Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-11-08


And faded from her view
Joy filed that maiden's eyes
Twin load-stars from the skies!-
And one bright day her lips did say,
Glove, honor, and obey"
A Royal Veto on Ducal Marriage.
Queen Victoria is, according to all accounts
q very excellent woman, and worthy to be a
the head of the matronage of Britain, the chic
lady in an empire that contains two hundred
million of people, the half of whom wear petit
coats or would do so II they had them. But i
is no treason, in an American, to say that she
has her weaknesses, like other mortal creatures
who stand within the charmed and chermine
circle that crinoline forms. She is proud, and
her pride has just led her so to act as to furnis,
another illustration of the truth of the poets
saying, that true loves course never runs smooth
Among her relatives is the Princess Mary, sister
of the Duke of Cambridge, and consequently heI
cousin This Princess is past her first youth
and has arrived at rejecting age, (26,) when q
lady is apt to take any respectable suitor SC
that it is no wonder she has smiled upon the
Duke of Rutland, head of the Manners family, q
gentleman of large estates. excellent character
and ancient lineage. Those who have read D..
Israel's Conngsby will recollect him as the
Marquis of Beaumanoir, the title be goes by IL
that attractive novel. He is middle aged gen
tleman, and was thought to be SO determined 9
bachelor that people have counted upon his be
ing ultimately succeeded by his clever brother
Lord John Manners, OF Young England fame
who was member of the Derby Cabinet, and il
heir. presumptive to the Dukedom of Rutland
But the noble Duke thought proper to become
smitten with the Princess Mary and to propose
for her hand, and the lady, like the sensible wo
man that she is, thought proper to accept the OF
fer thus made ler.
Very young people may be inclined to smile
at two rather elderly persons becoming attach
ed to one another, and suppose the Duke was at
tracted by the lady's rank, and she by his es-
tates but elderly people know that love is bes
and strongest after the hey,day of youth Is over
Boys and girls may know what passion is, bu
men ard women must know what love is.-
Green and white are the colors of innocence, bu
loves livery, we are convinced, is gray. We
didn't think so in Consul Plancus's time, but We
were young ourselves then, and now we know
that We were wrong Therefore we eau feel fol
the English couple Of thigh degree" who, being
ready to enter upon an union OF hearts and
housekeeping al Belvoir CASTLE, find no less
a parsonage than Queen Victoria ready to forbid
the banns. The royal marriage act which Geo
iii. had passed in 1772, we think, gives the
reigning sovereign qualified veto on the inatri
monia designs of the descendants of George IL.
and this veto the Queen is, we are told, ready
to exercise. Whether the Princess Mary viii
Weld her wishes to those Of the sovereign, or a.
vail herself of the power the law still allows bel
over her own actions, time will determine
What that power is we shall show.
When the House of Hanover took the English
throne, it brought all that moroue to its new
realm for which the German aristocracy have
long been notorious. GeorgsI. had not married
so highly as he might have done, but he had vo
ted himself divorce, and shut up his wife in
the Castle of Ahlden. George II. had Ger
man princess tor his wife and his son Frederick
married another princess from the royal wife,
raising country. George ILL.,, who is said tc
have been privately married to pretty Qua
keress, really loved Lady Sarah LenDox, bu
married the German lady who became Queer
Charlotte, so celebrated for her virtues, mean
nesses, and powers of snutf-taking. 1t was a
his instance that the royal marriage act of l7Ts
was passed One of his brothers, the Duke O
Cumberland, had married Mrs. Horton nee Lut-
trell, very beautiful woman; and another, the
Duke of Gloucester, had married the Countess
of Waldegraye, widow, and daughter of Sil
Edward Walpoe, who was son of Robert Wal
pole. She was o niece of letter writing Horace
who has mnch to say of her. The king was bit
terly offended with these marriages, thinking
that the blue blood of his line was disgraced BY
mingling with the puddles that stagnated in th'
veins of members OF the English gentry; and h,
sent message to Parliament, in which h'
claimed the right Of approving all marriages o
the royal family.
A fierce parliamentary conflict followed end
ing in law providing that all descendants o
George II. should be incapable ofmarrying with
out the consent of the sovereign, until after com
pleting tie age of twenty five years, when, hav
ing previously given years notice to the priv,
council, any such descendant can marry withou
the royal assent, unless both honses of Parlia
ment, within that time, should declare their op
position to the contemplated marriage. So tha
the Duke of Rutland and the Princess Mary Cal
become man and wife, notwithstanding the op
position of Queen Victoria, provided Parliamen
should not interfere to prevent their union.-
This act of It'll, it may be remarked, which
so utterly opposed to the law OF God, was passe.
at the instance of sovereign who has the high
est of characters as moral and religious man
but who cared little for religion, and less fo
morality, when the dictates of either forbad
anything that was demanded by his vanity or hi
love of power. That so excellent and sensible
woman as the present British sovereign shoul(
be influenced by the same feelings that domino.
ted the mind of her grandfather, only serves t.
show how permanent is the pride of race an(
station. Perhaps her husband exercises an un-
due influence over her mind. He belongs to The
German aristocracy, and though he is in mos
respects an estimabe man, itwould be unreason
able to suppose him to be above the Influence o.
the leading ideas of his order. AS to poitica
influences, they can scarcely be placed in oppo-
sition to the Rutland alliance, so many person.
standing between the Princess Mary and the
possible claim of herself or her offspring (should
she marry and become mother,) to the crown
The Duke of Rutland is of royal descent
The Earldom of Rutland was created in 1926, il
the person of Baron Roos or Ros, who was {
grandson of Anne Psntagenet, oldest sister O.
Edward ". The Duke, therefore, is of better
descent than is Queen Victoria, according to re-
oeiyed ideas on the subject-Boston Iracelles
Sept. 27.
EXTENT OF LoNDoN.-London is rapidly ex
tending its boundaries. 1t covers an area of one
hundred and twenty -one square miles, equal Il
a square of eleven miles to the side. The popu-
lalon in this area amounted in the year 1901 {,
958, 1893, and the year 1853 to 2,362,3S6. The
London of 1858 is equal tc three LoDdons O
1901. 1t has now larger population than til,
six New England States.
A man falls in love just as he falls down stairs