| Show CURRENT TOPICS in IN EUROPE history has ceased to be written exclusively con arning kings and princes the democratic tendencies of the age recho re echo the sentiments of burns titles and ranks are but the breath of kings yet the sovereigns of europe continue to play a large part in the making of the history of their times it was january 1869 1859 the emperor william 1 I of prussia was acting regent for his crazy brother william IV it was j abt 4 as the cannons of berlin fired a salute of guns to announce the birth of the first grandson of william 1 I the old emperor was too impatient to wait for his carriage but jumping into tho the first cab he met he hurried to the residence of his son Is all well he asked marshal answered it isaa fine and sturdy a recruit as we could wish the little babe whose advent had caused all this commotion is now emperor Empero of germany and yet he was very nearly being precluded from a royal or military career there is a law in prussia that no one infirm in body or of mind can succeed to the throne the princess frederick william or as abb is called in england the princess royal had A difficult and dangerous confinement an accident lisp hap penell which might have cost her berlice her ber life indeed atone at one moment the life of the tee princess was despaired of and when the child was born a slight 1 injury was inflicted on the left arm which appeared withered from froin below the elbow time science and i a determination on the emperors s part has greatly lessened this defect little inc incidents identA like that of his dropping his helmet when on his visit to the alone attest the fact that he has bas not the perfect use uee of both his hands the present emperor grew up in an atmosphere of enthusiasm for his great ancestor frederick the great and like napoleon from his childhood he has loved the art of war and a passion that made him love to be noticed by the soldiers an amusing anecdote is told illus this trait of character like many small children Prince Princ Williana eWilliam disliked being washed and would often run away into the court to the sentinel for it flattered battered his baby pride to see the soldier present arms to him one morning however when he had thus escaped his bath he was terribly mortified to find that tho the sentry took no notice of him bathed in tears of disappointment and sobbing bitterly he returned to his father and told him that the sentry had bad failed to notice him although he the prince s had gone quite close to him really 11 said the father that seems strange then looking at the boy ha quietly said the sentry did right but why papa said the i prince rince no soldier presents arms to an unwashed prince quietly i answered his father amazed the boy stood rooted to the spot but soon goon comprehending the situation he rushed back to the bedroom and begged as eagerly to be washed as he had formerly restated resisted in the fe early youth of prince william there came the three mighty ware the danish the austrian and the made prussia strong and germany a nation these wars inflamed the imagination of the boy with a love of military glory of which he only saw the 1 pomp and tin ti n trumpet splendor whereas his father had bad beheld its terrors and horrom too close to love them at school prince prin e william was waa a hardworking hard bard working student and though seemingly charming to his comrades 0 really held them far from him one of his biographers says he honestly tried to make himself one of them but the native vaughta haughtiness was rooted too deep and had bail lasted too many generations n in seeking an alliance for prince william bismarck showed the intensity of his german ideas he bad had enough and even more than he be could deal with in the pro oro individuality of the en english J princess the present emperors emperors Empe rort mother conscious or of her rank devoted to her fatherland and not to be cowed or subdued she had at times given bismarck no little trouble prince bismarck determined that the present emperors Empero vs wite wife should be a typical german germau young woman with no political ideals or ideas of her own it is said that only one ohe woman has ever had an influence over the emperor william this is madame waldersee the wife of general waldersee count von Molt kes kels successor this Thi lady is the daughter of the american general lee and is on terms of intimacy in the imperial family lord dufferin late governor general of canada once remarked fc atthe at the importation of american ladles ladies as the wives of european diplomatists was one of the most subtle means by which america is influencing europe it is too early to decide what kind of a ruler the emperor william 11 II will make the attempt to carry out the ideas of frederick the great in the present age many think will scarcely succeed the frequent attacks of illness to which the pope is subject and likewise his advanced age have given rise to many conjectures as to who will be his successor in the chair of st peter that these conjectures are not mere idle gossip is evident from the fact that the cacholi Ca church organ ile I le road has published an article upon this s subject u b act it says it is probable that car cardinal S idal maria marocchi Pa rocchi the vicar general a man of iron will and clear aims and been born in 1833 is likely to become the successor of leo XIII I 1 As ae simple bishop of mantua he boldly espoused the jesuit cause Q against the liberals of lombardy d and the mild archbishop bishop of milan he was then appointed archbishop of bologna abutto but to this appointment the italian government objected from thence Pa rocchi went to rome borne where he was received with open arms leo XIII appointed him to be his vicar general and gave him the most powerful position in the church next to his own it was not long jong before Pa rocchi made his influence felt and at present the organization of the church is completely in his hands avast A vast 1 legion egbo 1 n of priests depend upon his nod even the higher order of ane clergy fear him and if they protest he suspends them it is evident that in the event of the popes death most of the catholic journals look upon his election to the pontifical throne as certain when the papacy lost its territorial possessions there were those who 4 ho considered the power of rome borne as aa broken since 1871 however rome Bome has shown a vigor in that gives an earnest of important results As an example we may notice the great strike at the london docks perhaps the world at large has already forgotten that it was the catholic archbishop manning who brought about a compromise between the employers and employed and thereby he be gained an influence which far out reaches that of any other religious teacher in london in all the great cities of england strong efforts are being put forth to show that the catholic clergy are especially the friends of the laboring classes it is evident rome borne is entering on a grand gle to regain her ancient supremacy over the masses how often the of rhetoric has been used to picture the magnificence of london the story of the kings and queens of england as engraved in that grand national mausoleum westminster abbey that grim old fortress the tower of london with its terrible narratives of violence and blood the memoirs that clister about st paulis or tho the quiet let shades of bonhill fields all A fill the imagination with wonder then as the tourist traverses the west end and sees the almost endless rows of palaces with all their marks of wealth and luxury the mind is simply dazed but alou alongside gaide of thlu is another london of which man find has not heard so much a vast wilderness of men and romeu and children a terrible whirlpool of sin we often hear of the greatness and numbers number of londona Lon dons cathedrals but supposing they were all as good as they profess to be add suppose them to be filled three times each sabbath with with entirely fresh congregations still there would not be room for more than a third of londona Lon dons population to attend worship on OD the sabbath what must therefore be the moral condition of thi the uncounted thousands who never enter a place of worship or any place where the name of god is recognized can such a condition of society be found elsewhere in so called christendom it is doubtful and what are the homes of these people or shall we call those places by such an honored name where re hundreds of thousands are crowded together privacy is as impossible as in the cabin of an emigrant ship where not only men but likewise women and children are muddled and besotted with intoxicating drink and what alq ar the employments of this people A book has lately been published called the toilers boilers of london there one can see what are the employments at which men mein and women and children toll toil not merely from early morn till late at night but far into the night and the starvation wages which they receive strange that women should choose to work in such places rather than in domestic service yet this is a a well known fact no one without seeing it can believe the horrors of the sweating system yet the horrors of life in some of the east end streets are perhaps still worse there are decoys of the most elaborate kind where the young and unsuspecting who come from the green lanes and hamlets are entangled deceived and ruined and then what is their life once fallen there is no return by a mistaken instinct the better the home from whence they came the closer the door is shut in the fe face of the fallen ones what follows A life of hardness bardness springing from despair a life with all hope gone and after such a life what A death in a cellar or a garret isolated and alone with the thronging memories of a home once forsaken in some green peaceful village of loving faces now seen own no more and voices now heard no more since many a long long year it is now j just seven hundred years since 1189 in which year a massa cree of many jews took place at the coron of richard caup de lion now at the distance of seven hundred years the lord mayor of london is a jew this however is not the first time that a jew has risen to that position he only follows follow sin in the footsteps of sir david and sir benjamin phillips sir david Salomon 78 election in 1855 was memorable not only because he was the first person of his religion to attain the coveted honor but because he had fought and was still fighting the battles of the jews in parliament sir henry isaacs the present lord mayor is very popular on account of his kindliness and good nature he was born in 1830 and is consequently a little more than fifty nine years of age por for nearly twenty five years he has represented the ward of aldgate in the london city council and for many years he in connection with his son have been known as among the leading fruit brokers of london it may bri interesting te to know that his mother was a daughter of the late senor de mendoza a spanish jew of high rank and sister of the mother mothe of benjamin disraeli lord beaconsfield Beacons field the present lord beaconsfield Beacons field la is therefore a cousin to the great english statesman sir henry isaacs position as a fruit merchant has given him a personal knowledge of the shipping interests of the port of london and his influence maybe may be of vast importance in averting a dockers strike in the future J H WARD EUROPE november alth 1889 |
