Here is a little anecdote chronicled in the Annual Register (6 Sep.): “Reverse of Fortune.—Edward Riley, living with his family in Hadley Street, Burton Crescent, having been proved next of kin to Maj.-Gen. Riley, who recently died at Madras, leaving property to the amount of £50,000, to the whole of which he has become entitled, has greatly amused the neighbourhood by his conduct. From having been but a workman in the dust-yard in Maiden Lane, he has, now, become a man of independence. Some days after his sudden acquisition of wealth, he called, in his cab, on a tailor in Seymour Street, and, taking him to the dust yard, desired him to measure the whole of the men in the yard for a suit of clothes, which being accomplished, he ordered them to go to a bootmaker, where they were all served. On the following Sunday, he ordered a butcher to supply each of them with a joint of meat. Riley has taken a house in Argyle
Square; and, upon entering it, purposes to give a dinner to all the dustmen in London, and illuminate the front of his house.”
We have seen, in 1843, Punch’s idea of Prince Albert as a farmer, and we next hear of him, in connection with this business, as refusing to pay parish rates for the Flemish Farm; so at a vestry meeting held at Windsor, on 18 Sep., the subject was brought forward. It appeared that the estimated rental of the property was £450, and that the last rate, at 8d. in the pound, amounting to £15, had not been paid. It was stated that the Prince had refused to pay the rates on two grounds, first, that he had no “beneficial occupation,” and, secondly, that “the property belonged to the Queen.” The reply to this was, that the Prince certainly had a beneficial occupation in the farm, for the two prize oxen sold by him, last year, at £70 and £80, were fatted on this farm, to say nothing of the crops and agricultural produce, from which His Royal Highness received great profits, and it was thought there was no reason why he should be let off, and the poorer farmers made to pay the rates. It was settled that the collector should make application for the arrears, amounting to over £200.
Punch drew a harrowing picture, of the brokers being put into Windsor Castle, and of a paragraph which might appear in the Court Circular: “Yesterday, Her Gracious Majesty visited Prince Albert at her own Bench.” But matters did not go so far, for on 14 Jan. next following, the Prince vouchsafed an answer to the Vestry, in which he denied his liability in toto, acting on the advice of the Attorney and Solicitor General, and Sir Thomas Wilde; and, after crushing the poor vestry, the letter winds up thus: “And His Royal Highness feels himself at liberty to take the course which is most satisfactory to his own feelings, and to pay, as a voluntary contribution, a sum equal to the rate which would have been annually due, had the legal liability of His Royal Highness been established. It is also His Royal Highness’s intention that the payment of the sum referred to should commence from the year 1841.”
And so it has continued to the present day, if we may credit the authority quoted in the accompanying cutting from the Globe of 8 June, 1901: “How the King Pays Taxes.—It is not generally known (says the Free Lance) that the King pays taxes under protest—that is to say, His Majesty, like Queen Victoria, claims to be exempt from impost, and yet is willing to contribute, without prejudice, to the rates. For instance, part of the Windsor farm land lies within the radius of the borough. The municipal authority issues demand notes for the rates. The Royal officials respond by paying a sum just under the amount requested, and the collector is satisfied. There is no question of going to law, for how can the King be summoned in his own Courts?”
On 31 Oct. Lieut. Waghorn practically demonstrated the feasibility of his “Overland Route” to India. The regular Mail and his Express arrived at Suez by the same steamer on 19 Oct. The Express was given to a man on a dromedary, who, stopping nowhere, entered Alexandria on the 20th. The Express was delivered to Mr. Waghorn, who started at 11 o’clock. He had been waiting on board an Austrian steamer, which had remained in quarantine, so that he arrived at Trieste in free pratique. He landed, however, at Divina, twelve miles nearer London than Trieste, and hurried through Austria, Prussia, Baden, and Bavaria, with a passport ready viséd by the representatives of those countries. He reached Mannheim in 84 hours, proceeded by a steamer to Cologne, thence by special train to Ostend, by boat to Dover, to London by railway, and arrived at 4.30 in the morning of the 31st. The news from India thus brought, was published in all the London papers, which were in Paris before the Mail from Marseilles was on its way to London.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Railway Mania—Deposit of plans.