Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1881 — DUCAL BLOOD. [ARTICLE]

DUCAL BLOOD.

, < TT vRomantic Btory of the Duke o Sutherland’s Mother. The New York correspondent of the Hartford Courant is responsible forjthe following:' - ‘ The Duke -of Sutherland, with his party,! rim on g W filch Dr. Bussell of Bull Bun fame was included, sailed from this city for England a few days ago. I have heard a story about the mother of the. present Duke, at. one time mistress of the'-To bee to Queen Victoria, which is not a little remarkable aud wbicb I have every reason, except personal knowledge, to believe to lie*true. The story, which has never been In print, was in substance as follows: The Duchess of Sutherland (that is the" mother of our recent visitor) is recorded in “Burfee’fe Peerage” as being the third daughter of the sixth Earl of Carlisle, but she was in fact the daughter of Samuel Eastman, a comparatively poor man, who lived in the suburb of London known as Battersea, and who was for many years beadle of tbe Battersea parish church. He was of good English farmer stock, but his wife was of more gentle blood, and was a cousin of Lady Bessborougb, who was well known in her time, abodt 1800 to 1820, and oue of whose relatives has figured somewhat prominently in connection with the parliamentary treatment of the existing Irish land troubles. Mrs. Eastman be ing very 11l and not expecting to live, allowed her ion sin, Lady Bessborougb, to take her infant child, Harriet Elizabeth, with the understanding that she would give it the care that its mother could not give It then. Aftei a long Illness Mrs. Eastman recovered, but when she called upon Lady Bess borough to return the child, she was informed that it had died at the Isle of Wight,.where she had taken it. Mrs. Eastman '

DID NOT DOUBT THE STOKY at the time, and she named the two next children that were bora to her Harriet and Elizabeth respectively. Many years afterward, Lady Bessborough being dead, a Mrs. Peterson, her lady’s maid, informed' Mrs. Eastman that her child not only had not died, but had been transferred by Lady Bessborough to the Eail of Carlisle and adopted by him- as his own child, and had just theß married the'Duke of Sutherland. Mrs. Petersen added that Lady Bess borough had adjured her on her death bed to inform her eo usinof the fact, and to -do what’' she' could to repair the j wrong that she had done. Before anything further was said or aerie about it Mrs. Eastman died,- The next that was known m the Eastman family in respect to the matter was that a Duke or Duchess of Sutherland sent a Dr. Lee, I of London, to ofler Mr. Eastman such

SkTm bf the dncbJXS hi» U daag°hte^ but the oM —» had more pride than policy, refused the offer on.tkcee cona <rre leading points of this story. Why Lady Bessboroogh Should give away i child She had used anedeception to secure, or. why Ufa Earl of CaxliaLa should have made the, child his own, could not be explained by my informant;’’but she tola her story straight, and related so many Httle in ddents in connection with it that i*. was difficult to doubt that she was nar rating veritable history* She had in her possession a picture which closely resembled herself, and which was a likeness of the utto'Daefcepe. - W THE 6TOBY IB TBUB,

the two were sister*, both being daughters of Farmer Kastman* By all accounts the Duchess was a good and noble woman, possessing the respect and love of all who knew her, either personally or by reputation, and the same thing can be said of my informant, who is known to be of unimpeachable respectability, and who in any event had nothing to gain by giving false information. The personal habits and tests of the present Duke toud to confirm tbe story, ■He is a plain man of democratic instincts, and withfa great passim for machinery,and particularly locomotive engineering. It will be remembered that while he was visiting George W. Childs in Philadelphia, be induced the latter to accompany him In a railroad ride on the front of a locomotive; and a friend of mine, an Englishman, tells roe that once, being on a visit to a new Kaglish ship whose machinery had some notable features, he stumbled in the bowels of the vessel against a man wearing a j usty blouse, and whose face and hands showed that he had been work in connection with the engine, and that the man, looking outwardly very much like a skilled mechanfo, was the Duke of Sutherland. Often in’ England, I am told, the Dnke runs a locomotive engine, just &b Other fine folk of that sort drive s four-iu-hand.