Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1890 — Page 6

WILHELM THE SECOND.

THE YOUNG EMPEROR WHO IS HIS OWN BISMARCK. A Vtgoroas, Darias Hnler— Hi* Htnie Life and Army Life—Warrior, Statesman and Hubmaa-Incidents of His Boyhood— His Chief Advisers.

their policy in all that is good for the German nation. He is a splendid and impressive fignre. His youth, his courage, his evident determination to follow in the footsteps of Frederick the Great, all make him interesting. The scepter fell from the dying hand of Frederick tho Noble into the grasp of this young soldier. Prom the moment that he held it he showed that he meant to be an emperor in very truth. All Europe has rung with the reports of his journeys, his alliances, his naval and military projects. He is the new man on horseback come to dazzle, to charm, perhaps to transform Europe. How many a time, during his rapid journeys north and south, and in mornings and evenings full of care and exhausting ceremony, his heart must turn back with longing to the old palace opposite the Arsenal in Berlin, in which his father lived for so many years and through the stately apartments in which he ranged freely when a little child. Here Frederick William Victor Albert, commonly called Prince William, was born January 27, 1859. His home was more homelike than most palaces, but the breath of war had blown through it, as through every other public or private edifice in Prussia. The vast ante-chambers were garnished with busts of the Generals of the wars of 1813 and 1815, interspersed with the medallions of Humboldt and other savants of Berlin. In the apartments of his mother the little Prince had a chance to acquire English tastes. All the surroundings were severely British. In one small apartment, used for boudoir and bedroom, Wilhelm doubtless passed many childish hours gazing out upon the Arsenal or the University, or amusing himself with the collections Of Iceland moss, shells from the Isle of Wight, coral necklaces and English keepsakes, with which the etageres were filled. In the Princess’ rooms there were no pictures; in her youth she seemed not to care for them. In the opposite wing were the study end the private rooms of “Papa Fritz,” in which (he young Wilhelm was now and then al'owed, as a special favor, to show his white-haired little pate. Prince Wilhelm learned one thing from his father which may stand him in good stead one day. That was .

EMPEROR WILLIAM II.

know and appreciate the masses, to understand tlieir dialect and enter into their humor. The two often made excursions together among the toilers. When lie was seven years old the young Prince was placed under the instruction of Dr. Hinzpeter, for whom he conceived a friendship which has grown with his years, and which has caused much jealousy of the tutor in recent times. Major General Yon Stolberg was the Prince’s military governor, and the young man’s marked predilection for military studies received a great impetus from this able soldier. After his confirmation in 1874, the Prince was sent with his brother, Prince Henry, who is now the Admiral, to the Gymnasium at Cassel, where he. passed his examinations in 1877. This was tho first time that any German prince had ever been sent to • public school. He continued his studies in the University at Bonn, and there, as at Cassel, he was treated exactly like the other students and formed the habit of close application which has stood him in such good stead since he came to the throne. An English tutor who was employed by the Crown Princess to superintend the English side of the future Emperor’e education has given some interesting glimpses of tho royal household. When ho first saw the Crown Princess she told him she was anxious that her •on should acquire a good English accent. Review s and similar state functions were the only interruptions to the work of tho young Princes. Prince William, as he was universally called, except by his governor, who generally said “Lieber Prim,” coon mastered English, and speaks it ua well as ho does German. It took

bMPEROR Wilhelm r is the man of the hour. A mysterious destiny seems to >guide him on. He /rides into the field of European politics iwith clash of sword land jingle of spur; i he sets aside ancient trusty counsellors—notin anger, but with the pacific assurance that he will follow

him some time to learn how to write Engli.'h well; but one day ho brought his tutcr a birthday letter written to Queen Viesxrls and asked his tutor to correct it.

There was nothing to correct, and since thatvime the young Emperor has been able to write fluently and correctly in his mother’s native language. Nothing could be more simple and

natural than the lives the Princes lived. Whether iu their Fchool rooms, , at their meals, or the manner in which thev were treated, there w r as but lifcti' i to distinguish them from the childrei j of any gentleman of good fortune. The words “Royal Highness” were never t used, but the “du,” which naturally j belongs to the German scnoolboy. was replaced by the move respectful “sie. ’ The tutor used to shake hands unceremoniously with his royal pupil every day, and Prince William would chat about what he had been doing; that Professor Helmholz had told him this, or that Count Moltke had explained to him that. He was very fond of fairy storios. The young Prince’s English relatives took care to till his mind wi.li 'eminently conservative notions. Ore ay he came to his teacher with this :ather startling question: “Uncle says that Oliver Cromwell was a horrid beast; what do you think?” The tutor hardly knew what to answer. On the whole, his youth was serious, earnest, and eminently industrious. He rarely laughed, and always seemed to bear about with him the consciousness that he had a mighty mi,siori to fulfill. “Even as a bov,” says one of his biographers, “it w a-« he, and not his father, who was pointed out as the future hope ot Germany. The evident seriousness with which he regaided himself sometimes caused smiles. Anecdote vin point were freely circulated, as, for instance, that he borrowed a penknife frbm one of his atteadauts, and returned it with the solemn remark: “Keep tliiß. It has now become a historio relic.” But this absence of any sense of humor i 3 now shown to be only the obverse side of splendid and princely characteristics. Young Wilhelm’s military career began as soon as he returned from the University, in the First Guard Fvegiment of Infantry at Potsdam, the old garrison town haunted by memories of Frederick the Great. The First Guards is Prussia’s crack regiment, and in this the Prince remained with the infantry until he rose to be Major, when he was transferred to the Potsdam Hussars, a cavalry regiment, w hose uniform he is very fond of wearing. Hunting and athletic sports have a large part in the young Emperor’s life. This is not merely because the Emperor is fond of the mere sport of knocking over small or large game, but because hunting expeditions offer an excellent pretext for assembling

COUNT AND COUNTESS VON WALDERSEE.

together large parties cf the nobility and gentry and conversing with them. Young Wilhelm is not so enthusiastic or accomplished a sportsman as the Emperor of Austria, but he has been engaged in several very risky encounters with large game. On one occasion in Russia, when he was “Prince Wilhelm he distinguished himself by engaging a ferocious bear single-handed and came off victor. ’l'here is not much chance to shoot Urge game in Germany, and the Em-

THE EMPEROR’S CHILDREN PLAYING AT WAR.

arms. Crown Prince; William’s married life has not been entirely a happy one. His wife is plain, but of charmj ing character. She was very strictly ! brought up, not being allowed in her girlhood to read a novel or see a play, j The match was made by his mother, : nxt by himself, and on reaching matu e years this fact helped to anger hiii. against both his mother and his wife. He snubs her for her lackings in rovrl blood and beauty and is rarely seen in her company, she being jealous of him ard of her rank as the first lady of th land. As the second Empress A ic, rria, her influence promises to be felt. For some tim9 after her marriage Prince Wilhelm r* ’ided in Potsdam, where he was finally appointed a major general. The life '>f the young couple was simple; and ,\ en to-day, at

peror, for soveral ream before his accession to the throne, was accustomed to make , excursions into Lithuania, in winter, and spending a week or two on the estates of his intimate friends, the RadziwiUs, in Russia. On this great demesne of Nieswies vast forests tilled with wild game stretch away for leagues, and afford hunters all the perils and excitements of the wilderness. Since he has become Emperor, Wilhelm has continued his pleasant relations with the Radziwills, and now and then*gives them a grand hunting party as a return for their hospitality. In 1881 Prince Wilhelm was married, at the age of 22, to Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein Augustenburg, and their first-l>orn son is the fourth in the series of “four kings,” as the old Kaiser remarked in the year following, when a photograph was taken at Potsdam of himself, his son, grandson, and the infant prince, borne in the old man’s arms, thus presenting in a group the first four generations of the new imperial German house. The Princess, his wife, is not of royal blood, and by her he has a family of five boys, the eldest of whom has already a military rank in the army, and is generally attired in uniform and boots, a veritable “Puss in Boots,” to whom the soldiers have to present

COUNT VON MOLTKE.

Berlin, their home life is singularly free from luxury. Prince Wilhelm learned the value of simplicity from his father, and he is teaching it to his officers, by laying down certain cardinal rules about pis in living, which they all find it prudent to observe. When he thinks any garrison town is becoming too sleepy he makes it a visit and has all the troops turned out by an alarm at night—a proceeding which sometimes causes much vexation and damage. Emperor Wilhelm is fond of residing in the “Schloss,” the picturesque old castle which, with its massive portals and broad courts, looms up not far from the bridge near which stands the colossal equestrian bronze statue of the Great Elector. All the Prussian Kings and Emperors, nine in number, have at times resided in the Schloss, t except Frederick the Third and the mighty Fritz, who liked Potsdam best. The Emperor entertains weU; he loves his children, and brings them up strictly, and in all the traditions of the Hohenzollerns. He allows them to take on no airs because of their princely position. The heir-apparent, Crown Prince Frederick William, was born in May of 1882. He is a pretty boy, of promising disposition, very fond of directing mimic war operations with his little brothers. Kaiser Wilhelm has developed into a handsome and imposiug man. He is in the full flush of strength and has kept his youth very well. In his 31st year he still has the freshness and vigor of & boy, and the elasticity of his temperament is displayed whenever ho is with intimate friends. He is more than six feet tall, well put ups not of so athletic a build as the AflgloiSaxon, but strong, wiry, and supple. Since he has become Emperor he has grown a trifle stouter. His left arm is his most palpable physical defect. “It hangs listlessly,” says one biographer, “and is, I should say, about an ijfsh and a half higher

than the other arm. lam told that this malformation is a great vexation as well as inconvenience to him; but he deserves praise for the adroit manner in which he uses the hand." ‘ There is a story that the English

THE YOUNG EMPEROR IN HUNTING COSTUME.

physician who officiated at his birth is responsible for the condition of his arm, The Emperor rarely shows himself divested of his uniform. He is wise in this, for his good looks are much enhanced by his military trappings. He rises early, takes a very light breakfast and goes for a little exercise, after which he takes a second breakfast, this time of an omelette, ham and eggs, a mutton chop or a chicken. He dines at half-past one on bouillon or broth, boiled meat with vegetables, followed by roast meat and pudding, and if there is company present an entree and an ice. His supper is of meat or fish and pudding. His favorite dishes are poulets santees, with potatoes or baked fish, especially perch, pike, sole or turbot. * When not in uniform he dresses in English style, and a marked predilection for English costumes and manners has been apparent in his dress and demeanor for sometime past, although be is intensely Prussian in sentiment. His conversion Jo English ideas in minor matters is striking, because for a long time before his father’s death he was intensely hostile even to the name of England. There was a period when he seemed estranged from both father and mother, not long before Emperor Frederick’s death, but the reconciliation was complete, so far Frederick was concerned, before that noble and generous spirit passed away. The new advisers by whom he has surrounded himself are not likely to interfere with the Emporor’s theory of being his own Bismarck. General Von Caprivi bears a striking resemblance to the old Chancellor, but he has none of the mental hardness of ’Prince Bismarck ; he may be expected to yield to the imperial policy when it differs from his own. General Coiint Alfred von Waldersee, who about a year ago was made the successor of the venerable Me’tke as Chief of General Staff and vho was long a favorite of the old Emperor, was looked on by many as likely to succeed Bismarck. He” is a man of talents, aud his policy, which is aggressive, is quite popular with Wilhelm Second. Count von Waldersee’s wife is an American lady, who has much social tact, and is very justly popular.

Evils of Civilization.

Civilization abounds in artificial, abnormal conditions, many of which must be more or less unfavorable to health. To some extent, the same thing is true of the lower animals and even of the vegetables. The domesticated horse is far more delicate than his wild progenitor, and the wild potato probably has no such tendency to rot as is manifested by the cultivated progeny. Modern civilization makes all the nations neighbors—shares not only of each other’s blessings, but of each other’s vices and disease?. Yellow fever, dengue, cholera, typhus fever and la grippe all reached us from abroad. Meantime the progress of the United States as a nation is not without its bad side. Young men abandon the quiet and invigorating life of the farm for the excitiDg and in some respects demoralizing and enfeebling life of the city. The young women leave the normal and healthful work of the home for the exhausting toil of the workshop and the beggarly life of the boarding-house. If manufactures give us cheaper goods, they do so at a large expenditure of human health and life. At the same time they crowd the great centers with a population hard to assimilate and pervaded with its own unhealthy and vicious tendencies. Even our schools, of which we are justly so proud, greatly aid in propagating the diseases of childhood, besides producing a general tendency to defective vision, and a letting down of the general health. The increasingly minute division of labor, so beneficial in some respects, must have a belittling effeot upon the laborer. As one said many years ago, the manufacture of a pin bv"the divided labor of several* different persons gives us excellent pins, but poor mechanics, and worse yet, poor men and women. Among other ills of civilization are overworked brains; various forms of nervous exhaustion; the worries of domestic and social life; the ruinous greed of wealth; the disastrous results of excessive business competition; the diseases and vices naturally attendant upon luxury; the crowding together of the ignorant and depraved in large cities. Let every one do his best to guard himself and help his brother against the evils of humanity at its best estate. — Youth’s Companion. “When you and your wife make any call,” said a department clerk, who had agreed to supervise the social enterprises of a friend who had some proclivities in a sporting way, “you will want cards. Are you provided in this respect?” “Oh, I should sav so,” was the confident assurance. “I got threa now packs day before yesterday,”

SITE FOR THE BIG FAIR.

IT IS NOW DEFINITELY AGREED UPON. Th® World’s Fair Will Be Located on the Lake Front, Jackson Park and Washlngt n Park-The Tender of Washington Park. [Chicago dispatch ] The site for tho Fair is to be Jackson and Washington Parks. The Lake Front will have two or three handsome buildings on it containing such exhibits as will be particularly attractive at night, but the commission is almost unanimous in its desire for a major portion.of the Fair at the southern end of the site. In fact, the fear that the southern end would be discriminated against in the interests of the Lake Front inspired some of the Commissioners to object to the Lake Front being made a part of tho site at all, and the assertion that the commission would have the apportionment when deciding on plan and scope was the only thing that quieted them. Final action, however, was hamoniou-:. “Gentlemen,” said President Palmer as he put the question, “it looks to me as though this were all going one way, so I may say that applause is in order.” The applause came and was long continued. In the galleries there was shouting even; yet the gavel never fell. There was cause for applause. The site matter had been settled, after months of wrangling, to the satisfaction of all concerned. Chicago had given the best it had, and the Commissioners could go back to their States and say so. It had given three parks, practically, including that tho live-stock and agricultural interests should have the best of treatment —a pledge that was not needed, by the way.

Progress has been rapid in the last twenty-four hours In the site matter. The South Park Board met and agreed to give the park if the request were made strong enough. Tho Board of Directors met and made Its request strong. Then it passed tiie question on to the Commission, which clinched it by passing a resolution introduced by Martindale, of Indiana, which was passed without a dissenting vote. After reciting the decision of tho South Park Board to offer Washington Park if the Commission should insist, the resolution concludes with tho following: Resolved, By the National Commission, that this commission does still Insist ttiut the space needed for the exposition.and to make the samo adequate and satisfactory to this commission, requires that 'Washington Park be added to the several plats of ground heretofore tendered to this commission as a site for the exposition, and that the addition of Washington Park may be niado by the Chicago directory, and will bo accepted by this commission with the understanding that only so much of the seveial plats as may be required for exposition purposes will be used; and that the presentation of said park and its acceptance, with the acceptance of the Midway Pluisa/ice, shall be a final settlement of all questions relating to the sit 3 for said exposition. And when the South Park Board meets it will be handed by its Secretary, H. W. Harmon, a polite note which that official received from Secretary Dickinson of the commission. This note contains a copy of the resolution last mentioned, and a courteous request that the board take action on it at its earliest possible convenience, as the National Commission cannot adjourn until tho board’s reply is received. Then the whole procedure will begin all over again. The South Park Commission will pass its ordinance, the directors will pass it, and then the commission will close tho matter by accepting it. Then comes the question of its use—in fact, of the use of all three portions of the site. The commission is under practical pledge, in view of what has been said and done, to avoid cutting down trees and destroying drives in Washington Park, and it is practically under pledge, in view of what was said at th'o conference Saturday, to make no attempt to abandon the Lake Front. Jackson Park seems to be the only portion of the site on which all meet on entirely neutral ground. All parties in interest are agreed that that must be used to a large extent, in any event.

BIRCHALL BEFORE A JURY.

The Alleged Murderer of Benwell Placed on Trial for His Life. [Woodstock (Out.) dispatch.] John Birchall pleaded “not guilty” and was put on trial hero to-day for the murder of F. C. Benwell. The prisoner was neatly dressed and entirely self-pos-sessed. Mr. Blackstock, one of the best criminal lawyers in Canada, defended the accused, Crown Attorney Cartwright and B. B. Osier prosecuting. A jury was. soon secured and, Mr. Osier opened the case for the prosecution. He told how Birchall had come from England with Benwell and Douglas R. Pelly to teach them farming on his - stock ranch ip Canada; how they Went to Niagara Falls Feb. 17, Birchall and his victim preceding Pelly and Mrs. Birchall: how the two former disappeared, and later how Birchall returned alone. He outlined these points in the prosecution; Birchall was the last man seen with Benwell. He was seen at Eastwood on Feb. 15 by several persons, although he denies being there. The officers found in Birchall’s trunk a pair of nickel scissors with a nick in the edge, aind the marks in the dead man’s clothing indicated that the name on his linen was cut out with the same scissors. Tho keys of tin) murdered man were found on Birchall, and these keys were in Benwell’s possession when he left Buffalo on Feb. 17. Pelly was the chief witness Of the day. He testified to tho journey from England, and to Bircliall’s description of his farm, which he proved not to have. The trip of Birchall and Bonwell on the day of the murder and Birchall’s reappearance alone that night wero told. Birchall said Benwell did not farming, and he sent him to two or three other addresses because he had received so much money. Birchall’s heavy boots wero very muddy when he returned.

Interesting Items.

Bees stung four horses *to death at Mayfield, Mich., a few days ago. Four Norwegian vessels have arrived in New York with 4,000 tons of ice. A machine for making shoestrings out of paper is a recent Philadelphia invention. v On the Riviera this season the heat has been greater than at any time for the past twenty years. The Newport beauties have taken up the face massage treatment. The luxury retails at the into of $5 a toilet *—

HE IS FOR RECIPROCITY.

MR. BLAINE WRITES ANOTHER LETTER ON THE QUESTION. He Explain* Whjv According to Hi* View*, Such a Policy Would Be of Advantage to the West —Free Trade Touched Upon. Boston dispatch; The following letter dated at Bar Harbor, Maine, is given out for publication: “Col. W. W. Clapp, Editor Boston Journal—My Dear Sir: lam in receipt of your favor asking me if I can attend the annual banquet of the Boot and Shoe club of Boston in October. You add that the members are ‘in hearty sympathy with my views regarding the best method of extending American trade, and would be glad to have me address them.’ “I regret that my engagements will not permit me to accept the invitation, but you will please thank the club for the compliment they pay me. I am glad to hear that tho members of the club are interested In a system of reciprocal trade with Latin America. They can do great good by counteracting a certain phase of New England opinion, entertained at home as well as in Washington—an opinion which \ must regard as in the highest degree unjvise and hurtful to New England interests. Now England is to receive in tho new tariff the amplest protection for every manufacturing industry within her borders, both great and small, and it will, in ray Judgment, be both inexpedient and injurious for her representatives to disregard a measure which will promote Western interests. “I have lately received a letter from Mr. J. F. Imbs of St. Louis, a leading representative of the flour Interests and president of the late convention of millers at Minneapolis. Speaking for the grain and flouring interest of that great section Mr. Imbs savs that ‘advices of recent date from Cuba state that the duties now collected on American flour are at a higher rate than was first supposed to be the case.’ And he adds; ‘1 respectfully submit that the American miller will be unable to retain any part of the Cuban flour trade unless immediate relief is secured.’ “In view of these facts is it possible that a protectionist Congress can even think of opening our markets to Cqba’s products free while allowing a great Western interest to be absolutely excluded from her market by a prohibitory tariff? With reciprocity the West can annually sell many hundred thousand barrels of flour in the markets of Cuba and Porto Rico, together with a large mass of other agricultural products. Without reciprocity she will be driven more and more from those markets.

“Giving the fullest protection to ail Eastern interests, as the proposed tariff does, surely no man of good Judgment, certainly no protectionist of wise forecast, wishes to expose a Westera Interest to serious injury, especially when It Is manifestly easy to protect and promote it—manifestly easy because at this very time tho boards of trade, the chambers of commerce, and public opinion In Havana are demanding reciprocal trade with the United States. I select Cuba apd. Port Rico for examples because in certain quarters it has been said that, while we might secure reelprocy with some little countries in South America, we could do nothing with the Spanish islands. Let us at least give the Spanish islands an opportunity to speak for themselves. “Certain wise men ask: How can wo sell farm products in South America when the same things are produced there? Cereals are undoubtedly grown in tho southernmost parts of South America, but tho wise men will remember that cereals and sugar do not grow in the same soil, and that the sugar countries of South and Central America and the West India Islands contain 40.000,000 of people, who import the largest portion of their breadstuffs. Indeed, the largest part of the sugar product of all Latin America is at our doors, and we can greatly enlarge our exchanges there if Congress will give ns the opportunity for reciprocal trade. “Ido not mean,in anything I have said, to imply that reciprocity is only a Western interest. As I remarked in a note to Senator Frye, it will prove beneficial and profitable both to the farm and the shop. What, for instance, could be more natural or more just than that in giving a free market in the Uiflted States to hides from tho Argentine Republic we should ask the Argentine Republic to give a better market than we now have for the product of leather from the United States? Tho many forms in which our business interests will be promoted by reciprocity cannot be known until the aotive commercial men of the United states shall have developed those forms by investigation and experience. We shall not realize the full benefit of the poliev ia a day or a year, but shall we therefore throw away countless millions of trade, In addition to tho $60,000,000 we have already thrown away, and then ignorantly declare, without trial that the system won’t work? “Finally, there is one fact that should have great weight, especially with the protectionists. Every freetrader in the Senate voted against the reciprocity provision. The free-trade papers throughout the country are showing determined hostility to it. It is evident tnat the free-trade Senators and tho free-trade papers have a specific reason for their course. They know and feel that, with a system of reciprocity established and growing, their policy of ftee trade receives a most serious blow. The protectionist who opposes reciprocity in the form in which it is now presented knocks away one of the strongest supports of his system. The enactment of reciprocity is the safeguard of protection. The defeat of reciprocity is the opportunity of free trade. “Yours verv respectfully, “James G. Blaine.” Why should we open our hearts to the world ? It laughs at our weaknesses, it does not pity our sorrows.— Chateaubriand. Bebgen, Norway, was founded A. D. 1070, and was the royal residence during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Run if you like, but try to keep your breath. Work like a man, but don’t be worked to death.— Holmes. The area of the United States embraces 3,570,271 square miles; that oi Canada 3,470,392 square miles. Economy is the easy-chair of old age. — Franklin, ■