PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ACTIVITIES
When the great struggle was over at last and peace was declared, the
Crown Princess had a pleasant opportunity of exercising the generosity
and delicacy which formed perhaps the most notable part of her
many-sided and impulsive character.
M. Thiers had sent to Berlin as French Ambassador the Comte de Gontaut
Biron. Although allied by birth to several great German families, M. de
Gontaut, as he was generally styled, found his position in Berlin a very
painful one. France lay in the dust at the feet of the only real
conqueror she had ever known. The whole of the huge war indemnity had
not yet been paid off, and French territory was not yet free from the
foot of the invader. There were also all kinds of comparatively
unimportant, yet vexatious and annoying, outstanding points which still
awaited settlement, and till these were arranged Germany refused to give
up certain prisoners confined in German fortresses.
Moreover, Bismarck, though outwardly conciliatory and courteous, did not
seek to spare the French Ambassador as a more generous and sensitive foe
would have done. M. de Gontaut was actually expected to be present at
each of the splendid Court and military fêtes which were then being
given to celebrate the foundation of the new German Empire for the
victorious return of the Prussian Army to the capital.
From the very beginning of his difficult task, the Ambassador found firm
and kind friends in the Crown Prince and Princess. On the occasion of
his first audience the Crown Princess came forward with kindly, eager
words, telling him that she and her husband had just read with the
greatest pleasure the memoirs of his grandmother, that Duchess de
Gontaut who, as Gouvernante of the Royal children, played so great a
part in the Revolution, and later, in the Restoration. The Princess went
on to speak of her intense satisfaction and relief at the declaration of
peace and she concluded with the words: "We know that you have made a
great sacrifice in coming to Berlin; and we will do everything in our
power to make your task less painful."
When M. de Gontaut was later joined by his daughter, the Crown Princess
did all she could to make the daily life of this young French lady as
agreeable as was possible in the circumstances, and in this she had the
warm sympathy and assistance of the Empress Augusta, who, as we know,
had many old and affectionate links with the Legitimist world to which
the Ambassador belonged.
The Crown Princess's youngest child, who afterwards married Prince
Frederick Charles of Hesse, was born on April 22, 1872, and was
christened Margaret Beatrice Feodora--Margaret after the Queen of Italy,
whom the child's parents both regarded with warm affection.
Queen Margherita came to Berlin for the ceremony, and a great fête was
given at the New Palace. It was more like an English garden party than
anything previously known at the Prussian Court, but the Crown Princess
had a way of making her own precedents. She caused invitations to be
sent, not only to the nobility and the hosts of officials who had a
prescriptive right to be present at such a function, but also to persons
who were merely distinguished for their literary, artistic, or
scientific achievements.
The months which followed ushered in a peaceful period of happiness and
rest for the Princess. Her magnificent work during the war had won her
warm friends and admirers in every class, but of more moment to her than
her own personal popularity was that enjoyed by the Crown Prince, whose
relations with the military party now became much pleasanter in
consequence of his achievements in the field and the enthusiastic
devotion felt for him throughout the army.
Unfortunately for the Crown Prince and Princess, Bismarck's position had
been even more radically transformed by the war, and the Minister's
domination over his already aging sovereign grew more and more obvious.
It was an open secret that the Emperor and his heir differed on many
important questions, and the gulf between them was sedulously widened by
Bismarck's jealous prejudice against the Crown Prince. Incidents that
would have been in ordinary circumstances too slight to mention now
revealed, even to strangers, the friction which was symptomatic of
deeper disagreement.
The Crown Prince, as we have seen, set much store by the new Imperial
honours which the war had brought to his House, and he was always very
punctilious in speaking of his father as "Emperor" and of his mother as
"Empress." The Emperor, however, habitually still spoke of himself as
"King" and of the Empress as "Queen." The story goes that on one
occasion the Emperor, addressing some lady in the presence of his son,
observed that it was extraordinarily mild for the time of year, and that
"the Queen" had brought him some spring flowers which she had picked out
of doors that morning. The Crown Prince answered, "Yes, so the Empress
told me." "I did not know you had already seen the Queen to-day,"
remarked his father.
The experiences she had just gone through had shown the Crown Princess
the inadequacy of the existing hospital organisation in Germany. From
her point of view, and from that of the English ladies who had rendered
her such great assistance in creating--it was nothing less--the Army
Nursing Service, a more scientific training for nurses was evidently
the first necessity; and in securing this she was particularly helped by
Miss Lees, afterwards Mrs. Dacre Craven, who had been a friend and
associate of Miss Nightingale.
In 1867 the Crown Princess had drawn up a memorandum in which she laid
it down that the best nurses would prove to be those who would combine
the obedience of the Catholic Sisterhoods with a more scientific and
comprehensive training. The Kaiserwerth Institution, where Florence
Nightingale had gained valuable experience, did not give a sufficiently
scientific education, and she came to the conclusion that a nursing
school must be established in Berlin, where ladies, who should be given
a distinguishing dress and badge, should be trained. The outbreak of the
war of 1870 interrupted this scheme, but now that the pressing emergency
was over, the Princess returned to her old scheme, the fundamental
principle of which was that it should be carried out by educated and
refined gentlewomen, preferably orphans. They were to have a three
years' theoretical and practical course, followed by a course of monthly
nursing, and were to pass an examination to test their proficiency.
In the face of strong opposition, both on the part of the medical
profession and of the middle classes in Germany, the Princess organised
this society of trained lady nurses, who tended the sick poor in their
own homes. The society began in a very quiet, humble way, but now you
could not find a German, man or woman, who would not admit that this was
a splendid addition to the philanthropic institutions of the country.
The Princess also founded a society for sending the sick children of
poor parents out of the larger towns into the country or to the seaside.
It need hardly be pointed out that in each of these cases the Crown
Princess copied peculiarly British institutions, and this no doubt was
partly why they aroused such indignant opposition.
All through her life one of the Princess's mental peculiarities was that
of thinking it impossible that any reasoning human being could object to
anything that was obviously in itself a good and wise measure. To oppose
a scheme simply because the idea of it had first originated in England
or in France was something that she could not understand, so far removed
was she from certain littlenesses of human nature, as well as from the
dominion of national and racial prejudice.
The Crown Princess, and in this also she was warmly supported by her
husband's approval and sympathy, wished the new Empire to bestow more
recognition on those Germans who had attained distinction in the arts of
peace rather than of war. Encouraged by the knowledge that her work
during the country's wars had at last won a measure of national
understanding and gratitude, she again did every thing in her power to
break down the old Prussian Court barrier between the "born" and the
"not born." But, as might have been predicted, the Princess's efforts
were fairly successful as regards the latter, though not as regards the
former.
To German women of all classes, the Princess's interest in science
seemed both eccentric and unfeminine. She had attended, when still a
very young woman, some lectures given in Berlin by the great chemist,
Hoffmann, who dedicated to her, in later years, his book, _Remembrances
of Past Friends_--a compliment which pleased and touched her very much.
Her practical love of art was also regarded as uncalled for in a Royal
lady and indeed unnatural in the mother of a large young family. She had
a studio built in the palace, where she worked under the teaching of
Professor Hagen, and she also studied under von Angeli. She was fond of
visiting the studios of Berlin painters, particularly of the two Begas,
of Oscar the painter, and Reinhold the sculptor, where she sometimes
made studies as a student, and where she sometimes was herself the
study. She and her husband were always great friends of the various
artists. Among the names that recur constantly in this connection are
those of Anton von Werner, to one of whose children the Crown Prince was
godfather, and Georg Bleibtreu.
The New Palace in Berlin was nicknamed "The Palace of the Medicis,"
because of the enthusiastic encouragement which its owners always gave
to what they believed to be genius, or even talent. The Crown Princess
not only entertained persons of distinction in art and literature, but,
what was less easily forgiven her, any foreign scientists and artists of
eminence who came to Berlin, were eagerly invited by her, generally to
informal tea-parties.
But in time even the Princess realised that it was hopeless to try to
blend the two elements. Unfortunately, she never took the trouble to
hide her preference for people who interested and amused her to those
who were merely "hoffahige." The Prussian nobility were amazed and
affronted that a Prussian princess should esteem so lightly the
possession of numerous quarterings, and it was a bitter grievance that
their future sovereign and his consort actually preferred the society of
painters and musicians and similar persons whom they regarded as
nobodies.
At the same time, she was always on cordial and pleasant terms with
diplomatists, who as a rule combine the advantages of good birth with
intelligence and culture and the most delightful of professions. For
many years of her life her greatest personal friends were Lord Ampthill
(at the time Lord Odo Russell) and his wife, a daughter of that Lord
Clarendon who had expressed so high an admiration of the Princess
Royal's mental gifts.
But perhaps the Crown Princess most surprised and offended her
husband's future subjects by her pro-Jewish attitude. In this she showed
extraordinary courage and breadth of view. For example, she accepted the
patronage of the Auerbach schools for the education of Jewish orphans,
and that at a time when the whole of Berlin, from the great official
world to the humblest tradesman, was taking part in the Judenhetze.
The Crown Princess was indeed, as we have seen, extremely broad-minded
in matters of religion. She heartily despised the type of mind which
attacks Jews as Jews, or Catholics as Catholics. She showed this in
March, 1873, when she spoke strongly to Prince Hohenlohe about the
hostile policy the Prussian Government was then pursuing towards his
church. She observed that in her opinion those called upon to govern
should influence the education of the people, as that of itself would
make them independent of the hierarchy, and she added: "I count upon the
intelligence of the people; that is the great power." But Hohenlohe
drily answered: "A much greater power is human stupidity, of which we
must take account in our calculations before everything."
What we should call the middle classes were incensed by certain other
activities of the future Empress. From the very first the Crown Princess
had been ardently desirous of improving the position of the women of her
adopted country. But the German woman of that day was quite content
with the place she then held, both in the public esteem and in the
consideration of her menfolk; the fact that in youth she was surrounded
with an atmosphere of sentimental adoration made up, in her opinion, for
the way she was treated in old age and in middle age.
Even so, the efforts made by the Crown Princess in time bore fruit. They
comprised the Victoria Lyceum, founded in June, 1869, but placed--and
here one reluctantly perceives a certain want of tact on the part of the
foundress--under the direction of an English lady. There were also,
under the special patronage of the Crown Princess, Fraulein Letze's
school for girls of the upper classes, and the Letteverein. Other
educational establishments which owed much to her sympathy and direct
encouragement were the Victoria and Frederick William Institute, and the
Pestalozzi-Froebel House, and these are only a few of the educational
establishments in which she took an active and personal interest.
Perhaps the most admirable of them all was the Victoria
Fortbildung-schule, which gave girls the means of continuing their
education after they had left school.
In another matter concerning the education of women the Crown Princess
was violently opposed to German public opinion. She was a firm believer
in the value of gymnastic exercises and outdoor games for girls, and
that at a time when they were practically unknown in Prussia. The first
lawn-tennis net ever seen in Germany was put up in the grounds of the
New Palace at Potsdam, and she was unceasing in her efforts to introduce
gymnasiums into girls' schools.
In the winter of 1872, the Crown Prince fell ill of an internal
inflammation, and though the critical period was soon over, he took a
long time to recover his strength. Margaretha von Poschinger reproduces
in her life of him an extraordinary utterance said by the _Rheinische
Kurier_ to have been made by the Crown Prince to his wife at this time:
"The doctors say that my illness is dangerous. As my father is old, and
Prince William is still a minor, you may not improbably be called upon
to act temporarily as Regent. You must promise me to do nothing without
Prince Bismarck, whose policy has lifted our House to a power and
greatness of which we could not have dreamed."
The interest of this is considerable if we could be sure that it was
authentic, and not simply what the newspaper wished the public to
believe that the Crown Prince had said. It may well be that Bismarck,
who was in the habit of providing for every contingency, was alarmed by
the Crown Prince's illness, and desired to consolidate his own position
in the event of the Crown Princess becoming Regent.
After a long convalescence at Wiesbaden the Crown Prince returned with
his wife to Berlin in the spring of 1873. In the summer they went to
Vienna for the International Exhibition, and while there they called,
quite without ceremony, on von Angeli, the painter. The Crown Princess
invited him to come to Potsdam to paint her husband's portrait; he
accepted the commission, and it was the beginning of a long friendship.
Von Angeli speaks with enthusiasm of the simple and charming home life
of the Crown Prince and Princess, who often entertained him. He notes
that, while there was much talk of a literary, artistic, and scientific
kind, politics and military matters were never referred to. For the
Crown Princess the painter had the highest admiration--indeed, he says
she was gifted with every adornment of mind and heart. She made such
progress in painting that von Angeli declares himself proud to call
himself her instructor. The Crown Prince took a keen interest in his
wife's success, and was himself encouraged to begin working, both in
charcoal and in colour.
As regarded the relations between England and Germany, the Crown
Princess had an increasingly difficult part to play during the years
that immediately succeeded the war. France and Germany--the former with
far more reason--both considered that they had been badly treated by
Great Britain during the conflict. Prince Bismarck either was, or
pretended to be, watchful and apprehensive of the state of feeling in
France, and Moltke, following his lead, spoke at a State banquet as if
war might again be forced on Germany by France.
Urged, as Bismarck and his friends believed, by the Crown Princess, but
really by the advice of Lord Granville, Queen Victoria, in 1874, made a
personal appeal to the German Emperor. In her letter, after observing
that England's sympathies would be with Germany in any difference with
France, she added the significant qualification, "unless there was an
appearance on the part of Germany of an intention to avail herself of
her greatly superior force to crush a beaten foe."
In reviewing the life of the Empress Frederick as a whole, it must never
be forgotten that the Emperor William was not expected to reach, as in
fact he did, an extraordinary old age. After the Franco-Prussian War,
everyone of any intelligence, from Bismarck downwards, attached great
importance to the Crown Princess's views and feelings; they believed
that she had established a commanding influence over her husband, and
that the moment he succeeded to the throne she would be the real ruler.
Accordingly, the further intervention of Queen Victoria in 1875, when a
German attack on France appeared imminent, was the crowning offence of
the "British petticoats."
Queen Victoria, as is well known, wrote a personal letter to the Tsar,
who responded by going himself to Berlin. The "British petticoats," it
is true, had resented what appeared to be the act of aggression of
France before the falsification of the Ems despatch had been revealed,
but they were angered by Bismarck's conspiracy with Russia in denouncing
the Black Sea Treaty; and his opposition to a law of Ministerial
responsibility, which might have given the new Empire a constitutional
basis, showed the impossibility of any real political sympathy between
the Minister and the Princess who had been trained in the school of
Prince Albert.
The consequence of Queen Victoria's successful intervention was indeed
far-reaching. The ten years which followed were probably the most
anxious of Bismarck's whole life. France, by the prompt payment of the
Indemnity and in other ways, had shown a most disquieting power of
revival after the war. In addition, the understanding with Russia, which
was the pivot of Bismarck's foreign policy, having been broken in his
hands, he was obliged to recast his policy from the foundations; and,
though he succeeded in his immediate aims of separating England and
France on the one hand, and France and Russia on the other, his
resentment against the Crown Princess and her mother as the origin of
all his troubles burned all the more fiercely.
[Illustration: FREDERICK WILLIAM
CROWN PRINCE OF PRUSSIA
AFTER THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR]
After each quarrel--for quarrels there were--between the all-powerful
Minister and his future sovereign, a peace, or rather a truce, was
generally patched up, and Bismarck would be invited to some kind of
festivity at the Crown Prince's palace. A shrewd observer has recorded
that on such occasions his manner to the Crown Princess was always
courteous, but to the Crown Prince he was often curt to the verge of
insolence.
So intense was the feeling aroused among Bismarck and his followers,
that the Crown Prince and Princess found life in Berlin almost
intolerable, and they began spending a considerable portion of each year
abroad.
The many philanthropic, social, and political interests of the Crown
Princess were never allowed to interfere with her family life and
duties. Very soon after the war, both she and the Crown Prince began to
give much anxious thought to the education and training of their eldest
son. We have a significant glimpse of how the question moved the
conscientious father in a passage in the Crown Prince's diary written on
January 27, 1871, while he was still in the field:
"To-day is my son William's thirteenth birthday. It is enough to
frighten one to think what hopes already fill the head of this boy, and
how we are responsible for the direction which we may give to his
education; this education encounters so many difficulties owing to
family considerations and the circumstances of the Berlin Court."
The Crown Princess was the victim of much malevolent and ignorant
criticism when it was realised that the old traditions were to be
broken in some important particulars. The civil element was to be at
least of equal importance as the military in the training of Prince
William, and he and Prince Henry were sent to the ordinary "gymnasium,"
or public school as we should call it, at Cassel, a little town in the
old Duchy of Hesse, which the parents deliberately chose because it was
some distance from Berlin. The sanction of the Emperor William had to be
obtained for this plan, and though he gave it there can be little doubt
that he really disapproved.
This "magnanimous resolve, heretofore unexampled in the annals of our
reigning families," was indeed regarded with mixed feelings by the
country generally. It was not, as was supposed by many, an English idea
to send their heir to the throne to an ordinary school. The Prince of
Wales had not been educated at all on those lines, and there was
certainly no precedent in the Royal House of Prussia. The plan was not
without risks, but on the whole it succeeded admirably. By the special
wish of the parents, the two princes were treated just like other boys;
they were addressed as "you," and were called "Prince William" and
"Prince Henry." "No one," said an English newspaper correspondent,
"seeing these two simple, kindly-looking lads in their plain military
frocks, sitting on a form at the Cassel Gymnasium among the other
pupils, would have guessed that they were the two young Imperial
Princes."
The Princes had one privilege accorded them; they lived with their
tutor, Dr. Hinzpeter, but this circumstance certainly did nothing to
reconcile Bismarck to the plan.
Bismarck gives a significant account of his meeting with Hinzpeter at a
time when public opinion was busy with the Polish question, and the
Alvensleben Convention aroused the indignation of the Liberals in the
Diet. Hinzpeter was introduced to Bismarck at a gathering at the Crown
Prince's. "As he was in daily communication with the Royalties, and gave
himself out to be a man of Conservative opinions, I ventured upon a
conversation with him, in which I set forth my views of the Polish
question, in the expectation that he would now and again find
opportunity of giving expression to it." Some days later Hinzpeter wrote
to Bismarck that the Crown Princess had asked to know the subject of
their long conversation. He had recounted it all to her, and had then
reduced it to writing, and he sent Bismarck the memorandum with the
request that he would examine it, and make any needful corrections. This
was really courting a snub, which Bismarck hastened to administer,
flatly refusing Hinzpeter's request.
The Princess's English ideas prevailed in the physical education of her
children, and in her care to occupy them with such innocent pursuits as
gardening. But the mother's desire that her eldest son should not be too
much under the glamour of military glory was defeated, partly by the
boy's own firmness of character, partly by the events of history. The
three great wars which culminated in the foundation of the German
Empire--the Danish, the Austrian, and the French--covered the period of
his boyhood, and his earliest recollections of his father were of a
great soldier going forth to win the laurels of victory over the
successive enemies of his country. The young prince in fact spent most
of his impressionable years in the full influence of that hero-worship
for Frederick the Great which formed the strongest link between the
father and the son, though it is plain that each admired his great
forebear for different reasons.