The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-08
CURIOUS CUSTOMS.
Presence of a Cabinet Minister Re-
quired at Birth of a Royal Heir.
From the Pbf1ada1nbia Press

Presence of a Cabinet Minister Re-
quired at Birth of a Royal Heir.
From the Philadelphia Press.
Only those who have. lived in a mon
arcEial country, the inhabitants of which
are loyal in their devotion to the reign
ing family, can appreciate the tremen-
dous excitement that prevails through
out the immense British Empire with re-
gard to the birth of child to the Duke
and Duchess of York.
1t is certain that not since the birth of
the Prince of Wales himself has there
ever been so much interest m anifested
in the entry into the world of a royal
babe, classes and masses being alike ca
ger to avoid the contingency of ever
seeing the wife of the Duke of Fife as
cend the throne and being succeeded
| thereon by one Of the Fife babies.
Inasmuch as Mr.. Asquith is the newest
married of all the members of the admin
istration, it is only natural that he should
! have been selected to be present at White
| Lodge, Richmond, at the confinement Of
the Duchess of York The presence of
! one Of the secretaries of state is de-
manded by English law whenever there
is birth in the reigning family, the OBJ
| 1ect being to prevent doubts being subse-
| quently raised of the kind that prevailed
when the eldesGson of James IL. was born,
| the enemies of that king asserting that
! his heir was not the offspring of the
queen but an infant who had been pro-
! cured elsewhere for the purpose. Other
! foes of King James claimed that the
| queen had given birth to girl, who had
at once been exchanged for a boy, and
these doubts raised in the mind of the
public as to the legitimacy of the Prince
of Wales of that epoch contributed
greatly to slacken the hold of the house
of Stuart
UPON THEIR AFFECTION.
Since then a cabinet minister has al
ways been present in the room when a
royal birth has taken place, and the Gus
tom has been adopted at all the CONT
mental conrts, especially in Spain, where
not only the prime minister, but the
cardinal priInate and a number of other
great dignltaries of the realm are in the
room when the birth takes place, while
as soon.as the infant is born it is placed
on gold tray and borne by the minister
of the household, in certain cases by the
king himself, into an adjoining hall for
inspection by the assembled court
An interesting discussion has arisen as
to the name of the new heir.
While the majority of the people
strongly object to the name of Albert as
being un-English and too much German,
there are, on the other hand, others who
dread lest he should be called George, a
favorite name with the present royal
house of Great Britain. Their objection
TO the name of George is due to an old
prediction made in the reign of King
George ~, which foretold dire disaster
to the British empire when George, the
son of George, is king"
The Duchess of York was in the hands
of the leading accouchur In London, DR.
oh h. %
cetve the customary barOnetcy, unless,
indeed, the queen in a moment of en-
! thusiasm should confer upon him a
peerage, in which case he might do worse
| than adopt the title of Lord DeliveruSn
as suggested years ago by Punch. DIR.
| Williams is great favorite of the queen,
and has presided over the numerous in
teresting occurrences In the family of
| Princess Henry of Battenberg His
reputation in genealogical matters is
| worldwide and extends to the United
! States, and he is especially well known at
| Boston.
The choice of an accoucheur is always
| of extreme Importance and frequently is
! made the subject of discussion by the
cabinet Thus Queen Victoria owes her
succession to the throne to the careless
ness and lack of skill of Sir Richard
! Croft, the physician who attended Prin-
| cess Charlotte Of Wales, daughter of King
| George w., during the childbirth which
resulted in her death as well as that of
the infant. Sir Richard committed sui
eide shortly afterward, being driven
thereto by the obloquy
LAvIsHED UPON HIM.
The present emperor of Germany owes
the withered and crippled condition of
his left arm to the brutality and lack of
skill of the German doctors who attended
] E'frafi \ TIL 4, L,
| hnement, and so angry was Queen Vic
toria about the matter that on all suisse
quent occasions she insisted upon her
eldest daughter being attended by English
accoucheurs. who, much to the disgust Of
the Berlin court, invariably came over
from London for the purpose
"A question which is being actively dis
cusSed in the drawing rooms of Mayfair
and in the boudOirs of Belgravia, is as TO
whether the Duchess of York will nurse
her baby or turn the hope of the British
Empire over to the tender mercies of a
wetnurse Notwithstanding Queen Vic
| toria's numerous occupations and cares of
state she found time to nurse
nearly all her children herself un-
til they were old enough to be
weaned, and the same has been the case
with most of her daughters, notably En-
press Frederick, who nursed all her child
rem save the eldest two, that is to say,
Emperor William and Princess Charlotte,
the two whom she VIGOROUSLY loves least.
All Of the Prince Of Wales children
have been wet nursed So too, have those
of the Emperor of RUSSIA, of tho Emperor
of Austria, and the Queen of Denmark.
The Grown Princess of Denmark, the
Anak of European royalty, has nursed all
'her numerous children herself, which is
fortunate since she is the best humored
and most kind-hearted woman imaginable.
Queen Marguerite of Italy herself nursed
her only son, which accounts perhaps for
the passionate maternal love which she
lavishes upon him.
The little King of Spain had a wet
nurse, the gorgeous Raimunda, who re-
manned in attendance on him long after
he had been weaned, and until his 7th
year.
AS rule, wet nurses are TO be preferred
in the cases Of royalty, for, with a few
exceptions, the Processes of the blood are
afflicted with so many hereditary ailments
that the milk Of healthy peasant woman
is far more calculated to cause the infant
scion Of royalty 30 thrive than any that
they could furnish themselves.
Farmer Tibbets-Hang that COW always
nave 10 club her fore ] can MAKE her stand
sim.
Little Nephew from the cityj-Is that the
one that giyes The whipped cream AZ Chicago