a creation of her husband's, she
ought to be allowed to retain it. Of course the emperor had his way,
and this but served to increase the bitterness, particularly when
he issued an order to the effect that its old name of "Neues Palais"
should be restored in the place of "Friedrichskron," which had been
given to it by the widowed empress during her husband's brief reign.

Of course all these differences of opinion between the mother and the
son were carefully intensified by Prince Bismarck, and aggravated
by the continued presence of the Prince of Wales, who was regarded,
probably unjustly, as largely responsible for the animosity which it
was claimed was entertained and manifested by the imperial widow for
her son. The newspapers took sides in the matter, and the press being
very active, there is every reason to believe, in view of the wide
field of German and foreign journalism over which the influences of
the chancellor extended at the time, that he had a finger, not alone
in the denunciation on the one hand of Empress Frederick as grasping,
mercenary, and too much of an Englishwoman to be a patriotic German,
but likewise in the abuse of Emperor William for unfilial conduct.
Every act of his that could possibly be construed as such, was painted
in the blackest of colors, especially in the English press, manifestly
with the idea of conveying to the kaiser the impression that the
attacks originated with his English relatives, possibly with his
mother herself; and I can recall seeing at the time a story to which
the London papers devoted columns, and which was made the theme of
editorials, the subject of which was that the emperor had sold to a
carpenter the pony-carriage and pony used by his father daring the few
weeks immediately preceding his death, for his drives in the palace
gardens. The story related with much detail about how the pony trap
was to be seen during the week in the streets of Potsdam, laden with
window-sashes, etc., while on Sunday and holidays the seat where
formerly the dying emperor reclined was occupied by the "Herr
Tischlermeister" and his frowsy, vulgar-looking "frau." Yet there was
not a word of truth in this story. The pony-carriage used by "Unser
Fritz" during the closing days of his life is preserved as a species
of sacred relic in the imperial coach-house at Potsdam, while the pony
leads a life of ease, idleness and equine luxury, out of regard for
the fact that it had the honor of drawing