The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)Fontenoy, marquise de
History
The Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Europe: William II, Germany; Francis Joseph, Austria-Hungary, Volume I. (of 2)
Fontenoy, marquise de
Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, 1830-1916; William II, German Emperor, 1859-1941
During the conversation that followed, Blowitz opened his heart to his
visitor, telling him that his own position as the Paris correspondent
of the _Times_ was in danger owing to some changes in the
administration of the London office. A fortnight later, Blowitz
received from the managing editor of the _Times_ in London a letter
sixteen pages long, addressed to Printing-House Square, and entirely
written and signed by Baron Holstein. It denounced Blowitz as being
one of the creatures of the late Duc Decazes, as wilfully ignoring
and concealing for interested purposes of his own, a number of matters
that should have found their way into the columns of the _Times_, and
urging the managers of the latter to send to Paris some fitter and
more impartial person, who would be better able to keep the great
English newspaper _au courant_ of what was going on below as well as
above the surface, than so unscrupulous a person as M. de Blowitz.
This letter was dated exactly three days after the latter's visit of
gratitude to the correspondent, and the incident may be regarded as
being in perfect harmony with the behavior of this favorite of the
kaiser to both Count Harry Arnim and subsequently to Prince Bismarck.
The third of these cronies of the kaiser, to whom his subjects take
objection on the ground that they are in the habit of using the favor
shown to them by his majesty to further their own interests, and
to injure those who, for one reason or another, have incurred their
animosity, is Count Philip Eulenburg, who has been again and again
referred to in the Berlin newspapers as "the Troubadour." He is at the
present moment German ambassador at Vienna, whence his predecessor,
Prince Reuss, was ousted in spite of the eminent services of a
personal character which he had rendered to the emperor, in order to
make way for the count. The latter's intimacy with his sovereign is
largely due to his cleverness as a poet, a dramatist, and a
composer, and while he has furnished the words to many of the musical
compositions of the kaiser, William has, in turn, had much of his own
poetry set to music by the count.
Philip Eulenburg has been clever enough to foster William's very
pardonable weakness as to his gifts as a musician and a poet, and
being a man of the most charming manners, possessed of an unusual
supply of tact, and extremely accomplished in many respects, he has
acquired an extraordinary degree of influence over his sovereign.
Indeed it may be doubted whether there is any member of the imperial
entourage who stands as high in the good graces of the German ruler as
does his ambassador to the Court of Vienna.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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