The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-25
UNIONS OF EAST AND WEST.
SOME STRANGE MATCHES MADE BY
EUROPEAN ARIsTOCRACY.


lovely Mary Anne Jervis, daughter of Lord
st. Vincent. and one of the reigning beau
ties of London, to Mr.. Dyce-S ombre, the
millionaire son of a Scotch soldier Of for
tune and of an Indian princess, excited
such a storm Of Indignation in English So
ciety Of every class that it even found ex-
preston in the columns of the
metropolitan press, the London
Times in particular devoting
lengthy leader to a scathing condemnation
of such unnatural and unholy matrimo-
NAL alliances" To-day. however. the in
finitely more Objectionable match between
Prince Victor Dhuleep Singh and Lady
Ann Coventry youngest daughter of the
Earl and Countess of Coventry, is made
a subject of general congratulation in
English society, and has called forth many
expressions of approval in the daily and
weekly newspapers of the United King
dom. Yet Dyce-Sombre had a mixture of
Scotch blood and princely Indian blood
in his veins, whereas Prince Victor is, save
for a slight German strain, wholly an
Oriental, and is of a lineage that the most
eminent Indian authorities unite in de-
scribing as plebeian.
Prince Victor is the eldest son of the
late Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, who for
a time was a conspicuous figure at the
court of st. James but who died in France
thoroughly discredited, disgraced and in
solvent. The late maharajah was not the
real, but only the adopted son Of the ia
nous Runjeet Singh, king of the Punjab.
n n W.
ceeded by his legitimate heir, Shere Singh,
who reigned until he was assassinated four
years later by a band of conspirators,
headed by the Puujabee prime minister of
the day, and who placed on the throne in
his stead the 10-year-old Dhuleep. Accord
ing to Sir Lepel Griffin and other equally
recognized authorities on Indian affairs,
Dhuleep Singh was the offspring of a slave
in Runjeets harem and of a stableman.
The authenticity of his adoption by Run
jeet is open to question, and If he was
placed upon the throne after the murder
of Shere Singh by the latter's assassins,
it was merely because they considered
that the obscure rank of his mother and
his own youth would render him an easy
instrument through which to tyrannize
and despoil the kingdom during his minor
ity.
For six years Dhuleep reigned, but did
not rule, the history of the Punjab dur
ing that brief period beng one uninter-
rupted succession of acts of hostility
against the British government, until fin
ally the British authorities made up their
minds to annex the kingdom and to in
corporate it with Queen Victorias Indian
empire. A British governor of the Pun
jab was appointed the contents of the
Lahore treasury being transferred to Cal
cutta, while the famous diamond known
as the Kohinoor, which had been the chief
crown jewel and most highly priced pos
session of Runjeet, was assigned by vir-
tue of a special treaty with the Punjab
chieftains to Queen Victoria, who wore it
as a brooch during the recent jubilee fes-
tivities in London and at Windsor. In
stead of refusing to recognize the very
questionable right of Dhuleep to the
throne of the Punjab, the British govern
ment treated him as if he hand been the
legitimate sovereign of that country, and
accorded to him an allowance of $500, 600
per annum on the condition of his living
in England and behaving properly.
Agreeably surprised and more than sat
ished by this arrangement, Dhuleep sailed
for England via Egypt, and while at
Cairo contracted, according to Christian
rights, a marriage with a Miss Banda
Muller, daughter of a German missionary
and of a woman of the Coptic race which
latter is by long odds the least agreeable,
as well as the most servile of all the peo-
pies in Egypt.
Prince Victor. to whom Queen Victoria
stood godmother, is the eldest son of the
union. and his boyhood and youth were
passed amid surroundings that were hard
ly calculated to fit him for the response
bilities of modern English life. For his
father added to oriental extravaganza the
ingenious devices of modern European
people Of fashion for getting the hest of
creditors and for evading pecuniary liabil-
financial IN NH nb he
Maharajah became involved were unend-
ing. Time and again the British govern
ment came to his rescue and
helped him out Of his difficulties. until
finally he was informed that no more as
sistance could be given. He thereupon re-
nounced his allegiance to England, re-
signed his membership of the London
clubs to which he belonged transferred
his abode 10 Paris, and thence wrote an
exceedingly insulting letter to Queen Vic
toria, demanding the restoration of the
Kohinoor diamond and at the same time
informing her that he had abandoned the
Christian religion, to which he had become
converted at the time of his marriage. and
had returned to his old-fashioned and
oriental form of worship
He capped the matter by sailing for Tn
dia, with the avowed intention of raising
the standard of revolt among his former
subjects against the English, who, how
ever, stopped him at Alden and compelled
him 10 return to Europe. On reaching
Paris he threw himself into the arms of
the Irish invincible party, and accompa-
MED one of their leaders to Moscow, where
he made vain attempt TO enlist the SYM
pathies Of the Muscovite government and
OF the Panslavist Society in his behalf
Thoroughly disheartened by his failure, he
resumed once more his residence on the
banks Of the Seine, where repeated seiz-
ures OF his effects by his cridtors aud the
refusal of all credit on the part of trades
men. rendered aware by the newspapers OF
his financial circums tances, induced him
at length 10 seek the pardon OF Queen Vic
toria and OF her government, who restored
10 him his former allowance until his
death about six years ago. His first wife,
the mother OF Prince Victor, had been de-
serted by him without resources when he
renounced the Christian religion and his
allegiance TO Queen Victoria. She died
shortly afterward broken-hearted, her de-
mise being Immediately followed by his
marriage at Paris TO an EnRllshwoman be-
longing TO the lower middle classes, who
now survives as his widow.
Prince Victor himself has n relatively
small allowance from the English govern
mont He served for time In the Eng