +hours together, while at other times they are forced to lie down flat +on their stomachs and to cling with hand and foot to any friendly +piece of projecting rock in order to avoid being blown down the +precipices, or into the deep crevasses, by the terrible winds which +without warning suddenly sweep through the Alpine gorges and valleys, +with a force that can only be described as cyclonic. + +All the party, emperor, king, princes, and attendants, down to the +humblest jäger, wear the same kind of Styrian dress, consisting of a +sort of Yoppe, or Austrian jacket of grey homespun, with green collar +and facings, and buttons of rough stag-horn, homespun breeches, cut +off above the knees, which are left entirely uncovered, thick woollen +stockings rolled below the knee, and heavy, hob-nailed, laced boots. +The head gear is that known in this country as the Tyrolese hat, +adorned by a chamois beard, which is inserted between the ribbon and +the felt. + +By nightfall, which comes early in the mountains, everybody is back +at the "jagdschloss," and dinner is served at five, in a room panelled +with wood and decorated with trophies. The emperor and the king sit +next to each other, while Baron Gudemus, as grand huntsman, faces them +on the opposite table. The attendants are not liveried footmen, but +jägers and game-keepers. On arising from the table the party as a rule +descends into the courtyard, where all the game killed during the +day is laid out on a layer of pine branches, the jägers forming three +sides of a square, lighting up the scene with great pine torches, +while the huntsmen sound the _curée-chaude_ on their hunting horns. By +eight or nine o'clock, everybody is in bed, and the whole château is +wrapped in slumber. + +During the last three or four days of the stay, the so-called +"Treibjagds," or "Battues" take the place of stalking. They are +far more ceremonious, but infinitely less fatiguing and interesting +affairs, and as they begin between eight and nine, and last till four, +they do not involve getting out of bed at the unearthly hour of three +or four in the morning. They necessitate, however, an enormous amount +of preparation and organization on the part of the grand huntsman. For +at least forty-eight hours previously, a vast corps of "treibers," +or Styrian mountaineers engaged for the purpose have been employed in +surrounding a district of mountain and valley many miles in area. +The circle is gradually narrowed down until the whole of the game is +driven from the heights into the valley, where the emperor and his +guests have taken up their positions. + +The selection of the positions of the party is regarded as a matter of +the utmost importance, and on the evening before, the grand huntsman +submits to the emperor a carefully drawn up plan of the locality. His +majesty thereupon designates with his own hand the spot where each +of his guests is to take up his position on the following morning. He +himself and the King of Saxony generally await the game in the lowest +part of the valley, the remaining guests and officials being spread up +the mountain side on each hand according to their degree of rank and +the imperial favor, those who enjoy the greatest share of the latter +being the nearest to the sovereign down the valley, while those of +less importance are posted higher up on the mountain side. By nine +o'clock, every member of the party must be in the place assigned to +him on the plan, and the beaters, who have kept the game carefully +within the circle of their lines, now proceed to drive it down towards +the shooting party. + +Usually, great nets are stretched a hundred yards to the rear of the +two monarchs, with the object of forcing the game which may have got +past their majesties to retrace its steps, and to face the royal and +imperial sportsmen once more. + +Sometimes curious scenes result in connection with these nets. On one +occasion a magnificent gemsbock had managed to get past the King of +Saxony, and finding a net in the way, charged it full tilt with a +flying leap. Its horns got entangled in the meshes, seven or eight +feet high, and there it remained hanging and kicking until a couple of +jägers in attendance on the king disentangled it and carefully +placed it on the ground. For a moment it stood as if transfixed +with amazement, gazing steadfastly at the net, and then deliberately +charged head down, and with a tremendous bound, at the obstacle once +more, with the same result, of course. Again the jägers disengaged +it, but in its struggles to recover its liberty the gemsbock left its +beard torn out by the very roots in the hand of one of the men who had +grabbed it for the purpose of holding the animal fast. A third time +the gallant buck charged the net, and cleared it in magnificent style +and made good its escape. The beard which it left behind it figures +to this day on the Alpine hat of King Albert, who is probably the only +man living who can boast of wearing the beard of a chamois that may +still be roaming over the Styrian Alps. + +Emperor William's favorite form of sport is wild-boar hunting. +This species of game abounds in the imperial preserves of +Königs-Wusterhausen, Letzlingen, Gohrde and Springe, the latter being +quite near to the ancient city of Hamelin, celebrated in legendary +lore for its "_pied-piper_" and for its rats! + +The preserves at Gohrde are liked best by the kaiser, as they were by +his grandfather, the old emperor, for they are alive with wild boars. +Persons invited for the first time to these imperial shooting parties +have to go through a regular form of initiation, somewhat akin to that +practised in the case of people crossing the line for the first time +at sea. + +On the eve of the day on which the hunt is to begin, and when the +party are assembled in the smoking and card-rooms of the jagdschloss, +after dinner, the great oak table in the dining-room is cleared and +ornamented with several lines of chalk; thereupon, the deputy grand +huntsman, Baron Heintze Weissenrode, after receiving the emperor's +final instructions, selects a dozen members of the party, and conducts +them to the dining-room, where they take their places around the +table, each armed with a wooden spoon of a different size from those +of his neighbors. + +At a given signal the huntsman in charge of the imperial pack of +boar-hounds, who has been stationed at the entrance leading into the +dining-room, sounds the "view-halloo!" on his horn, and immediately +every one of the wooden spoons is rubbed up and down the oaken table +in a manner that produces a sound similar to that of the noise made +by a pack in full pursuit. The person about to be initiated is then +seized and blindfolded, after which the doors are thrown open, and he +is carried into the dining-room, and laid upon the table athwart the +chalk lines. The emperor immediately draws his short hunting-knife, +and after making several mystic passes with it in the air, strikes the +prostrate body of the neophyte a smart blow with the flat of the broad +blade. The huntsman toots forth the signal of "dead! dead!" which is +used to call the pack off the quarry, and the new-fledged "weide-man" +is permitted to struggle off the table and onto the ground. + +I may add that the emperor's blow with the hunting-knife is not the +only one which the neophyte receives while stretched on the table on +his face, nor does it constitute the sum total of the initiation, but +only the conclusion thereof. Indeed, there is sometimes a good deal +of rough horse-play on these occasions, in which the emperor, who +delights therein, takes a prominent part. + +The boar hunt on the following day partakes of the nature of the +chamois drives already described, the only difference being that the +beaters are assisted in their work by a carefully trained pack of +boar-hounds, which are accustomed to obey the horn signals of the +huntsman in charge, and are of much service in driving the quarry from +its lair in the dense brush and underwood. + +Another difference is that the shooting parties, instead of firing in +the direction of the drivers, are under the strictest orders only +to fire away from them; that is to say, the hunters are practically +forced to wait until the wild boar rushes past before their rifles may +be levelled. Of course, it sometimes happens that the boar, instead +of charging past, charges directly at some member of the party in the +fiercest and most dangerous manner, and it is in order to be prepared +for an assault of this kind, that each of them is provided with a kind +of pike, or lance, which goes by the euphonious name of "sowpen." + +The costume worn on these occasions is an exceptionally hideous +uniform, specially invented and devised by the present emperor. +It consists of a double-breasted frock coat of grey cloth, with +grass-green lapels and collar, green striped pantaloons, high boots, +and a grey Tyrolese hat, with a wide green band. In the emperor's case +it is further adorned by the ribbon and badge of a Hohenzollern family +order known as that of the "White Hart." + +At these shooting parties the emperor is accustomed to wind up the day +with a most extraordinary kind of drink, of which he himself is very +fond, and of which he insists upon everybody's partaking, assuring +them that it will help them to sleep. It consists of the following +ingredients: White beer, sugar, citron peel, ginger spices, the yolks +of at least a dozen eggs, Rhine wine, Madeira, and old Santa Cruz rum. +All this, after being thoroughly stirred, is placed on the fire +and slowly heated, several large pats of butter being added to the +concoction while it is warm. + +It need scarcely be said that it requires a stomach as strong as that +of the emperor to be able to absorb several glasses of such a drink +before retiring, and it is asserted at the Court of Berlin that there +are many of his subjects of high rank who feign illness when +commanded to join the imperial hunting parties, solely because of the +apprehensions they entertain of being called upon by the kaiser to +drink this extraordinary brew. + +For shooting wild-fowl, hares and other small game, William uses a +very dainty and extremely light fowling-piece, specially constructed +for him, which he raises to his shoulder with one hand, and with +extraordinary rapidity takes a remarkably sure aim; but when it comes +to hunting the wild boar, stag, elk, bear and big game in general, +the killing of which requires a heavier gun, he is naturally forced +to adopt other devices. His crippled left arm being useless to support +the weapon, his body jäger, specially trained for this particular +duty, steps forward and offers either his arm or his shoulder for the +support of his master's rifle. This, _bien entendu_, when his majesty +is engaged in stalking. In cases where the chase takes the form of a +"battue," a species of horizontal bar is affixed at right angles to +the tree beside which the emperor stands, and it is on this support +that the kaiser rests his gun when shooting at the driven game. + +Handicapped as William is by this crippled arm, his record of 33,967 +head of game killed with his own hand, during the past two decades, is +a very remarkable one. It may be found in his "Game Book," published a +few months ago for private circulation among the royal personages and +court circles of the Old World. + +Comprised in this grand total are some pieces which do not fall to the +lot of every sportsman. Thus there are a couple of "aurochsen," which +is a species of bison-like wild cattle, still to be found strictly +preserved in the private domains of the Emperor of Russia. Unless I +am mistaken, there are only about five hundred of them left, and, in +spite of all the efforts made to foster the breed, they are so rapidly +diminishing in number that ere many years are past they will surely +become extinct. In pre-Christian times they roamed all over Germany, +and were, and still are, larger, fiercer, and much lighter colored +than the American buffalo. + +The wild boars number in the "Game Book" over 2,700. There are eleven +elks shot in Sweden, three reindeer killed in Norway, and ten bears +laid low, some of them in Russia, and others in Hungary. The emperor +has, much to his vexation, only managed to bag three unfortunate +snipe, an extremely difficult bird to shoot on the wing; but his +record of 120 chamois is decidedly good, when it is remembered what +an exceedingly difficult game this is to reach, entailing, as it does, +mountaineering of the most arduous and perilous character, especially +in the case of a man who can use but one arm easily. These 120 chamois +serve in a measure to atone for the twenty foxes which figure as +having been shot by the emperor, a fact which is more likely to injure +his reputation and prestige in the eyes of hunting men than any other +fault or even crime of which he could possibly render himself +guilty. The most unique item of this "Game Book," with the exception, +naturally, of the two aurochsen, are assuredly the three whales which +the emperor shot with a harpoon gun, on the occasion of his yachting +trip to the furthermost portion of Norway a few summers ago. These +three huge monsters of the deep form a fitting and amusing counterpart +in the "Game Book" to the three snipe above mentioned. + +Emperor William has a number of shooting-lodges, among the best known +of which is Hubertusstock, of which he is particularly fond owing to +its proximity to the capital. Yet it is hated by the members of his +suite, for it is a terribly gloomy place. It stands in the midst of +a dense, dark forest of vast extent, and swarming with game, within +a few hundred yards of the reed covered and marshy shores of the +Werbellin Lake, and was built by the late King Frederick-William IV. +During the last few years of his madness this monarch was frequently +taken out to Hubertusstock by his attendants, who hoped that the +entire absence of all excitement and the intense solitude of the place +would diminish the recurrences of his attacks of violence. + +The emperor sometimes spends an entire week at Hubertusstock and it +has frequently been asserted that he takes advantage of the complete +absence from public observation which he then enjoys, to make secret +trips abroad. It was his absence at this place for a period of ten +days while the czar was at Paris that led to the very circumstantial +story in the German and foreign press about his having been in the +French capital, in the strictest incognito, for several days during +the Russian emperor's stay on the banks of the Seine. A number of +people claim to have recognized him, and it is even alleged that he +caught the czar's eye, and was recognized by him during the grand +entertainment given by President Faure in honor of his Muscovite +visitors at the Palace of Versailles. + +A story was told at the time about a couple of German officers, one of +them attached to the embassy, who happening to find themselves face to +face with an individual presenting a striking likeness to the kaiser, +save for the fact that his moustache was twisted downwards instead +of upwards, and his hair brushed in a different way, lost to such an +extent their presence of mind that they could not help drawing their +heels together and standing at attention; a form of courtesy which +received as its only response the muttered exclamation of "Verdammte +Esel!" which may be translated: "Accursed jackasses!" + +That served to confirm their suspicions, and unfortunately both their +behavior and the growl of the stranger had been witnessed and heard by +people who were quick to make the matter public. + +It was with the object of endeavoring to disprove and discredit these +stories that the emperor caused a telegram, to be sent to the czar +from Hubertusstock, not written, as usual, in cipher, but in ordinary +language. There is an old French proverb according to which "he who +seeks to prove too much, proves nothing," and thus it happened that +this open telegram which reached the czar at Châlons, and which was +published in the German newspapers, even before Nicholas had made +it known to the members of his entourage, merely served to convince +people that the kaiser had really been in Paris when he was supposed +to be buried amidst the gloomy forests of Hubertusstock. + +Hubertusstock is not, as most people seem to imagine, a castle, but +merely a huge, overgrown two-storied chalet, surrounded by a number +of smaller wooden dwelling-houses for the use of the imperial suite. +Formerly, it required a drive of at least three hours from the station +on the main line in order to reach the jagdschloss. But since the +accession of the emperor he has caused a private railroad to be +constructed from the trunk line to a small station within a few +hundred yards of the chalet. + +Seldom is the kaiser found in the schloss after daybreak. The entire +morning is spent by him in the woods, which are so vast that one can +wander about them for days without meeting a soul. Luncheon is usually +partaken of at some point in the forest, and frequently during this +repast a concert takes place, the performers consisting of a quartette +of foresters, their instruments being mere hunting horns, and their +melodies those of old hunting-songs. Within the limits of the imperial +preserves is the celebrated Schorfhaide, which each year, towards the +month of November, becomes the meeting place of thousands of stags. +They come from all parts of Germany and Austria, this being rendered +possible by the proximity to one another of the great estates of the +territorial nobility, so that it would be feasible to march almost +from the Adriatic to the Baltic without leaving forest glades. This +annual assemblage of stags on the Schorfhaide has been taking place +every autumn for untold centuries. In fact, mention thereof has been +found in documents more than a thousand years old. The meetings afford +an extraordinary sight, and are the scenes of numerous single combats +to death between "Royals," the other stags and the deer standing +round, as if to form a huge amphitheatre, and gravely watching the +duel without making any attempt to interfere. + +All sorts of theories have been put forward with regard to this annual +concourse of stags on the Schorfhaide. Foresters, however, insist that +it is nothing more nor less than a species of great animal congress, +at which the various antlered tribes meet for a big "palaver" to +decide matters affecting the policy and the leadership of their +various clans! Far-fetched as this theory may seem at first sight, it +is evident that there is something of the kind which brings stags and +their mates from the remote forests of Galicia on the Russian border, +from the vast Liechtenstein game preserves to the South of Vienna, +and from the still larger sporting property of Belyer, in Hungary, +belonging to Archduke Frederick, all the way to the Schorfhaide on +the reedy banks of the Werbellin Lake, in order to flock together by +thousands. + +It is a matter of forest ethics, and of the law of the chase, to +abstain from disturbing this annual _convivium_ of the stags, as it +is called, and while it lasts, not a single shot is to be heard in the +forests around Hubertusstock. In fact, November has on this account +become a species of close season there, no one interested in sport +wishing to do anything that could in the least degree interfere with +this, so far as I know, altogether unique custom in the animal world. +The meetings, however, have been witnessed by the emperor and a few +chosen companions who concealed themselves in the branches of +trees, bordering on the Schorfhaide, and William is never tired of +expatiating on the magnificence of the spectacle presented. + +Next to Hubertusstock, the most favored shooting-lodge and +sporting-estate of the kaiser, is Rominten, not far from the Russian +frontier. Owing to this proximity, bears and wolves, especially +the latter, of Muscovite origin, are frequently to be found in the +Rominten forests, adjoining which is the celebrated imperial Trakenen +stud and horsebreeding establishment, founded as far back as 1732 +by Frederick the Great. Some idea of the size and importance of this +stud-farm may be gathered from the fact that over two thousand hands +are employed in connection with the concern. Trakenen was originally +famous for elk, and an elk's horn remains to this day the Trakenen +brand placed upon all horses bred there. The emperor's headquarters at +Rominten are situated at a place called Theerbude. His jagdschloss or +shooting-lodge consists of a handsome Norwegian block house, brought +from Norway, and erected on the Goldberg on the left bank of the +Rominten River. The stables are built on a most extensive scale, and +the chapel, as well as all the other buildings, are constructed in the +picturesque Norwegian style, which harmonizes so well with the dark +fir forests by which they are surrounded. + +There is no interruption of the business of slate during the emperor's +stay at Rominten. Theerbude is connected with Berlin by wire, and +telegrams are arriving and departing at all hours of the day. + +The kaiser shoots as a rule twice a day, at four in the morning, and +four in the afternoon, the drive to the hunting-grounds often taking +several hours, for most of them are at a considerable distance. The +various foresters' lodges, even at the most remote portion of the +estates, are connected by telephone with the imperial residence, and +thus the emperor is able to know at midday where the game is likely to +be most plentiful in the afternoon. + +When the emperor is not shooting, he transacts business with his +various military and civil secretaries, and long after his guests are +asleep he himself is still at work, signing state papers or reading +and annotating reports. Indeed one of the most remarkable things about +Emperor William is his apparent ability to do almost entirely without +sleep. + +On Sundays the emperor invariably makes a point of attending divine +service at the Chapel of St. Hubert, opposite his residence, and +subsequently is accustomed to walk to the Königshöhe, a neighboring +hill on which he has built an observatory-tower about one hundred feet +high, which commands a magnificent view of the surrounding forest, +extending about twenty miles in every direction from the tower. +Curiously enough, wild boars are not found at Rominten; but the stags +there are superb, and specimens turning the scales at a thousand +pounds are the rule rather than the exception. + +One of the features of the Theerbude is a goblet of the time of King +Frederick-William III. The vessel is held between the points of a +couple of antlers, and it is only possible to drink out of it by +squeezing one's face between these two points. The possessor of a +rotund countenance experiences considerable difficulty in performing +this feat, and is apt to spill the contents over himself, yet every +one of the emperor's guests has to submit to the ordeal, for +an inscription on the goblet says that all persons attending +shooting-parties at Rominten for the first time must empty the vessel +of its contents,--a pint bottle of champagne,--at one draught, to the +health of the sovereign. + +So great are the quantities of game shot by the emperor and his guests +at these shooting-parties that they very much exceed the needs for the +consumption of the imperial household. Formerly, it was the kaiser's +custom to distribute all the surplus among the various hospitals and +charitable institutions; but since discovering that these gifts of +game seldom reached the persons for whom they were destined, namely +the inmates, but were monopolized by the staff and the attendants +of the establishments, he has given orders that the game that is not +needed for imperial consumption should be sold, and the money derived +therefrom turned over to the funds of the hospitals and convalescent +homes under the patronage of the crown. That is why one so frequently +sees in the great Central Market of Berlin, deer, stags, wild boars, +etc., adorned with greenery, and with cards intimating that the quarry +in question has been shot by his imperial majesty the kaiser. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +WILLIAM II AND FRANCIS JOSEPH + + +_VOLUME I_ + +WILLIAM II, EMPEROR OF GERMANY........... _Fronts_ + +PRINCESS FREDERICK AND PROFESSOR VON BERGMANN............. 80 + +THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ............................... 104 + +SCENE IN DUKE ERNEST GUNTHER'S QUARTERS................... 136 + +AUGUSTA VICTORIA, EMPRESS OF GERMANY...................... 192 + +IN THE WHITE HALL......................................... 256 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of +Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2), by Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECRET MEMOIRS *** + +***** This file should be named 12548-8.txt or 12548-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/4/12548/ + +Produced by Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced +from images provided by the Million Book Project. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/12548-8.zip b/old/12548-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4d042d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12548-8.zip diff --git a/old/12548.txt b/old/12548.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cdd37ab --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12548.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8814 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: +William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2), by Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2) + +Author: Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +Release Date: June 8, 2004 [EBook #12548] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECRET MEMOIRS *** + + + + +Produced by Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced +from images provided by the Million Book Project. + + + + + +SECRET MEMOIRS + + +William II and Francis Joseph + + +VOLUME I + + +[Illustration: _WILLIAM II EMPEROR OF GERMANY_ +_From Life_] + + + + +SECRET MEMOIRS +OF THE +COURTS OF EUROPE + + +William II +_Germany_ + +Francis Joseph +_Austria Hungary_ + + +BY + +MME. LA MARQUISE DE FONTENOY + + + + +IN TWO VOLUMES + +VOL. I + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE + + +The essential qualifications for an author of such a work as the +present are an actual acquaintance with the persons mentioned, an +intimate knowledge of their daily lives, and a personal familiarity +with the scenes described. + +The author of William II. and Francis-Joseph, sheltered under the _nom +de plume_ of Marquise de Fontenoy, is a lady of distinguished birth +and title. Her work consists largely of personal reminiscences, and +descriptions of events with which she is perfectly familiar; a sort of +panoramic view of the characteristic happenings and striking features +of court life, such as will best give a true picture of persons and +their conduct. + +There has been no attempt to trammel the subject,--which embraces +religious, official, social and domestic life,--by following a +strictly sequential form in the narrative, but the writer's aim has +been to present her facts in a familiar way, impressing them with +characteristic naturalness and lifelike reality. + +To this task the author has brought the habits of a watchful observer, +the candor of a conscientious narrator, and the refinement of a +writer who respects her subject. Hence she presents a true, vivid +and interesting picture of court life in Germany and Austria. If such +merely sensational, and too often fictitious, unsavory tales as crowd +the so-called court narratives expressly concocted for the "society" +columns of the periodical press are not the most prominent features +of the present work, it is because they receive only a truthful +recognition and place in its pages. + + + + +WILLIAM II + +AND + +FRANCIS-JOSEPH + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +"If only Emperor William would be true to himself--be natural, +in fact!" exclaimed Count S----, a Prussian nobleman, high in the +diplomatic service of his country, with whom I was discussing the +German Emperor a year or so ago. Then my friend, who had, a short +time previously, been brought into frequent personal contact with his +sovereign, in connection with his official duties, went on to say: + +"There are really two distinct characters, one might almost say +two personalities, in the kaiser. When he is himself he is the most +charming companion that it is possible to conceive. His manners are as +genial and as winning as those of his father and grandfather, both +of whom he surpasses in brilliancy of intellect, and in quickness +of repartee, as well as in a keen sense of humor. He gives one +the impression of possessing a heart full of the most generous +impulses,--aye, of a generosity carried even to excess, and this, +together with a species of indescribable magnetism which appears to +radiate from him in these moments, contributes to render him a most +sympathetic man." + +"But," interposed an Englishman who was present, "that is not how he +is portrayed to the outer world. Nor is that the impression which he +made upon me and upon others when he was at Cowes." + +"That is precisely why I deplore so much that the emperor should +fail to appear in his true colors," continued Count S----. "All +the qualities which I have just now ascribed to him are too often +concealed beneath a mantle of reserve, self-consciousness, nay, +even pose. During my recent interviews with his majesty, whenever we +happened to be alone, he would show himself in the light which I +have just described to you. But let a third person appear upon the +scene--be it even a mere servant--at once his entire manner would +change. The magnetic current so pleasantly established between us +would be cut through, his eyes would lose their kindly, friendly +light, and become hard, his attitude self-conscious and constrained, +the very tone of his speech sharp, abrupt, commanding, I would almost +say arrogant. In fact he would give one the impression that he was +playing a role--the role of emperor--that he was, in one word, posing, +even if it were only for the benefit of the menial who had interrupted +us. But when the intruder had vanished, William would, like a flash, +become his own charming self again. That is what made me exclaim just +now, 'if only the kaiser would be true to himself!--be natural, in +fact.'" + +"I fully agree with you, my dear S----," I remarked, after a short +pause. "If the emperor has remained anything like what he was prior +to his ascension to the throne, your estimate of his character is +correct." And I went on to relate a little incident which occurred on +the occasion of my first meeting with the emperor many years ago. + +This meeting took place on that particular spot where the empires of +Germany, Austria, and Russia may be said to meet, the frontier guards +of each of those three nations being within hail of one another. +The great autumnal military manoeuvres were in progress, and a merry +party, including a number of ladies, were riding home from the mimic +battlefield. We passed through a narrow lane, bordered on each side by +groups of stunted willows and birch trees, under the sparse shadow of +which nestled a few cottages painted in blue, pink, or yellow, in +true Polish fashion. Suddenly our progress was arrested by terrifying +screams proceeding from one of these hovels. Several of us were out of +our saddles in an instant and rushed in at the low door. + +Before the hearth, where a huge peat-fire was burning, stood a young +peasant woman, her face distorted with agonized grief, and holding in +her arms a bundle of blackened rags. We found that her baby had fallen +into the glowing embers, while she herself was occupied out of doors, +and the poor mite was so badly burned that there seemed but little +hope of its ever reviving from its state of almost complete coma. We +were all busying ourselves eagerly about the child and its distraught +mother, when raising my eyes from the palpitating form of the child, +I caught sight of "Prince William," as the kaiser was then called, +standing near the door, apparently quite undisturbed and unmoved by +this tragedy in lowly life. It even seemed to me in the dim light as +if he were smiling derisively at our efforts to relieve the sufferings +of the little one, and to soothe the grief of its mother. But my +indignation vanished quickly when a slanting ray of the setting sun, +piercing through the grime of the little window, revealed the presence +on his cheek of two very large and _bona-fide_ tears, which had +welled up in his eyes, to which the lad was endeavoring to impart an +expression of callous indifference; and when at last we left the hut +to seek a doctor for the tiny sufferer it was Prince William's own +military coat, none too new, and even, to say the truth, much worn, +that remained as an additional coverlet upon the roughly-hewn wooden +cot, over which the sobbing mother was bending. + +"Nobody," I added, "will, therefore, make me believe that Emperor +William has not got a very soft spot in his heart, and that beneath +the mannerisms which he considers it necessary to affect in order to +maintain the dignity of his position as emperor,--those mannerisms +which have given rise to so much misapprehension about his +character,--there is not concealed a very kindly spirit, literally +brimming over with generous impulses, which, if more widely known, +would serve to render the kaiser the most popular, as he is the most +interesting figure of Old World royalty." + +It is because Emperor Francis-Joseph and the veteran King of Saxony +are so thoroughly acquainted with his real nature, that they are truly +and honestly fond of him. Both of them old men, with no sons in whom +to seek support for the eventide of lives that have been saddened by +many a public and private sorrow, they entertain a fatherly affection +for William, who as emperor treats them in public as brother +sovereigns, and as equals, but accords to them in private the most +touching filial deference and regard, remembering full well the +kindness which both of them showed to him when he was still the +much-snubbed, and not altogether justly-treated "Prince William." They +on their side are led by his behavior towards them to regard him in +the light of a son. Of course they cannot be blind to his faults, but +they are disposed to treat them with an indulgence that is even more +than paternal, and to see in them relatively trivial defects, due +to the manner in which he was brought up, and which are certain to +disappear with advancing years and experience. + +During his early manhood, Prince William was by no means a favorite +either at his grandfather's court or at that of any other foreign +sovereign which he was occasionally allowed to visit. Pale-faced and +delicate-looking, very severely treated by his mother, who is what one +is bound to call _une maitresse femme_, the boy at seventeen was by no +manner of means prepossessing, and his efforts to assert himself, and +to crush down a good deal of natural awkwardness and timidity added to +his singularly unlikeable appearance. + +In those days it could clearly be seen that everything that he did or +said was meant to create an impression of dignity and of grandeur, to +which his physique did not lend itself very easily, and the contrast +between him and his bosom friend the courteous, graceful and dashing +Crown Prince of Austria, was very marked. + +Good-hearted and endowed with a great many truly generous instincts +the young fellow was, however, sorely handicapped by his education, +the abnormal strictness displayed towards him at the Court of Berlin, +and also by a continually and most distressingly empty purse. It is a +hard and almost pitiful thing for the heir apparent of a great empire +to find himself often without the necessary amount with which to cut +the figure which his social rank forces him to adopt, and it must have +been especially galling to the overbearing and proud nature of this +boy to be continually obliged to borrow from his friends, nay even +from his _aides de camp_, small sums wherewith to pay his way wherever +he went. Nevertheless his father and mother, then Crown Prince and +Crown Princess of Germany, believed it to be a thoroughly wholesome +thing for the young man to have to humble his pride, should he not be +content with the very small allowance made to him, this unfortunate +idea being, however, the cause of a great deal of bitterness, which to +this day has not completely faded from the heart of the now omnipotent +ruler of the German Empire. + +It is undeniable that many eccentricities and false moves on the part +of William II. have been grossly exaggerated and placed before the +public in a false light, showing him up as a conceited, bumptious +and silly person, whereas not only his state of health, but his +_entourage_ should have been blamed for whatever he did that was out +of place. During a great many years the young prince suffered from +what is called technically _otitis media_, namely, a disease of the +middle ear, very painful, exasperating and even somewhat humiliating +to endure, and which he must have inherited in some extraordinary way +from his great-uncle, King William IV. of Prussia, who died insane. +There are certainly some traits of resemblance between this hapless +monarch and the present occupant of the German throne, for in both +there exists and has existed the same exaggerated and narrow-minded +religious beliefs, bordering on mysticism, and also an all-embracing +faith in their absolute and unquestionable infallibility. + +It has long since become a well-anchored creed that William II. has +occasional fits of insanity. This is by no means the case, but it must +be admitted that the peculiar malady to which I referred above, and +which is as yet not eradicated from his system, causes him, at times, +days of the most excruciating pains all over the back and side of his +head, and it is scarcely surprising that at such moments the emperor +should act in a way which astonishes the uninitiated. Indeed, William +II. displays extraordinary force of character in suppressing physical +agony, when the duties he owes to the state force him to come forward +when unfit for anything else but the sick room. + +The truth of the matter is that there are but few who can boast of +knowing him well, and the masses as well as the classes both at home +and abroad seem to take a peculiarly keen delight in accepting for +gospel truth any sweeping statements made about him by the press of +all civilized countries. + +Although twenty-nine years of age when he ascended the throne on June +15, 1888, he may be said to have been at that time still but a raw +youth, continually kept in the background, and treated more or less +like a child, without any consequence or weight. It is, therefore, +not remarkable that the first years of his reign should have been +signalized by many errors of judgment; for it is not with impunity +that one suddenly releases a person, locked up for years in a dark +room and drives him into dazzlingly-lighted spaces without a guide, +a philosopher, or a friend by his side to lead him on the way. +The mental, as well as the physical optic has to gradually become +accustomed to so complete a change, and this fact was not sufficiently +taken into consideration by all the detractors of the young monarch, +when he, to speak very familiarly, leaped over the saddle in his +anxiety to secure for himself a firm seat on the throne of his +forefathers. + +It is well to mention also that Emperor Frederick III., who reigned +alas! but for a few weeks, was positively worshipped by the German +people, and not without cause, for he was undoubtedly one of the +finest personalities of this century. His appearance, his demeanor, +his unaffected dignity, kindness of heart, and loftiness of purpose +were difficult to surpass, and it was a bitter disappointment to his +subjects when death snatched him away before he had had time to carry +out the grand plans and ideas which he had long cherished and reserved +for the time when he would have the reins of government in his own +hands. + +Speaking with all kindness and good-will, one cannot but after +a fashion understand the disappointment of the Germans when this +towering military figure, this magnificent specimen of perfect +physical and mental manhood, vanished from their ken, to be replaced +by the slender, pale-faced, somewhat arrogant and despotic young man, +who resembled this father so little. + +Emperor William II. is an extremely intelligent personage, in spite +of all that may have been said to the contrary. He thinks for himself +when he has a mind to do so, and, what is more, thinks logically, and +is quite capable of following a thus logically-attained conclusion to +its furthermost point. He feels keenly his enormous responsibilities, +and the tremendous international importance of his position as the +ruler of over 50,000,000 people, for he well knows that any man +wearing on his head the double crown of King of Prussia, and of German +Emperor, is a being endowed with powers which are bound to compel +attention from every point of the European Continent. Being given, as +I have just remarked, that his health and his physique are neither of +them of a kind to aid him in the tremendous task which belongs to him +by right of birth, it is easily explainable that his self-assertive +ways and imperious manners should often be mistaken for posing and +posturing. Moreover, his imperfect left arm--a misfortune which has +been a source of great distress to him ever since his birth--is but +another one of those physical troubles which his pride makes him +anxious to conceal, this only adding to his stilted and repellent +attitude. In spite of all these drawbacks, the emperor fences +exceedingly well, rides with pluck, and even skill, managing to hold +his reins with his poor withered left hand when in uniform, in order +to keep his sword-arm free, and during his visit to Austrian Poland, +which I referred to at the beginning of this chapter, I more than once +saw him with my own eyes, whilst we were riding across country, take +obstacles which would have made a far older and more experienced +hunter pause and reflect on. + +Nobody, even the best-intentioned, can deny that Emperor William has +many faults; those are, however, either ignored altogether, or else +exaggerated to an extent that eclipses all his good qualities, by his +various biographers. Very few pen-portraits of royal personages that +pass through the hands of the publishers can be said to present a true +picture of their subject. Either the writer holds up the object of his +literary effort as a person so blameless as to suggest the idea that +he is an impossible prig, or else every piece of malevolent gossip is +construed into a positive fact, his shortcomings magnified until they +lose all touch of resemblance, while every word and action capable of +misrepresentation is construed in the manner most detrimental to his +reputation. In one word, he is either glorified as a preposterous +saint, or else held up to public execration as an equally impossible +villain. Now, in pictorial art, a portrait, in order to present a +satisfactory and successful resemblance to its subject, must contain +lights and shadows. You cannot have all light, or all shadow, but it +is necessary to have a judicious mixture of both. So it is with the +art of biography. If one wishes to give in print a true, and above +all, a human picture of one's subject, it is necessary to mingle the +shadows with the lights. In fact, the former may be said to set off +the latter, and there are many shortcomings, especially those +which the French, so graphically describe as _petits vices_,--small +vices--which, resulting from a generous and impulsive temperament, +serve, like the Rembrandt shadow of a portrait, to render the subject +more attractive to the eye. + +It is my object, not to give a definitive biography of either of the +two kaisers, or even a mere record of their _vie intime_, but rather +to present to my readers a series of incidents, full of lights and +full of shadows, showing their surroundings, describing as far as +possible the atmosphere in which they move, the conditions of life +which they are obliged to consider, the temptations to which they +are exposed--and to which they sometimes succumb--and when I have +completed my task I venture to believe that the readers of these +volumes, while they may find the two emperors neither quite so +blameless, nor yet quite so bad as they expected, may nevertheless +experience a greater degree of sympathy and regard for them as being +after all so extremely human. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +While Emperor Francis-Joseph is justly reputed to have played sad +havoc with the hearts of the fair sex in his dominions, especially in +his younger days, having inherited that frivolity with regard to women +which is a traditional characteristic of the illustrious House of +Hapsburg, he has never at any moment during his long reign permitted +his susceptibility to feminine charms to go to the length of +influencing his political conduct, or the action of his government. + +Emperor William, on the other hand, whose married life has been, from +a domestic point of view, singularly blameless, and who has been +an exceptionally faithful husband, has, in at least two instances, +permitted himself to be swayed in his role of sovereign by ladies, +who for a time figured as his "Egerias." One of them was a woman of +extraordinary cleverness, and an American by birth, who while she has +long since ceased to exercise any influence upon him, has retained the +affection and the regard of both his consort and himself. She is the +Countess Waldersee, daughter of the late David Lee, a wholesale +grocer of New York, and who at the time that she became the wife of +Field-marshal Count Waldersee, was the widow of the present German +empress's uncle, Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein. The latter +abandoned his royal rank and titles, and assumed the merely nobiliary +status of a Prince of Noer, in order to make her his consort. + +The countess is treated as an aunt by both William and the kaiserin, +and she may be said to have swayed her imperial nephew by her +cleverness and intellectual brilliancy, rather than by her looks, for +she is a woman already well-advanced in years. + +Different in this respect was the influence of the emperor's other +Egeria, namely, the Polish baroness, Jenny Koscielska, a woman of rare +elegance and beauty, whose political importance during the time +she reigned supreme at the Court of Berlin, was attributable to her +personal fascination rather than to her sagacity or statecraft. She +is the wife of that Baron Kosciol-Koscielski, who was one of the most +celebrated leaders of the Polish party in the Russian House of Lords, +and perhaps, also, the most popular of all modern Polish poets and +playwrights. + +It would be going too far to assert that William was infatuated by her +loveliness. Yet there Is no doubt that as long as she figured at the +Court of Berlin, he not only paid her the most marked attention, but +likewise allowed himself to be advised by her in political matters. +It was during the so-called "reign of the baroness" that the kaiser +showed such an extraordinary degree of favor to his Polish subjects as +to excite the jealousy and ill-will of the people in many other parts +of his dominions. He reestablished the Polish language in the schools +and churches of Posen, that is of Prussian-Poland, nominated a Polish +ecclesiastic to the archbishopric of that province, and conferred so +many court dignities, government offices, and decorations upon the +compatriots of the fair Jenny, as to give rise to the remark that the +best road to imperial preferment at Berlin was to add the Polish and +feminine termination of "ska" to one's name. Old Prince Bismarck, who +was at the time at daggers-drawn with his young sovereign, at length +gave public utterance to the popular ill-will, excited by the role +of Egeria, which the baroness was accused of playing to the "Numa +Pompilius" of Emperor William. For, in the course of an address +delivered by the old ex-chancellor at Friedrichsrueh, and reproduced in +extenso in the press, he declared among other things that: "The Polish +influence in political affairs increases always in the measure that +some Polish family obtains of more or less influence at Court. I need +not allude here to the role formerly played by the princely house of +Radziwill. To-day we have exactly the same state of affairs, which +is to be deplored!" Bismarck's allusion to the Radziwills was an +ungenerous reference to the romantic attachment of old Emperor William +for that Princess Elize Radziwill, whom he was so determined to marry +that he offered his father to abandon his rights of succession to the +throne on her account. This King Frederick-William would not permit, +and William was compelled to wed Goethe's pupil, Princess Augusta +of Saxe-Weimar. A loveless match in every sense of the word, for he +remained until the day of Princess Elize's death her most devoted +friend and admirer, seeking her advice in many a difficulty, to the +great annoyance of Prince Bismarck, who detested her, and after her +death the old emperor continued to show the utmost favor and good-will +to the members of her family in honor of her memory. Of course this +speech of Prince Bismarck created no end of a sensation throughout the +empire, as well as abroad, the press being encouraged thereby to +print in cold type what had until that time been merely whispered +in official and court circles. It is possible that the young emperor +might have remained indifferent to popular clamor about the matter, +had not two other incidents occurred about the same time to cool his +liking for the fair Jenny. + +In the first place, she felt herself so much encouraged by the +influence which she believed that she exercised over the emperor, that +when during the annual army manoeuvres Field Marshal Prince George of +Saxony, and other Prussian and foreign royalties were quartered under +her roof, she absolutely declined to hoist either the German flag, or +the Royal Saxon standard, but insisted upon flying the national +colors of Poland from the flag staff that surmounted the turret of +her chateau. Naturally, Prince George and his fellow royal guests +complained of this breach of etiquette to the kaiser, and protested +strongly against it. + +Almost at the same time, her husband, the baron, having been invited +to attend the opening of a provincial exhibition in the neighboring +Empire of Austria, was so carried away by enthusiasm, due to the +kindness with which the Poles present were treated by Emperor +Francis-Joseph, that forgetting all he owed to Emperor William, +he publicly hailed Francis-Joseph as "sole sovereign of all Polish +hearts," and as "Poland's future king!" About this time too, the +empress paid a couple of rather mysterious visits to her mother-in-law +at Friedrichkron. Court gossip ascribed these hurried trips to +the fact that the empress had been prompted by her jealousy of the +baroness to invoke the intervention of the strong-minded widow of +Frederick the Noble. But it is far more likely that the empress +visited the Dowager Kaiserin in order that she should call the +attention of her son to the harm which the association of the name of +the baroness with his own was doing him in a political sense both at +home and abroad. + +Whatever the cause of these consultations between the two +empresses may have been, the fact remains that almost immediately +afterwards Baron and Baroness Koscielski received from the +Grand-Master-of-the-Court, Count Eulenburg, an official intimation +that their presence at court was not desired in highest quarters until +further notice, and that under the circumstances they would do well +to remain at their country seat. In fact they were virtually banished, +and when both husband and wife travelled all the way to Berlin with +the object of asking for an explanation from the emperor, he declined +to receive either the one or the other. He had apparently come to the +conclusion that the game was not worth the candle, and that in view +of the fact that his intimacy with the baroness had never gone beyond +platonic friendship and mild flirtation, it was ridiculous to incur +the ill-will of his subjects and expose himself to slanderous stories +concocted by his enemies on her account. + +The influence of the American born Countess Waldersee was of a far +more lasting character, and may be said to have been inaugurated +very shortly after his marriage. Prior to becoming a benedict, Prince +William was as gay as his very limited financial means would permit. +In fact, he was charged with playing the role of Don Juan to at least +half a dozen beauties of the Prussian Court, while at Vienna he became +involved in a scandal of a feminine character, from which he was only +extricated with the utmost difficulty by the then German Ambassador to +the Austrian Court, namely, Prince Reuss. The presumption is that he +had allowed himself to become the prey of an adventuress, and with the +object of avoiding publicity he was practically compelled to provide +for the welfare and future of a child which may or may not have been +his offspring. But as soon as he married, he turned over a new leaf, +and became the very model of husbands. + +It has always been my conviction that this was due in part to the +influence of the Countess Waldersee, and largely also to the unkindly +treatment which his consort received during the early years of +her marriage at the hands of his family. Although a nice and +gentle-looking girl, Augusta-Victoria was far from shining either by +her beauty or her elegance at a court which is one of the most cruelly +critical and satirical in all Europe. Moreover, she labored under the +disadvantage of being the daughter of the Duchess of Augustenburg, who +is not credited with a robust intellect, and, in fact has passed +the greater part of her life in retirement, and of the Duke of +Augustenburg, who was famed thirty years ago for the dullness of his +mind. In fact, after Prussia had undertaken in his behalf the conquest +of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, to which he was entitled by right +of inheritance, and which had been unlawfully seized by Denmark, +Prince Bismarck refused to permit the duke to assume the sovereignty +thereof, on the publicly expressed ground that it would be an act of +the most outrageous tyranny to subject any state to the rule of so +intensely stupid a man as the duke. + +This utterance on the part of Bismarck, which may be found in most +of the German histories printed prior to the accession of the present +Emperor, was naturally recalled to mind at the Court of Berlin, when +the daughter of the duke became the bride of Prince William, and the +widespread belief in her inherited dullness of intellect was further +increased by the mingled impatience and pity which characterized the +behavior of her husband's mother and sisters towards her. + +There is much that is chivalrous in the nature of the present German +emperor, and it was precisely the unkindness and slights to which his +bride was subjected that had the effect of drawing him more closely +to her. He did not conceal the fact that he strongly resented the +attitude of his family towards her, and his friendship with Countess +Waldersee owes its origin to the motherly way in which she behaved +to his wife, acting as her mentor, as her adviser and guide in the +intricate maze of Berlin society, and of court life. Debarred from all +intimacy with her sisters-in-law, who were ever ready to scoff at, and +to make fun of her, Augusta-Victoria was wont to have recourse to +the countess in all her difficulties, and inasmuch as Count Waldersee +himself is the most brilliant soldier of the German army, and was +designated at the time by the great Moltke as his successor and his +principal lieutenant, Prince William and his wife ended by becoming +very intimate indeed with the Waldersees, and almost daily visitors at +their house. + +The countess is of a deeply religious turn of mind, with a strong +disposition towards evangelism, and already before the marriage +of Prince William, she had become conspicuous as one of the most +influential leaders of the anti-Semite party in Prussia. It was in her +salons at Berlin that the great Jew-baiter Stoecker was wont to hold +his politico-religious meetings, denouncing the Jews, and it was +through her influence, too, that he obtained appointment as court +chaplain, in spite of the opposition of the father and the mother of +Prince William. It was also under the roof of the Countess Waldersee +that the present emperor became imbued with that very religious,--one +might almost say pietist--disposition, which has since been so marked +a feature of his character. + +True, the hereditary tendency of the sovereign house of Prussia is +distinctly religious, leaning in fact towards fanaticism, and King +Frederick-William III., his son Frederick-William IV., and likewise +old Emperor William, entertained the most extraordinary ideas on the +subject of Providence, with which they believed themselves to be in +constant communion, as well as its principal agent here on earth. +In fact, there is hardly a public utterance of any of these three +sovereigns, which is not marked throughout by a deep religious tone, +and by a degree of familiarity with the Almighty which would be +blasphemous were it not so manifestly sincere. This hereditary +tendency towards religion was, to a certain extent, obliterated by the +education which William received, and which was of a nature to dispose +him to be both a materialist and a free-thinker. He may be said +in fact to have been brought up in an atmosphere of Renan-ism and +Strauss-ism, for which his extraordinary and mercilessly clever +mother, Empress Frederick, was largely responsible, and at the moment +of his marriage it looked as if he were destined to figure in history +as quite as much of a philosopher, and even atheist, as Frederick the +Great, for whom he professed the most profound veneration. + +It was Countess Waldersee who revived all the inherited and latent +religious tendencies of his character. + +Up to the time when he ascended the throne, Prince William and his +consort were constant and devout attendants at the prayer-meetings +held in the salons of the countess, and if he remains to this day +a remarkably religious man, with a sufficient regard for scriptural +commands to have shown himself a more faithful husband than any other +prince of his house, either living or dead--if, to-day, piety is +fashionable at the court of Berlin instead of being bad form, if the +building or endowment of a church, or of a charitable institution, +is regarded as the surest road to imperial favor, it is due to the +influence of William's American aunt, the daughter of that New +York grocer, the first Princess Noer, and who is to-day Countess of +Waldersee. + +It is natural that the influence exercised over William and his +wife by the countess should have given rise to the utmost jealousy, +especially on the part of his mother, Empress Frederick, and during +the hundred days' reign of her lamented husband, she availed herself +of her brief spell of power to secure the virtual banishment of the +count and the countess from Berlin, by causing the field marshal to +be transferred from the chieftaincy of the headquarter staff to +the command of the army stationed in Altona. Moreover, she did not +hesitate to denounce the influence of the Waldersees as disastrous, +as illiberal, and in every sense of the word reactionary, and if her +husband, Emperor Frederick, was led to share her views concerning +them, it was because of his disapproval of the movement against the +Jews in which the countess had figured so conspicuously. It is a +peculiar fact that although Emperor William has always remained on +the most affectionate terms with the Waldersees, and never loses any +opportunity of manifesting the warmth of his affection for them, +he has never repealed the decree of banishment to which they were +virtually subjected during his father's reign. He has transferred the +field marshal from one post to another, but he has never appointed +him to one which would admit of his coming back to live in Berlin. I +cannot help thinking that the emperor resented the imputation that he +was subject to the sway of his wife's aunt, and was offended by the +articles which appeared at one moment both in the German and foreign +press intimating that she was the power behind the throne. He is +sufficiently jealous of his dignity to object to be considered as +subject to the influence of anyone, be it man or woman, and one of +the chief causes of the dismissal of old Prince Bismarck was precisely +because so long as he remained in office there was a disposition to +regard the kaiser as a mere puppet in the hands of the old statesman. + +It is this aversion to being considered as swayed by any other +influence than his own that has led the emperor on so many occasions +to adopt a course diametrically opposed to that urged upon him by his +clever and masterful mother, a woman with the most powerful intellect +and the least tact to be found in all Old World royalties. It was +this, too, that led the emperor to banish, just a trifle unjustly, +the pretty and dashing Countess Hohenau from his court. She had been +guilty of no indiscretion with regard to him. She had done nothing +wrong, and she was not only a brilliant ornament of the imperial +_entourage_, but likewise a relative of the family. But he banished +both her husband and herself almost at a moment's notice, owing to +the fact that in the anonymous letters circulated at the time of the +so-called Kotze scandal, he was mentioned as altogether infatuated and +subjugated by her beauty. + +Count Hohenau is the half-brother of that Prince Albert of Prussia, +who is now Regent of the Grand Duchy of Brunswick. Old Prince Albert +of Prussia, his father, was married to the eccentric and half-crazy +Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. Not long after the birth of +the present Prince Albert, she lost her heart to such an extent to a +chamberlain in her household that her husband was compelled to divorce +her, whereupon she contracted a morganatic marriage with the gentleman +in question, and lived and died at an advanced age only about twelve +years ago. + +Prince Albert, the elder, thereupon married morganatically a young +girl of noble birth of the name of Baroness Rauch, whose family had +for more than one hundred and fifty years occupied leading positions +at the Court of Berlin. On the occasion of her marriage to the prince, +she received from the Prussian Crown the title of Countess of Hohenau, +and the children whom she bore to Prince Albert the elder are now +known as Counts and Countesses of Hohenau. The elder of these Counts +Hohenau bears the name of Fritz, and his wife, before their banishment +from the capital, was one of the most dashing and brilliant figures +in the ultra-aristocratic society of Berlin. No entertainment was +regarded as complete without her presence, and in every social +enterprise, no matter whether it was a flower corso, a charity fair, +a hunt, a picnic, or amateur theatricals, she was always to the +fore, besides being the leader in every new fashion, and in every new +extravagance. Although eccentric--she was the first member of her sex +to show herself astride on horseback in the Thiergarten--and in spite +of her being famed as a thorough-paced coquette, and as a flirt, +yet no one ventured to impugn her good name, until the disgraceful +anonymous letter scandal; and both her husband and herself naturally +resent most keenly that without any hearing or explanation they should +have been banished from the court, and sent to live, first at Hanover, +then at Dresden, but always away from Berlin and Potsdam, solely on +account of an anonymous letter. + +The sympathy of society in the affair was all with the Hohenaus, who +although absent from Berlin, may be said to have taken the leading +part in that great controversy which is known to this day as "the +anonymous letter scandal," and which not only divided all Berlin +society into separate hostile camps, but led to innumerable duels, +some of them with fatal results; to the imprisonment of some great +personages; to the ruin of others, and in one word to one of the +most talked of court scandals of the present century. In fact, the +anonymous letter affair, many of the features of which remain shrouded +in mystery to this day, played so important a part in the history of +the Court of Berlin during the first decade of the present emperor's +reign, that it deserves a chapter to itself. + +What, however, I wish specially to impress upon my readers is that in +spite of the many scurrilous stories that have been circulated on both +sides of the ocean concerning the alleged intrigues of Emperor William +with the fair sex, since his marriage, nearly eighteen years ago, his +wedded life has been singularly free from storms, and exceptionally +happy. In fact, there are few more thoroughly-devoted couples than +William and Augusta-Victoria, who is to-day far more comely as a woman +than she was as a young girl. So domestic, indeed, are the tastes of +the kaiser, so excellent is he both as a husband and a father, that +his home life may be said to atone for many of his political errors +and shortcomings as a monarch. His loyalty towards his consort is all +the more to his credit, as the Anointed of the Lord in the Old World +are exposed to feminine temptations in a degree of which no conception +can be formed in this country. In most of the capitals of Europe it +is in the power of the sovereign to make or mar the social position +of any man, and of any woman. Social ambitions coupled with an +exaggerated degree of loyalty will lead many a beautiful woman +to cross that border line which separates mere indiscretion from +something worse, all the more that the reputation of being the fair +favorite of a monarch, and able to influence his conduct, is regarded +as a title to prestige, and has the effect of converting the fair one +into one of the acknowledged powers of the land. + +For an ambitious woman it is something to be treated by statesmen and +the representatives of foreign governments, as the power behind the +throne, and provided this power is wisely exercised, the intimacy of +the lady with the monarch is regarded by high and low with something +more than mere indulgence. + +History has given so lofty a pedestal to Madame de Maintenon, that +there are many women who are eager to emulate her role in present +times, and to likewise figure in history. That is why royal +personages, and especially kings and emperors, are exposed to such +extraordinary temptations. + +Most women put forth all their charms and powers of fascination +to captivate the attention, and, if possible, the heart of their +sovereign, who is, after all, but human. That is why Emperor William +deserves so much credit for having remained true to his wife, and +why Emperor Francis-Joseph of Austria merits so much indulgence in +connection with the indiscretions which had the effect of keeping him +for so many years parted and estranged from his lovely consort, the +late Empress Elizabeth. + +While on this subject, it should be stated that for many years past, +probably for the last decade, the life of Francis-Joseph has been free +from affairs of this kind, for it is hardly possible to treat in the +light of a scandal his association with that now elderly actress, +Mlle. Schratt, since it is virtually tolerated, accepted and, so to +speak, recognized both by the imperial family and by the Austrian +people. Indeed the only persons who have ever taken exception to +this intimacy have been Herr Schoenerer, and some of his anti-Semite +colleagues who, to the indignation of every one, gave vent three +years ago to their spite against their kindly old sovereign by calling +attention in the Reichsrath to the alleged questionable relations +between the sovereign and the popular and veteran star-actress of the +Burg Theatre. + +Herr Schoenerer, who was formerly a baron, but who was deprived of +his title by the emperor at the time when he was sentenced to a +year's imprisonment for a violent and unprovoked assault upon a Jewish +newspaper proprietor, declared in the legislature, to which he had +been elected on emerging from jail, that public opinion was becoming +outraged by the impropriety of the conduct of the emperor. The scene +which ensued defied description. Schoenerer was suspended, and had not +steps been taken to assure his protection, would have been subjected +to very violent treatment by the vast majority of the house, which +is intensely loyal to the emperor, and the members of which resented +criticism of his majesty's twenty years' friendship with old Frau +Schratt Even the late empress herself did not regard as serious or +dangerous her husband's association with the actress. This is shown by +the fact that on two separate occasions she honored Frau Schratt with +a visit at the actress's villa near Ischl. At the Austrian Court it +is generally understood that whatever may have been the nature of the +intimacy of the monarch and the actress in the past, it is now nothing +more than a platonic affection between two old friends, the emperor +being accustomed to spend half an hour or so with this witty and +amiable lady nearly every day. The actress is a great favorite with +the people at large, on account of her devotion to the emperor, and +for her tact in declining to take any undue advantage of the favor +which he accords to her. Indeed, the degree of indulgence with which +Austrian society, as well as the masses, look upon this intimacy maybe +gathered from the fact that one of the most--popular photographs on +exhibition in the windows of the leading picture-shops at Vienna, and +at Pesth, is a snapshot, showing the kindly-faced old emperor and +the sunny-tempered old actress seated in the most domestic fashion +opposite one another at a breakfast table with the actress's pet dog +on a chair midway between stage and throne. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +It was on the evening of June 7th, 1894, that a carriage, the servants +of which wore court liveries, drew up at the entrance of that old +building on the avenue known as "Unter Den Linden," which serves as +a military prison of the Berlin garrison. From this equipage alighted +two men, each of them a well-known figure in the great world of the +Prussian metropolis. The one in uniform was General Count von Hahnke, +chief of the military household of the emperor, while the other, who +was in civilian attire, was Baron von Kotze, master of ceremonies at +the court of Berlin, one of the most well-to-do and jovial of _bons +vivants_, and who up to that time had stood so high in the favor of +the reigning family that his sovereign was accustomed to address him +by his Christian name, and by the so familiar equivalent pronoun in +German of "thou." + +Shortly afterwards General von Hahnke reappeared alone, entered the +carriage hurriedly, and drove back to the palace. On the following +morning it became known that Baron von Kotze had been suddenly +arrested, and lodged in the military prison by personal order of the +kaiser, and without the warrant of any tribunal or magistrate, either +military or civil. + +While the general public was speculating as to the cause of this +mysterious and startling disciplinary measure against a nobleman so +well known and so prominent in every way as Baron von Kotze, the court +gossips were rubbing their hands, chuckling with satisfaction, and +congratulating themselves on the fact that success had at length +crowned the efforts made to bring to book the author of the hundreds +of anonymous letters that had been circulated in the great world of +Berlin during the two preceding years. + +Gradually the circumstances which had led to the arrest of Baron Kotze +became public property, and people both at home and abroad were made +aware for the first time of the existence of a scandal which for over +four-and-twenty months had set court and society by the ears, and +which had caused every man and woman to regard with suspicion not +merely their acquaintances, but even their most intimate friends and +nearest relatives. No one, with the exception of the emperor, the +empress, and the widow of Emperor Frederick, can be said to have been +altogether exempt from this reflection on their honor. For among those +who were at one time most strongly suspected of being the author +of these letters were the eldest sister of the kaiser, Princess +Charlotte, and the only brother of the empress, Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein. + +Color was given to these suspicions by the fact that many of the +anonymous letters contained remarks and information that manifestly +emanated from the imperial family, while some of the views expressed +in the letters were known not merely to have been shared, but even +to have been uttered in conversation by the prince and princess in +question. What gave still further weight to these suppositions was the +extraordinary fact that incidents which had occurred within what may +be described as the most intimate circle of the court,--incidents, +indeed, of which no one could be aware, save royal personages +themselves and those few chosen friends and associates who were +with them at the time when the incidents in question occurred,--were +revealed a few days later in the anonymous letters, twisted and +distorted in such a manner as to admit only of the most shameful +interpretation. + +Added to this was the knowledge that there are few women at the Court +of Berlin more cruelly satirical or have a keener sense of ridicule +than Princess Charlotte, or any more inveterate gossip than Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein. + +The anonymous letters had literally spared no one, not even that most +blameless and excellent of women, the Empress Augusta-Victoria; nor +was there anybody of mark who had not received at least several of +them. But for some reason or other which was not understood at the +time, they seemed to be imbued with an especially relentless and +savage animosity against the charming Countess "Fritz" von Hohenau, +who must not be confounded with her less attractive sister-in-law, +Countess "Willy" von Hohenau; for whereas the latter is by birth a +princess of Hohenlohe and a niece of the imperial chancellor of +that ilk, Countess Fritz is by birth a Countess von der Decken, and +rejoices in the Christian name of Charlotte. + +If Countess Fritz has one weakness which in any degree lends itself to +unfriendly criticism and ridicule it is the pride which she manifests +in her relationship through marriage to the reigning house of Prussia, +and in her being the sister-in-law of that Prince Albert of Prussia, +who is regent of the Duchy of Brunswick, her husband, Count Fritz von +Hohenau, being a half-brother to Prince Albert. It is owing to +this very innocent weakness of the countess that she was nicknamed +"_Lottchen von Preussen_," or "_Die Preussiche Lotte_" that is to say +"_Lotte of Prussia_" and at least a third of the hundreds of anonymous +letters confided to the mails during the period extending between 1892 +and 1896 were filled with the most scurrilous remarks concerning the +unfortunate "_Lottchen von Preussen_." + +The letters imputed to the countess almost every crime under the sun. +Inasmuch as her husband's principal friend was Baron Schrader, who +was of course frequently seen in her company at the races and at the +opera, it naturally followed that she was charged with an altogether +questionable intimacy with him. In fact, she was accused of sharing +her favors between him and the emperor, and in the letters that +reached both the kaiser and his consort, it was asserted that she was, +moreover, in the habit of constantly boasting among her friends about +the influence which as "_Sultana"_ she was able to exercise over the +ruler of the German Empire. + +It was on the receipt of one of these letters that the emperor without +a moment's warning abruptly ordered Count and Countess Fritz Hohenau +to leave Berlin and to transfer their residence to Hanover. The count +and countess were not long in discovering the cause of their disgrace, +and bitterly incensed, at once resolved to leave no stone unturned in +their efforts to discover the culprit. + +In this determination they were supported by the "Willy" von Hohenaus, +by the various members of the Hohenlohe family, by Baron Schrader, +Baron Hugo Reischach, chamberlain to the Empress Frederick, Prince and +Princess Aribert of Anhalt, the latter being a granddaughter of Queen +Victoria, Prince and Princess Albert of Saxe-Altenburg, and last, but +not least, Baron von Tausch, the chief of the secret police attached +to the particular service of the emperor. + +I have already mentioned that suspicions had at first been +directed against the empress's only brother, Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein. Somehow or other, probably through reading the +detective novels of Gaboriau, Baron Schrader became imbued with the +idea that the most successful manner of discovering the identity of +the suspected writer of the anonymous letters would be to carefully +examine the blotting-pads which either he or she were in the habit of +using. Accordingly, Countess Fritz von Hohenau took advantage of the +admiration and devotion entertained for her by Count Augustus Bismarck +to induce him to bring to her the blotting-pad habitually used by the +duke, to whose household he belonged, as chief aid-de-camp. The count, +very reluctantly, it is true, brought to Madame von Hohenau, the said +blotting-pad, and it was immediately submitted to a most careful and +even microscopical examination by her husband, herself, and their +friends. But in spite of every effort it was impossible to discover +the slightest analogy between the writing of the anonymous letters and +the impressions left on the blotting-pad of the duke. The countess and +her assistants in this queer task, therefore, came to the conclusion +that they would have to search in a different direction. + +It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty how suspicion was +then directed towards Baron Kotze. But I am under the impression that +his name was first mentioned in connection with the affair by Baron +Schrader, who like himself was a Master of Ceremonies of the Court +of Berlin. The vast wealth enjoyed by the Kotzes, as well as the +extraordinary favor manifested towards them by the emperor and the +members of the reigning family, had not unnaturally rendered them +objects of no little jealousy on the part of other personages +belonging to the court circle. The exceedingly sarcastic and +malevolent tongue of the Baroness Kotze, and the somewhat coarse +flavor of the ever-ready jest and quip of her jovial, loud-voiced, +hail-fellow-well-met mannered husband did not tend to render the +couple very popular. + +Baron Kotze's mother had been an heiress in her own right as the +daughter of the court banker, Krause, while the baron's wife is the +daughter of that extraordinary old General von Treskow, who for so +long commanded the division of Guards, and whose reputation as one of +the bravest and most dashing officers of the war of 1870, alone saved +him from the ridicule which his corseted waist, his painted cheeks, +his dyed moustache, and his youthful wig, would otherwise have +excited. While he himself has no drop of Jewish blood in his veins, +both his daughter, Madame Kotze, and her brother possess the facial +features of the Semitic race in a most marked degree, and despite +their protestations to the contrary, have undoubtedly Hebrew +ancestors, if not on the father's side, at any rate on that of the +mother. Old General Treskow was very rich indeed, his country seat at +Friedrichsfeld being one of the most magnificent country seats in the +neighborhood of Berlin. + +During the early years of the reign of Emperor William, his eldest +sister, Princess Charlotte, and her husband, Prince Bernhardt of +Saxe-Meiningen, occupied a lovely little palace, or rather, I should +say large and roomy villa on the outskirts of the Thiergarten, at +Berlin. Among their near neighbors were Baron and Baroness Kotze. +Little Ursula Kotze, the daughter of the baroness, was precisely of +the same age as Princess Fedora of Saxe-Meiningen, the only child of +Princess Charlotte, and the two young girls soon became inseparable +friends. The relations thus established soon extended to the parents, +and while Princess Charlotte,--herself disposed to satirizing and +ridiculing everybody, and like many royal personages, passionately +fond of gossip, especially when spiced with scandal,--found +never-ceasing entertainment in the witty comments of the baroness +about the social events of the day, and in her reports of the latest +stories current concerning mutual acquaintances and friends, Prince +Bernhardt, in spite of his seriousness, and his fond predilection +for Hellenic research, could not help laughing and enjoying the merry +sallies of Baron Kotze. In fact, the Kotzes ended by becoming the most +intimate friends of the princely Saxe-Meiningen couple, whose taste +for their society was eventually shared by the Empress Frederick to +a degree that excited the utmost jealousy and ill-will of her +chamberlain, Baron Reischach. The latter was, therefore, only too +ready to accept the view expressed by his friend. Baron Schrader, to +the effect that Baron Kotze was the author of the anonymous letters. + +I think that it was in the latter part of 1892 that the Prince and +Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, having made up their minds to visit Greece +and the Holy Land, invited Baron and Baroness Kotze to accompany +them. Some quarrel, however, took place between the princess and the +baroness during this trip, which they did not complete together, and +when they took up their residence once more at Berlin the formerly so +intimate relations between the two families ceased absolutely. It was +about this time that it became known that Princess Charlotte either +during her trip to the Orient, or just before she started, had in some +unexplainable manner lost the diary in which she had, like so many +members of the fair sex, been accustomed to describe her daily +impressions, and to the pages of which she was wont to impart +sentiments and opinions that she did not venture to confide to anybody +else. + +For a considerable time after the return of the princess from the +Orient the anonymous letters contained phrases and peculiarities of +expression that clearly indicated Princess Charlotte, and to such an +extent was this the case that those in pursuit of the sender of the +missives would have ascribed their authorship to the princess, had it +not been that she herself was referred to in many of the letters in +a particularly savage and scurrilous manner. Baron Schrader, the +Hohenaus and their friends, being aware of the existence of the +quarrel between the Kotzes and the Saxe-Meiningens, naturally became +more convinced than ever that it was either Baron Kotze, or his +"viper-tongued" wife, as they described her, who were the culprits, +and insisted that it was the baroness who had taken advantage of her +intimacy with the princess to get possession of her royal highness's +diary, the contents of which were now being used in so many of the +letters. + +What has now become of the diary it is impossible to say, but +judging by the excerpts used in the anonymous letters, it must have +constituted a particularly piquant volume or series of volumes! +Thus there was one remark about the emperor which ridiculed "his +intolerable swagger." There were also some comical references to +Princess Victoria of Prussia, who was jilted by the late Prince +Alexander of Battenberg, on the very eve of the day appointed for the +wedding, and that for the sake of a little actress. This princess +has since then married Prince Adolph of Schaumburg, who was recently +ousted from the regency of the tiny principality of Lippe. "_Poor +Vicky_" was described as being "_many-sided_" owing to the number of +her _affaires de coeur_, notably those with Baron Hugo von Reischach, +at that time a very handsome lieutenant of the "Garde-du-Corps," +but who afterward became gentleman-in-waiting to the widowed Empress +Frederick, and married one of the princesses of Hohenlohe. This +flirtation between Baron Reischach and Princess Victoria formed +the theme of quite a number of the anonymous letters, in which +the princess was charged with every kind of indelicacy, while the +unfortunate baron was ridiculed in connection with the modernity +of his nobility. Other love affairs of "_poor Vicky_" were likewise +discussed in no friendly manner, and she was represented as being to +such a degree infatuated for Count Andrassy, the eldest son of the +famous Austro-Hungarian statesman, that the young fellow, it +is declared, was forced to resign his secretaryship to the +Austro-Hungarian Embassy, at Berlin, and to flee from the Prussian +Court, in order to escape from the demonstrative attentions of the +princess: "If it is like this now," said one of the letters, "what in +Heaven's name will it be when '_Vicky_' marries!" + +There were, moreover, all sorts of matters relating to the _vie +intime_ of the imperial family discussed in these anonymous +communications, such as bickerings between the emperor and his mother, +quarrels with his English relatives, flirtations of the younger +princesses, etc., which no one could possibly have known about, save +members of the imperial family, and which were just the sort of thing +that Princess Charlotte would have written in her diary, in her witty +and sarcastic manner. + +In fact there was so much of the phraseology and style habitual to +Princess Charlotte in the letters, that they would inevitably have +been, as I remarked above, positively ascribed to her had it not been +for the grossly improper and even disgusting twist and construction +that was invariably added to her well-known manner of writing. +Although a terrible flirt as well as a daring coquette, the princess +has never been charged with anything more serious than trivial +_affaires de coeur_, excepting by the writer of the anonymous letters. + +Then too, as I have also already stated many of these letters assailed +the princess herself, in the most unscrupulous fashion; an abominable +and impossible story, picked up from the filthiest of Berlin gutters, +impugning the legitimacy of the only child of the princess, being thus +circulated far and wide. This vile fabrication alleged that Charlotte +had been married off in a hurry to Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, +in order to avoid a public scandal. It is only necessary to recall the +fact that the sole child of Princess Charlotte, Princess Fedora, now +married to Prince Henry of Reuss, was born twelve months after her +mother's marriage, in order to show how utterly without foundation was +this shameful slander. At least a dozen anonymous letters sent to the +emperor and to various other personages dealt with an episode said to +have taken place during a trip undertaken by the princess in Norway +and Sweden. She was attended on that occasion by a Captain von Berger, +and his wife, who were her gentleman and lady-in-waiting, and there +was also in her suite a diminutive officer holding the rank of +lieutenant, and bearing the old Silesian name of Count Schack, who +acted as aid-de-camp. + +According to the anonymous letters, Princess Charlotte made a kind +of toy of the little officer, and behaved in a most volatile manner. +There was evidence of such intense malignity in these letters against +Princess Charlotte that they were attributed to a jealous woman, +and that if not actually written by one, they had at any rate been +inspired by a member of the fair sex. + +There can be no doubt that Princess Charlotte and her husband ended by +sharing the opinion entertained by the Schrader-Hohenau clique, about +the letters being inspired by Baroness Kotze, and written by her +husband, and it must be confessed that there was a certain amount of +ground for their doing so. The blotting pads used by Baron Kotze, +both at the Union Club and elsewhere, were subjected to much the +same microscopic examination as those of Duke Ernest-Gunther of +Schleswig-Holstein, and when at length a distinct degree of similarity +was discovered to exist between the caligraphy of the anonymous +letter writer and the impressions which figured on the blotting pads +habitually used by Baron Kotze, Baron Schrader drew up a report on the +subject, charging Baron Kotze with being the author of the letters, +and presented it to the emperor. The latter hesitated a little before +taking any action in the matter, and would doubtless have yielded +to the advice of the minister of the imperial household, Prince +Stolberg-Wernigrode, who urged him to institute a very careful secret +investigation of his own before rushing the _denouement_, cautioning +him that Baron Schrader's evidence was inadequate, had it not been for +the pressure brought to bear upon his majesty by the Saxe-Meiningens +and other members of his family, who were all convinced that Baron +Kotze was the guilty party. + +It was due entirely to this pressure that the kaiser, incensed beyond +measure at the persistency and the malignity of these letters, took +the extraordinary step of having Baron von Kotze arrested by the chief +of his military household, General von Hahnke merely on the strength +of his imperial order, dispensing with any legal warrant. That Count +Hahnke should have been selected for this duty, and that a military +prison, rather than the ordinary house of detention, should have been +chosen for the incarceration of Baron Kotze, must be ascribed to +the fact that the latter was at the time a captain of cavalry on the +reserve lists, and that in a military prison the authority of the +emperor, as head of the army, is supreme and absolute, which cannot be +said of the ordinary civil prisons, the officers of which are subject +above everything else to the tribunals and to the laws of the land. + +Of course, from the very moment when the baron was arrested, the +entire scandal, that is to say the existence of a conspiracy for the +writing and distribution of anonymous letters, became public, and +served to furnish material for articles both in the German and the +foreign press on the alleged moral rottenness of the Court of Berlin. +At first there is no doubt that society, and even the ordinary public, +accepted the guilt of Baron Kotze as assured, and were further led +to believe the story about the baroness having been the instigator of +many of the letters, by her at once withdrawing to her country-seat at +Friedrichsfeld, and refusing to receive anyone. + +Doubts as to the baron's guilt, however, commenced to arise when it +was found that in spite of his incarceration, the anonymous letters +continued to be sent as before, without any interruption, while all +efforts to bring home the guilt to the baron completely failed in +every sense of the word. Not only did the famous expert in caligraphy, +Langenbuch, declare that the handwriting of the letters had nothing +whatsoever in common with that of Baron Kotze, but that those written +during his incarceration were exactly similar to the others. The +emperor himself received anonymous letters, describing him to be a +fool for having unjustly imprisoned an altogether innocent man, and +recommending him to look after his brother-in-law, Duke Ernest-Gunther +of Schleswig-Holstein. + +At the end of a fortnight, therefore, the military governor of Berlin, +old Field Marshal Count Pape, declared to his majesty that he would +do well to immediately set Baron Kotze at liberty, since there was +no adequate ground for keeping him under arrest. The field marshal, +however, suggested that in view of the seriousness of the charge that +had been made against the baron, the only thing to do would be to +hold a court-martial, permitting the baron meanwhile to reside "_on +parole_" at Friedrichsfeld. The whole matter was thereupon turned over +to General Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern, brother of the King +of Roumania, commanding the metropolitan division of troops, to the +reserve force of which Baron Kotze belonged. + +Nine months after his arrest. Baron Kotze appeared before a +court-martial, composed of a colonel, who acted as president, and +eight other officers, and after a lengthy trial, during the course of +which Baron Schrader acted not merely as witness against Kotze, +but likewise as prosecutor, endeavoring to show analogy between the +writing of the anonymous letters, and the caligraphy, not merely of +Baron Kotze, but also of the baroness, the court-martial acquitted +the prisoner, and the emperor not only signified his approval of the +verdict, but a week later took the occasion of the Easter festivities +to send to his former favorite Kotze, a huge floral piece in the shape +of an Easter egg, bound with ribbons in the national colors. + +William, however, refrained from intimating to Kotze his desire that +he should resume his service at court as master of ceremonies, and +this taken in conjunction with the fact that the procedure of the +court-martial remained a secret, left a painful degree of suspicion +resting upon the character of the unfortunate Baron Kotze. It is +perfectly true that many of those members of the court, and of +society, who had been most bitter in their denunciation of him, +left cards at his residence, but the Hohenau clique still remained +obdurate, and in spite of every possible intervention, persisted +in regarding Baron Kotze as having been unable to clear himself +completely. His most obdurate detractor remained Baron Schrader. + +Kotze learning the part which Schrader had played in the entire +affair, after having consulted with his friends, came to the +conclusion that the injury done to him by his fellow master of +ceremonies, was far too great to admit of its being expiated, or +atoned for by a mere exchange of bullets on the duelling field, and +he accordingly instituted criminal proceedings against him. The +preliminaries to this sort of thing are exceedingly intricate and +tedious in Germany, and the legal authorities having received the +impression in one way or another that the public trial in connection +with the scandal would be viewed with displeasure in high quarters, +naturally placed every obstacle in Baron Kotze's way. Of course, +having instituted legal proceedings against Schrader, he was +debarred by the so-called code of honor from challenging Schrader, a +circumstance of which the latter took advantage to insinuate that if +Kotze had refrained from calling him to account on the field of honor, +it was because he did not feel sufficiently sure of his ground. + +This insinuation was taken up by Kotze's cousin, Captain Dietrich +Kotze, who challenged Schrader and fought a duel with him, slightly +wounding him. Kotze himself meanwhile challenged, and fought a duel +with another of his persecutors, Baron Hugo Reischach, the chamberlain +of Empress Frederick, and received a rather severe wound, which kept +him in bed for several weeks. + +As legal proceedings were pending, which were expected to eventually +clear up the entire scandal, and show who was the author of the +anonymous letters, it was generally assumed that Baron von Kotze could +not be regarded as altogether cleared from the suspicion which rested +upon him, until the case had come up for trial. Meanwhile poor Kotze +remained under a cloud. Nearly nine months elapsed before the criminal +authorities declared that there was no ground for a criminal suit +against Schrader. Kotze thereupon endeavored to institute a civil +suit, this requiring still more time, and when at length the matter +came into court, Kotze was non-suited virtually without any hearing, +on the ground that the statutes of limitation had disqualified him +from any civil redress against Baron Schrader. + +Kotze being thus frustrated in his efforts to obtain punishment +for his foe and persecutor through the courts of law, came to the +conclusion that there was no other means left him to vindicate his +honor, but a challenge to fight a duel. His demand for satisfaction, +however, was declined by Baron Schrader, on the ground that it was too +late for Kotze to resort to arms, and that if he had stood in need of +satisfaction of this kind, he should not have allowed so long a period +to elapse before demanding it. The matter was referred to a so-called +court of honor, which sustained the contention of Baron Schrader, and +declared that inasmuch as Baron Kotze had by his dilatoriness placed +himself beyond the power of exacting satisfaction from Baron Schrader +for the indignities to which he had been subjected, he was no longer +worthy to wear the uniform of a Prussian officer. This decision of the +court of honor was ratified by Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern, the +general commanding the division of Guards, to the reserve force of +which Baron Kotze belonged, but it was annulled by the emperor, an +action on the part of his majesty which led Prince Frederick to resign +his command, and to withdraw for the time from the Court of Berlin. + +The emperor thereupon entrusted the affair to another jury of honor +at Hanover, which rendered a decision, blaming Baron Kotze for +his dilatoriness in demanding satisfaction of Baron Schrader, but +authorizing him to continue to wear the uniform, and to remain in the +service of the emperor as an officer. This verdict was ratified by the +emperor himself and on the strength thereof the long delayed duel +took place between the two barons. In June, 1896, Baron Schrader was +wounded in the abdomen by Baron Kotze, a wound to which he succumbed +on the following day. That seemed to settle, in the minds of all, the +innocence of Baron Kotze, for after spending the customary few months +in nominal imprisonment for infraction of the civil laws, which +prohibit the fighting of those very duels which are prescribed by the +military code, he was invited to resume his service as master of the +ceremonies at court, was treated once more with the utmost distinction +by the emperor, while his wife spent several weeks in the autumn of +that year as the guest of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, at the +latter's country seat. + +But who was the author of the anonymous letters? + +That is a question with which I propose to deal in the following +chapter, at the same time showing how this most sensational court +scandal of the latter half of the nineteenth century led to the +exodus from Berlin, and the desertion of its court by numerous royal +personages and great nobles. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +To this day the identity of the writer of the anonymous letters +remains a secret to the general public in Germany, as well as abroad, +but it is pretty generally known in court circles at Berlin and at +Vienna; and if steps have been taken by the authorities to prevent the +true facts from getting into print, and the writer was merely expelled +from Germany, instead of being brought to justice and sentenced to a +long term of imprisonment, it is only because the culprit could not +have been tried and convicted without the name of one of the greatest +personages in Germany being dragged into the case. + +Needless to add that the anonymous letter writer was a woman--a +foreign lady of title--who for a time was one of the most admired +beauties at the Court of Berlin, where, thanks to her inimitable chic, +elegance and brilliancy of wit, everybody, men and women alike, were +charmed. Old Emperor William, who was always very attentive to the +fair sex, up to the very last, and easily smitten by a pretty face, +had introduced the lady to his court without taking much trouble to +investigate her antecedents or character, and of course, with such +a sponsor, everyone took it for granted that she was above reproach, +socially, as well as morally. She became very intimate with many of +the court people, notably with the Hohenaus, the Kotzes, etc., and was +even admitted to the intimacy of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, +the emperor's eldest sister. She possibly might have, in spite of +all, retained her social eminence, had she not allowed herself to be +compromised, first, in the eyes of a few, and subsequently, in a +more general fashion, by the only brother of the empress, Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg. The association of +their names ultimately became such that the great ladies of the +Berlin Court, commenced to cut adrift from the fair foreigner, whose +resentment at this treatment naturally became particularly bitter +against precisely those with whom she had been most intimate. + +Her animosity against Countess Fritz Hohenau was especially +intensified by the particularly offensive manner in which she was +cut by "Charlotte of Prussia," whose bitter and contemptuous remarks +concerning her were naturally communicated to the foreign lady by +the men who still frequented her salons. Through these noblemen and +princes she was kept _au courant_ of everything that went on at court, +and there is no doubt that she was able to extract much information +concerning the emperor and his family from the duke, who visited her +daily, and who was infatuated by her potent and undeniable charms +beyond all reason. + +Of course, no one dreams to-day of accusing the duke of having +knowingly played any part in the fabrication of the anonymous letters; +but there is no doubt that, with his utter absence of discretion, his +lack of intellectual brilliancy, and the thoroughly royal predilection +for gossip and tittle-tattle, which monopolize to this day his +interest, he imparted to her, in the course of his daily visits, a +vast amount of news and information which she could not possibly have +obtained from any one else. Dissipated, foolish and indiscreet to an +incredible extent, the duke is nevertheless an honorable man, and in +spite of the suspicions entertained at one time concerning him by the +Schraders, the Hohenaus, the Anhalts, and the Reischachs, there is no +doubt that he had not the slightest conception of the manner in which +the gossip which he retailed day by day to his _inamorata_ was used by +her for the fabrication of her anonymous letters. + +It was Baron von Kotze's cousin, Captain Dietrich Kotze, mentioned in +the preceding chapter as having espoused the cause of his unfortunate +relative with particular vigor, to whom belongs the credit of having +discovered the culprit. He accomplished this more through a piece of +good fortune than by design, for he was put on the right scent by a +mere chance remark which he happened to overhear at a dinner party in +Paris. The information which he obtained was imparted to the emperor, +and the latter without a moment's hesitation gave orders that his +palace police should visit the "Grande Dame's" residence during the +following night, take possession of all her papers and correspondence, +and convey her to a small town, near the Belgian frontier, where she +was to be kept by the police under strict surveillance, without being +permitted to see any one, until further orders. + +It is impossible to say exactly what was discovered among these +papers, but it is generally understood that the police recovered +possession of the missing diary of Princess Charlotte, and obtained +ample proofs of the fact that the fair foreigner was the author of all +the anonymous letters. + +After a twenty-four hours' detention, she was conducted to the +frontier by the police, and warned against returning to Germany. If no +severer measures were taken against her, it is because it would have +resulted in a more or less public disclosure of the indiscreet role +played by the duke in the matter, and likewise because she really +knew too much! In fact, there is scarcely a secret pertaining to the +reigning family, or to the Court of Prussia, with which she is not +acquainted, and the fact that she should have refrained from +making any attempt to publish them to the world, gives rise to the +presumption that means of a financial character, or else some threats +of terrorism, have been used to insure her silence. + +At the time of the descent of the police upon her house, Duke +Ernest-Gunther was staying at Lowther Castle, in Westmoreland, +England, as the guest of Lord Lonsdale, and was to have gone on at the +end of the week to Sandringham, to stay with the Prince and Princess +of Wales. On receiving telegrams, however, from his beautiful friend, +notifying him of her expulsion from Germany, he left Lowther Castle, +literally at an hour's notice, and without taking leave of his host, +proceeded immediately to Paris for the purpose of meeting her, in +order to find out to what extent the situation was compromised. There +is every reason to believe that it was not until then that he realized +that the writer of the long series of anonymous letters was no +other than the lady by whose fascinations he had been so completely +captivated. A considerable time elapsed before he returned to Berlin. +In fact, a very serious estrangement between himself and the emperor +ensued, William declining to hold any intercourse with a relative +whose susceptibility to feminine charms, and whose extraordinary +absence of even the most elementary discretion, had contributed to one +of the most painful scandals that have overtaken the Prussian Court +since the close of the last century. + +Not even the Kaiser's fondness for his wife, nor his anxiety to please +her, could soften the anger which he felt against his brother-in-law, +and when after a prolonged voyage to India and elsewhere, the duke +on landing at Trieste, ran over from there to the neighboring seaside +resort of Abbazia, for the purpose of visiting the German imperial +couple, who were spending the early spring there with their children, +the kaiser declined to receive his brother-in-law and went out +shooting, so as to avoid an interview with him, the princely prodigal +meeting with no one except his sister, the empress, with whom he had +an interview of a couple of hours. + +It is generally believed that Princess Charlotte's missing diary is +to-day in the possession of the emperor, after having been seized +by the police among the correspondence of Duke Ernest-Gunther's fair +friend; for the former very warm affection manifested by William for +his eldest sister, arising from the belief that she had been subjected +to as harsh treatment as he imagined himself to have received at the +hands of their mother, the imperious, masterful and immensely clever +Empress Frederick, appears since the anonymous letter episode to +have given way to feelings of distrust, and even dislike. Princess +Charlotte and her husband have been ever since that time virtually +banished from the Court of Berlin, at which they are rarely if ever +seen. Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen, was transferred to the +command of the troops at Breslau, although he has but little taste for +a military career, and is far more devoted to art, literature, music, +and the drama, than to soldiering. At Berlin his duties as a general +were more or less titular, and he had all the leisure which he +required for the researches into the affairs of modern and ancient +Greece, which have won for him celebrity as one of the most erudite +Hellenists of the present time. He was surrounded by a congenial +circle of friends possessed of the same disposition as himself, and +had access to some of the finest libraries and museums in the world, +while his still charming wife was the most conspicuous figure in a +circle composed of all that was most elegant, witty, brilliant and +clever in the so-called "_Athens on the Spree_" Indeed, her palace +in the Thiergarten was the centre of everything that was eclectic and +brilliant, and her salons were the rendezvous of all that was best in +Berlin society. + +Imagine, therefore, a prince and princess with tastes and dispositions +such as these compelled to close up their lovely home, to bid adieu to +all their friends, and to take up their residence in the dullest, +most uninteresting and provincial of cities, situated in the least +picturesque portion of the empire; where the only society consists +of bureaucrats of the most starchy description, with no ideas +beyond their office, or of impoverished landowners, belonging to the +district, whose nobiliary pretensions can only be compared with the +paucity of their resources, and whose conversation and even intellect +is restricted to mangelwurzels, potatoes, and the different grades of +fertilizers. + +Breslau, to say the whole truth, is a city utterly without any +attractions, either social or intellectual; the only other royal +personage in the place is an eccentric Wurtemberg princess, a cousin +of the now reigning King of Wurtemberg. This lady sacrificed her royal +rank and prerogatives in order to marry a physician of the name of +Dr. Willim, who had attended her father in his last illness. She could +not, however, bring herself to descend to the social level of her +husband, who is of plebeian origin, and a mere commoner, but thought +that she had done enough in that direction when she contented herself +with the name and title of Baroness Kirchbach, which she now bears. Of +late years she has become a convert to socialism, much to the dismay +and distress of her eminently respectable husband, and at the last +Socialist Congress held at Breslau, took a very prominent part in the +proceedings, arrayed in a blouse of flaming red. + +I am very sorry to have to destroy the romance by which the name of +this Princess Wilhelmina of Wurtemberg has until now been surrounded, +especially that portion thereof which represents her as a lovely and +interesting woman. The truth is that she is fearfully homely, both in +face and figure, while her eccentricities are such that in America, +for instance, she would be described as a "crank." Thus she +distinguishes herself through her inordinate fondness for cats, goats +and rabbits; escorted by whole herds of which she is wont to wander +through the gloomy streets of Breslau. Her costumes are invariably +as queer as the one in which she appeared on the platform of the +Socialist Congress. Compare this strange figure so utterly unfeminine +in its lack of all elegance, with the dainty, spirituelle Princess +Charlotte! Yet Baroness von Kirchbach is the only lady of sufficiently +lofty birth either in Breslau or in the vicinity to associate with +Princess Charlotte on terms of any thing like equality! + +It is probable that Princess Charlotte and her husband will be kept +at Breslau, virtually exiled from the Court of Berlin, until the +accession of Prince Bernhardt to the throne of Saxe-Meiningen, through +the death of his aged father. It is naturally surprising that Prince +Bernhardt, as heir to his father's crown, should not take up his +residence in the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, instead of +being condemned to vegetate at Breslau. The fact of the matter is, +however, that the atmosphere of the Saxe-Meiningen capital is even +less congenial than that of Breslau to Prince Bernhardt and Princess +Charlotte, for the old duke is morganatically married to an actress +of the local theatre, upon whom he has conferred the title of Baroness +Helburg, and the princess finds it difficult to associate with this +person. + +How unrelenting William remains with regard to his sister, may be +gathered from the fact that when her only daughter, Princess Fedora, +was married the other day at Breslau, he himself, and the empress, +pointedly avoided being present at the ceremony, although they were +within a couple of hours' distance of Breslau at the time, spending +the day in shooting. The slight thus placed upon Princess Charlotte +and her husband was all the more marked, as not only were all the +other members of the reigning house of Prussia present, but even the +aged King of Saxony, the King of Wurtemberg and the Grand Duke of +Hesse, had all three taken the trouble to come from long distances in +order to attend the wedding, at which Queen Victoria was represented +by several members of her family, who had travelled from England for +the purpose. The sensation created, not only over all Germany, but +even throughout Europe by the absence of the emperor and empress from +the wedding of the only child of the hereditary Prince and Princess +of Saxe-Meiningen, when they were actually in the neighborhood, was so +great that it can only be assumed that the emperor intended to give a +public manifestation of his continued ill-will towards his sister; +and that his so kind-hearted and good-natured consort should have thus +joined him in this act of public discourtesy, can be explained by a +story current at Berlin to the effect that she, too, feels that she +can neither forget nor forgive the mingled ridicule, satire and even +downright contempt expressed not only about herself, but about the +emperor, her sisters, and her mother in the missing diary of Princess +Charlotte. + +Another reason why Princess Charlotte and her husband are forced to +conform themselves to the command, by means of which the sovereign +keeps them almost permanently at Breslau, is that Prince Bernhardt has +little or no money at all, as long as his father lives, and that the +couple are, therefore, almost entirely dependent upon the allowance +which the princess receives as a member of the reigning house +of Prussia. Now it is the kaiser who, as chief of the family of +Hohenzollern, controls all its vast private possessions, and, if at +any time, a member of the House of Prussia declines to yield obedience +to his orders, he is empowered by the statutes of the Hohenzollern +family to suspend the allowances of those guilty of such +insubordination. Thus it is greatly because they are so poor that the +prince and princess invariably travel incognito when they go abroad, +although it has been asserted that the kaiser carries his irritation +against his sister to the extent of declining to permit her to leave +Germany, save on the understanding that neither she nor her husband +will anywhere exact, or receive the honors due to their royal rank. + +At the time of the visit of the Emperor and Empress of Germany to +Rome, during the silver-wedding festivities of King Humbert and Queen +Marguerite of Italy, Prince Bernhardt and Princess Charlotte were in +the Eternal City, entirely ignored by the Italian court, as well as by +all the foreign royalties present. Indeed, while the emperor, and even +the pettiest foreign princelets invited for the occasion, were driving +about the streets and parks in royal equipages, the kaiser's sister +and brother-in-law had to content themselves with the dingiest of hack +cabs, and also with the role of ordinary sight-seers. + +Those who imagine that Princess Charlotte prefers an incognito role +to that of a royal princess are singularly mistaken. No one is fonder +than she is of the prerogatives of rank, and like all clever and +pretty women, she is ever eager to be the centre of attraction, and +the object of much homage. She cannot, therefore, be said to relish +the treatment and neglect to which she is subjected through her +brother's displeasure. + +In the Berlin great world the princess has always been popular, not +merely by reason of her devotion to society, but because a certain +amount of sympathy was felt for her in connection with the treatment +which she had received at the hands of her mother. For some strange +reason or other, Princess Charlotte was never appreciated by her +mother, who showed her preference for her younger daughters in a very +marked manner. Charlotte was always treated with a far greater degree +of strictness than any of the other girls, in spite of her being +vastly superior to them in intellect and in looks. Princess Charlotte +is still a very charming woman, and was in her younger days a +singularly attractive girl, one of the fairest indeed of all Queen +Victoria's numerous descendants, but her sisters are inclined to be +homely, absolutely deficient in feminine elegance or chic, and, while +accomplished, are extremely dull, and not a bit sparkling or witty. + +Empress Frederick always declared that her daughter Charlotte was +frivolous, and as much inclined to be forward and rebellious to +discipline and control as her eldest son, the present emperor. +Therefore, as I have already stated, Charlotte and William were +treated by their mother with exceptional severity, were snubbed on +every occasion, often in the most humiliating manner, and were made to +feel that Prince Henry and their younger sisters held a higher place +in the maternal heart than they. + +Sad is it to add that the youth of neither William nor Charlotte was +a particularly happy one, and thus it is not astonishing that one as +well as the other should have felt inclined to run a bit wild, like +young colts, when first emancipated from the school-room. It was +during the very few years that intervened between his leaving the +university at Bonn and his marriage, that William obtained his +reputation for dissipation. His shortcomings, due to the exuberance of +youth, were exaggerated until they were transformed from very venial +offences into the most mortal of sins, while in the same way the +delight manifested by Princess Charlotte at the admiration and homage +to which her comeliness gave rise--a very natural feeling when one +recalls the snubbings and humiliations to which she had been subjected +until then--were construed into frivolity and deep-dyed coquetry, +altogether unworthy of a royal princess. She was taxed, too, with an +absence of that simpering modesty, more or less affected, which is +_de mise_ with so many young girls in Germany and in France, when they +make their debut in society, and even her most harmless flirtations +were condemned by her mother as grave indiscretions. + +Empress Frederick became very soon imbued with the idea that it was +necessary to marry off Charlotte without delay, in order to avert +the danger, as she conceived it, of one or another of these girlish +flirtations developing into something calculated to compromise both +her dignity and her fair name. Had the princess been less hurried in +this matter, it is probable that she would have found a more suitable +husband, and above all one calculated to capture the fancy of a +young girl, reared at a court which can boast of some of the finest +specimens of manhood in the world. But she was married to the first +princelet who happened to catch the eye of Empress Frederick, namely +Prince Bernhardt of Saxe-Meiningen--aye, and she was hustled into +matrimony in such a hurry, too, as to give a sort of foundation for +some shameful and base slanders, cruelly unmerited, but which one +hears even Germans who profess loyalty to the crown repeating to this +day. Prince Bernhardt, though an excellent man in his way, was very +far from meeting the requirements of the "Prince Charmant" fit to +be mated to a princess so gay and so brilliant as Charlotte of +Hohenzollern. His appearance is effeminate, his manner finicky and +old-maidish to a degree. He is neither stalwart nor good-looking; he +excels neither as a dancer nor as a rider, nor yet as an athlete, and +he gives one at first sight the impression of being an artist or a +composer, rather than a son of that grand looking old fellow, the +reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. + +Indeed, there was at the time of the marriage but one voice in Berlin +society, condemning it as having been forced upon Princess Charlotte +against her inclinations by her mother. And after the marriage the +poverty of the prince rendered him to such an extent dependent upon +the financial assistance of his mother-in-law, that he, as well as +his wife, was compelled to remain subservient in every respect to +her wishes. Nor was it until William came to the throne and availed +himself of his position as head of the family to grant Princess +Charlotte an allowance suitable to her rank, that the princess and +her husband were emancipated from the strict control of her mother, +Empress Frederick. + +Young married folks in America can form no conception of the extent of +such tyranny, and when, some time after the wedding, Prince Bernhardt +and Princess Charlotte secured permission from Empress Frederick--then +only crown princess--to visit Paris, and to make a stay there of three +weeks, she only gave her consent on the condition that they should +be accompanied by one of her chamberlains, and one of her +ladies-in-waiting who had known the princess from childhood, and whose +behests the prince and princess were obliged to obey throughout their +sojourn in the French capital, just as if they had been a little +boy and girl, instead of grown-up and married people. Probably the +happiest time of Princess Charlotte's life was the period which +elapsed between the death of her lamented father and her exile to +Breslau. She amused herself to her heart's content, fluttered about in +Berlin like a butterfly, took a leading part in every social movement, +was admired, feted and petted by everyone, but gave her worthy husband +no cause whatsoever for uneasiness, and avoided all scandals, save +those contained in the anonymous letters, for which she cannot really +be held responsible. + +To-day she must feel that she has exchanged the unbearable tyranny of +Empress Frederick for the yet infinitely more oppressive despotism of +her eldest brother, Emperor William,--a despotism so harsh that it has +won for her, somewhat late it is true, the kindly sympathy of her own +mother,--a severity which may be said to have its source in that most +dangerous of all the intimate friends and confidants of the princess, +namely, that diary of hers which was stolen from her, and which is +believed to be now in the possession of the kaiser. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +I am thoroughly aware that the point which is likely to excite the +attention of my readers to a greater degree than any other in the +previous chapter, is the reference contained therein to the tyranny +exercised by the monarchs of the Old World upon their relatives. In +fact, it is far better in Europe to be a mere subject than a kinsman +or kinswoman of the sovereign. + +Even the lowliest of the lieges of the anointed of the Lord has +certain constitutional rights and prerogatives which may be said +to safeguard him from oppression and persecution, but princes and +princesses of the blood have no such rights, and are exposed to every +caprice and every whim of the head of their family, defiance of whose +wishes entails exile, loss of property, even poverty and outlawry, +without any redress. + +Royal and imperial personages, in addition to being subjected to +the ordinary laws of the land, are expected to yield blind and +unquestioned obedience to another code, comprising what are officially +styled the "Family Statutes" of the dynasty to which they belong. +These are administered by the head of the family, who is free to +construe them as he sees fit, and while they are binding upon the +members of his house, they in no way can be said to constitute any +limitation to the exercise of his authority. In fact, the latter is +absolutely unrestricted, and extends to every phase of the life of a +royal personage. Thus, a prince or princess of the blood is debarred +from contracting a marriage without the consent of the sovereign, and +if any union has taken place without the sanction of the head of the +family, it is regarded, not only at court, but even by the tribunals +of the land, as invalid, and children that may be born of the marriage +bear the stigma of illegitimacy. If a marriage has received the full +authorization of the ruler, and there is any issue, the children +cannot be educated without the sovereign's wishes being consulted. +The parents, in fact, are regarded much as if they were either minors, +outlaws, or demented people, unfitted to be entrusted with the control +and bringing up of their offspring, for the sovereign is _ex officio_ +the guardian of all children who are under age, belonging to the +married members of his family, and his rights over the children are +superior to those of the latter's father and mother. + +If the boy is to have a tutor, or the girl a governess, the +appointment cannot be made by the parents without their previously +obtaining the permission of the sovereign, and he has it in his power +to reject their nominee, and to assign some candidate of his own, +who may possibly be regarded as most objectionable to the unfortunate +parents, for the duty of taking charge of the education of the young +people in question. The royal or imperial mother, indeed, may esteem +herself fortunate if the sovereign does not insist on personally +selecting the nurses of her infants: when the present kaiser was +born, not merely the late Empress Augusta, but likewise all the other +members of the reigning house of Prussia, and of the Court of Berlin, +thought it quite right and natural that the old Emperor William should +exercise his authority for the purpose of prohibiting the young mother +from herself nursing her baby; on the ground that it was contrary to +the traditions of the House of Hohenzollern, and a quite undignified +proceeding. Fortunately, the late Emperor Frederick, who had spent +much of his time at the court of his mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, +and who was aware that she had nursed every one of her numerous +children herself, without permitting this motherly duty to interfere +with the arduous official business of the State, expostulated with +his father, and persuaded him to withdraw his prohibition, much to the +horror of the courtiers, and greatly to the satisfaction of the royal +lady, who is now Empress Frederick. + +In Austria one of the principal sources of the domestic unhappiness +of the lamented Empress of Austria, was the small voice that she was +allowed by the sovereign--her husband--to have in the management and +the control of her own children, as long as her mother-in-law, the +late Archduchess Sophia, was alive. It was only after the demise of +the archduchess that Empress Elizabeth first realized in their full +measure the joys of motherhood. + +While on the subject of Austria, I may cite the case of the widowed +Crown Princess Stephanie as another illustration of the extent to +which royal parents are deprived of all authority over their children. +Thus when Crown Prince Rudolph died at Mayerling, his little +daughter, at that time barely six years of age, was assigned to the +guardianship, not of her widowed mother, but of her grandfather. A +very general belief prevails that this arrangement about the care of +the little Archduchess Elizabeth, was due to a piece of animosity on +the part of the ill-fated crown prince against his wife, and I have +seen it stated in print that he had left a will confiding his only +child to his father, and directing that its mother should be allowed +no voice in its education. There is no official authority for any such +statement, but no matter whether the crown prince expressed any such +testamentary wish or not, the fact remains that at his death his child +was bound by the statutes of the House of Hapsburg, to become the ward +of the sovereign, who in this case happened to be her grandfather. +Gentle and soft-hearted as is Emperor Francis-Joseph, he nevertheless +exercised his authority over his grandchild in a way that cannot but +have been galling in the extreme to its mother, a way, in fact, which +I imagine would be beyond the endurance of any American woman. Thus +he insisted upon himself appointing and selecting her governesses and +teachers; he nominated her entire household without consulting her +mother, and its members, as well as the girl's instructors made their +reports not to Crown Princess Stephanie, but to him, from whom, also, +they alone took their instructions. + +It was the emperor who decided where his grandchild was to stay, where +she was to spend this part of the year, and where another season, and +finally he strictly prohibited her from leaving his dominions. The +position of the Crown Princess of Austria since the death of her +husband has been so extremely unpleasant and painful, that she has +spent much of her time--indeed, at least nine months of the year--in +foreign travel. The imperial family, the court and the people, hold +her responsible for that domestic wretchedness which drove her so +universally popular husband to his tragic death at Mayerling. Of +a jealous disposition and of a temper that even at its best is +difficult, she is generally understood to have driven him by her +violence and injustice to seek, away from his home, the pleasures that +he could not find by his own fireside. + +It had been known that she had been strangely lacking in dignity in +her complaints concerning his behavior, and after his death she gave +cruel offence both to his parents and to the people of her adopted +country by her indifference to his terrible fate, and by the frivolity +with which she bore her widowhood, not a little of which was spent +at the gaming tables of Monte-Carlo in the gayest mourning costumes +possible; a circumstance which horrified Queen Victoria, who was at +that time at Nice, and naturally cruelly embittered the bereaved and +sorrowing mother, Empress Elizabeth, who, robed in deepest black, +was at Cap-Martin, endeavoring to recover her health, which had been +absolutely shattered by the tragedy. + +All these things led to the crown princess being regarded with deep +disfavor in Austria. Difficulties were raised with regard to her rank +and precedence at court, and the animosity manifested towards her was +such at Vienna, and elsewhere in the dual empire, that she found it +preferable to spend the greater part of her time abroad. She was not, +however, permitted to take her little daughter with her, and thus the +young archduchess may be said to have grown up altogether away from +her mother, whom she saw for barely two months of the year, and then +more as a visitor and a stranger, than as a relative who had any voice +in the ordering of her life. + +If, then, this control of the minor princes and princesses of his +dynasty is insisted upon to such an extent by the aged Emperor of +Austria, the kindliest, most warm-hearted and sympathetic of old men, +always prone to patient forbearance and indulgence, it will be readily +understood that it is exercised to its fullest extent by Emperor +William, in whose character the tendency to autocracy, and the spirit +of command, is far more developed than in his brother monarch. Indeed, +he not only claims the right to act as the chief guardian of the +junior members of the reigning house of Prussia, of which he is the +head, but likewise of the children of all those sovereign families of +Germany which have acknowledged him as their emperor. Thus he insisted +upon having entire control of his young cousin, the only son of +the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, declaring that his own +authority must be substituted for that of the lad's father, in spite +of the latter being himself a reigning sovereign, and an ally rather +than a vassal. + +The tragic fate of the young prince will be too fresh in the memory of +my readers to need more than passing reference here. The boy, removed +from parental care, was transferred by Emperor William to Berlin, with +the avowed purpose of being under his own imperial eye. Unfortunately, +the duties and occupations of William are so multifarious that he was +unable to fulfil his very excellent intentions with regard to Prince +Alfred. The latter fell into bad hands, squandered large sums of +money at cards, became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and in +his endeavors to retrieve them, sunk deeper and deeper into the mire, +until finally Emperor William, suddenly alive to the results of his +wholly-unintentional neglect of the royal lad, sent him back to +his heart-broken parents, discredited, implicated in all sorts of +unpleasant gambling transactions, and shattered alike in health and +mind. In the midst of their silver-wedding festivities, they were +forced to send their only boy off to a sanitarium in Austria, where, +in spite of the close restraint under which he was kept, he managed +to put an end to his life, only a few days after his arrival, prompted +thereto by either physical or mental agony, no one knows which. + +Small wonder, when it became necessary to find a likely successor to +the present reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and his younger brother, +Prince Arthur of Great Britain, Duke of Connaught, was proclaimed +heir, that the prince decided that it would be preferable to sacrifice +his rights to this throne, rather than his rights over his only son. +On being given to understand that if he accepted the position of heir +apparent, his sixteen-year-old boy would become the ward of Emperor +William, and that the authority of the kaiser would be superior to his +own over the lad, Prince Arthur declined to have anything to do with +the Saxe-Coburg succession, and abandoned both his own claims thereto +and those of his son, in favor of his young nephew, the fatherless +Duke of Albany. It was precisely on the same ground that the Duke of +Cumberland declined to complete the agreement whereby a reconciliation +was to be effected between himself and the kaiser. Born crown prince +of the now defunct Kingdom of Hanover, he should have succeeded to the +throne of the Duchy of Brunswick on the death of his kinsman, the late +Duke of Brunswick, in 1884. The German Emperor, however, decided that +he could not be permitted to take possession of the sovereignty of the +duchy, nor to assume the status of one of the federal rulers of the +confederation known as the German Empire, unless he recognized the +latter, as now constituted, that is to say with his father's Kingdom +of Hanover incorporated with Prussia. For a long time he refused to +do this, but was ultimately persuaded by his brother-in-law, the late +czar, and the Prince of Wales, to consent to a reconciliation +with Prussia, and to accept the present condition of affairs. The +arrangements were on the eve of being completed when a conflict arose +between the duke and the kaiser, as to the education of the former's +eldest son, Prince George. The duke wished to send him to the Vizhum +College, at Dresden, where so many members of the sovereign families, +and of the great houses of the nobility, have received their +instruction, while the kaiser objected to this particular school on +the ground that its teachings were calculated to increase instead +of to diminish particularist and anti-Prussian sentiments. The duke +thereupon declared that he alone was competent to judge and determine +how his boy should be educated, whereupon the kaiser put forth his +pretension to the guardianship of all the junior members of the +sovereign houses comprised in the German Empire. Rather than consent +to this, the Duke of Cumberland, who has inherited much of the +obstinacy for which his great-grandfather, King George III. of Great +Britain, was so celebrated, broke off all negotiations with Emperor +William, and refused to have anything more to do with him, for, like +his cousin, the Duke of Connaught, he would rather sacrifice his +rights to a German throne than his parental rights over a much-loved +boy. + +But the despotism of the monarchs of the Old World is by no means +restricted to this question of the control and custody of the junior +members of their respective families. Every prince and princess of +the latter, no matter what his or her age, or superiority in point of +years to the sovereign may be, is subjected to the will of the head +of the house. For instance, no Russian grand duke or grand duchess can +leave the Muscovite empire without previously asking and obtaining the +permission of the czar, and in the same way, the Austrian +archdukes and archduchesses have to crave the sanction of Emperor +Francis-Joseph, and the Prussian princes and princesses, that of the +kaiser, before they can leave their respective countries for a foreign +trip. Even Empress Frederick is compelled to obtain the permission +of her son, the emperor, before taking her departure from Germany for +England or Italy, and a few years ago when quietly enjoying herself in +Paris, she was forced by a peremptory command from her son to suddenly +cut short her stay in the French capital, and to betake herself to +England. + +To such an extent is this despotism carried that when Prince Henry +of Prussia was stationed at Kiel, he had to ask his elder brother's +permission before he could run up to Berlin, although Kiel is only +a few hours' trip from the capital; and, as stated in the previous +chapter, Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen and her husband, +are kept at Breslau, except when their brother William graciously +condescends to permit them to leave their home. Two years ago the +emperor, for reasons which can only be surmised, and which were of +a personal rather than of a political character--of which more +anon--suddenly ordered his only brother Henry off to China, and a +little later, possibly with the object of showing to the world that +his authority extended to the ladies of his house, as well as to the +men, he directed Princess Henry to join her husband at Hong Kong. As +the two little boys of the princess are exceedingly delicate, owing +possibly to the fact that their parents are first cousins, the poor +mother was very reluctant to undertake the trip, but she was forced +by the emperor to go, and had scarcely reached Hong Kong before +she learnt by cable that both her little ones were prostrated by a +terrible attack of diphtheria. She was not, however, permitted to +return, but was kept out in China away from her children until late +in the spring, and reached home well on towards autumn, to find her +little ones--the youngest was but two years old--more delicate than +ever, but fortunately alive. + +In the memoirs of Bismarck published by Dr. Busch, there is reproduced +one of Emperor William's letters, written prior to his accession +to the throne, in the course of which he asks the great chancellor +whether he approves of his "commanding" (the German word is +"_befehlen_") his brother Prince Henry to make certain inquiries of +the late Prince Alexander of Battenberg. William in this letter does +not talk of "requesting" his brother, but of ordering him to do this. +If then William, as crown prince, already took upon himself the right +of ordering his brother and his sisters to do this and to do that, it +may be readily imagined that he is not less peremptory in his dealings +with them now that he is their emperor and king. + +If they disobey him, he has various means of punishment at his +command. He can banish them from court for a long term; he can +deprive them temporarily, or for all time, of the prerogatives, the +privileges, and the honors due to their rank; he can suspend their +allowances from the national treasury, or from the family property, +or can stop it altogether; he can take from them the control of any +estates which they may have inherited, and confide the administration +thereof to curators appointed for the purpose; finally, he can subject +them to various forms of arrest, as he once did in the case of his +brother-in-law, Prince Frederick-Leopold; while in very extreme cases +he can place the offending relative under restraint in an asylum for +the insane on the pretext of dementia, as has been done in the case +of Princess Louise of Coburg, daughter of King Leopold of Belgium, +and mother of Princess "Dolly" of Coburg, who is now the wife of Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein. + +"_Aux arrets_," or confinement to one's quarters, is the most common +form of punishment inflicted by Old World monarchs upon those of their +kith and kin who have failed to comply with their behests, and there +is scarcely a single sovereign or prince of the blood, who has not +been subjected to this species of discipline at one time or another of +his career. Thus the late Emperor Frederick, prior to his accession +to the throne, but long after his marriage, was sentenced to several +weeks' detention in his palace under strict arrest, as a punishment +for a little joke which he had played during the course of a military +inspection. + +He had been protesting for a long time against the tightness of the +uniforms, and of the belts of the rank and file of the infantry, +declaring that it impeded the movements and play of the muscles of the +men, to such an extent as to deprive them of more than fifty per cent, +of their usefulness. One day, during an inspection of the division of +guards at Potsdam, while the troops happened to be standing at ease, +he walked along the front rank of the first regiment, accompanied by +a number of officers, with whom he had just been discussing this very +question of equipment; suddenly, he stopped short in his walk, and +extracting a piece of gold from his pocket, dropped it on the ground, +and told the men nearest him to pick it up, adding that whoever got +hold of it first, might keep it! Several of them made frantic attempts +to bend down in order to get the money, but so tight were their +uniforms and belts that they found it absolutely impossible to reach, +the coin, which Emperor Frederick ultimately picked up himself, and +handed to them. + +"And how do you expect to win battles with soldiers hampered to such +an extent as that in their movements?" he exclaimed contemptuously +to the officers around him. "What greater demonstration than this is +needed to prove the justice of my argument?" + +The incident was reported to the then Minister of War, who immediately +lodged a complaint with Frederick's father, the result being that +"Unser Fritz," at that time Crown Prince of Prussia, was placed by old +Emperor William for several weeks under arrest in his palace! + +Prince Rupert of Bavaria, the heir apparent to the ancient throne of +the Wittelsbachs, was sentenced by his grandfather, the prince regent, +to no less than three months' close arrest in his quarters at Munich, +for having left the kingdom without permission, in order to spend +three days at Paris, in fair but frail company; while the widowed +Duchess of Aosta on one occasion was placed under arrest in her palace +of Turin by her brother-in-law, King Humbert, because she had ventured +to appear in public on her wheel wearing a pair of bloomers! + +Prince and Princess Frederick-Leopold, the latter a younger sister of +the Empress of Germany, have both been condemned on several occasions +by the kaiser to close confinement in their palace under the most +stringent kind of arrest, for having disobeyed his majesty's commands +with regard to the management of their household. Duke Ernest-Gunther +of Schleswig-Holstein, the brother of the empress, has been subjected +to more numerous orders of arrest by his imperial kinsman than any +prince of the blood now living. + +Severe as are European monarchs nowadays in punishing the disobedience +of the members of their families, they do not, however, venture any +longer to proceed to such extremities as the father of Frederick the +Great, who when the latter was still crown prince, cast his son into +prison, and ordered him to be shot, merely because he discovered +that he was about to leave the kingdom without his permission for the +purpose of undertaking a trip to England; and there is no doubt that +the crown prince would have been put to death, and thus shared the +fate of his two aids-de-camp, who were beheaded before his very +eyes, in the fortress prison of Kuestrin, had it not been for the +intervention of the ambassadors of Austria, Great Britain, Russia and +France in behalf of his royal highness. + +Yet another phase of this despotism, which the two kaisers,--namely +their majesties of Germany and of Austria,--exercise over the members +of their respective families, is the right which they claim to select +and appoint the officers and ladies-in-waiting of every prince and +princess of the blood. In order to appreciate what this means it +must be explained that it is not merely contrary to etiquette, but +absolutely forbidden by the rules and regulations instituted by +Emperor William and his brother sovereigns, that any such princes or +princesses should venture to appear anywhere in public without being +escorted either by a gentleman or a lady-in-waiting. These attendants, +who are, it is needless to state, of noble birth, may be said to +constitute the very shadow of the personage to whose household they +are attached. In fact a royal or imperial prince or princess cannot +even cross the street, far less leave home for a ride, a drive, a +walk, or for the purpose of paying a visit, or of doing some shopping +without being escorted, if a prince, by a gentleman-in-waiting, and +if a princess, by a lady-in-waiting, and possibly by a chamberlain as +well. + +Nor are the duties of the ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting confined to +attendance upon their royal charges in public, for they form part and +parcel of the royal or imperial household to which they are attached, +and if they do not occupy quarters in the palace, at any rate they +take all their meals there, since their duties commence in the early +morning, and only cease late at night. + +Now, human shadows of this kind are all very well when one is at +liberty to choose them one's self; but it is very different when +one has no voice whatsoever in the matter, and when one is forced to +submit to close and intimate attendance of this kind by ladies and +gentlemen whom one neither likes nor trusts. In such cases as these, +the gentlemen or ladies-in-waiting are apt to be regarded in the +light of spies by their royal charges, and as people appointed by the +sovereign to keep watch upon their actions. It is probable that no +one has suffered so cruelly in this connection as the widowed +Empress Frederick of Germany. Possessed of extremely liberal views in +political matters--ideas which she imparted to her consort, she found +herself, within a few years after her marriage, in complete opposition +to Prince Bismarck. The latter regarded her as a very dangerous +opponent, and responded to her openly avowed disapproval of his +political methods by using his influence with her father-in-law, old +Emperor William, urging him to interfere with her management of +her children; and above all, to appoint as members of her household +personages with whom she could have no possible sympathy, political +or otherwise, and who were, in every sense of the word, devoted to +the Iron Chancellor. In fact, Prince Bismarck acknowledges in his +reminiscences, as published by his Boswell, Dr. Busch, that he caused +the crown princess--as Empress Frederick was then--to shed many a +bitter tear, by his interference, through her father-in-law, in her +domestic affairs. + +Bismarck made no secret of his enmity towards Empress Frederick and +her husband before the latter ascended the throne, and it is on record +that he even officially insisted that secrets of state should not be +confided to "Unser Fritz," for fear that the latter's consort might +communicate them to her English relatives. He even went so far as to +accuse her of having, during the war of 1870, betrayed to non-German +relatives Prussian military secrets, which were used by the French +against her adopted country, and served to prolong the conflict. These +odious charges, "_which have been abundantly disproved_" and for which +"_there was not even the shadow of a foundation_," are merely referred +to here in order to show the intense bitterness of the personal +animosity entertained by the chancellor towards Empress Frederick. Yet +it was he, Bismarck, who, through the old emperor, had the right of +selecting and nominating, not merely the instructors and attendants of +her boys, but her own gentlemen and ladies-in-waiting--nay, even the +physicians and surgeons to be called in cases of illness. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +It is to the part played by Prince Bismarck in selecting the +attendants and tutors of the present emperor that must be ascribed the +strained relations that notoriously existed between the kaiser and his +mother during the few years immediately preceding and following his +accession to the throne; while there is no doubt whatsoever that the +last eighteen months of Emperor Frederick's so prematurely-ended life, +were saddened and embittered by the feeling that a conspiracy was +on foot to prevent his succession to the throne on the ground of the +incurable malady from which he was suffering--a conspiracy in which +some of the principal participants were members of his household and +physicians who had been forced upon him by his father at instigation +of Prince Bismarck. + +If I mention this, it is not so much with the idea of evoking a very +painful chapter of the history of the Court Berlin, as it is for the +purpose of explaining, and in a measure of excusing, the charges +of unfilial conduct brought against the present emperor, and which +contributed so much to his unpopularity both at home and abroad during +the early years of his reign. + +I have related in a previous chapter how William, while a boy, was +snubbed by his parents, and treated with considerable strictness. +His father, like so many good-looking giants, utterly free from +affectation and pose, believed that he saw in his eldest boy a +tendency to posture, a forwardness of manner, and a disposition +towards pride of rank, amounting to arrogance, which it was necessary, +at all costs, to repress. Prince William, therefore, was constantly +receiving setbacks, often of a most humiliating character, from his +parents, and I am sorry to say that this practice of regarding him as +a presumptuous youth whom it was necessary to check, extended to other +European courts, so that poor William can not be said to have had an +altogether enjoyable time; and in this connection it is just as well +to state that the Prince of Wales and his other English relatives, +took their cue from his mother in their treatment of him, a +circumstance which he has neither forgiven nor forgotten. Indeed the +notorious absence of cordiality between the Prince of Wales and his +imperial nephew of Berlin originates with the snubs which the +British heir apparent, in his capacity of uncle, felt it necessary to +administer to William, when the latter was a lad, and even when he had +reached manhood. + +Yet it would be unfair to ascribe any undue blame in the matter to the +parents of Emperor William. The responsibility must rest rather +with those people with whom Prince Bismarck, acting through the old +emperor, surrounded the young prince. The mission of these nominees +of the chancellor was to counteract the influence of the then crown +prince and crown princess over their eldest son, and this was achieved +by setting the boy against his parents. Every direction or command +given by Frederick or by his consort to their son was made the subject +of critical discussion by the personages with whom Bismarck had +surrounded him, until the latter became convinced that the judgment of +his parents was at fault in almost everything that could be imagined, +and that all their views, political as well as social, were thoroughly +out of keeping with Prussian traditions and German patriotism. + +This in itself was bad enough: but what made matters infinitely worse, +was that whenever William was subjected to any reproof or discipline +by either his father or mother, those composing his immediate +_entourage_ at once impressed upon the royal youth that he was the +victim of the most gross and unpardonable injustice, that both +his father and mother were inordinately jealous of his striking +individuality, that the unmerited severity to which he was subjected +was brought about by their consciousness that his intellect was +superior to theirs, and that his ideas were too thoroughly Prussian to +constitute anything but a serious danger to their English liberalism. +The effect of influences such as these upon a high-spirited and +impulsive youth, at the time entirely devoid of experience or of +knowledge of the world, may readily be conceived. It naturally led to +an increase of what his parents regarded as his presumptuousness and +forwardness of manner, and consequently to a growth of their severity +towards him. He, on the other hand, became more and more embittered +by the unduly harsh and rather unjust treatment to which he was being +subjected by both his father and his mother. + +The persons in attendance on the imperial family, with the conspicuous +exceptions of Count Seckendorff and Countess Hedwig Bruehl, were +careful to fan the embers of bitterness rankling in the bosom of young +William whenever any opportunity offered, and thus it happened that +when Emperor Frederick, while still crown prince, was discovered to be +suffering from that cancer of the larynx which ultimately carried him +off, the relations between parents and son were so strained as to give +rise to the very widespread belief that William was the ally of his +father's enemies, and a participator in the disgraceful conspiracy +which ensued for the purpose of barring him from succession to the +throne on the ground of his fearful malady. + +As soon as the nature of the disease from which Frederick was +suffering had been ascertained, his opponents, Prince Bismarck first +and foremost, dug out from the most remote recesses of the family +archives of the house of Hohenzollern an obsolete and forgotten law +barring from the succession to the throne of Prussia any prince of +the blood who was afflicted with an incurable malady. Of course, +the original object of the statute in question was to enable the +elimination from the line of succession of princes afflicted with +hopeless insanity, or some such disease as would prevent them from +administering the government, thus rendering the institution of a +regency necessary. In one word, the purpose of the measure was to +prevent such a situation from arising in Prussia as prevails now in +Bavaria, where, since 1886 the throne has been occupied by a lunatic +prince, who was incurably insane for many years before his accession +to the crown, and whose dementia takes that peculiar form, which is +described in the Bible as having overtaken Nebuchadnezzar. King Otto +of Bavaria imagines himself to be alternately a quadruped or a bird, +and when he is not browsing on leaves and grass in the gardens of his +prison palace at Fuerstenried, under the impression that he is a sheep +or goat, he will stand on one leg in the centre of a shallow pond, +firmly convinced that he is a stork, occasionally flapping his long +coat-tails in lieu of wings, and greedily attempting to devour any +frogs or tadpoles that may come within his reach, unless prevented by +his attendants from doing so. + +There have been, alas! numerous cases of insanity in the reigning +house of Prussia. Old Emperor William's elder brother and predecessor, +King Frederick-William IV., spent the last few years of his life +under restraint, hopelessly insane, his brother and ultimate successor +administering the government as regent. The late Princess Frederick +of Prussia was afflicted like her brother, the last Duke of +Anhalt-Bernburg, with a peculiar kind of lunacy which took the form of +an invincible objection to clothing of any kind whatsoever; while one +of her two sons, Prince Alexander, who died only a few months ago, +suffered from a species of good-natured imbecility, which led him +to offer his heart and his hand to every woman or young girl that +he encountered, no matter what her age, or looks, or rank, sometimes +making as many as thirty or forty offers of marriage in the same day! +The above-mentioned law was created for the purpose of preventing a +prince thus situated from ascending the throne of Prussia, but the +family statutes evoked by Prince Bismarck and his followers certainly +never contemplated the deprival of a prince of his hereditary rights +of succession to the throne because of some physical ailment or +infirmity. This would have been entirely contrary to the spirit and +ethics of the monarchical system of the Old World; as will be readily +seen when attention is called to the fact that both the late King of +Hanover, and the present reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, +were absolutely and totally blind at the time they succeeded to their +present thrones. + +Prince Bismarck took the view, however, that the statute in question +was sufficient to bar "Unser Fritz" from succeeding to his father, if +it were once medically admitted that his malady was incurable, or if +curable, that it was liable to permanently destroy the vocal chords, +thus abolishing forever the power of speech. + +Prince Bismarck declared that in a matter of such extreme importance, +where the succession to the throne, and the life of the heir apparent +were at stake, the surgeons and physicians should be selected by the +State--that is, by himself--and that their verdict should be final. +Chief among the medical experts whom he nominated for the purpose, was +the celebrated German surgeon, Professor von Bergmann, who is as famed +for his skill in the use of the knife as for his fondness in applying +it in cases where it might possibly be dispensed with. Having +convinced himself that the malady from which Crown Prince Frederick +suffered was a cancer, he decreed that the only manner of saving the +life of the illustrious patient was the extremely dangerous and almost +certainly fatal operation of removing the entire portion of the larynx +that was affected. This, as stated above, would have left the crown +prince dumb for the remainder of his days, and according to the +views of Prince Bismarck would have barred him from succession to the +throne. + +It is related in court circles at Berlin, that Professor Bergmann was +on the point of operating upon the crown prince unknown to the crown +princess, and under the pretext of making a very radical examination, +for which anaesthetics were necessary, when, he was prevented at the +very last moment by her imperial highness. It is even stated that she +tore the instruments from his hands, and turned him out of the room +with the most bitter and cutting reproaches. Whatever may be true in +this bit of court gossip, it is certain that a fierce quarrel did take +place between the crown princess and the great surgeon, and that the +cause of this quarrel was the decision taken by the latter to operate +upon the crown prince as the only means of saving his life. + +[Illustration: +_THE CROWN PRINCESS AND PROFESSOR VON BERGMANN_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The crown princess thereupon summoned to her assistance Sir Morel +MacKenzie, the greatest throat specialist in England, who throughout +his long career was consulted by all the leading singers and orators +of his day. MacKenzie came to Berlin, examined the crown prince, +and utterly rejected the diagnosis of Professor Bergmann, and of the +German physicians. He declared that the affection of the larynx, while +cancerous, would not be bettered by using the knife, at any rate at +that time, and that he believed the malady to be curable by treatment. +Needless to add that his opinion was reviled in Germany as that of +a charlatan, and that the Teuton specialists declared that the crown +prince was doomed to certain death within six months, unless the +operation was performed. + +Fearing that some further attempt might be made at Berlin to operate +upon her husband without her knowledge, or in spite of her opposition, +the crown princess took him off to England, and from thence to +the Tyrol, from which place they eventually migrated to San Remo. +Meanwhile, the German newspapers, that is to say, those which were +believed to be receiving their inspiration from Bismarckian sources, +were filled with abuse of the crown princess, who was charged openly +with being willing to sacrifice the life of her husband rather than +her chances of becoming German Empress. + +Meanwhile the crown prince became worse and worse, and while at San +Remo had several fits of agonizing suffocation, to which he almost +succumbed, and from the worst of which he was virtually saved by +the late Dr. Thomas Evans, of Philadelphia, who displayed the utmost +devotion and intelligence of treatment in the case of the imperial +sufferer. + +It was at this juncture that one of the most dramatic scenes which can +be imagined took place in the antechamber of the illustrious patient. +The crown princess received letters which informed her that Prince +Bismarck had submitted to the old emperor, then himself near death, a +decree for signature, transferring the succession of the throne from +Crown Prince Frederick to the latter's son, Prince William, a decree +which, by the by, the old emperor could not bring himself to sign. +Furthermore, she learnt through the same sources that one of the +principal members of her household at San Remo, in fact, one of the +chamberlains in attendance, was sending daily reports of the most +venomous character to Berlin, and to Prince Bismarck particularly, +about everything that went on around the unhappy crown prince. Not a +thing was said, not a thing done, not a change for the worse or the +better in the condition of the hapless crown prince, that was not +instantly reported to the chancellor, in a sense most detrimental and +inimical to the imperial couple at San Remo. This traitor in the camp +owed his appointment to the imperial household to Prince Bismarck, but +by his charming manners, his professions of loyalty and of devotion, +and his denunciations of Prince Bismarck, and of the latter's policy +and ways, had completely captured the confidence of both the crown +prince and crown princess. + +Empress Frederick has inherited from her mother, Queen Victoria, a +singularly fiery temper. Her passionate anger when she realized +the base treachery to which her sick husband and herself had been +subjected in their time of cruel tribulation and trouble can only be +imagined by those who have the privilege of knowing her, and the scene +that took place between herself and the offending chamberlain was not +merely dramatical, but tragical in its fierce intensity. + +It was very shortly after this that the old emperor died. If Prince +Bismarck entertained any further hopes of preventing the accession of +Crown Prince Frederick to the throne, they were frustrated by Prince +William, who declined to be a party to any such conspiracy. Indeed, in +spite of all that has been said to the contrary, I am firmly convinced +that William at no time took any part, either directly or indirectly, +in the Bismarckian plot to oust his so sadly afflicted father from his +rights to the crown. But, on the other hand, it is certain that he was +suspected by his parents and relatives of being privy to the scheme, +and that he was treated with still greater hostility and lack of +affection by them than previously, which naturally served to embitter +him more than ever before. + +Emperor Frederick's reign lasted not quite one hundred days, and +throughout that period a conflict may be said to have raged around the +bedside of the dying man. Both he and his wife, aware how brief his +tenure of the throne was destined to be, were bent on inaugurating +some of those liberal reforms and popular measures which had been the +dream of their entire married life, and which they wished to see put +in force, as a lasting memorial of that monarch who figures in German +history to-day as "Frederick the Noble." + +Prince Bismarck, and all the leading statesmen of Prussia, it must be +admitted, ranged themselves against the imperial couple in the matter. +They expressed profound pity for the dying emperor, but they denounced +the empress with the utmost virulence for taking advantage, as they +described it, of his condition to endow Germany with some of the most +pernicious features of English political life, which, while all very +well for Britons, were destined to prove disastrous in the extreme if +applied to Prussia. The fiercer the opposition, the more resolute did +both the emperor and empress become in their determination to attain +their aim, before death once more rendered the throne vacant; and +the position of William, who was now crown prince, became even more +difficult than it had hitherto been. His political sympathies were, it +is impossible to deny, with Prince Bismarck and his followers, and he +could not with his training and with the influences by which he had +been surrounded, ever since he had left school, but disapprove of +the measures which his father and mother wished to adopt. This very +naturally added to their distrust of him, and while they lavished +every token of affection upon their other children, he was treated by +them more as a political adversary and a personal foe than as a friend +or a son. + +At length the end came. The pitiful sufferings of "Unser Fritz," +uncomplainingly and patiently borne, were brought to a close by a +death which in his case must have been a longed-for release; and +within an hour afterwards, William, the present emperor, had +startled his subjects and the entire civilized world, by taking an +extraordinary step, which for a long time afterwards served as a theme +for the denunciation of unfilial character hurled against him both +in Germany and abroad; this step being the giving of an order to the +effect that the guards placed at all the entrances of the Palace of +Potsdam, in which his father had breathed his last, should be doubled, +that a cordon of troops should be drawn around the park walls, and +that no one should be allowed to enter or leave the palace without his +permission. + +While there is every reason to believe that this measure was suggested +to him by Prince Bismarck, yet it must be admitted that it was to a +certain extent justified by the circumstances. Emperor Frederick +was known to have kept a most exhaustive diary throughout his entire +married life, dealing day by day with all the political questions of +the hour, the secrets of the Prussian State, the incidents of court +life, etc., just as they occurred. From a German point of view it +was a matter of the most extreme importance that this collection +of diaries should not be permitted to leave Prussia, or to reach a +foreign country, for it would practically have meant the placing at +the mercy of a foreign land all the state secrets of Prussia during +the previous thirty years. Emperor William and Prince Bismarck had +both been led to believe that Empress Frederick had made arrangements +to have these books conveyed to England by Sir Morel MacKenzie, whom +they both disliked as much as they distrusted him. The idea that +these volumes should be in the care of MacKenzie, even during the +twenty-four hours journey separating Berlin from London, was to them +quite intolerable. + +Before many hours had elapsed, however, the measures were relaxed. It +was discovered that the diaries were no longer in the palace, and that +they had been taken over to England either knowingly or unknowingly by +Queen Victoria on the occasion of her visit to Potsdam, when she came +to bid adieu to her dying son-in-law. + +Let me add that some time later, after a considerable amount of +explanation and negotiation, Queen Victoria, of her own accord, +returned the cases containing Emperor Frederick's diaries to her +grandson at Berlin, with the seals unbroken, taking the very sensible +ground that inasmuch as there were many Prussian state secrets +therein contained, their place was in the archives of the House of +Hohenzollern, rather than in England. + +Emperor William has never forgotten the course adopted by his +grandmother in the matter, and by his manner towards her has +repeatedly shown since then that he feels how greatly he can rely +upon having his actions appreciated with perfect impartiality and all +absence of prejudice at Windsor. + +Empress Frederick was naturally deeply offended by the precautionary +measures adopted by the emperor on his father's death, and saw therein +a new and most insulting indication of his unfilial conduct towards +herself. Nor were the relations between the mother and the son +improved, but on the contrary rather aggravated by the presence of the +Prince of Wales at Berlin. The latter remained in the Prussian capital +for a number of weeks after the funeral of Emperor Frederick, and the +English newspapers, which had been most outspoken in their criticisms +of the young emperor's attitude towards his parents, did not hesitate +to declare openly that if the prince was continuing his stay in +Berlin, it was for the purpose of championing the interests of his +favorite sister, and of protecting her from the insults of her son, +and of the latter's mentor and chief counsellor, Prince Bismarck. + +There were all sorts of troublesome questions cropping up between the +mother and the son during the first few months of her widowhood, many +of which were inevitable; for certain courses of policy upon +which Emperor Frederick had embarked were disapproved by the young +sovereign's constitutional advisers. Then, too, it would appear that +Frederick III. had taken advantage of his brief tenure of power to +unduly favor his wife and his younger children at the expense of the +Hohenzollern family property in a manner that was not in consonance +with the traditions of the reigning house. It was also whispered +that the late emperor had lent a very large sum of money to his +brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, and it was further asserted that +the then minister of the imperial household had preferred resigning +his post to countenancing such a use of the money belonging to +the Hohenzollern family. There was the question, moreover, of the +distribution of the palaces. While William was perfectly ready to +permit his mother to keep her residence at Berlin, he felt that he +was entitled, as emperor and chief of the family, to the new palace of +Potsdam, the finest of the lot, and the only one roomy enough for the +abode of a reigning sovereign. It was, therefore, necessary that he +should have possession thereof. His mother, on the other hand, took +the ground that inasmuch as it had been her principal home throughout +her married life, that nearly all her children had been born there, +and that it was in many respects a creation of her husband's, she +ought to be allowed to retain it. Of course the emperor had his way, +and this but served to increase the bitterness, particularly when +he issued an order to the effect that its old name of "Neues Palais" +should be restored in the place of "Friedrichskron," which had been +given to it by the widowed empress during her husband's brief reign. + +Of course all these differences of opinion between the mother and the +son were carefully intensified by Prince Bismarck, and aggravated +by the continued presence of the Prince of Wales, who was regarded, +probably unjustly, as largely responsible for the animosity which it +was claimed was entertained and manifested by the imperial widow for +her son. The newspapers took sides in the matter, and the press being +very active, there is every reason to believe, in view of the wide +field of German and foreign journalism over which the influences of +the chancellor extended at the time, that he had a finger, not alone +in the denunciation on the one hand of Empress Frederick as grasping, +mercenary, and too much of an Englishwoman to be a patriotic German, +but likewise in the abuse of Emperor William for unfilial conduct. +Every act of his that could possibly be construed as such, was painted +in the blackest of colors, especially in the English press, manifestly +with the idea of conveying to the kaiser the impression that the +attacks originated with his English relatives, possibly with his +mother herself; and I can recall seeing at the time a story to which +the London papers devoted columns, and which was made the theme of +editorials, the subject of which was that the emperor had sold to a +carpenter the pony-carriage and pony used by his father daring the few +weeks immediately preceding his death, for his drives in the palace +gardens. The story related with much detail about how the pony trap +was to be seen during the week in the streets of Potsdam, laden with +window-sashes, etc., while on Sunday and holidays the seat where +formerly the dying emperor reclined was occupied by the "Herr +Tischlermeister" and his frowsy, vulgar-looking "frau." Yet there was +not a word of truth in this story. The pony-carriage used by "Unser +Fritz" during the closing days of his life is preserved as a species +of sacred relic in the imperial coach-house at Potsdam, while the pony +leads a life of ease, idleness and equine luxury, out of regard for +the fact that it had the honor of drawing the moribund monarch around +the grounds of Charlottenburg and Potsdam. Inasmuch as this precious +story about Emperor William's selling the pony-carriage in question +first made its appearance in a London newspaper, which, as long as +Bismarck remained in office, was regarded as his particular organ in +the British press, being owned by a gentleman bearing a distinctly +German name, there is every reason to believe that the tale in +question originated with some of the journalistic myrmidons employed +by the chancellor, and that its object was to embitter William against +the English, against his British kinsfolk, and, above all, against his +mother. + +It is not without significance that the mother and the eldest son have +understood one another only since the dismissal from office of Prince +Bismarck. From that time the relations between the two have been of +the most affectionate and cordial character. Perhaps at first there +was at times a little difference of opinion, owing to the difficulty +experienced by a woman of the imperious character of Empress Frederick +in realizing the fact that her eldest son was no longer "her boy +Willie," to be ordered about and controlled, but that he had become, +not merely emancipated from her control, but her sovereign master, +whose commands she is now forced to obey, and whose wishes she is +obliged to consult and consider. But every year since the fall of +Bismarck has had the effect of bringing the mother and the son nearer +to each other. + +The empress seems to have come to the conclusion that she has judged +her son harshly and unjustly, prejudiced by appearances which were +frequently against him; while he, on the other hand, demonstrated to +Prince Bismarck that, while he was grateful to him for his services +to the empire, he found difficulty in pardoning him for the advantage +which he had taken of his--the emperor's--youth and inexperience to +estrange him from both his father and his mother. + +If I have repeated in this chapter some history that may be regarded +as ancient, since it dates back to eleven and twelve years ago, it +is for the purpose of relieving Emperor William of much unmerited +reproach heaped upon him, as the most unfilial of royal and imperial +princes in modern times. William has a warm heart, and an affectionate +disposition. He shows this in the happiness of his home life, and by +the tenderness of his devotion to his wife and children. If he was for +a time estranged from his parents, and in particular from his mother, +it was less through any fault of his, or of theirs--I repeat it--than +through the intrigues of Bismarck, and of the latter's friends within +and without the imperial household, who fondly imagined that they were +serving the "vaterland" by keeping the parents and their son estranged +from one another. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Everyone, I presume, is acquainted with that old French saying, "_Dis +moi qui tu hantes et je te dirai qui tu es!_" which may be rendered in +English: "Tell me with whom you associate and I will tell you who +you are!" While this adage is almost invariably true in the case of +ordinary people, it would hardly be just to apply it where monarchs +and princes of the blood are concerned. Given that every form of +pleasure, of entertainment and of amusement is always within their +reach, thanks to the loftiness of their station, their wealth, and +facilitated furthermore by the anxiety of their courtiers both to +please them and to retain their favor, they naturally soon become +blase to such an extent that they become a prey to ennui--a thoroughly +royal malady, from which few, if any, of the scions of the reigning +houses of Europe are exempt. "Ennui," like "chic," is a French +word difficult to translate and subject to much misinterpretation, +especially in the United States, where it is practically unknown. The +majority of Americans are far too busy, and are environed by too much +bustle and activity to experience such a thing as ennui, and even the +American leisure class, still in an embryo condition, as a rule are +too new to their privileges to have that feeling. To suffer from ennui +implies so deep a knowledge of life, and a corresponding satiety of +its pleasures, that all the ordinary routine events of existence have +no longer any power to interest the mind. Ennui is not weariness nor +tediousness, as described in the dictionary; neither is it boredom, +for the latter differs therefrom in its not necessarily being the +outcome of a high degree of civilization, which ennui certainly is. + +An untutored savage of Central Africa, or of the wilds of Australia +may be bored; so are many of the ignorant houris of Oriental harems +and zenanas. Nay, even an energetic business man may feel +temporarily bored by enforced bodily or mental inaction, or by dreary +associations; but that can scarcely be described as _ennui_, a feeling +which in the true sense of the word means being thoroughly _blase_ +and oppressed by moral and physical satiety. You must know everything, +have tried everything, have had all your personal wishes and desires +satisfied, all obstacles removed from your path, and pass your way +through life with the firm conviction that there remains nothing to +interest or arouse your ambition in order to be a victim of _ennui_. +The greatest sufferers from this disagreeable sensation are, as I +have just remarked, the royal and imperial personages of Europe, and +although the emperors of Germany and Austria have the greater +portion of their time taken up by the business of the State, and the +administration of the government of their respective countries, yet +neither of them is exempt from ennui. Indeed, there are no princes +whose features betray to such an extent unmistakable evidence of +ennui, as those of the imperial house of Hapsburg, while Emperor +William's choice of many of his friends is guided by the powers which +they may possess to entertain him, and to deliver him in his hours of +leisure from that dreaded complaint. Of course there are exceptions to +this rule, and there are several of Emperor William's cronies who owe +the friendship of their sovereign to kindnesses which they rendered, +and devotion which they displayed to him, in the days prior to +his accession to the throne. But in the majority of instances, +the sometimes strange selection of friends made by the emperor is +attributable to the fact that the personages to whom he accords his +favor succeed in amusing and entertaining him during the time that he +is not occupied with the cares of his empire. + +Conspicuous among friends of this particular character, is Baron von +Kiderlen-Waechter, who holds the rank of minister plenipotentiary in +the diplomatic service of Germany, and who was recently, and possibly +still remains, Prussian envoy to the Court of Denmark, but who is +known in the imperial circle at Berlin by the nickname of "August," +that being the "sobriquet" given to the clowns belonging to +variety-shows and circuses in England, Austria, and France. In fact, +he certainly occupies among William's immediate circle of cronies and +associates the position of court jester, and the emperor makes a point +of taking the baron along with him whenever he goes on his annual +yachting trips along the coast of Sweden and Norway. The latter is the +life and soul of these imperial yachting parties, his witticisms, his +antics, and, above all, his inimitable talent for mimicry keeping even +the sailors of the _Hohenzollern_ in continual roars of laughter. Yet +he can be grave and dignified on state occasions, and when one sees +him at the Court of Berlin arrayed in full uniform, his breast +covered with decorations, it is difficult to realize that this +imposing-looking diplomat is the principal partner of the autocrat +of Germany in such juvenile games as "Hot Cockles," which is a very +favorite game on board the _Hohenzollern_, and in which the kneeling +and blindfolded victim receives a terrific spank or smack, and then +has to guess, under the penalty of ridiculous forfeits, who it is that +struck him! + +No one would ever have dreamt of finding any fault with this intimacy +between the emperor and the baron, had it not been for the fact that +the latter laid himself open to charges of having taken advantage of +the imperial favor won by mimicry and practical joking, to further +political and personal intrigues in which he was interested. Indeed, +he was repeatedly accused in the German press of being largely +responsible for the manifestation of animosity between the Court of +Berlin and Friedrichsrueh that characterized the last eight or nine +years of the life of Prince Bismarck. The newspapers did not +hesitate to assert that the baron, who had formerly been one of the +confidential secretaries of the old chancellor, had deliberately +fomented the irritation of the kaiser against the veteran statesman, +believing that any reconciliation between the monarch and his former +chancellor would entail the baron's disgrace. Finally, the abuse +of the baron in the Berlin press became so pronounced that he +was virtually obliged to challenge the editor of one of the most +vituperative of the metropolitan sheets, and very gallantly lodged a +bullet through the shoulder of this "knight of the quill!" + +For this escapade the baron was condemned to three months' +imprisonment by the courts, duelling, as has been intimated already, +being forbidden by law in Germany. His incarceration in the military +fortress of Ehrenbreitstein on the Rhine was absolutely unprecedented. +Ambassadors and envoys have in times gone by been imprisoned by +sovereigns to whose courts they were accredited, in defiance of all +the laws of international right regulating the intercourse between +civilized powers, but this was the first occasion of a government +taking the unheard-of step of jailing one of its own envoys. + +Fortunately for the baron, the King of Denmark was, before his +accession to the throne, an officer of the German army, and as such +was disposed to regard with the utmost leniency the offence for which +his excellency was condemned to imprisonment. He realized that +the baron had no alternative but to fight, his honor having been +questioned by the paper whose editor he challenged. Although duelling +is forbidden by the criminal law of Germany, under the penalty of +imprisonment, yet, had the baron failed to fight, and taken shelter +behind the law, he would not only have been compelled to resign his +diplomatic office, his position at court, and his rank in the army, +but he would have subjected himself to such odium as to have become +to all intents and purposes a social outcast, and compelled to leave +Germany. + +Appreciating this, old King Christian raised no objections to the +appointment of a charge d'affaires, to represent the diplomatic +interests of Germany at his court, during the term of imprisonment +served by the minister plenipotentiary, and from the moment when the +latter completed his term, and was liberated from prison, he resumed +his duties as envoy at the Court of Copenhagen, just as if nothing had +happened. + +Another intimate friend of the kaiser, who possesses much the same +_talents de societe_ as Baron Kiderlen-Waechter, and whose position +in the high favor of the kaiser has been a subject of much unfavorable +comment, and even of open abuse in Berlin, is Baron Holstein, +popularly known as the "_Austern-Freund"_ or "Oyster-Friend," owing to +his altogether phenomenal capacity for the absorption of bivalves, and +his strongly developed fondness for good cheer! Baron Holstein, +like Baron Kiderlen-Waechter, was formerly one of the confidential +secretaries of Prince Bismarck, and a daily guest at his table, and +was treated as a member of the old chancellor's family for years, yet +he became one of the most relentless foes of the Bismarck family as +soon as the prince was dismissed from office. + +Prince Bismarck was not the sort of man to submit in silence to the +enmity of his former secretary, and a few years after his retirement +to Friedrichsrueh he took occasion, during the course of a public +discussion of the circumstances which led to the disgrace and ruin +of Count Harry Arnim, for a long time German ambassador at Paris, to +disclose for the first time in speech, and in print, the part which +Baron Holstein had played in the affair. According to the prince, +Baron Holstein, while first secretary of the German embassy at Paris, +and though treated by Count Arnim as an inmate of his home, living +in fact under his roof, and eating at his table, was in the habit +throughout an entire year of sending secret reports to Berlin against +the chief under whom he was serving--reports which subsequently +furnished the basis of the charges upon which Count Arnim was tried, +convicted and disgraced. + +It is true that some mention was made in the Parisian and English +press at the time of the Arnim trial of the questionable role which +Baron Holstein had played in the affair, and there were a number of +Parisian papers that did not hesitate to hold up the baron to, at +any rate, French obloquy, as a man guilty of the base betrayal of the +kindest and most indulgent of chiefs. The only person on that occasion +who had the courage to take up the baron's defence was M. de Blowitz, +French correspondent of the London _Times_, of which he is described +on the banks of the Seine, as the "ambassador," and who possesses +an immense amount of influence with the Parisian press. Blowitz's +championship of the baron's cause was sincerely appreciated by the +latter. He called upon the correspondent, thanked him effusively, and +declared that it was his intervention alone that had made his stay at +Paris possible. + +During the conversation that followed, Blowitz opened his heart to his +visitor, telling him that his own position as the Paris correspondent +of the _Times_ was in danger owing to some changes in the +administration of the London office. A fortnight later, Blowitz +received from the managing editor of the _Times_ in London a letter +sixteen pages long, addressed to Printing-House Square, and entirely +written and signed by Baron Holstein. It denounced Blowitz as being +one of the creatures of the late Duc Decazes, as wilfully ignoring +and concealing for interested purposes of his own, a number of matters +that should have found their way into the columns of the _Times_, and +urging the managers of the latter to send to Paris some fitter and +more impartial person, who would be better able to keep the great +English newspaper _au courant_ of what was going on below as well as +above the surface, than so unscrupulous a person as M. de Blowitz. +This letter was dated exactly three days after the latter's visit of +gratitude to the correspondent, and the incident may be regarded as +being in perfect harmony with the behavior of this favorite of the +kaiser to both Count Harry Arnim and subsequently to Prince Bismarck. + +The third of these cronies of the kaiser, to whom his subjects take +objection on the ground that they are in the habit of using the favor +shown to them by his majesty to further their own interests, and +to injure those who, for one reason or another, have incurred their +animosity, is Count Philip Eulenburg, who has been again and again +referred to in the Berlin newspapers as "the Troubadour." He is at the +present moment German ambassador at Vienna, whence his predecessor, +Prince Reuss, was ousted in spite of the eminent services of a +personal character which he had rendered to the emperor, in order to +make way for the count. The latter's intimacy with his sovereign is +largely due to his cleverness as a poet, a dramatist, and a +composer, and while he has furnished the words to many of the musical +compositions of the kaiser, William has, in turn, had much of his own +poetry set to music by the count. + +Philip Eulenburg has been clever enough to foster William's very +pardonable weakness as to his gifts as a musician and a poet, and +being a man of the most charming manners, possessed of an unusual +supply of tact, and extremely accomplished in many respects, he has +acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over his sovereign. +Indeed it may be doubted whether there is any member of the imperial +entourage who stands as high in the good graces of the German ruler as +does his ambassador to the Court of Vienna. + +Each year the emperor makes a point of spending a week at Liebenberg, +the country-seat of the count, and it has long been a matter +of comment that these visits are invariably signalized by the +inauguration of some political or administrative move on the part of +the kaiser. It was, indeed, at Liebenberg that the emperor decided +upon the dismissal from the chancellorship of General Count Caprivi, +who had been unfortunate enough to incur the enmity of the Eulenburgs. + +Count Philip, who possesses a fine voice, and who during the +annual yachting trip of the emperor on board the _Hohenzollern_, is +accustomed to sing duets with the monarch, and to play the latter's +accompaniments, is not, as is generally supposed, the brother, +but merely the cousin of Botho, Augustus, and the late Count Wend +Eulenburg. His career was almost wrecked at its very outset by +an incident which developed into an international question. While +stationed as a young sub-lieutenant of cavalry at Bonn, he was one day +inadvertently jostled in the street by a gray-haired and rather portly +stranger, whom he at once addressed in the most insulting manner. Upon +the stranger responding in kind, the count drew his sabre and cut the +man down, inflicting upon him such a wound that he expired a short +time afterwards at the hospital. There it was discovered that he +was one Ott, a Frenchman, and one of the chefs of Queen Victoria, +momentarily detached from his duties at Windsor Castle, in order +to attend her majesty's second son, the Duke of Edinburgh,--now the +reigning sovereign of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,--during his stay on the +continent. Both the queen and Prince Alfred were indignant at the +outrage, which was made the subject of an acrimonious correspondence +between the English, French and Prussian Governments, the result being +that Count Philip was sentenced to pay heavy damages to the widow +and to the orphaned children of his victim, and to undergo a year's +imprisonment in a fortress. + +He only joined the diplomatic profession in 1881, when he was +appointed as third secretary to the German embassy at Paris, and he +occupied very inferior roles in the diplomatic service of his country +until the accession to the throne of his friend and patron, Emperor +William, who promoted him a few weeks later, at one bound, from the +post of second secretary of the legation at Munich to the rank +of Prussian minister-plenipotentiary at Aldenberg, whence he was +transferred a year later to Stuttgart, then, to The Hague, and then +back to Munich, as chief of the legation, which post he retained until +his nomination in 1892 to the German ambassadorship at Vienna, that is +to say, to the blue ribbon of the diplomatic service of the kaiser. + +He is generally regarded as destined in course of time to become +chancellor of the empire, in spite of the human blood with which his +hands are stained. + +Both the court and the public object far less to the intimacy that +exists between Count Augustus Eulenburg and his imperial friend, for +Augustus, who is the grand master of the imperial household and the +chief executive dignitary of the court, has been the closest associate +of William since the latter's earliest boyhood. He was one of those +officials whom Prince Bismarck forced upon the then crown prince +and crown princess, in order to keep watch over their actions and +to counteract their influence on their eldest son. It was he, Count +Augustus, who acted as the comforter of William whenever he was +subjected to reproof or to disciplinary measures by his father or +mother; who invariably espoused the lad's cause, and who contributed +more than anyone else to convince William that he was a victim of the +most cruel and unmerited form of parental severity and persecution. He +constituted himself the mentor and the guide of the prince, initiated +him into all the intricacies of the imperial court, as well as into +the secrets of its most prominent members. In one word, he rendered +himself so indispensable to the prince, that as soon as the latter +succeeded to the throne he at once appointed Count Augustus Eulenburg +to the grand mastership of the court and household. + +To what extent Emperor and Empress Frederick were aware of the spirit +characterizing the count's relations with their eldest son, it is +difficult to say, but there is no doubt that during the last two or +three years of Emperor Frederick's life, the position of Augustus in +the household of "Unser Fritz" was vastly improved and facilitated by +the sensational quarrels of his elder brother, Count Botho Eulenburg, +the celebrated statesman, with Prince Bismarck, for both Frederick +and his wife, from, that time forth, ceased to look upon Augustus as a +creature and a spy of the chancellor. + +How great was the intimacy between William and the count, may be +gathered from the fact that Augustus was the invariable and sole +companion of the emperor in that species of Haroun-al-Raschid +nocturnal expeditions which his majesty was wont to undertake in the +slums of his capital, for the purpose of learning what his people were +saying about him. At that time, his features were far less familiar +to the public than they are to-day, and by giving his moustache +a different twist, and his hair another turn, he experienced no +difficulty in disguising himself. The adventures which he met with +during the course of these nightly prowls in the company of Count +Augustus are numerous enough to fill a book. Still, while they +furnished plenty of amusement, excitement, and experiences not +altogether unpleasant, they involved his majesty, on one or two +occasions, in so much personal danger, that the count, realizing the +responsibility which would rest upon his shoulders in the eyes not +merely of the nation, but of the entire world, if anything untoward +happened to the monarch, induced him, though with difficulty, to +abandon this species of pastime so dear to crowned heads. + +Let me add that it was on the occasion of one of these expeditions +that the emperor met with a very severe injury to his hand. There +is an old established usage in Berlin, on New Year's eve, which +prescribed that any man appearing in the street in a high or stiff hat +should be incontinently bonneted, that is to say, have his hat crushed +down over his eyes and ears by a blow of the fist. Emperor William, +who is somewhat fond of rough horse-play, used to delight in this form +of amusement, and on the first New Year's eve after his accession +to the throne, he sallied forth with Augustus Eulenburg in search of +adventures. Catching sight of a portly citizen of mature years walking +along under the shadows of the trees that line the magnificent avenue +known as "Unter den Linden," he immediately proceeded to crush +the high silk hat which the man wore by a tremendous blow from his +imperial fist! He was unable, however, to refrain from a cry of pain, +and his companion the count, on seeing that his sovereign's hand was +drenched with blood, at once summoned the two detectives who were +following discreetly in the rear, and caused them to arrest the +citizen. The man on being searched at the palace police station, was +found to be a merchant of high standing, who, determined to get even +with the practical jokers from whose brutality he himself had suffered +on previous New Year's eves, had devised a sort of thick leather +hat-lining, armed with long and sharp prongs, pointed outward like the +quills of a porcupine. The emperor, on smashing the hat, naturally had +his hand dreadfully lacerated. The citizen was kept under arrest +for twenty-four hours, during which the question was discussed as to +whether he should be prosecuted and punished for inflicting personal +injury upon the sovereign, or not. Finally, William himself, with +that good sense which so often characterizes him, gave orders for his +liberation, on the ground that he could not possibly have dreamt that +he would be bonneted by his sovereign, that he was, therefore, quite +innocent of any intention to inflict injury upon the person of the +emperor, and that he, William, had, after all, got nothing but what +he deserved for playing such a prank. Moreover, in order to show the +citizen that he bore him no grudge, he sent him, by way of consolation +for his arrest and the destruction of his hat, a portrait bearing the +autograph signature of the kaiser, as well as the words: "In memory of +_Sylvester-nacht_."--New Year's eve is sacred to Saint Sylvester. + +Count Botho Eulenburg, the elder brother of Augustus, has repeatedly +held the offices of cabinet minister and Premier of Prussia. He +happened to be at the head of the Department of the Interior at +the time when the attempts were made by Nobiling to assassinate old +Emperor William, and ever since that time has been the sworn foe of +socialism, and identified with everything that is reactionary and +despotic in Prussian legislation. His influence with the emperor is +very great, and there is no doubt that he has contributed in a great +measure to the somewhat extravagant views which the kaiser entertains +with regard to the Divine Rights of monarchs, and especially +concerning their responsibility, not towards their people alone, but +also towards the Almighty. + +Count Botho's quarrel with Prince Bismarck, originated in the +following manner. The count, in accordance with a decision reached at +a cabinet meeting, spoke as Minister of the Interior in the Prussian +Diet in favor of placing the communal councils under the provincial +board, instead of under the central government. He had no sooner sat +down than a member arose and said that he was instructed by the Prime +Minister, Prince Bismarck, to disavow the view taken by the Minister +of the Interior. This extraordinary action of the prince was due +to the fact that he had suddenly decided upon coquetting with the +Liberals, for the sake of obtaining their support upon the subject of +another of his little inaugurations. Count Botho immediately sent in +his resignation, and did not resume office until after the disgrace of +Prince Bismarck. Previous to this quarrel, however, as I have +already stated, the most intimate relations had subsisted between the +Eulenburgs and the Bismarcks. Indeed, Countess Marie, only daughter +of Prince Bismarck, was at one time betrothed to Wend, the youngest of +the three Eulenburg brothers. Three days before the day fixed for +the wedding, the young man was suddenly seized with typhus, and +forty-eight hours later succumbed to this awful disease. Countess +Marie, it may be added, subsequently married Count Rantzau, after +having been between times engaged to Baron Eisendecker, once German +envoy at Washington, and now the kaiser's adviser in yachting matters, +whom she jilted in consequence of differences of religious opinion. + +So much for the Eulenburgs, who may be said to constitute the most +influential family at the Court of Berlin, and without a description +of whom no history of the life and surroundings of Emperor William +could possibly be regarded as complete. + +Other cronies of the kaiser, who are less influential in a political +sense, and, therefore, less obnoxious to the people, are Counts +Douglas, Count Dohna, and Count Goertz. Public attention, however, has +often been drawn to the friendship of the kaiser for the Dohnas by +the frequency of the imperial visit with which Count Richard Dohna +is honored at his superb old chateau of Schlobitten, and likewise by +reason of the fact that on two occasions William almost lost his life +through carriage accidents which he sustained while out driving with +the count. + +[Illustration: _THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The Dohnas are one of the most ancient houses of the old German +nobility, and Schlobitten, with its grand old park, shaded by glorious +trees, has been in the possession of the family since the fourteenth +century. The castle, as now arranged, is only two hundred years old, +having been reconstructed on the site, and with the ruins, of an +ancient monastery and dwelling. The name of Dohna is recorded in the +most important pages of Prussian history. Statesmen, generals, and +in particular, confidants and cronies of their successive rulers have +borne that name, and there is not a king who has reigned over Prussia, +and previous to that an elector who has ruled over Brandenburg, +who has not stayed at the castle of Schlobitten and occupied the +antiquated four-poster bed, in which the present emperor sleeps +whenever he makes a visit there. + +Count Richard Dohna is a great breeder of blooded horses, a +magnificent whip, and the accidents which happened to the kaiser, +while out driving with him, were merely due to the fact that in each +case the horses were too young, and not sufficiently broken in. On one +occasion, the drag was upset into a ditch not far from Schlobitten, +the kaiser and the count being severely bruised and shaken up; while +at another time a splendid team got beyond the control of the count, +smashed harnesses and pole, and dashed helter-skelter into the little +town of Proeckelwitz, where they were fortunately stopped without +further mishap. + +The intimacy of the kaiser with the Dohna family serves to recall the +fact that there was a daughter of this house, Countess Anna Dohna, who +claimed to have become the wife of the late Emperor William. She lived +for a time in London, Geneva, and then in New York, and was wont to +style herself Countess Dohna-Brandenburg, having added the name of +Brandenburg to that of Dohna by reason of this alleged marriage. + +While in New York she lived in a large house in Lexington Avenue, +which she furnished handsomely, and she never seemed to be in want of +money. According to her own story she met the late Emperor William in +1825, during the lifetime of his father, King Frederick-William III., +when she was sixteen years of age. After several clandestine meetings, +she claimed that they were married late one night at Clegnitz, in +Silesia, by a young country parson. The latter did not know the +prince, who gave the name of William Count Brandenburg, and his +occupation as that of an officer of the Royal Guards. The marriage +certificate was duly made out, and then her husband told her that it +would be expedient to keep their union secret for a time. To this she +reluctantly assented. + +When at length, urged by her entreaties, her husband revealed their +marriage to his father, King Frederick-William III., he flew into a +terrible rage, forced him to sign a renunciation of the countess's +hand, and she was conveyed to a small castle near Koenigsberg, in +East-Prussia, where she was kept a close prisoner for years. In 1837, +always according to her story, she succeeded in escaping, and crossing +the Polish frontier reached Warsaw, where in the following year she +was recognized at a state performance of the opera given by Czar +Nicholas, in honor of the King of Prussia and Prince William, who were +visiting the Russian Court. + +She was arrested at the theatre, and on the following morning conveyed +to Eastern Russia, where she was kept under strict surveillance until +the death of Frederick-William III., in 1840, led to her release. +She was then permitted to return to Prussia, and the new king, +Frederick-William IV., offered to compromise the matter with her. This +she refused to do. Her father's death placed her in possession of a +large fortune, and she spent several years in travelling. + +In 1848 she intended to appeal to the Prussian National Assembly for +justice, but the police got wind of it, and she was interned in her +chateau in Silesia. On William becoming King of Prussia, she was given +the alternative of leaving the country or of becoming an inmate of +a lunatic asylum, so she transferred her abode to Paris, and after +living for awhile in London and Geneva, came to New York in 1876. + +The truth of this story having been questioned, it may be mentioned +that the Prussian _Staats Anzeiger_, or official Berlin Gazette, of +June 4, 1829, contains the following royal decree: + + +"By order of his majesty the king, Anna Countess Dohna having claimed +to be the wife of Prince William of Prussia, I hereby decree that such +a union if it ever took place, be null and void. + + + "FREDERICK WILLIAM, Rex. + + "ANTHONY VON ALTENSTEIN, + "Secretary of State." + + +I have seen it mentioned both in German and foreign publications that +the three Counts of Brandenburg, two of them distinguished generals, +and the third for many years Prussian envoy at Brussels, were the +issue of the union of Countess Anna Dohna and old Emperor William of +Germany. But this is not true; for their father, a famous premier and +soldier, of whom a fine statue exists at Berlin, was the son of +King Frederick-William II. of Prussia, and his morganatic wife, the +Countess of Dohenhoff. + +With regard to Count Douglas, I may state that the kaiser's intimacy +with him dates back to many years prior to his accession to the +throne. Like his twin brother, Count Louis Douglas, the Swedish +statesman, who until a few weeks ago occupied the post of minister of +foreign affairs at Stockholm, Count Willie Douglas may be said to have +royal blood in his veins, for his father, old Count Douglas, now dead, +married the morganatic daughter of a royal princess of the reigning +house of Baden. On the old count's death, William, the elder of the +twins, inherited his mother's vast property, while Louis, the younger, +took possession of his father's estates in Sweden. + +William was educated in Germany, is an officer of the Prussian army, +as well as a member of the Prussian House of Lords: Louis was brought +up in Sweden, entered the Swedish army, became chamberlain to the +Crown Prince of Sweden, married the daughter of Count Ehrensward, late +minister of foreign affairs at Stockholm, and eventually succeeded to +his father-in-law's post at the head of Sweden's foreign office. Like +his twin brother in Prussia, he is exceedingly conservative, imbued +with the necessity of retaining the old feudal prerogatives, and of +placing every obstacle in the way of the rising tide of democracy. +Indeed, whatever influence he exercises over the King and Crown Prince +of Sweden, is as reactionary as any influence which his German brother +may be said to enjoy over the kaiser. + +The Douglas twins are descended from the great Scotch family of +Douglas, and are therefore allied to the Duke of Hamilton and the +Marquis of Queensberry. Their ancestors emigrated to Prussia +from Scotland at the time of the Thirty Years' War, fought under +Gustavus-Adolphus, and afterwards returned with him to Sweden, where +they became members of the Swedish nobility. Count Willie, like his +brother, displays all the hereditary traits of the Scotch house that +bears his name, having the peculiar jaw, falling underlip, and dark +complexion of the celebrated "Black Douglas." Yet neither of the twins +speaks a word of English, nor has ever visited the land of his sire, +though they bear the Douglas motto of "Do or Die." Count Willie has +few British sympathies, but some British tastes, being famous as +a four-in-hand whip, and as a magnificent shot. He is also very +hospitable, and entertains at Berlin in a right royal fashion, his +wealth, derived from the mines which he owns in the Hartz Mountains, +enabling him to do so without hesitation on the score of expense. + +It is no secret that Emperor William has, on two or three occasions, +offered a cabinet office to his friend William Douglas, who has, +however, invariably declined it, much to the relief of those who are +convinced that the same peculiar moral and psychological affinity +exists between the Douglas twins as that attributed to the Corsican +brothers. It would have been, they declare, a dangerous experiment to +have had one of them directing the foreign policy of Germany, and the +other that of the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. + +It may interest my American readers to add that a few years ago Count +Willie Douglas was the defendant in an extraordinary lawsuit at Berlin +which had an American end to it. It seems that some thirty years ago a +man of the name of Brandt died in the United States, leaving a fortune +of several millions of dollars. Having no near relatives in America, +the lawyers advertised for any heirs that he might have left +behind him in Germany. The father of Count Douglas was at the time +burgomaster of the little town of Aschersleben, and one day some of +the inhabitants of the place bearing the name of Brandt placed a lot +of papers in his hands, asking him to glance over them, and to see +whether there was any truth in the statement that they were heirs +to an immense fortune in America. The old count, in his capacity of +burgomaster, declared that the affair looked to him very questionable, +that he believed it was a mere swindle, and that there was surely +nothing in it for them. Whether he returned to them the papers or +not, is unknown, but he declared to the day of his death that he had +restored them, whereas the Brandts of Aschersleben swear that he did +not. Eventually, they brought suit against his son, not merely for +the recovery of the documents, but likewise for the fortune, actually +alleging that the latter had been appropriated by old Count Douglas, +with the connivance of the late Prince Bismarck, who had received a +large share of the plunder. It is scarcely necessary to state that +they were non-suited. + +Emperor William's intimacy with Count and Countess Goertz may be said +to be a sort of inherited friendship, the count's father, president +of the Hessian House of Lords, and his consort, a princess of +Sayn-Wittgenstein, having been the most intimate friends of Emperor +and Empress Frederick, whose acquaintance they made through the +late Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse. In order to show the +affectionate relations existing between the parents of the kaiser +and those of the present head of the ancient and illustrious house of +Goertz, it is merely necessary to state that Professor Hintzpeter, who +for a number of years directed the education of Emperor William and +his brother Henry, and who, as their old tutor, retains much influence +over both the imperial brothers, was selected by Emperor and Empress +Frederick for the purpose, on the personal recommendation of the late +Count and Countess Goertz, in whose family he had resided for a number +of years as tutor to their son. + +In fact, the present Count Goertz, who is some eight or nine years the +senior of the emperor, can boast, like the latter, of having been +a pupil of old Hintzpeter, who in some respects is the German +counterpart of the late Czar Alexander's tutor, M. Pobietnotzoff. +That William shares the confidence placed by his parents in the Goertz +family is shown by the fact that when he found it necessary, at +one time, to obtain the services of a tutor for one of his young +relatives, in a case, it must be added, of particular delicacy, he +at once nominated to the post Professor Krenge, who at the time was +tutoring the sons of the present Count Goertz. Countess Goertz is a +woman of great beauty, which she may be said to have inherited from +her mother, the so-celebrated Countess of Villeneuve, wife to the +Brazilian envoy to the Court of Brussels, and renowned throughout +Europe on account of her loveliness. + +Although the admiration which the kaiser displays for the fascinating +countess is of the most undisguised character, it fails to excite the +jealousy either of his consort or the count, and the relations between +the empress and the countess are so close that the former has been +known to lend to her friend articles of jewelry, and even of dress, +for use at fancy dress balls and elsewhere. The emperor and the count +are also as united and unrestrained with each other as two men can be +who have the same tastes, who have been intimately acquainted since +childhood, and whose parents have been close friends before them. It +is doubtful whether William ever enjoys himself so much, or feels so +thoroughly at home, as when visiting the Goertzes at Schlitz. There +his days are spent in shooting and hunting with the count, and the +evenings in composing new melodies, and setting songs to music with +the countess. The emperor's children and the young Goertzes are bound +by equal ties of affection, and are old-time playmates, so that there +seems every likelihood of this friendship between the Hohenzollerns +and the former reigning sovereign house of Goertz being continued in +the third generation. + +No account of the emperor's private life can be properly written +without including a brief sketch of General Count von Hahnke, and of +Baron von Lucanus. The former is the chief of the military cabinet of +the emperor, and the other is at the head of his civil cabinet, that +is to say, he occupies the post of principal private secretary. Both +of them accompany the emperor wherever he goes, and in fact constitute +his very shadow, enjoying by reason of their proximity to the +sovereign, and by their close association with him, a far greater +degree of power and influence than any cabinet minister. + +Baron Lucanus is an extremely good-looking man, whose popular nickname +at Berlin, namely, "the emperor's Blackie Man," is in nowise due to +any swarthiness of complexion, but to the fact that among the great +dignitaries in attendance on the emperor, he is the only one in +civilian attire, while moreover he is invariably selected by the +sovereign to convey to any cabinet minister, whose resignation is +required, the imperial intimation "_that he has ceased to please_." + +It was Baron von Lucanus who communicated to Prince Bismarck the +emperor's request and subsequent peremptory command for the surrender +of the chancellorship of the empire, and it was he, too, who was +sent to ask Bismarck's successor, General Count Caprivi, for his +resignation; in fact, there has not been a single ministerial head +to fall during the last ten years--and they have been very numerous +during the present reign--where Herr von Lucanus has not been the +imperial emissary of these evil tidings. This is so well known +in Berlin that the moment the baron is seen to be calling at the +residence of any distinguished statesman who happens to be in office, +it is at once taken for granted that the axe has once more fallen, and +that it is another case of a ministerial downfall. + +The Berliners declare that Emperor William pitches upon Lucanus +for these particular jobs in consequence of his being the son of a +Halberstadt druggist, and as such, more likely to be proficient in the +art of sugar-coating the bitter pills than any mere military officer! +He owes his patent of nobility to the late Emperor Frederick, who +entertained a very high opinion of his intelligence, and it is worthy +of note that he first came to the fore in the entourage of the emperor +when Prince Bismarck's power as chancellor commenced to wane. He is +a man of about fifty, and served for a quarter of a century in the +Department of Public Worship. It was, however, as an expert in art +matters, and as an intelligent assistant in the organization of the +Imperial Museum of Science and Art at Berlin, that he first attracted +the notice and good-will of the late emperor, and particularly of the +Empress Frederick. + +His military colleague, General Count von Hahnke, although a charming +man, is, nevertheless, one of the most bitterly-hated officers of the +German army; this is due to the fact that he has virtually usurped +the prerogatives and the power of the minister of war, who has been +reduced to a mere instrument of his wishes. This is not altogether the +fault of the general, for the emperor insists on retaining absolute +control of the army in his own hands, and of exercising its command in +every particular, no appointment being made without his initiative +and sanction, while everything is done through Count Hahnke as supreme +head of the military cabinet of his majesty. + +A few years ago the general lost his son under singularly tragical and +somewhat mysterious circumstances. The misfortune occurred during +one of the annual yachting trips of the kaiser, young Hahnke being a +lieutenant on board the yacht. According to the official version, the +young officer met with his death while coasting down a mountain road +at one of the Norwegian ports at which the yacht had touched, his +bicycle getting beyond his control, and precipitating itself with its +rider over a low stone parapet into a fierce torrent hundreds of feet +below. The emperor happened at the time to have a bruise on the face, +caused by a block and tackle swinging against him during a squall, +while on deck, and on the strength of this temporary disfigurement, +a story most painful to the emperor was circulated to the effect that +his black eye was due to a blow from young Hahnke, who resented some +indignity in connection with the practical jokes and rough horse-play +so frequent on board the _Hohenzollern_ during the emperor's annual +holiday. It was added that the young officer had been given by +military and naval etiquette the alternative of blowing out his +brains, or of taking his life in some other way, as the only means of +saving his name from disgrace and his honor from loss; and a certain +degree of color was given to the tale by the fact that it was +published at full length in a London society newspaper, at the very +time when its proprietor and editor was sojourning at Marienbad with +the Prince of Wales, and in daily intercourse with the British heir +apparent, who was naturally supposed to know the truth about young +Hahnke's death. Perhaps the most striking and convincing evidence of +the absurd fabrication of this story, which has given much sorrow, +both to the emperor and empress, is to be found in the fact that the +young officer's father remained at the head of the emperor's military +cabinet, and has never abandoned, even temporarily, his service near +the kaiser; this the general would certainly not have done had William +been in any sense of the word responsible for the death of his boy. +In fact it was the kindly and tactful sympathy of both the emperor +and the empress that enabled the bereaved father to bear his loss +with fortitude, and his gratitude for the kindness shown to him by his +sovereign is of a deep and undying quality. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Great is the contrast between the Court of Berlin to-day and the +aspect which it presented during the closing years of the reign of old +Emperor William, and were any of the latter's familiars to return to +the place where so much of their existence had been spent, they would +indeed find themselves amidst strange surroundings and strange faces. +In those days, grey and white hair were the rule rather than the +exception. To-day the contrary is the case, and not merely do +the dignitaries of the court and of the army belong to a younger +generation, but also the members of the imperial circle, that is to +say, the princes and princesses of the blood, with whom the emperor +and empress associate as kinsfolk and near relatives. + +The few older members of the reigning house of Prussia who +survive--the contemporaries of the grandfather and father of William +II.--find the atmosphere of the court so different from what they have +been accustomed to in the past, so out of keeping with their ideas--in +one word, feel themselves so little at home there, that they prefer to +stay away as much as they can. Thus Prince Albert of Prussia, one of +the grandest looking soldiers of the imperial army, and certainly one +of the most gigantic in stature, divides his time between Brunswick, +where he holds a court of his own as regent, and England, where he +is accustomed to spend his holidays. The widowed Princess +Frederick-Charles lives nearly all the year round in Italy with +her chamberlain, Baron Wangenheim, whom she is understood to have +morganatically married, and in whose company she occasionally visits +the pope, a circumstance which has led to the rumor that she has +joined the Church of Rome. The widowed Empress Frederick is either +at her lovely castle of Kronberg, near Homburg, which is stocked from +garret to cellar with those art treasures of which she is one of the +finest _connaisseuses_ in Europe, or else is traveling about in Italy, +Austria or England. Indeed the only contemporary of the old Emperor +who still remains at Berlin, and who is occasionally to be seen at +court, giving one the impression of a spectre of the past, is +Prince George, who bears a startling resemblance to the old kaiser +particularly when arrayed in uniform. + +While slightly eccentric, he is remarkably accomplished, and has not +only written a number of German plays over the pen-name of "George +Conrad," which have been successfully staged in Germany, but is even +the author of a drama written in the purest and most exquisitely +correct French, sparkling with Parisian wit and brilliancy, which has +had long runs in many theatres without either the actors or the public +being aware that it was from the pen of a prince of Prussia. + +Until the war of 1870, Prince George was on terms of the utmost +intimacy with the de Goncourts, the Dumases, de Girardin, and all +the principal literary lights of France, with whom he was wont to +foregather on a footing of artistic equality each year at Ems, a +German watering-place much frequented by the French prior to the great +struggle of 1870; of course, since that time his intercourse with +French people has been much more restricted, and through a feeling +of delicacy and tact, with which he is not usually credited, he has +refrained from visiting Paris, or even from setting his foot on French +territory since the war. This, however, has not prevented him from +keeping himself _au courant_ of every literary and dramatic event that +takes place on the banks of the Seine, and a French academician of +my acquaintance who was presented to him last summer at Ems, and +who spent several days there in his company, could not sufficiently +express his amazement, not merely at the extraordinary purity of the +prince's French, but likewise at the amazing manner in which he seems +to have kept track of everything that has happened at Paris in the +world of letters and art, as well as of the French idioms, figures of +speech, and even witticisms of the present day. + +The delicacy which Prince George manifests with regard to the +French people, and his fear lest his admiration for them should be +misinterpreted, is largely due to the treatment that he received at +the hands of Empress Eugenie at Carlsbad, in 1874 or 1875. Having +been a frequent and welcome guest at the Tuileries during the reign of +Napoleon III., the prince, when he found that the widowed empress had +arrived at Carlsbad, and had taken up her residence at the very hotel +at which he was staying, naturally considered that he could not do +otherwise than take some notice of her presence; if he affected to +ignore her, he would have exposed himself to the reproach of gross +discourtesy; at the same time he felt that any public form of +attention might prove unwelcome to her, and might possibly serve to +impair her son's prospects of recovering his father's throne; so he +contented himself with sending her every day magnificent baskets of +flowers, and with bowing to her with the utmost deference, but without +attempting to accost her when he met her in the gardens or park. He +likewise caused it to be intimated to her secretary, M. Pietri, that +if at any moment she felt disposed to accord him an audience, he would +be only too glad of the opportunity to "lay his homage at the feet of +her majesty." That was all. Yet such as it was, the empress managed to +turn it to political account, for she suddenly left Carlsbad, making +it known throughout France, by means of the press, that she had been +compelled to quit the baths, and to interrupt the cure, in consequence +of the undesirable attentions which Prince George of Prussia persisted +in forcing upon her. Naturally, the newspapers made the most of her +story, and were filled with denunciations and abuse of the prince, +some of the sheets asserting, by way of explanation of his +conduct, that he was mentally unbalanced, his mother having been an +acknowledged lunatic, and his brother. Prince Alexander, an imbecile. +Nothing can be further from the truth. It cannot be denied that he +has a few harmless and kindly eccentricities which would attract no +attention whatever in an ordinary septuagenarian, but which excite +comment merely by reason of his rank as a prince of the blood. He is +a gentle, brilliantly accomplished, chivalrous old fellow, without +an enemy in the world, and is a great favorite with the emperor's +children, who will deeply miss him when he passes over to the +majority, and is laid to rest in the family vault of the house of +Hohenzollern. + +With this exception, the princes and princesses of the blood of the +Court of Berlin are all of much the same age as the emperor. They +comprise Prince Henry, his only brother, who is due home from China in +the spring of 1900, and his consort, Princess Irene of Hesse, sister +of the young czarina. Then there is Prince Frederick-Leopold, the +extremely wealthy son of Prussia's celebrated cavalry general, Prince +Frederick-Charles, to whom belonged the credit of taking the French +stronghold of Metz, in the war of 1870. He is married to a younger +sister of the empress, and is, therefore, not only the cousin, but +likewise the brother-in-law of the kaiser. + +Prince Adolph, of Schaumburg-Lippe, although nominally stationed at +Bonn, is also accustomed to spend the entire season at Berlin, with +his wife, Princess Victoria of Prussia, a sister of the kaiser. The +latter is credited with the intention of investing Prince Adolph with +the regency of Brunswick, should it be vacated by Prince Albert, or +else of appointing him Viceroy of Alsace-Lorraine. Princess Aribert +of Anhalt and her husband, too, are very conspicuous figures in the +imperial circle, the princess being a special favorite of the kaiser. +She is his first cousin, being the offspring of Queen Victoria's +daughter Helena, who married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, +the guardian of the present empress, who spent much of her girlhood +in England with Prince and Princess Christian, so that her friendship +with Princess Aribert may be said to date from childhood. Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, the only brother of the empress, +has quieted down to a great extent since his marriage a year ago to +Princess Dorothy of Coburg, and inasmuch as his eighteen-year-old wife +appears to be supremely happy, there is every reason to believe that +he has demonstrated the truth of the good old adage, according to +which "reformed rakes make the best husbands!" The only daughter of +the King of Wurtemberg has made her home at Potsdam and at Berlin +since her marriage to the Prince of Wied, and as she is not only the +cousin, but likewise the most intimate friend of the young Queen +of Holland, the kaiser finds considerable political advantage in +lavishing tokens of his affection and regard upon both her and her +husband. + +Another young couple belonging to the Court of Berlin are Prince and +Princess William of Hohenzollern. The princess is a daughter of the +Sicilian branch of the house of Bourbon, while her husband is the +eldest son of that Leopold of Hohenzollern, on account of whose +election to the throne of Spain in 1870, France embarked upon her +disastrous war with Germany. Young Prince William of Hohenzollern, it +may be added, figured for a time as Crown Prince of Roumania, and as +heir to the throne of his uncle, King Charles; but after living +for some time at Bucharest, he came to the conclusion that life in +Roumania as crown prince was infinitely less agreeable than that of +a scion of the house of Hohenzollern at Berlin, so he renounced his +rights to the Roumanian throne, and came back to Berlin to live. + +His younger brother, Charles of Hohenzollern, divides his time between +Berlin and Potsdam; he is married to Princess Josephine of Belgium, +daughter of that Count of Flanders, who is brother and next heir to +King Leopold. Besides these, there are Prince and Princess Albert +of Saxe-Altenburg, and several other young couples belonging to the +junior sovereign houses of the German empire, who prefer to make +their home at Berlin, and at Potsdam, rather than in the smaller and +infinitely less brilliant capitals of their respective countries. +Moreover, it has now become the fashion among the various non-Prussian +rulers of the German Confederation, to send the junior members of +their families--the young men--to Berlin for a time, in order to +complete their military education under the eyes of the kaiser, and +to be in touch with that general staff which is virtually the Supreme +Council of War of the German army. + +It is for this reason that Prince Louis of Bavaria, although he +notoriously dislikes the kaiser and resents his assumption of +superiority, claiming that the members of the Wittelsbach family are +not the vassals, but the allies of the emperor, nevertheless has sent +first his eldest son, and then each of his younger ones in turn, +to spend a year or two at the Court of Berlin, under the immediate +direction and eye of the kaiser. Prince Louis was particularly anxious +that his eldest son, Rupert, as future King of Bavaria, should get +in touch with the emperor, and become thoroughly acquainted, not +only with Prussian methods, but also with the leading statesmen and +generals, and with the trend of political aims and aspirations at +Berlin. The example of Prince Louis has been followed by all the other +petty German sovereigns, so that there are always about a score of +non-Prussian but German young princes of the blood, giving life and +gayety to the Courts of Berlin, and Potsdam, and taking a leading part +in Berlin society. + +Among the princes there is none, however, who possesses so striking an +individuality as William's only brother, Henry. His assignment to the +command of the German naval forces in the far Orient a couple of years +ago, created much comment and speculation, being construed by many, +both in Germany and abroad, as a banishment resulting from the +kaiser's jealousy and dislike of the very popular Sailor Prince. I +do not believe for one moment that this supposed jealousy exists, +although everything that can possibly be conceived has been done, +unintentionally and intentionally, to create it, in a manner which I +will describe a little further on. + +The reason of Prince Henry's being sent to the far Orient was of a +twofold character. In the first place, the Chinese Empire seemed to +be on the eve of a break-up, and each of the various Great Powers of +Europe, was exerting its utmost energies to secure the lion's share in +the game of grab in progress at Pekin. Scions of European royalty who +visit China and Japan are few and far between, and the emperor very +naturally thought that the presence of Prince Henry at the head of +the German naval forces in Chinese waters--a prince who in addition +to being the kaiser's only brother, is brother-in-law to the Russian +czar, and a grandson of the Queen of England,--would have the effect +of giving to the cause of Germany in the Orient an importance and a +prestige which would atone for the inferiority of its naval strength +in that part of the globe. Then, too, the emperor is generally +believed to have foreseen the conflict between Spain and the United +States, and to have known beforehand of the intention of the latter to +make a dash upon Manila, in order to secure possession of the rich and +fertile Philippine archipelago at the first outbreak of hostilities. +Germany's navy is of such relatively recent origin that its +flag-officers are far from possessing either the spirit of resource, +or the cleverness and diplomacy for which the commanding generals of +the German army are so distinguished. They are men who, officially, +intellectually, and socially, are of an inferior calibre, the majority +of them being of plebeian birth. The emperor held, therefore, that it +was all-important that Germany's squadron in the far Orient should be, +at that particular juncture, under the command of an officer such +as Prince Henry, who, by reason of his royal rank and his intimate +knowledge of his brother's views and wishes, would have the necessary +boldness, tact, and presence of mind to know exactly how to deal with +any crisis that might arise. + +I am perfectly aware that there is a disposition in the United States +to blame Prince Henry for the bad feeling which was caused by the +attitude of the German warships at Manila during the few months that +followed the great American naval victory gained under the guns of +that city, but the trouble was due to the Prussian rear-admiral, +Diederichs, who, to use the expressive phrase of the English captain, +Sir Edward Chichester, in endeavoring to excuse him in the eyes of +Admiral Dewey, "had no sea-manners," and there is no doubt that had +Prince Henry been at Manila, instead of Diederichs, at that moment, +there would have been no friction whatsoever, either between the naval +commanders, or subsequently between the two nations, for Prince Henry +possesses precisely those qualities which would have resulted in +feelings of good-will and friendship with Admiral Dewey. He is modest, +honest, broad-minded, speaks English perfectly, and is entirely free +from any affectation or pose. He is a man, indeed, who has so many +qualities in common with Dewey that it is impossible that they should +not have understood each other, and under the circumstances it is most +unfortunate that the prince happened to be in the northernmost portion +of the China seas at the very time that the battle of Manila was +fought. It may be remembered that matters went on very much more +smoothly between the Germans and the Americans at Manila after the +withdrawal of Admiral Diederichs. + +There was another very important reason for sending Prince Henry to +Manila; he is, of all the members of his house, the one most strongly +imbued with liberal and progressive ideas in political affairs. In +fact, he seems to have inherited all those political views of his +father, Emperor Frederick, which were a source of so much concern +and apprehension to the late Prince Bismarck. To tell the truth, the +political views and aspirations of Henry are diametrically opposed to +those of his elder brother, a circumstance which does not, however, in +any way impair the affection existing between the two. + +At the time when he sent off Prince Henry to China, the kaiser was far +from well, and was suffering more than usually from the painful +malady of the ear already referred to, and which is identical with +the disease which first of all wrecked the mind and then killed his +grand-uncle, King Frederick William IV. Added to this, he is firmly +imbued with the idea that he is destined to meet with a sudden death +at the hands of an assassin, a conviction which never leaves him, +and which is perhaps responsible for that species of stern and even +aggressive air with which he, gazes at the cheering crowds when he +rides home at the head of his troops through the streets of Berlin +or of Potsdam after a day spent in military manoeuvres on the great +plains of Tempelhof. + +If any of my readers feel disposed to condemn him for this +apprehension,--it would be unjust to style it fear,--let them try to +imagine how they themselves would feel if they knew that there were +scores of desperate men and women who had sworn to take their lives by +means of bullets or explosive bombs, fired or hurled from the centre +of some dense crowd, which would destroy the life of the victim of +such an outrage without a moment's warning, or without being able to +even so much as raise a hand in self-defense. + +Now at the time when Prince Henry sailed for China, the young crown +prince was sixteen years of age; that is to say, he lacked two years +of the attainment of his majority. Had anything untoward happened +to the kaiser during the minority of the crown prince, Prince Henry +would, according to the laws of the house of Hohenzollern and of the +Prussian constitution, have been appointed as regent until his nephew +came of age. Prince Henry's right to the regency, as nearest +male relative, was one of which he could not be deprived, save by +altogether exceptional and questionable methods, which both policy +and fraternal affection forbade the emperor to employ. Yet he realized +that were Henry to be entrusted with the regency he would change +in the most radical fashion the course of the ship of state; would +introduce measures dear to the late Emperor Frederick, but to which +he, the kaiser, was unalterably opposed, and would, in short, undo +everything that he himself had done; so that when eventually the crown +prince came of age there would be no longer any possibility of his +continuing his father's policy, a policy which the emperor has been at +great pains to inculcate into his boy. + +With Prince Henry at the Antipodes, there was an excuse for vesting +the regency either in the harmless hands of Frederick-Leopold, or in +those of Prince Albert, whose ideas on the subject of government are +to a great extent in keeping with those of the kaiser. That was one +of the reasons why Henry was sent off to China, and any doubt upon the +subject will be removed by remembering the fact that his sojourn in +the far East will terminate with the eighteenth birthday,--the coming +of age--of his nephew, the young crown prince. + +That such real and lasting affection should subsist between +William and Henry is indeed surprising, and speaks volumes for the +warm-heartedness, and I might almost say magnanimity of the kaiser's +character. For everything that could possibly have contributed to +render him jealous of his brother, has been done, as I remarked above. + +Henry was always favored at the expense of William by his father and +mother, as well as by the entire imperial family. In fact, the late +emperor gave a striking expression of his preference for his younger +son, when at the time of the prince's marriage to Princess Irene of +Hesse, he pressed into Henry's hand a slip of paper--he could not +speak any longer, owing to the awful malady which carried him off,--on +which he had written, "_You at least have never given me a moment's +sorrow, and will make as good a husband as you have been a loving +son_;" and when soon after this Emperor Frederick breathed his last, +it was found that he had left the major part of his fortune either +to Henry directly, or to Empress Frederick, in trust for this, his +favorite son. + +This privileged position in the affection of his parents, aye, and +it may be added in the hearts of the German people, is due in a large +measure to Prince Henry's education. He was brought up, so to speak, +at sea, and the moral profession is of all others the one which +calls forth all the best qualities of a man, develops manliness, and +diminishes pride and affectation. Before he was twenty years of age, +he had twice circumnavigated the globe, visiting every corner of the +earth, and carrying the flag of Germany into regions where it had +never been seen before. This in itself was sufficient to interest +Germans in the young prince, the first of his house to seek adventures +in such far distant climes; and this healthy, manly, interesting mode +of life was compared to his advantage with the somewhat dissipated +existence of a young army officer, which his elder brother, prior to +his marriage, indulged in at Berlin. + +Occasionally, stories reached the public through the press of feats +of gallantry performed by the royal sailor, such as the plunging +overboard once in a squall, and at another time in shark-infested +waters, to save drowning sailors; while every incident which thus +became known concerning the young prince served to confirm his +countrymen in the belief that he was endowed in an altogether +exceptional degree with those qualities which we are so fond of +ascribing to "those who go down to the sea in ships." These long sea +voyages had, moreover, the effect of keeping him clear of all +those court and political intrigues with which Emperor William was +surrounded, as if with a very network, prior to his accession to the +throne; intrigues, I may add, which since William became emperor, have +been devoted to many a futile endeavor designed to create mischief +between the two brothers. It is probable that they will have less +effect than ever from henceforth, since William, now that his eldest +boy has attained his majority, will have no longer any reason to +apprehend the possibility of Henry's undoing, in the capacity of +regent, all the work that he, the kaiser, has accomplished during the +eleven years of his reign; indeed, now that this danger is eliminated, +the two brothers are likely to become more intimate than ever, and the +Court of Berlin will probably see much more of the sailor prince than +heretofore. Henry is the very life of his brother's court, as he is +not only extremely fond of making fun, even at the expense sometimes +of his majesty, especially about the excessively earnest attitude +which the emperor assumes, with regard to the most trivial questions. +Absolutely unconventional, save on his own quarter-deck, he carries +about with him an atmosphere of brightness and breeziness which is +almost as infectious and as bracing as a whiff of sea air. + +For all his love of skylarking, and the freedom of his manners, his +name has never been associated with any questionable story, save by +the gutter element of the Parisian press, which endeavored to drag him +into the Dreyfus case by declaring that Germany's strange attitude in +the affair was due to the alleged knowledge the French War Department +of terrible immorality proved to have been committed by Prince Henry +during frequent secret visits to Paris. Of course there is not a word +of truth in these contemptible stories, and the prince's reputation as +a perfect husband and a healthy-minded gentleman, stands high, even +in Berlin, where people are overfond of scandalous gossip. Certainly +there are plenty of stories current about the pranks that he has +played, but these are all of an innocent and boyish character. The +prince creates the impression of the most complete wholesomeness; his +six feet of well set up manhood, his bright eyes and clear, tanned +skin, seem the outward and visible sign of a thoroughly clean and +sound mind; common sense, frankness, fearlessness, dignity and +kindness, are written in his every feature in a way that reminds +people vividly of his lamented father; while the easy movements of +an athletic body, always apparently in the pink of condition, are +evidently allied to the smooth serenity of a mind confident in itself, +but modest with the humility of knowledge. + +After having said so much that is pleasant of the prince, I must, +in pursuance of my determination to give the shadows as well as the +lights of my portraits, admit that there are two particulars in which +Prince Henry cannot be said to shine. One of these is public speaking, +and the other is shooting; he is as unfortunate in the one respect as +in the other. + +His only public utterance of any importance was made at the time +of his departure for China, when he addressed the emperor in such +extravagant terms, referring to his "consecrated majesty," and so on, +that it created mingled feelings of amazement and amusement from one +end of the civilized world to the other! There has always been an +impression in my mind that there was in this extraordinary speech just +a suspicion of a disposition to guy his brother: for not only were the +terms that he used entirely foreign to his character,--their _outre_ +tenor bordering on the ridiculous,--but it is impossible for anyone +who has ever heard him chaffing his seasick brother while out +yachting, putting his head in at the cabin door every now and again, +and calling out, "Well, Willie, how do you feel now, and what has +become of your imperial dignity?" to believe that he was really +serious when he so solemnly ascribed divine attributes to this +selfsame Willie. + +I heard that after the prince's arrival in China, where banquets were +given in his honor by the German and English leading colonists, he was +repeatedly asked to make a few remarks in reply to the toasts drunk +in his honor, but that on each occasion he politely informed his hosts +that he would see them in Jericho before he got on his feet to address +them. "Only once in my life," he was wont to say, "did I make a +speech, and I shall never hear the end of that to the close of my +days!" A little later on, when the Shanghai correspondent of the +London _Times_ was presented to him, he himself referred to this most +celebrated and oft-quoted speech by inquiring good-humoredly, and +withal plaintively, "By the way, don't you think your newspapers have +roasted me enough about it?" + +With regard to his shooting, there is no scion of royalty who has been +the cause of more gun accidents than the prince. He had not attained +his majority before he managed, while shooting in the game preserves +of his uncle, the Grand Duke of Baden, to wound a gamekeeper so +severely that the man was crippled for life, and has since been in the +receipt of a generous pension from the prince. Then in Corfu, while +clambering up a steep hill, he had the misfortune to unintentionally +discharge his gun, the lead lodging in a Greek gentleman who was +following a few feet behind him and grievously injuring him; while +at a later period he succeeded in inflicting serious damage upon a +Turkish dignitary appointed by the Sultan to attend him during his +shooting trips in Syria. It is of him, too, that is related the story +of how, when asked as a youth of twenty, by Queen Victoria, during +one of his stays at Balmoral, what sport he had had while out deer +stalking, he replied proudly: "Well, grandma, I did not succeed in +killing a stag, but I hit quite a number." It is recorded that there +was a painful silence after this remark, and that the prince was not +again urged to go out deer stalking during his stay at Balmoral! + +Princess Henry is probably the least favored, both as to beauty and +brilliancy of intellect, of the daughters of the late Grand Duke of +Hesse, and of his consort, Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen +Victoria. Her three sisters, the Grand Duchess Sergius of Russia, +Princess Louis of Battenberg, and the young czarina, are renowned for +their loveliness and their cleverness, the latter inherited from their +talented mother; whereas Princess Irene and her brother, the reigning +Grand Duke of Hesse, take far more after their father. Princess Irene +was born in 1866, during the Seven Weeks' War, when her father was +called upon to fight his own brothers in the Prussian army, and his +brother-in-law, the late Emperor Frederick, then Crown Prince of +Prussia. Her baptismal sponsors were the officers and men belonging +to the two cavalry regiments under her father's special command during +that war:--there is no other princess in Europe who has ever had two +entire regiments of cavalry for godfathers! The name of Irene was +bestowed upon her by way of gratitude for the restoration of peace, +and she used always to be known in her young days at Darmstadt as the +"Friedenskind," or "child of peace." After her mother's death from +diphtheria, it was the latter's eldest sister, the now widowed Empress +Frederick, who endeavored, as far as possible, to look after the +children, and it was perhaps this that led to Prince Henry's falling +in love with his cousin. The match was strongly opposed by Prince +Bismarck, partly upon the ground of the close relationship of the +parties, but mainly on account of his hatred for the reigning house of +Hesse. But when Prince Henry declared that he would remain single all +his life unless he were allowed to marry Princess Irene, consent was +given, and the wedding took place at Charlottenburg in the presence +of the dying Emperor Frederick, this being the last public ceremony at +which he was present. One of the saddest of sights, indeed, was that +presented by "Unser Fritz," almost too weak to stand, giving his +voiceless blessing after the ceremony to his favorite son, and to +his new daughter-in-law, who, having been born in a time of war and +misery, was entering upon her new life as a wife at a time when the +whole nation was once more sorrowing. While Princess Irene is +perhaps less attractive than her sisters, she is more interested in +philanthropic movements than any other member of her family, and at +Kiel, where she makes her home, she is greatly liked, especially by +the poor. She is a magnificent equestrienne, and a very clever shot, +being infinitely more successful in this respect than her husband, who +is so devoted to her that he bears this superiority with the greatest +equanimity. + +Although Prince Frederick-Leopold has certainly relieved himself from +any imputation of effeminacy by the conspicuous part he took in the +long-distance rides between Berlin and Vienna, and by his magnificent +horsemanship, yet he does not convey to people the impression of +manliness that constitutes so distinguishing a characteristic of his +cousins, Prince Henry and the kaiser. He is lacking alike in virility +and intellect, and seems to have no other aim and aspiration in life +than to live up to his name and reputation as the leader of masculine +fashion or "Gigerl Koenig," which may be rendered into English as +"king of the dudes." They say at the Court of Berlin that he is so +particular about the fit of his clothes that he will never remain +seated for more than five minutes at a time, not even when traveling, +for fear of spoiling the crease in his trousers or of making them +baggy at the knees! He does not attempt to disguise the fact that +the faultlessness of his coats or of his uniforms is an object of +paramount importance. These are, however, very harmless weaknesses, +which are more than atoned for by the fact that he is an excellent +father and husband, but the obstinacy of his temper and his vagaries +as a leader of masculine fashion at Berlin have often been a source of +impatience and irritation to the kaiser. It is only just to lay stress +on his excellence both as a husband and a father, as all sorts of +stories have been circulated, not merely in the foreign press, but +also in the German newspapers, charging him with intemperance and with +brutality towards his wife, who is a younger sister of the empress, +such as to necessitate the intervention of the kaiser. + +These stories are pure calumnies, and originate in a confusion between +the prince and his father, the celebrated cavalry general. The latter, +popularly known as the "Red Prince," was the commander to whom Metz +capitulated in 1870, and was not only noted for his hard drinking, +but likewise for his rough usage of his amiable and formerly lovely +consort when he was in his cups. He is credited with having frequently +beaten her, either with his fist or with his riding whip, when crazed +with drink; and it is no secret that she left him on three occasions +with the avowed intention of securing a separation and even divorce, +and was only persuaded to return to her husband by the entreaties of +the old emperor. + +Of course all this was a matter of court gossip at the time, and three +or four years ago the stories formerly current concerning the father, +who has been dead for more than a decade, were revived with regard to +his son, for no other reason than that the prince had quite frequently +rendered himself subject to disciplinary measures by the kaiser. If +the latter has, however, ordered him to remain under arrest in his +palace at various times, it has not been as a punishment for having +horsewhipped his wife when drunk, as some foreign illustrated papers +would have the world believe, but only because the prince had been +guilty of some neglect in military duty, or had disobeyed the wishes +of the emperor in connection with the management of his household. + +Thus, some two or three winters ago, Princess Frederick-Leopold was +almost drowned while out skating near Potsdam; she broke through the +ice, was completely unconscious when miraculously rescued by four +peasants who happened to be in the neighborhood, and was only brought +back to life with the utmost difficulty. The emperor and empress +were naturally much concerned and distressed by this accident; but +William's sympathy changed into very serious anger when he learnt that +the princess had remained so long under the ice and had been dependent +on the courage and bravery of the peasants who rescued her, only +because neither her husband nor any of the gentlemen of his household +had been in attendance upon her. In fact, she was quite alone with a +lady-in-waiting, who lost her head, and was completely unable to offer +any assistance when the mishap occurred. The emperor also discovered +that on the previous day the princess had, without any escort +whatsoever, skated alone all the way from Potsdam to Brandenburg and +back, a remarkable feat, calling for much endurance and attended by +no little danger. Now, as I have already stated, it is contrary to the +rules of court etiquette and usage for any prince or princess of the +blood to leave their residence, unattended, and it was on account of +the infraction of this regulation that the kaiser sentenced both the +prince and his consort to several weeks' arrest in their palace. It +was this circumstance that gave rise to the ridiculous and sensational +tale of the prince having been punished by the emperor in consequence +of the latter having caught him in the act of beating the princess +while in a fit of drunken fury. + +Prince Frederick-Leopold is a great traveller, and has not only spent +a considerable time in India as the guest of his brother-in-law, the +Duke of Connaught, when the latter was in military command at Bombay, +but, moreover, he has visited China and Japan, and devoted several +months to a tour in the United States, which was wound up by some +rather exciting events at Coney Island before his return home to +Berlin. + +[Illustration: _SCENE IN DUKE ERNEST GUNTHER'S QUARTERS_ +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +Of the bachelorhood days of the kaiser's other brother-in-law, Duke +Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, already mentioned several times +in these pages, especially in connection with the anonymous letter +scandal, the least said the better. A hard-drinking, dissipated, and +somewhat coarse-mannered cavalry officer, he has often been a source +of perpetual anger to the kaiser and of distress to his sister, the +excellent empress. He managed to get his name involved in all sorts of +unsavory speculations on the stock exchange and in gambling scandals, +invariably, it is true, as a victim; while at least three foreign +footlight favorites were expelled from Germany by the police on +account of the scandals created by his association with them. On one +occasion, he even had the audacity to appear at Charlottenburg with a +notorious American "_demi-mondaine_" seated beside him on the box of +his drag, although his sister, the empress, was present at the races, +as well as a large number of ladies of the court and many great +dignitaries. Seeing the servants of his coach arrayed in the familiar +liveries of his house, they all naturally imagined that the +lady beside the duke was one of his sisters, either Princess +Frederick-Leopold or Princess Fedora, and accorded to her the homage +which would have belonged by right to either of these two princesses, +but which was totally misplaced when conceded to a woman of such +unenviable notoriety as the fair stranger who sat beside the duke. +Needless to add that the emperor was furious when he heard of the +affair, and after giving orders for the immediate expulsion of the +woman, directed the prince to leave Berlin, and to remain at his +castle of Prinkenau until he had expiated his gross and flagrant +breach of the proprieties. + +Duke Ernest-Gunther was a suitor for the hand of quite a large number +of princesses, and among those to whom he proposed were the daughters +of the Prince of Wales and of the latter's brother, the Duke of +Coburg, his suit being rejected with touching unanimity in each +instance, in consequence of his unenviable reputation. Yet strangely +enough, as stated previously, he seems to have developed into +an exemplary husband, although his marriage was contracted under +circumstances which, verged on a tragedy; for his wife, a mere +seventeen-year-old girl, just issuing from the school-room when he +made an offer for her hand, was literally flung into his arms by both +her parents, who were determined to separate from each other, and who +had been informed by Emperor Francis-Joseph of Austria, and by King +Leopold of Belgium, that no such step could be tolerated until after +the marriage of little Princess "Dolly," the only daughter of this +ill-matched couple. The betrothal took place in due course at Vienna. +But before the marriage could follow, the young girl's mother, namely, +Princess Louise of Coburg and of Belgium, deliberately eloped from the +Austrian capital with her husband's chamberlain, the Hungarian Count +Keglewitch; and what was worse, took her daughter with her. The trio +fled to Nice, where they were visited by King Leopold, who after +endeavoring in vain to persuade the princess to return to her husband +at Vienna, discarded her in hot anger, declaring that she was no +longer his daughter! + +The next act in the drama was a challenge issued by Prince Philip of +Coburg against Count Keglewitch, who left Nice for the encounter: the +duel was fought in the army riding-school at Vienna, the commander of +the metropolitan garrison and the minister of war acting as seconds +to Prince Philip, although duelling is strictly forbidden by law in +Austria, as it is in Germany. Prince Philip received a painful wound +in the hand, and the count forthwith left to rejoin the princess at +Nice. The publicity given to this duel had the unfortunate result, +however, of calling attention to the presence of poor little Princess +Dorothy at Nice with her misguided mother and the count, and the +princess having been warned by the Austrian authorities and the French +police that her daughter would be taken from her by force unless she +relinquished her hold upon the child, she sent her back to Vienna, +whence the girl was immediately dispatched to Dresden and placed under +the care of the mother and the unmarried sister of the German empress, +with whom she remained until her marriage. + +Shortly after her departure from Nice, her mother was forced to take +flight in consequence of the persecution to which she was subjected by +her creditors; and with a shamelessness that can only be explained on +the score of an unbalanced mind, she deliberately returned to Austria +with her lover, and coolly took up her residence at his castle near +Agram, where the count actually made preparations for a siege, in +order to resist by force any attempt on the part of the authorities to +take the princess from him. + +Ultimately, both were captured by strategy, and while the princess was +conveyed under police escort to Vienna, and lodged at the request of +her husband in a lunatic asylum, on the sworn statements of two court +physicians concerning her insanity, the count was placed under close +arrest at Agram on the charge of grossly immoral conduct, unbecoming +an officer and a gentleman. Before he had been very long in the +military prison, this charge was changed to one of forgery; for it was +discovered that there were notes in circulation at Vienna and Paris +to the extent of more than a million dollars, which the count had +negotiated, and which bore the forged signature of Princess Louise's +sister, the widowed Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria. + +The count of course denied that he had forged the signature, but +as the fact remains that he negotiated the notes, and that Princess +Louise, who, failing himself, can alone have been the culprit, is +officially declared insane, and legally irresponsible, he has had to +bear the brunt of the affair, and is now, after having undergone the +terrible ceremony of military degradation, working out a sentence of +five years' penal servitude in a fortress; doubtless comparing his +fate with that of the celebrated Baron Trench, who was imprisoned +for years in the dungeons of Spandau, and of Magdeburg, for having +compromised the fair name of the sister of Frederick the Great by +indiscreet attentions. + +Princess Louise is now under strict restraint in an asylum for the +insane near Dresden, and inasmuch as both her father, King Leopold of +the Belgians, and her husband, have declined to pay any of her +debts, public sales of her belongings, even of her dresses and her +under-garments, were permitted to take place at Vienna and at Nice +for the benefit of her creditors. It is only fair to the unfortunate +princess to state that her entire married life has been one of +uninterrupted misery, owing to the brutality and drunken habits of +her husband, who is noted as one of the most dissolute princes in +all Europe. In fact if court gossip at Berlin and Vienna is to be +believed, the princess first became enamored of Count Keglewitch when +the latter, in attendance on the princely couple as their chamberlain, +interfered one day to protect her from the blows of her husband. + +It was amidst circumstances such as these that Princess Dorothy was +married to Duke Ernest-Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, neither her +father nor her mother being present at her marriage; the reigning Duke +of Coburg, as chief of the Coburg family figuring in the place of her +parents, and giving her away at the altar. That with such a father, +such a mother, and with a husband of such a past reputation for +dissipation and wildness, the little princess should have found +happiness in marriage, is, to say the least, surprising. But the duke +seems devoted to his little wife, while she on her side is completely +wrapped up in her husband, and thinks him perfect, in every way. + +Yet another brother-in-law of the kaiser who is a conspicuous figure +at the Court of Berlin, is Prince Adolphus of Schaumburg-Lippe, +married to Princess Victoria, the least attractive and least +popular of William's sisters. After several flirtations of a rather +sensational character with young Count Andrassy, and several other gay +diplomats and noblemen, which were a source of amusement to the court, +although of great concern to her mother, she ultimately fell in love +with Prince Alexander of Battenburg, who at the time had just been +forced to abandon the throne of Bulgaria, and who was certainly one of +the handsomest and most fascinating of European princes. The prince, +who was at the time, to put matters plainly, out of a job, being +without fortune or future, was persuaded by his relatives, notably by +his brother Henry, who had married Princess Beatrice of England, +to apply for her hand; this he did, on the understanding that his +marriage to her would facilitate his restoration to the German army, +from which he had resigned on ascending the throne of Bulgaria; for as +a general of the Prussian army, he anticipated retrieving the prestige +and fame which he had lost as ruler of Bulgaria. + +Prince Bismarck, however, set his face strongly against the match on +the ground that it would impair the friendly relations between the +Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg, Prince Alexander being for +personal reasons an object of the most intense animosity to the late +czar. Indeed, it was this hatred on the part of the late Emperor of +Russia that had rendered it impossible for Prince Alexander to retain +his throne of Bulgaria. Old Emperor William, supported his chancellor +in the matter, and while the late Emperor Frederick, at that time +merely crown prince, remained quite passive, the cause of Princess +Victoria and Prince Alexander was strongly championed by Empress +Frederick and Queen Victoria. The controversy continued even after the +death of old Emperor William, and finally, in face of the persistent +hostility in the matter displayed by Prince Bismarck, and by the +present kaiser, it was arranged that the couple should be married, not +in Germany, but in England, at Windsor Castle, and that they should +make their home elsewhere than in Germany. This, however, did not meet +the views of Prince Alexander, who thus saw all his ambition for a +military career in the German army frustrated instead of promoted by +the union. So at the very last moment, within a few days of the date +appointed for the wedding at Windsor, and after all the trousseau had +been purchased and the wedding presents bought, he deliberately +jilted his royal fiancee, and married at Nice, an actress named Mlle. +Loesinger, an offspring of the valet and the cook of the old Austrian +General Faviani. + +The prince, it may be remembered, subsequently abandoned the title +and status of a Prince Battenberg, secured the title of Count Hartenau +from his father's old friend and comrade, the Emperor of Austria, as +well as a colonelcy in the Austrian army, and died as major-general in +command of a brigade at Gratz. + +It was more than a year after this, that Princess Victoria found a +husband in the insignificant-looking and inoffensive Prince Adolph of +Schaumburg-Lippe, son of Prince George of that ilk, the prince at that +time serving as Captain of Hussars at Bonn. Soon afterwards, Emperor +William learning that Prince Waldemar of Lippe was dying, took +advantage of the fact that he was rather weak-minded to induce him to +sign a species of will bequeathing the regency of the principality at +his death to Prince Adolph of Schaumburg-Lippe, the next heir to the +throne of Lippe; his brother Alexander of Lippe being an incurable +lunatic. On the strength of this document, which was of a purely +personal character, and which was neither ratified by the legislature +of the principality of Lippe, nor recognized by the federal council of +the German empire, Prince Adolph, with the assistance of a couple +of Prussian regiments, coolly took possession of the principality of +Lippe, proclaimed himself regent, and assumed the reins of government. + +According to the laws of Germany governing the succession of its +sovereign houses, the regency in such a case as that presented by the +principality of Lippe, should have fallen to the lot of the nearest +living agnate. The latter happened to be Count Ernest of Lippe, chief +of the Beisterfeld branch of the Lippe family. Prince Adolph, however, +and his brother-in-law, Emperor William, took the ground that Count +Ernest was debarred from the regency, and from succession to the +throne on the death of the crazy Prince Alexander, by the fact +that sometime in the early part of the last century one of his male +ancestors had contracted a mesalliance, and thus brought a plebeian +strain into the family. This contention was accepted neither by the +people of Lippe, nor by the count; they appealed to the tribunals +of the empire, and to every reigning family of Germany in turn, the +entire non-Prussian press, as well as many newspapers in Prussia +itself, espousing their cause. + +Finally, the emperor and his brother-in-law were forced by +popular clamor to consent to bring the matter before a tribunal of +arbitration, composed of the principal judges of the Supreme Federal +Court at Leipzig, presided over for the occasion by the dean and +veteran of German sovereigns, King Albert of Saxony. The tribunal, +after due deliberation, rendered a decision against the emperor and +Prince Adolph; directing the latter to at once surrender the regency +and the Lippe estates, which are immensely valuable, yielding an +income of eight hundred thousand dollars, to Count Ernest of Lippe, +on the ground that if a mesalliance such as the one contracted by the +count's eighteenth-century ancestor were to be considered sufficient +to invalidate his rights to the regency and to the succession to the +throne, as the nearest living male relative of the crazy reigning +prince, half the thrones of Germany would have to be vacated by their +present occupants. + +It was pointed out by the arbitrators that if the contention of Prince +Adolph and the kaiser were admitted, the Grand Duke of Baden would +have to abandon his throne; the branch of the Baden family to which +he belonged being descended from a prince of Baden who contracted a +mesalliance at the close of the last century; that all the children of +the emperor himself would be barred from succession to the throne of +Germany, since the great-grandfather of the present Empress of Germany +was the offspring of a terrible mesalliance; while last, but not +least, Prince Adolph himself was descended from a prince of Lippe who +towards the close of the last century, fell in love with and married +the daughter of a mere writ-server, whose blood flows in the veins of +the emperor's brother-in-law. + +Emperor William and Prince Adolph bitterly resented the setback to +which they were subjected by this decree of the King of Saxony; and +although they were forced to yield in the present instance, they +threatened to reopen the entire question should anything untoward +happen to the present regent, Count Lippe, for they insist that under +no circumstances can any of his sons be permitted to inherit either +his rights or his honors, owing to the fact that his wife, the +Countess of Lippe, is also the issue of a mesalliance, her mother +having been an American girl, a native of Philadelphia, who married +Count Leopold Wartensleben. On the strength of this, Prussian +authorities, military as well as civilian, while directed to accord +to the Count of Lippe the honors due to the regent of a German +sovereignty, are forbidden to recognize in any way either the count's +consort or his children, on the ground that these can only be regarded +as morganatic, and as such debarred from the tokens of respect due to +full-fledged members of a sovereign house. + +Naturally, all this has served to render Prince Adolph and his wife +extremely unpopular throughout the length and breadth of Germany; and +when a short time ago there was a question of appointing the prince +as regent of the Duchy of Brunswick in succession to Prince Albert +of Prussia, who is tired of the post, or as a stadtholder of +Alsace-Lorraine in the place of Prince Herman Hohenlohe, the press +throughout Germany, and even in Prussia, raised its voice in protest +against the emperor's forcing his brother-in-law into places for which +he was in no sense of the word fitted, either by his talents, his +administrative skill, his tact, or his intellectual abilities. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Although Germany's young crown prince has until now been more or less +of a stranger to court functions and gaieties at Berlin, his time +being absorbed by his studies at the military academy of Ploen, and his +holidays spent in travel and Alpine expeditions, yet, as he is about +to celebrate his majority, and has passed from the stages of boyhood +to those of manhood, he will be from henceforth a personage of the +utmost importance--second only in rank to the emperor. + +Destined, in course of time, to succeed to the throne and to the +immense responsibilities of his father, and to become virtually the +autocratic ruler of a nation of fifty million people, as well as the +absolute master of the greatest military power on the face of the +globe, every scrap of information concerning this youth must naturally +be of vast interest, not only to his future subjects, but also to +the entire civilized world. Under the circumstances, therefore, it is +satisfactory to be able to say truthfully that Germany's future kaiser +is a fine, healthy-minded, healthy-bodied lad, disposed to take an +extremely serious view of his duties and his obligations, and who, +thanks to the excellent education which he has received both from his +parents and his teachers, seems destined to prove a wise as well as a +popular monarch. + +It seems but the other day that the young crown prince, as a chubby +ten-year-old lad, was being introduced by his father to the officers +and men of the first regiment of Foot Guards at Potsdam, to which, +in accordance with traditional usage, he was appointed on his tenth +birthday as lieutenant. There may be some of my readers who were +present on that occasion, and who may remember the spectacle presented +by the little fellow, vainly endeavoring to keep step with the giant +strides of these huge grenadiers, the tallest men in the German army, +during the march-past that followed the ceremony. Since then there +have been so many portraits of the crown prince published, as he +appeared at that time, that this taken in conjunction with the rapid +flight of years, renders it difficult to realize that he is now no +longer a little boy, but a youth considerably taller and almost as +broad and stalwart as his father, whose best friend he has become. + +William and his eldest boy are fondly devoted to each other. To the +crown prince, his father is in every sense of the word "William second +to none;" while the kaiser himself is entirely wrapped up in his heir. +For the last few years the emperor has given every spare moment that +he could snatch away from his multifarious occupations to the task of +instilling his ideas and views into the crown prince. In talking +and reasoning with him, he has treated the lad as far older than his +years, has discussed with him, in fact, as if he were a man; and it +is due to this that Germany's future emperor is at the present moment +remarkably mature for his age, and really in a position to view +matters with a degree of experience and knowledge that are unrivalled +in so young a man. As a general rule, young people are unwilling to +accept the advice of their elders, or to benefit by their experience, +convinced that their seniors are behind the spirit of the age, and in +no sense of the word up to date. But with the German crown prince this +is different: he is so imbued with the idea that his father is wiser +and better than anyone else in the world, that he is willing and glad +to accept the paternal recommendations and to benefit by paternal +advice. + +Yet with all this the lad is not a prig, nor is he forward or +presumptuous. True, he has a keen sense of his own dignity, but it +takes the form of an extreme simplicity, and of an absolute lack of +affectation, since he is intelligent enough to realize that his rank +and position are sufficiently assured to render it unnecessary that he +should call attention thereto either by his manner or by his speech. +He is modest too, very frank, particularly courteous to old people, +boyishly chivalrous to women, and firmly convinced that there is no +member of the fair sex in the entire world who is so ideally perfect +in appearance, as well as in character, as his mother. + +I would not for all the world that this description of the crown +prince should in any way convey the impression to my readers that he +is a milksop or an overgrown child! Devoted to every form of sport, a +splendid gymnast, a clever oarsman, a skilful driver and a bold rider, +an excellent shot, he is in every sense of the word a manly young +fellow, who, however, has been kept free from all contact with the +darker sides of life, and who still retains, therefore, mingled with +the experience of a grown man, much of the innocence and freshness of +mind of a mere boy. Indeed, he is a son of whom any father and mother +might well be proud! + +Fair-haired and blue-eyed, with the down of a blond moustache upon his +upper lip, the young prince is a typical Hohenzollern, and resembles +his grandfather, Emperor Frederick, more than he does his father. He +is passionately devoted to everything military, and keenly relishes +the idea that the six months following the attainment of his majority +are to be devoted to military duties at Potsdam, for although he has +held a commission of lieutenant of the first regiment of Foot Guards +since his tenth year, he is only now about to be called upon to fulfil +the duties of his rank with the regiment. + +It will be in every sense of the word an arduous training, for the +first regiment of Guards being considered all the world over as the +crack corps of the German army, and as the embodiment of military +perfection in every sense of the word, its officers, realizing that +it is, so to speak, the star phalanx of Germany, are engaged, morning, +noon and night, in maintaining it at its proper standard, and there +are no officers anywhere in Europe who are so hard worked as those +of the first regiment of Prussian Guards;--that regiment which in the +days of Frederick the Great's father was composed entirely of giants, +recruited, or rather purchased often, at a cost of several thousand +dollars apiece, from all parts of the world! + +The prince must be on the drill grounds and the manoeuvre fields as +early as four o'clock in the morning, returning for a sort of luncheon +towards ten or eleven; he must devote his afternoon to military +studies of one kind or another; while from four o'clock till seven his +time will be taken up by barrack-room inspections, company reports, +and the other thousand and one duties incidental to regimental life +in Germany. In the case of the crown prince the work will be +exceptionally heavy, as he is expected to acquire in the course of six +months an experience which other subalterns take years to obtain. At +the end of the term in question he is to go to Bonn, there to take +his seat, like his father before him, on the benches of the celebrated +university as an ordinary student. + +From his eighteenth birthday the crown prince will have an +establishment and a civil list of his own. He will have his court +marshal, who will be at the same time the treasurer, governor, and +chief officer of his household. He will have his aids-de-camp, who +will, as far as possible, be young men of his own age and alive to the +responsibilities of their office; he will also have a palace of his +own, stables of his own, and his own shooting. Indeed the forest of +Spandau has already been for some time past strictly preserved in view +of his coming of age. + +This particular forest has from time immemorial been assigned as the +particular game-park of the heir to the crown. The crown prince is +to make his home in the so-called "Stadtschloss" at Potsdam, where +he will occupy the same suite of apartments that was tenanted by his +parents during the alterations that recently took place at the "Neues +Palais." This palace was erected at the close of the seventeenth +century, and contains, among other objects of interest, the furniture +used by Frederick the Great, the coverings of which were nearly all +torn to shreds by the claws of his dog; his writing-table covered with +ink-stains, his library filled with Trench books, music composed by +himself, etc. The various halls and rooms are kept nearly in the same +manner, indeed, as when he used them. Adjoining his bedroom there is +a small cabinet, where he used to dine alone or with Voltaire, without +attendants, everything coming through the floor on a dumbwaiter, the +king himself placing the dishes on the table. + +It is in this palace, haunted, one might almost say, at every point +by memories and by the spirit of the most famous of Prussian kings, +a monarch distinguished as a general, as an administrator and as a +philosopher, that Germany's future emperor will from henceforth make +his home until he in turn, on the death of his father, will migrate, +as did the latter, from the so-called Stadtschloss to the "Neues +Palais," two miles and a half distant. The crown prince is also to +have a residence of his own at Berlin, where he is to occupy the +Bellevue Palace during the court season. + +Among other characteristics of the young crown prince is his fondness +for animals, and the extraordinary influence which, even as a child, +he has always seemed to exercise over them. He succeeded in training +his ponies, his dogs and other domestic pets to perform such clever +tricks that on several occasions he managed, with the assistance of +his brothers, to organize very creditable circus performances, usually +in honor of the birthday of his father or his mother. There was one +instance especially that I may recall, which took place some years +ago. This particular performance began in the afternoon at three, with +a prologue spoken by Prince August William, in which he mentioned the +different items of the programme. Then each of the royal lads led his +pony in front of the box in which the imperial couple sat with their +guests, and the crown prince put his horse "Daretz," through all kinds +of tricks, of a high school character, winding up by making the horse +kneel in token of salute before the emperor and empress. More trick +riding on another horse named "Puck," belonging to the crown prince, +followed, and thereupon there was a comical _intermezzo_, in which +Prince Adalbert and Prince Eitel took the part of two clowns. Later +on, the crown prince's dogs were brought on the scene, and his +favorite "Tom" went through some extraordinary antics, walking about +all over the ring on his hind legs, tolling bells, driving other of +the prince's dogs with reins, and jumping through hoops covered +with tissue paper. The whole affair lasted over two hours, was very +entertaining, even to grown-up people who did not happen to be related +to the organizers of the entertainment, and did great credit to +the cleverness of the crown prince, and above all to the marvellous +influence which he exercises over animals of every description. + +Military tastes in the royal lad have been developed by the games +and pastimes in which he and his brothers were encouraged to indulge; +hence, in the grounds of the Bellevue Palace at Berlin, as well as in +a corner of the great park of the Neues Palais at Potsdam, the boys +constructed full-fledged forts with water-filled moats, and cleverly +constructed bastions, which were stormed from time to time in due +form, and being defended with the utmost tenacity, hard knocks were +ofttimes given and received. The playmates of the crown prince and his +brothers have been not merely the sons of nobles forming part of the +imperial household and court, but likewise the children of employes of +much less exalted rank, such as the sons of lodge-keepers, gardeners, +game-keepers, etc., who all played and tumbled with the young princes +on a footing of the most perfect equality, drubbing one another +totally irrespective of rank. It is a pleasant thing to know that +friendships thus formed subsist in after life; as an instance, when +the kaiser's sister, now crown princess of Greece, sent to Germany +some time ago for a nursery governess for her young children, she +was able to acquire the services of her old girlhood playmate, the +daughter of one of the gardeners employed at the "Neues Palais." + +The crown prince may be said to have traveled over all Germany, and +that, too, in the most democratic and sensible fashion. In Germany, +and, in fact, all over the continent of Europe, a pedestrian tour, +domestic and foreign, constitutes part and parcel of the education +of every youth, especially those of the industrial classes. No +apprenticeship is considered complete without the accomplishment of a +trip of this kind, which is usually performed with a knapsack on the +back, and in the most economical manner imaginable. This portion of +the youth's life is known as his "_wanderjahr_" and the traveler is +known by the name of "_wanderbuersche_" The trip serves to broaden the +mind of the "_buersche,_" to render him self-reliant, and to give him +a knowledge and experience of the world--aye, and of his craft as +well--that he could never obtain if he remained at home. Emperor +William, who in many things is so exceedingly reactionary, and +so apparently assured that royalty is constructed of an entirely +different clay than that used for ordinary folks, gave a manifestation +of those democratic notions which constitute such a paradox to the +remainder of his character by sending forth his three eldest boys each +year during their holidays on a pedestrian tour through the length and +breadth of his dominions, just as if they were the sons of artisans, +and were compelled to learn a trade for a living. The crown prince and +his brothers traveled, not in a palace-car, nor in carriages, but on +foot, with knapsacks on their backs, and spending the nights at mere +roadside inns. They had no servant with them, only their military +governor, Colonel von Falkenheyn, and his assistant, the latter a +lieutenant of the guards, and the name tinder which they journeyed was +an incognito one; indeed, so cleverly did they manage to conceal their +identity that it was hardly ever revealed. + +It is difficult to imagine anything that appealed more to the masses +in Germany than this manner adopted by the kaiser for making his sons +acquainted with the world. It was felt that the royal lads, with their +knapsacks on their backs, afoot, and with no indication of their rank, +would obtain by actual experience a contact with the people and a +knowledge which they could never hope to acquire if they had +toured through the land in special trains, on horseback, or in +splendidly-appointed carriages. Moreover, it makes every German youth, +trudging along the dusty roads, and ignorant for the most part of +where and how he is to sup and sleep that night, feel that after +all his lot is not such a very unenviable one, since even his future +monarch has been a "_wanderbuersche_," like himself. + +It is probable that before the education of the crown prince is +considered complete, he will be sent on a trip around the world, +mainly with the object of endowing him with that breadth of mind +which foreign travel alone can give, and partly also with the idea of +reviving the dormant loyalty of Germans who have settled in foreign +lands. Emperor William has frequently expressed the opinion that +among the hitherto unused factors in German politics, are the Germans +established in the United States, in Australia, and in other equally +distant climes. While he does not in any way expect or imagine that +Germans who have thus emigrated from the Fatherland, will render +themselves guilty of any disloyalty to the land of their adoption, yet +he believes that by keeping alive their memories of the old country, +and their affection for its reigning house they may help Germany by +using their political influence in their new home for the benefit +of Germany. Thus William, in spite of all that has been said to the +contrary, has in contemplation an eventual understanding if not an +actual alliance with the United States; this result to be brought +about largely through the influence of the immense and prosperous +German population in America, and he believes that the project is +likely to be promoted and fostered by a visit of his eldest son, the +crown prince, to the United States for the purpose of making himself +acquainted, not only with the country, but above all with its German +inhabitants. + +In making the grand tour of the world, the crown prince will be but +following in the footsteps of the heirs to the thrones of Austria and +Belgium, who have both visited the United States for the purpose of +improving their minds, and of fitting themselves more thoroughly +for their duties as twentieth century rulers. The present Emperor of +Russia, and his younger brother, the late Czarevitch George, likewise +started on a tour round the world, which in the case of George was cut +short at Bombay by that sickness to which he subsequently succumbed, +while the globe-trotting tour of Nicholas was brought to a sudden +close through his attempted assassination in Japan. + +No pen-sketch of the young Crown Prince of Germany would be complete +without a reference to his remarkable skill as a violinist, an +instrument which he has been studying steadily ever since his eighth +year, under the direction of the Berlin court violinist Von Exner. He +seems to have inherited all the musical talent for which the reigning +house of Prussia is so celebrated, and to which I propose to devote at +least a part of the following chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +If it is observable that the taste, ear, and talent for music prevail +among the inhabitants of the mountain districts of the world far more +extensively than among the populations of the plains, it is no less +true that nearly all persons belonging to the exalted spheres of +life, for instance, emperors and kings and their consorts, as well as +princes and princesses of the blood, are not only passionately fond +of music, but frequently absolute melomaniacs. In none of the reigning +houses, however, is this particular branch of art developed to such +an extent as in the Hohenzollern family. Thus the collection of the +compositions for the flute by Frederick the Great discovered some ten +years ago in the lumber rooms of the "Neues Palais" at Potsdam, and +recently published after being edited by Professor Spitta, proves that +the royal patron of Voltaire, and the founder of Prussia's military +power was no mere dilettante, but a real genius in the art of +composition. Prince Louis Ferdinand, the son of Frederick the Great's +brother, who courted and met with a premature death at Saalfeld, while +rashly engaging the French enemy, against strict orders, showed, with +all his eccentricities, remarkable musical gifts, leaving in fact +behind him a variety of compositions for orchestras. He also wrote a +march which is published under his name. + +Among the collection of marches constantly used in the Prussian army, +is one composed by Frederick-William III. in 1806, which occupies a +place between that of Frederick the Great, written in 1741, and +the well-known Dessauer march. In that very same collection are the +so-called _"Geschwind Marsch," No. 148, for infantry_, the _"Parade +Marsch" No. 51, for cavalry_, and the _"Marsch Fuer Cavallerie" No. +55_, which emanate from the pen of Princess Charlotte of Prussia, +niece of old Emperor William, and first wife of the present reigning +Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. It is doubtless from her that Prince Bernhardt +of Saxe-Meiningen, married to the eldest sister of the present kaiser, +has inherited his powers of composition, for his name figures on +the title page of many a piece of music; and among his other more +important works has been the setting to music of _"the Persians of +Aeschylus,"_ which has been most successfully staged at Athens. This +is published under the initials of _"E.B." (Erbprinz Bernhardt)_. + +Though King Frederick-William IV. did not himself add anything to +royal musical literature, as did his predecessors on the throne, he +devoted much attention to ecclesiastical melody and song. The Berlin +cathedral choir of men and boys--trained to sing without musical +accompaniments--owes its origin to his ambition for having a choir in +his own Protestant basilica at Berlin, corresponding more or less +to the Pope's in the Sistine Chapel of Rome. It was he who engaged +Mendelssohn as director of this choir, as well as composer; and it was +the latter's successor, the director of the music of the Chapel Royal +at the Prussian court, who compiled a collection of volumes containing +settings of many of the Psalms of David, most beautifully arranged. + +Among living Hohenzollerns, musical talent is most strongly developed. +Prince Albert, regent of Brunswick, is not only a composer of rare +genius, but likewise a most talented organist. His son, Prince +Joachim, has inherited his talent for composition, and is the author +of some eight works, which have been printed for circulation, in court +circles only, and have not become the property of the public; the +cleverest of them being a festal march, written for his father's +birthday, and a grand funeral march. He shares his father's intense +devotion to Bach and Handel, as well as his fondness for the works +of Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart, and is a most accomplished +performer on the violoncello, being a pupil of the well-known master +of that instrument, Professor Luedemann. Prince Albert's sister, the +widowed Duchess William of Mecklenberg-Schwerin, has been particularly +active as a composer of songs for mezzo soprano, but none of her +works, which are printed for private circulation under the initials of +"A.H.M.", have been placed on public sale. Her songs, some thirty in +number, are melodious and full of feeling. She seems to thoroughly +understand how to bring out the meaning of the words of her +composition, the melody of one of them, _"Ein Duerres Blatt"_ +furnishing a particularly striking illustration of this peculiarity; +they left a very lasting impression upon my mind. Among her +collections is an English song, beginning with the words: + + "No ditch is too deep, + And no wall is too high, + If two love each other + They'll meet by-and-by." + +The music of this is particularly sweet, graceful and tender. + +Prince Henry, the sailor brother of the kaiser, has written a number +of pieces, one of the best known and most popular of which is called +the _"Matrosen Marsch,"_ which is to be purchased in all large music +stores. He also holds his own as a first-class amateur performer, both +on the violin and the piano. His sister, the crown princess of Greece, +a pupil of Rufer, excels on the organ, as does also the widowed +Empress Frederick, while there is not one of the children of the +present kaiser who does not possess musical gifts of a high order, +which are being developed both in theory and in practice by celebrated +professors and masters. + +There is no doubt that, but for the weakness of his left arm, Emperor +William would have been as skilful a performer as the other members +of his family. As it is, his devotion to music is restricted to +composition and to conducting. The kaiser is very fond of acting +as bandmaster during the musical soirees given at court, and other +entertainments of this kind honored by the presence of the reigning +family. It has been claimed that he is the first Prussian ruler to +thus wield the baton since the days of Frederick the Great. But this +is not the case, for I recall being present, many years ago, at a +dinner at the palace of Koblenz, given by Empress Augusta in honor of +her consort, old Emperor William, who had come over from Ems for the +purpose, when during the dinner the old emperor remarked that the band +of the Augusta regiment, which was playing at the further end of the +White Hall, had played the ballet melody of _"Satanella"_ in too +fast a time. Rising from his seat, and pushing aside the screen which +concealed the band from view, he took the baton from the hand of the +bandmaster, and after exclaiming: "Very quietly and slowly, gentlemen, +if you please," he tapped twice on the music-stand in front of him, +and then commenced to conduct with as much skill and art as if he had +never done anything else in his life. Several times during the course +of the piece he exclaimed "Noch ruehiger," (still more gently) and +when the end of the piece was reached he laid down the baton with +the remark, "Now, that was fine," and, thanking the band with a very +friendly and kindly smile, returned to his seat at table. + +The present kaiser's principal contribution to music is undoubtedly +his composition of the melody to the "_Sang am Aegir,_" a poem +of considerable power by his friend Count Philipp Eulenburg. The +composition begins as follows: + +[Illustration: O Ae-gir Herr der Flu-then dem Nix und Nex sich beugt!] + +The words may be rendered as: + + "Of Aegir, Lord of the Waves, + Whom mermaids and mermen revere." + +The bars that follow rivet the attention of the listener on account of +their weird originality. They are full of feeling, very melodious, +and easily caught by the ear. Towards the close, the melody breaks off +into a purely military strain, so that the final bars are suggestive +of the sound of trumpets, recalling to mind some ancient martial +fanfare. + +William has a very marked predilection for Wagnerian music, and is the +life and soul of the "Potsdam-Berlin Wagner Society," which is one of +the most influential social institutions of the Prussian capital. +His principal lieutenant and Adlatus in the management of this +association, which is in every sense of the word a court institution, +is Major von Chelius, who holds a commission in the kaiser's own body +regiment of Hussars of the Guard. The major is a particular favorite +of both the emperor and the empress, and he takes a very prominent +part in all the musical entertainments at court, almost invariably +playing the piano accompaniments for the singing of Princess Albert +of Saxe-Altenburg, and of Prince Max of Baden, who possesses a +rich baritone voice. The major is the composer of the popular opera +"_Haschisch,_" and has inherited his musical talents from his mother, +a Hamburger by birth. His father is a dignitary of the Court of Baden, +while his wife, a most charming woman, was, prior to her marriage, a +Fraulein von Puttkamer, a member, therefore, of the same family as the +late Princess Bismarck. + +But although manifesting a preference for Wagner, the kaiser is not +averse to Mozart, or to the Italian school. "_Der Freischuetz_" is one +of his favorite operas, and while he does not care for Falstaff, he +is very fond of "_I Medici_," and greatly admires Leon Cavallo. He +possesses a very correct ear, and a most pleasing voice, and many +of his evenings are passed in trying new songs, his wife, who is an +excellent pianist, playing the accompaniment. + +Though quite as passionately fond of music as the Hohenzollerns, the +Hapsburgs have achieved less distinction as composers, and even as +performers. Indeed, there are but two scions of the reigning house of +Austria, who can be said to have won any kind of fame as composers, +namely, the missing Archduke John, who was the author of an +exceedingly pretty and catchy ballet that still figures on the +repertoire of the imperial opera, and Archduke Joseph, so well known +by the name of the "Gypsy Archduke," who has done more than anyone +else in Europe to place on record, both in writing and in print, +the weird music and extraordinary quaint melodies of the Tziganes, +melodies which he has arranged exquisitely for orchestral use. True, +there is not a single archduke or archduchess in Austria and Hungary, +who does not play with taste and feeling. Indeed, music seems to be +inborn in them, and while the widowed crown princess is devoted to +her piano, on which her performances are characterized by a superb +technique, but coupled alas! with a complete absence of sentiment, her +husband, the lamented Crown Prince Rudolph, was a composer of no +mean power and seemed at times to pour forth his entire soul in the +melodies which he coaxed from this instrument. Indeed he often sat at +the piano for hours, playing, in a manner indescribably expressive and +touching, airs improvised on the spur of the moment, which, while they +remained impressed on the minds and ears of those present, would seem +to fade at once from the memory of the prince himself. His was what +may be called a true genius for music. + +The member of the House of Hapsburg most famous in the annals of music +of the present century, was undoubtedly that Archduke Rudolph, son of +Emperor Leopold II., who died a cardinal. He was the protector, the +friend and disciple of Beethoven, many of whose most famous works, +would assuredly have remained unwritten had it not been for the fact +that he received the same powerful support, both material and moral, +from the imperial cardinal as Richard Wagner obtained from King Louis +of Bavaria. + +With regard to Archduke Joseph, the above-mentioned "Gypsy Archduke," +there is no doubt that without him the outer world would still have +been left in ignorance of the incalculably rich mine of Tzigane music. +He is only distantly related to Emperor Francis-Joseph, being the +senior member of a branch of the house of Hapsburg which has been +settled for more than one hundred years in Hungary. His father's +entire life was spent there, where he held the office of Viceroy, and +it is there that Archduke Joseph himself was entirely brought up, and +where he has spent his whole existence. + +At an early age he was attracted to the gypsies by their music, and it +was this that led him to think of their welfare, and to devote himself +to the study of the characteristics, the history and the origin of +these mysterious nomads. Until he took them under his protection, they +were regarded more or less as pariahs of Central and Southern Europe, +the hand of every man being against them, and the authorities and +people at large combining to subject them to persecution of the most +cruel character. Their gratitude to the archduke when he obtained +better treatment for them knew no bounds, and was shown, among other +instances, in a notable manner during the Austro-Prussian. war, when +Joseph was at the head of a division of Magyar troops. + +"Our retreat," so the archduke tells the story, "before the advance of +the Prussian army, immediately preceding the battle of Sadowa, led +us to camp one night in the neighborhood of a town in Bohemia. I was +lodged in a peasant's cottage, when about midnight I heard the +sentry at my door hoarsely challenging some new-comer. My aid-de-camp +entered, and reported that a gypsy wanted to see me in private. + +"On my asking the dusky visitor in Romani what was the matter, he told +me that the enemy was approaching to surprise us. + +"'The outposts have not heard anything suspicious?' I remarked. + +"'No, your imperial highness,' he replied, 'because the enemy is still +a long way off.' + +"'But how do you know this?' I asked. + +"'Come to the window,' replied the Zingari, leading me forward to the +narrow glazed opening in the rough wall, and directing my gaze to the +dark sky, lighted by the silver rays of the moon. 'Do you see those +birds flying over the woods towards the south?' + +"'Yes, I see them. What of it?' + +"'What of it? Do not birds sleep as well as men? They would certainly +not fly about at night-time thus had they not been disturbed. The +enemy is marching through the wood southwards, and has frightened and +driven the birds before it.' + +"I at once ordered the outposts to be reinforced, and the camp to be +alarmed. Two hours later, the outposts were fighting fiercely with the +foe, and I was able to realize that my camp and my division had been +saved from surprise and destruction only by the keen observation and +sagacity of a grateful gypsy." + +The archduke spent a large sum of money, some years ago, in +endeavoring to turn the gypsies from their nomadic life, and to induce +them to settle down, in order to devote their time and energies to the +practice of the wonderful art of working metal, which they possess to +so marked a degree, instead of roaming aimlessly about, and sometimes +thieving, as is unfortunately their habit. He built a number of +villages for them in the district surrounding Presburg, and organized +gypsy settlements. But the scheme proved a failure. The Tziganes, true +to the instincts that they have inherited from countless generations, +abandoned the comfortable houses, the fields and blossoming gardens +with which they had been provided by their imperial benefactor. They +refused to till the soil, and commenced once more their interminable +wanderings. + +In spite of this fiasco, the archduke still continues to consider +himself as the protector of the Romanys, and remains proud of his +title of "Gypsy Prince," being sagacious enough to realize that it +is impossible for a race to eradicate from their character, in a +comparatively short space of time, traits that have been theirs for +hundreds, nay thousands of years; for the origin of these gypsies is +still shrouded in mystery and lost in the gloom of prehistoric ages, +although it is probable that they are of Persian descent. + +While Emperor William's taste as regards music meets with very +widespread approval, and his gifts as a composer are very generally +recognized, he has been less fortunate with regard to other branches +of art; notably in the matter of painting, where he finds himself in +frequent conflict with his people, especially with the great painters +of his empire. Of all the muses there is none so truly democratic as +that of pictorial art. The pictorial muse displays a truly republican +intolerance of control on the part of either king or government. Hence +it is only natural that Germany, which has produced in the past, +and still possesses, so many world-famed painters and architectural +designers, should strongly resent the kaiser's assumption of the +supreme arbitership in all matters relating to art. His subjects +submitted to his claim of "_Regis voluntas suprema lex_," in matters +connected with the administration of the government, in diplomacy, +in the drama, in music, and in literature, but they deny his power to +impose upon them his taste in pictorial art. + +It is no exaggeration to state that the emperor is in almost perpetual +conflict, and at open war with the great majority of German painters +and designers--a notable exception being the case of Professor von +Menzel. Indeed, their discontent occasionally breaks forth with +an intensity altogether new in the annals of German loyalty to the +throne. A very remarkable instance thereof is the means which they +adopted to show their disapproval of the emperor's treatment of +Wallot, the designer of the palace of the imperial parliament. Wallot +is universally recognized as the foremost architect of the age in +Germany, and his original design for the building, as accepted by +the authorities, was a very grandiose and magnificent conception. +Financial considerations necessitated the modification of some of the +features of the building, while others were forced upon the architect +sorely against his will by the emperor, with the result that the +palace is not quite so superb as originally projected. It remains, +however, a magnificent and imposing pile, well worthy of the purpose +for which it has been erected, and in no way a displeasing monument of +German art and architecture as understood in the nineteenth century. + +All the recognized authorities, both Teuton and foreign, in questions +of art and architecture, have pronounced themselves in this sense, +the only discordant note being that to which the emperor has given +utterance. Not only has he publicly declared the new Reichshaus to +be "the very acme of bad taste," but he even went to the length of +striking the designer's name from the list of gold medalists at the +exhibition of art and architecture held at Berlin shortly after the +completion and inauguration of the building. The gold medal had been +voted to Herr Wallot by a jury composed of all the most celebrated +artists in Germany, whose verdict, representing that of the nation, +might have been considered as definite and final. The kaiser, however, +when the list was submitted to him for final approval, substituted, +in lieu of the name of Professor Wallot, that of his favorite +portrait painter, Madame Palma Parlaghy, whose work is, in the eyes of +Germany's leading artists, so execrable that the hanging committee of +the Berlin Academy have repeatedly refused to accord places to any of +her pictures on its walls. + +Madame Parlaghy is a pupil of Makart and of Lenbach, and a native of +Hadji-Dorog, in Hungary. She is between thirty and forty, possessed +of glittering, enigmatic eyes, highly-colored cheeks and lips, and the +almost too profuse head of hair that one sees so often on the shores +of the Danube. Her beauty may, nevertheless, be described as majestic, +and she conveys the idea of being a woman possessed of considerable +strength of mind, as well as much diplomacy. She was first recommended +to the emperor by the present Czarina of Russia, to whom she gave +drawing lessons, prior to the marriage of the empress, and after +William had obtained an idea of her skill by a very pleasing portrait +which she painted of Field Marshal von Moltke, which was, however, +rejected by the hanging committee of an art exhibition at Berlin, he +purchased the picture in question for a large sum, and likewise gave +her an order to paint several portraits of himself, declaring openly +that if the judgment of the leading Berlin artists were to be final in +the matter of admitting paintings to public galleries and exhibitions, +there would never be a single work of art worthy of the name on view. +Madame Parlaghy's portraits of the emperor, though questionable as +works of art, are, it must be confessed, very flattering likenesses of +his majesty. + +It was shortly after this slight inflicted by the emperor on Professor +Wallot, and the honor conferred upon Madame Parlaghy, that the +National Society of Architects and the National Association +of Artists, the two principal organizations of the kind in +Germany--composed of all that is most eminent in the realms of +architecture and art--jointly invited Professor Wallot to a great +banquet in Berlin, at which over six hundred guests were present, in +the course of which William was guyed in a most merciless manner! The +chief ornament on the principal table was a model of the Reichshaus in +"Schwarzbrod," cheese and confectionery. The dome consisted of a Dutch +cheese, the "Germania" on the top was represented by a smartly aproned +chambermaid on horseback, the horse being led by a footman in imperial +livery, while the whole was labeled "Der gipfel des geschmack,"--the +acme of taste. Another item of the programme was a sort of automatic +machine, which, when a gold medal was placed in the slot, would +perform "Der gesang an Ihr,"--the song to her--meaning, of course, +Madame Parlaghy. + +The joke, I need hardly say, consisted in the parodying of the title +of the emperor's musical composition "Sang am Aegir!" The +lustre hanging from the ceiling, which is known in Germany as a +"Kronleuchter" was in the form of an old crinoline. At the entrance to +the banqueting hall hung the representation of a gold medal, which +a lady painter was trying in vain to grasp. The tone of the speeches +throughout the evening was in thorough keeping with the decorations, +and it is doubtful whether such a bold exhibition of independence, +and even disloyalty towards the sovereign, has ever been seen in the +Prussian capital. It speaks well for William's good sense that he +should have refrained from proceeding against any of the organizers of +the entertainment on the ground of _lese majeste_. + +There is, as I stated above, one Prussian painter, however, of whom +the kaiser is exceedingly fond, whose eminence in art is acknowledged, +not only in Germany, but all the world over, and upon whom William +has lavished the highest honors that it is in his power to bestow. The +painter in question is Professor von Menzel; popularly known in Berlin +as "His Little Excellency," owing to his diminutive size, his stature +being about four feet nine inches! Professor Menzel, who is of the +most humble origin, is to-day a Knight of the Order of the Black +Eagle, which is the Prussian equivalent of the English Order of the +Garter, or of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece, this +decoration carrying with it a patent of hereditary nobility. He is now +considerably over eighty, but from his twelfth year he has earned his +living by means of his brush and palette. All his principal paintings +are devoted to the illustration of historic episodes of Prussian +history and of the reigning house of Hohenzollern. One of his +masterpieces is entitled "The Flute Concert," and represents Frederick +the Great in his palace at Sans-Souci, at a concert with the principal +members of court and his household around him. + +One evening the emperor sent for old Menzel, and asked him to join the +royal family at Sans-Souci. When the little painter alighted he was +conducted to the imperial presence, and was somewhat astonished +to notice that the sentinels at the various doors instead of being +arrayed in their ordinary uniform, wore the military garb of the time +of Frederick the Great. But his surprise developed into downright +amazement, when at length two folding-doors were thrown open, and he +found himself in the same apartment which had furnished the scene of +his painting of "The Flute Concert." The room was lighted, as in +olden times, with wax candles, the old-time furniture was disposed +identically as represented in his painting, and, moreover, the company +assembled was composed of men in the costumes of the time of Frederick +the Great, and of ladies attired in the picturesque dress of the +middle of the last century. There advanced to welcome the astounded +artist a personage who, but for the moustache, was the very image +of Frederick the Great, and in whom the little professor had +some difficulty to recognize the kaiser. William greeted him with +old-fashioned courtesy, using the elaborate politeness of our great +grandfathers, and after having presented the little painter to all +the guests, the ladies curtsying deeply in the fashion of the Court of +Versailles, and the men bowing low, Menzel was led by the emperor to +a seat beside the empress, and the emperor's private band, whose +uniforms were in perfect keeping with the costumes of the guests, +played first of all several of Frederick the Great's compositions for +the flute, and then a few of Bach's loveliest _morceaux_. The emperor +himself remained standing beside the little painter's chair throughout +the entire concert, the empress alone and some of her ladies being +seated, while the remainder of the fair guests, as well as all the +men, stood about the apartment endeavoring as far as possible to group +themselves in the same way as the personages figuring in Menzel's +painting. After the concert was finished, the company adjourned to an +adjoining room, Menzel occupying the place of honor to the right of +the empress, while the emperor toasted the little fellow with more +than ordinary eloquence and cordiality. + +It is doubtful whether any sovereign has ever gone to such lengths +in order to honor the leading artist of his dominions, and it is +difficult to speak too highly of the delicacy of the compliment, or of +its originality. It might have been sufficient to turn the head of +any other painter than Menzel. But while he is devoted to the reigning +family there is certainly no one who is less of a courtier. In fact he +is terribly outspoken, and never hesitates to speak to his sovereign +with the fearless sincerity of a Diogenes. Of a truth, there is no end +to the stories current, illustrating his independence of character. +Once, having been commissioned by the grandfather of the present +kaiser, namely, old Emperor William, to paint a picture of his +coronation as King of Prussia, he reproduced with too much exactitude, +and too little flattery, the features of the emperor's exceedingly +vain and by no means youthful consort, Empress Augusta. Her majesty +insisted that he should alter his portrait of her, and render it +more attractive, but this Menzel absolutely refused to do, and the +consequence was that the empress on numerous occasions made him feel +the weight of her displeasure. + +The old painter bided his time, and eventually got even with her in +a very characteristic fashion. Being entrusted with the task of +reproducing on canvas the scene of the emperor's departure for the +seat of war in 1870, he portrayed the Empress Augusta with her face +entirely concealed in her handkerchief, as if weeping, although she +prided herself on not having shed a single tear on that occasion. + +Another time during the life of old Field Marshal Wrangel, a lady of +the court, more famous for her vanity than her beauty, complained +to him that Menzel had done her scant justice in a large picture +representing some important event of contemporary court history. +Wrangel, who was famous as a brow-beating bully of the good old +Prussian type,--people trembling at the mere sight of him,--promised +to see Menzel, and to make him change the portrait of the lady to a +more flattering likeness. Greatly to his surprise, however, when he +broached the subject to Menzel, he discovered that the latter greatly +resented such meddlesomeness. Indeed, Menzel even had the temerity to +suggest that field marshals would do far better to attend to subjects +that they knew something about than to the art of painting, of which +they knew nothing. Wrangel flared up, so did Menzel, and soon the +air was blue with finely characterized and bona-fide Prussian oaths, +punctuated with the angry sarcasms of the enraged painter. The upshot +of the interview was that Wrangel, who had never before turned his +back on an enemy, was compelled to beat an ignominious retreat without +having accomplished his object; but before disappearing through the +door of the studio, he turned and positively yelled at the painter: + +"You are a disgusting little toad, and your picture is vile." + +While most of the members of the House of Hapsburg paint and sketch +with a good deal of cleverness and skill, there is only one, namely, +the now widowed Archduchess Maria-Theresa, who can be regarded as an +artist in every sense of the word. She excels alike with the chisel +and the brush, while during the lifetime of her husband, her salon +became, in spite of the strictness of Austrian court etiquette, +the one place where eminent artists were certain to find a cordial +welcome, irrespective of birth or social status. + +The studio of the archduchess is situated on the second floor of her +palace, in the Favoritenstrasse, and is a very lofty, long and narrow +apartment, looking out on the street. It is particularly remarkable +for its simplicity, presenting therein a powerful contrast to the +magnificence of the two salons through which it is necessary to pass +in order to reach it. The few stools, tabourets, armchairs and divans +therein contained, are upholstered with soft-toned Oriental rugs, the +walls are hidden by some sort of olive-colored velvety fabric, and +the wall opposite the windows is divided in the middle by a species +of gallery, the exquisite wood carvings of which were brought by +the archduchess herself from Meran. The parqueted floors are partly +concealed by the skins of tigers and polar bears, shot in the Arctic +regions and in India by her brother, Dom Miguel, Duke of Braganza, the +legitimist pretender to the throne of Portugal, while on easels, and +suspended from the walls, are oil-color portraits by the archduchess +of Baroness C. Kolmossy, to whom she is indebted for her knowledge of +painting, of her husband, the late Archduke Charles-Louis, and of her +sister-in-law, the lamented Empress Elizabeth, in riding habit and in +ball-dress. + +There is also a very pretty picture of a cat in the act of effecting +its escape from the basket in which it had been confined, and +a wonderful crayon sketch of Maria-Theresa's stepson, Archduke +Francis-Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The +colossal fire-place niched in one of the corners of the studio, is +surmounted, not by a mirror, but by a panel of well-nigh priceless +Oriental embroidery, the brilliant colors of which have been softened +and rendered harmonious and mellow by age. + +The doors are draped by portieres of Flemish tapestry, and shielded +by Mucharabieh screens of curiously-carved wood from Cairo. Preserved +from dust and damage beneath plate-glass are some unique pieces of +antique Venetian point lace, presented by another brother-in-law, Don +Alfonso of Spain, the younger brother of the Pretender Don Carlos, +while on a huge square writing-table, the equipments of which are +of Oriental gold filigree-work, richly jewelled, are usually +found letters either to or from the favorite brother-in-law of the +archduchess, Duke Charles-Theodore of Bavaria, the celebrated oculist, +who during the course of his practice has performed more than three +thousand successful operations for cataract without accepting a single +penny-piece by way of remuneration. + +True, the patients of this royal physician are nearly all of them poor +people, and it is for their benefit that he has converted one of his +castles into an ophthalmic hospital, and another palace into a species +of convalescent home and resort, where poor gentlefolk and government +servants with inadequate means can spend a couple of weeks in the +country free of all cost. + +It is difficult to refrain from a deep degree of sympathy for this so +brilliant and accomplished Archduchess Maria-Theresa, whose character +is best illustrated by the fact that she is literally worshipped by +her grown-up step-children. The sudden death of her husband was not +only a cruel bereavement, but was also the destruction of great and +much-cherished ambitions. + +Through the death of Crown Prince Rudolph, her husband, as next +brother to Emperor Francis-Joseph, became heir to the throne, and +owing to the refusal of Empress Elizabeth to take any part whatsoever +in court life, the archduchess was from that moment, to all intents +and purposes, the "first lady in the land." It was she who presided +at all court ceremonies and official functions, who received the +presentations, and who filled the post of empress alike at Vienna +and at Pesth. Her husband was entirely swayed by her, and completely +subject to her influence, and it is notorious that she looked for the +day when, through his accession to the throne, she would become +the virtual ruler of the great dual empire, and be in a position to +inaugurate all sorts of political ideas, peculiar to herself, notably +in connection with a reversal of Austria's present foreign policy. She +has never made any secret of her disapproval of the Austrian alliance +with Italy, and has even gone so far as to attend with her husband +public meetings in favor of the restoration of the temporal power of +the Papacy, at which King Humbert was bitterly denounced and abused +as a usurper! There seemed no reason whatsoever why her consort should +not live to succeed his elder brother, and as the archduke possessed +a singularly strong constitution, and had scarcely suffered a single +hour's illness since his childhood, there was no cause to fear any +untoward event. Indeed he might have been alive at the present moment +had it not been for his unfortunate pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where +in some way he contracted the malady which carried him off so very +suddenly. He enjoys the distinction of being the only member of his +house whose whole body reposes in the vault of the Capuchin Church +at Vienna, where so many hundred Hapsburgs sleep, some in coffins of +silver and gold, others in caskets of exquisitely ornamented copper. +According to a very gruesome custom in vogue with the reigning house +of Austria for many centuries, the heart is extracted from the body of +the imperial dead within twenty-four hours after their demise, placed +in a silver urn filled with spirits of wine, hermetically sealed, and +then conveyed with the utmost pomp and ceremony, though at night, +to the old cathedral of St. Stephen, where it is received with much +solemnity by the clergy, and placed in niches of the wall, near the +high altar. The entrails are in the same way removed, and conveyed +with identically the same ceremonies to the ancient church of the +Augustines, and it is only what is left that is buried in the vaults +of the Capuchin Church. + +Archduke Charles-Louis did not relish this extraordinary yet +traditional treatment of his remains after death, and fervently +believing in the resurrection of the body in the flesh, thought it +distinctly uncanny that his heart and his entrails should each have +to go hunting through the city for his body on the Day of Judgment. +Accordingly, he was laid to rest just as he died, instead of being +entombed, like all the other members of the House of Hapsburg, in +sections. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +If I have refrained in the preceding chapter from making any mention +of the attainments of the Dowager Empress Frederick, either as +a sculptor or as a painter, it is because she is so immeasurably +superior to all other royal personages in the realms of art that she +can no longer be regarded as a mere amateur, no matter how clever. +Besides this, her individuality is so strong, her intellectual gifts +so great, and the part which she has played in German politics so +important that she really deserves separate treatment. + +If I link her name with that of her daughter-in-law, Empress +Augusta-Victoria, it is because the latter's influence on German +affairs has been even still more weighty, though she is far less +brilliant and clever than her husband's mother. Indeed my readers +after perusing this chapter may feel disposed to ask themselves +whether ordinary intelligence in high places does not work more +successfully than genius. + +It is difficult to describe Empress Frederick as anything else than +a genius. Certainly I have never known a more gifted woman. The +diversity, the scope, and the depth of her knowledge are simply +amazing. In conversation it is difficult to broach any subject, no +matter what it is, that she has not mastered. Her acquaintance with +the mediaeval, Renaissance and modern schools of painting, and with +every form and work of art industry is unsurpassed even by those men +who have devoted their entire lives to these studies. I have on one +and the same evening heard her converse on Venetian art with Ludovic +Passini, proving herself his equal in her astounding knowledge of +Venice, past and present; talk with a distinguished physician, who was +amazed by the theoretical knowledge which she displayed of the throat +and breathing organs, and who declared that if she had only had +practical experience, she would have been the finest throat specialist +in the world; and discuss literature with a celebrated Englishman of +letters, chiding him upon his admitting his inability to cap a passage +from Pope, which she quoted! The late Sir Richard Wallace, than whom +no one possessed a more profound knowledge of the masterpieces of the +painters, goldsmiths, jewelers and potters of bygone centuries, was +wont to declare that Empress Frederick surpassed him as an expert, +although, with unlimited wealth at his disposal, he had devoted more +than half a century of his life to the collection of "chefs d'oeuvre" +in all parts of the world. + +The depth of her researches into chemical science exceeds that of Lord +Salisbury, who is her most intimate personal friend in England, and +at whose Elizabethan country seat she invariably visits when in her +native country, most of her time while under his roof being spent with +him in his laboratory. But it is particularly as an artist, both with +brush and chisel, that she excels, and while as a painter she ranks +with some of the leading professional masters of the present day, as a +sculptor she surpasses anything achieved or even attempted as yet by a +woman. + +The subject which naturally stimulates her most to artistic effort is +the portraiture of her fondly-loved husband. His memory, although he +has been dead eleven years, is so fresh in her mind, her eye is so +capable of recalling his image, and her hand is so well trained to +follow her impressions, and to reproduce what she can visualize, that +no sculptor could vie with her in reproducing his splendid form and +manly features. She once gave a commission to the celebrated German +sculptor Uphues for a colossal statue of "Unser Fritz," and calling +at the artists' studio, whilst he was at work on his clay model, she +pointed out to him some points in which he had not caught the right +expression. Verbal explanations not adequately conveying her meaning, +she asked permission to use the roughing chisel, set to work, and +in half an hour with a touch here and a touch there, modified the +features to such a degree that the sculptor was astounded at the +striking improvement. The model has since been transferred to marble, +and is universally considered to be the best portrait extant of +Emperor Frederick. + +No greater tribute to her brilliancy and penetration in the matter +of statecraft could possibly be given than the undisguised and openly +acknowledged animosity with which she was, throughout her married +life, regarded by the late Prince Bismarck, who feared her more than +all his masculine rivals and opponents together. She was a political +foe worthy in every respect of his steel, for she repeatedly +checkmated his moves; and if he sometimes spoke of her with a +brutality and a degree of vehemence altogether out of place, this +must be regarded as more in the light of a compliment than as an +intentional piece of discourtesy, as it was a virtual admission of +the fact that her opposition to his projects was of altogether too +masculine and virile a character to admit for one moment of his +according to her that forbearance and chivalrous deference which men +as a rule are wont to concede to women as a tribute to their sex. She +fought him unceasingly, from the time when he violated the Prussian +constitution, shortly before the war with Denmark, until the day +when through her efforts and statecraft he was driven from office,--a +vanquished foe. He had used in vain every weapon against her that his +ingenuity could devise. He had even gone so far as to publicly charge +her with treason in betraying to the English, and through them to +the French, military secrets which had been imparted to her by her +husband, during the war of 1870. He had, in short, done everything +that lay in his power to prevent her husband from succeeding to the +crown, mainly, as he admitted, with the object of preventing her from +sharing the throne as empress; and after having grossly insulted +her in the presence of her dying, voiceless and helpless husband +by refusing to transact any state business, or to communicate any +confidential reports to the monarch as long as she was in the room, +he incited her eldest son, whose mind he had deliberately poisoned +against her, to take steps which could only intensify the sorrow of +the grief-stricken woman immediately after her so fondly loved husband +had been taken from her. + +Yet she carried the day in the end, and her son is now the very first +to acknowledge his mother's cleverness and the fact that she showed +herself more than a match in statecraft for the man reputed as the +greatest statesman of the century, namely, Bismarck. + +One of the cleverest of the many clever things that she did, was the +manner in which she brought about the fall of Bismarck. She was too +shrewd to dream of exercising any direct pressure on her son. It was +done indirectly, and with so much diplomacy, that William never dreamt +at the time of dismissing the iron chancellor that he was playing his +mother's game. Abstaining from any steps towards a reconciliation +with her son, she merely took advantage of the kaiser's visit to +Westphalia, to place in his path his old tutor, Professor Hintzpeter, +a pedagogue of whom William had been very fond, and whose teachings +had left a deep impression upon the mind of his imperial pupil. The +empress knew the professor's characteristics, his fads, and his views. +She likewise recognized and understood, as only a mother can do, the +complex character of her son, and she foresaw the effects that +were likely to be achieved by bringing the two men once more into +communication with each other. + +Like William II., Hintzpeter is full of contrasts, for while on the +one hand he has always professed the most advanced radical and even +socialistic doctrines,--doctrines with which he impregnated the mind +of his princely charge,--yet he would tolerate no familiarity or +condescension on his part towards inferiors, and was even wont to +force William to wash his hands when he had so far forgotten himself +as to shake hands with anyone of a subordinate or menial rank. Another +trait of character of Professor Hintzpeter, is his firm conviction +that difficulties, no matter how vast and intricate, are always +capable of being settled and satisfactorily arranged by means of +eloquent phrases and good intentions. + +At the time when William renewed his acquaintance, in the capital of +Westphalia, with his old tutor, the socialistic and labor problems +were engaging the attention not merely of Germany, but likewise of +all Europe. Prince Bismarck was in favor of a continuance of harsh +measures with regard to labor, and of persecution of the most +resentless nature so far as the socialists were concerned. Hintzpeter, +full of his former sympathies for autocracy and socialism at one and +the same time, called William's attention to the fact that Bismarck's +policy had merely had the effect of vastly increasing the strength of +the socialists as a factor in German politics, and of rendering the +labor difficulties more acute. He, therefore, suggested to the emperor +the idea that he should endeavor to solve both problems by means of +an international congress, under his own presidency, at which means +should be devised for reconciling the interests of socialism with the +state, and those of capital with labor. + +William, with all his common-sense and cleverness, has inherited +from his ancestress, Queen Louise, and one might almost say from his +grand-uncle, King Frederick William IV., a very strongly developed +tendency towards idealism. It was to this phase of his nature that the +recommendation of Professor Hintzpeter particularly appealed, and the +more he considered the matter, the more he discussed it with his old +tutor, the more convinced he became that it was in his power to solve +the difficulties of both socialism and labor, and thus to earn the +gratitude, not only of his own people, but of the entire civilized +world. + +Of course, Prince Bismarck immediately realized the Utopian character +of the scheme, saw its impracticability, and proceeded to condemn it +with more than his ordinary irritability and _brusquerie_. Finding, +however, that the emperor was not to be argued out of the idea of +holding a labor conference, he proceeded to ridicule it, and what was +worse, to cause it to be scoffed at and treated with derision as +the vaporings of an inexperienced and altogether too generous-minded +youth, in German as well as foreign papers, which William knew derived +their inspiration from the chancellor's palace in the Wilhelmstrasse. + +All this served to embitter the relations between the emperor and the +prince. The latter perceived that the kaiser was getting beyond his +control, and was subject to other influences, while the emperor +now commenced to appreciate the extent to which, he had been made +subservient to the policy and to the wishes of his chancellor. +Meanwhile the necessity became apparent of taking some immediate +step, one way or another, in connection with the prolongation of the +exceptional measures against the socialists which were just expiring. +The chancellor was determined that they should be renewed, while the +emperor felt that, with the international congress coming on, he would +be handicapped in his role of arbitrator, and his good faith would +justly be suspected by the socialists were he to consent to the +continuance of repressive measures against them that were extra-legal, +that is to say, beyond the laws of the land, and as such, strictly +speaking, unconstitutional. + +Finally, William discovering that Bismarck was negotiating with the +various party leaders, notably with the late Dr. Windhorst, leader of +the Catholic party in the Reichstag, with a view to the prolongation +of the anti-socialist measures, made up his mind to dismiss him, and +called for his resignation for having ventured to negotiate with the +opposition leaders in the Reichstag, without his knowledge or consent, +in order to obtain their support to a measure about which he had +expressed his disapproval. That was the real cause of Bismarck's fall, +despite all other stories current on the subject, and had not Empress +Frederick engineered the meeting in the Westphalian capital between +her son and his former tutor, it is possible that Prince Bismarck +might have died in office. + +It is scarcely necessary to remind my readers that, as predicted by +the old chancellor, the international labor congress resulted in +a fiasco, while the emperor ultimately became so embittered by the +failure of the socialists to appreciate his kindly intentions towards +them, that he now regards them as his most bitter enemies, and +practically calls upon every soldier who joins the army to be prepared +to use his rifle, not only against the enemies from without, but also +against the enemies within--that is, the socialists. + +Naturally William to-day regrets that he permitted himself to be +talked into any such schemes as the reconciliation of the socialists +with the crown, and of capital with labor, and Professor Hintzpeter, +while retaining the affection of his former pupil, has long ceased to +enjoy his confidence as a political adviser. He is no longer looked +upon in the light of a German Richelieu, as the foreign newspapers +were wont to describe him when he was at the climax of his power, +and he no longer possesses anything in common with his Russian +counterpart, Professor Pobiedenotsoff, except in a singular +peculiarity of appearance. Indeed, Hintzpeter's looks invite +caricature. He is lanky, ungainly and lantern-jawed, and seems like +a man who has never been young, and who has not yet obtained the +venerability of old age. His manners are exceedingly ungracious, and +even repellent, but when once he becomes interested in a discussion +he seems to undergo an entire transformation. He is no longer the same +man, and gives one at that moment the impression of being nothing but +a bundle of seething nerves, the vibrations of which seem to extend +to, as well as to influence, all those who are within range of his +voice. + +The Empress Frederick was shrewd enough to keep in the background all +the time! She took no part in the fight between her son and Prince +Bismarck, and was particularly careful to avoid identifying herself in +any way with Professor Hintzpeter. The result was that the kaiser did +not dream of ascribing to her any responsibility for the mistake into +which he had been led by his former tutor. + +As foreseen by Empress Frederick, with Prince Bismarck once in +retirement and disgrace, and the emperor disposed to reverse the +entire Bismarckian policy, it commenced to dawn upon his majesty that +among other errors into which he had been led by his ex-chancellor was +his own harshness and unfriendliness towards his mother. It was +while under this impression that he took the first steps towards +a reconciliation with the imperial widow, who, by showing herself +particularly affectionate and amiable, made her son feel still more +bitterly the unfilial nature of the conduct which he had been led +by Bismarck to adopt until then towards his mother. The friendly +relations thus established between mother and son have subsisted +ever since, and the emperor does not disdain now to seek Empress +Frederick's advice in a number of matters, having realized how clever +she is, while there is no one whose approval he values more highly +than hers. Most people are in the habit of portraying the Empress +Frederick as a woman embittered and soured by disappointment. Yet if +the truth were known, there are few whose existence at the present +moment is of a more ideal character, She has lost a noble and devoted +husband, but this bereavement must, to a certain extent, have been +softened by the genuine sorrow manifested by all, not only in his +own country, but throughout the civilized world, when he died. Her +marriage was a singularly happy one, unclouded by even the faintest +difference of opinion with her consort, and she is now enjoying a +delightfully contented eventide of life. + +She resides during the greater part of the year in a home constructed +in one of the loveliest portions of Germany, near Homburg, according +to her own designs, and her own ideas; she possesses a vast fortune, +which renders her independent of all her relatives, and which she is +free to spend as she wishes. With all her sons and daughters married, +she has no domestic cares of her own, and is at liberty to order her +mode of existence as she pleases, unhampered by any obligations or +restrictions, save those which her son may see fit to impose. Her rank +is of the highest, for she is the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, +and the mother of the present German emperor, besides which she has +the status and title of an empress-queen. In fact, she has the rank +of a sovereign, without any of the responsibilities that are +attached thereto, and while she may have experienced, at one moment, +disappointment at being deprived by her husband's premature death +of engineering a number of political, social and economic reforms in +Germany, upon which she had set her heart, yet she cannot but have +realized by this time that her existence as an empress-dowager is +infinitely more agreeable than that of an empress-regent would have +been, for had she been at the present moment seated by her husband's +side on the throne, she would have found no time to devote to those +arts and sciences to which she is so passionately devoted, and which +nowadays occupy the greater portion of her life. + +In spite of being a great-grandmother, Empress Frederick is still +in splendid bodily health and vigor. She rides on horseback daily in +summer, and in winter spends a considerable amount of time skating +on the ice. She is not handsome, and, in fact, has never been even +pretty, but has always had a bright, intelligent and pleasing face. +Moreover, she has inherited her mother's peculiarly melodious voice. +Unfortunately, she is imperious, and intolerant of stupidity; it is +this, coupled with her lack of tact, which is responsible for her +unpopularity. + +In spite of all her philanthropy, her generosity, and her cleverness, +and notwithstanding the blamelessness of her life, she is not liked +by the people of her adopted country, and this, while it has not +prevented her from playing a preponderant role in German politics, +as above described, has proved an obstacle to her exercise of any +influence upon the German people. After all, this absence of tact may +be excused, for it is usually wanting in people of genius. She is very +tender-hearted, and will not, if she can prevent it, allow any living +thing on the estate to be disturbed or killed. + +No description of Empress Frederick seems complete without adding +thereto a brief reference to the grand-master of her court, Count +Seckendorff, who may be said to have devoted his entire life to her +service, and to that of her husband. A scion of one of the oldest +houses of the Prussian aristocracy, and bearing a name that figures +frequently in the pages of German history, he was attached to the +household of Empress Frederick as chamberlain in the early days of her +marriage, and the only time since then when he has been absent from +her side was during the war; for the count is no mere drawing-room +soldier, as is the case with so many military men who are in +attendance on royalty. He has seen active service in the wars of +1864, 1866 and 1870, winning the iron cross for bravery in the latter +campaign, and was likewise attached to Lord Napier's expedition to +Abyssinia, which found its climax in the storming of Magdala, and in +the death of Emperor Theodore. + +As an artist he may be said to be almost as gifted as Empress +Frederick is herself, and his paintings have won distinctions of the +highest order at many national and foreign exhibitions. Indeed, it +is this sympathy of artistic tastes that has contributed in no small +measure to the altogether exceptional position which he enjoys in +the favor and confidence of the widowed empress. He has seen all her +children grow up around her, has been the confidant of many of her +sorrows, and at a moment when both she and her dying husband were +surrounded by chamberlains and officers who were devoted to the +interests of Bismarck, and virtually traitors in the camp, he alone +remained loyal in evil as well as in happier days. Being a bachelor, +he makes his home with the empress, attends her wherever she goes, +and, after having been the object of much abuse and even calumny,--the +latter originated and circulated by the so-called "reptile +press,"--that is to say, the newspapers, domestic and foreign, drawing +pay and inspiration from Prince Bismarck,--he now enjoys the regard +and the good-will of everyone at the Courts of Berlin and Windsor, +particularly at the latter, where his lifelong devotion to the widowed +empress is keenly appreciated by her mother, Queen Victoria. + +No greater contrast can be conceived than that which exists between +Empress Frederick and her daughter-in-law, the empress-regnant. Far +less brilliant than either her husband's mother or grandmother, she +has nevertheless managed to achieve, as I have remarked before, not +only an infinitely greater degree of popularity, but likewise a more +extensive influence upon the German people. Experience and history +show that ordinary sense on the throne is far more beneficial to +the population than a lofty order of intellect, and Empress +Augusta-Victoria merely offers another illustration of the truth of +this assertion. None of the queens of Prussia, nor either of the +first German empresses, can be said to have left any impress upon the +subjects of their respective husbands. There is no doubt that the +so celebrated Queen Louise of Prussia was the cause of Prussia's +receiving infinitely harsher treatment at the hands of Napoleon than +the kingdom would otherwise have experienced; while the consort of +old Emperor William, a pupil of Goethe, and famed for her culture and +accomplishments, was disliked by the people, and was just as little +in touch with them as her still more talented daughter-in-law, Empress +Frederick. + +For Empress Augusta-Victoria, however, a most profound sympathy +extends throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Every housewife, +every mother, looks to her as to a model, knows that she is satisfied +to excel in her purely domestic duties, and that she does, not strive +to render herself superior to her sex by intellectual brilliancy and +scientific attainments. Thanks to this sympathy which she inspires, +and to the fact that she is looked upon by men and women alike in her +husband's dominions as the ideal of what a German "_hausfrau_" should +be, she has been able to exercise an influence of infinitely greater +importance upon the nation at large than any other consort of a +Prussian sovereign can have boasted to achieve. + +It is to this estimable woman, whom some were disposed at first to +denounce as narrow-minded and witless, that must be attributed +the very strongly developed religious revival apparent throughout +Protestant Germany since the present emperor came to the throne. Prior +to the present reign, church-going was as a rule eschewed by the male +sex, women constituting the backbone of the congregation, while the +clergy of the Lutheran persuasion was looked down upon, being treated +by the territorial nobility much in the same way as upper servants, +that is to say, on a par with the farm bailiffs, the stewards and the +housekeepers In a word, religion and everything pertaining thereto was +not considered fashionable. + +To-day all this is changed. Under the guidance of the empress, her +husband, reared by his broad-minded mother in the ideas of Strauss +and of Renan, has become a strict churchman, and court, nobility, +bureaucracy and in fact the middle and lower classes too, have +followed suit. Free-thinking and neglect of religious duties are +at present considered the acme of bad form in Germany. Everybody +professes the most profound interest in questions and enterprises +relating to the church, and a large number of daughters of the most +illustrious houses of the German nobility have conferred their hands +and their hearts upon penniless Lutheran pastors, whose social status +has thereby been entirely changed. Moreover, if during the past ten +years more churches have been built, particularly in Berlin, than had +been the case in the entire previous half-century, this is because +every one has become aware that the most facile way of winning +the good graces of the empress, and the favor of her consort is by +building a church, or endowing some hospital. + +The empress is ever ready to help in every good work, and her private +charities are very great, but she does not approve of the higher +education or the emancipation of women, and entertains a holy horror +of everything pertaining to the female suffrage movement. Women, +according to her views, should remain in their own sphere, and should +regard their duties to their husbands, their children, and their homes +as their first and foremost obligations; the nursing of the sick, +the training of young people, and the organization and direction of +charitable institutions, affording plenty of scope for those members +of the fair sex who have no domestic tasks to occupy their time. + +[Illustration: _AUGUSTE VICTORIA EMPRESS OF GERMANY_] +_From Life_ + +She claims that in this way a woman is able to exercise a far more +important and beneficial influence than by endeavoring to supplant +men in professions essentially masculine, and certainly she herself +constitutes a striking illustration of the truth of her contention, +for the influence of the present German empress is felt throughout the +length and breadth of the land--a gracious womanly influence in every +sense of the word. + +Among the many philanthropic organizations which owe their origin to +the empress, is the Central Association of German Actresses, which has +of late years done more towards elevating the stage than has ever been +accomplished by members of the aristocracy who have seen fit to join +the dramatic profession with that avowed object in view. The work +of this society is to enable actresses to provide themselves, at the +lowest possible cost, with the costumes considered necessary by the +managers of the theatres. It is well known that while in Germany the +pieces are beautifully put on the stage, the salaries paid to the +actresses do not in many cases cover the expenses of the stage +dresses. The empress makes a point of giving all her court and evening +gowns, which were formerly the perquisites of her dressers and maids, +to the association, and has invited the ladies of the Court of Berlin +to follow her example. Those ladies who feel that they cannot afford +to give the dresses, are asked to sell them to the Association as +cheaply as possible, and the latter then turns them over at a +merely nominal cost to such ladies of the dramatic profession as are +considered worthy of support and assistance. + +This organization is managed entirely by great ladies, the empress +herself acting as president, and in this manner they are brought +into personal contact with actresses both of high and low degree. The +intercourse thus established has been most beneficial, for it has +not only helped to place the social status of the stage on a more +agreeable basis, but it also constitutes an incentive to actresses +to keep their names and reputations free from blemish, since they +naturally understand that the empress and the great ladies of the +aristocracy can only treat them as friends, so long as they live up +to the same standard of respectability as that which prevails in the +highest circles of society, and at court. + +One of the most valuable qualities of Empress Augusta-Victoria is her +extraordinary tact. It is due to this, more than anything else, that +she has been able to retain, not only a hold upon the affection and +regard of her impulsive and brilliant husband, but also an influence +over him without his being aware of the fact. By the leading members +of his court, and by his principal ministerial advisers, she is +regarded not merely in the light of his guardian angel, but as his +most sensible counsellor. She may be relied upon at all times to +soothe his anger, soften any bitterness which he may entertain towards +this or that person, and call forth at critical moments the most +generous and chivalrous phases of his, on the whole, very attractive +character. + +She is claimed by those who know the true state of affairs to act in +the capacity of a brake and a safety-valve to her husband, and it +is no secret that both the classes and the masses feel an additional +sense of security when they know their popular empress to be by the +emperor's side; for every mistake that he has made since he ascended +the throne has taken place during her absence, and he himself is the +first to acknowledge that she is largely responsible for every success +that he has achieved. + +The sentiments of the empress towards Bismarck have been much +misunderstood and misconstrued. It is perfectly true that she was +brought up from her earliest childhood to regard him as the enemy +of her house, the prince having, as I have already related, been the +author of the indefensible act of spoliation, by means of which her +father had been deprived of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, now +forming part of the kingdom of Prussia. The manner in which the Iron +Chancellor was viewed in the home of the empress when a young girl, +may best be gathered from the fact that whenever her nurses and +governesses were desirous of putting a stop to her naughtiness and +of frightening her into obedience, they would exclaim: "_Bismarck's +coming! wow! wow!_" This childhood impression has continued so +deep that even to this day, whenever the empress shows any signs of +reluctance to comply with her husband's wishes, or betrays irritation, +the kaiser is in the habit of springing upon her the familiar old cry +of "_Bismarck's coming! wow! wow!_" which at first always makes her +start as she did in infancy and girlhood, and then causes her to burst +into laughter, and restores her to good humor. + +These sentiments of aversion to Bismarck were to a great extent +modified at the time of her marriage by the knowledge that it was the +chancellor who had contributed more than anybody else to facilitate +and bring about the match. The latter was opposed by many of Emperor +William's kinsfolk, as well as by influential people at court, on the +ground that her rank was inadequate to render her a suitable match for +the heir to the throne of Germany. Bismarck, however, took the ground +that a marriage between the heir presumptive and the eldest daughter +of the _de jure_ Duke of Schleswig-Holstein would go a long way +to reconcile the inhabitants of the above-named duchies to their +annexation by Prussia, while at the same time it would constitute the +reparation of an act which he himself admitted was extremely unjust, +but to which he was compelled by imperative considerations of policy. + +Empress Augusta-Victoria has been so supremely happy in her married +life that she has always felt a certain amount of gratitude to +Bismarck, which tended to obliterate her childhood's impressions +against him; and no more striking indication of her sentiments towards +the famous statesman can be given than the fact that she travelled all +the way to Friedrichsrueh at a moment when the sickness of her children +demanded her presence by their bedside, in order to attend the private +and home funeral of the man who had publicly described her father +as the most stupid prince in all Europe; who had deprived him of his +throne, and who had sent him to an early grave as a broken-spirited +and thoroughly embittered man. + +While the empress takes but little part in politics, on her favorite +ground, that women should have no concern whatsoever in the conduct +thereof, she has at least on two occasions, to my knowledge, +intervened in important crises. Thus in 1892, when General Count +Caprivi, having differed with William on the subject of the new +education laws, had written to tender his resignation of the office +of chancellor, the empress at once indicted an autograph letter, in +which, with expressions of mingled pathos and dignity, she appealed to +him so strongly not to desert her husband, or to subject the latter +to the anxiety, the trouble, and even the odium of another ministerial +crisis, that he at once traveled down to Huebertuesstock, where +the emperor was staying, and informed him that he withdrew his +resignation, and would remain in office. + +Two years later, when Caprivi again resigned, it was largely the +personal entreaties contained in the letters which she addressed to +old Princess Hohenlohe which led to the latter's withdrawal of +the opposition that, until then, had stood in the way of Prince +Hohenlohe's acceptance of the chancellorship. + +Like most other consorts of reigning sovereigns and princesses of the +blood, Empress Augusta-Victoria holds the colonelcy of a number of +Prussian and Russian regiments, whose uniform she occasionally wears +in a somewhat feminized form at those grand military reviews of which +the kaiser is so fond. Her favorite garb of this kind is the uniform +of the second regiment of Pomeranian Cuirassiers, one of the oldest +and most celebrated corps of cavalry of the Prussian army. The +regimental tunic is of snow-white cloth, and held in its place by the +silver shoulder-straps of a colonel is the orange ribbon of the Order +of the Black Eagle, which crosses her breast to the left hip, where +the jewel of the order is attached by a large rosette. The star of the +order is worn on the left breast, while just above it are a number of +smaller decorations. With this white tunic, with its silver buttons, +its silver embroidery and scarlet facings, a white cloth skirt is +worn, while in lieu of the helmet now in use by the regiment, the +empress has adopted the old-fashioned, broad-brimmed cavalier hat, +with the flowing white ostrich plumes which the officers of the corps +were wont to don in the early part of the last century. Thus attired, +the empress takes her place by the side of her husband at the saluting +point at any of the grand reviews at which she may happen to be +present, and as soon as a regiment of which she happens to be colonel +approaches, she at once canters, takes her place at its head as +commanding officer, and leads it past her husband in true military +fashion, saluting with her riding whip before returning to his side. + +Sometimes she is accompanied by one or another of the emperor's +sisters, or else by the handsome young Grand Duchess of Hesse, all of +whom hold honorary colonelcies, and who appear on such occasions on +horseback and in uniform. The Grand Duchess of Hesse, who holds the +command of an infantry regiment, wears not merely the tunic, but +likewise the helmet of the corps in question, and looks particularly +fascinating on these occasions. + +Empress Augusta-Victoria and her mother-in-law, the Empress Frederick, +are the only two women who have ever been admitted to the Order of the +Black Eagle, the highest order of the kingdom of Prussia, and neither +the consort of Old Emperor William nor any of the earlier queens of +Prussia, not even Queen Louise, ever received this distinction. The +innovation dates from the time of the late Emperor Frederick. The +first thing he did on becoming emperor was to take the ribbon of the +order from his own uniform and hang it across the shoulders of his +wife, in token of gratitude, and in recognition of the fact that, had +it not been for her championship and faithful guard of his interests, +Bismarck would have carried the day, and debarred him from accession +to the crown. While the emperor's action, of course, excited a good +deal of criticism amongst the older dignitaries of the order, and +among the members of the government and court, it was heartily +approved of by the world at large, as being not only well deserved, +but also a singularly pathetic demonstration on the part of the +dying monarch of his profound sense of obligation to his most devoted +consort. + +When Emperor William in turn ascended the throne, he at once proceeded +to follow his father's example, and to invest his own wife with the +Black Eagle, in order to place her, as the reigning empress, upon +the same level in this particular respect, as her mother-in-law, the +dowager empress. It may be taken for granted that henceforth the Order +of the Black Eagle will remain a prerogative of all the consorts of +the kings of Prussia and emperors of Germany. + +The whole youth of the empress was spent at Prinkenau, the fine +country seat of her parents, which is now owned by her brother. Those +days were varied only by visits to her uncle, Prince Christian of +Schleswig-Holstein, who makes his home in England, where he is married +to Queen Victoria's daughter Helena, and to her relatives, the Prince +and Princess Hohenlohe. The emperor first made her acquaintance during +a day's shooting at Prinkenau. He was _en route_ to the chateau, when, +having lost his way in the forest, he met a young girl, of whom he +inquired his whereabouts and how to proceed. This was the Princess +Augusta-Victoria, and he always declared that he fell in love with her +from that moment. + +She was, therefore, a total stranger to Berlin court life and Berlin +society at the time of her marriage, and at first found it very +difficult to adapt herself to the formal etiquette by which royal +personages are surrounded at Berlin. It was here that her American +aunt, Countess Waldersee, came to her assistance, instructed her, and +acted as her mentor, not only in matters of etiquette and manner, but +in the attitude to be observed towards the various members of Berlin +society as well. + +It is as a mother that the empress shows herself in one of her most +charming lights. She is, indeed, an ideal mother, and, in spite of her +manifold duties, personally supervises, not merely the education +of her children, but even every little detail connected with their +comfort and well-being. In fact the empress, as well as the emperor, +are at their best when surrounded by their children, in whose company +they spend far more time than fashionable people in less exalted +spheres of society consider it necessary or pleasant to do. + +The empress is extremely economical as regards the clothing of her +children, and the suits of the elder princes are cut down to fit their +younger brothers. + +With her own wardrobe the empress is equally careful, and she has a +staff of dressmakers who are always at work remodelling her gowns, so +that it is possible for her to appear in them several times without +their being recognized. On state occasions she is always superbly +dressed, and covered with the most gorgeous jewels, but when in the +country she delights in the simplest costumes; a serge skirt, a pretty +blouse, and a plain straw hat, being her favorite garb. Her +grand court costumes, as a rule, hail from Vienna, and Empress +Augusta-Victoria probably shares with her grandmother, Queen Victoria, +the distinction of being one of the two ladies, occupants of thrones, +who do not patronize any of the great Parisian couturiers. + +The empress never orders her dresses herself. That is done by her +principal lady-in-waiting, who has patterns sent to the palace, from +which she selects a certain number to show the empress. When the +imperial lady has made her choice, she settles from plates the way +in which the gown is to be made, after invariably submitting her +selections to the emperor, who has excellent taste in such matters. + +The empress usually breakfasts alone with the emperor. In summer, +often at the unearthly hour of six in the morning! The meal is a +substantial one, American and English, rather than Continental in +fashion, and she is apt to declare that it is the only time throughout +the entire day when she is able to discuss matters of a private or +domestic character with her husband. The imperial couple often ride +out on horseback together in the early morning, after breakfast, +before the kaiser repairs to the palace to begin his day's work at +nine o'clock. The empress looks very well on horseback, as she has an +excellent seat, and the plain habit suits her rounded figure extremely +well. Her stable is quite distinct from that of the emperor, and with +the exception of one white horse all the mounts that she uses are +brown in color. + +At luncheon the emperor and empress generally have a few guests, and +it is the same at dinner, which takes place at seven in the evening. +On rising from the table, the empress frequently takes her place at +the piano to accompany the emperor, who has a fine baritone and most +expressive voice. + +It is asserted by those who know the empress best, that she has kept a +diary since her earliest girlhood, in which she has set down her daily +experiences, although it is claimed that these diaries have been seen +by no one, not even by the emperor. The empress, who never fails to +write her diary every evening, keeps the precious volumes under lock +and key in a large cabinet situated in her bedroom. Perhaps some +day the personal experiences of Empress Augusta-Victoria will be +published, and while they may possibly throw light on many dark places +in the history both of the nation and the court, there is no doubt +that their revelations will be characterized by that kindliness of +heart, that forbearance, and, above all, that sound common sense which +are so conspicuous in Empress Augusta-Victoria. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Since the days of the canonized rulers of Hungary, Bohemia, Russia, +and France, there have been no sovereigns of the Old World who have +been so distinguished for their piety and for the fervor of their +religious belief as the present Emperors of Germany and Austria, for +they both take very seriously to heart their official and liturgical +designation as the Anointed of the Lord. + +It is no mere cant or hypocrisy in their case, but a profound belief +in the teachings of the Scripture in which they truly believe is to be +found the most powerful bulwark of the throne against the ever rising +tide of democracy, and the fundamental basis of the entire monarchical +system. Save for this, their manifestations of Christianity may be +said to differ. + +Francis-Joseph, now in the eventide of a singularly sad and stormy +life, and of a reign that was inaugurated by a most sanguinary civil +war, reminds one, in spite of the hereditary title of "_Apostolic +Majesty_" conferred upon his forbears by the Papacy, of nothing so +much as of the publican of the parable going up to the temple to pray, +so deep and unaffected is the humility with which he approaches the +altar or kneels at the priedieu in the chapel of his palace, or beside +the tombs of those most near and dear to him. + +Emperor William's piety, while equally fervent, does not give one the +same idea of self-abasement in the sight of the Almighty. It would be +unfair to compare him to that other personage of the parable, namely, +the Pharisee, for the latter was obviously lacking in sincerity; +but at the same time, William in his moments of religious fervor, +invariably recalls to mind that pretty story told by the late Alphonse +Daudet, entitled the "Dauphin's Deathbed," in which the little +boy-prince, on the eve of his departure for a happier world, responds +to the exhortations of his chaplain with the exclamation: "But +one thing consoles me, M. l'Abbe, and that is that up there in the +Paradise of the stars I shall still be the Dauphin. I know that the +good God is my cousin, and cannot fail to treat me according to my +rank!" + +Emperor Francis-Joseph will be prepared, in, a future existence, to +take his place among the very humblest of his subjects, realizing that +in the eyes of the Divinity all human creatures are equal, whereas +Emperor William, on the other hand, in his heart of hearts, is +certainly convinced that there will be a special place reserved for +him above--a place in keeping with his rank here on earth. True, he +has never actually said this in so many words, but he has assuredly +indicated this belief both by his utterances and his actions. He makes +no attempt to conceal his conviction that personages of royal birth, +and, in particular, reigning sovereigns, are fashioned by the Almighty +with clay of a quality vastly superior to that employed for the +composition of ordinary human creatures. + +Notwithstanding all the Spartan rigor and severity to which he was +subjected in his youth, for the purpose of dispelling exaggerated +pride of birth and station, he feels assured that the rights and +privileges which he enjoys above his fellow-men are of Divine origin. +Although a constitutional sovereign, he is never tired of declaring +that he is responsible for the performance of his duties as ruler +of Germany to the Almighty alone, and that God alone is able to +appreciate and to pass judgment upon his actions. + +That Emperor William considers himself to be far nearer to the throne +of God, and in an infinitely closer degree of communion with the +Almighty than any ordinary being, is apparent from many of his public +utterances. In fact, the amazing intimacy which he professes with +his Maker, and the strange manner in which he implies that he and the +Creator have interests in common, and joint understandings that are +beyond the comprehension of ordinary mankind, would savor of downright +blasphemy, were it not for the undeniable sincerity of his Teutonic +majesty, who really regards himself as a Divine instrument. Indeed, +there is no doubt that it is this belief which he honestly entertains +that has served to keep his private life, since he ascended the +throne, so thoroughly blameless. For there is no doubt that William +does his utmost to live up to the teachings of his faith, to order +every phase of his existence in conformity with the precepts of +Christianity, and to avoid everything that could tend to impair his +status as a vice-regent of Providence in the eyes of the devout. + +Few are the incidents and events of his reign to which he does not +impart a religious flavor. Thus it was only last summer, on the +completion of a new fort at Metz, that he insisted on its inauguration +taking place with much religious pomp and ceremony, and he himself +christened the fortress in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and +of the Holy Ghost, thus calling down the blessing of the Trinity on +a stronghold, the guns of which are pointed against France, and the +success of which can only consist in the destruction of innumerable +French foes! + +It is he, too, who has originated the practice of christening with +religious ceremonies the great guns furnished by Krupp for use afloat +and ashore against Germany's enemies; and on the blades of the swords +which he has presented to his elder sons, and to his favorite generals +and officers, there is invariably inscribed on the one side, "In the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and on the +other, averse from the Bible, surmounted by the imperial cypher. + +William has even gone to the length of drawing up an extraordinary +argument in defence of duelling based upon quotations taken from the +Bible. The emperor takes as the text of his argument that verse of +the writings of St. Paul, in which the Apostle declares that he would +rather die than that anyone should rob him of his good name. William +infers from this that the most eloquent and forcible of all the +fathers of the Church was prepared to fight to the death for the honor +of his name. + +"Nowhere in the Bible," adds his majesty, "is there any prohibition +of duelling, not even in the New Testament, which, unlike the Old +Testament, is not a book of law. Indeed, every attempt to use the New +Testament as the basis for a new code of law has resulted in failure." + +With regard to the use made by the opponents of duelling of that +law in the Old Testament which proclaims, "Thou shalt not kill," +the emperor draws attention to another portion of the Old Testament, +wherein is mentioned that the sword shall not be carried in vain. Then +invoking St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians, in which the Apostle +exclaims: "Oh! ye foolish Galatians. This only would I learn of you. +Received ye the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of +the faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, that ye wish +to perfect yourselves in the flesh?" + +The emperor declares that to twist the Word of God into a prohibition +of duelling is nothing else than to perfect one's self by the +flesh--that is to say to attribute an altogether material and +common-place interpretation to what is meant spiritually. He adds +that this is just as reprehensible in the eyes of the Almighty as +the attempts by the Pharisees to adapt the Mosaic law to their own +convenience, attempts which were so bitterly denounced by Christ. + +Finally, the emperor generally concludes this extraordinary exposition +of his views by the following exordium: + +"He who after careful self-examination finds himself compelled to +fight a duel, and whose conscience is clear of sentiments of hatred +and of vengeance, may do so in the conviction that he is in no wise +acting contrary to the Word of God, to the obligations of honor, or +to the accepted customs of society. As in battle, so also in the duel, +which has been forced upon him in one way or another, he may say to +himself: _If we live, we live in the Lord, and if we die, we die in +the Lord, Amen_." + +It must be borne in mind that Emperor William delivered himself of +these utterances, not merely in his capacity of Emperor of Germany, +King of Prussia, and commander-in-chief of the entire German army, but +also in his self-assumed role of _Summus-Episcopus,_ or spiritual as +well as temporal chief of the Lutheran Church throughout the empire. +Such a speech was delivered on the occasion of the endeavor made by +certain members of the court circles to induce the Lutheran synod to +institute disciplinary measures against the Potsdam pastor who +had declined to accord the rites of Christian burial to Baron von +Schrader, killed in a duel by Baron Kotze, the encounter being the +outcome of the anonymous letter scandal already described. The synod, +however, thoroughly endorsed the attitude of the Lutheran minister in +question, and availed itself of the opportunity to pass a resolution +to the effect that no person killed in a combat of this kind, or even +dying from wounds received in a duel, could be regarded as having met +his death as a Christian, and as such entitled to Christian burial. + +Curiously enough this view was endorsed by the gallant old General +Bronsart von Schellendorf, at that time minister of war, who, in +expressing his approval of the resolution, called upon the emperor +as commander-in-chief to take more radical steps for checking the +phenomenal growth of the practice of duelling. + +William, however, declined to comply with the request, dismissed +the general shortly afterwards from office, and, on the contrary, +proceeded to condemn both the action of the synod and of the Potsdam +pastor who had declined to officiate at Baron Schrader's obsequies, +giving as the reason for his position in the matter the argument from +which I have just given some extracts. + +This was by no means the first time that William found himself in +conflict with the provincial synods of the Lutheran Church in his +dominions. On one occasion the consistory of the Lutheran Church of +the Province of East Prussia, in which the imperial game preserves +of Rominten are situated, passed a unanimous vote of censure upon the +kaiser for having desecrated the Sabbath, and violated the secular +laws with regard to its observance, by giving a big hunting-party on +Sunday at Rominten. It was understood at the time that the consistory +would have abstained from taking this extreme step had it not been +for the comment excited throughout Germany by the somewhat malicious +juxtaposition in most of the newspapers of two articles, one of which +gave an elaborate description of the Sunday shooting-party of the +emperor at Rominten, while in a parallel column was a proclamation +just issued by the civil governor of the province of Westphalia, +calling attention to the lax observance of the Sunday laws, and +reiterating the pains and penalties that are prescribed by statute +for those who shoot, sing, dance, play skittles or indulge in any +recreation, whether in public or in private, that is inconsistent with +repose on Sunday. + +Of course, the vote of the consistory of Eastern Prussia was +eventually quashed, and its members disciplined. But the publicity +given to the affair served to call the attention of the people at +large to the emperor's disregard of the laws which he himself had +caused to be enacted. Previous to his reign, Sunday had been looked +upon as a day of recreation, revelry, and festivity throughout +Germany. + +In the days of the old emperor all the finest performances of the +court theatres were reserved for Sunday, the principal state banquets +took place on that day, as well as the imperial hunting parties and +battues. Among the _bourgeoisie_, dances, balls and picnics were the +order of the Lord's Day, while the lower classes thronged the beer +gardens and the beer halls that constitute so important a feature +of German life. Regattas, parades, race-meetings, and popular +entertainments and festivals of one kind or another, were, in fact, +all reserved for Sunday. + +All this was changed when the emperor came to the throne, and among +the earliest laws enacted on his initiative, were those to which +the Governor of Westphalia called attention in the proclamation just +described, and which prohibited every form of revelry on the Sabbath. +For instance, a few months after William's accession he was invited by +the Berlin Yacht Club to attend the annual regatta, which was to take +place on the following Sunday morning, but he declined on the ground +that it would prevent his going to church, and when the committee +offered to postpone the races until the afternoon he declared that +his principles would not permit him to regard Sunday as a day to be +devoted to regattas, and analogous forms of popular entertainment. +It must be explained that he was at the time strongly imbued with +the evangelistic views which he had derived from his wife's aunt, +the American Countess of Waldersee, and from her protege, ex-Court +Chaplain Stoecker, who combined with his strict and Puritanical views +on the subject of the Sabbath, the most intense animosity towards the +Jews, and a virulent hatred for the late Emperor Frederick. + +This strange divine, so famous for many years as the leader of the +so-called "Juedenhetz" movement, is one of the most displeasing figures +in German public life, and Emperor William, who has long since turned +his back upon him, and dismissed him from his court chaplaincy, must +bitterly regret that he ever accorded him any favor or intimacy, and +permitted himself to be influenced by his views. How is it possible to +speak with any patience of a minister of the Church who, in a weekly +paper, "The Ecclesiastical Review," of December 10, 1887, actually had +the audacity to write in an editorial article signed with his name the +following cruel sentence? "Let us pray every day and every hour for +our royal family, and in particular for the Old Man (the old kaiser) +and for the Young Man (the present emperor) of this race of heroes. +May God in His mercy grant that the terrible punishment which has +overtaken the sick Prince Frederick (the late Emperor Frederick) bear +fruit, and may it bring resignation to his mind, and peace to his +conscience." + +At the moment when the article appeared, in which it was publicly +intimated that the crown prince's malady was a just and well-merited +punishment for his sins, the imperial patient, so sorely afflicted, +whose life had been so blameless, was at death's door, a fact +over which the court chaplain openly rejoiced, proclaiming that "a +brilliant future is about to open up before us." + +Since William has cut himself adrift from Pastor Stoecker, the +strictness of his views with regard to the observance of Sunday, has +undergone a change. At any rate, he has modified them in so far as he +himself is concerned, and while he is very regular in his attendance +at church on Sunday morning, he no longer seems to consider it a sin +to go out sailing, shooting or hunting on Sunday afternoons, or to +attend theatrical performances or other kinds of entertainment in +the evening. Inasmuch as the Sunday Observance Laws have not been +repealed, one can only take it for granted that he considers himself +and his consort as being above the law of the land, and in no wise +bound thereby. Yet neither of their majesties has a legal right to any +such immunity. According to the terms of the Prussian constitution the +emperor and empress are just as amenable to the laws that figure in +the statute book, and equally required to obey them as any ordinary +German citizen. The only advantage that the emperor enjoys is that +he possesses certain prerogatives in connection with the giving +of evidence, and with the punishment of offences that are directed +against his person and his honor. + +In this obligation to submit to the laws of the land he differs +from his grandmother Queen Victoria, and from his ally, Emperor +Francis-Joseph, the tenure of whose thrones was originally based on +what in olden times was known as the Divine right of kings. Thus, in +England, as in Austria, and even in Spain and Portugal, the mediaeval +theory still prevails that "_the king can do no wrong!_" Queen +Victoria, for instance, is not below the law like Emperor William, +but above it. No court has jurisdiction over her, and legally speaking +there is no jurisdiction upon earth to try her in a civil or criminal +way, much less to condemn her to punishment. + +Of all the prerogatives enjoyed by Queen Victoria, the one, however, +of which the kaiser is the most envious is her supremacy of the state +Church of England. His ambition is to acquire the same position with +regard to the whole Lutheran Church as she enjoys over the Anglican +denomination. This dream, difficult of execution for reasons which I +will proceed to explain, originated with his great-grandfather, King +Frederick-William III., who first conceived the idea of a species of +Lutheran Kaliphate, with its headquarters at Berlin, and its Mecca at +Jerusalem. + +His successor, King Frederick-William IV., took up the notion with all +the enthusiasm natural to his mystic character, and kept one of his +most trusted statesmen and confidants busily employed for years in +endeavoring to federate all the Reformed Churches, with the exception +of that of England, under the protectorate and supremacy of the +Hohenzollerns. Emperor William goes still further. He aspires to +become, not merely the temporal head of the Lutheran Church throughout +the world, but likewise its spiritual chief, its pontiff, in fact, in +the same manner that the czar is the chief ecclesiastical dignitary +and the duly consecrated spiritual head of the national Church +of Russia. William bases his claims to the dignity of a +_summus-episcopus_ on the fact that he is a titular bishop and +archbishop, some nineteen times over, for his ancestors, when annexing +the various petty states and sovereignties in bygone times, always +made a point of getting the mitre with the crown, and the crozier +with the purple and ermine. Many of the petty states of Germany in +mediaeval days were ruled, not by temporal rulers, but by archbishops +possessing the rank of sovereign and the title of prince. + +The ecclesiastical dignity was, in fact, inherent, and part and parcel +of the sovereignty. Consequently, when Emperor William's ancestors +acquired the one, they likewise secured possession of the other, and +thus among his many ecclesiastical titles is that of Prince Archbishop +of Silesia, and it is in his ecclesiastical capacity that he has +conferred canonries and deaneries upon the military and civil members +of his household. + +Of course, the difficulty in the way of the emperor's recognition as +the supreme head of the Lutheran Church is the fact that the Lutheran +faith is by no means confined to his dominions. Lutherans constitute +the major part of the population in Wuertemberg, Saxony and Baden, as +well as in all the other non-Prussian states of the Confederation, +save Bavaria. Besides this, there are millions of Lutherans in +Austro-Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia, who could not +recognize his supremacy without disloyalty to their own rulers, all +of whom, with the exception of the king of Saxony, the Czar and the +Austrian emperor, are, like himself, members of the Reformed Church. + +His celebrated pilgrimage to Jerusalem a year ago, the first +pilgrimage of a German emperor to the Holy Land since the days of the +Crusades, clearly showed the trend of the kaiser's aspirations. He +had invited all his fellow-Protestant monarchs to accompany him to +Jerusalem, either in person or to send one of the princes of their +houses as their representatives, and to ride in his train when he +made his entry into the Holy City of Christendom. But not one of the +sovereigns thus invited responded to the invitation tendered, and +William had no German or foreign prince with him during this memorable +pilgrimage. + +It was the most extraordinary thing of the kind that has ever been +seen, the strangeness of the affair being intensified by that same +mixture of the mediaeval with the intensely modern and up-to-date +ways which constitutes so peculiar a phase of William's character. The +emperor rode into Jerusalem by the same route as that followed by the +Founder of Christianity on the first Palm Sunday, wearing a flowing +white mantle, and mounted on a milk-white steed. He prayed at dusk +with the members of his suite in the Garden of Gethsemane, piously +kneeling on the ground, pronounced a religious discourse on the Mount +of Olives, received the Holy Communion in the Coenaculum, that is to +say, the house in which, according to tradition, Christ celebrated +the Last Supper,--nay, he even preached a full-fledged sermon on the +occasion of the dedication of the Church of the Saviour at Jerusalem, +and traveled by road from Jerusalem to Damascus! And yet, destroying +all the romance and old-time glamor that might otherwise have +surrounded this imperial crusade, was the fact that he was a +"_personally conducted" Cook's tourist_, that his meals were prepared +by French chefs, that champagne was the ordinary beverage at his +table, and that, while tramcars were used to go about Damascus, the +railroad was selected by him to get back from Jerusalem to Jaffa! + +Emperor William has a weakness for preaching, and it must be confessed +that he does it well. He possesses a very ready gift of speech, +and his fervent religious belief seems to serve as a species of +inspiration to his eloquence. Thus on board the Hohenzollern, during +his annual yachting cruise along the coast of Norway, he invariably +conducts divine service on Sunday morning, taking his place in front +of an altar erected on deck, upon which the German war-flag is +spread, in lieu of an altar-cloth. Luther's hymns, accompanied by the +trombones of the band, are sung. Then the emperor reads the epistle +and the gospel with great feeling, and recites the liturgical prayers +with considerable fervor. Next he preaches a sermon, which, as a rule, +is of his own composition, and extemporary, though occasionally he +will read the sermon of some well-known pulpit orator. + +It has been observed that he is always much more indulgent in cases +of inattention on the part of the congregation when he reads a +sermon than when he preaches one of his own. Any sailor who has the +misfortune to fall asleep during the discourse is disciplined, and +his name figures, of course, on the punishment roll on the following +morning, when the day's report is presented to the emperor as the +commanding officer of the ship. If the sermon has been one of his +majesty's own composition, as a rule he allows the punishment to +stand. But if the discourse happens to have been of less illustrious +origin, he will almost invariably order the penalty to be remitted, +adding, with a smile of indulgence, that "the sermon was rather +dreary, wasn't it?" + +At Berlin and at Potsdam the kaiser keeps his court chaplains +under very strict discipline, and they expose themselves to a stern +reprimand if they presume to extend their pulpit orations beyond the +term of ten or, at the most, fifteen minutes. Emperor William very +justly takes the ground that if they are sufficiently concise in their +remarks, they can say all that they have to say within that space of +time, and if their discourse is prolonged beyond the stipulated period +it loses its force and its power of retaining the interest and the +attention of the congregation. + +The emperor does not hesitate to call the divines to account when +they enunciate doctrines of which he does not approve, and whereas +in former reigns a court chaplaincy was regarded in the light of +an office for life, it is now considered as a merely temporary +appointment, so frequent are the dismissals. + +At the Dome at Berlin, and at the Garrison Church at Potsdam, the +emperor follows the service with an air of mingled devotion and +authority that is rather amusing. While most devout and fervent in his +prayers, and joining in the hymns in such a manner that his ringing +baritone voice is easily discernible above the rest, his eyes wander +in a stern fashion around the church, quick to note any member of the +congregation who is not behaving with proper decorum and reverence. He +conveys the impression that he considers it to be his duty to keep the +congregation in proper order, and if he finds that either he, or the +imperial party is being stared at with any degree of persistency or +curiosity, he at once sends off one of his officers to sharply warn +the offenders. Indeed, he has more than once caused it to be made +known through official communications to the press that he thoroughly +disapproves of being stared at when attending church, and engaged in +his devotions. + +Like William, Francis-Joseph has made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and +the Holy Land, but it was without any fuss or pomp. In fact, there are +few persons, save those connected with the Court of Austria, who are +aware that Austria's ruler ever visited the Holy Land. He went there +in 1869, traveling in the strictest incognito, and attended only +by two of his gentlemen-in-waiting and two servants, after the +inauguration of the Suez Canal, at which he had been present. There +was no solemn entry on horseback into the city that witnessed the +foundation of Christianity, and while he prayed at the Holy Places +like Emperor William, he did so quietly and unobtrusively, without +attracting any attention. His pilgrimage was characterized by the same +unaffected humility that distinguishes his religion from that of his +brother monarch at Berlin. + +William's faith still retains the enthusiasm and, if I may use the +word, the exuberance of youth, whereas that of Francis-Joseph, +though even more fervent, is chastened, humbled and mellowed by the +experience of many a cruel sorrow and many a hard blow. To some +of these he would have succumbed had it not been for his religious +belief. There have been at least three different occasions during +his fifty years' reign when he would have abandoned his throne, +and abdicated his crown had it not been pointed out to him by his +spiritual adviser that it was his duty--his religious duty--to remain +at his post, and to bear with bravery the trials with which he was +overwhelmed. + +The first of these occasions was at the close of the disastrous wars +of 1866, when the march of the Prussians on Vienna was only stayed +within a few hours' distance of the capital by the ignominious peace +of Nicolsburg. The second time was when he lost his only son by the +frightful tragedy of Mayerling, and he saw his boy's body refused even +Christian rites of burial by the church, until he had been able to +convince the kindly old pontiff at Rome that the poor lad's mind was +unbalanced at the time that he took his life. The third occasion was +when his lovely consort, to whom, in spite of all that is said to the +contrary, he was so deeply devoted, was taken from him by the hand +of an assassin in a foreign land, and under peculiarly heartrending +circumstances. + +Moreover, he saw the body of his brother Maximilian brought home from +the Mexican plain of Queretaro, where he had been shot down by a file +of soldiers as if a vulgar criminal; he stood by the deathbed of +a favorite niece, burnt to death before his eyes in the palace of +Schoenbrunn, when her dress had caught fire from a lighted cigarette +which she was endeavoring to conceal from him and from her father; he +followed to the grave another favorite of his, a nephew, accidentally +killed while out shooting. Indeed, there is no end to the tragedies +which have gone to sadden the life of this now septuagenarian monarch, +and while on ordinary occasions, especially when engaged in military +inspections or in great court functions, he appears to retain the +elasticity, vigor and temperament of a man still in his prime, yet +when in church or chapel, attending divine service, and so wrapped up +in his devotions that he becomes oblivious to his surroundings, the +restraint which he puts upon his feelings at other times disappears, +and one is able to realize the extent of his sufferings, and how +supreme is the consolation that he finds in his religion. + +Vienna is the only capital in the world where one can see a +full-fledged monarch kneeling bareheaded in the streets, and offering +up prayers in the most fervent manner, the spectacle exciting not +ridicule, but sentiments of profound reverence and sympathy on the +part of the people--Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans from Herzegovina +and Bosnia--who throng the thoroughfares of the beautiful city on +the Danube. The sight is witnessed each year, on the occasion of the +_Corpus Christi_ procession. This glorious procession starts out from +the Cathedral of St. Stephen at an early hour in the morning, and the +entire route through the various streets which it traverses Is kid +with boards, over which grass is strewn. At various points along the +way there are altars, or so-called _reposoirs_, where the Sacred Host +is placed for a few moments, the emperor and the great personages with +him kneeling piously on the ground and offering up prayers. + +The procession is opened by choristers, then come priests and monks +with hands crossed upon their breasts, next the rectors of the various +metropolitan parishes, displaying their distinctive banners like +the knights of old. The municipal authorities, the officers of the +imperial household, the Knights Grand Cross of the various orders, the +cabinet ministers, and the principal dignitaries of the army, of the +navy, and of the crown. Finally, comes a magnificent canopy borne by +generals, under which walks the tall and stately Cardinal Archbishop +of Vienna, carrying the Host, to which the troops lining the route +bend the knee while presenting arms, the civilians behind them baring +their heads, while the women cross themselves. Immediately behind the +Host, bareheaded and alone, with a lighted candle in his hand, and +wearing the full uniform of an Austrian field marshal,--a snow-white +cloth tunic with scarlet and gold facings,--strides the aged emperor, +still erect as a dart, with all the slender, shapely elegance of a man +of thirty, in spite of his three-score years and ten. He is followed +by the archdukes, conspicuous among them the gigantic Archduke Eugene, +grand master of the Teutonic Order, in the semi-ecclesiastical habits +of his rank, while the procession is brought to a close by escorts of +the superbly arrayed Archer and Hungarian Body Guards. + +The spectacle is impressive, and the silence along the route, save for +the chanting of the choristers, and the recitation of prayers in an +undertone by the clergy, adds to the solemnity of the occasion. In +days gone by, the murdered empress used to figure in the procession +in full court dress and followed by her ladies, but now women take no +part therein. + +Another remarkable religious ceremony in which the emperor plays the +leading part, and which is only to be witnessed nowadays at the +Court of Vienna, is the washing of the feet of twelve aged men on the +Thursday of Holy Week, in memory of the washing of the feet of +the twelve apostles on the first Holy Thursday by the Founder of +Christianity. The ceremony takes place at the imperial palace, in +the presence of the entire court. The twelve old men, each carefully +dressed for the occasion, who have been brought from their homes to +the palace in imperial carriages, are seated in a row, and, after a +brief religious service celebrated by the cardinal archbishop, the +emperor kneels in front of each, and washes his feet in a golden basin +filled with rose water, the ewer being carried by the heir to the +throne, while the prelate who holds the office of court chaplain hands +to his majesty the gold-embroidered towel with which the feet are +dried after having been washed. When the emperor has reached the end +of the line there are more prayers, and the blessing; then a banquet +is served to the old men, at which they are waited on in person by the +emperor, the various dishes being handed to him by the archdukes and +princes of the blood. The old people are finally sent home, each with +a purse containing gold pieces, and a large hamper, wherein are placed +several bottles of fine wine and the remains of the various dishes and +gastronomical masterpieces which have figured on the table during the +banquet. As a rule, the old men dispose of these for considerable sums +of money to wealthy Viennese, who are only too delighted to purchase +them, and thus to be able to boast of having partaken of the emperor's +hospitality! + +Brought up by parents who axe renowned for their religious bigotry, +in the absolutist school of the great Prince Metternich, Emperor +Francis-Joseph has experienced the utmost difficulty in reconciling +his religions belief with his obligations as a constitutional monarch, +for he has been repeatedly obliged to give his sanction as a sovereign +to reforms enacted by the legislature of Austria, and particularly +of Hungary, which were strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, +fiercely denounced by the clergy, and condemned by the Vatican. That +he should in matters such as these have sacrificed his religious +prejudices and conscientious scruples to what he conceived to be his +duty as a constitutional monarch, speaks volumes for his strength of +character, and for his uprightness as a ruler. There is only one thing +that he has declined to do, in spite of all the pressure brought to +bear upon him by his ministers and by his allies: he has absolutely +declined to visit Rome so long as the Pope remains deprived of his +temporal sovereignty. Ordinarily the most chivalrous and courteous +of monarchs, and extremely punctilious in the fulfilment of all the +obligations imposed by etiquette, he has up to the present moment +refrained from returning the visit paid to his court at Vienna by King +Humbert and Queen Marguerite nearly twenty years ago. Leo XIII., like +his predecessor, has intimated that he would regard any visit paid to +the King of Italy in the former Papal Palace of the Quirinal at Rome, +by a Catholic sovereign, as a cruel affront to the occupant of the +chair of St. Peter. The only Catholic ruler who has visited King +Humbert at the Quirinal, in spite of this papal protest, is Prince +Ferdinand of Bulgaria, who was at the time subject to the ban of +the church, in consequence of the conversion of his little son from +Catholicism to the Greek orthodox rite, in order to insure his +own (Ferdinand's) recognition by Russia as ruler of Bulgaria. But +Francis-Joseph has never consented to set his foot in Rome, although +it has been pointed out to him that the existence of the triple +alliance was imperilled by this slight placed upon King Humbert and +Queen Marguerite. He did not hesitate to declare that he would rather +forego the alliance than affront the Pope by visiting Rome under the +present circumstances. + +One little scene, in conclusion, which I witnessed at Vienna, has +always remained impressed upon my mind, illustrating as it does the +democracy of the Catholic Church, if I may use that expression, and +demonstrating the good old emperor's belief,--so different from that +of Emperor William,--that in the eyes of the Almighty all men are +equal. + +It transpired at the funeral of Cardinal Gangelbauer, the popular and +universally venerated Archbishop of Vienna. The obsequies took place +in the ancient Cathedral of St. Stephen. Military and ecclesiastical +pomp were combined with the magnificent ceremonial of the Austrian +court for the purpose of rendering the last honors to the dead +prelate. The entire metropolitan garrison was under arms, and lined +the streets through which the funeral procession passed. The bells +of all the churches in the metropolis were tolling throughout the +ceremony, and added to the solemnity of the occasion. The stately +Papal Nuncio performed the funeral service in the most impressive +manner, and when he stood on the step of the high altar, and raised +his hands aloft to pronounce the absolution, the whole of the vast +assemblage bowed down, the wintry sunlight streaming through the rich +stained glass windows, falling alike upon the reverently bent head of +the monarch, and those of the peasant mourners who stood by his side +at the head of the bier. For the dead cardinal was the son of an old +farmer, and his brothers, his sisters, and his nephews, all of them +plain, humble peasants of Upper Austria, were kneeling there in their +peasant garb with the emperor in their midst, and surrounded by the +glittering uniforms of the archdukes, the princes, the generals, +cabinet ministers and ambassadors assembled around the coffin. There +was no undue exaltation or timidity on the part of the peasants, +no undue condescension or contempt on the part either of emperor or +dignitaries for the lowly rank of their fellow mourners. All seemed +thoroughly to realize that they were equal in the face of death, and +in the presence of their Creator. + +It is only in a metaphorical sense that William can be described as an +Anointed of the Lord. For whereas Francis-Joseph was both anointed and +crowned as King of Hungary in 1867, Emperor William has never been the +object of either of these ceremonies. The fact of the matter is that +there is a good deal of difference of opinion concerning the dignity +of a German emperor; for while William claims that it is identical +with the status of the emperors of Austria and Russia, the +non-Prussian states of Germany insist that it is merely titular, +inasmuch as he has no control or jurisdiction in the various federal +states which constitute the empire, such as Bavaria, Saxony and +Wuertemberg, each of which has an independent king in nowise subject, +but merely allied to the Prussian monarch. + +It is only in time of war, and for the sake of successful co-operation +that the supreme command of the united German military forces is by +special agreement vested in the hands of the German emperor--a +tribute to the superiority and pre-eminence of the Prussian military +reorganizations. It is true that Prussia has since then, by degrees, +endeavored to encroach upon the independence of the federal states. +But this is strongly resented, to-day more than ever, and William +is constantly being reminded by the non-Prussian press, by the +non-Prussian governments, and even by the non-Prussian reigning +dynasties that they are not vassals, but allies of Prussia. + +The German emperor has no crown as such, nor any civil list, and +with the solitary exception of his eldest son, all the members of his +family figure merely as royal Prussian, not imperial German princes. +Thus, for instance, Prince Henry, the brother of the emperor, is +addressed not as imperial highness, but only as royal highness. + +Had William attempted to have himself crowned as German emperor, it +would merely have had the effect of attracting public attention to the +difference existing between his own status as emperor and that of his +fellow-sovereigns of Austria and Russia, besides which it would +have raised all sorts of troublesome questions with the non-Prussian +courts, and intensified their sensibilities and prejudices. If, on the +other hand, he had caused himself to be crowned king of Prussia in +the ancient city of Koenigsberg, where all Prussian kings have been +crowned, the ceremony would have had the effect of impressing upon the +world at large the fact that the only real crown to which William can +lay claim, and which he is entitled to wear, is the crown of the kings +of Prussia. + +That is why he has never been either crowned or anointed, differing in +this respect from Francis-Joseph, Emperor Nicholas and Queen Victoria, +all of whom have experienced both ceremonies, which by the masses of +Europe, especially among the uneducated and ignorant, are considered +indispensable to endow the majesty of the sovereign with a sacred +character. The Hungarians did not consider Francis-Joseph as entitled +to their allegiance and loyalty until he had been crowned at Pesth +with the crown of St. Stephen, and anointed with the sacred oil, and +there is no doubt that the Bohemians would be transformed from the +most turbulent, malcontent, and troublesome of his subjects into his +most devoted lieges, were he to comply with their demands, and have +himself anointed and crowned as King of Bohemia, with the crown of +Saint Wenceslaus. + +Nor was Emperor Nicholas of Russia considered a full-fledged Czar +of Russia, nor his consort a czarina, until he had been anointed and +crowned at Moscow, nearly two years after his accession to the throne. +In fact, until the time of his coronation, his mother, the dowager +empress, enjoyed precedence of his wife on all official occasions, on +the ground that she was the widow of a crowned czar, and had herself +been solemnly crowned as the consort of Alexander III., by her +imperial husband, whereas her daughter-in-law, the younger empress, +had enjoyed no such advantage up to that time. + +Only those who know William well can realize how deeply he feels this +difference which exists between himself and the rulers of more ancient +dynasties, or how glad he would be to find some means of being crowned +and anointed, not as a mere titular German emperor, but as Emperor +of Germany. It is difficult to see how this ambition of his could be +fulfilled so long as the Austrian empire remains in existence. The +dignity of Emperor of Germany belonged for centuries to the house +of Hapsburg, in relation to the head of which the chief of the +Hohenzollern family ranked merely as a cup-bearer, being compelled to +stand behind the chair of the Hapsburg monarch at all state banquets, +and to keep his cup supplied with wine. The whole of the ancient +insignia of the former Emperors of Germany, including the sceptre, +the orb, and the sword of state, are in the possession of Emperor +Francis-Joseph at Vienna, and are comprised in the imperial Austrian +regalia. Indeed, at the time when King William of Prussia was +proclaimed German Emperor at the palace of Versailles, in 1871, the +Emperor of Austria wrote to the then widowed Queen Marie of Bavaria, +that he protested, "from the very bottom of his heart, against the +dignity and crown of his father being vested in persons without a +shadow of right thereto, and that he had placed his rights in +the hands of Providence." Although he entertains the friendliest +sentiments towards Emperor William, there is no reason to believe that +either he or the members of his house have modified their resentment +in connection with this quasi-usurpation of the dignity of Emperor of +Germany by the Prussian family of Hohenzollern. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +There is no more restless man in all Europe than the kaiser. It is +related of him at the Court of Berlin that when on one occasion he +inquired of his brother, Prince Henry, if he could suggest to him +anything new wherewith to startle both his own subjects and the world +in general, the sailor prince, with a merry laugh, proposed that +his majesty should remain perfectly quiet, without saying or doing +anything, for an entire week! That, he assured his imperial brother, +would amaze and dumbfound the entire universe more than anything else +that could possibly be conceived. + +While this lack of repose on the part of William is the source of a +good deal of fun both at home and abroad, there is no doubt that it +has had the effect of strengthening the monarchial system in Prussia +to a far greater degree than in any previous reign. It is not that +the kaiser is more popular than his predecessors on the throne. On +the contrary, it may be doubted whether he holds the same place in the +affections of the German people as did his father and grandfather. But +while it is possible to imagine a Prussia without either of them, it +is difficult to picture to oneself a Germany without William! It seems +as if he were indispensable to the existence of the nation, and that +if anything untoward were to happen to him, everything in Germany +would suddenly stop working, precisely as if the mainspring of a watch +were to break. He conveys the impression of being the source from +which proceeds every action, every phase of activity and every +enterprise, no matter what its character. To such an extent is this +the case, that practically nothing seems to be done throughout the +length and breadth of his dominions without his influence in the +matter being both felt and apparent. There is nothing so trivial that +it does not interest him. He will turn from the greatest and most +important matters of state to the most petty question concerning +court etiquette or domestic mismanagement, and will not hesitate to +interrupt an interview with the chancellor of the empire, or with some +foreign ambassador, to spank one of his youngsters if he happens to +have been misbehaving himself! + +He keeps absolute personal control over the army, the navy, the state +administration, and his court, and yet finds time to supervise his +children's lessons and amusements. He attends even to the pulling out +of the milk teeth of his little ones and permits no one else to do it, +as the following little anecdote, concerning Prince Oscar, his fifth +son, will illustrate. + +The boys had, and I believe still have, an English governess, who is +very strict and independent with them, and who just on that account, +probably, is highly esteemed and liked by her young pupils, as well as +by their parents. On the occasion of her last anniversary, the empress +with her usual kindness prepared a pretty birthday table for her, +decked out with all kinds of presents from the imperial couple, and +from each of the children. Prince Oscar's gift, which he had carefully +done up himself in ribbons and tinted paper, and inscribed with his +name, turned out to be a small and empty cardboard box. On being taken +to task by his mother as to what he meant by this, he informed her +that the box was destined to hold the first tooth, which he was about +to lose, and which his father, the emperor, was to pull for him with +a string that very afternoon, at the conclusion of a "Kronrath," or +council of the crown, at which his majesty was to preside. The little +prince regarding that tooth as the greatest treasure at his disposal, +was convinced that he could bestow upon his governess no more +acceptable gift. She now wears it in a gold bangle presented to her by +the empress. + +Among other domestic affairs which have occupied the kaiser's +attention, has been the tendency of his boys to dyspepsia and +digestive troubles, owing to their habit of eating too rapidly, a +fault which they have certainly inherited from their father, for he +has subjected them to the same process that was adopted in his case +when a child, to make him eat slowly; to wit, whenever apples or pears +are given to the boys they are not permitted to get them whole, and to +munch them, like any ordinary boy, but only to receive them cut into +quarters, each bit being wrapped in a number of pieces of tissue +paper, the unfolding of which requires time, thus preventing the young +princes from eating too fast! The kaiser often alludes to the fact +that he was subjected to the same formalities and will add: + +"You see nothing was made easy for me in my youth. Even the matter of +eating an apple was rendered as difficult for me as possible!" + +The kaiser is followed wherever he goes by an extremely clever +stenographer, Dr. Weiss, who was formerly official shorthand writer to +the imperial parliament. He now forms part of the emperor's household, +and accompanies his majesty on all his numerous travels. It is the +doctor's duty to place on record and preserve all the pearls that drop +from the imperial lips, or perhaps, to put it more correctly, to give +the emperor and his advisers an opportunity of editing and revising +his public utterances before they find their way into print. Dr. +Weiss has several assistants who help him in the transcription of his +shorthand notes, and none of the emperor's public speeches or casual +remarks find their way into print nowadays except through Dr. Weiss. +Thanks to the tact of this precious secretary, there exists, very +often, a considerable diversity between what the emperor says, and +what he is represented as having said, and it is in consequence of +this wise provision that the imperial speeches appear to have become +so much more discreet, and at the same time less sensational, than was +the case during the early part of his reign. + +Quick-tempered, passionate, generous-hearted, and extremely impulsive, +the emperor, often speaking on the spur of the moment, frequently +said more than he intended to say, and thus laid himself open to both +domestic and foreign criticism and abuse. He has not yet outgrown this +fault, although he has become much more cautious than formerly, and +moreover, with Dr. Weiss at his elbow, and with the care that is +observed by the authorities to let none of the imperial utterances +reach the public in print, save through Dr. Weiss, after being duly +edited by him, most of the former perils have been averted. The +emperor is very particular, indeed, about having Dr. Weiss by his +side, and frequently at public functions himself directs the doctor +where to stand and where to sit, so that he may not lose a word of +what his imperial master says. + +Like the aged pontiff at Rome, William manifests a great predilection +for the telephone. There are telephonic instruments in his library, +in his workroom, and even in his bed-chamber, and quite a considerable +portion of the day is spent talking over the wires to his ministers, +government officials, relatives, courtiers or mere friends. He +seems to find the same pleasure in calling up the various government +departments that he does in alarming the various garrisons at night +time, being evidently under the impression that by so doing he keeps +the officials strictly attentive to their duties, and convinced that +if not the eye, at any rate the ear of the emperor is on the _qui +vive!_ Nor are the government offices safe from being rung up by his +majesty over the wires even at night time. For the past two or three +years he has insisted that at the ministry of foreign affairs, at the +ministry of the interior, and at the war and naval departments, at +least one of the divisional chiefs and half a dozen clerks should be +kept on duty all night long, in order to attend to any business or +to communicate to him without delay anything that they may regard as +needing his immediate attention. + +Berlin is the only capital where the principal government offices +are thus kept open for official business all night long, and +the circumstance serves to furnish another illustration of the +extraordinary activity, energy, and impatience of delay that +distinguish the emperor, who wants everything done right away, without +a moment's waiting! + +Emperor William gives the telephone companies at Berlin and at Potsdam +far more trouble than any other of their subscribers, for when he +telephones to any of the government departments, or to dignitaries or +officials of high rank, the operators at the central office are under +the strictest orders to abstain from listening to the conversation, +and are forced to rise from their seats and remove to a distance from +the wires. Anyone caught disobeying in this particular is subject not +only to dismissal, but to serious unpleasantness on the part of the +police. + +When the emperor rings up anybody, he does not announce his identity, +taking it for granted that the tones of his voice are sufficiently +well known to reveal it. It has been noted, moreover, that he +commences all his conversations over the wire with the pronoun "I," +while the verb "command," either in the past or in the present tense, +almost invariably follows. This is quite sufficient to show who is +talking. + +William is the first sovereign of his line to accept the hospitality +of his subjects. Prior to his advent to the throne, such a thing as +the monarch attending any private entertainment or dinner given by one +of his lieges was altogether unknown. Neither King Frederick-William +III., King Frederick-William IV., nor old Emperor William, whose +reigns extended over nearly ninety years of the nineteenth century, +ever once honored any member of the nobility, no matter how high in +rank, with their presence for a single evening or night, except +during the course of the annual manoeuvres, when the monarch, as +commander-in-chief of the army, was quartered in some chateau, much +in the same manner as the officers of minor rank and the soldiers. +Emperor William, however, following the example of his British +relatives, and greatly to the dismay of all the old-fashioned +authorities on the etiquette of the Court of Berlin, has adopted +the practice of inviting himself out to dinner in town, and to +shooting-parties in the country, in a manner that is absolutely +startling, even to his English relatives; for whereas the latter never +dine out anywhere, unless the list of guests invited to meet them is +previously submitted to them for consideration and revision, in +order to avoid being brought into contact with people that are not +congenial, the kaiser, on the other hand, when he hears that a dinner +is about to be given by one of his friends or followers, frequently +invites himself either at the last moment, an hour or two before the +time fixed for the meal, or else arrives unannounced and uninvited, +knowing full well that he will always be welcome, since his coming +can only be regarded as a particular mark of imperial regard and favor +toward the giver of the entertainment. + +Thus, while Count Shuvaloff was still Russian ambassador at Berlin, +the emperor was in the habit of dropping in unannounced about luncheon +time, and of sitting down with the count and countess, the latter +being as often as not in the negligee of a mere tea-gown, and more +than once when he had sat with them longer than he intended, and found +that there was no time left to return to the palace before proceeding +to the railroad station to take his departure for Potsdam or some +other place, he would ask leave of the count to use his telephone, +ring up the empress, and not only bid her adieu, but also dispatch her +a kiss over the wires, in the most charmingly domestic fashion. + +William prides himself in no small degree on his descent through Queen +Victoria in an unbroken line from the Biblical King David, and claims +that he, therefore, belongs to the same family as the founder of +Christianity. Hanging in a conspicuous position in his workroom in the +"Neues-Palais" at Potsdam, is a copy of the royal family tree, showing +the name of King David engrossed at the root of it, with that of +Emperor William at the top. According to this tree, the reigning house +of England is descended from King David through the eldest daughter +of Zedekiah, who, with her sister, fled to Ireland in charge of the +prophet Jeremiah,--then an old man,--to be married to Heremon, the +king of Ulster of the period. + +Curiously enough, a Mr. Glover, a clergyman of the Church of England, +who had devoted the greater portion of his life to the study of +genealogy, wrote to Queen Victoria a letter in 1869, informing her +that he had discovered her to be descended in an unbroken line from +King David. Her majesty sent for him to come to Windsor, and to his +astonishment informed him that what he thought he had been the first +to discover had been known to herself and to the prince consort for +many years. + +Naturally, William, with his religious ideas, has always been deeply +interested in this family tree, and soon after his accession to the +throne requested his grandmother to let him have a copy thereof, which +was sent to him most handsomely engrossed and magnificently framed. +Its contemplation has, of course, tended to increase his belief in the +divine origin of his authority, since, if he does not, like the old +kings of France, describe himself as "first cousin of the Almighty," +he can at any rate claim to be a near kinsman of the founder of +Christianity. + +Notwithstanding all the emperor's manifest desire to render himself +agreeable to the French, and his evident eagerness to assuage by +gracious and chivalrous courtesy the bitterness resulting from the +war of 1870 and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, he has absolutely +declined since he ascended the throne to permit France's national +hymn, "The Marseillaise," to be played at his court, at any of the +imperial and royal theatres, or by any German military or naval band. +When he entertains the French ambassador at dinner or receives him in +state and wishes to pay him musical honors, he causes the old "March +of St. Denis," in use at Versailles prior to the great revolution, +which is in every sense of the word a Bourbon hymn, to be played. + +The ambassador who now represents France is the Marquis de Noailles, a +scion of one of the oldest ducal houses of the French nobility, whose +origin dates back to the crusades. This being the case, the envoy +naturally offers no objection to the attitude of the emperor with +regard to the "Marseillaise." + +The kaiser, after all, acts in the matter with a far greater degree of +logic and reason than any of his fellow-sovereigns, for the strains +of the "Marseillaise" are familiar in the palace of the czar at St. +Petersburg, at Windsor Castle, in the royal palace of Madrid, in +the imperial Hofburg at Vienna, and even at the Vatican, and it is +difficult to conceive anything more paradoxical than a royal band +of music playing for the delectation of royal and imperial ears a +national hymn, the words of which passionately call upon the people +to rise up and to put to death all kings and emperors, queens and +empresses, denounced as bloodthirsty tyrants. + +Emperor William, even before his accession to the throne, manifested +such a pronounced hostility towards the practice of gambling at cards, +which is one of the curses of the corps of officers of the German +army, that a very widespread impression prevails to the effect that he +objects to card games in any shape or form. This is a mistake. It is +the gambling and not the game itself to which the kaiser is opposed. +In fact, he is very fond of a game of cards, provided the stakes are +merely nominal, and I have known him to play an entire evening after +a dinner at the castle of Kuckelna, which marked the close of a great +pheasant "drive" organized in his honor by Prince Lichnowski. The game +which the emperor played was the German one called _Skat_, and the +point was a German penny. The emperor was the principal loser, having +had poor hands dealt to him throughout the entire game, and when he +arose from the table he was out of pocket exactly six cents. In thus +limiting the stakes to a merely nominal amount he has followed the +example of his old friend and adviser, the veteran King of Saxony, who +is accustomed to play every night his game of _skat_ after dinner, his +stakes, like those of the kaiser, never exceeding one penny. + +I have often wished that I could see the face of the kaiser's uncle, +the Prince of Wales, were such truly regal stakes as these proposed to +him. His ordinary points and stakes are any sum from five guineas to +fifty, and even a hundred, and the only time that I can recollect his +having played for less than a guinea was at Hughenden when on a visit +to the Earl of Beaconsfield. Bernal Osborne, father of the Duchess of +St. Albans, was one of the party when the prince proposed a game of +whist at five-guinea points. Lord Beaconsfield was a poor man, obliged +to count every penny, and Bernal Osborne caught sight of the manner +in which his face fell when the proposal was made. Grasping the +situation, and remembering that Lord Beaconsfield had but a few weeks +previously added the imperial crown of India to the British regalia, +by causing Queen Victoria to be proclaimed Empress of India, he turned +to the prince and remarked: + +"Would it not be more appropriate, sir, to play for crown stakes?" The +prince grasped the situation at once, made a flattering reference to +the old premier, and the points played for were, as suggested, five +shillings instead of five guineas! + +Apropos of this question of cards, William has done everything in +his power to check gambling, especially among the army officers, and +before succeeding to the throne, while still only Prince of Prussia, +he actually went to the length of issuing a stringent order to the +officers of the Hussar regiment, of which he was colonel, forbidding +them to cross the threshold of the Union Club, on account of the +high play for which that institution was notorious. The club deeply +resented being thus placed under a ban, and sent its president, the +late Duke of Ratibor, to the aged emperor to entreat him to rescind +his grandson's order, on the ground that it was a reflection upon the +most aristocratic and exclusive club of all Germany, besides being +unjust to the officers of the regiment, some of whom were among the +most brilliant and popular members of that institution. Old Emperor +William, after inquiring whether Prince William had really issued such +an order, shook his head rather seriously for a few minutes, and then +told the duke that he would see what he could do, but that knowing his +grandson well, he feared that there would be a good deal of difficulty +about the matter. On the following morning, when young Prince William +came to pay his daily visit to his grandfather, the latter broached +the subject to him with the utmost caution, and with manifest +expectation of encountering a refusal. Nor was he disappointed. For no +sooner had he mentioned the matter than the young prince declared in +the most positive manner that nothing would induce him to rescind his +order, and that rather than give way, he would resign command of the +regiment, arguing that in such a matter especially he could brook no +interference. The old emperor admitted in a rather shame-faced +way that his grandson was in the right, excused himself for having +mentioned the matter, did all that he could to soothe what he believed +to be the ruffled feelings of the prince, and on the following day +told the Duke of Ratibor that he was very sorry, but that, in spite +of all his efforts, he had been unable to accomplish anything with his +grandson in the way desired. + +Immediately after he came to the throne he requested the resignation +of a number of officers, some of them bearing the greatest names +in the empire, for instance, the late Prince Fuerstenberg and Prince +George Radziwill, for no other reason than their fondness for +cards, and in consequence of the large sums of money which they were +accustomed to stake. All the princes and nobles thus forced to leave +the army also quitted Berlin, in token of their disapproval of an +emperor who took upon himself to interfere with what they were pleased +to regard as their private amusements, and there is no doubt that for +a time the brilliancy of the Berlin Court and the prosperity of +trade in the Prussian capital suffered through the closing of so many +princely palaces and grand houses. + +It is strange that in spite of all that the emperor has done to +stop gambling, the play has been higher, and the card-scandals more +frequent since he became emperor than during any previous reign, with +the exception of that of his grand-uncle, King Frederick-William IV. +The latter's crusade against gambling culminated in the tragic death +of his chief of police, and most intimate friend and crony, Baron +von Hinkelday, whose spectre he was wont to see before him during +his moments of temporary dementia, previous to his becoming entirely +insane. + +Emperor William's reign has been saddened much in the same way +through the suicide of his young cousin, Prince Alfred of Coburg; the +self-destruction of the young prince, who had been placed under the +immediate care and guardianship of his majesty, having been due, as +I have intimated, to enormous losses at the card tables of Berlin and +Potsdam. In spite of all the well-meant efforts of the kaiser, and +notwithstanding all his threats and disciplinary measures, gambling +is more rampant to-day among the officers of the German army, and +overwhelming a greater number of illustrious names with ruin and +disgrace than ever before. + +With all his keen sense of dignity, his shortness of temper, and his +impulsiveness, the emperor is nevertheless more easily diverted from +anger to good humor by means of a piece of wit than most of his fellow +sovereigns. Some time ago, when old Baron Boetticher, secretary of +state for the interior, was discussing with his majesty the most +suitable nominations to be made in the case of a number of vacant +offices, the latter became greatly irritated by the old statesman's +unanswerable objections to the candidate for whom he himself desired +to obtain a certain post, his anger grew quite violent, and when the +baron inquired if there were no other person upon whom he would like +to confer the appointment, William replied, curtly, "Oh, confer it on +the devil if you like!" + +"Very well," replied the old minister, with a twinkle in his eye, +but in his most suave and courtly manner, and with a most unruffled +demeanor: "And shall I allow the patent signed by your majesty in +that case to go out in the usual form, 'To my trusted and well-beloved +cousin and counsellor?'" + +The kaiser saw the joke at once, burst into a loud peal of laughter, +his ill-temper having vanished in a moment. + +Another amusing incident in which the devil was called upon to play a +part occurred on the occasion of the emperor's inspection of a number +of newly-joined recruits for the first regiment of Foot Guards. In +accordance with his invariable custom, he was examining-them as to +what they would do in this or that emergency. Addressing one burly +Pomeranian grenadier, he inquired what he would say to a man who +annoyed him while on sentry duty. + +"Go to the devil! Get out! your majesty," responded the man. + +"All right, my friend," exclaimed the emperor, laughing, "I'll get +out; but I'll be hanged if I'll go to the devil," and with that he +turned to the next man. + +Military inspections very often furnish the occasion for amusing +and sometimes rather disconcerting episodes. I can recall as an +illustration an inspection of recruits for the navy at Kiel. On that +day the emperor had been holding forth, as he so often does, about the +duty of sailors as well as soldiers to defend the crown against +the foes beyond the frontiers of the empire, as well as against the +enemies within the boundaries of the latter. He then singled out a +stolid-looking recruit, and having ascertained that he was the son +of a Bavarian farmer, with a strongly developed taste for the sea, he +proceeded to question him with regard to the address which he had just +delivered. + +"And who are our foreign foes, my good fellow?" he inquired. + +"The Russians and the French, your majesty," replied the recruit. + +"And who are the enemies within the empire?" proceeded the emperor, +expecting of course that the sailor would say that they were the +socialists. + +"The Prussians, your majesty," answered the Jack-tar that was to +be, without apparently realizing that he had said anything wrong or +impolite, and merely giving a frank utterance to the sentiment in +which he, like all his countrymen in Bavaria, had been brought up. + +One of the most pleasing features about Emperor William is his +readiness to forgive and forget, and his inability to bear a grudge +for any length of time against those who have either insulted or +injured him. No more striking instance of this can be given than his +treatment of General Baron von Krosick, who expected to be dismissed +from the army, possibly even banished, when William ascended the +throne, but who instead has been overwhelmed by his sovereign with +every conceivable honor, having received not merely his promotion +from the rank of brigadier-general to that of inspector-general of the +army, but also investiture with the exceedingly rare distinction of +the Order of the Black Eagle, which, as I have already stated before, +is the Prussian equivalent to the English Order of the Garter, and +the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece. The baron enjoys the +well-deserved reputation of being the most phenomenally rude and +rough-spoken man in the German army, and was at one time colonel in +command of the hussar regiment in which William, prior to becoming +emperor, received his cavalry training. + +On one occasion an almost incredible scene took place. It was at +a regimental mess banquet, to which William, at that time only a +captain, had invited Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, then on a visit +at Berlin. During the course of the dinner, the conversation turned +upon some projected reforms in cavalry drill and movements, which +ultimately turned out to be impracticable and were not carried into +effect. William, in his impulsive, impetuous, and somewhat arrogant +way, declaimed in a loud tone of voice on their superlative merits, +declared himself in their favor, and added that he would do his utmost +to see them carried through, as he regarded them as indispensable to +raise the standard and tone of the German cavalry. + +Colonel von Krosick, like the remainder of the officers, had drunk his +fair share of wine. He never liked his royal subaltern, and took +no pains to conceal his sentiments. The arrogance of the prince's +utterances, as well as his assumption of superiority, exasperated him +beyond measure, and, breaking into the conversation, he exclaimed in +tones that were heard throughout the apartment: + +"_Aber das ist ja der bloedste Unsinn_ [But that is the most ridiculous +nonsense];" and then proceeded to contemptuously ridicule William's +arguments. + +Much nettled, and quite as short-tempered as his colonel, William +called out, half jokingly, half bitterly: + +"That is all very well, colonel. You are my superior officer at +present, and I am bound to defer to your opinion. But our positions +may change one of these days, and then you will see." + +Perfectly frantic and purple in the face, Colonel von Krosick +thundered forth: + +"When that day comes to pass, prince, I will rather break my sabre +across my knee than serve under your command." + +Immediately the whole place was in an uproar. The Austrian crown +prince being the first to jump from his seat, and a minute later both +princes had left the mess-room and the barracks. Contrary to general +expectation, Prince William made no report about the matter, either to +his father or grandfather, and Colonel von Krosick heard nothing more +about the affair. + +Of course he expected to receive his discharge when William ascended +the throne. But to his amazement, he has ever since been made the +object of the most signal favor, kindliness and respect: the respect +that is frequently entertained by a man after he has grown up toward +the head master who caned him when he was at school. Indeed, William +seems never to be able to forget that he was for several years under +the old martinet's direct command. + +In spite of Emperor William being at the present moment over forty +years of age, he still retains a great store of boyishness, and in +particular, a liking for practical jokes, though never when they are +at his own expense! It is not so very long ago that he had notified +a number of generals and military dignitaries to meet him at the +railroad station at Potsdam, at half-past eleven in the evening, in +order to accompany him to manoeuvres that were to be held at a place +several hours' distance on the following day. Leaving the palace on +foot shortly after eleven, he entered the railroad station by a back +door, and managed to slip in without being recognized. + +Shielded by the darkness, he made his way unobserved to the special +train, which was in waiting, got into his carriage by the door on the +opposite side from the platform. For at least half an hour he amused +himself by peeping at the officers on the platform, whose faces +expressed surprise and vexation that his majesty, ordinarily so +punctual, should be so long in coming. Suddenly he raised the blind, +opened the window, and intimated by loud and prolonged laughter his +presence in the carriage, and the success of his little trick. The +astonishment and the dismay depicted on the visages of those on the +platform can be more easily imagined than described. + +Emperor William is not fond of the press, and has never taken any +trouble to conceal his dislike for that branch of the literary +profession. It is true that he has been subjected to a good deal of +abuse at its hands, and that he has been made the object of calumny +sufficient to drive a man so hypersensitive to public comment into a +lunatic asylum. Many of the most intricate troubles and most annoying +episodes of his life and his reign have been in a large measure due to +the press, inasmuch as they were either originated or envenomed by the +newspapers. William is as nervous about what the papers will say as a +young debutante on the stage. Not only does he keep an anxious watch +upon the utterances of all German editors, but he ordains a vigilant +scrutiny of the articles printed in foreign countries from the pens of +correspondents stationed in Berlin, who, if any unfriendly mention +of his name is brought home to them, are ultimately driven out of the +country. + +One of the first acts of Emperor William's reign was the expulsion +from Berlin of a number of foreign journalists, whose criticisms +and comments on his attitude towards his mother, as well as on +his opposition to the political views of his dead father, had been +distasteful to the imperial eye. A year later he caused a new series +of press laws to be presented to the Reichstag, which contained such +arbitrary provisions for stamping out the remaining liberties of +the press that even the _Cologne Gazette_ denounced it as "putting +a frightful weapon into the hands of the government for suppressing +freedom of speech and silencing opposition." This measure did not +pass, in spite of all the efforts of his majesty, and its rejection +merely served to embitter the emperor still further against the press. + +As far as the German press is concerned William manages to get even +with it by insisting upon the strict execution of the laws concerning +the crime of _Lese majeste_ with a severity that savors of the +middle ages rather than of modern times. Indeed, while there are few +prominent journalists in Germany who have not undergone imprisonment +since he ascended the throne, for writing of him in a manner that he +considered disrespectful, there are some newspapers that are literally +obliged to employ distinguished members of their staff for no other +purpose than doing time in jail, as the penalty of too free utterances +of the sheet with which they are connected. + +Of course, William has no such means of dealing with the foreign +press, which being more fearless, thanks to its immunity, has +naturally subjected him to worse treatment than that of Germany. +Occasionally though, he gets even with some of his foreign assailants, +and the following story is told of the manner in which he dealt with +a newspaper proprietor in New York, who after rendering his journal +conspicuous above all others for its personal attacks on his majesty, +had the audacity to write him a letter, asking him for a brief article +from his, the kaiser's, pen. + +The editor in question gave as a pretext for his request, the alleged +existence of a widespread belief in the United States that his majesty +was not quite right in his mind, and suggested that a brief message, +for which a check of five thousand dollars was enclosed, might relieve +the anxiety of millions of Germans in America, and convince them that +the kaiser was quite sane. Some weeks later the enterprising editor +received a visit from the German consul-general in New York. On being +admitted to the august presence of the editor the consul-general +extracted an envelope from his pocket, and from the envelope the +five-thousand-dollar check, to the order of his majesty, the German +emperor, and bearing the signature of the editor; the consul-general +then made a bow to the latter, handed him the check, made another bow, +and withdrew without having said a single word, or opened his mouth, +even to greet him! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +Emperor William, like his brother monarch at Vienna, is seldom seen +out of uniform. Soldiers above everything else by profession, it +constitutes the garb to which they have been accustomed from their +boyhood, and both look ill at ease and uncomfortable in civilian +clothes. + +Francis-Joseph, in fact, never wears "mufti" except when abroad, and +it is doubtful whether anyone in Switzerland or in the South of France +would have recognized the Emperor of Austro-Hungary in the elderly +gentleman who was there on several occasions, and who wore a black +round hat, and a rather badly-fitting morning or sack suit of dark +cloth, had it not been for the striking appearance of the beautiful +and slender black-garbed empress by his side. In the same way, Emperor +William, although he gets his civilian clothes from some of the +leading London tailors, invariably looks by no means to advantage in +them, and suggests the French description of _endimanche_, that is to +say, like a young man in his Sunday, go-to-meeting attire. + +The uniforms ordinarily affected by Francis-Joseph are the undress +regimentals of an Austrian general, the blue-gray short tunic, faced +with scarlet and gold, trousers with broad red stripes, and that +peculiar, oval-shaped, rather high-crowned soft cap, with a small +vizor, which constitutes the undress headgear of officers belonging to +every rank of the Austrian army. The only token of his imperial rank +is the small badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece peeping forth +from between the first and second buttons of his tunic, the cross of +Maria-Theresa, and the medal accorded to every officer and soldier who +has served fifty years in the army attached to his breast. On state +occasions at Vienna the emperor dons the full-dress uniform of an +Austrian general, consisting of a white short tunic or "Atilla," faced +with gold and scarlet, scarlet trousers, with broad gold stripes, +and a general's three-cornered _chapeau_, surmounted by a big tuft of +green plumes. + +When Francis-Joseph is in Hungary he invariably wears either the +undress or full-dress uniform of a Hungarian general, and it must be +confessed that, in spite of the somewhat theatrical appearance of the +gold embroidered, tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons and gold-topped +high boots, the scarlet gold-laced tunic of the full dress, with +the heron-plumed kalpak, or the slightly less gorgeous "shako," +and blue-grey, gold-laced tunic of the undress uniform, he looks +remarkably well, thanks to the extraordinary elasticity and elegance +which he has retained in spite of his three-score years and ten. + +Emperor William's ordinary garb is the familiar undress uniform of a +Prussian general, the dark-blue long frock coat, with its double row +of silver buttons, its scarlet collar, and its silver shoulder-straps. +The trousers are of the same hue as the coat, with broad scarlet +stripes, the latter being worn only by generals. Hanging from the +collar is usually the cross of the Brandenburg Langue of the Order of +St. John of Jerusalem, while on the breast is fastened a sort of star, +consisting of the letter "W" encircled by gold laurel leaves, which +has been accorded to all the officers who formed part of the household +of Old Emperor William. The cap is the ordinary flat, black vizored +undress headgear of all the officers of the German army. + +The uniforms which the emperor wears on state occasions are either +the full-dress uniform of a Prussian general, richly-embroidered, +dark-blue tunic, and epaulets, with a helmet surmounted by the +white plumes of a field officer, or else the regimentals of a +colonel-in-chief of the gardes-du-corps. In the latter, the emperor +looks exceedingly well, especially on horseback. The helmet is +surmounted by a silver eagle with outstretched wings, the white tunic +is partly concealed by a silver cuirass, adorned with a gold sun, and +with the white, tight-fitting knee-breeches are worn high jack-boots. +In fact, it is no flattery to Emperor William to declare that his +appearance in this uniform invariably suggests "Lohengrin." At court +entertainments, in the evening, he frequently wears the so-called +gala, or court dress of this regiment. The coat is scarlet instead of +white, while the cuirass is abandoned. Sometimes the emperor attires +himself in the uniform of a colonel of the Hussar regiment which he +commanded at the time of his accession to the throne. It is scarlet, +gold-laced, and the tight-fitting scarlet pantaloons are worn with +knee-boots, topped with gold. + +The emperor is likewise very fond of donning naval attire, being +particularly proud of his connection with the fleet of Germany and +those of a number of foreign countries. Indeed, it may be safely +asserted that if there is any one foreign dignity which he cherishes +extremely, it is that of admiral of the fleet in the British navy, +conferred upon him by his grandmother, Queen Victoria. + +Emperor William was only a brigadier-general at the time of his +accession to the throne. It was not until several months after +becoming emperor that he assumed the insignia of a general of +division. Inasmuch as some curiosity exists as to how a monarch can +promote himself, it may be stated that old Field Marshal Moltke, who +was then possessed of the highest rank in the German army, called +one day upon William, and, presenting him with a pair of silver +shoulder-straps, adorned with the insignia of a general of division, +entreated his majesty in the name of the entire army, and in +particular on behalf of the corps of officers, to assume the rank of a +full general. + +The same request was presented to the present czar at the time of +his coronation, but met with a refusal on the part of his Muscovite +majesty, for he pointed out that Peter the Great had throughout his +entire reign contented himself with the rank of colonel. There is also +another reason which Nicholas did not mention officially, but which is +well known to the members of his immediate _entourage_. At the present +moment his name figures on the army list as the principal orderly +officer and personal adjutant of the late czar. This is an office +which can only be held by military men below the rank of general. +The moment young Nicholas acquires that rank his name _ipso-facto_ +disappears from the list of his dead father's adjutants, and he is far +too attached to his memory to desire this, preferring the minor rank +of colonel and the association with his beloved predecessor, to all +the pomp and glory of a generalissimo. + +Of all the other sovereigns in Europe there is not one who travels +with such an immense amount of luggage as Emperor William. He seldom +undertakes a trip without taking along at least one hundred huge +trunks of the so-called Saratoga pattern, which fill several wagons +of the imperial train; indeed, an entire special train is not +infrequently chartered solely for the conveyance of his luggage. Like +some French _elegantes_ at a fashionable seaside resort, he changes +his garb five, six, and even seven times a day. The consequence is +that it is necessary to have at hand not only a vast number of naval +and military uniforms, but also a diversity of shooting suits, hunting +suits, civilian clothes, Tyrolese jaeger costumes, and even the kilt, +sporran and tartan of a Highlander, for he is very proud of the fact +that Stuart blood flows in his veins, and considers that he is quite +as much entitled to wear the Stuart tartan as his uncle, the Prince of +Wales. + +All these clothes are not under the charge of a mere valet, +but of a grand dignitary of the Court of Berlin,--Count +Perponcher-Sedlinzky,--who holds the rank of privy councillor, and +who is addressed as "your excellency." The count has a perfect army of +dressers and valets under his orders, but it is he who is responsible, +not only for the uniforms being in good trim, but likewise for their +being on hand whenever the emperor happens to need them. + +In order to understand what this entails, it must be remembered +that the kaiser is not only colonel of some hundred or more German +regiments, but also of a very great many foreign corps, belonging to +every country in Europe, except Turkey, Bulgaria and France. Now for +each regiment, there are sometimes six, sometimes eight different +uniforms--one each for parade, fatigue duty, court wear, an undress +uniform, and others too numerous to mention. + +When the emperor travels and is likely to be brought into contact with +English princes, with Russians or with Austrians, it is necessary +that he should have within his reach, not merely one of his English, +Austrian or Russian uniforms, but all of them--that is to say, thirty +or forty at least, in addition to his German uniforms and ordinary +clothes. + +An immense amount of importance is attached to these sumptuary +questions by the reigning families of Europe. On one occasion an +imperial meeting between the kaiser and the late czar was delayed for +three whole days, while government stocks all over the world declined +in value, and the utmost apprehension prevailed on the score of peace, +merely because the prince who held the office of grand-master of the +czar's wardrobe had neglected to bring with him the German uniforms of +his master. It may be added that he lost his office in consequence. + +This peculiar form of royal and imperial courtesy, consisting in the +sovereign and royal princes of one country donning the uniforms or +livery of the foreign monarch whom they wish to compliment, originated +with Frederick the Great. In 1770, he had to pay a visit to the +Emperor of Austria at the castle of Neustadt, in Moravia. Only seven +years before, Prussia had been engaged in her great struggle with the +empire, and had thoroughly beaten Austria. Frederick feared that the +too familiar blue Prussian uniform might awaken unpleasant memories on +the part of the emperor and his court. So, with the utmost delicacy, +he and all his staff appeared at Neustadt in the white Austrian +uniforms, an act of courtesy on the part of the victor to the +vanquished which was warmly appreciated both by Emperor Joseph and all +his Austrian _entourage_. The fashion thus inaugurated has remained +in existence ever since, being facilitated by the fact that every +sovereign in Europe, including even Queen Victoria, the Queen Regent +of Spain, and the two Queens of Holland, holds honorary commands in a +number of foreign regiments. + +During the reign of Old Emperor William, those who did not possess +the right to wear any civil or military uniform were permitted to make +their appearance at court in ordinary evening dress, which ultimately +had the effect of giving a sort of _bourgeois_ flavor to imperial +entertainments. The present kaiser, however, proceeded to change all +this before he had been very long on the throne, and having noticed +that at the court of his English grandmother, no one is allowed to +appear at any of the state entertainments or functions in ordinary +evening dress,--the only exception made being in favor of the United +States embassy,--he inaugurated similar regulations at Berlin. + +According to these sumptuary decrees gentlemen who are invited to +entertainments at court, and who for any reason have no right to +military, naval or civil service uniform, are compelled to appear in a +species of court dress, consisting of a coat cut after the fashion of +the last, rather than of the present century. Its color is black, or +dark blue, as are also the revers, the collar and the cuffs; with it +are worn black, tight fitting knee breeches, black silk stockings, +and low patent leather shoes with gold buckles. A three-cornered +_chapeau_, without feathers, and a court sword, complete this costume. + +The emperor likewise directed that all officials of the court and the +civil service, namely, every man who did not happen to belong either +to the army or to the navy, should wear at court balls and at all +great state entertainments, white knee breeches, and white silk +stockings, with low, gold-buckled shoes, in lieu of the blue, black, +or white gold-laced trousers that had until then been habitually worn +with the gold-embroidered swallow-tail coat, which constitutes the +uniform of the German civil service, and of court officialdom. Until +that time, the only European court at which knee breeches had been +insisted upon at court and state entertainments, was that of Great +Britain. They were likewise _de rigueur_ at the Tuileries during the +reign of Napoleon III. The kaiser, however, came to the conclusion +that continuations of this kind gave a more brilliant and dressy +appearance to court functions than long trousers, and accordingly the +latter are barred, save in the case of officers of the army and navy. + +At the imperial court of Berlin there are four types of receptions +or _cours_, the latter being the French word which has clung to these +state functions ever since the reign of Frederick the Great. They +are the "Defiler-Cour," the "Spiel-Cour," the "Sprech-Cour" and the +"Trauer-Cour." The first, namely, the "defiler cour"--from the French +word _defiler_, to file past--is the Berlin counterpart of Queen +Victoria's drawing-rooms at Buckingham Palace in London, and is held +once a year for the purpose of presenting debutantes, brides and +ladies whose husbands have recently been promoted, or raised to the +rank of nobility. They pass one by one before the throne, curtsy +profoundly to each of their majesties, while the grand chamberlain +mentions their names, and then leave the imperial presence by a side +exit. No one kisses the empress's hand, as is the case with Queen +Victoria in England, nor are the presentees compelled to back out of +the imperial presence, as at Buckingham Palace. The court dress of +debutantes at Berlin is not necessarily white, though that is the hue +most affected. The long court train may be of an entirely different +material and color from the dress itself, if the wearer pleases, the +only stipulation made being that the richness and splendor of the +fabric must be beyond question. An indispensable feature of the +toilette is the so-called "barbe," a sort of tiny lace veil, suspended +on each side of the coiffure, about two inches in width. The lace of +course must be real, though the kind is left to the wearer's choice. +It is generally white Spanish point, Alencon, or _Point d'Angleterre_. + +The "defiler-cour" almost invariably takes place on New Year's Day, +immediately after Divine service. This service begins at ten o'clock, +the men being in full uniform, and during the benediction a battery of +artillery, stationed in the "Lust-Garten," fires a royal salute of one +hundred and one guns. + +As soon as the last gun has been fired, the royal and imperial +procession forms, headed by the grand marshal of the court, Count +Augustus Eulenburg, bearing his wand of office, and leaves the +court chapel. When it reaches the "Weisse-Saal"--one of the grandest +apartments of this ancient palace--the band stationed in the gallery +commences to play, generally the Hohenzollern march. The emperor and +empress thereupon take their places on the dais beneath the great +escutcheoned golden canopy, and in front of the two chairs of state +that represent the thrones. At the right and left are grouped the +various royal and imperial personages present, while at the foot of +the dais stands the grand master of the ceremonies for the purpose of +mentioning to their majesties the names of those who pass before them. +At the back of the royal and imperial party are ranged the palace +guard in their quaint, old-fashioned, and exceedingly picturesque +uniforms. The first to pass before the throne is invariably the +chancellor of the empire, and while the emperor and empress merely +respond with an inclination of the head to the salutations of those of +minor rank, they invariably approach to the edge of the dais in +order to give their hands to be kissed by the octogenarian Prince +of Hohenlohe, who has held the office of chancellor ever since the +retirement of General Count Caprivi. The band plays throughout the +entire ceremony, which is a most magnificent affair. + +The so-called "spiel-cour" still keeps its name, implying card +playing, although, as a matter of fact, cards are never played at +court now. In former times they constituted a very important feature +of court entertainment, and the "spiel-cour," or "le jeu de leurs +majestes," was the function to which those whom the anointed of the +Lord desired to honor were most frequently bidden. In earlier days, +as soon as the guests had made their bows to the sovereign and to the +princes and princesses of the blood, card-tables were set out, and +gambling commenced, those to whom their majesties wished to accord +special distinction and honor receiving royal commands, through the +chamberlains-in-waiting to take their places at the card-tables of the +king, or of the queen, as the case might be. + +It was these royal games of cards at the Court of Versailles which +contributed in no small measure to the downfall of the old French +monarchy, and to the outbreak of the great revolution in Paris a +hundred years ago. The ill-fated Queen Marie-Antoinette of France +became an inveterate gambler. It was her craze for high play that +led her to admit not only to her court, but also to her card-table, +parvenus of doubtful reputation and of questionable antecedents, such +as the infamous Cagliostro, _soi-disant_ Count of St. Germain, and +others of his class, whose only merit in her eyes was that they were +rich and willing to lose their money without counting it. Indeed, +the celebrated diamond necklace scandal, which compromised to such a +terrible degree the reputation of this French queen, and precipitated +the overthrow of the throne, would have been impossible had it not +been for her gambling propensities. + +[Illustration: IN THE WHITE HALL +_After a drawing by Oreste Cortazzo_] + +The "spiel-cour" only takes place on the eve of the wedding of a +member of the Hohenzollern family. It is held in the _weisse-saal_ of +the Berlin _schloss_, or palace. The kaiser and the kaiserin, with the +bridal pair, seat themselves at a card table under a canopy of gold +brocade, adorned with the imperial arms. The other royal personages +sit at card-tables lower down on the dais on each side. The invited +guests then pass before their majesties, precisely as at the +"defiler-cour." + +The "sprech-cour" is, as its name signifies, a kind of +_conversazione_. The persons invited are partitioned off, according +to their ranks, in different rooms, through which their majesties +promenade. Those not personally known to the emperor and empress are +introduced by the masters of ceremonies in attendance, and others with +whom their majesties are already acquainted are honored by a short +conversation. + +"Trauer-cours," or mourning levees, are held immediately after the +death of the reigning sovereign, and are exceedingly impressive, +mainly by reason of the flowing robes and peculiar sable-hued attire +which the ladies of the royal family of Prussia and of their courts +are compelled by tradition and etiquette to adopt. Moreover, all the +apartments are draped in black, the gilded ornaments being shrouded +in crape. The last of these mourning courts was held by Empress +Frederick, in the place of her dying husband, on the demise of old +Emperor William, and so painful and depressing was this occasion, that +at her urgent request, no ceremony of the kind was held when "_Unser +Fritz_" in his turn, was gathered to his fathers. + +Very stately are the court balls, of which a number are given in +the early part of each year, between the First of January and the +beginning of Lent. In fact, court balls at Berlin are infinitely +less amusing, at any rate to young people, than are analogous +entertainments at the Hofburg, at Vienna, or at Buckingham Palace, in +London. This is due partly to the fact that Hohenzollern tradition and +etiquette require that the proceedings should be inaugurated with the +Polonaise, and furthermore, because the waltz has, for nearly +forty years, been denied a place in the programme of terpsichorean +entertainments at court. + +In fact, waltzes have been forbidden ever since an accident which +happened to Empress Frederick at a court ball not long after her +marriage. She was waltzing with a young nobleman, when suddenly she +was tripped up inadvertently by her partner, and precipitated to the +floor at the very feet of old Empress Augusta, her mother-in-law. The +latter, who was a terrible despot on the score of etiquette, could +not bear the idea of a dance which could have the effect of placing a +princess of the blood in such an undignified position, and turning +a deaf ear to all arguments about the mishap being due to the +awkwardness of the dancers, rather than to the dance itself, she +vetoed the inclusion of waltzes thenceforth in all programmes of court +balls. + +Fortunately, no such regulation prevails at the Court of Vienna, where +Strauss's waltzes invariably form the most attractive feature of the +so-called "hofball" and "ball-bei-hof." There is a great difference +in the character of these two state balls at Vienna. To the first, +all sorts of people are commanded who are entitled solely by virtue of +their official position to appear at court. The second, and far more +brilliant one, is restricted to what is known as the court circle, or +the _elite_,--the old blue-blooded aristocracy,--alone. + +So far Emperor William has resisted all the pressure brought to bear +upon him by the princesses and ladies of his court to revive the +waltz, taking the ground that it is more conducive than any other +dance to ridiculous mishaps on the highly polished and parqueted +floors of the royal and imperial palaces. Even with the polka, +the schottische and the mazurka, to which the round dances are now +limited, there are so many accidents that some time ago the kaiser +summoned the generals commanding the various troops stationed in and +around Berlin, and instructed them to direct those officers who were +not able to dance properly, to abstain from attempting to do so at the +imperial entertainments. The result is that young officers are now put +through their paces by their seniors, and have to display a certain +proficiency in dances around the billiard or mess table before they +are allowed to dance at court. + +I remember on one occasion at a court ball at Berlin when a young +subaltern incurred the anger of the late Prince Frederick-Charles by +tripping up his partner. The Red Prince assailed the young officer so +bitterly that the crown prince was obliged to intervene. + +At a Viennese court ball I once saw the young secretary of a +foreign embassy fall so unfortunately while dancing with one of the +archduchesses that he actually came down in a sitting position on her +face, and caused her nose to bleed. It need scarcely be added that he +left Vienna the next day, and a week later obtained his transfer to +another post. + +A short time before the tragedy of Mayerling, Crown Princess Stephanie +had a very nasty fall, owing to the gaucherie of a cavalry officer +with whom she was waltzing. The emperor was terribly annoyed, and +Crown Prince Rudolph spoke his mind in no measured tones to the +offender. + +Far more polite was Emperor Napoleon III. when at a Tuileries ball +a middle-aged officer and his fair partner came to grief. As the +mortified warrior scrambled to his feet, the emperor extended a hand +to help him, and turning to the lady, remarked: + +"_Madame, c'est la deuxieme fois que j'ai vu tomber monsieur le +colonel. La premiere fois c'etait sur le champ de bataille de +Magenta_." (Madame, this is the second time I have seen the colonel +fall. The first time was on the battlefield of Magenta.) + +In order to see the Polonaise danced in all its glory, it must be +witnessed on the occasion of the wedding of some princess of the +reigning house of Prussia, when the dance is headed by a procession of +cabinet ministers, bearing candles or torches, whence it is styled the +"Fackel-tanz," (Torch-dance). + +On such an occasion the emperor, the empress and the royal guests +having taken up their places on the dais, under the baldaquin, and +immediately in front of the throne, the less exalted guests ranging +themselves to the right and left of the great white hall, according +to rank and precedence, the court marshal receives orders from his +majesty for the dance to begin. The count thereupon approaches the +royal bride and bridegroom, and bowing low to them, invites them +to take part in the dance. The bridegroom extends his hand to his +consort, and to the sound of a very slow and stately march conducts +her around the hall, preceded by the twelve ministers of state, +walking two by two, those highest in rank coming last. Each, minister +bears in his hand a lighted torch of white perfumed wax. When the +procession returns to the point from which it started, in front of the +throne, the bride approaches the emperor, and with a curtsy invites +his majesty to take part in the dance, and is conducted around the +room by him, the bridegroom going through the same formality with the +empress. As soon as these first three rounds are concluded, the twelve +ministers hand over their wax torches to twelve pages of honor, each +lad being of noble birth, and the bridegroom then similarly invites +the remaining princesses of the blood, two at a time, leading one with +each hand, while the bride goes through the same procedure with two +princes of the blood, until the total list of royal personages has +been exhausted. When the number of royal guests is very large this +dance sometimes lasts nearly two hours. + +On ordinary cases, of course, the torches are dispensed with, and the +polonaise only continues long enough to enable the emperor and +empress to march once round, the hall with those guests whom they +wish particularly to honor. On such occasions they are preceded by the +court marshal bearing the wand of grand marshal, by several masters of +the ceremonies, and by picturesquely attired pages of honor. + +Court ceremonies have been few and far between during the last ten +or twelve years at Vienna owing to the circumstance that the imperial +family have been almost uninterruptedly in mourning, consequent upon +the successive deaths of Crown Prince Rudolph, Archduke Charles-Louis +and Empress Elizabeth, in addition to a number of less important +members of the imperial family. The ceremonial is very different +from that which prevails at Berlin, and it must be confessed that the +guests are more select, since the Court of Vienna is infinitely +more exclusive than that of Berlin, and requires much more stringent +genealogical qualifications on the part of women admitted to the honor +of presentation. Indeed, there Is no court in Europe more exclusive +than that of Emperor Francis-Joseph, and the threshold of the Hofburg +may be regarded as barred without hope of admission to any lady who is +not endowed with the necessary ancestry, free from all plebeian strain +for at least eight generations on both the father's and the mother's +side. + +The presentation of debutantes and of brides ordinarily takes place +prior to the commencement of court balls, and there are no such things +as state concerts or "defiler-cours," as at Berlin, and in England, at +which latter court guests receive their invitations to state balls +by means of large lithographed cards emblazoned with the royal or +imperial arms, on which it is stated that the grand-master of the +Court at Berlin, or the lord chamberlain in London, has been directed +by their majesties, or her majesty, as the case may be, to "command" +the attendance of such and such a person to a ball at court. These +commands are usually sent out about a week or more in advance: but +in Vienna, where it is taken for granted that all the people having +a right to invitations belong to the same intimate circle, cards are +dispensed with, and on the day before the entertainment, sometimes on +the very morning on which it is given, one of the court messengers, or +so-called Hofcouriers, calls at the residence of invited guests with +a long sheet of paper, on which is inscribed the list of _invites._ On +this list, opposite his or her name, the invited person writes yes +or no, indicating thereby acceptance of the imperial command or +prevention by some grave event. + +The guests are already assembled in the Hall of Ceremonies before the +imperial party makes its appearance. The ladies all wear court trains, +and in almost every case the bodice of their dress is adorned with +the insignia of the "Sternkreutz" [star cross], an order restricted +exclusively to women, of which the late empress was grand-mistress, +and to possess which even still greater ancestral qualifications are +needed than for presentation at court. The men are all in uniform, +either civilian, military or naval. Indeed it is impossible to find +in Austria any man that has the right to appear at court who does +not possess some sort of uniform. If he happens to be a Hungarian, he +wears the picturesque dress of the great Magyar kingdom, bordered with +priceless furs, adorned with jewels and composed of costly velvets and +silks. + +Shortly before the arrival of the imperial procession the grand-master +of ceremonies taps on the floor with his ivory wand of office to +attract attention, and the guests thereupon range themselves along the +two sides of the hall, the ladies to the right and the gentlemen to +the left. Suddenly the folding-doors at the further end of the hall +are flung open, and to the sound of the most inspiriting march that +the conductor of the court orchestra, Edouard Strauss, can devise, the +imperial cortege makes its appearance, preceded by Count Hunyadi, in +his uniform of a cavalry general, and Prince Rudolph Leichtenstein, +each armed with a wand of office. Since the disappearance of the +empress from court life--a disappearance which may be said to have +preceded her death by several years--the emperor has been in the habit +on these occasions of offering his arm to the Duchess of Cumberland, +daughter of King Christian of Denmark, and _de jure_ sovereign duchess +of Brunswick, as the principal foreign royal lady present. Immediately +after him follows the archduke next in the line of succession, now +Francis-Ferdinand, or, failing him, Otto, leading the archduchess +designated to take the place of the first lady of the land, and who at +the present time is Archduchess Maria-Josepha, wife of Archduke Otto. + +The imperial procession, consisting of all the archdukes and +archduchesses--there are nearly one hundred of them--and of the +principal members of their households, marches along the avenue thus +formed by the guests, and are welcomed by low curtsies on the part of +the women, and by profound bows on the part of the men. The brilliant +pageant then disappears in the room set apart for the imperial party, +and thereupon the emperor and Archduchess Maria-Josepha return, and +while the emperor passes along in front of the male guests, preceded +by one of the principal dignitaries of his court, either Count +Kalman Hunyadi or Prince Montenuovo, the archduchess, escorted by the +grand-mistress of her court, makes her way along the front rank of the +ladies, bowing to some, extending her hand to be kissed by others, and +chatting familiarly to those who are old friends. + +As soon as the emperor and the archduchess reach the end of the line +the emperor passes over to the ladies' side, while the archduchess in +her turn passes along the front rank of the men. The archduchess then +proceeds to the so-called "Rittersaal," and taking her seat on a +sofa, sends her ladies-in-waiting and her chamberlains to bring to her +presence ladies who have presentations to make. With each debutante +the archduchess converses for a few seconds before dismissing her, the +wives of the foreign ambassadors being on these occasions invited to +take a seat beside the archduchess on her sofa while presenting their +countrywomen. + +Meanwhile the ball has commenced in the Hall of Ceremonies, and is +usually opened with a waltz. While the dancing is in progress the +emperor strolls about, talking from time to time to some guest. +Foreign ambassadors and envoys usually avail themselves of this +opportunity to present their countrymen to his majesty. + +Of course no one is permitted to invite any of the archduchesses or +foreign princesses of the blood who may happen to be present to dance. +It is they who have the privilege of taking the first step in the +matter. Whenever they desire to dance with any man they cause him +to be notified of their wish by their chamberlain in attendance. The +cavalier thus honored is obliged to consider this intimation in the +nature of a command, and all engagements with fair partners of a less +exalted rank, are annulled thereby. + +Refreshments are served for the ordinary guests in the "Pietra-Dura" +room, where a superb buffet is set, the tables glittering with gold +plate and Venetian glass. For the imperial princes and princesses the +Hall of Mirrors is generally reserved, and there the scene is even +still more magnificent. By midnight all is over. The court has retired +with the same ceremonial that marked its arrival, and the guests are +looking for their wraps and cloaks. All court entertainments at Vienna +begin early and end early, so as not to interfere unduly with the +emperor's practice of rising at about five o'clock in the morning. + +One of the features of the great court functions at Berlin, as well as +at Vienna, which excites the greatest surprise of Americans visiting +Europe for the first time, is that particular form of homage accorded +to royalty which consists in the kissing of the hand or "handkuss." +Not only the hands of the royal and imperial ladies are required +by etiquette to be kissed when offered to gentlemen, but it is also +considered necessary for both men and women to kiss the hand of the +sovereign when he condescends to extend it for the purpose. This +seems, perhaps, less odd at Vienna, as the emperor is a septuagenarian +with snow-white hair and a sad and kindly face, inspiring feelings of +sympathy and loyal affection. Indeed there is nothing out of the way +in a young girl, and even a man of mature years, kissing the hand of a +veteran of the age of Francis-Joseph, just as if he were their father. +But it certainly does appear strange to those from across the Atlantic +who are obtaining their first insight into European court life, to see +not only grey-haired generals, and white-whiskered statesmen, but also +venerable ladies,--grandmothers perhaps--and belonging to the highest +ranks of the nobility kissing the hand of Emperor William. + +It has always seemed to me that William must have realized for the +first time his altered rank when old Field-Marshal Moltke, and the +late Prince Bismarck, on hailing him as emperor within a few hours +after his father's death, bent down to kiss his hand. This took place +more or less in private. But shortly afterwards, when he opened the +imperial parliament for the first time as emperor, in the presence of +most of the German sovereigns who had come to Berlin for the purpose, +and had finished reading his speech, and handed it to the chancellor +of the empire, old Bismarck, as he took it, bent almost double to kiss +the hand that was tendering the document to him, in the presence of +the princes and representatives of the entire German empire. + +Kissing, it may be added, forms a great feature of court etiquette +in Germany and Austria. It is, for instance, _de rigueur_ that two +sovereigns of equal rank visiting each other, should embrace at least +thrice, no matter how deeply they may detest each other privately! +A petty sovereign will have to content himself with being embraced +merely twice by a monarch such as Francis-Joseph or Emperor William, +while a crown prince or heir apparent will receive only one hug. +Mere princes of the blood receive no kisses at all, but only a hearty +hand-shake, with which they have to be satisfied, and which is, after +all, perhaps the most sensible fashion of greeting. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +All royal and imperial people are more or less superstitious, +and neither Emperor William nor his brother monarch at Vienna are +exceptions to the rule. Striking evidence thereof is furnished by the +presence of a large horseshoe cemented into the wall just outside +the fourth window of the first story of Empress Frederick's palace +at Berlin. One day, some time before his accession to the throne, and +before his father was seized with that terrible malady to which he +eventually succumbed, William was invited to dine with his parents. +Finding that he was very late, and knowing the strictness of his +father and mother on the score of punctuality, William directed his +coachman to drive as fast as he could, and the carriage positively +raced up the incline to the portal. + +Suddenly one of the big Mecklenburg horses lost his shoe, which in +some extraordinary manner, flew up into the air, dashed through the +first-story window and fell upon the dinner table, right in front +of Frederick and the then crown princess, who, declining to wait +any longer, had just sat down to table. The shoe is reported to have +grazed the nose of the late emperor. At any rate, the fact that it +should have failed to seriously injure anyone is a miracle. It was so +regarded by Frederick, his wife and his children, who deemed the queer +advent of the shoe, and the escape of everybody from injury, as an +indication of good luck. At the suggestion of the present kaiser, it +was thereupon cemented into the wall just outside the window through +which it had come, and was fastened upside down, in order to prevent +the luck from dropping out. + +It is not altogether astonishing that royal personages should be prone +to superstition, for in almost every case they are compelled to make +their homes in palaces and castles that have been stained with the +blood of one or more of their ancestors. Ordinary people experience an +uncanny feeling when forced by circumstances to live in houses which +have been the scene of suicide or murder, even when the victims of +the tragedy, or the perpetrators thereof are in no way, even the +most remotely, connected with them. What wonder, then, that royal and +imperial personages should entertain the same kind of superstition and +sentiments with regard to their palaces, when it is borne in mind that +the participants in the drama have been members of their own families! + +For months prior to the assassination of Empress Elizabeth, +forebodings of an impending catastrophe were prevalent at the Court +of Vienna, and so imbued was Emperor Francis-Joseph with ominous +presentiments, that he repeatedly exclaimed in the hearing of his +entourage: "Oh, if only this year were at an end!" + +These apprehensions on the part of the monarch and his court were due +to an incident which took place on the night of April 24, 1898, and +which was of sufficient importance to be comprised in the regular +report made on the following morning to his military superiors by the +officer of the guard at the Hofburg. It seems that the sentinel posted +in the corridor or hall leading to the chapel was startled almost out +of his senses by seeing the form of a white-clad woman approaching +him, soon after one o'clock in the morning. He at once challenged her, +whereupon the figure turned round, and passed back into the chapel, +where the soldier then observed a light. Hastily summoning assistance, +a strict search was instituted, but the chapel was explored without +any result. + +The sentinel in question was a stolid, rather dull-minded Styrian +peasant, who was possessed of but little power of imagination or of +education, and who was entirely ignorant, therefore, of the tradition +according to which a woman in white makes her appearance by night +in the Hofburg at Vienna, either in the chapel or in the adjoining +corridors and halls, whenever any misfortune is about to overtake the +imperial house of Hapsburg. + +On each occasion, this spectral appearance to the sentinel on duty +has been described in the report of the officer of the guard on the +following morning, and is absolutely a matter of official record. The +previous visitations of the "white lady" had taken place on the eve +of the shocking tragedy of Mayerling; a few weeks previous to the +shooting of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico; and prior to the burning to +death of the daughter of old Archduke Albert, at Schoenbrunn; while +the very fact that there should have been no supernatural appearance +of this kind at the time when Archduke John vanished from human ken, +leads the imperial family and the Court of Austria to still doubt the +story, according to which he perished at sea while on his way round +Cape Horn, from La Plata to Valparaiso. + +I do not know the origin of the "white lady" tradition at Vienna, +nor have I ever been able to ascertain anything definite about her +history, but there is plenty of documentary evidence, as well as +a wonderful array of records concerning "the white lady of the +Hohenzollerns," who makes her appearance in the old palace at Berlin +whenever death is about to overtake a member of the reigning house of +Prussia. The late Emperor Frederick--the most matter-of-fact and least +imaginative prince of his line--was particularly interested in the +matter, and collected all the evidence that he could upon the subject, +for the purpose of depositing it in the archives of his family. + +Perhaps the most important testimony in this connection are the sworn +statements signed by Prince Frederick of Prussia, and a number of his +fellow officers, to all of whom the "White Lady" is declared to have +appeared as they sat together on the eve of the prince's death at the +battle of Saalfeld in 1806. + +Moreover, Thomas Carlyle went to no little trouble to procure evidence +when writing the history of Frederick the Great, that the "White Lady" +had appeared to that famous monarch on the eve of his death. The king, +it is asserted, was on the high road to recovery from his illness, +when suddenly one morning he declared that he had seen the white-clad +spectre during the night, that his hour had come, and that it was +useless to ward off death any longer. So he refused to take any +further medicine or nourishment, turned his face to the wall, and +died. + +The "White Lady" is considered sufficiently real by the hard-headed +matter-of-fact commanders of the Prussian army, to lead to their +adopting special measures whenever her appearance is reported. The +moment she is seen, the sentinels within and around the royal palace +are at once doubled. The object of this is not so much to protect the +royal family from harm, as to prevent the sentinels themselves from +following the example of the two who shot themselves while on guard +at the palace in the year 1888, one, shortly before the death of old +Emperor William, the other, a few days before the demise of Emperor +Frederick, the men in each case declaring before they expired that +they had seen the "White Lady," their story being in a measure +borne out by the fact that their faces even after death seemed to be +distorted with terror. + +The appearances of the "White Lady" are kept as quiet as possible, +the matter is never mentioned at court, save in whispers, and nothing +concerning her is ever permitted to appear in print in the Berlin +papers. + +This dread apparition that forebodes evil to the reigning house of +Prussia, is supposed to be the spectre of Countess Agnes Orlamunde, +who murdered her first husband, as well as her two children, who +constituted an obstacle to her marriage with, one of the ancestors of +the kaiser. + +The palace in which the spectre of this historic murderess appears +is a huge and massive structure of grey stone, the walls of which +are pierced by over one thousand windows, and which contains over six +hundred rooms. Commenced four hundred and fifty years ago by one of +the earliest electors of Brandenburg, it has been added to by +each sovereign in turn, until it has attained its present enormous +dimensions. + +There is probably no structure of the kind in the world the building +of which has cost so many lives. Indeed the very mortar used in its +construction may be said to have been mixed with blood. The people of +Berlin, who from time immemorial have been noted for their democracy +and their spirit of independence, have opposed from the very outset +the erection of this building in their midst as calculated to endanger +their liberty, and many were the attempts that they made to arrest +the undertaking, and to destroy the work already accomplished. Bloody +fights took place between the mob and the troops appointed to protect +the workmen, and on two occasions the populace even went so far as to +cut the dams, and destroy the flood gates, deluging the foundations +with the waters of the River Spree, and drowning each time many +hundreds of workmen. + +Even at the present moment Emperor William is engaged in an angry +fight with, the people of Berlin in connection with this palace. +He wishes to surround it with a terrace and a garden, which will +naturally add to its beauty. At present the windows look onto the +public streets, a fact which, in these days of bombs and dynamite +outrages, renders it difficult to protect with any degree of +efficiency. The municipality and people of Berlin, however, absolutely +decline to consent to the expropriations necessary in order to enable +the destruction and removal of the existing houses and buildings which +interfere with the execution of his majesty's project. + +Like his uncle, the Prince of Wales, the kaiser is very superstitious +on the subject of the number thirteen in the case of any +entertainment, and more than once has a mere subaltern who happened to +be on duty at the palace as an officer of the guard, been commanded at +a moment's notice to join the imperial party in order to avoid there +being thirteen at the table. + +This superstition is perhaps partly due to the fact that the emperor +is aware of the old Scandinavian custom, from which it originates, and +which still subsists among the peasantry of the west coast of France. +In the Pagan days of Scandinavia, the hardy Norsemen were accustomed +at all their banquets to invite the spirit of the last of their male +relatives or friends to participate in the feast, and the food that he +would have eaten and the mead that he would have drunk was cast into +the fire, the supposed resting-place of the soul. When the Norsemen +embraced Christianity, on ceremonious occasions they sat down to +the banquet in parties of twelve, doing this in honor of the twelve +Apostles; but unable entirely to disassociate themselves from their +old heathen custom of inviting the spirit of a dead relative or +friend, they constituted him,--the spectre,--the thirteenth guest at +table, and his health was always drunk in solemn silence. In course +of time people came to forget the traditional custom of considering +a spectre to be the thirteenth guest. He was, however, associated in +their minds with the notion of death, and thus the belief has grown +that though a thirteenth person at table is no longer a corpse, one of +the party is destined, at any rate, to speedily become one. + +Throughout Brittany on the eve of the day sacred to the memory of the +dead "La Toussaint," the family all sit down to a festive repast, and +there is invariably a place laid at table, the plate filled with the +choicest viands, and the glass filled with the finest wine or cider, +for the one or more members of the family who have died during the +previous twelve months. The peasantry are convinced that the spirits +of their dear ones take part in this repast at one time or another +during the course of the night. It is for this reason that they +consider it their duty to sit up till daybreak, the women chiefly +praying, the men talking in undertones about the qualities and the +characteristics of the mourned ones. Wearied with watching, imbued +with the most fervent and devout faith, blended with a belief in +old-time legends, what wonder is it that towards dawn both the men +and the women, especially the latter, should imagine that they see +the spirits of their dead glide into the room, take their place at the +family board, and then, after a brief sojourn in their midst, vanish +with the light of the breaking day. It is a pretty and a touching +idea, which is not combated by the clergy, and of which, indeed, no +one possessed of any heart would seek to disabuse the minds of the +poor, simple-minded peasant folks. + +Of course Emperor Francis-Joseph and Emperor William are imbued with +all the old superstitions peculiar to Nimrods. As an instance, they +will give up an entire day's shooting, no matter how elaborate the +arrangements made for it, if a hare is seen to cross their path, for +this is always looked upon as being a very bad omen. + +Both emperors also attach much importance to dreams, and claim to have +been furnished by them with premonitions of each misfortune that has +overtaken them, and regard Friday as the most unlucky day of the week. + +There is no colder, more unemotional and level-headed woman in +the-world than the young Empress of Russia, who is a German princess +by birth, and a first cousin of Emperor William, yet she too believes +in dreams, since the following incident, which enjoys the fullest +degree of credence on the part of the emperors of Germany and Austria. +It seems that during the coronation festivities she was resting one +afternoon, and had dropped off into a doze, when she suddenly found +herself awakened by one of her ladies who had been frightened by the +manner in which she moaned and even wailed in her sleep. The empress +then related that her slumbers had been disturbed by a bad dream. +An old gray-haired Moujik, or peasant, all covered with blood, had +appeared to her, and had exclaimed: + +"I have come all the way from Siberia, czaritza, to see your day of +honor, and now your Cossacks have killed me." + +The vision had been so real that the empress hastened to her husband +to inquire if any misfortune had happened. Nicholas laughed at his +wife's fears, but to soothe her, telephoned to the minister of the +imperial household, asking whether anything untoward had occurred, +and only then learnt of the terrible disaster that had taken place in +connection with the open-air banquet, where over two thousand lives +were lost, through a panic that had seized upon the vast concourse of +people, the terrible catastrophe being aggravated by the unfortunate +attempts of large bodies of mounted Cossacks to restore order by +riding into the crowd and using their whips and even their swords +against the terrified masses of penned-up Moujiks. + +It must be borne in mind that the entire monarchial system of the old +world is largely based on legend and superstition, and that a belief +in the supernatural, therefore, is to be expected in such personages +as the anointed of the Lord, who are firmly convinced that there is a +considerable amount of the supernatural in their authority and in the +origin of their power. + +Another manner in which Emperor William displays his superstition, is +his absolute refusal to permit any steps to be taken to clear up the +mystery which has existed throughout this entire century in connection +with the hunting chateau of Gruenewald, which, like the great palace +at Berlin, is popularly believed to be haunted. Indeed, it is regarded +with considerable misgiving by the peasantry of the surrounding +district. It is an old castle, built almost two centuries ago, by the +father of the first King of Prussia, and has been the scene of several +tragedies. + +The one which is supposed to have led to the haunting of the palace +is the murder by one of the princes of the house of Hohenzollern, in a +fit of passion, of a Prussian nobleman who was his guest at the time. +The prince is reported to have run the nobleman through the back with +his sword while following him down one of the staircases from the +upper story to the ground floor. + +Endeavors have repeatedly been made to obtain permission from the +sovereign to tear down the brick wall so as to give access to this +staircase, not only for the sake of convenience, but also with the +object of setting at rest forever the popular superstitions and rumors +on the subject. Neither King Frederick-William IV., nor the late +Emperor William would ever hear of such a thing, and the late Emperor +Frederick, who was the least superstitious and most matter-of-fact +of men, grew grave and silent, when it was suggested to him that he +should give the desired permission. As for the present emperor, he +has sternly forbidden that the matter should even be mentioned in his +presence. This extraordinary reluctance displayed by both the kaiser +and his predecessors to discover what there is behind that brick wall +leads to the conviction that the mouldering remains of the victim +of the treacherous hospitality of a prince of Prussia lie concealed +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +It is among the crowned heads and princes of the blood in the Old +World that St. Hubert, the patron of the chase, finds his most fervent +devotees, and nowhere is his cult followed with a greater degree +of pomp and ceremoniousness, and, I might almost add, religious +sentiment, than at the Courts of Berlin and Vienna. + +The foremost Nimrod of Europe is undoubtedly old Emperor +Francis-Joseph, who finds his only relaxation from the cares of state +in stalking the chamois, and who is celebrated in the annals of sport +as the most successful and fearless hunter of that excessively shy and +difficult quarry. + +No man living possesses a larger collection of gemsbock beards, which +constitute the hunter's trophy of this form of the chase. They +number nearly three thousand, and the only person whose score at all +approximates the emperor's is his intimate friend and crony, the +aged King Albert of Saxony. Both monarchs are now old men, with hair, +whiskers and moustache, of a snowy white, but neither their years, +nor their sorrows, which have contributed so much towards aging them +prematurely, have been permitted until now to interfere with their +chamois-hunting expeditions in the Styrian Alps. On these occasions +the two sovereigns make their headquarters at Francis-Joseph's +picturesque shooting-lodge, or rather chateau, at Muerzsteg. They are +usually accompanied by the emperor's eldest son-in-law, Prince Leopold +of Bavaria, Archduke Francis-Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne, +some younger members of the imperial family, and a few of the +dignitaries of the court who have been the longest attached to the +service of his majesty, prominent among whom is Baron Gudemus, grand +huntsman of the empire. The latter, by virtue of his office, holds a +seat in the privy council, ranks higher than the cabinet ministers, +has under his control all the game preserves, the hunting equipages, +and the shooting lodges of the crown in the various parts of the +empire, and is the generalissimo of the army of game-keepers, and +jaegers, many thousands in number, who wear the livery of the house of +Hapsburg. + +Usually, the first three or four days of the stay at Muerzsteg +are devoted to stalking the chamois, the two sovereigns generally +remaining together, attended only by the grand huntsman, and by a +few jaegers and guides, while the other members of the shooting party +follow their individual devices. The start is made each morning about +an hour before dawn, so as to enable the sportsmen to be well up on +the mountain side by daybreak, that being the time when it is least +difficult to get within range of a chamois. + +All day long the two old sovereigns, Alpenstock in hand, and short, +stocky rifles slung over the shoulder, go toiling up and down the +mountains, along the edges of great precipices, tracing their steps +along paths that to the uninitiated would seem to afford no foothold +to any living thing, save a goat or a chamois. Sometimes they are +overtaken by snowstorms while up in the mountains, and are unable +to see their way, or to move either backwards or forwards, for whole +hours together, while at other times they are forced to lie down flat +on their stomachs and to cling with hand and foot to any friendly +piece of projecting rock in order to avoid being blown down the +precipices, or into the deep crevasses, by the terrible winds which +without warning suddenly sweep through the Alpine gorges and valleys, +with a force that can only be described as cyclonic. + +All the party, emperor, king, princes, and attendants, down to the +humblest jaeger, wear the same kind of Styrian dress, consisting of a +sort of Yoppe, or Austrian jacket of grey homespun, with green collar +and facings, and buttons of rough stag-horn, homespun breeches, cut +off above the knees, which are left entirely uncovered, thick woollen +stockings rolled below the knee, and heavy, hob-nailed, laced boots. +The head gear is that known in this country as the Tyrolese hat, +adorned by a chamois beard, which is inserted between the ribbon and +the felt. + +By nightfall, which comes early in the mountains, everybody is back +at the "jagdschloss," and dinner is served at five, in a room panelled +with wood and decorated with trophies. The emperor and the king sit +next to each other, while Baron Gudemus, as grand huntsman, faces them +on the opposite table. The attendants are not liveried footmen, but +jaegers and game-keepers. On arising from the table the party as a rule +descends into the courtyard, where all the game killed during the +day is laid out on a layer of pine branches, the jaegers forming three +sides of a square, lighting up the scene with great pine torches, +while the huntsmen sound the _curee-chaude_ on their hunting horns. By +eight or nine o'clock, everybody is in bed, and the whole chateau is +wrapped in slumber. + +During the last three or four days of the stay, the so-called +"Treibjagds," or "Battues" take the place of stalking. They are +far more ceremonious, but infinitely less fatiguing and interesting +affairs, and as they begin between eight and nine, and last till four, +they do not involve getting out of bed at the unearthly hour of three +or four in the morning. They necessitate, however, an enormous amount +of preparation and organization on the part of the grand huntsman. For +at least forty-eight hours previously, a vast corps of "treibers," +or Styrian mountaineers engaged for the purpose have been employed in +surrounding a district of mountain and valley many miles in area. +The circle is gradually narrowed down until the whole of the game is +driven from the heights into the valley, where the emperor and his +guests have taken up their positions. + +The selection of the positions of the party is regarded as a matter of +the utmost importance, and on the evening before, the grand huntsman +submits to the emperor a carefully drawn up plan of the locality. His +majesty thereupon designates with his own hand the spot where each +of his guests is to take up his position on the following morning. He +himself and the King of Saxony generally await the game in the lowest +part of the valley, the remaining guests and officials being spread up +the mountain side on each hand according to their degree of rank and +the imperial favor, those who enjoy the greatest share of the latter +being the nearest to the sovereign down the valley, while those of +less importance are posted higher up on the mountain side. By nine +o'clock, every member of the party must be in the place assigned to +him on the plan, and the beaters, who have kept the game carefully +within the circle of their lines, now proceed to drive it down towards +the shooting party. + +Usually, great nets are stretched a hundred yards to the rear of the +two monarchs, with the object of forcing the game which may have got +past their majesties to retrace its steps, and to face the royal and +imperial sportsmen once more. + +Sometimes curious scenes result in connection with these nets. On one +occasion a magnificent gemsbock had managed to get past the King of +Saxony, and finding a net in the way, charged it full tilt with a +flying leap. Its horns got entangled in the meshes, seven or eight +feet high, and there it remained hanging and kicking until a couple of +jaegers in attendance on the king disentangled it and carefully +placed it on the ground. For a moment it stood as if transfixed +with amazement, gazing steadfastly at the net, and then deliberately +charged head down, and with a tremendous bound, at the obstacle once +more, with the same result, of course. Again the jaegers disengaged +it, but in its struggles to recover its liberty the gemsbock left its +beard torn out by the very roots in the hand of one of the men who had +grabbed it for the purpose of holding the animal fast. A third time +the gallant buck charged the net, and cleared it in magnificent style +and made good its escape. The beard which it left behind it figures +to this day on the Alpine hat of King Albert, who is probably the only +man living who can boast of wearing the beard of a chamois that may +still be roaming over the Styrian Alps. + +Emperor William's favorite form of sport is wild-boar hunting. +This species of game abounds in the imperial preserves of +Koenigs-Wusterhausen, Letzlingen, Gohrde and Springe, the latter being +quite near to the ancient city of Hamelin, celebrated in legendary +lore for its "_pied-piper_" and for its rats! + +The preserves at Gohrde are liked best by the kaiser, as they were by +his grandfather, the old emperor, for they are alive with wild boars. +Persons invited for the first time to these imperial shooting parties +have to go through a regular form of initiation, somewhat akin to that +practised in the case of people crossing the line for the first time +at sea. + +On the eve of the day on which the hunt is to begin, and when the +party are assembled in the smoking and card-rooms of the jagdschloss, +after dinner, the great oak table in the dining-room is cleared and +ornamented with several lines of chalk; thereupon, the deputy grand +huntsman, Baron Heintze Weissenrode, after receiving the emperor's +final instructions, selects a dozen members of the party, and conducts +them to the dining-room, where they take their places around the +table, each armed with a wooden spoon of a different size from those +of his neighbors. + +At a given signal the huntsman in charge of the imperial pack of +boar-hounds, who has been stationed at the entrance leading into the +dining-room, sounds the "view-halloo!" on his horn, and immediately +every one of the wooden spoons is rubbed up and down the oaken table +in a manner that produces a sound similar to that of the noise made +by a pack in full pursuit. The person about to be initiated is then +seized and blindfolded, after which the doors are thrown open, and he +is carried into the dining-room, and laid upon the table athwart the +chalk lines. The emperor immediately draws his short hunting-knife, +and after making several mystic passes with it in the air, strikes the +prostrate body of the neophyte a smart blow with the flat of the broad +blade. The huntsman toots forth the signal of "dead! dead!" which is +used to call the pack off the quarry, and the new-fledged "weide-man" +is permitted to struggle off the table and onto the ground. + +I may add that the emperor's blow with the hunting-knife is not the +only one which the neophyte receives while stretched on the table on +his face, nor does it constitute the sum total of the initiation, but +only the conclusion thereof. Indeed, there is sometimes a good deal +of rough horse-play on these occasions, in which the emperor, who +delights therein, takes a prominent part. + +The boar hunt on the following day partakes of the nature of the +chamois drives already described, the only difference being that the +beaters are assisted in their work by a carefully trained pack of +boar-hounds, which are accustomed to obey the horn signals of the +huntsman in charge, and are of much service in driving the quarry from +its lair in the dense brush and underwood. + +Another difference is that the shooting parties, instead of firing in +the direction of the drivers, are under the strictest orders only +to fire away from them; that is to say, the hunters are practically +forced to wait until the wild boar rushes past before their rifles may +be levelled. Of course, it sometimes happens that the boar, instead +of charging past, charges directly at some member of the party in the +fiercest and most dangerous manner, and it is in order to be prepared +for an assault of this kind, that each of them is provided with a kind +of pike, or lance, which goes by the euphonious name of "sowpen." + +The costume worn on these occasions is an exceptionally hideous +uniform, specially invented and devised by the present emperor. +It consists of a double-breasted frock coat of grey cloth, with +grass-green lapels and collar, green striped pantaloons, high boots, +and a grey Tyrolese hat, with a wide green band. In the emperor's case +it is further adorned by the ribbon and badge of a Hohenzollern family +order known as that of the "White Hart." + +At these shooting parties the emperor is accustomed to wind up the day +with a most extraordinary kind of drink, of which he himself is very +fond, and of which he insists upon everybody's partaking, assuring +them that it will help them to sleep. It consists of the following +ingredients: White beer, sugar, citron peel, ginger spices, the yolks +of at least a dozen eggs, Rhine wine, Madeira, and old Santa Cruz rum. +All this, after being thoroughly stirred, is placed on the fire +and slowly heated, several large pats of butter being added to the +concoction while it is warm. + +It need scarcely be said that it requires a stomach as strong as that +of the emperor to be able to absorb several glasses of such a drink +before retiring, and it is asserted at the Court of Berlin that there +are many of his subjects of high rank who feign illness when +commanded to join the imperial hunting parties, solely because of the +apprehensions they entertain of being called upon by the kaiser to +drink this extraordinary brew. + +For shooting wild-fowl, hares and other small game, William uses a +very dainty and extremely light fowling-piece, specially constructed +for him, which he raises to his shoulder with one hand, and with +extraordinary rapidity takes a remarkably sure aim; but when it comes +to hunting the wild boar, stag, elk, bear and big game in general, +the killing of which requires a heavier gun, he is naturally forced +to adopt other devices. His crippled left arm being useless to support +the weapon, his body jaeger, specially trained for this particular +duty, steps forward and offers either his arm or his shoulder for the +support of his master's rifle. This, _bien entendu_, when his majesty +is engaged in stalking. In cases where the chase takes the form of a +"battue," a species of horizontal bar is affixed at right angles to +the tree beside which the emperor stands, and it is on this support +that the kaiser rests his gun when shooting at the driven game. + +Handicapped as William is by this crippled arm, his record of 33,967 +head of game killed with his own hand, during the past two decades, is +a very remarkable one. It may be found in his "Game Book," published a +few months ago for private circulation among the royal personages and +court circles of the Old World. + +Comprised in this grand total are some pieces which do not fall to the +lot of every sportsman. Thus there are a couple of "aurochsen," which +is a species of bison-like wild cattle, still to be found strictly +preserved in the private domains of the Emperor of Russia. Unless I +am mistaken, there are only about five hundred of them left, and, in +spite of all the efforts made to foster the breed, they are so rapidly +diminishing in number that ere many years are past they will surely +become extinct. In pre-Christian times they roamed all over Germany, +and were, and still are, larger, fiercer, and much lighter colored +than the American buffalo. + +The wild boars number in the "Game Book" over 2,700. There are eleven +elks shot in Sweden, three reindeer killed in Norway, and ten bears +laid low, some of them in Russia, and others in Hungary. The emperor +has, much to his vexation, only managed to bag three unfortunate +snipe, an extremely difficult bird to shoot on the wing; but his +record of 120 chamois is decidedly good, when it is remembered what +an exceedingly difficult game this is to reach, entailing, as it does, +mountaineering of the most arduous and perilous character, especially +in the case of a man who can use but one arm easily. These 120 chamois +serve in a measure to atone for the twenty foxes which figure as +having been shot by the emperor, a fact which is more likely to injure +his reputation and prestige in the eyes of hunting men than any other +fault or even crime of which he could possibly render himself +guilty. The most unique item of this "Game Book," with the exception, +naturally, of the two aurochsen, are assuredly the three whales which +the emperor shot with a harpoon gun, on the occasion of his yachting +trip to the furthermost portion of Norway a few summers ago. These +three huge monsters of the deep form a fitting and amusing counterpart +in the "Game Book" to the three snipe above mentioned. + +Emperor William has a number of shooting-lodges, among the best known +of which is Hubertusstock, of which he is particularly fond owing to +its proximity to the capital. Yet it is hated by the members of his +suite, for it is a terribly gloomy place. It stands in the midst of +a dense, dark forest of vast extent, and swarming with game, within +a few hundred yards of the reed covered and marshy shores of the +Werbellin Lake, and was built by the late King Frederick-William IV. +During the last few years of his madness this monarch was frequently +taken out to Hubertusstock by his attendants, who hoped that the +entire absence of all excitement and the intense solitude of the place +would diminish the recurrences of his attacks of violence. + +The emperor sometimes spends an entire week at Hubertusstock and it +has frequently been asserted that he takes advantage of the complete +absence from public observation which he then enjoys, to make secret +trips abroad. It was his absence at this place for a period of ten +days while the czar was at Paris that led to the very circumstantial +story in the German and foreign press about his having been in the +French capital, in the strictest incognito, for several days during +the Russian emperor's stay on the banks of the Seine. A number of +people claim to have recognized him, and it is even alleged that he +caught the czar's eye, and was recognized by him during the grand +entertainment given by President Faure in honor of his Muscovite +visitors at the Palace of Versailles. + +A story was told at the time about a couple of German officers, one of +them attached to the embassy, who happening to find themselves face to +face with an individual presenting a striking likeness to the kaiser, +save for the fact that his moustache was twisted downwards instead +of upwards, and his hair brushed in a different way, lost to such an +extent their presence of mind that they could not help drawing their +heels together and standing at attention; a form of courtesy which +received as its only response the muttered exclamation of "Verdammte +Esel!" which may be translated: "Accursed jackasses!" + +That served to confirm their suspicions, and unfortunately both their +behavior and the growl of the stranger had been witnessed and heard by +people who were quick to make the matter public. + +It was with the object of endeavoring to disprove and discredit these +stories that the emperor caused a telegram, to be sent to the czar +from Hubertusstock, not written, as usual, in cipher, but in ordinary +language. There is an old French proverb according to which "he who +seeks to prove too much, proves nothing," and thus it happened that +this open telegram which reached the czar at Chalons, and which was +published in the German newspapers, even before Nicholas had made +it known to the members of his entourage, merely served to convince +people that the kaiser had really been in Paris when he was supposed +to be buried amidst the gloomy forests of Hubertusstock. + +Hubertusstock is not, as most people seem to imagine, a castle, but +merely a huge, overgrown two-storied chalet, surrounded by a number +of smaller wooden dwelling-houses for the use of the imperial suite. +Formerly, it required a drive of at least three hours from the station +on the main line in order to reach the jagdschloss. But since the +accession of the emperor he has caused a private railroad to be +constructed from the trunk line to a small station within a few +hundred yards of the chalet. + +Seldom is the kaiser found in the schloss after daybreak. The entire +morning is spent by him in the woods, which are so vast that one can +wander about them for days without meeting a soul. Luncheon is usually +partaken of at some point in the forest, and frequently during this +repast a concert takes place, the performers consisting of a quartette +of foresters, their instruments being mere hunting horns, and their +melodies those of old hunting-songs. Within the limits of the imperial +preserves is the celebrated Schorfhaide, which each year, towards the +month of November, becomes the meeting place of thousands of stags. +They come from all parts of Germany and Austria, this being rendered +possible by the proximity to one another of the great estates of the +territorial nobility, so that it would be feasible to march almost +from the Adriatic to the Baltic without leaving forest glades. This +annual assemblage of stags on the Schorfhaide has been taking place +every autumn for untold centuries. In fact, mention thereof has been +found in documents more than a thousand years old. The meetings afford +an extraordinary sight, and are the scenes of numerous single combats +to death between "Royals," the other stags and the deer standing +round, as if to form a huge amphitheatre, and gravely watching the +duel without making any attempt to interfere. + +All sorts of theories have been put forward with regard to this annual +concourse of stags on the Schorfhaide. Foresters, however, insist that +it is nothing more nor less than a species of great animal congress, +at which the various antlered tribes meet for a big "palaver" to +decide matters affecting the policy and the leadership of their +various clans! Far-fetched as this theory may seem at first sight, it +is evident that there is something of the kind which brings stags and +their mates from the remote forests of Galicia on the Russian border, +from the vast Liechtenstein game preserves to the South of Vienna, +and from the still larger sporting property of Belyer, in Hungary, +belonging to Archduke Frederick, all the way to the Schorfhaide on +the reedy banks of the Werbellin Lake, in order to flock together by +thousands. + +It is a matter of forest ethics, and of the law of the chase, to +abstain from disturbing this annual _convivium_ of the stags, as it +is called, and while it lasts, not a single shot is to be heard in the +forests around Hubertusstock. In fact, November has on this account +become a species of close season there, no one interested in sport +wishing to do anything that could in the least degree interfere with +this, so far as I know, altogether unique custom in the animal world. +The meetings, however, have been witnessed by the emperor and a few +chosen companions who concealed themselves in the branches of +trees, bordering on the Schorfhaide, and William is never tired of +expatiating on the magnificence of the spectacle presented. + +Next to Hubertusstock, the most favored shooting-lodge and +sporting-estate of the kaiser, is Rominten, not far from the Russian +frontier. Owing to this proximity, bears and wolves, especially +the latter, of Muscovite origin, are frequently to be found in the +Rominten forests, adjoining which is the celebrated imperial Trakenen +stud and horsebreeding establishment, founded as far back as 1732 +by Frederick the Great. Some idea of the size and importance of this +stud-farm may be gathered from the fact that over two thousand hands +are employed in connection with the concern. Trakenen was originally +famous for elk, and an elk's horn remains to this day the Trakenen +brand placed upon all horses bred there. The emperor's headquarters at +Rominten are situated at a place called Theerbude. His jagdschloss or +shooting-lodge consists of a handsome Norwegian block house, brought +from Norway, and erected on the Goldberg on the left bank of the +Rominten River. The stables are built on a most extensive scale, and +the chapel, as well as all the other buildings, are constructed in the +picturesque Norwegian style, which harmonizes so well with the dark +fir forests by which they are surrounded. + +There is no interruption of the business of slate during the emperor's +stay at Rominten. Theerbude is connected with Berlin by wire, and +telegrams are arriving and departing at all hours of the day. + +The kaiser shoots as a rule twice a day, at four in the morning, and +four in the afternoon, the drive to the hunting-grounds often taking +several hours, for most of them are at a considerable distance. The +various foresters' lodges, even at the most remote portion of the +estates, are connected by telephone with the imperial residence, and +thus the emperor is able to know at midday where the game is likely to +be most plentiful in the afternoon. + +When the emperor is not shooting, he transacts business with his +various military and civil secretaries, and long after his guests are +asleep he himself is still at work, signing state papers or reading +and annotating reports. Indeed one of the most remarkable things about +Emperor William is his apparent ability to do almost entirely without +sleep. + +On Sundays the emperor invariably makes a point of attending divine +service at the Chapel of St. Hubert, opposite his residence, and +subsequently is accustomed to walk to the Koenigshoehe, a neighboring +hill on which he has built an observatory-tower about one hundred feet +high, which commands a magnificent view of the surrounding forest, +extending about twenty miles in every direction from the tower. +Curiously enough, wild boars are not found at Rominten; but the stags +there are superb, and specimens turning the scales at a thousand +pounds are the rule rather than the exception. + +One of the features of the Theerbude is a goblet of the time of King +Frederick-William III. The vessel is held between the points of a +couple of antlers, and it is only possible to drink out of it by +squeezing one's face between these two points. The possessor of a +rotund countenance experiences considerable difficulty in performing +this feat, and is apt to spill the contents over himself, yet every +one of the emperor's guests has to submit to the ordeal, for +an inscription on the goblet says that all persons attending +shooting-parties at Rominten for the first time must empty the vessel +of its contents,--a pint bottle of champagne,--at one draught, to the +health of the sovereign. + +So great are the quantities of game shot by the emperor and his guests +at these shooting-parties that they very much exceed the needs for the +consumption of the imperial household. Formerly, it was the kaiser's +custom to distribute all the surplus among the various hospitals and +charitable institutions; but since discovering that these gifts of +game seldom reached the persons for whom they were destined, namely +the inmates, but were monopolized by the staff and the attendants +of the establishments, he has given orders that the game that is not +needed for imperial consumption should be sold, and the money derived +therefrom turned over to the funds of the hospitals and convalescent +homes under the patronage of the crown. That is why one so frequently +sees in the great Central Market of Berlin, deer, stags, wild boars, +etc., adorned with greenery, and with cards intimating that the quarry +in question has been shot by his imperial majesty the kaiser. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +WILLIAM II AND FRANCIS JOSEPH + + +_VOLUME I_ + +WILLIAM II, EMPEROR OF GERMANY........... _Fronts_ + +PRINCESS FREDERICK AND PROFESSOR VON BERGMANN............. 80 + +THE RUNAWAY AT PROECKELWITZ............................... 104 + +SCENE IN DUKE ERNEST GUNTHER'S QUARTERS................... 136 + +AUGUSTA VICTORIA, EMPRESS OF GERMANY...................... 192 + +IN THE WHITE HALL......................................... 256 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of +Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2), by Mme. La Marquise de Fontenoy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECRET MEMOIRS *** + +***** This file should be named 12548.txt or 12548.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/5/4/12548/ + +Produced by Bill Hershey and PG Distributed Proofreaders. Produced +from images provided by the Million Book Project. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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