WILHELM I. 



843 





Prince Wilhelm, as he was called (his full name 

 being Friedrich Willieliu Ludwig; was pro- 

 nounced a weakly child by the physicians, and 

 nntil he grew to manhood his health was a 

 subject of solicitude. His father ascended the 

 Prussian throne as Friedrich Wilhelm III when 

 the prince was six months old. In his parents' 

 retreat, at Paretz, Wilhelm was accustomed to 

 simple living, and from the teachings of his 

 philosophical father and the Rev. Dr. Del- 

 bruck, his tutor, he imbibed high notions of 

 duty. In Berlin he was made familiar with 

 another life, that of a luxurious and profligate 

 aristocracy, inflated with pride and arrogance. 

 After the "defeat at Jena, on Oct. 14, 1806, the 

 King and his family became exiles from Prus- 

 sia. The two princes were taken to their 

 mother at Schwedt, in Pomerania. and with 

 her took their flight in an open carriage along 

 the sea-shore in mid-winter to Stettin, Konigs- 

 btr_r. and Memel. Wilhelm and the Queen 

 both sickened with typhus fever before reach- 

 ing Memel, whence they were obliged, six 

 months later, to emigrate to Tilsit, where the 

 unfortunate Queen, when forced to receive Na- 

 poleon, replied to his taunts that it was a par- 

 donable error in the descendants of Frederick 

 the Great to overrate their strength. From 

 the day when the Prussian and Austrian ar- 

 mies were defeated by the " upstart " till she 

 died of a broken heart in 1810, when the foe 

 was still unexpelled, the proud and patriotic 

 Luise never ceased to admonish her sons to 

 revenge the humiliation of Jena when the op- 

 portunity came, and redeem the glory of Prus- 

 sian arms. Friedrich Wilhelm III was restored 

 by the grace of the victor to his reconstructed 

 and diminished kingdom in 1809. 



Wilhelm from his earliest childhood was in- 

 terested in military forms and trappings. Hav- 

 ing no outlook for the succession, he aspired 

 to be a distinguished general. He was made a 

 lieutenant in 1807. and Capt. Reiepe, his mili- 

 tary instructor, praised his rapid acquisition of 

 technical details. In the war of the allies 

 against Napoleon his father took him to the 

 field for six weeks, saying that he was too weak 

 in health for a longer campaign, and at Bar-sur- 

 Aube, Feb. 27. 1*14. sent him to the front to 

 learn the name of a Russian regiment that was 

 gallantly advancing. The prince's coolness 

 under fire won for him the coveted Iron Cross 

 and the Russian order of St. George. 



Friedrich Wilhelm. the elder brother, was a 

 philosopher and philanthropist, like his father, 

 and a gay, companionable, and witty man. Wil- 

 helm was not liked. He was narrow-minded 

 and morosely set in his opinions, regarding poli- 

 tics and the state with the instincts of a "drill 

 sergeant " from the standpoint of absolutism. 

 On June 11, 1829, Prince Wilhelm married 

 Augusta, daughter of the Grand Duke of Saxe- 

 Weimar The marriage was unhappy, because 

 the prince was deeply attached to another wom- 

 an, the Princess Radziwill, and was compelled 

 by his father to marry the Weimar princess 



against his inclination. In 1840 Friedrich Wil- 

 helm IV came to the throne, and his soldierly 

 brother, who was popular only among military 

 men, was acknowledged as his heir. 



As Prince of Prussia Wilhelm was accorded 

 an important influence on the decision > ot Gov- 

 ernment. He strengthened the Conservative 

 resolutions of the King, but could not withhold 

 him from granting a constitution in 1847. 

 The irresolute monarch was induced by his 

 brother and other Absolutist advisers to nul- 

 lity the charter that he had signed, and to de- 

 clare at the opening of the Diet that no 

 of paper should stand between him and his 

 subjects. The revolution of 1848 followed. 

 and the ruthless action of the military under 

 Prince Wilhelm's orders could not avert the 

 enactment of a genuine constitution. He would 

 have " riddled Berlin with bullets " before 

 yielding bad he been king. The " cartridge 

 prince," as he was nicknamed for that expres- 

 sion, was the special object of popular hatred 

 and fury. ' The Prince of Prussia was his 

 murderer," cried a woman whose son had fallen 

 at the barricades, walking through the streets 

 beside the litter on which the corpse was borne 

 to the burial-ground. " I will remember that," 

 threatened the prince, when a stone aimed at 

 his head crashed through his palace-window. 

 The King left Berlin, against the strenuous 

 protests of his brother, and the troops were 

 then withdrawn. "No music while our sons 

 are dying ! " shouted the populace, when the 

 band of the guards struck up a martial strain. 

 The mob hunted the prince in his palace, and 

 hung from the balcony the black, red, and gold 

 flag, emblematic of German unity and liberty, 

 while Prince Wilhelm and his wife slunk 

 through the back streets of Berlin, cold and 

 hungry, until they could reach the house of a 

 friend. Disguised in the dirty clothes of a 

 laborer, the prince made his way on foot to 

 Hamburg, and escaped to England. The King 

 cloaked his ignominons flight with the pretense 

 of an important political mission. Soon after- 

 ward the reaction set in. and the prince, under 

 the protection of a mandate for the National 

 Parliament at Frankfort, went back to Ger- 

 many, and appeared in the Assembly in his 

 general's uniform. When he returned to Ber- 

 lin the Prince of Prussia professed a conver- 

 sion to constitutional principles, and promised 

 to support his brother in the course in which 

 the spirit and the necessities of the time had 

 compelled him to embark. The royal pledges 

 were violated, and the National As^inMy was 

 broken up by the military when it insisted on 

 parliamentary government. The King then 

 proclaimed a constitution devised by the up- 

 holders of divine right, giving Parliament only 

 advisory powers in legislation and supervision 

 of the finances, while it restricted individual 

 liberty and extended the powers of the police. 

 Prince Wilhelm openly sided with the King 

 against the National Assembly, applauded the 

 refusal of a parliamentary system, objected to 



