The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1888. LIFE OR DEATH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1825, 26 April 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1888. LIFE OR DEATH.

There is somethiny exceedingly pathetic about the case of the Emperor Frederick, and which appeals so powerfully to the public sympathy "that it is not wonderful that an almost personal interest is taken the world over in the varying conditions of the royal patient. I We detest as profoundly as the reddest • of red Republicans can detest the snobbery which exaggerates the virtues and minimises the vices of thoso who are born in the purple, and the Jeames-de-Pluche-like fiunkeyism which fawns at the feet of the wearers of crowns or coronets, but we have as little in common with those who regard all possessors of power and place with a bitter enmity which refuses to recognise any virtue as possible on their part, and declines to extend to them a kindly and gracious sympathy when troubles that are common to all humanity fall upon them. For surely if a kingly sufferer deserve no more sympathy than does the meanest liege who suffers like him, he deserves no loss, and it is precisely the fact that bereavement, sickness, and death come to prince and peasant alike that brings into play the oft-quoted sentiment that " a touch of Nature makes the whole world kin." We do not envy the feelings of the man who can regard unmoved the story of the Emperor Frederick. Physically a splendid specimen of manhood, towering among other Royalties like Saul among the prophets, his presence was a remarkable one, and his prowess as a soldier and his gentleness as a man are not more admirable than his devotion as a son, his faithfulness as a husband, and his tenderness as a father. Hitherto his public record has been as blameless as it has been brilliant and thus his loss to his family and people >70_ld be all the greater. But apart from all this his known desire to preserve his country froai the horrors of war, to carry on the progress ot Germany in peace and prosperity, renders it a matter of profound interest to millions that his life should be prolonged, and great indeed may be the issues which hang upon its slender thread. Hence, for all those reasons, the bulletins arriving from day ! to day are eagerly scanned,and thousands upon thousands, even in these distant seas, are fervently hoping for a favorable termination of the limperor s sufferings. During the last week it has seemed as if the cherishing of any such hope were hoping against hope, but we are glad to sco by the latest news to baud that the malady appears to have taken a turn for the better, and that there begins to be reason to think that it is possible that the royal patient may yet bo spared to reign for many years over the Empire' which was consolidated by the grand old man who passed to his re&t a iq\y weeks ago. It is to be hoped for the sake not only of Germany but of Europe that this wiil be so, for thero is only too much reason to fear that the issues of peace or war hang upon the frail thread of the Emperor's life.