Arizona republican., 1900-09-21
WHY LEOPOLD WILL
 NOT ABDICATE

It is the Congo that stanGs in the way of King Leopo,is contemplated abdication of the throne of Belgium I9 the occasion of Prince Alberts mar riage at Munich a fortnight hence Should Leopold cease to be king oi the Relgians, it would be very difficult for him to remain sovereign of the Congo. Of course, he might cede the Congo Free State to Belgium, but in that ca.e il would be necessary to secure the consent of the Belgian legislature 10 the acceptance of the gift which, when he offered it to the nation some years ago. was rudely declined. Moreover, it is very doubtful whether Leopold is any longer anxious to give away the Congo Free state which, thanks to the rubber trade monopoly. in defiance of the terms of the Congo constitution, has been gradually acquired by Leo pold. partly in his official role as soy ereign of the Free State and partly in his private capacity as owner of the so- called domain privea,' and is yielding an income of many million francs to his majesty.
 Leopold wrecked th2 e-aetar portion of his own large f0.-I3 -S well that of his only sister, taa 7'azy Elm press Charlotte of Mexico. VE.ch Ee held in trust. In =c1eavorin3 t. make his Congo schemes 'ssJ, and he sub jected himself to endless humiliatioHs ct the hands of financers in his en- deavors to obtain financial assistance. It is not. therefore, likely that he would care to do anything which would in yolve the surrender of the enterprise. That is why it is improbable that King Leopold will actually abdicate the throne of Belgium to his nephew next month, although it iA quite probable that he may delegate to him tempora- rily many of his powers and preroga- tlves as a sovereign, so as to leave him self a freer hand to go about yachting and travelling without having the entire Belgian press bowling for h.s presence and protesting against his frequent ab. sences whenever Amy political crisis takes place.
 According to Col. Cariolato, one of the officers in close and constant at tendance on the late King Humbert, the king was accustomed to hold back $30,0 900 each month on the payments made by the national treasury to the credit Of his civil list. This $500 a month, or $36000O a year. he declined to turn over to the comptroller of the roy al household, or to account for in any way. The sum was devoted wholly and exclusively to secret charity, tO furnish assistance where it was needed, and of ten when the people helped would have been mortified to have known that they had been objects of charity. There was TO one who spent a larger sum in acts of kindness and charity than Italy's ruler. Humbert in this particular was the most generous monarch of his day and it must be thoroughly understood that the $30.000 per monthdevo5ed to se cret charities by no means represented the sum total of the excellent mon arch's bene factions. The amount only represented those particular charities which he desired to remain unrecorded and unknown.
 The royalists of France are once more rendering themselves ridiculous and guilty of a lack of patriotism by making it known in their principal or gan. the Gazette de France. of Paris. that if Princess Helen, of Orleans pre- sumes to cross the threshold of the Elysee palace, either to accept the hos pitality of the president or to visit Mme Ioubet. his wife, whsn she comes to Paris next month with her husband, the duke of Aosta, she will be boycott ted by the entire royalist party during her stay on the banks of the Seine. The duke of Aosta is first cousin of the king and next heir to the throne of italy. and is going to Paris with his wife as the representative of Victor Emmanual, in order to thank the pres ident for having sent a special embas- sy to Rome for the Obsequies of Hum bert, and in order to announce the ac- cession of his successor The duke and duchess are to be the guests of the French government Throughout their stay in France, and the idea of the French royalists pretending that the Guchs ss, who is TO longer a French princess. but an Italian one. and the probable future queen of Italy should render herself guilty of the grossest kind of discOurtesy toward the chief magistrate of F,ance, to the French government, and to the French nrtiJn. is thoroughly worthy of an clement of