The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-27

| Guilty. In the first place, Lady Randolph
! is a very determined and masterful wom-
an, possessed of q vast amount of will
| power, by means of which she prevented
her former husband from becoming as big
| reprobate and as much of a social OUT
| cast as his brother, the late Duke of
Marlborough. At her husbands death
she and her two boys were left rather
badly off, but thanks to the advice of the
late Baron Hirsch and of other financial
friends, she has been remarkably fortu-
nate in all her speculations and invest
ments during the last ten years.
Save the one occasion, when she was
swindled in an American railroad deal
by an ex-convict, to whom she had been
introduced by the brother of Lord Cado-
gan, viceroy of Ireland, she has been so
fortunate that she finds herself at the
head of a large and independent fortune
which is entirely hers, the revenue of
which may be estimated as In the neigh
borhood Of $4,000 a year. 1t is a fortuno
entirely Of her own making, and 1t en-
ables her to run her Anglo-Saxon Re-
view, irrespective of It's financial success
solely as an elegant pastime, and in such
an independent fashion that she declines
to permit it to be disfigured by any adj
vertisements.
1t is fortune that enables her to en-
yacht at Cowes and rooms at Newman
ket, and to provide not only the parlia-
mentary expenses of her son, but likewise
to grant her two boys allowances so lib
eral that they are able to keep large sta
| bles of hunters and polo ponies, and even
to dabble in racing.
! She is therefore her own mistress alto
gether. And If she chooses to marry a
| good-looking, sunny-tempered athlete
| ond nh MI
lad younger than her eldest son, she can
| do so without asking anybody's permis-
! sion or having to fear any ones anger.
Among those who are most bitterly op-
! posed to the match are Lady Randolph's
own sons, the elder of whom, indeed
took the trouble of going to all the news
| paper and press agencies at Cowes, ask
! ing them to deny the existence of the en-
gagement at the very moment when his
mother was endeavoring to secure for
the news all the publicity possible.
They are financially dependent upon
their mother, and If they persist In their
hostility toward the match it is quite
possible that she may cut off their al
/ lowanceS. In that case their financial
welfare would in all probability be pro-
vided for by their fathers favorite sis
ter, the enormously wealthy Lady Win
borne, and perhaps by their first cousin,
| the young Duke of Marlborough The
! latter, as well$ as his American wife,
/ Consuelo Vanderbilt, and all the men,
bers of the Churchill family, are very IN
| dignant about the projected marriage,
and are most strenuousiy opposed to 1t,
| openly denouncirg Lady .Randolph's con-
! duct as outrageous.
In fact the only Churchill connection
who encourages Lady Randolph, and
who approves of the union, is the widow
of the late Duke of Marlborough, now
! Lady William Beresford, and who was
! prior to her first marriage to Mr.. Ham
mersley. of New York, Miss Lily Price,
| Of Troy
Another warm friend of Lady Ran
doiph, who has taken UP the cudgels in
her behalf, is Don Louis Soferal the
Portuguese envoy in London, who is pop
ularly known by the name of the Blue
Monkey" and who enjoys O greater
amount of social influence in England
than any other foreign diplomat. He has
gone with the Prince of Wales to Marien-
ban as his guest and crony, and mas
much as Lady Randolph is due there a
week or 50 hence, it is just possible that
the prince may be won to countenance
the match and to wheedle Mrs. Cornwall
lis West into consent.
Meanwhile both Lady Randolph and
young Corvallis West, who greatly re-
sembles his sister, the lovely Princess
Henry Of Plese, have disappeared to parts
I'll known, and while 1t is not exactly
probable, 1t is quite possible, too, that
when they next turn UP they may do so
in company as man and wife. They are
making bets on the question in London.
1t may seem amazing at first sight that
youth should become so blindly infatu-
ated with woman Older than his mother
as to be willing to quarrel with every one
for her sake The simple fact Of the