EMPRESS FREDERIC

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 120, 14 February 1929, Page 11

EMPRESS FREDERIC

EX-KAISER’S PREFACE TO LETTERS DIGNIFIED DEFENCE OF MOTHER’S NAME LIFE’S TRAGEDY TRACED The ex-Kaiser’s preface to the German edition of Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s letters of the Empress Frederic is described as a remarkable human document, and a splendid dignified defence of the name of his mother. (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australian Press Association.) London, February 12. The ex-Kaiser’s preface to the German edition of Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s letters of the Empress Frederic, written by him at Doorn a few weeks ago, is available in London to-day. It is a remarkable human document of two thousand words, a splendid dignified defence of the name of his mother, whom he describes as a great and charming lady of enchanting beauty, great intellectual gifts, and a burning desire to help. In the new country where her lot was cast she faced a life vastly different from the pleasant life of England. “Prussians are not Englishmen. They have a different story in the past, and different traditions.” The exKaiser writes of his mother’s inspiring love for her husband, which was returned with the same fervour. He proceeds to refer to the duels with Bismarck. No bridge was possible between the Crown Princess, who kept up a lively political correspondence with her father, and that superhumanly great, strong-willed Bismarck. The Kaiser then traces the tragedy of his mother’s life when her husband’s death was certain. “One commandment ruled her, and that was to have the life of her beloved husband, but into the desperate struggle for. her husband’s life and her own happiness had gone the knowledge that it was all too late.” He says that bitterness then penetrated her heavy sorrow. Everything wounded, her. She had a quick tongue, and as she spoke sb she wrote. She saw everything in the shadows, and everything hostile. He quotes his mother’s letter addressed to Queen Victoria: “I grow angry, and reply to unpleasant remarks which I hear with a vehemence not always prudent, but these remarks arouse up within me the will to defiance and make me lose control.”

The Kaiser adds that ’ his ' grandmother, so noble, clever, and pre-emin-ently wise in motherly goodness, smoothed over things where she could, but in the end a merciless Destiny overshadowed his mother’s life with grief. ‘.‘Whether one agrees with-her or looks at things differently, one must not forget that she experienced the worst fate that could befall the lot of any princess. Therefore there is no blame to her for the frequently unjust words she wrote in her wild defiance or when she lost control. ■ She was far above most bf .her contemporaries in intellect and noble intentions. She was the most unhappy and most to be pitied woman that ever bore a crown. With reflections similar to these everyone must read the Empress’s letters. The fate of three generations who succeeded each other in three months is bound up in the fate of the Empress. Furthermore, as the destiny of Germany is also bound up with these events, the letters .will remain for all time as a great historical document for fijture generations to read with emotion and not withhold a just verdict,”