THE FORMER KAISER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 31 May 1919, Page 4

THE FORMER KAISER.

AN IMPENITENT EXILE. “SUICIDE RATHER THAN TRIAL.” In a cablegram to the New York Times, under date March 29, Mr. Harold Begbie, who was then at Amcrongen, givis an interesting pen-picture of the ex-Kaiser. 1 am conscious above everything else, ho says, of Amerongen’s indifference to the notorious man whose presence here has conferred upon it world-wide fame. This little village is like tho sparrows in its lime trees. It is too happy to bother its head about fallen Kings and outlawed Emperors. It has its domestic business to attend to, and clearly it is better to be free and cheerful, however poor, than a Kaiser who now never puts his nose out of doors, and must surely have something on Ms conscience . which a man who believes in God woulu rather ho without. Amerongen Castle is a castle only in name. In reality it is an unimpressive, rather sombre, red brick house standing in so thick a companionship of trees that it looks expressly made for a ghost story by Edgar, Allen Poo. On Sunday, November 10, 1918, Count Godard Beutinck in his castle at Araerongen was confronted by a domestic crisis. Half his servants were down with influenza, the other half were recovering from tho same malady, and a shooting party was expected at the castle in a few days. What should he do ? He; had been to church, eaten his Sunday luncheon, and was in a reflective mood.' He thought things out and decided to put off liis party. As he reached this decision tho telephone rang. This was at two o’clock. He went to the telephone and found himself addressed by the Governor of the. province, who lives at The Gohernor informed him that the Kaiser had fled from Germany, had crossed into Dutch territory had been held up by a sergeant and a private soldier, and that the. Dutch Government. _ suddenly confronted with this critical affair would bo exceedingly obliged if Count Godard received the Kaiser for a few days while they turned about and considered what should be done with him. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST. Count Godard replied that it was impossible for him to receive the Kaiser, and explained his domestic crisis. The Governor brushed the influenza aside as a thing not worthy to be mentioned in such a situation. Count Godard weakened and said he would consult his children. The children thought the matter might be managed. 'The -nd of it was that :hc next day the Kaiser and his suite were received into Amerongen Castle, and Count Godard provided dinner for 45 persons. Tho two days have now lengthened into twice as many months, and tho problem of tho ex-Kaiser’s domicile is still unsettled. It is thought by a number of people that Count Godard offered the Kaiser the hospitality of his house, and that lie is an old and intimate friend of tho Emperor. This is not true. Count Godard had seen the former Emperor once, and this in the days when the Kaiser was Prince William, not oven Crown Prince. Count Godard tells mo lie was actuated by two motives in receiving tho Kaiser. As a good citizen, he felt he ought to obey the Dutch Government, and as ono who humbly endeavours to bo a faithful Christian, be felt he ought not to turn his back on a homeless stranger. Lot mo say I believe him and honour him. The ex-Kaiser had been a week at Amerongen when the Empress arrived from Germany, and Count Godard Bentinck found himself called upon to provide dinner for 62 persons. It was necessary for him to commandeer two hotels in tho village.

NOT A BROKEN OLD MAN. Since tlios3 November days the glory of the fallen Emperor has diminished almost to the point of vanishing. His staff consists of three gentlemen, a general, an adjutant, and a doctor; the suite of the delicate Empress is reduced to one lady. There are other changes. In those early days of his quasi internment the ex-Kaiser walked freely about the little piece of wooded land on which the castle is built, paid visits to the village, and made excursions to different points of the surrounding country. Today ho seldom goes out of doors, and when he does leave the house it is only for a brief walk round tho inner moat, but it is quite untrue that he is a bowed and broken old man.

You may see him oh one of his occasional after-breakfast walks round the moat dressed in plain clothes with a cloak thrown over his shoulders, striding forward, his head up, his arms swinging, tho whole body of the man still electric with that nervous energy which made him something of a whirlwind in former days. His eye keeps its* fire ,his lips their firmness, his voice its ring, but there are changes. His hair is white, the pointed beard which he has grown adds ten years to his appearance. He has lost all that boisterous hilarity which sometimes made his friendliness a little difficult to bear, and the spirit of the man, while it is still cheerful in company, is more subdued, perhaps even more gentle and considerate. The former Kaiser is entirely impenitent. He is not only convinced of his he sees himself as one who strove harder than any n an in the world to avert war. As for being put on his trial, he laughs at such an idea. There is no power on earth that can try him. if he thought he was to be' arraigned j before an international tribunal ho i wou’d destroy himself, not out'of any fear of the result of such a trial, hut because be would regard such'an ordeal as insufferably undignified. lie says: “I am answerable for my conduct only to God and God knows bow I strove, to my own peril, the peril of my throne, to avert the calamity of war.” IN TOUCH WITH LOYALISTS. There is a strong loyalist party in Germany, and the former Kaiser is interested in its progress. He maintains certain relations with it tmd ia in frequent communication with his brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, who supplies him with all new German literature of any significance. But I think that no hope exists in. his heart of a return to his throne, and that he is quite impersonally interested in the future destiny of his country. Ho and the former Empress would like to buy a place in Guelderland and there end the evening of their days in peace and seclusion. The ex-Emperor is conscious that he has failed to save his country from ruin, and that his reign has culminated in a disaster fatal to his fortunes. The end of that reign, as one feels it here in this Dutch village, is certainly tragic enough. Tho once pnisj sant and mediaeval Emperor, who made himself the mouthpiece of God and whoso sword would flash from its sheath I on occasion like a terrible lightning that.

threatened thrones and nations with destruction, sits on one side of a hearth in Holland, talking of Freemasons and shaking his white head over the world’s lapse into atheism. And on tho other side of tho hearth, often struggling for hreath, sits tho former Empress, whose one task is to comfort and sustain her fallen lord in his broken fortunes, while her own heart is crying out in secret for the presence of her children and grandchildren, from whom she now feels herself eternally parted. THE LIFE OF AN OUTLAW. These two human beings, paying the penalty of failure, discuss the world across their fireside and are more remote from tho great world than the village policeman lounging in front of the castle gate. They are prisoners, and the jailer who turned the key on their liberty is the world they discuss in their prison coll. Whatever tho ex-Kaiser may think will bo history’s verdict on his part in the war, no one knows better than he that for the rest of his human existence he must live the threatened life of an outlaw. The strong tide in the affairs of men has borne him ont of tho ocean of great trafficking and cast him np as a piece of broken wreckage on tho shore of unvisited monotony.