KAISER AND THE DEAD HAND.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1815, 30 July 1913, Page 14

KAISER AND THE DEAD HAND.

KING OP PRUSSIA'S WILL. WHY HE TORE IT UP. OFFICIAL DISCLOSURE. Tho twenty-fifth anniversary of tho Kaiser's accession,' which was celebrated with great popular enthusiasm throughout Prussia on June IG, will probably bo remembered chiefly for a remarkable revelation of a hitherto unknown act by his Majesty in connection with tho Prussian Constitution. The disclosure was imido at a jubilee celebration at tho University oi' Berlin by Professor llintze. liming remarked that the Kaiser, "notwithstanding his desire to keep .all the threads'of government in his liandj stands firmly on tho basis of tho Constitution," tho speaker proceeded to astonish his hearers with the statement that "the best pioof of this is that the Kaiser burned the political testament of Kin;; Frederick William IV" (King of Prussia in 1848, when the revolutionaries of Devlin extorted a Constitution from tho Crown). King Frederick William, who was tho p-rcdacassor of the Emperor William I and the great-uncle of the presaut Kaiser, was a reactionary who never became Tesigiled oven to that modicum of constitutional government which ho was compelled to grant. Whiio the Emperor Frederick, the Kaiser's father, lay 011 his deathbed in June, 1883, Dr. Friedberg, the Prussian Minister of Justice, informed tho then Crown Prince (the present Kaiser) that thero would bo laid before him immediately alter liis father's death a sealed document of transcendent importance. This document was tho first which the young Einperar found on his study table after his accession. Ho opened it and recognised immediately the characteristic handwriting of King Frederick William. It was a political testament which had to be laid before every new Prussian King, and it contained a warning in the most violent terms adjuring the new Monarch to overthrow tho Constitution before talcing tho oath. "Tho present Kaiser," continued the professor, "was 110 more inclined than his immediate predecessors to heed the reactionary counsel of his dead ancestor, but ho deeded to go further flian merely to refuse to act 011 it himself. 110 took tho view that it was not impossible that a young and inexperienced ruler might some day ascend the throne and be tempted to yield to King Frederick William's incitement to a political coup d'etat. 'I had the feeling,' said the Kaiser, 'that I was living with a powder-barrel in my house, and I had no peace of mind until the testament was destroyed.'" . Destroyed it accordingly was. and the envelope 'which had contained it was returned to the Keeper of tho Royal Archives with tho inscription in the Kaiser's handwriting: "Contents destroyed." Professor llintze said he had tho Kaiser's permission (0 make this revelation on tomo appropriate occasion. Empsror's Happiness. As I write at G o'clock in the evening (states the "Daily Hail's" correspondent in describing tho event), thunderous chccr.s ascend to the windows of my ottico in the Friedrichstrasse. The Kaiser and Kaiserin are motoring through tho streets of the central district, which is thronged everywhere 011 this brilliantly fine jubilee day. Tho crowds are giving their Alajestias the heartiest reception 1 ever remember them to lravo received ill Merlin. The Kaiser is as happy as a child. He is sniiling broadly end saluting right and left. The Kaiser has marked the occasion by proclaiming an amnesty for delinquents imprisoned for various offences aud for all members of Clio Army and Navy undergoing punishment for violation of the regulations, lie commands the law officers to favour especially those whose misdeeds were committed through necessity or in a stats of irresponsibility. Men in the Army and Navy, convicted of slander or of maltreatment of their subordinates do not share in the amnesty. Tho Kaiser, emphasised his hope of preserving peace both to the liight Rev. Sir William Boyd Carpenter, tho chief of a deputation of British Churchmen, and to Mr. Andrew Carnegie, tho head of the American Peace Societies' delegation. "Twenty-five years of peace," his Majesty cried jovially" to Mr. Carnegie as the latter passed down the line at the castle, "and I hope there will be twenty-fivo ycai'9 more." "You are the most powerful ally we have in that direction," replied Mr. Carnegie. ■ Replying to the address presented by Sir William Boyd Carpenter, the Kaiser expressed Iris gratification at the present friendly state of Anglo-German relations and liis liopo for tho continued preservation of tli-3 world's peace.