The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-18
AN AMERICAN GIRL WILL RULE
She's From Chicago, but in Calcutta She Will
Do Just as Queen Victoria Herself Would
Do If She Were Living in India.

London, Sept. 14-In December an
American girl goes to reign in the
Queerest court in the world.
This court governs 800, 900, 900 of peo-
pie, or a fifteenth of the whole popu-
lation of the earth.
The American girl represents the en-
press. who is unavoidably absent. Her
title is ~vice-queen or vicerine and the
people Of the court treat her as though
she were the queen herself.
In 1873, long after the famous siege
of Lucknow. and after Lucknow had
fallen and been taken and retaken, In
dia was revised and re-arranged unde
English rule.
The Origin of the Court.
England came in supreme possession
of India and the English army was
divided into four commands to keep
peace over the -four quarters. of India.
These were called the commands of
Punjab, Bengal. Madras and Bombay.
Each command was under a lieutenant
general, and the manner in which the
commands were governed by a mill
tary board of London corresponds
somewhat to our own armies ruled by
the board of strategy at Washington.
But England was a long way from
India and India is big and hard to gov
ern; therefore the queen decided that
she must send somebody to India to
act in her place. AS she could not be
present she must establish a court and
maintain a king and queen in it to
represent herself at all times.
The creation of the office of viceroy
and Vipprinp fOllOu-nd Cnnn after and
Queen Victoria dispatched a vice-king
and vice-queen to govern india, and the
vice-Queen was to hold court and assist
In maintaining the peace and dignity
of the country.
The office of viceroy or vice-king has
always been considered since its Gre
alton. one of the proudest that could
be given by the United Kingdom; and
the officer is not only given a large
salary, but he holds a political posi-
ton second to none. Politics, however.
have been slngularly free from entering
in the selection of the incumbency, of
this office and those who have been Sc
lected to the position have been Sc
lected, as in the case of Mr.. Curzon, by
illness rather than by favoritism.
The court TO which Mr.. Curzon and
his American wife will go in December
is held in a magnificent palace in Cal
cutta, in which they will life. The
palace. with its adjoining houses and
magnificent grounds, is called a com
pound" which means all the bers
and attaches, including the buildings
and animals, and one family. The
horses are a part of the compound"
also the dogs and immense number OF
natives who serve the family.
Holding Court.
In the court room of the palace there
is an immense chair or throne, in
which the empress of India will sit if
she ever journeys to India; but il is
very unlikely that she will ever occupy
1t and the chair stands vacant BY
its side is a throne smaller and less
imposing. This is for the vice-king
and by its side is another throne which
the ~vice-queen occupies.
Seated in these chairs they receive
the native Indian princes who come
to pay tribute and to give in their re-
ports, and here they are seated when
they hold consultation on great mat
tiers.
The etiquette of India compels the
viceroy and vicerine to hold receptions
at frequent intervals and at these re-
ceptions the vicerine must be arrayed
in magnificent splendor. She wears a
crown and is dressed in the regular
court dress of England with short
sleeves and bare shoulders. Her train
is several yards long and i'm her hair
there are the court plumes. She
stands at the right hand of the vice.
roy and the princes are brought up to
her bowling and salaaming. At these
times they bring gifts, which are to be
forwarded to the absent empress. They
also bring presents for the vicerine.
At the close of these receptions a mag
nificent feast is spread upon a long
table and the viceroy and vicerine pre-
side as host and hostess. The whole af-
fair is conducted with the greatest dig
nifty and there is every display of
wealth and power.
The empress of India realizes that
she is dealing with a people who are
half savage and wholly Oriental; they
Judge wealth and power by the display
of il, and she knows that the queens
reign in India would be short were
the place to be conducted on a limited
scale.
Therefore 1t is that the salary of the
viceroy in India is one of the largest
paid bv Victoria to any of her subjects.
The viceroy receives 81, 900 per month
or sS4 900 per ear. This, in English
money, is nearly 10000 pounds, and one
years salary is a magnificent fortune
for any Englishman. Turned itno ru-
pees, or the money of India, it is 240,-
900 rupees per year, or what is. to an
Indian native, a degree of wealth be-
yond all dreams of avarice.
Costs Little.
A rupee is an English shilling and for
a rupee an Indian ervant will work a