The Irish standard., 1892-02-27
ENGLAND's THRONE.
Some of Those Who Are Entitled to ST
Thereon Considered.

\ reCtS pT1DllC aLL0lElOu 10 Gllo ldWS dutl 1I
rangements respecting the succession tt
the throne, says the Catholic Union anc
Times. Her Majesty, the Queen, 81
her birth in 1919, was further removed
from the inheritance of the crown thar
is her grandchild, Lady Alexandra Duff
the infant daughter of the Duke ano
Duchess OF Fife, at the present moment
Between Her Majesty and the throne il
1919 five heirs intervened-thato of the
reigning monarch, her grandfather
George Ill; those of her three uncles
the Prince of Wales, the Dukes Of York
and Clarence, and the life of her father
the Duke of Kent. George III died ii
1920. George " succeeded him, whose
wife, Queen Caroline, died in 1921, anC
who might at any moment have con
tracted marriage whose children woulc
be heirs to the throne At the death o.
the Duke of Kent, in 1885, three persons
stood between her majesty and the throne
who. or whose issue, would have barred
her succession. On the death of the
Duke OF York in 1927, the Duke Of Clar.
once, as third son Of George w., became
heir presumptive to the throne, to which
he assembled as William w., on the death
of George ". in 1880. On William Tvs
death in 1880, her majesty as the only
child of the Duke of Kent, the fourth son
of George Iii, became entitled to the
crown, from which at her birth, only l6
years before. she seemed so far removed.
On her uncle, Ernest, Duke of Cumber-
land, the fifth son Of George iii, the
Electorate Of Hanover devolved, from
which her majesty was excluded through
the operation of the Salic law, which
barred female succession. Between
| Lady Alexandra Duff and the throne
only four lives at present Intervene
those Of the Queen, the Prince of Wales.
Prince George, and the Duchess Of Fife.
| There is no difficulty in ascertainlng the
succession to the throne. It is governed
practically by the same rules that reg
ulate the succession to g freehold estate.
The eldest son and his issue to DO first,
then the second and remaining sons and
their respective issues, and then the
eldest daughter and her issue, and the
second and other daughters and their re-
spective issues. ..
Amongst the females the crown de-
sends by right Of prinogenit1lre to the
eldest daughter only and her issue and
not, as in common inheritances, to all
daughters at once, the evident necessity
Of sole succession to the throne having
occasioned the Royal line Of the descents
to depart from the common law in this
respect. Thus, if her majesty had six
brothers all younger thaa herself they
and their issue would have taken prece-
dence of her in succession to the throne.
Ii she had an elder sister, that in default
of sister, brothers, would have likewise
excluded her. Thus, in the event Of
Prince George dying without issue, the
Duchess of Fife and her issue, to the ex-
clusion Of her Younger sisters, stand after
the Prince of Wales in direct succession
to the throne.
1t was only by slow steps that the sue
cession to the throne became strictly
hereditary. The constitution invariably
limited the crown to one royal stock,
though not strictly to it' nearest branch
The public security for instance, wss
thought incompatible with minor king,
and the artificial substitution of a re-
gency, whsch was due to the introduce
ton of a stricter notion of hereditary
right, did not Immediately suggest it,
self. The succession, for instance. of a
grandson which first took place in Eng
land in the case of Richard II. marks a
distinct stage in the growth of the doc
trine of heredity, iuasmuch as it in
cludes the doctrine or representation.
Then, again, it is deserving of remark
that during the rebellions against John
and his son Henry VIII, not syllable
was breathed in favor of Eleanor, tie
sister of the murdered Arthur, who, if
the present rules of succession had been
established, was heiress of his right.
The crown of England was not however,
at that time universally acknowledged to
be capable OF descending to female
heir. Tt was not till the succession of
the Stuart dynasty that the succession
became strictly and permanently heredi-
tary. AS, however, the undoubted heir
of William the Conqueror, and Of Egg
bert, James l. inculcated the notion
known as the doctrine of divine right,
the birth confers rights anterior to law
and unalterable by law.
The revolution of 1858 has had the eff
feet of making the sovereigns ofEngland
reign by the direct operation of the law.
Still, however, by the alteration in the
succession, produced by that movement,
the crown is strictly entalled. Upon the