THE EMPEROR FREDERICK III. HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 274, 20 June 1888, Page 3

THE EMPEROR FREDERICK 111. HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER.

Frcduiek JIL, known fii>t as Prince Fiedeuck W illuuii, and then as the Crown I^mce, was bom 57 yeaio ago, on October 18, 1831, when ft mope wa^ shaken by revolutions, the precu^ors of still greater change-, and the old forms wore beginning io five place to new. A« a youth the Crow n P:inee had excellent teacher, and in 1850 he became a student at Jlouu, and later on, RecLoi \\ ith a fathci s>o manly and t-eii-ous, }et "jovial '" as one courtier calls him and a mother so accomplished, the Piincc rould not fail to be well taught and trained. The triut ot thi- tiaming wah n by hi- manhood, 110 wagtail, health>, bluc03 <d, frank, and simple, and ho won icgnid wherever he went when a youth. In the Kngh-h Court hi- father was held in especial esteem ; and when, having become Prime ol P/ti--ia amiho-ij -appaient, lieUcisduiwi tiom Beihn in 1848, his son came with him td England. Although politic- foib.iclc his open leeeption, he saw < k >ueon Vi^tona — who deeply sympathised with him and Piiuce Albert ; and it was then that Piiuce Fiederiek William, a lad ot 17. fn-t miw Piincefs Yictoiin, a b\el} and engaging child li wa-the hope ot sexeial pei.-ons that these two m aitei yeui- might be united, and the hope wu- lullilled Fnc yen is alteruauK, it. the month ot Septembei, when Seba-topo't had been eaptuied, Piiiuc Fiudeiuk William paid <i famous \i-it to Halmoial lie wcntthithei with the eon--ei.l ot his pnient- and ot the King, IVedeiick \\ illiam 1\ „ to ask foi the hand ot the Pnnce-s \ lelona, .-till a younj: maiden in all the " un< on.stiaint of ghlhood. The Punce Con-oti i\,b much pleased with " the lO'iny m.m, and found that hi-pio-minent (juahtie- were''yreat btiai<jhtfoi"waidm—, tianknes--, and hone*t % > . lie ap[icais heo iiom picjudices, and pro-emm-ently well-intcutioncd. He -j)eak- of himself <i- peit-onaLy dttmeted by Vicky. That -he will have no objection to make I regard a» piobablo." A day or two later the idyll had pvo^u— cd "ThePiinee L- ically in lo\e, and the little lady doc- hci best to pk<i-e him WntiiiLT on Oetobei 2, the Pnuce C(jn-oit. -a\- that Prince Flit/ letr. Balmoial on the da\ betoie and -pcakh m .udent nrai c of the childlike simplicity and r.unlimi ot hi- daunhtei. "The youn<r ])eople aie .adenlh m love with ot,e ; anothei," he.uld- ",mdthepunty,innoctnce, | and un^elh-hne-sot the \ ounn man ha\ ebeen, ot» hi-, part, e([ii;ill> touching."' xt was this engagement in 1855 which was hdlilled in 1858, -i hen the gallant -oldier pnnce was mat ned to the Pnnce— on whom, .-a^s Sn Theodoie M.utin, " In? lit.v t" liad been for -omo time set." The tu.-taet- ot Kiodtiirk JIL, alter the death of the late Empeioi, showed that Inline Uvxtuie had not changal one whit, and that lie was still the eouiteous, coiisideiiite, and kindl) gentleman who madt^ all men lo\e him in foimci ,>e<us In hi- Pioelamation. i— ued on JNI.n t h 12, aitoi -i>eakuig with aileetionatc icxeientc ol hi- father, taithful Piu-si.i's '• fame eiow ucd King.^ the toundei of (iennap unit\ . the liist (Uiniau Enipcioi, he said, ioi h.m-elt. that, hisole endCiiv our would be to " make ( leinianj a -Uonghold ot peace," and to seeuie the p o-pei it) ot thocuuntiy he was called toiuie, \ owing that he would be "a pist and laithful King in ]oy as well a- .-.oirow." II seem- but ycsteiday (lemaiks the "llhistiatcd London New- ') that he rode through the sheets ot London in the cscoit ot Pnncc.s, aticndmg ( v )ucen A'ictoria when she dio\e to W'estmiuhtcr Abbey, and atti acted all eyes by his handsome figure and kmghtl) beaiing. Within a few weeks ot that stately coiemo nil, in which he pla> cd so conspicuous a pat t, came whispers to 1 ling that he w a.- smitten with a malady which might prove fatal. The mere nsmonr, still moic the reality, called foibh a prompt and .-iihtained outbui\-t of strong sympathetic tooling. Foi, though ho was modest ami joliied, smd. hivd been only the dutiful tii-t subject in a mighty Empire, he hail won the heai to t hiemlb and toes, and men in all lands looked towards him as one who, w hen his lather should I die in the lulncps of time, would be I agieat, )ust, and kindly Soveicgn. That day came, but under what tiagic conditions ! The aged Emperor died atar from his. " dear Flic/," whom he so longed to again, and Fnt/. hinibclt, bereit of the power of speech, was compelled to eiosbthe Alps, ill as he whs, in order to take his place nt the head of an emphe, and yet. was not permitted to Pbnnd beside his father'sbier. Few moie touching joiuncs^ lmvo been rccoided than this of the stiiekcn Pi moo from his sunny lcfugeou the Piiviera to a city — a nation— in mourning, dtcp and sincere. A pi ofoundly impres-bh c accession ; with cagevuesaand sympathy, not only in Clermany, but beyond the Atlantic, on remote Afiican plains, and on the .shoies and islands ot the Farlhoi Kast.— wheiovev the English ami Ihe (iernuiu tongues aie bpoKon.