The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-01 00:00:00

The Breadalbane Title and Estates.

The earldom of Breadalbane, and extensive estates
of the late marquis, including Taymouth Castle,
and others, of the annual value of upwards of
£70,000 a year, are now the subject of litigation in
the House of Lords. Since the death of the late
marquis three claimants have appeared for the title
and estates, and their respective claims are now the
subject of litigation, not only here, but before the
Court in Scotland. The first claimant is Donald
Campbell, formerly a Lieutenant in the 57th Regi-
ment, whose petition to the Queen was a few days
ago referred by her Majesty's Attorney-General to
the Committee of Privileges of the House of
Lords. Lieutenant Campbell claims to be descended
from John, the eldest son of the first Earl of
Breadalbane. John A. G. Campbell, of Glen-
fallock, D.L., and J.P. for Perthshire, claims, not
as descended from the first earl, but as a collateral
descendant. This claim Mr. J. A. G. Campbell's
cousin, Lieut. Charles Win. Campbell, of the 19th
Bengal Cavalry, disputes, on the ground that his
uncle, the grandfather of Mr. J. A. G. Campbell,
was not lawfully married, or rather that, at the time
of Elizabeth M. Blanchard's marriage to Mr. Camp-
bell, in 1782, her former husband, Christopher Lud-
low, was living. Mr. Ludlow was a medical man at
Sodbury, and on Mrs. Ludlow eloping with Captain
Campbell, her husband was so distressed that he
removed to America, and died in 1784, two years
after the alleged marriage to Captain Campbell.
The counsel retained by the various parties are the
Attorney-General, the Lord Advocate of Scotland,
the Solicitor-General of Scotland, Sir Hugh Cairns,
Mr. Rolt, Q.C., Mr. James Anderson, Q.C., Mr.
Downing Bruce, Mr. Geo. Patton, Mr. James Adam,
and Mr. Dundas Grant. In 1681 Sir John Camp-
bell was created Earl of Breadalbane, with a special
remainder to which of his sons he should nominate
to succeed him, whose issue failing, to the heirs male
of his body, which, failing, to his nearest legiti-
mate heirs male. The Earl died in 1716, having
had issue three sons, Duncan, the eldest (ancestor
of Lieutenant Donald Campbell) ; John, second
son, whom his father nominated as his successor in
the earldom and estates, in consideration of John
having agreed to pay certain debts of the family.
John, the third earl, and grandson of the first earl,
died in 1782, when, according to the limitation in
the original patent, the estate and title ought to
have reverted to Duncan, the eldest son, of his male
representatives. At this period, however, the
descendant of Duncan was under some disability
in consequence of having taken part in the troubles
of those days, and was, it is stated, absent from
Scotland. No act of attainder, however, appears
to have been passed. The next heir male,
however, a descendant of an uncle of the first
earl, in the absence of the descendants of Dun-
can, took up the title, and obtained possession of
the estates. The third earl had carefully pro-
vided for the descendants of Duncan turning
up, for, in a deed of entail executed by him, he
alludes to the fact that some of them may have
been overlooked or omitted, and that by the entail
he was then creating, the honours and estates might
be separated, which was contrary to the spirit and
meaning of the entail of 1704, and of the entail he
was then creating ; and he specially- provided that
the party who had made good his title to the earldom
in court of law, the same person should be entitled
to the estates. John, the fourth earl, died in 1834,
having first obtained a new patent as a baron of
the United Kingdom, and also a marquisate in
1831. On the death of the late marquis, in 1862,
the present claims were made, and will probably
be the subject of litigation for some time.

A letter from Montfort (Var) states hat a violent
thunderstorm burst over that town and neighhour-
hood two days since. Hail fell incessantly for more
than half an hour, and almost entirely destroyed
the corn crops, olives, and vines. The damage on
one estate alone is estimated at 20,000 francs. All
the trees within a considerable circuit were stripped
of their leaves by the hailstones, which were nearly
as large as walnuts.
M. Death, the publisher, has been condemned to
a fine of 500 f. for having offered for sale, without
conforming to the stamp regulations, the speech of
Prince Napoleon at Ajaccio.
The fourth number of the Tribune Ouvriere, a
weekly journal, has just been seized by the police,
and also a pamphlet, published some time back,
entitled " Les Hebertistes."
A Teheran letter of the 9th June announces the
death of Mgr. Salviani, the Armenian Catholic
bishop of Erzeroum. The funeral honours were
rendered with all the solemnity possible.
M. Renan, the author of the " Vie de Jesus,"
arrived at Marseilles the day before yesterday by
the steamer from Alexandria.