Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1896 — VICTORIA TO RETIRE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VICTORIA TO RETIRE.

BRITAIN'S QUEEN DESIRES TO END HER DAYS IN QUIET. Rumors of a Transfer of the Crown Again Revived—Feels the Weight of Years—Condition of Her Majesty's Health Is Precarious. Throne Will Go to Wales. The rumor that Queen Victoria intends to retire in favor of the Prince of Wales is again current in London, and it is added that court circles are greatly troubled regarding the condition of the queen’s health. Such reports have frequently appeared in recent years, only to be semiofficially contradicted later. Bnt it now seems that there may be some actual foundation for the statements made. It is added that her majesty has decided to spend her time in future at Balmoral or at Osborne, and that she will give the prince and princess of Wales the use of Buckingham palace and Windsor Castle. There is no doubt that the queen seems to feel greatly the weight of her years and bereavements, and her majesty is quoted as having repeatedly remarked during her last stay iu London at Buckingham palace, upon the occasion of the recent

jnarringe of Princess Maud of Wales to Prince Charles of Denmark: “This is my last visit to Loudon.” Reignod Nearly Sixty Years. Queen Victoria first saw the ligtit In Kensington palace May 24, 1819, and ascended the throne Julie 20, 1837. She is t the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George 111., and of the Princess Louisa Victoria of Snxe-Coburg. Abraham Lincoln was then u 10-year-old boy, Gladstone ran about iu pautalettes With frills to them and probably trundled a hoop, while Lord Salisbury had not as yet come into existence. The Duke of Wellington was fresh from his triumphs at Waterloo, and Daniel Webster was in the zenith of his fame. Feb. 10, 1840, Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, with whom she had long been deeply iu love. It proved, as every ode knows, a most happy union. During their twenty-one years of married life they were blessed with uiue children—four sons and five daughters. George 111. is the only English sovereign who has occupied the throne for a longer period than Queen Victoria. During the fifty-nine years of Queen Victoria's rule the population of the mother country has increased from something under twenty-six millions to close on forty-five millions, and that of the colonies has steadily grown from four millions to seventeen millions. As Empress of India her rulo-extends over nearly one and a half million sqnare miles with a population of 273,000,000. Albert ltd ward la 55. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland and the Empire of India, was born at Buckingham palace Nov. 9, IS4I. He studied under private tutors for several years, passed one session of the University of Edinburgh, spent a year at Oxford, where he attended lectures, and for four years pursued his course at Cambridge. In 1860 he paid a visit to the United States nud Canada, where he wa*

! received‘With the distinction due to his rank. Albert Edward's titles are multitudinous. He is a K.,p., u general of the 'army; colonel of hussars, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Baron of Renfrew and Lord of the Isles of Scotland, Earl of Dublin and Garrick in Ireland, and enjoys the patronage of twenty-nine livings in the church as Duke of Cornwall. His marriagfe with Princess Alexandria of Denmark took place March 10, 1863. He was chosen president of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1867. At the close of the year 1871 he was seriously ill with typhoid fever, which was about the only dangerous sickness he ever experienced. The dignity which he esteems most highly was conferred upon him in 1874 by his election os grand master of Freemasons of England.

QUEEN VICTORIA.

PRINCE OF WALES.