DEATH OF THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1709, 10 March 1888, Page 3

DEATH OF THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY.

Berlin, March 7,

An official bulletin issued as to the condition of His Majesty the Emperor shows that he is suffering from throat affection, and painful abdominal disorder, and also from a marked decline of strength. General Bronsart Yon Schellendorff, Minister of War, has made a statement in the Reichstag, that there is no immediate danger of the Emperor’s death. The Duchess of Baden has been summoned to the palace. The medical officers in attendance on His Majesty bare ordered that morphia should be largely injected in order to alleviate all pain. The Reichstag will not dissolve until Saturday.

The Federal Council has been hastily summoned.

March 8. The Emperor William is dead.

The following is abridged from the “ Men of the Time’’ : --

William, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, son of Frederick William 111., and of Princess Louisa oJF Mecklenburg-Strelbz, and brother to the late King of Prussia, bom March 22nd, 1797, was educated as a soldier, and took part in the campaigns of 1813 and 1815 against France. In 1840 he was appointed Governor of Pomerania, which post he held till the revolution of 1848 broke out, when he took refuge in England. He was elected a member rf the Constituent Assembly in May, 1848, returned to Berlin, and took his seat in the Assembly, June 8, 1848, and was made Ooramander-in-Chief of the Prussian army acting against the revoiutio-ary forces of Baden, in June, 1849. When the mind of his brother gave way, n 1858, the Prince was created Regent, and he immediately dismissed the Kruez or aristocratic parly, and adopted a liberal policy. His brother, Frederick William IV., dying without iss'ie, January 2nd, 1861, he succeeded, under the title of William 1., to the crown, which ho placed upon his own head at Konigsberg, October 18th, on which occasion ha emphatically asserted the doctrine of the “ right divine of kings.” No sooner was he seated on the Ihrone than he began a contest with the Chamber of Deputies, which graduall} became more critical, until, after Count Bismarek-Schcenhoii en had been appointed Prime Minister, in 1862, the feud threatened to end in civil war. The aggressive war on Denmark waged by Austria and Prussia diverted the attention of bis people from home affairs for a time ; and, since the close of that war of aggression the King has proved by his firm attitude bis fitness as a sovereign. Much against his inclination bo then embarked on a still more ambitious scheme, and prepared to obtain supremacy in Germany by force of arms. For many years military preparations bad been made, and early in 1866 the scheme was ripe for execution. A treaty of alliance was concluded with Italy, an ultimatum was forwarded to the smaller States in the north of Germany, and an immense army was set in motion. War was declared against Austria, June 17th, and, after a short campaign, in which William I, and the royal princes took part, Austria was compelled to make peace. In 1867 the King of Prussia became the head of the powerful North German Confederation, comprising 22 states, representing a population of 29,000,000. The result of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71 was the complete realisation of the Prime Minister’s idea of a United Germany, and on January 18th, 1871, King William of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor. In October that year the Emperor William gave a decision adverse to England on the San Juan Boundary question, which had been submitted to his arbitration by the British and American Governments. William I. married, June lltb, 1829, the Princess Augusta, daughter of Charles-Frederick, Grand Duke of Weimar.