The Portland daily press., 1895-04-05
OLD WORLD MILLlONAlREs.
Rich Russians that Can Buy and Sell Our
Rich Croesuses.


The death of the Russian Privy Coun-
cilor. Theodore Ba1ilewski, serves to re-
call how very little is known in this
country, or even in England, of the, exis-
tence in the old world of millionaires be-
sides whose wealth even that of the
bilts and the Astors sinks into compara-
tive insignifoance. True, it is wealth
that is not so extensively advertised in
The public press as that of the great
American milionaires, and hence is but
little heard of outside their own country
But yet doubt if there is any Ameri-
can or English millionaire whose riches
are so boundless as, for instance, those
of M. Bazilewski. His fortune was SIM
ply incalculable, and his gold mines in
ST IBERIA, which have been in his family
for generations, and are famous for the
richness of their ore, constitute only a
portion of the estate that he has left to
his brother, each of his four sisters re-
ceiving huge legacies, and nothing being
left to his divorced wife, who was tho
canse of sensational lawsuit at St. Pet
ersburg and Paris some fifteen years ago.
Most of the large sturgeon fisheries in
Russia belonged to him, and his estates
in Orenburg and Smolensk are of the
size of kingdoms.
1t was he, by the by. who built for
his wife the palace at Paris which is now
t property and residence of Queen Isa-
bella OF Spain and which used to be
known as Palais Bazilewski When he
separated from his wife he sold it.
Equally inexhausti BILE and incalculable
is the wealth OF the Demidoffs, which
also consists in great part of mining
property, this house enjoying almost the
monopoly of maiachite and lapislazuli,
besides possessing gold and silver mines
in Russia of great richness.
Then, too, there are the Yousoupoffs,
who control almost the entire output of
turq quois in the world, this, however,
being merely an incidental feature of the
many sources of revenue of the Princess,
who is now the sole heiress of the prop
erty. Her husband, who has been per
nitted by the Gar to assune her name
and title is descended in the third gener-
alton from a Philadelphian named Elton,
who entered the service of Gar Paul at
the close of the last century. Little is
known in this country of the extent of
the wealth of the late Arohduke Albert
whose estates comprise a goodly portion
of the entire empire, and who owned
something like so per cent. of all the
big manufactures and industrial estab b.
lishment in the dominions of his nephew
Emperor Francis Joseph. In his case, RS
in that of the Russian arch-mi Ilionaires
whose names l have just quoted above,
it is literally impossible to calculate the
fortune OF the archduke with any degree
OF precision, since a portion consists of
| mining property. But it is known that
he left ready money amounting to
$500, 000.0 900. Some of this money will
go to the queen regent of Spain. who is
a favorite niece of the old archduke. 1t
is the knowledge of this that has proba.
bly, led her TO manifest such a very mag
unanimous and even magnificent generos-
| ity toward the subject of her little son,
since she has persistently refused to touch
| one penny Of the annuity to which she is
entitled as widow of king, and as
regent, declaring that there were too
| heavy drains on the national excheuuer
that she should add to its burdens.
Year by year the money which should
! have been paid to her has been turned
back into the treausry for the benefit of
the government, and Incidentally of the
taxpayers, this being about the only in
stance of the kind in the old world, for as
rule monarchs and royal personages take
everything that they can get, being OF
the opinion that it is distinctly more
| blessed to receive than to give.