New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-06-06
THE WHITE ROSE LEAGUE.
SOCIETY TO RESTORE THE STUARTS
TO THE ENGLISH THRONE

certain amount of good-natured contempt tho
pehiShted people OF monarchy ridden Europe
VINO accord their allegiance to the rcipnir,- kincs
ana emperor3 OF the Old World This feeling Is
intensified in the case of those who n.rs,.t t.,
Proclaiming themselves the subjects OF moro pre
.ehoers' such as, for instance, the Duke OF Or
' anu Frince Victor Bonaparte in France
Ion carlos In Spain. Dom Miguel in Portugal
the King OF Naples. the Grand duke of Tuscany
and the Duke of Parma in Italy and the Duke
oi cumberland in Brunswick Nothing but laugh
yer ana rldicule. however. be accorded to
'hoSe eccentric individuals who attempt to array
themselves beneath the banner Of a pretender
WHO ooeS not pretend. and who embarrassed and
annoyed. rather than iattered by their homage
declines to grant to them any sort of recogni-
'ion- AND yet there are a number of foolish peo-
pie or this kind who have formed themselves into
species of association, which they have en-
oowed with the name of the League of the White
Rose, branches of which have actually been or
ganized in the United States. notably in Boston
ard in Philadelphia The avowed aim OF the
White Rose League is to change the order of suc-
cession or the English Crown, a rather formid-
able job 1t must be admitted. They claim that
queen Victoria is nothing but a usurper and
that the lawful sovereign OF Great Britain by
right OF legitimate descent is the Archduchess
Marie Theresa wife OF that Prince Louis OF Ba-
varia who. eldest son Of the old Prince
Regent is destined in course of time to ascend
the throne Of Bavaria
THE JUNIOR BRANCH OF THE srUARTs.
Ihe Archduchess in question is descended in
direct line from the daughter of Charles L. who
married Philippe, Duke Of Orleans The last
male representative OF this line was the ex- Duke
or Modena. who died in 1875. and the Arch
duchess Marie Theresa is the only child of his
younger brother Ferdinand. The senior line of
the Stuarts came to end with the death of
Henry. Cardinal York and grandson Of King
James III. The White Rose League insists thai
IN default or the senior branch. the junior branch
or the Stuarts represented by the Archduchess
comes next in the line OF succession Queen Vic
toria. as far as ancestry is concerned. being de-
scended from a more remote offshoot of the
Stuart family
While this is perfectly correct as far as moro
ancestry is concerned. it must not be forgotten
that the revolution in the seventeenth century
ana the so-called Act of Settlement changed the
order OF succession and vested the latter in the
Hanoverian branch OF the House of Stuart of
which Queen Victoria is the chief. How little
Importance the Archduchess Marie Theresa at
taches to the pretensions put forward in her be-
haif by the White Rose League is shown by the
iact that her eldest son. Prince RUPERT has
oeeh oeiegated TO represent the reigning house
or Bavaria at the Jubilee ceremonies In London
and to convey to Queen Victoria that occasion
the homage and respect OF his parents of bis
grandfather. the regent. and. indeed of the en-
tire Kingdom of Bavaria
While there Is no doubt that from a strictly
legal point Of view the members of the White
Rose League in Great Britain are technically
guilty OF treason in banding themselves together
Tor the purpose of endeavoring to transfer the
crown Of Queen Victoria to a foreign royal per-
sonaSe who does not want it, yet on the other
hand the league Is so pOwerless to achieve any
th1nG. and so ludicrOus in it's behavior that the
Government has come to the conclusion that anv
attention accorded to these milk-and- water con-
spirators would merely give them the advertise
ment FOR which they yearn, and that the hest |
policy Is to leave them severely alone to be ex-
tinsuished eventually by sheer ridcule
A QUEER COLLECTION OF CRANKs
In the league there a few titled cranks and
Few ariStocrats with a screw loose. as the saw
ing Is. but the rank and file consists Of people
or the middle ard lower middle classes possessed
OF social aspirations but OF no sort of social
standing in a word. the kind OF persons one
would describe as gentee in distinction to
gentle Hitherto the public manifest atoms have
taken the shape OF -depositnS floral emblems at
the loot or the statue OF King Charles / In
trafalgar Square. and at the tomb of Mary
queen or Scots. in Westminster Abbey on the
anniversaries OF the days which these respect-
I've monarcsls lost their heads They have like
wise stamped their letters with a postage stamn