William II. was born January 27, 1859, in Berlin, and until he was fourteen years old his education was intrusted to Dr. Hintzpeter, assisted by Major Von Gottberg, who was military instructor. At this time his corps of teachers was increased by the addition of Prediger Persius, who prepared him for his confirmation, which took place September 1, 1874, at Potsdam. As William was to lead an active life, it was thought best to send him to the gymnasium at Cassel.
Orders were given that he and his younger brother Henry, who accompanied him, should receive the same treatment as the other pupils, and this order was strictly obeyed. He graduated from this school January 24, 1877, just before his eighteenth birthday. After this his military career began with his entrance as an officer into the first Garde-regiment at Potsdam, that he might become thoroughly acquainted with practical service. The young prince was assigned to the company which his father had once commanded. After serving here for a short time he went to the university at Bonn, and from there he went back to the army again. Emperor William ascended the throne in June, 1888, upon the death of his father Frederick III.
In 1880 he was betrothed to Augusta Victoria, Princess of Schleswig-Holstein, and on February 9, 1881, they were married. The Empress is about a year younger than the Emperor, and makes an excellent mother to her four little sons, to whom she is devoted. Their oldest child, little Prince William, the present Crown Prince, was born at Potsdam, May 6, 1882. His father's devotion to the army will doubtless prompt him to make a soldier of his son at an early age; in fact, he wore the uniform of a fusilier of the Guard before he was six years old.
The imperial family consists of seven children. The eldest, the Crown Prince of Germany and Prussia, is Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm-Victor-August-Ernst, born May 6, 1882. The second child is Prince Wilhelm-Eitel-Friedrich-Christian-Karl, born July 7, 1883. The third is Prince Adalbert-Ferdinand-Berenger-Victor, born July 14, 1884. Prince August-Wilhelm-Heinrich-Victor was born January 29. 1887. The fifth child, Prince Oscar-Karl-Gustav-Adolf, was born July 27, 1888. The sixth child is Prince Joachim-Francois-Humbert. He was born December 17, 1890. The youngest is a girl, Princess Victoria-Louise-Adelaide-Mathilde-Charlotte. She was born September 13, 1892.
Our engraving is from the last portrait of the Emperor William, and we are indebted for it to the Illustrirte Zeitung.
MY RECENT JOURNEY FROM THE NILE TO SUAKIM.
By Frederic Villiers, in The Journal of the Society of Arts.
THE ADVANCE TO KHARTOUM.
The recent campaign in the Soudan was a bloodless one to the correspondent with the expedition, or, rather, on the tail of the advance. Yet I think, in spite of this little drawback, there is enough in the vicissitudes of my colleagues and myself during the recent advance of the Egyptian troops up the Nile to warrant me addressing you this afternoon. Especially as toward the end of the campaign the Sirdar, or Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army, Sir Herbert Kitchener, became more sympathetic with our endeavors to get good copy for our journals, and allowed us to return home by the old trade route of the Eastern Soudan, over which no European had passed since the revolt of the Eastern tribes in 1883. Unfortunately, the period for campaigning in the Soudan is in the hottest months in the year, on the rising of the Nile at the end of July, when the cataracts begin to be practicable for navigation. At the same time, in spite of the heat, it is the healthiest period, for the water, in its brown, muddy, pea soup state, is wholesomer to drink, and the banks of the river, which, when exposed at low Nile, give off unhealthy exhalations, are protected from spreading fever germs by the flood. To show you how much the people of Egypt depend for their very existence on this extraordinary river, the average difference between high and low Nile, giving favorable results, is 26 feet. Twenty-eight feet would cause serious damage by inundation, and the Nile as low as 20 feet would create a famine. The flood of the river depends entirely on the equatorial rains which cause the Upper White Nile to rise in April and the Blue Nile early in June. The muddy Atbara, joining her two sisters about the same time, sends the flood down to Lower Egypt toward the end of August at the rate of 100 miles a day. The Blue Nile in the middle of September falls rapidly away, while the Atbara leaves the trio in October. The White Nile is then left by herself to recede slowly and steadily from a current of four knots an hour to a sluggish and, in many parts, an unwholesome stream. Flies and mosquitoes increase, and fever is rife.