, 1901-01-23

Coburg; 1.-THE little fellow is the pendant
to his pretty cousin"
At nine years old Victoria's half sister
was married. Clarence had become king
under the title of William " and lived
till Victoria was IS years old. This man
was a naval officer and had been in New
York city during the Revolution and was
the friend of both Benedict Arnold and
Lord Nelson. He was neither better nor
worse than the sodden offspring of
George Ill, and having had a large fam
lily by an actress, Mrs. Jordon, he turned
her adrift to starve after he became king
and married, hopeful of a legitimate heir,
with a German princess. As he was IS
years old, however. legitimate children
did not materialize, and his bastards made
50 free with his palace that Victoria's
mother withheld her child from such So
ciety.
One day when the slender girl of 16
was taking a state dinner with her moth
er and her future husband, Albert, at
Windsor palace, the ugly, amiable Queen
Adelaide toasted her drunken husband,
who %thereupon broke into a TRADE on the
the Duchess of Kent. THE Princess Vic
toria shall appear at my court" he cried.
1T is her duty to oso." Victoria burst
into tears. but not so her sober and cool
Coburger mother. who knew that if she
watched the old man long enough his
cherry brandy would set them free.
Prince Albert was not surprised. His
own mother had separated from his ia
Their when he was 4 years old, and Al
hart Ln1 harl1,- atar caan hnr oftaru,arl
till she died in his twelfth year. He
noted that Victoria was rather disap-
pointed in him. The next year the king
died, his surviving brother became king
of Hanover, and Victoria was the virgin
queen of England. This news was an
po,nced to her at 8 o'clock in the morn
ing by a messenger from Windsor. She
received it in loose hair and a shawl
thrown over her n%ightdress and only
slippers upon her feet.
Kept poor, she had preserved her mind,
morals and habits to a date when pro
fusion could not spoil her. She had been
brought up wholly in the German style.
and when the ecclesiastics, cabinet, etc,
came to swear allegiance to her the same
day she hardly knew their faces. Chiefly
had she been taught system, economy
and prudence, the very things u Amer.
lean parvenues think to be unnecessary
in a queen. Her two remaining uncles
knelt before her. They had hated her.
June 81, the day afterward, she was
proclaimed queen from st. James palace,
where she appeared dressed in black, in
sleek bands of brown hair. Lord Mel.
bourne, the prime minister, proclaimed
her to the crowd their sovereign. That
noon she presided at a privy council, past
IS years old, at the age for love and do
mesticity. Albert wrote to her from the
University of Bonn:
"My dearest cousin, you are queen Of
the mightiest land in Europe. May
pray you to think likewise sometimes Of
your cousins in Bonn?"
After King Williams funeral Victoria
opened parliament in the house of lords
amid splendor unequaled Of peers and
peeresses. She wore q white satin robe
q tiara Of diamonds on her head, a neck
lace and a stomacher Of brilliants and
the ribbon Of the Garter across her shout
der. A mantle of crimson velvet was
placed upon her shoulders. No queer
had been known of her Independent con
ditions since Queen Anne. Her fine elo
cution was a revelation to the British
said, "She performed beautifully"
Her predecessor. William, hated the
Jews. She made one of them, Sir Moses
Montefore, a knight the first time she
visited the city-the first Jew sheriff. A
Jew in time made her compress Of In.
dia." Disraeli entered the house of com
mons at 80. the year the queen became
sovereign He was then an advanced
Liberal.
A new throne in Buckingham palace
was built for the young woman queen
who was said to resemble the youthful
George Ill. cousin Victoria is said to
have shown astonishing self possession
wrote Albert to his father. The news.
papers, with a brutality peculiarly Eng
lish, We're attacking the poor mother as
q foreigner"
The astute King Leopold sent Albert
off to the south Of Europe and held M
uncle's council with his niece at Wind,
sor. Albert sent roses from the Alps, q
bit of Voltaire's writing, etc. things the
widowed queen still treasures, and there
was II tacit understanding that she was
, to take Albert when she wanted to. but
English factions were numerous and
savage. and Leopold knew them too well.
The cynics called her all but a baby
Hard times afflicted England. The
voice of O'Connell rolled through parlia.
ment saying, ''If necessary. | can get
500. 900 brave lrishmen to defend the
life, tho honor and the person Of this
beloved young lady who fills the throne.
She was small and delicate, Of hail
nearly iaxen and u rose bloom. She
fastened to pay her fathers debts and
gave his creditors presents Of plate.
Thus her mother knew for the first
time since her second marriage the bless
ings Of independence and honor.
Albert's stepmother-his father oon
soled himself again-did not go within {,
husband to the coronation June %, 1888
when Victoria had q new crown contain
ing all the old royal jewels. Her mothe,
preceded her, and the queen was drawn
to the abbey by eight cream colored
horses. She sat in Edward the Confess
, or's chair upon the Scottish 'Stone Of
Scone," where may have been crowned
7 her ancestor, Bruce. She also was de
scended from William the Norman. he,
; descent backward Is through her mother
.xa,.t, al ~onnen ,poroach With indAcdbahle