The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-05-30

ionaire Jew, among other things says:
If the treasury is anxious, what shall
be said of the feelings Of the royal fam
lily? A story emerged from the MARI
borough House set and started about i'll
the clubs few evenings ago to the ef-
feet that the Prince of Wales was fright
ened out of his wits at the prospect Of
being called upon by the executors OF the
Hirsch estate to square accounts with it.
Now there is a pleasanter tale atloat,
which says that when the baron's latest
will is produced it will be found to con-
tain private injunction that all the
Princes debts to him are cancelled. l.
have even heard a version of this latter
report which declares that the will not
only wipes the Hirsch slate clean, SO far
as the prince goes, but provides that all
his other debts are to be paid as we'll. I
remember now having heard in Moscow
five years ago this same statement, that
Baron Hirsch had an understanding
with the Prince of Wales by which the
latter was going to be relieved from the
terrible weight of debt he had been suf-
fering under for years. The merest
shadow Of a rumor Of such thing. COM
ing now in the interval between the
death of the baron and the production
VI I1o w 1il, Id " '4Co 0N1AS
tradesman and money lender in London
of his sleep. ST..
What does the Prince of Wales owe?
Probably nobody alive could answer the
question, even approximately, offhand
For thirty years, at least, his books have
shown a, balance on the wrong side, and,
despite the large sums annually passing
into his strong box, the deficit is be-
lieved to have increased every year with
gloomy regularity. In 1884, he was said
to be getting, from all sources sepsnss
hined, about 100000 year. = ssss,ssse
What his gross income is now It would
puzzle anybody to find out. Mr.. Clad
stone, in 1889, with that knightly dynas-
tic principle which has always been so
marked a. characteristic of him land
which has been consistently repaid by
the most spiteful ingratitude from at
least the head of the dynasty), passed
through the house of commons a meas
ure to consolidate, rearrange and other
wise reform the whole business Of royal
grants, with particular reference to the
Prince of Wales and. his family. Mr..
Gladstone vouched for the bill in d
speech of great earnestness and elo-
quence, and it went through all right,
but I have never met anyone who felt
sure that he understood the exact effect
of it's provisions. It. was assumed, how
ever, that it certainly left the prince no
worse Off than he was before, and it
did. in one respect, definitely increase
his specified income by creating new
grant of $18O,O0O a year to him for his
children-this is to be in lieu Of further
grants to them as individuals during his
lifetime Since then his elder son has
died, his eldest daughter has married a
banker-peer, who is also an intimate
friend of the prince and who, we may
be sure, has relieved him from the ne
cessity Of accounting for that particular
fourth of the grant. Another daughter,
the Princess Maud, is to wed a cousin Of
the Danish family, who will be hand
somely provided for from a financial
point of view, and it may be taken for
granted that here, too, no heavy outlay
is to be dreaded by the prince, her
father a
The Prince of Wales still has, there
fore, a gross income of S500,000 or more,
and yet with all the machinery for light
e1ling his current expenses which exper-
ience and necessity have perfected, he
gets more and more in debt. have seen
with my own eyes a letter written not
long ago by his principle man of bust
ness to an old-establisheu firm of wine
merchants, to whom the prince had
owed about Sc, 900 for five years or more.
They had asked very respectfully for. g
settlement, and this, in substance, was
the answer, which, as has been said,
personally saw: "His Royal Highness
is extremely annoyed at your commune
cation, and instructs me to say that il
he get any more such letters his patron
age of your establishment will be at
once and permanently withdrawn. |
enclose $3.50 on account, which is the
most that can be done at present.
1t is easy to think harshly Of the stu
alton disclosed by such a document as
this. but somehow to me the pathos of it
comes i1ppermost If ever a man was
thrust by fortune into a false position,
and then remorselessly held there, as in
a wise, by forces entirely beyond his con-
troll. it is this unhappy Prince of Wales.
It is not open to him to 60 through the.
bankruptcy court. He cannot cut down
his current outlay to any such economical
point as would yield savings large
enough to affect the ever-mounting prin-
cipal of. his debts. He has to go on in the
weary treadmin, using the money that
comes in to extinguish here and there an
cient claims which double themselves at
usurious rates, meanwhile contracting
new obligations to rise UP and confound
him later on. No doubt these long. years
have brought with them a good deal OF
indifference, not to cay callousness On
the subject of being in debt. OileAcans
we'll imagine that the prince Is no longer