The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-01-22
nLNEss oF LoNG prRAT1oN.

ILLNESS OF Long DURATION.
NEW YORK. Jan 2l.--A dispatch to
the World from London says
Your correspondent has obtained
from a source within court circles the
first comprehensive and actual account
Of the queens Illness that has been CIV
rn ont.
The facts given place the illness Of
the queen in a startling and pathetic
light They show that her mind has
been falling Tor many months. even be-
fore ner visit to Ireland. She had been
mental wrsck for months. Whenever
II was officially announced that she
made felicitous responses TO speeches
az public functions It was matter OF
cold fact that the poor old queen was
in such a dage That all she could say
10 her companions was. Where am
l."
Several tim as when she has appeared
in public during tn past six or eight
months she has fallen asleep Had ii
been any one else but the queen OF Eng
land It would have been plain long
ago that the malady was senile decay.
And that truthfully Is what afilicts
Victoria.
But for her physical breaking up OF
the past week. an attack OF paralysis
In the left side. II would have been pos
slble for tn, court and the royal house
hold to have kept from the British
people knowledge OF her mental decay
for an indefinite period. For the queen
had lapses Of intellectual vigor but
these We're more distressing TO her than
her periods II mental density.
Wher her brain was clear she i'm
mediately reverted TO the horrors Of the
war in South Africa. Again and again
She harped upon the war. This war,
which she stroye with all her power
10 avert, made the last hours of Eng
lands queen, who trigned happily
longer than most men live, most
wretchad and miserable. In her lucid
intervals II haunted her necessarily.
The queens strong constitution man
ifested the first symptoms Of serious de-
cay during the stay of the court at
Windsor in November and December Of
1929, when evil tidings OF the South
African war. which began the previous
October, began to arrive in rapid sue
ccssion
The queen did not look for any seri-
Gus disaster to her army. She expected
nothing but serias OF quick, easy vic
tories. Instead disaster followed every
few days. General Butler before leaving
England for the South African cam
raign. assured the queen that the war
would be- difficult but not dangerous"
In consequence the news of the many
reverses came to her with added Sc
verify, She felt that she had been de-
ceived and 1ever forgave Butler. When
his name was submitted to her for
visit to Windsor after his return from
South Africa she stroked il through
with her pen,
1t was at this time that the queen
mad the fits of crying in an aggravated
form which Immediately preceded her
recent Illness.
The assassination of the king of italy
last July shocked her deeply,
The news of the illness Of her eldest
child, Empress Frederick. added greatly
to her distress and the fact that she
was physically upable to visit .he en-
press and see her before either died
made her nervous and eXcitable.
Later came the death of her second
son, the Duke of SAKE .Coburg Gotha
(Edinbure). which in few weeks was
followed by the death of her grandson,
Prince Christian Victor son of her
(COntinuad On Page FOur)