QUEEN VICTORIA'S ELDEST DAUGHTER.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14971, 19 May 1914, Page 9

QUEEN VICTORIA'S ELDEST DAUGHTER.

,By GEORGE HAMLIN FITCH in the San Francisco "Chronicle. ) One of the features of recent literature is the number of memoirs of famous men and women that have been given to the world. One of the best of theso memoirs is "Tho Empress "Frederick," a remarkable sketch of the English Princess who waged a lifelong war with Bismarck, and who was the mother of the present Emoeror of Germany. This woman narrowly escaped being a very great hi* torical character. Only lack of tact and want of knowledge of human nature prevented her from achieving great things. The first child of Queen Victoria and Princo Albert, she remained her father's favourite until the day of his sudden death. Prince xMbert was a man of uncommon range of knowledge, and he set about educating tho little Princess Victoria as though she had been a boy. He trained her in„ languages, in history and diplomacy, exactly as though she was destined to succeed her mother on the throne of England. Ho had the satisfaction of - seeing her mind develop in an extraordinary way, •while at tho same timo she remained" a modest, sensible English girl, who was the favourite of all classes. What he could not do was to rJiauge her character. He could not • giro her jndtgment in selecting friends, nor could he train her to overcome a certain impulsiveness in speech which cost her dear throughout her life. From childhood she seemed to see qualities in these she liked which tbsy did not possess—a trait that also played her many shabby tricks. The early part of this book, which is devoted to the happy home life of the Princess Victoria, is very good reading. Barely has there been a Sovereign on a throne with the simple, sound, com-mon-sense of Queen Victoria. She married .Prince. Albert For, love, and she carried on her household exactly as though she were the wife of a substantial London business or professional man. It was this trait in her character which made her so great a favourite with tho common people. Trained in*tho practical management of ahouse- ■ hold as well as in languages, literature, apd history, tho Princess was very well equipped to take her place on tho throne. T>e6tiny ruled that she should ~ "marry tho Crown Prince Frederick, son of old Emperor "William of Germany, ihd destiny fvxod it so that most of. the careful training was thrown away. If she had had tact and- knowledge of human nature she could have adapted herself very easily to German customs aud prejudices: hut like so many English people, she believed that th» methods cf her country were better than-those of any other. Her.co she antagonised the German '~ public at tho outset, and they regarded her as a foreigner and an interloper, who would not scruple to do anything "to help her own country, although it might hurt the country of her adoption. Tho writer of this memoir shows very clearly that Bismarck took a strong ■ prejudice to her from tbe start, and, that many of bis harsh measures .which caused her bitter tears were dictated by his suspicion that sh6 was always ready to betray to England news of German affairs. This suspicion was very unjust, as the Princess had been traiu-, ed by her father. %o believe in that • - union of all the petty German States which Bismaick was able to realise. Prin<;e Albert was the first to advocato buch n union as the only way to make Germany'rich and formidable, and his daughter was imbued with the same sentiments. With this strongly-pro-nounced feeling, in favour of a united

Germany, it must have been galling to the Princess to discover time after time that Bismarck had withheld from tho Crown Princo important news during the Franco-Prussian war, through fear that it should leak out, through her. to England. Bismarck hated the English and feared them, and in tho Princess he saw British sentiment typified: hence his keen desire to thwart her plans and to humiliate her on every occasionHere is a bit of his real opinion of tha English, taken from his Boswell, Herr Busch:—

"What swine! They are full of vexation and envy because we have fought great battles here—and won them. They cannot bear to think that shabby little Prussia should prosper so. The Prussians aro a people who should merely exist in order to carry on war for them in their pay. "This is the view taken by all the upper classes in England. They hare never been well disposed toward us, and have always dono their utmost to injuro us. "The Crown Princess herself is an incarnation of this way of thinking. She is full of her own great condescension in marrying into our country. "I remember hor once telling mc that two or three merchant families in Liverpool had more silver plate than tho entire Prussian nobility. 'Yes,' I replied, 'that is possibly true, your royal highness, but we value ourselves for other things besides silver.' " The story of the years that followed the war is very well told. The Princess continued to gain in unpopularity and each mistake she made was_ aggravated by the malevolent ill will of the Chancellor. In tho training of her oldest son she was thwarted by Bis T marck, who saw to it that the boy was surrounded by tho glamour - of arms, and that he was taught to place military glory above everything else. During all the last years of oid Emperor William, Bismarck was practically supreme in authority, and he never hesitated to use his power to annoy the Crown Princess. When the old Emperor died the Princess hoped for "Better things, but her husband lived fnly a hundred days. Then began for her a period of persecution almost without a parallel in royal annals. Her own son for a time turned against her. Of this crowning humiliation tbe author gives the following graphio picture:— "The accession of the young Emperor William was followed by an astounding outburst of violence against tho Empress Frederick on the part of Bismarck's tools, his agents in the press and elsewhere—indeed, tho Empress has told an intimate friend that no humiliation and pain which coidd be inflicted on her had been spared her. "The first humiliation took a strange and terrible form; a cordon of soldiers was drawn round the New Palace, when the Emperor Frederick was known to be dying, in order that no secret document might be ' removed without tho knowledge of the new Emperor. "The. Empress, aware that this was tho work of Bismarck, requested an interview with him. but Bismarck replied that he had no time, as - he was so fully occupied with his master, the new Emperor." ~'..,..... '~,■' Retr'lution followed very sw ftly for the fierce old Chancellor. The boy Emperor, whom he fondly believed he I had under as good control as ho had had his old grandfather, suddenly threw off the leading strings. Tho end for Bismarck came in March. 1890. Tenniel's famous cartoon, "Dropping tho Pilot," admirably expressed the-world, s feeling over* the downfall of the Chancellor. But the world was wrong, for the voting Emperor proved that he was fully competent to rule Germany wisely, and every year since .then has proved this more clearly. The last years of thp Empress Frederick were passed in comparative peace, but sbo never could forgot the bitter memories of the. years of "her prime. The world has waited long for this sketch of the woman as well as the Empress— a sketch which, although anonymous, is evidently authoritative and full of interest.