HOHENZOLLERN AND GUELPH.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1722, 12 April 1913, Page 9

HOHENZOLLERN AND GUELPH.

A LOVE MATCH.

HOW AN OLD FEUD WAS PLACATED,

ROMANTIC STORY.

cr r 6 "B m correspondent of'the Now. •'•'£/< writest For forty-seven .years the Cruelph and Hohenzollorn dynasties have been.at bitter feud with each other. A-n l 'iPh s naturally .look down upon the Hohenzollerns. The first important , Guelpn-7-biy moro correctly, Welf—is men- : laoncd as a.feigning count and -father-in--law of an Emperor in 81!) a.d. The earliest Hohenzollern'of more than local importance was tho first Elector of Branden- ' burg, who received that dignity-from tlio Emperor Sigismund in 1415. The Guelphs were' by that timo an ancient dynasV! had, in fact; seen their best days, and naturally cannot look upon tho parvenu Prussian House as their .equals. • ;.-' , Tlie Hohenzollenis have been highly suc : ces?ful. j They-have the parvenu's distressing, trick of getting on : in life. But. - that, does not make them more acccptable "•-to -people 'wl)oso. ancestors, were fighting and-treating-with the Hohen'staiiffen'Kai- ' 6ers on equal terms at a time , when, if thero wero'any Hohenzollerns at'sill,'they ■ did not know .liovv to spell their nam;s,. '■but 'went around calling themselves Zolre, ■ 'and 'had-'no id,ea who their grandfather was. lu modern, times, tlia-Guelphsialthough - their name-has" ceased to be terrible from the ' Appenines -to;. Planders, have done fairly well; The head of one branch . ..occupies tW British throne. Up till 1866 another branch were TCings of Hanover. ; Yet a third were sovereign dukes of Brunswick until 1881., for 1868 tho blind Guelph ; King of Hanover, Georeo V, liad to choose jbetweon Prussia and' Austria- Bismarck offered to guarantee his possessions if lie ; .; would, side .with Prussia. * He declined. V- - -and a -week' later was an exile. Prussia f annexed his kingdom, and Bismarck re- ; tamed a large part of his private fortune -.and used,'the interest to "influence the . German jiress ..in, favour, of .his policy. '. It is only convinced monarchists, believ- \ ing that kingship derives from God, whq > treat -Icings-in .tliis way. The - inconsist- ; ency,-"how6Yer,' is only apparent. •' One ilivinely appointed monarch .'may devour another,-kingdom and {ill. ► It-is only sub:jects, having.no divine mission, who may . pot, without sacrilege, '.diminish- their • -'-'ruler'a prerogatives. •" . ; ••«(• , Oath Exactcd by Blind Man. TJiifortunatelyj .blind King, who was -Unoommonly strong on the theological as- -.' pect of kingship, could, not.be got to'see .-' . : 'j'ffhh»Bg.in v thls -.IlKht.. lie died he an oath from his .'son that he : 'would never abandon his claim'to be King of Hanover,'-.and the. son, has kept , his 1 , word. He was, rich—even while .the Ger-' niari Government-kept the interest of the Guelpli'fund, as it was-called, from him— , 'he 'had; a -fortune' of from ten, to fifteen millibn dollars; and. he;set up his fcourt 'at Gmunden, in Austria, whence for thirty .•■years lie''has nourished/ the ' Guelphist --. party'/in 'Hpriover; with' money and promises and kept up the. fight against Prussia.;.' '/ V . f " ' situation was complicated by the •death of the last reignin? Duke of Brurisl - wick, in l lßß4.r The heir to the throne was undoubtedly;the Ue'jura-King of Hnnover, j the irreconcilable of Gmunden:' He could aot be allowed to -reign over a.German i state so long as he claimed the sovereignty I a Erussion-province, .and, acocrdingly. 1! ,9- Imperial Government and the -Federal Council , acknowledged ;his. right' and ap"Kjinted a-legent 'torrul? for diim inrßruns- •, wick. The styles him-aelf.-Duko of Cumberland, a"title he dc- ...... cives George . | 111 -of .England. 'To the outside world i "''jflnies. tlio.'Tank.of prince ,of ,Great j uses* the English royal - liver- .-! -e;:.Wn.hi.n;-the walls of-his palace'at • i '\ini df';EaiioveT, 'main-' ; ;>V.<i^rt,'-'being^rell:'abl6 : 'to.M |d..receives missions from his'faitli- [ In 1892 the Chan ~ v--:! .-.:- paprivi, who had his own views ; <-3 ■ --Subject 'of-, private property, com- ; .incect)tb.ihaiicl-oyer tho interest on the .' esijate■ of;the Duke, amount-. 1 S: to about..pfteen million, dollars,-to i \ owner, ..who has enjoyed'his rights: in •';.!* iespect ever since.' - '! , ;:0 matters went on- till Inst year. On' | : ''loiith of,the -first .regent of Bruns- ; -i-iL.c: the-Diike.:of Cumberland wrote to I ',T AS Kaiser that his Becoiid son' ' ■•' should bo allowed to.ascend 'Ithrone .of; Brunswick, guaranteeing i i •.• the youth would take no pnrt in the ■'•' j iv a i n Hanover. Xaiser'-William reWf.aj? 1?W. W any, member of the ' jmilyv,clung to.the Hanoverian claim. icfc 8 ' n0 UC^ P o's 'Brnns- ! -Occident. Changed- Fortune, - 1 W'aeMdcnV 'iiianged'-' the for.' cunes of the Guelphs.. :-The Duke of Cuins'.eldest,;,sou, a pledged irrccon- ' i> -^.'mselfi,. while ■ motoring - through Brandenburg,; the. heart of . the .enemy.s country, by : nieht, steered his Er at. speed of a -mile a minute into clump of trees by the roadside, and was stant.lv -killed, l'he Kaiser was- demon- ■ Btratrvely , sympathetic,-and. tho Cumber.Jander sent his younger son. an officer in i to Berlin to thank the Kaiser for his chivalrous cour--tesv to the, enemies of lus House. Possibly the young' Princcss ■Victoria Lui"e, icnlv daughter of'the Kaiser .and the - -■'! E? P i°- eye,.may have met the stal'i«l ar -u young ? ra S°°n then. At any rate >.U-became.clear that the feud between Hohenzollern and Giielph in the -altered t!ifl oU rifa e S, ul | l l! «! t r , no longer , than .the life of the Duke of. Cumberland, .who ■ ' s eaty.seven. Tho young Ernest August I how heir, to all the Guelph dignities, real intl imaginary, had • been kept. aloof from '•:• ..ine,Hanoverian; agitation.: As an. officer 1 the bavarian aririv ho could not openly .pvow hostility to the King of Prussia jhis .Supreme War Lord. ,When'the-W orable old he would become , JJuke of Brunsmck and peace .would reign ' in tho land. . Mfeanwhile, still, moro attractive prospecti opened _ ft,r this fortunate young man. He is the heir to -n h'ngo fortune in any case. His sisters being well dowered are well roarriwl. . One .of them is Grand . Duchess of .Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and Bißter-inJaw; of the .future German .Em-' R 58 ;., Now. he is'heir to a duchy ,of Mi kilometres, with a population of oyer half a : million, and a delightful franchiso .which •■insures a, .permanent conservative , tawority in the Diet., Obviously a parti. -■ • it s«>:ms t(> have suggested itself to the .impress soon--after the motor disaster that was a .suitablo partner for the Princess Victoria. 'Negotiations with Gmun- . '.uetl were-beghn through the intermediary of tho. Prince. Ernst August's brother-in-law, ' -Prince Max ,of Baden,', It-.must have ' cost the Kaiser an effort, for the Cumber•lander did not come to meet him, but Waited for the Kaiser to offer the hand of reconciliation. ' Even then, although he consented to a marriage between bis ■ son andythe daughter of his hereditary ' 'enemy, ho refuses to make things easy for the Kaiser by renouncing his claims to Hanover—doubtless lie holds himself bound by the oath to his dethroned father .—and • when the Kaiser with - wife niul daughter went down to Karlsruhe to Tatify the engagement on neutral terri- : tory, the' Duke of Cumberland kept to his tent at Gmunden. , The Guelphists in Hanover issued mani- . festoes expressing high satisfaction at the . • arrangement as far as it' went, but' em- ' pliasising the firm intention of the Hantoverian party to Tomain faithful to the • princqly house which has efer been faitli--;'ful to Hanover. . .Every dynasty has its distinguishing quality, i That of tho Guelphs, according to their adherents is . unswerving fidelity. It apparently means that they never abandon their claim to anything which they imagine is theirs. This intransigence of the .Cumberlander and his men is a jarring note in the mar'.riage. music, and affords the, ultra..pdtriots 'occasion to blame the Kaiser for marrying his daughter to a husband'who • aims at rebuilding the throno at Hanover on the ruins of Prussia. A Love Match,; ' This, of -course, is hunibug. .. One hn3 only to loolc at Pricho Ernst, August to see that he aims at nothing of the sort, .but will be extremely happy as Duke of Brunswick, with a huge income and the charming and vivacious Hohenzollern princess as his consort. It* is said to be a lOyo match. Where tho young

couple found time and place to fall in love ivith cacli other is hard to say, for up to last week Guclpli and Hohonzollern only .met by accident in other people's houses, onceiniivo years or so. But tliAt the is pleased with the man of her parents choieo is pretty certain. A photograph of the two standing together ill a park at Karlsruhe is to be seen in all tho shop windows. The Princess holds her stalwart lover's arm, and is a delightful 'picture of happy girlhood. She must bo a consummate actress if slio can assume such a pose for the sako of the illustrated journals. It is fairly well known that the' Kaiser is far too fond of his daughter to sacrifice her for reasons of stato, and it would almost seem as if in this case' the Kaiserin and the Princess made the match for themselves. . _ , It is the destiny of tho Prince to become Duke of Brunswick. When this will happen is not clear. The decision-of the Federal Council debars him as long as his father maintains the Hanoverian, claim. Possibly tho ICaiser may get this decision rescinded. In all probability things will remain os they, are for some time. Tho young couple will marry and live in Berlin, and the Guelph parliamentary party will die of inanition. They have at present six ' mourners' in the Reichstag. In any case the picturesque baild of kings in exilo will in a few years be reduced by one. They are a fairly numerous party, the French Bourbons in . England, the Spanish Bourbons in Venico and Austria, the Brngnnza and Neapolitan Bourbons, the Buonapartes, Abdul Hnmid, the exShah, and the little of China. The Gmunden duke's claim will expire with himself. On the whole they are probably better offi in exile if they are rich than on their thrones. They live in muchnicer places than their, ci-devant capitals, enjoy all the* privileges of royalty without its responsibilities, and have the supreme consolation of a well-founded grievance.