Evening star., 1883-06-06

EnRllsh MillionasreA
From the London Spectator.
A little more than ten years ago, having an in
terest In that curious and little studied subject
the history OF property. We published list, COM
piled from the Illustrated London Ne,cs of all
British fortunes exceeding quarter of a million
personally which had been transferred by death
within the decade. That list, which was the
first OF its kind and excited at the time pre-
posterous amount Ofinterest, showed that with
In the ten years ten persons had died in Great
Britain leaving more than f1 900 0OO fifty y-three
leaving more than 95OO, 600, and 161 leaving
more than f15O, ,OOO We promised to repeat
the liee at the end of another decade. =
This list is a disappointment. We had expected
that the number would have doubled, or at least
greatly Increased, and that the scale of fortunes
would be much larger; but this is not the case.
The number OF fortunes ranging between f1OO,-
600 and f250, 900 has increased enormously and
Is now far beyond anything we care to print,
and fact perceptible in the old list might have
been made marked feature in the present one
The wealthy OF the world are investing in Eng
land very largely, indeed, especially the Spanish
Americans, who find it convenient to place
section Of their often gigantic fortunes beyond
the reach OF plunder: But, excluding Roths-
child, whose wealth is of separate kind, there
Is no double millionaire in the list, and no man
whom the rich Americans and the cosmopolitan
Jew millionaires, with their fingers in every pie,
would allow to De possessed of a first-class for
tune. NO one approaches even at distance the
wealth of W. H. Vanderbilt or jay Gould, and
no ones personally enables us to compare him
with Grst-class English landed property About
fSO,OOO year would represent the very highest
sum upon the list. No British subject in fact,
has left wealth so large as to raise social cues.
tons or seriously affect the budget, and the fact
Is a very curious one.
1t is, of course, in part explained by the
method OF computation. These returns are based
on the payments made for probate duty on per-
sonalty, and do not include land and houses
still a favorite Investment in England or the
enormous masses of wealth now held abroad
which, though liable to income tax, escape
legacy duty altogether. Much of this mass
belongs to the very rich who have accurate in
formation, who like good percentage. and
who are in many cases haunted by an idea that
distribution In many countries is equivalent to
insurance The English holdings in the rents
OF all countries. In railways and banks abroad,
and in foreign house property elude this list al
wealth classed as businesses" with their
offices outside Great Britain. Still, we
are surprised at the figures Only thirteen
men have left more than million. only Sc more
than half million, and only 1875 more than a
quarter OF million. That is an increase among
millionalres OF 80 per cent, among half-mion-
aires Of 6per cent and among quarter million
aires of IL per cent, and we expected the num-
bers to be doubled. Considering the increase of
opportunities, there must be some cause operat-
ing against excessive accumulation, and we are
happy to believe it is a reluctance to spend life
in mere amassing, which prevents the children
OF milllOnaires. who In England are usually cul-
tivated, from treading in their fathers footsteps
They either retire altogether from such work or
pursue 1t with certain languOr. and end by
merging themselves in the ordinary aristocracy,
who hunt down exceptional wealth with per-
sistence and success.
Still, what list 1t is! Among all those
millionaires and demi-millionaires and quarter
millionaires there is only one great grandee. the
late duke of Portland, whose eccentric waste
fulness did not in the least impair his magnii-
cent income; only three or four peers, and not
above 10 persons who were at all widely, not to
say nationally, known. The immense majority
were quiet traders bankers, manufacturers
ironmasters, and the like, who led usually
quiet though wealthy lives, spent money on COL
lectiOns and gardens, and were unknown even
to those who make it business to know. They
represent the profits of trade and that is all, and
their wealth increases the wages fund without
disturbing the social calm. If they do good it
is generally by cultivating art; if they dc harm
it is by keeping up standard of outlay which
destroys much of the ease and enjoyment of
social life. and would anywhere but in
England make the able restless and discon-
tented. Here, however the wall which sur
rounds private life is seldom broken. expendi-
ture is apt to be steadily protuse rather than
Ostentatious, the love of country secluslon is
deep-rooted, and ambition is much more COM
mon than acrld envy. The foible of rising men
in England is sensitiveness rather than ostenta-
tion, and though purse-pride often exists in a
high degree, it Is lost amid other prides and
toned down by the social ascendency of an
aristocracy which loves money and despises
moneyed men. AS to popular hostility to the
millionaires, there is no trace of it. We detect
strong signs Of a growing desire to spoil Ger
tain privileges, rather than let the rich mOnop-
olize them-as, for example, in the agitation to
throw open gardens which are worthless: and
worse, the moment they cease to be secluded
but OF dislike to an individual because he is
rich, we see no signs. Any butler in London
who, on reading our list, finds that his master
inherited more than he thought, will
not only respect him more, but oddly
enough, will resent his economies less.
Wealth, when not too pompous, is liked, like
any other ornament; and il man shod his
horses with silver, his groOms would quote that
fact as one rejecting a certain credit and rank
upon themselves. Indeed even opinion hardly
presses on the rich; there is no ''feeng," as in
America, that a millionaire should do something
for the public, and we very much doubt if lega-
cies to charities excite any great respect. They
become more frequent, we fancy, but the COM
ments upon them delivered on Omnibuses are not
entirely eulogistic. "He was charitable beg
gar; butt Lord, how his folks must feel!'' was
actually said, and expresses forcibly, if inele-
gantly, the genuine popular idea. There is no
point on which English and Continental feelings
differ so widely as the appreciation of wealth.
To "kll bourgeois as the French Socialist did
the other day. strikes Englishmen as something
worse than killing man; and they lament over
fire all the more, If the person burned out was
rich.
The Bridges Christening.
From the Burlington Hawkeye.