The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-06-05
PLUMBER OF PALACES


WV" ~ ~ 'F~ 'seSsS@''O~~s
Tho spoiis of African sDd Indian xinga
~ Windsor Csstlc-The Crown Of the
Emperor Of Abyssinis and the Kohinoor
Diamond.
Queen Victoria IL tho most thorough
ly respectable and the most God fear
ing Of all tho rulers Of tho earth, yet
there IN no person In the world who re-
oeives and retains under his roof a
larger amount of stolen property. Wind
sor castle " filled from cellar to garret
with loot and plunder Of every kind,
and tho things for which she has no
room there are distributed among her
palaces at Osborne, Balmoral and In
London. European wars and conflicts
among civilized nations are not very
profitable in this respect, aud, in spite
of the firm conviction TO the contrary
which prevails among the masses OF
the French people, there Is not single
looted French clock to be found I'm any
Of the palaces OF the emperor Of Ger
many, the only bit of plundcr which
the old kaiser carried back with him to
Berlin after the close Of the war OF
1870 being o small candlestick belong.
ing to the palace of Versailles, of which
he had made use throughout his stay,
and which In former days bad been
similarly used by King Louis XIV OF
France. At the time Of the old emper-
or's death in 1883 it was found OH the
little table beside his bedside ut Berlin.
England's wars during the last &C
years, however. have been mostly with
Asiatio and African potentates. and on
the strength Of the plea that it was nee
essary to "give the savages lesson
which they would remember" Queen
viotoria's troops almost invariably
have made 1t point Of sacking the pal.
aces Of the enemy's ruler, and 1t wai
lucky indeed for him il they did no,
burn his domicile to the ground. In or.
der to avoid any awkward questions o,
rsmonstranoes, the pick Of the plundel
always has been presented to her mai
esty, certain minor pieces being re-
served for the Prince Of Wales and fo1
the cabinet ministers of the day.
Il ia thus that the queen has come
into possession Of the Kohinoor dia
mond, the most valuable in existence
which formerly belonged to the rulers
Of the Indian kingdom Of Punjab
Priceless porcelain, silks, jade and cloi
some enamel represent her share in tn
loot Of the summer palace Of the emper
or Of China in 1854. At Windsor, too
are to be found the crown Of Empero,
Theodore Of Abyssinia, taken after th'
storming Of his stronghold Of Magdala
the gold bracelets. amulets, collar ant
diadem Of the two kings Of Ashanti
while quite recently there have ar
rived at Windsor a large quantity O
beautifully carved elephants tusks
found in and about the palace Of th'
African king Of Benin when his capi
tai was captured last spring by an Eng
lish expeditionary force under Admira
Rawson.
India, of course, is largely represent
ed in the collection of plunder at Wind
sor castle, and some Of the finest pieces
of plate and jeweled ornaments, includ
ing superb tigers head composed en-
tirely of rubies. sapphires and diamonds
have come to her majesty from the treas
ure house Of this or that once powerful
oriental potentate, whose dominions sht
has annexed during the course Of hel
threescore years. reign.
n-oo,. yy:c<ovso x~obob1xv xuo-1l Coo
Mortified at the idea Of accepting any
article Of value that had been stolel
from European sovereign (barring the
sultan). But somehow or other the po
tentates and rulers of Asia and Of Africf
seemed to her to be perfectly fair game
people whom it is quite Christian tt
plunder and to deprive of their most
treasured possessions.
1t is inconsistent and not quite in ac
cordance with the teachings Of ths
Bible, but, after all, it is in keeping
with what her ancestors did before her
for on state occasions the great side
board in the Waterloo gallery Of Wind
sor castle is weighted down with vas
quantities of gold and silver plate. much
of which was originally destined ant
even used for sacramental purposes Of
the church and which constituted par
Of the plumber Of those British bucca
neers and pirates Of the Elizabethar
and Stuart era who roamed the seas IL
search Of Spain's treasure ships, plum
dering and sacking the cities ant
churches Of what used to be known il
those days as the Spanish main. Mar
Quise dc Fontenoy in Chicago Record.