The herald., 1898-12-31

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Among the features of the remarkable
speech delivered at Wakefield, in Yorkshire,
by Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain,
the one which attracted the most attention
was probably the point which he made when
he declared that the Anglo-Americap alb
ance was being brought about independently
of the two governments by means of mar
riages between American girls and English
men, Secretary Chamberlain was, more
over, right when he insisted that matrimon-
ial unions of this kind were becoming more
and more frequent. just at the present mo-
ment there are two new ones of considerable
Importance on the tapis. One is reported
engagement of Miss Pauline Astor to the
young Duke of Roxburghe, while the other
| is contemplated match between Miss May
Goelet and Prince Francis of Teck.
Miss Pauline Astor, as everyone knows, Is
the only daughter of William Waldorf As.
| tor and of his wife, who as Mamie Paul, was
the loveliest of the Philadelphia debutantes
| in the winter of 1879. Her father was a law
yer of modest circumstances, and while her
brother James married Miss Fannie Drexel,
union which brought with it partnership
in the banking house of Drexel, the most
popular and best known of her brotherswas
Lieutenant Alan Paul of the United States
navy Miss Pauline Astor, who has inherited
much of the beauty of her dead mother, has
been brought UP almost entirely in England,
where her father has for more than ten years
past made his home. It is difficult to esti-
mate the fortune which she will eventually
receive But it will probably be in the neigh
horhood of $50, 600, 600, and as such she may
be regarded as the wealthiest American heir
ess who has ever welded European noble
man.
The Duke of Roxburghe, to whom she is
stated to be affianced, is one of the most
| popular members of the British aristocracy
He cannot be described as fortune hunter,
as he is the possessor OF a rent roll OF some
$500, 900 per annum, in addition to which he
has a very large amount of ready money at
his disposal which accumulated during his
minority Very carefully brought up, he
has managed to keep his name singularly
free from sandal, and has travelled consid-
erably, both in Africa and in the Orient His
mother is a sister Of the late Duke of Marl-
borough and recalls rather the delightful
and pleasing portrait drawn of the latter by
| the late Lord Beaconsfield in his novel 10
THAR under the pseudbnym of Lord St.
Aldegonde.
The Duke of Roxburghe succeeded to his
E. H. Nc
ancestral seat of the family is Floors castle,
striking edifice on the banks of the Tweed,
which is the border line between England
and Scotland. 1t is a magnificent pile, and
was built about two centuries ago on the site
of an older castle particularly rich in his
torcal associations Some Of the loveliest
reaches of the Tweed are through and round
about the park of Floors, affording salmon
fl ishing that is unsurpassed anywhere in Scot
land
The young duke has inherit ed the taste for
salmon fishing of his father, though he has
not yet managed to break the latter's mag
nificent record of thirty-one huge salmon to
his own rod in one day. He has likewise in
timated that he will adopt the politics OF his
parent. namely, the Liberal Unionist doc
trine, the latter having been stanch ad.
herent of Mr.. Gladstone until the latter took
up home rule.
With regard to the projected union be-
tween Miss May Goelet and Prince Francis
of Teck, the young American heiress, whose
fortune is estimated at $50, ,OOO, 900, will have
to pay heavily for the social advantage of
becoming sister-in-law to the future queen
of England and'empresso of India, for Francis
! Il. "a . |. xl.A l. L 4
o. the duchess of York. He was engaged at
one time TO Nellie Bass, only daughter
and heiress of Lord Burton, the celebrated
brewer. But Miss Bass broke the engage
ment in consequence of the character Of the
prince and gave her hand instead to young
Scotch commoner, Mr.. Baillie of Dochfour
Prince Francis, it is true, distinguished him
self during the recent operations in the Sou.
dan and won decoration.
But the reason for his being in the Soudan
was that he had been sent away in disgrace
from England a couple Of years ago for hav-
ing while serving as subaltern Of cavalry
regiment at Dublin lost $50, 900 on a single
horse at the Punchtown races He would
have been posted as a defaulter and warned
off the turf as welcher, had not the queen,
the Duke of Cambridge, his uncle, and the
Duke of York. his brother-in-law, all con
tributed to- get him out of this scrape, as he
did not have the means of meeting his debt
being entirely dependent on his small allow
ance of $4,000 per annum. Even aside from
this he is heavily in debt, and for ten years
past his paper-that is to say, his promissory
notes-has been regarded as drug on the
market by the cent per cent gentry in Lon.
don.
Dissipated, extravagant, prematurely
aged, and not precisely noted for his clever
ness but rather for his stupidity he is scarce
ly the kind of husband to whom fond
mother would care to give her only daughter
unless maternal sentiment were blinded b,
social ambition, as is believed to be the case
with the widowed Mrs. Ogden Goelet.-
Cholly Knickerbocker in the New York
Journal.
THE LADY AT THE TYPEWRITER