MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 15, 18 January 1905, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES.

INFANT PRINCES AS COMMANDERS. ROYAL, CHILDREN GIVEN EXALTED ! PLACES IN ARMIES. Whereas the angel of peace is believed to hover over the cradles of ordinary mortals, the good of war may be said to preside over the destinies of the children of royalty in the Old World, especially when they happen to be boys. From their earliest infancy the people around them are at pains to impress them with the intimate connection that exists between the throne and the army, and It Is through no fault of their own if, as they grow up, they become imbued with the belief that monarchy Is a military rather than a civil Institution. In nearly every boy there .is a sort of innate love for all that pertains to soldiers and soldiering. This Is fostered and developed to the utmost extent among the sons of the anointed of the Lord, who are taught that the uniform Is the "king's cloth," that the profession of arms Is the noblest of all callings, and that military glory is superior to all others. It is to these sentiments that they are reared, and it is only after they attain manhood that, handicapped by their early training, they are with difficulty brought to appreciate the fact that the laurels of peace are still more becoming than those of war. HIGH RANK OF CZAREVITCH. These are reflections which cannot help but be called forth from the announcement from St. Petersburg that the Czar has appointed his new-born son to the command of the Fifty-first Finnish Life Guards, to the colonelcy of the Twelft East Siberian Rifle Corps, and to the rank of hetrnan or general in chief of all the Cossack cavalry. The Infant Czarevitch Is but a month or two old, has not yet learned to distinguish a rattle from a sword, nor epaulets from teething rings. He still prefers swaddling clothes to the gold embroidered uniforms which he Is entitled to wear, and is far more interested in the commissariat department provided by his nurse than In the prowesses and misfortunes in Manchuria of his East Siberian riflemen. Yet the regimental colours—at any rate of the Futyflrst Finnish Life Guards—are kept In his nursery in accordance with the military regulations which prescribe that the flags and standards of each corps shall be preserved In the quarters of the commander when not In actual use; and all the regimental reports are made out in the imperial infant's name. OLD RUSSIAN SYSTEM ABANDONED. Pormery every prince of the reigning house of Romanoff received the colonelcy of a regiment along with the star and the ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew, on the occasion of his christening, within a few days after his birth. But this practice was allowed to lapse by the late Czar, and has not been revived by Emperor Nicholas. Thus the little boys of his eldest sister, Xenia, married to Grand Duke Alexander Mlchallovitch, have received no military titles, while the young sous of Grand Duke Coustantinovltch are simply cadets in the mlMtary schools at Moscow and St. Petersburg without holding any commissions. In fact, the only other youthful colonel at the Court of Russia besides the Czarevitch is the now 12-year-old Grand Duke Demetrius Paulowitch, and who has been brought up altogether by his uncle and aunt, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Sergius, his father, Paul, having been banished and deprived of all his honours for contracting a mesalliance with the divorced wife of his aide-de-camp. Young Grand Duke Demetrius, whose mother, a daughter of King George of Greece, died within a few hours after giving him birth, was appointed at the time of bis christening when a week old to the colonelcy of the regiment of Souvoroff Grenadiers. BULGARIAN PRINCES ARE COLONELS. Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria's boys, who are still In pinafores, nevertheless hold commands In the Bulgarian army. Thus the eldest child, Boris, Prince of Tirnovo, now nine years of age, Is colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Cavalry, of the Third Regiment of Artillery, and of the Fourth Regiment of Infantry in the splendidlyequipped and well-trained Bulgarian army; while his brother Cyril, Prince of Preslaff, aged eight, has been obliged to remain content with a lieutenancy of artillery. The young King of Spain .who- was a monarch from the moment of his birth, ranked as a brigadier-general of his army as a boy until he attained his majority on his 16th birthday, but was never allowed by his sensible mother to wear any uniform but that of a cadet of the military school of Toledo, which was natty and simple, and suited him to perfection. Since assuming the reins of government on the termination of his minority he has invested himself with the rank of captain general of the army and of the navy, and Is usually seen in the uniform of one or another of these offices, which emphasise, of course, his extreme youth, since he Is barely 18 years of age. He differs much in this from Emperor Nicholas, Who, although he has been upon the throne for ten years, still contents himself with the Insignia of colonel and of A.DIC. to his father, which he was wbht to wear Muring tae latter's lifetime and while 'czarevitch*. ! ,r '' BIG REGIMENTS FOR GERMANS. At Berlin it is not until their tenth birthday that the princes or the reigning house of Prussia receive their first commission in the army, along with the order of the Black Eagle. They are all assigned to the same regiment, viz., to the First Foot Guards, formed by the father of Frederick the Great, and which always has been regarded as the corps delete of the Prussian army, by reason of Its glorious history, the superb physique of Its men, the perfection of Its drill, and the composition of its officers, recruited from the most illustrious houses In Germany. As the men are all giants, their stature being still further increased by the high sugar loaf shaped white metal helmets which they wear -when In full dress, the ten-year-old princes when marching In their ranks as lieutenants, seem dwarfed by comparison, and always excite a good deal of amusement by their frantic but Ineffectual efforts to keeip step with the immense strides of the huge fellowr. under their command. While the young princes are permitted to wear their uniforms on all official occasions after their tenth birthday and figure In the ranks of their regiments at reviews and other military functions, they do not receive their actual training as soldiers until after they have completed their other studies. Thus it was not until the Crown Prince left Bonn and graduated from the university that he settled down in real earnest to master the various branches of his profession as an officer, and to acquire all the information which the Berlin War Department demands of those who wear the Kaiser's epaulets. JOACHIM IS YOUNGEST IN ARMY. The yeungest prince in the Prussian army at the present moment is the Emperor's son Joachim, who for some mysterious reason or otfau U known at home

by the nickname of "Pikey." He is 13 years of age, much less robust than his elder brother, and small for his age. He was on duty in full uniform with his company, forming part of the guard of honour at Kiel on the occasion of the arrival there of King Edward to visit the Emperor, and his shoulders were on a level with the waist belt- of the grenadiers under his command. His brother brother, Prince Adalbert, now serving on board one of the German cruisers in the China seas, received on his tenth birthday, In addition to his lieutenancy of the First Regiment of Guards, a commission as lieutenant of the navy. The fact that he held this rank did not, however, exempt him from doing duty for several years, first as a naval cadet, and then as a midshipman. Even now he Is merely a sublieutenant, and it has been only on state and ceremonial occasion's that he has been permitted to wear the insignia of his rank as naval lieutenant In lieu of the uniform of the grade in which he was actually serving. Napoleon 111., with the object of reviving in the French army memories of his uncle, the great emperor, who' usel to be known among his old troopers as "Le petite eaporal" (the little corporal), appointed his boy while still quite a child to the rank of corporal of the Imperial Guard, advancing him to the grade of "sous lieutenant" shortly before the outbreak of the FrancoGerman war, which brought about the overthrow of the empire. The Prince Imperial afterwards received a military education in England at Woolwich, passed with flying colours the examination entitling him to a commission in the British army, and was killed by the Zulus while serving as an English officer in the Zulu war. SEVERE ROUTINE IN AUSTRIA. In Austria the princess of the house of Hapsburg are obliged to go through the same course of study as the other candidates for army commissions at the Theresianum and the other military colleges, and do not receive their appointments as officers until they have passed the graduating examinations. This generally takes place when they are about 16 or 17 years of age, and after that, of course, their promotion is rapid. In England much the same course is adopted, both the Duke of Connaught and his sou. Prince Albert, having been obliged to work for their first commissions, which they received at the age of 17. An exception, however, was made in favour of King Edward, who was nominated to a colonelcy In the British army without any previous military training, at the age of 15. It was only later on that he received the professional instruction which his brother Arthur had been compelled to acquire before his appointment to the army of which he Is now as inspector general, the virtual commander in chief.