EMPRESS FREDERICK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20642, 14 February 1929, Page 9

EMPRESS FREDERICK

PUBLICATION OF LETTERS. THE EX-KAISER’S PREFACE. , A REMARKABLE DOCUMENT. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, February 12. The ex-Kaiser’s preface to the German edition of Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s “ Letters of the Empress Frederick,” written by him at Doom a few weeks ago and available in London to-day, is a remarkable human document. It consists of 2000 words in a splendid dignified defence of the name of his mother, whom he describes as a great and charming lady of enchanting beauty, with great intellectual gifts and a burning desire to help the new country where her lot was cast, and faced with a life vastly different from her pleasant life in England. “ The Prussians are not Englishmen. They have a different story of the past, and different traditions.” He writes of the inspiring love for her husband, which was returned with the same fervour, and proceeds to refer to duels with * Bismarck, stating : “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.”

He then traces the tragedy of his mother’s life when her husband’s death was certain, “ One commandment ruled her, which was to save the life of her beloved husband; but into that desperate struggle for her husband’s life her own happiness had gone with the knowledge that all was too late.” He says that bitterness then penetrated her heavy sorrow, and everything wounded her. She had a quick tongue, and as she spoke, so she wrote. She saw everything in shadows, and everything hostile. ” He quotes his mother’s letter addressed to Queen Victoria: “ I grow angry and reply, to the unpleasant remarks which I hear with vehemence. I am not always prudent, but these remarks rouse up within me a wild defiance and make me lose control.”

The ex-Kaiser adds that his grand mother, so noble, clever, and preeminently wise in motherly goodness, smoothed over things where she could, but in the end 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 cauld befall the lot of any princess. Therefore there’s 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 of her contemporaries in intellect and noble intentions. She was the unhappiest and most to be pitied woman who ever wore a crown. With reflections similar to these everyone must read, the Empress’s letters. The fate of three generations who succeeded each other is bound in the tragic fate of the Empress. Furthermore, as the destiny of Germany is also bound up in these events, the letters will remain for all time a great historical document for future generations to read with emotion, and not withhold a just verdict. Australian Press Association.

A cable message received in October last stated—Sir Frederick Ponsonbv has edited, the letters of the Empress Frederick of Germany, which he himself smuggled into England in response to her dying request in 1001. She said: I don t want a soul to know, certainly not Willie” (meaning the ex-Kaiser). The letters reveal Wilhelm as a man who opposed, ignored, and forsook his She wrote to Queen Victoria of his “treachery and want of respect to ills father and his insolence to me!” On another occasion, referring to a strike of miners, she wrote: “I am more than horrified at William’s speech, in which he told the men that if they had anything to do vith the Social Democrats he would have them all shot down. I think such words in the mouth of a sovereign, and so youn" and inexperienced a man, most brutal and unbecoming.”