A GALLANT ROYALTY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3, 3 January 1903, Page 6 (Supplement)

A GALLANT ROYALTY.

SOME REMINISCENCES OP PRINCE EDWARD OF SAKE-WEIMAR,

(From Our London Correspondent.)

LONDON, November 21.

When due allowance has been made for the habitual exaggeration of the ability of Royalties, the fact remains that the late Prince Edward of SaxeWeimar, who died of appendicitis last Sunday in his 80th year, was a keen and gallant soldier of the old and Conservative school. Of commanding stature, he looked a giant in the bearskin of the Grenadier Guards, a company of whom he commanded in the Crimea. In what was known as the third trench he proved his coolness and courage by crawling under a heavy fire to warn the Scots Guards. In front of Sebastopol he was wounded, but insisted on remaining in the trenches until relieved in the.usual way. But it was in the "soldier's battle" of Inkerman that he accomplished the great achievement of his life by his daring , and judgment. The result Of his action is tlras described by Kinglake: "By the happy effort of a youthful lieutenant on one side of the Well-way, and of a captain of the Guards on the other— the one with perhaps 20 men, the other with a company 80 or 90 strong —the enemy's turning movement was altogether defeated, at a moment when he seemed to be on the verge of a signal achievement." Early that morning he had relieved another company of his battalion posted on picket duty on a hill-side. When the battle began he extended his men in skirmishing order, and about nine a.m., seeing a strong Russian force marching directly at him, he put a bold front on it and advanced fearlessly. He trusted that, as the morning was hazy, the Russians would take his company to be merely the skirmishers in advance of a strong supporting , body. He thus rendered an important service, for his were the only troops which filled up a gap, and 800 yds between the plateau occupied by the Second Division and Codrington's Brigade of the Light Division. His position had been so isolated and hazardous, indeed, that the Duke of Cambridge sent to see how he was getting on. Despite much opposition, he stoutly maintained his ground until the end of the battle. Later he became aide-de-camp to Lord Raglan, and, following his commander home after an unsuccessful attack on the Redan, he confessed himself much cast down by the fearful slaughter of British troops. Lord Raglan replied: ''These things will happen in war. We have been beaten to-day and badly, and our losses are severe. But you cannot make war without killing people, and you must not expect to win every time."

The Crimean War was the last he saw of active service, and thereafter in the piping times of peace he passed from the command of one district to another until in 1885 he was given the command of the forces in Ireland, and in 1597 was made a field-marshal. He filled the various high positions given him with tact and capacity, proved himself a good but cautious administrator, was solicitous for the welfare of his soldiers, and active in all social and philanthropic movements, helping to develop to the fullest extent thf> local life of the towns and districts in which he found himself. A keen sportsman and popular figure in society, he was one of the chief promoters of the military tournament and introduced the dachshund into England.

Last month he entertained the King at the Knoll, North Berwick, which he used to frequent for golf. Though he lost his Eoyal rank in Germany by marrying the daughter of the Duke of Richmond, he has always been a welcome visitor at the Courts of Europe. The Kaiser should hold his memory dear, for in 1848 he rendered great service to his cousin the Emperor William I. It has almost been forgotten now that the old Emperor William was once an exile in England, driven from his own country, in the bitter days of 1848. His windows had been broken, and it was not the fault of the German mob that Prince William and his house nad not been blown to atoms. The Prince, whose unpopularity frightened the weak monarch, Frederick William, IV., was ordered to leave Berlin, and for two months the future German Emperor lived with friends in London. Among them all he found no truer friend than Prince Edward jg£ Saxe-Weimar, whose services were invaluable, and won for the Prince the lasting friendship of the Emperor. The night of March 27, 1848, was one of the most exciting nights ever known at the Germany Embassy in London. At eight o'clock, while mob law ruled Berlin, the Crown Prince knocked at the door of the Prussian Legation in Carlton Houseterrace. No announcement of his coming- had been made, and Prince William arrived in London in the character of a Prince flying from his people to seek a home among strangers. He was .made more than welcome. He could not see the Queen — Princess Louise had jnst come into the world —but the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Wellington, and Prince Edward attended to his comforts, and the Iron Duke paid the Prince the compliment of wearing a Prussian uniform.