The New York herald., 1871-12-09
Tho Prince of Wales--Thc Exciting Rs
ports and Run,ors OF Yesterday.

ports and Rumors OF Yesterday.
For some days II seemed as if the Prince OF
Wales was in q fair way OF recovery. The
wild excitement which had filed the public
mind after the FIRST reports Of his illness had
died away. Yesterday the excitement was
revived in oil its intensity. Report followed
report to the effect that the fever had taken
an unfavorable turn that the situation was
critical and that it was doubtful whether he
| could survive At halfpast five T. M. the
| bulletin published in London and signed by
| Sir William Jenner was to the effect that the
| Prince was In a precarious state that ex-
acerbation had begun on the previous night
and that it was attended by great prostration
of strength. The London Standard, whether
put the case more strongly half an hour later
10 On extra Sheet when it said 1.-THE Prince
Of Wales is sinking fast. Congestion Of the
lungs has set in, and no hopes are entertained
of his recovery" At half-past nine p. M. an
other bulletin was issued by the physicians,
stating that the Prince had had some rest had
slept lightly, but that he was still much
prostrated. HE Royal Hghness was alive at
midnight last night, with all London, and the
other towns Of the kingdom, IN sympa thetic
communication with his sorrowing family
While we write this is our latest news. II is
quite possible that the sad end may come even
yet: that the youthful heir Of the grandest
existing monarchy may die; Sandringham and
Windsor be shaded in gloom; the widowed
wife and the bereaved mother sorrow, aud
| the British nation lament the untimely death
| of its eldest son.
| The excitement Is said to BE- of the intensest
possible kind. ''The Prince of Wales is dying"
| is the universal salutation. Nothing else is
| talked Of. Business is suspended. Stocks of
all kinds have lowered, and the money market
Is depressed. 1t is universally felt and con-
fessed that the death of the Prince would be a
national calamity. How great the change
within few days! 1t seems as if 1t were
only yesterday that the Prince of Wales was
national nuisance, the curse of the monarchy,
the sorrow of the people. Now it is felt that
the death Of the Prince might precipitate Q
! crisis which all are anxious to avert. The
excitement is general all over the three king
doms. Nor is it confined to the three king
doms alone for from all quarters whittier the
news has been conveyed there comes wall
of sorrow that a life so young should be cut
short, and that prizes so grand and 80 nearly
within reach should never be enjoyed. Much
Of the anxiety within the three kingdoms, and
much of the interest taken in the case outside
Of the British dominions, result no doubt from
another cause. 1t is undeniable that the
British monarchy is again undergoing one of
those trials to which it is periodically sub
jected Since the death of Prince Albert the
royal family have year by year been losing
their hold on the hearts of the people. The
protracted retirement of the Queen from pub
lie life produced deep and widespread
discomfort. A monarchy without a court is
in the nature of things, among a cultivated
people, in the last degree distasteful. The
British people are not unwilling to pay for a
court, but they insist on having what they
pay for Year after year, since 1861, they
have waited, but year after year they have
met with fresh disappointment. They have
waited so long in vain that hope has at last
given way to despair. The unwise conduct of
the Prince of Wales, and the absence of any
redeeming qualities in the other members of the
royal family, have increased and intensified
the general feeling Of discontent. So general
has become the dissatisfaction that in most of
the large cities public meetings have been
held, inhammatory speeches have been de-
livered to applauding multitudes, and the
question has been freely put whether, after
| all, monarchy is not very expensive and a
vary useless toy. These things, if they do
not explain the universal grief, at least ex-
plain the universal anxiety. The death of the
Prince would leave gap which makes Re-
gency sooner or later almost certainty; and
| the questi:n N which the British people put to
| themselves and which Is asked by the outside
world is this Can the monarchy survive a
regency? 1t is question the solution of
which deeply concerns the aristocracy and
| the n1oneyed classes of England, and which
deeply concerns also the monarchies and aris-
| tocracies Of Europe. The fall of the British
monarchy would be the death-blow to all that
| remaius Of ancient feudalism.
| As we have said before in these columns,
| Wo Nv wv "no WV bioomy " wow Vi lue stud-
ton IN England. The death Of the Prince OF
Wales would most unquestionably be an i'm
| mediate national loss. That the loss would be
| irreparable, however, we cannot admit. The
Queen, though no longer what she once was
Is not yet old. Competent authorities, with
full opportunities for forming al opinion, have
pronounced her, mentally and physically,
quite equal to the discharge of her duties. 1t
is not unreasonable to presume that this fresh
ef1ction Will rally around her all ranks and
classes Of the people and secure for her their