New-York tribune., 1907-03-03
NEW.YoRK DAILY TRIBUNE SUNDAY MARCH 5: 1907


is in the ascendant.
Not that there is anything particularly bar
barous in this treatment of the head Of Saigo.
For the pious care bestowed upon it, both prior
and subsequent TO its submission to the En-
peror compares favorably with the fate Of the
head OF Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector,
and that of Cardinal Richeieu, the greatest and
most powerful Of statesmen in the histoTJ' OF
France. The head Of Cromwell is in the pos
session of S. F. Wilkinson. of Seal. near Seven
Oaks, in Kent, and has been subjected TO the
most extraordinary Vicissitudes since il fell
from the pike which il had been impaled on
the roof Of Westminster Hall, after being cut
from the body of the great protector When MS
body al the time of the Restoration was eX-
humed from the tomb in Westminster Abbey.
The head is still in excellent preservation and
remains pierced by the pike which bore it on
Westminster Hall. the point, attenuated by rust.
emerging from the top Of the skull.
AS for the head of Cardinal Richelieu, ii was
cut from his corpse at the time of the great
revolution at the close of the eighteenth CEN
tury. The body, after being subjected TO all
sorts OF indignities. was eventually recovered
and reinterred in its tomb in the chapel of the
SOrbonne University. But the head was miss
ing II was traced 10 a grocer, who afterward
sold il TO q man Of the name of ArmeZ. The lat
ter's son. some time after the restoration of the
Bourbons. offered II to the then Due de Richie
lieu Minister of Foreign Affairs. who. however.
seems 10 have taken no notice Of the matter.
The head then vanished. and when thirty years
later the illustrOus Montalembert. as president
Of the historical committee Of arts and monu-
rnents. endeavored 10 recover the head of the
Cardinal he could find no trace thereof.
SEVERED HANDS.
But leaving severed heads and returning TO
severed hands and fingers. need not remind
my readers Of the terrible role which they play
in the Valley Of the Congo. where the collectors
of rubber employed by King Leopold's Domaine
Privee" and by the rubber concerns in which he
is a stockholder are obliged TO bring back from
their expeditions quantity of rubber proper
tionate 10 the population of the villages visited.
whatever is missing from the quantity being
represented by the severed hands OF the men.
women and children who have failed TO furnish
their quota. This is a matter Of official and
Photographic record. and the photographs Of
men. women and children, showing the mutilat-
ed stumps have been printed in almost every
newspaper in this country through the agency
Of the Congo Reform Association. The rubber
is not purchased from the natives. but is eXacted
from them s an impost. without any remunera-
ton. and if they find themselves unable to sup
ply il they lose their hands. the collectors pro-
Tossing themselves unable TO obtain the rubber
excepting through the fear Of this penalty. That
is why the rubber exported from the Congo VAL
ley and sold al Antwerp is popularity known in
commerce as red rubber and IL is sincerely %
be hoped that the assumption by the Thomas
F. Ryan American syndicate Of a share OF King
LeopOlds rubber interests in the Congo Valley
hdeous scandal with which King Leopold's
name has been identified in the eyes Of the civil
lied world Had the international congress
which Entrusted the sovereignty Of the mis-
named Free State 10 King Leopold had ink
ling Of the methods Of his agents II would doubt
less have selected as armorial bearings of the
Congo the bloody hand Of Clster-a heraldic de-
vice which. according TO popular legend. owes
its origin to the fact that Scottish knight.
Ing that his boat about TO be beaten I'm the
race for the Ulster shore. slashed off his left
hand with his sword and hurled II onto the
beach. being thus able 10 claim the kingship
which he and the other members Of his expedi-
tiOn had agreed should be accorded 70 the knight
who first touched land
Stfl more romantic and decidedly more modern
IS the story of the severed hand Of the first Mar
quis OF Hastings. the famous Governor General
OF india He died AT Malta on the way home
from Calcutta, his wife. Flora Campbell. Coun-
TESS oi Loudoun m her own right, and to whom
he was most tenderly devoted being at the time
N Scotland, at Loudoun with her children.
Finding that il Impossible that his body
should be conveyed home for burial he directed
that ms right hand should be cut of al the
wrist ana carried back 10 Scotland. that II might
nmatelY be entombed. Fourteen years after
ward. when his widow lay dying at Ioudoun
castle, her daughter the late Marchioness Of
bLtt' sent a little note containing a key 10 the
minister Of the parish church. She requested
MN 70 60 himself TO the vault in Loudoun
Church, and fetch a small steel box which he
was asked 10 bring TO her without delav de-
iVering u into her own hands. The minister in
question was the late Rev. Or Norman Mac
'' -'t ii"Iii ~ Adil q century queen victoria
principal Scotch chaplain. spiritual adviser and
mend. but then young man He did Lady
I,ute blddlng. carried the little box the diving
80 ipAeSS OF Hastings. who kept II resting
hef ned until she hreathed her last a couple of
Gays later. Thereupon this box which contained
her husbands severed right hand which she
had held before the altar on her wedding dSV
vas according 70 her own direction and her
4oro desire inclosed in her coffin
IN conclusion II may be stated that King Ed
WaEd mad for many years, and possibly still has
io-aay' upon his writing table at Sandringham
~ MS Workroom. q severed hand under a small
6Lass elobe resting a black velvet cushion
ne USED 10 regard il a fetch II was the
I-ahd OF an Egyptian princess Of the time Of the
! th4Idohs 50 eNquisitelv preserved that in spite
OF the three or four thousand years that had
t4aISed since her death every line Of the finger
ups could ne traced. II was brought from Egypt
1eariy thirty years ago for the then Prince Of
wares Dy EX-ATTACHE.