Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-09-15
ANCIENT SALIC LAW.
IT PREVENTS WOMEN FROM BEING
QUEENS IN SOME COUNTRIES.

No Other Law Has Caused So Much Blood.
shed-Th,oueh This Code the Kingdom
Of Ha, lover Lost It's Independence and
Was Absorbed By Prussia.
A relic Of prehistoric barbarism, of
times when women were regarded as
soulless leings but one remove superior
10 the brute creation, is that Salic law
which dcbars the fair sex from all rights
of succession to most Of the thrones Of
Europe. no one knows with any degree
If certainty the origin Of this law, al
though many theories and arguments
have been advanced regarding it, yet
there is no law that has been the cause
Of 80 much bloodshcd and desolation
throughout the last 500 years.
Nearly all the historic wars that have
taken place in Europe since the days of
the first crusade may be attributed to
the existence Of this law, and even in
the present century sanguinary struggles
have taken place on its account. Great
Britain and Russia are the only two
countries where it has never secured any
foothold
Spain. Portugal and Holland have
within the last 100 years erased the
law from their statute books, and have
benefited by the change, while since the
reign Of Maria Theresa and the seven
years war it exists only in a modified
form i'll Austria, and, perhaps, not at
ell in the kingdom Of Hungary.
But it is still in force in Denmark, in
Sweden, in Prussia and all the other
federal states of tho German empire, as
well rs in Belgium, italy, Roumania,
Servia, Bulgaria and Greece, the ma
tional constitution of which, being Of a
more mushroom character and drawn
up by enlightened statesmen Of the pres.
ent century, might reasonably be ex.
pcctcd to be more mp to date and free
from such narrow medieval prejudices
and doctrines.
II is precisely in the three countries
which arc now ruled by women-Eng
land, Holland and Spain It that the
greatest degree Of peace and prosperity
prevails, the three royal widows dis
playing far more common sense, en-
lightencd craftsmanship and political
sagacity than any Of their brother mon
archs.
Under the circumstances it must be :
matter of regret that the Salic law
should debar Il number Of beautiful
charming and clever p1incesses from
succeeding to thrones. Thus there j!
the pretty Princess Pauline of Wurttem
berg, the only child Of the present kins
and a young girl whom it is no exag
geration 90 describe as the national idol
Yet, Notwithstanding the fact that al
the affection of the people is ccntered il
her, she is compelled by the Salic Law
to stand aside and to permit her father
crown to descend to a distant cousin
born and bred not in wurttcmbcrg, bu
in Austria, and who, in addition to be
ing regarded as foreigner, has the su
preme disadvantage, in the eyes of tn
Lutbcrans and Protestants, constitut
ing the vast majority of the nation, O
being u Craolic.
Although King Oscar Of Norway j
one # the most enlightened and accom-
plishcd of man, endowed with u char
actor that can only be described as un
blcmishcd, he has not proved q success
full ruler.
Tho fact is that the king, in spite o
all his talents and his projections, mora
and otherwise, is entirely wanting il
that personal magnetism, and, if ma
b. permitted to coin the expression, tina
public tact which distinguished hi
homcly, genial and by no means so in
tcllcc.ual brother, King Charles XIV.
Tho latter had only one daughter
Princess Louisa, who inherited his quail
tiles, and who. in spite Of her plainness
was Just as much the idol Of both tn
Norwcgians and Swedes as Princes
Pauline of Wurttombcrg is at Stuttgart
Over six feet high, and far from bein
endowed with intellect above the ave,
age, she possesses the best temper in til
world and an incxhaustible fund {
merrimcnt and good humor, and q hear
rs big as her laugh, which has bee
compared to that Of horse.
| Had she been permitted to succee
her father rs queen regent OF Swede
and Norway it is doubtful whe Their tn
present conflict in the sister kingdoI
would ever have arrived at the acut
stage, and certainly the 10y atty to tn
throne on both sides Of the border woul
not have reached its present low ebi
But, being dcbarred from her father
throne by the Salic law, she married til
crown prince Of Denmark, carrying OIL
of the country Of her birth all the va
wealth which she had inherited, part
from her father, and partly. too, frol
her Dutch granduncle, which is est
mated ut e5, 000,O
1t is to the Salic law that the KIM
dom Of Hanover is indebted for the To-
Of its independence aud for its absorl
ton by Prussia, with all the disat
vantages which that entails, economi
political and social. Had Queen vi
io-ia not been barred by this statu
from succeeding to the throne of Ha,
J over at the time when she assembled til:
of Great Britain there is no doubt til:
Hanover would have been enjoying
the present moment the same CONNIE
cial prosperity and manifold advantay
L -