v,c o ,A LEFT VAS
o, o
dured from any other of her ministers
~sovereign who ever had property
leave. All her predecessor~ upon the
throne bequeathed their successors
nothing but debts, which parliament
was called upon to pay. While the
~quesn permitted the nation thus to set-
tle the liabilities of her uncles, King
"George IV. and King William IV., she
made a point immediately after her
,succession to pay off in full the very
large debts contracted by her father,
th~ duke of Kent. This, the portioning
.of her daughters, as well as some of
her granddaughters, who have in each
Case received from her a dowry of
|600,000 on marrying, and the settle-
merit on one occasion of some very
Pressing liabilities of the prince of
Wales, may be said to have constituted
the only very heavy expenses which
the queen had been called upon to meet
;since she ascended the throqe in 1837.
Had Larse . ~Prj, djz ~Par, re.
From that time forth she was in re-
ceipt of a civil list amounting to close
Upon $3,000,000 a year. Of this the
major portion was assigned to definite
heads of royal expenditure. But
$300,000 a year /w:as devoted to what
is called the queen's privy purse and
'constituted her pocket money, of which
no account was ever asked. Besides
this she had at her disposal the net
revenues of the duchy of Lancaster,
~Vhich have amounted on an average to
:~300,000 a year more. From this it
"Will b- seen f t,.~~ ~fter having all the
EDWARD VII, NEW
'qxpenses of every conceivable charac-
ter, down to her very charities ann
Servants' wages, defraye~ out of the
civil list, she had a sum of at least
$600,000 each year to dispose of and
Which she is known to have set aside.
This in itself, when added up, repre-
sents a minimum of $36,000.000, and.
When it is remembered that the reve-
nues of the duchy of Lancaster are all
the time increasing, the net revenues
for last year being no less than £90,000,
qr $450,000, as compared with £60.000,
or ~300,000, ten years ago, and that,
moreover, the queen's savings have
been most Judiciously invested, for the
post part in land which has increased
almost tenfold tn value during the bast
hail cen fury, it is no exaggeration to
estimate the present fortune of her
~aJesty from these sources alone as in
the:neighborhood of $100.000,000.
~ince Con~ort Le./r# JWillion~r.
The .prince consort is known to
have left .a will bequeathing hls entire
re, tune to the queen, althou.gh it was
n~vbr.admitted to probate or officially
d~vulged. 'During the twenty-three
Year~ that intervened between his mar-
rlage a~d his death he had received
fl:om the English treasury an annuity
ot $150,000, besides which he "kad s
Private fortune of ~his own Which
Yielded him about $20,000 a year more.
tlA~' the queen's husband, he had prac-
calty no expense of any k~nd to n~eet,
Sh~ce they were all defrayed/like t~Me
of her majesty, out 'of the assigned
Portions of the .civil list, and it is
k~own that he was able to set aside
and •invest gt least $100,000 a year
th.ruughout his married life. Thls
a~ounts net to $2,300,000. The major
Portion of this was most Judiciously
invested in land at South Kensington,
Which was at that time little el~ tlian
a waste ground, but which today is
covered With the most 'costly and luxu-
rious mansions in London and is worth
far more fQr the square foot than it
Was forty years ago for the acre. The
KING OF ENGLAND.
f~tune bequeathed by the prince con-
sort to his widow is estimated to have
attained at the present day the mini-
mum value of $~5.000~¢00.
Chan#e.r in Emptre.
The territorial growth of the British
empire during the reign o£ Queen Vic-
toria has been prodigious. In Asla
between 1837. and 1858 the territory of
Scinde of the Slkhs, Tanjore, Lower
Burmah, Nagpur, S~tttara, Jhansl and
Oude were brought under British do-
minion. In the latter year all British
India was transferred from the British
East India company to the crown. And
I slnce that date Upper Burmah, the
Shah states, Beluchistan, Manipur ann
Chitral have been annexed. Nor must
the little but enormously valuable ter-
ritory of Hongkong be forgotten as one
of the acquisitions of the reign.
Passing from Asia to Australasia,
even greater changes have occurred.
Before 1837 New South Wales and To-
mania were the only organized colO-
nies In that region and the rest of the
great islands were practically un-
known land. Since then New Zealand,
Victoria. South Australasia~' Queens-
land and West Australia have been
added to the mighty cluster of British
colonies, which now dominate that
quarter of the world. Flji, part of Bor-
neo and of New Guinea and many
smaller island groups are now also to
b~ colored with British red on the
world's map.
Fet~ Change~ in VSVe.r#.
In the western hemisphere there
have been few changes in territorial
lines. British title to the northwest;
ern territory has been confirmed an~
the area of British Guiana somewlla~
enlarged. The development of t~e
Dominion of Canada has, however.
been almost equal to the discovery and
annexation of a new continent. Finally',
in Africa, there has been stupendo~m
i~rogress. Sixty years ago Great
.WINDSOR CASTLE, VICTORIA'S PI~INCIPALPI~CE O~ ]lE~~
except Lord Melbourne,
No sovereign was more successfully
managed by a prime minister than was
Queen Victoria by Lord Beaconsfield.
He recognized fully the truth of the
royal saying that ladies must be hu-
mored and he pleased the queen by
obeying all her little whims. He was
wise enough, too, to cultivate John
Brown and to place himself in the
good graces of that worthy servitor;
Gladstone could never forget him-
self or fail to hint, if he did not-clear-
ly show, that he had a mind of his
own. He always was masterful in his
way, and never hesitated on occasion
to suggest to the queen .that his way
was the best--often the only way--to
PrOceed. HenCe Gladstone was never
a favorite with her majesty."
In,ri, v~¢d on ~P~trtty.
To obtain purity in her court was
one object which the queen sought
with strenuous vigilance; By some
means she learned the peccadilloes ot
all personages likely to come into con-
tact with her, and when Justified she
hesitated not a moment, no matter
what their power, to exclude them from
her favor.
If an author, a painter or a musician
made a stir in the world she was as
eager to know all about him as any
'QUEEN ALEXANDRA, CONSORT OF' ~'~)WAI~ VII.
Britain owned Cape Colony and two
or three other mere footholds. In
these three-score years she has acqulr-
e~ in the southern part of the dark
continent the territories of Natal, Ba-
sutoland. Bechuanaland. Zululand and
fifially the vast territory administered
by the British South Africa company,
extending north to Lake Tangahylka,
The recent acquisition of the Tran~
diligent reader of the popular pros,
There was not a prominent politician
whose relations with his family were
not fairly well known to her. Not
IOng ago she refused to sanction the
appointment of a _very able man who
had been recommended by the govern-
ment for an important office. The rea-
son for her refusal was that the ap-
POintmen~ would bring the man into
VICTOR~A'$ PRIVATE DINING ROOM AT OSBORNE HOUSE.
va~1 and the Orange Free State gives
her absolute control, ot-South Africa.
In the eas~ she had~ praetle&lly taken
Zanzibar and nearly half a million
square miles o~ "h~nterland" extending
te the. Congo state in the heart of Af-
rica and. northward to the Egyptian
Soudan. In Wes~ Africa she secured
a~ imperial domain in the Niger coun-
try and in' the north slie has a tempo-
rary control over Egypt, of which th~
end no man can yet discern,
It is an empire, coml~red wlth
which tllosc of Alexander, Trajan and
Sol'Yman seem insignificant. At the
beginning of the reign the total popu-
lation of the British empire was about
127,500,006. Today it is 383,500,000. or~
more than one-fifth °fothate°ff th em the
whole world. The area t plrs
is now 11,334,391 square miles. That
is equal to nearly three times the area
of Europe, or to about one-fifth the
land area of the globe. In the United
Kingdom itself there were sixty years
ago only 16,000,000 inhabitants. Now
there are about 39.000.000.
H~mm'¢d l~y ~$#~con.ffi¢ld.
Beaconsfield pleased the queen In one
personal relations, wlth her, and t~e
result would be uncom~t~ble for h~m,
because she would no~tve his w|fe,
FOr ob~ rea~0m/it was ~eee~ary
for her'to be mdre~ charitable regard-
ing the f6ibles O~ the Prince of Wale~
Victorta'~r L[/'e tn ~rie, f.
Here are a few, of the most Impor-
tant eventS in the late Queen Victor-
ia's life: Born at Kensington Palace~
May 24. 1815: ascends the throne June
20, 1887; m~rried to Prince AIber~ of
Saxe-Coberg-Gotha Feb. 10, 1840; fi~t
daughter, Empress Frederick of Ger-
many, born Nov. ~I, 1840; first son,
Prl~ of Wales, born Nov. 9 1841;
death .of the Prince Consort Dec. 14,
1861: proclaimed empress of India May
I, 1575; celebrates her golden Jubilee
June 20, 188~; celebrates her diamond
J~bilee June 20, 1897.
There is now before the Missouri
legislature a bill providing for a montt-
men¢ to Thomas H. Benton. Governor
Dockery, the mayor of St. .Louia and
thee others, to be chosen by the gore
~Qr will form a commission to lm~
the matter in charge.
(Mexican Letter.)
After a very happy sojourn in the
City of Mexico, the day for leaving
came and the Journey homeward was
to be one of continued interest over
the Mexican Central railway. In this
new route I was to see new cities, ~a
new country, and pass some places
of rare historic interest and see many
developments of various industries.
The first place of note is the city of
Queretaro, having a population of 50,-
000 inhabitants. It is a most important
manufacturing city, more than 2.000
persons being employed in the cotton
milk and flour mills there. Just out-
side of Queretaro are the great Her-
cules cotton mills, and as I looked at
them ~n the beautiful valley I was re-
minded of some of the cotton mills
I had seen in Connecticut. In the war
Where M~mlllmn D~ed,
against the empire, Emperor,
Maximilian was captured ~t
Queretaro by General Escandon and
soon afterward was shot, according to
the edict of war. This scene was en-
acted on a beautiful hill to the west
of the city about one mlle. With him
to share his fate were Miguel Mira-
men, once a president of Mexico, who
had joined his fortunes with the em-
pire, and MaijL a Mexican, who had
been a faithful follower. The great-
est efforts were made by Emperor
Franz Joseph of Austria to save the
life of Maximilian, who was his broth-
er, and the Empress Carlota Journeyed
to Rome with the utmost haste to en-
list Pope Plus the IXth to intercede
for the life of 'her husband, and then
she went to Napoleon of France to
get his aid in the matter. In the ex-
igency of the case she turned to Sec-
retary Seward of President Lincoln's
cabinet, but all was in vain, The vic-
torious leaders of the cause of liberty
in Mexico refused to consider the ap-
peal of anyone, and Maximilian was
doomed. The day of death was June
27, 1867, and as the party proceeded
to the field to meet their fate Maxi-
milian said: "What a lovely day on
which to die!" They were put in po-
cotton mills along the way. These
fine farms are called haciendas, a name
for a vast estate, comprising thou~mds
of acres of cultivated lands under one
ownership, A httle south of Chihua-
hua the Mexican Central railway runs
directly through one hacienda for
more than twenty-five miles I was
much pleased with the city of Chihua-
hua, which is the capital of the state
of the same name. It is a beautiful
city and an attractive business cen-
ter, for to the south are the vast cot-
ton fields, to the west the mining dis-
trict, While to the north and east is
an almost boundless cattle range.
There are many Americans living in
Chihuahua, and many have made for-
tun'es there. Governor Ahuamada i|
a great favorite with the Americans
and a most progressive executive.
All Like Amerlcon~a
In fact everywhere throughout Mex-
Ico there is a warm feeling for Ameri-
ca~s who conduct themselves proper-
lY, but the Mexicans are quick to de-
tect shoddy in character, and when
this observation Is made they have an
exclusiveness that is impenetrable. In
other words, if a Mexican likes you,
all he has is yours, theoretically at
least, but if he does not like you he
simply will not know you. It was
along in the night, as I w~s crossing
the great state of Chihuahua, that I
was fortunate to have an opportunity
of talking with Mr. H. R. Nickersono
vice-president and general manager of
the Mexican Central railway, who,
with Mrs. Nickerson, was going to
Boston. "Yes, this is a great coun-
try," he said, "and it is growing
greater." Since the Mexican Central
railway has been in operation the
country and the people have changed
very much. Building railroads in
Mexico In the early days was no easy
matter, as the iron for the Mexican
Central was sent from Pennsylvania
via the Gulf of Mexico and then trans-
ported on mules and oxen across the
mountain for 200 miles to the City of
Mexico. The engines, cars and ties
were also carried in the same way,
i /
"-.- |.-
