National Republican., 1883-07-03
TIE QUEENS FAMILY.

MalSdy OF Her Grandfather.
A great deal has been said recently about tho
fear that the English people have that Queen
Victoria may be afflicted with dementia as
were other members of her family. This
reference is to the malady that for so many
years darkened the life Of her grandfather,
George III, Tho latter succeeded to tho
throne in 1860, when he was % years of age,
and reigned for sixty years, until 1920. AS
early as 1901 it was known that the king was
subject to fits Of insanity, and these rec urring
at intervals, after 1910 he ceased to tako any
part in governmental affairs.
Writing Of tho events of 1901, Harriet Mar
tineau says; On the eighteenth of February
the king was observed to talk very loud, and
IL became known that he had for a long tmo
used very violent expressions about the Cath
olic question, saying that it might bring the
advocates of emancipation to the gibbet. In
few hours more
HIS MADNESS COULD NOT BE CONCEALED,
and the immediate occasion was so clear that
Mr.. Pitt never recovered the shock. On tho
twenty-third the poor king said, after some
hours of moody silence, ~ am better now, but
will remain true to the church." No wonder
Mr.. Pitt was ill, too-yery unwell, much
shaken, gouty, and nervous. The Prince of
Wales took the matter moro easily, while his
fathers arrangement was filling all minds
with concern and dismay he went to q con-
cert at Lady Hamilton's and there said aloud
to Colonne, the French ex-ministor, "Have
you heard that my father is as mad as ever"
Such was the prince who must be regent if
the illness continued, and II was another
heavy anxiety to Mr.. Pitt There was worse
to come however. That which finally broke
his spirit about tho Catholic question, and
made him surrender all care for his political
honor on that pressing subject, was message
from the king sent in the first week of March.
Tell him" said the king to DR.. Willis, I" /
am now quite well, quite recovered from my
illness but what has he not to answer for
who is the cause of my having been i'll at all ~
Hard and unreasonable as now appears this
punishment of q statesman for sincere and
inevitable conviction-or, at most, for some
carelessness in the management of the topic
IL was too much for the courage of one already
shaken. Mr.. Pitt wrote submissive letter to
the king, and pledged himself never to stir
the subject more.
The king was not, however, so we'll as he
himself believed. For several weeks after
ward we find notices of his being
INDIsoREET, SENTIMENTAL, AND RESTLESS
of the Prince of Wales insinuating that he
was completely deranged; of acute observers
fearing that no would sink into faulty; OF
the queen and princesses appearing with
swollen eyes and depressed countenances.
And already, throughout this month of March,
the now premier-actually not in office, be-
cause Mr.. Pitt had not had the opportunity
of resigning the seals-was planning peace,
though no one could conceive how the VEN
ture was to be made Of mentioning it to the
king.
OF subsequent attack the same writer
says:
As these things were pointed out and the
mistakes of the administration began to show
their consequences, the king grew more
anxious and perplexed every day, and less
and less able to Withstand any attack of ill
ness. About the middle of January he had a
fit of gout from remaining in wet clothes.
On the evening of the queens birthday he
walked about with cane; but his manner
was strange and his talk incoheront and the
queen from her card table watched him anx-
ious1y and necessarily. He continued to
send notes, announcing his recovery from
gout, to Mr.. Addington and they seem as
clear as his notes usually were There was a
counsel held on the twenty-fourth of Janu-
ary, at which he appeared capable of transact
ing business; and SO late as the eighth of
February he sustained long conversation
with the Duke of Kent, in which he appeared
to be kind and gracious to his depressed son
yet it was known among those near the court
that he
HAD BEEN lNSANE
during the last days of January. Before tho
middle of February the case was as bad as
possible, and the whole kingdom knew it,.
The queen and her children resigned the care
of the king and the ordering of all business
TO the ministers, by the express act of de-
livering by written declaration to that pur-
pose. 1t was a terrible addition to the per-
plexities of the time. The opposition grew
rampant, and the administration grew
E. To-. Ill To- ,..N Al
French shipwrights piled their work faster
and faster, and the threats of Napoleon grew
fiercer and bolder. From tho eighteenth of
February the kings mania abated and on
the twenty-sxth two documents were put
forth to the world which it puzzled
the world to reconcile. The archbishop of
Canterbury issued a form of thanksgiving for
the happy prospect of the kings speedy resto.
ration; and on the same day the bulletin of
tho physicians declared that though his maj
esty was going on favorably, any rapid
amendment was not 10 be expected. Parlia-
ment inquired what this meant, and the an
swer was that while the king was equal to the
transaction of some ordinary business, it
would be prudent to guard him for some time
from all excitement and unnecessary exertion
of mind.
These were not times, however, when the
minds and nerves of kings and statesmen
could be spared. Though for public purposes
the king was called we'll in March, his family
were very unhappy at the end of May. He
dismissed and exchanged servants,
PRAYED ALOUD AND INCEs' s'ANTLY
when he should have slept, and became so
irritable that tho queen never answered re-
marks and complaints, refused to converse
with him unless some of her daughters were
present, and kept her boudoir locked to Sc
cure the repose she needed several times in
the day from his wearing loquacity. We
find this going on even at the close of the
year, and such was the state of mind of the
sovereign during the spring which seemed
to be u critical season for the fortunes of the
world.
In the autumn Of 1910 q difficulty was on
the increase from day to day with which the
feeble ministry knew that they must deal in
some decisive manner. The failure of the
Walcheren expedition and the disgrace of his
courtly favorite, Lord Chatham, had so dis
turbed the kings mind that he lost his sleep
and his cheerfulness and such composure as
had been obtained by extreme care. A family
atlliction now once more overthrow his rea-
son. The youngest of the princesses, Amelia,
had for many years been in bad health,
and her disease was known to be incurable.
1t was understood that there were family
troubles in connection with her which, in
consideration of
HIS ToTTERING INTELLECT
and vehement self-will had been kept from
his knowledge, and the moment for impart-
ing them was that in which he must take
leave Of his favorite child. Parliament was
to have met on tho first of November, but be-
fore that time it was publicly known that the
circumstances Of the royal family would COM