The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-01

Count Ernest of Lippe's claims been held
invalid, 1t would have been equivalent to
judicial declaration that at least seven
tenths OF the thrones of Germany were
held wrongfully,, first and foremost that
or the Grand Duke of Baden (married to
the only daughter of the old Emperor
William, and an uncle, therefore, of the
present kaiser), whose grandmother was
an actress, created, after her morganatic
marriage with the grand duke of the day
first of all Baroness Geyer, and then
Countess of Hochberg. Indeed, there is a
question whether if Emperor Williams
argument had been admitted, his own chill
dren could have been permitted to sue
coed to the throne of Prussia, since a by
no means remote ancestor of the present
German empress married a servant girl,
and from whom her imperial majesty and
her numerous children are descended, the
blueness of their blood being strengthen
ed and darkened by a healthy mental
strain.
Until now this question of rights to the
crown being invalidated by the mesalliance
of forbeArs has never been either raised
or thoroughly determined and defined, the
case just decided by the King of SaXony
and his six acknowledges, recruited from
the members of the supreme courts of the
German confederation, being the first issue
of this kind ever submitted to any tribu-
nal. The judgment rendered, while it
tends to confirm in their possession the oc-
cupants of most of the thrones of Germa-
ny, cannot but seriously modify the sue
| cession TO the crown in certain instances,
notably the case of that of Nuremberg
| If morganatic marriages on the part of an
| cestors Goes not constitute a bar, then it
is not the Catholic Duke Albert of Wur
temberg who is heir-presumptive to King
William, but the Protestant Duke of Teck
married to Princess Mary of Cambridge
| and of Great Britain, and father of the
Duchess of York
The King of Wurtemberg, as every one
knows, has no son. Next to him in point
of kinsmanship comes the Duke of Teck
who is the son of the late royal Duke
Alexander of Wurtemberg and of his
| morganatic wife, the Hungarian Coun-
| tess of Rheday and of Hohenstein Hith-
erto the Duke of Teck has been regarded
as disqualified from succession to the
throne in consequence of the non-royal
birth of his mother, and the heir-presump-
| tive to the crown has been recognized
officially in the person of far more re-
mote kinsman of the king, namely, the
| Catholic Duke Albert of Wurtemberg,
whose mother and whose wife are both
Austrian archduchesses. 1nasmuch as
| four-flfths of the population of Wurtem-
| berg are Lutherans OF a particularly bigo-
| ted character, who view Popery with hor-
ror and have been bred to regard the
| as the Apocaryptic Beast of the Book of
| Revelation, 1t can hardly be imagined that
the prospect of being eventually ruled over
| by king who is a devout Catholic, and
who has received his training and educa-
ton from the Jesuits, is calculated to fill
them with anything else than sentiments
| of apprehension.
The possibility of excluding the Catho-
| lie branch Of the house of Nuremberg
from the succession has already been dis
| cussed both In the national legislature and
| In the press. of the kingdom. The one OBJ
stacle to the adoption of such step was
| the absence of any other male heirs, since
the Duke of Teck was considered to be
out of running on account of his mother $
birth But the recent decision OF the trib-
unal presided over by the King of SaXonE
has the effect Of entirely altering his sta
tus and inasmuch as King William IS
| fond of the Duke of Teck and cordially
dislikes and distrusts young Duke Albert,
whose ideas are Numerically opposed TO
! his own on almost every conceivable ques-
ton IL is by no means improbable that,
yielding to the wishes of his people and
of the various Lutheran states OF the Ger
man confederation, his majesty may now
proclaim the Duke of Teck as next helr
to the throne of Wurtemberg.
The Duke of Teck has a daughter and
three sons by his royal English consort,
the daughter being destined to be the
wife of the Duke OF York, eventually to
become the Queen of England and En-
press of India, while of the three sons the
eldest. Prince Adolphus of Teck, captain
of the Royal Horse Guards, is the hus-
band of the daughter of the multi-million-
aire British Duke of Westminster. 1t IS
inst possible, therefore, that the Duke OF
Westminster may yet live to blossom forth
as the father-in-law of the King or Wur-
temberg. a prospect which he certainly
= !.
of his daughter in marriage to the good
natured and somewhat stupid Prince
Dolly of Teck.
Morganatic marriages are regarded by
many in this country in the light OF some
thing immoral. This is far from being the
case. The position of morganatic wife Is
nerfectly respectable. Her union receives
The sanction and blessing Of the church,
and the only way in which IL differs from
the ordinary marriage is that the altar,
and that as stated above, the rights OF the
inferior of two contracting parties are linn
ited Indeed, the word 'morganatic" de-
rived from the Scandinavian words mo
rgvanp TO limit, implies as much.
The people, who, until now, have been
permitted to contract morganatlc mar
riages, and TO assign so altogether an I'M
iust a status TO their wives and to their
children. have been not only the princes
and princesses Of the now reigning house
of Germany, Italy, Austi4dt iNuoSiet 80
mark. Spain and Portugal, but also the
members Of what are known as the me-
diatized families of Central Europe. These
figure in part ii of the "Almanach de
Gotha." The heads of these houses
some Of them dukes, some princes, others
merely marquises and counts Csuch as Tor
instance. Count Rappenheim, who married
Miss wheeler OF Philadelphia)-formerl
enioyed the rank and power of petty Sow
ereIgns. vassals, however, to his apostolic
majesty the emperor of the holy roman
empire al Vienna. The Napoleonic wars
swept the majority of these small states
awav. and the treaty Of Vienna set It's seal
upon their disappearance. 1t was leit
however that they required some sort OF
commentator for the loss OK Their do
mlnions. Accordingly, they and their In
eai descendants were invested with a num-
her of extraordinary privileges, such as
are enjoyed by the members OF actually
reigning houses, and conspicuous among
which was the right to contract morgan
attic marriages.
These unions are entirely out OF keeping
with the democratic spirit Of the present
age. and are not appropriate to the con-
ditions OF modern life. They are no long
NNM.Naa a