Three Emperors of Germany.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 428, 14 December 1889, Page 6

Three Emperors of Germany.

A day or two ago 1 had the good fortune of obtaining from a keen and intelligent observer an interesting account of the impressions left by the three German Emperorri whose names have of late been co prominently before the world. ' The old Empeior,' &aid my informant, 'always struck me as a man to whom duty was his first law. I have seen him in the pouring rain inspecting troops all day long, and eating his sandwich under a tree by the roadside. All the rest of the royalties and army chiefs might take refuge in their carriages, but he never dismounted, and sat on horseback, wet through, but saluting his troops with smiling affability. He was a man of a sorong will, but otherwise not very intelligent. 'His son, Frederick TIL, was the ideal Sovereign before his last teriible illness began to hold him in its Sjrip. The enthusiasm of the troops was boundless and contagious when he dashed to the front, his noble face all aglow— a veritable wargod, though his smile wa3 as sweet as that of any child. ' A few weeks ago I saw the young man who now holds the reigns, of government in Germany, at Hanover, during the manoeuvres He came, he saw, but he did not conquer, for though the populace received him with loud acclamation, the sight of his face was enough to chill one to the very bones. He has the appearance of beingeither in very bad health or thoroughly blase. ' From a schoolfellow of William 11., who was at the Cassel Gymnasium at the time when ' Prinz Wilhelm ' adorned that institution by his presence, I obtained some in formation with regard to the studies of the latter. In history, especially in Pruofeian history, I was told, he h.id no peer, could draw the plan of any battlelield on which his ancestors had lough t, at a moment's notice, and had all the facts and figures at his tingeis' ends. In modern languages he was al?o very good, but in mathematics and the languages of antiquity he was nowhere. Accustomed to a simple, useful life, and not having become blase through much admiration, he was a pleasant youth, who stoorl well in thu estimation of his sohoolfellows. Through a correspondent, who speaks from personal experience at Berlin, I am also informed of some of the dointi& of the fourth generation of German Emperors. The five young gentlemen of the Imperial establishment seem to be lively customers, with a special liking for playing at bearhunting under the dining - table when a friend has been asked to drop in to a quiet dinner or supper an /amille at the Palace. It occasionally happens that during the heat of the hunt the legs and ears of the diners are put to considerable incon venience, in which case the Emperor dives under the table, drags bears and hounds to the light, and sends them oft" to repent in the solitude of their nurseries. Another very favourite pastime with the young Hohen/.ollerns is to drive about with their dear parents, and loudly join in the ' Hochs ' and 'Hurrahs,' whenever their loyal subjects accoi-d them to the Imperial couple. The little, Crown Prince occasionally varies the proceedings by turning trom a shouter into a dignified recipient of the shouts, who, quite regardless of che attitude taken by his father, the Emperor, waves his hand condescendingly to the crowd, implying that he has had enough of their noide, and would now prefer them to be silent.