On the 13th June 1784 the hereditary title of Prince of the Realm was conferred on Frederick Alexander by Joseph II. Three years later he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his accession. He and his consort, Countess Caroline of Hachenburg, also lived to see the celebration of their golden wedding, when they were surrounded by a large circle of grandchildren. His simple monument in the churchyard of Neuwied bears the inscription, “He was too great to be replaced, too good to be forgotten; his good works are his best memorial.”
Prince Frederick Charles, the only son of Frederick Alexander, married, in 1766, the Countess Marie Louise Wilhelmina of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and she became the mother of seven princes and three princesses. When Frederick Charles undertook the government of the country it was not for its welfare. In his anxiety to improve everything, he went so far as to destroy all that was good and beautiful; his generosity was extravagant, and he soon became involved in quarrels of all sorts. The Princes of Runkel and Berleburg, who were sureties for the House of Wied, were obliged to appeal to the law and to nominate a Curator.
But the storm of the French Revolution had gathered meanwhile, and soon spread to Neuwied. The wave of emigration came and brought its adventurers, and the Franko-Austrian war succeeded with its horrors. The Princess and her children repeatedly had to flee from Neuwied. The Prince had also left his home, and stood up for his lost rights in Vienna until the government of his country was accorded to him once more. A French emigrant accompanied him on his return, in whom he placed the utmost confidence, but whose influence over him was most pernicious. The Princess was obliged to leave the Castle, for the citizens of Neuwied rebelled against their Prince. Violent measures were resorted to, in consequence of which Prince Frederick Charles gave up the government and went to Freiburg in Breisgau. Here he lived in quiet retirement till his death in 1809.
Upon the abdication of the Prince a separation was arranged between him and his wife. Whilst her son was still a minor and serving in the Prussian army, Princess Marie Louise undertook the government of the country. This Princess preserved her unusually beautiful and graceful appearance to the last. Beloved by her people and children, she knew how to combine a sense of her dignity with great modesty. Wherever her services were required for the good of others she was ready to help with her clear judgment. For two years she presided over the affairs of the country with great circumspection and foresight. In her leisure hours she took great delight in translating the works of French, Italian, and English poets. She rendered Gellert’s odes into French. Many of the hymns she composed are found in hymn-books of that time, and she excelled in music, drawing, and miniature painting. She corresponded diligently with Wieland, and Ernst Moritz Arndt was her friend. Amidst the difficult circumstances of her life of trial, she never lost her calmness and self-control, for her firm faith in the love and mercy of God gave her strength to bear adversity and never to despair. On the 13th of July 1804 she gave up the government of the country to her son.
Prince Augustus was very simple in his tastes, just and active, a true German who was impervious to French influence. When the Princes of the south-west of Germany made a league under the protectorate of Napoleon in 1860, Prince Augustus of Wied remained true to his country. He refused to be incorporated in this alliance, which was hostile to the interests of Germany. In consequence of this he was deprived of his sovereignty and became subject to the House of Nassau. Later, when the difficult task of altering the state of things in Germany fell to the Congress of Vienna, it was decreed that the reigning Counts of the Empire should lose their independence. Consequently this fate befell the Princes of Wied also. A large part of their country came under Prussian rule, whilst a small part was given over to the House of Nassau.
Two brothers of Prince Augustus had fallen in the wars of independence, when Prince Victor also, a youth of seventeen, was to join the army. Before he left his mother the Princess Louise, that enthusiastic patriot, took him once more to the Church at Niederbiber. Upon the grave of Archbishop Herman, before the altar, she made him solemnly swear “that he would dedicate his whole life to the German cause, and not sheath his sword till the last enemy had left German soil.” He faithfully kept his oath, and gave up his life for it. Prince Victor fought against Napoleon in Germany and in Spain, where he died the death of a hero when he had just attained the age of twenty-six. In one of his last letters to his mother he writes:—“All my hopes and desires are centred in our beloved Germany, the welfare of which is my first and last object in all I undertake.” Ernst Moritz Arndt was his best friend, and immortalised his memory in a patriotic poem. He also published the Prince’s letters to his mother from Spain, and wrote an introduction containing a sketch of the life of the Prince.
Prince Maximilian of Wied, a younger brother of Prince Augustus, who was born in 1782, took an honourable place in the learned world as a traveller and natural philosopher. From his earliest youth he displayed a strong bent for the study of natural history. Captain Hofmann, who became famous for his antiquarian researches, was then at the Court of Wied as a tutor to the princely children. Under his guidance Prince Max, who was so eager for knowledge, was able to study with Professor Blumenbach in Göttingen, and became distinguished in natural history. During the wars of independence he saw much service with the Prussian army, from which he received his discharge, according to his request, after the peace of Paris.
Returned to Neuwied, he occupied himself with preparations for a journey to Brazil which he had planned for many years. Accompanied by the German naturalists Freisz and Sellow, he explored the central provinces of Brazil from 1815 to 1817, diligently seeking for specimens and collecting materials for his literary work. The first short account of his journey appeared in the “Isis” of Oken, and “A Journey to Brazil in the Years 1815–1817” followed later. The sketches of landscapes and figures which Prince Max had drawn from nature on the spot were beautifully etched on copperplate by his accomplished sister, Princess Louise, and his brother, Prince Charles, and heightened the value of this beautiful work. Some years after, the Prince published two other books and a Natural History of Brazil.
No sooner had the latter appeared in print than the indefatigable Prince started on a second scientific journey to America. This time the United States and North America were his object, but he extended his journey to the Rocky Mountains and the Upper Missouri. Amidst the wilds of the primeval forests he made the minutest researches into the conditions of nature in that country and the native tribes of Indians. Surrounded by great dangers, he lived amongst the Mandam Indians, the Monnitaris, the Arrihares, and other tribes. On his return home Prince Max wrote an account of his journey through North America, which was published by Hölzer in Coblentz between 1838 and 1841. It was in twelve volumes, and included an atlas which contained thirty-one copperplates. The drawings were made by the landscape-painter Bodmer, who had accompanied the Prince on his journey. It is a magnificent work, of great ethnographic importance. A museum was arranged for the rich collections, which remained for a long time an ornament to the town of Neuwied and a centre for the study of natural history. After the death of Prince Herman they were sold to America, where they are still kept together and bear the name of “The Prince Herman of Wied Collection.”
Until his death, in 1867, Prince Maximilian was an active member of the Leopoldine Academy. His merit has been fully acknowledged. Many learned societies elected him a member, and a beautiful creeper from the primeval forests of Brazil is called Neowedia Spezzoa after him. He was always the centre of life and cheerfulness in the family, and, in spite of his great intellectual powers, he was modest and retiring in the social circle and good and kind to all until the last.