A NOBLE DEFENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 587, 13 February 1929, Page 9

A NOBLE DEFENCE

Wilhelm Writes Finely of His Mother In Preface to Her Published Letters

“GREAT AND CHARMING LADY’

(United P.A.- —By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Received 11.5 a.m. . LONDON, Tuesday. THE ex-Kaiser Wilhelm’s preface to the German edition of Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s letters of the late Empress Frederick, which was written by him at Doom a few weeks ago, is available in London to-day. It is a remarkable human document of 2,000 words —a splendid and dignified defence of the name of his mother. He describes her as. a great and charming lady of enchanting beauty and great intellectual gifts, with a burning desire to help the new country where her lot was cast.

She faced a life vastly different from the pleasant lire of England. “The Prussians are not Englishmen. They have a different story of the past and different traditions.”

“With reflections similar to these, everyone must read the Empress’s letters. The fate of the three generations who succeeded each other is bound up in the tragic fate of tb s Empress. Furthermore, as the destiny of Germany is also bound up in these events, the letters remain for all time a great historical document that future generations will read with emotion, and not withhold just verdict.”

The ex-Kaiser writes of her inspiring love of her husband, which was returned with the same fervour, and proceeds to refer to duels with Prince Bismarck.

“No bridge was possible between the Crown Princess, who kept up a lively political correspondence with her father, and that superhumanly great, strong-willed Bismarck.” Wilhelm then traces the tragedy of his mother’s life when her husband’s death seemed certain. “One commandment ruled her. It was to save the life of her beloved husband; but into the desperate struggle for her husband’s life and her own happiness came knowledge all too late.”

Frederick, Emperor of Germany, married in 1858 Victoria, Princess Royal of England. In politics he strongly opposed Bismarck. The Liberal Party hoped great things when he came to the throne; but he was attacked by cancer in the throat, and was obliged to go to Nice in 1887. On the death of his father in March, 1888, he succeeded to the throne, which lie had occupied for only 90 days when he died at Potsdam, June 15, 1888. IJe. was succeeded by the ex-Kaiser Wilhelm.

He says bitterness then penetrated her heavy sorrow. . Everything wounded her. She had a quick tongue. As she spoke, so she wrote. She saw everything in shadows, and everything hostile. He quotes his mother’s letter addressed to Queen Victoria, her mother: “I grow angry and reply to unpleasant remarks which I hear with vehemence. I am not always prudent; but these remarks rouse up within me all my defiance, and make me lose my control.” The ex-Kaiser adds that his grandmother was so noble, clever, preeminent, and wise in motherly goodness that she smoothed things over where she could, but in the end a merciless destiny overshadowed his mother’s life with grief. “Whether one agrees with her or looks at things differently, one must not forget that she experienced the worst fate to befall the lot of any princess. Therefore, there is no blame for her for the frequently unjust words she wrote in her wild defiance, or when she lost control. She was far above most of her contemporaries in intellect and noble intentions. She was the unhappiest an $ most to be pitied woman who ever bore a crown.”