5 MARCH 1881, Page 3

The papers have been full of the marriage of Prince

Frederick Williams—eldest eon of the Crown Prince of Germany, ultiniato heir to the throne, and twenty-fifth in descent from Conrad, the founder, who won Ntirnberg,—with the Princess Augusta 02 Schleswig-Holstein, daughter of that Duke of Augustenburg who claimed to be legitimate sovereign of the Duchies, and was told by Prince Bismarck that "Prussia bad hatched the -chicken, and could wring its neck," a bit of true Carlyleae. The marriage, though of no political importance, was celebrated with ceremonies of extraordinary splendour and tediousness, and seems besides to be genuinely popular. It is curious to mark the contrast between the German interest in Prince Frederick William and the English indifference about Prince -Victor, who, though also an inevitable heir, is un-

known and almost unmentioned ; but the Germans are right. If no great change occurs, the bridegroom of Sunday will one day be not only their King, but their master, with power to dismiss any Bismarck, and to veto, if he cannot command, any line of policy. The Kingship in its English form, might survive almost anything ; but in Prussia, it could not continue without some sort of ability in the King, or con- tinuing, would produce unnumbered misfortunes, In England, on the contrary, the greatest danger would be a monarch of genius; and perhaps the next greatest, one of ability enough to overmaster Ministers by his intellectual force. Neither Hohen- zollern nor Guelph seems, however, to be in any danger.