The Begum’s Fortune, by Jules Verne was first serialised in the Magasin d’éducation et de récréation from issues n. 337 (January 1, 1879) to 354 (September 15, 1879), published by Hetzel. The whole text was first published in an illustrated edition (with 43 drawings by Léon Benett) on October 20, 1879.
Two characters, which everything divides, have inherited a fortune of 500 million francs from the Indian Princess Begum Gokoo: Doctor Sarrasin, a French doctor specialised in hygiene and the German Professor Schultze, author of numerous comparative works on the different human races.
Both decide to settle down in Oregon where they use their money according to their personal aspirations. Dr. Sarrasin builds an ideal community of around 100.000 inhabitants, called Frankville, offering “moral and physical hygiene conditions that are ideal for the development of the qualities of the race and of new strong and worthy young generations”. Schultze has, instead, built Stahlstadt, the city of steel; he has thus become the “largest cannon producer of the two worlds” and designed a gigantic cannon capable of killing 100.000 people from a distance of several dozen kilometres, which he plans to use on Frankville. Dr. Sarrasin learns about these plans in The New York Herald and immediately summons a distance meeting of the local assembly.
Un conseil municipal à distance
This article is published in Futuribles journal no.266, juillet-août 2001
