A KINGDOM FOR A PRETTY FACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7695, 2 May 1903, Page 2

A KINGDOM FOR A PRETTY FACE.

Britisli Girls "v7]_o Have Eeon Queoas I in Zfeseigz-. Lands. 7 I ; (Pearson** Wee My.) ■ One of the most extraordinaiiy -English* I women of anod-qa- times was undoubtedly I Lady Hester Stanhope, niece of William I Pitt and great anat to' the Eari of Rose- I bery, " who, when as yet barely thirty-five I years of age, esfcah-ishedi herself aa ami Oriental queen in) the wilds of Leban on. I She ruled her -injects, too, justly and I well on the whole,, though- with a certain I barbaric strictness, which resulted ' mors I than once in mih- international complicac I Much was, however, forgiven on account I of hee charity,, which was boundless-*; and, I perhaps, also, on account of her pride, I which was limitless. I In the end, a too free indulgence in thei former of these two. predominant traits led I to her downfall. *-. I She got into debt to such an extent tha* I the British Go vea_iment felt 'bound to inter- 1 vene, and its intea-vention took the ionntl of ordering the nearest Consul to pay offl some of the most' pressing of her liabilrtie*"- I and charge the sunns so I DISBTmSED TO *H__ ENGUSH ESTATE. I Whereupon Queen Stanhope of Syria! wrote sundry- let-ers of indignant remon«.l .stranee to Queen Tictoria. I She died eventually at the age of sixty* I three, alone save for her native servants. I The Consul, who had heard that she was I ill, arrived at th_ "palace" a few 'hours! after her., decease to find only her. deserted fl body lying outstretched on the hare floor! of her onoe munptmo usJy-_)n_-_hed " throne! room," everything* sasxe the.clothinjr* oa h*?! body havin* been carried off. , . .... .!■ I There is living. at the present moment afll Orenburg, in South-east Russia, a certain ■ Maharanee Jan Mathommed' ORao. who togax.! life as plain Miss.____e Clifton.-. ;■--... I Bom in the city of Delhi -h-ring- th^olc.! pre^mutiny. days, __er father . was merely _l private, soldier, in.tfw -East 'India Company's! army. Her m<j-_e**, though uneducated,,! was noted for ber sprightliniess^ .-.good! -humour and good looks. I Alice took after her, and w_te_t bate-j!! fourteen years old.' attracted., th© attention! of the Maharajah J^Mahomm«2i<iß_o < luler! of a ' small Centra^ Asiatic __hauate_ W_H*t! happened to _c vistting friends . . . ; ' /,-/ I IN THE o_o _-_-HH_ C-_?IT_&. ' ■ By hun- she wan espoused, and, oa ,he_! husband's death stwne ten or twelve yeara! ' later, she became absoluto- aritocrati-! rule, of his'*' kingdiom." ■' y' _'' I •' Not did', she mafce by any means a, bad! "queen," if. report* is to __ foelfev&L * I De Courcy, wh* visited her " capital*! in 1868, described -jher as dignified, ,s_rewd|! and "thoroughly oapjable. And. on one occa-l sion, afc all events, she fought and defeated! the chief of a neighbouring Kl tanafce, show-! . ing she was 3_ofc dgfioiont- in personal cour-! She could not, however, of oo<arse t standfl against the ever-Q-<_oacihing power of Ros-I sia, and in 1873 sh\i wa_ compelled to sxavl render " kingdom " *_nd "crown *". intd fte! hands of General T-chandyr, the conqueroi'l of 3_hiva. - I By him. she was treated with every 000 ml tesy and consider— tian j' and later on th_H Czar .. gran bed her, a. perpetual pension; towM gether with the* leaae for life of thfl hand*! some house in Orenburg she now nihaMts. H . Not quite so exciting, perhaps, but MljiH as romantic, is the- life sto^ of ~F-o_*e_ice J jH reigning Jiaharaa-O- of Pat__srv "'-■ Going oufc from. 2.nj_laa__' to fulfil an en*fl gagement as governess to the late __a_-_C_wH jab's children, -he i&apfcivated t_e heirap-iM parent. Who - H PROPOSED MABRIAdV- TO •___, AND W__S I ACCJ_?___>. H In November, 19JX) Z the old Maharajalfl died, and her husbauid ascended the t_xo_a,M He at once caused (his young wife. to : bcH acclaimed queen, wiih all the honours radH privileges rightfully amd lawf-fly due taS her exalted position. Pati_fa ? it may|lK^| mehtioned, is -a native Indian sfcafce. wivf^| the Punjab. It has an area oif ; nearly j_|^| thousand square miles, and a7populatl-%^| according to the late-fc census, of sometbl^H over a millica- and .a half. .Not at all _H bad little " kingdom'"' fof an ex-xpnseijH governess. H Nor does the case, of the Maharanee-fl curiously enough, stand alone, for, . affceiH an almost precisely sinjilar fashiom, wa_H elevated to her .present rank and d-gnitjH her Boyal Highness tihe -hereefa of Wa&H zan,. in Morocco. /' H And this. latter ir__a_ce is all the mor«H remarkable because tiae inhabitants of Wae«H zan are among the most fanatical of Mo-M h_m__eda__s, while _!,«_ * ruler's little Brit^B iah wife sfceadfastly even in otdexH to buy a throne, to forego one Eingle. jot &__ tittle of the ordi__rj- duties and cnstomtH enjoined upon her by* the faith of her fore-H fathers. In the early sixfciesi;, and even in son_H instances up till the middle seventies, tbereH existed along- the ea_t*3rn shore, of the Per-^| sian Gulf numerous s. mi-independe_b~pni-^B cipalibie_. And one ol! these/ at all eventSj^B /was ruled over by a tßritish woman. I The lady in question, had been the wifcH of a British " trader b * in the East InduM Company's islands. "Tradiar" in thie Gk&i pada-ice o* i|io««B days -usually meant a smuggler of arma^B and ammunit-km. . Anft fchiSj and nofching^| pise, her husband was. Among his cusbomens was tne Shereef o^M . Taj-Mareb, a . walled town and State °M_ about a dozen square amies in the Beni Ha^| jar country. Xhe Sheueef ordered aquonH tity. of muskets, for wtiich he was eithe^l ■unable or unwilling .to- pay, with the IC _M suit that the incensed -Jicader, with the. asM sistancs of certain of 1% .friends, seized an^H deposed " his Highness/" and had himself rKOCLAIMED SHEBE--* -H" HIS STEAD. Afterwards he ventured, wi_i a quantit]^J ; of rifles, on a trading «3cpe*_ttioo into th^H interior, only to meeib his -death at th^M , hands of the wild Shonaar Bedopns. ' - Bub his widow continued his- role an^| business, despatching consignments of arm^| and powder so far eveiy as Leynah on th^| north, and Ez Zelfeh on? the south. ' J_M Eventually, however, '.her. doings attrao(M^| the attention' of some pro-consul or othei^J and a gunboat anchored off her capital, an^H gave her forty-eight hoiurs to quit- Sh^H had no resource, of coujqse, bufc. to ober^| and, coming to England^ started with he^M savings one of the bigg^'t steam la_n_rie^l in the Wesfc End of irojifion. • _?in£i_y, mention ougmb to be made.of th^H notorious Leontine Cassillis, who, althoug^H French by name and ad<i_.tion, was Briias^H by birth and up-bringing. Indeed, it wa^H not .until she. was nearly; seventeen years o^H age that she left her hoaoie in Wapping t^B embark upon the extraoH-inary and turous career that was ta lead her evehtu^H A XHRONB A2*~D AN ZQNO-QNIO-S pSAXB. ";__\ Her husband, Jacques CasJ-Ilisj typical adventurer, whey after aßsi4in^B Melgarejo to become Dacffcator of BoliYit^H retired in disgust at hia patron's ingrati^B tude into the then w^ll-nif?-. unknowiKC-U-^H try lying between tha hea_quarter» of th^B Bio Madeira and the Alt*) Tapajps. . .^H ,He took with -imT^eoihtine, whose General "B>\9-zu -: haiJ' bee^H treacher.usly slain by Mety**a-.jo at I* F«!^H

auyd the two together started to found in thi wilderness a principality which should in time, so they fondly hoped, be strong enough to make war successfully against theiT common enemy. And, mad as their project sounds, they came within an ace of succeeding.

'Following the time-honoured precedent, first set by PizaTro,' in dealing with the na--iTe»,*tb_y used to their own ends the mutual jealousies- of the various tribes, pitting One'tribe against the other. , In the end, Jacques forced all parties^ war-worn, arid weary of strife, to accept him as their king, and his wife Leontine as their Queen. threo brief years, he 'and she ruled jointly and absolutely. = Then came the inevitable revolt, instiS tied and supported, so it was afterwards erred, by Melgarejo's agents; and Jacques and Leontine, stripped of their authority and their finery, were hacked to ••Meceswdthmachefces, and their remains thrown to the coyotes.