Year: 1871

ports and Rumors OF Yesterday.
For some days II seemed as if the Prince OF
Wales was in q fair way OF recovery. The
wild excitement which had filed the public
mind after the FIRST reports Of his illness had
died away. Yesterday the excitement was


revived in oil its intensity. Report followed
report to the effect that the fever had taken
an unfavorable turn that the situation was
critical and that it was doubtful whether he
| could survive At halfpast five T. M. the
| bulletin published in London and signed by
| Sir William Jenner was to the effect that the
| Prince was In a precarious state that ex-
acerbation had begun on the previous night
and that it was attended by great prostration
of strength. The London Standard, whether


put the case more strongly half an hour later


10 On extra Sheet when it said 1.-THE Prince


Of Wales is sinking fast. Congestion Of the


lungs has set in, and no hopes are entertained


of his recovery" At half-past nine p. M. an


other bulletin was issued by the physicians,


stating that the Prince had had some rest had


slept lightly, but that he was still much


prostrated. HE Royal Hghness was alive at


midnight last night, with all London, and the


other towns Of the kingdom, IN sympa thetic
communication with his sorrowing family
While we write this is our latest news. II is
quite possible that the sad end may come even
yet: that the youthful heir Of the grandest


existing monarchy may die; Sandringham and
Windsor be shaded in gloom; the widowed
wife and the bereaved mother sorrow, aud
| the British nation lament the untimely death
| of its eldest son.


| The excitement Is said to BE- of the intensest
possible kind. ''The Prince of Wales is dying"
| is the universal salutation. Nothing else is
| talked Of. Business is suspended. Stocks of


all kinds have lowered, and the money market


Is depressed. 1t is universally felt and con-


fessed that the death of the Prince would be a
national calamity. How great the change


within few days! 1t seems as if 1t were


only yesterday that the Prince of Wales was
national nuisance, the curse of the monarchy,
the sorrow of the people. Now it is felt that


the death Of the Prince might precipitate Q
! crisis which all are anxious to avert. The
excitement is general all over the three king
doms. Nor is it confined to the three king
doms alone for from all quarters whittier the


news has been conveyed there comes wall


of sorrow that a life so young should be cut


short, and that prizes so grand and 80 nearly


within reach should never be enjoyed. Much


Of the anxiety within the three kingdoms, and


much of the interest taken in the case outside


Of the British dominions, result no doubt from


another cause. 1t is undeniable that the


British monarchy is again undergoing one of


those trials to which it is periodically sub


jected Since the death of Prince Albert the


royal family have year by year been losing


their hold on the hearts of the people. The


protracted retirement of the Queen from pub


lie life produced deep and widespread


discomfort. A monarchy without a court is
in the nature of things, among a cultivated
people, in the last degree distasteful. The


British people are not unwilling to pay for a


court, but they insist on having what they
pay for Year after year, since 1861, they
have waited, but year after year they have


met with fresh disappointment. They have


waited so long in vain that hope has at last


given way to despair. The unwise conduct of


the Prince of Wales, and the absence of any


redeeming qualities in the other members of the


royal family, have increased and intensified
the general feeling Of discontent. So general
has become the dissatisfaction that in most of
the large cities public meetings have been
held, inhammatory speeches have been de-


livered to applauding multitudes, and the


question has been freely put whether, after
| all, monarchy is not very expensive and a


vary useless toy. These things, if they do


not explain the universal grief, at least ex-


plain the universal anxiety. The death of the


Prince would leave gap which makes Re-
gency sooner or later almost certainty; and
| the questi:n N which the British people put to
| themselves and which Is asked by the outside
world is this Can the monarchy survive a
regency? 1t is question the solution of


which deeply concerns the aristocracy and
| the n1oneyed classes of England, and which
deeply concerns also the monarchies and aris-
| tocracies Of Europe. The fall of the British
monarchy would be the death-blow to all that
| remaius Of ancient feudalism.


| As we have said before in these columns,
| Wo Nv wv "no WV bioomy " wow Vi lue stud-


ton IN England. The death Of the Prince OF


Wales would most unquestionably be an i'm
| mediate national loss. That the loss would be
| irreparable, however, we cannot admit. The
Queen, though no longer what she once was


Is not yet old. Competent authorities, with


full opportunities for forming al opinion, have


pronounced her, mentally and physically,
quite equal to the discharge of her duties. 1t
is not unreasonable to presume that this fresh


ef1ction Will rally around her all ranks and
classes Of the people and secure for her their